ZUNIGA AND THE AUDIENCTA OF GUADALAJARA. 



169 



parties. Threats were used when diplomacy failed, and at length, 

 the disputants reached, but did not pass, the verge of civil war, 

 for, on both sides they seem to have ordered out troops, who, for- 

 tunately never actually engaged in combat. 



This ill judged act of the viceroy was fatal to his power. Let- 

 ters and petitions were forthwith despatched to Madrid requiring 

 and begging the removal of a man whose rashness was near pro- 

 ducing a civil war. This was a charge not to be disregarded by 

 the king, and, accordingly, we find that a successor to Zuniga was 

 immediately named, and that the bishop of Tlascala was appointed 

 visitador to examine the conduct of the deposed viceroy. 



On the 17th of January, 1590, this prelate, who seems to have 

 been originally inimical to Zuniga, and who should therefore have 

 disdained the office of his judge, ordered him to depart from 

 Mexico. All the property of the late viceroy, — even the linen of 

 his wife, — was sequestrated ; the most harassing annoyances were 

 constantly inflicted upon him; and, after six years, poor and worn 

 down by unceasing trials, he returned to Spain, where the influence 

 of his friends at court procured the restoration of his property. 



