MILITARY PREPARATIONS PEACE PESTILENCE. 241 



English obtained nine ships of the line, four frigates, and all the 

 smaller vessels belonging to the sovereign and his subjects, which 

 were in the port ; while four millions, six hundred thousand dollars, 

 belonging to the king and found in the city, swelled the booty 

 of the fortunate invaders. 



Whilst this was passing in Havana it was falsely reported in 

 Mexico that the British, being unsuccessful in their attacks on 

 Cuba, had raised the siege, and were about to leave the islands for 

 the Spanish main. The important port of Vera Cruz and its de- 

 fences were of course not to be neglected under such circumstances. 

 This incorrect rumor was, however, soon rectified by the authentic 

 news of the capture of the Moro Castle and of the city of 

 Havana. The Marques de Cruillas immediately ordered all the 

 militia to be raised in the provinces, even six hundred miles from 

 the eastern coast, and to march forthwith to Vera Cruz. That 

 city and its castle were at once placed in the best possible condi- 

 tion of defence ; but the unacclimated troops from the high and 

 healthy regions of the interior who had been brought suddenly to 

 the sickly sea shore of the tierra caliente, suffered so much from 

 malaria, that the viceroy was obliged to withdraw them to Jalapa 

 and Perote. 



Whilst Mexico was thus in a state of alarm in 1763, and whilst 

 the government was troubled in consequence of the arrest of a 

 clergyman who had been seized as a British spy, the joyful news 

 arrived that peace had again been negotiated between France and 

 England. 



Pestilence, as well as war, appears to have menaced Mexico at 

 this epoch. The small pox broke out in the capital and carried 

 off ten thousand persons. Besides this, another malady, which is 

 described by the writers of the period as similar to that which had 

 ravaged the country a hundred and seven years before, and which 

 terminated by an unceasing flow of blood from the nostrils, filled 

 the hospitals of the capital with its victims. From Mexico this 

 frightful and contagious malady passed to the interior, where im- 

 mense numbers, unable to obtain medical advice, medicine, or at- 

 tendance, were carried to the grave. 



The general administration of the viceroyalty by the Marques de 

 Cruillas was unsatisfactory both to the crown and the people of 

 New Spain. The best historians of the period are not definite in 

 their charges of misconduct against this nobleman, but his de- 

 meanor as an executive officer required the appointment of a visi- 

 tador, in order to examine and remedy his abuse of power. The 



