457
Jl.\PEIIS OF ~fIRABEAU Bt:0XAPARTE LAlUR
who, not~vith~tan<li!lg was a man of affable and interesting character- ~-U _the time m wh1eh he was charged with the Government which was m the years 1786 an_d '_88 . ( I clo not ~ecollect the precise elate) amongst the very few and ms1gmficant stations which were fullfilled- The Office _of Notary of the Government was occupied by D Ignacio Quijano a. 1iative of the country-rich, of good family, and a haughty char- acte_r- . One of the attributes of this office was to compile and attest by his signature the acts or resolutions of the Ayuntamiento in which the Captain General presided-but the Notary had neither voice nor rnte-nor C'ould he occupy a chair equal to that of the magistrates- By one of those anomalies-to be explained only in absolute Govern- ments-the Office of Xotary notwithstanding its being the depository o~ public faith was consiclered as humble and umvorthy of being exer- cised by the nobility- The laws from that time appear to haYe im- pressed a detestable character upon the office alluded to-because it was not permitted the Xotary to exercise the public acts of his office without being seated in such a chair as that of doomed criminals- For many years in :Merida as also in other parts, this formality had heen forgotten or dispensed with-and consequentlv he was not now considered as a Notary but as any other officer of the crown-Don· Lucas De Galvez that he might mortify the proud bearing of Quijanos, by an affected or too slight observance of the Law-determined to treat Don Ignacio Quijano with a certain species of contempt as well in public as privately- complete his system of humiliation On the day on which the Ayuntamicnto were to meet he ordered the back of Qui- jano's chair to be cut- and on the opening of the Session he went as was the custom to take a chair equal to that of the .Magistrate- The Captain General in an excited tone exclaimed- ".Mr. Notary it is not just that you should wish to place yourself with those Gentlemeu by occupying a chair which does not belong to you-take that which the law has given you and understand hereafter- behave [ ?] so that 110 one shall be ignorant of the rank which you ought to occupy here" Quijano astonished at this unexpected affront-could not continue the business and retired to his house insulted and breathing revenge. He did not leave it until he calculated that a sufficient time had already expired-and no one recollected ,vhat bad past- During his seclusion it appears that he had conceived various projerts of revenge but had at length to discard them-because they were difficult to be realized. and now when he had lost all hope of obtaining it, a casualty offered itself- One Don F Lopez major-domo of the Captain General-an obscure man and poor but of sufficient resolution-was blindly enam- oured of the sister of Quijano and altho he was not ig-nornnt of the distance which seperated them on account of the goods of fortune con- sideration of family &c he redoubled notwithstanding- his firmness to enter the house and obtain her hand -Quijano knew in a moment all the advantages which he could derive from this man for the realization of his plan and with this idea he dexterously gav~ him to hope that he might obtain the hand of his sister-but not whilst the mnn who hncl so cruelly dishonoured him remninecl or !ired in Yuratnn- Lopl'z to eon tract a . . . filleg-ible 1 with the family of his intentlt'tl britlc- and to remO\·e the only obstacle which oposed ih:elf, in his opinion to his marriacre A!!reed to Murder Seiior nalvez 0 ..
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