The
vice-king, had he not died suddenly, would have given me the same
exposition which his widow gave me. It being then, in some sort, a
matter of justice that you should give your declaration relative to
the aforesaid exposition of the vice-queen, I therefore pray you to do
so.
I will merely add that, in one of my conversations with the vice-king,
he told me that, in the aforesaid letter, Wilkinson, in speaking of
his service rendered in frustrating what he called the invasion of
Mexico by the ex-vice-president, Mr. Burr, likened himself to
_Leonidas in the pass of Thermopylae_. Be assured, reverend sir, of my
profound respect.
RICHARD RAYNAL KEENE,
Colonel in the service of H. C. M.
Rev. Dr. MANGAN, _Rector of the Irish College in Salamanca._ Madrid,
July 23, 1821
MY DEAR SIR,
I have carefully read the exposition you enclosed me in your esteemed
favour of the 21st instant, of the former vice-queen of Mexico, La
Senora Donna Maria Ines Jauregui de Yturrigaray, relative to the
famous embassy of General Wilkinson to her husband Don Joseph de
Yturrigaray, viceroy of Mexico.
As his excellency was pleased to make use of me as interpreter in the
interview he granted Mr. Walter Burling, the bearer of a letter from
the aforesaid General Wilkinson, and commissioned by him to manifest
to the viceroy the importance of his embassy, I candidly confess that,
to the best of my recollection, the exposition of the vice-queen is
perfectly correct, for the object of the famous embassy of Mr.
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