Page:Life in Mexico vol 2.djvu/203

Rh "The honors which I receive to-day are certainly great; but I should have preferred them before the never-sufficiently mourned catastrophe of the immortal Yturbide. Let us throw a thick veil over so irreparable a loss. It is true, that surviving such great misfortunes, I have been enabled to consecrate my existence and my vigilance to the peace, order and felicity of this beloved country. But how difficult is the conduct of those who govern in the midst of the conflict of civil dissensions! In these, my conscience has chosen, and my resolution has never vacillated between ignominy and honor. Do I on this account deserve the national gratitude and munificence, manifested by such distinguished rewards? I return for them to the representatives of the nation my frankest gratitude; fixing my mind only on the grandeur and benevolence of the sovereign power which rewards me in the sacred name of the country. I shall preserve till death these precious objects which render my name illustrious as a soldier, and as a supreme magistrate. They will stimulate me more and more every day to all kinds of sacrifices, even to the giving up my life should it be necessary; that I may not be unworthy of the favorable conception and of the recompense with which the worthy representatives of so magnanimous a nation have to-day honored me. Receive, gentlemen, this frank manifestation of my sentiments, and of my fervent vows for the felicity of the republic, with the most sincere protestations of my eternal gratitude."

"The liveliest emotions of satisfaction" (I still quote from the Diario) "followed this expressive