Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/141

Rh A man is never so old as to cease to be an enigma to himself, provided he continues to place himself in new and untried fields, and has sense and patience enough fully and fairly to regard himself. The burglar does not know how he would behave as a banker; the merchant does not know what his price would be were he a politician. So the lately humane man may become a bloody fanatic, and the soft radiance of charity may make tender the heart of the cruel. Men pride themselves upon their character as something adamantine, when all the time it may be but putty, never having been tried; were it so, it would change to white or black twenty times under as many and weighty influences.

The man of God behaves badly in the livery of the devil. He behaves worse than the devil. War is Satan's enginery, and he is the only one worthy to employ it, the only one who seems to win at it. God lights his enemies, we are told, and yet his enemies everywhere abound; he does not wholly overcome them. The sterner qualities of the soldier, resolved to win at all cost, were being developed in the parish priest of Dolores. Happily for these unfortunate Spaniards, no event occurred to cause the leaders to put their dreadful threat in execution. A copy of the despatch was sent by the ayuntamiento three hours after midnight on the 20th to the municipality of Querétaro, and on the same day Hidalgo was informed that no resistance would be offered to his entrance.

On the 21st the insurgents marched into the city. At the entrance of the plaza a spectator had stationed himself on a house-top to witness the marshalling of this motley army. The man was shot dead; and as