Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/662

646 said, because they shared in the gains, or feared revelations. It is sufficient to instance the military inefficiency and maladministration of the drunkard Álvarez in Oajaca, the several cases of disobedience of orders during the campaigns, with their lamentable results, and lately the arraignment of Iturbide for extortions and other abuses in Guanajuato. Calleja could hardly excuse himself on the ground that loyal officers were too scarce to permit strict investigation of conduct.

His neglect caused him to be widely burdened with all the evil growing out of a prolonged war. such as excessive taxes and forced loans, partly levied also by district commanders and distributed for a long time with pressing inequality, to the ruin of many families and localities. Add to this a severity which converted campaigns into bloody retaliations and barbarous man-hunting, and sent a number of prominent persons to languish in exile. One acceptable reason presented by Calleja for the long continuance of the war was the liberal sentiment fostered by the constitution of 1812, and the discontent roused in so many quarters by its withdrawal, with a consequent readiness to serve and shelter insurgents. He also pointed to the independent action observed by Cruz in Nueva