Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/827

Rh At the time of his death Iturbide was nearly forty-one years of age. His career is before the reader, and his character may be drawn from it. Ambitious and designing, he possessed a winning influence most remarkable. Plausible and persuasive, he could cloak his aspirations with false patriotism, and while harboring designs the most selfish, put on a semblance of candor that carried conviction of honesty and purity of purpose. Thus it was that when independence had been achieved he came to be lauded by a large party as the savior of the nation, properly to be chosen its rebuilder. But his ability as a statesman was of no high order. He was wholly unable to cement the disintegrated elements of the community, which might have been reconstructed by a greater mind; and when by force of impudence and scheming, based on a brilliant military record, he had raised himself to the throne, he lacked the skill to hold his place. Selfish ambition outran his craftiness, and blinded his judgment. He failed to see that the same military leaders whom he had elevated with injustice to others would be the first to make their peace with the indignant nation when he alienated it by trampling under foot its sovereign rights; his blind confidence in the army was the secondary cause of his fall. Nevertheless, his execution was an unjust proceeding, and it can be excused only by the belief that civil war might ever be stirred so long as he remained alive. He still possessed numerous adherents, and to believe in his pretensions of patriotism would have been weakness.

With regard to the achievement of independence, more credit has been given to Iturbide than he deserves. Fighting first for monarchy, he would have so continued to the end had not personal interests influenced him. He was a great man only in a superficial way, though brilliant. He knew not the meaning of pure patriotism. His name is not to be mentioned