Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/83



the chaquetas conceived the design of seizing and deposing the viceroy, they imagined that they would thus be cutting off the hydra's head, that by one bold stroke they would annihilate the monster of disloyalty. But they erred in their calculations. The Creole party, disappointed that their hope should fail in a season so fair for its accomplishment, were doubly embittered. They believed that as matters stood in the mother country, they, and not the Span iards, were the power in the land. Rivalry and hatred between the two factions increased, and henceforward the revolutionary spirit spread silently and far with rapidity.

At a time so fraught with difficulties, arising from violent political change, no more incompetent man