Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/93

Rh The new viceroy was no better than the old one. Had Spain specially desired to throw away Mexico, the appointment of Archbishop Lizana was the very thing to do. Old, sickly, as feeble in mind as in body, he was fitter for a hospital than for the viceregal palace. In one sense he was too good for the place. Spain wanted there a mean man, a hypocritical, lying trickster; one who could be false to all the world except Spain—particularly one who would be false to Mexico. Now Lizana was none of these. He was passably honest. He had a good heart, and a benign disposition; he lacked altogether the force of will to hold down insubordination, or regulate contending factions. Yet it was a lucky choice for the cause of independence. The policy of such a ruler must necessarily be timid, and his purpose vacillating. Episcopal pastorals were employed where viceregal orders should have been presented on the point of the sword. Frank and sincere, he had no insight into human character, and he allowed himself to be entirely swayed by the oidor Manuel de la Bodega and his cousin, the inquisitor Alfaro, to whose charge he committed the administration of his archiepiscopal government. Alfaro, spurred by ambition but blinded by his vanity, soon fell into the toils of the racionales caballeros; and Lizana, under his guidance, adopted administrative measures which, while they excited the spirit of