Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/616

 

, the new president, was a man from whose experience and ability, as the most successful minister of the preceding administration, the country expected some decisive benefits. It mattered not that his political and moral principles were of a somewhat shady hue, or that his generalship during the war of 1846-7 was far from meriting so prompt a token of national approval. Although trained in royal armies to the pursuit of insurgent, he possessed discernment enough, even at the age of nineteen, to join the victorious side, by marching into Mexico in 1821 with the trigarante army. Rapid promotion whetted the appetite of the youth, and convinced him that constancy was at best a burdensome virtue. Не passed in quick succession from one party to another, always ready to serve the victor, and displaying particular devotion during the centralist rule of Bustamante in persecuting federalists. Nor did he hesitate to join his quondam patron and subsequent enemy,

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