Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/98

78 authority when the chief magistrate thus confidently exposed himself to public contempt.

No man who ever knew Guerrero could deny him the possession of good sense, or even of judgment which is all-sufficient in a constitutionally governed country; and yet he never seemed to realize what the requirements and conditions of his high position were — its duties and rights, its resources and perils. His acts in the presidential chair lacked that firmness and constancy which spring from a conviction of the justice, usefulness, or expediency of any given measure. He neither possessed the qualifications to prevent the breaking-out of sedition, nor the vigor to repress it. And yet there was in the man no littleness of soul, no imbecility. In grave questions, whenever he did fix his mind and form a judgment, he was firm, persevering, and even obstinate. His political principles were: national independence, the federal system, hatred of monarchical rule, a profound respect for the representatives of the people, expulsion of Spaniards, and the levelling of classes. All favoring these principles were deemed worthy of his confidence, which explains the origin of the intense antipathy felt toward him by those of a different way of thinking, as well as the bitter hostility rankling in his own bosom toward his opponents, who constituted the party controlled by the upper clergy. Guerrero's private life