Branz Mayers' Mexico [pp. 117-141]

Brantz Mayer's Mexico. [July,
tration of that class of corrupt politicians who rule Mexico, and as he is better known to us than most of his unworthy compeers, and is, withal, the best type of the class,
we place before our readers his portrait, sketcheA with
ability, and, ~~e doubt not, with our author's usual fairness:
"lie possessed a wilful, observant, patient intellect, which had
received very little culture; but constant intercourse with all classes
of men made him perfectly familiar with the strength and weaknesses of his countrymen. There was not a person of note in the
republic whose value lie did not know, nor was there a venal politician with whose price he was unacquainted. Believing most men
corrupt or corruptible, he was constantly busy in contriving expedients to control or win them. A soldier, almo~t from his infancy,
during turbulent times, among semi-civilized troops, he had become
so habitually despotic, that when he left the camp for the cabinet
he still blent the impeflous General with the intriguing President.
lie seemed to cherish the idea that his country could not be virtuously governed. Ambitious and avaricious, he' sought for power
not only to gratify his individual lust of personal glory, but as a
means of enriching himself and purchasing the instruments who
might sustain his authority. Accordingly, he rarely distinguished
the public treasure from his private funds. Soldier as he was by
profession, he was slightly skilled in the duties of a commander in
the field, and never won a great battle, except through the blunders
of his opponents. lle was a systematic revolutionist, a manager of
men, an astute intriguer, and, personally timid, he seldom meditated
an advance without planning a retreat. Covetous as a miser, he
nevertheless delighted to watch the mean combat between fowls,
upon whose prowess he had staked his thousands. An agnculturist, with vast landed possessions, his chief rural pleasure was in
training these birds for the brutal battle of the pit. Loving money
insatiably, he leaned, with the eagerness of a gambler, over the table
where those who knew how to propitiate his greediness learned the
graceful art of losing judidously. Sensual by constitution, he valuca
woman only as the minister of his pleasures. The gentlest being
imaginable, in tone, address and demeanour, to foreigners or his
equals, he was oppressively haughty to his inferiors, unless they
were necessary to his purposes or not absolutely in his power. The
correspondence and public papers which were either written or dictated by him, fully displayed the sophistry by which he changed
-defeats into victories, or converted criminal faults into philanthropy.
Gifted with an extraordinary power of expression, he used his splendid language to impose, by sonorous periods, upon the credulity or