more quiet
and unobtrusive statesman, with a field infinitely less glaring or
attractive, exacts from his judges a suspension of party feeling, an
investigation of motive and merit, a calm and forbearing justice, which
the impatient masses have seldom the time or talent to bestow. It is,
therefore, by no means surprising to find in history, that the sword has
commonly been mightier than the pen, and that military chieftains become
the natural heads of republics which are created by long and bitter
revolutions.

It must be remembered that the army in Mexico is not what armies are
generally understood to be in other countries. In Europe they are
designed to restrain the aggressive ambition of rival powers, to act as
military police, and, by their imposing skill, discipline and numbers,
to preserve the balance of national power. But in Mexico, whilst the
members of an immensely rich hierarchy constitute a distinct _order_ in
society, the army forms another.--The policy of the existing military
chieftains was to sustain, foster and increase their individual power
and patronage. The mere domestic police of the country could surely
never require, in time of peace, so large a numerical force under arms
as that which has always been supported in it; yet the military
presidents, at once, sought to establish an _army of officers_, and by
the enlistment of a body of commanders, entirely disproportionate to the
number of rank and file, they immediately created a _military order_
upon whose support they could rely so long as they possessed the means
of patronage. The officers thus became armed and paid politicians,
whilst the common soldiers formed a military police;--the one an
element of all political revolutions, the other a tool by which those
revolutions were effected. The great practical idea of government, it
will be perceived, was derived from _compulsory force_. The church
wielded the spiritual power, whilst the army held the physical; and,
between the two, _the people_,--composed of merchants, professional men,
farmers, proprietors, and artisans,--were refused all participation in
authority, or progress in civil order which might have placed Mexico
among the foremost nations of the world. In this manner a central despot
has always found means and instruments to suppress federalism;--for
whilst near _thirty_ revolutions have occurred in Mexico since her
independence, every one of her presidents has been a military
chiefta