26G EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION 



to witness on a great scale : but it is no bad 

 accompaniment to successful action, and helps 

 to keep alive the new-born spirit of independence, 

 when other and more important causes are ready- 

 to give practical effect to the sentiment. 



Patriotic exertions are always thought more 

 highly of when viewed from a distance, than when 

 examined closely. But, even in the eyes of those 

 who are present, the interest which a show of pa- 

 triotism excites is often at first of a very lively 

 character. This dazzling effect, however, speed- 

 ily goes oW: the real characters and motives of 

 the actors become so well known to us, that the 

 fictitious representation of pure disinterested pub- 

 lic spirit no longer pleases ; and at last we see 

 nothing in this revolutionary drama that is acted 

 to the life, but the cruelty and the sorrow. 



In the case of the Mexican Revolution, Itur- 

 bide endeavoured to conciliate all parties, and 

 tried, by various means^ to unite the interests of 

 the old Spaniards with those of the natives : but 

 the result of the experiment shows how vain all 

 such attempts are. It was, in fact, entirely con- 

 trary to the habits of the Spaniards, to form a 



