It presented a combination of qualities which generally serve to
neutralize each other, but which were mixed in such proportions
in him as to give it additional strength. He was gentle, yet
resolute; by nature intrepid, yet preferring to rely on the
softer arts of policy. He was frugal in his personal
expenditure, and economical in the public; yet caring nothing for
riches on his own account, and never stinting his bounty when the
public good required it. He was benevolent and placable, yet
could deal sternly with the impenitent offender; lowly in his
deportment, yet with a full measure of that self-respect which
springs from conscious rectitude of purpose; modest and
unpretending, yet not shrinking from the most difficult
enterprises; deferring greatly to others, yet, in the last
resort, relying mainly on himself; moving with deliberation, -
patiently waiting his time; but, when that came, bold, prompt,
and decisive.
Gasca was not a man of genius, in the vulgar sense of that term.
At least, no one of his intellectual powers seems to have
received an extraordinary development, beyond what is found in
others. He was not a great writer, nor a great orator, nor a
great general. He did not affect to be either. He committed the
care of his military matters to military men; of ecclesiastical,
to the clergy; and his civi and judicial concerns he reposed on
the members of the Audience. He was not one of those little
great men who aspire to do every thing themselves, under the
conviction that nothing can be done so well by others.
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