He behaved constantly like a wary and cautious trimmer, avoiding all extreme measures, shaking off compromising allies like the Ultramontanes and the Regionalists, elbowing out of the cabinet General Polavieja when he asked for too large credits for the army, taking charge of the ministry of marine to carry out reforms that no admiral would have ventured to make for fear of his own comrades, and at last dispensing with the services of the ablest man in the cabinet, the finance minister, Seor Villaverde, when the sweeping reforms and measures of taxation which he introduced raised a troublesome agitation among the taxpayers of all classes.
Journeys sitting in the back of the family station wagon, elbowing siblings and squabbling, looking out into the darkness watching for eyes.
You'd better scramble and get a chair even if it means elbowing little Timmy out of the way.
