were considered a nest of superstition, and they thought that the best interest of the country required to close them.

During our civil wars the clergy contributed large amounts to the support of the conservative governments, which it often established. It is thought that in 1853, General Santa Anna abandoned the Conservative Government, which he then presided over, because the Archbishop of Mexico did not give him all the money he required to carry on the war waged against him by the Liberal party.

The wealth accumulated by the Church of Mexico was used for the purpose of supporting the conservative governments, whose policy was to keep the statu quo, and was therefore opposed to progress of any kind. The Church became a very prominent factor in politics, and could upset and establish governments at its pleasure, fomenting the many revolutions which were constantly breaking out. It was thought necessary, therefore, to destroy the political power of the Church before we could establish and maintain peace, and that work was done by what we call our Laws of Reform, issued in 1859, which established a complete independence between the Church and the State, and were intended to completely end the domination of the Catholic Church in civil affairs in Mexico: the Church property was confiscated, so that even the houses of worship are now the property of the government; all convents of friars and nuns were closed, all religious ceremonies-such as processions and wearing a distinctive dress, were ordered to be confined to the interior of the edifices; the cemeteries were secularized, and marriage made exclusively a civil contract. No religious instruction or ceremony is allowed in the public schools, and never is a prayer offered as a part of the program of a national celebration. In an article, which I published in the North American Review, of January, 1895, entitled "The Philosophy of the Mexican Revolutions," I dwelt especially on this subject, and to that article I refer the reader who may desire more detailed information.

The Liberals were not the first to dispose of the Church property and revenues, as the Spanish Government, under the rule of Godoy, in 1805 and 1806, to secure funds to form a redemption provision for the royal vales or credit notes, pounced on the property of the Church in Mexico, and that, later on, when the Mexicans rose in their war for independence, the royal authorities took another part of the Church's wealth to fight the patriots.

The bigoted Catholic element which used to be decidely opposed to any liberal government and was always conspiring to overthrow it, has since the downfall of Maximilian, become satisfied that the condition of things has changed having accordingly changed their course, and now there are thousands of progressive catholics in Mexico sincerely devoted to their Church, who see only danger and eventual

disastrous defeat in the adoption of a program of reaction. They go with the times and support the administration of Gen. Diaz because, on the whole, it suits them, and manifests no hostility to their conscientiously held convictions. The pope's influence seems to be directed to assuaging ancient rancors, and to the calming of passionate resentments, which is a great deal better for the Church.

Protestantism in Mexico.-The Liberal party proclaimed as an inherent right of man, freedom of conscience and the free exercise of one's religion; but the question was really only a theoretical one, since excepting a few foreigners, no one in Mexico had any other religion than the Catholic. The clergy, the Church party, and all strict Mexican catholics were greatly opposed to the introduction of Protestantism, because protestants were looked upon as heretics whose purpose was to divide the Mexican people into different sects, disturbing their religious unity, which they considered a source of national strength, and ultimately aiding in what some Mexicans fear is the aim of this country, that is the final absorption of Mexico. When the struggles between the Liberal and the Church party terminated in favor of the former in 1867, with the withdrawl of the French army from Mexico and the downfall of Maximilian, the time came to put into practice the principles of the Liberal creed, and protestant organizations in the United States sent missionaries to Mexico for the purpose of establishing and propagating the protestant religion there. The Mexican Government could not refuse to allow the missionaries the free exercise of the Protestant or any other faith, because that right was guaranteed to all men in our constitution, and also because it has been a principle for which the Liberal party had been contending during many years.

But we went, then, further than allowing the Protestants the free exercise and preaching of their religion, and as I am in a measure responsible for that step, I think it proper to give my reasons for the same. My opinion has never been favorable to missionary work, because although I recognize that some religions have higher moral principles than others, I think that on the whole they are all intended to accomplish the same purpose, that all are good, when practised in good faith. It has always seemed to me that Christian missionaries sent to heathen countries would be looked upon in the same manner as would be heathen missionaries sent to Christian countries. But even supposing that it should be proper and desirable for the Christian religion, on account of its high morals and principles, to send missionaries to heathen countries for the purpose of converting them to Christianity, that principle would scaracely hold good in Christian countries of different denominations, and Catholicism is a Christian religion-whatever abuses it may have committed, and I think the natural tendency

of all religions when they are predominant is to absorb and misuse power; but that Protestants should send missionaries to a Catholic country seems to me inconsistent. In principle, therefore, Mexico is hardly the proper field for Protestant missionaries, notwithstanding that there is a great deal of room for improvement there, in so far as religious matters are concerned.

After having witnessed the terrible consequences of religious intolerance and political domination of the Catholic Church in Mexico, I was of course greatly impressed with the condition of things existing in the United States, where all religions are tolerated and none attempts to control the political destinies of the country. I thought that one of the best ways to diminish the evils of the political domination and abuses of the clergy in Mexico was to favor the establishment of other sects, which would come in some measure into competition with the Catholic clergy and thus serve to cause it to refrain from excesses of which it had been guilty before. When, after having lived for ten years in the United States, from 1859 to 1868, I returned to Mexico and took charge of the Treasury Department there, just at the time when the religious question was being solved, I, therefore, favored the establishment of a Protestant community as planned by Mr. Henry C. Riley, since made a Bishop, a gentleman of English parentage, born in Chili, who had been educated in London and New York and was graduated with high honors at Columbia College, New York, who spoke equally well English and Spanish, and eagerly desired to establish a Mexican National Church in competition with the Roman Catholic, in which undertaking, I understand, he used his own funds. He proposed to buy one of the finest churches, the main church of the Franciscan convent, which had been built by the Spaniards, located in the best section of the City of Mexico, and which could not now be duplicated but for a very large amount of money; and with the hearty support of President Juarez, who shared my views and who was perhaps a great deal more radical than I was myself on such subjects, I sold the building which had become national property after the confiscation of the Church property, for a mere trifle, if I remember rightly about $4000, most of that amount being paid in Government bonds which were then at a nominal price.

The magnificent building sold to Dr. Riley's community was bought recently by the Catholic Church to restore it as a Catholic temple, for the sum of $100,000, as I understand. My assistance was rendered to the Protestant cause for the reasons that I have stated, and not because I had adopted the Protestant faith; therefore the action of the Mexican Government in the matter at the time I speak of, was all the more praiseworthy. Dr. Butler bought about the same time another part of the same convent of San Francisco, where he established a Methodist Church in a very creditable building.

It is true that a great many Mexicans, namely the Indians, do not know much about religion and keep to their old idolatry, having changed only their idols, that is, replaced their old deities with the images of the Saints of the Catholic Church, but it would be difficult for the Protestant missionaries to reach them. The Spaniards labored zealously to make the natives adopt the Catholic religion, and although they succeeded wonderfully, it was a task too difficult to fully accomplish in the three centuries of the Spanish domination in Mexico.

I do not think that the American Protestant missionaries in Mexico have made much progress, and I doubt very much whether Mexico is a good field for them; but they are satisfied with their work, and they think that under the circumstances, they have made very good progress.

The number of Catholic churches and chapels in the country was, in 1889, 10,112, while the number of Protestant places of worship was 119. On August 12, 1890, there were in the municipality of Mexico. 320,143 Catholics and 2623 Protestants.

The American missionaries, and especially Dr. Riley, whom I consider a very benevolent and unselfish man, have established Protestant schools and asylums for children, spending considerable money in maintaining such institutions. Of course poor parents were glad to send their children to the Protestant schools and asylums when they could not afford to keep them at home or send them to more desirable places, and these Protestant institutions were of a very benevolent character and worthy, therefore, to be encouraged. Parents in such cases declared themselves to be partial to Protestantism, but only for the sake of having their children accepted in the Protestant schools and asylums, and this made the Protestants think they were making a great many

converts.

Now and then a Catholic priest would renounce Catholicism and accept Protestantism, and such occurrences were always considered as great triumphs for the Protestant cause, but although in some instances such changes have been made in good faith, in others they were made for selfish purposes, and they never had any great weight with the community.

I have no prejudice against Protestantism; on the contrary, I admire greatly many of its principles, and in speaking on this subject I consider myself perfectly impartial and unbiassed.

In February, 1888, the Evangelical Assembly, representing the various Protestant denominations and Evangelical Societies conducting missionary operations in the Republic of Mexico, was held in the City of Mexico. They claimed that, notwithstanding the difficulties of language and climate and the other obstacles with which they had to contend, they found that they had over 600 congregations, 192 foreign and 585 native workers, over 7000 in the day schools, and about 10,000

in the Sunday-schools, 18,000 communicants and a Protestant community of over 60,000 souls. Ten small publishing-houses are turning out millions of pages each year, and their church property is valued at nearly a million and a quarter dollars in silver.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION.

Mexico was the largest and richest American colony of Spain, and for this reason it was called New Spain. The City of Mexico grew during the Spanish rule to be larger than Madrid, the capital of the Spanish Kingdom, the population of the country being estimated in 1810, just before the independence movement began, at 6,122,354; while the public revenue of the whole colony amounted to the very large sum of $20,000,000 yearly, the only exports of the country. being silver and gold, and commodities of great value in small volume. and weight, such as cochineal, vanilla, indigo, and a few others.

Mexico accomplished her independence in 1821, and since then has had two Federal Constitutions, both modelled after the Constitution of the United States; two Central Constitutions, which organized the country into a centralized republic, and two ephemeral empires, one under Iturbide, lasting ten months, from 1822 to 1823, and the other under Maximilian, established by French intervention, lasting from 1864 to 1867.

Mexico is now organized, under the Constitution of the 5th of February, 1857, with its several amendments, into a Federal Republic, composed of twenty-seven states, two territories, and a federal district, and the political organization is almost identical with that of this country. The powers of the Federal Government are divided into three branches-Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The Legislative is composed of a House of Representatives and a Senate; the members of the House are elected for two years and the senators for four, the Senate being renewed by half every two years. Representatives are elected by the suffrage of all male adults, at the rate of one member for every 40,000 inhabitants. The qualifications requisite are to be at least twenty-five years of age and a resident of the State; and for senators thirty years.

The Executive is exercised by a President elected by the electors popularly chosen, who holds his office for four years, without any provision forbidding his re-election. He has a cabinet of seven members, namely Secretary of Foreign Affairs, of the Interior, of Justice and Public Instruction, of Fomento, which means promotion of Public Improvements, and includes public lands, patents, and colonization; of Communications and Public Works, of the Treasury, and of War and Navy. No Vice-President is elected, but by an amendment to our Constitution, promulgated April 24, 1896, in the per