Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1856-08-07
From the New York Herald.
Mexico as it Was and Is.

The hlgh and patriotic position taken by Gen.
Comonfort in the conduct of his government, gives
the sincerest pleasure to the friends of liberty in
the United States. The hearty support he receives
from the people at home is also n subject of con-
graduation, and 1t is easy to perceive that if this
state of things be maintained for year or two
Mexico will at last take her true place among the
| nations of the earth; and indeed, it is high time
that this most beautiful, fertile and rich of coun-
tries should realize a sense of its dignity and
emancpate itself from the fetters of ignorance, SUI
perstiton and venality with which 1t has been 80
long enchained
The difficulties which have hitherto proved so
serious an obstruction to the onward progress Of
that State to be attributed entirely to the over
wheming power Of the Church. Never was there
such an imperium in imperio as this. The gov
ernments which were not peasin. to the priests
had no stability When there were two parties
contending for the supremacy, whichever the
Church inclined to succeeded
The Archbishop, with nine bishops under him.
all having cathedrals and chapters, except the
prelate of Sonora, with 1876 prependaries and
canonries, ! 200 parishes and regular and sccu.
lar clergy amounting to 10000 persons, was no
inconsiderable parsonage. OF the regular clergy,
1900 reside in the capital, and the orders of the
Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, and Merce.
da rians possess so converts. The salary of the
Archbishop is 100000 per annum, that of the
Bishop Of Puebla was 100000 The remaining
bishops receive altogether about 5000, 900 more
1t has been extremely difficult to ascertain the real
value of the general property of the church. No
administration has yet been able to get at the
truth. Some years since the following was admit
ted by the Archbishop to be the value:
Real estate in town and country Sls,0OoO0O
Churches, houses converts, furniture,
jewels, precious vessels 50, 100000
Floating capital 2O,O0O,0oO
Total $90000,0OO
But it is fully believed this sum is not more than
one quarter OF the true amount. The Signor Len
do de Tegada who is now at the head of the finan-
ces, asserts with perfect confidence that the real
property of the clergy is of the value Of from two
hundred and fifty to three hundred millions of
dollars. In the city of Mexico, containing five
thousand houses, worth eighty millions of dollars
the church owns one half and the income has been
estimated by the Minister at twenty millions of
dollars. The estates in mortmain alone, amount
to fifty millions of dollars. Waddy Thompson,
our former Minister at Mexico, was of the opinion
that one-quarter of the whole country belonged to
the priests. The quantity Of gold, silver, and
jewels in the churches is great enough to pay the
whole foreign and domestic debt. single balus-
trade about three hundred feet long, in the cath.
edral of the capital, is supposed to be worth a
million Of dollars
Is it any wonder, then, that the people of Mexi-
co have been one of the most wretched among
civilized nations? What would we think had we
religious body among US owning one-quarter Of
the United States, with larger revenue than that
of the government, interfering in every political
movement, and exercising special authority in all
cases of deaths, marriages. wills education crimes
OF the clergy, and putting the canon law before the
civil on every possible occasion? Suppose too.
the power which claimed all this authority was not
only irresponsible to the government under which
it existed, but should be able to cut off by inter-
dict any obnoxious individual, by church dsci-
pine, hom any intercourse with his fellows, and
that they could be made to shun him, have no
transactions with him, and avoid him as they
would leper-what should we tn. of a
country where such things were permittedS Yet
this has been, until now, the condition of Mexico;
and the struggle is not yet over between Comon.
fort and the clergy. They will not part with their
ill-gotten wealth without a struggle. When the
patriotic Gomez Farias in 1884, during his brief
Presidency, proposed the seizure OF the church
property, and the measure was likely to be adopt
ed, he very soon upset by a counter-revolu-
ton excited by the clergy.
Gen. Comonfort must take warning and lose no
time in making his policy irrevocable The church
property should be disposed Of in moderate par.
GELS and at moderate prices, and as many proprie-
tsry interests should be established as possible at
once. In this way, the people, from motives Of in.
terest, nothing else, would stand by the govern
ment In the struggle for entire emancipation from
church oppression. Let him look at Sardinia which
8 going through the same difficulties The church
there has interdcted it's religious offices to all those
who take open part with the government. This in
reference with superstitious race Is ono of the
most dreadful of evils, and the statesmen Of Turin
hnd themselves greatly embarrassed by this power
fu spiritual interpositon Of the clergy.
In both cases however, the experiment Of libe-
ration, IL persisted 10, will succeed The mind,
once emancpated becomes endowed with more
than mortal strength in its opposition to priesty
tyranny.
Let those who seek models in monuments so
critical, read the history of the brave Holsnders
who resisted for 30 many years, amid seas Of blood