Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1858-03-10
Tho Overthrow Of Comonfort Government
r~ of Mexico. .s-r .f

\ Six hundred and tfty-one years ago, Pope liz
nocent, the third of the name that had filed tn
chair of St. Peter, laid the powerful kingdom Q
| England, under an edict, for the alleged contu
macy of its sovereign, King John, the meanes
and most profigate tyrant that ever sat upon {
throne, in resisting his claim to the right of i'm
posing upon the See of Canterbury prirnate O
This own selection. We read of the effect pro-
dnced by this bill, with horror and incredulity.
We are amazed to find, that in obedience to
the mandate of an Italian priest, the nation was
deprived of all the exercises ofreligion-tha the
cross, relics images, and other emblems of su
perstition were removed from their places, and
carefully buried to preserve them from the ap.
proach of people who had become accursed,
by the sin of their ruler-that the bells were re.
moved from steeples, and concealed from the
view of the vulgar-that mass was said with
closed doors, and nobody present but the priests
that the laity were allowed to partake of no
religious rites-that the dead, excluded from
coDsecrated ground, were buried in the fields,
without the consolation to their friends of relig-
ious service-that marriage was performed in
the church yards-that the people were debar-
red from the use of meat-that they were for
hidden to salute each other or to shave their
boards, or to change their dirty apparel for
clean-and that the people submitted to all this
tyrsnDy under the fear of divine vengeance to
be made Immediately manifest, if single title
was neglected. Unable to account for it in any
other way, we throw the the whole burthen
upon the unfortunate 18th century, and compla-
Gently assure ourselves that such things could not
happen in this enlightened age. Before we be-
come too sure of that, it will be well to take
glance at what has just occurred in neighbor.
ing republic, which, while it does not quite come
to the standard of 1908, comes so near it as to
leave Us small cause for exultation in the supe-
rior wisdom of 1858.
When General Comonfort was elected Presi-
dent of Mexico, one of his first acts was to pro.
cure law seculariziDg the enormous estates of
the Church, and deyoting them to the service
Of the State, overwhelmed in debt beyond its
capacity to pay, and continually embarrassed
by the intrigues of an ambitious clergy, which
acknowledged no obedience to the laws of the
land, so long as they came in conflict with man.
dates from Rome. For this act of justice and
wise policy, he was accommodated by Pope
Plus the 9th, an Italian priest and potentate,
residing four thousand miles from the scene of
the transaction, and having, properly, no more
to do with the internal affairs of Mexico than we !
have with the internal affairs of China or Hin |
doostan. The Arch-Epscopal Church of Pueb |
la was instantly turned into place for stirring
up rebellion against the government, and nearly
all the churches, under the lead OF this unprin-
cpled prelate, followed the example. Finding
the government too strong for them, although
hacked by the Pope's bull, the Jesuits next OBJ
tained an "Encyclical Letter" from the Pope, in
which he denounced the secuarization of the
Church property, mathematical Comonfort and
called upon every good Catholic, under pain OF
to continue, to the last to
resist his government. These Jesuits went from
Rome to Madrid, and succeeded in stirring up
the Spanish government against Comonfort.-l
Hence the continual threats of war, for the most |
tr volous pretences, that lave been heard from
Spain for the last year. In connection with
this conspiracy, there can be no doubt that San
Ia Anna was invited back to Mexico. Backed
by the entire wealth of Rome, the Hierarchy |
have succeeded, the Church is triumphant, and
Comonfort is an exile in the United States-
Had he possessed money enough, he might have
held bis own, possibly but, in these days, moth
ing can be done without money, and he had
none.
Let US not be too hard upon the 18th century
or believe that Innocent III was an exceptional
Pope. ,..r .-.