CHAPTER XXVII.
CONSTITUTION AND REFORMS.
1856-1857.
Comonfort Suspected — Archbishop La Garza's Course — Ley Lerdo — Comonfort and Congress Reconciled — Constitution of 1857 — Rebellious Clergy — Second Puebla Campaign — More Seditious Acts — Negotiations with the Pope Fail — More Suspicions against Comonfort — Political Confusion — Laws Affecting the Clergy — Conservative Manœuvres — Liberal Demands — Comonfort's Vacillation
The delay in promulgating the constitution, and the bickerings in the liberal party, filled the minds of its best men with fear that the reactionists might regain the ascendancy, renew past horrors, and even dismember the country. The chief points at issue in the party were: the organization of Coahuila and Nuevo Leon as one state;[1] the reinstallation of the government council decreed by the president; and Ál varez' resignation of the presidency. The conservatives and the clergy were bent on making of every political question a religious one, and the radicals were disclosing socialistic views. The allied foes of the ruling party had, for a while, pretended to side with the president, highly commending his conciliatory spirit and his energetic measures to preserve public order; they had actually advocated his striking a blow at the congress. Their purpose, as was
- ↑ Governor Vidaurri having attempted to annex the greater part of Coahuila's towns to Nuevo Leon, the president, on the 15th of April, 1856, de clared his act null. This decree was confirmed by the constituent congress on the 25th of Sept. Archivo Mex., Col. Ley., ii. 371-2.
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