disappeared. Intolerance continued to exist de jure, and political parties fighting for supremacy would seize that handle, but only to drop it again as soon as they had gained their object. Had it not been for parties anxious for the support of the clergy, the reformation of the latter would have been easily accomplished, and much future trouble saved to all concerned. It is a fact that the leading men of all parties desired the reformation, though they differed as to the time and manner of securing it.[1]
In order to form an idea of the power wielded by the clericals to counteract that of the republican government at the time of its organization, and in later years, it should be borne in mind that it was a power coetaneous with the colonial system and deeply rooted. Aside from all the privileges and prerogatives the clergy had possessed from the earliest days, they directed the consciences of men and women, not only on religious matters, but also on social, conjugal, and general domestic affairs, dress, and public amusements. Superadded to which was the fact that thousands of men and their families derived their support and comforts of life from the revenues of the clergy, and upheld them as a matter of interest if not of principle. The republic has therefore had to contend against a power older than itself, directed by the ministers of the almighty.[2] The liberal party in 1833 and 1834 labored to crush the politico-theocratic power, and thus save democratic principles and institutions on the basis of an absolute independence between the civil
- ↑ The clergy systematically opposed the govt, were hostile to religious toleration, to freedom of thought and to free expression in the press; they strenuously objected to equality before the law; made war against civil marriages and registrations; opposed foreign colonization, and public or any other education unless it was wholly under ecclesiastical control. Many of the difficulties Mexico has had with foreign powers were partly originated and encouraged by the clergy.
- ↑ They demanded every aid and support from the laws and govt, and yet disallowed all subjection or responsibility to them, such as they had been forced to recognize during the royal rule. They had large pecuniary resources, which they used freely to accomplish their ends, coastantly availing themselves likewise of the low elements of ignorance and superstition.
