hronic disorder
grew which paralysed the civil development of the country, made
bankrupt the national treasury, and prostituted the people to becoming
mere levies of insurgents, to be drawn upon by this or that
revolutionary leader whose sinister star for the moment happened to be
in the ascendant. Armed highwaymen infested the roads and inhabited the
mountains, and travel was impossible without an escort. A terrible
disregard of human life resulted, and became so strong a characteristic
of the Mexicans as has even to-day not become eradicated.

In 1833 the beginning of a serious cause of civil trouble made its
appearance, and one which has profoundly influenced the Mexicans and
their life. This was the antagonism between the people and the
politicians, and the clergy. Intensely religious, in the Romish faith,
the Mexicans, like the South Americans, were subject to periods of
bitter and relentless feeling against clerical domination, the result
mainly of the extortions of the Church and its insidious acquiring of
temporal power and amassing of wealth. Speaking generally, the Church
brought about its own disestablishment by its own fault. Enactments
were passed at this date to curtail the power and privileges of the
clergy, declaring that tithes should not be collectable by civil law,
nor the fulfilment of monastic vows enforced, and prohibiting the
Church from meddling with public instruction. The political parties
which then grew to being for or against these measures respectively
were the Liberals and Conservatives, and to their dissensions were
mainly due the subsequent disorders; and up to the present day they
form the party divisions of Mexican politics. These measures were the
precursor of the famous Reform Laws of 1859, under Juarez, which
disestablished the Church and appropriated its property.

The incessant turbulence at home was varied from time to time by acute
questions with foreign Powers. In 1829 Spain made a determined attempt
to regain Mexico, with an expedition of 4,000 men, which, however, was
absolutely repulsed by the Federal army under Santa-Anna and Mier: the
Spanish general, Barradas, surrendering his armament and flags, at the
news of which immense rejoicing took possession of Mexico. The
independence of the Republic was recognised by Spain in 1836. Two years
later--1838--a complication arose with France, and the war known as the
_Guerra de los Pasteles_, or "Pie-War," came about, its singular