rm commenced, has
proved to be the progressive age of the republic. He is of native birth,
and rose from the ranks of the masses. The only opposition to his
government is that of the church party, led by the Archbishop of Mexico,
and supported by that great army of non-producers, the useless priests,
who fatten upon the poor and superstitious populace. At present this
party has no political power or influence, but is working at all times,
in secret, silently awaiting an opportunity to sacrifice anything or
everything to the sole interests of the Roman Catholic Church. "The
political struggle in Mexico," says United States Commissioner William
Eleroy Curtis, "since the independence of the republic, has been and
will continue to be between antiquated, bigoted, and despotic Romanism,
allied with the ancient aristocracy, under whose encouragement
Maximilian came, on the one hand, and the spirit of intellectual,
industrial, commercial, and social progress on the other."

Here, as in European countries, where this form of faith prevails, it is
the women mostly--we might almost say solely, in Mexico--who give their
attendance upon the ceremonies of the church. The male population are
seldom seen within its walls, though yielding a sort of tacit
acquiescence to the faith. We are speaking of large communities in the
cities and among the more intelligent classes. The peons of the rural
districts, the ignorant masses who do not think for themselves, but who
are yet full of superstitious fears, are easily impressed by church
paraphernalia, gorgeous trappings, and gilded images. This class, men
and women, are completely under the guidance of the priesthood.
"Although the clergy still exercise a powerful influence among the
common people," says Commissioner Curtis, "whose superstitious ignorance
has not yet been reached by the free schools and compulsory education
law, in politics they are powerless." It was in 1857 that Mexico
formally divorced the church and state by an amendment to her
constitution, thereby granting unrestricted freedom of conscience and
religious worship to all persons, sects, and churches. Several
denominations in the United States avail themselves of this privilege,
and in some of the cities Protestant churches have been established
where regular weekly services are held. "With the overthrow of
Montezuma's empire in 1520," says that distinguished native Mexican
writer, Riveray Rio, "began the rule of the Spania