Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/294

 254 MEXICO. election fell, for the first term of three years, upon a Spanish Monk, who had taken orders in the Peninsula ; for the se- cond, likewise upon a Spaniard, but one who had professed in Mexico ; and for the third only, upon a Mexican bom. The Government naturally wished to do away with a dis- tinction so unfavourable to Natives; but the Convent de- clared any change to be impossible, as the regulation in ques- tion originated in a Bull of the Pope's, and was included in the fundamental rules of the Order. A reference to Rome direct was allowed them, in order to quiet their scruples ; but the Pope, instead of returning a direct answer, referred the question to the Bishop of New Orleans (a Frenchman by birth), who, in a Pastoral addressed to the Monks, recom- mended the strict observance of the Tripartita. This Pastoral was clandestinely introduced, but the Go- vernment having received information of the fact, ordered it to be delivered up, and the bearer (a Monk of the Order) to be severely reprimanded for having taken charge of it. The Tripartita has been since abolished, without any measures of rigour being resorted to. I have stated in the first part of this Section, that serious inconvenience has arisen, both to the Clergy and the Country at large, from the non-existence of a right of Patronage during the last five years. The Congress has, indeed, reserved to it- self, by the 50th Article of the Federal Act, the privilege " of regulating this right throughout the Federation but, up to the present time, it has neither authorized the Executive to appoint Bishops, nor to concur in the appointments made by other bodies. I am inclined to attribute this apparent timidity, on the part of the Congress, to a prudent desire to allow the disad- vantages of a dependence upon a Transatlantic Power to be brought home to the Clergy of all classes before any step is taken to relieve them from its effects. This object is now attained: a feeling in favour of an independent National