Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/349

Rh In some respects, however, the situation of Mexico differed essentially from that of Spain: no direct intercourse with Rome ever took place; no Papal Legate or Nuntio was admitted; and no Bull, Rescript, or Indulgence, was allowed to circulate, until it had received the Regium Exequatur or Placet, from the Council of the Indies.

The causes of this extreme circumspection, on the part of Spain, I have explained in the Section which treats of her Colonial Policy, (Book I. Section IV.) It gave a peculiar character to the whole religious system of America, and prepared the way for that spirit of Independence which has been displayed by most of the New States in their intercourse with the See of Rome, since their assumption of a political existence.

But this was not the only effect produced by the application of the ordinary principles of the Colonial System of Spain to the Ecclesiastical institutions of the Colonies. In Mexico, at least, it may be regarded as one of the principal causes of the Revolution. The Secular, or Parochial Clergy, shared ia all the disadvantages under which their Creole countrymen were condemned to labour, by the jealous policy of the Mother country.

They were excluded from all the higher degrees of Church preferment, and left to fulfil the laborious duties of parish priests, while the Bishoprics, the Deaneries, and the Chapters of the different Cathedrals, were filled by old Spaniards, many of whom never saw