Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/680

660 years Intendant of the State. It was under his administration that the receipts amounted annually to four millions of dollars, (from 1812 to 1818,) out of which the whole expences of the army of General Cruz were covered, and all other charges defrayed.

Of the Canons, (mostly old Spaniards,) we saw nothing. Their influence is thought to be upon the wane, and the "Liberals" of the capital declare, that had they not been fettered by the decrees of the Supreme Congress, Jalisco would have given a memorable example to the rest of the Federation, and humbled the pride of the clergy at once. Upon this subject I have already expressed my doubts. It must be admitted, however, that their authority is by no means what it was. Iturbide threw himself into the arms of the high church party, which could not prevent him from being driven from the throne; and amongst the middling classes of society, a disposition to question the authority of the church, even in spiritual affairs, is daily gaining ground. In temporal matters, we have seen that it is rejected altogether. If you ask any young man of the present day in Guadalajara what his religious principles are, he will tell you that he is a "naturalista," that is to say, of no religion at all. Nor is it surprising that such tenets should spread, when the disgraceful mummeries are taken into consideration, by which the friars in particular endeavour to maintain their influence over the minds of the lower orders. At