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440 by the Pueblanos, before our arrival, and the late religious riot had led us to believe many of the statements to be true. But to whatever extent this feeling may exist among the lower and more ignorant class, it was never manifested by word or deed, toward Mr. Seward or any member of his party. We were lodged and sumptuously fed during our stay, in the "Obispado" or Palace of the Bishop of Puebla, and nothing could be more kind and respectful than the demeanor of all classes toward Mr. Seward and his friends. I was all over the city by day and night, alone, wearing the undress uniform of an officer of the American National Guard, which left no chance for my nationality being mistaken, and always met the most kindly treatment. I was informed that the Government had given orders to General Alatorre and Governor Romero, to protect the Protestant congregation in Puebla in their right of public worship of God according to their own conscience, at any cost and under any circumstances, and that the Catholic clergy, though naturally opposed to the innovation on their customs, exercised through more than three centuries without dispute, were heard to rebuke, strongly, any disposition to resort to force and violence in opposing the spread of the—as they must of course regard them—heretical doctrines and practices.

When we left, all was quiet in Puebla, and unless the Government troops meet with some severe reverse in the campaign against the guerilla bands in the Sierra, the Protestant element in Puebla is not likely to be again disturbed, or in any way maltreated, unless itself guilty of some act of wholly unjustifiable imprudence.