Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/717

Rh The aggregate value of the church property, both secular and regular, in estates and mortgages, must have been, in the early part of the present century, not less than one half the total value of real estate in the country. As early as 1644 the ayuntamiento of Mexico petitioned King Felipe IV. to check the increase of convents and of investments for religious purposes. The possessions of the church were considerably reduced in 1767 by the expulsion of the Jesuits, whose estates reverted to the royal treasury, though the rights of the benevolent establishments of which the Jesuits had been in charge were duly respected. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the nineteenth century the aggregate must have been as above stated, and represented a money value of about $44,500,000.

In 1809, at which date it will be remembered war broke out with France, the Spanish government seeing no escape from impending bankruptcy, in consequence of an over-issue of royal vales, or treasury notes, attempted a very dangerous financial measure, by ordering on the 26th of December, not only the