Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/711

Rh subsequently made clear, was a sinister one, and nearly succeeded. It was to alienate from him the good-will of the radical progressionist wing of his supporters, who now began to attribute his moderation to the representations of the ecclesiastics, and a large part of the women in opposition to the establishment of freedom of religious worship. But so soon as the liberals became united by the very policy the president pursued, the reactionary press changed its tone and began a tirade against him. Even the venerable archbishop was not spared, for he was accused of advising that the ecclesiastical issues should be arranged with the pope. Their invectives were so scandalous that the government ceased to forbear, and suppressed La Sociedad, La Patria, and other journals; the rabid partisans of the clergy then resorted to anonymous papers upholding their principles of retrogression, which they caused to appear on street corners.

Lázaro de la Garza y Ballesteros, archbishop of Mexico, was born in Nuevo Leon, on the 17th of December, 1785. In 1810 he was admitted to the bar, and in 1815, his vocation being for the priesthood, he was ordained, after which he held several important ecclesiastical positions, and on the 31st of October, 1837, became bishop of Sonora and Sinaloa, which see had been vacant fourteen years. His course in the diocese won him general respect and love. Не had visited it before 1848 as far as Úres, 200 leagues from his capital, overcoming great difficulties and suffering from illness. His promotion to the metropolitan church of Mexico was on the 30th of September, 1850.

Garza greatly exerted himself to reform his clergy, and was munificent; but he lived without display and