Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/606

586 and ecclesiastical reforms for the honor and prestige of catholicism. The government, in adopting the reforms, had submitted to an unavoidable necessity for the good of both the church and the national sovereignty. And indeed, after years of disasters, these reforms have become accomplished facts, and the church at this late day exercises its legitimate influence unrestrained, and the morals of the clergy have undergone a change for the better.

The triumph of the liberal party over the reactionists in 1861 is a matter of history, and has been fully detailed elsewhere. During the three years' struggle, several important decrees were issued by President Juarez further to curtail the power of the clergy. These decrees did not, however, stop the clergy. As a last resort, they despoiled the churches of valuable jewels and plate which the confiscation law had spared.

Among President Juarez' first acts on his reaching the capital was to expel Monsignor Luigi Clementi, archbishop of Damascus, papal delegate; also the archbishop of Mexico, and bishops Madrid, Munguía, Barajas, and Espinosa. Bishop Loza had been banished from Sinaloa by the governor. On their arrival at Vera Cruz, their carriages were stoned, and the populace demanded that the Mexican bishops should be confined in jail. However, they were protected by