Mexico in transition from the power of political Romanism to civil and religious liberty

Front matter

DEPART

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Preface

express wishes of Maximilian, adding another iUustration to the maxim that " Truth is often stranger than iiction."

While these pages were being prepared for the press, to ilhistrate the merciful intervention of Almighty God on behalf of those who are wronged and denied the rights of popular government, a remarkable utterance, and from a high quarter, for a contrary doctrine made its appearance. The United States senator from Kansas — regarded by his admirei's as being " brainy, brilliant, and audacious " — saw fit to choose his opportunity lightly to pour his contempt upon convictions to which multitudes of thoughtful people give their earnest sympathy. Standing upon the battle-field of Gettysburg — upon ground hallowed by the blood of thousands of American heroes — this man is reported as having given utterance to the following peculiar and amazing language :

The purification of politics is an iridescent dream. Government is force. Politics is a battle for supremacy. Parties are the armies. The decalogue and the golden rule have no place in a political campaign. The object is success. To defeat the antagonist and expel the party in power is the purpose. In war it is lawful to deceive the adversary, to hire Hessians, to purchase mercenaries, to mutilate, to kill, to destroy. The commander who lost a battle through the activity of his moral nature vFOuld be the derision and jest of history. This modern cant about the corruption of politics is fatiguing in the extreme. It proceeds from the tea-custard and syllabub dilletanteism, the frivolous and desultory sentimentalism of epicenes.

No doubt but this would be welcome news to the enemies of the reign of law and personal and social purity everywhere, people who hate to be rebuked or controlled by either God or man, by law or by conscience. The decalogue and the sermon on the mount stand very much in the way of such persons, and it would have been greatly to their comfort and liberty of action had the senator been able to add the ^roof that they were really abrogated, as he said, and that such persons had nothing to fear from them either now or hereafter.

But this book will show that it was not with such a creed as

PREFACE.

this that the wronged and suffering Liberals of Mexico struggled up through their forty years of agony and effort to the joy of a purified political system which at last gave their country rest and peace. And surely the Christian and patriotic dead beneath that senator's feet in that cemetery, who gave up home, family, and life itself to rectify that " corruption of politics " which flung over our fair land treason, rebellion, and death, could they have risen from their graves, would have indignantly confronted him as he thus characterized convictions like theirs as " modern cant," etc.

The conscience of the nation was shocked by this ill-omened utterance, and Kansas herself resented it as every way unworthy of her own convictions. For a few weeks after, when the time for the re-election of her senator came round, she retired this man to private life and elected another in his place. ISTor will the lesson be lost. It does not pay public men, and especially those in prominent positions, in the long run, to get into conflict with the Author of the ten commandments or the golden rule, or to turn an indifferent ear to the earnest appeals of the men or the women Mdio look to them for sympathy and help in their struggles against sin and wrong.

It seems singular that the refuge of divine law should be unwelcome to any human being, or that men can be found who would object to have religion operate in this sphere of ours as though it were an intrusion to be tolerated only in the clouds above and the world beyond, but not to dictate here to the hearts and lives of men nor aim to control their private ways, much less their public acts and policies. Sooner or later an awakening comes to such dreamerr, and they have to learn — often too late — that the ten comma idments and the sermon on the mount were not given as laws of life to saints and angels in heaven, but to men and sinners down here in this wicked world, and that their mothers were right when they taught their infant lips to pray, " Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." Any attempt to exclude public life and its responsibilities from the sphere of conscience and the

PREFACE.

divine control, and then " to teach men so," is a liigh crime and misdemeanor, not only against the souls of men, but also against patriotism as well as religion, against love of country and love of God, all of which go hand in hand and constitute the " righteousness which exalteth a nation," and is equally exalting to its leading men.

Rectification of wrong is the only true foundation of tranquillity ; " first pure, then peaceable." " There is no peace, saith God, to the wicked," and never can be. The most perfect and permanent of all governments is that of the reigning Redeemer, of whose blessed administration the eternal Father testifies : " Unto the Son he saith. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever : a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity ; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." He is the yery model for legislators and governors. The anthem that inaugurated his administration has gone on sounding round the world ever since, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." He evidently maintains that purified politics and Christian prayer-meetings can go well together, that caucuses and class meetings stand related to each other, and that a man can be president of one of earth's mightiest empires and yet be a saint like Daniel, who bends his knees to the God whose help he implores. Thank Heaven, the men who recognize God in political life bear the names that humanity now loves to remember and honor — Protestant, Catholic, and heathen alike ; and the number of such pure patriots is on the increase. It is not necessary that we quote illustrative instances. One alone shall speak a brief word for the whole class in decided contradiction of the unworthy utterance against which we here protest.

The Marquis of Dalhousie was regarded by his contemporaries as the most distinguished governor-general that England ever sent to rule her Oriental empire. This honored man, during the eight years that he held this great responsibility, ruled and guided nearly one sixth of the human family. His

PREFACE.

feeble frame bent down at last beneath the mighty load, but God, whom he had so long honored, enabled him to finish his duty. The day on which his successor. Lord Canning, arrived, in 1856, he was ready to leave. They tenderly bore him from the viceregal palace in Calcutta down to the ship that awaited him, and laid him in the berth from which he was unable to rise till the voyage ended. As he lay there he wrote, with feeble hand, using pencil and tablets by his side, his last report to the Court of Directors. In that report he found room for God, and here is the finishing sentiment of his public life, so germane to our subject here :

These papers are an instance of tlie principle that we should do right without fear of consequences. To fear God and to have no other fear is a maxim of religion, but the truth of it and the wisdom of it are proved every day in politics.

The golden rule abrogated ! 'Na.j, verily. " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His word shall not pass away ! " That word is pledged to help the oppressed of every land. " The meek shall inherit the earth and delight themselves in the abundance of peace." For nineteen hundred years since the Lord Jesus Christ announced his mission in Capernaum (Luke iv, 18) his has been the " power working for righteousness " in all lands ; for this he lives and reigns. As immortal, while he may make haste, he does not need to hurry. He can take his time, for the future is all his own, and is sure to come to him for the completion of his great task. "Wisely and effectively is he now mightily working in " subduing all things unto himself" and guiding the elements in motion to the grand conclusions which will surely bring, by the attractions of his cross, the wide world to his feet in loving and adoring homage. Already there are millions of men and women who would willingly lay down their lives for him to evidence that love ; and the number of such is daily increasing. Long after the men who have slighted his authority have passed away and been forgotten better men will be filling the positions which they

PREFACE.

were unworthy to occupy, and this glorious Deliverer will be closing up to completion the high mission of his manifestation.

"In his name shall the Gentiles trust," not merely for the salvation of tlie soul, but also for the rectification of ever/ wrong and the vindication of every right to " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," for all the good available in " the life that now is, as well as for that wliich is to come." This " King of kings and Lord of lords," whose cross redeemed the world, is yet to sway its happy populations by his golden rule until even " the isles shall wait for his law." For ages this has been the expectation and prayer of Christians and lovers of the Bible, who have been looking forward to that

" One far-off divine event To vrhich the whole creation moves."

Chapter I

Mexico's long and deep degradation — Unheeded — Daniel Webster — "Warrant for the Conquest— Resources of Mexico — Population — The Armada — Mode of Christianizing Aztecs — Credibility of Cortez — Cuatemoctzin — Haciendas — Wealth of the Church — Lerdo's report — Fueros — Calderon and Domenech's testimony to desagravios and idolatrous worship — Character of clergy and people — Humboldt — Indulgences Page 1

Chapter II

*' Gross darkness " — Mariolatry of Mexico unique — Hostility of the two Virgins — Their respective legends — ^Their fabulous wealth — General Thompson and Mrs. Gooch's testimony to this wild idolatry — The "cursed fools" of Guadalupe — Opposite parts taken by these Virgins in the conflict for popular rights — Impossible titles and relations — The terrible climax at Puebla — Mexico's degradation fully accounted for here — Dates of dogmas 42

Chapter III

From darkness to dawn through conflict and suffering — Spanish rule — ^Viceroys — "Patriarch of Mexican Independence" — His "Grito" and helpers — The Bravos — Odds against freedom — Iturbide and coronation — Unfortunate return — Monroe doctrine — Texan war and its object — McNamara and "Methodist wolves" — General Fremont — War with United States — Treachery at Cherubusco — The hand of God — Hidden refuge for Bible study in the Cafladas 64

Chapter IV

Extending freedom in South America — Resisted by the pope — Liberalism distasteful to privilege — Duke of Richmond — Testimony of Curtis — Ecuador the papal model for Mexico — President Barrundia and the papal bull — Policy of Pius IX. — Constitutional freedom promised — Withdrawn — Flight of the pope to Gaeta — Roman republic — Papal appeal to Catholic powers to crush the Romans — Responded to by Louis Napoleon — Protest — Reaction and vengeance— " The Butcher of Bologna" — Gladstone — Sardinia — God within the shadow , 96

CONTENTS.

Chapter V

Desperate eflforts of the Mexican clericals — Merits of the conflict — Coup d!etat of the church party — Terrorizing policy of Miramon — Violation of British embassy — Republican victories — Benito Juarez, Mexico's "Washington," and his aids — Perfidy of Louis Napoleon — Intervention — Co-operation of the pope — " Laws of reform " — Tripartite treaty — Jecker bonds — De Morny — Collapse of Jecker — " Cinco de Mayo " — Maximilian's call and warning. . . Page 118

Chapter VI

Why Maximilian failed — Warnings in Austrian history — Francis Joseph — Papal denunciation — Denying a grave — Jaurez and Congress — Jaurez and Lincoln — South American interest — Netherland League — Position of the United States — Marshal's disagreement with the archbishop — Impossible task — Empire without foundation — Abbe Domenech — Career for the Latin race — Grant — Failure of efforts — Nuncio — Pope's expostulation — Clericals in politics — Confidential letter of Carlota — Denial of papal authority 157

CHAPTER VIL

England and recognition — Beecher's effort — Cotton-spinners of Lancashire — "Kicked out of Rome" — Papal missive to "Lincoln & Co." — Recognition of Jeff Davis by the pontiff — Outline of policy — Interview with Juarez sought by Maximilian — Confidential letter of the emperor — False proclamation concerning Juarez — " The Black Decree " — Execution of Arteaga and Salazar — Letters — Libro Rojo — Santa Anna — Sudden departure of the empress — Interview with the pope — Incurable insanity — French troops withdrawn — The emperor's attempted departure — Interference of French and clericals — Sheridan at Rio Grande 187

CHAPTER VIIL

Collapse of the empire — Siege of Queretaro — Efforts to escape — Capture of Maximilian — Court-martial — Charges — Defense — Sentence — Appeals for pardon — Why declined — Princess Salm-Salm — Plan of escape — Falsehood and bribery — Interview with Juarez — The execution — Unjust charges against Colonel Lopez — "Selling Maximilian for $30,000" — Escobedo's letter — Taking of Mexico city — Merciful treatment of prisoners — Santa Anna's last game — Disposal of the body of the archduke — Admission of Maximilian's lawyers 221

CHAPTER IX.

"Vengeance is mine, Twill repay, saith the Lord" — "So that men shall say, Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth " — The conspirators against freedom — Could only be reached by the retributions of Almighty God— The

CONTENTS.

pontiff — Temporal power for one thousand years — Decree of infallibility — Declaration of war — Downfall of Napoleon — The pope's temporal power extinguished — Italy unified — Papal coin — Scene in San Angelo — Emperor William denies the pope's claim — Napoleon rushes to ruin at Sedan — End of his glory — Death of the Prince Imperial — Eugenie in exile — Prance republican — Religious liberty — Expulsion of the Jesuits Page 256

CHAPTER X.

The star on Orizava — Summary of what Mexico has gained — Her resources — Improved financial condition — Porfirio Diaz — Evangelical missions — Miss Rankin — Circus of Chiarini — Providential help — Purchase of Inquisition — Popular vengeance — Buried martyrs — General Assembly — Statistics of Protestantism — Persecution — Interview with President Diaz — Santa Anna — Epitaph — Tomb of Jaurez — Memorial services of the Emperor William — Madame Calderon's prophecy 281

TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Benito Juarez,

The " "Washington " of Mexico frontispiece

Significant Seal of Mexico,

Her Eagle, on the Nopal, killing the Serpent of Despotism ... on title page

Mexican System of Railways, facing page Showing the eleven lines in use or under construction 1

Hernando Cortez, Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca,

Conqueror of this New "World, and its first Captain-General, 1521 9

The Plaza, or Great Square of the Capital,

The most historic spot in Mexico, and scene of its leading " Pronun-

ciamentos." 25

The Disciplinas (two plates),

"Dsed on the body for self-torture 32

The Yirgin of Remedios,

The Patroness of the Spaniards in Mexico 44

The Virgin op Guadalupe,

The Patroness of the native Mexicans 48

Miguel Hidalgo,

The " Patriarch of Mexican Independence." 67

General Santa Anna,

The turbulent Dictator of Mexico 82

Pope Pius IX.,

"Who sanctioned and sustained the usurpation of Maximilian 108

Louis Napoleon,

"Who originated the "Intervention " in Mexico 130

Maximilian, Archduke of Austria,

For three years, by usurpation, " Emperor " of Mexico 169

Carlota, Archduchess of Austria,

And " Empress " of Mexico 170 xvi TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Thk Monogram of Maximilian, facing paok With Medallions of his favorite Generals 211

Cerro de las Campanas,

Scene of the execution of Maximilian, June 19, 1867 240

General Pokfirio Diaz,

Mexico's brave soldier and honored president 286

Head-quarters op the Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church,

Calle de Gante, City of Mexico 292

The Inquisition, City of Puebla,

Purchased by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1873 293

Covered "Way of the Inquisition,

Connecting vi^ith the Examining Chapel 293

Martyrs of the Inquisition,

Taken out of the cells in the walls, where they were built in to die 294

Personnel of the Mexican Annual Conference, in January, 1888,

Seventeen of the number being natives of the country 297

Rev. J. L. Stephens, Congregational Missionary,

Martyred at Ahualulco, March, 1874 302

Rev. Epigmenio Monroy, Native Methodist Minister,

Martyred near Apizaco, April 8, 1881 303

Interior of the Methodist Episcopal Church, City of Mexico,

Formerly a part of the great San Franciscan monastery 313 m

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MEXICO IN TRANSITION.

Chapter I

Mexico's long and deep degradation — Unheeded — Daniel Webster — Warrant for the Conquest — Resources of Mexico — Population — The Armada — Mode of Christianizing Aztecs— Credibihty of Cortez — Cuatemoctzin — Haciendas — Wealth of the Church — Lerdo's report — Fueros — Calderon and Domenech's testimony to desagravios and idolatrous worship — Character of clergy and people — Humboldt — Indulgences.

My interest in the events which this work is to describe ■originated in a Sabbath service toward the close of 1851. The congregation vs^ere singing Bishop Heber's missionary hymn, and as they reached the couplet

" Till, like a sea of glory, It spreads from pole to pole,"

the glowing words seemed illuminated with a significance beyond any former apprehension. My attention was fixed, all else forgotten for the time, and questionings, new and strange, were speaking to my heart and insisting on being heard. Some of these questions ran on in this line : Does this congregation comprehend properly the meaning of the sublime thought to which they are giving utterance ? Are they realizing the exalted hope which those lines express? Of what "poles" are they thinking — those of the eastern hemisphere, or those of our own continent, where the best connection of those poles exists by the formation which God has conferred upon them? Here, then, where Heber's lines, in this sense, find their most literal interpretation, is the audience really anticipating the 2

MEXICO IN TRANSITION.

hour when from the most northern of human homes the " sea *of glory "is to ilhimine and bless the dwellers of the three Americas till it reaches the southern cape and crowns it with the cross of the world's Redeemer ? Or, was the glowing song a mere poetic sentiment to fan for a moment the affections of these worshipers and, without further significance, sacrifice, or personal duty, to pass from their minds and be forgotten ?

There was at least one lieart in that assembly which was not to forget them while hfe shall last. The halo that invested those two lines w^as to draw its attention and stimulate its faith and hope, until now, after more than forty years, the great public events that have meanwhile transpired upon these continents have been seen and understood with increasing clearness in the illumination of that hour, and it has apprehended how wondrously God is moving- in those lands to turn the hope of Heber's hymn into the bright reality of the perfect evangelical day, when the whole American hemisphere shall be radiant watli the glory of the Lord. This book is the result of these increasing and glad convictions, and the author's hope is that, when his readers have examined the facts traced and united here, they too will share his confidence and be ready to address themselves, " as workers together with God," to the sacrifices and duties which the hour and the divine call demand for their realization from the Church of Christ.

The interest thus aroused developed into an anxiety to ascertain what was the actual political, social, and religious condition of the nations existing between our own border and the southern pole. Those seventeen States had then an aggregate population exceeding that of the United States and Canada combined. The results of this inquiry, faithfully prosecuted for a considerable length of time, through an extensive examination and correspondence, were sad indeed. In this advanced day people can hardly appreciate the fearful darkness and destitution which then prevailed over Central and South America, or realize that there was not then among the nearly forty-eight millions of human beings between our Texan border and Cape Horn one

MEXICO IN TRANSITION.

missionary of evangelical Christianity addressing those millions in their own tongue! All was darkness and spiritual death I JS'early every one of those States were bound hand and foot in concordat relations with the papal power, these concordats requiring the executive of each nation to make ecclesiastical matters paramount in his administration; to repress all dissent, even to the extent of the forfeiture of freedom or property — sometimes even of life itself; to maintain, unquestioned and unchallenged, the stern rule of the papacy over these benighted millions. This had been going on for centuries past, and it was fully purposed to perpetuate the same dark dominion for ages yet to come ! ISTo Bible, no missionary, no light from any source was to be permitted to enter or disturb this reign of ignorance and sin. It seemed in some respects a worse condition than that of any heathenism on earth, because more cruel, repressive, and unreformable. Sufficient evidence of this will be forthcoming, most of it furnished by the very people whom Rome had overburdened for centuries, till at last, unable to endure longer, they have risen in their wrath, one State after another, and taken vengeance upon their clerical oppressors. They have snatched from their liands the civil and religious freedom which had been so long withheld, and secularized the vast church property which their clergy had unlawfully acquired and so long employed for their own selfish purposes. This hour of divine relief had not dawned in 1851. Years of agony had yet to be endured ere it appeared, and the suffering friends and martyrs of freedom and a purer faith had to wait and still oxj to the Almighty, under their bitter pressure, " How long, O Lord, how long ? "

Santa Anna was then in power, in the third term of his dictatorship, and this record will evidence that a more unscrupulous tool of the papacy never held a scepter. Since the first blow was struck for ireedom in Mexico, and the life of its noblest martyr was sacrificed, in 1811, occasional rumors reached the outside world revealing something of the struggles which the lovers of liberty were maintaining against fearful

MEXICO IN TRANSITION.

odds, and how the strong hand of the Church and the Spanish party were cruelly repressing their aspirations, endeavoring to extinguish them.

It seems strange now, as we look back, how unconscious our people generally were of the condition of things in Mexico, liow little they realized the depth of the degradation in which her millions were perishing, or how long she had agonized to be lifted up to the condition of our land. We dreamed not of the debt we owed to her, and the nations beyond, but left them to their fate. Meanwhile we were loud enough in our jubilation over our own happy condition, unconscious that we were side by side with a race of people, then more nnmerous than ourselves, who were under the dread control of the darkest Komanism on earth !

Forty years ago, in a circle of friends, some of whom expressed fears of national difficulties to grow out of the unsettled north-eastern and north-western boundaries, Daniel "Webster said :

No, gentlemen, our great national difficulty lies not in that direction. Our greatest danger is that we have a sister republic on our southern border, almost in mortal agony, and no one amongst us seems willing to lend it a helping hand.

Truly to comprehend the Mexican question we need to recall the professed "Warrant for the Conquest. The origin of the title by which Spain and the Church of Rome claimed Mexico, and indeed the entire western hemisphere, as their exclusive domain, was an audacious act of the Roman pontiff at the close of the fifteenth century. The craze of the Crusades led men to imagine that the kingdom of Christ could be extended by the sword, and the maritime nations of the age waxed jealous of each other's share in the work and the gain it involved. Add to this motive the love of adventure and military glory, and the passion of avarice, and you have the elements which moved men, and often the vilest of men, to volunteer for sucb enterprises. As a warrant for all they undertook they looked to the pope to bestow the sanction of Heaven upon their vent-

MEXICO IN TRANSITION".

nres. The pope, nothing loath, readily authorized such expeditions, and that on the most extensive scale. Alexander YI., in 1494, settled the conflicting claims of the kings of S]3ain and Portugal by dividing the world between them. The account runs thus :

He divided the undiscovered regions of the earth by an imaj^inary line of longitude, running through the Atlantic Ocean, from pole to pole, three hundred and seventy miles west of the Azores. He gave the Portuguese unlimited sway over all the countries that they miglit discover to the east of that line, and pledged himself to confirm to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain the right to every isle, continent, and sea where they should plant their flag on the western hemisphere. Hence in every picture of the landing of Columbus the first act in the scene is the planting of the flag of the Spanish crown.*

This authority was to be unlimited and to cover all things temporal and spiritual ; the bodies and souls, the property and services of the conquered nations were to be their peculiar inheritance, and that of their successors forever. Such was the title-deed of Ferdinand and Isabella to ISTorth, Central, and South America. This wonderful grant of Alexander YI. was confirmed by his successor. Pope Julius II., to the Spanish monarchy. Thus the whole continent, " from pole to pole," all the kingdoms of this New World, were assumed to be handed over to a dynastj^ by a pontiff who did not own and had no right to a foot of the territory or a single human being upon it.

But where are the two empires so pompously divided to Portugal and Spain ? Where the " Conquest " made under the authority of Alexander YI., and consolidated with such crushing force on poor humanity, especially in Mexico ? What of the proud claims Mdiich Spaniards made when they engraved across their maps of the western world the words " New Spain,?' which were made to stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific coast, and from the St. Lawrence to the southern cape, territorially the greatest empire that the world had ever seen ? The pontifical gift has been wrested out of their blood-stained hands

* Mexico and the United States, by GorhatQ D. Abbot, p. 21. Putnam.

by a mightier Power than their own ; lier sons \yho did all this wrong have been shaken out of this Kew World ; the boundaries which slie obliterated have been restored ; the races which she so cruelly oppressed have risen again in tliis wonderful day to power, and her proud title has been erased from the maps of this liemisphere.

The assumptions of Alexander YI, would have had far less significance to the world had not the papacy supposed they had found in them a clew to universal dominion over mankind. This idea was followed out, and Pope Paul III. convoked a council in the city of Trent, in 1545, which was to legislate, under the professed authority of the Holy Spirit, a body of canons that were to subject all mankind for all ages to tlie will of one man in the papal chair. This council was composed of 247 bishops, of whom 187 were Italians, 32 Spaniards, 26 French, and 2 Germans, and a majority vote (124) of these men undertook to make the laws by which the millions of the liuman race in all lands and ages were to be bound, under fearful penalties, to accept and obey as the edicts of Almighty God!

Though Mexico to-day retains only a part of the immense area which she once called her own, yet her present size is stated as " ten times larger than Great Britain, and nearly equal in extent to France, Spain, Austria, Lombardy, and the British Isles combined." The physical facts of this great country are presented by Mr. "Winston as follows :

It extends from about the fourteentli to the thirty-second parallel of north latitude, and from the eighty-sixth to the one hundred and seventh degree of west longitude, being in length from nortli to south about two thousand miles, and in bi'eadth from one hundred and forty miles at Tehuantepec, on the south, to over a thousand miles where it joins our own southern borders. It has a sea-coast on the Gulf of Mexico of about one thousand miles, and on the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California of over four thousand miles. Situated to a large extent within the tropics, its coasts and the land near them possess a tropical climate, while the plains of the interior rise to an altitude of seventy-five hundred feet above the level of the sea, securing a temperate climate, although within the tropics. Thus almost every product of fruit and grain is found within its