448 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



" Sir, I willingly give you the desired protection, as it is my duty 

 to see that the laws are respected ; and, while I feel no interest what- 

 ever in your religious forms or opinions, we are all interested in en- 

 couraging the organization of a body of clergy strong enough to keep 

 the old Church in check." 



Whether the Catholic Church will accommodate itself to the new 

 order of things, and be content to live peaceably side by side with 

 civil liberty and full religious toleration, is yet to be determined. Ex- 

 Consul Strother, who has already been often quoted as an authority, 

 thus graphically exhibits the respective attitudes of the former and still 

 great ecclesiastical power and its acknowledged antagonist, the Govern- 

 ment : " They may be illustrated," he says, " by a glance at the Grand 

 Plaza of the city, across an angle of which the palace of the liberal 

 Government and the old cathedral stand looking askance at each other. 

 On the one hand, at the guard-mounting, the serried lines of bayonets 

 and the rolling drums appear as a daily reiterated menace and warn- 

 ing. On the other, we might naturally expect to hear from the ca- 

 thedral towers a responsive peal of indignant protest and sullen defi- 

 ance. Yet we remember that it is not the clergy, but the Government, 

 which holds the bell-ropes." 



Now, why should not the United States, which heretofore has 

 been so prompt to sympathize with and even give material aid to the 

 people of every Old World nationality struggling for freedom and 

 against oppression to Poland, Greece, Hungary, and Ireland be 

 equally ready to sympathize with and help the progressive party of 

 Mexico, in the efforts they are unquestionably making to put their 

 country in accord with the demands of a larger civilization ? 



But, assuming the general concurrence, on the part of the people 

 of the United States, in the proposition that an exceptionally kindly 

 treatment of Mexico ought to be a permanent policy of their Govern- 

 ment, such a proposition, even if proclaimed in a joint resolution of 

 both Houses of Congress, would be little other than an expression of 

 sentiment, unless accompanied by practical action. But, through what 

 measures, having this definite end in view, it may be asked, can prac- 

 tical action, not repugnant to the spirit of the Constitution or the pre- 

 cedents and traditions of the Government of the United States, be in- 

 stituted ? And, in answer, the following points are submitted for con- 

 sideration : 



First. That the Government and people of the United States should 

 do all that can be reasonably asked of them to dispel the idea or sus- 

 picion, that now prevails throughout Mexico and all Central America, 

 that the North Americans desire and intend, at no distant day, to take 

 possession of all these countries, and destroy their present nationality. 

 So long as this suspicion exists, the influence of the United States in 

 Mexico and Central America, will be based to a great degree on ap- 

 prehension, rather than liking. A return of the cannon and flags capt- 



