MEXICO. 



611 



Protestant Episcopal Church, while it is the off- 

 spring uuJ protege of the Church of the same 

 name in the United States, is neither depen- 

 dent upon nor an exact counterpart of the latter, 

 nor is the Bishop controlled by the llouse of 

 Bishops, although created by that body. It is 

 called the " Church of Jesus," and dates from 

 1865. The first steps toward its establishment 

 were taken by a former Roman Catholic priest 

 named Aguilar, and one Hernandez, a layman 

 of the same faith, who adopted as their model 

 the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United 

 States; Bonito Juarez, then President of the 

 Republic, a man of liberal views and undoubt- 

 ed religious tolerance, affording them such aid 

 and protection as he had in his power. In 1868 

 the Rev. Dr. Henry Chauncey Riloy, a native of 

 Chili, but of American parentage and educated 

 and ordained in New York, and some time rec- 

 tor of a New York Protestant Episcopal church 

 exclusively devoted to service in the Spanish 

 language, was invited to Mexico " to help the 

 new congregation in their labors," he hav- 

 ing become known to them as the author of a 

 volume on the right and duty of all men to 

 search the Scriptures, which, with pamphlets 

 discussing the same and other kindred sub- 

 jects, were widely circulated in the republic. 

 In 1871 Manuel Aguas, a Dominican friar, who 

 had been appointed to resist from the pulpit 

 the diffusion of the reformed creed, became 

 himself a proselyte and joined Dr. Riley. They 

 obtained from the Government a grant of two 

 recently sequestrated churches in the capital, 

 and extended their missionary labors to various 

 other cities. Aguas was elected to the bish- 

 opric in the same year, but died in 1872, before 

 ha was consecrated. In 1874 the House of 

 Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church of 

 the United States was petitioned to superintend 

 the affairs of the Mexican Church, and seven 

 members of that body were appointed to the 

 charge, from which they were relieved by the 

 election, as second Bishop of the Diocese of the 

 Valley of Mexico, of Dr. Riley, who was con- 

 secrated at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in June, 

 1879. This Church had, according to a report 

 published in the same year, 57 congregations in 

 its charge, with 3,500 communicants and a large 

 number of unconfirmed attendants; 9 day- 

 schools, where over 200 children were taught; 

 and an extensive publication depot. 



A Catholic convent and monastery, surrepti- 

 tiously established at Quer6taro, was closed by 

 the State authorities. 



In the budget for the fiscal year 1879-'80, 

 the national revenue was estimated at $16,- 

 550,000, exclusive of the yield of the Post- 

 Office Department, the proceeds of sales of 

 national property, and of the branch of public 

 instruction (old fund), etc., which in 1878-'79 

 aggregated rather more than $500,000. In the 

 foregoing estimate is included an item of $500,- 

 000 representing the proceeds of a tax on cot- 

 ton and woolen stuffs of home manufacture. 

 The estimated expenditures for the same year 



were sot down at $18,895,198. In general 

 about two thirds of the entire revenue are de- 

 rived from the custom-bouse ; and the outlook 

 for the yield of that branch in 1879-'80 has 

 been spoken of as rather encouraging, with the 

 mention that the receipts at the port of Vera 

 Cruz, the most important port of the republic, 

 amounted in July, the season at which imports 

 are usually at their lowest ebb, to $700,000, 

 against $230,000 for the corresponding month 

 in 1878. A largo proportion of that increase 

 might perhaps be accounted for by the stringent 

 measures adopted by the authorities for the pre- 

 vention of smuggling. Sefior Romero, while 

 Minister of Finance, incurred the enmity of the 

 contrabandists by his indefatigable labors to 

 suppress the chronic system of corruption so 

 long deplored in the Mexican customs service ; 

 and it was calculated that his internal revenue 

 law would add $5,000,000 annually to the na- 

 tional revenue. Smuggling and contraband 

 trade occupied the attention of the Congress in 

 the spring session, when an act was passed 

 making evasions of the revenue laws a penal 

 offense. This measure was adopted experi- 

 mentally, and the question was to be recon- 

 sidered at the autumn session, opening in Sep- 

 tember. 



The Supreme Court has decided the exist- 

 ence of custom-houses in the interior to be 

 unconstitutional. With their removal, if it be 

 effected, many grave hindrances to commerce 

 and travel will cease. 



As stated in the "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 

 1878, the national debt of Mexico has been 

 estimated by a British writer at $395,500,000;, 

 but these figures include the claims referring 

 to the Maximilian empire, which have never 

 been recognized by the republican Government. 

 We transcribe the subjoined table and remarks 

 from Minister Foster's dispatch to the Depart- 

 ment of State at Washington under date of 

 October 8, 1878 : 



TOTAL RECOGNIZED NATIONAL DEBT OP MEXICO. 



British : 



London loan of 1821 $51,209,860 



Convention claims, etc 4,871,614 



Interest due In 1862 18,281,798 



Total British debt $69,811,657 



Total Spanish debt 9.460,986 



Total French debt 2,859,911 



Sixteen years' interest to date, at $2,760,023 Mr 



annum 44,160,85 



Total European debt $125.791919 



Carbajal-Corlles bonds. 1S65 2.746,680 



American claims awards, balance 8,875,128 



Total foreign debt $181,914,665 



In 1851, by a decree of Congress, the payment of 

 Interest on all the foreign debt was suspended for two 

 years, although very little interest has been paid since 

 1854; and since 1861 the Mexican Government has 

 paid no interest on any of its foreign debt up to the 

 present, the transactions under the Maximilian em- 

 pire not being taken into account. It is a question of 

 interest to the holders of Mexican bonds, a part of 

 whom are American citizens, to form some estimate 

 of the ability and probability of the payment by 

 Mexico of its' foreign debt, or at least of tho resump- 



