192 HE IS ARRESTED AT THE ALTAR SENT TO SPAIN. 



way empowered to command in Mexico ; " he, therefore, ordered 

 the soldiers, as they valued the peace of their souls, to desist from 

 infringing the privileges of the church by the exercise of secular 

 power within its limits, and, he finally declared " that he would, 

 on no account, depart from the altar unless torn from it with the 

 sacrament." Upon this Tirol arose, and read the order for his 

 arrest, describing him as a "traitor to the king, a disturber of the 

 peace, and a mover of sedition in the commonwealth. " 



De la Serna smiled contemptuously at the officer as he finished, 

 and taunted him with the viceroy's miserable attempt to cast upon 

 the church the odium of sedition, when his creature Mexia was, in 

 fact, the shameless offender. He conjured Tirol " not to violate 

 the sanctuary to which he had retreated, lest his hand should be 

 withered like that of Jeroboam, who stretched forth an arm against 

 the prophet of the Lord at the altar ! " 



Tirol seems to have been a man upon whose nerves such appeals 

 had but little effect. He was a blunt soldier, who received the 

 orders of his superiors and performed them to the letter. He had 

 been ordered to arrest the archbishop wherever he found him, and 

 he left the ecclesiastical scandal to be settled by those who sent 

 him. Beckoning to a recreant priest who had been tampered 

 with and brought along for the purpose, he commanded him in 

 the king's name, to wrest the sacrament from the prelate's hand. 

 The clergyman, immediately mounting the steps of the altar, 

 obeyed the orders, and the desecrated bishop at once threw off his 

 pontifical robes and yielded to civil power. The cowardly Mexi- 

 cans made no attempt to protect their intrepid friend, who, as he 

 left the sanctuary, paused for a moment and stretched his hands in 

 benediction over the recreants. Then bidding an affectionate fare- 

 well to his clergy, whom he called to witness how zealously he 

 had striven to preserve the church from outrage, as well as the 

 poor from plunder, he departed as a prisoner for Vera Cruz, 

 whence he was despatched for Spain in a vessel expressly 

 equiped for his conveyance. 



For a while the people were panic struck at this high-handed 

 movement against the archbishop, but when the momentary effect 

 had passed away and they began to reflect on the disgrace of the 

 church as well as the loss of their protector, they vented their dis- 

 pleasure openly against Mexia and the viceroy. The temper of the 

 masses was at once noticed by the clergy, who were still faith- 

 ful to their persecuted bishop, nor did they hesitate to fan the 



