1 58 INDIANS MESTIZOS WHITES ARMY CHURCH. 



public. The Indians, therefore, regarded as a political or social 

 element in a democracy, are not fairly to be valued as integral con- 

 stituencies of the Mexican republic. We have already delineated 

 the character of this class and will not recapitulate the points of 

 sluggish indifference which forbid the hope of its elevation. Less 

 savage than the North American red man and hunter, the Mexican 

 Indian is only dwarfed in energy and in the expression of passion, 

 by the emasculating influence of the climate. In all other respects 

 he resembles the tenant of our western forests and will neither will- 

 ingly mingle with us, adopt our habits, nor labor for others upon a 

 soil which spontaneously supplies his wants. In his passive state 

 he is content with imitation ; in his aroused anger he rushes 

 blindly and vindictively into danger, and is willing to die rather for 

 revenge than for right. Is it not folly then to ask this class to com- 

 prehend the representative system ? Nor can we justly expect its 

 comprehension and correspondent adherence or practice from the 

 unenlightened Mixed Races, especially when those races do not 

 derive their origin, exclusively, from pure white stocks, but are 

 formed by a medly mosaic of Indian, African, Oriental and 

 • Spanish. The hope of Mexico must, therefore, repose in the 

 whites alone ; and, on this class we might confidently rely as the 

 nucleus around which future numbers and civilization would 

 gather, if we found them orderly, free, united and firm in adher- 

 ence to their constitution modified by the indispensable addition 

 of religious liberty and the speedy as well as inflexible administra- 

 tion of justice. But, in this small class, we have the most serious 

 difficulties to contend with, for, without constitutional recognition, 

 the officers of the army, the hierarchy, and the intriguing politicians, 

 form three distinct powerful bodies who must blend in perfect 

 union for mutual support, or must be content to see the country in- 

 volved in civil war if they differ. 



We have already noticed the origin and continuance of the army's 

 influence, and the natural despotic tendencies of that class. It re- 

 presents Force. It is, moreover, a historical fact, that the Mexican 

 church does not confine itself to matters of faith, but, as the richest 

 national proprietor and as the comptroller of conscience by virtue of 

 the constitution, has constantly quitted the cloister to fight in the 

 arena of politics. Nor was its weapon weak, for it was armed with 

 Superstition. Wielding the bolts of spiritual thunder in a nation 

 in which no other religion is tolerated or known ; possessing the 

 power of discovery by confession, and of control by penance, ex- 

 communication, anathemas, and ecclesiastical interdicts ; ruling the 



