Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/376

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346
MEXICO IN 1827.

juato, and Jalisco, Mixed Courts have been established, the shades of difference between which it would be unnecessary to point out: but in all, the spirit is the same; and the determination to allow of no extension of Spiritual jurisdiction to civil cases has been equally asserted.

This step has not been taken without much resistance on the part of the Chapters; and, in Guadalajara, the Canons have gone so far as to declare, "that they will give up their claim to any portion of the Tithes, and subsist entirely upon the alms of the faithful, rather than allow one of their number to become a member of the Mixed Court." But as the Congress, up to the period of my departure, had refused to interfere in the question, and has not, I believe, done so since, the measure will be gradually carried into execution in all the States, and will, I doubt not, be in full effect in most, before the end of the present year.

The sums left at the disposal of the Cathedrals for Obras Pias, or charitable institutions, have furnished another source of contention in many parts of the Republic. These sums constitute, as we have seen, a part of the general funds of the Clergy, and many of them have, undoubtedly, not been employed according to the intentions of the testator.

In Durango, copies of the original wills of two individuals, who bequeathed to the Church, funds for the express purpose of endowing schools, having been procured, the State Congress has demanded the