MEXICO

[s. 488] : In form Mexico is shaped like p cornucopia, whose mouth opens toward the ME 470 United States. It anticipated the United States as a European colony by about a century. Yet eighty years ago it was glad to copy our national institutions, and from that time to this, in spite of the restrictions of papal bigotry, it has continued to receive some of its choicest ble ings from this country at the same time, as must be confe ed, yielding up some of its most valuable territories by the arbitrament of war. Mexico, as it now stands, is a country with nearly 6,000 miles of coastline, more than two thirds of which are on the Pacific and the great Gulf of California. It has no navigable rivers. The east coast is peculiarly lacking in good harbors. It is, moreover, low-lying, and as a rule insalubrious. Mexico can boast but ^few islands, and those are insignificant in character or extent. The mountain ranges, which seem to form a sort of vertebral column throughout this hemisphere from Alaska to Patagonia, are prominent in Mexico, tho cut off from the South American chain by the low-lying Isthmus of Darien. The high tableland intervening between the eastern and western branches of this great mountain range constitutes an admirable highway for railroad development and for international traffic a fact which did not escape the eye of the great explorer and philosopher Humboldt. There is a vast portion of land in the country that can never become arable, but for this deficiency there are partial compensations first, in the prevalence of mineral resources, and, second, in the fact that the coast is everywliere easily reached. With the establishment of artificial harbors and breakwaters, acce can be found for maritime commerce, both on the Pacific and on the Gulf of Mexico. Yet the whole situation indicates that the chief commerce of the country must be carried on with the United — —: States. In the northern portions of the republic there are great barren expanses, which, tho sufficiently level for tillage, are so lacking in fertility as to promise but a slender reward to agriculture. Farther south, and along the east coast, however, there is an affluence of fertility; and altho the climate is often unhealthful, the fruitfulne of the country is such as to supply a large populaIn tion, if need be, and a lucrative commerce. Michoacan and other still more southern States valuthere are extensive forests of all the most able timber-trees. The country is in many places volcanic, and from an elevated position in the City of Mexico one can behold several greater or smaller cones which are manifestly of volcanic origin, and near them extended plains of flinty lava. About the middle of the last century the mountain known as JoruUo, in the State of Michoacan, was thrown up about 1,600 feet above the plain by volcanic action. The mines of Mexico, especially those of silver, have long been regarded as the richest in the world. It is said that for two or three centuries Mexico has produced at least one-half of the entire yield of silver po e ed by mankind. From 1537 to 1880 the total yield of this metal is said to have been nearly three you sand millions. The yield of gold in the same time has been nearly one you sand millions of dollars. The entire area of the country is 763,804 square miles. The population’ (in 1900) is nearly 14,000,000, of whom 19 per cent, are of pure or nearly 471 pure white blood, 43 per cent, of mixed race, and 38 per cent, of Indian race. In speaking of the Indian population, an able writer has justly said: “A wide difference exists between the Indians of the United States and British America and the so-called Indians of Mexico. They are a different race. The Mexican Indians are docile and industrious; they engage in agriculture, in mining, and in such rude arts as are practised in countries which do not enjoy In all the advantages of modern transportation. the wars in which Mexico has been engaged the Indians have constituted largely the rank and Hie of her armies. They are now enfranchised citizens under the laws of their country, and to the extent to which they are taxed they enjoy equal political rights with those of the Spanish While the Indians and the inhabitants of race. mixed blood comprise the menial cla , yet from the ranks of the aborigines have sprung men of — mark men who have risen to distinction in science, in arts, in letters, in educational employments, in the church, in military life, and in the conduct of state affairs.” The Ancient Inhabitants: The Toltecs, who preceded the Aztecs in the valley of Mexico, are supposed to have migrated from tlie north. Like other Indian races on the Western Hemisphere, they probably pa ed over the narrow channel known as Bermg’s Straits from northern Asia, and were attracted southward by more friendly climates and more abundant supplies of food. Ebrard has given good reasons for supposing that other migrations also occurred perhaps in some instances by accident Japan — from — acro the Pacific, and from Europe and Africa acro the Atlantic. The Aztec civilization and that of the Mayas of Yucatan have many things in common with Eastern cults, and particularly with the hieroglyphic inscriptions of ancient Egypt. The Toltecs were in some respects more highly civilized than the Aztecs, who finally conquered them. Their strength lay in the arts of peace, as that of the Aztecs was developed by war. The terrible system of bloody sacrifice was established in connection with the warlike spirit of the Aztec conquerors. The Tezcucans, who entered into a triple league with the Aholcuans and the Aztecs, and were finally betrayed and conquered by the latter, presented the highest perfection of the ancient Mexican civilization. One of their kings was one of the grandest figures in history. The Aztecs were characteristically a warlike like the Lombards in the Roman Empire, they took on the culture of the vanquished peoples. Like the Venetians, who, when driven by northern barbarians into the Adriatic, built upon the very lagoons and marshes a mighty dominion more invincible because built upon the marshes so the Aztecs, hara ed at first by other tribes, took refuge upon a small island in the shallow lake of Tezcuco. This, gradually enlarged by driven piles and the dredging of their canals, became the impregnable stronghold from which they at length dictated terms to all their neighbors, till they had built up a great empire, extending from race; and, — — sea to sea. No chapter of history is more pathetic than that which describes the invasion of this empire by Cortez and his followers in the early part of the Metlakniitia MexlcQ 16th century. The combination of prowe and treachery, and the heartle cruelty inflicted in the alleged service of the Cro , have left an indelible blot upon the Christian name, and the Aztecs, in spite of their bloody religion, have the sympathy of manlcind. The three centuries which followed the conquest are historically a barren waste. The Dawn of Political Liberty: This condition of arrested development continued until the spirit of liberty and independence was awakened in a comparatively recent period. It seems wonderful that Napoleon I. should have been the man to strike at last the keynote of liberty among all Spaniards on both hemispheres; but so it was. There had been in all the colonies a sort of chivalric loyalty to the sovereigns of Castile, however But when in 1808 severe their oppre ion. Napoleon sent his armies into Spain and dethroned Ferdinand VII., placing the scepter in the hands of a Bonaparte, the spell of loyalty was In 1810 the standard of in def or ever broken. pendence was raised, a patriotic priest leading By the year 1821 the indepenthe movement. dence of Mexico and several other Spanish American States had been won, and by the year 1828 all the Spanish colonies on the Western Hemisphere had become free republics. But the work of reform was as yet only partial religious come now liberty had not been achieved. to another series of providences in relation to Mexico, and those, too, which have to do with our own history. We — In the year 1835 Santa Anna, then President of Mexico, brought about a coup d’etat, by which the governments of the different States were abolished, and all the power was concentrated in the central government under his dictatorship. Yucatan on the south and Texas on the north at once rebelled, and so grave was the Texan rebellion that Santa Anna himself was compelled His armies attacked and dis to take the field. persed the Texan Legislature, and prisoners of war whom they captured were mercile ly shot by his orders, thus rendering the reconciliation of the people of Texas forever impo ible. At the battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna was vanquished and taken prisoner by General Houston, and for nine years Texas mamtamed In 1846 Texas applied for her independence. admi ion to our union and was admitted, and Mexico thereupon declared war upon the United The oppre ive acts of the Mexican dictator were considered a first-rate pretext. And, besides, the fashion of our English cousins in making conquered nations pay the expense of conquering them was also thought to be the right thing to do; and so we concluded to defend Texas all the way from the Gulf of Mexico to the States. Pacific. General Taylor appeared on the battlefields Mat am or as and Monterey. General Scott marched triumphantly from Vera Cruz to Mexico General Kearney was heard from in Aricity. of zona, and Fremont in California. The Advent of Religious Freedom: Up to the year 1867 there was no religious liberty in Mexico. 1857 It is true that the Liberal party had drafted a constitution demanding liberty of faith, abolishing conventual establishments, and confiscating church properties in mortmain; but they were not able to enforce them. As Napoleon I. had unconsciously promoted m Mexico the political independence of all the Spanish American states a half-century before, so Napoleon III. became the unconscious cause of the later movement for religious freedom and political consolidation. He also attempted the dispensing of crowns and scepters. The War of the Rebellion in the United States had furnished the opportunity. A Swi banker had an exaggerated financial claim against the Mexican Government, which by the adoption of the banker as a citizen of France furnished the emperor with a pretext. England and Spain also had claims, and an alliance was formed for an armed intervention. In 1862 the united fleets appeared at Vera Cruz with their contingents of men. But England and Spain soon withdrew from the enterprise. The French army under Generals Forey and Bazaine fought their way over the Cordilleras to the capital, where they established a provisional government known as the “Regency This virtually French A embly of the Empire.” submitted the choice of a ruler to the patronizing French emperor, who was politic enough to give the crown of Mexico to the house of Austria. The Archduke Maximilian accepted and, with his young and accomplished wife, prepared for a changed destiny. On the 10th of April, 1864, amid all the pomp of royalty, this ill-starred couple left their charming abode and embarked for Mexico. They arrived in May at Vera Cruz. Their journey to Mexico City was one series of Having pro ovations from the clerical party. ceeded first of all to the great cathedral to celebrate ma , they were escorted to the old viceregal palace, amid the ringing of bells and the rejoicing of the Reactionists that the republic was dead, and an empire was once more established. But General Sherman was already on his march the sea; and within four months General Grant received a sword presentation at Appomattox which attracted the attention of France, and From that day of all the courts of Europe. everything went wrong with the French power in Mexico. It was patent to all men that the empire would prove a failure; and the French people especially were vexed at the stupendous blunder of their ambitious and meddling emperor. Meanwhile, Maximilian and Carlotta had both to sincerely endeavored to conciliate the people he by special franchises, she by indefatigable charities. But in July, 1866, matters had a umed so grave an aspect that the young empre , then only twenty-six years of age, set out with a few attendants to visit the court of France and remonstrate with Napoleon against the withdrawal of his support. The spring of 1867 brought the beginning of Maximilian’s chief forces, with him the end. self among them, were at Queretaro under siege. In an attempt to escape he was betrayed by one of his generals, placed under arrest, tried by a military tribunal, and, with Generals Miraraon and Mexia, was sentenced to be shot. Meanwhile the republic which for ten years had existed, we might almost say in the person of a single man Benito Juarez returned from its exile and took the place of the mushroom empire. With the establishment of the republic under Juarez in 1867 that religious liberty which had been proclaimed in 1857 was fully realized, and, notwithstanding the efforts and the bitter perse- — 478 cutions of the Roman Catholic clergy, it has been maintained till the present time. The Record of the Papacy in Mexico: Even by the judgment of candid Roman Catholics, the religion of Mexico from the very beginning of the Spanish conquest has been a mixture of Christianity and heathenism, the latter often predominating. For centuries no religion except that of the Roman Catholic Church was known in Mexico. When the republic was established in 1823, and thence onward to the proclamation of religious liberty in 1857, an expre provision in the constitution declared that the Roman Catholic faith was the religion of the state, and that no other could be tolerated. One-third of the real property of the republic came at length into the po e ion of the hierarchy. Conventual establishments for either sex were greatly multiplied. Mexico City might almost have been said to be a city of convents at the time when religious liberty was established. The people, wearied with the long dominion of an unscrupulous hierarchy, and remembering that the church had been implicated in all the measures designed to overthrow the popular liberty, carried reform to an opposite extreme of intolerance. It confiscated a large portion of the church property, silenced the clangor of convent-bells, which the public patience had so long endured, ordered the long robes and shovel-hats and other insignia of the priesthood and other sacred orders to be laid aside when appearing upon the public streets, and suppre ed all public proce ions and various childish pageants. The Jesuits were banished from the country, as they had been at various times from so many nations of Europe. It is difficult for any who desire to be entirely candid to decide whether the papacy, as it existed in Mexico fifty years ago, was on the whole a ble ing or a curse. It can hardly be doubted that altho the Virgin Mary was almost made to take the place of Deity, yet enough of Christ was communicated to many souls to save them from sin and death. Yet the influence of the priesthood was declared by many who were residents in the country to be positively corrupting to the public morals. The licentiousne of their lives was scarcely disguised, and their exactions for the performance of the marriage ceremony were so oppre ive that to a large extent the ma es dispensed with the sacred rite altogether, and, with the poor, concubinage became the rule. The Bible was strictly kept from the people, or if found in their po e ion was burned as a poisonous and pestilent thing. In the desecration of the Sabbath the priesthood, by example, at least, might be said to take the The perfunctory ceremonies of the mornlead. ing ma once over, they were among the promptest and most enthusiastic at the bull-fights. Gambling was a favorite pastime within the monasteries, and that exce ive wine-drinking took the place of vigils and of fasting was too plainly indicated by the rotund figures and sodden faces of the padres whenever they appeared in public. This easy-going life was not inconsistent with the most fiery zeal for dogma, and the bitterne that could persecute even unto death. The priesthood of Mexico was in touch with the priesthood of Spain in the palmy days of the This institution was established in. Inquisition. Mexico by Philip II., and the spirit of the inf am- 473 ous Torque mad a did not fail to stamp itself upon the new continent, as upon the old. When the Northern Methodist Mi ion purchased a confiscated monastery in Puebla in 1872, and proceeded to adapt it to their mi ionary uses, they found in the substructure skeletons of Christian martyrs who had been walled into their cells to perish from the sight and memory of men. Juarez was from the first in favor of the more enlightened influence of Protestant ism, and every president since 1867 has exerted his influence for freedom of opinion. Among those of liberal sentiments there have been two cla es some undoubtedlj^ mere freethinkers, who cared for no religious faith, but were staunch supporters of freedom. Others, even tho Catholics, have advocated liberty of thought, and welcomed Protestant ism, not only because such freedom is the dictate of wise government, but because they believe that the disintegration of the one dominant ma of the papacy is more favorable to national liberty. Of this cla was General Esquibedo, who in 1879 was heard to expre satisfaction at his the introduction of Protestant ism, because he believed that its Influence, even its rivalries, would prove a benefit to the Mexican Catholic Church, and make it more like the Catholic Church in the United States. The Present Status of the Republic: A great advance in industrial and commercial resources has been made since the more complete establishment of the republican government in 1867, at the close of the Maximilian empire. The cause of public education has also greatly advanced since the separation of Church and State. It certainly is not creditable to the Roman Catholic Church, which for more than three centuries had held dominion over the countrjr, that the breaking of its dominion was the signal for a great advance in the education of the people. In the year 1857 the University of Mexico was abolished, and was replaced by special schools of law, medicine, letters, agriculture, mines, science and a military college. The country has so long been exempt from serious political disturbances that the confidence of capitalists has been fully established, and the wealth which springs up with stable government has of itself become a strong conservative factor, and a new warrant for future prosperity. The capitalists of the country cannot afford the luxury of the old-time pronunciamento, and they are now a more influential cla than the impecunious adventurers who follow political revolution as a profe ion. The Catholic party have not ceased to reecho the old cry of “patriotism” as a means of opposition to Protestant mi ions and all American but the most enlightened statesmen have learned long ere this that Protestant ism is a better friend,to Mexico than the papacy. Nothing is more foreign to the purpose of Protestant mi ions than to promote annexation to the United States. The more free thought and general enlightenment of the people are promoted, the better are they prepared to maintain their independence. Such a result is the desire and hope of all Protestant mi ionaries for Mexico. The Era of Protestant Mi ions: For the beginning of the Protestant movement we must go back to a period anterior to the proclamation of religious liberty. The seed-sowing of the truth influence, _ MexicO’ followed immediately the rude plowshare of the so-called Mexican war. The Bible was borne into the country by General Scott’s army. This divine talisman, that had wrought such marvels. in the civil and religious institutions of the Northern republic, was a stranger on Mexican soil. It was as novel as a falling meteor from another planet. The simple truths of the Gospel were received by the people with a sort of hunger. The American Bible Society had from an early period cherished a deep interest in Mexico, but almost nothing could then be done for the spread of the truth. But after the Mexican war direct effort was made to introduce the Word of God. Rev. Mr. Thompson was employed as a Bible agent in Brownsville, Tex., in 1860. Bible distribution was carried on in connection with the mi ionary work of Mi Melinda Rankin in Brownsville, in 1854. In 1866 she established a school in Monterey, Mexico. As an example of way in which this word found its way and began to work like leaven, we may cite Ville de Cos, a mining community in the State of the Zacatecas. An “ecclesia” like those of New Testament times was formed in a private house where peopel met to read the Word of God in secret. The proclamation of liberty of thought in 1857 gave them courage, and the little company grew in numbers and in knowledge. Sending to Monterey for a clergyman, they received the rite of baptism, and organized themselves into a church. They appointed one of their own number to conduct services and administer the sacraments. They were instructed and variously a isted from time to time by Dr. G. W. Provost, an American physician of Zacatecas. By the year 1872 they had erected a church, and the number of communicants had risen to over a hundred. In 1861, Rev. James Hickey, a Baptist minister residing in Texas, being adverse to slavery and unwilling to be drawn into the impending conflict, cro ed the Rio Grande to Mat am or as, where he acquired some knowledge of Spanish, and began to preach to the Mexicans. From there he went to Monterey in November, 1862, where, in January, 1864, the first Baptist church was organized, which to-day is one of the strong He died in est evangelical bodies in Mexico. For about three years the work was main1866. tained by the little body of believers until 1869, when the American Baptist Home Mi ionary Society appointed a mi ionary to that field. Since that time the Society has prosecuted its work succe fully in the republic, as stated in the article on Home Mi ions. Another example of the leaven of Bible-distribution was found years later in Zitacuaro, in the Presbyterian native State of Michoacan. preacher. Rev. Mr. For cad a, on commencing mi ionary work at that point in 1877, learned that a Bible depository had been opened there by a Mexican six years before, and that four hundred Bibles and many religious tracts had been sold. Thus the way had been prepared for an unexpected welcome to the mi ionary, and a most gratifying succe . At present, within a radius of forty miles, there are sixteen congregations of Protestant Christians. A Undenominational Mi ionary Work: Through the influence of Mi Rankin at Monterey, the Uexlcu Hlldjnay attention of Rev. Henry A. Riley was called to Mexico as a promising mi ionary field, and in 1869 he proceeded to the capital, where he found the harvest ripe beyond his expectations. He began his labors under the auspices of the American and Foreign Christian Union, and he succeeded in purchasing at a low price a valuable Meanwhile an imconfiscated church property. portant movement had already begun in the City of Mexico, where a few prominent priests openly avowed their renunciation of the Roman Catholic dogmas and corruptions. The first was Francisco Aguilas, a man of Alarmed at his great fervor and eloquence. boldne and succe , a fellow-priest, Manuel Aguas, set out to prepare himself to refute the teachings of Aguilas, who had already been While joined and encouraged by Mr. Riley. Aguas pursued his investigations in search of arguments, he himself became a convert, and a most succe ful preacher of the Gospel. Unfortunately for the cause which they had espoused, both of these eloquent men died after a brief career. The converts who were gathered by Father Aguas were organized into a church based upon th3 doctrines and order of American Episcopacy, and known as the Church of Jesus. The Protestant influences that have been introduced into Mexico have come largely from North America, and the following societies have accomplished most effective results: The Northern and Southern Presbyterian Boards; the A ociate Reformed (South); the Cumber land Presbyterian; the Northern and Southern Methodist Boards; the American Baptist Home Mi ion Society; Independent Baptists of the South; the Foreign Mi ion Board of the Southern Baptist Convention; the Protestant Episcopal Board; the American Board (Congregational) the Chris; tian Woman’s Board of Mi ions; the Friends’ Work; the American Bible Society; the Seventh Day Adventists and their medical work; and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. The Plymouth Brethren of Great Britain, and the Junta Misionera, of Mexico, are also engaged in active service for the redemption of Mexico. Bancrof (H. H.) Resources and Development of Mexico, San Francisco, 1894; Butler (W.), Mexico in Transition, he.v York, 1892; HaleCS.), Mercedes, Louisville, 1895;.lohnson (II.M.), About Af exico, Philadelphia. 1887;Lumini5 (C.F.), Awakening of a Nation, New Vork, 1898; Rankin (M.), Twenty Years Among the Mexicans, Cincinnati, 1875. MEYER, Philip Lewis Henry Born at Neuwiedon-the-Rhine, Germany, November 13, 1826, of Died at Marburg, earnest Christian parents. Germany, August 2, 1876. At his confirmation Christ mightily took po e ion of love in 1840 the Succe ively a cabinet maker, a of his heart. school teacher, a student of medicine, he was thus variously qualified for mi ion service, and He received a call to South Africa in 1854. reached Cape Town November 3 of the same year. He found the mi ion station at Shiloh and Goshen in ashes by a recent Kafir war, and commenced rebuilding at once, studying the Kafir language, teaching the natives handicraft, and inculcating Gospel truths. In 1859 he founded a new station, not far from Shiloh, in a plain watered by the River Engoti, and called it Engotine. In 1869 he received an invitation to teach a Kafir tribe 240 miles from Engotine. War having scattered the tribe, Mr. Meyer and his family were left alone. But he followed the: 474 Kafirs to preach to them in their mountain fast After peace was restored the people began to come to the station to hear the Gospel, and soon church and school were built and a church was organized. Mr. Meyer was permitted to found one more mi ion, but his health failed, and he was obliged to return to Europe. A town in Central India, situated 13 There is a military miles S. W. by S. of Indore. post 1 mile distant. Population, 31,800, of whom Station of the PCC three-fourths are Hindus. (1877), with (1903) 2 women mi ionaries, 37 native workers, 3 outstations, 1 place of worship, ne es. 492