There is nothing extraordinary in the Church having become very rich by the accumulations of three centuries in a Spanish colony, where the manners and customs remained in the 18th century to a great extent as they were in the 16th, and the practice of giving and leaving great properties to the Church was in full vigour—­long after it had declined in Europe.  It is considered that half the city of Mexico belongs to the Church.  This seems an extraordinary statement; but, if we remember that in Philip the Second’s time half the freehold property of Spain belonged to the Church, we shall cease to wonder at this.  The extraordinary feature of the case is that, counting both secular and regular clergy, there are only 4600 ecclesiastics in the country.  The number has been steadily decreasing for years.  In 1826 it was 6,000; in 1844 it had fallen to 5,200, in 1856 to 4,600, giving, on the lowest reckoning, an average of over L200 a year for each priest and monk.  A great part of this income is probably left to accumulate; but, when we remember that the pay of the country curas is very small, often not more than L30 to L50, there must be fine incomes left for the church-dignitaries and the monks.  Now any one would suppose that a profession with such prizes to give away would become more and more crowded.  Why it is not so I cannot tell.  It is true that the lives of the ecclesiastics are anything but respectable, and that the profession is in such bad odour that many fathers of families, though good Catholics, will not let a priest enter their houses; but we do not generally find Mexicans deterred by a little bad reputation from occupations where much money and influence are to be had for very little work.

The ill conduct of the Mexican clergy, especially of the monks, is matter of common notoriety, and every writer on Mexico mentions it, from the time of Father Gage—­the English friar—­who travelled with a number of Spanish monks through Mexico in 1625, and described the clergy and the people as he saw them.  He was disgusted with their ways, and, going back to England, turned Protestant, and died Vicar of Deal.

To show what monastic discipline is in Mexico, I will tell one story, and only one.  An English acquaintance of mine was coming down the Calle San Francisco late one night, and saw a man who had been stabbed in the street close to the convent-gate.  People sent into the convent to fetch a confessor for the dying man, but none was to be had.  There was only one monk in the place, and he was bed-ridden.  The rest were enjoying themselves in the city, or fast asleep at their lodgings in the bosom of their families.

In condemning the Mexican clergy, some exception must be made.  There are many of the country curas who lead most exemplary lives, and do much good.  So do the priests of the order of St. Vincent de Paule, and the Sisters of Charity with whom they are associated; but then, few of these, either priests or sisters, are Mexicans.