vices for succour of the wounded, were taken
out and deliberately put to death in cold blood, by order of the
ferocious Marquez. Another murder lies to the account of Marquez--that
of Ocampo, one of the best of the Liberal statesmen. But the Liberal
cause gained ground. Juarez landed at Vera Cruz; and the famous Reform
Laws of July 12, 1859, were made, forming part of the basis of the
administration set up at Vera Cruz. This code was directed against
clericalism. The property of the Church was confiscated and
nationalised; the clergy were severely arraigned as the authors of the
sanguinary and fratricidal wars which had devastated the country;
accused of abusing their power in a scandalous manner, with baleful
control of their wealth; and, in short, the Church was disestablished
and religious freedom proclaimed, together with the abolishing of
religious orders and institutions, whilst marriage was later declared a
civil contract.

Torn by their unceasing dissensions at home, the unfortunate Mexican
nation now brought upon themselves complications from abroad. The
Government of Juarez, having triumphed over the Conservatives, had been
installed in the capital amid popular enthusiasm. But what was the
state of the country over which it ruled? Sources of public revenue
were paralysed or hypothecated; there was not a dollar in the treasury;
and private enterprise and the activities of ordinary wealth were
ruined. Funds must be obtained in some way; and an Act of Congress was
passed in July, 1861, suspending the payment of Mexico's foreign debts.
This grave step laid Mexico open to the most serious charges in
European capitals, and her action was stigmatised as repudiation and
robbery, especially in London, where the first Mexican loan had been
contracted in 1823. This act of the Mexican Liberal Congress was
naturally painted in its worst colours by the reactionary
representatives of the Conservative party in Europe, who, desirous of
bringing back a priestly and monarchical _regime_, thought this an
opportunity and motive for compassing it by means of European
intervention. In justice to Mexico at that period it must be chronicled
that repudiation of her debts was not intended; only suspension in her
temporary distress. But the reprehensible Act of President Miramon, in
violating the British Legation and seizing $660,000 belonging to the
British bondholders, in November, 1860, had not been forgotten.

Maximilian--the pictu