action, and familiar in times of danger and distress, with all its resources of men and money; and as he was entirely occupied with the organization and management of the army at San Luis, the opposition party directed all its blows against the administration of the vice presidency.
A few days after the installation of the new government, the agitation of the mortmain question was commenced in congress. The Puro party united with the executive, made every effort to destroy the power of the clergy, by undermining the foundation of its wealth, while the Moderados became the supporters of the ecclesiastics, under the lead of Don Mariano Otero.
At length the law was passed, but it was not a frank and decided act, destroying at once the privileges of the clergy and declaring their possessions to be the property of the republic. In fact it was a mere decree for the seizure of ecclesiastical incomes, which threatened the non-complying with heavy fines if they did not pay over to the civil authorities, the revenues which had formerly been collected by the stewards of convents and monks.