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256 A HISTORY OF CHILE est, and to this the liberals unhesitatingly attributed his success. The elections passed off quietly in San- tiago and Valparaiso, but the same could not be said of the outside towns. President Errazuriz when elected was in the prime of life, and had had a long and varied experience in public affairs. He had, in fact, served as the head of nearly every cabinet office ; he had been minister of foreign affairs, of the interior, of justice and of war, and member of both branches of the legislative body. He was in every way qualified for the chief executive office. He formed a ministry of conservatives and moderate liberals, but the same aggressiveness on the part of the liberals which had caused Perez to recede somewhat from his first policy, soon began to embarrass Erra- zuriz. The question of the abolition of ecclesiastical tribunals and the trying of the clergy by the civil and the criminal laws of the country, soon came to the front and like Banquo's ghost would not down. Again the government thinking to gain liberal support, decreed that space should be reserved in the Catholic ceme- teries — or rather public cemeteries — for the interment of dissenters, who should be permitted burial accord- ing to the rites of their respective denominations. This measure was loudly denounced in certain quarters, as being unconstitutional in that it deprived the church of a part of her property and gave it to her declared enemies, an argument which it would seem ought to have had considerable force. The new criminal code so bitterly opposed by the clericals, did not finally pass congress before the end of the year 1873. It provided that the clergy should be amenable to the civil authorities, and further, that all sects might worship in churches erected by private