Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/293

MEXICO. 253 The Constitution has vested in the President the right of conceding, or refusing, the Pase or Placet, which may be con- sidered as equivalent to the Regium Exequatur, without which no Bull, or even Indulgence, was allowed to circulate in the Spanish possessions of Ultramar. This right has been freely exercised ; twenty-four only, of thirty-three Briefs and Res- cripts transmitted from Rome, having obtained the Constitu- tional Pase in the year 1826. Of the remainder, four were referred to the Senate, and five rejected altogether. One of these is the Bull of the 24th December, 1825, for the extension of the Jubilee, which has not been allowed to circulate, " Because it contains doctrines contrary to that of the sovereignty of the people, and in favour of the absolute power of Kings, identifying their cause with that of the Church." The other four are Bulls in favour of the parochial Church of Jalapa, which have been rejected in consequence of their being countersigned by the agent of the King of Spain at Rome. ( Vide Report.) In the Mandatory letters from Generals of the Monastic Orders, an entire change has also taken place. The Orders existing in Mexico were all, in their origin, branches of simi- lar Orders established in the Peninsula, and dependent upon Generals residing there. On the declaration of the Independ- ence, the Government, as a necessary precaution, prohibited all intercourse with the Generals, and this injunction has been hitherto complied with. It is now the wish of the Executive, that the Mexican Provinces of Regulars should elect Generals, to reside in the territories of the Federation ; but upon this point, nothing has been yet determined. With regard to the interior discipline of the Convents, difficulties have occurred only in one instance. The Fran- ciscans of Queretaro, were bound by the rules of their Order to observe what is termed la Tripartita in the choice of their Priors, whp are elected every three years. By this rule, the