Note 43 — Chapter XIII · REFLECTIONS UPON THE REPUBLIC.

It will scarcely be credited, but such is nevertheless the fact, that it was once seriously contemplated in Mexico to deny the right of sepulture to all strangers who were not Catholics, and that the point was only overruled by an ingenious liberalist, who contended that it was certainly healthier for the living Catholics that the dead heretic should rot beneath the ground, than taint the atmosphere by decaying above it! The priests have constantly and violently opposed marriages between Mexicans and foreigners, unless they were Catholics.