On his tour Maximilian had discovered that the country’s most pressing need was the revival of commerce. New channels of trade must be created, and for this purpose the laying out of highways and the building of bridges was ordered. Robles, minister of public works, was commissioned to build a railroad between Querétaro and Guanajuato, an undertaking which was never carried out, however. A railroad from Mexico to Vera Cruz was also planned, the execution of which was entrusted to an English company, and three different companies received permission to run steamship lines between the more important seaports of the country. To exterminate the robber bands and secure safety for the life and property of the people, a much needed system of militia was instituted on the seventh of November, 1864. At the same time the Emperor urged most strictly upon all magistrates of the various provinces the following injunctions: preservation of law and order, firm administration of justice, supervision of the press, construction and maintenance of roads, extermination of marauders and outlaws, sanitation, improvements in agriculture and the breeding of cattle, conservation of forests, etc. All this proves the loftiness of Maximilian’s aims—nor were his hands idle as some of his enemies maliciously maintained. Could he but have had the necessary support and coöperation, conditions in that unfortunate country must soon have improved. But with only the fickle and treacherous Mexicans to depend upon, all these reforms were of brief duration—a mere ripple on the stream. Chapter V Church Affairs in Mexico The most difficult problem now awaiting solution was the religious situation in Mexico. Forty years of internal strife and anarchy had inevitably lowered the standards of the people and weakened their sense of right and wrong, as was proved by Juarez’s treatment of Church property. The claim of the enemies of the Catholic Church, however, that the priesthood was responsible for this moral degradation, is entirely without foundation. All reports agree that the priests were then, as now, the friends and guardians of the Indians. Many of the stanchest supporters of Mexican independence—among them Hidalgo, Morelos, and Guerrero—belonged to the clerical party, and even at the present day a large part of the minor clergy are Indians. Accounts vary as to the value of the Church’s property in Mexico at that time, but it is a matter of little importance, since it had been seized and disposed of by Juarez and his followers long before Maximilian’s arrival. Indeed, this had been one of the chief causes for the latter’s hesitation in accepting the throne.