proposes, in his concluding Chapter, for supplying the place of the Inquisition, are but too much in its spirit. We have no other opinion to pronounce upon them than a sentence of absolute condemnation. When we recollect the numerous occasions on which, as we have accompanied the Author through these volumes, we have found the expressions of an honest indignation against intolerance; when we advert to the instances, by no means infrequent, in which the temper of the Inquisition is denounced as diametrically opposed to the spirit of the gospel; when we consider the propriety of the measures which he proposes respecting the freedom of the press, that the antidote to pernicious publications be applied by writings of talent and erudition, whenever it is feared that a work will diffuse secret poison, since in the end truth will always be triumphant;' when the pathos and energy with which he has advocated the cause of the persecuted are in our recollection; we have the most painful feelings forced upon us in finding the adoption of the most rigorous penal laws included in the plan which he suggests for the support of religion, extending even to the awarding of capital punishment against the dogmatizer or propagator of sects seeking to make effective proselytes! Was it possible for such a proposition to find admission into the mind of the Author, without the consciousness that he was passing the strongest condemnation on Jesus Christ, and justifying all the opposition of his enemies,—the malice and cruelty of his murderers,—and giving his sanction to the worst crimes and the most guilty abuse of power? With bitterness of spirit we deplore this perversion of a mind so noble as that of D. Puigblanch. How are the mighty fallen! We would gladly allow ourselves, with the assistance of the largest charity, to search for reasons in the prejudices and associations of the Author, that might serve to mitigate the severity of our censure; but when the object of the book which he has written and published, is considered, we feel that it would be a gross dereliction of our duty, to withhold from the proposal of arrangements relative to religion, that include the propagation of theological tenets among crimes to be visited with fine, banishment, imprisonment, and death, the most unreserved and unqualified condemnation.

In concluding our review of this work, we shall endeavour to redeem the pledge which we gave by returning to the History of the Cortes. On this subject we have feelings, not perhaps in unison with popular sentiment, but against the concealment of which conscience would most indignantly protest. The Cortes had commenced the work of regenerating the constitution and correcting the abuses of their disordered country. By the laws which they prepared, and by the overthrow of the Inquisition which they decreed, they had entitled themselves to honourable

commendation. Throughout their proceedings they had upheld the monarchy, and were even profuse in the declarations of their regard for the Beloved Ferdinand.' To the reverence and gratitude of this personage they possessed peculiar claims; he was bound to distinguish them by his favour and to provide for them the rewards of merit. What were his proceedings towards them? All obligation, all decency was outraged in his conduct towards the patriots of Spain. No sooner had he resumed the reins of government, (which were never more misplaced than when in his lands,) than he dispersed the Cortes, annulled their acts, and by a decree dated July 23, 1814, re-established the Inquisition in full powers. Nor was this the conclusion of his mischievous and abhorred measures. The enlightened patriots of Spain were exposed to every species of degradation and injury. They were immured in different dungeons; they were tried as felons; and at last, by a horrible act of tyranny, were sent off, all in irons, as criminals to banishment. This was the reward of patriotism! Oh! good God!' exclaims the editor of an English journal, on recording this atrocity, are there no 6. stones in heaven but such as serve for thunder! When I look at this infernal list of proscriptions!' said an honourable Member of the Commons, in Parliament, and find at the head of it 'the name of M. Arguelles, every one who values talent, every one "who venerates patriotism, every one who loves virtue, or who "admires eloquence, must share with me in the pain and indig 'nation I feel, to reflect, that this unfortunate, this ill-fated ❝gentleman, who never exerted his great abilities but to support the cause of his country, and who zealously endeavoured to obtain in the Cortes the abolition of the Slave Trade, which was on the eve of being accomplished, has been condemned by Ferdinand to serve as a common soldier in the garrison of Ceuta, a pestilential dungeon on the coast of Africa, in sight of our own fortress of Gibraltar !'* We would remind the reader that the Author of the Inquisition Unmasked' was included in this infernab list of proscriptions.' To his merits a willing testimony must be given by all to whom the exposure of corrupt and wicked institutions can afford pleasure, and by whom superior talent can be appreciated. His declarations relative to the African slavery, should have been the means of procuring for him the countenance and influence of all persons fiendly to the interests of humanity. At the present moment,' said this intrepid advocate of the wretched, ecclesiastical laws permit the purchase and sale of negroes, nor is the smallest objection 'therein found: nevertheless, how horrid will not this traffic

6

* Mr. Brougham's speech, Feb. 15th; 1816.

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* sound, if hereafter all nations, as some already have done, lend an ear to humanity, justice, and sound policy.' But it availed not D. Puigblanch any thing, that he was the opponent of slavery. He took the part of the wretched, and was himself doomed to wretchedness as the reward of his services in the cause of justice and philanthropy. Monarchs who can thus disown and trample down the virtuous who have hazarded life itself in upholding them, might employ a few moments of their time in reflecting on the necessary tendency of their tyranny to alienate from them and from their interests, in the crisis of their. fortunes, the virtuous and the intrepid. Spain may be without its patriots when another invader may be marching to its throne: the self-dishonoured occupant may then in vain call for helpers. To the patriots and their English allies, this bigoted and wretched Sovereign owes his restoration; but for the exertions of the former, he might to this hour have been the vassal of the man who had cajoled him, and supplied his throne with another possessor. The co-operation of England with the Spanish patriots, involves the honour of the country, since it but too plainly appears, that the interest which she professes to feel in their cause, and the assistance which she gave them, were limited to objects apart from freedom, and which could be satisfied, though the patriots were consigned to banishment, and doomed to ruin; their acts abrogated, and the corrupt and despotic government which they were determined to correct, restored. The English government complacently beheld the efforts of Ferdinand against the patriots, and assisted him in the accomplishment of his purpose. They calmly looked on while the most scandalous measures were pursuing, and saw the edifice of freedom, such as it was, thrown down, and the Inquisition re-established. No act of this country was interposed to prevent this engine of despotism being again set up. A Ministry that had reached the seats of office by the avowal of hostility to Popery, that had made the cry of No Popery' resound through the land, and that had exerted all its address and power to excite the popular enthusiasm against Popery, beheld, without alarm, the revival of Popery in its very worst forms, and without any public expression of their indignation; without any exercise of their influence where they could have: procured it to be respected; the proper means for that purpose being in their own hands, its members witnessed the revival of proscriptions and every kind of intolerance in the re-esta- › blishment of the Inquisition. Is Popery so great an evil in England, where its institutions are comparatively mean, and its power circumscribed, that their reiterated vociferations so heavily denounced it, and had they no fears of its consequences in another country? They consented that the blood VOL. IX. N. S.

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of England should flow, and its treasure be profusely lavished, and they satisfied themselves with the return of despotism in the person of Ferdinand, as a compensation for every sacrifice. They never made a stipulation for freedom of opinion, or the abolition of a tribunal which is marked by all that is dark and horrid; and the patriots, the very men whom they received with acclamations, and whom they spirited to warfare, they suffered to fall before the overwhelming tide of royal vengeance, irritated to madness by the just attempts which had been made to impose bounds to the monarchy. The Inquisition is now again employed for the worst purposes; its secret halls of torture have already witnessed the repetition of those scenes to which they were before appropriated,' and its solitary cells have received fresh victims of intolerance; and England has connived at its restoration,-has not by any public expression of its will, or by any employment of its influence, attempted to prevent its re-establishment! The influence of England has recently been felt in all directions,-but in connexion with what objects? With objects of the most obnoxious kind. Objects with which neither the good of man, nor the glory of his Maker is associated, except indeed, with respect to the latter, as He makes the wrath of man to praise him. Despotism on the part of rulers, and slavery on the part of the people; every thing being done for the former, nothing for the latter.

It is impossible, on the present occasion, to overlook the conduct of some among us, whose pretensions to be considered as the friends of religion and the good of man, are, to say the least, not slight; who appear to acquiesce in the arrangements made and supported by the political powers of Europe, intoxicated with their successes, and which are charged with a tendency and purpose to bring back the darkness and horrors of ante-Protestant times. We have, in referring to those persons, the melancholy and distressing fact pressed upon us, that they have been the abettors of warfare, and the supporters of corrupt measures of policy. What measure have they ever proposed in favour of civil and religious liberty, that could entitle them to the appellation of its true friends? Who has heard their voices, in the places where it is most proper that they should be heard, in condemnation of measures which have restored intolerant institutions, and armed bigotry with power? We see them alarmed, and hear their cries loud in uttering complaints, and demanding to be heard on behalf of the sufferers under African slavery, and when impediments are opposed to Methodist teachers; (and most certainly we applaud their interference in all such cases ;) but who has heard their complaints against those abominations, which beyond all others are hostile to the pure profession of Christianity? Is beneva

lence such a quality that we can define its nature and its extent by particular applications? Is philanthropy a feeling that is to be limited by local partialities? Can we approve ourselves to God as aspiring to the imitation of his tender mercies which are over all his works, if we withhold our commiseration and our aid from any of our fellow-creatures oppressed and injured? Are we to satisfy ourselves with attempts to relieve mankind from one species of slavery only, or is not our philanthropy to extend to both the natural and the moral evils which afflict the human race in all their extent? Are the sighs and groans of Africans to obtain our hearing and to reach our hearts, that, with all the feelings of men, sympathizing with the degraded and wretched, we may hasten to their relief, and are the cries of a sufferer for conscience-sake, among the chains and terrors of impenetrable dungeons, and the scourges and tortures of ecclesiastical executioners, to be disregarded by us? Are we to be silent, and remain at ease, when the shrieks of a fellowmortal, rising amid mingling flames and volumes of smoke,' to the very vaults of heaven, reach our ears, and on whom the saddest and most terrifying pains are inflicted, because ignorant and bloody-minded monks and friars have been pleased to brand him as a heretic? We think that no hesitation can exist in the mind of the enlightened and consistent philanthropist, in pronouncing the condition of a country like Spain, a country under the power and influence of ideot monks, bigoted and despotic priests, and crowded with institutions of the most demoralizing nature, to be as bad as is the state of any nation upon earth, and as much entitled to our benevolent regard as Africa itself. Those persons who attempted its amendment by measures of public utility, were entitled to the countenance of all enlightened men. Every benefactor and well-wisher to the human race, was brought under obligation to the Cortes, imperfect as were some, and censurable as might be others, of their measures. They had begun a good work, which, under favourable auspices, might have proceeded far towards the attainment of the great and proper ends of social life. An increasing light might have enabled them to correct their errors, and to move steadily and surely towards the objects of legislative wisdom and probity. It was not their fault that they failed in the projects of amendment which they had formed. Their counsels were superseded, and their persons incarcerated, by the authority of a despot. What claim can they possess to the solid reputation of the Christian and universal philanthropist, who witnessed the extinction of their labours without sorrow, and permitted them to fall victims to a hateful tyranny, without the expression of an honest indignation, without the most powerful interposition of their influence,