mous.349 Iron and coal, the two most useful of all the productions of the inorganic world,350 are also abundant in that highly favoured country. Iron is said to exist in every part of Spain, and to be of the best quality ;351 while the coal-mines of Asturias are described as inexhaustible.352 In short, nature has been so prodigal of her bounty, that it has been observed, with hardly an hyperbole, that the Spanish nation possesses within itself, nearly every natural production which can satisfy either the necessity or the curiosity of mankind.353

These are splendid gifts; it is for the historian to tell how they have been used. Certainly, the people who possess them have never been deficient in natural endowments. They have had their full share of great statesmen, great kings, great magistrates, and great legislators. They have had many able and vigorous rulers; and their history is ennobled by the frequent appearance of courageous and disinterested patriots, who have sacrificed their all, that they might help their coun

319 In 1832, Cook writes, "The lead-mines of the Sierra de Gador are in a state of repletion at present from the enormous quantity of the mineral, and the facility of raising it." "Lead abounds in other parts of the same chain, nearer to Almeria." Cook's Spain, vol. ii. p. 75. The most valuable of the existing Spanish mines are those of lead in Granada; and the supplies obtained from them during the last twenty years have been so large, that they have occasioned the abandonment of several less productive mines in other countries, and a considerable fall in the price of lead." M'Culloch's Geographical and Statistical Dictionary, London, 1849, vol. ii. p. 705.

350 I use the popular language in referring coal to the inorganic world, despite its cellular tissue and vegetable origin.

351 The most valuable of the whole mineral riches of Spain will be in all probability, in a few years, the iron, which is found every where, and of the best qualities." Cook's Spain, vol. ii. p. 78. See also Bowles, Historia Natural de España, pp. 56, 67, 106, 273, 346, 415, and Ford's Spain, pp. 565, 618.

352 The quantity is inexhaustible, the quality excellent, the working of extraordinary facility, and they possess an easy communication with the sea; yet they are practically useless, and afford only a miserable existence to a few labourers and mules used in conveying the mineral to Gijon." Cook's Spain, vol. ii. pp. 79, 80. "In the immediate neighbourhood of Oviedo are some of the largest coal-fields in Europe." Ford's Spain, p. 381; compare pp 392, 606.

353 "La nacion española posee casi quantas producciones naturales puede apetecer la necesidad, ó curiosidad de los hombres." Campomanes, Apendice á la Educacion Popular, vol. iv. p. vi., Madrid, 1777.

try. The bravery of the people has never been disputed; while, as to the upper classes, the punctilious honour of a Spanish gentleman has passed into a bye-word, and circulated through the world. Of the nation generally, the best observers pronounce them to be high-minded, generous, truthful, full of integrity, warm and zealous friends, affectionate in all the private relations of life, frank, charitable, and humane.354 Their sincerity in religious matters is unquestionable; .355 they are, moreover, emi

"They

354"Ils sont fort charitables, tant à cause du mérite que l'on s'acquiert par les aumônes, que par l'inclination naturelle qu'ils ont à donner, et la peine effective qu'ils souffirent lorsqu'ils sont obligés, soit par leur pauvreté, soit par quelqu'autre raison, de refuser ce qu'on leur demande. Ils ont encore la bonne qualité de ne point abandonner leurs amis pendant qu'ils sout malades." . De manière que des personnes qui ne se voyent point quatre fois en un an, se voyent tous les jours deux ou trois fois, dès qu'ils souffrent." D'Aulnoy, Relation du Voyage d'Espagne, Lyon, 1693, vol. ii. p. 374. "They are grave, temperate, and sober; firm and warm in their friendships, though cautious and slow in contracting them." A Tour through Spain by Udal ap Rhys, second edition, London, 1760, p. 3. "When they have once professed it, none are more faithful friends." have great probity and integrity of principle." Clarke's Letters concerning the Spanish Nation, London, 1763, 4to, p. 334. "To express all that I feel, on the recollection of their goodness, would appear like adulation; but Í may venture at least to say, that simplicity, sincerity, generosity, a high sense of dignity, and strong principles of honour, are the most prominent and striking features of the Spanish character." Townsend's Journey through Spain, second edition, London, 1792, vol. iii. p. 353. "The Spaniards, though naturally deep and artful politicians, have still something so nobly frank and honest in their disposition." Letters from Spain by an English Officer, London, 1788, vol. ii. p. 171. "The Spaniards have fewer bad qualities than any other people that I have had the opportunity to know." Croker's Travels through Spain, London, 1799, pp. 237, 238. "Spanish probity is proverbial, and it conspicuously shines in commercial relations." Laborde's Spain, London, 1809, vol. iv. p. 423. "Certainly, if it be taken in the mass, no people are more humane than the Spaniards, or more compassionate and kind in their feelings to others. They probably excel other nations, rather than fall below them, in this respect. Cook's Spain, London, 1834, vol. i. p. 189. "The Spaniards are kind-hearted in all the relations of life." Hoskins' Spain, London, 1851, vol. ii. p. 58. Finally, I will adduce the testimony of two professional politicians, both of whom were well acquainted with the Spaniards. In 1770, Mr. Harris, afterwards Lord Malmesbury, writes, "They are brave, honest, and generous." Diaries and Correspondence of the Earl of Malmesbury, London, 1844, vol. i. p. 48. And Lord Holland, according to Moore, deemed "that the Spaniards altogether are amongst the best people of Europe." Moore's Memoirs, edited by Lord John Russell, vol. iii. p. 253, London, 1853.

355 This their whole history decisively proves; and as to their more recent state, the author of Revelations of Spain in 1845, vol. i. p. 340, says: "But religion is so deeply rooted in the national character, that the most

L

VOL. II.

nently temperate and frugal.356 Yet, all these great qualities have availed them nothing, and will avail them nothing, so long as they remain ignorant. What the end of all this will be, and whether in their unhappy country the right path will ever be taken, is impossible for any one to say.357 But if it is not taken, no amelioration which can possibly be effected will penetrate below the surface. The sole course is, to weaken the superstition of the people; and this can only be done by that march of physical science, which, familiarizing men with conceptions of order and of regularity, gradually encroaches on the old notions of perturbation, of prodigy, and of miracle, and by this means accustoms the mind to explain the vicissitudes of affairs by natural considerations, instead of, as heretofore, by those which are purely super

natural.

To this, in the most advanced countries of Europe,

furious political storms, which prostrate every thing else, blow over this and leave it unscathed. It is only amongst the educated male population that any lack of fervour is witnessed."

356

They

The habitual temperance of these people is really astonishing: I never saw a Spaniard drink a second glass of wine. With the lower order of people, a piece of bread with an apple, an onion, or pomegranate, is their usual repast." Croker's Travels in Spain, London, 1799, p. 116. are temperate, or rather abstemious, in their living to a great degree: borracho is the highest term of reproach; and it is rare to see a drunken man, except it be among the carriers or muleteers." Dalrymple's Travels through Spain, London, 1777, 4to, p. 174. "Drunkenness is a vice almost unknown in Spain among people of a respectable class, and very uncommon even among the lower orders." Esménard's note in Godoy's Memoirs, London, 1836, vol. ii. p. 321.

"Tan

35 This is the most wonderful country under the sun; for here, intellect wields no power." Inglis' Spain, London, 1831, vol i. p. 101. dis que l'activité publique, en Espagne, se porte depuis quelques années dans la sphère des intérêts pratiques et matériels, il semble, au contraire, qu'il y ait une sorte de ralentissement dans la vie intellectuelle." Annuaire des Deux Mondes for 1850, p. 410. "La vie intellectuelle n'est point malheureusement la sphère où se manifeste le plus d'activité en Espagne." Ibid. for 1856-1857, p. 356. Now, listen to the practical consequences of not giving free and fearless scope to the intellect. "It is singular, upon landing in the Peninsula, and making a short excursion for a few miles in any direction, to see reproduced the manners of England five centuries back, -to find yourself thrown into the midst of a society which is a close counterpart of that extinct semi-civilization of which no trace is to be found in our history later than the close of the fourteenth century and the reign of Richard the Second." Revelations of Spain in 1845 by an English Resident, vol. ii.

every thing has been tending for nearly three centuries. But in Spain, unfortunately, education has always remained, and still remains, in the hands of the clergy, who steadily oppose that progress of knowledge, which they are well aware would be fatal to their own power.558 The people, therefore, resting ignorant, and the causes which kept them in ignorance continuing, it avails the country nothing, that, from time to time, enlightened rulers have come forward, and liberal measures been adopted. The Spanish reformers have, with rare exceptions, eagerly attacked the Church, whose authority they clearly saw ought to be diminished. But what they did not see is, that such diminution can be of no real use unless it is the result of public opinion urging-on politicians to the work. In Spain, politicians took the initiative, and the people lagged behind. Hence, in Spain, what was done at one time was sure to be undone at another.

359 "That the Spaniards, as a people, are ignorant, supremely ignorant, it is impossible to dissemble; but this comes from the control of education being altogether in the hands of the clergy, who exert themselves to maintain that ignorance to which they are indebted for their power." Spain by an American, vol. ii. p. 360. "The schools in Madrid are all conducted by Jesuits; and the education received in them, is such as might be expected from their heads." Inglis' Spain, vol. i. p. 156. "Private education here, is almost entirely in the hands of the clergy." Revelations of Spain in 1845, vol. ii. p. 27. In Spain, as in all countries, Catholic or Protestant, the clergy, considered as a body, inculcate belief instead of inquiry, and, by a sort of conservative instinct, discourage that boldness of investigation without which there can be no real knowledge, although there may be much erudition and mere book-learning. In Spain, the clergy are stronger than in any other country; therefore in Spain they display this tendency more fearlessly. A good instance of this may be seen in a work lately published by the Bishop of Barcelona, in which a violent attack upon all physical and philosophical knowledge is concluded in the following terms: "No intento recriminar á ningun católico de los que se asocian al nuevo sistema de filosofar y de extender indefinidamente el imperio de esta ciencia, pero deseo que fijen toda su atencion en los puntos que no haré sino indicar. Primero, que las escuelas de Holanda, Alemania, Inglaterra y Francia desafectas al Catolicismo, han iniciado y promovido con el mayor empeño ciertas discusiones filosóficas, presentándolas como un triunfo de la razon sobre la Religion, de la filosofía sobre la teología, del materialismo sobre el espiritualismo. Segundo, que sus máximas no son, en gran parte, mas que reproducciones ó nuevas evoluciones de errores mil veces refutados y condenados por la sana filosofía y por la Iglesia; bajo cuyo concepto no tienen por qué felicitarse en razon de su progreso, sino mas bien avergonzarse por su retroceso." Costa y Borras, Iglesia en España, Barcelona, 1857, p. 150.

6

When the liberals were in power, they suppressed the Inquisition; but Ferdinand VII. easily restored it, because, though it had been destroyed by Spanish legislators, its existence was suited to the habits and traditions of the Spanish nation.359 Fresh changes occurring, this odious tribunal was, in 1820, again abolished. Still, though its form is gone, its spirit lives.360 The name, the body, and the visible appearance of the Inquisition are no more; but the spirit which generated the Inquisition is enshrined in the hearts of the people, and, on slight provocation, would burst forth, and reinstate an institution which is the effect, far more than the cause, of the intolerant bigotry of the Spanish nation.

In the same way, other and more systematic attacks which were made on the Church, during the present century, succeeded at first, but were sure to be eventually baffled.361 Under Joseph, in 1809, the monastic orders were

359

"Immediately after his arrival in Madrid, Ferdinand re-established the Inquisition; and his decree for that purpose was hailed throughout all Spain with illuminations, thanksgivings, and other rejoicings." Quin's Memoirs of Ferdinand VII., London, 1824, pp. 189, 190. This and similar acts gave such delight to the Church as well as to the people, that, according to a great divine, the return of Ferdinand to Spain is to be deemed the immediate act of Divine Providence, watching over the interests of Spain. "La divina Providencia abrevió los dias de prueba, y la católica España respiró ceñida con los laureles del triunfo, recobrando luego á su tan deseado monarca, el señor rey don Fernando VII.” Costa y Borras, Observaciones sobre la Iglesia en España, Barcelona, 1857, p. 91.

360 "The spirit of the Inquisition is still alive; for no king, cortes, or constitution, ever permits in Spain any approach to any religious toleration." Ford's Spain, London, 1847, p. 60. "Les cortès auraient beau permettre l'exercice du culte protestant ou juif, il n'est point certain que cela ne suscitât de périlleux conflits." Annuaire des Deux Mondes, ou Histoire Générale des Divers Etats, 1854-1855, vol. v. p. 272, Paris, 1855; a work of considerable ability, planned on the same scheme as the Annual Register, but far superior to it. Respecting the chance of the Inquisition being again restored, compare two interesting passages in Spain by an American, 1831, vol. ii. p. 330, and Inglis' Spain, 1831, vol. i. p. 85. Since then, the balance of affairs has, on the whole, been in favour of the Church, which received a further accession of strength by the success of the essentially religious war recently waged against the Moors. Hence, if any fresh political catastrophe were to occur in Spain, I should not be at all surprised to hear that the Inquisition was reestablished.

361 Compare some very sensible remarks in Bacon's Six Years in Biscay, London, 1838, pp. 40, 41, 50, with Quin's Memoirs of Ferdinand the Seventh, pp. 192, 193.