Auto-da-fÉ celebrated at Seville in 1560—proceedings of the Inquisition during the reigns of Philip III. Philip IV. and Charles II.—M. Legal, the French commander, throws open the doors of the Inquisition, and liberates the prisoners—state of the Inquisition during the reigns of Ferdinand VI. Charles III. and Charles IV.—it is suppressed by Bonaparte—is re-established by Ferdinand VII.—persecuting spirit of the modern Inquisition.

Previous to giving any further account of individual persecutions by the Inquisition, we shall now resume the history of that tribunal in Spain. On the 22d of December 1560, a splendid auto-da-fÉ was celebrated at Seville, at which fourteen individuals were burnt in person, three in effigy, and thirty-four were subjected to various penances. [16] Several of the sufferers were Englishmen, whose only crime was that they possessed wealth. Under the pretext that they were guilty of heresy, their property was seized by the hands of the avaricious Inquisitors, and not a few of them were condemned to the flames. [17]

In 1561, the Inquisitor-general, Valdes, published a new code of laws, for the regulation of the different tribunals of the "Holy Office" throughout Spain. This code consisted of eighty-one articles, "which have been, till the present time, the laws by which the proceedings of the Inquisition have been regulated." [18]

From 1560 to 1570, one auto-da-fÉ, at least, was celebrated annually in every Inquisition throughout Spain, at which many adherents of the Reformation were consigned to the flames. Thirty individuals were burnt at Murcia in 1560, twenty-three in 1562, seventeen in 1563, and thirty-five in the two years following, besides many in effigy; and great numbers were condemned to different other punishments. Similar tragedies were acted in Toledo, Saragossa, Grenada, &c., where not a few of the victims who were sacrificed to the cruelty of this barbarous tribunal were the disciples of Luther and Calvin.

During the remaining years of Philip II. the power and insolence of the Inquisitors daily increased, and the kingdom of Spain literally groaned under their oppressive yoke. Philip III. who succeeded his father in 1598, was no less bigoted and superstitious. Having assembled the Cortes of the kingdom at Madrid, in 1607, the members of that assembly represented to their new sovereign, that in 1579 and 1586, they had required a reform of the abuses committed in the tribunal of the Inquisition, to put an end to the right which the Inquisitors had usurped, of taking cognizance of crimes not relating to heresy; that Philip II. had promised to do this, but died before he could perform it, and that in consequence they renewed the request. Philip replied, that he would take proper measures to satisfy the Cortes. In 1611, when he convoked the new Cortes, they made the same request, and received the same answer; but nothing was attempted, and the Inquisitors became daily more insolent, and filled their prisons with victims.

Philip IV. was equally averse to any reform in the court of Inquisition; on the contrary, he even permitted the Inquisitors to take cognizance of the offence of exporting copper money, and to dispose of a fourth of what fell into their hands. During the reign of this monarch, and that of Charles II. numerous autos-da-fÉ were annually celebrated throughout Spain; and many were the victims which were sacrificed to Inquisitorial cruelty in that blinded country, who, though "tried by fire," were found steadfast defenders of the truth, and eminent witnesses against the idolatries of Popery, and against that barbarous tribunal which for so many ages has shed the blood of the saints. [19]

On the death of Charles II. in 1700, and the accession of his uncle Philip V., a kind of civil war broke out in Spain, in consequence of the pretensions of the Archduke Charles of Austria. Among the troops employed by Philip, were about fourteen thousand auxiliaries provided by the King of France. This force was sent into Arragon, the inhabitants of which had declared for Charles. The people were soon overawed; and in their victorious career, the French came into possession of the city of Saragossa, in which there was a number of convents, and in particular one belonging to the Dominicans. M. de Legal, the French commander, found it necessary to levy a pretty heavy contribution, on the inhabitants, not excepting the convents. The Dominicans, all the friars of which were familiars of the Inquisition, excused themselves in a civil manner, saying that they had no money, and that if M. Legal insisted upon the demand of their part of the contribution, they could not pay him in any other way, than by sending him the silver images of the saints. These crafty friars imagined that the French commander would not presume to insist upon such a sacrifice, or if he did, that they would, by raising the cry of heresy against him, expose him to the vengeance of a blind and superstitious people. But M. Legal was indifferent alike to the destruction of the images, and to the rage both of the priests and people. He therefore informed the Dominicans, that the silver saints would answer his purpose equally the same as money. Perceiving the dilemma in which they had now placed themselves, the friars endeavoured to raise a mob, by carrying their images in solemn procession, dressed in black, and accompanied by lighted candles. Aware of their intention, M. Legal ordered out four companies of soldiers well armed, to receive the procession, so that the design of raising the people completely failed.

M. Legal immediately sent the images to the mint, which threw the friars into the greatest consternation, and they lost no time in making application to the Inquisition, to interpose its supreme power in order to save their idols from the furnace. With this request the Inquisitors speedily complied, by framing an instrument, excommunicating M. Legal, as having been guilty of sacrilege. This paper was put into the hands of the secretary of the holy office, who was ordered to go and read it to the French commander. Instead of expressing either displeasure or surprise, M. Legal took the paper from the secretary after hearing it read, and mildly said, "Pray tell your masters, the Inquisitors, that I will answer them to-morrow morning."

The Frenchman was as good as his word. Having caused his secretary to draw out a copy of the excommunication, with the simple alteration of inserting "the Holy Inquisitors," instead of his own name, he ordered him on the following morning to repair with it, accompanied by four regiments of soldiers, to the Inquisition, and having read it to the Inquisitors themselves, if they made the least noise, to turn them to the door, open all the prisons, and quarter two regiments in the sacred edifice. These orders were implicitly obeyed. Amazed and confounded to hear themselves excommunicated by a man who had no authority for it, the Inquisitors began to cry out against Legal as a heretic, and as having publicly insulted the Catholic faith. "Holy Inquisitors," replied the secretary, "the king wants this house to quarter his troops in; so walk out immediately." Having no alternative, the holy fathers were compelled to obey. The doors of all the prisons were thrown open, and four hundred prisoners set at liberty. Among these were sixty young women, who were found to be the private property of the three Inquisitors, whom they had unjustly taken from their fathers' homes in the city and neighbourhood!

The next day the Inquisitors complained to Philip; but that monarch calmly replied, "I am very sorry; but I cannot help it; my crown is in danger, and my grandfather defends it, and this is done by his troops. If it had been done by my troops, I should have applied a speedy remedy; but you must have patience till things take another turn." They were accordingly obliged to exercise that patience for a period of eight months.

The archbishop, however, deeply concerned for the honour of the holy tribunal, requested M. Legal to send the women to his palace, promising that he would take care of them, and threatening with excommunication all who should dare to defame, by groundless reports, the tribunal of the Inquisition. M. Legal professed his willingness to comply with this request; but as to the young women, he informed his grace, that they had already been taken away by the French officers. This affair, which is related by Gavin, and other writers, shows at once the detestable nature of a tribunal where deeds of darkness, "of which it is a shame even to speak," were so unblushingly committed. For these young women "were chiefly ladies, beautiful and accomplished, who had been forcibly carried away, at the pleasure of the Inquisitors, from the most opulent families in the city, to enrich their seraglio, and who probably would never have been seen without the walls of the holy office, but for such a deliverance as that which was effected by the French soldiers."

Philip was not so devoted to the court of the Inquisition as his predecessors had been. In the first year of his reign, a solemn auto-da-fÉ was celebrated in honour of his accession to the throne; but though Philip declared it to be his intention to protect the tribunal of the holy office, yet he decidedly refused to be present at a scene so barbarous. During the reign of this monarch, however, which lasted forty-six years, one auto-da-fÉ was annually celebrated by every Inquisition throughout the kingdom, at which, it has been calculated, upwards of fourteen thousand individuals suffered, who had been condemned by the holy tribunal to different punishments. It was in the reign of Philip, too, that the freemasons became the objects of persecution by the Inquisition. Pope Clement XII. had excommunicated them in a bull which he issued in 1738; and, copying the example of his holiness, Philip in 1740 enacted several severe laws against all who were, or should be connected with that order; in consequence of which many of the fraternity were arrested and condemned to the galleys. Never behind in any species of cruelty or oppression, the Inquisitors apprehended every freemason upon whom they could lay their hands; and in a short time they seemed to be more intent upon their suppression than even upon that of heretics.

The same rigour against freemasonry existed under the reign of Ferdinand VI., which lasted from 1746 to 1759. Yet during these years, no general auto-da-fÉ, and only thirty-four private ones, were celebrated in Spain. At these private acts of faith, one hundred and eighty individuals were punished, ten of whom only were burnt alive. Historians differ in opinion as to the cause of this decrease in the number of autos-da-fÉ at that period in Spain, and the consequent diminution of the victims who were sacrificed by the tribunal of the holy office. The following account, given by Llorente, who was secretary to the Inquisition, seems to be the most probable: "The rise of good taste in literature in Spain," says that author, "the restoration of which was prepared under Philip V. was dated from the reign of Ferdinand VI. On this circumstance is founded the opinion, that the accession of the Bourbons caused a change in the system of the Inquisition; yet these princes never gave any new laws to the Inquisition, or suppressed any of the ancient code, and consequently did not prevent any of the numerous autos-da-fÉ which were celebrated in their reigns. But Philip established at Madrid two royal academies, for history and the Spanish language, on the model of that of Paris, and favoured a friendly intercourse between the literati of the two nations. The establishment of weekly papers made the people acquainted with works they had never before heard of, and informed them of resolutions of the Catholic princes concerning the clergy, which a short time before they would have considered as an outrage against religion and its ministers. These circumstances, and some other causes, during the reign of Philip V., prepared the way for the interesting revolution in Spanish literature, under Ferdinand VI. This change was followed by a great benefit to mankind; the Inquisitors, and even their inferior officers, began to perceive that zeal for the purity of the Catholic religion is exposed to the admission of erroneous opinions."

The Inquisition remained in nearly a similar condition, during the reigns of Charles III. and Charles IV., the former supporting it because he hated freemasons, and the latter "because the French revolution seemed to justify a system of surveillance, and he found a firm support in the zeal of the Inquisitors-general, always attentive to the preservation and extension of their power, as if the sovereign authority could find no surer means of strengthening the throne than the terror inspired by the Inquisition."

A great number of the works which were published in France, at the period of the revolution in that country, having been conveyed to Spain, and eagerly read by the people, the Inquisitors lost no time in prohibiting and seizing all books, pamphlets, and newspapers relating to French affairs, and gave peremptory orders to every person to denounce all who were friendly to the revolutionary principles. The consequence was, that informations were lodged against vast numbers, who were immediately apprehended, and thrown into prison. Among others, two booksellers in Valladolid were condemned in 1799 to two months' imprisonment, two years' suspension of their trade, and to banishment from the kingdom.

The invasion of Spain by Bonaparte in 1808, and abdication of the throne by Charles IV. in favour of his son Ferdinand VII., gave a tremendous blow to the Inquisition. In that year Napoleon Bonaparte suppressed the holy office at Chamastin near Madrid; and, with the approbation of Joseph Bonaparte, Llorente burnt all the criminal processes in the Inquisition, excepting those which belonged to history.

On the 22d of February, 1813, the Cortes-general of the kingdom assembled at Madrid, and having decreed that the existence of the Inquisition was incompatible with the political constitution which had been adopted by the nation, that assembly fully suppressed that odious tribunal, and restored to the bishops and secular judges, the jurisdiction which they had anciently enjoyed.

"Thus ended the existence of a tribunal," to use the words of the translator of Puigblanch, "which in Spain had lorded it over the people for more than three hundred and twenty years, had been an outrage to humanity, and a powerful engine of internal police in the hands of despots. Thus perished a tremendous and inconsistent power, which even in Rome no longer held sway; and though the triumph was unfortunately short, the daring and enlightened measure of the Cortes will ever remain on record as part of that great attempt to rally round the sacred standard of civil and religious liberty, as far as was possible in a country so benighted as that over which they presided; and, as a meritorious act, the destruction of the Inquisition thence entitles them to the respect of their contemporaries, and the gratitude of posterity."

But, alas! notwithstanding the abolition of this most detestable tribunal, and the praiseworthy efforts of many Spanish patriots to prevent its ever again disgracing their country, it is most distressing to be compelled to add, that it was soon afterwards re-established by Ferdinand VII. No sooner did that monarch find himself again in possession of the throne, for his restoration to which he was indebted to the valour of the British nation, than he annulled the acts of the Cortes, and re-established the Inquisition in its full powers. The following are the terms of the edict, which set up anew this unjust court.

"The past tumults, and the war, which have desolated all the provinces of the kingdom for the space of six years—the residence therein during this period of foreign troops consisting of many sects, almost all infected with abhorrence and hatred of the Catholic religion, and the disorders these evils always bring with them, together with the little care latterly taken to regulate religious concerns are circumstances which have afforded wicked persons full scope to live according to their free will, and also given rise to the introduction and adoption of many pernicious opinions, through the same means by which they have been propagated in other countries," viz. the press: "Wherefore I have resolved that the council of the Inquisition, together with the other tribunals of the holy office, shall be restored, and for the present continue in the exercise of their jurisdiction, as well ecclesiastical—a power granted them by the popes at the request of my august predecessors, united with that vested in local prelates by virtue of their ministry—as also royal, conferred upon them by successive monarchs; the said tribunals, in the use of both jurisdictions, complying with the statutes by which they were governed in 1808, as well as the laws and regulations it had been deemed expedient to enact at various times, in order to prevent certain abuses." Dated Madrid, July 21, 1814.

No sooner accordingly were the Inquisitors re-invested with power, than they began to display a similar spirit to that of their persecuting predecessors. On the 12th of February, 1815, they issued the following injunction to all confessors throughout European and American Spain.

"1st, Each one is with the greatest efficacy to persuade the penitent to accuse himself before the said confessor, of all the errors or heresies into which he may have fallen, without promising him the benefit of absolution in any other form, assuring him of the inviolable secrecy he will keep, and which is kept in the holy office, and that the smallest injury shall not thence result to him; rather that this measure will serve as a means to prevent his being punished, in case he should be accused by any other person of the errors and heresies which it behoves him to manifest, and to which he otherwise stands liable.

"2dly, In case he should consent, the confessor shall take down his declaration under oath to speak the truth, and the act shall bear the following heading: 'In the town of N., on such a day, month, and year, spontaneously appeared before me the undersigned confessor——(expressing his name, country, and profession.') The document shall then relate, in the most specific manner, all his errors and their accompanying circumstances, the time and place in which he may have committed them, seen, or heard them committed; and if any persons were present, they are to be named, and he is also to specify of them all he knows. He is then to sign his declaration, if he knows how; and, if not, he is to make a cross, but the confessor is always to sign it.

"3dly, He (the confessor) shall cause him to abjure his heresy, and absolve him by reconciling him to the church; he shall moreover enjoin him secretly to confess all his errors, and impose on him such penance as he may deem fit; which being done, the whole is to be forwarded to the Holy Office.

"Finally, if the most efficacious persuasions have not been able to prevail on the penitent, in case he should evince due signs of repentance and detestation of his offences, the confessor shall absolve him from excommunication in the internal form only," (that is, not exempt him from the future prosecutions of the Inquisition,) "explaining this to him for his government and information. As soon as the statement of all this has been drawn up by the confessor, he is also to forward it to the Holy Office."

On the 5th of April, Don Francisco Xavier de Mier y Campillo, the Inquisitor-general, published an edict, offering a term of grace to those who had fallen into the crime of heresy, provided they denounced themselves before the end of the year; and declaring that "Spain was infected by the new and dangerous doctrines which had ruined the greatest part of Europe." And on the 22d of July following, the Inquisitors issued an order for the suppression of almost every work which had been published in Spain during the revolution, subjecting every reader and retainer of any of the proscribed books to the most grievous punishments.

Thus, although both the king and the Inquisitors pretended that reformations had taken place in the holy tribunal, and the latter in particular boasted of the "sweetness and charity which are now used in the ecclesiastical procedure," yet it is evident that the re-established Inquisition differs little or nothing from that which was suppressed. It does not appear that a single public auto-da-fÉ has been celebrated since that period, [20] and it is to be hoped that a scene so barbarous will never again be exhibited in Spain; yet, while that odious tribunal exists, who can be safe in that oppressed and degraded country? Its secret prisons, and its various modes of torture and other punishments, still remain. Spain, therefore, can never be happy, or its inhabitants one moment secure, while the falsely denominated "Holy Office" continues to enjoy the smallest footing in that kingdom.

Nor let these remarks be termed the effects of prejudice. On the contrary, it is proved by numerous living authors, who adduce facts, the best of all evidence, in support of their statements, that the procedure of the modern Inquisition is equally cruel with that of the ancient, excepting indeed the celebration of public autos-da-fÉ. Among these none give a more ample detail of the present state of the holy tribunal, than Lieut. Colonel Don Juan Van Halen, and Llorente. The former of these writers has published a narrative of his imprisonment in the dungeons of the Holy Office in 1817. He was confined first in the Inquisition of Murcia, and subsequently in that of Madrid, for the active part which he took in the exertions of the liberales to deliver their country from tyranny, both civil and ecclesiastical. He was arrested at Murcia, on the 21st of September, and all his papers were seized, among which were several that very nearly involved many eminent persons in the same persecution. Passing over the sufferings which he endured while confined in the Inquisition of Murcia, we shall give here, in his own words, an account of part of those which were inflicted on him in Madrid.

"About eight o'clock at night, on the 20th of November," says he, "Don Juanita, (one of the Inquisitors,) entered my dungeon, with a lantern in his hand, followed by four other men, whose faces were concealed by a piece of black cloth, shaped above the head like a cowl, and falling over the shoulders and chest, in the middle of which were two holes for the eyes. I was half asleep when the noise of the doors opening awoke me, and, by the dim light of the lantern, I perceived those frightful apparitions. Imagining I was labouring under the effects of a dream, I earnestly gazed awhile on the group, till one of them approached, and, pulling me by the leather strap with which my arms were bound, gave me to understand by signs that I was to rise. Having obeyed his summons, my face was covered with a leather mask, and in this manner I was led out of the prison. After walking through various passages on a level with that of my dungeon, we entered a room, where I heard Zorilla (the other Inquisitor) order my attendants to untie the strap.

"'Listen, with great attention,' he then exclaimed, addressing me, 'since you have hitherto been deaf to the advice which this holy tribunal has repeatedly given you in their spirit of peace, humanity, and religious charity. Propagator of secret and impious societies, established by the heresies of their members to destroy our holy religion and the august throne of our Catholic sovereign, you have maintained, for the space of a year, an uninterrupted correspondence with more than two hundred sectarians.... This holy tribunal has at last recourse to rigour. It will extort from you the truths, which neither the duty of a religious oath, demanded without violence, nor the mild admonitions which have been so often resorted to, in order to induce you to make the desired declarations, have been able to obtain. This evident pertinacity obliges us to use a salutary severity. We judge the cause of our Divine Redeemer and of our Catholic king, and we shall know to fulfil the high ministry with which the supreme spiritual and temporal authority has invested us. The most rigorous torments will be employed to obtain from you these truths, or you shall expire in the midst of them. All the charges I have just mentioned in a summary manner must be amply explained,—yes! amply explained! justice, God, and the king require that it should be so. This holy tribunal will fulfil their duties—yes!'

"The agitation of the moment permitted me to utter only a few words, which, however, were not listened to, and I was hurried away to the further end of the room, the jailer and his assistants exerting all their strength to secure me. Having succeeded in raising me from the ground, they placed under my arm-pits two high crutches, from which I remained suspended; after which my right arm was tied to the corresponding crutch, whilst the left being kept in a horizontal position, they encased my hand open in a wooden glove extending to the wrist, which shut very tightly, and from which two large iron bars ran as far as the shoulder, keeping the whole in the same position in which it was placed. My waist and legs were similarly bound to the crutches by which I was supported; so that I shortly remained without any other action than that of breathing, though with difficulty.

"Having remained a short time in this painful position, that unmerciful tribunal returned to their former charges. Zorrilla, with a tremulous voice that seemed to evince his thirst for blood and vengeance, repeated the first of those he had just read, namely, whether I did not belong to a society whose object was to overthrow our holy religion, and the august throne of our Catholic sovereign? I replied that it was impossible I should plead guilty to an accusation of that nature. 'Without any subterfuge, say whether it is so,' he added, in an angry tone.

"'It is not, sir,' I replied. The glove which guided my arm, and which seemed to be resting on the edge of a wheel, began now to turn, and, with its movements, I felt by degrees an acute pain, especially from the elbow to the shoulder, a general convulsion throughout my frame, and a cold sweat over-spreading my face. The interrogatory continued, but Zorrilla's question of 'Is it so? is it so?' were the only words that struck my ear amidst the excruciating pain I endured, which became so intense that I fainted away, and heard no more the voices of those cannibals.

"When I recovered my senses, I found myself stretched on the floor of my dungeon, my hands and feet secured with heavy fetters and manacles, fastened by a thick chain, the nails of which my tormentors were still riveting! Left by those wretches stretched in the same place, I could have wished that the doors, which closed after them, should never again open. Eternal sleep was all I desired, and all I asked of Heaven. It was after much difficulty that I dragged myself to my bed. It seemed to me that the noise of my chains would awaken the vigilance of my jailers, whose presence was to me the most fatal of my torments. I spent the whole of the night struggling with the intense pains which were the effects of the torture, and with the workings of my excited mind, which offered but a horrible perspective to my complicated misfortunes. This state of mental agitation, and the burning fever which was every moment increasing, soon threw me into a delirium, during which I scarcely noticed the operation performed by my jailers, of opening the seams of my coat to examine the state of my arm."

Having undergone innumerable sufferings, his enemies being bent on his destruction, Van Halen at length succeeded, on the 30th of January, 1818, in making his escape from the prisons of the Inquisition; upon which he repaired successively to France, England, and Russia, returning to Spain in 1821.

Llorente again, records the following fact, which he says was given by one who was present when the Inquisition was thrown open in 1820, by orders of the Cortes of Madrid. Twenty-one prisoners were found in it, not one of whom knew the name of the city in which he was; some had been confined three years, some a longer period, and not one knew perfectly the nature of the crime of which he was accused. One of these prisoners had been condemned, and was to have suffered on the following day. His punishment was to be death by the pendulum. The method of thus destroying the victim is as follows:—The condemned is fastened in a groove upon a table, on his back; suspended above him is a pendulum, the edge of which is sharp, and it is so constructed as to become longer with every movement. The wretch sees this implement of destruction swinging to and fro above him, and every moment the keen edge approaching nearer and nearer: at length it cuts the skin of his nose, and gradually cuts on, until life is extinct. It may be doubted if the Holy Office, in its mercy, ever invented a more humane and rapid method of exterminating heresy, or ensuring confiscation! This, let it be remembered, was a punishment of the secret tribunal, A. D., 1820!!

How, indeed, is it possible that any amelioration can have taken place in the Inquisition, that great bulwark of Rome, when Popery, and the measures of the Holy See, continue unaltered? Though not bearing directly on the point in hand, yet illustrative of the hatred which the Romish Church bears to Protestants and to their works, and of her determination still to persecute when in her power all who dare to call in question any of her dogmas, the following extracts from a speech delivered before the British Parliament, in May, 1825, by Sir Robert H. Inglis, are submitted to the reader;—"I will tell you," said the Honourable Baronet, "not what the literature of the Church of Rome is, but what it is not. Her tyranny over literature, her proscription at this day of all the great masters of the human mind, can be paralleled only by the tyranny and the proscription which she exercised five centuries ago over the minds and bodies alike. The volume which I hold in my hand—the Index Librorum Prohibitorum—contains a list of the books which are at this time proscribed in the Church of Rome under the penalties of the Inquisition. It was printed at Rome, by authority, in 1819, and I bought it there in 1821. [21] The first book in this great catalogue of works, which are taken from the faithful every where, and are given up to the Inquisition, is 'Bacon de Augmentis Scientiarum.' 'Locke on the Human Understanding,' and 'Cudworth's Intellectual System,' follow in the train. Many other English works are proscribed. One only I will mention, the 'Paradise Lost' of Milton. The reading of the work was interdicted, indeed, nearly a hundred years ago; but the prohibition was renewed in 1819. Is not this enough to prove that the character of the Church of Rome is not so open to a beneficial change as some of my honourable friends are willing to hope and believe it to be? I pass over large classes of books, the very possession of which is forbidden, but I must notice the impartial prohibition of science. Will the House believe it possible, that the celebrated sentence, in 1633, against Galileo—a sentence immortalized by the execration of science in every country where the mind is free—should be renewed and published in 1819? Yet of this fact I hold the proof in my hand, in the volume of the 'Index,' which I have already quoted. The work of Algarotti, on the Newtonian system, shares the same fate: so that every modification of science—in other words, every effort of free inquiry—every attempt to disengage the mind from the trammels of authority, is alike and universally consigned to the Inquisition. Am I not justified in saying that the Church of Rome remains unchanged, the unchangeable enemy to the progress of the human mind? Every other institution is advancing with sails set, and banners streaming, on the high, yet still rising tide of improvement: the Church of Rome alone remains fixed and bound to the bottom of the stream, by a chain which can neither be lengthened nor removed."