The nobility had, as a body, fallen into a state of moral and physical degradation. They were equally incapable of military exertion and of the performance of the civil duties which were inseparable from their position and their rank. The professions were deserted, and even the humblest members of society refused to work. Spain contained 180,000 monks, nuns, and priests. The Jesuits had given a false direction to the education of the higher classes, and indisposed them for active service of the State.* The influence of the order was second only to that of the Inquisition, and it was mischievously active throughout every department of social life. For two hundred years it continued to sap the power and strength of the nation. The banishment of the whole Society was effected by Aranda, the minister of Charles III. Its views and interests must have clashed with those of the Church, for it appears that 6 archbishops and 26 bishops cordially approved of the decree of banishment and sequestration; and when an attempt was made in 1815 to procure a restoration of the order, only 2 archbishops and 6 bishops were favourable to the project.f

The enormous quantity of land held in mortmain was one conspicuous cause of the national decay. In the sixteenth century there were frequent complaints of the enormous wealth of the Church. The secular clergy, a valuable class, suffered from the extension of the possessions of the Church, for as monasteries multiplied tithes fell off, and labourers decreased, and the land was left uncultivated. Six-tenths of the province of Toledo belonged to the Church, and onefifth of all the land in Spain was held in mortmain. The evil at length attained such gigantic proportions that resolute efforts were

Juan de Regla, the confessor of the Emperor Charles V., commenting on the principles of this religious order, says, All the gentlemen whom they take in hand, instead of making them lions, they make them hens.'-'The Spanish Protestants, by De Castro.

Geschichte Spaniens,' by Baumgarten, p. 89.

medies for an evil which was eating away the heart of the nation. During the reign of the Emperor Charles V. there were not wanting advisers who hinted to him the expediency of relieving the royal wants from this tempting source. The Duke of Alva, bigot as he was, proposed a root-and-branch reform in the temporalities of the Church. He is known to have often intimated to his Sovereign that the clergy possessed revenues greatly exceeding those of the State. 'Let these churchmen,' he once boldly said, 'be deprived of their fiefs and baronies, and there will be in your Majesty's hands an ample fund, not merely to oppose, but to annihilate the enemies of the Church.' He complained

probably with even greater energy-that such was the monopoly of the soil by churchmen, that the Emperor scarcely possessed an inch of land wherewith to reward the services of his faithful captains. All the reformers who attacked the abuses of the Church in Spain contended that a stringent law of mortmain would be only a return to the principles and practice of their ancestors; and, at a later period, Campomanes and Jovellanos, the great economical authorities of the country, proved in the clearest manner that the accumulation of property by clerical corporations was expressly forbidden by the laws of the ancient kingdoms of Spain.

The expulsion of the Moors after the conquest of Granada might perhaps be excused as an act of policy. It probably presented the only effectual security against the revival of religious wars; but the Moriscoes, or Spaniards of Moorish descent, were too inconsiderable in number to cause any serious apprehension, and their banishment was as impolitic as it was unjust. The country suffered greatly in its material interests by the removal of 100,000 of the most skilful and industrious of its inhabitants. The expulsion of the Jews was still more unjustifiable: at least 400,000 of these people were driven from the country. The clergy had succeeded in exciting the most malignaut enmity towards this unfortunate race. witness the burning of a Jew was always an exquisite gratification; but this popular entertainment was put an end to by a general proscription.

To

The true causes of the decline of Spain were depressing superstition which poisoned the springs of national life, vast wars of ambition which drained the country of its population and wealth, the enormous possessions of the Church, a ruinous colonial policy, unsound principles of taxation, and a corrupt and partial administration of justice.

There are three well defined epochs in Spanish history. 1st. The constitution of its nationality and political unity under Ferdinand and Isabella, to the period of its highest grandeur, under the Emperor Charles V. and Philip II. 2nd. Its gradual decline from the reign of Philip II. to the commencement of that of Philip V. 3rd. Its progressive advancement, frequently interrupted, from the accession of Philip V. to the present day. Ferdinand VI. and Charles III. were great regenerators of Spain. They diminished taxation, restored order to the finances, and encouraged agriculture and manufactures. Charles III. first departed from the traditionary commercial policy of Spain, and opened the ports of the American colonies to the ships of all nations. The commercial policy has varied at different periods according to the views more or less enlightened of the minister of the day. The importation of foreign manufactures, having long been encouraged, was afterwards rendered as difficult as possible; and the exportation of the precious metals, once free, was in a subsequent age altogether prohibited. The exportation was equally forbidden of all raw materials that could be wrought up into manufactured articles in Spain. The wisest and ablest native statesman that Spain probably ever possessed, Ensenada, the finance minister of Ferdinand VI., substituted a moderate duty for the prohibition on the export of gold and silver. The deficiency of the revenue had become a chronic malady, but Ensenada for the first time obtained a surplus. The period between the years 1748 and 1754 was remarkable for the restoration of Spain to considerable power and influence. The American possessions during that period had paid the enormous sum of 3077 millions of reals, or 513 millions annually, into the public treasury. In 1751 Spain had 20 ships of the line building. In 1758 she possessed 44 ships of the line, 19 frigates, and 22 sloops of war. Ensenada was enabled to declare with pardonable exultation that, with a fleet of 60 sail of the line, an army of 90,000 men, and a surplus of 600 millions of reals in the treasury, all of which he confidently hoped to possess, Spain might venture to disregard the power of England and to defy the arms of France.

The influence of the French Revolution upon Spain was at first to attach her more firmly to her own absolutism, and she took up arms against France, as a holy war against infidelity and regicide. Drawn afterwards by the irresistible course of events into a close connexion with the republic, the alliance was fatal to her independence; and the destruction of her navy, which had become

considerable, was the result. Her subsequent alliance with England against the oppressor of Europe drew the two nations into the closest relations; and in fighting the battle of liberation together upon Spanish soil they ought to have laid the foundation of a permanent friendship. Abortive constitutions, tyrannical misgovernment, violent changes, the loss of colonies, pernicious foreign interference, mark the melancholy history of the period which followed the close of the Peninsular war.

The era of recent regeneration dates from the year 1830, in which constitutional government was fairly inaugurated. In 1836 a veto was given to the Crown, together with a power to convoke and dissolve the Cortes. The active part taken by the monks in the Carlist war extinguished all scruples on the part of the Constitutionalists in dealing decisively with the enormous masses of land that had been locked up for centuries in mortmain. In 1836, accordingly, a royal decree appeared by which all colleges, convents, and communities of monks were suppressed, and a prohibition of religious vows for the future insured the gradual extinction of the monastic orders. That the public mind was thoroughly ripe for this reform admits of no doubt. The bitter hatred,' says a traveller who visited Spain in 1850, rather prepossessed in favour of monasticism, of monks and friars is quite astonishing, and I have no doubt that if one now made his appearance in his monastic dress he would be torn to pieces.* The number of convents of both sexes in Spain in 1834, was 3027. The number of monks receiving support from the state was, in 1837, 23,935, and in 1858, 6822. The suppression of monastic institutions has doubtless been attended with some individual suffering, but the monks had completely lost the public respect and with it their usefulness. The moral and economical results of the measure are now fully appreciated. It has liberated vast masses of land from the fetters of mortmain, and greatly increased the number of landed proprietors.

The distribution of the monastic property,' says Mr. Wallis, which has destroyed the beauty of the convent lands, has no doubt doubled which supported the monastery, and kept its The alms the productiveness of their soil. architecture and ornaments from decay, have remained in the peasant's hands for the comfort of his family, or the improvement of the little spot he cultivates. The spiritual instruction of the young and ignorant has become the care of the secular clergy, whose education and

*The Practical Working of the Church in Spain,' by Rev. Frederick Meyrick, 1850.

higher gifts, intellectual and moral, make the change a national blessing. The impoverished industry and neglected agriculture of the land have received an accession of vigorous labour no longer tempted into sloth by a privileged and sensual life. In the cities and larger towns the convent buildings have been displaced to make room for private dwellings of more or less convenience and elegance, or have been appropriated as public offices or repositories of works of art. The extensive grounds which were monopolized by some of the orders in the crowded midst of populous quarters have been converted into walks or squares dedicated to the public health and recreation. In a word, what was intended as the object of monastic endowments has been to some extent realized. What was meant for the good of all, though entrusted to a few, has been taken from the few, who used it as their own, and distributed, radely it may be, but yet effectually, among the many, who were entitled to and needed it.**

In addition to the suppression of the monastic orders, the Government has assumed a direct control over the revenues of the Church. The number of Ecclesiastics was considerably reduced by the Concordat of 1851. The number of bishops remains as before; but the Church dignitaries and superior clergy have been reduced from 4382 to 1923. The policy of the Government, in dealing with the property of the Church, has fluctuated with the state of parties. By a decree of the Cortes, in 1836, all future acquisitions of land in mortmain under any pretext were forbidden; and the property of churches, chapters, brotherhoods, and other spiritual denominations, was secularised. Tithes and all other ecclesiastical revenues were abolished, and the clergy were deprived of all direct reliance on the people for their support. The state thus became the owner of all the property of the Church, and imposed a special tax instead for its support. By the Concordat of 1851 all titles acquired under previous sales of church property were confirmed: but the portions remaining unsold were restored to the Church. A compromise was effected between the Papacy and the Crown with respect to presentation to certain dignified offices; but the right of the Church to acquire landed property was revived, and certain orders of nuns were re-established. The suppression of monasticism was finally acquiesced in. The revenue of the primatearchbishop of Toledo was fixed at 1600l. a-year; that of the eight other archbishops at from 1500l. to 1300l. a-year, and of the bishops at from 1100l. to 800l. a-year-certainly moderate stipends compared with the princely revenues enjoyed by the dignitaries

* Wallis's 'Spain.'

The Clero et Culto Tax.

of the Spanish Church in the days of its grandeur. The salaries of curates in town parishes vary from 30l. to 100l. a-year, and the minimum in rural parishes is fixed at 227. a-year. In 1855 the Government introduced, and the Cortes passed, a law of amortization, under which all land held by the State, the Church, and lay corporations, was directed to be sold, and 80 per cent. of the proceeds to be applied in works of public utility. The operation of this law was suspended in consequence of the opposition it met with from the clergy: it is, however, we believe, now again in force; but no further sales of church property are to be made without the consent of the bishops. A recent convention between the Pope and the Queen of Spain (1859) restores to the Spanish clergy the right of acquiring both landed and other property in addition to their fixed incomes paid by the State; and Her Majesty pledges herself to maintain, to the utmost of her power, the temporal and spiritual authority of the Holy See.

It is certain that the Church in Spain has not, at the present time, any commanding influence over the public mind. In the rural districts, and among the ignorant and uneducated, the power of the priesthood is doubtless considerable, but we are not aware that it is oppressively exercised. In the towns there is an absolute independence of all clerical domination, as is attested by all who have possessed opportunities of personal observation; nor is the press at all scrupulous in its mode of handling ecclesiastical subjects. A writer whom we have previously quoted asserts that he constantly heard the most extreme Protestant opinions from the lips of the middle classes; and that, before his own countrymen, the best resource of a priest is silence.* The intolerance which exists is the effect of a traditionary system, which has made unity in religion the basis of government, and punishes dissent as a species of treason. Uniformity of faith is still considered the true foundation of the throne. By the 137th Article of the Penal Code of 1848 it is declared that a Spaniard who publicly apostatizes from the Catholic Apostolic and Roman religion is punishable with transportation, and becomes for ever afterwards unqualified for the exercise of any, profession. This theocratic demand of religious as well as civil allegiance was common to all European states in the sixteenth century. England only cast off her constitutional intolerance after a long struggle of opinion, and our nonconformists were, three centuries ago, liable to penalties for the public exercise of their

* The Practical Working of the Church in Spain,' p. 197.