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/^ERKEt'EY \ 
 
 LIBRARY I 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF J 
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 4 
 
A NARRATIVE 
 
 BY 
 
 DN. ANGEL HEMEEOS DE MORA 
 
 OF HIS IMPRISONMENT 
 
 BY THE "TRIBUNAL OF THE FAITH, 
 
 ESCAPE FROM SPAIN. 
 
 TRANTSLATED BY THE 
 
 HEV. W. H. EULE, D.D. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE TRANSLATOR, 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 ALEXANDER HEYLIN, 28, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1856. 
 
LOAN STACK 
 
 LONDON : 
 FEINTED BY -WILLIAM NICHOLS, 
 
 32, LONDON WALL. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 
 This Narrative has been delayed for two or three 
 weeks by circumstances which could not be con- 
 trolled. The writer reached London in the evening 
 of the 9th of October, but much exhausted, his right 
 hand partially disabled by the assault he had suf- 
 fered on the Prado of Madrid, and his mind for some 
 days so engrossed by domestic care, and anxiety for 
 his country and his friends, that he could not apply 
 himself to composition. The Translator, too, has 
 not been able to command leisure for his part of the 
 work, being constantly under the pressure of duties 
 of considerable labour and responsibility. No avail- 
 able moment has been lost. 
 
 For the better understanding of the following 
 pages, it appears necessary to supply some informa- 
 tion which is not generally accessible. The ques- 
 tions may very naturally arise, why, if there be an 
 Inquisitorial Tribunal in Spain, it has not acted of 
 late years, but reserved its powers until August, 
 1856, to be tried upon the person of Don Angel 
 Herreros de Mora; and what is the nature of the 
 Institution that suddenly, in a neighbouring and 
 friendly country, revives the judicial persecutions 
 
 6S0 
 
IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the sixteenth century. Both these points are of 
 some importance. 
 
 As to the first_, namely, the comparative abstinence 
 of Spanish authorities from severe acts of judicial 
 persecution until the present year, it must be ob- 
 served that the state of public feeling has been 
 unfavourable to such acts, which have only occurred 
 during intervals of political reaction. Successive 
 Legislatures, always dreading such reaction, which 
 the Clergy combine with their opponents to provoke, 
 have allowed themselves to tamper with the great 
 subject of Religious Liberty, even at the same time 
 that they have been fully alive to the necessity of 
 assuring political independence and the exercise of 
 civil rights. The text of three successive Constitu- 
 tions lies before me. 
 
 First, in 1812. When the majority of the Con- 
 stituent Cortes of Cadiz had determined to abolish 
 the Inquisition, and substitute for it a similar, but 
 less powerful. Tribunal, they timidly paraded their 
 fidelity to the Pope of Rome by an Article in their 
 New Constitution, which stands as a perpetual record 
 to their shame. It reads thus : " The religion of the 
 Spanish Nation is, and shaU be perpetually, the 
 Catholic, Apostolic, Roman, only true. The nation 
 protects it by wise and just laws, and prohibits tJie 
 exercise of any other.'' 
 
 Second, in 1837. By this time the Spaniards, fur- 
 ther advanced in intelligence, were ashamed of the 
 principles avowed and embodied in the above Ar- 
 ticle, and, in framing another Constitution, agreed, 
 after considerable debate, to omit such expressions 
 
INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 as those which I have marked in italics^ and merely- 
 enacted that '' the nation obliges itself to maintain 
 the worship and Ministers of the Catholic religion, 
 which the Spaniards profess/' The avowed inten- 
 tion of those Cortes was to encourage the establish- 
 ment of Religious Liberty in Spain, by omitting all 
 recognition of " wise and just laws '' and of pro- 
 hibition, and presenting to the view of Christendom a 
 fundamental article to which the Priests could not 
 successfully appeal for the punishment of alleged 
 heresy by any written law. A period of seventeen 
 years followed, during part of which time the Wes- 
 leyan Mission in Cadiz flourished; and although' 
 disturbed during an Absolutist reaction, it might 
 have been revived and prosecuted again, but for the 
 carefulness of the Committee in London, who felt 
 reluctant to expend funds intrusted to their care in 
 maintaining Missions on insecure ground. Unfor- 
 tunately Spain was left to itself, and, as Protestant 
 Churches all stood aloof, the liberal Spaniards were 
 not supported in their good intentions. Private zeal, 
 let it be observed, is not sufficient to establish our 
 claim to public liberty in that country. 
 
 Tfdrd, in 1854. The correspondent Article in this 
 last Constitution, — a Constitution, however, that was 
 not ratified, and, indeed, scarcely completed, — exhibits 
 a retrogression towards the standard of 1812. It reads 
 thus : " The nation obliges itself to maintain and 
 protect the worship and Ministers of the Catholic 
 religion, which the Spaniards profess. But no 
 Spaniard nor foreigner shall be persecuted for his 
 opinions, so long as he does not make them manifest 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 by public acts contrary to religion.'^ Sucli a funda- 
 mental law as this could only tend to repress every 
 utterance of Evangelical trutli_, and to prevent every 
 public act of Protestant worship; for we all know 
 how a Spanish Ecclesiastic would interpret it. Only 
 a very liberal Government could protect either Spa- 
 niard or foreigner from the penalties this Article 
 could easily be made to sanction. There were ten 
 amendments proposed and debated therefore^ and any 
 one of them would have been very much better than 
 the original sentence ; but the only advantage gained 
 was a debate of unprecedented interest on the sub- 
 ject of Liberty of Worship. 
 
 When Espartero fell^ in July of this year^ all con- 
 stitutional administration also fell, and it therefore 
 mattered not whether it was the code of ^37 or of ^54, 
 which the Queen then abolished. But even before 
 the publication of the Decree which abolished the 
 Constitution, Senor de Mora was brought under the 
 lash of the laws of the dark ages, — of the thirteenth 
 century. 
 
 How this came to pass is a matter of some interest. 
 
 AYhen the Cortes of 1812 had framed the Con- 
 stitution, one Article of which I have already quoted, 
 they hastened to satisfy the nation by an act of justice 
 which the people expected of them ; namely, the ex- 
 tinction of the Inquisition. But the same dread of 
 the Bomish Clergy, — the only Clergy of Spain, — 
 which appears in their intolerant Article, led to an 
 act which neutralized the merit of their suppression 
 of the Holy Office. After a long protracted and 
 memorable debate, there was a compromise by the 
 
INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 appdnitment of Inquisitorial Courts, yet differently 
 constituted from that of the Inquisition proper, as 
 can, be sufficiently explained by translating the es- 
 sential part of a Decree of those Cortes, bearing date, 
 February 22nd, 1813. 
 
 "Art. 1. The Catholic, Apostolic, Roman religion 
 shaU be protected by laws conformable to the Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 "2. The Tribunal of the Inquisition is incom- 
 patible with the Constitution. 
 
 " 3. Therefore the Law II., Title xxvi., Partida 
 vii., is established in its pristine vigour, inasmuch as 
 it leaves unencumbered the powers of Bishops and 
 their Vicars to take cognizance of causes of faith, 
 according to the sacred canons and common right, 
 and those of the Secular Judges to impose the penalties 
 which the laws provide, or which they may provide in 
 future. The Ecclesiastical and Secular Judges shall 
 proceed in their respective cases according to the 
 Constitution and the Laws. 
 
 " 4. Every Spaniard has full right to bring accusa- 
 tion of the crime of heresy before the Ecclesiastical 
 Tribunal. In defect of accuser, and even if there is 
 one, the Ecclesiastical Proctor [Fiscal) shall act as 
 accuser. 
 
 "5. When the indictment is prepared, if sufficient 
 cause shall result from it to lay any charge against 
 the person accused, the Ecclesiastical Judge shall cause 
 him to appear, and shall admonish him in the manner 
 which the aforesaid law of Partida prescribes. 
 
 " 6. If the accusation be concerning an offence 
 which would make the offender liable to bodily punish- 
 
VIll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mentj the accused being a lay person^ the Ecclesiastical 
 Judge shall forward an indictment to the respective 
 Judge in order to his arrest^ and he shall hold him at 
 the disposal of the Ecclesiastical Judge for further 
 proceedings_, until the conclusion of the cause. Mili- 
 tary men are not exempt, &c. If the accused person 
 is an Ecclesiastic^ secular or regular, the Ecclesiastical 
 Judge shall proceed by himself alone. 
 
 " 19. When the ecclesiastical judgment is finished, 
 a statement of the cause shall be forwarded to the 
 Secular Judge, the criminal from that time remaining 
 at his disposal, that he may proceed to inflict upon 
 him the penalty which has to take place according to 
 the laws.""^ 
 
 The Old Law is quoted in the Decree almost ver- 
 hatim, and, on reference, I find the penalty : " As to 
 penalties, the law establishes that of burning them 
 alive.'^t An English Romanist might say, that my 
 friend would not have been burnt alive, and in that 
 opinion I should entirely concur; for the populace 
 of Madrid would certainly have consumed Mr. Yicar 
 Pando in the same fire : but the whole world knows, 
 that if a Spanish Court wishes to kill a man, it is 
 never at a loss as to the mode of execution, and even 
 without any judicial formalities a death can be most 
 readily efiected. 
 
 The " Secular Judge,^^ however, did his work verj^ 
 reluctantly, and even dared to express his pleasure at 
 
 * Disctision del Proyecto de Decreto sobre el Tribunal de la Inquisi- 
 cion. Cadiz : En la Imprcnta Nacjoual, 1813, p. 687. 
 
 t Berecho Real de Esjyaua. Por D. Juan Sala. Madrid, 1882, lib. ii., 
 tit. 29. 
 
INTEODUCTION. iX 
 
 the escape of " tlie prisoner ; '^ and to show that the 
 Ecclesiastics were quite in earnest, I have only to 
 quote a sentence from a private letter to the prisoner 
 himself, now safe in London, dated Madrid, November 
 7th : " Many have asked me for your work on the 
 Jesuits, and among them the employes who were in the 
 service of the Government when you were in prison. 
 They are now all dismissed. I believe that Alonso 
 Martinez (the Civil Governor) is paying for not hav- 
 ing been willing to order a pursuit of you when you 
 escaped. However, they speak most highly of you^ 
 as your chief friends say, and the Governor is sorry 
 that he did not know you sooner/' 
 
 With regard to the disguise of the inmates of the 
 Convent, used in this case as a prison, it must be 
 observed that the adoption of other habits and an- 
 other name was rendered necessary, inasmuch as the 
 Order of the Jesuits was suppressed in Spain in the 
 year 1835, and has not been legally restored. But 
 one of their patrons gave them the house in which 
 they now are, working quite as vigorously under their 
 "Ecclesiastical Titles Act," as the Romish Bishops 
 work in England under theirs. 
 
 The Boyal Decree which stcjipressed the Order y but 
 could not insure the dispersion of its members, was 
 " rubricked by the royal hand " of the reluctant 
 Queen Governess Christina, July 4th, 1835, in obe- 
 dience to the national will, and was addressed to 
 D. Manuel Garcia Herreros, Minister of Grace and 
 Justice at that time. 
 
 When this ^Minister issued the Decree of his royal 
 mistress for the suppression of the Order, he also 
 
X .INTRODUCTION. 
 
 extinguished the Juntas de Fe, the Inquisitorial 
 Courts that were then held by the Bishops in all 
 their dioceses, according to the Decree just quoted. 
 Little did he think that the child of his cousin, 
 named after himself, Angel Herreros de Mora, then 
 a young man eighteen years of age, would be the 
 very first victim of those Jesuits, by help of one 
 of those very Juntas, within a few minutes' walk of 
 the office in which he laboured for the extinction of 
 the whole system. But even so it was. I, too, was 
 then a Missionary in Gibraltar, busily sending the 
 Holy Scriptures into the country, and preparing for 
 the establishment of a Mission there. It seemed, 
 for some years, as if those labours were frustrated ; 
 but it has pleased God to use other instruments. That 
 young man grew up to be a successor of his rela- 
 tive in another, yet very influential, sphere as a 
 public writer; and, after having had the happiness 
 of making his case known, and thus contributing 
 to snatch him from the jaws of Death, I have the 
 honour of giving him welcome here. Let this plead 
 with any one who might charge me with indelicacy 
 in allowing a frequent mention of my own name in 
 the following narrative which is to go forth trans- 
 lated by myself. I could have suppressed my name, 
 but it had already been announced ; and to have sup- 
 pressed my friend^s expressions of kindness would 
 have divested his character — to English readers — 
 of one of its more amiable features. Other and 
 far worthier names would certainly have appeared 
 on these pages, but for prudential considerations. 
 Some of the most illustrious exiles from the Court 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 of Madrid would probably have been residing there 
 at this moment, but for the part they felt impelled 
 to take on behalf of the imprisoned Protestant ; and, 
 although the silence thus imposed may soon cease 
 to be necessary, at present the reserve is inevitable, 
 and must be forgiven. 
 
 How bitterly the Jesuits hate all who bear the 
 name of Herreros, and breathe the spirit of that 
 family, may be judged of by another passage in their 
 history. Don Jose Maria Gonzalez de la Pefia 
 Herreros, Private Secretary of Maria Christina, who 
 framed an amnesty for the return of banished Libe- 
 rals, and was cousin of Don Angel, incurred their 
 hatred, was separated from the Court, and died 
 suddenly in Saragoza, in company of a Jesuit. 
 
 An elder member of this family is not yet forgotten 
 or forgiven. Herreros, Auxiliar Bishop of the Dio- 
 cese of Toledo in the reign of Charles III., when 
 the Company was suppressed, and its members 
 expelled from Spain, stood among the foremost in 
 promoting this act of sound policy, and in repre- 
 senting the strong hostility of the Secular Clergy of 
 Spain in general. The Bishop has actually been 
 educated by the Priests ; and therefore his opposi- 
 tion, as an alumnus of their own, must have been 
 especially mortifying. But the Society is just now 
 in a position to take vengeance, and even to control 
 the Government; having gained possession of the 
 Crown. 
 
 There is reason to believe that the Provincial of the 
 French Jesuits, the " Superior ^^ to whom allusion was 
 made in one of Seiior de Mora's conversations in the 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Convent, is in the Queen^s Palace, guiding her Ma- 
 jesty and the King Consort at his pleasure ; and that 
 the imprisonment and intended destruction of the 
 relative of an old enemy of the Company, the agent 
 of the American Bible Society, and the author of a 
 book against the Jesuits, were directed l)y himself, 
 amongst many other deeds of wickedness and folly, 
 which not even Isabel II. or her worst adviser, being 
 a Spaniard, would venture to suggest. 
 
 The reader may be curious to know what effect 
 was produced in Madrid, by the tidings of Morals 
 safe arrival in England. " The Jesuits," writes 
 another friend, under date of November 11th, "have 
 not yet recovered from the surprise caused them by 
 the news of your arrival in London ; and I am 
 assured by one who has the best means of knowing, 
 that the Vicar took measures to obtain certain infor- 
 mation of the fact, and, as soon as ever that evidence 
 came, placed you on his list of cases to be dis- 
 patched. When you have finished your account of 
 your imprisonment, let me, therefore, beg you to 
 send over a few copies, and we will furnish his most 
 Illustrious Excellency with a translation, by way of 
 recompense for the good service he has rendered you, 
 and by way of remembrance of the edifying gag 
 which he had the politeness to offer you." 
 
 The gentleman who, naturally enough, indulges 
 in this irony, had more than hearsay report of the 
 Vicar's intentions. Who is on " the list of cases to 
 be dispatched " we do not know, but have the satis- 
 faction of believing that the times of secresy are 
 past, and that no one can now be imprisoned and 
 
INTRODUCTION. XIU 
 
 walled up without knowledge of the world. The 
 British Press will immediately gain intelligence, and 
 circulate that intelligence all over the world. But 
 that the Tribunal of the Faith has revived the very- 
 formalities of the Inquisition, is now placed beyond 
 all doubt. 
 
 Perhaps the document before me at this moment 
 is the most undisguised repetition of Inquisitorial 
 forms, in actual practice, that has appeared within 
 our memory. It was published in the official Diario 
 de Avisos, on the eighth day of this month of 
 November, 1856, and I translate it literally, for the 
 satisfaction of those who may have imagined that 
 the Supreme and Universal Inquisition had confined 
 itself to a general supervision of Faith and Morals, 
 without laying hands upon the persons, the families, 
 or the property of heretics. 
 
 '^ By the present, and by virtue of the order of the 
 Most Excellent and Most Illustrious Lord Vicar, 
 (Pando,) certified by the undersigned Notary, is cited 
 and summoned to appear the Presbyter Don Angel 
 Ilerreros de Mora, once belonging to the College of 
 Missionaries in Asia, situate in Ocana, in order that, 
 within the term of twenty days, he may make his 
 appearance in the Audience Chamber of His !Most 
 Illustrious Lordship, which audience he holds in the 
 Street of La Pasa, Number 2, on the principal floor, 
 with notice that if he does not, proceedings wiU be 
 taken against him as a rebel, on the writ which is 
 now drawn up, for the crimes of apostasy from the 
 faith, infraction of the vow of chastity by having 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 contracted marriage, and of being a Propagandist of 
 Protestantism in Spain ; and the consequence of tliose 
 proceedings will take place upon himself. 
 
 " (Signed,) Gregorio Gonzalo Gutierrez.^' 
 
 On himself the consequences cannot fall, for he is 
 quite beyond the range of Inquisitorial shot. On 
 his effigy the Tribunal may wreak its impotent fury, 
 according to the ancient practice ; but that, of 
 course, will rather produce amusement than alarm. 
 It is, however, doubtful whether the civil authorities 
 would allow public peace to be endangered by such 
 an indignity, although harmless, an esteemed fellow- 
 citizen being the subject. How far, during the worst 
 and darkest moments of an absolutist and priestly 
 reaction, the agents of that reaction may be hurried 
 into some deed of cruelty on the family of the fugi- 
 tive " rebel,^^ it is not possible to say ; but we may 
 venture to trust that the same Guardian Providence 
 which has hitherto protected and delivered, will gra- 
 ciously continue to watch over his wife and child, 
 with the entire circle of his family and friends. 
 Prayer, no doubt, is offered by them, and for them ; 
 and in prayer they may find their last and sure 
 resource. 
 
 One of the charges in the above document renders 
 it necessary to explain that, after leaving the Mis- 
 sionary College, and during his brief connexion with 
 the Jansenists, my friend was ordained Presbyter, 
 and officiated as such for a few months. 
 
 In translating this narrative, I have not thought 
 it necessary to load the few pages it occupies with 
 
INTKODUCTION. XV 
 
 historical notes. Most readers will recognise Tour- 
 non as the Cardinal sent to investigate the proceed- 
 ings of the Jesuit Missioners in China, whom they 
 poisoned, to prevent the execution of his commis- 
 sion. Ganganelli all will recognise as Pope Clement 
 XIV., who suppressed the Order in 1773. Ravaillac 
 is universally known as the assassin of Henry IV. of 
 France ; and La Chaise as the Confessor and Coun- 
 sellor of Louis XIV., when he revoked the Edict of 
 Nantes, and so cruelly persecuted the French Pro- 
 testants. These historical allusions are familiar as 
 household words in Spain, and are not less worthy 
 of remembrance in England. 
 
 May England have the honour, under the Divine 
 blessing, of actively promoting the establishment of 
 Christian light and liberty in that long afflicted 
 country ! 
 
 * * W. H. R. 
 
 London, November 20th, 1856. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 I. — The Plague op Spain 1 
 
 II. — Eefoemation 4 
 
 III.— The Coup d'Etat 8 
 
 IV. — My Aruest 11 
 
 v.— "The Saloon" 21 
 
 VI. — My Antecedents 28 
 
 VII. — Confession of the Truth 33 
 
 VIII. — Vicar Pando , 38 
 
 IX. — The Physicians 44 
 
 X. — Violence 46 
 
 XL — The Dawn of Hope .* 50 
 
 XII. — Attempt to Poison 54 
 
 XIII. — Flight Advised .^ 60 
 
 XIV. — The Examination 63 
 
 XV. — Deep Sorrow 71 
 
 XVI. — The Jesuits' Convent 73 
 
 XVII. — Interior of the Convent 78 
 
 XVIIL— The Survey 82 
 
 XIX.— The Escape 84 
 
 XX. — The Concealment 93 
 
 XXL— The Plight 98 
 
 XXIL— To England 102 
 
 XXIIL— Conclusion 106 
 
A NARRATIVE, 
 
 re 
 
 THE PLAGUE OF SPAIN. 
 
 There were times when Spain was indisputably one 
 of the finest nations in the world ; the Spain of Colum- 
 bus and Cervantes, the parent of so many illustrious 
 men_, so many heroes ; the model of chivalry and no- 
 bility, generous, humane, and scientific. Spain was 
 once the first of provinces, and then the first of civilized 
 nations, the luminary which chased away the darkness 
 from a transatlantic world hitherto unknown; but in 
 spite of the uninterrupted efi'orts of the most enlight- 
 ened, virtuous, and intelligent of her sons, she has been 
 under the fatal dominion of the Jesuits for more than 
 two centuries. 
 
 Like all other countries where the influence of the 
 followers of Loyola is predominant, Spain is now with- 
 out credit, without influence, and almost reduced to 
 utter insignificance. Like unhappy Italy, buried in 
 indolence; like Portugal, threatened with extinction 
 from the map of Europe; like Poland, covered with 
 contempt; like South America, given up to anarchy, 
 until it might almost seem that God had cast her otf. 
 
Z NARHATIVE OP IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 with all the marks of death. Ever since Loyola trod 
 the Spanish soil, and there gave scope to the perfidious 
 tactics and perverse plans which his ill-fated successors 
 have so fully prosecuted, there have been left us no 
 more glories of which to boast. 
 
 In our troubled country there has been no history, 
 no peace, no liberty, no happiness, since that genius of 
 reaction, that learned, astute, sagacious, and wily sophist 
 appeared amongst us, and established the mysterious 
 Society which was intended to destroy the beneficial 
 results of the reformation of religion wherever else it 
 spread its influence in the world. Sometimes this per- 
 verse Institute has been apparently suppressed ; but yet 
 it lives, and at this day eats out, hke a cancer, the very 
 life of once lofty Spain. Scandal of Christianity and 
 civilization, it just now, more than ever, domineers over 
 all in power, and even over the throne itself. It has got 
 possession of society ; it holds the reins of State ; it keeps 
 down in vile subjection the Sovereign, the successive 
 Governments, and the people themselves ; and is at once 
 made rich and powerful by the gold of the Propaganda, 
 by its own pious impostures, and by its cunning policy. 
 
 Prom the time that Jesuitism entered Spain, there 
 has been no true religion. The Gospel is proscribed 
 there no less than in the States of the Pope of Rome ; 
 and the Holy Scriptures, which lie covered with dust on 
 the shelves of some ancient libraries, are displaced, else- 
 where, by an official religion; one that excites enthusiasm, 
 indeed, yet excites it only by its extravagance, and not 
 by simplicity, but grossness, is debased to the apprehen- 
 sion of the most ignorant : — a religion mechanical, 
 material, and sometimes impious ; for even the Divine 
 
THE PLAGUE OF SPAIN. 6 
 
 Being is now represented as ministering to imposture by 
 issuing autograph letters to deceive and cheat the mul- 
 titude : — a purely sensual ^religion, contrived to make 
 the people forget their oppressive and continual suffer- 
 ings, alternating the lamentations of the wounded spirit 
 of Jeremiah with the theatrical entertainments of Rossini; 
 now with the devout Clara, and again with Sister Patro- 
 cinio and her wounds, and the famous crucifix that winks 
 and bleeds, or with dancing in the churches, made more 
 interesting by the pirouettes of the celebrated petit-pas. 
 
 This is the religion, this the Bible, this the Gospel 
 that is exhibited in my beloved country, as I have 
 already stated in a work for which I am suffering per- 
 secution, but which is so exactly true, that no one has 
 ventured to attempt a refutation. 
 
 But, after all the efforts of those evil geniuses, not- 
 withstanding the dark manoeuvres of the descendants of 
 the Peters and the Augers, that Camarilla which under- 
 takes gently and paternally to conduct the people, the 
 Government, and the throne to destruction, by cease- 
 lessly infusing their poison into the entire mass of the 
 nation, there is a real, positive, and palpable fact which 
 every one must acknowledge; and this is, that out of 
 this mass, half infected, as it is, by the corrupt leaven of 
 Loyola, there have lately separated themselves, and now 
 more than ever separate themselves in greater number 
 than would be easily believed, an immense multitude of 
 persons who keep themselves free from the contagion, — 
 a body of powerful individuals, who are called to replace 
 the statue of their country upon the pedestal of Spanish, 
 honour, — which yet remains in spite of so many and oft 
 repeated losses and disasters, — and rescue their country 
 B 2 
 
4 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 from the perfidy of that host which knows no other 
 nationality,, religion, or object of devotion, than a uni- 
 versal dominion for themselves. 
 
 II. 
 
 REFORMATION. 
 
 Some good men, full of hope, devoted themselves to 
 the prosecution of a great object in the Constituent 
 Cortes of 1854. They laboured for the realization of a 
 fact, without which Spain would be still in the same 
 condition as it was three centuries ago, cut off from the 
 rest of Europe : and believing, as they could not but 
 believe, that the sovereign Assembly had comprehended 
 the grand idea, and fully appreciated the importance of 
 the religious question, they felt perfectly at ease. But 
 that very confidence, that silence into which they were 
 betrayed, was induced by the delusive hope that stills 
 and quenches the fervid aspirations of the soul. The 
 truth is, that they were perplexed by the unsteady advance 
 and the vacillating position taken by the legislative 
 body ; or, rather, by the lack of energy and feebleness 
 of purpose in an insignificant number of members of 
 those Cortes, and, above all, by the absence of direction 
 and foresight in the Government. 
 
 However, although the majorities of votes gave a 
 victory to the enemy, the question had been morally 
 decided, and the force of reaction was greatly weakened 
 by the memorable discourses of Degollada, Corradi, Mon- 
 tesinos, Euiz Pons, Suris, Seoane, Salineron, Tigueras, 
 and others, which made a profound impression on the 
 public mind. 
 
REFOEMATION. 
 
 The people, the men of toil and industry, the real 
 people, which had hitherto been kept asleep under the 
 theatrical symphonies of the Jesuitico-Eoman temples, 
 and abandoned to the gloomy indifference of a shameful 
 cynicism, awoke at the sound of the most solemn dis- 
 cussion that ever disturbed the atmosphere of the Iberian 
 Parhament. The speeches of those who advocated the 
 good cause were printed and circulated in great numbers ; 
 and in Barcelona alone ten thousand copies of the speech 
 of Degollada were sold in a single afternoon. These 
 discourses the people read over and over with avidity, 
 all eager to catch the first sight of one. Much, very 
 much, was said in those documents, which are now 
 delivered into the charge of history ; and, by the abun- 
 dance and clearness of their light, they told powerfully 
 for a time on multitudes accustomed only to the deep 
 shades of superstition and of tyranny which had over- 
 spread Christianity itself. The publication of these dis- 
 courses produced the desired effect on the best and finest 
 portion of the Spanish nation : and, thanks to the active 
 and earnest co-operation of the free press, people became 
 familiar with the subject. 
 
 The press, that mighty instrument which has wrought 
 such rich effects in our unhappy country during the 
 brief intervals when tyrants have dropped the gag, 
 poured in fresh light upon the Parhament, imparting 
 new ideas, examining, criticizing, and distributing 
 through the country everything that was there spoken, 
 so that even the humblest understanding could com* 
 prehend it easily. 
 
 At length, conversation on the religious question 
 became general in all circles, and was discussed warmly 
 
b NARRATIVE OP IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 even among the common people. And it is now an 
 indisputable fact that the Constituent Cortes, the 
 press, and the popular discussion of the question, have 
 wonderfully diminished the deep darkness of that bigotry 
 which oppressed the understanding of thousands, who, 
 weary of Jesuitical and Papal tyranny, and detesting 
 the ridiculous doctrines and practices of an official 
 religion, imposed on them by main force, were yet pre- 
 vented from following the religion of the Lord Jesus by 
 the terrors of persecution, tortures, and fires ; nor could 
 they even catch sight of the written Gospel. 
 
 In order to give an enlarged and permanent circula- 
 tion to the above-mentioned Discourses, I collected 
 them, added a preface, and published them in a distinct 
 form, and they obtained a considerable circulation. At 
 the same time, I proceeded to publish in parts my work 
 against the Jesuits, that perverse and mischievous 
 Eoman Institution, which, although routed again and 
 again, regains all that it lost in the most flourishing 
 period of its existence ; and although the satellites of 
 the Pope made some show of opposition, the Govern- 
 ment regarded the publication favourably, and it found 
 general acceptance. 
 
 In the religious " Basis " of the new Constitution, 
 which was drawn up very obscurely, there was a place 
 made possible, on one hand, almost for liberty of wor- 
 ship ; but, on the other, the Tribunal of the Paith 
 might also establish its dominion, flexibly adapting itself 
 to all circumstances, and, in times of reaction, it might 
 even direct public aff'airs. 
 
 When matters were in that state, a i^vj persons — and 
 I the least of them — met together, in order to establish 
 
REFORMATION. 7 
 
 some plan for keej)ing the ground which had been 
 gained, and continuing, with faith and constancy, to 
 sow that living seed whose fruit would be nothing less 
 than the actual establishment of religious liberty. 
 
 I there proposed that some one should visit Great 
 Britain, and confer with religious men, alleging, as my 
 encouragement to such a measure, the unexampled piety 
 of the British people, and the assistance they so gene- 
 rously render for spreading the Gospel among all nations 
 of the world. My proposal was accepted without dis- 
 cussion, and supported by the majority of those present. 
 I came to London ; and as soon as my object was under- 
 stood by some earnest promoters of evangelical doctrine, 
 of true catholic Christianity, of the real Church of 
 Christ, they afforded prompt assistance with a liberality 
 which I must be permitted to acknowledge. Gentlemen 
 of distinguished piety and zeal formed themselves into a 
 Central Committee, which appointed, as one of its Secre- 
 taries, the Eev. Dr. Eule, well acquainted with Spain, 
 with Spaniards, and with Spanish literature, and one 
 who had disseminated the true doctrine in that country 
 for some years, not without fruit, and whom nothing 
 less than a clerical reaction, resembling that which is 
 now dominant in the Peninsula, could have driven 
 away by force from the beautiful city of Cadiz, after 
 having laboured there with such good effects. Let 
 me observe, by the way, that Seiior Sancho, one of the 
 Commission of Cortes who exerted themselves for the 
 establishment of liberty of worship, confessed, in open 
 Parliament, that nothing would surprise him less 
 than to see a Protestant Church opened in Cadiz or 
 Malaga. 
 
8 NAEHATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE COUP d'etat. 
 
 On my return to Spain, I found the good seed spring- 
 ing up on all sides. My mission had produced a salu- 
 tary effect. Societies and individuals in Great Britain 
 rendered us liberal assistance. Books, tracts, and arti- 
 cles in newspapers circulated largely, freely, and with 
 good effect. The liberal press afforded us powerful and 
 decided help, contending, without reserve, against the 
 system and the abuses of the antichristian Church of 
 the Popes. The absolutist and clerical press fought with 
 energy against us. The tract, '^Andrew Dunn," was 
 honoured with five leading articles in contradiction; 
 and it may be confidently affirmed, that for the last 
 two centuries and a half so much has not been said 
 in Spain of the Reformed Church, of Protestantism and 
 of its doctrines, as within the last two years. 
 
 Encouraged by the appearances of an evangelical 
 renovation, both in the capital and in the provinces 
 of my dear country, it was decided that I should also 
 go to the United States of America, in prosecution of 
 the same object which had taken me to England. Again 
 Dr. Rule opened my way ; and on that occasion my 
 dear and indefatigable friend procured for me all that 
 was necessary for the attainment of the desired ob- 
 ject. Those faithful men who have preserved so con- 
 stantly the deposit intrusted to them by their fathers, 
 hastened, as soon as they saw me, to imitate their Cliris- 
 tian zeal. New York, Boston, Bible Societies, Tract 
 Societies, zealous individuals, united their contributions ; 
 and what they did to aid in the propagation of the 
 Gospel in Spain will never be blotted out of my memory. 
 
THE COUP D^ETA'i'. 9 
 
 ^Yhen I returned to my couiit?-y, appointed agent of 
 the American Bible and Tract Societies, and furnished 
 with additional means for pursuing the work on which 
 my heart continues to be fully set, I related what had 
 occurred in my visit to those distant lands; and al- 
 though my labours, and sufferings too, had not been 
 light, I counted them as nothing, rejoicing that the 
 religious feeling of America corresponded so entirely 
 with that of the mother country, the one and the other 
 being completely identified in this respect. 
 
 It was but the night before those days of slaughter, 
 of which the recollection at this moment awakens hor- 
 ror, — a few hours before despotism and the Papacy, 
 those two tyrannies which still afflict many nations, 
 had set up one to be their instrument, whom three 
 months afterwards they cast off as of no further ser- 
 vice, — ^just the night before O^Donnell's coup d'etat, 
 I reached Madrid. 
 
 When that terrible struggle was over, while the 
 streets were stained with the blood of good Spaniards, 
 the houses of the best citizens laid in ruins, many un- 
 offending men murdered with shot and sword, there 
 stood the murderer, like a bull after the fight, when 
 it lifts its head from the horse that it has gored to 
 death, and seems to stand scared, contemplating with 
 amazement the victim of its own cruelty. But civil 
 tyranny is less cruel, less insensible to humanity, than 
 that most cruel and intolerant priesthood. While 
 O^Donnell was gazing with stupefaction, and perhaps 
 with remorse, on the fearful results of his own mur- 
 derous deed, the Priests, who have no social tie to 
 restrain them, no natural affections that can relent,' 
 
10 NxiEEATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 and perhaps are without any faith beyond the instinct of 
 selfishness and thirst for vengeance, — ^these Priests flung 
 remorse to the winds, and set themselves to search for 
 more victims. 
 
 "Mora, the infidel, the apostate, the impious, the 
 liberal, the revolutionary, the pestilential heretic, that 
 child of Satan ; he that was educated among us, that 
 was one of ourselves, and was once under our orders; 
 that Protestant, whom at one time we regarded as one 
 of our best advocates, but who is now so criminal, and so 
 perverse; that infamous propagator of the Bible, the 
 book which condemns us whenever our notes are want- 
 ing; tliat unwearied persecutor of the Holy Pather, 
 and of the holy, humble, slandered, poor, disinterested, 
 and inoffensive Company, — the Company that is Chris- 
 tian by excellence, and of all other Praternities the chief; 
 persecutor of the most eminent and most laborious 
 Jesuits, from him of Manresa until now,- — Mora must 
 be the first victim !" 
 
 It is agreed, then, that this infamous apostate shall 
 disappear from the face of the earth. And there is 
 nothing more easy to be managed. You Jesuits have 
 a terrible association in your own hands that is quite 
 ready to make away with him. The Government that 
 tolerated him is annihilated. The Constitution which, 
 to a considerable extent, guaranteed his safety, ceases to 
 exist ; Constitution and Liberty have passed away toge- 
 ther. His friends are dispersed, or they prepare them- 
 selves for banishment, or they are doomed to be tenants 
 of dark dungeons ; and it is not likely that one who has 
 informed the people of so many of your cabals and 
 sacrilegious doings, will escape out of your power. You 
 
MY ARREST. 11 
 
 can avail yourselves of this antichristian carnival, and 
 under your hypocritical, yet faded, mask you can perse- 
 cute him, and wreak your vengeance on him. But you 
 must lose no time. You can commit all sorts of ini- 
 quity just so long as your day lasts ; but there is another 
 day coming, the day of enlightened society, the day of 
 good men, the day of tlie Lord. He will not linger, 
 but will come as a thief in the night. 
 
 IV. 
 
 MY ARREST. 
 
 About eight o^clock in the evening, on the 27th of 
 August, a little more than forty days after the coup 
 d'etat, I left my house to take a walk, and enjoy the 
 conversation of a few friends, after having spent the 
 day alone in literary labour. 
 
 I reached the Prado, and was reflecting on an article 
 I had written on the controversy between the Univers 
 of Paris, and the Ami de la Religion. The subject so 
 entirely absorbed my thoughts, that, instead of taking 
 the less frequented walk, where we were accustomed 
 to meet during the hot season, I turned off in the 
 opposite direction, into the Paseo de Paris, where the 
 youtli and elegance of the Court are wont to as- 
 semble. With my head somewhat inclined, and look- 
 ing thoughtfully downwards, I met a party of live 
 or six men; and, just as I was attempting to make 
 my way between them, received a heavy blow of a 
 stick on my head, and instantly others followed, with 
 a cry of, ^'Al criminal ! al criminal /" 
 
 I was half stunned at the moment; but when the 
 
12 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 assassin, as T thought him to be, seized me by the collar, 
 I recovered sufficiently to say, " Have you done beating 
 me?" ''Yes, Sir/' "Do' you know me?" I con- 
 tinued. " Yes, Sir," he replied. " Then that is more 
 than I can say of you." Holding me by the collar, he 
 merely said, "Come with me;" and, others helping him, 
 they dragged me away, broke my shins on a stone seat 
 which lay in the path, and, not loosening their hold 
 for a moment, dragged me through the Prado with yet 
 greater violence than ever. I perceived a young officer 
 at my side, with some other persons who gathered 
 around and followed ; and the officer kept a firm grasp 
 of the hilt of his sword. 
 
 As soon as I could at all recover my recollection, I 
 thought that the assailant must be one of the secret 
 police, and that he had attacked me for my liberal 
 opinions : and then again I fancied he must have mis- 
 taken me for some murderer, or other criminal. 
 
 Smarting from a heavy blow that had nearly broken 
 my jaw, with my head and face in great pain, and with 
 a dislocated finger of my right hand, which I had raised 
 to cover my face, I kept silence as they led me to the 
 office of the Civil Governor, inwardly thanking God 
 that my hat and my wounded hand had saved my head 
 from being broken. 
 
 The second thought which occurred to myself, — and 
 I afterwards heard that many persons in the Prado had 
 the same, — was, that the Jesuits must certainly have 
 been at the bottom of the affair. 
 
 When we reached the civil court, and they presented 
 me to one who acted for the Governor, I said, " This 
 gentleman," (meaning the man who first assaulted me,) 
 
MY AEREST. 13 
 
 — ''altliough I do not know whether it was one or 
 more, for many blows were laid on me with astonishing 
 rapidity, — this gentleman, who has beaten me and brings 
 me before you, must know why. I have been here 
 amongst you as a public writer for the last two years ; 
 my work on the Jesuits has been commended in the 
 Gazette ; everything I have done has been done openly, 
 and no tribunal has ever meddled with me/^ '' Well then,'' 
 said the person to whom they had brought me, " and 
 why have they beaten you V* On this the man who had 
 seized me said something in a low voice, which neither 
 I nor two keepers who stood by could hear. The Go- 
 vernor then repHed, addressing the assailant and my keep- 
 ers, " I have nothing to do with this case ; it belongs 
 to another tribunal. Take him to the Vicar General P 
 
 Here I must observe, that when we came into the 
 light of the office, where I could see the person who 
 had attacked me on the Prado, I found that he was 
 nephew of a Canon, Secretary to the Archbishop, and 
 supposed to be the son of another who died, I know 
 not how, — a person well-known in Madrid as Dn. Juan 
 Leon. He is now a clerk of the Ecclesiastical Court, 
 called " the Tribunal of the Faith,'' or, in other words, 
 of the Inquisition, which, notwithstanding its abolition 
 in the year 1834, was then again succeeded by this 
 Tribunal,"^ which Tribunal revived once more in July 
 last, amidst the roar of cannon. 
 
 On hearing that I was to be taken to the Yicar 
 General, 1 replied again : " But this man has ill-treated 
 me in the most cowardly manner, in a manner unwor- 
 thy of a Castilian" — Interrupting me, the Governor 
 * For a full account of this Tribunal see the Preface. 
 
16 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 came, bade us good night as he entered, and, almost 
 without staying to look at us, as if he already under- 
 stood the whole affair, and had hurried home before his 
 time, desired us to walk up stairs. We went up, and 
 were shown into a hall. After the pause of a few 
 seconds, I standing between the guards, and the Yicar 
 opposite, he began to deliver a somewhat rude and 
 passionate harangue, with violent gesticulations. The 
 following were his very words, as we all heard them : — 
 
 " I have been looking out for you for the last year 
 and a half. Mora. Now Providence has put you into 
 our hands — not my hands, but ours" 
 
 " It has brought me,"*^ I answered, with the calmness 
 which never forsook me, " to the garrote." 
 
 More furious than ever, and gesticulating yet more 
 violently, he continued thus : " You have written that 
 wicked and sacrilegious book against the Jesuits. Yes, 
 Sir, yes. Sir; you have written against the Pope, and 
 against our holy religion, and you are a Protestant, and 
 you have married. Eepent, Sir, repent, retract. The 
 Lord requires it of you, — Jesus Christ, God requires it. 
 I beg you. Mora, as father of lost souls." These, and 
 a few other words, harsher still, were the mildest things 
 he said to me. In reply, I said, — we were all standing, 
 — " Will you have the kindness to tell me if you have 
 finished?" 
 
 "Yes, Sir; I have finished." 
 
 '' Certainly, I am a Protestant, and liave been so for 
 many years, as you are well aware. And that you may 
 better understand what ' Protestant ^ means, it signifies 
 Catholio Christian ; a Christian of the Church of Jesus, 
 not the Church of the Popes. Thus, then, I am a Pro- 
 
MY ARREST. 17 
 
 testant. I have written against the doctrines, practices, 
 and tactics of the sons of Loyola, against the Papacy, 
 against Eome and the religion which Rome professes, 
 and which is not Christianity. I have married according 
 to the Gospel. I have nothing to retract, absolutely 
 nothing. I have written, and, as long as I can, will 
 continue to write, against Eome and the Jesuits ; and if 
 a thousand burnings threatened me, I would not cease 
 to be a Catholic Christian, nor would I desist from 
 writing against the enemies of the doctrine of Jesus 
 Clirist. As for the rest, from the year 1854 to 1856, 
 that I have been here among you, inhabitants of 
 Madrid, I have written and spoken publicly; I have 
 lived peaceably in my home, and suppose there is no 
 literary man in Madrid who has not a perfect knowledge 
 of my conduct. Among other friends, there are some 
 of the Ministers who have governed Spain who know 
 me intimately, — one, especially, knew me when I was a 
 child, — and a large number of Deputies in Cortes, and 
 among them some with whom I have been in communica- 
 tion nearly every day, and have often been seen with them 
 in the most public places. The liberal press, too, has 
 taken great notice of the numbers of my work on the 
 Jesuits which have been issued, and of myself also."" 
 
 Here I forgot to mention a remarkable incident, that 
 while I was in America, they published in a newspaper, 
 and on a hand-bill, which was largely circulated, that 
 Mora and his wife, and, in the absence of Mora, an old 
 friend of his, gave lessons in dancing, &c., adding the 
 number of my house. Dr. Rule still possesses a printed 
 copy of that hand-bill. 
 
 I leave the reader to imagine the foolish things which 
 
18 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 the Vicar General said and did after listening to my 
 calm reply. He drove me from his house with con- 
 tempt and anger> and sent me back to the Civil Governor, 
 himself going, meanwhile, to inform the Government of 
 what had taken place with the contumacious heretic. 
 
 Between the two guards, with the Pamihar leading, I 
 went down stairs again. When we reached the street, 
 the Familiar commanded us to wait there, and went 
 back to confer with his Chief, whose residence and per- 
 son he had just before pretended not to know. On 
 seeing this, I suspected that a plan had been previously 
 contrived ; and if I had then known, as I afterwards 
 knew, that the man who assaulted me was a dependent 
 of the Vicar in the Holy Office, I should not merely 
 have suspected, but ha\^e been quite certain. 
 
 When the Familiar came down again, the liberal 
 guard placed himself at my side, and we three marched 
 away together from the house of the semi-PontifF to 
 that of the Governor, who was then Don Manuel 
 Alonso Martinez. There they left me in a sort of hall, 
 and all eyes were immediately fixed upon me, especially 
 of some whose opinions are anti-Eomish. 
 
 There I asked for pen and ink, to send my wife a few 
 lines, as it had grown very late, and she would certainly 
 be surprised at my keeping such bad hours as the Yicar. 
 
 A man who was standing opposite, looking down- 
 cast and sad, instantly brought me writing materials. 
 The name of this good man I cannot give without 
 exposing him to danger, but may say that he proved a 
 faithful companion in time of trouble. Never shall I 
 forget him, although his name, like that of many others, 
 as well as many affecting interviews which passed 
 
MY ARREST. 19 
 
 between us, must necessarily be omitted. It would not 
 be possible to describe the diligence and heartiness with 
 which he laboured to serve me in those hours of sorrow, 
 nor the consolation his tender care afforded me. I 
 wrote to my wife as follows : — 
 
 "My DEAREST ElOYSA, 
 
 "I AM detained at the house of the Civil Governor, 
 and am in the hands of the Jesuits. Do not fear. 
 The consequence of my misfortune will only be, that the 
 complete triumph of the religious principles I profess 
 will be accelerated. 
 
 "Angel.'' 
 
 One of the hangers-on of the place took my letter, 
 and after a short time brought it back again, and 
 desired me to blot out what I had written about the 
 Jesuits, "because,'' said he, "the Governor commands 
 it." I drew a single line through the words, and gave 
 him the letter. HaK an hour afterwards they summoned 
 me to the office of the representative of the Governor, 
 this being the Secretary, whom I had seen before. 
 
 I went, and found the Yicar General alone with him. 
 As for the man who had attacked me on the Prado like 
 an assassin, they had dismissed him, to sleep at ease in 
 his own house, without a word of rebuke. The Secre- 
 tary bade me sit down, but not without turning to the 
 Vicar, and saying, " If you please." I sat down in a 
 corner of the room, on a wooden stool, and there 
 remained, just opposite the two. 
 
 The Vicar repeated what he had said in his own 
 house, in presence of the two guards and the Pamiliar. 
 c 2 
 
18 NAURATIVE OF IMPEISONMENT. 
 
 the Vicar General said and did after listening to my 
 calm reply. He drove me from his house with con- 
 tempt and anger, and sent me back to the Civil Governor, 
 himself going, meanwhile, to inform the Government of 
 what had taken place with the contumacious heretic. 
 
 Between the two guards, with the Pamiliar leading, I 
 went down stairs again. When we reached the street, 
 the Familiar commanded us to wait there, and went 
 back to confer with his Chief, whose residence and per- 
 son he had just before pretended not to know. On 
 seeing this, I suspected that a plan had been previously 
 contrived ; and if I had then known, as I afterwards 
 knew, that the man who assaulted me was a dependent 
 of the Vicar in the Holy Office, I should not merely 
 have suspected, but haVe been quite certain. 
 
 When the Tamiliar came down again, the liberal 
 guard placed himself at my side, and we three marched 
 away together from the house of the semi-Pontiff to 
 that of the Governor, who was then Don Manuel 
 Alonso Martinez. There they left me in a sort of hall, 
 and all eyes were immediately fixed upon me, especially 
 of some whose opinions are anti-Eomish. 
 
 There I asked for pen and ink, to send my wife a few 
 lines, as it had grown very late, and she would certainly 
 be surprised at my keeping such bad hours as the Vicar. 
 
 A man who was standing opposite, looking down- 
 cast and sad, instantly brought me writing materials. 
 The name of this good man I cannot give without 
 exposing him to danger, but may say that he proved a 
 faithful companion in time of trouble. Never shall I 
 forget him, although his name, like that of many others, 
 as well as many afTectihg interviews which passed 
 
MY ARREST. 19 
 
 between us, must necessarily be omitted. It would not 
 be possible to describe the diligence and heartiness with 
 which he laboured to serve me in those hours of sorrow, 
 nor the consolation his tender care afforded me. I 
 wrote to my wife as follows ; — 
 
 " My dearest Eloysa, 
 
 " I AM detained at the house of the Civil Governor, 
 and am in the hands of the Jesuits. Do not fear. 
 The consequence of my misfortune will only be, that the 
 complete triumph of the rehgious principles I profess 
 will be accelerated. 
 
 "Angel." 
 
 One of the hangers-on of the place took my letter, 
 and after a short time brought it back again, and 
 desired me to blot out what I had written about the 
 Jesuits, "because," said he, "the Governor commands 
 it." I drew a single line through the words, and gave 
 him the letter. Half an hour afterwards they summoned 
 me to the office of the representative of the Governor, 
 this being the Secretary, whom I had seen before. 
 
 I went, and found the Yicar General alone with him. 
 As for the man who had attacked me on the Prado like 
 an assassin, they had dismissed him, to sleep at ease in 
 his own house, without a word of rebuke. The Secre- 
 tary bade me sit down, but not without turning to the 
 Vicar, and saying, " If ^ou please." I sat down in a 
 corner of the room, on a wooden stool, and there 
 remained, just opposite the two. 
 
 The Vicar repeated what he had said in his own 
 house, in presence of the two guards and the Pamiliar. 
 c 2 
 
20 NAREATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 I also repeated what I had there said ; and then, after 
 some flattering expressions, concerning my " good capa- 
 city/^ and so on, he delivered a Philippic, such as a 
 village Schoolmaster might have addressed to any obsti- 
 nate and naughty school-boy. Por my part, with 
 greater force than before, but with equal calmness, I 
 reiterated my first protest ; and then added, " Here you 
 have me, you may cut me up in any way you please," 
 {Tajeny corten por donde les parece^ — a very significant 
 expression with us. "I do not retract, and I never 
 will retract/' The Yicar flew into a passion again ; and 
 when his fury had subsided, the Secretary turned to 
 him, and said, "That is a miserable fellow." The 
 Secretary thus expressed himself before ^^ Yicar ; but I 
 knew at the time that he did so merely to please him, 
 and without wishing to injure me ; and his conduct after- 
 wards confirmed my opinion of him. Indeed, he had al- 
 ready said, when speaking of the Jesuits, that he thought 
 of them just as I did, although he had studied with them, 
 
 I did not open my mouth in reply to that hard speech 
 of the Secretary, but I did say, " I am a peaceable and 
 industrious man, as you know ; but even if I were the 
 worst of criminals, no one has any right to lay hands 
 upon me, not even the officers of justice, and much less 
 to attack me iii such a cowardly manner, and that in 
 the most public walk of the city." 
 
 The Secretary said to me, "You may ask for the 
 punishment of the person who struck you, by means of 
 a memorial addressed to the Governor." " And what," 
 added the Yicar, "do you desire should be done to him?" 
 
 I replied to both, "I neither ask, with memorial or 
 without it, for the man to be punished ; nor do I wish. 
 
21 
 
 Mr. Yicar, that any thing at all should be done to him. 
 You very well know that I could have punished him 
 myself, and soundly too : I have courage and strength 
 enough for that and more. All this you know ; but, 
 Mr. Yicar, I am, above every thing, a Christian, and 
 therefore I forgive him with all my heart. That poor 
 simple fellow is less to be blamed than others whom 
 also I forgive.^' 
 
 Again the Yicar became exceedingly irritated, and 
 commanded that I should be kept in close custody ; but 
 that, in consideration of who I was, and so on, it should 
 be in a decent apartment. 
 
 I had felt sick, as I have already said, from the 
 moment that the Familiar first made his Eomano- 
 Jesuitical attack ; and interrupting his rage, or perhaps 
 it should be said, ending it, I rose and said, "Mr. 
 Secretary, whenever you please, I am at your service. 
 I am very weary and have need of rest.^' 
 
 " Let them take you down to the Saloon,'' answered 
 the Secretary. " Yes, yes,'' cried the Yicar, " down to 
 the Saloon, and in safe custody, until I dispose of him." 
 I bade them good night, and two policemen took me 
 down a narrow stairway into the Saloon. 
 
 This Saloon was a dungeon, deep underground. 
 Close by it were four open drains, where the stench, 
 especially in those days of extreme heat, was excessive, 
 while the filth that ran into them from all parts of the 
 building made the dark passage that led to it almost 
 impassable. One filthy mat, emitting a pestilential 
 
22 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 smell, covered the floor of the dungeon, and another 
 covered a large bench, or bed-place of mason work 
 lined with wood. One of the walls, down which the wet 
 was trickHng, was perforated with two extremely dirty 
 windows, opening into pits sunk from the pavement, and 
 the glass all broken, with no possibility of closing them. 
 
 All the furniture of this place was a broken lantern, 
 which the gaoler lit when it pleased him; and what with 
 the open drains, and the liquids which the miserable 
 prisoners were obliged to empty there when they called, 
 but could not be heard, as happened to myself more 
 than once, that wretched abode became a deadly place. 
 It is here that criminals are commonly confined ; and it 
 is called the place of " detention," because they usually 
 remain there no longer than twenty-four hours, until 
 transferred to the public prison. 
 
 In this dungeon, where the guards, who are usually 
 old soldiers, repeatedly told me that they could not 
 remain over two days without great risk of health, I was 
 kept four nights and three days. 
 
 As I took possession of this commodious saloon, as the 
 Yicar called it, I saw three guards, and the turnkey of 
 the dungeon. But here I must be permitted to observe, 
 that these men were almost all liberals at that time ; 
 they were lovers of the people, and during the coup d'etat 
 they did "not bear arms against them ; and they had 
 fought against tyranny together mth the people : but 
 the O'Donnell Government, everywhere surrounded with 
 enemies, could not find men to supply their places, and 
 therefore left them where they were. 
 
 Suffering great pain in my head and face, in the dis- 
 located finger, — which still pains me, — and the right 
 
23 
 
 side of my lower jaw being greatly bruised and inflamed, 
 I asked for a surgeon, and begged to have a mattress 
 brought from home. 
 
 The guards, and even the turnkey himself, — who now 
 understood all about me, treated me with the greatest 
 respect and consideration, and, so far as they could, 
 diminished the severity of all the Vicar's orders, — com- 
 plied with my request. The surgeon came, examined 
 me, and said that he would give me a certificate when- 
 ever it should be called for. 
 
 An hour afterwards, as I was pacing to and fro alone, 
 and abandoned to my reflections, my wife herself came into 
 the dungeon, accompanied by a friend of mine, and a 
 servant with the bed, and a little linen, as much as she 
 could get permission to bring in. She came in spite of 
 the Yicar's orders ; for the servants of the Government 
 sympathized with us. What expressions were exchanged, 
 in presence of the guards, between two persons who love 
 each other so tenderly, in that first interview, it is not 
 easy to relate. 
 
 We both endeavoured to encourage one another. I 
 sank down overwhelmed, and she, weeping and in agony, 
 reiterated this entreaty, " Hatw courage, my Angela 
 never retract." But she could not refrain from fearing 
 the worst. " They will kill you," said she ; " they will 
 poison you. You know those dreadful men better than 
 I do, and you know they will poison yoii^ and then per- 
 secute u8y until we die of grief. Yet," said she, " you 
 have many friends, who, although they are now fallen, 
 will interest themselves in your behalf, considering what 
 may yet happen. Many have left Madrid, but some 
 remain, and I will go to see them." 
 
24 NARRATIVE OF IMPEISONMENT. 
 
 I answered her sorrowfully indeed, '^My cliild,"^ I 
 am in the power of the Jesuits. Those men have no 
 cotmtri/f no social tie ; they care not if Spain, the throne, 
 the people, all perish together, and if they who gave 
 them being die the first. When their day comes, they 
 act as if there were no to-morrow ; yet at other times 
 they are most cautious. When I came back to Spain 
 by way of Navarre, I met, near the Trench frontier, six 
 of them in one inn, apparently persons of consequence, 
 and just three days before the revolution, ready for what- 
 ever might happen ; and they abandoned Spain, leaving 
 the country to be drowned in its own blood. These 
 men have now more influence than my friends beheve. 
 Such power they have had from the day when a cele- 
 brated Father of the Company came to the Palace, and 
 when an elevated Personage said to me, ' I fear that 
 the Court is under their influence ; for the King Consort, 
 as you know, and as all Spain knows, is Chief and 
 President of the Congregation of young men of St. Louis 
 Gonzaga.^t If England and the United States do not 
 interfere for the sake of humanity alone, breaking 
 through the barbarous Inquisitorial laws which they can 
 now revive again without any Constitution, and any laws, 
 except their own caprice, no one can save me. How- 
 ever, do what you can ; go and speak to them.^'' 
 
 I then remembered a reply which the Yicar made me 
 before the Secretary of the Government. When I had 
 said, in answer to one of his questions, " I have always 
 travelled with a Spanish passport, taken at this Govern- 
 ment House, and I was in Spain under the safeguard of 
 
 * Hija mia, a term of familiar endearment. 
 
 t A famous Jesuit, wlio died in 1592, and was beatified in 1621. 
 
25 
 
 the ^Basis' of the Constitution/' the Yicar quickly 
 rejoined, "There is no Constitution^ — nothing of the 
 sort" " Indeed/' said I, " to this day the Government 
 has not annulled it/'^ " No, no/' continued the Yicar, 
 " there is neither Basis nor Constitution now." 
 
 My wife left that filthy sty in such a state as any one 
 may imagine whose heart has not been cast in the mould 
 of Loyola. My friend stood motionless, like a statue, 
 unable to articulate a word. 
 
 At six o'clock in the morning she left Madrid for 
 Aranjuez, in order to apply to a personage whom I must 
 not name, a gentleman of excellent heart and high 
 qualities. This good gentleman received her with the 
 same kindness and deference which he had always shown 
 to myself. 
 
 I knew that, whatever help the Lord might send me, 
 it must come from abroad ; and while my wife was run- 
 ning in one direction, her good mother took her pen, 
 and wrote to one who knows as thoroughly as the most 
 clever Spaniard can know, what are the Inquisitorial 
 manoeuvres of my country. She told all that happened 
 to Dr. Eule, who had always possessed the direct and 
 immediate confidence of certain persons in Spain, in 
 regard to ali their labours for promoting the religious 
 welfare of the country. 
 
 As for me, I lay buried in thought, until, the morning 
 of the day following, I had sent for one of the dependents 
 of the Government, and said to him, " I have reason to 
 fear, — I do not speak without consideration, — that I 
 shall be poisoned. Therefore, if my wife's mother, and 
 
 ♦ This conversation took place on the 27th of August. The Consti- 
 tution was annulled by a Koyal Decree in September. 
 
26 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 she alone, does not bring me food, I will not take any ; 
 absolutely none/' 
 
 It was then eight o'clock, and I believe the Yicar was 
 yet in bed, taking repose after the pious labours of the 
 preceding night ; but he granted my petition, his orders 
 not having yet been carried to their utmost severity. 
 
 My mother-in-law soon came with a servant, and 
 brought my accustomed breakfast. Again there were 
 some distressing passages in this scene; for it was 
 most difficult to let one of the best of mothers — more 
 than seventy years of age — know that her son was 
 brought into such a situation. 
 
 What with the weeping of mistress and maid, and 
 the troubled countenance of the guard, — the guards 
 were relieved every two hours, and were required to 
 observe and report all that passed within the dun- 
 geon, — I had hard work to take a little nourishment; 
 my keeper disposed of the remainder, and my mother- 
 in-law went to ask permission to bring a bed, and some 
 other articles of furniture. This petition was refused, 
 and my damp mattress had still to serve for bed, chair, 
 and table. 
 
 To occupy myself a little, and beguile my thoughts, 
 although the guard was always present, I f^l to reading 
 the proofs of an article which I had written against the 
 abuses of Rome and that humble Company ! Yet the 
 Government had suppressed the Company ! But my 
 head would not bear it, and I laid the paper under my 
 pillow again, not without some disappointment to my 
 guard, who had listened with pleasure and assent, just 
 as most Spaniards do listen when those men are at- 
 tacked who have oppressed, and still oppress, them. 
 
"the saloon." 27 
 
 The Yicar had not caused me to be searched; for 
 perhaps he feared lest he should find his capital enemy, 
 the Bible, on my person. I had in my pocket the only 
 volume that could alleviate my sorrows. I had a New 
 Testament, which a very pious person, one worthy of 
 the highest estimation, had sent from England for my 
 little boy. Not to give up my established custom, I 
 read it to the guard; and he, willing to hear the doc- 
 trine of a book which he had only heard mumbled over 
 in bad Latin, and worse reading, for many years, until 
 he completely gave up the routine of going to the 
 temples to yawn, kill time, or take a nap, — for he never 
 understood a word spoken by the Ministers in their 
 barbarous language, as St. Paul would call it, — readily 
 paid attention. 
 
 After this I took some food with comparative com- 
 fort ; and, sometimes shut up alone, and sometimes with 
 a guard, passed the day. At night my mother-in-law 
 came, but I could take nothing. 
 
 During the nigh*t two friends came ; one a military 
 officer, whose high rank secured him admission by the 
 guards, and the other a political personage. Others 
 were less fortunate, and had to remain outside. That 
 the guard might not understand us, we conversed in 
 Trench, enumerating the difficulties which lay in the 
 way of my liberation, and agreeing that help should be 
 sought from abroad, it being certain that every effort 
 made in Spain would be nullified by the Clergy, who 
 had now the management of the country in their hands, 
 — the very persons to whom the liberal press attributed 
 the late incendiary fires in Castile. 
 
 Next day, notwithstanding symptoms of a nervous 
 
28 NARRA.TIVE OF IMPEISONMENT. 
 
 fever, and without taking food, I went to be examined. 
 I spoke under the impression that I was before the civil 
 authority ; otherwise I should not have answered. 
 
 VI. 
 
 MY ANTECEDENTS. 
 
 Before coming to a new confession of the crimes 
 against Jesuitism and Popery of which I was accused, I 
 must premise a brief statement of some facts necessary to 
 be known for the better understanding of what follows. 
 
 A profoundly religious feeling and love of virtue and 
 of literature never left me at any period of my life, 
 amidst the errors of youth or manhood. I could read 
 when I was four years old, and kept at the head of the 
 class in my first School, as my Master, who is yet alive, 
 can testify ; and, although his ideas are altogether con- 
 trary to mine, he still speaks of me as his favourite 
 pupil. When 1 studied Latin in the College of the 
 Esculapians,"^ I was always first, except once, when my 
 fellow-student, Ciscar, took the place for a quarter of an 
 hour. My Professors are still alive, and in Madrid. 
 Never was there a more unruly boy, nor ever one more 
 punctual in getting absolution for his boyish misde- 
 meanours at the feet of a Confessor. 
 
 When in my sixteenth year, I found myself in the 
 (Dominican) College of Asiatic Missions, but not of my 
 own will. They told me that some who represented 
 God in the world would be careful to guide my soul, 
 and that I miglit go on with confidence, until I should 
 
 * Regular Clergy, whose occupation consists in teaching the Escuelas 
 Pias, or Elementary Schools of Spanish and Latin. 
 
MY ANTECEDENTS. 29 
 
 win the mystic Paradise of Loyola.* As at that age I 
 was not the best qualified to judge of such an offer, 
 I obeyed, and went, and applied myself so earnestly to 
 attain the chimerical fehcity of their contemplative life, 
 that had I gone much further, they might have sent me 
 to a madhouse to find it there. 
 
 One of their fraternity took the direction of my 
 soul ; and what with his counsels and my exaggerated 
 penances, in half a dozen years I was completely un- 
 nerved. My body, too, suffered so much under the 
 mortifications which I applied to it, including extremely 
 rough hair shirts, that it still bears many scars, as the 
 Doctor, whom the Tribunal sent to visit me, discovered. 
 Although I did not fail to earn as much applause as 
 formerly for advancement in learning, a medical man, 
 who fully understood my case, certified, at a time when 
 all could see that I was far from being in good health, 
 that I was sometimes attacked with an affection of the 
 head, which, if not removed, might at some time end in 
 incurable madness. 
 
 Having returned home with leave of absence, I re- 
 mained there a considerable time, in doubt whether I 
 should not lose my senses, — daily afflicted with fits and 
 swimmings of the head, and haunted with serious doubts 
 concerning the proud and pitiless religion of Eome. 
 
 The friendship of a learned Jansenist, well known 
 in Madrid, Don Pedro Sainz de Baranda, Member of the 
 
 * The reader will be pleased to observe that the Director of this 
 Institution was not a Jesuit, but a Dominican. This order has always 
 been strongly opposed to the Jesuits, yet they agree in the fantastic 
 asceticism of Loyola; and the General of the Dominicans lately supported 
 the Jesuits in asking for the Papal confirmation of the doctrine of the 
 Immaculate Conception. 
 
30 NARRATIVE OP IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 Spanish Academy of History, soothed my conscience ; and 
 this was the principal cause of my passing from depth to 
 depth, until the termination of my ecclesiastical career. 
 But I continued for a very short time only — a few months 
 ■ — under the influence of Jansenism ; for, by comparing 
 its doctrines with those of the Bible, with which I had 
 been familiar from the time that I began to study theo- 
 logy, I altogether abandoned the clerical profession, and 
 applied myself to the study and teaching of philosophy. 
 
 Henceforth I was a Protestant. From that moment 
 I abjured all belief in Eome, her system, and her doc- 
 trines ; but as I was entirely occupied in teaching philo- 
 sophy, the Jesuits thought nothing more of me; and 
 there were many other wandering sheep who, like 
 myself, had forsaken the deadly path which the Popes 
 marked out for us. 
 
 Before becoming a Professor, attached to the section 
 of Philosophical Sciences, in the University of Madrid, 
 I had published a compendium of philosophy, adapted 
 to a programme of the Government, and there, treating 
 of morals and rehgion, had put forth some views which 
 might offend the system and doctrines of the Church 
 of Rome. The Council not only let them pass, but my 
 compendium was recommended, under the sanction of 
 a Eoyal Order, to be adopted in the estabHshments of 
 instruction ; yet, notwithstanding this, I had propounded 
 the doctrine then sanctioned by the Government that 
 entire obedience is due to the Pope. 
 
 I did not then know the family of Loyola sufficiently 
 to form an exact judgment of them, although I enter- 
 tained a settled dislike of their doctrines. Subsequently, 
 when I was Professor of Philosophy in the Polytechnic 
 
MY ANTECEDENTS. 31 
 
 College, where there was an assemblage of aristocracy 
 and wealth, and I had acquired a more intimate know- 
 ledge of Jesuitism, I ventured to tell the head of the 
 establishment, in writing, that I should retire, assigning 
 as my reason that the instruction and the method were 
 essentially Jesuitical. The Director of the College wrote 
 against my little Treatise on Philosophy, and it was dis- 
 posed of at his pleasure. The consequence is, that not 
 a hundred copies were sold in Spain, except in the 
 Universities, Colleges, and Institutes, although it was 
 recommended, in preference to every other, for use in 
 the Schools of Primary Instruction. 
 
 Then it was that the Jesuits fixed on me, and then 
 I entered on the course which conducted me to the 
 place out of which I have lately escaped. Publicly and 
 privately I continued to manifest my aversion to Eome 
 by word of mouth and in writing, but with moderation, 
 and without noise. The Academy of Instruction, Pri- 
 mary, Elementary, and Superior, had a gratuitous Chair 
 of Morals and Eeligion ; and while I occupied this Chair, 
 I always took the New Testament for my text-book, 
 and saw amongst my auditory a multitude of persons, 
 most of them older than myself, who were preparing to 
 be themselves teachers ; and I then observed the long 
 established tactics of Jesuitism for fighting against the 
 Bible. Manifestations of hostility, trifling in them- 
 selves, yet sufficient to show that much worse might be 
 expected, induced me to relinquish the post, rather than 
 be drawn into open conflict. 
 
 Political reaction grew stronger and stronger, and the 
 influence of the Clergy was gradually rising to the pitch 
 which it has now attained. 
 
32 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 Circumstances led to the partnership of myself and a 
 Canon of considerable influence in the management of a 
 literary concern. The Canon and I went on most har- 
 moniously, until he endeavoured to impose a condition 
 to which I could not consent, from a conviction that it 
 was unjust; and then the Jesuit furies were let loose 
 upon me, and my own experience taught me, more 
 clearly than ever, the character of the Eomish Clergy 
 and the Jesuits. 
 
 In the year 1850, when the reaction was almost at 
 its height, the Yicar General then in office being a fit 
 person to follow out the views of that party, he called 
 me, after seven years had elapsed from the time of my 
 first protest, to return to the Church of Eome, but 
 found it impossible to effect his object. The persecution 
 was then terrible, but the means which were then em- 
 ployed to bring me back had no other effect than to 
 drive me from my country ; however, I did not leave it 
 without giving him previous notice, and obtaining a 
 regular passport from the Government. 
 
 During those days of trial two incidents occurred 
 which I cannot pass over without notice. The first was, 
 that a person made his way into my house with intent 
 to take my life, and, in order to defend myself, I had to 
 make stout resistance. This person was nephew of one of 
 the first Ecclesiastical Authorities. About the same time 
 occurred the other, which was far more serious; so 
 serious that I have never fully recovered from its effects. 
 They say that it was an attack of spasmodic colic. I 
 said, on the first appearance of the symptoms, that I 
 was poisoned. My partner, the Canon, must have 
 thought it a very bad kind of coHc ; for while I was in 
 
CONFESSION OF THE TRUTH. 38 
 
 bed, without saying a word to me, as if fearing that I 
 should depart to another world, lie brought a lawyer, — a 
 friend of mine, certainly, and one who has known me 
 from my childhood, — to take possession of the literary 
 property of which I was the principal proprietor. By 
 means of the baths which are used in cases of poisoning, 
 with other remedies, I recovered from that attack; but 
 it brought me very near death, and from its effects I 
 have never been quite free. 
 
 Once out of Spain, I attached myself to Protestant- 
 ism, and to this moment have not swerved from this pro- 
 fession. In Bourdeaux especially I attended the meet- 
 ings of MM. La Harpe and Douesnel. In London I 
 was married in a Protestant Church. My wife's heart and 
 conscience have always been entirely in unison with my 
 own, and we entered my country with our child Henry, 
 and with her mother, under the protection of liberal 
 opinions, of toleration, and of many excellent friends. 
 
 So long as the liberal party has been in power we 
 have lived in peace. I have spoken and written publicly, 
 spread Protestant truths without restraint and without 
 concealment, and been at the same time connected with 
 persons of the highest rank, who know me intimately, 
 and who know how much I have suffered, and what Jesu- 
 itical means have been employed on various occasions 
 to destroy my reputation, my usefulness, and my life. 
 
 VII. 
 
 CONFESSION OF THE TRTJTH. 
 
 After undergoing an Interrogatory according to the 
 prescribed form, I repeated my fjrotest for the tliird 
 
3i NAUEATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 time, in writing, and with my signature appended. It 
 was to tins effect : — 
 
 "T AM a Catholic Christian. That is to say, I am a 
 Protestant. I have been so ever since I reached the 
 age at which I could judge for myself with confidence, 
 free from bias or coercion, and could fully estimate the 
 responsibility that I assumed before God and man. 
 
 "I am a Protestant, for I have written against the 
 Institution of Loyola. I have married in conformity to 
 the Gospel of Jesus, and in conformity to the true 
 Church. And I again affirm that the Church of Home 
 is not the Church of Jesus, but is in error. I do not 
 now expound the reasons on which I rest, as I have 
 rested hitherto, for believing and doing as I ' have 
 believed and done. 
 
 " I have obeyed God, and Him will I obey, rather than 
 men, whether those men be called Bishops or Popes. 
 
 " I therefore add, that if it be necessary for me to 
 suffer martyrdom, that I may give testimony to these 
 things, here am I — you have me in your hands. 
 
 "Angel Herreros de Mora." 
 
 The Interrogatory itself was too trifling to merit a 
 record, and it v/as protracted by a dialogue with my old 
 fellow- Professor, the Yicar. Politics furnished one part 
 of the accusation : but I suppose that, as the Govern- 
 ment respected my opinions, I need not be at the trou- 
 ble of repeating them, but confine myself entirely to 
 the principal matter in which we are engaged, which 
 is religion. 
 
 The Interrogatory being ended, I returned to the 
 
CONFESSION OF THE THUTH. 35 
 
 Dungeon, under the usual escort. I had not long been 
 there when a gentleman of high rank, a foreigner, came 
 to see me. Notwithstanding the orders thev had re- 
 ceived, the guards l^ept so far at a distance, that they 
 could not hear what we said, speaking in a whisper, or 
 very low voice. With my hope always fixed on succou]* 
 from abroad, we conversed, or perhaps I should rather 
 say that I spoke without ceasing, of England and the 
 United States, leaving France quite out of the ques- 
 tion. The visits of this gentleman were a great comfort 
 to me. 
 
 After the gentleman left, the rusty, broken, glassless 
 lantern was lit up, and I began to address the guards. 
 All, except one, of whom I shall speak presently, I 
 found quite ready to hear, and to render me great 
 respect, kindness, and attention, even to their own ha- 
 zard. Indeed, they had to sufTer on my account ; the 
 Vicar had some of them arrested, and others were re- 
 moved and sent to do duty elsewhere ; but in the teeth 
 of threatenings and punishment, and the horrid state of 
 the Dungeon, I always found them disposed to embrace 
 my doctrine and to alleviate my sufferings. 
 
 Wliile speaking to the guard on the doctrine of the 
 Gospel, there was a call at the Dungeon door. It was 
 my mother-in-law, who, after having brought me dinner 
 without success, now brought my supper. 
 
 Soon after, and I know not how, another friend found 
 his way to me. This was a public writer. We three 
 talked together for a short time on the attempts that 
 might be made on my behalf; but my friend heard, 
 without seeming to think much of any of them, and I 
 myself knew that aU such attempts would be vain, and 
 
36 NARRATIVE OP IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 expected that there would be nothing for me but death, 
 probably by poison. 
 
 They both left me, so did the guard, and after adjust- 
 ing my bed I tried to fall asleep, but in vain. Tever, 
 the thought of all my family, the remembrance of that 
 colic, of Tournon, of Ganganelli, and of others, whose 
 labours, agonies, and deaths I had depicted in my 
 work, drove away sleep, and between dreamy slumbers 
 and wakeful horrors I lay till day. 
 
 This morning my wife came between two servants of 
 the Government. As soon as I saw her from my bed, I 
 begged her, in Trench, to speak low ; for I read in her 
 countenance the result of her mission. Some little good 
 there was, but — the influence of the Jesuits ? He who 
 came from Prance, and the King Consort his protector 
 and Brother ! Strong must be the hand that would 
 dare to turn aside that hand which, heavier and heavier, 
 weighed down upon me, aggravating the horrors of my 
 situation ; and none could presume to attempt to help 
 me without exposing himself to the greatest danger. I 
 implored her to be silent. She wept, she wiped away 
 her tears, and in turn she tried to comfort me. 
 
 They left me alone, and there was I in a worse con- 
 dition than ever. The Judge had seen my declaration. 
 The orders were made more and more stringent, and 
 the order was given to remove me, and absolutely to 
 refuse access to every person. 
 
 The guard liad left. My pains increased, and the 
 pestiferous damp of the place now soaked my bed. 
 
 My poor cliild begged to see his papa before he got 
 into the hands of tliose " holy men ! " The little fellow, 
 much more talkative than we could wish, c-nme witli his 
 
CONFESSION OF THE TUUTH. 37 
 
 grandmother, ran to my bed-place, caught me by my 
 neck, and cried, Tapa mio ! los Jesuitas te van a matar. 
 To pido a Bios que no te mateyi. " My papa, the Jesuits 
 are going to kill thee. I pray God they may not kill 
 thee."" And this was all he could say ; for at the last 
 word the child's speech failed, and he could not articu- 
 late a word distinctly for some days afterwards. 
 
 Alexander YI. would not have understood a scene 
 like this ; nor those who tear out of the New Testament 
 the words, Unius uxor is vir, Jilios hahens, " Husband of 
 one wife, having children." But the scene was over, 
 and now the door opened, and in came tumbling one 
 of those hangers-on, in disguise, to have a little chat 
 with me on politics, just as another had done before, 
 that he might get me to talk against the Vicar, the Po- 
 lacoSy and the Jesuits. 
 
 As for the first, I punished him by reading a chapter 
 out of the New Testament ; but this one I mortified by 
 marked contempt. He began to read newspapers in a 
 loud voice, and I begged him to lower his voice, because 
 I was very sick. The Vicar had sent orders to receive 
 me to the crows in mask at the place whence I after- 
 wards escaped; and he wished to know whether I 
 was ready to receive his visit, and hear what he had 
 to say. 
 
 My dear wife seemed as if she multiplied her pre- 
 sence, and was to be found everywhere, exposing her- 
 self, by means unknown to me, to the greatest peril. 
 A voice in French, through the key-hole of the dun- 
 geon door, fell upon my ear : " Do not speak. That 
 fellow is a sbirro" . 
 
38 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISOXMENT. 
 
 YIII. 
 VICAE PANDO. 
 
 A FEW moments afterwards the shnro walked away, 
 and the Yicar, with an ofhcer of rank belonging to the 
 Government, entered the " Saloon," where he had com- 
 manded them to place me. I lay in a most profuse 
 perspiration, to which, perhaps, my hfe was owing. 
 
 The Yicar, without cloak or hat, in cap and cassock, 
 addressed me thus : " Good day. Mora." " Good day, 
 Pando," answered I. Then he made me listen to a set 
 harangue, delivered in a very loud voice, which I inter- 
 rupted wdth a request that he would reserve it for some 
 better occasion, saying that my head would not bear it, 
 that his strong voice pained the drums of my ears, and 
 that I had passed a very bad night. " Indeed he has," 
 said the officer, ^^a very bad night." However, the 
 Yicar continued his premeditated speech; and at the 
 end of it he placed himself upon his knees, and, stretch- 
 ing out his arms, said, by way of conclusion, " Ask me 
 what you will, all — all — all that you wish. Come with 
 us ! I wall provide you with everything ; I will give you 
 employments, honours, money — everything. Nobody 
 shall Jcnoiv it." 
 
 The officer, finding that the harsh voice grew so sweet 
 and bland, hearing such kind promises, and contempla- 
 ting such impressive gestures of the Most Excellent and 
 Most Illustrious Yicar, fallen on his knees before me, 
 could not refrain from putting in his word also. " Yes, 
 yes, he ought to do as the Sefior Yicario tells him. No 
 man could do more." But this officer did not yet know 
 what lies under the cassock. 
 
VICAU PANDO. 39 
 
 The holy man, seeing that I was not to be moved, 
 suddenly broke out into a furious exclamation : " Do 
 you see ? He is making jest of me. Away with him 
 to the Prison ! Away with him this moment ! Do you 
 hear? This moment! This moment! We shall see ! 
 We shall see ! Hey ! '' 
 
 A few minutes afterwards I heard that gentle voice 
 again, which at once softened and rent my heart, speak- 
 ing tlirough the key-hole : " Do not fear. Be careful 
 not to chill, my Angel. The Government is not willing 
 to let them remove thee." 
 
 This gave me great encouragement. 
 
 Here I must be allowed to omit two scenes which 
 followed, and which it surpasses my power to describe. 
 
 The Yicar would never believe that the Saloon, the 
 blows, the sufferings I underwent, could have the least 
 effect upon my health ; yet one of the most eminent 
 physicians had certified that I was sick with nervous 
 fever, and that my remaining in that place might be 
 attended with serious consequences. 
 
 An hour after the Vicar left, six men were brought 
 by two dependents of the Government, and, taking the 
 mattress and Mora on their shoulders, carried me to a 
 chamber in the upper part of the house, my dear wife 
 walking by my side, in spite of the orders and menaces 
 of the Yicar. 
 
 Thus were the powers of Jesuitism frustrated by the 
 influence of one of the kindest hearts that I ever knew. 
 that 1 could place on record a memorial of gratitude, 
 without exposing to their vengeance that powerful hand 
 which interposed between the executioners and the 
 victim ! 
 
40 NAEHATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 Circumstances assure me that the time is not far dis- 
 tant,, wlieu the broken chains of tyranny wil] fall into 
 the dust ; and then the restraint which^ to my regret, 
 prudence imposes on my pen, will also cease, and I shall 
 be able to make known publicly the gratitude I have 
 already expressed in private. 
 
 You, lady, knowing by your own experience what 
 certain people are capable of doing, with the courage 
 that I well understood, displaying talents and virtues 
 well known to both the bad and the good, penetrated 
 into a place which your presence ought never to have 
 honoured, to WTcncli me for the first time out of their 
 grasp, to parry the first blow, which is always the most 
 terrible, of those cruel hangmen who know neither 
 charity nor pity. 
 
 Although the second cell was small and close, my 
 position was there very much improved ; and the hatred 
 of the Chiefs and Familiars of the Holy Office was ag- 
 gravated more and more by the resistance which the 
 Government opposed to carrying me away to a Hospital, 
 among diseased criminals, as the Yicar desired. 
 
 I well know that the Government wished to release 
 me. I myself often witnessed, on various occasions, a 
 conflict between the Spanish authority and the power 
 of the successor of Nithard ; but the importunities of 
 the high dignitaries, — as they are called, — the chiefs of 
 the priesthood, were urged continually. These persons 
 were seen daily in the Governor's office, and elsewhere, 
 and the contest for some time hung doubtful. The 
 Government, it is true, regarded me as their political 
 enemy ; but I must here place on record a fact which 
 is to myself morally certain, — that, as soon as ever they 
 
VICAB, PANDO. 41 
 
 obtained exact information on my case, they endea- 
 voured to persuade the Tribunal of the Faith to allow 
 me to go abroad, and accept expatriation in exchange 
 for a severer penalty. 
 
 The parents of those who now belong to the Mode- 
 rate party, and a great part of our aged men, are pre- 
 cisely those who have suffered most from the priesthood 
 during the earlier periods of liberal government. This 
 party in general, as well as all the Liberals, detest the 
 priesthood, although now, as formerly, they are linked 
 in with it by men of whom this is not the place to 
 speak. 
 
 Observing that communications were now more diffi- 
 cult than before, and having heard that not even my 
 mother-in-law would be permitted to bring me food, 
 I sent for the Inspector General of Public Security, 
 and addressed him thus : — 
 
 "I must repeat to you, Mr. Inspector, what I said 
 before, when in the Dungeon, that I will not eat or 
 drink anything whatever, unless it be brought me by 
 some one from my own house. I have good reason 
 to believe that they intend to poison me, and will do 
 so, unless I use this precaution. You may have ob- 
 served that, although I have said this to yourself and 
 to all the others, those who are instruments of Loyola 
 keep a profound silence. I therefore hope you will allow 
 my family to bring food and water from my house, and 
 that the guard which I have requested will not leave me 
 alone, lest some other attempt be made upon my life." 
 
 The Inspector, who was attentive, kind, and in every 
 respect a gentleman of right feeling, instantly acceded 
 to my request. My mother-in-law was the medium 
 
42 NAERATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 of communication between myself and my friends ; and 
 thus I gained information of all that passed outside, 
 and of nearly all the steps taken by the Jesuits. 
 
 The newspapers were not permitted to speak a word. 
 An article in one of them on my case was suppressed by 
 the Censor; but the guards, who also did duty in the 
 streets of Madrid as policemen, served instead of news- 
 papers. My case became the subject of general con- 
 versation, even in the taverns. The sound part of the 
 population, and even many of the unsound, were on 
 my side, and, above all, the great mass of working men. 
 
 Meanwhile, my wife went from place to place : she 
 applied to the Ministers, she consulted with my friends, 
 and with many whose great influence I considered might 
 have weight to deliver me from those iron clutches. 
 
 The President of Council, General O^Donnell, after 
 receiving her with the greatest kindness and delicacy, 
 consoled her with the assurance that, so long as he was 
 at the head of public affairs, he would not suffer them 
 to commit any violence on my person. But the good 
 General must have known that, in spite of his assurance, 
 I should be quite as much at their mercy as he himself 
 has been. There is a sinister shade that ghdes behind 
 the throne, manages the pleasure of the Crown, and sets 
 at nought every obstacle to the consummation of his 
 dark designs. 
 
 The Yicar had the unmerited honour of seeing that 
 mysterious goodness which exerted itself in pluck- 
 ing the prey from the jaws of the tiger. With all the 
 talent which that goodness incontestably possesses, it 
 was disappointed. 
 
 Certainly there is a sort of beings who live, make 
 
VICAR PANDO. 43 
 
 themselves mQrry, and meanly submit themselves even 
 to the most trifling whims of the great ones of the 
 earth. These feeble beings — feeble with the strong — 
 are themselves petty tyrants over the poor and weak. 
 On this occasion, however, the Yicar behaved like a 
 man strong with the strong, as on the day of his battle 
 in the street. % 
 
 My wife went to him also, and her doing so was the 
 greatest of all griefs that could befall me. Her never 
 failing affection towards her husband, sharing a great 
 part of his sufferings Her child and mine ! 
 
 The Yicar told me, with an air of triumph, that my 
 wife had been to see him, and that she had been begging 
 him, kneehng at his feet. But he did not tell me what 
 I shall now relate. 
 
 " Mr. Yicar," said she, " you were once a companion 
 and friend of my husband. Pray have compassion on 
 me, and on my child. I know that you have children 
 of your own ; I know that, and you cannot say that you 
 have not." 
 
 " Senora, Sefiora, I am chaste. I promised chastity, 
 and I carefully observe it. Get out of my house, — 
 out of my house." 
 
 Thus he would have dismissed her, lavishing those 
 ornaments of language which the eloquence of sancti- 
 monious gentlemen of the kind does not disdain to use. 
 
 " Yes," continued my wife, refusing to be silenced, 
 " Yes, you are the father of children, and you ought to 
 have the compassion of a father. And here is mine, — 
 here is mine, — look upon him, here is mine, a child that 
 loves his father, and the very image of his father he is. 
 Pray have pity on my child." 
 
44 NARRATIVE OF IMPllISONMENT. 
 
 And what did the Yicar General say to this ? 
 
 " Senora ! I swear to you hy God, hy God who hears 
 what ive are saying, and on the faith of a driest, that 
 you shall never see your husband again, — never, never" 
 
 "Well! well !^' replied my wife, "that oath assures 
 me that the God by whom you swear will have pity on 
 my husband, and save him." # 
 
 I cannot relate all that happened while I was in this 
 cell ; and, indeed, there were days when I lost command 
 of my own thoughts. 
 
 IX. 
 
 THE PHYSICIANS. 
 
 I HAD asked for a medical attendant in whom I could 
 place confidence, and the Government acceded to my 
 request without a moment^s hesitation. My own Phy- 
 sician was just then absent in England ; and my friend 
 who first came to see me sent another. Until that time I 
 had not known this young man, of wiiom I fear to 
 speak, lest my words should appear to be the effect of 
 the extreme warmth of my gratitude towards him. He 
 had been a pupil of the Yicar, was very friendly with 
 him, and respected him; and although 1 had no pre- 
 vious knowledge of him myself, he had heard of me. I 
 cannot tell how hard this young Doctor laboured for me, 
 and what representations he made on my behalf. Three 
 times every day he visited me, and three times every 
 day had the kindness and patience to go to the office of 
 the Inspector, and ask for the permission without which 
 it was impossible to enter. 
 
 Two Doctors and Professors of the College of Medi- 
 
THE PHYSICIANS. 45 
 
 cine came from the Tribunal of the Paith, to know 
 whether I was very sick or not ; and also to ascertain 
 whether I could be removed on a bed to the place where 
 I was afterwards confined. 
 
 One of these was a devotee, but a sincere man, so 
 far as I could judge; the other was both liberal and 
 intelligent. 
 
 The first, a Professor of Anatomy, before proceeding 
 to feel Mora's pulse, betook himself to inspect the 
 heretic. What kind of forehead? what nose? what 
 head ? passing his hand over each part. The other sur- 
 veyed me with an air of compassion that struck me very 
 forcibly ; and this he did without caring for the presence 
 of an ugly fellow, extremely deformed, who seemed to 
 be noting the words, countenances, and gestures of every 
 one there. This thrice ugly person — whose soul must 
 surely be as deformed as his body — was the Notary of 
 the Holy Tribunal, and much more clever, although 
 younger, than the Vicar. Clever, indeed, the Yicar 
 never was ; and I should say so now, as his lack of 
 sense may at some future time serve as an excuse for his 
 conduct. 
 
 This Notary must surely be afiiHated to the Society ; 
 and why may he not, since even the King Consort is ? 
 And besides bearing, to my mind, the very countenance 
 of the Company, he was to all who came near, and espe- 
 cially to my good Physician, the most disagreeable of men. 
 
 Shortly afterwards I heard that the Doctors not only 
 agreed that I was indeed very ill, but reported that it would 
 be impossible to remove me, either in bed or out of it. 
 
 The Government took advantage of this strong reason, 
 and so gave complete satisfaction to my friends, resist- 
 
46 NAEUATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 ing the haughty and shameless importunities of the 
 inhuman Tribunal, whose wretched instrument through- 
 out the whole was that shallow and vain Vicar. 
 
 One sorrowful night I was surprised and delighted 
 to see some Deputies in the late Cortes, friends of mine, 
 persons highly respected in the advanced Liberal party, 
 come into my cell. I thought they were going to com- 
 municate some good news, after the immense efforts they 
 had made, speaking and making interest with persons of 
 high dignity in the State ; but what was my surprise at 
 hearing from their lips, " There is no help ! We can 
 only say that your Judge has promised us to dispatch your 
 case quickly; and as there is not now any other resource 
 left, we shall closely watch his movements, to see whether 
 or not he keeps his word ; and if he does not, keep up 
 your courage ; for it will then he necessary to get you out 
 of their hands hy force. When the case is finished, they 
 will deliver you over to the civil authority, and here we 
 shall have you again on other ground.^^ 
 
 They said no more, and bade me say nothing; for 
 they knew that, however indulgent the highest authority 
 might be, the walls had ears. We were in the midst of 
 the Police. I kept silence, and with the greatest grati- 
 tude heard their words of consolation. 
 
 X. 
 
 VIOLENCE. 
 
 Next day they gave me noticp that the Yicar and that 
 effigies of Jesuitism, the Notary, were coming to 
 continue the proces^^ as they call it. 
 
 vera 
 
VIOLENCE. 47 
 
 At the appointed hour they made their appearance. 
 They angrily turned out my guard, shut the door, and 
 the Judge began. 
 
 " Good afternoon, Mora." 
 
 " Very good afternoon, Seiior Pando."^ 
 
 "The most excellent and most illustrious Judge," 
 added the Notary, "wishes to know whether you are in 
 a disposition to answer questions which will be put to 
 you on the process in this case." 
 
 " yes," the Yicar replied for me, with that sort of 
 amiability which always turns into perfect rage, "you 
 are quite disposed, I am sure." 
 
 " But you see that I am not, my head is in a very 
 bad state, and I fear I could not fix my attention on any 
 point. Besides, you need not " — 
 
 {^llie Notary) " Say, ' Your Most Illustrious Excel- 
 lency!^" 
 
 " Your Most Illustrious Excellency needs not trouble 
 himself. Whatever I have said in my profession of faith 
 and of Protestantism, is already on record : I will rectify 
 any inaccuracy, but I neither can nor will retract." 
 
 {The Notary) "Very well, then, read this, or listen, 
 do you hear ? " &c., &c. 
 
 Then the Notary began reading with a very loud voice, 
 but I stopped him with an entreaty that he would not 
 make such a noise. "Do not, I beseech you; that noise 
 torments me, I cannot make anything out. I am a Pro- 
 testant : I beseech you, do not trouble me any more." 
 
 At this the Minister of Peace started up like a fury, 
 beating the floor violently with his feet, shouting and 
 roaring at such a rate, that those on the outside — for 
 there were always several policemen outside the cell — 
 
48 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 heard every word. Then, coming close to my bed, he 
 laid his hands upon me, and bawled, " I will give you 
 the gag ; I will bind you hand and foot, and carry you 
 away." My ears rang with a great noise, and, stunned 
 with the confusion, I became utterly insensible. 
 
 When I came to myself, I saw the guard who stood 
 alone at my side, now sighing heavily, and again exclaim- 
 ing against the religion that has such Ministers. 
 
 " When you cried for help, I was at the door listening, 
 in case you needed it.'' 
 
 " My courage left me when the Yicar came to the bed. 
 In that moment 1 thought of the Priest Merino, when 
 he approached another person;"^ and the terrible thought 
 arose of what he might carry under hi^ cloak. I was 
 terrified when I found myself without you, and beyond 
 that I know nothing more." 
 
 The Yicar, the Jesuits, and the spies that were both 
 in the house and on the outside, never believed that I 
 was sick ; so accustomed are they to feign and to dis- 
 semble, that they judge others by themselves. 
 
 The Doctors came back again the day following with 
 the Notary, and repeated the very same scene as before. 
 The certificate was, with a trifling difference, the same 
 as the other. 
 
 As guard was relieved every two hours, some of 
 ^em did not know my Physician : an old friend who 
 wished to see me, finding one of the Doctor's cards in 
 my house, introduced himself with it just two minutes 
 before the Doctors. The Notary reported the fact ; the 
 guard was frightened ; and they commenced proceedings 
 against my Physician with so great avidity, the object of 
 
 * The present Q,uecn of Spain, Isabel II. 
 
VIOLENCE. 49 
 
 attack being a good man, that if I had not made a de- 
 claration of the whole matter, innocent as he was, lie 
 might have been transported. 
 
 As the anger of the Jesuits waxed hotter, so did my 
 situation grow worse every moment. 
 
 That they might not do with my letters in the Post- 
 office what they had done with my books at home, 
 friends took all necessary precaution. 
 
 My mother-in-law brought me a letter, and, at the 
 same time, sad news. The Police, led by a remarkable 
 sort of person whom she felt sure to be an agent of the 
 Holy Office, entered my house, went into my study, and 
 seized the best part of my books, together with my 
 portfolio, and all the papers that were in it. 
 
 When a man refuses to approach the Confessional, 
 and pour out his own secrets, or the secrets of others, 
 into the receptacle of that dark Police Office, he must be 
 prepared to experience how the Jesuits and their mise- 
 rable instruments get to know the secrets of families. 
 
 The Alcalde of my District Avas a very good sort of 
 person, who, although he scarcely knew me, entertained 
 a very good opinion of me, and had to be present at 
 that pious robbery. They had orders, — as one of them 
 told my mother-in-lav/, and another person, whom I 
 must not involve in trouble by mentioning the name, — 
 to seize the manuscript at any cost. They knew that I 
 had long finished the manuscript of my work on the 
 Jesuits. And this was the first thing they found after 
 taking possession of the principal floor of my house. 
 Having got this, they desisted from their search, con- 
 sidering that they had found what they were sent 
 for. The Socialists ought to note this fact, in antici- 
 
 £ 
 
50 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 pation of the time when the fathers call them to 
 account, and talk to them concerning tke right of 
 property. 
 
 XI. 
 
 THE DAWN OF HOPE. 
 
 The letter was from Dr. Eule, and the pious felony, 
 and all the troubles we had passed through, were for- 
 gotten, after the reading of that letter. Mj Avife came 
 afterwards, and we held a conversation in rrench. We 
 embraced each other — we wept — we laughed — we for- 
 got everything — we forgave our torm.entors ! The news 
 was of the greatest importance to the whole family. 
 Christians all over religious England were interested 
 for us. 
 
 Known to my friends in Spain by his enlightened 
 correspondence. Dr. Eule was tlie person in whom I, 
 and others also, had placed confidence, and sent infor- 
 mation of whatever was done in the course of our reh- 
 gious labours in Spain. Zealous for the propagation of 
 the Gospel in my country, he had taken up my cause as 
 if it were his own ; and his indomitable activity gave us 
 assurance that if he made our situation known to some 
 of those powerful advocates of the Gospel of Jesus, to 
 some of those men who labour without ceasing in the 
 propagation and defence of the true doctrine of Jesus, 
 and had already given real and positive proofs of a 
 special regard for my beloved country, their sympathy 
 would not be spent in vain. 
 
 Besides, the Earl of Shaftesbury had been at the head 
 of those fellow-labourers who happily initiated efforts 
 
THE DAWN OF HOPE. 51 
 
 for tlie religious benefit of my country, and is also 
 President of that body which had already succeeded, 
 by such means as prudence suggested, in delivering 
 defenceless victims from the power of the iniquitous 
 Tribunal. 
 
 The name of the Honourable Arthur Kinnaird was 
 for me another, of the best guarantees. The sound and 
 generous heart of that worthy Member of the British 
 Parliament, his unconquerable attachment to the cause 
 of civil and religious liberty, his genuine love of the 
 doctrine of Jesus, and his Christian piety, were well 
 known to myself. Those two influences, and the activity 
 of the Doctor, formed a sort of Evangelical triad, rein- 
 forced by the fervent prayers which my Enghsh brethren 
 offered up to God for the deliverance of the victim. All 
 this we dwelt upon with joyful expectation, with a strong 
 and well-founded hope that we should yet find an 
 asylum under the hospitable shelter of the laws of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 The intelligence spread rapidly among my friends, 
 who remembered the names of the Madiai and others, 
 and confidence increased. Thenceforth my escape from 
 ihe cell became the first object of consideration, and 
 that object was eventually efl'ected ; thanks be to God, 
 and to the efforts of Christians ! 
 
 The Tribunal of the Paith also heard of the letter, 
 through some of my friends, each of whom gave his own 
 comment on it ; and I can confidently affirm, that this 
 unexpected application made the ears of the Inquisitors 
 tingle as nothing yet had done. 
 
 After being shut up in this cell, I did not forget my 
 established custom as a propagandist ; and the guards, 
 
 E 2 
 
ri9. 
 
 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 with one exception, had all caught the same contagion 
 when they left me. Of three hundred men, of whom 
 the corps consists, perhaps I became acquainted with 
 two-thirds. But not guards only, the dependents of the 
 Government also shared in the communications of the 
 arch-heretic. Our conversations were favourable, and 
 always turned on pagaji Eome. We talked on all sub- 
 jects relating to Popery, confession alone excepted, of 
 which it was not necessary to speak, as all my new cate- 
 chumens had for years past followed the fashion which 
 is now general, — the fashion of absenting themselves 
 from the Confessional. We always closed our conversa- 
 tions by speaking of the Gospel. 
 
 The Doctors came to see me for the third time, toge- 
 ther with the Notary, who asked me if I was better. 
 " Yes, gentlemen,^' I answered, " Enghsh air much re- 
 freshes me.'"' The Professor of Anatomy began to admire 
 my liead, as usual ; and this led me to say, that if my 
 head was really as good a one as he professed to think it, 
 it would be a great pity for the Jesuits to make away 
 with it; and then, just that the Notary might hear, 
 I recounted assassinations and poisonings that the 
 [Fathers had committed, the number of persons pub- 
 licly executed in different nations, their hatred of the 
 Gospel, how the political Jesuits carried on their in- 
 trigues in Madrid, and much more of the same kind. 
 They listened in silence, while I proceeded just as incli- 
 nation led, and concluded by saying that I hoped to get 
 out of bed the next day. My good Doctor hoped that 
 I should. 
 
 Neither the orders of the Tribunal, nor the fact of my 
 being a prisoner, nor the pressing engagements of civil 
 
THE DAWN OF HOPE. 53 
 
 Authorities, could deprive me of the occasional visits of 
 some influential friends. But one visit there was which 
 caused me the most poignant grief. I cannot possibly 
 describe it. It was a visit from my mother, who is more 
 than seventy years old, and, besides her many virtues 
 and long-tried charity, she deserves to be counted with 
 the best of mothers. After all the sorrow and suffering 
 she had experienced from hearing of my arrest, she came 
 one morning to see me. She came quite alone, and, 
 without more than asking for the cell where her son 
 was, walked in boldly, and nearly reached it without 
 hindrance. " Who are you, lady ?" said three or four 
 Government servants, when she had mounted nearly a 
 hundred stairs. " / am Ids mother ! I am his mother ! 
 They have killed him by this time." I heard these last 
 words ; but I did not hear any one answer a syllable. 
 
 She came straight into my cell, looked on me, and 
 spoke not a word. There she stood, speechless, — just 
 as on another day, when she saw me again in the midst 
 of the " holy family '' in the Convent whence I made my 
 escape, just as when Colonel Riego saw her there the 
 second time, — and then, falling back against the wall, 
 I thought she had died. But this terrible scene I am 
 not able to describe. 
 
 However, God came to her help and mine at last; 
 that life, all but extinguished, recovered itself again, and 
 its restoration is chiefly due to the hope of my safety 
 which the good news from those religious men in Eng- 
 land had now awakened. 
 
54 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 XII. 
 
 ATTEMPT TO POISON. 
 
 My motlier-in-law always brought me a supply of 
 water; or if she failed to do so, I took the precaution 
 of not drinking any other until the guard had tasted it. 
 
 One morning a young servant girl came with choco- 
 late instead of my mother-in-law; and as soon as she 
 had given it to the guard, he poured it into a cup, and 
 I took it in his presence. My mother-in-law always 
 brought me water in a bottle, and besides this bottle 
 there was an earthen jar, out of which the guard drank, 
 and she used to fill both bottle and jar from the fountain 
 in the street. Such precautions did we take, knowing the 
 enemies with w^hom w^e had to do, and always remember- 
 ing the indigestion caused by a glass of w^ater to Car- 
 dinal Tournon, Delegate from the Pope to China. 
 
 It was eight o'clock in the morning, at which hour 
 we expected the relief-guard. The guard who was to 
 leave, the same that had given me the chocolate, had 
 been wdth me before, and, like all the others, displayed 
 great interest in me, and served me most respectfully. 
 "There is no water here. Sir,'"* said he : " would you like 
 me to bring some?" "Very well,"*^ said I; and he 
 brought some from the large tub or butt that served all 
 the inmates of the house. 
 
 On returning, he said, " Here is the w^ater, I will 
 drink some first ; " took my glass and drank before me, 
 rinsed it, and handed it to me. I looked at it, drank, 
 and, as he was filling it again for himself, the rehef-guard 
 came. He drank it off, left the glass and jar upon the 
 bench, and was marched away. 
 
 The new guard, instead of speaking to me, as all the 
 
ATTEMPT TO POISON. 55 
 
 others, for obvious reasons, were accustomed to do, sat 
 dowu at the left-hand side of my bed, eyeiug me 
 askance, and remained silent as death. " Take a drink 
 of wine, if you feel disposed,^' I said to him ; but he 
 answered drily, " I do not want it : I used to drink, but 
 now it does not agree with me." Two minutes after- 
 wards, " Do you smoke ? There are some cigars ! " 
 As drily as before, " I do not smoke." I was surprised 
 that this man would not do what all the others had done 
 so readily, and watched his movements. 
 
 He had not a very agreeable face ; but the expression 
 was more than the features, and I afterwards learned 
 from his comrade that they were not on the best terms 
 together. He wore a medal on his breast : the King of 
 Rome — who calls himself the divinely appointed repre- 
 sentative of Him who said, " My kingdom is not of this 
 world" — had given him this medal for helping to pre- 
 vent the world from getting possession of its own, with 
 a bundle of indulgences which were left at home. 
 
 FalHng into some conversation concerning my case, 
 he said, — but still without looking at me, — "They should 
 be careful in your house not to allow that young servant 
 to bring your food ; for, as it is a girl, some gentleman 
 might stop her, and, while speaking with her, drop poison 
 into it. Neither should they buy meat always of the same 
 butcher ; and when they go to buy meat, if the butcher 
 shows them a piece, and wishes them to take that part of 
 the beast, they should refuse, and prefer the other side;*^ 
 and every day they should buy of a different butcher." 
 
 * la Spain the butcher hangs his carcase by the heels, and, beginning 
 at the head, cuts away for his customers, without distinction of joints> 
 until the whole is disposed of. 
 
56 NAEllATIVE OP IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 As that day I was going to rise for the first time, I 
 asked my guard to give me my clothes, which he did, 
 and with some difficulty I put on some of them, being 
 scarcely able to stand. This done, I asked him to 
 help me into a closet adjoining, to look for something 
 that I wanted. He led me thither, and shut the door 
 after me. The closet was near my bed ; I remained 
 there for twelve or fifteen minutes, finished dressing, 
 and, when ready to come back, called him for assist- 
 ance. With the same indifference as before, he gave 
 me his arm, and led me to a chair which the principal 
 porter had had the kindness to lend me. There I sat, 
 meditating on the indifference of this man, so unlike all 
 the other guards, who had shown themselves each day 
 more kind. 
 
 I asked him for some water to wash my hands and 
 face, and put myself somewhat in order before the Yicar 
 came. He took the jar, poured some water into a dark 
 coloured barber's basin, which they had brought from 
 my house a few days before, and set it at my feet. I 
 stooped down and lifted the basin, and, although my 
 sight was weak, when I put my right hand into the water, 
 at once perceived that its colour was considerably changed. 
 I immediately said to the guard, who pretended to be 
 very heedless of what was going on, " I shall not wash 
 my hands in this dirty water !" He took the basin, 
 saying, " The basin must be dirty,'' washed it, and poured 
 in more water. As he was holding it in his hand, the 
 next guard came, and he set it on the floor before me. 
 I looked at this too, and, in the presence of the other 
 guard, who stood at my side looking on with great 
 attention, — I do not know if the Corporal was with 
 
ATTEMPT TO POISON. 57 
 
 him, — said, " This water also is dirty;" at which the man 
 with the medal said he would pour some into a cup of 
 very white French porcelain that served me for my coffee 
 or chocolate. He poured some in, and both the guards 
 pronounced that it also was dirty. Then the man with 
 the medal began to pour out the rest upon the brick- 
 floor, at which I called aloud for the watchman, a 
 Government servant, and said to the fellow, "Do not 
 pour away that water ; it is poisonous ; let the Inspector 
 come." Instantly the Inspector came. He is Chief of 
 the Police, a young man of great prudence, and one 
 who showed much attention to myself and my family 
 as we shall presently see. 
 
 The Inspector heard my complaint, and a statement 
 of all that had taken place from the beginning. I sent 
 for the guard who first brought the water; and he 
 declared and proved himself innocent. The water, of 
 which he and I both drank, was perfectly clean, and 
 he protested that he was incapable of such wickedness. 
 He of the medal said nothing. The Inspector pro- 
 ceeded to examine the water, poured it out three times, 
 and each time found it discoloured. They were all 
 silent, and I continued, " You see that my suspicions 
 are confirmed. They cannot force me out of the hands 
 of the Government; but by such means as this they 
 will send me out of the world. They are as perverse as 
 cowardly. There is treachery, always treachery \" 
 
 The Inspector begged me to be calm, and asked if 
 I would wish the water to be immediately analysed. 
 " No, Sir," I answered ; " I did not wish for any ques- 
 tion with the Government, much less with the body 
 of guards, who have been so kind to me. Not one 
 
58 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 of them lias misconducted himself with me, notwith- 
 standing the orders of the Tribunal and the punish- 
 ments it threatens. Besides acting like faithful ser- 
 vantSj they have been as kind to me and my family as 
 if I had been their best friend. The Government, too, 
 is Sjmnish, and therefore incapable of playing with 
 poisons. Even if they had detected me in a political 
 conspiracy, they might have shot me, sent me to prison, 
 or banished me; but such methods as this are only 
 used by those who first defended them in books. Pro- 
 fessors' chairs, and Confessionals, and whom History 
 shows to be poisoners and assassins by profession.''^ 
 
 It was not the hand of the guard that I saw, nor that 
 of the ruffian on the Prado, nor that of a ruffian who 
 entered my house, sword in hand, and attempted to 
 attack my wife. It was the mysterious hand of Loyola 
 that fell suddenly on my family, on the City, and on 
 Spain itself, and sacrificed all to its vengeance on the 
 sanguinary days of last July. It was the hand of Chatel 
 and of Eavaillac, and that which betrays itself on the 
 ensanguined purple and the Tiara ; the hand that spares 
 not man or woman; the hand that destroyed the dy- 
 nasty of the Yalois; that administered the poisonous 
 draught to the Cardinal Tournon and to the ill-fated 
 Ganganelli. It was the hand that held the match, when 
 you Englishmen caught him just ready to ignite the 
 train, and, at a moment calculated with diabolical 
 cunning, lay the Parliament and the Royalty of Great 
 Britain in the dust. It was that hand which sent a 
 dagger through the heart of the learned Edmund Richer, 
 and aimed the deadly weapon at the Prince of Orange ; 
 that guided the pen to sign the Revocation of the Edict 
 
ATTEMPT TO POISON. 59 
 
 of Nantes, gave the signal for the Massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew, and directed the expulsion of the descendants 
 of those martyred Protestants from Trance ; the same 
 hand that wrings moans of anguish from the victims 
 whom it seizes, plunges them into poverty, flings them 
 into dungeons, or drags them to death, yet without 
 crime, or proofs, or judgment, or appeal, or any other 
 witnesses than the emissary and the hangman. 
 
 That Company is cosmopolite in its essence, artificial in 
 its forms, Machiavellic in its tendencies, and lives with- 
 out any other object than universal dominion, however 
 shameful and immoral the means which it employs. It 
 sets against each other all forms of Government, and 
 labours to overthrow and annihilate whatever opposes 
 itself to its perverse intentions. Sometimes republican, 
 sometimes absolutist, and always anarchist, it makes its 
 way into all political bodies, and shamelessly inter- 
 meddles with all parties. 
 
 Just now, in my country, it preaches up again reac- 
 tion, expropriation, banishment, and death to Liberals. 
 In the year ^93, masked under a Eepublic, it danced 
 wildly at the sound of the Marseillaise, and before the 
 dungeons that the Eevolution crowded with its victims. 
 Yesterday it cursed the Empire and the dynasty of the 
 Corsican, and played Bacchanalian gambols round the 
 trees of Liberty; — to-day it intones the Benedicfus 
 before the son of Napoleon. It is the unblushing 
 harlot of the Apocalypse, condemned, even by Popes, 
 as immoral, antisocial, and irreligious. By the same 
 authority it has been pronounced a permanent revolu- 
 tion in Church and State, which it is the duty of all 
 Governments to outlaw, lest the people, seeking to 
 
60 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 avenge themselves, should have recourse to the violent 
 remedy which the Jansenist Bossuet long ago recom- 
 mended, — la dernier e force. 
 
 The Inspector took the bottle, corked it up, and car- 
 ried it away to his office. The water was of a dull 
 greyish colour. My Doctor looked at it, and gave his 
 opinion to myself and others, that it contained some 
 foreign substance, but spared no pains to soothe my fears. 
 I said nothing more about it, and I know not w^hat 
 became of the bottle. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 FLIGHT ADVISED. 
 
 The Doctors of the Tribunal paid me a visit, and I 
 told them what had occurred. The devout one replied, 
 " I am surprised that a man of your good sense should 
 think so.''"' I allowed myself a very free rejoinder, 
 heedless of the presence of the Notary. The Physician 
 coolly observed that, although some members of the 
 Society have been bad men, it does not therefore follow 
 that the Society itself is bad. 
 
 "You must know, my friend,'^ I continued, "that 
 whatever the members do, whomsoever they may stab 
 or poison, they do nothing without first receiving the 
 orders of the General, which are, in effect, those of the 
 Society .'' I related the affair of Pather La Chaise and 
 Louis XIV., with some other things of the kind, refer- 
 ring him to the Secret Instructions which they took 
 away from my house, and to what I had myself written, 
 which to this moment remains unanswered. 
 
 In questions that He between my heart and head, 
 when religion and politics are not concerned, the head 
 
FLIGHT ADVISED. 61 
 
 always yields first ; and therefore the afi'air of the poison 
 passed away without further notice by myself. The fact, 
 however, came to be known in Madrid, and produced 
 an immense sensation, even among the lowest classes of 
 the people. 
 
 Prom this day forward my friends more and more set 
 tlieir hearts upon effecting my escape. The fear that I 
 should die of poison gained such hold on my family and 
 others, that whatever any of them could devise was in- 
 stantly caught at by the rest. But the fact just related, 
 instead of mending my case, made it much worse. The 
 Government was unwilling to incur the responsibility 
 which would fall on them in the event of such an attempt 
 being repeated, and consequently were anxious to have 
 me removed ; and Jesuitism gained the desired object, 
 which was to get possession of my person, away from 
 the immediate inspection of the Government. 
 
 I might have escaped out of the hands of the Govern- 
 ment ; even tlien several opportunities were allowed me. 
 But no suffering could induce me to consent, and my ob- 
 stinacy on this point occasioned me much inconvenience. 
 
 I considered the kindness with which most of the 
 dependents of the Government had treated me from the 
 time that they understood my case, not excepting the 
 Governor and his Secretary. I kncAV that the Supreme 
 Government had no intention to injure me, notwith- 
 standing all the efibrts of the Jesuits to make me figure 
 as one of the writers who had opposed them most hotly 
 in the newspapers ; but, according to my information, 
 which I believe to be correct, the Government paid con- 
 siderable attention to every request made on my behalf; 
 and if the affair of the poisoned water had not happened. 
 
62 -NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 Jesuitism would have had hard work to get me out of their 
 hands. This is the truth, and I shall never disguise it. 
 
 "When it was settled that I was to be prosecuted by 
 the Tribunal of the Taith, the Government should have 
 delivered me up to that Court on the day following, and 
 the Farailiars might have carried me off in a bed, sick 
 as I was, and as the Judge had ordered. This, added 
 to the known fact, that the Governor had sent an order 
 to the Tribunal of the Taith to treat me well, caused 
 me to desist from flight while in the Government prison. 
 I detested the acts of the Government before my im- 
 prisonment; I detested and condemned them when in 
 prison, before their OAvn servants ; I detest them at this 
 day as much as ever ; but in the affair of which I am now 
 writing, I am persuaded that it even exceeded its duty,"^ 
 in order to get me safely out of the hands of the Jesuits. 
 
 The Yicar, knowing that I was in a state to answer 
 the charges laid against me, came again to the prison, 
 accompanied by the Notary. The entrance of the Yicar, 
 and a something which I could very well understand, 
 but cannot easily explain, gave me to perceive that a 
 breath wafted from Protestant countries — the letters of 
 my esteemed Dr. Eule — had blown on the Holy Tribu- 
 nal, and softened down the ferocity of those men who, 
 like the tiger, have the cowardly fashion of never 
 pouncing on their prey when he faces them, but always 
 attack him behind his back ; but after all, while they equal 
 the tiger in savage nature, they exceed that animal in 
 cowardice. That those letters produced such an effect, 
 I know certainly. 
 
 * Its duty, be it oLserved, according to the actual state of Spanish 
 law. 
 
THE EXAMINATION. 63 
 
 XIV. 
 THE EXAMINATION. 
 
 The Vicar took his seat, and, without any of the 
 symptoms of ill temper previously manifested, asked how 
 I was ? — how I felt ? 
 
 " Very well, indeed,^' I answered. And even so I 
 felt ; for Protestant air had strengthened me more and 
 more, and I recovered courage to breast the raging 
 storm, as that which once threatened to sink the vessel 
 in the Sea of Galilee, but ceased in the presence of Him 
 who never fails to answer prayer that is offered up to 
 Him in time of trouble. 
 
 The Vicar is one of those whom we call " 2')oor men." 
 He is altogether a poor man, of extremely moderate 
 capacity, as he himself well knows, as all around him 
 know, and as I knew long ago. He is a trifle vain, and 
 Jesuitism, knowing his weaknesses, has covered him 
 with preferments and distinctions of a certain kind. He 
 is a simple person, who, if he had not given way to 
 vicious habits, might have creditably occupied a humble 
 position in society, esteemed by intelligent persons, and 
 respected by the common people. 
 
 Not so the Notary. He is a true Quasimodo in ap- 
 pearance, without the good nature of that personage, but 
 with all his cunning. If the face be the mirror of the 
 soul, this man, if put up to sale, would go for nothing. 
 
 The Notary read over my protests, and I again 
 assured him that it was loss of time to endeavour to 
 turn me from what I had already said, and finished with 
 these words : " Death, and even the destruction of my 
 family, rather than retractation ! / have said it." 
 
64 NAREATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 The Yicar opened a parcel of papers, letters, circulars, 
 and New Testaments, laid them before me, and began 
 to put more questions. As I was not his tutor, and 
 under no obligation to instruct him, I availed myself of 
 his sapient ignorance, and, without any departure from 
 the truth, committed no person. 
 
 Unable to get at what he was searching for, his Most 
 Illustrious began an address thus : " Let us speak as 
 companions and friends ; for this we have been." " On 
 condition,''^ I replied, " that the Notary does not write 
 down what I say." This being agreed to, the Judge 
 proceeded. 
 
 " Have you travelled much, Mora ?" 
 
 " Yery much, Pando. England, France, the United 
 States, &c." 
 
 " Do you correspond with many persons?" 
 
 " Yes, with very many." 
 
 " You must have, as indeed I know you have, many 
 ens^as^ements." 
 
 "Yes, and one above all others, which is to make 
 known the Gospel to the Spaniards." 
 
 *^^Now, Notary, you must write. Whose letter is 
 this?" 
 
 " Your Most Illustrious Excellency may read it ; my 
 sight is weak." 
 
 " Yes, yes. This is . And this is . [No 
 
 tary writes) And this is from Colonel . He that 
 
 is in the Palace ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Prom Colonel y indeed ! A rare bird ! Prom 
 
 liiin, is it ?" 
 
 " Prom him. We have always been very good friends." 
 
THE EXAMINATION. 65 
 
 " But is that he ? Does it speak of him ? We too 
 are very good friends ; I like him very much. Have 
 you nothing to say, Sir ? Well then, [to the Notary^ 
 write.''' {Ke writes) 
 
 " Now, let us speak again as old friends." 
 
 " But we must speak without writing."'' 
 
 " Agreed. My friend. Mora, to-day I am the Judge, 
 and you the " — 
 
 " The victim — Agreed V 
 
 " If I were in England, you would be the Judge, and 
 I the culprit." 
 
 To this stupid observation I made no reply. It was 
 very late, and I wanted my dinner. I knew that my 
 mother-in-law was waiting on the outside, and I wished 
 to save the time that she would lose if I undertook to 
 give him a lesson in history, or to remind him of what 
 had been said during the famous question of Liberty of 
 Worship, which I suppose he must have glanced at, 
 since the most insignificant newspaper sometimes men- 
 tions it, and the most obscure of the obscure among 
 the people talk of it. But my Lord Yicar remained 
 just the same as when I knew him before. The weight 
 of crosses had not allowed him to navigate beyond 
 the strait of Barbara celarent. On his repeating the 
 question, I answered, witli some expression of im- 
 patience, that I was hungry ; that in that country 
 there was rehgious liberty, without either victims or 
 executioners. 
 
 " Take that. Notary. Write it down. Had you any 
 Bibles at home ? Where did they come from ? Had 
 you any other Protestant books ? Who printed them ? 
 And this letter ? I keep it because it speaks here of a 
 
Q6 NAERATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 particular person. Do you know him ? Look — look. 
 •Do you see it ? Answer quickly .'' 
 
 " The Notary can tell your Most Illustrious Excellency 
 who it ■ is. BibleS;, and books^ and other things I had, 
 which you have carried away, and you can see for your- 
 selves who printed them." 
 
 ''The books do not say who printed them." 
 
 " So much the better." 
 
 "You must tell me everything — everything. You 
 must tell me who all these people are." 
 
 " I will tell you as much as it suits me to tell, with- 
 out falsehood, and without Jesuitical reserve. TAat is 
 my duty." 
 
 " You deny everything." 
 
 " No ; I deny nothing." 
 
 " Yes, Sir, this paper, this letter, this . Whose 
 
 are they ? Who gave them to you ?" 
 
 "The letters are signed, certainly, and they must 
 have come from those who wrote them." 
 
 " And these papers ?" 
 
 " Some one brought them to my house, whose name 
 I do not just now remember." 
 
 " This is one of Don ." 
 
 " So says your Most Illustrious Excellency ; and I 
 must say that I am weary of talking. It is late, and 
 I am very hungry." 
 
 {To the Notary) "Write quick." 
 
 " You may write what you please ; I am weary. I 
 am the only person culpable ; but that we may finish 
 quickly, I tell you that there is another person ac- 
 tive, very active, in this matter of evangehzing the 
 people." 
 
THE EXAMINATION. (17 
 
 " Who is that ? Who is it ? Notary ! write this 
 down. Let us see, now, who this is."*' 
 
 " Not too fast, gentlemen. This person is " 
 
 " Yery well ; whoever he is, you must tell me, you 
 must tell me ; and you [to the Notary) write it down, 
 and then we will finish.'^ 
 
 " Well, Sir, this gentleman is an Englishman. 
 
 " iVn Englishman ! Where is he V 
 
 "At home.'' 
 
 " Yery good ! very good ! Where does he live ? 
 What is his name V^ 
 
 "Dr. Rule.'' 
 
 " Yery good ! Where does he live ?" 
 
 " In London." 
 
 " Ea /" 
 
 " We are intimate friends. Now, go on !" 
 
 " You have only one idea, that of attacking the Pope 
 and the Jesuits." 
 
 " Just so ; and that is because I firmly believe them 
 to be the worst enemies of Society and Eeligion." 
 
 " Hum ! But those written papers that w^e got in 
 
 your house ; we think you must have written more than 
 Tostado," (a voluminous Spanish writer). 
 
 " What you took away is the original of my work on 
 the Jesuits, which cost me but a few months. I go to 
 bed late, after writing or studying for a few hours, and 
 I rise early ; yet the time is too short for what I have 
 to do ; and since my imprisonment I have been deprived 
 of my greatest pleasure, which is work." 
 
 " AYhat fine editions we have found in your posses- 
 sion ! Yes, indeed, I have looked over them." 
 
 "0 yes! most of the books you have seized were 
 F 2 
 
68 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 written in English, Trencli, Italian, Greek, and Latin. 
 There were few Spanish, except Bibles and Testa- 
 ments.'' 
 
 " And you have read much — very much. So much 
 of good and bad is there to be read, and especially of 
 German Philosophy, is there not?'' 
 
 ''But you must know that, although I have read 
 somewhat, I much more enjoy thinking and medi- 
 tation." 
 
 " Were you in agreement with any persons in Spain 
 for propagating these ideas ?" 
 
 " Yes, Sir, with very many, both here and in the 
 Provinces." 
 
 " But I think you have done very little ; you say as 
 much in one of your letters." 
 
 " Perhaps so j but you must bear in mind that there 
 are very many of us ; and this must be evident to your- 
 self, from the sharp contest which has been carried on 
 in the papers during the last two years, both in the 
 periodical press and in books that have circulated ex- 
 tensively." 
 
 " Then I will proceed against the authors, whoever 
 they may be. I have admonished them ; but they have 
 paid no attention, and I will punish them, in whatever 
 part of Spain they are to be found. — And then you 
 have help from abroad?" 
 
 " Yes. I have a strong army of reserve abroad ; 
 many powerful friends, who are worth more to me than 
 I can tell, and who labour without ceasing; and I shall 
 now have more than ever." 
 
 " And the stereotype plates for printing the Bible ? 
 Where are the?/ ? And where are the other books ?" 
 
THE EXAMINATION. 69 
 
 " They are quite safe. They are under a flag that is 
 not in our power.'' 
 
 " Ha ! " 
 
 "Yes, Sir, and so are other things that you must 
 know of through my correspondence ; for, although 
 I had returned to Madrid the day before the Revolu- 
 tion, I only received one single letter ; yet I am accus- 
 tomed to receive many from abroad." 
 
 [To the Notary) "Write that down. — "Who are 
 those persons that figure in these letters? You must 
 tell me. Ayl they are Deputies in Cortes, — those 
 Deputies ! [Here he roared furiously.) Those fellows 
 that would turn Moors to-morrow, if they were paid for 
 it Fellows!" 
 
 But I must be excused from repeating words which 
 distressed me quite as much as the horrors of the 
 Dungeon. 
 
 " Did you get a passport ? Hey ?" 
 
 " Yes, Sir, and a good one." 
 
 "From a good gentleman?" 
 
 " Yes, Sir, and a good Liberal." 
 
 At this he shouted, bawled, yelled, so that all the 
 servants in waiting outside heard him, and were 
 astounded. 
 
 "I asked that gentleman where you were. I in- 
 quired of other Governments, and they would not tell 
 me where you were. Humph ! humph ! " 
 
 " I have been living in public, as you know, and as 
 all Madrid knows ; and Madrid is not so great a city 
 but you could find me with very little trouble." 
 
 " That is enough ! " 
 
 "Thank you." 
 
70 NAERATIVE OP IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 At length His Excellency calmed down once more, 
 and said, "You are going to be transferred to the 
 Convent of St. Yincent de Paul. There you will be 
 in a handsome apartment, — a very, very handsome one ; 
 and they will board you well, and you shall have spi- 
 ritual Fathers to convince you of the truth.^' 
 
 "Listen,^^ I replied; "I have two things to say. 
 First, I will go wherever they will take me ; but I wish 
 you would grant what I have so often requested of 
 yourself and the Government. Take me to the com- 
 mon gaol. I would rather be in the cells there, even 
 among criminals, than be in the company of those good 
 Fathers.'' 
 
 " If you did but know the Jesuits, what good men 
 they are, and how kind."" 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know them well, and therefore I would 
 rather be put amongst the vilest criminals than with 
 those Jesuits. I enti*eat you to let me go to the com- 
 mon prison, — not to St. Yincent's.'' 
 
 "Yerywell.'' 
 
 " And in the second place, as to my food, thank you 
 for the offer ; but I do not want meat or drink of them, 
 and shall tell the Government that, if my mother-in-law 
 does not bring it, I will neither eat nor drink, but die 
 of starvation. I must, therefore, ask two things, and 
 believe the Government will grant them, — food brought 
 me by my mother-in-law from my own house, a bed, 
 and other necessaries, and a guard whom I can trust, 
 tliat they may not kill me there. As for the Fathers 
 whom you wish to exhort me, they are of no use at 
 all ; for I have said, and now repeat it, that I Avill not 
 retract. I am a Protestant, and will rather die than 
 
DEEP soimow. 71 
 
 break my word. Those Fathers shall not come near 
 me ; for I remember the searching poison of Mariana." 
 
 " And if you do not repent within a week, I shall 
 pronounce judgment on you, and " — 
 
 " Neither food nor Fathers ! I shall apply to the 
 Government.'' 
 
 " Yery well. I shall send the order to remove you." 
 
 " When you please." 
 
 " A Dios, Mora ! " 
 
 " Good night." 
 
 My mother-in-law brought in my dinner, after wait- 
 ing three or four hours, and the guard came with her. 
 
 XV, 
 
 DEEP SORROW. 
 
 That night there was a sad scene. My wife came 
 also, and they both fell weeping disconsolately, just as 
 do the relatives of one condemned to die. Family, 
 friends, relatives, all were persuaded that as soon as 
 ever I fell into the hands of the Jesuits, nothing more 
 would be heard of me; but that, without heeding guards, 
 they would convey me, by night, beyond the reach of 
 lielp. All agreed in regarding that order for removal 
 as the death-warrant ; and some idea may be formed of 
 the panic that seized my friends, when it is known that 
 some of the very best of them proposed that I should 
 deceive the Tribunal of the Faith by a feigned retractation, 
 insisting that my first duty was to save my own life, and 
 that of my family, — to consider my wife and our child. 
 
 My answer was always the same. Eetractation was 
 not to be thought of, but rather death for myself, my 
 wife, and my child. There was none to whom I could 
 
7'Z KARKATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 look for lielp, no earthly tribunal of appeal. My 
 enemies were my judges ; but there was a judgment-seat 
 in heaven, and to that my Christian brethren and my 
 family would cry for succour. God would have mercy 
 on us, and undertake my cause. My own mind was 
 exhausted almost to insensibility, yet an inward con- 
 fidence remained that God would deliver me. Besides, 
 it appeared necessary that I should suffer, not only to 
 introduce the Reformation into Spain, but that some^ 
 who had never yet believed it, might learn the real 
 cause of the evils that oppress our country, — the perfidy 
 of that priestly army which the country supports, and 
 which the King of Eome commands. 
 
 My wife threw herself on her knees, and prayed me, 
 for the sake of our child, to make my escape that night, 
 for all was ready for it. But neither tears nor prayers 
 could persuade me ungratefully to compromise the Go- 
 vernment which had treated me so well, although I was 
 opposed to it. On this matter my mind was made up. 
 
 They left me disconsolate, and, for the first time, 
 displeased with me. I soon found that all my friends 
 partook of the same feeling, and began to think me 
 cowardly, and even worse. 
 
 Early in the day following an intimation came, that 
 if I wished to make my escape, everything was ready ; 
 but I answered that, until I found myself in the hands 
 of the Priests, I would not attempt it. Time and money, 
 it is true, were lost by those refusals, and my friends 
 were annoyed when they saw their endeavours frustrated. 
 
 Soon afterwards I found that the Government was 
 disposed to grant me all that I had requested for my 
 personal security. 
 
THE JESUITS' CONVENT. 73 
 
 The Notary returned, and sliowed me the order of 
 removal. It contained no mention of a guard to pro- 
 tect me, nor of my mother-in-law, but it did speak of 
 Ecclesiastics that were to be with me. I pointed out 
 the omissions, and he gave me a verbal assurance that 
 the Judge acceded to all my requests. I saw, at once, 
 that the Judge wished to gratify the Jesuits with acts, 
 and put me off with words ; and, by means of influence 
 that I could command, entreated to be sent to the 
 common prison : but it was clearly impossible for this to 
 be granted. 
 
 The day fixed for my removal came; and we all 
 regarded such a removal as equivalent with transfer to 
 a condemned cell; but no one could conjecture where 
 would be the scene of execution. The newspapers were 
 compelled to keep silence, except that the Biscmion of 
 the 3rd of September, quoting from the Asociacion, said, 
 " Our friend, the honoured and consistent Liberal, Don 
 Angel Herreros de Mora, has been arrested in the 
 Prado, but not for anything discreditable. We hope 
 that he will soon be restored to the bosom of his 
 afflicted family." Much more was afterwards written, 
 but not suffered to be circulated. Then, as now, the 
 gag was on the Press. 
 
 XYI. 
 
 THte Jesuits' convent. 
 
 On Sunday, September 14th, the Notary made his 
 appearance. 
 
 " Are you ready to go with me and this gentleman ? '' 
 (A servant of the Government.) 
 
74 NARRATIVE or IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 " Yes, Sir ; but I must first speak with the Governor, 
 who promised me an interview two days ago." 
 
 A message was sent to the Governor's office, but 
 none of the principal authorities were there. Some one, 
 however, whom I did not know, came instead of the 
 Governor, and, in presence of the Notary, the guard, 
 and the other, I addressed him thus : — 
 
 " I have a fear of being poisoned, or put to death in 
 some other way, and must therefore beg you not to 
 allow the guard to leave me. I wish my mother-in- 
 law to bring my food; for I will never eat anything 
 that comes from those reverend Fathers, nor will I 
 sleep in any of their beds. I also desire that the guard 
 may eat and drink with me, sleep in the same room, 
 and always keep the key of the room ; and when they 
 bring my food, if any one belonging to the Convent we 
 are going to touches it, I will not eat. I wish to 
 receive it with my own hands, in presence of the guard. 
 But what I especially beg of you is, that none of those 
 reverend Fathers be permitted to approach my person. 
 There is no necessity for me to hear or see them. I 
 shall not retract ; and I hope that they will not attempt 
 to make me worship idolsj for I will break them to 
 pieces first. You may remember that affair of the 
 water, and be assured that I am going amongst those 
 men with very great reluctance .'' 
 
 " All this is granted. The guard shall accompany you, 
 and be relieved every day. As for the water, I must 
 tell you that although it was dirty, there was nothing 
 bad in it. I drank tvjo glasses of it/' 
 
 These last words left me in mute surprise. I could 
 not articulate a sentence in reply, but mechanically took 
 
CONVENT. 75 
 
 my hat, saying, " Let us go/' and walked down stairs 
 towards the street. Several persons were collected on 
 the outside, and one kind friend amongst them. We 
 pressed each other's hands in silence, and I passed 
 on. A carriage was at the door; we went inio it, I 
 taking my seat first, then the Notary, and then the 
 Government servant and the guard. My wife was 
 watching from a house opposite. At some distance, 
 coaches of my friends followed, to ascertain whither I 
 was taken. They followed me as one on the way to 
 deatli ; and although I now know what thoughts occu- 
 pied their mind, it is not necessary to state them. 
 
 We came to a 'house that had once been a pri- 
 vate theatre, and, before that, palace of the Duke of 
 Osuna. On alighting from the coach, two satellites of 
 the Company received us with an air of the greatest 
 humility, led us up a grand staircase, and showed us 
 into a room that I never saw again. A Pather, who 
 seemed half blind, then walked in, and began the follow- 
 ing dialogue : — 
 
 " Good morning, gentlemen : what can I do for 
 you?'' 
 
 The Notary. "The Lord Judge — the Lord Yicar 
 says;" and he read the order of removal. 
 
 When the "holy man" had heard the order, he 
 slowly approached me, and I retired so far as the breadth 
 of the room allowed. 
 
 " Is this Senor Don Angel ?" 
 
 " Yes, Sir, I am the man." 
 
 "Yes, we received notice some time ago that you 
 were coming, and have had your room ready ever since." 
 
 {The Notary.) " Is it secure ? You have already 
 
76 NAREATIVE OF IMPHISONMENT. 
 
 heard that the order requires the room to be secure; 
 so that no one can escape out of it." 
 
 " yes^ it is quite secure. And you/' addressing 
 himself to me, " shall dine with us, and after dinner go 
 to the chamber for Exercises/'"^ (the dark chamber,) 
 " and you will find everything quite ready. But you must 
 observe, Don Angel, that this is not a prison. Persons 
 come from all parts to practise the Spiritual Exercises 
 in this house. Even military chiefs come for that pur- 
 pose. O no ! this holy place is for meditation. Well, 
 then, all is ready .''' 
 
 " If I lose my courage,^' thought I, " it is all over 
 with me. Good heart, then, and onward ! God will 
 provide. All this I can understand. Exercises ! Dark 
 chamber ! Descendants of the Neapolitan Captain, — 
 first Jesuit of short robe whom Ignatius admitted, — and 
 these most reverend Eathers ! I must speak up here ; 
 for, if they see me shrink, the tiger will pounce upon me 
 from behind. I must show him a bold countenance.^' 
 
 " Just listen. Sir,'' said I. " I have come hither, as 
 the Governor, the Yicar, and the Notary know, under 
 the express condition that I am to have nothing to do 
 with any of these Fathers, nor be troubled with any of 
 these Exercises. I have protested against Rome. I am 
 a Protestant. You must therefore understand that 
 exhortations are quite superfluous ; for I neither repent 
 nor yet retract." 
 
 « ! ! In that case," — 
 
 " Yes, Sir, in that case you must not trouble me. I 
 am contumacious ; I am impenitent ; I will not retract, 
 * "Rooms set apart for solitary meditation on the Spiritual Exercises 
 of Loyola. 
 
THE JESUITS^ CONVENT. 77 
 
 although I lose my life. And more than this ; I am not 
 going to eat with you, nor touch your food, nor drink 
 water from your hands, nor sleep in your bed. The 
 Government has given me this guard to take care of my 
 hfe. You understand. And as for food, that will be 
 brought from my own house.^' 
 
 " But, Don Angel, if you have everything that you 
 require.'^ 
 
 " No, I thank you ; no, I thank you."*' 
 
 '' Then, in this case, I must speak with the 
 Superior." 
 
 " But are not you the Superior?" 
 
 "No, Sir, he is he is not at home; but I am 
 
 going to say I shall soon be back." 
 
 After a few minutes the same person came back, and 
 said, " Then, Sir, as a guard is going to stay with Don 
 Angel, he cannot go to the apartments that were pre- 
 pared for him." 
 
 Their plan was completely spoiled. "The hand of 
 God," thought I, " is with me." 
 
 " Come this way," said the Tather. We went, and 
 came to fine apartments, where they had received some 
 Bishop — where Sister Patrocinio (that miracle-working 
 Nun who had the sacred wounds, and was much patron- 
 ized by the King Consort ; very rehgious, according to 
 the Fathers, who predicted certain political events, and 
 at the same time very witty, very ignorant, and more 
 humble than the Belle Cadier) had lodged. 
 
 My apartments consisted of a large saloon, a good 
 closet, and two bed-chambers, communicating with each 
 other by a small gallery. So the very same apartments 
 have served to lodge Sister Patrocinio, — she persecuted 
 
78 NAURATIVE OF IMPllISONMEOT'. 
 
 with the medicine of Dr. Argumosa, and Mora with the 
 homceopathy of Loyola."^ The Chronicles say that in 
 this abode scenes of the greatest interest have been wit- 
 nessed, and History will one day declare them. 
 
 The Notary threw a glance over the apartments. See- 
 ing the balconies, I said within myself, " This is wy way 
 out ;'' but I endeavoured to prevent the thought from 
 telling on my countenance, and tried to divert the atten- 
 tion of the Notary, lest he should look out into them. 
 
 The Notary seemed scarcely satisfied, but he kept 
 silence, evidently not without some effort, and then 
 withdrew, after saying that the Yicar liked me very 
 much, that he remembered old times, and would in- 
 terest himself in my behalf. My punishment, he hinted, 
 would probably be expatriation; and, turning to our 
 guide, he said, " I hope you will have the kindness to 
 direct that, whenever this gentleman is at his meals, 
 one of the confraternity be present, as the Yicar's order 
 requires." 
 
 " I understand," said our half-blind conductor. 
 
 XYII. 
 
 INTEEIOR OF THE CONVENT. 
 
 The guard and I remained, each of us commenting, 
 silently, on the words, gestures, and looks of these 
 people. 
 
 Then came a new member of Society, who entered 
 
 * Sister Patrocinio had artificial wounds, said to be supernaturally 
 inflicted ; but Dr. Argumosa healed them, to her great mortification, and 
 she opened them again. She prophesied in the interest of Don Carlos, 
 and was legally convicted of imposture. 
 
INTERIOR OF THE CONVENT. 79 
 
 into conversation with me, speaking very pure Prencli, 
 concerning the " Holy Congregation/'' and insisted that 
 I should let them catechize me. This person was very 
 talkative. He had travelled much, and was old enough 
 to have considerable experience. He talked with an 
 air of great liberality and admirable tact. I quietly 
 surveyed liim, only speaking just enough to keep him 
 a-going, so that we very soon understood each other, 
 entered on debate, and managed our weapons with 
 some dexterity. 
 
 " Who are you ? " said I. " They tell me that you 
 are a Congregation of some kind, an Association of 
 Fathers and Brethren, and Directors of the Sisters of 
 the Sacred Heart. Indeed, they say that you have 
 been a military officer, and are a frank, liberal man, one 
 who knows the world well.''' 
 
 " And they tell me that you are named to be under 
 my orders. A good choice, is it not ? We shall settle 
 matters, after all, I dare say.''' 
 
 " But I want, especially, to know who you all are ; 
 for I have seen seven or eight of this Holy Congrega- 
 tion, and each one has a different dress. Here is one 
 with a waistcoat and white hat, another with a frock 
 coat, another in white, another wears a cloak, and so 
 on. If you can tell me who these all are, it is very 
 likely that we shall understand each other." 
 
 " You will observe that we are a Congregation who 
 devote ourselves to Missions, to Spiritual Exercises, and 
 out of doors we teach the Catechism." 
 
 "But what do you call yourselves? Do they call 
 you 'Tathers of the Taith?' But then the Trench 
 Infidels have put an end to that name for some time 
 
80 NAUEATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 past. Tell me what you call yourselves, and I will 
 then tell you whether I am ready to enter into your 
 Holy Exercises. You have seen service. You have 
 been in Prance and Italy and the United States, and 
 have travelled all over the globe. You are a man of 
 the world, and tolerant. Let us understand each other ; 
 for I do not wish to suffer all sorts of mortification. 
 Tell me, I pray you, what you all are, and we shall 
 understand each other.'' 
 
 " You must know that these Fathers are very good 
 men. They are so innocent ! They are angels ! We 
 are," — speaking in a low voice, — " we are of St. Laza- 
 rus, — St. Lazarus." 
 
 " Why, I thought the Lazarones were in the General 
 Hospital ! " 
 
 " Then I will tell you ; we are sons of St. Yincent de 
 Paul. Look ! Here is the portrait of our Pather." 
 
 ''Above all," said I to him, "I hke people to be 
 frank. Have you been here long ? " 
 
 "Oyes, Sir." 
 
 '*' Have you been here during the last two years ? " 
 
 "Yes, Sir." 
 
 " And this house ? " 
 
 " The Queen gave us this house when she bought it 
 of the Duke of Osuna." 
 
 "The Queen, hey!" 
 
 "Yes, the Queen." 
 
 " And the Superior, where is /le ? " 
 
 " The Superior is not at home. He came to Madrid. 
 He went to Her Majesty, and asked whether he might 
 reside in Madrid without any inconvenience, because 
 the Superior is a foreigner." 
 
INTERIOR OF THE CONVENT. 81 
 
 "Of course, the Superior is a foreigner. And how 
 many of you are there here ? " 
 
 " We are about thirty.'' 
 
 Another of them afterwards told me that there were; 
 twenty, and another said a /mndrecl. (These various 
 calculations, made after a mental reservation, are not 
 false in the dialect of Jesuitism.) 
 
 "Observe,"" he continued; "we Brethren" (he was 
 a Brother) " have each of us his own business." 
 
 " Indeed, a business ! " 
 
 "Yes; and the Fathers direct the Sisters. If it 
 were not for the Fathers, the poor Sisters would not 
 know what to do." 
 
 "That is clear; and I am aware that the Fathers 
 direct them in everything. Ah, well ! And tell me, 
 Brother, did you know that I was author of the work 
 against the Jesuits ? " 
 
 " O yes. Sir, yes. I heard that you were a man of 
 very great talent, and much erudition, and much of a 
 Christian, too, except that you were not willing to be 
 under the orders of the Pope of Rome, and that, you 
 see,"...... 
 
 " It being just as you say, I must now try whether, 
 with my talent and erudition, I cannot catechize you, 
 one by one, and make you abjure idols, and become 
 good liberal Christians. Guard ! give me that little 
 book that is on the table, the Gospel. — Let us see, 
 Brother; and you too, guard. Listen." 
 
 " With great pleasure. Sir," said the guard, and tlui 
 Brother added, "Let us see; listen." 
 
 The guard took the Testament from the table, and 
 the Brother rose up, and walked away smiling. 
 
 G 
 
82 NAREATIVE OF IMPllISONMENT. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 THE SURVEY. 
 
 When left alone with the guard, I surveyed the bal- 
 conies, but without exciting his attention, and began to 
 contrive a plan of escape. 
 
 One of the balconies into which a closet opens, is ex- 
 actly over the Convent door, beside a porter's window, 
 and there are other two belonging to the Hall. A per- 
 son dropping from one of these balconies must alight 
 on a small flag-stone, or on some rough pebbles. 
 
 After much entreaty, there had been allowed me four 
 hours of communication daily, and afterwards, by some 
 bold speaking, I got this time lengthened. Ladies may 
 not penetrate into the house beyond a room opposite the 
 porter's corner, where " daughters of confession " hold 
 spiritual conversations with the Brethren and fathers ; 
 but it must be observed that, so long as I was there, 
 except on one occasion, when there were some young 
 females and fathers seated in " holy conversation,'' very 
 few Brethren met, doubtless wishing to avoid the conta- 
 gion and observation of the heretic. 
 
 About an hour had passed, when one of the inferior 
 Brethren called me ; and as we went down stairs, toge- 
 ther with the guard, the cries and waihngs of a female 
 fell on my ear, and I distinguished the word, " Mur- 
 derers." It was my mother-in-law, standing in tlie 
 inner doorway, beyond which, they say, no female can 
 pass, unless by special privilege, like Sister Patrocinio ; 
 but, as she knows nothing about cloisters, she ran for- 
 ward, threw herself upon my neck, and, in presence of 
 
THE SURVEY. 83 
 
 several of the " religious/' who gathered quickly to the 
 spot, and of the guard, she broke out into passionate 
 lamentation. 
 
 "Now you have him in your hands, you murderers, 
 you poisoners ! Now you will kill him ! These are 
 Jesuits, are they not ? You know them well, my An- 
 gel ! 8ee how they laugh, the murderers ! the mur- 
 derers ! Yes, I will tell it everywhere, that you are in 
 the hands of your enemies. Laugh on, ye execrable 
 Pharisees, King-killers, murderers ! I Avill not leave 
 you, my Angel ! They are going to kill you, and your 
 child, and your wife, avIio saw you taken from the 
 Government House, and came home, saying that you 
 were in the hands of the Jesuits. These murderers 
 will kill us all, but never you retract ! We will all die 
 first!" 
 
 Then she sank speechless in the doorway. The Fa- 
 thers stood smihng; the guard, fixed like a statue; the 
 coachman who brought her, and some people, gathered 
 on the outside, in breathless silence. The guard, how- 
 ever, with one hand took the food she had brought me, 
 and with the other led her to the carriage, and she 
 drove away, weeping disconsolately. 
 
 Turning to the Eeverend Fathers, I said, " If you 
 dare to do me any violence, consider what you may ex- 
 pect. I tell you again that I am not alone, and that 
 you very well know." 
 
 The old soldier and the guard went with me to be 
 present while I ate my dinner, as they had been directed ; 
 a precaution which might seem ridiculous to any one 
 who had not read the secret orders of the Jesuits. As 
 we were going to my apartments, I caught sight of 
 G 2 
 
84 NAREATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 stairs leading to a place underground, and could not 
 resist an inclination to go down a few steps to look into 
 it. Instead of a door, I found an aperture about two- 
 thirds walled up with bricks, the mortar being still 
 damp, and the remainder with paper. " What can this 
 be ? " I asked a Brother who was with us. " It is a 
 celV^ said he, " having a door in communication be- 
 neath with the house of a Priest, whose name I forget.'' 
 — " And these stairs ? " — " They lead to other rooms 
 above.''— "And this door that is locked ? "— ^^ It leads 
 from the cell to the Convent." " Ah, yes ! " I observed, 
 " all this reminds me of the prisons of the Holy Office." 
 The guard made an expression of disgust, and the Bro- 
 ther smiled! If the Government had not given me 
 this guard, by day and by night, I might have had to 
 examine the place too closely. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 As the guard and I sat down to dinner, the Brother 
 came and stood so close as to touch the table; but I 
 requested him to go back two steps, and then talk as 
 he pleased, but not touch the table while we were eat- 
 ing. Not in the least disconcerted, he began to talk to 
 me about " men of the world," and then slided away 
 into the Catechism; but at this I interrupted him with, 
 "Let us have the Gosjoel :" and this word had such 
 magic power, that the enemy held his peace. As he 
 stood silent, I administered a pretty sound lesson con- 
 cerning the tricks which were daily invented to delude 
 the people, — the sacred wounds, the images, and so on, 
 
THE ESCAPE. 85 
 
 which told so well that, before we had finished our 
 dinner, the troublesome host was gone. 
 
 Being once allowed communication with ray friends, 
 as I then was, I could see as many as I pleased. All of 
 them, including a distinguished foreigner, agreed that I 
 should make my escape ; but, with an excess of caution, 
 I told them that perhaps it would be better for me to 
 remain there and make my defence first, that I might 
 have a better opportunity of exposing the iniquity of 
 their conduct towards me. The persons whom we con- 
 sulted were of the very highest respectabihty and intel- 
 ligence, persons whom I regret that I cannot name ; 
 and, while they appreciated my caution, they replied, 
 "Escape, and lose no time.'^ 
 
 The Judge and the Lazarones seemed to have left me to 
 myself, for none of them made their appearance. Twice 
 did the people of the house assure me, that I was a visitor 
 whom they did not want ; for if affairs altered, they would 
 be exposed to the fury of the Liberals and of the people ; 
 and they even said that their dwelling was not a prison, 
 and that I might escape when I pleased. My friends on 
 the outside thought otherwise. They knew that it was in- 
 deed a prison ; the Judge had so described it ; and they 
 were also aware of the existence of one of those orders 
 which the Fathers are in the way of obtaining secretly. 
 
 It had come to the knowledge of my wife, especially, 
 whose activity, sagacity, and intelligence excited the 
 admiration of the first authorities of the kingdom, that 
 there was an intention to remove me at night, and 
 transport me to the Canaries. She had gained infor- 
 mation of the destiny that awaited me ; and, in one of 
 our interviews, she said, " Hear me, my Angel ! It is 
 
86 NAIIRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 intended to send you to the Canary Islands, as I know 
 from the Judge himself, and there thev will put you 
 into the hands of the very same people that now have 
 you in their custody. Eemember how the Judge him- 
 self said to me, ^ I swear to you by God, that you shall 
 never see him any more.'' There they will bury you 
 alive,^' as you know better than I. Besides, your friends, 
 and many other persons whom you do not know, are 
 getting tired. They have been up watching many 
 nights, and you must not be ungrateful. Everything is 
 ready, and, if you please, I will come myself with friends 
 at an appointed thne, dressed as a man, and place myself 
 in the most conspicuous position, just opposite these 
 balconies. I will throw you a cord from the street, and 
 then," said she, with high enthusiasm, " then they shall 
 not get you out of my arms without trampHng on my 
 body." 
 
 I consented to make an attempt, and set about pre- 
 paring for it. In the first place, I endeavoured to 
 ascertain whether the guard had any secret instructions ; 
 but he assured me that the corps had no other orders 
 than to be careful for my hfe. This assurance much 
 encouraged me, and that very evening, if I had not 
 been very dull, I might have escaped in the midst of 
 a party of friends, who left the house later than usual. 
 The occasion was most favourable, but I missed it bv 
 an excess of prudence. The guard, somehow, staid up 
 stairs, while I went down to the door with my friends ; 
 
 * Emparedardn. — " Will wall you zip" This refers to a custom of 
 t he Inquisition of putting the victim into a small recess, or cell, build- 
 ing it up with bricks, and leaving him to die of hunger and suffocation. 
 ^^'c have just had an example of the kind in this very Convent. 
 
THE ESCAPE. 87 
 
 and although there were some slirros there, I am sure 
 that I might have got away. Having missed that 
 favourable opportunity, they proposed me another plan, 
 which I accepted, and it was not my fault that it failed. 
 I must be excused, however, for not describing it, lest 
 any one should be committed. 
 
 My friends told me with decision, and even witli 
 some friendly threats, that if another plan which they 
 proposed was not carried into execution, they must 
 leave me to my fate. I let them know that I, too, 
 had another, and asked them for twenty-four hours to 
 complete it. They agreed. 
 
 The night before my escape, I spent in watching 
 every movement. There were the officer of the district 
 and the watchmen on their beat. In the house opJ)osite 
 there was a light, with open windows, and two men 
 frequently rose, and paced the room. After a certain 
 hour I knew where a watchman would take his stand, 
 and this was of ail sentinels the worst. That night I 
 marked him well, while my poor guard was digesting 
 a hearty supper in sweet sleep. A voice calling to a 
 cat from a window under my balcony, gave me to 
 understand that Brethren were watching there. 
 
 Very early in the morning I was told that two ladies, 
 with a little boy, wished to see me. I went down with 
 the guard, who left me alone with them ; and my wife, 
 with the courage and dignity of which she is so capable, 
 not giving me time to speak, set before me the objects 
 of all others most likely to affect me, my mother and 
 my child; and closed some impassioned sentences by 
 saying, "Perhaps I have suffered more than you, but 
 I can suffer this no longer. This must be my last 
 
88 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 attempt; for, up to the present moment, we have only 
 been losing time, and wasting money, and annoying our 
 friends who have such great regard for you. If you 
 cannot make up your mind, you will lose your friends 
 and sacrifice three victims — and here they are" They 
 both fell on their knees before me, weeping; and my 
 child threw his arms around my neck. I raised them 
 up, and said, " Yes, I am resolved ; but you know that 
 if tliey catch me, you will never see me again. They 
 will take away the guard, and from that moment you 
 may consider me dead." 
 
 "Yes,^^ they replied; "but even in that case we 
 have one great resource yet remaining ; for England will 
 save you in the name of humanity. Yes ! Yes ! Be 
 decided : for even if this plan should fail, England will 
 save you.'' My child had been taught his lesson, and 
 he said, " Papa ! Henry prays to God many times every 
 day, and Henry knows that God always hears children's 
 prayers. Go out ! God will help you. I know that 
 God will help you. Live, and teach me that I may 
 learn to write against those bad men that do not believe 
 in God." 
 
 We then parted, thinking over a letter just received 
 from England, signed with a single initial, from a 
 young lady whom I had met at Dr. Rule's. And here 
 T must observe, that only one educated as a Protestant, 
 and instructed in the Gospel, could have expressed 
 herself in the grand and consolatory language of that 
 document. Among other things, she told my wife of 
 the reiterated supplications which had been offered up 
 to God for my deHverance from the fury of that hateful 
 Tribunal, and entreated me to abide faithful in the con- 
 
THE ESCAPE. 89 
 
 flict; and on the back were a few short words, added by 
 my often-mentioned friend himself, extremely significant. 
 
 An hour afterwards my wife came again, giving as the 
 reason of her quick return, that a very important family 
 aflair had brought her, and good news fromEngland. They 
 granted her admission. I went down stairs, we remain- 
 ed alone, and, drawing a basket from under her mantle, 
 she gave it to me, saying, " I have calculated the height 
 of the balcony — here is the cord.'^ I took the basket 
 and money, and, just at that moment, who should come 
 into the room where we were, but the Notary? My 
 wife, judging by his appearance that he brought me 
 some bad news, withdrew ; but, in spite of the vigilance 
 of the shirro, succeeded in concealing herself within the 
 Convent, awaiting the result of the visit. 
 
 I went up stairs with the guard and the Notary, the 
 latter asking what I had in the basket. " I have a 
 Gordian knot," said I ; '^ but I mean soon to cut it.*' 
 He said nothing, but was laying his hand on the basket. 
 I pushed it indignantly away. 
 
 We went into my apartments, where he read me a 
 Report on ray case, and said that it would very shortly 
 be concluded. " The Yicar," he added, '' is very sorry for 
 having to pronounce sentence on a man hke you, an 
 old acquaintance and friend of his own. He is very 
 sorry, — very sorry indeed, and tells me that he will do 
 what he can for you. The Proctor of the Tribunal 
 regards this case with regret, — as, indeed, we all do." 
 
 " To-morrow," said I within myself, " you will think 
 otherwise." I gave him a glass of sherry, and he 
 handed me a cigar. " You know," said I, smiling, 
 " that you may drink my wine, but Mora takes nothing 
 
90 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 of yours/' Putting on a bitter smile, lie rose, and I 
 followed him to the door. Looking round, I saw my 
 wife, who seized my hand, and, in spite of the shirros, 
 I let her know what had occurred. 
 
 Positively assured that I would break prison, she went 
 away content, saying, ^^The measures are well taken; 
 your friends have not overlooked tlie most trifling pre- 
 paration ; many more will come this time than the last ; 
 make yourself easy ; don't mind shirros, nor watchmen, 
 nor porters, nor patrols ; this evening you shall know 
 the signal, the countersigns, and whatever else is neces- 
 sary.'' 
 
 At dinner-time it all came, with information that 
 if I did not escape before the next day, those "holy 
 men " would remove me to anotlier place ; for they sus- 
 pected that 1 was contriving how to make my escape. 
 
 The guard slept at my bed-side, and it was necessary 
 to get him further away, take possession of his keys, 
 and even lock him up, that I might venture on a leap 
 without fearing interruption. About eight o'clock in 
 the evening I told him that, being something better, 
 I wished to sit up later, and employ a few hours in 
 writing the description of a scene that would the next 
 day surprise those who heard it, and, accompany- 
 ing the word with a very significant action, said, in a 
 firm voice, " / need to he alone to-niglit, ahsohitehj 
 alone ; you shall sleep in one of the rooms that open 
 into the hall, and the hey of your door shall remai^i tuith 
 me in the chamher" 
 
 The guard nodded assent to all this, without raising 
 any objection at the moment ; but I know not what he 
 was thinking of afterwards ; for, after he had prepared 
 
THE ESCAPE. 91 
 
 liis bed, he sat down opposite me without any apparent 
 disposition to retire. How to get him asleep was now 
 the question. It was eleven o^clock, and the poor 
 fellow, wisliing to bear me company for no other reason 
 than to do me a kindness, tried all in his power to keep 
 awake. I laid aside my pen, took up a newspaper, 
 and he took another. " Can you read well ? '' said I. 
 "Yes, Sir," said he; and so I bethought me that a 
 little reading would settle him for the night, took aAvay 
 his paper, began to read aload, and bade liim listen, 
 saying within myself^ " Sleep you must."" I began 
 with the foreign news, throwing in a few words and 
 phrases that he could not understand; and, after a 
 few minutes, he said, " I am sleepy ; I must go to 
 bed." 
 
 It was a quarter past twelve o'clock. We locked the 
 door ; I took the key. He was in the closet opposite 
 my bed, and moved about making some slight noise, 
 until I began to hear him snore. Approaching his 
 bed, I found that he was really fast asleep. Then I 
 retired to the closet, opened the window into the bal- 
 cony, turned the key in the door behind me, and left 
 the poor fellow snugly locked in. 
 
 I had been told that a few minutes before half-past 
 one the watchman would leave the street, and the way 
 would be quite clear, so that I need not then fear any- 
 thing, neither the shirros in the house, nor those in 
 the house opposite; and that at half-past one ©''clock 
 a gentleman, whom I should know by his dress, would 
 stand opposite my balcony, and strike three lucifer 
 matches on the wall ; that at the third match I should 
 let myself down, and that they would catch me in my 
 
92 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 descent, that I might receive no injary in case of losing 
 my hold on the rope. 
 
 At one o'clock, without any light, I opened the bal- 
 cony, lay on my face, and, looking down, watched the 
 guards on their beat, the watchmen, and the Inspector, 
 who passed within six paces of me, but especially 
 the nearest watchman. Shortly before half-past one, 
 some one came up to the watchman, spoke to him, and 
 they walked away together. A few moments afterwards 
 a gentleman passed by. I then rose upon my feet. He 
 stood still, fixed his eyes on me for a moment, and 
 passed on. No sooner was he out of sight than another 
 appeared at the street corner, whom I instantly recog- 
 nised by the moonlight. By this time I was mechanically 
 attaching the cord to the hand-rail of the balcony, in- 
 stead of lower down, as it should have been. My soul rose 
 in prayer, and my confidence rapidly increased. Not 
 waiting for the third match, I flung myself over; and 
 just as they ran to catch me in their arms to break the 
 shock, my feet touched the ground without the slightest 
 injury. Doubtless I gathered some strength by faith in 
 God, — that faith which removes mountains. That He 
 heard my humble supplication I well know; but how 
 I descended, or in what time, I really cannot tell. At 
 one o'clock I was hardly able to stand ; and at thirty- 
 two minutes past one I was running over the rough 
 pavement. 
 
 After we had passed the first corner, my friend of the 
 matches left me, and others took charge of me, and 
 others after these, and then others again, until I was 
 left in charge of one only, whom I well knew. This 
 gentleman dismissed a few coaches that were standing 
 
THE CONCEALMENT. 93 
 
 near the Tribunal, saluted the patrols whom we met, 
 spoke to them as an officer of superior authority, and we 
 passed freely through the most public places in order to 
 reach the house where they were ready to receive me. 
 
 Before sun-rise the shirros told the Pathers what had 
 occurred, showing them the cord hanging from the bal- 
 cony. The Fathers gave information to the authorities, 
 and, making their way into the room, — but how, I know 
 not, for I had locked the doors inside, — they found my 
 friend the guard in a deep sleep. They awoke him, in 
 presence of the Inspector, and asked where I was. 
 "Asleep in his chamber,^' he replied. To my chamber 
 they proceeded, and found themselves much in the posi- 
 tion of the Deputies who went to make out an inven- 
 tory of the Crown jewels."^ There was the nest, but 
 the bird had flown. 
 
 XX. 
 
 THE CONCEALMENT. 
 
 They sent the Vicar an official notice of my escape. 
 The Vicar ran away to the Governor very early in 
 the morning in the greatest imaginable agitation, and 
 rushed into his room, shouting, " Senor ! Seiior ! he has 
 escaped ! He has escaped ! '* The Governor eyed him 
 very coolly during a volley of furious ejaculations, and 
 then asked, " But who has escaped ? " — " Seiior ! the 
 
 * Queen Christina had those jewels in her possession; but when 
 they were wanted, after licr abdication of the llcgency, they were not 
 forthcoming. The Constituent Cortes were investigating this matte? 
 when her daughter Isabel IT. dispersed them ; and so ended the investi- 
 gation. 
 
94 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 prisoner ! the prisoner ! " " But what prisoner ? " — 
 "Mora! Mora!'' "Then God bless him, and give 
 him a good journey," replied the Governor. " I thought 
 it was another ailair, and another prisoner." — " And I," 
 proceeded the Judge of the Tribunal of the Faith, " I 
 want the Police, and the Telegraph, and -5^ -J^- ^ ^ -^^ -^ to 
 catch him." " You," said the Governor, '' may employ 
 the Police, if you please ; but I shall not order the Tele- 
 graph to be worked to catch Um. You may go to the 
 Telegraph if you please ; for you had him in your own 
 prison. I have no more to say, Mr. Yicar : I am sorry 
 for the alarm you have caused me this morning : I 
 thought it was quite another matter." 
 
 I remained two days in my first hiding-place, and 
 should have been there longer, but for hearing what 
 efforts were made to find me; not, however, by the 
 Police, but by the Jesuits of the short robe, and by 
 those of the Convent. They reached my own house 
 first, and, not finding me there, nor anywhere else, 
 cunningly devised a more infamous and scandalous 
 contrivance than any attempted during the whole affair, 
 not excepting that of the Prado. 
 
 Two days passed away, and neither pious informa- 
 tions, nor offers of reward, nor any other means, could 
 enable them to discover the faintest trace of my exist- 
 ence. During these two days my wife herself did not 
 certainly know that I was at liberty. On that very 
 night she was waiting with impatience in a balcony of 
 our house for some intelligence, when a gentleman, whom 
 she did not know, passed by about two o'clock, stopped 
 for a moment, and said, in a low voice, "Mora is free 
 and safe," and then passed on. 
 
THF CONCEALMENT. 95 
 
 It is therefore certain that they did not even think 
 it prudent to tell my own wife where I was, lest my 
 safety should be endangered; neither did I know the 
 persons in whose house I found shelter. I only per- 
 ceived that they were very liberal people, and that they 
 knew me well. 
 
 During this interval a guard called at my door one 
 night, and the persons of the house, thinking that he 
 came from the authorities, let him in. As soon as he 
 came where my wife was, he addressed her thus : " I 
 come from the Yicar to take you to prison .^^ While 
 she was listening with some surprise to this determina- 
 tion of the Judge of my cause, her mother threw open 
 a window, and called from the balcony for help. Mean- 
 while the guard, sword in hand, threatened my wdfe; 
 but she, with the courage and self-possession of w^hich 
 one of her sex is capable, defended herself well from the 
 fellow, whom some persons had prepared beforehand by 
 giving him drink. The Alcalde of the district came 
 instantly with some men, and seized the guard, who 
 insisted that he had come by authority of the Yicar. 
 The Alcalde sent information to the Government, and 
 the Inspector came to my house without delay. 
 
 Although the Inspector was the chief officer of Public 
 Security in my neighbourhood, well understanding to 
 what length the daring and barbarity of my enemies 
 could go, and taught by what he had already witnessed, 
 he instantly induced my wife to remove to the house of 
 some friends, until he could examine the truth of the 
 guard's statement. What passed afterwards between 
 the civil and ecclesiastical authorities I cannot say, but 
 the result was the following Order from the Inspector : — 
 
96 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 " No one is authorized to search this house, nor yet to 
 enter it, without a previous Order from me." 
 
 The poor guard did not live far off ; he was one that 
 had been put in charge of me ; he could not bear the 
 sight of, the Priests; he was a good Liberal. Then 
 what means must have been employed to persuade him 
 to attempt an act which, it can be easily seen, he had 
 not the will, or the wine did not leave him the power, to 
 commit ? From that day my family were perfectly safe 
 under the protection of the Government authorities. 
 
 The activity and searching inquiries of the Jesuits to 
 find me out, determined me, after arrangement with my 
 friends, to remove to another house, in order to put them 
 off their scent. 
 
 A friend then brought a coach, and, to prevent sus- 
 picion, we drove away to the Prado itself about night- 
 fall, took a few turns there, alighted in the most public 
 street of Madrid, and, in the midst of a crowd of people, 
 walked for some distance. Then we walked up to a 
 house previously unknown to me, but very respectable, 
 and there I found my wife. 
 
 I gave her full information of all that was passing, 
 told her whither I expected to go, and desired her to 
 put herself into communication with some friends, in 
 order to accomplish the very difficult achievement of 
 escaping from the Tribunal of the Paith. My wife left, 
 and, in company with the master of this house, I went 
 to another. 
 
 Por seven successive days we were labouring to con- 
 trive some plan for a flight from Spain without expo- 
 sure ; but, this being extremely difficult, we could do 
 nothing more than discuss, and discuss again. Uncon- 
 
THE CONCEALMENT. 97 
 
 sciously to ourselves, we were giving time to a powerful 
 hand, that, when it pleases, and only when it pleases, 
 does things without encountering any great resistance. 
 On the fifth day my wife said, " Do you know what I 
 have thought?''— "What?"— "That you cannot be 
 so safe anywhere as in your own house. There, in the 
 midst of your friends, and even under the protection of 
 the Police, you will see and hear all that passes, with- 
 out any one being able to see you." " Surely," said I 
 within myself, " in difficult circumstances the advice of 
 one's wife is of all the safest." 
 
 That advice I took, and, after night-fall, the master of 
 the second house and I went out together, walked about 
 for a few hours, and entered my own quarter of the 
 city about eleven o'clock, the watchmen and guards be- 
 ing on their beats, and my own Alcalde among them. 
 They eyed us inquisitively as we passed, but I preserved 
 self-command, and we went on. Near my house, we 
 caught sight of the watchman, who, as we had reason 
 to believe, was on the look out for me, and not he alone, 
 but some others : however, we managed to evade his 
 observation by turning off in another direction, and so I 
 returned home without detection. 
 
 But now came another difficulty. The porters at the 
 entrance"^ would know me at once, if it were only by 
 my walk, without speaking a word ; but my good wife 
 had foreseen this, and provided accordingly. Unseen 
 by the passengers, she was watching for me in the 
 
 * In Madrid each family occupies a cuarto, or " flat" of the house, and 
 one or more porters wait in the hall. As !M. Mora dwelt on the cuarto 
 principal, or " first floor," he would not be the least noticeable person 
 coming in at the common entrance. 
 
 H 
 
98 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 balcony. Just as I knocked at the door, she and her 
 mother managed to be going out ; she opened it herself, 
 as if by accident, and admitted me without disturbing 
 the Porter, who lay awake on a bench near the stairs. 
 My wife puffed out the principal light, and my mother- 
 in-law did the same with hers, as if it were accidentally 
 done by the wind on opening the door. 
 
 A few long steps brought me inside my dwelling ; but 
 although my wife had addressed me by another name, 
 in the hearing of the porter, we afterwards found that 
 he suspected what was going on, and kindly kept pro- 
 found silence. 
 
 The first person whom I saw and heard was the In- 
 spector, and from that time I knew that the Jesuits 
 were the people who spared no pains to catch me. Day 
 and night my house was watched by shirros, guards, 
 and watchmen. Pour days after my return I had an 
 opportunity of hearing the various opinions and reports 
 that were current respecting myself. At first the Jesuits 
 believed that I was concealed in the Embassy of the 
 United States, then they suspected the British Embassy, 
 and then again they thought I might possibly be at 
 home. Erom time to time the Police came to the 
 house, perhaps to save appearances. 
 
 XXL 
 
 THE PLIGHT. 
 
 Two days before I left Madrid, a very respectable gen- 
 tleman, who, although not known to me, had from the be- 
 ginning manifested great sympathy with myself and my 
 family, called at our house. I did not know him, but from 
 
THE FLIGHT. 99 
 
 my place of concealment observed him very closely, and 
 heard these words exchanged between him and my wife. 
 
 " Pray, will you have the kindness to tell me whether 
 your husband is in Madrid ? " 
 
 " Yes, Sir ; unhappily he is still in Spain." 
 
 " Could I see him ? " 
 
 Here my poor wife began to hesitate, but I opened a 
 glass door, and answered for myself : — 
 
 " Yes, Sir, here you see him, I am Mora. I per- 
 ceive by your accent that you are an English gentleman, 
 and I trust myself with you without the slightest hesi- 
 tation.'' 
 
 The good gentleman was startled for the moment; 
 but, when well assured that it was really I who stood 
 before him, he proceeded to the object of his visit. 
 
 " Tell me, now, do you wish to get out of Spain ? '' 
 
 " Ah, yes. Sir ! but that will be difficult, — very diffi- 
 cult. There are those sbirros ; and then there is the 
 telegraph, and , and , and " 
 
 " Don't you trouble yourself about such trifles. You 
 wish to get out of Spani, do you not ? " 
 
 " Indeed I do." 
 
 " A^diwhenr' 
 
 " When ! Whenever you please." 
 
 " Very well. We will see about it." 
 
 He bade us good day ; and we received a letter from 
 Dr. Rule, strong enough to cure a dozen patients 
 suffering as I had been under the Romano-Jesuitico- 
 idolatrico-pagan fever. 
 
 Prom that morning the north wind freshened charm- 
 ingly; and it was clear that, without the slightest 
 trouble or danger, I might hoist sail, cross the perilous 
 H 2 
 
100 KARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 waters of Jesuitical fury, and soon reach the Protestant 
 port where they were looking out for me. 
 
 I sent for some friends, and told them the good 
 news. "The problem," they exclaimed, "is solved. 
 No craft can bear up against the north wind ; that 
 incorrigible crew must be content to slacken chase, and 
 get back to their own anchorage again." 
 
 Now we feared nothing ; and so great was the 
 confidence of my family, my friends, and myself, that 
 we began to speak up, without the least fear of shirros 
 or police. That night I slept soundly and sweetly, 
 for the first time since my apprehension on the Prado. 
 Next day my mother-in-law went out and gave a carpet- 
 bag, with some necessary articles for travelling, to some 
 one whom she did not know, nor did I. 
 
 At four o^'clock in the afternoon, the same gentleman 
 called, and said many, many good words and kind, 
 while we all shed tears, tears gushing from a fountain 
 of gratitude, that will be eternal. 
 
 My wife undertook to clear out the Porter's Plall, 
 and keep watch from the balcony. She called the 
 Porter and sent him with a message, — she employed the 
 Porter's wife within doors, — she dispatched the children 
 with a few coppers to buy sweetmeats. Then I opened 
 the street-door, and found myself on the outside, ap- 
 parently alone, but in reality well protected. 
 
 At my side ran a slirro ; — for I was going at a brisk 
 pace. He looked keenly at me, and I knew him well ; 
 for he had belonged to the family of the Canon men- 
 tioned in the former part of my narrative, — once my 
 partner. The poor fellow did not venture to say any- 
 thing ; but, as soon as he recognised me, he went away 
 
THE FLIGHT. 101 
 
 to look for help. Unfortunately for his employers, it 
 was now too late for help. 
 
 I reached an English house, where there were two 
 carriages in waiting. I knocked at the door, and the 
 servants, who evidently expected me, opened quickly, 
 and showed me into a room. 
 
 I there found another English gentleman, whom I 
 did not know, but who very kindly bade me sit down, 
 and take a cup of tea, while waiting for the arrival of 
 his friend. After a few minutes this friend came, and, 
 with the delicate attention that is peculiarly his own, 
 he said, — 
 
 "Until you reach England, you need not be con- 
 cerned about yourself; and if anything should occur 
 before your arrival there, here is this for you, — you 
 understand?" "Yery well; that is understood. And 
 these You understand ? " 
 
 " Ah, yes ! Too well I understand ! " 
 
 The two gentlemen walking out first, we took our seats 
 in one of the carriages, and drove away, leaving Mr. 
 Vicar to his own reflections. At twenty minutes before 
 eight o'clock we were in the Puerta del Sol, the most 
 frequented part of Madrid; and as there had been a 
 great review that day, there were some thousands of 
 people more than usual. 
 
 We crossed the open space, passing through the 
 crowd, and alighted near the Post Oflice. There I saw 
 the same sbirro that had met me that same afternoon, 
 and he was now in company with a military man, or, 
 at least, a person in military uniform, hurrying away to 
 the Post Office. His errand might be conjectured ; but 
 it was now too late. The power, the activity, and the 
 
102 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 constancy of my English friends had completely discon- 
 certed the perfidious hosts of Jesuitism. 
 
 I walked there openly for some time with a gentle- 
 man,, — English too, — saying, " Keep up ! There is 
 nothing to fear/' And so I did for several minutes. 
 Afterwards, in the mail-coach, I found a fellow-traveller, 
 a Spaniard, who performed his part, also, admirably 
 well ; and I perfectly understand the dexterity of those 
 who are only dull on certain subjects, just when it 
 pleases them; or when, identified with brave John 
 Bull, they just lift the mask sufficiently to suit the 
 exigencies of an occasion. 
 
 Everything had been provided in anticipation, and 
 nothing could now take me by surprise. Grasping the 
 hands of my benefactors, I returned thanks to God and to 
 them, and could not refrain from shedding tears. Some 
 friends were standing around, and, reaching me their 
 hands in silence, signified their thankfulness and joy for 
 the unexpected deliverance, almost a resurrection from 
 the dead, of this contumacious heretic. 
 
 A respectable brigantine, on the other side the strait, 
 bravely convoyed the barque, after it had crossed the 
 bar of Bilbao. Once in open sea, we sailed away without 
 the slightest molestation from Telegraph or guards. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 TO ENGLAND. 
 
 In Burgos I met a friend, travelling on his journey 
 homeward, and for the moment there was no small hazard 
 of discovery ; for we were seated together at table, and 
 who should be there in company but one of the Jesuit 
 
TO ENGLAND. 103 
 
 Fathers, who had been in the hotel for some days? 
 However, I watched for an opportunity, and, taking my 
 friend's hand suddenly, to his great surprise, whispered 
 in his ear, " / am Mora. I have just esca^jied from the 
 Holy Tribunal." — " I know \i" said he, " I know all 
 about it, but " — " There is no hut in the matter : only 
 mind one thing, not to mention my name just now/' — 
 " But " — " No hut in the matter ; tell my family and 
 friends that I am well/' 
 
 While we were all at the table, in came this Jesuit, sat 
 down opposite me, rubbing his hands cheerily, and put 
 on the air of impudence which is so characteristic of the 
 members of that humble Company when they have the 
 best of it, as they have just now in Spain. He surveyed 
 me deliberately, but my daguerreotype, which had no 
 doubt been taken in the chamber of Patrocinio, was alto- 
 gether different from the face which now met the eye of 
 the sagacious Jesuit; for, that the person who directed 
 my flight might not Omit any precaution, he 'had dis- 
 guised me a little, just only a little, in Madrid, but 
 enough to prevent any one from applying to me the 
 well known Spanish proverb, " Faltahale la harha por 
 pelar" They had shaved off ray whiskers, and left me 
 with vigote saidperilla on the upper and the lower lip. 
 My friend trembled more than I, when he saw the 
 Jesuit obstinately fix his eyes upon me again and again, 
 yet not suffering his curiosity to hinder him from eating 
 and drinking as heartily as the best of us. 
 
 The call of our conductor started us from the table 
 much sooner than we expected. Leaving the dinner 
 unfinished, I very readily resumed my seat in the mail- 
 cart. We pursued our journey, and gladly left Burgos 
 
10 i NAEUATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 far behind. In Yergara we took refreshment in the 
 house of a friend of the conductor, and breakfasted next 
 morning at Vitoria, ere it was well day. 
 
 At night we supped in St. Sebastian, and the Protestant 
 traversed the last piece of anti-Catholic territory, passing 
 through Irun ; and before we had well crossed the 
 mountain-wall wliich, for the last three centuries, has 
 separated Spain from free nations, I found myself in 
 France, thanks to the resistless energy of Christian 
 England. 
 
 In Beovia, the frontier station, they said nothing to 
 me, nor meddled with my luggage, but just looked at 
 my passport for the sake of form, and I observed that 
 some of them treated me with marked attention. Before 
 I had reached Bayonne I believe the Electric Telegraph 
 carried intelligence to my deliverer from death, that I 
 was safe in the neighbouring empii-e. 
 
 Erom Paris, as soon as I ahghted from the mail-cart, 
 it was my first care, and my first duty, to write a letter to 
 my friend, to say that I had arrived there safe and sound, 
 praying that God might bless him and the humane nation 
 which, with such promptitude and energy, had piloted 
 my poor sea-tossed bark, through storm and shallow, 
 into a port of safety. "A thousand, and a thousand 
 thanks, dear Sir. With all the fulness of gratitude that 
 a thankful heart can feel, — with all the earnestness of 
 which mine is capable at this moment, God bless you !" 
 
 No obstacle, no trouble in Erance prevented me from 
 finishing my journey. The way had been perfectly 
 prepared. 
 
 Soon, very soon, I reached this Christian country, 
 after my escape from the hands of that Tribunal of Satan. 
 
TO ENGLAND. 105 
 
 In a very few days, I received a letter, to my great joy, 
 from that unflinching advocate of civil and religious 
 liberty, who has laboured so hard and so wisely for its 
 establishment in our unhappy country, — that unwaver- 
 ing Liberal, who has endured so much for liberty itself, 
 — that old and tried President of our Central Committee, 
 who has fought so bravely against tyranny, — the Pre- 
 sident of that most liberal Junta which granted complete 
 liberty of worship in. one of its earliest decrees, — my 
 beloved friend, Don Rafael DegoUada, several times 
 Deputy in Cortes for the Province of Barcelona. 
 
 Having pressed the hand of my untiring friend. Dr. 
 Rule, my first care in London was to return my very 
 heartiest thanks to those who had assisted in bringing 
 such powerful influence in England to bear on the 
 accomplishment of my deliverance. 
 
 From that moment, I have not ceased, nor will I ever 
 cease, from attempting to arouse, by all means in my 
 power, the highly religious zeal of this happy country to 
 aid us, as brethren, entertaining the same views as them- 
 selves, in continuing to lay the true foundation of all 
 the liberties, and of all the prosperity, to which my be- 
 loved country is aspiring. 
 
 That ignominious phrase which for three centuries has 
 been inscribed on the frontiers of our land, to our disho- 
 nour and ruin, — the unknown Christ, — must be erased. 
 Let Englishmen labour together with us, as members of 
 the same great Christian family, as brethren whose pri- 
 vilege it is to build up the Temple of our God, founded 
 on the Gospel of His Incarnate Son, to consummate this 
 glorious work. Without this. Liberty, Prosperity, Eaith, 
 Justice, Order, Happiness, are no more than a well- 
 sounding melody of empty words. 
 
106 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Thou once favoured tract of land, tliou monumental 
 countr}', where, for long ages, the Queen of the West 
 held her throne, where men still may trace the ruins of 
 thy primitive magnificence, although confounded with 
 the mournful marks of actual decay, thou land of Spain, 
 — Spain, one of the finest and best countries in the world, 
 one of the most enlightened, noble, and generous nations 
 on the earth, by the hand of the Creator most adorned, 
 by the perfidy of man the most dishonoured, and of all 
 Europe most troubled during the last three centuries, 
 thou owest all thy misfortunes to one single cause. 
 
 Ever since the Bishops of Rome, in their mad and sor- 
 did ambition, have bent their knees before the Prince of 
 this world, to receive at liis hand the fleeting pleasures of a 
 temporal dominion within the narrow circle of their own 
 States, — ever since the Christian Esau, with insatiable 
 pride, sold the last vestige of his birthright to the Eounder 
 of Jesuitism to satisfy the cravings of his own appetite, — 
 ever since the Beggar of Manresa, the standard-bearer of 
 reaction, the implacable rival of enlightenment and civi- 
 lization, arose within thy borders, — ever since the inde- 
 fatigable adversary of Christ and of His Church came to 
 tempt thy sons, even as once the Infernal Spirit came to 
 tempt our first parents to disobedience, — from that 
 moment began thy misfortunes and decay. 
 
 No sooner did the armed Minerva that issued from the 
 brain of Loyola, descend upon thy golden shores, than 
 the ultramontane Power began to drain all thy strength. 
 The monarchy, which at that time answered to the very 
 
CONCLUSION. 107 
 
 life-pulse of the Spanish people, began to fail, and thy 
 downward career began, from fall to fall, from one stage 
 of decay to another, until thy great Captain, Charles Y., 
 for whom the world had been too narrow, sank under the 
 pressure of that novel craft, betook himself for refuge to a 
 poor cell in the monastery of Yuste, and feebly consigned 
 his armies to Loyola, that General who should thence- 
 forth sway all the destinies of thy spacious realms. 
 
 Even the savage Philip II. yielded to his inspirations 
 and his management the destroying agencies of the 
 infamous Tribunal of the Inquisition; and while the blood 
 of thy children flowed in torrents, while the martyrs of 
 Jesus were giving their life to save to thee the Gospel, 
 and preserve the monarchy, thy government, and thy 
 people, Philip III. marched in obedience to the devo- 
 tionary of Mariana — which is the dagger — submissively 
 as the meanest recruit that ever enlisted in the hosts of 
 Ignatius ; and Charles II., overwhelmed with holy water, 
 scapularies, and relics, died under the impulse of Nithard ; 
 and with him was buried for ever the Austrian dynasty, 
 both nation and people remaining in the most miserable 
 condition. A descendant of the Sovereign who perished 
 by the hand of the infamous Eavaillac, although bearing 
 but the name of royalty, is now nothing better than a 
 mere " responsible Editor"" for issuing the orders of the 
 Jesuits. 
 
 Charles III., indeed, expelled the Society from Spain, 
 after he had been himself in danger of assassination by 
 their agents in the church itself; but although the 
 plague seemed to have passed away, it has returned 
 again under the reigns of his successors, and not to the 
 destruction of their souls only, — for perhaps the dagger 
 
108 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 of Merino, the man who attempted to stab the present 
 Queen, came from their own armoury, — but to make an 
 end of the Bourbon dynasty, as well as, aforetime, of 
 the Austrian, and not only to end the dynasty, but to 
 destroy the nation. 
 
 But can they do this ? Most assuredly they cannot. 
 The dynasty, indeed, must expire, if the present symp- 
 toms of dissolution are to be taken as indications of its 
 fate. And with the dynasty will also disappear those 
 who are not only Atheists with Atheists, but Reformers 
 with Reformers, that they may smother the Reformation 
 at its birth, — men who are always indulgent to the sins 
 and excesses of the people, having themselves fallen into 
 the lowest depths of wickedness. They must come to an 
 end, because, — 
 
 1. They have in their heart cast off the Gospel and 
 the law of God. 
 
 2. Because God, in His good Providence, prepares 
 for their extinction, scarcely leaving them so much 
 ground as suffices to set their foot upon. 
 
 3. Because the most enlightened portions of man- 
 kind, in the present day, have come to regard them 
 with utter abhorrence. 
 
 The victory they have just now gained in Spain, 
 shedding the blood of her best people, is regarded by 
 those who know the country best as their last struggle 
 for existence, just as when the sick man, lying on the 
 verge of death, gives a momentary sign of vigorous life, 
 and then expires. 
 
 The good seed which has been lately sown, and more 
 especially within the last two years, is beginning to 
 yield most abundant fruit ; and the severe decrees which 
 
CONCLUSION. 109 
 
 the Jesuitized Camarilla is now issuing, evidence the 
 truth of this assertion. The Gospel has opened for 
 itself a way. The Reformation is gaining ground. The 
 Camarilla thinks and feels that it has, and therefore 
 persecutes its friends with threats, penalties, and decrees. 
 
 Persecution, however, will but widen the boundaries 
 of the Reformation; and disjointed as all parties are, 
 and that principle alone which Jesuitism has never been 
 able to destroy, namely, the national feeling of inde- 
 pendence, possessing any hfe; the hand of God, we 
 trust, will now more than ever employ the only instru- 
 ment which can enable us to breathe the pure atmo- 
 sphere of civil and religious liberty. The enlightened 
 party, the truly liberal party, the party that labours 
 after the attainment of a better life, the party that is 
 alone called to deliver their parent, the country, from 
 the clutches of corrupt courtiers, and from their pesti- 
 ferous influences, the party which has laboured most of 
 all to frustrate the contrivances of the Court of Rome 
 and the "■ Society of Jesus,"*^ and to promote the edu- 
 cation of the people, and the party, withal, that has 
 never been responsible for the misdeeds of men who are 
 but idols of the hour, — this we believe to be the in- 
 strument which Providence will employ to deliver fallen 
 Spain from the yoke of her oppressors. 
 
 All other combinations are useless, and civil and 
 religious liberty must be radical, in order to heal the 
 wounds of my afflicted country. That emancipation 
 from civil tyranny, emancipation from the hateful yoke 
 of Rome, and all freedom which emancipation can be- 
 stow, must rest on the imperishable foundation of the 
 Gospel, is the conviction of this party ; a party which 
 
110 NARRATIVE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 daily and hourly gains new strength by the very efforts 
 of tyranny for its destruction ; and, as the hour of deli- 
 verance approaches, the dawn of Gospel liberty is seen 
 breaking through the darkness. 
 
 The masses of the people are more than disposed to 
 cast off the yoke of both tyrannies, the civil and the 
 ecclesiastical ; and as for the educated classes, the recent 
 edicts which forbid us, under the severest penalties, to 
 speak of Eome and of the monarchy, may answer. It 
 is true that the official rehgion continues to be out- 
 wardly professed ; but considering how little account is 
 now made of confession, of bulls, of miracles, and all 
 other superstitions, it is evidently at a low ebb indeed 
 in regard to the bulk of the people. In vain are the 
 influences of Throne and Court put into requisition to 
 lead us back to the terrors of past ages, that the suc- 
 cessors of the notorious Borgia may repeat their thun- 
 dering anathemas, which now rather provoke laughter 
 than move to fear. The times of the old Pharisees, and 
 the doctrines of devils of which St. Paul speaks, with 
 legends and pious frauds, never can return. 
 
 The Pontificate and Jesuitism are put on their last 
 trial. In compensation for losses in former times, 
 they are allowed superstitious festivals and sanguinary 
 conflicts, and may seem to be active and robust, but 
 they are corroded to the very core; and let but the 
 breath of the people breathe upon them, they crumble 
 into nothing. 
 
 But even if it were not so, we should leave the issue 
 to the justice of God, who will surely exact a retribution 
 for the iniquities which have been committed in the 
 name of the Gospel by the very men who hate it. 
 
CONCLUSION. Ill 
 
 And if any say that they do not hate the Gospel, let 
 them who profess to be exclusively the order of those 
 whom the Lord Jesus Christ sent forth to preach it 
 to all nations, tell us what they have done for the 
 instruction of the people. Or what have they done for 
 the inferior Clergy, over whom they have domineered 
 for the last three centuries ? Or what have they done 
 for public morals, for commerce, for the industrial arts, 
 or for science, even while all was at their disposal? 
 Yew of the poor can read. Females are taught to shun 
 reading as if it were a crime ; and, instead of Academies, 
 Universities, and Lyceums, they give the people in the 
 kingdom of the last of Monarchs just a few amphi- 
 theatres for bull-fights. 
 
 Eew, indeed, have known the Bible. Some of us 
 undertook the salutary work of distributing it; but, 
 by way of recompense, they have given us their bit- 
 terest curse, with persecution, and with banishment, and 
 have even tlirown one of us into the Inquisition, which 
 is again revived. 
 
 LONDON : — PRINTED BY WILLIAM NICHOLS, 39^ LONDON WALL. 
 
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