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Untted States Catholic Miscellany. .
FREE EXERCISE THEREOF.—ART. I,
rai)
AD te cuntast EV nb epee
: aaremnneeale OF RELIGION, OR PROHIBITING THE
MEND. CON. UNITED STATES,
VOL. IX. NO, 43.)
INQUISITION.
[Frox tHe Jgsurt.}
t is rather singular that a distinctive character of | case
doin the most
‘tion, than the author of said Jetter..
ays this worthy Journalist, ‘* what tri-
bunal is ‘there throughout all Europe, except the
“Enquisition, that. acquits. the culprit when ho trely
repents and confesses his
Wie is the obstinate nda that affects an
religious course of c . and professes principles
which are contrary ‘0 those established by law for
the preservation -of social order, that has not been
twice cautioned by the members of this tribunal ?—
Af he relapse, if notwithstanding the warning, which
he has received, he persist in such conduct, fic 3s ar-
asted j bat s ould he repent, he is set at liberty.—
. Bour going whose religious opinions should:n
be suspected w n he was drawing this. picture of
modern Spain i in n speaking of the holy o ofiice, says:
F do. pub'cly avow, in order to pay homage to truth,
that the Inquisition might be -citsd in -our , days, asa
model of equity. Whata declaration! - How would
it be treated if we had made it? Mr. Bourgoing, J
however, has seen in ‘the tribtinal only what in real-
ity is an instrument of profound government.”
Asto the forms whether severe or terrible, with
which. the Inquisition has frequently <r
proached, e been tnfortanate, enough not to
credit thent, and shou ia, at least, have been on the
spot, to form a correct opinion of them. However
that be, if the revolution which nas taken place in
public sentiment an rals, allow any mitigation
in jis respect, the King ia the fountain head whence
nd the Inquisitors no doubt would
cheerfully, co- operate ‘with | him.
Perfection ia ‘no attribute of man; ‘and where is
the institution which is not liable to abuse ?
me, sir, when Tassure you, that there is no
man, less disposed than I am to justify, or even ex-
tenuate needless severity. I shall merely remark,
that the religious Inquisition of Spain, might be
well compared to the public Inquisition af Venice,
which commandéd a- useful -ascendancy ‘over: the
minds of the people, by its mild. dissuasi
ence 3 an
ciations, that were calculated to maintain order, and
save inuch human blo
fara
B
@
grounds, have been cast -into prison, denied a
cript of the names of the plaintiffs, of the counts,
or charges upon which he had been indicted. or that
he would have been denied counsel ; a @ pro-
secutors would not escape punishm if in the
course ‘of trial it appeared, that they were inaligated
by calumny, or malice:
This tribunal never ‘pronounces sentence of tem
poral purlishinent = it only declar
be attainted and convicted ; and ra
upon the secular judges to define the ‘punishment | 2
exactly in the manner prescribed and adopted by the |,
Spanish tribunal.
he
c
confiscations Ro into t the royal treasury, an
the diocesan bisho: e the right to take co
nee of the crime conjitly with the Inquisitore
C shall, moreover, © obser with regurd to the form
which are, mor y less & severe, that there 1s not an
enlightened power upon earth, ‘which for grand and
* Nouv Voyage en Espagne, par M. Bourgoing.—-
Journal wel Empires 17 05. .
Oo ene
doubt that it ts otberwiee ip "Port
the Tacos defendant have tho freest and most e -
o him, and that ever the jee take grea
rts in n whether said counsel disc: “her Taty
An ec sdotes of tho ministry of the Ms arqule a of Pome
ww. 1784in 8vo. Book Vili. No. LNXXVIL
utiha
-}the subject in its true light ;
t| they.
‘CHARLESTON, SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1830.
_{Just objects, has not established, from time to time, |
certain extraordinary: tribunals almost’ entirely exe
ein t from the usual: forms. [-may here cite as a
tempt; upon his person was
high treason, which the law published in the most
terrible way and with astonishing despatch. Who-
ever extorted.a crown piece from another, was seiz-
by the marshals, delivered up to the great provost, |
Who. presided with his two recorders, and was racked
o death, in twe hours, in n preseuice of the
isprudences was not, to be sure, of the
most compassionate order ; “yet it was quite option-
ai in every Frenchman not to rob- on‘the highway,
king, (for even kings have their hobbies)
Tatended that kis subjects should not only travel, ed
e down und sleep if they thought | proper, b
the c cron road, with porieet safety
ercei how mau mulated
calumnies and -errors shave been thrown “apon t the
Tnquisition by mudern would-be philosophers.—
They have represented it as a purely ecclesiastical
tribunal, but [, according to the most unequivocal,
nnexceptionable authorities have laid before you its
real character. Infidel sophisters would feign make
the world believe that the catholic’ priests condemn
L fora m
yes, sir, they di
the Inquisition as a papal invention, and that the
popes granted it only on the solicitation of the sove-
reizns, and ofte
repugnance, at least so far
were concerned wh hich to thom A ap vypeared s¢ se
privileges
ecclesiastical discipline, by en-
deavouring to wore, orratherin their uswal way, b
asserting that it weakened the jurisdiction of the
Bishops + but, unfortunately for those ‘ medern re-
|formers’” the aut
Spanish episcopacy
a body, at
n be fou
m nilitant t, and who have expressly declared that they
alw: ays found i in the Inquisition, a faithful ally, ever
eady to assist in the preservation of the faith, But
you know, sir, that party-spirit never hesitates and
never recoils fromm its vicious, vieupe erative course.
The committee of the Cortes ‘have raked out of
the néglected rubbish-of time a musty anecdote, we
now not of what kind, whether nes or false, of a
grand Inquisitor, we nae who ha aving {5
prosecuted in the yea we Cine not how, or
tl why, a corte ain bishop: oF Carthagena, we “ino not
who as for this mis-deed, censured by a consul-
tation, @ we know not of what council of Castile, and
|upon this luminous authority at once so unequivocal
and modern. -the same committee exon with an
air of majestic importance : how cart the
>| Right Reverend Bishops dare, contrary to the testimo-
ny of their, fellow. brethren. ud the the
y no means minute, a fact
posed to the solemn declarution of ‘the episc
S| dy. strikes us-‘as one of those prodi igies of nunsonse,
‘which, more, or less, characterize a opular assem-
blies. With
proach the Inquisition for flinging its shadowy in-
fluence over the human inind. Is tt p
that a nation can become illustrious when er
mind is buried in such gross slavery? Literature
“Tome pueden pues ‘decir los R. R. Obispos que han
repreveutado a V. M. s ayucar (los. Inguis sitores) en
la conservacion de a feo ra a los testimon coher-
reanos y autoridad ta prin: er sribunal de Ia nacion?? “bid,
jp. 58.
v
considered a species of
neren $0, with a tmaniiest degree of| ¢
crtal
‘T'o.cumplet: ote the tale, they Should have uttacked |
nd o
similar sucerss-do the committee re- fat
josstble, say}
[TOT. NO. 328.
disappeared when the Inquisition was established.*
The committee felt more disposed on this occasion,
| to be merr: , or wise.~ Is_ ther
t, ¥
age of literatureappeared and bloomed in the reign
of Philip Il. and that the holy office first stamped
‘helt approbation upon the works of those numerous
writers who threw a brilliant -halo of intellettual
glory ground the Spanish name? Yes; Matliéma-
ees Astrononiy, Chemistry, Medicine, Surgery,
Anatomy, Materia Medica, Na tural Science Law,
Pislology, History, Antiquity, ; in all con-
| science ex 0 fields in which the Spanish m
nay roam at vill, without any let, or hinderance
rom the ‘Right Reverend Fathers of the Ioquisi-
on.
genius gro’ when itis merely prohibit-
ed from attacking 1 nat ational dogmas. Error how of-
ten soever repea
authority of That h.
I have the honor to ee Sir,
roe Your’s &e. &e.
“Es possible que se ‘lustre uno nacion on lo equal ee es-
clavizan tan grostramente los eten Ceso de es-
cribirse desdoque se establecio Ia Tnquisicion.” Ibid. p. 15.
ty
‘A Discounse.on General WASHINGTON delivered
the Catholic Church of Saint Peter, in
: Feary 22, 1800, by the late Most Rev. Dr. Cannont.”
e death of men distinguished | by auperier
ent e +, de-
i iet;
their ‘logs is accompanied generally with this mitiga-
tion, that, however grievous and painful, it is not
irreparable; and that the void, caused by their mor-
tality. will. perhaps. he fille
equal abilities with the
r the general welfare.:
From &
the esent occasion, nq
such consolation an be administered ; for’ he, whose
expectations are mo: t prom
we consult our own experience, by bringing into
comparison with Washing stan any of o m-
poraries, most eminent for the
services ; or whether we search: through the pages
of history, to discover in them a character of equa
led int
v
with him 10 ‘the grave a reputatio:
less ambition, and as undefiled by injustice or Op-'
pression ; a reputation, neither depressed
lence, nor weakened by irresolution, nor shadowed
by those imperfections, which seemed to be the es-
sential a appendages ‘of human Sti il rovi-
dence extnbited in Washington. this “extraordinary
{| phenomenon.
What langange ¢ can be equal to the excellence of
rte? :
I ‘read in in the carer
to offer this ¢
ty, your ten
r
therefore, T presu
o the homage, whiels throughout the Ua.ted States
every friend to their happiness now presents at the
{shrine of Washington. Pardon arted spirit
of the first of heroes! if with the cold acceuts of
an exhausted imagination, I likewise dare attempt
mind -
fhwy then, wih ate Tniquitous assertion, that .
ted, cannot therefore command io
more—~ ~
sple ndid .
cte
ame : justice aud truth will acknowledge. that he *
he f
¥ indo- .