mise I departed well satisfied, and
full of gratitude to the Lord, who seemed to have so wonderfully smoothed
my way in an enterprise which at first sight seemed particularly arduous
and difficult.

Before three months had elapsed Mr. Mendizabal had ceased to be Prime
Minister; with his successor, Mr. Isturitz, I had become acquainted, and
also with his colleagues, Galiano and the Duke de Rivas, and it was not
long before I obtained--not however without much solicitation and
difficulty--the permission which I so ardently desired. Before, however,
I could turn it to my account, the revolution broke out in Spain, and the
press became free.

The present appears to be a moment peculiarly well adapted for commencing
operations in Spain, the aim and view of which should be the introducing
into that singularly unhappy portion of the world the knowledge of the
Saviour. The clouds of bigotry and superstition which for so many
centuries cast their dreary shadow upon Spain, are to a considerable
degree dispelled, and there is little reason for supposing that they will
ever again conglomerate. The Papal See is no longer regarded with
reverence, and its agents and ministers have incurred universal scorn and
odium; therefore any fierce and determined resistance to the Gospel in
Spain is not to be apprehended either from the people themselves, or from
the clergy, who are well aware of their own weakness. It is scarcely
necessary to remark that every country which has been long subjected to
the sway of popery is in a state of great and deplorable ignorance.
Spain, as might have been expected, has not escaped this common fate, and
the greatest obstacle to the diffusion of the Gospel light amongst the
Spaniards would proceed from the great want of education amongst them.
Perhaps there are no people in the world to whom nature has been, as far
as regards mental endowments, more bounteously liberal than the
Spaniards. They are generally acute and intelligent to an extraordinary
degree, and express themselves with clearness, fluency, and elegance upon
all subjects which are within the scope of their knowledge. It may
indeed be said of the mind of a Spaniard, as of his country, that it
merely requires cultivation to be a garden of the first order; but,
unhappily, both, up to the present time, have been turned to the least
possible account. Few amongst the lower class of the population of the
towns are acquainted with letters, and few