ks, that "these institutions were intended for a state of society
which had nothing in common with that of the present day. The kind of
instruction afforded in them, confined as it is to prayer, church
discipline, and the dogmas of theology, has no connection with the
interests and wants of the existing generation.

"What every enlightened man in Spain has long called for is a national,
popular, gratuitous education, extending to all classes, as well in the
towns as in the rural districts. Up to the present time, the people have
received no other instruction than that offered by the clergy, which has
had scarcely any other object than the performance of religious
ceremonies."

In addition to what has been already stated, it may be remarked, that
even with those who know how to read, "books and study are almost out of
the question, because, unless in the principal cities, public libraries
are nowhere to be found, and private libraries are luxuries that few
possess."

If education is conducive to virtue, and ignorance fosters crime, what
must be the social and moral state of a country in which ignorance is so
prevalent! "The amount of crime in Spain is appalling. We have before us
a return of convictions for the year 1826, from which we shall make some
extracts. Our reason for taking this year is simply because we are
unable to procure any return for a later one. The number of convictions
for murder in England and Wales in the year 1826 was thirteen, and the
number convicted of wounding, etc., with intent to kill, was fourteen.
These numbers are lamentably large. That the horrible crime of murder
should ever be perpetrated is a most melancholy fact; and that so many
as thirteen murders should be committed in one year must fill the mind
of every moral man and lover of his country with grief and shame. But
great as this number is absolutely, it sinks into insignificance when
compared with the number of murders perpetrated in Spain; for in that
unhappy country, in the single year of 1826, the number of convictions
for murder reached the frightful height of TWELVE HUNDRED AND
THIRTY-THREE! in addition to which, there were seventeen hundred and
seventy-three convictions on charges of maiming with intent to kill, and
sixteen hundred and twenty persons were convicted of robbery under
aggravated circumstances. We doubt not for an instant THIS MASS OF CRIME
IS THE OFFSPRING OF IGNORANCE."--_National Education_, vol. ii., p. 144.