age, and more especially when it is considered that it is taking place at
this instant by a spontaneous movement, which installs itself in
different parts of the Peninsula; not, as in other ages and nations, in
consequence of a proselytism headed by an apostle or a reformer, but of
_a necessity strongly felt_, and which imperiously demands the object
that alone can satisfy it. In Spain,--yes, in Spain,--the Bible is read,
and people write and speak freely against the errors of the Church of
Rome; nay, the Cortes denounce the vices of the clergy, and defend
liberty of conscience; they propose means which, a few years ago, would
have been visited with the most cruel persecution, and with the _brutum
fulmen_ of anathema. The government expatriate reactionary bishops
without so much as a murmur from the people against these strokes of
severity; many priests, enlisted under the banner of Carlism, have been
taken by the troops, and shot as common culprits, without a single voice
having been raised in their defence. The new doctrine on the immaculate
conception of the Virgin Mary has been attacked with irresistible
arguments in a pamphlet published in Madrid, without either the
authorities or the clergy having offered the least obstacle to its
circulation. The law authorising the sale of the church property is
executed with the general consent and approbation of the nation.
Finally, the efforts made by certain well-intentioned Englishmen to
propagate sound doctrine in the Peninsula have been generally received,
not only with a becoming appreciation and gratitude, but with an
eagerness and relish approaching to enthusiasm; and the persons who have
set on foot this pious undertaking receive, almost daily, letters from
Spaniards of all classes, urging them to persist in a work which,
manifestly, has a direct bearing on the minds and manners of the people.

The beneficent designs of Providence cannot be manifested more clearly.
A movement in favour of the ideas of reform, and a prevailing disposition
to read the Bible, are showing themselves simultaneously in many Roman
Catholic countries, without any concert between themselves, and without
any reciprocal intimation or knowledge of what is going on in each of
those countries. The recent occurrences in Florence are notorious, so
are those in Genoa, and even in Rome itself, where, to the political
exasperation against the pontifical government,--whose existence is owing
simply t