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up to them as their landlords and masters , on whom is their sole dependence . They know these masters too well not to be aware that a refusal to obey their orders , or any sign of disaffection to their cause , would be certain to depriye them of their whole means of existence . " That this is the real tone of feeling of the peasantry in general towards the friars I am fully convinced . There may be here and there exceptions , produced by family ties , when friends or relations have put
on the habit ; but it may be safely asserted , that the great majority are actuated by such motives as I have stated . Even in the kingdom of Navarre , —that classic land of Levites and their admirers , —it is well known that at least half the young men comprising the insurgent forces are pressed into the ranks , and they are onl y kept there by the dread of the most terrible chastisement . A man ' s life never weighed a feather with their redoubted chieftain , Zumalacarregui . He would order a village to send a certain number of recruits , threatening , in the event of their non-appearance , to confine and bastinado the father and mother of the parties . In case of desertion , the menaces of burning the house that sheltered , or shooting the friend who concealed him , were most
religiously executed /'—Vol . ii . p . 135 , &c . We find it stated in a note , that the < Biscayans and Guipuzevans are , to a man , pressed into the service of the Pretender / This is quite contrary to the current notion , and it is gratifying" to have that point set right by such an authority as the author of these volumes .
The power of the monks may be appreciated were it only by the extent of their possessions . We learn that , according to the estimate of Garay , who is here mentioned as cc the ablest financier Spain ever boasted / ' the property yielded a revenue of a million of dollars more than the national yearly budget ! This is the smallest computation ; according to some , it yielded five or six millions more . The author remarks upon this : —
" The ' Delenda est Carthago ' is here of all necessity . The church , as at present constituted , must be reformed , otherwise the establishment of N order , and anything like good government , in Spain , are impossible . " ——ote , vol . ii . p . 146 . The constant interference of the priesthood in every passage of life , from birth to death , has been a most potent influence , but we are assured it is impatiently endured , and would be willingly cast off . It has been so great as to make it scarcely conceivable by us , well as it is described : —
" The unfortunate Spaniard is doomed to feel the griping influence of cowl and cassock , from the moment he sees the light of this harlequin world until ho be duly laid in his grave . "— Vol . ii , p . 178 . Even before his birth the priest is in readiness in the house , to enjoy the chocolate , sugar , coffee , torrones ^ g enerous wine , and other comforts / ' and to baptize , cross , and bless the " screaming infant / ' The churching of the mother follows . At five or six years old the boy is again committed to the care of " the cloth , "
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Madrid in 1885 . 527
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1836, page 527, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2661/page/3/
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