The Catholic World, published in New York, and "heartily approved" by the archbishop, pope, &c., had for its leading article in February, 1869, a highly eulogistic account of cardinal Ximenes, the 3d Inquisitor-general in Spain, from which the following is taken :

"The council of Toulouse, in 1229, issued various decrees relative to the suppression of heresy, and may thus be considered as founding the first Inquisition. The Dominicans especially were employed in the work of extirpating heresy, and but for the exertions of such men the nations of Europe would have been overrun with Manicheism and various other forms of pestilent error. The Jews settled in Spain, penetrated in disguise every branch of society, and strove in every age to Judaize the people. The Inquisition was directed in a particular manner against this subtle influence, and the peculiar nature of the evil required peculiar remedies and antidotes. It was Judaism in the Church that it labored to extirpate, and not the race of Israel dwelling in the Peninsula.

"The inquisitors of Seville took office in 1481, and were appointed by the sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella. Nothing was more natural than that they should seek to rid the body politic of a gangrene so fatal as secret Judaism. Yet Sixtus IV. had occasion to rebuke the royal inquisitors for their needless severity and to take measures for the mitigation of their sentences. But the institution was placed more and more under the control of the state, and whether clergymen or laymen were employed, they were alike subservient to the Spanish government. In 1492, when, by a memorable edict, the Jews were ordered to quit Spain, unless they submitted to be baptized, the sphere of the Inquisition's labors became greatly enlarged in consequence of the increased number of Jews who professed Christianity from worldly motives alone. The Moriscos also, or baptized Moors, came within the sphere of its action; and it was introduced into Granada by the advice of the 2d grand-inquisitor, Deza, in order to prevent their relapsing into Islamism.

"The sovereigns of Castile and Aragon promoted the Inquisition for other motives besides those here alluded to. They used it as an instrument for consolidating their own power and breaking that of the clergy and nobles. Piombal, at a later period, did the same in Portu

gal. Hence it was popular with the lower classes, detested by the aristocracy, and often censured by popes. To these facts Ranke and Balmez abundantly testify, and their evidence is confirmed by that of Henry Leo, Guizot, Havemann, Lenormant, De Maistre, and Spittler. The falsehoods of Llorente respecting the Inquisition have been fully exposed, and those who sift the matter thoroughly will find that it was latterly more a political than a religious institution; that the cruelties it exercised have been enormou-ly exaggerated; that it was in accordance with principles universally recognized in its day; that its punishments, however severe, were in keeping with the ordinary penal laws; that the popes constantly endeavored to mitigate its decrees; that Gregory XIII., Paul III., Pius IV., and Innocent XII, in particular, reclaimed against its rigors; that its institutions were good on the whole; its proceedings tempered with mercy; and that Ximenes, the 3d grand-inquisitor, conducted himself in that office with moderation and humanity, provided for the instruction of Jewish and Moorish converts, and adopted every expedient to diminish the number of judicial cases reserved for the tribunal of the Inquisition' (Hefele). He caused Lucero, the cruel inquisitor of Cordova, to be arrested, tried, and deposed from his high functions. He protected Lebrija, Vergara, and other learned men from envious aspersions, and kept a strict watch over the officers of the Inquisition, lest they should exceed their in-tructions or abuse their power. He endeavored, but without success in Ferdinand's lifetime, to exclude laymen from the council, and thus free the tribunal as far as possible from state influence. The number of those who suffered punishment under his régime has been greatly exaggerated by Llorente; and if he introduced the Inquisition into Oran, America, and the Canary I-les, it must be remembered that its jurisdiction extended over the old Christians settled there, and not over the natives.

"In reviewing Ximenes's conduct in such matters, we must never lose sight of the fact that absolute unity of religion was then the aim of all Catholic governments, whereas circumstances are now altered, and the question of religious liberty, though the same in the abstract, is wholly changed in its practical application."

A brief answer to this defense of the Inquisition may be found in the words of the Penny Cyclopedia respecting it: "The general opinion of Europe, not merely of Protestant but of

.....

Roman Catholic Europe, has reprobated and rejected its practice. . . . . It was only in the 13th century that the Inquisition set about discovering private and silent heretics, and having once established the principle that it was necessary to ferret out, as it were, all individuals who dissented in their minds from the orthodox church, all kinds of means were thought lawful for that purpose. . . . . . It was the horror of this terrific code which made nations revolt against this tribunal, which excited the war in the Netherlands that lasted nearly half a century and ended in the separation of one-half of the country from the crown of Spain, which caused rebellions in Aragon, Sicily, Sardinia, and Naples, and embittered the religious feuds and wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. And yet with all the ingenuity displayed for the discovery and conviction of heretics, it is averred that a great number of individuals put to death by the Inquisition were orthodox Catholics. Among the proofs of this are the letters of Pietro Martire d'Angleria, councilor of the Indies (quoted by Llorente, ch. X.), the trials of Carranza and many other bishops, and even of persons who have been since canonized by the Roman church, such as St. Francis de Borja [= Borgia, 3d general of the Jesuits], St. Ignatius Loyola [founder of the Jesuits], St. Theresa, St. Juan de la Cruz [= St. John of the Cross; like Theresa, a Carmelite reformer], &c. Even popes have not escaped the attacks of the Inquisition. Sixtus V. having published an Italian translation of the Bible, the Spanish Inquisition placed it upon its index of forbidden books. The same Inquisition condemned the works of Cardinal Noris, a friend of Benedict XIV., who wrote in a strong manner to the Inquisitor general on the subject. These and other disputes of the Spanish Inquisition with Pius V., Clement VIII., and other popes, amply prove the little deference which it paid to the papal authority whenever it came in opposition to its own assumed supremacy.—It is an error to suppose that intolerance is peculiar to the Roman Catholic church; all churches and religions-Jews, Mohammedans, and heathens, Arians and orthodox, Greeks and Latins, Protestants and Catholics-all have persecuted in turn; but no other church or sect ever invented or enforced for centuries a permanent system of persecution that can be in any respect compared with that of the Inquisition."

The Inquisition was never permanently established in England, Denmark, Norway, or Sweden; it was established in

Poland only for a short time; its power in Germany was destroyed by the Reformation, though in some parts attempts were made to restore it, and it was wholly abolished by Maria Theresa more than 100 years ago; in France it was limited by several kings, weakened by various influences, and wholly abolished by Henry IV. at the end of the 16th century. In Rome it continued, with interruptions, until 1870. It has now no legal existence in any country, though its decrees are still regarded as law by the Roman Catholic prelates and clergy. The rescript of the "General Congregation of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition," dated August 21, 1850, by which the Odd Fellows, Sons of Temperance and all other secret societies (Fenians and all) are included with the Freemasons in one general condemnation by the Apostolic See, and in consequence their members are deprived of the sacraments, unless they promise never more to belong to those societies, is published with the decrees of the Baltimore council of 1866.

CHAPTER XI1.

PERSECUTIONS.

It were easy to fill a long chapter with accounts of dreadful persecutions set on foot or sanctioned by the authorities of the Roman Catholic church.

The 4th Lateran council, held in 1215, under pope Innocent III., is one of the great ecumenical councils; and, in its 3d canon (see Chapter XXIII.), still unrepealed and undisclaimed, it not only excommunicates and anathematizes every heresy' and decrees that the condemned are to be given up to the secular powers to be punished and to have their goods confiscated; but directs the secular powers, under pain of excommunication, to endeavor to exterminate all heretics from their countries; and grants to Catholics who take the cross and arm themselves to exterminate heretics, the same indulgence and holy privilege as to those who joined the crusades for the holy land. This canon was enacted with direct reference to the crusade against the Albigenses, and it sanctioned and held up as a model for all time the principles of procedure which had been adopted in regard to them and their country. The responsibility of the course pursued was assumed for the Roman Catholic church in this language of the council:

"How much the church has labored by preachers and crusaders to exterminate heretics and injurious persons from the province of Narbonne and the parts near it, almost the whole world knows."

The Albigenses (in French, Albigeois),—so named from Albi or Alby (in Latin, Albiga), a town in Southern France, where