Spread of Liberal Principles and Religious Eclecticism. 377 



here, for I durst not have trusted to my memory, that a 

 Spanish American priest, should have made such a remark in 

 the " city of the Three Kings." These revelations, which are 

 far from being solitary, but find a responsive echo in the 

 bosoms of a portion at least of the male population of the 

 capital, are highly important in arriving at a conclusion 

 respecting the actual religious sentiment of the Peruvian 

 Republic, and are very marked indications that an immense 

 movement is likewise preparing in the Catholic Church on 

 the further side of the Andes ; and that Peru also has found 

 its '' Father Passaglia." Nay, it would not surprise me in 

 the least, should South America, which for upwards of three 

 centuries has been dumbly obeying the behests of spiritual 

 intolerance, suddenly emit letters and propositions which 

 would amount to a vii'tual separation from the Roman Catholic 

 Church ! It is but a few years since Catholic priests in the 

 Legislative Assemblies of Nicaragua and Honduras recorded 

 their votes in favour of re^^ealing the ordinance of celibacy, 

 and from their pulpits harangued their flocks on the advan- 

 tages of revolutionary insurrection ! 



In a wing of the Library buildings is the National Museum, 

 which, however, merely fills two moderate-sized apartments. 

 The Natural History collection is in such a wretched neglected 

 state that it is in imminent danger, the ornithological depart- 

 ment especially, of being entirely eaten up by insects. 



Amongst the most valuable are some Peruvian antiquities, 

 such as weapons, mummies, and what are called Huacos, 



