Mtmoh'S of Don Jean Antoinc Llorente. 



1S23.] 



Francisco Agniriano, <o wliose t;ilciits 

 and ini'oimatio!) lie docs justice, (hoiinh 

 tills ])rclrile voted, altciwiuds, in tiie 

 Cortes of C.idiz, for upiiolding tlie 

 Jnqiiisitioii. Wlioii tlicso labours were 

 terminated, JM. L. repaired to Madrid 

 to facilitate their success. Tlie Prince 

 of Peace was then in the plenitude of 

 liis power; and the question at issue was 

 no less than to give publicity to the 

 latent proceedings of the Holy Office. 

 To this M. de Cabarrus, M. de Jovel- 

 Janos, and M. Llorente, a()i)lied them- 

 selves with becoming zeal. M. de 

 Jovcllanos, having been placed in the 

 Ministerial Jjoard of Grace and Justice, 

 M. Li. gained additional credit from the 

 circumstance, but the too sudden fall of 

 that enlightpued minister put a stop to 

 the intended ameliorations. In 1796, 

 Rnd the following years, the Sovereign 

 Council of the Hoyal Chamber of the 

 Indies placed the name of M. Llorente 

 on the lists of presentation submitted to 

 the king, for the bishojjrics of Meehoa- 

 can, of IJucnos Ayres, and for the 

 archbishopric ol' Manilla. 



But the supjioitirs of the Inquisition 

 were already; meditating the persecutions 

 that awaited M. Llorente. He boldly 

 testitlcd his respect for M. de Jovcl- 

 lanos, when he passed through Calahorra 

 to repair to the place of his exile. 

 Among the papers of flic minister was 

 found a writing of M. L. on the Inqui- 

 sition. It was of the date of 1801, and 

 tiie odious tribunal prosecuted, under 

 various {jretciiccs, among others that of 

 Jansenism, characters the most respecta- 

 ble that had been on friendly terms with 

 M, de JovelJaiios. Don Antonio de la 

 Cnesia, Archdeacon of the cathedral of 

 Avita, was thrown into a dungeon, 

 and romainpd live jears in that conflnc- 

 nienf. Don Geronimo, his brother, a 

 penitentiary canon of the same church, 

 was forced to make his escape into 

 Franc<'. lioth wn e aflrr« ards declared 

 innocent, and so they were, in fact; but, 

 without povverl'nl protection, their inno- 

 cence would not have secured them. 

 J'roscculions were instituted, by the 

 InqulMlioii, against the Countess do 

 Monlijo, although a grandee of Spain, 

 against her cousin Don Antuine Palafox, 

 liishop of Salamanca, against Don 

 Augiistin Abad la Sierra, llishoji of 

 Barcelona, and against sev<'r.il iaimns 

 of St. Isidoie, at Mitdrid. in this city, 

 the letters of coruspondcnce of M. 

 Llorente with Madame de iMoJilijo 

 were opened at the I'osf.Oflicc, and 

 MovTHLY Mao. No. 383. 



521 



copies taken of them ; the lellcrs were 

 forwarded to their destination, that fur- 

 ther discoveries might be n)adc. The 

 collection was remitted to the inquisitor- 

 general, and M. L. received an order to 

 be conCned as a prisoner in a convent. 

 In a few days, a member of the Supreme 

 Council of the Iti(|uisifion notified his 

 dismissal from the ofliccs of secretary 

 andcommissary of the Holy Oflicc. He 

 was, moreover, amerced in a penalty of 

 fifty ducats, and sentenced to make a 

 month's retreat in a convent. He was 

 lett in ignorance as to the motives that 

 could influence such a sentence. The 

 papers that had been seized were re- 

 stored to him, except such as related 

 to the Inquisition, and some others in 

 favour of the liberty of the church of 

 Spain, against the pretensions of the 

 court of Rome. 



In this sort of degraded state, M. 

 li. remained till 1805; the whole of this 

 time he spent in his pro\ ince, employed 

 in literary labours, in works of piety and 

 public utility. He was then recalled to 

 Madrid, to illustrate certain points of 

 history wherein the governmc nt was in- 

 terested. Here he was nominated by 

 the king, in 1806, canon of the primacy 

 churdi of Toledo, then ecolatre or mas- 

 ter of the schools of the same chapter. 

 Next year he was admitted ecclesi- 

 astical chevalier of the older of Charles 

 in. after exhibiting proofs of nobility, 

 as required by the statutes of the 

 order. 



So far.the career of M. Llorente has 

 been ehiclly in the functions of religion; 

 he will shortly appear in a political cha- 

 racter. 'I he French had invaded Spain 

 in the month of June, 1808, when an 

 order of Joachim Murat, then Grand 

 Duke of Uerg, and commander of the 

 armies of Napoleon, summoned M. L. 

 to Bayonnc, to take a part in the i)ro- 

 ceedings of the Assembly of Spanish 

 Notables convened to reform the abuses 

 of the Spanish monarchy, and to prepare 

 a political Constitution. He assisted 

 in the deliberations of that Assembly, 

 and his name afipears at the foot of the 

 Constitutional Act then drawn up. Be- 

 coming thus a partisan of Joseph Bona- 

 parte, he was called into his Council of 

 State. The newly-established king ex- 

 perienced reverses of foitunc; and the 

 victory of Baylen, re-exeiling the na- 

 tional energies, gave lise to the insur- 

 rections of iMadiid and 'J'oledo. M. 

 Llorente, in the train of Joseph Bona- 

 pait'-, was with him at Vittoria, and 

 3 X also 



