400 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1S13. 



the government, land tlie offended 

 sovereign tj^ of the nation called 

 for, led to the discovery of a fact 

 which greatly increased my sor- 

 row, both on account of the cha- 

 racter of its author, and the dan- 

 ger to which it had exposed the 

 country. 



Among the documents that were 

 laid before us, there appeared a 

 letter from the most Rev. Peter 

 Gravina, archbishop of Nicea, and 

 Nuncio of his Holiness for Spain, 

 to tlie Dean and Chapter of the 

 cathedral of Malaga, dated the 5th 

 of March last, in which he ex- 

 horted them to delay, and even 

 to oppose, the execution of his 

 majesty's decrees concerning the 

 Inquisition. The most reverend 

 Nuncio appeared, by his signature, 

 to act in that instance only in his 

 archiepiscopal character, notwith- 

 standing that he was protesting 

 against the injury which he sup- 

 posed to harve been done to the 

 Holy See, in the abolition of the 

 Inquisition, and the decree for 

 promulgating it in the parish 

 churches. He also says, in his 

 letter, that the bishops now resi- 

 dent in this town, had it in con- 

 templation to answer to govern- 

 ment, that they could not put 

 those decrees into practice until 

 they had heard the opinion of their 

 chapters, at the same time throwing 

 a slur upon those bishops by the 

 intimation, that this was intended 

 as a mere pretext ; after which he 

 expHcitly adds — that the}' thus 

 gained time to make all the pro- 

 per remonstrances upon the mat- 

 ter. He further states, that the 

 chapter of the cliurch sede vacaute, 

 haddeclined to executethe decree; 

 upon which he exhorts the chapter 



of the church of Malaga to adopt 

 the opinion of all the prelates 

 (thus reckoning upon their diso- 

 bedience), and endeavours to per- 

 suade them, that bj' acting accord- 

 ing to his advice, they would do 

 an important service to religion, to 

 the church, and to our most Holy 

 Father, whose authority and rights 

 he conceived to be vulnerated, 

 without thereby favouring the 

 episcopal power. It is also added, 

 that he had thought it his duty to 

 remonstrate in the name of his 

 Holiness, opposing the execution 

 of such decrees until the Pope had 

 given his consent or approbation ; 

 or, in defect of the Pope, the same 

 were done by a national council ; 

 and he, finally, closed his letter 

 with a promise of communicating 

 to them, under the greatest se- 

 crecy, every circumstance, as it 

 should take place, which might 

 contribute to regulate their con- 

 duct for the future. 



Copies of letters have been also 

 forwarded to me by the reverend 

 bishop of Jaen, and the chapter 

 of Granada sede vacante, similar to 

 the above-mentioned, and which, 

 with the same object, and under 

 the same date, were directed to 

 them by the most Rev. Nuncio. 

 From these it appears, that the 

 said Nuncio, trampling on the 

 first principles of international law, 

 overlooking the boundaries of his 

 public mission, and abusing the 

 veneration it> which this pious 

 people hold the legates of theapos- 

 tolic see, has endeavoured to pro- 

 mote and actually has promoted, 

 under the cloak of religion, the 

 disobedience of some very respec- 

 table prelates and ecclesiastical 

 bodies to the decrees and orders of 



