1875.] 



803 



[Delmar. 



Said Macgregor, ia 1850 : "The government of Spain can scarcely be 

 considered less despotic than Russia or Turkey;" and he goes on to 

 speak of "the backvpard state of agriculture in Spain, the indolence of 

 the rural population, the great numbers who are otherwise employed than 

 in husbandry, and the preference given to pastoral occupation over that 

 of tillaoe," etc.* 



Appleton's Cyclopedia, which is dated 1864, though it notices the 

 beginnings of a recently developed appearance of progress in Spain, 

 states that agriculture there is still in its infancy, notices the continuance 

 of the Meata and other institutions of the Middle Ages, and chronicles 

 the then recent conservative reaction typified by the restoration to the 

 Church of all the lands that had not been sold.f 



In brief, the picture of Spain, which is obtained from the usual works 

 of reference on the subject, depended upon, or accessible to, the Ameri- 

 cm student, is that of a Spain still sleeping the sleep of the centuries. 



But this picture is incorrect. Since the date of these works, or of the 

 information which they contain, Spain has made, what is for her, enor- 

 mous progress. From absolutism to constitutionalism was .for her but a 

 single jump, and not like France in 1789 through a Reign of Terror, but 

 by the progressive steps of an orderly and deliberate revolution. This 



* The following tables, though obviously imperfect, may nevertheless afford an indi- 

 cation of the backward sjcial condition of Spain previous to recent changes : 



Drones in Spain. 



Classes of Drones. 



Smugglers, etc 



(Justom Officers 



Domestic Servants . .. 



Student Beggars 



Beggars 



Monlis 



Nuns 



Other Ecclesiastical.. 



Vagabonds 



Inquisitors 



Ofllcers ot Inquisition 

 "Wandering Convicts. 



Army and J?^avy 



Nobility 



Year 1797. 

 Macg'-egor, p. 994, 

 and JVJ 'CuUoch, 840. 

 100,000 

 40,000 

 300,000 

 60,000 

 100,000 

 61,617 

 32,500 

 81,803 



2,705. 



500,000 

 350,000 



The classification involves questions of opinion and taste in which I am far from 

 agreeing with the writers from whom I quote.. 



The following table, from various authorities, shows the ecclesiastical population of 

 Spain at various dates : 

 Year. Number. Year. Number. 



1787 188,625 1857 125,000 



1803 203,298 1862 39,885 



1833 175,574 1870 



Without feeling at all certain of the accuracy of these numbers, I think it safe to con- 

 clude that since 1855 the porportion of ecclesiastics in Spain has very materially 

 decreased. 



. t These lands were again taken from the Church and sold, the Church receiving an 

 equivalent for them in money. During the subsequent civil war this payment was 

 stopped. Upon the recent accession of Alfonso XII, it was resumed. The substantial 

 point of the whole history is that the people haye got the lands and no reaction can 

 deprive them of them. 



