380 COFFEE. 



incubus, and have materially assisted to keep Spain back in the 

 march of progress which the civilized nations of the world have 

 been making during the present century. It is but a few months 

 since the influence of the church prevented the adoption of a sys- 

 tem of public education in Spain, and only a fgw days ago four 

 hundred Spanish Protestants, who had met for worship in a back 

 street in Cadiz to listen to a sermon from their pastor, were turned 

 out of doors by armed policemen and the service prohibited. It 

 seems that, according to an article of the Spanish Constitution, 

 such gatherings are illegal ; this article forbids every " public dis- 

 play of heretical teaching." "Protestants are not allowed to 

 make their places of worship known by any public placards ; " 

 they are "prohibited from worshipping with open doors," and 

 they " may not sing or pray so loud as to be heard in the streets." 

 So wide are the powers of repression given by this article, that it 

 would enable the police to seize any copy of the Protestant bible 

 which may be exposed for sale, or any literary work the clergy 

 may think calculated to injure the national faith. This, perhaps, 

 is hard for an American to believe, but, when in Madrid, I saw a 

 notice for the sale of indulgences publicly posted on the entrance- 

 doors of a church, together with a notice to the effect that all the 

 indulgences were to be obtained there which were for sale at a 

 rival church down the street. The state of affairs in Spain to-day 

 is another illustration of how ignorance and intolerance go hand 

 in hand, and it is evident that the opposition to public instruction 

 on the part of the Spanish clergy arises from a fear that they 

 would not be able to so absolutely control an intelligent popula- 

 tion as an ignorant one. Spain has a glorious climate, a fertile soil 

 on which can be grown almost every product of both temperate 

 and tropical climes ; is most favorably situated, when geograph- 

 ically considered, for commercial purposes, and yet she is behind 

 all the other principal nations of the earth. Educated Spaniards 

 are chivalrous and hospitable, and second to none in ability and 

 intelligence, but the mass of the people are sadly ignorant, and, 

 of course, correspondingly fanatical and cruel. 



In Yalencia I saw placards announcing cock-fights, " under the 

 auspices of the society for promoting the culture of game fowls," 

 and in all the principal cities everybody seemed to be anticipating 



