202 



INCIDENTS OP TRAVEL. 



large chair, two secretaries at a table beneath, and on 

 the wall were the arms of the republic, the groundwork 

 of which was three volcanoes, emblematic, I suppose, 

 of the combustible state of the country. The deputies 

 sat on each side, about thirty being present, nearly half 

 of whom were priests, with black gowns and caps ; and 

 by the dull light the scene carried me back to the dark 

 ages, and seemed a meeting of inquisitors. 



The subject under discussion was a motion to revive 

 the old law of tithes, which had been abolished by the 

 Liberal party. The law was passed unanimously ; but 

 there was a discussion upon a motion to appropriate a 

 small part of the proceeds for the support of hospitals 

 for the poor. The priests took part in the discussion, 

 and with liberal sentiments ; a lay member, with big 

 black whiskers, opposed it, saying that the Church 

 stood like a light in darkness ; and the Marquis Ayci- 

 nena, a priest and the leading member of the party, 

 said that " what was raised for God should be given 

 to God alone." There was another discussion upon the 

 point whether the law should operate upon cattle then 

 in being or to be born thereafter ; and, finally, as to the 

 means of enforcing it. One gentleman contended that 

 coercive measures should not be used, and, with a fine 

 burst of eloquence, said that reliance might be placed 

 upon the religious feelings of the people, and that the 

 poorest Indian would come forward and contribute his 

 mite ; but the Assembly decided that the law should be 

 enforced by Las leyes antiguas de los Espagnoles, the 

 old laws of the Spaniards, the severities of which had 

 been one of the great causes of revolution in all Span- 

 ish countries. There was something horrible in this 

 retrograde legislation. I could hardly realize that, in 

 the nineteenth century, men of sense, and in a country 



