The New York herald., 1869-05-07

RELIGIOUS Freedo. and Presress In spain.
BY telegram from Madrid, dated yester-
day, we learn the important fact that the
Cortes has voted the article of the new con-
stitution guaranteeing liberty Of worship and
consequent freedom of conscience, the most
vital to the permanency of the national resus-
citation, by majority of one hundred and
sixty-four to forty votes. 1t was also agreed
to postpone the contemplated changes in the
| Cabinet.
1t is evident from the discussions in the
Cortes that the revolution in Spain has lost
little, and perhaps none, of its intellectual
force, and that under its guidance the country
is about to abandon the exceptional position
she has so long occupied in modern Europe as
| religio-proscriptive nation. This policy was
| consolidated by Ferdinand and Isabella imme-
| diately after their final triumph over the Moors.
| In violation of the terms of surrender and OF
| their own royal promises Moors and Jews
alike were made objects of the bitterest perse-
cution. The result was that while those mon
archs secured the political union that consti-
tutes the present kingdom they established
the intellectual thraldOm which engendered
decay. The revolution of September drove
out together the Bourbons, who had inherited
the dynastic theories of the house of Austria,
and the Jesuits and other monastic orders
which inculcate intellectual prescription.
To-day the Spanish nation demands, through
its orators and its free press, religious disen-
thralment which shall recognize not only free
dom of worship, but also philosophic and
scientific liberty, as the fountains of progress
in every branch of knowledge and practical
Improvement. 1t proclaims that the ancient
legislation and tradition are too severe in these
matters. and that the penalties of the existing
code must be removed Recognizing the fact
that the intellectual struggle Of the present
age is not a theological nor dogmatic strug
gle, but purely philosophic one, in which the
Romanist is not pitted against the Protestant,
or the Mohammedan against the Christian and
the Jew, it asks for freedom of teaching and
of the press. If the new government is estab-
lished on these foundations a new era will
begin for Spanish thought and Spanish nation
ality. The only danger lies in the tendency of
the people, so evident in Spanish history, to
convert everything into a political issue.
Spaniards have ever been fanatics in politics,
and espdn0liSms have ever been their test of
truth.
An abandonment Of that fanaticism is neces-
sary for the true disenthralment of Spain,
politically and intellectually. The growth and
product Of thought in other countries must
be recognized and admitted. As long as the
Spaniard measures every idea by his old
standard and rejects all that has not the
odor of espan0lisms liberty will be thing
unknown and progress impossible. We are
under the conviction that there is revou-
tion going on in Spain which is not pro-
claimed in the Cortes and yet has intimate
connection with the advance of the people
towards intellectual freedom. 1t is the revo-
luton being effected by the construction of
railroads and by the army of French cooks
and tailors which is overrunning the PENN
sula. These are doing more to break up the
old ruts of Spanish thought than any other
thing. They create new wants, new fields
of labor, new markets for existing products
and new demands upon the Spanish mind.
If the Cortes will remove the penalties
against free schools and free press which
to-day disgrace Spanish legislation we shall
hope for more permanent results in Spanish
progress than we can ever expect to find in
ostentatious discussions of abstract princi-
Piles and the proclamation of religious free
dom among people whose test Of patriotism
is sturdy belief in the old ruts.
As an Offset, however, to the pleasing
aspect of our earlier reports Of yesterday we
have, by second despatch, the news of the
discovery of Carlist conspiracy at Bar
celona, the arrest of military officers, and the
seizure of important details of the plan and
plot. In such respect Spain remains an I'M
happy land.
ID