The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1909-02-11

enemies Of the Christian name. Not
so with the Spanlards; they remained
Christians and from their mountain
businesses they kept an incessant guer-
rilla warfare against the would.be de.
stpyers Of their religion and national.
lily. For eight centuries they never
stopped fighting until step by step
they had driven back the invaders
across the Gibraltar Straits.
Is 1t necessary to state that, In con.
sequence Of this terrible struggle, the
Spaniards had no special fondness for
the A1oslems? Rightly or wrongly
they became convinced that the MI.
merous Jews. living In the reconquer.
ed Provinces. were guilty Of helping
the Moors and Of keeping them inform
ell OF the movements Of the Christian
forces. Both 'Moslenls and Jews were
therefore enveloped In the same hered.
itary hatred Of the Spanish popula'
tiops.' Had not the Spanish rulers
held In check the spirit OF revenge OF
their subjects. instead Of the rigors
Of the InquIsltlon. we might read in
Spanish history 4 repetition Of the ST.
Gillian vespers t12S2) and an anticlpa'
tlon OF the s. Bartholomew (l572) and
OF the Kitchener massacres ut the
very dawn Of this XXth Century. HUI.
man nature is the same at all times
and everywhere. II injustice and cru.
city Is to be charged against the Span.
ish InquIsltion. this much Is to be said
to Its credit, that 1t prevented greater
calamitles. Voltaire himself does not
hesitate to acknowledge this In his
Essay on General History, vol. w..
chilli. OF course he inveighs against
the Inquisitlon; but ne adds: I'm
Spain during the XVlth and xVlTth
Centuries. there we're none OF those
bloody revolutions, those consplracies
and cruel vIsitations which were seen
in the other European countries. In
the beginning Of the NV1th Century
Spain saw the rest OF Europe ablaze
because OF the wars Of religion. BY
the lnaulsltion she escaped those hor'
ros which disgraced Germany, Eng
land and France. We should therefore
proceed very slowly before condemn.
Ing the Spanlards for having sustain
ed the InquisitIon as q political means
TO escape those horrors. .-,.
Far from me, however, to think Of
excusng any evil. ALL wish to state
is that owing to the policy adopted by
her rulers. SPAIN. in the XVltn and
Xv[Ith centuries. was more fortunate
than her sIster.natlons and in this Vol.
taire agrees with me. Ny object now
Is to prove, and this by uncontroverti.
Bile authorities, that the Spanish 1nqul.
sition was not an institution OF the
Catholic church. but a policy embrac,
ell by the rulers Of Spain to preserve
the unity and nationality OF their coun-
try: It cannot he denied. however. that
some OF the Spanish kings made use
of It 10 establish their absolutlsm: but
royal absolutism was then the order
OF the day.
The Roman lnqulsItlon had been In.
PRODUCED in Spain in the early part Of
the XIllth century. OF the period
preceding the reign OF Ferdinand the
Catholic, towards the end, OF the XVIII
century, little or nothing is said by
anti.Cathollc writer's. Speaking OF that
first period Of the InquIsitlon. Cham
ber's Encyclopedia sttaes that: Its
functions, however, in these times,
were little more than nominal
It.was in 1913 that Ferdinand estah'
llshed- that political tribunal, which
under cover OF religion, Is 50 well
known by It's rlgors III not at times BY