THE SPANISH PRESS —LETTER FROM MATAMOROS— DEFENSE BY HIS ADVOCATE BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL AT GRANADA
THE Spanish Press gave no uncertain sound in this great religious question, of such transcendental importance to Spain. The editor of the Clamor Publico, Don Fernando Corradi, supported and pleaded for the oppressed in many excellent articles. In a letter to Matamoros about the same time, he says:—
"Because I have defended, and continue to defend, religious liberty, I have been threatened even with death. Because I have supported your cause, they are endeavoring to ruin my family with violent exactions." In one year only, this newspaper was fined to the extent of £800 sterling, but in spite of all it held on its way bravely. Matamoros, in commenting on the rigor of the Spanish Government in his case, says:" Why does not the Government ask for the official documents in a case where the superstitious and intolerant action of the tribunal is thrown into the balance? That tribunal is entirely composed of Neo-Catholics, and that particular section of them who, in Spain, defend the stake and the Inquisition, and in every act its intolerant spirit is manifested. Its hatred to Christians, and the intimate assurance that they are doing good to their souls by endeavoring to exterminate us, is already contributing, and will contribute, to bias the sentence passed upon us as Protestants. To ask from the friends and supporters of the Inquisition justice for Protestants, is like asking the Pope to canonize Luther. Our Spanish churches are animated by a noble and generous spirit, which is not easy to describe, and the Malaga prisoners are setting an excellent example. The persecuted, who have been hiding for months from the rage of their enemies, are now even desirous of appearing before the tribunals, without dreading in the least the consequences. Oh, brother of my heart, all this is unspeakably precious, and assures to us happy results. This discourages tyranny, although it stirs it up to greater wrath. My beloved brothers write to me to say that they wish to imitate my example, that they wish to come into prison to suffer with me; and the poor people attribute their valor to my exhortations and conduct. Poor dear people, they owe nothing to me, but all to God, who gives them His Holy Spirit. Comprehending the weakness of the human heart and the infant state of the Spanish Church, I have labored much more than you could believe, that this church should be firm in Jesus, and might give a worthy example to the world. I have prayed much to the Lord to help me in this respect, and He has heard my prayer. You cannot imagine how profound are the sympathies evinced in all parts of Europe towards us; they are manifested by various acts and under different auspices. In the midst of all these things the enemy is exhausting all the means of wrath against us, but this gives a contrary result to that which they propose.
"From Amsterdam, the Hague, and Rotterdam, I receive letters constantly, which are eminently consolatory to me, which I answer, and publicity is given to all my communications in Holland. The consistory of the Free Church at Amsterdam, in answer to a letter of mine, in which I begged them to help us in our evangelical labors in Spain, answered me that, though they had neglected to do so up to this present time, they would nevertheless in the future remember Spain. So that even if I do die, I shall die happy when I think that in every place people are taking an interest in the spiritual welfare of Spain. The suffering prisoners of Malaga have again written to me, in such a happy strain. Their letters reveal such a spirit of Christian resignation, and are neither more nor less than the expression of that holy joy that inspires them with such deep love and gratitude to you all, and with the most complete and decided faith. Oh, I am so thankful for all this; it is for me a motive of interminable joy in Jesus to witness the noble spectacle they are giving to the world, of faithfulness in their chains, and I have not words to express my thankfulness to the Lord for this. I bow my knee before our heavenly Father for them, and my heart is full to overflowing with these pure emotions. I am so happy, yes, more than happy; something so wonderful that I cannot explain it, but it is, beloved friend, my rejoicing in Jesus, the fountain of all joy, and superior to all. When, on the other hand, I meditate on the spectacle presented by the Church of Christ in all places to the unbelieving world, that world which rushing headlong downwards loses itself at last in the dark and solitary valley of death, my gratitude to God gains strength and humbleness, and I begin to understand that, grateful as I may have been to Him, I can never be grateful enough; and now, while my enemies rejoice in my grief and in that of all my dear brothers, while they are exhausting the dregs of their wrath, I see, on the other hand, many thousand hearts bending humbly before the Lord in prayer for the poor martyrs, dropping tears of love at the remembrance of their sorrows, giving an example of faith, and saying to the world, Do your worst; we pity you, we pardon you, and not by force, but by prayer, we shall be more than conquerors. And what can I say to you about that zeal which is manifested by you all in supporting the numerous families of the imprisoned? Oh, beloved brother, I cannot find words to signify to you all I feel on this head. When I see so many families who would have been exposed to the greatest misery, now, thanks to your charity, enabled to bring their husbands, sons, and brothers in bonds, the food they so much want, that bread which the angry hands of their enemies had deprived them of, by taking from their midst the worthy bread-earners, who, through the sweat of their brows, provided for them; when I consider that now, though the father is imprisoned, vexed, and tormented, his heart is at least not torn by the idea of the misery of his children and of his wife, that our enemies cannot rejoice in their complete destitution as they can do in our martyrdom; and when I consider that all this is in answer to prayer, and what a brilliant spectacle this Christian love presents which springs from faith in Jesus, I rejoice with true evangelic joy.
"I am glad to hear that you liked the defense my advocate made in my case. It has been printed, and is a document that has made a deep impression on the minds of Spaniards; and though the advocate is a Roman Catholic, this seems to have given it more weight, for it is so compact.”
The Defense of Don Manuel Matamoros Before the Tribunal of Granada.
The Advocate, D. Antonio Moreno y Diaz (whom the editor of the Clamor Public calls "a person well known in Granada for his faith in the sacred dogmas of the Catholic religion which we profess, for the moderation of his ideas, and for the independence of his character"), having stated the case in the usual legal terms, thus proceeds:—
“Our position at this moment is critical in the highest degree, delicate beyond belief, and in many respects most embarrassing. We are about to defend a worthy man and a noble cause, but the man is not known, and is therefore all but abhorred by ignorant minds, and the cause is terrifying those fanatics who refuse to comprehend it.
“The ministerial voice has said, An attempt has been made to change in our beloved country the Catholic faith, and to substitute for it that which Protestants profess; and the very mention of such a crime causes deep pain to every good Spaniard. The religious unity of the nation, our most deeply-rooted and venerable faith—that which our ancestors left to us—that which has borne our banners from pole to pole unsullied, and with honor and glory—that faith which reconquered our land, and rescued it from the hands of the infidels—that which bore civilization to the New World—that religion which our fundamental laws declare to be the true, the only one—some unfortunates have attempted to overturn, substituting in its place error, disorder, and chaos. Instead of the Catholic unity, this great blessing, the envy of all, which we have been able to preserve in the midst of the perturbations and schisms which have afflicted Europe, they seek to give us anarchy; and by breaking the sacred chains of the obedience due to the Holy See, to destroy that principle of authority, already, alas! much weakened.'
“How, then, if the crime is so horrible, if the work in question will lead to such horrible disorders, how do we dare, notwithstanding, to support the cause of him whom the representative of the law would no doubt call the worst of the enemies of our past glories, of our beloved country, and of the religion of our ancestors? It is true that we, who glory in the name of Catholics and Spaniards, and who would rejoice to declare ourselves such, as much to-day as yesterday, by word and deed, in the secret of our consciences as before the whole world, we cannot but shudder at the picture of the crime and its authors, which the official pen of the zealous functionary to whom we allude has sketched for us.
“But our view of these things is, by good or bad fortune, so totally different from his, and our inexperience or our good faith has caused us to adopt such convictions on this subject, that, terrible as may be the prospect, and many the catastrophes set before us, nothing will make us waver from our point.
“We undertake the defense of Don Manuel Matamoros Garcia not only without uneasiness, but with satisfaction, and though we feel that this noble task may call forth censures which we have not received when we have pleaded for unfortunate criminals who have expiated their guilt on the shameful scaffold, yet we live in the firm hope that, if we succeed in gaining a favorable result, our efforts will have been more truly profitable to the Church and the State than are all these passionate accusations and these terrible sentences which weigh down those who are persecuted in Spain for their religious opinions, to the astonishment and alarm of civilized Europe.
“From a long series of prolix observations which we have made upon the past and present life of our client, we have arrived at the positive conviction that while he resists with indescribable tenacity every effort which is made to overcome him by force, we may hope everything from him if he is treated with gentleness and persuaded with reason. He is still very young, imaginative, ardent, gentle, and of noble sentiments, with a soul, unfortunately, of a class but too rare in the world; and in the heyday of his youth he sacrifices himself at the altar of an idea, which we will not specifically describe, but which, even if realized, would produce neither anarchy, disorder, nor chaos.
“He dearly loves his fatherland, and is interested, as is every good Spaniard, in its prosperity, its renown, and its glory, but he desires to see Spain free in an absolute sense; that is, enjoying the peace, and the benefits, and the admirable harmonies which result in a civilized nation from the knowledge and the practice of the doctrines of the gospel. This, and no other, is the beautiful ideal of his illusions, as we shall hope to prove. Those who do not know him—those who, having never seen him, judge of him by what the ignorant vulgar say—may perhaps stigmatize him as a visionary, an innovator, a madman, a heretic, or an apostate. But we must oppose the torrent of public opinion in this question, and declare our belief that he is a worthy man. We have several reasons for so believing. The first, because everyone is worthy who, like Don Manuel Matamoros, aspires continually to benefit mankind, presenting constantly health and life with the words and the example of Him who redeemed us at Golgotha. Secondly, because we believe no other epithet can be applied to him who carries a treasury of goodness within him, and who practices, as if by instinct, the Christian virtues where of we are the admiring witnesses. And thirdly because, apart from all this, we must remember that more than once he has desired to immolate himself in the place of his companions in misfortune, and has asked for pity for them and their families, while, with chivalrous enthusiasm and sublime resignation, he has proclaimed himself the sole author of the crime for which they are accused, and the only person responsible for all its consequences; and fourthly, and lastly, because it is impossible to withhold respect from a young man who, like our client, has borne with nobility of soul all the hard and constant sufferings which have been his lot in the disgraceful imprisonment which he has endured.
“The majority of enlightened persons of this country for whom toleration is a dogma, and all those neighboring nations where this precious conquest of modern days exercises all its salutary influence, these have no sooner learned that the prisons of Andalusia are filled with unfortunates who are persecuted for their religious opinions, than they were deeply moved, and have not ceased since then to intercede for them by the press, from the tribune, and even in high official places.
“This case, then, is of such intrinsic importance, and has acquired so much interest, that not only those whose fate will be decided by its results, but also all the nations of Europe, are waiting with anxiety and with impatience for its termination.
“With impatience because they wish to see these unhappy prisoners at once set free; and with anxiety because they tremble lest, in the middle of the nineteenth century, and in a nation so cultivated, so noble, and so generous as that which inhabits the Iberian peninsula, the sorrowful spectacle should be presented of certain honorable citizens condemned to heavy punishments for the single crime of professing a religion which is not the religion of the State.
“Our examination must rest upon three points—the existence of the crime, the legality of the proceedings employed for its discovery, and the justice of the penalties enacted for its punishment.
“As regards the first particular, let us hear how the representative of the law argues. He desires to prove that Don Manuel Matamoros unreasonably complains of intolerance. He affirms that in Spain no one is punished for their religious belief, though openly manifested and heterodox, as long as they do not publicly apostatize. Afterward, comparing the conduct of Luther with that of the prisoners, he says 'But Matamoros and his associates, forgetting the faith of their ancestors, and without any external cause for irritation or exasperation, preached their errors, catechized the incautious, established Protestant churches, each severally and all together forming associations prohibited by the law.' Then triumphantly he continues, 'The prisoners must know and understand that they are not accused for their religious faith, nor for having manifested it; but because they have attempted to change the religion of the State, and have practiced external and abstract acts, and of which the direct result would be such a change.' Finally, as if to give a clear and precise formula of his opinions in the matter, he asserts that, 'When one or more persons propagate doctrines contrary to the most holy dogmas of our faith as the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church teaches, they commit the crime which comes under the 128th article of the code.'
“In Spain we are no longer in the times of Torquemada! For arbitrary authority can no longer call itself law, and the ominous tribunal of the holy offices no longer takes account of offenses against religion. If such offenses exist now, they are properly classified and punished by the penal code, and the magistrates and judges, whose duty it is to administer justice, must regulate their decisions by its decrees.
“Our fundamental law lays down the principle that the only religion of the State is the Roman Catholic Apostolic, and the penal code punishes not alone any who attempt to abolish or alter it (Art. 128), but also all who shall publicly apostatize from it (Art. 136), and also those, who, having propagated doctrines or maxims contrary to its dogmas, shall persist in publishing such after they have been condemned by the ecclesiastical authorities (130). These are the three chief offenses against religion which are noted by our code, and of which of these is Don Manuel Matamoros accused'?
“In the world of speculation an arena is open to all intelligence by means of discussion. To believe or to doubt, to accept as good or to reject as evil, to admit as suitable or to shut out as prejudicial, ideas and theories, are movements and evolutions of our mind which cannot be contained within bounds without tyrannizing over conscience and impeding the necessary onward progress of humanity. Man must have, by an inalienable right of his existence, full liberty to think, full liberty to express his thoughts, full liberty to discuss them, full liberty to adhere to what he thinks best, and full liberty, in short, to associate himself with those who believe as he does. There is no danger that he will go astray in the path, for all who have studied, known, or thought anything about the mind of man, will recognize that he is not less rebellious against the reason of force than submissive to the force of reason; and thus guided by reason, and shielded by faith, he can go safely forth into the arena where ideas, principles, and doctrines are struggling together, and he arrives at the knowledge of the good, the useful, and the true, in all branches of human wisdom. Hence, toleration is the rule in every civilized nation. Hence, there can be no political liberty without free discussion; and hence the need of the distinction between him who attacks any institution, and him who is not its partisan, and who may associate himself with others, to combat it on scientific grounds, to use his influence to reduce the number of those who oppose it, and to desire that it should succumb to, or be modified by, the benefit of public opinion.
"The letters of Don Francisco Ruet show us that the writer having announced to the Neophytes that their wish to be enrolled in the books of the Reformed Spanish Church has been fulfilled, proceeds to trace for them the line of their future conduct.
“'Every Spaniard,' he says, 'who is converted to the true faith must be a real missionary to his friends, and must strive with persuasive words, and by works of mercy, to convince many others.'
“Faithfully following this peaceful counsel, the members of the directive junta of the Reformed Church of Barcelona, in the circular which they addressed to other juntas and brothers in Spain, thus write:—‘If mutually and fraternally encouraging one another our faith fail not, perhaps we may be permitted to salute with hymns of jubilee the radiant aurora of the kingdom of God in our unhappy land. Let us labor then with ardor in the holy work of the evangelization of our brothers, and if our efforts appear barren, let us console ourselves with having done our duty to God and man as good and sincere believers. But no! we will fill the field with seed, and when God wills it shall bring forth fruit.
“'If we can do nothing else, let us sow the grain of mustard seed, and let us rejoice in the conviction that it is written that "the birds of the air shall lodge in the branches which grow from the least of all seeds." '
“Matamoros and Alhama, thoroughly agreeing with these bases in their correspondence, actions, and words, have constantly taught that the chief, if not the only principles of action which should be used, are the moral and religious education of the people, mutual concord amongst the afflicted, zeal in the preaching of gospel truth, and the constant practice of Christian virtues. Finally, the high praises which in their exposition to the Scotch committee they lavish upon young N—A—, all and only for his faith, his preaching, and the good fruits of the latter, which drew out a multitude of hearts to the love of Jesus Christ.
“Here, then, is all that Manuel Matamoros and his co-religionists have done, or have attempted—to convince many by persuasive words and good works; to evangelize—that is, to teach the people the doctrines of the crucified Lord; to encourage one another fraternally in this holy work, and do their duty as good and earnest believers, filling the field with the seed which should bear fruit in God's good time, and hoping, as the result of all, for the establishment of religious reformation, so that they might salute with hymns of joy the radiant aurora of the kingdom of God amongst us. Not one word of menace, not one subversive sentence, not one remotest thought can we trace, that they had realized, that they purposed to realize, one material exterior direct action which should in any way change or abolish in Spain the Roman Catholic and Apostolic religion.
“How, then, can Manuel Matamoros be accused as the author of this crime? How can he be supposed to deserve the penalty of eleven years' imprisonment?
“Now it will be easy to us to prove that, contrary to the opinions of the counsel for the Crown, Don Manuel Matamoros has but too good cause for complaining of cruelty, arbitrary and even inhuman treatment, practiced upon himself and others in the name of the law.
“There is no penal law in Spain against those who introduce, keep, or circulate prohibited books. Notwithstanding this, the civil governor of the province heard that some brought from San Roque were circulating in Granada. He gave verbal orders to a police agent to inquire and discover who were the individuals concerned in this. But this agent took upon himself powers which he neither possessed absolutely nor relatively, and having at midnight entered the house of Don Jose Alhama, searched it all through, and seized whatever letters and papers he could find, finally arrested the master of the house, and placed him in solitary confinement.
“By impartial reflection upon these facts—that a simple policeman, to verify a question, may invade the domestic hearth, search at his pleasure, tear away whatever books and papers he fancies, and finally drag away to a solitary dungeon an honorable citizen—are we not convinced that there has been here serious abuse, and the more censurable because its consequences have been so serious ' Where, are the laws that protect social men? Who ever imagined himself authorized to infringe and break them as this police agent did I And who was this man, to presume, on his own authority, to seize papers and books which were private property, to classify them as good or evil, to discover in them the proofs of the existence of a crime, and to take away to prison their owner?...
"But that is not all. Hardly had the name of Manuel Matamoros been found in these papers, when the civil governor of Barcelona (where our client then was) received a telegraphic order to search and seize him in like manner, and that he should be brought as a prisoner by stages to this capital. Very serious was this order to Senor Matamoros. His health was much broken, and two well-known and highly-esteemed medical men certified that his life would be endangered by the journey on foot of one hundred and seventy leagues, during the rigorous cold of that season. Anyone would have supposed that at least he would have been permitted to remain where he was till his health should have improved. Not at all—the order was given and must be obeyed. 'Let him come to Granada, ill or well,' was the only answer which the well-considered opinion of the medical men elicited. What would have happened if he had not been enabled to make this journey by sea? Where would he be now if he had traveled hither from Barcelona, on foot, chained in a gang of prisoners, and lodging with them in prisons on the road? Probably his name would have been sent forward—but nothing more.
“And yet the counsel for the Crown is astonished that he should complain! and affirms that complaints are unjustifiable.
“Truly, we would inform this gentleman that the sole reason for the interest which so many thousands are taking in this case, both within and without the Peninsula is, first, upon the very nature of the case itself, and then the luxury of persecution in which the authorities have indulged.
“It was not enough to drag Don Manuel Matamoros hither at a moment when he needed the most tender care from his family, there was still something to be done, and now one of the many military commissions, which began to act on their discretion after the affair at Loja, took upon itself to meddle here, and to implicate him. His situation was, for some time, terrible, in consequence of this new accusation. The fiscal-instructor lavished his in-communications' (orders to place the prisoner in solitary confinement); he resorted to every description of treachery to create the proofs of the imaginary crime; and having placed the fate of our client in the hands of wicked men and vile criminals, at last, fortunately, the case passed from the hands of its author and came before the ordinary tribunals, where it was immediately quashed, so evident, so palpable, so enormous was the injustice with which Don Manuel Matamoros had been persecuted.
“Without desiring to enter into any detail of the errors into which opposing parties run, or to present ourselves before the world as models of perfect Roman Catholic Apostolic believers, we affirm, as incontestable truth, that from the doctrines which our clients teach we should expect anything rather than bad citizens. As the basis of their propagandist Labors was ever to teach the maxims of the gospel, we may easily see that though their neophytes might not acquire a pure orthodoxy, they would, at least, receive an amount of religious instruction which is but too rare at present, and which could only tend to make them peaceful and useful members of society.
“And what more could a truly enlightened Government desire? What greater glory could we desire for our dear fatherland, eminently Catholic as it is, but where, we confess with grief and shame, there is so much ignorance, and indifference, and hypocrisy, than to see all its sons converted into faithful and obedient followers of the crucified Lord?
Truly, whoever thinks calmly on these things must agree that, if Don Manuel Matamoros is condemned to any penalty, he will not be punished for the harm that he did, but for the good that he desired to do. Farther, and this is very important, so unjust a sentence as this would injure rather than benefit the Church. We all know that the Catholic Apostolic and Roman religion is not the only ruling faith on earth, but that there are, unfortunately, not a few countries where it is either persecuted or only tolerated; and with what reason shall we demand that these persecutions should cease, and that under the wing of toleration the most holy dogmas of our faith should be preached, if we make a display and a glory of our intolerance by condemning to prison and the galleys those who incur the guilt of heresy or propagate its errors? We offend against the sanctity of our faith, against the belief which our ancestors bequeathed to us; which has crowned the brow of our country with laurels; which carried civilization to a new world; which is the first and best ornament of the Spanish nation, if we believed for an instant that it was necessary to use in its defense the rigor, the intolerance, and the tyranny of earthly powers.
“No! Our Mother Church suffices for herself, for she is borne in the arms of a supernatural strength. Seek the proof of this in the words of her Divine Founder; in the promise of the Holy Spirit, which never abandons her; in the grand code which contains her doctrines; and remember that a God-man cast the seed of the Church into the earth, that, watered with the blood of innumerable martyrs during centuries of horrible persecution, it should, at last, fill the face of the earth with the fruit of life eternal.
“If; then, in the name of our most holy religion, which is all mercy and gentleness, no tyranny or injustice can be practiced; if toleration is an essential dogma of Catholicism, and a powerful instrument in the development of the Church; and if, on the other hand, the clients in this case, at whose head stands Don Manuel Matamoros, in disseminating the doctrines which they profess, and which are those of the gospel, do society no harm, but rather instruct and improve it, we can come but to one conclusion, that the complete absolution of the prisoners is the only reasonable, just, and equitable termination to the affair.”