No sooner accordingly were the Inquisitors re-invested with power, than they began to display a similar spirit to that of their persecuting predecessors. On the 12th of February, 1815, they issued the following injunction to all confessors throughout European and American Spain. "1st, Each one is with the greatest efficacy to persuade the penitent to accuse himself before the said confessor, of all the errors or heresies into which he may have fallen, without promising him the benefit of absolution in any other form, assuring him of the inviolable secrecy he will keep, and which is kept in the holy office, and that the smallest injury shall not thence result to him; rather that this measure will serve as a means to prevent his being punished, in case he should be accused by any other person of the errors and heresies which it behoves him to manifest, and to which he otherwise stands liable. "2dly, In case he should consent, the confessor shall take down his declaration under oath to speak the truth, and the act shall bear the following heading: 'In the town of N., on such a day, month, and year, spontaneously appeared before me the undersigned confessor——(expressing his name, country, and profession.') The document shall then relate, in the most specific manner, all his errors and their accompanying circumstances, the time and place in which he may have committed them, seen, or heard them committed; and if any persons were present, they are to be named, and he is also to specify of them all he knows. He is then to sign his declaration, if he knows how; and, if not, he is to make a cross, but the confessor is always to sign it. "3dly, He (the confessor) shall cause him to abjure his heresy, and absolve him by reconciling him to the church; he shall moreover enjoin him secretly to confess all his errors, and impose on him such penance as he may deem fit; which being done, the whole is to be forwarded to the Holy Office. "Finally, if the most efficacious persuasions have not been able to prevail on the penitent, in case he should evince due signs of repentance and detestation of his offences, the confessor shall absolve him from excommunication in the _internal_ form only," (that is, not exempt him from the future prosecutions of the Inquisition,) "explaining this to him for his government and information. As soon as the statement of all this has been drawn up by the confessor, he is also to forward it to the Holy Office."