the ministers of the God of peace: citizens, who had already paid the debt of nature, insulted in their memory, and their mouldering remnants of mortality dug out to public scorn; whole generations condemned to mendicity and infamy, even before they had commenced their existence; blazing piles of faggots, enkindled by the breath of implacable vengeance, hidden under the parade of charity—such have been the component parts which have formed the plan, and such the deeds of this formidable and bloody tribunal. And can that government be called just and beneficent, which suffers the Inquisition to rankle in its bosom?" FOOTNOTES: [24] The following is an extract from this interesting paper. "What is it that princes wait for, in order to prove that the religion of Jesus Christ is not indifferent to them, by promoting a salutary reform? We have been forbidden to speak the truth; the edifice raised by the apostles has been destroyed; the word of God is belied; the majesty of his precepts is diminished; the fruit of the cross, as far as regards the popes, rendered useless; great and unimaginable abuses have been introduced; and, in short, all the divine and human rights have been confounded. Who therefore can be so great an enemy to the name of Christ, as to behold all this, and still remain silent? Or who would not wish, since he is unable to remedy it, rather to die, than be held as an accomplice in so much iniquity? With regard to myself, I can assert, that I shall never regret having undertaken the defence of the gospel, whatever may be the danger to which I am thereby exposed. Here thou hast me: oh! executioner, tie my hands, cover my head, discharge thy axe on my neck, since I voluntarily offer myself to the anger of the popes, as well as to the torments they may seek to inflict upon me. And if with my death they are not satiated, and should wish to see my entrails torn to pieces, and converted into ashes, here thou hast me; oh! executioner, approach I will endure all." [25] The trial is given in full by Llorente, from which the above is taken. CHAPTER VIII. Portuguese "holy tribunal"—imprisonment of Dellon in the Inquisition at Goa—preparations for celebrating an auto-da-fé—order of the procession—Dellon's sentence mitigated, and publicly read—penances enjoined upon him at his liberation. There are some shades of difference between the procedure of the Inquisitors in Spain, and that of those in Portugal. To enumerate these, however, would afford little gratification to the reader. We shall therefore now proceed to give some account of the sufferings of Dellon, a French gentleman, who was imprisoned in 1673, in the Inquisition at Goa, a city in the East Indies, which will throw sufficient light on the Portuguese holy tribunal.