most ignorant, and
the most helpless in Europe. The death of Charles II., a miserable,
afflicted, superstitious, priest-ridden monarch, left Spain without a
king, and the vacant throne became the prize of any monarch in Europe
who could raise and send across the Pyrenees the largest army. It fell
into the power of Louis XIV., and the Bourbon princes have ever since
in vain attempted the restoration of the broken monarchy to its former
glory. But, alas, Spain has, since the spoliation of the Mexicans and
Peruvians, only a melancholy history--a history of crime, bigotry,
anarchy, and poverty. The Spaniards committed awful crimes in their
lust for gold and silver. "They had their request," but God, in his
retributive justice, "sent leanness into their souls."

* * * * *

For the history of Spain during the Austrian princes, see a
history in Lardner's Encyclopedia; Watson's Life of
Philip II.; James's Foreign Statesmen; Schiller's Revolt of
the Netherlands; Russell's Modern Europe; Prescott's
Conquest of Mexico and Peru.

CHAPTER IX.

THE JESUITS, AND THE PAPAL POWER IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

[Sidenote: The Roman Power in the Seventeenth Century.]

During the period we have just been considering, the most marked
peculiarity was, the struggle between Protestantism and Romanism. It
is true that objects of personal ambition also occupied the minds of
princes, and many great events occurred, which were not connected with
the struggles for religious liberty and light. But the great feature
of the age was the insurrection of human intelligence. There was a
spirit of innovation, which nothing could suppress, and this was
directed, in the main, to matters of religion. The conflict was not
between church and state, but between two great factions in each. "No
man asked whether another belonged to the same country as himself, but
whether he belonged to the same sect." Luther, Calvin, Zwingle, Knox,
Cranmer, and Bacon were the great pioneers in this march of
innovation. They wished to explode the ideas of the middle ages, in
philosophy and in religion. They made war upon the Roman Catholic
Church, as the great supporter and defender of old ideas. They
renounced her authority. She summoned her friends and vassals, rallied
all her forces, and, with desperate energy, resolved to put down the
spirit of reform. The struggles of the Protestants in England,
Germany, F