Grand Inquisitor, the principal actor in this
atrocious drama might be servant of and solely answerable to the Pope;
as Don Luis Garcia, he was subject to Ferdinand and Isabella, and as
such amenable to the laws of Spain. A schedule was therefore drawn up,
stating that whereas the man commonly known as Don Luis Garcia, had
been convicted of many atrocious and capital crimes, and, amongst
the gravest, of having instigated and commanded the murder of Don
Ferdinand Morales, and done to death his own tool, the real committer
of the deed, that Arthur Stanley might be charged with, and executed
for, the same; the sovereigns of Spain called upon their loving
subjects--of every rank and every degree, in all and every part of the
realm--to unite in endeavoring to discover, and deliver up the said
Don Luis Garcia, to the rigor of the law. An enormous reward was
offered for delivering him alive into the hands of justice, and half
the sum, should he have resisted to the death. The proclamation was
made by sound of trumpet in various parts of Segovia, and copies sent,
with all possible speed, to every city, town, and even village, over
Spain. A correct description of his person accompanied the schedule,
and every possible measure was adopted that could tend to his
apprehension. So strong was the popular feeling against him that every
class, almost every individual, felt it a personal duty to assist, in
this case, the course of justice. He had deceived all men, and all men
in consequence leagued themselves against him. So secretly, and yet
so judiciously, were the plans for his seizure carried on, and so
universal the popular ferment, that it appeared marvellous how he
could have escaped; and yet weeks merged into months, and, though the
measures of the Santa Hermandad in no way relaxed, Don Luis was still
at large, and effectually concealed. We may here state at once--though
it carries us much in advance of our present scene--that Father
Francis resolved at all costs to purge the church of Spain from
this most unholy member; and, authorized by the sovereigns, made a
voluntary pilgrimage to the court of St. Peter's, obtained an audience
with the Pope, laid the case before him, and besought the penalty of
excommunication to be fulminated against the hypocrite who had dared
to use, as cover for most atrocious villany, the pure and sacred
ordinances of the church. Alexander the Sixth, himself a worker of
such awful crimes that he was lit