clergy. An earnest address to the clerical body both regular and secular was published by three priests, in which after lamenting the prevailing spirit among the people, to penetrate into mysteries, and both in public and in private to ridicule the dogmas of religion, they call upon their brethren to exert themselves with fresh vigour, and unitedly to oppose the new doctrine. These efforts have however produced little effect in arresting the progress of the contagion, which is rapidly spreading far and wide. San Salvador, at present in a state of complete anarchy, sends forth a weekly newspaper in which the authority of the pope, the celibacy of the clergy, and monastic institutions are openly ridiculed, and quotations from Voltaire striking at the root of all religion, are constantly inserted.
In the midst of these ominous events, the archbishop under the influence of that infatuation which so frequently clings to men in desperate circumstances, has threatened to excommunicate all who obey the new bishop, and has published a violent sermon in defence of the Pope. A few extracts may not be uninteresting. In the dedication to the most holy father Leo XII. the archbishop, after rejoicing in the zeal with which his holiness has defended the rights of the chair of St. Peter, adds, “We pray that holy apostle that he may obtain from God for you long life and
