“ of course that we should not concur. one of these is the intolerance of all but the Catholic religion; and no security provided against the reestablishment of an inquisition, the exclusive judge of Catholic opinions, and authorised to proscribe & punish those it shall deem a-catholic. 2 ^dly. the aristocracy, quater sublimata, of her legislators: for the ultimate electors of these will themselves have been three times sifted from the mass of the people, and may chuse from the nation at large persons never named by any of the electoral bodies. but there is one provision which will immortalise it’s inventors. it is that which, after a certain epoch, disfranchises every citizen who cannot read and write. this is new; and is the fruitful germ of the improvement of every thing good, and the correction of every thing imperfect in the present constitution. this will give you an enlightened people, and an energetic public opinion which will controul and enchain the aristocratic spirit of the government. on the whole I hail your country as now likely to resume and surpass it’s antient splendor among nations . . . ”

On June 3 Luis de Onis replied in a long discussion of the points raised in Jefferson’s letter.

On April 19, in a letter to N. G. Dufief, Jefferson had written: “ . . . I have been just reading the new constitution of Spain. one of it’s fundamental bases is expressed in these words. ‘the Roman Catholic religion, the only true one, is, & always shall be that of the Spanish nation. the government protects it by wise & just laws, and prohibits the exercise of any other whatever.’ now I wish this presented to those who question what you may sell, or we may buy, with a request to strike out the words ‘Roman catholic’ and to insert the denomination of their own religion. this would ascertain the code of dogmas which each wishes should domineer over the opinions of all others, & be taken like the Spanish religion, under the ‘protection of wise and just laws.’ it would shew to what they wish to reduce the liberty for which one generation has sacrificed life and happiness. it would present our boasted freedom of religion as a thing of theory only, & not of practice, as what would be a poor exchange for the theoretic thraldom, but practical freedom of Europe . . . ”

Two years later, in a letter to Dupont de Nemours, dated from Poplar Forest, April 24, 1816, Jefferson wrote: “ . . . In the constitution of Spain, as proposed by the late Cortes, there was a principle entirely new to me, and not noticed in yours. that no person, born after that day, should ever acquire the rights of citizenship until he could read and write. it is impossible sufficiently to estimate the wisdom of this provision. of all those which have been thought of for securing fidelity in the administration of the government, constant ralliance to the principles of the constitution, and progressive amendments with the progressive advances of the human mind, or changes in human affairs, it is the most effectual. enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body & mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. altho’ I do not, with some enthusiasts, believe that the human condition will ever advance to such a state of perfection as that there shall no longer be pain or vice in the world, yet I believe it susceptible of much improvement, and, most of all, in matters of government and religion; and that the diffusion of knolege among the people is to be the instrument by which it is to be effected. the constitution of the Cortes had defects enough; but when I saw in it this amendatory provision, I was satisfied all would come right in time, under it’s salutary operation . . . ”

The new Spanish constitution was sworn on March 19, 1812.

Chevalier Luis de Onis, 1769-1830, Spanish historian and author.