Catholicism Re-established in Spain.
One of the first acts of King Alfonso has been to sign decrees, providing for the payment of salaries out of the civil treasury to the Romish priests. The amount appropriated for this purpose, has been raised from 3,500,000 to 4,000,000 pezetas, or about $800,000. Thus, this impoverished country is to be taxed to the amount of nearly a million of dollars annually for the support of the priests. The king declares that, while giving support and respect to the Catholic clergy, he desires firmly to retain religious liberty as it exists in the most civilized countries. Time will reveal the sincerity of this declaration. There was no religious liberty for Protestants under his mother's rule. There is little reason to hope that this youth of seventeen will be any less subservient to the clerical party, who have been—it is easy to see why—his steadfast partisans.