At The Expiration Of That Period I Received
Information That My Proceedings Were Known In Segovia, In Which
Province Abades Is Situated, And That An Order Was About To Be Sent
To The Alcalde To Seize All Books In My Possession.
Whereupon,
notwithstanding that it was late in the evening, I decamped with
all my people, and upwards of three hundred Testaments, having a
few hours previously received a fresh supply from Madrid.
That
night we passed in the fields, and next morning proceeded to
Labajos, a village on the high road from Madrid to Valladolid. In
this place we offered no books for sale, but contented ourselves
with supplying the neighbouring villages with the word of God: we
likewise sold it in the highways.
We had not been at Labajos a week, during which time we were
remarkably successful, when the Carlist chieftain, Balmaseda, at
the head of his cavalry, made his desperate inroad into the
southern part of Old Castile, dashing down like an avalanche from
the pine-woods of Soria. I was present at all the horrors which
ensued, - the sack of Arrevalo, and the forcible entry into Martin
Munoz. Amidst these terrible scenes we continued our labours.
Suddenly I lost Lopez for three days, and suffered dreadful anxiety
on his account, imagining that he had been shot by the Carlists; at
last I heard that he was in prison at Villallos, three leagues
distant. The steps which I took to rescue him will be found
detailed in a communication, which I deemed it my duty to transmit
to Lord William Hervey, who, in the absence of Sir George Villiers,
now became Earl of Clarendon, fulfilled the duties of minister at
Madrid:-
LABAJOS, PROVINCE OF SEGOVIA,
August 23, 1838.
My Lord, - I beg leave to call your attention to the following
facts. On the 21st inst. I received information that a person in
my employ, of the name of Juan Lopez, had been thrown into the
prison of Villallos, in the province of Avila, by order of the cura
of that place. The crime with which he was charged was selling the
New Testament. I was at that time at Labajos, in the province of
Segovia, and the division of the factious chieftain Balmaseda was
in the immediate neighbourhood. On the 22nd, I mounted my horse
and rode to Villallos, a distance of three leagues. On my arrival
there, I found that Lopez had been removed from the prison to a
private house. An order had arrived from the corregidor of Avila,
commanding that the person of Lopez should be set at liberty, and
that the books which had been found in his possession should be
alone detained. Nevertheless, in direct opposition to this order,
(a copy of which I herewith transmit,) the alcalde of Villallos, at
the instigation of the cura, refused to permit the said Lopez to
quit the place, either to proceed to Avila or in any other
direction. It had been hinted to Lopez that as the factious were
expected, it was intended on their arrival to denounce him to them
as a liberal, and to cause him to be sacrificed.
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