It is said that Carlos Tercero was no friend to
superstition; yet how little did Spain during his time gain in
religious liberty! The great part of the nation remained
intolerant and theocratic as before, the other and smaller section
turned philosophic, but after the insane manner of the French
revolutionists, intolerant in its incredulity, and believing more
in the ENCYCLOPEDIE than in the Gospel of the Nazarene.' (41)
We should not have said thus much of Carlos Tercero, whose
character has been extravagantly praised by the multitude, and
severely criticised by the discerning few who look deeper than the
surface of things, if a law passed during his reign did not connect
him intimately with the history of the Gitanos, whose condition to
a certain extent it has already altered, and over whose future
destinies there can be no doubt that it will exert considerable
influence. Whether Carlos Tercero had anything farther to do with
its enactment than subscribing it with his own hand, is a point
difficult to determine; the chances are that he had not; there is
damning evidence to prove that in many respects he was a mere
Nimrod, and it is not probable that such a character would occupy
his thoughts much with plans for the welfare of his people,
especially such a class as the Gitanos, however willing to build
public edifices, gratifying to his vanity, with the money which a
provident predecessor had amassed.
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