El Ensayo sobre las opiniones políticas en España de Antonio Escudero (1837), o el anticlericalismo rabioso de un liberal tibio

Abstract

In December 1837, a work of anti-Carlist propaganda entitled Essay on Political Opinion in Spain was published in Paris. By publishing it in France, its author, Antonio Escudero, was endeavouring to persuade the government of Louis Philippe to agree to give firmer support to the struggle of the Spanish Liberals, so that they could put an early end to the civil war that had been ravaging the country since 1833. However, the said Essay is also a damning indictment of the Spanish clergy, whom Escudero blames for all the ills that had affected his country since time immemorial. Therefore, the work serves to justify the religious policy of the cristinos and, since its author was a half-hearted Liberal, it also provides clearer and further proof of the fact that, by that time, a fierce anticlericalism had spread among the Liberal ranks, shared by both the progressives and the moderates.