IMPRISONMENT OF A PROTESTANT CLERGYMAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 41, 17 February 1879, Page 4

IMPRISONMENT OF A PROTESTANT CLERGYMAN.

Mr A. J. Arnold writes from the< office of the Evangelical A Mantle,, xmser ] date November 4, upon the case of Mr G. S. Ben Oliel, the minister of a Spanish Protestant Church in Alcoy,; recently sentenced to a term of two months' imprisonment on a charge of' " disrespect to the authorities," arising out ot the interference of the parish priest with a dying woman, a member of the Protestant Church. Mr Ben. Oliel Bays that " the ceil is infested with bugs, worms, black beetles, fleas, and lice, which give me no rest either night or day. I have passed three nights which will never be forgotten by me. I have begged to be removed to another cell, but to no effect Neither judge, nor mfeyor nor gaoler baye ; taken*' ittiy, notice: Besides this, I have td 'add lhat they have not allowed me to bring a bedstead, but I am obliged to sleep on a mattrass on the ground, and am prohibited the use of a table, chair, kmfe and fork. Even the water is sup-

plied me iu a dirty and disgusting jug, I eat on the ground and write on my knees, They give me no light, and my friends are only allowed to speak to ma through a small hole at the door." In a second letter, dated the sth November, Mr Arnold writes :— " I hasten to inform you that we bave just received a letter from the Rev. G. S. Ben Oliel, Btating that he was released from his imprisonment on the 30th ult., the King having granted him a pardon. The prompt and energetic action of her Majesty's Government, through our Ambassador in Madrid, has, no doubt, led to this happy result, and thus Mr Beu Oliel has been spared the necessity of completing his terra of imprisonment — two months, For 32 days, however, he endured cruel treatment, in a filthy dungeon swarming with vermin ; and yet the Spanish authorities declared he was treated with ' every consideration. '