Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 54: Chapter 53: Hard to Prove Guilt, Even Harder to Prove Innocence

Inside the grand and opulent Madrid Royal Palace, a dialogue filled with implicit meaning is unfolding.

“Your Majesty, what is Prime Minister Prim trying to achieve? Is he going to destroy the entire Spanish Church?” Archbishop Pedro displayed his innocence and indignation the moment he saw Carlo, attempting to win Carlo’s sympathy.

“What has happened, Bishop Pedro?” Carlo certainly understood what the church was suffering, and he was indeed one of the architects of the church purge plan.

But at this critical juncture, it’s better to feign ignorance. At least all of Archbishop Pedro’s indignation was directed at Prime Minister Prim, ensuring Carlo would suffer no loss.

“I understand the assassination of Prime Minister Prim is a serious matter, but capturing the bishops of the church without evidence?

Your Majesty, the government has already arrested more than ten bishops, and the arrests are still ongoing. If you don’t intervene, I fear I, too, will be captured by Prime Minister Prim.” Archbishop Pedro continued to speak.

“Is it that serious? Bishop Pedro. I agreed to the full-scale search in Madrid, and if bishops are arrested, they must have suspicions, right?

If you have any doubts, you can protest to Prime Minister Prim. Marquis Prim is not a man of arbitrary decisions, and if you can prove the innocence of those bishops, the government will surely release them.” Carlo would not obstruct Prim’s purge of the church; the best way is to pass the responsibility to Prim.

Carlo’s meaning was quite simple. If Archbishop Pedro possesses sufficient evidence to prove those bishops are innocent, he can pressure Prime Minister Prim to demand the government release the church personnel.

But the difficulty lies precisely here.

Although Prime Minister Prim lacks complete evidence to prove the church’s culpability, it’s still quite easy to present some evidence and pin charges on these church personnel.

Proving guilt is difficult; proving innocence is even harder.

Archbishop Pedro clearly lacks sufficient evidence to prove the innocence of those church members, which means Prime Minister Prim has ample evidence to continue detaining those members.

Realizing he couldn’t find any sympathy or protection from Carlo, Archbishop Pedro finally understood the gravity of the situation.

Either Carlo genuinely understood nothing and naïvely believed the government’s arrests were justified,

or Carlo understood everything, and the arrests of church personnel were coordinated between Carlo and the government, aiming to settle accounts with the church.

Regardless of the outcome, neither are favorable for the current church and Archbishop Pedro.

If he fails to secure the king’s support, relying solely on the church’s power to oppose the current government is akin to eggs hitting stones.

Just the fact that Prim controls the military determines that the church cannot compete with the government.

Moreover, Carlo’s words reminded Archbishop Pedro: compared to the church, the government is clearly on the public’s side.

Isn’t a full-scale city search following the prime minister’s assassination reasonable? Isn’t arresting suspects during the search reasonable?

As for why most of those arrested are church personnel, why should the government bear any responsibility?

Unless Archbishop Pedro can prove that all the detained personnel are innocent, the church will bear the burden of being suspected of conspiring to murder the prime minister.

Seeing Carlo with a calm smile, Archbishop Pedro realized clearly that the young king before him was feigning ignorance.

Archbishop Pedro was certain that most of the church members were unrelated to the assassination, as the church leaders knew nothing about it.

But, at the moment, the church cannot shake off the suspicion because the only victim of Prim’s reforms, which involve abolishing tithes, is Spain’s church.

The church, dissatisfied with the government’s abolition of tithes, seems to have a very reasonable motive to assassinate Prim, who pushed the reforms, in an attempt to restore tithe payments.

No matter how Archbishop Pedro and the church argue, they cannot rid themselves of suspicion and can only passively endure the situation.

After leaving the palace, Archbishop Pedro sighed and decided to visit Prim’s residence to seek a solution to the matter.

At this moment, the church was at a loss for words, but allowing the government’s arrests of church members is absolutely unacceptable.

The only solution is to engage in talks with Prim, and reach a compromise on certain interests to exchange for the government ceasing their arrests of church members.

Prim isn’t just a simple military man. Archbishop Pedro understood that even if they resolved the event through negotiations with Prim, it would still inevitably cost the church immense interests.

But at this moment, there is no other way. If the church were at its peak, Archbishop Pedro would stand up to the government without retreating.

Unfortunately, the influence of religion on the populace has significantly waned, and there is currently no power to overthrow the government.

More importantly, even the Pope is trapped in the Vatican Palace, what can these archbishops possibly do?

Facts have proven that ecclesiastical power can no longer be compared to political power. Before the gigantic institution of the national government, religious forces must retreat and inevitably retreat.

Inside Prim’s residence, Prime Minister Prim was inquiring about the situation regarding arrests.

Upon hearing Archbishop Pedro’s request for a meeting, Prim smiled, unsurprised.

“Esteemed Prime Minister, when will you cease the arrests of church members?” Pedro entered the room, angry, and extremely dissatisfied with the government’s actions.

“Bishop Pedro, shouldn’t you be asking the bishops of the church? When all the stragglers are caught, that’s when the police will cease their actions.” Prim smiled as he spoke.

“Prime Minister, you’ve arrested church personnel, the church’s bishops, not the traitors who plotted the assassination! I hope you can give me a reasonable explanation; is this how you treat God’s faithful followers?” Archbishop Pedro endeavored to keep himself in a proactive stance, constantly challenging Prim.

“No, Bishop Pedro. If they are unrelated to the assassination, I’m sure no police would approach them. If you want to absolve them, you must bring sufficient evidence.” Prime Minister Prim wasn’t a weak man; upon hearing Archbishop Pedro’s persistent questioning, he stood up and sneered.

“If you don’t have enough evidence to prove their innocence, can I assume you’re challenging the government’s authority for these bishops?”