Robert Southey

ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES AT BAYONNE. CONSTITUTION OF BAYONNE. THE INTRUSIVE KING ENTERS SPAIN. BUONAPARTE RETURNS TO PARIS.

Buonaparte meantime regarded the insurrection of the Spaniards with apparent indifference: as yet he was too little acquainted with the nature of the country and the national character to apprehend any difficulty in reducing them to submission, and he proceeded to regulate the affairs of Spain as if the kingdom were completely at his disposal. Of the Notables who were ordered to Bayonne, some had been nominated by Murat, others delegated by the respective provinces, cities, or bodies which they were to represent. The Archbishops of Burgos and Seville were summoned; several bishops, the generals of all the religious orders, and about twenty of the inferior clergy. Most of the Grandees were summoned, and some of the titular nobles to represent the nobility. Some cities were to choose representatives for the Cavalleros, or gentry, others for the commercial part of the people. Deputies were also named for Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Buenos Ayres, and the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, each being a native of the province which he was called upon to represent. Azanza had been sent for by Buonaparte to give him information concerning the royal property; ?Azanza appointed President.? he was appointed president of the assembly, and considering the sentence of the old dynasty as irrevocably passed, devoted himself to the service of the new.

Urquijo also was summoned from his retirement. Not having been implicated in the intrigues of Ferdinand’s party, nor in their subsequent errors, he was more at liberty to choose his part; he had warned Ferdinand of the snare, and he had sufficient foresight to feel assured that Buonaparte’s intentions could not be effected without a severer struggle than had entered into his calculations. Had it been possible, he would have chosen to keep aloof and remain in tranquillity. But of tranquillity there was now no hope; and reluctantly obeying a third order, he repaired to Bayonne, persuading himself, that as the usurpation could not be prevented, the wisest course was to profit as much as possible by the change. For it was possible, he thought, to stipulate for conditions with the new dynasty, and dictate laws, and establish institutions, which would enable Spain to resume that rank among nations, to which the position and size and natural advantages of the country entitled it. Thus he deceived himself. Urquijo had always been too confident of his own talents; he wanted that unerring principle of religion which allows of no compromise with iniquity; and having in his youth entered heartily into the cause of revolutionary France, the theoretical republican ended in becoming a prime agent of the military despot of France, for the subjugation of his own country.

On his arrival he perceived that Buonaparte was very ill acquainted with the real state of Spain and the spirit which possessed the Spaniards; but he perceived also, that, like the people whom he had provoked, he was fixed in his purposes, and resolute in going through with what he had once begun. Urquijo truly and fairly represented to him the general discontent, the activity of the clergy, and more especially the regulars, in exciting the nation to arms, the probability of an obstinate and bloody struggle, and the likelihood that Austria would take advantage of it to renew the war, and that Russia would not remain inactive. These representations made no impression upon Buonaparte; he let Urquijo understand that the Emperor of Russia had given his consent to the deposition of the Bourbons, and the substitution of one of his family, when the peace of Tilsit was concluded; he spoke with severe contempt of Charles and Ferdinand and their ministers, especially Godoy, who in the last transactions at Bayonne had seemed solicitous for nothing but his own pension; he said he could have no reliance upon that family; and as to the opposition of the Spaniards, he plainly declared, that if they refused to acknowledge his brother for their King, he would dismember their country, or make an absolute conquest of it. If this language had been addressed to Urquijo from a distance, a generous indignation, an honest impulse of national feeling, might have saved him from dishonour. But he was within the magician’s circle; the frankness of the Emperor made him forgive his former treachery; ... towards him there was no duplicity or reserve; and when Buonaparte said that his brother would select the best and ablest men in Spain for his ministers, and added that he reckoned upon him, ?Nellerto. Mem. t. 2, Nos. 59, 67.? Urquijo confessed within himself, that though he desired repose, and foresaw danger, he should be compelled to accept of office.

Mazarredo was appointed minister of the marine, Azanza minister of finance, and General Cuesta viceroy of Mexico. These appointments were made before Joseph’s arrival; and when he was within a day’s journey of Bayonne, Buonaparte issued a decree proclaiming him King of Spain and of the Indies, and guaranteeing to him the independence and integrity of his dominions in the four quarters of the world. Joseph Buonaparte was an inoffensive unaspiring man, who, if he had been permitted to continue in a private station, would have gone through life obscurely and not unworthily, loved and respected by his family and friends. He had made himself popular at Naples, though the people of that city were attached to their legitimate King; and being established there with little of the responsibility, and none of the cares of government, he very unwillingly obeyed Napoleon’s summons to Bayonne. Lucien’s advice accorded entirely with his own feelings; and he came still with an intention of refusing the crown of Spain; but Napoleon, who was sure of his obedience, cared little for his consent or inclination; and when he arrived on the evening after the proclamation, he was received as King. The Emperor went out to meet him, and brought him in great state to the Castle of Marrac. ?The Notables receive him as King.? A deputation of the Grandees waited upon him, and the Duke del Infantado, at their head, assured him of the joy which they felt in presenting themselves before him. His presence, they said, was eagerly desired to fix all opinions, conciliate all interests, and re-establish that order which was necessary for the restoration of Spain. The Grandees of that country had been celebrated in all times for fidelity to their sovereign; and he would find in them the same fidelity and the same devotion. In like manner he was addressed by deputations from the Council of Castille, from the Councils of the Inquisition, the Indies, and the Treasury, and from the army. They told him the immensity of glory which was accumulated upon the head of his imperial brother had obscured that of all the heroes of antiquity; and that the choice which Napoleon had made of his august person, announced him to be endowed with those great qualities whereby thrones are supported and sceptres40 established.

Buonaparte required from these deputies, as their next service, an address to their countrymen, exhorting them to acknowledge the new King, and warning them of the evils of resistance, and the impossibility of making any successful opposition. “Dear Spaniards,” they said, “worthy compatriots, your families, your hearths, your fortunes, your property, your lives, are as dear and as precious to us as our own! We have been like you faithful and devoted to our former dynasty, till the term arrived which had been fixed by Providence, the absolute disposer of crowns and sceptres. The irresistible call of duty, and the desire of your welfare, has brought us to the presence of the invincible Emperor of France. We confess to you that the sight of his glory and his power might have dazzled us; yet we had determined to lay our supplications before him for the general good of our country. What was our surprise, when he prevented us, by proofs of benevolence and goodness, the more to be admired because of the greatness of his power! He has no other view than for our happiness. The sovereign whom he gives us is his august brother Joseph, whose virtues are the admiration of his subjects.” They proceeded to enumerate the blessings which he would confer upon them in the improvement of their finances, agriculture, and resources of every kind, the restoration of their military and naval strength, and the preservation of their religion in its exclusive purity. “And what,” they asked, “is the recompense which the great Emperor of the French requires from you in circumstances so important to the whole nation? That you remain quiet; that you take care of your families and your own concerns; that you do not abandon yourselves blindly to the dreadful disorders which are inseparable from popular commotions; that you wait with peaceable confidence that melioration of your fortune which you may expect from a virtuous monarch. Spaniards, look to yourselves and to your innocent children! What fruit can you hope to reap from the disturbances which rashness and malevolence are exciting? Anarchy is the severest of all chastisements which the Almighty inflicts upon mankind. No one disputes your courage; but without direction, without order, without unanimity, all efforts will be vain. The most numerous forces that you can embody would disappear before disciplined soldiers like smoke before the wind. Flatter not yourselves with the thought of possible success in such a contest; it is unequal in means if not in valour; you must be overcome, and then all would be lost. There is no safety for the state but in uniting ourselves with all our hearts to the new government, and assisting it in the work of regenerating the country. We are come to a miserable situation, brought to it by the capricious, indolent, unjust government under which we have lived for the last twenty years. It remains for us all to submit, and each to co-operate in his place for the formation of a new one, upon principles which will be the security of our liberties and rights and property. This is the desire of the invincible Napoleon, who occupies himself for our good, who wishes to deserve well of our nation, and to be called by our descendants the regenerator of Spain.”

The men who prepared this address to their countrymen, in obedience to Buonaparte’s commands, must have known with what scorn and indignation it would be received. The first act of the intrusive King was not likely to diminish those feelings; it was a decree in which, premising that he had accepted the cession of the crown of Spain made in his favour by his well-beloved brother the Emperor Napoleon the First, he nominated Murat for his Lieutenant-general. If Napoleon had considered the interest of his brother he would rather have recalled Murat with some implied displeasure, as if in putting so many Spaniards to death after the insurrection, he had acted with needless and unauthorized severity: but he had determined upon reducing the people to submission by intimidation and force. Joseph announced his accession by a proclamation of the same date. In opening to him so vast a career, Providence, he said, without doubt had judged of his intentions, and would enable him to provide for the happiness of the generous people whom it confided to his care. Aided by the clergy, the nobles, and the people, he hoped to renew the time when the whole world was full of the glory of the Spanish name. Above all, he desired to establish tranquillity and happiness in the bosom of every family by a wise social organization. The spirit of his government would be to improve the public good with the least possible injury to individual interests. It was for the Spaniards that he reigned, not for himself.

About ninety Notables had now assembled at Bayonne, including those who had been decoyed thither with Ferdinand. A much greater number had been convoked; but some dared not undertake the journey, for fear of the people, who would justly have regarded them as traitors for obeying the summons; and others engaged heartily in the national cause. The Bishop of Orense, D. Pedro Quevedo y Quintana, was one of the persons whom the Junta of Government had summoned; and he declined obedience in a letter of calm and dignified remonstrance, which produced as much effect upon the people as the most animated military address, and which those who hoped or affected to hope for any melioration of the state of Spain by Buonaparte’s means could not have perused without a sense of shame. Impressive as this composition was, it derived additional weight from the character of the writer, for the Bishop of Orense was one of those prelates whose truly Christian virtues are the proudest boast and the truest glory of the Catholic church. During the dreadful years of the French revolution he received into his palace three hundred of the emigrant clergy: there he lodged and supported them, and lived with them at the same table, refusing to partake of any indulgence himself which could not be extended to these numerous guests. It was not possible for him, he said, infirm as he was, and at the age of seventy-three, to undertake so long a journey upon so sudden a notice. But bearing in mind the good of the nation, and the intentions of the Emperor, who desired to be as it were its angel of peace, its tutelary spirit, ... he would take the opportunity of saying to the Junta, and through them to the Emperor, what, if he were in person at Bayonne, he should there have said and protested. The business there to be treated is of remedying evils, repairing injuries, improving the condition of the nation and the monarchy: ... but upon what bases? Is there any approved means for doing this, any authority recognized by the nation? Will she enslave herself, and by that means expect her safety? Are there not diseases which are aggravated by medicine, and of which it has been said, tangant vulnera sacra nullÆ manus? And does it not appear that those of the Royal Family are of this kind, and have they not been so aggravated by the treatment which they have received from their powerful protector, the Emperor Napoleon, that their case is now desperate? The Royal Family had been sent into the interior of France, ... of that country which had banished it for ever; sent back to its primitive cradle, it found a grave there by a cruel death, where its elder branch was cruelly cut off by an insane and sanguinary revolution. And this having been done, what could Spain hope for? Would her cure be more favourable? The means and the medicines did not promise it. He proceeded to say, that the abdications made at Bayonne could not be believed, and appeared to be impossible; that they could not be valid unless they were renewed and ratified by the Kings and the Infantes in their own country, and in perfect freedom from all constraint and fear. Nothing would be so glorious for Napoleon as to restore them to Spain, and to provide that in a general Cortes they might act according to their free choice; and that the nation, independent and sovereign as it was, might then proceed to recognize for its lawful King the person whom nature, right, and circumstances, should call to the Spanish throne. This indeed would be more honourable for the Emperor than all his victories and laurels. This indeed would deliver Spain from the dreadful calamities which threatened her; then might she recover from all her evils, and giving thanks to God, return also the most sincere gratitude to her saviour and true protector, then the greatest of all Emperors, the moderate, the magnanimous, the beneficent Napoleon the Great.

At present, said the venerable prelate, Spain cannot but behold him under a very different aspect. She sees in him the oppressor of her Princes and of herself. She looks upon herself as fettered and enslaved, when happiness is promised her, ... and this by force even more than by artifice, ... by armies which were received as friends, either through indiscretion and timidity, or perhaps by treason. These representations he laid before the Junta in the discharge of his duty as one of the King’s counsellors, that office being attached to the episcopal order in Spain: and he desired that they might be submitted to the Great Napoleon. “Hitherto,” said he, “I have relied upon the rectitude of his heart, as being free from ambition and averse to deceit. And still I hope that, perceiving Spain cannot be benefited by enslaving her, he will not persist in applying remedies to her in chains, for she is not mad.”

The want of any legitimate authority in the Junta of Notables to legislate for the nation was so palpable, even to the members themselves, that their president, Azanza, represented to Buonaparte, as an advisable measure, to convoke a Cortes in the usual form, and within the kingdom. But it was too late for this; the name of a Cortes, and the appearance of free deliberation, could no longer delude the Spaniards, after the forced abdications at Bayonne and the slaughter at Madrid. Buonaparte maintained that the consent of the nation would supply the want of any formalities which could not be observed in the existing circumstances; he delivered to Azanza the project of a constitution, and ordered him to appoint two committees, who should arrange the subject for discussion, and propose such alterations and modifications as they might deem convenient. Azanza and those who acted with him had flattered themselves that they should make terms with the new dynasty, and secure to their country a free representative government; but they now found that they were to receive a constitution as well as a King from the will and pleasure of Buonaparte. ?Speech of Azanza at the opening of their sittings.? Nevertheless Azanza congratulated the Junta at their first sitting on the delightful and glorious task to which they were called, of contributing to the happiness of their country in labouring for the good of the present generation and of posterity, by the order and under the auspices of the hero of their age, the invincible Napoleon. Thanks and immortal glory, said he, to that extraordinary man who restores to us a country which we had lost! He spoke of the long misgovernment by which Spain had been degraded under a succession first of crafty then of imbecile sovereigns, till the last of their kings had resigned his rights to a Prince who, for their happiness, united in himself all the talents and resources required for restoring her to her former prosperity. He called upon them to sacrifice some privileges, which for the most part were but imaginary, upon the altar of their country, and to construct a monument at once simple and grand in place of the Gothic and complicated structure of their former government. He told them that it was in their power, by their collective representatives, and by their individual efforts, to do much towards appeasing the agitation which prevailed in many parts of the kingdom. Misguided men, without plan, without accord, without object, were acting in a manner from which nothing but ruin and desolation could ensue. Certain as the Junta were of that truth, it must be their business to convince others of it who were now deluded. Thus should they render their labours useful, and fulfil the generous designs of the hero who had convoked them; Spain would recover her ancient glory, and they would have the sweet satisfaction hereafter of thinking that they had contributed to it.

The first sitting was employed in forming an address to King Joseph, and the business of the second was to present it. The glorious task which had been imposed upon them, they said, was to lay the foundations of durable happiness for their beloved country; was it not then their first duty to come before the chief of the Spanish nation, the centre of all their hopes, and devote themselves in his presence with the utmost zeal and ardour to the work? They noticed the disturbances in Spain as momentary troubles, occasioned by the error of the people, who never reflect, and who are worthy of commiseration when they return to their duty. The Intruder replied, that he wished to remain ignorant of these tumults, and to find none but Spanish hearts beyond the Pyrenees. In quitting a people who did justice to his government, he had made the greatest of sacrifices, he said; but, from his own feelings, he anticipated the love of the Spaniards. He knew the wisdom and the loyalty of the Castillian character. He would visit his provinces, bearing with him the heart of a father, and he should meet with none but his children. The enemies of the Continent (so in his brother’s manner he designated the English) were endeavouring to detach the colonies from the mother country, but the agents and instruments of this crafty hatred should not be spared. He concluded by desiring them in their deliberations to regard nothing but the good of the country, and to reckon upon the blessings of the people, and upon his entire satisfaction.

Ten other sittings completed the business of the Junta, who had little time allowed them for their discussions, and less power. Some alterations they were permitted to make in minor points, but the principle and form of the constitution were of Buonaparte’s stamp. It was promulgated by the Intruder as the fundamental law of the kingdoms, and the basis of the compact whereby his people were bound to him, and he to his people. ?Religion.? The first article declared that the Catholic Apostolic and Roman religion should be the religion of the King and of the nation in Spain and in all the Spanish possessions, and no other should be permitted. ?The succession.? The Salic law of succession was established, as in France; in failure of legitimate male descendants to Joseph, the crown was to devolve on Napoleon, and his heirs male, whether natural and legitimate, or adopted; in their default to Louis and Jerome, and their heirs in succession, Lucien being tacitly excluded. In failure of all these, the son of the eldest daughter was to inherit; and if the last King left no daughter who had issue male, the crown might then go to the person whom he should have appointed by his will, whether one of his nearest relations were chosen or any one whom he should deem most worthy to govern the Spaniards, but the appointment must be presented to the Cortes for their approbation. The crown of Spain and of the Indies was never to be united with any other in the same person. The King should be considered as a minor till he had completed his eighteenth year; during a minority there should be a Regent, who must be at least twenty-four years old; if the last King should not have nominated one among the Infantes, that Infante was to hold the office, who being of the age required was the last in succession to the throne. The Regent, like the King, was to be irresponsible; and he was to have a fourth part of the revenues which were settled upon the crown. Should there be no Infante of age for the office, a Council of Regency was then to be composed of the seven senior senators. The minor King was not to be under the Regent’s care, but under the guardianship of his mother, in case his predecessor should not have designated a guardian; and if the last King had not appointed five senators for a Council of Tutelage, to provide for the education of the minor, and to be consulted in all things of importance relating to his person and establishment, that office devolved upon the five senior senators, or if there were a Council of Regency existing, on the five senators next in seniority to the members of that council.

The palaces of Madrid, the Escurial, S. Ildefonso, Aranjuez, the Pardo, and others belonging to the crown, with all the parks, forests, inclosures, and property thereunto appertaining, were the patrimony of the crown: if the rents of the whole did not amount to a million of pesos fuertes, other lands were to be added to them which would make up that sum. The public treasury was also charged with the payment of two millions of pesos fuertes per year to the crown, in monthly payments. The hereditary Prince became entitled to a revenue of 200,000 from the age of twelve, the other Infantes to 100,000, the Infantas to 50,000 each, charged upon the public treasury: the Queen Dowager was to have 400,000, charged upon the treasury of the crown.

There were to be nine ministers for the departments of justice, ecclesiastic and foreign affairs, the interior, finance, war, the marine, the Indies, and general police; and a secretary of state, with the rank of minister, by whom all decrees were to be signed. The King might at his pleasure unite the ecclesiastic department with that of justice, and the general police with that of the interior: the rank of these ministers depended upon the seniority of their appointment.

The Senate was to consist of the Infantes who had attained the age of eighteen, and of twenty-four individuals chosen by the King, from his ministers, the Captains-General of the army and navy, the Embassadors, Counsellors of State, and members of the Royal Council. No one was eligible till he had completed his fortieth year: the office was for life, unless it were forfeited by the legal sentence of a competent tribunal, and it was never to be given in reversion. The president was to be named yearly by the King. In case of insurrection, or of disturbances which threatened the security of the state, the Senate might at the King’s proposal suspend the constitution in the places specified, and for a certain time.

It belonged to the Senate to watch over the preservation of individual liberty, and of the liberty of the press. A Senatorial Junta of individual liberty, consisting of five members, was to be chosen by the Senate from its own body, and to this committee all persons arrested for offences against the state, if they were not brought to trial in the course of a month from the day of their commitment, might appeal: should the Junta be of opinion that the interests of the state did not justify a longer imprisonment, it was to call upon the minister by whom the arrest was ordered, either to set the prisoner at liberty, or deliver him over without delay to a competent tribunal. If after three such consecutive applications within the space of another month the prisoner should neither have been discharged nor remitted to the ordinary tribunals, the Junta was then to require a meeting of the Senate; and the Senate, if it saw cause, was to pass a resolution in this form: There are strong presumptions that N. is arbitrarily imprisoned. The president was to lay this resolution before the King; and the King was to refer it to a Junta, composed of the presidents of the Council of State and of five members of the Royal Council.

In like manner there was to be a Senatorial Junta of the liberty of the press, consisting of five senators. Authors, printers, and booksellers, who thought themselves aggrieved if they were prevented from printing or selling a work, might appeal to this Junta; and should the Junta be of opinion that the prohibition was not required by reasons of state, the minister by whom it had been imposed should be required to withdraw it. If after three consecutive applications in the course of a month the prohibition were not revoked, the Junta was then to summon the Senate, and the Senate, if it saw reason, to resolve there were strong presumptions that the liberty of the press had been violated; and this resolution was to be laid before the King, and by him, as in a matter of individual liberty, referred to a Junta whose decision was final. Periodical publications were not entitled to the benefit of this provision. The members of these Senatorial Juntas were to be changed one every six months.

The Council of State was to consist of not fewer than thirty members, nor more than sixty, divided into the six sections or departments of justice and ecclesiastical affairs, the interior, and general police, the finances, war, the marine, and the Indies, each section consisting of a president and four members at least, and the King presiding over the council. The hereditary Prince might assist at their sittings, from the age of fifteen. The ministers and the president of the Royal Council were by their office members, and might attend their meetings when they thought it convenient, but they were not part of any section, neither were they accounted in the appointed number. The projects of all laws civil and criminal, and the general regulations of the public administration, were to be examined and determined here; and the decrees of the King upon subjects falling within the province of the Cortes were to have the force of law (having been discussed in this council) till the next Cortes should be assembled.

The Cortes or National Junta was to consist of an hundred and sixty-two members, in one chamber, divided into the three Benches of the Clergy, the Nobles, and the People; that of the clergy was to be placed on the right of the throne, that of the nobles on the left, that of the people in front. The bench of the clergy was to be composed of twenty-five archbishops and bishops, that of the nobles of twenty-five peers, who should be called Grandees of the Cortes: the bench of the People of sixty-two deputies for the provinces of Spain and the Indies, thirty deputies for the principal cities of Spain and the adjacent islands, fifteen commercial members, and fifteen deputies of the universities, men of learning, or distinguished by their proficiency in the sciences or the arts. The Ecclesiastical Deputies were to be appointed by letters patent, under the great seal, and they were not to be deprived of their functions unless by the sentence of a competent tribunal, legally pronounced. The Nobles were to be appointed and hold their seats in the same manner: they were required to possess an income of not less than 20,000 pesos fuertes, or to have performed long and important services either in the civil or military line. Members for the provinces were to be chosen in the proportion of one representative for about 300,000 inhabitants; and the provinces were to be divided into departments with reference to this purpose, each containing a population sufficient to entitle it to elect one deputy. The manner in which the Juntas of Election were to be constituted would be established by the Cortes; till that time they should be composed of the Deans of the Regidores in every place which contained not less than an hundred inhabitants; and if in any departments there were not twenty places containing this population, the smaller hamlets were then to be united for the purpose of furnishing an elector, in the proportion of one for an hundred inhabitants, chosen by lot from the Deans of the Regidores. The other electors were the Deans of the Curas, or parochial clergy, in the principal places of the departments; but the number of clerical electors was never to exceed one-third of the whole Junta of Election. The President was to be named by the King, and the Juntas of Election were never to meet except by letters of convocation. The Deputies for the thirty principal cities were to be chosen one for each by the Ayuntamiento, or corporation. A deputy for a province or city must be possessed of landed property. The fifteen commercial Deputies were to be chosen from the Juntas of Commerce, and from among the richest and most respected merchants. The Tribunals and Juntas of Commerce in every city were to form a list of fifteen persons, and from these lists the King was to appoint the members. He was in like manner to appoint the remaining fifteen from a list to that amount presented by the Royal Council, and from seven candidates presented by each of the universities.

Members of the Bench of the People might be re-elected to a second Cortes, but not to a third, till an interval of three years should have elapsed. The Cortes should assemble once in three years at least; it was to be convoked by the King, and neither deferred, prorogued, nor dissolved, but by his order. The President should be appointed by the King from three candidates whom the Cortes was to choose. At the opening of every session the Cortes was to choose these three candidates, two vice-presidents, and two secretaries, and four committees, ... of justice, of the interior, of finance, and of the Indies, consisting of five members each. The sittings of the Cortes were not to be public; votes were to be taken vocally or by secret ballot; and for every resolution a majority of the whole body was necessary. The opinions and votes were neither to be printed nor divulged; such publication, whether by means of the press, or of written papers, if made by the Cortes, or any of its members, was to be considered as an act of rebellion. Every three years the amount of the annual receipts and expenditure was to be fixed by law; which law was to be presented by orators of the Council of State for the deliberation and approbation of the Cortes. In like manner all alterations in the civil and penal codes, in the system of imposts, or of currency, were to be propounded; and projects of laws were to be proposed by the sections of the Council of State to the respective committees of the Cortes. Accounts were to be presented annually to the Cortes by the Minister of Finance, and to be printed; and the Cortes might make such representations as they deemed convenient upon any abuses in the administration. If they had any grave charges to prefer against a minister, the accusation and the proofs were to be laid before the throne by a deputation; and the King was to refer it to a commission composed of six counsellors of state and six members of the Royal Council.

The Spanish kingdoms and provinces in America and Asia were to enjoy the same rights as the mother country, and to trade freely with her; every kind of cultivation and industry was to be free there, and no monopoly of export or importation to be granted. Every kingdom and province should always have deputies at the seat of government, to promote their interests and to be their representatives in the Cortes. Two deputies each were to be sent by New Spain, Peru, the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, Buenos Ayres, and the Philippines; one each by the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, by Venezuela, Charcas, Quito, Chile, Cuzco, Guatemala, Yucatan, Guadalaxara, the western internal provinces of New Spain and the eastern. These deputies were to be chosen by the Ayuntamientos of such places as the Viceroys or Captains-general should appoint in their respective territories; they must be natives of the respective provinces, and proprietors of land; they were to hold their places for a term of eight years, and after the expiration of that term, till their successors should arrive. Six of these deputies, chosen by the King, should be added to the Council of State and section of the Indies, to have a consultive voice in all matters relating to the colonies.

The Spains and the Indies were to be governed by one code of laws civil and criminal. The judicial order was to be independent, justice administered in the King’s name by the courts and tribunals which he should appoint, and all corporate or private jurisdictions, such as the Justicias de abadengo, ordenes y seÑorio, were abolished. The King was to appoint all the judges, and no one could be removed from his office, unless in consequence of charges against him made by the president or Procurador General of the Royal Council, at the Council’s instance, and with the King’s approbation. There were to be Conciliatory Judges forming a Tribunal of Pacification, Courts of the first instance, Audiences or Tribunals of Appeal, a Tribunal of Reposition or Cassation for the whole kingdom, and a High Court Royal. The courts of first instance were to be as many as the country required; the tribunals of appeal for Spain and the adjacent islands, not fewer than nine nor more than fifteen. The Royal Council was to be the Tribunal of Reposition, and should also take cognizance of appeals in ecclesiastical cases. Criminal processes were to be public, and it was to be discussed in the first Cortes whether or not trial by jury should be established. Appeal might be made to the Tribunal of Reposition against a criminal sentence. The High Court Royal was to take cognizance of personal offences committed by individuals of the Royal Family, ministers, senators, and counsellors of state; there might be no appeal against its sentences, but they were not to be executed till the King should have signed them. It was to consist of the eight senior senators, the six presidents of the sections of the Council of State, the president and two vice presidents of the Royal Council. The right of pardoning should belong to the King alone. There should be one commercial code for Spain and the Indies; and in every great commercial town a Tribunal and a Junta of commerce.

The Vales Reales, Juros, and whatever loans the government had contracted, were acknowledged as the national debt. Custom-houses between different jurisdictions and provinces were abolished both in Spain and the Indies, and were only to exist upon the frontiers. Taxes were to be equalized throughout the kingdom, and all privileges, whether granted to corporations or individuals, were suppressed; but for those which had been purchased, an indemnification should be awarded. The public treasure was to be distinct from that of the crown, and under a director general appointed by the King; the accounts were to be rendered yearly, and examined and closed by a tribunal of general accounts, composed of persons whom the King should nominate. All nominations for all employments belonged to the King, or to the authorities to whom the laws confided them.

A perpetual alliance, offensive and defensive, by land and by sea, between France and Spain, was declared by this constitution; the contingent which each power was to furnish being to be determined by a particular treaty. Foreigners who had rendered important service to the state; or who might be useful to it by their talents, their invention, or their industry; and those who formed large establishments, or acquired lands for which they paid yearly taxes to the amount of fifty pesos fuertes, might be admitted to the rights of naturalization. ?Security of persons.? Every man’s house was an asylum, not to be entered except by day, and for a specific object, determined by the law, or by an order proceeding from the public authority. No person residing in the Spanish dominions should be arrested, except in flagrante delictu, without a legal and written order, issued by a competent authority, notified to the party, and explaining the grounds of the arrest, and the law in virtue of which it was granted. No Alcayde or jailer should receive or detain a prisoner, till he had entered in his register the warrant of committal: nor might the relations and friends of a prisoner be prevented from seeing him, if they came with an order from the magistrate, unless the judge should have given directions that the prisoner should have no communication with any person. The use of the torture was abolished, and any rigour beyond what the law enjoined was pronounced a crime.

All existing feoffments, entails, and substitutions, if the property did not amount by itself, or with other possessions held by the same owner, to the annual rent of 5000 pesos fuertes, were abolished, and the owners were to hold it as free property. If it exceeded that value, the owner, at his choice, might ask the King’s permission to make it free. If it exceeded the yearly value of 20,000 pesos fuertes, all above that sum should be free. In the course of one year the King would establish regulations upon this subject; and for the future no property might thus be tied up, except by virtue of the King’s permission, granted in consideration of services rendered to the state, and for the purpose of perpetuating in their rank the families who should thus have deserved; but the property thus to be bound should in no case exceed the annual value of 20,000 pesos fuertes, nor fall short of 5000. ?Abolition of privileges.? The different degrees and classes of nobility were to be preserved with their respective distinctions; but all exemptions hitherto attached to it, from public burthens and duties, were abolished, and nobility was not to be required as a qualification for civil or ecclesiastical employment, nor for military rank either by sea or land. Services and talents were to be the only means of promotion. But no person might obtain public employment in the state or church, unless he had been born in Spain, or naturalized there. The endowments belonging to the different orders of knighthood were only to be bestowed according to their original destination, in recompense of public services; and no individual should hold more than one commandery.

The constitution was successively and gradually to be brought into use by decrees or edicts of the King, so that the whole should be in execution before the first of January, 1813. The particular charters of the provinces of Navarre, Biscay, Guipuzcoa, and Alava, were to be examined in the first Cortes, that what should be deemed most convenient to the interest of those provinces and of the nation might be determined upon. Two years after the constitution should have been entirely carried into effect, the liberty of the press was to be established, and organized by a law made in the Cortes. All additions, modifications, and improvements, which it might be deemed expedient to make in this constitution, were to be presented by order of the King, for examination and discussion, to the first Cortes which should be held after the year 1820. And a copy of the constitution, signed by the Secretary of State, was forthwith to be communicated to the Royal Council and to the other councils and tribunals, in order that it might be published and circulated according to accustomed form.

The Notables were not allowed much time for deliberating upon the various provisions of this constitution, which they had been convoked to sanction and not to form. The only two points which called forth any discussion were the limitation of entails, and the declaration of intolerance: the nobles who, by a wise reform of government, when their injurious privileges were taken away, ?De Pradt, p. 152.? would have recovered their just and legitimate influence in the state, contended in vain against the first, which was designed to cut the root of their strength; the latter was unwillingly conceded to the inveterate prejudices of the nation by men whom the enormous falsehoods, the preposterous usages, and the execrable cruelty of their own church had driven into a state of unbelief, less impious than such a superstition. The Vicar-general of the Franciscans presented a memorial signed by the Prelates of the Religious Orders in behalf of those institutions, to show that it was not expedient to abolish them, but that some suppressions, and a limitation of their numbers, would produce all the good that was desired. ?Nellerto, i. 103.? A memoir was also presented in behalf of the Inquisition, by one of its officers, and signed by the Council of Castille, arguing against an apprehended intention of abolishing that tribunal, and advising that it should be enjoined to follow in its proceedings the forms of the episcopal ecclesiastical courts. Both memorials were referred to the legislature, as not being within the scope of the constitution.