THE CORTES. PLAN WHICH THE JUNTA HAD ADOPTED ALTERED BY THE REGENCY.
FIRST PROCEEDINGS OF THE CORTES. NEW REGENCY.
♦1810.♦
While the Peninsula in every part, from the Pyrenees to the Pillars of
Hercules, was filled with mourning, and with all the horrors of a war
carried on on both sides ♦SCHEMES OF THE INTRUSIVE GOVERNMENT.♦ with
unexampled cruelty, the Madrid gazette spoke of public diversions,
and public projects, as if the people of that metropolis, like the
Parisians, were to be amused with plans of imaginary works, and
entered into the affairs of the theatre and opera regardless of the
miseries of their country. Needy as the intrusive Government was, it
kept these places of amusement open, in the spirit of Parisian policy,
taking its erroneous estimate of human nature from man in his most
corrupted state: but the numbers of the audience, and the accounts of
the theatres, were no longer published as in other times. Schemes of
education were hinted at, and for the encouragement of literature, ...
the unction which such men as Cabarrus and Urquijo laid to their souls.
Canals were projected, when couriers were not safe even at the gates of
the capital; and the improvement of agriculture was announced, while
circulars were sent to the generals and military governors, urging them
to prevent the destruction of the vines and olive trees by the troops;
and promising that this ruinous course should not be continued, if the
peasants would be careful always to provide fuel of their own cutting.
Spain also, like Italy, was to be despoiled of its works of art. Joseph
gave orders that a selection of the best pictures should be sent to the
Napoleon Museum at Paris, as a pledge of the union of the two nations.
This robbery did not excite so much indignation as a decree, directing
that the bones of Cortes and Cervantes, and other famous Spaniards
who were buried in or near Madrid, should be translated with public
solemnities to the church of St. Isidro. The Spaniards observed, that
though it was known in what churches some of these illustrious men had
been interred, their graves could not be ascertained; and they asked
whence the money was to come for this translation, when the Intruder
could pay none of his servants, and wanted funds for things of the
utmost necessity? “But the decree, like many others, was intended for
the gazette, and for nothing else. Nevertheless,” they continued,
viewing the subject with natural and honourable feeling, “it excites
our indignation that they should affect this veneration for our
ancestors, who omit no means for debasing Spain, and subjecting her to
the infamy of a foreign yoke.”
♦THE CORTES.
APRIL 18.♦
But the most remarkable of the Intruder’s acts, was his promise of
convoking the Cortes. “It was long,” his partizans said, “since the
Junta had amused the nation with vain hopes of this benefit, for which
Spain was to be indebted to her new sovereign.” The object of the
intrusive Government at this time, in calling a Cortes of its own, must
have been, to take off the attention of the Spaniards in those parts
of the country which the French occupied, from the national Cortes;
and that this intention, having been thus announced, should never have
been carried into effect, is proof how well the unhappy men, who were
ostensibly at the head of Joseph Buonaparte’s councils, knew the
insecurity of the puppet whom they served. Almost the last paper which
issued from the royal press at Seville, had been an edict declaring in
what manner the Cortes should be chosen. Upon this subject the central
Junta had asked the advice of the Spanish universities, and public
bodies. Great difficulties had been apprehended from the obscurity in
which the forms of the old Cortes were involved, as well as from the
difference in the different kingdoms, which had each their own. It was
well remarked by the university of Seville, that these things were
matters of historical research, not of practical importance; there was
now neither time nor necessity for the inquiry; the present business
was to convene representatives, according to the general principles of
representation, and leave them, after they had saved the country, to
determine the peculiar forms of the general Spanish Cortes.
♦MODE OF ELECTION.♦
The plan which the Junta adopted was formed with reference to
established forms, to present circumstances, and to the future
convenience of election. Cities which had sent deputies to the last
Cortes, were each to send one to this, and each superior Junta one
also. The provinces one for every 50,000 heads, according to the census
of 1797; wherever the excess above that number amounted to one half,
an additional deputy was to be chosen; any smaller excess was not
accounted. The mode of election was so regulated, as to render undue
influence or interference impossible. Parochial Juntas were to be
formed composed of every housekeeper above the age of five-and-twenty,
excepting such as had been found guilty upon any criminal charge; who
had suffered any corporal punishment, or infamous sentence; bankrupts,
public debtors, the insane, and the deaf and dumb. Naturalized
strangers also were excluded, whatever might have been the privilege
of their naturalization. The secular clergy were included. As soon as
the _Justicia_ received instructions from the corregidor, or alcalde
mayor of the district (_Partido_), a parochial meeting was to be held,
and the Sunday following appointed for the business of the primary
election.
The Spanish government did well in connecting this with religious
ceremonies. The business of the day was to commence with the Mass
of the Holy Ghost; after which the parish priest was to preach upon
the state of the country, and the importance of choosing proper
representatives, upon whom so much depended. Then adjourning to the
place appointed, the magistrate should first make inquiry whether any
means had been used to influence the electors; any person for whom such
means had been employed, being rendered ineligible and his agents or
injudicious friends deprived of their vote: any person calumniating
another, in hope of impeding his election, was punished with the same
disabilities. The parishioners then, one by one, were to advance to
the table at which the parochial officers and the priest presided, and
there name an elector for the parish: the twelve persons who obtained
a majority of names should go apart and fix upon one. It was not
required that they should be unanimous, only that the person appointed
should have more than six votes; and it was compulsory upon him to
perform the duty to which he was elected. The primary election being
thus completed, the parochial Junta was to return to the church in
procession, their deputy walking between the alcalde and the priest; Te
Deum was to be performed, and the day concluded with public rejoicings.
Within eight days afterward, the parochial electors should assemble
in the principal town of the district, and form a Junta, over which
the corregidor and the ecclesiastic of highest rank in the place
presided. The testimonials of the electors were to be scrutinized; the
same religious ceremonies to take place, and twelve persons chosen in
the same manner, to appoint one or more electors for the district,
according to its extent. They might choose them out of their own
number: but any persons born in the district, and resident in it,
were eligible. The business was to be transacted in the consistory, a
record of its proceedings deposited among the archives, and a copy sent
to every parish, and to the capital of the province, where the final
election took place.
Here the electors of the district were to assemble. A Junta should
have been previously constituted, consisting of the president of the
superior Junta of the province; the archbishop or bishop, regent,
intendant, and corregidor of the city, and a secretary. It was presumed
that these persons would all be members of the provincial Junta; if
not, they were called to this duty by virtue of their rank, and an
equal number of members of the Junta added; this proviso being intended
to secure for the provincial Junta that influence to which their
services entitled them, for which their experience qualified them, and
of which it might not have been easy to deprive them, even if it had
been thought desirable. The board thus appointed, was to see that the
primary and secondary elections were made throughout the province.
After the same observances and scrutinies as on the former occasions,
the final election was to be made. The person proposed must be a native
of the province, but it was not necessary that his property should be
there: nobles, plebeians, and secular priests, were equally eligible;
no other qualification was required, than that he should be above
five-and-twenty, of good repute, and not actually the salaried servant
of any individual or body.
In this final election, the first step was to elect three persons
successively. A simple majority was not sufficient here; more than half
the electors must vote for the same person, and the voting be repeated
till this should be the case: three having thus been chosen, their
names were to be placed in an urn, and he whose lot was drawn was the
deputy to the Cortes. A fourth was then to be elected, whose name, in
like manner, was submitted to the lot with the two which had been left
undrawn, and this was repeated till the number of deputies for the
province was made up. Supplementary deputies were then to be chosen,
in readiness for any vacancy by death; the supplementaries were in the
proportion of one to three. The number of provincial deputies amounted
to 208; that of the supplementaries to 68.
The provincial Juntas were to choose their members according to
the rules of the final elections; observing also the same general
principle, that the person chosen must be a native of the province. The
form appointed for the city elections was, that where the _regidores_
were proprietaries, or held their office during life by the kings
appointment, the people should elect an equal number of electors,
in the manner of the municipal elections. These electors, with the
_regidores_, the syndic, and the officers who are called the _Personero
y Diputado del Comun_, were to meet in the consistory, where the
corregidor should preside, and there choose three persons out of their
own body, the final decision being by lot. All the elections were to be
made with open doors.
Twenty-six members were added for the Spanish possessions in America
and the Philippines. But during the long interval which must elapse
before these representatives could reach Europe, supplementaries for
their respective provinces were to be chosen from natives resident in
Spain; and a circular notice was issued, requiring that all American
or Asiatic Spaniards then in the country would send in their names,
ages, employments, places of birth and of abode. This being done, and
lists made out accordingly, a Junta was to be formed, consisting of
the members of the central Junta, who should at the time be acting as
deputies for the colonies, or four ministers of the council of the
Indies appointed by the Junta, and of four distinguished natives of the
colonies, to be chosen by the other members; this Junta was to direct
and superintend the election. Twelve electors for each province were to
be chosen by lot from among the natives of that province then resident
in Cadiz; but if it so happened that they did not amount to eighteen,
that number was to be filled up by individuals of the other provinces.
The twelve then chosen were to choose their deputies, in the manner of
the final provincial election, first by nomination, and then by lot.
The archbishops, bishops, and grandees, were to meet in an upper
house: it was required that the grandees should be the heads of their
respective families, and above the age of 25; and those nobles and
prelates who had submitted to the French government were excluded.
Such was the plan which the commission of the central Junta decided
upon, and which the Junta adopted. The commission was composed of five
members, the Archbishop of Laodicea, Jovellanos, Castanedo, Caro and
Riquelme; but the two latter members being appointed to the executive
committee, their places were supplied by the Count de Ayamans, and
D. Martin de Garay. D. Manuel Abella, and D. Pedro Polo de Alcocer,
were secretaries to the commission. The details were formed, and the
official instructions drawn up by Garay. In their general principles
the commissioners had been chiefly guided, as was expected and desired,
by Jovellanos, the best and wisest of the Spaniards.
There was, however, a difference of opinion in the commission upon
three points of considerable importance. Riquelme and Caro would have
had only one house of assembly; Jovellanos referred to the English
constitution, as the best model, and one to which in this point, the
Spaniards, with sufficient conformity to their ancient customs, might
assimilate their own. He proposed also, that certain qualifications
of property, situation, and acquirements, should be required of the
deputies. Riquelme opposed this restriction; and Jovellanos yielded to
the majority of his colleagues with less repugnance, knowing how well
the great body of the people had deserved of their country. Riquelme
insisted that the Cortes should not assemble without deputies from
the colonies; the other members would have omitted them in the first
assembly, in consequence of the long and indefinite time which must
elapse before they could be chosen in their respective provinces, and
arrive in Spain. The plan which was adopted obviated this difficulty.
The inadequate number of colonial deputies is less objectionable than
it may at first appear, when the probable number of persons from whom
the supplementaries were to be chosen is considered; especially as
it was not pretended that the manner in which the first Cortes was
convoked should be binding as a precedent. “The government,” said
Jovellanos, “fearful of arrogating to itself a right which belongs to
the nation alone, leaves it to the wisdom and prudence of the nation to
determine in what form its will may most completely be represented in
future.”
♦REGULATIONS PROPOSED BY THE CENTRAL JUNTA.
JAN. 29.♦
The last act of the Junta had been to consign to the Regency the charge
of seeing the Cortes assembled, according to these rules. In this
final decree provision was made for choosing deputies to represent the
provinces occupied by the enemy; they were to be chosen in the same
manner as the colonial deputies. Here also the important point of the
_veto_ was determined. If the Regency refused its assent to a measure
which had passed both houses, the measure was to be re-considered; and
unless re-passed by a majority of two-thirds in each house, it was
lost, and could not be brought forward again in that Cortes; but if
both houses, by such a majority, ratified their former determination,
three days were then allowed to the Regency, and if within that time
the royal sanction was not given, the law was to be promulgated without
it. The Junta endeavoured to confine the Cortes within its proper
limits, by declaring that the executive power appertained wholly to the
Regency, and the legislative to the representative body; and lest any
party should arise, who should aim at making the Cortes permanent, or
unnecessarily extending its duration, “by which means,” the Junta said,
“the constitution of the kingdom might be overthrown,” the Regency was
empowered to fix any time for the dissolution of the assembly, provided
it were not before the expiration of six months.
♦THE REGENCY DELAYS THE CONVOCATION.♦
This decree, which developed the principles of the central Junta, and
completed their labours, the Regency did not think proper to make
public; one of the many acts of injustice which the Junta suffered
after their compulsory resignation. The council of Castille, or rather
the _Consejo-reunido_, in which such of its members were incorporated
as had followed the legitimate Government into Andalusia, hinted, in a
memorial full of calumnies against the ex-Junta, that the Cortes ought
not to be convoked; their opinion was doubtless of great weight with
the Regency; and as the Regents did not conceive themselves bound to
follow the course which the preceding Government had marked out, they
suppressed the edict, and issued in its stead an ♦FEB. 11.♦ address,
breathing the same spirit as all the proclamations of the Spanish
Government, but putting off the meeting of the Cortes. “The council of
Regency,” they said, “could well have wished that your representatives
had been at this time in Cortes assembled, and that the nation itself
might thus have regulated its own destinies. The means which are
necessary for our deliverance would quickly appear at its energetic
and powerful voice. But this means of preservation has been too long
delayed; and evils gathering upon each other, with the rapidity of a
whirlwind, do not permit that it should be accomplished at the time and
place appointed. The Isle of Leon, where the national congress ought
to assemble, is at this time besieged by the enemy; from this isle
we see their fires, we hear their artillery, we hear their insolent
threats, and witness their ravages. Their rash endeavours, beyond a
doubt, will fail against these intrenchments, where the watch-tower is
erected which presents to all good patriots a beacon in the midst of
the tempest. But the Isle of Leon, thus threatened by the enemy, cannot
be at present a proper place for the celebration of our Cortes; and
necessity compels us to delay it till the present crisis shall be past,
and place and time suitable for so august an assembly can be assigned.
Meantime, none of the measures and forms established and decreed for
the convocation are to be suspended for a moment. The elections are to
proceed, and the members who are chosen must hold themselves ready to
perform their functions; the intention of the Government being, that
the Cortes shall meet as soon as the circumstances of the war permit.”
Notwithstanding this language, it is possible that Spain was indebted
for its Cortes more to the annunciation from Seville that the Intruder
was about to convoke one, than to the inclination of its own rulers.
The central Junta had delayed it not from intentional procrastination,
but from their sense of the difficulty of the task, and from the
deliberation which so peculiarly characterizes the Spaniards. They had
overcome the difficulties, and framed a plan of representation, which
preserved a due respect to old venerable forms, and was well adapted to
the existing circumstances of the country; this having been done, as
soon as it was ascertained that Cadiz might defy the enemy there ought
to have been no delay. That was ascertained in February, as soon as the
Isle of Leon was secured from a coup-de-main. But it was not till the
middle of June that a decree was ♦CORTES CONVOKED.♦ issued, ordering
the elections to be completed as soon as possible, and requiring the
deputies to assemble in the island during the month of August, that as
soon as the greater part of them were met the sessions might begin. The
plan which the central Junta framed was altered in one most material
point, only one house being convoked. Had Jovellanos and his colleagues
determined thus, they would still have summoned the privileged orders;
but the Regency, departing inconsiderately from a resolution which had
been the effect of long deliberation, neither summoned them to meet
apart from the third estate, nor with it, nor devised any plan for
representing them; so that two of the three estates were excluded as
such from the national representation.
Three days of rogation were appointed previous to the opening of the
Cortes, and on the 24th September they commenced their proceedings.
At nine in the morning ♦COMMENCEMENT OF THEIR PROCEEDINGS.♦ the
deputies assembled in a hall fitted up for their sittings in the
palace of the Regency: the military were under arms, and they went
with the Regents in procession to the parochial church of the Isle
of Leon, where the Mass of the Holy Ghost was performed by Cardinal
Bourbon, Archbishop of Toledo. After the gospel, the Bishop of
Orense, who was president of the Regency, addressed them in a solemn
discourse; and then the following oath was proposed: “Do you swear
to preserve the Holy Catholic Apostolic Romish religion in these
realms, without admitting any other? Do you swear to preserve the
Spanish nation in its integrity, and to omit no means for delivering
it from its unjust oppressors? Do you swear to preserve to our beloved
sovereign, Ferdinand VII., all his dominions, and in his failure, to
his legitimate successors; and to make every possible exertion for
releasing him from captivity, and placing him upon the throne? Do you
swear to discharge faithfully and lawfully the trust which the nation
reposes in you, observing the laws of Spain, but changing, modifying,
and varying such as require to be altered for the general good?” When
all the deputies had made answer, “Yes, we swear,” they advanced two by
two to touch the gospels; after which the bishop said, “If ye shall do
this, so may God give you your reward; but if not, so may he enter into
judgment with you!” The hymn _Veni Sancte Spiritus_, and the _Te Deum_,
were then sung.
These ceremonies over, they returned in the same order to the hall
of assembly: the Regents advanced to the throne, and occupied five
seats under the canopy; the two secretaries of state, who accompanied
them, took their seats at a table towards the head of the hall; and
the deputies seated themselves indiscriminately as they entered, the
old contest for precedency between Burgos and Toledo being no longer
remembered. The bishop addressed them, briefly reminding them of the
perilous state of the country, and the arduous duties which they were
called upon to discharge; then desiring them to elect their president
and secretaries from their own body, he and the other four members of
the Regency quitted the hall, leaving a written paper upon the table.
A difficulty in point of form at the commencement of these proceedings
was ended by appointing, as it were at random, two deputies to hold the
offices of president and secretary, while the Cortes elected others. As
soon as the election was made, the secretary read the paper which the
Regents had left. “The five individuals,” it said, “who composed the
Regency, received that charge, above their merits and their strength,
at a time when any delay in accepting it would have been injurious
to the country: but they only accepted it and swore to discharge its
duties according to their capacity, till the solemn congress of the
Cortes being assembled, should establish a government founded upon
the general will. That moment so longed for by all good Spaniards
has arrived, and the individuals of the council of Regency can do no
less than state this to their fellow-citizens, that they may take it
into consideration, and appoint the government which they deem most
adapted to the critical circumstances of the monarchy, for which this
fundamental measure was immediately necessary.”
Upon the motion of Torrero, deputy for Extremadura, the plan of a
decree was then read, which had been prepared by his colleague Luxan,
and which, after some discussion, was adopted to this effect. The
members of the congress now assembled, and representing the nation,
declared themselves legally constituted in a general and extraordinary
Cortes, wherein the national sovereignty resided. Conformably to the
general will, which had been declared in the most open and energetic
manner, they proclaimed and swore anew, that Ferdinand VIIth, of
Bourbon, was their only lawful king; and they declared null and void
the cession of the crown which he was said to have made in favour of
Napoleon Buonaparte, not only because of the violence which accompanied
that transaction, but principally because the consent of the nation
was wanting. As it was not proper that the legislative, executive, and
judicial powers should remain united, they reserved to themselves the
exercise of the legislative power in its full extent. They declared,
that the persons to whom they should delegate the executive power, in
the absence of their king, were responsible to the nation according
to the laws. They authorized the Regency to continue exercising the
executive power under the same title, till the Cortes should appoint a
Government which they might deem more convenient. But to qualify itself
for this continuance of its authority, the Regency should acknowledge
the national sovereignty of the Cortes, and swear obedience to the laws
and decrees which it should promulgate; for which purpose, as soon as
the decree was made known to them, the members of the Regency ♦OATH
REQUIRED FROM THE REGENTS.♦ should pass immediately into the hall of
assembly, where the Cortes would remain till this was done, having
declared their sitting permanent for this purpose. The form of the
oath was thus prescribed: “Do you acknowledge the sovereignty of the
nation, represented by its deputies in this general and extraordinary
Cortes? Do you swear to obey its decrees, and the constitution which
it may establish, according to the holy object for which they have
assembled; to order that they shall be observed, and to see that they
be executed? To preserve the independence, liberty, and integrity of
the nation? the Catholic Apostolic Roman religion? the monarchial
government of the kingdom? To re-establish upon the throne our beloved
king D. Ferdinand VIIth, of Bourbon? and in all things to regard the
public weal? As you shall observe all these things, God be your helper;
and if you observe them not, you shall be responsible to the nation,
in conformity with the laws.” The Cortes confirmed for the present the
established tribunals, and the civil and military authorities; and they
declared the persons of the deputies inviolable, and that no authority
or individual might proceed against them, except according to the
manner which should be appointed in future regulations, by a committee
for that purpose.
Between ten and eleven at night this decree was passed. One of the
members observed, that the Regents might be gone to bed, if they were
not immediately apprized that their presence would be required that
night; a deputation was therefore sent to them, while the ceremonial
with which they were to be received was discussed. About midnight four
of the Regents entered ♦THE BISHOP OF ORENSE SCRUPLES TO TAKE THE
OATH.♦ the hall and took the oath. The Bishop of Orense did not come;
the unseasonableness of the hour, and the infirm state of his health,
were assigned as reasons for his absence, but it was soon known that a
stronger motive had withheld him. The sovereignty of the nation was a
doctrine which the venerable prelate was not prepared to acknowledge,
and from that hour he ceased to act as one of the Regency.
♦SEPT. 25.♦
On the following day, the members resolved, as a consequence of their
former decree, that the style in which they were to be addressed should
be that of Majesty; highness was to be that of the executive power,
during the absence of Ferdinand, and likewise of the supreme tribunals.
They ordered also, that the commanders-in-chief, the captains-general
of the provinces, the archbishops and bishops, tribunals, provincial
Juntas, and all other authorities, civil, military, and ecclesiastic,
should take the oath of obedience to the Cortes, in the same form as
the Regency. By another edict, they decreed that their installation
should be officially made known through all the Spanish dominions, and
everywhere celebrated with Te Deums and discharges of artillery; and
that prayers should be offered up during three days, imploring the
divine blessing upon their councils.
♦SEPT. 26.♦
The decree, by which the Regents were declared responsible, produced
a memorial from them, requesting to know what were the obligations
annexed to that responsibility, and what the specific powers which
were given them; “unless these things,” they said, “were clearly and
distinctly determined, the Regency would not know how to act, inasmuch
as the ancient laws had drawn no line of distinction between the two
powers; and thus they must be continually in danger, on the one hand,
of exerting an authority, which, in the opinion of the Cortes, might
not be included in the attributes of the executive, or, on the other,
of omitting to exert the powers which it involves, and which at this
time were more necessary than ever.” The reply of the Cortes proved
with how little forethought they had passed their decree. “They had not
limited,” they said, “the proper faculties of the executive, and the
Regency was to use all the power necessary for the defence, security,
and administration of the state, till the Cortes should mark out the
precise bounds of its authority. The responsibility,” they added, “to
which the Regents were subjected, was only meant to exclude that
absolute inviolability which appertained to the sacred person of the
king.” The whole of a night-session was occupied in forming this answer.
Among the many erroneous opinions which prevailed in this country
respecting the affairs of Spain, the most plausible and the most
general was that which expected great immediate benefit from the
convocation of the Cortes; an error from which, perhaps, no person
was entirely free, except the few, who, like Mr. Frere, looked to the
assembly rather with apprehensions of evil than with hope. But any
great immediate advantage, any rapid acceleration of the deliverance
of Spain, ought not to have been expected, unless it was supposed that
the Spanish deputies would proceed like the French national convention,
and that a revolutionary delirium might have produced a preternatural
and overpowering strength. There was as little reason to look for this,
as there could be for desiring it. The Spaniards, more than any other
Europeans, are attached to the laws and customs of their country. Spain
is to them literally a holy land; and its history, being composed for
many ages of a tissue of connected miracles, to the greater part of
the people sanctifies its institutions. But unless the Cortes took the
executive power into its own hands, and gave the nation a revolutionary
impulse, which all circumstances forbade, it might have been known that
the benefits to be expected would produce little or no immediate effect
upon the operations of the war: if that assembly acted wisely they
would be slow, certain, and permanent.
The mode of election secured a fair representation. Some of the
members were of the French School of philosophy, and were sufficiently
disposed to have followed the Brissotines, both in matters of state and
church-policy. Having become converts to republicanism in their youth,
and in the season of enthusiasm, they had imbibed a prejudice against
England, which did not even now give way, though they hated Buonaparte
and the present system of France as bitterly as the great majority of
their colleagues. On this point there was but one feeling.
♦FIRST MEASURES OF THE CORTES.♦
The first measures of the Cortes indicated a sense of their power, and
a determination to assert it. Want of precedents, and of experience
in the business of a deliberative assembly, were great impediments at
their outset; they had hardly decreed the separation of the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches, before they confounded them in
their own practice. Nevertheless this decree was important, for it was
a great object to secure the judicial authority from the interference
of government: that, breaking, they said, the chains with which the
arbitrary power of some centuries had bound the hands of the most
respectable ministers, justice might now be administered for the
happiness of the people. A commission was appointed to prepare a report
upon the best means of speedily terminating ♦OCT. 11.♦ criminal causes.
The result was, a decree that an extraordinary visitation of all the
prisoners should be made by the respective judicial authorities, and
the accused brought to trial with as little delay as possible; and that
for the future, the tribunals should transmit, through the Regency, to
the Cortes, at intervals of two months, accounts of all the ♦DEC. 14.♦
causes pendent, and the persons in confinement. Llano, a supplementary
member for Guatemala, proposed a more effectual remedy; that a
committee should be appointed to frame a law to the same effect as the
Habeas Corpus of the English.
♦THE DUKE OF ORLEANS OFFERS HIS SERVICES.
MARCH 4.♦
The Cortes found it necessary also to interfere with the executive. The
Duke of Orleans had offered his services to the Spaniards; the former
government had not thought proper to accept his offer, but the Regency,
a few weeks after their installation, invited him to take the command
in Catalonia. A century ago their conduct might have been easily
explained, when Lord Molesworth gravely asked, what could be done for
generals, in such havoc as was then made of them, if there were not so
many younger sons of princes in Germany, who all ran wherever there
was a war, to get bread and reputation? But pedigrees and patents
of nobility were not considered now as exclusive qualifications
for command, and the conduct of the Regency, in this instance, was
inconsiderate and hasty. When the duke first offered his services, the
Spaniards were in the full tide of success; and he expected, with good
reason, that as soon as the French armies were disheartened, they would
readily forsake a tyrant, to whom they were not bound by any tie of
duty. Affairs bore a very different aspect when the Regency informed
him, that the obstacles which had formerly frustrated his desires
were now removed; reminded him of the triumphs which his ancestors
had won in Catalonia; and called upon him to preserve the verdure
of their laurels. The duke was a man of too much honour and courage
not to fulfil the offer which he had made in more prosperous times.
Accordingly he sailed from Sicily in the beginning of June, touched at
Tarragona, and having been received there with the honours due to his
rank, continued his voyage to Cadiz, where he landed under a salute of
artillery. The Bishop of Orense had not arrived from his diocese to
take his seat in the council of Regency when the duke was invited: he
therefore was not implicated in this transaction, which was in every
respect exceedingly imprudent. There might have been some apparent
cause for it, if the duke had been a general of great experience and
celebrity, or if he could have assisted Spain either with men, money,
or stores; but the Sicilian court had no means at its disposal: it
had sent a present of a thousand muskets early in the year, and this
was the extent of its ability. On the other hand, the presence of a
prince of the Bourbon line, at the head of a Spanish army, would have
certainly drawn against it a stronger French force than would otherwise
have been employed, the destruction of one branch of that house being
of more importance to Buonaparte than the conquest of Spain. That
consideration may have had some weight with the Junta of Seville, when
upon the first outburst of national feeling, Louis XVIII. wrote to
the principality of Asturias, offering with his brother, his nephews,
and cousins, to serve in their ranks, unite the Oriflamme with their
standards, and call upon the deluded French to rally round it, and
restore peace to the world. So many inconveniences were perceived in
this proposal, that in conformity to Padre Gil’s advice, no reply was
made to it. And though the same objections did not apply to the Duke of
Orleans, there was an obvious impolicy in inviting a Frenchman to the
command; the central Junta had felt this, and the Cortes also felt it;
they held a private sitting upon the subject, and the result was, that
the duke re-embarked for Sicily.
♦SECOND REGENCY.♦
The Regents did not hold their power many weeks after the meeting of
the Cortes. A new Regency was appointed, consisting of Blake, D. Pedro
Agar, a naval captain and director-general of the academies of the
royal marine guards; and D. Gabriel Ciscar, governor of Carthagena. The
reason assigned for this change was, that the members of the former
Regency had made known their earnest desire that the weight of the
administration, which they had ♦OCT. 28.♦ supported for many months,
under such critical circumstances, should be consigned to other hands.
Those members were now to experience in their turn the same injustice
which they had shown toward the Central Junta. Like them, they had
disappointed the hopes of the people; and like them, more from the
inevitable course of things than by their own misconduct. They were
not, however, treated with equal ♦NOV. 28.♦ cruelty. A decree was
passed, that they should give in an account of their administration
to the Cortes within two months, with a view to some future process.
Shortly afterwards, in consequence of a secret sitting, they were
ordered to retire from the ♦DEC. 17.♦ Isle of Leon, and the place where
each was to reside was appointed, after the arbitrary manner of the old
court. Blake and Ciscar being absent, the Marquis del Palacio and D.
Jose Maria Puig were appointed to act in their place till they should
arrive. When ♦OCT. 28.♦ they were called upon to take the oath, the
same difficulty was found as in the case of the Bishop of Orense. The
marquis being asked if he swore ♦PALACIO REFUSES THE OATH.♦ to obey
the decrees, laws, and constitutions of the Cortes, replied, Yes, but
without prejudice to the many oaths of fidelity which he had taken to
Ferdinand VII. The president informed him, that he must take the oath
simply, or refuse it. The marquis requested that he might be allowed to
explain himself. Upon this it was agreed that he should be heard after
his colleagues had been sworn; and that business having been completed,
he entered into an explanation, saying, “he was ready to take the
oath in the form prescribed, provided those deputies who were versed
in theological points would assure him that he might do it without
scruple. All that he meant was more to ensure the purport of the oath
itself, conformably to those which he had so often taken to Ferdinand;
and he had never doubted the sovereignty of the nation assembled in its
Cortes.”
♦TYRANNICAL CONDUCT OF THE CORTES TOWARDS HIM.♦
The Cortes manifested upon this occasion something of that
precipitation, and something of that proneness to tyranny, by which
the proceedings of popular assemblies have so often been disgraced.
In this case, as in that of the Bishop of Orense, they might perhaps
have thought that such scruples disqualified him for the office which
he was called upon to accept; but those scruples ought to have been
respected; and upon no principle of law or justice could they possibly
be considered as a crime. But the marquis was ordered into custody,
and the Cortes met again that night, to deliberate upon this unworthy
business. One member said, that Palacio had lost the confidence of
the public; he could not act in the Regency, because he had shown
that his conscience was not such as was fit for a Regent; and his
conduct ought to be investigated by judges appointed for that purpose.
Capmany maintained, that the Cortes itself ought to take cognizance
of the offence; and Arguelles, Oliveros, and Torrero, agreed in these
exaggerated censures of an act which, even if censurable, amounted only
to an error of judgment of the most venial kind. Arguelles declared,
that should the Cortes retrace a single step, and not go forward with
its decree, respecting the sovereignty of the nation and their own
power, they would give a triumph to the enemy. It was voted, after a
long discussion, that the marquis had forfeited the confidence of the
nation, and that another Regent must be appointed in his place. The
Marquis del Castelar was chosen. Palacio now represented, through the
captain of the guard, that he was confined at this time in a damp room,
to the danger of his health, without having a place to sit down. It
was then ordered, that he should be confined in his own house, under
a guard, who was never to lose sight of him. This discussion occupied
the Cortes till midnight, and then they entered upon a secret sitting,
probably upon the same subject. Three days after, it was voted that the
marquis was no ♦OCT. 31.♦ longer qualified to act as captain-general of
Aragon; and in three more, discovering how little conformable it was
to their professed principles thus to proceed to condemnation before
trial, the Cortes repealed the decree, and resolved, that both this
case and that of the Bishop of Orense should be referred to judges
appointed by the Regency, who were to hear the advocates of the Cortes,
of the royal council, and of the marquis, and to consult with the
Cortes concerning their sentence. Meantime he was to remain a prisoner
at large in the Isle of Leon, upon his parole.
If the Cortes, in the tyrannical character of these proceedings,
reminded those persons who remembered the commencement of the French
revolution of the errors which were then committed, it reminded them
also of a measure springing from a more generous feeling, but which,
both in France and England, experience had shown to be an error. A
self-denying ordinance ♦SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. SEPT. 29.♦ was passed
at the motion of Capmany, deputy for Catalonia, a man well known for
his literary labours: it enacted, that no member of the Cortes should
be permitted, during the exercise of his functions, nor for a year
afterwards, to accept for himself, or solicit for any other person, any
pension, favour, reward, honour, or distinction, from the executive
power which at that time existed, nor from any other Government which
might hereafter be appointed. Gutierrez de la Huerta, supplementary
member for Burgos, had prepared a more rigorous bill to the same
effect, which was to punish the deputy who solicited any employment
for a kinsman within the fourth degree, by expelling him from the
Cortes, and depriving him for four years of his elective right, and the
capacity of being elected. It was carried by acclamation, that some
public testimony of disinterestedness should be given. There were,
however, a few members cool enough to temper the enthusiasm of their
colleagues, and qualify the vote, so as to render it somewhat less
unreasonable. At their suggestion, such persons were exempted from the
decree, who, by rank or age, were accustomed to succeed in military,
ecclesiastic, and civil bodies, according to the rules or statutes.
And it was admitted, that cases were possible in which extraordinary
services might deserve an extraordinary reward.
Two subjects of especial moment occupied much of the time of the
Cortes. The situation of the colonies was one, which is too wide a
topic to be touched on ♦LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.♦ here: the other was the
liberty of the press. Upon the motion of Arguelles, a committee was
appointed to prepare a report upon this momentous point. Many curious
discussions ensued. The Marquis of Vigo protested against taking the
subject into consideration. ♦OCT. 15.♦ “He was ready,” he said, “to
sacrifice his life, and even his reputation in the Cortes, which he
regarded more than life, for his conduct on this occasion; but he would
not sacrifice his conscience.” “Whatever light,” said Arguelles, “has
spread itself over Europe, has sprung from the liberty of the press,
and nations have risen in proportion as that liberty has been more or
less complete among them. By its influence we saw the chains fall from
the hands of the French nation; a sanguinary faction obtained the
ascendency, and the French Government began to act in direct opposition
to the principles which it had proclaimed. After having solemnly and by
acclamation declared, that the French republic renounced all conquests,
they gave orders for the incorporation of Savoy; and the conduct of
the Republic uniformly contradicted the principles of the National
Assembly, both in respect to the states which they occupied, and to
their allies. If at that time we had enjoyed a well-regulated liberty
of the press, Spain would not have been ignorant of what was the
political situation of France, when she concluded the infamous peace
of Basle. Spain then abandoned itself with blind subserviency to all
the successive Governments of France; and from the convention to the
empire, we followed all the vicissitudes of their revolution, always
in the closest alliance, till we saw our strong places taken, and the
armies of the perfidious invader in the heart of Spain. Till that
moment it was not lawful for any one to speak of the French Government
with less submission than of our own, and not to admire Buonaparte was
one of the greatest crimes. In those miserable days the seeds were
sown, and we are now reaping the bitter fruits. Look round the world!
England is the only nation which we shall find free from these horrors;
the energy of her Government has done much, but the liberty of the
press has done more. By that means, wise and virtuous men were able
to diffuse the antidote faster than the French could administer the
poison, and the information which the people enjoyed made them see the
danger, and taught them how to avoid it.”
Brigadier Gonzalez affirmed, that whoever opposed the freedom of the
press was a bad Spaniard. This occasioned a warm reply, and one of
those altercations followed, which the Cortes was not then so well
regulated as to prevent or to cut short. A priest terminated it, by
saying, that their first duty was to defend the Catholic, Apostolic,
Roman religion, and whatever was contrary to that religion was bad.
Then, citing the canons to prove that no work ought to be published
without the license of a council, or of a bishop, he inferred that
the liberty of the press was contrary to religion. The conclusion was
perfectly legitimate, but it was met by an answer not less curious than
the argument. “No person,” said Mexia, “will deny that Christianity has
existed from the beginning of the world; for though our Saviour was not
yet come, those moral precepts, which are the basis of his religion,
and which were given by Moses, were written in the heart of man. In
like manner, the liberty of the press has existed from the time of
Adam; for printing is a mode of writing, and the liberty of doing it
is the same, whether it be upon the leaf of a tree, or in wax, or upon
paper; and this liberty all men have possessed. The art of printing,
therefore, where the liberty of the press was restrained, was an injury
to man, inasmuch as it deprived him of this primitive liberty.”
There was, however, a great number of members who were by no means
prepared to change the opinions in which they had been bred up; and
they listened with deep attention to those speakers who maintained
that it was both for the interest of the writer and the public, that
books should be subjected rather to a previous censure, than to an
after responsibility. The result was not less characteristic than
the long and animated discussions which preceded it. After declaring
that all persons were at liberty to publish their sentiments without
any license, the Cortes unanimously admitted an amendment which, by
inserting the word political, curtailed this liberty of half its
extent: and all writings upon religious matters were left subject to
the previous censure of the ecclesiastic authorities, according to the
decree of the Council of Trent. Anonymous publication was allowed, but
the printer was to put his name and place of abode; and if, in case
of an offence against the laws, he did not make known the author, he
was to incur the punishment himself. For the purpose of securing the
freedom of the press, and providing against its abuse, the Cortes was
to appoint a supreme board of censure, composed of nine individuals,
who were to reside near the Government; and a similar board of five
members in every provincial capital; three of the nine, and two of the
five, being secular clergy. The business of the provincial boards was
to examine such works as were denounced; and upon their sentence the
judges were to suppress the book, and call in the copies which might
have been sold; but their sentence was not definitive. The author or
printer might demand a copy of the censure, and lay it before the
supreme board: the supreme board might require them to revise their
sentence; but their second opinion was to be final. If the book were
suppressed, as a private libel, the individual aggrieved had still his
remedy at law against the libeller. Some appeal was allowed against
the decision of the ordinary. He was not to refuse his license without
assigning the ground of refusal, and hearing what the author, editor,
or printer could allege in behalf of the work. If he then persisted in
his refusal, the person interested might lay his censure before the
supreme board, and refer the book to their judgment; if they found it
worthy of approbation, their opinion was to be communicated to the
ordinary, that he, being better informed upon the matter, might grant
the license if he thought good, in order to prevent any farther appeal;
but what that was to be was not stated. This was not the only point
which, by a sort of compromise, was left doubtful in the decree. The
article which empowered the supreme board to reverse the sentence
of the provincial ones, declared, as it was originally worded, that
upon their approbation the book should freely circulate, and that no
tribunal should impede it. Some members upon this required that a
proviso should be inserted, declaring this was not intended to intrench
upon the authority of the Inquisition. To avoid such a recognition of
that baleful power, Luxan proposed that the latter part of the sentence
should be omitted, and this was carried by a majority of two votes. It
was a victory for the liberal party to leave the question undecided. As
soon as the discussion was concluded, a deputy moved that special and
honourable mention of the Inquisition should be made in the decree; but
the president prevented any debates upon this inflammatory subject by
replying, that it might be taken into consideration at some future time.
Thus having admitted that public opinion was the proper and
indispensable check upon the proceedings of Government, the Cortes
instituted a board nominated by Government to be a check upon public
opinion, which, if the measure had not been merely nugatory, would
have virtually destroyed the freedom it pretended to establish. But
they were dealing with no easy subject. ♦STATE OF THE PRESS.♦ The
press, like other prisoners, had broken loose when the old system
was overthrown. It had effected the momentous service of rousing the
nation, and it continued to keep up the spirit which it had excited;
but as for exercising any salutary restraint upon the proceedings of
the Government, this was of all things what the public writers were
least competent to do, and the men in power least likely to tolerate.
The danger was, that the press might now, at the same time, inflame
and misdirect the public mind; a work for which eager volunteers are
never wanting in such times. The Spaniards had taken arms to defend
their institutions, to which with all their enormous abuses the people
were devoutly attached. The best and wisest men wished to reform
those abuses. Such men were few, and aiming only at what was lawful
and just, they scrupled at any evil means for bringing it about. The
party who were for destroying root and branch had no such principle to
impede them. Despotism had made them republicans, and an abominable
superstition had driven them into unbelief. They also were few, but
they were more numerous than men whose opinions rested upon a safer
ground; they were bold and they were indefatigable, acting like some
of the early propagandists and victims of the French revolution, in
the enthusiastic belief that nothing but good could result from the
subversion of corrupted establishments. Even in the Cortes there were
some who looked to the most dreadful stage of that revolution rather
as an example than a warning. One member wished for what he called a
Christian Robespierre to save the country; another, for _un pequeño
Robespierre_, one who would carry on a system of terror ♦DIARIO DE LAS
CORTES, T. 2. 441. T. 4. 371.♦ with a little more moderation than had
been used in France; caustics they said were called for; matters must
be carried on with energy and with blood, or the country was lost;
heads must be stricken off, and that speedily; it was necessary to shed
more Spanish blood than French. When such language was uttered in the
Cortes, and circulated in the diaries of that assembly, it was, indeed,
most necessary that efficient measures should be taken for restraining
the license of the press. A journal was published under the ♦EL
ROBESPIERRE ESPAÑOL.♦ title of “The Spanish Robespierre,” breathing the
same spirit as these speeches. One of its numbers was suppressed: the
fanatical author exclaimed against this as an outrage upon the sacred,
the divine, the omnipotent liberty of the press. “I swear,” said he,
“upon the altar of the country, no one is more a Spaniard than I. I
more than any one abhor despotism and its vile satellites. I alone
am sufficient to overthrow them, and reduce that infernal monster to
nothing. My soul is more untamable than the planets, more elevated
than the firmament itself, more great than the whole universe.” Even
such ravings were not to be overlooked when, in the same number, it
was asserted, that the minister who had suppressed his former paper
had conspired against the liberty of the nation; that, therefore, he
was guilty of treason, and consequently ought to be publicly hanged
without the least delay. Yet the necessity of reform, ... of a change
in the spirit of the Spanish Government, which under all its changes
of form had remained the same, was shown in the treatment of this
revolutionist. He was cast into prison, and left there, it was said
in the Cortes, till he was half rotten, waiting indefinitely for the
decision of his case, which they who prosecuted him were never likely
to think of more!
♦DEBATES CONCERNING FERDINAND.♦
At the motion of Perez de Castro, the Cortes voted a monument as a mark
of gratitude to George III. and the British nation. They declared,
at the same time, that the Spaniards would never lay down their arms
till they had secured their independence, with the absolute integrity
of their monarchy in both worlds, and till they had recovered their
king. But though the restoration of Ferdinand was thus spoken of in
this decree, there were many who perceived the evils with which his
return was likely to be attended. The most cautious reformers, however
loyal, knew but too well that his presence might prove a serious
impediment to any reformation; the more theoretical ones could hope to
effect their schemes only in his absence; and at this time it seemed
probable that he might soon return, under circumstances which all
true Spaniards, however widely differing upon other points, regarded
with equal apprehension. The accounts which had been officially
published in France of Kolli’s adventure represented Ferdinand as still
soliciting to be adopted by marriage into the family of the tyrant
who had betrayed him. The Spanish Government, with the timid impolicy
which continued to characterize it in such things, had not permitted
the statement to appear in the Spanish newspapers; the substance of
it, nevertheless, was well known at Cadiz, and many things tended
to accredit it. For it was well understood, that the Intruder was
weary of his miserable position, that Buonaparte was not less weary
of supporting him there, and that the French generals were disgusted
with the odious service in which they were employed. They were said to
have reported everywhere that Ferdinand, with Buonaparte’s consent,
had contracted the desired marriage (according to one account, it was
with an Austrian archduchess), and that Buonaparte in consequence would
replace him on the throne. There was intelligence from Madrid that a
Spanish army of 30,000 men was about to be raised for him. The scheme
was politic enough in all its parts to be deemed probable: it would
have the cordial approbation of the Intruder’s adherents; and all who
regarded only their own selfish views, all who desponded, all who were
impatient under privations and sufferings, all who desired repose,
might be expected to concur in it. The youth, the inexperience, the
defective education, the alleged simplicity of Ferdinand’s character,
were to be borne in mind: as through these he had formerly been
entrapped, so might he now be made the instrument of Buonaparte, who
would thus seek to obtain by intrigue what he was unable to win by
force. Against this it was necessary to be prepared. Long and animated
discussions were held upon this matter. It was moved, that if Ferdinand
should cede any portion of the Spanish dominions to France, all persons
obeying his orders to that effect should be declared traitors: that any
marriage which he might contract under these circumstances should be
declared null, (a proposition against which some of the ecclesiastics
in the Cortes exclaimed as contrary to the principles of sound
theology): that if he entered Spain as Buonaparte’s ally, he must be
rejected, and war carried on against him under the black flag. Now was
the time to engrave with the point of the sword upon their hearts that
holy Catholic religion in which they must establish their trust! To the
petition in the Litany which prayed for deliverance from the deceits of
the Devil, they should add, from the deceits of the French also. Rather
than thus be deceived and debased, it were better that whole Spain
should be made what Numantia and Saguntum had been: then might the
Spaniards look down from heaven, and see whether these impious invaders
would be bold enough to walk tranquilly through the silent abodes of
their tremendous[15] ghosts!
♦DECREE CONCERNING FERDINAND.♦
The Cortes faithfully represented the nation in their feelings on this
subject; and accordingly they issued a decree, declaring null and of no
effect all treaties or transactions of any kind which Ferdinand should
authorize while he remained in duresse, whether in the enemy’s country
or in Spain, so long as he was under the direct or indirect influence
of the Usurper. The nation, it was proclaimed, would never consider
him free, nor render him obedience, till they should see him in the
midst of his true subjects, and in the bosom of the national congress:
nor would they lay down their arms, nor listen to any proposal for an
accommodation of any kind, till Spain had been completely evacuated
by the troops which had so unjustly invaded it. At the time when this
brave decree was passed, the condition of Spain appeared hopeless to
those persons by whom moral causes are overlooked, and from whose
philosophy all consideration of Providence is dismissed. Fortress after
fortress had fallen; army after army had been destroyed, till the
Spaniards had no longer anything in the field which could even pretend
to the name, except the force under Romana with Lord Wellington. The
enemy surrounded the bay of Cadiz, and were masters of the adjacent
country, wherever they could cover it with their troops, or scour it
with their cavalry. Yet in the sight of these enemies, from the neck of
land which they thus beleaguered, the Cortes legislated for Spain; and
its proceedings, though the Intruder and his unhappy adherents affected
to despise them, were regarded with the deepest anxiety throughout the
Peninsula, and wherever the Spanish language extends. There is no other
example in history of so singular a position. During the three years
which had elapsed since the commencement of the struggle, Buonaparte
had not only increased his power, but seemed also to have consolidated
and established it; while Spain had endured all the evils of revolution
without acquiring a revolutionary strength; and, what appeared more
surprising, none of those commanding spirits which revolutions usually
bring forth had arisen there. Enlightened Spaniards had with one
consent called for the Cortes, as the surest remedy for their country;
and in England they who were most friendly to the Spaniards, and they
who were least so, had agreed in the propriety of convoking it. Long
as the Cortes had been suspended, it was still a venerable name; and
its restoration gladdened the hearts of the ♦CHARACTER OF THE CORTES.♦
people. A fairer representation could not have been obtained if the
whole kingdom had been free, nor a greater proportion of able men; the
circumstances, also, in which they were placed, increased their claims
to respect among a people by whom poverty has never been despised.
Many of the members, having lost their whole property in the general
wreck, were dependent upon friendship even for their food. For although
a stipend was appointed, some of those provinces which were occupied
by the enemy could find no means of paying it; and no provision for
remedying this default had been yet devised. They who had professions
could not support themselves by practising, because the business of the
Cortes engrossed their whole attention. The self-denying ordinance,
which they had passed, excluded them from offices of emolument; and
there were deputies who sometimes had not wherewith to buy oil for
a lamp to give them light. Under these circumstances they respected
themselves, and were respected by the nation according to the true
standard of their worth.
But as the Cortes faithfully represented the characteristic virtues
of the nation, they represented with equal fidelity its defects. The
majority were scarcely less bigoted than the most illiterate of their
countrymen; and they prided themselves upon having made the assembly
swear to preserve the Romish as the exclusive religion of Spain:
this, they said, was one of the things which reflected most lustre
upon the Cortes. Their opponents, who designated themselves as the
Liberal party, assented to what they could neither with prudence nor
safety have opposed; and they swore, accordingly, to maintain in its
domination and intolerance a corrupt religion which they despised
and hated. Disbelief is too weak a word for expressing the feelings
of a generous Spaniard toward the superstition which has eaten like
a cancer into the bosom of his country. And most unhappily for
themselves and Spain, the men whose heart and understanding revolted
against intolerance and imposture were themselves infected with the
counterpoison of French philosophy, and their best purposes were
too often sophisticated with the frothy notions of that superficial
school. This party, though far inferior in numbers, took the lead,
with the activity and zeal of men who had embraced new opinions, and
were labouring to promote them. Though fatally erroneous in what is
of most importance, they acted in many cases with a quick and ardent
perception of what is just; and not unfrequently they were right in
the general principle, even when they were wrong in its application.
Through their exertions, measures were carried, as far as votes of
the Cortes could effect them, which, if they had been effectual,
would have conferred lasting benefit upon the people. But in many of
these reforms they proceeded rashly, neither sufficiently regarding
the rights of individuals, nor the opinions and habits of the nation;
and in what was most required at such a crisis both parties were
alike deficient. Instead of infusing into the Government that energy
which had been expected, the Cortes weakened and embarrassed the
executive by perpetually intermeddling with it; so that, under their
control, the Regency which they had appointed became more inefficient
than the central Junta. And instead of making the deliverance of the
country their paramount object, they busied themselves in framing a
constitution; a work, which, if it had been more needful, might well
have been deferred till a more convenient season. Great part of their
sittings was consumed in metaphysical discussions, arising out of the
scheme of the constitution; and the doctrine of the sovereignty of the
people was asserted in a temper which plainly manifested how surely
that sovereignty, if it were once erected, would become unendurably
tyrannical. Day after day these abstractions were debated, while the
enemy was besieging Cadiz. Meantime no measures were adopted for
bringing the army into a better state; and the mournful truth became
apparent even to those who most reluctantly acknowledged it. But if
it be difficult to form an effective army where there are none who
have studied the principles and profited by the practice of war, it
is yet more difficult to make legislators of men whose minds are ill
disciplined, even when well stored.