all freely and spontaneously adhered to the Constitution by them framed, and in conformity thereto named their deputies to the Ordinary Cortes afterwards assembled; who, for a moment, can venture to doubt the legitimacy of the National Congress, or what government can be pronounced more legal than the Cortes, whether the General and Extraordinary ones which assembled in Cadiz, or the Ordinary ones dissolved in Madrid, in 1814 ?

The nation being assembled in the persons of its true and legal representatives, and these invested with most ample and unlimited powers, to resolve all matters connected with the convocation of the House,' as well as all others appertaining to it,without restrictions of any kind, this body of delegates entered on their sittings and commenced their deliberations in sight of the very enemy. Their discussions were frequently accompanied by the thunders of the neighbouring cannon; and shells, launched by the enemy, sometimes fell round the very hall in which the meetings were held. On this account, however, their deliberations were not interrupted; and the fathers of their country, by the courage they displayed, animated the most timid. Most remarkable example and worthy of imitation! Such a one as, like most others evinced in the affairs of Spain, gives to the events belonging to the history of that country a peculiar character of grandeur and originality.

From the first moment of their meeting, the worthy representatives showed to the nation what might be expected from them; and thenceforwards confidence and joy began to revive in the hearts of Spaniards. One of the many phænomena exhibited by the revolution of Spain, may be found in the wise measures adopted by the legislature, which also give a very good idea of the acquirements and judgment of the members themselves. Indeed, how could it be supposed that a nation in which the exercise of the mind had, for the space of three hundred years, been chained down in a manner that has no parallel in any other part of the

The writs or letters sent to the provinces, for the convening of the Cortes, were conformable to those intentions from the beginning manifested to the nation by the Central Junta; it being therein proposed, as the chief occupation of the Cortes, to frame a Constitution worthy of the Spanish nation, and to raise that generous people to the dignity of a state constituted on the basis of freedom. This also was required by the circumstances of the nation and the general opinion of Spaniards, who were so fully persuaded that the principal object to which the attention of the General and Extraordinary Cortes would be called, was the Constitution of the Monarchy, that even Don Pedro Cevallos, whose views in this respect cannot be deemed suspicious, wrote over from England to urge the measure. In the Journal of the Sittings of the 7th September, 1810, Vol. 1. the following passage is read: a report was presented respecting the memoir addressed by Don Pedro Cevallos, from London, in which, after tendering his allegiance and adhesion to the Cortes, he manifests how advisable it would be to form the Constitution of the kingdom,"

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world, should have contained within itself sons so far advanced in a knowledge of the progress of the human intellect; men who certainly might bear a comparison with the learned of other nations, more free and enlightened? How could it be believed that, in open defiance of the Inquisition and political despotism, defective education, the difficulties of intercourse, and the isolated state in which Spain stood, with regard to other countries of Europe, in the first national body that assembles, the basis of a free Constitution are laid, the freedom of the press decreed, the Inquisition abolished, the monastic orders reformed, the influence of the clergy diminished, the shackles on industry, agriculture, and commerce, removed, and all this voted by great majorities, and amidst the cares and exigencies of a most desolating war? Occurrences so remarkable convey the most favorable ideas of the natural disposition of the Spanish people; and at the same time that they evince to us what was the state of Spain in 1808, evidently demonstrate the inutility of those shackles intended to keep men in ignorance, and that, notwithstanding so many obstacles the light of truth penetrates and diffuses itself every where around. Never was a system better combined than that of Spain, in order to degrade and brutify a people: still we see she is the third among the great nations of Europe, that seeks to constitute herself in a free manner, and this before many others whose governments have of late been incomparably more enlightened.

On the 24th September, the day on which the Cortes assembled, they issued their first decree, in which, taking into consideration the existing state of Spain, and desirous, at the same time, of manifesting the principle most essentially destructive to the pretensions of Buonaparte, they declared, without any dissentient voices, that the exercise of the national sovereignty resided in them, and pronounced the renunciations and transactions which took place at Bayonne, as null and void; not only for the want of freedom with which they had been carried into effect, but also principally because they were divested of the consent of the nation. Faithful to their oaths, they acknowledged and proclaimed afresh King Ferdinand VII. de Bourbon, as their only and lawful king; they established the most just and disinterested basis for the exercise of the public authority; and reserving to themselves the legislative power in the whole ofi ts extent,th eyle ft the executive functions to a Council of Regency representing the King, and the judicial ones to the several tribunals.

This is the decree which some of the enemies of the Cortes have since sought to represent as an overthrow of the monarchical government; although the sovereign was therein again acknowledged, notwithstanding his departure from the realm, his abdication

of the throne, and the pressure of the armies of the enemy; giving to it the color of a treasonable attempt against the rights of the king, although in quality of such it proclaims him afresh, pronounces him as the legitimate and only one, and annuls the very title by which the enemy sought to deprive him of his crown; in short, as in contradiction with the oath they had previously taken, as if there could be any opposition between the national sovereignty exercised by the Congress, by no means different from that assumed by the provincial Juntas, the Central one, and the Council of Regency, and that sovereignty which would be exercised by the King himself, newly acknowledged and restored to his throne, and acting under a representative Constitution such as the nation had a right to adopt for itself.

In this manner did the Cortes seek to render the rights of the king more secure, to counteract the views of ambition, destroy the seeds of federalism, and inspire the people at large with more courage and confidence. The deliberations on this occasion were public, the intentions of the deputies pure and upright, and the sense and object of the declaration clear and manifest, as was afterwards repeatedly explained in the Cortes. No one could have entertained any doubts on this head, unless a few persons dissatisfied with the new order established, who affected to entertain them with a view only to cavil and asperse.

In its earliest sittings, the Congress decreed the freedom of the press with a great majority; considering this as one of the best means to enlighten and know the public opinion, and also to proceed more correctly in the formation and arrangements of the Constitution. The discussions which on this occasion took place, besides their importance, are also remarkable, inasmuch as they gave rise to the distinction of two parties, whose names and classification are exclusively to be attributed to the public. In order that this subject may be correctly comprehended, it will not be improper, before we proceed any further, to say something, in general terms, respecting the character and nature of the various elements of which the Congress was composed.

In this, as is usual in all representative bodies, two great divisions comprehended the largest portion of the members. One party was in favor of reform, the other opposed to it. The number of the clergy who had taken their seats, it must be acknowledged was too great with respect to the other members; and although many of them were ardent partisans of reform, the largest portion were opposed, as well as others belonging to the privileged classes,

1 Vide the Preliminary Remarks to the Constitution, drawn up by the member Arguelles.

magistrates, dependents on the old government, persons in general who had prospered by abuses, and enemies to all changes which might affect their interests. Long and contended debates preceded the decree for the freedom of the press, in which the ideas and way of thinking of those who spoke in pro and con began to be discovered. The public-who anxiously desired that the press should be unshackled, and in numbers attended, with a most lively interest, the sittings-began to eulogise as liberal those sentiments of the members expressed in the affirmative, and to censure and condemn, as narrow-minded and servile, those of the opposite party; and this denomination of things being applied to persons, as usually happens, thenceforwards served to distinguish, by the name of Liberales those who were friendly to reform, and to stigmatize by the appellation of Serviles the party opposed to any being carried into effect. Another division existed that might be called a third party, which being in general united with the Liberales, separated from them in certain questions concerning America. In all the parties, however, unanimity prevailed when the question turned on the repelling of a foreign enemy; and the men most opposed in their opinions thought of nothing but of being Spaniards, when the independence of their country was at stake. It is but right that this justice should be done to all; and it ought further to be acknowledged, that many of the

1 This was seen in a most remarkable manner when the decree of the 1st of January, 1811, was on the tapis, by which the Cortes declared as null and void whatever act or agreement the King might enter into whilst under the control of Buonaparte or subject to his influence. They solemnly pledged themselves not to acknowledge and obey the monarch whilst a captive, but only when he should be free, restored to his faithful subjects, placed in the bosom of the national Congress; and in the name of the nation they swore to give no hearing to any propositions of arrangement or compromise, and not to throw down their arms, till they had obtained the restoration of the king and the total evacuation of Spain and Portugal by the enemy; which alone could secure their religion as well as the absolute integrity and independence of the monarchy. This decree, which served as a foundation for the one issued on the 2d February, 1814, by the Ordinary Cortes, in consequence of the treaty entered into between Ferdinand VII. and Buonaparte, in Valençay, was passed unanimously; and two deputies, the one a Liberale and the other a Servile, (Garcia Herreros and Estevan) who had not been able to assist on the day the question was carried, requested, the following one, that their names might be entered as having voted in the affirmative, in order that they might not be deprived of the satisfaction of being numbered among those mentioned in the act, which was signed by all. If Monsieur de Pradt had been aware of this fact, he would not have ventured to assert, in his work on the Revolution of Spain, "that the Cortes, assembled in Cadiz, had sent deputies to Joseph Buonaparte, who were detained in Seville by the news of the battle of Albuera."

Serviles were animated by the best intentions. In proof of this truth it may be said, that members who, through the want of necessary information, were at first favorable to the Inquisition as well as other prejudicial institutions, by the operation of time, were seen among the number of the opponents, as soon as the debates had furnished them with the means of correcting their own errors. In the three parties there were eloquent members who greatly distinguished themselves, especially among the Liberales,' in which number were individuals of great wisdom and information in matters appertaining to government, who sustained their arguments and opinions by extempore speeches, or aided the committees by their way of thinking and reports; displaying acquirements of an extensive and valuable nature.

The freedom of the press having been decreed by the Cortes, the measure was not only well received but also treated with the greatest respect; and the Servile papers enjoyed the same latitude as the Liberale ones, even abusing it much more than the latter, as may be seen by the Journals they published, more especially El Procurador, and Atalaya De la Mancha; 2 papers which seemed to emulate each other in acrimony, and the lengths to which they considered they might go.

The Cortes, soon after this decree, occupied themselves in a plan to do away with the feudal rights. Feudalism in Spain had never attained that ascendency seen in some other countries, nor had it there taken such deep root. The rights of hunting and fishing, those of privileged mills, as well as many others, burdensome and prejudicial to the people, although known in Spain, were not so generally extended as in other countries. In Valencia, however, there were many privileges which weighed heavy on the people, as well as in Galicia; and in all parts there were lordships and other remains of feudalism, which it was necessary to abolish, as in fact was subsequently done, almost unanimously, after due and mature deliberation. 3

Among the Liberale party were Don Augustin Arguelles, Sr. Muños Torrero, Count de Toreno, Calatrava, Garcia-Herreros, Villanueva, Antillon, &c.; among the opposite party were Messrs. Ynguanzo, Cañedo, Valiente, Gutierrez de la Huerta, &c. In the American party were Mexia, Teran, Leyva, Arispe, and several others.

2 These papers continued their labors after the return of Ferdinand VII. when the freedom of the press, as well as all the liberal institutions, were suppressed; but they exceeded the bounds of propriety so much, so great were the calumnies and foul aspersions with which they soiled their pages, that the government, although favorable to them, at length felt itself compelled to prohibit their publication.

3 The worthy Archbishop of Santiago, (St. James) Muzquiz, who was affected by this decree, remonstrated against it to the Cortes, on the VOL. XVII. NO. XXXIII.

Pam.

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