In the mean time a committee, composed of 15 members, ' prepared the project of the Constitution, eventually presented to the Congress. The debates on each of the articles were long and deliberate, as became the importance of the object-certainly one of the most momentous of those for which the Cortes had assembled-and the discussions were conducted with all the learning and skill to be expected from an assembly that could boast of many enlightened members. We shall not here enter into an examination of the Constitution, already generally known, and respecting which the public are enabled to form accurate opinions. In it, at the side of enactments which by some may be considered as defects, will be found the real principles and ground-work of all free Constitutions. We nevertheless deem it necessary to make a few remarks on certain points it contains, which, in the eyes of many, may have appeared imperfect or contradictory. Such, in the first place, are, the want of an Upper House, like that of Great Britain; the inability of Representative Members exercising the functions of ministers to the crown; and the restrictions against deputies being elected a second time.

There is no system, however excellent it may be, that can be made applicable to, or suit all circumstances, which very frequently destroy the best theories when reduced to practice; and although this may be deemed a misfortune, it would still be a greater one to adopt any system, whatever it might be, without their being duly taken into consideration. Were we to attempt an examination of the state of Spain, and bring to view the circumstances and motives which called the Representatives of the nation together, it would be found, that a different course could not then have been pursued; and this conclusion is warranted by the benefits afterwards derived. The monstrous state of the nobility in Spain, the multitude of nobles in one province, and the scarcity of them in another; the variety and confusion of classes in this same body; the opposition that would have been met with from the generality of them, if the composition of an Upper House had been confined to the Grandees of Spain; in short, the general discredit attached to the greatest part of the latter, and their disposition and propensities, owing to their ignorance and prejudices, rather to destroy than preserve any new institution, however

grounds that the lordships he possessed were not his own but belonging to the holy apostle above named.

'These were Messrs. Muños-Torrero, Arguelles, Espiga, Oliveros, Perez De Castro, Fernández de Leyva, Morales-Duarez, Gutierrez de la Huerta, Perez Valiente, Cañedo, Barcena, Ric, Tauregui, and Menudiola.

great the privileges that might be granted to them; rendered a second Chamber not only impracticable but also prejudicial as the object of the legislator in its formation, was counteracted by circumstances, and it became necessary to defer it, in case experience should make it appear indispensable, to better times, when the great proprietors and rich men of the state, truly interested in the preservation of a free Constitution, as well by their moral improvement as a more equitable means of acquiring wealth, should be able to form a body essentially conservative.

With regard to the clause relating to the ministers, and the provision against members being re-elected, the same has happened in all countries where, for the first time, the road to liberty has been opened, and the people freed from the yoke of a despotic government. The dread and distrust with which all acts emanating from such a government are viewed, causes every one, in the first moments, to be anxious to place barrier on barrier, and sometimes, perhaps, with no very great discernment. The same also may be said of the re-election of members; an excessive delicacy, on the part of the Cortes, led them to this decision, which, under any other circumstances, would have been deemed inexplicable. Politicians may laugh as much as they please, at the causes which induced the Cortes to adopt these two resolutions, pronouncing them weak and of little moment, compared with the great benefits to be derived to the nation from the union of the government with the legislative power, by means of its ministers, and of the invariableness and solidity of a representative system, when the deputies composing the same can be re-elected; but they must reflect, that in countries where liberty is in its infancy, and where the means to sustain it are not generally known, great risk is run in the adoption of these advantages; because personal views of ambition are attributed to the promoters of them, by which means their efforts in favor of liberty fall into a disrepute that might prove greatly injurious to their establishment. In Spain, these proofs of disinterestedness evinced by the members of the Cortes, have ac

All the independence and all the dignity of a member of an Upper House, or Peer of the Realm, is not equivalent, in the imagination of one of our Grandees, to the distinction of wearing the grand cross, to the right of entering the king's bed-chamber, and the merit of attending his person. Accus tomed to consider the situation of inmate of the palace as the summit of honor, of brilliancy, and of fortune, and possessing, on the other hand, large entails; an hereditary magistracy, however elevated it might be, would not be esteemed by them in comparison with the more favorite objects of their ambition. From this number ought, however, to be excluded some Grandees, well known and esteemed in the nation for their learning and love of liberty; such as the Duke de Frias, the Marquis de Villafranca, and others.

quired for them a well merited reputation, which will not be lost to the welfare and prosperity of their country.

Another of the remarkable defects some persons have noticed in the Spanish Constitution, is the want of religious toleration. This determination which, among other nations, would most assuredly constitute a grievous evil, could not at that time be considered so in Spain. In that country only one creed is known, consequently no class was injured by the measure. The exclusion,

during three centuries, of all religions but the Catholic one, had thence banished all other modes of worship; so that very few persons of a different persuasion were to be found, except a small number of foreigners, established in the seaports, for the purposes of trade The only injury that could be apprehended from the clause in question was, that of discouraging the access of foreigners, whose intercourse and establishment in Spain would be extremely valuable; but as by the intent and meaning of this measure they were not prevented from arriving and establishing themselves among us, whatever their creed might be, and the public use of their worship was alone forbidden, the above inconvenience could not be felt; and few would have been restrained from going to form establishments in Spain, where they could rely on the security of their persons and property and the free exercise of their industry, which the Constitution offered to them. In time, and when through the medium of the press and the establishment of freedom, the public opinion had been better formed in this respect, by all being made to understand how just and necessary it is to respect all religions; and on the other hand, the number of foreigners had increased: then the Spanish Catholic would not be alarmed to see the Protestant temple erected at the side of his church, as his ancestors beheld the mosque and synagogue, previous to the "introduction of the Inquisition. But to establish toleration suddenly, after the empire of the above tribunal had lasted three centuries, would have been folly, and furnished the clergy with a pretext to raise an outcry against reform in a more efficacious manner. What then, would they not have called the liberal party; whom, notwithstanding all this circumspection, they have nevertheless treated as atheists and jacobins ?

The declaration of the national sovereignty has also been considered as the manifestation of an useless and abstract principle, possibly prejudicial in its application. But, if this declaration be thought unnecessary in a nation that tranquilly and in concert with the sovereign, reforms its Constitution; in Spain, abandoned as she then was by the monarch, transferred, without being consulted, as actual property to another owner, and by the abdication of her prince treated as a rebel on account of her resistance, it became impossible

to avoid making, in the face of the universe, the solemn declaration of a principle on which is founded the right of all nations to defend themselves, and to take into their own hands the supreme power: a right which Spain in fact possessed, whenever her kings should voluntarily have alienated or forfeited the crown. Where

is the nation that would not have recorded this principle, under similar circumstances? The same had, on former occasions, been pronounced in Spain, in times less urgent; as may be seen by the famous speech of Chancellor Rui Lopez Davalos, during the minority of King John II. in which he offers the crown to his uncle, the Infante Don Fernando: a speech certainly most eloquent, and, on account of its daring and liberal ideas, worthy of competing with the most distinguished ones pronounced and published in our own days. In it the above rights of the nation are acknowledged as a principle perfectly well received, and conformable to the interests of the people. If from the declaration we pass on to the exercise, we shall soon afterwards see, in Arragon, at the death of King Martin, that the kingdoms of Valencia, Catalonia, and Arragon, named a Junta which assembled in Caspe, for the purpose of electing a king who might be the most suitable; and they chose the Infante Don Fernando de Castilla.2 In times more mote, many similar precedents are to be found. Don Alonzo, called El Batallador, had left the Templars heirs to his kingdoms, when the Cortes of Arragon assembled in Monzou refused to comply with his will, and elected Don Ramiro the Monk, and the Navarrese, Don Garcia Ramirez. In this respect, what modern Constitution can boast of principles more liberal than the charter of Sobrarve, which gave rise to the liberties of Arragon? These arrived at such a pitch, that Inigo Arista, whom they raised to the throne, solemnly bound himself, in case he infringed their liberties, that the Arragonese might elect another king; a Christian or even a Pagan. It ought further to be observed, that the declaration of the national sovereignty passed the Cortes almost unanimously; such was the general conviction with regard to its necessity and propriety.

4

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As for the rest, the Constitution established the fundamental bases of national liberty and prosperity. In its personal freedom,

■ Vide Mariana, Lib. ix. Cap. 5.

2 Zurita, Anales de Arragon, Lib. xi.

3 Ibid. Lib. i. Cap. 52 and 53.

◆ Ibid. Ibid. Lib. i. In Spain these principles, even under the house of Austria, were not so alarming as they now are; for plays were then represented, in which the people were reminded of these ancient privileges. Vide part of the oath taken by Inigo Arista, in the comedy of Don Francisco de Villegas, entitled La Eneas de la Virgen.

the independence of the Judges, and the publicity of trials, were secured, and the means of defence were also provided for the accused. Juries are established by one of its articles; but their being put in practice was delayed, till the moment when the Cortes, by adopting some previous arrangements, should think fit to carry them into effect. The national representation was therein better constituted than ever it had been before, and the majority of Spaniards concurred in the nomination of their deputies. The freedom of the press, that essential element of representative governments, was also made a fundamental and invariable law. The administration of the provinces and towns was left to the care of the inhabitants, who, among themselves elected, and at stated periods renewed, the members of their own municipalities and provincial deputations, without any interference on the part of the government. In short, provision was made for the future, by establishing, with great prudence and foresight, the legal means to change, in the course of time, whatever conviction and experience might deem necessary to reform.

Such, in substance, is the spirit and contents of the Spanish Constitution. The Cortes had the satisfaction to see the inexplicable delight with which their labors were received by the Spanish people, and the manner in which they were appreciated by other nations,' some sovereigns having acknowledged them in formal and express terms. The whole of the inhabitants of Cadiz and La

The infanta, Doña Carlota Joaquina, then princess of Brazils and now Queen of Portugal, in a letter dated June 28th, 1812, written to the Regency of Spain, and by the latter communicated to the Cortes, expresses herself in the following words: "Filled with joy, I congratulate you on the subject of the good and wise Constitution which the august Congress of the Cortes have just sworn to and published, amidst such general applause, and so highly appreciated by myself: since I consider it as the fundamental basis of the felicity and independence of the nation, and as a proof which my beloved countrymen give to the world, of the love and fidelity they entertain for their legitimate sovereign, and of the valor and constancy with which they defend his rights and those of the nation."

Article 2d, of the treaty made between Spain and Prussia, at Basle, on the 20th January, 1814. "HM. the King of Prussia acknowledges H. M. Ferdinand VII. as the only legitimate king of the Spanish Monarchy in both hemispheres; as well as the Regency of the kingdom which, during his absence and captivity, represents him, legitimately elected by the General and Extraordinary Cortes, in conformity to the Constitution sanctioned by the latter, and sworn to by the nation."-Article 5th of the treaty concluded between Spain and Russia, in Weliki-Louki, on the 20th July, 1812. "H. M. the Emperor of all the Russias, acknowledges as legitimate, the General and Extraordinary Cortes now assembled in Cadiz, as well as the Constitution which the latter have decreed and sanctioned."-Article 3rd, of the reaty made between Spain and Sweden, dated Stockholm, March 19th, 1819."H. M. the King of Sweden acknowledges as legitimate the General and Ex