of the kingdom," &c. Remonstrances opposed by the eighteen privileged towns. Thus long before Charles I. (the em peror Charles V.), who has been generally accused of having destroyed the liberties of Spain, the popular branch of the representation was already reduced to a shadow, for the deputies of the eighteen cities, elected by court influence, were mere registrars of the royal decrees, and ready voters of the supplies demanded of them. Under Ferdinand and Isabella the royal authority became more extended and firmly established by the subjection of the privileged orders; the turbulent no bles were attacked in their castles, which were razed by hundreds, and the Santa Hermandad hunted the proprietors throughout the country. Many of the grants by former kings were revoked, and the proud feudatories were tamed into submissive courtiers. Charles only finished the work by excluding the privileged orders from the cortes altogether, he and his successors contenting themselves with convoking the deputies of the eighteen royal cities of the crown of Castile on certain solemn occasions, to register their decrees, to aoknowledge the prince of Asturias as heir apparent to the throne, to swear allegiance to a new prince. The policy of absolutism has been the same in all countries of Europe: it has used the popular power against the aristocracy, in order to reduce and destroy both in the end. In Aragon, Valencia, and Catalonia, which formed the dominions of the crown of Aragon, the cortes of each of these three states continued to assemble under | Charles I. and his successors of the Austrian dynasty, who convoked them in their accustomed manner by brazos or orders, and they maintained some show of independence, although in reality much reduced in importance after Philip II. had abolished the office of the Justiza. But after the War of the Succession, Philip V. of Bourbon formally abolished the cortes of these states by right of conquest, as he expressed it, because they had taken part with his rival the Archduke Charles. In 1808, when the Spanish people rose in every province against the invasion of Napoleon, the king was a prisoner in France, after having been obliged by threats to abdicate the crown, and the nation was without a government. Municipal juntas were formed in every province, consisting of deputies taken from the various orders or classes of society, nobles, clergymen, proprietors, merchants, &c. These juntas sent deputies to form a central junta, with executive powers for the general affairs of the country, but a legislature was still wanting. The central junta was called upon to assemble the cortes for all Spain. They at first thought of reviving the ancient cortes by estamentos or brazos, but many difficulties presented themselves. The difference of formation between the old cortes of Aragon and those of Castile; the difficulty of applying those forms to the American possessions of Spain, which were now, for the first time, admitted to equal rights with the mother country, but where the same elements of society did not exist. at least not in the same proportion; the difficulty even in Spain of collecting a legitimate representation of the various orders, while most of the provinces were occupied or overrun by French armies, and while many of the nobility and the higher clergy had acknowledged the intrusive king Joseph Napoleon; all these, added to the altered state of public opinion, the long discontinuance of the old cortes by orders or estates, the diminished influence of the old nobility, and the creation of a new nobility during the latter reigns merely through court favour, made the original plan appear impracticable. The situation of the country was in fact without a parallel in history. The central junta consulted the consejo (reunido) or commission of magistrates, from the old higher courts of the kingdom, who proposed to assemble deputies of the various brazos or estamentos, all to form one house. a proposal extremely vague and apparently impracticable, which looks as if made to elude the question. Jovellanos and others then proposed two houses, constituted as in England; but this would also have been a new creation without precedent in Spain, and surrounded by many difficulties, the state of society being greatly different in the two countries. Meantime the central junta being driven away by the French, first from Madrid, and afterwards from Seville, in January, 1810, took refuge at Cadiz, which became the capital of the Spanish patriots, whither a number of persons from the various provinces and classes had flocked. Before leaving Seville, the central junta issued regulations addressed to the provincial juntas about the manner of electing the deputies to the cortes, stating at the end that "similar letters of convocation would be addressed to the representatives of the ecclesiastical brazo and of the nobility." This, however, was never done. The central junta soon after arriving at Cadiz resigned its power into the hands of a council of regency composed of five individuals, but before its resignation it issued a decree approving of the plan of Jovellanos for two chambers, and recommending it to the regency. The regency however paid little attention to this recommendation; it seemed to hesitate during several months about convoking any cortes at all, for there was at Cadiz a party of pure absolutists opposed to any representation whatever. The regency again consulted the consejo reunido, the majority of which, departing from its former opinion, gave up the idea of cortes by estamentos, and proposed the election of deputies without distinction of classes. The council of state being likewise consulted by the regency, decided that, owing to the actual state of affairs, it was best to elect the deputies without esta mentos, reserving to the "representatives | cation was inserted of a yearly income, of the nation once assembled to decide whether the cortes should be divided by brazos or into two chambers, after listening to the claims of the nobility and clergy." The regency at length issued letters of convocation for the deputies of all the provinces to assemble in cortes at the Isla de Leon on the 24th September, 1810. The elections for those provinces which were entirely occupied by the French were made at Cadiz by electoral juntas, composed of individuals of those provinces who had taken refuge there. A similar process was adopted with regard to the American provinces. (Arguelles, Examen historico de la Reforma Constitucional; Jovellanos, Memoria a sus Compatriotas, with appendix and notes to the same.) the amount and nature of which were left to the discretion of future cortes to determine. Every district elector, in succession, stepped up to the table where the president and secretary were, and told the name of his candidate, which the secretary wrote down. The scrutiny then took place, and the majority of votes decided the election. The deputies elected received full powers, in writing, from their electors, "to act as they think best for the general welfare, within the limits prescribed by the constitution, and without derogating from any of its articles." They were allowed by the respective provinces a fixed emolument during the time of the sessions. The ordinary cortes assembled once every year, in the month of March, and the session lasted three or, at the utmost, four months. The deputies were renewed every two years. These were the principles of the formation of the cortes of Cadiz of 1812, which, whatever might have been their merits, had evidently little in common, except the name, with the old cortes of Castile or Aragon. The king had a veto for two years following; but if the resolution were persisted in the third year, his veto ceased. The cortes, styled "extraordinary," sat at Cadiz from September, 1810, till September, 1813. During this time, amidst numerous enactments which they passed, they framed a totally new constitution for Spain, which has become known by the name of "the Constitution of 1812," the year in which it was proclaimed. This constitution established the representative system with a single popular chamber, elected in a numerical proportion of one deputy for every 70,000 in- The extraordinary cortes of Cadiz were dividuals. The elections were not direct, succeeded in October, 1813, by the ordibut by means of electoral juntas or col-nary cortes, elected according to the prinleges, as in France: assembled citizens of every parish appointed, by open written votes, a certain number of delegates, who chose, by conference among themselves, one or more parish electors, in proportion to the population. All the parish electors, of every district, assembled together at the head town or village of the same, and there proceeded to elect by ballot the electors for the district. All the district electors of one province formed the electoral junta which assembled in the chief town of that province to appoint the deputies to the cortes, either from among themselves or from among the citizens who were not district electors, provided they were Spanish citizens born, in the full exercise of their civil rights, were more than 25 years of age, and had had their domicile in the province for at least seven years past. By Art. 92, a qualifi ciple of the Constitution. In January, 1814, they transferred their sittings to Madrid, which had been freed from the French. In March, of that year, King Ferdinand returned to Spain, and soon after dissolved the cortes, abrogated the Constitution, and punished its supporters. In 1820 the Constitution was proclaimed again through a military insurrection; the king accepted it, and the cortes assembled again. The king and the cortes, however, did not remain long in harmony. In 1823 a French army, under the Duke of Angoulême, entered Spain; the cortes left Madrid, taking the king with them to Seville, and thence transferred him by force to Cadiz. Cadiz having surrendered to the French, the cortes were again dispersed, the Constitution was again abolished, and the liberals were again punished. This name of "liberal," which has become of such general use in our days, originated in the first cortes of Cadiz, where it was used to designate those deputies who were favourable to reform, whilst the opposite party were styled "serviles." (Arguelles, end of chap. v.) The history of the first cortes of Cadiz has been eloquently written by Arguelles; that of the cortes of 1820-23 and of the subsequent royalist reaction is found in numerous works and pamphlets of contemporary history, written with more or less party spirit, among which the least partial is perhaps the Revolution d'Espagne, Examen Critique, 8vo., Paris, 1836 it professes to be written by a Spanish emigrant, who, though no great admirer of the Constitution of 1812, speaks with equal freedom of the guilt and blunders of the violent men of both parties. Ferdinand VII., before his death, in 1833, assembled the deputies of the royal towns, according to the ancient form, not to deliberate, but to acknowledge as his successor his infant daughter Isabella. On the 10th of April, 1834, the queen regent proclaimed a charter for the Spanish nation, which was called Estatuto Real. It established the convocation of the cortes and its division into two houses, the procuradores, or deputies from the provinces, and the proceres, or upper house, consisting of certain nobles, prelates, and also of citizens distinguished by their merit. The power of the cortes, however, was very limited, the initiative of all laws being reserved to the crown. This charter was in force only to the 14th August, 1836. In the summer of 1836 insurrections broke out at Malaga and other places, where the Constitution of 1812 was again proclaimed; and at last the insurrection spread among the troops which were doing duty at the queen's residence at La Granja, in consequence of which the queen accepted the Constitution, "subject to the revision of the cortes." The cortes were therefore convoked according to the plan of 1812. Early in 1837 they commenced their duties, and finally approved of and decreed a Constitution, which was proclaimed in Madrid on the 16th of June, 1837. This Constitution has since been arbitrarily suspended. The following were some of the leading provisions of the Constitution of 1837, so far as they related to the powers of the cortes:-The power of enacting the laws is possessed by the cortes in conjunction with the king, who sanctions and promulgates the laws. The cortes is composed of two co-legislative bodies, equal in powers, the Senate and Congress of Deputies. Of the Senate: The number of senators shall be equal to three-fifths of the total number of deputies. They are appointed by the king, from a triple list, proposed by the electors of each province who elect the deputies. To each province belongs the right of proposing a number of senators, proportionable to its population; but each is to return one senator at least. To be a senator, it is necessary to be a Spaniard; to be forty years of age, and to be possessed of the income and other qualifications defined in the electoral law. All Spaniards possessed of these qualifications may be proposed for the office of senator in any of the provinces. The sons of the king and of the immediate heir to the throne are senators of right at the age of twenty-five years. Of the Congress of Deputies: Each province shall appoint one deputy, at least, for every 50,000 souls of the population. The deputies are elected by the direct method, and may be reelected indefinitely. To be a deputy it is necessary to be a Spaniard, in the secular state, to have completed the twenty-fifth year, and to possess all the qualifications prescribed by the electoral law. Every Spaniard possessing these qualifications, may be named a deputy for any of the provinces. The deputies shall be appointed for three years. The Cortes are to assemble each year. It is the right of the king to convoke them, to suspend and close their meetings, and dissolve the Cortes; but under the obligation, in the case of dissolution, of convoking and reassembling another Cortes within three months. If the king should omit to convoke the Cortes on the 1st of December in any one year, the Cortes are notwithstanding to assemble precisely on that day; and in case of the conclusion of the term of the congress holding office happening to occur in that year, a general election for the nomination of deputies is to commence on the first Sunday of the month of October. On the demise of the crown, or on the king being incapacitated to govern, through any cause, the extraordinary cortes are immediat ly to assemble. The sessions of the senate and of the congress shall be public, and only in cases requiring reserve can private sitting be held. The king and each of the co-legislative bodies possess the right of originating laws. Laws relating to taxes and public credit shall be presented first to the congress of deputies; and if altered in the senate contrary to the form in which they have been approved by the congress, they are to receive the royal sanction in the form definitely decided on by the deputies. The resolutions of each of the legislative bodies are to be determined by an absolute plurality of votes; but in the enactment of the laws, the presence of more than half the number of each of these bodies is necessary. If one of the co-legislative bodies should reject any project of law submitted to them, or if the king should refuse it his sanction, such project of law is not to be submitted anew in that congress. Besides the legislative powers which the cortes exercise in conjunction with the king, the following faculties belong to them:-1st, To receive from the king, the immediate successor to the throne, from the regency or regent of the empire, the oath to observe the constitution and the laws. 2ndly, To resolve any doubt that may arise of fact or of right with respect to the order of succession to the crown. 3rdly, To elect the regent, or appoint the regency, of the empire, and to name the tutor of the sovereign while a minor, when the_constitution deems it necessary. 4thly, To render effective the responsibility of the ministers of the crown, who are to be impeached by the deputies, and judged by the senators. The senators and deputies are irresponsible and inviolable for opinions expressed and votes given by them in the discharge of their duties. Deputies and senators who receive from the government, or the royal family any pension, or employment which may not be an instance of promotion from a lower to a higher office of the same kind, commission with salary, honours, or titles, are subject to re-election. On the 27th of December, 1843. the cortes were suddenly suspended by an arbitrary decree of the ministers. It was rumoured that the cabinet would promul gate certain laws by edict, after which the cortes were again to be assembled to pass a bill of indemnity for this act of usurpation; and that if the cortes did not pass such bill, they would be dissolved. On the 10th of July, 1844, a decree was published in the Madrid Gazette dissolving the cortes and summoning a new cortes for the 10th of October. They were opened at the appointed time by the queen in person, who on that day completed her fourteenth year, and in the speech from the throne some measures of constitutional reform were recommended to their consideration. On the 18th of October a bill for remodelling the constitution was presented to the congress. This bill proposed to suppress the preamble to the constitution of 1837, which asserted the national supremacy. The members of the senate were to be absolutely appointed by the crown for life. The article requiring the cortes to assemble every year was altered, and it was proposed that they should be convoked by the crown only when it thought fit. These important changes in the constitutional law of the state amounted in fact to a revolution. It was moreover proposed by this bill that political offences, including those of the press, were not to be submitted to the jury. On the 11th of March, 1845, a new electoral law was brought forward in the cortes by the ministry. The qualification of deputies is to be the possession of 12,000 reals (1201.) per annum, from real property, or the payment of 1000 reals (102.) in direct taxes. The qualification for electors is to consist in the payment of 400 reals (47.) per annum, in direct taxes; but members of the learned professions, retired officers in the army and navy, and persons in the employment of government or in active service, who have a salary of 15,000 reals (1507.) and up |