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wish to see blotted out of the history of the people who have done so much for the country, and to whose heroism we owe that glory which will never decay, and that liberty which we have sighed for. But the consequence is, that we have authorities which do not obey the government; and the ministry have found no other means of saving the vessel of the state than by submitting to the Cortes, in the events of Cadiz and Seville, a new proof of the obstacles which their measures experience. Notwithstanding this, the Committee distinguish times, persons, and affairs. All the ministers have not equally participated in these events, but the Cortes cannot allow themselves to confound the authority of the king, which is one, indefeasible, and independent, with that of the persons who execute his orders.

The mysterious conduct of the ministry, the state of the finances, the general distrust, and the efforts of the discontent and ambition of some, must influence the excited passions. Ambitious men of little reputation, and who cannot exist, except amidst disorders, wish to drive the people into the horrors of anarchy. This evil has produced another.

The local authorities have been compelled to unite in juntas, which the constitution does not recognize. Chiefs of military corps, and local militia, and even prelates have assisted at these meetings, formed of persons who dare to call themselves the delegates of the people, though the constitution knows no other delegates than the deputies to the Cortes. The liberty of the press has been profaned by the scandalous abuse made of it. Such are the evils we experience. The conclusion is, that it is necessary to address a message to his majesty, in which the Cortes shall set forth—

"1. That in order to appease the apprehension and distrust of the nation, and give to government the requisite influence, it is expedient that his Majesty should deign to make that reform in his administration which circumstances render absolutely necessary.

2. That if his Majesty should think any legislative measures requisite for the remedy of the evils and abuses complained of, the Cortes would be ready to take into consideration any project of law which his majesty, in his wisdom should deem fit to propose."

REPRESENTATION of the Provincial Deputation, the Magistrates, and the National Militia of Cadiz, TO THE CORtes.

"The Provincial Deputation of Cadiz, which was lately under the disagreeable necessity of interrupting the labours of the National Congress, to state the complaints and the fears of this

province, and of all the Spanish people, now raises with the most lively joy, its accents towards that same Congress, to manifest sentiments of personal gratitude, and at the same time of public

gratitude, for the decision of the 15th current. That determination has calmed the distrust of the friends of just liberty, has dissipated the general disquietude, and fixed the fate of the country by assuring its safety. The nation was about to be plunged into the abyss of discord, when the august voice of the fathers of the country, pointing out to the monarch the danger towards which he was conducted, showed him the only means by which he could avoid the precipice, and preserve untouched the precious deposit of a power no less necessary for sustaining the dignity of the government, than for maintaining the order and obedience of subjects.

"The present ministry does not possess the necessary moral force.'-Such is the declaration of the supreme oracle of the nation. This is a sentence of reprobation, from which there is no appeal, stamped on the ministers; and it is also the justification of the grounds on which the province of Cadiz was alarmed, and the authorities were compelled to act. A ministry which has lost the auxiliary force of opinion, is no longer capable of directing the state. It could not compel obedience, even if it possessed the physical force which it wants, for it is impossible to govern twelve millions of men by a perpetual constraint against their judgment and their desires. And what moral force can men destitute of esteem, accused and rejected by the opinion even of those who have to obey their orders, possess? If without this moral force the ministry cannot, as has been declared by the Cortes, neither suc

cessfully direct the government of the nation, nor maintain and cause to be respected the dignity and prerogatives of the throne, it is fit that such a ministry should be taken from the helm of the state, and its removal is justly demanded.

"Nevertheless, the first applications addressed to the throne, avenues to which were shut by the ministers, being disregarded,

the representations addressed to the permanent deputation having had no effect, as no deci sion could be obtained until the meeting of the next legislaturewhat resource remained for the people and the magistrates, when they could not address themselves to the extraordinary Cortes, that assembly being limited to the objects for which they were convoked?-that alone which they finally adopted-doubtless a melancholy resource, but inevitable if the state was not to be abandoned to the perils which menaced itnamely, to suspend obedience to orders which appeared suspicious.

"This opposition was the only means for defeating measures which might be fatal to public liberty, and for making the ministers feel their weakness, whereby they might be induced to prevail on the monarch to refer to the judgment of the Cortes, in which safety could alone be found. Without resistance-not to the throne, but to the ministers— even though the distrust of their intentions had not been well founded, it is at least certain that the conflict of passions, the division of parties, the inefficacy of the orders of authority, popular anarchy, and all the calamities it

produces-calamities recognized by the determination of the Congress, would never have been stopped, or at least would have long continued. Such has been the only object of the authorities in their decisions and in their addresses, and not the ambitition of possessing an authority which they never could wish to maintain against the government of the nation, nor the desire to show a spirit of disobedience to the king, whom they have sworn to defend, and whom the constitution recognizes. This object has happily been fulfilled; it will always justify the spirit which has animated the authorities of Cadiz, though they have had to depart from the legal path which the ministry had closed to entrench themselves within it.

"Placed between the people and the throne, how could the authorities of the province stifle the fears and the clamours of those they were appointed to govern, without thereby forcing them to provide for their own security, and to seek themselves the remedy which their magistrates had refused them? Cadiz saved herself. Cadiz has preserved order amidst agitations; not a single drop of blood has been shed in Cadiz, because the authorities listened to, and shared the wishes of the people-they acted in the place of the people, in order to preserve their repose. The blood which has flowed in the provinces where the authorities have been silent, in the provinces from which the chiefs most distinguished for their patriotism and courage have been removed, is a painful but incontestible testimony that the magistrates of Cadiz were not deceived as to the

grounds of their complaints, and their resistance to the admission of chiefs who would have exposed this province to the same disasters.

"Cadiz wants nothing more than the constitution. Never will it disgrace the glory of having been the cradle of liberty, and the safety plank in the shipwreck of the country. If enemies raise their heads in the other provinces-if they dare to trample under foot the sacred compact of our alliance and our prosperity, all the inhabitants of the province of Cadiz are ready to fly to its defenceto seal it with blood-to punish the aggressors, and to prove in the face of the whole world that their actions never have had, and never can have any other object than the support and defence of the constitution and the monarchy.

"Invoked by the people, and urged by the opinion of the province, the authorities of Cadiz agreed on the 17th of November not to obey orders transmitted by the ministry, when these orders should be of a nature calculated to compromise public tranquillity. This resolution, which was necessary for the preservation of the laws and of the constitution itself, the empire of which was about to disappear amidst disorders, cannot be disapproved by the Congress, charged sovereignly with the maintenance of the laws and the constitution. The ministry once removed, and confidence restored, the province of Cadiz and its magistrates will manifest, as they always have done, their obedience to the constituted government, without any of the contradictions or reserves which could alone be dictated by

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SPEECH of Count DE SAMPAYO on the Installation of the Porta

guese Cortes.

"Illustrious Representatives of the Portuguese Nation:- The happy day is at length arrived, which the Portuguese so anxiously desired, and which is going to crown their ardent wishes and their flattering hopes-a day ever glorious and memorable, which will form the most brilliant epoch in the history of the monarchy, and in the annals of the reign of our pious and august monarch, Don John VI., and which, presenting to admiring Europe the truly prodigious result of an energetical, but peaceable effort, will regain for the Portuguese the name and the glory which our preceding misfortunes have obscured, and almost extinguished.

"In your hands, gentlemen, are now placed the fate of this magnanimous nation;-the happiness of our beloved and common country. The zeal and patriotism of the Portuguese confide in your virtue and wisdom. They will not be deceived in their choice, nor disappointed in their hopes.

"The government, after having at the holy altar returned due thanks to the Sovereign Author of all good, and humbly supplicating him to be pleased to pour down upon you the spirit of

wisdom and prudence, so necessary for the due accomplishment of your arduous and sublime duties, comes to congratulate you on your happy meeting, and considers itself as fulfilling one of its most important duties and noble offices, by recommending to your care and solicitude the interest and the destiny of an illustrious people, which desires and deserves to be happy.

"In the minds and hearts of the Portuguese are engraved two fundamental principles, which they have loudly proclaimed to the whole world, on which the public happiness must repose, and which we all swear to maintain--obedience and fidelity to king John VI. and to his august dynasty-the pure and sincere profession of the holy religion of our forefathers.

"The first ensures to us, by the virtues hereditary in the house of Braganza, the sweets of a paternal government; the second offers us the firmest support of our happiness in the maxims of a divine morality, which so perfectly adapts and identifies itself with the necessities and sentiments of man.

"It is on these foundations that the majestic edifice of the Portu

guese constitution must rise, which, keeping in view the sacred rights of civil liberty, of property, of the safety of the citizen, has to trace, with a firm and steady hand, the invariable line of demarcation which is for ever to divide law from arbitrary will, power from despotism, liberty from licentiousness, obedience from slavery.

"When this great work has been profoundly meditated, and wisely developed and executed with the attention which the state and circumstances of the nation require-with the energy which its urgent wants demandwith the prudence and circumspection which belong to the superiority, or (if I may so speak) to the impassible independence of the legislator-then the Portuguese, restored to their rights and to their dignity, will resume the place which belongs to them among civilized, free, and independent nations: under the shelter of peace and domestic felicity, they will see those political institutions flourish, which render a nation great and respected. They will form round the august throne of their monarch a firm barrier, equally inaccessible to internal passions, the enemies of social order, and the external attacks of any ambitious and usurping power; and nobly proud of the just and precious liberty which their worthy representatives have known how to acquire and ensure to them, they will transmit to posterity the names of the fathers of the country, covered with a

thousand benedictions, and accompanied by the most affectionate and most glorious recollections.

"Such are the happy efforts which the government augurs and hopes of your wise deliberations,

of your enlightened zeal-of your consummate prudence, and of your eminent virtue. It is shortly going to conclude the memorable and difficult functions with which it has hitherto been charged, and esteeming itself happy in having maintained peace and public tranquillity, it profits by this opportunity again to ad dress the sincere expressions of its praise, and thanks to all classes of citizens to whom, under the favour of Providence, so extraordinary and invaluable a blessing is due. May that allwise Providence grant that this heroic nation may attain and enjoy, for many centuries to come, the felicity which it merits, and which the eminent qualities of its illustrious representatives so largely promise. May our adored monarch, condescending to the public wishes, and sanctioning by his royal assent the work of the national wisdom, come and occupy the throne of love, loyalty, and gratitude, which is prepared for him in the hearts of his people; and may we all, united in fraternal concord, and reciprocally bound by the sacred ties of love to our country, one day rejoice in our happy fate, bless the epoch of our regeneration, and give worthy examples of virtue to our remotest posterity."

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