was agreeable to the constitution, over which he presided. If he had expected the allegiance and duty of his subjects from no other motive than that, from which it is only due, a return of protection and a just administration, he might have lived and died in peace. Nay, he might even have gone some lengths with safety. But endeavouring to force their consciences to submission, he only ripened the popular discontents. If these discontents had been kept under by no other force than that of convenience, they would have shewn themselves sooner, and the causes of them might have been early removed; but the long forbearance of the people, upon these principles, encouraged him to proceed farther in the same steps, till he had soured the minds of the whole nation; and thus the poison became universal, at the same time that the disease was intolerable.

King James the Second had a better fate, though his conduct deserved a worse. The calamities of his father could not deter him from walking in the same dangerous path. That desperate example was too weak to bridle his lust of power.-May this be a lesson to all succeeding princes not to desire the temptation!-May it be an everlasting instruction to all people never to give it to their prince! This temptation was the same that had undone his father. It was an adherence to the same false opinion, which his brother and himself had laboured to encourage from the Restoration to that time. They were carried higher, at that æra, than they had ever run before. He relied so much upon them, that when those who were friends both to him and the public advised him, in the career of his arbitrary measures, to act with more caution; he told them that he knew the conscience of the people would keep them quiet. How far he was mistaken, and how fatal his error

hath proved to himself, if not to the nation, the experience of what hath since happened sufficiently demonstrates. It would be unnecessary to bring any other examples of the distresses occasioned to princes themselves by a thirst of unlimited power. There cannot be a truth more fully verified by a continued series of instances in all ages. I have here particularly mentioned but one of the means which are used to attain that unwholesome kind of sovereignty; but the same hazard attends all other methods, by which the same end is to be pursued. The danger lies pot so much in the manner of the attempt, as in the attempt itself. It lies in the manifestation of a design to invade the liberties of the people; and if once they discover such a design, unless they are sunk into the lowest state of corruption and pusillanimity, they will endeavour to shake off an authority, so plainly levelled at their ancient rights, and so contrary to its original design.

Most princes are inclined to imagine, and taught from the cradle to believe that those, who argue in this manner are abettors of faction and enemies to them. No; they are enemies to the growth of prerogative and arbitrary power; but by being so, they prove themselves the best friends to the constitution of their country, and consequently the soundest subjects to a prince, who hath no designs against the liberties of his people.

The whole tendency of these discourses is to inculcate a rational idea of the nature of our government into the minds of my countrymen, and to prevent the fatal consequence of those slavish principles, which are industriously propagated through the kingdom by wicked and designing men. He who labours to blind the people, and to keep them from all instruction, may be justly suspected of bad intentions; but he who makes it his business to open

the understandings of mankind, cuts up all faction by roots; for it is essential to wisdom and knowledge to support an equal and good go

vernment.

Having justified our endeavours in this manner, we may venture to speak with freedom upon that original compact between the prince and the people, which we mentioned at the beginning of this paper; but to insist much upon that head would be more necessary in countries where liberty is totally lost, and its footsteps erased, than in this, where that compact has been so lately renewed with the present royal family. Yet it is sometimes proper even here to touch upon this original right of the people, that no man may think the late contract we have mentioned unjustly framed; but our principal business is to ground our arguments upon the known conditions of our present monarchy.

Our constitution, as now established, is founded on a most excellent model. We have all the advantages of a brisk execution from the monarchical part. From the aristocratical all the conveniences which are to be found in that form of government; and the mischiefs which usually attend it, where it is absolute and unconfined, are in a great measure blunted by the power of the commons. This is the democratical part of our constitution. Their share in the balance is vastly great, as it must be in all good establishments; and thus we partake of all the benefits and securities to liberty, which result from these different kinds of government.

It hath been observed, indeed, that our work was, in some measure, left imperfect upon the last great change of affairs; nor is it surprising, that in a time of such confusion, and from the variety of opinions upon these points, some errors or omissions might have happened. Yet we may with pleasure affirm,

that besides the advantages then pro cured, we likewise obtained the power of redressing any farther grievances and abuses, which might be then overlooked, or might hereafter arise in the administration of government. Our princes are now made sensible that they are exalted, not for their own convenience only, but for the advantage of the people, and there fore will never refuse their consent to any laws which may be found necessary for the happiness and security of their subjects. As they know that their prerogative was settled only with that view, there can Hever again happen a contest between us upon that foot; nor can they entertain the thought of preserving any branch of it, which may in future ages, by various accidents, be rendered repugnant to the end for which it was created.

The duty of the people is also now settled upon so clear a foundation, that no man can hesitate how far he is to obey, or doubt on what occasions to resist. Conscience can battle no longer with the understanding. We know that we are to defend the crown with our lives and fortunes, as long as the crown protects us, and keeps strictly to the bounds within which we have confined it. We likewise know that we are to do it no longer! The part we have all to act, on every public occasion, is plainly laid down before us; and as the blessings of peace, plenty, and liberty will always secure to his Majesty the allegiance of his subjects; so, on the other hand, the dangers which constantly attend all advances to arbitrary power, will, I hope, preserve us from any such attempts for the future. In short, as we have the happiness to live under an excellent constitution, so it is very much in our own power, by a proper conduct, to secure the enjoyment of it to ourselves, and to transmit it to the latest posterity.

A Constitution for the Spanish Nation presented to the Supreme Junta of Spain and the Indies, Nov, 1, 1809. By Alvaro Florez Estrada, Attorney-General of the principality of Asturias. Translated from the Original by W. Burdon. pp. 54.-Sherwood and Co. The translator of this pamphlet states that "his sole design in otfering it to the public, is, his desire to convince them, that there are some men at least, in Spain who hold just principles of government and legislation;" at the same time he informs the reader that he by no means agrees with the author, in his application of those principles; and he more particularly objects to the limitation of the executive power to what he conceives narrower bounds than is consistent with the respect due to its authority; although he deems it pardonable to try any experiment in a country which has a new government to form as is the case with Spain.

Writing new theories, or attending to old theories of government, seems to be the principal employment of the friends to freedom at the present period; for as to the mass of the people in almost all countries, they seem little disposed, to act, except as they are led or driven by their rulers. If, however, as some of the most virtuous and best of men have been encouraged by the sentiment-No effort for the good of mankind is lost, theories which have for their aim the liberty and the virtue of the human race, deserve the most serious attention of all those who believe, that the ge. neral condition of mankind will, in spite of every discouragement, most assuredly be ameliorated; and it is likewise their bounden duty to watch every change that may take place, either in the governors or the go

verned, in order that the best and purest theories, may as times, and circumstances allow, be the more effectually reduced to practice. These reflections naturally arose from a perusal of the pamphlet (before us, which may be considered as somewhat extraordinary, coming from a Spaniart, a subject of one of the worst governments, political, civil, and ecclesiastical, that ever disgraced a country pretending to civilization.

The enlightened lawyer, the author of the pamphlet before us, in a dedication to the Spanish nation, declares, that an ardent desire for the liberty and happiness of his countrymen made him forget" the sweet and precious names of husband, father, and son, in exposing himself a hundred, and a hundred times to lose them all at one stroke." But all his own exertions, as well as those of his countrymen, all triumph over their external enemies, he expresses his firm persuasion, will avail nothing towards their li berty, unless they form a constitution which shall express in clear and simple terms their imprescriptible rights, and establish sufficient means for securing them; and in the opinion of our author, (and that a very just one) "whoever shall contribute to this great purpose will do them a much greater service than if he had gained a hundred battles." To arouse his countrymen to a due consideration of this important subject, he addresses them in the following appropriate language.

"Since the constitution of a state is only meant to declare the rights of the people to explain the duties and conditions attached to those who governto establish the means of ensuring the performance of these duties and conditions, to whom, but to you, can I dedicate this work, whose sole object is

your felicity? Who but you is interested in examining and understanding it, that by means of it you may be able to reclaim your rights? And who is under a greater obligation to place those rights before your view than I, who am charged by the nature of my office, with the sacred duty of defending and promoting the happiness of a million of persons. Happy should I be, if even at the cost of my own life, I could discharge that great trust which the province of Asturias has committed to me.

People of Spain! If you feel for that dignity which the author of nature has bestowed on you as rational beings; if you feel for your posterity; if you do not wish to see yourselves degraded to the level of brutes, as you have been; finally, if you desire to rise above that state of misery and servitude to which you have been reduced by that arbitrary power by which you have so long been governed, it is above all things requisite that you should emerge from your present state of ignorance; that you should no longer remain the victims of error and bad faith; that you should learn to know your rights, and impart that knowledge to your children from their tenderest infancy, imprinting upon their infant minds the same valuable sentiments; and for this purpose, you need only place in their hands the book of the constitution, in which they shall find explained, in the most simple and intelligible method, the fixed and unalterable principles of morality, which dictate the laws and conditions by which you ought to be governed, not permit ting them, till they have got it by heart, to read any other book than that on the observance of whose maxims depends their eternal felicity.

"Remember, that the coustitution of the state is the only resource you possess for preserving your country, your religion, your liberty, and your happiness. Remember, that every one who attempts to inspire you with other ideas and other sentiments, is infallibly interested in your destruction. Remember, that you owe respect to no other laws than those which are founded on the invariable principles of morality. Remember, that your rights are indelible, and that neither your ignorance, nor the lapse of time, nor any other pretence, how plausible soever it may be, can be sufficient to rob you of this inheritance. Remember, that whoever tells you the

contrary, is attempting to seduce you, and that he is your greatest enemy, whom you ought for ever to detest and drive from your bosom. Consult your reason, which is the only infallible guide in all human affairs, and it will assure you of this. Believe me, that I never had, nor ever will have a more ardent wish than that for your happiness."

In the Introduction the author endeavours to impress on his countrymen the important truths,-That the evils of society originate from the neglect or contempt of the rights of citizens, and that if men had not been ignorant of them they never could have submitted to that despotism, which "at some time or other all governments have exercised. On the absolute necessity of a free constitution, to which the governors as well as the governed shall be subject, he remarks as follows:

----

"It is in vain that the laws enact a fulfilment of the conditions of the contract, if either of the contracting parties can violate it without the dread of punishment. If our laws had been as wise in establishing means for their execution, as they are in dictating the precepts of a sublime morality, I should be the first to acknowledge that we ought to make no innovation, nor attempt to form a new constitution; but when I find not in all our codes, any other restraint upon our kings than a mere recommendation to observe the laws, when I see no power established to contain them within due limits, when I meet with but one solitary instance in all our history of the Kings of Castille having imposed a penalty upon themselves for the non-observance of the law; and, finally, when I see that for three hundred years, notwithstanding all that is said of our boasted laws and constitution, we have lived under the most unlimited despotism, I cannot but declare that there is an essential defect in our government.

"I consuit my reason, aud I find that this defect arises from the want of a constitution to secure the execution of the laws, It is a fundamental maxim of the constitution of these kingdoms,' says Mariana, in his Essay on the Antient Legislation of the Kingdoms of Leon and Castille, that the kings are the natural judges of all causes what

ever; they possess also the power of making new laws, of sanctioning, modifying, amending, and renewing the old ones; they have the sole right of making war and peace, of imposing contributions, of coining money, of convoking and disposing the congress or Cortes of the nation, whose functions were reduced to the mere form of proposing to the sovereign what they thought for the good of the state, and of giving their opinion upon subjects on which he thought proper to consult them; but we see not one law which forbids the monarch to separate himself from the opinion of the congress, which being formed only of the privileged classes, could not properly be considered as a national representation." What greater powers could the monarch possess in a government the most despotic? Let us be candid and confess that words are not the essence of things, nor the means of enforcing them. "While the whole power of a state is united in one person, and there is no 'force to restrain him within the limits provided by the laws, the government will always be despotic, however it may talk of justice and equality. That government can never be called free and just, in which the prince can violate with impunity the rights of the meanest subject: without a constitution, in which neither the prince nor the subject can transgress the laws without punihsment, no society or government can be happy. A state which is not so constituted, besides being exposed to continual vacillation, will suffer a multitude of other calamities inseparable from tyranny.The power of the prince in such a state, besides being more weak, will always be precarious, since it is maintained only by terror and violence, which must cease to have effect when the people have reached their extremest point of misery; while on the other hand, the prince's power will be strong and durable, while it is produced by the mutual happiness of him and his subjects.

"The vigour, strength, and riches of a prince can arise only from the vigour, strength, and riches of his people; it is folly to pretend that a prince can be powerful who commands only slaves and wretches. The more happy and virtuous the citizens, the more so will be the prince; and how can they be so without a free and just constitution,

which shall preserve their rights from being attacked by the malevolence, caprice, and ignorance of a prince or his ministers? Without a constitution there can be no such thing as liberty! A constitution is that which establishes and secures the rights of the people. Without a declaration and security of these rights, whole societies would be enslaved; it is requisite that all citizens should know and meditate on them; far from being attended with any danger, this knowledge is the only resource which remains to men for getting rid of the evils with which the human race has hitherto been afflicted. The ignorance of mankind is the means which tyrants have made use of to deceive them; if man has been a slave, it is because he has lent his force to tyrants to forge chains for himself; if man has lent this force against himself, it is be cause he was ignorant, and suffered himself to be misled by villains who had an interest in deceiving him. Let a good constitution teach him his rights, and secure to him their preservation, and he will always be free.

"There can be no such thing as liberty without a constitution! with liberty there be no such thing as a country! Man while a slave can never reckon upon a country, however he may love that in which he was born, and to preserve it may perform all the duties which reason prescribes, and even those which caprice dictates; he is never sure that he may not be condemned to perpetual exile, or suddenly deprived of his property. No man can reckon long upon possessing any thing which the caprice of another may deprive him of in a moment; and without a constitution tyrants have often deprived their subjects of all they possessed, without any other motive than their own caprice without liberty there can be no such thing as country! The Spaniards are without a constitution, and therefore without liberty and without a country. Liberty and country are the only motives capable of making a man joyfully expose his life, and manfully oppose all enemies in their defence. Let us undeceive ourselves; no one can have any hope in the force we possess, while we are without that stimulus which alone is able to make us encounter so many dangers. Prodigies of valour and heroism are not to be expected from a nation of slaves,