SPEECH of the King of Spain, on closing the Extraordinary Cortes.-Madrid, 19th February, 1823.

SENHORS DEPUTIES,

(Translation.) In closing this extraordinary Session, I take pleasure in expressing my satisfaction and acknowledgment, for the decision, disinterestedness, and patriotism, which have marked your proceedings.

It has been necessary to make sacrifices of men and money in order to remedy the evils of the State; and the salutary effect which it was hoped those sacrifices would produce, have been such as correspond with the effectual manner in which they were conceded. The factious who meditated the overthrow of the Fundamental Law of the State, are retreating before the valour of the National Troops. The Junta of perjured men, styling themselves the Spanish Regency, has disappeared like a cloud of mist; and the Rebels, who calculated on triumphs so easy and secure, now begin to feel the sad result of their disorders.

The Troops who so gloriously support the National Cause are worthy of all praise. Besides the reward which victory has secured to them, they must experience no small satisfaction in seeing that the Extraordinary Cortes has been occupied in providing for them a system of Regulations analogous to the Fundamental Code by which we are governed. This measure, which is already considerably advanced, is to them a certain guarantee that the Civil and Military Laws will be speedily placed on a footing of harmony, and that there will be an end to that conflict between them which gives rise to so much dissatisfaction and discord.

Other measures, equally important, have distinguished this Extraordinary Session. The Regulation of the police, the Law for Recruiting, the Powers granted to my Government, with the view of consolidating the Constitutional System, and some other points which have come under the consideration of the Cortes during this period, attest the assiduity and firmness with which the Representatives of the People repay the confidence of their Constituents.

Some of the days of this Session will be celebrated for the pure patriotism which they have exhibited. In those days recompenses have been decreed to those whose conduct, on the 7th of July, entitled them to the gratitude of their Country, and the Principal Chiefs who figured in that memorable event were presented at its bar. The Sittings of the 9th and 11th of January were distinguished be. yond the others, and will form the chief splendour of this Extraordinary Cortes. The voice of National honour has resounded, in the most sublime manner, in the Sanctuary of the Laws, and every Spaniard felt penetrated with the conviction that nothing was equal to the happiness of possessing a Country.

Some of our Diplomatic Relations have been interrupted during the Sittings of this Cortes; but these misunderstandings between Cabinet

and Cabinet have increased the moral force of the Nation in the eyes of the Civilized World, where honour, probity, and justice, are professed. Seeing that Spain does not capitulate in order to her degradation, a just idea will be formed of the firmness of her character, and of the happy influence of the Institutions by which she is governed.

The King of France has declared his intentions, with respect to Spain, to the two Chambers of the Legislative Body. Mine are already publick, and are recorded in the most solemn manner. Valour, decision, constancy, love of National Independence, and the increased conviction of the necessity of preserving the National Code of 1812 these are the vigorous answers which the Nation must give to the anti-social principles contained in the Speech of the Most Christian Monarch.

The circumstances in which the publick affairs are placed are of a serious character; but there is no reason to be apprehensive either for my Government or for the Cortes. My firm and constant union with the Deputies of the Nation will be the secure guarantee of a happy issue, and of the new days of glory which are preparing for us. The day for the opening of the Session of the Cortes is near at hand. A new field of patriotism is about to present itself to the Representatives of the Nation, and new motives offer themselves to me for making my sentiments publick. FERDINAND.

SPEECH of the King of Spain, on the Opening of the Cortes.-Madrid, 1st March, 1823.

GENTLEMEN,

(Translation.)

THE extraordinary circumstances under which the Session of the Cortes for this Year commences, open a vast field for the patriotism of the Representatives of the Spanish Nation, and will ensure them a distinguished place in the annals of the Country.

Spain, at present the great object of the attention of Europe, is about to solve the problem which occupies alike, Kings and their Subjects. In it are centered the hopes, the fears, the interests of humanity, and the caprices of ambition and pride.

The Continental Powers which compose the Holy Alliance have raised their voice against the Political Institutions of this Nation, which has conquered its Independence and liberty with its blood! Spain, in answer to the insidious accusations of those Powers, has declared solemnly to the World, that her fundamental Laws can alone be dictated by herself.

This simple and clear principle can only be attacked by sophisms supported by Arms; and those who, in the 19th century, are forced to have recourse to arguments of this description, give the best possible proof of the injustice of their Cause.

His Most Christian Majesty has informed us that 100,000 Frenchmen are coming to settle the domestick concerns of Spain, and to reform the errors of our Political Institutions. Since what period have Soldiers been employed to correct Laws? And when have we ever found a military invasion the harbinger of happiness to any Nation?

It is useless to refute errors so opposed to all social Laws; and it would be unworthy of the Constitutional King of Spain, to enter upon a defence of the just Cause of his People, before those, who, in order to violate all sentiments of decency, have assumed the cloak of the most detestable hypocrisy.

I trust that the energy, the firmness, and the constancy of the Cortes, will give the best answer to the Speech of His Most Christian Majesty. I trust that, firm in their principles, and determined to pursue the line of their duty, they will ever prove to be the Cortes of the 9th and 11th of January; worthy, in every respect, of the Nation which has confided to them its fate.

I trust that reason and justice will not prove less courageous than the genius of oppression and slavery. The Nation that capitulates with an Enemy whose bad faith is notorious, is already a conquered Nation; and no ignominy is equal to that of receiving Laws imposed by an Armed Force.

If War, then, be an unvoidable evil, the Nation is brave, and will struggle once more for its Independence and its Rights. The path of glory is well known to it, and the sacrifices which such a struggle requires, will be made with pleasure. Firmness and patriotism offer us a thousand resources, which, in the hands of Spaniards, will always produce the happiest results.

For my part, I promise anew to the Cortes, to co-operate, by every means in my power, towards realising the hopes which all the Friends of liberty have conceived of Spain, by making use of every effort to repel force by force. My removal, together with that of the Cortes, to some Point less exposed to the influence of military operations, will paralyze the plans of the Enemy, and prevent any suspension of the authority of the Government, which ought to be felt in every corner of the Monarchy.

The Army, which has already rendered such important services to the just Cause, is in a state of rapid organization, agreeably to the late Decrees of the Cortes. The victories, which it is gaining over the factions within, will be the forerunners of other more interesting ones over our foreign Enemies.

The Provinces, generally, have shewn a sufficiently good spirit. The evils which they have suffered from the, so-called, Defenders of the Faith, have dissipated the illusions of the ignorant, and have convinced them that the Constitution is the only true path.

The changes which have occurred in our Diplomatick relations

with other Powers have not diminished the courage of the Nation. The timid, who never know how to appreciate their own resources, and the designing, who turn their weakness to account, can never change the sentiments of a Nation, ever scrupulous where its honour is concerned, and unaccustomed to enter into any compromise with injustice.

The different branches of Administration present, at this moment, a very favourable prospect. The Cortes will continue, with their usual zeal, the important labours which they have already commenced; and the national prosperity to which they are directed, will consolidate the Constitutional System, which valour and energy must defend.

FERDINAND.

MANIFESTO of His Catholick Majesty to the Spanish Nation, on the French Invasion of Spain.-Seville, 23d April, 1823.

SPANIARDS!

(Translation.)

WHEN Napoleon, after having reduced the Continent of Europe to silence and obedience, offered us the cruel alternative of desolation or ignominy, without hesitating a moment, you adopted the resolution of resisting him; and, pursuing the arduous path which that resolution presented to you, you ascended to the summit of glory, and established your Independence. After the attempt thus made by the Destroyer of the Rights of Nations, it seemed that those who arrogate to themselves the title of Pacificators and Restorers of Order in Europe, would not repeat an example so fatal, without apprehension for its results. It was imagined that the noble and valorous People, who opened the way to the triumphs obtained over the Attila of France, would be secure of the respect of Sovereigns so deeply their debtors. Unfortunately, this expectation has not been realized, and, in the short space of 15 Years, unhappy Spain finds herself again involved in calamities equal to those she had previously suffered. It might be said, that Buonaparte, in revenge for his astonishing fall, has risen from the grave to animate with his ambition our imprudent Enemies, to fascinate them with his illusions, and impel them to the fatal precipice where their Predecessors perished.

For this frantic desire of governing and controlling every thing, and for the scandalous aggression which the French Government has committed in order to attain its ends, certain pretexts equally vain and indecorous, are put forward as motives or excuses. The restoration of the Constitutional System in Spain is called a military insurrection; my acceptance of it, violence; my adherence to it, captivity; and the Cortes and the Government, which enjoy my confidence and that of the Nation, a faction: and these are the grounds on which they resolve to disturb

the peace of the Continent, to invade the Spanish Territory, and again to distract this unhappy Country with fire and sword.

But whom would they deceive by such absurd suppositions? Can it be Europe, where reason and equity have already treated such notions with the justice they merit? Or can it be Spain, in which they would diffuse them notwithstanding the vehement indignation which they have inspired? I need not, Spaniards, remind you of the events of the Restoration. You, and all the World, well know, that though a few brave Soldiers had the good fortune and the glory to be the first to raise the cry of liberty in one corner of the Peninsula, the whole Nation voluntarily responded to that noble cry; and that, in less than two months, the Constitution was proclaimed and sworn to in all the Provinces.

Never was there an example of an acclamation, so rapid and so universal, taking place, and to so great an extent. If a similar instance should be required, it would be necessary to look alone for it in that unanimity with which, 15 years ago, you declared against the aggression of Buonaparte, and undertook to rescue your King; for it is only among you that such grand political phenomena occur, which astonish the imagination, challenge the applause and admiration of the world, and render abortive all the plans of calculation and cunning.

The general will of the Spanish People having been so solemnly pronounced, it became my duty, as a Spaniard and as a King, to yield to your wishes, and to accept and swear to maintain those Laws, under the auspices of which you had preserved my Throne and defended its Independence, by expelling the Enemy from our Territories. Those Laws have been applauded and recognized in Europe, even by the very Potentates who now pretend to deny their just and glorious origin. It was not the Army which gave those Laws to the Nation. The Army and the People received them from their Representatives, and swore to them in full liberty, and with sentiments of the most heartfelt gratitude. Those Laws, unfortunately suspended during the space of 6 years, offered an asylum of tranquillity and repose to the Spanish Nation, as well as a prospect of felicity, by presenting a fixed and certain point of union, independent of every interest and of all individual passions. To those Laws the Spaniards appeal, and I also join their voice. If the insidious suggestions which, on my entrance into Spain, prevented me from perceiving the utility of preserving them; if my inexperience, and the ignorance in which I remained during my absence and captivity, respecting the state of Spain, occasioned evil counsels then to prevail, such circumstances cannot invalidate the justice with which the Nation reclaims rights, which are so notoriously its due, nor in any manner diminish the obligation of my royal word and solemn oaths.

I never wish to fail, nor ever will fail, in my duty to those oaths, and this final and decisive resolution ought at once to impose silence