DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47347#0130
114
APPENDIX.
rias, and to deliberate on all the other matters which the
king should submit to them
XV. The author is mistaken when he says (p. 16 and 17)
that the Cortes were imperfectly and illegally convoked in
1789, and that they were not furnished with sufficient
powers.
The assembly of the deliberative Cortes, in 1789, was
composed of exactly the same elements as that of 1713.
The nobility and clergy were wanting—a custom established
for two centuries. The only difference between these two
assemblies was that, in 1789, all the towns sent their depu-
ties to the full number, whereas, in 1713, the deputies of
twenty-seven towns only could be brought together.
If, then, a person is determined to find a proof of nullity
of the deliberations in the manner in which the Cortes of
1789 were assembled—a mode of assembling which for two
centuries past had been settled and sanctioned by custom
—the same might be said of the Cortes of 1713.
It is false to say that the Cortes of 1789 had not suffi-
cient powers, and that they reserved to themselves liberty
to obtain new ones from their constituents. The extract
from the original protocol of the Cortes of 1789, which is
also in the collection of official documents of 1833, proves
that, in the preparatory sitting of the 14th of September,
which preceded the opening of the session, the powers of
all the deputies were verified by the junta of tos asistentes
(assessors), members of the Council of Castile, under the
presidency of Count Campomanes, and found legal and
sufficient for acknowledging prince Ferdinand, and for de-
liberating on any other matter which the king should submit
to them. After this declaration, the deputies took the oath
1 Mention is made of these documents in the official collection already cited,
and which was published in 1833, during the reign of Ferdinand VII.
APPENDIX.
rias, and to deliberate on all the other matters which the
king should submit to them
XV. The author is mistaken when he says (p. 16 and 17)
that the Cortes were imperfectly and illegally convoked in
1789, and that they were not furnished with sufficient
powers.
The assembly of the deliberative Cortes, in 1789, was
composed of exactly the same elements as that of 1713.
The nobility and clergy were wanting—a custom established
for two centuries. The only difference between these two
assemblies was that, in 1789, all the towns sent their depu-
ties to the full number, whereas, in 1713, the deputies of
twenty-seven towns only could be brought together.
If, then, a person is determined to find a proof of nullity
of the deliberations in the manner in which the Cortes of
1789 were assembled—a mode of assembling which for two
centuries past had been settled and sanctioned by custom
—the same might be said of the Cortes of 1713.
It is false to say that the Cortes of 1789 had not suffi-
cient powers, and that they reserved to themselves liberty
to obtain new ones from their constituents. The extract
from the original protocol of the Cortes of 1789, which is
also in the collection of official documents of 1833, proves
that, in the preparatory sitting of the 14th of September,
which preceded the opening of the session, the powers of
all the deputies were verified by the junta of tos asistentes
(assessors), members of the Council of Castile, under the
presidency of Count Campomanes, and found legal and
sufficient for acknowledging prince Ferdinand, and for de-
liberating on any other matter which the king should submit
to them. After this declaration, the deputies took the oath
1 Mention is made of these documents in the official collection already cited,
and which was published in 1833, during the reign of Ferdinand VII.