The National Register.
London, England, 1809-10-22 00:00:00

FROJI 7711; SPA N ISH PIPERS.

Some time ago. the Supreme Council of Spain and the
Indies presented an Address to the Supreme Juuta on the
subject of a Regency. This important document has not
been suffered to be published in Spain.
The following are the most important parts of the Ad
dress alluded to. The introductory part is an abridge-
ment :--

" The Supreme Council of Spain and the Indies, in which are
now united those of .Castile, the Indies, Orders, and Finances,
has addressed a most energetic representation to the Supreme
J'•nta, upon the expediency, nay, the tibolute necessity, of
establishing a Regency, composed of three or five Members,
agreeably to tl!e laws of the kingdom. The Council begins by
reminding the Board of the Order issued by Ferdinand, at Bay-
orete, for the immediate convocation of the Corte;.
" This order was haortupatelv, kept secret from the Council,
which would ceitaisls have enforced ics execution in spite of
eery obstacle; and iu this circomstancr originated the anarchy
w -irh followed on the assumption of the supreme power by the
particular 4/!otas of the different provinces; an anarchy which
paved the way for the progress of the French armies, and would
probably have ended in the coot ;de te subjugation of the kingdom,
if the remnants of the Spanish troops collected in the most dis-
tant provinces, the unshaken loyalty of the natives, and the ene-
my's scant of confidence in the dispositions of the capital and of
the provinces w Web they occupied, had not checked their impe-
tuous career, and prevented the full attainment of their guilty
rods. Thus :acquainted v. th the Sovereign's will, but strongly
impressed with the calamities with which the kingdom was af-
Meted, and the still *greater ones with %silk!) it was threatened,
the Council repeatedly addressed the Provincial Juutas, and
pressed upon them the urgency of establish* a legal Govern-
ment. Its representations, however, were disregarded; and
the Cauncil, sensible that under such extraordinary ciremnstao-
ccss prudence recommeoded, awl the necessity of providing for
the safety of the country jtistified, a deviation from the rule pro-
posed, that the Juntas should exercise a power which the law
had not given them, and themselves appoint a Government ad in-
terim. This proposal was acquiesced in,. and the Central Junta
met at Arattinez. Thus far did thew ishof prevent ing still greater
evils carry the Council; but, ever mindful of its duties as the
guardian and depository of the laws of the Monarchy, scarcely
was the new Government organized when it called the attention
of its Mendser- to the necessity of speedily substituting, to forms
unknown to the institutions of the country, and diametrically
opposite to those of the Monarchical Government, a Regency,
composed of the number of individuals prescribed by the law da
pat, ids in case of minority, Of of the Sovereign's inability to dis-
charge the high duties of his dignity.
" To these ohservations, no answer was returned; and the
Council could not but see, it; this silence of the Central Junta, a
fresh prod'. of its wisdom, as their adoption at that time would
probably have been attended
.with great inconveniencies, and it
sins, in some manner, necessary to conform to the opinions of
the provinces. In the mean tune, experience has evinced, that
the apprehensions of the Council were well founded; that its sug-
gestions were proper and correct; and that, whatever Govern-
mem had been eu;ablislied, it until not to have devintedarom
the letter of the law."

. .-.

.... .