The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-19 00:00:00

EXCELLENCE OF REPUBLICAN

INSTITU TIONS.

We quote from our Tory Contemporary, the
Morning Post, of yesterday, the following erudite
dissertation on the fieros of the Basque Provinces
and Navarre, the perusal of which can hardly have
filled the readers of the Post with less horror

than Colonel Thompson's celebrated speech
about the sight of Whitehall giving our British
Sovereigns a " crick in the neck." The Post's
admiration of King-craft is at bottom, we suspect,
but very moderate. We yesterday noticed an arti-
cle in it ridiculing " Pornatum, curling-irons, and
scalps," the very " leather and prunella" which
constitute half our modern aristocracy, in the same
page with the following manifestation of duo useless-
ness of Kings. This is being " Whig and some-
thing more
Until the fourteenth century the three Basque
Provinces of Alava, Guipuzcoa, and Biscay formed
out of ancient Cantabria, and which neither the

Romans, Goths, nor Arabs had conquered, re-
power. Confederated together, and hearing upon
independent of all foreign
mained completely
their banner three bloody hands, with the motto
kurakbat (the three make but one), they elected a
Lord, who was either a native or a foreigner, and
whose mere executive authority, was exercised but
fur life, under the control of the national assemblies.

It was in the year 1332 that the deputies of the
provinces went and tendered to Alphonso, King of
Castile, who was then at. Burgos, the title of Lord, con-
senting to its being henceforth annexed to the Crown of

Castile. But the three little Vasco; wunyados)
cation,, though they thus gave themselves a protector,
did not part with their independence ; but, on the con-
trary, took especial care to make, in that respect, the
most formal and solemn stipulations. Thus, in the treaty
concluded between them and the King, they carried
their jealousy and caution so far as to stipulate that the
King should neither build nor possess within their ter-
ritory auy pueblo, fortress, or house. Their Fueros,
which the King-Lord swore to maintain, concluded with

the following article :
" ordain that if any person, either a native or a
foreigner, attempt in virtue of any mandate of our Lord,
the King of Castile, to force any maa or woman, or vil-
lage or town, to any thing not admitted and approved

of'hy the General Assembly, or detrimental to our
rights, liberties, franchises, acid privileges, ho shall be
forthwith disobeyed; if he persist, let him be put to

death:

" Titus the Basque Provinces connected themselves
by the ties of vassal to Sovereign, with the kingdom of
Castile, but without incorporating and mingling with it.
" Since that period, down to our day•, they have re-
mained without interruption or change in this state of

,xternal dependence and internal independence, of which

the Roman cities, under the empire, had already set the
example, and which transiently existed in the Swiss can-
tons when they lett to Napoleon the title of Mediator
of the Helvetic Confederation. In other resp, czs there
exist between the Basque provinces and Spain all the •
differences, and all the barriers that can render two
nations wholly separate and foreign to one another.
The Vascon.:ados speak a language (El rascucnse and
among them Eskora) peculiar to them—a prim' ti ve lan-
guage, derived neither from the Latin. nor the Celtic—
which has no more affinity with the Spanish than the
Chinese, and which is so completely different that the
Basques do not understand their neighbours, and are
not understood by them. Their Fueres exempt them from
the pintas, or conscription, which Spain levies in the
other provinces. They are bound to no military service
in time of war ; only, in compliance with the old feudal
laws, they are obliged to rise en masse, in the event of
an invasion, for the common defence of the country—a
duty of which they nolny acquitted themselves in the me-
morable war of independence. The King is also permitted
to send troops as garrisons to Irun and St. Sebastian. Nor
do the provinces pay any money taxes to Spain. Two
of them, Alava and Guipuzcoa, buy her sovereignty and
protection by a tribute still called Alcabala; but this
t ito
all
times
f4r: 2,
Alcabala has not varied in amount since the treaty en-
tered into with Alphonse XL, and it is even of ridicu-
lous insignificance. Thus Guipuzeoa pays a contrihu-
n o f only
tabiosuatnctOlt:ribßuties,civNiy.hhosaes
a
e'do(:iOtserlifalfslr' o
from this
name too strongly reminds its generous people of vas-
salage and servitude. It owes nothing to Spain ; but it
sometimes grants her voluntary donations (donativos),
the amount of which varies according to the wants of
the King, who solicits, while the generosity of the pro-
vince concedes.

" Lotly, the exempted provinces are not subjected
to any customs duties on this side, the fiscal province
of Spain being not on the Pyrenees, but on the Ebro.
On the other hand, they pay duties for the introduc-
tion of their produce and manufactured goods both ou
the frontier of Castile and on that of France, and what
completes their state of a foreign and independent
people is, that they arc subjected to commercial pro-
hibitions, as well as the other countries of Europe.

All commerce with America was at all times prohi
bited them, and this prohibition still continues as regards
the colonies which Spain still possesses.
" The Basque Provinces are not less foreign to Spain
as respects political manners and internal government.
Whilst Spain became, under Charles V., and remained,
since, an absolute Monarchy, the three provinces re-
tained in all their purity
ce
et Itiit.e
prevails in Biscay', oligarchy in Guipuzcoa, and a mixed
yeinlrdrAriln,
vgy ie,;tticsress,e s
nnmc
state in. Alava. Twice a year in the first pro-
Republican manners. Democracy
ond, and
Alava
%t,
athiel
etihrsiesc
at
Vittoria, in Guipuzcoa it changes its seat every everyses-
little
sion a le dCt\o\
assembly
s
; in Biscay it meets in the open air, as in the pa-
triarchal ages, under the oik of Guernica. There come
together the deputations of the several communes, hear-
ing on their banners the denomination of Republics.
Those Congresses regulate the administration of the
country, vote the taxes, and determine the appropriation
of the public money, for the provinces themselves de-
fray the expenses of the administration of every descrip-
tion, pay the salaries of their agents, and maintain their
militia in good order. They have, and let this be
noted, their finances and public credit—finances ad-
nwahly conducted, and a publit credit which the
greatest State might well envy, for when their insurrec-
tion broke out in October 1833, the Three per Cent.
Stock of the province of Alava was quoted at 93. The
national juntas, moreover, elect ins the interval which
elapses between their sessions, an officer called Deputy-
General, in whom is vested the executive authority, and
who deals with the Spanish Government on a footing of
equality. There is but One Deputy-General in Alava
anti Guipuzcoa, who is the temporary President of these
little republics. There are three in Biscay, where they
constitute a sort of Directory. Such of those popular
officers who have well merited of their country receive,
sites they have several times filled that station the ho-
nouroble though seldom lavished title of Father of at,
Province. With all this the King of Spain interferes not
in the slightest degree. He has only in each province a
Corregidor, not unlike the ancient Comites whom the
Emperor sent to watch the Roman municipalities.
" The independence and privileges of Navarre are
not so complete and extensive. Navarre was a king-
dom, and not a republic, when it was incorporated
with the Spanish Crown under the Catholic Kings, alter
the death of Francis Phoebus and Catherine, the wife
of John of Abret ; but as its incorporation was wholly
voluntary, and it stipu:ateu the conditions, Navarre has
always preserved its ancient Fueros, which it enjoyed
at that early period, whilst those of Castile were
~rested by Charles V., and those of Aragon by
tanilip 11. Navarre has retained its provincial Cortes,
and, like the Basque Provinces, it is exempted from. the
quint as, and possesses various valuable c01"111rcial
immunities.
" In Navarre the Royal authority is represeutedsloy a
Viceroy, who commands the troops, is Governor of
Pampeluna, and has the right of presiding at the Cortes
and Grand Council or Sopreme Court of Justice, whose
functions resemble those of the Grand Council of Cas-
tile. The Deputation consists of three orders (Esta-
mentos), elected for three years, and meeting annually.
The Ecclesiastic Order is the first ; and such is the
affection and veneration entertained by the Nayarrese
for their clergy, that, where there is a disagreement in
the Cortes, the vote of the Ecclesiastic Estamento pre-
vails over the two others. The Military Order, which
comes next, includes the nobles and knights, and as the
nobility arc numerous in Navarre, where the right of
primogeniture exists in full force, that Estannento, in ac-
cordance with the clergy, decides almost all questions.
There is, nevertheless, an order of Procuradores, wherein
sit the Deputies elected by the landowners, merchants,
and lawyers. To the Cortes thus composed are added
some lawyers, chosen in equal numbers in Navarre and
Castile, but who have no seats in the Assembly, their
opinions being only taken on certain questions,
The
Viceroy presides at the Cortes, and opens the session in
tne King's name, but he can ordain nothing, The Fueros
even expressly prohibit any measure being taken into
consideration before the grievances of the kinedom
have bean redressed. Tne Cortes have the exclusive
right of regulating all the affairs of the country
of imposing taxes, and permitting or prohibiting the
importation of goods. The Viceroy has no veto, whilst
the Cortes, on the contrary, exercise a very formal
one over the decrees and ordinances, which cannot be
executed without the especial consent of the Estamentos.
There exists an Audit Office, wherein all the taxes
and expenses arc scrutinized. As for justice, it is ad-
-1 ministered in the first instance by the Alcades of the
Pueblos ; in appeal, by the Alcades de Corte, sitting
at Pampeluna ; and in ;he last resort, by the Grand
Council of Navarre. No case is tried out of the king-
dom. No customs are established unless it be by the
Cortes. Spain is at liberty to establish theta on her
side on the frontier, and this question of the customs is
of such moment to the Naverrese, that Ferdinand VII.,
having obtained from the three Estamentos permission
to transfer the Spanish line of custom-houses to the
frontier, he veatured not to do so lest he should provoke
an immediate rebellion.