The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-01-11

the intervening tiEac, have, by tiieirvery va
riety, agitated mems minds; and the s.issi-
milarity OF opinions. upon the organization %
the government and the restoration oG our
fundamental laws, has recalled the attenti-
on of the Board to these highly important
objects, which it has lately considered with
| the most serious attention.
| Some wished the existing government to
be converted into 4 regency OF three or five
members, and this opinion grounded
upon one If our ancient laws applied to our
present situation; but the circumstances.
in which the Kingdom was placed when the
French pulled of the mask Of friendship to
| carry their treacherous usurpation into eff
feet. are unprecedented in our history. and
| could not have been foreseen in our inStitu7
tons. Neither the infancy nor the insanity
| ct the Prince, nor even his captivity. in the
usual manner that such misfortuues come to
pass, could be compared with what was
| then Detailing us, or with the lam2ptabie
situation in which VIC were at the time.-A
| political state entirely new, suggested poll
tical forms and principles equally new. To
eXpel the French, TO restore chr heloved'mo
march to freedom and his throne. and to lay
down the solid and durable foundations Of a
good government; such ere the maXims
! which first set on our revolution, and which
now support and direct it; AID that govern
! ment will be the best. which shall better
| secure the qualification OF these three wish
| es of the Spanish nation.
| Does the Regency mentioned in that law,
promise that security! How many inconve-
niences, how many dangers, how man. par
| ties, how many ambitious pretc osuns at
home and abroad, how grea. and now we'll
| founded the dissatisfaction OF our American
settlements, which have already been called
upon to take share in the present govern
| mont, What would, then, perhaps become
of our Cortes, of our freedom and of the
fair prospects of future happiness aid glory
at present held out to us. What of the OBJ
ecr most sacred and most valuable 20 the
Spanish nation, the preservation Of Ferti-
| nand's rights. The parsizans of this iusti-
| tuition must have shuddered at the immiuen,
danger to which they exposed them, and re
| Elected, that, with it. they offered TO the ~
| rant fresh opportunity of buying or selling
| them. Let. us. therefore, bow, with res
pect, before the venerable antiquity of the
| law--but let the experience Of ages render
us cautious. Let us open the annals OF the
country, and so through the history Of our
| Reysncies--what shall we find? The me
lancholy and horrid picture OF civil war, dc
| VISITATION, depreciation and human degrade
,ion in wretched CASTLE.
| No doubt, IN great states. power is better
exercised by few than by many hands -
Secrecy in deliberation, unity of plans, acsi-
witty in the prosecution of measures, and ce
lerity in the execution. are Indispensable
requisites for the happy issue of the acts of
! government, and peculiar to Il concentrated
authority. And accordingly, the Supreme
| Board has just concentered its own with
such prudent cirCunlspection, as neither Co
| expose the state to the oscillations conse
quent upon every change of government
nor senSibly to alter the unity of the Body
in which it is vested. A committee com
! posed of six members liable to be removed,
| shall, hepceiorth, have the requisite autho-
| rity to interfere and Conduct those operations
OF the Executive power, which, BY their ma
ture, demand celerity, secrecy and energy
! Another opinion contrary to the Regency,
| is likewise against any innovasion whatever
in the present political form of the State,
and reject the Cortes which have been an
/ nounced an incomplete representation if
! they be held agreeably to the ancient prac
ticc, as unreasonable, and perhaps danger
Gus under the present circumstances, in
short as useless, it being supposed. that the
Superior Boards, immedia ely created by the
people. are their rue representatives.
But the board had expressly told the ma
ton that. upon this important subject, they
would first turn their thoughts to the num-
Der and rank of the Deputies to that august
assembly, and to the manner in which they
should meet under the existing circumstar =
Ccs; and, alter such a ton, 1t is quite
! superfluous, not 20 say i'll natured. toappre
bend, lest the future Cortes should BIZ reduce ID
! to tine narrow and exclusive forms of our
ancient Cortes
Yes, Spaniards, YOU shall have your Cortes.
! and the national representation in them shall
be as complete and sufficient as it should
| and can be in an assembly Of such high i'm
portanco and such an exalted dignity. You
shall have Cortcs and you shall have them
Immediately; because inperiously required
| by the very critical circumstances in which
the nation is placed. And at what time,
Great Cod! should this means be resorted
to rather than at present. when protrac
ted war has exhausted every ordinary re
| source; when the selfishness of some and the
| ambition OF others weaken and clog he &C
ton OF government by their opposition or
indifference; when it is attempted to
sap the very foundation Of the essential prin :
| ciple of monarchy, which is unity; when
the hydra OF federalism so happily s,lenced
last year, by the Creation IF the Central
! Power, again presumes to rear it's venomous
head, aud aims at hurrying us into state
OF anarchy; when a crafty ncmy is watch
ing the moment our division shall break on,
to set about the work of our destruction, and
raise his throne upon the disgrac ful basis
afforded by our debates. This, this is the
| time to unite, upon one point, the national
strength and il ajesty, and for the Spanish
| Nation to vote and decree, through the or
gan OF her Representatives, the extraord
nary means which powerful nation always
possesses III herself to effect her salvation