742 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



riouslydemand it, and at what time, 

 gracious God, can itadoptthis mea- 

 sure better than at present? When 

 an obstinate war has exhausted all 

 tlie ordinary means ; when the ego- 

 tism of some, and the ambition of 

 others, debilitate and paralyse the 

 efforts of the government, b}' their 

 opposition or indifference ; when 

 they seek to eradicate the essential 

 principle of the monarchy, which is 

 union; when the hydra of federal- 

 ism, so happily silenced the preced- 

 ing year by the creation of the cen- 

 tral power, dares again to raise its 

 poisonous head, and endeavours to 

 precipitate us into the dissolution 

 of anarchy ; when the subtilty of 

 our enemies is watching the mo- 

 ment when our divisions disunite 

 us, to destroy the state, and to 

 erect their throne on the ruin which 

 our distractions afford them. This 

 is the time — this, to collect in one 

 point the national dignity and ho- 

 nour, and when the Spanish people 

 may will and decree the extraordi- 

 nary surplus which a powerful na- 

 tion ever has within it for its salva- 

 tion. It alone can encounter and 

 put them in motion; it alone can 

 encourage the timidity of some and 

 restrain the ambition of others; it 

 alone will suppress importunate va- 

 nity, puerile pretensions, and enfu- 

 riated passions, which, unless pre- 

 vented, go to tear in pieces the go- 

 vernment. It will, in fine, give to 

 Europe a fresh example of its reli- 

 gion, its circumspection, and its dis- 

 cretion, in the just and moderate 

 use which it is about to make of 

 the glorious liberty in which it is 

 constituted. Thus is it that the 

 Supreme Junta which immediately 

 j-ecognized this national represen- 

 Jatiou as a right, and proclaimed it 



as a reward, now invokes and im- 

 plores it as the most necessary and 

 efficacious remedy ; and has there- 

 fore resolved that the general Cortes 

 of the monarchy, announced in the 

 decree of the 22nd May, shall be 

 convoked on the Ist day of January 

 in the next year, in order to enter 

 on their august functions the 1st 

 day of March following. When 

 that happy day has arrived the junta 

 shall say to the representatives of 

 the nation: — 



Ye are met together, O fathers 

 of yourcountry; and re-established 

 in all the plenitude of your rights, 

 after a lapse of three centuries, 

 when despotism and arbitrary power 

 dissolved you, in order to subject 

 this nation to all the evils of servi- 

 tude. The aggression which we 

 have suffered, and the war which 

 we maintain, are the fruits of the 

 most shameful oppression, and the 

 most unjust tyranny. The provin- 

 cial juntas, who were able to resist 

 and repulse the enemy in the first 

 impetus of his invasion, invested 

 the supreme junta with the sove- 

 reign authority which they exercised 

 for a time, to give unity to the state 

 and concentrate its power. Called 

 to the exercise of this authority, 

 not by ambition or intrigue, but by 

 the unanimous voice of the pro- 

 vinces of the kingdom, the indivi- 

 duals of the supreme junta showed 

 themselves worthy of the high con- 

 fidence reposed in them, by em- 

 ploying all their vigilance and ex- 

 ertions for the preservation and pos- 

 terity of the state. The magnitude 

 of our efforts will be apparent from 

 the consideration of the enormity 

 of the evil which preceded. When 

 the power was placed in our hands, 

 our armies, half formed, were 



unprovided 



