CONTINUATION OF THE EXAMINATION OF THE SPANISH CONSTITUTION.

(Continued from p. 25.)

CHAP V. On the elective provincial meetings.

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ART. 78. The elective meetings of the province, shall consist of the electors of all its districts, who shall assemble in the capital, for the purpose of naming the appropriate deputies to the Cortes, as representatives of the nation."

ART. 79. These meetings shall always be held in the Peninsulas, and adjacent islands, the first Sunday in December, in the year preceding the meeting of the Cortes,

ART. 80. In the provinces beyond sea, they shall be held on the second Sunday in March of the same year in which the district meetings are held.

ART. 81. These meetings shall be presided over by the chief of police, of the capital of the province, to whom the district electors shall present themselves with the warrant of their election, that their names may be entered in the book of records of the meeting.

ART. 82. On the appointed day, the district electors shall assemble with the president in the council chambers, or in any building more adapted to so solemn an occasion, with open doors; and shall commence their proceedings by naming from a plurality of votes a secretary and two scrutineers among themselves.

ART. 83. If a province should not desire to send more than one deputy, five electors at least must unite in his nomination, this number being distributed among the districts into which it is divided, or forming districts for this purpose only. ·

ART. 84. The four chapters of this constitution that relate to the elections shall be read. Afterwards the certificates of the elections made in the chief places of the district, forwarded by the respective presidents, shall be read. The electors shall also present the certificates of their nomination, to be examined by the secretary and scrutineers, who should the following day declare if they are, or are not according to law. The certificates of the secretary, and the scrutineers, shall be examined by a committee of three individuals of the meeting, that shall be appointed for this purpose to give information thereon, on the succeeding day.

ART. 85. The district electors being assembled, the informations on the certificates shall be read, and should there be any doubts thereon, or on the electors, by defect of any of the required qualifi cations, the meeting shall decree definitively, and at once, what it

thinks fit, and its resolution shall be carried into effect without appeal.

ART. 86. Subsequently, the district electors shall proceed to the cathedral, or chief church, where a solemn mass of the Holy Ghost shall be chaunted, and the bishop, or in his absence the clergyman of the highest rank, shall deliver a sermon suited to the occasion.

ART. 87. This religious ceremony being over, they shall return to the place they went from, and with open doors, the electors taking their seats without any regard to precedence, the president shall make the same enquiry as pointed out in the 49th Article, and the result thereof shall be strictly observed.

ART. 88. Subsequently, the electors who are present shall proceed to the election of a deputy or deputies, one by one, approaching the seats of the president, the scrutineers, and the secretary; and the last shall insert in a list in their presence, the name of the person whom every one elects. The secretary and the scrutineers shall give their votes the first.

ART. 89. The voting being over, the president, the secretary, and the examiners, shall see how many votes each candidate has, and he who has received at least one beyond the half thereof shall be elected. If no one should have received an absolute, plurality of votes, the two who shall bave the greatest number, shall undergo a second scrutiny, and he who obtains a majority shall remain elected. In cases of even numbers, the decision shall be made by drawing of lots, and the choice of each being finished, the president shall make it public.

ART. 90. After the election of the deputies, that of the depaties of reserves shall be proceeded on, in the same manner and form, and their number in each province shall be the third part of that of the deputies. If any province should elect only one or two deputies, it shall, nevertheless, elect one deputy of reserve. These shall proceed to the Cortes whenever the death of the original member is ascertained, or his inability in opinion of the same, at whatever period one or the other circumstance is ascertained after his election.

ART. 1. To be a deputy to the Cortes it is requisite to be a citizen in the exercise of his sights, twenty-five years old, born in the province, or settled therein with a residence of at least seven years, whether a layman or secular ecclesiastic, those who compose the meeting, or those not present thereat, being eligible.

ART. 92. It is besides required, to be eligible as a deputy to the Cortes, to possess a proportionate annual income, proceeding from real personal property.

ART. 93. The order of the preceeding article is suspended until the Cortes in their future meetings declare the period to have arrived in which it shall take effect, pointing out the proportion of the income, and the description of property from which it must

result, and what they shall thenceforward decree, shall be regarded as constitutional, in the same manner as if it was herein so expressed.

ART. 94. If it should so happen that the same person should be elected by his native province, and by that in which he resides, the latter shall hold good, and for his native province the deputy of reserve shall proceed to the Cortes.

ART. 5. The secretaries of state, the counsellors of state, and those fulfilling offices of the royal household, are ineligible as deputies to the Cortes.

ART. 96. Neither can any foreigner be eligible as deputy to the Cortes, although he may even have obtained letters of citizenship from the Cortes.

ART. 97 No public oflicer employed by Government shall be elected deputy to the Cortes by the province in which he discharges his trust.

ART. 98. The secretary will record the elections which the president and all the electors will sign together with him.

ART. 99. Subsequently, all the electors, without any excuse, shall grant to all and to each of the deputies ample powers, according to the following form, delivering to each deputy his corresponding commission to present himself to the Cortes.

ART. 100. The commission shall run in these forms, viz. In the city or town of on- day of the month of Messrs. (Here

in the year

must be inserted the names of the president, and of the district electors, that form the elective meeting of the provinces.) having assembled in the council chamber, declared, before me the underwritten attorney, and other witnesses expressly summoned, that having proceeded according to the law of the political constitution of the Spanish monarchy, to nominate the parish and district electors, with all the solemnity prescribed by the same, as it appeared from the original proper certificates, which were produced, being assembled, the declared electors of the districts of the province of

on

day of this present year, they had appointed the deputies for this province to the Cortes, and that Messrs. A. B. C. were accordingly elected deputies for the same, as it appears by the public record signed by A. B. that in consequence they grant ample powers to all and each, jointly and separately, to fulfil and discharge their exalted duties in their station, that they may with the other deputies to the Cortes, as representatives of the Spanish nation, agree and determine on whatever they may deem of importance to the general good, in the exercise of the powers entrusted to them by the constitution, and within its prescribed limits, without power to derogate, alter, or vary, in any manner whatever, any articles thereof, under any pretext; and the electors become bound for themselves,

and in the name of all the inhabitants of this province, by virtue of the powers granted them as electors appointed for this purpose, to hold good, to obey and fulfil whatever such deputies to the Cortes may determine, and shall be decreed by them according to the political constitution of the Spanish Monarchy. Thus they declare and authorize, Messrs. A. B. being witnesses present, which, with the gentlemen authorizing, they also signed which I attest.

ART. 101. The president, scrutineers, and secretary, shall immediately forward a copy of the record signed by themselves, of the elections to the permanent committee of the Cortes, and shall make public the elections through the medium of the press, and send a copy to each town of the province.

ART. 102. To indemnify the deputies for their expences, the respective provinces shall contribute such daily allowances as the Cortes, in the second year of each general deputation, shall point out for the deputation that is to succeed it; and to the deputies from beyond sea, such allowances shall besides be granted, in the opinion of their respective provinces, sufficient for the expences of their voyage going and returning.

ART. 103. For the provincial elective meetings, every thing nust be observed that is prescribed in the 55th, 56th, 57th, and 58th articles, with the exception of what'results from the 328th article.

There is nothing in this fifth chapter that requires explanation or comment. The mode of election in the provinces closely resembles that in the districts and parishes; its future eligibility must entirely depend on its practicability. The practice of having a deputy in reserve, in case of the death of one of those sent to the Cortes, is a novel, and at the same time, a very wholesome provision; this, perhaps, might frequently prevent a second election in the same year. It appears probable that the elections of Spain will not become such a scene of Bacchanalian riot as in England.

CHAP. VI.-On the assembly of the Cortes.

ART. 104. The Cortes shall assemble every year in the capital of the kingdom, in a building appropriated to this object alone.

ART. 105. Whenever they may find it convenient to remove to any other place, they have power so to do, to any town not farther distant from the capital than twelve leagues, and that two thirds of the deputies present agree in the removal.

ART. 106. The session of the Cortes shall continue three months in each year, beginning on the first of March.

We are now arrived to what may be termed the beauties of

by ballot, and by an absolute majority of votes, a president, vice president, and four secretaries; the Cortes shall then be held cou stituted, and formed, and the permanent committee be entirely dissolved,

ART. 119. On the same day a committee of twenty-two individuals shall be nominated, and two of the secretaries, to acquaint the king of the assembly of the Cortes, and of the president they have elected, for the purpose of learning his Majesty's intentions of assisting at the Cortes, to be held on the first of March.

ART. 120. If the king should be away from the capital, this communication shall be made to him in writing, and the king shall acknowledge it in the same manner.

ART. 121. The king will attend personally at the opening of the Cortes, and if there should be any impediment thereto, the president shall open the assembly on the day appointed, and cannot on any account defer it to another. The same formalities shall be observed at the end of the sessions.

ART. 122. The king shall enter the hall of the Cortes without a guard, and shall be accompanied by those persons only which the etiquette for the reception and departure of the king, (which the regulations for the interior government of the Cortes shall prescribe,) shall determine.

ART. 123. The king will make a speech, in which he will lay before the Cortes what he may think proper, and to which the president shall answer in general terms. If the king should not attend, he will send his speech to the president, by whom it shall be read to the Cortes.

ART. 124. The Cortès cannot deliberate in the presence of the king.

ART. 125. In those cases where the secretaries of state. have any communications to make to the Cortes in the name of the king, they must attend the debates when, and in such manner as the Cortes may think fit, and may speak therein, but they cannot be present on proceeding to vote.

ART. 126. The sessions of the Cortes shall be public, and in those eases only that require reserve, can a secret sitting be held.

ART. 127. In the discussion of the Cortes, and in every thing besides, that appertains to its interior order and government, the regulations shall be observed, that these general and extraordinary Cortes shall order, without obstruction to any alterations that the succeeding assembly may judge proper to make therein.

ART. 128. The deputies shall be inviolable for their opinions, in no time or case, nor by any authority, can they be recriminated`s them. In criminal cases, they cannot be tried except by the tribunal of the Cortes, in the mode and form which the regulations of the in