The king could affix a suspensive veto to the acts of the Cortes. The
constitution further proclaimed the principles of individual liberty
and legal equality and sought to abolish the old regime root and
branch: provision was made for a thorough reorganization of courts,
local administration, taxation, the army, and public education. While
the framers of the constitution affirmed that "the religion of the
Spanish nation is and always will be the Apostolic Church of Rome, the
only true Church," they persisted in decreeing the suppression of the
Inquisition and the secularization of ecclesiastical property. That
such a radical constitution would be understood and championed
forthwith by the whole Spanish people, only the most confirmed and
fanatical optimist could believe, but, on the other hand, it was
certain that the Spaniards as a nation were resolved that the
Continental System and the Bonaparte family must go. They might
sacrifice equality but not national liberty.
At last the four fateful defects in the Napoleonic Empire,--the
character of Napoleon himself, the nature of his army, the Continental
System, and the rise of nationalism,--were painfully in evidence.
Pages:
1170
1171
1172
1173
1174
1175
1176
1177
1178
1179
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185
1186
1187
1188
1189
1190
1191
1192
1193
1194