The corregidor is changed every six years, and thousand maravedis. Such, in short, is the fear what is remarkable, because it proves to what ex-with which the bar's spirit of chicanery has intent Guipuzcoa is independent of the crown, ac-spired the Basques, that every lawyer, residing in the cording to the fuero, the King has no right to send city where the Junta sits, convicted of having had a new corregidor, except upon the formal demand intercourse with a procurador during the session, that is made to him for one by the province :-only may be expelled from it by the alcade for the whole out of regard to royalty, from time immemorial it time of the session. (In Biscay, it is not the lawhas been usual for the retiring corregidor himself, to yers, but the priests, that are stamped with political solicit of the king a successor, or else, if the pro- incapacity and cannot be elected procuradores.) vince agrees to it, a new appointment in his own The communes sometimes allow individuals, not favor. Basques, to make their proofs of nobility. For this The Junta is entirely renewed every year, and purpose, the ayuntamiento of the borough, where its sessions, which are secret, commence on the the stranger asks to fix his residence, sends two of sixth of May and last only eleven days. Before its members into the place of the petitioner's birth, breaking up, the Junta causes an account of its with orders to commence an inquiry into his hidalsessions to be published, and nominates a deputa- goship. On the return of these envoys, the ayuncion de gobierno, composed of seven members, tamiento resolves itself into a heraldic court, and, chosen from its own body, which exercises the executive power, until the meeting of a new Junta. The first member chosen, assumes the title of primer deputado, who might well be called the President of the little republic. Formerly, his office was altogether honorary; now, they allow him a salary of three thousand pesètas, under the name of expenses of representation. The first deputy resides for three years at Azpeitia, three at Azcoitia, three at Tolosa and three at Saint Sebastian. He has the power of summoning around him the other six members of the deputacion de gobierno, and, when circumstances require it, he convokes, by his own authority, an extraordinary Junta of all the procuradores, without needing authority for it from Madrid, or from the corregidor, to whom he merely gives notice of the resolution that he has taken. the documents in hand, grants, or refuses the letters of naturalization that are asked of it. The stranger, once naturalized, may aspire to become a member of the ayuntamiento, and even deputy to the Junta; provided, however, he is not a Frenchman, for the fuero says, positively, "Every person of French origin shall be forever excluded from the ayuntamiento, and from every office in the republic." The procuradores wear a French dress and a sword, which they lay down on entering the hall of session. A sumptuary law prohibits to them all embroidery in gold, or silver, on their uniform, and the military themselves, who happen to be procuradores, are obliged to appear in civil attire. same as that which prevails in Castille. The judicial power is exercised, either by the corregidor, assisted by four Judges, nominated by the province, or by the alcades of the villages at the The nomination of the procuradores appertains option of the contending parties, who may appeal to the ayuntamientos generales, great municipal from the decisions given against them to the high assemblies convoked, by the sound of the fife and audiencia of Valladolid, and, in the last resort, they tambourine, in which every noble inhabitant, pos- may have recourse to the hall of the mil y quinisessed of real estate, sits. (In Biscay, the law re-entos of Madrid, thus called, because, before a cause quires a foguera, a hearth, a fire, in other words can be argued therein, the parties must deposit fifthat the hidalgo does not lie in the open air.) This teen hundred good doubloons to pay the expenses requisite of nobility, which, everywhere else, would of the proceeding. As to the legislation, it is the seem to indicate an exclusion for the benefit of a privileged class, is here a burthen to no one. Every inhabitant of Guipuzcoa, that can prove that his family derives its origin from that province, is noble from that single circumstance. It is only the issue of foreigners that are not noble, and every one of native stock may clothe himself in his secu-cial powers in the first instance, as has been said. lar hidalgoship, from the player of the fife and tambourine, from the organist, the alguazil and the barber, up to the individual most highly situated in respect to fortune. Like an affectionate mother, the little Guipuzcoan republic, has treated all her children with equal love, except, however, the lawyers, to whom the law has not only refused the honor of being able to sit as procuradores in the General Junta, but has even prohibited their appearing in the place where it is assembled, under penalty of immediate expulsion and a fine of five The administration of each commune is com posed of an alcade, two lieutenants, a notary-secretary and an alguazil; except the latter, the discharge of their offices is gratuitous. The alcade combines in his own person the executive and judi One of the alcade's duties is to assemble and re- is bound to furnish written proof that the alarde | they rendered the monarchy, during the long wars has been duly and properly held in the commune waged by them, either against the Moors or against the Kings of France, or, lastly, against their own rebellious subjects. that he represents. The alcade renders an account, to the general ayuntamiento of his commune, of the management of the public money. If he has laid by any savings during the year, it is seldom that part of them is not spent in some act of public rejoicing. In the general ayuntamiento, held on St. John's day, this year at Hernain, at the request of the hidalgo cultivators, they were used to buy some hogsheads of muy leal villa de —— Navarrese wine, Dutch cheese, and excellent In- Now, how can we distinguish which immunity is dian-corn bread, (a kind of broad thin cakes, baked costumbre and which is only fuero? It is very difbetween two iron plates heated at the fire,) on which ficult to form an accurate opinion upon this subject; they dined in the square of the commune. for if, on the one hand, the inhabitants pretend that Like the procuradores, the vicars of the villages all their immunities are anterior to the union of are nominated by the general ayuntamientos. In their province with the Spanish monarchy; on the some localities, however, as at Oyarzun, all the in- other hand, Spanish writers are seen racking their habitants, even the pordioseros, beggars, take part brains to prove that they were all granted by their in the election of the pastor of the commune. The Kings, which implies, in their opinion, the power fuero provides that no priest shall aspire to becom-to revoke them. However, this may be, here are ing the vicar of a village, unless he can prove that the immunities that Guipuzcoa has enjoyed from he derives his origin from it. The tithes serve to time immemorial. maintain the clergy. Among the fueros, is one of which the Guipuzcoans are very vain; it is that, by which Don Enrique IV. granted, in 1466, the title of very noble and very loyal to their province; they are so proud of it, that there is not a little borough that, in all its public acts, does not call itself la muy noble y As to what concerns the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, Guipuzcoa is subject to the Navarrese bishop of Pampeluna, as Alava and Biscay are to the Spanish bishop of Callahorra. Doubtless, in making this arrangement, the Kings of Spain thought it would be too dangerous for them to constitute an independent clergy, in provinces already so independent. It is evidently, from this fear, that they have never consented to the erection of any Episcopal see in the Basque country. Perfect freedom of trade with the interior, as with the exterior, of the province. Complete exemption from every kind of impost, manorial or otherwise, except, however, the alcalaba, a light tribute paid to the crown, barely amounting to 42,000 reals, in token of vassalage, upon the importation of foreign wines and the sale of the iron of the province. In some extraordinary cases, and upon the demand made to it by the crown, the province also grants it a sum of money under the name of donativo, gift. ́ Guipuzcoa provides for the maintenance of its The free sale of salt and tobacco, no impost upon roads, and for the expenses of the central adminis-timber, no tax on contracts, nor upon inheritances, tration, by means of tolls and the duties levied at &c. Exemption from all compulsory military serthe gates of the villages. Among the duties laid vice; in case of war, however, all the Guipuzcoans upon the introduction of certain articles of con- must run to arms, but only for the defence of their sumption, it is at least curious to observe, that that soil, and the province alone has the right of nomiwhich is laid upon meat, partly serves to benefit the nating the coronel, or general-in-chief, of the profoundlings, so numerous in this country, that the hos-vincial militia. pitals are not sufficient to contain them. If a family The nominations conceded to the province of be at all in easy circumstances, it is seldom that it the notarie and the alcade of sacas, a magistrate does not furnish an asylum to one of these inno- entrusted with watching over the exportation of cent creatures. It often happens, that the good money on the frontier of Behobid. villager is awakened in surprise, by an infernal Old fueros, by which the crown has promised racket, made at his door. Believing that he is to never to build any fortress, city, or village in Guireceive some important message, the good man puzcoa, without the Junta's consent, and never to makes haste to come down to the street; but in-place in this province any Spanish employé, unless stead of the messenger, who has taken himself off, it be for the service of the carriage of letters, of he only finds a poor new-born, to which he has not which the crown has the monopoly. the heart to refuse a shelter. Inviolability of the debtor's person, whose house, arms and horses can never be comprised in the sequestration of his effects. Some words, now, respecting the privileges of Guipuzcoa. They consist of costumbres and fueros. The costumbres are, as the word indicates, old It is lastly said, in Title 29, of the fueros of the customs, anterior to the annexation of the Basque province: "Such is the respect due to the fueros, provinces to the crown of Spain. The fueros are that if ever a minister of justice, or any person, favors, that the Kings of Spain granted to these however powerful he may be, dares to infringe provinces, to compensate them for the services that them, every Guipuzcoan shall have the right, not language. Two important things are to be obonly to resist him, but to kill him." served in Biscay: the lordship pays no tax, not The arms of Guipuzcoa are three trees, rising even the alcabala to the lord, to whom it is at from amidst the waves of the sea; a king sitting on a throne and resting his right hand on the pommel of his sword, the point of which is buried in the ground, and lastly, the twelve cannons taken by the Guipuzcoans from the French, at the time of the memorable victory of Elizondo, (1512.) liberty to grant or refuse the donativo, when it is asked of it through the medium of the corregidor. Except in a few places, all the inhabitants of each commune take part in the election of the two procuradores to the Junta, also in that of the vicars, likewise chosen by the mere majority of votes. It is, as you see, pure democracy that reigns in Biscay. The other assembly, known by the name of merindad, is composed of extraordinary envoys from all the communes of the lordship. Convoked on urgent occasions by the regimiento, it meets first The political organization of the very noble and at Begona, in the sacristy of the church of Saint very loyal lordship of Biscay is much more compli- Mary, and then removes to Bilbao, when, under the cated, than that of Guipuzcoa. It is composed of two presidency of the corregider and the two deputies, assemblies; the one extraordinary, known by the it consults about the affairs that have required its name of merindad; the other ordinary, called convening. The decisions of the merindad have junta general. To the latter, is committed the as much force as those of the general junta of nomination of the members of the regimiento, a Guernica, to which, however, are reserved certain magistracy under the presidency of the corregidor attributes that make it a real sovereign representageneral, as well as the election of the two deputies, tion. The regimiento of the province is nominated who, jointly with the same corregidor, form the by it every two years. For this purpose, the prodeputacion de gobierno. All this requires some explanations. I have thought it right to enlarge upon the fueros of Guipuzcoa, to avoid useless repetitions, in speaking to you of those of Biscay and Alava; for the fueros, that those two provinces enjoy, are very nearly the same as those of Guipuzcoa. curadores divide themselves into two bans, one called onazino, the other gamboino, titles borrowed According to its fueros, the lordship of Biscay from the civil wars that formerly desolated Biscay. has the right of meeting, in general junta, every two (It was in the reign of John I.; they fought in the years, under the tree of Guernica, which is situated fields of Uribarrigamboa, long and furiously; the a little distance from the village of that name. It question was serious-it was whether a certain is under this tree, that, with uncovered heads and colossal wax-candle, that was to figure in a processtanding, the hundred and eight procuradores of sion, should be carried by the hands, or on the shoalBiscay take, in presence of the members of the ders, by the deputies of the Basque federation.) regimiento sitting upon stone seats, the oath to In each ban, three electors are drawn by lot. maintain the fueros and respect the rights of the Each of these electors proposes a certain number lórd; for, in Biscay, the King is called by no other of candidates to his ban, from whom are chosen, by title. The procuradores then go into the chapel of lot, two deputies, six regidores, two syndics and our Lady of Antigua, and open the session, under two secretaries. These same electors then nomithe presidency of the deputacion de gobierno. The nate six regidores, who are called regidores electes, sittings are held with open doors, and entrance is who, in the meeting of the regimiento, take precefree to every body. The gallery, appropriated to dence of the six regidores drawn by lot. The the public, is adorned with portraits of the twenty-regimiento thus composed of eighteen members six old lords of Biscay, from Sopez, surnamed the meets, regularly, once a year at Bilbao; and, on exRed Corsair, (848) to the Infant Don Juan I., who, traordinary occasions, as often as the deputacion de on ascending the throne of Castille, incorporated | gobierno thinks proper. Biscay with the monarchy. The elbow-chairs of The deputacion de gobierno is the executive of the three Presidents are placed at the foot of the the province. It is composed of two deputies, altar; all around the nave are arranged, in the form members of the regimiento and of the corregidor, of a horse-shoe, three rows of benches, the lowest who presides over it. To it appertain the political of which is reserved for the padres de la provincia, control of the acts of the corregidor sent to Madrid fathers of the province, the name by which they and all the administrative, military and judicial designate the former deputies, to whom is allowed, measures. It takes charge of the collection of the in the deliberations of the Junta, only an advisory taxes laid by the Junta of Guernica, to which it voice. The archives of the lordship are kept in subsequently submits a printed statement of all the the sacristy of the chapel; the great seal is also acts of its administration. In case of war, it regu deposited there, and the corregidor is obliged to de- lates by itself every thing relating to the defence liver it to the deputies within the space of twenty-of the country; it decides, in the first instance, upoa four hours, whenever it is demanded of him. The the proofs of nobility and purity of blood to be furdebates of the Junta are indiscriminately in Basque nished by all persons in the monarchy, desiring to and in Spanish, but are published only in the latter fix their domicile in Biscay; and lastly, sees that the measures, that the corrigidor thinks it his duty | Biscay, to appear under the tree of Guernica, there to take in his capacity of royal envoy, are in har- to take the oath to the fueros of the lordship; but mony with the fueros of the province. Observe usually they confine themselves to confirming them upon this point, that every guarantee is given to by royal proclamation. the province; for the decisions of the deputation, No Biscayan can be removed from before the being had by majority of voices, if the corregidor judges of his province, unless it be to appear bewere to propose the adoption of any measure inju- fore the Grand Judge of Biscay, residing at Valrious to the country, he would inevitably have ladolid, who sits every Thursday in the year. against him the voices of the two deputies. Be- Lastly, such is the consideration in which the sides, the fueros foreseeing the possibility of some Biscayans were formerly held by the Kings of abuse of power, on the part of the corregidor, say Spain, that when the torture and the bastinado expressly under Title 1st., "Every ordinance issued were included among criminal punishments, they against the liberties of the country shall be register-could not upon any pretext be inflicted upon any ed, but not executed, (obedezcase y no se cumpla.") inhabitant of the lordship. See in what terms, so On the other hand, the corregidor is obliged to affix honorable to the Biscayans, Ferdinand VI., exhis signature to all the acts that the two deputies think proper to enact upon their own responsibility, for the good of the lordship. presses himself upon the subject, in his proclamation of 1754: "Seeing that the Biscayans prefer death to dishonor, I command that no one have power to sentence them to any punishments that cannot be inflicted upon hidalgos. The judges may increase the time of imprisonment, or the amount of the fines to satisfy public justice, but they shall always take care to observe that the quality of the punishment decreed against the Biscayans does not offend, or wound the point of honor of vassals so noble and loyal." Every borough, or to use a term, consecrated in the fueros, every republic of Biseay is internally administered in the manner the most independent of the general body. It is bound, only, for form's sake, to present a statement of its administration to the corregidor, or to his lieutenant, residing at Guernica, when they make the tour of the lordship. Every Biscayan is noble, from the mere circumstance of his Biscayan origin, and the fuero expresses this quality by the words Todo Viscayo de Viscaya es noble. Exempt from all conscription, lamb. According to the chroniclers, Don Lopez, the Biscayan cannot be compelled to fight without the territory of his province; whose limits, according to the fueros, are the ocean and a tree, called el arbor malato, situated near the village of Lujaondo. The arms of Biscay are argent, the tree of Guernica, with two wolves sable, each devouring a the first Count of Biscay, having dreamt, the night before the battle of Arrigoria, of two wolves devouring lambs at the foot of the tree of Guernica, had the dream that had preceded his victory painted on his buckler; thence the origin of the escutcheon of Biscay. Saint Ignatius Loyola is the patron of the lordship; he was unanimously proclaimed so at the General Junta, held at Guernica in 1680, upon the proofs furnished by Father Don Gabriel Ilendo, that the founder of the order of the Jesuits was the son of a Biscayan woman. On the Saint's day, each new regimiento, assembled in the great church of St. Jago, of Bilbao, takes, after solemn mass, between the hands of the officiating priest, the oath to preserve forever the fueros of the lordship unimpaired. There are two systems of laws in Biscay: that of Castille, which rules the cities, subject to the general legislation of the kingdom, and that of the terra llána, or country, which enjoys a jurisdiction altogether special, and as old as the province. The cause of this difference, is, that the ground occupied by the cities is considered as appertaining to the crown of Spain, whilst the country is considered entirely independent of it. We may cite, as a characteristic trait of this difference, the power that every father of a family in the terra llána has of leaving all his property to one of his children, Lastly, the Junta of the very noble and very excluding all the others, to each of whom he is, loyal province of Alava meets twice a year: the however, obliged to leave un arbol el mas cabecero, first time, in the month of May, in the convent of una teja y dos reales de plata; one of the highest St. Francis of Vittoria: the second, in September, trees, a tile and ten pence in money. In the vil-in some country-borough. Both sessions are alike lages, on the contrary, the father can dispose of secret. The executive power is exercised in comonly the third and the fifth of his property, as is mon by the royal corregidor and by the deputy done in all the rest of the monarchy. Another general, chosen every year by the Junta of Vittoria. curious peculiarity is that relating to murderers, Whilst he is in office, the deputy has the rank of who, in the terra llána, cannot be pursued as assas- Major General. The nomination of the alcades sins, if the relations of the victim grant them their belongs to the general ayuntamientos; in some pardon. This fuero is known by the name of per-places, however, it is the retiring alcade that nomidin de los parientes del muerto. nates his successor. The procuradores to the Junta At the beginning of each new reign, the Kings and the vicars of the villages are also chosen by the of Spain are bound, in their capacity of lords of general ayuntamientos of the thirty-six hermanda VOL. IX-70 des, brotherhoods, composing the great Alavese | fused and remained faithful to the Emperor Charles hermandad. Formerly, these brotherhoods held V., who, wishing to acknowledge their loyalty, also their Juntas in the famous plain of Arriaga, and, confirmed their fueros, and allowed them, besides, according to the accounts of the chroniclers, the to have them printed. Philip II. imitated his wives of the hidalgos had an equal right of voting father, and all the Kings of Spain did as much with their noble husbands. The arms of Alava are after him. The perfectly natural result in the a castle with turrets, from the battlements of which Basque provinces has been a real attachment to proceeds an armed arm that seems to threaten royalty, besides the creation of an instinctive feelheaven and earth. Lastly, those of the federation ing, that absolutism in Spain is the strongest supof the three Basque sisters, as the three provinces port of their liberties. Thus, when in 1820, the of Guipuzcoa, Biscay and Alava style each other, Constitutionalists required that they should take an are three interlaced hands with the words Irurac oath to the Constitution, they only agreed to it, by bat, the three one. It might be said, that the three declaring that they submitted to compulsion and Basque sisters make a foreign family, amidst the by making protests and reservations. The absogreat Spanish family. Language, manners, tradi- lutist restoration, in 1823, was greeted by their tions, institutions, all contribute to this difference, unanimous acclamations, and afterwards, the death to this isolation. The commodities, the manufac- of Ferdinand VII. was regarded as a real calamity tured goods of the Basques are considered as of to the Basque country. At saint Sebastian, in the foreign origin and pay a duty upon the line of the funeral ceremony that was performed upon the Ebro, before passing into Castille; lastly, they are King's death, the royal cenotaph bore an inscripforbidden to have any direct trade with the Spanish tion, wherein Ferdinand was styled el defensor el colonies. mas firme de los fueros. In fact, Ferdinand incessantly defended these provinces against his own ministers, who desired by all means to alter their constitution. Was this on the King's part an act of gratitude, for the energetic opposition that they had made to the French invasion? What is known of Ferdinand's character renders this opinion little credible, and it is more reasonable to think that he only acted thus to prevent the Basque provinces, seeing themselves ill-used, from making common cause with If you now ask me how it happened, that a country, where the spirit of independence and liberty appears innate, embraced with so much enthusiasm the cause of Don Carlos, to explain to you the motives of it, I must ask your permission to cast a glance upon the historic past of these provinces. Guipuzcoa, Alava and Biscay formed part of the kingdom of Navarre, when in 1200, Don Alonzo VIII., taking advantage of the absence of Don Sancho the Strong, King of Pampeluna, who was in Morocco, invaded Alava, and laid siege to Vit-the Spanish liberals. toria. Then the Alavese communes, either be- After the death of Ferdinand, the manifesto of cause they feared being conquered, or because they Zea Bermudez, announcing the maintenance of the thought it would be more expedient for them to statu quo, "always excepting the administrative make common cause with the Kings of Castille, reforms, demanded by the situation of the kingdom," than with the Kings of Navarre, gave themselves was enough to alarm the Basque country. Antici up voluntarily to Don Alonzo. "The King was pating events, the clergy especially felt that the at Burgos," says the historian Mariana, "when the administrative reform would sooner or later bring ambassadors of that part of Cantabria called Alava about a political reform, impressed with the ideas came to seek him, and paid him homage for this of the French revolution, and that there would then territory, which, hitherto, had been free and inde-be an end of the influence, that they have exercised pendent, without acknowledging any other laws in these provinces from time immemorial, an influ than its own fueros. Assembled afterwards in the ence immense, as well on account of the extremely plain of Ariaga, the Alavese communes swore obe- religious disposition of the inhabitants, as on acdience to the King in person, placing, of their own count of the excessive number of this same clergy. free will, the old liberties of the country under his There is not a single Basque village, as unimporprotection." tant as one may suppose it, that is not served by 3 Guipuzcoa and Biscay having followed the ex-number of ecclesiastics, thrice as great as the ample that had been set them by Alava, the three spiritual wants of the parish require. Thus every Basque provinces were incorporated of their own vicar finds himself a powerful abbé, having under accord with Castille, upon condition, however, that their fueros and immunities should be perpetually preserved. Henry III., John II., Henry IV., the Catholic Kings, and Donna Juana, the Fool, successively swore to these fueros, and even increased them. At the time of the insurrection of the communes of Castille, these provinces, solicited by the insurgents to make common cause with them, re command, four, six, eight, often even twelve other ecclesiastics, all natives of the borough that they supply, and all alike chosen by popular suffrage. Connected by the ties of personal interest with the numerous convents, (there is one of them in the smallest borough,) these priests compose, with the monks and the richest families of their commune, a kind of all-powerful village aristocracy. Seeing |