DECREES Of the Cortes of Spain, and of Ferdinand VII. From the Printed Volumes, published by Authority. THE general and extraordinary Cortes desiring that the important indus try of mining in all the dominions of the Indies and Philipine Islands may receive all possible increase, and considering that the monopoly of quicksilver established by law 1, tit. 23, book 8, of the Recopilacion of the Indies, and the right that the crown reserved to itself according to article 22, tit. 7, of the ordinances of New Spain, of appropriating and working on its own account mines of this kind, whenever it might be thought proper, on making a previous arrangement with the discoverer or denouncer of said mines; inasmuch as it thereby renders uncertain the interest of the owner, and checks the trade withholding people from the useful and expensive enterprise of discovering and working quicksilver mines, and likewise further employing themselves in the search for quicksilver, in its transport, and in creating a competition, all which would probably happen if this article were to be declared an article of free trade perpetually exempt from all taxes including the (cuinto) fifth or that part which the miner is bound to pay; bearing in mind what was proposed and presented for consideration to the Cortes by the Council of regency on the 26th of December last in favor of the freedom of trade in so necessary an auxiliary for the working of gold and silver mines; and bearing also in mind what has been presented and petitioned for on the subject by the deputies of the Indies in this Cortes, who have demonstrated with intelligence and zeal, the expediency of repealing the above mentioned provisions and any other in whole or in part of the same character, interfering with the freedom of trade in said article, and with the security of the perpetual and absolute ownership of the mines, provided that in their discovery and working of said mines they shall observe the general regulations existing in the matter. After a mature consideration, the Cortes have been pleased to decree and do decree the aforesaid repeal and grant of exemption from impediments as aforesaid, and at the same time do ordain that if in accordance with the former monopoly or otherwise, the Royal Treasury may have sent or shall send on its own account any quantity of quicksilver to be distributed at cost and charges as it has been the practice heretofore for the benefit of the miners, the distribution shall be precisely and exclusively made by the respective mining tribunals, as they are the best judges of the wants of the mines, and of every thing relating to the propri ety and success of the object of those remittances, and consequently it shall be the duty of such tribunals, to cause the reimbursement to be duly made to the royal Treasury-the Cortes trusting to the honor, integrity and zeal of the above mentioned tribunals that they will correspond to the high confi dence placed in them in a commission so interesting and worthy of the paternal views of the Cortes. DECREE Of the 12th of March, 1811. Various Measures for the encouragement of Agriculture and Industry in America. ONE of the principal cares, which occupies the attention of the general and extraordinary Cortes, being to furnish the inhabitants of the extensive provinces in America all the means necessary to promote and secure their real happiness, and being persuaded of the justice and utility of those proposed by the council of the regency upon the representations made by the Right Rev. Bishop of Valladolid de Michoacan, of the 30th May, 1810, with the interesting object of encouraging in those countries, the advancement and improvement of agriculture and industry, and to diminish, as far as practicable, the impediments and obstructions which at present retard their progress to the great injury of the state; they therefore decree : 1. That the tax upon stores known by the name of pulperias be abolished. 2. That it is permitted freely to make and to sell spirits of mezcal (aguardiente mezcal) in the viceroyalty of Mexico. 3. That six dollars in specie are to be paid on each barrel of said mezcal spirits, and that a reduction of two specie dollars be allowed on the tax imposed on each barrel of rum. 4. That the increase of two reals lately imposed on each pound of tobacco remains in force, as well as that of two per cent. over and above the six per cent. collected as excise duty, as well as the application of these duties to the payment of principal and interest of the loan of twenty millions of dollars opened in New Spain. 5. That in order to fill up this loan the more rapidly, it is permitted, out of the common funds belonging to the Indians, to invest so much in this loan at interest as the communities have the control of and may be willing voluntarily to contribute in the different towns, villages, and communities of that kingdom. 6. That the viceroy of New Spain, after consulting the fiscals and a (junta) board composed of the archbishop, regent, intendant, the contador mayor, the contador of tributes, a royal officer, the senior regidor, the procurator syndic, and a good man elected by the (ayuntamiento) common council of Mexico, will examine and reduce to its just value the duty to be in future paid on pulque, and cause the same to be carried into effect, rendering however account to his Majesty, through the council of the regency, for his sovereign sanction. DECREE Of the 14th of July, 1811. The obligation of the Authorities to comply with the orders of their Superiors. In view of the obligation to establish among all classes in the Monarchy absolute subordination to the government as the only mode of giving a uniform movement and direction to the machinery of State, and to direct to one end the exertions of all the general and extraordinary Cortes decree; as follows: 1. Every general, junta, audiency or other superior officer whose duty it is to secure compliance with the orders of their superiors, shall be respon sible for their execution and deprived of their respective employments if by culpable omission, negligence or forbearance or by failure to impose immediate punishment on the disobedient, the same shall not be complied with. 2. Justices and inferior authorities to whom it immediately belongs to secure compliance with any law or order, shall, on failure to administer instantly the punishment prescribed by any law, be subjected to the same punishment as the offender. 3. The Council of the regency shall carefully enforce the observance of all laws, ordinances and decrees, exacting strict responsibility of the anthorities charged with their execution and imposing the appropriate punishment which shall not be remitted; and it is the will of the Cortes that the Council of the Regency upon no consideration whatever shall repeat orders once given without having first imposed the appropriate punishment upon whomsoever shall in any culpable manner have impeded their fulfillment. The Council of the Regency shall cause the foregoing to be made known and adopt the necessary measures for its observance, having first printed, published and circulated it. Dated at Cadiz, July 14, 1811. The Mexican Secretary of the Treasury in a circular of the 5th June, 1839, refers to the foregoing decree of the Cortes of Spain as still in force. -See Diario del Gobierno of 10th June, 1839. MANIFESTO of Ferdinand VII. MANIFESTO of the King declaring the Constitution of the so called General and Extraordinary Cortes of the nation void and without force or effect directing at the same time what is to be observed in order that there may be no interruption in the administration of justice and the political arrangements and government of the people. The King. Since Divine Providence, by reason of the voluntary and solemn renunciation of my august father has placed me on the throne of my ancestors of which I was regarded already as the sworn successor by the representatives assembled in the Cortes, according to the usages and customs of the Spanish nation for a long time practiced; and since that auspicious day on which I entered into the Capital in the midst of the most sincere demonstrations of loyalty and affection with which the people of Madrid came out to receive me, making this manifestation of love to my royal person before the French army, which, under the guise of friendship had hastily advanced : being a presage of what this heroic people would one day perform for their king, and for their own honor, and giving an example which all other part of the kingdom nobly followed; since that day it has been my royal purpose to respond to sentiments so loyal and to fulfil the weighty obligations which rest upon a king towards his people to dedicate all my time to the discharge of such august functions and to repair those evils to which the pernicious influences of a Court favorite during the preceding reign gave rise. My first efforts were directed to the restoration of the various magistrates and other persons who had been arbitrarily deprived of their employments, but the unfavorable situation of affairs and the perfidy of Bonaparte, from the cruel effects of which I desired by going to Bayonne to preserve my people, scarce gave place for more. The royal family being then reunited there was committed in relation to it and in a signal manner in my own person an outrage exceeding in atrocity any furnished by the history of civilized na. tions, as well from the circumstances attending it as the series of events which then occurred; and in violation of the highest and most sacred law of nations, I was deprived of my liberty and of the enjoyment of the government of my kingdoms and carried to a palace with my beloved brother and uncle, and that mansion served as a prison for the space of almost six years. In the midst of these afflictions, the love and loyalty of my people was ever present to my memory, and the consideration of the infinite evils to which they were exposed formed a large part of these afflictions, surrounded as they were by enemies, almost deprived of the power of resistance; without a king and without a government previously established which could push forward any movement and reunite at its command the forces of the nation and direct their movements and apply the resources of the State to combat the large armies which simultaneously invaded the Peninsula, and were already most perfidiously placed in possession of the principal places. In this deplorable condition I issued in the form in which being controlled by force, I could alone do it, and as the only remedy which remained, the decree of the 5th May, 1808, directed to the Council of Castile, and in their absence to whatsoever chancery or audiency should be found at liberty for the convocation of the Cortes, whose duty alone it should be by promptly arranging the necessary means and supplies, to secure the defence of the kingdom, and for that purpose remaining permanently in session to meet any emergency; but this my royal decree unfortunately was then unknown, and although after this the provinces furnished supplies immediately upon their receiving notice of the cruel acts performed at Madrid by the commander of the French troops, on the memorable second of May, and by their government by means of the Juntas which they created. The glorious battle of Bailen occurred at this time; the French fled to Victoria, and all the provinces and the capital proclaimed me once more king of Castile and Leon, with all the formalities which have been practiced in relation to the kings, my august predecessors; a recent event of which the medals struck at many different places bear true testimony, and which the towns through which I passed on my return from France confirmed by the utterance of those acclamations of joy which moved the sensibilities of my heart where they are engraved never to be effaced. From among the deputies which they called the juntas the central one was formed which exercised in my royal name, the entire sovereign power from September 1808 until January 1810, in which month was established the Council of the Regency in which the exercise of that power was continued to the 24th of September of the same year, in which month were installed in the island of Leon the Cortes called general and extraordinary. One hundred and four deputies, that is fifty seven Proprietaries and forty seven substitutes as appears by the act certified by the Secretary of State, of foreign affairs and Justice Nicholas Maria de Sierra, agreeing under oath to the act in which they promised to secure to me all my dominions as their sovereign. But at this Cortes convened in a manner never practiced in Spain even on the most pressing occasions and in the most turbulent times of the minorities of the kings in which it had been customary to convene a more numerous body of representatives than the common and ordinary one, they were not called the estates of the nobility and clergy, although the central junta had so commanded, this decree having been artfully concealed from the council of the regency, and also that the junta had assigned to it the presidency of the Cortes-a prerogative of sovereignty which the regency would not have been deprived of at the discretion of Congress if they had had notice of the existence of the decree. With this everything remained at the disposal of the Cortes, who on the very day of their installation and in the first of their acts deprived me of that sovereignty which but a short time before had been recognised by those very deputies, nominally ascribing the sovereignty to the nation in order to appropriate it to themselves and afterwards impose upon the nation, after such usurpation, the laws which they desired, placing a yoke upon the nation by which it was forced to receive |