1821 April 1

Rid Yourselves

Ultramarian deputat n none

The description of an Elector of the lowest rank is not yet compleated. In Article mention is made of one mode of becoming an Elector namely the having obtained from the Cortes letters of Citizenship. But the Cortes have they the power of conferring this right on who they please? Not they indeed. Certain qualifications must he /a foreigner/ have to enable him to acquire even at the hands of the sovereign body of the State this honourable right. By Article 20 one or other it is necesary he should be in possession of /possess/ the following qualifications.

1. The having carried on or established in one or other of the Spains some invention or valuable branch of industry.

2. The having acquired landed property (bienes raices) of the sort of those which pay a direct contribution

3. The having established himself a trade with a /one/ capital of his own such as in the judgment of the Cortes shall at the time have been a considerable one.

4. The having rendered signal services for the good and in the defence of the nation.

Not that to any one /man/ who was in possession of any one, or any greater number of all these qualifications would I ensure the great possession of this honourable right, unless he had added to it that of being married or at any rate having been married to a Spanish female. To the first of them this supplemental one must unquestionably have been added: whether to the others respectively let an answer be given by any one who in his own opinion is warranted in giving it /one/.