1820 Aug. 26

Emancipation Spanish

'. 10. Amendment impossible

Either then there must be a seond Cortes having existence at the same time with the

first, or no second Cortes can have existence till near 8 months after the expiration

of the present one viz. till 9 July 1823 or the present one must continue in

existence near eitht months beyong /over and above/ the time allowed to it by the

unchangabel /unalterable/ Constitution: or in the ultramarian provinces the election

of the deputies for the next Cortes must commence befor the dissolution of the

existing Cortes. This accordingly is what I suppose was and is intended. If as in the

case of most other represetative bodies the intention were that the deputies in a

/each/ preceding shouldd be eligible in each succeeding assembly, ther would be an

incongruity in instituting an Election of succeeding deputies, before the conduct of

the preceding one had been subjected to observation. But as [...?] a deputy who has

served in one Cortes is not allowed to serve in the next, the incongruity in question

is got rid of, though by means of an arrangement to which, /against/ as it should

have evil without reason a still greater incongruity might be objected. /imputed./

In the ultramarian provinces Art. 37 the only day on which the first of the four

election meetings can be held is the day which is exactly 15 months before the day of

the meeting of the ortes which as above is in the case of the next Cortes to be the

1 st of March 1822, or else the 9 th of July

1821 or else the 9 th of July 1822, let him who can say which. But

by that same Article 37 it must it must also be the first Sunday in December: so that

by the terms of this unalterable Constitution if the 1 st of this month

of December in the proper year whatever it is happens not to be a Sunday, there

can not in any ultramarian province be any commencement of the system of Election

to the Cortes nor consequently from every one of these provinces any deputation at

all.

Entered with amendments under

Creole deputation none)

This is yet but a small part of the difficulty /cloud/ which hangs

over the subject. Until the number of the inhabitants in the ultramarian provinces

have been ascertained and reported reported doubtless to the existing or some

futre Cortes the number of deputies which these provinces are to depute to the

Cortes can not be ascertained. For by Art. 28 29 and 31 the number of the deputies

to the Cortes and ultra as well ultramarian as Spanish is to be "one for every

70,000 souls": so that in the Cortes until men know how many souls there are in

the ultramarian provinces, they /men/ can not know how many deputies from there

there are to be.