he felt himself strong enough to revoke the constitution which he had sworn to observe, and to restore absolute government. But this first effort to combine the political forms of England with the theories of the French Revolution, and thus to form a new constitutional system, remained a model for many subsequent attempts in the same direction. Similar theories about the constitutional State and the 2. Spain. division of the three powers inspired the very complete constitution which was issued by the Spanish Regency (March 19, 1812) at a time when the king was a prisoner, and great part of the country was in the hands of the French. It took as its model the French constitution of 1791, and proclaimed the principle that the people is sovereign (Art. 3), but at the same time it allowed very extensive rights to the king. Legislative power was entrusted to the Cortes combined with the king' (Art. 15), and the latter was also charged with the 'supervision of justice' (Art. 171). But reiterated votes on the part of the Cortes could compel the king to sanction a law. The Spanish constitution differed very essentially from the English, because it did not admit an intermediate Chamber of Peers, but placed the king face to face with one assembly of national representatives, the Cortes 14. In spite of its defects and the want of enthusiasm with which it was received, this constitution became popular after its arbitrary abrogation by the restored king, Ferdinand VII (May 4, 1814), and several attempts were made (in 1820 and 1836) to restore it by force. The Estatuto Real of 1834, which gave Spain a representative government, was insufficient to satisfy the people. In 1836 the Queen-Regent, Christina, was compelled to recognise the constitution of 1812, and in the next year the influence of the progressist party obtained the formal sanction of a new constitution based upon that of 1812, with partial modifications taken from the Estatuto Real. This recognised the king's right to sanction laws without limitation, and established two houses, 14 A German translation of the constitution is to be found in Pölitz, ii. 263 ff.; and in Schubert, Verf. ii. 44 ff. Cɔmp. Gervinus, Geschichte des XIX. Jahrhunderts, ii. 135 ff. 3. Portugal. a senate and a chamber of deputies 15. Even this did not terminate the constitutional struggles, and the country continued to be tossed alternately by clerical reaction and radical anarchy, by court intrigues and military dictatorships. The misrule of the bigoted Queen Isabella brought about a new revolution in 1868, which expelled both the Bourbons and the Jesuits. For a long time the monarchical party looked round in vain for a king, until in 1870 the duke of Aosta, second son of the Italian king Victor Emmanuel, accepted the offered crown as Amadeo I. For a time there seemed a favourable prospect for constitutional government, but before long the king was disgusted by the ceaseless conspiracies, and abdicated of his own accord (February 11, 1873). Soon afterwards the military party seized the government, and prepared the way for the restoration of constitutional monarchy with the young Alfonso XII, who was proclaimed king on the 1st of January, 1875. Meanwhile the Bourbon claimant, Don Carlos, supported by the priests and the legitimists, had been striving to assert his hereditary rights in the northern and Basque provinces, with no result except to increase the misery of the people. In 1876 a Cortes was summoned to draw up a new constitution, which was approved by King Alfonso on the 30th of June. According to this the nation was to be represented by a Senate, of which the members were partly appointed by law, partly nominated by the king, and partly elected (Electoral Law of February 8, 1877), and by a Chamber of Deputies (Electoral Law of December 28, 1878). The Spanish constitution of 1812 was imitated in the Portuguese constitution of 1822, which, however, was never fully recognised. In 1826 Don Pedro, to strengthen the position of his daughter Donna Maria da Gloria, drew up a new con 15 Bülau, Europ. Verf. seit 1828, p. 221. 16 Schubert, Verf. ii. 105 ff. and 116 ff. [See also Laferrière et Batbie, Constitutions d'Europe et d'Amérique, p. 474.] [For an analysis of this constitution, see Demombynes, i. 398 ff.] stitution, which better preserved the monarchical principle, and also, following England and the French Charter, added to the Chamber of Deputies a house of hereditary and life peers. This constitution recognised four powers: (1) the legislative power, belonging to the Cortes under the sanction of the king; (2) the mediating power (moderador), held by the king, as the supreme head of the nation, to maintain the balance and harmony of the other political powers;' (3) the executive power, in the hands of king and ministers; (4) the judicial power, entrusted to independent courts 17. Even after the victory of Don Miguel and the absolutists who would have nothing to do with either constitution, two parties continued to strive with varying success, the democrats for the constitution of 1822, and the 'chartists' for the charter of 1826. In 1838 the latter constitution was revised, and hereditary peerages and the council of state were abolished 18. The mass of the people took little part in these changes of institutions. Nevertheless, under the influence of the modern Coburg dynasty, political conditions have developed more successfully and peaceably in Portugal than in Spain d. Constitutional monarchy made its way from Portugal to 4. Brazil. Brazil, which became independent of the mother-country in 1822, and there underwent the same struggles and the same alternations of fortune, but also made the same progress, as in Europe. It took a long struggle to free Italy from the degrading 5. Italy.. yoke of absolute rule. Although the Napoleonic kingdoms of Italy and Naples had been nothing more than limited autocracies, the absolutism of the restored Bourbon and Hapsburg princes was endured with impatience by the people. Secret conspiracies and open revolts struggled against the cruel reaction, and were only put down with the help of foreign arms. 17 Articles II, 13, 71, 75, 118 of the Constitution of 1826. Both constitutions are given in Pölitz, ii. 299 ff.; the latter in Schubert, Verf. ii. 148. [See also Laferrière et Batbie, p. 488.] 18 Schubert, Verf. ii. 173. d [For the contemporary constitution of Portugal, see Demombynes, i. 487.] When the king of Naples agreed in 1820 to grant his subjects the Spanish constitution of 1812, Austrian troops at once stepped in to restore the old despotism. The movements between 1830 and 1840 were equally futile, as the massive power of Austria, on which the dynasties leaned for support, was always ready to suppress any attempt at constitutional government. It was only after 1840 that the spirit of reform obtained greater strength by allying itself with the national desire for freedom from foreign rule. In 1847 all Italy was roused, and the movement seemed to have the support of the new Pope, Pius IX. Even before the outbreak of the Revolution in Paris, Ferdinand II in Naples, and Charles Albert in Piedmont, were compelled to establish constitutions. But the former hastened to destroy the work as soon as he could do so with safety, although he had sworn to maintain it in the name of the Holy Trinity 19. The result of his treachery was that, when his son Francis II was urged by necessity to restore constitutional government in 1860, the people refused to trust him, and the dynasty was expelled. In Piedmont matters went better. The House of Savoy adhered with rare determination to the constitution of the 4th of March, 1848, which Charles Albert had accepted on the model of the French Charter of 1830. It is true that Charles Albert failed in his design to form a kingdom of Italy under his sceptre. The victories of Radetzky checked his ambition, and perhaps preserved the peninsula from the flood of a premature democracy. But even in this period of reaction Victor Emmanuel remained loyal to the promise of his father. His wonderful successes in 1859 and 1860 were to a great extent due to the confidence which the Italians felt in his loyalty to the constitution and the nation, and in the great statesman, Cavour, whom he appointed to manage his affairs. French assistance drove the Austrians from Lombardy, the new national kingdom extended itself over the principalities of central Italy, and the bold campaign of Garibaldi added to it Naples and 19 Proclamation of 8 Feb. 1849, in the Portfolio, i. 64. Sicily. With the help of Prussia Venice was annexed in 1866, and finally, in 1870, the Franco-German war compelled the French troops to evacuate Rome, and enabled the Italians to occupy their old capital. The German victories destroyed the last ecclesiastical State of Europe. The new Italian monarchy has remained firmly constitutional, and even the republican party followed the example of Garibaldi in recognising this form of government as best suited for existing conditions. Belgium forms the transition from the Romance to the 6. Bel German States. The Belgian constitution of 1831 was copied gium. tonic I. Sweden. In Scandinavia the constitutional system has had a peculiar IV. Teuhistory. In Sweden, the Diet was composed in the sixteenth countries century of four estates, each with a separate vote, viz. the outside Germany. nobles and knights, the clergy, the citizens, and the peasants. The kings were often compelled to rely upon the two lower orders for support against the great power of the nobles, whose influence was chiefly exerted outside the Diet in the Council (comprising both the Council of State and the ministers). 20 Theodor Juste, Gesch. der Gründung der constitutionellen Monarchie in Belgien, 1850, 2 Bde. [For fuller details of the Belgian constitution, see Demombynes, i. 236 ff., and for the complete text, Laferrière et Batbie, p. 66.] сс |