Notwithstanding this language, it is possible that Spain was indebted for its Cortes more to the annunciation from Seville that the Intruder was about to convoke one, than to the inclination of its own rulers. The central Junta had delayed it not from intentional procrastination, but from their sense of the difficulty of the task, and from the deliberation which so peculiarly characterizes the Spaniards. They had overcome the difficulties, and framed a plan of representation, which preserved a due respect to old venerable forms, and was well adapted to the existing circumstances of the country; this having been done, as soon as it was ascertained that Cadiz might defy the enemy there ought to have been no delay. That was ascertained in February, as soon as the Isle of Leon was secured from a coup-de-main. But it was not till the middle of June that a decree was ♦CORTES CONVOKED.♦ issued, ordering the elections to be completed as soon as possible, and requiring the deputies to assemble in the island during the month of August, that as soon as the greater part of them were met the sessions might begin. The plan which the central Junta framed was altered in one most material point, only one house being convoked. Had Jovellanos and his colleagues determined thus, they would still have summoned the privileged orders; but the Regency, departing inconsiderately from a resolution which had been the effect of long deliberation, neither summoned them to meet apart from the third estate, nor with it, nor devised any plan for representing them; so that two of the three estates were excluded as such from the national representation.
Three days of rogation were appointed previous to the opening of the Cortes, and on the 24th September they commenced their proceedings. At nine in the morning ♦COMMENCEMENT OF THEIR PROCEEDINGS.♦ the deputies assembled in a hall fitted up for their sittings in the palace of the Regency: the military were under arms, and they went with the Regents in procession to the parochial church of the Isle of Leon, where the Mass of the Holy Ghost was performed by Cardinal Bourbon, Archbishop of Toledo. After the gospel, the Bishop of Orense, who was president of the Regency, addressed them in a solemn discourse; and then the following oath was proposed: “Do you swear to preserve the Holy Catholic Apostolic Romish religion in these realms, without admitting any other? Do you swear to preserve the Spanish nation in its integrity, and to omit no means for delivering it from its unjust oppressors? Do you swear to preserve to our beloved sovereign, Ferdinand VII., all his dominions, and in his failure, to his legitimate successors; and to make every possible exertion for releasing him from captivity, and placing him upon the throne? Do you swear to discharge faithfully and lawfully the trust which the nation reposes in you, observing the laws of Spain, but changing, modifying, and varying such as require to be altered for the general good?” When all the deputies had made answer, “Yes, we swear,” they advanced two by two to touch the gospels; after which the bishop said, “If ye shall do this, so may God give you your reward; but if not, so may he enter into judgment with you!” The hymn _Veni Sancte Spiritus_, and the _Te Deum_, were then sung.