CHAPTER XXVI. GENERAL REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF FERDINAND tures. Policy of the Crown. - Towards the Nobles. The Clergy. - Consideration of the Commons. Advancement of Prerogative. Legal Compilations. - The Legal Profession. - Trade. - ManufacAgriculture. Restrictive Policy. - Revenues. - Progress of Discovery. Colonial Administration. - General Prosperity. Increase of Population. - Chivalrous Spirit. The Period of National Glory. XXVI. We have now traversed that important period CHAPTER of history, comprehending the latter part of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century; a period when the convulsions, which shook to the ground the ancient political fabrics of Europe, roused the minds of its inhabitants from the lethargy in which they had been buried for ages. Spain, as we have seen, felt the general impulse. Under the glorious rule of Ferdinand and Isabella, we have beheld her, emerging from chaos into a new existence; unfolding, under the influence of institutions adapted to her genius, energies of which she was before unconscious; enlarging her resources from all the springs of domestic industry and commercial enterprise; and insensibly losing the ferocious habits of a feudal age, in the refinements of an intellectual and moral culture. In the fulness of time, when her divided powers had been concentrated under one head, and the system of internal economy completed, we have seen her descend into the arena with the other nations of Europe, and in a very few years achieve the most important acquisitions of territory, both in that quarter and in Africa; and finally crowning the whole by the discovery and occupation of a boundless empire beyond the waters. In the progress of the action, we may have been too much occupied with its details, to attend sufficiently to the principles which regulated them. But now that we have reached the close, we may be permitted to cast a parting glance over the field that we have traversed, and briefly survey the principal steps by which the Spanish sovereigns, under Divine Providence, led their nation up to such a height of prosperity and glory. Ferdinand and Isabella, on their accession, saw at once that the chief source of the distractions of the country lay in the overgrown powers, and factious spirit, of the nobility. Their first efforts, therefore, were directed to abate these as far as possible. A similar movement was going forward, in the other European monarchies; but in none was it crowned with so speedy and complete success as in Castile, by means of those bold and decisive measures, which have been detailed in an early chapter of this work. 1 The same policy was 1 Ante, Part I., Chapter 6. XXVI. steadily pursued during the remainder of their CHAPTER reign; less indeed by open assault than by indirect means.2 3 of the nobles. Among these, one of the most effectual was the Depression omission to summon the privileged orders to cortes, in several of the most important sessions of that body. This, so far from being a new stretch of prerogative, was only an exercise of the anomalous powers already familiar to the crown, as elsewhere noticed. Nor does it seem to have been viewed as a grievance by the other party, who regarded these meetings with the more indifference, since their aristocratic immunities exempted them from the taxation, which was generally the prominent object of them. But, from whatever cause proceeding, by this impolitic acquiescence they surrendered, undoubtedly, the most valuable of their rights, one which has enabled the British aristocracy to maintain its political consideration unimpaired, while that of the Castilian has faded away into an empty pageant.' Another practice steadily pursued by the sove 2 Among the minor means for diminishing the consequence of the nobility, may be mentioned the regulation respecting the "privilegios rodados "; instruments formerÏy requiring to be countersigned by the great lords and prelates, but which, from the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, were submitted for signature only to officers especially appointed for the purpose. Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 2, cap. 12. 3 Ante, Introd. Sect. 1. 4 A pertinent example of this policy of the sovereigns occurred PART II. reigns, was to raise men of humble station to offices of the highest trust; not, however, like their contemporary, Louis the Eleventh, because their station was humble, in order to mortify the higher orders, but because they courted merit, wherever it was to be found; 5 -a policy much and deservedly commended by the sagacious observers of the time." The history of Spain does not probably afford another example of a person of the lowly condition of Ximenes, attaining, not merely the highest offices in the kingdom, but eventually its uncontrolled supremacy. The multiplication of legal tribunals, and other civil offices, afforded the sovereigns ample scope for pursuing this policy, in the demand created for professional science. The nobles, intrusted hitherto with the chief direction of affairs, now saw it pass into the hands of persons, who had other qualifications than martial prowess or hereditary rank. Such as courted distinction, were compelled to seek it by the regular avenues of academic discipline. How extensively the spirit operated, and with what brilliant success, we have already seen. 7 5 The same principle made them equally vigilant in maintaining the purity of those in office. Oviedo mentions, that in 1497 they removed a number of jurists, on the charge of bribery and other malversation, from their seats in the royal council. Quincuagenas, MS., dial. de Grizio. 6 See a letter of the council to Charles V., commending the course adopted by his grandparents in their promotions to office, apud Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1517, cap. 4. 7 Yet strange instances of pro motion are not wanting in Spanish history; witness the adventurer Ripperda, in Philip V.'s time, and the Prince of the Peace, in our own; men, who, owing their success less to their own powers, than the imbecility of others, could lay no claim to the bold and independent sway exercised by Ximenes. 8 Ante, Part I.,Chapter 19:-" No os parece á vos," says Oviedo, in one of his Dialogues, "que es mejor ganado eso, que les dá su principe por sus servicios, é lo que llevan justamente de sus oficios, que lo XXVI. But, whatever the aristocracy may have gained in CHAPTER refinement of character, it resigned much of its prescriptive power, when it condescended to enter the arena on terms of equal competition with its inferiors for the prizes of talent and scholarship. Ferdinand pursued a similar course in his own dominions of Aragon, where he uniformly supported the commons, or may more properly be said to have been supported by them, in the attempt to circumscribe the authority of the great feudatories. Although he accomplished this, to a considerable extent, their power was too firmly intrenched behind positive institutions to be affected like that of the Castilian aristocracy, whose rights had been swelled beyond their legitimate limits by every species of usurpation." power. With all the privileges retrieved from this order, Their great it still possessed a disproportionate weight in the political balance. The great lords still claimed some of the most considerable posts, both civil and military. 10 Their revenues were immense, and que se adquiere robando capas agenas, é matando é vertiendo sangre de Cristianos?" (Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 9.) The sentiment would have been too enlightened for a Spanish cavalier of the fifteenth century. 9 In the cortes of Calatayud, in 1515, the Aragonese nobles withheld the supplies, with the design of compelling the crown to relinquish certain rights of jurisdiction, which it assumed over their vassals. "Les parecio," said the archbishop of Saragossa, in a speech on the occasion, que auian per VOL. III. 66 55 dido mucho, en que el ceptro real Esto los otros estados del 10 Such, for example, were those of great chancellor, of admiral, and of constable of Castile. The first of these ancient offices was permanently united by Isabella with that |