Influence of Spanish customs on the Americas.

It only remains to add that these social practices were to be found in much the same form in the Americas. Fondness for showy feast-days was even greater there, and it is also to be noted that the improvements in Spanish cities had their counterpart in the embellishment of several of those overseas.

CHAPTER XXXV
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, 1700-1808

Overwhelming success of the absolutist ideal.

THE Bourbon kings aimed to complete the long evolution, dating from centuries before, toward the personal authority of the monarch in a pure absolutism. This movement had gone farther in other countries, although the current had set the other way in England. France under Louis XIV, if not the most extreme example of an absolute government, was certainly the most influential, and the phrase “I am the state!” attributed to the great French monarch, was (whether in fact uttered by him or not) symbolic of his ideal. It was in the atmosphere of the court of Versailles that Philip V spent his youth, wherefore it was the most natural thing in the world for him to desire the establishment in Spain of a system which he had always been accustomed to believe was the only true method of rule. Even had Philip ever doubted it, Louis XIV took care to inculcate in him the concept of absolutism. Philip showed on various occasions that he understood the French ideal of kingship,—as in his opposition to the calling of the Castilian Cortes, his denial of the right of the Consejo to share in certain governmental functions, and his habitual employment of such phrases as “for such is my will” in royal decrees. The same criterion was followed by his successors. Charles IV ordered certain laws which were inconsistent with the absolutist ideal to be stricken out of the Novísima Recopilación, or Latest Compilation of the Laws (1805), before he would allow that code to be published, stating that those acts (which had been incorporated in the Nueva Recopilación of 1567) were representative of a time when the weakness of the monarchy had compelled the kings to make concessions which were inconsistent with their sovereign authority. The laws referred to concerned the intervention of the Consejo in royal donations, the obligation of the king to consult with the three estates of the Cortes in dealing with momentous affairs, and the injunction that no new taxes should be levied without the grant of a Cortes. In the statement of their ideal the kings met with little opposition, for this view was generally supported by all classes of society. Men who were liberal reformers in other ways were rigid in their maintenance of the principle of absolutism, and the people themselves, not only Castilians, but others as well, even including the Catalans, were intensely royalist.

Democratic manner and philanthropic rule of the Bourbons.

Nevertheless, the Bourbons were more democratic in their manner than the less autocratic kings of the House of Austria. It is said that Philip V was the first to inaugurate the practice of allowing his higher government officials to be seated while talking business with him, whereas the Hapsburg custom had been to require them to remain on their knees. The kings’ advisers now became veritable ministers, with a more frank participation in government than had been the case with the secretaries and favorites of the preceding era. Furthermore, the Bourbons represented the “enlightened despotism,” which had so many remarkable manifestations in eighteenth century western Europe. In keeping with this ideal the kings showed marked interest in social, economic, and intellectual reforms of a philanthropic character, without yielding an iota of their political prerogative. A great revolution took place, having a fundamental groundwork of democracy in it (which was to find expression at a later time in the field of politics), but which was accomplished wholly from above. The idea might have been expressed: “Everything for the people, but nothing by them.” The only exception to this rule was the royal program whereby the popular element gained an entrance to the ayuntamientos, or municipal governing bodies.

Unimportance of the Cortes and the suppression of democratic machinery.

Naturally, all machinery of a democratic character was viewed with suspicion, and such was the case with the Cortes. Only at the accession of Luis I was a Cortes called to swear in the new king, although that body was several times asked to acknowledge the princes of Asturias. The Cortes of Castile was summoned four times by Philip V and once each by Charles III and Charles IV, but in two of the meetings under Philip not all of the elements were called, and in the dismissal of the Cortes of Charles IV it was made apparent that the nobles and clergy had no necessary inclusion in that body. Furthermore, the Cortes was called to perform some specific act,—such as the recognition of the princes above-named, the making and later the revocation of the so-called Salic law, and the approval of Philip’s renunciation of his rights to the French throne,—after which it was dismissed, without having an opportunity to discuss other matters. When the Cortes of 1789 was retained in session to treat of certain economic questions, some of the deputies formulated petitions concerning affairs of government,—whereupon the authorities hastened to bring the sittings to a close. The Cortes of other regions were equally lacking in importance. The Cortes of Aragon met once, and that of Valencia not at all; both were incorporated into the Castilian Cortes in 1709. The Cortes of Catalonia met twice, but after 1724 it followed the course already taken in the case of Aragon and Valencia, and the same was true of the representatives from Majorca. The Cortes of Navarre continued to meet separately, being called eleven times, but it took no action of conspicuous importance. Nevertheless, the memory of the former power of the Cortes was not dead, and many persons saw in its restoration, possibly with new functions, a means for the reform of the country. In addition to having rendered the Cortes completely innocuous the kings took other steps to check popular intervention in national affairs. It had been the custom for the municipalities to send special commissioners to the capital to negotiate for them with the crown. This practice (which reminds one of the colonial agent of American history) was forbidden by a law of 1715 (repeated in 1804), on the alleged ground of avoiding unnecessary expense to the towns. A law of 1777 allowed the sending of special agents, however, for one purpose,—that of witnessing the births of royal children! Thus did the kings contribute both to the security and to the glamour of royalty.

Royal opposition to the entry of the encyclopedist and revolutionary ideas from France.