♦1808.
July.
There were to be nine ministers for the departments of justice, ecclesiastic and foreign affairs, the interior, finance, war, the marine, the Indies, and general police; and a secretary of state, with the rank of minister, by whom all decrees were to be signed. The King might at his pleasure unite the ecclesiastic department with that of justice, and the general police with that of the interior: the rank of these ministers depended upon the seniority of their appointment.
♦The Senate.♦
The Senate was to consist of the Infantes who had attained the age of eighteen, and of twenty-four individuals chosen by the King, from his ministers, the Captains-General of the army and navy, the Embassadors, Counsellors of State, and members of the Royal Council. No one was eligible till he had completed his fortieth year: the office was for life, unless it were forfeited by the legal sentence of a competent tribunal, and it was never to be given in reversion. The president was to be named yearly by the King. In case of insurrection, or of disturbances which threatened the security of the state, the Senate might at the King’s proposal suspend the constitution in the places specified, and for a certain time.
♦Senatorial Junta for the preservation of personal liberty.♦
It belonged to the Senate to watch over the preservation of individual liberty, and of the liberty of the press. A Senatorial Junta of individual liberty, consisting of five members, was to be chosen by the Senate from its own body, and to this committee all persons arrested for offences against the state, if they were not brought to trial in the course of a month from the day of their commitment, might appeal: should the Junta be of opinion that the interests of the state did not justify a longer imprisonment, it was to call upon the minister by whom the arrest was ordered, either to set the prisoner at liberty, or deliver him over without delay to a competent tribunal. If after three such consecutive applications within the space of another month the prisoner should neither have been discharged nor remitted to the ordinary tribunals, the Junta was then to require a meeting of the Senate; and the Senate, if it saw cause, was to pass a resolution in this form: There are strong presumptions that N. is arbitrarily imprisoned. The president was to lay this resolution before the King; and the King was to refer it to a Junta, composed of the presidents of the Council of State and of five members of the Royal Council.
♦Senatorial Junta of the liberty of the press.♦
In like manner there was to be a Senatorial Junta of the liberty of the press, consisting of five senators. Authors, printers, and booksellers, who thought themselves aggrieved if they were prevented from printing or selling a work, might appeal to this Junta; and should the Junta be of opinion that the prohibition was not required by reasons of state, the minister by whom it had been imposed should be required to withdraw it. If after three consecutive applications in the course of a month the prohibition were not revoked, the Junta was then to summon the Senate, and the Senate, if it saw reason, to resolve there were strong presumptions that the liberty of the press had been violated; and this resolution was to be laid before the King, and by him, as in a matter of individual liberty, referred to a Junta whose decision was final. Periodical publications were not entitled to the benefit of this provision. The members of these Senatorial Juntas were to be changed one every six months.
♦Council of state.♦