The Cortes of 1834–1837
The third Cortes of 1834–37 were called after the death of Fernando VII, which occurred September 29, 1833, when the liberals again demanded concessions and a constitutional government.[25] The ship “Santa Ana” sailing from Cádiz, August 28, 1834, reached Manila with official orders and the summons to the Cortes;[26] which having been called for July 24, 1834 (by decree of May 10), had already convened. The election for the Philippine representatives (March 1, 1835)[27] resulted in the choice of Brigadier Andrés García Camba,[28] and Licentiate Juan Francisco Lecaros (or Lecaroz)[29]—the first a resident of Manila (formerly a resident in Nueva España), and the second the Madrid agent for the Manila Ayuntamiento. Camba sailed for Cádiz on the “Santa Ana” on March 21, and arrived in Spain August 20, 1835, after the end of the first session of the Cortes. That session imposed a special tax on certain classes of financial documents, which affected all the Spanish domains; and which was sanctioned by the regent, May, 1835, and communicated to the Philippines on June 2.
The new session was set in a meeting of the Consejo de Ministros (September 28, 1835) for November 16, 1835. The first preliminary meeting was held on November 12, at which the Philippine representatives presented their credentials, being duly confirmed on the meeting of the fourteenth, although Camba was contested by one Manuel Cacho of Manila. The formal opening of the session occurred on the sixteenth, and on the twenty-fourth, Camba and Lecaros took the oath, the former being placed on the committee on Etiquette. On the occasion of the vote of confidence in the government, the Philippine representatives spoke on the rumors of the transfer of the Philippines to a foreign government, stating that such rumors had already been reported in foreign newspapers, as well as the power to whom the transfer was to be made and the sum to be paid. Such a sale they could not believe would be the reward of so many years of loyalty to the Spanish government. In the discussion of the election law for the Cortes, the government and the Cortes came to a deadlock, and the Cortes were dissolved by the government. Hence nothing was accomplished during this session.[30]
A royal decree of the date when the Cortes were dissolved, ordered the new Cortes to assemble at Madrid, March 22, article 5 of the decree specifying that elections should be held in the provinces of Ultramar on receipt of the decree. Consequently, at this session, which lasted from March 22 until May 23, when it was again dissolved, the Philippines had no representation.
A decree of May 24 ordered a new session for August 20, at which the Philippines were to have four representatives, the officials evidently not taking into account the distance of the Philippines from Spain, for it would be manifestly impossible for any representative to arrive from the Philippines for that session or even for the one of March, 1837. The election at Manila held in 1836 resulted in the reelection of Camba and Lecaros. On August 13, a royal decree (in consequence of the mutiny of La Granja) ordered the publication of the Constitution of 1812 until the Cortes clearly manifested their will or drew up a new constitution. Another decree of August 21 called the general Cortes for October 24, in accordance with the rules of the Constitution of 1812; and one of September 28 suppressed the Real Consejo de España é Indias. At the secret session of the Cortes on January 16, 1837, a proposition for special laws to govern Ultramar was made, being passed to the proper committee. On February 10 the committee having in charge the drafting of a new constitution, presented a plan for the provinces to be ruled by special laws, in accordance with which their delegates were not to sit in the Cortes. On March 9, 1837, the elections at Manila resulted in Camba and Luis Prudencio Alvarez y Tejero,[31] formerly of the Manila Audiencia, and a resident of Manila for thirteen years, being elected. The latter arrived in Spain after the passing of the law excluding the Philippine representation from the Cortes. A royal order of May 31, 1837, presented the method to be observed in the provision of alcaldes-mayor for the Philippines. On June 18, the new constitution was promulgated in Madrid, article 2 of which decreed that Ultramar should be governed by special laws.[32] Since that time the Philippines have had no representation in Cortes.[33]
[1] The Cortes, as first known by the Spaniards, contained three divisions, the three estates; the ones called in the three periods above-mentioned had but one chamber; the present Cortes contains two houses, the senate and the congress or house of deputies or representatives. The senate consists of three divisions: senators in their own right (the heir presumptive, the grandees, archbishops, etc.; life senators appointed by the crown; and those elected by the people, half of whom are removable every five years. Members to the lower house are elected for five years by electors chosen by the people. No Cortes was held from 1713–1789, and from the latter year until 1810. [↑]
[2] For a good account of this period in Spain, which was one of great confusion, see E. W. Latimer’s Spain in the nineteenth century (Chicago, 1898, 3d ed.) The machinations of Napoleon and the other events leading up to the establishment of the Cortes of 1810–1813 are well and concisely narrated. See also Hume, Modern Spain (New York, 1900). [↑]
[3] The latter, indeed, was granted permission (January 4, 1811) to go to Veracruz for his health; and on July 22, 1811, permission was given to the former to go to the Philippines on private business, although he was later forbidden to leave until the return of his colleague, as his absence before that time would leave the Philippines without representation. The request was renewed on the arrival of Reyes (December 6, 1811), and on the latter’s assumption of his seat (December 9), Perez de Tagle was allowed to leave. On September 19, 1813, a discourse was pronounced at Manila by José de Vergara, “deputy-elect for the province of Manila to the general Cortes,” and published in that year at Sampaloc. The election of deputies in that year was regulated by a junta composed of Governor Gardoqui, Archbishop Juan de Zúñiga, Manuel Díaz Condé, and three others; one of their decisions exempted the very poor in the community from contributing to the fund raised for paying the traveling and other expenses of the deputies to the Cortes. (Vindel, Catálogo biblioteca filipina, nos. 1874, 1875.) [↑]
[4] Such were the decree of October 5, 1810, confirming the essential unity and equality of all parts of the Spanish domain; the abolition of the quicksilver monopoly, January 26, 1811; the provisional creation of a Consejo de Estado to consist of twenty members (six from Ultramar), on January 21, 1812, although the constitution (adopted March 18, 1812) called for one with forty members (twelve from Ultramar): the creation of the Secretaría del Despacho de la Gobernación de Ultramar (April 2, 1812), and the establishment of the Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, and the suppression of the Consejos de Castilla, Indias, and Hacienda (all of them provided for in the constitution); and the suppression of the Inquisition (February 22, 1813). The law of November 9, 1813, abolishing personal services for Indians and regulating public works, seems to have been intended only for America. [↑]