“The defence of the kingdom, and the means of providing for it, must necessarily be the first duty of the government; but it would fulfil only half its duties if it attended to this alone: other duties remained, to be the great reward of the virtue of the Spaniards and of their sacrifices. A little time only had passed since, oppressed and degraded, ignorant of their own strength, and finding no protection against these evils, neither in the institutions nor in the laws, they had even regarded foreign dominion as less hateful than the wasting tyranny which consumed them. The dominion of a will always capricious, and most often unjust, had lasted too long: their patience, their love of order, their generous loyalty had too long been abused: it was time that law, founded on general utility, should commence its reign. This was the desire of their good and unfortunate King Ferdinand; this was what he pointed out, even from the captivity to which a perfidious traitor had reduced him. The name of their country ought no longer to be a vague and idle word to the Spaniards; henceforward it was to import to their ears and to their hearts the sanctuary of laws, the theatre for talents, the reward of virtue. Such a country the Junta solemnly promised they should possess; and till the military operations, which must at first be slow, in order better to insure success, should furnish the leisure necessary for this great and solemn reform, the government would privately prepare for it. Instead of rejecting the advice of enlightened men, they desired and requested it. The knowledge and illustration of their ancient and constitutional laws; the changes which change of circumstances rendered necessary in their re-establishment; the reform which might be necessary in the civil, criminal, and commercial codes; projects for improving public education, which was in Spain so greatly on the decline; a system of regulated economy for the distribution and collection of the public revenue, ... these were subjects for the investigation of wise and thoughtful men, and on which the opinions of such men were solicited. The Junta would form different committees, each entrusted with a particular department, to whom all writings on matters of government and administration might be addressed: so that each contributing by his exertions to give a just direction to the public mind, the government might be enabled to establish the internal happiness of Spain.” ♦JOVELLANOS PROPOSES A REGENCY, AND THAT A CORTES BE SUMMONED.♦