A difficulty in point of form at the commencement of these proceedings was ended by appointing, as it were at random, two deputies to hold the offices of president and secretary, while the Cortes elected others. As soon as the election was made, the secretary read the paper which the Regents had left. “The five individuals,” it said, “who composed the Regency, received that charge, above their merits and their strength, at a time when any delay in accepting it would have been injurious to the country: but they only accepted it and swore to discharge its duties according to their capacity, till the solemn congress of the Cortes being assembled, should establish a government founded upon the general will. That moment so longed for by all good Spaniards has arrived, and the individuals of the council of Regency can do no less than state this to their fellow-citizens, that they may take it into consideration, and appoint the government which they deem most adapted to the critical circumstances of the monarchy, for which this fundamental measure was immediately necessary.” Upon the motion of Torrero, deputy for Extremadura, the plan of a decree was then read, which had been prepared by his colleague Luxan, and which, after some discussion, was adopted to this effect. The members of the congress now assembled, and representing the nation, declared themselves legally constituted in a general and extraordinary Cortes, wherein the national sovereignty resided. Conformably to the general will, which had been declared in the most open and energetic manner, they proclaimed and swore anew, that Ferdinand VIIth, of Bourbon, was their only lawful king; and they declared null and void the cession of the crown which he was said to have made in favour of Napoleon Buonaparte, not only because of the violence which accompanied that transaction, but principally because the consent of the nation was wanting. As it was not proper that the legislative, executive, and judicial powers should remain united, they reserved to themselves the exercise of the legislative power in its full extent. They declared, that the persons to whom they should delegate the executive power, in the absence of their king, were responsible to the nation according to the laws. They authorized the Regency to continue exercising the executive power under the same title, till the Cortes should appoint a Government which they might deem more convenient. But to qualify itself for this continuance of its authority, the Regency should acknowledge the national sovereignty of the Cortes, and swear obedience to the laws and decrees which it should promulgate; for which purpose, as soon as the decree was made known to them, the members of the Regency ♦OATH REQUIRED FROM THE REGENTS.♦ should pass immediately into the hall of assembly, where the Cortes would remain till this was done, having declared their sitting permanent for this purpose. The form of the