The Spanish government would have acted thus far prudently in its communication with Ferdinand, if it had abstained from this empty language: but the _Liberales_, as the ruling party called themselves, were, some, vain of their talents, others confident in the uprightness of their intentions, and all alike ignorant of their weakness. If the abler leaders of this party had not proceeded so far as they desired and perhaps designed, they were yet conscious that they had proceeded farther than their functions warranted and than Ferdinand would sanction. They held, therefore, a secret sitting of the Cortes, and deliberated upon the measures to be taken in case the King should pass the frontiers. It was proposed, by a commission appointed to report upon this emergency, that he should not be considered as being free, nor should obedience be rendered him, until he should have sworn to the Constitution in the bosom of the Cortes; that the Generals on the frontiers should send expresses to the government with all speed, as soon as they obtained any tidings of his probable coming; that if he were accompanied by any armed force, that force should be repulsed, according to the laws of war; should it consist of Spaniards, they were to lay down their arms, and those who had been carried prisoners into France licensed to return each to his home; whatever General might have the honour of receiving the King being to supply him with a guard suitable to his royal dignity and person. No foreigner should be allowed to accompany him, not even as a domestic or servant; no Spaniard who had filled any office, received any pension, or accepted any honour from Buonaparte or from the Intruder. The Regency should be charged to fix the route by which the King should proceed to Madrid; and the President of the Regency, as soon as he arrived in Spain, should set out to meet and accompany him with a proper retinue, and present him with a copy of the Constitution, that so his Majesty, having made himself acquainted therewith, might, upon full deliberation and with entire consent, take the oath which it prescribed. Having reached the capital, he should proceed straight to the Cortes, there to take the said oath, with all the ceremonies and solemnities enjoined: this done, thirty Members of that assembly should attend him to the palace, where the Regency should resign the government into his hands; on the same day the Cortes should prepare a decree for making known to the nation the solemn act by which, and in virtue of the oath which he should then have sworn, the King had been constitutionally placed upon the throne; and this decree should be presented to the King by a deputation, that it might be published with all due formalities. The opinion of the Council of State upon this proposition was required within four-and-twenty hours. ♦FEB. 1.♦