then returned thanks for this appointment of their Mother the Saint. “It was a decree,” they said, “which would fill all the natives of those kingdoms with consolation and hope, and they flattered themselves that from that moment Spain would experience the powerful intercession of its new protectress.” “My great Mother, S. Teresa de Jesus, Co-patroness of the Spains!” exclaimed the prior, in an address which was printed among the proceedings of the Cortes, “the very idea makes me eternally bless the law that sanctions it. This has been a business of much time, an affair of some ages, a work of many and mighty hands; but the glory of completing it has been reserved for the fathers of the country, for the congress of lights, for your majesty the Cortes, which has been the glorious instrument of this work of the Eternal. And it was fitting that the country of heroes should have the heroine of nations at its head, who like another mother of the Maccabees should encourage its sons to triumph and to glory. This Deborah is not less sage than she who judged Israel, not less valiant; and the Baraks who will come forward under her protection will not be intimidated by danger. She is not a Moabitess to pervert the armies of Israel. She is a Jael who will destroy the forces of _Sennacherib_; a Semiramis, who will overthrow the hosts of the sanguinary Cyrus. At the sight of this fortunate Esther, Spain would lift her head and conceive higher hopes. The unanimous consent of the whole nation, the vows of the Spaniards of both hemispheres, would rise to heaven, and uniting themselves at this moment with the intercessions of their great Co-patroness, form that imperious voice which commands the winds and the tempests, rules the seas, makes itself felt in the dark regions of the abyss, and ascending the eternal mountain of the Lord, puts aside the decree of extermination that threatens us, substitutes for it that of our aggrandizement and elevation, and brings a blessing upon those judicious, prudent, ♦DIARIO DE LAS CORTES, T. 14. PP. 56, 94, 96, 103.♦ and sage Mordecais, whose wise resolution has been the cause of this portent.” In this language did the descendants of the Prophets who dwelt on Mount Carmel, the children of the great Teresa, offer upon the altar of gratitude the incense of their respect and veneration to the Cortes!