Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/448

420 420 REGENCY OF XIMENES. PART II. His moral principle. the constitution, or to private rights. His first act, the proclaiming of Charles king, was in open con- tempt of the usages and rights of the nation. He evaded the urgent demands of the Castilians for a convocation of cortes ; for it was his opinion, " that freedom of speech, especially in regard to their own grievances, made the people insolent and irreverent to their rulers."^ The people, of course, had no voice in the measures which involved their most important interests. His whole policy, indeed, was to exalt the royal prerogative, at the expense of the inferior orders of the state. ^° And his regency, short as it was, and highly beneficial to the country in many respects, must be considered as opening the way to that career of despotism, which the Austrian familj'^ followed up with such hard-hearted constancy. But, while we condemn the politics, we cannot but respect the principles, of the man. However erroneous his conduct in our eyes, he was guided by his sense of duty. It was this, and the convic- tion of it in the minds of others, which constituted the secret of his great power. It made him reck- 29 " Nulla enim re magis popu- los insolescere, et irreverentiam omnem exhibere, quam cum liber- tatem loquendi nacti sunt, et pro libidine siias vulgo jactaut querimo- nias." Gomez quotes the language of Ximenes in his coirespondence with Charles. De Rebus Gestis, fol. 194. 30 Oviedo makes a reflection, showing that he conceived the car- dinal's policy better than most of his biographers. He states, that the various immunities, and the mil- itary organization, which he gave to the towns enabled them to raise the insurrection, known as the war of the " comuuidades," at the be- ginning of Charles's reign. But he rightly considers this as only an indirect consequence of his policy, which made use of the popular arm only to break down the power of the nobles, and establish the su- premacy of the crown. Quincua- genas, MS. dial, de Xim.