Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/467

439 REVIEW OF THEIR ADMINISTRATION. 439 there was no attempt to establish that iron bulwark chapter XXVI of despotism, a standing army ; at least, none ^ nearer than that of the voluntary levies of the her- mandad, raised and paid by the people. The queen never admitted the arbitrary maxims of Ximenes in regard to the foundation of government. Hers was essentially one of opinion, not force. ^^ Had it rested on any other than the broad basis of public opinion, it could not have withstood a day the violent shocks, to which it was early exposed, nor have achieved the important revolution that it finally did, both in the domestic and foreign con- cerns of the country. The condition of the kingdom, on Isabella's ac- Their coa- "^ sideration. cession, necessarily gave the commons unwonted consideration. In the tottering state of her affairs, she was obliged to rest on their strong arm for support. It did not fail her. Three sessions of the legislature, or rather the popular branch of it, were held during the two first years of her reign. It was in these early assemblies, that the commons bore an active part in concocting the wholesome system of laws, which restored vitality and vigor to the exhausted republic. ^^ '■^ A pragmatic was issued, Sep- provided with arms, offensive or de- tember 18th, 1495, prescribing the fensive, having sold or suffered them weapons and the seasons for a regu- to fall into decay, insomuch that, in lar training of the militia. The their present condition, they would preamble declares, that it was made be found wholly unprepared to at the instance of the representa- meet either domestic disturbance, or lives of the cities and the nobles, foreign invasion. (Pragmaticas del who complained, that, in conse- Reyno, fol. 83.) What a tribute quence of the tranquillity, which does this afford, in this age of vio- the kingdom, through the divine lence, to the mild, paternal charac- mercy, had for some years enjoyed, ter of the administration ! the people were very generally un- ^^ The most imponant were those