Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/475

447 REVIEW OF THEIR ADMINISTRATION, 447 the east. The seeds of liberty, though dormant, chapter lay deep in the heart of the nation, waiting only the — '- — — good time to germinate. That time has at length arrived. Larger experience, and a wider moral cul- ture, have taught men not only the extent of their political rights, but the best way to secure them. And it is the reassertion of these by the great body of the people, which now constitutes the revolution going forward in most of the old communities of Europe. The progress of liberal principles must be controlled, of course, by the peculiar circumstan- ces and character of the nation ; but their ultimate triumph, in every quarter, none can reasonably dis- trust. May it not be abused. The prosperity of the country, under Ferdinand ^iil^llT' and Isabella, its growing trade and new internal relations, demanded new regulations, which, as before noticed, were attempted to be supplied by the pragmdticas. This was adding, however, to the embarrassments of a jurisprudence already far too cumbrous. The Castilian lawyer might despair of a critical acquaintance with the voluminous mass of legislation, which, in the form of municipal char- ters, Roman codes, parliamentary statutes, and roy- al ordinances, were received as authority in the courts. ^° The manifold evils resulting from this unsettled and conflicting jurisprudence, had led the legislature repeatedly to urge its digest into a more ^ Marina enumerates no less time. Ensayo Historico-Critico, than nine separate codes of civil and sobre la Antigua Legislacion de municipal law in Castile, by which Castilla, (Madrid, 1808,) pp. 383- t he legal decisions were to be reg- 386. — Asso y Manuel, Institu- nlated, in Ferdinand and Isabella's clones, Introd.