indeed existed before, but they wanted the wisdom and moderation of an
enlightened Sovereign, to give them force and power to act.

In the kingdom of Arragon, besides the Junta, or National Assemblage,
there was always a Justizia, or supreme judge, whose power, in some
respects, was even greater than the King's; his person was sacred; he
could remove any of the royal ministers whom he deemed unworthy of the
trust, and was himself responsible to none but the Cortes or Junta by
whom he had been elected. The personal as well as the national rights
of the Arragonese, were also more accurately defined than was usual
in that age: no native of Arragon could be convicted, imprisoned, or
tortured, without fair and legal evidence.[A]

[Footnote A: See History of Spain, by John Bigland.]

Such being the customs of the kingdom of Arragon, the power of the
crown was more limited than Ferdinand's capacious mind and desire
of dominion chose to endure: the Cortes, or nobles, there were
pre-eminent; the people, as the Sovereign, ciphers, save that the
rights of the former were more cared for than the authority of the
latter. But Ferdinand was not merely ambitious; he had ability and
energy, and so gradually were his plans achieved that he encountered
neither rebellion nor dislike. The Cortes found that he frequently and
boldly transacted business of importance without their interference;
intrusted offices of state to men of inferior rank, but whose
abilities were the proof of his discernment; took upon himself the
office of Justizia, and, in conjunction with Isabella, re-established
an institution which had fallen into disuse through the civil wars,
but which was admirably suited for the internal security of their
kingdom by the protection of the peasantry and lower classes: it was