eserve
the special privilege or for the special needs of each. Hence was formed a
habit of self-government, the practice of legislative, judicial and
administrative functions, which resulted gradually in a code of written or
unwritten laws embodied in the _fueros_ or _fors_ of each province, and the
_cartas-pueblos_ of the towns. In form these _fueros_ or charters are often
grants from the lord or sovereign; in reality they are only a confirmation
or codification of unwritten customary laws in practice among the people,
the origin of which is lost in antiquity. The kings of Castile, of Spain
and of Navarre were obliged at their accession, either in person, or by
deputy, to swear to observe these _fueros_; and this oath was really kept.
While the cortes were trampled upon and absolutism reigned both in Spain
and in France, the Basque _fueros_ were respected; in Spain to the middle
of the 19th century and in France down to the Revolution. The _fueros_ thus
observed made the Basque provinces a land apart (_una tierra apartada_), a
self-governing republic (_una verdadera autonomia_), under an absolute
monarchy, to which, however, they were always loyal. And this independence
was acknowledged, not only in local, but also in international and European
treaties, as in art. 15 of the treaty of Utrecht 1713. So the act of the
3rd of June 1876, which assimilated the Basque Provinces to the rest of
Spain, acknowledged the true self-government which they had enjoyed for
centuries.

The circumstances and methods which enabled the Basques to preserve this
independence were, first, the isolation caused by their peculiar language;
next, the mountainous and easily-defended nature of the country, its
comparative poverty and the possession of a sea-board. Then there were the
rights and the safeguards which the _fueros_ themselves gave against
encroachments. The rights were:--freedom of election to all offices and to
the juntas; exemption from all forced military service except for the
defence of the country and under their own officers; and payment beforehand
exacted for all service beyond their own frontiers (this did not of course
exclude voluntary service of individuals in the Spanish or French armies).
Then there was free trade with foreign nations, and especially between the
Basques of both nations. The customs' frontier of Spain really began on the
Ebro. Then no decree or sentence of the royal authorities could have effect
in the pro