The Constitutional Chamber of Lisbon and the reinstatement of the old Senate: Political guidelines, composition, and dynamics of the Table of Dispatch (1822-1823)

Abstract

Between 1821 and 1823, changes were introduced to the administrative apparatus responsible for governing the capital of the Kingdom, reflecting the defining features of the political landscape between the Liberal Revolution of 1820 and the counter-revolution of 1823. These changes reflected the political authorities intentions regarding the organisation and functioning of the municipal administration after the abolition of the Senate of the Lisbon Chamber and the establishment of the Constitutional Chamber(1821-1823), and introduced new thinking within an old context, the most significant expression of which was the renaming of the municipal authority and the establishment of a new organisational model for the Dispatch Table, where opinions were formulated, consultation processes were established and decisions were taken, amongst other matters, regarding the city’s economic governance. Following the dissolution of the Constitutional Chamber of Lisbon and the inauguration of the old Senate (1823), the functional organisational structure that reflected the liberal ideal of equal access to public office through an electoral process was abolished, and the model of governance in which public office was filled on the basis of privileges and royal favours was reintroduced. Based on documentation produced and accumulated within the scope of Lisbon Chamber remit, this study examines, between 1822-1823, how the political authorities successively restructured the Dispatch Table, and how, regardless of the social composition of the group of actors sitting on it, the content of the administrative acts produced reflected an alignment with central power.