On his return, the prince was called to preside over the cortes at Monzon,--a central town, where the deputies of Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia continued to assemble separately, long after those provinces had been united to Castile. Philip, with all the forms prescribed by the constitution, received the homage of the representatives assembled, as successor to the crown of Aragon.
The war with France, which, after a temporary suspension, had broken out with greater violence than ever, did not permit the emperor long to protract his stay in the Peninsula. Indeed, it seemed to his Spanish subjects that he rarely visited them, except when his exchequer required to be replenished for carrying on his restless enterprises, and that he stayed no longer than was necessary to effect this object. On leaving the country, he intrusted the regency to Philip, under the general direction of a council consisting of the duke of Alva, Cardinal Tavera, and the Commendador Cobos. Some time after this, while still lingering in Catalonia, previous to his embarkation, Charles addressed a letter to his son, advising him as to his political course, and freely criticising the characters of the great lords associated with him in the government. The letter, which is altogether a remarkable document, contains, also, some wholesome admonitions on Philip's private conduct. "The duke of Alva," the emperor emphatically wrote, "is the ablest statesman and the best soldier I have in my dominions. Consult him, above all, in military affairs; but do not depend upon him entirely in these or in any other matters. Depend on no one but yourself. The grandees will be too happy to secure your favor, and through you to govern the land. But, if you are thus governed, it will be your ruin. The mere suspicion of it will do you infinite prejudice. Make use of all; but lean exclusively on none. In your perplexities, ever trust in your Maker. Have no care but for him." The emperor then passes some strictures on the Commendador Cobos, as too much inclined to pleasure, at the same time admonishing Philip of the consequences of a libertine career, fatal alike, he tells him, to both soul and body. There seems to have been some ground for this admonition, as the young prince had shown a disposition to gallantry, which did not desert him in later life. "Yet, on the whole," says the monarch, "I will admit I have much reason to be satisfied with your behavior. But I would have you perfect; and, to speak frankly, whatever other persons may tell you, you have some things to mend yet. Your confessor," he continues, "is now your old preceptor, the bishop of Carthagena,"--to which see the worthy professor had been recently raised. "He is a good man, as all the world knows; but I hope he will take better care of your conscience than he did of your studies, and that he will not show quite so accommodating a temper in regard to the former as he did with the latter."[23]