ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CENTRAL JUNTA. OPERATIONS IN CATALONIA. EMBARRASSMENTS AND MOVEMENTS OF THE SPANISH ARMIES. ESCAPE OF THE SPANISH TROOPS FROM DENMARK.

When CastaÑos was informed of Sir Hew Dalrymple’s appointment to the command of the British army, he declared that he regarded this nomination as the most fortunate event of his own life; so much advantage to the common cause did he anticipate from their confidence in each other, and the cordial co-operation which would ensue. In reality that influence which the confidence of a British commander would have given him, might have been of the most essential benefit to Spain at this momentous crisis.

Such was the national character, that when the struggle commenced every man was ready to follow in the cause of his country; but so pitiable had been the state of education, and so successfully had the double despotism of the government and the inquisition shut out knowledge from their empire, that no man was fit to lead. There were now as many governments as there were Juntas, each acting with little regard to the others; and as these were every where filled by persons chosen because of their station, the government throughout Spain was delivered, or rather fell into the hands of the provincial nobility and gentry, with a few clergy; a set of men whom their general want of information, their prejudices, and their previous way of life, in great measure disqualified for the task to which they were called. Among them were some persons who had formerly been in office at Madrid; but whatever advantage they might have derived from habits of business, was more than counterbalanced by the dilatory formalities acquired at the same time, and their attachment to the old routine with all its defects and evils. Wherever therefore such statesmen of the old school were found, the Juntas were less efficient than they might have been without them. The powers with which these bodies found themselves invested were neither limited in extent or duration: the people in their confidence (which at such times is as blind as their suspicion) never thought of proposing restrictions: and the Juntas, when once in possession of authority, thought only of making it as extensive, and retaining it as long as they could. Some of them passed decrees bestowing upon themselves the titles of Excellencies and Highnesses, and adopted uniforms of the gaudiest fashion. This was mere vanity; but serious injury was done, when, with as little decency as had been observed under the old system, they conferred commissions and commands, not upon those persons who had the fairest claim, but upon their own friends and relations and dependents; and thus, as the enrolment was general, the armies were filled with officers who had no other pretensions to rank and promotion than what they derived from favour.

After the great success in Andalusia, the provincial Juntas, instead of exerting themselves to the utmost for completing the deliverance of the country, became jealous of each other. Where the rival authorities were far distant, this feeling impeded the public service; greater evils were threatened when they bordered upon each other. Granada at this time refused to acknowledge the supreme authority which the Junta of Seville assumed, and had hitherto exercised with ability and good fortune. A warm contention ensued; and Tilly, either from irritation, or worse motives, proposed that a division of the Andalusian army should be sent to enforce submission. Fortunately CastaÑos was present at the meeting in which this proposition was made; he rose from his seat, and, striking the table, said, he should like to see the man who dared order a division of the troops under his command to march without his authority! He knew no distinction of provinces; he had the honour to command part of the army of Spain, and never would he suffer it to be made the instrument of civil war.

The occasion required, and therefore justified, this prompt assumption of a power, dangerous in its kind, and in nowise congenial to the unambitious temper of CastaÑos, a man whose only desire was to do his duty like a true Spaniard under any circumstances. It proved, however, the necessity of establishing a more legitimate authority than as yet existed. Lord Collingwood, in his first communications with Seville, had advised that a general Council, Cortes, or Congress, should be appointed, and invested with power from the several provincial Juntas to preside over and act in the name of the whole. The necessity of some such arrangement became every day more apparent. Some persons proposed to establish a military form of government, in which that vigour which the emergency required might be found; some were for assembling a Cortes; others recommended that a viceroy or lieutenant of the kingdom should be appointed, and to this CastaÑos was at one time inclined. His first thought before the struggle began had been to invite the Archduke Charles; but upon considering that the invitation could not be accepted while Austria continued at peace with France, and that if a war between those powers took place, the Archduke’s services would be required at home, he then thought the Prince Royal of the house of Naples would be the fittest person to hold the regency till the fate of Ferdinand should be known; and this he proposed to the ?Arrival of a Sicilian Prince at Gibraltar.? Junta. The Sicilian court from the commencement of the insurrection had directed their views to the same object: their minister in London had sounded the disposition of the British Government, and found it decidedly unfavourable to their schemes; and they sent a plenipotentiary to reside at Gibraltar, for the purpose of furthering the interests of the family. But Sir Hew Dalrymple happened to be informed of what had passed in London, and finding that the object of this mission was altogether disapproved by the British Government, and that the agent had papers which he intended to circulate without previously communicating their contents to him, felt it necessary to let him know that his residence in the garrison, under these circumstances, might be attended with inconvenience, and therefore he must return to Palermo for new instructions. This was about the middle of July; in the ensuing month, a few days before Sir Hew left Gibraltar to take the command of the army, Prince Leopold, second son of the King of the Two Sicilies, with the Duke of Orleans and a large retinue, arrived there in a British man of war. A more ill-judged step could hardly have been taken. Great Britain had scrupulously avoided any thing which could have the appearance of dictating to the Spaniards, or interfering with them in any other way than that of giving the most prompt and liberal support; but what a pretext would it afford those who were ever ready to malign the measures of England, if at a time when the Spaniards were deliberating concerning the settlement of their government, a Prince who claimed the regency should be received with royal honours at Gibraltar, and at the very juncture when a British army arrived upon the coast! Under these embarrassing circumstances Sir Hew acted with great firmness and discretion. Persisting in that upright and steady course of conduct which had in so great a degree contributed to win the confidence of the Spanish nation, he refused in any manner to support pretensions which he had reason to believe were not approved by his government; to that government he referred the Duke of Orleans, who accordingly resolved to go to England, and make his representations in person; the Prince was received into Gibraltar, and left there, when Sir Hew went to the army; if he were chosen Regent, any deputation duly appointed to announce that nomination was of course to be admitted, and considered as attached to his retinue; but no such deputation from any local or provisional government was to be received on such terms.

There was at this time a report that the Junta of Seville had declared for a regency, and were hesitating between the Archbishop of Toledo, as the only remaining member of the Bourbon family in Spain, a Prince of the Neapolitan house, and the Conde de Montijo, the most intriguing, and then one of the most popular persons in Spain. As this individual had no pretensions to such a charge, except what his undeserved popularity might give him, the report was probably raised by himself as one means to bring about his elevation. Some members of that Junta were intoxicated with success; a few others cared for nothing but their own interest: the latter wished for a Regent of their own appointment, under whose name they might possess the real power; the former were for retaining the authority which hitherto they had administered well, but which ceased to be legitimate when it became apparent that it was retained for ambitious motives. A paper from the Junta of Murcia, which expressed the opinion of Florida-Blanca, had forcibly pointed out the necessity of a central government, and the inevitable ruin which a polyarchy of independent Juntas would bring on. It advised that the cities which had a seat in the Cortes should elect a council to govern in the name of Ferdinand, and that the military affairs should be entrusted to a council of generals. The Junta of Seville suppressed this paper wherever their influence extended; but a like measure was now recommended by an authority with which the Junta could not cope.

The Council of Castille had recovered some of its lost reputation by the tardy resistance which it opposed to the Intruder, and by exerting itself with authority to maintain order in the capital, after the retreat of the French. It published a justification of its own conduct, more elaborate than convincing, and dispatched a circular address to the provincial Juntas, declaring ?Aug. 4.? its readiness to co-operate with them in any plans of defence. With respect to measures of another kind, it said, which were necessary to save the country, all that belonged to that Council was to excite the authority of the nation, and assist it with its influence, advice, and knowledge. Under circumstances so extraordinary it was not possible to adopt at once the measures indicated by the laws and customs of Spain; the Council therefore would confine itself to recommending that deputies should be appointed by all the different Juntas, who should meet together, and, in union with it, confer and determine upon this important object; so that all provisions proceeding from this common centre might be as expeditious as the end required.

The better spirits in the Junta of Seville prevailed on this occasion, and that body, yielding with a good grace to the general opinion, seemed at the same time to direct it. They published an address, written with the ability which distinguished all their public papers. Hitherto, they said, the cause of the Spaniards had been prosperous, and nothing could frustrate their hopes of success, except a want of union among themselves. Their enemies were anxious to foment divisions. Human passions, personal interests ill understood, the ignorance, the weakness, the blindness of men, might assist these evil designs, destroy a beginning so glorious, and facilitate the ruin of Spain. This they were endeavouring to guard against, protesting, before God and man, that they wrote nothing but what was dictated by the love of their country, being ready to hear the opinions of other provinces, and to amend their own errors, whenever it should be shown that they had committed any. The chief care should be to avoid whatever might serve to sow disunion: of this nature were all discussions concerning the royal house, and the order of succession in the different families which derived a right from it. The laws upon this point were well known; but are we, said they, in a situation to talk of this? Long live King Ferdinand VII. and his august brothers, heirs of the crown after his attested decease! Why anticipate inquiries which could only be necessary in default of them?

The second question which agitated the people was of a different nature: ... Was there a necessity for creating a supreme government, which should unite the sovereign authority of all the provinces, till the restitution of Ferdinand to his throne? From the beginning they had been persuaded such a government was by all means necessary. Many Juntas and many military commanders had expressed their conviction of this truth, ... a conviction arising from the necessity in every nation of a civil government, to which the military may be subordinate. Spain, deriving wisdom from history, had never thought of appointing a dictator. Her generals (and the fact was most honourable to the Spanish name) had been the first to acknowledge a system of things as ancient in Spain as the monarchy itself. The confidence of the people in the Supreme Juntas, the abundance with which pecuniary resources had been placed at their disposal, the heroic loyalty wherewith the army had obeyed them, and the happy issue, thus far, of their civil administration, and of the military enterprises which they had directed, placed in the most conspicuous light, and established, beyond all doubt, this fundamental truth, and most essential political principle. But who was to create this supreme civil government? Who were to compose it? Where should be its place of residence? What the extent of its authority? How might it be established, without producing disunion among the different provinces? These were the important questions to be examined.

It had been said that the Cortes ought to assemble, that the Council of Castille should convoke them, and the whole proceedings be executed under the authority of that tribunal. But the Council of Castille never possessed the right of convoking the Cortes, ... why then should they give it that authority? Was it because it had lent the whole weight of its influence to the usurpation? Because it had acted in opposition to those fundamental laws which it was established to preserve and defend? Because it had afforded the enemy every facility to usurp the sovereignty of Spain, to destroy the hereditary succession of the crown, and the dynasty legally in possession? Because it had recognized and seated on the throne a foreigner, destitute even of the shadow of a title to it? What confidence could the Spanish nation place in a government convoked by an authority incompetent, illegal, and guilty of acts which might justly be ranked with the most atrocious crimes against their country? But the Council of Castille being thus excluded from all consideration, who was to convoke the Cortes? It was the peculiar and exclusive prerogative of the King to summon them; the provinces would not submit to any other authority; they would not unite: thus, therefore, there would be no Cortes, or, if a few deputies were to assemble, that very circumstance would occasion divisions, the very evil which all were anxious to avoid. The kingdom found itself suddenly without a king and without a government, ... a situation unknown in its history, and to its laws. The people legally resumed the power of appointing a government. They created Juntas without any regard to the cities which had votes in the Cortes. The legitimate power was therefore deposited with the Juntas: in virtue of that power they had governed, and still were governing, and had been, and still were, universally acknowledged and obeyed. Their situation had not changed; the danger still existed; no new authority had supervened: the lawful authority resided entire in the Juntas to which the people had confided it. It was therefore incontestable that the sole and exclusive right of electing those who were to compose the supreme government was vested in the supreme Juntas. And whom should they elect? Most certainly individuals of their own body; for they alone derived their power from the people, and in them the nation had reposed entire confidence. Hence, if there were any province in which the military power subsisted alone, it was absolutely necessary that a supreme Junta should be constituted there, by which the people might act; this being indispensable, in order to concentrate the legitimate power of the people; for, under present circumstances, the government could not be legitimate, unless it originated in their free consent.

The Junta of Seville was therefore of opinion that the supreme Juntas, meeting on the same day, should each elect, from its own members, two deputies; and the persons so elected, from that moment, be acknowledged as governors-general of the kingdom. The supreme Juntas ought nevertheless to be continued till the termination of the present state of things, being invested with the internal management of their respective provinces, but under due subordination to the general government. They ought to give instructions to their deputies constituting that government, and it would be the duty of those deputies to observe them, and to represent and support the claims of their provinces, as far as was consistent with the public weal. If there were one of the Royal Family capable of presiding in the supreme government, he, and no other, ought to be appointed to that office; but if there were no person of the royal blood, then it must elect a president from its own body; and, to obviate all danger, the presidency should be only for such limited time as might seem best. The Juntas would appoint a place for the seat of government, which the government might afterwards change, if it should see cause. It ought to be at a distance from the dangers of war, and to possess other local advantages. Seville possessed those advantages, but had no anxiety to be selected, and willingly sacrificed her claims. The Junta of that city would, however, frankly state, that, in their opinion, La Mancha was most convenient for the seat of government, and, especially, either the city of Ciudad-Real, or Almagro. But this point was to be decided by the free choice of the supreme Juntas. The paper concluded with a brief and dignified recapitulation of what the Junta of Seville had done for their country, disclaiming, on their part, any affectation or desire of superiority, and declaring, that whatever they had done was no more than their indispensable duty.

The general opinion was undoubtedly in favour of the plan of government thus recommended; and it is no light proof of its fitness, that schemes the same in principle and effect should have been suggested by persons who had no communication with each other, and whose views were in other respects so different. There were many in England who thought it would have been better to have at once convoked the Cortes, in the supposition that there was more resemblance between the Cortes and the English parliament than had ever really existed, and in the generous but mistaken hope that vigorous measures might be expected from a free legislative assembly. The best and wisest of the Spaniards wished also for a Cortes, and looked to it for such judicious reforms as were conformable to the constitutional principles of the monarchy, and suited to the habits and feelings of the nation. But they saw that many points must be determined before the manner of assembling the Cortes could be adjusted, and that the necessity of forming a central government was immediate and urgent. The plan therefore which the Junta of Seville proposed was assented to without opposition. Still it was a great object with many of the provincial Juntas to retain their power. That of Valencia drew up secret rules for its deputies, declaring that they were to follow the direction of their constituents, remain subject and obedient to them, communicate regularly with them, and in no instance depart from their instructions; and they reserved to themselves the power of displacing their deputies at pleasure. This paper was made public; and it was known that other Juntas, that of Seville in particular, had pursued the same mischievous course.

The Junta of Seville, however, did worse than this. In electing its deputies it chose two persons so notoriously unworthy of such a trust, that the only motives which could be assigned for the choice were a desire of being rid of them, or an opinion that they would submit to any terms for the sake of the appointment. D. Vicente Hore was the one; he had been a creature of Godoy’s, and was so sensible of the estimation in which he was held, that he declined the charge, knowing his life would be in danger if he appeared in Madrid, where it was of course expected that the Central Junta would assemble. D. Juan de Vera y Delgado, titular Archbishop of Laodicea, the coadjutor of Seville, was then chosen in his place; and this was an unexceptionable choice. It was hoped and expected that Tilly, the other member, would follow Hore’s example, in declining an appointment for which he was equally disqualified; but Tilly was of a bolder stamp. A blasted character had not prevented him from obtaining great popularity at Seville; and being utterly regardless of the means by which he brought about his ends, he was ready to venture for the highest stake in the game of revolution. Foul facts had been proved against him, and fouler were, upon no light grounds, imputed. He had found it necessary to fly from Madrid before the troubles, because he was implicated in the robbery of a jeweller. The murder of the Conde de Aguila was attributed to him, because it was certain that he might have saved the Count by the slightest interference in his behalf. A wretch who was notoriously his creature had been one of the most active instruments in Solano’s death; and Reding would have been made away with by his means before the battle of Baylen, if the intention had not been disclosed to CastaÑos, and by him prevented.

This appointment was not perhaps what Tilly would have chosen; for it was believed that he had no inclination to show himself at Madrid; but he trusted to his talents for intrigue, obtained a monthly allowance of 500 dollars, and looked ?The other members unexceptionable.? for those opportunities which revolutionary times offer to insane and desperate ambition. It is to the honour of the Spaniards, that this was the only exceptionable person elected for the central Junta: perhaps in no country could an equal number of men, under similar circumstances, have been chosen more worthy of the trust reposed in them. To be elected to a situation of so great responsibility, in a time of unexampled difficulties, was no object of desire; in no instance was the appointment solicited, and in most it was reluctantly accepted. The persons deputed were thirty-five32 in number; of whom Florida-Blanca and Jovellanos were the most remarkable, for the offices which they had formerly filled, and the rank which they held in public opinion. Both were scholars as well as statesmen, both men of business, both high-minded and honourable Spaniards. Florida-Blanca had more of the spirit of his country, Jovellanos was more influenced by that of the age. The former had been an ambitious politician; the latter was always a philosopher, in the true and virtuous meaning of that polluted word. As the despotic minister of an absolute king, Florida-Blanca had used his power vigorously to uphold the dignity of the kingdom, and improve its internal condition; most of his measures were wise, and all were well-intended; but if he had ever conceived a wish to correct the abuses of the state, it had never appeared in his actions: Jovellanos had unwillingly accepted office, because it placed him in a sphere uncongenial to his modest habits and better mind, and withdrew him from the task to which he had devoted himself, of improving his native province. Jovellanos’s desire was to meliorate the government and the nation by recurring to the free principles of the old constitution; Florida-Blanca thought that if governments were administered as they ought to be, the strongest must be the best. Both, without hesitation33, obeyed the call of their country, though Florida-Blanca, who was in extreme old age, would more willingly have passed the short remainder of his days in preparing and waiting for death; and Jovellanos, broken down, more by the infirmities which an unjust and cruel imprisonment had aggravated or induced, than by the weight of sixty-five years, desired for himself nothing in this world but tranquillity. The former brought with him little more than a venerable name; but Jovellanos was in full possession of his intellectual powers.

Every effort had been made by Azanza, O’Farril, Urquijo, Mazarredo, and Cabarrus, to engage this excellent man in the Intruder’s service. He had lived in habits of friendship with all these persons, more especially with the two last. Knowing how inaccessible he would be to all unworthy inducements, they endeavoured to deceive him, as they would fain have deceived themselves, by representing that theirs was the only course which could secure the welfare of Spain; and that by no other means could the calamities with which it was threatened be averted; for they thought it absurd to imagine any effectual resistance could be opposed to the determined ambition of Buonaparte. His reply was, that if the cause of their country were as desperate as they supposed it to be, still it was the cause of honour and loyalty, and that which a good Spaniard ought to follow at all hazards. Jovellanos held with his favourite author Cicero that friendship was to be preferred to every thing except honour and virtue; he had given proof of this by his former conduct toward some of these friends, and they found now, as they had then, that no considerations could ever prevail in him over the sense of duty. It gave him no little pain that his name should be published in the Madrid gazette as one of Joseph’s ministers; thus to appear a traitor even for a few days to those who knew him not, or knew not how decidedly he had refused the appointment, was an injury which he felt severely. This was one of Buonaparte’s insolent acts; fallen as Urquijo and his colleagues were, they would not have thus outraged the feelings of a man whom it was not possible that they could ever cease to respect and admire. At length, the Intrusive Government having ascertained that he was really suffering under severe bodily infirmities, forbore to molest him with further solicitations. He was gradually recovering when news of the battle of Baylen refreshed his heart, and seemed to give him new life as well as hope. And when his appointment to the Central Junta was announced, though his first thought was of the ravages which age and affliction had made upon his debilitated frame, the sense of duty ?Jovellanos a sus Compatriotas, p. ii. art. i. 18–25.? overcame all personal considerations, and he notified his acceptation without delay, at the same time declining a salary of 4000 ducats which had been assigned him.

In little more than a week he joined the deputies for Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia, at Madrid; and then two difficulties, which had not been anticipated, occurred. The first related to the instructions with which the Junta of Seville had fettered their members; instructions wholly repugnant to the principle upon which the provisional government was formed. The inconsistency and the evils of this measure were represented to CastaÑos, who was then in Madrid with his army; that General’s influence was never exercised unworthily, nor withheld when it might be useful; and in consequence of his remonstrance the obnoxious instructions were withdrawn, though it appeared afterwards that secret ones to the same tenour had been substituted. The other difficulty was concerning the place of meeting. Jovellanos thought that no place could be so proper as the metropolis: there, in the palace of their kings, the Central Junta would derive consequence and respect from the place; they would appear at the head of the first tribunals and chief magistracy; the public documents were upon the spot, and any advice or assistance which they might require at hand. The members who were at Madrid agreed in this opinion, which was supported also by CastaÑos: but the Junta of Seville were averse to any measure which might lessen their authority, and in this instance they were well served by Tilly for reasons which nearly concerned himself. He had stopped at Aranjuez, and succeeded in persuading Florida-Blanca, who was decidedly for fixing the government at Madrid, that it would be convenient to hold their first sittings where they were, and determine there upon the forms which they should observe in the capital. He gained time by this ... always a great object for one who trusts to intrigue and fortune. So fully persuaded however were Jovellanos and his colleagues when they went to Aranjuez that they should speedily adjourn to Madrid, that they left orders for forming an establishment there.

The greater part of the deputies having arrived, their installation was performed with as much ceremony as the place and circumstances would permit. The Archbishop of Laodicea performed mass, and administered an oath to his colleagues, first taking it himself, that they would preserve and extend the holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion, defend their Sovereign Ferdinand, their rights, privileges, laws, and usages, and especially those relating to the succession in the reigning family, promote every thing conducive to the welfare and improvement of the kingdom, keep secret every thing which ought not to be divulged, maintain the laws, and resist the enemies of the country at all hazards. The oath having been taken, Te Deum was sung by the barefooted friars of St. Pasqual, and the assembly then adjourned to the hall chosen for their sittings. Florida-Blanca was appointed president, and his first act was to proclaim King Ferdinand from the great gallery of the principal front of the palace. The gates of the palace had not been opened till now since the departure of Charles for Bayonne; and the ceremony of thus proclaiming Ferdinand in the favourite residence of his ancestors, ... the scene of his own childhood, ... the spot where, six months ago, he had been acclaimed King, ... he who was now prisoner in a foreign land, and in the power of the perfidious tyrant who had ensnared him, ... moved the venerable statesman to tears when he pronounced his name, and excited feelings of grief and indignation in the multitude, which heightened and hallowed the enthusiasm wherewith they repeated it.

The Junta dispatched copies of the act and oath of installation to the different councils and tribunals, requiring their members to take the same oath, and issue orders to all the subordinate Juntas, provinces, magistrates, governors, and viceroys, for obeying the new government, as holding in deposit the sovereign authority for Ferdinand, the councils continuing in the exercise of their ordinary functions, but referring to the Central Junta all matters exceeding their powers, and upon which the Sovereign ought to be consulted. Other tribunals immediately signified their prompt and unreserved obedience; the Council of Castille alone delayed their answer. The mortification which they felt at not being incorporated with the provisional government, as they had proposed, was embittered by a consciousness that they had forfeited all claim to the confidence of the nation. Having, however, almost by accident, recovered so much authority, they strove to extend it, and after five days returned an answer, saying that, having given the subject their most serious consideration, they had resolved to take the oath, and circulate the necessary orders that the Central Junta should be obeyed in whatever was for the service of the King and of the public cause. But they added, that in discharge of their indispensable duty, they would hereafter communicate to the Junta the result of their consultations for the observance and maintenance of the laws. The reservation implied in this reply offended the Junta, and more especially the President Florida-Blanca, who had not been accustomed to tolerate delay or demur under his administration; and an answer was returned conveying reproof in the form of admonition, which reduced the Council of Castille to a quiet but malevolent submission.

The Leonese deputies had been seized by General Cuesta on their way. One of them, the Bayley Valdes, notified his arrest to Florida-Blanca, who instantly perceiving what fatal consequences must arise from any serious dispute between the civil and military authorities, wrote mildly to Cuesta, requesting that he would release the deputies, prefer his charges against them to the Junta, and leave the decision to that body. At the same time CastaÑos, to whom the judicious part of the people in Madrid looked for some interference in their fear at this unexpected act of military violence, addressed a letter to the Castillian general, representing to him calmly, but forcibly, the surprise and alarm which this arrest had occasioned, at a time when the great object of forming a provisional government was on the point of being happily effected; and asking what offence the deputies had committed, men as they were of high character, and the Bayley Valdes distinguished for the services which he had performed? what authority was competent to arrest and detain them? why, if they were delinquents, they had not been denounced to the Juntas of their respective provinces? why their crimes were not published in the face of the nation, and themselves accused before the Central Junta, then about to assemble?

In his answer to CastaÑos, Cuesta declared, that as principal and sole chief of the provinces of Castille and Leon, he was not bound to give an account of his conduct to any other provincial authority, being independent of all till a general government or regency should be established; nevertheless, as his Excellency apprehended some uneasiness in the people of Madrid, and in the whole nation, concerning this transaction, he deemed it proper to satisfy his doubts. The Junta of Castille having been dissolved by the entrance of the enemy into Valladolid, he had increased the Junta of Leon by adding to it a deputy for every intendency or province of Castille, and had confirmed Valdes as their president, Valdes having promised to obey his orders in all things, without consideration of his own rank. But after the battle of Rio Seco, a few members of this Junta, seeing him pursued by the French, and forsaken by the Galician army, retired to Ponferrada, instead of Astorga, whither he had directed them to repair: and there, under the influence of Valdes, treated clandestinely with the Junta of CoruÑa, to unite with them at Lugo, and from thence govern both Castille and Leon, independently of the captain-general, who, indeed, was to become subordinate to them. The Bayley had notified this to him, and at the same time ordered him to deliver up his cavalry to General Blake. Instead of obeying such orders, he had immediately annulled this fugitive Junta, and commanded the inferior Juntas to break off all communication with it, which they had accordingly done, except in those parts of Leon which were under the immediate power of the Galician general. The fugitive Junta persisted in its pretensions, and had elected Valdes and the Vizconde de Quintanilla as its representatives in the Central Junta. Let any impartial person then say whether he had not good reason to arrest them for insubordination! Not having been elected by any competent authority, they were not members of the Central Junta, and therefore no offence had been offered to that body in arresting them. Whenever that body should be assembled, he would be the first person to obey it, and submit to its high consideration the cause of Valdes and his accomplices: till then neither the rank of the Bayley, nor his assumed quality of member of the Central Junta, for the provinces of Castille and Leon, shall suffice, said the old General, to exempt him from my jurisdiction. The same answer he returned to Florida-Blanca, and sent back the letter which that nobleman had addressed to Valdes, saying that the prisoner was in strict confinement, deprived of all communication.

CastaÑos, not receiving a reply as soon as he had expected, called upon the Council of Castille to interfere; and that tribunal, well pleased that its authority should be appealed to on so important an occasion in such times, wrote in consequence to Cuesta, remonstrating on the dangerous tendency of his conduct. But he returned for answer, that the imprisonment of these persons was the best means of preventing danger, as it would effectually preclude the contentions which might arise if a double set of representatives for Castille and Leon should present themselves; that neither prudence nor justice permitted him to overlook the infidelity, insurrection, and insubordination of a Junta which he had created; and that for these offences, as Valdes was a general, he would deliver him over to be tried by a council of war, composed of generals, unless a sovereign regency should first be established; in which case he would submit the whole proceeding to their judgement, and his own powers also, ... powers which till then he considered independent of any other authority.

Upon this principle, and an assumption that the Juntas in Castille and Leon derived their authority from him and not from the people, Cuesta made the Junta of Valladolid, who had assembled in Leon, send a representative to the Central Junta. The assembly refused to admit him, and ordering Cuesta to set his prisoners at liberty, summoned him also to Aranjuez, that all parties might be heard. This was in effect removing him from the command of his army. Such an assertion of their power was well-timed, for Cuesta, making no secret of his hostile intentions against them, had declared to the British agent, Mr. Stuart, that two measures were necessary for the public good; first, the restoration of the authority of the Captains General and of the Royal Audiences, (which would have ensured to him the continuance of his command); and, secondly, the exercise of military influence over the Junta, to make them elect an Executive Council, of three or five members, each of whom should be placed at the head of one branch of the government, and responsible to the nation only. But Cuesta, intemperate as he was, sincerely desired to serve his country; and he obeyed the summons without hesitation. Mutual accusations were made. The Junta of Leon reproached the General with his attempts to maintain order at the commencement of the insurrection, and thereby serving the Intrusive Government. They injured themselves more than Cuesta by this disingenuous attack; for his defence upon that point was full and satisfactory: what persons in authority were there throughout Spain, he asked, who had not endeavoured to suppress the first popular movement, knowing how great a force the enemy had in the heart of the country, ready to act any where, and not knowing that the spirit of resistance was universal? As soon as that spirit was fairly manifested, he had taken the national side, had brought armies into the field, and had done his duty faithfully, if not fortunately. It was base indeed in the Junta to bring against him this accusation, which, if it had been taken up by the populace, or his own soldiers, might so easily have occasioned his murder. On the other hand, it was found, that in the affair of the deputies Cuesta’s conduct had not been distinguished by that honest obstinacy which appeared in his own account, and which characterised his general conduct. He had not disapproved of the Junta’s measures till they ordered him to send his cavalry to Blake, a measure which all the military men in Madrid considered of the utmost importance at the time. His opinion of the Bayley Valdes had been so favourable, that he had made known his intention to have him elected as his own colleague; and the immediate cause of this rash and intemperate proceeding was anger that he himself had not been chosen. So completely had this feeling mastered him, that instead of advancing with his army to Burgo del Osma, (as had been resolved in a council of war at Madrid at which he was present,) he had actually fallen back to Segovia to gratify his resentment by seizing Valdes. Valdes would now have terminated the dispute by giving in his resignation: this it was not thought proper to accept; the validity of his election was admitted, and the other points were referred to a competent tribunal, but the course of events soon put an end to all further proceedings.

The Central Junta, thus peaceably established, and unanimously recognized by the nation, began their administration with the fairest promises. They acknowledged the national debt, and took upon themselves the obligations contracted by the crown, which formed the patrimony of many families; and which they pledged themselves punctually to pay. That portion of the revenue which had formerly been swallowed up in the enormous expenses of the royal household, or engrossed by the favourite, would, they trusted, enable them to diminish the imposts laid upon the towns and villages; and great resources would be found in the property forfeited by those who had betrayed their country. The sum total of the funds arising from these sources, from the regular revenues, and from the donatives and contributions of Spain and the Indies, they promised annually to publish, with an account of its expenditure. They would simplify, as far as possible, the revenue system, gradually suppress useless offices, establish economy in all the branches of financial administration, and remove the abuses introduced into it by the old government.

The duties which they proposed to themselves, and the benefits which they promised the people, were farther explained in an address to the nation; for they affirmed, it became them to inform the people of their situation, with a dignity becoming the Spanish character; and to establish, in a frank and generous manner, those relations of reciprocal confidence which ought to be the basis of every just and wise administration. A tyranny of twenty years, exercised by the most incapable hands, had brought them to the very brink of perdition: the nation was alienated from its government by hatred or contempt: every thing favoured the perfidious plot which Buonaparte had formed against them, when they rose to vindicate their rights, and became at once the admiration of Europe. Their situation was unexampled in their history, unforeseen by their laws, and, as it were, opposed to their habits. Great and wonderful things they had accomplished; but all their enthusiasm and all their virtue were required for what remained to be done. Their armies were naked and unprovided with every thing. The French, collected behind the Ebro, were expecting reinforcements, and ravaging Upper Castille, Rioja, and the provinces of Biscay; Navarre and Catalonia were almost wholly in their power: they possessed the passes, and had made themselves, by what treachery was well known, masters of the strong frontier fortresses, and of Barcelona. The despot of France, deceiving, by the grossest impostures, the slaves who obeyed him, was striving to keep all other states in inactivity, that he might bring the whole enormous weight of his military force upon Spain. The continental powers were watching the issue of this first struggle, desiring to declare themselves against the common enemy, but proceeding with the timid circumspection which they had learnt from past misfortunes. A confederacy against the tyrant was evidently their only means of preservation: for what state could now hold relations of amity with him? who could now give credit to the words and promises of Buonaparte, or trust to his good faith? The fate of Spain was at once a lesson and a warning to Europe, ... her resolution would serve as an example, her victories as an incentive; and the reprobate, who had trampled under foot the principles of justice, had placed himself in that fearful situation, that he must either become master of all, or perish in the struggle which he had so wantonly provoked.

But this co-operation would not be obtained till the Spaniards had given such earnest of success as rendered victory certain: they must therefore call forth all their means, as if they were singly to contend against the whole power of France. The Junta believed it would be necessary to maintain 500,000 men in arms, besides 50,000 cavalry, ... a force which, however disproportionate to their present situation, and to all former exigencies, was not more than the present times required. The power of their adversary was colossal, his ambition even greater than his power, and his existence incompatible with their liberty. His exertions were to be estimated by the barbarity of his character and the extremity of his danger; but they were the exertions of a tyrant, and would be confounded, when opposed to the constancy of a great and free people.

The last government ... if that might be called government which was one continued and monstrous dilapidation, had exhausted all the sources of prosperity. The resources which arose from the revenues of the royal household, from the enormous sums formerly devoured by the insatiable avarice of Godoy, from his collected rapine, and the confiscated estates, from a free trade, a well-arranged administration of the revenue, and regularly distributed contributions, had already been indicated. The succours already given so generously by England, and still to be expected from that nation, were to be added to these means. “But,” said the Central Junta, “it is incumbent on us that these succours, which have been so opportunely given, and so gratefully received, and the effects of which have been so beneficial, should be hereafter recognized and recompensed with the reciprocity and decorum which become a great and powerful nation. The Spanish monarchy must not, in this respect, be placed in a state of inequality and dependence on its allies. The produce of these various means would be great but slow, and therefore insufficient for the urgent necessities of the state. Would they be sufficient to furnish for a time the ordinary supplies, discharge the great debt which must be incurred, and maintain the formidable army which must be kept up? If not, the government would at once have recourse to the nation, certain, from the fidelity with which its accounts would regularly be published, from the necessity and notoriety of the public wants, and the patriotism of the nation, that although to evils so extraordinary as the present remedies as extraordinary must be applied, its demands would neither be disregarded through distrust, nor detested as arbitrary.

“The defence of the kingdom, and the means of providing for it, must necessarily be the first duty of the government; but it would fulfil only half its duties if it attended to this alone: other duties remained, to be the great reward of the virtue of the Spaniards and of their sacrifices. A little time only had passed since, oppressed and degraded, ignorant of their own strength, and finding no protection against these evils, neither in the institutions nor in the laws, they had even regarded foreign dominion as less hateful than the wasting tyranny which consumed them. The dominion of a will always capricious, and most often unjust, had lasted too long: their patience, their love of order, their generous loyalty had too long been abused: it was time that law, founded on general utility, should commence its reign. This was the desire of their good and unfortunate King Ferdinand; this was what he pointed out, even from the captivity to which a perfidious traitor had reduced him. The name of their country ought no longer to be a vague and idle word to the Spaniards; henceforward it was to import to their ears and to their hearts the sanctuary of laws, the theatre for talents, the reward of virtue. Such a country the Junta solemnly promised they should possess; and till the military operations, which must at first be slow, in order better to insure success, should furnish the leisure necessary for this great and solemn reform, the government would privately prepare for it. Instead of rejecting the advice of enlightened men, they desired and requested it. The knowledge and illustration of their ancient and constitutional laws; the changes which change of circumstances rendered necessary in their re-establishment; the reform which might be necessary in the civil, criminal, and commercial codes; projects for improving public education, which was in Spain so greatly on the decline; a system of regulated economy for the distribution and collection of the public revenue, ... these were subjects for the investigation of wise and thoughtful men, and on which the opinions of such men were solicited. The Junta would form different committees, each entrusted with a particular department, to whom all writings on matters of government and administration might be addressed: so that each contributing by his exertions to give a just direction to the public mind, the government might be enabled to establish the internal happiness of Spain.”