lity of the government at home; that when the provisional changes took place in the Peninsula, deputies from the central Junta of Seville, had been sent amongst them, urging the supremacy of that body, and demanding their acknowledgement and remittances. Shortly after, they remembered that the viceroy had received dispatches from the Asturian deputies, then in London, demanding the same pre-eminence, and expecting the same obedience and supplies; and now they beheld these late idols of the Spanish people, dashed to the ground, and that it was uncertain, what kind of government was to succeed them. At home, they were sensible that every thing was mutual distrust, discord and misfortune; and that ambition, rather than patriotism, had, hitherto, actuated the conduct of the principal government of the Peninsula. They had seen the Central Junta, which owed its existence to a concentration of the provincial ones, (though effected in an irregular way;) had plotted the overthrow of those very same bodies, from whence it derived its supposed origin. They had beheld, the basest means employed by its members, in order to extend and enlarge their command; and they had seen them resort to every undue measure, in order to prolong and consolidate their power, and for the purpose of securing to themselves, a complete despotism over their fellow-citizens. The council of Castile, was known to have been plotting against the Central Junta of Seville, this against that of Valencia, Asturias, &c.; in short, they had experienced, that no regular, acknowledged, or legal government, existed in the Peninsula; and they had seen with their own eyes, that the chiefs in the American provinces, changed masters, as fast as the Protean shape of the Peninsular government, varied,

In the mean time, a tremendous crisis, impended over the fate of the Peninsula; the supposed impregnable passes of the Sierra Morena, had been forced; on every side the national troops were dispersed, and the generals, attributed the losses and misfortunes of the armies, to the ineptitude of the provisional central government. No sooner had this been driven from Seville, and dispersed, than it was accused of despotism, malversation, corruption, inexperience, negligence; and even, of corresponding and siding with the French. The battle of Ocaña, appeared to have put a seal to the fate of Spain, 50,000 French, are already spread on the plains of Andalusia, and dismay was painted in every countenance. Amidst such general confusion, even the、 local and provisional Junta of Seville, creates itself into a sovereign, circulates orders throughout the whole kingdom to assemble fresh deputies; and even sends couriers to Cadiz, to arrest the members of the late Central Junta, or to kill them. The president and vice-president, were seized in Xeres, and with difficulty escaped with their lives; in short, such was the odium attatched to the members of this government, and such the influence of the factious, that any one who had undertaken their defence, would have been held as a traitor to his country.*

The above is the picture of the state of the Peninsular government, about the beginning of January, 1810, as drawn by a Spaniard, who has publicly taken to himself, the character of impartial, and such is the corresponding report of public affairs, at the time abovementioned. We will next proceed to examine what

* Estrada, Examen Imparcial, Part I.

kind of a governing system originated out of the wreck of the Central Junta, in conformity to its decree of 29th of January, 1810, issued in La Isla de Leon.

"At length, after great dangers and difficulties, the members of the Central Junta, collect in La Isla; where, filled with dread, and without energy to determine on the continuation of their command, during the fews days which remained till the assembling of the Cortes; in the midst of obscurity, furtively, and without the requisite powers, they elect a Regency of five persons; who, how great so ever might have been their private virtues, were, doubtlessly, very little fit, to fulfill the duties of the ministry now confided to them. Without having sufficient courage to cause this Regency to be acknowledged, they (the central numbers) put it in the full exercise of its public functions, and all determine to leave that point, in order to escape the fury of the people.*" Such, also, is the picture of that same government, the Spanish Americans were called upon, blindly, and submissively, to obey; and such is the origin of that same Regency, which afterwards declared war against them, because they did not conceive it conformable to their political interests, and general safety, to cringe, and bow their abject heads, to a set of new despots, created out of the worst and most execrable government, that ever insulted the rights of a people, or abused the exigencies of a state.†

* Estrada Id. Id.

+ It is a fact, that the Junta of Cadiz, shut the port, in order that the news of this confusion and dilemma in the affairs of the Peninsula, might not reach to the other side of the Atlantic.

After presenting my reader, with this faithful picture of the respective situations of the Peninsula, at the two periods of time, before prefixed; I would now ask him, in candour, and, in sincerity, whether it was, either reasonable, or just, for the distant provinces of America, to continue as the servile slaves of these crest fallen demagogues; or whether it was wise, for them to be made the submissive tools of five individuals, who had sprung into power, out of the choice and nomination of men, at that very time, covered with universal execration? Was it conformable to the real interests of European or American Spain, or, even, of England, for this valuable quarter of the world, to remain subservient to the nod of a government, founded on illiberality, illegal in its essence, now infected with the contagion of monopoly, and awed by the interest of the trading port, in which it had just taken refuge? Nay, at the moment of such an eventful period to European Spain, and during such an existing exigence in the whole world, was it rational, for the rights, liberties, and security of the Spanish American provinces, to be any longer, insulted by the governmental forces, that had been, hitherto, representing in the Peninsula; or was it politic, that the improveable, but long neglected regions, to which I allude, should, in such critical circumstances, as those just described, still remain enslaved, outraged, and aggrieved by an ephemeral government, desirous only to prolong their degradation? I leave it, to the upright and impartial in every clime, and in every situation, to draw his own conclusions; fully convinced as I am, in my own breast, after a patient research through dubious and con. tradictory authorities, that I have not only been correct and faithful in my preceding delineations of events and

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circumstances; but that the main point of the whole question, now at issue, is, whether the Spanish Americans, in such moments of danger, distrust, and despondency, did, or did not, do right, in thus changing (for the time being) their local government, and placing the administration of their own affairs, in the hands of men, possessed of their trust and confidence ?

§ These essential premises being established, it now remains for me to examine, what was the species of government which the laws of Spain enact, as well as the annals of her national history, prescribe, for calamities, like that which had befallen the Spanish monarchy of both hemispheres; and next, whether it was such as the Spanish Americans, equally, adopted. I have, previously, quoted some of the fundamental laws of Castile, which ordain the assembling of the three estates of the realm, in all cases of great emergency and national misfortune. This axiom is, moreover, fully authorized, by the spirit of the Spanish history, by many precedents, and, recently, by the conduct of the whole provinces of the Peninsula. When the functions of the crown, were there unfortunately suspended, the various provinces, immediately placed their confidence in Juntas, and vested in them, the administration of their affairs; with full powers to call forth the resources of the districts under their jurisdiction, and promote their security and defence. Notwithstanding, however, this measure of prudence, there existed in each, a captain-general, and an audiencia, or other equivalent authorities, constituted by the king; but still, these were not sufficient, even, for local purposes. For the general guidance and government of the realm, a concentration of these provincial Juntas,