Star. — London, England, 1808-09-15 00:00:00

'~ IMPORTANT STATE PAPER.' MANIVE•STO OF THE JUNTA OF SEVILLE. " The defence of our Country, and of onr King, that of our laws, our religion, and of all the rights of man, trodden down and violated in a manner which is without example, by the Emperor of the French, Napoleon I. and by his troops in Spain, compelled the whole nation to take up arms, and to choose itself a form of Government; and in the difficulties and dangers into which the French had plunged it, all, or nearly all, the provinces, as it were, by the inspi: ration of HEAVES, and in a manner little short of mi raculous, created Supreme Juntas,. delivered them selves up to their guidance, and placed in their hands the rights and the ultimate fate of Spain. " The effects have hitherto most happily corres ponded with the designs of those who formed them. The provinces have armed themselves ; some have formed large armies of veteran troops, and have uni ted to them the enlisted peasants ; all, or nearly all, have fought and are fighting against the French in behalf of their King, Ferdinand VII. with a valour and a constancy, of which neither Greece, nor Rome, nor any other nation of the world, had any idea. The French are really amazed and terrified, and the hopes of conquering them are as sure as human certainty can reach. . 46 The only thing which 'can impair or frustrate them, is discork and the want of union among the provinces themselves. Hence the Supreme Junta paid its first attention to remove that danger, with which view it printed and published the Official Paper, tn- Ctleci Precautions, which it communicated in every possible manner to all the provinces of Spain. The bringing this plan to perfection, and carrying it into complete execution, is now more than ever necessary. Our enemies. are anxious to foment onr Human passions, personal intere ti ill understood, the ignorance, the weakness, the blindness of men, may. perhaps, without their knowing it, assist the evil de signs of our enemies, and thus destroy a beginning so glorious, and facilitate and Consummate the entire ruin of Spain. This it is that we are endcavourinp 0 guard against, urged only by the most sacred m t:ves, by our honour, by our loyalty as affectionate subjects, by our duty as Spaniards, by our faith as Christians ; and here we protest before Goo and man, whose aid we invoke with all fervency, that we will write nothing hut what is dictated to us by the love of our country, the preservation of our King, and of our rights, not mingling with it any thing that appears to partake of passion, of interest, or of any other per. sonal motive; but being always ready to hear the opinions of the other provinces, and to amend our own errors, wherever it shall be shewn that we have com mitred any. 44 Be it the chief care to avoid every thing which is not absolntely necessary, and which may serve to sow the seeds of disunion in the provinces, and to excite divisions among them ; and of this nature we esteem ail conversations about the Royal House, and of the cider of succession in different families which derive a right from it. There is no person so igno rant of the history of Spain, and of the manner in which the Throne has been occupied, as not to know the changes which have taken place in the succession. —ft is also known what are the legislative pro ceedings upon this point ; what the manner in which endeavours were used to introduce an alteration into them ; the different pretexts for this alteration ; and, lastly, the final settlement which was made by the Cortes of 1789, and which ought in future to be the rule. . _ " But are we in a situation to talk of these mat ters ? Long live our King and indisputable Sovereign Ferdinand VII. and long live his august brothers, heirs of the Crown, after his attested decease ! Why then anticipate those enquiries which can only be ne cessary in default of these ? This anticipation may produce, by the diversity of opinion; which it creates, a cruel disunion, which, of itself alone, will utterly ruin the only aim and object which Spain at present h as i n view, and that is, its own entire and indepen dent preservation for its iiovereign Lord and King Ferdinand Vii. and his indisputed successois ; and, with its King, the preservation of its own rights and Taws, and the unity of the Holy Roman Catholic Apostolical Relip;ion, which it has gloriously pro. fessed and defended for so many ages. It is, there fore, both absurd and dangerous to dispute about the succession in cases evidently remote ; all the provinces of Spain ought to confine themselves in this respect to this general exi:ression—' Hereditary :wee s'on, aec2rd. ing to thefundarnental laws of the Afonarehy.' " Not so is it with the second question moved by the Inrions Juntas of the kingdom, which certainly keeps the people in a state of disquietude aid agita. t• on, is the contitrual object of public conversation, ind m:iv produce divisions fatal to the generous de. s'gn, and the virtuous obligation into Whieh we have ci,ered of defending ourselves against our enemies, and of preserving our Country, our King, our Mo narchy, our Laws, and our Religion. This second question is, is there a necessity for creating a Supreme Government, which may unite the sovereign autho rity of all the provinces, till the restitution of King Ferdinand to his Throre ? " This Supreme Junta declares openly, thaffrom the beginning to the present time, it has been persua ded that such a Supreme Government is altogether ne:essary, and that without it the country is in dan. ger, and its enemies will find means of completing its r ; and the reasons of this determination and decla ration are so evident, and present themselves with dun c . .erne%s to the eyes of all, that they cannot fail of cm - mil - n. 14; all who have the least, notion Ofpt.blic o• a c orrect insight into the nature of man— the passions which move him, and the order of human affairs in all ages. Various Supreme Juntas and Mi litary _Chiefs exptess‘li their conviction of this truth. A conviction of the same springs from the in disce..slbie necessity of a Civil Government in every whose duty it is to attend to the happiness of the kingdom, and to Nk hich the military stay be sub ordinate. The confidence of the nation, and conse quently the public funds and the capitals of indivi. d must necessarily have a Civil Government fin t.l"ir support ; without it, the military power we uld aili , pensably be under the necessity of employing. violence, with the view of acquiring that confidence ....hid' it never could le.tain, and getting a command these capi:.ais which it would be equAlly ble for it to bring within its grasp ;int' thus it would ultimately destroy the public prosperity ad ness, which ought it) be the sole object of !Vex" G o . vernment. " Let us o not vainly flatter onrselvn with' the nw 'ions of Rtin# Dictators, and the other Military Chiefs of the anci Republics : they were placed under very pruderltkrestraints, and, the duration of their authority wa t siimited to a very short period.— The dangers of cntfiplete despotism and usurpation kept them in continual alarm, and compelled them to take very rigorous precautions, which are very in compatible Arid the habits of modern times. Spain has derived a lesson of wisdom from the history of past ages : she has never thought of appointing a Military Dictator. Her Military Chiefs, and it is a fact most honourable to the Spanish name, have been the first to embrace, with the utmost cordiality, a system of things as ancient in Spain as the Monarchy itself.—:. The experience of our times—the confidence Of the people in the Supreme .Juntas—the facility and abun dance with which pecuniary resources have been pla ced at their disposal—the heroic loyalty with which the Military Chiefs and the Army have acknowledg ed and obeyed them—and the happy issue hitherto of their Civil Administration, and the military enter prizes which they have directed, have placed in the most conspicuous light, and established beyond all doubt this fundamental truth and most essential po litical principle. " But who is to create this Supreme Civil Go-, vernment ? Who are to compose it? Where shall be its place of residence ? What the extent of its authority ? How shall it be established without in terrupting the public tranquillity, and producing dis union among the different provinces ? How is the public opinion to so regulated as that, without op posing it, this tranquillity shall be attained, and all risk of disturbance obviated ? " These are the important and serious questions' which we shall now proceed to examine; and upon which, influenced solely by the love of our country, and our anxiety to promote its welfare, we will enter into a frank explanation of our. sentiments. " In the various papers that bare been published upon this subject, we are told that the Cortes should assemble ; that they should elect representatives; and farther, that the Old Council of Castile should con .voke them, and the whole of the proi.eeding should b 2 executed iinder its authority. Most assuredly, we do not understand the grounds upon which this decision rests. The Coun cil of Castile, though a lawful assembly, never con voked the Cortes. Why then should we give it an authority which it does not possess ? Is it because it lent the whole weight of its influence to such impor tant changes, with regard to which it had nopowers, nor any authority whatsoever ? Is it because it has act2J in opposition to those fund !mental laws, which it was established to preserve and defend? Is it because it afforded every facility to the enemy to usurp the So vereignty of Spain, to destroy the hereditary succes sion of the Crown and the Dynasty legally in posses sion, and recognized and seated on the throne a fle reigner, destitute even of the shadow of a title to it ; for it is incontrovertibly manifest, that the renuncia tion of Charles IV. in his favour gave him no such claim ? What confic'eace could the Spanish nation place in a Government created by an authority inva- ; lid and illegal, and which had also rendered itself suspected, I'y the previous commission of acts of so horrible a description, that they may •be justly rank ed with the most atrocious crimes against the country? " The Council of Castile heirg thus excluded from all consideration—who should convoke the Cortes ? The authority to convoke them is a part of the pecu- liar and exclusive prerogative of the King. The provinces would not submit to any other authority ; they would not unite ; there would be no Cortes ; and should a few delegates assemble, that very cir cumstance would expose the kingdom to division— the evil which all wish to avoid. " Besides, the cities who have votes in the Cortes have not undertaken the Celence of the kingdom, nor of themselves,_ nor in their corporate capacity have they made an effort to defend it. We entertain the most profound respect both for them and their rights ; but truth compels us to speak out. " Most undoubtedly, however, the cities who have votes in the Cortes, in thus conducting themselves, acted with consummate prudence, and with a due observance of law. The kingdom found itself sud denly without a King, and without a Government— a situation indeed unknown in our history, and to our laws. The people legally resumed the power of appointing a Government ; and this truth has been openly avowed by various Supreme Juntas. The people created these Juntas without paying any re gard to the cities who have votes in the Cortes. The legitimate power is therefore deposited with the Su preme Juntas, and, in virtue of that power, they have governed and do govern with real authority, and have been and still are acknowledged and obeyed by all ranks of subjects, and by all cities in their respective districts having votes in the Cortes. Their situation has not changed ; the danger still exists ; no new authority has supervened ; the lawful au thority therefore resides entire in the Juntas which the people created, and to which they confided it. " It is, therefore, incontestible that the Supreme Juntas have the sole and exclusive right of electing those who are to compose the Supreme Government, as the only means of protecting and preserving the kingdom, Whose defence the people have entrusted to them, and which cannot be accomplished but by the establishment of a Supreme Government. No thing is more evident than this truth. • " And whom shall the Supreme Junta elect ? Most certainly individuals of their own body ; for they elone derive their power from the people, and it is in their constituent Members that the people have reposed .their . entire confidence. Should any other persone be chosen, they would possess neither , the confidence nor the censent of the people, and all their acts would be null and void ; and from this want of confidence, the nation would be exposed to intestine divisions, the last and greatest of all our I calamities. " Hence, if there be any province in which the military power has alone been retained, results the absolute necessity of constituting Supreme Juntas in which the power of the people shall reside, and by which they may Act. Whether they shall be consti -1 tuted by the petty Cortes or any oilier bodies, their appointment in some form or other -is indispensible, in tinier to the conahtration of the legitimate power • of the people, and the establishment of a civil do *eminent, which shall inspire confidence into the leople• 41 proceed mt. the choice of perso ns who! shall compose the Supreme Government, which, un `der the'firesent 'circumstances, cannot be legitimate, unless it has its origin in the free consent of the people. " It seems then to be indispensibly necessary, that all the Supreme Juntas, meeting on the same day s should each elect from among their own members two Deputies to form the Supreme Government, and the persons so elected should, from that moment, be reputed, and actually be the Governors-General of the kingdom ; and that as Mich they should be uni versally acknowleged and obeyed, " Their authority is well known, and cannot be subject to any doubt. The Supreme Junta of Valen cia has most judiciously marked its extent and limits, in the paper which they published on this question, on the 16th of July. We shall, therefore, be excused from going more at large into the consideration of it. " We will only add, that the Supreme Juntas ought to be continued with all their appointments and insignia, and be invested with the internal Go vernments of their respective provinces, until the con*- elusion of the present state of things, but at the same time under due subordination to the Supreme Go vernment. Tit thoie Supreme Juntas resides the le gitimate power of those portions of the people who have respectively created them. It is their duty ;o take measures for insuring the happiness of their.con stituentl, through the medium of a just Government, and vigilantly to protect and defend the rights of every individual among them. For this purpose they ought to give their instructions to their respective Deputies, constituting the Supreme Government ; and it will be the duty of the Litter to observe them, and to repreSent and support the claims of their pro vinces, as far as may be consistent with the general prosperity. " If there existed among us a Royal Personlgi., capable of presiding in this Supreme Government, reason and justice prescribe that he, and no other, should b appointed to that office. But if there be no such Royal Personage, the Supreme Government must elect a President from its own body. To , ab viate. every danger, however, the l'residency should he temporary's and continue only for a fortnight, a month, or any other term agreeable to the Supreme Government, up in the lapse of which period it should be incumbent un them to choose a different pers-n. We have already rem ii ked, and it is unnecessary to repeat it, that the Supreme Juntas should elect as Deputies to the Supreme Government such of their Members as are most distinguished for their talents, their general knowledge of lesf,isl.ttion, and all the branches of public welfare and Gov runient, rz_scol- kcting that They' arc tobe the depositories of the hnpcs of the kingdom. The Supreme Alma, in full rei ance open the generous character c-f Spaniar,N and their ardent attachment to the good of their country, assures itself that intrigue, party, or personal interest or predelictions, will have no influence uroit this oc casion. . " The Supreme Juntas will, in the first instance, appoint the place which shall be the seat of the Su• preme G.)vernment, who shall afzerwarcls adhere to or alter that appointment, as they think fit, accord.. ing to a plurality of votes. The seat of Government, as has been mast wisely observed by the Supreme , Junta of Valencia, ou g ht to be a t a dist anc e f r o m all the dangers of war, and should, as a claim to pre ference, possess other advantages of a local nature. Seville conceives herself to possess all these advan tages, but has no anxiety to he selected ; for she will ; most cordially sacrifice all her claims to what the other Supreme Juntas shall decide to be for the gene ral. prosperity of the kingdom. The Supreme Juntas will, therefore, make known their pleasure as to this point, when they notify the election of their Depu ties. In the mean time we will frankly state that La Mancha appears to us most convenient for the Seat of Government, and there we would particularly name its large cities of Ciudal Real or Almagro.— But on the subject we are nowise anxious ; we leave it entirely to the free choice of the Supreme Juntas. " It remains only that we speak of this-Supreme Junta of Seville, upon which point we shall not say much. Certain persons, either ignorant or malevo lent, have endeavoured to spread the persuasion that we affected a superiority over the other provinces. Any such thought has been far from us, although the general good of the nation has been our guide, and as it were the soul of all our determinations. We pos sessed the only foundery for cannon in the kingdom, and aims and ammunition in a certain degree of abundance. Various Captains General aCknowedge us from the commencement, and veteran troops were more numerous in our province than in other parts ; and thus we formed an army in a shorter time, and have harrassed the enemy, who have surrendered pri soners of war, with their General Dupont„ and have capitulated for the divisions of Generals Vedel and Gobert, who are to be condue.e.l to France, amount ing, altogether, to 17,006 men, so that there does not remain a single F:ench soldier in arms in the Anda lusias ; a. victory most glorious and singular, which' has been effected without the effusion of much Spa nish blood, in which it appears we stand alone. " The local situation of the Andalusias presents also a more probable mode of defence against the arms of Napoleon, if he means to attack us ; and, with this view, we have united with us the Portuguese provinces of Agarve and Alentexo, who have placed themselves under our protection ; and the Canary Isles hive sent us a - deputy fbr the same purpose. The greater opulence and other peculiar circum stances of these provinces offers resources which the rest want ; and we have thus been enabled to make provision for immense expence, without having re ceived any money from any other part, or imposed any contributions. " The marine arsenal of the Isle of Leon, perhaps the most considerable of all, obeyed;us from the be ginning, and with it the Spanish squadron off Cadiz, whose force is the - greatest, and has been since aug mented by that of the . French moored in that harbour, and surrendered to us at discretion. " Gibraltar, the famous English fortress, is in our territory, and one of the most numerous squadrons of that nation, kept our coast in a state of blockade. We immediately, therefore, opened a communication with Gibraltar and with the English squadron, which has given us all the assistance that was in its power; • sent us a resident Minister at the very first, and conveyed our Deputies to London to reque.t subsidies, • and settle a peace advantageous to the whole natloa. s Amidst so many seri:rases, we have transit:lV. tad all the arras which it s possible to transit* tai Granada. Estramadura h s received a still greater number, and has experienced•our protectiosi, and so has Cordova and Jaen. We have offered arms to La Mancha, fo Murcia, to Tarragon, to Gerona, wh o requested them of es, and we exerted ourselves to utmost to fulfil the promises which we had made. 4 , We have not forgot the rest of the Europea n provinces . and kingdoms, and we h o p e i n t i me t h at the effects of our zeal and vigilance will be made clear and public. _ _ _ : " The Americas claimed at the first a great share of our attention, in order to preserve that so principal a part of the Spanish monarchy. We have sent. En. voys and Commissaries thither and to Asia, ht order that they may unite themselves to us, which we could not do without qualifying ourselves as the Supreme Junta for the Government of Spain and the Indies, and we trust that this title and our cares will not In found useless. So many labours, surrounded by 4 many dangers, will, we trust, de serve some cersi. deration of country, for the love and defence of which only we have done and sufferzd so much. " With all this, we repeat 'that we neither affect nor desire any superiority. Whatever we have d.}ne, we owed. to our country; it was an indispensible obligation upon us. Our only object is, that Spai n may preserve its integrity and independence, for our' Lord and King, Ferdinand VII. and for that okect we joyfully sacrifice our lives. May Gon, wHe h as so clearly and marvellously shewn his protection of Spain, grant a _safe - return to its King Ferdinand VII. and then with the Supreme Government, he will det ermine vv,hat may be him Royal will, either corn. minding an union of the Cortes, or by such other meths as his prudence may suggest, and will facili. tat:• the ref arm of abuses and the general happiness f the kingdom, securing it upon such foundations as are firm, and subject to no change, 't If these hopes are vain, in which the clemency of GOD leads us to indulge ; then the existing Su. pxme G )vernment will itself dete rm i ne w h at is most conduriv! to the interest of the kingdom. conforming itself to the fundamental laws thel-eof, defending it af-a'nst the fury and malice of our enemies, and pre. serving this monarchy, in %%bleb itself; the liberty of n (lions, and the Catholic Church, the beloved spouse of our Loan JESUS CHRIST, is so deeply interested. " Given at the Royal Palace of Seville, this 3d day of August, ISM " Fifa NCIS SA ArKnR A, ATChbillll3p of I.aodicea. • • " ' rt.e lkan of the Chapter of the Holy Church. " FRANCIS XAVIER CIRNYVIC•O3. " VOICENT KURE. " FRANCIS DIAZ BERSIUDO. " MANUEL. GILL, C. M. " Father JosErut RAVIREZ. " IVAN FCR:VANDO AGVIRE..—Count " Marquic d - l.t GuAst NA—M a / 2 11'J cll. TORRES, " And tleven other,. " By command of his Serene Highness." \ICH, (CATALOWA) AUG. 21. This Junta of Government Las just received the following official dispatch from Gerona,whcli it has tens to communicate to the puhlic, in order to satisfy the'r just desists of knowing the destruction of the French army : . . 4 , Immediately on receiving noice that the enemy had abandoned his camp, and taken a shameful flight in two divisions, one part towards Barcelona, and the other towards Figueras, every possible care was taken to pursue them, and to prevent the people from suffering ar.y detriment by them on their march. " Don Francisco de Milans immediately undertook the pursuit of those by the coast, along with the light troops that were under his command : and I)(n3itan Claros set off in quest of those who took the road to , Figneras, with the peasantry, who put themselves under his orders on the 16th. 4 , This morning the Junta has heard from the coast that on the arrival of the French yesterday at Cala, and the adjoinin4 towns, the English frigates, and the squadron of St. Felece, put them into so hasty a flight, that they were obliged to abandon their artil. Ivry, which Lensi.ted of six cannons and 70 waggons of various stores, part of which they Lurned. As soon as the people on the coast had notice that the French were marching that way, they imnrdinely signified their route as far as Saint Boy, and it is known that 600 men marched out of St. Colom 1, and 4.00 from Os:a . r . c' , in pursuit of them; and they likewise inform us, that in .St. Boy '20:)0 Inca we:e in readiness to prevent the entrance of the enemy into that capital. l'he success of this attempt will be the more probable, as the French are in a st to of the utmost trey:Lint:on. ~ From / 1 ..711pm-dant they state, that the French had arrived at Lien, and had imposed upon the peo ple of that ttiwn an oppressive conti ibution of wine and flour. In consequence of this advice, Genial Count Caldaques had given orcLrs, that a body d troops from Lerida should immediately form a junc- tion with the forces of De Clams, to try to cut them off, and prevent the people from supplying the enemy with wine and flour. _ _ As soon as we receive notice of the resalt (1 these two expeditions, we shall give your Excellency notice thereof. " JULIAN BE 801.111115 , . " " Gerona, Aug. 19. " To the Supr:me Junta of the City of 'rich." hrum the Coruona Diary, Sept. 7.] MANRFSA, AUG. 24. The Gazette of Saragossa informs us that the fol• lowing persons are named for deputies or representa twes for the General Junta of the Kingdom. For the kingdom of Valencia, their Excellencies the Count de Contamina and Prince Pio ; for our own Principality of Catalonia, his Excellency the Marquis of Valet, Grandee of Spain, and Gentleman of the King's Bed chamber, and Baron de Sabosena ; for the kingdom . of Arragon, the Count de Sastago, Grandee of Sp ats of the first class, and Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Charles 111. and Seignor D 56 Francisco de Palafox and Melzi, Brigadier-General of the Royal Armies, Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Commander of that of Amu& in Alcantara, Chief Master of the Horse, and Gm tleman of the Bedchamber co our Sovereign Lord King Ferdinand VII. and Don Lorenzo Cairo de Rozas, linen lantZeneral of the army and kingdom of Arragon, Corregidor of that illustrious capital and its precincts, and President of the Junta of Hacienda; of whom the two first, by orders of his Excelled the Captain-General of the same kingdom, im mtch ately set off to Guadalaxara, and the third will In?: crd three or four days before that appointed Of toe