'But if you apply the observation to what has been termed out of doors secret diplomacy, do you agree with your predecessors in denying that there is any such carried on?—There is none such carried on; anything that is agreed upon is a matter of public despatch.
'And so is put on record in the office?—Yes.'—Ibid., 307–8.
3
The Marquess Wellesley on the Spanish Supreme Central Junta, 1809:[1]
'The constitution of the Supreme Spanish Junta is not founded on any well-understood system of union among the provinces, and still less on any just or wise distribution of the elements or powers of government; the confederacy of the provinces still exists; the executive power is weakened and dispersed in the hands of an Assembly too numerous for unity of council or promptitude of action, and too contracted for the purpose of representing the body of the Spanish Nation. The Supreme Central Junta is neither an adequate representative of the Crown, nor of the aristocracy, nor of the people; nor does it comprize any useful quality either of an executive council or of a deliberative assembly, while it combines many defects which tend to disturb both deliberation and action.
'Whether this Government, so ill-informed, be deficient in sincerity to the cause of Spain and of the Allies, is certainly questionable: whatever jealousy exists against the British Government or the Allies, is principally to be found in this body, its officers, or adherents; in the people no such unworthy sentiment can be traced. But, omitting all questions respecting the disposition of the Junta, it is evident that it does not possess any spirit of energy or activity, any degree of authority or strength; that it is unsupported by popular attachment or goodwill, while its strange and anomalous constitution unites the contradictory inconveniences of every known form of government, without possessing the advantage of any.
'It is not an instrument of sufficient power to accomplish
- ↑ See above, p. 52, foot-note.
