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