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? ♦CUESTA’S VINDICATION OF HIS CONDUCT.♦ 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