The _supreme junta_ was itself in fear of the old _junta of Seville_, and the folly and arrogance of the first and its neglect of the public weal furnished ample grounds of attack, as a slight sketch of its administrative proceedings will suffice to prove. The king, after the battles of Medellin and Ciudad Real, had, through the medium of don Joachim Sotelo, a Spanish minister in his service, made an attempt to negotiate for the submission of the junta, which was spurned at by the latter, in suitable terms, for dignified sentiments and lofty expressions were never wanting to the Spanish, although, taken with their deeds, they were but as a strong wind and a few shrivelled leaves. The junta did not fail to make the nation observe their patriotism upon this occasion, and, indeed, took every opportunity to praise their own proceedings. Nevertheless, men were not wanting in Spain most anxious, not only to check the actual abuses of power, but to lay bare all the ancient oppressions of the country, and recur to first principles, both for present reform and future permanent good government; in short, to make public avowal of the misrule which had led to their misfortunes, and, if possible, to amend it. Knowing that although national independence may co-exist with tyranny, it is inseparable from civil and religious freedom,--they desired to assemble the cortez, and to give the people an earnest that national independence was worth having; to convince them that their sufferings and their exertions would lead to a sensible good, instead of a mere choice between an old and a new despotism; and this party was powerful enough to have a manifesto to their purpose drawn up by the junta, and it would have been published, if the English ministers had not interposed; for, as I have before said, their object was not Spain, but Napoleon. [Sidenote: Parliamentary Papers, printed 1810.] Mr. Frere vigorously opposed the promulgation of this manifesto, and not ambiguously hinted that the displeasure of England, and the wrath of the partizans of despotism in Spain, would be vented on the junta, if any such approach to real liberty was made. In his despatches to his cabinet he wrote that, from his knowledge of the members of the junta, he felt assured they would “_shrink from the idea of giving permanent effect to the measures which they held out_;” and this expression he meant in their praise! but still he thought it necessary to check the tendency to freedom in the outset; and it would be injustice not to give his sentiments in his own words, sentiments which were at this time perfectly agreeable to his immediate superior, Mr. Canning, but offering a curious contrast to the political liberality which that politician afterwards thought it his interest to affect. Writing as a Spaniard, Mr. Frere thus addressed don Martin Garay:-- [Sidenote: Papers laid before Parliament, 1810.]