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well-disposed Spaniards of the metropolis expected that they would conduct them- 

 selves in this critical conjuncture, at least, with the prudence which their fore- 

 fathers had manifested in the war of the Succession. Moreover, there came orders 

 from the council of Castille, requiring that oaths of allegiance should be taken 

 for the new King Joseph, with others for the Emperor Napoleon, and an additional 

 mass of printed papers were distributed on the occasion. As these papers im- 

 posed a responsibility on the chiefs of the Viceroyalty for whatever contravention 

 or resistance might take place, and as the affair was of such high importance, the 

 government thought they could free themselves from such responsibility by 

 transferring it to the people, who might, of their own accord, take a resolution 

 for which they themselves wanted courage, and which, being adopted as it 

 were by the force of the general will, would prevent any blame being attri- 

 buted to the persons in power. The Cabildo were of opinion, that the state of 

 the monarchy should be made public, and that, by burning the papers brought by 

 the emissary, (which was done to the printed ones, but not to the ministerial orders, 

 &c.) an idea of the nature of his commission might go forth, and they might 

 then wait to see what part the people would take, still inclining them to hope 

 for a favourable turn to the existing disasters, which, in their judgment, were but 

 transitory. Liniers executed all this in the most dexterous manner, without 

 closing the way against the introduction of his own plan, and without losing sight 

 for a moment of his attachment to the French. The proclamation he issued, 

 announcing the state of Spain, and the disappearance of the reigning family, wiW 

 be an eternal monument of his sinister intentions, as well as a source of shame to 

 the people, for having suffered him to insult them by invoking the name of 

 Napoleon in order to influence their conduct. 



It is naturally to be supposed, that he would still keep on the best terms with 

 the French officer, whom he treated, in private, with every civility ; and in order 

 that he might shelter him from the insults of the multitude, who began to be 

 disgusted at transactions which they could not comprehend, as well as that the 

 real nature of his intentions might not transpire, he persuaded this officer to go to 

 Monte- Video, where he might expect an early opportunity of returning to France, 

 the brig that brought him having been run aground to avoid an Englifh frigate 

 which was in chace of her. In the course of a process afterwards inftituted re- 

 specting the flight attempted by this individual, an official letter has been published, 

 from Liniers to the Governor of Monte- Video, in which he enjoins that the 

 greatest respect and attention be paid to the person of the emissary, as charged 



