[360] He was born in 1743.
[361] For a complete list of the names and professions of the members of the Junta, see the [Appendix].
[362] See the letters of Doyle quoted in Napier, i. 287.
[363] Joseph Bonaparte to Napoleon, Sept. 5, 1808.
[364] I find the story of Cuesta’s projected coup d’état (in Toreño, i. 267), which was supposed to rest on the authority of Castaños alone, completely corroborated in Sir Charles Vaughan’s private diary. On Sept. 15 Vaughan, while passing through Segovia, met Cuesta, who told him ‘that two measures were absolutely necessary: (1) the abolition of the provincial Juntas, and the restoration of the ancient authority of the Captains-General and Real Audiencia; (2) The exercise of military force over the Junta at Ocaña (i.e. the supreme ‘Central Junta’) sufficient to compel them to elect an executive council of three or five persons to be placed at the head of different departments, and to be responsible to the nation at large.’ This is precisely what Cuesta proposed to Castaños.
[365] So Toreño. Arteche says that he was to concentrate at Aranda.
[366] His very elaborate vindication of himself can be read in his pamphlet of September, 1808, which was translated into English in the same winter, and reprinted in London. It contains a good account of the Bayonne business, and many valuable state papers.
[367] For these documents see the Madrid Gazette of Oct. 4.
[368] Manifesto of the Junta to the Spanish people, Oct. 26.
[369] Madrid Gazette of Oct. 18, p. 1,301.