the purposes for which it was formed; nor can it ever acquire sufficient force or influence to bring into action the resources of the country and the spirit of the people with that degree of vigour and alacrity which might give effect to foreign alliances, and might repel a powerful Invader.
'This is the true cause at least of the continuance of that state of weakness, confusion, and disorder, of which the British Army has recently experienced the consequences in the in administration of Spain, and especially of her military affairs,
'… The original powers delegated to the Junta have not been clearly defined, either with relation to time or authority.'—Marquess Wellesley to the Right Hon. George Canning: Seville, 15th September 1809.—Papers relating to Spain and Portugal, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 19th March 1810, p. 87.
Compare: … 'Spain, where the disposition to rely upon every thing rather than its own exertions is unfortunately so strongly marked in all the proceedings of the Supreme Junta.'
Canning to Wellesley: Foreign Office, 12th August 1809.—House of Commons Papers, 24th May 1810, p. 27.
See also Despatches and Correspondence of the Marquess of Wellesley during his Lordship’s Mission to Spain as Ambassador Extraordinary to the Supreme Junta in 1809, ed. by Martin (1838), pp. 119–35, and p. 192. The version of Wellesley’s dispatch in the House of Commons Papers is that which has been followed in the extract given above.
4
Mr. Gladstone on the Treaty-making Power: the Cession of Heligoland:
Mr. Gladstone in the House of Commons, July 24, 1890, following Sir J. Fergusson, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who had moved the second reading of the Anglo-German Agreement Bill:
'… He [Sir J. Fergusson] said, towards the close of his speech, that the House was asked to accede to the cession of Heligoland. That is perfectly true in point of form. It
