text:  "I entered Corunna just before nightfall and although a regular fortress seaport and chief place of the province--_Cosas de Espana_--not a sentinel was mounted on the works!" Guards desert their post--witness the attack on the palace when seventeen men were present out of sixty-five; a governor is absent from his province at the very time when he is most wanted there; an official is sent for by one of his superiors and returns for answer that he can certainly come if necessary but hopes he shall be excused as it would occasion him the trouble of dressing himself--this in the middle of the day