MURAT ENTERS MADRID. THE ROYAL FAMILY INVEIGLED TO BAYONNE.
TRANSACTIONS AT THAT PLACE.
♦1808. MARCH.
MINISTRY FORMED BY FERDINAND.♦
The first act of Ferdinand VII. evinced either his delusion with
respect to the designs of Buonaparte, or his fear of offending him;
it was to dispatch instructions that Solano’s troops, which were on
their march to Talavera, should remain under Junot’s orders; and
that the French, who were approaching Madrid, should be received as
friends and allies. The new King reappointed the five Secretaries
of State, whose offices terminated with the former reign. D. Pedro
Cevallos, who was one, sent in his resignation; perhaps he wished to
withdraw as much as possible from increasing difficulties and dangers,
against which there appeared no remedy; and he was conscious that some
degree of unpopularity attached to him because of his connexion with
Godoy. Ferdinand, however, by a public decree, refused to accept his
resignation: it had been proved to him, he said, that though Cevallos
had married a cousin of the Prince of the Peace, he never participated
in the projects of which that man was accused; and he was therefore a
servant of whom the King would not deprive himself. It was affirmed
by the Prince and his friends that Godoy had actually aspired to the
throne; an accusation too absurd for any but the vulgarest credulity
of an inflamed people. This wretched minion now felt that there are
times when despotism itself proves even-handed as justice. He was sent
prisoner to the Castle of Villa Viciosa: with that measure wherewith
he had dealt to others, it was now meted to him; a judicial inquiry
into his conduct was ordered, ♦GODOY’S PROPERTY CONFISCATED WITHOUT
A TRIAL.♦ and before any trial, ... before any inquiry, the whole of
his property was confiscated. Processes were also instituted against
his brother, and many of his creatures. The decree which announced
this declared Ferdinand’s intention of speedily coming to the capital
to be proclaimed; expressing however his wish that the inhabitants
would previously give him proofs of their tranquillity, since he had
communicated to them his efficient edict against the late favourite.
By the same proclamation the Duque del Infantado, a nobleman of the
highest character, was appointed to the command of the Royal Spanish
Guards, and to the presidency of Castille. All those persons who
were confined in consequence of the affair which happened at the
Escurial (thus the conspiracy was spoken of) were recalled near his
royal person. D. Miguel Jose de Azanza, a man of high character,
who had held the important office of viceroy of Mexico, was made
minister of finance; D. Gonzalo de O’Farril, who had recently returned
from a military command in Tuscany, was first appointed director
general of the artillery, and presently afterwards minister of war.
The Marquis Caballero was retained in the council; and, true to the
maxims and spirit of the vile system which he had so long supported,
he contrived to give a character of ungraciousness to the best act
of the new government. Next to the punishment of Godoy, what all men
most desired was the release of Jovellanos; an order was immediately
issued for this, but it passed through Caballero’s hand, and he,
instead of wording it in those honourable terms which were designed
by the new King, expected by the people, and required by the case,
expressed the royal pleasure as if it were an act of grace conferred
upon a pardoned criminal, not an act of justice to an irreproachable
and injured man. The new government suspended the sale of certain
church property, upon which the fallen minister had ventured in the
plenitude of his power; and they issued an edict for destroying wolves,
foxes, and other animals, which had been preserved about the royal
residences to gratify Charles’s passion for the chase. These measures
were intended to court popular favour, and to cast a reproach upon the
late reign. Some vexatious imposts were taken off; and a part of the
police establishment of Madrid, which had been peculiarly odious, was
abolished. The people regarded these acts as unequivocal proofs of the
new Monarch’s excellent intentions; and the accession of Ferdinand was
considered by those who were ignorant of the difficulties by which he
was beset, and of the perilous circumstances of the country, as the
commencement of a Saturnian age, and as the point of time from which
the regeneration of Spain would be dated.
♦MURAT ENTERS SPAIN. MARCH 3.♦
Meantime Joachim Murat, brother-in-law of Buonaparte and Grand Duke
of Berg and Cleves, had arrived in Spain to take the command of all
the French forces in that country. As soon as his arrival was known,
Charles and Godoy dispatched an officer of artillery, by name Velarde,
to congratulate him, on the part of the King, and to take care that
nothing was wanting for the subsistence and accommodation of his
troops. Murat reached Aranda, on the Duero, on the 17th, the day when
the first disturbances broke out at Aranjuez; and there he desired
Velarde would write to the court and inform them that his instructions
were to march rapidly towards Cadiz; but that he should perhaps take
it upon himself to stop some days at Madrid, though he had no orders
to that effect: he should not, however, proceed farther than St.
Augustine’s without having determined with the Spanish government the
number of troops which were to enter the capital, and the time and
the manner, so that they might be no charge to the inhabitants. He
added, that he was in momentary expectation of dispatches from his
master; that he should very soon be able to inform the Spanish nation
what were the Emperor’s views; that he could now positively announce
his intention of going to Madrid, and that probably in the course of
eight days he would have crossed the Pyrenees. Velarde’s letter, which
communicated this intelligence, was addressed to the Prince of the
Peace; but it was received by the new ministers, and it increased their
perplexities and alarms.
♦THE PEOPLE OF MADRID EXHORTED TO RECEIVE THE FRENCH AS FRIENDS.♦
They informed the people however by a proclamation, that their King
had notified the happy event of his accession to the French Emperor,
and assured him, that far from changing the political system of his
father toward France, he would endeavour to draw closer the bonds of
friendship and strict alliance, which so fortunately subsisted between
the French Emperor and Spain. This communication, it was said, was
made in order that the council of Madrid might act conformably to the
King’s sentiments, by taking measures for restoring tranquillity in
the metropolis, as well as for receiving the French troops who were
about to enter that city, and for administering to them every requisite
assistance. They were to endeavour also to convince the people that
these troops were coming as friends, and for purposes advantageous to
the King and to the nation. The very fact that it was thought necessary
to tell the people this, shows that they were not so besotted as to
believe it. These were strange times, when a Spanish King informed the
people of his measures, and, as it were, appealed to popular opinion;
... but stranger events were at hand.
All the foreign ministers congratulated Ferdinand upon his accession,
except Beauharnois, from whom, after the part which he had taken
concerning the expected marriage and throughout the affair of the
Escurial, congratulation might first have been expected; he withheld
this act of recognition, because he had not been furnished with the
necessary instructions. ♦THE FRENCH ENTER MADRID.♦ Murat was now
advancing toward Madrid, and the general anxiety was heightened by the
more unexpected intelligence that Buonaparte himself, he who made and
unmade princes with a breath, was on the way to Bayonne. He supposed
that the royal family were at this time on the coast and on the point
of embarkation, and that the people, in their fear of anarchy, would
receive the French commander with open arms as their deliverer. The
occurrences at Aranjuez were altogether unexpected; and as soon as he
was informed of them, Murat accelerated his march. The approach of such
an army, the silence of the French Ambassador, the mysteriousness of
Buonaparte, and his journey to Spain, perplexed and alarmed Ferdinand.
He had communicated his accession to this Emperor in the most friendly
and affectionate terms; ... fear could suggest no other. Lest this
should be deemed insufficient, he appointed a deputation of three
grandees to proceed to Bayonne, and compliment him in his name; and
another grandee was sent, in like manner, to compliment Murat, who had
already reached the vicinity of Madrid. This worthy agent was fully in
his master’s confidence; he assured Ferdinand that Buonaparte might
be every moment expected; and he spoke publicly of his coming. Orders
were therefore given for preparing apartments in the palace suitable
for such a guest; and the King, whose fears made him restless, wrote
again to Buonaparte, saying how much he desired to become personally
acquainted with him, and to assure him, with his own lips, of his
ardent wishes to strengthen more and more the alliance which subsisted
between them. ♦MAR. 23.♦ Murat, evidently for the purpose of displaying
his forces, reviewed them before the walls; then made his entrance into
Madrid, preceded by the imperial horse-guards, and by his staff, and
followed by all the cavalry, and by the first division of foot under
General Mounier; two other divisions were encamped without the city,
and a detachment proceeded to take possession of Toledo. Ferdinand
made his public entry on horseback the following ♦MAR. 24.♦ day, amid
the ringing of bells and the discharge of artillery, but with no
other parade than that which, under happier circumstances, would have
been the most grateful of all spectacles; ... a concourse of all the
people of the capital and its vicinity, rejoicing in his presence, and
testifying, by their acclamations, that they expected from him the
regeneration of their country. But never did poor prince succeed to
such a crown of thorns.
The conduct of the French Ambassador had shown what was to be expected
from the French General. Murat declared that until the Emperor
Napoleon had acknowledged Ferdinand VII. it was impossible for him
to take any step which might appear like such an acknowledgment: he
therefore must be under the necessity of treating with the royal
family. But Murat was better acquainted than Beauharnois with his
master’s designs; as if taking the deposed King and Queen under his
protection, he sent a numerous body of troops to Aranjuez to guard
them; and he caused it to be understood that the French would interpose
in behalf of Godoy. Both these measures might have been taken with
honourable designs; but when the French General, Grouchy, ♦GENERAL
GROUCHY MADE GOVERNOR OF MADRID.♦ was made governor of Madrid, a sort
of military government established there, and patroles instituted
to preserve the peace, under the joint superintendence of a French
officer and a Spaniard, sufficient indications were given of an
intention to occupy the capital as the frontier fortresses had been
occupied. A legitimate government which should have had no other cause
of disquietude, would have been perplexed at such a crisis; but the
attention of Ferdinand and his ministers was distracted by personal
considerations: instead of feeling like the sovereign of a proud and
ancient people, the new King was in the situation of one who had to
defend a bad title, and that not by an appeal to arms, but tremblingly
before a superior and a judge.
♦DECLARATION CONCERNING THE AFFAIR OF THE ESCURIAL, MARCH 31.♦
A declaration concerning the affair of the Escurial was made
public on the last day of the month, for the purpose of proving
that neither Escoiquiz, nor the Duque del Infantado, nor the other
persons implicated in the charge of conspiracy, had been guilty of
any misconduct. It was acknowledged that the Prince had in his own
hand-writing commissioned Infantado to assume the command of the troops
in New Castille, in case of his father’s demise, and the alleged
reason was a fear lest Godoy should continue at such a time to make an
improper use of his influence and power. Such a pretext was too shallow
to obtain belief in any calm or considerate mind: the King’s age and
state of health rendered it probable that he might live many years, and
in the event of his death, no man doubted but that Godoy, who held his
power only upon favouritism, must instantly become the wretch that this
revolution made him. As for his aspiring to the throne himself, it is
impossible that he should even for a moment have entertained so frantic
a thought, and almost as impossible that they who made the charge
against him should themselves have believed it.
♦THE ABDICATION REPRESENTED AS A VOLUNTARY ACT.♦
In the deed of abdication Charles called it his own free and voluntary
act, and especial care was taken by the new administration to represent
it as such. He had certainly remembered the examples of Charles V.
and Philip V. and a thought of imitating them had passed across his
mind in moments when difficulties pressed upon him, and he was sick
of the cares of government. This is certain: it is probable also that
the Prince’s party might not have formed the plan of sending him into
retirement unless they had known that he himself had entertained,
however transiently, a wish of retiring. To talk even among themselves
of deposing the King, would have had a startling sound; and have
brought into the prospect scaffolds and executioners as well as places
and power. But it was easy to persuade both themselves and Ferdinand
that their object was so to act as to make his father carry into effect
that wish and wise intention, which, without some such external motive,
he would for ever want resolution to effect for himself. They may have
reasoned thus, and have meant well, and have acted with a patriotic
purpose; nevertheless the act itself bore marks of deposition[27], not
less decided than the abdication of James in England.
♦CHARLES COMPLAINS TO THE FRENCH.♦
These circumstances tallied well with Buonaparte’s designs, and they
were dexterously improved by Murat. Even before he entered Madrid,
General Mouthion was dispatched to Aranjuez with a letter to the
Queen of Etruria, which contained assurances to the deposed King of
Buonaparte’s support. A snare was laid for the imbecile Charles, and
he rushed into it. However compulsory the act of abdication might have
been, it was now as much his interest as that of his family, that he
should acquiesce in it. But actuated by a sense of his wrongs, and
still more perhaps by the Queen, who, trembling for her paramour, hated
her son with all the virulence of an adulterous mother, he committed
his last and consummating folly, by appealing to the very tyrant, whose
open and undisguised aggressions had driven him, not a week before,
to the resolution of abandoning his throne and seeking refuge in
America. He assured Mouthion that the revolution had been preconcerted
and brought about by money; that his son and Caballero were the chief
agents; that he had signed the act of abdication only to save the
Queen’s life and his own, knowing that if he had refused they would
both have been murdered in the course of the night. The conduct of the
Prince of Asturias was more shocking, he added, inasmuch as having
perceived his desire to reign, and being himself near threescore years
of age, he had agreed to surrender the crown to him on his marriage
with a French princess, an event which he, the King, ardently desired.
The Prince, he added, chose that he and the Queen should retire to
Badajoz, though he had remonstrated against the climate as injurious
to his health, and entreated permission to choose another place, his
wish being to obtain leave of the Emperor to purchase an estate where
he might end his days. The Queen said she had begged her son at least
to postpone their departure for Badajoz, but even this was refused,
and they were to set out on the following Monday. This fact alone
would evince how little the inclinations of Charles were consulted
throughout these transactions. The part of Spain where Badajoz stands
is notoriously unhealthy during the summer months; and to have fixed
upon that place for the residence of the deposed monarch, and persisted
in the choice after he had objected to it on the score of his health,
implied in the new government an equal want of feeling and of sense.
♦HE WRITES TO BUONAPARTE, ENTREATING HIM TO INTERFERE.♦
Having made these complaints, Charles delivered into Mouthion’s
hands a formal protest, declaring that the decree of abdication was
compulsory, and therefore invalid. He charged him also with a letter
for the Emperor. “Sir, my brother,” he said, “you will not without some
interest behold a King, who having been forced to resign his crown,
throws himself into the arms of a great monarch his ally, placing every
thing at the disposal of him who alone can make his happiness and
that of all his family, and of his faithful and beloved subjects. I
abdicated in favour of my son only under the pressure of circumstances,
when the noise of arms and the clamours of a rebellious guard made me
sufficiently understand that my choice was between life and death,
and that my death would have been followed by the Queen’s. ♦1808.
APRIL.♦ I have been compelled to resign; but taking hope this day, and
full of confidence in the magnanimity and genius of the great man who
has already shown himself my friend, I have resolved to remit myself
in every thing to him, that he may dispose as he thinks good both of
us and our fate, that of the Queen and of the Prince of the Peace.”
Having consigned this letter to Mouthion, who may be suspected of
having dictated the latter expressions, he renewed his complaints. His
situation, he said, was one of the most deplorable. They had seized the
Prince of the Peace and would put him to death, for no other crime than
that of having been at all times attached to his sovereign. There were
no solicitations which he had not made to save the life of his unhappy
friend, but he found every one deaf to his prayers and bent upon
vengeance; and the death of Godoy would draw after it his own, for he
should not survive him.
♦LETTERS OF THE QUEEN TO MURAT.♦
No King ever placed his favour more unworthily than Charles, but there
was a sincerity in his friendship which almost amounts to virtue, and
would have done honour to a better monarch. The Queen’s attachment
also, which is more easily explained, had a character of enduring
passion and self-abandonment seldom to be found in one at once so
vicious and so weak. From this time she wearied Murat with letters,
written in the most barbarous French and most confused manner, wherein
she expressed her fears and her resentments. Ferdinand, she said, was
the enemy of the French, though he declared the contrary. Infantado
was very wicked; the priest Escoiquiz one of the most wicked; and San
Carlos, the most crafty of all, had received all that he had from
the King at the solicitation of the poor Prince of the Peace, whom
he called his relation. She had no other support than the Grand Duke
and the Emperor, those two sacred and incomparable persons.... But
the Prince of the Peace made the burthen of every letter. “Nothing
interests us,” she said, “but the safe condition of our only and
innocent friend the Prince of the Peace, the friend of the Grand Duke;
even in his prison when he exclaimed on the horrid treatment they were
giving him, he called always upon his friend the Grand Duke. Before
this conspiracy he wished for his arrival, and that he would deign to
accept of his house as a residence.... He had presents to make him....
We are in constant fear of their killing or poisoning him. Let the
Grand Duke cause troops to go without telling why, and without giving a
moment of time to fire a pistol at him separate the guard that is set
over him, which has no other glory in view, no other desire but to kill
him, ... that innocent friend, so devoted to the French, to the Grand
Duke and the Emperor, the poor Prince of the Peace. They heap crimes on
this innocent Prince, our common and only friend, to inflame the public
the more, and make them believe it is right to inflict on him all
possible infamy. Afterwards they will come to me; ... they will make
his head be cut off in public, and afterwards mine, for they say so....
He suffers because he is a friend of the Grand Duke, of the Emperor,
and of the French; the Grand Duke and the Emperor are they alone who
can save him, and if he be not saved and given to us, the King my
husband and I will die.” Every letter was filled with these anxious
solicitations: of the throne there seemed to be neither care nor
thought; with the mob at Aranjuez before her eyes, and the recollection
of Marie Antoinette in her heart, this wretched woman was sick of
royalty; she asked only an allowance for the King, herself, and Godoy,
upon which they might live all three together, in a situation suiting
their health; ... a corner wherein they might quietly finish their
days; ... some place near France, to be within reach of help against
the bloody hands of his enemies. Her feelings toward Ferdinand were not
less strongly expressed than her attachment to Godoy. “My son,” she
says, “has a very bad heart: his character is bloody; his counsellors
are bloody; they take pleasure only in making wretchedness, and his
heart has no feeling for father or mother. He will make his enmity to
the French appear when he thinks he can see occasion.... I fear they
will make some attempt against them; ... the people are gained with
money. When the Grand Duke shall have placed the poor Prince of the
Peace in safety, let rather strong measures be taken, for otherwise
intrigues will go on increasing, above all, against the poor friend of
the Grand Duke and me; and the King my husband is not secure.”
♦THE INFANTE D. CARLOS SENT TO MEET BUONAPARTE.♦
Charles’s protest and his appeal to Buonaparte were concealed from
Ferdinand, and the correspondence with Murat was carried on by means
of the Queen of Etruria, who having witnessed all which had passed at
Aranjuez, and being therefore a competent judge how far the abdication
of her father was voluntary, took part decidedly against her brother.
Murat’s intention was to frighten him into the toils; an alarm that
should have made him start, would have ruined the plot. The interest
which this Grand Duke affected for Godoy, his refusal to acknowledge
the new government, and the respect which he paid to Charles, all
tended to this end. The rumour of Buonaparte’s coming was carefully
spread abroad; fresh couriers were said to have arrived: ... the
Emperor had left Paris, and might speedily be expected in Madrid.
Packages came marked as his, his hat and his boots were shown, Murat
gave minute directions concerning the Emperor’s bath, and accepted a
table of twenty covers for him, and another for his suite. Preparations
were made for processions to do honour to the august visitor, and for
balls at the Palace of the Buen Retiro. The soldiers were told that
he would lose no time in putting himself at the head of his armies
in Spain; ♦APRIL 2.♦ they were ordered to put themselves in a state
to appear before him; and in this proclamation, which appeared in a
Madrid gazette extraordinary, the ominous notice was given, that they
would immediately be supplied with cartridge. It was hinted that it
would be a delicate compliment to the Emperor, if the Infante, Don
Carlos, (Ferdinand’s next brother,) would set off to receive him on the
way. His Highness, Murat said, could not fail to meet him before he
had proceeded two days upon his road. This was readily agreed to, and
the Infante, accompanied by the Duke del Infantado, departed upon this
fatal journey. ♦FERDINAND IS URGED TO GO AND MEET THE EMPEROR.♦ Having
secured this victim, Murat endeavoured to entice Ferdinand himself
into the snare: what had at first been hinted at, and advised as a
mark of attentive consideration, was now pressed upon him as a thing
of importance; a measure which would be attended with the happiest
consequences to himself and the kingdom. The young King hesitated; it
was more than courtesy required, more than an ally was entitled to
expect, and perhaps he felt that it was more than a King of Spain ought
to perform. Cevallos constantly advised him not to leave his capital
till he had received certain intelligence that Buonaparte had passed
the Pyrenees, and was approaching Madrid; and even then he urged him
to proceed so short a way, that it should not be necessary for him to
sleep out of his capital more than a single night. His advice prevailed
for a time against the repeated solicitations of Murat and the
ambassador Beauharnois. It became necessary, therefore, to introduce a
new actor in this detestable plot.
♦THE SWORD OF FRANCIS I. RESTORED TO THE FRENCH.♦
During the interval which elapsed before another agent could appear,
Murat informed Cevallos that the Emperor would be gratified if the
sword of Francis I. were presented to him; and he desired that this
might be intimated to the new King. It might be supposed that this
was designed not merely to gratify the French nation, but also to
lower Ferdinand in the opinion of the Spaniards, if Buonaparte and his
agents had ever taken the nobler feelings of our nature into their
calculation. But it was a mere trick for the Parisians; and neither
they nor the tyrant himself felt that France was far more dishonoured
by the circumstances under which the sword was recovered, than by the
♦MARCH 31.♦ manner in which it had been lost. Accordingly this trophy
of Pescara’s victory, which had lain since the year 1525 in the royal
armoury at Madrid, was carried in a silver basin, under a silken cloth
laced and fringed with gold, to Murat’s head-quarters, in a coach and
six, preceded by six running footmen, and under the charge of the
superintendent of the arsenal; the grand equerry and the Duke del
Parque following in a second equipage with the same state. A detachment
of the guards escorted them, and the sword was presented by the Marquis
of Astorga to Murat; he, it was said, having been brought up by the
side of the Emperor, and in the same school, and illustrious for his
military talents, was more worthy than any other person could be to
be charged with so precious a deposit, and to transmit it into the
hands of his Imperial Majesty. The people of Madrid passively beheld
the surrender of this trophy; it was the act, however compulsory, of
their lawful king, the king of their choice; the compulsion was neither
avowed on the one side, nor confessed on the other; from the imputation
of beholding it with indifference, they amply redeemed themselves.
Murat, upon receiving it, pronounced a flattering eulogium upon the
Spanish nation, ... that nation which he was in the act of plundering,
and which he came to betray and to enslave.
♦ALARM OF THE PEOPLE.♦
In spite of the patroles and rounds, and military government, the
suspicions of the people began to manifest themselves more and more,
and their poor Prince was compelled, while he concealed his own fears,
to exert his authority for suppressing theirs. ♦APRIL 3.♦ By a new
edict, it was enacted, that no liquors should be sold after eight in
the evening; master-manufacturers and tradesmen were ordered to give
notice to the police if any of their workmen or apprentices absented
themselves from their work; fathers of families were enjoined to keep
their children and domestics from mixing with seditious assemblies,
and to restrain them by good example, good advice, and the fear of
punishment. The King, it was said, was grieved to perceive that the
imprudence or malevolence of a few individuals attempted to disturb
the good understanding between the people of Madrid and the troops of
his intimate and august ally; and, as this conduct arose, perhaps,
from a ridiculous and groundless misapprehension of the intention of
those troops who were quartered in that city, and in other parts of the
kingdom, he affirmed, that his subjects ought to set aside every fear
of that nature, for the intention of the French government accorded
with his own; and so far from concealing any hostile prospects, or
the slightest invasion, had no other object than the great measures
requisite against their common enemy. If, however, any person, after
this declaration, should be rash enough, either by words or actions, to
aim at disturbing the friendship between the two nations, the guilty
would be most rigorously punished, without remission and without delay.
♦PERPLEXITY OF FERDINAND AND HIS MINISTERS.♦
In thus attempting to quiet the just alarm of the people, Ferdinand’s
ministers affected a security which they were far from feeling. Murat
had fixed his head-quarters in Godoy’s house, within two hundred steps
of the palace; not like a visitor or the representative of a friendly
power, but as the general of an army with his staff, a numerous guard,
and pieces of field artillery, evidently brought there rather for
use than for parade. He had ten thousand men in the city, and forty
thousand surrounding it, horse and foot, in perfect discipline, and
provided with every thing, as if they were the next hour to take
the field. Their communication with Bayonne was kept open by thirty
thousand more, all of whom, if they were needed, might within a few
days arrive to support the main body of the army: there was Junot
with a force estimated at thirty thousand men in Portugal, ready to
co-operate; while of the Spanish army the flower had been sent under
Romana to the North, some were under the French orders in Italy; the
rest under their power in Portugal; there remained three thousand
troops in Madrid, and a single Swiss regiment in Toledo, of which the
fidelity was suspected. The privy council, rather that it might be
said they had made the inquiry than for any hope of profiting by it,
demanded from the minister of war, Olaguer Feliu, an account of the
number of troops in Spain, and their present situation. His answer
was, that neither he, nor those in his department, had been permitted
to meddle with these things; Godoy was the only person who knew; but
that he believed, according to the general opinion, that except the
scanty garrisons in the sea-ports and at S. Roque, the few troops which
remained in the Peninsula were in Portugal under Junot.
A thought of the safest course in this exigence seems to have passed
across the mind of Escoiquiz, ... that Ferdinand should escape from
Madrid to Algeziras, where there were more troops than in any other
part of his dominions, and from whence he could always command a
sure retreat to Gibraltar. But this thought was speedily dismissed;
resistance was never seriously contemplated: perplexed and helpless as
Ferdinand and his counsellors were, they willingly deceived themselves
as to the impending danger, and there came at this time ♦DISPATCHES
FROM IZQUIERDO.♦ dispatches from Izquierdo, the favourite’s agent
at Paris, which contributed greatly to deceive them. These letters
stated the result of his conferences since he returned from Aranjuez,
with Duroc, the grand marshal of the imperial palace, and with
Talleyrand. An arrangement, they said, between the French and Spanish
governments, might arrest the course of events, and lead to a solemn
and definitive treaty upon these bases: 1st, That there should be a
perfect reciprocity of free commerce for French and Spaniards in their
respective colonies; each granting to the other this privilege, to the
exclusion of all other nations. 2ndly, Portugal being possessed by
France, France necessarily required a military road to that country;
and the continual passage of troops through Spain, to garrison it
and defend it against England, would be a constant occasion of
expense, of disputes, and unpleasant consequences, which might all be
avoided, France giving the whole of Portugal to Spain, and receiving
an equivalent in the Spanish provinces adjacent to her own empire.
3rdly, The succession of the throne must be regulated once for all:
and, lastly, there must be an offensive and defensive alliance.
Upon these grounds, the French negotiators said, an arrangement
might be concluded which would terminate happily the actual crisis
between France and Spain. Izquierdo remarked, in transmitting these
propositions, that when the existence and honour of the state and the
government were thus matter of discussion, the decision must come
from the Sovereign and his council; nevertheless, that his ardent
love for his country had compelled him to make some observations to
Talleyrand upon each of these points. Upon the first he had observed,
that to open the commerce of the Spanish Americas to France was in
reality to divide them with that power; and, moreover, that unless the
pride of England were effectually beaten down, such a measure would
render peace more distant than ever, while till peace was made, the
communications of both countries with those colonies would be cut off.
He added, that even if French commerce were permitted, French subjects
could not be allowed to settle there, in derogation of the fundamental
laws. With regard to Portugal, he reminded Talleyrand of the secret
treaty of Fontainebleau, the sacrifice of the King of Etruria, the
little that Portugal was worth, if separated from its colonies, and
its utter uselessness to Spain: then for the cession of the Pyrenean
provinces, he had dwelt upon the horror which the loss of their laws,
liberties, privileges, and language, would excite in the people, and
their abhorrence at being transferred to a foreign power; adding, that
as a Navarrese himself he never could sign a treaty for ceding Navarre
to France, and by such an act draw upon himself the execration of
his countrymen. But Izquierdo, who was but too well assured that the
French government demanded in such negotiations as these nothing which
it was not determined to obtain, qualified his objections by hinting,
that if there were no other remedy, a new kingdom or viceroyalty of
Iberia might be erected, and given to the King of Etruria, or some
other Infante of Castille. In reply to the point of succession, he
stated what the King had commanded him to say, and in a manner which
he supposed would counteract whatever calumnies had been invented
by the malignant in one country, and infected public opinion in the
other: ... these expressions probably allude to Charles’s intention
of withdrawing from the government, and to the reports that Godoy was
seeking to set aside Ferdinand from his inheritance. Lastly, with
something of a Spaniard’s feeling, he asked Talleyrand if it was
expected that Spain must be put upon a footing with the states of
the Confederacy of the Rhine, and obliged to furnish her contingent,
covering this tribute with the decorous name of a treaty offensive
and defensive? Being at peace with France, she needed not the help of
France against any other enemy, as Teneriffe, and Ferrol, and Buenos
Ayres, might bear witness. Izquierdo added, in his dispatch, that the
marriage was a thing determined; that there would be no difficulty as
to the title of Emperor, which the King was to take; that he had been
asked whether the royal family were going to Andalusia, and replied
according to the truth, that he knew nothing of their intentions. He
had in vain solicited that the French troops should evacuate Castille,
and he requested that not a moment might be lost in replying to this
communication, for the least delay in concluding an arrangement might
produce fatal consequences.
♦THE MINISTERS DECEIVED BY THESE DISPATCHES.♦
If these dispatches had been written for the purpose of deceiving those
into whose hands they fell, they could not have been better adapted to
that intent. Under Godoy the foreign minister knew as little concerning
the state of foreign negotiations, as the minister at war knew of
the state of the army; and when the bearer of these papers, finding
the favourite in prison, delivered them to the new ministers, they
thought they had now obtained an insight into the real cause of all the
alarming movements of the French. Well might France think that demands
so extravagant as these could only be obtained by force; and this would
explain the seizure of the fortresses, and the advance of an army to
Madrid. To men who had feared the whole evil which was intended, it
was a relief to imagine that Buonaparte designed to take only the
provinces beyond the Ebro, or perhaps only Navarre; propositions which
would have roused the nation to arms, were yet so far short of the
danger they apprehended, that they contemplated the required cessions
with something like complacency, and flattered themselves, that by a
constant friendship toward France, and the feeling which the marriage
would produce between the two courts, the terms might possibly be
mitigated; ... at all events, that by yielding for the present they
should obtain the restitution of Barcelona and the other fortresses;
and that what with the war which ere long must be renewed in the north,
and the thousand chances to which the game of politics is subject, they
should find opportunity when they had recovered strength, to throw off
this temporary yoke.
♦ARRIVAL OF GENERAL SAVARY AT MADRID.♦
Such were their dreams when General Savary was announced as envoy from
the Emperor, and demanded audience in that capacity. Of course it was
immediately granted. At this audience he professed that he was sent
merely to compliment Ferdinand, and to know whether his sentiments with
respect to France were conformable to those of the King his father;
if it were so, the Emperor would forego all consideration of what
had passed; would in no degree interfere with the interior concerns
of the kingdom; and would immediately recognize him as King of Spain
and of the Indies. To this the most satisfactory answer was given. It
neither was, nor could have been the intention of the Prince’s party
to offend France; the only hope which they had hitherto entertained
of regenerating their government, had been by allying themselves with
Buonaparte, and availing themselves of his power. One of the charges
which were current against Godoy among the people, was that of a
secret understanding with the English, and that he intended to deliver
Ceuta into their hands, and fly with all his treasures under their
protection. Nothing could be desired more flattering than the language
of Savary during this audience; and he concluded it by asserting that
the Emperor was already near Bayonne, and on his way to Madrid. No
sooner, however, had this envoy left the audience-chamber, than he
began, as if in his individual capacity, to execute the real object of
his mission. It would be highly grateful and flattering to his Imperial
Majesty, he said, if the King would meet him on the road: and he
asserted repeatedly, and in the most positive terms, that his arrival
might be expected every hour.
♦FERDINAND PERSUADED TO GO AND MEET BUONAPARTE.♦
The pressing instances of Savary upon this subject, while he repeatedly
and positively asserted this falsehood, were accompanied with such
intermixture of flattery and intimidating hints, as might best operate
upon a man like Ferdinand placed in such circumstances. Murat failed
not to enforce the same assurances, the same falsehoods, and the same
menaces; and the ministers therefore determined upon consenting to what
they dared not refuse. The immediate fear before their eyes was that
Buonaparte might espouse the cause of the father against the son, in
which case the least evils to be apprehended were the renovation of the
Escurial-cause, the disheritance of the Prince, and for themselves
that condign punishment which in that case they would not only suffer,
but be thought to have deserved. They knew how vain it was to rely
upon the popular favour, even if the people of Madrid had not been
under the French bayonets; it was but for Buonaparte to prevent the
Queen from taking part in public business, and to remove Godoy from the
government. Charles was not personally disliked, and his restoration
would then be hailed with as much apparent joy as had lately been
manifested for his deposal.
♦APRIL 8.♦
This resolution was made public by Ferdinand in the form of a
communication to the president of the council. “He had received,” he
said, “certain intelligence, that his faithful friend and mighty ally,
the Emperor of the French and King of Italy, was already arrived at
Bayonne, with the joyful and salutary purpose of passing through this
kingdom, to the great satisfaction of himself (the King), and to the
great profit and advantage of his beloved subjects. It was becoming the
close friendship between the two crowns, and the great character of
the Emperor, that he should go to meet him; thus giving the most sure
and sincere proofs of his sentiments, in order to preserve and renew
the good harmony, confidential friendship, and salutary alliance which
so happily subsisted, and ought to subsist between them. His absence
could last only a few days, during which he expected, from the love and
fidelity of his dear subjects, who had hitherto conducted themselves
in so praiseworthy a manner, that they would continue to remain
tranquil; that the good harmony between them and the French troops
would still be maintained; and that those troops should be punctually
supplied with every thing necessary for their maintenance.” On the
same day he appointed his uncle, the Infante Don Antonio, president
of the high council of government, as well, it was said, on account
of the ties of blood, as because of the distinguished qualities with
which he was endowed, to transact all pressing and necessary business
which might occur during his absence. In this decree he stated, that he
should go to Burgos, evidently implying an intention at that time of
not proceeding farther.
♦FERDINAND SETS OUT FROM MADRID.♦
Deceived, or fain to act as if he were deceived himself, Ferdinand
thought to deceive his father. He wrote to him, saying, that a good
understanding subsisted between the Emperor and himself, as General
Savary had testified; and for this reason he thought it fit that his
father should give him a letter for the Emperor, to congratulate him
on his arrival, and assure him that Ferdinand’s sentiments toward him
were the same as his own. Charles, in reply, ordered the messenger
to be told, that he was gone to bed, ... being determined not to
write such a letter unless he were compelled to it, as he had been
to the abdication. The son, without any such testimonials, began, on
the morning of the 11th of April, his ill-omened journey. Savary,
affecting the most assiduous attention, solicited the honour of
accompanying him; ... he had just, he said, received information of
the Emperor’s approach, and it was not possible that they should
proceed farther than Burgos before they met him. They reached Burgos,
and Buonaparte was not there, neither were there any tidings of his
drawing near. Savary, who had followed the young King in a separate
carriage, urged him to proceed to Vittoria. Ferdinand hesitated; but
the same protestations and urgent entreaties on the part of the French
envoy, and the same anxiety and secret fear which had induced him to
come thus far, made him again consent; yet so reluctantly, that the
Frenchman, on their arrival at Vittoria, thinking it would be useless
to renew his solicitations, left him there, and continued his journey
to Bayonne, there to arrange matters with his master for securing the
prey, who was now already in the toils. At Vittoria, Ferdinand received
intelligence that Buonaparte had reached Bourdeaux, and was on his way
to Bayonne. In consequence of this advice, the Infante Don Carlos, who
had been waiting at Tolosa, proceeded to the latter place, whither the
Emperor had invited him: he reached that city some days before him;
and when this modern Cæsar Borgia arrived there, he found one victim
in his power. It is said that Don Carlos soon discovered the views of
Buonaparte; and, having communicated his fears to one on whom he relied
as a Spaniard, and a man of honour, drew up, with his advice, a letter
to Ferdinand, beseeching him, as he valued the independence of his
country and his personal safety, not to proceed to Bayonne; but this
person was in the tyrant’s interest, and intercepted the messenger.
♦URQUIJO’S ADVICE TO FERDINAND AT VITTORIA.♦
While Ferdinand, meantime, was chewing the cud of reflection at
Vittoria, without those opiates of falsehood and flattery which Savary
had continually administered, D. Mariano Luis de Urquijo waited upon
him: one of the persons who had suffered under Godoy’s administration,
and who had hitherto been regarded as one of the most enlightened
Spaniards and truest friends of his country. The new King had annulled
the proceedings against him, and he now came to offer his homage and
his thanks, and his advice in this critical position of affairs. He
told the King’s counsellors that Buonaparte certainly intended to
extinguish the dynasty of the Spanish Bourbons; that the language
of the Moniteur concerning the tumults at Aranjuez, the movement of
his troops, the seizure of the fortresses, and the whole scheme of
his policy, made this evident. Fearing and believing this, he asked
them what they could propose to themselves from this journey? how
they could suffer a king of Spain thus publicly to degrade himself by
going towards a foreign state without any formal invitation, without
any preparations, without any of the etiquette which ought in such
cases to be observed, and without having been recognized as King, for
the French studiously called him still Prince of Asturias? To these
reasonable questions the poor perplexed ministers could only reply,
that they should satisfy the ambition of the Emperor by some cessions
of territory, and some commercial advantages. He made answer, that
perhaps they might give him all Spain. The Duke del Infantado appeared
to feel the force of Urquijo’s remonstrances, but asked if it were
possible that a hero like Napoleon could disgrace himself by such an
action as this apprehended treachery. Urquijo answered, that both in
ancient history and in their own they might find that great men had
never scrupled at committing great crimes for great purposes, and
posterity nevertheless accounted them heroes. The Duke observed, that
all Europe, even France itself, would be shocked at such an act; and
that Spain, with the help of England, might prove a formidable enemy.
To this Urquijo replied, that Europe was too much exhausted to engage
in new wars; and that the separate interests and ambitious views of
the different powers prevailed with each of them more than a sense
of the necessity of making great sacrifices in order to destroy the
system which France had adopted since her fatal revolution. Austria
was at this time the only power capable of opposing Buonaparte, if
Spain should rise against him; but if Russia and Germany and the rest
of Europe were on the opposite side, Austria would be vanquished; the
Spanish navy would be destroyed, and Spain would become nothing more
than a theatre of war for the English against the French; in which,
moreover, the English would never expose themselves unless they had
something to gain, for England was not capable of making head against
France in a continental war: the end would be the desolation of Spain
and its conquest. As little reason was there to rely upon any disgust
which might be felt in France at the injustice of its Emperor. In
France there was no other public spirit but what received its impulse
from the government. The French would be flattered if their Emperor
placed a member of his family on the throne of Spain; they would
perceive in such a change great political and commercial advantages to
themselves; and the numerous classes who had a deep interest in the
revolution, all who had taken part in it, all who had grown up in its
principles, ... the men of letters, the Jews, and the protestants,
would regard with satisfaction an event which, by completing the
destruction of the house of Bourbon, gave them a farther security
against the dreaded possibility of its restoration in France. What,
then, he asked, was to be done? Nothing could be hoped from arming the
nation; the internal state of Spain rendered it impossible to form a
government capable of directing its force, and popular commotions must
in their nature be of short duration: an attempt of this kind would
produce ruinous consequences in the Americas, where the inhabitants
would wish to throw off a heavy yoke, and where England would assist
in just revenge for the imprudence with which Spain had promoted
the insurrection in her colonies. He advised therefore, as the only
means which offered any hope of extricating the new King from the
danger which awaited him, that he should escape from the French, in
whose hands he already was in fact a prisoner. This might be done
at midnight, through the window of one of the adjoining houses; the
Alcaide of the city would provide means for conducting him into Aragon.
Meantime Urquijo offered to go to Bayonne as ambassador, and make the
best terms he could with the Emperor: a business so ill begun, so ill
directed, and in every way so inauspicious, could not end well; but
it might be expected that when Napoleon saw the King had escaped the
snare, and was in a situation where he could act for himself, he would
find it prudent to change his plans.
♦FERDINAND WRITES TO BUONAPARTE FROM VITTORIA.♦
These forcible representations were strengthened by D. Joseph Hervas,
son of the Marquis de Almenara; he was the brother-in-law of General
Duroc, and the intimate friend of Savary, with whom he had travelled
from Paris. Through these connexions he had obtained, if not a
certain knowledge of Buonaparte’s intentions, such strong reasons for
suspecting them, as amounted to little less; and he communicated his
fears to Ferdinand’s counsellors, and besought them, while it was yet
possible, to save him from the snare. These warnings were in vain.
But though Ferdinand’s counsellors could not be made to apprehend
the real danger, that poor Prince felt his first apprehensions return
upon him with additional force; disappointed of seeing Buonaparte,
disappointed of hearing from him, he compared this mortifying neglect
with the conduct of Murat and the ambassador, and as if to relieve his
mind by complaining, wrote to the tyrant in ♦APRIL 14.♦ a tone which
confessed how entirely he was at his mercy. Elevated to the throne, he
said, by the free and spontaneous abdication of his august father, he
could not see without real regret that the Grand Duke of Berg and the
French ambassador had not thought proper to felicitate him as King of
Spain, though the representatives of other courts with which he had
neither such intimate nor such dear relations, had hastened so to do.
Unable to attribute this to any thing but the want of positive orders
from his Imperial Majesty, he now represented with all the sincerity
of his heart, that from the first moment of his reign he had never
ceased to give the Emperor the most marked and unequivocal proofs of
attachment to his person; that his first order had been to send back to
the army of Portugal the troops which had left it to approach Madrid;
and his first care, notwithstanding the extreme penury of the finances,
to supply the French troops, making room for them by withdrawing his
own from the capital.... He spoke of the letters he had written, the
protestations he had made, the deputations he had sent. “To this
simple statement of facts,” said he, “your Majesty will permit me to
add an expression of the lively regret I feel in seeing myself deprived
of any letters from you, particularly after the frank and loyal answer
which I gave to the demand that General Savary came to make of me
at Madrid in your Majesty’s name. That general assured me that your
Majesty only desired to know if my accession to the throne would make
any change in our political relations. I answered by reiterating
what I had already written, and willingly yielding to this general’s
intreaties that I should come to meet your Majesty to accelerate
the satisfaction of being personally acquainted with you, I have in
consequence come to my town of Vittoria, without regarding the cares
indispensable from a new reign, which required my residence in the
centre of my states. I therefore urgently intreat your Majesty to put
an end to the painful situation to which I am reduced by your silence,
and to relieve by a favourable answer the disquietude which too long an
uncertainty may occasion in my faithful subjects.”
♦BUONAPARTE’S REPLY.♦
From this time Ferdinand had no longer to complain of Buonaparte’s
silence: an answer was brought to Vittoria by Savary. It began by
acknowledging the receipt of that letter which the Prince had written
respecting the projected marriage before the affair of the Escurial,
and the receipt of which Buonaparte had formerly denied. “Your
Highness,” said he, (for the title of King was carefully withheld,)
“will permit me, under the present circumstances, to address you
with frankness and sincerity. I expected that, on my arrival at
Madrid, I should have persuaded my illustrious friend to make some
necessary reforms in his dominions, which would give considerable
satisfaction to the public feeling. The removal of the Prince of the
Peace appeared to me indispensable to his happiness and the interests
of his people. I have frequently expressed my wishes that he should
be removed; and, if I did not persevere in the application, it was on
account of my friendship for King Charles, and a wish, if possible,
not to see the weakness of his attachments. O wretchedness of human
nature! imbecility and error! such is our lot. The events of the North
retarded my journey, and the occurrences at Aranjuez supervened. I do
not constitute myself judge of those events: but it is very dangerous
for Kings to accustom their subjects to shed blood, and to take the
administration of justice into their own hands. I pray God that your
Highness may not one day find it so. It would not be conformable to the
interests of Spain to proceed severely against a Prince who is united
to one of the Royal Family, and has so long governed the kingdom. He
has no longer any friends; as little will your Royal Highness find
any, should you cease to be fortunate.... The people eagerly avenge
themselves for the homage which they pay us.”
This was the language of one who felt that he held his power by no
other tenure than that of force, and reconciled himself to that tenure
by a base philosophy, ... thinking ill of human nature because he could
not think well of himself. What followed was more remarkable. “How,”
said he, “could the Prince of the Peace be brought to trial without
implicating the King and Queen in the process of exciting seditious
passions, the result of which might be fatal to your crown? Your Royal
Highness has no other right to it than what you derive from your
mother. If the cause injures her honour, you destroy your own claims.
Do not give ear to weak and perfidious counsels. You have no right to
try the Prince; his crimes, if any are imputed to him, merge in the
prerogative of the crown. He may be banished from Spain, and I may
offer him an asylum in France.”
With respect to the abdication, Buonaparte said, that, as that event
had taken place when his armies were in Spain, it might appear in the
eyes of Europe and of posterity as if he had sent them for the purpose
of expelling a friend and ally from his throne. As a neighbouring
sovereign, it became him, therefore, to inform himself of all the
circumstances before he acknowledged the abdication. He added, “I
declare to your Royal Highness, to the Spaniards, and to the whole
world, that, if the abdication of King Charles be voluntary, and has
not been forced upon him by the insurrection and tumults at Aranjuez,
I have no difficulty in acknowledging your Royal Highness as King of
Spain. I am therefore anxious to have some conversation with you on
this subject. The circumspection which I have observed on this point
ought to convince you of the support you will find in me, were it ever
to happen that factions of any kind should disturb you on your throne.
When King Charles informed me of the affair of the Escurial, it gave me
the greatest pain, and I flatter myself that I contributed to its happy
termination. Your Royal Highness is not altogether free from blame: of
this the letter which you wrote to me, and which I have always wished
to forget, is a sufficient proof. When you are King, you will know how
sacred are the rights of the throne. Every application of an hereditary
prince to a foreign sovereign is criminal.” The proposed marriage,
Buonaparte said, accorded, in his opinion, with the interests of his
people; and he regarded it as a circumstance which would unite him by
new ties to a house whose conduct he had had every reason to praise
since he ascended the throne.
A threat was then held out.... “Your Highness ought to dread the
consequences of popular commotions. It is possible that assassinations
may be committed upon some stragglers of my army, but they would only
lead to the ruin of Spain. I have learnt, with regret, that certain
letters of the Captain-General of Catalonia have been circulated
at Madrid, and that they have had the effect of exciting some
irritation.” After this menace, Buonaparte assured the young King that
he had laid open the inmost sentiments of his heart, and that, under
all circumstances, he should conduct himself towards him in the same
manner as he had done towards the King his father; and he concluded
with this hypocritical form, ... “My Cousin, I pray God to take you
into his high and holy keeping.”
♦FERDINAND ADVISED TO PROCEED.♦
This letter might well have alarmed Ferdinand and his counsellors; but
there came at the same time letters from the persons who had been sent
forward to Bayonne, urging him to show no distrust of Buonaparte, but
to hasten forward and meet him, as the sure and only means of averting
the fatal effects of his displeasure, and securing his friendship. They
had now indeed advanced too far to recede; and their thoughts were
rather exercised in seeking to justify to themselves the imprudence
which they had already committed, than in devising how to remedy
it. They persuaded themselves that Buonaparte was not ambitious of
adding territory to the French empire; that his conduct, even toward
hostile powers, was marked by generosity and moderation; and that his
leading maxims of policy were, not wholly to despoil his enemies, but
to aggrandize and reward his allies at their expense, and with what
he took from them to form states more or less considerable for his
relations, whose interest it would be to observe his system and support
his empire. The instances of Holland and Naples might indeed seem not
very well to agree with this view of his conduct; but it was obvious,
they said, that while Holland remained under a republican form it
would unavoidably connive with England, and the Dutch themselves were
desirous of the change; and with regard to Naples, Napoleon could not
possibly act otherwise than he had done, after the conduct of that
court. Such was the miserable reasoning with which Ferdinand’s advisers
flattered themselves at the time, ♦ESCOIQUIZ. IDEA SENCILLA, C. 3.♦
and which they have since offered to the world as their justification;
instead of fairly confessing, that in consequence of the events at
Aranjuez they had placed themselves in a situation in which there was
no alternative for men of their pitch of mind but to surrender at
discretion to Buonaparte.
♦PROMISES OF SAVARY, AND PREPARATIONS FOR SEIZING FERDINAND.♦