After remaining about a week at the chateau of Saint-Cloud, his Majesty
set out, on the 2d of April, at 11 o'clock in the morning, to visit the
departments of the South; and as this journey was to begin at Bordeaux,
the Emperor requested the Empress to meet him there. This publicly
announced intention was simply a pretext, in order, to mislead the
curious, for we knew that we were going to the frontier of Spain.
The Emperor remained barely ten days there, and then left for Bayonne
alone, leaving the Empress at Bordeaux, and reaching Bayonne on the night
of the 14-15th of April, where her Majesty the Empress rejoined him two
or three days afterwards.
The Prince of Neuchatel and the grand marshal lodged at the chateau of
Marrac, the rest of their Majesties' suite lodged at Bayonne and its
suburbs, the guard camped in front of the chateau on a place called the
Parterre, and in three days all were comfortably located.
On the morning of the 15th of April, the Emperor had hardly recovered
from the fatigue of his journey, when he received the authorities of
Bayonne, who came to congratulate him, and questioned them, as was his
custom, most pointedly. His Majesty then set out to visit the fort and
fortifications, which occupied him till the evening, when he returned to
the Government palace, which he occupied temporarily while waiting till
the chateau of Marrac should be ready to receive him.
On his return to the palace the Emperor expected to find the Infant Don
Carlos, whom his brother Ferdinand, the Prince of the Asturias, had sent
to Bayonne to present his compliments to the Emperor; but he was informed
that the Infant was ill, and would not be able to come. The Emperor
immediately gave orders to send one of his physicians to attend upon him,
with a valet de chambre and several other persons; for the prince had
come to Bayonne without attendants, and incognito, attended only by a
military service composed of a few soldiers of the garrison. The Emperor
also ordered that this service should be replaced by one more suitable,
consisting of the Guard of Honor of Bayonne, and sent two or three times
each day to inquire the condition of the Infant, who it was freely
admitted in the palace was very ill.
On leaving the Government palace to take up his abode at Marrac, the
Emperor gave all necessary orders that it should be in readiness to
receive the King and Queen of Spain, who were expected at Bayonne the
last of the month; and expressly recommended that everything should be
done to render to the sovereigns of Spain all the honors due their
position. Just as the Emperor entered the chateau the sound of music was
heard, and the grand marshal entered to inform his Majesty that a large
company of the inhabitants in the costume of the country were assembled
before the gate of the chateau. The Emperor immediately went to the
window; and, at sight of him, seventeen persons (seven men and ten women)
began with inimitable grace a dance called 'la pamperruque', in which the
women kept time on tambourines, and the men with castanets, to an
orchestra composed of flutes and guitars. I went out of the castle to
view this scene more closely. The women wore short skirts of blue silk,
and pink stockings likewise embroidered in silver; their hair was tied
with ribbons, and they wore very broad black bracelets, that set off to
advantage the dazzling whiteness of their bare arms. The men wore tight-
fitting white breeches, with silk stockings and large epaulettes, a loose
vest of very fine woolen cloth ornamented with gold, and their hair
caught up in a net like the Spaniards.
His Majesty took great pleasure in witnessing this dance, which is
peculiar to the country and very ancient, which the custom of the country
has consecrated as a means of rendering homage to great personages. The
Emperor remained at the window until the 'pamperruque' was finished, and
then sent to compliment the dancers on their skill, and to express his
thanks to the inhabitants assembled in crowds at the gate.
His Majesty a few days afterward received from his Royal Highness, the
Prince of the Asturias, a letter, in which he announced that he intended
setting out from Irun, where he then was, at an early day, in order to
have the pleasure of making the acquaintance of his brother (it was thus
Prince Ferdinand called the Emperor); a pleasure which he had long
desired, and which he would at last enjoy if his good brother would allow
him. This letter was brought to the Emperor by one of the aides-de-camp
of the prince, who had accompanied him from Madrid, and preceded him to
Bayonne by only ten days. His Majesty could hardly believe what he read
and heard; and I, with several other persons, heard him exclaim, "What,
he is coming here? but you must be mistaken; he must be deceiving us;
that cannot be possible!" And I can certify that, in these words, the
Emperor manifested no pleasure at the announcement.
It was necessary, however, to make preparations to receive the prince,
since he was certainly coming; consequently the Prince of Neuchatel, the
Duke of Frioul, and a chamberlain of honor, were selected by his Majesty.
And the guard of honor received orders to accompany these gentlemen, and
meet the Prince of Spain just outside the town of Bayonne; the rank which
the Emperor recognized in Ferdinand not rendering it proper that the
escort should go as far as the frontier of the two empires. The Prince
made his entrance into Bayonne at noon, on the 20th of April. Lodgings
which would have been considered very inferior in Paris, but which were
elegant in Bayonne, had been prepared for him and his brother, the Infant
Don Carlos, who was already installed there. Prince Ferdinand made a
grimace on entering, but did not dare to complain aloud; and certainly it
would have been most improper for him to have done so, since it was not
the Emperor's fault that Bayonne possessed only one palace, which was at
this time reserved for the king, and, besides, this house, the handsomest
in the town, was large and perfectly new. Don Pedro de Cevallos, who
accompanied the prince, thought it horrible, and unfit for a royal
personage. It was the residence of the commissariat. An hour after
Ferdinand's arrival, the Emperor visited him. He was awaiting the
Emperor at the door, and held out his arms on his approach; they
embraced, and ascended to his apartments, where they remained about half
an hour, and when they separated the prince wore a somewhat anxious air.
His Majesty on his return charged the grand marshal to convey to the
prince and his brother, Don Carlos, the Duke of San-Carlos, the Duke of
Infantado, Don Pedro de Cevallos, and two or three other persons of the
suite, an invitation to dine with him; and the Emperor's carriages were
sent for these illustrious guests at the appointed hour, and they were
conveyed to the chateau. His Majesty descended to the foot of the
staircase to receive the prince; but this was the limit of his deference,
for not once during dinner did he give Prince Ferdinand, who was a king
at Madrid, the title of your majesty, nor even that of highness; nor did
he accompany him on his departure any farther than the first door of the
saloon; and he afterwards informed him, by a message, that he would have
no other rank than that of Prince of the Asturias until the arrival of
his father, King Charles. Orders were given at the same time to place on
duty at the house of the princes, the Bayonnaise guard of honor, with the
Imperial Guard in addition to a detachment of picked police.
On the 27th of April the Empress arrived from Bordeaux at seven o'clock
in the evening, having made no stay at Bayonne, where her arrival excited
little enthusiasm, as they were perhaps displeased that she did not stop
there. His Majesty received her with much tenderness, and showed much
solicitude as to the fatigue she must have experienced, since the roads
were so rough, and badly washed by the rains. In the evening the town
and chateau were illuminated.
Three days after, on the 30th, the King and Queen of Spain arrived at
Bayonne; and it is impossible to describe the homage which the Emperor
paid them. The Duke Charles de Plaisance went as far as Irun, and the
Prince de Neuchatel even to the banks of the Bidassoa, in order to pay
marked respect to their Catholic Majesties on the part of their powerful
friend; and the king and queen appeared to appreciate highly these marks
of consideration. A detachment of picked troops, superbly uniformed,
awaited them on the frontier, and served as their escort; the garrison of
Bayonne was put under arms, all the buildings of the port were decorated,
all the bells rang, and the batteries of both the citadel and the port
saluted with great salvos. The Prince of the Asturias and his brother,
hearing of the arrival of the king and queen, had left Bayonne in order
to meet their parents, when they encountered, a short distance from the
town, two or three grenadiers who had just left Vittoria, and related to
them the following occurrence:
When their Spanish Majesties entered Vittoria, they found that a
detachment of the Spanish body guards, who had accompanied the Prince of
the Asturias and were stationed in this town, had taken possession of the
palace which the king and queen were to occupy as they passed through,
and on the arrival of their Majesties had put themselves under arms. As
soon as the king perceived this, he said to them in a severe tone, "You
will understand why I ask you to quit my palace. You have failed in your
duty at Aranjuez. I have no need of your services, and I do not wish
them. Go!" These words, pronounced with an energy far from habitual to
Charles IV., met with no reply. The detachment of the guards retired;
and the king begged General Verdier to give him a French guard, much
grieved, he said, that he had not retained his brave riflemen, whose
colonel he still kept near him as captain of the guards.
This news could not give the Prince of the Asturias a high opinion of the
welcome his father had in store for him; and indeed he was very coolly
received, as I shall now relate.
The King and Queen of Spain, on alighting at the governmental palace,
found awaiting them the grand marshal, the Duke de Frioul, who escorted
them to their apartments, and presented to them General Count Reille, the
Emperor's aide-de-camp, performing the duties of governor of the palace;
M. d'Audenarde, equerry, with M. Dumanoir and M. de Baral, chamberlains
charged with the service of honor near their Majesties.
The grandees of Spain whom their Majesties found at Bayonne were the same
who had followed the Prince of the Asturias, and the sight of them, as
may well be imagined, was not pleasant to the king; and when the ceremony
of the kissing of the hand took place, every one perceived the painful
agitation of the unfortunate sovereigns. This ceremony, which consists
of falling on your knees and kissing the hand of the king and queen, was
performed in the deepest silence, as their Majesties spoke to no one but
the Count of Fuentes, who by chance was at Bayonne.
The king hurried over this ceremony, which fatigued him greatly, and
retired with the queen into his apartments, where the Prince of the
Asturias wished to follow them; but his father stopped him at the door,
and raising his arm as if to repulse him, said in a trembling tone,
"Prince, do you wish still to insult my gray hairs?" These words had,
it is said, the effect of a thunderbolt on the prince. He was overcome
by his feelings for a moment, and withdrew without uttering a word.
Very different was the reception their Majesties gave to the Prince de la
Paix
[Manuel Godoi, born at Badajos, 1767. A common soldier, he
became the queen's lover, and the virtual ruler of Spain; died in
Paris, 1851.]
when he joined them at Bayonne, and he might have been taken for the
nearest and dearest relative of their Majesties. All three wept freely
on meeting again; at least, this is what I was told by a person in the
service--the same, in fact, who gave me all the preceding details.
At five o'clock his Majesty the Emperor came to visit the King and Queen
of Spain; and during this interview, which was very long, the two
sovereigns informed his Majesty of the insults they had received, and the
dangers they had encountered during the past month. They complained
greatly of the ingratitude of so many men whom they had overwhelmed with
kindness, and above all of the guard which had so basely betrayed them.
"Your Majesty," said the king, "does not know what it is to be forced to
commiserate yourself on account of your son. May Heaven forbid that such
a misfortune should ever come to you! Mine is the cause of all that we
have suffered."
The Prince de la Paix had come to Bayonne accompanied by Colonel Martes,
aide-de-camp of Prince Murat, and a valet de chambre, the only servant
who had remained faithful to him. I had occasion to talk with this
devoted servant, who spoke very good French, having been reared near
Toulouse; and he told me that he had not succeeded in obtaining
permission to remain with his master during his captivity, and that this
unfortunate prince had suffered indescribable torments; that not a day
passed without some one entering his dungeon to tell him to prepare for
death, as he was to be executed that very evening or the next morning.
He also told me that the prisoners were left sometimes for thirty hours
without food; that he had only a bed of straw, no linen, no books, and no
communication with the outside world; and that when he came out of his
dungeon to be sent to Colonel Marts, he presented a horrible appearance,
with his long beard, and emaciated frame, the result of mental distress
and insufficient food. He had worn the same shirt for a month, as he had
never been able to prevail on his captors to give him others; and his
eyes had been so long unaccustomed to the light that he was obliged to
close them, and felt oppressed in the open air.
On the road from Bayonne, there was handed to the prince a letter from
the king and queen which was stained with tears. The prince said to his
valet de chambre after reading it, "These are the first consoling words I
have received in a month, for every one has abandoned me except my
excellent masters. The body guards, who have betrayed and sold their
king, will also betray and sell his son; and as for myself, I hope for
nothing, except to be permitted to find an asylum in France for my
children and myself." M. Marts having shown him newspapers in which it
was stated that the prince possessed a fortune of five hundred million,
he exclaimed vehemently that it was an atrocious calumny, and he defied
his most cruel enemies to prove that.
As we have seen, their Majesties had not a numerous suite; but they were,
notwithstanding, followed by baggage-wagons filled with furniture, goods,
and valuable articles, and though their carriages were old-fashioned,
they found them very comfortable--especially the king, who was much
embarrassed the day after his arrival at Bayonne, when, having been
invited to dine with the Emperor, it was necessary to enter a modern
carriage with two steps. He did not dare to put his foot on the frail
things, which he feared would break under his weight; and the oscillating
movement of the body of the carriage made him terribly afraid that it
would upset.
At the table I had an opportunity of observing at my leisure the king and
queen. The king was of medium height, and though not strictly handsome
had a pleasant face. His nose was very long, his voice high-pitched and
disagreeable; and he walked with a mincing air in which there was no
majesty, but this, however, I attributed to the gout. He ate heartily of
everything offered him, except vegetables, which he never ate, saying
that grass was good only for cattle; and drank only water, having it
served in two carafes, one containing ice, and poured from both at the
same time. The Emperor gave orders that special attention should be paid
to the dinner, knowing that the king was somewhat of an epicure. He
praised in high terms the French cooking, which he seemed to find much to
his taste; for as each dish was served him, he would say, "Louise, take
some of that, it is good;" which greatly amused the Emperor, whose
abstemiousness is well known.
The queen was fat and short, dressed very badly, and had no style or
grace; her complexion was very florid, and her expression harsh and
severe. She held her head high, spoke very loud, in tones still more
brusque and piercing than those of her husband; but it is generally
conceded that she had more character and better manners than he.
Before dinner that day there was some conversation on the subject of
dress; and the Empress offered the services of M. Duplan, her
hairdresser, in order to give her ladies some lessons in the French
toilet. Her proposition was accepted; and the queen came out soon after
from the hands of M. Duplan, better dressed, no doubt, and her hair
better arranged, but not beautified, however, for the talent of the
hairdresser could not go as far as that.
The Prince of the Asturias, now King Ferdinand VII., made an unpleasant
impression on all, with his heavy step and careworn air, and rarely ever
speaking.
Their Spanish Majesties as before brought with them the Prince de la
Paix, who had not been invited by the Emperor, and whom for this reason
the usher on duty detained outside of the dining-hall. But as they were
about to be seated, the king perceived that the prince was absent. "And
Manuel," said he quickly to the Emperor, "and Manuel, Sire!" Whereupon
the Emperor, smiling, gave the signal, and Don Manuel Godoi was
introduced. I was told that he had been a very handsome man; but he
showed no signs of this, which was perhaps owing to the bad treatment he
had undergone.
After the abdication of the princes, the king and queen, the Queen of
Etruria, and the Infant Don Franciso, left Bayonne for Fontainebleau,
which place the Emperor had selected as their residence while waiting
until the chateau of Compiegne should be put in a condition to make them
comfortable. The Prince of the Asturias left the same day, with his
brother Don Carlos and his uncle Don Antonio, for the estates of Valencay
belonging to the Prince of Benevento. They published, while passing
through Bordeaux, a proclamation to the Spanish people, in which they
confirmed the transmission of all their rights to the Emperor Napoleon.
Thus King Charles, freed from a throne which he had always regarded as a
heavy burden, could hereafter give himself up unreservedly in retirement
to his favorite pursuits. In all the world he cared only for the Prince
de la Paix, confessors, watches, and music; and the throne was nothing to
him. After what had passed, the Prince de la Paix could not return to
Spain; and the king would never have consented to be separated from him,
even if the remembrance of the insults which he had personally received
had not been powerful enough to disgust him with his kingdom. He much
preferred the life of a private individual, and could not be happier than
when allowed without interruption to indulge his simple and tranquil
tastes. On his arrival at the chateau of Fontainebleau, he found there
M. Remusat, the first chamberlain; M. de Caqueray, officer of the hunt;
M. de Lugay, prefect of the palace; and a household already installed.
Mesdames de la Rochefoucault, Duchatel, and de Lugay had been selected by
the Emperor for the service of honor near the queen.
The King of Spain remained at Fontainebleau only until the chateau of
Compiegne could be repaired, and as he soon found the climate of this
part of France too cold for his health, went, at the end of a few months,
to Marseilles with the Queen of Etruria, the Infant Don Francisco, and
the Prince de la Paix. In 1811 he left France for Italy, finding his
health still bad at Marseilles, and chose Rome as his residence.
I spoke above of the fondness of the King of Spain for watches. I have
been told that while at Fontainebleau, he had half a dozen of his watches
worn by his valet de chambre, and wore as many himself, giving as a
reason that pocket watches lose time by not being carried. I have also
heard that he kept his confessor always near him, in the antechamber, or
in the room in front of that in which he worked, and that when he wished
to speak to him he whistled, exactly as one would whistle for a dog. The
confessor never failed to respond promptly to this royal call, and
followed his penitent into the embrasure of a window, in which improvised
confessional the king divulged what he had on his conscience, received
absolution, and sent back the priest until he felt himself obliged to
whistle for him again.
When the health of the king, enfeebled by age and gout, no longer allowed
him to devote himself to the pleasures of the chase, he began playing on
the violin more than ever before, in order, he said, to perfect himself
in it. This was beginning rather late. As is well known, he had for his
first violin teacher the celebrated Alexander Boucher, with whom he
greatly enjoyed playing; but he had a mania for beginning first without
paying any attention to the measure; and if M. Boucher made any
observation in regard to this, his Majesty would reply with the greatest
coolness, "Monsieur, it seems to me that it is not my place to wait for
you."
Between the departure of the royal family and the arrival of Joseph, King
of Naples, the time was passed in reviews and military fetes, which the
Emperor frequently honored with his presence. The 7th of June, King
Joseph arrived at Bayonne, where it had been known long in advance that
his brother had summoned him to exchange his crown of Naples for that of
Spain.
The evening of Joseph's arrival, the Emperor invited the members of the
Spanish Junta, who for fifteen days had been arriving at Bayonne from all
corners of the kingdom, to assemble at the chateau of Marrac, and
congratulate the new king. The deputies accepted this somewhat sudden
invitation without having time to concert together previously any course
of action; and on their arrival at Marrac, the Emperor presented to them
their sovereign, whom they acknowledged, with the exception of some
opposition on the part of the Duke of Infantado, in the name of the
grandees of Spain. The deputations from the Council of Castile, from the
Inquisition, and from the army, etc., submitted most readily. A few days
after, the king formed his ministry, in which all were astonished to find
M. de Cevallos, who had accompanied the Prince of the Asturias to
Bayonne, and had made such a parade of undying attachment to the person
of the one whom he called his unfortunate master; while the Duke of
Infantado, who had opposed to the utmost any recognition of the foreign
monarch, was appointed Captain of the Guard. The king then left for
Madrid, after appointing the Grand Duke of Berg lieutenant-general of the
kingdom.