1808. CHAP. Queen of Etruria and her son, a boy of eight years old, who, IV. by the doubly-villainous treaty of Fontainebleau, was to have been made King of Northern Lusitania. Involved in the common ruin of their house, they also had been escorted to Bayonne; and the whole of this unhappy family, now that the mockery of negotiation was at an end, were sent into the interior of France. May. CHAPTER V. INSURRECTION AND MILITARY MURDERS AT MADRID. SUB MISSION OF THE CONSTITUTED AUTHORITIES TO THE PLEA- April. THUS had Buonaparte succeeded in dispossessing the Bour- 1808. bon dynasty of the throne of Spain. Having, under pretence of a treaty, secured the passes of the Pyrenees, seized the three strong places upon the frontier, and the important city of Barcelona, marched his armies into the heart of the kingdom, and occupied the capital itself, he had now drawn the royal family within his reach, serpent-like, by the fascination of fear, and compelled them to sign the act of their abdication and disgrace. The train of perfidy whereby he had thus far accomplished his purpose is unexampled even in the worst ages of history. The whole transaction was a business of pure unmingled treachery, unprovoked, unextenuated, equally detestable in its motive, its means, and its end. The pretext that there existed an English party in Spain was notoriously false. Those Spaniards who felt and lamented the decline of their country, had rested their hopes of its regeneration upon him. There was not any possible way by which he could so surely have confirmed the alliance between France and Spain, secured the affection of the Spanish people, and strengthened his own immediate individual interest, (if the vulgarest ambition had not blinded him,) as by connecting his own family with the royal house in marriage, in conformity with April. CHAP. Ferdinand's desire, and directing him and his ministers how to V. bring about those reforms which would restore to health and 1808. strength a country that was still sound at heart. No other mortal has ever in any crisis of the world had it in his power to produce such great and extensive good as this opportunity invited, without risk, effort, evil, or any contingent inconvenience. He had only to say, let these things be, and the work of progressive reformation would have begun in Spain and in the Spanish Indies, while he, like a presiding deity, might have looked on, and have received the blessings of both countries for his benignant influence. Conduct of Junta of The artifices which he had employed were of the basest kind. wards the Never perhaps had any plot of perfidious ambition been so government. coarsely planned. His scheme was to use falsehood and violence without remorse; to repeat protestations enough for deceiving the Prince, and employ force enough for intimidating the people. The former object had been accomplished.. and Murat, perceiving a spirit in the Spaniards which neither he nor his master had expected, was looking for an* opportunity to effect the latter. His measures, as soon as he entered Madrid, were intended to make them understand that they were no longer an independent nation, but that they must learn obedience to a military yoke. A French governor of the city had been appointed, a French patrole established, and notice was given that every house would be called upon to contribute great coats for the French troops, their own not having arrived. The Junta of government were made to feel the misery of their degrading and helpless situation; a situation * "Les observateurs de sang-froid, Français et Espagnols, voyaient une crise s'approcher, et la voyaient avec plaisir. Sans une leçon severe il étoit impossible de ramener à des idées de raison cette multitude egarée."-Moniteur. V. April. in which they were compelled to witness and sanction the most CHAP. grievous injuries and the most intolerable insults to their country. While Ferdinand was at Vittoria, Murat sent for the war-minister 1808. O'Farrill, to complain to him that some of the French soldiers had been* murdered, that the people of Madrid openly manifested their dislike of the French, that the guards displayed a similar disposition, that an hundred thousand muskets had been collected in Aragon, and that Solano had not received the promised instructions to put himself under Junot's command. O'Farrill vindicated the Junta from these accusations, some of which were groundless, and others arose from causes over which they had no control; but Murat cut him short, told him he had received orders from the Emperor to acknowledge no other sovereign in Spain than Charles IV. and put into his hands a proclamation in the name of that King, declaring that his abdication had been compulsory, and requiring again from his subjects that obedience which they owed to him * It was reported that a decree was passed for seizing the church plate, and raising a heavy contribution, as had been done in Portugal. A poor ignorant Spaniard, believing this, bought a razor, and sallying out with it, attacked every Frenchman he met. The man was soon secured. Upon his examination he was asked if the razor was his; yes, he replied, by this token, that he had bought it at such a place for five and thirty quartos. Had the French whom he had assaulted and cut, offered him any injury?.. No... For what reason then had he attacked them?.. That he might kill them, and as many more Frenchmen as he could; these villains were come to plunder the temples of the living God, and to rob the people of the fruit of their labours, and he had supposed that every honest man would do the same as himself, but he found himself alone when he began. The author of the "Manifiesto Imparcial y Exacto" relates this anecdote, and adds, En Roma y en Grecia este hombre hubiera parecido bien en la lista de los Horacios y de los trescientos. ¡En Madrid estaba destinado a un suplicio! In any country such a man would either have been put to death like a wild beast, or confined as a madman: but the fact, and still more the manner in which it is related, shows the feeling of the Spaniards towards their treacherous invaders, CHAP. as their lawful monarch. O'Farrill replied, that none of the V. constituted authorities would obey the proclamation, and still 1808. less would the nation: then, said Murat, the cannon and the April. The Junta apply to for instruc tions as to resisting the French. bayonet shall make them. But he appeared to hesitate in his resolution of immediately publishing and enforcing it, when the Spanish minister represented to him that the fate of Spain did not necessarily depend upon that of Madrid, nor the Spanish monarchy upon that of Spain; and that it never could be good policy for the Emperor to act in a manner so suitable to the wishes of the English. The result of the conference was, that the Junta agreed to receive King Charles's reclamation, to forward it to Ferdinand from whom they held their authority, and await his answer. Before that answer could arrive, Charles and the Queen were summoned to Bayonne. From the time when Ferdinand began his inauspicious Ferdinand journey, Cevallos had every night dispatched an account of their proceedings to the Junta; after his arrival at Bayonne it was soon found that his couriers were intercepted. Cevallos complained to M. Champagny, and was told in reply, that as the Emperor acknowledged no other King than Charles IV. he could not admit in his dominions any act in the nature of a passport given by Ferdinand; but the letters which, for this reason, had been detained, had been put into the French postoffice, and would be safely delivered, as would any others which he might think proper to send either by the ordinary post or the French courier. Cevallos therefore from that time sent duplicates of his dispatches by various conveyances, and succeeded in informing the Junta that Ferdinand was actually a prisoner, and in conveying an order to them from Ferdinand, whereby they were enjoined to do whatever they deemed expedient for the service of the King and the kingdom, and authorized to act with as full power as if he himself were on the |