1808.] LOYALTY OF THE SPANIARDS. 83 Spanish nobility now used all their eloquence to deter Ferdinand from proceeding farther. Napoleon had, however, no sooner heard of his near approach, than he sat down to compose a letter, in which he artfully represented, that, with the sole desire of not meddling with the internal affairs of another state, he only desired to receive Ferdinand's own personal assurance of the voluntary abdication of Charles IV. to receive him as the legitimate King, and he threw out again the hint that the meeting might be productive of a matrimonial alliance between the two families. Savary was immediately sent back with this autograph letter to Vittoria, to deliver it from the Emperor to the King. He found the Court already much increased by a concourse of faithful servants of the monarchy, who had come to tender their advice to their young sovereign at this dangerous crisis. In vain, however, was it represented to his Majesty that it was contrary to every known etiquette for a Spanish sovereign to go to visit another sovereign beyond his frontier, that it was, moreover, a gross indignity to a King of Spain and the Indies to be surrounded in the place of his residence by French troops, which, as above stated, had been very improperly sent to Vittoria, under General Verdire, and mounted guard in his sight. Escoiquiz and Del Infantado induced the weak sovereign to disregard the voice of the old faithful councillors of the monarchy, and the departure of the Court was announced for the 19th. The strong good sense of the townspeople of Vittoria, however, echoed the advice of the nobility, and the peasantry, who had flocked into the city, cut the traces of the royal mules, and took them back to their stables. The Duke del Infantado addressed the crowd, and persuaded them to permit the mules to be again put to, and the illfated King took his departure from Vittoria, and crossed the Bidassoa on the 20th. The Castilian pride was wounded, when they found that Napoleon made no advances towards their King, and Urquizo, Hervas, Correa, de Alava, with the Duke de Mahon, the representative of the illustrious family of De Crillon, all implored Ferdinand to stop, and, so long as he was relieved from the urgency of Savary's solicitations, he promised to return. The ministers of the King, under the presidency of his uncle, the Infant Don Antonio, remained at the capital, as a kind of Regency or Supreme Junta of Government, acting in the absence of the King. Before Ferdinand left Madrid, it had been represented to him how agreeable it would be to the Emperor if the Prince of the Peace might be released and sent to France, and the old King and Queen were incessant in their supplications in every influential quarter that this might be brought about. This unfortunate prisoner had been sent for safety to the palace of Villa Vicosa, under an escort of 200 horse, who treated him with very little respect or kindness. It was part of Napoleon's policy to entice Charles IV. to repair to Bayonne, as well as his son, that he might have them both as suitors before his supreme tribunal; but the old King would listen to no representation of the kind, until the favourite should be released. Murat, therefore, took the matter into his own hands, by 34 DEGRADED POSITION OF SPANISH ROYALTY. [A.D. ordering a body of cavalry to proceed to Villa Vicosa to release the prisoner by force. The Marquis de Châstelar, who was in charge of the Guard, refused to give him up; but the Junta, to prevent a collision, sent down an order for his release, and he was brought to the French camp, a miserable spectacle of the reverse of human fortune. The proud voluptuary returned in the most miserable apparel, "unshaven and unshorn," with the marks of his late ill treatment fresh upon him, and the abrasions from his fetters unhealed. Murat had the generosity to feel for him, and, having ordered all his wants to be attended to, he sent him off to Bayonne under the care of one of his aides-de-camp. The dethroned sovereigns were now all eagerness to take the same road, that they might lay their griefs before the great arbiter of their fate. Having, therefore, carefully packed up the crown diamonds, they slept at the Palace of the Escurial on the 23rd, and, journeying along the great road to France, arrived at Bayonne on the 30th. The wretched scenes that were here enacted will be found related in all the histories of the period. They exhibit a melancholy picture of human degradation in the highest rank, unsupported by virtue and self-respect; but they do not enter into these "Annals," as they had no influence, one way or other, on the war. 7. INSURRECTION AT MADRID. Reports of the proceedings at Bayonne were transmitted by slow but faithful messengers into Spain, and roused the anger of the people. The French Commander-in-Chief took good care that nothing should be published in print in the capital, but rumours passed from mouth to mouth, and an universal agitation became the natural consequence. Every day the Puerta del Sol, or the great square of Madrid, into which opened the great streets, was crowded with angry multitudes. The appearance of a few dragoons, sent by Murat to keep down disorder, only added to the general rage and apprehension of ill. An order at this time arrived (ostensibly from Charles IV.) that the Queen of Etruria and the infant Don Francisco de Paolo, should be sent to join the Royal Family at Bayonne, and the Queen readily consented to go, but the Junta hesitated about sending the young Prince, a minor 13 years of age, and assembled in deliberation on the subject on the night of the 30th of April and 1st of May. The meeting was very numerous and stormy. A great many councillors were against consenting to the young Prince's journey, when the Minister of War, O'Farrell, showed them how impotent they were now already to oppose the French, but, as a compromise, a simulated refusal was made to Murat, who, on receiving it, declared that he would take the matter upon his own responsibility, and would despatch the young Prince on the 2nd. The intervening day was Sunday, and the greatest anxiety pervaded the thousands who had thronged to the capital, and who were all day eagerly on the watch for news from Bayonne, whence no courier had arrived for two days. The French garrison was ordered 1808.] INDIGNATION OF THE SPANISH POPULACE. 85 to rest on their arms all night, but at early morning of the 2nd the Court carriages appeared ready to start, and at 9 o'clock the Queen of Etruria entered the first, with her son and daughter, and drove off. Her departure occasioned no great interest. But, while the other carriages lingered, it was reported that the young Prince had evinced great unwillingness to leave Spain, and was shedding tears. At this news the women loudly expressed their pity, and the men were already wound up to some act of desperation, when a young French officer, recognised as an Aide-de-camp of the Grand-Duke of Berg, appeared approaching the palace. The cry was immediately raised," He is come to carry off our Prince," and he was accordingly hooted and stoned, and would have been torn to pieces but for the interference of the Guard. Murat saw the conflict from the windows of his palace and sent his picket to disperse the multitude, when one or two musket-shots brought the insurrection to a head. The people, with daggers, firelocks, old swords, and cudgels, ran upon the soldiery, but were driven back by well-directed volleys. On one side there was a hideous cry raised from a populace excited to fury, on the other side the sound of the trumpet and the drum. Murat was soon on horseback and in the very midst of the melée, and sent his orders to the distant troops on every side to enter Madrid. He soon cleared the space in front of the palace: cannon charged with grape swept the streets leading towards it, and while the cavalry of the Imperial Guard, under Dumesnil, charged down the broad Callé de Alcala, the Polish lancers created a panic among the scattered people on foot by the reckless use of their weapon. Men and women in terror fled into houses, from the windows of which stones, and missiles, and even scalding water were thrown on the heads of the French horsemen. Some Mamelukes were particularly obnoxious to the Spanish of both sexes, who have an ancient hereditary animosity against Mahometans. There were Spanish troops in the barracks, with a considerable stand of arms, and the inhabitants called on the Junta to come to their assistance and to give arms to the people, which, at first, they refused to do; but, seeing how the French illused their countrymen, they at length joined the insurgents, headed by Don Louis Daoiz and Don Pedro Velarde, and the people harnessing themselves to the park of artillery near the Puerta de Fonkarral, and getting three of the guns into battery, commenced firing grape into the midst of the French soldiers. Brigadier Lepine, at the head of a column of infantry, promptly charged and carried the guns, and in the rush both the Spanish leaders were killed. This was the most important circumstance in the episode of the 2nd of May, for the blood here shed was the first that flowed in the Peninsular War, and it was awfully revenged upon the aggressors in the sequel. The contest, which had commenced about 10 o'clock, was terminated about 2, by the French soldiers capturing the arsenal containing the arms and cannon; but Murat, Grand Sabreur, par excellence, was not content with the mere establishment of order he forthwith named a military commission at the 86 FEARFUL MASSACRE BY ORDER OF MURAT. [A.D. Hotel of the Post, before whom every inhabitant seized with arms in his hands was tried, and at once taken to the Prado and shot without mercy. This severity was long afterwards remembered, with the circumstance, not readily forgiven by so superstitious a race, that they were massacred without even the consolations of a priest.* The people were, however, thoroughly cast down and terrified by this vigorous retaliation, and the Grand-Duke, without further delay, sent off all the Royal family, who were now eager to get away, including the tearful Infant Don Francisco de Paolo. The Junta was by this act deprived of its president, Don Antonio, and Murat demanded the post for himself, which the Supreme Junta unwillingly yielded; but their authority was soon afterwards superseded by a decree of Charles IV. appointing the Grand-Duke of Berg Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. The indignation which the massacre of the 2nd of May excited throughout Spain was indescribable. The intelligence passed from house to house, from village to village, from town to town, from province to province, and awakened a unanimous resentment, of a fervour almost unknown to history. Without chiefs, without any central authority, without the leadership of an individual or of a party, and without the aid of a free press, the flame spread as rapidly through the lonely mountains as in the crowded cities. Far from being intimidated at the hostile occupation of their capital and principal fortresses by a treacherous enemy, they were simultaneously, and altogether without premeditation, roused to the most vigorous and energetic exertions, that they might drive these usurpers out of their much-loved country. 8. ABDICATION OF THE BOURBONS JOSEPH BONAPARTE KING OF SPAIN. Matters, in the meantime, proceeded to their consummation at Bayonne. Charles IV. having revoked his resignation of the crown of Spain, Ferdinand was again reduced to the condition of Prince of Asturias, and, in the unseemly disputes which took place between him and his parents, before the Emperor, his mother shamelessly announced to him, that, although he was her son, he was not the son of the King. A very few days brought all these things to their inevitable conclusion; both father and son were deprived of the crown, and the conqueror announced that he had selected one of his own family to be their successor upon the throne of Spain. As early as the 3rd of May, this intention was transmitted to the Council of Castile and the Indies, that they might make the formal * Did no evil genius whisper in the ears of Murat, as the volleys resounded to the palace in which he sat, "Nec lex æquior ulla Quam necis artifices arte perire suâ "? Surely these gory Spaniards rose upon his sight when, ten years later, he saw the muskets of the Neapolitan grenadiers levelled at his heart, in the castle-yard of Pizzo, in Calabria. 1808.] NAPOLEON'S DESIGNS UPON SPAIN. 87 demand of a Bonaparte for their sovereign, in the vacancy of the throne by the resignation of the Bourbons. The Marquis de Caballero became, in consequence, the mouthpiece of that body, who declared that, in the event of the actual renunciation of Charles and Ferdinand, they did not see a better hope for Spain than for a Prince of Napoleon's family. Still the Emperor was in doubt which one of his brothers to name, for Louis, unhesitatingly, declined his offer, and Lucien, in the recent interview he had had with Napoleon in Italy, had even refused the offer of the hand of Ferdinand for his daughter; Joseph was appealed to, and the throne of Spain offered instead of that of Naples, but the whole month of May wore away before the elder brother either replied or appeared to the summons. At length, his approach was announced, and Napoleon, who was still at Bayonne, at once issued a decree, on the 7th of May, proclaiming Joseph King of Spain and the Indies, and, on the same day, went out to meet him on the road with all his state. With the accustomed energy and activity of the Imperial mind, he had employed these three weeks of suspense in preparing to give due éclat to the succession, by summoning out of Spain all the grandees, who would come on his invitation, to form a Junta, which should resemble the Council of the Indies, and confer a sort of legality on this delegation of the sovereign power. The Dukes of San Carlos, de l'Infantado del Parque, de Frias, de Hijar, and de Castel-Franco, the Counts of Fernando-Nunez, d'Orgaz, and Cevalloz, the Ministers of War and Finance, O'Farrell and d'Azarza, all attended the summons, and assembled to pay homage to King Joseph, on the 15th of May, when they were convoked in a solemn assembly, of which d'Urquijo was Secretary, to determine the new constitution on which Spain was to be henceforth governed. This was afterwards promulgated on the 7th of July, in a solemn assembly, presided over by Joseph on his throne. On the 9th, escorted by the Emperor as far as the frontier, the new King entered Spain, and repaired to the capital; and, on the 20th, the arduous task of kingcashiering and king-making having been now accomplished, Napoleon returned to Paris. The conqueror saw very clearly that his acts had been throughout too unjustifiable to meet with the approbation of the world, however much he might esteem himself its master; but he was scarcely prepared for the outburst of resistance which followed, nor did he deem that the cry of the lowest classes of the people, in the most passive and backward nation of Europe, would form the thin end of the wedge that should overturn his omnipotence. Far, however, from dreading injury to his power from this source, he set his mind, with all its wonted energy, to work to clear the way for the military occupation of Spain. His first thoughts were directed to rendering impotent the poor remains of the Spanish army, and he, accordingly, wrote to Murat, that General Solano should be ordered to march away the troops which were in Madrid to the camp of San Roch, before Gibraltar, and the remaining divisions to the Portuguese frontier. He directed him to take all the Swiss Guards |