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neath a heap of mats. After thirty-six hours had elapsed, thirst compelled him to quit his retreat ; he was discovered, and only rescued from death by some guards who collected around him, and who, at the risk of their own lives, dragged him, covered with bruises, and nearly senseless with terror, to the meanest prison, amid the shouts and curses of the populace.

Charles, terrified by these violent scenes, abdicated the throne; and Ferdinand was proclaimed King at Madrid, amid the rejoicings of the multitude. Ferdinand's authority was soon at an end. Murat, at the head of the French troops, speedily drew near; having disposed 30,000 men around the city, he entered it with 10,000, on the 23rd March. There he received a communication from Charles, in the shape of a protest against his own abdication, which had, he alleged, been extorted from him by terror and treachery. Murat refused to acknowledge as King, Ferdinand, who entered the city in public the following day; the Prince made an unworthy attempt to conciliate him, by presenting to him the sword of Francis I., a trophy of his capture at the battle of Pavia. Murat received the gift, but said the recognition of Ferdinand as monarch, depended on Napoleon's pleasure.

Napoleon, whose plans were not yet matured, was vexed at Murat's too hasty advances; he dispatched his able emissary, Savary, to put matters to rights. Ferdinand, the chosen king of the mob, was denounced by his father as a traitor and usurper; 40,000 French troops surrounded him, and the title which he had looked to as the reward of his treachery was still unratified. He was foolish enough to adopt Savary's artful advice, of meeting Napoleon at Burgos; in the vain hope that thus

Bonaparte's favour would be conciliated, and the plans of Charles and Godoy defeated. He set out along with Savary, but found the Emperor neither at Burgos nor Vittoria ; Bayonne was not far offjust within the confines of France; and hither Ferdinand was induced to go. The inhabitants of Vittoria, fearing for his safety, became clamorous when they heard of his intended departure; they even cut the traces of his carriage; but the blinded and infatuated Prince, was determined to place himself in the hands of his false friend.

At Bayonne Ferdinand was at first received with ostentatious politeness; he dined with Napoleon, who engaged with him in apparently amicable converse-all things wore a fair appearance; but he was speedily informed by Savary, that he was now a prisoner at the Imperial disposal, and that the time was come when the Bourbon dynasty had ceased to reign. The plans of the French Emperor were not yet entirely accomplished; the persons of the rest of the Royal Family, together with Godoy, were secured. Like silly birds they were all now within the "fowler's net." To Charles was assigned a pension, with a pleasant retreat in Italy; the profligate Queen and Godoy were also pensioned off, with permission to reside any where out of Spain.

Napoleon's triumph seemed to be secured; the Royal Family had received a suitable reward for their alliance with a faithless nation, and a stern military despot. Spain and Portugal were at his disposal; French troops garrisoned the fortresses, and paraded the streets; French governors directed the local authority; it remained only for the Emperor to appoint a viceroy over the conquered kingdoms; and Joseph had accepted the crown from

his brother. But Bonaparte knew not that the reward of his perfidy was preparing; that the schemes he had formed were at last defeated; that the kings of Europe, who had crouched at his footstool, were to see in Spain-priest-ridden and degenerate Spaid the first outbreak of freedom. As his troops watched from the walls of the fortresses the angry countenances of the sullen and discontented people, they knew not that in spite of bad government and a false religion, the mass still cherished noble and patriotic sentiments; that the old heroic feeling, which for five hundred years had animated the nation in their struggle against the Moors, was not yet dead; that their jealous and haughty temper loathed the exactions and invasion of the French, and was unceasingly irritated by their presence. Within the surface of society the secret fire was already gathering, which required little to make it burst forth in a conflagration from one end of the land to the other. They had shewn this by the agitation caused at the departure of the Royal Family, and by the alarming tumults which in different places broke out against the French troops. Already the peasantry had raised a riot at Toledo, which was only put down by the advance of a French division.

At Madrid on the 2nd of May, a crowd collected round the palace, watching a carriage in which it was reported that Don Antonio the last of the Spanish princes was to be conveyed to Napoleon at Bayonne; it was a mistaken rumour, but consequences of great moment was to follow it. The populace dragged the carriage back, and burst out into furious imprecations against the French. An aide-de-camp of Murat's, came up to inquire the cause of the disturbance; his appearance was the

signal for renewed uproar, and he was with difficulty rescued from the grasp of the mob. The officer returning with a party of soldiers, they were furiously attacked; and the Spanish war dates its commencement from that hour.

This was the signal for general revolt. In vain did Murat by discharges of grape-shot, attempt to disperse the crowd in the neighbourhood of the palace. All Madrid flew to arms; the inhabitants of every street fell upon the astonished soldiery. Everywhere the people armed themselves; the gunsmith's shops were emptied of their fire-arms; the French detachments surrounded, and in many cases cut to pieces. When regular weapons could not be found, stones, knives, and daggers were employed. The attack raged furiously for several hours; it was impossible, however, for these brave insurrectionists long to maintain this unlooked for struggle against regular troops. Reinforced by numerous battalions, which poured into the city, and supported by artillery, the French returned to the charge; repeated vollies of grape cleared the streets, while the Polish Lancers, and Mamelukes of the guard rode furiously along, cutting down the flying masses, and taking a bloody revenge for the death of their comrades. The Spanish troops, locked up by the French in their barracks, could not aid their countrymen; though some who had been attacked by a body of the French, drew out their guns, and fired several fatal rounds upon their columns; they were however mastered by a sudden rush, and most of the artillerymen bayonetted. By two in the afternoon the insurrection was put down three hundred French had fallen. The news of the revolt had caused crowds of the pea

santry to rush to the gates; they were charged by the cavalry, and after a great slaughter, dispersed. Murat adopted the most sanguinary measures. Many prisoners had been taken in the conflict, among whom were some citizens, and even strangers who had unwillingly witnessed the disturbance; to these were added Spaniards, who, busied in their ordinary avocations, or appearing in the streets, were seized in great numbers by the soldiery, on the charge of having taken part in the tumult, hurried before a newly-formed military commission, and sentenced to be shot. Immediate preparations were made for this atrocious act: the mournful intelligence spread through Madrid; each feared lest his own friends might be among the slaughtered. As night drew near, the firing commenced, and the regular discharge of heavy platoons in different quarters of the city told that the work of death was going on. Numbers were executed merely on suspicion. "Tied two and two, they were massacred by repeated discharges of musketry; the murders were continued on the following morning; and nearly an hundred had perished before, on the earnest intercession of the Spanish ministers, Murat consented to put a stop to this barbarity."

This outrage, as might have been expected, made the Spaniards desperate. Secret assassinations already thinned the ranks of the French, and every straggler was mercilessly cut off. Another general attack was soon made, and ere Murat caused the generale to beat, they had nearly gained possession of many parts of the city. Advancing in person at the head of a squadron of horse, he ordered the troops to advance; the imperial guard cleared the main streets, and formed upon the open place in the Puerta del Sol, while another strong detach

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