LII. 1807. 8. Measures arranged at Tilsit against Spain and Portugal. 1 Ante, ch. xlvi. § 80. 1* CHAP. monarchs, by simply conniving at his advances against the Turkish empire. It has already been stated, accordingly, that the invasion of Spain was settled at this period, and that the consideration given for that act of injustice, was permission to the Czar to drive the Turks out of Europe. In regard to Portugal, the course to be adopted Was sufficiently plain. All that was required was to summon the court of Lisbon to shut their ports against England, confiscate all English property within their dominions, and declare war againt the British empire. In the course of enforcing such a requisition, it was hoped that an opportunity could hardly fail to present itself of effecting the total dethronement of the house of Braganza. This was accordingly done and on the 12th August the Portuguese government, as already noticed, were formally summoned, in terms of the secret articles of the treaty of Tilsit, to declare war against England, adopt the Continental System, and confiscate all the English property within their bounds. This requisition was made in the most menacing and peremptory style, Aug. 12. Proofs of secret con ferences re garding them. * "I have strong reasons to believe," said Savary, "that the affair of Spain was arranged at Tilsit. Subsequently, at St Petersburg, when the troubles in the Peninsula commenced, the Emperor seemed noways surprised at them, and not only expressed no jealousy at the entrance of the French trooops into Spain, but never once mentioned the subject. And though Napoleon wrote to me every week from Paris, he never alluded to the subject; a silence which he certainly would not have preserved had everything not been previously arranged, especially considering how much he had at heart at that period, to draw closer the bonds of the Russian alliance."-SAVARY, iii. 90; see also THIBAUDEAU, Hist. de l'Empire, vi. 276; Abbé dE PRADT, Révolution d'Espagne, i. 7 and Escoiquiz has preserved a remarkable conversation which he had with Napoleon himself on the subject." There is but one power," said he, “which can disturb my views, and I have no fears in that quarter. The Emperor of Russia, to whom I communicated my projects on Spain, which were formed at that period, approved of them, and gave me his word of honour that he would throw no obstacles in their way. The other powers will remain tranquil, and the resistance of the Spaniards will not be formidable. Believe me, the countries where monks have influence are not difficult to conquer."-EscoIQUIZ, 131; Pièces Just. : + The note presented by the French ambassador at Lisbon to the Portuguese government was in these terms:-"The undersigned has received orders to declare, that if, on the 1st of next September, the Prince Regent of Portugal has not manifested his resolution to emancipate himself from English influence, by declaring without delay war against Great Britain, dismissing the English LII. Aug. 29. 1 Thib. vi. 277. Ann. accompanied with the intimation that, if instant compli- CHAP. ance was not made, the Spanish forces would be united to the French, and Portugal would forthwith be occupied 1807. not for ten or fifteen days, as in 1801, but for the whole war, perhaps for ever, according to circumstances. At the same time, the army of the Gironde, which had been in a great measure broken up during the Prussian war, was re-assembled at Bayonne, and, before the end of August, Junot found himself there at the head of twenty-five Reg. 1807, thousand foot and three thousand horse; while Napoleon, Lond. i. 24, in anticipation of an unfavourable reply to his demands, i. 90. Hard. without waiting for an answer, at once seized the Portu- x 99, 100, guese ships in his harbours. His mind was now defini- 345. Lord tively made up to appropriate Portugal, and render that Statements. acquisition the means of revolutionising Spain, and chas- 23, 243. ing the Bourbons from their tottering throne.1* The British cabinet, who were speedily informed of the demand thus made upon their ancient ally, and were no strangers either to the powerful means at the disposal of the French Emperor for enforcing obedience to his ambassador, recalling his own from London, confiscating all the English merchandise, closing his harbours against the English vessels, and uniting his squadrons to the navies of the Continental powers, the Prince Regent of Portugal will be considered as having renounced the cause of the Continent, and the undersigned will be under the necessity of demanding his passports, and declaring war.”—12th August 1807.-Fox's Pen. War, ii. 405, 406; Pièces Just. -By a curious coincidence, this note, which so completely justified the Copenhagen expedition, was presented at Lisbon on the very day on which the British fleet approached the shores of Zealand. "Il voulait non pas achever, en occupant le Portugal, la clôture des rivages du Continent, mais s'approprier le Portugal lui-même pour en disposer à son gré. Il résolut de s'approprier le Portugal, sauf à s'entendre avec l'Espagne, et même à s'en servir pour révolutionner l'Espagne elle-même; car elle lui déplaisait, elle le révoltait dans son état actuel, autant que les cours de Naples et de Lisbonne, qu'il avait déjà chassées, ou qu'il allait chasser de leur trône chancelant. Tel fut le commencement des plus grandes fautes, des plus grands malheurs de son règne."-THIERS, Consulat et l'Empire, viii. 243, 244. Ayant déjà chassé de leur trône les Bourbons de Naples, il se disait souvent qu'il faudrait un jour agir de même avec les Bourbons d'Espagne, qui au fond lui étaient aussi hostiles ; qui avaient essayé de le trahir la veille d'Jéna; qui ne manqueraient pas d'en saisir encore la première occasion; et qui, lorsqu'ils ne le trahissaient pas d'intention, le trahissaient de fait, en laissant périr dans leurs mains la puissance Espagnole, puissance aussi nécessaire à la France qu'à l'Espagne elle-même."-Ibid. viii. 245. 66 279, 280. 25. South. Parl. Deb. Wellesley's Thiers, viii. LII. 1807. 9. CHAP. wishes, or the inconsiderable force which the Portuguese government could oppose to his hostility, immediately sent the generous intimation to the court of Lisbon, that Measures of they would consent to anything which might appear conguese gov- ducive to the safety of Portugal, and only hoped that and origin the threatened confiscation of British property would not of the Span- be complied with. The Prince Regent in consequence the Portu ernment, ish intri gues. Aug. 18. Sept. 16. Oct. 10. agreed to shut his harbours against English vessels, and to declare war against Great Britain; but he declared that his sense of religion, and the regard which he entertained for existing treaties, would not permit him to confiscate at once the property of the English merchants. Intimation was at the same time sent to the British residents that they had better wind up their affairs and embark their property as speedily as possible. This modified compliance with his demands, however, was far from satisfying the French Emperor, to whom the confiscation of English property was as convenient as a means of gratifying his followers by plunder, as it was essential to the general adoption of the Continental System, which he had so much at heart. Orders, therefore, were immediately despatched to Junot to commence his march; they reached the French general on the 17th October; two days afterwards, his leading divisions CROSSED THE BIDASSOA; while the court of Lisbon, menaced with instant destruction, soon after issued a decree, excluding English vessels of every description from their harbours, but declaring that, if the French troops entered Portugal, they would retire with their fleet to the Brazils. Events, however, succeeded one another with extraordinary rapidity; and, without any regard to the obedience yielded 1 Ann. Reg. by the court of Lisbon to his demands by the proclama1807, 280. tion of the 20th October, Napoleon had not only already 28. Hard. resolved on the total destruction of the house of Braganza, Thib. Hist. but actually concluded a treaty for the entire partition of vi. 260, 261. its dominions.1 The motives which led to this act of Oct. 17. Oct. 19. Lond. i. 27, x. 103, 104. de l'Empire, spoliation are intimately connected with the complicated LII. intrigues which at this period were preparing the way for CHAP. the dethronement of the Spanish house of Bourbon, and the lighting up the flames of the PENINSULAR WAR. 1807. 10. the leading persons there: the Charles IV., The views of Napoleon on the Spanish Peninsula, first formed in the summer of 1806, and matured with the Character of consent of Alexander at Tilsit, required even more the aid of skilful and unscrupulous diplomatists than of powerful Prince of armies towards their development. He found such assist- the Peace, ance in Talleyrand and Duroc, the only oues of his confi- the Queen. dential counsellors who at this period were initiated in his hidden designs, and from the former of whom he received every encouragement for their prosecution; while his acute ambassador at Madrid, Beauharnais, transmitted all the information requisite to enable him to appreciate the disposition of the leading political characters with whom he was likely, in carrying them into execution, to come into collision. The Spanish royal family at this period. was divided and distracted by intrigue to a degree almost unprecedented even in the dark annals of Italian or Byzantine faction. The King, Charles IV., though a prince not destitute of good qualities, fond of literature and the fine arts, endowed with no inconsiderable share of political penetration, and obstinately resolute, when fairly roused, in the maintenance of his own opinions, was nevertheless so extremely indolent, and so desirous of enjoying on a throne the tranquillity of private life, that he surrendered himself on ordinary occasions without scruple to the direction of the Queen and the Prince of the Peace. She was a woman of spirit and capacity, but sensual, intriguing, and almost entirely governed by Don Manuel Godoy, a minister whom her criminal favour had Talleyrand and his partisans have taken advantage of his dismissal from the office of minister for foreign affairs shortly after this period, to represent him as hostile to the war with Spain. There can be no doubt, however, from his communications to Savary at Tilsit, that he was then privy to that design, 1 Ante, chap. and approved of it; and Napoleon constantly asserted that it was he who xlvi. § 80. originally suggested to him the subjugation of the Peninsula. 'Napoleon declared," says O'Meara," that Talleyrand was the first to suggest to him the invasion of Spain.”—O’MEARA, ii. 330; see also THIBAUDEAU, vi. 296. LII. 1807. CHAP. raised from the humblest station to be the supreme director of affairs in the Peninsula. Godoy was not by nature a bad man; and, being endowed with considerable talents, might, under a free constitution, and in a country where greatness was to be attained by integrity of conduct and capacity for the direction of affairs, have preserved an unblemished reputation. Even as it was, his administration, among many grevious evils, conferred some important benefits on his country. But, elevated to power by the partiality of a woman, ambitious, vain, and ostentatious, surrounded by a jealous nobility, who regarded his extraordinary influence with undisguised aversion, he had no resource for the preservation of his power but in the same arts to which he had owed his rise. He had the extraordinary faculty, descriptive not less of his own character than of the manners of the court where his elevation had taken place, while married to a princess of the blood-royal, to carry on a ceaseless intrigue with the Queen, and, without exciting her jealousy, to live in open adultery with Mademoiselle Tudo, by whom he had several children, and console himself, when her charms began to wane, with those of her younger and more beautiful sister! Alike unsatiated by this power, and undeterred by these scandals, which were known to all Spain, he now openly aspired to a throne, and aimed at the formation of a dynasty which might take its place among the crowned heads of Europe.* Sketch of the life of the Prince * Don Manuel Godoy, born at Badajos in 1767, of a noble but obscure family, affords as singular an example of sudden elevation as the history of Europe or the East has recorded. A mere private in the body-guard, he owed the first of the Peace. favour of the Queen to the skill with which he sang and touched the lute, so favourite an instrument in that land of love and romance. Rapidly advanced by the royal favour in that dissolute court, he had the singular art, from 1793, not merely to lead captive his royal mistress, but to acquire an unlimited sway over the mind of the King, and at the same time live publicly with another mistress (Donna Pepa Tudo), by whom he had several children. His education had been neglected, but he had considerable natural talents, which appeared in an especial manner in the numerous and successful intrigues which he carried on with the ladies of the court, whose rivalry for his favours increased with every additional title he acquired. He was not, however, naturally bad, and never disgraced his adminstration by acts of cruelty. In five years he rose from being a private in the Guards to absolute power, and was |