CHAP. his forces on the outskirts of the town, and nominated General Grouchy governor of Madrid. LII. 1808. 50. quiescence Everything asked by the French authorities was inGeneral ac- stantly granted. All their requisitions for the support, in all the clothing, or pay of the troops, were carefully complied the French. With; and even the ungracious demand for the sword of Francis I., which had hung in the royal armoury ever since it had been taken in the battle of Pavia, was also yielded, from the desire of Ferdinand to conciliate his March 31. much-dreaded ally.* A hint was next given that the journey of DON CARLOS, Ferdinand's brother, destined to celebrity in future times, to receive the Emperor on the frontiers of the kingdom, would be very acceptable: this, too, was instantly acquiesced in, and preparations were made for his departure. The French troops were everywhere received with acclamations; it was the universal belief that they were come to place Ferdinand on the throne, and terminate the odious rule of the Prince of the Peace. Encouraged by such marks of compliance, Beauharnais then insinuated that it would have the best effect upon the future relations of the two potentates, if Ferdinand himself were to go at least as far as Burgos to receive his august guest, to throw himself into his arms, and ask his protection, friendship, and alliance. But the advisers of the Spanish monarch were startled at this demand, especially so soon after the perfidious seizure of n'est plus facile. Un mot de votre bouche suffira. Voulez-vous changer la dynastie des Bourbons, régénérer l'Espagne en lui donnant l'un des princes de votre maison, rien n'est plus facile encore. Votre volonté sera reçue comme celle de la Providence.""-MURAT to NAPOLEON, March 26, 1808. Napoleon answered "Quand je vous prescris de marcher militairement, de tenir vos divisions bien rassemblées et à distance de combat, de les pourvoir abondamment pour qu'elles ne commettent aucun désordre, d'éviter toute collision, de ne prendre aucune part aux divisions de la cour d'Espagne, et de me renvoyer les questions qu'elle pourra vous adresser, ne sont-ce pas là des instructions? Le reste ne vous regarde pas, et, si je ne vous dis rien, c'est que vous ne devez rien savoir."NAPOLEON to MURAT, 4th April 1808.—THIERS, Consulat et l'Empire, viii. 485, 486. "It was brought in state from the Armoria Real to the palace of Murat by the Count Altemion. It could not,' said he,' be given up to more worthy hands than those of the illustrious general formed in the school of the hero of the age.""For, iii. 142. * ་ LII. the fortresses; and the inhabitants of Madrid, grievously CHAP. offended at the coldness of the French authorities to their beloved prince, and the unauthorised intrusion of their 1808. troops into the capital, ere long became exasperated at their imperious allies. Meanwhile Murat, anxious above everything to check the growing enthusiasm in favour of Ferdinand, which seemed equally hostile to the views of his imperial master and those of himself, recommended to the old king to represent his abdication as a forced act, and held out hopes, which were eagerly embraced, of his restoration to the throne by the influence or force of Napoleon. He promised to forward the protest against 1 Lond. i. 69, the resignation without delay to the Emperor, whom he 70 Foy, i. represented as strongly inclined to support the cause of Thib. vi. the old sovereigns, and protect not only them, but the 109. Thiers, Prince of the Peace, whose unpopularity had involved 525, 526. them in his fall.1 140, 142. 332. Tor. i. viii. 524, 51. offers the He Napoleon morning crown of His pain to decisive Buonaparte, Louis Napoleon received the account of the events at Aranjuez on the night of the 26th March at Paris. instantly took his final resolution, and next offered the crown of Spain to his brother Louis. letter to that prince still exists, and affords evidence of his views on that monarchy even at that it, and early period, and of the profound dissimulation as well as sent to thorough perfidy by which his subsequent conduct, both to Ferdinand and Charles IV., was characterised.* Louis, who declines Savary is Madrid. * Napoleon's letter to his brother Louis was in these terms :-"27th March 1808-The King of Spain has just abdicated; the Prince of the Peace has been Napoleon's letter to his imprisoned; insurrectionary movements have shown themselves at Madrid. At brother that instant our troops were still forty leagues distant, but on the 23d Murat Louis to that effect. must have entered that capital at the head of forty thousand men. The people demand me, with loud cries, to fix their destinies. Being convinced that I shall never be able to conclude a solid peace with England till I have caused a great movement on the Continent, I have resolved to put a French prince on the throne of Spain. In this state of affairs, I have turned my eyes on you for the throne of Spain. Say at once what is your opinion on that subject. You must be aware that this plan is yet in embryo; and that, although I have 100,000 men in Spain, yet, according to circumstances, I may either advance directly to my object, in which case everything will be concluded in a fortnight, or be more circumspect in my advances, and the final result will appear only after several months' operations. Answer categorically-if I declare you King of 1808. CHAP. however, was not deceived by the specious offer thus LII. held out to him he had felt on the throne of Holland the chains of servitude, and the responsibility of command, and he was thinking rather of resigning his onerous charge than accepting another still more burdensome he therefore refused. Some time before, Napoleon had had a long conversation with Isquierdo at St Cloud as to the state of public opinion in the Peninsula, and the feelings with which they would regard a prince of his family, or even himself, as their sovereign. Isquierdo replied, "The Spaniards would accept your majesty for their sovereign with pleasure, and even enthusiasm, but only in the event of your having previously renounced the crown of France." Struck with this answer, and the confirmation it had recently received, he meditated much on the affairs of Spain; and, without revealing to him his real designs on the Spanish crown, sent Savary to Madrid, to carry into execution his intrigues in the Spanish capital. Foreseeing that the crisis of the Peninsula was approaching, and that it was indispensable that he should get both Charles and Ferdinand into his power, he set out himself for Bayonne in the beginning of April. He had now finally made up his mind to take advantage of the dissensions of the 142, 143. Spanish royal family to dispossess both the claimants, and place one of his own family on the throne.1 April 2. 1 Sav. iii. 162. Tor. i. 100, 101. Thib. vi. 334, 335. Foy, iii. When Savary received his final instructions for Madrid, Napoleon said to him :-"Charles IV. has abdicated; his son has succeeded him; and this change has been the result of a revolution in which the Prince of the Peace has fallen, which looks as if these changes were not altogether voluntary. I was fully prepared for some changes in Spain; but I think they are now taking a turn altogether different from what I intended. See our ambassador on the subject; inquire especially why he could not prevent a revolution in which I shall be forced to interfere, and Spain, can I rely on you?"-NAPOLEON to LOUIS, 27th March 1808; TORENO, i. 100; and THIBAUDEAU, vi. 334. LII. 1808. in which I shall be considered as implicated. Before CHAP. recognising the son, I must be made aware of the sentiments of the father; nothing will induce me to do so till I see the resignation duly legalised, otherwise a troop of traitors may be introduced into my palace during the night, who may force me to abdicate, and overturn the state. When I made peace on the Niemen, I stipulated that, if England did not accept the mediation of Alexander, he should unite his arms to mine to constrain that power to submission. I would be weak indeed, if, having obtained that single advantage from those whom I have vanquished, I should permit the Spaniards to embroil me afresh on my weak side, and give that power much greater advantages than she had lost by the rupture with Russia. What I fear above everything is a revolution of which I neither know the direction nor hold the threads. Doubtless, it would be a great object to avoid a war with Spain such a contest would be a species of sacrilege ; but I would willingly incur all its hazards, if the prince who governs that state is disposed to embrace such a policy. I should thus be in the same situation with Louis XIV. when he engaged, in support of his grandson, in the War of the Succession; the same political necessity governs both cases. Had Charles IV. not resigned, and the Prince of the Peace not been overturned, we might have remained at peace, because I could rely on them; but now all is changed. But if Spain is inclined to throw itself into the opposite policy, I should not hesitate to enter the monarchy with all my forces; for that country, if ruled by a warlike prince inclined to direct against us all the resources of his nation, might perhaps succeed in displacing by his own dynasty my family on the throne of France. You see what might happen in France if I do not prevent it; it is my duty to foresee the danger, and take measures to deprive the enemy of the resources they might otherwise derive from it. If I cannot arrange with either the father or son, I will LII. 1808. CHAP. make a clean sweep of both; I will reassemble the Cortes, and resume the designs of Louis XIV. I am fully prepared for all that; I am about to set out for Bayonne; I will go on to Madrid, but only if it is absolutely unavoidable." His official instructions to Savary, still existing in the archives of the Louvre, set his perfidious intentions in the clearest light.1* 1 Sav. iii. 162, 166. Thiers, viii. 538. 53. at Madrid, and per suades Ferdinand to onne. No person could be better qualified than Savary to He arrives execute the ambiguous but important mission with which he was now charged. Devoted in his attachment to the Emperor; intimately acquainted with his most secret go to Bay projects; active, insinuating, skilful; a perfect master of finesse and dissimulation; and wholly unscrupulous in the means employed for the execution of his purposeshe was admirably adapted for conducting that dark intrigue, which was intended, without a rupture, to terminate in the dethronement of the entire race of the Spanish house of Bourbon. In the most flagitious as well as important deeds of Napoleon's life-the murder of the Duc d'Enghien, the Russian negotiations which followed the battle of Austerlitz, and in those which succeeded the treaty of Tilsit-he had borne a conspicuous part; and his present situation at the head of the Gendarmerie d'Elite, gave him the direction of the most important part of the state police. Fully possessed of the secret * "Les instructions ètaient De ne pas reconnaître le fils, d'affecter pour l'autorité du père un respect religieux, de maintenir cette autorité le temps nécessaire pour s'emparer de la couronne, en se la faisant transmettre tout de suite ou plus tard, selon les circonstances.; de tirer Ferdinand VII. de Madrid pour l'amener à Burgos ou à Bayonne, afin de s'assurer de sa personne, et d'en obtenir la cession de ses droits, moyennant une indemnité en Italie, telle que l'Etrurie par exemple: de s'y prendre avec ménagement, d'attirer Ferdinand à Bayonne par l'espérance de voir le litige vidé en sa faveur; mais, s'il s'obstinait, de publier brusquement la protestation de Charles IV., de déclarer que lui seul régnait en Espagne, et de traiter Ferdinand VII. et fils et en sujet rebelle."" M. Thiers, much to his credit, fully admits the baseness of these designs,"Les preuves existent," says he "et ne laissent sur ce sujet aucun doute: et moi, qui ne veux en rien ternir la gloire de Napoléon, je dirai ici la vérité comme je l'ai dite dans l'affaire du duc d'Enghien, par la loi toute simple et toute souveraine de rapporter, quand on écrit l'histoire, les faits tels qu'ils se sont passés."-THIERS, Consulat et l'Empire, viii. 538, 539. |