*

LII.

1808.

colour now put upon the Aranjuez resignation, which had CHAP been uniformly represented by Charles IV. not only as a voluntary act, but as avowedly contemplated for a long time before it took place. This continued refusal on Ferdinand's part added extremely to the embarrassments Tor. i. 152, of Napoleon, and he was at a loss to perceive any mode vi. 368, 369. by which he could attain his favourite object of gaining Escoiq. 64, possession of the throne of Spain, with the semblance of viii. 604. a conveyance from the legal owner.1

153. Thib.

Cev. 50, 51.

65. Thiers,

obtains an

tional sur

from Charles

IV.

May 5.

More successful with the father than the son, Napoleon 79. had already obtained from Charles IV. an unqualified Napoleon resignation of all his rights to the throne of Spain. A unconditreaty to this effect, agreed to on the 4th and signed on render of the 5th of May, by Duroc and the Prince of the Peace, the throne in virtue of special powers from their respective masters, contained an unqualified resignation of the crown of Spain, not only for himself and Ferdinand, but for all his successors, and a transference of it in absolute sovereignty to the Emperor Napoleon. The only provisions in favour of Spain were, that the integrity of the kingdom should be preserved; that its limits should be unchanged by the prince whom Napoleon might place on the throne; that the Catholic religion should be maintained, and no Reformed religion tolerated. The palace of Compiègne was to be assigned to the King, the Queen, and the Prince of the Peace, during the lifetime of the former, with a pension of thirty millions of reals (£40,000). The only point in this treaty upon which there was any serious discussion was the matter of the

* Ferdinand in this letter made the just observation, "that the perpetual exclusion of his dynasty from the throne of Spain could not be effected without the consent of all those who either had or might acquire rights to its succession, nor without the formal consent of the Spanish nation assembled in Cortes, in a situation free from all restraint; and that any resignation now made would be null, from the obvious restraint under which it was executed." -FERDINAND to CHARLES IV., 4th May 1808; TORENO, vol. i. App. No. 9. Already the opposing parties had changed sides: Napoleon, the hero of the Revolution, would consent to no assembling of the Cortes; Ferdinand, the heir of the despotic house of Bourbon, appealed for support to that national assembly.

LII.

1808.

CHAP. pensions; the surrender of the monarchy was agreed to without hesitation by the imbecile monarch and his pusillanimous minister. Thus had Charles IV. the disgrace of terminating his domestic dissensions by the abandonment of his throne and the liberties of his people into the hands of a stranger; and the Prince of the Peace the Tor. i. 404. infamy of affixing his name, as the last act of his minisCev. 134, terial existence, to a deed which deprived his sovereign. and benefactor of his crown, and aimed to disinherit for ever his descendants.1 *

App.No.11.

136. Thiers, viii. 617.

On the same day on which this treaty was signed, a secret deputation reached Ferdinand from the provisional government of Madrid, consisting of Zayas, aide-de-camp to the minister of war, and Castro, under-secretary of state. They came to demand instructions, chiefly on the points, whether they were at liberty to shift their place of deliberation, as they were subjected to the control of the French army in the capital; whether they should declare war against France, and endeavour to prevent the further entrance of troops into the Peninsula; and whether, in the event of his return being prevented, they should assemble the Cortes. Ferdinand replied, that “he was deprived of his liberty, and in consequence unable to take any steps in order to save either himself or the monarchy; that he therefore authorised the junta of government to add new members to their number, to remove such as they thought proper, and to exercise all the functions of sovereignty; that they should stop the entrance of fresh troops, and commence hostilities the

66

* Charles IV. was not destitute of good qualities, but he was a weak incapable prince, totally unfit to hold the reins of power during the difficult times which followed the French Revolution. He himself gave the following account to Napoleon of his mode of life at their first dinner together at Bayonne :Every day," said he, "winter as well as summer, I went out to shoot from the morning till noon; I then dined, and returned to the chase, which I continued till sunset. Manuel Godoy then gave me a brief account of what was going on, and I went to bed to recommence the same life on the morrow, not prevented by some important solemnity." Such had been his habits for twenty years, and those, too, the most critical for the Spanish monarchy.

if

LII.

1808.

moment that he was removed into the interior of France, CHAP. a step to which he never would consent till forced to it by violence; that the Cortes should be convoked, in the first instance, to take measures for the defence of the kingdom, 1 Thib. i. and then for such ulterior objects as might require con- 377, 378. sideration. The decrees necessary to carry these instruc-322, 323. tions into effect were soon after brought to Madrid by an Tor. i. 452, officer destined for celebrity in future times, DoN JOSEPH viii. 605. PALAFOX.1

South. i.

Cev. 56, 58.

453. Thiers,

of

at

Madrid, on

pels a resig

nation of the throne from Ferdi

From the embarrassment arising from the continued 81. resistance of Ferdinand to make the resignation required The intelliof him, Napoleon was at length relieved by the receipt of event othe intelligence of the bloody commotion at Madrid, which May 2, comat once brought to a crisis the affairs of the Peninsula. He received the news of that calamitous event as he was riding out to Bayonne, at five o'clock in the afternoon of nand. the 5th of May, and immediately returned to his chateau, where he sent for Charles IV., the Queen, Ferdinand, and the Prince of the Peace. The Prince of Asturias was assailed by Charles IV. and the Queen with such a torrent of abuse, that Cevallos, who was present on the occasion, has declared that he cannot prevail on himself to transcribe it. Napoleon joined in the general vituperation, and the sternness of his manner and vehemence of his expressions at once showed that the period had now arrived when submission had become a matter of necessity. He spoke of the outraged honour of the French armies; of the blood of his soldiers, which called aloud for vengeance; of a war of extermination, which he would

Notwithstanding all this, however, he would have passed for a respectable prince in ordinary times, but for the pernicious influence of his wife; for he was gifted with an admirable memory, quick parts, and considerable powers of occasional application, and had, throughout, that humanity and love of justice, which are the most valuable qualities in a sovereign. But his indolence and negligence of public business ruined everything in the monarchy, by throwing the whole direction of affairs into the hands of the Queen and the Prince of the Peace, whose infamous connection, dissolute habits, and unbounded corruption, both degraded the character and paralysed the resources of the nation.TORENO, i. 155, 156.

CHAP. wage to vindicate his authority.

LII.

1808.

1 Thiers, viii. 614,

615. Cev.

Escoiq, 64,

He concluded with the

ominous words—"Prince, you must choose betwixt cession and death." Similar menaces were conveyed by Duroc

to the Infants Don Carlos and Don Antonio, and other 51, 62. members of the royal family. Sensible now that any 65. Tor. . further resistance might not only, without any benefit, endanger his own life, but possibly draw after it the destruction of the whole royal family, Ferdinand resolved upon submission.'

156. Thib.

vi. 380. Bign. vii. 262.

82.

submits, and

crown.

May 6.

May 10.

On the following morning, he addressed a letter to his Ferdinand father, in which he announced his intention of unqualified resigns the obedience; and four days afterwards a treaty was signed, by which he adhered to the resignation by his father of the Spanish crown, and acquired in return the title of Most Serene Highness, with the palace, park, and farms of Navarre, with fifty thousand arpents of wood connected therewith, and an annuity of six hundred thousand francs a-year from the French treasury. The same rank, with an annuity of four hundred thousand francs, was allotted to the Infants Don Carlos and Don Antonio. As soon as this treaty was signed, Ferdinand and his brothers were removed to Bordeaux, where the two princes signed a renunciation of their rights to the throne, and Ferdinand was made to affix his name to a proclamation, in which he counselled submission and peace to the Spanish people. The three royal captives were shortly after conveyed to

May 12.

Napoleon on this occasion made it a special subject of reproach to Ferdinand, "that by flattering the opinion of the multitude, and forgetting the sacred respect due to authority, he had lighted the conflagration now ready to devour the Peninsula. -Foy, iii. 177. 'Voilà," said the old King to Ferdinand-" Voilà donc ton ouvrage! le sang de mes sujets a coulé; celui des soldats de mon ami, le grand Napoleon, a coulé aussi. A quels ravages n'aurais-tu pas exposé l'Espagne si nous avions affaire à un vainqueur moins généreux! Voilà les conséquences de ce que toi et les tiens ont fait pour jouir quelques jours plus tôt d'une couronne que j'étais aussi pressé que toi de placer sur ta tête. Tu as déchaîné le peuple, et personne n'en est plus maître aujourd'hue. Rends, rends cette couronne trop pesante pour toi, et donne-la à celui qui seul est capable de la porter."-THIERS, viii. 615.

"Prince, il faut opter entre la cession ou la mort.' Quoique l'on puisse revoquer en doute cette assertion d'une bouche justement suspecte, nous admettons que ce mot ait été prononcé par Napoléon."-BIGNON, vii. 262.

LII.

1808.

Valençay, the seat of Talleyrand, in the heart of France, CHAP. where they continued during the remainder of the war. Napoleon on this occasion sent a confidential letter to Talleyrand, directing that the royal captives should be treated with respect but watched with vigilance, and hinting that it was desirable that some fair lady should attach Prince Ferdinand-the more especially if she was secure in the French interest.* No indemnity whatever 52, 133,140. Escoiq. 64, was provided for the Queen of Etruria or her son, who, 65. Thib. compelled by Napleon in the outset of these transactions Tor. i. 156, to renounce the crown of Tuscany, had been subsequently 157, 159 amused by the elusory promise of a throne in Portugal, 177. and was now sent a destitute captive into the interior of 618, 619. France.1 +

1 Cev. 51,

vi. 380, 384.

Foy, iii.

Thiers, viii.

makes

83.

of Spain,

Assembly of

Having now succeeded in his main object of dispossessing the Bourbon family, and obtaining a semblance of Napoleon legal title from the ejected owners to the Spanish throne, Joseph King Napoleon was not long of bringing to an issue his other and con arrangements regarding the Peninsula. The refusal of vokes an his brother Louis to accept the throne had induced him Notables, to cast his eyes upon Joseph, King of Naples-an arrangement which, besides providing a sovereign who, it was hoped, would prove entirely submissive to the views of the Emperor in that important situation, was attended with the additional advantage of opening a throne for Murat, who, after holding the almost regal state of lieutenant of the Emperor at Madrid, could hardly be expected willingly to descend to any inferior station. To preserve appearances, however, it was deemed advisable

* "Si vous avez à Valençay un théâtre, et que vous fassiez venir quelques comédiens, il n'y aura pas de mal. Si le Prince des Asturies s'attachait à quelque jolie femme, cela n'aurait aucun inconvénient, surtout si on en était sûr. J'ai le plus grand intérêt à ce que le Prince des Asturies ne commette aucune fausse démarche. Je désire donc qu'il soit amusé et occupé."-NAPOLEON to TALLEYRAND, Bayonne, 9th May 1808; THIERS, viii. 620.

+ Napoleon's own account of the Bayonne affair is in all substantial points the same as that above given. "Ferdinand offered, on his own account, to govern entirely at my devotion, as much so as the Prince of the Peace had done in the name of Charles IV.; and I must admit that, if I had fallen into their views, I would have acted much more prudently than I have actually done. When I VOL. VIII. 2 B