Robert Southey

INSURRECTION AND MILITARY MURDERS AT MADRID. SUBMISSION OF THE CONSTITUTED AUTHORITIES TO THE PLEASURE OF BUONAPARTE. ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES CONVOKED BY HIM AT BAYONNE.

Thus had Buonaparte succeeded in dispossessing the Bourbon dynasty of the throne of Spain. Having, under pretence of a treaty, secured the passes of the Pyrenees, seized the three strong places upon the frontier, and the important city of Barcelona, marched his armies into the heart of the kingdom, and occupied the capital itself, he had now drawn the royal family within his reach, serpent-like, by the fascination of fear, and compelled them to sign the act of their abdication and disgrace. The train of perfidy whereby he had thus far accomplished his purpose is unexampled even in the worst ages of history. The whole transaction was a business of pure unmingled treachery, unprovoked, unextenuated, equally detestable in its motive, its means, and its end. The pretext that there existed an English party in Spain was notoriously false. Those Spaniards who felt and lamented the decline of their country had rested their hopes of its regeneration upon him. There was not any possible way by which he could so surely have confirmed the alliance between France and Spain, secured the affection of the Spanish people, and strengthened his own immediate individual interest (if the vulgarest ambition had not blinded him), as by connecting his own family with the royal house in marriage, in conformity with Ferdinand’s desire, and directing him and his ministers how to bring about those reforms which would restore to health and strength a country that was still sound at heart. No other mortal has ever in any crisis of the world had it in his power to produce such great and extensive good as this opportunity invited, without risk, effort, evil, or any contingent inconvenience. He had only to say, let these things be, and the work of progressive reformation would have begun in Spain and in the Spanish Indies, while he, like a presiding deity, might have looked on, and have received the blessings of both countries for his benignant influence.

The artifices which he had employed were of the basest kind. Never perhaps had any plot of perfidious ambition been so coarsely planned. His scheme was to use falsehood and violence without remorse; to repeat protestations enough for deceiving the Prince, and employ force enough for intimidating the people. The former object had been accomplished ... and Murat, perceiving a spirit in the Spaniards which neither he nor his master had expected, was looking for an opportunity29 to effect the latter. His measures, as soon as he entered Madrid, were intended to make them understand that they were no longer an independent nation, but that they must learn obedience to a military yoke. A French governor of the city had been appointed, a French patrole established, and notice was given that every house would be called upon to contribute great coats for the French troops, their own not having arrived. The Junta of government were made to feel the misery of their degrading and helpless situation; a situation in which they were compelled to witness and sanction the most grievous injuries and the most intolerable insults to their country. While Ferdinand was at Vittoria, Murat sent for the war-minister O’Farrill, to complain to him that some of the French soldiers had been30murdered, that the people of Madrid openly manifested their dislike of the French, that the guards displayed a similar disposition, that an hundred thousand muskets had been collected in Aragon, and that Solano had not received the promised instructions to put himself under Junot’s command. O’Farrill vindicated the Junta from these accusations, some of which were groundless, and others arose from causes over which they had no control; but Murat cut him short, told him he had received orders from the Emperor to acknowledge no other sovereign in Spain than Charles IV. and put into his hands a proclamation in the name of that King, declaring that his abdication had been compulsory, and requiring again from his subjects that obedience which they owed to him as their lawful monarch. O’Farrill replied, that none of the constituted authorities would obey the proclamation, and still less would the nation: then, said Murat, the cannon and the bayonet shall make them. But he appeared to hesitate in his resolution of immediately publishing and enforcing it, when the Spanish minister represented to him that the fate of Spain did not necessarily depend upon that of Madrid, nor the Spanish monarchy upon that of Spain; and that it never could be good policy for the Emperor to act in a manner so suitable to the wishes of the English. The result of the conference was, that the Junta agreed to receive King Charles’s reclamation, to forward it to Ferdinand from whom they held their authority, and await his answer. Before that answer could arrive, Charles and the Queen were summoned to Bayonne.

From the time when Ferdinand began his inauspicious journey, Cevallos had every night dispatched an account of their proceedings to the Junta; after his arrival at Bayonne it was soon found that his couriers were intercepted. Cevallos complained to M. Champagny, and was told in reply, that as the Emperor acknowledged no other King than Charles IV. he could not admit in his dominions any act in the nature of a passport given by Ferdinand; but the letters which, for this reason, had been detained, had been put into the French post-office, and would be safely delivered, as would any others which he might think proper to send either by the ordinary post or the French courier. Cevallos therefore from that time sent duplicates of his dispatches by various conveyances, and succeeded in informing the Junta that Ferdinand was actually a prisoner, and in conveying an order to them from Ferdinand, whereby they were enjoined to do whatever they deemed expedient for the service of the King and the kingdom, and authorized to act with as full power as if he himself were on the spot. Nothing could be more intelligible than such an order. Nevertheless, such was the timidity of the better members, and the faithlessness of others, that instead of acting upon it, they dispatched two confidential persons to inquire of Ferdinand whether he would empower them to transfer their authority to certain other persons, whom he should nominate, who, in case the Junta should be completely under constraint, might remove to some place where they could act at freedom? whether it was his will that hostilities should be commenced, and when, and how? whether they should prevent the entrance of more French troops by closing the passes of the Pyrenees? and whether he thought it advisable to convoke a Cortes, addressing a decree for that purpose either to the Council, or to any Chancery or Audience in the kingdom, which might be free from the control of the French? If the Cortes were to be assembled, they asked likewise what subjects it should proceed to discuss?

Public affairs, in the most momentous times, have often been conducted with a degree of folly seldom discovered in the management of private concerns; and this folly has so effectually done the work of treason, that it has sometimes been mistaken for it. But it is scarcely possible, even upon this plea, to excuse the Junta. When every hour was of importance, they dispatched a messenger four hundred miles to ask Ferdinand’s opinion upon points, on every one of which he would have asked theirs had he been in Madrid; all which they were better able to determine than he could be, and on which, in fact, he required that information which they possessed. When it is considered how preposterous it was to propose that the passes should be closed while the French commanded them, and how perfectly they must have known that Ferdinand was in no condition to plan the opening of a campaign, a suspicion may well be entertained of the sincerity of the persons who propounded such questions. Shrinking from responsibility, and appalled at danger, they referred every thing to Ferdinand, and suffered events to take their course. Meantime, if their own statement on such a point may be received, they secretly prepared orders for the Spanish troops to leave Madrid, even by dispersing, or by encouraging their desertion, if there should be no other way; for assembling soldiers at appointed places, collecting stores and ammunition, destroying the means of transport near the fortresses and cantonments which the enemy occupied, and spoiling the arms and artillery which could not be secured. Such orders were certainly not in accord with the feelings of the men who say that they prepared them: but they would have accorded entirely with the spirit of the nation. ?Agitation of the public mind.? From the time of Ferdinand’s departure, the anxiety and agitation of the people in Madrid had hourly increased. They knew that he expected to meet Buonaparte at Burgos, and the tidings that he had passed the frontier, and proceeded to Bayonne, excited in them as much alarm as wonder. Every evening an extraordinary courier arrived from that city; the intelligence which he brought was never published in the Gazette, but circulated as extracts from private correspondence: the first account detailed nothing but the honours with which Ferdinand had been received by the Emperor; subsequent ones were each more unsatisfactory than the last; and the intentions of the tyrant became more and more apparent, till it could no longer be doubted that Ferdinand was to be deprived of his crown.

On the last day of April, Murat presented to the Infante Don Antonio a letter from his brother King Charles, requiring him to send off to Bayonne the Queen of Etruria31 with her children, and the Infante Don Francisco de Paula, Ferdinand’s youngest brother, ... the other was already in the snare. The Junta were assembled at the time, and proposed to make the demand known to Ferdinand, and await his pleasure; but Murat replied, that this was unnecessary; the Queen of Etruria was her own mistress, and Don Francisco being a minor, was bound to obey his father. The Junta then said they would consult the Queen, who might certainly go if she were so pleased, but to the departure of the young Infante they could not consent. The Queen of Etruria will be remembered hereafter among those high-born sufferers whose strange and undeserved afflictions are recorded as examples of the instability of fortune. Her only desire was to return to Tuscany; but she loved her parents, and declared herself ready to obey their summons without hesitation, not expecting farther perfidy from Buonaparte, even after the perfidious manner in which she had been despoiled. With regard to the Infante, the Junta were informed by Murat that he must go also, or force would be used to make him. ?The Junta deliberate concerning the Infante.? These poor pageants of authority summoned to their assistance in this new perplexity the chief persons of all the different councils, and held a meeting that night, less with the hope of coming to any salutary and dignified determination, than for the sake of finding in the exposure of their own helplessness an excuse to themselves and others for passive submission. One person proposed, that if force were employed to remove the Infante, it should be resisted, and O’Farrill was then called upon to relate what means of resistance could be calculated upon. He entered into a mournful statement. There were 25,000 French in, and immediately about Madrid, and they occupied the Buen Retiro and the heights of the Casa del Campo, which were the strongest positions; besides this force they had 10,000 men in Aranjuez, Toledo, and at the Escurial. The Spanish troops in Madrid were only 3000, and the people were unarmed and had never been disciplined in any militia service; therefore to attempt resistance would be to deliver up the city to be sacked. The effect of this representation, which might have dismayed firmer hearts than those to which it was addressed, was strengthened by the opportune arrival that night of D. Justo Maria de Ibar Navarro, whom Ferdinand had dispatched to apprize the Junta of his situation, and his resolution not to accede to any thing incompatible with the dignity of the throne, and with his own just rights; but while the event was undecided, he charged them carefully to preserve a good understanding with the French, and to avoid any thing which might increase his difficulties and even his personal danger. They agreed upon the necessity of observing these instructions, glad that they were thus instructed to do nothing, where they were incapable of perceiving what they ought to do.

The courier who was expected on that evening did not arrive. Great multitudes assembled the next day at the Puerta del Sol, and in the streets near the post-office, anxiously waiting for the news which he would bring. During the whole day it was apparent that some dreadful crisis was coming on. The French made an ostentatious display of their troops and their artillery, and on the part of the Spaniards the ordinary duties and diversions of the Sabbath seemed to be suspended in the general agitation that prevailed. Nothing was concerted among them; no one knew what was to be done, nor what was to be hoped, but that some great calamity might be looked for; and every man read in the manner and countenance of others an apprehension and a feeling of indignation like his own. Murat appeared in the streets at noon, and was received with hisses and outcries. Evening came, and the courier was not arrived. The French garrison were under arms all that night, and their commanders, “cool spectators of these things,” according to their own relation, saw the crisis approaching, and saw it with pleasure. ?May 2.? ?Departure of the Queen and the Infante.? The following morning had been fixed for the departure of the Queen of Etruria and the Infante D. Francisco de Paula, and many persons, chiefly women, collected before the Palace to see them set off. Among the many rumours, true and false, with which the city was filled, it was reported that the Infante D. Antonio had been ordered by Murat to join his brother and nephew at Bayonne, and leave him to act as regent during his absence; that the Infante had refused to obey, and that in consequence of his refusal Murat had recalled some troops to Madrid which had been ordered to a different station, intending to seize the Infante, and assume the government. Enough had transpired to make this report probable: one of the carriages which drove up to the gate was said to be for D. Antonio; and some of the populace being determined that the last of the royal family should not be taken from them without resistance, and that one especially who had been left to represent the King, cut the traces, and forced it back into the yard. Being however assured that D. Antonio was not to leave Madrid, they permitted it again to be yoked and brought out. This occasioned so much stir that Murat sent an aide-de-camp to inquire into the cause; the people were disposed to treat him roughly, but some Spanish officers interfered and rescued him from their hands. The carriages, with the Queen of Etruria and her children, and her brother D. Francisco, then set out; the latter, a lad of fourteen, is said to have wept bitterly, and to have manifested the fear and reluctance with which he undertook the journey. Men are never so easily provoked to anger as when their compassion is excited. Just at this time, while their hearts were full, the aide-de-camp whom they had maltreated returned with a party of soldiers, and a scene of bloodshed presently began, ... in what manner never will be known.

The indignation and hatred of the Spaniards, which had so long been repressed, now broke forth. As fast as the alarm spread, every man of the lower ranks who could arm himself with any kind of weapon, ran to attack the French. There is no other instance upon record of an attempt so brave and so utterly hopeless, when all the circumstances are considered. The Spanish troops were locked up in their barracks, and prevented from assisting their countrymen. Many of the French were massacred before they could collect and bring their force to act: but what could the people effect against so great a military force, prepared for such an insurrection, and eager, the leaders from political, the men from personal feelings, to strike a blow which should overawe the Spaniards and make themselves be respected? The French poured into the city from all sides, their flying artillery was brought up, in some places the cavalry charged the populace, in others the streets were cleared by repeated discharges of grape-shot. The great street of Alcala, the Puerta del Sol, and the great square, were the chief scenes of slaughter. In the latter the people withstood several charges, and the officer who commanded the French had two horses killed under him: General Grouchy also had a horse wounded. The infantry fired volleys into every cross street as they passed, and fired also at the windows and balconies. The people, when they felt the superiority of the French, fled into the houses; the doors were broken open by command of the generals of brigade, Guillot and Daubrai, and all within who were found with arms were bayoneted; and parties of cavalry were stationed at the different outlets of Madrid to pursue and cut down those who were flying from the town. A part of the mob, seeking an unworthy revenge for their defeat, attacked the French hospital; and some of the Spaniards who were employed within, encouraged at their approach, fell upon the sick and upon their medical attendants. But these base assailants were soon put to flight.

At the commencement of the conflict Murat ordered a detachment of 200 men to take possession of the arsenal32. Two officers happened to be upon guard there, by name Daoiz and Velarde, the former about thirty years of age; the latter, some five years younger, was the person who had been sent to compliment Murat on his arrival in Spain. Little could they have foreseen, when they went that morning to their post, the fate which awaited them, and the renown which was to be its reward! Having got together about twenty soldiers of their corps, and a few countrymen who were willing to stand by them, they brought out a twenty-four pounder in front of the arsenal, to bear upon the straight and narrow street by which the enemy must approach, and planted two others in like manner to command two avenues which led into the street of the arsenal. They had received no instructions, they had no authority for acting thus, and if they escaped in the action, their own government would without doubt either pass or sanction a sentence of death against them for their conduct; never therefore did any men act with more perfect self-devotion. Having loaded with grape, they waited till the discharge would take full effect, and such havoc did it make, that the French instantly turned back. The possession of the arsenal was of so much importance at this time, that two columns were presently ordered to secure it: they attempted it at the cost of many lives, and the Spaniards fired above twenty times before the enemy could break into the neighbouring houses, and fire upon them from the windows. Velarde was killed by a musket-ball. Daoiz had his thigh broken; he continued to give orders sitting, till he received three other wounds, the last of which put an end to his life. Then the person to whom he left the command offered to surrender: while they were making terms a messenger arrived bearing a white flag, and crying out that the tumult was appeased. About two o’clock the firing had ceased every where, through the personal interference of the Junta, the council of Castille and other tribunals, who paraded the streets with many of the nobles, and with an escort of Spanish soldiers and imperial guards intermixed. It might then have been hoped that the carnage of this dreadful day was ended; the slaughter among the Spaniards33 had been very great; this however did not satisfy Murat; conformably to the system of his master, the work of death was to be continued in cool blood. ?Executions by sentence of a military tribunal.? A military tribunal under General Grouchy was formed, and the Spaniards who were brought before it were sent away to be slaughtered with little inquiry whether they had taken34 part in the struggle or not. Three groupes of forty each were successively shot in the Prado, ... the great public walk of Madrid. Others, in like manner, were put to35 death near the Puerta del Sol, and the Puerta del S. Vicente, and by the Church of N. SeÑora de la Soledad, one of the most sacred places in the city. In this manner was the evening of that second of May employed by the French at Madrid. The inhabitants were ordered to illuminate their houses, a necessary means of safety for their invaders, in a city not otherwise lighted; and through the whole night the dead and the dying might be seen distinctly as in broad noon-day, lying upon the bloody pavement. When morning came the same mockery of justice was continued, and fresh murders were committed deliberately with the forms of military execution during several succeeding days.

On the night of the third, the Comte de Laforest, and M. Freville, had a private conference with the Infante D. Antonio; and the Infante, whether inveigled by their persuasions, or influenced by his own fears after the dreadful scenes which had been exhibited, informed the Junta in the course of that night, that he should set off at daybreak for Bayonne, to share the fate of his family. They represented to him, that his presence in Spain would be infinitely more useful to the interest of the Bourbons, than it could possibly be in Bayonne; but he replied that his word was given, and his resolution fixed, and accordingly at daybreak he departed. ?Murat claims a place in the Junta.? Murat had shown some little degree of respect toward this personage; as soon as he was gone, he informed the Junta that he should think proper to assist at their deliberations in future. O’Farrill and Azanza protested against his intrusion, and would have retired from the nominal authority which they held; they soon however assented to the will of the majority, pleading in excuse for their assent an unwillingness to appear as if they consulted their own interests alone, and a fear lest others should imitate the example of resignation, and then the capital of the kingdom would be left at the discretion of a hostile power, without any native authorities to protect it; ... a poor apology this, when they were mere instruments of that power.

Murat now affected to soothe and conciliate the people. He told them in his proclamations that thenceforth their tranquillity would be undisturbed, a blessing which they would owe to the loyalty of their character, and which would be assured to them by the confidence that the laws inspire; for in obedience to the dictates of humanity, he said, the military commission was suppressed. From this time every inhabitant, whatsoever his rank, who might have given cause for being seized by the French troops, provided36 he had not borne arms against them, should be immediately delivered over to his proper judges, and tried by them: even in the excepted case, a judge nominated by the competent tribunal of the land should assist in regulating the process against the accused, till sentence was pronounced. No countrymen, or strangers, or ecclesiastics, should be molested on account of their dress. This alluded to an order which had been issued, prohibiting the cloak, lest arms should be concealed under it; but the cloak is so universally worn by the Spaniards, that the prohibition was thus modified on the third day after it had been issued, and repealed altogether on the following. Carriers, it was said, who were employed in bringing provisions to the town, should from that time be subjected to no vexation, neither should their carriages and beasts be detained; and only half the cattle of the muleteers should be put in requisition even in the most urgent necessity, and then they should be paid for at the regulated price, and not detained longer than three or four days. At those gates where carriers had suffered arbitrary detention in order to be searched and stript of their arms, instructions should be given to prevent abuse: but it was necessary, the edict said, to repeat the injunction against introducing fire-arms or other prohibited weapons: these were to be deposited at the gate.

The Holy Office, as that execrable tribunal impiously styled itself, which has been the disgrace and the bane of every country wherein it was established, lent its last aid toward the degradation of Spain. ?May 6.? Four days after the insurrection, a circular letter was addressed by the Inquisitor-general, in the name of the Supreme Council, to all its subordinate tribunals. That insurrection, the anniversary of which, hopelessly as it began, and disastrously as it terminated, will be celebrated in after ages by the Spaniards as a day of proud and pious commemoration, ... one of the most solemn in their calendar, ... was called by the Inquisition a disgraceful tumult, occasioned by the evil intentions or the ignorance of thoughtless men, who under the mask of patriotism and loyalty were preparing the way for revolutionary disorders. The melancholy consequences which had already occurred, rendered, it was said, the utmost vigilance necessary on the part of all the magistracies and respectable bodies, to prevent the renewal of such excesses, and to preserve tranquillity; the nation being indeed bound to this good behaviour, not only by its own interests, but by the laws of hospitality toward a friendly army which injured no one, and which had given the greatest proofs of good order and discipline. It became therefore the duty of the well-informed to enlighten the people, ... to deliver them from their dangerous error, and to show them, that tumultuary proceedings could only serve to throw the country into confusion, by breaking those bonds of subordination upon which the peace of the community depends, ... by destroying the feelings of humanity, and by annihilating all confidence in government, from which alone the direction and impulse of patriotic feeling ought to proceed. “These most important truths,” said the address, “can by no persons be impressed upon the minds and hearts of the people with more effect, than by the ministers of the religion of Jesus Christ, which breathes nothing but peace and brotherly love among men, and subjection, honour, and obedience to all that are in authority: and as the Holy College ought to be, and always has been, the first to give an example to the ministers of peace, it accords with our duty and office to address this letter to you, that you may co-operate in the preservation of the public tranquillity. You are required to notify the same to all the subordinate officers of your respective courts, and also to the commissioners of districts, that all and each of you may with all possible zeal, vigilance, and prudence, co-operate in the attainment of so important an object.”

On the 7th the decree arrived from Bayonne, by which Charles announced the reassumption, of his authority, and appointed Murat lieutenant-general of the kingdom. A proclamation came with it, exhorting the Spaniards to trust in the experience of their old King, to obey the authority which he had received from God and his ancestors, to imitate his example, and to believe that there could be no prosperity or salvation for Spain, save in the friendship of her ally the great Napoleon. The next courier brought Ferdinand’s act of resignation to the Father-king, and dispatches whereby the Junta were discharged from their allegiance to him, and instructed to obey the orders of Charles IV. They were thus relieved from a situation in which, if it would have been difficult for any men to have acted well, it was scarcely possible to have acted worse: for they had never been ignorant of Ferdinand’s real situation, and they had received from him discretionary powers which would have authorized the most patriotic and determined measures.

A day or two after the reassumption of the Father-king had been announced in Madrid, there arrived Ferdinand’s answer to the preposterous questions which the Junta had proposed. However great the previous and the subsequent errors of this unhappy Prince, he was not wanting on this occasion to himself or to his country. He told the Junta that he was not in a state of freedom, and being therefore incapable himself of taking measures either for his own preservation or that of the monarchy, he invested them with full power to remove whithersoever they might deem most advisable, and exercise all the functions of sovereignty in his name, as representatives of his person. He instructed them to commence hostilities as soon as they should know that he was proceeding into the interior of France, which he would not do unless he were compelled; and he enjoined them to prevent in the best manner they could the introduction of more French troops into the Peninsula. This was the substance of one decree. A second, which accompanied it, was directed to the Junta, and as they had suggested, to any chancery or audience of the kingdom, in case they should not be in a situation to act when it arrived. In this Ferdinand declared it to be his royal will that the Cortes should be assembled in whatever place might be deemed most convenient; that they should occupy themselves exclusively at first in attending to the levies and subsidies necessary for the defence of the kingdom, and that their sittings should be permanent.

These decrees were dated on the 5th, a few hours only before Ferdinand was confronted with his parents, and exposed to those outrages and threats which extorted from him his renunciation. The messenger took a circuitous route, and travelled on foot, for the sake of security; he did not reach Madrid therefore till after Charles’s reassumption of the crown had been officially announced there; and the Junta gladly perceived that the instructions which enjoined them to obey the orders of the father, discharged them from the duty of obeying the son in this instance, Ferdinand being no longer King, and they no longer his servants. By proposing the questions they had gained time for events to take their course, and relieve them, as they vainly hoped, from responsibility and danger. Other hope or motive in proposing them they could have none: and having so far succeeded, they concealed the dispatches for a time, and afterwards destroyed them. To have acted upon them now, they alleged, would have endangered Ferdinand37 as well as themselves.

The abdications both of the son and father had now been made public, and the people of Madrid, the blood of their townsmen still fresh in their streets, and the yoke upon their necks, read the address by which their late sovereign enjoined them to submit to the will of the Emperor Napoleon. That no colour of authority for the intended usurpation might be wanting, the names of Ferdinand, his brother Don Carlos, and the Infante Don Antonio, were affixed to a proclamation from Bourdeaux, condemning the spirit of resistance which had shown itself, absolving the people from all duties towards them, and exhorting them to obedience to France. In this address, the Infantes were made to say, that, “being deeply sensible of the attachment displayed towards them by the Spaniards, with the utmost grief they beheld them on the point of being plunged into anarchy, and threatened with all the dreadful calamities consequent thereupon. Aware that these might proceed from the ignorance in which the people were, both as to the principles of the conduct pursued by their highnesses, and the plans formed for the benefit of their country, they found themselves under the necessity of making an effort to open their eyes, by salutary counsel, in order to prevent any obstruction to the execution of those plans; and thus to give them the dearest proof of their affection. The circumstances under which the Prince assumed the government; the occupation of several provinces, and of all the frontier fortresses, by French troops; the actual presence of more than 60,000 of that nation in the capital and its environs; and many other circumstances known only to themselves, convinced them that, surrounded by difficulties, they had only chosen, among various expedients, that which was likely to produce the least evil; and, as such, they resolved upon the journey to Bayonne. On their arrival, the Prince, then King, was unexpectedly apprised that his father had protested against his act of abdication. Having accepted the crown only under the impression that the abdication was voluntary, he was no sooner informed of such a protest than his filial duty instantly determined him to give back the throne. But a short time after, the King his father abdicated it in his own name, and that of his whole race, in favour of the Emperor of the French, in order that the Emperor, consulting the good of the nation, should determine the person and race which should hereafter occupy it. In this state of things, considering that any attempt of the Spaniards for the maintenance of their rights could tend only to make streams of blood flow, and to render certain the loss of at least a great part of her provinces, and all her colonies: ... being further convinced, that the most effectual means of preventing these evils was, that their royal highnesses, for themselves, and all connected with them, should assent to the renunciation; taking also into consideration, that the Emperor engaged, in this case, to maintain the independence and integrity of the Spanish monarchy, and its colonies, without retaining the smallest of its dominions for himself, or separating any part from the whole; that he engaged to maintain the unity of the Catholic religion, the security of property, and the continuance of the existing laws and usages which have for so long a time preserved the power and honour of the Spanish nation ... they conceived that they were affording the most undoubted proof of their affection towards it, by sacrificing their individual and personal interests for the benefit of that nation, and by this instrument assenting, as they already had assented in a particular treaty, to the renunciation of all their rights to the throne.... They accordingly released the Spaniards from all their duties in this respect, and exhorted them to consult the interest of their country, by conducting themselves peaceably, and by looking for their happiness to the power and wise arrangements of the Emperor Napoleon.... The Spaniards might assure themselves that, by their zeal to conform to those arrangements, they would give their Prince and the two Infantes the strongest proof of loyalty, in like manner as their royal highnesses gave them the greatest example of paternal affection, by renouncing their rights, and sacrificing their own interests for the happiness of the Spaniards, the sole object of their wishes.”

When the Emperor Napoleon had resolved upon dethroning the Spanish Bourbons, it was his wish to have made Lucien Buonaparte King of Spain, the ablest of his brethren, and the only one who was unprovided with a kingdom. His first elevation to the consulship, which was the passage of the Rubicon in his career, had been chiefly brought about by Lucien’s intrepidity and talents. But Lucien, who fancied himself the abler, as in some respects he was indeed the wiser man, had not obtained that ascendancy in his brother’s councils to which he thought himself in many ways entitled; as a lover of constitutional freedom, he heartily disapproved the system which Napoleon pursued, and was therefore in some degree estranged from him, though the bond of fraternal feeling had not been broken. Having in his diplomatic employments found means to amass a princely fortune, he was then residing at Rome, happy in his family and in his pursuits, collecting pictures, and busy in the composition of a long and elaborate poem. This condition of honourable and enviable privacy Buonaparte hoped he might be induced to relinquish for the throne of Spain and of the Spanish Indies. But Lucien knew something of Spain and of the Spaniards, whereas the Emperor had neither taken into consideration the nature of the country nor the character of the people; and even if the injustice and odium of the usurpation had not determined his refusal, the insecurity of such a throne might have decided him, and the certainty that he who accepted it must submit to be the mere instrument of Napoleon’s ambition. The choice therefore then fell upon his brother Joseph, who was reigning not without some popularity at Naples, over a kingdom which had long been grievously misgoverned, and which had submitted in fair war to the right of conquest. He too, by Lucien’s earnest advice, declined the odious elevation; but while he pursued his journey to Bayonne, whither he had been summoned, intending to persist in his refusal, the Emperor, who would take no denial from him, proceeded in his arrangements, well knowing that he would submit to that ascendancy which so few were capable of resisting.

Murat, who was the person intended to succeed at Naples, intimated to the Spanish Junta whom they were to expect for their new King, and procured from them an address upon that subject to the Emperor. Convinced, they said, that the condition of Spain required the closest connexion with the political system of the empire, which he governed with so much glory, they considered the resignation of the Bourbons as the greatest proof of kindness to the Spanish nation which their sovereign had ever given. “Oh! that there were no Pyrenees!” exclaimed these sycophants and slaves. “This was the constant wish of good Spaniards; because there could be no Pyrenees, whenever the wants of both countries should be the same, when confidence should be restored, and each of the two nations have received, in the same degree, the respect due to its independence and worth. The interval which yet separates us from this happy moment cannot now be long. Your Imperial Majesty, who foresees all things, and executes them still more swiftly, has chosen for the provisional government of Spain, a Prince educated for the art of government in your own great school. He has succeeded in stilling the boldest storms, by the moderation and wisdom of his measures. What have we not, therefore, to hope, now that all Spaniards unite in devoting to him that admiration to which he has so many claims! The Spanish monarchy will resume the rank which belongs to it among the powers of Europe, as soon as it is united by a new family compact to its natural ally. Whoever the Prince may be whom you destine for us, chosen from among your illustrious family, he will bring that security which we need so much. The Spanish throne rises to a greater height. The consequences resulting from its relation to France, are of an importance commensurate with the extent of its possessions. It seems, therefore, that the throne itself calls for your Majesty’s eldest brother to govern it. Surely it is a happy presage, that this arrangement, which nature has confirmed, so well corresponds with the sentiments of reverence and admiration, with which the actions of this Prince, and the wisdom of his government, had inspired us.” The Council of Castille were implicated in the shame of this address. Their wisdom, it was said, obliged them to give all their support to these principles, and they united in the expression of the wish of the Supreme Junta.

An address was also framed in the name of the city of Madrid, to Murat, as “Lieutenant-general of the kingdom of Spain.” “That city,” it said, “thinking it certain that the Emperor of the French intended to place the crown upon the head of his illustrious brother Joseph Napoleon, King of Naples; and being distinguished for its love of its sovereigns and its obedience to them, could not omit joining its homage to that of the Supreme Junta and of the Council, and requested his Highness would notify the same to the Emperor. The city also availed itself of that opportunity to assure him of its respect and submission.” Graves could hardly yet have been dug for those who were massacred, and the places of execution were still covered with flakes of blood, when the existing authorities thus fawned upon Murat, and praised his moderation: and this address was presented in the name of the city, where mothers, widows, and orphans, were cursing him and the tyrant his master in every street, and well nigh in every house! ?May 22.? A letter was also obtained from the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, the last of the Bourbons who remained in Spain. “The resignation of Charles,” he said, “and the confirmation of that act, by the Prince and the Infantes, imposed upon him, according to God’s will, the pleasing duty of laying at the Emperor’s feet the assurance of his homage, fidelity, and reverence. May your Imperial and Royal Majesty (he added) be graciously pleased to look upon me as one of your most dutiful subjects, and instruct me concerning your high purposes, that I may be furnished with the means of manifesting my unfeigned and zealous submission.”

The next demand of Murat was that the Council of Castille should send a deputation of its members to repeat what their address had expressed, and renew their petition that the Emperor would deign to nominate the King of Naples, Joseph Napoleon, to the throne of Spain. This also was obeyed, the Council, like the Junta of Government, being now in a state of habitual submission to his supreme commands. ?Assembly of Notables convoked at Bayonne.? ?May 25.? An Assembly of Notables was then, first by a circular decree from Murat, and afterwards by Buonaparte himself, in virtue of the right which had been ceded to him, convoked to meet at Bayonne on the 15th of June, charged with the wishes, the demands, and wants and complaints of those whom they represented, that they might fix the bases of the new constitution by which the monarchy was thenceforth to be governed. Till that should be effected Murat was to continue in the exercise of his power as Lieutenant-general of the kingdom; the course of justice was to proceed as usual, and the existing ministers, the council of Castille, and all other authorities, religious, civil, and military, were confirmed for as long a time as might be necessary. ?Proclamation of Buonaparte to the Spaniards.? This edict was accompanied by a proclamation in that peculiar style which Buonaparte affected: “To all who shall see these presents, health! Spaniards, after a long agony your nation was perishing. I saw your evils. I am about to remedy them. Your greatness, your power, are part of mine. Your Princes have ceded to me all their rights to the crown of the Spains. I will not reign over your provinces, but I will acquire an eternal title to the love and gratitude of your posterity. Your monarchy is old; my mission is to rejuvenize it. I will improve all your institutions, and I will make you enjoy, if you will second me, the benefits of a reformation without destruction, without disorder, without convulsions. Spaniards, I have convoked a general assembly of deputies from your provinces and towns. I myself well know your wishes and your wants. Then I will lay down all my rights, and will place your glorious crown upon the head of one who is my other self, guaranteeing to you a constitution which conciliates the sacred and salutary authority of the Sovereign, with the liberties and the privileges of the people. Spaniards, remember what your fathers were; behold what you yourselves are become! The fault is not yours, but that of the bad administration which has governed you. Be full of hope and of confidence in the existing circumstances, for it is my wish that your latest descendants shall preserve my memory, and say of me, he was the regenerator of our country.”

But these vain promises and hypocritical professions were too late.