The journey of Ferdinand to wards Bayonne, excited in all the villages and towns through which he passed, the greatest discontent and liveliest indignation; which were not appeased by the proclamations that preceded his progress, declaring that he had the most positive and satisfactory assurances, that nothing but the most profound respect would be shewn to his persot; without which assurances he would never have accepted the emperor of the French's invitation, and that within four or five days, with the assistance of his good brother and ally, the affairs of Spain would be settled to his own satis faction, and also to that of his subjects.

At Vittoria, when the people learnt, even from the authority of the king, that Buonaparte was suffered to interfere in those affairs, there was a general fermentation among the inhabitants, who, April 19, crowded about the royal residence, in the most tumultuous manner, giving vent to their sentiments without restraint.

A new proclaination was issued, and the duke of Infantando endeavoured to impress the assertions contained in it, in harangues to the people. He assured them, that the intention of the new king was, to represent to the French emperor, the antipathy of the Spanish people to the French troops that had been sent among them, and to demand their immediate recal. The tumult was somewhat assuaged; but voices were heard here and there, muttering," That both the king and the duke of Infantando

might do with Napoleon what they pleased; that Spaniards would never be slaves; and that the nation would maintain its independence without them."

From the moment that Murat set his foot on the Spanish territory, he did all in his power to impress the Spaniards with a conviction, that he had come among them for their good, by bringing about certain reforms in the government, giving it to be understood withal, that he was on the side of the prince of Asturias, and in opposition to the prince of the peace, who was universally detested; nor did he fail to throw out hints and allusions to the influence of the queen in the great affairs of the nation; thereby to ingratiate himself with the people: but, true to his purpose of division and distraction, he was no sooner informed of what had passed at Aranjuez, on the 19th of March, than he made a shew of taking a very warm interest in the fate of Don Manuel Godoy, with whom, though personally unacquainted, he had kept up a confidential and intimate correspondence. On the imprisonment of Godoy, the queen besieged, as it were, the grand duke of Berg, with one letter after another, imploring the intervention of the duke for the safety of the favourite's person* : nor could a person of Murat's information, as well as penetration, be ignorant that his interference in behalf of this favourite, would be most acceptable to her majesty, and also, which may appear to fùture generations not a little singular, to the king. [L2]

Whilst

Whilst Ferdinand halted at Vittoria, he was informed by the supreme junta, that the grand duke. of Berg had made a formal and even an imperious demand of the release of Godoy. This application Ferdinand, who had solemnly promised to bring Don Manuel to judgment according to the laws, directed the junta to resist. Buona parte had himself, by letter, made a similar application to Ferdinand; who, in reply, represented the invincible necessity he was under of bringing Godoy to trial. But if his imperial majesty should continue to take an interest in the life of Don Manuel Godoy, he gave him his word, that if the prisoner should, after mature examination of the charges laid against him, be condemned to death, that punishment should be remitted, in consideration of his majesty's in

tercession.

When the French emperor received this answer from Ferdinand, he flew into a great passion, and, with his accustomed falsity, immediately wrote to the grand duke of Berg, that the prince of Asturias had placed the prisoner at his disposal, and ordered him to demand the release of Godoy, in the most energetic manner. The grand dike, who was naturally violent and impetuous, sent a very haughty note to the junta, in which he reminded them, that the emperor of the French, at the same time that the authority of the prince of Asturias was stated as a ground of procedure to them, acknowledged no other king of Spain than Charles IV. He demanded anew the per

son of the prince of the peace to be sent to France. To this note Murat added many verbal threats of force, which, being reported, so intimidated them, that they ordered the release of Godoy, who was immediately conveyed to Bayonne.

The junta, to cover their owu weakness, gave out in two gazettes extraordinary, that Don Manuel had been released by order of Ferdinand VII. They attempted, by disguising and garbling, to justify such an interpretation of his letter; though nothing could be plainer than that it was the king's intention not to screen Godoy from trial, but from the last punishment in case of condemnation".

The joy that was excited by the imprisonment of the prince of peace, with his principal officers, in all the provinces of Spain, is not to be described. At Salamanca, and several other towns, the bells of the churches were rung; and at Salamanca six hundred monks and as many licentiates, danced in the market-place; young women, married women, and old men, mixed with the monks in this extravagant demonstration of their joyful transports. The Spanish. newspapers, which had begun to assume a tone of great freedom, styled Don Manuel, the prince of injustice, the generalissimo of infamy, the grand admiral of treason, and the ruin of the nation.

Although the history of all absolute monarchies presents many instances of sudden and surprizing elevations to great power and wealth, and as sudden and unexpected falls, there is perhaps none

90 striking as that of Don Manuel Godoy. His story is not unlike that of Don Roderigo Calderona, the favourite of the duke of Lerma, prime minister to Philip III. of Spain.

The prince of the peace was accounted by far the wealthiest and most powerful subject in Europe. Indeed he had all the power, and in a great measure all the wealth of the Spanish monarchy, at his command. While several of the old imposts had come to be alienated from the crown, and were impropriated by certain great families, through the improvident and profigate favour of the court, the people were oppressed with new and arbitrary taxes, burthensome in themselves, and rendered more so by the mode of their collection. But the odium of the common people against the prime minister and the favourite would never have wrought his fall, if there had not been a very general combination against him among the nobility, whom he so greatly eclipsed in splendour, patronage, and favour, and to whom a predominant favourite at court is a greater nuisance, perhaps, than to the nobles of any other country in Europe. It is in like manner that the fall, imprisonment, and tragical end of Don Roderigo Calderona is traced to a combination of the nobility, by all the historians.

Don Manuel, in his retreat, was accompanied by an escort of two hundred horsemen, which appeared necessary for his protection from the fury of the people. He arrived at Bayonne, April 26. A castle in the environs of Bayonne was appointed for his residence; and he was in all respects treated

by Buonaparte as a person of distinction and consequence.

The determined interference of Buonaparte for the liberation of the prince of peace, was owing to the resolution of the king and queen not to quit Spain for France, though called thither by Buonaparte, unless the favourite should be permitted to do so also, and to proceed on his journey before them.

King Charles IV. and his queen, Louisa, arrived on the 27th of April at Burgos, and on the 28th at Vittoria. A detachment of the body guards, to the number of one hundred, who had accompanied the prince of Asturias to Bayonne, happening to be in this town, placed themselves, according to custom, in the palace to be occupied by their majesties. But when the old king set his eyes on them, with a degree of energy that surprized every one, he ordered them to be gone"You betrayed your trust at Aranjuez, I want none of your services, and I will have none."-The guards were obliged to retire.

On the 29th of April, their majesties remained all night at Tolosa; on the 30th they came, about noon, to Irun, where they received letters from Buonaparte, and two hours after entered the walls of Bayonne, where they were received with all public respect and honour.

When the roaring of cannon announced the arrival of the old king and queen of Spain, Ferdinand, with his brother, Don Carlos, went. to meet thein. All the Spaniards that were at Bayonne also waited on their majesties, and went through the ceremony of kneeling and kissing hands. It was a scene of contraint and awkwardness on both sides; the king seemed as much [L3] dissatisfied

dissatisfied with them as he had been with his body guards at Vittoria. He did not speak a word to any one but count Pignatelli of Fuentes, an unprincipled and supple courtier, whom Buonaparte had appointed to insinuate himself into the confidence of the prince of Asturias, for the purpose of watching and betraying him.

When the ceremony of kissing hands was over, their old majesties, being fatigued, retired to their apartments; the prince of Asturias was going to follow them, but the king stopt him, saying, "Prince, have you not yet sufficiently outraged my grey hairs." The prince and the Spaniards who had accompanied him to Bayonne, at these words were thunder-struck, and withdrew in great perturbation. At

five o'clock, P. M. their majesties were visited by the emperor Napoleon, who remained with them a long time. The conversation turned on the injuries that had been done to the king and queen, the perils in which they had been involved, the ingratitude of men on whom they had lavished favours; and above all on the ingratitude aud rebellion, as they said, of their son. The officers of king Charles's household, were appointed by Buonaparte, all of them Frenchmen.

On the 1st of May, the king and queen of Spain dined at the castle

of Marrae with Napoleon and his spouse Josephina. May 2d, at four o'clock, P. M. Josephina went to pay a visit to the king and queen, and staid a long time with their majesties.

The newspapers printed at Bayonne, under the immediate inspection of Talleyrand and Buonaparte himself, and which came every day under the eye of the prince of Asturias, took the side of the dethroned king and the prince of peace. The Bayonne gazette of the 25th of April, the day of Ferdinand's arrival, contained various statements in contradiction of the reports tha thad been spread of the prince's having immense treasures in foreign funds, extenuated the instances of his mal-administration, adverted to many benefits that resulted from his ministry, and above all, entered into elaborate arguments to shew that the abdication of Charles IV. was not voluntary but compulsory. In this manner Buonaparte endeavoured to prepare the mind of Ferdinand and his party, for the catastrophe that awaited him. At the same time it was the common talk at the court of Bayonne, and re-echoed from thence by the numerous emissaries of Buonaparte, in every province in Spain, that a strong hand alone could save the monarchy,

CHAP.