The prince of Asturias had transmitted to his father a sketch of the administration of the prince of the peace, charging him with a notorious attachment and subserviency to France. Buonaparte, apprized of this, stimulated the minister to the proceedings at the Escurial, in the autumn of 1807; and then it was his policy to take the part of the oppressed prince against the ministerial oppressor. He set himself, by nourishing the ambition of the son, to excite the resentment of the father, and rendered them mutual objects of mistrust, jealousy, and hatred; to disarm the father from taking precautions against the son, while he still encouraged the son in his views of immediate succession; to seduce to his side all that was most respectable in Spain, or by infamous propositions and surinises, to subject them to popular suspicion; and, in a word, by striking a mortal blow at the head of government, and get ting into his power, or under his influence, or debasing the great lords to whom the public eye might, at a great crisis, be naturally turned, to tear asunder all the bonds of the social compact, and plunge the defenceless nation into anarchy and this answer did not accord with that afterwards transmitted by Buonaparte to Ferdinand, in which he formally declares, that he had received it. He yielded his consent, however, to the king's proposal of a marriage between the heir ap parent and a French princess of Buonaparte's family, well foreseeing that this would afford a pretext for interfering in the private concerns of the royal family; and, at any rate, that it would withhold or withdraw their attention from ulterior measures for the fulfilment of his designs in the Peninsula. By this conduct also he hoped to gain the goodwill of the Spanish nation in general, as it had a tendency to convince them of the sincerity of his friendship for persons to whom they were so firmly attached. It was, further, calculated to give credit to the insinuations of his emissaries in Spain, that Buonaparte was secretly inclined to favour the cause of the prince of Asturias: while, through other channels, the minister, and favourite, Godoy, the prince of the peace, whose ambitious views must soon have been discovered by a person of Buonaparte's penetration, was privately encouraged to look forward to the protection of France, in the accomplishment of his nefarious projects. By this mysterious couduct Buonaparte threw the king, the queen, the prince of Asturias, and the favourite into extreme disorder. And while they were all of them under this distraction, the French troops were suffered to spread themselves over a great portion of the Spanish ter • See Vol. XLIX. HIST. EUR. p. 278.1 ritory. ritory. So far did this infatuation prevail in the administration that orders were issued for receiving and treating the French on a more liberal scale than even their own troops. Many important posts in Spain, as well as the whole of Portugal, being now in the possession of the French, Buonaparte transmitted to the king of Spain a complaint, that no further steps had been taken in the affair of the marriage of the heir apparent with his relation. To this Charles replied, that retaining the same sentiments, he was desirous that the marriage might take place immediately. Some further proceedings were necessary to the maturation of Buonaparte's project, and not being willing to commit these to writing, he thought he could not find a fitter instrument than Don Eugenio Izquierdo, whom he had detained in Paris, in a state of great dejection and terror, artfully impressed upon him, that he might thereby be induced the more effectually to execute his commission, by inspiring the royal parents, and the favourite with the same feelings. Izquierdo was ordered to repair to Spain: which he did in a very mysterious and precipitate manner. According to his verbal statements he did not bring any proposal with him in writing. On his arrival, under these circumstances, at Aranjuez”, the favourite conducted him to the presence of the royal parents, and their conferences were conducted with so much secrecy, that it was impossible for any one to discover the object of his mission. But soon after his departure from the Spanish capital, their majesties began to shew a disposition to abandon both the metropolis and the Peninsula, and to emigrate to Mexico. The recept example of the determinations taken by the royal family of Portugal (which, as some have conjectured, was not uninfluenced by secret communications from France) induced Buonaparte, to form a hope that the example of the court of Lisbon, in the present perplexing and alarming posture of affairs, might be followed by that of Spain. But scarcely had the first reports gone abroad of the intentions of the royal family of Spain to abandon the place of their residence, a resolution unequivocally indicated by the preparations which were going on, when discontent and fear were exhibited in the most lively colours in the features of all the inhabitants of the capital, and of all ranks and classes of persons. This alone was sufficient to induce their majesties to refute the rumour, and to assure the people that they would not abandon them. Nevertheless such was the general distrust, such the magnitude of the evils which must have ensued, and such and so many the symptoms of a fixed determination to emigrate, that every one was on the alert, and all seemed to be impressed with the necessity of preventing a measure fraught with so many mischiefs. The danger increased, and with this the fears of the people. A popular commotion burst forth at Aranjuez, on the 17th and 19th of March, like a sudden explosion; the people being actuated by a sort [K2] of One of the royal residences, situate on the banks of the Tagus, twenty-three miles to the southward of Madrid. of instinct of self-preservation. The favourite who, without the title of king, had exercised all the functions of royalty, and who favoured the scheme of emigration, in the hope of withdrawing himself, and some portion, at least, of his enormous treasures from the vengeance of an oppressed and outraged people, was thrown into prison, Scarcely had this tempestuous scene taken place, when the royal parents, finding themselves deprived of the support of their favourite, the prince of peace, took the unexpected resolution which, according to Cevallos, they had for some time entertained, of abdicating their throne: which they accordingly did in favour of their son and heir the prince of Asturias*. Buonaparte, ignorant of this sudden event, and, perhaps, never supposing that the Spaniards were capable of such resolution, had ordered his brother in law, styled by him prince Murat, grand duke of Berg, to advance with his army towards Madrid, under the idea, that the royal family were already on the coast ready to embark; and that, far from meeting the slighetest obstacle on the part of the people, they would receive him with open arms as their deliver and guardian angel. He con. ceived that the nation was in the highest degree dissatisfied with their government, not reflecting that they were only dissatisfied with the abuses that had crept into the administration of it. The instant that the grand duke of Berg was apprized of the occurrences at Aranjuez, he advanced with his whole army to occupy the capital of the kingdom: intending, no doubt, to profit by the occasion, and to take such steps as should seem best calculated to realize the plan of making himself master of Spain. Meanwhile the mysterious obscurity of Buonaparte's projects, the proximity of his troops, and the ignorance in which Ferdinand VII, was of the real object of Buonaparte's approach, as was given out, *According to a French newspaper, (and it is to be recollected that no news. paper is published in France not correspondent to the ideas and views of Buonaparte) one party in Spain accused the prince of peace of entering into a project with the queen herself, with whom he was universally believed to be a very particular and most intimate favourite, for the ruin of her son, the heir ap parent, under the pretence of his having engaged in a plot for the dethronement of his father. The prince of Asturias, it was added, had been drawn into this conspiracy by the suggestions of his princess, his own cousin, a daughter of the king of the Two Sicilies, by a sister of the ill-fated Maria Antoinette of France. This princess, feeling the degraded situation in which her husband was held through the influence of the favourite Godoy over the sovereign, took, it was said, little pains to suppress her sentiments on the subject.-Her aversion to the French nation cannot be a matter of surprize, when we reflect on the indignities and miseries brought by them on her parents, and many other near relatives at Paris, at Milan, and at Florence. The queen could, besides, discover in the princess of Asturias, only a rising rival and a future mistress, of whose sentiments respecting her own conduct, public and private, she probably was not ignorant. Whatever may have been the cause, it is known that the queen and the princess had been for some time on no very amiable terms: so that when this young princess was snatched away by death in her early years, persons were not wanting to surmise that she had fallen a sacriAce to the arts of the queen, the favourite, and the French partizans at Madrid, out, to Madrid, induced this prince to adopt such measures as appeared best calculated to conciliate his good will. Not satisfied with his having communicated his accession to the throne in the most friendly and affectionate terms, the king, Ferdinand, appointed a deputation of three grandees of Spain to proceed to Bayonne, and in his name to compliment his imperial majesty. He also appointed another grandee of Spain to pay a similar compliment to the grand duke of Berg, who had already arrived in the vicinity of Madrid. One of the contrivances to which the French agent had immediate recourse, was, to assure the king, and to spread the rumour in all quarters, that his imperial majesty's arrival in Madrid might be expected every moment. Under this impression, the necessary orders were given for preparing apartments in the palace, suitable to the dignity of so august a guest. And the king wrote again to the emperor how agreeable it would be to him to be personally acquainted with his majesty, and to assure him with his own lips, of his ardent desire to strengthen more and more the alliance which subsisted between the two sovereigns. The grand duke of Berg had, in the mean time, entered Madrid at the head of his troops, and begun, without a moment's delay, to sow the seeds of discord. He spoke in a mysterious manner of the abdication of the crown, executed amidst the tumults of Aranjuez, and gave it to be understood, that until the emperor acknowledged Ferdinand VII. it was impossible for him to take any step that should appear like an acknowledgment, and that he was under a necessity of treating only with the royal father. This pretext did not fail to produce the effect which the grand duke intended. The royal parents, the moment they were informed of this circumstance, availed themselves of it to save the favourite, who remained in confinement; and in whose favour Murat professed to take an interest, for the sole purpose of flattering their majesties*, mortifying Ferdinand, and leaving fresh matter of discord between the parents and the son. In this state of things, the new king made his public entry into Madrid, without any other parade tlian the most numerous concourse of the capital and its environs, the strongest expressions of love and loyalty, and acclamations which sprung from the joy and enthusiasm of his subjects a scene, says Cevallos +, (whom, with some abridgment, in [K 3] this A letter from the queen to the grand duke of Berg, imploring his intervention for preserving the life of Godoy, and breathing all the fond attachment and anxiety of an amorous old woman, will be seen in Appendix to the Chronicle, p. 240. Exposition of the practices and machinations which led to the usurpation of the crown of Spain, and the means adopted by the emperor of the French to carry it into execution, by Don Pedro Cevallos, first secretary of state, and dispatches to his catholic majesty, Ferdinand VII. There is not a little reason to suspect Cevallos of a versatility of character. After serving Charles IV. under the prince of the peace, he went into the service of Ferdinand, when Buonaparte appeared to favour that young prince. He accompanied his new master to Bayonne. He was there appointed to negotiate with the French agent, when Ferdinand was desired to resign this part of our annals we follow) truly grand and impressive, in which the young king was seen like a father in the midst of his children, entering his capital, as the regenerator and guardian of the monarchy. Of this scene the grand duke of Berg was a witness: but far from abandoning his plan, he resolved to persevere in it with greater ardour. The experiment npon the royal parents produced the desired effect. But whilst Ferdinand, the idol of the nation, was present, it was impossible to carry the plan into execution. It was therefore necessary to make every effort to remove this prince from Madrid. To accomplish this object, the grand duke was extremely assiduous in spreading reports of the arrival of a fresh courier from Paris, and that the emperor might be expected speedily to arrive in the Spanish capital. He set himself, in the first place, to 7 induce the infant Don Carlos, to set out to receive his imperial majesty Napoleon, on the supposi tion that his royal highness must meet him before he should have proceeded two days on his journey. His majesty, Ferdinand, acceded to the proposal. The grand duke had no sooner succeeded in procuring the departure of Don Carlos, than he manifested the most anxious de--~ sire that the king should do the same, leaving no means untried to persuade his majesty to take this step, assuring him that it would be attended by the happiest consequences to the king and the whole kingdom." At the same time that the grand duke of Berg, the French ambassa- dor, and all the other agents of France, were proceeding in this course, they were, on the other hand, busily employed with the royal parents to procure from them a formal his crown on certain conditions. But according to his own statement, being found too inflexible a counsellor, he was dismissed with much insolence from the French government. Nevertheless, when Joseph was nominated king, he went with him to Madrid, in the capacity of his prime minister. Then finding that the national tide of Spain flowed with a strong, and, as he thought, with an irresistible corrent, counter to the usuper, he returned immediately to the service of his former master. We therefore entirely agree in opinion with a writer in the Edinburgh Review, that "with regard to Cevallos himself, it is not enough to say, that after all his pretended protestations against the unprincipled violence and insulting usurpation of the French court, he was asked to accept of the place of first minister to king Joseph Napoleon, and that he accepted of that offer. There is no honest man to whom his own statement of these two leading facts will not be quite satisfactory, and perfectly conclu sive, as to the personal character of Don Pedro Cevallos." Yet we cannot withhold, any more than this reviewer, "our belief from the story he tells of the inso lence and the outrageons usurpations of Buonaparte. It bears upon it the intrinsic character of truth. It corresponds exactly, not only with the general character of the persons represented, but with the visible exterior of the transaction it professes to detail-barefaced and unblushing falsehood, and open ferocious violence." Edinburgh Review, October 1808, p. 217. The scattered fragments tally with one another, so as to form a regular edifice. It would not be credible of any one but of Buonaparte, of whom it has been said, that he "unites the impetuosity of the French, the treacherous subtlety of the modern Italian, and the ferocious and sanguinary temper of the Corsican." The circumstances mentioned would scarcely have been introduced into a fictitious narrative, aiming, like other fictious, at credibility by a conformity to what is generally known of human nature.— Inhumana crudelitas perfidia plus quam punica. Besides, the facts of any importance in the narrative of Cevallos, are too recent and notorious to be disputed. |