a formal protest against the abdication of the crown. His majesty, Ferdinand VII, being incessantly urged to go to meet the French emperor, painfully hesitated between the necessity of performing an act of courtesy, which he was assured would be attended with such advantageous results, and his reluctance to abandon his loyal and beloved people in such critical circumstances. Cevallos declares, that in this embarrassing situation, his constant opinion, as the king's minister, was, that his majesty should not leave his capital until he should have received certain information that the emperor had actually arrived in Spain, and was on his way and near to Madrid; and that even then he should only proceed to a distance so short as not to render it necessary to sleep one night out of his capital. His majesty persisted for some days in the resolution of not quitting Madrid, until he should receive certain advice of Napoleon's approach. And he would have probably continued in that determination, had not the arrival of general Savary added greater weight to the reiterated solicitations of the grand duke, and the ambassador Beanbarnois. General Savary was announced as the envoy from the emperor, and in that capacity he demanded an audience from the king, which was immediately granted. Savary professed that he was sent by the emperor merely to compliment his majesty, and to know whether his sentiments with respect to France were conformable to

those of the king his father; in which case the emperor would forego all considerations of what had pas.. sed, in no degree interfere in the internal concerns of the kingdom, and immediately recognize his ma jesty as king of Spain and the Indies. The most satisfactory answer was given to general Savary, and.. the conversation was continued in terms so flattering, that nothing more could have been desired. The audience terminated with an assurance, on the part of Savary, that the emperor had already left Paris, that he was near Bayonne, and on his way to Madrid.

Scarcely had general Savary left the audience chamber, when he began to make the most urgent applications to the king to meet the emperor, assuring him that this attention would be very grateful and flattering to his imperial majesty. And he affirmed so repeatedly, and in such positive terms, that the emperor's arrival might be expected every moment, that it was impossi ble, Cevallos observes, not to give credit to his assertions. The king at length yielded. The day appointed for his departure arrived. General Savary, affecting the most zealous and assiduous attention to his majesty, solicited the honour of accompanying him on bis journey, which, at the farthest, according to the information which he had just received of the emperor's approach, could not extend beyond Burgos.

The king, during his absence, supposed to be only for a few days, left at Madrid a supreme juntat of [K 4] government,

The residence prepared for the king appeared to all, and was, in reality, but little suited to the guest who was to occupy it. This remarkable and expressive neglect formed a striking contrast with the studied magnificence with which the king had prepared for the reception of his ally at Madrid. While the king was taken up with doubts concerning the meaning of a reception he so little expected, he was informed that the emperor was on his way to pay him a visit. His imperial majesty arrived, accompanied by a number of his generals. The king went down to the street door to receive him, and both monarchs embraced each other with every token of friendship and affection. The emperor of the French staid but a short time with his majesty, and they embraced each other again at parting. Soon after, Marshal Duroc came to invite the king to dine with the emperor, whose carriages were coming to convey the king to the castle of Marrac, about the distance of a mile and an half from Bayonne, where his imperial majesty resided, which accordingly took place. Napoleon came as far as the steps of the coach to receive his majesty; and having embraced him again, led him by the hand to the apart ment provided for him.

Leaving, for a little, the simple and ill-fated Ferdinand in the hands of Buonaparte, like Montezeuma in those of Pizarro, we return to notice certain circumstances coincident with the main action in the drama, ia point of time, and connected with it by other relations; which circumstances were either altogether foreign to the design of Cevallos, or only glanced at in his

exposition in an incidental and the slightest manner; which was sufficient for his purpose.

From the period of the defection of Spain, in 1796, according to the treaty of Basle, from the general coalition of European powers against France, Spain had shewn herself so entirely submissive to the various rulers of that distracted country, as to appear rather in the light of a subordinate province than an independent state, and that even in the closest bonds of amity and alliance. The loss of fleets and colonies, the complete interruption of all maritime commerce, and of all regular and certain communication with her transatlantic possessions, on which she more immediately depended for revenue than any other European state in similar circumstances, nor repeated demands of pecuniary aid, nor the aggregate of the whole of these considerations, had been able to rouse the Spanish government from this degrading state of lethargic subserviency. A government and nation that seemed so devoid of spirit and understanding, naturally tempted the unbounded ambition of the men who, since the end of the year 1799, reigned with despotic sway in France, Italy, and part of Germany. The treaty concluded at Tilsit in the summer of 1807, as has been related in our last volume, had not only terminated the war between Russia and France, but connected the emperor Alexander with Buonaparte, by ties so intimate that, instead of apprehending from him any obstruction or interruption in the execution of his projects, he depended on the watchful exertions of his new ally to avert any hostile attempt, if such could

really

really have been apprehended, on his dominions, or those of the confederated states under his protection, and, it may be added, not only his influence but authority. As he had provided for security in his rear, so he had smoothed the way before him. His ultimate projects in the Peninsula were so dextrously concealed or disguised, by professions of the sincerest friendship*, and pretended plans for the partition and settlement of Portugal, thereby to secure to Spain a free communication with her Atlantic possessions, that the prince then on the throne of Spain, Charles IV. was far from imagining that his great ally beyond the Pyrenees could possibly entertain any design hostile to the interests of his crown and dominions. On the contrary, Charles, by a woeful infatuation, was induced to connect himself by special treaties with Buonaparte, for the express purpose of assisting him in seizing the continental possessions of the queen of Portugal, with whom he had been long united by the firmest bonds of intermarriage, consanguinity, and ancient alliancet. Not only the nature and object of such treaties ought to have awakened the Spanish monarch to a sense of his situation, but also the circumstance that they had been conducted by means of a private negotiator sent to the court of France, unauthorized and unknown to that branch of the Spanish administration to which all similar negociations were wont to be communicated and entrusted.

Agreeably to the tenour of these secret engagements with Buonaparte, while the flower of the Spanish army had been transferred to the north of Germany, with a view, no doubt, to the project now going forward, bodies of French. troops were speedily accummulated at different points of the northern frontier of Spain; of which frontier it may be proper here to give a brief description.

The noble Peninsula, comprehending Spain and Portugal, is washed on all sides by the sea, is joined to France by an isthmus 250 miles in breadth, across which the line of demarcation between the countries is formed by the Pyrennees, a chain of mountains the second for elevation in Europe, extending from the angle of the Bay of Biscay in a south easterly direc tion, to their abutment on the Mediterranean. Across the Pyrenees frequent lateral vallies present communications between France and Spain; of which, however, from political, but chiefly from natural obstacles, none have been made practicable for carriages except two; one at each extremity of the range. At the western extremity the road from Bayonne follows the sea coast to the river Vidossoa, there separating the two countries, over which a ferry carries the traveller into Spain at Trun, a small open town, a couple of miles below which, at the mouth of the Vidossoa, stands the town and fortress of Fontarabia, one of the keys of Spain, and a place of importance until the ac

cession

+ See Vol. XLIX. HIST. EUR. p. 278.

ression of the house of Bourbon to the throne of that kingdom. From the Vidossoa, the road leads in a slanting direction to the southwest, gradually ascending the mountains for fifty miles, and then cross sing the ridge, descends into the plain of the Ebro, there passed, not either by a bridge or a ford, bul by a ferry, although nearly 300 miles from its junction with the Mediterraneau. From the Ebro the road bends round to the westward by Burgos, Valladolid, and Segovia to Madrid, distant 300 miles from the frontier of France. The communication from France to Spain at the eastern extremity of the Pyrennees, proceeds from Perpignan, across the plain of Roussillon to the foot of the mountains, there washed by a deep and rapid torrent, then up a winding valley to the summit of the Gorge of Bellegarde, which which divides France from Spain; and is completely commanded by the fortress of that name, impending over its western side. The descent on the south, shorter than that on the north, brings the traveller to La Tunquera, a small village, and the first place in Spain. The mountains there consisting of only one ridge, the distance across from plain to plain, by the road, is only about five miles. From La Tunquera the road gradually approaches the coast of the Mediterranean, pas sing by Figueras and Gerona to Barcelona, and thence by Lerida and Saragossa to Madrid, distant by this route 360 miles from the frontier.

Another much frequented pass, but fit only for mules and horses, is situated in the road leading south from Bayonne to Madrid by Pam

peluna, the shortest course to that capital.

In addition to the natural ram- · part of the Pyrennees, the Spanish government had not neglected, in former times, to strengthen certain positions commanding the most practicable entrances into the kingdom. The fortress of Fontarabia, at the mouth of the Vidassoa, was already mentioned. Twelve miles farther wetsward, on a low isthmus between two small bays, stands St. Sebastian, a much frequented seaport. It is surrounded with walls, besides which, it is defended with bastions and half moons; and the lofty peninsular, and rocky hill which connects the isthmus with the main land, is crowned with an` ancient castle of great natural strength, commanding the town, and the inlets of the sea on each side.

Access to the interior of Spain, by the direct road from Bayonne, across the Pyrennees to Madrid, is barred by the town and fortress of Pampeluna, situated on a slight elevation, partly surrounded by a small river in the midst of a long plain, from two to three miles in breadth. The town is inclosed by slight works, adapted to the form of the ground: but the citadel is a regular fortress, connected with the town, which is well supplied with every thing necessary, and garrisoned; and although, at certain points, perhaps too near to some high grounds, yet not to be carried but by a numerous attacking army, after a long and formal in

vestment.

France, by means of the fortress of Bellegarde, being in possession of the eastern pass of the Pyrennees, Spain has formed at Figueras,

a small