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Title: History of the Peninsular War Volume I (of 6)
Author: Southey, Robert
Language: English
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Transcriber’s Note
Sidenotes are shown in UPPER-CASE and enclosed in ♦DIAMOND SYMBOLS♦;
italic text is enclosed in _underscores_. Other notes will be found at
the end of this eBook.
HISTORY
OF THE
PENINSULAR WAR.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.
HISTORY
OF THE
PENINSULAR WAR.
“Unto thee
“Let thine own times as an old story be.”
DONNE.
BY ROBERT SOUTHEY, ESQ. LL.D.
POET LAUREATE,
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY, OF THE
ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY OF HISTORY, OF THE ROYAL
INSTITUTE OF THE NETHERLANDS, OF THE
CYMMRODORION, OF THE MASSACHUSETTS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ETC.
A NEW EDITION.
_IN SIX VOLUMES._
VOL. I.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
MDCCCXXVIII.
Ἱστορίας γὰρ ἐὰν ἀφέλῃ τις τὸ διὰ τί, καὶ πῶς, καὶ τίνος χάριν ἐπράχθη,
καὶ τὸ πραχθὲν πότερα εὔλογον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος, τὸ καταλειπόμενον αὐτῆς
ἀγώνισμα μὲν, μάθημα δὲ οὐ γίγνεται· καὶ παραυτίκα μὲν τέρπει, πρὸς δὲ
τὸ μέλλον οὐδὲν ὠφελεῖ τὸ παράπαν.
POLYBIUS, lib. iii. sect. 31.
TO
THE KING.
SIR,
It is with peculiar fitness, as well as pleasure, that I inscribe to
your Majesty a History of the most glorious war recorded in the British
annals.
When the Regency devolved into your hands, the fortunes of our allies
were at the lowest ebb, and neither arts nor efforts were spared for
making the spirit of this country sink with them. At that momentous
crisis every thing depended, under Providence, upon your single
determination; and to that determination Great Britain is beholden for
its triumph, and Europe for its deliverance.
To your Majesty, therefore, this faithful History is offered, as a
portion of the tribute due to a just, magnanimous, and splendid reign,
and as a proof of individual respect and gratitude from
Your Majesty’s
Most dutiful subject and servant,
ROBERT SOUTHEY.
PREFACE.
Eight years have now elapsed since the conclusion of that memorable
war which began upon the coast of Portugal, and was brought to its
triumphant close before the walls of Thoulouse. From the commencement
of that contest I entertained the hope and intention of recording its
events, being fully persuaded that, if this country should perform its
duty as well as the Spaniards and Portugueze would discharge theirs,
the issue would be as glorious as the cause was good. Having therefore
early begun the history, and sedulously pursued it, it would have
been easy for me to have brought it forth while the public, in the
exultation of success, were eager for its details. But I was not so
unmindful of what was due to them and to the subject; and I waited
patiently till, in addition to the means of information which were
within my reach, more materials should be supplied by the publications
of persons who had been engaged in the war, and till time enough had
been allowed for farther consideration and fuller knowledge to correct
or confirm the views and opinions which I had formed upon the events as
they occurred.
I would have waited longer if there had been any reasonable prospect
that the history undertaken by order of the Spanish Government would
have been completed. The single volume which has appeared is written
with great ability; and if it had proceeded farther, I might have
derived more advantage from it than from any, or all other publications
upon the subject. But its progress has been interrupted by the
revolution in Spain; and the aspects in that country are so dark, that
there can be little hope of seeing it resumed.
A list of the printed documents which have been consulted in this
work will be appended to the last volume. For the private sources
of information which have been open to him, the author must content
himself here with making a general acknowledgement. They are such as
might entitle him to assert, that since the publication of Strada’s
Decades, no history composed by one who was not an actor in it, has
appeared with higher claims to authority.
There is a danger in attempting stories of prime importance, lest they
should excite expectations which it is fatal to disappoint, and yet
impossible to fulfil. Great talents have sunk, and lofty reputations
have been wrecked in such attempts. I might well be apprehensive for
my own fortune in the present undertaking, were it not for a belief,
that in the variety of details which this narration contains, in the
importance of its events, in its splendid examples of heroism and
virtue, and, above all, in the moral interest that pervades it, the
reader will find attractions which may compensate for any defects in
the execution of so arduous a work.
KESWICK, July 22, 1822.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I.
Gradual degradation of Spain and Portugal 4
Tyranny of the Church and of the Governments 5, 6
Mal-administration of the laws 6
Disuse of the Cortes 7
Condition of the Nobles 7
Of the army 8
Improvement among the Clergy 9
State of the Religious Orders 11
Improving literature 12
Morals 12
National character unchanged 14
Both countries in a favourable state for improvement 14
Both become dependent upon France 15
Causes and progress of the French Revolution 16
Buonaparte 19
Military power of France 23
The Conscription 23
Change in the constitution and character of the French army 29
Levelling principle of the Revolutionary service 30
Honourable character of the old French army 32
Honour not the principle of despotism 32
Education in the hands of the Clergy before the Revolution 33
The whole system destroyed 35
Public instruction promised by the Revolutionists 36
Talleyrand’s scheme 36
Religion omitted 36
Condorcet’s scheme 36
Religion proscribed 37
Scheme of the National Convention 37
Domestic education proscribed 38
None of these schemes attempted in practice 39
Normal schools 40
Consequences of these visionary schemes 41
Attachment of the Jacobins to Buonaparte 42
A system of education necessary for his views 43
Imperial University 44
Communal Colleges 46
Ecclesiastical schools 47
Lyceums 49
First Catechism 50
Special Military Academies 51
Youths from the conquered countries 51
Moral effect of the Lyceums 52
System of inspection 52
Uniformity of education 53
Effects of the Revolution upon morals 55
Frequency of divorces 55
Obscene publications 56
Gaming-houses established by Government 56
Abolition of primogeniture 57
Degradation of the Church 60
State of Europe 61
England 63
Duke of Portland’s administration 64
The Grenville party 66
The Foxites 67
Attempts to raise a cry for peace 68
Superstition concerning Buonaparte 68
Admirers of the French Revolution 69
Increased expenditure, activity, and wealth 70
Manufacturing system 71
Weakness of the Government 73
Hopes of Buonaparte 74
CHAPTER II.
Conjectures concerning the projects of Buonaparte 76
Rise of D. Manuel de Godoy 79
He is created a Prince for making peace with France 80
Disgraceful terms of that peace 81
Court of Spain not willingly subservient to France 80
Godoy not corrupted by France 82
Disposition to join with the allies before the peace of Tilsit 82
The Prince of Asturias inimical to Godoy 83
Parties in favour of the French 83
Unpopularity of Godoy 85
The French Ambassador advises the Prince to solicit an alliance
with Buonaparte’s family 86
The Prince applies secretly to Buonaparte 87
Buonaparte intends to seize the Peninsula 88
Spanish troops sent to the North of Europe and to Tuscany 88
Condition of the Portugueze Government 89
Portugal required to act against Great Britain 90
Middle course proposed by the Portugueze Court 91
Preparations for occupying Portugal 91
The French and Spanish Ambassadors leave Lisbon 93
Secret treaty of Fontainebleau 93
British residents expelled from Lisbon 96
Edict for the exclusion of British commerce 96
For registering the persons and property of the British 97
The British Minister leaves Lisbon 97
A Russian squadron enters the Tagus 98
Buonaparte endeavours to seize the Royal Family 99
Junot’s proclamation from Alcantara 100
The French enter Portugal 102
Their rapacity upon the march 102
Conduct at Abrantes 103
Representation of the British Ambassador 105
The Prince determines upon removing to Brazil 106
He refuses to let the people and the English fleet defend the
city 107
Embarkation of the Royal Family 109
Regency appointed by the Prince 112
Junot advances rapidly 114
The French enter Lisbon 115
Miserable plight of those who first entered 117
Arrival of the second division 118
Forced loan required 120
A Frenchman added to the Regency 120
Edict for confiscating English goods 121
Use of arms prohibited 121
Pastoral letter of the Cardinal Patriarch 122
Conduct of the Inquisitor General 124
The French flag hoisted 124
Insult at the theatre, and commotion in Lisbon 126
Precautions of the French 128
Regulations concerning English goods 130
Scarcity of corn apprehended 131
Measures for providing the army 132
The Portugueze leave their fields unsown 133
Spaniards under General Carraffa at Porto 134
General Taranco takes the command there 134
Good conduct of the troops 135
Solano at Setubal 135
His schemes for the improvement of society 136
Emigration from Lisbon 138
Falsehoods respecting England 140
Report of the French Minister, M. Champagny, concerning Portugal 141
Second report, indicating intentions against Spain 144
Conscription for 1809 required 145
Threats against England 146
The royal arms of Portugal broken 147
Junot declares that the Portugueze Government is dissolved 148
Junot appointed Governor for the Emperor Napoleon 149
Council of Government formed 150
War-contribution extraordinary 152
Godoy recalls the Spanish troops from Portugal 156
Part of them detained by the French 156
The whole of Portugal under command of the French 157
The flower of the Portugueze army marched into France 157
Discontent of the people 158
Executions at Caldas 159
Conduct of the French Generals 163
State of Lisbon 166
Increase of the Sebastianists 169
Edicts to prevent emigration 174
Special criminal tribunal 176
Measures of police 177
Deputation of Portugueze to Bayonne 179
Letter from the Deputation 180
Junot made Duke of Abrantes 181
He hopes to be made King of Portugal 182
The Juiz do Povo proposes to ask for a King of Buonaparte’s
family 183
Fate of the mover of this scheme 185
CHAPTER III.
Affair of the Escurial 187
Ferdinand accused of plotting to dethrone his father, and
attempting his mother’s life 187
Persons implicated in the charge 188
Ferdinand confesses himself faulty, and intreats forgiveness 189
This affair disgraceful to all parties 189
Not instigated by Buonaparte 190
His conduct 191
Anxiety of Godoy 192
The Queen of Etruria expelled from Tuscany 193
Buonaparte writes to the King of Spain 194
Troops marched into Spain 194
Seizure of Pamplona 195
Seizure of Barcelona 198
Seizure of Monjuic 201
Seizure of St. Sebastians and Figueras 201
Depôts established at Barcelona 202
Alarm of the Spaniards 204
Fears and perplexities of the Spanish Court 205
Measures for protecting the intended emigration 207
Hopes of the Prince’s party 209
Vacillation of the King 210
Insurrection at Aranjuez 211
Abdication of Charles IV. 214
CHAPTER IV.
Ministry formed by Ferdinand 219
Godoy’s property confiscated without a trial 220
Murat enters Spain 222
People of Madrid exhorted to receive the French as friends 223
The French enter Madrid 224
Murat refuses to acknowledge Ferdinand 226
Grouchy made Governor of Madrid 226
Declaration concerning the affair of the Escurial 227
The abdication represented as a voluntary act 227
Charles complains to the French 228
He writes to Buonaparte, intreating him to interfere 230
Letters of the Queen to Murat 231
The Infante D. Carlos sent to meet Buonaparte 234
Ferdinand is urged to go and meet the Emperor 235
The sword of Francis I. restored to the French 236
Alarm of the people 237
Perplexity of Ferdinand and his Ministers 238
Dispatches from Izquierdo 240
The Ministers deceived by these dispatches 243
General Savary arrives at Madrid 244
Ferdinand consents to go 245
He sets out from Madrid 247
Urquijo’s advice to him at Vitoria 249
Ferdinand writes to Buonaparte from Vitoria 252
Buonaparte’s reply 254
Ferdinand is advised to proceed 258
Promises of Savary, and preparations for seizing Ferdinand 259
Ferdinand passes the frontiers 260
Buonaparte receives him with an embrace 261
Ferdinand is required to renounce the throne for himself and
all his family 261
Conversation between Buonaparte and Escoiquez 262
Second conference with Escoiquez 268
Cevallos is required to discuss the terms of the renunciation
with M. Champagny 269
Buonaparte’s declaration to Cevallos 271
Terms proposed to Escoiquez 272
Debates among Ferdinand’s Counsellors 273
Labrador appointed to treat with M. Champagny 274
Ferdinand is prevented from returning 275
Buonaparte sends for Charles and the Queen to Bayonne 277
Godoy released by Murat, and sent to Bayonne 278
He is reinstated as Charles’s Minister 280
Ferdinand’s proposals to his Father 281
Letter from Charles to his Son 282
Ferdinand’s reply 287
Terms upon which he offers to restore the crown 291
Interview between Charles and Ferdinand in presence of
Buonaparte 292
Ferdinand’s renunciation 293
Proclamation of Charles to the Spaniards 294
Charles cedes his rights to Buonaparte 295
Treaty of cession 296
Ferdinand threatened by Buonaparte 298
His act of renunciation 299
The Royal Family sent into France 300
CHAPTER V.
Conduct of Murat towards the Junta of Government 302
The Junta apply to Ferdinand for instructions as to resisting
the French 305
Absurdity of their conduct 306
Agitation of the public mind 307
Orders for sending the Queen of Etruria and the Infante D.
Francisco to Bayonne 308
The Junta deliberate concerning the Infante 309
Agitation of the people of Madrid 310
Departure of the Queen and the Infante 311
Insurrection of the people 312
Defence of the arsenal by Daoiz and Velarde 314
Executions by sentence of a military tribunal 316
The Infante D. Antonio sent to Bayonne 317
Murat claims a place in the Junta 318
Edicts for preserving peace in the capital 318
Circular letter of the Inquisition 320
The Junta discharged from their authority by Charles’s
reassumption 321
Means of resistance authorized by Ferdinand 322
The Junta resolve that they have no longer authority to obey 323
Address from Ferdinand and the Infantes, exhorting the people
to submission 324
Joseph Buonaparte chosen by his brother for King of Spain 327
Addresses from the Junta and Council of Castille to Buonaparte 329
Address from the City of Madrid 330
Assembly of Notables convoked at Bayonne 332
Proclamation of Buonaparte to the Spaniards 332
CHAPTER VI.
General insurrection 334
Deputies from Asturias sent to England 337
Insurrection at Coruña 338
Excesses of the populace 341
Juntas established every where 342
Formation of the Junta of Seville 342
They declare war against France 346
Solano hesitates to co-operate with them 346
He refuses the assistance of the British squadron 348
Solano summons a council of officers 349
They exhort the people not to engage in hostilities with the
French 350
The people insist upon taking arms 352
Solano is advised to withdraw 353
He is murdered by the mob 354
Morla appointed Governor of Cadiz 356
Surrender of the French squadron 358
Massacre at Valencia 362
Punishment of the assassins 368
Duhesme fails in an attempt to occupy Lerida 370
Palafox escapes from Bayonne to Zaragoza 371
Insurrection in that city 373
Palafox made Captain-General of Aragon 374
Jovellanos and Cabarrus at Zaragoza 374
Palafox declares war against France 376
Addresses to the people 378
Proclamation of the Junta of Seville 386
Directions for conducting the war 391
Measures for enrolling the people 394
Appeal to the French soldiers 395
Movements of the French against the insurgents 397
Murat leaves Spain 398
Several Frenchmen poisoned by the wine at Madrid 397
CHAPTER VII.
The Notables assemble at Bayonne 400
Azanza appointed President 401
Urquijo summoned thither 401
He represents the state of Spain to Buonaparte 402
Arrival of Joseph Buonaparte 403
The Notables receive him as King 404
Their address to the Spanish nation 405
Proclamation of the Intrusive King 407
Bishop of Orense’s answer to his summons 408
Buonaparte delivers a constitution to Azanza 411
Speech of Azanza at the opening of their sittings 412
Address of the Notables to King Joseph 413
The Bayonne Constitution 414
Religion 415
The succession 415
Patrimony of the Crown 416
Ministry 417
The Senate 417
Senatorial Junta for the preservation of personal liberty 417
Senatorial Junta of the Liberty of the Press 418
Council of State 419
Cortes 420
The Colonies 423
Judicature 424
Finance 425
Alliance with France 426
Security of persons 426
Limitation of entails 427
Abolition of privileges 427
Time for introducing the Constitution, and for amending it 428
The Nobles and Regulars contend for their respective orders 429
Joseph appoints his Ministers 430
Letter from Ferdinand to the Intruder 432
Joseph presents the Constitution to the Notables 433
Ceremony of accepting it 434
Medals voted in honour of this event 436
Address of thanks to Buonaparte 436
Buonaparte is embarrassed in replying to it 438
Joseph enters Spain 440
Buonaparte returns to Paris 441
CHAPTER VIII.
Feelings of the English people concerning the transactions in
Spain 443
Proceedings in Parliament 445
Mr. Whitbread proposes to negotiate with France 447
Mr. Whitbread speaks in favour of the Spaniards 447
Mr. Whitbread’s letter to Lord Holland 448
Measures of the British Government 451
Movements of the French in Navarre and Old Castille 452
Torquemada burnt 453
General Cuesta attempts at first to quiet the people 453
He takes the national side 454
Evil of his hesitation 454
He is defeated at Cabezon 455
The French enter Valladolid 456
They enter Santander 456
General Lefebvre Desnouettes defeats the Aragonese 456
He marches against Zaragoza 457
Troops sent from Barcelona towards Zaragoza and Valencia 458
General Schwartz marches towards Manresa 459
He is defeated at Bruch, and retreats to Barcelona 460
General Chabran recalled in consequence of Schwartz’s defeat 462
Arbos burnt by the French 462
Chabran defeated at Bruch 463
Duhesme endeavours to secure Gerona 463
Mataro sacked by the French 465
Failure of the attempt on Gerona 465
Figueras relieved by the French 466
Movements of Moncey against Valencia 467
Defeat of the Valencians 468
He approaches the city 468
Preparations for defence 469
The Valencians defeated at Quarte 471
The French repulsed from Valencia 472
Moncey retreats into Castille 473
Movements of the French in Andalusia 473
Dupont defeats the Spaniards at the Bridge of Alcolea 475
Cordoba entered and pillaged by the French 476
Dupont unable to advance 476
He is disappointed of succours from Portugal 477
Reinforcements from Madrid join him 478
Cuesta and Blake advance against the French 479
M. Bessieres defeats them at Rio Seco 480
The way to Madrid opened by this victory 481
Joseph enters Madrid 482
Fears of the Intrusive Government 483
The Council of Castille demur at the oath of allegiance 484
General Cassagne enters Jaen 487
He is compelled to evacuate it, and returns to Baylen 488
Preparations of General Castaños 490
Dupont’s dispatches intercepted 491
Plan for attacking the French 493
Battle of Baylen 494
Surrender of the French army 496
Terms of the surrender 497
Difficulty of executing the terms 500
Correspondence between Dupont and Morla 504
Treatment of the prisoners 508
Rejoicings for the victory 510
Movements of Bessieres after the battle of Rio Seco 511
Correspondence between Bessieres and Blake 512
The French leave Madrid, and retire to Vitoria 514
HISTORY
OF THE
PENINSULAR WAR.
The late war in the Peninsula will be memorable above all of modern
times. It stands alone for the perfidiousness with which the French
commenced it, and the atrocious system upon which they carried it on.
The circumstances of the resistance are not less extraordinary than
those of the aggression, whether we consider the total disorganization
to which the kingdom of Spain was reduced; the inveterate abuses which
had been entailed upon it by the imbecility, misrule, and dotage, of
its old despotism; the inexperience, the weakness, and the errors,
of the successive governments which grew out of the necessities of
the times; or the unexampled patriotism and endurance of the people,
which bore them through these complicated disadvantages. There are few
portions of history from which lessons of such political importance are
to be deduced; none which can more powerfully and permanently excite
the sympathy of mankind, because of the mighty interests at stake. For
this was no common war, of which a breach of treaty, an extension of
frontier, a distant colony, or a disputed succession, serves as the
cause or pretext: it was as direct a contest between the principles of
good and evil as the elder Persians, or the Manicheans, imagined in
their fables: it was for the life or death of national independence,
national spirit, and of all those holy feelings which are comprehended
in the love of our native land. Nor was it for the Peninsula alone that
the war was waged: it was for England and for Europe; for literature
and for liberty; for domestic morals and domestic happiness; for the
vital welfare of the human race. Therefore I have thought that I could
not better fulfil my duties to mankind, and especially to my own
country, nor more fitly employ the leisure wherewith God has blessed
me, nor endeavour in any worthier manner to transmit my name to future
ages, than by composing, with all diligence, the faithful history of
this momentous struggle. To this resolution I have been incited, as
an Englishman, by the noble part which England has borne in these
events; and as an individual, by the previous course of my studies,
which, during the greater part of my life, have been so directed, that
the annals and the literature of Spain and Portugal have become to me
almost as familiar as our own. It is not strange, then, that having
thus, as it were, intellectually naturalized myself in those countries,
I should have watched them with the liveliest interest through their
dreadful trial: and being thus prepared for the task, having some local
knowledge of the scene of action, rich in accumulated materials, and
possessing access to the best and highest sources of information, I
undertake it cheerfully; fully assured that the principles herein to
be inculcated and exemplified are established upon the best and surest
foundation, and that nations can be secure and happy only in proportion
as they adhere to them.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE STATE OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, FRANCE AND
ENGLAND.
♦GRADUAL DEGRADATION OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.♦
The history of Spain and Portugal, from the foundation of their
respective monarchies to the middle of the sixteenth century, when
both countries attained their highest point of greatness, is eminently
heroic, for the persevering spirit with which they warred against the
Moors, never ceasing and scarcely breathing from the contest till they
had finally exterminated them; and for the splendour, the extent, and
the importance of their foreign conquests. Both kingdoms had risen
by the same virtues; the same vices brought on the decline of both;
and the history of their decline is not less instructive than that of
their rise. Their external relations have been widely different; but
notwithstanding this difference, and notwithstanding a national enmity,
kept alive rather by old remembrances and mutual pride than by the
frequency of their wars with each other, the Spaniards and Portugueze
have continued to be morally and intellectually one people. They spring
from the same stock; the same intermixture of races has taken place
among them; and their national character has been formed by similar
circumstances of climate, language, manners, and institutions.
The old governments are called free, like all those which the Teutonic
tribes established; but this freedom was little better than a scheme
of graduated tyranny, and the laws upon which it was founded were
only so many privileges which the conquerors reserved or arrogated to
themselves. When the commixture of languages and nations was complete,
and commerce had raised up a class of men who had no existence under
the feudal system, a struggle for political liberty ensued throughout
all the European kingdoms. It was soon terminated in Spain: a good
cause was ruined by the rashness and misconduct of its adherents; and
the scale, after it had been borne down by the sword of the sovereign,
never recovered its equipoise: for the Romish church leagued itself
with the monarchical authority, against whose abuse it had formerly
been the only bulwark; but changing its policy now according to the
times, it consecrated the despotism whereby it was upheld in its own
usurpations. The effects of this double tyranny were not immediately
perceived; but in its inevitable consequences it corrupted and degraded
every thing to which it could extend, ... laws, morals, industry,
literature, science, arts, and arms.
♦TYRANNY OF THE CHURCH.♦
In other countries where absolute monarchy has been established,
and the Romish superstition has triumphed, both have been in some
degree modified by the remains of old institutions, the vicinity of
free states, and the influence of literature and manners. But in
Spain and Portugal almost all traces of the ancient constitution had
been effaced; and as there existed nothing to qualify the spirit of
popery, a memorable example was given of its unmitigated effects. The
experiment of intolerance was tried with as little compunction as in
Japan, and upon a larger scale. Like the Japanese government, the
Inquisition went through with what it began; and though it could not
in like manner secure its victory, by closing the ports and barring
the passes of the Peninsula, it cut off, as much as possible, all
intellectual communication with the rest of the world.
♦DESPOTISM OF THE TWO GOVERNMENTS.♦
The courts of Madrid and Lisbon were as despotic as those of
Constantinople and Ispahan. They did not, indeed, manifest their power
by acts of blood, because the reigning families were not cruel, and
cruelty had ceased to be a characteristic of the times: but with that
cold, callous insensibility to which men are liable, in proportion
as they are removed from the common sympathies of humankind, they
permitted their ministers to dispense at pleasure exile and hopeless
imprisonment, to the rigour and inhumanity of which death itself would
have been mercy. ♦MAL-ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.♦ The laws afforded
no protection, for the will of the minister was above the laws; and
every man who possessed influence at court violated them with impunity,
and procured impunity for all whom he chose to protect. Scarcely did
there exist even an appearance of criminal justice. Quarrels among
the populace were commonly decided by the knife: he who stabbed an
antagonist or an enemy in the street wiped the instrument in his cloak,
and passed on unmolested by the spectators, who never interfered
farther than to call a priest to the dying man. When it happened that
a criminal was thrown into prison, there he remained till it became
necessary to make room for a new set of tenants: the former were then
turned adrift; or, if their crimes had been notorious and frequent,
they were shipped off to some foreign settlement.
♦DISUSE OF THE CORTES.♦
After the triumph of the monarchical power, the Cortes had fallen first
into insignificance, then into disuse[1]. There was no legislative
body; the principle of the government being, that all laws and public
measures of every kind were to proceed from the will and pleasure of
the sovereign. ♦CONDITION OF THE NOBLES.♦ Men of rank, therefore, if
they were not in office, had no share in public business; and their
deplorable education rendered them little fit either to improve or
enjoy a life of perfect leisure. It is said also to have been the
system of both governments, while they yet retained some remains of
perverted policy, to keep the nobles in attendance about the court,
where they might be led into habits of emulous extravagance, which
would render them hungry for emoluments, and thereby dependent upon
the crown. The long-continued moral deterioration of the privileged
classes had produced in many instances a visible physical degeneracy;
and this tendency was increased by those incestuous marriages, common
in both countries, which pride and avarice had introduced, and for
which the sanction of an immoral church was to be purchased.
♦CONDITION OF THE ARMY.♦
The armies partook of the general degradation. The forms of military
power existed like the forms of justice: but they resembled the trunk
of a tree, of which the termites have eaten out the timber, and only
the bark remains. There appeared in the yearly almanacks a respectable
list of regiments, and a redundant establishment of officers: but,
brave and capable of endurance as the Portugueze and Spaniards are,
never were there such officers or such armies in any country which has
ranked among civilized nations. Subalterns might be seen waiting behind
a chair in their uniforms, or asking alms in the streets; and the men
were what soldiers necessarily become, when, without acquiring any one
virtue of their profession, its sense of character and of honour, its
regularity, or its habits of restraint, they possess all its license,
and have free scope for the vices which spring up in idleness. Drawn by
lot into a compulsory service, ill-disciplined, and ill-paid, they were
burthensome to the people, without affording any security to the nation.
♦STATE OF RELIGION.♦
The state of religion was something more hopeful, though it is
scarcely possible to imagine any thing more gross than the idolatry,
more impudent than the fables, more monstrous than the mythology of
the Romish church, as it flourished in Spain and Portugal. Wherever
this corrupt church is dominant, there is no medium between blind
credulity and blank, hopeless, utter unbelief: and this miserable
effect tends to the stability of the system which has produced it,
because men who have no religion accommodate themselves to whatever
it may be their interest to profess. The peasantry and the great
mass of the people believed with implicit and intense faith whatever
they were taught. The parochial clergy, differing little from the
people in their manner of life, and having received an education so
nearly worthless that it can scarcely be said to have raised them
above the common level, were for the most part as superstitious and
as ill-informed as their flock. ♦IMPROVEMENT OF THE HIGHER CLERGY.♦
The higher clergy, however, had undergone a gradual and important
change, which had not been brought about by laws or literature, but
by the silent and unperceived influence of the spirit of the times.
While their principle of intolerance remained the same (being inherent
in popery, and inseparable from it), the practice had been greatly
abated; and the _autos-da-fe_, the high festival days of this merciless
idolatry, were at an end: for it was felt and secretly acknowledged,
that these inhuman exhibitions were disgraceful in the eyes of Europe,
and had brought a stain upon the character of the peninsular nations
in other catholic countries, and even in Rome itself. The persecution
of the Jews therefore (which the founder of the Braganzan line would
never have permitted if he had been able to prevent it) ceased; and
the distinction between Old and New Christians had nearly disappeared.
At the same time, an increased intercourse with heretical states, the
power and prosperity of Great Britain, and the estimation in which
the British character is held wherever it is known, had insensibly
diminished, if not the abhorrence in which heresy was held, certainly
the hatred against heretics. Thus the habitual feelings of the clergy
had been modified, and they were no longer made cruel by scenes of
execrable barbarity, which in former times compelled them to harden
their hearts. They became also ashamed of those impostures upon which
so large a portion of their influence had been founded: though they
did not purge their kalendar, they made no additions to it; miraculous
images were no longer discovered: when a grave-digger, in the exercise
of his office, happened to find a corpse in a state of preservation,
no attempt was made to profit by the popular opinion of its sanctity:
miracles became less frequent as they were more scrupulously examined;
and impostures[2], which, half a century ago, would have been
encouraged and adopted, were detected, exposed, and punished. The
higher clergy in both countries were decorous in their lives, and in
some instances exemplary in the highest degree.
♦STATE OF THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS.♦
To the monastic orders the influence of the times had been less
beneficial. There were ages during which those institutions produced
the greatest blessings in Europe; when they kept alive the lamp of
knowledge, mitigated barbarian manners, and carried the light of
Christianity among a race of ferocious conquerors. These uses had long
since gone by; and the dissolution of the Jesuits had extinguished the
missionary spirit which that extraordinary society had provoked in
its rivals, and by which it had itself almost atoned to humanity and
to religion for its own manifold misdeeds. The wealthy orders still
afforded a respectable provision for the younger sons of old or opulent
families; the far more numerous establishments of the mendicants were
more injuriously filled from the lower classes. The peasant who was
ambitious of seeing a son elevated above the rank in which he was born,
destined him for a friar; and he who was too idle to work, or who
wished to escape from military service, took shelter in the habit. The
mendicant orders were indeed a reproach to Catholicism, and a pest to
the countries wherein they existed; they contributed not only to keep
the people ignorant, but to render them profligate. Yet even among the
Franciscans men were found, who, by their irreproachable conduct, their
sincere though misdirected piety, and sometimes by their learning and
industrious lives, preserved the order from the contempt into which
it would otherwise have fallen even among the vulgar. The nunneries
of every description produced nothing but evil, except in those cases
where persons went into them by their own choice, who in Protestant
countries would have been consigned to a Bedlam.
♦IMPROVING LITERATURE.♦
Literature had revived in both kingdoms, and was flourishing,
notwithstanding the restraints which the government and the Inquisition
continued to impose. Few similar institutions have equalled the Royal
Academies of Madrid and Lisbon in the zeal and ability with which they
have brought to light their ancient records, and elucidated the history
and antiquities of their respective countries. There was one most
important subject from which men of letters were compelled to refrain
... the old free constitution: but it met them every where in their
researches; and its restoration was the object of their wishes, if not
of their hopes.
♦MORALS OF THE LOWER CLASSES.♦
The lower classes, who in great cities are every where too generally
depraved, were perhaps peculiarly so in Spain, from the effect of what
may be called their vulgar, rather than their popular, literature. This
had assumed a curious and most pernicious character, arising partly
from the disregard in which ill-executed laws must always be held, and
partly from the faith of the people in the efficacy of absolution. The
ruffian and the bravo were the personages of those ballads which were
strung for sale along dead walls in frequented streets, and vended by
blind hawkers about the country. In these pieces, which, as they were
written by men in low life for readers of their own level, represent
accurately the state of vulgar feeling, the robberies and murders which
the hero commits are described as so many brave exploits performed
in his vocation; and, at the conclusion, he is always delivered over
safely to the priest, but seldom to the hangman. Fables of a like
tendency were not unfrequently chosen by their dramatists for the sake
of flattering some fashionable usage of superstition, such as the
adoration of the cross and the use of the rosary; and the villain who,
in the course of the drama, has perpetrated every imaginable crime, is
exhibited at the catastrophe[3] as a saint by virtue of one of these
redeeming practices. Such works were more widely injurious in their
tendency than any of those which the Inquisition suppressed. They
infected the minds of the people; and the surest course by which a
coxcomb in low life could excite admiration and envy among his compeers
was by appearing habitually to set justice at defiance. It became a
fashion among some of the higher classes in Spain to imitate[4] these
wretches; and, by a stranger and more deplorable perversion of nature,
women were found among those of distinguished rank, who affected the
dress and the manners of the vilest of their sex. No such depravity was
known in Portugal: the court set an example of decorum and morality
there; and as there were fewer large towns, in proportion to the size
of the kingdom, there was consequently less corruption among the people.
♦NATIONAL CHARACTER UNCHANGED.♦
Travellers, forming their hasty estimate from the inhabitants of
sea-ports and great cities, have too generally agreed in reviling the
Portugueze and Spaniards; but if they whose acquaintance with these
nations was merely superficial have been disposed to depreciate and
despise them, others who dwelt among them always became attached to
the people, and bore willing and honourable testimony to the virtues
of the national character. It was indeed remarkable how little this
had partaken of the national decay. The meanest peasant knew that his
country had once been prosperous and powerful; he was familiar with the
names of its heroes; and he spake of the days that were past with a
feeling which was the best omen for those that were to come.
♦BOTH COUNTRIES IN AN IMPROVING STATE.♦
Such was the moral and intellectual state of the peninsular kingdoms
toward the close of the eighteenth century. There was not the slightest
appearance of improvement in the principles of the government or in the
administration of justice; but, if such a disposition had arisen, no
nations could have been in a more favourable state for the views of a
wise minister and an enlightened sovereign. For the whole people were
proudly and devoutly attached to the institutions of their country;
there existed among them neither sects, nor factions, nor jarring
interests; they were one-hearted in all things which regarded their
native land; individuals felt for its honour as warmly as for their
own; and obedience to their sovereign was with them equally a habit
and a principle. In spite of the blind and inveterate despotism of the
government, the mal-administration of the laws, and the degeneracy
of the higher classes, both countries were in a state of slow,
but certain, advancement; of which, increasing commerce, reviving
literature, humaner manners, and mitigated bigotry were unequivocal
indications. In this state they were found when France was visited
by the most tremendous revolution that history has recorded, ... a
revolution which was at once the consequence and the punishment of its
perfidious policy, its licentiousness, and its irreligion.
♦BOTH BECOME SUBSERVIENT TO FRANCE.♦
It was soon seen that this revolution threatened to propagate itself
throughout the whole civilised world. The European governments
combined against it; their views were discordant, their policy was
erroneous, their measures were executed as ill as they were planned:
a master-mind was equally wanting in the cabinet and in the field. In
the hour of trial the Spanish court perceived the inefficiency of its
organized force; and having neither wisdom to understand the strength
of the nation, nor courage and virtue to rely upon it, it concluded a
disastrous war by a dishonourable peace. From that time its councils
were directed by France, and its treasures were at the disposal of
the same domineering ally. A war against England, undertaken upon
the most frivolous pretexts, and ruinous to its interests, was the
direct consequence; and when, after the experimental peace of Amiens,
hostilities were renewed between France and England, Spain had again
to experience the same fatal results of the dependence to which her
cabinet had subjected her. Portugal had purchased peace with less
apparent dishonour, because the terms of the bargain were not divulged;
but there also the government soon found that in such times to be
weak is to be miserable: it was compelled to brook the ostentatious
insolence of the French ambassadors, and to pay large sums for the
continuance of a precarious neutrality whenever France thought proper
to extort them; for the system of Europe had now been overthrown, and
the laws of nations were trampled under foot. A military power, more
formidable than that of Rome in its height of empire, of Zingis, or
of Timour, had been established in France upon the wreck of all her
ancient institutions; and this power was directed by the will of an
individual the most ambitious of the human race, who was intoxicated
with success, and whose heart and conscience were equally callous.
♦CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.♦
Many causes combined in producing the French revolution: the example
of a licentious court had spread like a pestilence through the
country; impiety was in fashion among the educated classes; and the
most abominable publications were circulated among the ignorant with
as much zeal as if a conspiracy had actually been formed for the
subversion of social order, by removing from mankind all restraints
of morality, of religion, and of decency. Things were in this
condition when France took part in the American war; a measure to
which Louis XVI. reluctantly consented, because he felt in his heart
its injustice, and had perhaps an ominous sentiment of its impolicy.
The seeds of republicanism and revolution were thus imported by the
government itself, and they fell upon a soil which was prepared for
them. Financial difficulties increased; state quacks were called in;
a legislative assembly was convoked in a kingdom where none of the
inhabitants had been trained to legislation; and the fatal error was
committed of uniting the three estates in one chamber, whereby the
whole power was transferred to the commons. There was a generous
feeling at that time abroad, from which much good might have been
educed, had there been ability to have directed it, and if the heart
of the country had not been corrupted. Nothing was heard except the
praises of freedom and liberality, and professions of the most enlarged
and cosmopolitan philanthropy. The regenerated nation even renounced
for the future, all offensive war by a legislative act: they fancied
that the age of political redemption was arrived, and they announced
the Advent of Liberty, with peace on earth, good will towards men.
They themselves seemed to believe that the Millennium of Philosophy
was begun; and so in other countries the young and ardent, and the
old who had learned no lessons from history, believed with them. But
the consequences which Burke predicted from changes introduced with
so much violence, and so little forethought, followed in natural
and rapid succession. ♦PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.♦ The
constitutionalists, who had supposed that it is as easy to remodel the
institutions of a great kingdom in practice as in theory, were driven
from the stage by bolder innovators; and these in their turn yielded to
adventurers more profligate and more daring than themselves. Nobility
was abolished; monarchy was overthrown; the church was plundered; the
clergy were proscribed; atheism was proclaimed; the king and queen
were put to death, after a mockery of judicial forms; the dauphin
slowly murdered by systematic ill-usage; a plaster statue of Liberty
was set up in Paris; and in the course of two years more than fifteen
hundred persons were beheaded at the feet of that statue, men and women
indiscriminately. The frenzy spread throughout all France. In the
wholesale butcheries which were reported to the National Convention,
by its agents, as so many triumphs of equality and justice, not less
than eighteen thousand lives were sacrificed by the executioner. It
seemed as if God had abandoned the unhappy nation who had denied Him,
and that they were delivered over, as the severest chastisement, to
the devices of their own hearts. Before this madness was exhausted,
the wretches who had thrust themselves into the government paid the
earthly penalty of their guilty elevation. One faction did justice upon
another: in the same place where dogs had licked the blood of Louis and
his queen, there in succession did they lick the blood of Brissot,
Danton, Hebert, Robespierre, and their respective associates. When the
theorists, the fanatics, and the bolder villains, had perished, a set
of intriguers, who had accommodated themselves in turn to all, came
forward, and divided the spoil; till the unhappy nation, disgusted with
such intrigues, and weary of perpetual changes, acquiesced with joy in
the usurpation of a military adventurer, which promised them stability,
at least, if not repose.
♦CHARACTER OF NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE.♦
The revolution had given the government absolute command over the
whole physical force of France; and this prodigious power was now at
the disposal of an individual unchecked by any restraint, and subject
to no responsibility. Perhaps it would not have been possible to
have selected among the whole human race any other man, to whom it
would have been so dangerous to commit this awful charge. Napoleon
Buonaparte possessed all the qualities which are required to form a
perfect tyrant. His military genius was of the highest order; his
talents were of the most imposing kind; his ambition insatiable; his
heart impenetrable: he was without honour, without veracity, without
conscience; looking for no world beyond the present, and determined
to make this world his own, at whatever cost. The military executions
committed in Italy by his orders had shown his contempt for the
established usages of war, the law of nations, and the common feelings
of humanity: the suppression of the Papal government, the usurpation
of the Venetian states, and the seizure of Malta, had proved that
neither submissiveness nor treaties afforded any protection against
this fit agent of a rapacious and unprincipled democracy. ♦HIS CRIMES
IN EGYPT AND SYRIA.♦ But it was during the Egyptian expedition that
the whole atrocity of his character was displayed. He landed in Egypt,
proclaiming that he was the friend of the Grand Seignior, and that the
French were true Mussulmen, who honoured Mahommed and the Koran. His
first act was to storm a city belonging to the Grand Seignior, which he
never summoned to surrender, and which was incapable of defence. The
butchery was continued for some hours after the resistance had ceased.
The very perpetrators of this carnage have related that they put to
death old and young, men, women, and children, in the mosques, whither
these unoffending and helpless wretches had fled to implore protection
from God and from their prophet; and they have avowed that this was
done deliberately, for the purpose of astonishing the people. Thus it
was that Buonaparte commenced his career in Egypt. He left Alexandria,
exclaiming, “The Virtues are on our side! Glory to Allah,” he said;
“there is no other God but God: Mahommed is his prophet, and I am his
friend.” He proclaimed to the Egyptians that Destiny directed all his
operations, and had decreed from the beginning of the world, that after
beating down the Cross, he should come into that country to fulfil the
task assigned him; and he called upon them to enjoy the blessings of a
system, in which the wisest and the most virtuous were to govern, and
the people were to be happy. It is literally true, that the Egyptian
mothers mutilated or killed their daughters, to save them from the
brutality of his troops; and that wherever the French moved, a flock of
kites and vultures followed, sure of the repast which these purveyors
every where provided for them. Their general entered Syria, took Jaffa
by assault, and issued a proclamation upon its capture, professing that
he would be “clement and merciful, after the example of God.” Four
days after the capture, and after that profession of clemency had been
made, he drew out his prisoners, some three thousand in number, and
had them deliberately slaughtered. A whole division of his army was
employed in this massacre; and when their cartridges were exhausted,
they finished the work with the bayonet and the sword, dragging away
those who had expired, in order to get at the living, who, in the
hope of escaping death, had endeavoured to hide themselves under the
bodies of the dead. To complete this monster’s character, it was only
needful that he should show himself as inhuman toward his own soldiers
as his prisoners; and that it might be complete in all parts, this
proof of his disposition was not wanting. When Sir Sidney Smith and
Captain Wright, then Sir Sidney’s lieutenant, compelled him to raise
the siege of Acre, the sick and wounded in his army were more than he
had means of removing: any other general would have recommended them to
the humanity of an English enemy; but this would have been humiliating
to Buonaparte, and therefore poison was administered to them by his
orders.
♦OPPORTUNITY OF REDEEMING HIS CHARACTER AT THE PEACE OF AMIENS.♦
Yet this man, like Augustus, had an opportunity of earthly redemption
afforded him; and, while he fabricated for himself a splendid fortune,
might have deserved the gratitude of Europe, not only in the existing
generation, but through after ages. When he had attained the supreme
authority, he might have restored the Bourbons in France, and taken
Italy for his own reward: an arrangement, for which no fresh act of
injustice would have been required; which none whom it offended would
have been able to oppose; and which, more than any other conceivable
alteration in the state of Christendom, might have tended to the
general good. Here was an object worthy of ambition, and a richer prize
than military ambition had ever yet achieved: so great would have been
the public benefit; so signal and durable the individual glory. Even
if, incapable as he was of aiming at such true greatness, he could have
contented himself with the situation in which he was recognized by the
peace of Amiens, and have borne his faculties meekly in that unexampled
elevation, the world is charitable to all extremes of fortune, and
would have forgiven his former crimes; which, public and notorious as
they were, were loudly denied by his advocates, and already disbelieved
by his infatuated admirers. But the heart of Napoleon Buonaparte was
evil; he regarded his fellow-creatures merely as instruments for
gratifying his desire of empire, ... pieces with which he played
the game of war: in the presumptuousness of his power he set man at
defiance, and in his philosophy God was left out of the account.
Unhappily, the internal circumstances of France accorded but too well
in all things with the disposition and the views of its autocrat.
♦MILITARY POWER OF FRANCE.♦
The revolutionary governments, through all their changes, had steadily
pursued the favourite object of placing the military establishment of
the country upon the most formidable footing, and thereby enabling
France to give laws to the rest of Europe. During the first years,
immense armies were filled with enthusiastic volunteers; and before
that spirit exhausted itself, provision was made for permanently
supporting so disproportionate a force by means of the conscription.
The conscription originated in Prussia, when Prussia was under a
mere military despotism; it was now carried to its utmost extent in
France. The law declared that every Frenchman was a soldier, and bound
to defend his country; but the principle of general law which the
latter clause of the sentence announces served to introduce a code,
whereby the whole youth of France were placed at the disposal of the
government, to be sent whithersoever its ambitious projects might
extend, ... to the sands of Egypt, or the snows of Moscovy. A view of
this system will equally elucidate the strength, the resources, and the
character, of the French government during these disastrous years.
♦SYSTEM OF MILITARY CONSCRIPTION.♦
Under the new arrangement of its territory, France was divided into
departments, districts, cantons, and municipalities. The departments
were governed by a prefect, and a council of prefecture; the districts
by a sub-prefect and his council; the cantons and municipalities by a
mayor and town-court; to which were added, on the part of the general
government, a commissary of police, and his adjuncts. There was also
a military division of the country into thirty districts, each under
a general of division, with a long establishment of commissaries,
inspectors, and military police-officers. On a certain day in every
year, notice was given in every municipality that all men, between the
ages of twenty and twenty-five, should within eight days appear at the
town-house, and enrol their names: if any individual failed, not he
alone, but his family also, were subject to a criminal prosecution. The
names of the absent were to be enrolled by their nearest relations, and
concealment was thus rendered impossible: the man who was not in his
usual domicile being doubly registered; as an absentee in one place,
and as a temporary sojourner in another. From these registers the
returns for the conscription were prepared in five lists, according
to age, and the names in each were carefully arranged according to
seniority. The civil officers by whom these lists were formed were
responsible for any omission; and, as a farther precaution, every
village and every house was visited at stated and at unexpected times,
publicly and secretly. After such preparations, the machine was easily
put in motion. The war-minister gave notice what number of men were
required; the senate voted them from the conscripts of that year which
was next in course, and the prefects were ordered to provide their
contingents: they called upon the sub-prefects; these again upon the
municipalities; and within sixteen days from the date of the prefect’s
orders, the ballot took place. Tickets, numbered to the amount of
all who were upon the list, were put into the urn, and the men were
registered in the order of the numbers which they had drawn. The
first numbers, up to the sum required, were for immediate service;
the others were to be called upon in sequence, in case of necessity
only: but, under Buonaparte, that necessity always existed. They were
marched off under military escort, and distributed among the artillery,
cuirassiers, dragoons, infantry, or sappers and miners, according to
their stature and bodily strength.
♦EXEMPTIONS.♦
The infirmities which might be pleaded as exemptions were severely
scrutinized, and were determined by the law with critical inhumanity:
inveterate asthma, habitual spitting of blood, and incipient
consumption only entitled the sufferer to a provisional dispensation.
Men who were incapable of enduring the fatigues of war, or who might
be more useful to the state in pursuing their own employments or their
studies, were allowed to provide substitutes or purchase an exemption
by the payment of three hundred francs; but this was an early law, and
it is not likely that the pecuniary alternative was ever accepted when
the waste of men became excessive. ♦SUBSTITUTES.♦ The substitute was
required to be a Frenchman, between twenty-five and forty years of age
(and therefore not liable to the conscription), not below five feet
one, of a strong constitution, and in robust health. In addition to his
own name, he was to take that of the person for whom he served, and by
that name he was to be known in the army: the principal was still upon
the list, and subject to be called upon if his representative deserted
or withdrew; nor could he obtain a definitive exemption unless he
produced proof that the substitute had either been killed or disabled
in service, or had served the full time which the laws required; during
war the term was indefinite, in peace it was fixed at five years.
During the latter years of Buonaparte’s government men who could be
admitted as substitutes were necessarily so rare, that their price rose
from two hundred to a thousand Napoleons.
♦PUNISHMENTS FOR EVADING THE CONSCRIPTION.♦
No constituted authority, no branch of the civil or military
administration, might retain in its service a conscript who was called
upon in his turn. No Frenchman, being, or having been, liable to the
conscription, could hold any public office, or receive any public
salary, or exercise public rights, or receive a legacy, or inherit
property, unless he produced a certificate that he had conformed to the
law, and either was actually in service, or had obtained his dismissal,
or was legally exempted, or that his services had not been required.
They who failed to join the army within the time prescribed were
deprived of their civil rights, a circular description of their persons
was sent to all the chiefs of the _gendarmerie_ throughout the empire,
and they were pursued as deserters. Eleven depôts were appointed, where
these refractory conscripts were disciplined in an uniform of disgrace,
with the hair cut close: they were employed upon the fortifications,
or in other hard labour, for which they received no additional pay
or rations. This, however, was thought too lenient when the emperor’s
expenditure of men became more lavish, and it was then decreed that
such offenders were to be punished as if they had actually deserted.
♦PUNISHMENTS FOR DESERTION.♦ A deserter was condemned to a fine of
fifteen hundred francs, chargeable upon whatever property might fall
to him at any future time, if he was not able to pay it immediately.
In addition to this fine, the punishment for the simple offence of
deserting into the interior was three years’ labour upon the public
works. The culprits wore a particular uniform, and were allowed shoes;
their heads were shaved every eighth day, and they were not permitted
either to shave their beards or to cut them. Their rations were the
soldiers’ bread, rice, or dry pulse; their pay half that of a common
labourer; and of this a third was withheld till they should have served
out their time, a third was deducted for their expenses, and the
remainder was all which they had for purchasing better food than their
miserable allowance. He who had deserted from the army, or a frontier
place, or in a direction toward the enemy, or with a companion, or who
had scaled ramparts in effecting his escape, was sentenced to public
labour for ten years, with a bullet of eight pounds weight fastened
to him by a chain eight feet long. He was to work eight hours a day
during five months, ten during the better part of the year, and to
be chained in prison all the rest of the time: he wore wooden shoes,
and an uniform differing both in colour and fashion from that of the
troops; his mustachios, as well as his head, were shaved every eight
days; his beard was never shaved, nor shorn, nor shortened; his rations
and pay were like those of the common deserters, because, indeed,
life could not be supported upon less. The punishment of death, which
was inflicted upon those who had deserted to the enemy, and in other
aggravated cases, was mercy when compared to this.
♦EFFECT OF THIS SYSTEM.♦
By the operation of this system the French were made a military nation,
a change equally inconsistent with their own welfare and with the
safety and independence of the surrounding states. Beginning at first
with all men between the ages of twenty and twenty-five, enrolling
the whole rising generation afterwards as they attained to manhood,
and retaining all who were embodied as long as their services were
required, in other words, as long as they were capable of serving,
... the government had thus brought within its disposal every man who
was capable of bearing arms; and this was the tremendous power which
Buonaparte found already organized to his heart’s desire when he
assumed the supreme authority. Such power might have kindled ambition
in an ordinary mind; no wonder then that the most ambitious of the
human race, when he saw himself in possession of it, supposed universal
empire to be within his reach. His supply of men might well appear
inexhaustible: there was neither difficulty nor expense in raising
them; he had only to say what number he required, and the rest was mere
matter of routine. ♦WAR MADE TO SUPPORT ITSELF.♦ After his armies
had once passed the frontier, there was no cost in maintaining them;
war was made to support itself. This system also had been matured for
him by his republican predecessors. The contributions which he levied
upon conquered or dependent states discharged the soldiers’ pay: in an
ally’s country their subsistence was expected as a proof of alliance;
in an enemy’s it was taken as the right of war. And the perfection
of the French commissariat was admired and extolled in England as a
masterpiece of arrangement by the blind admirers of France, who either
did not or would not perceive how easy the duties of that department
were made, when every demand was enforced by military power, and
nothing was paid for.
♦FORMER CONSTITUTION OF THE FRENCH ARMY.♦
When Louis XVI. began his unhappy reign, the French army was still
constituted upon a feudal principle which had been well adapted to the
circumstances of later times. The corps were divided into proprietary
companies, the captains of which, receiving pay proportionate to the
required expenditure, provided every thing for the men, and raised
them among their own vassals. The system was liable to abuse, but it
had great advantages: for if the captain should act upon no worthier
motive than mere selfishness, it was his interest to be careful of
his men, lest he should incur the expense of recruiting them; and it
might reasonably be expected that he would treat them kindly to prevent
desertion, and that he would spare no means for keeping them in health
or restoring them in sickness. But there were better principles brought
into action: the character both of the captain and of the men, in their
native place, depended upon what each should report of the other; the
men also knew that their fidelity would not be forgotten when their
services were over, and that, if they fell, their good conduct would be
remembered to the benefit of their family. Both parties were always in
the presence of that little world, to the opinion of which they were
more immediately amenable, and from which applause or condemnation
would most sensibly affect them; and local and hereditary attachments,
with all their strength and endurance, were thus brought into the
service of the state. ♦CHANGE INTRODUCED BY M. DE ST. GERMAINE.♦ The
system was abolished when M. de St. Germaine was minister at war, for
the sake of some sordid speculations upon clothing and victualling the
troops. Subalterns, who were learning their profession, and acquiring
the love and confidence of the soldiers, were disbanded as a sacrifice
to the prevailing fashion of economical reform: at the same time the
penal discipline of the Germans was introduced, ... a poor substitution
for the old bonds of feeling which had been thus rudely broken; and
while all that was useful in the feudal constitution of the army was
discarded, the worst part was retained by an order that no person
should hold a commission unless he could prove the nobility of his
family for four generations.
♦LEVELLING PRINCIPLE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY SERVICE.♦
The republicans naturally went into the other extreme; and Buonaparte
retained in his army the levelling principle which the revolution
had introduced, because it is as congenial to a despotism as to a
democracy. No Frenchman could be made an officer (except in the
artillery and engineers) till he had served three years as a private
or sub-officer, unless he signalized himself in action. Perhaps the
conscription, in its full extent, could never have been established
without such a regulation. It rendered the military service less odious
to the common people, who saw the children of the higher classes
thus placed upon a level with themselves, and who were deceived into
an opinion that merit was the only means of promotion: it brought
also into the ranks a degree of intelligence and ambition not to
be found there in armies which are differently composed; and those
qualities were a security for discipline and perfect obedience under
circumstances in which ordinary troops might have become impatient of
continual privations. But it may well be doubted, on the other hand,
whether the officers derived any important advantage from being trained
in the ranks; and there can be no doubt that any such advantage would
be dearly purchased by the degradation to which they were exposed; for,
while the soldiery were materially improved by the mixture of wellborn
men who looked for promotion, these persons themselves were more
materially injured by the inevitable effects of a system which levelled
nothing so effectually as it did the manners, the moral feeling, and
the sense of honour.
♦HONOURABLE CHARACTER OF THE OLD FRENCH ARMY.♦
The policy of the old French government had often been detestably
perfidious, and yet French history abounds with examples of high
chivalrous sentiment; and nowhere were men to be found more sensible of
what was due to their king, their country, and themselves, more alive
to the sense of national and individual honour, than in the old French
army. A fatal change was produced by the revolution. At a time when
all persons of high birth were objects of persecution or suspicion,
men from the lowest occupations were hurried into the highest posts
in the army. Many of them were possessed of great military talents,
and there were some few who in every respect proved worthy of their
fortune. But there were others who never cast the slough of their old
habits: no service was too bloody or too base for such agents; and,
without feeling shame for the employment, or compunction for the crime,
they were ready to obey their remorseless master in whatever he might
command, ... the individual murders of Palm and the Duc d’Enghein,
or the wholesale massacres of Jaffa and of Madrid, and those other
atrocious actions in Portugal and Spain, of which this history records
the progress and the punishment.
♦HONOUR NOT THE PRINCIPLE OF DESPOTISM.♦
It was observed by Montesquieu, that honour, which is the moving and
preserving principle of monarchy, is not, and cannot be, the principle
of despotism. Little did he apprehend how soon the state of his own
country would exemplify the maxim. Among military bodies, honour had
hitherto supplied, however imperfectly, yet in some degree, the place
of a higher and nobler principle: but under the tyranny of Buonaparte,
while his measures tended directly, as if they had been so designed,
to subvert this feeling (already weakened by the false philosophy of
the age), there remained nothing in its stead except that natural
goodness, and that innate sense of rectitude, which, in certain happy
natures, can never be totally extinguished, but which, in the vast
majority of mankind, are easily deadened and destroyed. The humaner
studies, whereby the manners and the minds of men are softened, and the
sacred precepts whereby they are purified and exalted and enlightened,
had been the one neglected, and the other proscribed, during the
revolution; and a generation had grown up, without literature, without
morals, and without religion.
♦EDUCATION IN THE HANDS OF THE CLERGY BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.♦
Education had been chiefly in the hands of the Jesuits till the
extinction of that famous company, the most active, the most
intriguing, but in later times the most useful and the most calumniated
of the monastic orders. After their dissolution, the system was
continued upon the same plan, though perhaps with inferior ability, and
the colleges were every where conducted by the clergy, either secular
or regular. The massacre of St. Bartholomew’s day, and the _dragonades_
of Louis XIV., are crimes always to be remembered with unabating and
unqualified detestation. Even at a later time it was evinced, in the
shocking tragedies at Rouen and Thoulouse, that the same spirit existed
in the French church, and was ready to blaze out. These execrable
things were known over Europe; but it was not so generally known,
that in the service of that same church which had dishonoured itself,
and outraged human nature, by these actions, many thousand ministers
were continually employed in training the young, visiting the sick,
relieving the poor, consoling the penitent, and reclaiming the sinner;
uninfluenced by love of gain, hope of applause or of advancement, or
any worldly motive; but patiently and dutifully devoting themselves in
obscurity to the service of their fellow-creatures and their God. The
knowledge of their virtues was confined to the little sphere wherein
their painful and meritorious lives were passed; and the world knew
them not, till they were hunted out by the atheistical persecution, and
were found to endure wrongs, insults, outrages, exiles, and death, with
the meekness of Christians, and the heroism of martyrs.
♦GENERALLY DIFFUSED IN FRANCE.♦
Under these teachers, the doctrines of Christianity, according to the
Romish church, and the duties of Christianity, wherein all churches are
agreed, were the first things inculcated, as being the first things
needful. Errors of doctrine, though of tremendous importance when men
are actuated by blind zeal, are, among the quiet and humble-minded
part of mankind, latent principles which produce no evil, unless some
unhappy circumstance calls them into action: but the moral influence
of religion is felt in the whole tenour of public and of private life.
There were endowed schools and colleges, before the revolution, in
every part of France, chiefly under the direction of persons who
acted from motives of duty and conscience, rather than of worldly
interest. The French court, in the midst of its own licentiousness,
understood the importance of training up the people in a faith which
tended to make them good subjects, and therefore it had provided[5] for
this great object from a sense of policy, if from no better impulse.
♦THE WHOLE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION DESTROYED BY THE REVOLUTION.♦ The
reformers, in the natural course of political insanity, plundered the
church before the revolutionists overthrew the throne. The Constituent
Assembly followed up this act of iniquity by requiring from the clergy
an oath, which they knew the greater part must conscientiously refuse
to take. The whole system of education throughout France was thus
subverted, before the work of proscription and massacre began; and, to
complete the wreck, the National Convention, by one sweeping decree,
suppressed all colleges and faculties of theology, medicine, arts, and
jurisprudence, throughout the republic.
♦PUBLIC INSTRUCTION PROMISED BY THE REVOLUTIONISTS.♦
Public instruction, however, had been one of the first blessings
which were promised under the new order of things; and accordingly
plan after plan was pompously announced, as short-lived constitutions
and short-sighted legislators succeeded one another. ♦TALLEYRAND’S
SCHEME.♦ The Constituent Assembly promised an establishment of primary
schools in the chief place of every canton; secondary ones in the
capital of every district; department schools in the capitals of these
larger divisions; and, finally, an Institute in the metropolis: the
whole under a Commission of Public Instruction. Public tuition was
not to begin before the age of six; till which time, it was said,
mothers might be trusted to put in practice the immortal lessons
of the author of Emilius: and girls were left wholly to their
parents. ♦RELIGION OMITTED.♦ Religion made no part of the scheme[6];
and instead of teaching children faith, hope, and charity, their
duties toward God and man, the Declaration of Rights was to be cast
into a catechism for their use. This plan, which was the work of
Talleyrand, was thrown aside when the Constituent Assembly, having
completed, as they supposed, the work of demolition, made way for
the Legislative Assembly, which was to erect a new edifice from the
ruins. ♦CONDORCET’S SCHEME.♦ A second project was then presented by
Condorcet. ♦RELIGION PROSCRIBED.♦ Revealed religion was, of course,
proscribed from his scheme; and the miserable sophist said that this
proscription ought to be extended to what is called natural religion
also, because the theistic philosophers were no better agreed than
the theologians in their notions of God, and of his moral relations
to mankind. All prejudices, he said, ought now to disappear; and
therefore it must now be affirmed that the study of the ancient
languages would be more injurious than useful. The physical sciences
were the basis of his plan; and he advised that scientific lessons
should be given in public weekly lectures, and that the miracles of
Elijah and St. Januarius should be exhibited, in order to cure the
people of superstition. A time, he said, undoubtedly would come,
when all establishments for instruction would be useless: however,
as they were necessary at present, girls as well as boys were to be
received in the public schools. ♦SCHEME OF THE NATIONAL CONVENTION.♦
The orators of the National Convention went farther: they maintained,
that domestic education was incompatible with liberty; that the holy
doctrine of equality would have been proclaimed in vain if there were
any difference of education between the rich and the poor; that, of
all inequalities, the inequality of knowledge was the most fatal; and
that every thing which elevated one man above another in the scale of
intellect was studiously to be destroyed. All children, therefore, of
both sexes, ... the boys from the age of five till that of twelve,
the girls from five to eleven, ... ought to be educated in common at
the expense of the republic; there was room enough for lodging them
all in the palaces and castles of the emigrants; the boys should be
employed in tilling the earth, in manufactures, or in picking stones
upon the highways; hospitals were to be annexed to the schools, where
the children were in rotation to wait upon the sick and the aged;
and they were never to hear of religion. One democratic legislator
proposed, that those parents who chose to have their children educated
at home should be vigilantly observed; and if it were discovered that
they brought them up in principles contrary to liberty, that a process
should be instituted, and the children taken from them, and sent to
the houses of equality. This implied some choice on the part of the
parents, though it would have made the choice a cruel mockery: but it
was contended that liberty could not exist if domestic education were
tolerated; ♦DOMESTIC EDUCATION PROSCRIBED.♦ and when the clause was
proposed that parents _might_ send their children to these schools,
it was carried as an amendment that they _must_ send them, because
it was time to establish the great principle, that children belong
to the republic more than to their parents. This, said one of their
blasphemous declaimers, would complete the Gospel of Equality! It was
even maintained, that education ought to commence before birth; and the
philosophical statesmen of regenerated France were called upon to form
rules for women during the time of gestation, and to enact laws for
midwives and for nurses[7]!
♦NONE OF THESE SCHEMES ATTEMPTED IN PRACTICE.♦
Follies and schemes like these were discussed by the National
Convention in the intervals between their acts of confiscation and
blood; and to this intolerable tyranny the fanatics of liberty and
equality designed to subject the people in the dearest and holiest
relations of domestic life! But proscriptions and executions succeeded
so rapidly, that the various projectors were swept off before their
projects could be attempted in practice; till at length, when the
remaining members of that nefarious assembly, after the death of
Robespierre, had acquired some feeling of personal safety, the
Normal Schools were established, in which the art of teaching was
to be taught. ♦NORMAL SCHOOLS.♦ And now, it was proclaimed, the
regeneration of the human mind would be effected; now, for the first
time upon earth, Nature, Truth, Reason, and Philosophy would have
their seminary! The most eminent men in talents and science were to
be professors in this institution; from all parts of the republic
the most promising subjects were to be selected by the constituted
authorities, and sent to the metropolis as pupils: and when they
should have completed the course of human knowledge, the disciples of
these great masters, thoroughly imbued with the lessons which they
had received, were to return to their respective places of abode, and
repeat them throughout the land, which would thus, in its remotest
parts, receive light from Paris, as from the focus of intellectual
illumination. Fourteen hundred young men were in fact brought from the
country; and, that nothing might be lost to mankind, the conferences
in which universal instruction was to be communicated were minuted
in short-hand. So notable a plan excited great enthusiasm in Paris;
it soon excited as much ridicule: in the course of three months both
pupils and professors discovered in how absurd a situation they were
placed; it was acknowledged in the National Convention that the scheme
had altogether failed; and thus ended what was properly called the
organized quackery of the Normal Schools[8].
♦CONSEQUENCES OF THESE VISIONARY SCHEMES.♦
Meantime the irrecoverable years were passing on, and the rising
generation was sacrificed to the crude theories and ridiculous
experiments of sophists in power; men whose ignorance might deserve
compassion, if their absurdity did not provoke indignation as well
as contempt, and their presumptuous wickedness call for unmingled
abhorrence. When the subject was renewed under the consular government,
the frightful consequences had become too plain to be dissembled. A
view of the moral and religious state of France was drawn up from
official reports which were sent in from every department, and it
was acknowledged that the children throughout the republic had been
left to run wild in idleness during the whole preceding course of
the revolution. ♦ANALYSE DES PRÒCES VÉRBAUX, QUOTED BY PORTALIS.
L. GOLDSMITH, RECUEIL, T. I. P. 282.♦ “They are without the idea of
a God,” said the Report, “without a notion of right and wrong. The
barbarous manners which have thus arisen have produced a ferocious
people, and we cannot but groan over the evils which threaten the
present generation and the future.”
♦ATTACHMENT OF THE JACOBINES TO BUONAPARTE.♦
It suited the views of Buonaparte that his government should hold
this language while he was negotiating the _Concordat_, for the sake
of obtaining the papal sanction to his authority. Perhaps he was then
hesitating whether to take the right hand way or the left; whether
to build up again the ruined institutions of France, strengthen the
throne on which he had resolved to take his seat by an alliance with
the altar; and in restoring to the kingdom all that it was possible
to restore while he retained the sovereignty to himself, engraft upon
the new dynasty those principles which had given to the old its surest
strength when it was strongest, and a splendour, of which no change
of fortune could deprive it. Two parties would be equally opposed to
this, the Jacobines and the Royalists. The latter it was impossible
to conciliate: they would have stood by the crown even if it were
hanging upon a bush; but their allegiance being founded upon principle
and feeling, ... upon the sense of honour and of duty, ... would not
follow the crown when it was transferred by violence and injustice
from one head to another. He found the Jacobines more practicable.
They indeed had many sympathies with Buonaparte: he favoured that
irreligion to which they were fanatically attached, because it at
once flattered their vanity and indulged their vices; his schemes of
conquest offered a wide field for their ambition and their avarice:
and what fitter agents could he desire than men who were troubled
with no scruples of conscience or of honour; whom no turpitude could
make ashamed; who shrunk from no crimes, and were shocked by no
atrocities? Thus Buonaparte judged concerning them, and he reasoned
rightly. The Jacobines both at home and abroad became his most devoted
and obsequious adherents: they served him in England as partizans and
advocates, denying or extenuating his crimes, justifying his measures,
magnifying his power, and reviling his opponents; on the Continent they
co-operated with him by secret or open treason, as occasion offered; in
France they laid aside in his behalf that hatred to monarchy which they
had not only professed but sworn, and swearing allegiance to a military
despotism, gave that despotism their willing and zealous support.
♦A SYSTEM OF EDUCATION NECESSARY FOR HIS VIEWS.♦
Such persons were still a minority in France; but their activity, their
arts, and their audacity supplied the want of numbers. It was essential
to his views that a succession of such men should be provided, and that
the French nation should by the sure process of education be moulded to
his will, and made to receive the stamp of his iron institutions. Many
of the clergy, when the proscription which had driven them from their
country was removed, had opened schools on their return from exile,
as the readiest means of obtaining a maintenance for themselves and
of performing their Christian duties. Their success was incompatible
with Buonaparte’s policy: he wanted not a moral and a religious[9],
but a military people. After some preparatory attempts, all tending to
the same object, the Imperial University was established; ... a name
which, it was admitted, had altogether a different signification from
what it bore under the old order of things. The legitimate principle
was proclaimed, that the direction of public education belongs to
the state; the intolerant one was deduced and put in practice,
that therefore a monopoly of education should be vested in the new
establishment.
♦IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY.♦
At the head of this University there was a Grand Master, for whom
Buonaparte, indulging in such things his own taste as well as that of
the French people, appointed a splendid costume; his civil-list was
150,000 francs, and he had the power of nominating to all the inferior
appointments, ... an enormous influence, if it had been intended that
he should be any thing more than the mere organ of the Emperor’s will.
There were under him a chancellor, a treasurer, with salaries of 15,000
francs each; ten counsellors for life, twenty counsellors in ordinary,
the former with salaries of 10, the latter of 6,000 francs; and thirty
inspectors general, whose salary was 6,000 also, and whose travelling
expenses were paid. Next in rank were the Rectors of Academies: this
too was an old word with a new signification. There were to be as many
Academies in the empire as there were courts of appeal. Each Rector
had an establishment for his inferior jurisdiction analogous to that
of the Grand Master; his salary was 6,000 francs, with 3,000 for his
official expenses, and the additional emolument which he derived as
Dean of the Faculties. He ranked with the Bishop of the diocese;
and the rivalry which this pretension occasioned was in no degree
mitigated by the spirit in which the Imperial University was founded
and administered. The Faculties, or Schools of Theology, Jurisprudence,
Medicine, Physical Sciences, and Literature, were under the Rector’s
authority, as were the Lyceums, Colleges, _Institutions_, _Pensions_,
and even the Primary Schools, which were not considered as beneath
the cognizance of the University, although the government had taken
care that even these should not be under the direction of the clergy,
having committed them to the superintendence of a certain number of
inhabitants, among whom the parochial priest had only a single voice.
All seminaries, therefore, of every kind belonged to the University,
and contributed in no small degree to its revenues. For it was not only
required that every person who opened a _Pension_ or _Institution_
must be a graduate, but also that he must take out a brevet from the
Grand Master, the price of which varied from 200 to 600 francs, and
which was to be renewed at the same cost every ten years. Besides these
decennial droits, a fourth part of the same sum was exacted annually;
and a tax was levied upon the pupils of five per cent. upon what they
paid to the master. It was the purpose of the government to discourage
these schools, which, as being mostly in the hands of the clergy, were
nowise congenial with the principles and views of Buonaparte: therefore
they were thus heavily taxed; and lest they should be supported in
spite of all discouragement, a decree was issued, declaring that the
Lyceums might at any time fill up their numbers by taking from the
nearest _Pensions_ or _Institutions_ as many pupils above the age of
nine as would complete their complement. The precise effect of this
iniquitous decree was, that exactly in proportion as any particular
Lyceum was known to be ill conducted, and as parents were unwilling
to entrust their children there, it became impossible for any better
seminary to exist in its neighbourhood.
♦COMMUNAL COLLEGES.♦
There were two other kind of seminaries which it was in like manner
the intention of the Imperial government to destroy by indirect means,
... the Communal Colleges and the Ecclesiastical Schools. More than
four hundred of the former had been founded at the expense of their
respective _communes_, as soon as any hope appeared that a settled
order of things might be maintained in France. But because every thing
far and near was regulated by the new despotism, the money which they
levied upon themselves for this purpose went, like other imposts,
to the capital: and was thrown into a common fund, from whence an
allowance to each particular college was made, not according to its
necessary expenditure, but according to the pleasure of the minister
to whom the distribution was confided. Thus the design of starving the
colleges, and rendering the _communes_ weary of a voluntary tax from
which no benefit was derived, was in most cases easily effected; and
where the inhabitants of a town, being more desirous of supporting
such an establishment, supplied the deficiency of the fund by fresh
subscriptions, the University interfered, to harass and disgust
them by means contradictory in appearance, but tending to the same
end. Being vested with authority over the Regents, it appointed and
superseded them at pleasure, removing to the Lyceums those who had
deserved the confidence of the neighbourhood, and supplying their
place by incompetent and worthless adventurers; it forced upon the
colleges professors of sciences which were not taught there, or it
forbade them to pursue the same branches of education if they were
teaching them with success. Very few of these establishments, and those
only in the remotest provinces, escaped the effects of this insidious
hostility. ♦ECCLESIASTICAL SCHOOLS.♦ The Ecclesiastical Schools had
been instituted as seminaries for the priesthood by the Bishops, and
were founded and supported by contributions. Some were placed in
cities where they were under the Bishop’s immediate inspection, and
became especial objects of his care; others were fixed in the country,
that they might be removed from the corruption of great towns. The
children of the poor who appeared by their talents and disposition to
be fit subjects for the ministry, were educated there gratuitously;
those of the wealthy for a moderate payment. The Romish clergy have
always understood that where religious feeling exists, money is
never wanting for religious purposes. Poor as Buonaparte had left
the Gallican church, large buildings were now bought or erected for
these seminaries, and furnished and supported with a liberality which
manifested that in the provinces at least there was more religion than
suited the wishes of the imperial government. Effectual means therefore
were pursued for degrading and destroying them. It was decreed that
not more than one should be allowed in a department, and that that one
must be in a large town where there should be a Lyceum: all others
were to be shut up within a fortnight after the promulgation of the
law, and their property, moveable and immoveable, applied to the use
of the University. The pupils were compelled to attend the Lyceums,
and go through the same course of mathematical studies as if they had
been designed for the army; they were not allowed to keep the church
festivals as holidays, although they wore the habit of ecclesiastical
students, and their masters were ranked below those of the meanest
boarding-school. The object of the government in thus mortifying the
teachers would be defeated by the wise policy of the Romish church,
which has taught its ministers to regard every act of humiliation as
adding to their stock of merits; the design of disgusting the students
with their profession, by the contempt to which they were exposed in
what were essentially military academies, and of unfitting them for
their intended profession by an intercourse with military pupils, was
likely to be more successful.
♦LYCEUMS.♦
It was through the Lyceums more than any other of his institutions
that Buonaparte expected to perpetuate the new order of things: in
these academies it was, that, by a system such as a Jesuit might have
devised for the use of a Mamaluke Bey, he trained up the youth of
France to become men after his own heart. It was laid down as a maxim
by the government that all public education ought to be regulated
upon the principles of military discipline, not on those of civil or
ecclesiastical police. In the Lyceums, therefore, the pupils were
distributed not in forms, or classes, but in companies, each having its
serjeant and its corporal; and an officer-instructor, as he was called,
taught the use of arms to all above twelve years of age, and drilled
them in military manœuvres. He was present to superintend all their
movements, which were so many evolutions, or marches. The punishments
in use were arrest and imprisonment; and for their meals, their
studies, their lessons, their sports, prayers, mass, going to bed, and
getting up, signal was given by beat of drum. ♦FIRST CATECHISM.♦ The
youth who were thus trained up in military habits had been taught, in
their first catechism, that they owed to their Emperor Napoleon love,
respect, obedience, fidelity, military services, and the contributions
required for the preservation and defence of the empire, and of his
throne: that God, who creates empires and disposes of them according
to his will, had, by endowing Napoleon with a profusion of gifts as
well in peace as in war, made him the minister of his power, and his
image upon earth: to honour and serve the Emperor was therefore the
same thing as to honour and serve God; and they who violated their duty
towards him, would resist the order which God himself had established,
and render themselves worthy of eternal damnation. The religious
sanction which was thus given to his authority had its full effect in
childhood, and when this feeling lost its influence, devotion to the
Emperor had become a habit which every thing around them contributed
to confirm and strengthen. There were 150 exhibitions, or burses,
appointed for every Lyceum: twenty were of sufficient amount to cover
the whole expense of the boys’ education and maintenance; the others
were called half or three-quarter burses, and the relatives of those
who obtained them made up the sum which was deficient. The money
for these foundations was of course drawn from the public taxes: a
third part was even raised by an extra and specific impost upon the
respective _communes_. But in the eyes of the pupils every thing flowed
from the Emperor himself: he was their immediate benefactor, as well as
their future and sure patron; and they looked to him with gratitude
and hope at an age when these generous feelings are the strongest.
♦SPECIAL MILITARY ACADEMIES.♦ Two hundred and fifty chosen youths were
transferred every year to the special military academies, where they
were supported by the state; and from whence the army was supplied with
a succession of young men, thoroughly educated for their profession,
and thoroughly attached to the Emperor Napoleon. Others were appointed
to such civil offices as they seemed best qualified to fill, and they
carried with them the same attachment to revolutionary principles, and
to the person of Buonaparte. This was not all. Buonaparte, far-sighted
when not blinded by vanity, or dazzled by ambition, made use of the
Lyceums to assist in securing his conquests. ♦YOUTHS FROM THE CONQUERED
COUNTRIES.♦ Two thousand four hundred youths, chosen from the foreign
territories which had been annexed to France, were educated in these
academies at the public expense. This measure, said Fourcroy (by whom
the scheme of the University was framed), was so congenial with the
times, that its advantages would be perceived by all who were capable
of understanding the existing circumstances. The inhabitants, he said,
who spake a language of their own, and were accustomed to their own
institutions, must relinquish their old usages, and adopt those of
their new country: they had not the means at home of giving their
children the education, the manners, and the character, which were to
identify them with the French. What more advantageous destiny could
be prepared for them than that which the new system offered? and what
more efficacious resource could be given to the government, which had
nothing more at heart than to bind these new citizens to the French
empire?... Bound to it, indeed, they would thus be; the youths by the
effect of the education which they received; the parents because the
children were hostages for their forced allegiance.
♦MORAL EFFECT OF THE LYCEUMS.♦
Thus was the scheme of the Lyceums well suited both to the foreign
and domestic policy of Buonaparte. The tone of morals which prevailed
in these academies is said to have been not less congenial to his
purposes. If, indeed, in happier countries, and where the intention is
that better principles should be carefully inculcated, schools still
are places where good dispositions incur some danger of contamination,
and where evil ones have their worst propensities nurtured, and forced
as if in a hotbed, what was to be expected from a system of education
planned and directed by men who had grown up during the revolution, or
who had taken part in it, and gone through the course of its crimes,
... its agents, or its creatures? A thorough corruption, under the
appearance of that regularity which military order produced; a cold
irreligion, with which the youths went through the external practices
of devotion as they went through the drill; a calculating spirit
of insubordination, never breaking out but in concerted movements;
speculating selfishness, premature ambition, ferocious manners; ...
♦GENIE DE LA REVOLUTION. T. 1. 392.♦ these were to be expected, and by
these, it is said, the Lyceums were characterised.
♦SYSTEM OF INSPECTION.♦
The _Proviseurs_ (or masters), the censors, and the teachers in the
Lyceums and Colleges (which latter were regarded as secondary schools),
were bound to celibacy: the professors might marry, but in that case
they were not allowed to lodge within the precincts, nor might any
woman enter there. Every academy had one or two inspectors, whose
business it was from time to time to visit all the Lyceums and inferior
schools within their respective districts, and see that the rules of
the University were strictly observed; and lest this examination should
be carelessly or unfaithfully performed, there were from twenty to
thirty general inspectors. The members of the University were bound
each to inform the Grand Master and his officers of any thing contrary
to the rules, which might occur within their knowledge: they were bound
to obey him in whatever he might command for the Emperor’s service;
and whosoever was expelled, or left the University without a letter of
dismission, became thereby incapable of holding any civil employment.
The pupils were not permitted to correspond with any persons except
their parents, or persons acting for their parents; and all letters
which they received or wrote passed through the hands of the censor.
♦UNIFORMITY OF EDUCATION.♦
The University was one of Buonaparte’s favourite plans: it well
exemplifies his precipitate temper and his thorough despotism. In
the edict which erected it, the Napoleonic dynasty was styled the
conservator of the liberal ideas which the French constitutions had
announced; ... that very edict was an act for enforcing uniformity
of education throughout the empire! All persons who were previously
employed in tuition were by this act incorporated as members of the
University, without their consent, and bound to all its regulations:
they were compelled to change the course of instruction to which they
had been accustomed, and to follow a prescribed form, whether they
approved it or not: they were subjected to the inquisitorial visits
of the inspectors, and to the arbitrary power of the Grand Master:
they were heavily taxed for the support of this system, and ultimately
were to be sacrificed to it; for it was the declared intention of
government gradually to diminish the number of their schools till they
should all be shut up, for the purpose of multiplying the Lyceums.
The insolent injustice of such a measure would produce disgust and
consequent neglect in many instances, the suddenness of the change
would occasion disorder and confusion in all; and the itinerant
inspectors were less likely to amend what was amiss, than to act in a
vexatious spirit of interference, or with corrupt connivance, according
as the views and temper of the individual inclined him to the one abuse
or to the other. Except the miserable schoolmasters who were pressed
into the University, its other members were taken from such persons
hanging loose upon society as had interest enough to obtain the better
appointments, or were forlorn enough to accept the worst. Yet from
some thousands of men, not prepared by previous habitudes and studies,
not selected for the fitness of their acquirements, their talents,
or their disposition to the course of life in which they were to be
placed, but brought together by the drag-net of despotism, Buonaparte
expected and demanded that singleness of purpose, that totality of
interests, that subserviency of all the parts to the whole, that
disciplined unanimity which had existed among the Jesuits, and was the
perfection of their consummate system. But the great object of his
policy was answered; the youth of France were brought up in military
habits; they were taught from their earliest boyhood to look to him for
patronage, and to consider their own advancement as connected with the
prosperity and permanence of his empire: if the moral and religious
part of their education was worse than neglected, it mattered not, or
rather it accorded with his views and wishes; they were then fitter
instruments for the work in which they were to be employed.
♦EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION UPON MORALS.♦
The revolution had seared the feelings and hardened the hearts of
a light-minded people: this was the natural effect of its horrors
and of the ruin which it had spread[10]. That immorality which a
succession of vicious courts had encouraged by their example, was
released by the revolution from all restraints of law and of external
decorum. ♦FREQUENCY OF DIVORCES.♦ The religious sanction of marriage
was destroyed, and the unbounded facility of divorce rendered the
civil ceremony a mere form, which was no longer binding than till one
of the parties might choose to throw off the engagement. ♦OBSCENE
PUBLICATIONS.♦ The literature of France, always, to the disgrace of the
nation, more licentious than that of any other country, became, under
the perfect freedom of the press, obscene to a degree too loathsome for
expression; the arts were prostituted to the same devilish purpose;
and the line of distinction between vice and virtue, which can never
be too strongly marked, was as completely effaced in general practice
as in the theories of those sophists who have laboured to corrupt
their fellow-creatures. Such things were beneath the consideration of
a legislature which arrogated to itself the praise of philosophical
liberality; or, rather, they accorded with the views of that foul
philosophy, which, regarding man as a mere material machine, would
degrade him to the condition of the beasts that perish. Gambling,
also, which every government that regards the welfare of its subjects
endeavours to check by salutary laws, was encouraged by authority in
France. ♦GAMING-HOUSES ESTABLISHED BY GOVERNMENT.♦ Every week two or
three lotteries were drawn, in which the poorest of the poor were
tempted to engage, there being shares as low as sixpence. Nor must it
be supposed that this measure was defended upon the specious ground
that governments ought to regulate the vices which they cannot prevent,
and therefore may allowably make them conducive to the advantage of
the state. The French government legalized this vice in its fullest
extent, took to itself a monopoly of the gaming-houses, farmed them at
one time, and afterwards administered them by agents of its own. This
profligate measure originated with the Directory, and was continued by
Buonaparte: whatever tended to make men prodigal and desperate accorded
with the spirit of his system, and under that system every thing tended
to that effect.
♦ABOLITION OF PRIMOGENITURE.♦
Of all the previous measures of the revolutionists there was none
which more entirely suited his views than the abolition of the law
of primogeniture; that law, which perhaps, next to the institution
of marriage, has produced more good, moral and political, than any
other act of human legislation. The revolutionists were not mistaken
when they believed that that structure of social order which it was
their determination to destroy rested upon this basis; and they were
too short-sighted to perceive that in breaking it up they were acting
as pioneers to prepare the way for despotism. Buonaparte was thus
enabled to surround himself with an aristocracy of his own making, who
possessed no natural influence in the country, who represented none
of its interests, who had no inheritance of honour to maintain and to
bequeath, but were his mere creatures and dependents. In this respect
the government of France under the Emperor Napoleon was assimilated
to the barbarous despotisms of Persia and Turkey: and this was the
direct consequence of a measure, which was intended to secure and
perpetuate the triumph of liberty and equality! But it was not the
only consequence: the evil extended throughout the whole middle class
of society. The best motive whereby men are induced to labour for the
accumulation of wealth, the motive by which a propensity, mean in
itself, is exalted and refined, was removed when the hope of building
up a family was taken away. Mansions would not be erected, and domains
ornamented and improved, when, upon the death of the proprietor, the
estates were to be divided. There no longer existed the same means for
that liberal expenditure which called forth ingenuity, encouraged the
arts, and afforded employment to useful industry in all its branches.
Properties were broken down, which in former times enabled the father
to set his younger children fairly forward in the world, and the heads
of families to assist their relatives, ... from pride sometimes, if a
kindlier principle were wanting. And as estates by this levelling act
were divided into smaller and smaller portions at every descent, more
adventurers were thrown upon the public with less parental aid. The
political system of the revolutionists, like their godless philosophy,
looked to the present alone, deriving no wisdom from the past, and
having for the future neither care nor hope.
♦BARBARIZING EFFECTS OF THIS MEASURE.♦
The growth of that middle order was thus prevented in which the
strength of civil society mainly consists; which is the most
favourable to the developement of our intellectual faculties, and to
the improvement of our moral nature; to knowledge, and contentment,
and virtue; to public freedom, individual happiness, and general
prosperity. No measure could more certainly tend to perpetuate
barbarous institutions than one by which property was thus divided in
every generation: and the state of things among the Huns and Tartars
of old scarcely operated more exclusively to form a military people
than all the circumstances of France under its military Emperor.
The conscription was as indiscriminate as the plague, and less to
be averted by any human means: it mattered not what might be the
inclinations of the youth, nor what the wishes, principles, and
feelings of the parents; he must take the chance of the lot, and as
Buonaparte became more eager in his ambition and more prodigal in his
expenditure of life, there was scarcely a chance of escaping from it.
The chief object of education was to train up the boys in military
habits and propensities; and the military was the only profession which
offered any thing to their hopes. Commerce had been almost destroyed,
less by the maritime war than by the tyranny of Buonaparte, who, in
the vain desire of ruining Great Britain, cared not what injury he
brought upon his own subjects and his dependent states. Few persons
would engage in the study of the liberal professions, because it was
not in their free choice to follow them. The official business of the
state no longer offered, as in former times, a sure and honourable
path to promotion and public esteem; it was reduced to the wretched
art of doing whatever the Emperor required, supplying immediate wants
by temporary shifts, enforcing oppressive edicts, defending acts of
perfidy, inhumanity, and flagrant wrong, and promoting a system
of despotism and delusion by all the aids of systematic falsehood.
♦DEGRADATION OF THE CHURCH.♦ And the Church was in a state of
degradation as complete as that to which Julian would have reduced it;
it had been stripped of its respectability as well as of its wealth.
Buonaparte had hardly condescended to treat its re-establishment as
any thing more than a mere matter of expediency: and when the Pope was
brought to Paris for the purpose of crowning a man who had publicly
professed himself an enemy to the Cross, the ceremonies of his
reception were performed in a spirit of mockery which it was scarcely
attempted to conceal. The Bishops of the new establishment, indeed,
were not wanting in endeavours to deserve the Emperor’s favour; they
uttered their maledictions against England, as Balaam would fain have
done against the Israelites; and in strains of blasphemous adulation
they addressed Buonaparte as one whom the Lord had brought out of the
land of Egypt to be the man of his own right hand, the Cyrus whom God
had chosen for the accomplishment of his inscrutable designs in regard
to the nations of the earth, the Christ of providence, the lion of
the tribe of Judah! But if this impious flattery gratified the tyrant
to whom it was addressed, it contributed still farther to degrade the
clerical character in public estimation. The constitutional clergy
were regarded as little better than schismatics by those persons who
retained a rooted attachment to the religion of their fathers: hence,
in the interior, the churches were deserted by the devout as well as
by the infidel; and they who were near enough the frontier went to
partake of the ordinances and receive confirmation, from a foreign
clergy, because they had no reverence for their own. Public opinion
being so decidedly against the national priests, and their stipends
precarious in all places, and at the best barely sufficient for a
decent maintenance, it followed, as a natural consequence, that a
supply of ministers for the service of the altar could not be found.
Thus while the laws made every youth look to a military life as the
probable allotment of destiny from which he could not escape, the
circumstances of France were such as to take away all desire for any
other profession.
♦STATE OF EUROPE.♦
At the head of a nation whose whole activity and talents were
thus directed to war as the only pursuit, Buonaparte had realised
those schemes of ambition which Louis XIV. had been prevented from
accomplishing by Marlborough’s consummate abilities as a statesman
and a general. He had effected all, and more than all that Louis had
designed. The Austrian Netherlands, and all the German states as far
as the Rhine, were annexed to France, and the European powers who were
most injured and endangered by this usurpation acquiesced in it with
hopeless submission. Beyond the Rhine the French were in possession of
many strong places, which gave them access into the heart of Germany.
Buonaparte was King of Italy, as well as Emperor of France. One of his
brothers had been made King of Holland, a second King of Naples, and a
third King of Westphalia, all in immediate dependence upon him as the
head and founder of the Napoleonic dynasty. The Holy German Empire,
... the Empire, as by a prouder and exclusive title it claimed to be
called, ... that venerable and mighty body of which the complicated
confusion had hitherto, so it was boasted, been divinely preserved,
was dissolved by the defection of its members, and the abdication of
its chief. The secondary, and all the inferior powers of which it had
been composed, had contracted under the name of the Confederation of
the Rhine, federatively and individually an alliance with the Emperor
Napoleon, offensive and defensive, whereby they were virtually rendered
so many feuds of France: the force which they were to bring into the
field was determined; and to enable them to raise their respective
contingents, the conscription was introduced into these states, as the
accompanying curse of French alliance. This Confederacy was extended
from Bavaria and the frontiers of Switzerland, to the banks of the
Elbe. Switzerland acknowledged Buonaparte as its protector, and
continued in peace, with something of the appearance, but little of the
reality of independence, till it should suit his purpose to assume the
sovereignty without disguise. Prussia, beaten, humbled and dismembered,
seemed to exist only by his sufferance. Austria, after three struggles
against revolutionary France, each more lamentably misconducted and
more disastrous than the last, divorced from the empire, despoiled
of the Netherlands, the Brisgaw, the Frickthal, the Vorarlberg, the
Tyrol, and all its Italian territories, had no other consolation in
the ignominious peace to which it had been forced than that of seeing
the house of Brandenburg soon afterwards reduced to a state of greater
humiliation. Denmark was in alliance with France, the government rather
than the nation co-operating heartily with Buonaparte. Sweden, with
an insane king, and a discontented people, maintained against him a
war which was little more than nominal. Russia, the only country which
seemed secure in its distance, its strength, and the unanimity of its
inhabitants, ... the only continental state to which the rest of Europe
might have looked as to a conservative power, ... Russia appeared to
be dazzled by Buonaparte’s glory, duped by his insidious talents, and
blindly subservient to his ambition. Spain was entirely subject to his
control, its troops and its treasures were more at the disposal of the
French government than of its own. Portugal had hitherto been suffered
to remain neutral, because Buonaparte from time to time extorted large
sums from the Court as the price of its neutrality, and because the
produce of the Spanish mines found their way safely through the British
cruisers, under the Portugueze flag. England alone perseveringly
opposed the projects of this ambitious conqueror, and prevented the
possibility of his accomplishing that scheme of universal dominion,
which had it not been for her interference he believed to be within his
reach.
♦STATE OF ENGLAND.♦
The situation of England in the year 1807 was more extraordinary than
any that is exhibited in the history of former times. After a war,
which with the short interval of the peace of Amiens had continued
fifteen years, and at the commencement of which all Europe had been
leagued with her against revolutionary France, her last reliance upon
the continental governments had failed; most of her former allies were
leagued against her, and it was manifest that the few states which
still preserved a semblance of neutrality, would soon in like manner
be compelled into a confederacy with France. The French army and the
English navy, two more tremendous powers than old times had ever
seen, were opposed to each other without the possibility of coming in
conflict. Masters as the French were on the continent, all thoughts
of attacking them by land were at an end, and neither they nor their
allies dared show their flag upon the sea. England could not in any way
lessen the power of France, neither could France subdue, nor in any way
weaken England. The threat of invasion had been laid aside: it had been
seriously intended by Buonaparte, but the spirit with which the English
people flew to arms intimidated him, and his gun-boats were left to
rot in the harbours where with so much cost and care they had been
collected. Secured against any such evil by our fleets, and still more
by our internal strength, we were carrying on the war equally without
fear and without hope.
♦DUKE OF PORTLAND’S ADMINISTRATION.♦
The state of our home politics was not less remarkable. For the first
time Great Britain was under an administration without a name; its
ostensible head the Duke of Portland never appeared in parliament,
and was neither spoken of, nor thought of by the public. He deserves,
however, an honourable memorial in British history, for having accepted
office in a time of peculiar and extreme difficulty, and thereby
enabled the King to form a ministry whose opinions were in unison
with his own principles and feelings, and with the wishes and true
interests of his people. The other ministers held their places less
by their own strength than by the weakness of their opponents, for
of all administrations, that to which they had succeeded had been
the most unpopular. From their want of influence in the country, the
powerful families being mostly with the opposition, it was thought
that they depended too much upon the personal favour of the sovereign,
and were more literally the King’s servants than is consistent with
the spirit of the constitution. Their talents had not been put fairly
to the proof, and the nation had not as yet learned to appreciate
the cool clear judgement of Lord Hawkesbury, the finished oratory
of Mr. Canning, and the activity and intrepidity of Mr. Percival,
always ready and always right-minded. While Pitt and Fox were living,
every man believed either in one or in the other; one party was
perfectly satisfied that all the measures of the minister were right,
and the other as confidently expected that notwithstanding the evil
consequences of his mispolicy and his misfortunes, the country was to
be saved as soon as their political redeemer came into power. From
this comfortable state, wherein faith supplied the place of reason,
they were disturbed by the death of both these leaders, neither of
whom left a successor, but both exaggerated reputations. It became
the general complaint that there was no man or set of men in whom
the nation had any confidence. Some persons apprehended from this a
dangerous indifference in the public toward parliament itself. Others
hoped that as the people were weary of factious debates, parliament
would no longer be made a theatre of faction, but that measures would
be discussed with a view to the common weal, and no longer solely with
reference to the party by which they were brought forward.
The opposition consisted of the most heterogeneous and discordant
materials. The Grenville party had a just view of the dangers of the
country, and a right feeling for its honour. They were sincerely
attached to the monarchy, to the Church of England, and to the existing
constitution of the state: therefore they steadily and manfully
resisted the measures of pretended reform which were brought forward
sometimes by mistaken, sometimes by designing men, as leading with sure
tendency to a mob-government, and all its certain horrors. They knew
also that hopeless as the war might seem, it was our safest position,
and that peace could not be made without disgrace and imminent danger,
so long as the continent of Europe was under the control of France.
But while they thus entirely agreed with the government in the
fundamental principles of its policy foreign and domestic, they opposed
it in all the details of administration with a factious animosity,
which seemed to show how deeply they resented their dismissal from
power: and thus they lost with the nation much of that weight which
they must otherwise have possessed by reason of their acknowledged
ability, their constitutional principles, and their high personal
character. Still, however, they were regarded with a certain degree of
respect, which was not the case with the remains of Mr. Fox’s party.
♦THE FOXITES.♦ The Foxites, from the beginning of the war, through all
its changes had uniformly taken part against their country; consistent
in this and in nothing else, they had always sided with the enemy,
pleading his cause, palliating his crimes, extolling his wisdom,
magnifying his power, vilifying and accusing their own government,
depreciating its resources, impeding its measures, insulting its
allies, calling for disclosures which no government ought to make, and
forcing them sometimes from the weakness and the mistaken liberality
of their opponents. Buonaparte, as Washington had done before him,
relied upon their zeal and virulence; and they by their speeches and
writings served him more effectually upon the continent and in France
itself, than all the manifestoes of his ministers, and the diatribes
of his own press. In future ages it will be thought a strange and
almost incredible anomaly in politics, that there should have existed
in the legislature of any country a regular party, organised and
acknowledged as such, whose business it was to obstruct the proceedings
of government, and render it by every possible means contemptible and
odious to the people; a party always in semi-alliance with the enemy,
who in times of difficulty and danger prophesied nothing but failure,
disgrace, and ruin; and whose systematic course of conduct, if it had
been intended to bring about the fulfilment of their predictions, could
not have been more exactly adapted to that object.
♦ATTEMPTS TO RAISE A CRY FOR PEACE.♦
The Foxites, before they were admitted into office, had pertinaciously
insisted upon the practicability and ease of making peace; this opinion
could not be maintained while they were in power, and their dismission
was at this time so recent, that it could not as yet decently be
resumed. Attempts, however, to raise a popular cry for peace were
made by certain manufacturers whose trade was at a stand: they were
assisted by many of those persons who in strict adherence to the
phraseology as well as the principles of the puritans, call themselves
religious professors, and by some other conscientious but inconsistent
men, who while they admit that the necessity of war must be allowed
in just cases, exclaim in all cases against the practice, setting
their compassionate feelings in array against reason, and against the
manlier virtues. ♦SUPERSTITION CONCERNING BUONAPARTE.♦ A superstition
concerning Buonaparte was mingled with this womanish sensibility.
They who had not lost sight of his enormities doubted whether he were
the Beast, whose number they contrived to discover in his name; ... or
Antichrist himself. Others whom he had in some degree conciliated by
his various aggressions upon the papal power, forgave him his crimes
because the Whore of Babylon happened to be among those whom he had
plundered: they rather imagined him to be the Man upon the White Horse.
In this, however, they were all agreed, that Providence had appointed
him for some great[11] work: and it was an easy conclusion for those
whose weak heads and warm imaginations looked no further, that it must
be unavailing, if not impious, to oppose him.
♦ADMIRERS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.♦
This was a pitiable delusion: but more extraordinary was the weakness
of those, who having been the friends of France at the commencement
of the revolution, when they believed that the cause of liberty was
implicated in her success, looked with complacency now upon the
progress which oppression was making in the world, because France was
the oppressor. They had turned their faces toward the east, in the
morning, to worship the rising sun, and now when it was evening they
were looking eastward still, obstinately affirming that still the sun
was there. Time had passed on; circumstances were changed; nothing
remained stationary except their understandings; and because they
had been incapable of deriving wisdom from experience, they called
themselves consistent; and because they were opposed in every thing to
the views of their government, the hopes of their countrymen, and the
honour and interest of their country, they arrogated to themselves the
exclusive praise of patriotism! But the persons who from these various
views and feelings united in calling for peace, were insignificant in
number, and government had never at any time more certainly acted with
the full concurrence of the nation, than in carrying on the war against
Buonaparte.
♦INCREASED EXPENDITURE, ACTIVITY, AND WEALTH.♦
Heavy burthens had been incurred during this long and arduous contest.
At the commencement of the year 1807, the annual expenditure was not
less than seventy-two millions, and the national debt amounted to six
hundred and twenty-seven. But hitherto the prosperity of the country
had kept pace with its exertions. The wheels of the machine seemed
rather to move more freely than to be impeded by the weight which was
laid upon them; and the war created means for supporting its enormous
demands, by the enterprise which it called into action, and the money
which it put in circulation. All the manufactures connected with the
numerous branches of the naval and military service were in full
activity. Agricultural industry also received an impulse such as had
never before been experienced; for the English being excluded from the
Baltic, and holding relations of doubtful amity with the United States
of America, were fain to depend upon themselves for produce, and the
emergency produced commensurate exertions throughout the kingdom. The
country banks supplied a currency without which these exertions could
not have been made; every where wastes were brought into cultivation;
and the agricultural labourers being every where employed at high
wages, contributed by their increased expenditure to extend the
prosperity of which they partook.
♦MANUFACTURING SYSTEM.♦
Other circumstances, connected with the progress of society, and
leading beyond all doubt to the most perilous crisis which society has
ever yet undergone, conduced at this time mainly to the service of
the state, and enabled the government to raise a revenue and support
fleets and armies upon a scale which even in the last generation
could not have been contemplated as possible. As the drunkard derives
a pleasurable sensation, and an immediate excitement from strong
liquors which by their sure effect are producing organic derangement,
incurable disease, and death, so the manufacturing system contributed
at this time to the national wealth and strength, while it was
poisoning the vitals of the commonwealth. Carried as it now appeared to
be by mechanical ingenuity and power to its utmost extent, it enabled
our merchants to supply the world with manufactured goods, and at so
low a price, that the most severe enactments, enforced by the most
vigilant precautions, could not exclude them from the continental
markets. In vain did Buonaparte shut the ports of Europe against the
British flag, thinking that by destroying that part of our revenue
which is derived from foreign trade, he should cut the sinews of our
strength; in vain did the American government co-operate with him by
its non-importation acts; British goods still found their way every
where, and the books of the custom-house proved a continual increase in
our exports; while the internal commerce of the country (nine-elevenths
of the whole), and that with Ireland and our foreign possessions (a
large proportion of the remaining parts), flourished beyond all former
example. The manufacturing system supplied the war with men as well
as means; the necessity for hands in agriculture also being greatly
diminished by improved modes of labour, and by the use of agricultural
machines, we were enabled without violence or difficulty to maintain
in arms a force scarcely inferior in numbers to that of the enemy with
all their fivefold superiority of population. And thus the country
was prevented from feeling the evil of that forced population which
the manufacturing system and the poor laws had produced, and of the
prevailing custom of educating youths of the middle rank for stations
higher than that in which they were born, or had means to support.
♦WEAKNESS OF THE GOVERNMENT.♦
In resources therefore for maintaining war, the British government
had never been so strong: and so far as Buonaparte reckoned upon our
financial difficulties, and the want of men to resist him whenever
and wherever he should bring his overwhelming force against us, he
deceived himself, as much as when he supposed it possible to intimidate
the British nation. But he reckoned also upon the weakness of our
government, the aid which would be given him by a licentious press,
and the progress of those insane opinions which lead to revolution
and ruin. His councils were directed by a single will steadily to
one end; and whatever he undertook was vigorously pursued, and with
means proportioned to the object so as to render success certain, as
far as depended upon well-concerted plans, adequate preparations, and
military strength. But the constitution of a British cabinet, in which
contrarious opinions are reconciled by concessions and compromises,
seemed in time of war to insure vacillation and weakness. The whole
conduct of the war had confirmed him in this judgement, which the
history of all our wars since the days of Marlborough exemplifies.
Every administration, this like the last, and the last like that before
it, treading one after another in the same sheep-track of fatuity,
proceeded without system, and with no other views than such as the
chance and changes of the hour presented. Setting sail before the wind
from whatever quarter it happened to blow, they steered a driftless
course, though the shallows lay full before them. The same tardiness,
the same indecision, the same half measures, the same waste of men and
money in nugatory expeditions, had characterized them all. Moreover
the government itself had been weakened by the concessions which
faction, ever active and ever alert, had extorted from a series of
feeble ministers during this long reign. At a time when discontent was
at its height at the close of the American war, the House of Commons
passed a resolution that the power of the Crown had increased, was
increasing, and ought to be diminished; a resolution that carried with
it its own refutation, being itself a decisive proof of the weakness
of the government under which and against which it was passed. More
than once had a ministry been forced upon the King in opposition to
his own principles of policy, and his personal feelings. That which
had happened might again happen; changes, always possible in a country
which was governed so little by system, and so much by popular opinion,
might again force the Whigs into power: ♦HOPES OF BUONAPARTE.♦ and
under their ascendancy Buonaparte might reasonably expect to conclude
a peace. With all the ports of the continent at his command he could
build ships in any number, but it was only during peace that sailors
could be trained to man them; a few years of peace would suffice for
this, and then he might meet us on the seas with a superiority of
force which would give him the power of landing an army at any time
upon our shores. For this reason and for this alone, he was sincerely
desirous of making peace with England, being the surest means by
which he could hope to bring about the overthrow of this hated and
otherwise invulnerable enemy. But while the war continued that enemy
could do him no farther hurt, he was at leisure to continue his system
of aggrandizement; wherever there was no sea to intervene, there was
nothing to withstand him. His projects even in the fullest extent of
their ambition were thought feasible by the public, who throughout
Europe were dazzled by his success: his power appeared irresistible;
and his empire was supposed by all persons to be firmly established,
except by those who having a firm reliance upon the moral order of the
world, believed that the triumph of evil principles could only endure
for a time, and that no system can be permanent which is founded upon
irreligion, injustice, and violence.
CHAPTER II.
SECRET TREATY OF FONTAINEBLEAU. INVASION OF PORTUGAL. REMOVAL OF
THE ROYAL FAMILY TO BRAZIL. STATE OF PORTUGAL UNDER THE FRENCH
USURPATION.
♦1807.
CONJECTURES CONCERNING THE PROJECTS OF BUONAPARTE.♦
All opposition to Napoleon Buonaparte being at an end upon the
continent of Europe, men began to inquire what would be the next
object of his restless ambition. Would he execute his long meditated
designs against the Turkish empire, parcel out Greece in tributary
dukedoms, principalities and kingdoms, and make his way again to Egypt,
not risking himself and his army a second time upon the seas, but by
a safer land journey, conquering as he went? The imbecile policy of
the English in Egypt, the state of that country, and the importance
of which it might become in the hand of an efficient government,
seemed to invite the French emperor to direct his views thitherward,
if he understood his real interests as a conqueror. The scene also
which had recently been enacted at Paris by the Jews in Sanhedrim
assembled, under his command, appeared to have more meaning than was
avowed. It was little likely that he should have convened them to
answer questions which there was no reason why he should ask; or to
lend their sanction to the conscription, which requiring no other
sanction than that of his inexorable tyranny, set all laws, principles,
and feelings, at defiance. And though doubtless the deputies indulged
gratuitously in impious adulation, yet it was apparent that in some
of their blasphemies they echoed the pretensions of the adventurer
whom they addressed. When in their hall of meeting they placed the
Imperial Eagle over the Ark of the Covenant, and blended the cyphers
of Napoleon and Josephine with the unutterable name of God; impious
as this was, it was only French flattery in Jewish costume. But when
they applied to him the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel, when they
called him “the Lord’s anointed Cyrus,” ... “the living Image of the
Divinity,” ... “the only mortal according to God’s own heart, to whom
He had entrusted the fate of nations, because he alone could govern
them with wisdom;” ... these things resembled the abominable language
of his Bishops and of his own proclamations, too much to escape notice.
And when they reminded him that he had subdued the ancient land of the
eternal pyramids, the land wherein their ancestors had been held in
bondage, that he had appeared on the banks of the once-sacred Jordan,
and fought in the valley of Sichem in the plains of[12] Palestine,
such language seemed to indicate a project for resettling them in the
Holy Land, as connected with his views concerning Egypt. Nay, as he had
successively imitated Hannibal, and Alexander, and Charlemagne, just
as the chance of circumstances reminded him of each, was it improbable
that Mahommed might be the next object of his imitation? that he might
breathe in incense till he fancied himself divine; that adulation, and
success, and vanity, utterly unchecked as they were, having destroyed
all moral feeling and all conscience, should affect his intellect next;
and that, from being the Cyrus of the Lord, he would take the hint
which his own clergy had given him, and proclaim himself the temporal
Messiah? Nothing was too impious for this man, nothing too frantic; ...
and, alas! such was the degradation of Europe and of the world, England
alone excepted, that scarcely any thing seemed to be impracticable for
him.
Another speculation was, that, in co-operation with the Russians, he
would march an army through Persia to the Indies, and give a mortal
blow, in Hindostan, to the prosperity and strength of England; for it
was one of the preposterous notions of our times, that the power of
England depended upon these foreign possessions, ... the acquirements,
as it were, of yesterday! An ominous present was said, by the French
journalists, to have been sent him by the Persian sovereign, ... two
scimitars, one of which had belonged to Timur, the other to Nadir
Shah. The intrigues of his emissaries at the Persian court, and
with the Mahrattas and Mahommedan powers in Hindostan, were supposed
to render this project probable; and the various routes which his
army might take were anxiously traced upon the map, by those whose
forethought had more of fear in it than of wisdom and of hope. But
Buonaparte was now enacting the part of Charlemagne, and had not
leisure, as yet, to resume that of Alexander. He had determined upon
occupying the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, believing that because
of the helplessness of one country, and the state of the court in the
other, he might obtain possession of both without resistance, and
become master of Brazil and of the Spanish Indies.
♦RISE OF D. MANUEL DE GODOY.♦
Don Manuel de Godoy, Duke of Alcudia and Prince of the[13] Peace, was
at this time minister in Spain. He was an upstart, who, because he
had been the Queen’s paramour, had attained the highest power in the
state, and by whatever qualities he ingratiated himself with the King,
possessed his confidence and even his friendship. There was no jealousy
in the Queen’s attachment to this minion; she gave him one of the royal
family in marriage, but the private life of the favourite continued
to be as infamous as the means whereby he had risen. It is said that
there was no way so certain to obtain promotion, as by pandering to
his vices; and that wives, sisters, and daughters, were offered him
as the price of preferment in a manner more shameless than had ever
before been witnessed in a Christian country. Certain it is, that the
morals of the Spanish court were to the last degree depraved, and that
this depravity affected all within its sphere like a contagion. He was
rapacious as well as sensual; but as his sensuality was amply fed by
the creatures who surrounded him, so was his avarice gratified by the
prodigal favour of the crown, and Godoy had nothing to desire beyond
the continuance of the authority which he enjoyed. The cruel part of
his conduct must be ascribed to that instinctive dread of wisdom and
hatred of virtue which such men necessarily feel in their unnatural
elevation.
♦GODOY CREATED A PRINCE FOR MAKING PEACE WITH FRANCE.♦
Other ministers may have been as vicious; many have been more
vindictive; and in ordinary times Godoy might have filled his station
without more disgrace than certain of his predecessors, and even
with some credit, for vanity led him to patronize arts and science
in conformity with the fashion of the age. Pestalozzi’s scheme of
education was introduced under his favour into Spain; and vaccination
was communicated to the Spanish dominions in America, and to the
Philippines by an expedition sent for that sole purpose. But his lot
had fallen in times which might have perplexed the ablest statesman;
and in proportion as he was tried his incapacity became notorious to
all men. The measures for which he was rewarded with a princedom
evinced his ignorance of the interests, and his insensibility to the
honour of the country. ♦DISGRACEFUL TERMS OF THAT PEACE.♦ By the
peace of Basle he ceded to the French republic the Spanish part of
Hispaniola, which was the oldest possession of the Spaniards in the
New World, and therefore, neglected and unproductive as it was, the
pride and the character of the nation were wounded by the cession, a
cession[14] in direct contravention to the treaty of Utrecht. By the
subsequent treaty of St. Ildefonso he contracted an alliance with
France offensive and defensive against any power on the continent;
now France was the only continental power with whom there was any
probability that Spain could be involved in war; the advantage
therefore was exclusively on the side of France: and at the time these
terms were made, the French republic, notwithstanding its successes
in the peninsula, would have been well contented with securing the
neutrality of the Spaniards.
♦THE COURT OF SPAIN NOT WILLINGLY SUBSERVIENT TO FRANCE.♦
Under the reign of Charles IV. the whole machine of government was
falling to decay. The navy which Charles III. left more formidable than
it had ever been since the time of the Armada, was almost annihilated.
The army was in the worst state of indiscipline and disorder; the
finances were exhausted, and public credit at the lowest ebb: foreign
commerce had been destroyed by the war with England; and France,
meantime, insatiable in its demands upon a helpless ally, continued
to exact fresh sacrifices of men and treasure. ♦GODOY NOT CORRUPTED
BY FRANCE.♦ It has been loudly asserted that Godoy was corrupted by
the French government; any thing was believed of one so profligate and
so odious, as if because he would have scrupled at no wickedness, he
was in like manner capable of any folly. But with what was France to
purchase the services of one whose greediest desires were gratified?
If Godoy had not felt and thought like his sovereign, he could not
so entirely have obtained his confidence; now the disposition of the
King could not be doubtful. Charles had been compelled to abandon
the coalition, and ally himself with France, but he acted from his
heart when he entered into that coalition, not when he withdrew
from it. For the example of the French revolution could not but be
regarded with fear by all crowned heads, and especially by those who
were conscious that the state of their own kingdoms cried aloud for
reform; and even when the frenzy fit of that revolution subsided,
and anarchy in natural progress had ended in military despotism, it
was not possible that princes who reigned by hereditary right should
behold without secret apprehensions the establishment of a new dynasty
upon an ancient throne. ♦DISPOSITION TO JOIN WITH THE ALLIES BEFORE
THE PEACE OF TILSIT.♦ At the first gleam of hope the court of Spain
ventured to indicate its disposition: when Prussia began that war which
the peace of Tilsit terminated, a rash proclamation was issued at
Madrid, exhorting the nation not to be dismayed, for it yet possessed
great resources, and a powerful armament was about to be formed. ♦DE
PRADT. MEMOIRES SUR LA REVOLUTION D’ESPAGNE, P. 15.♦ This proclamation
Buonaparte received upon the field of battle at Jena, and from that
hour, as he afterwards declared, swore in his heart that the Spaniards
should dearly abide it. That deep determination was, however, carefully
dissembled. The French embassador presented a strong remonstrance upon
the occasion, in reply to which, Godoy made the sorry excuse that the
preparations were intended against an apprehended attack from the
Emperor of Morocco. Shallow as this pretence was, it was allowed to
pass, and no other immediate consequence ensued.
♦THE PRINCE OF ASTURIAS INIMICAL TO GODOY.♦
While Charles and his favourite were vainly wishing to free themselves
from the yoke of France, that very disposition on their part induced
the Prince of Asturias to regard Buonaparte with complacency and hope.
The father’s favourite has seldom been the minister of the son. Those
Spaniards who were excluded from any share in public affairs under the
administration of Godoy, looked naturally to the Prince, and formed
a party round him, in which men of the most opposite elements were
combined. ♦PARTIES IN FAVOUR OF THE FRENCH.♦ When the French revolution
began, the young and the ardent in Spain, as in the rest of Europe,
eagerly adopted principles which promised a new and happier order of
things: they were comparatively far less numerous than in any other
country, partly because of the state of the press, still more because
of the feeling and devotion with which this nation is attached to its
religion and all its forms. There were, however, many, and those of the
best of the Spaniards, who hoped to obtain that reformation in their
government by the assistance of France, which without such assistance
they knew it would not only be hopeless, but fatal to attempt. The
attachment which they had formed to the French republic, many of these
men transferred to the French empire, with an inconsistency so gross
and monstrous, that it might seem impossible, if we had not seen it
exemplified among ourselves: having, because of their principles, at
first acquired a party feeling, they deluded themselves by supposing
that in serving their party they promoted their principles, till at
last they had no other principle than the mere party interest itself.
Another class of Spaniards had been hostile to the French revolution
till its character was changed by Buonaparte: they felt no dislike
to the system of his government, because they were accustomed to
despotism, and the acts of personal atrocity which he had committed did
not sufficiently alarm them. The unhappy circumstance with which the
English war had commenced, irritated them against Great Britain, and
that sentiment of indignation naturally biassed them toward France.
There were some of a third description, who had neither heart nor
understanding to feel for the honour, or to wish for any improvement
in the state of their native land, but who desired a change for the
mere sake of acquiring authority: these men were enemies to the Prince
of the Peace, not for his vices, his injustice, and his political
misconduct; they hated him because they envied him, and wished to
exercise a like tyranny themselves.
♦UNPOPULARITY OF GODOY.♦
The people felt the degradation of Spain, and imputed to Godoy not
only their present difficulties, but the whole train of inveterate
evils under which the country was groaning. Never had any former
favourite been so universally detested. His administration would have
been instantly at an end, if the Prince’s party could have appealed
to public opinion; but being precluded by the nature of a despotic
government from any other means of attempting his overthrow than those
of intrigue[15], and knowing that all intrigues against him at their
own court would be dangerous, as well as ineffectual, they hoped
to accomplish this object by help of a foreign power. ♦THE FRENCH
EMBASSADOR ADVISES THE PRINCE TO SOLICIT AN ALLIANCE WITH BUONAPARTE’S
FAMILY.♦ The Prince being a widower, Beauharnois, the French embassador
at Madrid, seeing the disposition of the government to shake off its
subjection to France, and that of Ferdinand and his friends to get the
administration of affairs into their hands through the influence of
France, hinted to him how advantageous it would be to connect himself
by marriage with the new imperial family. Whether he was instructed to
invite a proposal to this effect or not, it is believed that he acted
with perfect good faith, and indeed he might well have imagined that in
so doing he acted for the interest of both countries. It was at this
time generally believed in Spain that Buonaparte, being justly offended
with Godoy for the intention which he had manifested before the battle
of Jena, would insist upon his dismissal from the government. The
friends of Ferdinand therefore never doubted but that he would gladly
contract the proposed alliance with the heir of the Spanish monarchy, a
connection which would at once gratify his pride, strengthen his power,
and secure a wavering ally. The better men of this party seem also
to have been persuaded, that under the protection of Buonaparte they
might relieve the country from some of its manifold grievances; nor
would this persuasion have been unreasonable, if any ties could have
restrained the merciless ambition of the man in whom they confided.
For though it might be his policy now to keep Spain in her present
weakness, and consequent dependence, yet when his own blood acquired an
interest in the prosperity of that kingdom, it might fairly be expected
that those salutary changes which were essential to its welfare would
be promoted by him, and peaceably effected under his auspices.
♦11 OCT. THE PRINCE APPLIES SECRETLY TO BUONAPARTE.♦
Influenced by such considerations, the Prince addressed a secret letter
to Buonaparte. It had long, he said, been his most earnest desire to
express, at least by writing, the sentiments of respect, of esteem,
and of attachment which he had vowed to a hero who eclipsed all those
that preceded him, and whom Providence had sent to preserve Europe
from the total subversion with which it was threatened, to secure her
shaken thrones, and to restore peace and happiness to the nations.
He was unhappy enough to be compelled by circumstances to conceal so
just and laudable an action as if it were a crime, ... such were the
fatal consequences of the excessive goodness of the best of kings. His
father was endowed with the most upright and generous heart; but artful
and wicked persons too often took advantage of such a disposition to
disguise the truth from their sovereigns, and none but the Emperor
Napoleon could detect the schemes of such perfidious counsellors, open
the eyes of his dearly beloved parents, render them happy, and provide
at the same time for his happiness, and for that of the Spaniards.
“Therefore,” said the Prince, “I implore with, the utmost confidence
your majesty’s paternal protection, to the end that you will not only
deign to accord me the honour of allying me with your family, but that
you will smooth all the difficulties, and remove all the obstacles
which might oppose this object of my wishes.” ♦BUONAPARTE INTENDS
TO SEIZE THE PENINSULA.♦ When Buonaparte was thus entreated by the
Prince to lend his influence for the removal of Godoy, he was carrying
on secret negotiations with that favourite. Long before he received
this letter, he had determined upon seizing Spain; his measures for
subjecting it by force had been arranged. But it was necessary to
begin by occupying Portugal, and to dupe the Spanish court into a
co-operation against a friendly and unoffending power, a power too with
which it was connected by the closest ties: thus would the purposes
of France be every way served; for while she derived from Spain all
the assistance that could be desired, the Spanish government would be
preparing the way for its own destruction, and depriving itself at the
same time of all claim to compassion when the hour arrived.
♦SPANISH TROOPS SENT TO THE NORTH OF EUROPE, AND TO TUSCANY.♦
The first step toward the accomplishment of his design, was to remove
the best troops from Spain; and accordingly, at the requisition of
the French government, in conformity to treaty, 16,000 men, the
flower of the Spanish army, were marched into the North of Germany,
under the Marquis de Romana, and another division into Tuscany, under
D. Gonzalo O’Farrill. The next business was to introduce French
troops into Spain, and for this the occupation of Portugal afforded
a pretext. Buonaparte, who was regardless of all other engagements,
however solemnly contracted, was always, as far as his power extended,
faithful to his vows of vengeance. Exasperated by the service which the
Portugueze ships had rendered in blockading Malta, he had said in one
of his Egyptian proclamations, that there would come a time when the
Portugueze should pay with tears of blood for the affront which they
had offered to the French republic. Heavy payments of a different kind
had already been exacted. ♦CONDITION OF THE PORTUGUEZE GOVERNMENT.♦
During many years the Prince of Brazil had submitted to insults which
he had no means of resenting, and from time to time had bought off
at a heavy price the threat of invasion, in the hope of preserving
his kingdom by these expedients till peace should be restored to
Europe. So often had these threats been renewed, and these respites
purchased, that Portugal incurred the burden and the shame of paying
tribute, without obtaining the security of a tributary state. Upon
this, however, that poor government relied. They thought themselves
safe because France obtained greater sums from them in this manner than
could be drawn from Portugal as a conquered country; because much of
the treasure from Spanish America, so large a portion of which found
its way into France, reached Europe in safety by the assistance of the
Portugueze; and because they had every reason to suppose that if an
attack upon them should at any time be seriously intended, the court of
Madrid would use its utmost influence to avert their danger for its own
sake. Could any reliance have been placed either upon the understanding
or the honour of the Spanish king, upon royal and national faith,
the plainest common interest, and the closest ties of alliance, the
Portugueze government would have reasoned justly. But Charles IV.
was one of the weakest of sovereigns; his favourite had obtained the
administration for his vices, not for his talents, which were of the
meanest order; and it was easy for Buonaparte to deal with such men,
and make them at once the instruments and the victims of his ambition.
♦AUGUST.
PORTUGAL REQUIRED TO ACT AGAINST ENGLAND.♦
A month after the peace of Tilsit had been concluded, the French and
Spanish embassadors jointly informed the court of Lisbon that it must
shut its ports to England, arrest the English subjects, and confiscate
the English property in Portugal, or expose itself to an immediate war
with France and Spain; if these propositions were not complied with,
they were instructed to leave the country in three weeks. Without
waiting for the reply, Buonaparte seized the Portugueze ships in his
harbours. The crisis was now manifestly at hand; there no longer
remained a hope of purchasing farther respite, and in the state to
which the army had been reduced by long misrule, resistance was not
thought of. The court of Portugal was weak even to helplessness, but
it had the advantage of perfectly understanding the character of the
two powers between which it was compelled to choose; knowing that
every forbearance might be expected on the part of England, and on
the part of France every thing that was oppressive and iniquitous.
♦MIDDLE COURSE PROPOSED BY THE PORTUGUEZE GOVERNMENT.♦ In full reliance
therefore upon the justice and long tried friendship of Great Britain,
the Prince informed the French government that he would consent to
shut his ports, but that neither his principles of morality nor of
religion would permit him to seize the persons and property of the
British subjects, in violation of treaties and of the law of nations.
At the same time the English were apprized that they would do well to
wind up their affairs as speedily as possible, and leave the kingdom.
A Portugueze squadron happened to be cruising against the Algerines,
and the necessity of keeping on good terms with England till this
should have re-entered the Tagus, was urged as a reason for temporising
awhile, to which Buonaparte, eager as he was for ships, was likely to
listen more readily than to any other plea. ♦CHAMPAGNY’S REPORT, IN L.
GOLDSMITH, V. III. P. 253–255.♦ It was held out to him also, that as
hostilities must be expected from England in case the rigour of the
terms upon which France insisted were enforced, it would be prudent to
send out the young Prince of Beira to Brazil, while the seas were still
open, that his presence might secure the fidelity of the colonies.
♦PREPARATION FOR OCCUPYING PORTUGAL.♦
The Portugueze ministers at Paris and Madrid have been accused of
having betrayed their country at this time; more probably they were
deceived and perplexed, and knew not how to advise; and thus the
Portugueze government was left to act without any other information
of the proceedings of the two hostile courts, than what it obtained
from common rumour, or through the circuitous channel of England.
Buonaparte’s intention was to secure the persons of the royal family if
possible, but at all events to take possession of Portugal: this point
was essential to his ulterior views. For this purpose a force had been
collected under the title of the Army of Observation of the Gironde,
... a title which may have been intended to intimidate the government
of Spain, for it was not even pretended that France could have any
danger to apprehend in that quarter. Junot, who had been embassador at
Lisbon, was appointed to the command, and he was on the way to Bayonne
before the term expired which had been allowed to Portugal to choose
its part. The Prince was prepared to make every sacrifice of interest
and of feeling, so he might thereby save the country from an attack:
the misery which the expulsion of the English, and the consequent
loss of a flourishing and extensive commerce, must bring upon Lisbon
and upon the whole kingdom, was yet less dreadful than the horrors of
invasion at a time when defence appeared impracticable. He determined
therefore, at the last, to comply with the demands of the besotted
court of Spain, and of the tyrant who directed its suicidal measures,
but not till the last. The French and Spanish legations were suffered
to retire, because nothing but the last extremity could induce him,
even in appearance, to commit an act of cruelty toward the English.
♦THE FRENCH AND SPANISH EMBASSADORS LEAVE LISBON.♦ When these legations
withdrew, the British residents were at the same time preparing with
all speed for their compulsory departure: and so little did the Prince
feel assured that he could preserve the country in peace by total
submission to the iniquitous terms which were pressed upon it, that
circular instructions were dispatched to the bishops and the heads
of the religious orders, requiring them to register the plate of the
churches, and send it to Lisbon or other places appointed for security.
♦SECRET TREATY OF FONTAINEBLEAU.♦
While the Prince and his ministers were in this state of lamentable
suspense, a secret treaty between France and Spain for the partition
of Portugal was signed at Fontainebleau. By this extraordinary treaty,
the King of Etruria ceding his Italian possessions in full and
entire sovereignty to Buonaparte, was to have the province of Entre
Minho e Douro, with the city of Porto for its capital, erected into
a kingdom for him, under the title of Northern Lusitania. Alentejo
and Algarve were in like manner to be given to Godoy[16], in entire
property and sovereignty, with the title of Prince of the Algarves;
the other Portugueze provinces were to be held in sequestration till
a general peace, at which time, if they were restored to the house
of Braganza, in exchange for Gibraltar, Trinidad, and other colonies
which the English had conquered, the new sovereign was, like the King
of Northern Lusitania and the Prince of the Algarves, to hold his
dominions by investiture from the King of Spain, to acknowledge him
as protector, and never to make peace or war without his consent. The
two contracting powers were to agree upon an equal partition of the
colonial possessions of Portugal; and Buonaparte engaged to recognize
his Catholic Majesty as Emperor of the Two Americas, when every thing
should be ready for his assuming that title, which might be either at
a general peace, or at farthest within three years therefrom; and he
guaranteed to him the possession of his dominions on the continent of
Europe south of the Pyrenees.
A secret convention, which was concluded at the same time, agreed upon
the means for carrying this nefarious treaty into effect. Twenty-five
thousand French infantry and 3000 cavalry were to enter Spain, and
march directly for Lisbon; they were to be joined by 8000 Spanish
infantry and 3000 cavalry, with 30 pieces of artillery. At the same
time 10,000 Spanish troops were to take possession of the province
between the Minho and Douro, and the city of Porto; and 6000 were to
enter Alentejo and Algarve. The French troops were to be maintained
by Spain upon their march. As soon as they had entered the country
(for no opposition was expected), the government of each portion of
the divided territory was to be vested in the Generals commanding,
and the contributions imposed thereon accrue to their respective
courts. The central body was to be under the orders of the French
Commander-in-chief. Nevertheless, if either the King of Spain, or
the Prince of the Peace, should think fit to join the Spanish troops
attached to that army, the French, with the General commanding them,
should be subject to his orders. Another body of 40,000 French troops
was to be assembled at Bayonne, by the 20th of November at the latest,
to be ready to proceed to Portugal, in case the English should send
reinforcements there, or menace it with an attack. This army, however,
was not to enter Spain till the two contracting parties had come to an
agreement upon that point.
This nefarious treaty, whereby the two contracting powers disposed of
the dominions of two other sovereigns, with whom the one was connected
by the nearest and closest ties of relationship and alliance, and both
were at peace, was carried on with a secresy worthy of the transaction.
D. Eugenio Izquierdo, an agent of Godoy’s, was employed to negotiate it
unknown to the Spanish embassador in France, and the whole business is
said to have been concealed from the ministers[17] in both countries.
It was signed on the 27th of October. The convoy with the English
factory on board had sailed from the Tagus on the 18th, and never
had a day of such political calamity and general sorrow been known
in Lisbon since the tidings arrived of the loss of Sebastian and his
army. ♦THE ENGLISH RESIDENTS EXPELLED FROM LISBON.♦ Their departure
was followed by a proclamation for the exclusion of British commerce:
it had ever, the Prince said, been his desire to observe the most
perfect neutrality during the present contest; ♦EDICT FOR THE EXCLUSION
OF BRITISH COMMERCE. OCT. 22.♦ but that being no longer possible,
and having reflected at the same time how beneficial a general peace
would be to humanity, he had thought proper to accede to the cause of
the Continent by uniting himself to the Emperor of the French and the
Catholic King, in order to contribute as far as might be in his power
to the acceleration of a maritime peace. Whatever hopes he might have
indulged of satisfying France by this measure were soon dissipated,
when the Portugueze embassadors at Paris and Madrid, having been
formally dismissed, arrived at Lisbon. The former of these, D. Lourenço
de Lima, is said to have travelled night and day, for the purpose of
dissuading the Prince from removing to Brazil, ... a measure which the
French apprehended, and which of all others would oppose the greatest
obstacles to their projects. D. Lourenço is said to have represented
that this step would make him the victim of the perfidious counsel of
England, and at the same time provoke the utmost wrath of the great
Napoleon. That emperor, he assured the Prince, had the highest respect
for his virtues, and harboured no hostile intentions against him: he
would be completely satisfied if Portugal would only sequester the
British property, and arrest the few British subjects who remained.
To this last sacrifice the Prince now consented, trusting to the
generosity of England, and probably also, as has been well observed
by a Portugueze historian, ♦NEVES, I. 151.♦ secretly resolving to
indemnify the sufferers whenever it should be possible, ... for this
is consistent with his character. ♦EDICT FOR REGISTERING THE PERSONS
AND PROPERTY OF THE ENGLISH.♦ Under these feelings he issued an edict
for registering all English persons and property which were still to be
found in his dominions. The order was reluctantly given, and leniently
carried into effect; but it compelled the British minister, Lord
Strangford, to take down the arms of Great Britain from his house: ♦THE
BRITISH MINISTER LEAVES LISBON.♦ he demanded his passports, and went
off to a squadron under Sir Sidney Smith, which had been ordered to
cruise off the mouth of the Tagus, and Lisbon was then declared to be
blockaded.
♦NOVEMBER.
A RUSSIAN SQUADRON ENTERS THE TAGUS.♦
While the court was waiting in the most anxious incertitude the result
of its submission, the agitation of the Lisbonians was increased by
the appearance of a Russian squadron in the Tagus. Admiral Siniavin
with nine ships of the line and two frigates had been acting in the
Archipelago against the Turks, in alliance with England; and now on
his way home to act against England in conformity with the plans of
Buonaparte, he found that he could not possibly reach the Baltic before
it would be frozen. He would have put into Cadiz to winter there, but
the British admiral who commanded upon that station would not permit
him, rightly judging that as the disposition of the Russian government
was now known to be unfriendly towards England, it was not proper
that these Russian ships should be allowed to enter an enemy’s port,
and thus effect a junction with an enemy’s fleet. Siniavin therefore
proceeded to the Tagus; his unexpected arrival at such a juncture
was naturally supposed to be part of the tyrant’s gigantic plans,
and it was not doubted now that Buonaparte meant to make Lisbon one
of the ports from which the British dominions were to be invaded.
The circumstance was in reality accidental, but at such a moment it
appeared like design, and the blockade was therefore more rigorously
enforced.
♦BUONAPARTE ENDEAVOURS TO SEIZE THE ROYAL FAMILY.♦
If Buonaparte’s only object had been to force the Prince into
hostilities with England, he would now have been satisfied. A courier
had been immediately dispatched to inform him that all his demands were
complied with, and the Marquis de Marialva speedily set out after the
courier with the title of Embassador Extraordinary; ... while he was
on his way the French troops had entered Portugal. The tyrant thought
to entrap the royal family; but disdaining in the wantonness of power
to observe even the appearances of justice or common decorum toward
a country which he so entirely despised, the success of his villany
was frustrated by his own precipitation. From the commencement of
these discussions the Prince had declared that if a French army set
foot within his territories he would remove the seat of government to
Brazil. The French expected that the rupture with England would deter
him from pursuing this resolution; should it prove otherwise they
thought to prevent it by their intrigues and their celerity: and such
was the treachery with which the Prince was surrounded, and the want
of vigilance in every branch of his inert administration, that Junot
was within an hundred miles of Lisbon before any official advices were
received that he had passed the frontiers! Even private letters which
communicated intelligence of the enemy’s movements and the rapidity and
disorder of the march, were detained upon the road.
♦NEVES, I. 160.♦
Junot had advanced from Salamanca by forced marches; he reached
Alcantara in five days, the distance being forty leagues, by
mountainous and unfrequented roads and in a bad season. No preparations
had been made for the French on the way; even at Ciudad Rodrigo the
governor had received no intimation of their coming. The Spanish
forces, which according to the secret convention of Fontainebleau
were to be under the French general’s orders, had been instructed to
join him at Valladolid and Salamanca; by his directions however they
waited for him at Alcantara; scarce half a ration could be procured
there for the half-starved and exhausted troops, and this the Spanish
general Carraffa took up upon his own credit. ♦JUNOT’S PROCLAMATION
FROM ALCANTARA. NOV. 17.♦ From thence Junot issued a proclamation to
the Portugueze people, in which among his other titles he enumerated
that of Grand Cross of the Order of Christ, an order conferred upon
him by that very Prince whom he was hastening to entrap and depose.
“Inhabitants of the kingdom of Portugal,” it said, “a French army is
about to enter your country; it comes to emancipate you from English
dominion, and makes forced marches that it may save your beautiful city
of Lisbon from the fate of Copenhagen. But for this time the hopes of
the perfidious English government will be deceived. Napoleon, who fixes
his eyes upon the fate of the Continent, saw what the tyrant of the
seas was devouring in his heart, and will not suffer that it should
fall into his power. Your Prince declares war against England; we make
therefore common cause. Peaceable inhabitants of the country, fear
nothing! my army is as well disciplined as it is brave. I will answer
on my honour for its good conduct. Let it find the welcome which is
due to the soldiers of the Great Napoleon; let it find, as it has a
right to expect, the provisions which are needful.” The proclamation
proceeded to denounce summary justice against every French soldier who
should be found plundering, but its severest threats were against the
Portugueze themselves. Every Portugueze, not being a soldier of the
line, who should be found making part of an armed assembly, was to be
shot, as well as every individual exciting the people to take arms
against the French; wherever an individual belonging to the French
army should be killed, the district was to be fined in not less than
thrice the amount of its yearly rents, the four principal inhabitants
being taken as hostages; and the first city, town or village in which
this might happen, should be burnt and rased to the ground. “But,” said
Junot, “I willingly persuade myself that the Portugueze will understand
their own true interest; that aiding the pacific views of their Prince
they will receive us as friends; and especially that the beautiful city
of Lisbon will with pleasure see me enter its walls at the head of an
army which alone can preserve it from becoming a prey to the eternal
enemies of the Continent.”
The march from Salamanca had been so fatiguing that it was impossible
for the troops to proceed without some rest. Junot had arrived there
on the 17th of November. On the 18th he sent a reconnoitring party
as far as Rosmaninhal, and they returned with intelligence that the
country was neither prepared to resist them, nor aware of their
approach. ♦THE FRENCH ENTER PORTUGAL.♦ On the 19th, the vanguard passed
the frontier, and Junot, with the remainder of the first division of
his army, followed the ensuing day. This division consisted of 8,600
men, with 12 field pieces. The second division, moving likewise upon
Castello-Branco, entered by Salvaterra and Idanha-a-nova: its cavalry
and guns, with the third division and the baggage, were detained some
days by the sudden rise of the mountain streams. On the evening of
the 20th there was a report in Castello-Branco that the French were
at Zebreira: and at six o’clock, when it was hardly known whether the
rumour were true or false, a French officer arrived to inform the
magistrates that quarters must be made ready for General Laborde and
a corps of 3000 men, who would be there in the course of two hours.
Junot took up his quarters the next day in the episcopal palace, and
manifested sufficient ill-humour that no preparations had been made
for entertaining him. ♦THEIR RAPACITY UPON THE MARCH.♦ The adjutants
carried off some of the bishop’s valuables, overhauled his library in
the hope of finding money concealed there, and not finding what they
were in search of, demanded money, and obtained it. One of them, after
they had left the city, returned from Sarzedas to borrow a farther
sum in Junot’s name; nor was it known whether this was a fraudulent
extortion of his own, or a courteous mode of robbery on the part of
the general. ♦NEVES, I. 199.♦ The night which the French passed in
Castello-Branco is described by the inhabitants as an image of Hell.
Junot had pledged his honour for their good conduct; but men and
officers were, like their commander, as rapacious and as unprincipled
as the government which they served. They were passing through a
country where they experienced no resistance, and which they protested
they were coming to defend; but they added wanton havoc to the
inevitable devastation which is made by the passage of an army; the men
pillaged as they went, and the very officers robbed the houses in which
they were quartered; olive and other fruit trees were cut down for fuel
or to form temporary barracks, houses and churches were plundered; and
as if they had been desirous of provoking the Portugueze to some act
of violence which might serve as a pretext for carrying into effect
the threats which Junot had denounced, ♦NEVES, 196–199.♦ they burnt or
mutilated the images in the churches, and threw the wafer to be trodden
under foot.
♦CONDUCT AT ABRANTES.♦
The vanguard of the French reached Abrantes on the afternoon of the
23d, and Junot arrived the next morning. The generals entered that city
with all the cattle which they had been able to collect on the way,
like border-men returning from a foraging party, and the booty was
sold for their emolument. A detachment was immediately sent to secure
Punhete, a town situated on the left bank of the Zezere, where it falls
into the Tagus. Means also were taken to supply some of the wants of
the army, after the manner of the French in a country where they called
themselves friends, protectors, and allies. The _Juiz de fora_ was
ordered to collect rations for 12,000 men, and 12,000 pair of shoes; a
threat was added of imposing upon the town a contribution of 300,000
_cruzados novos_; and the manner in which these orders were intimated,
seemed to imply such consequences to the magistrate in case of
non-performance, that he thought it prudent to consult his own personal
safety by flight. Junot then ordered the son of the person in whose
house he had taken up his quarters to assume the vacant office, though
the young man was not only not qualified for the office, because he had
not taken the degrees which are required for it, but was positively
disqualified, being a native of the place. The whole city was in
consternation, apprehending the most dreadful results if the demands of
the French were not complied with. Messengers were dispatched to Thomar
and through all the country round, to purchase all the shoes which
could be found, and set all the craft to work: by these means, and by
taking them from individuals, between 2 and 3000 pair were collected;
with which Junot was fain to be satisfied, because he saw that no
possible exertions could have procured more. These exactions were less
intolerable to the Portugueze, than the insults and irreligion with
which they were accompanied. A colonel who was quartered in a Capuchin
convent made the Guardian pull off his boots, and after robbing the
convent of the few valuables which it contained, threatened to fusilade
him if he did not bring him money; the friar had no other resource but
that of feigning to seek it, and taking flight. ♦NEVES, 200–2.♦ In the
church of St. Antonio the altars were used as mangers for the horses.
♦REPRESENTATION OF THE BRITISH EMBASSADOR.♦
Junot was at Abrantes, within ninety-two miles of Lisbon, before the
Portugueze government received any certain intelligence that the
French had passed the frontier. The first advices came from Lecor,
orderly adjutant to the Marquez d’Alorna, and a truer Portugueze
than his commander. ♦OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ, P. 12.♦ At the same time
a flag of truce from the British squadron entered the Tagus; and the
secret treaties of Fontainebleau were communicated to the Prince by
Great Britain. D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho urged him to execute his
resolution of removing to his possessions in Brazil, the only course
which he could pursue with honour or with safety. Lord Strangford came
on shore, and assured him on the word of a British ambassador and a
British admiral, that the measures which had been taken against Great
Britain were considered as acts of compulsion on his part, in no ways
abating the friendship of that old ally, if he would avail himself of
her friendship. In Brazil he had an empire to the growing prosperity
of which he might now add by his presence; or he must inevitably be
cut off from it by the nature of the maritime war, against which the
combination of all the continental powers must be ineffectual.
♦THE PRINCE DETERMINES UPON REMOVING TO BRAZIL.♦
The Prince’s determination was anticipated at Abrantes before it was
known, and perhaps before he himself had decided how to act. Rumours
were current there that he had already embarked part of the royal
family, that many fidalgos had gone on board to accompany the court
in its removal, and that the army which had bombarded and taken
Copenhagen was on board the British squadron. These reports made Junot
fear that the prey would escape him; and he was the more uneasy,
because at a moment when every thing depended upon celerity, his march
was impeded. There was the Zezere to cross, a river which in former
wars had been considered as protecting Lisbon on this side, ... its
depth and rapidity, and the height of its banks rendering it easy to
defend the passage. A bridge of boats had been constructed at Punhete
in the campaign of 1801, and afterwards broken up. Every exertion
was now made to re-establish it; and in the meantime Junot sent off
a courier with a confidential dispatch to the minister of war and
foreign affairs, Antonio de Araujo de Azevedo, framed for the purpose
of being communicated to the Prince. Intrigue and protestations,
however, would no longer avail; the entrance of the French was an act
of such unequivocal outrage, that its object could not be doubted, and
the Prince prepared immediately for his removal. Europe had never yet
beheld one of its princes compelled to seek an asylum in his colonies;
such an intention had once been formed by the Dutch, but it was
reserved for Portugal to set the first example in modern history.
♦HE REFUSES TO LET THE PEOPLE AND THE ENGLISH FLEET DEFEND THE CITY.♦
Had there been a previous struggle, like that of the democratic cantons
in Switzerland, or of the Tyrolese, such a termination would have been
not less glorious than the most signal success. Preceded as it had
been by long misgovernment, and all the concessions and vacillations
of conscious imbecility, still it is among the most impressive as well
as most memorable events in the annals of a kingdom fertile beyond all
others in circumstances of splendid and of tragic story. The Prince
had uniformly declared that to this measure he would resort, if the
French entered Portugal; but he had not expected to be driven to it,
and was not prepared for it. ♦NEVES, I. 171.♦ So completely indeed
had he relied upon the assurance of the French legation, and of Dom
Lourenço de Lima, that he had publicly assured the people all had now
been settled, and there no longer existed any cause of apprehension
from France. The dismay and astonishment of the Lisbonians, therefore,
may well be conceived, when a few days only after this declaration,
they learnt that the French were at Abrantes, and saw the court making
ready for immediate flight. The hurry and disorder of Junot’s march was
not unknown; his artillery had been damaged, having been dragged by
oxen and peasantry over mountainous roads, a great number of his horses
had died upon the way overworked, and the men themselves had been
marched so rapidly and fed so ill, that a large proportion of them were
more fit for the hospital than for active service. The greater part of
the Portugueze army was near the capital, and wretched as the state was
to which it had fallen, neither the will nor the courage of the men was
doubted. The English in the fleet, with a right English feeling, were
longing to be let loose against the enemy: Sir Sidney offered to bring
his ships abreast of the city, and there, seconded by the indignant
populace, dispute every inch of ground with the invader: “Surely,” he
said, “Lisbon was as defensible as Buenos Ayres!” Well might he thus
feel and express himself who had defended Acre; and certain it is that
Junot and all his foremost troops might have been put to the death
which they had already merited at the hands of the Portugueze, if the
Prince had given the word. ♦MANIFESTO OF THE COURT OF PORTUGAL.♦ But
such an act of vengeance, just as it would have been, would have been
advantageous to Buonaparte, by giving him a colourable pretext for
treating Portugal as a conquered country: this the Prince knew; and
it was in reliance upon his gentle and conscientious character, that
Junot advanced in a manner which would else have appeared like the
rashness of a madman.
♦EMBARKATION OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.♦
The royal family had for some time past resided at Mafra; as soon as
the emigration had been determined, they removed to Queluz, where they
might be nearer the Tagus, and less exposed to any sudden attempt of
the enemy. The Portugueze navy was ill equipped for sea; no care had
been taken to keep it victualled, and it was now found that many of
the water casks were rotten, and new ones were to be made. The morning
of the 27th had been fixed for the embarkation, and at an early hour
numbers of both sexes and of all ages were assembled in the streets and
upon the shore at Belem, where the wide space between the river and the
fine Jeronymite convent was filled with carts and packages of every
kind. From the restlessness and well-founded alarm of the people, it
was feared that they would proceed to some excess of violence against
those who were the objects of general suspicion. The crowd however
was not yet very great when the Prince appeared, both because of the
distance from Lisbon, and that the hour of the embarkation was not
known. He came from the Adjuda, and the Spanish Infante D. Pedro in
the carriage with him; the troops who were to be on duty at the spot
had not yet arrived, and when the Prince alighted upon the quay, there
was a pressure round him, so that as he went down the steps to the
water-edge, he was obliged to make way with his hand. He was pale
and trembling, and his face was bathed in tears. The multitude forgot
for a moment their own condition in commiseration for his; they wept
also, and followed him, as the boat pushed off, with their blessings.
There may have been some among the spectators who remembered that from
this very spot Vasco de Gama had embarked for that discovery which
opened the way to all their conquests in the East; and Cabral for that
expedition which gave to Portugal an empire in the West, and prepared
for her Prince an asylum now when the mother country itself was lost.
A spectacle not less impressive presented itself when the royal family
arrived from Queluz. The insane Queen was in the first carriage; for
sixteen years she had never been seen in public. It is said that
she had been made to understand the situation of affairs, so as to
acquiesce in what was done; and that when she perceived the coachman
was driving fast, she called out to him to go leisurely, for she was
not taking flight. She had to wait some while upon the quay for the
chair in which she was to be carried to the boat, and her countenance,
in which the insensibility of madness was only disturbed by wonder,
formed a striking contrast to the grief which appeared in every other
face. The widow Princess, and the Infanta D. Maria, the Queen’s sister,
were in the next carriage, both in that state of affliction and dismay
which such a moment might well occasion. The Princess of Brazil came
next, in the octagon coach, with all her children, the nurse of the
youngest babe, and the two _Camareiras mores_, or chief ladies of the
bedchamber. She had been indefatigable in preparing for the voyage, and
now she herself directed the embarkation of the children and domestics
with a presence of mind which excited admiration. The royal family were
distributed in different ships, not merely for the sake of being more
easily accommodated, but that if shipwreck were to be added to their
misfortunes, a part at least might probably be preserved.
The apprehension of this danger would occur more readily to the
Portugueze than to any other people, because their maritime history is
filled with the most dreadful and well-known examples; and the weather
at the time of the embarkation gave a fearful specimen of what might be
expected at that season. It blew a heavy gale, the bar was impassable,
and continued so during the whole of the succeeding day. In the evening
M. Herman, and a Portugueze, by name Jose de Oliveira Barreto, came
with fresh dispatches from Junot; he had sent them down the river in
pursuance of that system of deception which was to be carried on to the
last. Their arrival produced no effect upon the determination of the
Prince; but every hour added to the alarm and danger of his situation,
and orders were given to dismantle the fortresses which commanded the
river, and spike the guns in the batteries. During the night the storm
abated, the weather was fair at daybreak on the 29th, a favourable wind
sprung up, and the fleet crossed the bar when the enemy were just near
enough to see their prey escape.
The fleet consisted of eight sail of the line, three frigates, and five
smaller ships of war; besides these there were all the merchant-vessels
that could be made ready, making in all a fleet of six-and-thirty sail.
The nobles who accompanied the royal family, were the Duke of Cadaval,
the Marquesses Angenja, Vago, filho, Lavradio, Alegrete, Torres Novas,
Pombal, and Bellas; Counts Rodondo, Caparica, Belmonte, and Cavalleiro,
Viscount Anadia; ♦OBSERVADOR PORT. 18.♦ Araujo, whom the public voice
loudly, but erringly accused of treason, embarked with the other
ministers. All the ships were crowded with emigrants, ... for every one
who had the means was eager to fly from the coming ruin. The confusion
had been so great, that families were separated; wives got on board
without their husbands, ... husbands without their wives; children and
parents were divided; ♦NEVES, I. 180.♦ many were thus left behind, and
many had the joy of meeting in Brazil when each believed that the other
was in Portugal.
♦REGENCY APPOINTED BY THE PRINCE.♦
The Prince had appointed a regency the day before his embarkation, and
the edict was made public on the next morning. Having endeavoured,
he said, by all possible means to preserve the neutrality which his
subjects had hitherto enjoyed, having exhausted his treasury, and
after all other sacrifices, gone the length of shutting his ports
against his old and faithful ally, the King of Great Britain, exposing
thus the commerce of the country to total ruin, ... he saw that the
troops of the Emperor of the French, to whom he had united himself
on the continent in the persuasion that he should be no farther
disquieted, were marching towards his capital. To avoid, therefore,
the effusion of blood, for these troops came with professions of not
committing the slightest hostility, ... knowing also that his royal
person was their particular object, and that if he himself were absent,
his subjects would be less disturbed, he had resolved for their sakes
to remove, with the whole royal family, to his city of Rio de Janeiro,
and there establish himself till a general peace. The persons whom he
appointed to govern during his absence, were the Marquez de Abrantes,
Francisco da Cunha de Menezes, lieutenant-general, the _Principal_
Castro of the royal council, and _Regidor das Justiças_, Pedro de Mello
Breyner, also of the council, and President of the treasury during
the illness of Luiz de Vasconcellos e Souza, and Don Francisco de
Noronha, Lieutenant-general, and President of the Board of Conscience.
In failure of any of these, the Conde Monteiro Mor was appointed,
who was also named for president of the _Senado da Camara_, with the
Conde de Sampaio, or in his place Dom Miguel Pereira Forjaz, and the
_Dezembargador do Paço_ and _Procurador da Coroa_, Joam Antonio Salter
de Mendonça, for the two secretaries. These governors were instructed
to preserve, as far as possible, the kingdom in peace; to see that the
French troops were well quartered and provided with every thing needful
during their stay, to take care that no offence was offered them, or
if offered, to punish it severely, and to preserve that harmony which
ought to be kept with the armies of two powers to which Portugal was
united on the continent.
♦JUNOT ADVANCES RAPIDLY.♦
Junot meantime had re-established the bridge over the Zezere, but
not without difficulty. The river, at all times a strong and rapid
stream, was swoln with rains; the work was more than once frustrated,
and some of the workmen drowned. So impatient was he to proceed, that
he had begun to pass over his men in boats. Hastening on with his
usual rapidity over the marshes of Gollegam, he reached Santarem to
dinner on the 28th. Here he met the messenger on his return whom he
had dispatched from Abrantes, and the report of this person increased
his anxiety. He ordered the Capitam Mor de Aviz, at whose house he was
entertained, to provide him a horse: this gentleman happened to possess
a very beautiful one, and Junot discovering that he had attempted
to conceal the animal, was only dissuaded from putting him to death
by the supplications of his wife; but he made him walk beside him,
bare-headed, to the jail, and then dismissed him with every mark of
ignominy. Time was when a Portugueze officer would have wiped out such
an injury in the blood of him who inflicted it; it is fortunate that in
this instance a forbearance suited to the times was shown. The French
general reached Cartaxo that night; about an hour after midnight he was
awakened with intelligence that the royal family had actually embarked,
and it produced a fit of rage like madness.
♦THE FRENCH ENTER LISBON.♦
The next day he was met by a deputation whom the governors sent to
compliment him on his approach, a measure upon which the people
commented with just severity. ♦NEVES, I. 134.♦ A few persons
volunteered on the same obsequious service; men, probably, who having
adopted the principles of the revolution in its better days, adhered to
the French party under all its changes. In the course of the day the
advanced guard arrived in the immediate vicinity of the city, and Junot
himself saw the ships with that prey on board in the hope of which
he had advanced with such rapidity, conveying the family of Braganza
beyond his power, and beyond that of his mighty master. ♦OBS. PORT. P.
19.♦ The troops arrived without baggage, having only their knapsacks,
and a half gourd slung from the girdle as a drinking cup; their muskets
were rusty, and many of them out of repair; the soldiers themselves
mostly barefoot, foundered with their march, and almost fainting with
fatigue and hunger. The very women of Lisbon might have knocked them
on the head. Junot reached Sacavem between nine and ten at night. The
next morning the royal guard of police went on to meet him at an early
hour. Without halting in Lisbon, he hurried on to Belem, and entering
the battery of Bom-successo, satisfied himself by ocular demonstration
that the Portugueze squadron was beyond his reach; ♦NEVES, I. 215.♦
he fired, however, upon those merchant-ships, which not having been
ready in time, were now endeavouring to escape. Very many were thus
detained, for the Prince’s orders to spike the guns had only been
partially obeyed, having been countermanded by the governors; ♦NEVES,
I. 184.♦ and this was another of their acts for which the people
could assign no adequate or excusable cause. Junot immediately sent a
battalion to garrison Fort St. Juliens, and then returned to Lisbon,
with hardly any other guard than some Portugueze troops whom he had
met on the way and ordered to follow him; thus accompanied, he paraded
as in triumph through the principal streets. It was raining heavily,
yet the streets were filled with a melancholy and wondering crowd. The
shops were shut, the windows and varandas full of anxious spectators.
The gestures of all those who saluted him as he passed, either for
former acquaintance, or flattery, or fear, he returned with studied
courtesy and stateliness. In this manner he proceeded to the house of
Baraō de Quintella, in the Rua d’Alegria, one of the most opulent of
the Portugueze merchants. The palace of Bemposta had been prepared for
him, and the _Senado da Camara_ assigned for his household expenses
a monthly contribution of 12,000 cruzados. ♦NEVES, I. 216–7.♦ He
received the money, and compelled Quintella to be at the whole charge
of his establishment.
During the night before his entrance the streets had been placarded
with a proclamation in French and Portugueze, saying, “Inhabitants
of Lisbon, my army is about to enter your city. I come to save your
port and your Prince from the malignant influence of England. But that
Prince, otherwise respectable for his virtues, has let himself be
dragged away by the perfidious counsellors who surrounded him, to be by
them delivered to his enemies: his subjects were regarded as nothing,
and your interests were sacrificed to the cowardice of a few courtiers.
People of Lisbon, remain quiet in your houses; fear nothing from my
army, nor from me: it is only our enemies and the wicked who ought to
fear us. The great Napoleon, my master, sends me for your protection; I
will protect you.” This proclamation was not without effect upon that
numerous class of the community who think little and know nothing.
Only those persons, indeed, who were in the confidence of government,
knew what was the real state of things; and many persuaded themselves
the sole object of the French was to occupy the ports, that British
commerce might be effectually excluded. ♦MISERABLE PLIGHT OF THE FRENCH
WHO FIRST ENTERED.♦ The state in which the French entered, very much
contributed to this short delusion; for they came in not like an army
in collected force, with artillery and stores, ready for attack or
defence, but like stragglers seeking a place of security after some
total rout. Not a regiment, not a battalion, not even a company arrived
entire: many of them were beardless boys, and they came in so pitiable
a condition, as literally to excite compassion and charity[18];
foot-sore, bemired and wet, ragged and hungered and diseased. ♦NEVES,
I. 213.♦ Some dropped in the streets, others leant against the walls,
or lay down in the porches, till the Portugueze, with ill-requited
humanity, gave them food, and conveyed them to those quarters, which
they had not strength to find out for themselves. Junot, however, well
knew that he risked nothing by this disorder; his first object was
speed, his next security; and while he was pushing on with the van of
his army, Laborde, who had accompanied him as far as Santarem, ♦NEVES,
I. 213.♦ remained in that city to collect the following troops and
provide the means of transport.
♦1807. DECEMBER.
ARRIVAL OF THE SECOND DIVISION.♦
The next day, December 1, was the anniversary of the Acclamation, ...
of that revolution which in 1640 had restored Portugal to the rank of
an independent kingdom, and given its crown to the rightful heir. What
a day for those inhabitants of Lisbon who loved their country, and
were familiar with the history of its better ages! The second division
was now come up, with the artillery and baggage; ... powder waggons
creaked along the streets; thousands, and tens of thousands, whom the
destruction of trade and the dissolution of government had thrown out
of employ, were wandering about the city, and the patroles and the
whole force of the police was employed in calming and controlling the
agitated multitude. The parish ministers went from house to house,
informing the inhabitants that they must prepare to quarter the French
officers, and collecting mattresses and blankets for the men. In the
midst of all this so violent a storm of wind arose[19], that it shook
the houses like an earthquake, and in the terror which it occasioned
many families fled into the open country: windows were blown in, and
houses unroofed; the treasury and arsenal were damaged, and the tide
suddenly rose twelve feet. ♦OBS. PORT. 22.♦ The troops entered Lisbon
mostly by night, and without beat of drum. On the 3rd, 11,000 men were
posted in the city, from Belem to the Grilo, and from the castle to
Arroios; and as the first fruits of that protection which the religion
of the country was to experience, all persons in the great convents
of Jesus, the Paulistas, and St. Francisco da Cidade, who had any
relations by whom they could be housed, were ordered to turn out, that
the French soldiers might be accommodated in their apartments. This
measure produced a great effect upon those who had for a moment been
deluded by the professions of the enemy. The generals of division and
brigade took possession of the houses of the principal merchants, and
of those fidalgos who accompanied the Prince.
♦FORCED LOAN REQUIRED, DEC. 3.♦
Every day, almost every hour, brought with it now some new mark of
French protection. No sooner had troops enough been introduced into
Lisbon to enforce the demand, than the merchants were called on for
a compulsory loan of two million cruzados; and this at a time when
their property, to an immense amount, had been seized in France,
when a British squadron was blockading the Tagus, when the ships
from Brazil were warned off by that squadron, and sent to England,
foreign commerce utterly destroyed, and the internal trade in that
state which necessarily ensued when the spring which gave motion to
the whole was stopped. ♦A FRENCHMAN ADDED TO THE REGENCY.♦ M. Herman,
who had been sent to demand satisfaction from the court of Lisbon in
1804, for having suffered the ambassador, General Lasnes, to depart
in disgust, was added to the regency by an act of Junot’s pleasure,
and made minister of finance and of the interior by an appointment
of the Emperor; the date of which afforded decisive proof, if any
proof had been wanting, that whatever the conduct of the Prince might
be, Buonaparte had resolved to usurp the kingdom. ♦OBS. PORT. P. 44.
NEVES, II. 225.♦ Another Frenchman was nominated to the new office of
Receiver-general of the contributions and revenues of Portugal. It was
now plainly seen upon what tenure the people of Lisbon held their
remaining property; and that they might fully understand upon what
tenure they held their lives, the threatening proclamation which Junot
had issued at Alcantara was now reprinted and circulated in the capital.
♦DEC. 5. EDICT FOR CONFISCATING ENGLISH GOODS.♦
The next measure was an edict for confiscating English goods, ordering
all persons who had any British property in their possession to
deliver an account of it within three days, on pain of being fined in
a sum ten times the amount of the property concealed, and of corporal
punishment also, if it should be thought proper to inflict it. On the
same day the use of fire-arms in sporting was prohibited throughout
the whole kingdom: all persons detected in carrying fowling-pieces or
pistols without a license from General Laborde, the French commandant
of Lisbon, were to be considered as vagabonds and highway-murderers,
carried before a military commission, and punished accordingly.
♦USE OF ARMS PROHIBITED.♦ The next day the use of all kind of arms
was prohibited; and the wine sellers were ordered to turn out all
Portugueze, French, or other soldiers, at seven in the evening, on
pain of a heavy fine, and of death for the third offence. More troops
came daily in; they were quartered in the convents, and their women
with them, ... a fresh outrage to the religious feelings of the
people. Complaints were made that the officers required those persons
upon whom they were billeted to keep a table for them: an order was
issued, in which Junot expressed his displeasure at this, saying,
that the French officers in Portugal were to consider themselves as
in garrison, and had no right to demand any thing more than their
lodging, fire, and lights. He reminded them also that the Emperor had
placed them on the same footing as the grand army, in consequence of
which they would regularly receive extraordinary pay sufficient to
defray all their expenses. This was intended for publication in foreign
newspapers, as a proof of the good order which the French observed;
... while the superior officers not merely compelled those upon whom
they had quartered themselves to furnish a table, but every kind of
provision also for the entertainments which they thought proper to
give. Many persons abandoned their houses to these imperious guests,
and retired into the country; still they were required to support the
establishment, and answer all the demands which the intruders chose to
make.
♦DEC. 8.
PASTORAL LETTER OF THE CARDINAL PATRIARCH.♦
There now appeared a pastoral letter from the Cardinal Patriarch of
Lisbon, written in obedience to the desire of Junot, and according
to his suggestions. The patriarch began by alluding to his age and
infirmities; these, he said, prevented him from addressing his flock in
person on the present occasion; but he could still, as their father and
pastor, speak to them in this manner, so that in the day of judgment
the Lord might not charge him with neglect of this important duty.
“Beloved children,” he continued, “you know the situation in which
we find ourselves; but you are not ignorant how greatly the divine
mercy favours us in the midst of so many tribulations. Blessed be the
ways of the Most Highest! But it is especially necessary, beloved
children, that we should be faithful to the immutable decrees of his
divine providence; and first we should thank him for the good order
and quietness with which the kingdom has received a great army coming
to our succour, and giving us the best founded hopes of prosperity.
This benefit we owe equally to the activity and prudence of the general
in chief, whose virtues have long been known to us. Fear not then,
beloved children; live in security at home and abroad; remember that
this is the army of Napoleon the Great, whom God hath destined to
support and defend religion, and to make the happiness of the people.
You know him, and the whole world knows him; confide implicitly in this
wonderful man, whose like hath not been seen in any age! He will shed
upon us the blessings of peace, if you obey his determinations, and
if ye love each other, natives and strangers, with brotherly charity.
Religion, and the ministers of religion, will then be always respected;
the clausure of the spouses of the Lord will not be violated; and the
people, being worthy of such high protection, will be happy. Demean
yourselves thus, my children, in obedience to the injunction of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Live subject to those who govern, not only for the
respect which is due to them, but because conscience requires you so
to do.” In conclusion, he entreated all his clergy, by the bowels of
Christ Jesus, to concur with him in impressing upon the people the duty
of resignation and submission. ♦CONDUCT OF THE INQUISITOR GENERAL.♦ The
Inquisitor general repeated the same strain of adulation and servility:
some of the prelates followed the example, and the clergy were ordered
in circular letters to enforce these principles from the pulpit and the
confessional. Whatever may have been the secret wishes of these men,
however their language may have belied their hearts, certain it is that
they now betrayed their country, and as far as in them lay contributed
to its degradation and destruction.
♦THE FRENCH FLAG HOISTED.♦
By such means and such agents Junot thought to prepare the minds of
the Portugueze for fresh humiliation. On the day after the publication
of this pastoral, he went on board the Russian admiral, and when he
embarked the French flag was hoisted on the arsenal. This was the first
time that it had been planted in Lisbon; all eyes were attracted to it
by a salute which was fired on the occasion, and the sight exasperated
a people who perhaps more than any other European nation are remarkable
for national pride. The general feeling was sufficiently apparent in
the murmurs and agitation of the populace; but they had no leaders, and
in murmurs it seemed to spend itself. ♦DEC. 13.♦ Two days the French
colours remained flying there. On the third a large body of troops was
drawn up in the great square of the Rocio, and Junot with his staff,
and a numerous train of officers, appeared in state. He thanked them
in the Emperor’s name for the constancy with which they had endured
the hardships of their march. They had rescued, he said, this fine
city from oppression, ... they had saved it from disorder; and they
had now the glory of seeing the French flag planted in Lisbon. He
concluded with three cheers for Napoleon: the troops took up the cry;
at the same moment the French colours were hoisted on the castle, and
a salute of twenty-five guns was fired and repeated by all the forts
upon the river. A deep and general murmur ran through the multitude of
spectators: at this moment the Marquez d’Alorna entered the square;
the people regarded him as one of the generals to whom they might look
up in their hour of deliverance, and they repeatedly cheered him as he
passed. A spark then would have produced an explosion, and Lisbon was
never in such danger of a massacre: happily there was no man bolder
than his comrade, to step forward and provoke it; the troops marched
off, and the crowd dispersed. But the national spirit which had thus
systematically been outraged was burning in every heart. It was Sunday,
a day on which more people are always in the streets than on any other,
and now the confluence was increased by the perturbed state of the
general feeling. Towards evening some French soldiers, riding their
horses to water through the Terreiro do Paço, were hooted by some of
the populace, and they on their part returned insult for insult. A
quarrel ensued, a Portugueze of the police guard interfered, and the
French, thinking that he interfered as a party and not as a mediator,
seized him and delivered him to their principal _corps de garde_ which
was in the same great square. The populace attempted to rescue him:
they attacked the guard with sticks and stones, ... and were on the
point of overpowering and disarming them, when some patroles of the
police came up, and succeeded in appeasing the tumult.
♦COMMOTION IN LISBON.♦
Junot had given a grand dinner to celebrate the events of the day:
the governors and the greater part of the nobles were present at this
festival for the degradation of their country. He was repeatedly called
out, as messenger after messenger arrived with news of the tumult; the
cause of these frequent interruptions was indicated by his thoughtful
manner, and the guests were presently informed that the people had
mutinied, and that they themselves were to be considered as hostages.
It was believed that he had invited them for that purpose, and it
seems as if he had determined to provoke a tumult for the purpose
of intimidating the Portugueze. The disturbance in the Terreiro do
Paço had been put an end to, but the crowd had not dispersed, and the
popular feelings were still in the highest excitement. Things were
in this state when Junot adjourned with his guests to the opera; he
had taken possession of the royal family’s box in the centre of the
theatre, and from thence he ordered the French flag to be displayed
over the pit during this night’s representation. The French who
were present saluted it with shouts; many of the Portugueze left the
theatre, and the news of this fresh insult increased the indignation
of the people. The patroles could no longer restrain them; men, women,
and boys ran through the streets, exclaiming “The five wounds for ever,
and down with France!” It was fortunate for the Lisbonians that they
had at this time a well disciplined police guard, raised by the Comte
de Novion, a French emigrant, whom General Frazer, when he commanded
the British forces in Portugal, had first patronized and recommended to
the Portugueze government, and who having rendered essential service
to the city by the establishment of this body, was now become one of
the most active and efficient agents of the new tyranny. These guards
formed the principal part of the force which was called out against the
people, and they levelled their pieces so as to spare their countrymen.
The firing continued between three and four hours; but for this cause,
and because the mob, who had neither arms, nor plan, nor leaders,
were more loud than dangerous, few lives were lost. The firing ceased
about nine o’clock: the remainder of the night was actively employed
by the French; when morning appeared, cannon were seen planted at the
door of the commander in chief, 1200 men were drawn up in the square,
with horses and artillery, and the streets were every where filled
with patroles of soldiers. In the course of the day a few straggling
Frenchmen were killed, and some seven or eight of the people. The
mob saw the danger of attacking so overpowering a force, and did not
venture to engage against musketry and cannon with their knives. Had
they been armed, nothing could have preserved Lisbon from a massacre.
The few native corps which still remained in the city were confined to
their quarters during the tumult; they would else probably have taken
part with their countrymen. A corps at Almada, hearing the stir and
the discharge of musketry, endeavoured to get boats to cross over for
this purpose. ♦NEVES, I. 274.♦ The populace were in a state of frantic
agitation; at noon-day groups were collected in the streets, looking at
the sky, and affirming that they saw a blazing star which portended the
vengeance of God against their abominable oppressors.
♦PRECAUTIONS OF THE FRENCH.♦
These events convinced Junot at once of the disposition and the
weakness of the people. He forbade immediately all assemblies of
whatever kind, created a military tribunal, and decreed that every
individual found with arms in an assembly should be carried before this
tribunal, and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, or to death
if he had used his arms against any person whatever. Death was in
like manner denounced against the leaders of any assembly or tumult.
These regulations, he said, were made for the security of the good
and honourable inhabitants of Lisbon, whom he did not confound with a
few wretches. Those wretches who had seduced the people he knew, and
they should pay with their heads for the insult which they had offered
to the French flag. These words stood as a text to the proclamation,
“Rebellion is the greatest of crimes.” Junot had neither principles
nor feelings to deter him from committing any wickedness which might
suit with his policy or his inclinations; in the present instance
nothing was to be gained by cruelty, and therefore no execution
followed the insurrection, nor were the persons who had been taken at
the time proceeded against. This forbearance the Portugueze imputed to
fear; for however he might despise their present means, their numbers
and their temper made them formidable, and the sight of the English
fleet continually excited their hopes and his uneasiness. He began
immediately to take the most effectual measures for securing himself.
New batteries were formed at the castle, and works thrown up there from
which the city might at any time be laid in ruins: and the provincial
troops whom the Prince had called to Lisbon to cover his embarkation
were now ordered back to their respective provinces, as the first step
toward that breaking up of the Portugueze army which was intended.
On the 17th, which was the queen’s birthday, the guards and patroles
were doubled, and Novion paraded the streets in person. The midnight
ceremonies of the church at Christmas were forbidden; the bells also
were forbidden to be sounded on any pretext during the night; and when
the host went out, a hand-bell only was to be rung before it, and that
but thrice; once at its going out, once to call good Christians to the
aid of the dying person, and again at its return.
♦REGULATIONS CONCERNING ENGLISH GOODS.
OBS. PORT. P. 52.
NEVES, I. 288.♦
The edict for the discovery and confiscation of English property and
goods had produced little effect. The three days allowed for sending in
the returns having elapsed, the term was prolonged for eight days more,
with heavy denunciations against those who should attempt to evade
it. That part of the edict which related to English property might
easily be obeyed by those who chose to obey it; but the confiscation
of all English goods in a city where half the goods were English, was
as impracticable as it was oppressive; and the day after Junot had
issued his second decree upon this subject, he found it necessary to
publish a third, modifying the former two, and in fact confessing
their absurdity. It appeared, he said, that under these decrees the
merchants and shopkeepers could not dispose of many articles of
British manufacture; that the want of these articles kept out of the
market a great number of things which were in daily use, ♦DEC. 19.
OBS. PORT. P. 50.♦ and would raise the prices of those which were not
prohibited: such articles, therefore, as were not actually the property
of British subjects, might be sold, on condition that the owners gave
in an account of the British goods in their possession, and obtained
permission to sell them from the commissary at Lisbon, or some public
functionary in the provinces; that this permission should not be
granted unless the kind, quality, measure, quantity, and price of the
articles for sale were specified; that the vendor should hold himself
responsible for the amount of all which he disposed of, and should for
that purpose enter in his books the quantity of the thing sold, the
price, and the name of the purchaser; and give security for this if it
were required.
♦SCARCITY OF CORN APPREHENDED.♦
The trade of Lisbon needed not these new shackles. The stagnation of
commerce was indeed beheld by the French General with complacency, as
tending to the accomplishment of Buonaparte’s desires against England;
but in its more immediate effects he felt the security of his army in
some degree implicated. Lisbon is dependent for great part of its corn
upon foreign supplies: the failure of this supply had been contemplated
by the Prince’s government as one of the consequences to be expected if
he submitted to the demands of France; and when he gave orders to shut
the ports against England, an edict was issued, prohibiting all kinds
of cakes and biscuits, that flour might be reserved for bread alone.
♦NEVES, 263.♦ Grievously as a scarcity of corn is felt when it occurs
in our own country, in Portugal it is more literally a necessary of
life; for the Portugueze consume little animal food, and the potatoe
is hardly known among them; nor, indeed, is its culture successful.
When Junot took possession of Lisbon, it was apprehended that in the
course of two or three months there would be an actual want of bread.
The Russians consumed about 10,000 rations daily; a consumption which
made the French, as well as the inhabitants, regard them with an evil
eye. Junot disliked them on another account: he suspected that they
favoured the escape of British subjects and Portugueze emigrants to the
British squadron; and the Russian officers kept aloof from the French,
as if they were shocked at the profligacy of their conduct. But before
the close of the year intelligence arrived that Russia had declared war
against Great Britain; an event which excited as much exultation in
the French and their few partizans, as grief in the great body of the
people; for, notwithstanding the peace of Tilsit, many were they who
still rested their hopes upon the strength of Russia, and the personal
character of the Emperor Alexander.
♦MEASURES FOR PROVIDING THE ARMY.♦
Whatever jealousy had been felt upon this score was thus removed; but
the danger of scarcity still remained, and Junot’s first care was to
provide for the subsistence of the army, whatever might become of
the inhabitants. Many of the provisional authorities, in their fear
of famine, laid an embargo upon the corn within their respective
jurisdictions: this the French General forbade by a timely edict.
♦FEB. 16, 1808.♦ The Portugueze magistrates found themselves under a
government which exercised an unremitting vigilance, and made itself
felt every where; ♦OBSERVADOR PORT. 175.♦ and the orders of that
government were obeyed with a promptitude and activity which had long
been unknown in Portugal. Full use was thus made of the resources
of the country. Some corn he procured from Spain: it would have been
a heavy cost had it entered into his system to pay any part of the
expenses; ♦NEVES, 264.♦ Spain having little to export, the distance
being great, and the roads and the means of carriage equally bad.
♦DECEMBER.♦ All farmers and corn-dealers who might be indebted to the
crown were ordered to pay half the amount in grain, and deliver it to
the French commissariat at reduced prices. The march of the French
through the country had been like that of an army of locusts, leaving
famine wherever they passed; the tenantry, some utterly ruined by the
devastation, and all hopeless because of the state to which Portugal
was reduced, abandoned themselves to the same kind of despair which in
some parts of the New World contributed to exterminate the Indians,
and at one time materially distressed and endangered the merciless
conquerors. ♦THE PORTUGUEZE LEAVE THEIR FIELDS UNSOWN.♦ They thought
it useless to sow the seed, if the French were to enjoy the harvest;
and so generally did this feeling operate, that the regency which acted
under Junot found it necessary to issue orders, compelling them to go
on with the usual business of agriculture. ♦DEC. 29.♦ The encouragement
of agriculture served also as a pretext for breaking up the Portugueze
army. ♦DEC. 22.♦ Every subaltern and soldier who had served eight
years, or who had not served six months, was discharged, and ordered
to return to his own province. A like order was issued by the Spanish
general at Porto; and the Marques del Socorro, who commanded at
Setubal as governor of the new kingdom in which the Prince of the Peace
was to be invested, disbanded by one sweeping decree all the Portugueze
militia, discharged all the married men from the regular army, and
invited all the others to apply for leave of absence.
♦SPANIARDS UNDER CARRAFFA AT PORTO.♦
In the partition and invasion of Portugal, the court of Madrid was as
guilty as that of the Thuilleries; but the conduct of the Spaniards
during the invasion was far different from that of their treacherous
allies. The division of General Carraffa, which entered with Junot,
and was under his command, separated from him at Abrantes to secure
Porto, in case the army which was destined for that purpose should be
delayed. This general had acquired the favour of Junot by his exertions
at Alcantara, and had so far profited by his lessons, as to imitate
him at humble distance; raising a contribution of 4000 cruzados at
Thomar, and seizing 10,000 from the depositary at Coimbra; ... but he
was the only Spaniard who thus disgraced himself. ♦NEVES, I. 189.♦ The
force with which he accompanied Junot was little more than 2000 men;
it was doubled by the gradual arrival of reinforcements, and was then
annexed to the division of D. Francisco Taranco, ♦TARANCO TAKES THE
COMMAND THERE.♦ which, according to the convention of Fontainebleau,
should have consisted of 10,000 men, but did not in reality exceed
six, till its number was thus made up. Taranco’s army was formed in
Gallicia, of which kingdom he was Captain-General: he entered on the
side of the Minho, taking the Valença road; and having reached Porto,
issued a proclamation, much in the style of that which Junot had sent
before him, saying that he was come to deliver Portugal from the
disgraceful yoke of England, and assist her in taking vengeance upon
the English for their ferocious treachery toward all the nations of
Europe: fair promises followed of strict discipline and just dealing,
and bloody denunciations of punishment if resistance were attempted.
♦GOOD CONDUCT OF HIS TROOPS.♦ The Spanish general’s conduct was wiser
than his language; his promises were strictly observed, and no crime
was added to that of the iniquitous attack and intended usurpation. He
was, indeed, left at full liberty to act as his own disposition and
principles might incline; for these provinces were, according to the
treaty of Fontainebleau, to be formed into a kingdom for the former
Prince of Parma, as an indemnification for Etruria; and as his consent
had not been thought necessary to the arrangement which was to deprive
him of one kingdom, neither were his instructions for the government of
another.
♦SOLANO AT SETUBAL.♦
The Spanish general who entered Alem-Tejo to take possession of Godoy’s
kingdom was less fortunate; ♦NEVES, I. 307.♦ for he was compelled to
raise contributions from a ruined people, though in other respects
considerable latitude seems to have been given him, in deference to
his character and talents. This general was the Marques del Socorro,
D. Francisco Maria Solano, destined to leave an unhappy name in the
history of his country. During many years he had been governor of
Cadiz, where he had employed an almost unlimited power in the most
honourable and beneficial manner. It was his delight to ornament the
city, and to promote the convenience and comfort of the inhabitants.
One of the beneficial acts of his government was to abolish the
practice of burying in the churches: this he accomplished, not without
difficulty, during one of those contagious fevers which of late years
have so frequently visited that part of Spain. ♦JACOB’S TRAVELS.♦ He
is also entitled to be remembered with respect for the manner in which
he maintained the old humanities of war with the English squadron
which so long blockaded Cadiz: this conduct was the more honourable,
because Solano was decidedly a partizan of France, and had acquired a
dangerous love of political experiments in the revolutionary school.
He had now an opportunity of indulging this passion; and the measures
which he attempted proved the goodness of his intentions, as well
as the errors of his judgement. While Junot’s edicts were in one
uniform spirit of tyranny, Solano was offering rewards to those who
should raise the greatest crops, or breed the most numerous flocks
and herds. ♦HIS SCHEMES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF SOCIETY.♦ He addressed
circular instructions to the judges, enjoining each of them, when he
had notice of any civil suit, to call the parties before him, hear
their respective statements, and advise them to settle the dispute
by arbitration. If they persisted in their appeal to the laws, he was
then to require from each, before the process went forward, a written
statement of the case, and the documents which were to support it. If
the thing contested did not exceed eighty milreis in value, he might
pronounce summary justice without farther examination: the losing
party, however, retaining a right of appeal to the superior courts. If
the value exceeded that sum, the parties were again to be exhorted to
come to some accord, or at least to agree upon shortening the process,
and avoiding all unnecessary delay and expense; and the judges were
empowered to do this, even without the consent of the parties, and come
as summarily as possible to the merits of the case. Another of his
projects seems to have been borrowed from the policy of the Peruvian
Incas, or the government of Japan. Every parish was to be divided
into districts, containing not less than one hundred houses, nor more
than two. Each district was to choose one among its inhabitants, with
the title of Commissioner, whose duty it should be to make out a list
of all the members of his district, their ages and occupations; to
interfere in all family disputes, for the purpose of accommodating
them; and to keep all persons to their respective employments. If
they were not obedient to his admonitions he was to denounce them to
the magistrates, that due punishment might be inflicted. ♦OBSERVADOR
PORTUGUEZ, 144–150.♦ He was also to walk his rounds for at least an
hour every night, accompanied by four of the most respectable men
of the district, to see that no prohibited games were played in the
taverns, and that nothing was committed offensive to good morals.
♦EMIGRATION FROM LISBON.♦
Such were the projects with which Solano amused himself at Setubal!
The conduct of his soldiers easily accommodated itself to the good
disposition of their chief. Accustomed to the same habits of life,
attached to the same forms of worship as the Portugueze, and speaking a
language so little different that they mutually understood each other,
the Spaniards lived among them like men of the same country; and, as
long as the power remained in their hands, the people of Alem-Tejo
and of the northern provinces experienced none of those insults and
oppressions which the French inflicted wherever their authority
extended. In Lisbon the burthen was at once heavier than in other
places and more galling; and most persons who had the power of removing
into the country retired from those daily and hourly vexations which
aggravated their sufferings. The rapacity of the French leaders opened
a surer asylum for others. Notice was given that all Brazilians who
wished to return to their native land might obtain passports, and be
permitted to embark in neutral ships. All who could invent any pretext
for availing themselves of this permission hastened to purchase it;
and the money which the French thus exacted was cheerfully paid as
the price of deliverance. The ships which carried Kniphausen colours
took out many emigrants in the dress of sailors, who smeared their
hands with pitch, the better to disguise themselves. ♦1808. JAN. 5.♦
The Nuncio[20], who during these transactions demeaned himself with
great propriety, and repeatedly solicited passports for Brazil, that
he might follow the court to which he was appointed, succeeded at last
in getting on board a licensed vessel, unknown to Junot, and reaching
England in safety, went from thence to Rio de Janeiro. Meantime the
most rigorous measures were devised to prevent any person from escaping
to the English squadron. All the fishing boats were arranged in
divisions, which were denoted by letters, and the boats then numbered;
and each had its letter and number painted on the bow and quarter in
white characters a foot long. The master of every boat was bound to
carry a list, specifying the letter of its division, the number of his
boat, his name, his dwelling-place, and the number and names of the men
on board. This paper was to be his passport at the different batteries,
and his protection from the watch-boats which patrolled the river, and
were charged to apprehend every person whose name was not inscribed in
the list, and to seize every vessel by which any part of the edict was
infringed, as a prize. The magistrate of every district was to deliver
in a list of all the owners of fishing boats in the corresponding
division, in order that their property might be answerable for any
infraction of these rules: a counter list was to be kept on board the
floating battery. All the owners of all the divisions were to appear
every Saturday at this floating battery, there to have their papers
verified. Every boat which had any communication with the English
squadron was to be confiscated; and all were bound to be within the bar
at sunset on pain of being fined one piece for the first offence, three
for the second, and of confiscation and corporal punishment for the
third.
♦FALSEHOODS RESPECTING ENGLAND. OBSERVADOR PORT. 181.♦
The sight of the British squadron off the mouth of the Tagus
continually kept alive the hopes of the Portugueze. Crowds of artizans
who had been thrown out of employment used to assemble upon the
heights of Santa Catharina, ♦NEVES, I. 261.♦ of the Chagas, Buenos
Ayres, and the other eminences, fixing their longing eyes upon the
English fleet, counting its number, and oftentimes deluding themselves
with a belief that it was entering the river to deliver Lisbon. It
was thought necessary to forbid these assemblages. Junot affected to
ridicule this popular hope, ♦NEVES, I. 245.♦ and said, in scorn of the
Marqueza de Angeja, who was known frequently to gaze toward the same
object, that she would make an excellent wife for King Sebastian. But
his own secret feelings were discovered by the falsehoods which were
sedulously circulated respecting England. A pamphlet was published
which pretended to describe the actual state of that country; and
which, the better to deceive the people, was made by the manner of
its license to appear as if it had been printed under the Prince’s
government. It represented our population at less than eleven millions,
our army as short of 100,000 men, our fleet in great part laid up for
want of naval stores; our debt insupportable, our paper-money at a
discount, our custom-houses almost shut up for want of any thing to
do; more than a million of manufacturers ruined, and publicly crying
out for peace, agriculture decaying for want of hands and of commerce,
and the people in despair, unable longer to support the burthen and
endure the misfortunes of a destructive war. To excite the hatred of
the Portugueze, ♦NEVES, II. 8.♦ it was affirmed by Junot that the
Prince had not been conveyed to Brazil by the English, but that they
had conducted him and his fleet, with all the treasures on board, to
England.
♦REPORT OF THE FRENCH MINISTER, M. CHAMPAGNY, CONCERNING PORTUGAL.♦
Junot, it is said, was not without some apprehensions of the
displeasure of Buonaparte for having suffered this prize to escape him.
When that tyrant was exasperated by the failure of his commanders,
he seldom condescended to ask whether success had been possible: in
the present instance he either was or affected to be satisfied; and
the principles upon which he had thus far proceeded were now made
known to the world in a report or M. Champagny, his minister for
foreign affairs: it bore date a few days before the secret treaty
of Fontainebleau. ♦OCT. 21, 1807.♦ After the peace of Tilsit, this
minister said, France and Russia had combined to restore peace to the
world, the sole object of all the Emperor Napoleon’s labours, of all
his triumphs, of all his innumerable sacrifices. He had a right to
call upon the continental powers to maintain their neutrality against
England; he had a right to demand that all Europe should concur in
re-establishing the peace of the seas, and those maritime rights
which England had haughtily declared she would respect no longer. All
governments ought to make war against the English; they owed this to
their own dignity, they owed it to the honour of their people, they
owed it to the mutual obligations by which the sovereigns of Europe
are connected. There was not any sovereign who would not acknowledge,
that, if his territory should be violated to the injury of the Emperor
of the French, he would be responsible. For instance, if a French
vessel were seized by the English in the ports of Trieste or Lisbon,
the sovereigns to whom those ports belong are bound to make the English
respect their territory by force; otherwise they would make themselves
the accomplices of England, and place themselves in a state of war
with the Emperor of France. When, therefore, the Portugueze government
suffered its vessels to be searched by English ships, its independence
was violated, with its own consent, by the outrage done to its flag,
just as it would have been if England had violated its territory or its
ports. ♦1808. JANUARY.♦ For the ships of a power are as portions of its
territory which float upon the seas, and which, being covered by its
flag, ought to enjoy the same independence, and to be defended against
the same attacks. The conduct of Portugal, therefore, gave the Emperor
Napoleon a right of proposing to it the alternative of making common
cause with him in maintaining the rights of its flag, and declaring
war against England, or of being considered as an accomplice in the
evil which might result to his Imperial Majesty from that violation....
Such was the law of nations as laid down by Buonaparte’s minister, M.
Champagny, and such the logic by which Portugal was proved to have
placed itself in a state of war with France!--M. Champagny proceeded
to affirm that Portugal had pronounced her own fate. She had broken
off her last communications with the continent in imposing upon the
French and Spanish legations the necessity of quitting Lisbon. Her
hostile intentions, which the language of perfidy and duplicity had
ill concealed, were then unveiled. Not only were the English and
their property placed in safety, but her military preparations were
directed against France; and she waited only for the arrival of the
English fleet and army which had plundered Denmark to avow herself.
This curious paper concluded in a manner worthy of its reasoning and
its veracity. If, it said, this war was to make Portugal undergo the
fate of so many states which had fallen victims of the friendship of
England, the Emperor Napoleon, who sought not for such successes, would
without doubt regret that the interest of the continent should have
rendered it necessary. His views, which had constantly been raised with
his power, showed him in war rather a scourge for humanity than a new
prospect of glory; and all his wishes were that he might devote himself
wholly to the prosperity of his people.
♦SECOND REPORT, INDICATING MEASURES AGAINST SPAIN.
JAN. 2.♦
A second report of the same minister was published at the same time.
The house of Braganza, it said, had delivered itself up to the English
with all that it could carry away, and Brazil from henceforward would
be only an English colony. But Portugal was at length delivered from
the yoke of England. Her coasts had been left without defence; and
England was at this time threatening them, blockading her ports, and
wishing to ravage her shores. Spain, also, had had fears for Cadiz,
and now was fearing for Ceuta. Toward that part of the world the
English appeared to be directing their secret expeditions: they had
landed troops at Gibraltar; they had assembled there those who had
been driven from the Levant, and part of those whom they had collected
in Sicily. Their cruisers upon the coast of Spain were become more
vigilant; they seemed to wish to revenge themselves upon that kingdom
for the disgrace which they had suffered in its colonies. The whole of
the peninsula ought particularly to fix the attention of his Imperial
Majesty, whose wisdom would dictate to him such measures as the state
of things required. ♦JAN. 6.♦ This paper was followed by a report from
General Clarke, the minister of war, who announced that the corps of
observation of the Gironde under General Junot had conquered Portugal;
♦THE CONSCRIPTION FOR 1809 REQUIRED.♦ and advised that the conscription
for the year 1809 should be called out, because of the necessity of
shutting the ports of the continent against their enemy, and of having
considerable forces at every point of attack, in order to profit by the
fortunate circumstances which might arise for carrying the war into
the heart of England, of Ireland, and of the Indies. “Although,” said
the General, “the indignation of all Europe is roused against England,
although France has at no time possessed such armies, this is not yet
enough; English influence must be attacked wherever it exists, till
the moment when the sight of so many dangers shall induce England to
remove from her councils the oligarchs who direct them, and intrust
the administration to wise men, capable of reconciling the love and
the interest of their country with the interest and the love of the
human race. A vulgar policy,” he pursued, “would have induced your
Majesty to disarm, but that policy would be a scourge for France; it
would render imperfect the great results which you have prepared. Yes,
Sire, far from diminishing your armies, your Majesty ought to increase
them, till England shall have acknowledged the independence of all
powers, and restored to the seas that tranquillity which your Majesty
has secured to the continent.... Doubtless your Majesty must suffer in
requiring new sacrifices and imposing new burthens upon your people;
but you ought to yield to the cry of all the French, ... no repose till
the seas are set free, and till an equitable peace has re-established
France in the most just, the most useful, and the most necessary of her
rights.” ♦JAN. 21.♦ Accordingly, 80,000 conscripts, of the conscription
of 1809, were, by a decree of the senate, placed at the disposal of
government: they were to be taken from the youths born in the year
1789; according to the conscription laws, twenty was the age at which
they were ripe for slaughter, but the practice of dispensing with a
year had already been begun. ♦THREATS AGAINST ENGLAND.♦ The minister
of state, M. Regnaud de St. Jean d’Angely, pronounced an harangue upon
this occasion. “A holy and powerful league,” said he, “has been formed,
to punish the English oligarchy, to defend the right of nations, to
revenge humanity. From the Baltic to the Mediterranean, from the Nile
to the Neva, there hardly remain for the ships of Great Britain any
shores where they may land, any points where they are not forbidden to
touch. But it is not enough, by a just reciprocity, to have pronounced
against England this tremendous sentence of outlawry among nations; no
rest must be given her in the seat of her iniquitous dominion, nor
upon any of her coasts, nor in any of her colonies, nor in any of those
parts of the globe where she is not yet interdicted. Repulsed from one
part of the world, and menaced in all the other, England must not be
suffered to know where to direct the little military force which she
can command; and our armies, more formidable than ever, must be ready
to carry our victorious and avenging eagles into her possessions.
The pillage of the arsenal and port of Copenhagen, the emigration of
the Portugueze fleet, have not left the continent without ships: our
legions may yet reach the English militia; Ireland may still look for
succours against oppression; India may still expect her deliverers.”
♦THE ROYAL ARMS OF PORTUGAL DEFACED.♦
Well might the French nation have shuddered at the prospect of
interminable war which was thus held out by the ministers of a tyrant,
whose ambition increased with his power. He found, however, implicit
and servile obedience in the nation. Their crime brought with it
its curse, new successes only served as pretexts for demanding more
sacrifices; and at a moment when France had not an enemy upon the
whole continent of Europe, and a larger military force than had ever
before existed, more conscripts were thus called for in advance! But
though Buonaparte at this time despised the military force of Great
Britain as heartily as he hated its naval power, neither London, nor
Ireland, nor India, were as yet his objects. His projects for seizing
the whole Spanish peninsula were now mature, and these projects were
probably communicated to Junot by dispatches which arrived from Milan
the second week in January. A few days afterward that General went with
more than his usual pomp to the Foundery, destroyed the portraits of
the Braganzan kings, and gave orders that the Portugueze arms should
no longer be placed on the cannon. He gave orders also to deface
the royal arms which were carved in stone over the entrance, but no
Portugueze could be tempted to commit this act of treason; and when
some French soldiers broke the crown and defaced the shield, no sooner
had they left the place than the women gathered up the fragments to
preserve them as relics. The final act of usurpation was not long
delayed. ♦FEBRUARY.♦ Early on the morning of the first of February
the movements of the troops indicated that some great measure was
about to be announced, for which the public mind was to be prepared
by intimidation. Cannon were planted in the Rocio; the streets from
thence to head-quarters were lined with soldiers; and Junot, with all
the parade of military pomp and power, proceeded to the palace of the
Inquisition, where the Regents held their sittings. ♦JUNOT DECLARES
THAT THE PORTUGUEZE GOVERNMENT IS DISSOLVED.♦ Troops followed him,
filling the lobbies of that execrable edifice, and extending even to
the table where these poor puppets of authority were seated: amid this
scene of noise and tumult and indecorum he read a paper, of which
nothing more could be collected than that it pronounced the extinction
of the Portugueze government, and the consequent dismission of the
Regents from office. Rockets gave the signal when the General came
out, and salutes of artillery from the castle and all the forts and
batteries insulted the afflicted and groaning people. The city was soon
placarded with a proclamation in French and Portugueze, saying that
all uncertainty was now at an end, the fate of Portugal was decided,
and her felicity secured, because Napoleon the Great had taken her
under his omnipotent protection. The Prince of Brazil, in abandoning
Portugal, had renounced all right to the sovereignty of that kingdom.
The House of Braganza had ceased to reign, and it was the will of
the Emperor Napoleon that the whole of that fine country should be
administered and governed in his name, and by the General in chief of
his army. ♦JUNOT APPOINTED GOVERNOR FOR THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON.♦ “The
duties,” said Junot, “which this mark of benignity and confidence
on the part of my master imposes upon me, are difficult to fulfil,
but I hope worthily to discharge them. I will open roads and canals,
that agriculture and national industry may once more flourish. The
Portugueze troops will soon form one family with the soldiers of
Marengo, of Austerlitz, of Jena, and of Friedland; and there will be
no other rivalry between them than that of valour and discipline.
The good administration of the public revenues will secure to every
one the reward of his labours. Public instruction, that parent of
national civilization, shall be extended over the provinces, and
Algarve and Beira shall each have one day its Camoens. The religion of
your fathers, the same which we all profess, shall be protected and
succoured by that same will which restored it in the vast empire of
France, but freed from the superstitions which dishonour it. Justice
shall be equally administered, and disembarrassed of the delays and
arbitrary will which paralysed it; the public tranquillity shall no
more be disturbed by robbers, and deformed mendicity no longer drag
its filth and its rags through this superb capital. Inhabitants of
Portugal, be secure and tranquil! Resist the instigations of those who
would excite you to rebellion, and who care not what blood is shed so
it be the blood of the continent. Betake yourselves with confidence to
your labours; you shall enjoy the fruits. If it be necessary that in
these first moments you should make some sacrifices, it is that the
government may be enabled to ameliorate your condition. They are also
indispensable for the subsistence of a great army, which is required
for the vast projects of the Great Napoleon. His vigilant eyes are
fixed upon you, and your future happiness is secure. He will love you
as he loves his French vassals: study therefore to deserve his goodness
by your obedience to his will.”
♦COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENT FORMED.♦
A second decree, bearing date on the same day, was promulgated the
next. It explained the form in which Portugal was from that time
forward to be governed, in the name of the Emperor of the French, by
the General in chief of the French army in that country. There was to
be a council of government, composed of the General as president, a
secretary of state for the administration of the interior and of the
finances, with two counsellors of government, one for each department;
a secretary of state for the departments of war and the marine, with
a counsellor of government for the same departments; and a counsellor
of government for the superintendence of justice and public worship,
with the title of Regedor. The secretary-general of the council was
to be keeper of its archives. M. Herman and M. Lhuitte were the
two secretaries of state: the former had D. Pedro de Mello and the
Senhor d’Azevedo for his secretaries; the latter had the Conde de
S. Payo. The principal Castro was named for Regedor, and M. Vianez
Vaublanc secretary-general. There was to be in every province an
administrator-general, with the title of Corregedor Mor, to direct
all the branches of administration, to watch over the interests of
the province, and to point out to the government the improvements
which ought to be made in it; on which subjects he was to communicate
with the home secretary and the Regedor. The province of Estremadura
was to have two of these Corregedores: one residing at Lisbon, whose
jurisdiction was confined to that capital and its term; the other for
the rest of the province, and residing out of it, at Coimbra. There was
also to be in each province a general officer, to maintain order and
tranquillity: his functions were purely military, but in all public
ceremonies he was to take the right hand of the Corregedor Mor. This
precedence was not required to prove to the people that they were under
a mere military government.
♦WAR CONTRIBUTION IMPOSED.♦
The device of Buonaparte, an eagle upon an anchor, was now placed over
the arsenal; the official seals were ordered to bear the same impress
as those of the French empire, with this inscription, “Government of
Portugal:” and on the same day that possession was thus taken, and
protection promised, an edict was made public, dated from Milan Dec.
23, imposing a war contribution-extraordinary of an hundred million
of francs upon the kingdom of Portugal, as a ransom for individual
property of every kind. A second article of this memorable decree
directed the French general to take the necessary means for promptly
collecting this contribution; and a third declared that the property
of the Queen, the Prince Regent, and all the royal family, should
be sequestered, and that of all the fidalgos who accompanied him
also, unless they should return by the 15th of February. The decree
originally fixed the first, but as it was not published till the
second, Junot ventured to extend the term: even then, however, it
served only to show how little the framer of such decrees considered
what was possible; how impudently he set even the forms of equity at
defiance. It was now explained what those sacrifices were which the
people had been told on the preceding day were necessary to enable the
government to ameliorate their condition. The sum to be levied amounted
in Portugueze money to forty million cruzados. Junot decreed that the
two millions already paid, which he raised as a loan, and now called a
contribution, should be accounted as part of the sum, and allowed for
in the final payment. Six millions were to be paid by the commercial
part of the nation at three instalments; on the first of March, the
first of May, and the first of August. All goods of English manufacture
being, on account of their origin, liable to confiscation, were to be
ransomed by the merchants and tradesmen who possessed them, at a third
of their value. All the gold and silver of all the churches, chapels,
and fraternities in Lisbon and its district was to be carried to the
mint within fifteen days; no other plate being excepted than what was
indispensable for the decency of public worship. In the provinces the
collectors of the tenths were to receive the church plate and transmit
it to the mint, and the amount was to be carried to the contribution.
Archbishops, bishops, religious orders and superiors of either sex,
who possessed any revenue from land, or capital of any kind, were to
contribute two-thirds of their whole yearly income, if that income did
not exceed sixteen thousand cruzados, and three-fourths if it did;
... in consideration of which they were to be excused from paying
the regular tenths for the current year. Every person enjoying a
benefice which produced from six to nine hundred milreis, should
contribute two-thirds of his income; three-fourths, if it exceeded
the latter sum. All _Commendadors_ of the military orders or of Malta
should also pay two-thirds of their revenue. The donatories of crown
property were to pay double their usual tax; owners of houses, half
the rent for which they were let, or a proportionate sum if they
inhabited them themselves; land-holders, two-tenths, in addition to
the former imposts. The tax upon horses, mules, and servants, was
doubled. The _Juiz do Povo_, under orders of the _Senado_, was to rate
all trading bodies and booth and stall-keepers, and compel them to
pay their assessments by distress; and shops which were not under the
jurisdiction of the _Senado_ were to be rated in like manner by the
_Mesa do Bem Commun_, ... the Board of General Good, ... under the
inspection of the Royal Junta of Commerce.
The few persons who had thus long obstinately persisted in believing
or pretending to believe that France wished and intended to improve
the state of Portugal could no longer deceive themselves, and dared
not attempt to deceive others. The contribution thus imposed amounted
to four millions and a half sterling; the population of Portugal was
less than three millions: the sum demanded, therefore, was equivalent
to a poll-tax at a guinea and half per head. Yet even this statement
inadequately represents its enormity: from at least three-fourths of
the people nothing could be collected; and the mercantile part of the
community, who had been the most opulent, were already reduced to ruin.
The sum required exceeded the whole circulating medium of the country;
and the reason why it was permitted to be paid by instalments, and
not insisted upon at once, was, that the money received at the first
instalment might in the course of circulation find its way to serve
for the second! It was levied with the utmost rigour. ♦OBSERVADOR
PORTUGUEZ, 203.♦ The lowest hucksters, stall-keepers, and labourers,
were summoned before the _Juiz do Povo_, to be assessed in their
portion; and the merchants were ordered to appear in tallies before the
Junta of Commerce, and there reciprocally discuss their affairs, and
tax each other! The expulsion of the English, the emigration, and the
general distress, had left a very large proportion of the best houses
vacant, and rents in consequence had fallen nearly to half their former
value; but every house was rated at what it had brought in before these
events, and the owners of those which were untenanted were compelled to
pay three-tenths of what they would have received upon that valuation;
and the property of those who had neither money nor commodities to
satisfy the demand was seized without mercy. Articles which were
needful for the army were received in part of payment in kind. The
French officers turned speculators: they purchased colonial goods,
which they sent to France by land; and thus the money which they had
extorted was re-issued, to answer fresh exactions, or serve as booty
again. They carried on also a gainful trade in money; importing French
coin, which they forced into circulation, and exchanged for Spanish
dollars, or for the fine gold of Portugal, at an enormous profit; or
they purchased with it paper-money, which usually fluctuated between
28 and 30 per cent. discount, ... sometimes was as low as 35, and
sometimes could find no purchasers. With this paper, according to law,
they made half their payments at par: and when all their French money
was expended in this manner, Junot issued an edict, by which he fixed a
price at which it was to be received for the contribution, lower than
that at which he had suffered it to be introduced.
♦GODOY RECALS THE SPANISH TROOPS FROM PORTUGAL.♦
The decree which appointed Junot governor of Portugal, and extended his
authority over the whole kingdom, at once abrogated the secret treaty
of Fontainebleau. That treaty had served Buonaparte’s purpose, and the
Spanish cabinet was at this time too much agitated by home disquietudes
to resent this breach of faith, or take warning by it. Godoy, fallen
from his dreams of royalty, and trembling for his life, was ready to
make any sacrifice which might procure him the protection of France.
♦NEVES, I. 313.♦ ♦PART ONLY OBEY HIS ORDERS.♦ He had written to Junot,
requesting that Carraffa’s division might return to Spain; alleging,
that the English threatened a descent upon the coasts of Andalusia:
... but the French were not duped by a pretext which they themselves
had invented for a different purpose; and Junot, in conformity to his
master’s projects, detained the troops. Godoy probably wanted them to
protect the removal of the King and Queen to the coast, but he was in
no condition to insist upon any thing; and the abortive principality of
the Algarves, and the kingdom of Septentrional Lusitania, came to an
end before their intended lords had taken possession, and before their
denominations had been made public. The Spanish troops from Algarve
and Alentejo were recalled, and obeyed the order; those at Porto, and
Carraffa’s division, were more under Junot’s power; they were detained,
and Carraffa, upon the death of Taranco, by the French general’s order
took command of both.
♦THE WHOLE OF PORTUGAL UNDER COMMAND OF THE FRENCH.♦
Thus had Junot, in pursuance of his instructions, extended his
authority over the whole of Portugal. He was, however, far from feeling
secure in his usurpation. The temper of the people had shown itself;
and if the English had landed a force to attack him, his men were
but in ill condition to take the field; for they were sickly during
the whole of the winter months. ♦JOURNAL DE COIMBRA, 2. 74.♦ ♦THE
FLOWER OF THE PORTUGUEZE ARMY MARCHED INTO FRANCE.♦ For this reason
he had disbanded the militia, and broken up so large a part of the
native army; ... but the flower of that army was to be selected and
sent into France, that they might be made agents in inflicting the
same miseries upon other countries which their own endured. A great
number of the soldiers who had been picked for this service deserted;
and in consequence, the French code of martial law was declared to
be applicable to the Portugueze army, and death became thereby the
punishment for desertion. Six thousand infantry, and four regiments of
cavalry, were marched off, under the Marquez d’Alorna. Gomes Freire
d’Andrada, who had the highest military reputation of any officer in
the army, was second in command. The Marquez de Valença, the Marquez
de Ponte de Lima, the Counts Ega and Sabugal, and many other officers
of rank and family, went in this ill-fated army; some by compulsion,
others by choice, the leaders being devoted to Buonaparte.
♦DISCONTENT OF THE PEOPLE.♦
Though the French despised the Portugueze troops as heartily as they
did the people, it was observed that they became more insufferable in
their personal conduct after the army was disbanded. As a body they
might safely despise them; but every individual was in some measure
restrained by the apprehension of individual vengeance, and the
certainty that if in any tumult the military, as was natural, should
take part with the people, the contest, though the event was not
doubtful, must be far more severe. When this restraint was removed,
they gave way to that insolence which adds a sting to oppression, and
rouses even those who have submitted to heavier wrongs. A peasant at
Mafra, Jacinto Correia was his name, killed two of these robbers with a
reaping-hook; and when he was put to death for it by military process,
he gloried to his last breath in what he had done, and repeated that if
all his countrymen were like him, there should not a single Frenchman
remain alive among them. ♦OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ, 156.♦ The punishment
was carefully made known in a proclamation, but the nature of the
crime was as carefully suppressed, lest it should find imitation. It
had, however, been determined to strike terror into the people by an
execution, which should furnish in its example nothing but what was
intimidating. ♦EXECUTIONS AT CALDAS.♦ Insignificant as the cause was,
the circumstances of this insulated tragedy deserve to be stated, as a
specimen of the spirit in which the military government of Portugal was
conducted. A number of French soldiers had been sent to the hospital at
the Caldas, a munificent establishment of royal charity, to be cured
of the itch by the baths at that place. They complained to General
Thomiers, who commanded at Peniche, that the peasantry insulted them;
and Thomiers sent a few stout grenadiers to take the first opportunity
of resenting any mockery which might be offered to their comrades.
These men paraded the streets, and drank at the wine-houses till they
began to invite a quarrel. A countryman, heated like them with liquor,
said to his companion as they were passing, I have killed seven of
these fellows myself. The vaunt, which was probably as false as it was
foolish, might have cost him his life in a regular way; but one of the
French, who heard him, immediately attempted to cut him down; ... he
ran to his mother’s house, which was close at hand, and calling out
to his sister to help him, she stood in the door-way, let him enter,
and instantly locking the door on the outside, put the key in her
bosom. The French endeavoured to force the key from her; the woman was
strong and determined: her cries were heard at a billiard table near,
where a cadet of the regiment of Pato, which was quartered in the
town, seeing a woman struggling upon the dunghill with three or four
French soldiers, jumped out of the window, and ran to her assistance;
the surgeon and a few others of the same regiment followed. A French
captain also came up: by this time a considerable crowd had collected;
the sword was knocked out of his hand by a stone, and he would have
been in some danger, if a Portugueze sergeant had not called out to the
mob to forbear, for he was a French officer. The soldiers now came up,
and the tumult ended with no other immediate evil than that one or two
of the first aggressors were slightly wounded: ... the woman was the
greatest sufferer; for one of them, with the pummel of his sword, had
beaten her cruelly upon the bosom. When the circumstances were made
known to Thomiers, his first intention was to pass it over lightly: as
the _Juiz de Fora_ of the town happened to be with him at the time, he
desired him immediately to send him any four fellows of bad character,
to whom a little punishment would do no harm, and who might represent
the town on this occasion. Such an arrangement, curious as it is,
would have been an improvement upon the ordinary course of Portugueze
justice. Four men, accordingly, against whom complaints had been
recently preferred by their wives, but who were entirely innocent of
the matter in question, were arrested, and put in confinement. Nine
days afterward, Loison, who commanded in the district, appeared at the
head of three or four thousand men, bringing Thomiers with him. The
woman was called upon to declare which of the soldiers had beaten her:
she pointed out the man, and there ended this part of the inquiry:
but on the other part, fifteen Portugueze were condemned to death;
among them the _Escrivam da Camara_, and one of the most respectable
inhabitants of the place, who happened to be in the room with her when
the tumult took place. They had been seen from an opposite house each
to take a musket and load it: ... this they acknowledged that they had
done; but they had taken no part in the disturbance, nor even gone into
the street. It was argued that they could not have loaded those guns
with any other intention than that of discharging them against the
French troops, and therefore they had incurred the penalty of death.
That sentence was passed against them; and the uncle of the _Escrivam_,
being one of the magistrates of the town, was ordered and compelled by
Loison to be present at the execution! Five of the condemned persons
took the alarm in time, and escaped. The surgeon leaped from a window,
and broke his leg: he was carried to the place of butchery upon a
hand-barrow, covered with a piece of sacking. While the execution was
going on, the Prince of Salm Kirburg, a young officer in the French
service, lifted up the cloth to see what was under it: the sight
shocked him, and he said to the French general it was monstrous to
bring a man in such a condition to suffer death, ... let them heal him
first, and then do with him what they would. ♦NEVES, CH. 30.♦ This
intercession availed: the surgeon was remanded to the hospital, and
Loison was content with having seen nine men put to death for an affray
in which not a single life had been lost.
The place where this tragedy was perpetrated is a little town,
containing not more than three hundred inhabitants; for its baths
and for the beauty of the surrounding country it was frequented by
strangers and invalids, and more wealth and more comforts were to be
found there than in any other of the provincial towns. In such a place,
where every one of the victims was known to the whole neighbourhood,
and all had their nearest relations and connexions upon the spot, it
may well be conceived what horror and what deep and inextinguishable
hatred this bloody execution would excite. The hatred Junot despised;
... Buonaparte prided himself upon setting the feelings of mankind
at defiance, and systematically outraging them for the purpose of
displaying his power; and in this, as in every thing else, his generals
were his faithful agents. The murders at Caldas were committed upon
this system, merely to strike terror through the country.... Junot had
refrained from making such an exhibition at Lisbon after the riot which
the first act of open usurpation provoked, because there were native
troops in the city; the population of a great capital would become
formidable if it were made desperate; and, moreover, there was the
English squadron in sight. But an opportunity had been watched for when
it might be done safely and with more effect; and an affair which the
nearest general passed over at the time as unworthy of serious notice
was made the pretext.
♦CONDUCT OF THE FRENCH GENERALS.♦
The immediate superintendence of these murders had been intrusted to
Loison. This general, whose military talents were considerable, had
lost an arm in action with the Portugueze in Rousillon; for which
reason the people now called him the _Maneta_, a name which will
long be held in abhorrence: not that he was more rapacious, or more
merciless, than his comrades; but, from the rank he held, he had better
opportunities for pillage; and it was his fortune to preside at almost
all the butcheries which were committed during the first invasion. Of
all the French generals in this army, it is said that there were only
two who preserved a fair character. These were, Travot, who commanded
at Cascaes, and Charlot at Torres Vedras. They mitigated, as far as
in them lay, the evils of which they were the instruments; but they
could do little toward repressing the cruelty, the excesses, and the
abandoned licentiousness of their officers and men. The language which
the French openly held was, that Portugal was a conquered country, and
therefore they, as conquerors, had a right to take what they chose and
do what they pleased there; ♦NEVES, II. 132.♦ and they acted in full
conformity to this principle[21].
They had entered Portugal with so little baggage, that even the
generals borrowed, or rather demanded, linen from those upon whom they
were quartered. Soon, however, without having received any supplies
from home, they were not only splendidly furnished with ornamental
apparel, but sent to France large remittances in bills, money, and
effects, especially in cotton, which the chief officers bought up
so greedily that the price was trebled by their competition. The
emigration had been determined on so late that many rich prizes fell
into their hands. Fourteen cart-loads of plate from the patriarchal
church reached the quay at Belem too late to be received on board.
This treasure was conveyed back to the church, but the packing-cases
bore witness of its intent to emigrate; and when the French seized it
they added to their booty a splendid service for the altar of the
sacrament, which had been wrought by the most celebrated artist in
France. ♦1808. MARCH.♦ ♦NEVES, I. 247.♦ Junot fitted himself out with
the spoils of Queluz, and Loison had shirts made of the cambric sheets
belonging to the royal family which were found at Mafra. These palaces
afforded precious plunder, which there had been no time to secure. The
plate was soon melted into ingots, the gold and jewels divided among
the generals, and the rich cloths of gold burnt for the metal, which
constituted the smallest part of their value. ♦NEVES, I. 229.♦ The
soldiers had not the same opportunities of pillage and peculation, but
they suffered no opportunity to escape: ♦NEVES, I. 240–1.♦ those who
were quartered in the great convent of St. Domingos pulled down the
doors and window-frames, and put up the wood and iron work to auction.
Yet their insolence was more intolerable than their rapacity, and
their licentious habits worse than both. The Revolution had found the
French a vicious people, and it had completed their corruption. It had
removed all restraints of religion, all sense of honour, all regard for
family or individual character; the sole object of their government
was to make them soldiers, and for the purposes of such a government
the wickedest men were the best. Junot himself set an example of
profligacy: he introduced the fashion of lascivious dances, imported
perhaps from Egypt ... one of them bears his name; and the Portugueze
say that no man who regards the honour of his female relatives would
suffer them to practise it. The Moors have left in the peninsula relics
of this kind which are sufficiently objectionable: that, therefore,
which could call forth this reprehension must be bad indeed. The
decency of private families was insulted: the officers scrupled not to
introduce prostitutes, without any attempt at disguising them, into the
houses where they were quartered; and happy were the husbands and the
parents who could preserve their wives and daughters from the attempts
of these polluted guests.
♦STATE OF LISBON.♦
The situation of Lisbon, at this time, is one to which history affords
no parallel: it suffered neither war, nor pestilence, nor famine, yet
these visitations could scarcely have produced a greater degree of
misery; and the calamity did not admit of hope, for whither at this
time could Portugal look for deliverance? As the government was now
effectually converted into a military usurpation, it became easy to
simplify its operations; and most of the persons formerly employed in
civil departments were dismissed from office. Some were at once turned
off; others had documents given them, entitling them to be reinstated
upon vacancies; a few had some trifling pension promised. All who had
depended for employment and subsistence upon foreign trade were now
destitute. Whole families were thus suddenly reduced to poverty and
actual want. Their trinkets went first; whatever was saleable followed:
things offered for sale at such a time were sold at half their value,
while the price of food was daily augmenting. It was a dismal thing to
see the Mint beset with persons who carried thither the few articles
of plate with which they had formerly set forth a comfortable board,
and the ornaments which they had worn in happier days. It was a dismal
thing to see men pale with anxiety pressing through crowds who were
on the same miserable errand, and women weeping as they offered their
little treasure to the scales. Persons who had lived in plenty and
respectability were seen publicly asking alms ... for thousands were at
once reduced to the alternative of begging or stealing; and women, of
unblemished virtue till this fatal season, walked the streets, offering
themselves to prostitution, that the mother might obtain bread for her
hungry children, ... the daughter for her starving parents. Such was
the state to which one of the most flourishing cities in Europe was
reduced!
♦APRIL.♦
As the general distress increased, tyranny became more rigorous, and
rapine more impatient. Many of the convents could not pay the sum at
which they had been assessed, their resources having suffered in the
common calamity; their rents were consequently sequestered, and the
intrusive government began to take measures for selling off their
lands to discharge the contribution. The rents of inhabited houses
were sequestered, to answer for the assessment upon untenanted ones
belonging to the same owner. At the beginning of April a prorogation
of two months, for the payment of the last third of the impost, was
promised to those who should have paid the first by the end of the
month; ♦OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ, P. 123.♦ on the 28th eight days grace was
proclaimed for the payment of the first third; after which rigorous
distress was to be levied upon the defaulters, not for the first
payment alone, but for the whole contribution; ♦IBID. P. 174.♦ and
this threat was enforced. Suicide, which had scarcely ever been heard
of in Portugal, became now almost a daily act. There is no inhumanity
like that of avarice. The Royal Hospital at Lisbon was one of the
noblest institutions in the world. Under the house of Braganza it was
the admiration of all who knew how munificently it was supported,
and how admirably conducted: under the usurpation of the French more
than a third part of the patients who died there perished for want of
food. Meantime the French government, affecting to compassionate the
misery which it had created, made an ostentatious display of relieving
the poor, and issued billets of two francs each, ♦IBID. P. 200.♦ in
Portugueze money 320 _reis_; four hundred of which were distributed
weekly among forty parishes, and five more added afterwards for a
parish which had been overlooked. This measure was none of that
charity which vaunteth not itself. The billets were given only at
one place; crowds flocked thither in expectation; and the amount of
this eleemosynary expense was loudly boasted and exaggerated by the
French and their partizans, ... the whole sum thus expended scarcely
exceeding 40_l._ per week. After a few weeks the billets were not
regularly paid, and at length they became worthless: and this was the
extent of the liberality of this execrable government in a city where
they reckoned their plunder by millions! ♦NEVES, II 157.♦ To complete
the miseries of this devoted country anarchy alone was wanting; and
it soon necessarily resulted from the barbarous system of the French
wherever the immediate pressure of their authority was not felt. ♦EVORA
NO SEU ABATIMENTO GLORIOSAMENTE EXALTADA, P. 5.♦ After the disbandment
of the Portugueze army, troops of banditti were formed, who robbed in
companies with perfect impunity. The edict which prohibited all persons
from carrying arms left the traveller entirely at their mercy; and not
content with being masters of the roads, they levied contributions upon
the smaller towns and villages.
♦INCREASE OF THE SEBASTIANISTS.♦
The French, in the pride of their strength, and their ignorance of the
national character, despised this poor oppressed people too much to be
in any fear of what despair might impel them to; and one remarkable
effect of the general misery tended at once to increase their contempt
and their security. There exists in Portugal a strange superstition
concerning King Sebastian, whose re-appearance is as confidently
expected by many of the Portugueze as the coming of the Messiah by the
Jews. The rise and progress of this belief forms a curious part of
their history: it began in hope, when the return of that unhappy prince
was not only possible, but might have been considered likely; it was
fostered by the policy of the Braganzan party after all reasonable hope
had ceased; and length of time served only to ripen it into a confirmed
and rooted superstition, which even the intolerance of the Inquisition
spared, for the sake of the loyal and patriotic feelings in which it
had its birth. The Holy Office never interfered farther with the sect
than to prohibit the publication of its numerous prophecies, which were
suffered to circulate in private. For many years the persons who held
this strange opinion had been content to enjoy their dream in private,
shrinking from observation and from ridicule; but, as the belief had
begun in a time of deep calamity, so now, when a heavier evil had
overwhelmed the kingdom, it spread beyond all former example. Their
prophecies were triumphantly brought to light, for only in the promises
which were there held out could the Portugueze find consolation; and
proselytes increased so rapidly that half Lisbon became Sebastianists.
The delusion was not confined to the lower orders ... it reached
the educated classes; and men who had graduated in theology became
professors of a faith which announced that Portugal was soon to be the
head of the Fifth and Universal Monarchy. Sebastian was speedily to
come from the Secret Island; the Queen would resign the sceptre into
his hands; he would give Buonaparte battle near Evora on the field of
Sertorius, slay the tyrant, and become monarch of the world. These
events had long been predicted; and it had long since been shown that
the very year in which they must occur was mystically prefigured in the
arms of Portugal. Those arms had been miraculously given to the founder
of the Portugueze monarchy; and the five wounds were represented in
the shield by as many round marks or ciphers, two on each side, and
one in the middle. Bandarra the shoemaker, who was one of the greatest
of their old prophets, had taught them the mystery therein. Place two
O’s one upon the other, said he, place another on the right hand, then
make a second figure like the first, and you have the date[22] given.
The year being thus clearly designated, the time of his appearance
was fixed for the holy week: on Holy Thursday they affirmed the storm
would gather, and from that time till the Sunday there would be the
most tremendous din of battle that had ever been heard in the world;
... for this April was the month of Lightning which Bandarra had
foretold. In pledge of all this, some of the bolder believers declared
that there would be a full moon on the 19th of March, ... when she was
in the wane! It was a prevalent opinion that the _Encoberto_, or the
Hidden One, as they called Sebastian, was actually on board the Russian
squadron!
Those parts of the old prophecies which clearly pointed to the year
1640, when the event for which they were intended was accomplished,
were omitted in the copies which were now circulated and sought
with equal avidity. Other parts were easily fitted to the present
circumstances. A rhyme, importing that he of Braganza would go out and
he of France would come in, which was written concerning the war of
the Succession, was now interpreted to point to the prince of Brazil
and Buonaparte; and the imperial eagle which was preserved in the
Spanish banners after Charles the Fifth, and against which so many
denunciations had been poured out, was the device of this new tyrant.
The Secret Island had lately been seen from the coast of Algarve,
and the quay distinguished from which Sebastian was to embark, and
the fleet in which he was to sail. The tongues of the dumb had been
loosed, and an infant of three months had distinctly spoken in Lisbon
to announce his coming. One believer read prophecies in the lines of
those sea-shells upon which a resemblance to musical characters may be
fancied. The effect of this infatuation was that in whatever happened
the Sebastianists found something to confirm their faith, and every
fresh calamity was hailed by them as a fulfilment of what had been
foretold. The emigration of the Prince and the entrance of the French
were both in the prophecies, and both therefore were regarded with
complacency by the believers. When the French flag was hoisted they
cried Bravo! these are the eagles at the sight of which Bandarra, one
of the greatest prophets that ever existed, shed tears! During the
tumult in Lisbon their cry was, Let them fire! let them kill! all this
is in the prophecies. This folly gave occasion to many impositions,
which served less to expose the credulity of individuals, than to
increase the prevalent delusion. One Sebastianist found a letter from
King Sebastian in the belly of a fish, appointing him to meet him
at night on a certain part of the shore. A more skilful trick was
practised upon another with perfect success. An egg was produced with
the letters V. D. S. R. P. distinctly traced upon the shell; the owner
of the hen in whose nest it was deposited fully believed that it had
been laid in this state, and the letters were immediately interpreted
to mean _Vive Dom Sebastiam Rei de Portugal_. The tidings spread over
the city, and crowds flocked to the house. The egg was sent round in
a silver salver to the higher order of believers. ♦NEVES, II. 142.♦
After it had been the great topic of conversation for three days, it
was carried to Junot, by whom it was detained as worthy of being placed
in the National Museum at Paris. These things naturally excited the
contempt and ridicule of the French; nevertheless, when Junot, as if
to put out of remembrance the very names of the Royal Family, ordered
the ships that were called after the Prince and the Queen ♦OBS. PORT.
P. 275.♦ to be called the Portugueze and the City of Lisbon, he altered
the name of the St. Sebastian also.
♦EDICTS TO PREVENT EMIGRATION.♦
The Comte de Novion was succeeded in the police department by Lagarde,
the fame of whose rapacities in Venice and other parts of Italy
prepared the people to expect in him what they found. ♦APRIL 7.♦ The
first edict of this new minister commanded the _Corregedores_ and
_Juizes do Crime_, or Criminal Judges, to make out in the course of
the ensuing fortnight a list of all the persons who had emigrated from
their respective jurisdictions, specifying in every instance the place
of abode both in town and country, the parish and street, the number
and the floor of the house. Sequestration of the emigrant’s property
was to follow as soon as possible; and any person, though father or
child, or in their default the nearest heir, who should attempt to
conceal or cover any part of the property, was to be treated as having
criminally taken possession of that to which he had no right. If any
person fled after the publication of this decree, his name, with all
particulars concerning him and his disappearance, must be sent to the
Corregedor, or Criminal Judge, within eight-and-forty hours, by the
owner of the house which he had inhabited; or its chief tenant, if it
were divided among many; or all its inhabitants, if the person dwelt in
one of his own, and by those persons also to whom he should have left
the keys and intrusted the care thereof. If any of these persons failed
in informing in due time, they themselves would be considered as having
intended to subtract property destined to sequestration. ♦APRIL 5.♦
It had already been ordered that all flags of truce from the British
squadron should be fired upon: that any person caught in attempting
to reach the fleet should be punished with imprisonment for not less
than six months, or with death, according to the circumstances; and
that the master of the boat, and all other persons convicted of having
consented to assist in the escape, should suffer capital punishment.
It was now enacted, that every one having newspapers, letters, or any
communication of any kind from the British ships, should instantly
deposit them, or give account thereof, at the Intendant General’s
office, on pain of being treated as an agent of the English; and the
same penalty was decreed against every one who should spread news from
the fleet, unless he specified his authority and named the person
from whom his intelligence came. Notice was also given that an office
was opened to receive information against those who were seeking to
emigrate, against the boatmen who would facilitate the escape of such
persons, and against all agents of the English; and it was added, that
on proof of the accusation, Junot would determine what reward should
be given to the informer. ♦OBS. PORT, P. 224.♦ Lagarde had taken
possession of the Inquisition; the old establishment of that devilish
tribunal gave place only to one for political persecution, as if the
edifice itself were polluted, and destined always to deserve the
execrations of mankind.
♦SPECIAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL.
APRIL 8.♦
The next edict announced the formation of a special tribunal for
all criminal cases. It was to consist of a President, who must be a
superior French officer; a French _Capitam Relator_, which may be
rendered Captain-Attorney-General; four other officers, of whom three
must be French, the fourth a Portugueze; one Portugueze judge versed in
criminal jurisprudence; and a secretary, who might be of either nation,
but must speak both languages. Death was decreed against all who
should be convicted of having been engaged in insurrection and popular
commotion, or present at an armed assembly, these offences holding
the first place: the same punishment for murder, either accomplished
or attempted, arson, and robbery accompanied with violence; death
or the galleys for burglary; stripes and the galleys for disobeying
the law respecting the use of knives and other deadly weapons. It is
remarkable, that though the preamble spoke of the insufficiency of
the penal laws, all these punishments were, in the edict, sanctioned
by references to the Portugueze, as well as to the French Code. But
death for the crime of espionage, or for seducing any person to pass
over to the enemy, was enacted by Junot’s own authority. The sentences
of the Tribunal were to be without appeal. In the body of the decree
it was said, that inasmuch as robberies had infinitely multiplied both
in Lisbon and the whole kingdom, this Court should take cognizance of
all offences of that nature, the General in Chief having so decreed
in his desire of protecting with all his power the property of the
inhabitants: but the Tribunal was never embodied; when any persons were
to be _fusiladed_, a military tribunal sufficed for the summary forms
with which these murders were committed.
♦MEASURES OF POLICE.♦
The new Intendant was active in issuing edicts. Lisbon was infested
by dogs, who, belonging to no one, found subsistence in the filth and
offal which were cast into the streets. ♦APR. 9.♦ The police guards
were ordered to kill all whom they met in their rounds; the French
soldiers were invited and entreated to assist in delivering the city
from this nuisance, and the rabble were tempted to exert themselves
by the promise of fifty _reis_ per head: as long as the premium was
paid, these poor animals were hunted down without mercy; the French
however soon became weary of the expense, and the butchery then ceased
after more than 2000 had been killed. ♦APR. 11.♦ Another edict forbade
old keys to be exposed for sale at the old iron stalls, because of
the obvious facility which they afforded to thieves. These measures
affected to reform glaring evils, though not of importance, and against
which there were already existing laws; but Lagarde’s chief attention
was directed to the two objects of securing the intrusive government
and enriching himself. There soon occurred a curious specimen of his
administration of justice. A quarrel took place in the Mouraria between
a Portugueze soldier and three Frenchmen, and the Portugueze was
killed. The scene of this transaction happened to be the worst part
of Lisbon, and it occasioned a great tumult among the inhabitants of
the _Rua Suja_, or Dirty Street, and three other such sties of filth
and iniquity: more French collected; the mob had the advantage, and
the riot was not appeased till a French serjeant of grenadiers was
killed, a soldier mortally wounded, and three others severely cut by
the knives of the Portugueze. Upon this an order appeared from M.
Lagarde, decreeing that twelve of the inhabitants of these streets,
being persons who bore the worst character there, should be apprehended
and imprisoned for three months, unless they declared who were the
chief instigators of the disturbance: that all the common strumpets who
lodged in these four streets should quit them within four days, on pain
of having their heads shaved and being banished from Lisbon; and that
all eating and drinking houses in the said streets should be shut up
for six months, unless the owners would give information against some
person concerned in the affray. The result of the order was, that every
strumpet who could pay a six-and-thirty was suffered to continue in
her abode as not having been concerned in the riot: that the taverners
paid from one to five pieces each, according to their means; the
victuallers from eight milreis to two pieces; ♦OBS. PORT. P. 250, 256.♦
the twelve hostages from twelve milreis to six pieces each; and the
sum total which M. Lagarde extorted from these wretches as the amends
for two Frenchmen killed and three wounded, amounted, according to an
exact account, to 862 milreis; more than five times the weekly sum
distributed by the intrusive government among the starving population
of Lisbon.
♦DEPUTATION OF PORTUGUEZE TO BAYONNE.
APR. 22.♦
By another edict all gunpowder, artillery, fire-arms, and weapons of
every kind, in the possession of merchants or other individuals, were
ordered to be carried to the arsenal, and deposited there till the
owner having obtained a licence for his ship to sail, should want to
embark them. ♦OBS. PORT. P. 249.♦ As soon as they were delivered in,
the best pieces of cannon were spiked and the musquets disabled. Such
precautions were now become more needful for many reasons. May is the
month in which[23] provisions are always dearest in Portugal; and at
this time Buonaparte’s plots against Spain were drawing toward their
completion, and the ferment which had arisen in that country extended
to Portugal. The Spanish troops from Alemtejo were all removed to
Lisbon, and so divided as to be completely within the power of the
French; and to amuse the Portugueze people with hopes, reports were
circulated that the contribution was remitted, and that the sequestered
property would be restored. Halcyon days were now to succeed. ♦OBS.
PORT. P. 262.♦ There was to be nothing but prosperity for Portugal.
A deputation had been sent to Bayonne to offer the homage of their
countrymen to Buonaparte. The persons appointed for this were either
those who were thought dangerous in their own country, or useful in
France. They were the Marquises of Penalva, Marialva, Valença, and
Abrantes, father and son; the Counts of Sabugal and Arganil; Viscount
de Barbacena, the Inquisitor-General, the Bishop of Coimbra, the
Prior of Avis, D. Nuno Caetano Alves Pereira de Mello, D. Lourenço
de Lima, Joaquim Alberto George, and Antonio Thomas da Silva Leitam.
On the Prince’s birth-day, when the streets were strongly patroled
lest that anniversary should call forth any expression of popular
feeling, a letter from ♦LETTER FROM THE DEPUTATION.♦ this deputation
was made public. It assured the Portugueze, that if any thing could
equal the genius of the Emperor Napoleon, it was the elevation of
his soul, and the generosity of his principles: that with a truly
paternal affability he had manifested those principles in his use of
the rights which circumstances gave him. His army had not entered
Portugal as conquerors. He bore no enmity to their Prince, nor to the
royal family; he sought only to connect them with the rest of Europe
in the great continental system, of which they were to be the last and
closing link, for he could not tolerate on the continent an English
colony. It depended upon the Portugueze themselves to show, by their
conduct in this respect, whether they were now worthy still to form a
nation, or must be annexed to a neighbour, from whom so many causes
tended to divide them. The Emperor knew and lamented the privations
which, in common with the continent and America, Portugal endured
during the temporary interruption of her commerce; but this was the
consequence of a struggle, the result of which would amply compensate
for them. The weight of the contributions had impressed his heart, and
his goodness had dictated a promise that it should be reduced to just
limits, compatible with their means. These intentions of the Emperor,
the deputies said, would, they doubted not, excite in the Portugueze
the greatest gratitude. They meantime would continue to fulfil near
the person of the Emperor, and conformably to his orders, the duties
of a mission which had no difficulties, since the goodness of Napoleon
united with his wisdom to simplify their dearest interests.
♦JUNOT MADE DUKE OF ABRANTES.♦
Upon the publication of this letter, the heads of the first corporate
bodies were made to understand, that they must wait upon Junot, whom
Buonaparte had created Duke of Abrantes, and request him to transmit
the expression of their gratitude to the Emperor for the gracious
reception with which their deputies had been honoured. The Dean of the
Patriarchal Church spoke in the name of the clergy; the _Desembargador
do Paço_ and High Chancellor for the magistracy: both these speeches
were remodelled by the intrusive government, and then printed; so
that men who were groaning over the miseries of their country, were
made appear to that country as if they crouched to lick the feet
that trampled upon her. The Conde da Ega, one of the most devoted
partizans of France, spoke for the nobles. Junot in reply told them,
that Portugal, under the protection of the great Napoleon, would soon
be replaced in that rank to which a Vasco da Gama and a Joam de Castro
had raised it by their conquests; a Luiz da Cunha and a Pombal by their
policy; and he desired that a Junta of the Three Estates might be
assembled forthwith, to express the wishes of all classes in a manner
worthy of the nation, and worthy of the monarch to whom they addressed
themselves. ♦HE HOPES TO BE MADE KING OF PORTUGAL.♦ The intention of
this meeting was, that the Portugueze should request to have Junot
for their king, a business which Ega was to manage in the Junta. This
intrigue was unexpectedly counteracted by another, of which Carrion de
Nizas, a French officer of cavalry, M. Verdier, a French subject born
and always resident in Portugal, and the Desembargador Francisco Duarte
Coelho, are said to have been the prime movers. Carrion de Nizas had
the reputation of being the best informed man in the French army. M.
Verdier was a man of great knowledge and extraordinary talents, fond
of the country in which he had passed his life, but too enlightened
not to perceive and lament the abuses by which it had been debilitated
and degraded. He was too far advanced in years, and too wise a man, to
wish for those sudden and violent revolutions, of which the evil is
great, certain, and immediate, and the good contingent and remote. Such
a revolution however had occurred, and he was perforce involved in it,
having been called from a numerous family at Thomar, ♦NEVES, T. II. C.
42.♦ where he had a large cotton manufactory, that Junot might avail
himself of the knowledge which he was known to possess.
♦THE JUIZ DO POVO PROPOSES TO ASK FOR A KING OF BUONAPARTE’S FAMILY.♦
Whatever may have been the motives of the French officer in opposing
Junot’s pretensions to the crown, those of M. Verdier, and the
Portugueze who acted with him, cannot be mistaken, and ought not to be
condemned. Unlikely as it appeared that the House of Braganza should
recover the throne, they desired in this dissolution of government, to
build up the best system which circumstances seemed to allow; and for
this purpose they drew up a paper which they entrusted to the Juiz do
Povo, Jose de Abreu Campos, that he might produce it at the assembly.
The Junta of the Three Estates was but a mere name which might give
colour to the proceedings of Junot; the Juiz do Povo was little more;
but one name served well in array against another, and moreover this
had a popular sound with it, favouring that order of things which
these persons were properly desirous of restoring. Accordingly when
the deputies of the clergy and the various bodies corporate assembled
in the mock Junta, and some person, after the Conde da Ega’s speech,
would have answered for the Juiz do Povo, Campos spoke boldly and
honestly for himself. He declared that he did not assent to what was
going on, and that he had no authority to assent, for he was not a
representative of the people. What was proposed could not be their
wish, as the paper with which he had been entrusted would show. He
then, amid the confusion which his unlooked-for opposition occasioned,
produced and read a paper to this effect: that the Portugueze, looking
upon France as their mother country, inasmuch as the first conquerors
of Portugal from the Moors were French, and mindful of the aid which
they had received from France when they recovered their independence in
1640, acknowledged with all gratitude the protection which the greatest
of monarchs at this time offered them: they desired a constitution and
a constitutional king, who should be a prince of the imperial family;
the constitution with which they should be content was one in all
things like that which had been given to the duchy of Warsaw, with only
an alteration in the mode of electing the national representatives,
which should be by chambers. The better to conform with their ancient
customs, they desired that the Catholic and Apostolic Roman religion
might be the religion of the state, requiring the admission of all the
principles established by the last Concordat with France, whereby the
free and public enjoyment of all modes of worship was tolerated: that
there should be a minister specifically charged with the department
of public instruction: that the liberty of the press should be
established as it then was in France, because ignorance and error
had caused their decay: that the legislative power should be divided
into two houses, and communicate with the executive: that the judges
should be independent, and the Code Napoleon established: that causes
should be publicly tried with justice and dispatch: that all property
held in mortmain should be set free: that the public debt should be
paid, for which means were not wanting: and that the number of public
functionaries, who in the general change must be displaced, should
all receive decent and equitable pensions, and upon every vacancy be
♦NEVES, T. II. C. 42.♦ preferred, provided they were duly qualified.
♦FATE OF THE MOVER OF THIS SCHEME.♦
Junot and the sycophants who hoped to figure at his court were incensed
at this opposition to their project. They easily overpowered the
Juiz do Povo in the meeting, and the Intendant of Police was then
instructed to find out the persons who had instigated him. M. Verdier
in consequence was sent back to Thomar in disgrace. This was what he
would most have wished, could he have returned to that tranquillity
and domestic happiness which he was wont to enjoy. But the crimes of
his countrymen were visited upon him. In the tumults which ensued,
the people among whom he had lived so long, and by whom he had been
deservedly loved and respected, imagined that as a Frenchman he must
needs be a partizan of France, and he was compelled to return to Lisbon
for safety. There, as long as the French continued in Portugal, he
remained under the inspection of the police, a prisoner by Junot’s
orders in his own house. Upon the restoration of the legitimate
government, the part which he had taken was remembered as a crime, and
he was ordered to leave the kingdom. The forms of justice had long been
dispensed with in Portugal; and a man who had violated no allegiance,
who had broken no law, who had offended in no point of honour or of
duty, was marked for punishment, when those who had sinned in every
point were overlooked. Junot however had little leisure to enjoy his
dreams of royalty; he was roused from them by the events in Spain, to
which it is now necessary to recur.
CHAPTER III.
AFFAIR OF THE ESCURIAL. SEIZURE OF THE SPANISH FORTRESSES. TUMULTS
AT ARANJUEZ. FERDINAND MADE KING IN HIS FATHER’S STEAD.
♦1807.
AFFAIR OF THE ESCURIAL.♦
The six months which had now elapsed since the treaty of Fontainebleau
had been the most eventful in Spanish history. On the 30th of October,
a few days after the signature of that treaty, and a few weeks after
Prince Ferdinand had written to Buonaparte, a proclamation was issued
from the Escurial, in which the King of Spain accused his eldest son of
conspiring to dethrone him. ♦FERDINAND ACCUSED OF PLOTTING TO DETHRONE
HIS FATHER, AND ATTEMPTING HIS MOTHER’S LIFE.♦ “God,” said he, in this
extraordinary paper, “who watches over his creatures, does not permit
the consummation of atrocious deeds when the intended victims are
innocent; thus his omnipotence has saved me from the most unheard-of
catastrophe. An unknown hand has discovered a conspiracy carried on in
my own palace against my person. My life was too long in the eyes of
my successor, who, infatuated by prejudice, and alienated from every
principle of Christianity that my parental care had taught him, had
entered into a project for dethroning me. Being informed of this, I
surprised him in my room, and found in his possession the cipher of
his correspondence and of the instructions he ♦1807. NOVEMBER.♦ had
received from the vile conspirators. The result has been the detection
of several malefactors, whose imprisonment I have ordered, as also the
arrest of my son.” In a letter to Buonaparte, written the day before
this proclamation was published, the King made a more horrible charge
against the Prince, whom he accused of having attempted the life of his
mother. “An attempt so frightful,” said he, “ought to be punished with
the most exemplary rigour of the laws. The law which calls him to the
succession must be revoked: one of his brothers will be more worthy to
replace him on my throne and in my heart ... I thought that all the
plots of the Queen of Naples would have been buried with her daughter!”
This alluded to an opinion that the Prince’s late wife had first
instigated him to cabal against his father. She doubtless detested
Godoy and her infamous mother-in-law, and they therefore would not fail
to indispose the King toward her.
♦PERSONS IMPLICATED IN THE CHARGE.♦
The persons chiefly implicated in this accusation were the Duke del
Infantado and D. Juan Escoiquiz, formerly tutor to the Prince, and
author of an heroic poem upon the conquest of Mexico: the latter
had acted as Ferdinand’s agent with the French Ambassador; and the
former had received from him an appointment with a blank date and
a black seal, authorizing him to take the command of the troops in
New Castille upon the event of the King’s death. Six days after the
first proclamation another was issued, in which two letters from the
Prince were contained. The first was in these terms, addressed to the
King: ♦FERDINAND CONFESSES HIMSELF FAULTY, AND ENTREATS FORGIVENESS.♦
“Sire and father, I am guilty of failing in my duty to your majesty; I
have failed in obedience to my father and king. I ought to do nothing
without your majesty’s consent, but I have been surprised. I have
denounced the guilty, and beg your majesty to suffer your repentant
son to kiss your feet.” The other was to the Queen, asking pardon for
the great fault which he had committed, as well as for his obstinacy
in denying the truth; and he requested her mediation in his favour.
In consequence of these letters, the King said, and of the Queen’s
entreaty, he forgave him, “for the voice of nature unnerved the hand
of vengeance.” The Prince, he added, had declared who were the authors
of this horrible plot, and had laid open every thing in legal form,
consistent with the proofs which the law demanded in such cases. The
Judges therefore were required to continue the process, and submit
their sentence to the King, which was to be proportioned to the
magnitude of the offence, and the quality of the offenders. Meantime,
at the request of his Council, he ordered a public thanksgiving for the
interposition of Divine Providence in his behalf.
♦DISGRACEFUL TO ALL PARTIES.♦
This mysterious affair has never been clearly elucidated: it has been
believed to be partly the work of Godoy, partly the intrigue of French
agents: but there seems to be no ground for the latter supposition; and
whatever part Godoy may have taken in it, he was clearly acting on
the defensive. It is one of those transactions in which some disgrace
attaches to all the parties concerned. The King cannot be acquitted of
extreme rashness in so precipitately accusing his son, and bringing
so perilous a subject before the public; nor of extreme credulity in
advancing the shocking and most improbable charge of having attempted
his mother’s life. On the other hand, the fact that Ferdinand so soon
afterwards actually did dethrone his father, renders it very difficult
to exculpate him from having attempted it at this time: if he did not,
it was only because the opportunity did not invite him, not from any
sense of duty. In the lame justification which he afterwards published
of himself and his partizans, it is said that the letter by which
he requested pardon of his father was brought to him by Godoy for
signature; and that he signed it because he would not refuse that new
proof of filial respect to his august parents. But the letter was more
than a mark of filial respect; it professed repentance, it implored
forgiveness, and it impeached his friends.
♦NOT INSTIGATED BY BUONAPARTE.♦
Buonaparte stood in no need of an intrigue of this kind, with its
plot and counter-plot; his plan had already been formed and his means
prepared: and Godoy was at that time held in such close dependence upon
Buonaparte by his hopes and fears, that he would not have ventured upon
so bold a measure without his concurrence, likely too as it was to
draw down his displeasure. The secret denunciation may probably have
come from the Queen, who realized in her feelings toward her son all
that has ever been feigned in tragedy of unnatural mothers. There is a
point at which any evil passion becomes madness, and it was afterwards
evinced that her passion had reached that height. Fearing and hating
her son, it may well be supposed that she would narrowly watch his
conduct; enough might be discovered to excite a well-founded suspicion
of his intentions; and the more atrocious part of the accusation
might be prompted by her wickedness or her fears. If Buonaparte had
instigated the proceedings against Ferdinand, they would have been
carried to greater lengths; he was not a man to have drawn back in
deference to popular opinion, even if at that time there had been any
channel by which the popular feeling of the Spaniards could have been
expressed. ♦HIS CONDUCT.♦ But on this occasion he acted as a friendly
sovereign would have done. Without any appearance of interfering
publicly, he instructed the Ambassador, Beauharnois, to mediate in
favour of the Prince, and put a stop to proceedings which could only
bring disgrace upon the royal family: thus keeping aloof from all
parties, he made them all look to him with trembling dependence, while
he steadily pursued his plans for the destruction of all. He did not
however neglect to take advantage of the circumstance for furthering
those nefarious plans; but on the receival of the dispatches, affecting
the most violent anger that a suspicion of his ambassador should have
been entertained, ordered 40,000 men to Spain, to be prepared, as he
afterwards said, for every event, and to support the army of Portugal,
and to counteract the policy of England, by which he pretended to
believe these intrigues were put in motion.
♦ANXIETY OF GODOY.♦
Meantime Junot took possession of Lisbon. One part of the secret
treaty having been thus fulfilled, Godoy was anxiously expecting to
be installed in his new kingdom of the Algarves, where he flattered
himself with the thought of being secure from Ferdinand’s resentment,
to which in his present situation he would otherwise be exposed upon
the King’s death. He relied upon the good offices of Joachim Murat,
Grand Duke of Berg, who had married one of Buonaparte’s sisters, the
widow of General Le Clerc. With him he communicated through D. Eugenio
Izquierdo, his agent at Paris; and if money to any amount should be
necessary to expedite his wishes, the treasure which he had amassed
during his administration enabled him to disburse it at command. Murat
however informed him that the business was now become very delicate,
owing to the extraordinary attachment which the Spaniards manifested
toward the Prince of Asturias, the consideration due to a princess of
the royal family, and the part taken by her relation, the Ambassador
Beauharnois. Godoy now fully believed that the projected marriage was
agreeable to Buonaparte, and ♦1807. DECEMBER.♦ yielding to every new
circumstance with the facility of weakness, persuaded Charles to write
and solicit an alliance which he had so lately dreaded. But Buonaparte
assumed an air of displeasure towards Izquierdo, and kept him at a
distance, in order to cut off the direct mode of communication; and he
set off for Italy, giving to his journey an affected importance, which
excited the expectation of all Europe. There carrying into execution
those parts of the secret treaty which were to his own advantage, ♦THE
Q. OF ETRURIA EXPELLED FROM TUSCANY.♦ he expelled from Tuscany the
widow Queen of Etruria and her children; and seized the public funds
of a court who were ignorant of the very existence of the compact by
virtue of which they were called upon to surrender not only what he had
given them, but those dominions which they had possessed before he and
his family were banished from Corsica. It was in vain for this poor
Queen to demand time for dispatching a courier to her father’s court,
or to plead that no communication had been made to her upon a subject
in which the rights and interests of her son were vitally concerned;
she was desired in reply to hasten her departure from a country which
was no longer hers, and to find consolation in the bosom of her family.
On the journey they informed her that she was to receive a part of
Portugal as a compensation. This only increased her affliction, for she
neither wished for, she says, nor would accept of dominion over a state
belonging to any other sovereign, ♦MEMOIR OF THE Q. OF ETRURIA, P. 20.♦
still less over one which belonged to a sister and a near relation of
her own. ♦1807 DECEMBER.♦ To this trial the Queen of Etruria was not
exposed: upon reaching her parents and inquiring respecting the treaty,
she was told that they also had been deceived, and that no such treaty
was in existence!
♦BUONAPARTE WRITES TO THE KING OF SPAIN.♦
From Italy Buonaparte answered the King of Spain’s letters; assured
him that he had never received any communication from the Prince of
Asturias, nor had had the slightest information of the circumstances
respecting him which those letters imparted; nevertheless, he said, he
consented to the proposed intermarriage. In a letter afterwards written
to Ferdinand himself, he acknowledged the receipt of that letter which
he now denied. Holding out these hopes to the Prince, and yet, at the
same time, by his long silence and his reserve towards Izquierdo,
keeping him, his father, and the favourite, equally in suspense and
alarm, he was, meantime, marching ♦TROOPS MARCHED INTO SPAIN.♦ his
armies into Spain. That they should enter it had been stipulated by the
secret treaty of Fontainebleau; and the court was not in a state to
insist upon the condition that the two contracting powers were to come
to a previous agreement upon that point. It was essential to his views
that he should make himself master of the principal fortresses; and
his generals were instructed to obtain possession of them in whatever
manner they could. The wretched court, fearing they knew not what, were
now punished by their own offences; the treaty into which they had
entered for the destruction of Portugal was turned against themselves;
♦1808.♦ and they had neither sense nor courage to take those measures
for their own security which the people would so eagerly have seconded;
on the contrary they gave the most positive orders that the French
should be received every where, and treated even more favourably than
the Spanish troops. Thus were the gates of Pamplona, St. Sebastian,
Figuieras, and Barcelona thrown open to them.
♦SEIZURE OF PAMPLONA.
FEB. 9.♦
The next object of these treacherous guests was to get possession of
the citadels. Pamplona was the first place where the attempt was made.
General D’Armagnac having taken up his quarters in the city, received
orders from Marshal Moncey, whose head-quarters were at Burgos, to make
himself master of the citadel in any manner, and at whatever cost.
Moncey had commanded the French army in Biscay in the year 1794, and
at that time when the republican soldiers were accustomed to boast of
acts of sacrilegious rapacity, left even among the people whom he had
invaded the reputation of a just and generous and honourable man. It
was his ill fortune now to be in the service of Buonaparte, and to be
employed in acts like this! D’Armagnac first tried a stratagem; he
requested permission from the Marquis de Vallesantoro, captain-general
of Navarre, to secure two Swiss battalions in the citadel, under
pretence that he was not satisfied with their conduct: the Marquis
however perceived that such ♦1808 FEBRUARY.♦ a permission would put
one of the strongest bulwarks of Spain in the power of the French,
and made answer that he could not consent without an express order
from the court. Where there was prudence enough to prompt this answer,
a certain degree of precaution might have been looked for, which
nevertheless was wanting. The French soldiers were permitted every day
to enter the citadel and receive their rations there, and this with
such perfect confidence on the part of the garrison, that even the
forms of discipline were not observed at such times. One night, during
the darkness, D’Armagnac secretly introduced three hundred grenadiers
into the house he occupied, which was opposite the principal gate of
the citadel. Some of the ablest and most resolute men were selected
to go as usual for the rations, but with arms under their cloaks. The
ground happened to be covered with snow, and some of the French, the
better to divert the attention of the Spaniards, pelted each other
with snow-balls; and some running, and others pursuing, as if in
sport, a sufficient number got upon the drawbridge to hinder it from
being raised; the signal was then given, some of the party who had
entered seized the arms of the Spaniards, which were not, as they ought
to have been, in the hands of the guard; others produced their own
concealed weapons to support their comrades; the grenadiers from the
general’s house hastened and took possession of the gate, the rest of
the division was ready to follow them, and the first news which the
inhabitants of Pamplona heard that morning was, that the French, whom
they had received and entertained as friends and allies, had seized
the citadel. When all was done, D’Armagnac addressed a letter to the
magistrates, informing them, that, as he understood he was to remain
some time in Pamplona, he felt himself obliged to insure its safety
in a military manner; and he had therefore ordered a battalion to the
citadel, in order to garrison it, and do duty with the Spanish troops:
“I beseech you,” he added, “to consider this as only a trifling change,
incapable of disturbing the harmony which ought to subsist between two
faithful allies.”
The Spanish court had by its own folly and its treachery towards
Portugal, reduced itself to so pitiable a state of helpless
embarrassment, that it dared not resent this act of unequivocal
insult and aggression. Not to perceive that some hostile purpose was
intended, was impossible; but Charles and his minister were afraid to
remonstrate, or to express any feeling of displeasure, or to prepare
for resistance, or even to take any measures for guarding against
a like act of treason on the part of their formidable ally in the
other strong holds, upon the security of which so much depended.
This wretched court contented itself with repeating instructions to
the commanders and captains-general, on no account to offend the
French, but to act in perfect accord with them, and by all means
preserve that good understanding which so happily subsisted between
the two governments! And when representations were repeatedly made
of the suspicions which were entertained, and the danger which all
the measures of the French gave so much reason for apprehending, the
answers of the court were written in vague and empty official language,
from which nothing could be understood, except that the government was
determined to let the whole responsibility fall upon its officers, and
to be answerable itself for nothing! While D’Armagnac secured Pamplona,
General Duhesme had been instructed in like manner to get possession of
♦SEIZURE OF BARCELONA.♦ Barcelona, where he was quartered. Immediately
on his arrival he requested that his troops might do duty in the city
jointly with the Spaniards, and occupy with them the principal posts,
assigning candidly as a reason for this suspicious request, his own
personal security in the disturbed state of public feeling which was
then apparent; and as a farther reason, the probability that such
a proof of perfect amity and confidence would more than any other
measure tend to satisfy and tranquillize the people. The Conde de
Espeleta, captain-general of Catalonia, was so strictly charged in
his instructions to offer no displeasure to the French, that he could
not refuse his assent to this insidious proposal. If there had been
any doubt of the intention which it covered, that doubt was speedily
removed; the usual guard at the principal gate of the citadel was
twenty men, but Duhesme stationed a whole company of _chasseurs_ there.
A people so intelligent, so active, and so high-minded, as the
Catalans, were neither to be deceived nor intimidated; and if the
inhabitants had not been restrained by obedience to their own
government, Barcelona might certainly have been preserved. Duhesme
felt himself in danger, and the Spanish troops, as well as the
inhabitants, sometimes expressed an impatience, which at any moment
might have produced a perilous conflict. The French reported that their
passports from Madrid were arrived, and that they were to march for
Cadiz as speedily as possible; on the morrow they were to be reviewed
preparatory to their march. This welcome news completely deceived the
inhabitants, and no surprise was excited by the beat of drum and the
movement of battalions at the time appointed. Some regiments were
drawn up upon the esplanade which separates the citadel from the town,
and a battalion of Italian light troops were stationed upon the road
leading from the custom-house to the principal gate of the citadel.
At two in the afternoon, an hour when the people, satisfied with the
spectacle, had mostly left the streets and returned to their dinner and
their _siesta_, General Lechi came to review this body of Italians,
and passed on, followed by his aides-de-camp and his staff, into the
citadel. The French who were on duty received him under arms, according
to military etiquette, and the Spaniards did the same. Under pretence
of giving some orders to the officer of the guard, Lechi and his suite
halted on the drawbridge, and occupying it by that manœuvre, covered
the approach of the infantry. The Italians defiled under cover of the
ravelin which defended the gate, and knocked down the first Spanish
centinel, whose voice when he would have given the alarm was drowned by
the beating of the French drums under the archway. Lechi then advanced;
the Spanish part of the guard could make no resistance, their French
comrades being ready to act against them in the first moment when the
treason was discovered; and immediately afterwards overpowering numbers
were upon them. Four battalions followed the first, and the invaders
were completely masters of the place. The Spanish governor, Brigadier
Santilly, indignant at a treachery against which he should have taken
some precautions, presented himself to Lechi as a prisoner of war: he
was received however with perfect courtesy, and all protestations of
friendship and alliance, which General Lechi, with an effrontery worthy
of his master and his cause, made no scruple of repeating in the very
act of breaking them. Upon the alarm of this aggression the Spanish and
Walloon guards who belonged to the garrison hastened to their post;
they were not permitted to enter the citadel till night, by which time
the French had secured themselves in possession of the place. Having
been admitted, they ranged themselves in arms opposite the French,
and in that menacing position the night was passed, and the following
morning, till orders came to quarter themselves in the town; and the
French were then left sole masters of the place.
♦SEIZURE OF MONJUIC.♦
While one division of these treacherous allies surprised the citadel,
another advanced upon Monjuic, a fort upon a hill which commands the
town. An Italian colonel, by name Floresti, commanded this latter
division. Monjuic is one of the strongest fortresses in Spain: it had
a sufficient garrison, and the commander, D. Mariano Alvarez, was a
man of the highest and most heroic patriotism. When he was summoned to
open the gate, he demurred, saying he must receive instructions from
his government. Floresti insisted that his orders were peremptory, and
must be executed. He and his men were standing upon ground which was
undermined, and Alvarez was strongly inclined, instead of admitting
them, to fire the train. Could he have foreseen what a spirit was about
to display itself in the Peninsula, this he would undoubtedly have
done; but the spirit of Spain was still overlaid by its old wretched
government; and the responsibility at such a time of involving his
country in direct hostilities with France was more than even the
bravest man would venture to take upon himself.
♦SEIZURE OF ST. SEBASTIAN’S AND FIGUIERAS.♦
At St. Sebastian’s General Thouvenot requested leave to place his
hospital in the fort and in the Castle of S. Cruz, and to deposit
there the baggage of the cavalry corps which was in his charge. Both
the Spanish commanders did their duty by returning a refusal, and
transmitting an account of their conduct to the court; ... the court
returned for answer, that there was no inconvenience in acceding to
the wishes of the French general; and this fortress was thus, by the
imbecility of Charles and his ministers, delivered up to the French.
♦MARCH 3.♦ There still remained the strong and important fortress of
Figuieras. Colonel Pie had been left in the town with 800 men, and
with instructions to get possession of the fort. He attempted to win
it by the same stratagem which had been practised at Barcelona; but
the Spaniards also knew and remembered that example, and raised the
drawbridge in time. Here however the governor seems to have acted
with more facility than had been shown elsewhere; two days after the
treacherous attempt had been frustrated, he consented to let Pie
introduce two hundred conscripts, whom he pretended he wished to
secure; ♦MARCH 18.♦ ... two hundred chosen men marched in under this
pretext; the rest followed them, and the French then obtained from a
government which dared deny them nothing, the keys of the magazines,
and an order which removed the Spaniards from the garrison.
♦DEPOTS ESTABLISHED AT BARCELONA.♦
The government of Spain had not virtue enough to know the strength
which it possessed in such a people as the Spaniards; feeling nothing
but its own imbecility, it had not had courage to prevent these
aggressions, and consequently dared not resent them; and as the
French seized these places in the name of their Emperor as an ally,
this wretched court consented to the occupation of them upon the
same plea. Symptoms of a far different spirit appeared in Barcelona;
♦FEB. 29.♦ and the Count of Espeleta, captain-general of Catalonia,
found it necessary to issue a proclamation, calling upon all fathers
of families, and heads of houses, to preserve tranquillity, and thus
co-operate with the intentions of their rulers; and declaring that
the late transactions did in no way obstruct or alter the system of
government, neither did they disturb public nor private order. His
proclamation was posted in all parts of the city. Duhesme, however,
soon gave the inhabitants new cause for alarm, by calling upon the
captain-general to fill the magazines, and establish depots for the
subsistence of his troops. ♦MARCH 18.♦ The Count of Espeleta returned
for answer to this requisition, “that the French general might consider
the whole city as his magazine: that, as he had no enemy to dread,
and was quartered there as an ally, the measures which he proposed
to take could only serve to create suspicion and distrust: and that
the Emperor would be ill pleased to hear that he had alarmed, with
fearful forebodings, a city which had afforded him so hospitable a
reception. Your Excellency,” he pursued, “will be pleased to request
the opinion of his Imperial Majesty respecting your determination,
before you carry it into effect, and to accompany your request with
this explanation of mine; as I shall also lay the business before the
King my master, without whose orders I cannot give to your Excellency
what the forts in possession of the Spanish troops have not. Meanwhile
I wish to impress upon your mind, that it will serve no good purpose to
supply the forts with stores of provisions; that such an intention is
pointed and offensive: and that it will neither be in the power of your
Excellency, nor of myself, to remedy the consequences of the feeling
which such a measure may excite among the inhabitants.”
♦ALARM OF THE SPANIARDS.♦
When the French troops first began to enter Spain, various reports were
circulated to account for so extraordinary a measure. The occupation
of Portugal had been the first pretext; and when Junot had taken
possession of that country with one army, the possibility that the
English would attack him there was a sufficient plea for having another
near at hand to support him. An English expedition against Ceuta had
been talked of; it was pretended that they meant to make a descent upon
the southern coast of Spain, and therefore French troops were to occupy
the whole of that coast. The recovery of Gibraltar was another project,
and another one an invasion of the opposite shore, which would exclude
the English from the ports of Barbary, and give France entire command
of the Mediterranean. Buonaparte, in his dreams of ambition, had
sometimes looked that way, and had inquired of those who were best able
to answer the question, what force would be sufficient for the conquest
of Morocco. But he was resolved first to be master of the Peninsula,
and the measures which he had now taken were such as could no longer
leave a doubt in any reasonable mind of his intention. The occupation
of four important fortresses, which were considered as the keys of
Spain, astonished the Spaniards. Never before had the public mind been
so agitated, but they knew the weakness of the King and the incapacity
of his counsellors; they had none to look to who should direct their
willing hands; and though no people could be better disposed to stand
forth in defence of their country, they remained in a state of helpless
and hopeless astonishment.
♦FEARS AND PERPLEXITIES OF THE SPANISH COURT.♦
Godoy is said to have been the first person about the court whose
eyes were opened to the real designs of Buonaparte. They flashed upon
him as soon as he learnt the seizure of Pamplona; and he ordered the
Spanish General Laburia, who had been stationed at Irun that he might
provide every thing for the French troops, to demand from the French
commander in chief an explanation of his conduct in having taken
possession of that fortress. An answer was returned, half mockery,
half insult, that the citadel had been occupied in order to secure
the public tranquillity. Godoy had been the tool of Buonaparte, not
the accomplice: he might have foreseen such a reply; but no means
were left him of resenting the aggression, or repairing the follies
of which he had been guilty. Buonaparte seems at this time to have
intended that the royal family should fly to their American empire;
he might then take possession of the kingdom as left to him by their
abdication; and there were no means of ultimately securing Spanish
America also, so likely as by letting this family retire there; both
countries would needs be desirous that the intercourse between them
should continue; nor were there any Spaniards who would with less
reluctance submit to hold it in dependence upon him, than those persons
who had given so many proofs of abject submission to his will. For
the purpose of increasing the fear of Charles and his ministers, he
wrote an angry letter, complaining, in the severest terms of reproach,
that no farther measures had been taken for negotiating the proposed
marriage. The King replied, that he was willing it should take place
immediately. He probably considered Buonaparte to be sincere in his
intentions of forming this alliance, and never having been fit for
business, and now, perhaps, for the first time really feeling its
cares, a natural wish for repose began to be felt, and a thought of
abdication passed across his mind. “Maria Louisa,” said he to the
Queen, in the presence of Cevallos, and of all the other Ministers of
State, “we will retire to one of the provinces, where we will pass
our days in tranquillity, and Ferdinand, who is a young man, will
take upon himself the burden of the government.” This was a thought
which the example of his predecessors might readily suggest to a King
of Spain. But it was not this which the Corsican desired; ... that
tyrant perceived his victim was not yet sufficiently terrified, and
therefore Izquierdo, who had been kept at Paris in a state of perpetual
suspense and agitation, was now commanded to return to Spain. No
written proposals were sent with him, neither was he to receive any;
and he was ordered not to remain longer than three days. Under these
circumstances he arrived at Aranjuez, and was immediately conducted by
Godoy to the King and Queen. What passed in their conferences has never
transpired; but, soon after his departure from Madrid, Charles began
to manifest a disposition to abandon Spain, and emigrate to Mexico. If
he were capable of feeling any compunctious visitations, how must he
have felt at reflecting that he had assisted in driving his kinsman and
son-in-law to a similar emigration; that he was now become the victim
of his own misconduct; and, envying the security which that injured
Prince had obtained, was himself preparing, in fear and in peril, to
follow his example!
♦MEASURES FOR PROTECTING THE INTENDED EMIGRATION.♦
But there was a wide difference between the circumstances of Spain and
Portugal, making that a base action in the sovereign of the former
kingdom, which for the last half century would have been the wisest
measure that the House of Braganza could have adopted. This seems to
have been felt, for the intention was neither avowed at the time,
nor acknowledged afterwards. The ostensible intention was, that the
royal family should remove to Seville, and that a camp should be
formed at Talavera. Solano was summoned from his Utopian experiments
in Portugal, and ordered to march to Badajoz without delay, that he
might be ready to meet the court with a sufficient escort, and protect
their embarkation; and Junot was requested to part with the Spanish
troops who were at Lisbon, that they might be stationed in the southern
provinces, which it was pretended were in danger from the English.
This pretence did not impose upon Junot; neither could preparations
for such a removal be made as easily at Madrid and Aranjuez as at
Lisbon. Great agitation prevailed in the metropolis: the French were
now rapidly advancing thither, and the intentions of the royal family
were suspected; secretly perhaps divulged by those friends of Ferdinand
in the ministry to whom they had necessarily been intrusted. Things
were in this state when Godoy, as commander in chief, sent an order
to Madrid for the Royal Guards, and all the other corps which were
stationed there, to repair immediately to Aranjuez; at the same time
he desired the Council of Castille would issue a proclamation to
assure the people that this was merely a measure of precaution, for
the purpose of preventing any disputes between the French and Spanish
soldiery, and that the alliance between the King and the Emperor of
the French remained unalterable. The Council demurred at this, and
dreading the consequences of the intended flight, which they clearly
perceived these troops were to protect, they sent a memorial to the
King, representing the imminent danger to which, by such a measure, his
royal person, his whole family, and the whole nation, would be exposed.
This remonstrance produced no effect, but the Council escaped the
infamy of asserting a direct falsehood to the people, which they had
been instructed to do; and the troops obeying their orders left Madrid
before a reply from Aranjuez could be received, and without any attempt
being made to calm or to deceive the populace.
♦HOPES OF THE PRINCE’S PARTY.♦
These movements revived the hopes of the Prince’s party, who were
also strengthened by the natural course of events, for men who had
hitherto fawned on the favourite were now ready to forsake him, and
imagining that the Prince’s rise would be the consequence of Godoy’s
fall, hastened to offer their servilities and services to the rising
sun. They remonstrated with the King upon the extreme impolicy of his
intentions; and observing to him that Buonaparte had left even his
greatest enemies, the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, upon
their thrones, they represented how impossible it was to believe that
he would think of dethroning a sovereign with whom he was in alliance,
and with whose family he was about to connect his own by marriage.
♦VACILLATION OF THE KING. MAR. 16.♦ With such men as Charles IV. the
last counsellor will always have the most weight; yielding to arguments
which might have staggered a stronger mind, he suddenly changed his
purpose, and issued a proclamation to tranquillize the people, and to
disclaim any intention of leaving the country. The army of his dear
ally, he said, was traversing his kingdom in peace and friendship
toward those points which were menaced by the enemy: and the junction
of his life-guards was not to protect his person, nor to accompany
him upon a journey, which had been mischievously represented to be
necessary. Surrounded by his loyal and beloved vassals, what had he
to fear? or if it were required, could he doubt of the strength which
their generous hearts would offer him? But they had only to remain
quiet, and conduct themselves still as they had hitherto done towards
the troops of their good King’s ally. This paper was read by the
people with delight; they crowded to the palace and to the gardens
to manifest their joy: their loyal acclamations brought the King and
his family to the balcony, and it is said that Charles was evidently
affected by the marks of enthusiastic attachment which his subjects
expressed, believing as they did, and as undoubtedly it was intended
they should[24] believe, that he engaged himself by this declaration,
not to forsake the country. But the paper was hardly dry upon the walls
of Aranjuez where it was posted up, before some fresh alarm produced
a second change in this poor, perplexed, intimidated sovereign. ♦MAR.
17.♦ On the morning of the 17th of March the emigration was finally
resolved upon, and the hour of eleven that night was fixed for
commencing their flight.
♦INSURRECTION AT ARANJUEZ.♦
Ferdinand and his brother, the Infante D. Carlos, opposed this
resolution, and entreated their parents to desist from what they called
so rash and perilous a project. It is affirmed, that the former took an
opportunity of saying to one of the body guards, the journey was to be
that night, and that he was resolved not to go. His partizans meantime
were not idle. Notwithstanding the proclamation of the preceding day,
the people of Madrid were not satisfied; the proofs of the court’s
intention were unequivocal; carriages and horses had been embargoed;
loaded carts had set off; and relays of horses were stationed on the
road to Seville. From the metropolis the populace flocked to Aranjuez;
there the baggage was packed up for removal, and it was now beyond
a doubt that their government was on the point of abandoning them.
Godoy relied upon the soldiers; he had been accustomed to defy the
opinion of the people, and it has been said, at this critical moment,
when Ferdinand, trusting to his interest with Buonaparte, and perhaps
still more to his favour with the mob, opposed with more vehemence his
father’s intentions, that the favourite with a threatening gesture told
him, if he would not go voluntarily he should be carried in bonds. But
insolent as the favourite was, it is not credible that at such a time
he should have dared to insult the Prince with such a menace; his wish
would rather have been to get rid of Ferdinand by leaving him in Spain.
Indeed these transactions are perplexed with various and contradictory
relations, which it is impossible to reconcile; many persons had an
interest in misrepresenting them; the circumstances themselves were
confused and tumultuous, and the event resulted perhaps more from
accident, than from any preconcerted scheme or intended purpose. An
alarm was given late at night, whether wantonly or in design, by
one[25] of the body guards, who fired a pistol: others instantly
assembled, and the mob gathered round Godoy’s house, and endeavoured
to force their way in. His own soldiers were faithful to him, and some
of the life-guards fell in this attempt. Don Diego Godoy, brother
to the favourite, came with the regiment which he commanded to his
assistance, and ordered them to fire upon the people; they refused to
obey, and suffered their commander to be disarmed and bound hand and
foot. The tumult increased, and some cries were uttered, by which it
appeared that the dethronement of Charles was desired as well as the
death of Godoy. Ferdinand was at that hour the idol of the unreflecting
multitude, and not a thought was expressed or felt of effecting any
other change than that of removing the one king to make room for
another. When the house of the favourite was at length forced, he
himself was not to be found. In their indignation the people committed
his furniture to the flames; many valuable ornaments were destroyed,
but nothing was pilfered; and the insignia of his various orders, rich
with gold and jewels, were carefully preserved and delivered to the
King. In the height of their fury also they had compassion upon the
wife and daughter of Godoy, the former perhaps had been made an object
of popular favour because of the scandalous life of her husband, and
they were conducted safely to the palace with a kind of triumph, but in
a state of feeling which may well be conceived. The uproar continued
through the night. At the earliest break of day Ferdinand appeared in
the balcony, and by his presence some degree of order was restored.
The populace were weary, if they were not satisfied; the troops ranged
themselves under their respective banners, guards were posted at the
door of the house which had been ransacked, and quiet was apparently
re-established. At seven in the morning the King issued a decree,
saying, that as he intended to command his army and navy in person, he
dismissed the Prince of the Peace from his rank of generalissimo and
chief admiral, and permitted him to withdraw whithersoever he pleased.
He also notified this in a letter to Buonaparte, wherein, as if the
real cause of the dismission could possibly be concealed, it was said
that leave had been granted to the minister to resign these offices
because he had long and repeatedly requested it: “but,” the King
added, “as I cannot forget the services the Prince has rendered me,
and particularly that of having co-operated with my invariable desire
to maintain the alliance and intimate friendship that unite me to your
imperial and royal Majesty, I shall preserve my esteem for him.”
♦ABDICATION OF CHARLES IV.♦
The people were not to be appeased by a measure so obviously designed
to save the favourite from their hatred, and give him an opportunity
of effecting his escape. There were no seditious movements during
that day and the ensuing night; but the cause of alarm and agitation
continued. Godoy, in the first moment of danger, had taken shelter
in a garret, among a heap of mats, in one of which he wrapt himself.
There he remained about two and thirty hours; till, unable longer to
endure the intolerable thirst produced by the feverishness of fear,
on the morning of the 19th he left his hiding-place, and came forth
to meet his fate, whatever it might be. It would have been a dreadful
one, if the soldiers had not first perceived him, and afforded him some
protection against an infuriated populace. Notwithstanding the guard
under which he was immediately placed, the raging mob fell upon him,
and he was led away prisoner. He had pistols when he had hid himself,
and he has been reproached for not using them either against himself
or his assailants; but though at such a time he could have little hope
of life, he had a Catholic sense of the value of what little interval
might be granted him, and he cried out for a confessor when death
appeared to be at hand. That cry may sometimes avail with a Catholic
mob, when it would be vain to entreat for any other mercy. He was,
however, beaten[26] and wounded, and his escort would hardly have
been able to have saved his life, if the King had not sent Ferdinand
to save him. Under his protection ... under the protection of the man
whom he had most injured, and whom he justly regarded as his greatest
enemy, he was deposited safely in the guard-house; and the Prince then
in the name of his father satisfied the people, by assuring them that
the fallen minister should be brought to condign punishment, according
to the laws. The hope of seeing him publicly executed induced them to
forego the immediate fulfilment of their vengeance, which would have
been an inferior gratification. They dispersed accordingly, and there
was another interval in the storm.
It broke out with renewed violence about middle day, when a carriage
with six mules drew up to the guard-house. A report immediately spread
that the culprit was to be removed to Granada, for the purpose of
screening him from justice: the mob presently collected; they cut the
traces and broke the carriage to pieces. They were once more quieted
by the presence of Ferdinand, who repeated in his father’s name a
solemn promise that Godoy should be punished in due course of justice.
How far these repeated commotions arose naturally from the strange
circumstances of the kingdom and the court, or how far they may have
been excited by intriguing men, who hoped for employment under a
new reign, and by those who with warm hearts and heated imaginations
promoted the work of revolution for its own sake, it is impossible to
ascertain; even those who were present have not known what opinion
to form. But whatever the moving causes of these tumults may have
been, the effect was, that on the evening of that day Charles, in the
presence of Ferdinand, his ministers, and the principal officers of
the court, resigned the throne. One of the guards immediately spread
the news, and never was any intelligence more rapidly diffused. The
abdication was publicly announced by a proclamation from Charles,
stating that the infirmities under which he laboured (for he suffered
much from rheumatic pains) would not permit him longer to support
the burthen of public affairs; and that as it was necessary for the
recovery of his health that he should enjoy the tranquillity of a
private life in a more temperate climate, he had, after the most
serious deliberation, determined to abdicate the crown in favour of
his very dear son. He therefore by this decree of “free and voluntary
abdication” made known his royal will, that the Prince of Asturias
should be acknowledged and obeyed as king and natural lord of all
his kingdoms and dominions. The news of these events was received
throughout the kingdom with the most enthusiastic delight. At Madrid
the rabble manifested their joy by entirely destroying the houses of
Godoy, of his brother, his mother, and his more conspicuous adherents;
his portraits and his escutcheons were burnt wherever they could be
found. In many places Te Deum was performed as a thanksgiving for
the favourite’s fall; in others, bull-fights were given with all the
barbarity of the Spanish custom, horses always, and men oftentimes,
being sacrificed in those abominable pastimes. At Salamanca the monks
and students danced in the market-place.
CHAPTER IV.
MURAT ENTERS MADRID. THE ROYAL FAMILY INVEIGLED TO BAYONNE.
TRANSACTIONS AT THAT PLACE.
♦1808. MARCH.
MINISTRY FORMED BY FERDINAND.♦
The first act of Ferdinand VII. evinced either his delusion with
respect to the designs of Buonaparte, or his fear of offending him;
it was to dispatch instructions that Solano’s troops, which were on
their march to Talavera, should remain under Junot’s orders; and
that the French, who were approaching Madrid, should be received as
friends and allies. The new King reappointed the five Secretaries
of State, whose offices terminated with the former reign. D. Pedro
Cevallos, who was one, sent in his resignation; perhaps he wished to
withdraw as much as possible from increasing difficulties and dangers,
against which there appeared no remedy; and he was conscious that some
degree of unpopularity attached to him because of his connexion with
Godoy. Ferdinand, however, by a public decree, refused to accept his
resignation: it had been proved to him, he said, that though Cevallos
had married a cousin of the Prince of the Peace, he never participated
in the projects of which that man was accused; and he was therefore a
servant of whom the King would not deprive himself. It was affirmed
by the Prince and his friends that Godoy had actually aspired to the
throne; an accusation too absurd for any but the vulgarest credulity
of an inflamed people. This wretched minion now felt that there are
times when despotism itself proves even-handed as justice. He was sent
prisoner to the Castle of Villa Viciosa: with that measure wherewith
he had dealt to others, it was now meted to him; a judicial inquiry
into his conduct was ordered, ♦GODOY’S PROPERTY CONFISCATED WITHOUT
A TRIAL.♦ and before any trial, ... before any inquiry, the whole of
his property was confiscated. Processes were also instituted against
his brother, and many of his creatures. The decree which announced
this declared Ferdinand’s intention of speedily coming to the capital
to be proclaimed; expressing however his wish that the inhabitants
would previously give him proofs of their tranquillity, since he had
communicated to them his efficient edict against the late favourite.
By the same proclamation the Duque del Infantado, a nobleman of the
highest character, was appointed to the command of the Royal Spanish
Guards, and to the presidency of Castille. All those persons who
were confined in consequence of the affair which happened at the
Escurial (thus the conspiracy was spoken of) were recalled near his
royal person. D. Miguel Jose de Azanza, a man of high character,
who had held the important office of viceroy of Mexico, was made
minister of finance; D. Gonzalo de O’Farril, who had recently returned
from a military command in Tuscany, was first appointed director
general of the artillery, and presently afterwards minister of war.
The Marquis Caballero was retained in the council; and, true to the
maxims and spirit of the vile system which he had so long supported,
he contrived to give a character of ungraciousness to the best act
of the new government. Next to the punishment of Godoy, what all men
most desired was the release of Jovellanos; an order was immediately
issued for this, but it passed through Caballero’s hand, and he,
instead of wording it in those honourable terms which were designed
by the new King, expected by the people, and required by the case,
expressed the royal pleasure as if it were an act of grace conferred
upon a pardoned criminal, not an act of justice to an irreproachable
and injured man. The new government suspended the sale of certain
church property, upon which the fallen minister had ventured in the
plenitude of his power; and they issued an edict for destroying wolves,
foxes, and other animals, which had been preserved about the royal
residences to gratify Charles’s passion for the chase. These measures
were intended to court popular favour, and to cast a reproach upon the
late reign. Some vexatious imposts were taken off; and a part of the
police establishment of Madrid, which had been peculiarly odious, was
abolished. The people regarded these acts as unequivocal proofs of the
new Monarch’s excellent intentions; and the accession of Ferdinand was
considered by those who were ignorant of the difficulties by which he
was beset, and of the perilous circumstances of the country, as the
commencement of a Saturnian age, and as the point of time from which
the regeneration of Spain would be dated.
♦MURAT ENTERS SPAIN. MARCH 3.♦
Meantime Joachim Murat, brother-in-law of Buonaparte and Grand Duke
of Berg and Cleves, had arrived in Spain to take the command of all
the French forces in that country. As soon as his arrival was known,
Charles and Godoy dispatched an officer of artillery, by name Velarde,
to congratulate him, on the part of the King, and to take care that
nothing was wanting for the subsistence and accommodation of his
troops. Murat reached Aranda, on the Duero, on the 17th, the day when
the first disturbances broke out at Aranjuez; and there he desired
Velarde would write to the court and inform them that his instructions
were to march rapidly towards Cadiz; but that he should perhaps take
it upon himself to stop some days at Madrid, though he had no orders
to that effect: he should not, however, proceed farther than St.
Augustine’s without having determined with the Spanish government the
number of troops which were to enter the capital, and the time and
the manner, so that they might be no charge to the inhabitants. He
added, that he was in momentary expectation of dispatches from his
master; that he should very soon be able to inform the Spanish nation
what were the Emperor’s views; that he could now positively announce
his intention of going to Madrid, and that probably in the course of
eight days he would have crossed the Pyrenees. Velarde’s letter, which
communicated this intelligence, was addressed to the Prince of the
Peace; but it was received by the new ministers, and it increased their
perplexities and alarms.
♦THE PEOPLE OF MADRID EXHORTED TO RECEIVE THE FRENCH AS FRIENDS.♦
They informed the people however by a proclamation, that their King
had notified the happy event of his accession to the French Emperor,
and assured him, that far from changing the political system of his
father toward France, he would endeavour to draw closer the bonds of
friendship and strict alliance, which so fortunately subsisted between
the French Emperor and Spain. This communication, it was said, was
made in order that the council of Madrid might act conformably to the
King’s sentiments, by taking measures for restoring tranquillity in
the metropolis, as well as for receiving the French troops who were
about to enter that city, and for administering to them every requisite
assistance. They were to endeavour also to convince the people that
these troops were coming as friends, and for purposes advantageous to
the King and to the nation. The very fact that it was thought necessary
to tell the people this, shows that they were not so besotted as to
believe it. These were strange times, when a Spanish King informed the
people of his measures, and, as it were, appealed to popular opinion;
... but stranger events were at hand.
All the foreign ministers congratulated Ferdinand upon his accession,
except Beauharnois, from whom, after the part which he had taken
concerning the expected marriage and throughout the affair of the
Escurial, congratulation might first have been expected; he withheld
this act of recognition, because he had not been furnished with the
necessary instructions. ♦THE FRENCH ENTER MADRID.♦ Murat was now
advancing toward Madrid, and the general anxiety was heightened by the
more unexpected intelligence that Buonaparte himself, he who made and
unmade princes with a breath, was on the way to Bayonne. He supposed
that the royal family were at this time on the coast and on the point
of embarkation, and that the people, in their fear of anarchy, would
receive the French commander with open arms as their deliverer. The
occurrences at Aranjuez were altogether unexpected; and as soon as he
was informed of them, Murat accelerated his march. The approach of such
an army, the silence of the French Ambassador, the mysteriousness of
Buonaparte, and his journey to Spain, perplexed and alarmed Ferdinand.
He had communicated his accession to this Emperor in the most friendly
and affectionate terms; ... fear could suggest no other. Lest this
should be deemed insufficient, he appointed a deputation of three
grandees to proceed to Bayonne, and compliment him in his name; and
another grandee was sent, in like manner, to compliment Murat, who had
already reached the vicinity of Madrid. This worthy agent was fully in
his master’s confidence; he assured Ferdinand that Buonaparte might
be every moment expected; and he spoke publicly of his coming. Orders
were therefore given for preparing apartments in the palace suitable
for such a guest; and the King, whose fears made him restless, wrote
again to Buonaparte, saying how much he desired to become personally
acquainted with him, and to assure him, with his own lips, of his
ardent wishes to strengthen more and more the alliance which subsisted
between them. ♦MAR. 23.♦ Murat, evidently for the purpose of displaying
his forces, reviewed them before the walls; then made his entrance into
Madrid, preceded by the imperial horse-guards, and by his staff, and
followed by all the cavalry, and by the first division of foot under
General Mounier; two other divisions were encamped without the city,
and a detachment proceeded to take possession of Toledo. Ferdinand
made his public entry on horseback the following ♦MAR. 24.♦ day, amid
the ringing of bells and the discharge of artillery, but with no
other parade than that which, under happier circumstances, would have
been the most grateful of all spectacles; ... a concourse of all the
people of the capital and its vicinity, rejoicing in his presence, and
testifying, by their acclamations, that they expected from him the
regeneration of their country. But never did poor prince succeed to
such a crown of thorns.
The conduct of the French Ambassador had shown what was to be expected
from the French General. Murat declared that until the Emperor
Napoleon had acknowledged Ferdinand VII. it was impossible for him
to take any step which might appear like such an acknowledgment: he
therefore must be under the necessity of treating with the royal
family. But Murat was better acquainted than Beauharnois with his
master’s designs; as if taking the deposed King and Queen under his
protection, he sent a numerous body of troops to Aranjuez to guard
them; and he caused it to be understood that the French would interpose
in behalf of Godoy. Both these measures might have been taken with
honourable designs; but when the French General, Grouchy, ♦GENERAL
GROUCHY MADE GOVERNOR OF MADRID.♦ was made governor of Madrid, a sort
of military government established there, and patroles instituted
to preserve the peace, under the joint superintendence of a French
officer and a Spaniard, sufficient indications were given of an
intention to occupy the capital as the frontier fortresses had been
occupied. A legitimate government which should have had no other cause
of disquietude, would have been perplexed at such a crisis; but the
attention of Ferdinand and his ministers was distracted by personal
considerations: instead of feeling like the sovereign of a proud and
ancient people, the new King was in the situation of one who had to
defend a bad title, and that not by an appeal to arms, but tremblingly
before a superior and a judge.
♦DECLARATION CONCERNING THE AFFAIR OF THE ESCURIAL, MARCH 31.♦
A declaration concerning the affair of the Escurial was made
public on the last day of the month, for the purpose of proving
that neither Escoiquiz, nor the Duque del Infantado, nor the other
persons implicated in the charge of conspiracy, had been guilty of
any misconduct. It was acknowledged that the Prince had in his own
hand-writing commissioned Infantado to assume the command of the troops
in New Castille, in case of his father’s demise, and the alleged
reason was a fear lest Godoy should continue at such a time to make an
improper use of his influence and power. Such a pretext was too shallow
to obtain belief in any calm or considerate mind: the King’s age and
state of health rendered it probable that he might live many years, and
in the event of his death, no man doubted but that Godoy, who held his
power only upon favouritism, must instantly become the wretch that this
revolution made him. As for his aspiring to the throne himself, it is
impossible that he should even for a moment have entertained so frantic
a thought, and almost as impossible that they who made the charge
against him should themselves have believed it.
♦THE ABDICATION REPRESENTED AS A VOLUNTARY ACT.♦
In the deed of abdication Charles called it his own free and voluntary
act, and especial care was taken by the new administration to represent
it as such. He had certainly remembered the examples of Charles V.
and Philip V. and a thought of imitating them had passed across his
mind in moments when difficulties pressed upon him, and he was sick
of the cares of government. This is certain: it is probable also that
the Prince’s party might not have formed the plan of sending him into
retirement unless they had known that he himself had entertained,
however transiently, a wish of retiring. To talk even among themselves
of deposing the King, would have had a startling sound; and have
brought into the prospect scaffolds and executioners as well as places
and power. But it was easy to persuade both themselves and Ferdinand
that their object was so to act as to make his father carry into effect
that wish and wise intention, which, without some such external motive,
he would for ever want resolution to effect for himself. They may have
reasoned thus, and have meant well, and have acted with a patriotic
purpose; nevertheless the act itself bore marks of deposition[27], not
less decided than the abdication of James in England.
♦CHARLES COMPLAINS TO THE FRENCH.♦
These circumstances tallied well with Buonaparte’s designs, and they
were dexterously improved by Murat. Even before he entered Madrid,
General Mouthion was dispatched to Aranjuez with a letter to the
Queen of Etruria, which contained assurances to the deposed King of
Buonaparte’s support. A snare was laid for the imbecile Charles, and
he rushed into it. However compulsory the act of abdication might have
been, it was now as much his interest as that of his family, that he
should acquiesce in it. But actuated by a sense of his wrongs, and
still more perhaps by the Queen, who, trembling for her paramour, hated
her son with all the virulence of an adulterous mother, he committed
his last and consummating folly, by appealing to the very tyrant, whose
open and undisguised aggressions had driven him, not a week before,
to the resolution of abandoning his throne and seeking refuge in
America. He assured Mouthion that the revolution had been preconcerted
and brought about by money; that his son and Caballero were the chief
agents; that he had signed the act of abdication only to save the
Queen’s life and his own, knowing that if he had refused they would
both have been murdered in the course of the night. The conduct of the
Prince of Asturias was more shocking, he added, inasmuch as having
perceived his desire to reign, and being himself near threescore years
of age, he had agreed to surrender the crown to him on his marriage
with a French princess, an event which he, the King, ardently desired.
The Prince, he added, chose that he and the Queen should retire to
Badajoz, though he had remonstrated against the climate as injurious
to his health, and entreated permission to choose another place, his
wish being to obtain leave of the Emperor to purchase an estate where
he might end his days. The Queen said she had begged her son at least
to postpone their departure for Badajoz, but even this was refused,
and they were to set out on the following Monday. This fact alone
would evince how little the inclinations of Charles were consulted
throughout these transactions. The part of Spain where Badajoz stands
is notoriously unhealthy during the summer months; and to have fixed
upon that place for the residence of the deposed monarch, and persisted
in the choice after he had objected to it on the score of his health,
implied in the new government an equal want of feeling and of sense.
♦HE WRITES TO BUONAPARTE, ENTREATING HIM TO INTERFERE.♦
Having made these complaints, Charles delivered into Mouthion’s
hands a formal protest, declaring that the decree of abdication was
compulsory, and therefore invalid. He charged him also with a letter
for the Emperor. “Sir, my brother,” he said, “you will not without some
interest behold a King, who having been forced to resign his crown,
throws himself into the arms of a great monarch his ally, placing every
thing at the disposal of him who alone can make his happiness and
that of all his family, and of his faithful and beloved subjects. I
abdicated in favour of my son only under the pressure of circumstances,
when the noise of arms and the clamours of a rebellious guard made me
sufficiently understand that my choice was between life and death,
and that my death would have been followed by the Queen’s. ♦1808.
APRIL.♦ I have been compelled to resign; but taking hope this day, and
full of confidence in the magnanimity and genius of the great man who
has already shown himself my friend, I have resolved to remit myself
in every thing to him, that he may dispose as he thinks good both of
us and our fate, that of the Queen and of the Prince of the Peace.”
Having consigned this letter to Mouthion, who may be suspected of
having dictated the latter expressions, he renewed his complaints. His
situation, he said, was one of the most deplorable. They had seized the
Prince of the Peace and would put him to death, for no other crime than
that of having been at all times attached to his sovereign. There were
no solicitations which he had not made to save the life of his unhappy
friend, but he found every one deaf to his prayers and bent upon
vengeance; and the death of Godoy would draw after it his own, for he
should not survive him.
♦LETTERS OF THE QUEEN TO MURAT.♦
No King ever placed his favour more unworthily than Charles, but there
was a sincerity in his friendship which almost amounts to virtue, and
would have done honour to a better monarch. The Queen’s attachment
also, which is more easily explained, had a character of enduring
passion and self-abandonment seldom to be found in one at once so
vicious and so weak. From this time she wearied Murat with letters,
written in the most barbarous French and most confused manner, wherein
she expressed her fears and her resentments. Ferdinand, she said, was
the enemy of the French, though he declared the contrary. Infantado
was very wicked; the priest Escoiquiz one of the most wicked; and San
Carlos, the most crafty of all, had received all that he had from
the King at the solicitation of the poor Prince of the Peace, whom
he called his relation. She had no other support than the Grand Duke
and the Emperor, those two sacred and incomparable persons.... But
the Prince of the Peace made the burthen of every letter. “Nothing
interests us,” she said, “but the safe condition of our only and
innocent friend the Prince of the Peace, the friend of the Grand Duke;
even in his prison when he exclaimed on the horrid treatment they were
giving him, he called always upon his friend the Grand Duke. Before
this conspiracy he wished for his arrival, and that he would deign to
accept of his house as a residence.... He had presents to make him....
We are in constant fear of their killing or poisoning him. Let the
Grand Duke cause troops to go without telling why, and without giving a
moment of time to fire a pistol at him separate the guard that is set
over him, which has no other glory in view, no other desire but to kill
him, ... that innocent friend, so devoted to the French, to the Grand
Duke and the Emperor, the poor Prince of the Peace. They heap crimes on
this innocent Prince, our common and only friend, to inflame the public
the more, and make them believe it is right to inflict on him all
possible infamy. Afterwards they will come to me; ... they will make
his head be cut off in public, and afterwards mine, for they say so....
He suffers because he is a friend of the Grand Duke, of the Emperor,
and of the French; the Grand Duke and the Emperor are they alone who
can save him, and if he be not saved and given to us, the King my
husband and I will die.” Every letter was filled with these anxious
solicitations: of the throne there seemed to be neither care nor
thought; with the mob at Aranjuez before her eyes, and the recollection
of Marie Antoinette in her heart, this wretched woman was sick of
royalty; she asked only an allowance for the King, herself, and Godoy,
upon which they might live all three together, in a situation suiting
their health; ... a corner wherein they might quietly finish their
days; ... some place near France, to be within reach of help against
the bloody hands of his enemies. Her feelings toward Ferdinand were not
less strongly expressed than her attachment to Godoy. “My son,” she
says, “has a very bad heart: his character is bloody; his counsellors
are bloody; they take pleasure only in making wretchedness, and his
heart has no feeling for father or mother. He will make his enmity to
the French appear when he thinks he can see occasion.... I fear they
will make some attempt against them; ... the people are gained with
money. When the Grand Duke shall have placed the poor Prince of the
Peace in safety, let rather strong measures be taken, for otherwise
intrigues will go on increasing, above all, against the poor friend of
the Grand Duke and me; and the King my husband is not secure.”
♦THE INFANTE D. CARLOS SENT TO MEET BUONAPARTE.♦
Charles’s protest and his appeal to Buonaparte were concealed from
Ferdinand, and the correspondence with Murat was carried on by means
of the Queen of Etruria, who having witnessed all which had passed at
Aranjuez, and being therefore a competent judge how far the abdication
of her father was voluntary, took part decidedly against her brother.
Murat’s intention was to frighten him into the toils; an alarm that
should have made him start, would have ruined the plot. The interest
which this Grand Duke affected for Godoy, his refusal to acknowledge
the new government, and the respect which he paid to Charles, all
tended to this end. The rumour of Buonaparte’s coming was carefully
spread abroad; fresh couriers were said to have arrived: ... the
Emperor had left Paris, and might speedily be expected in Madrid.
Packages came marked as his, his hat and his boots were shown, Murat
gave minute directions concerning the Emperor’s bath, and accepted a
table of twenty covers for him, and another for his suite. Preparations
were made for processions to do honour to the august visitor, and for
balls at the Palace of the Buen Retiro. The soldiers were told that
he would lose no time in putting himself at the head of his armies
in Spain; ♦APRIL 2.♦ they were ordered to put themselves in a state
to appear before him; and in this proclamation, which appeared in a
Madrid gazette extraordinary, the ominous notice was given, that they
would immediately be supplied with cartridge. It was hinted that it
would be a delicate compliment to the Emperor, if the Infante, Don
Carlos, (Ferdinand’s next brother,) would set off to receive him on the
way. His Highness, Murat said, could not fail to meet him before he
had proceeded two days upon his road. This was readily agreed to, and
the Infante, accompanied by the Duke del Infantado, departed upon this
fatal journey. ♦FERDINAND IS URGED TO GO AND MEET THE EMPEROR.♦ Having
secured this victim, Murat endeavoured to entice Ferdinand himself
into the snare: what had at first been hinted at, and advised as a
mark of attentive consideration, was now pressed upon him as a thing
of importance; a measure which would be attended with the happiest
consequences to himself and the kingdom. The young King hesitated; it
was more than courtesy required, more than an ally was entitled to
expect, and perhaps he felt that it was more than a King of Spain ought
to perform. Cevallos constantly advised him not to leave his capital
till he had received certain intelligence that Buonaparte had passed
the Pyrenees, and was approaching Madrid; and even then he urged him
to proceed so short a way, that it should not be necessary for him to
sleep out of his capital more than a single night. His advice prevailed
for a time against the repeated solicitations of Murat and the
ambassador Beauharnois. It became necessary, therefore, to introduce a
new actor in this detestable plot.
♦THE SWORD OF FRANCIS I. RESTORED TO THE FRENCH.♦
During the interval which elapsed before another agent could appear,
Murat informed Cevallos that the Emperor would be gratified if the
sword of Francis I. were presented to him; and he desired that this
might be intimated to the new King. It might be supposed that this
was designed not merely to gratify the French nation, but also to
lower Ferdinand in the opinion of the Spaniards, if Buonaparte and his
agents had ever taken the nobler feelings of our nature into their
calculation. But it was a mere trick for the Parisians; and neither
they nor the tyrant himself felt that France was far more dishonoured
by the circumstances under which the sword was recovered, than by the
♦MARCH 31.♦ manner in which it had been lost. Accordingly this trophy
of Pescara’s victory, which had lain since the year 1525 in the royal
armoury at Madrid, was carried in a silver basin, under a silken cloth
laced and fringed with gold, to Murat’s head-quarters, in a coach and
six, preceded by six running footmen, and under the charge of the
superintendent of the arsenal; the grand equerry and the Duke del
Parque following in a second equipage with the same state. A detachment
of the guards escorted them, and the sword was presented by the Marquis
of Astorga to Murat; he, it was said, having been brought up by the
side of the Emperor, and in the same school, and illustrious for his
military talents, was more worthy than any other person could be to
be charged with so precious a deposit, and to transmit it into the
hands of his Imperial Majesty. The people of Madrid passively beheld
the surrender of this trophy; it was the act, however compulsory, of
their lawful king, the king of their choice; the compulsion was neither
avowed on the one side, nor confessed on the other; from the imputation
of beholding it with indifference, they amply redeemed themselves.
Murat, upon receiving it, pronounced a flattering eulogium upon the
Spanish nation, ... that nation which he was in the act of plundering,
and which he came to betray and to enslave.
♦ALARM OF THE PEOPLE.♦
In spite of the patroles and rounds, and military government, the
suspicions of the people began to manifest themselves more and more,
and their poor Prince was compelled, while he concealed his own fears,
to exert his authority for suppressing theirs. ♦APRIL 3.♦ By a new
edict, it was enacted, that no liquors should be sold after eight in
the evening; master-manufacturers and tradesmen were ordered to give
notice to the police if any of their workmen or apprentices absented
themselves from their work; fathers of families were enjoined to keep
their children and domestics from mixing with seditious assemblies,
and to restrain them by good example, good advice, and the fear of
punishment. The King, it was said, was grieved to perceive that the
imprudence or malevolence of a few individuals attempted to disturb
the good understanding between the people of Madrid and the troops of
his intimate and august ally; and, as this conduct arose, perhaps,
from a ridiculous and groundless misapprehension of the intention of
those troops who were quartered in that city, and in other parts of the
kingdom, he affirmed, that his subjects ought to set aside every fear
of that nature, for the intention of the French government accorded
with his own; and so far from concealing any hostile prospects, or
the slightest invasion, had no other object than the great measures
requisite against their common enemy. If, however, any person, after
this declaration, should be rash enough, either by words or actions, to
aim at disturbing the friendship between the two nations, the guilty
would be most rigorously punished, without remission and without delay.
♦PERPLEXITY OF FERDINAND AND HIS MINISTERS.♦
In thus attempting to quiet the just alarm of the people, Ferdinand’s
ministers affected a security which they were far from feeling. Murat
had fixed his head-quarters in Godoy’s house, within two hundred steps
of the palace; not like a visitor or the representative of a friendly
power, but as the general of an army with his staff, a numerous guard,
and pieces of field artillery, evidently brought there rather for
use than for parade. He had ten thousand men in the city, and forty
thousand surrounding it, horse and foot, in perfect discipline, and
provided with every thing, as if they were the next hour to take
the field. Their communication with Bayonne was kept open by thirty
thousand more, all of whom, if they were needed, might within a few
days arrive to support the main body of the army: there was Junot
with a force estimated at thirty thousand men in Portugal, ready to
co-operate; while of the Spanish army the flower had been sent under
Romana to the North, some were under the French orders in Italy; the
rest under their power in Portugal; there remained three thousand
troops in Madrid, and a single Swiss regiment in Toledo, of which the
fidelity was suspected. The privy council, rather that it might be
said they had made the inquiry than for any hope of profiting by it,
demanded from the minister of war, Olaguer Feliu, an account of the
number of troops in Spain, and their present situation. His answer
was, that neither he, nor those in his department, had been permitted
to meddle with these things; Godoy was the only person who knew; but
that he believed, according to the general opinion, that except the
scanty garrisons in the sea-ports and at S. Roque, the few troops which
remained in the Peninsula were in Portugal under Junot.
A thought of the safest course in this exigence seems to have passed
across the mind of Escoiquiz, ... that Ferdinand should escape from
Madrid to Algeziras, where there were more troops than in any other
part of his dominions, and from whence he could always command a
sure retreat to Gibraltar. But this thought was speedily dismissed;
resistance was never seriously contemplated: perplexed and helpless as
Ferdinand and his counsellors were, they willingly deceived themselves
as to the impending danger, and there came at this time ♦DISPATCHES
FROM IZQUIERDO.♦ dispatches from Izquierdo, the favourite’s agent
at Paris, which contributed greatly to deceive them. These letters
stated the result of his conferences since he returned from Aranjuez,
with Duroc, the grand marshal of the imperial palace, and with
Talleyrand. An arrangement, they said, between the French and Spanish
governments, might arrest the course of events, and lead to a solemn
and definitive treaty upon these bases: 1st, That there should be a
perfect reciprocity of free commerce for French and Spaniards in their
respective colonies; each granting to the other this privilege, to the
exclusion of all other nations. 2ndly, Portugal being possessed by
France, France necessarily required a military road to that country;
and the continual passage of troops through Spain, to garrison it
and defend it against England, would be a constant occasion of
expense, of disputes, and unpleasant consequences, which might all be
avoided, France giving the whole of Portugal to Spain, and receiving
an equivalent in the Spanish provinces adjacent to her own empire.
3rdly, The succession of the throne must be regulated once for all:
and, lastly, there must be an offensive and defensive alliance.
Upon these grounds, the French negotiators said, an arrangement
might be concluded which would terminate happily the actual crisis
between France and Spain. Izquierdo remarked, in transmitting these
propositions, that when the existence and honour of the state and the
government were thus matter of discussion, the decision must come
from the Sovereign and his council; nevertheless, that his ardent
love for his country had compelled him to make some observations to
Talleyrand upon each of these points. Upon the first he had observed,
that to open the commerce of the Spanish Americas to France was in
reality to divide them with that power; and, moreover, that unless the
pride of England were effectually beaten down, such a measure would
render peace more distant than ever, while till peace was made, the
communications of both countries with those colonies would be cut off.
He added, that even if French commerce were permitted, French subjects
could not be allowed to settle there, in derogation of the fundamental
laws. With regard to Portugal, he reminded Talleyrand of the secret
treaty of Fontainebleau, the sacrifice of the King of Etruria, the
little that Portugal was worth, if separated from its colonies, and
its utter uselessness to Spain: then for the cession of the Pyrenean
provinces, he had dwelt upon the horror which the loss of their laws,
liberties, privileges, and language, would excite in the people, and
their abhorrence at being transferred to a foreign power; adding, that
as a Navarrese himself he never could sign a treaty for ceding Navarre
to France, and by such an act draw upon himself the execration of
his countrymen. But Izquierdo, who was but too well assured that the
French government demanded in such negotiations as these nothing which
it was not determined to obtain, qualified his objections by hinting,
that if there were no other remedy, a new kingdom or viceroyalty of
Iberia might be erected, and given to the King of Etruria, or some
other Infante of Castille. In reply to the point of succession, he
stated what the King had commanded him to say, and in a manner which
he supposed would counteract whatever calumnies had been invented
by the malignant in one country, and infected public opinion in the
other: ... these expressions probably allude to Charles’s intention
of withdrawing from the government, and to the reports that Godoy was
seeking to set aside Ferdinand from his inheritance. Lastly, with
something of a Spaniard’s feeling, he asked Talleyrand if it was
expected that Spain must be put upon a footing with the states of
the Confederacy of the Rhine, and obliged to furnish her contingent,
covering this tribute with the decorous name of a treaty offensive
and defensive? Being at peace with France, she needed not the help of
France against any other enemy, as Teneriffe, and Ferrol, and Buenos
Ayres, might bear witness. Izquierdo added, in his dispatch, that the
marriage was a thing determined; that there would be no difficulty as
to the title of Emperor, which the King was to take; that he had been
asked whether the royal family were going to Andalusia, and replied
according to the truth, that he knew nothing of their intentions. He
had in vain solicited that the French troops should evacuate Castille,
and he requested that not a moment might be lost in replying to this
communication, for the least delay in concluding an arrangement might
produce fatal consequences.
♦THE MINISTERS DECEIVED BY THESE DISPATCHES.♦
If these dispatches had been written for the purpose of deceiving those
into whose hands they fell, they could not have been better adapted to
that intent. Under Godoy the foreign minister knew as little concerning
the state of foreign negotiations, as the minister at war knew of
the state of the army; and when the bearer of these papers, finding
the favourite in prison, delivered them to the new ministers, they
thought they had now obtained an insight into the real cause of all the
alarming movements of the French. Well might France think that demands
so extravagant as these could only be obtained by force; and this would
explain the seizure of the fortresses, and the advance of an army to
Madrid. To men who had feared the whole evil which was intended, it
was a relief to imagine that Buonaparte designed to take only the
provinces beyond the Ebro, or perhaps only Navarre; propositions which
would have roused the nation to arms, were yet so far short of the
danger they apprehended, that they contemplated the required cessions
with something like complacency, and flattered themselves, that by a
constant friendship toward France, and the feeling which the marriage
would produce between the two courts, the terms might possibly be
mitigated; ... at all events, that by yielding for the present they
should obtain the restitution of Barcelona and the other fortresses;
and that what with the war which ere long must be renewed in the north,
and the thousand chances to which the game of politics is subject, they
should find opportunity when they had recovered strength, to throw off
this temporary yoke.
♦ARRIVAL OF GENERAL SAVARY AT MADRID.♦
Such were their dreams when General Savary was announced as envoy from
the Emperor, and demanded audience in that capacity. Of course it was
immediately granted. At this audience he professed that he was sent
merely to compliment Ferdinand, and to know whether his sentiments with
respect to France were conformable to those of the King his father;
if it were so, the Emperor would forego all consideration of what
had passed; would in no degree interfere with the interior concerns
of the kingdom; and would immediately recognize him as King of Spain
and of the Indies. To this the most satisfactory answer was given. It
neither was, nor could have been the intention of the Prince’s party
to offend France; the only hope which they had hitherto entertained
of regenerating their government, had been by allying themselves with
Buonaparte, and availing themselves of his power. One of the charges
which were current against Godoy among the people, was that of a
secret understanding with the English, and that he intended to deliver
Ceuta into their hands, and fly with all his treasures under their
protection. Nothing could be desired more flattering than the language
of Savary during this audience; and he concluded it by asserting that
the Emperor was already near Bayonne, and on his way to Madrid. No
sooner, however, had this envoy left the audience-chamber, than he
began, as if in his individual capacity, to execute the real object of
his mission. It would be highly grateful and flattering to his Imperial
Majesty, he said, if the King would meet him on the road: and he
asserted repeatedly, and in the most positive terms, that his arrival
might be expected every hour.
♦FERDINAND PERSUADED TO GO AND MEET BUONAPARTE.♦
The pressing instances of Savary upon this subject, while he repeatedly
and positively asserted this falsehood, were accompanied with such
intermixture of flattery and intimidating hints, as might best operate
upon a man like Ferdinand placed in such circumstances. Murat failed
not to enforce the same assurances, the same falsehoods, and the same
menaces; and the ministers therefore determined upon consenting to what
they dared not refuse. The immediate fear before their eyes was that
Buonaparte might espouse the cause of the father against the son, in
which case the least evils to be apprehended were the renovation of the
Escurial-cause, the disheritance of the Prince, and for themselves
that condign punishment which in that case they would not only suffer,
but be thought to have deserved. They knew how vain it was to rely
upon the popular favour, even if the people of Madrid had not been
under the French bayonets; it was but for Buonaparte to prevent the
Queen from taking part in public business, and to remove Godoy from the
government. Charles was not personally disliked, and his restoration
would then be hailed with as much apparent joy as had lately been
manifested for his deposal.
♦APRIL 8.♦
This resolution was made public by Ferdinand in the form of a
communication to the president of the council. “He had received,” he
said, “certain intelligence, that his faithful friend and mighty ally,
the Emperor of the French and King of Italy, was already arrived at
Bayonne, with the joyful and salutary purpose of passing through this
kingdom, to the great satisfaction of himself (the King), and to the
great profit and advantage of his beloved subjects. It was becoming the
close friendship between the two crowns, and the great character of
the Emperor, that he should go to meet him; thus giving the most sure
and sincere proofs of his sentiments, in order to preserve and renew
the good harmony, confidential friendship, and salutary alliance which
so happily subsisted, and ought to subsist between them. His absence
could last only a few days, during which he expected, from the love and
fidelity of his dear subjects, who had hitherto conducted themselves
in so praiseworthy a manner, that they would continue to remain
tranquil; that the good harmony between them and the French troops
would still be maintained; and that those troops should be punctually
supplied with every thing necessary for their maintenance.” On the
same day he appointed his uncle, the Infante Don Antonio, president
of the high council of government, as well, it was said, on account
of the ties of blood, as because of the distinguished qualities with
which he was endowed, to transact all pressing and necessary business
which might occur during his absence. In this decree he stated, that he
should go to Burgos, evidently implying an intention at that time of
not proceeding farther.
♦FERDINAND SETS OUT FROM MADRID.♦
Deceived, or fain to act as if he were deceived himself, Ferdinand
thought to deceive his father. He wrote to him, saying, that a good
understanding subsisted between the Emperor and himself, as General
Savary had testified; and for this reason he thought it fit that his
father should give him a letter for the Emperor, to congratulate him
on his arrival, and assure him that Ferdinand’s sentiments toward him
were the same as his own. Charles, in reply, ordered the messenger
to be told, that he was gone to bed, ... being determined not to
write such a letter unless he were compelled to it, as he had been
to the abdication. The son, without any such testimonials, began, on
the morning of the 11th of April, his ill-omened journey. Savary,
affecting the most assiduous attention, solicited the honour of
accompanying him; ... he had just, he said, received information of
the Emperor’s approach, and it was not possible that they should
proceed farther than Burgos before they met him. They reached Burgos,
and Buonaparte was not there, neither were there any tidings of his
drawing near. Savary, who had followed the young King in a separate
carriage, urged him to proceed to Vittoria. Ferdinand hesitated; but
the same protestations and urgent entreaties on the part of the French
envoy, and the same anxiety and secret fear which had induced him to
come thus far, made him again consent; yet so reluctantly, that the
Frenchman, on their arrival at Vittoria, thinking it would be useless
to renew his solicitations, left him there, and continued his journey
to Bayonne, there to arrange matters with his master for securing the
prey, who was now already in the toils. At Vittoria, Ferdinand received
intelligence that Buonaparte had reached Bourdeaux, and was on his way
to Bayonne. In consequence of this advice, the Infante Don Carlos, who
had been waiting at Tolosa, proceeded to the latter place, whither the
Emperor had invited him: he reached that city some days before him;
and when this modern Cæsar Borgia arrived there, he found one victim
in his power. It is said that Don Carlos soon discovered the views of
Buonaparte; and, having communicated his fears to one on whom he relied
as a Spaniard, and a man of honour, drew up, with his advice, a letter
to Ferdinand, beseeching him, as he valued the independence of his
country and his personal safety, not to proceed to Bayonne; but this
person was in the tyrant’s interest, and intercepted the messenger.
♦URQUIJO’S ADVICE TO FERDINAND AT VITTORIA.♦
While Ferdinand, meantime, was chewing the cud of reflection at
Vittoria, without those opiates of falsehood and flattery which Savary
had continually administered, D. Mariano Luis de Urquijo waited upon
him: one of the persons who had suffered under Godoy’s administration,
and who had hitherto been regarded as one of the most enlightened
Spaniards and truest friends of his country. The new King had annulled
the proceedings against him, and he now came to offer his homage and
his thanks, and his advice in this critical position of affairs. He
told the King’s counsellors that Buonaparte certainly intended to
extinguish the dynasty of the Spanish Bourbons; that the language
of the Moniteur concerning the tumults at Aranjuez, the movement of
his troops, the seizure of the fortresses, and the whole scheme of
his policy, made this evident. Fearing and believing this, he asked
them what they could propose to themselves from this journey? how
they could suffer a king of Spain thus publicly to degrade himself by
going towards a foreign state without any formal invitation, without
any preparations, without any of the etiquette which ought in such
cases to be observed, and without having been recognized as King, for
the French studiously called him still Prince of Asturias? To these
reasonable questions the poor perplexed ministers could only reply,
that they should satisfy the ambition of the Emperor by some cessions
of territory, and some commercial advantages. He made answer, that
perhaps they might give him all Spain. The Duke del Infantado appeared
to feel the force of Urquijo’s remonstrances, but asked if it were
possible that a hero like Napoleon could disgrace himself by such an
action as this apprehended treachery. Urquijo answered, that both in
ancient history and in their own they might find that great men had
never scrupled at committing great crimes for great purposes, and
posterity nevertheless accounted them heroes. The Duke observed, that
all Europe, even France itself, would be shocked at such an act; and
that Spain, with the help of England, might prove a formidable enemy.
To this Urquijo replied, that Europe was too much exhausted to engage
in new wars; and that the separate interests and ambitious views of
the different powers prevailed with each of them more than a sense
of the necessity of making great sacrifices in order to destroy the
system which France had adopted since her fatal revolution. Austria
was at this time the only power capable of opposing Buonaparte, if
Spain should rise against him; but if Russia and Germany and the rest
of Europe were on the opposite side, Austria would be vanquished; the
Spanish navy would be destroyed, and Spain would become nothing more
than a theatre of war for the English against the French; in which,
moreover, the English would never expose themselves unless they had
something to gain, for England was not capable of making head against
France in a continental war: the end would be the desolation of Spain
and its conquest. As little reason was there to rely upon any disgust
which might be felt in France at the injustice of its Emperor. In
France there was no other public spirit but what received its impulse
from the government. The French would be flattered if their Emperor
placed a member of his family on the throne of Spain; they would
perceive in such a change great political and commercial advantages to
themselves; and the numerous classes who had a deep interest in the
revolution, all who had taken part in it, all who had grown up in its
principles, ... the men of letters, the Jews, and the protestants,
would regard with satisfaction an event which, by completing the
destruction of the house of Bourbon, gave them a farther security
against the dreaded possibility of its restoration in France. What,
then, he asked, was to be done? Nothing could be hoped from arming the
nation; the internal state of Spain rendered it impossible to form a
government capable of directing its force, and popular commotions must
in their nature be of short duration: an attempt of this kind would
produce ruinous consequences in the Americas, where the inhabitants
would wish to throw off a heavy yoke, and where England would assist
in just revenge for the imprudence with which Spain had promoted
the insurrection in her colonies. He advised therefore, as the only
means which offered any hope of extricating the new King from the
danger which awaited him, that he should escape from the French, in
whose hands he already was in fact a prisoner. This might be done
at midnight, through the window of one of the adjoining houses; the
Alcaide of the city would provide means for conducting him into Aragon.
Meantime Urquijo offered to go to Bayonne as ambassador, and make the
best terms he could with the Emperor: a business so ill begun, so ill
directed, and in every way so inauspicious, could not end well; but
it might be expected that when Napoleon saw the King had escaped the
snare, and was in a situation where he could act for himself, he would
find it prudent to change his plans.
♦FERDINAND WRITES TO BUONAPARTE FROM VITTORIA.♦
These forcible representations were strengthened by D. Joseph Hervas,
son of the Marquis de Almenara; he was the brother-in-law of General
Duroc, and the intimate friend of Savary, with whom he had travelled
from Paris. Through these connexions he had obtained, if not a
certain knowledge of Buonaparte’s intentions, such strong reasons for
suspecting them, as amounted to little less; and he communicated his
fears to Ferdinand’s counsellors, and besought them, while it was yet
possible, to save him from the snare. These warnings were in vain.
But though Ferdinand’s counsellors could not be made to apprehend
the real danger, that poor Prince felt his first apprehensions return
upon him with additional force; disappointed of seeing Buonaparte,
disappointed of hearing from him, he compared this mortifying neglect
with the conduct of Murat and the ambassador, and as if to relieve his
mind by complaining, wrote to the tyrant in ♦APRIL 14.♦ a tone which
confessed how entirely he was at his mercy. Elevated to the throne, he
said, by the free and spontaneous abdication of his august father, he
could not see without real regret that the Grand Duke of Berg and the
French ambassador had not thought proper to felicitate him as King of
Spain, though the representatives of other courts with which he had
neither such intimate nor such dear relations, had hastened so to do.
Unable to attribute this to any thing but the want of positive orders
from his Imperial Majesty, he now represented with all the sincerity
of his heart, that from the first moment of his reign he had never
ceased to give the Emperor the most marked and unequivocal proofs of
attachment to his person; that his first order had been to send back to
the army of Portugal the troops which had left it to approach Madrid;
and his first care, notwithstanding the extreme penury of the finances,
to supply the French troops, making room for them by withdrawing his
own from the capital.... He spoke of the letters he had written, the
protestations he had made, the deputations he had sent. “To this
simple statement of facts,” said he, “your Majesty will permit me to
add an expression of the lively regret I feel in seeing myself deprived
of any letters from you, particularly after the frank and loyal answer
which I gave to the demand that General Savary came to make of me
at Madrid in your Majesty’s name. That general assured me that your
Majesty only desired to know if my accession to the throne would make
any change in our political relations. I answered by reiterating
what I had already written, and willingly yielding to this general’s
intreaties that I should come to meet your Majesty to accelerate
the satisfaction of being personally acquainted with you, I have in
consequence come to my town of Vittoria, without regarding the cares
indispensable from a new reign, which required my residence in the
centre of my states. I therefore urgently intreat your Majesty to put
an end to the painful situation to which I am reduced by your silence,
and to relieve by a favourable answer the disquietude which too long an
uncertainty may occasion in my faithful subjects.”
♦BUONAPARTE’S REPLY.♦
From this time Ferdinand had no longer to complain of Buonaparte’s
silence: an answer was brought to Vittoria by Savary. It began by
acknowledging the receipt of that letter which the Prince had written
respecting the projected marriage before the affair of the Escurial,
and the receipt of which Buonaparte had formerly denied. “Your
Highness,” said he, (for the title of King was carefully withheld,)
“will permit me, under the present circumstances, to address you
with frankness and sincerity. I expected that, on my arrival at
Madrid, I should have persuaded my illustrious friend to make some
necessary reforms in his dominions, which would give considerable
satisfaction to the public feeling. The removal of the Prince of the
Peace appeared to me indispensable to his happiness and the interests
of his people. I have frequently expressed my wishes that he should
be removed; and, if I did not persevere in the application, it was on
account of my friendship for King Charles, and a wish, if possible,
not to see the weakness of his attachments. O wretchedness of human
nature! imbecility and error! such is our lot. The events of the North
retarded my journey, and the occurrences at Aranjuez supervened. I do
not constitute myself judge of those events: but it is very dangerous
for Kings to accustom their subjects to shed blood, and to take the
administration of justice into their own hands. I pray God that your
Highness may not one day find it so. It would not be conformable to the
interests of Spain to proceed severely against a Prince who is united
to one of the Royal Family, and has so long governed the kingdom. He
has no longer any friends; as little will your Royal Highness find
any, should you cease to be fortunate.... The people eagerly avenge
themselves for the homage which they pay us.”
This was the language of one who felt that he held his power by no
other tenure than that of force, and reconciled himself to that tenure
by a base philosophy, ... thinking ill of human nature because he could
not think well of himself. What followed was more remarkable. “How,”
said he, “could the Prince of the Peace be brought to trial without
implicating the King and Queen in the process of exciting seditious
passions, the result of which might be fatal to your crown? Your Royal
Highness has no other right to it than what you derive from your
mother. If the cause injures her honour, you destroy your own claims.
Do not give ear to weak and perfidious counsels. You have no right to
try the Prince; his crimes, if any are imputed to him, merge in the
prerogative of the crown. He may be banished from Spain, and I may
offer him an asylum in France.”
With respect to the abdication, Buonaparte said, that, as that event
had taken place when his armies were in Spain, it might appear in the
eyes of Europe and of posterity as if he had sent them for the purpose
of expelling a friend and ally from his throne. As a neighbouring
sovereign, it became him, therefore, to inform himself of all the
circumstances before he acknowledged the abdication. He added, “I
declare to your Royal Highness, to the Spaniards, and to the whole
world, that, if the abdication of King Charles be voluntary, and has
not been forced upon him by the insurrection and tumults at Aranjuez,
I have no difficulty in acknowledging your Royal Highness as King of
Spain. I am therefore anxious to have some conversation with you on
this subject. The circumspection which I have observed on this point
ought to convince you of the support you will find in me, were it ever
to happen that factions of any kind should disturb you on your throne.
When King Charles informed me of the affair of the Escurial, it gave me
the greatest pain, and I flatter myself that I contributed to its happy
termination. Your Royal Highness is not altogether free from blame: of
this the letter which you wrote to me, and which I have always wished
to forget, is a sufficient proof. When you are King, you will know how
sacred are the rights of the throne. Every application of an hereditary
prince to a foreign sovereign is criminal.” The proposed marriage,
Buonaparte said, accorded, in his opinion, with the interests of his
people; and he regarded it as a circumstance which would unite him by
new ties to a house whose conduct he had had every reason to praise
since he ascended the throne.
A threat was then held out.... “Your Highness ought to dread the
consequences of popular commotions. It is possible that assassinations
may be committed upon some stragglers of my army, but they would only
lead to the ruin of Spain. I have learnt, with regret, that certain
letters of the Captain-General of Catalonia have been circulated
at Madrid, and that they have had the effect of exciting some
irritation.” After this menace, Buonaparte assured the young King that
he had laid open the inmost sentiments of his heart, and that, under
all circumstances, he should conduct himself towards him in the same
manner as he had done towards the King his father; and he concluded
with this hypocritical form, ... “My Cousin, I pray God to take you
into his high and holy keeping.”
♦FERDINAND ADVISED TO PROCEED.♦
This letter might well have alarmed Ferdinand and his counsellors; but
there came at the same time letters from the persons who had been sent
forward to Bayonne, urging him to show no distrust of Buonaparte, but
to hasten forward and meet him, as the sure and only means of averting
the fatal effects of his displeasure, and securing his friendship. They
had now indeed advanced too far to recede; and their thoughts were
rather exercised in seeking to justify to themselves the imprudence
which they had already committed, than in devising how to remedy
it. They persuaded themselves that Buonaparte was not ambitious of
adding territory to the French empire; that his conduct, even toward
hostile powers, was marked by generosity and moderation; and that his
leading maxims of policy were, not wholly to despoil his enemies, but
to aggrandize and reward his allies at their expense, and with what
he took from them to form states more or less considerable for his
relations, whose interest it would be to observe his system and support
his empire. The instances of Holland and Naples might indeed seem not
very well to agree with this view of his conduct; but it was obvious,
they said, that while Holland remained under a republican form it
would unavoidably connive with England, and the Dutch themselves were
desirous of the change; and with regard to Naples, Napoleon could not
possibly act otherwise than he had done, after the conduct of that
court. Such was the miserable reasoning with which Ferdinand’s advisers
flattered themselves at the time, ♦ESCOIQUIZ. IDEA SENCILLA, C. 3.♦
and which they have since offered to the world as their justification;
instead of fairly confessing, that in consequence of the events at
Aranjuez they had placed themselves in a situation in which there was
no alternative for men of their pitch of mind but to surrender at
discretion to Buonaparte.
♦PROMISES OF SAVARY, AND PREPARATIONS FOR SEIZING FERDINAND.♦
All of them were not thus deluded. Cevallos would fain have gone no
farther; and the people of Vittoria, more quick-sighted than their
Prince, besought him not to proceed. On the other hand, General Savary
assured him with the most vehement protestations, as Murat had done
before, that the Emperor did not wish to dismember Spain of a single
village; and he offered to pledge his life, that within a few minutes
after his arrival at Bayonne he would be recognized as King of Spain
and the Indies. The Emperor, to preserve his own consistency, would
begin by giving him the title of Highness; but he would presently give
him that of Majesty; in three days every thing would be settled,
and he might return to Spain. General Savary, if these persuasions
had proved ineffectual, was prepared to use other methods not less
congenial to his own character and his master’s; for not only were
there troops in the neighbourhood of Vittoria surrounding this
ill-fated Prince, to intercept his retreat, if he should attempt it;
but soldiers were ready that night to have seized him, and a French
aide-de-camp was in the apartment waiting for the determination.
♦ESCOIQUIZ, 41.♦ Confused and terrified as Ferdinand was, and feeling
himself in the power of the French, the only ease he could find was by
endeavouring implicitly to believe their protestations of friendship.
♦APR. 19.♦ Accordingly the next morning he renewed his journey, though
the people, finding their cries and entreaties were of no avail, even
cut the traces of his coach, and led away his mules.
♦FERDINAND PASSES THE FRONTIERS.♦
He proceeded, and crossed the stream which divides the two kingdoms.
Scarcely had he set foot on the French territory, before he remarked,
that no one came to receive him; a neglect more striking, as he had
travelled so far to meet the Emperor. At St. Jean de Luz, however, the
mayor made his appearance, attended by the municipality. Too humble to
be informed of Buonaparte’s designs, and probably too honest to suspect
them, he came to the carriage and addressed Ferdinand, expressing,
in the most lively manner, the joy he felt at having the honour of
being the first person to receive a sovereign, the friend and ally
of France. Shortly afterwards he was met by the grandees, who had
been sent to compliment the Emperor: their account was sufficiently
discouraging; but he was now near Bayonne, and it was too late to turn
back. The Prince of Neufchatel (Berthier) and Duroc, the marshal of
the palace, came out to meet him, and conduct him to the place which
had been appointed for his residence, ... a place so little suitable
to such a guest, that he could not for a moment conceal from himself,
that it marked an intentional disrespect. Before he had recovered from
the ominous feeling which such a reception occasioned, Buonaparte,
accompanied by some of his generals, paid him a visit. Ferdinand went
down to the street door to receive him; and they embraced with every
appearance of friendship. ♦BUONAPARTE RECEIVES HIM WITH AN EMBRACE.♦
The interview was short, and merely complimentary; Buonaparte again
embraced him at parting. The kiss of Judas Iscariot was not more
treacherous than this imperial embrace.
♦FERDINAND IS REQUIRED TO RENOUNCE THE THRONE FOR HIMSELF AND ALL HIS
FAMILY.♦
Ferdinand was not long suffered to remain uncertain of his fate.
Buonaparte, as if to prove to the world the absolute callousness of his
heart, ... as if he derived an unnatural pleasure in acting the part of
the deceiver, ... invited him to dinner, ... sent his carriage for him,
... came to the coach steps to receive him, ... again embraced him, and
led him in by the hand. Ferdinand sate at the same table with him as a
friend, a guest, and an ally; and no sooner had he returned to his own
residence, than General Savary, the same man who, by persuasions and
solemn protestations, had lured him on from Madrid, came to inform him
of the Emperor’s irrevocable determination, that the Bourbon dynasty
should no longer reign in Spain; that it was to be succeeded by the
Buonapartes; and therefore, Ferdinand was required, in his own name,
and that of all his family, to renounce the crown of Spain and of the
Indies in their favour.
♦CONVERSATION BETWEEN BUONAPARTE AND ESCOIQUIZ.♦
On the following evening Escoiquiz was summoned to Buonaparte’s cabinet
in the Palace of Marrac, which had been built as a residence for the
Queen-dowager, Mariana of Neuburg, widow of that poor prince Charles
II. A curious conversation ensued. The Corsican began by saying, that
from the character which he had heard of this canon, he had long wished
to talk with him respecting Ferdinand. “All Europe,” said he, “has
its eyes upon us. My armies being at this time in Spain, it will be
believed that the violent proceedings at Aranjuez, which have given
to all courts the evil example of a son conspiring against his father
and dethroning him, were my work. I must avoid this imputation, and
make the world see that I am not capable of supporting an attempt
equally unjust and scandalous. Consequently I could never consent to
acknowledge Prince Ferdinand as King of Spain, unless his father, who
has sent in a formal protest against the pretended abdication, should
in full liberty renew that abdication in his favour. But on the other
hand, the interests of my empire require that the house of Bourbon,
which I must ever regard as the implacable enemy of mine, should no
longer reign in Spain. This is your interest also; rid of a dynasty
whose latter kings have caused all those evils by which the nation is
so exasperated, it will enjoy a better constitution under a new race;
and being by these means intimately connected with France, it will be
always secure of the friendship of the only power whose enmity could
endanger it. Charles himself, knowing the inability of his sons to hold
the reins of government in times so difficult, is ready to cede to me
his own rights and those of his family. I will therefore no longer
suffer the Bourbon family to reign; but for the esteem which I bear
toward Ferdinand, who with so much confidence has come to visit me, I
will recompense him and his brothers as far as possible for what my
political interests require that they should lose in their own country.
Let him cede all his claims to the crown of Spain, and I will give him
that of Etruria, in full sovereignty for himself and his heirs male
in perpetuity, and advance him as a donation a year’s revenue of that
state, to establish himself in it. I will give him also my niece in
marriage. If this proposition be accepted, the treaty shall immediately
be made with all solemnities; but if not, I will then treat with the
father, and neither the Prince nor his brothers shall be admitted as
parties, nor can they expect the slightest compensation. To the Spanish
nation I shall secure their independence and total integrity under
the new dynasty, with the preservation of their religion, laws, and
customs; for I want nothing for myself from Spain, not even a village.
If your Prince does not like this proposal, and chooses to return to
Spain, he is free! he may go when he pleases! but he and I must fix a
time for his journey, after which hostilities shall commence between
us.”
Escoiquiz replied to this extraordinary speech by entering into an
elaborate apology for the transactions at Aranjuez, to which Buonaparte
listened with great patience, observing only from time to time,
that however these arguments might appear to those persons who were
intimately acquainted with the character of Charles and his Queen, it
must ever be impossible to make the rest of the world believe that an
abdication made under such circumstances of public and notorious force,
was in any thing different from a deposal. But be that as it might, the
interests of his house and of his empire required that the Bourbons
should no longer reign in Spain; and then, Escoiquiz says, taking
him by the ear, and pulling it with the best humour in the world, he
added, “If all which you say were true, canon, I should still repeat
... bad policy. Exposed as I am every moment to a renewal of the war
in the north, I should never have my back secure while the Bourbons
occupied that throne; and Spain, with a man of talent at its head,
could give me the greatest annoyance.” The canon again entered into a
long reply, showing how completely the court of Spain had abandoned
the Bourbons of France and of Naples, imputing the wish to join with
Prussia wholly to Godoy, and observing that a marriage into the august
imperial family would secure the attachment of Ferdinand. All Europe,
he said, had fixed their eyes upon Bayonne; the Spaniards were looking
with inconceivable impatience for the return of their young and beloved
monarch, flattering themselves that Buonaparte would be to him both
as father and mother, ... for it had been Ferdinand’s fate only to
know his parents by the unnatural hatred which they had borne towards
him. There would be no bounds to their gratitude, if, according to
his imperial promise, he should honour the capital with his presence,
bringing back with him the young King. The whole nation would receive
him on their knees, would bless him, and would never forget his
goodness; and Spain, thus restored to strength, would become a more
efficient ally to France than she had ever yet been, and afford her the
only means for reducing England to reason. But if the Emperor persisted
in his present intentions the Spaniards would vow an inextinguishable
hatred against him. Experience might show how deeply such feelings took
root in the Spanish heart. An age had now elapsed since the war of the
succession, and yet the rancour which had then been felt in Aragon,
Catalonia, and Valencia, against the Bourbon family, against France,
and even against the Castilians, had never been wholly allayed till the
recent accession of Ferdinand. But if this feeling had arisen in a
question merely of doubtful right, what would it be if the people saw
themselves deprived of a King whom they adored, to have a stranger set
over them in his place? The Spaniards must be exterminated before such
a King could be established upon his throne.
To this Buonaparte replied, that he was assured of the only power
which could give him any uneasiness; the Emperor of Russia, to whom he
had imparted his plans at Tilsit, having approved of, and given his
word not to oppose them. As for the Spaniards themselves, they would
make little or no opposition. The nobles and the rich would certainly
remain quiet for fear of losing their property, and would exert all
their influence to quiet the people. The clergy and the friars, whom he
would make responsible for any disorder, would for their own sake, and
for the like motives, do the same. The populace might excite tumults
here and there, but a few severe chastisements would make them return
to their duty. Countries in which there were many friars were easily
subdued; ... he had had experience of this: and if the opposition were
general, the result must be the same, even if it should be necessary
to sacrifice 200,000 men. Escoiquiz made answer, that in that case the
new dynasty would be placed upon a volcano; ... 200,000 or 300,000 men
would be required to keep the provinces down, and the Monarch would
reign in the midst of carcasses and ruins, over a race of indignant
slaves, ready upon the slightest occasion to break their chains. And of
what utility would such an alliance prove? Spain, ruined, deserted, and
deprived of her colonies, would become a burden to France. Buonaparte
upon this observed, that the canon was proceeding too fast in taking
it for granted that Spain would lose her colonies: he on his part
had well-founded hopes of preserving them. “Do not suppose,” said
he, “that I have been sleeping. I have communications with Spanish
America, and have sent frigates to those coasts to maintain them.”
Escoiquiz replied, that America even now was held by no other bond than
the slight thread of habit; the least disgust, even under Ferdinand
himself, would break the connexion, and beyond all doubt the whole of
the colonies would separate themselves from the mother country rather
than acknowledge the new dynasty. What too would be the effect of such
a measure upon the European powers, and how might England be expected
to act? Would not England regard it as the most favourable of all
events? would it not at once open the whole commerce of America to her,
and with the treasure from thence derived, enable her to purchase all
the people of Europe, and arm them against France: and even to stir
up domestic movements against the Emperor, which would be yet more
perilous, for money was the most powerful of engines? Buonaparte then
put an end to the conference by observing that they did not agree in
the principles upon which they reasoned; that he would think again upon
the matter, and on the morrow communicate his irrevocable determination.
♦SECOND CONFERENCE WITH ESCOIQUIZ.♦
On the morrow accordingly Escoiquiz was again summoned, and the
irrevocable determination was announced that the Bourbon dynasty
must cease to reign upon the Spanish throne: that if Ferdinand would
accede to the proposed exchange, Etruria should be given him; but that
if he refused, the King his father would make the cession, Etruria
would remain annexed to France, and he would lose all compensation.
Escoiquiz, after touching again upon his yesterday’s argument, began to
lament the disgrace which would fall upon the advisers of Ferdinand,
and especially upon himself as being supposed to have most influence
with him. For even, he said, if it should be known that the Prince,
before he consulted them, had determined upon this journey, and
yielding to the solicitations of the embassador had given his word to
set out, the nation would always accuse them for not having dissuaded
him from it. Buonaparte seems in these conferences to have considered
Escoiquiz not as a statesman, but as a good easy man of letters, whom a
little flattery would win to his wishes. He argued with him, therefore,
in the same temper as on the preceding day; and giving him another pull
by the ear, said to him at last with a smile, “So, then, canon, you
will not enter into my ideas.” The canon replied, “On the contrary,
I wish with all my heart that your Majesty would enter into mine, ...
though it should be at the cost of my ears,”--for the Emperor was
pulling there somewhat too forcibly.
♦CEVALLOS IS REQUIRED TO DISCUSS THE TERMS OF RENUNCIATION WITH M.
CHAMPAGNY.♦
But Buonaparte, when he found that Ferdinand was not to be cajoled
into the cession, laid by the semblance of these gracious manners, and
proceeded in the temper of a tyrant to effect the usurpation which he
had begun. Cevallos was now summoned to the palace, to discuss the
terms of the renunciation with the French minister for foreign affairs,
M. Champagny. The Spaniard assumed a firm and manly tone; he complained
of the perfidy which had been practised, protested in Ferdinand’s
name against the violence done to his person, in not permitting him
to return to Spain; and, as a final answer to the Emperor’s demand,
declared that the King neither could nor would renounce his crown; he
could not prejudice the individuals of his own family, who were called
to the succession by the fundamental laws of the kingdom: still less
could he consent to the establishment of another dynasty, it being
the right of the Spanish nation to elect another family whenever the
present should become extinct.
M. Champagny replied, by insisting on the necessity of the
renunciation, and contending that the abdication of the father-king
had not been voluntary. Of this assertion, which was as ill-timed as
it was irrelevant, Cevallos readily availed himself, expressing his
surprise that, while they condemned the abdication of Charles as not
having been his own free act, they, at the same time, were endeavouring
to extort a renunciation from Ferdinand. He then entered into details
designed to prove that no violence had been done to the father-king,
either by the people, the prince, or any other person, and that he
had retired from government by his own unbiassed will. But Cevallos
protested against acknowledging the smallest authority in the Emperor
to intermeddle with matters which exclusively belonged to the Spanish
government; following, he said, in this respect, the example of the
cabinet of Paris, which rejected, as inadmissible, the applications of
the King of Spain in behalf of his ally and kinsman Louis XVI. It was
of little consequence that Ferdinand’s minister triumphed in argument.
M. Champagny abruptly turned the subject, by saying that the Emperor
never could be sure of Spain while it was governed by the Bourbon
dynasty; for that family must necessarily regret to see its elder
branch expelled from France. Cevallos answered, that, in a regular
system of things, family prepossessions never prevailed over political
interests, of which the whole conduct of Charles IV. since the
treaty of Basle was a proof. Every reason of policy induced Spain to
maintain a perpetual peace with France, and there were reasons why the
continuance of that system was not of less importance to the Emperor.
The generosity and loyalty of the Spaniards were proverbial; from that
loyalty they had submitted to the caprices of despotism; and the same
principle, if they saw their independence and the security of their
sovereign violated, would call forth their well-known valour. If so
atrocious an insult were committed, France would lose the most faithful
and useful of her allies; and the Emperor, by the artifices with which
he entrapped the King to Bayonne, in order there to despoil him of his
crown, would have so effectually stained his own character, that no
confidence hereafter could be placed in treaties with him; and war with
him could be concluded by no other means than that of total destruction
and extermination.
♦BUONAPARTE’S DECLARATION TO CEVALLOS.♦
Buonaparte was listening to this conference. He lost patience now, and
ordering Cevallos into his own cabinet, the violence of his temper
broke out. He called that minister traitor, for continuing to serve
the son in the same situation which he had held under the father; he
accused him of having maintained, in an official interview with General
Moutheon, that Ferdinand’s right to the crown stood in no need of his
recognition, though it might be necessary to the continuance of his
relations with France: and he reproached him still more angrily for
having said to a foreign minister at Madrid, that, if the French army
offered any violation to the integrity and independence of the Spanish
sovereignty, 300,000 men would convince them that a brave and generous
nation was not to be insulted with impunity. The tyrant then entered
upon the business of the renunciation, which he was determined should
be made; and finding that Cevallos still insisted upon the rights of
his master, the reigning dynasty, and the people of Spain, he concluded
the conversation by these remarkable and characteristic words: “I have
a system of policy of my own. You ought to adopt more liberal ideas;
to be less susceptible on the point of honour; and not sacrifice the
prosperity of Spain to the interest of the Bourbon family.”
♦TERMS PROPOSED TO ESCOIQUIZ.♦
Having found Cevallos so little inclined to yield, Ferdinand was
informed that he must appoint another person to carry on the
negotiation. While he was deliberating whom to choose, one of the
French agents insinuated himself into the confidence of Escoiquiz,
and persuaded him to pay a visit to Champagny, from whom he received
the propositions of Buonaparte in writing. These, which were to be
considered as the tyrant’s definitive demands, from which he would not
recede, and which were the most favourable he would grant, declared his
irrevocable determination that the Bourbon dynasty should no longer
reign in Spain, and that one of his brothers should possess the throne.
The complete integrity of that kingdom and all its colonies was to be
guaranteed, together with the preservation of religion and property. If
Ferdinand agreed to renounce his rights in his own name, and that of
his family, the crown of Etruria should be conferred upon him according
to the Salic law; and the Emperor’s niece be given him in marriage
immediately, if he chose to demand her, upon the execution of the
treaty. If he refused, he should remain without compensation, and the
Emperor would carry his purposes into effect by force.
♦DEBATES AMONG FERDINAND’S COUNSELLORS.♦
Escoiquiz was of opinion that Ferdinand would do well to yield to a
force which he could not resist, and save what he could from the wreck.
He argued that it was their business to mitigate the evil as far as
possible, saving always the honour of the King and the interests of
Spain; and that as Ferdinand was yet but a youth, he might hope, in
some of those changes which are incident to human affairs, to regain
what he now lost. The cession which was demanded would be palpably
invalid, and would not prevent the Spanish nation from making any
exertions which their loyalty and spirit might prompt. By accepting
Etruria he would secure to himself the kingly title and kingly
treatment from Buonaparte; for though he would certainly be detained in
France as long as Spain resisted, still it would be with all outward
marks of honour; he would be kept like a slave in fetters of gold, not
imprisoned in some castle where misery and ill-treatment would put an
end to him and his brothers. If Spain should make a successful stand,
by the help of England, which might be expected, and perhaps that of
other powers also, Etruria would be always something in possession,
the exchange of which would facilitate his return to his lawful throne:
but if unhappily, after all efforts, Spain should succumb in the
strife, her disherited princes would still remain with an honourable
and princely asylum. It was moreover especially to be considered, that
if Ferdinand refused to treat with the Emperor Napoleon, and cede his
rights as King of Spain, the cession would beyond all doubt be made by
his father, and Ferdinand would then be dealt with in the character of
an undutiful and rebellious son. These arguments did not prevail; the
majority of Ferdinand’s advisers, notwithstanding all that had passed,
could not be persuaded that Buonaparte meant seriously to depose him;
they continued to believe that all these measures were only designed
to extort a cession of territory, and that if Ferdinand continued firm
in his refusal, he need not sacrifice the provinces on the left of the
Ebro, nor even Navarre, but that some of the colonies would suffice.
They urged this persuasion so strongly, that Escoiquiz, without
altering his own opinion, assented to theirs. But all these discussions
were made known to Buonaparte by one of their own number, who was sold
to the tyrant.
♦LABRADOR APPOINTED TO TREAT WITH M. CHAMPAGNY.♦
Ferdinand therefore now invested Don Pedro de Labrador, honorary
counsellor of state, in whose talents he had great reliance, with
full powers, instructing him to present them to the French minister
for foreign affairs, and to demand his full powers in return, that
the proposals of Buonaparte might be communicated in an authentic
manner. ♦APRIL 27.♦ The instructions given him, which were drawn up
by Cevallos, were to ask M. Champagny if King Ferdinand were at full
liberty? for if he was, he would return to his dominions, and there
give audience to the plenipotentiary whom the Emperor might depute;
if he were not, all acts at Bayonne were nugatory, and could have no
other effect than to stain the reputation of Buonaparte before the
whole world. Ferdinand, he was charged to say, was resolved not to
yield to the Emperor’s demands: neither his own honour, nor his duty
to his subjects, permitting him. He could not compel them to accept of
the Buonaparte dynasty, much less could he deprive them of their right
to elect another family to the throne, when the reigning one should
be extinct. It was not less repugnant to his feelings to accept of
the throne of Etruria as a compensation; that country belonged to its
lawful sovereign, whom he would not wrong, and he was contented with
the kingdom which providence had given him.
♦FERDINAND IS PREVENTED FROM RETURNING.♦
When Labrador presented his powers, and required the usual return,
M. Champagny replied, these things were mere matters of form, and
wholly unconnected with the essential object of which they were to
treat. Buonaparte, indeed, had determined to force from Ferdinand the
form of a voluntary renunciation, but he and his ministers considered
all other forms as useless. The Frenchman proceeded to talk of the
propositions: Labrador declared he could discuss no subject till the
previous formalities had been observed; and asked if the King were at
liberty? M. Champagny made answer, undoubtedly he was. Then, said the
Spaniard, he ought to be restored to his kingdom. But M. Champagny
replied, that, with respect to his return, it was necessary he should
come to a right understanding with the Emperor, either personally
or by letter. Already, Ferdinand had had sufficient reason to feel
himself a prisoner; this language was such as could leave no doubt.
But that the violence might be apparent and notorious, Cevallos ♦APRIL
28.♦ addressed a note to the French minister of state, saying, that
the King had left Madrid with the intention of meeting the Emperor at
Burgos, on the assurances which the Grand Duke of Berg, the ambassador
Beauharnois, and General Savary, had given of his approach; and that,
in consequence of the agitation of the public mind in Spain, it was
impossible to answer longer for the tranquillity of the people,
especially as they were apprized that their King had now been six
days at Bayonne. He had, in the most solemn manner, promised them on
his departure that he would speedily return. This, therefore, he was
about to do; he now made known his intentions, that they might be
communicated to the Emperor, whose approbation they would doubtless
meet; and he should be ready to treat, in his dominions, on all
convenient subjects, with any person whom it might please his Imperial
Majesty to authorize. No answer was returned to this dispatch; but the
spies within the palace and the guards without were doubled. A guard
at the door even ordered the King and his brother one night to retire
to their apartments. Ferdinand’s mind was not yet so subdued to his
fortunes as to brook this insult. He complained bitterly of it; and
the Governor in consequence soothed him with courteous language, and
expressed his disapprobation of such conduct. The act, however, was
repeated; and, not choosing to expose himself a third time to insults,
which he had no means of resenting, he abstained from going out.
♦BUONAPARTE SENDS FOR CHARLES AND THE QUEEN TO BAYONNE.♦
Buonaparte had expected that Ferdinand would more easily be intimidated
into compliance; in that case he would have recognized the validity of
the father’s abdication; which, in fact, he did virtually acknowledge,
while treating with the son for his renunciation. He now found it
necessary to alter his plan of proceedings, and ordered Murat to send
off Charles and the Queen as expeditiously as possible to Bayonne.
There was no danger of exciting any popular commotion by removing them;
but the deliverance of Godoy was also to be effected; and artifice must
be employed for this, unless he resorted immediately to force, which
it was his purpose to avoid till the whole of the royal family were in
his hands. The release of the fallen favourite had been requested of
Ferdinand during his stay at Vittoria. He replied, that he had promised
his people to publish the result of a process, on which the honour of
many of his subjects, and the preservation of the rights of the crown,
depended. Throughout the whole extent of Spain, he said, there was not
a single district, however small, which had not addressed complaints
to the throne against that prisoner: the joy at his arrest had been
general, and all eyes were fixed upon the proceedings. Nevertheless, he
gave his royal word, that, if, after a full examination of the case,
Godoy should be condemned to death, he would remit that punishment in
consequence of the Emperor’s interposition. At the time when Ferdinand
returned this answer to Buonaparte, he received advices from the
Junta of government that Murat had required them to release Godoy;
threatening, if they refused, to deliver him by force, and put his
guards to the sword if they offered the slightest resistance. They were
informed, in reply, of the answer which had been sent to Bayonne, and
were instructed to tell the Grand Duke, if he renewed his applications,
that the business was in treaty between the two sovereigns, and that
the result depended exclusively on the decision of the King.
♦GODOY RELEASED BY MURAT, AND SENT TO BAYONNE.♦
The French have at all times had less public faith than any other
nation in Europe; but whether under their old monarchy, their
democracy, or the absolute tyranny in which that democracy had
its natural end, they have effectually protected their agents and
partizans in other countries. Godoy had been the creature of France,
and Buonaparte was resolved to save him: he treated, therefore, the
letter of Ferdinand with contempt; and, having recourse to direct
falsehood, sent information to Murat, that the Prince of Asturias
had put the prisoner entirely at his disposal, and ordered him to
demand and obtain the surrender of his person. ♦APR. 20.♦ A note
was accordingly delivered to the Junta, in Murat’s name, by General
Belliard, demanding the prisoner. This, he said, was only a new proof
of the interest which the Emperor took in the welfare of Spain; for his
Imperial Majesty could not recognize as King any other than Charles
IV.; and, by removing the Prince of the Peace, he wished to deprive
malevolence itself of the possible belief, that that monarch would ever
restore him to confidence and power. One member of the government, Don
Francisco Gil, protested against yielding to the demand, because it
was not authorized by Ferdinand their King: the others deemed it wiser
to submit, and the Infante D. Antonio declared, that it depended upon
their compliance in this point whether his nephew should be King of
Spain. ♦MEMORIA DE AZANZA Y O’FARREL, P. 25.♦ The Marquis de Castellar,
therefore, to whose custody Godoy had been committed, was instructed to
deliver him up, and he was removed by night. Had the people been aware
that this minister was thus to be conveyed away from their vengeance,
that indignation which soon afterwards burst out would probably have
manifested itself now, and Godoy would have perished by their hands.
He was immediately sent under a strong escort to Bayonne.
♦HE IS REINSTATED AS CHARLES’S MINISTER.♦
In obtaining the release of this wretch, Buonaparte had probably no
other view at the time, than of preserving that uniform system of
protection towards his agents, which pride as well as policy dictated.
But when he found his designs unexpectedly impeded by the firmness
which Ferdinand and his counsellors then displayed, he perceived that
Godoy might yet be useful; and when Charles arrived at Bayonne, the
favourite was restored to him, and reinstated as minister, that he
might, by a last act of office, consummate his own infamy, and complete
the destruction of the dynasty which had raised him, and the country
which had given him birth. Willing to be revenged on Ferdinand, and
now also hating Spain, Godoy, who had hitherto seconded the projects
of Buonaparte, because he was duped by the hopes of aggrandizement,
now forwarded them with equal eagerness for the sake of vengeance. It
was necessary that Charles should be induced to treat his son as an
enemy, a rebel, and a traitor; and that, while he punished him as such
for having accepted his abdication, he should be made to resume the
crown, solely for the purpose of transferring it to a stranger; and
that stranger one from whose treacherous and unprovoked aggressions
he himself but a few weeks before had attempted to fly to America,
abandoning his kingdom. To this resolution, monstrous as it was, the
unhappy King was brought; nor was compulsion needful; the ascendancy of
the favourite was sufficient to make him fancy it his own act and deed.
Fear might have extorted the renunciation; but the manner in which he
personally treated his son sprung evidently from his own feelings, thus
exasperated.
♦FERDINAND’S PROPOSALS TO HIS FATHER.♦
Ferdinand had now only to choose between degradation and destruction.
He made, however, one effort in behalf of himself and of Spain, and
addressed his father in a letter not less dignified than respectful,
in which he at the same time asserted his right to the crown, and his
readiness to restore it. ♦MAY 1.♦ The King, he said, had admitted that
the proceedings at Aranjuez were in no degree occasioned or influenced
by him; and had told him, that the abdication had been voluntary, and
that it was the happiest act of his life. He still declared, that it
was an act of his own free-will; but professed that it had been made
with the mental reservation of a right to resume the crown whenever he
thought proper; and now he reclaimed it, avowing at the same time, that
he would neither return to the throne nor to Spain. The fundamental
laws of the kingdom conferred the crown upon himself, he said, upon his
father’s free resignation of it. His father had freely resigned; and
yet now reclaimed his power, without any intention of retaining it.
Here, then, he required an act of duty which the son could not perform,
without violating the duty which he owed to his subjects. But both
might be reconciled; and Ferdinand would willingly restore the crown
to his father, on condition, 1. That they both returned to Madrid; 2.
That a Cortes should be assembled there; or, if Charles objected to so
numerous a body, that all the tribunals and deputies of the kingdom
should be convoked; 3. That the renunciation should be executed in due
form, in the presence of the council, and the motives stated which
induced him to make it: these, Ferdinand said, were the love which he
bore to his subjects, and his anxiety to secure their tranquillity,
and save them from the horrors of a civil war; 4. That the King should
not be accompanied by individuals who had justly excited the hatred of
the whole nation; and, 5. That, if the King persisted in his present
intention, neither to reign in person nor to return to Spain, Ferdinand
should govern in his name: “there is no one,” said he, “who can have a
claim to be preferred before me. I am summoned thereto by the laws, the
wishes, and the love of my people, and no one can take more zealous and
bounden interest in their welfare.”
♦LETTER FROM CHARLES TO HIS SON.
MAY 2.♦
In the answer to this letter, the dictation, as well as the purposes of
Buonaparte, is apparent. Charles began, by declaring, that Spain could
be saved by the Emperor alone. Since the peace of Basle, he had seen
that the essential interests of his people were inseparably connected
with the preservation of a good understanding with France; and he had
spared no sacrifices to preserve it. Spain had been forced by the
aggression of England into the war, and having suffered more by it than
any other state, the consequent calamities had been unjustly attributed
to his ministers; nevertheless he had the happiness of seeing the
kingdom tranquil within, and was the only one among the Kings of
Europe, who sustained himself amid the storms of these latter times.
That tranquillity Ferdinand had disturbed: misled by the aversion of
his first wife towards France, he thoughtlessly participated in the
prejudices which prevailed against the minister and his parents. “It
became necessary for me,” said Charles, “to recollect my own rights,
as a father and a King. I caused you to be arrested; ... I found among
your papers the proof of your crime. But I melted at seeing my son on
the scaffold of destruction. I forgave you; and, from that moment, was
compelled to add to the distresses which I felt for the calamities
of my subjects, the afflictions occasioned by dissensions in my own
family.”
The part which followed must have been designed by Buonaparte to
conceal the manifest proofs of his own hand, which appear in the rest
of the letter. The Emperor of France, it was here said, believing
that the Spaniards were disposed to renounce his alliance, and seeing
the discord that prevailed in the royal family, inundated the Spanish
provinces with his troops, under various pretences. While they
occupied the right bank of the Ebro, and appeared to aim only at
maintaining the communication with Portugal, the King was not alarmed;
but when they advanced towards the capital, then he felt it necessary
to collect his army round his person, that he might present himself, in
a manner becoming his rank, before his august ally ... all whose doubts
he should have removed. For this purpose, his troops were ordered to
leave Portugal and Madrid, not that he might abandon his subjects, but
that he might support with honour the glory of the throne. Sufficient
experience had also convinced him, that the Emperor of the French might
entertain wishes comformable to his particular interest, and to the
policy of the vast system of the continent, which might be inconsistent
with the interests of the Spanish Bourbons. Ferdinand availed himself
of these circumstances, to accomplish the conspiracy of the Escurial.
Old, and oppressed by infirmity, his father was not able to withstand
this new calamity; ... he repaired, therefore, to Buonaparte, not as a
King, not at the head of his troops, not with the pomp of royalty, but
as an unhappy and abandoned prince, who sought refuge and protection
in his camp. To that Emperor he was indebted for his own life, and
for the lives of the Queen, and of the minister whom he had appointed
and adopted into his family. Every thing now depended upon that great
monarch. “My heart,” said Charles, “has been fully unfolded to him. He
knows the injuries I have received, and the violence which has been
done me; ... he has declared that you shall never be acknowledged as
King; and that the enemy of his father can never acquire the confidence
of foreign states. He has, in addition to this, shown me letters
written with your own hand, which clearly prove your hatred of France.
“Things being thus situated,” he continued, “my rights are clear, and
my duties are much more so. It is incumbent upon me to prevent the
shedding the blood of my subjects; to do nothing at the conclusion
of my career, which should carry fire and sword into every part of
Spain, and reduce it to the most horrible misery. If, faithful to your
primary obligations, and to the feelings of nature, you had rejected
perfidious counsels, and placed yourself constantly at my side, for the
defence of your father; if you had waited the regular course of nature,
which would have elevated you in a few years to the rank of royalty, I
should have been able to conciliate the policy and interests of Spain,
with those of all. For six months, no doubt, matters have been in a
critical situation; but notwithstanding such difficulties, I should
have obtained the support of my subjects. I should have availed myself
of the weak means which yet remained to me, of the moral aid which I
should have acquired, meeting always my ally with suitable dignity, to
whom I never gave cause of complaint; and an arrangement would have
been made which would have accommodated the interests of my subjects
with those of my family. But in tearing from my head the crown, you
have not preserved it for yourself; you have taken from it all that is
august and sacred in the eyes of mankind. Your behaviour with respect
to me ... your intercepted letters, have put a brazen barrier between
yourself and the throne of Spain; and it is neither your own interest,
nor that of the country, that you should reign in it. Take heed how
you kindle a fire which will unavoidably cause your complete ruin,
and the degradation of Spain! I am King by the right derived from my
forefathers; my abdication was the result of force; I have nothing to
receive from you; nor can I consent to the convocation of the Cortes
... an additional absurdity, suggested by the inexperienced persons
who attend you. I have reigned for the happiness of my subjects, and
I do not wish to bequeath them civil war, mutiny, popular Juntas, and
revolution. Every thing ought to be done for the people, and nothing by
the people: to forget this maxim, were to become an accomplice in all
the crimes that must follow its neglect. I have sacrificed the whole of
my life to my people; and in the advanced age to which I have arrived,
I shall do nothing in opposition to their religion, their tranquillity,
and their happiness. I have reigned for them; I will constantly occupy
myself for their sakes; I will forget all my sacrifices; and when at
last I shall be convinced that the religion of Spain, the integrity of
her provinces, her independence, and her privileges are preserved, I
shall descend to the tomb, forgiving those who have embittered the last
years of my life.”
However suspicious were the circumstances under which the decree of
abdication appeared, the probabilities that that decree was obtained
by compulsion were not in the slightest degree strengthened by the
testimony of Charles at Bayonne, where he was in far stricter duresse,
and far greater danger, than at Aranjuez. But, in every line of this
letter, the language of Buonaparte may be recognized: his dread and
hatred of popular assemblies ... the tone and manner of his philosophy
... his perpetual reference to force, as that to which all things must
bow; and there is one of those direct, plain, palpable, demonstrable
falsehoods, of which no other man, who ever affected greatness, so
often and so impudently availed himself. If Ferdinand originally
intended to supplant his father, it was by the help of France that he
hoped to effect it. The only act of conspiracy proved against him and
his party was, that they had attempted to form such an alliance. For
this very act, Buonaparte, in his letter to Vittoria, had censured him;
and yet, one reason here assigned for depriving him of the crown, is
his hatred of France.
♦MAY 4. FERDINAND’S REPLY.♦
Ferdinand’s answer to this extraordinary paper was, like his former
letter, honourable to himself and his advisers. He calmly reminded his
father of the inconsistencies in the charges thus adduced against him.
Concerning the affair of the Escurial, he said, eleven counsellors,
chosen by the King himself, had unanimously declared their opinion,
that there was no ground for the accusation; nor could such an opinion
have been obtained by undue means, wholly without influence as he was
at that time, and virtually a prisoner. The King spoke of the distrust
occasioned by the entrance of so great a foreign force into Spain: ...
might he be told, that no alarm need have been given by troops entering
as friends and allies? He said, that his own troops were collected at
Aranjuez to support the glory of the throne: ... might he be reminded,
that he had given orders for a journey to Seville, and the troops were
intended to keep open that road? Every person believed there was an
intention of emigrating to America, manifest as it was that the royal
family were going to the coast of Andalusia; and it was this universal
belief which occasioned the tumults at Aranjuez. In those tumults,
the King knew that his son had taken no other part than by his own
command, to protect from the people the object of their hatred, who
was believed to be the proposer of the journey. The Emperor, in a
letter to Ferdinand, had said, his motive was to induce the King to
make certain reforms, and separate from his person the Prince of the
Peace, whose influence was the cause of every calamity. The universal
joy which his arrest produced throughout the whole nation, evidently
proved that this was indeed the case. As to the rest, Charles himself
was the best witness that, in the tumults at Aranjuez, not a word was
whispered against him, nor against any one of the royal family: ...
on the contrary, he was applauded with the greatest demonstrations
of joy, and heard the loudest professions of fidelity to his august
person. On this account, the abdication surprised every one, and no
person more than Ferdinand himself. No one expected, or would have
solicited it.... “Your Majesty,” said Ferdinand, “yourself communicated
your abdication to your ministers, enjoining them to acknowledge me
as their natural lord and sovereign. You communicated it verbally to
the diplomatic body, professing that your determination proceeded from
your own will, and that you had before determined upon it. You yourself
told it to your beloved brother, adding, at the same time, that the
signature which your Majesty had put to the act of abdication was the
happiest transaction of your life; and, finally, your Majesty told me
personally, three days afterwards, I should pay no attention to any
assertion that the abdication had not been voluntary, inasmuch as it
was in every respect free and self-originating.”
He proceeded to comment upon the charge of his hatred towards
France. Wherein had it appeared? Were not the various letters which,
immediately after the abdication, he addressed to the Emperor, so many
proofs that his principles, with respect to the relations of friendship
and strict alliance happily subsisting between the two countries,
were those that the King had impressed upon him? Had he not shown his
unbounded confidence in the Emperor, by going to Madrid the day after
the Grand Duke of Berg had entered that city with a great part of his
army, and garrisoned it; so that, in fact, to go there, was to deliver
himself into his hands? Had he not, in conformity to the principles
of alliance, and to his father’s wish, written to request a princess
of the house of Buonaparte in marriage? Had he not sent a deputation
to Bayonne to compliment the Emperor in his name? then persuaded his
brother the Infante Don Carlos to set off, that he might pay his
respects to him on the frontier? lastly, had he not left Madrid for
the same purpose himself, on the faith of the assurances given him by
the French ambassador, by the Grand Duke, and by General Savary, who
had just arrived from France, and who solicited an audience, to tell
him that the Emperor only expected he should follow the same system
towards France which his father had adopted, in which case he was to be
acknowledged as King of Spain, and all the rest would be forgotten? How
any of his letters, proving an enmity towards France, should have come
into the Emperor’s hands, he could not comprehend, knowing, as he did,
that he had never written any.
♦TERMS UPON WHICH HE OFFERS TO RESTORE THE CROWN.♦
Ferdinand then referred to his former proposals. “I signified,” said he
“my willingness to renounce the crown in your favour, when the Cortes
should be convened; and if not convened, when the council and deputies
of the kingdom should be assembled; not because I thought this was
necessary to give effect to the renunciation, but because I judged it
convenient to avoid injurious novelties, which frequently occasion
divisions and contentions, and wished every thing might be attended
to which concerned your dignity, my own honour, and the tranquillity
of the realm. If your Majesty should not choose to reign in person, I
will govern in your royal name, or in my own; for no one but myself can
represent your person, possessing, as I do, in my favour, the decision
of the laws, and the will of the people; nor can any other person have
so much interest in their prosperity. I repeat again, that, in such
circumstances, and under such conditions, I am ready to accompany your
Majesty to Spain, there to make my abdication in the form expressed.
But in respect to what you have said of not wishing to return to Spain,
with tears in my eyes, I implore you, by all that is most sacred in
heaven and earth, that in case you do not choose to re-ascend the
throne, you will not leave a country so long known to you, in which you
may choose a situation best suited to your injured health, and where
you may enjoy greater comforts and tranquillity of mind than in any
other.
“Finally, I beg your Majesty most affectionately, that you will
seriously consider your situation, and that you will reflect on the
evil of excluding our dynasty for ever from the throne of Spain, and
substituting in its room the imperial family of France. It is a step
which we cannot take without the express consent of all the individuals
who have, or may have, a right to the crown; much less without an
equally-expressed consent of the Spanish people, assembled in Cortes in
a place of security; and besides, being now in a foreign country, it
would be impossible for us to persuade any one that we acted freely;
and this consideration alone would annul whatever we might do, and
might produce the most fatal consequences. Before I conclude, your
Majesty will permit me to say, that the counsellors whom you call
perfidious have never advised me to derogate from the love, respect,
and honour, which I have always professed to your Majesty, whose
valuable life I pray God to preserve to a happy and good old age.”
♦MAY 5.
INTERVIEW BETWEEN CHARLES AND FERDINAND IN PRESENCE OF BUONAPARTE.♦
On the day after this letter was written, Buonaparte had an hour’s
conference with Charles; at the conclusion of which, Ferdinand was
called in by his father, to hear, in the presence of this tyrant,
and of the Queen, expressions, says Cevallos, so disgusting[28] and
humiliating, that I do not dare to record them. While all the rest
were seated, he was kept standing, and his father ordered him to make
an absolute renunciation of the crown, under pain of being treated as
an usurper, and a conspirator against the lives of his parents. His
household also were threatened to be proceeded against as men guilty of
treason. ♦MAY 6.♦ ♦FERDINAND’S RENUNCIATION.♦ Overcome by the sense of
their danger, and of his own, the poor pitiable Prince submitted, and
delivered in a renunciation, couched in such terms as at once to imply
compulsion, and reserve the condition of his father’s return to Spain.
“His former renunciation,” he said, “he had believed himself bound to
modify with such conditions as were equally required by the respect due
to the King, the tranquillity of his dominions, and the preservation of
his own honour.” These modifications, to his great astonishment, had
excited indignation in the King, who, without any other grounds, had
thought proper, in the presence of Buonaparte and of his mother, to
revile him with the most humiliating appellations, and to require from
him an unconditional renunciation, on pain of being treated, with all
those of his council, like a traitor. “Under these circumstances,” said
he, “I make the renunciation which your Majesty commands, that you may
return to the government of Spain in the same state as when you made
your voluntary abdication in my favour.”
♦PROCLAMATION OF CHARLES TO THE SPANIARDS.♦
Ferdinand was not aware, when he executed this form of renunciation,
that his father was no longer qualified to receive it. The tyrant had
not waited for this preliminary to conclude his mock negotiations
with Charles. This wretched puppet addressed an edict on the 4th to
the supreme Junta at Madrid, nominating Murat lieutenant-general of
the kingdom, and in that quality, president of the government: the
reason assigned was, that one same direction might be given to all the
forces of Spain, in order to maintain the security of property and
public tranquillity against enemies, as well exterior as interior. All
persons, therefore, were enjoined to obey the Grand Duke’s orders.
A proclamation to the people accompanied this edict. They were told
that their King was occupied in concerting with his ally the Emperor
whatever concerned their welfare, and they were warned against
listening to perfidious men, who sought to arm them against the French,
and the French against them. All those who spoke against France were
said to be men who thirsted for the blood of the Spaniards, enemies
of that nation, or agents of England, whose intrigues would involve
the loss of the colonies, the separation of provinces, and a series
of years of calamity for the country. “Trust to my experience,” said
this poor mouthpiece of a perfidious and remorseless tyrant; “and obey
that authority which I hold from God and my fathers! Follow my example,
and think that, in your present situation, there is no prosperity or
safety for the Spaniards, but in the friendship of the great Emperor,
our ally.” On the same day, Charles addressed a letter to the supreme
council of Castille and the council of Inquisition, informing them that
having resolved, in the present extraordinary circumstances, to give a
new proof of affection towards his beloved subjects, he had abdicated
all claims upon the Spanish kingdoms, in favour of his friend and
ally, the Emperor of the French. The treaty of resignation, he said,
stipulated for the integrity and independence of those kingdoms, and
the preservation of the Catholic faith, not only as the predominant,
but as the sole and exclusive religion in Spain. The councils were
ordered to make every exertion in support of the Emperor, and, above
all, with their utmost care to preserve the country from insurrections
and tumults.
♦MAY 5. CHARLES CEDES HIS RIGHTS TO BUONAPARTE.♦
The preamble to the treaty of resignation stated, that the object of
the two contracting princes was to save Spain from the convulsions of
civil and foreign war, and to place it in the only position, which,
under its present extraordinary circumstances, could maintain its
integrity, guarantee its colonies, and enable it to unite all its means
to those of France, for the purpose of obtaining a maritime peace. By
the first article, Charles ceded all his rights to the throne of Spain
and the Indies, having only had in view, he said, during his whole
life, the happiness of his subjects, and constantly adhering to the
principle, that all the acts of the sovereign ought to be directed to
that object solely. This cession was represented as the only means
which could re-establish order; and it was covenanted, 1. that it took
place only on condition that the integrity of the Spanish kingdom
should be maintained; that the prince whom it might please the Emperor
to place on the throne should be independent; and that the limits of
Spain were to undergo no alteration: 2. that the Catholic, Apostolic,
and Roman religion, should be the only one in Spain; no reformed
religion should be tolerated, still less should infidelity: these
things were to be prevented or punished according to the established
usage. 3. All property confiscated since the revolution at Aranjuez
should be restored; and all decrees which had been passed against the
friends of Charles were declared null and void. 4. Charles having thus
secured the prosperity, the integrity, and the independence of his
kingdom, (such was the monstrous language of this convention!) the
Emperor engaged to grant an asylum in his states to him, the Queen,
the Prince of the Peace, and such of their servants as might choose
to follow them, who should enjoy in France a rank equivalent to that
which they possessed in Spain. 5, 6, 7, 8. The palace of Compeigne,
with its parks and forests, should be at the disposal of King Charles
during his life, and a civil list of 80,000,000 _reales_ should be
paid him in monthly payments; after his death the Queen should have a
revenue of 2,000,000 for her dowry. An annual rent of 400,000 _livres_
should be granted to each of the Infantes, in perpetuity, reverting
from one branch to another, in case of the extinction of one, according
to the civil law, and to the crown of France, in case of the extinction
of all the branches. It was to be understood that this civil list
and these rents were to be looked for exclusively from the treasury
of France. The Infantes were, however, by a subsequent article, to
continue to enjoy the revenues of their commanderies in Spain. 9, 10.
The Castle of Chambord, with its parks, forests, and farms, was given
by the Emperor to King Charles, in full property, being in exchange
for all the allodial and particular property appertaining to the crown
of Spain, but possessed personally.... This convention was signed by
General Duroc, grand master of the palace, on the part of Buonaparte,
and on the part of Charles by Godoy, under his titles, Spanish and
Portugueze, of Prince de la Paz, and Count of Evora-monte. Thus did
this man, the last and worst of that succession of favourites who have
been the curse of Spain, consummate his own crimes, and, as far as
in him lay, the total degradation of his country; rejoicing probably
in the vengeance which he was taking upon a nation by whom he was so
righteously abhorred. Having done his work, he passed on into France,
to live out the remainder of his days, neglected and despised, and to
leave behind him a name more infamous than any in Spanish history. One
proclamation more was issued in the name of Charles, calling upon all
his former subjects to concur in carrying into effect the dispositions
of his “dear friend the Emperor Napoleon,” and exhorting them to avoid
popular commotions, the effect of which could only be havoc, the
destruction of families, and the ruin of all.
♦FERDINAND THREATENED BY BUONAPARTE.♦
Ferdinand had hitherto renounced his right in reference to his father
only. A farther renunciation was demanded from him: it was not tamely
yielded; and in his last conference with him upon the subject,
Buonaparte bade him choose between cession and death. He was informed
that he might return to Spain, and that a convoy of French soldiers
should escort him to any part of the Peninsula which he might choose.
But he was also told, that France would immediately make war upon him,
and never suffer him to reign; for it was the duty of the Emperor to
maintain the rights of his crown, and those which had been ceded to him
by Charles, and to destroy the projects of the partizans of England.
♦HIS ACT OF RENUNCIATION.♦
That Ferdinand should at length have yielded, is not to be severely
condemned; it is rather to be admired that he should have resisted
so long. Even had he been of a more heroic frame, than his family
and education were likely to produce, imprisonment, and death, by
some dark agency, were all he could expect from farther opposition.
Thus intimidated, he authorized Escoiquiz to treat with Duroc for the
surrender of his own rights, and those of his brothers and his uncle
Don Antonio, who had now been sent from Madrid, rather as prisoners
than in any other character. ♦MAY 10.♦ The preamble declared, that the
Emperor of the French and the Prince of Asturias having differences
to regulate, had agreed to these terms: 1. That Ferdinand acceded
to the cession made by his father, and renounced, as far as might
be necessary, the rights accruing to him as Prince of Asturias. 2.
The title of royal highness, with all the honours and prerogatives
which the Princes of the Blood enjoyed, should be granted to him in
France: his descendants should inherit the titles of Prince and Serene
Highness, and hold the same rank as the prince-dignitaries of the
empire. 3, 4. The palaces, parks, and farms of Navarre, with 50,000
acres of the woods dependent on them, should be given to him, free
from incumbrance, in full property for ever; and pass, in default of
his heirs, to those of his brother and uncle, in succession: and the
title of Prince should be conferred, by letters patent and particular,
upon the collateral heir to whom this property might revert. 5, 6.
Four hundred thousand _livres_ of appanage on the treasury of France,
payable in equal monthly portions, should be settled on him, with
reversion, in like manner, to the Infantes, and their posterity; and
a life-rent of 600,000 should be given the Prince, the half remaining
to the Princess, his consort, if he left one to survive him. 7. The
same rank and titles should be assigned to the Infantes and their
descendants as to the Prince; they should continue to enjoy the
revenues of their commanderies in Spain (as had been agreed in the
convention with Charles), and an appanage of 400,000 _livres_ (as
also there stipulated) should be settled on them in perpetuity, with
reversion to the issue of Ferdinand. No mention was made in the treaty
of the Queen of Etruria and her son, a boy of eight years old, who, by
the doubly-villanous treaty of Fontainebleau, was to have been made
King of Northern Lusitania. Involved in the common ruin of their house,
they also had been escorted to Bayonne; and the whole of this unhappy
family, now that the mockery of negotiation was at an end, were sent
into the interior of France.
CHAPTER V.
INSURRECTION AND MILITARY MURDERS AT MADRID. SUBMISSION OF THE
CONSTITUTED AUTHORITIES TO THE PLEASURE OF BUONAPARTE. ASSEMBLY
OF NOTABLES CONVOKED BY HIM AT BAYONNE.
♦1808. APRIL.♦
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.
♦CONDUCT OF MURAT TOWARDS THE JUNTA OF GOVERNMENT.♦
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 opportunity[29]
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 been[30]murdered, 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.
♦THE JUNTA APPLY TO FERDINAND FOR INSTRUCTIONS AS TO RESISTING THE
FRENCH.♦
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?
♦ABSURDITY OF THEIR CONDUCT.♦
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.
♦ORDERS FOR SENDING THE QUEEN OF ETRURIA AND THE INFANTE DON FRANCISCO
TO BAYONNE.♦
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 Etruria[31] 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.
♦AGITATION OF THE PEOPLE OF MADRID.
MAY 1.♦
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.
♦INSURRECTION OF THE PEOPLE.♦
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.
♦DEFENCE OF THE ARSENAL BY DAOIZ AND VELARDE.♦
At the commencement of the conflict Murat ordered a detachment of 200
men to take possession of the arsenal[32]. 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 Spaniards[33] 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 taken[34] 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 to[35] 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.
♦THE INFANTE D. ANTONIO SENT TO BAYONNE.♦
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.
♦EDICTS FOR PRESERVING PEACE IN THE CAPITAL.
MAY 5.♦
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, provided[36] 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.
♦CIRCULAR LETTER OF THE INQUISITION.♦
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.”
♦THE JUNTA DISCHARGED FROM THEIR AUTHORITY BY CHARLES’S REASSUMPTION.♦
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.
♦MEANS OF RESISTANCE AUTHORIZED BY FERDINAND.♦
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.
♦THE JUNTA RESOLVE THAT THEY HAVE NO LONGER AUTHORITY TO OBEY THESE
INSTRUCTIONS.♦
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 Ferdinand[37] as
well as themselves.
♦ADDRESS FROM FERDINAND AND THE INFANTE, EXHORTING THE PEOPLE TO
SUBMISSION.♦
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.”
♦JOSEPH BUONAPARTE CHOSEN BY HIS BROTHER FOR KING OF SPAIN.♦
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.
♦ADDRESSES FROM THE JUNTA AND THE COUNCIL OF CASTILLE TO BUONAPARTE.
MAY 13.♦
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.
♦ADDRESS FROM THE CITY OF MADRID.
MAY 15.♦
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.
CHAPTER VI.
GENERAL INSURRECTION. PROCEEDINGS IN ASTURIAS AND GALLICIA. JUNTAS
FORMED IN THE PROVINCES. JUNTA OF SEVILLE. MURDER OF SOLANO AT
CADIZ; CAPTURE OF THE FRENCH SQUADRON IN THAT HARBOUR. MASSACRE
OF THE FRENCH AT VALENCIA. PROCLAMATIONS OF THE PATRIOTS.
MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH AGAINST THEM.
♦1808. MAY.
GENERAL INSURRECTION.♦
The seizure of the fortresses, and the advance of the French troops,
had roused the spirit of the Spaniards; their hopes had been excited
to the highest pitch by the downfal of Godoy and the elevation of
Ferdinand; and in that state of public feeling, the slaughter at
Madrid, and the transactions at Bayonne, were no sooner known,
than the people, as if by an instantaneous impulse over the whole
kingdom, manifested a determination to resist the insolent usurpation.
Abandoned as they were by one part of the Royal Family, deprived of
the rest; forsaken too by those nobles and statesmen, whose names
carried authority, and on whose talents and patriotism they had
hitherto relied; ... betrayed by their government, and now exhorted
to submission by all the constituted authorities civil and religious
which they had been accustomed to revere and to obey; ... their strong
places and frontier passes in possession of the enemy; the flower
of their own troops some in Italy, others in the north of Europe;
and a numerous army of the French, accustomed to victory, and now
flushed with Spanish slaughter, in their capital and in the heart of
the country; under these complicated disadvantages and dangers, they
rose in general and simultaneous insurrection against the mightiest
military power which had ever till that time existed; a force not
more tremendous for its magnitude than for its perfect organization,
wielded always with consummate skill, and directed with consummate
wickedness. A spirit of patriotism burst forth which astonished Europe,
and equalled the warmest hopes of those who were best acquainted with
the Spanish nation: for those persons who knew the character of that
noble people, ... who were familiar with their past history, and their
present state; who had heard the peasantry talk of their old heroes,
of Hernan Cortes and of the Cid; ... who had witnessed the passionate
transfiguration which a Spaniard underwent when recurring from the
remembrance of those times to his own; ... his brave impatience,
his generous sense of humiliation, and the feeling with which his
soul seemed to shake off the yoke of these inglorious days, and take
sanctuary among the tombs of his ancestors, ... they knew that the
spirit of Spain was still alive, and had looked on to this resurrection
of the dry bones. As no foresight could have apprehended the kind
of injury with which the nation had been outraged, nor have provided
against the magnitude of the danger, so by no possible concert could
so wide and unanimous a movement have been effected. The holiest and
deepest feelings of the Spanish heart were roused, and the impulse was
felt throughout the Peninsula like some convulsion of the earth or
elements.
The firing on the 2d of May was heard at Mostoles, a little town about
ten miles south of Madrid, and the Alcalde, who knew the situation of
the capital, dispatched a bulletin to the south, in these words: “The
country is in danger; Madrid is perishing through the perfidy of the
French. All Spaniards, come to deliver it!” ♦ALVARO FLOREZ ESTRADA, P.
126.♦ No other summons was sent abroad than this, which came from an
obscure and unauthorized individual, in a state of mind that would have
made him rush upon the French bayonets; but this stirred up the people
in the southern provinces; and in truth no summons was needed, for
the same feeling manifested itself every where as soon as the details
of the massacre were known, and the whole extent of the outrage which
had been offered to the nation. Buonaparte was totally ignorant of the
Spanish character, and in that ignorance had pursued the only course
which could have provoked a national resistance. If he had declared war
against Spain, at the beginning, no enthusiasm could have been raised
in favour of the government, and he might have dictated the terms of
submission as a conqueror. The opinion of his magnanimity and greatness
would have gone before him; the Spaniards, prone to admire what is
romantic and miraculous, and taught by their own history to disregard
the injustice and the inhumanity of wars which are waged for conquest,
had been dazzled by the splendour of his portentous career; and had he
appeared to them as an open, honourable foe, the pretension that he was
appointed to fulfil the ways of Providence, might have found among them
a submissive, and perhaps a willing belief.
♦DEPUTIES FROM ASTURIAS SENT TO ENGLAND.♦
Asturias was the first province in which the insurrection assumed a
regular form. A Junta of representatives was elected, who assembled
at Oviedo, and declared that the entire sovereignty had devolved into
their hands. The commander in chief in that principality, who attempted
to suppress these movements, was in danger of losing his life; and
the Conde del Pinar, and the poet, D. Juan Melendez Valdes, who were
sent by Murat from Madrid to appease the people, were glad to escape
from the indignation which their mission provoked. The first act of
the Junta was to dispatch two noblemen to solicit aid from England:
they put off from ♦MAY 25.♦ Gijon in an open boat, and got on board an
English privateer which happened to be cruizing off that port. Agents
also were sent to Leon and to Coruña, inviting the Leonese and the
Gallicians to unite with them against the common enemy.
♦INSURRECTION AT CORUÑA.♦
The Asturian who came to Coruña upon this mission was ordered by one
of the magistrates to leave the town immediately, and not to make his
errand known to any person, on pain of being arrested and treated as
a criminal. On the way back he stopped at Mondoñedo, where he learnt
that the Leonese were in insurrection, and met as emissary from that
kingdom, one of those generous spirits who were then every where
employed in rousing the nation, and preparing it for the struggle
which must ensue. The people of Mondoñedo entered with ardour into
the common cause; and a student from the seminary there accepted the
office of deputy from that city to Coruña, notwithstanding the risk
which the Asturian had run. He went with the fair pretext of asking
from the provincial government what course ought to be taken by the
authorities at Mondoñedo, in consequence of the events in Asturias and
Leon. Coruña was in a state of great ferment when he arrived; true
and false reports were received with equal belief by the populace;
it was affirmed that the sale of church property which Ferdinand had
suspended was to be resumed; that Buonaparte would order off all the
Spanish troops to the north of Europe, and that cart-loads of chains
were on the way to manacle those soldiers who should refuse to march
willingly. The captain-general of Gallicia and governor of Coruña, D.
Antonio Filangieri, believed that the only course which it behoved him
to pursue in the strange and perilous state of Spain, was to preserve
order as far as possible; but the very precaution which he took to
prevent an insurrection became the signal for it. The festival of St.
Ferdinand, King of Spain, which is commemorated on the 30th of May,
had always been celebrated as the saint’s-day of Ferdinand since he
was acknowledged as Prince of Asturias; and in all fortified towns the
flag should have been displayed and a salute fired. Filangieri forbade
this to be done, lest it should occasion a dangerous movement among
the people. The omission excited them more forcibly than the ceremony
would have done: it was a silent but unequivocal act of assent to the
iniquitous proceedings at Bayonne; and the people understanding it
as such, collected in great numbers about the governor’s house, and
insisted that the flag should be hoisted. Filangieri was a Neapolitan,
who might have transferred his allegiance from a Bourbon King of Spain
to a Buonaparte without any sacrifice of feeling, or violation of duty.
His inclinations, however, were in favour of the country which had
adopted him, and he obeyed the popular voice. They then required that
a regiment which he had removed to Ferrol should be recalled, that
the arms in the arsenal should be distributed among the inhabitants,
that Ferdinand should be proclaimed King, and that war should be
immediately declared against France. The governor demurred at this last
demand; ... they broke into his house and seized his papers, and his
life would probably have been sacrificed if he had not escaped at a
garden door, and found shelter in a convent.
The multitude then hastened to the arsenal, and took possession of the
arms; the soldiers offered no resistance, and soon openly declared for
the cause of their country. Some officers who attempted to restrain
the people were hurt; some houses were attacked; a warehouse was broke
open because it was said the fetters in which refractory conscripts
were to be conveyed to France were deposited there, and the French
Consul would have been murdered, if some humaner persons had not
conveyed him in time to Fort St. Antonio, upon an island in the sea. A
portrait of Ferdinand was carried in procession through the streets;
and the _Vivas_ which accompanied that popular name were followed by a
fearful cry of “Down with the French and the traitors!” But order was
soon restored, and in great measure by the exertions of the clergy,
who possessed at this time a double influence over the people, because
no class of men displayed more fervour of patriotic loyalty. The
heads of the monasteries and the parochial priests assembled with the
constituted authorities of the town, the Regent of the Royal Audience,
and the Governor, to whom obedience was now restored; they formed a
permanent Junta of government, they sent officers to treat with the
English squadron which was then blockading Ferrol, and they dispatched
advices to Santiago, Tuy, Orense, Lugo, Mondoñedo, and ♦NELLERTO.
MEM. T. 3, NO. 140.♦ Betanzos, requiring each of those cities to
send a deputy to the Junta, and make the news known throughout their
respective jurisdictions. In the course of three days the whole of
Gallicia was in a state of insurrection, and a communication was
immediately opened with England.
♦EXCESSES OF THE POPULACE.♦
At Badajoz and at Seville the first popular movements were repressed
by the local authorities; but they soon broke out again with renewed
violence. The Count de la Torre del Fresno was governor at Badajoz;
the people collected before his palace, calling upon him to enrol
them, and give them arms for the defence of the country. ♦MAY 30.♦ A
second time he endeavoured to control a spirit which was no longer to
be restrained; and the furious multitude, who perceived that to remain
quiet was in fact to acknowledge the foreign King who was to be forced
upon them, considered all attempts to abate their ardour as proceeding
from a traitorous intention, forced their way into the house, dragged
him forth, and murdered him. For in the sudden dissolution of
government, by which free scope was for the first time given to the
hopes and expectations of enthusiastic patriotism, the evil passions
also were let loose, and the unreasonable people were sometimes
hurried into excesses by their own blind zeal, sometimes seduced into
them by wretches who were actuated by the desire of plunder, or of
private revenge. Men were sacrificed to the suspicions and fury of the
multitude, as accomplices and agents of the French, whose innocence in
many cases was established when too late. Such crimes were committed
at Valladolid, Cartagena, Granada, Jaen, San Lucar, Carolina, Ciudad
Rodrigo, and many other places. But this dreadful anarchy was of short
duration. The people had no desire to break loose from the laws and
the habits of subordination; the only desire which possessed them
was to take vengeance for their murdered countrymen, and to deliver
their country from the insolent usurpation which was attempted. If
any obstruction was offered to this generous feeling, they became
impatient and ungovernable: otherwise, having always been wont to look
to their rulers, never to act for themselves, their very zeal displayed
itself in the form of obedience; they were eager to obey any who would
undertake to guide them, and no person thought of stepping beyond his
rank to assume the direction. ♦JUNTAS ESTABLISHED EVERY WHERE.♦ Because
Ferdinand, when he set out upon his journey to Bayonne, had left a
Junta of government at Madrid, the people were familiar with that name,
and Juntas, in consequence, were formed every where; those persons
being every where appointed whom the inhabitants were accustomed to
respect.
♦FORMATION OF THE JUNTA OF SEVILLE.♦
Though the provisional governments thus suddenly formed were altogether
independent of each other, a certain degree of ascendancy was conceded
by general consent to the Junta of Seville; that city, for its size
and importance, being regarded by the Spaniards as their capital,
while Madrid was in the enemy’s possession. After the magistracy
had repressed the first tumultuous indications of patriotism in the
Sevillians, a movement too general for them to withstand was excited
by a man of low rank by name Nicolas Tap y Nuñez. He came there as a
missionary to preach the duty of insurrection against the French; and
at a time when every hour brought fresh excitement to the hopes and
the indignation of the people, this man by his ardour and intrepidity
obtained a great ascendancy, which he did not in the slightest
instance abuse. When the persons in authority found it impossible to
withstand the tide of popular feeling, the formation of a Junta was
proposed, and the first thought of the people was, that the parochial
clergy and the heads of the convents should assemble to choose the
members, so little did they think of exercising any right of election
themselves, and so naturally did they look up to those by whom they
were wont to be directed. Some of these persons assembled, accepting
unwillingly the power with which they were by acclamation invested,
and confounded, if not intimidated, by their apprehensions of the
French, the injunctions of the constituted authorities at Madrid,
and the presence of a multitude who had given murderous proofs that
their pleasure was not to be resisted with impunity: in this state
of mind many withdrew from the meeting, and they who remained were
glad to rid themselves of immediate responsibility by assenting to any
nominations which were proposed. Such a choice was made as might be
expected under such circumstances; some who thrust themselves forward
with the qualifications of wealth and effrontery were chosen, and they
to accredit their own election added others who held the highest place
in public opinion for rank or talents. Among them were D. Francisco
Saavedra, who had formerly been minister of finance, and P. Gil de
Sevilla; both had been sufferers under Godoy’s administration, and
they who were persecuted by him were for the most part entitled to
respect as well as commiseration. Though the populace had thus obtained
their immediate object, they still remained in a state of ferocious
excitement, and their fury was directed (by private malice, it was
believed) against the Conde del Aguila, one of the most distinguished
inhabitants of Seville, whose collection of pictures, books, and
manuscripts, was justly esteemed among the treasures of that city.
The maddened and misguided rabble attacked him first with insults,
then dragged him from his carriage, killed him, and exposed his body
upon one of the city gates. And even when order was restored, the
magistrates did not venture to institute any proceedings for bringing
to justice the perpetrators or instigators of the murder.
Tap y Nuñez, who was for that day the Lord of Seville, assisted at
the election of the Junta, and being a stranger, and ignorant of
the good or ill deserts of those who were proposed, assented to all
the nominations. Learning however that two members, more likely to
discredit the cause of the country than to serve it, had been chosen,
he went the next day to their sitting, and required that these
individuals should be expelled. All hope of establishing subordination
would have been lost, if a demagogue like this, however meritorious
his intentions, were allowed to make and unmake the members of the
government at his pleasure. The Junta therefore immediately arrested
him, and sent him prisoner to Cadiz. This was a necessary act of
vigour, without which no authority could have been maintained. But
some merciful consideration was due to this man, because he had shown
no disposition to abuse his dangerous influence, nor to aggrandize
himself, when it was in his power: he was, however, made to feel,
that the forms and realities of justice were as little to be looked
for under the provisional government, as under the old despotism; and
having been thrown into prison, there he was left to linger, hopeless
of a trial, and having nothing to trust to for his deliverance but the
chance that they might be weary of supporting ♦ESPANOL. T. 1, P. 13.♦
him there, or that his place might be wanted for another.
The vigour which they had shown in thus asserting their authority
was not belied by their subsequent conduct. Their first measure
was to establish in all towns within their jurisdiction, containing
2000 householders, corresponding Juntas, who were to enlist all the
inhabitants between the ages of sixteen and forty-five, and embody
them. Funds were to be raised by order of the Supreme Junta, by taxes
on all corporations and rich individuals; and, above all, by voluntary
subscriptions. ♦THEY DECLARE WAR AGAINST FRANCE.♦ They declared war
against the Emperor Napoleon and against France, in the name of
Ferdinand and of all the Spanish nation, protesting that they would not
lay down their arms till that Emperor restored to them the whole of
their Royal Family, and respected the rights, liberty, and independence
of the nation which he had violated. This, said they, we declare with
the understanding and accordance of the Spanish people. By the same
declaration, they made known that they had contracted an armistice with
England, and that they hoped to conclude a lasting peace.
♦SOLANO HESITATES TO CO-OPERATE WITH THEM.♦
Solano was at this time on the frontiers with his army, having been
recalled from Portugal. If any man in such times could rely for
security upon his character, his popularity, and the whole tenor of
his life, this nobleman might have felt himself secure. The arbitrary
authority which he possessed at Cadiz had always been exercised for the
good of the inhabitants and the improvement of the city: the military
and naval officers respected him, the higher orders were his personal
friends, and the populace looked with full confidence to his justice.
No one more deeply felt and regretted the decline and degradation of
Spain; yet had he partaken of its degradation, for he resigned himself
to it, and despairing of his country, would have submitted to a nominal
reform of government imposed by a foreign power, and under an intrusive
dynasty. Upon the first movements at Seville, he hastened thither; and
Saavedra, P. Gil, Count de Tilly, and others, who were willing to stand
forward against the usurpation, and encourage a spirit from which every
thing might be hoped, communicated their desires and intentions to him,
as a true Spaniard, whose genuine patriotism could not be called in
question. But Solano was one of those persons who believed the power of
the French to be irresistible; the leading men whose opinions were most
conformable to his own, and who, till this fatal time of trial, had
been thought capable and desirous of introducing those reforms which
the system of administration required, had submitted to Buonaparte’s
pleasure; and while they, in common with all the constituted
authorities in the metropolis, in the most earnest terms exhorted their
countrymen to submission, the French, he knew, were ready to march
troops wherever their presence might be required, and to repress an
insurrection as promptly and severely in Seville as they had done at
Madrid. He was not aware that the spirit which had manifested itself at
Madrid, and was ready to break out in Seville, was felt at that time
throughout every city and every village in the Peninsula. A proper
fear also lest the people should possess themselves of power which they
would certainly abuse, influenced him also; and determining hastily
to support what appeared to him the cause of order and the laws, he
received the communications which were made to him with coldness and
distrust, required time to deliberate before he could assent to their
views, and hastened with all speed to resume his command at Cadiz, and
preserve that important city for the intrusive government.
♦HE REFUSES THE ASSISTANCE OF THE BRITISH SQUADRON.♦
There he gave out that he had returned thus suddenly to provide against
a bombardment of the city which the English were about to commence.
This gave him a pretext for removing cannon from the land side, in
order to strengthen the batteries toward the sea; it is said that he
removed the military stores also, under pretence that the casemates
would be wanted as shelter for the inhabitants; and that he sent to
the French General Dupont, who had been ordered to Andalusia, urging
him to hasten thither by forced marches. The truth of these reports it
is impossible to ascertain; and some who knew and loved Solano have
asserted their belief, that if he had lived to witness the national
virtue which was so soon afterwards displayed, he would have been one
of the most ardent and able supporters of the national cause. Admiral
Purvis, who commanded the British squadron before Cadiz, sent in flags
of truce, and offered to co-operate with him against the French, who
had five sail of the line and a frigate, under Admiral Rossilly, then
lying in the bay; offers of assistance on the part of England were also
made by the governor of Gibraltar, Sir Hew Dalrymple, who was already
in communication with General Castaños, then commanding the Spanish
force in the camp of St. Roque. Solano replied, that all overtures must
be addressed to the government at Madrid, which was in fact declaring
his adherence to Joseph Buonaparte.
♦SOLANO SUMMONS A COUNCIL OF OFFICERS.♦
Yet he appears to have wavered in purpose, if not in inclination. As
soon as the popular cause had obtained the ascendancy at Seville, the
Junta of that city sent out four artillery officers with dispatches to
the commanders at Cadiz, Badajoz, Granada, and St. Roque, declaring,
that in the present dissolution of government, the duty of providing
for the public weal had been committed to them, and informing them that
war had been declared against France, and peace with England. The Conde
de Teba, Cipriano Palafox, was the person entrusted with this mission
to Cadiz: his brother, the Conde de Montijo, had taken a decided part
in promoting the insurrection; and this young officer was charged with
these dispatches, not only because it was an honourable office, but
because he was capable of explaining to Solano the state of affairs at
Seville more fully than there had been time to do in writing. Full of
zeal in a cause which he afterwards deserted, he entered Cadiz cracking
his whip like a courier, and communicated to the people who flocked
about him, the news which he brought; which was also speedily diffused
by means of private couriers, whom the merchants of Seville sent to
their correspondents, and by the zeal of propagandists who, doubting
the determination of the persons in authority, came to make the people
declare themselves. Solano was intimate with the Count de Teba, and,
according to that nobleman’s relation, would have considered himself
criminal if he had acknowledged the authority of the Junta of Seville,
derived, as he conceived it to be, merely from the people of that city
in a state of insurrection; but he saw how dangerous it would now be
openly to disclaim their authority, and therefore summoned to council
all the general officers, military and naval, eleven in number, who
were within reach, and an address to the people was drawn up in their
name. ♦THEY EXHORT THE PEOPLE NOT TO ENGAGE IN HOSTILITIES WITH THE
FRENCH.♦ It stated, that of all undertakings a war against France was
the most difficult, considering the numbers and discipline of the
French army; the want of Spanish troops, and the indiscipline of the
new levies which might be raised. The right of declaring who were the
enemies of the nation belonged, they said, exclusively to the King;
he had repeatedly assured them that the French were his friends and
intimate allies; in that character they had entered Spain, and the
King had not manifested any change in his opinions concerning them;
it was doubtful therefore whether he required from the people those
sacrifices which were now called for. If nevertheless the people
would decide upon war, they ought to know that great sacrifices must
be made; men must be enrolled, embodied, and disciplined, they must
quit their homes for a long time, perhaps for ever, and they who were
not enrolled must return to their ordinary state of tranquillity; for
it was for soldiers alone to fight, while the other inhabitants of a
country remained neutral and passive, as might be seen by the example
of the Germans, the Prussians, the Russians, and other nations. Were
the people to act otherwise, and take an active part, the enemy would
plunder their houses, and lay waste every thing with fire and sword.
Moreover the most dreadful disorganization of society would ensue;
and the English who were in the bay might take advantage of this
dissolution of government to get possession of the port and city, and
convert Cadiz into a second Gibraltar. The governor and the eleven
general officers whom he had assembled concurring in these views, laid
their opinions, they said, before the people, who were now to determine
what part should be taken, and who could accuse no person of having
deceived them, if the evils which were thus foreseen and foretold
should in the event come upon them. But if, in despite of these
representations, they persisted in the resolution of making war against
the French, the generals were ready to begin hostilities, that they
might not be accused of having given their advice from pusillanimity
or any other motives unworthy of their patriotism, their honour, and
their courage.
♦THE PEOPLE INSIST UPON TAKING ARMS.♦
The tenor of this address evinced little resentment of the wrongs of
their country in the persons by whom it was framed; and the manner in
which it was published discovered as extraordinary a want of judgement
in the governor, as he had displayed in his legislative experiments
at Setubal. Instead of waiting till the next day, he increased the
agitation and alarm of the people, ordering the address to be read
at night in the streets by the light of torches, and summoning the
restless part of the population, and alarming the peaceable, by the
sound of military music; sure means of counteracting the sedative
effect which the proclamation was intended to produce. The bolder
spirits who were engaged in the better cause did not fail to perceive
the advantage which the address afforded, by the heartlessness of
its reasoning, and its full recognition of the right of the people
to direct the conduct of the governor. There was no rest for the
inhabitants that night; an answer was prepared to the generals, which
was brought by a disorderly multitude, bearing torches, at midnight,
to the governor’s palace. Solano was summoned to the balcony; and a
young man, standing on the shoulders of one of the stoutest of his
companions, read to him a writing in the name of the people, declaring
that they had decided upon war, because they could confute all the
reasons which had been advanced against it; and accordingly he read
aloud an answer to the address, point by point. The mob applauded, and
required that the French squadron should immediately be summoned to
surrender. Solano assured them that their wishes should be fulfilled,
and that on the morrow all the general officers should be assembled
in consequence. Had he sympathized with the national feeling, and
given at first that assent which he now reluctantly yielded, he might
have directed their ardour, and maintained subordination, though not
tranquillity. But the populace had now gained head, and broken loose,
and at such times the bloodiest ruffian has always the most influence.
♦SOLANO IS ADVISED TO WITHDRAW.♦
Part of the mob went to the arsenal, and these were the better-minded
Spaniards, who wanted arms, that they might use them in the defence of
their country. They found no opposition, because the soldiers every
where partook of the general impulse of indignation against the French.
Others broke open the prisons to deliver their friends and companions
in guilt. The house of the French Consul was attacked and forced, for
the purpose of putting him to death: he had taken refuge in the Convent
of St. Augustine, and from thence got on board the French squadron.
Murmurs were heard against Solano, as one who was disposed at heart to
favour the enemy. The Count de Teba warned him that he was in danger,
and advised him to give the command to D. Thomas de Morla (one of the
generals whom he had called to council), and go with him to Seville,
for the avowed purpose of obtaining the fullest information how to
proceed in so important a crisis. Solano saw the prudence of this
advice, but a sense of honour withheld him from following it, lest he
should be suspected of cowardice; and as a second reason, he alleged
a fear which his blind attachment to the French alone could have
occasioned, that the English might take advantage of the confusion, and
endeavour to make themselves masters of Cadiz; as if England were the
enemy whom the Spaniards had then cause to dread!
♦HE IS MURDERED BY THE MOB.♦
On the morrow the general officers assembled for the second time, and
about mid-day the people having collected to know their determination,
they came forward in the balcony, and Solano and Morla assured the
multitude that every thing which they desired should be done, and
therefore they might disperse, and go each to his home in peace. One
man cried out that they did not choose to see the French colours
flying. Solano asked where they were to be seen? and upon being
answered, on the French ships, he replied, that the naval officers
and engineers were already instructed to take measures for obtaining
possession of that squadron. They appeared satisfied with this, and
Solano sate down to dinner. Before he had risen from table another
mob arrived at the palace, with a man at their head who had formerly
been a Carthusian, but had obtained leave to exchange that order for
a less rigid one, in which he was now serving his noviciate. This man
demanded to speak with the governor; an answer was returned, that the
governor stood in need of rest, and that he had promised the people
to fulfil their desires. The ex-Carthusian was not satisfied with
this, and endeavoured to push by the sentinel, who upon this fired his
piece in the air, and fastened the door. The mob then, under the same
leader, brought cannon against the house, shattered the doors, and
rushed in. They were now bent upon Solano’s death. He meantime escaped
by the roof, and took shelter in the house of an English merchant,
whose lady concealed him in a secret closet; and there, it is said,
he would have been safe, if the very workman who had constructed it
had not joined the mob, and discovered[38] his hiding-place. The
mistress of the house, Mrs. Strange, in vain endeavoured to save him,
by the most earnest intreaties, and by interposing between him and his
merciless assailants. She was wounded in the arm; and Solano, as he was
dragged away, bade her farewell till eternity! They hauled him toward
the gallows, that his death might be ignominious; ♦NELLERTO, MEM. T.
3, NOS. 134, 143. JACOB’S TRAVELS. SIR J. CARR’S TRAVELS, P. 47, 48.♦
others were too ferocious to wait for this, they cut and stabbed him,
while he resigned himself with composure and dignity to his fate; and
the mortal blow is said to have been given by one of his own soldiers,
who, to save him from farther sufferings, and from intended shame, ran
him through the heart.
♦MORLA APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF CADIZ.♦
There may be reason for supposing that the fury of the populace was
in this instance directed by some personal enemies of the Marquis,
because it fell wholly upon him; the general officers who united in
the address seem to have incurred no danger, and Morla, as second in
command, was declared the next day by acclamation governor of Cadiz
and captain-general of the province. He accepted the command, on
condition that the people would disperse peaceably; the tumultuous
election was confirmed by the Junta of Seville, who sent one of their
members to concert a plan of operations with Morla; and the new
governor issued a proclamation, ♦1808. JUNE.♦ exhorting the people
to be tranquil, telling them that a set of ruffians were plundering
and destroying under the mask of patriotism, protesting that the only
desire of the persons in authority was to die in the cause of their
beloved Ferdinand, whom a tyrant had separated from them; assuring
them that measures should instantly be taken against the French ships,
and that within four and twenty hours the happy effects would be seen.
Meantime the French squadron took up a defensive position, in a channel
leading to the Caraccas, and out of reach of the works. M. Rossilly,
the commander, knew that every effort would be made to relieve him,
and endeavoured therefore to gain time, being no doubt confident that
the force which would be ordered to occupy Cadiz would beat down any
resistance that the Spaniards could oppose. He made overtures to the
governor, proposing to quit the bay, if an arrangement to that effect
could be made with the British squadron; this, he said, was for the
purpose of tranquillizing the people, since his force, and the position
which he had taken, appeared to occasion some uneasiness. But if the
English should refuse their consent, he then offered to land his
guns, keeping his men on board, and not hoisting his colours; in that
case he required that hostages should be exchanged, and demanded the
protection of the Spaniards against the exterior enemy. Morla replied,
that though these proposals were such as it became the French admiral
to make, it was not compatible with his honour to accept them: his
orders were positive, and he could hear of nothing but an unconditional
surrender. Lord Collingwood had now arrived from before Toulon, to take
the command upon this, which had become the more important station. He
offered to co-operate with the Spaniards, with whom the fleet was now
in full communication; but being aware of their own strength, and sure
of their prey, they declined his assistance. If the French commander
had not relied too confidently upon the advance of his countrymen
and the fortune of Buonaparte, he would now have surrendered to the
English, for the certainty of obtaining better treatment, and the
chance of exciting some disagreement respecting the prizes. Batteries
were erected on the Isle of Leon, and near Fort Luiz; and from these,
and from their mortar and gun-boats, the attack was commenced, while
the British sailors remained impatient spectators of a contest carried
on at a distance, and protracted from the ninth of June till the
fourteenth, when, having in vain endeavoured to obtain more favourable
terms, ♦SURRENDER OF THE FRENCH SQUADRON.♦ Rossilly surrendered
unconditionally. In an address to the people which Morla then published
he pointed out the advantage of a mode of attack which they had
censured as dilatory and inefficient; the victory had cost only four
lives, and the ships which were now their own had been taken with the
least possible injury. The prisoners, he said, should be exchanged for
Spanish troops. He exhorted and commanded the people to return to
their accustomed habits of subordination. The convulsion which Spain
has undergone, said he, has awakened us from our lethargy, and made us
feel our rights, and the duty which we owe to our holy religion and our
King. We wanted an electric shock to rouse us from our palsied state
of inactivity; we stood in need of a hurricane to clear the heavy and
unwholesome atmosphere. But if violent remedies are continued after
the good which was proposed from them be obtained, they become fatal:
excessive efforts bring on a debility worse than direct weakness,
because the very principle of strength is exhausted. It was now
necessary to return to order, and to confide in the magistrates. Able
men must be armed and disciplined; they who were not fit for military
service would be employed in other ways, and boys and women who excited
tumults should be punished. The troops, said he, the whole city, the
sword of justice, and above all God himself, who chastises those that
abuse his mercies, authorize and support me.
♦EARLY COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN GENERAL CASTAÑOS AND SIR HEW DALRYMPLE.♦
The man who addressed this language to his countrymen had hitherto
endeavoured to frustrate the purposes of those better spirits whom the
danger had awakened; and by his means this blow against the French
had been delayed as long as possible, in the hope and expectation
that a French force might arrive in time to prevent it, and secure
Cadiz for the Intrusive King. For in this part of Spain alone, the
intention of opposing Buonaparte had been conceived as soon as his
designs were discovered, and measures had been taken for obtaining
assistance from the English. The Spanish Commander at Algeziras, and
the British Governor of Gibraltar, had always been accustomed in time
of war to maintain that sort of humane and courteous intercourse which
the laws of honour allow, and by which the evils of hostility may be
mitigated. The opportunity thus afforded had not been overlooked by
those Spaniards who were resolved to act for the deliverance of their
country; and if Ferdinand, instead of overthrowing the favourite,
had found it necessary to fly, it was intended that he should have
taken refuge at Gibraltar, and from thence have embarked for the
colonies, trusting to British honour. As early as the beginning of
April, General Castaños had communicated with Sir Hew Dalrymple upon
the state of affairs, and the measures which it might be necessary to
adopt. After the elder branches of the Royal Family had been decoyed
away, a hope of saving D. Francisco, the youngest of the Infantes, was
cherished, and of conveying him to America, to secure that portion of
the Spanish dominions: but in case the whole of the Bourbons should be
destroyed, or carried into hopeless captivity, the Archduke Charles
was regarded as the fittest person to whom the throne, thus rendered
vacant, could be offered; and a request was made to Sir Hew that a
frigate might be held in readiness to sail for Trieste, and bring him
over. Sir Hew Dalrymple saw the whole importance of the crisis; and by
the generosity with which he took upon himself the responsibility of
acting in affairs of such moment, the Spanish General was induced to
place just confidence in British frankness and good faith. Toward the
latter end of May two French officers, one of whom was an aide-de-camp
of Murat’s, came to Algeziras. Castaños supposed their errand was to
arrest him, and in that case had determined upon killing them, and
retiring by sea to Gibraltar. He found, however, that they spake to
him with apparent confidence respecting the Viceroyalty of Mexico,
which had been promised him by the old government, and was now held out
as a lure to him, as it also was to General Cuesta. The aide-de-camp
assured him that the removal of the Bourbons from Spain had for three
years been the chief object of Buonaparte’s policy; and this having
now been happily effected, the house of Austria was next to be removed
... an operation which could not require more than four months; ...
so easy at that time did any ambitious enterprise appear to the
soldiers of Buonaparte! But Castaños was neither deterred by the power
of this formidable tyrant, nor seduced by any prospect of personal
aggrandizement. He continued his communications with Gibraltar, and his
plan was to begin by seizing the French fleet; this he thought would
be the best mode of commencing hostilities, and such a stroke at the
outset would give a character of decision and vigour to the Spanish
counsels. Morla had influence enough to frustrate it then; but no evil
arose from the delay; rather it proved advantageous, by allowing time
for that simultaneous manifestation of feeling which so decidedly
proved the spirit of the people. Meantime, in full reliance upon
England, Castaños obeyed the first summons from the Junta of Seville,
and prepared to resist the French when they should enter Andalusia.
♦MASSACRE AT VALENCIA.♦
While Asturias, Galicia, and Andalusia, had thus with one impulse taken
arms against the usurpation, and opened an intercourse with England,
of whose willing and efficient assistance no doubt was entertained,
the city of Valencia, where the same spirit manifested itself at the
same time, became the scene of a most horrible and disgraceful tragedy.
There also, in the first movements of the people, the governor, D.
Miguel de Saavedra, fell a victim to popular fury; he was brought back
from Requeña, whither he had retired for safety, and murdered near the
palace of the Conde de Cervellon, who had decidedly engaged in the
national cause, and yet with all his efforts was unable to save him.
His head was carried about the streets on a pike, and then exposed
upon a pillar in the Plaza de S. Domingo. A Junta was chosen, and
order would soon have been re-established, if at this time there had
not arrived from Madrid one of those monsters whose actions, we might
wish, for the sake of human nature, to account for by the supposition
of demoniacal possession. P. Baltasar Calvo, such was his name, was a
Canon of the church of S. Isidro, in the metropolis; it was afterwards
reported that he had been deputed by Murat to secure Valencia for the
intrusive government, by secretly treating with the members of the
Junta; and that finding this impracticable, he determined to make
himself master of the city by terror. But that he should have acted
as he did with any ultimate view of delivering up the city to the
French is utterly impossible; nor indeed is it likely that he had any
other purpose than that of glutting at the head of a mob a devilish
disposition, which, if he had lived a century earlier, would have found
appropriate employment and full gratification in the service of the
Holy Office.
There were many French residents in Valencia; the abominable conduct
of their government toward Spain had made them objects of hatred as
well as suspicion; and at the beginning of the disturbances most of
them very imprudently took refuge in the citadel. Calvo denounced
them to the mob as being in correspondence with Murat and the French
troops, for the purpose of betraying the city. The Junta had no
military force at their command; and they were too much confused or
intimidated to employ that moral force which, with due exertions on
the part of the magistracy, may generally be brought into action.
The British consul, Mr. Tupper, was one of their number; he went to
the citadel, represented to the French the imminent danger to which
they were exposed while they remained there collected as it were for
slaughter, and intreated them to retire into the different convents,
and name such of the inhabitants as they supposed would be willing
and able to associate for their protection. But thinking themselves
safer where they were, they would not be persuaded. By this time the
Canon had collected instruments enough for his bloody purpose; in a
large city ruffians will never be wanting, till the police of cities,
and the moral condition of the inferior classes, be very different
from what they are throughout all Christendom; and that he might have
sure subjects at his command, he had opened the prisons and let their
inmates loose. On the 5th of June, when the evening was closing, Calvo
led his rabble to the citadel, and forced some friars to accompany
them. Little resistance was made by the guard; the Frenchmen were led
one by one into an apartment, to be confessed by the friars, like
condemned criminals, then thrust out by some of these infatuated and
infuriated wretches, felled with bludgeons, and dispatched by the
knife. When the Junta heard that this horrible massacre was going
on, they called out the monks and friars, and sent them to the scene
of slaughter, carrying the host uncovered, and with lighted tapers,
chanting as they went. At that sight the wretches ceased from their
murderous work, and, smeared as they were with blood, knelt by the
bodies of their dead and dying victims, in adoration. But Calvo, more
obdurate than the very murderers whom he directed, called on them to
complete what they had begun; he intimated to the religioners, that if
they interposed in behalf of the French, they should be considered as
accomplices with them, and partake their fate: and they, intimidated by
the threat, and appalled by the dreadful objects before them, withdrew,
... when that spirit of heroic devotion, which looks upon martyrdom
without dismay, might surely have prevented farther bloodshed, and
redeemed the Valencians from the shame of the foulest excesses by which
a cause so righteous in itself was sullied.
The massacre continued all night. A hundred and seventy-one persons
were butchered; and when the day broke, it was perceived that some
ten or twelve of these victims were still breathing. The effect which
this produced upon the murderers shows how certain it is that the
religioners would have softened them, had there been one man among them
with the spirit of a martyr. Struck with compassion, and without making
their intention known to Calvo, as if they knew him to be immitigable,
they removed these poor sufferers to the hospital, and assisted in
binding up the wounds which they had made. There still remained about
an hundred and fifty French in the citadel; the mob, satiated with
blood, and now open to feelings of humanity, determined upon sparing
them, and removing them to a place of safety. The Canon consented to
this, which it might have been dangerous to oppose; but his lust for
blood was still unsatiated. He ordered all the French to be confessed
before they left the citadel, then fastened them two by two with ropes,
and marched them out toward the place appointed. On the way he halted
the mob, and holding up a paper, declared that it had been found in the
pocket of one of the Frenchmen, and that it contained an engagement on
the part of his countrymen in that city, to deliver it up as soon as an
army should appear before it. The multitude, with whom bold assertions,
if according with their passions or prejudices, always pass for proofs,
believed this preposterous charge; and with renewed ferocity falling
upon the remnant whom they had resolved to spare, massacred them all.
Calvo then led them to the houses of the French, in search of those
who had remained at home, when the greater number took shelter in the
citadel; these also were dragged from their hiding places, and in the
same deliberate manner confessed and butchered. One circumstance alone
occurred which may relieve the horror of this dreadful narrative. M.
Pierre Bergiere had acquired a large fortune in Valencia, and was
remarkable for his singular charity. It was not enough for him to
assist the poor and the sick and the prisoner with continual alms, he
visited them, and ministered to their wants himself in the sick room
and in the dungeon. Yet his well-known virtues did not exempt him from
the general proscription of his countrymen, and he too having been
confessed and absolved, was thrust out to the murderers. The wretch
who was about to strike him was one whom he had frequently relieved
in prison, and upon recognizing him withheld his arm; calling however
to mind that Bergiere was a Frenchman, he raised it again; but his
heart again smote him, and saying, “Art thou a Devil or a Saint, that
I cannot kill thee?” he pulled him through the crowd, and made way for
his escape.
During these atrocities the Junta seem to have been panic-stricken,
making no effort to exert an authority which never was so much needed.
The Canon was not satisfied with this timid and unwilling acquiescence;
he wished to involve them in the responsibility for these wholesale
murders, or to bring them into discredit and danger by making them
act in opposition to the wishes of the multitude whom he guided. With
these views he commanded five Frenchmen to be led to the door of the
hall wherein they held their sittings, and sent in a messenger to ask
in his name for a written order to put them to death. The intention
was readily understood, but the moment was not yet come for acting
decisively against this merciless demagogue, and the Conde de Cervellon
replied, “You have killed many Frenchmen without an order, and none
can be wanted now.” Mr. Tupper went out to the assassins, and addressed
them on behalf of the prisoners; he was struck at with a knife by one
who called him a Frenchman himself; the blow was parried, voices were
heard crying that he was an Englishman, and one man declared he would
put to death the first person who should offer violence to the English
consul. But any interposition for the miserable French was in vain;
they were knocked down and stabbed, and their bodies were left upon
the steps of the hall. There were still several Frenchmen concealed
in the city, who were in danger every moment of being discovered and
massacred. Mr. Tupper, when he found that all appeals to the humanity
of the mob were unavailing, had recourse to a different method, and
proposed to an assembly of ruffians, armed with the knives which they
had already used in murder, and were eager to use again in the same
service, that the survivors should be given up to him, that he might
send them prisoners to England, promising in exchange for them a supply
of arms and ammunition from Gibraltar. By this means their lives were
preserved.
♦PUNISHMENT OF THE ASSASSINS.♦
The canon Calvo was now in that state of insanity which is sometimes
produced by the possession of unlimited authority. He declared himself
the supreme and only representative of King Ferdinand, and was about
to issue orders for dismissing the Conde de Cervellon from his rank
as Captain-general, dissolving the Junta, and putting the Archbishop
to death. A sense of their own imminent danger then roused the Junta.
They invited him to join them, and assist at their deliberations. He
came, followed by a crowd of ruffians, who filled the avenues when
he entered the hall: he demeaned himself insolently, and threatened
the assembly till P. Rico, a Franciscan, one of the most active and
intrepid in the national cause, rose and called their attention to a
matter upon which the safety of the city depended; and then denounced
the Canon as a traitor, and called upon the members immediately to
arrest him. Calvo was confounded at this attack; ... when he recovered
himself, he proposed to retire while the Junta were investigating his
conduct; they well understood his intention, and voted that he should
immediately be sent in irons to Majorca; and before the mob, who at his
bidding would have massacred the Junta, knew that he had been accused,
he was conducted secretly under a strong guard to the mole, put in
chains, and embarked for that island. The Junta then acted with vigour
and severity: they seized about two hundred of the assassins, had them
strangled in prison, and exposed their bodies upon a scaffold. The
Canon was afterwards brought back and suffered the same deserved fate.
What confession he made was not known; he would not permit ♦SIR J.
CARR’S TRAVELS, P. 255–266.♦ the priest to reveal it, farther than an
acknowledgement that God and his crimes had brought him to that end.
♦DUHESME FAILS IN ATTEMPTING TO OCCUPY LERIDA.♦
The Valencians, as soon as they were delivered from the tyranny of
this frantic demagogue, prepared vigorously for defence. They burnt
the paper money which had been stamped in Murat’s name, and stopped
several chests of specie which were on the way to Madrid. The Catalans
were not able to exert themselves with equal effect, because Barcelona,
the second city of the kingdom in population, but in commercial and
military importance the first, was in the hands of the French; but
where the people were not controlled by the immediate presence of the
enemy they declared themselves with a spirit worthy of their ancestors.
The decrees from Bayonne and the edicts of Murat were publicly burnt
at Manresa. The Governor of Tortosa, D. Santiago de Guzman y Villoria,
was murdered by the raging populace, and that city declared against
the intrusive government. Duhesme thought to secure Lerida by sending
the Spanish regiment of Estremadura to occupy the citadel; he expected
that, being Spaniards, no objection would be made to admitting them,
and an order for relieving them by French troops might afterwards
be obtained from the government at Madrid. But the people of Lerida
refused to let them enter, in wrongful, though at that time necessary
distrust; and the regiment, glad to find itself at liberty, took up
its quarters at Tarrega, waiting to see where it might be employed
with most advantage in the service of its country. ♦CABAÑES. HIST. DEL
EXERCITO DE CATALUÑA. PART I. P. 23, 24.♦ They were soon invited to
Zaragoza. It was for the purpose of keeping open a communication with
that city that Duhesme had wished to occupy Lerida; and if both places
had been secured, the French would then have had military possession of
all the Pyrenean provinces.
♦PALAFOX ESCAPES FROM BAYONNE TO ZARAGOZA.♦
Among the persons who accompanied Ferdinand to Bayonne was D. Joseph
Palafox y Melzi, the youngest of three brothers, of one of the most
distinguished families in Aragon. He was about thirty-four years of
age, and had been from boyhood in the Spanish guards without ever
having seen actual service; in Madrid, where he had mostly passed
his time, he was only remarkable for a certain foppishness in his
appearance, and in ordinary times he might have passed through life as
an ordinary man, without any pretensions to moral or intellectual rank.
After the tumults at Aranjuez he was appointed second in command there,
under the Marquis de Castellar, to whose custody the Prince of the
Peace was committed. Not being regarded at Bayonne as a person whom it
was necessary to secure, he found means to escape in the disguise of a
peasant, and in that dress arrived safely at a country house belonging
to his family, at Alfranca, about two miles from Zaragoza. That city
was in a perturbed state, ... the people restless, indignant, and eager
to act against the enemy; the magistrates, and the Captain-general
of Aragon, D. Jorge Juan Guillermi, desirous of maintaining order,
and ready in regular course of office to obey the instruction which
they received from Madrid, not scrupulous from what authority they
came, while it was through the accustomed channels. The arrival of
Palafox at such a time excited the hopes and the expectations of the
Zaragozans. That he was hostile to the intended usurpation was certain,
he would not otherwise have exposed himself to danger in escaping from
Bayonne; that he came with the intention of serving Ferdinand was to
be presumed, ... perhaps with secret instructions from him; it was
even rumoured that Ferdinand himself had miraculously made his escape,
and was now concealed in the house of the faithful companion of his
flight. This report was too romantic to obtain belief, except among
the most credulous of the ignorant. Palafox however was so popular,
and the impatience of the people discovered itself so plainly, and
their wishes so evidently looked to him as the man whom they would fain
have for their leader, that though he used no means direct or indirect
for encouraging this disposition, the Captain-general thought proper
to send him an order to quit the kingdom of Aragon. Despotic as the
system of administration had been throughout all Spain, such an order
to a man of Palafox’s rank, in his own country, would have been deemed
at any time a most unfit exertion of authority. Under the present
circumstances it evinced the determination of General Guillermi to
support the intrusive government, and hastened the insurrection which
he apprehended, but was unable to avert.
Two men of strong national feeling and great hardihood had obtained
at this time an ascendancy over the populace; Tio Jorge the one was
called, the other Tio Marin, ... _Tio_, or uncle, being the appellation
by which men in the lower classes who have passed the middle age are
familiarly addressed in that part of Spain. ♦INSURRECTION IN THAT
CITY.♦ These persons, on the morning of the 24th of May, at the head
of a multitude of peasants from the parishes of S. Madeleña and S.
Pablo, proceeded to the Governor’s palace, crying out, Down with Murat!
Ferdinand for ever! They disarmed the guard, made their way into his
apartment, and required him to accompany them to the arsenal, and
give orders for distributing arms to the people; a great quantity,
they said, had been sold to the French. It was in vain that Guillermi
defended himself against this absurd accusation, and pleaded his age
and services and honourable wounds: his conduct towards Palafox had
unequivocally shown what part he was disposed to take in this crisis of
his country. But the Zaragozans, less inhuman than the populace in many
other places, contented themselves with securing him in the old castle
of the Aljaferia, which was used for a military prison as well as for a
depot of artillery. The second in command, Lieutenant-general Mori, who
was an Italian by birth, was then regarded as his successor, rather by
right of seniority, than for any confidence on the part of the people;
for though his name was shouted with loud _Vivas_, ominous intimations
accompanied these shouts, that if he did not demean himself to their
satisfaction, the cry would be, Down with Mori, as it had been, Down
with Guillermi. A Junta was formed, but though the most respectable
persons were chosen, the people continued to act for themselves. Still
it was with greater moderation than had been evinced elsewhere; a cry
was raised against the French inhabitants; and they were conducted to
the citadel more for their own security than for that of the city.
♦PALAFOX MADE CAPTAIN-GENERAL.♦
Tio Jorge and a party of peasants, now armed from the arsenal, went to
Alfranca, and invited Palafox into Zaragoza; he showed no disposition
to accept their invitation, and they would have taken him with them
against his consent, if General Mori, feeling the instability of his
own power, had not written to solicit his assistance. The next morning,
when he appeared in the Council, he requested that some means might
be taken for delivering him from the importunities of the people,
protesting that he was ready to devote all his exertions, and his
life also, if that sacrifice should be required, to his country and
his King. The people who surrounded the door were now calling out
that Palafox should be appointed Captain-general; they burst into the
Council with this cry. Mori gladly declared himself willing to resign
the office if his services were no longer necessary, and Palafox was
thus invested with the command.
♦JOVELLANOS AND CABARRUS AT ZARAGOZA.♦
The city was in this state when Jovellanos, having been released on
the accession of Ferdinand from his long and iniquitous imprisonment
in Majorca, arrived there on the way from Barcelona to Asturias, his
native province. The insurrection in Catalonia had not broken out when
he commenced his journey, but every where the storm was gathering;
travellers of his appearance were every where regarded with curiosity
and suspicion; and when desirous, because of his infirm age and broken
health, to avoid the noise of a tumultuous city and the inconvenience
of unnecessary delay, he would have past on without entering the gates,
a jealous mob surrounded the carriage. Hearing that it came from
Barcelona, some were for searching the strangers, others for conducting
them before the new Captain-general to be examined; presently
however he was recognised, the name of Jovellanos was pronounced; He
is a good man, he must stay with us, was then the cry; and he was
conducted as in triumph to the palace. Palafox also intreated this
eminent and irreproachable man to remain in Zaragoza and assist him
with his advice; but Jovellanos pleaded infirmities brought on more
by sufferings than by years, and the necessity of retirement and
tranquillity for a broken constitution. Among the persons who were then
with the greatest zeal assisting Palafox in his preparations for war,
was the Conde de Cabarrus, a man of great reputation as a financier and
political economist, remarkable alike for talents and irregularities.
Jovellanos, himself the most excellent of men, had tolerated the
faults of Cabarrus for the sake of the noble qualities which he
possessed; and when Cabarrus, from the high favour which he enjoyed
under Charles III. became in the ensuing reign an object of hatred
and persecution, Jovellanos, as he had been the most disinterested
of all his many friends in prosperity, was the most faithful of the
few who adhered to him in his disgrace. Hitherto the love of Cabarrus
for his country, his passionate desire for the improvement of its
institutions, and his attachment to the principles of liberty, had
never been doubted; and now at thus meeting Jovellanos after ten years
of suffering, he shed tears, less in grief for the condition of Spain,
than in joy for the right old Spanish spirit which they saw reviving
among the people. He promised to follow his venerable friend to
Jadraque, and offered to be guided by his counsels. Jovellanos the next
day proceeded on his journey, and for honour as well as protection Tio
Jorge, with an escort of musqueteers, convoyed him the first stage.
♦PALAFOX DECLARES WAR AGAINST FRANCE.♦
The situation in which Palafox was placed was equally conspicuous
and perilous. To have escaped from Bayonne, and taken upon himself
the command of one of the kingdoms of Spain in opposition to the
usurpation, marked him in a peculiar manner for the vengeance of a
tyrant who was not to be offended with impunity. The capital of Aragon
was an important position, and at this time exposed to danger on all
sides. The adjoining province of Navarre was in possession of the
French, and it was not yet known that any resistance to them had been
manifested in Catalonia. The passes of the Pyrenees, leading directly
into Aragon, were open, and the main body of the French army was on the
other side in and about Madrid. Thus surrounded by the enemy, and in
a city which in military language would have been called defenceless,
(the walls and gates of Zaragoza having for many generations been
of no other use than to facilitate the collection of the customs,)
Palafox declared war against the French. The proclamation which he
issued was in a style which accorded with the temper of the people.
He declared that the Emperor of the French, the individuals of his
family, and every French general and officer, should be held personally
responsible for the safety of King Ferdinand, his brothers, and his
uncle: that should the French commit any robberies, devastations, and
murders, either in Madrid or any other place, no quarter should be
given them: that all the acts of the existing government were illegal,
and that the renunciations at Bayonne were null and void, having been
extorted by oppression: that whatever might be done hereafter by the
royal family in their state of duresse, should for the same reason be
accounted of no authority; and that all who took an active part in
these transactions should be deemed traitors to their country. And if
any violence were attempted against the lives of the Royal Family, he
declared that in that case the nation would make use of their elective
right in favour of the Archduke Charles.
Upon the first intelligence of the tumults at Zaragoza, the Junta of
Government at Madrid, knowing how popular the name of Palafox would
prove, dispatched his elder brother, the Marquis de Lazan, to inform
him of the course which they were pursuing, and persuade him to use his
influence for reducing the Aragonese to submission. But the Marquis, on
his arrival, found that no influence could have effected this, and that
Palafox had decidedly taken his part; and he also entered heartily into
the cause of his country. The Principe del Castel Franco, D. Ignacio
Martinez de Villala, one of the council of Castille, and the Alcalde
of the court, D. Luis Marcelino Pereyra, were sent from Bayonne upon
a similar errand, with a proclamation addressed to the Zaragozans,
and signed by all the Spaniards who had obeyed Buonaparte’s summons
as members of the Assembly of Notables. Had they reached Zaragoza the
mission might have cost them their lives, but finding that the people
of Aragon were every where inflamed with the same hatred against the
French, they deemed it expedient to turn back.
♦ADDRESSES TO THE PEOPLE.♦
It was believed by some of the noblest-minded Spaniards, that deeply
as their countrymen resented the treachery with which the royal
family had been entrapped, and the insult offered to the nation in
attempting to impose upon it a foreign dynasty by force, no national
opposition would have been attempted, if the slaughter at Madrid and
the executions by which it was followed had not excited in the people
a feeling of fiery indignation, and a desire of vengeance strong as
the sense of the most intolerable private injury could have provoked.
The basest creatures of the intrusive government lamented Murat’s
conduct in sacrificing so many victims by his military tribunal as
impolitic, while they served and supported a system which began in
treachery and could only be upheld by force. It was their belief that
every thing must yield to force of arms, and they were incapable of
estimating the moral force which was called forth in resistance. The
Juntas every where appealed to public opinion, and the press every
where where the French were not present, teemed with addresses to the
people, in all which the massacre of Madrid was represented as a crime
for which vengeance must be exacted. The Junta of Seville published one
to the people of the metropolis, blessing them for the noble example
they had given, and telling them that that example would be remembered
in the annals of their country for their eternal honour. “Seville,”
said they, “has seen with horror that the author of your misfortunes
and of ours has sent forth a proclamation in which all the facts are
distorted, and he pretends that you gave the provocation when it was
he who provoked you. The government had the weakness to sanction that
proclamation, and give orders for circulating it, and saw with perfect
unconcern many of you put to death for a pretended violation of laws
which had no existence. That proclamation said that the French blood
cried for vengeance. And the Spanish blood, ... does not it cry out
for vengeance? ... that Spanish blood shed by an army which was not
ashamed to attack a disarmed and defenceless people, living under their
own laws and their own King, and against whom cruelties were committed
which make human nature shudder? All Spain exclaims that the Spanish
blood in Madrid cries out for vengeance! Comfort yourselves! We are
your brethren, we will fight like you till we perish in defence of our
King and our country. Assist us with your good will, and with your
prayers to that Almighty God whom we adore, and who cannot forsake
us, because he never forsakes justice. And when the favourable hour
arrives, exert yourselves then and throw off the ignominious yoke,
which with such cruelty and such perfidiousness has been forced upon
you.”
The Junta of Oviedo, in like manner, called upon the people to revenge
their brethren who had been massacred; to remember their forefathers;
to defend their wives and sisters and daughters; and to transmit their
inheritance of independence to their children. They reminded them how
Pelayo, with the mountaineers of Asturias, laid the foundation of
the Spanish monarchy, and began that war against the Moors which his
posterity continued for 700 years, till they had rooted out the last
of the invaders. They reminded them of the Cid Campeador, Ruy Diaz
de Bivar; how, when the Emperor claimed authority over Spain, and a
council, where the King of Castille himself presided, discussed his
pretensions, that hero refused to deliberate on such a demand, saying
that the independence of Spain was established above all title; that no
true Spaniard would suffer it to be brought in question; that it was
to be upheld with their lives; and that he declared himself the enemy
of any man who should advise the King to derogate in one point from
the honour of their free country! They reminded them of the baseness,
the perfidy, and the cruelty which they had already experienced from
that proud and treacherous tyrant, who arrogates (said they) to
himself the title of Arbiter of Destinies, because he has succeeded
in oppressing the French nation, without recollecting that he himself
is mortal, and that he only holds the power delegated to him for our
chastisement. Had he not, under the faith of treaties, drawn away
their soldiers to the Baltic? had he not, in the character of a friend
and ally, marched his troops into the very capital, and made himself
master of the frontier fortresses, then robbed them of their King and
the whole of their royal family, and usurped their government? What
if they perished in resisting these barbarians? “It is better (said
they) to die in defence of your religion and independence, and upon
your own native soil, than be led bound to slaughter, and waste your
blood for the aggrandizement of his ambition. The French conscription
comprises you. If you do not serve your country, you will be forced
away to perish in the North. We lose nothing; for, even should we
fall, we shall have freed ourselves, by a glorious death, from the
intolerable burden of a foreign yoke. What worse atrocities would
the worst savages have perpetrated, than those which the ruffians of
this tyrant have committed? They have profaned our temples, they have
massacred our brethren, they have assailed our wives; more than 2000 of
the people of Madrid, of that city where they had been so hospitably
received, they have murdered in cold blood, for no other cause than for
having defended their families and themselves. To arms! to arms!...
Will you bend your necks to the yoke? Will you allow yourselves to be
insulted by injuries the most perfidious, the most wicked, the most
disgraceful, committed in the face of the whole world? Will you submit
to the humiliating slavery which is prepared for you? To arms! to arms!
... not like the monster who oppresses you, for the indulgence of an
insatiable ambition; not, like him, to violate the law of nations
and the rights of humanity, ... not to render yourselves odious to
mankind; ... but to assist your countrymen, to rescue your King from
captivity; to restore to your government liberty, energy, and vigour;
to preserve your own lives, and those of your children; to maintain the
uncontrolled right of enjoying and disposing of your property; and
to assert the independence of Spain.... The time is come; the nation
has resumed the sovereign authority, which, under such circumstances,
devolves upon it. Let us be worthy of ourselves! Let us perpetuate the
renown of our fathers! A whole people is more powerful than disciplined
armies. Spain will inevitably conquer in a cause the most just that
ever raised the deadly weapons of war; she fights, not for the concerns
of a day, but for the security and happiness of ages; ... not for
an insulated privilege, but for all the rights of human nature; ...
not for temporal blessings, but for eternal happiness; ... not for
the benefit of one nation, but for all mankind, and even for France
itself. Humanity does not always shudder at the sound of war, ... the
slow and interminable evils of slavery are a thousand times more to be
abhorred; ... there is a kind of peace more fatal than the field of
battle, drenched with blood, and strewn with the bodies of the slain.
Such is the peace in which the metropolis of Spain is held by the
enemy. The most respectable citizen there is exposed to the insolence
of the basest French ruffian; at every step he has to endure at least
the insult of being eyed with the disdain of the conqueror towards the
conquered. The inhabitants of Madrid, strangers, as it were, and by
sufferance in their own houses, cannot enjoy one moment’s tranquillity.
The public festivals, established by immemorial custom, the attendance
on religious ordinances, are considered as pretexts for insurrection,
and threatened with being interrupted by discharges of cannon. The
slightest noise makes the citizen tremble in the bosom of his family.
From time to time the enemy run to arms, in order to keep up the terror
impressed by the massacres of the 2d and 3d of May. Madrid is a prison,
where the jailors take pleasure in terrifying the prisoners for the
purpose of keeping them quiet by perpetual fear. But the Spaniards have
not yet lost their country!... Those fields which, for so many years,
have seen no steel except that of the ploughshare, are about to become
the new cradle of their freedom! Life or death in such a cause, and in
such times, are indifferent. You who return will be received by your
country as her deliverers! and you whom Heaven has destined to secure,
with your blood, the independence of our native land, ... the honour
of our women, ... the purity of our holy faith, ... you will not dread
the anguish of the last moments. Remember what tears of grateful love
will be shed over your graves, ... what fervent prayers will be sent up
for you to the Almighty Father of Mercies. Let all Spain become a camp;
let her population become an armed host; let our youths fly to the
defence of the state, for the son should fall before the father appears
in the ranks of battle. And you, tender mothers, affectionate wives,
fair maidens, do not retain within your embraces the objects of your
love, until, from victory returned, they deserve your affection. They
withdraw from you not to fight for a tyrant, but for their God; for a
monarch worthy the veneration of his people; for yourselves, and for
your companions. Instead of regretting their departure, sing ye, like
Spartan women, the song of jubilee!... The noble matrons, the delicate
maidens, even the austere religious recluse nuns, they too must take
a part in this holy cause; let them send up their prayers to Heaven
for the success of our undertaking, and minister, in their domestic
economy, to the necessities of their warlike sons and brethren.”
The popular faith as well as the patriotism of the Spaniards was
roused. They were told to implore the aid of the Immaculate Conception;
of Santiago, so often the patron and companion in victory of their
ancestors; of our Lady of Battles, whose image is worshipped in the
most ancient temple of Covadonga, and who had there so signally
assisted Pelayo in the first great overthrow of the Moorish invaders.
The fire flamed higher for this holy oil of superstition; but it was
kindled and fed by noble pride, and brave shame and indignation; by the
remembrance of what their forefathers had been, and the thought of what
their children were to be. While the leaders thus availed themselves of
popular faith, they called upon the clergy for those sacrifices which
the circumstances of the country rendered necessary: “Venerable orders
of religion,” said they, “withhold not the supplies which are required
for the common cause! If your virtue did not impel you to offer
this assistance, your interest would extort it; for your political
existence, ... the possession of your property, ... your individual
security, ... all depend upon the issue of this war. But Spain this
day receives from her favourite sons proofs of their affection and
gratitude, for the riches she has bestowed, and the splendour she has
conferred, for her pious generosity, and her ardent zeal, in sustaining
the religion and the customs of their fathers.” And to the honour of
the clergy, no men exerted themselves more strenuously in the common
cause; a conduct the more praiseworthy, after the submission of their
Primate, and the infamous part which the Inquisition had taken.
♦PROCLAMATION OF THE JUNTA OF SEVILLE.♦
While the other Juntas acted independently each in their province,
and prepared rather for local and immediate danger than for any
regular system of general defence, the Junta of Seville assumed a
higher authority, and took upon itself, as if by delegation, the duty
of providing for the country in this extreme necessity. “The King,”
they said in their proclamation to the people of Spain, “to whom we
all swore allegiance with emotions of joy unprecedented in history,
has been decoyed from us. The fundamental laws of our monarchy are
trampled under foot; our property, our customs, our wives ... all
which the nation holds most dear, are threatened. Our holy religion,
our only hope, is doomed to perdition, or will be reduced to mere
external appearances, without support and without protection. And a
foreign power has done this, ... not by dint of arms, but by deceit
and treachery, by converting the very persons who call themselves the
heads of our government, into instruments of these atrocious acts;
persons who, either from the baseness of their sentiments, from fear,
or perhaps from other motives, which time or justice will unfold,
hesitate not to sacrifice their country. It therefore became necessary
to break the shackles, which prevented the Spaniards from displaying
that generous ardour that in all ages has covered them with glory;
that noble courage, with which they have always defended their honour,
their laws, their monarchs, and their religion. The people of Seville
assembled accordingly on the 27th of May; and, through the medium of
all their magistrates, of all their constituted authorities, and of
the most respectable individuals of every rank, this Supreme Council
of Government was formed, invested with all necessary powers, and
charged to defend the country, the religion, the laws, and the King.
We accept the heroic trust; we swear to discharge it, and we reckon on
the strength and energy of the whole nation. We have again proclaimed
Ferdinand VII. ... again sworn allegiance to him, ... sworn to die in
his defence; this was the signal of happiness and union, and will prove
such to all Spain.
“A Council of Government had scarce been formed, when it violated the
most sacred laws of the realm. A president was appointed without any
authority whatever, and who, had he had any lawful title, hastened
to forfeit it. In addition to his being a foreigner, which was a
legal objection, he acted for the destruction of the very monarchy
from which he received his appointment, and of the laws, which alone
could sanction it. Under these circumstances we could not restrain
our loyalty, much less could we violate the sacred engagements, which
we had before contracted as Spaniards, as subjects, as Christians, as
freemen, independent of all foreign authority and power. Nor could
the interference of the first tribunal of the nation, the Council of
Castille, check or control our exertions. The weakness of that Council
became obvious from the wavering and contradictory proceedings which
it adopted in the most momentous situation wherein the nation ever
hath been placed, when the Council ought to have displayed that heroic
firmness, with which numberless motives and its own honour called upon
it to act. The order tamely to submit to, and circulate and obey the
act of abdication in favour of a foreign prince, was the consummation
of its weakness, perhaps of its infamy. That abdication was evidently
void and illegal from want of authority in him who made it; the
monarchy was not his, nor was Spain composed of animals subject to
the absolute control of their owners; ... his accession to the throne
was founded on his royal descent, and on the fundamental laws of the
realm. It is void on account of the state of violence in which it was
made; ... it is void, because the published act of abdication of King
Ferdinand VII. and of his uncle and brother, was made in the same
state of compulsion, as is expressly declared in the very act itself;
... it is void, because many royal personages, possessed of the right
of inheritance to the crown, have not relinquished that right, but
preserve it entire.
“The French ruler summoned the Spanish nation: he chose such deputies
as best suited his purpose, and in a despotic manner appointed them
to deliberate in a foreign country on the most sacred interests of
the nation, while he publicly declared that a private and respectful
letter, written to him by Ferdinand VII. at the time when he was Prince
of Asturias, was a criminal performance, injurious to the rights of
sovereignty. It is, indeed, a heinous offence, it is rebellion, when
an independent nation submits to the control of a foreign prince, and
discusses in his presence, and under his decision, its most sacred
rights and public welfare.
“He has resorted to many other means to deceive us. He has distributed
libels to corrupt the public opinion, in which, under the strongest
professions of respect for the laws, and for religion, he insults
both, leaving no means untried, however infamous they may be, to bend
our necks under an iron yoke, and make us his slaves. He assures the
public, that the supreme pontiff and vicar of Jesus Christ approves
and sanctions his proceedings; while it is notorious, that, in sight
of all Europe, he has despoiled him of his dominions, and forced him
to dismiss his Cardinals, in order to prevent him from directing and
governing the whole church, in the manner sanctioned by our Saviour
Jesus Christ.
“Spaniards, every consideration calls on us to unite and frustrate
views so atrocious. No revolution exists in Spain; our sole object is
to defend what we hold most sacred, against him, who, under the cloak
of alliance, intended to wrest it from us, and who would despoil us,
without fighting, of our laws, our monarchs, and our religion. Let
us, therefore, sacrifice every thing to a cause so just; and, if we
are to lose our all, let us lose it fighting, and like generous men.
Join, therefore, all: let us commit to the wisest among us in all
the provinces the important trust of preserving the public opinion,
and refuting those insolent libels which are replete with the most
atrocious falsehoods. Let every one exert himself in his way; and let
the church of Spain incessantly implore the assistance of the God of
Hosts, whose protection is secured to us by the evident justice of our
cause. Europe will applaud our efforts, and hasten to our assistance.
Italy, Germany, and the whole north, suffering under the despotism of
the French nation, will eagerly avail themselves of the opportunity
held out to them by Spain, to shake off the yoke and recover their
liberty, their laws, their monarchs, and all they have been robbed of
by that nation. France herself will hasten to erase the stain of infamy
which must cover the instruments of deeds so treacherous and heinous.
She will not shed her blood in so vile a cause. She has already
suffered too much under the idle pretext of a peace and happiness which
never came, and which can never be attained but under the empire of
reason, peace, religion, and laws, and in a state where the rights of
other nations are respected and observed.
“Spaniards, your native country, your property, your laws, your
liberty, your King, your religion, nay, your hopes in a better world,
which that religion can alone devise to you and your descendants, are
at stake, ... are in great and imminent danger!”
♦DIRECTIONS FOR CONDUCTING THE WAR.♦
Admirable as this address is, one grievous error was committed in
it, the precursor of others, and in itself of the most dangerous and
fatal tendency. It was said, “that the number of the enemy’s troops
was not so great as the French stated with a view of intimidating
the Spaniards; and that the positions which they had taken were
exactly those in which they could be conquered and defeated in the
easiest manner.” Whatever momentary advantage might be hoped for
by thus deceiving the people as to the extent of their danger, was
sure to be counterbalanced tenfold whenever they were undeceived, as
inevitably they would be. This error was the more remarkable, because
they were well aware of the enemy’s strength, and perceived also in
what manner it was to be opposed with the greatest probability of
success. For this purpose they strenuously recommended in an address
concerning the conduct of the war, that all general actions should be
avoided as perfectly hopeless, and in the highest degree dangerous.
A war of partizans was the system which suited them; their business
should be incessantly to harass the enemy; for which species of
warfare the nature of the country was particularly favourable. It was
indispensable, they said, that each province should have its general;
but, as nothing could be done without a combined plan, it was equally
indispensable that there should be three generalissimos, one commanding
in Andalusia, Murcia, and Lower Estremadura; one in Gallicia, Upper
Estremadura, the Castilles, and Leon; one in Valencia, Aragon, and
Catalonia. These generalissimos should keep up a frequent communication
with each other, and with the provincial generals, that they might
act by common accord, and assist each other. A particular general
was required for the provinces of Madrid and La Mancha, whose only
object should be to distress the enemy, to cut off their provisions,
to harass them in flank and in rear, and not leave them a moment of
repose. Another generalissimo was necessary for Navarre, the Biscayan
provinces, Asturias, Rioja, and the north of Old Castille; this being
the most important station of all. His whole business should be to
prevent the entrance of French troops into Spain, and to cut off the
retreat of those who were flying out of it. It was recommended that
frequent proclamations should be issued, showing the people that it was
better to die in defence of their liberties than to give themselves
up like sheep, as their late infamous government would have done.
“France,” said they, “has never domineered over us, nor set foot in
our territory. We have many times mastered her, not by deceit but by
force of arms. We have made her kings prisoners, and we have made the
nation tremble. We are the same Spaniards; and France, and Europe, and
the world, shall see that we have not degenerated from our ancestors.”
They were also exhorted watchfully to confute the falsehoods which the
French circulated, and particularly those which the baseness of the
late government still permitted to be published in Madrid. And care was
to be taken to convince the nation, that when they had freed themselves
from this intestine war, the Cortes would be assembled, abuses
reformed, and such laws enacted as the circumstances of the times
required and experience might dictate for the public good: “Things,”
said they, “which we Spaniards know how to do, and which we have done,
as well as other nations, without any necessity that the vile French
should come to instruct us, and, according to their custom, under the
mask of friendship, and wishes for our happiness, contrive (for this
alone they are contriving) to plunder us, to violate our women, to
assassinate us, to deprive us of our liberty, our laws, and our King;
to scoff at and destroy our holy religion, as they have hitherto done,
and will always continue to do, so long as that spirit of perfidy and
ambition, which oppresses and tyrannizes over them, shall endure.”
♦MEASURES FOR ENROLLING THE PEOPLE.♦
A general enrolment of men from the age of sixteen to that of
forty-five was ordered by this Junta in the name of Ferdinand.
They were to be divided into three classes; the first consisted of
volunteers, who were to march wherever their respective Juntas, or
_Ayuntamientos_, by the direction of the Supreme Junta, might order
them; and were then either to be embodied with the regular troops, or
formed into separate corps, and act with them, being in all things
subject to the same duties. The second class consisted of unmarried
men, and those who, whether married or widowers, had no children; these
were to hold themselves ready for service in the second instance. The
third class included fathers of families, persons in minor orders, and
others who were employed in those offices of the church which were not
indispensably necessary for public worship: this class was not to be
called upon till the last extremity, when it became the duty of all to
offer their lives in defence of the country. But this being the time
of harvest, and it having pleased the Almighty to bless the land with
an abundant one, all persons included in the second and third classes
were enjoined, whatever their rank and property might be, to lend
their personal service in collecting it, and this was required from
those who were above the age of forty-five as well as from others: so
would they deserve well of the country, and the Junta expressed their
confidence that no persons would so far derogate from the generosity of
the Spanish character, as to take advantage of the times, and demand
an exorbitant price for day labour. There were many villages where
the women reaped and performed other agricultural offices; this they
might do every where, and in so doing the Junta would consider them
as rendering the greatest service to their country; the clergy also,
secular and regular, were invited to set a generous example, by taking
their part in this important duty. Women, who from age, weakness, or
other causes, were not capable of working in the fields, were intreated
to occupy themselves in working for the hospitals, and to send their
contributions to the Commissariat Office in Seville. The names of all
persons who exerted themselves in this or any other manner in behalf of
the general weal, should at a future time be published by the Supreme
Junta, and each would then receive that praise and reward which their
patriotism had deserved.
♦APPEAL TO THE FRENCH SOLDIERS.♦
The Spaniards, confiding in the indisputable justice of their cause,
and being, according to the enthusiasm of the national character,
warm in their expectations of splendid success, reckoned upon a great
desertion from the French armies, not only of the Netherlanders,
Germans, and other foreigners, who, under various forms of compulsion,
had been brought into the tyrant’s service, but also of the French
themselves. An outrage so unprovoked and monstrous, so flagrant a
breach of faith, an act of usurpation effected with such unparalleled
perfidiousness, and then with such matchless effrontery avowed, must,
they thought, even among the French themselves, excite a sense of
honour and of indignation which would prevent them from becoming the
instruments of so infamous an injustice. In many of their proclamations
therefore they distinguished between Buonaparte and the people over
whom he ruled, calling the French an enlightened, a generous, and an
honourable nation, and declaring a belief that they as well as the
Spaniards desired the destruction of the tyrant by whom they were at
once oppressed and disgraced. They expressed a hope that the success of
the Spaniards might encourage the French people for their own sakes,
and for the sake of universal justice, to offer him up as a victim,
and by that sacrifice expiate the shame which he through his acts of
treachery and blood had brought upon France. “Let it not be supposed,”
they said, “that all Frenchmen participate in his iniquities! Even in
the armies of this barbarian we know that there are some individuals,
worthy of compassion, who, amidst all the evil wherewith they are
surrounded, still cherish in their hearts the seeds of virtue.” The
Junta of Seville published an address to the French army, inviting the
soldiers, whether French or of any other nation, to join with them, and
promising them, at the end of the war, each an allotment of land as the
reward for his services.
♦MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH AGAINST THE INSURGENTS.♦
As the Spaniards were too sanguine in relying upon the general
enthusiasm which was displayed throughout the nation, so the French,
on the other hand, more unreasonably regarded it with contempt. Having
defeated and humbled the greatest military powers in Europe, they
looked upon the Spanish insurgents as a rabble whom it was rather
their business to punish than to contend with. It was fortunate for
the Spaniards that they had no force at this time considerable enough
to be called an army; the enemy knew not where to strike an effective
blow, when the people were in commotion and in arms every where, but
nowhere in the field. Their object therefore was to get possession
of the provincial capitals, that the authority every where might be
in their hands as it was in the metropolis. With this intent General
Dupont with a considerable force was sent from Madrid to Andalusia,
there to occupy Seville and Cadiz, and thereby crush the insurrection
where it appeared to be gaining most strength. Marshal Moncey with his
corps marched upon Valencia. General Lefebvre Desnouettes was sent from
Pamplona against Zaragoza. Marshal Bessieres dispatched detachments
against Logroño, Santander, Segovia, and Valladolid. And Duhesme in
Catalonia sent General Schwartz against Manresa, and General Chabron
against Tarragona, while he himself prepared to march against the armed
Catalans.
♦MURAT LEAVES SPAIN.♦
Murat meantime had left Spain. Before he had well recovered from a
severe attack of the Madrid colic an intermittent fever supervened,
and when that was removed he was ordered by his physicians to the warm
baths of Bareges. The Duc de Rovigo, General Savary, who had acted so
considerable a part in decoying Ferdinand to Bayonne, succeeded in the
command. ♦SEVERAL FRENCHMEN POISONED BY THE WINE.♦ It happened at this
time that several French soldiers, after drinking wine in the public
houses at Madrid, died, some almost immediately, others after a short
illness, under unequivocal symptoms of poison. Baron Larrey, who was
at the head of the medical staff, acted with great prudence on this
occasion. He sent for wine from different _ventas_, analyzed it, and
detected narcotic ingredients in all; and he ascertained upon full
inquiry that these substances, of which laurel-water was one, were as
commonly used to flavour and strengthen the Spanish wines, as litharge
is to correct acidity in the lighter wines of France. The natives were
accustomed to it from their youth; they frequently mixed their wine
with water, and moreover the practice of smoking over their liquor
tended to counteract its narcotic effects by stimulating the stomach
and the intestines: it was therefore not surprising that they could
drink it with safety; though it proved fatal[39] to a few strangers. M.
Larrey therefore justly concluded that there had been no intention of
poisoning the French; if such a suspicion had been intimated, execrated
as they knew themselves to be, the troops would readily have believed
it; and a bloodier massacre than that of the 2d of May must have
ensued.
CHAPTER VII.
ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES AT BAYONNE. CONSTITUTION OF BAYONNE. THE
INTRUSIVE KING ENTERS SPAIN. BUONAPARTE RETURNS TO PARIS.
♦1808. JUNE.
THE NOTABLES ASSEMBLE AT BAYONNE.♦
Buonaparte meantime regarded the insurrection of the Spaniards with
apparent indifference: as yet he was too little acquainted with
the nature of the country and the national character to apprehend
any difficulty in reducing them to submission, and he proceeded to
regulate the affairs of Spain as if the kingdom were completely at
his disposal. Of the Notables who were ordered to Bayonne, some had
been nominated by Murat, others delegated by the respective provinces,
cities, or bodies which they were to represent. The Archbishops of
Burgos and Seville were summoned; several bishops, the generals of
all the religious orders, and about twenty of the inferior clergy.
Most of the Grandees were summoned, and some of the titular nobles to
represent the nobility. Some cities were to choose representatives for
the _Cavalleros_, or gentry, others for the commercial part of the
people. Deputies were also named for Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru,
Buenos Ayres, and the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, each being a native of
the province which he was called upon to represent. Azanza had been
sent for by Buonaparte to give him information concerning the royal
property; ♦AZANZA APPOINTED PRESIDENT.♦ he was appointed president
of the assembly, and considering the sentence of the old dynasty as
irrevocably passed, devoted himself to the service of the new.
♦URQUIJO SUMMONED BY BUONAPARTE.♦
Urquijo also was summoned from his retirement. Not having been
implicated in the intrigues of Ferdinand’s party, nor in their
subsequent errors, he was more at liberty to choose his part; he
had warned Ferdinand of the snare, and he had sufficient foresight
to feel assured that Buonaparte’s intentions could not be effected
without a severer struggle than had entered into his calculations.
Had it been possible, he would have chosen to keep aloof and remain
in tranquillity. But of tranquillity there was now no hope; and
reluctantly obeying a third order, he repaired to Bayonne, persuading
himself, that as the usurpation could not be prevented, the wisest
course was to profit as much as possible by the change. For it was
possible, he thought, to stipulate for conditions with the new dynasty,
and dictate laws, and establish institutions, which would enable Spain
to resume that rank among nations, to which the position and size
and natural advantages of the country entitled it. Thus he deceived
himself. Urquijo had always been too confident of his own talents;
he wanted that unerring principle of religion which allows of no
compromise with iniquity; and having in his youth entered heartily
into the cause of revolutionary France, the theoretical republican
ended in becoming a prime agent of the military despot of France, for
the subjugation of his own country.
♦HE REPRESENTS THE STATE OF SPAIN TO BUONAPARTE.♦
On his arrival he perceived that Buonaparte was very ill acquainted
with the real state of Spain and the spirit which possessed the
Spaniards; but he perceived also, that, like the people whom he had
provoked, he was fixed in his purposes, and resolute in going through
with what he had once begun. Urquijo truly and fairly represented
to him the general discontent, the activity of the clergy, and
more especially the regulars, in exciting the nation to arms, the
probability of an obstinate and bloody struggle, and the likelihood
that Austria would take advantage of it to renew the war, and that
Russia would not remain inactive. These representations made no
impression upon Buonaparte; he let Urquijo understand that the Emperor
of Russia had given his consent to the deposition of the Bourbons, and
the substitution of one of his family, when the peace of Tilsit was
concluded; he spoke with severe contempt of Charles and Ferdinand and
their ministers, especially Godoy, who in the last transactions at
Bayonne had seemed solicitous for nothing but his own pension; he said
he could have no reliance upon that family; and as to the opposition of
the Spaniards, he plainly declared, that if they refused to acknowledge
his brother for their King, he would dismember their country, or
make an absolute conquest of it. If this language had been addressed
to Urquijo from a distance, a generous indignation, an honest impulse
of national feeling, might have saved him from dishonour. But he was
within the magician’s circle; the frankness of the Emperor made him
forgive his former treachery; ... towards him there was no duplicity
or reserve; and when Buonaparte said that his brother would select
the best and ablest men in Spain for his ministers, and added that
he reckoned upon him, ♦NELLERTO. MEM. T. 2, NOS. 59, 67.♦ Urquijo
confessed within himself, that though he desired repose, and foresaw
danger, he should be compelled to accept of office.
♦ARRIVAL OF JOSEPH BUONAPARTE.
JUNE 6.♦
Mazarredo was appointed minister of the marine, Azanza minister of
finance, and General Cuesta viceroy of Mexico. These appointments were
made before Joseph’s arrival; and when he was within a day’s journey of
Bayonne, Buonaparte issued a decree proclaiming him King of Spain and
of the Indies, and guaranteeing to him the independence and integrity
of his dominions in the four quarters of the world. Joseph Buonaparte
was an inoffensive unaspiring man, who, if he had been permitted to
continue in a private station, would have gone through life obscurely
and not unworthily, loved and respected by his family and friends. He
had made himself popular at Naples, though the people of that city were
attached to their legitimate King; and being established there with
little of the responsibility, and none of the cares of government, he
very unwillingly obeyed Napoleon’s summons to Bayonne. Lucien’s advice
accorded entirely with his own feelings; and he came still with an
intention of refusing the crown of Spain; but Napoleon, who was sure
of his obedience, cared little for his consent or inclination; and
when he arrived on the evening after the proclamation, he was received
as King. The Emperor went out to meet him, and brought him in great
state to the Castle of Marrac. ♦THE NOTABLES RECEIVE HIM AS KING.♦ A
deputation of the Grandees waited upon him, and the Duke del Infantado,
at their head, assured him of the joy which they felt in presenting
themselves before him. His presence, they said, was eagerly desired
to fix all opinions, conciliate all interests, and re-establish that
order which was necessary for the restoration of Spain. The Grandees
of that country had been celebrated in all times for fidelity to their
sovereign; and he would find in them the same fidelity and the same
devotion. In like manner he was addressed by deputations from the
Council of Castille, from the Councils of the Inquisition, the Indies,
and the Treasury, and from the army. They told him the immensity of
glory which was accumulated upon the head of his imperial brother had
obscured that of all the heroes of antiquity; and that the choice
which Napoleon had made of his august person, announced him to be
endowed with those great qualities whereby thrones are supported and
sceptres[40] established.
♦ADDRESS OF THE NOTABLES TO THE SPANISH NATION.♦
Buonaparte required from these deputies, as their next service,
an address to their countrymen, exhorting them to acknowledge the
new King, and warning them of the evils of resistance, and the
impossibility of making any successful opposition. “Dear Spaniards,”
they said, “worthy compatriots, your families, your hearths, your
fortunes, your property, your lives, are as dear and as precious to us
as our own! We have been like you faithful and devoted to our former
dynasty, till the term arrived which had been fixed by Providence, the
absolute disposer of crowns and sceptres. The irresistible call of
duty, and the desire of your welfare, has brought us to the presence of
the invincible Emperor of France. We confess to you that the sight of
his glory and his power might have dazzled us; yet we had determined to
lay our supplications before him for the general good of our country.
What was our surprise, when he prevented us, by proofs of benevolence
and goodness, the more to be admired because of the greatness of his
power! He has no other view than for our happiness. The sovereign
whom he gives us is his august brother Joseph, whose virtues are
the admiration of his subjects.” They proceeded to enumerate the
blessings which he would confer upon them in the improvement of their
finances, agriculture, and resources of every kind, the restoration
of their military and naval strength, and the preservation of their
religion in its exclusive purity. “And what,” they asked, “is the
recompense which the great Emperor of the French requires from you
in circumstances so important to the whole nation? That you remain
quiet; that you take care of your families and your own concerns; that
you do not abandon yourselves blindly to the dreadful disorders which
are inseparable from popular commotions; that you wait with peaceable
confidence that melioration of your fortune which you may expect from
a virtuous monarch. Spaniards, look to yourselves and to your innocent
children! What fruit can you hope to reap from the disturbances which
rashness and malevolence are exciting? Anarchy is the severest of all
chastisements which the Almighty inflicts upon mankind. No one disputes
your courage; but without direction, without order, without unanimity,
all efforts will be vain. The most numerous forces that you can embody
would disappear before disciplined soldiers like smoke before the
wind. Flatter not yourselves with the thought of possible success in
such a contest; it is unequal in means if not in valour; you must be
overcome, and then all would be lost. There is no safety for the state
but in uniting ourselves with all our hearts to the new government, and
assisting it in the work of regenerating the country. We are come to a
miserable situation, brought to it by the capricious, indolent, unjust
government under which we have lived for the last twenty years. It
remains for us all to submit, and each to co-operate in his place for
the formation of a new one, upon principles which will be the security
of our liberties and rights and property. This is the desire of the
invincible Napoleon, who occupies himself for our good, who wishes to
deserve well of our nation, and to be called by our descendants the
regenerator of Spain.”
♦PROCLAMATION OF THE INTRUSIVE KING.
JUNE 10.♦
The men who prepared this address to their countrymen, in obedience to
Buonaparte’s commands, must have known with what scorn and indignation
it would be received. The first act of the intrusive King was not
likely to diminish those feelings; it was a decree in which, premising
that he had accepted the cession of the crown of Spain made in his
favour by his well-beloved brother the Emperor Napoleon the First, he
nominated Murat for his Lieutenant-general. If Napoleon had considered
the interest of his brother he would rather have recalled Murat with
some implied displeasure, as if in putting so many Spaniards to death
after the insurrection, he had acted with needless and unauthorized
severity: but he had determined upon reducing the people to submission
by intimidation and force. Joseph announced his accession by a
proclamation of the same date. In opening to him so vast a career,
Providence, he said, without doubt had judged of his intentions, and
would enable him to provide for the happiness of the generous people
whom it confided to his care. Aided by the clergy, the nobles, and
the people, he hoped to renew the time when the whole world was full
of the glory of the Spanish name. Above all, he desired to establish
tranquillity and happiness in the bosom of every family by a wise
social organization. The spirit of his government would be to improve
the public good with the least possible injury to individual interests.
It was for the Spaniards that he reigned, not for himself.
♦THE BISHOP OF ORENSE’S REPLY TO HIS SUMMONS.♦
About ninety Notables had now assembled at Bayonne, including those
who had been decoyed thither with Ferdinand. A much greater number had
been convoked; but some dared not undertake the journey, for fear of
the people, who would justly have regarded them as traitors for obeying
the summons; and others engaged heartily in the national cause. The
Bishop of Orense, D. Pedro Quevedo y Quintana, was one of the persons
whom the Junta of Government had summoned; and he declined obedience
in a letter of calm and dignified remonstrance, which produced as much
effect upon the people as the most animated military address, and
which those who hoped or affected to hope for any melioration of the
state of Spain by Buonaparte’s means could not have perused without
a sense of shame. Impressive as this composition was, it derived
additional weight from the character of the writer, for the Bishop of
Orense was one of those prelates whose truly Christian virtues are the
proudest boast and the truest glory of the Catholic church. During the
dreadful years of the French revolution he received into his palace
three hundred of the emigrant clergy: there he lodged and supported
them, and lived with them at the same table, refusing to partake of
any indulgence himself which could not be extended to these numerous
guests. It was not possible for him, he said, infirm as he was, and
at the age of seventy-three, to undertake so long a journey upon so
sudden a notice. But bearing in mind the good of the nation, and the
intentions of the Emperor, who desired to be as it were its angel
of peace, its tutelary spirit, ... he would take the opportunity of
saying to the Junta, and through them to the Emperor, what, if he were
in person at Bayonne, he should there have said and protested. The
business there to be treated is of remedying evils, repairing injuries,
improving the condition of the nation and the monarchy: ... but upon
what bases? Is there any approved means for doing this, any authority
recognized by the nation? Will she enslave herself, and by that means
expect her safety? Are there not diseases which are aggravated by
medicine, and of which it has been said, _tangant vulnera sacra nullæ
manus_? And does it not appear that those of the Royal Family are of
this kind, and have they not been so aggravated by the treatment which
they have received from their powerful protector, the Emperor Napoleon,
that their case is now desperate? The Royal Family had been sent into
the interior of France, ... of that country which had banished it for
ever; sent back to its primitive cradle, it found a grave there by a
cruel death, where its elder branch was cruelly cut off by an insane
and sanguinary revolution. And this having been done, what could
Spain hope for? Would her cure be more favourable? The means and the
medicines did not promise it. He proceeded to say, that the abdications
made at Bayonne could not be believed, and appeared to be impossible;
that they could not be valid unless they were renewed and ratified by
the Kings and the Infantes in their own country, and in perfect freedom
from all constraint and fear. Nothing would be so glorious for Napoleon
as to restore them to Spain, and to provide that in a general Cortes
they might act according to their free choice; and that the nation,
independent and sovereign as it was, might then proceed to recognize
for its lawful King the person whom nature, right, and circumstances,
should call to the Spanish throne. This indeed would be more honourable
for the Emperor than all his victories and laurels. This indeed would
deliver Spain from the dreadful calamities which threatened her; then
might she recover from all her evils, and giving thanks to God, return
also the most sincere gratitude to her saviour and true protector,
_then_ the greatest of all Emperors, the moderate, the magnanimous, the
beneficent Napoleon the Great.
At present, said the venerable prelate, Spain cannot but behold him
under a very different aspect. She sees in him the oppressor of
her Princes and of herself. She looks upon herself as fettered and
enslaved, when happiness is promised her, ... and this by force even
more than by artifice, ... by armies which were received as friends,
either through indiscretion and timidity, or perhaps by treason. These
representations he laid before the Junta in the discharge of his duty
as one of the King’s counsellors, that office being attached to the
episcopal order in Spain: and he desired that they might be submitted
to the Great Napoleon. “Hitherto,” said he, “I have relied upon the
rectitude of his heart, as being free from ambition and averse to
deceit. And still I hope that, perceiving Spain cannot be benefited
by enslaving her, he will not persist in applying remedies to her in
chains, for she is not mad.”
♦BUONAPARTE DELIVERS A CONSTITUTION TO AZANZA.♦
The want of any legitimate authority in the Junta of Notables to
legislate for the nation was so palpable, even to the members
themselves, that their president, Azanza, represented to Buonaparte,
as an advisable measure, to convoke a Cortes in the usual form, and
within the kingdom. But it was too late for this; the name of a Cortes,
and the appearance of free deliberation, could no longer delude the
Spaniards, after the forced abdications at Bayonne and the slaughter
at Madrid. Buonaparte maintained that the consent of the nation would
supply the want of any formalities which could not be observed in
the existing circumstances; he delivered to Azanza the project of a
constitution, and ordered him to appoint two committees, who should
arrange the subject for discussion, and propose such alterations and
modifications as they might deem convenient. Azanza and those who acted
with him had flattered themselves that they should make terms with
the new dynasty, and secure to their country a free representative
government; but they now found that they were to receive a constitution
as well as a King from the will and pleasure of Buonaparte. ♦SPEECH
OF AZANZA AT THE OPENING OF THEIR SITTINGS.♦ Nevertheless Azanza
congratulated the Junta at their first sitting on the delightful
and glorious task to which they were called, of contributing to the
happiness of their country in labouring for the good of the present
generation and of posterity, by the order and under the auspices of
the hero of their age, the invincible Napoleon. Thanks and immortal
glory, said he, to that extraordinary man who restores to us a country
which we had lost! He spoke of the long misgovernment by which Spain
had been degraded under a succession first of crafty then of imbecile
sovereigns, till the last of their kings had resigned his rights to
a Prince who, for their happiness, united in himself all the talents
and resources required for restoring her to her former prosperity.
He called upon them to sacrifice some privileges, which for the most
part were but imaginary, upon the altar of their country, and to
construct a monument at once simple and grand in place of the Gothic
and complicated structure of their former government. He told them that
it was in their power, by their collective representatives, and by
their individual efforts, to do much towards appeasing the agitation
which prevailed in many parts of the kingdom. Misguided men, without
plan, without accord, without object, were acting in a manner from
which nothing but ruin and desolation could ensue. Certain as the Junta
were of that truth, it must be their business to convince others of it
who were now deluded. Thus should they render their labours useful,
and fulfil the generous designs of the hero who had convoked them;
Spain would recover her ancient glory, and they would have the sweet
satisfaction hereafter of thinking that they had contributed to it.
♦ADDRESS OF THE NOTABLES TO KING JOSEPH.♦
The first sitting was employed in forming an address to King Joseph,
and the business of the second was to present it. The glorious task
which had been imposed upon them, they said, was to lay the foundations
of durable happiness for their beloved country; was it not then their
first duty to come before the chief of the Spanish nation, the centre
of all their hopes, and devote themselves in his presence with the
utmost zeal and ardour to the work? They noticed the disturbances in
Spain as momentary troubles, occasioned by the error of the people, who
never reflect, and who are worthy of commiseration when they return to
their duty. The Intruder replied, that he wished to remain ignorant of
these tumults, and to find none but Spanish hearts beyond the Pyrenees.
In quitting a people who did justice to his government, he had made
the greatest of sacrifices, he said; but, from his own feelings, he
anticipated the love of the Spaniards. He knew the wisdom and the
loyalty of the Castillian character. He would visit his provinces,
bearing with him the heart of a father, and he should meet with none
but his children. The enemies of the Continent (so in his brother’s
manner he designated the English) were endeavouring to detach the
colonies from the mother country, but the agents and instruments of
this crafty hatred should not be spared. He concluded by desiring them
in their deliberations to regard nothing but the good of the country,
and to reckon upon the blessings of the people, and upon his entire
satisfaction.
♦THE BAYONNE CONSTITUTION.♦
Ten other sittings completed the business of the Junta, who had
little time allowed them for their discussions, and less power. Some
alterations they were permitted to make in minor points, but the
principle and form of the constitution were of Buonaparte’s stamp.
It was promulgated by the Intruder as the fundamental law of the
kingdoms, and the basis of the compact whereby his people were bound to
him, and he to his people. ♦RELIGION.♦ The first article declared that
the Catholic Apostolic and Roman religion should be the religion of the
King and of the nation in Spain and in all the Spanish possessions,
and no other should be permitted. ♦THE SUCCESSION.♦ The Salic law of
succession was established, as in France; in failure of legitimate
male descendants to Joseph, the crown was to devolve on Napoleon, and
his heirs male, whether natural and legitimate, or adopted; in their
default to Louis and Jerome, and their heirs in succession, Lucien
being tacitly excluded. In failure of all these, the son of the eldest
daughter was to inherit; and if the last King left no daughter who had
issue male, the crown might then go to the person whom he should have
appointed by his will, whether one of his nearest relations were chosen
or any one whom he should deem most worthy to govern the Spaniards, but
the appointment must be presented to the Cortes for their approbation.
The crown of Spain and of the Indies was never to be united with any
other in the same person. The King should be considered as a minor
till he had completed his eighteenth year; during a minority there
should be a Regent, who must be at least twenty-four years old; if
the last King should not have nominated one among the Infantes, that
Infante was to hold the office, who being of the age required was the
last in succession to the throne. The Regent, like the King, was to
be irresponsible; and he was to have a fourth part of the revenues
which were settled upon the crown. Should there be no Infante of age
for the office, a Council of Regency was then to be composed of the
seven senior senators. The minor King was not to be under the Regent’s
care, but under the guardianship of his mother, in case his predecessor
should not have designated a guardian; and if the last King had not
appointed five senators for a Council of Tutelage, to provide for the
education of the minor, and to be consulted in all things of importance
relating to his person and establishment, that office devolved upon the
five senior senators, or if there were a Council of Regency existing,
on the five senators next in seniority to the members of that council.
♦PATRIMONY OF THE CROWN.♦
The palaces of Madrid, the Escurial, S. Ildefonso, Aranjuez, the
Pardo, and others belonging to the crown, with all the parks, forests,
inclosures, and property thereunto appertaining, were the patrimony
of the crown: if the rents of the whole did not amount to a million
of _pesos fuertes_, other lands were to be added to them which would
make up that sum. The public treasury was also charged with the payment
of two millions of _pesos fuertes_ per year to the crown, in monthly
payments. The hereditary Prince became entitled to a revenue of 200,000
from the age of twelve, the other Infantes to 100,000, the Infantas to
50,000 each, charged upon the public treasury: the Queen Dowager was
to have 400,000, charged upon the treasury of the crown.
♦1808. JULY.
MINISTRY.♦
There were to be nine ministers for the departments of justice,
ecclesiastic and foreign affairs, the interior, finance, war, the
marine, the Indies, and general police; and a secretary of state, with
the rank of minister, by whom all decrees were to be signed. The King
might at his pleasure unite the ecclesiastic department with that of
justice, and the general police with that of the interior: the rank of
these ministers depended upon the seniority of their appointment.
♦THE SENATE.♦
The Senate was to consist of the Infantes who had attained the age of
eighteen, and of twenty-four individuals chosen by the King, from his
ministers, the Captains-General of the army and navy, the Embassadors,
Counsellors of State, and members of the Royal Council. No one was
eligible till he had completed his fortieth year: the office was for
life, unless it were forfeited by the legal sentence of a competent
tribunal, and it was never to be given in reversion. The president
was to be named yearly by the King. In case of insurrection, or of
disturbances which threatened the security of the state, the Senate
might at the King’s proposal suspend the constitution in the places
specified, and for a certain time.
♦SENATORIAL JUNTA FOR THE PRESERVATION OF PERSONAL LIBERTY.♦
It belonged to the Senate to watch over the preservation of individual
liberty, and of the liberty of the press. A Senatorial Junta of
individual liberty, consisting of five members, was to be chosen by the
Senate from its own body, and to this committee all persons arrested
for offences against the state, if they were not brought to trial in
the course of a month from the day of their commitment, might appeal:
should the Junta be of opinion that the interests of the state did not
justify a longer imprisonment, it was to call upon the minister by
whom the arrest was ordered, either to set the prisoner at liberty,
or deliver him over without delay to a competent tribunal. If after
three such consecutive applications within the space of another month
the prisoner should neither have been discharged nor remitted to the
ordinary tribunals, the Junta was then to require a meeting of the
Senate; and the Senate, if it saw cause, was to pass a resolution
in this form: There are strong presumptions that N. is arbitrarily
imprisoned. The president was to lay this resolution before the King;
and the King was to refer it to a Junta, composed of the presidents of
the Council of State and of five members of the Royal Council.
♦SENATORIAL JUNTA OF THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.♦
In like manner there was to be a Senatorial Junta of the liberty of the
press, consisting of five senators. Authors, printers, and booksellers,
who thought themselves aggrieved if they were prevented from printing
or selling a work, might appeal to this Junta; and should the Junta
be of opinion that the prohibition was not required by reasons of
state, the minister by whom it had been imposed should be required to
withdraw it. If after three consecutive applications in the course of
a month the prohibition were not revoked, the Junta was then to summon
the Senate, and the Senate, if it saw reason, to resolve there were
strong presumptions that the liberty of the press had been violated;
and this resolution was to be laid before the King, and by him, as in
a matter of individual liberty, referred to a Junta whose decision was
final. Periodical publications were not entitled to the benefit of this
provision. The members of these Senatorial Juntas were to be changed
one every six months.
♦COUNCIL OF STATE.♦
The Council of State was to consist of not fewer than thirty members,
nor more than sixty, divided into the six sections or departments of
justice and ecclesiastical affairs, the interior, and general police,
the finances, war, the marine, and the Indies, each section consisting
of a president and four members at least, and the King presiding over
the council. The hereditary Prince might assist at their sittings,
from the age of fifteen. The ministers and the president of the Royal
Council were by their office members, and might attend their meetings
when they thought it convenient, but they were not part of any section,
neither were they accounted in the appointed number. The projects of
all laws civil and criminal, and the general regulations of the public
administration, were to be examined and determined here; and the
decrees of the King upon subjects falling within the province of the
Cortes were to have the force of law (having been discussed in this
council) till the next Cortes should be assembled.
♦CORTES.♦
The Cortes or National Junta was to consist of an hundred and sixty-two
members, in one chamber, divided into the three Benches of the Clergy,
the Nobles, and the People; that of the clergy was to be placed on the
right of the throne, that of the nobles on the left, that of the people
in front. The bench of the clergy was to be composed of twenty-five
archbishops and bishops, that of the nobles of twenty-five peers, who
should be called Grandees of the Cortes: the bench of the People of
sixty-two deputies for the provinces of Spain and the Indies, thirty
deputies for the principal cities of Spain and the adjacent islands,
fifteen commercial members, and fifteen deputies of the universities,
men of learning, or distinguished by their proficiency in the sciences
or the arts. The Ecclesiastical Deputies were to be appointed by
letters patent, under the great seal, and they were not to be deprived
of their functions unless by the sentence of a competent tribunal,
legally pronounced. The Nobles were to be appointed and hold their
seats in the same manner: they were required to possess an income of
not less than 20,000 _pesos fuertes_, or to have performed long and
important services either in the civil or military line. Members for
the provinces were to be chosen in the proportion of one representative
for about 300,000 inhabitants; and the provinces were to be divided
into departments with reference to this purpose, each containing a
population sufficient to entitle it to elect one deputy. The manner
in which the Juntas of Election were to be constituted would be
established by the Cortes; till that time they should be composed of
the Deans of the _Regidores_ in every place which contained not less
than an hundred inhabitants; and if in any departments there were
not twenty places containing this population, the smaller hamlets
were then to be united for the purpose of furnishing an elector,
in the proportion of one for an hundred inhabitants, chosen by lot
from the Deans of the Regidores. The other electors were the Deans
of the _Curas_, or parochial clergy, in the principal places of the
departments; but the number of clerical electors was never to exceed
one-third of the whole Junta of Election. The President was to be named
by the King, and the Juntas of Election were never to meet except by
letters of convocation. The Deputies for the thirty principal cities
were to be chosen one for each by the _Ayuntamiento_, or corporation.
A deputy for a province or city must be possessed of landed property.
The fifteen commercial Deputies were to be chosen from the Juntas of
Commerce, and from among the richest and most respected merchants. The
Tribunals and Juntas of Commerce in every city were to form a list
of fifteen persons, and from these lists the King was to appoint the
members. He was in like manner to appoint the remaining fifteen from
a list to that amount presented by the Royal Council, and from seven
candidates presented by each of the universities.
Members of the Bench of the People might be re-elected to a second
Cortes, but not to a third, till an interval of three years should
have elapsed. The Cortes should assemble once in three years at
least; it was to be convoked by the King, and neither deferred,
prorogued, nor dissolved, but by his order. The President should be
appointed by the King from three candidates whom the Cortes was to
choose. At the opening of every session the Cortes was to choose
these three candidates, two vice-presidents, and two secretaries,
and four committees, ... of justice, of the interior, of finance,
and of the Indies, consisting of five members each. The sittings of
the Cortes were not to be public; votes were to be taken vocally or
by secret ballot; and for every resolution a majority of the whole
body was necessary. The opinions and votes were neither to be printed
nor divulged; such publication, whether by means of the press, or of
written papers, if made by the Cortes, or any of its members, was to be
considered as an act of rebellion. Every three years the amount of the
annual receipts and expenditure was to be fixed by law; which law was
to be presented by orators of the Council of State for the deliberation
and approbation of the Cortes. In like manner all alterations in the
civil and penal codes, in the system of imposts, or of currency,
were to be propounded; and projects of laws were to be proposed by
the sections of the Council of State to the respective committees of
the Cortes. Accounts were to be presented annually to the Cortes by
the Minister of Finance, and to be printed; and the Cortes might make
such representations as they deemed convenient upon any abuses in
the administration. If they had any grave charges to prefer against
a minister, the accusation and the proofs were to be laid before the
throne by a deputation; and the King was to refer it to a commission
composed of six counsellors of state and six members of the Royal
Council.
♦THE COLONIES.♦
The Spanish kingdoms and provinces in America and Asia were to enjoy
the same rights as the mother country, and to trade freely with her;
every kind of cultivation and industry was to be free there, and no
monopoly of export or importation to be granted. Every kingdom and
province should always have deputies at the seat of government, to
promote their interests and to be their representatives in the Cortes.
Two deputies each were to be sent by New Spain, Peru, the Nuevo Reyno
de Granada, Buenos Ayres, and the Philippines; one each by the islands
of Cuba and Puerto Rico, by Venezuela, Charcas, Quito, Chile, Cuzco,
Guatemala, Yucatan, Guadalaxara, the western internal provinces of
New Spain and the eastern. These deputies were to be chosen by the
_Ayuntamientos_ of such places as the Viceroys or Captains-general
should appoint in their respective territories; they must be natives of
the respective provinces, and proprietors of land; they were to hold
their places for a term of eight years, and after the expiration of
that term, till their successors should arrive. Six of these deputies,
chosen by the King, should be added to the Council of State and section
of the Indies, to have a consultive voice in all matters relating to
the colonies.
♦JUDICATURE.♦
The Spains and the Indies were to be governed by one code of laws
civil and criminal. The judicial order was to be independent, justice
administered in the King’s name by the courts and tribunals which
he should appoint, and all corporate or private jurisdictions, such
as the _Justicias de abadengo, ordenes y señorio_, were abolished.
The King was to appoint all the judges, and no one could be removed
from his office, unless in consequence of charges against him made
by the president or _Procurador General_ of the Royal Council, at
the Council’s instance, and with the King’s approbation. There were
to be Conciliatory Judges forming a Tribunal of Pacification, Courts
of the first instance, Audiences or Tribunals of Appeal, a Tribunal
of Reposition or Cassation for the whole kingdom, and a High Court
Royal. The courts of first instance were to be as many as the country
required; the tribunals of appeal for Spain and the adjacent islands,
not fewer than nine nor more than fifteen. The Royal Council was to
be the Tribunal of Reposition, and should also take cognizance of
appeals in ecclesiastical cases. Criminal processes were to be public,
and it was to be discussed in the first Cortes whether or not trial
by jury should be established. Appeal might be made to the Tribunal
of Reposition against a criminal sentence. The High Court Royal was
to take cognizance of personal offences committed by individuals of
the Royal Family, ministers, senators, and counsellors of state; there
might be no appeal against its sentences, but they were not to be
executed till the King should have signed them. It was to consist of
the eight senior senators, the six presidents of the sections of the
Council of State, the president and two vice presidents of the Royal
Council. The right of pardoning should belong to the King alone. There
should be one commercial code for Spain and the Indies; and in every
great commercial town a Tribunal and a Junta of commerce.
♦FINANCE.♦
The _Vales Reales_, _Juros_, and whatever loans the government had
contracted, were acknowledged as the national debt. Custom-houses
between different jurisdictions and provinces were abolished both
in Spain and the Indies, and were only to exist upon the frontiers.
Taxes were to be equalized throughout the kingdom, and all privileges,
whether granted to corporations or individuals, were suppressed; but
for those which had been purchased, an indemnification should be
awarded. The public treasure was to be distinct from that of the
crown, and under a director general appointed by the King; the accounts
were to be rendered yearly, and examined and closed by a tribunal of
general accounts, composed of persons whom the King should nominate.
All nominations for all employments belonged to the King, or to the
authorities to whom the laws confided them.
♦ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE.♦
A perpetual alliance, offensive and defensive, by land and by sea,
between France and Spain, was declared by this constitution; the
contingent which each power was to furnish being to be determined by a
particular treaty. Foreigners who had rendered important service to the
state; or who might be useful to it by their talents, their invention,
or their industry; and those who formed large establishments, or
acquired lands for which they paid yearly taxes to the amount of fifty
_pesos fuertes_, might be admitted to the rights of naturalization.
♦SECURITY OF PERSONS.♦ Every man’s house was an asylum, not to be
entered except by day, and for a specific object, determined by the
law, or by an order proceeding from the public authority. No person
residing in the Spanish dominions should be arrested, except in
_flagrante delictu_, without a legal and written order, issued by
a competent authority, notified to the party, and explaining the
grounds of the arrest, and the law in virtue of which it was granted.
No Alcayde or jailer should receive or detain a prisoner, till he
had entered in his register the warrant of committal: nor might the
relations and friends of a prisoner be prevented from seeing him, if
they came with an order from the magistrate, unless the judge should
have given directions that the prisoner should have no communication
with any person. The use of the torture was abolished, and any rigour
beyond what the law enjoined was pronounced a crime.
♦LIMITATION OF ENTAILS.♦
All existing feoffments, entails, and substitutions, if the property
did not amount by itself, or with other possessions held by the same
owner, to the annual rent of 5000 _pesos fuertes_, were abolished, and
the owners were to hold it as free property. If it exceeded that value,
the owner, at his choice, might ask the King’s permission to make it
free. If it exceeded the yearly value of 20,000 _pesos fuertes_, all
above that sum should be free. In the course of one year the King would
establish regulations upon this subject; and for the future no property
might thus be tied up, except by virtue of the King’s permission,
granted in consideration of services rendered to the state, and for
the purpose of perpetuating in their rank the families who should thus
have deserved; but the property thus to be bound should in no case
exceed the annual value of 20,000 _pesos fuertes_, nor fall short of
5000. ♦ABOLITION OF PRIVILEGES.♦ The different degrees and classes
of nobility were to be preserved with their respective distinctions;
but all exemptions hitherto attached to it, from public burthens and
duties, were abolished, and nobility was not to be required as a
qualification for civil or ecclesiastical employment, nor for military
rank either by sea or land. Services and talents were to be the only
means of promotion. But no person might obtain public employment in
the state or church, unless he had been born in Spain, or naturalized
there. The endowments belonging to the different orders of knighthood
were only to be bestowed according to their original destination, in
recompense of public services; and no individual should hold more than
one commandery.
♦TIME FOR INTRODUCING THE CONSTITUTION, AND FOR AMENDING IT.♦
The constitution was successively and gradually to be brought into
use by decrees or edicts of the King, so that the whole should be in
execution before the first of January, 1813. The particular charters
of the provinces of Navarre, Biscay, Guipuzcoa, and Alava, were to
be examined in the first Cortes, that what should be deemed most
convenient to the interest of those provinces and of the nation might
be determined upon. Two years after the constitution should have been
entirely carried into effect, the liberty of the press was to be
established, and organized by a law made in the Cortes. All additions,
modifications, and improvements, which it might be deemed expedient to
make in this constitution, were to be presented by order of the King,
for examination and discussion, to the first Cortes which should be
held after the year 1820. And a copy of the constitution, signed by
the Secretary of State, was forthwith to be communicated to the Royal
Council and to the other councils and tribunals, in order that it
might be published and circulated according to accustomed form.
♦THE NOBLES AND REGULARS CONTEND FOR THEIR RESPECTIVE ORDERS.♦
The Notables were not allowed much time for deliberating upon the
various provisions of this constitution, which they had been convoked
to sanction and not to form. The only two points which called forth
any discussion were the limitation of entails, and the declaration of
intolerance: the nobles who, by a wise reform of government, when their
injurious privileges were taken away, ♦DE PRADT, P. 152.♦ would have
recovered their just and legitimate influence in the state, contended
in vain against the first, which was designed to cut the root of
their strength; the latter was unwillingly conceded to the inveterate
prejudices of the nation by men whom the enormous falsehoods, the
preposterous usages, and the execrable cruelty of their own church had
driven into a state of unbelief, less impious than such a superstition.
The Vicar-general of the Franciscans presented a memorial signed by
the Prelates of the Religious Orders in behalf of those institutions,
to show that it was not expedient to abolish them, but that some
suppressions, and a limitation of their numbers, would produce all the
good that was desired. ♦NELLERTO, I. 103.♦ A memoir was also presented
in behalf of the Inquisition, by one of its officers, and signed by
the Council of Castille, arguing against an apprehended intention of
abolishing that tribunal, and advising that it should be enjoined to
follow in its proceedings the forms of the episcopal ecclesiastical
courts. Both memorials were referred to the legislature, as not being
within the scope of the constitution.
♦JOSEPH APPOINTS HIS MINISTERS.♦
The members of the Junta, ninety-one in number, subscribed this
constitution, and bound themselves to observe it, and as far as in them
lay to provide for its observation, believing, they said, that under
a government thus defined, and so just a Prince as the one who for
their good fortune had fallen to their lot, Spain would be as happy as
they desired. The ministry was now completed: Urquijo was appointed
Secretary of State, Cevallos Minister for Foreign Affairs, Azanza for
the Indies, Mazarredo for the Marine, O’Farrill for the War Department;
Jovellanos for the Interior, in his absence and against his consent,
repeatedly and firmly refused. The Conde de Cabarrus was appointed
Minister of Finance; the news reached him at Burgos, where he was in
the midst of the French armies: Cabarrus acted always from impulse
rather than principle, and fear and ambition operating upon a vain,
rash, unstable temper, he yielded in an unhappy hour, and, contrary to
his better mind, accepted the appointment. Pinuela was made Minister of
Justice; the Duque del Parque Captain of the Body Guard, the Duque del
Infantado Colonel of the Spanish, and the Prince de Castelfranco of the
Walloon Guards; the Marquis of Ariza Grand Chamberlain, the Duque de
Hijar Grand Master of the Ceremonies, the Conde de Fernan Nuñez Grand
Huntsman, the Conde de Santa Colonna Chamberlain.
Some of these persons signed the constitution, and accepted office
because they were in a state. of duresse; some because they were
regardless of every thing except their own interest, and cared not
whom they served so they might serve themselves; others attached
themselves faithfully to the intrusive King, because they miscalculated
the resistance which could be opposed, and having chosen their part,
adhered to it with miserable fidelity through all the odious and
dreadful consequences in which they were involved. These persons had
hoped to form a social contract with the new King; and to obtain for
their country that regular and constitutional freedom, the want of
which had drawn on its long degradation and decline. Of that hope they
were speedily undeceived. The constitution which they sanctioned,
and which was published to the Spaniards as their act and deed, was
intended in all its parts and provisions to establish a government not
less despotic than that which it was to supersede. By the composition
of the Cortes two of the three estates of the realm retained the
name indeed, and the semblance of honour, but were divested of any
real power, their united members forming not a third part of the
chamber. Spain was indeed in no condition to be trusted with a popular
assembly; but a Cortes chosen and restricted like this of the Bayonne
constitution, was obviously designed for no other purpose than to
delude the people with a venerable name, and carry into effect,
under a show of freedom, the will and pleasure of the Monarch. The
regulations which pretended to provide for the liberty of the press
were in like manner deceptive. All that they did was to afford some
protection against the stupid bigotry of the Inquisition; such works as
Fray Gerundio would not be proscribed while the author could appeal to
a senatorial Junta; but nothing which distinguishes a free press, and
which constitutes its value, ... nothing which, as it were, embodies
public opinion, and gives it its due and salutary weight, could have
passed the double ordeal to which it was subjected. The provisions
in favour of the liberty of the subject bore about the same relation
to our Habeas Corpus, as this superintended freedom of the press
to its actual state in England. The Napoleon Habeas Corpus of the
Bayonne constitution established in reality a perpetual suspension for
interests of state; and where it was to take effect, it was not as an
absolute and fundamental law, but by a reference to the sovereign’s
discretion.
♦LETTER FROM FERDINAND TO THE INTRUDER.♦
In the last sitting of the Notables a letter from Ferdinand was
produced, written from Valençay to the intrusive King, congratulating
him on his accession to the throne of Spain, and expressing a hope
to see that country made happy under a Sovereign who had given so
many shining proofs of wisdom at Naples; this, he said, could not
be indifferent to him, who looked upon himself as a member of the
Napoleon family, seeing that he had requested the Emperor to grant
him one of his nieces in marriage, and hoped to obtain that favour.
Whether Ferdinand had been compelled to this as to his former acts
of degradation, or whether his poor mind had now been subdued to his
fortune, mattered little; to the world, as well as to the Notables at
Bayonne, his condition appeared hopeless at that time, nor could any
possible event have seemed more beyond all human probability than his
restoration.
♦JOSEPH PRESENTS THE CONSTITUTION TO THE NOTABLES.♦
The business of the twelfth and last sitting was to receive the
Constitution from the hands of King Joseph, and swear to it. For this
purpose the hall in which they held their meetings was fitted up with
a throne, and a rich altar on its right. The Intruder having taken his
seat, addressed them in the Spanish language. Their sentiments, he
told them, had been those of the Emperor Napoleon, his august brother,
in pursuance of whose measures, and in consequence of one of those
extraordinary events to which all nations at particular conjunctures
are subject in their turn, they were there convened. The Constitution
which they were about to accept was the result; it would avert from
Spain those long convulsions which might else have been foreseen in
the suppressed disquietude of the nation. If all the Spaniards could
have been assembled with them, they also, having all but one interest,
would have had but one opinion; “and then,” said he, “we should not
have to bewail the misfortune of those persons who, being led astray
by foreign suggestions, must be reduced by force of arms. The enemy of
the Continent expects to despoil us of our colonies by taking advantage
of the troubles which he excites in Spain. But every good Spaniard
must open his eyes and rally round the throne. We carry with us the
act which establishes the rights and reciprocal duties of the King
and of the people. If they are disposed to make the same sacrifices
as ourself, it will not be long before Spain will become tranquil and
happy at home, just and powerful abroad. We pledge ourselves with
confidence at the feet of that God who reads the hearts of men, who
disposes them at his pleasure, and who never abandons him who loves his
country and fears nothing but his conscience.”
♦CEREMONY OF ACCEPTING IT.♦
The Constitutional Act was then read; the President Azanza demanded
of the Notables if they accepted it; and they having replied
affirmatively, he addressed the intrusive King, whose paternal
language, he said, might have sufficed for ever to attach their hearts,
if they had not already been entirely devoted to him. Every word had
confirmed them in their confidence that they should see their country
restored under his wise government, the evils and rooted abuses which
had brought on her decay removed, and the miseries terminated which
were at present caused by error, ignorance, and perfidious counsels.
“Yes, Sir,” said he, “these miseries will cease when your subjects
shall see your Majesty in the midst of them; when they shall be
acquainted with that great charter of the constitution, the immoveable
basis of their future welfare, ... that charter, the precious work of
the earnest and beneficent care which the hero of our age, the great
Napoleon, the Emperor of the French, takes for the glory of Spain. What
auspices could be so fortunate for the commencement of a reign and of
a dynasty, as the renewal of the compact which is to unite the people
to the sovereign, the family to its father; which determines the duties
and respective rights of him who commands, and of those who have the
happiness to obey!” The Archbishop of Burgos then, assisted by two
canons, took from the altar a book containing the four Gospels, and
brought it before the throne, and the Intruder, laying his hand upon
the book, pronounced the following oath; “I swear upon the holy Gospels
to respect our holy religion, and make it be respected; to observe the
Constitution, and make it be observed; to maintain the integrity and
independence of Spain and its possessions; to respect the liberty and
property of individuals, and make them be respected; and to govern
with a single view to the interest, the welfare, and the glory of the
Spanish nation.” The oath of fidelity and obedience to the King, the
constitution, and the laws, was then taken by the Archbishop and the
other clerical members of the Junta first, next by the President and
other officers of the royal household, lastly by all the remaining
deputies.
♦MEDALS VOTED IN HONOUR OF THIS EVENT.♦
The ceremony being thus completed, the Junta attended Joseph to his
carriage, then returned to the hall, and upon the motion of Azanza
voted that two medals should be struck to perpetuate their gratitude
to the Emperor Napoleon for the solicitude which he had bestowed
upon the affairs of Spain, and to consecrate the solemn delivery
of the Constitution. After this act of adulation they waited upon
Buonaparte at the Palace of Marrac, to conclude their business and
their servilities by expressing their gratitude for all that he had
done for Spain. ♦ADDRESS OF THANKS TO BUONAPARTE.♦ “Sire,” said their
President Azanza, “the Junta of Spain has accomplished the glorious
task for which your Majesty convened it in this city. It has just
accepted with as much eagerness as freedom the great charter which
fixes upon a sure foundation the happiness of Spain. Happily for our
country, a preserving Providence has employed your irresistible hand to
snatch it from the abyss into which it was about to be precipitated;
it had need be irresistible, ... for, oh, blindness! they who ought to
rejoice the most in this benefit are the first to misapprehend it! But
all Spain, Sire, will open its eyes. It will see that it required a
total regeneration, and that from your Majesty alone it could be hoped
for. This is an incontestable truth, and I appeal to the reflection
of all those who may not yet be sincerely united to the authority
which actually governs the kingdom: let them examine in their inmost
conscience under what other rule they could promise themselves the
inestimable benefits which they will henceforth enjoy; let them examine
and answer in good faith. The evil was at its height; the agents of a
feeble government concentred its arbitrary power in their hands for the
purpose of extending its limits more and more; the authorities under
them, timid and debased, never knew what course they were to pursue,
and if they did no harm, it was impossible for them to effect any good.
The finances were a chaos, the public debt an abyss: all parts of the
machine were deranged or broken, there was not one which performed
its functions: where was the sensible Spaniard who did not perceive
the impossibility of its going on, and could not fix the near term of
its total dissolution? To what other power than that of your Imperial
and Royal Majesty could it be reserved, in such a state of things,
not merely to arrest the evil, for that would not have sufficed, but
to remove it entirely, and to substitute order for disorder, law for
caprice, justice for oppression, security for insecurity? Such are the
wonders, Sire, which your Imperial and Royal Majesty has worked in a
few days, and which fill the world with astonishment. Your Majesty
alone is not astonished, because you have conceived and wrought them
without effort. We however well perceive that the means which your
Majesty has used were the only ones which could have been employed
for the good of Spain. To give to our country a liberal constitution
which restores its ancient Cortes, secures the property and liberty
of individuals, breaks the fetters which were imposed upon genius,
establishes a government, and fixes the national prosperity, ... to
place upon the throne of the Spaniards a just and amiable Prince who
will govern by the laws, and will have no other happiness than that of
his people, ... such is the work of consummate wisdom for which the
Junta offers to your Imperial and Royal Majesty its tribute of respect
and gratitude. It would perpetuate that tribute by a durable monument
voted in its own name and in the name of all the Spaniards of all
climates, of all the individuals of a numerous family dispersed over a
great portion of the globe; who will not delay with one accord to bless
their generous benefactor, and who will transmit his august name to the
remotest generations with the glorious appellation of the Restorer of
the Spains.”
♦BUONAPARTE IS EMBARRASSED IN REPLYING TO IT.♦
The Deputies stood in a circle round Napoleon while their President
delivered this base address. For the first, and perhaps the only time
in his public life, Buonaparte was at a loss for a reply. He spake
indeed more than three-quarters of an hour, but it was vaguely and
hesitatingly, in confused and broken sentences, his head bending
down, and when he raised it at times, it was only again to let it
fall. None of those memorable expressions came from him which the
hearers bear away, none of those sparkling sentiments and pointed
sentences, ... those coruscations which at other times characterized
his discourse. It seemed as if the powers both of thought and of
language had forsaken him. From one subject he passed to another
unconnectedly, resuming them with as little reason as he had broken
them off, and frequently repeating the same flat meaning in the same
cold and vapid words. His manifest embarrassment would have been
ludicrous to all persons present, if the necessity of restraining
themselves had not rendered it as painful to them as it was to himself.
So strange and utter a destitution of his wonted talents astonished
those who witnessed it. Perhaps Buonaparte was sickened with excess
of adulation, and contemplating mournfully the condition to which
men, once of proud intellect, patriotic hopes, and generous desires,
had debased themselves in subservience to his purposes, regarded them
with compassion rather than contempt. Perhaps he compared in sure
anticipation the opinion which posterity would pronounce upon these
transactions with the language which was now addressed to him. The
cloud was not of the understanding alone, but of the heart. The work,
he then believed, was done; this was the concluding scene of the drama,
the plot had been fully developed, and the intended catastrophe was
brought about; but in the hour of success it is scarcely possible that
he should not have contrasted the reflections which then came upon
him, with those emotions of proud and honourable triumph which he had
felt at Lodi, at ♦DE PRADT, 153.♦ Marengo, and at Austerlitz, and that
comparison may have made him stand amid the circle of his servile
instruments humiliated and self-condemned.
♦JOSEPH ENTERS SPAIN.♦
On the second morning after this memorable scene the intrusive King
entered Spain, as if to take quiet possession of a throne to which
he had regularly and lawfully succeeded. ♦JULY 10.♦ Two decrees
were issued from Tolosa, one enjoining that his accession should be
proclaimed on the 25th, being Santiago’s day, and that flags should
every where be hoisted, and the other customary ceremonies observed;
the other required prayers to be made in all churches and convents
for a blessing upon his government. ♦JULY 12.♦ At Vitoria he altered
the arms of Spain, directing that the shield should be divided into
the six quarterings for Castille, Leon, Aragon, Navarre, Granada,
and the Indies, and that in the centre of the shield the eagle which
distinguished his Imperial and Royal Family should be borne. From
Vitoria also he sent abroad a proclamation, in which, according to
the superscription, he manifested to the Spanish nation his generous
sentiments, and his desire that the kingdom should recover its pristine
splendour. It spake of the security which the new constitution
afforded to religion, and to liberty both civil and political; of
the revival and improvement of their Cortes; of the institution of
a Senate to be at once the protection of individual liberty and the
support of the throne, and in which they who should have rendered
distinguished services to the state would find an honourable asylum,
and an appropriate reward. It promised integrity and independence for
the courts of justice; and that merit and virtue should be the only
titles to public employment. “If his desires did not deceive him,” he
said, “their agriculture and commerce would quickly flourish, being
set free for ever from the fiscal trammels which had destroyed them. I
come among you,” he said, “with the utmost confidence, surrounded by
estimable men, who have not concealed from you any thing which they
believed to be useful for your interests. Blind passions, deceitful
voices, and the intrigues of the common enemy of the Continent, whose
only view is to separate the Indies from Spain, have precipitated
some among you into the most dreadful anarchy. My heart is rent at
the thought. Yet this great evil may in a moment cease. Spaniards,
unite yourselves! come around my throne! and do not suffer intestine
divisions to rob me of the time and consume the means which I would
fain employ solely for your happiness.”
♦BUONAPARTE RETURNS TO PARIS.♦
The Intruder and his ministers halted at Vitoria till the French, of
whose speedy and complete success no doubt was entertained, should
have chastised the insurgents, and opened for them the way to Madrid.
Buonaparte meantime returned to Paris. In every place through which
he passed he was received with more than usual demonstrations of
triumphant joy. The population of town and country gathered together
to behold and to applaud him. Houses were hung with garlands, and the
streets through which he rode were formed into parterres of flowers,
and overbowered with shrubs. From Bayonne to Toulouse and Bordeaux,
and from thence to Nantes and Tours and to the capital, it was one
continued festival. It gratified the ambition of the French to know
that their great Emperor had placed his brother upon the throne of
Spain; this was another step toward that universal empire which they
believed to be within their reach. They had been kept in ignorance of
the nefarious artifices by which the usurpation had been brought about,
and little did they apprehend that the consequences of this usurpation
would carry tears and mourning into almost every family in France, and
bring upon it the full and overflowing measure of retribution.
CHAPTER VIII.
PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. SUCCESSES OF THE FRENCH IN THE NORTH OF
SPAIN: THEIR FAILURE IN CATALONIA. MONCEY REPULSED FROM VALENCIA.
DUPONT ENTERS CORDOBA. BATTLE OF RIO SECO. THE INTRUDER ENTERS
MADRID. SURRENDER OF DUPONT’S ARMY. THE FRENCH RETREAT FROM
MADRID.
♦1808.
FEELINGS OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE CONCERNING THE TRANSACTIONS IN SPAIN.♦
The first news which reached England of the Spanish insurrection
was brought by the Asturian deputies, and it was soon followed
by dispatches from Coruña, Cadiz, and Gibraltar. Never was any
intelligence received with more general joy. Notwithstanding the
frequent hostilities in which Spain had been involved with this
country, first, during the age of its power; then through its connexion
with the Bourbons; and afterwards from the ascendance which the
Directory and Buonaparte had obtained over an infamous minister, an
imbecile King, and a wretched government, the English had always
regarded the Spaniards as the most honourable people with whom they
were engaged either in commerce or in war; nor was there ever a war
in which some new instance of honour and generosity on their part did
not make us regret that they were our enemies. Hitherto the present
contest had been carried on with little hope. ♦1808. JUNE.♦ No other
sympathy than that of mere political interest had as yet been felt
in our alliances with Austria or Russia; but, from the moment when
the Spaniards called upon us for aid, we felt that we had obtained
allies worthy of our own good cause, and the struggle assumed a higher
and holier character. It became, avowedly and plainly to every man’s
understanding, a war for all good principles; and we looked on to the
end with faith as well as hope. Never since the glorious morning of the
French revolution, before one bloody cloud had risen to overcast the
deceitful promise of its beauty, had the heart of England been affected
with so generous and universal a joy. They who had been panic-stricken
by the atrocities of the French demagogues, rejoiced to perceive the
uniform and dignified order which the Spaniards observed in their
proceedings, and their adherence to existing establishments; ... firmer
minds, in whom the love of liberty had not been weakened by the horrors
which a licentious and unprincipled people committed under that sacred
name, were delighted that the Spaniards recurred with one accord to
those legitimate forms of freedom, which a paralyzing despotism had
so long suspended; the people universally longed to assist a nation
who had risen in defence of their native land; and professional
politicians, not having time to consider, nor being able to foresee in
what manner these great events would affect their own party purposes,
partook of the popular feeling.
♦PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.
JUNE 15.♦
The first parliamentary notice of these proceedings was by a speech of
Mr. Sheridan’s, made by him for the purpose of stimulating the ministry
to a vigorous co-operation with the Spaniards. “There had never,” he
said, “existed so happy an opportunity for Great Britain to strike a
bold stroke for the rescue of the world. Hitherto, Buonaparte had run
a victorious race, because he had contended against princes without
dignity, ministers without wisdom, and countries where the people were
indifferent as to his success; he had yet to learn what it was to
fight against a people who were animated with one spirit against him.
Now was the time to stand up, fully and fairly, for the deliverance
of Europe; and, if the ministry would co-operate effectually with
the Spanish patriots, they should receive from him as cordial and as
sincere a support, as if the man whom he most loved were restored to
life and power. Will not (said he) the animation of the Spanish mind be
excited by the knowledge that their cause is espoused, not by ministers
alone, but by the parliament and the people of England? If there be a
disposition in Spain to resent the insults and injuries, too enormous
to be described by language, which they have endured from the tyrant
of the earth, will not that disposition be roused to the most sublime
exertion by the assurance that their efforts will be cordially aided
by a great and powerful nation? Never was any thing so brave, so
generous, so noble, as the conduct of the Spaniards! Never was there
a more important crisis than that which their patriotism had thus
occasioned in the state of Europe!”
Mr. Canning replied, that his Majesty’s ministers saw, with the most
deep and lively interest, this noble struggle against the unexampled
atrocity of France; and that there was the strongest disposition on
the part of government to afford every practicable aid in a contest
so magnanimous. In endeavouring to afford this aid, he said, it would
never occur to them that a state of war existed between Spain and
Great Britain. They should proceed upon the principle, that any nation
who started up with a determination to oppose a power, which, whether
professing insidious peace, or declaring open war, was the common enemy
of all nations, ... whatever might be the existing political relations
of that nation with Great Britain, became instantly our essential ally.
As for what were called peculiarly British interests, he disclaimed
them as any part of the considerations which influenced government.
In this contest, wherein Spain had embarked, no interest could be so
purely British as Spanish success; no conquest so advantageous for
Great Britain as conquering from France the complete integrity of the
Spanish dominions in every quarter of the world. This declaration
satisfied Mr. Whitbread; but that gentleman thought proper to
deprecate the tone in which the Emperor Napoleon was spoken of, saying,
that, when he heard him called despot, tyrant, plunderer, and common
enemy of mankind, he wished from his heart England could come into the
cause with clean hands.
♦JUNE 4. MR. WHITBREAD PROPOSES TO NEGOTIATE WITH FRANCE.♦
A few days after this debate, Mr. Whitbread, in a speech upon the
state of the empire, took occasion to refer to an opinion concerning
peace, which he had delivered early in the session. “I then stated,”
said he, “that it did not appear to me degrading for this country
to propose a negotiation for peace with France: at no period of
the interval which has elapsed, has it appeared to me that such a
proposition would be degrading; nor can I anticipate, during the
recess which is about to take place, any circumstance, the occurrence
of which can, by possibility, render it unexpedient or degrading to
open such a negotiation.” The common feeling and common sense of the
country were shocked at the mention of negotiating with Buonaparte,
just at the moment when his unexampled treachery towards an ally was
the theme of universal execration; and when a whole nation had just
arisen against his insolent aggression. ♦JULY 4. MR. WHITBREAD SPEAKS
IN FAVOUR OF THE SPANIARDS.♦ Mr. Whitbread felt that he had injured
himself in the opinion of the people, and therefore, on the last day
of the session, took occasion to express his admiration of the Spanish
patriots; and to regret that ministers had not applied for a vote of
credit, which would enable them more effectually to second the wishes
of all ranks of Englishmen, by aiding and assisting the Spaniards.
“Had such a message,” he said, “been sent down, it would have been met
with unanimous concurrence; and that concurrence would have been echoed
throughout the country. The Spanish nation was now committed with
France: never were a people engaged in a more arduous and honourable
struggle; and he earnestly prayed God to crown their efforts with a
success as signal as those efforts were glorious. He could not help
thinking, that it would have been well to have given an opportunity of
manifesting to them the sympathy which glowed in every British heart,
through the proper channel, the legitimate organ of the British people.
For himself, from the bottom of his soul, he wished success to the
patriotic efforts of the Spaniards; and that their present struggle
might be crowned with the recovery of their liberty as a people, and
the assertion of their independence.”
♦MR. WHITBREAD’S LETTER TO LORD HOLLAND.♦
As a farther avowal of these sentiments, Mr. Whitbread addressed a
letter, on the situation of Spain, to Lord Holland; “the subject,” he
said, “being peculiarly interesting to that distinguished nobleman,
from the attachment he had formed to a people, the grandeur of whose
character he had had the opportunity to estimate, and to which he
had always done justice, even when that character was obscured by
the faults of a bad government.” Having repeated his professions of
ardent sympathy with the Spaniards, he recurred to his proposal for
negotiating. “It has been falsely and basely stated,” said he, “that
I advised the purchase of peace by the abandonment of the heroic
Spaniards to their fate. God forbid! A notion so detestable never
entered my imagination. Perish the man who could entertain it! Perish
this country, rather than its safety should be owing to a compromise
so horridly iniquitous! My feelings, at the time I spoke, ran in a
direction totally opposite to any thing so disgusting and abominable.
I am not, however,” he pursued, “afraid to say, that the present
is a moment in which I think negotiation might be proposed to the
Emperor of the French by Great Britain, with the certainty of this
great advantage, that if the negotiation should be refused, we should
be at least sure of being _right_ in the eyes of God and man; an
advantage which, in my opinion, we have never yet possessed, from the
commencement of the contest to the present hour; and the value of which
is far beyond all calculation.”
In vindicating himself from the imputation of regarding the cause of
the Spaniards with indifference, Mr. Whitbread succeeded for the time;
but, in other respects, this letter lowered him in the opinion of
judicious minds. The folly of wasting time in a farce of negotiation;
the certainty that such delay would injure the Spaniards, and the
probability that it might induce them to regard us with a suspicion,
which such conduct would render reasonable; above all, the absurdity
of proposing to treat with the tyrant at the very time when he was
perpetrating the most flagrant breach of treaties; when he had proved
in the eyes of all Europe, that no treaties, no alliances, no ties
of public faith, or individual honour, could restrain him, ... were
so glaring to every man’s understanding, that Mr. Whitbread’s advice
appeared like absolute infatuation. So far, indeed, from opening a
negotiation at that time, and on these grounds, with the Corsican, it
behoved the British Government then to have made the war a personal
war against him, ... to have proclaimed loudly before God and the
world, that this country never would treat with a man who had avowed
his contempt for the laws of nations; and given open proof that he
made treaties only for the purpose of more securely effecting the
destruction of those who were credulous enough to rely upon his faith.
Then was the time to have appealed to the French people themselves....
The Spanish war was a war of the Buonaparte family, not of France.
Hitherto, Buonaparte and his immediate agents were the only persons
implicated in the infamy of this unexampled treachery and usurpation.
Would France appropriate that infamy to herself? Would she, for the
sake of this foreign family, entail upon herself the privations, the
sacrifices, and the hazards of interminable war? To France we offered
peace, under any other ruler; we reclaimed none of her conquests; we
asked nothing from her, ... we were ready to restore prosperity to her
merchants, her citizens, and her peasantry; and to open her ports to
the commerce of the world. But peace with Buonaparte was impossible.
How could England, so long the object of his avowed and inveterate
hatred, trust him, when his insatiable ambition did not spare the
oldest, the most faithful, the most serviceable, the most submissive
of his allies and friends! If proclamations to this tenor had been
scattered over the whole coast of France, Buonaparte might have been
endangered by the British press and the force of truth, when he stood
in no fear of any other force. The importance of communicating true
intelligence to the French was manifested by the care with which he
kept them in ignorance, and the shameless falsehoods which continually
appeared in his official papers.
♦MEASURES OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.♦
Arms, ammunition, and clothing were dispatched to the northern
provinces, immediately upon the arrival of the Deputies: men, they
said, they did not want. Colonel Sir Thomas Dyer, Major Roche, and
Captain Patrick, were sent at the same time on a military mission
to Asturias, and Lieut.-Colonel Doyle, Captain Carroll, and Captain
Kennedy, to Galicia. The Spanish prisoners were released and sent home;
and, in the King’s speech, at the close of the ♦JULY 4.♦ session, Spain
was recognised as a natural friend and ally. It was there declared,
“that the British government would make every exertion for the support
of a people thus nobly struggling against the tyranny and usurpation
of France; that it would be guided in the choice and direction of its
exertions by the wishes of those in whose behalf they were employed;
and that, in contributing to the success of this just and glorious
cause, England had no other object than that of preserving unimpaired
the integrity and independence of the Spanish monarchy.” An order
of council appeared on the same day, announcing that hostilities
against Spain had ceased. Nor was Portugal overlooked by the British
government. Lieut.-Colonel Brown, Colonel Trant, and Captain Preval,
were sent to obtain intelligence of the state of affairs in the
northern provinces, and preparations were made for sending an
expedition under Sir Arthur Wellesley, to free that kingdom from the
French; and in thus delivering an old and faithful ally, to operate a
powerful diversion in aid of the Spaniards.
♦MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH IN NAVARRE AND OLD CASTILE.♦
The French in Spain, meantime, had acted with their wonted celerity,
and for the most part, at first, with their wonted success. General
Verdier having routed the people who had assembled at Logroño, entered
that town, and put the leaders of the people to death as rioters.
General Frère defeated a body of 5000 men at Segovia, and reduced the
city to submission. Lasalle marched from Burgos upon the little town of
Torquemada, where Queen Juana, in former times, watched during so many
weeks the body of her husband, as jealously as if he had been living;
suffered no woman to approach the church wherein his bier was placed;
and listened eagerly to the knave who flattered her insane affliction
with a tale, that a certain King fourteen years after his death had
been restored to life, and why might not a like miracle be vouchsafed
in compassion to her grief, and in answer to her prayers? Some 6000
Spaniards had gathered together there: ♦TORQUEMADA BURNT.♦ he dispersed
them with great slaughter, and burnt the place; then marched upon
Palencia, disarmed the inhabitants of that city and the vicinity, and
being joined at Duenas by General Merle, proceeded against Valladolid,
which had declared for the national cause.
♦G. CUESTA ATTEMPTS AT FIRST TO QUIET THE PEOPLE.♦
D. Gregorio de la Cuesta, whom Ferdinand had appointed Captain-General
of Castille and Leon, had endeavoured to suppress the spirit of
resistance when it first manifested itself in those kingdoms. He was in
correspondence with Urquijo; and the leaders of that party, who were
considered as the _Liberales_ of Spain before they attached themselves
to the service of the Intruder, reckoned upon his co-operation, and had
already nominated him to the Vice-royalty of Mexico. ♦NELLERTO, T. 2,
P. 203.♦ Cuesta was an old brave man, energetic, hasty, and headstrong:
in the better ages of Spain he would have been capable of great and
terrible actions; and the strong elements of the Spanish character
were strongly marked in his resolute, untractable, and decided temper.
Yet the national spirit was dormant within him till it was awakened by
the voice of the nation. He published a proclamation at Valladolid,
exhorting the people to remain tranquil, and accept the powerful
protection which was offered to the kingdom, and threatening with
punishment all who should attempt to raise disturbances, or take part
in them. And when the _Ayuntamiento_ of Leon applied to him for advice
how to act upon the abdication of the Bourbons, he resented their
application as implying a doubt of his own sentiments; and replied,
that nothing ought to be attempted against the determination of the
Supreme Junta who governed in the Emperor’s name; that the nation ought
peaceably to wait for the King whom Napoleon should appoint; that a
struggle without arms, ammunition, or union, must needs be hopeless;
and that even if any successes were obtained, the leaders would quarrel
among themselves for command, and a civil war must arise, which would
end in the destruction of the kingdom. But when Cuesta saw how strong
the tide of popular feeling had set in, and that what he had looked
upon at first merely as a seditious movement, ♦IMPUGNACION AL MANIFESTO
DEL G. CUESTA, P. 8, 9.♦ ♦HE TAKES THE NATIONAL SIDE.♦ had assumed
the sacred and indubitable character of a national cause, perceiving
then that the choice was not between subordination and anarchy, but
between France and Spain, he chose the better part, and entered into it
heartily, and exerted himself to embody and discipline the impatient
volunteers, who, in their honest hatred of the French, would have
hurried to their own destruction.
♦EVIL OF HIS HESITATION.♦
But great evil arose from the resistance which he had opposed to
the patriotic cause. Where the principal persons and constituted
authorities declared themselves frankly and freely at first, the zeal
of the people was easily restrained within due bounds, and no excesses
were committed; but wherever the higher orders acted manifestly in
deference to the multitude, and in fear of them, the mob knew that they
were masters, and always abused their power. Thus it was at Valladolid.
General Miguel Cevallos was imprisoned there by Cuesta, as the only
means of preserving him: the ferocious rabble broke in, dragged him
out, and murdered him, and paraded with his head and lacerated limbs
in bloody and abominable triumph through the streets. Nor was this the
only ill consequence: while he advised submission, and endeavoured to
enforce it, time, which should have been employed in uniting, arming,
and training the willing people, was irrecoverably lost; ♦IMPUGNACION,
P. 13.♦ and when the French approached Valladolid, they found Cuesta
at the head of an undisciplined assemblage numerous enough and brave
enough to raise a vain and unreasonable confidence in themselves, and
perhaps in him. ♦HE IS DEFEATED AT CABEZON.♦ They had taken post at
Cabezon, a village surrounded with vineyards, two leagues from the
city. Lasalle having reconnoitred their position, ordered General
Sabatier to charge them, while Merle cut off their retreat from
Valladolid. According to the French account they stood the enemy’s fire
half an hour, then took to flight, leaving upon the ground a thousand
dead (the seventh part of their number), and 4000 muskets. Cuesta, with
the remains of his army, retired to the borders of Leon, defeated,
but not discouraged. ♦THE FRENCH ENTER VALLADOLID.♦ Valladolid was
now at the conqueror’s mercy; and the Bishop, with the other heads of
the clergy, came out to intercede for it. The people were disarmed,
the adjoining country was kept down by military force, and deputies
from Valladolid, Segovia, and Palencia were sent to Bayonne to solicit
the Emperor’s clemency, and pledge themselves for the allegiance of
their fellow citizens. Two detachments under Generals Merle and Ducos
were then ordered into the Montañas de Santander by different routes.
The patriots, consisting almost wholly of untrained volunteers, were
beaten at Lantueño, at Soncello, and at Venta del Escudo. ♦THEY ENTER
SANTANDER.♦ The two detachments entered the city on the same day,
and Santander also was compelled to send deputies with promises of
submission to Bayonne. By these operations Marshal Bessieres kept
Navarre and the three Biscayan provinces in subjection, and, for the
time, reduced the Montaña and the greater part of Old Castile.
♦G. LEFEBVRE DESNOUETTES DEFEATS THE ARAGONESE.♦
The movements of the French had not been less successful on the side
of Aragon. General Lefebvre Desnouettes was ordered to suppress the
insurrection in that kingdom. He began by arresting D. Francisco
Palafox in Pampluna, who having accompanied Ferdinand to Bayonne as
his chief equerry, was on his way through that city with the supposed
intention of joining his brother. Lefebvre then marched from Pampluna
upon Tudela. Palafox had detached a ♦JUNE 9.♦ body of Aragonese from
Zaragoza, chiefly armed peasantry, to assist the Tudelans in defending
the passage of the Ebro: they were defeated by superior discipline and
superior numbers, their cannon were taken, and Lefebvre having entered
Tudela, put the leaders of the insurrection to death, following, after
Murat’s example, the principle of the tyrant whom he served, that the
Spaniards who opposed him were to be considered and treated as rebels.
The French paid dearly in the end for the insolent barbarity with which
they thus began the war: it called forth the revengeful spirit of the
nation, and the contest assumed a character hateful to humanity, the
guilt and the reproach of which must lie mainly upon those by whom the
provocation was given. Lefebvre then repaired the bridge over the Ebro,
which had been burnt, and advanced to the village of Mallen, where the
Marquis de Lazan, at ♦JUNE 13.♦ the head of ten thousand raw troops,
with two hundred dragoons, and eight ill-mounted cannon, had taken a
position, with the canal of Aragon on the right, and the village on
the left, and supported by an olive grove. A short but bloody action
ensued: brave as the Aragonese were, they were in no condition to
oppose flying artillery, well disciplined troops, and a powerful
cavalry. They were defeated, but not disheartened; and on the following
day sustained another action with the same ill success at Alagon, about
four leagues from Zaragoza. ♦HE MARCHES AGAINST ZARAGOZA.♦ The French
then approached the city, expecting that not more resistance would be
made there than at Valladolid, and that the submission or punishment of
the capital would intimidate the rest of Aragon; this object was to be
aided by a movement from the side of Catalonia.
♦TROOPS SENT FROM BARCELONA TOWARD VALENCIA AND ZARAGOZA.♦
There were between three and four thousand Spanish troops at Barcelona
in the beginning of June; but in a short time there remained scarcely
more than as many hundreds, so rapidly they had deserted, some to
return home, or seek their fortunes, the greater part to serve their
country in these stormy times. The French secretly encouraged this
desertion: so large a force in Barcelona would have rendered a stronger
garrison necessary, and have increased their uneasiness and danger; but
in the field they cared not what number of Spaniards might be collected
against them; the more numerous they were in their present state of
indiscipline, the more easily, and with the greater effect, they might
be defeated. ♦JUNE 3.♦ Being thus rid of their presence, Duhesme was
able to send out more than half his force in two detachments, under
Generals Chabran and Schwartz. The first, who had distinguished himself
in Switzerland against the Austrians in the dreadful campaign of 1799,
was ordered with 4200 men to enter Tarragona, garrison it with a
thousand men, incorporate in his division Wimpffen’s Swiss regiment of
1200 men, which was stationed in the city, and then proceed by way of
Tortosa to co-operate with Marshal Moncey against Valencia. General
Schwartz’s orders were to march with 3800 men by Molins de Rey and
Martorell upon Manresa, and raise upon that city a contribution of
750,000 francs, to be paid within eight and forty hours, and applied
to the service of the division. He was instructed to take means for
putting the promoters of sedition to death, but to pardon them upon
the plea of the Emperor’s clemency. What powder was in the magazines
he was to send to Barcelona, and then to destroy the mills; next he
was to proceed by way of Cervera to Lerida, and get possession of that
city, if it could be done by a sudden attempt; in that case he was
to garrison the castle with 500 men, incorporate with his own troops
the Swiss who were there, and levy a contribution of 600,000 francs,
for the use of Lefebvre’s army, with which he was then to co-operate
according to sealed instructions, which he was to open at Bujaraloz, on
the way to Zaragoza.
♦G. SCHWARTZ MARCHES TOWARD MANRESA.♦
The French plans were widely combined and well concerted. Here,
however, they failed in execution. The people of Manresa and Igualado
received timely intelligence from Barcelona of the intended movements;
the Somatenes, or armed population, were called out, and posted to
wait for the enemy in the strong positions of Bruch and Casa Masana:
powder was served out from those mills at Manresa which Schwartz
intended to destroy; and curtain rods were cut into small pieces, and
distributed instead of bullets. The French lost a day by halting at
Martorell because of the rain: the time which they thus lost was well
employed by the Catalans, and when Schwartz arrived at Bruch a fire
was opened upon him by an enemy concealed among the crags and bushes.
Driven from this pass, after a brave defence, some of the Somatenes
retreated to Igualada, others to Casa Masana; the latter were pursued
and again defeated; they fled with all speed to Manresa, and if
Schwartz had pursued his success he might have reached the city without
opposition; but having met with more resistance than had been looked
for, and perceiving how determined a spirit had been manifested in the
people, he halted, as if doubtful whether to advance or retire. Upon
discovering this irresolution the Somatenes again took heart; and being
reinforced by the peasantry from the plain of Bages, a hardy active
race, and excellent marksmen, they attacked the vanguard of the enemy
at Casa Masana, and drove them back upon the main body of the column
near Bruch.
♦HE IS DEFEATED AT BRUCH, AND RETREATS TO BARCELONA.♦
An odd accident deceived the French. There was among the Somatenes
a drummer, who had escaped from Barcelona: little as the knowledge
was which this lad possessed of military manœuvres, it enabled him
to assume authority among these armed peasants, and he performed the
double duties of drummer and commander with singular good fortune. For
the enemy inferred from the sound of the drum, which was regularly
beaten, that the peasantry were supported by regular troops: ...
there were Swiss in Lerida, and the regiment of Extremadura was at
Tarrega; the apprehension therefore was not unreasonable, and, after a
short stand against a brisk fire, Schwartz determined upon retreating.
The Somatenes, encouraged by success, and now increasing in number,
pressed upon him; and the news of his defeat raised the country behind
him, to his greater danger. He had to pass through the little town of
Esparraguera, consisting of one narrow street, nearly a mile in length.
The inhabitants cut down trees, and brought out tables and benches to
obstruct the way, and they stored the flat roofs of their houses with
beams and stones. The head of the French column, ignorant of these
preparations, entered the street at twilight; but having experienced
the danger, Schwartz divided them into two bodies, one of which made
its way on the outside of the town by the right, the other by the left.
From this time the retreat became disorderly; the enemy lost part of
their artillery in crossing the Abrera; and had the people of Martorell
acted upon the alert like those of Esparraguera, and broken down the
bridge over the Noya, the fugitives, for such they were now become,
might probably all have been cut off. ♦JUNE 7.♦ They entered Barcelona
in great confusion and dismay: their loss was less than might have
been expected in such a route, for the Spaniards had neither horse nor
cannon; they left, however, one piece of artillery in the hands of the
pursuers, and about 400 dead, the greater part being Swiss.
♦G. CHABRAN RECALLED IN CONSEQUENCE OF SCHWARTZ’S DEFEAT.♦
The effects of this action were of great importance. It was the first
success which the Spaniards had obtained, and it had been obtained by
the people without any troops to assist them, ... without any military
leader. The insurrection became general throughout Catalonia as fast
as the tidings spread; the plan of co-operating with Lefebvre against
Zaragoza was disconcerted; and Duhesme, perceiving that it would
require all his force to repress the Catalans, recalled Chabran from
his march toward Valencia. That General had reached Tarragona without
opposition on the day when Schwartz’s routed division re-entered
Barcelona; but receiving orders to return without delay, he could
neither secure that fortress, as had been intended, nor venture to
incorporate the Swiss, who were more likely to take part with the
Spaniards than against them. Meantime the people of the intermediate
country, encouraged by the victory at Bruch, had risen: they began to
harass him at Vendrell, and attempted to maintain a position against
him at Arbos, which they brought artillery to defend. ♦ARBOS BURNT BY
THE FRENCH.♦ Here, however, they were totally defeated; fire was set to
the place, a neat and flourishing agricultural town, two-thirds of the
houses were destroyed by the flames, and cruelties were committed upon
the inhabitants which exasperated the Catalans instead of intimidating
them. Even the people of Arbos themselves, who escaped the enemy,
when they returned to inhabit their half burnt habitations, or the
hovels which they constructed amid the ruins, instead of repenting the
part which they had taken, or bewailing the ruin of their property,
prided themselves in the thought that their town should have been the
first to suffer the full vengeance of the enemy in so glorious and
unquestionable a cause. Duhesme came out to protect the division on its
farther retreat; they halted at S. Feliu de Llobregat, and having been
reinforced, Chabran was ordered to proceed against Manresa, and punish
that city, which was believed to be the centre of the revolution.
♦CHABRAN DEFEATED AT BRUCH.♦ The fatal pass of Bruch was upon the road,
and it was now occupied with some degree of skill. The Catalan Juntas,
conceiving a high opinion of the strength of this position, had used
great exertions to strengthen it; artillery had been planted there,
and the Somatenes were supported by some of the soldiers who had fled
from Barcelona, and by four companies of volunteers from Lerida under
Colonel Baget. Chabran had a stronger detachment than that with which
Schwartz had forced the pass; but after losing some 450 men, and some
of his guns, he deemed it advisable to retreat, and was harassed by the
Catalans almost to the gates of Barcelona.
♦DUHESME ENDEAVOURS TO SECURE GERONA.♦
Duhesme now perceived, that instead of dispatching troops to assist
in the subjugation of Aragon and Valencia, there would be employment
enough in Catalonia for all his force. The French, expecting no
resistance from the people after the government was subdued, had
thought it sufficient to possess themselves of Figueras and Barcelona:
the distance between these places is about fourscore miles, and
they had neglected to secure the intermediate posts of Gerona and
Hostalrich. Duhesme now learnt, not without some alarm, that Figueras
was invested by the peasantry, and that though impregnable to any means
which they could bring against it, it was in danger of being reduced by
famine; thinking, therefore, by a prompt attack upon Gerona to repair
the oversight which had been committed, he drew out a considerable
force from the capital, and marched with it in ♦JUNE 17.♦ person, with
Generals Lecchi and Schwartz, against that city. Intelligence had
been obtained of his intention; and the peasantry of Valles, and the
inhabitants of the sea-shore, posted themselves to oppose his march
on the heights which terminate at Mongat, a small fortress, or rather
strong house, with a battery to protect that part of the coast from the
Barbary corsairs. An armed vessel sailed from Barcelona to act against
this place, in co-operation with the land forces; and Duhesme easily
deceiving his unskilful opponents by demonstrations which drew their
attention from the real point of attack, defeated them, drove them from
the ground, took the strong house, and disgraced his victory by the
cruelty which he exercised upon his prisoners, as well the unarmed
villagers who fell into his hands as those who were taken in action.
♦MATARO SACKED BY THE FRENCH.♦ The people of Mataro, not intimidated by
the enemy’s success, defended the entrance of their town: the French
general, in revenge for the loss which the head of his column sustained
in forcing it, gave up this rich and flourishing place, containing
above 25,000 inhabitants, to be sacked by his troops; and the men were
not withheld from committing the foulest atrocities by ♦CABANES. 1. P.
63.♦ the recollection, that they had recently been quartered during two
months in that very town as allies and guests, among the people who now
found no mercy at their hands.
♦FAILURE OF THE ATTEMPT ON GERONA.♦
Duhesme proceeded plundering, burning, and destroying as he went
along. On the morning of the 20th he appeared before Gerona, sacked
the adjoining villages of Salt and S. Eugenia, opened a battery upon
the city with the hope of intimidating the inhabitants, endeavoured to
force the Puerta del Carmen without success, and was in like manner
repulsed from the fort of the Capuchins. A second battery was opened
with more effect in the evening, and its fire was kept up during the
night, which was so dark that none of the besiegers’ movements could
be distinguished. They attempted to scale the bulwark of S. Clara,
and some succeeded in getting upon the wall; these were encountered
there by part of the regiment of Ulster, and their fate deterred their
comrades from following them. The people of Gerona evinced that night
what might be expected from them when they were put to the proof. The
clergy were present wherever the fire was hottest, encouraging the men
by example as well as by exhortations; and the women, regardless of
danger, carried food and ammunition to their husbands, and fathers,
and brothers, and sons. Without the city the Somatenes collected in
such force, that they prevented the French from fording the river Ter,
which they repeatedly attempted, with the intention, it was supposed,
of proceeding to relieve Figueras. Duhesme employed artifice as well
as force: he sent proposals at various times to the Junta; and some of
his messengers were seized and detained as prisoners, for endeavouring
when they entered the city to distribute proclamations from Bayonne,
and from the government of Madrid. Finding, however, that the place
was not to be taken by a sudden assault, and not being prepared to
undertake a regular siege, he deemed it expedient to return on the
following day towards Barcelona, after no inconsiderable loss in men as
well as in reputation. ♦FIGUERAS RELIEVED BY THE FRENCH.♦ This repulse
would have drawn after it the loss of Figueras, if the Catalans could
have collected a regular force on that side. They blockaded it with
the Somatenes of Ampurdan, assisted by a few troops from Rosas: the
garrison consisted of only 1000 men; had they been more, the place must
have fallen, for the French had had no time to introduce provisions,
and they were reduced to half allowance. Not being strong enough to
sally against the besiegers, they revenged themselves upon the town,
and laid about two-thirds of it in ruins. At length the relief which
their countrymen in Spain could not effect was brought to them from
France. General Reille being made acquainted with their distress,
collected 3000 ♦JULY 3.♦ men at Bellegarde, and putting the Somatenes
to flight with that force, introduced a large convoy of provisions, and
reinforced the garrison.
♦MOVEMENTS OF M. MONCEY AGAINST VALENCIA.♦
The preservation of Figueras by the French was an event of more
importance in reality than in appearance; but at this time appearances
and immediate effect were what they stood in need of to maintain
that opinion of their power which had been so rudely shaken by this
national resistance. It was part of their plans, that, while Lefebvre
chastised Zaragoza, and terrified Aragon by the fate of its capital,
a similar blow should be struck in the south by Marshal Moncey. For
this purpose he collected a force of 12,000 men besides cavalry in
the province of Cuenca. The Spaniards were doubtful whether his march
would be directed against Murcia, where Count Florida Blanca coming at
the age of fourscore from the retirement in which he had hoped to pass
the remainder of his honourable age in piety and peace, had proclaimed
Ferdinand, and hoisted the standard of independence; or against
Valencia, where the inhabitants had reason to expect severe vengeance
for the massacre which had been committed there. This uncertainty
produced no evil when the Spaniards had no armies on foot, and every
province was left to its own resources. ♦DEFEAT OF THE SPANIARDS.♦
Valencia was the point of most importance; the people were more willing
to meet the danger than to wait for it; and with such a force as could
be raised of peasantry, new levies, and a few regular troops, they
occupied the entrance of a defile near Contreras, and the bridge over
the river Cabriel. ♦JUNE 21.♦ They were forced from thence with the
loss of four pieces of cannon, the whole of their artillery; but they
were not pursued like a routed enemy: the French deemed it expedient
to proceed with caution in a country where the whole population was
decidedly hostile, and the Spaniards took up a second and stronger
position at Las Cabrillas, and in front of Las Siete Aguas. ♦JUNE 24.♦
There also they were unable to withstand the attack of disciplined
troops, well commanded, and well supplied with all the means of war;
yet they made a brave resistance, retreating from one position to
another; and when they fell back upon Valencia, as they had no cause
for shame, they brought with them no feeling of despondency, and
communicated no dismay, with which the arrival of a beaten army might
under other circumstances have infected the people.
♦HE APPROACHES THE CITY.♦
Moncey, on the other hand, had found a more determined resistance than
he expected, and was disappointed of the succours which should have
joined him from Catalonia. He has been censured for not advancing
against the city with the utmost expedition, before the people had time
to make preparations for resisting him; but knowing the anarchy which
prevailed there, he might not unreasonably think that an interval of
delay would either abate their ardour, or increase their confusion; if
he failed to intimidate them into submission, he had reason to believe
that the gates would be betrayed to him; and if the traitors who had
engaged to perform this service should be detected, or fail in the
execution, even in that case a successful resistance could hardly have
been contemplated by him as a possibility. In a military view Valencia
indeed must then have appeared incapable of defence. Suburbs nearly as
large as the city itself had grown up round the whole circle of its old
brick walls, and the citadel was small, ill fortified, and altogether
useless. In so large a city, for the population exceeded 80,000, a
besieger might reckon upon the wealth, the fears, and the helplessness
of a great portion of its inhabitants; and perhaps he might undervalue
a people whom travellers had represented as relaxed by the effects of
a delicious climate, by which, according to the proverbial reproach of
their Castillian neighbours, all things were so debilitated, that in
Valencia the meat was grass, the grass water, the men women, and the
women nothing.
♦PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE.♦
On the day after his second victory Moncey wrote from his
head-quarters at La Venta de Bunol, six leagues from the city, to the
Captain-general, saying, that he was ordered by the Junta of government
at Madrid to enter and restore tranquillity there, and promising to
pardon the atrocious massacre which had been committed if he were
received without opposition. The Junta appealed to the people with a
spirit that inspired confidence: the very women exclaimed that death
was better than submission; and Padre Rico, with a sword in one hand
and a crucifix in the other, went through the streets exhorting his
fellow citizens to exert themselves to the utmost, and die, if they
were so called, like martyrs, in the cause of their country. The
public opinion having been decidedly expressed, all persons capable of
bearing arms without exception were ordered to repair to the citadel,
and there provide themselves with weapons. The quantity of muskets was
insufficient for the number who applied, and all the swords, of which
there was a large stock, were delivered out, though many were without
hilts. A few twelve and sixteen pounders, with one twenty-pounder,
were planted at the Puerta del Quarte, where the principal attack was
expected; a great quantity of timber, which had just been floated down
the river, was used in part to form a breastwork at this important
point, and part in blocking up the entrance of the streets within the
walls. The other gates were fortified, though less formidably; and the
ensuing day was employed in filling the ditches with water, and cutting
trenches across the road to impede the enemy’s approach.
So little were the Valencians disheartened by their preceding defeats,
that even now they would not wait for the French within their vantage
ground. ♦THE SPANIARDS DEFEATED AT QUARTE.♦ On the evening of the
27th Moncey found some 3000 of them under D. Joseph Caro, brother of
the Marquis de Romana, posted about six miles from the city, behind
the canal at the village of Quarte, where they had broken down the
bridge. A severe action ensued: the mulberry trees, with which that
delightful country is thickly planted, afforded cover to the Valencian
marksmen, and before they were dislodged and defeated, the number
of slain on both sides amounted to 1500. At eleven on the following
morning the advanced guard of the city came in with the expected
intelligence that the enemy were close at hand; and shortly afterwards
a flag of truce arrived with a summons, saying, that if the French
were permitted to enter peaceably, persons and property should be
respected; but otherwise they would force their way with fire and
sword. A short time for farther preparations was gained by assembling
the parochial authorities, under the plea of consulting them; and then,
in the name of the people, it was replied, that they preferred death
to any capitulation. Moncey immediately gave orders for the attack. A
smuggler, who, for the purpose of better concealing his intentions,
affected to put himself foremost among the patriots, had undertaken
to deliver up the battery upon which the Valencians depended in great
part for their defence, and which they had placed under the patronage
of St. Catharine. He had engaged a sufficient number of accomplices;
but the treason had been discovered on the preceding night: he and
his associates were put to death; and when the French approached the
battery, instead of finding it manned by traitors, they were received
with a brisk and well-sustained fire.
♦THEY REPULSE THE FRENCH FROM VALENCIA.♦
The approach to the Puerta del Quarte was by a broad street leading
straight for the gate. The Spanish commander, by a bold stratagem,
ordered the gate to be opened; and when the French hastened forward,
thinking either that their agents had done this, or that it was a
mark of submission, a fire of grape was opened upon them, with effect
equal to the most sanguine hopes of the defenders. The enemy drew
back, leaving the ground covered with their dead. They then directed
their efforts against the weakest point of the whole weak circuit
of the walls, ... so well were they always acquainted with whatever
local circumstances might contribute to the success of their military
operations. It was where the old gate of S. Lucia had been built up;
but the battery which they erected against it had scarcely begun
to play, before a well-directed fire from the Puerta de S. Vicente
dismounted the guns, and killed the men who were employed there.
It was now manifest from the determined spirit of the Valencians,
that if Moncey could have forced his way within the walls, his army
was not numerous enough for the civic war which it would have been
compelled to wage from house to house, and from street to street. After
persevering in vain attempts from one till eight in the evening, he
became convinced of this unwelcome truth, and withdrew for the night
to his head-quarters between Mislate and Quarte, about a league from
the city. ♦MONCEY RETREATS INTO CASTILLE.♦ To maintain his position
there was impossible: he retreated, leaving part of his artillery, and
suffering from the peasantry, and the parties who harassed his retreat,
that vengeance which Murat had provoked, and which the conduct of the
French wherever they were successful had exasperated. An attempt was
made to intercept him on his way, and inclose him between the Valencian
and Murcian forces: the plan was well conceived, and he had twice to
attack and defeat the enemy, who had taken post in his rear, before he
could reach Almanza. He had now effected his retreat out of the kingdom
of Valencia, but his position was still so insecure, that it was deemed
necessary to fall back from Almanza to S. Clemente, nearer the main
force of the French in the two Castilles; there while the Valencians
were exulting in the deliverance which they had obtained, he collected
artillery and stores, and waited for reinforcements which would enable
him to renew the attack with means that might ensure success.
♦MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH IN ANDALUSIA.♦
The failure of the French in Valencia would have been amply compensated
if they could have reduced Andalusia to obedience, and for this more
important object greater and more commensurate efforts were made. One
of the first acts of Murat after he reached Madrid had been to prepare
for securing Cadiz. General Dupont was appointed governor of that city
soon after the abdications at Bayonne had been effected; and he had
commenced his march towards the south, when he was diverted to Toledo,
to repress some tumults by which the people there had manifested their
temper, before the insurrection in the capital kindled the whole
kingdom. The apprehension of that insurrection, or the determined
intention of provoking some such crisis, made Murat deem it expedient
to keep the whole of his force within call. Dupont, therefore, was
detained at Toledo; but when the disposition of the Andalusians was
known, and fears were entertained for the French squadron at Cadiz, he
was dispatched thither with a force esteemed fully equal to a service
which, momentous as it was, was not thought difficult to be performed.
He began his march at the end of May, and crossing the Sierra Morena
without opposition, arrived on the third of June at Andujar. There
he obtained the unwelcome intelligence that a Junta had been formed
at Seville, and that not that province alone, but Granada, Cordoba,
and Jaen also had declared against the French. Proceeding, therefore,
now, as in an enemy’s country, he occupied Montoro, El Carpio, and
Bujalance, and throwing a bridge over the Guadalquivir at El Carpio,
passed some of his corps to the right bank, and proceeded with the main
body along the left to the bridge of Alcolea, where the Spaniards
had taken a strong position. ♦G. DUPONT DEFEATS THE SPANIARDS AT THE
BRIDGE OF ALCOLEA.♦ The bridge is very long, consisting of twenty
arches, constructed of black marble; and the Spaniards had erected
a redoubt to command the approach. They had planted some batteries
upon an eminence, and confiding in these defences, had not thought it
necessary to destroy the bridge. Want of skill, rather than of courage,
rendered these preparations ineffectual: the _tête-du-pont_ and the
village were carried after a brave resistance. The way was now open;
but when the French began to pass, a fire was opened which swept the
bridge, and made the bravest of the assailants for a moment hesitate.
A lieutenant of grenadiers, by name Ratelot, whose courage was worthy
of a better cause, advanced to the middle of the bridge alone, and
placing his hat upon his sword, waved it over his head, crying _Vive
L’Empereur!_ and calling his comrades to follow him. His example roused
a brave spirit, which was only the more excited by the sight of his
death. They crossed, and attacked the Spaniards with all the advantages
which discipline gives to courage; and at the same time the division
which had passed the river at El Carpio came up, and falling upon their
left, completed their defeat. The French without delay advanced against
Cordoba. A camp had been formed before that city with the intention of
defending it; but the routed troops brought dismay with them; and the
Cordobans, at the approach of danger, chose rather to rely upon their
walls than their lines. Among the arms which they abandoned there were
many of English manufacture, and others which, for their antiquity and
unusual form, became objects of curiosity to the conquerors. ♦CORDOBA
ENTERED AND PILLAGED BY THE FRENCH.♦ Resolute men might have defended
weaker walls than those of Cordoba, which were partly the work of the
Romans, partly of the Moors; but stronger fortifications would not have
afforded security unless they had been better defended. In two hours
the gates were forced, the troops and the new levies retreated or fled
towards Ecija, and the city was at Dupont’s mercy.
♦DUPONT UNABLE TO ADVANCE.♦
Though by this easy conquest the French were enabled to enrich
themselves with pillage, they were far from feeling themselves at
ease. The news from Cadiz was of the worst kind; their squadron had
been captured there, and the Spaniards were in communication with the
English. The only considerable body of Spanish troops in the peninsula,
under D. Francisco Xavier Castaños, which had been stationed in the
camp of S. Roque, had heartily entered into the national cause; and
the English from Gibraltar (which in the hands of England was now more
serviceable to Spain than it had ever been made injurious to her)
had assisted him with money, and with arms for the new levies. The
alliance with England enabled the Spaniards also to bring over troops
from Ceuta, who had been sent to garrison that place early in the
year, because of a rumour that the English were intending to attack it.
On all sides the insurrection was spreading; and the armed peasantry
had occupied the passes of the Sierra, to cut him off from retreat
and from reinforcements. He had looked for co-operation from the
side of Portugal. A detachment of Junot’s army was to have proceeded
along the coast of Algarve, and have crossed the Guadiana; a body of
English troops from Gibraltar, sent under General Spencer to Ayamonte,
had defeated this intention. ♦HE IS DISAPPOINTED OF SUCCOURS FROM
PORTUGAL.♦ Junot, therefore, was fain to send them by the circuitous
way of Elvas; but his own situation was now becoming perilous. The
Spaniards under his command contributed to his danger at this time
rather than to his strength. An English squadron off the Tagus kept
him upon the alarm, while it encouraged the hopes of the Portugueze;
and when General Kellerman was ordered to Elvas, the insurrection
at Badajoz made it doubtful whether he would be able to proceed and
effect his march to Cadiz with so small a force as could be spared
from Portugal, and a detachment from Madrid was sent to join with him,
and quell the people of Extremadura. Dupont could not be placed in a
condition to effect the object for which he entered Andalusia, unless
he received strong reinforcements; and Savary, therefore, ordered two
divisions under Generals Vedel and Gobert, a force which was deemed
more than sufficient to secure him against all danger, even if it
should not be equal to the subjugation of the whole province.
♦REINFORCEMENTS FROM MADRID JOIN HIM.♦
These troops did not effect their junction without experiencing proofs
of the national feeling, which might have taught them in how severe
as well as hateful a contest the insatiable ambition of Buonaparte
had wantonly engaged them. In passing through La Mancha they found
that the sick, whom Dupont had left at Manzanares, had been killed;
and they did not enter the little town of Valdepe as without a severe
contest: the inhabitants embarrassed the invader’s cavalry by chains,
which they stretched across the streets, and kept up a brisk fire
from the houses, from which they were not dislodged till the French
set the town in flames. When the advanced guard attempted to pass the
Sierra Morena, they found an irregular force well posted and entrenched
in the tremendous defiles of that great line of mountains, and they
were compelled to fall back upon the main body. Notwithstanding this
warning, the French entered upon the pass without precaution, in full
confidence that even the strength of the situation would not enable
the Spaniards to withstand them; and this presumption cost them many
lives which might well have been spared. The first brigade and the
cavalry were allowed to pass an ambush, which was laid among the trees
and rocks, in advance of the entrenchment; a fire was then opened
upon the second, and the French suffered three discharges before they
were ready to act in return. Their _Voltigeurs_ then dislodged the
enemy from their vantage ground; the works were forced with a loss,
according to the French account, of 900 on the part of the defendants;
and the invaders leaving a detachment to secure the defiles, crossed
the mountains, and entered Andalusia. Vedel, with his division, was
stationed at Carolina; Gobert occupied the large and ancient village of
Baylen, about four leagues farther on, nearly half way between Vedel
and Dupont, who had his head-quarters at Andujar. A _tête-du-pont_ was
constructed to command the passage of the river there, and another at
the village of Manjibar, between Baylen and Jaen.
♦CUESTA AND BLAKE ADVANCE AGAINST THE FRENCH.♦
While the intrusive government believed that by this junction its army
in Andalusia was so strengthened, that the defeat of the Spaniards was
certain if they could be brought to action, an opportunity was afforded
it of striking a great blow in Castille, by which the way to the
capital was laid open. A force considerable in numbers had been raised
in Galicia, and arms and stores in abundance had now been supplied by
Great Britain. Filangieri exerted himself in training these new levies,
and gave orders for forming entrenchments at Manzanal; a position of
extraordinary strength on the heights above Astorga. Whether this
preparation for defensive war, when the people were too eager to be
led against the enemy, renewed the suspicions which his conduct on St.
Ferdinand’s day had excited; or whether private malice, as has been
asserted, was at work for his destruction; he was murdered by some of
his soldiers at Villa Franca, in the Bierzo, and the command of the
Galician army then devolved upon D. Joaquin Blake, an officer of Irish
parentage. Advancing to Benevente he formed a junction with the army
of Castille and Leon, which Cuesta, with that characteristic energy
which on such occasions he was capable of exerting, had collected after
his defeat at Cabezon. The two generals disagreed in opinion; Blake
dreaded the discipline of the French, and would therefore have avoided
a general action; Cuesta relied upon the courage of his countrymen,
and was eager to engage: he took the command, as being superior in
rank, and they proceeded, in no good understanding with each other,
in a direction which threatened Burgos. Nothing could have been more
conformable to the wishes of the enemy; and Marshal Bessieres, in the
expectation of sure victory, marched against them with the divisions of
Generals Mouton and Merle, and General Lasalles’ division of cavalry,
in all 12,000 men.
♦M. BESSIERES DEFEATS THEM AT RIO SECO.
JULY 14.♦
He found them posted near Medina del Rio Seco, an ancient, and, in
former days, a flourishing city, and containing now in its decay some
8000 inhabitants. The numbers of the Spanish army have been variously
stated from 14,000 to 40,000. They attacked the enemy’s infantry
with such determined ardour that they forced them to give way; won
four pieces of artillery, spiked them, and set up their shout of
victory, ... too soon; for the French cavalry charged their left wing,
and by their great superiority decided the day, but not till after
a most severe contest. Few bloodier battles have ever been fought
in proportion to the numbers in the field, even if the force of the
Spaniards be taken at its highest estimate: upon the best authority,
that of the neighbouring priests, it is affirmed that 27,000 bodies
were buried. The stores and artillery were taken, but the victors were
not in a condition to complete the rout of the defeated army, and take
advantage of the dissension between the two generals.
♦THE WAY TO MADRID OPENED BY THIS VICTORY.♦
When Buonaparte received intelligence of this victory, he said, “it
is the battle of Villa Viciosa. Bessieres has placed Joseph upon the
throne:” and calculating with contempt the farther resistance which
might be expected, he added, “Spain has now some 15,000 men left, and
some old blockhead to command them.” Little did he know of Spain and of
the Spaniards. The battle of Rio Seco did not intimidate even the men
who were defeated there; but the enormities which the French committed
in the city increased, if that were possible, the hatred with which
the whole nation regarded them. The people of that city, unsuspicious
of the future, had illuminated their houses, when the French on their
entrance into the country arrived there, and some of the troops had
been quartered among them. This did not save them from the worst
horrors of war.
♦JOSEPH ENTERS MADRID.♦
The way to Madrid was now open, and the Intruder proceeded on his
journey thither without molestation. He had been proclaimed in that
city on Santiago’s day, and the circumstances had been such as were
little likely to encourage his partizans. The great standard-bearer
and his son withdrew from the capital, rather than incur the guilt
and contract the degradation of bearing part in the ceremony. Joseph
and his train arrived on the evening of the 20th, ... all the troops
being under arms to receive him, a most necessary part of the parade.
Nothing indeed could be more striking than the contrast between the
popular feeling on this day, and on that when Ferdinand, only four
months before, made his entrance as king! Then the streets swarmed with
the population of the whole surrounding country, and all the power
and exertions of the magistrates were required to repress the general
enthusiasm; now what few demonstrations of joy were made were procured
by the direct interference of authority, the officers going from door
to door to call upon the inhabitants, and even with this interference
the houses were but just sufficiently decorated to save the inhabitants
from vexation which they would otherwise have incurred. The money which
was scattered among the populace lay in the streets where it fell, for
the French themselves to pick up; and the theatres, which were thrown
open to the people, were left to be filled by Frenchmen.
♦FEARS OF THE INTRUSIVE GOVERNMENT.♦
Yet every possible means had been used to prepare the metropolis for
his reception, and keep down the spirit of the inhabitants by fraud and
force. The publication of news from the provinces was prevented by the
severest measures, and if any of the patriots’ manifestos found their
way to Madrid, to print, copy, read, or listen to them, was declared
and punished as high treason. A paper was forged in the Bishop of
Santander’s name, recommending the people to receive with gratitude
the King and the army, who were come to regenerate them. Revolution,
they were told, was one of those indispensable remedies which must
be employed when abuses had proceeded to a length which could not be
restricted by the ordinary resources of public law. It was a species of
war declared by the people against their own government to remove the
established authority, when, either from ignorance or disinclination,
it was not exercised for the general advantage. Happily for Spain,
it was spared the necessity of passing through the calamities which
other countries had experienced in this inevitable process; and it
had only to receive a new government under the authority of the
protector of the nations of Europe. In spite of these artifices and
false representations, in spite also of all the measures taken to keep
the inhabitants in ignorance of what was passing in the provinces,
the agitation of the public continued; and a new edict was issued,
enacting, that all strangers arriving in the metropolis should, within
four and twenty hours, send in their names to the police, with an
account of their occupations, the places from whence they came, and
their motives for visiting Madrid.
♦THE COUNCIL OF CASTILLE DEMUR AT THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.♦
The intrusive government had hoped that the battle of Rio Seco, and
the terrible slaughter which had there been made of the Spaniards,
would intimidate the nation, and convince them that all opposition to
the new dynasty must be unavailing. In this expectation they were soon
undeceived. The battle, bloody as it was, proved that the Spaniards
were not to be discouraged by any defeat, however severe; and the
Intruder, on his arrival in Madrid, experienced a resistance in a
quarter where he looked only for pliancy and submission. The Council
of Castille, when it was called upon to swear to the constitution,
demurred; and avowed that it had not circulated the constitutional act,
which it had been ordered to do by an edict from Vittoria: a transfer
of the succession from one family to another, it maintained, could not
be made without the authority and intervention of the nation: nor would
the Members of the Council swear to the new constitution, because they
were not the representatives of the nation; the Cortes were, and the
Cortes had not accepted it. Now it would be a manifest infraction of
the most sacred rights, if in a matter of such importance, relating not
to the introduction of a new law, but to the extinction of all their
former codes, and the formation of new ones in their stead, they should
take an oath of observance before the nation should have signified its
acceptance. The Junta of Bayonne had not been convoked to form codes
and laws, but to treat of the advantages which they could obtain for
the respective bodies or provinces by which they were deputed.
This was the point at which the Council had determined to make their
stand. Many and great concessions they had previously made, yielding
to compulsion, and trusting or hoping that political considerations,
if worthier motives failed, might even yet prevent Buonaparte from
effecting his designs of usurpation. But all temporizing was now at an
end. The oath was to supply the invalidities of the forced abdications,
to cover all the injustice and villany by which the Royal Family had
been ensnared, to sanction the insolent intrusion of a stranger upon
the throne, and bind the nation in honour and in conscience to support
him there. It had already been ordered that no person in any public
employ should receive his salary, or enjoy any of the emoluments
of his office, till he had taken the oath. The Council therefore
resolved now to stand forward, and give an example to those, who,
like themselves, were within the power of the intrusive government,
of the resistance which it was their duty to oppose. Their written
memorial was laid before Joseph Buonaparte, who, upon hearing that the
oath had not been taken, refused to read it, and directed Azanza to
demand of them an immediate compliance with his decree; requiring that
if the Council would not unanimously obey, as many as were obedient,
though they should be the minority, should, without delay, subscribe
the written oath. ♦JULY 26.♦ This order was twice repeated on the
following day; and on the day after, the Council returned a dilatory
reply, stating that it was a matter of conscience, and advising that
as such it should be propounded to the chief universities, or other
bodies or communities, as the Kings of Spain were wont to do in arduous
points, which were to be decided not upon legal reasons alone, but
upon theological considerations also; or that a Junta of the most
approved Canonists and Theologians should be appointed, before whom the
Council would send ministers to dispute the case. When this demand was
delivered strong measures were meditated in return: an example, it was
said, must be made of the Council, which might operate as a warning
to all minor bodies and individuals; and it was generally believed
that they would not escape death or banishment into France. But the
policy of gaining time and trusting to events proved fortunate in this
instance; and they were delivered from danger when all further arts of
procrastination would have failed, by the splendid success of their
countrymen in Andalusia, which compelled the Intruder and his ministers
to consult their own safety by immediate flight.
♦G. CASSAGNE ENTERS JAEN.♦
When Vedel and Gobert had effected their junction with Dupont, it was
thought proper, for the security of his position at Andujar, to occupy
the old city of Jaen, the Aurigi, Oringe, or Oningis of the ancient
Spaniards, in latter ages the capital of a Moorish kingdom, taken from
the Mahommedans by King St. Ferdinand, famous afterwards for its silk
manufactories; and still, though its trade and population had declined,
containing some 12,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the skirts of
the Sierra, and at the foot of Mount Jabaluez, in one of the happiest
parts of a delightful country. The French had already made one of their
plundering visits there; ♦JULY 1.♦ and when General Cassagne was now
sent with a brigade consisting of 1300 men to take possession of the
city and maintain it, a number of armed peasants awaited his approach
among the fields and gardens without the walls. Their defence was ill
planned and ill conducted; they fired their musquets repeatedly before
the enemy were within shot, and took flight at the first discharge of
the French artillery, many of them throwing away their cartridges to
disencumber themselves of any thing which might impede their escape.
The city was entered without any resistance from the inhabitants; and
while one party of the assailants, singing the song of Roland, scaled
the heights to attack an old castle, the others found an easier way
to it through the town: it was abandoned at their approach, and they
placed a garrison there.
♦HE IS COMPELLED TO EVACUATE IT, AND RETURNS TO BAYLEN.♦
The French, conformably to the system upon which they began this wicked
war, put to death the peasants who fell into their hands. One of these
victims excited admiration even in his murderers; he asked for life
in a manner not unbecoming a Spaniard in such a cause: finding that
no mercy was to be expected, he wrapt his cloak around his head and
began his prayers; and when the bullet cut them short, fell and expired
without a cry, or groan, or struggle. These military murders were not
unrevenged. On the first day after the arrival of the French, the
Spaniards increased in number, regular troops came to their assistance,
and some smart skirmishes took place at the outposts. Early on the
ensuing morning they surprised the castle; most of the garrison chose
rather to leap from a high crag, at the imminent hazard of life or
limbs, than to fall into the hands of an enemy to whom they had given
such provocation; the others were put to death, and some of them
barbarously tortured before that relief was given. Encouraged by this
success, the Spaniards entered the city; a terrible fire was kept up
upon the enemy from roofs and windows; the French were driven out,
they formed upon some level ground in front of the town, where the
Spanish cavalry charged them, and their guns were taken and retaken.
The French occupied the same ground from which they had first driven
the peasantry, and which was covered with stubble and with sheaves of
corn, for there had been no time to carry in the harvest when these
invaders approached. The sheaves took fire during the action, the
cartridges which had been left there by the Spaniards exploded, threw
the French into disorder, and killed and scorched many of them; and the
whole field was presently in flames, out of which the wounded in vain
endeavoured to crawl upon their broken limbs.
This action continued from an early hour in the morning till four or
five in the afternoon, when the French again forced their way into the
city; they pillaged it, they committed the foulest enormities upon the
nuns and other women who had not taken flight in time; and in many
places they set the houses and convents on fire. But the invaders
had now learnt in what kind of war they were engaged; that they had
provoked a national resistance, and that victory brought with it so
little advantage, that when they had won the field, they were masters
only of the ground on which they stood. The Spaniards were preparing
for another attack, to avoid which General Cassagne ordered a retreat
under cover of the night. The French families who resided in Jaen,
suffering now for the crimes of their countrymen, abandoned their
property and their homes to save their lives, and put themselves under
the protection of the retreating troops. They had been thrown into
prison on the morning when the invaders were first expelled, and that
precautionary measure on the part of the magistrate might probably
have failed to save them from the fury of an unreasoning multitude. As
many of the wounded as could be carried by the dragoons’ horses were
removed, the rest were left to their fate, for the French had no other
means of transport; but most of those who were removed died on the
way from the heat of the ensuing day’s journey and the pain of their
wounds. ♦MEMOIRES D’UN SOLDAT, T. I. 145–168.♦ Their whole loss, as
stated by themselves, amounted to a fourth part of their number. They
were not pursued, and they effected their retreat to Baylen.
♦PREPARATIONS OF G. CASTAÑOS.♦
Dupont’s situation became now every day more insecure, for at this
time neither men nor means were wanting to the Spaniards in Andalusia,
nor prudence to direct their efforts in the wisest way. ♦CONDE DE
MAULE, T. XIII. P. 9.♦ The city of Cadiz alone supplied a donative of
more than a million dollars and 5000 men; and as the men were mostly
employed in filling up old regiments, the army was not weakened by
having great part of its ostensible force consisting in raw levies. The
general, Castaños, acted steadily upon the principles which the Junta
of Seville had laid down; he harassed the enemy by detachments on all
sides, cut them off from supplies, and allowed them no opportunity of
coming to a regular engagement; and thus, while the difficulties and
distresses of the French were continually increasing, the Spaniards
acquired habits of discipline, and obtained confidence in themselves
and in their officers. Castaños even attempted to reform the Spanish
army, and introduce among them that moral and religious discipline by
which Cromwell, and the great Gustavus before him, made their soldiers
invincible. He issued an order for banishing all strumpets from the
camp and sending them to a place of correction and penitence; he
called upon the officers to set their men an example, by putting away
the plague from themselves, and dismissing all suspicious persons;
he charged the chaplains to do their duty zealously, and threatened
condign punishment to any person, of what rank soever, who should act
in contempt of these orders. Such irregularities, he said, would draw
down the divine anger, and make the soldiers resemble in licentiousness
the French, who for their foul abominations were justly hated by God
and man; and it would be in vain to gather together armies, if at
the same time they gathered together sins, and thereby averted from
themselves the protection of the Almighty, which alone could ensure
them the victory over their enemies. Happy would it have been for Spain
if this principle had been steadily pursued; the foundations of that
moral reformation might then have been laid, without which neither the
strength nor the prosperity of any country can be stable.
♦DUPONT’S DISPATCHES INTERCEPTED.♦
Dupont might have secured his retreat across the Sierra Morena, if
he had not relied too confidently upon his actual strength and the
reputation of the French arms, and if he had not still hoped for
succours from Junot. His force, though reduced by sickness, and the
harassing service in which it was engaged, amounted to 16,000 effective
men, enough to have defeated the Spaniards if they had been rash enough
to engage in a general action, and more than he could well provide for.
A large convoy from Toledo, together with all his hospital stores, was
intercepted in the mountains. His men were fain to reap the standing
corn, and make it into bread for themselves; the peasantry, whom they
would otherwise have compelled to perform this work, having left the
harvest to take arms against them, and bear a part in the defence of
their country. He wrote pressingly for reinforcements; it was now, he
said, nearly a month that he had occupied the position at Andujar; the
country was exhausted, it was with extreme difficulty that he could
obtain the scantiest subsistence for his army; the enemy were acquiring
strength and courage to act upon the offensive: the anniversary of
their great victory at the Navas de Tolosa was at hand, and to this the
Spaniards, from religious, national, and local feelings, attached great
importance. Every moment which he was compelled to waste in inaction
increased the evil. Surely at such a crisis it would be prudent to
neglect all partial movements of the insurgents for the purpose of
enabling him to act in Andalusia with a sufficient force; if the enemy
were permitted to acquire strength so as to keep the field, their
example would be followed by all the provinces, and by all the Spanish
troops throughout the kingdom; whereas one victory obtained over them
here would go far towards the subjugation of Spain. These letters
fell into the hands of the Spaniards; but if they had reached their
destination, it was not in Savary’s power to have reinforced him.
♦PLAN FOR ATTACKING THE FRENCH.♦
On the 11th of July a council of war was held by Castaños, and it was
determined that a division of 9000 good troops, under General Reding,
should proceed by way of Menjibar to attack the enemy at Baylen, where
Gobert was stationed for the purpose of guarding the road to Carolina,
and maintaining a communication with Madrid. The Marqués de Coupigny,
with 5000, was to proceed by La Higuereta and Villanueva, toward the
same point, and co-operate with Reding; and Lieut.-Colonel D. Juan de
la Cruz Mourgeon, with a corps of 2000, was to go by Marmolejo, and act
against the enemy if they attempted to escape by the Sierra. Castaños
himself occupied the Visos de Andujar, a strong and advantageous
position, of which he thought it necessary to retain possession, though
the troops were without tents, there was a want of water, and the heat
excessive. But this position enabled him to keep Dupont upon the alarm,
and prevent him from acting against Reding and Coupigny, while they
interposed between him and the two other divisions of his army. ♦JULY
16.♦ Reding succeeded in driving the enemy from their _tête-du-pont_
at Menjibar, and from the positions which they took up one after
another between that place and Baylen, disputing their ground skilfully
and well. Gobert was killed, one cannon and the baggage in the
encampment taken. During these operations some of the Spaniards died
from excessive heat and exertion; and in the afternoon Reding retired
to Menjibar, and crossing the Guadalquiver again on the following day,
effected a junction, on the third morning, with Coupigny, who had
beaten the French from a strong post near Villanueva. Their intention
was to have attacked Baylen; but Dufour, who succeeded to the command
of Gobert’s division, had evacuated that place, finding himself unable
to maintain it, and fallen back to unite with Vedel, at Carolina.
♦BATTLE OF BAYLEN.♦
One part of the Spanish commander’s plan had thus been accomplished,
and, in pursuance of his arrangements, Reding and Coupigny prepared to
march from Baylen upon Andujar, and there attack the main body of the
French on one side, while the reserve of the Spanish army was ready
to act against it from the Visos. Dupont meantime had formed the same
intention of placing a part of the enemy’s force between two fires; and
on the night of the 18th, as soon as darkness had closed, the French
marched from Andujar, after plundering the inhabitants of whatever
was portable, and took the road toward Baylen. ♦JULY 19.♦ Reding was
preparing to begin his march when the enemy arrived at three in the
morning, and fell upon him, thinking to take him by surprise. The
attack was made vigorously, and might probably have been successful,
had not the Spaniards, because of their intended movement, been in some
degree of readiness. The foremost companies both of horse and foot were
engaged hand to hand; but the Spaniards rapidly took their stations,
and repelled the assailants at all points. When day broke they were
in possession of the high ground, and the French were forming their
columns to renew the attack in a situation which was not exposed to
the Spanish artillery. In this renewed attack both parties conducted
themselves with the greatest intrepidity. Several times the assailants
broke the enemy’s lines, and fighting with the resolution of men who
had never known what it was to be defeated, they once made way to the
batteries. But the Spaniards stood firm, they knew that reinforcements
were at hand, and that if they kept their ground, the situation of the
French was desperate; they had confidence in their leaders and in their
own strength, and, above all, that thorough assurance of the justice
of their cause, which, when other points are equal, will inevitably
turn the scale. The action was long and bloody; it continued till
noon without any other interruption than what arose from occasional
recession and the formation of new columns. Dupont then, and the other
generals, putting themselves at the head of their men, made a last
charge with the most determined bravery; they were, however, once more
repulsed. By this time they had lost 2000 men, besides those who were
wounded. Dufour, who was with this part of the army, was killed, and
Dupont himself wounded. No hope of victory remained, and no possibility
of escape, the French therefore proposed to capitulate; and the arrival
of the Spanish reserve, under D. Manuel de la Peña, at this point of
time, enabled the victors to dictate their own terms.
♦SURRENDER OF THE FRENCH ARMY.♦
Dupont’s intention of marching from Andujar had been so well concealed
till the moment of its execution, that though that city contained some
14,000 inhabitants, no information was conveyed to the Spaniards on
the adjacent heights, nor were they apprized of his movements till
two in the ensuing morning, when he had been five hours on his march.
Castaños immediately ordered La Peña to pursue him with the reserve
and some corps of the third division. Upon his arrival he learnt that
a capitulation had been proposed, upon which he referred the French
negotiators to the commander-in-chief, and took such a position as
effectually to surround the defeated army. The answer which Castaños
returned was, that the French must surrender themselves prisoners of
war, and no other terms would be granted; that because of the manner in
which they had sacked the towns which they had entered, he would allow
the general and officers to retain nothing more than their swords,
and each a single portmanteau with apparel for his use; but that in
other respects they should be treated like their squadron at Cadiz,
in a manner conformable to Spanish generosity. And he required that
Dupont should capitulate not only for the troops who had been actually
engaged, but for the two other divisions also. The next day was spent
in adjusting the terms; and on the 21st Castaños and the Conde de
Tilly, as the representative of the Supreme Junta of Spain and the
Indies, a title which the Junta of Seville at this time arrogated,
advised the Junta that Dupont and his division were made prisoners of
war, and that all the other French between the summit of the Sierra
Morena and Baylen were to evacuate the peninsula by sea.
♦TERMS OF THE SURRENDER.♦
These, however, though thus officially announced to the Junta, and by
them made known to Lord Collingwood, were not the terms which had been
signed, and the cause of this misstatement has never been explained.
There could have been no motive for deceiving the French by promising
them better conditions than it was intended to observe, for the enemy
were absolutely at their mercy; so confessedly indeed, that when La
Peña made a threatening movement to accelerate the treaty, Dupont sent
him word that if he thought proper to attack them no defence would
be made. The most probable conjecture which can be offered seems to
be, that the French negotiators, Generals Chavert and Marescot, had
sufficient address not only to make the Spaniards relax the tone of
severe justice which was at first assumed, but also in the course of
drawing up the capitulation, to obtain modifications in the latter
articles, by which the intention of the former was set aside; that
Tilly and Castaños had been thus led to make greater concessions
than they were themselves aware of, and had no suspicion when they
communicated to the Junta the result of the treaty, that one part of
it, and that the most important, was actually annulled by the other.
The capitulation began by stating that their excellencies the Conde de
Tilly and Castaños had agreed with the French plenipotentiaries upon
these conditions, as desiring to give proofs of their high esteem for
his excellency General Dupont, and the army under his command, for the
brilliant and glorious defence which they had made when completely
surrounded by a very superior force. The troops under General Dupont
were to remain prisoners of war, except the division of Vedel; that
division, and all the other French troops in Andalusia who were not
included in the former article, should evacuate Andalusia, and take
with them the whole of their baggage; but to prevent all cause of
uneasiness while they were passing through the country, they should
leave their artillery and other arms in charge of the Spanish army, to
be delivered to them at the time of their embarkation; their horses,
in order to save the trouble of transporting them, should be purchased
by the Spaniards at a price agreed upon by two commissioners, one of
each nation. The other troops, who were made prisoners, were to march
out of the camp with the honours of war, with two guns at the head of
each battalion, and the soldiers with their muskets, which they were to
surrender to the Spaniards at the distance of four hundred toises from
the camp. All the French troops in Andalusia were to proceed by stated
journeys, not exceeding four leagues a day, and with proper intervals
of rest, to Sanlucar and Rota, there to be embarked in Spanish vessels
and transported to Rochefort; the Spanish army guaranteeing the safety
of their march. The generals and officers were to retain their arms,
and the soldiers their knapsacks. The generals should retain a coach
and a baggage cart each, the officers of the staff a coach only, free
from examination, but without breaking the regulations and laws of
the kingdom: all carriages which they had taken in Andalusia were
excepted, and the observance of this exception was left to the French
General Chavert. Whereas many of the soldiers in different places, and
especially at the taking of Cordoba, notwithstanding the orders of the
generals and the care of the officers, had committed excesses which
were usual and inevitable when cities resisted at the time that they
were taken (thus carefully was the article worded by the able French
negotiators), the generals and officers were to take proper measures
for delivering up any church vessels which might have been carried away
as booty, if any there were. Any thing omitted in this capitulation
which might add to the accommodation of the French during their
passage through the country and their tarriance in it, should be added
as supplementary to these articles.
♦DIFFICULTY OF EXECUTING THEIR TERMS.♦
The French displayed more address in the management of this
capitulation than they had shown in the campaign. During the battle of
Baylen, Vedel was near enough with his division to hear the firing,
but he had received no intelligence of Dupont’s movements, and did not
move toward the scene of action till the firing had ceased. The French
soldiers endeavoured to account for their defeat by vague accusations
of treachery, by the want of a good understanding between the two
generals, and by the alleged misconduct of Dupont, in making his corps
attack one after another, instead of charging with his whole force,
and in leaving too strong a detachment to guard the spoils with which
he and the superior officers had enriched themselves. The more than
likely supposition, that his messengers had been intercepted, would
explain the want of co-operation, and the other charges may safely
be dismissed. That when they were at the enemy’s mercy they should
have obtained such favourable terms may indeed appear surprising,
even though the French have exceeded all other people in the art of
obtaining good terms under the most unfavourable circumstances. It
is more easy to perceive why the conditions were not observed; for
in fact it was impossible to observe them. Nothing could be done at
that time in opposition to the will of the people; and an universal
cry had gone forth against invaders who had set towns and villages on
fire, pillaging wherever they went, plundering churches and convents,
violating women, and putting to death the people whom they took in
arms. The Andalusians were exasperated against the French because of
these atrocities, as well as by that general feeling of indignation
which the cause of the quarrel, the murders at Madrid, and the whole
course of transactions at Bayonne, so justly excited. The Junta had
issued a regular declaration of war against France, but the people knew
and felt that this was not an ordinary war, and that no formalities
could make it so; that the invaders had entered their country not
in open hostility as fair and honourable enemies, but perfidiously
and basely in the character of allies; and that by the complicated
wickedness of their cause and their conduct they had forfeited all
claim to the courtesies and observances of civilized war. They regarded
Dupont’s army rather as criminals than as soldiers, ... men who had
laid down their arms, but who could not lay down their crimes; and in
that state of general feeling, if the Junta of Seville, or any other
persons in authority, had attempted to perform the conditions of the
capitulation, they would have been suspected of treachery, and might
probably have fallen victims, like Solano, to the fury of the populace.
Aware of this, and yet withheld from breaking the capitulation by that
national sense of honour which the revolution had not continued long
enough to destroy, the Junta hesitated how to act, like men who, under
the pretext of necessity, would willingly have done what, as an avowed
and voluntary act, they were ashamed to do. ♦THE JUNTA APPLY TO LORD
COLLINGWOOD AND SIR HEW DALRYMPLE.♦ They were deliberating whether to
observe the treaty when Castaños and Morla arrived at Seville. The
former felt that his country’s honour and his own would be wounded
by the breach of faith which was meditated, and he opposed it with
the frankness of an upright mind. Morla, on the contrary, supported
the popular opinion; and the Junta, deferring to it in fear, or in
inclination, circulated a paper, wherein it was affirmed that, both
Vedel and Dupont had broken the capitulation, that it was impossible
to fulfil it, and that even if possible, it ought not to be fulfilled.
This paper, composed by an officer of high rank, who was probably
envious of Castaños, was sent by the Junta to Lord Collingwood and to
Sir Hew Dalrymple, in the hope of obtaining their sanction for a mode
of conduct which they themselves secretly felt to be unworthy.
Lord Collingwood had not been satisfied with the terms granted to
Vedel: he was not sufficiently acquainted with the circumstances to
understand why an inferior[41] division should have been allowed
to capitulate after the principal force had been defeated; and he
perceived that these troops might again reach the frontiers of Spain
in a week after they were landed at Rochefort. But although these were
his feelings, nevertheless, when he was applied to from Cadiz for
assistance in transporting Vedel’s men to France, he replied, that
he would order seamen to fit out Spanish merchant vessels for that
purpose, as there were not more English transports in those parts
than were required for the conveyance of our own troops. It proved,
however, that Spanish vessels were not to be found; and the answer of
Lord Collingwood, when his opinion upon the fulfilment of the terms was
directly called for, was, that although he was sorry such a treaty,
or indeed any treaty, should have been made with the French General,
it was his opinion that all treaties, when once solemnly ratified,
should be held sacred, and the conditions observed as far as possible.
The present engagement was one which it was not possible to perform,
and therefore annulled itself. Sir Hew Dalrymple’s answer was still
less satisfactory to those persons who sought a British sanction for
breaking the terms. His opinion, he said, exactly coincided with
what must have been that of the Spanish and French Generals by whom
the capitulation was sanctioned, namely, that it was binding on the
contracting parties, as far as the means of carrying it into execution
were in the power of each. He hoped that the laws of honour, and not
the rules of political expediency, continued still to govern the
conduct of soldiers in solemn stipulations of this kind; and certainly
the surrender of General Vedel’s corps could only be justified by the
confidence he placed in that honour which characterized the Spanish
nation. The reputation of a government, particularly one newly-formed,
is, said he, a valuable part of its property, and ought not to be
lightly squandered. And perhaps the question might be argued even on
grounds of expediency.
♦CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN DUPONT AND MORLA.♦
Disappointed in these applications, but yielding to the real difficulty
of the case, the Junta made no preparations for transporting the
French troops; and Dupont at length addressed a letter to Morla, as
Captain-general of the Province, complaining of this, and of orders
which had been given to examine the baggage of the general and other
officers at Lebrixa. Morla beginning, as he usually did, with a
declaration of his own honour and veracity, replied, that neither
the capitulation, nor the approbation of the Junta, nor an express
order from their beloved King himself, could make that possible which
was not so. There were neither transports for his army, nor means of
procuring them; and what greater proof of this could there be than
that the prisoners taken in the squadron were detained at a great
expense, because the Spaniards were unable to remove them? ♦1808.
AUGUST.♦ General Castaños, when he promised to obtain a passport from
the English for this army, could promise no more than that he would
earnestly ask for it; and this he had done: but how could the French
commander believe that the English would let an army pass which would
certainly carry on the war in some other point, or perhaps in the very
same? I am persuaded, he pursued, that neither the general nor your
excellency supposed such a capitulation would be executed; his object
was to relieve himself from embarrassment, yours to obtain conditions
which, impossible as they were, would render your inevitable surrender
honourable. Each effected his desire, and now the imperious law of
necessity must be obeyed. The national character permits no other law
than this with the French; it will not allow us to use the law of
retaliation. Your excellency compels me to speak bitter truths....
What right has such an army to require the impossible fulfilment of a
capitulation? ... an army which has entered Spain professing friendship
and alliance, imprisoned our King and his Royal Family, sacked his
palaces, murdered and robbed his subjects, ravaged his country, and
despoiled him of his crown! If you do not wish to draw upon yourself
more and more the just indignation of the people, which I am exerting
myself to restrain; you will cease to advance such intolerable
pretensions, and endeavour by your conduct to abate the strong sense
of the horrors so recently committed at Cordoba. He added, that the
orders for examining the baggage came from the Supreme Junta, and were
indispensable.
A large sum of money had been found in possession of a private
soldier, and Morla reminded the French general how greatly such a
fact would provoke the rage of the populace. The discovery of some
church plate, which was brought to light by the fall of a package at
Santa Maria, roused the popular feeling beyond all farther endurance,
and they immediately seized upon the whole baggage. Dupont upon this
wrote angrily to Morla, demanding the restoration of the equipage,
money, and effects of every kind belonging to himself and the other
superior officers; invoking the principle of honour and probity, and
saying, that jealous as he was for the glory of the Spaniards, the
horrible excesses of the Spanish mob had made him groan. ♦AUGUST 14.♦
Undoubtedly, replied Morla, the conduct of the people has grieved me
greatly; not that the act itself was wrong, but because it manifested
a distrust of their government; because they took the administration
of justice into their own hands; because it might have happened that
in their fury they might have performed the vile and horrid office of
the executioner, and have stained themselves and their compatriots by
shedding that blood which had been spared on the field of battle.
This is the cause of my concern, and on this account I proposed, as
a thing expedient for the safety of your excellency and of those
who accompanied you, that your equipages should undergo a prudent
examination before they left Lebrixa, and advised you that nothing but
submission and a discreet demeanour could save you from the indignation
of the people. But it never was my intention, and still less the
Supreme Junta’s, that your excellency and your army should carry out of
Spain the fruit of your rapacity, cruelty, and impiety. How could you
conceive this possible? How could you suppose us to be so stupid and
insensible? Could a capitulation which speaks only of your equipage,
give you the property of the treasures which your army has accumulated
by means of murders, profanation of all sacred things, cruelties and
violence of every kind, in Cordoba and in other cities? Is there any
reason, law, or principle which enjoins that faith, or even humanity
should be observed towards an army which entered an allied and friendly
kingdom under false pretences, seized its innocent and beloved King
with all his family by fraud and treachery; extorted from him a
renunciation in favour of their own sovereign, ... a renunciation
impossible in itself, ... and because the nation would not submit to
this forced and invalid transfer, proceeded to plunder palaces and
towns, to profane and sack the churches, murdering the ministers of the
altar, violating nuns, carrying rape every where, seizing every thing
of value which they could transport, and destroying what they were not
able to bring away! Is it possible that such persons as these, when
deprived of a booty, the very sight of which ought to fill them with
compunction and horror, should have the effrontery to appeal to the
principles of honour and probity! My natural moderation has made me
hitherto write to your excellency with a certain degree of respect; but
I could not refrain from tracing a slight sketch of your conduct, in
reply to your extraordinary demands, ... demands which amount to this,
... do you plunder the temples and houses of Cadiz to reimburse me for
what the people of the Puerto have taken from me, and what I took from
Cordoba, with every circumstance of atrocity, violence, and brutality.
Let your excellency lay aside such expectations, and be contented that
the noble character of the Spanish nation withholds it from performing
the vile office of the executioner. He concluded by saying, that every
attention should be paid to the personal safety and convenience of the
French general; and that he would use all endeavours in his power to
have him sent to France with the least possible delay.
♦TREATMENT OF THE PRISONERS.♦
Dupont, when the first danger from the populace was over, had reason
for his own sake to rejoice that the capitulation was not carried
into effect. Enraged as Buonaparte was at the first signal defeat
which his armies had sustained, he well knew that no opportunity of
vindicating himself would be allowed him, and Admiral Villeneuve’s
example was before his eyes. Most of the Swiss in his army, the
officers excepted, entered the Spanish service; the more willingly,
because General Reding, who had borne so conspicuous a part in the
victory, was their countryman. But, in truth, it was to them a matter
of indifference on which side they were engaged, and in whatever action
they were present the victor was sure to find recruits. Many, however,
as well as many of the Germans who were taken at the same time, were
allowed to engage as agricultural labourers. But toward the French the
vindictive feeling of the people was never mitigated. The troops who
escorted them with difficulty saved them from being torn to pieces
by the peasantry; the murder of a Frenchman, so strong a hatred had
their atrocities excited, was regarded as a meritorious act; untold
numbers disappeared in consequence of this persuasion; and at Lebrixa
a whole detachment, eighty in number, were massacred at one time, upon
a cry of danger, absurd indeed, but sufficient to give the cowardly
rabble a plea for gratifying that cruelty which is every where the
characteristic of depraved and brutalized man. Letters were addressed
to Morla from Madrid and various parts of Spain, some requiring that
Dupont and the other French generals should be put to death, others
that the whole of the prisoners should suffer, as an example which the
public good demanded, and which justice called for. Some of these
letters, by their ill writing and incorrect language, indicated from
what base hands they came; others were the elaborate composition of men
whom the very hatred of cruelty had made cruel, and who pleaded for a
massacre in the same spirit of perverted zeal which had produced the
Inquisition and the horrors of St. Bartholomew’s day. These letters
were so numerous that Morla thought proper publicly to reply to them,
representing that such an act would not only bring on reprisals, but
would fix a lasting stain upon the Spaniards. He took that opportunity
of excusing himself from any concern in the breach of the capitulation,
desiring it might be understood that he neither executed, nor desired
to execute the supreme power; but that it was the Junta of Seville
which, for weighty reasons, not fit to be made public, had delayed the
transportation of Dupont and the other French generals. “I,” said he,
“had only to obey; for it is not in my character or manner of thinking
ever to resist a constituted authority; such resistance can only
occasion civil dissensions, which are the greatest evil a nation can
suffer, and which I shall never spare any sacrifice to avoid.”
♦REJOICINGS FOR THE VICTORY AT BAYLEN.♦
By the battle of Baylen Andalusia was left in peace. Castaños had made
a vow to dedicate the victory to King St. Ferdinand, who won Seville
from the Moors, and lying inshrined in the magnificent mosque of that
city, which he converted to a Christian church, is venerated there
with especial devotion. The ceremony was performed with great pomp,
and the French eagles were offered at the shrine of the canonized King
and conqueror, as trophies of the most signal victory which had been
achieved in Andalusia since his time.
♦MOVEMENTS OF BESSIERES AFTER THE BATTLE OF RIO SECO.♦
Among the papers which fell into the hands of the Spaniards were
dispatches from Madrid, recalling Dupont to protect the capital against
the army of Galicia and Castille and Leon, then advancing against it.
These dispatches were written before the battle of Rio Seco, where
Cuesta’s fatal rashness exposed that army to destruction. The Spanish
generals separated after their defeat, and Cuesta complained that
he was abandoned by the Galician force. He retired with his part of
the army to Leon, and knowing that that city could not be defended,
instructed the Leonese Junta to remove to Astorga; but Astorga itself
was not more secure, and they withdrew across the mountains to
Ponferrada. Cuesta then dispersed his infantry on the frontiers of
Asturias, and retreated with the cavalry into Castille, cutting his way
through the enemy’s rear-guard. Marshal Bessieres meantime reaped the
fruits of his victory by seizing arms and stores which, in consequence
of this rash action, were only brought from England to fall into the
enemy’s hands. He found large depôts at Villalpando and Benevente; then
turning southward to Zamora, was informed there that Cuesta had ordered
his troops to rendezvous at Mayorga. Deceived by this information,
to Mayorga he went, and there a deputation from Leon waited upon him
to solicit his clemency. At Leon also he found arms and ammunition
to a great amount, which, if not imprudently accumulated there, were
carelessly abandoned.
♦CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN BESSIERES AND BLAKE.♦
Blake was thought to have given proof of great military talents both
in the action and in the retreat; and Marshal Bessieres, hoping that
so severe a defeat would convince him all farther resistance must be
ineffectual, endeavoured to win him over to the Intruder’s service. For
this purpose he wrote to him, under the pretext of assuring him that
the prisoners should be well treated; and he took that opportunity for
urging him to obey the act of abdication, and acknowledge King Joseph
Napoleon. ♦JULY 24.♦ The Spanish general made answer, he acknowledged
no other sovereign than Ferdinand of Bourbon, or his legitimate heirs;
and if that unfortunate family should be altogether extinguished,
his allegiance would then be due to the people of Spain, lawfully
represented in a general Cortes. These, he said, were the sentiments
of the whole army and of the whole nation; and he warned Bessieres
against the error of mistaking the forced submission of towns which
were occupied by French troops, for a real change of opinion in the
inhabitants. “Undeceive therefore,” said he, “your Emperor; and if it
be true that he has a philanthropic mind, he will renounce the project
of subduing Spain. Whatever partial successes he may obtain, it is
evident that his brother never can reign in this country; unless he
reign over a desert, covered with the blood of the Spaniards, and of
the troops employed on this unjust enterprise.”
♦1808. JULY.♦
This answer did not satisfy the Frenchman, who, in a second letter,
told Blake it was his duty to avoid the effusion of blood; for while
France, and the greatest part of Europe, continued in their present
state, it was impossible that the Bourbons could reign. He accompanied
this reasoning by proposing a conference with him upon the subject,
... a proposal which, Blake replied, it was not fitting that he should
address to a man of honour. Bessieres had set at liberty four or
five hundred prisoners, under the title of peasants; this title the
Spanish general disclaimed for them, maintaining that they were regular
soldiers, incorporated with the troops of the line, though not wearing
the uniform. In explaining this, he said, “his intention was not to
release himself from acknowledging the generous conduct of the Marshal
towards them, ... but to prevent the possibility of their receiving,
upon any occasion, in consequence of any misconception, a treatment
which they did not deserve; and which, he was sure, from the sentiments
that his excellency had manifested, could not but be painful to his own
feelings.” This answer was in a lower tone than the occasion required;
it admitted a distinction between the peasant and the soldier: but it
became him to have proclaimed, that Spain was in circumstances when,
by the first principles of law in all countries, every man is called
upon to defend his country, and, becoming a soldier by necessity and
duty, is to be accounted such in virtue of the cause for which he is in
arms.
♦THE FRENCH LEAVE MADRID AND RETIRE TO VITORIA.♦
Bessieres might now have sent a reinforcement to Junot, who had to
contend against a spreading insurrection, while he was threatened with
the more serious danger of an English expedition; but as that danger
had prevented Junot from succouring Dupont, so the destruction of
Dupont’s army cut off his hopes of assistance from Bessieres, who was
then summoned in all haste to protect the flight of the Intruder from
Madrid. There is some reason to believe that the news of the battle of
Baylen reached the capital some days before it was known to Joseph and
his ministers, that this knowledge emboldened the Council of Castille
to make their resolute stand against taking the oath of fidelity, and
that it was concealed as long as possible in the hope of preventing
or intercepting the Intruder’s retreat. He was not apprised of it
till eight or nine days after the event; and no time was then lost in
providing for his safety by retiring to Vitoria, with the intention
of concentrating the French force in that part of the country, and
remaining there under their protection till reinforcements from France
should arrive, numerous enough to effect the subjugation of Spain.
Till this time, hope had been entertained by his adherents, that the
opposition of the Spaniards, unexpected and violent as it was, would
soon be quelled: but now it was apparent that what had hitherto been
regarded as an insurrection, had assumed the serious form of war; and
it is said that Joseph, considering that this extremity had not been
contemplated by the Spaniards who had entered ♦AZANZA Y O’FARRILL,
P. 101.♦ ♦DE PRADT, 192.♦ into his service, left them now at liberty
to choose their part, for or against him, in the ensuing contest. In
so doing he may have acted from a generous feeling, of which he was
not incapable when master of his own actions; but in reality it was
not in his power to withhold the liberty which he offered. The Duke
del Infantado had already escaped from Madrid, and travelling in the
dress of a peasant, had joined one of the Spanish armies. The Duke del
Parque also had taken the first opportunity to withdraw. Two of the
Intruder’s ministers, Cevallos and Pinuela, availed themselves of the
liberty which was now within their choice, and remained at Madrid.
Jovellanos, always true to himself and his country, had refused to obey
his summons. The other five, Urquijo, Azanza, Mazarredo, O’Farrill, and
Cabarrus, adhered to what they still believed to be the stronger part,
and accompanied Joseph in his retreat.
END OF VOL. I.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.
FOOTNOTES
[1] A few years after the peace of Utrecht, the Abbé de Vayrac
published a work in three volumes, entitled _Etat Present de L’Espagne,
où l’on voit une Geographie Historique du Pays, l’Etablissement de la
Monarchie, ses Revolutions, sa Decadence, son Rétablissement, et ses
Accroissemens: les Prerogatives de la Couronne; le Rang des Princes
et des Grands: l’Institution et les Fonctions des Officiers de la
Maison du Roy, avec un Ceremonial du Palais: le Forme du Gouvernement
Ecclesiastique, Militaire, Civil et Politique; les Mœurs, les Coûtumes,
et les Usages des Espagnols: le tout extrait des Loix Fundamentales du
Royaume, des Reglemens, des Pragmatiques les plus authentiques, et des
meilleurs Auteurs_. There is no mention whatever of the Cortes in this
work.
[2] The _Beatas_ of Cuenca, Madrid, and Evora, may be cited as
examples. Notices of the two former impostors may be seen in Llorente’s
_Histoire Critique de l’Inquisition_: a manuscript account of the
latter is in my possession.
[3] What is most extraordinary is, that some German critics have
discovered sublimity in these monstrous exhibitions, which are as
offensive to common sense as they are to the moral feeling.
[4] The Vermin and Four-in-hand clubs are sufficiently analogous
to this Spanish fashion of the _majos_, to render this at once
intelligible and credible to the English reader.
[5] In this respect, more had been done in France nearly a century ago
than has yet been attempted in England. It was not the fault of the
government if any one of its subjects was ignorant of what it most
concerns all men to know. The declaration of the king, of May 14, 1724,
contains the following article: “_Voulons qu’il soit etabli, autant
qu’il sera possible, des maîtres et maîtresses d’école dans toutes
les paroisses ou il n’y en a point, pour instruire tous les enfans
de l’un et de l’autre sexe, des principaux mysteres et devoirs de la
religion catholique, apostolique et Romaine; les conduire à la messe
tous les jours ouvriers, autant qu’il sera possible; leur donner les
instructions dont ils out besoin sur ce sujet, et avoir soin qu’ils
assistent au service divin les dimanches et fêtes; comme aussi pour y
apprendre à lire, et même écrire à ceux qui pourront en avoir besoin,
le tout ainsi qu’il sera ordonné par les archevêques et evêques en
conformité de l’art. 25 de l’edit de 1695, concernant la jurisdiction
ecclesiastique. Voulons a cet effet que, dans les lieux ou il ny aura
pas d’autres fonds, il puisse être imposé sur tous les habitans la
somme qui manquera pour l’etablissement des dits maîtres et maîtresses,
jusqu’à celle de 150 fr. par an. pour les maîtresses._”
[6] Except, indeed, that there were to be seminaries for the new
national clergy, where they were to be taught ... surveying,
mensuration, the knowlege of simples, a little medicine, and a little
law!
[7] “_L’ouvrage que l’on demande_,” said Gregoire, speaking in the
name of the Committee of Public Instruction, “_doit donc tracer
des regles de conduite pour le temps de la grossesse, des couches,
de l’allaitement_,” &c. Petit went farther back: according to him,
“_l’education en general doit aller chercher l’homme dans l’embryon
de l’espece; les peres, les meres surtout, doivent d’abord fixer son
attention_.”--
An able writer has performed the useful task of bringing together in
one work the various schemes of education which were attempted in
France during the democratic tyranny, and the military tyranny which
succeeded it. The title of his book is, _Le Genie de la Revolution
consideré dans l’Education; ou Memoires pour servir a l’Histoire
de l’Instruction Publique, depuis 1789 jusqu’ à nos Jours; ou l’on
voit les Efforts reunis de la Legislation et de la Philosophie du
Dix-huitieme Siecle pour aneantir le Christianisme_. Paris, 3 T.
1817–1818. One legislator maintained that a nation which had recovered
its freedom wanted none but stirring, vigorous, and robust men; it
was such men that they should endeavour to form: and the revolution
had already provided inexhaustible sources of instruction for them;
for the best schools in which youth could receive a republican
education were the public assemblies of the departments, districts, and
municipalities, the tribunals, and, above all, the popular societies,
... meaning the jacobine clubs! Lequinio would have had a daily journal
edited by a committee of philosophers, for the purpose of enlightening
the simple country people, ... the people of Paris and the large towns
being sufficiently enlightened. Lakanal required that there should be
at least one theatre in every canton, where the women were to learn
dancing, and the men to practise it. And Rabaut de St. Etienne, who had
been a Protestant minister, proposed that the mayors of every canton
should deliver moral lectures on Sundays in the national temple. These
legislators confined their views to France: but Dupont, the atheist,
hoped to see a school established at Paris for propagating atheism and
anarchy throughout Europe. These are his words: “_Avec quel plaisir
je me represente nos philosophes dont les noms sont connus dans
toute l’Europe Petion, Sieyes, Condorcet, et autres, entourés dans
le Pantheon, comme les philosophes Grecs à Athènes, d’une foule de
disciples venus des differentes parties de l’Europe, se promenant à la
mode des Peripateticiens, et enseignant, celui-la le systeme du monde,
celui-ci perfectionnant le système social, montrant dans l’arrêté du 17
Juin le germe de l’insurrection du 14 Juillet, du 10 Août, et de toutes
les insurrections qui vont se faire avec rapidité dans toute l’Europe,
de telle manière que ces jeunes etrangers de retour dans leur pay s
puissent y repandre les mêmes lumières, et opérer, pour le bonheur de
l’humanité, les mêmes revolutions._”
[8] Every thing was to be done by ... analysis:--“_Cette_ analyse,
_qui compte tous les pas qu’elle fait, mais qui n’en fait jamais un
ni en arrière, ni à côté, ... elle peut porter la même simplicité de
langage, la même clarté dans tous les genres d’idées.... Les sciences
morales, si necessaires aux peuples qui se gouvernent par leurs propres
vertus, vont être soumises à des demonstrations aussi rigoureuses que
les sciences exactes et physiques.... Tandis que la liberté politique,
et la liberté illimitée de l’industrie et du commerce détruiront les
inegalités monstreuses des richesses_, l’analyse, _appliquée à tous
les genres d’idées dans toutes les écoles, detruira l’inégalité des
lumieres, plus fatale encore et plus humiliante_.... L’analyse _est
donc essentiellement un instrument indispensable dans une grande
démocratie; la lumiere qu’elle repandra a tant de facilité à pénétrer
partout, que comme tous les fluides, elle tend sans cesse à se mettre
au niveau_.”--Rapport de Lakanal sur les Ecoles Normales, du 3
Brumaire, an. III. (24 Oct. 1794).
[9] He is reported to have said, _Les prêtres ne considèrent ce
monde que comme une diligence pour conduire à l’autre. Je veux qu’on
remplisse la diligence de bons soldats pour mes armées._ The speech
seems to authenticate itself; but whether it be authentic or not, this
was the spirit and the declared object of his institutions.
[10] Of the persons who died in Paris in the year 1800, more than
two-fifths expired in the hospitals: ... from this single fact some
estimate may be formed of the numbers who were ruined by the revolution.
[11] “The most serious and thinking people among all denominations
begin to see something more than ordinary providence in the recent
overthrow of state after state, and kingdom after kingdom, upon the
continent of Europe. People without any pretensions to religion see
a fatality attending almost every state that has hitherto exerted
itself against the French empire.” The Gospel Magazine then compares
Buonaparte to Cyrus, because having destroyed the persecuting spirit
of Romish Babylon, and restored the liberty of religious worship, he
had so far laid the foundations of the New Jerusalem. “It is of no
avail,” says the writer, “to object to any such character that he is a
man of blood, for such was David; and yet as his wars were necessary
to bring in the peaceable reign of Solomon, so the present wars, and
the manifest destruction of the enemies of truth, may introduce the
reign of a greater than Solomon, who shall have dominion also from sea
to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.” This sample may
suffice, one of many which might be adduced in proof of the text.
[12] Transactions of the Parisian Sanhedrim, p. xiv. 11, 104, 168, 226.
There are two Hebrew Odes upon the birth-day of Buonaparte in this
volume. Macpherson imitated the Scripture-poetry when he manufactured
Ossian; and it is curious to observe, how much more these French Hebrew
Odes resemble Macpherson, than either he or they resemble the Biblical
poets.
[13] _Principe del Paz_, not Prince of Peace, as usually translated.
The title of Prince of Peace used formerly to be given by the Emperors
to the Abbots of Mount Cassino, or assumed by them.--Helyot, 5, 53.
[14] See Burke’s remarks upon this cession in his Letters on a Regicide
Peace.--Vol. 8. 281, 8vo. edition.
[15] In the year 1796 Godoy was denounced to the Inquisition by three
friars, as being suspected of atheism, he not having confessed or
communicated in his proper church for eight years, as having two wives
living, and leading a scandalous life with many other women. This
was a court intrigue, planned by D. Antonio Despuig, Archbishop of
Seville, and afterwards cardinal, and by D. Rafael de Murquez, queen’s
confessor, and titular archbishop of Seleucia. The inquisitor-general,
Lorenzana (archbishop of Toledo), was afraid to interfere; they assured
him that the king would consent to the proceedings when it was shown
him that Godoy was an atheist; and Despuig applied to the pope through
the nuncio, that Lorenzana might be reproved for his timidity, and
enjoined to act. The pope accordingly wrote to the inquisitor-general;
his courier was intercepted at Genoa by the French, and Buonaparte sent
the letters to Godoy, as a means of consolidating the recent friendship
between the Directory and the court of Spain. The two archbishops in
consequence were sent out of the kingdom under a pretext of paying a
visit of condolence to the pope. These facts are stated by Llorente in
his History of the Inquisition (chap. 39.) Llorente had been secretary
to that abominable tribunal, and in writing its history, had none
of those motives for perverting the truth which influenced him when
writing under the name of M. Nellerto.
[16] No additional infamy can possibly be heaped upon Don Manuel Godoy;
it ought, however, to be mentioned, that the minion who thus planned
the destruction of the kingdom of Portugal, in order to obtain a new
principality for himself, was, at this very time, a noble of that
kingdom, by the title of Conde de Evora-Monte, and enjoyed a pension
from the crown. This was conferred upon him by an _Alvara_ of Feb. 5th,
1797, in which the Queen calls him “My Cousin.”
[17] Azanza and O’Farrill declare that when they came into office
as Ferdinand’s ministers, they found no papers concerning it in
their office. Cevallos says, that he was entirely ignorant of the
transaction: Izquierdo indeed charges him with having approved the
treaty in conversation with him, as the most advantageous which had
ever been made by Spain; and with having complimented him for obtaining
what France had constantly refused, while the Bourbons occupied both
thrones. (Nellerto (Llorente), T. iii. p. 80.) But this does not
necessarily imply that Cevallos was acquainted with the business while
it was in progress. M. de Pradt affirms that Talleyrand only learnt
it from Marshal Bessieres, of whom he inquired why the guards were
marching towards Spain, and that Bessieres had been informed by one of
the persons who signed the treaty. But M. de Pradt adds that Talleyrand
immediately apprized the Conde de Lima, then charge d’affaires for
Portugal, and that the Count set off instantly to give his government
the alarm; this is wholly incredible. M. de Pradt is always a lively,
and often a sagacious writer, but not always correct in his assertions.
He makes the unaccountable mistake of supposing that the French had
already occupied the North of Portugal two years before the treaty was
made! (p. 26, 33.)
[18] A Portugueze, who saw their entrance, compares them to the
hospital patients between Caldas and Lisbon in a wet day, and in the
worst part of the road;--_huma enfiada de semimortos pobretoens,
verdadeira imagem da conducta das Caldas em hum dia de chuva
pelo enfadonho caminho de Espinhaço de Caō_. He himself picked
up one who, fainting with exhaustion, had fallen upon one of the
street-dunghills,--an act of compassion which he afterwards repented of
as a crime.--Os Sebastianistas, P. I. p. 1, 2.
[19] The circumstance was noted in the Paris papers, and it was added,
that no sooner had the French flag been hoisted, than the elements were
calm, and the sun broke forth in all its splendour. This augury could
not be current at Lisbon, because the French flag was not hoisted there
till ten days after the storm.
[20] The letter which the Nuncio left for the French General may
be seen in Neves, t. ii. c. 40. “Who would have thought,” says the
historian, “that England was to give an asylum to the delegate of
the Holy Father? But this ought not to be wondered at, when we
know that the successor of Henry VIII. has offered one to the Pope
himself against the persecution of him who occupies the throne of St.
Louis.”--P. 223.
[21] One of their officers, a man of the old school, who had not
forgotten the manners and the feelings of better days, did not scruple
to declare in the house where he was quartered that the army was
ruined. He had seen robbery enough in his time, he said, but never to
an excess like the present; and, where this was suffered, an army must
inevitably be destroyed: and he ran through the names of the generals,
calling each a robber as he named him, and venting the bitterness of
his heart in thus giving each the appellation which was so richly
merited by all.
[22]
_Pōe dois ós hum sobre outro,
E pōe lhe outro á direita,
Pōe outro como o primeiro,
Ahi tens a conta feita._
A Sebastianist was explaining this to P. Jose Agostinho de Macedo, who
asked him, now he had made out the 808, where the thousand was? The
believer pointed to the flag-staff from which the Portugueze colours
were flying on the Mint.... There it is, straight and upright, behind
the five wounds, which the voice of the Prophet has converted into
ciphers.... _Oh loucos e duros de coraçam em vos render a evidencia!
Abri os olhos, miseraveis, que eu vos desengano, quereis esse sinal
numerico, esse hum, que designe os mil? Nam vedes alli o páo da
bandeira, tam direito, tam posto a pino, tam empertigado por detras das
cinco chagas convertidas em cifras pela voz dos profetas; ahi estam,
incredulos, ahi estam 1808_.--Os Sebastianistas, p. 1, 98.
Another prophecy gave the date by thirty pair of scissars, the bows
standing for ciphers; and the scissars, when opened, each represented a
Roman X. I am not sufficiently versed in the arithmetic of the prophets
to discover how this is summed up into 1808.
[23] O mez de Maio foi sempre de muito respeito em toda a peninsula.
He o mez da fome, e basta esta circumstancia para se lhe abaixar a
cabeça.--_Neves, ii. 231._
[24] The authors of the official Spanish history excuse the King from
the charge of putting forth a false declaration, upon the plea that
no promise of remaining was expressed in it. But certainly this was
implied, and it is less discreditable to Charles, and more consistent
with his character, to suppose that he was sincere when he issued it,
and changed his mind when the next tidings brought on a fresh access of
fear.
[25] The Marquis de Caballero says, there was no intention of removal
that night; that the Prince of the Peace was amusing himself, according
to his custom, _tête-à-tête_ with one of his numerous mistresses; that
the lady left his apartment under an escort of his guards of honour;
that the patrole chose to see who she was, she resisted, her escort
fired in the air, the trumpet on guard took this for the signal of
departure, he put his troop in motion, and then the populace assembled.
Godoy must have possessed much more courage in critical circumstances
than he has obtained credit for, if he could amuse himself with a
mistress at such a moment as this!
Caballero says, that he proposed to the commanders of the body guards
to disperse the rabble with twenty horsemen, if they could answer for
their fidelity; and if they could not, that they should recall six
hundred men from Ocaña, who certainly had not been corrupted, with whom
and with the artillery he would undertake for the safety of the royal
family, but he was told that no person except the Prince could appease
the agitation. He affirms that the people would have suffered the King
and Queen to depart, and even Godoy also, but that they would have
stopped the Prince. The Conde de Montijo claims the merit of having
directed the popular feeling on the occasion. Except a generous feeling
on the part of the people, who knew not what they were doing, there is
nothing in these whole transactions creditable to any of the parties
concerned.
[26] _No se pudo evitar que le dieran algunas bofetadas y algunos
palos, que algo le desfiguraron aquel rostro bello con que hizo
su fortuna y la ruina de la nacion._ This is the sort of feeling
with which the Spaniards relate the manner of Godoy’s fall. In the
same tract, “Manifiesto Imparcial y Exacto,” it is said, that when
he secreted himself he took with him some jewels, _de que su alma
codiciosa pudo ocuparse en momento tan critico_; and that he was
discovered at last, because he could no longer endure hunger and thirst.
[27] The authors of the official history, published at Madrid, insist
that the abdication was a pure voluntary act; that Charles, who was
altogether incapable of deceit, displayed the greatest affection
towards his son after that event; and that none of the innumerable
Spaniards, who with the heroism of martyrs performed their duty
through all the horrors of the subsequent struggle, ever entertained
the slightest scruple upon that point. They maintain that the letters
of the royal parents, which Buonaparte published, are so interpolated
by him that they cannot be trusted; and they endeavour to show, that
even in those letters proofs may be discovered that no violence was
complained of by the writers. Perhaps this is the only point upon which
these Spanish authors are not entitled to full and entire credit, ...
for they wrote under the sanction and by the appointment of Ferdinand.
In every other part, their history, as far as it has reached me, is
written with sound judgement and admirable impartiality.
[28] These bitter expressions of the father have never transpired, and
this very concealment seems to confirm what all other circumstances
render probable, that his abdication at Aranjuez was produced by fear
and compulsion. The Queen is said (with an effrontery scarcely credible
even when the greatest criminality derives boldness from the highest
rank) to have told her son in the presence of the King her husband that
he had no right to the crown, for that Charles was not his father.
Buonaparte, in his letter to Ferdinand, had indirectly told him he
was the child of an adulterous intercourse: and it is more probable
that this story of the Queen’s avowal should have been invented and
promulgated by him or his agents, for the sake of blackening the royal
family, and weakening the popularity of Ferdinand, by destroying his
hereditary right, than that so flagitious a declaration should really
have been made. I know not whether there be likeness enough of family
features to disprove the aspersion of his spurious birth, but I am
sure, that in conduct and temper Ferdinand has sufficiently proved
himself a Spanish Bourbon.
[29] _“Les observateurs de sangfroid, Français et Espagnols, voyaient
une crise s’approcher, et la voyaient avec plaisir. Sans une leçon
sévère il étoit impossible de ramener à des idées de raison cette
multitude égarée.”_--Moniteur.
[30] It was reported that a decree was passed for seizing the church
plate, and raising a heavy contribution, as had been done in Portugal.
A poor ignorant Spaniard, believing this, bought a razor, and sallying
out with it, attacked every Frenchman he met. The man was soon
secured. Upon his examination he was asked if the razor was his; yes,
he replied, by this token, that he had bought it at such a place for
five and thirty quartos. Had the French whom he had assaulted and
cut, offered him any injury?... No.... For what reason then had he
attacked them?... That he might kill them, and as many more Frenchmen
as he could; these villains were come to plunder the temples of the
living God, and to rob the people of the fruit of their labours, and he
had supposed that every honest man would do the same as himself, but
he found himself alone when he began. The author of the “Manifiesto
Imparcial y Exacto” relates this anecdote, and adds, _En Roma y en
Grecia este hombre hubiera parecido bien en la lista de los Horacios
y de los trescientios. ¡En Madrid estaba destinado a un suplicio!_ In
any country such a man would either have been put to death like a wild
beast, or confined as a madman: but the fact, and still more the manner
in which it is related, shows the feeling of the Spaniards towards
their treacherous invaders.
[31] One of the falsehoods published officially in the Moniteur
concerning these transactions was that the Queen of Etruria and the
Infante Don Francisco solicited and obtained permission to go to
Bayonne, because of the insults to which they were every day exposed,
... and this is so worded as to make it appear that it was the people
who insulted them.
[32] This building had been the residence of the British ambassador,
Sir Benjamin Keene, in the middle of the last century; there he died,
and there he was interred; for there is no burial-place for protestants
at Madrid, and the body of a heretic could not be suffered to pollute a
Catholic church!
[33] The Moniteur stated the French loss at twenty-five killed, and
from forty-five to fifty wounded, that of the Spaniards at “_plusieurs
milliers des plus mauvais sujets du pays_.” On the other hand, D.
Alvaro Florez Estrada, on the alleged authority of a return sent by
Murat to Berthier, states the loss of the French at 7100, and that
of his own countrymen, according, he says, to an account afterwards
taken by the government, as not exceeding 200. Both statements are
palpably false: in Estrada’s there may probably have been a mistake,
(not of the printer, for the numbers are written in words), copied
from some misprinted document; because there are accounts which reckon
the French loss at 1700. Azanza and O’Farrill quote the Council of
Castille as authority for affirming, that of the people 104 were
killed, 54 wounded, and 35 missing. This is probably much below the
truth: the Council at that time was acting under the fear of Murat,
and Azanza and O’Farrill endeavour to pass as lightly as they can over
the atrocities committed by that party which they afterwards served to
the utmost of their power. Baron Larrey, in his _Memoires de Chirurgie
Militaire_, (t.iii. 139) says, that the wounded of both nations were
carried to the French military hospital, and that before night they had
received there about 300 patients, 70 of whom belonged to the Imperial
Guards. It may be suspected that there were very few Spaniards in this
number, ... some of the wounded, we know, having been sent to the
military tribunal, and delivered over not to the surgeons, but to the
executioners: and it is certain, that in a contest of this kind, where,
on the one part, stabbing instruments were almost the only weapons
used, there would, on the other, be more persons killed than wounded.
Wherever the French were found in small parties, they were massacred.
An Englishman who was in the midst of this dreadful scene, told me
the carnage was very great, and that he believed the French lost more
than the Spaniards. This gentleman happened to be lodging with the
same persons with whom I had lodged in the year 1796. Two women were
killed in the house. The mistress (an Irish Catholic) dressed up a
stool as an altar, with a crucifix in the middle, St. Antonio on one
side, and St. I know not who on the other, and before these idols she
and her husband and the whole family were kneeling and praying while
the firing continued. This poor woman actually died of fear.--In the
_Memoires d’un Soldat_ the Mamalukes are said to have made a great
slaughter that day. One of them breaking into a house from which a
musket had been fired, was run through with a sword by a very beautiful
girl, who was immediately cut down by his companions. A man who got his
livelihood by the chase, and was an unerring shot, expended eight and
twenty cartridges upon the French, bringing down a man with each; when
his ammunition was spent, he armed himself with a dagger, and rushing
against a body of the enemy, fought till the last gasp.
[34] A party of poor Catalan traders (who are privileged to carry
arms) were seized and led to execution. They were met in time by
O’Farrill, who, with the French general Harispe, was endeavouring to
quiet the city, and Harispe being made by his companion to understand
the circumstances of the case, obtained their release. This general
distinguished himself greatly during the war by his military talents,
and it is an act of justice to relate in what manner he was employed
during the dreadful scenes of the 2d of May.
[35] D. Alvaro Florez Estrada says, that care was not taken to dispatch
these victims of an atrocious system, ... that their groans were heard
through the night, and that to strike the more terror, permission was
not given to remove the bodies for interment till after they had lain
there two days.
[36] It appears therefore that men who had not borne arms had been
delivered over to Grouchy’s bloody tribunal; and that though the
commission was suppressed, the French reserved to themselves the
power of trying and punishing the Spaniards who had taken part in the
insurrection.
[37] Azanza and O’Farrill say that they were confirmed in this opinion
by the arrival of Perez de Castro, a day or two afterwards, from
Bayonne, who assured them that Ferdinand and his friends had been in
the greatest alarm lest the Junta should have begun to act upon these
instructions, or lest they should by any means have fallen into the
Emperor’s hands. (_Memoria_, sec. 85.) This is very possible, after the
renunciation had been made, and they had submitted to their fate. But
when the apology proceeds to say how well and bravely the instructions
would have been acted upon had they arrived in time, the writers give
themselves credit for a higher degree of virtue than was evinced either
by their conduct then or afterwards. (_Id._ sec. 90, 91.) Among the
_inconveniences_ of resisting the French, they represent the necessity
of putting the English in possession of certain maritime posts, and the
probability that England would have retained those posts for herself,
to be another reproach to the Spaniards like Gibraltar! (_Id._ sec. 89.)
[38] Sir John Carr adds, that immediately afterwards this man was
seized with frenzy, threw himself from a window, and was killed on
the spot. In an account of these transactions, given in a letter from
Cadiz, and published by Llorente (under his anagram of Nellerto), in
the third volume of his Memoirs for the History of the Revolution of
Spain, Solano is said to have taken the Carthusian by the leg and
thrown him out of the window, ... as if he had waited till the mob
were actually in his apartment before he attempted to escape! The
general accuracy of that letter is confirmed by another (in the same
collection) by the Count de Teba, in explanation of his own conduct.
Llorente (the ex-secretary of the Inquisition) has a notable note upon
the subject: he says, the insurrection in Andalusia was brought about
by the intrigues of the cabinet of London, carried on by the commander
of the blockading squadron, and the governor at Gibraltar; that had it
not been for these machinations the province would have been tranquil,
there would have been no battle of Baylen, King Joseph would have
remained at Madrid, Solano and the Count del Aguila would not have been
murdered ... the Spanish colonies would not have been lost ... and at
the fall of Napoleon, Joseph would have ceased to be King of Spain, as
Jerome ceased to be King of Westphalia. Did Llorente himself believe,
or could he think to make others believe, that Napoleon would have been
overthrown, if he had made himself master of Spain without opposition?
And was it in the expectation and hope that his fall would be brought
about without human means, that he swore allegiance to King Joseph?
[39] This opinion of M. Larrey is confirmed by some cases of death
produced by cordial waters which occurred, I think, at Dublin, a few
years ago. An account was published in some journal, but I cannot
refer to it, having met with it in the course of chance-reading, and
not thinking at the time that I should ever have occasion to notice
it. Except that the dose was stronger, the cases are precisely in
point: and they show also, which is equally in point, that poisons of
this kind which prove fatal in some instances, are taken with perfect
impunity in many others.
[40] M. De Pradt says these addresses were previously submitted to
Buonaparte, and he was not satisfied with that of the Grandees, which
expressed wishes for the happiness of Joseph and Spain, but contained
no direct acknowledgement of him. _Une bonne reconnaissance, bien
formelle, bien prononcée, était ce qu’il fallait a Napoleon._ He lost
his temper, and was heard to say to Infantado, No tergiversation, Sir!
acknowledge him plainly, or plainly refuse to do it. _Il faut être
grand dans le crime comme dans la vertu._ Do you choose to return to
Spain and place yourself at the head of the insurgents? I give you my
word to send you there in safety; but I will tell you, that in eight
days, ... no, ... in four and twenty hours, you shall be shot. The Duke
excused himself upon the plea of composing in a language of which he
was not master, and amended the address.
I have not such implicit reliance upon the authority of M. De Pradt
as to insert this in the text. The Duque del Infantado and the other
persons who had been trepanned with Ferdinand, were compelled to commit
themselves in so many ways, that it would have been very useless to
have equivocated in a single instance. No men were ever more justified
in disclaiming as their own acts what had been done under manifest
compulsion.
[41] Vedel had surrounded and made prisoners one battalion of Reding’s
corps before he knew of Dupont’s surrender. He was in full retreat, two
or three leagues on his way; and, had it not been for the capitulation,
might probably have recrossed the Sierra Morena with as little
opposition as he had passed it. Castaños had with him only 10,000
regular troops, and 15,000 peasants, who were incorporated at Utrera.
This was the whole Spanish force. The French lost 4000 in killed and
wounded, and 17,000 laid down their arms. The success at Baylen,
therefore, was as extraordinary as any of those victories for which
Santiago obtained credit in the heroic age of Spain.
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
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Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
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Volume I: LibraryBlog eBook number 60386
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