OCCUPATION OF SPAIN BY THE FRENCH-INSURRECTION OF ARANJUEZ-ABDICATION OF CHARLES IV.-FERDINAND VII.-FERDINAND'S JOURNEY TO BAYONNE-INSURRECTION OF MADRID-SECOND ABDICATION OF CHARLES IV.-JOSEPH BONAPARTE, KING OF SPAININSURRECTION OF CADIZ-BATTLE OF RIO SECO-MURAT, KING OF NAPLES-CAPITULATION OF BAYLEN-JOSEPH LEAVES MADRID-SIR ARTHUR WELLESLEY IN PORTUGALBATTLE OF VIMIERO-CONVENTION OF CINTRA-THE FRENCH EVACUATE PORTUGAL.

causes of that fierce and deadly struggle which devastated Europe, with little intermission, from the first coalition against the new order

of things in France, to the conclusion of the campaign of 1806, is fast gaining ground in this country, however opposed to long standing prejudices. The high authority of Colonel Napier is one among the influences likely to extend and permanently establish a just opinion on this subject. His valuable work, "The History of the Peninsular War," commences with the following words:-"The hostility of the European aristocracy caused the enthusiasm of republican France to take a military direction; and forced that powerful nation into a course of policy which, however outrageous it might appear, was, in reality, one of necessity. Up to the treaty of Tilsit, the wars of France were essentially defensive; for the bloody contest that wasted the continent so many years was not a struggle for pre-eminence between ambitious powers; not a dispute for some accession of territory, nor for the political ascendancy of one or other nation; but a deadly conflict, to determine whether aristocracy or democracy should predominate ;whether equality or privilege should henceforth be the principle of European governments.

"The French revolution was pushed into existence before the hour of its natural birth. The power of the aristocratic principle was too vigorous and too much identified with that of the monarchical principle, to be successfully resisted by a virtuous democratic effort; much less could it be overthrown by a democracy rioting in innocent blood, and menacing destruction to political and religious establishments, the growth of centuries,—somewhat decayed, indeed, yet scarcely shewing their grey hairs. The first military events of the revolution,-the disaffection of Toulon and Lyons; the civil war of La Vendée; the feeble, although successful, resistance made to the Duke of Brunswick's invasion; and the frequent and violent change of rulers whose fall none regretted,were all proofs that the French revolution, intrinsically too feeble to sustain the physical and moral force pressing it down, was fast sinking when the wonderful genius of Napoleon, baffling all reasonable calculations, raised and fixed it on the basis of victory, the only one capable of supporting the crude production.

"Nevertheless, that great man knew the cause he upheld was not sufficiently in unison with the feelings of the age; and his first care was to disarm or neutralise monarchical and sacerdotal enmity, by restoring a church establishment, and by becoming a monarch himself." (Vain and hopeless idea! proved by the result to have been as deficient in expediency as in principle.) "Once a sovereign, his vigorous character, his pursuits, his talents, and the critical nature of the times, inevitably rendered him a despotic one: yet, while he sacrificed political liberty, which, to the great bulk of mankind, has never been more than a pleasing sound, he cherished, with the utmost care, equality ;—a

sensible good that produces increasing satisfaction, as it descends in the scale of society. But this, the real principle of his government and secret of his popularity, made him the people's monarch, not the sovereign of the aristocracy, and hence Mr. Pitt called him the child and champion of democracy;' a truth as evident as that Mr. Pitt and his successors were the children and the champions of aristocracy : hence, also, the privileged classes of Europe consistently transferred their natural and implacable hatred of the French revolution to his person; for they saw that in him innovation had found a protector,— that he alone, having given pre-eminence to a system so hateful to them, was really what he called himself, the State.'

"The treaty of Tilsit, therefore, although it placed Napoleon in a commanding situation with regard to the potentates of Europe, unmasked the real nature of the war, and brought him and England, the respective champions of equality and privilege, into more direct contact; peace could not be between them while both were strong; and all that the French Emperor had hitherto gained, only enabled him to choose his future field of battle."

The first "field of battle" chosen by Napoleon, was Portugal; the second was destined to be Spain. We proceed to a detail of the opening events of that desolating war; events which, beginning in depravity and imbecility on the one hand, and intrigue and perfidy on the other, swelled into a torrent of violence, as uncontrollable as it was unexpected.

The Emperor returned from his Italian journey on the 1st of January, 1808. In this journey, he had taken possession of his new dominion of Tuscany, converted the port of Venice into a great naval arsenal, and decreed the opening of a canal to unite the Po with the Mediterranean. From Milan, also, he had dated fresh decrees, increasing the rigour of his continental system. At the same period, the port of Flushing, and the territories of Wesel, Cassel, and Kehl, were united to France; thus extending the empire along the whole course of the Rhine. While these accessions to the power of France were effected in Italy and Germany, a silent and insidious operation was progressing in Spain. The second and third armies of observation, commanded by Dupont and Moncey, amounting together to fifty-three thousand men, had advanced into that country, apparently with the view to reinforce Junot in Portugal; but, in fact, establishing themselves in Valladolid, Salamanca, Vittoria, Miranda, and the neighbourhood, they effectually cut off the capital from the northern provinces, and secured the road between Bayonne and Madrid. Small divisions marching from the frontier, continually increased their numbers, and finally General Duhesme penetrated into Catalonia, and established himself with twelve thousand men at Barcelona; while different detachments of

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his army, by means of various treacherous artifices, possessed themselves of the fortresses of San Sebastian, Pampeluna, and San Fernando. These transactions were followed by the mission of Murat into Spain, to place himself at the head of the army as commander-in-chief.

It does not appear that the people were as yet roused to any jealous suspicion of the meaning of these extraordinary proceedings. They were groaning under the yoke of Godoy, whom they detested, and perhaps expected the French would effect some beneficial change in their condition. The court, however, at length took the alarm. Godoy could not but perceive that the treaty of Fontainebleau had become a dead letter; and that he himself, having served the purpose of the Emperor of France, was very likely to be abandoned to whatever fate might await him. The sudden dismissal of his agent, Izquierdo, from Paris, confirmed his fears. The tergiversations and intrigues of the Spanish court are necessarily clouded in some obscurity, but it appears to be pretty well established that Godoy, yielding to an abject panic, advised Charles IV. and his queen to imitate the example of the royal family of Portugal, and escape to America; and that to pave the way, he persuaded them to leave Madrid, and take up their abode at the palace of Aranjuez, where hasty preparations, and the collection of troops, soon roused a suspicion of their intention to comply with the wishes of their favourite. Preparations for their embarkation were made at Cadiz, and the divisions stationed in readiness to co-operate with Junot in Portugal were recalled. The friends and adherents of Ferdinand quickly caught at the opportunity to excite the populace, and a dangerous tumult occurred on the 17th of March, at Aranjuez, in which the cry of "Death to Godoy!" and reproaches against his name for "bringing the French army into the country," were first heard. It was in vain that the king declared he had no intention to leave his beloved subjects, and entreated them "to calm their fears, and act towards the troops of their sovereign's ally, as they had hitherto done." The insurrection spread. On the 18th, the house of Godoy at Madrid, was assaulted and sacked, and the guards refused on this occasion to fire upon the people. The unfortunate favourite only escaped from being torn to pieces, by hiding himself in a barn, where he lay concealed for four-and-twenty hours without food. The king, in the vain hope of appeasing the people, now declared that he "dismissed the Prince of Peace from all his employments, and would himself take the command of the troops :" but the riot continued. The houses of Godoy's relations and adherents, and those of the ministers of finance, were plundered. At length, the infuriated populace discovered Godoy in his hiding place: he was pelted with stones, dreadfully beaten, and rescued from massacre with