CHAPTER II. Dissensions in the Spanish court-Secret treaty and convention of Fontainebleau-Junot's army enters Spain-Dupont's and Moncey's corps enter Spain-Duhesme's corps enters Catalonia- Insurrections of Aranjuez and Madrid-Charles the Fourth abdicatesFerdinand proclaimed king-Murat marches to Madrid-Refuses to recognise Ferdinand as king-The sword of Francis the First delivered to the French general-Savary arrives at Madrid-Ferdinand goes to Bayonne-Charles the Fourth goes to BayonneThe fortresses of St. Sebastian, Figueras, Pampeluna, and Barcelona, treacherously seized by the French-Riot at Toledo 23d of April-Tumult at Madrid 2d of May, Charles the Fourth abdicates a second time in favour of Napoleon-Assembly of notables at Bayonne-Joseph Bonaparte declared king of Spain-Arrives at Madrid. FOR many years antecedent to the French invasion, the royal family of Spain were distracted with domestic quarrels; the son's hand was against his mother, the father's against his son, and the court was a scene of continual broils, under cover of which artful men, as is usual in such cases, pushed their own interest forward, while they seemed to act only for the sake of the party whose cause they espoused.' Charles IV. attributed this unhappy state of his house to the intrigues of his sisterin-law, the queen of the Two Sicilies; he himself, a weak and inefficient old man, was governed by his wife, and she again by Don Manuel Godoy, of whose person it is said she was enamoured even to folly. From the rank of a simple gentleman of the royal guards, this person had been raised to the highest dignities, and the title of Prince of the Peace was conferred upon him whose name must be for ever connected with one of the bloodiest wars that fill the page of history. Ferdinand, prince of the Asturias, hated this favourite, and the miserable death of his young wife, his own youth, and apparently forlorn condition, created such an interest in his favour, that the people partook of his feelings; thus the disunion of the royal family extending its effects beyond the precincts of the court, involved the nation in ruin. Those who know how Spaniards hate will comprehend why Godoy, who, though sensual, was a mild, good-natured man, has been so overloaded with imprecations, as if he, and he alone, had been the cause of the disasters in Spain. It was not so. The canon Escoiquiz, a subtile politician, Nellerto the anagram of Llorente. 2 'ide Doblado's Letters. who appears to have been the chief of Ferdinand's party, finding the influence of the prince of the Peace too strong, looked for support in a powerful quarter, and under his tuition, Ferdinand wrote upon the 11th of October, 1807, to the emperor Napoleon. In this letter he complained of the influence which bad men had obtained over his father, prayed for the interference of the "hero destined by Providence," so run the text," to save Europe and to support thrones;" asked an alliance by marriage with the Bonaparte family, and finally desired that his communication might be kept secret from his father, lest it should be taken as a proof of disrespect. He received no answer, and fresh matter of quarrel being found by his enemies at home, he was placed in arrest, and upon the 29th of October, Charles denounced him to the emperor as guilty of treason, and of having projected the assassination of his own mother. Napoleon caught eagerly at this pretext for interfering in the domestic policy of Spain, and thus the honour and independence of a great people were placed in jeopardy, by the squabbles of two of the most worthless persons. Some short time before this, Godoy, either instigated by an ambition to found a dynasty, or fearing that the death of the king would expose him to the vengeance of Ferdinand, had made proposals to the French court to concert a plan for the conquest and division of Portugal, promising the assistance of Spain, on condition that a principality for himself should be set apart from the spoil. Such is the turn given by Napoleon to this affair. But the article which provided an indemnification for the king of Etruria, a minor, who had just been obliged to surrender his Italian dominions to France, renders it doubtful if the first offer came from Godoy, and Napoleon eagerly adopted the project if he did not propose it. The advantages were all on his side. Under the pretext of supporting his army in Portugal, he might fill Spain with his troops; the dispute between the father and the son, now referred to his arbitration, placed the golden apples within his reach, and he resolved to gather the fruit if he had not planted the tree. A secret treaty was immediately concluded at Fontainebleau, between marshal Duroc on the part of France, and Eugenio Izquerdo on the part of Spain. This treaty, together with a convention dependant on it, was signed the 27th, and ratified by Napoleon on the 29th of October, the contracting parties agreeing on the following conditions. The house of Braganza to be driven forth of Portugal, and that kingdom divided into three portions. The province of Entre Minho e Duero, including the town of Oporto, to be called the kingdom of North Lusitania, and given as an indemnification to the dispossessed sovereign of Etruria. Napoleon, in Las Casas-Nellerto. The Alemtejo and the Algarves to be erected into a principality for Godoy, who, taking the title of prince of the Algarves, was still to be in some respects dependant upon the Spanish crown. The central provinces of Estramadura, Beira, and the Tras os Montes, together with the town of Lisbon, to be held in deposit until a general peace, and then to be exchanged under certain conditions for English conquests. The ultramarine dominions of the exiled family to be equally divided between the contracting parties, and in three years at the longest, the king of Spain to be gratified with the title of Emperor of the two Americas. Thus much for the treaty. The terms of the convention were: France to employ 25,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry. Spain 24,000 infantry, 30 guns, and 3,000 cavalry. The French contingent to be joined at Alcantara by the Spanish cavalry, artillery, and one-third of the infantry, and from thence to march to Lisbon. Of the remaining Spanish infantry, 10,000 were to take possession of the Entre Minho e Duero and Oporto, and 6,000 were to invade Estramadura and the Algarves. In the mean time a reserve of 40,000 men was to be assembled at Bayonne, ready to take the field by the 20th of November, if England should interfere, or the Portuguese people resist. If the king of Spain or any of his family joined the troops, the chief command to be vested in the person so joining, but, with that exception, the French general to be obeyed whenever the armies of the two nations came into contact, and during the march through Spain, the French soldiers were to be fed by that country, and paid by their own government. The revenues of the conquered provinces to be administered by the general actually in possession, and for the benefit of the nation in whose name the province was held. Although it is evident, that this treaty and convention favoured Napoleon's ulterior operations in Spain, by enabling him to mask his views, and introduce large bodies of men into that country without creating much suspicion, it does not follow, as some authors have asserted, that they were contrived by the emperor for the sole purpose of rendering the Spanish royal family odious to the world, and by this far-fetched expedient, to prevent other nations from taking an interest in their fate, when he should find it convenient to apply the same measure of injustice to his associate, that they had accorded to the family of Braganza. To say nothing of the weakness of such a policy, founded, as it must be, on the error, that governments acknowledge the dictates of justice at the expense of their supposed interests, it must be observed that Portugal was intrinsically a great object. History does not speak of the time when the inhabitants of that country were defi cient in spirit, the natural obstacles to an invasion had more than once frustrated the efforts of large armies, and the long line of communication between Bayonne and the Portuguese frontier, could only be supported by Spanish co-operation. Add to this, the facility with which England could, and the probability that she would, succour her ancient ally, and the reasonable conclusion is, that Napoleon's first intentions were in accordance with the literal meaning of the treaty of Fontainebleau, his subsequent proceedings being the result of new projects, conceived, as the wondrous imbecility of the Spanish Bourbons became manifest. Again, the convention provided for the organization of a large Spanish force, to be stationed in the north and south of Portugal, that is, in precisely the two places from whence they could most readily march to the assistance of their country, if it was invaded. In fact the division of the marquis of Solano in the south, and that of general Taranco in the north of Portugal, did, when the Spanish insurrection broke out, form the strength of the Andalusian and Gallician armies, the former of which gained the victory at Baylen, while the latter contended for it, although ineffectually, at Rio Seco. The French force, destined to invade Portugal, was already assembled at Bayonne, under the title of the "First army of the Garonne," and actually entered Spain before the treaty was signed. It was commanded by general Junot, a young man of a bold, ambitious disposition, but of greater reputation for military talent than he was able to support; and his soldiers, principally conscripts, were ill fitted to endure the hardships which awaited them. At first by easy marches, and in small divisions, he led his troops through Spain; but the inhabitants, either from a latent fear of what was to follow, or from a dislike of foreigners common to all secluded people, were not friendly." When the head of the columns reached Salamanca, the general halted, intending to complete the organization of his troops in that rich country, and there to await the most favourable moment for penetrating the sterile frontier which guarded his destined prey; but political events marched faster than his calculations, and fresh instructions from the emperor prescribed an immediate advance upon Lisbon; Junot obeyed, and the family of Braganza, at his approach, fled to the Brazils. The series of interesting transactions which attended this invasion will be treated of hereafter; at present, I must return to Spain, now bending to the first gusts of that hurricane, which soon swept over her with destructive violence. The accusation of treason and intended parricide,3 preferred by Charles IV. against his son Ferdinand, gave rise to some judicial 1 Voice from St. Helena, vol. ii. 2 Thiebault, Expédition du Portugal. 3 Nellerto - Historia de la Guerra contra Napoleon. proceedings, which ended in the submission of the prince, who being absolved of the imputed crime, wrote a letter to his father and mother, acknowledging his own fault, but accusing the persons in his confidence, of being the instigators of deeds which he himself abhorred. The intrigues of his advisers, however, continued, and the plans of Napoleon advanced as a necessary consequence of the divisions in the Spanish court. By the terms of the convention of Fontainebleau, forty thousand men were to be held in reserve at Bayonne; but a greater number were assembled on different points of the frontier, and in the course of December, two corps had entered the Spanish territory, and were quartered in Vittoria, Miranda, Briviesca, and the neighbourhood. The one, commanded by general Dupont, was called the second army of observation of the " Gironde." The other, commanded by marshal Moncey, took the title of the army of observation of the “Côtes d'Océan.”In the gross, they amounted to fifty-three thousand men, of which above forty thousand were fit for duty; and in the course of the month of December, Dupont advanced to Valladolid, while a re-enforcement for Junot, four thousand seven hundred in number, took up their quarters at Salamanca.2 It thus appeared as if the French troops were quietly following the natural line of communication between France and Portugal; but, in reality, Dupont and Moncey's positions cut off the capital from all intercourse with the northern provinces, and secured the direct road from Bayonne to Madrid. Small divisions under different pretexts continually re-enforced these two bodies, and through the Eastern Pyrenees twelve thousand men, commanded by general Duhesme, penetrated into Catalonia, and established themselves in Barcelona.3 In the mean time the dispute between the king and his son, or rather between the prince of the Peace and the advisers of Ferdinand, was brought to a crisis by insurrections at Aranjuez and Madrid, which took place upon the 17th, 18th, and 19th of March, 1808. The old king, deceived by intrigues, or frightened at the difficulties which surrounded him, had determined, as it is supposed by some, to quit Spain, and take refuge in his American dominions, and preparations were made for a flight to Seville, when the prince's grooms commenced a tumult, in which the populace of Aranjuez soon joined, and were only pacified by the assurance that no journey was in contemplation. Upon the 18th, the people of Madrid, following the example of Aranjuez, sacked the house of the obnoxious Manuel Godoy, and upon the 19th the riots having recommenced at Aranjuez, that minister secreted himself; but his retreat being discovered, he was maltreated, and on the 1 Return of the French army; Appendix. 2 Journal of Dupont's Operations, MSS. 3 Notes of Napoleon; Appendix, No. II. |