SPAIN. 



335 



October 21, 1806 (q. v.), destroyed its naval 

 power; the bold Miranda, excited the desire for 

 independence in Spanish America, in 1806, and 

 Napoleon overthrew the throne of the Bourbons in 

 Naples See the works of Desormeau, Chronolo- 

 gical Abridgment of the History of Spain (in French) ; 

 and of W. Coxe, Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of 

 the House of Bourbon (1700 1788, 2d edition. 

 London, 1815). 



Spain from 1808. The prince of peace (October 

 3, 1806) called on the nation to arm against " the 

 common enemy;" and Napoleon, therefore, sent 

 a Spanish army, under Romana, to Denmark, and 

 another, under O'Farill, to Tuscany. October 27, 

 1807, he concluded a secret treaty at Fontainc- 

 bleau, respecting the division of Portugal, men- 

 tioned in the article Napoleon. Twenty-eight thou- 

 sand French soldiers, maintained by Spain, marched 

 over the Pyrenees, and were joined by 11,000 

 Spaniards. The family quarrels of the royal family 

 favoured the plans of the French ruler in Spain. 

 The prince of Asturias (Ferdinand) had refused 

 to marry the sister-in-law of the prince of 

 peace; and, to secure himself against the vengeance 

 of the offended favourite he wrote, by the ad- 

 vice of Escoiquiz, his former teacher (October 

 1 1, 1807), to Napoleon for protection, and requested 

 the hand of one of his nieces. The emperor did 

 not answer this letter till April 16, 1808, when the 

 prince was on his way to Bayonne. At the time 

 of his writing to Napoleon, the prince had ad- 

 dressed a letter to his father, exposing the mistakes 

 and abuses of the administration, and requesting to 

 be allowed some participation in the government. 

 The queen was enraged, and the prince, Escoiquiz 

 and the duke of Infantado were arrested. Charles 

 IV, at the instigation of Godoy, now wrote to Na- 

 poleon, stating that the prince of Asturias had in- 

 tended to dethrone him, and to deprive his mother 

 of life, so that he ought to be excluded from the 

 succession. The junta, however, which was con- 

 vened for that purpose, unanimously acquitted the 

 prince and the other prisoners; but Godoy induced 

 Ferdinand to ask pardon of the king and queen; on 

 which the king caused the letter to be published in 

 the Gazette of Madrid, and issued a decree granting 

 pardon to the prince on account of his repentance. 

 The other prisoners were banished. Thus ended, 

 in November, 1807, the process of the Escurial. 

 In the mean while, French troops had entered 

 Spain. Charles IV. received them as allies; but, 

 on a sudden, the court prepared to leave Aranjuez 

 for Seville. It was rumoured that the royal family 

 intended to go to Mexico. A violent commotion 

 now took place in Madrid, and multitudes flocked 

 to Aranjuez. March 18, 1808, the people and the 

 soldiers broke out into fury against the prince of 

 peace, who was only saved by the promise of the 

 prince of Asturias, that he should be brought to 

 justice. In other parts of the country, also, the 

 people showed their bitter hatred of this unworthy 

 favourite. Charles IV., on the same day, took the 

 command of the army and fleet, the prince of peace 

 being dismissed. But on the 19th, he resigned the 

 crown in favour of his son, of which he informed 

 Napoleon, as he had done of the former step. Fer- 

 dinand VII., on March 24, made a public ejitry into 

 Madrid, which had been occupied by Murat, grand- 

 duke of Berg, and commander of the French troops, 

 the day previous. Ferdinand informed Napoleon 

 of his assumption of the royal power; but the 

 emperor caused the whole family to be conveyed 



to Bayonne, where he himself arrived, April 15. 

 Charles IV. had secretly retracted his resignation, 

 on March 21 ; and on the same day the queen had 

 written to Murat, to obtain protection for the 

 prince of peace. Charles IV. informed Napoleon of 

 his having retracted his resignation ; and, in short, 

 the affairs of the royal family were most wretchedly 

 embroiled. During the meeting at Bayonne, a 

 commotion, attended with bloodshed, took place, 

 on May 2, at Madrid. The Spaniards had been 

 excited by the arrogance of the French, and attacked 

 them. Many were killed on both sides. This 

 event is thought to have hastened the steps taken 

 at Bayonne. But though the most enlightened part 

 of the Spaniards were in favour of Joseph, and all 

 the ministers of Ferdinand VII. entered Madrid 

 with him (July 20), some parts of the country 

 would not acknowledge him so easily, in many cases 

 instigated by the priests and monks, 'who had every 

 thing to fear from a more enlightened government. 

 It could not, however, be expected that any country 

 should change dynasties so suddenly without a 

 struggle ; yet this struggle would have, at length, 

 ceased, had it not been kept up, in the sequel, by 

 the support of Britain. The people in Asturia 

 first took up arms; Arragon, Seville and Badajoz 

 followed. Palafox carried from Bayonne to Sara- 

 gossa the order of the prince of Asturias, that the 

 people should arm; and the supreme junta received 

 permission to assemble the cortes. Revolution 

 broke out every where, which the French were too 

 weak to resist. Moncey retreated to Valencia; and 

 generals Dupont and Wedel were beaten at Baylen, 

 July 19 and 20, 1808. The badge adopted by the 

 Spanish soldier was a red ribbon, with the inscrip- 

 tion Veneer o morir por patria y por Fernando VII. 

 June 6, the junta at Seville had issued a proclama- 

 tion of war. The French squadron at Cadiz sur- 

 rendered, June 14, to the Spaniards. Six days 

 later an insurrection broke out in Portugal. July 

 4, the alliance of Great Britain with the Spanish 

 nation was proclaimed, and a struggle began, which, 

 whatever opinion may be entertained respecting the 

 conduct of Napoleon, every one will admit to have 

 led, as far as respected Spain, to nothing but evil. 

 Marshal Bessieres was successful in the battle at 

 Medina del Rio Secco, July 14, over general Cue- 

 sta; but the affair at Baylen, above mentioned, 

 decided the retreat of the French from Madrid, and, 

 August 23, Castanos entered the city. General 

 Romana had secretly embarked his troops at Fiih- 

 nen, and landed in Spain, and Wellesley was vic- 

 torious over the French under Junot, August 21, 

 at Vimeira, on which the French general capitu- 

 lated the day after at Cintra, and soon after evacu- 

 ated Portugal. A central junta had been formed 

 September 25, 1808, but unity did not prevail in it. 

 Napoleon advanced with a new army, November 6, 

 as far as the Ebro. On the 10th, Soult defeated 

 the centre of the great Spanish army. Victor and 

 Lefebvre's victory on the llth, at Espinosa, opened 

 the way to Asturia and the northern coast; and, in 

 consequence of the success of Lannes, at Todela, 

 November 22, many fugitives took refuge in Sara- 

 gossa. (See Saragossa.) The mountain pass of 

 Somo Sierra was taken by assault, by the French 

 and Poles, November 30, under Napoleon and Bes- 

 sieres; and, December 2, the French army appeared 

 before Madrid, which surrendered on the 4th. The 

 central junta now retired to Badajoz, and after- 

 wards to Seville. The Spaniards believed that the 

 success of the French was owing to treachery, and 



