BRITAIN. 



691 



Britain. 



'lie Prince 

 f IV.ur 

 iberated. 



'he royal 

 amily of 



pain .!- 

 ive ;it 

 }ayonnc. 



Jonapirte 



emancls 



he re- 

 mncia- 

 aon of the 



pani-h 



rown . 



hich Fer 



au honourable reception, and shared witli you the 

 provision!! destined for licr own use." A fresh in- 

 suit was, however, oiieicd to the Spaniards, when the 

 Prince of Peace, whose imprisonment had occasioned 

 the utmost joy throughout the kingdom, was libe- 

 rated by the imperative orders of Bonaparte. It had 

 been intended to bring him to trial, but the inter- 

 cession of the old queen with the French emperor, 

 obtained the release of her guilty favourite, who in- 

 stantly repaired to Bayonne. But though the Duke 

 of Berg possessed Madrid with a large army, while 

 Ferdinand, the idol of the people, remained in his 

 capital, it was impossible to execute the plans which 

 the French meditated. It became, therefore, the 

 grand object of Bonaparte's ambassadors and emis- 

 saries, to persuade the new king to leave the spot on 

 which they durst not arrest him. General Savary 

 arrived as a new envoy from Paris, he announced the 

 intention of the French emperor to visit Madrid, and 

 suggested, the propriety of the Spanish monarch pay- 

 ing him the Comgliment of meeting him on his own 

 frontiers. Ferdinand unhappily fell into the snare : 

 he was decoyed under the pretence of procuring the 

 favour of Bonaparte, by a friendly meeting, to pro- 

 ceed from Madrid to Burgos, from thence to Vit- 

 tona, and finally to Bayonne, where he found him- 

 self in a short time in the hands of Bonaparte, like 

 another Montezuma in the power of Cortes. To- 

 gether with the released Prince of Peace, Charles 

 IV. and his queen arrived also at Bayonne. Bona- 

 parte had found it easy to force and persuade the 

 aged royal pair to leave their native dominions, after 

 they found an escape to America impracticable ; nor 

 had the Spaniards tp regret that they had lost an im. 

 becile sovereign, and a queen who was still more un- 

 popular, from her connections with the Prince of 

 Peace. 



Having got so many members of the royal family 

 into his possession, Bonaparte immediately threw off 

 the mask, and in a direct message to Ferdinand the 

 Seventh, required of him, and all his family, to re 

 nounce the crown of Spain and the Indies. Charles, 

 his queen, and the Prince of Peace, were easy in- 

 struments in the tyrant's hands ; and Charles imme- 

 diately declaring that his former resignation had been 

 forced upon him by the fear of popular tumult, re- 

 claimed his right to the sceptre, that he might trans- 

 fer it to the Emperor of France. Ferdinand, though 

 now a prisoner, would not however resign his right 

 to the throne, except on certain conditions, calculat- 

 ed to prevent the alienation of the kingdom to any 

 foreign power. He proposed that Charles should 

 return to Madrid, whither he would attend him as a 

 dutiful son ; that the cortes, or at least the great 

 council, should be assembled ; that Charles should 

 dismiss from his presence the detested Prince of 

 Peace ; and, in case of the aged king resigning the 

 burthen of government, should transfer it to none 

 but himself. These negotiations had lasted for some 

 time, and Ferdinand still continued resolute, when 

 a memorable conference took place, (on the 5th of 

 May), at which the Emperor of the French, the 

 old King and Queen of Spain, the Infant Don Car- 

 los, Godoy Prince of Peace, some grandees of 

 Spain, and the Spanish minister, Don Pedro Cevallos, 

 were present. Ferdinand was, after some time, cal- 

 led in to it by his father. The queen, in a transport 



3 



of passion, addressed him as a traitor, who had for 

 years meditated the death of the king ; but pro- 

 claimed her own infamy, by adding, ' I tell you to Grl " cr " f 

 your face, that you are my son, but not the son of 

 the kin;,;." She was proceeding in her reproaches, 



i!'-n interrupted her, by saying, " 1 give Ferdinand 

 nlinand the crown of Naples, to Don Carlos ' compel - 

 that of Etruria, with one of my nieces in marriage , 

 to each of them ; let them declare if they be wii- 

 ling to accept this offer." After a short silence, crown. 

 Don Carlos replied, " Emperor, I am not born to 

 be a ki":;, but an infant of Spain." Ferdinand waa 

 Eilent. Bonaparte, after a short pane, resumed: 

 " Prince, you must choose between cession or death." 

 Six hours were allowed to him for coming to a de- 

 termination. King Charles seconded the threat of 

 the emperor against him and all his followers, and 

 Ferdinand, humanely, anxious not to involve the lives 

 of a number of persons comprehended in the threat, 

 made the resignation that was commanded. He was 

 immediately deprived of his coach of state and sword 

 of honour, watched by a party of the militia, and 

 allowed no attendant but the commander of the 

 guard. 



Charles the Fourth ceded to Napoleon all his Charles IV. 

 rights to the throue of the Indies, stipulating (if " des to 



such a transaction could be coupled with the name ,.' 

 ...... . f _ .Spam and 



ot stipulation,) that the integrity or the kingdom ,| le i,.di ci . 



should be maintained, its religion upheld, and its 

 sovereign, whoever he should be, independent. 



The intelligence of this transaction excited a tre- Tumults a' 

 mendous convulsion at Madrid. On the day fixed Madrid, 

 for the departure of the King of Etruria, of the 

 daughter of King Charles, and her son Don Fran- 

 cisco, for Bayonne, where they were summoned by 

 Bonaparte, the people surrounded the palace to 

 which they were bidding adieu. The carriages were 

 indeed suffered to depart, but the indignation and. 

 pity of the people were wound to the highest pitch, 

 by beholding the tears of the Infant Don Francisco. 

 While their emotion was at the highest, a detach- 

 ment of French soldiers arrived, and immediately a 

 scene of carnage commenced. It is not fully ascer- 

 tained whether the populace or the French were the 

 first aggressors, but the latter were the first who 

 had recourse to fire arms ; and, at the discharge of 

 these, the common people seized on every species of 

 weapons that could be found. 



The Frenchmen employed in this dreadful day in which arc 

 Madrid did not exceed 10,000. They succeeded quelled l>y 

 at last in quelling the inhabitants, after a terrible |j ' 

 slaughter in the morning, which was changed into a roo P*' 

 regular military execution in the afternoon. The 

 Spanish troops had no share in the tor.-test, having 

 been confined to their barracks by their officers. If 

 they had joined their countrymen, there can be no 

 doubt but that every Frenchman in Madrid might 

 have been exterminated ; but the retaliation would 

 have been equally dreadful, for besides the 10,000 in 

 Madrid, there were 50,000 in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood, who would have, in their turn, taken 

 vengeance on the inhabitants. 



By a royal edict dated at Bayonne, (May 4th), the Duke of 

 Grand Duke of Berg, whom Charles in the edict Brg ap- 

 called his cousin, was appointed lieutenant-general, P. 01 

 or viceroy, of all Spain. Before the courage of the s'" y 

 kingdom was yet fairly displayed, it seemed as if it 



