palace, imploring them not to depart from the capital. On the succeeding day the people assembled in large bodies along the road to Aranjuez. On the 19th an attack was made on the house where the Prince of the Peace resided, and great outrages were committed, which ceased only when the Prince was discovered, and committed to prison.

Nearly at this time an occurrence took place at Barcelona, which unequivocally proved the treacherous conduct of the French. The French General Dubesme, commander of the army of the Eastern Pyrenees, had been employed in successfully providing the forts of Barcelona, and Monjuich, with provisions, &c. Count Ospellater made a remonstrance on this subject, in the following memorial:

"The troops," said he, "that occupied the citadel, and the fortress of Monjuich, might have considered all the houses of Barcelona as so many magazines, and the provisions they contained as their own. There was no money to excite apprehension; nor any thing to be expected in which the inhabitants of the town were not as much interested as the troops in garrison. Your excellency occupied the fortress in the name of the Emperor and King as an ally; and it was only on the faith of this that the Spanish government consented to its occupancy. It was under the same impression, that the town opened to you and your people its treasures, and resources of every kind, which you have received in the bosom of your families. The city gave you an honorable reception, and shared with you the provisions destined for their own use. Military law describes the mode of provisioning garrisons when engaged in actual hostilities, or besieged, or when the country is threatened with famine. In such cases the General is under the necessity of taking measures of precaution for the subsistence of his troops, by the formation of magazines. But, where circumstances of this kind do not exist, such measures are calculated only to excite suspicion and mistrust. Neither my conduct, nor the constant moderation of my troops, nor the favorable reception accorded to the French army, is calculated to give any ground of alarm. The town is provided with necessaries of every sort, as you will see by the official statements signed by the intendant; and,

even if we should fall short of some articles, your excellency has given me the strongest assurance that preparations are at this moment going on in the ports of France, for supplying this place with provisions free from all duties. When his Majesty the Emperor and King, whose great name inspires us with confidence, at the same time that our fortresses are occupied by his troops, shall be informed of our pliability and honorable principles, it will not be with pleasure that he will be told, that this city, in return for its deference and conduct, has been alarmed by terrible menaces and preparations. Your excellency will be pleased to learn from his Imperial Majesty, what he thinks of your design before you carry it into execution, accompanying your request with this explanation of my sentiments on the subject; as I also, on my part, shall lay the whole of this matter before the King, my master, without whose orders I cannot accord to your excellency what the forts occupied by the Spanish troops have not themselves. If, before receiving orders from the Emperor, your excellency should see any reason for living with precaution, and under the influence of fear in fortresses to be considered, at present, as forming part of the city, then indeed it may be proper to have recourse to the measures you propose. But as, at present, there was no necessity for any such measure, I wish to impress your mind with a conviction, that to establish magazines, and form considerable depots of provisions in the forts cannot serve any good purpose; that such an intention is remarkable, calculate to rouse attention, and offensive, and that it may not, perhaps, be in your excellency's power, nor mine, to remedy the consequences which such a fermentation must excite among the inhabitants.”

This remonstrance had a most powerful effect, in opening the eyes of the people to the oppressive measures which the French were taking, with respect to the Spanish nation.

While Ferdinand was at Vittoria, he received intelligence that Murat had made a formal demand for the release of the Prince of the Peace. Bonaparte wrote an imperious letter to Murat, desiring him to demand of the supreme junta of Spain, his release. The Grand Duke VOL. II.-31.

M M

of Berg acquitted himself in this business, as he had heretofore done, to the entire satisfaction of his master; he plainly stated to the supreme junta, that France acknowledged no other King than Charles IV. and in the name of the Emperor of France, he peremptorily demanded that the Prince of the Peace should be sent to France. Gauday was accordingly released, and immediately conveyed to Bayonne.

Charles IV. and Queen Louisa, followed "the poor Prince of the Peace," and on April 28, they arrived at Vittoria, and on the 30th at Bayonne.

Massacre at Madrid.

CHAP. XX.

Joseph Bonaparte made King of Spain. Siege of Saragossa.

NEVER was a deeper scene of iniquity opened to the view of mankind, than that which Napoleon was now practising it excited the abhorrence and execration even of those who had uniformly hitherto been the advocates, the admirers, and the friends of Bonaparte. We left the miserable, cajoled, and imbecile royal family of Spain, at Bayonne. There Charles and Ferdinand met, but there was no display of the fine feelings of natural affection; on the contrary, the old King said to the young monarch, "Prince! Have you not yet sufficiently outraged my grey hairs?" Could it be doubted, even by the most superficial observer of passing events, what the design of Bonaparte was in the extraordinary measures he had adopted with respect to the royal family of Spain? Could it be for a moment supposed, that any interests of that august family, either those of Charles, or those of Ferdinand; or those of the powerful favorite Godoy, could bias him? No. Altogether they were moulded into a shape and form by his pressure, into one mass of insignificance. In fact, the house of Bourbon, agreeable to the jesuitical policy of Napoleon, no longer had sovereign authority in Spain. Bonaparte had resolved to establish a new dynasty in the person of his brother

Joseph; and this intelligence was, sans ceremonie, communicated to the unfortunate Ferdinand, by General Savary. Such were the honorable sentiments of friendship of the Emperor of France; such was his profession of inviolable attachment to the interests of the royal family of Spain !

Ferdinand VII. and those few courtiers who remained round his person while in France, were petrified with horror, when apprised of the scandalous transaction, in which they had born so prominent a part. The veil was now rent in twain; the bandage which had so long been placed before their eyes, was removed; and Ferdinand beheld the sceptre wrested from his hand, and his crown placed on the head of an usurper. Napoleon now had made a full developement of his views, and Champagny, his minister, in vain attempted to cause Don Pedro Cevallos, the minister of Ferdinand, to sanction the accession of Joseph Bonaparte to the throne of Spain; but what Champagny was unable to do, the old King of Spain effected, for he caused his son to make a renunciation of the crown in favor of his father, who had declared that he should resign it in favor of France. The infatuated monarch communicated this determination to the council of Castile. In the letter which he sent on this occasion, he thus expressed himself: "Display the utmost kindness and friendship towards the French; more especially be careful to preserve the tranquillity of the country. Insidious designs (said the King) are agitating to arm the Spaniards against the French; every necessary precaution is, therefore, requisite to prevent the evil consequences which must follow popular insurrections. The persons who thus wish to disturb the peace of the country, are either enemies to the Spanish nation, or else agents of England, who, by their machinations, wish to sever the mother country from her colonies."

On May 15, Napoleon had an interview with the exroyal family of Spain, at which Godoy and Cevallos were present; Ferdinand was called in, when the Queen thus addressed her son :

"Traitor! you have for years plotted the death of your father; but thanks to the loyalty, the vigilance, and the zeal of the Prince of the Peace, your wicked de

signs have been counteracted. I now tell you openly, that you are my son, but not the son of the King; and yet without any right to the crown, but by that of your mother, you have dared to snatch it from us. But I de

mand that the Emperor Napoleon shall be umpire between us; Napoleon, to whom we cede and transfer our rights, I call on him to punish you, and your associates, as so many traitors, and to abandon to him the whole Spanish nation."

Napoleon, with his usual impetuosity, interrupted the virtuous Louisa, by saying, "No; I give to Ferdinand the crown of Naples; and to Charles that of Etruria, with one of my nieces in marriage to each of them : let them declare if they are willing to accept of my offer."

The Infant replied, " Emperor, I was not born to be a king, but an Infant of Spain." Ferdinand remained wrapt in thought; not a word escaped his lips; when Bonaparte furiously exclaimed, "Prince! Hesitate no longer; cession or death." Six hours were allowed to Ferdinand to deliberate. The King of Spain joined with Napoleon, in assuring the unhappy Prince, that if he refused the offer now made, he should be viewed, and treated, as an usurper of the throne, and a conspirator against the life of his father. Ferdinand was compelled to assent, and was immediately divested of the few insignia of royalty which appertained to him. On the same day, a treaty of abdication was signed between Charles IV. and Napoleon. By the articles of this treaty, the King of Spain resigned to Napoleon all his rights to the throne of Spain, and the Indies, upon condition that the integrity of the kingdom of Spain should be maintained; that the Prince whom the Emperor of France might appoint should be independent; that the limits of Spain should not be infringed; that the catholie, apostolic, and Roman religion, should be the only religion of Spain; and that no toleration should be granted to any sect of the reformed religion. By the act of cession of the Prince of Asturias, Bonaparte secured to him the title of Royal Highness, and stipulated annual pensions were also settled upon some relatives of the ci-devant royal family of Spain.

Madrid was, during these transactions, in a state of dreadful agitation; all was fearful apprehension. On