with England must be brought to a close or bank-
ruptcy would infallibly result, said that he had advised
the Prince of the Peace to send him on a secret
mission to London to discuss terms unofficially. Don
Agustin next saw Godoy himself, who entrusted him
with the commission, and instructed him that Spain
would impose no other conditions on England th^n
an indemnity for the ships seized off Cape Santa
Maria. The envoy proceeded by way of Lisbon and
Falmouth to London ; but he achieved nothing,
either because of the disinclination of the Foreign
Office to treat in this way with Godoy or because
affairs moved too rapidly. In denying all recollec-
tion of this incident in his old age, the fallen favourite
cannot be suspected of any desire to falsify history,
for there is nothing in the negotiation in the least
discreditable to him. But, even according to



200 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite

Arguelles's version, he does not seem to have done
more than approve a project which was really
Espinosa's.

For a struggle with the greatest military power in
Europe Spain was not altogether unprepared. Thanks
to the much-abused Prince of the Peace, the standing
army had been raised to 100,000 men. To these
could be added some 40,000 provincial militia and
forty battalions of marines and bluejackets. It was
estimated that 60,000 volunteers could be raised to
form a reserve. Adding an auxiliary force of 30,000
Portuguese, Spain could put into the field a force
of well over 200,000 combatants, to take Napoleon
in the rear. Meantime the armies of France were
marching towards the Elbe, ever farther and farther
from the Pyrenees.

Spain was stirring with warlike preparations. There
were soldiers marching along the roads, great activity
in the arsenals, much buying of horses and munitions
of war. ** A certain sentiment of mystery and
chivalry becomes fashionable. At the tertulias of
Madrid the gallants appear in uniform, take farewells,
exchange solemn vows. At the Puerta the guitars
are strummed to military airs, the naranjeras adorn
their oranges with the national colours. Under the
arcades of the Plaza Mayor citizens gravely discuss
problems in strategy and tactics. At the Prado the
ladies salute passing officers with their fans in eloquent
sympathy. In the evening, on the Retiro, Castilian
pride dreams under the stars of a triumphant father-
land and glory recovered."

So much Beurnonville would have noticed and
have quickly sought the explanation. But Beurnon-



The Treaty of Fontainebleau 201

ville had been recalled by the master who despised
him, and in his place sat Vandeul, a charge d'affaires,
young and strangely trustful. He was the easy dupe
of Godoy. Against whom were these demonstra-
tions directed ? With his hand before his mouth,
the prince whispered in his ear, " Portugal." Van-
deul gave a smile of comprehension. Perhaps he had
heard something about the favourite's intrigue for
a principality. A fortnight later Godoy came to
him again : " Tell not a soul ! We are about to
recover Gibraltar ! " The Frenchman wished luck
to the Spanish arms. But when Napoleon was on
the march towards the Rhine, the Prince of the Peace
assumed an injured air. " His imperial majesty
knew of our preparations, yet he has left me in the
dark as to the plan of campaign. What am I to do
with our troops ? " Vandeul was not surprised to
hear, a week later, that after all Portugal would be
the object of attack.

He was, therefore, not in the least perturbed by
the strange proclamation which on October 6 the
Prince of the Peace addressed to his countrymen.
It ran : " In circumstances less dangerous than the
present loyal vassals have helped their sovereign with
gifts and supplies proportionate to his necessities.
The generosity of the subject towards his lord is the
best provision in anxiety. The kingdom of Anda-
lusia, naturally prolific in troop-horses — the province
of Estremadura, which aided Philip V. — will they see
with patience the cavalry of the king of Spain reduced
to impotence for want of horses ? No, it is not to
be believed. I hope that, as their ancestors served
the ancestors of the king with men and horses, so



202 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite

the children of our soil will assist with regiments
and companies of skilled horsemen to serve and
defend the country so long as the present dangers
threaten, to return thereafter with glory and good
fortune to the repose of the domestic hearth. Let
each one dispute for the laurels of victory : let one,
then, attribute to his own arm his salvation, another
boast his chief, let all attribute to themselves with
justice the safety of the country. Come then, my
beloved countrymen ; come to take oath beneath
the banners of the most beneficent of sovereigns !
Come, I will cover you with the mantle of gratitude,
doing homage to you if the god of victories shall
grant us a peace as long and happy as we pray for.
Fear and perfidy will not restrain you — your bosoms
never harboured those vices. Come : and, if we are
not forced to cross swords with our enemies, you
will not be suspected of want of patriotism and honour
for having failed to respond to my call. But, if my
voice cannot rouse in you the desire of glory, be
yourselves the fathers and instructors of the people
to whom I address myself ; may the duty you owe
to it make you remember what you owe yourselves
to your honour and the religion you profess.- — ^The^
Prince of the Peace."

Godoy was assuredly no orator. He may not
have dared to express himself clearly, but he might
have veiled his real intentions under a better literary
style. The people read this turgid appeal in com-
plete bewilderment. It was apparently a call to
arms, such as had been long expected, but against
whom ? Why, too, was it not signed by the king ?

While they wondered, news came that Napoleon



The Treaty of Fontainebleau 203

had utterly crushed the Prussians at Jena and was
marching on Berlin. Charles IV. had then good
reason to bless the dissimulation of his favourite
and the ambiguous terms of the proclamation. Godoy
hurried to Vandeul and congratulated him on his
master's victory. " Before proceeding to Germany,"
he explained, " his imperial majesty made known to
me his projects. The forces prepared for him by
his loyal ally, Spain, are always at his disposal. To
which quarter does his majesty wish they should be
directed ? "

The French agent was completely deceived by this
adroit volte-face^ even though Charles IV, wore a
troubled look and refrained from any expressions of
satisfaction at the battle of Jena. This reticence
Vandeul attributed to consideration for the feelings
of the Russian and Prussian ambassadors. The true
sentiments of the court, he wrote, were voiced by
the Prince of the Peace. His highness testified
unequivocally his joy at the emperor's successes and
repeated his desire for his majesty's protection."
This explanation was so friendly that the prince was
able to speak of the difficulties placed " by the age
of the king and certain of his prejudices in the way
of fulfilling promises made to the emperor, especially
as regarded the reorganisation of the army."

Did the wily Spaniard hoodwink the master as
well as the man ? It has been stated that Napoleon,
on hearing of Godoy's proclamation at Berlin, vowed
then and there the destruction of the Bourbon
monarchy. But in his official correspondence he
betrays no misgivings as to the good faith of Spain.
To Cambaceres he wrote : " What made you think



204 Godoy: the Queen^s Favourite

that Spain had entered the coalition ? We are on
the best of terms. . . ." To Fouche he writes : " I
don't know how you got the idea that Spain was
against us. It is a wile of the English to disturb us."
To Izquierdo, sent post-haste to offer Godoy's con-
gratulations, he extended a cordial welcome. To
General Pardo Figueroa, the Spanish envoy at Berlin,
he was at pains to express his good-will towards King
Charles and his country, going on, if Godoy's memory
is to be trusted, to admit the value of her neighbour's
friendship to France. He alluded, however (accord-
ing to the same authority), to the suspicions aroused
in some quarters by the recent preparations, and
appeared satisfied with Figueroa's explanation of
these as provoked by the arrival of a powerful English
fleet in the Tagus. He concluded by hoping that
Spain would force Portugal to enter into his new
continental system of a boycott of all English goods.
This sudden change of front on the part of the
Spanish Government, Godoy would have us believe
was in every way repugnant to him. He saw no
reason to retreat because of Jena. The Russians
were still in the field, Austria was ready to throw her
legions into the balance against the tyrant of Europe.
It was, we are told, the king that lost courage, the
partisans of the prince of Asturias that persuaded him
to sheathe the half-drawn sword. That Charles
was averse from a conflict can be easily credited,
but if it was at his express command only that the
generalissimo disguised his previous intentions from
the French emperor we can only say that his highness
played his part extremely well. The protestations of
fidelity made to Vandeul have a ring of genuineness.



The Treaty of Fontainebleau 205

Godoy was, in fact, frightened by the overthrow of his
schemes. He implored Charles to dismiss him from
all his offices, and so to make a peace-offering to the
offended Colossus.

He was undoubtedly bitterly disappointed as well
as alarmed. He truly says that Spain missed the
most favourable moment to strike a blow for her
freedom. " From that hour I saw King Charles's
crown tremble on his brow." The time for resistance
having passed, it remained now to consider how
France might be best placated and conciliated.

It was useless any longer to refuse recognition to
the new king of Naples, to whom a charge d'affaires
was now accredited. And, whether or not Napoleon
had referred to Portugal in his talk at Berlin, Godoy
perceived in that unfortunate little kingdom a means
of diverting his ambition and of securing some com-
pensation for his own country's misfortunes. " Na-
poleon," he warned his master, " will crush the
dynasty of your daughter's husband. Far better, as
I have always said, that Portugal should have to deal
with us as enemy than with France. Seize upon
Portugal before the French have time to do so.
Once in our grasp, that kingdom can be held as a
hostage for the colonies we have lost to England.
It will not be possible to ignore us at the next peace.
The crown of the Bragangas will be safer in your
majesty's keeping than in Napoleon's. Strike, I say,
while we have the time."

The counsel was wise, even if it was not wholly
disinterested. A part of Portugal, as a semi-inde-
pendent state for Godoy, might be a very bad thing
for Portugal, but no bad thing for Spain. But



2o6 Godoy : the Queen^s Favourite

Charles was no more anxious to hawk at the sparrow
than at the eagle. " Pooh ! " he said, " you are
too suspicious, Manuel. The emperor is a man of
honour and wishes us well. We need anticipate no
trouble." He signified his adhesion to the conti-
nental system on February 19, 1807, and assented to
his ally's demand for military assistance. A corps
of 16,000 men, commanded by the marquis de la
Romana, was sent to serve with the eagles on the
distant shores of the Baltic. Godoy says that he
was able to secure a reduction of the number originally
fixed by the emperor. He did not scruple to join
with the king in offering the victor of Jena four
superb chargers to replace the one killed on the field.
But, as he had foreseen, no concessions or peace-
offerings were able to divert Napoleon's anger from
Portugal. The peace of Tilsit was no sooner con-
cluded than Charles was asked to co-operate with
the French in an attack on England's staunchest ally
should the prince-regent refuse to boycott English
goods. Godoy very sensibly instructed the Spanish
minister at Lisbon — a man devoted to him — to bring
pressure to bear on the Portuguese Cabinet ; mean-
while, Stroganov, for the sake of the fine eyes of the
countess of Ega, did all he could to conciliate Beau-
harnais, the new French ambassador at Madrid. It
was vain. No half-promises could satisfy the
emperor. He recalled his envoy from Lisbon, and
declared war against Portugal because she would not
declare war against England. An army of 30,000
men was stationed on the Gironde under the com-
mand of Junot. The ambassador of Charles IV.
was interrogated as to his master's attitude.



The Treaty of Fontaineblcau 207

Now was the wisdom of Godoy's plan abundantly
manifested. Against a Portugal already conquered
by Spain, France could have found no pretext for
hostile action. She could have had no excuse for
asking a passage for her troops through Spanish
territory. Spain, too, would have been in a position
to buy England's help by restoring their kingdom to
the Bragan^as. All that could be done now was to
sell Spain's assistance to France on the best possible
terms.

At the brilliant court of Fontaineblcau Izquierdo
came and went. To him and not to the shallow,
showy Prince of Masserano the defence of his country's
interests was entrusted. The emperor's mind was
made known to him through Duroc, who had married
the daughter of the wealthy Spanish banker Hervas.
Talleyrand advised his master to take the provinces
between the Pyrenees and Ebro in exchange for
Portugal ; Napoleon, less exacting than his counsellor,
demanded a strip of Biscay as far as San Sebastian and
the kingdom of Etruria.

The ugly little Spaniard assured Duroc that the
Prince of the Peace had ordered him to sign any
treaty which might be agreeable to the emperor.
This order, I imagine, was accompanied by private
instructions of a very different tenor. With the
utmost reluctance Izquierdo consented to part with
Etruria, which, for that matter, was already occupied
by French troops ; but of Spanish soil he would not
yield an inch. The famous treaty of Fontaineblcau,
when finally drafted, contained fourteen articles.
Etruria was to be given to France in exchange for
the two northernmost provinces of Portugal ; Alem-



2o8 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite

tejo and Algarve were to be constituted into a princi-
pality for Godoy ; both these States were to be
under the suzerainty of Spain ; the two central
provinces were to be disposed of at the conclusion of
a general peace ; the Portuguese colonies were to be
divided between France and Spain ; King Charles
was free to take the title of Emperor of the Two
Americas ; and France absolutely guaranteed to him
the possession of his European dominions.

By a secret convention attached to the treaty a
French army of twenty-eight thousand men was to
be allowed a passage across Spain to Lisbon, where
it was to be joined by a Spanish force of the same
strength — this allied army was to be commanded by
a French general, unless the king of Spain or the
Prince of the Peace took the field in person ; the
north and south of Portugal were to be simultaneously
invaded by two Spanish armies ; and a second French
army, forty thousand strong, was to be held in reserve
at Bayonne, to enter the peninsula only in the event
of an attack by England and at the request of Spain.

On the face of it, this treaty was a good one for
Spain. The sister kingdom had always been a source
of weakness to her. She was better able to protect
a vassal prince on the Douro than under the Apen-
nines. Whatever the title of Emperor of the Two
Americas might be worth, there was no doubt about
the value of a moiety of the vast Portuguese empire
over-seas. The central provinces of the conquered
kingdom might very well be repurchased by England
for the Bragangas with Trinidad or Gibraltar —
there was certainly no fear, at the general peace, of
their being confirmed in the possession of France.



The Treaty of Fontainebleau 209

The recent example of Poland had accustomed
sovereigns to the violent dismemberment of their
neighbours' kingdoms.

But the sting of the treaty lay in the secret articles.
It flung open the door of Spain to seventy thousand
French soldiers. True, a French army had traversed
the country in the previous campaign against Portugal
six years before, and had in due course been with-
drawn in accordance with the convention. It is easy
to be wise after the event. If the French had not
been accorded a passage, they would have forced it ;
and the Spaniards granted it probably with no more
misgivings than when they admitted the English
armies to the peninsula twelve months later or a
hundred years before.



CHAPTER XII

PRINCE AND AMBASSADOR

However advantageous to Spain the treaty of Fon-
tainebleau may on the surface have appeared, it is
doubtful if the fear of Napoleon alone would have
induced Godoy to approve it. Striving to keep the
interests of his country in the foreground, he must
have been constantly reminded, by the increasing
opposition in the king's household, of the uncertainty
of his own future. On the one hand was the mighty
emperor, lavish of promises to him and to Spain,
on the other the prince of Asturias, determined to
ruin him, and by his supposed intrigues with Eng-
land apparently endangering the independence of the
country.

That Godoy would gladly have retired at this epoch
I can readily believe. He was possessed of enormous
wealth, he had attained rank second only to a king's.
Abroad, too, he might be free of the detested wife
forced on him by Charles, who hated him so much
that, as she told the duchesse d'Abrantes, she loathed
their only child because it was his. But his sovereign
would not let him go, and Napoleon would have
offered him no refuge had he forsaken his post. His
only chance of salvation, then, lay in the loyal execu-
tion of the treaty, which was to secure Spain the

2IO



Prince and Ambassador 211

long-coveted Lusitanian shore and him an honourable
asylum.

" It was precisely at this moment," remarks the
favourite bitterly, " that I was supposed to be at
the zenith of my power." Charles IV. revived in
his favour the splendid dignity of grand admiral of
Spain and the Indies, formerly held, under Ferdi-
nand III., by Ramon Bonifaz, and under Charles V.
and Philip IV. by the two Don Johns. The office
was not without utility to the public service. The
Navy could not have fared worse than under the
decentralised administration of the last three reigns,
and the man who, it is admitted by his enemies, had
reformed the army might do something for the sister
service. Despite the alleged universal unpopularity
of Godoy, the occasion of this appointment was
the signal for public demonstrations of satisfaction.
The streets of the capital were illuminated, the
theatres were opened free ; regiments, corporations,
and societies presented addresses to the new grand
adm.iral. He was the object of a grand serenade in
the courtyard of Aranjuez.

" The demonstration," he observes, " was rather
addressed to their majesties than to me, for I was
nothing but their creature. Nevertheless, the prince
of Asturias took offence at it ; it seemed to him that
he was slighted. Almost within earshot of the king,
he remarked to his brother, Carlos, * Godoy, my
subject, steals the affections of my people and robs me
of their homage.' The younger prince answered,
' Never mind, the more they give him, the more
presently you will be able to take from him.' Charles
IV. and Maria Luisa heard nothing that passed



212 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite

between their sons, but I did not fail to be informed
of it."

It is impossible to refuse some measure of sympathy
to this prince, who afterwards became the worst king
that ever sat on a throne. Denied all share in the
direction of the State which was one day to be his,
raised by his dignity above all friendly intercourse
with the grandees of the realm, his youth was passed in
obscurity and inaction, in doing nothing or watching
others do a little more than nothing. His days were
regulated by strict routine. After mass he might
receive visits. At half-past eleven he went to pay his
respects to the king, with whom he stayed till
dinner. This meal each prince took separately in his
own apartments. In the afternoon the members of
the royal family drove, each by himself, in the Paseo,
escorted by a troop of guards. The official day con-
cluded with another visit of respect to the monarch,
after which the princes could entertain friends in their
own apartments.

Like all the princes of his nation, he was forced
to find relaxation in the company of his menial
attendants, who, it may be imagined, never tired of
pouring into his ears all the scandalous gossip of the
backstairs and kitchen. That he should hate the
suspected lover of his mother was natural enough ;
next, to believe him to be plotting against his rights
was not difficult. It is, in fact, persistently asserted
that there had been some talk of excluding the prince
from the succession to the throne. Lord Holland
heard that the Council of Castile was consulted as
to the proposal in 1804, and delivered the reply that
there was no known authority which could deprive




QUEEN MARIA LUISA.

(Goya)



213



Prince and Ambassador 215

of his right of succession a prince of Asturias " duly
sworn, married, and honoured."

There were, at least, and have been since, many-
precedents for altering the succession. Charles III.'s
first-born son, older by a year than the second, had
at once been set aside as ineligible on the score of
idiocy ; and, immediately after his accession, Charles
IV. had obtained, in a secret session of the Cortes, the
revocation of the Pragmatic Sanction, or Salic Law of
1 71 3, and so rendered his eldest daughter, the princess
of Portugal, eligible to succeed in default of male heirs.
It was of this act that Ferdinand availed himself in
after-years to set aside his brother Carlos in favour of
his daughter Isabella. It will thus be seen that
Charles IV. was quite capable of conceiving the pro-
posal said to have been submitted to the Council,
without any inspiration from Godoy ; nor is it easy
to see what the favourite could have hoped to gain
by it, as the next heir, the infante Carlos, was as much
his enemy as Ferdinand.

The proposal, it is safe to say, never was made.
During the brief but dangerous illness of King Charles
in September 1801 Azara told Napoleon that his
majesty had signed a v^ill appointing his wife and
Godoy regents till such time as his son appeared to
be capable of managing affairs. The First Consul,
at that time highly incensed against the favourite,
announced that he would support the right of the
prince of Asturias by force if necessary; and, three
months later, ordered Beurnonville to frequent his
highness's society and to assure him that France
would recognise no other successor to the throne
than he. Doubt has been cast even on this story.

13



2i6 Godoy: the Queen*s Favourite

Azara disliked Godoy, his correspondent at Aranjuez
may have been deluded, Napoleon had at this time
every motive for wishing to discredit Godoy in the
eyes of his countrymen.

Of course it is possible that Charles, recognising
the disagreeable qualities of his heir, might have
thought fit to postpone his assumption of the govern-
ment till an age much higher than that fixed by law.
The wife of John IV. of Portugal acted as regent for
her son, Affonso VI., till he was twenty-four years
of age. The will may have designated the queen as
regent, and Godoy^s enemies would have jumped at
once to the conclusion that this included him. This
proposal, perhaps, was the one rejected by the Council
of Castile. Napoleon, four years later, found it
politic to revive these rumours, and announced himself
ready to discuss the succession to the throne of Spain.
Godoy, as we know, listened politely and finally
demanded a principality for himself between Spain
and Portugal.

Ferdinand, notwithstanding, professed to believe
that the favourite aimed at nothing less than dis-
inheriting him. Unable to convince him of his
error, Godoy was thrown on the defensive. He
watched his enemy narrowly. In 1806 lights were
observed in the prince's chamber till a very late
hour. This was disquieting, but the explanation
was soon forthcoming. His royal highness, one day,
presented his father with a handsomely bound volume.
It was the " Roman Revolutions " of Vertot, translated
from the French by the prince himself. Charles