stairs. At the foot was a sentry — an artilleryman, one
of the corps he had always especially favoured. The
fugitive laid his finger on his lips. " Listen," he
whispered, " I shall not be ungrateful. . . ." The
soldier's first impulse was favourable ; the next
moment, overcome by fear, he called his comrades.
They came running up and beheld the fallen prince
with mixed expressions. " Yes, it is I," said Godoy.
" I will go with you, but respect one old enough to
be your father." He begged an officer, who presently
appeared, to conduct him into the presence of the
king.

No violence was offered him, and it was, he believes,
the Intention of his captors to take him to the palace.
Between an escort of his old comrades of the Guardia
de Corps, he walked out of the house that had once
been his. Unluckily a crowd of armed peasants and
townsfolk were gathered about the door. Among
them he distinguished men in the livery of Don
Antonio. Upon seeing him they raised a howl of rage.
The guards closed up to defend their prisoner. To
keep pace with them, he held on to the manes of the
horses on either side of him, while the riders gripped
him by the collar. In this way escort and prisoner
proceeded at the trot towards the guards' barracks,



284 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite

the mob pursuing them all the way, striking at the
running man with swords and sticks the best they
were able, pelting him with missiles — all anxious to
shed the blood of him who had not shed a drop during
his twenty years of power. He reached the barracks
at last, more dead than alive. His mouth and nostrils
were streaming with blood, a knife had gashed his
face, another his thigh ; a horse had stamped on his
foot. It was as good as a bull-fight for^the generous
Spanish people !

Hearing that his friend had fallen into the hands
of the mob, the king, wild with apprehension, was
ready to rush in person to his relief. He was dis-
suaded, perhaps out of concern for his safety, by his
ministers. He then ordered his son to go at once to
the rescue of Godoy and bring him back to the palace.
The prince walked over to the barracks, no doubt
relishing his mission. He met the guards assisting
their prisoner up the stairs of the barracks. Godoy,
exhausted and bleeding, fell forward at the prince's
feet, probably in an effort to salute him. Unless
Ferdinand young was, by nature, very different from
Ferdinand old, the sight of his prostrate rival must
have consoled him for the humiliations of the Escurial.
For a moment the two regarded each other in silence.
" I grant you your life, Manuel," at length said his
royal highness. " Are you, then, king ? " stammered
the fainting man. " No, but I soon shall be." '* And

their majesties ? " Without giving further heed

to the wretched prisoner, the prince went out on to
the balcony, and addressed the mob. " I will answer
for this man," he assured them ; " he will be tried
and punished according to the gravity of his offences."




MURAT.



285



Aranjuc2 287

" My son," wrote Maria Luisa to Murat, " gave
orders as if he was king before he was so in fact and
before he knew that he would be." Her majesty
misjudged her son ; he knew very well, as he told
Godoy, that he would be king very soon. He returned
from the barracks to the palace. His parents were
distracted with grief, and disappointed that he had
not brought their favourite with him. Charles
ordered his chief surgeon to attend the wounded
man ; Capdevila, the regimental surgeon of the guards,
was at length sent instead. The old king was treated
with contempt.

The ministers had slept in the palace on the pre-
ceding night, and were now consulting how they
might most speedily effect a change of masters. They
had not long to wait. Four hours after Ferdinand's
return to the palace, a travelling coach was observed
to take up position before the door of the barracks.
Some one said that Godoy was about to be conveyed
into safety at Granada. Determined that their prey
should not escape them, the populace reassembled,
threatened the barracks, and killed one of the mules
harnessed to the carriage. That the vehicle had been
deliberately used as a means of exciting the crowd
still further can hardly be doubted. The prince flew
to the spot and repeated his promise of the morning.
But now, with Godoy, the name of the king was held
up to execration and derision. Caballero called
together the commanders of the troops and asked them
if their men could be relied upon. They shrugged
their shoulders and, as he perhaps expected, replied
that the prince alone could command their loyalty.
Meantime, says Maria Luisa, the king was threatened

17



288 Godoy : the Queen^s Favourite

with another riot for that evening, to be directed this
time against his life. Ferdinand promised to help
his parents, but they would not trust him. The king
and queen found themselves absolutely deserted. The
friend and counsellor who had served them so faith-
fully during their whole reign was now a captive, in
fear of death. Charles resolved to throw off the
burden of government. Perhaps threats were used
to hasten his resolution. He summoned his ministers
and officers and announced his abdication. It does
not appear that any one attempted to dissuade him.
At half-past four in the afternoon the shouting and
clamour abruptly ceased : every one was reading the
notice fixed on the gates of the palace and of the
public buildings. It was thus worded :

" My infirmities no longer permitting me to sustain
the burden of government, and requiring, for the
restoration of my health, the tranquillity of a private
life in a more temperate climate, I have determined,
upon serious deliberation, to abdicate the crown in
favour of my well-beloved son, the prince of Asturias.
It is, therefore, my royal will that he shall be acknow-
ledged and obeyed as king and natural lord of all my
kingdoms and sovereignties. That this royal decree,
of my free and spontaneous abdication, may be duly
and punctually fulfilled, you will communicate it to
the council and to all those whom it may concern.
" To Don Pedro Ceballos. — I, the King.

" Done at Aranjuez,
''March 17, 1808."

" Long live King Ferdinand VII. ! " shouted the
people. The crowd streamed towards the palace.



Aranjuez 289

The new king appeared on the balcony, unaccom-
panied by any member of his family. He was deaf-
ened by the cheering. The abdication of Spain's
mildest king and the accession of her worst threw
the nation into transports of delight. After all,
Ferdinand had much in common with the majority
of his new subjects. He was ferocious, intolerant,
contemptuous of the forces that make for civilisation.
The true Spaniards had never cared for the Frenchified
Bourbons, his predecessors, who were always bothering
them with their new-fangled ideas of progress, educa-
tion, and industry. The mob like the ruler that
leaves them wallowing in the mire and throws them
a coin now and then. No pig likes to be hauled out
of his sty into a model dwelling — a truth of which
the reactionary party in Western Europe is well
aware.

The news of Ferdinand's accession and of Godoy's
arrest was brought to Madrid at nightfall. The
capital determined to give a good kick to the dog who
was down, though he had never bitten one of them.
Says Blanco White : " Night had scarcely come
on when a furious mob invaded the house of Don
Diego, the favourite's younger brother. The ample
space which the magnificent Calle de Alcala leaves
at its opening into the Prado, of which that house
forms a corner, afforded room not only for the
operations of the rioters, but for a multitude of
spectators, of whom I was one myself. The house
having been broken into and found deserted, the whole
of the rich furniture it contained was thrown out of
the windows. Next came down the very doors and
fixtures of all kinds, which, made into an enormous



290 Godoy: the Quecn^s Favourite

pile, with tables, bedsteads, chests of drawers, and
pianos, were soon in a blaze. Having enjoyed this
costly and splendid bonfire, the mob ranged them-
selves in a kind of procession, bearing lint-torches,
and directed their steps to the house of the Prince
Branciforte, Godoy's brother-in-law.

*' The magistrates, however, had by this time fixed a
board on the doors both of that and Godoy's own house,
giving notice that the property both of the favourite
and his near relations had been confiscated by the
new king. This was siifficient to turn away the mob
from the remaining objects of their fury ; and, without
any further mischief, they were contented to spend
the whole night in the streets, bearing about lighted
torches and drinking at the expense of the wine-
retailers. The riot did not cease with the morning.
Crowds of men and women paraded the streets the
whole day, with cries of ' Long live King Ferdinand !
Death to Godoy ! '

" The whole garrison of Madrid were allured out
of their barracks by bands of women bearing pitchers
of wine in their hands, and a procession was seen
about the streets in the afternoon, where the soldiers,
mixed with the people, bore in their firelocks the
palm-branches which, as a protection against lightning,
are commonly hung at the windows. Yet amidst this
fearful disorder no insult was offered to the many
individuals of the higher classes who ventured among
the mob. Nothing, however, appeared to me so
creditable to the populace of Madrid as their abstaining
from pillage at the house of Diego Godoy — every
article, however valuable, was faithfully committed to
the flames."



Aranfuez 291

At Salamanca the demonstrations were directed by
the friars, even as they had directed the movement
against Godoy from the first. At Sanlucar de Bar-
rameda the mob delightedly rushed into a botanical
garden which Godoy had planted for the acclimatation
of rare and useful foreign plants and trampled the
beautiful vegetation underfoot. The first touch of
Ferdinand's sceptre had changed his people into
swine. He had started them at full gallop down a
steep slope, at the foot of which bristled the bayonets
of France.



CHAPTER XVI

BAYONNE

The vanguard of the French army was cresting the
Guadarrama when Murat received the news of the
downfall of Godoy and the abdication of Charles IV.
Kept in ignorance of the ultimate designs of his
master, the imperial lieutenant at once sped the
tidings to Paris. " I foresee," he wrote, " that blood
will flow, and all Europe will not fail to say that it
is by France's order. I command your armies, I
represent your majesty, and certainly no one will
believe that I am at their head without knowing
your projects. For the first time in my life I regret
that I do not know how to serve your majesty properly
in so critical a circumstance."

In perplexity even the ablest diplomatist may
take a lead from his own sympathies. Two days later
— March 21 — the fiery Gascon reached El Molar,
where a letter awaited him from the ex-queen of
Etruria. She had met him once or twice at Florence
— she and Godoy were the only members of the royal
household with whom he had ever entertained any
personal relations, though these were of the slightest.
" I am in great danger," wrote the princess. " I need
to speak with you of things concerning the lives of
my dear parents. Come at once to Aranjuez. My

292



Bayonne 293

parents, who are about to depart, desire first to speak
to you."

Such an appeal was never wasted on Murat. He
wrote expressing his indignation at the events of
Aranjuez, and entrusted the letter to his aide-de-
camp, General de Monthyon. The messenger rode,
booted and spurred, the same night into the court-
yard of the palace. The partisans of the new king,
never supposing that a French officer could be other
than a friend to them, admitted him to the presence
of Charles IV. and his wife. They hailed him as a
deliverer. The king declared that his abdication had
been extorted from him in the fear of death, he
denounced his unnatural son, he implored Murat to
rescue Godoy. The queen was wild with anger
against Ferdinand, maddened by anxiety for her
favourite. The emperor alone could save Spain — •
they implored him to intervene, and left their fate
in his hands. A quiet retreat in which to pass the
evening of their lives was all they asked for them-
selves and for Godoy.

Beauharnais might salute the rising sun of Ferdi-
nand and work blindly at strengthening his throne ;
Murat at once perceived that his generous sympathy
had led him into the path of true policy and that
France had most to gain by playing one king off
against the other. If Charles's abdication had been
extorted by force it was void. But he was free to
sign another. In the early morning of the 23rd
Monthyon reappeared at Aranjuez and obtained
from Charles a formal protest against his enforced
abdication, which he declared null and void. This
document was dated two days earlier. Before he had



294 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite

received it, Murat, at the gates of Madrid, was
notified by the duke del Parque of the accession of
Ferdinand VII. He received the envoy with studied
courtesy, but was careful not to acknowledge the
sovereignty of the prince he represented.

The next morning (March 23) the French army,
forty thousand strong, marched into Madrid. Murat, a
fine, martial figure, captivated the Spanish imagination
more readily than the boyish, travel-stained infantry of
Moncey. The invaders were welcomed as the allies
of the new king ; yet Murat had to complain of the
quarters assigned to him in the dismantled apartments
of Pepita Tudo, and was finally lodged in the palace
of the Admiralty, once tenanted by Godoy himself.

Twenty-four hours after Ferdinand made his
entry into his capital. He was greeted with an en-
thusiasm which may have consoled him for the want
of pomp and ceremony customary on such occasions,
but not for the complete disregard of the imperial
lieutenant. Occupied in reviewing his troops, Murat
ignored the arrival of the new king, and blamed Beauhar-
nais for having permitted him to leave Aranjuez. For
the old king and queen he showed almost filial concern,
offering them, if needs were, an asylum in the midst
of his army, sending a brigade under General Vathier
to protect them from all molestation. Ferdinand
was puzzled and uneasy. Helped on to the throne
by the French ambassador, he was now refused recog-
nition by the emperor's brother-in-law and lieutenant.
Beauharnais, repenting his former partnership, had
the effrontery to censure him for having put on his
father's crown too hastily. " I was forced to do so
by the circumstances," was the meek reply.



Bayonnc 295

Meanwhile, negotiations were openly proceeding
between the queen of Etruria and the French com-
mander. The new sovereign took counsel with all
his old associates hurriedly recalled from exile — with
Escoiquiz, Infantado, San Carlos, and Ceballos (eager
to wash out the stain of his connection with Godoy).
Their confidence in the French remained unabated.
The sword of Francis I., taken at Pavia, was solemnly
presented to Murat. He received it with more
gratitude than his master afterwards expressed, but
he regretted that he could not acknowledge the
courtesy of the prince of Asturias by a visit. He
could not recognise him as king without orders from
the emperor ; but his imperial majesty was on his
way to Madrid, to settle the affairs of the kingdom
on a permanent basis. His royal highness would be
wise to go to meet him, if it were only within a few
leagues of his destination. Recognition would be sure
to follow.

Ferdinand's hesitation was put an end to by
Savary, the duke of Rovigo, who appeared suddenly
on April 7 as the forerunner of the emperor. The
newly made king now burned to throw himself at the
great man's feet. Three days later he was on his
way to meet Napoleon, accompanied by his chosen
admirers, all of whom believed confidently that recog-
nition could be bought, at the worst, with the cession
of Navarre or the other frontier provinces — a price
which these patriots, apparently, were not unwilling
to pay. In the king's absence the government was
to be carried on by a junta presided over by that
respectable nonentity, the Infante Antonio.

Murat was now aware that his master destined the



296 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite

crown of Spain for a French prince — ^perhaps, he
hoped, for him. It was his task to sweep all the royal
family into the net spread for them. Ferdinand
having gone, he turned his attention to his parents.
They would remain as hostages in his hands till the
prince was on French soil. By Napoleon's order, he
moved the elderly couple from Aranjuez to the
Escurial, where they remained, dull and lonely, under
the protection of general Mouton's division. They
welcomed the imperial lieutenant, when he visited
them, with delight. They were eager to leave the
ungrateful Spaniards, and were in haste to meet
Napoleon before his ear should have been gained by
their perfidious son. They would have started at
once, had Murat permitted them, but for their
anxiety for the Prince of the Peace, which tortured
them night and day.

Murat, not unmindful of the regard Godoy had
often expressed for him, had resolved from the first
at the least to save his life. Hearing, the day
before he entered Madrid, that it was intended to
conduct the prisoner through the streets in order to
expose him to the fury of the populace, he at once
wrote to the captain-general, Negrete, sternly for-
bidding the outrage he meditated and warning him
that he would hold him personally responsible in case
of disobedience. The Spaniards sullenly gave way.
Napoleon expressed his indignation, even more warmly
than his lieutenant, at the barbarous treatment of the
man who had so often checkmated him, and ordered
Murat to deliver him from the hands of his would-be
assassins.

Murat's generous instincts prompted immediate



Bayonne 297

compliance, but he perceived the wisdom of delay.
" To deliver the prince would be easy," he wrote to
the emperor, " but I have to consider the effect.
This is a man who has been deliberately held up to
the odium of the nation, and it is only by blackening
his character and by promising his execution that the
party which has overthrown him seeks to extend its
power." To rescue Godoy by main force would, in
short, exasperate the Spaniards to a dangerous degree
and would for ever embitter ihem against the French.

For the moment Murat contented himself with
intimating the emperor's interest in the prisoner and
his will that his pretended arraignment should not
be proceeded with. Beauharnais, ironically enough,
was ordered to convey this message to Ferdinand.
He did so with ill-concealed reluctance, and returned
to announce sulkily that the new king would respect
the emperor's wishes. It was time, according to
Murat, for the queen of Etruria told him that the
captive had already been subjected to interro-
gatories by a magistrate and had been loaded with
chains.

Godoy, not knowing that he had been saved by
Murat from the clutches of the Madrid populace,
had been transported on March 23 from Aranjuez
to Pinto, a village a few miles south of the capital,
and thence to the castle of Villaviciosa, where he was
placed in charge of the marquis of Castclar, a man
once his friend but now eager to show himself his
enemy. The fallen minister was guarded night and
day by three of the Guardia de Corps, who never let
him out of their sight for an instant. At Aranjuez
he owed much to the kindness of Lieutenant de



298 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite

Villena, an officer to whom he had been of service in
the past ; and to him and to the grenadiers of Castile
he attributes his escape from assassination at the hands
of the people on his mournful passage through the
streets of the royal residence.

At Villaviciosa he rejoiced to find himself lodged
in a pleasant, airy apartment overlooking the moat.
Here he was even able to overhear the talk of the
guards at the main entrance, and was interested by
the endeavours of some women of the neighbourhood
to induce his gaolers to assassinate him on the grounds,
among others, that he had intended to introduce the
religion of Islam into Spain. He was presently moved,
to his great disgust, into the oratory of the castle,
a dark, damp chamber like a sepulchre. He was
treated with inhuman severity. Not a book was
allowed him, nor a change of linen, though his own
was saturated with blood from his one-and-twenty
wounds. The altar still remained in the chapel, but
he was not allowed the consolation of assisting at
mass or receiving the sacrament at Easter, as every
Catholic is bound to do under pain of sin.

He does not speak of any judicial examination or
of being fettered. The queen of Etruria may have
been misinformed, or else have made false represen-
tations to Murat in order to stimulate him to fresh
activity on the prisoner's behalf. Charles and Maria
Luisa daily besieged the imperial lieutenant with
entreaties for his immediate relief. San Miguel, one
of the fallen minister's under-secretaries, was among
the few who dared to show their fidelity to him
in misfortune. He unceasingly urged the French
general to interfere, alleging that his master was in



Bayonne 299

danger of assassination. Possibly this loyal servant
was the author of an anonymous letter addressed to
her majesty and supposed to come from one of the
prisoner's guards. " Madame," it ran, " a faithful
vassal, who remembers past benefits, warns you that,
if the French attack Villaviciosa, the governor has
orders to kill his prisoner. Let Murat invite the
chiefs from the palace to his house and hold them as
hostages."

Probably at Murat's suggestion, Savary at last ex-
torted from Ferdinand (who was now as far north
as Vittoria) an order to the Junta to deliver Godoy
to the custody of his imperial majesty " on the
understanding that the ordinary processes of law
should not be interfered with." Murat smiled at the
proviso, intended to legalise the forcible seizure of
the prisoner's property, and presented the order to
the Junta. The members of that body were ex-
tremely loath to obey ; the revolution must have
seemed to them to have been hardly worth the making
if they were not to be glutted with the blood of the
man of whom they had stood so long in awe. But
the signature of the king, countersigned (let us hope,
gladly) by Ceballos was not to be disputed. The
order for Godoy's liberation was issued. Comman-
dant Rosetti was sent to apprise their majesties at
the Escurial of the good news. Charles wept and
declared that he would not have been able to live
much longer without Manuel. The queen broke into
smiles and gave the commandant a handsome repeat-
ing watch " in memory of the queen of Spain." She
also begged him to hand the captive a short message
and to obtain for her speech of him as soon as possible.



300 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite

That night — April 20 — General Exelmans, accom-
panied by Rosetti and a squadron of chasseurs of the
guard, rode out of Madrid on their errand of mercy.
The general left the squadron at a short distance from
the castle, and at two o'clock in the morning waited
upon the commandant. Castelar, on learning their
mission, was beside himself with anger and appre-
hension. He vowed that this was a snare to ruin him,
and was with difficulty reassured by the explicit
terms of the Junta's order. " It is certain," he ad-
mitted with a sigh, " that such an order would not
have been issued except by command of the king."

By another account, the quarrel became so violent
that the French officers demanded personal satis-
faction. Castelar at length conducted them into a
low-ceiled chamber adjoining Godoy's prison. He
entered, leaving them outside the door. A few
minutes later he reappeared and asked for a written
receipt for the body of the captive. This was given
to him, and without a word he threw open the door
and pointed to Godoy, who stood within.

The prisoner, says Rosetti, impressed him by his fine
proportions, but his appearance otherwise was pitiable.
He had an old cloak over his shoulders and slippers
on his feet. His linen was filthy ; he was in the same
blood-stained rags that he had worn on the dreadful
day of Aranjuez ; his beard was six inches long. He
gazed bewildered at his new captors. Exelmans
explained briefly that they were aides-de-camp of
the grand-duke of Berg and that he must accompany