Charles the Fourth ceded to Napoleon all his rights to the throne of the Indies, stipulating (if such a trans action could be coupled with the name of stipulation,) that the integrity of the kingdom should be maintained, its religion upheld, and its sovereign, whoever he should be, independent.
The intelligence of this transaction excited a tre mendous convulsion at Madrid. On the day fixed for the departure of the king of Etruria, of the daughter of king Charles, and her son Don Francisco, for Bay linne, where they were summoned by Bonaparte, the people surrounded the palace to which they were bid ding 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 detachment of French soldiers arrived, and immediately a scene of carnage commenced. It is not fully ascertained 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 dis charge of these, the common people seized on every species of weapons that could be found.
The Frenchmen employed in this dreadful day in Madrid did not exceed 10,000. They succeeded at last in quelling the inhabitants, after a terrible slaughter in the morning, which was changed into a regular military execution in the afternoon. The Spanish troops had no share in the contest, 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 neighbourhood, who would have, in their turn, taken vengeance on the inhabitants.
By a royal edict dated at Bayonne, (May 4th,) the Grand duke of Berg, whom Charles in the edict called his cousin, was appoined lieutenant-general, or viceroy, of all Spain. Before the courage of the kingdom was yet fairly displayed, it seemed as if it were necessary to discharge, in a few disgraceful events, some of the baser spirit which yet remained. The Junta at Madrid disarmed all the citizens of the capital, and even antici pated the edict of Bayonne, for making the duke of Berg their president. The council of Castile also sanc tioned by their name, and published the edicts, of Bonaparte and his viceroy ; and the Inquisition, true to its old disgraceful principles, addressed a circular to the people, inviting them to submit to the paramount power.
Bonaparte supported these addresses, by declaring to the Spaniards, that he was determined to make them what they had once been,—a great, glorious, and happy nation. " Your princes, (he said,) have ceded to me their rights to the crown of the Spains ; your nation is old—my mission is to restore its youth." This address was followed t y a decree for summoning a junta of Notables to represent the Spanish nation at Bayonne, there to lix the forms of a new government. To con stitute this assembly, he named about 150 individuals of different classes and conditions, but only about 90 were convened. The junta at Bayonne held their twelfth meeting on the 17th of July, on the day appointed for the acceptance of the new constitution. In the chamber where they sat, were erected a magnificent throne, and a richly decorated altar, the service of which was performed by the Archbishop of Burgos. Joseph Bona parte, to whom Napoleon had transferred the crown of Spain, addressed the junta as their king, and was answered in a speech Iron' the president, after which the oath of allegiance was administered to several mem bers, and the junta attended his levee. We have heard
of the high spirit and independence of the Bayonne junta, as presenting the first. obstacle to Bonaparte's ambition, but there is no symptom of any such spirit in these transactions.
King Joseph set foot on the territory of Spain on the 9th of July 1808, and made his public entry into Madrid on the 20th, attended by the members of the Bayonne junta. Ile had a personal guard of ten thousand Italians and other troops, independent of an army of eighteen thousand men, under General Iles siercs, who were posted at Madrid for his defence. To Spain it was still more humiliating than the entry of an usurper into her capital, to see, in the list of that usurper's officers of the household, the names of sonic of her noblest grandees, and even the names of men bearing the character of patriotism, who had struggled against the Prince of Peace, and laboured to get the Prince of Asturias on the throne. Don Louis Mariano de Urquijo, was made his secretary of state ; Don Pedro Cevallos, minister for foreign relations ; the duke of Park, the duke of St Germain, the duke of Infantado, the Count Santa Collona, and the dukes of Ossuna and Sotomayor, were his captains or cham berlains. It was not until the mass of the poople (the populace itself) had set an example of patriotism to those men, that any of them redeemed their honour, by apostatising from the usurper. But though courtiers and courtly patriots could brook the degradation of the Spanish name—though sonic of the nobility, from mean despair, and others from still meaner hopes, acquiesced in the change of dynasty, the people were agitated by nobler passions. Though the flower of their regular army was serving abroad ; their north eastern frontier in the hands of French garrisons ; their metropolis, their interior, and the neighbouring kingdom of Por tugal, possessed by 100,000 veteran Frenchmen, com manded by the best officers in Europe ; without arms, ammunition, or treasury, and deserted by their own government, they rose to combat with the masters of Europe—with the tactics of Bonaparte himself. It is true, that in many instances the conduct of the Spaniards has not been consistent with this hold commencement ; but, under such circumstances, to have risen even for a moment with unanimity, exhibits a picture unparalleled in modern history. The motto of the insurgents was, " The Spanish blood shed at Madrid cries for -ven geance." The public mind had been strongly agitated ever since the massacre of 'Madrid ; but it was not till the abdication of Ferdinand was announced, that a general explosion burst forth. The anniversary of the tutelary saint of the prince, St Ferdinand, awoke all the sen sibility of an ardent, devout, and loyal people. On that day, (the 27th of May,) the insurrection commenced in many places. In Valentia, Don Miquel de Saavedra, captain general of the province, was put to death for opposing the insurgents. At Cuenca, Carthagena, Malaga, and Granada, and in the Casttles, and Estee madura, the same scenes were exhibited. At Cadiz, when it was known that the patriots had corresponded with the English at Gibraltar, Solano, the lieutenant general of Andalusia, who headed the French faction, came post haste to the city, and thundered forth pro clamations against their designs ; but the people, con ducted by Spanish officers, rose and surrounded his palace, and put him to death, in the act of proclaiming his attachment to Napoleon. These unconnected efforts were quickly brought into unity by the establishment of provincial juntas.