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 GODOY: THE QUEEN'S FAVOURITE
 
 GODOY: THE QUEEN'S 
 FAVOURITE 
 
 BY 
 
 EDMUND B. D'AUVERGNE 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 ' THE COBURGS," " A QUEEN AT BAY," " LOLA MONTEZ," ETC. 
 
 WITH PHOTOGRAVURE FRONTISPIECE AND SIXTEEN 
 OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS, INCLUDING TWELVE PORTRAITS 
 
 AFTER GOYA 
 
 RICHARD G. BADGER 
 
 THE GORHAM PRESS 
 BOSTON
 
 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
 
 PREFACE 
 
 This is the story of one of those playthings of for- 
 tune of whom the history of despotic monarchies, 
 and particularly of Spain, has had so much to tell. 
 By his mere charm of manner Godoy, a penniless 
 guardsman, captivated the Queen of Spain ; by his 
 gentleness of disposition, by his intelligence, strange 
 to say, by his fidelity, he secured the unbounded con- 
 fidence of the king. No name is more detested by his 
 countrymen than his ; no one has been treated more 
 unjustly by his contemporaries and posterity. To 
 him has been ascribed the downfall of his country 
 wJiich he fell in trying to avert. The stupid multi- 
 tude pulled him down in the very act of saving them 
 from the maws of Napoleon. Not generous enough 
 to admit their error, they have continued to make 
 him their scapegoat. Historians in every land have 
 repeated the lie, and stultify themselves by picturing 
 the awful results of the abandonment of the policy 
 which he had advocated. 
 
 Godoy was a favourite ; as such he had few friends. 
 The people and the nobility alike, jealous of his suc- 
 cess, pointed sneeringly to the dishonourable circum- 
 stances of his elevation. Godoy obtained his power 
 ignobly, but he used it well. To him, untrained, 
 
 $
 
 6 Preface 
 
 inexperienced, young, fell the Herculean task of 
 defending ruined Spain against the forces of the French 
 revolution and the empire. For seventeen years he 
 maintained the independence and the integrity of 
 his realms. Austria and Prussia, directed by the most 
 experienced statesmen of Europe, were devastated and 
 dismembered by the conqueror ; Holland, Piedmont, 
 Rome, were absorbed by him ; but the Queen's 
 guardsman, jeered at by his countrymen, kept the 
 throne of the Bourbons erect by wiles and diplomacy, 
 and parted not with an inch of their territory. The 
 man who could withstand the revolution and 
 Napoleon for nearly a score of years must have had 
 in him some of the qualities of a great statesman. 
 
 At home we find him ruling mildly, checking the 
 powers of the Inquisition, stimulating industry, 
 agriculture, and commerce, liberally encouraging 
 letters. Such efforts estranged rather than won for 
 him the sympathies of Spaniards. " No drop of 
 blood, save that of ordinary malefactors, was ever 
 shed during my administration," was his proud boast. 
 It awakened no applause in Spain. The people 
 liked not mercy nor mercy-mongers. They had 
 resented the efforts of the Bourbon kings to drag 
 them out of their slough ; such efforts on the part 
 of the upstart from Estremadura they derided as 
 impertinence. 
 
 Godoy was a man in advance of his age and nation. 
 Foreseeing the loss of Spain's American possessions, he 
 proposed to erect them into three or four kingdoms, 
 each tobe allotted to a prince of the Spanish royal house. 
 Had his scheme been realised a close family alliance 
 to this day would have united the mother-country
 
 Preface 7 
 
 with two-thirds of the Latin world. Seeing that 
 Spain's part in the European concert had been played, 
 he strove to profit by the preoccupations of the 
 Powers by founding a Spanish empire in Morocco. 
 It is not his fault, but his sovereign's, that the tricolour 
 instead of the red and yellow banner waves to-day 
 from Cape Spartel to Cape Bon. 
 
 But Spain would have none of him. She wanted 
 Ferdinand, the mild old king's unworthy son. For 
 him she overthrew Godoy. She lived to repent her 
 choice in blood and tears ; she has not yet expiated 
 her error. The favourite alone penetrated the true 
 character of the beloved prince. He saw him in all 
 his falseness, his meanness, and his cruelty. He is 
 suspected of a design to exclude the prince from the 
 succession — this, which has been made his reproach, 
 should be reckoned to him as patriotism and wisdom. 
 The history of Spain during the past century has in 
 every particular justified the predictions and the 
 policy of the most injured of her sons. 
 
 The original sources of information for the history 
 of Godoy are his own and other people's personal 
 recollections (always, of course, to be received with 
 caution), and the reports of ambassadors and other 
 official documents to be found in the various archives 
 of Europe. The history of Charles IV., by General 
 Arteche, forming three volumes of the general history 
 of Spain edited by Canovas del Castillo, has practic- 
 ally exhausted the Spanish state papers so far available 
 to the student. M. Geoffroy de Grandmaison and 
 Count Murat have embodied in their admirable (but, 
 in the case of the former, rather prejudiced) volumes 
 all the light that can be thrown by the French archives
 
 8 Preface 
 
 on the career and policy of Godoy. I have also 
 used with great profit M. Tratchevsky's summary 
 of the Russian ambassador's communications to his 
 court. It has remained to me to exam.ine our own 
 Foreign Office letter-books ; and, if I have not made 
 any very startling discoveries, the frank statements of 
 our representatives at the court of Madrid have at 
 least borne out at many points the contentions of 
 Godoy and have helped to clear him of many of the 
 cruellest aspersions of his French adversaries. 
 
 I hope the book will prove interesting to the general 
 reader. To the historian I would say that it is an 
 earnest attempt to do tardy justice to a patriotic 
 statesman on whom his countrymen have been too 
 long allowed to lay the blame of their own folly. 
 
 Edmund B. d'Auvergne.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface ....... 5 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A Gentleman Cadet . . . . -IS 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 
 The Princess of the Spains ... 23 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 
 The First Rumble of the Storm . . 37 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The King's Favourite . . . • 5^ 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Halcyon Days for Spain .... 78 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Alliance with the Regicides . * 9i 
 
 9
 
 lo Contents 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 GODOY IN THE BACKGROUND . . . Il6 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The War of the Orange-trees . . .132 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 GoDOY versus Napoleon . . . .150 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Trafalgar . . . . . . .172 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Treaty of Fontainebleau . . .190 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Prince and Ambassador .... 210 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 The Conspiracy of the Escurial . . 226 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 The Invasion ...... 248
 
 Contents ii 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Aranjuez ....... 271 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 Bayonne . i . . . . . 292 
 
 CHAPTER XVH 
 The Last Long Scene .... 312 
 
 Index 
 
 329
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Charles IV. and his Family (Goya) 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 In the centre of the picture stands the queen, Maria l,uisa, with her 
 youngest daughter, the Infanta Maria Isabel, and her youngest son, the 
 Infante Francisco de Paula. In advance of the little prince stands King 
 Charles. The queen of Etruria, holding her baby, stands next to her 
 husband, Don Luis ; and between him and the king are seen the Infanta 
 Carlota Joaquina of Portugal, and the king's brother, the Infante 
 Antonio. In the left foreground is Prince Ferdinand (afterwards king), 
 on his left is his wife, Maria Antonia of Naples ; on his right his brother 
 Don Carlos. Behind the princess appears the king's sister, the Infanta 
 Maria Joscfa, and in the diia background the painter himself. 
 
 Queen Maria Luisa (Goya) 
 
 
 
 
 . 33 
 
 Floridablanca (Goya) 
 
 
 
 
 . 51 
 
 GODOY 
 
 
 
 
 . 69 
 
 GODOY 
 
 
 
 
 • 87 
 
 Jovellanos (Goya) 
 
 
 
 
 . 105 
 
 Urquijo (Goya) 
 
 
 
 
 . 123 
 
 LuciEN Bonaparte 
 
 
 
 
 . 141 
 
 GoDOY (Goya) 
 
 
 
 
 159 
 
 Charles IV. of Spain (Goya) 
 
 
 
 
 177 
 
 Don Luis, King of Etruria (Goya) 
 
 
 
 
 195 
 
 Queen Maria Luisa (Goya) 
 
 
 
 
 213 
 
 Ferdinand VII. (Goya) 
 
 
 
 
 231 
 
 Caballero (Goya) . . . . 
 
 
 
 
 249 
 
 Maria Luisa, Queen of Etruria 
 
 
 
 
 267 
 
 Murat 
 
 
 
 
 285 
 
 Charles IV. of Spain (Goya) 
 
 
 
 
 303 
 
 13
 
 GODOY : THE QUEEN'S 
 FAVOURITE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A GENTLEMAN CADET 
 
 One morning in the year 1784, when good King 
 Charles HI. reigned over Spain and no rumble of 
 the revolution had as yet troubled his people, a 
 handsome lad, seventeen years old, rode into Madrid 
 to seek his fortune. He found it, as we shall see, 
 at the bottom of deep waters which at last engulfed 
 him and cast him up to perish. His name, Manuel 
 Godoy, has long been a byword of reproach among 
 his countrymen ; when, full of high hopes, he first 
 entered the capital it would have sounded unfamiliar 
 to most ears. Yet in his native province of Estre- 
 madura — ^the country of Cortes, Pizarro, and Nufiez 
 de Balboa — the Godoys commanded respect as an 
 ancient and honourable family which had fallen on 
 evil days. They came originally from Castuera, a 
 town, it seems, of ill repute among its neighbours, 
 who have a saying, 
 
 De Castuera y con montera 
 
 A la puerta de un zajurdon-ladron.^ 
 
 ^ "The thief from Castuera, in his old cap at the door of his 
 hovel." 
 
 15
 
 1 6 Godoy: the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 But there was no stain on the escutcheon of the 
 Godoys, who ranked among the nobility, though not 
 with the grandees, of the province. 
 
 The family recognised as their founder a Galician 
 knight who did good service for King Sancho el 
 Deseado in the middle of the twelfth century. Two 
 of his descendants — Don Pedro and Don Diego 
 Muniz de Godoy — ^held the high office of Grand 
 Master of Santiago ; while a third, also named Pedro, 
 a great favourite of Enrique II., was master not only 
 of that order, but of Calatrava also. Other scions 
 of the house seem to have followed their daring 
 countrymen in the track of Columbus, for we read 
 of a Godoy who was a lieutenant of Cortes, and of 
 South American generals and statesmen of the name. 
 But little of the wealth of the Occident found its 
 way back to poor sheep-ridden Estremadura, though 
 here and there, to this day, some grand but dilapi- 
 dated mansion bears witness to the luck of some long- 
 dead adventurer. Whatever fortune the Godoys of 
 Castuera may once have possessed, it dwindled away. 
 Each generation handed down a diminished patrimony 
 to the next ; and in the middle of the eighteenth 
 century we find the family transplanted to Badajoz 
 and represented by Don Jose Godoy, a militia colonel, 
 very poor and proud. He was the father of Manuel, 
 whose mother was Doiia Maria Antonia Alvarez de 
 Faria, a native of the town, but descended from an 
 aristocratic Portuguese stock. 
 
 They had four sons and two daughters. Antonia, 
 the elder girl, afterwards married the marquis of 
 Branciforte ; her sister, Ramona, became the wife 
 of the count of Fuente Blanca. The eldest son,
 
 A Gentleman Cadet 17 
 
 Jose, entered the Church, and in course of time 
 obtained a canonry at Toledo. Luis was the second 
 son, Diego the youngest. Between them came 
 Manuel. He was born on May 12, 1767, in his father's 
 mansion at Badajoz, which local antiquaries say stood 
 on the site of the house now numbered 6"]^ Atocha, 
 and must have been demolished soon after the flood 
 of 1786. But this cannot have been so, if we are 
 to believe Manuel's statement that King Charles IV. 
 lodged in the house in 1796 while on his way to Seville 
 and permitted Don Jose to decorate it with the 
 chain, which in Spain commemorates such royal visits. 
 In after-years malicious tongues busily represented 
 the favourite as having been born in a garret and 
 in a kitchen bred. He points out that when King 
 John of Portugal bestowed on him the order of 
 Christ, the illustrious lineage of his mother was 
 referred to expressly in the diploma, and that when 
 he and his brothers, Luis and Diego, were admitted 
 to the great military orders of Spain they were, each 
 in turn, obliged to furnish absolute documentary 
 evidence of the nobility of their house for at least 
 eigj^t generations. " If I give these details," says 
 Godoy, "it is not because of any intrinsic value 
 that I attach to them, but to confute those who 
 have accused me of inventing fictitious ancestries. 
 In after-years I often experienced a contempt, 
 difficult to conceal, when great personages whose 
 forefathers and mine had no other common ances- 
 tor than Adam, used, in base adulation, to claim 
 some remote or recent connection with my family, 
 till then unsuspected by either of us. As to my 
 family, no doubt its fortune was modest. My de- 
 2
 
 1 8 Godoy: the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 tractors reproach me with having been poor. Strange 
 that writers priding themselves on their liberalism 
 should, instead of judging the man, examine empty 
 titles to nobility and the state of the family purse ! " 
 We have heard other radicals reproaching English 
 dukes with the " illegitimacy " of their ancestors, 
 and German princes with their slender incomes. 
 *' My father's means," continues the fallen minister, 
 " though moderate, permitted him to live in inde- 
 pendence, and to educate his children according to 
 their station, even to the extent of providing them 
 with private tutors." 
 
 As a pious pupil, Don Manuel has preserved for 
 us the names of these mentors — Francisco Ortega, 
 Mufioz de Mena, Alonso Montalvo, afterwards canon 
 of Granada, and his cousin, Mateo Delgado, after- 
 wards bishop of Badajoz. Clerical instructors were 
 doubtless preferred by Don Jose, who was a man of 
 strict morals and had probably little sympathy with 
 the modernising tendencies of the reign. He dis- 
 trusted the atmosphere of the public schools and 
 universities, but suffered his boys to learn as much 
 philosophy as was good for them from their tutors. 
 These impressed on Manuel the immense superiority 
 of the great Latins, " our masters in history, morals, 
 and politics." 
 
 The education of the future favourite was thus, 
 according to his own showing, sound and serious. 
 He has been taunted with his incorrect spelling and 
 composition, but these, we know, often prove 
 stumbling-blocks to men of much wider culture. 
 Arms and horsemanship were the lad's sole recreation ; 
 music and dancing — the arts by which Manuel was
 
 A Gentleman Cadet 19 
 
 alleged to have risen to royal favour—were banned 
 as frivolous and unmanly. 
 
 Luckily, young Godoy had grace enough of his own 
 to make up for the lack of these accomplishments. He 
 had a gracious smile, bold, black eyes and a well-turned 
 leg — advantages not to be despised in Spain, where, 
 an unkindly critic remarks, physical beauty is rare. 
 Certainly Spaniards are not so comely as our novelists 
 suppose. With his face as his sole fortune, the cadet 
 of a noble house had then but one opening in life. 
 He must enter, as his brother Luis had already done, 
 the ranks of the king's Garde de Corps. He was 
 packed off to the capital with his father's blessing, 
 a certificate of nobility in his wallet, and a letter 
 of introduction to one of the camaristas or ladies-in- 
 waiting at the court. 
 
 The name of this benevolent lady has not been 
 recorded, though it was she who, in opening the letter, 
 turned the first page of a memorable chapter in the 
 history of Spain. She glanced from the paper to 
 the applicant, and found him good to look upon. 
 His clothes were homespun, so were his manners; 
 still he was a handsome, dashing lad. In the dull 
 court of Charles HL a new-comer was a godsend. 
 Prayer and intrigue were the only distractions for 
 women. The camarista took the young provincial 
 in hand and presented him to her friends about 
 the court. He had to run the gauntlet of criticism. 
 His rusticity provided huge amusement. Estrcmadura 
 being the land of pigs and sausages, no doubt he was 
 nicknamed the choricero (sausage-maker) in jest as 
 afterwards in more bitter derision. His good-humour 
 and natural ease of manner carried him safely through
 
 26 Godoy: the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 the ordeal. By this time, it is asserted that the 
 camarista had fallen in love with him. Manuel, 
 we may be sure, was no Joseph. As the price of 
 his kindness (so it is said), he received the coveted 
 bandoleer of his catholic majesty's body-guard. 
 
 That highly ornamental and most unformidable 
 corps was composed exclusively of men of noble 
 birth. The book of its privileges, immunities, and 
 dignities was a big one. The privates ranked with 
 the lieutenants of other regiments, the cadets with 
 captains, the lieutenants with colonels, and the 
 captains with generals. The duties of the corps 
 consisted almost wholly in attending the members of 
 the royal family on state occasions and in mounting 
 guard in the ante-chambers of the palace. It was 
 divided into four companies — the Flemish, the 
 American, the Italian, and the Spanish. All these, 
 as may be supposed, went very spruce, the first with 
 facings of yellow and silver, the second of silver and 
 murrey, the third of silver and green, the fourth of 
 silver and crimson. Each man kept a servant, and 
 all were housed in a magnificent barracks. 
 
 Naturally the chocolateros, as the citizens rather 
 disdainfully termed them, carried their heads very 
 high, although they had to support their dignity on 
 a pay of two shillings a day. The gleam of their 
 bandoleers set many hearts a-fluttering at the evening 
 promenade ; they were not left, we may be sure, like 
 vulgar lovers, to stare for hours at their lady's bower 
 from the street below. Angry husbands and fathers 
 knew better than to cross swords with his majesty's 
 guards. Duennas were indulgent and the watch 
 unobservant. As, too, these gallant gentlemen dis-
 
 A Gentleman Cadet 21 
 
 tributed their favours between duchesses and dairy- 
 maids with strict impartiality, they were forgiven 
 their haughty bearing by the people of Madrid. It 
 was an idle life but a merry one that these toy soldiers 
 led, although their emoluments were inconsiderable. 
 
 Far otherwise, Godoy would have us believe, was 
 his life in those early years. " The distractions of 
 the court," he gravely assures us, " did not weaken 
 my taste for literature and the arts. Among my 
 comrades were two young Frenchmen, the brothers 
 Joubert, both of most amiable character and passion- 
 ately devoted to study. The warmest friendship 
 immediately united us — a true and generous friend- 
 ship such as one experiences only at that age. It 
 pleases me to recall the name of the Jouberts, to 
 whom I owe my knowledge of the French and Italian 
 languages. Careful reading, long and profitable con- 
 versations, occupied all our leisure time. I must 
 mention, too, with eternal gratitude, the venerable 
 Padre Enguid and other learned men of his order 
 [that of the Holy Ghost], true Christian philosophers, 
 who gave me excellent lessons. It was they who 
 taught me, first, never to let myself be carried away 
 by the heat of argument ; nextly, to be always on guard 
 against prejudices and sophistry. These were my earliest 
 social relations, certainly the most agreeable to me, 
 so long as I was free to choose. I was seldom seen at the 
 theatre, more rarely still at the court entertainments 
 and public festivals. Gambling was always distasteful 
 to me — it is killing time instead of employing it." 
 
 Excellent sentiments in a guardsman not yet 
 twenty ! I suspect, in fact, that this account of his 
 time was originally prepared for the edification of his
 
 22 Godoy : the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 relatives in Estremadura rather than for the public. 
 It is to be doubted whether a young officer of conduct 
 so exemplary would be tolerated even in the Royal 
 Engineers. If Godoy is to be believed, certainly he 
 has reason to complain of the account given by his 
 enemies of this period of his career. " He was often 
 obliged to lie in bed," says one sprightly chronicler, 
 " while his only shirt was at the wash. [An awkward 
 predicament, truly, for one who might be called on 
 at any moment to mount guard at the palace !] An 
 eating-house keeper of Madrid, who had taken a 
 liking to him, maintained him on credit ; and his 
 patience was sustained by the boleros which the future 
 prince accompanied on the guitar." ^ Now this is 
 a flight of fancy surpassing Godoy's own ; for, as he 
 passionately protested and as all his friends could 
 testify, he had no more voice than a crow, and, if 
 his life had depended on it, could not have played 
 so much as a tambourine. 
 
 Comparing these two accounts, it is safe to assume 
 that the future statesman was, in his later teens, a 
 lively young spark; sometimes at shifts for money, 
 fond of the girls and beloved by them, but cherishing 
 a Spaniard's regard for the honour of his name. His 
 good looks, his graceful bearing, and a kindness of 
 heart extremely rare in Spain, must have won him 
 popularity and made life pleasant for him while 
 wearing the silver bandoleer. If he was ambitious 
 at all, it was, he tells us, of military glory. But, 
 sober student or penniless profligate, he was presently 
 subjected to a temptation against which an anchorite 
 might not have been proof. 
 
 * " Biographic Nouvelle des Contemporains." Paris, 1822.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE PRINCESS OF THE SPAINS 
 
 When Manuel Godoy entered his service King 
 Charles III. was already an old man. His eldest son 
 and namesake, the prince of Asturias, was not far 
 off his fortieth year. This time it had become plain 
 to everybody that the prince had not inherited his 
 father's abilities. He was a dull, simple man, not 
 unlike our George III. in temperament. He was 
 straightforward and just, not wanting in common 
 sense but destitute of all the qualities which make a 
 ruler. Like his cousin of France, he delighted in the 
 ruder mechanical arts. He might have earned his 
 livelihood as a carpenter, and was always glad of an 
 opportunity of exhibiting the elaborate water-work 
 displays of La Gran j a to ambassadors and distinguished 
 visitors. 
 
 His other amusements were not so harmless. He 
 had a passion for the chase, or rather for the indis- 
 criminate slaughter of deer, wild boars, and foxes, 
 as they were driven into enclosures before him. 
 Eden, the English ambassador at the Spanish court, 
 describes one of these horrible battues in his journal, 
 under the date October 3, 1788 : " About two thou- 
 sand deer passed, and two foxes, and one wild boar. 
 The king and prince selected only the fat bucks, and 
 avoided killing the does as much as possible, though 
 
 23
 
 24 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 in the crowds which passed some of the latter neces- 
 sarily suffered. The fineness of the day and the 
 noise of above two thousand people who were em- 
 ployed, and the largeness of the herds made it cer- 
 tainly an interesting sight ; but in other respects 
 it was piteous enough, for in front of the place and 
 within a few yards of us, the dead and the wounded 
 were all lying, either bleeding or struggling ; some 
 only with legs broken, etc. At last it was finished, 
 and then the chasseurs ran in and soon put all the 
 poor beasts out of pain that had any life remaining ; 
 in order to do this, however, dogs were also necessary 
 as to several. The whole were then extended in a row 
 upon the grass, in order to be opened. . . . The smell 
 of so much warm blood was very unpleasant." 
 Not to the catholic king and his son, who, like so 
 many sovereigns in our own day, were never so happy 
 as when butchering defenceless animals. " We rode 
 from half-past one to six," writes his excellency next 
 day, " with his majesty and the prince to see them 
 shoot stags, and the poor beasts stood for that purpose 
 as quiet as calves in a farm-yard." A few months 
 later we read of Charles the younger going forth with 
 six field-pieces and turning them upon two thousand 
 deer cooped up in an enclosure, his wife and son 
 being present on this happy occasion. 
 
 In these cowardly and beastly practices (certainly 
 not peculiar to Spain or to the eighteenth century) 
 the prince of Asturias was carefully instructed by his 
 father, from whom he received no training whatever 
 for the destined kingship. It seems as if Charles III. 
 was wishful to demonstrate the absurdity of hereditary 
 monarchy, and to prove how the work of a wise father
 
 The Princess of the Sjpains 25 
 
 might be undone by a foolish son. He exhibited 
 some of the oriental despot's jealousy of his heir, and 
 rigorously excluded him from all part in state affairs. 
 The prince was naturally a fool, and this was not the 
 way to make him anything else. He was kept in 
 leading-strings long after he had become the father 
 of a family. Allowed no will of his own by his father, 
 he became, as a matter of course, the dupe and the 
 unconscious minion of his wife and cousin, Doiia 
 Maria Luisa de Bourbon. 
 
 This princess was the daughter of his father's 
 brother, the duke of Parma. She was three years 
 younger than he, and had been married to him at the 
 age of fourteen. The king being a widower, she was 
 the greatest lady in Spain. Her education was vastly 
 superior to that of most princesses. Like her brother's, 
 it had been conducted by the philosopher Condillac, 
 who seems to some extent to have undermined her 
 religious faith. 
 
 Maria Luisa grew into a woman of coarse fibre and 
 feverish passions. She was twice as much a man as 
 her husband, whose confidence in her was boundless. 
 She seems to have regarded him with real affection. 
 Married to him so young, she looked on him, no doubt, 
 as an essential part of her life. It was a part which 
 she determined should not be taken from her. She 
 neglected nothing to keep him under her thumb, and 
 exhibited furious jealousy at the mere approach of 
 another woman. Her fears were aggravated as her 
 beauty waned. Child-bearing, sickness, and the 
 violence of her own emotions made her an ugly 
 woman at thirty. From Goya's canvases she ogles 
 us, coarse-featured and tousle-headed, in a skimpy
 
 26 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 girlish costume, yet her face is full of animation and 
 her black eyes sparkle with desire. Her shape was 
 good, and she may not have been without charm. 
 The will to please is certainly there, if not the means. 
 She was at least a live woman. 
 
 This was early perceived, with distress and in- 
 dignation, by her father-in-law. He perceived that 
 in her the passions of her sensual sires had come to 
 life. He hoped to still them in the death-like stagna- 
 tion of his court. There, says Bourgoing, nothing 
 was so rare as public rejoicings and noisy pleasure. 
 " The residences of the court of Spain have very 
 few resources of amusement. They have no plays, 
 no public games, no large assemblies except on days 
 of ceremony, and consequently these places are un- 
 inhabited except by a very few persons." 
 
 The companionship of her stupid consort was very 
 far from consoling Maria Luisa for the dullness of her 
 life, though it enabled her to rivet her chains more 
 firmly upon him. The fidelity she exacted from the 
 poor wretch she did not consider to be binding upon 
 herself. She was the kind of woman to whom a suc- 
 cession of lovers — ^preferably two or three at a time — 
 is an absolute necessity. This was never for an instant 
 suspected by the guileless Charles, the typical husband 
 of French farces. He was heard one day to observe 
 that princes were in one respect, at any rate, more 
 fortunate than other men : their wives were less 
 liable to temptation, owing to the excellence of their 
 education and the practical difficulty of finding other 
 royal personages to be their partners in guilt. Upon 
 which his highness's sage father shook his head and 
 wearily exclaimed, " Carlos, Carlos, que tonto tu eres I "
 
 The Princess of the Spains 27 
 
 (Charles, Charles, how foolish you are !) adding under 
 his breath, " Todas, si todas, son putas " (All, yes, all 
 of them are strumpets !). 
 
 This was a senseless verdict if passed on the whole 
 of the sex, but one which the princess of Asturias 
 certainly did her best to merit. Charles III. watched 
 her with sleepless vigilance, and placed her under 
 supervision. To defeat him, she would resort to 
 malingering, and, when the court moved, insisted 
 that she was too ill to travel. Her health rapidly 
 improved when the king ordered her to be trans- 
 ported in an invalid's chair. But her own husband 
 was her innocent accessory, and it was to the interest 
 of every one about the palace to curry favour with 
 the prospective queen of Spain. Charles III. could 
 not live much longer, and even the disgrace he might 
 inflict could at the most be only temporary. For 
 all his severity, and in spite of her own pretence of 
 decorum and domesticity, the princess of Asturias 
 had established a reputation for gallantry through- 
 out the length and breadth of Europe long before 
 middle age. 
 
 The curious in such matters may turn to a little book 
 printed at Riga in the year 1797, which purports to 
 give the history of her amours. We are told that 
 her royal highness first bestowed her favours on a 
 certain lady-killing marquis, who somewhat reluctantly 
 accepted them. His reluctance was justified when 
 presently Charles III. appointed him to some post 
 in the Canaries and ordered him to depart from 
 Madrid within twenty-four hours. The princess 
 promptly consoled herself with the young Count 
 Lancaster — the scion of a Portuguese house which
 
 28 Godoy: the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 traces its descent from John of Gaunt ; and, almost 
 as promptly, he too was sent to join the marquis in 
 the Canaries. 
 
 While these unfortunate noblemen were, perhaps, 
 comparing their experience of her tenderness in those 
 balmy isles, Maria Luisa (so it is said) had fallen a 
 victim to the charms of Count Pignatelli. This 
 bewitching young man was already the lover, or 
 cortejo, of that duchess of Alba whose loveliness 
 Goya has immortalised. For a long time Pignatelli 
 successfully played one lady off against the other, 
 and was loaded with presents by both. Between the 
 proverbial two stools he came to the ground. Satisfied 
 at last that his affections were given to her rival, 
 the princess persuaded her father-in-law to pack him 
 off to the legation at Paris. 
 
 The beautiful duchess was for some time incon- 
 solable. Thenceforward, she and the princess were 
 at daggers drawn. After her husband's accession 
 to the throne, Maria Luisa secured her enemy's 
 exile to San Lucar de Barrameda, on the Andalusian 
 coast. Even in her retreat her grace inflicted a defeat 
 on the queen ; for she drew with her from the court 
 the famous Goya, on whom her majesty had lavished 
 kindness. At the end of the year the artist returned 
 to court and prevailed on the queen to pardon his 
 mistress. The duchess reappeared in Madrid, and 
 died soon after in the heyday of her beauty. 
 
 Maria Luisa had long forgotten the cause of their 
 antagonism. The memory of Pignatelli was effaced 
 by the endearments of one Ortiz, a gentleman of 
 her husband's household. According to Blanco White 
 — a more trustworthy informant than the anonymous
 
 The Princess of the Spains 29 
 
 scandal-monger of Riga — this cavalier was the first 
 of the princess's favourites to incur the suspicion of 
 the king. Ortiz was banished to the farthest corner 
 of Spain. Unable to endure his absence, and not 
 being able at the moment to lay hands on a substitute, 
 Maria Luisa engaged her husband to obtain the 
 loved one's recall. Charles seized a favourable oppor- 
 tunity and implored his father to restore Ortiz to 
 his wife, " who was quite unhappy without him, as 
 he amused her immensely." The king, sad to say, 
 proved inflexible, and rebuked his heir with more 
 vehemence than politeness for his excessive con- 
 sideration for his wife. 
 
 It was now, when the princess of Asturias was in 
 her thirty-sixth or thirty-seventh year, that her 
 wayward passion became fixed for life. Hencefor- 
 ward the centre of her existence was to be the guards- 
 man from Badajoz. Till now her vagrant fancies 
 had harmed none but their objects. Her passions 
 ripened with her years, and at last scorched not only 
 her beloved but her dynasty and the kingdom. 
 
 *' For lovers there are many eyes." So sings a 
 recognised authority, and each eye seems to have 
 seen a different beginning to the love of Maria Luisa 
 for Godoy. 
 
 Si par aventure Ton s'enquete. 
 Qui m'a valu telle conquete, 
 C'est Failure de mon cheval. . . . 
 
 The guardsman might have given such an explana- 
 tion, for, by one account, he owed his rise in the world 
 to a fall from his horse. The princess, on whom he 
 was in attendance, noticed the unfortunate and
 
 30 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 graceful rider, and went home more deeply scarred 
 than he. 
 
 This version is not incompatible with that of the 
 lively chronicler, Bermejo. Having become aware 
 of his royal mistress's interest, Manuel may well 
 have schemed to reawaken it at the first opportunity. 
 On Good Friday the great crucifix was borne by 
 four of his corps through the streets of Madrid. 
 Tinged, perhaps, with the philosophy of his French 
 friends, the Jouberts, the young Godoy persuaded 
 his comrades that this office was beneath their dignity. 
 He was thereupon deputed to draw up a respectful 
 remonstrance to the king. Before the paper had been 
 signed it was annexed by the sergeant-major, who 
 forbade the petition. On looking through it, how- 
 ever, he found its terms sufficiently amusing, and 
 showed it to the prince and princess of Asturias, both 
 of whom laughed heartily and inquired who was its 
 author. They were presently to learn. 
 
 Manuel was one of the four bearers of the crucifix 
 on the holy day. All went well for a time ; then 
 suddenly it was noticed that the sacred effigy was 
 dancing and waggling on its bier in a most unbecoming 
 manner. Hearing cries of wonderment and of irre- 
 verent mirth from the bystanders, the priest walking 
 before the crucifix turned and sternly rebuked the 
 bearers for their careless demeanour. Godoy, on 
 behalf of his comrades, promptly replied, " Is it our 
 fault if the Lord chooses to dance on the day of His 
 funeral ? " To avoid further scandal, the priest was 
 silent and proceeded. 
 
 The procession soon after halted before the house 
 of the count of Onate. The balconies were crowded
 
 The Princess of the Spains 31 
 
 with ladies. In leisurely fashion the young Extre- 
 mefio produced from his pocket a handful of the 
 acorns dear not only to the pigs but to the people 
 of his native province. He munched some of these 
 with apparent gusto, and then aimed the rest at the 
 ladies looking down on him, to their boundless de- 
 light. The crowd always cheers the man who enjoys a 
 meal or a drink on a solemn and inappropriate occasion. 
 The guardsman's irreverence was forgotten, and he was 
 voted " a good sort." Thus encouraged, he and his 
 comrades managed, before the end of the journey, to 
 let the crucifix fall and crack on the pavement. 
 
 Manuel's conduct amounted to little less than 
 sacrilege. He was denounced by the clergy to his 
 officers, and was hailed in the last resort before the 
 prince of Asturias, By this time Maria Luisa had 
 recognised the handsome soldier and had disposed 
 her husband to treat the affair as a joke. The sergeant- 
 major also did his best to extenuate his subordinate's 
 offence. The princess smilingly questioned the de- 
 linquent about the acorns. Had he any remaining ? 
 Yes, he had, and he begged her royal highness to 
 taste them. They had made a good meal, she would 
 deign to remember, for the Ingenious Knight of La 
 Mancha. The princess did taste them, and pro- 
 nounced them excellent. The kindly sergeant-major, 
 seeing the direction of the wind, now hastened to 
 inform Charles that Godoy was an expert draughts- 
 player. " Excellent ! " cried the simple-minded 
 prince, " I am devoted to the game. The next time 
 you are on duty at my door you shall play with me." 
 " At your royal highness's service," said Godoy, and, 
 saluting, was dismissed.
 
 32 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 I confess this account of his introduction to Maria 
 Luisa impresses me as more piquant than plausible. 
 Letting a crucifix tumble in the mud was not the 
 way in Spain to win the sovereign's favour, and would 
 certainly have brought down on the offender the 
 heavy hand of the Holy Office. Moreover, the 
 matter would have been inquired into by the king, 
 and not the prince ; and it is certain that this her 
 last long amour began before Maria Luisa became 
 queen. I am more disposed to credit the story 
 told by the Irish Spaniard, Blanco White.* He will 
 have it that, after the banishment of Ortiz, her high- 
 ness became aware of the fascinations of Manuel's 
 elder brother Luis, whom she had often seen on duty 
 about the palace. The course of true love ran, as 
 usual, over the abyss, and the guardsman found him- 
 self relegated, like his predecessors, to the distant 
 provinces. The king's household must have been 
 pretty well thinned by this time. 
 
 Luis was packed off in such a hurry that he had 
 no time to take leave of his enchantress. His farewell 
 message was therefore entrusted to Manuel, who, 
 with a solemnity which may be imagined, promised 
 to act as his brother's intermediary. This he was 
 able to do with ease, as Maria Luisa, like all the other 
 members of the royal family, had her own guard of 
 honour stationed day and night at the entrance 
 to her apartments. Manuel contrived to be drawn 
 for duty with the princess, and upon a given signal 
 was received by her in a secret closet. The result 
 of this intercourse might have been foreseen by 
 
 ^ Confirmed in most of the particulars by the report of the Russian 
 ambassador, Zinoviev.
 
 Qri:i;N makia i.lmsa, 
 (Goya) 
 
 33
 
 The Princess ol the Spains 35 
 
 Luis. The absent lover stood no chance beside his 
 young and captivating ambassador. 
 
 I do not suppose that Manuel had deliberately 
 proposed to supplant his brother. The fact of his 
 selection for this embassy gives some colour to his 
 account of himself at this time as a quiet and 
 studious youth. But the voluptuous and love-sick 
 princess was able to bring tremendous pressure to 
 bear on him. To resist her entreaties meant instant 
 disgrace, not only perhaps for himself, but for his 
 brother. Besides, every young man feels that, in the 
 like circumstances, Joseph acted v^^ith gross incivility. 
 To yield might also mean disgrace in the long run, 
 but it also meant pleasure and profit in the present. 
 The young guardsman knew that his face was his 
 fortune, and that he was offered the best investment 
 he was ever likely to find. 
 
 Of course, we are equally free to believe that he 
 deliberately wormed his way into the affections of 
 a woman sixteen years his senior, encouraged by his 
 knowledge of her previous amorous adventures. He 
 might have soothed his conscience with the reflection 
 that Charles would never believe in his wife's in- 
 fidelity, and could not therefore be injured by it, 
 and that no man had any right to expect fidelity 
 from a woman when he had married her as a girl 
 of fourteen. However he may have first attracted 
 her notice — whether by a fall from his horse, by a 
 present of acorns, or as the delegate of his brother — 
 Manuel Godoy, guardsman, became, willingly or un- 
 willingly, the lover of the princess of Asturias. 
 
 That he escaped the fate of his predecessors is 
 proof that his ascendancy dates from the last few 
 
 3
 
 36 Godoy : the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 months of the reign of Charles III. That wise and 
 benevolent despot died on December 14, 1788, leaving 
 Spain more prosperous than she had been for two 
 hundred years, and yet insufficiently prepared for 
 the storm at that moment brewing north of the 
 Pyrenees.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE FIRST RUMBLE OF THE STORM 
 
 Charles IV. began his reign at the age of forty years. 
 At that time of life most men consider themselves 
 equal, single-handed, to any responsibility. Not so 
 the new king. Now his leading-strings were cut, 
 he clutched eagerly at the nearest figure for support. 
 On the first day of his reign the ministers and am- 
 bassadors were received by him and his wife jointly, 
 and from that moment the share of the queen in 
 the government was admitted as a matter of course 
 without any effort or solicitation by her.* 
 
 Obedient to his father's last injunctions, Charles 
 kept in office his old and tried minister, the count 
 of Floridablanca. That statesman had certainly made 
 some efforts to secure his favour eighteen months 
 before, and had endeavoured to initiate him privately 
 into the business of statecraft. He thoroughly under- 
 stood his new-made majesty, and knew how to manage 
 him. Of Maria Luisa, on the other hand, he had 
 made an enemy by his interference with her amours. 
 Anticipating her resentment, within a fortnight from 
 the accession he hinted that he was ready to resign. 
 ** It is not yet time," replied the queen. It was an 
 
 * Jovellanos, quoted by Arteche, " Historia del Reinado de 
 Carlos IV." 
 
 37
 
 38 Godoy: the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 ambiguous answer, to which, however, her behaviour 
 for some time after lent no sinister meaning. It 
 was not time for any minister to talk of resigning till 
 the new sovereigns were able to look round and 
 consider their position. 
 
 Free at last from the surveillance of her husband's 
 father, Maria Luisa might have been expected to 
 give the rein to licence and to inaugurate a sort of 
 saturnalia. On the contrary, she withdrew more 
 from the public gaze, as if anxious to disappoint the 
 expectations of her detractors, and set spies to work 
 to find out in what repute the crown was held, 
 " Never has the court been so lugubrious," wrote 
 ZInoviev, the Russian ambassador, eight months after 
 her accession. " It is everywhere penetrated with 
 suspicion. There are no more large assemblies. 
 Every one avoids appearing at court for fear of falling 
 into disgrace on a bare suspicion. The diplomatic 
 body seems to be shunned. The queen understands 
 quite well that It is the principal occupation of diplo- 
 matists to observe all that is passing at courts and 
 thereby to fathom their intrigues. She Is by no 
 means expansive with them. She receives foreigners 
 only twice a week, whereas formerly she would receive 
 them every day. We could remain invisible for 
 months together without on that account being any 
 worse received." 
 
 The old prime minister watched the queen in her 
 new mood narrowly. If he had interfered in her 
 amours in the past it had been out of complaisance 
 to his master for the time being. Now, recognising 
 the queen's influence over her husband, he showed 
 himself ready to serve her, and, even as far as his
 
 The First Rumble of the Storm 39 
 
 stiff, unbending nature would allow, to humour 
 her proteges. Maria Lulsa was not insensible to 
 these overtures, and found it politic to let her ani- 
 mosity against the statesman slumber. She was not 
 yet strong enough to upset his dominion over her 
 husband, and at times found his connivance useful. 
 
 Charles showed himself to be little oppressed by 
 the new burden of sovereignty, and divided his time 
 about equally between butchering animals and doing 
 little odd jobs such as carpentering and plumbing 
 about the palace. He was disposed to leave all the 
 cares of state to his minister ; but now and again 
 he would startle his council by outbursts of temper, 
 which his wife alone could with difficulty subdue. 
 
 It was not yet time, as the queen had said, to 
 drop the pilot of the State. The cloud, at the be- 
 ginning of the reign no bigger than a man's hand, 
 loomed large before the year was out, and hung red 
 and murky over France. It was plain to all men that 
 more than a common storm was brewing. On July 14, 
 1789, the first lightnings shattered the Bastille to 
 its foundations. Charles, at his lathe, heard the 
 shock, and looked up wondering ; Maria Luisa 
 turned her eyes instinctively for advice and help 
 to the minister she secretly hated. 
 
 Floridablanca's task was to preserve Spain from 
 the contagion of the French revolution. He had 
 dabbled himself in reform under the direction of his 
 late sovereign, but now the signal was " Full speed 
 astern." He drew a kind of sanitary cordon along 
 the frontier and put France in quarantine. He 
 would have liked to stamp out the revolutionary 
 fever by more violent means, but he was conscious
 
 40 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 of the weakness of Spain, and allowed himself to be 
 guided by the calculating empress of Russia. And 
 while France remained nominally at least a con- 
 stitutional monarchy, he could not afford to disdain 
 her assistance. In 1790 he embroiled his country 
 with England, over the affair of Nootka Sound. He 
 did not hesitate to solicit the help of France, and 
 had to submit to his request being considered by the 
 Assembly. War with England might have resulted 
 had not Lord St. Helens, the British ambassador, 
 succeeded in arriving at an understanding with 
 Charles in person. 
 
 Still haunted by the fear of England, Floridablanca 
 persisted not less in his animosity towards the new 
 forces In France. By a decree of April 12, 1 791, all 
 newspapers In Spain except the official gazette were 
 suppressed, and the Introduction of books or pamphlets 
 from the infected area was forbidden under severe 
 penalties. In July finally every foreigner In Spain 
 was summoned by royal decree to swear allegiance to 
 the king of Spain and the catholic religion, and to 
 renounce, under pain of Imprisonment, all right of 
 appeal to the representatives of his nation. Even 
 the passage of occasional travellers was permitted 
 only under narrow restrictions. The edict applied 
 nominally to all foreigners, but against the French 
 alone was it enforced ; and by the French it was 
 accepted as an insult and a challenge. 
 
 The imprudence of thus irritating a power whom 
 Spain had not the strength to attack presently became 
 apparent. In his concern for monarchy, Florida- 
 blanca forgot the unfortunate monarch of the French. 
 The luckless Louis was held by his subjects as a
 
 The First Rumble of the Storm 41 
 
 hostage for the good behaviour of his fellow sover- 
 eigns, and more particularly of his cousin of Spain. 
 The indiscretions of his self-appointed champions 
 might at any moment precipitate a catastrophe. 
 Aware of this, Louis wrote personally to Charles, 
 announcing that he had accepted the constitution, 
 and urging him to mediate between France and the 
 Powers. 
 
 Floridablanca refused to acknowledge the consti- 
 tution, and told the French ambassador that he no 
 longer regarded Louis as the master of his own actions. 
 ** A slave," he remarked, " when he cannot break his 
 chains, will kiss them, and will try to secure better 
 treatment by fawning on his master." To Louis's 
 appeal, the count replied on November 19, saying 
 that his catholic majesty needed more time and a 
 longer experience of the conduct of the French to- 
 wards their king and towards Spain before he could 
 return a categorical reply. 
 
 The minister probably did not give his catholic 
 majesty a chance of replying. He presumed the 
 king to be engrossed in his trivial pleasures, and seldom 
 consulted him or his colleagues on matters of moment. 
 But Charles seems to have been aroused at last to 
 the danger to which his cousin was exposed. Louis, 
 on hearing of his accession, had remarked that it was 
 not of much consequence, as every one knew that the 
 new king was a mere cipher, completely under the 
 thumb of his wife. The sneer had rankled long in 
 Charles's memory, but it was forgotten or forgiven 
 now. After all blood, however blue, is thicker than 
 water. To save his cousin's life, it was necessary 
 to part with his imperious minister. If the king did
 
 42 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 not himself realise this, it was no doubt brought home 
 to him hy Floridablanca's innumerable enemies. 
 His majesty hesitated, bound by a promise to his 
 dead father. 
 
 " Perhaps," says Lord Holland, " his scruples would 
 never have yielded, but for an accident which gave 
 to the resolution the appearance and indeed the 
 reality of an act of justice arising out of virtuous 
 indignation at misconduct. Floridablanca had insti- 
 gated a prosecution for libel against a certain marquis 
 of Mancas, employed formerly as Spanish envoy at 
 Copenhagen. In his eagerness to procure a sentence 
 against him, he had the imprudence to dictate it in 
 a letter to the president, or the acting president, of 
 the Council of Castile, whom he knew to be sub- 
 servient to his designs. While the courier was on 
 his way from the Escurial to Madrid, the president 
 died of an apoplexy. The letter being directed to the 
 title of office, not to the name of the individual, was 
 delivered to and opened by the next in succession, 
 upon whom the duty of presiding in the court had 
 devolved. He happened to be either an upright 
 magistrate or a man devoted to the party already 
 formed against the Prime Minister. He accordingly 
 despatched a copy of the letter to the king, who, 
 justly incensed at so indecent an interference with 
 the course of justice, and urged no doubt by the 
 queen, overcame all scruple of breaking his promise 
 to his father." 
 
 In the evening of February 28, 1792, his majesty 
 received his old servant with his accustomed affa- 
 bility and walked up and down the room with him, 
 discussing affairs of State. A few hours later, Florida-
 
 The First Rumble of the Storm 43 
 
 blanca was aroused from his sleep by a royal aide- 
 de-camp, who informed him that he was under arrest 
 and must accompany. With the stoicism of a true 
 Castilian, the old man followed the officer to the 
 door of the palace, where a carriage was in waiting 
 to convey him to Madrid. He asked leave to write 
 to the king. This was curtly refused. 
 
 Zinoviev and the English ambassador both attri- 
 buted the Prime Minister's downfall to the queen. 
 Yet as late as June 15, 1791, St. Helens wrote home : 
 ** The count appears to enjoy the highest possible 
 confidence with both their catholic majesties, and 
 his ascendancy over his antagonist, M. de Lerena, is 
 so visible that it is generally supposed that the latter 
 only remains in office till some one can be found 
 to succeed him." Lerena, the minister of Finance, 
 is said by Zinoviev to have been a creature of the 
 queen's, and to have given her as much money as she 
 wanted. It is plain, therefore, that her opposition 
 to Floridablanca was tempered by policy and that 
 both she and he were ready enough to enter into 
 temporary alliance to suit their interests at the 
 moment. Her majesty sided with the Prime Minister, 
 also against Campomanes, another of his colleagues. 
 
 It is absurd, therefore, to talk of her implacable 
 hatred for the count and to make her mainly re- 
 sponsible for his dismissal. For this he had himself 
 principally to thank. He had made too sure of his 
 power and despised the advice and the murmurs of 
 his own colleagues. His attitude towards the revolu- 
 tion satisfied nobody. His impolitic appeal to France 
 for help against England, observes Major Martin 
 Hume, " tied the hands of Spain and rendered the
 
 44 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 other Powers suspicious of her ; it was indeed at 
 this period, and not later, as is usually asserted, that 
 the weak fast-and-loose policy of Spain towards 
 France which afterwards caused so much disaster was 
 inaugurated, and Florldablanca and his master must 
 bear a fair share of the burden, all of which is usually- 
 heaped upon Godoy." 
 
 The young guardsman was now a power to be 
 reckoned with at the Spanish court. Nearly four 
 years had passed since Maria Lulsa's wandering glance 
 had first crossed with his ; and, no doubt to his own 
 astonishment, her affection for him had waxed stronger 
 every year. Some six or seven months of her majesty's 
 favour had probably been the most that the young 
 man had reckoned on. His predecessors, returning 
 upon the death of the old king from their places of 
 banishment, were living reminders of the instability 
 of his ambiguous position. Among these discarded 
 gallants was his brother Luis. The meeting between 
 the two must have been interesting. The younger, 
 we may suppose, justified his apparent perfidy by 
 the necessity of keeping their royal mistress in the 
 family, and induced him to forgo his pretensions by 
 promising him a share in the ultimate spoils. At all 
 events, we hear no more of any rivalry, latent or overt, 
 between the brothers. 
 
 Upon the accession of her husband, the queen 
 promoted her new lover to the rank of adjutant* 
 cadet in the guards. This step he might have merited 
 by his military services, and so much she could give 
 without murmur or scandal. For a long time, it 
 is plain, Maria Luisa took Godoy no more seriously 
 than her former lovers. She regarded him as a toy,
 
 The First Rumble of the Storm 45 
 
 and had every intention of ruling him as she ruled 
 her husband. His influence was of slow growth. 
 One wonders how this country-bred, good-natured 
 youth succeeded in fettering the fancy of a woman 
 so wayward and voluptuous. At the court of Spain 
 the queen might have found lovers more experienced 
 and brilliant than he ; but Maria Luisa was drooping 
 into the early autumn of the southern woman. 
 
 The suggestion would have been repugnant to her 
 vanity, but it may well be that Manuel appealed not 
 only to her passions but to her mother instinct. She 
 was on bad terms with her sons, Ferdinand and Carlos, 
 for which no one who knew them in after-life can 
 blame her. In the lover she may have found a son. 
 He was docile, sweet-tempered, solicitous for her 
 health. Possibly he liked the woman for her own 
 sake, and his real affection became more precious 
 than the simulated passion of his rivals and prede- 
 cessors. Doubtless he would never have dared to 
 hint that his regard for her was other than a lover's 
 for his mistress. That I imagine to have been the 
 convention of their relationship ; just as old fogies 
 in Spanish and Italian salons bend low over the 
 wrinkled hands of their cronies of fifty years* standing 
 and still whisper through false teeth the jadaises 
 which once meant so much. 
 
 The tiresome mask of the lover Godoy must often 
 have been able to throw off on the pretext of dis- 
 sembling before the husband. By what a French 
 biographer delightfully terms a happy coincidence, 
 the king grew as fond as his queen of Manuel. " In 
 fact," he says with a pardonable exaggeration, " no 
 one has ever known which of them first became
 
 46 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 attached to the ^oung guardsman or showed him 
 the most affection." To the last day of his life 
 Charles ignored the common view of his favourite's 
 relations with his wife. Perhaps, by the time he 
 believed it to be true, it was so no longer ; perhaps 
 his affection for Godoy had become too strong to 
 permit him to resent the injury supposed to have 
 been done him. 
 
 Genuine affection between a woman's husband and 
 her lover is by no means rare. Many a man, in 
 obedience to the demands of society, has shot at 
 the object of his wife's affections, sincerely hoping 
 that his bullet will miss the mark. When a man's 
 passion for his spouse has long, long since evaporated 
 and he is too civilised to have any sense of property 
 in her, I imagine he can feel no keen sense of injury 
 against her paramour. For this reason, no doubt, 
 our English law, so zealous for the protection of 
 true morality, has thought fit to whet the edge of 
 his resentment by the prospect of obtaining good 
 thumping damages in hard cash from the man who 
 has taken what he did not prize. 
 
 The first and fervent stages of her majesty's affec- 
 tion could hardly have been agreeable to Don Manuel. 
 Conscious of her own meagre attractions, the queen 
 watched him jealously and allowed him to be ap- 
 proached by no woman under the age of forty-three. 
 Eight months after her accession to the throne, she 
 is still spoken of as badly wanting counsellors, which 
 her suspicious nature prevented her selecting.* Godoy 
 was evidently still in the lap-dog stage of evolution. 
 On the other hand, we are told — by the Russian 
 
 ^ Zinoviev.
 
 The First Rtimble of the Storm 47 
 
 ambassador, who hated him — that he was making 
 a fortune out of his mistress and sold his good offices 
 to the highest bidder. 
 
 Even in the first year of the reign, his good luck 
 had created the bitter envy of those about the court. 
 Other charming young men were thrown in the queen's 
 way, and frantic efforts were made to open the eyes 
 of the king. These well-meant endeavours to destroy 
 his majesty's peace of mind were of no avail. During 
 the summer of 1790 Zinoviev writes gloomily : " The 
 intimacy of the queen with Godoy is exhibited more 
 and more in public. Skits are written about it, 
 which penetrate even to the king's apartments. The 
 queen increases the number of her spies ; distrust 
 and agitation prevail among the people " — hardly, 
 I suppose, because her majesty was in love with a 
 guardsman ! 
 
 However, worse was to come. At Christmas the 
 melancholy Muscovite reports that " the minister of 
 war has been expelled from Madrid for having ad- 
 dressed prudent admonitions to the court ; a lady of 
 high rank went after him. The people are becom- 
 ing gloomy, uneasy, and nervous. The king gives 
 himself up as usual to the most innocent pleasures. 
 At the present time he is building a magnificent 
 manger, which he visits every evening, attended by 
 his courtiers. He is delighted when people come 
 to admire it." 
 
 Good, simple monarch ! when Russian ambassadors, 
 ministers of war, ladies of high rank, and the people 
 generally were all so distressed about him and anxious 
 to make him distressed, too ! In spite of all these 
 well-wishers, the infatuated sovereign was so base as
 
 48 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 to consent to the promotion of his entertaining young 
 friend Manuel. In February 1791 his majesty made 
 a batch of twenty-four lieutenant-generals and nearly 
 forty major-generals, solely (so Zinoviev assures us) 
 in order to advance Godoy to the rank of brigadier. 
 This method of promotion ought to have made him 
 popular ; but the Russian tells us, on the contrary, 
 that it annoyed several officers — presumably those who 
 were not promoted — and amused the public. The 
 public is to be congratulated on its sense of humour. 
 
 In the October following, no doubt to its huge 
 diversion, Maria Luisa presented her favourite with 
 a superb coach-and-six, all adorned with his monogram 
 surmounted by the crown. In this he followed her 
 majesty when she drove through Madrid. 
 
 One so much beloved by the sovereigns could 
 hardly fail to exercise some political influence, even 
 if, as Godoy assures us, his ambition did not lie in that 
 direction. He aspired, he tells us, to military dis- 
 tinction, which sounds probable enough of a dashing 
 young spark of twenty-five. It would have needed, 
 too, a phenomenal degree of presumption in one so 
 young and inexperienced to have pretended to rivalry 
 with Floridablanca. That sage statesman was, more- 
 over, careful to make a friend of Manuel, and fre- 
 quently spoke of him with esteem and affection to 
 the king. As a mark of his friendship, or perhaps as 
 a bribe, he presented him with six costly chandeliers 
 and a crucifix of lapis lazuli which he had brought 
 from Rome. " I had intended," he wrote, " to 
 bequeath them to you by will, but prefer that you 
 should enjoy them during my life-time." 
 
 Nevertheless, living at the very focus of government,
 
 The First Rumble of the Storm 49 
 
 Manuel, as time went on, was bound to pick up some 
 knowledge of statecraft and to form his own opinions 
 on political questions. To him the queen must have 
 come, in course of time, to confide her misgivings as 
 to the count's policy. Had Manuel not been captured 
 in his youth by the court, there is no doubt that he 
 would have been among those daring youths of Madrid 
 who wore the republican cockade and read Voltaire. 
 He had been imbued by his friends, the Jouberts, 
 with the new philosophy, and could not altogether 
 extinguish his sympathy with the revolutionary move- 
 ment in France. Of Floridablanca's attitude he 
 could not have approved. Suspecting his views, or 
 for purely moral reasons, the queen's chaplain en- 
 deavoured to undermine his influence. The favourite 
 was strong enough to resist, and got her majesty to 
 exchange her confessor for the Abbe Musquitz, an 
 ecclesiastic of exceedingly liberal views in politics and 
 ethics. 
 
 Soon after, there was a fresh outburst of hostility 
 between the queen and the prime minister. Maria 
 Luisa determined to follow the example of her pre- 
 decessors and to create a private council, or camarilla. 
 The selection of its members she entrusted to Godoy, 
 who, from prudence or modesty, designated, not him- 
 self, but one Brancial as its president. Floridablanca 
 became alarmed. He professed to detect in Don 
 Manuel singular talents for diplomacy, and recom- 
 mended the king to employ him at one of the legations 
 abroad j but his majesty had more use for him at 
 home. 
 
 Godoy indignantly denies that he had any share 
 iu the count's dismissal. It was for him, he says,
 
 50 Godoy : the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 a matter of profound regret, and he entertained a 
 real regard and respect for the old statesman. But 
 he is not believed by Spanish historians, for no better 
 reason, that I can discover, than that the conde de la 
 Cafiada, with whom his brother was connected by 
 marriage, made himself conspicuous by his bitterness 
 when employed in the subsequent impeachment of 
 the count. 
 
 The successor in ofhce of the fallen Prime Minister 
 was no minion of the court, but his life-long opponent, 
 the count of Aranda, a man seventy-four years of age. 
 This veteran statesman was the recognised leader of 
 such liberal movements as existed in Spain. He had 
 been minister of State and president of the Council 
 of Castille under Charles III., and had been largely 
 responsible for the expulsion of the Jesuits. " He 
 had done his utmost," declares a French historian 
 bitterly, " to dechristianise his country." That he had 
 been a statesman of capacity cannot be disputed ; but 
 old age had weakened his powers while accentuating 
 his native obstinacy and aggressiveness. 
 
 Such was the man in whom the Russian envoy pro- 
 fessed to see merely the creature of Maria Luisa and 
 Godoy, and others the warming-pan for the ambitious 
 favourite. Aranda, it may be safely asserted, was the 
 choice of King Charles. He was the obvious and 
 inevitable successor to Floridablanca, His sympathy 
 with the dominant powers in France was well known, 
 and the king hoped by a new policy of conciliation to 
 avert the dangers which threatened his cousin. Aranda 
 was certainly named minister ad interim ; but, if 
 Charles had already made up his mind to give the 
 premiership to Godoy, he might have easily done so,
 
 FLORIDABLANCA. 
 
 (Goya) 
 
 51
 
 The First Rumble of the Storm 53 
 
 without any interval. It is hardly necessary to 
 account for the appointment of Aranda by imagining 
 cabals and intrigues, which might have been more 
 profitably directed to securing a more pliable tool. 
 
 The new minister was very far from that. Though 
 the news of his appointment had been communicated 
 to Godoy, and though he had made friendly overtures 
 towards the favourite, he could not brook his inter- 
 ference in affairs of State, and objected to honours 
 being heaped upon him. Nearly four years of favour 
 and influence at court had whetted Don Manuel's 
 appetite for power and left him greedy as a cormorant 
 of honours. The conscience of no one round about 
 the throne was very nice in those days, and of responsi- 
 bility to the public there was little thought. Charles 
 and Maria Luisa were infatuated with their favourite, 
 and would give him anything he asked for. 
 
 In April his majesty announced his intention of 
 making Godoy a grant of crown lands worth ten 
 thousand pounds a year. This exercise of royal 
 generosity Aranda did not hesitate to oppose with 
 the vehemence characteristic of him. His resistance 
 was vain, and the former guardsman stepped at once 
 into the enjoyment of this comfortable income. 
 
 Nor did Aranda succeed in pleasing the king in 
 matters of external policy. Upon taking office he 
 showed a conciliatory attitude towards France by 
 receiving M. de Bourgoing, the ambassador of the new 
 regime, whom Floridablanca had refused to recognise ; 
 but the march of events beyond the Pyrenees soon 
 dispelled all his revolutionary sympathies. On the 
 other hand, he would do nothing to assist the Bourbons. 
 He withdrew the subsidies hitherto granted to the 
 
 4
 
 54 Godoy : the Qucen*s Favourite 
 
 French emigres at Madrid, and told them to work 
 for their living. He was at daggers drawn with 
 Zinoviev, and refused to enter into any combination 
 with the Powers for the relief of French royalty. He 
 could not forgive Russia for her attack upon Poland, 
 and when asked by the Swedish ambassador to furnish 
 the subsidy promised to his king, reminded him 
 brusquely that Sweden had as yet put no army in 
 the field. Floridablanca had tried to help Louis by 
 doing nothing for the revolutionaries ; Aranda sought 
 to conciliate the revolutionaries by doing nothing 
 for Louis. 
 
 The massacre of the Swiss mercenaries on August lo 
 filled the court of Spain with fury. Every courier 
 that galloped into Madrid brought news of fresh 
 massacres, of new and deadlier assaults upon the 
 privileges of the crown, the Church, and the nobility. 
 To the diplomatists Aranda continued to protest 
 that the situation in France was not yet critical and 
 that the slaughter at the Tuileries might even prove 
 favourable to Louis if it should cause the duke of 
 Brunswick to arrest his march on Paris. 
 
 Only a fortnight later, however, the aged minister 
 called a Council of State, and submitted the alter- 
 natives of war, peace, and armed neutrality. The 
 council voted for war, and Aranda on the very next 
 day began his preparations ; but apprehensions for 
 the fate of Louis paralysed his arm. Hard on the 
 news of the proclamation of the republic came the 
 tidings of the defeat of the duke of Brunswick at 
 Valmy. Aranda, who had declared himself ready to 
 go from town to town, sounding the call to arms, 
 suddenly returned to his project of an armed neu-
 
 The First Rumble of the Storm 55 
 
 trality. The octogenarian statesman had lost his 
 head. 
 
 This was patent to the king and queen, to the 
 diplomatic body, to the whole court, and not least 
 to Manuel Godoy, The favourite cannot be accused 
 of any prejudice in the first instance against Aranda 
 or his policy. He was suspected, we know, of having 
 favoured both. It is possible that the minister's 
 opposition to his enrichment may have helped to 
 open his eyes to the dangers of his policy ; but the 
 dangers were real, not the less because detected by 
 an unfriendly critic. Godoy protested hotly against 
 Spain's timid and vacillating attitude. Were they 
 to stand by and see Louis XVI., the head of King 
 Charles's own house, perish on the scaffold or in the 
 dungeon f They spoke of armed neutrality ; well, if 
 such a treaty had been come to with France earlier, 
 the court of Madrid might have treated with the 
 revolutionary Government as friends and been listened 
 to with consideration. At present, they neither 
 threatened nor interceded on behalf of the unhappy 
 and deposed monarch. These sentiments were so 
 much those of the court generally that, had Godoy 
 enjoyed far less influence, they would still have earned 
 him confidence and applause. 
 
 That the favourite was the only man equal to the 
 situation is apparent from the unwilling and hostile 
 testimony of Zinoviev : " The ministers decide on 
 nothing without Godoy ; in concert with him they 
 do many things, unknown to Aranda, who has made 
 up his mind to object to nothing. All seem careless 
 of the future ; nobody attempts any necessary re- 
 forms or troubles his head as to what may be the
 
 S6 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 results of this indifference. The king is either hunting 
 or amusing himself with balloons. Aranda is occupied 
 with experiments on the value of cork jackets in diving 
 operations. Meanwhile, the ministers are closeted 
 with the queen, to ascertain her wishes and those of 
 Godoy.". 
 
 The ministers were wise to bow before the rising 
 sun. The king's confidence in his guardsman had 
 increased hugely during the past six months. He 
 had promoted him sergeant-major of the body-guard, 
 and now made him a grandee of the first class with 
 the title of duke of Alcudia. As grounds for this 
 unprecedented exaltation, it was given out that the 
 Godoys had sacrificed their fortune during the war 
 of succession in the service of the Bourbons, and that, 
 moreover, they were descended from his majesty's 
 ancestors, the Gothic kings. While playing draughts 
 with his sovereign, Manuel had contrived to impress 
 him with his fitness for the larger game of politics. 
 Charles had had enough, at all events, of his father's 
 ministers, who had shown themselves incapable of 
 comprehending the new order of things. The times 
 demanded new men, young men. 
 
 Aranda fell suddenly, but very much more softly, 
 than his predecessor. On the night of November 14, 
 1792, he was summoned to the Escurial. With 
 studied kindness and delicacy, the king informed him 
 that, in consideration of his great age, he had deter- 
 mined to relieve him of the burden of government. 
 In proof of the royal gratitude and esteem, he would 
 continue to serve his majesty as president of the 
 Council of State, and would retain all his other offices 
 and honours.
 
 The First Rumble of the Storni 57 
 
 The decree placarded next morning on the walls 
 of Madrid expressed in the like terms the king's 
 appreciation of his late minister's worth and long 
 service, and concluded by announcing that, to succeed 
 him in the ofHce of first secretary of State, his catholic 
 majesty had been pleased to name the duke of Alcudia, 
 in whom he had confidence, preserving to him also 
 the ofhce of sergeant-major of the royal Garde de 
 Corps.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE king's favourite 
 
 In the twenty-fifth year of his age, Manuel Godoy, 
 the son of a poor country gentleman, now found 
 himself called by his sovereign to seize the tiller of the 
 state. " See," said his detractors, " what comes of 
 seducing a queen and bamboozling her husband. A 
 handsome face and a well-turned limb have won for 
 this minion of the court the control of the destinies 
 of this kingdom." 
 
 That was not quite so. The grace of his person 
 may explain Godoy's introduction to court life, but 
 not the life-long confidence of the king. The true 
 explanation of his elevation, he avers, was long a 
 mystery to him. At last it was revealed to him. 
 " Charles IV. and Maria Luisa were continually and 
 profoundly moved, as may well be supposed, by the 
 troubles in France, and by the appalling experiences 
 and misfortunes of the good king Louis XVI. and his 
 unhappy family. Closely following this long series 
 of disasters, they attributed them in great part — 
 and not altogether wrongly — to the various ministers 
 of that prince, so badly served and so torn between 
 the conflicting and interested influences of his court. 
 The neighbourhood of the two kingdoms made my 
 sovereign fear that the conflagration might at any 
 moment extend to his own dominions. Charles IV. 
 
 S8
 
 The King's Favourite 59 
 
 looked around him ; confidence failed him in himself ; 
 he sought the light, and he feared a snare ; day hy 
 day the peril grew greater. 
 
 " It does not become me to excuse or to blame 
 this irresolution. Their majesties conceived the idea 
 of procuring a man of whom they might make an 
 incorruptible friend, the work only of their hands, 
 whose private interest should bind him to them and 
 to their kingdom. Admitted to the intimacy of the 
 royal spouses, if they heard me discourse from time 
 to time — if they concluded that I understood some- 
 thing of the politics of the epoch — if they formed 
 a favourable opinion of my honesty — and if they 
 persuaded themselves (to my undoing) that of me 
 they could make the one they sought — this predis- 
 position in my favour, whether ill or well founded, 
 was not the result on my part of any deliberate 
 ambition. I hoped, like other men, to rise in the world, 
 but my dreams were of military distinction ; and I 
 protest that I received with alarm the favours, most 
 of them unclaimed and unsought, of which I was the 
 object in so few years." 
 
 It is certainly easily conceivable that Charles, weary 
 of the domination of his father's grey-headed advisers, 
 may have longed for a minister in every way his own 
 creation. All his predecessors had been served by 
 their creatures, made, so to speak, according to their 
 designs. Charles was no fool when he chose Godoy. 
 The selection was justified by the unswerving fidelity 
 of a life-time. It seemed rash, of course, to appoint 
 a young man, destitute of ministerial experience, to 
 the highest office under the crown, but doubtless 
 Charles intended that he should be merely the mouth-
 
 6o Godoy : the Quccn^s Favourite 
 
 piece and executant of his own will. Besides, of 
 what avail had been the statecraft and the accumu- 
 lated experience of Floridablanca and Aranda ? The 
 one had struggled in the ruts in which the other had 
 stood fast. Both had proved incapable of coping 
 with the existing crisis. A new and younger man 
 might be expected to show more resolution, even if 
 he possessed no more wisdom. 
 
 Then, again, there was no one else to appoint. 
 Those who blame Godoy most harshly have never 
 suggested any other successor to the two fallen ministers. 
 The minor secretaries of State were without exception 
 mere ciphers — clerks accustomed to obey orders, not 
 to give them. As to the inexperience of his protege, 
 Charles had probably found out by this time that 
 there is no great mystery or technic in the so-called 
 science of politics. Common sense and a cool, 
 courageous head will enable any man to deal with 
 the problems which diplomatists pretend are almost 
 insoluble. Godoy was as good a man to take the 
 reins of government as any other just then in 
 Spain. And Charles never had reason to regret his 
 choice. 
 
 *' The storm had burst and was raging on all sides. 
 It was thus, as it were, in the midst of a convulsion of 
 nature, on the brink of a volcano whose dark smoke 
 portended an immediate explosion, when terror was 
 at our gates and agitated every mind, that I was 
 unexpectedly called upon — O God ! — to take the 
 helm of state." So complained Godoy in years long 
 after. But the hour itself found him resolute and 
 undismayed. Its perils loomed larger in the retrospect. 
 
 His mind was made up. All other considerations
 
 The King^s Favourite 6i 
 
 were to be subordinated to the necessity of serving 
 Louis of France. Such were Charles's imperative 
 orders, and such was the new minister's own desire. 
 He adopted the only course by which that end could 
 have been effected. The veteran diplomatists sneered 
 at his ignorance and giggled over his blunders in 
 matters of detail ; but his policy, perhaps because 
 of the frankness with which he stated it, they could 
 not for a long time penetrate. 
 
 Pressed to act by Zinoviev, he replied : *' Spain 
 will do all she can to help the good cause, as she has 
 done hitherto. But she cannot act alone, for she 
 wants troops ; moreover, she is France's neighbour. 
 Russia is in a different position : she is the most 
 powerful State in Europe, her resources are inex- 
 haustible ; we are nothing in comparison with her." 
 Let Russia, then, pull the chestnuts out of the fire. 
 The Prussian minister so little understood him that he 
 told his Government that the queen and Godoy desired 
 peace at any price, in order to dispose of the public 
 money. His excellency would have done well as a 
 political journalist in our own day. 
 
 " If all the armies of all the Powers in Europe 
 attacked France to-day, they could not rescue the 
 king from his dangerous position," wrote Godoy to 
 Lord St. Helens in vindication of his policy.' Con- 
 ciliate the republicans and then intercede on behalf 
 of the deposed monarch : this was the plan which 
 he proposed to Charles IV., who, we are told, approved 
 it with tears. Aranda protested. He approached 
 his successor, pointing out the danger of irritating the 
 revolutionaries by any remonstrances or appeals. 
 * Record Office, F.O. Spain, vol. xxvi., January i, 1793.
 
 62 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 If the intercession of the king of Spain were rejected, 
 war, he argued, must result ; if it were accepted, 
 Spain would have to act as hostage and guarantee 
 for Louis and his family. " The king of France," 
 replied the young minister, *' will no doubt faithfully 
 comply with the conditions of a treaty which shall 
 have saved him from the scaffold. I can have no 
 better pledge of this than his Christian virtues. In 
 the extraordinary situation in which France is placed, 
 something must be left to chance, and we must choose, 
 between two extremes, that which accords most 
 with our honour and humanity." 
 
 The old statesman retired, nettled, it is alleged, 
 by the rejection of his counsels. Godoy coldly re- 
 ceived the French envoy, but agreed to the treaty 
 of neutrality which had been proposed to Aranda. 
 In the first of two notes, Spain bound herself to 
 maintain a complete neutrality in the war in which 
 France was engaged with other Powers ; in the second, 
 she agreed to withdraw her troops from the frontiers, 
 provided France did the same. Both notes were valid 
 only when exchanged against identical undertakings 
 by the Provisional Government of France. 
 
 Not a word was said in either note as to the ex- 
 king. There was no hint of menace or remonstrance 
 in either. But the Chevalier Ocariz, who had re- 
 mained in Paris during the progress of the revolution 
 as Spain's unofficial agent, at the same time handed 
 to the French foreign minister, Lebrun, a moderately 
 worded offer of mediation on the part of Charles IV. 
 between his wretched relative and the Convention. 
 Lebrun communicated both the treaty and the letter 
 to the president of the Assembly, observing that the
 
 The King's Favourite 6$ 
 
 motive of the one was sufficiently indicated by the 
 tenor of the other. 
 
 The two notes and the letter were read at the as- 
 sembly of the Convention on December 20. Ocariz 
 laid stress on the friendly disposition of his sovereign 
 towards France, as testified in the treaty. To con- 
 solidate the friendship of the two nations, all that was 
 needed was a display on the part of France of gener- 
 osity towards their royal captive. The king of Spain 
 was not to be suspected of any wish to interfere in the 
 affairs of an independent State ; his voice was the 
 voice of nature and compassion raised on behalf of 
 a kinsman and an old ally. Louis and his family 
 handed over to the safe-keeping and custody of Spain, 
 would be a living testimony at once to the magnani- 
 mity and strength of the French people. 
 
 This appeal was listened to in deep silence. A 
 moment later the ferocious Thuriot sprang to his feet. 
 " Away with the influence of kings ! " he cried. " Let 
 us not allow the ministers of foreign courts to come 
 among us, to intimate to us the orders of crowned 
 ruffians. Would the Spanish despot threaten us ? " 
 
 " There is not a word of threat," interjected a 
 solitary voice. " No," cried Thuriot, " not a word 
 of threat for those who will not see or understand 
 the machinations of crime and perversity ! Let us 
 baffle royal intrigues . . . ! " The voice of humanity 
 was silent. The offer of mediation was contemptu- 
 ously rejected. 
 
 The Spanish envoy blenched at this insult to his 
 sovereign and his nation ; but, previously instructed 
 by Godoy, he courageously persisted in his efforts. 
 His credit was unlimited. He had all the wealth of
 
 64 Godoy : the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 Spain and the Indies to draw upon. He bribed, he 
 entreated, he flattered members of the Convention. 
 When the voting on the fate of the king began on 
 the evening of January 17 he made a last appeal. 
 He offered to transmit to Madrid any honourable 
 condition the Convention might impose, provided 
 they w^ould grant a reprieve. These unworthy re- 
 publicans merely howled for blood. Danton de- 
 manded that war should at once be declared against 
 Spain. All discussion of the proposal was stifled by 
 the order of the day, and amid yells and applause 
 from the galleries. 
 
 On January 31 Godoy learnt that all his efforts 
 had been vain. The head of Louis XVI. had fallen. 
 The whole Spanish nation thrilled with horror. 
 The king and queen were plunged into the deepest 
 sorrow. The court was ordered into mourning for 
 three months. The solemn mass celebrated for the 
 repose of the soul of the dead monarch was attended 
 by an enormous concourse of Spaniards of all ranks. 
 The execution of an anointed king seemed to this 
 catholic people an act of blasphemy. 
 
 War was now inevitable, but Godoy wisely curbed 
 his own and the nation's impatience. He had hurried 
 on his preparations, but things in Spain move slowly ; 
 moreover, he was not without apprehensions for the 
 family of the dead king, still in the hands of his slayers. 
 He contented himself, for the moment, with refusing 
 to see the French envoy, who found it prudent to 
 confine himself to his residence. 
 
 A few days before the fatal tidings the French rati- 
 fication of the treaty of neutrality had been received 
 with reservations to which Spain had demurred.
 
 The King's Favourite 65 
 
 Bourgoing begged for a private and unofficial inter- 
 view. This v;^as granted by Godoy, who stated that 
 Spain would resume negotiations with France on 
 two conditions only : that his catholic majesty 
 should be allowed to treat for the release of the 
 prisoners in the Temple, and that France should revoke 
 all the decrees proclaiming or implying war against 
 the monarchical principle. The Frenchman replied 
 that he was instructed to demand the instant and 
 unconditional ratification of the treaty of neutrality. 
 If Spain did not at once disarm, she must face the 
 bayonets of France. The Prime Minister shrugged 
 his shoulders. Bourgoing demanded his passports, 
 which he received on February 19, addressed to 
 " The late ambassador of the Most Christian King." 
 Four days later he was on his way to France, narrowly 
 escaping an attack by the mob at Valencia. 
 
 " I was weak enough to wish to remain at peace 
 with France," said Charles IV. bitterly, " but I 
 see now that it is impossible to treat with such a 
 Government as theirs." Aranda did not think so. 
 At the eleventh hour he begged his king to hold his 
 hand. In a memorandum which he presented on 
 February 27, the old man adjured his sovereign not 
 to allow himself to be led to forget the real interests 
 of his people by indignation at the murder of his 
 kinsman. Spain, he persisted, should still play a 
 waiting game. The united Powers were about to 
 attack France. If they were successful, by joining 
 them at the moment of victory, Spain's task would be 
 the easier ; if France, on the other hand, emerged 
 victorious from the struggle, she would be glad enough 
 to spare herself more danger and fatigue by negotiating
 
 66 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 with a neutral nation fully armed and prepared. 
 Moreover, to weaken France meant to strengthen 
 England, Spain's natural enemy. As to crushing 
 the revolutionary Government, the best policy for 
 nations, as for individuals, was for each to mind his 
 own business. 
 
 These arguments, as might have been expected, 
 did not weigh with a king whose offer of mediation 
 had been flung back in his face and whose cousin's 
 blood had hardly dried on the scaffold of Paris. As 
 to the propriety of Spain's minding her own business, 
 Godoy could point derisively to the proclamation of 
 the Convention promising fraternity and help to all 
 nations desirous of recovering their liberty, or, in other 
 words, of shaking off the yoke of kings. By standing 
 neuter when all Europe was marching to avenge 
 the death of his kinsman, Charles of Bourbon would 
 have covered himself with Infamy. Considering the 
 aggressive action of the Convention towards other 
 States, I doubt, too, if a declaration of neutrality would 
 have saved Spain from invasion. It would certainly 
 not have hindered the revolutionary communities 
 already established at Bayonne and Perpignan from 
 actively fomenting insurrectionary movements in the 
 northern provinces of the kingdom. 
 
 With one voice the Spaniards clamoured for war. 
 The French declaration of war w^as received on 
 March 7 ; it was replied to by the Spanish Govern- 
 ment a fortnight later. Enthusiasm possessed every 
 class of the people. Upwards of seventy-three millions 
 of francs were rapidly subscribed towards the expense 
 of the campaign, as compared with five millions 
 raised by the Convention on the other side of the
 
 The King's Favourite 6"] 
 
 Pyrenees. The blind street-singers of Madrid proudly 
 contributed their mite — sometimes, out of their secret 
 hoard, they were able to offer a gift which the wealthy 
 might not have disdained. Peasants forsook the 
 plough to join in the crusade ; widows offered their 
 only sons. The smugglers of the Sierra Morena 
 offered their services to the Government they had 
 hitherto set at defiance. Manufacturers, who had 
 no money to spare, sent supplies. The Carthusians of 
 Paular sent a million ounces of silver to the Treasury 
 and bound themselves to supply forage for the cavalry. 
 The chapter of Toledo melted down their plate and 
 poured their wealth into the war-chest. Munici- 
 palities levied special rates to equip local bodies of 
 volunteers. The duke del Infantado and many other 
 nobles raised corps at their own expense. Godoy 
 equipped and maintained a regiment from his native 
 province. 
 
 The French declaration of war, wrote Lord St. 
 Helens to Lord Grenvillc on March 22, produced 
 no surprise or alarm in Spain " since, owing to the 
 prudent and vigorous measures of precaution which 
 had been taken by the Government, particularly since 
 the last change in the administration, they are not 
 only fully prepared to resist any attack but to act 
 upon the offensive." * In reality Spain was prepared 
 only because her adversary was unprepared. The 
 utmost efforts of Godoy and of his predecessor had 
 produced a force by no means worthy of the nation 
 or sufficient for the enterprise in hand. 
 
 " Our land and sea forces, at the approach of an 
 unavoidable war, scarcely amounted, on the whole, 
 * Record Office, F.O. Spain, Tol. ixvi.
 
 68 Godoy: the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 to more than thirty-six thousand men. The cavalry- 
 were dismounted, the arsenals empty, our manufactures 
 of arms falling to decay, and our effective forces every- 
 where inadequate, with the exception of the royal 
 navy, to the upkeep of which our fear of England had 
 compelled us to devote all our resources." This is 
 Godoy's own picture of the situation of his country 
 at the outbreak of the war. Though drawn to excuse 
 his failures and to magnify his achievements, it seems 
 substantially correct. A modern Spanish historian 
 estimates the strength of the army in 1792 at forty- 
 four regiments of foot, twelve of cavalry, and six 
 battalions of artillery ; but the French Intelligence 
 Department assessed the total effective force at 40,000 
 men, and Lord St. Helens considered 42,000 — the 
 figure given by the Spanish War Office — a decided 
 over-estimate. 
 
 Godoy proposed to profit by Spain's naval strength 
 by transporting a large expeditionary force to the 
 coast of Normandy and thence striking at Paris. The 
 plan seems to me a good one. The distance from 
 Spain would have been no drawback, as the army 
 could have drawn all its supplies from England, which 
 was now in alliance with King Charles. Such af 
 descent, too, would have materially assisted the allies 
 attacking from the side of Flanders. 
 
 Instead, it was resolved to defend the line of 
 the Pyrenees and to invade France at its eastern 
 extremity, in the hope of rallying the royalists of 
 Languedoc and Provence. By incorporating bodies 
 of the local militia with the regulars, the Government 
 was able to place an army of 34,000 men, supported 
 by 30,000 volunteers, in northern Catalonia, under
 
 "i. 
 
 GODOY. 
 
 69
 
 The King's Favourite 71 
 
 the command of General Ricardos. The prince of 
 Castel Franco and General Caro, with forces num- 
 bering respectively 32,000 and 38,000 regulars and 
 irregulars, defended the passes of Aragon, Navarre, 
 and Biscay. 
 
 The first shots were exchanged on April 17, when 
 Ricardos crossed the frontier into Roussillon and 
 drove the French before him. They rallied and were 
 soundly beaten at Masdeu. The Spaniards besieged 
 and took Bellegarde. The veteran Dagobert was 
 defeated by the invaders at Trouillas, but he was 
 reinforced and turned the tables on his opponents 
 by penetrating into northern Catalonia. Heedless of 
 this manoeuvre, Ricardos continued his advance north- 
 wards. On November 7 he defeated the French left 
 wing at Ville Longue and drove them beneath the 
 guns of Perpignan. He then took up winter quarters in 
 the valley of the Tech — this being the only frontier, 
 as Thiers remarks, on which the campaign had not 
 terminated gloriously for the arms of the republic. 
 
 The Spanish fleet had been sent to co-operate with 
 the English before Toulon ; but, on the fall of that 
 royalist stronghold, the allies had separated with 
 mutual recriminations and suspicions. Nevertheless, 
 the first year of Godoy's administration had not 
 proved on the whole dishonourable or disadvantageous 
 to Spain. She alone had dared to intercede on behalf 
 of the captive king ; her flag alone waved over a por- 
 tion of French soil. As Godoy has been reproached 
 with every disaster, from an earthquake to the failure 
 of a penny bank, which has overtaken his country, 
 it is but fair that he should be credited with a 
 share in its good fortune. The troops must have 
 
 5
 
 72 Godoy: the Quecn^s Favourite 
 
 been pretty well equipped to repulse the elsewhere- 
 invincible warriors of the republic, and their generals 
 must have been well chosen by the Government at 
 Madrid. 
 
 But even the happy conduct of the war could not 
 persuade the count of Aranda of its wisdom. On 
 March 7, 1794, he addressed to the king another 
 memorandum, setting forth much the same objections 
 as before to the continuance of hostilities, and pro- 
 phesying that, if his counsels were disregarded, the 
 French would ere long water their horses at the 
 fountains of the Prado. The Council of State met on 
 the 14th of the month. According to one authority, 
 Godoy refused to read the memorandum, but briefly 
 acquainted the king with its contents and angrily 
 demanded the punishment of its author. Manuel 
 himself says that the memorandum was read, and that 
 he replied to it in an impassioned speech which 
 occupies seventeen pages of print. The count's argu- 
 ments might have been refuted in fewer sentences. 
 
 Taunted by the veteran with his youth, the young 
 minister is reported to have answered : " It is true 
 I am only twenty-six years old, but I work fourteen 
 hours a day and sleep only four, and am at all hours 
 at the service of the State." He says nothing of this 
 himself, but relates that, the king having called on 
 Aranda to reply to his rejoinder, the old man refused 
 with ironical deference. It was plain, he said, that 
 the Prime Minister's arguments were agreeable to his 
 majesty, and, this being so, who would venture to 
 offer advice of a contrary tendency ? 
 
 The king rose abruptly. " Enough for the day," 
 he said, and walked towards the door. As he passed.
 
 The King's Favourite 73 
 
 Aranda muttered some words presumably of apology. 
 All the councillors heard the king reply : " In your 
 intercourse with my father you were always head- 
 strong and wanting in respect ; but you never went 
 so far as to insult him in full council." 
 
 Two hours later the old statesman was arrested 
 by the governor of the palace, escorted to a travelling 
 carriage which was in readiness, and hurried off to 
 Jaen, in Andalusia, which the king had appointed to 
 be his place of banishment. His fall, like his pre- 
 decessor's, is of course ascribed to Godoy. If this 
 is true, then at least the favourite proved himself a 
 generous enemy. The Church had never forgiven 
 Aranda for his bitter attacks ; now in the hour of his 
 disgrace, the Inquisition demanded that he should be 
 handed over to its tender mercies on the charge of 
 heresy. 
 
 Here, if Godoy had wished it, was a sure means of 
 ridding himself of his powerful antagonist ; instead, 
 he interfered to prevent any allusion being made to 
 the count's opinions, political or religious, in the 
 prosecution presently instituted against him. Aranda 
 was found guilty solely of want of respect to the king, 
 for which offence he was held as a prisoner at large in 
 the delightful palace of the Alhambra for the rest of the 
 year. He was then permitted to return to his native 
 province of Aragon, thanks to the man whom he never 
 ceased to pursue with rancorous hatred till the day 
 of his death. 
 
 Spain could spare him better than her best general, 
 Ricardos, who died before the renewal of the cam- 
 paign in Roussillon. By some oversight on the part 
 of historians, his death has not been attributed to
 
 74 Godoy: the Quecn^s Favourite 
 
 Godoy. It has not even been suggested that this 
 favourite endeavoured to prevent the appointment 
 of his highly capable successor, the count de la Union. 
 But the French were emulous of the glory achieved 
 by their comrades on every other frontier, and were 
 now commanded by the able Dugommier, fresh from 
 the taking of Toulon. The luck turned. The 
 Spaniards were driven back into Catalonia. The 
 rival commanders fell in a desperate engagement at 
 the head of their troops. Rosas and Bellegarde were 
 closely invested by the republicans ; the strong 
 fortress of Figueras fell into their hands. At the 
 other end of the Pyrenees they assumed the offensive^ 
 They took Fuenterrabia and San Sebastian and 
 threatened Pampeluna; but the Spaniards resisted 
 so stubbornly at all points that the invaders dared 
 not encamp for the winter beyond the southward 
 shadow of the Pyrenees. 
 
 But by this time Spain had lost all zest for the fight. 
 In two years the indignation of her people at the 
 murder of a foreign sovereign had had time to cool. 
 The amazing prowess of the French, their irresistible 
 onrush across the Alps, the Rhine, and the Scheldt 
 filled the more wary Spaniards with dread. They 
 asked themselves if Aranda's prophecy might not 
 come true after all. There were those in Spain who 
 wished that it would. The diligent propaganda 
 carried on by the republican troops and spies had not 
 been without effect. 
 
 Godoy observed that a faction in Madrid studiously 
 imitated new French modes, and found that these 
 were adopted as the symbols of new French ideas. 
 The revolutionary contagion had spread even to
 
 The Kingfs Favourite 75 
 
 religious houses. Addresses were prepared to wel- 
 come the liberators when they crossed the Ebro. 
 A man named Picornel was detected in a republican 
 conspiracy and condemned to death. Godoy disliked 
 bloodshed, so the sentence was commuted to banish- 
 ment to the Indies. In their jealousy of the favourite, 
 certain of the grandees were willing to call in the 
 slayers of Louis XVI. 
 
 Godoy at length perceived that nothing was to 
 be gained by continuing the war. Spain had pre- 
 served her honour, and Louis could not be brought 
 to life again. When Aranda had counselled peace 
 Spain was one of a formidable coalition which pro- 
 mised to crush the wild-eyed Maenad of the nations 
 within its coils. Now her allies were powerless to 
 help her, and she might soon be left to face the 
 onslaught of the legions fresh from their triumphs 
 in Italy and Germany. There was no cohesion among 
 the enemies of France. The emperor would only 
 promise not to make peace with the republic without 
 giving due notice to Spain ; Prussia confessed that 
 her resources were exhausted, and that she could not 
 continue the war without the financial help of other 
 Powers. 
 
 In August 1794 the ministers of Sweden and 
 Denmark hinted to King Charles that they might 
 be able to negotiate a peace with France, and subse- 
 quently a triple alliance with her and the United 
 States.' But his catholic majesty alone among the 
 sovereigns of Europe was fighting for the orphan in 
 the Temple. He had the audacity to propose that 
 
 ' Mr. Jackson to Lord Grenville, Record Office, F.O, Spain, vol. 
 zxxiii.
 
 76 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 he should be placed on his father's throne, while 
 the French republicans should be allowed to form a 
 little state of their own in America. But when the 
 Pyrenees were no longer between him and the armies 
 of France, his majesty's conditions became more 
 moderate ; he proposed to leave France to her actual 
 rulers and to found a little kingdom for Louis XVII. 
 in French Navarre. 
 
 Upon the renewal of hostilities in the spring of 
 1 795 J ^t an unofficial conference between the agents 
 of the two countries, the conditions were further 
 reduced, on the part of Spain, to the re-estab- 
 lishment of the catholic religion in France, the 
 granting pensions to the family of the dead king, and 
 an annuity for the emigres. These terms were, of 
 course, unacceptable by France, but she was none the 
 less anxious for peace with her southern neighbour. 
 The fury of the revolution was spent. The dauphin 
 and his sister were treated more kindly by their 
 gaolers. 
 
 Spain had an ambassador in the heart of the French 
 Government in the person of Madame Tallien, the 
 daughter of one of Godoy's secretaries of state, 
 Cabarrus. Her husband was one of the most in- 
 fluential members of the Committee of Public Safety. 
 He intimated to Godoy that, if he earnestly desired 
 peace, the violence of certain individuals would not 
 be allowed to hinder it. Thus while Frenchmen and 
 Spaniards were still shooting each other in Catalonia 
 and Biscay, negotiations were opened at Bale between 
 Yriarte, the Spanish envoy to Poland, and Barthelemy, 
 the French ambassador to Switzerland. 
 
 The death of the dauphin removed Charles IV.'s
 
 The King*s Favourite 1^ 
 
 last scruples to the conclusion of a peace. On 
 July 22 the treaty of Bale was signed. The republic 
 restored to Spain all the conquests made on her 
 territory since the outbreak of the war, engaging 
 to deliver up all the fortresses already taken in the 
 state in which they were at the date of the treaty. 
 In her dealings with other Powers France had taken 
 care to dismantle all such strongholds before returning 
 them to their owners. By secret articles, it was 
 agreed to hand over the dauphin's sister to King 
 Charles and to accept his mediation between France 
 and the Pope. 
 
 Spain had opposed France since 1789 ; she had 
 been fairly beaten ; but, thanks to her resolute bearing, 
 she paid not a dollar by way of indemnity and lost 
 nothing to France but the eastern half of the island 
 of Santo Domingo, which had never been worth 
 the cost and trouble of governing. The concession 
 was the less liberal on the part of Spain in that the 
 island had for a long time past belonged to no one 
 in particular.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 HALCYON DAYS FOR SPAIN 
 
 Great was the joy in Spain and France at the con- 
 clusion of the treaty of Bale. The news was received 
 with acclamations by the French troops on the 
 slopes of the Pyrenees, who, ragged, ill-fed, and 
 weary, were in no mood to test a Spanish welcome 
 further. By the Spaniards the peace was looked 
 upon as a victory. Honour was saved and practically 
 all besides. 
 
 It was Godoy's great hour. Having launched his 
 country on a perilous course, he had guided it be- 
 tween the rocks to a pleasant anchorage. Proud of 
 having discerned so promising a statesman, well 
 satisfied with his performances, glad paternally of 
 his success, Charles loaded Manuel with honours. 
 He raised him to a rank held only once before in 
 Spain by one not of the blood-royal (Don Luis de 
 Haro, favourite of Philip IV.), and commemorated 
 his diplomatic victory by conferring on him the title 
 of Prince of the Peace. With this went the style 
 of " highness," and the not very valuable privilege of 
 having the image of Janus borne before him on 
 solemn occasions' — an emblem of foresight gained by 
 reflection on the past. What other favours the king 
 of Spain could give, he gave with open hands. 
 
 Here is the list of Godoy's dignities and titles : 
 
 78
 
 Halcyon Days for Spain 79 
 
 Prince of the Peace, duke of la Alcudia and Sueca, 
 prince Godoy, prince of Bassano, baron of Mascalbo, 
 lord of Soto de Roma and Albufera, knight of the 
 Golden Fleece, comendador of Santiago, grand-cross 
 of the order of Charles III. and St. Ermengild, 
 provost of St. John of Jerusalem, captain-general, and 
 generalissimo of Spain. To these in after-years were 
 added the title of count of Evoramonte and knight 
 of the order of Christ hy the king of Portugal, the 
 grand-cross of the order of St. Ferdinand and St. 
 Januarius by the king of the Two Sicilies, and the 
 grand-cross of the Legion of Honour by Napoleon. 
 
 At twenty-eight a man seldom regards his own 
 aggrandisement with philosophical indifference or 
 Christian humility. Godoy was exceedingly well 
 pleased with himself, and no doubt regarded these 
 honours as justly due to him. Every prophet wants 
 to be honoured in his own country, so the Prince of 
 the Peace took care to parade his glory in Estrema- 
 dura. While the negotiations were going on at Bale, 
 Charles and Maria Luisa thought lit to revive the 
 loyalty of their subjects by exhibiting their gracious 
 persons. To Seville accordingly they went, osten- 
 sibly to return thanks at the tomb of St. Ferdinand 
 for the unlucky recovery from illness of their first- 
 born son. 
 
 Seizing this opportunity, Godoy persuaded their 
 majesties to return in a very roundabout fashion via 
 Badajoz, where they were entertained by his father 
 in the house in which he was born. It must have 
 undergone an elaborate process of furbishing-up, I 
 imagine ; but this Godoy senior could now well 
 afford, for his son had appointed him, by what was
 
 8o Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 perhaps an excess of filial piety, president of the 
 Board of Finance. Possibly the Prince of the Peace 
 might have defended the appointment on the ground 
 that a nobleman who had kept up a certain amount of 
 state all his life on nothing in particular a year, would 
 know better than any one how to make money go a 
 long way. 
 
 His brother Luis was gazetted major-general, a 
 step which he had merited by his valour in the recent 
 campaign. Then or afterwards he was appointed 
 captain-general of Estremadura. He married Dona 
 Juana de Armendariz, " of the marquises of Castel- 
 fuente." Diego, Manuel's younger brother, became 
 In course of time duke of Almodovar del Campo. 
 By his wife, a relative of the count de la Canada, he 
 left no children. The sisters, Antonia and Ramona, 
 married respectively the marquis of Branciforte and 
 the count of Fuente Blanca. 
 
 After the king, Godoy was the most powerful man 
 in Spain. His fortune amounted to forty millions 
 of francs ; he held open court In the grandiose palace 
 which is now the Ministry of Marine. The nobility 
 sneered at the upstart, and denied him the familiar 
 style of " thou " which was generally employed 
 between them in token of fellowship. The common 
 people told each other coarse jokes about the choricerOy 
 or sausage-maker, as they called him, in allusion to his 
 native province ; but everybody was well pleased 
 with the results of his diplomacy, and thousands 
 hastened to pay him court and to throng his saloons.- 
 A Spanish writer * has transmitted to us his recol- 
 lections of the Prince of the Peace in all the pomp 
 » " Recuerdos de un Anciano." Don A. Alcala Galiano,
 
 Halcyon Days for Spain 8i 
 
 and circumstance of his power. " His mansion was 
 guarded by a special corps, considered a part of the 
 Royal Carbineers, but differing from them in uniform, 
 which resembled rather that of the hussars of those 
 days. The guard was composed of picked men and 
 of particularly smart-looking officers. A staircase, 
 constructed at enormous cost, but ostentatious rather 
 than tasteful, led to a succession of reception-rooms. 
 The crowd filled the principal room, which was 
 long and narrow, and overflowed into two or three 
 smaller apartments. This crowd was made up of 
 persons of all classes and categories, most of them 
 there in search of preferment, others out of curiosity, 
 some again there lest their absence should be re- 
 marked. The sexes were represented in about equal 
 proportions. As the entry was free to all, a few 
 women of doubtful reputation could be seen there, 
 even perhaps a courtesan or two of the richer sort. 
 And with them, sad to say, were ladies, respectable 
 by their birth and position, who used their charms 
 to secure the good-will of the all-powerful minister, 
 and bartered their virtue for his favours. Mothers 
 there were, though seldom, ready to sell their daughters 
 and husbands their wives. In its blind hatred the 
 mob has exaggerated the number of these enormities, 
 but exaggerated them only. For the favourite him- 
 self in after-years, pleaded guilty to transgressions 
 in the matter of love, if such transactions can be 
 dignified by that name. 
 
 " The routine followed at this court was that 
 used by the sovereign, and on occasions by the captains- 
 general of our provinces. The Prince of the Peace 
 issued from the inner apartments ; the murmur at
 
 82 Godoy: the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 once ceased, and those present placed themselves in 
 a double line, every one anxious to be seen or at 
 least heard by the object of their somewhat inter- 
 ested devotion. 
 
 " It may not be out of place to give a rough sketch 
 of this famous personage. Don Manuel Godoy, the 
 commencement of whose elevation was due altogether 
 to his personal advantages, was tall, full-bodied 
 though not fat, heavy about the shoulders so as to 
 carry the head rather low, and very fresh-coloured — 
 a circumstance sufficiently curious in a native of Estre- 
 madura, where complexions generally reflect the 
 parched face of the landscape. The whiteness of his 
 skin was relieved by the redness of his cheeks, which 
 his enemies were fond of attributing to art ; but 
 there can be no doubt at all that it was the work of 
 nature. He wore the uniform of a captain-general, 
 but with a blue sash, to distinguish him as generalis- 
 simo. He carried in his hand his baton and his 
 plumed cocked hat. His countenance was mild but 
 not expressive ; his speech sufficiently to the point, 
 if not specially brilliant, though at times he made 
 jokes, which never failed to provoke smiles more or 
 less forced. He had a notable memory for faces and 
 for the respective business of each of his visitors, in 
 the midst of such a confusion of persons and affairs — 
 a faculty common in princes, thanks to its being so 
 much exercised by them. The reception over, the 
 crowd streamed out — most of them to abuse the 
 man before whom a minute earlier they had bowed as 
 respectful suppliants." 
 
 The prince's accessibility and affability are favour- 
 ably commented upon by Blanco White ; " Very
 
 Halcyon Days for Spain 83 
 
 different from the ministers who tremble before 
 him, he can be approached by any individual in the 
 kingdom without an introduction, and in the certainty 
 of receiving a civil if not a favourable answer." His 
 recommendation " is not always made the reward of 
 flattery or of more degrading servility." It was 
 admitted by a French minister, who had good reason 
 to dislike him, that he never encouraged corrupt 
 practices, and that he was ready to sustain a just 
 cause — " even by unjust means." 
 
 Lucien Bonaparte avowed himself his friend. " The 
 number of enemies which he owes to his extraordinary 
 favour with the king and queen will not prevent me 
 saying that the Prince of the Peace, as I saw him, was 
 at all times amiable, obliging, sincere, compassionate, 
 chivalrously gallant towards women, personally coura- 
 geous, much better informed than his traducers care 
 to admit ; in short I was as much his friend as he 
 showed himself to be mine on every occasion." 
 
 Bourgoing, who knew him at the dawn of his pros- 
 perity, remarked that the favourite inspired more 
 jealousy than hatred. " He tries to please as many 
 as possible. He has given several proofs of humanity 
 and kindness, he remedies injustices." To his good 
 qualities, and in particular to his kindness of heart, 
 Lord Holland — no friend of kings and their favourites 
 — bears ready witness. 
 
 " His manner," says his lordship, " though some- 
 what indolent, or what the French call nonchalant, 
 was graceful and attractive. Though he had neither 
 education or reading [?], his language was at once 
 elegant and peculiar, and notwithstanding his humble 
 origin [sic\ his whole deportment announced more
 
 §4 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 than that of any untravelled Spaniard I ever met 
 with that mixture of dignity, politeness, propriety, and 
 ease which the habits of good company are supposed 
 exclusively to confer. He seemed born for a high 
 station. Without any effort he would have passed, 
 wherever he was, for the first man in the company. 
 I never conversed with him sufficiently to form any 
 judgment of his understanding. Our interviews were 
 mere interchanges of civility. But a transaction of 
 no importance to the public, but of great importance 
 to the parties concerned, took place between us, 
 and he not only behaved with great courtesy to me 
 but showed both humanity and magnanimity. A 
 young English gentleman of the name of Powell had, 
 before the war between England and Spain, engaged 
 either with General Miranda or some other South 
 American adventurer in an expedition to liberate 
 the Spanish colonies. He was taken. By law his 
 life was forfeited, but he was condemned by a sentence 
 nearly equivalent to perpetual imprisonment in the 
 unwholesome fortress of Omoa. His father, chief 
 justice of Canada, on hearing the sad tidings, hastened 
 to England. Unfortunately hostilities had com- 
 menced under circumstances calculated to exasperate 
 the people and Government of Spain. The chief 
 justice was, however, determined to try the efficacy 
 of a personal application to alleviate the sufferings of 
 his son by a change of prison, since he despaired of 
 obtaining his release. He proceeded to Spain, fur- 
 nished with a letter of introduction to the Prince of 
 the Peace from me, to whom he applied as one recently 
 arrived from thence and not involved in the angry 
 feelings and discussions which had led to the rupture
 
 Halcyon Days for Spain 85 
 
 between the two countries. The prince received 
 him at Aranjuez, and, on reading the letter and hearing 
 the story, bade the anxious father remain till he had 
 seen the king, and left the room for that purpose 
 without ceremony or delay. He soon returned with 
 an order, not for the change of prison, but for the 
 immediate liberation of the young man. Nor was he 
 satisfied with this act of humanity, for with a smile 
 of benevolence he added that a father who had come 
 so far to render a service to his child would probably 
 like to be the bearer of good intelligence himself, 
 and accordingly he furnished him with a passport 
 and permission to sail in a Spanish frigate then pre- 
 paring to leave Cadiz for the West Indies." 
 
 He displayed, as we know, even greater magnanimity 
 towards his personal enemies and rivals. " He cele- 
 brated his triumph with a feigned generosity," admits. 
 M. Alexandre Tratchevsky, with unfeigned ungener- 
 osity. * Aranda was released from his gilded cage 
 on the Alhambra hill ; Floridablanca was set free 
 from his prison and allowed to reside at his native 
 city of Murcia ; Cabarrus, one of his associates, who 
 had been implicated in a banking scandal, was not 
 only set at liberty, but employed by the Prime Minister 
 in diplomatic and financial business to the advantage 
 of the State. 
 
 Benevolence is the essential quality in a ruler. 
 Without it efficiency and sagacity may be mischievous 
 rather than beneficial. Government exists only to 
 promote the happiness of the governed. This Godoy 
 never forgot. By his administration of Spain he well 
 deserved his title. It is but fair to acknowledge the 
 
 * " Revue Historique," vol. ixxiii. p. 43.
 
 86 Godoy : the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 mildness and tolerance of his sway, reluctantly admits 
 a Spanish critic. " My administration," boasts the 
 Prince of the Peace, " has left no traces of blood. 
 State trials were extremely rare, and were menaces 
 rather than serious prosecutions. In the gaols only 
 common malefactors were to be found. Through- 
 out this stormy period trials by the Inquisition, 
 arbitrary imprisonments, and harsh penalties were 
 unknown among us." 
 
 The claws of the Holy Office the young minister 
 very soon cut. We have seen how he refused to 
 surrender Aranda to its clutches. Olavide, who had 
 been savagely persecuted in the preceding reign and 
 then banished on account of his " philosophical " 
 opinions, he not only recalled but endowed with a 
 pension. He next dragged out of the Inquisition's 
 fangs an unfortunate Hebrew who had come over 
 from Morocco to visit the graves of his forefathers. 
 When Don Ramon de Salas was prosecuted by the 
 same dread tribunal, this upstart minister coolly 
 ordered the matter to be referred to the Council of 
 Castile ; and wound up by obtaining a decree from 
 the king forbidding the Holy Inquisition to undertake 
 any proceedings without the royal assent. For this 
 he was not forgiven by the church of Spain. 
 
 He was the Maecenas of his age. The best friend 
 of enlightenment Spain has ever had, Hume calls 
 him. This man, who was sneered at as unlettered, 
 as hardly able to write his own name, at least rever- 
 enced and encouraged intellect in others. He sought 
 out men of learning and ability in the remotest corners 
 of the country, and strove to reward them and to 
 benefit the State by giving them posts in the govern-
 
 GODOY, 
 
 87
 
 Halcyon Days for Spain 89 
 
 ment service. His immense fortune was lavishly 
 employed in the patronage and assistance of struggling 
 genius. His name is for ever associated with the fame 
 of Melendez, one of Spain's most distinguished men 
 of letters. To him Moratin owed not only his 
 training as a dramatic writer, but the position in 
 society which assured his success. When the minister 
 fell, the dramatist refused to turn against him. " I 
 was neither his friend nor his counsellor nor his 
 servant," he said, " but all that I was I owed to him ; 
 and although we have nowadays a convenient philo- 
 sophy which teaches men to receive benefits without 
 gratitude, and to pay with reproach favours asked 
 and received when circumstances alter, I value my 
 own good opinion too much to condescend to such 
 infamy." 
 
 Floridablanca and his successor, alarmed by the 
 progress of revolutionary ideas, had endeavoured 
 to uproot the tree of learning which Charles HI. 
 had sedulously cultivated. Not so Godoy. He re- 
 organised the universities, and promulgated a new 
 scheme of public instruction. He did his utmost to 
 fill the academic chairs with the ablest men that 
 Spain could produce. He had no fear of the diffusion 
 of culture. The censorship, rigidly enforced by his 
 predecessors, was relaxed and foreign works were 
 freely admitted into the kingdom, provided that they 
 did not directly assail the principles of monarchy and 
 religion. 
 
 Godoy's best services to his country consisted 
 
 perhaps in the furtherance of practical education. 
 
 In 1795 he founded the Royal Medical College at 
 
 Madrid. Before his time any village barber or 
 
 6
 
 go Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 quack, however ignorant, was able to practise upon 
 the king's subjects ; now, hy royal decree, no one 
 was allowed to exercise the profession of a surgeon or 
 physician without having received a diploma from 
 the competent medical authority. Thousands of 
 Spaniards must have been indebted for their health 
 and life to Godoy, thanks to this reform alone. Nor 
 did he forget the animal kingdom. To him the 
 veterinary college of Madrid owes its existence. A 
 staff of linguists was kept at work to translate the 
 leading medical works of Europe into Spanish. Such 
 was Godoy's concern for the bodies of his country- 
 men that a pious friend thought fit to adjure him to 
 take heed rather for their souls and to remind him 
 that physician and materialist were generally synony- 
 mous terms. 
 
 The man, unlike most statesmen, was genuinely 
 anxious to do practical good. Not content with 
 founding learned institutions and stimulating a taste 
 for culture, he tried hard to teach his countrymen 
 how to earn their living. He strenuously encouraged 
 technical education. Commissioners were despatched 
 to England to report on the best methods of pro- 
 moting industry. Schools for instruction in the handi- 
 crafts were established in Madrid and the provinces. 
 The instruments used in the medical college and the 
 royal observatory were all made by Spanish hands 
 in the adjacent workshops. A school of clock-making 
 and a factory for musical instruments were opened 
 in 1798. Experts were called in to teach the Spaniards 
 how to design wall-papers. New methods were 
 introduced into the cloth-making and silk industries. 
 Pamphlets explaining them were printed at the
 
 Halcyon Days for Spain 91 
 
 expense of the State and distributed free. The 
 economical works of Adam Smith and Hume, hitherto 
 banned as the works of the devil, were translated 
 and circulated. 
 
 This profligate and upstart, as his enemies loved 
 to call him, was like the gentle-hearted Captain 
 Coram, profoundly moved by the plight of the 
 foundling children left to perish in the streets of 
 Spanish cities. A hospital for their reception had 
 indeed been founded by Charles III., but it was 
 shamefully mismanaged and wholly insufhcient for 
 the needs of the time. Of course there were in 
 Spain then, as in England to-day, " moralists " who 
 wanted to punish vice by striking at its helpless 
 victims ; though in that catholic land none dared to 
 brand this concern for human life as sentimentality. 
 " I looked upon it," says Godoy, " as the duty of the 
 State to come to the aid of these unfortunates. It 
 behoved the Government to stand them in lieu of 
 father and mother, and not to punish them for the 
 insensibility or weakness of the authors of their 
 being." 
 
 Charles was moved by his favourite's appeal. The 
 decrees of 1794 and 1796 directed the work of his 
 father to be reorganised and extended. His majesty 
 announced that he would take effectual measures 
 for the relief of destitute and abandoned children, 
 and sternly forbade any one to speak of them as 
 " bastards " or " illegitimate." He also lent a willing 
 ear to Godoy's plea for the deaf and dumb. Instead 
 of consigning these luckless ones to the lethal chamber, 
 according to the recommendation of modern deans 
 and journalists, the minister had them taught the
 
 92 Gcxioy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 deaf-and-dumb alphabet and trained in useful handi- 
 crafts. 
 
 A reformer, in a sweeping sense, Godoy was not. 
 He sympathised with the social and intellectual 
 tendencies of the revolution, but he was firmly- 
 attached to the ancient form of government in Spain. 
 He believed in hereditary monarchy limited by law. 
 In the old Council of Castile he saw the germs of 
 a valuable consultative assembly, and he caused the 
 Council of Ministers to sit practically permanently. 
 He refused to deprive the Basques of their old liberties 
 and institutions in punishment of their demonstra- 
 tions of sympathy with the French invaders. His 
 policy was almost wholly constructive. He had 
 faith in the institutions of his country, and believed 
 that they could be adapted to the increasing require- 
 ments of successive generations. He was no inno- 
 vator, yet he did not hesitate to attack abuses. As 
 an Extremeno he had witnessed the injury done to 
 agriculture by the Mesta, a powerful corporation 
 existing from ancient times privileged to pasture 
 their enormous flocks on vast areas of country. Thanks- 
 to him, these privileges were curtailed and after- 
 wards abolished. The authority of the trade guilds 
 was limited in the interests of artisans, and the In- 
 quisition was strictly forbidden to interfere with 
 foreign workmen not of the catholic religion whom 
 the minister wished to attract to the country. 
 
 Godoy, in fact, resumed and infused a more humane 
 spirit into the policy of internal amelioration begun 
 in the preceding reign and reversed by Floridablanca. 
 The material prosperity of the country was un- 
 deniable — roads were made, industry flourished, life
 
 Halcyon Days for Spain 93 
 
 and property were secure, opinions were respected. 
 The will to do good amply made up for the young 
 minister's want of experience. 
 
 He was well aware of his own deficiencies. Finance 
 is the stumbling-block to the tyro statesman. Godoy, 
 therefore, greedily availed himself in this depart- 
 ment of the services of experts. Of these the crafty 
 Cabarrus was one — the man who afterwards served 
 Joseph Bonaparte in the like capacity. But the 
 resources of Spain were limited and its expenses 
 enormous. The ablest financier could achieve little. 
 Godoy took care, at least, that the burden of taxation 
 should fall almost entirely on the rich. He thought 
 that those who live merely by virtue of their ancestors' 
 thrift owe more to the State than those who enrich 
 it by their own labour. 
 
 The people proved less grateful than the poets. 
 They had long lagged behind their rulers in the path 
 of social reform, and resented even the attempts to 
 revive their flagging industries. The landowners and 
 wealthy religious bodies called upon by the minister 
 to disgorge their riches were then, as always, able 
 to make the poor weep with them. The rich man 
 revenges himself on the poor by reducing his wage or 
 refusing him alms, and the poor man can easily be 
 persuaded that the blame is that of the Government 
 which has taxed the rich man. Yet, perhaps, if 
 Spain had remained deaf the next twelve years to the 
 threats and temptations of her northern neighbours, 
 the administration of Godoy might still have been 
 remembered with thankfulness.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE ALLIANCE WITH THE REGICIDES 
 
 Manuel Godoy was essentially an easy-going, kindly 
 disposed man, much fonder of pleasure than of work. 
 His own instincts and interests were in harmony 
 with his new title ; yet no sooner had he brought 
 one war to a conclusion than he proposed to embark 
 upon another. Immediately upon the signature of 
 the treaty of Bale, he determined to join his late 
 enemy in an attack upon his late ally. France was 
 the natural friend, England the natural enemy of 
 Spain. The two Latin peoples fell weeping into 
 each other's arms. Republicans and monarchists 
 discovered that they were brothers. The Spanish 
 ambassador at Paris — the son, by the way, of an 
 Englishwoman named Field — manifested a truly re- 
 publican simplicity and a truly Parisian indifference 
 to propriety. The grateful Directory discontinued 
 its efforts to seduce the subjects of King Charles 
 from their allegiance. Spain's overtures on behalf 
 of the Pope and the Italian princes were listened to 
 with politeness. " Spain," cried Burke, " has become 
 the fief of the regicides." 
 
 This unnatural alliance between the cousin of 
 Louis XVI. and the representatives of his executioners 
 is hard to explain. It is boldly asserted by an English 
 
 94
 
 The Alliance with the Regicides 95 
 
 historian * that Charles IV. looked for the speedy- 
 break-up of the republic, and hoped to be called to 
 succeed his kinsman on the throne of France. This 
 theory meets with no approval from Spanish writers ; 
 it is not hinted at in the memoirs of the time ; but 
 it certainly offers the most satisfactory explanation 
 of a policy so opposed to the instincts and sentiments 
 of the king and to the temperament of his favourite. 
 Godoy, of course, justifies his change of front on 
 other grounds. He rapidly strung together a long 
 list of grievances against England. We had protested 
 against the cession of Santo Domingo, we had kept 
 Spanish prizes recovered by our vessels from the 
 French, we had neglected the interests of our ally 
 at Toulon, we had insulted the Spanish flag on the 
 high seas, we had treated neutrals as enemies, we had 
 pushed our right of search beyond legitimate limits, 
 we had fomented disorder in South America. These 
 charges were no doubt true, but taken altogether 
 they hardly warranted Spain going to war with the 
 only Power which could harm her, and which, more- 
 over, coveted her oversea possessions. The Directory, 
 naturally, did its utmost to inflame the dons' resent- 
 ment. It circulated rumours that England medi- 
 tated landing an army in Portugal, and that she had 
 promised Russia the Balearic Islands in return for 
 her aid. By renewing the family compact of 1761, 
 Spain and France would present a united front to 
 the world and secure respect. 
 
 Godoy, whose real motive for currying favour with 
 the French we have attempted to guess, submitted 
 the question of peace and war to the Council. That 
 
 1 Major Martin Hume.
 
 96 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 body welcomed a return to the old policy of hostility 
 to England. France had now a regular government, 
 and there seemed no reason why the old relations 
 of the two Latin Powers should not be resumed. 
 The Directory certainly did not covet any territory 
 south of the Pyrenees, while England still held Gib- 
 raltar and looked with a greedy eye on the Indies. 
 This seemed a good opportunity to settle accounts 
 with the traditional foe. 
 
 On August 19, 1796, accordingly, an alliance 
 offensive and defensive between Spain and France 
 was established by the treaty of San Ildefonso. Each 
 Power covenanted to furnish the other, when called 
 upon to do so, with fifteen ships of the line, six 
 frigates, and four corvettes, and an army of 18,000 
 foot, 6,000 horse, and guns in proportion. The 
 eighteenth article of the treaty announced that, 
 England being the only Power against which Spain 
 had direct grounds of complaint, the alliance should 
 be valid during the actual war against her only, and 
 not against any of the other nations at war with the 
 republic. 
 
 War was declared by Spain on October 6 and 
 continued for the next six years. That Spain gained 
 nothing by it, except the dubious friendship of 
 France, is to say what should have been foreseen by 
 all men from the first. The wonder is that she 
 suffered so little. Upon the outbreak of hostilities 
 the English abandoned Corsica, and their fleets 
 disappeared from the Mediterranean for another 
 eighteen months — to the immense advantage of the 
 French. True, the Spanish fleet was seriously crippled 
 by Jervis off Cape St. Vincent, but the English
 
 The Alliance with the Regicides 97 
 
 attacks upon Cadiz and Teneriffe were defeated 
 with severe loss. Godoy had prudently protracted 
 the negotiations with France, till he had put the 
 South American possessions in a state of defence. 
 There Spain lost Trinidad, but successfully repelled 
 descents upon Cuba and Puerto Rico. 
 
 Meanwhile French fleets were able to cross the 
 Atlantic with impunity. The privateers of the 
 allies scoured the seas and inflicted enormous damage 
 on British shipping. No fewer than 3,466 of our 
 merchantmen were taken. In this remunerative 
 form of reprisals the Spaniards evidently took a large 
 share, for in the year following the treaty of San 
 Ildefonso the number of English prizes rose to 949, 
 nearly double the total of the preceding year. 
 
 Godoy affected to be so elated by these results 
 that when England, in July 1797, showed a disposition 
 to treat, he announced that Spain would be satisfied 
 with nothing less than the retrocession of Gibraltar, 
 Trinidad, and the Nootka Sound territory, with 
 Jamaica thrown in by way of indemnity. He now 
 learnt that gratitude was no part of the republic's 
 policy. The Directory, at the instance of the English 
 envoy, refused to admit the representatives of her 
 ally to the conference, promising, however, to look 
 after her interests. But the negotiations proved 
 abortive. The i8th of Fructidor saw the downfall of 
 the peace party in France, and England was left to 
 continue the war without a single ally. 
 
 This miniature revolution, at the same time, must 
 have dispelled all King Charles's hope of one day 
 seating himself on the throne of St. Louis. Yet he 
 refused to console himself by taking another crown.
 
 98 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 While England and France were wasting time at 
 Lille, Godoy had induced the Portuguese Govern- 
 ment to abandon the English alliance and to pro- 
 claim that henceforward the hospitality of its harbours 
 would be denied to more than six warships of either 
 combatant at any one time. An attempt, due to 
 pressure from England, to evade this stipulation 
 brought down upon Portugal the wrath of the Direc- 
 tory. King Charles was invited to conquer the 
 sister kingdom, and was promised the help of 30,000 
 seasoned French troops for that purpose. 
 
 This, remarks General Arteche, was the best chance 
 Spain has ever had of recovering the territory lost by 
 the Habsburgs, and all might have been forgiven 
 Charles and his minister if they had profited by it. 
 The honest king rejected the offer. His eldest 
 daughter (the notorious Carlota Joaquina) was married 
 to the Portuguese heir-apparent. He had no wish 
 to rob his own grandchildren. Godoy perhaps was 
 less affected by these scruples than by the danger 
 of letting 30,000 French troops into Spain, of which 
 Cabarrus, his agent at Paris, did not cease to warn 
 him. He offered, therefore, his mediation between 
 France and Portugal, and restored friendly relations 
 between them. To effect this, it is said that Ca- 
 barrus had to spend about two million francs in Paris. 
 The money was doubtless supplied by the Portuguese 
 court, which showed its appreciation of Godoy's 
 good offices by conferring on him the order of Christ 
 and the title of count of Evoramonte, with some 
 estates which had formerly belonged to his mother's 
 ancestors. 
 
 The alliance was not working smoothly. At all
 
 The Alliance with the Regicides 99 
 
 points the interests of the Directory appeared to 
 clash with his catholic majesty's personal affections 
 and sympathies. The duchy of Parma, ruled by his 
 cousin, Maria Luisa's brother, was regarded as an 
 eyesore by the newly founded Cisalpine republic. 
 The duke was invited to exchange his ancestral 
 dominions for the island of Sardinia. He refused 
 and was forced, contrary to treaty, to receive a French 
 garrison of ten thousand men. 
 
 By the treaty of Bale France had promised to 
 admit the mediation of Spain between her and the 
 Pope. When his holiness determined to join the 
 league against the republic, he exhorted Charles to 
 join him. " His nuncio at Madrid," says Godoy, 
 *' used all possible persuasions with the cabinet then 
 confided to my direction. The king's answer, as 
 well as mine, was filled with sentiments of piety, love, 
 and respect for the common father of the faithful, 
 but his majesty solicited Pius VI. not to interfere 
 in wars which might compromise his character and 
 his existence." These warnings were vain. The 
 victorious army of Bonaparte overran the Legations 
 and crossed the historic Rubicon. Godoy promptly 
 directed Azara, the Spanish minister at Rome, to 
 intercede with the conqueror. The treaty of Tolen- 
 tino was concluded, thanks to the efforts of this 
 envoy, as Bonaparte himself acknowledged, adding 
 that his presence at the pontifical court would pro- 
 bably contribute to the maintenance of peace. 
 
 The treaty no doubt saved the Pope his sovereignty, 
 but it cost him his richest provinces, his choicest 
 art-treasures, and a third of his revenue. The Spanish 
 Prime Minister was blamed for not having secured
 
 100 Godoy: the Quecn*s Favourite 
 
 him better terms. The Italian courts sought his 
 overthrow, forgetting that a quarrel between France 
 and their only friend, Spain, must mean their own 
 destruction. But Godoy had a more dangerous foe 
 to reckon with in the palace itself. The king's 
 affection for him grew stronger every day, but on 
 the queen he could never rely. It was not in her 
 nature to be true to any one, and his innumerable 
 love-affairs gave her abundant excuse for her variations. 
 She was jealous, too, of his dominion over her husband, 
 which made him independent of her whims, and, I 
 doubt not, less attentive. Over and over again her 
 passion for him was interrupted by fits of anger and 
 long intervals of downright hostility. For such 
 lapses Godoy must have been to some extent thankful, 
 for they gave him leisure to worship before other 
 shrines. Besides, he could always make her return 
 to him in the end. But his tigress had sharp claws, 
 and her gusts of resentment went more than once 
 towards his undoing. 
 
 In such an angry mood she fell in with an Italian 
 named Malaspina, an officer of high rank in the 
 Spanish navy. He was a handsome and accomplished 
 man, who had lately gained much fame and applause 
 by a voyage round the world. By the countess of 
 Matallana he was introduced into the queen's boudoir. 
 Whether he was tempted, as some say, with the 
 viceroyalty of the Indies, or promised the favour of 
 her majesty, he consented to draw up a memorial 
 to the king representing the favourite in the most 
 odious light. On the pretext of visiting his kinsfolk 
 in Lombardy, he seems to have found an oppor- 
 tunity of concerting a scheme for Godoy's destruction
 
 The Alliance with the Regicides loi 
 
 with the queen^s friends at the court of Parma. 
 " He was at this time," says Blanco White, " pre- 
 paring an account of his voyage for publication, 
 with the assistance of a conceited sciolist, a Sevillian 
 friar, called Padre Gil, who in our great dearth of 
 real knowledge, was looked upon as a miracle of 
 erudition and eloquence. Malaspina, putting aside 
 his charts and log-books, eagerly collected every 
 charge against Godoy which was likely to make an 
 impression upon the king ; while the friar, inspired 
 with the vision of a mitre ready to drop upon his 
 head, clothed them in the most florid and powerful 
 figures which used to enrapture his audience from 
 the pulpit." 
 
 But the conspirators did not understand their 
 mistress. Her passion was not dead, but merely 
 smouldering. Her old lover, warned of his danger, 
 was easily able to rekindle her love once more. In 
 a moment of tenderness, she uttered some vague 
 expression of regret which supplied the clue to the 
 mystery. The countess of Matallana, having refused 
 to betray her accomplices, was banished from court. 
 Her stubbornness was vain. Malaspina was arrested 
 and imprisoned in the castle of San Anton at Corunna. 
 He was, soon after, set at liberty by Godoy, but 
 banished under pain of death from the Spanish 
 dominions. " The reverend writer of the memor- 
 andum," adds Blanco White maliciously, " was for- 
 warded under an escort to Seville, the scene of his 
 former literary glory, to be confined in a house of 
 correction where juvenile offenders of the lower 
 classes are sent to undergo a salutary course of flogging." 
 
 The next attack was also directed by churchmen.
 
 102 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 Godo^ was formally denounced to the Inquisition as 
 an atheist, a notorious evil liver, and one who had 
 not for eight years complied with the paschal precept. 
 Cardinal Lorenzana, the Inquisitor-General, had no 
 desire to try conclusions with so formidable a sinner, 
 and refused to prosecute. For this respect of dignities 
 he was rebuked by his brethren, the archbishop of 
 Seville and that very Rafael Musquitz whom Godoy 
 had given as confessor to the queen. These zealous 
 priests promptly wrote off to Rome, complaining 
 of the inquisitor's neglect of duty. His holiness, 
 angry with the minister for not having broken with 
 France, or for having failed to get him better terms 
 at Tolentino, at once addressed a sharp reproof to 
 the cardinal, coupled with instructions to proceed 
 against the accused. 
 
 This letter fell into the hands of the French, by 
 whom it was passed on to the Prince of the Peace. 
 His highness put it in his pocket and bided his time. 
 When the French renewed the quarrel with the 
 Pope and entered Rome, he sent a mission to Rome 
 to offer comfort and support to the holy father. The 
 deputation was composed of the Inquisitor-General 
 and his two accusers. The three ecclesiastics, it may 
 be supposed, did not much enjoy each other's com- 
 pany, and must have surprised Pius VI. by appearing 
 together before him. 
 
 It is probable that Maria Luisa had a hand in this 
 intrigue also. She was exasperated by the discovery 
 of her lover's relations with Dona Josefa (" Pepita ") 
 Tudo, an Andalusian of great charm and beauty. 
 This lady was the daughter of an artillery officer 
 who had done good service for the State, and had
 
 The Alliance with the Regicides 103 
 
 left his wife and children — as army officers often do — 
 practically penniless. The widow, Doiia Catalina 
 Tudo Y Catalan, came to Madrid with her three 
 daughters, Josefa, Magdalena, and Socorro, and were 
 introduced by the minister Valdez to Godoy. He 
 was much interested in the widow's story, and still 
 more in her beautiful daughter. He secured the 
 mother a pension, and paid violent court to Josefa. 
 He conceived for her the strongest and longest passion 
 of his life. She was presently given an honourable 
 office about the queen, and the rumour ran through 
 Madrid that she had become his wife. 
 
 To contract a binding marriage in secret is not 
 difficult in Spain. Even to-day, when the form of 
 marriage has become so much more regarded than 
 the thing, Spanish lovers will meet together at mass, 
 and at the moment of the Benediction join hands and 
 plight their troths, unnoticed perhaps except by the 
 friends they have brought to witness this private 
 union. After some such fashion Godoy may have 
 married Pepita, but neither has ever told us so. The 
 lady, though extremely high-spirited and passionate, 
 continued to live in the palace and to witness her 
 lover's attentions to the queen. Assured of their 
 insincerity, she was not, I suppose, much pained by 
 them. In any case, to come between Godoy and his 
 royal mistress would have been to ruin him. 
 
 Maria Luisa soon became suspicious. Her simple- 
 minded husband, we are not very credibly informed, 
 believed his favourite to be a model of austere virtue. 
 The angry queen bade him, therefore, accompany 
 her at once to Godoy's apartments. They surprised 
 the lovers together, but Charles was not seriously
 
 I04 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 shocked and Maria Luisa satisfied herself that the 
 Tudo was not her lover's lawful wife. Her wrath 
 evaporated, and Pepita became in after-years her 
 devoted friend. 
 
 Her majesty's changing moods were carefully noted 
 by the French ambassador and his spies about the 
 court. Their importance was no doubt greatly ex- 
 aggerated by the Directory, which had long become 
 distrustful of Godoy. His conduct with regard to 
 Portugal and the Pope had shown them that he would 
 not be made their cat's-paw. They suspected him 
 of intriguing with the brothers of Louis XVI. An 
 ingenious proposal was devised to get rid of him and 
 at the same time to obtain for France a long-coveted 
 stronghold. Malta was then held by its sovereign 
 order of knights. It was expected that the Grand- 
 Master would presently die. Perignon, the French 
 representative at Madrid, suggested that Spain and 
 France should combine to put Godoy in the vacant 
 place, " temporarily," the ambassador no doubt 
 murmured under his breath. The favourite affected 
 to fall in with the scheme, and Charles delightedly 
 promised to find him a wife worthy of the proffered 
 dignity. But Godoy penetrated the designs of the 
 Directory. He knew that this was a project merely 
 to remove him, and that Malta would not long 
 remain his. He refused to swallow the bait. 
 
 The match proposed by Charles, however, was pro- 
 ceeded with — probably at the instance of the queen, 
 who feared that her lover might be torn from her 
 by one who could claim him both by love and law. 
 She would marry him to some one to whom he was 
 indifferent. The king had two nieces handy for the
 
 JOVELLANOS. 
 (Goya) 
 
 105
 
 The Alliance with the Regicides 107 
 
 purpose. Their father, Don Luis, had been invested 
 with the archbishopric of Seville and raised to the 
 cardinalate ; but he had never taken holy orders and 
 was able, therefore, to renounce his ecclesiastical 
 dignities and to marry the beautiful Maria Teresa 
 de Vallabriga. He was compelled, at the same time, 
 to renounce all right of succession to the throne, 
 and spent the rest of his life in a kind of banishment 
 at Saragossa. His only son entered the Church ; his 
 elder daughter bore the title of countess of Chinchon 
 and was now seventeen years old. Her royal uncle 
 signified his intention to bestow her hand upon the 
 Prince of the Peace. 
 
 His highness, the husband in all but form of Pepita 
 Tudo, dared not refuse the gift. Apparently he 
 made some effort to do so, for he asserts that he 
 bowed only to the absolute and express command of 
 the king. '' Charles IV.," says the unwilling bride- 
 groom, " gave directions for the nuptials in such a 
 manner that, at the moment the marriage was forced 
 upon me, the Council received the official notification 
 through a special decree. I obeyed in this, as in all 
 the acts of my life, with loyalty and submission." 
 He goes on to deny the allegation that, in obeying, 
 he broke sacred ties. The ties were not, perhaps, those 
 which his enemies suspected, but he should have 
 held them sacred all the same. But he was formally 
 married in September 1797 to Maria Teresa de 
 Vallabriga, to whom and to her brother and sister 
 the king conceded at the same time the right to 
 bear the name and the arms of their father. 
 
 The match, we can well believe, was not one that 
 inspired Godoy's ambition. In fact, the bride's 
 
 7
 
 io8 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 family benefited by it more than he. He obtained 
 leave to transport the remains of Don Luis to the 
 tomb of his ancestors in the Escurial, and he afterwards 
 procured the archbishopric of Toledo for his brother- 
 in-law and for his wife's sister, Dona Maria Luisa, 
 who had no fortune, a pension of 50,000 francs a 
 year. His kindness was acknowledged in a letter 
 from the archbishop couched in very affectionate 
 terms. 
 
 This left-handed alliance with the royal family for 
 a while disconcerted the enemies of the Prince of 
 the Peace at home and abroad. Upon the advice 
 of Cabarrus, he wisely strengthened his position 
 still further by calling to the ministry two of the 
 most respected men in Spain. One of them, Don 
 Francisco Saavedra, did not altogether deserve his 
 high reputation. He was a man of vast experience 
 indeed, and of remarkable quickness of perception ; 
 but the feebleness of his body seemed reflected in the 
 weakness and irresolution of his character. To him 
 was entrusted the department of finance. A much 
 greater man was his colleague, Don Gaspar Melchor 
 Jovellanos, who accepted the ministry of justice on 
 November 21, 1797. He was an upright judge and 
 an accomplished man of letters who had suffered a 
 good deal of persecution. 
 
 Blanco White says of him : " With all the virtues 
 and agreeable qualities of the old Spanish caballero, 
 he exhibits many of the prejudices peculiar to the 
 period to which he belongs. To the most passionate 
 attachment to the privileges and aristocracy of blood, 
 he joins a superstitious reverence for external forms." 
 He had also an exaggerated attachment to the people
 
 The Alliance with the Regicides 109 
 
 of his native province, Asturias. These predilections 
 warped his fine understanding. He was firm and stiff, 
 rather disposed to preach, somewhat of a pedant. 
 Those who knew him understood why Aristides was 
 banished, and were not surprised that he met the 
 same fate. On one occasion he refused to appoint 
 one of the queen's proteges to some professorial chair, 
 for the excellent reason that he had no academical 
 training. " And where were you educated ? " asked 
 the queen. " At Salamanca." " It is a pity," sneered 
 her majesty, " that manners formed no part of the 
 curriculum." 
 
 She might with more reason have regretted that 
 gratitude did not. " These two men," says General 
 Arteche, " devoted themselves, though with extreme 
 repugnance, to the arduous and perilous but patriotic 
 task of undermining that colossal power founded on 
 the queen's passions and the king's blindness," with 
 which they had agreed to work and co-operate. 
 Jovellanos, franker than his colleague, was with 
 difficulty dissuaded by him from addressing a grave 
 remonstrance to Godoy on the subject of his relations 
 with the queen. By themselves these two pedants 
 would have been unable to dethrone the man who 
 had called them to the ministry ; but they were 
 assisted by the enemies of Spain. 
 
 While a powerful English party, headed by the 
 duke of Osuna, was working for his destruction, 
 Godoy became more and more suspicious of his ally. 
 The renewed attacks upon the Roman pontiff ex- 
 hausted his patience. On January 15, 1798, he 
 wrote to Del Campo at Paris : " The king orders you 
 to require a categorical reply from the Directory,
 
 no Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 as her friend and ally, Spain, has a right to demand ; 
 and, without discussing other matters, asks the French 
 Government to state its intentions towards Rome, 
 whether the temporal dominion of the Pope is to con- 
 tinue, what extension is to be given to the dominions 
 of the duke of Parma, or of the king of Naples, 
 what is to be done with Genoa and the Cisalpine 
 Republic, if there are to be in Italy any more govern- 
 ments than those of Naples, Sardinia, Florence, 
 Parma, the Holy See, and the Cisalpine and Ligurian 
 Republics. In the confidence existing between our 
 governments, there should be no difficulty in getting 
 an answer on all these points." 
 
 By way of reply the Directors sent a new repre- 
 sentative to Madrid with secret instructions to get rid 
 of this arrogant Spaniard. This ambassador was the 
 former minister of marine, Truguet, " a handsome 
 young man, elegant, polite, and loquacious," who 
 would stick at nothing. By Cabarrus, whom the 
 Directory had refused to accept as Spanish ambassador 
 at Paris, Godoy was warned of his real intentions. 
 In presenting his credentials to King Charles, the 
 envoy referred to the virtues of his majesty and the 
 abilities of his Prime Minister as the guarantee of 
 the alliance ; but he went on to denounce the traitors 
 harboured by Spain, and hoped that his majesty would 
 make an example of those pointed out to him. The 
 allusion, of course, was to the unfortunate royalist 
 emigres and to the members of the party lately over- 
 thrown at Paris who had sought refuge in Spain. 
 
 As Godoy stubbornly refused to do more than 
 expel those exiles who were actually conspiring 
 against the republic, Truguet sought a private audience
 
 The Alliance with the Regicides m 
 
 of the king and urged him to pave the way to a better 
 understanding with his ally by dismissing his minister. 
 His, majesty refused : *' It might be thought," he 
 pointed out, " that the Directory, being less favour- 
 ably disposed towards Spain than had been presumed, 
 was desirous, in remembrance of the events of the 4th 
 of Fructidor, to arraign and condemn the minister in 
 whom his majesty reposed the fullest confidence." 
 
 Thus rebuffed, Truguet addressed himself to 
 Saavedra, of whom he quickly made an ally. Godoy 
 was attacked from all points at once. The English 
 party demanded his downfall as the author of the 
 alliance with France ; the French, because he upheld 
 the dignity of his country; the rich, because he 
 taxed them ; the clergy, because he did not fear them ; 
 the people, because the squires and parsons told them 
 he was their enemy. The prince ignored these 
 attacks, and ordered the fleet to get ready to co- 
 operate with the French in the invasion of Ireland. 
 His unseen foes redoubled their efforts. The most 
 insidious reported to him all that had been said against 
 him, in the hope that he might alarm the king by 
 some rash act ; but he kept his temper, while his 
 master feebly wondered whether, after all, it might 
 not be better to part with Manuel. 
 
 His fears were worked upon by Don Jose Antonio 
 Caballero, who is described by Godoy as *' one of 
 those students, so numerous in Spain, who took all 
 their university degrees without having had the 
 opportunity or the intention of opening a single 
 learned work. . . . His figure was most ungainly, 
 corpulent, short, and crooked ; his face pale and 
 unmeaning." He was, it seems, a drunkard, adulterer,
 
 ri2 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 extortioner. His wife endeavoured to keep him at 
 home that others might not see him in " a beastly 
 state." "He was an ill-intentioned man, a ready 
 tool of mischief and an enemy to every virtue, without 
 a single spark of honour or generosity." 
 
 It is seldom that the good-natured Godoy uses 
 such language even about his enemies, but it is echoed 
 less emphatically by disinterested historians. Cabal- 
 lero was a bitter reactionary, who wished to plunge 
 Spain back into the dark ages. Yet he allied himself 
 with the French revolutionaries now as readily as he 
 did in after-years with the invaders of his country. 
 He had managed to worm himself into the confidence 
 of Charles, representing the minister as at once a 
 dangerous innovator and the obstacle in the way of 
 an understanding with France. 
 
 It was he probably who told the king that Godoy, 
 
 in inviting Jovellanos to join the ministry, had used 
 
 the words, " Come then, my friend, and take your 
 
 place in our executive directory." Charles was 
 
 naturally alarmed by this use of a word which had 
 
 then a purely republican significance. He sent for 
 
 the Prime Minister and asked him if he could refute 
 
 this allegation. Godoy sent to his ofhce and laid 
 
 the draft of the letter before his master. He had 
 
 used the expression, " our monarchical directory." 
 
 He besought the king to demand the original from 
 
 Jovellanos, who had by this time reached Madrid. 
 
 His majesty sulkily refused, and acknowledged, years 
 
 afterwards, that he had not been altogether satisfied 
 
 by his favourite's explanation. 
 
 Maria Luisa seems to have made no effort to save 
 her nominal lover. She may have feared war with
 
 The Alliance with the Regicides 113 
 
 France more than she cared for him. More pro- 
 bably a temporary estrangement between them had 
 resulted either from her discovery of his relations 
 with Pepita or from the marriage she had herself 
 helped to bring about. At such intervals she in- 
 variably consoled h^erself with a new lover, and she 
 may now have been too much occupied with him 
 to concern herself about the fate of his rival. 
 
 Probably by the express command of the king, 
 Godoy at last issued a decree banishing all the French 
 exiles who elected to remain in the Spanish dominions 
 to the island of Mallorca. That no term was fixed 
 for compliance with this order was no doubt due 
 to the pertinacious humanity of the Prime Minister. 
 As a counterstroke, he revoked on his own responsi- 
 bility the sentence of exile passed in the previous 
 reign on the Spanish members of the Society of Jesus, 
 thus permitting " many venerable old men, who had 
 lost all hope of ever again seeing their country, to be 
 restored to their families and to enjoy in peace the 
 sweets of domestic happiness." The exasperated 
 French ambassador pressed his confederates hard. 
 This pestilent prince must be got rid of. 
 
 At the Council on March 28, 1798, Saavedra pro- 
 posed to disband a part of the army to relieve the 
 overburdened Treasury. Godoy sprung to oppose 
 this measure, pointing out that the English might 
 land in Portugal, and the French demand a passage 
 through Spain to attack them. *' Let us," he cried, 
 " exercise our troops without intermission, let us 
 inure them to hardships." He went on to urge the 
 importance of the camps of instruction which he 
 had formed at Algeciras and on the Portuguese
 
 114 Godoy: the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 frontier. The king had been prejudiced against 
 these, as innovations, by Caballero. " No," he inter- 
 rupted, " these camps are of no avail." 
 
 The Prince of the Peace sank back in his chair, 
 silent. The Council broke up. The minister hast- 
 ened to the king and asked, not for the first time, to 
 be relieved of his portfolio. Frightened by France, 
 egged on by Saavedra, his majesty tearfully assented. 
 He drew from his pocket a paper in the handwriting 
 of Caballero. It was thus worded : ** Yielding to 
 your repeated verbal and written solicitations to be 
 relieved from the office of secretary of State and 
 sergeant-major of my bodyguard, I relieve you from 
 the duties of these offices ; I appoint ad interim 
 Don Francisco de Saavedra to the former, and the 
 Marquis de Ruchena to the latter, to whom you will 
 give up all that pertains to these offices. You shall 
 continue to enjoy all the honours, allowances, emolu- 
 ments, and right of access to the court that you now 
 hold ; and I assure you that I am in the highest 
 degree satisfied with the proofs of affection, zeal, and 
 capacity which you have given me during your 
 ministry ; for these I shall be grateful so long as I 
 live, and at every opportunity I will give you un- 
 equivocal proofs of my gratitude for your singular 
 
 services." 
 
 This decree was dated March 28, 1798. Godoy 
 shook his master by the hand, well aware that his 
 was not the hand that had struck the blow. He had 
 not feared France as an enemy ; he had sought her 
 as an ally ; he would not accept her as a mistress. 
 His fall became him better than his rise. He im- 
 mediately went to the office of the secretary of State.
 
 The Alliance with the Regicides 115 
 
 He embraced his successor, handed him the keys and 
 papers, and returned home accompanied by a numerous 
 retinue of sympathisers. " They had shown," he 
 says, ** less eagerness to hail my rising fortune than 
 to testify their regret at my disgrace."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 GODOY IN THE BACKGROUND 
 
 Now the pilot had been driven from the helm, the 
 Spanish ship of state was towed by France. Truguet 
 found in Saavedra and Jovellanos docile instruments. 
 The markets of Spain were, at his instigation, closed 
 to British goods ; the decree against the emigres 
 was put into immediate execution ; the due d'Havre, 
 the agent of the French princes, was expelled, and 
 the due de Saint-Simon, a French officer old in the 
 Spanish service, was deprived of his offices. Strongly 
 anti-clerical in sentiment, the new ministers enforced 
 the order of expulsion with especial severity against 
 refugee priests. These were shipped off in such 
 numbers to Mallorca that the islanders refused at 
 length to receive them. The most catholic king 
 dared not resist the behests of his Infidel ally. But 
 he was not willing to declare war against his son-in- 
 law of Lisbon. To overcome his resistance, Truguet 
 laid siege to the heart of the infanta Maria Lulsa — a 
 conquest which he hoped " might be to the interest 
 of the republic." 
 
 The Directory thought that the fallen minister's 
 influence might, after all, be more useful to them. 
 They sent a secret agent, named Segui, to invite him 
 to persuade the court of Lisbon to abandon the 
 English alliance. Truguet detected this intrigue and 
 
 1X6
 
 Godoy in the Background 117 
 
 protested to his employers. He was promptly recalled, 
 but would only deliver up the embassy to his successor 
 under the threat of being treated as an emigre. He 
 skulked for some time on the frontier, and, on setting 
 foot in France, was arrested. He was finally exiled 
 to Holland. 
 
 Godoy, meanwhile, came and went at the palace, 
 minutely informed as to all the proceedings of the 
 new Government. Charles, it is said, in a passing 
 mood of anger with his favourite, offered to banish 
 him from court. Saavedra rejected the proposal, 
 let us hope, as much from motives of gratitude as 
 from prudence. The prince had, in reality, lost 
 nothing of his influence over the king, and the queen 
 he could always bring to her knees when he felt 
 disposed to play the lover. 
 
 He regularly corresponded with the royal couple 
 while absent from the court. His letters strike us 
 as fawning and Uriah Heep-ish ; but such a tone 
 must have seemed quite proper and natural to a 
 Spaniard at that time addressing one of the Two 
 Majesties (the other was God). " Lady," writes the 
 fallen minister to her majesty, " a man persecuted by 
 envy and abhorred by the unjust may not repose 
 where their shafts may reach him. I know what 
 those who have obeyed and feared me speak and think 
 of me, I know the degree of authority to which they 
 have attained ; will my pretension, then, be indis- 
 creet ? I am well content ; solitude and ruined 
 walls are agreeable to me ; I ask nothing from vio- 
 lence, I wish nothing to be disturbed on my account ; 
 so if your majesty knows what I ought to do, and 
 has any sentiment of good-will towards me, speak
 
 II 8 Godoy: the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 and I will obey. Manuel will not act otherwise — 
 Manuel who has given so many moments of pleasure 
 to your majesties, will never give you an instant's 
 distress and will ever be the same faithful and grateful 
 vassal.'* 
 
 A month later — -that is, on October 29, 1798 — 
 he writes to the king ; " Your majesty be thanked : 
 you remember and respect your poor yassal. My 
 lord, what a reward do you not give me by your 
 virtuous consideration 1 Yes, God will reward your 
 majesty as you dispense to me the food of my love 
 and devotion. . . ." These rapturous passages are 
 usually the prelude to a discussion of the political 
 situation, which must of course have been invited 
 by the king. 
 
 In the letter quoted by Arteche the ex-minister 
 confines himself almost exclusively to advice upon 
 internal policy, very sensibly reminding his majesty 
 that the continuance of the war with Britain need 
 not hinder the development of agriculture and indus- 
 tries, and urging, as ever, the necessity of military 
 colleges and a more general system of instruction for 
 the army. 
 
 Meanwhile he watched the attitude of his suc- 
 cessors with contempt and apprehension. He had 
 inaugurated the French alliance, it was true ; but 
 it was not he who had converted that alliance into 
 bondage. Within a few weeks of his dismissal he 
 was recognised as the leader of the catholic party, 
 which favoured England. To his banner rallied his 
 old enemy Musquitz, the infante of Parma, and the 
 duke of Osuna. 
 
 The reign of the new ministers was brief. Saavedra,
 
 Godoy in the Background 119 
 
 prostrated by ill health, resigned his offices one by 
 one, and was finally relieved of the secretaryship in 
 February 1799, eleven months after the fall of Godoy. 
 His colleague Jovellanos likewise fell ill in the pre- 
 ceding August, and threw up his appointments. 
 The sickness of both statesmen was attributed to the 
 agency of Godoy or the queen. A servant of Jovel- 
 lanos is said to have been bribed with ten ounces of 
 gold to poison his master, but confessed his design 
 before it was too late. The slander is absurd. It 
 was warranted by nothing in Godoy's character or 
 career ; and the queen of Spain could have used less 
 dangerous means to rid herself of obnoxious ministers. 
 
 If she did conspire to effect their downfall, it was 
 not in the Interest of Godoy. Her susceptible 
 majesty was now in love with Saavedra's under- 
 secretary. This was Mariano Luis Urquijo, a native 
 of Bilbao, a handsome fellow, thirty years old. He 
 was an ardent disciple of Voltaire, and a deadly enemy 
 of the Catholic Church. Appointed secretary of 
 legation at London, he always received official visitors 
 with Tom Paine's " Age of Reason " ostentatiously 
 displayed on the table before him. He had the anti- 
 clerical cause so close at heart that, on hearing of the 
 peace of Tolentino, which disappointed his hope of 
 seeing the final destruction of the Holy See, he ran a 
 mile along the Uxbridge Road and threw himself into 
 the pond in Kensington Gardens. He was fished out 
 and resuscitated by a Dr. Carlisle. In the same 
 year he returned to Madrid and was promoted to the 
 rank of chief clerk in the office of the secretary of 
 State. 
 
 " Every Spanish minister," Blanco White tells us.
 
 120 Godoyi the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 " has a day apportioned in the course of the week — 
 called the Dia de Des-pacho — when he lays before the 
 king the contents of his portfolio, to dispose of them 
 according to his majesty's pleasure. The queen, who 
 is excessively fond of power, never fails to attend on 
 these occasions. The minister, during this audience, 
 stands, or, if desired, sits on a small stool placed 
 between him and the king and queen. The love of 
 patronage, not of business is, of course, the object 
 of the queen's assiduity ; while nothing but the love 
 of gossip enables her husband to endure the drudgery 
 of these sittings. 
 
 During Saavedra's ministry his majesty was highly 
 delighted with the premier's powers of conversation 
 and his inexhaustible fund of good stories. The 
 portfolio was laid upon the table ; the queen men- 
 tioned the names of her proteges, and the king, referring 
 all other business to the decision of the minister, began 
 a comfortable chat which lasted till bedtime. When 
 Saavedra was taken with sudden illness, the duty of 
 carrying the portfolio to the king devolved upon the 
 under-secretary. Urquijo's handsome person and 
 elegant manners made a deep impression upon the 
 queen ; and ten thousand whispers spread the im- 
 portant news the next morning that her majesty had 
 desired the young clerk to " take a seat." 
 
 This seat was only preparatory to one in the cabinet. 
 The queen persuaded herself that she was in love with 
 the under-secretary and longed to show the arrogant 
 Manuel that she could make others as she had made 
 him. The inopportune recovery of Saavedra upset 
 her plans for the moment. The minister perceived 
 he had a rival in his subordinate, and got the king to
 
 Godoy in the Background 121 
 
 name him his representative in Holland. Urquijo 
 had hardly started, however, before he was recalled. 
 Saavedra had definitely resigned, and Maria Luisa 
 at once suggested the under-secretary as his successor. 
 Charles adopted this proposal, chiefly to humour the 
 French, to whom he knew Urquijo's views would be 
 acceptable. 
 
 The young statesman fell in rather reluctantly 
 with these schemes for his own aggrandisement. He 
 knew that he was expected, in return, to make love to 
 her majesty, who, as her husband did not hesitate to 
 tell her, had become desperately old and ugly. More- 
 over, Urquijo already had a mistress, and she was 
 no other than Antonia, marquesa de Branciforte, 
 the sister of Godoy. Ambition in the long run 
 overcame both aversion and loyalty. With shut eyes 
 Urquijo swallowed the bait at a gulp, and was desig- 
 nated on February 21, 1799, as acting first secretary 
 of State. 
 
 This new appointment at first gave considerable 
 satisfaction to the predominant partner. " The views 
 of M. Urquijo on the liberties of the church of Spain 
 and the abuse of papal authority are infinitely sound," 
 wrote Alquier, the new French ambassador ; but his 
 views as to the liberties of the Spanish State and the 
 abuses of its ally's authority proved to be equally 
 firmly rooted. The Directory did not want another 
 Godoy at Madrid. Alquier intimated to King 
 Charles that the French Government would like to 
 see Azara, his ambassador in Paris, at the head of 
 the ministry. His catholic majesty, with more dignity 
 than was his wont, indignantly repudiated the right 
 of his ally to interfere in his choice of ministers. He
 
 122 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 had not, strangely enough, dared as much to save 
 Godoy, which rather encourages the belief that now 
 he was backed by his wife and that then he was not. 
 
 In June the administration which thus attempted 
 to dictate to its neighbours was no more. Whatever 
 hopes Charles may have cherished of being called to 
 the throne of France were revived by the resignation 
 of the Directory ; they were speedily dashed by the 
 events of the loth of Brumaire and the assumption 
 of the government of France by the great soldier 
 who was to tear the crown from off his brov/. 
 
 In his enthusiastic admiration for the First Consul, 
 the Spanish king forgot his disappointment. " At 
 the court and in the ministry," wrote the French 
 ambassadors, " general satisfaction is expressed. Per- 
 haps it is thought that this change in our government 
 is part of a scheme to restore tranquillity to Europe ; 
 for Spain has imperious need of peace." Peace, how- 
 ever, she was not to enjoy for many years to come. 
 If war at the bidding of the Directory was tolerable 
 by Charles, how much more was it tolerable in con- 
 junction with his favourite hero ! Here was no 
 longer an alliance with the regicides, but with the 
 young conqueror who had rescued the realm of 
 St. Louis from their blood-stained hands. 
 
 The Tsar had declared war against Charles because 
 he had refused to join the coalition against France. 
 Bonaparte recognised, as he had done in Italy, the 
 value of the republic's only independent ally. King 
 and First Consul vied with each other in the exchange 
 of courtiers. Musquitz, Azara's successor at the 
 Legation in Paris, was ordered by Charles to entertain 
 Mme Bonaparte at a banquet.
 
 URQUIJO. 
 
 Goya) 
 
 123
 
 Godoy in the Background 125 
 
 The Consul, rightly accounting Godoy to be still 
 one of the powers in Spain, sent him a magnificent 
 suit of damascened armour in token of his esteem. 
 This present was the one topic of conversation in 
 Madrid. Charles wanted to know why he had been 
 forgotten ; Maria Luisa asked whether the Consul 
 proposed to send her anything. Her majesty presently 
 received a superb breakfast-service and an exquisite 
 costume of muslin embroidered by the most skilful 
 hands in Paris.- Urquijo, as Prime Minister, could 
 not well be forgotten; in his character of an austere 
 philosopher, he selected as his presents a Bible and a 
 Vergil printed by Didot, to which was incongruously 
 added by the Consul a case of pistols. 
 
 Charles, without waiting for the arms promised him, 
 sent his new ally sixteen of his most beautiful horses, 
 each worth two to three hundred pounds. This 
 princely gift was despatched in charge of a veterinary 
 surgeon, a deputy master of the horse, and twenty- 
 four grooms, all wearing the Spanish arms. His 
 majesty expressed his desire that the members of the 
 escort should be given every facility for assisting at 
 mass while traversing French territory. Bonaparte 
 gave immediate orders to this effect. " Ah," said the 
 gratified monarch, " I recognise there the act of the 
 First Consul ! I know that he is a catholic, like me, 
 and rejoice that we are of the same religion." In his 
 delight his majesty commissioned David to execute 
 for him a life-size portrait of his new friend. The 
 horses were received by the Consul with every sign of 
 pleasure and gratitude ; but he kept poor Charles 
 waiting for his guns till May 1802. 
 
 By that time Spain had paid a long price for the 
 8
 
 126 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 gift to her sovereign. The new ruler of France 
 expressed his desire to augment the dignity of his good 
 ally's cousin, the young prince of Parma. Charles 
 and Maria Luisa listened rapturously to the tempter. 
 General Berthier was sent, with a great flourish of 
 trumpets, to Madrid to arrange matters to the liking 
 of his catholic majesty. On October I, 1800, a treaty 
 marked " preliminary and secret " was drawn up at 
 San Ildefonso. By the first and second articles the 
 First Consul bound himself to carve out of Tuscany 
 and the Roman Legations a kingdom of not less than 
 one million inhabitants for the prince ; but, in return, 
 Spain had to make her neighbour a present of six 
 line-of-battle ships and to surrender the whole of the 
 vast province of Louisiana, which she had acquired 
 from France forty years before. Spain had thus to 
 pay with an enormous slice of her empire for the 
 aggrandisement of her sovereign's family. 
 
 This treaty was signed by Urquijo, probably very 
 much against his will. He was a good friend of the 
 French republic, but he distrusted General Bona- 
 parte. He had already refused to send troops to 
 besiege Malta and ships to raise the blockade of the 
 Egyptian ports. The First Consul knew him for a 
 foe, and paid court, as we know, to Godoy. 
 
 Urquijo meanwhile pursued the same policy as 
 his rival, but with infinitely less tact and no success. 
 His hatred of the Church carried him altogether 
 beyond the pale of his countrymen's sympathies. 
 He aimed at emancipating the Spanish hierarchy 
 from the control of Rome, and ordered the trans- 
 lation of a Portuguese work by Pereira exposing the 
 exactions and abuses of the papal chancery. This
 
 Godoy in the Background 127 
 
 provoked a strongly worded remonstrance from 
 Casoni, the nuncio. The minister, backed hy the 
 French ambassador, handed him his passports. The 
 indignant cleric invoked the good offices of Godoy, 
 who, as he tells us, without in the least impugning 
 the policy of the Government, persuaded the king 
 to revoke the order of dismissal. 
 
 This incident did not teach Urquijo wisdom. He 
 continued his anti-clerical campaign, although both 
 the catholic and the French factions had now combined 
 to overthrow him. The marquises of Solis, of Villa 
 Lopez, of Casares, and of Santiago openly laboured to 
 secure the return of Godoy to the ministry. Yet on 
 October 7, 1800, the Prime Minister foolishly allowed 
 his rival to appear at court and to have a long audience 
 of Charles on the occasion of the birth of his only 
 daughter, Carlota Luisa. The queen stood sponsor 
 to the child, and the ceremony of baptism was con- 
 ducted with a splendour befitting a princess. The 
 little girl was, it is true, the great-granddaughter 
 of a king. It was plain to everybody, except to 
 Urquijo, that Maria Luisa was returning to her old 
 love. 
 
 She had never been able to secure even the lip- 
 worship of her last-created minister. Whether he 
 had remained true to the sister of his rival, or, like 
 him, had divided his affection between many women, 
 he had utterly failed to convince the queen of his 
 devotion. Still incensed against Godoy, her majesty 
 looked out for yet another lover in that nursery of 
 royal favourites, the royal guard. This time the 
 handkerchief was thrown to a South American named 
 Mallo, a personage who seems to have been little more
 
 128 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 than a proper noun. He was presumably pleasing 
 in form and feature, but of his character we know 
 nothing ; still, in their affected zeal for morality, 
 historians have bespattered him with every contemp- 
 tuous epithet in their respective languages. He was, 
 we are told, a coxcomb, an absurd, vain fop, an idiot, 
 un jeune fat sans intelligence . . . absolument nul. 
 Godoy himself could not have used him more 
 harshly. 
 
 Her majesty repaid the homage of her new swain 
 so well that presently every one noticed his apparent 
 wealth and prosperity. One day the king observed 
 him driving up to the palace in a brilliant equipage 
 drawn by four superb horses. Charles turned to 
 Godoy : " Who is this Mallo ? " he asked. " Every 
 day I see him with a new turn-out. Where does he 
 get his money ? " " Sire," replied the ex-minister, 
 glancing with a bitter smile towards the queen, 
 " Mallo has not a penny of his own ; but they say 
 he is kept by some toothless old woman who robs 
 her husband to enrich her lover." The king chuckled 
 and turned to his wife. " Do you hear that, Luisa ? 
 what do you think of that, eh ? " " Oh, it is probably 
 one of Manuel's jokes," replied her majesty, with a 
 wry smile. 
 
 It was a joke that she was forced to forgive. Says 
 Blanco White : " Mallo's day of prosperity was but 
 short. His vanity, coxcombry, and folly displeased 
 the king and alarmed the queen ; but in the first 
 ardour of her attachments she generally had the 
 weakness of committing her feelings to writing. Mallo 
 possessed a collection of her letters. Wishing to rid 
 herself of that absurd, vain fop, and yet dreading an
 
 Godoy in the Background 129 
 
 exposure, she employed Godoy in the recovery of 
 her written tokens. Mallo's house was surrounded 
 with soldiers in the dead of night, and he was forced 
 to yield the precious manuscripts into the hands of 
 his rival. The latter, however, was too well aware 
 of their value to deliver them to the writer ; and he 
 is said to have kept them as a powerful charm, if not 
 to secure his mistress's affection, at least to subdue 
 her fits of fickleness and jealousy. Mallo was soon 
 banished and forgotten." 
 
 However episodical, this " absurd, vain fop," by 
 supplanting Urquijo in the queen's regard, had de- 
 prived him of the only friend capable of withstanding 
 the forces now massed ao;ainst him. He had infuri- 
 ated Bonaparte by ordering Mazarredo, the admiral 
 commanding the Spanish fleet now locked up in 
 Brest harbour by the English, to force the blockade 
 and to concentrate his ships at Cadiz. This plan 
 was so contrary to the designs of the First Consul 
 that he resolved to send an ambassador to Madrid 
 whose remonstrances must be listened to as com- 
 mands. He made choice of his brother Lucien. 
 In this appointment Godoy saw a deliberate attempt 
 to overawe the court of the catholic king. 
 
 On November 17 he wrote to the queen urging 
 that Azara should be instructed to protest against 
 this embassy as irregular and uncalled for. Urquijo 
 acted upon his rival's advice and despatched the 
 note of protest next day; but, anticipating such an 
 objection, Lucien hastened on his journey, left his 
 escort at Vittoria, took post, and, to the boundless 
 surprise of the court, presented himself at the Escurial 
 accompanied by a single servant.
 
 13° Godoy: the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 Godoy denies that this ambassador's arrival brought 
 about the downfall of Urquijo. His doom, he insists, 
 was sealed by a letter addressed by the newly elected 
 Pope, Pius VII,, to the king complaining of the 
 anti-clerical policy of his Government and adjuring 
 his majesty to banish his godless advisers. This 
 admonition frightened Charles. He sent for Godoy 
 and told him that he could not and would not coun- 
 tenance the policy of his minister any longer. He 
 had resolved upon dismissing him. It only remained 
 for Manuel to suggest a successor. 
 
 The prince modestly deprecated any such inter- 
 ference on his part, but at last proceeded to read 
 out from the ofhcial almanac a list of noblemen and 
 statesmen who might be said to have qualified for 
 high office. He paused significantly at the name of 
 Azara. " No," said the king, " he is a good man, 
 but too devoted to Bonaparte ; go on." " Cuesta ? " 
 *' A good man, too, but one I could not get on with." 
 " Ceballos ? " " Ah-ha ! the very man ; what think 
 you ? " 
 
 Godoy reflected. Ceballos, when secretary of the 
 legation at Lisbon, had married his cousin, Doiia 
 Josefa Alvarez de Faria ; he had advanced him ;^i8o 
 on that occasion, and had obtained for him succes- 
 sively the posts of minister at Naples and counsellor 
 of the Treasury. " A good man indeed," he replied 
 at length, " but one so closely associated with me 
 that, in his appointment, the public would see my 
 hand and believe that he was my creature." " Pooh ! " 
 said Charles, " the public know that I am king in 
 Spain — that it is I who choose my ministers and 
 rule through them. Ceballos it shall be.'^ But as
 
 Godoy in the Background 131 
 
 a preliminary step Urquijo was abruptly deprived by 
 royal decree of his authority and offices and ordered 
 to retire, without an instant's delay, to his native 
 province of Guipuzcoa, there to attend the king's 
 further pleasure concerning him.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE WAR OF THE ORANGE-TREES 
 
 Ceballos was now secretary of State, and Godoy 
 
 might use him as a mouthpiece ; but, to the favourite's 
 
 no slight annoyance, Caballero continued in ofhce. 
 
 Godoy marvels why, and asks how such a man could 
 
 have obtained such empire over the king. The 
 
 explanation, says Major Hume, to those who have 
 
 studied the old history of Spain will be as apparent 
 
 as that of the rise of Godoy himself. " It was the 
 
 kernel of the political system of Charles V. and 
 
 Philip II. to have for Prime Minister a man of the 
 
 sovereign's own making, and to give him colleagues of 
 
 violently antagonistic opinions ; so that the sovereign 
 
 might always hold the balance." Charles IV. was 
 
 frightened at his own infatuation for Godoy, and 
 
 regarded Caballero as a check upon it. 
 
 Godoy's first task was to put the new and unwelcome 
 ambassador from France in a good humour. He 
 succeeded beyond his wildest hopes. Lucien recog- 
 nised in the Prince of the Peace a good fellow and a 
 kindred soul. He wrote off to Paris : " They shower 
 favours on me; I have broken through the barriers 
 of etiquette. I am received when I like and in 
 private. I talk business with the king and the queen. 
 The Prince of the Peace, far from being alarmed, is 
 pleased." Lucien, also, was so pleased with his 
 
 132
 
 The War of the Orange^trees 133 
 
 reception at Madrid, so immersed in the pleasures 
 carefully provided by Godoy, that he forgot till the 
 eleventh hour to remind the Spanish Government of 
 his brother's desire that a fleet should be sent to the 
 mouth of the Nile. The Prince of the Peace promised 
 to look into the matter ; but, before the vessels were 
 despatched, the French army in Egypt had capitulated. 
 
 The ratification of the treaty of San Ildefonso was 
 not to be put off after the traditional Spanish fashion. 
 Charles and Maria Luisa were anxious to secure the 
 kingdom of Etruria for the young prince of Parma, 
 who was not only their cousin but their son-in-law. 
 He had married the infanta Maria Luisa, thanks to 
 the intervention of Godoy, who had noticed that he 
 preferred her to her sister. The exchange of the 
 vast province of Louisiana for an Italian kingdom 
 the favourite, on the whole, approved. The colony 
 was separated from the other continental Spanish 
 possessions by vast desert tracts, was difficult to 
 defend and expensive to maintain, and in the hands 
 of France might prove a bulwark against the further 
 expansion of the United States in the direction of 
 Mexico. He protested, but in vain, against the 
 cession, in addition, of the duchy of Parma, and post- 
 poned the ratification of the compact till a clause had 
 been inserted in the treaty of Luneville, agreed between 
 Bonaparte and the empire on February 9, 1801, 
 which guaranteed the dispossessed duke compensation 
 in Germany. 
 
 Having made the best terms he could for the 
 father, Godoy packed the son off to Paris to make 
 his bow to the arbiter of Europe and to cement the 
 bond between France and Spain. The young princess
 
 134 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 was a little alarmed at thus putting her head into the 
 lion's jaws ; but the welcome extended by the French 
 Government and people soon dispelled her fears. 
 
 The vanity of the First Consul was immensely 
 tickled at this spectacle of a Bourbon prince coming 
 to Paris to receive a crown from the head of the 
 republic. He also expected that the visit would cure 
 the French people of any lingering fondness for their 
 old royal house. The newly made king of Etruria 
 was a young fool. " You see," said Bonaparte de- 
 lightedly, " what these princes are, sprung from the 
 old blood, and especially those who have been educated 
 at the southern courts. How can we entrust them 
 with the government of nations ? However, there 
 is no harm in having exhibited to the people this 
 specimen of the Bourbons." It is not impossible that 
 the infante's incapacity may have led the great man 
 to question his father-in-law's fitness to rule ; but the 
 royal pair were dismissed with the consular benedic- 
 tion, and were installed at Florence on August 12. 
 
 At peace with all the continental Powers, Bonaparte 
 determined to deprive England of her only ally on 
 the mainland. Portugal, in spite of treaties made 
 and broken, proposed but not ratified, persisted in her 
 allegiance to the mistress of the seas. The little 
 kingdom could only be reached through Spain. 
 Lucien was charged to win over the Prince of the 
 Peace and to overcome the king's repugnance to an 
 attack on his neighbour. France asked Spain to join 
 her in an attempt to bring Portugal to reason or else 
 to stand aside and let her do the work alone. An 
 ally could not fairly refuse both alternatives. It was 
 not necessary, as has been absurdly suggested, to bring
 
 The War of the Orange4rees 135 
 
 pressure or cajolery to bear upon Godoy to adopt 
 this view, and Lucien, his crony and well-wisher, was 
 not the man to have employed such means. 
 
 The proposal, made in the first instance to Ceballos, 
 was referred by the king to his favourite. Manuel 
 unhesitatingly replied that this was an excellent 
 opportunity to subdue the sister kingdom, " to make 
 it Spain's, or at least to occupy it till peace was made 
 with England " ; and that it would be far better for 
 Spain to do this than to let the French snatch the 
 prize within her grasp. This opinion was sub- 
 stantially the same as that given by Campomanes 
 and other members of the Council. There can be 
 no doubt as to its wisdom. 
 
 Charles still hesitated to attack his son-in-law. He 
 insisted that the Portuguese regent should first be 
 offered every reasonable chance of breaking off the 
 connection with England ; he pleaded want of money. 
 Godoy agreed to the presentation of an ultimatum, 
 and countered the objection by a proposal to tax 
 the Church for the expenses of the campaign. The 
 clergy, he observed slily, ought to be glad to pay to 
 keep the wicked French out of the country. 
 
 Charles wrote several letters personally to his 
 daughter and her husband, beseeching them to accede 
 to the French demands while there yet was time. 
 The plucky Portuguese rejected all his overtures and 
 stood to their arms. On February 28, 1801, war 
 was declared between Spain and Portugal. Godoy, 
 appointed generalissimo of the Spanish forces, fever- 
 ishly hurried on his preparations, determined that 
 the French should have no share in the victory. 
 The army had been left in a deplorable state by his
 
 1 36 Godoy : the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 predecessors in power ; as late as the preceding 
 August the French ambassador had called attention 
 to its desperate inefficiency ^ ; yet by the beginning 
 of May the Prince of the Peace had concentrated 
 a force, amounting altogether to 60,000 men, along 
 the frontier from the Minho to Algarve. 
 
 On the 14th of the month he assumed command of 
 the main army of 30,000 men stationed at his native 
 city of Badajoz. The campaign that followed was 
 short and creditable to Spain. On the 20th the 
 frontier fortresses of Olivenza and Juromenha capi- 
 tulated. The Spaniards advanced to the assault of 
 Elvas, the strongest place in Portugal. In the gardens 
 or on the glacis, a light infantryman intrepidly 
 plucked a branch from an orange-tree under the 
 enemies' guns. The trophy was presented by the 
 generalissimo to Maria Luisa, who reviewed the troops 
 at Badajoz clad in a semi-military uniform. The 
 incident has been made the subject of ridicule by 
 the enemies of Godoy, I don't know on what grounds. 
 Any object snatched under the guns of the enemy 
 may be at once a proof of valour and a pledge of 
 future victory. Elvas was closely besieged ; on 
 May 29 the Portuguese were defeated at Arronches ; 
 on June 6 Campomajor capitulated, and the court 
 of Lisbon solicited a peace. 
 
 For the first time for centuries the Spaniards had 
 beaten their next-door neighbours in a stand-up 
 light and wiped out a long tale of defeats and insult. 
 
 ^ M. de Grandmaison, who quotes this despatch, condemns Godoy 
 for the tardiness of his preparations. A military writer, General 
 Arteche, praises him for the rapidity with which the mobilisation was 
 effected.
 
 The War of the Orange<trccs i37 
 
 The Garde de Corps, who had so far done military 
 duty only in the lobbies of the palace, had proved 
 himself a soldier and a captain. He had also proved him- 
 self a statesman, for he had brought the campaign 
 to this happy conclusion without the help of a single 
 French battalion and shown Bonaparte that Spain 
 could do without her ally. 
 
 By the time 8,000 French troops had been assembled 
 at Ciudad Rodrigo and before Gouvion Saint-Cyr had 
 arrived at Madrid to claim the supreme command 
 of the allied army on behalf of the First Consul, the 
 plenipotentiaries of Spain and Portugal had met to 
 settle the terms of peace at Badajoz. Portugal bound 
 herself to close her ports against English shipping 
 'and ceded to Spain the important town of Olivenza 
 with the territory adjoining. This treaty bears the 
 date July 6. On the same day Lucien Bonaparte, 
 on behalf of the French Government, accepted an 
 indemnity of 20,000,000 francs and the closing 
 of her ports against England as Portugal's price of 
 peacef. 
 
 The rage of Napoleon knew no bounds when news 
 reached him of the conclusion of the war. He desired 
 nothing less than the occupation of Lisbon and Oporto. 
 He was at that moment in negotiation with England, 
 and felt that those cities would have been trump 
 cards in his hands. He sent couriers flying to Badajoz 
 to prevent the ratification of the treaty. They came 
 too late. Gouvion Saint-Cyr, already on the spot, 
 had protested in vain. Charles was at Badajoz and 
 Godoy had secured from him the ratification of the 
 treaty " before the ink wherewith it was writ could 
 dry." The Spanish generalissimo pointed out that
 
 138 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 the treaty was now irrevocable, and defended it on 
 the grounds that the primary object of the war had 
 been achieved and that " his catholic majesty was 
 above all things anxious to relieve his subjects of the 
 burden of war and from the inconvenience imposed 
 by the sojourn among them of foreign forces, however 
 well behaved these might be." 
 
 The First Consul found it difficult to frame a reply 
 to these bold words. He pretended to believe that 
 Godoy had been bought by England, and he re- 
 fused to ratify the treaty concluded by Lucien. He 
 announced his intention of keeping his troops in 
 Spain till he had settled terms with Portugal to his 
 liking, and declared that if the king and queen, at the 
 instigation of the Prince of the Peace, should take 
 any measures at variance with the dignity of the 
 French republic, the knell of the Spanish monarchy 
 would be sounded. 
 
 The worst of these threats do not seem to have 
 been officially communicated to Godoy. He made 
 matters worse by complaining that the number of 
 the French troops in Spain exceeded the stipulated 
 number and by refusing to feed the surplus forces. 
 He also threatened to withdraw the Spanish fleet 
 from Brest. Napoleon rushed to Azara. " Are your 
 monarchs tired of reigning, that their minister dares 
 to provoke me thus ? " he thundered. The am- 
 bassador, remarkably enough, succeeded in calming 
 him, and repeated that his sovereign's sole desire was 
 to relieve his people of burdens which they could not 
 endure. Talleyrand also helped to moderate the 
 First Consul's wrath by pointing out that France was 
 now released from all obligations to her ally and could
 
 The War of the Orange^trees 139 
 
 without scruple facilitate the peace negotiations by- 
 abandoning Trinidad to the English. 
 
 The conqueror took this hint and dissembled his 
 indignation. He did not even recall his brother, 
 but suffered him to conclude another treaty with 
 Portugal, by which the war indemnity was increased 
 to 25 millions and an enormous quantity of the crown 
 jewels of the house of Braganza was transferred to the 
 First Consul for his private use. The French troops, 
 to the immense relief of the Spaniards, immediately 
 recrossed the Pyrenees. 
 
 In the same month the Spanish Government learned 
 that, by the preliminary treaty of peace signed at 
 London, France had agreed to the annexation of 
 her ally's island to the English dominions. It was 
 resolved to ignore the negotiations, so that Spain 
 might perhaps have an opportunity of making a 
 separate peace with England. Azara was, however, 
 instructed to protest against this sacrifice by France 
 of an ally who had suffered so much and so long in 
 her cause. Bonaparte immediately retorted by de- 
 manding his authority for making such a protest, 
 as no communication had been addressed to him by 
 the court of Madrid on the subject. The Consul 
 would probably have troubled himself little about 
 Spain's abstention from the negotiations, but the 
 English ambassador insisted that she should formally 
 ratify the cession of Trinidad. 
 
 Gouvion Saint-Cyr was told to demand of King 
 Charles that Azara should be appointed his represen- 
 tative at the forthcoming conference at Amiens. 
 The French general was also instructed to explain 
 that Spain's own breach of faith in the Portuguese
 
 140 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 war had brought about the loss of the island, and to 
 inform the king that the Consul was profoundly 
 dissatisfied with the behaviour of the Prince of the 
 Peace. It does not appear that this despatch was 
 actually repeated.^ Bonaparte's agents often enough 
 extracted the venom from their master's messages 
 before delivering them. Very reluctantly, however, the 
 king appointed Azara his plenipotentiary at Amiens, 
 where on March 23, 1802, peace was signed between 
 England and France and the latter Power's allies, 
 Spain and Holland, with the loss to these of Trinidad 
 and Ceylon respectively. 
 
 Godoy assures us that Spain resigned the West 
 Indian island willingly enough in the interest of 
 general peace, and appears to think that she got off 
 lightly. Against the island she could certainly set 
 her recent conquest, Olivenza. He also denies that 
 any pressure was brought to bear on Charles by the 
 First Consul, who publicly thanked his ally for having 
 made so generous a sacrifice in the cause of humanity. 
 Godoy probably felt himself responsible for the loss 
 which he here attempts to minimise, by his action 
 with regard to Portugal. His conduct needed no 
 such flimsy and obviously insincere defence. He 
 need have indulged no sentiments of remorse. Bona- 
 parte did not spare his other ally, Holland, which 
 had given him no cause for dissatisfaction, real or 
 pretended. If Spain had burnt Lisbon and Oporto 
 to the ground, Bonaparte would have sacrificed her 
 territories to redeem the French colonies in English 
 possession. 
 
 1 " Rien ne marque le sejour de Gouvion Saint-Cyr a Madrid." — 
 Grandraaison.
 
 LUCIEN BONAPARTE, 
 
 141
 
 ,The War of the Orange^trees 143 
 
 In bringing the war with Portugal to an ea.vly con- 
 clusion Godoy certainly acted in the best interests 
 of the peninsula. Had French troops taken part 
 in the conquest they would not have quitted the 
 country till the peace, which, for all Godoy knew, 
 might have been very long in coming. Moreover, the 
 English might have sent an army to assist the Portu- 
 guese, and Spain itself might thus have become, as 
 it did later, the scene of the final struggle between 
 French and British. And even had Godoy wished 
 to act otherwise, it is certain that his master would 
 never have allowed the war against his daughter's 
 husband to be fought to the last ditch. 
 
 Lucien Bonaparte, for one, was so pleased with 
 the result of the brief campaign that he thought the 
 moment favourable for an alliance of a more intimate 
 character than before between the courts of Paris and 
 Madrid. On hearing of the signature of the prelimin- 
 aries of peace at London, he came at a late hour of the 
 night to see Godoy, and began to talk about the Euro- 
 pean situation. Among the other Governments he 
 spoke of that of Naples, and described it as " devoted to 
 the British and a disturber of the peace of Europe." 
 " That may be so," replied Godoy, " but the king of 
 Naples is likely to join the alliance of Spain and 
 Etruria with France, for our king proposes to marry 
 the prince of Asturias to one of his daughters, and 
 the infanta Maria Isabel to Prince Leopold of Naples." 
 " Dissuade the king from any such project," cried 
 Lucien. " My brother would prefer to depose the 
 king of Naples and put an infante of Spain in his 
 place. Moreover " — the tone of the ambassador 
 became confidential — " the infanta Maria Isabel 
 
 9
 
 144 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 may become a bond the more between France and 
 Spain." 
 
 " My brother," continued Lucien, " is a great 
 power in himself. He will share his glory with 
 Spain, the comrade of France. As to minor difhcul- 
 ties, there is no need to dwell on them — all things, 
 human and divine, may be set aside in the interest 
 of nations." 
 
 Godoy understood that Lucien was proposing the 
 king of Spain's daughter as bride for his brother, 
 the husband of another living woman. The favourite 
 piqued himself upon his advanced notions ; he was 
 no devotee and certainly no puritan ; but to a man 
 brought up in catholic and monarchical Spain such 
 a proposal must have seemed the grossest of insults 
 to his country and its sovereign. " The difficulty 
 of framing a reply," he writes, " may be imagined. 
 Assuring him of my appreciation of this fresh proof 
 of friendship and confidence, I took refuge in vague 
 words which I seasoned as well as I could with praises 
 of his brother, and endeavoured to conceal the sur- 
 prise and the impression produced in me by so grave 
 a proposal." 
 
 Godoy was convinced that this extraordinary, 
 scheme originated in the mind of Napoleon himself, 
 and saw in it the explanation of his cordiality towards 
 the king and queen of Etruria. To Napoleon, on 
 the other hand, the suggestion was represented by 
 his brother as having come from Maria Luisa. There 
 seems no doubt that it was as unacceptable to the 
 First Consul as it was repugnant to the Spanish 
 court, and that it was conceived in the lively brain 
 of Lucien and nowhere else. It was part of the cam-
 
 The War of the OrangC'trees 145 
 
 paign waged against the barren Josephine by her 
 husband's family. When reproached by her, the 
 young man answered that he had set his duty to the 
 State above his affection for her. 
 
 This intrigue and his conduct of the negotiations 
 with Portugal earned him so many rebukes from his 
 brother that on December 10, 1801, he threw up his 
 embassy and returned with his usual impetuosity to 
 Paris. The wealth with which he was loaded not 
 unreasonably inspired the First Consul with sus- 
 picions of his good faith. He had endeavoured to 
 acknowledge the favours he had received from the 
 Spanish ministers by handsome presents. Napoleon 
 refused point blank to make any acknowledgment 
 to the Prince of the Peace, of whom, he said, he 
 might make use, but for whom he had nothing but 
 contempt. The great Corsican was so fortunately 
 constituted as always to be able to despise those who 
 thwarted him. 
 
 King Charles quivered with rage when his favourite 
 reported to him the proposal of the French am- 
 bassador. " So," he exclaimed, " it is my family 
 that they would select for this scandal ! " He 
 ordered the negotiations for the double alliance with 
 the house of Naples to be hurried on. The infanta 
 Maria Isabel was to wed the crown prince of that 
 kingdom ; this prince's sister, Maria Antonia, was to 
 marry his bride's brother, the prince of Asturias. 
 Godoy approved the first match ; as to the second, 
 he shook his head. Being alone with the king, he 
 suggested that it might be better to postpone the 
 prince's marriage till his education was completed. 
 The king looked grave : " I know what you mean,"
 
 146 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 he said, " Ferdinand is backward. But do you 
 believe that by delaying his marriage a year or two 
 his deficiencies might be remedied ? " 
 
 With considerable trepidation Godoy replied that 
 he had not much faith in the education imparted 
 by tutors — that at any rate, it did not seem, so far, 
 to have done the prince much good ; but he ventured 
 to recommend that his royal highness might receive 
 considerable benefit from a couple of years' travel in 
 the company of carefully selected mentors. Charles 
 admitted the wisdom of this counsel, but objected that 
 the prince might, in the disturbed state of Europe, 
 be exposed to accident and might be perverted by the 
 evil influence of some foreign court. 
 
 Godoy made no further demur. He was well 
 aware that his proposal would be looked upon as a 
 scheme to rid himself of the persistent hostility of 
 the prince ; and so it is generally regarded. If this 
 was, in fact, the favourite's motive, it was abundantly 
 justified by the course Ferdinand was presently to 
 pursue ; just as the prince's whole life and character 
 warranted the criticisms on his education. Moreover, 
 nothing could have been more offensive to Napoleon 
 than this alliance of the future king of Spain with 
 the daughter of his bitter enemy and traducer. Queen 
 Maria Carolina of Naples, the friend of Nelson and 
 the English. 
 
 The double marriage, notwithstanding, was cele- 
 brated at Madrid on October 4, 1802. The ceremonial 
 and public rejoicings were carried out on a. scale that 
 exhausted Spain could ill afford ; and the people 
 were delighted at this alliance of their royal house 
 with the most imperilled throne in Christendom,
 
 The War of the Orange-trees 147 
 
 King Charles gratified thousands of his subjects in 
 the least expensive way by conferring titles and 
 orders. The Neapolitan cross of San Gennaro was 
 given so freely that it was said to be worth no more 
 than an egg. The whole royal family was united— 
 the king and queen of Etruria had come over to witness 
 the ceremony. Spain rejoiced as if she had known 
 that she would rejoice no more for many a long day. 
 
 To this period of Godoy's ascendency belongs an 
 attempt to extend Spanish influence over northern 
 Africa. In the year 1801 the favourite was ap- 
 proached by Don Domingo Badia y Leblich, a native 
 of Barcelona, who had devoted most of his life to 
 the study of oriental languages and Mohammedan 
 institutions. This learned and adventurous person 
 appealed to the Government to utilise his knowledge 
 by sending him on a scientific expedition to Africa, 
 to be extended perhaps to Asia. Godoy approved the 
 project, which he thought might open new markets 
 to Spanish trade and result in scientific discoveries 
 of importance. Spain, rightly argued the favourite, 
 ought by her geographical position to absorb the 
 lion's share of commerce between Europe and Western 
 Africa. Badia was therefore told to prepare for his 
 mission, which he did in the most thorough fashion. 
 He perfected his knowledge of Arabic, he underwent 
 the rite of circumcision, he practised all the observances 
 of the Moslems, and cultivated a flowing beard. 
 When he was ready for departure he looked every 
 inch what he gave himself out to be — Ali Bey Ben 
 Othman Bey, the last descendant of the Abbasside 
 sultans who had once ruled in Spain. 
 
 In this character he was received with the utmost
 
 148 Godoy : the Quecn^s Favourite 
 
 respect and courtesy by Mulai Suleyman, the reign- 
 ing sultan of Morocco. He was housed in a palace 
 and presented with his Shereefian majesty's choicest 
 slaves. Having obtained the confidence and admira- 
 tion of his host, the wily Catalan took a survey 
 of the political situation of Morocco. The sultan 
 was a devotee and a fanatic, unpopular with his 
 subjects, and bitterly opposed to any intercourse 
 with Europeans. His authority had long been dis- 
 puted by a pretender named Ahmed, with whose son, 
 Hisham, the adventurer entered into negotiations. 
 In return for the assistance of Spain, the rebel chief 
 was willing to cede the whole kingdom of Fez. 
 
 Godoy rejoiced at this opportunity of gaining a 
 firm foothold on a continent then almost free of 
 European domination. Upon the report of Badia, 
 he ordered the Marquis de la Solana to equip an 
 expedition at Cadiz upon the pretext that the Moors 
 were about to attack the Spanish settlements on the 
 Mediterranean coast. He had no scruple about 
 attacking the hereditary foes of Christendom, who 
 had resolutely refused ever to conclude a definite 
 peace with Spain. 
 
 So far these designs had had the approval of the 
 king ; but at the last moment there came a letter 
 from Badia, alluding to the hospitality with which 
 he had been treated by the sultan and the confid- 
 ence reposed in him. Charles cried out upon the 
 treason which was in contemplation. " I will never 
 permit hospitality to be turned to the ruin of one 
 who has offered it so generously," he declared. " Let 
 Badia continue his travels, but let us not so ill requite 
 the favours he has received from this Moorish prince."
 
 The War of the Orange^trecs 149 
 
 And to this determination his catholic majesty 
 adhered. To his intense mortification Godoy was com- 
 pelled to countermand the orders he had issued, and 
 to instruct the Catalan to extricate himself as quickly 
 as possible from his risky position. His foresight was 
 defeated by his sovereign's honesty. Hisham suc- 
 ceeded in establishing an independent kingdom for 
 himself without foreign help, thus proving that it 
 would have been within his power to fulfil his pro- 
 mises. Had Godoy's advice been followed, Spain 
 might have won an African empire to console her for 
 the loss of her American dominions ; but the golden 
 opportunity was wasted, and the future of Northern 
 Africa no longer lies with Spain.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 GODOY VERSUS NAPOLEON 
 
 Though holding only the purely military office of 
 generalissimo, Godoy was now universally regarded 
 at home and abroad as solely responsible for the 
 policy, internal and external, of Spain. It is im- 
 possible for historians brought up under a consti- 
 tutional regime to imagine a king having any voice 
 in the government of his own kingdom. The despot 
 is looked upon by them as a ruler irresponsible in the 
 medical as well as the constitutional sense of the term. 
 " Because," complains Godoy, " the king distinguished 
 me on all occasions with singular marks of friendship 
 and affection, taking no step in foreign affairs without 
 my advice and communicating through me with 
 ambassadors ; because he consulted me frequently 
 on home affairs and placed me finally at the head of 
 our land and sea forces, entrusting to me the task 
 of reforming them — it was natural to suppose that I 
 was everything in the Government and that all power 
 was concentrated in my person. But this was not 
 so. Nothing was undertaken, not even a measure of 
 army reform, except through the ordinary ministerial 
 channels. Charles IV. consulted and listened to all 
 his ministers ; no business was transacted or decided 
 without them ; and, though the king may have fol- 
 lowed my advice in political matters, those of a con- 
 
 150
 
 Godoy versus Napoleon 151 
 
 trary opinion had always the opportunity of expressing 
 their views. The king never shut his eyes or acted 
 blindly or by routine upon my advice. Far from 
 doing so, in certain very grave matters he acted upon 
 counsels altogether opposed to mine." 
 
 His majesty, at all events, always hearkened to his 
 favourite's appeals on behalf of his subjects. Godoy 
 could so little command the ministers of the crown 
 that directly, contrary to his advice, Cornel, the new 
 Minister for War, refused to admit the traditional 
 exemption of the people of Valencia from service in 
 the militia. The Valencians rose in insurrection to 
 maintain their liberties. Caballero and Cornel at 
 once proposed to march an army of twelve thousand 
 men into the province to crush the rising with fire 
 and sword. Godoy and Ceballos were for milder 
 measures. The generalissimo published an appeal to 
 the king in the Gazette, reminding him of the loyal 
 services of the Valencians as volunteers in the late 
 war and begging that the militia laws might be sus- 
 pended till he had completed his scheme for the 
 reorganisation of all the forces of the crown. His 
 majesty at once announced that he had granted this 
 request. The insurrection immediately ceased, and, 
 to the disgust of Caballero, the prince succeeded, two 
 months after, in extracting from the king an amnesty 
 for all but seven or eight of the insurgents. The 
 favourite justly prides himself on this almost blood- 
 less extinction of a formidable revolt ; but clemency 
 is not a virtue much esteemed by his countrymen, 
 who continue to blame him and his master for what 
 they consider a weak surrender to the forces of 
 disorder.
 
 152 Godoy : the Quecn^s Favourite 
 
 Yet Spaniards could not afford to quarrel with 
 each other, for it became every day plainer that the 
 peace between England and France was but a truce. 
 At any moment Spain might be again called upon 
 to take side in the war of the Titans. Neither of 
 the two great Powers was willing to execute all 
 the provisions of the treaty of Amiens. England 
 would not give up Malta, France would not evacuate 
 Holland. The dispute could not be composed. 
 The First Consul, in conference with the English 
 ambassador, proceeded from words almost literally 
 to blows. On May 18, 1803, the two countries were 
 again at war. The fight to a finish had begun. 
 
 By the treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain was bound to 
 draw the sword in defence of her ally ; but Godoy 
 kept it sheathed. Court and country were weary of 
 war. The loss of Trinidad had shown them what 
 Napoleon's friendship was worth. Since then he had 
 shown his contempt by selling Louisiana, immediately 
 upon its cession by Spain, for cash down to the 
 United States, the very Power she least desired as a 
 neighbour. Charles retaliated by forbidding the 
 importation of foreign cotton goods — a measure which 
 hit French industry hard. Other pin-pricks warned 
 Napoleon that his ally was no longer to be trusted. 
 Ceballos was known to incline to an English alliance. 
 The conqueror had to stoop so far as to attempt to 
 conciliate Godoy. 
 
 Beurnonville, the new French ambassador, was 
 ordered to discuss with him the policy of the kingdom. 
 He reports : " He is as amiable as he can possibly 
 be in our social relations, but I am dissatisfied with 
 him as regards politics. He affects the greatest
 
 Godoy versus Napoleon 153 
 
 frankness, no doubt to conceal the falseness which 
 I suspect. Every time I speak about the vexations 
 suffered by our commerce he pretends that these 
 details are foreign to him and that his influence is 
 confined to high political questions. He then repeats 
 some phrase which has been taught him by his 
 attendant de mi-savants. He has the pretension to 
 pass for a great man ; yet, when you have spoken 
 twice with him, you are astonished to see all Spain 
 at his feet. But he directs everything and we must 
 gain him or overthrow him." 
 
 It was not easy to do either. As Godoy held no 
 cabinet rank, he could always deftly shift respon- 
 sibility on to the shoulders of the ministers ; and 
 these, if bullied by France, were capable of carrying 
 the country into the arms of England. Ceballos 
 refused to believe in the possibility of a revival of 
 hostilities and would do nothing to increase the 
 armaments of the kingdom. Beurnonville and Frere, 
 his English colleague, bid against each other for the 
 support of Godoy. The prince adopted a double- 
 dealing policy, and seems to have been guilty of 
 betraying the confidences of the Englishman to the 
 Frenchman. Perhaps he thought this was the cheapest 
 way of conciliating France. It may have been for 
 the same reason that he made a point of asking the 
 king to dismiss Ceballos in June 1803, with a fore- 
 knowledge of his refusal. All the ministers wished 
 to avoid war ; but of the two Powers, France was 
 undoubtedly the more dangerous to Spain. England 
 could singe the king of Spain's beard ; France could 
 strike at his heart. 
 
 Upon the rupture of the peace of Amiens, Napo-
 
 154 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 leon called on Spain to comply with the treaty of 
 1796. Godoy insisted that the peace had released 
 Spain from her obligations. He proposed to remain 
 the friend of France and at peace with England at 
 the same time. He had abundantly satisfied the 
 French as to the fragility of his country's armaments. 
 He suggested that France, instead of a contingent of 
 men, might be ready to accept an advantageous com- 
 mercial treaty. This was objected to by Ceballos as 
 likely to promote discontent among the industrial 
 classes. This was to appeal to the king on his weakest 
 side. He wished, at all costs, to live at peace with 
 his own people. Ceballos proposed to substitute a 
 subsidy in money for a subsidy of men. Godoy, who 
 is usually credited himself with this suggestion, 
 demurred to it ; he argued that it would be tanta- 
 mount to a declaration of war against England. But, 
 as Beurnonville admits, the influence of Ceballos 
 had just then most weight with the monarch. His 
 counsel was adopted, and an offer of help in some 
 other shape than men and ships was communicated 
 to France on July 7, 1803. 
 
 Rightly or wrongly, the Spanish Government 
 thought fit, about the same time, to concentrate 
 large bodies of militia at Valladolid and Burgos, in 
 order, I suppose, to remind Napoleon that Spain 
 was not helpless. The neutral attitude was, more- 
 over, persisted in too far. Two French vessels, the 
 Prudent and the Timoleon, were taken by the English 
 under the guns of the fort of Carnero, without 
 the Spaniards' firing a shot to save them. The 
 governors of Malaga and Algeciras looked on with 
 indifference at similar violations of Spanish waters.
 
 Godoy versus Napoleon 155 
 
 A French squadron was refused admission, under 
 quarantine regulations, to the harbour of Corunna. 
 
 " All this will end," shrieked the irascible Corsican, 
 " in a clap of thunder," He continued to rave about 
 the vileness of the Prince of the Peace and the un- 
 speakable contempt he felt for him, but he never 
 doubted that he was the only -^ man in Spain capable 
 of withstanding him. Since Godoy could not be 
 conciliated he should go. Beurnonville was ordered 
 to wait on the prince and inform him that, if a single 
 Spanish soldier advanced towards the frontier, he, 
 the ambassador, would be superseded by 100,000 
 French bayonets. Godoy, probably expecting some 
 such outburst on the part of Napoleon, affected to 
 hear the announcement with surprise, but did not 
 seem frightened. 
 
 A few days after, the reply arrived to the proposal 
 of Ceballos. France demanded a subsidy of six 
 millions of francs a month or alternatively the dis- 
 missal of the English ambassador. This summons 
 was delivered at the end of July. The court was 
 about to proceed on its usual summer outing to 
 La Granja. Before his departure Charles wrote to 
 Godoy as follows : " My dear Manuel, I do not wish 
 to quarrel with the First Consul, and I am prepared 
 to make every sacrifice which my dignity, my means, 
 and the interests of my people may permit, to avoid 
 a war with France. As the ambassador Beurnonville 
 is authorised to sign secretly the renunciation of the 
 contingent which we are called on to furnish, settle 
 matters with him, let him know our situation, and 
 tell him that I throw myself upon the good-will of 
 the First Consul. As a good ally he will exact nothing
 
 15^ Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 but what is just, and he certainly could not wish me 
 to break my word of honour. I approve, dear Manuel, 
 what you have written to Azara, and I rely on your 
 zeal for the rest, persuaded as I am that you will 
 consider only my tranquillity and the prosperity of 
 Spain." 
 
 Godoy showed this letter to Beurnonville, who 
 was content for the moment to hold his hand. But 
 Azara had been instructed to offer a subsidy of two 
 and a half millions as all that Spain could afford. 
 There was a fresh display of childish temper on the 
 part of the Consul. He wrote at once to Beurnon- 
 ville : " If by the 3rd September there is a single 
 soldier at Valladolid or Burgos, if the frontiers of 
 Biscay and Catalonia are not entirely cleared of 
 troops, in the last days of September the French army 
 will exact retribution for this insult." Spain must 
 promise the whole sum demanded or hand Hookham 
 Frere his passports by September 7 at latest. 
 
 Armed with positive instructions, Beurnonville 
 appeared on September i at the levee of the Prince 
 of the Peace. He handed his serene highness the 
 note and explained its tenor. " This," said Godoy 
 haughtily, " is an order. His catholic majesty takes 
 orders from no one. I do not accept your note." 
 " Have a care, prince," hissed the ambassador, " there 
 are five hundred persons present. Take this note, 
 or I will call them all to witness that I leave this 
 important communication to the king under your 
 personal responsibility." Godoy stared at the am- 
 bassador, but kept the note between his fingers. The 
 Frenchman continued, in threatening tones : " His 
 majesty is above all criticism. It is you, prince,
 
 Godoy versus Napoleon 157 
 
 who will be held responsible by the Spanish people 
 for the calamities in which you are about to involve 
 your country — you, who will be in the eyes of Europe 
 the deliberate and guilty cause of war ! " " Ah, you 
 wish to undermine my credit with the nation ? " 
 " Beware, prince," continued this diplomatic monitor, 
 " of a factitious popularity. Of all these courtiers 
 who come to ask favours of you there is not one on 
 whom you can count, and who will not become an 
 instrument of the public's indignation when the First 
 Consul opens the eyes of the king and deprives you 
 of his confidence." Tears, we are told, came into the 
 prince's eyes at this threat. " I will come," concluded 
 Beurnonville, " to receive my reply within twenty- 
 four hours. His majesty will be guided by your 
 advice, and I trust sufficiently in your discernment 
 to expect good news." And the ambassador stalked 
 away through the terrified assembly. 
 
 Of this interview we have only the Frenchman's 
 account. Possibly his attitude was not so command- 
 ing and Godoy's not so meek as he would have us 
 believe. Tears may have stood in the Spaniard's 
 eyes, but how little he was in reality moved by the 
 ambassador's bluster may be gathered from the 
 terms of the king's reply : " My dear Manuel, — I 
 have read the communication you have received 
 from the ambassador of France. Tell General Beur- 
 nonville that I have already despatched my reply to 
 the First Consul, and that I cannot depart from it. 
 My financial situation will not admit of the sacrifice 
 demanded, and I am determined not to enter into 
 any engagement which I cannot fulfil. Under the 
 terms of our alliance, the ambassador requires our
 
 158 Godoy: the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 assistance. It will be furnished him, and six of our 
 vessels are ready to put to sea. Any other arrange- 
 ment which might involve me in war with any other 
 Power would be contrary to my wish and to the inter- 
 ests of my people. The crops have failed again this 
 year all over Spain. If I declared war against England 
 at this moment, I should expose my realm to the 
 horrors of famine. However, the First Consul will 
 be informed of all this through Azara, and I am 
 satisfied that he will do me justice. — Charles.'* 
 
 This letter was read by the Prince of the Peace 
 to Beurnonville on September 3. " Very well," said 
 the ambassador. " Now listen to me. I am now 
 speaking to you as man to man. Just cast your 
 eyes over this passage in a letter I have received from 
 Talleyrand. Let me read it to you : * I hope to 
 hear within a fortnight that you have opened the 
 eyes of this prince, who ought to know by this time 
 that Bonaparte is the most irresistible man created 
 by God.' Prince," continued the Frenchman, " while 
 it is yet time, abandon a policy which means your 
 ruin. The First Consul will do justice to Charles IV., 
 but he will call down the vengeance of France on 
 his favourite. Be warned in time ! The Spanish 
 people are devoted to their sovereign, but they have 
 no love for a favourite whose fortune is as great as 
 the national debt. I am speaking to you as a friend. 
 Reject my counsels if you like, but you will regret it 
 one day and you will not then be able to blame me." 
 
 " I hear you," replied the upstart prince. " I 
 am here simply to do my duty. The will of the 
 king is my only law and I cannot and will not add 
 anything to the communication which you have just
 
 s ^ 
 
 Q o 
 O O 
 
 159
 
 Godoy versus Napoleon i6i 
 
 read." Beurnonville, at his wits' ends, left the palace. 
 The " soul o£ mud," as he was pleased to term Godoy, 
 had displayed the rigidity of granite. 
 
 For another month the scene of these diplomatic 
 hostilities was transferred to Paris. Azara, probably 
 out of affection for the First Consul, had tendered 
 his resignation,' but the king sternly bade him con- 
 tinue negotiations with the French Government. 
 Charles stated that he had proffered his mediation 
 to the king of England and requested a statement 
 of his attitude. If the British reply was unfavour- 
 able, he would join under the terms of the treaty 
 in an attack on the common foe. Meantime, he 
 was at a loss to understand the concentration of 
 French troops on his frontiers. Napoleon, after 
 writing a score of bullying letters, which he or his 
 ministers had the good sense not to despatch, at 
 last sent a new and special envoy to Madrid, one 
 M. Herrman, a man calm in manner and sober in 
 judgment. He was the bearer of an ultimatum. 
 
 Godoy received this ambassador extraordinary at 
 the Escurial on October 3. He was informed that 
 France would be satisfied with not a franc less than 
 six millions a month or alternatively a declaration 
 of war against England, together with compensation 
 for the French vessels taken in Spanish waters, the 
 degradation of the governors of Malaga, Cadiz, and 
 Algeciras, the admission of the French fleet to El 
 Ferrol, and the disbandment of the militia. Godoy 
 debated these articles one by one. Herrman refused 
 to argue, but warned him of his responsibility and 
 
 1 Frere to Lord Hawkesbury, August 29, F.O. Spain (Record 
 Office). 
 
 10
 
 1 62 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 of his approaching destruction. " Your official char- 
 acter protects 70U," replied the Spaniard. " This 
 is not the language employed between gentlemen." 
 In vain, after the fashion of his master, the envoy 
 screamed and bullied. The Prince of the Peace 
 referred him to Azara, who had full powers to treat. 
 
 It was now once more the turn of Beurnonville. 
 Indignant at the intervention of his colleague, he 
 now rushed like a mad bull upon the prince and 
 summoned him to sign the ultimatum there and 
 then. Godoy replied that the king would consent 
 to furnish the subsidy — nothing more. Heaping 
 insults on the favourite's head, the ambassador rushed 
 off to Ceballos and demanded an audience of the 
 king. He would hand his majesty directly the note 
 of M. de Talleyrand and the letter of the First Consul. 
 The audience was promised for a quarter-past eleven 
 in the morning of October 11. Beurnonville flattered 
 himself that the knell of the Prince of the Peace had 
 at last sounded. 
 
 The letter with which Napoleon hoped to accom- 
 plish the favourite's ruin was a vulgar document 
 characteristic of the writer. He ordered Charles to 
 dismiss a man who had made himself the real king 
 of Spain, who lived for the satisfaction of his own 
 vices, who had no elevated sentiment (this from the 
 assassin of the due d'Enghien, the butcher of Jaffa !), 
 who was sold to England, and v/ho proposed to retire 
 to London to enjoy the price of his country's ruin. 
 If Charles did not obey, the First Consul would 
 declare war against Spain. 
 
 Strange to say, the bomb did not burst ; Godoy 
 had seen to that. At the appointed hour General
 
 Godoy versus Napoleon 163 
 
 Beurnonville appeared at the palace. He was received 
 by the king and queen with all the pomp and cere- 
 mony of royalty. A trifle abashed in spite of himself, 
 the ambassador, in civil tones, acquainted his catholic 
 majesty with the orders of Bonaparte and presented 
 that truculent person's autograph letter. Charles 
 smiled blandly and took the letter without glancing 
 at it. "Tell the First Consul," he said, "that I 
 esteem as much as I like him, and that I am much 
 more attached to France than to England, and will 
 do all that I can. I will tax my subjects, my clergy, 
 I will tax myself; but I will not consent to the dis- 
 missal of Manuel, for no one can object to my liking 
 for a man who acts properly and whose society is 
 necessary to me. I accept, therefore, the Consul's 
 letter, but I shall not open it, as Azara has this nego- 
 tiation in hand." 
 
 The more blandly the king smiled the bigger he 
 seemed to become. Maria Luisa smiled sweetly at 
 the ambassador, everybody bowed and purred. Poor 
 Beurnonville was reduced to impotence by the 
 serenity of the atmosphere. As through a mist, he 
 saw the splendid and opulent figures before the 
 throne, and replied mechanically to the grave Castilian 
 compliments. He found himself dismissed, and bowed 
 himself out. Going downstairs, he no doubt recalled 
 all the terrible and cutting things he had meant to 
 say and marshalled once more the arguments which 
 had somehow gone astray. After all, he could not 
 have snatched the Consul's letter out of the king's 
 hand and have held him by force while he read it 
 aloud to him. And he had hoped to come home with 
 Godoy's head on a salver !
 
 164 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 Spain, however, gained little by the favourite's 
 address. By a convention signed at Paris on Octo- 
 ber 19, Azara was obliged to concede most of the 
 points demanded : the subsidy, the degradation of 
 the governor, and protection for French shipping 
 in Spanish waters. By an additional clause, his 
 catholic majesty bound himself to induce Portugal 
 also to contribute a million francs a month, as the 
 price of her neutrality. Probably no better terms 
 could have been obtained, but Azara was the warm 
 friend of the Consul. Godoy declared he was more 
 the friend of France than of Spain ; and certainly 
 this ambassador never spared his own Government in 
 his communications to the French foreign office. His 
 resignation was accepted by Charles six weeks aftef 
 the signature of the treaty; in January 1804 he 
 died with his hand in that of the worst enemy of his 
 country.^ 
 
 The treaty was ratified by Charles with a heavy 
 heart. But even Spanish statesmen, experts in the 
 art of procrastination, could temporize no longer. 
 Spain was placed between the devil in the shape of 
 Napoleon and the deep sea controlled by Great 
 Britain. Hookham Frere threatened Godoy with 
 the consequences of an alliance with France. " That 
 is all very well," said the prince, " but what are the 
 intentions of your Government and what have you 
 to propose ? " The ambassador had nothing to 
 propose except a commercial treaty as a means of 
 mollifying his country. He was surprised next day 
 
 * See F.O. Spain, vols, xl., 1. (Record Office) and Grandmaison ; yet 
 Major Hume says that the conclusion of the treaty broke Azara's 
 heart !
 
 Godoy versus Napoleon 165 
 
 by an ingenious proposal made to him by a discreet 
 man of business named Bringas. " Let Spain fulfil 
 her obligations to France by making a nominal attack 
 on Portugal. That our king can mean no real harm 
 to his own grandchildren cannot be doubted. If 
 England agrees to this plan and remains neutral as 
 regards Spain, we will agree to the commercial con- 
 vention." 
 
 Frere replied that he must refer this suggestion to 
 his chief. Before it reached London it had been 
 answered by Lord Hawkesbury's intimation to the 
 Spanish ambassador that any attack on Portugal would 
 be considered an act of war against Great Britain ^ ; 
 yet it would have been safer for the little kingdom 
 to have been engaged by her neighbour than left to 
 the mercies of Napoleon. 
 
 Disappointed by the rejection of this project, 
 Godoy and Ceballos made no secret of the tremendous 
 pressure being brought to bear on them by France. 
 Our ambassador realized that Spain could not be 
 expected to defend herself with Manchester-made 
 dish-clouts. On August 5, 1803, he sent a cypher 
 message to Downing Street : " In my conversation 
 with the prince I succeeded in persuading him that 
 England might be able to offer a minor force capable 
 of enabling Spain to resist France. Great promises 
 can do no harm. This country wants only confidence. 
 You may judge that I shall be anxious to have an 
 answer on this subject." ^ 
 
 Luckily for Spain, our ambassador had not succeeded 
 in persuading Godoy of England's readiness to help, 
 
 1 June 8 ; Record Office, F.O. Spain, vol. 1. 
 ^ Record Office, F.O. Spain, vol. 1.
 
 1 66 Godoy: the Qucen^s Favourite 
 
 and no confirmation of the offer was received from 
 London. Frere continued to protest against Spain's 
 submission to the exactions of her ally ; Godoy 
 continued to point out the futility of resistance. If 
 Portugal would pledge herself to assist Spain with all 
 her forces, something might be done ; he, the Prince, 
 asked nothing better than to command a Portuguese 
 army. This alliance our representative made some 
 efforts to bring about, but he was thwarted by the 
 Lisbon cabinet's unconquerable aversion from their 
 neighbour. 
 
 On October 9 he announced (prematurely in 
 fact) the conclusion of the treaty of subsidy, adding 
 disgustedly, " Under the circumstances, having nothing 
 to oppose but vague exhortation and general assurances 
 of support, with such slight encouragement as I could 
 engage the ministers of Austria and Prussia occasion- 
 ally to throw in, Mr. Freire [the Portuguese repre- 
 sentative at Madrid] never having been authorised 
 by his Government to do anything more than make a 
 kind of loose declaration that they were sensible of the 
 importance of the Pyrenees as the common natural 
 frontier of the two countries, it will not appear in 
 any degree extraordinary that these things should have 
 taken the turn they have done." 
 
 Godoy had been shrewd enough to perceive that 
 England would not have lifted a bayonet to protect 
 Spain against her tyrant. His suspicion was con- 
 firmed when, on his announcing (truly or falsely) 
 that the French had demanded a right of passage at 
 any and all times for their troops across any part 
 of the kingdom. Lord Hawkesbury, in a despatch 
 dated November 24, replied that the British Govern-
 
 Godoy versus Napoleon 167 
 
 ment found it impossible to make any definite promise 
 of military succour. Napoleon's army was threatening 
 the shores of Kent. Nothing would have suited us 
 better than a diversion of that army to the side of the 
 Pyrenees ; nothing would have suited us less than a 
 diversion of our forces from our own shores to those 
 of the peninsula. 
 
 Having been unable to delude Godoy by specious 
 promises, Mr. Frere resorted to threats, and informed 
 him that his Government would regard the continu- 
 ance of the subsidy to France as an act of hostility. 
 " Very well," was the answer, " declare war upon us 
 as soon as you like. We shall then be relieved from 
 this appalling tribute." With all her men and ships 
 needed for the defence of her own shores, England 
 was not at all anxious to do this. Frere did not accept 
 the challenge, but urged Godoy to put his trust in 
 Great Britain, promising help, as he admits, in " rather 
 more favourable terms " than his instructions war- 
 ranted. He ventured, like his French colleague, to 
 refer to the insecurity of the favourite's position. 
 " Still," he observed, " there are few persons in 
 authority nowadays who have not entrusted their 
 fortune to the safe-keeping of England. Your highness 
 has probably nothing to fear on that score from an 
 invasion. If, however, you have not the funds to 
 tide you over any such catastrophe, you could count 
 on us." 
 
 " Mr. Frere," replied the Prince, " my fortune, for 
 good or ill, is bound up with my country. I have no 
 funds in the Bank of England, nor do I acknowledge 
 any better safeguard than Spain affords. As to the 
 rest of your remarks, let us forget you have uttered
 
 1 68 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 them. A Spaniard does not sell his king for all the 
 wealth of the Indies." 
 
 Frere, reporting this interview, admits that Godoy 
 replied to his proposals in terms which he would not 
 repeat, but which fully satisfied him of the fairness of 
 his intentions. The king's favourite could not be 
 bought by francs or guineas. 
 
 Yet the ambassador stayed on at the court of 
 Madrid, hoping that some coalition of the continental 
 Powers would embolden Spain to throw off the yoke 
 of the French. Godoy, perceiving that the tribute 
 was draining the country of its last resources, invited 
 England over and over again to declare war. It was 
 to this end that he deliberately picked a quarrel with 
 Frere, and in a manner, it must be said, that reflected 
 no lustre on him. In a Parisian paper appeared the 
 report of a conversation between him and the am- 
 bassador, which put the latter in a very unfavourable 
 light. His excellency invited his highness to con- 
 tradict this report as publicly as it had been uttered. 
 Godoy replied, in stilted language, that no one who 
 knew him could suppose him to have inspired the 
 printed version of their interview, but since " such 
 slanders were beneath the greatness of his soul " he 
 was surprised that his excellency should notice them. 
 
 Frere, in answer, pointed out that nothing attri- 
 buted in the newspaper to the prince was inconsistent 
 with the greatness of soul on which he so justly prided 
 himself, but that he, the ambassador, had been the 
 object of the slander, and, not being possessed of the 
 prince's dignity of character, was disposed to resent 
 it. To this retort Godoy could find no other reply 
 than to remind the ambassador that he was not a
 
 Godoy versus Napoleon 169 
 
 minister of State and that his denial of the report 
 could carry no weight. Mr. Frere very properly 
 declined to continue the correspondence, and broke 
 off all communication with the favourite. In August 
 he returned to England, leaving his brother, Bartle 
 Frere, as charge d'affaires. 
 
 If England did not choose to take offence, she did 
 not hesitate to give it. King Charles's throne was 
 besieged with the complaints and protests of his 
 subjects against acts of aggression by English seamen. 
 The old king would not be driven into war. " It 
 is my determination to remain at peace with England," 
 he declared. " But the English are burning your 
 ships," expostulated Godoy. " Pooh ! " said the 
 king, '' the captains were probably drunk. We are 
 not going to take upon ourselves the quarrels of 
 drunken seamen." But there came a day when 
 the patience even of Charles IV. was exhausted. 
 Four of his frigates, escorting a fleet of treasure-ships 
 from America, were waylaid off Cape Santa Maria 
 by as many English warships and summoned to 
 surrender. The Spaniards indignantly refused. The 
 English, without an instant's delay, opened fire, sank 
 one of the galleons, and towed the whole fleet into 
 Portsmouth as hostages. 
 
 Happily for the good name of Britain, this disgraceful 
 act of piracy was described in proper terms by not a 
 few of our most prominent statesmen. " There are 
 some acts of hardship and severity which the laws of 
 civilised war permit," said Lord Grenville, speaking 
 in the House of Lords, " but this atrocious act of 
 barbarity is contrary to all law of nations and stamps 
 indelible infamy on our name." In the lower House
 
 I/O Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 Fox stigmatised the attack on the convoy as a wanton 
 and premeditated outrage on a neutral flag and " to 
 have Mr. Frere at the same moment negotiating in 
 Madrid was an act of fraud and duplicity un- 
 paralleled." He suggested that Pitt had encouraged 
 Spain, since the rupture of the treaty of Amiens, to 
 believe herself safe from attack, merely that we 
 might begin hostilities at the moment least expected 
 or most convenient for us. The attack certainly 
 deserves to rank with the murder of the due d'Enghien 
 and the treacherous seizure of Tripoli by the Italians 
 in our own time. 
 
 It was not till December 14 that King Charles 
 could be persuaded to sign the declaration of war. 
 Napoleon — who was now emperor — though he had 
 at first preferred the financial to the military assistance 
 of his ally, was delighted at the turn of events. He 
 wanted the Spanish navy for his descent upon England. 
 Ceballos, always inclined towards Great Britain, had 
 to be spurred on to war by Beurnonville, now am- 
 bassador at Madrid for the second time. Godoy 
 wanted no urging. He welcomed war as a relief 
 from the crushing burden of the tribute. Perhaps, 
 too, he remembered the snub he had received from 
 our representative. He declared himself ready to 
 mount his horse and ride to the camp at Boulogne or 
 wherever a Spanish sword might serve the emperor. 
 That potentate, no longer concerned for the conjugal 
 honour of Charles IV., expressed the hope that the 
 Prince of the Peace would be entrusted, instead of 
 the ministers, with the negotiations with France 
 relative to the prosecution of the war. 
 
 Admiral Gravina, who had settled the plan of
 
 Godoy versus Napoleon 171 
 
 campaign at Paris with the French minister of marine, 
 did in fact confer with Godoy on the eve of his de- 
 parture to assume the command of the Spanish 
 fleet at Cadiz. That plan, we know, was Napoleon's 
 own. Godoy's task was to help in its execution. He 
 worked like a Trojan and stirred up his colleagues. 
 The navy-yards of Spain resounded to hammer- 
 strokes, the arsenals hummed with activity. The 
 war meant something more to the country than 
 vengeance for the outrage of Cape Santa Maria. 
 Spain stood enormously to gain by the humiliation 
 of England. Had Napoleon's project been successful, 
 he would no doubt have rewarded his ally not only 
 with her former possessions of Gibraltar and Trinidad, 
 but with many other West Indian colonies of Great 
 Britain — perhaps also with a slice of Brazil. 
 Nelson and the wind decided otherwise.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 TRAFALGAR 
 
 Amid the clash of arms factions were not silent in 
 Spain. The country was sorely impoverished, though 
 gold still coagulated in the coffers of the rich. Yellow 
 fever decimated the southern provinces. The famine, 
 foreseen by Charles IV., was averted only by the 
 introduction of grain by a French company in exchange 
 for the right of trading with the American possessions. 
 As piety did not permit the Spaniards to reproach 
 the Creator with these afflictions, and loyalty would 
 not allow them to blame the king, a handy scapegoat 
 was found in Godoy. The dormant hatred of the 
 clergy was aroused by the rumour that he proposed 
 to reform the monastic orders ; the farmers and 
 capitalists, who had hoped to profit by the shortage 
 of crops, were enraged at his interference ; to crown 
 all, his humane instincts led him to obtain from the 
 king a decree forbidding bull-lights in any part of 
 the realm. He had given the people bread indeed, 
 but he had denied them their favourite sport. 
 
 This measure alone, one would suppose, was enough 
 to make him the best-hated man in Spain, though, 
 strangely enough, he does not refer to it as one of the 
 causes of his unpopularity. " Against the Govern- 
 ment [he says], and me with it, were ranged all the 
 
 173
 
 Trafalgar 173 
 
 men in the country envious of power, all the un- 
 satisfied office-seekers who swarmed at court, all 
 who fattened on the abuses now threatened with 
 abolition, all who lived in idleness in ecclesiastical 
 establishments, all who feared loss of power or 
 influence through the reform of the laws — in short, 
 all the enemies of progress. Even among its friends, 
 alas ! I counted not a few opponents — men seeking 
 the good of the country but unwilling to believe that 
 I was furthering it." 
 
 United in the first instance only by their hatred 
 of the favourite, these various elements found a 
 rallying-point at the very foot of the throne. In 
 the king's heir they recognised the head of the opposi- 
 tion to the king's government ; in the wife of the 
 king's heir they might have found an enemy of the 
 national flag. 
 
 Prince Ferdinand of Bourbon was a bad man and 
 a tyrannical king ; as a youth he is admitted, even by 
 his few admirers, to have been dull, gloomy, and cold. 
 Still, according to Lord Holland, " there was nothing 
 at the period of his marriage in 1802 but a sinister 
 countenance in the prince of Asturias to announce 
 those odious qualities which have caused so much 
 misery to his own subjects. He showed little in- 
 clination to study, and still less to sports and amuse- 
 ments. He seldom marked the slightest preference 
 or affection to such as were admitted to his company. 
 Some little aptitude to mathematics was observed 
 in him, and he was said to take interest in the scien- 
 tific part of fortification ; but it was generally believed 
 that he was weak both in character and intellect." 
 
 These defects are ascribed by more friendly writers
 
 174 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 to the circumstances of his upbringing. Yet Godoy 
 and his predecessors in power had neglected no 
 means to procure him a good education. Among 
 his tutors was Father Scio, whom Spanish writers 
 call celebrated, the worthy prelate, Francisco Ca- 
 brera, and the Marquis of Santa Cruz, whom Godoy 
 calls an honour to the nobility. The favourite, as 
 we know, had not much faith in the education re- 
 ceived in the atmosphere of a court. He thought 
 that the heir to the crown of Spain would have 
 profited more by three or four years' travel and by 
 a personal initiation into the life of the generality of 
 mankind. It cannot be said that his notions have 
 been adopted in regard to the princes of our own day. 
 
 Desired, notwithstanding, by the king to find a 
 new tutor for his son, Godoy, in an evil hour for 
 himself and Spain, selected Don Juan Escoiquiz, a 
 native of Navarre, who had once been a page at court 
 and had held a canonry at Zaragoza. This ecclesiastic 
 frequented all the minister's levees, and had repre- 
 sented himself to Godoy as one of the friends of 
 progress. He alleged that he was looked upon with 
 disfavour on this account by his superiors. He 
 appeared to combine the character of the scholar 
 with that of the martyr ; had translated — badly 
 enough — the works of Young and Milton, written 
 a tedious epic called " Mexico Conquistada," and 
 composed a treatise on the duties of man for the use 
 of schools. The minister's choice of this grave and 
 learned person for the post of tutor to the heir- 
 apparent was generally applauded. 
 
 Escoiquiz justified his appointment to some extent 
 by the empire he secured over his pupil. He no
 
 Trafalgar 175 
 
 doubt felt that he had obtained his power by more 
 legitimate means than his patron and benefactor, 
 against whom he very soon began to poison the 
 prince's mind. At the time of Godoy's first dismissal 
 from ofhce Ferdinand was fourteen years old — an 
 age at which, as a Spaniard, he was fully capable of 
 comprehending the relations existing, or suspected 
 to exist, between his mother and the Prince of the 
 Peace. That, by opening his charge's eyes, he was 
 filling him with contempt for his mother did not 
 occasion any remorse to his priestly tutor. On the 
 contrary, it is to the reverend gentleman that we 
 must attribute the prince's estrangement from his 
 parents. They did not love their son in the beginning, 
 say some. Yet Charles IV., if not a frantically devoted 
 father, was at least capable of as much kindness to 
 his children as royal persons in his day ever thought 
 fit to display ; and as Maria I.uisa in after-life mani- 
 fested passionate affection for other people's children, 
 it is hardly likely that she denied it to her first-born 
 son. The boy was by nature cold ; and, to attach 
 him more firmly to himself, the tutor probably told 
 him that Godoy had robbed him of his parent's love. 
 The ambitious priest was not long in demon- 
 strating his ingratitude. Upon his patron's retire- 
 ment he presented their majesties with a memoir 
 upon the interest of the State in the selection of 
 ministers, in which able study he skilfully depicted 
 Godoy under the disguise of the ideal bad minister 
 and himself under the still more impenetrable disguise 
 of the good. This composition he accompanied by 
 some poetic effusions, extolling the virtues of the 
 king and execrating his evil but unnamed advisers.
 
 176 Godoy: the Quecn*s Favourite 
 
 His reverence thought he had in him the makings of 
 a Cisneros or an Alberoni; just as Godoy, in secret, 
 beheved himself the equal of Don John and Pombal. 
 
 Emboldened by the continued retirement of the 
 favourite, the canon Informed his majesty that his 
 son desired a seat at the council-table. This ambition, 
 he considered, was a most promising trait in his 
 pupil, proceeding from his zeal and his Intelligence. 
 The proposal by no means pleased Charles. He 
 remembered how his own father had sternly forbidden 
 him to take any part in state affairs ; and, as a parent 
 of the old-fashioned type, he naturally thought that 
 the training which had had such good results with 
 him must be equally beneficial to his son. Certainly 
 if Charles HI. excluded his son from the council 
 because of his subjection to Godoy, as some allege, 
 Charles IV. had as much reason to fear the influence 
 of Escoiquiz. His majesty became suspicious of his 
 son's tutor, and promptly disposed of him by pre- 
 senting him with the archdeaconry of Alcaraz, to 
 which was attached a vacant stall in the metropolitan 
 church of Toledo. The religious calm of the cathe- 
 dral city should have been favourable to the indul- 
 gence of the canon's literary tastes, but he found 
 time to maintain a regular correspondence with his 
 late pupil. 
 
 Not long after, Ferdinand became subjected to 
 another Influence probably more dangerous to his 
 country. He was married, as we have seen, at the 
 age of eighteen to his cousin, the princess Maria 
 Antonia of Naples. Lord Holland speaks of the 
 bride as " a pale, sickly, ugly young woman, with a 
 gentle expression of countenance and great propriety
 
 CHARLES IV. OF SPAIN. 
 (Goya) 
 
 177
 
 Trafalgar 179 
 
 of manner." The duchesse d'Abrantes declares 
 that she fell in love with her at first sight. " She was 
 not tall, yet there was a nobility and grace in her 
 carriage, proceeding probably from the pose of her 
 head. Her fair hair betrayed her northern origin 
 [her mother was an Austrian], and there was little 
 about her to suggest that the Santa Lucia and Ponte 
 Mole had heard her first accents. She had the 
 Austrian mouth and lips and the Bourbon nose, 
 though it was just aquiline and did not come down 
 over her chin like her father-in-law's. There was a 
 great freshness about her, and this freshness, or 
 rather her overflowing health, was disagreeably mani- 
 fested by the exuberance of her bust. There was no 
 beauty about her arms and hands, nor her feet, which 
 ought to have been smaller ; but, on the whole, she 
 looked very well. She was very much a princess. 
 Her manner was majestic and a trifle severe, but, as 
 soon as her glance was accompanied by a smile, then 
 her whole countenance was illuminated. There was 
 poetry in her expressive face, and, although always 
 silent and reserved, her face conversed with you." 
 
 The duchesse d'Abrantes compares the simple cos- 
 tume of the princess v/ith the elaborate toilette of her 
 majesty. " The queen appeared to me still beautiful. 
 She began, however, to be stout, and her double chin, 
 like that of Catharine H., gave her a matronly air. 
 Notwithstanding, she wore her hair in the Greek 
 style, with pearls and diamonds stuck in her locks, 
 or rather in her wig. Her neck and shoulders were 
 very much uncovered. She wore a gown of yellow 
 taffetas, with an overdress of very fine English lace. 
 Her arms were bare except for bracelets of magnificent 
 II
 
 1 80 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 pearls clasped hy a single ruby — the finest jewels of 
 the kind I have ever seen. The queen's arms, like 
 her hands, were superb." Her eyes the duchess 
 pronounced to be admirable, her conversation 
 brilliant, and her manner gracious and aifable. 
 
 Of Charles IV., then in his fifty-seventh year, the 
 duchess draws a less flattering portrait. She found 
 him extremely " original." He was tall, his hair 
 was thin and white, his nose was of unusual length, 
 and did not add beauty to a face undistinguished 
 but for an expression of kindness. He wore a hunting 
 costume — a faded blue coat with yellow buttons, 
 leather breeches, blue stockings rolled aibove his 
 knees, and gaiters. He hunted every day in all 
 weathers, in all circumstances. When told that 
 one of his children was dying, he started for the 
 hills notwithstanding, with the remark, " Well, what 
 can I do for him ? " In these daily excursions he 
 managed to employ no fewer than seven hundred 
 men and five hundred horses.* On his return he 
 joined the queen on the promenade. Tired out, 
 he spent the evening at the card-table with two 
 old lords who had been condemned to this tedious 
 attendance for years past. Four or five other parties 
 were arranged in the gallery. Presently all would 
 fall asleep, the cards in their hands, to awake only 
 when the maitre d^hotel entered to announce dinner. 
 At eleven o'clock the court went to bed. 
 
 Next to shooting and carpentry, the king loved 
 music. He would begin the day to the strains of 
 the violin, and a concert always refreshed him on 
 his return from the chase. " The king took his 
 
 ^ Alquier.
 
 Trafalgar i8i 
 
 violin and took part in rendering some piece from 
 Haydn, Boccherini, Viotti. or Jarnowick. In this 
 way he inflicted acute suffering on some of the most 
 eminent masters of the instrument, who were sum- 
 moned to take part in this orchestra. One day it 
 was perceived that some one was not keeping time. 
 It was certainly not the fault of the professionals. 
 They took counsel together, and Olivieri, who was 
 the first violin at the Opera, ventured to tell the 
 king that the fault was his, and that he must take 
 three bars rest. The excellent prince was astonished 
 at this admonition. He regarded the artist with 
 stupefaction; then, readjusting his instrument under 
 his chin, he said majestically in Italian, 'I re 
 n'aspettano mai ! ' (Kings never wait). One may 
 judge of the harmonious effects produced ! " ' 
 
 For a long time the musical monarch remained 
 equally insensible to the discord in his own household. 
 From her Austrian mother, Maria Carolina of Naples, 
 the princess of Asturias had inherited a love of power, 
 which soon asserted itself in a complete domination 
 over her young husband. The daughter of Na- 
 poleon's deadliest enemy, the devoted friend of 
 Nelson, she became, as Godoy had expected, a hostile 
 critic of his policy and an eye-sore to the French 
 Government. " When you are more intimate with 
 the Prince of the Peace," wrote Napoleon to Junot, 
 " let drop something about the future fate of Spain, 
 and let him see how dangerous the influence of the 
 daughter of the Austrian of Naples must be should 
 Charles IV. die." 
 
 Godoy had no need to be reminded how fatal 
 * The duchesse d'Abrantes.
 
 1 82 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 that influence would be to him ; for, with the intuition 
 natural to young ladies fresh from school, her royal 
 highness at once suspected the relations of the favourite 
 with her mother-in-law, and made it no secret that 
 she regarded her majesty as an abandoned woman. In 
 the prince, his wife, and Escoiquiz Godoy recognised 
 a triumvirate which aimed at nothing less than his 
 utter downfall. 
 
 Charles IV., unsuspicious of the enemy under his 
 own roof, gave the requisite orders for the arming of 
 his navy. To Junot Napoleon wrote in February : 
 " I ask but one thing of the Prince of the Peace : 
 that the Spanish fleets be got ready for the great 
 expeditions which I meditate." On March 3 he 
 wrote : ** Tell the prince that I have thought out a 
 great plan ; let him second me and the results will 
 be advantageous and will tend to confound our 
 enemies.'* The French squadron, under Villeneuve, 
 issuing from Toulon, was to unite with the fleet of 
 Gravina at Cadiz and to proceed to the West Indies, 
 where another French fleet under Missiessy was to 
 meet them. 
 
 The primary object of the expedition was the 
 reduction of the English colonies ; that the fleet 
 was then to return to Europe in order to facilitate the 
 invasion of England Godoy probably suspected, and 
 not impossibly was told. It was essential to the 
 success of the scheme, even as far as he was positively 
 acquainted with it, that Villeneuve should elude the 
 vigilance of Nelson, then closely watching his fleet 
 in the Mediterranean. The necessity for secrecy 
 was absolute. To his father's favourite then came 
 Prince Ferdinand, inquiring what might be the
 
 Trafalgar 183 
 
 destination of the allied squadrons. Godoy was 
 embarrassed for a reply. To tell the prince would 
 be to tell his wife, and the information would be 
 Nelson's as soon as couriers and fast-sailing ships 
 could carry it. Napoleon's plans, he replied, after 
 some hesitation, were vast ; the squadron of Roche- 
 fort was probably destined for the East Indies, Ville- 
 neuve was bound for Egypt, the other squadrons 
 for the coast of Ireland. With this explanation the 
 prince was content. 
 
 Was the information, as Godoy alleges, com- 
 municated by the princess of Asturias to her mother, 
 and by her mother to Nelson ? I believe so. The 
 fleet of Villeneuve left Toulon in the evening of 
 March 29, 1805, and steered towards Cartagena. 
 The English admiral lay in the gulf of Palma. On 
 April I he sailed across to the southern extremity 
 of Sardinia. Hearing, three days later, that the 
 enemy were at sea, he steered for the Sicilian coast. 
 On February 14 he had written to the Admiralty 
 expressing his belief that the destination of the 
 French was Egypt or the Levant. " At this moment 
 of sorrow," he adds, " I still feel that I have acted 
 right." 
 
 At the beginning of April he was still of this opinion. 
 For two days he cruised off Palermo ; not till the 9th, 
 having seen nothing of the enemy, did he rid his 
 mind of the idea, and sail westward. He had given 
 Villeneuve twelve days' start. The tenacity with 
 which he held to his mistaken belief certainly gives 
 colour to the allegation that it was based on informa- 
 tion received from an authoritative source. Godoy, 
 by deceiving the prince of Asturias, had in all pro-
 
 184 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 bability saved Villeneuve and his ships — for a time 
 at least. One of his Spanish commentators throws 
 doubt on his story and quotes a letter of June 14, 
 1805, in which the emperor tells his minister of 
 Marine that his plans are not known to the Prince 
 of the Peace. But this was another plan altogether ; 
 and in any event Godoy must, at least, have known 
 that the fleet was bound in the first instance for 
 America. 
 
 Spain gained nothing by the expedition. Gravina 
 wanted to recover Trinidad, or at least to undertake 
 some serious enterprise against the enemy's posses- 
 sions ; but fear of Nelson was too strong in Villeneuve, 
 and a false report of the English admiral's approach 
 sent him scudding back wath a press of sail across the 
 Atlantic. Nelson's thoughts immediately turned to 
 Egypt as his antagonist's destination and he made 
 sail for the strait of Gibraltar. Two days after his 
 arrival the fleet of Gravina and Villeneuve was driven 
 back in an attempt to reach the Channel by Sir Robert 
 Calder, off Cape Finisterre. The Spaniards bore 
 the brunt of the fighting and lost two ships. The 
 check put an end to all hope of invading England. 
 The allied fleets put into Cadiz and remained there 
 for another two months. Goaded by his master's 
 taunts and threats, Villeneuve on October 18 an- 
 nounced his intention of offering battle. The 
 Spaniards, convinced by this time of the incapacity 
 of their commander and the inefficiency of their own 
 crews, reluctantly followed him. 
 
 On October 19, 1805, the aUied ships, thirty-four 
 in number, one by one dropped round the point of 
 Cadiz and entered the open sea. The British fleet,
 
 Trafalgar 185 
 
 of twenty-seven sail, Nelson in command, was awaiting 
 them. As dawn broke over the stormy waters on 
 October 22, six Spanish and four French ships 
 reeled into the harbour. The battle of Trafalgar had 
 been fought and lost. Gravina was dead, Churruca, 
 and Galiano. Nelson, in the last hour of his life, had 
 won for England her greatest victory on the waves. 
 
 Very different from his imperial ally, Charles IV. 
 received the news of the destruction of his fleet with 
 the composure of an oriental. The honour of the 
 Spanish flag had not been tarnished. Gravina on his 
 death-bed the king appointed Captain-General, to 
 Admiral Alava was sent the grand-cross of the order 
 of Charles III. Liberal provision was at once made 
 for the widows and orphans of the slain. Almost at 
 the same time arrived the tidings of the capitulation of 
 the Austrian army at Ulm. Turning to Beurnonville 
 in presence and hearing of the Austrian, Prussian, and 
 Swedish ambassadors, the old king remarked generally, 
 " Well, this is good, very good news, which will make 
 for peace.- Our fleets have been unfortunate, but 
 they have fought well. I regret deeply the captains 
 and admirals we have lost, but with time we shall be 
 able to build other ships." 
 
 One is reminded of Mehemet All's sole comment on 
 the destruction of the fleet on which he had founded 
 such hopes : " To what end is a warship built but to 
 perish in battle ? " 
 
 In Spain generally it cannot be said that the 
 disaster of Trafalgar produced a very deep impression. 
 The vessels had been manned, as one of the comman- 
 ders remarked, by the overflow from the prisons — 
 there were few homes that had to regret the loss of
 
 1 86 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 a bread-winner. Moreover, the defeat was regarded 
 as Napoleon's, not Spain's, and in the invasion of Eng- 
 land Spaniards took but a lukewarm interest. Like 
 their king, the nation seemed abundantly consoled by 
 the valour of their seamen. While the poets sang of 
 Trafalgar as of a victory, the party of the prince of 
 Asturias welcomed it as a fresh reason for a reconcilia- 
 tion with England. 
 
 Nor could his royal highness forget or forgive the 
 deception practised upon him as to the destination of 
 the fleet. " Look here, Manuel," he said angrily to 
 the generalissimo, " I will be frank with you. Either 
 they have deceived you or you have deceived me. 
 You told me that the squadron from Toulon was 
 bound for Egypt." " But, sir," answered Godoy, 
 " I also told you that these plans might be altered 
 according to events." " No ; that won't do. 
 The squadron started at once for the ocean." 
 " But your highness forgets," said Godoy, " that it 
 had made an earlier start, but returned to port. The 
 first time the fleet was probably bound for Egypt, 
 but Nelson got wind of our intentions and we had 
 to change them." 
 
 This explanation the prince could not directly 
 rebut ; he continued, " Very few of the things you 
 have told me have turned out to be true. The fact 
 is that in affairs of State I am not consulted at all, 
 and that I am treated as a mere nobody. The heir- 
 apparent is a reflection of his father and merits equal 
 respect. Have you ever lied to my father ? " 
 " No," indignantly replied Godoy, " I do not lie to 
 my king. You will be king some day, and I hope 
 you will be as faithfully served as I have served your
 
 Trafalgar 187 
 
 father. You do not trust me. I wish you would 
 obtain my dismissal from the king. I shall take it as 
 a boon." "Hah!" ejaculated Ferdinand, "you 
 would have me compromise myself ! " and he turned 
 his back on the generalissimo. 
 
 The prince's exasperation was presently fanned by 
 news from Italy. Only two months after the battle 
 of Trafalgar, Napoleon announced his determination 
 to depose his inveterate foe, King Ferdinand of 
 Naples. " The existence of the dynasty of Naples," 
 he declared, " is incompatible with the peace of 
 Europe and the honour of my crown." The doomed 
 monarch was the brother of Charles IV., but there was 
 little love lost between them. The Spanish court 
 had done its utmost to detach Naples from the English 
 alliance, but In vain ; and Ceballos went so far as to 
 dismiss the Neapolitan envoy from Madrid. But 
 the forcible seizure of his brother's kingdom could not 
 be regarded with indifference by the king of Spain ; 
 even though Godoy, sharply questioned by Beurnon- 
 ville, assured him that his catholic majesty would not 
 allow his natural feelings to stand in the way of the 
 peace of the Continent. In February 1806 Ferdi- 
 nand IV. fled to Sicily, and Napoleon set his brother 
 Joseph on the vacant throne. 
 
 The princess of Asturias, naturally enough, bitterly 
 resented this spoliation of her father. She was 
 indignant at the apparent callousness of her uncle 
 and father-in-law, whom she probably expected to rush 
 into war with France on his brother's behalf. With- 
 out waiting for Godoy to avow his sympathy with her, 
 she furiously attacked him in letters to her mother 
 which his or Napoleon's spies intercepted. Some
 
 1 88 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 of them were found to contain violent denunciations 
 of the king and the queen, the favourite, and the 
 emperor. 
 
 Some one — some say Godoy, some the French am- 
 bassador — reported the correspondence to Charles, 
 who asked the queen to remonstrate with the prin- 
 cess. She did so, we are told, in the mildest 
 manner, but her royal highness answered her in terms 
 so disrespectful that even the uxorious Ferdinand 
 felt called upon to protest. The intrigues of the 
 queen of Naples, and perhaps the indiscretions of 
 her daughter, were reported by Godoy to Napoleon. 
 This appears a mean proceeding, but the letters may 
 of course have contained matter of the highest 
 political importance. In any case her royal highness 
 was no sufferer by the revelation. " Nothing aston- 
 ishes me on the part of the queen of Naples," wrote 
 Napoleon, " yet I trembled merely on reading your 
 letter. I am consoled to hear that their majesties 
 are in good health. Never doubt the interest with 
 which you inspire me and the desire I have to give 
 vou proofs of my protection, as well as of the esteem 
 and friendship I bear the king." 
 
 The unhappy princess did not languish long in the 
 shadow of her father-in-law's displeasure. It had 
 been obvious, from the moment of her landing in 
 Spain, that she who had been selected to give heirs 
 to the kingdom was the victim of phthisis. I do not 
 know if the progress of the dread disease can in reality 
 be accelerated by mental anguish. It was supposed 
 so, for the end came much sooner than any one had 
 expected. The princess died in the arms of her 
 husband at Aunjuez on May 21, 1806, in the
 
 Trafalgar 1 89 
 
 twenty-third year of her age and the fourth of her 
 wifehood. 
 
 " The choricero has poisoned her ! " wrote Escoi- 
 quiz to his former pupil. " No," replied the prince, 
 " she died of the malady which I perceived in her 
 when we were married." But the foul rumour, 
 notwithstanding the husband's denial, was busily 
 circulated by the favourite's innumerable foes. " It 
 was her parents," said Godoy bitterly, " who sacri- 
 ficed her by concealing from us her infirmity and 
 sending her to a climate like that of Madrid," where 
 the air, as we know, " will not blow out a candle but 
 will snuff out a life." The humane prince who had 
 interceded for his enemies and rescued the orphans 
 on the streets was pointed at by Escoiquiz as a stupid 
 and brutal murderer. So persistent was the calumny 
 that, by order of the court, the physicians pub- 
 lished a statement giving the most precise and even 
 revolting details of the princess's malady and the 
 post-mortem examination of her body. This report 
 satisfied most people in Spain, but the story continued 
 to spread through Europe and is still given currency 
 by sensational historians.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE TREATY OF FONTAINEBLEAU 
 
 So far from having compassed the princess's death, 
 Godoy had good reasons for wishing her to Uve. It 
 might have been in her power to have reconciled him 
 with her husband and to have united the court in 
 opposition to the Imperial tyrant. From the time of 
 her death we find the Prince of the Peace forced 
 to play a double game. He was placed between two 
 fires. On the one hand, the prince of Asturias vowed 
 him an Implacable enmity and threatened to strip 
 him of his wealth and power as soon as the sceptre had 
 fallen into his hands ; on the other, the Emperor of 
 the French affected to support him. In order, as It 
 seemed, to buy his acquiescence in the humiliation of 
 Spain. 
 
 Godoy remembered the peace of Amiens and the 
 selfish sacrifice of the Spanish colonies. He had kept 
 Spain out of the war as long as he could and had 
 opposed the subvention tooth and nail. When war 
 had been forced on Spain by England he had assisted 
 Napoleon In the hope of recovering Trinidad and 
 other lost possessions. His hopes had been blasted 
 at Trafalgar ; all that Spain had got from her alliance 
 with France was the kingdom of Etruria. And now, 
 without any apology, his catholic majesty's ally seized 
 his brother's kingdom. No one in Spain cared two 
 
 190
 
 The Treaty of Fontainebleau 191 
 
 straws for the cruel Ferdinand of Naples, but his fate 
 was only too plainly to be regarded as a precedent. 
 All Napoleon's gifts were Greek gifts. He did not 
 want allies, but vassals. 
 
 Henceforward it became Godoy's policy to secure 
 his future against the attacks of the prince of Asturias, 
 if necessary, by the help of Napoleon ; but to grant 
 his interested protector nothing in return contrary 
 to the welfare of Spain. The emperor would believe 
 that he was paying a bribe while in reality he would 
 be offering a free gift. The game was the easier to 
 play since the Corsican would never suspect any man 
 of preferring his country's interest to his own. Yet 
 Godoy placed Spain first, while determined to make 
 the best bargain he could for himself. 
 
 Since the outbreak of the war with England he 
 had maintained a private agent in Paris. This was 
 Don Eugenio Izquierdo, a man of science, whom 
 the favourite had appointed director of the Cabinet 
 of Natural History at Madrid. He is admitted by all 
 to have been an astute and far-sighted diplomatist ; 
 the duchesse d'Abrantes found that his atrociously 
 ugly countenance concealed a nimble mind ; and he 
 was, above all, a good patriot, though this, of course, 
 his patron's detractors will not allow. He had been 
 the intimate of Buffon and Lavoisier, and in their 
 society had met Lacepede, the zoologist, now presi- 
 dent of the Senate and chancellor of the Legion of 
 Honour, With this personage the Spanish savant 
 renewed his friendly relations. Through them a 
 correspondence was carried on between Napoleon 
 and Godoy, behind the backs of the Spanish am- 
 bassador in Paris and the French ambassador at
 
 192 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 Madrid. Godoy had little confidence in the repre- 
 sentative of his Government, the prince of Masserano, 
 who had, like Azara, a marked partiality for France ; 
 the emperor spoke of Beurnonville as " a trumpet 
 which can keep nothing secret." It was Izquierdo's 
 role to represent his patron as Napoleon's man and 
 to extract from him his intentions towards Spain. 
 
 He appeared, till towards the end of his mission, 
 to succeed. Confident in his power to mollify the 
 emperor, Godoy was bold enough to advise the king 
 to refuse recognition to the new sovereign of Naples. 
 Beurnonville waxed wroth. Recognition by Spain, 
 he argued, would at once be followed by recognition 
 by the other Powers ; it was then necessary to France. 
 Godoy replied that, by acquiescing tacitly in his 
 brother's deposition, Charles IV. had done all that 
 could in decency and honour be demanded of him. 
 The ambassador proceeded to threats. Etruria, he 
 reminded the Spaniard, was within the grasp of his 
 imperial majesty. Finding that his pistol had missed 
 fire, the Frenchman made the usual appeal to the 
 favourite's self-interest. Suppose Charles IV. should 
 die, he would stand in need of the emperor's pro- 
 tection then. To this appeal Godoy remained deaf. 
 He knew how little Beurnonville could really promise 
 on his master's behalf. Charles IV. definitely refused 
 to recognise the new monarch, and merely caused 
 an entry to be made in the official almanac that 
 Joseph Bonaparte had on February 9 been proclaimed 
 king of Naples. 
 
 Godoy was correct in his calculations. Napoleon 
 was not in a position to resent the contumacy of his 
 ally. He was again discussing terms of peace with
 
 The Treaty of Fontainebleau 193 
 
 England through Lord Yarmouth and with Russia 
 through M. d'Oubril. A rupture with Spain would 
 have stiffened the backs of both these Powers. For the 
 moment Etruria was spared. Moreover, Izquierdo 
 adroitly represented his patron as seeking favours 
 from the emperor, in return for which he no doubt 
 hinted at recognition and all sorts of concessions to 
 France. 
 
 Continually threatened by the French diplomatists 
 with the fate in store for him under Ferdinand VII., 
 the Prince of the Peace pretended to listen to pro- 
 jects " relating to the succession to the crown of 
 Spain." But his highness expressed himself so vaguely 
 and seemed so little anxious to supplant his enemy 
 that Napoleon at last wrote (March 13, 1806) : " The 
 prince must say what he wants." To which the 
 politic Izquierdo replied : " The prince, proud of 
 having occupied for some moments the mind of your 
 majesty — submits his destiny to your will and . . . 
 demands ... a sovereignty of his own between 
 Spain and Portugal." 
 
 And that beyond question Godoy did want — a state 
 of his own, such as Napoleon was everywhere creating 
 for his marshals, where he might serve Spain during 
 the life of Charles IV. and defy the malice of Ferdi- 
 nand VII. ; but, to gain it, he was not prepared to 
 sacrifice the interests of his country. Since the end 
 of 1804 Napoleon had been clamouring for the 
 arrears of the subsidy guaranteed by Spain, which, 
 counting from the signature of the treaty to King 
 Charles's declaration of war against England, he 
 estimated at seventy-two millions of francs. On 
 May 10 Izquierdo succeeded in settling this claim
 
 194 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 on the payment of twenty-four millions. This seems 
 a good stroke of business for Spain, but Toreno, 
 and other historians after him, talk of Godoy's having 
 robbed his country of the sum thus paid and 
 suggest that it was a bribe to Napoleon. Most 
 debtors are glad enough to get let off with six and 
 eightpence in the pound. 
 
 It looks more probable, on examination, that the 
 concession was Napoleon's and that it was intended 
 to humour Godoy. For the hint about a princi- 
 pality for the favourite seems to have proceeded 
 from a suggestion of the emperor's own, involving 
 an attack upon Portugal. In June Izquierdo was 
 invited to meet Duroc at St. Cloud, and there he was 
 handed a paper containing a remarkable scheme. 
 Portugal was to be conquered by a mixed army of 
 French and Spanish, and then to be divided into 
 three parts : one of these was to be held by the 
 king of Spain, another given to the Prince of the 
 Peace, and the third to be allotted to the king of 
 Etruria in exchange for Tuscany. The House of 
 Braganga was to be sent to Brazil, and France was to 
 receive a portion of the Spanish province of Biscay. 
 
 The advantage to France under this arrangement 
 is so patent that there can be little doubt as to its 
 authorship. Godoy's agent promptly replied that 
 no Spaniard would ever consent to the alienation 
 of any part of the national territory, and that he 
 was not prepared to discuss the translation of the 
 king of Etruria to northern Lusitania. He proposed, 
 instead, that the emperor should compensate himself 
 with the island of Madeira and the Portuguese colonies 
 in Africa. To establish the expelled dynasty in Brazil
 
 DON LUIS, KING OF ETRURIA. 
 (Goya) 
 
 195
 
 The Treaty of Fontainebleau 197 
 
 would, furthermore, be to set up a rival empire to 
 Spain's in the New World. These objections and 
 proposals were referred to Talleyrand, who was 
 empowered only to waive the clause stipulating the 
 cession of Spanish territory. Godoy could have 
 the royal title if he liked, and King Charles could 
 take that of emperor of Spain and the Indies. In 
 conclusion, the minister desired an immediate answer. 
 
 He does not seem to have got it. Ready to take 
 a principality for nothing, Godoy was not disposed 
 to have it on the emperor's terms. The project was 
 dropped for a time. Napoleon was busy with his 
 peace negotiations. Naples was the chief stumbling- 
 block. Neither England nor Russia would forsake 
 the exiled king. Napoleon, always mindful of his 
 allies, proposed to compensate him with the Balearic 
 Islands, his brother's property. It was to gain 
 Godoy's consent to such a transfer, I suppose, that 
 he had offered him the Portuguese principality. The 
 scheme fell through. D'Oubril, the Russian pleni- 
 potentiary, was disgraced by the Tsar, England 
 withdrew from the conference, and in September 
 Prussia and Saxony leagued themselves with these 
 Powers in the war against France. 
 
 Godoy was not long left in ignorance of the em- 
 peror's readiness to purchase peace with a portion of 
 his ally's dominions. It might have been the peace 
 of Amiens over again ! The favourite saw plainly 
 through Napoleon's attempts to buy him, and pro- 
 bably doubted if he would ever have got the price 
 of his treachery. He recalled the conqueror's lately 
 uttered prophecy that his dynasty would soon be the 
 oldest in Europe, his observation that, without the 
 12
 
 198 Godoy: the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 south the roots of the empire could not be firmly 
 fixed. 
 
 It seemed to Godoy that the time had come to 
 change sides. " There was no salvation for us," he 
 writes, " but to unite ourselves with Prussia and 
 Russia, already resolved on war. My hardest task 
 was to convince Charles IV. of the hard necessity 
 imposed on Spain. He had no fear for himself, but 
 he feared for his people. The thought that a reverse 
 might bring down on them such a burden as had 
 overwhelmed Austria troubled and oppressed his 
 spirit ; but he saw that this danger menaced sooner 
 or later, and that it was his duty to conjure it. He 
 decided then on war, but still doubted whether this 
 resource was inevitable or premature, his will not 
 being as firm and definite as was necessary in such 
 circumstances to work resolutely. One of his strictest 
 injunctions was to undertake no engagements or 
 negotiations with any power that might com- 
 promise us with France in case the Tsar and the 
 king of Prussia, as was not impossible, should 
 compose their differences with the emperor." 
 
 Fortunately Godoy found a confidential inter- 
 mediary close at hand in the Russian ambassador, 
 Baron Gregory Aleksandrovich Stroganov. This diplo- 
 matist was in love with the countess of Ega, the wife 
 of the Portuguese minister. " In her salon ardent 
 sympathy was expressed for the nations which had 
 fallen victims to the ambition of Napoleon, and the 
 woes of the courts of Lisbon, Berlin, Vienna, and 
 Palermo provoked a chivalrous impulse of resistance, 
 which M. Stroganov had private reasons for making 
 his own." Of the assistance of Portugal Godoy
 
 The Treaty of Fontainebleau 199 
 
 was — through the Baron perhaps — able to make sure. 
 The princess regent of that country held far more 
 to the land of her birth than to that of her adoption, 
 and cared more for her father than her husband. 
 
 Godoy tells us that he shrank from entering into 
 any direct negotiation with Great Britain. He did 
 not want the English to land troops in the peninsula ; 
 if they took part in a continental war, he told Stro- 
 ganov that it must be in Italy or Holland. He says 
 that he has no recollection of having despatched any 
 envoy to London. His memory was at fault ; Toreno 
 proves it, beyond the possibility of dispute. 
 
 Towards the end of September 1806 Don Agustin 
 Arguelles (afterwards tutor of Isabella II.) was sent 
 for by Don Manuel Espinosa, the director of the 
 consolidated fund, who having declared that the war 
 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 
 was by no means pleased at this display of literary 
 activity on the part of his son. The word " revolu-
 
 Prince and Ambassador 217 
 
 tlon " sent a tremour through him ; moreover, sus- 
 pecting the translator of very indifferent skill, he 
 feared the dissemination of the work might bring the 
 royal family into contempt. Ferdinand was very 
 unfairly censored, and the book withdrawn. 
 
 Presently this storm in an inkpot assumed more 
 serious proportions. The slanderous report that he 
 was responsible for the princess's death goaded the 
 generalissimo into an armed reconnaissance into her 
 husband's quarters. He found an instrument ready 
 to his hand in one Martras, who, having been rebuffed 
 by the daughter of one of the prince's former atten- 
 dants, went about denouncing them all as conspirators. 
 The princess had hardly been locked in her last resting- 
 place at the Escurial before the exasperated Godoyacted 
 upon these wild allegations and pounced down upon 
 Moreno, assistant to his highness's barber. Moreno, 
 who was soon joined by several of his fellow domestics, 
 was interrogated by the police magistrate, Marquina 
 Galindo, as to what he did during the long hours 
 that he was closeted with his master. He replied 
 that he was permitted to assist in his highness's 
 studies and at his chemical experiments. Much of 
 the time spent by the strangely assorted pair had 
 been devoted to the vetoed translation. The examin- 
 ing magistrate was not satisfied with this account 
 of the accused's occupation, and, by order of the 
 minister Caballero, put him to the torture. Nothing 
 seems to have been proved against the unfortunate 
 lackeys, but in the end they were sentenced to deporta- 
 tion to their native places and in some cases to the 
 colonies. As the English fleet held the seas, how- 
 ever, none of them was able to leave Spain.
 
 21 8 Godoy: the Quecn^s Favourite 
 
 The responsibility for this prosecution cannot be 
 fastened exclusively on Godoy. It was not till twelve 
 months later that the king, alarmed by the continu- 
 ance of intrigues under his own roof, appointed him 
 commandant and inspector of the royal household — • 
 a post more really powerful than that of Grand 
 Admiral, or of president of the Council, to which he 
 was at the same time elevated. The guards in the 
 interior of the palace thus came under his orders. 
 Doubting either their utility from his personal ex- 
 perience, or their attachment to him who had risen 
 from their ranks, he reduced their strength by one- 
 third. He put his friend, the duke del Parque, at 
 the head of the Garde de Corps and his brother 
 Diego in command of the Walloon guard. 
 
 From time to time the French ambassadors an- 
 nounced the dismissal or banishment of officials and 
 grandees : the duke of Villafranca, the countess of 
 Montijo, the count of Miranda are said to have 
 been put under the ban on account of their attach- 
 ment to the late princess of Asturias ; the marquis 
 of Abadid and the duke of San Carlos were ordered 
 to reside on their estates simply, we are to believe, 
 because they were friends of the heir-apparent. It 
 is to be supposed that the Prince of the Peace would 
 have taken all measures to avert his threatened down- 
 fall, and the result proved that his royal highnesses 
 counsellors were capable of doing incalculable mischief 
 to him and to Spain ; but, if a rogue was laid by 
 the heels for picking pockets, there were people 
 ready to see in his punishment the malice of the 
 favourite against his master's heir. 
 
 Standing in fear of his father's favourite, Ferdinand
 
 Prince and Ambassador 219 
 
 looked round for a protector. Maria Antonia was 
 no longer there to envenom his mind against France. 
 But Escoiquiz came and went between Toledo and 
 Madrid, meeting his former pupil In secret at the 
 house of a person in the prince's confidence. The 
 canon did not yield to Charles IV. in his admiration 
 for the emperor of the French — to the ecclesiastical 
 imagination the oppressor of the Papacy seemed the 
 restorer of religion, the champion of order, a hero of 
 antiquity come to chain the hydra of the revolution. 
 The prince of Asturlas, accustomed by his late wife 
 to look on his father's ally as a monster, now began 
 to see him in this more favourable light. Godoy, 
 whispered Escoiquiz, held only by the favour of the 
 emperor. The heir-apparent of Spain would be a 
 more valuable ally to his majesty than this accursed 
 upstart. How great a thing it would be to rob Godoy 
 of his protector — to beat him with the sceptre to 
 which he trusted ! Let his royal highness think 
 on it. 
 
 He did think on it, so much that he awaited the 
 coming of the new ambassador from the Tuileries 
 as that of a deliverer. Fortune served his turn. 
 The new envoy was In a sense a member of the im- 
 perial family. " Francois de Beauharnais, son of the 
 marquis de la Ferte Beauharnais, commodore and 
 governor of Guadeloupe, was no one less than the 
 brother-in-law of the Empress Josephine. Married 
 a second time to the Baroness Cohausen, by his first 
 union with his cousin, Marie de Beauharnais, he 
 had a daughter whose conjugal devotion was one day 
 to be renowned — the comtesse de Lavalette. Perhaps 
 he had not troubled too much about his sister-in-law
 
 220 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 during the dark days of the revolution and the gay- 
 times of the Directory, but amid the splendours of 
 the Consulate he discovered himself as an excellent 
 kinsman, and Josephine showed herself no less friendly 
 to him than to the other members of her family. 
 
 " Obviously something had to be done, and something 
 handsome, for this deml-seml-brother-In-law of the 
 emperor. An embassy was clearly the thing : he 
 was appointed plenipotentiary to the queen of Etrurla. 
 From the little Florentine court of the king of Spain's 
 daughter he was summoned to become ambassador 
 to the king of Spain himself. A brief stay at Paris 
 — just time enough to receive the Legion of Honour 
 and the Order of the Iron Crown — and he passed, 
 delighted with his good fortune, from the banks of 
 the Arno to those of the Manzanares. He reached 
 Madrid on December 23, 1806." ^ 
 
 Inordinately proud of his connection with the 
 mushroom dynasty of Bonaparte, this diplomatist 
 was full of contempt for the parvenu Godoy. He 
 mistrusted the Spaniard's exaggerated affability, he 
 doubted his sincerity, he spoke of him as a man from 
 whom more might be obtained by firmness than 
 by persuasion or argument. Later on, we are told 
 by M. de Grandmalson, this ambassador cannot bring 
 himself to address the Prince of the Peace by the 
 title of " highness " conferred on him long since. 
 
 " No one is freer than I," writes Godoy, " no one 
 loves better that virtue of frankness to which every one 
 lays claim. Nevertheless ... In the course of our 
 official correspondence I have noticed that your 
 excellency disdains formality and is not concerned to 
 ^ Grandmaison : " L'Espagne et Napoleon."
 
 Prince and Ambassador 221 
 
 grant me that title which my sovereign has accorded 
 me, and which his imperial majesty himself uses in 
 addressing me. If this were a friendly correspondence 
 I should be charmed by the honour which your 
 excellency does me in treating me thus familiarly ; 
 but, as it is official and must often be submitted to 
 the sovereign, I think it would be better to adhere 
 to the formalities of address." Beauharnais thought 
 otherwise ; Godoy dropped the " excellency " and 
 addressed him as " my dear ambassador " ; Talley- 
 rand had to intervene and to remind the French 
 representative that he must recognise the dignities 
 conferred by the sovereign to whom he was accredited. 
 
 Smarting under this rebuke, Beauharnais listened 
 readily to the overtures made by two gentlemen of 
 Ferdinand's household, Don Juan Villena and Don 
 Pedro Giraldo. By them he was introduced to 
 Escoiquiz. His reverence drew the most affecting 
 picture of the prince of Asturias, almost a prisoner 
 in his father's palace, in danger of being stripped of 
 his inheritance by the insolent favourite whom his 
 excellency had so properly snubbed. These advances 
 were as surprising as they were gratifying to the 
 Frenchman, who had been given to understand at 
 Paris that Ferdinand was the avowed enemy of 
 France and the partisan of England. There were 
 secret interviews between the ambassador and the 
 canon under the trees in the Retiro. " Mind," said 
 his reverence, " Ferdinand's the friend — not Godoy." 
 
 Beauharnais was fain to believe it ; but how 
 cement this friendship ? Escoiquiz proposed a start- 
 ling plan. There had been a scene at the palace. 
 To secure his favourite's future, to put an end to
 
 222 Godoyi the Queen's Favourite 
 
 the schism in his household, the king had suggested 
 that his son should take, as his second wife, the younger 
 daughter of his uncle, Luis de Bourbon, the sister 
 of Godoy's wife. '* What ! " cried Ferdinand, " why, 
 I would rather remain a widower all the rest of my 
 life' — I would rather be a monk — than become the 
 brother-in-law of Manuel Godoy ! " Ambassador 
 and ecclesiastic approved this manly outburst. In- 
 stead of the sister of the Princess of the Peace, the 
 canon proposed that his royal highness should seek 
 a bride in the family of his imperial majesty. 
 
 " Excellent ! " cried Beauharnais ; and, with what 
 his countryman (Grandmaison) calls superb aplomb, he 
 promptly suggested his cousin, and Josephine's, Made- 
 moiselle Marie Rose Tascher de la Pagerie. She was a 
 charming person, just nineteen years of age — an ideal 
 match for his highness. Escoiquiz thought so too. As 
 has been suggested, he was probably not well informed 
 as to the imperial genealogy, and vaguely supposed 
 that a cousin of the empress might be related to the 
 emperor also. Beauharnais at once wrote to Paris, 
 extolling the virtues of the prince of Asturias. " He 
 solicits on his knees," he declared, " the protection 
 of his majesty, and will accept a spouse only from his 
 hand. The young prince has complete confidence 
 in the hero who governs us : he will do absolutely 
 whatever the emperor wishes. This I can assure you 
 positively." Not satisfied with such emphatic assur- 
 ances, the emperor's foreign minister demanded 
 further particulars. Very diffidently the ambassador 
 mentioned the name of Mademoiselle de la Pagerie. 
 
 Napoleon, deep in negotiations with Izquierdo, 
 had no thought of imperilling his treaty by a rupture
 
 Prince and Ambassador 223 
 
 with Godoy in order to advance the interests of his 
 wife's relations. On October 7, 1801, he ordered 
 Champagny to rebuke his indiscreet representative, 
 whose " intrigues appeared to him unworthy of an 
 ambassador and likely to betray him into dangerous 
 snares." 
 
 His master, Beauharnais must have remembered, 
 had not always been so nice. At any rate, it was not 
 he, the ambassador, who had stumbled into a pitfall, 
 but the prince of Asturias. Pressed most probably 
 by his excellency, perhaps by Escoiquiz, Ferdinand 
 had rashly committed his desires to writing. 
 
 " Sire " — thus the prince addressed the emperor — 
 " the fear of incommoding your majesty in the midst 
 of the exploits and great affairs which occupy you 
 without intermission has prevented me till now . . . 
 expressing, at least, in writing the sentiments of 
 respect, esteem, and attachment which I feel for a 
 hero . . . sent by Providence to save Europe from 
 a general upheaval, to steady shaken thrones, and to 
 restore to nations peace and happiness. 
 
 " The position in which I have for some time past 
 found myself, and which cannot have escaped the 
 penetration of your majesty, has been till now a 
 second obstacle . . . ; but, full of confidence in the 
 protection of your majesty, I am determined . . . 
 to throw myself into your bosom as into that of a 
 tender father. It is indeed unfortunate that I should 
 be obliged to conceal as a crime a step so just and 
 praiseworthy, but such are the fatal consequences 
 of the kindness of the best kings. 
 
 *' Filled with respect and filial affection for the 
 author of my being, I would dare to tell your ma-
 
 ?24 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 jesty only what is already known to you — that these 
 estimable qualities are often the means by which 
 artful and wicked persons throw dust in the eyes of 
 sovereigns like my respected father. 
 
 " If these men let him know the character of your 
 majesty as I know it, with what ardour would he not 
 seek to tighten the bonds which unite our two houses ! 
 And what more proper means than to demand of 
 your majesty the honour of allying myself with a 
 princess of your august family ? Such is the desire 
 of all my father's subjects ; it will also be his, I do 
 not doubt, in spite of the efforts of a few evil-minded 
 persons, so soon as he knows the intentions of your 
 majesty. It is all that my heart desires ; but it is 
 not according to the calculations of the perfidious 
 egotists that surround him, and they may at the first 
 assault surprise him. These are the grounds of my 
 fears. 
 
 *' It is only their respect for your majesty that can 
 open the eyes of my good and well-beloved parents, 
 make them happy, and secure the nation's happiness 
 and mine. The whole world will admire the kindness 
 of your majesty, who will always have in me a most 
 grateful and devoted son. 
 
 " With the utmost confidence I implore, then, your 
 paternal protection, hoping that you will not only 
 deign to accord me the honour of an alliance, but that 
 you will remove all the difficulties in the way of the 
 fulfilment of this wish. This act of kindness on the 
 part of your majesty is the more necessary as I cannot, 
 on my part, make the least effort, since it would be 
 perhaps represented as an insult to paternal authority ; 
 and I am reduced solely to refusing, as I shall refuse
 
 Prince and Ambassador 225 
 
 with invincible constancy, to ally myself with any 
 person, whatsoever she may be, without the consent 
 and positive approbation of your majesty, from whom 
 I await the selection of my bride. 
 
 " Written and signed with my own hand, under my 
 own seal, at the Escurial, October 11, 1807. — 
 Ferdinand." 
 
 This letter Inviting the intervention of a foreign 
 power in the internal affairs of the father of the 
 writer's kingdom, was received by M. de Beauharnais 
 with unqualified satisfaction. Here was the answer 
 to his master's reprimand ; but the difficulty of 
 finding an absolutely trustworthy messenger forced 
 him to delay its transmission till the 19th or 20th of 
 the month. It was not till the last days of October 
 that Napoleon read it. The messenger had met the 
 French columns traversing Castile on their way 
 to attack Portugal, nine days before the execution of 
 the treaty of Fontainebleau.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF THE ESCURIAL 
 
 While Godoy lay sick of a fever at Madrid and Junot's 
 army was tramping along the dusty Spanish roads, 
 Charles IV. and his family were assembled in that 
 gloomy palace - mausoleum dedicated by Philip II. 
 to the majesty of death. Something of the genius of 
 the great fanatic king seems instinct in the vast pile, 
 but little enough of it was communicated to these his 
 degenerate successors. He who was to wear the crown 
 of Philip, like him Indeed, now burned the midnight 
 oil and worked far into the night ; penning, as we 
 know, such appeals to a foreign and a parvenu prince 
 as would have been disdained by the meanest of the 
 Bourbons and Habsburgs, that lay piled in their 
 coffins beneath the marble floors of the pantheon. 
 
 For all the vigilance which Godoy, as governor of 
 the palace, might have exercised, there was no inter- 
 ruption of the correspondence secretly maintained 
 between the archdeacon of Alcaraz at Toledo and 
 his former pupil in the palace of the Escurial. But the 
 lights burning so late into the night in his highness's 
 chambers, the whispering and activity of his intimates, 
 faintly stirred the curiosity of the courtiers. About 
 what was the prince so busy ? The answer was easy. 
 He was diligently translating, at the suggestion of his 
 royal sire, the works of Condillac, which had trained 
 
 226
 
 The Conspiracy of the Escufial 227 
 
 his august mother in the practice of virtue. So 
 eagerly did he pursue his edifying task that in those 
 cold solitudes he worked on into the late grey October 
 dawn. 
 
 This industry was marked by the marquesa de 
 Perijaa, one of the queen's bed-chamber women. 
 It may have been this observant lady who chose to 
 arouse their majesties' suspicions ; it may have been 
 some obscurer enemy of the prince. It could hardly 
 have been a member of the French ambassador's 
 household in the pay of Godoy, as has been alleged, 
 for such an agent might have warned his employer 
 in time of the letter to the emperor and perhaps 
 secured it. Probably we shall never know with 
 certainty who scrawled the warning which Charles 
 IV. found on the morning of October 27 on his 
 dressing-table. " Haste, haste, post-haste," it ran. 
 " Prince Ferdinand is organising a movement in the 
 palace which endangers the crown, and Queen Maria 
 Luisa runs a risk of being poisoned. To defeat these 
 designs not an instant must be lost. The faithful 
 vassal who writes these lines is not in a position to 
 fulfil his duty in any other way." 
 
 Recovering from his first consternation, the king 
 showed this letter to his wife and then quietly passed 
 over to his son's apartments. He took with him, to 
 serve as a pretext for his visit, some volumes of poetry 
 celebrating the recent defeat of the English at 
 Buenos Aires. " The king," says Godoy, " told me 
 afterwards that he was so prejudiced in favour of his 
 son that, if he had seen in his face the expression of 
 innocence, he would there and then have abandoned 
 all further inquiry ; but the son betrayed himself by
 
 228 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 his perturbation and embarrassment, and his glance 
 immediately revealed the whereabouts of the docu- 
 ments which compromised him." By another account 
 the king engaged Ferdinand in conversation, while 
 the queen and her secretary, Ballesteros, ransacked his 
 drawers. Sternly forbidding any one to enter or 
 to leave his son's apartments, the offended father 
 summoned Caballero, the minister of Justice, and 
 proceeded to examine the papers collected by her 
 majesty. 
 
 Among these was a memorandum in which the 
 prince compared himself to Ermengild, the sainted 
 Gothic prince, who felt constrained by conscience to 
 rebel against his father, Leovigild, and is supposed to 
 have been put to death at the instigation of his step- 
 mother, Gosvinda, and her presumed favourite 
 Sisbert. This incriminating document was inspected 
 by Caballero, who pronounced the writer to be 
 worthy of death. The queen shrieked with terror, 
 and, snatching the paper from the minister's hands, 
 hid it in her bosom. This is Godoy's account, which 
 I see no reason to disbelieve. Because Maria Luisa 
 had from time to time been physically unfaithful to 
 her husband, I suppose we are not bound to assume 
 that she had none of the natural feelings of a mother. 
 That the well-known story of Ermengild should have 
 occurred at this posture of his affairs to Ferdinand is 
 most likely ; that his writings contained some definite 
 menace to his parents is to be inferred from the 
 rage and despair of the king as expressed in the letter 
 which he at once addressed to Napoleon. 
 
 " Sire, my brother," he wrote, " at the moment 
 that I was occupied with the means of co-operating
 
 The Conspiracy of the Escurial 229 
 
 with your majesty for the destruction of our enemies, 
 when I Imagined that all the plots of the ex-queen 
 of Naples had been burled with her daughter, I 
 found, with a horror that makes me shudder, that 
 the most terrible spirit of Intrigue has penetrated 
 into the heart of my own palace. Alas ! my heart 
 bleeds to give you an account of so fearful an 
 attempt. My beloved son, the heir of my throne, has 
 formed a horrible plot to dethrone me, and has 
 gone the length of attempting the life of his mother. 
 A plan so terrible must be punished with the exemplary 
 rigour of the law. The succession of the prince 
 must be revoked, one of his brothers will be more 
 worthy than he to fill his place In my heart and on 
 my throne. I am now seeking his accomplices, to 
 discover the whole of this disgraceful plot, and I do 
 not lose a moment In Informing your imperial majesty, 
 whom I pray to aid me with your wisdom and advice." 
 The night of October 29 on which this was written, 
 says Major Martin Hume, " the long, dusky corridors 
 of the Escurial saw a sad procession which reminded 
 the trembling witnesses of a similar event two and 
 a half centuries before, when Philip II. himself 
 arrested his only son, Don Carlos. First came a 
 gentleman in waiting, the duke of Bejar, bearing 
 candelabra to illuminate the darkness, than a platoon 
 of the Spanish royal guard in their blue and red 
 uniform, followed by a stout, well-built, fresh- 
 coloured young man of twenty-three, of singularly 
 sinister aspect. His forehead was white and well- 
 shaped, and over his dark eyes lowered conspicuously 
 heavy, smooth, jet-black eyebrows, glossy like leeches ; 
 but it was the lower part of the face which mainly
 
 230 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 attracted attention. The point of the drooping 
 Bourbon nose descended over a very short upper lip 
 to the level of the straight-slit mouth ; whilst the 
 nether jaw, underhung like those of the princes of 
 the house of Austria, stood clear out, so that the 
 under-lip was on a level with the point of his nose. 
 
 " This was Fernando, prince of Asturias, who, in 
 his own person, centred all the evil qualities of both 
 his Bourbon and Habsburg ancestors without any of 
 their virtues : a man of undoubted ability, beloved 
 to frenzy by a generous, loyal people, who made 
 greater sacrifices for him than a nation ever made 
 for a ruler ; but a prince who yet, through the whole 
 of a long life, belied every promise, betrayed every 
 friend, repaid every sacrifice by persecution, rewarded 
 love and attachment by cruelty and injustice ; and 
 who thus early began by treason to an over-indulgent 
 father an evil career which was to bring untold 
 misery to his country and a heritage of war of which 
 the end has not yet been reached. 
 
 " By the side of the prince walked his father, a stout, 
 elderly, red-faced gentleman, immersed in grief, and 
 followed by the ministers and other courtiers, who thus 
 conveyed the heir-apparent a prisoner to his apart- 
 ments after his examination on the charge of treason. 
 The next day there appeared on the walls of the 
 capital a pathetic address of the king to his people, 
 telling them how his son had been seduced into a 
 wicked conspiracy against the throne. But the 
 Madrilefios could believe no evil of their beloved 
 Fernando, and once more they made a scapegoat of 
 the Choricero, who, they said, had invented a false 
 plot to ruin the heir to the crown."
 
 FERDINAND VII. 
 (Goya) 
 
 231
 
 The Conspiracy of the Escurial 233 
 
 The proclamation was, in fact, the composition of 
 Caballero, who was undoubtedly responsible for the 
 initiation of the prosecution. The news reached 
 Godoy on his sick-bed, to which, with delightful in- 
 consistency, his enemies allege at one time that he was 
 not confined at all, and at another that he was there 
 as the result of his debaucheries. With trembling, 
 feverish hands, he scrawled an appeal to the king to 
 hush up this scandal in the royal household and to 
 interrogate the prince personally and in private. 
 Only when the authority of a father had been tried 
 ineffectually should the processes of law be resorted 
 to. The counsel arrived too late. The royal culprit 
 was in solitary confinement in his own room, and 
 the minister of Justice was busily preparing the 
 proofs for the prosecution. 
 
 Now that the queen had extracted the most in- 
 criminating of all, these consisted of four papers : a 
 memorial denouncing the Prince of the Peace, a 
 note in which Ferdinand exposed his reasons for 
 not marrying the favourite's sister-in-law, a decree 
 naming the duke del Infantado captain-general of 
 New Castile, and a cipher code. The memorial, 
 though in the prince's handwriting, was the com- 
 position of Escoiquiz. It painted Godoy as the most 
 infamous of men and the most disloyal of subjects. 
 He aimed, it was alleged, at dethroning the king and 
 substituting himself for the rightful heir. He had 
 acquired his power by the most shameful arts. His 
 life was a scandal to all Spain. He was a married 
 man when he espoused the daughter of the Infante 
 Luis ; his palace and his office had become an open 
 market for prostitution, in which adultery was the
 
 234 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 passport to office and to favour. The wealth he had 
 accumulated was pointed to as palpable evidence of 
 his corruptness and dishonesty. 
 
 Yet the prince did not advise his father to expose 
 this enormous criminal to the vengeance of the law. 
 No, in order to spare the feelings of his relatives, to 
 save the face of the king who had so long trusted and 
 honoured him, and because this evil man had so 
 many friends in high places, it would be better simply 
 to dismiss him from all his offices and leave his innu- 
 merable offences buried in oblivion. In conclusion, 
 the prince desired his father to meet him at one of his 
 hunting-lodges, when he would substantiate all these 
 charges. Whether this advice were heeded or not, 
 his majesty was implored to keep it secret if he did 
 not wish to hasten his own death and the writer's. 
 
 His refusal to marry Godoy's sister-in-law Ferdi- 
 nand justified in a singularly coarse and stupidly 
 conceived document, supposed to embody the advice 
 of a holy friar. More suspicious was the cipher used 
 in correspondence with Escoiquiz ; and, most alarm- 
 ing to the king, the decree in which Ferdinand ap- 
 pointed the duke del Infantado captain-general of New 
 Castile, to be used, as the writer averred, only in the 
 event of his majesty's sudden death. 
 
 This explanation may very possibly have been true, 
 and is accepted as such by all the historians hostile 
 to the favourite. Thus, by one account, Godoy took 
 precautions to secure his position at the king's death, 
 and his brother Diego endeavoured to enlist the 
 services of Don Luis de Viguri and Tomas de Jaurequi, 
 colonel of the Pavia regiment. These officers re- 
 vealed his proposal to the duke del Infantado, who
 
 The Conspiracy of the Escurial 235 
 
 at once communicated it to Escoiquiz. The prince's 
 friends then concerted a plan of operations to be put 
 in action at the instant of Charles's death. The duke 
 was to assume office as captain-general of the province 
 in which Madrid is situated, the count of Montarco 
 was to be appointed president of the Council of 
 Castille, the duke of San Carlos master of the house- 
 hold, Floridablanca first secretary of State. The 
 patents were drawn up, only the dates being left 
 blank. Yes ; but they would have been as readily 
 available on the deposition as on the death of the 
 actual sovereign. 
 
 The proclamation had been only freshly pasted on 
 the walls of the capital when, in response to frantic 
 entreaties from his master, Godoy rose from his bed 
 and appeared, still in the grip of fever, in the bleak 
 palace of Philip II. He found the king at once 
 furious and exultant. Three days' solitary confine- 
 ment had been sufficient to wear down the obstinacy 
 of the prince whom the people of Spain regarded 
 as a hero. Persistently harassed by Caballero, 
 fearing perhaps the traditional fate of Philip's son, 
 Ferdinand had blurted out the names of Escoiquiz 
 as well as of Infantado, and threatened his enemies 
 with the wrath of the great Napoleon, with whom 
 he declared he was in correspondence. Godoy had 
 suspected as much. His task now was to soothe the 
 irate father and to divert his wrath from the prince 
 to his accomplices. Orders were given to arrest the 
 duke and the archdeacon. Meanwhile the favourite 
 paced the dreary halls of the Escurial, his fever for- 
 gotten in his anxiety. French troops were pouring 
 into Spain; he had never trusted the emperor . . .
 
 236 Godoy: the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 and now, what mischief was hatching between him 
 and this sinister Bourbon prince ? 
 
 With the connivance of the queen, the detested 
 favourite paid Ferdinand a visit in his prison. The 
 accused prince, he tells us, welcomed him as a de- 
 liverer and embraced him weeping. Such weakness 
 is quite consistent with his royal highness's subsequent 
 behaviour. Godoy also shed tears (they came readily 
 to men's eyes a hundred years ago) and groaned over 
 his enemy as a father over the prodigal son. Ferdi- 
 nand bewailed his weakness in having been misled by 
 designing men, and implored the intervention of his 
 dear Manuel. Charles was not, however, easily bent, 
 and was moved rather by appeals to his statecraft 
 than to his clemency. It was clear, Godoy pointed 
 out, that relations of some sort existed between the 
 culprit and the emperor. The intercession of his 
 imperial majesty could not be rejected, and it was 
 wise, therefore, to forestall it. After nine days' 
 confinement, Ferdinand was once more brought 
 before his father. He admitted his participation in a 
 disloyal intrigue, he named his accomplices, he sued 
 abjectly for forgiveness. 
 
 On November 5 the people's apprehensions for 
 their unworthy favourite were relieved by the publica- 
 tion of a royal decree which, beginning with the 
 words, " The voice of nature disarms vengeance," 
 announced that the king had pardoned his son. 
 Ferdinand's confession of guilt was published at the 
 same time. To his father he wrote : " I have been 
 guilty of offending against your majesty, against my 
 father and my king. I repent of it, and I promise 
 your majesty the most humble obedience. I ought
 
 The Conspiracy of the Escurial 237 
 
 to do nothing without your consent, but I was sur- 
 prised and taken advantage of by evil-minded persons. 
 I have denounced these, and I beseech your majesty 
 to forgive me and to permit your grateful son to kiss 
 your feet." 
 
 Before Maria Luisa the prince was not less humble. 
 " Madame, my mother, I deeply repent of the great 
 fault I have committed against the king and against 
 you, my father and mother. I therefore implore 
 your pardon with the greatest submission, as well 
 as for my obstinacy in denying the truth to you the 
 other night. I therefore beseech your majesty, from 
 the bottom of my heart, to deign to interpose your 
 mediation with my father, that he will be pleased to 
 permit me, his grateful son, to kiss his majesty's feet." 
 
 The prince grovelled at his parents' feet. If 
 Godoy had craved revenge, here was a surfeit. He 
 has been blamed for publishing these letters. Of 
 course it was the king who did so, and it is hard to 
 see how he could have done otherwise. To have 
 pardoned his son without any stated motive for such 
 clemency would have caused his subjects to suppose 
 that he had no just grounds for complaint and would 
 have made a prosecution of his highness's accom- 
 plices impossible. It is odd that the historians who 
 blame Godoy for making the letters known all go 
 to the trouble of reproducing them. 
 
 The prince would not have escaped, says Toreno, 
 but through the fear into which the name of Napoleon 
 plunged the court of the Escurial. Godoy admits 
 that the introduction of the emperor into this obscure 
 domestic intrigue filled him with dread. To what 
 extent had the prince compromised himself with his
 
 238 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 country's nominal ally and most dangerous neigh- 
 bour ? What measure of support had Beauharnais 
 received from his own court ? 
 
 For the ambassador, according to his own account, 
 a snare was laid by the enemies of Ferdinand. At 
 dead of night one of the royal carriages halted at the 
 door of the embassy. A mysterious cloaked personage 
 alighted. He had, he explained, a private message 
 from the prince of Asturias which he could deliver 
 only to the ambassador in person. Beauharnais, 
 suspecting a trap, sent his secretary to inform the 
 stranger that he was not authorised to enter into 
 communication with his royal highness. Entreaties 
 and arguments proving futile, the cloaked personage 
 withdrew leaving a billet behind him. It was signed 
 " Ferdinand," and contained an urgent request that 
 his excellency would hand the bearer the letter he 
 had addressed to the emperor, or the copy if this had 
 already been despatched. After all, the request may 
 very well have been made by Ferdinand himself, in 
 the desire to appease his father's wrath. 
 
 At the instigation of Godoy the offended sove- 
 reign wrote, on November 3, a second letter to his 
 imperial ally, asking if his son had really been in 
 negotiation with him and complaining of the improper 
 conduct of Beauharnais. To test the extent of the 
 emperor's sympathy with the prince, there was no 
 hint or promise of the pardon which on that day 
 the writer had determined to grant. The letter was 
 delivered by the prince of Masserano and produced a 
 violent explosion of wrath. His imperial majesty 
 considered himself insulted ; he denied all knowledge 
 of the prince's letter, which he had in his pocket,
 
 The Conspiracy of the Escurial 239 
 
 but declared that henceforward he would take him 
 under his protection. The insult, he knew, proceeded 
 not from his excellent all)^ Charles, but from Godoy. 
 Had Masserano received any message from that 
 villain ? — no, but Izquierdo had. The letter was 
 shown to Duroc next day. It contained a very brief 
 narrative of the events at the Escurial. The plot 
 was stated to have been supported by Beauharnais. 
 " Madrid," continued Godoy, " is much excited ; 
 every one awaits the results ; it is reported that the 
 ambassador has said that the French troops will 
 make Madrid their headquarters. I am at the royal 
 residence. All my attention is required, with so 
 many enemies ; but the cannon will reduce them." 
 
 Strangely enough, this letter, so much more threaten- 
 ing than that of the king's, appeared to mollify the 
 emperor. He had had time for reflection, and he 
 had remembered that the treaty of Fontainebleau 
 was not yet ratified. Junot's small army of 23,000 
 men was just then at Salamanca, liable to be taken 
 between the Portuguese in its front and the Spaniards 
 in its rear. The all-devouring conqueror had not 
 yet made up his mind with regard to Spain. He 
 decided to temporise. Through Duroc he assured 
 Izquierdo that he was entirely ignorant of the 
 alleged intrigues of his ambassador ; through Cham- 
 pagny he warned the Spaniard that he would regard 
 any attempt to introduce his or his representative's 
 name into the prosecution as an unfriendly act and 
 would avenge it accordingly. 
 
 To Charles he wrote : " I have received your 
 majesty's letters of October 29 and November 3. 
 I have never received any letter from the prince of
 
 240 Godoy: the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 Asturias. I have never heard him spoken of, directly 
 or indirectly, so that it would be true to say that I 
 do not even know that he exists. The treaty, which 
 your majesty will have perused will show you that, 
 while admitting that my troops might be commanded 
 by you or the Prince of the Peace, I never entertained 
 the idea of allowing them to be commanded by the 
 prince of Asturias. However painful may be these 
 domestic discords, they are incapable of affecting 
 large issues of State. ..." 
 
 They did not delay the execution of the treaty 
 of Fontainebleau, which had been ratified before 
 Napoleon wrote, on November 8, by Ceballos and 
 Beauharnais. Moreover, to heal the breach created 
 by his first letter, Charles IV. decided to put forward 
 the very proposal which had been the cause of all 
 the mischief. Without knowing, of course, the terms 
 of his son's demand, which Napoleon was supposed 
 never to have received, his catholic majesty now told 
 his ally that such an alliance between the two courts 
 would be regarded by him with profound satisfaction. 
 
 Napoleon, on his side, had not dismissed as alto- 
 gether vain the project he had repudiated. He 
 disposed of Mdlle de la Pagerie by marrying her 
 to the duke of Aremberg, but he considered whether 
 the hand of the prince of Asturias might not suit 
 his niece Charlotte, the thirteen-year-old daughter 
 of Lucien Bonaparte and Christine Boyer. At an 
 interview with his brother at Mantua on December 1 3 
 he obtained the custody of the girl, who was then 
 sent off to be educated by her grandmother. She 
 gave so little promise of making a princess, however, 
 that she was after a short time packed off to her
 
 The Conspiracy of the Escurial 241 
 
 father's home in Italy. There remained no other 
 daughter of the house of Bonaparte to mount the 
 throne of Spain, but there were brothers of Napoleon 
 who could fill it very well. 
 
 While assuring the emperor that no allusion to 
 his august self or to his agents would be permitted at 
 the trial, the Spanish Government had by no means 
 neglected the prosecution of Ferdinand's accom- 
 plices. Escoiquiz, seized at Toledo, was confined in 
 a cell under the roof of the Escurial. He was pre- 
 sently joined by the count of Orjas, and by the duke 
 del Infantado. His grace was on his way to Bordeaux 
 when he heard of the arrest of the prince. He at 
 once retraced his steps, hearing, as he approached 
 Madrid, that by order of the captain-general his 
 house had been searched and his servants apprehended. 
 He was informed that he must proceed to the Escu- 
 rial on a charge of high treason. Says Lord Holland, 
 somewhat rashly : " He would probably have been 
 executed immediately had he been brought thither 
 according to orders ; but the muleteers purposely 
 missed the turn to the Escurial, and conveyed him 
 as far as San Ildefonso before they acknowledged their 
 pretended mistake. They had, it is supposed, been 
 bribed by agents of the French embassy to do so." 
 
 The other accused were the marquis of Ayerbe, 
 Don Jose Gonzalez Manrique, Andres Casafia, and 
 Collado and Selgas, two of the prince's menial do- 
 mestics. Ferdinand is said, by the way, to have 
 succeeded, while under arrest, in conveying th6 first 
 warnings to his friends by means of a fishing-line 
 thrown from his window. 
 
 The judges were eleven in number. The tribunal
 
 242 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 was composed, says Beauharnais, of the poorest of the 
 occupants of the judicial bench in the hope that 
 they would be more easily corrupted. " Their names 
 alone," says another writer, " were a sufficient guar- 
 antee to the public." Their conduct certainly con- 
 victs Godoy of amazing stupidity if he had indeed 
 had a hand in their selection. That task would, I 
 imagine, fall to Caballero, the minister of Justice, 
 the favourite's bitter foe. Don Arias Antonio Mon, 
 acting governor of the Council of State, presided 
 over the tribunal ; his colleagues were Gonzalo de 
 Vilches, Antonio Villanueva, Gonzalez Yebra, the 
 marques de Casagracia, Alvarez Caballero, Sebastian 
 de Torres, Fernandez de Campomanes, Andres 
 Lasauca, Alvarez de Contreras, and Miguel Villagomez. 
 The crown prosecutor was Simon de Viegas, 
 devoted, we are of course assured, to the Prince of 
 the Peace. We learn that he attempted first to extort 
 confessions from the accused, and was authorised to 
 promise Escoiquiz a bishopric as the reward of his 
 revelations. This does not indicate a very vindictive 
 spirit on the part of the prosecution, especially as, 
 the complicity of Napoleon, the prince of Asturias, 
 and Beauharnais having been established, the canon's 
 revelations could not have been of much value. How- 
 ever, his reverence stood firm, avowing himself to 
 have been the counsellor, not the seducer, of his former 
 pupil. The crown prosecutor then announced that 
 he would demand the penalty of death against the 
 canon, Infantado, and Ayerbe, though a remission of 
 the sentence was promised. The accused were allowed 
 a fortnight to prepare their defence. Eminent advo- 
 cates volunteered their services on their behalf —
 
 The Conspiracy of the Escurial 243 
 
 Davila for Escoiquiz, Joven de Salas for Infantado. 
 The chapter of Toledo dismissed its regular legal 
 adviser because he refused to defend the canon. 
 
 Public opinion is asserted to have been entirely on 
 the side of the accused. " Hatred of the favourite 
 caused every one to desire their acquittal ... it 
 seemed that the Escurial case, as it was called, must 
 decide the honour of the nation. The judges did 
 not suffer that patrimony to be tarnished in their 
 hands." 
 
 So says M. de Grandmaison, who does not perceive 
 that this effervescence of popular opinion may have 
 been as unfavourable as the influence of the crown to 
 an attitude of impartiality on the part of the judges. 
 To the same writer, on the authority of Beauharnais, 
 we are indebted for some picturesque details con- 
 cerning the trial which I can nowhere find mentioned 
 by Spanish historians. 
 
 When the court assembled in the early morning 
 of January 25, 1808, at the Escurial, one of the 
 judges was absent. This was Don Eugenio Caballero, 
 possibly a relative of Godoy's enemy, the minister of 
 Justice. He lay on his death-bed, and he implored 
 his colleagues to give him the opportunity of pro- 
 nouncing his judgment in so momentous a trial. 
 The court immediately adjourned to his bedside. 
 " They found Caballero sitting up in his bed wearing 
 his robe and insignia of office. His emaciated coun- 
 tenance lit up, and, with a last effort, he saluted the 
 court, the personification of justice. He craved leave 
 to deliver his judgment first ; but, observing the 
 presence of Simon de Viegas, who had followed the 
 tribunal, he pointed out that the prosecutor, having
 
 244 Godoy: the Qucen^s Favourite 
 
 made his plea, had lost the right to assist at the de- 
 liberations of the court. Andres Lasauca agreed with 
 this, adding that he would withdraw if the prose- 
 cutor did not. Viegas, pale with anger, bowed curtly 
 and withdrew. Caballero spoke. His condition, the 
 issue, the circumstances, all imparted to his accents 
 a poignant emotion, shared by his colleagues. He 
 congratulated the accused on their firmness and hoped 
 the tribunal would establish their innocence." 
 
 This sounds, to English ears, a somewhat irregular 
 utterance from a judge; and, we are told, "the 
 magistrates, without pursuing a superfluous discussion, 
 delivered judgment. They found, firstly, that the 
 originals of the documents advanced as proofs had not 
 been produced ; secondly, that copies of these could 
 not be admitted ; thirdly, that the prince of Asturias 
 must be heard, which could only be before the Cortes 
 in public assembled ; fourthly, that the court had not 
 been informed by the Council of Castile of the 
 name of the accuser. The charge against all the 
 accused was dismissed. The judges affirmed their 
 verdict on the crucifix and embraced each other. 
 
 " Night had fallen, some wax tapers lit up this 
 death-chamber transformed into a court of justice. 
 Around the bed of Caballero, who lay suffering in 
 body but serene in soul, the light reflected itself on 
 the long red robes, and the naked walls and the 
 wooden chairs attested, without the apparatus of 
 justice, the majesty of duty accomplished and the 
 magnanimity of a true magistrate." 
 
 Without crediting the judges with any particular 
 heroism in giving a decision acceptable to their 
 future sovereign and the vast majority of the
 
 The Conspiracy of the Escurial 245 
 
 nation, we must admit that no other finding was 
 possible. Once the king had forbidden the names of 
 the emperor and Beauharnais to be mentioned and 
 his son to be cited as a witness, the whole case fell to 
 the ground. Luckily for Infantado, Godoy, his 
 military superior, had refused to try him by a court- 
 martial, whereat more regard for facts and less for 
 forms might have been shown. It is difficult to 
 resist the conclusion, from what was not long after 
 to follow, that all the accused were ready to counsel 
 and abet the heir-apparent in resistance to his father's 
 government. 
 
 The acquittal was received with immense satis- 
 faction by the people. The advocates refused to 
 take their fees. On the death of Caballero, two days 
 later, his funeral was undertaken with great magni- 
 ficence by a neighbouring community of monks and 
 was attended by a vast concourse. Godoy's brother- 
 in-law, the archbishop of Toledo, had offered to resign 
 if his canon were convicted — it must not be forgotten 
 that his sister was estranged from her husband. 
 
 The king was convulsed with anger when he was 
 informed of the judgment. " And my honour ! " 
 he demanded, " is that to go for nothing ? " Maria 
 Luisa was insulted by the acquittal of the men who 
 had defamed her. One is reminded of that famous 
 trial at Venice, for ever commemorated by the black 
 cloak painted over the portrait of the Doge who had 
 also been refused reparation by his tribunals. Godoy 
 had been opposed from the first to the procedure 
 through the courts. He would have given Escoiquiz 
 a bishopric in America, have found similar high offices 
 far away for the prince's intimates, and persuaded the
 
 246 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 king to associate his son with him more intimately 
 in the government. 
 
 Charles indignantly refused to abide by the finding 
 of the court. By royal decree he stripped the accused 
 of all their offices and orders. Infantado was banished 
 to Ecija, Orjas to Valencia, Ayerbe into Aragon, San 
 Carlos to a distance of sixty leagues from any royal 
 residence ; Escoiquiz was sent to a monastery near 
 Cordova, under orders to assist at all the religious 
 offices of the community. The sentence was com- 
 municated to him by Caballero in harsh terms : 
 " His majesty is filled with indignation at your attempts 
 to corrupt the prince and to lure him from the paths 
 of sound morality and the Gospel. More out of 
 regard for your cloth than your person, he orders you 
 to proceed to the monastery of El Perdon and forbids 
 you to approach any royal residence, in the hope 
 that you may learn to live and die as a good Christian 
 and a clergyman." 
 
 These manifestations of the king's displeasure are 
 often spoken of as monstrous abuses of authority. 
 Charles, from our modern standpoint, can hardly be 
 justified in incarcerating persons acquitted by his 
 own judges, but he had certainly a right to expel from 
 his court and to divest of their offices all those whom 
 he believed to be hostile to his government. Godoy 
 says that he had some difficulty in moderating his 
 master's resentment, a task in which for once he was 
 assisted by Caballero. The minister of Justice after- 
 wards vaunted his activity on behalf of the accused 
 and said that they owed their lives to him. The 
 Prussian minister informed his Government that the 
 favourite " manifested great satisfaction at having 
 
 /
 
 The Conspiracy of the Escurial 247 
 
 inclined the king towards clemency " ; M. de Beau- 
 harnais represented him gnashing his teeth with 
 baffled spite, while the Spanish nation looked wistfully 
 towards " the hero governing France " as a liberator. 
 They had not long to wait for him.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE INVASION 
 
 While the eyes of all Spaniards were turned towards 
 the Escurial, Napoleon was busily reaping the advan- 
 tages secured to him by the treaty of Fontainebleau. 
 Before the ratification had been exchanged, Junot 
 had left the plains of Castile behind him. On 
 November 12 he set out from Salamanca, following 
 the difficult road through Alcantara. He reached 
 Abrantes twelve days later, after a march the horrors 
 of which can only be compared with those of the 
 retreat from Moscow. Of the army of 23,000 men 
 with which he entered Spain, he had now but four 
 or five thousand capable of continuing the advance. 
 With the intrepidity characteristic of Napoleon's 
 lieutenants, Junot pushed on, and with only 1,500 
 grenadiers entered Lisbon without resistance on 
 November 30. But the birds he sought had flown. 
 Upon the news of his approach the whole royal family 
 had embarked, and were now on their way to Brazil 
 under the protection of the English fleet. 
 
 Meanwhile Spain had faithfully fulfilled her part 
 of the compact. A small but well-disciplined corps 
 under General Carafa co-operated with Junot ; 
 General Taranco, with 6,000 men, penetrated into the 
 provinces allotted to the ex-king of Etruria and occu- 
 pied Oporto. The Portuguese troops had been ordered 
 
 248
 
 CABALLERO. 
 (Goya) 
 
 249
 
 The Invasion 251 
 
 by their Government not to offer armed resistance to 
 the Spaniards, which goes far to prove that the Cabinet 
 of Lisbon had faith in the benevolent attitude of 
 the court of Madrid. The marquis of Solano, with 
 an equal force, took possession of the southern provinces 
 of Alemtejo and Algarve. This general had received 
 orders to treat the inhabitants with especial lenity 
 that they might be less unwilling to accept the yoke 
 proposed for them in the treaty of partition. 
 
 Godoy displayed no eagerness to take possession of 
 his promised principality. Yet according to his enemy, 
 Beauharnais, he learnt the ratification of the treaty 
 of Fontainebleau with infinite relief. In the midst of 
 the mysterious intrigues and enmities of the Escurial, 
 the prospect of such an asylum might well have been 
 grateful. Godoy had not allowed the alliance forced 
 upon him to interrupt his real married life with 
 Pepita Tudo. To her house he went every night to 
 refresh his weary, harassed soul in the love of his 
 true wife and his two little sons. To Pepita he was 
 indiscreet enough to reveal his interest in the par- 
 tition of Portugal. She showed unbounded elation, 
 which was soon visible in the manner of all the favour- 
 ite's friends. To Napoleon Godoy felt bound to 
 express deep gratitude ; to Murat he wrote on :- . 
 Christmas Eve, i8oij,"Now I begin to enjoy tranf- v^ | 
 quillity since I have seen a treaty which places me 
 under the protection of the emperor." 
 
 He expressed a confidence he was far from feeling. 
 When Charles IV. asked leave to publish the treaty 
 in order to take formal possession of the two prin- 
 cipalities, he received no reply from Paris. But 
 Napoleon had not waited for the occupation of 
 
 15
 
 252 Godoy: the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 *' Northern Lusitania " to seize the province allotted 
 him in exchange for it. He was already in Italy. 
 Charles IV., perturbed by the discovery of his son's 
 perfidy, had forgotten to acquaint his daughter, the 
 widowed queen of Etruria, with the disposition of 
 her infant son's kingdom. 
 
 On November 23 the French envoy, M. d'Au- 
 busson de la Feuillade, presented himself at one 
 of her country seats, and, to her unspeakable astonish- 
 ment, informed her that the kingdom of Etruria had 
 now been annexed to France, and would immediately 
 be occupied by French troops. Not listening to the 
 explanations of the ambassador, the timid young queen 
 remained for a time as if spell-bound. Rousing her- 
 self at last, she despatched a messenger to her 
 father to seek further enlightenment, and set forth 
 to meet Napoleon at Milan. The Tuscans witnessed 
 her departure in absolute silence. Yet she begged 
 the emperor to let her retain these dominions in- 
 stead of those promised in Portugal. His majesty had 
 the audacity to inform her that the proposal for the 
 transfer had originated with the court of Madrid. 
 Unable to obtain the restitution of Tuscany, the 
 queen set out on her homeward journey and reached 
 Aranjuez on February 19, 1808, to find her worst 
 forebodings realised. 
 
 The dream of adding Spain to his ever-broadening 
 empire had long haunted Napoleon. " My dynasty," 
 he had said significantly, " will soon be the oldest 
 in Europe." When Charles IV. refused to recognise 
 the new king of Naples his comment was, " His 
 successor will." We have seen how his schemes had 
 been frustrated by some well-timed concession or
 
 The Invasion 253 
 
 some threat of resistance on the part of Godoy. 
 But now, as Napier remarks, the dispute between 
 father and son placed the golden apples within his 
 reach, and he resolved to gather the fruit if he had 
 not planted the tree. The partisans of the prince of 
 Asturias — and they included by far the greatest part 
 of the nation — were ready to hail him as a deliverer 
 and a protector. By a strange irony, the one 
 Spaniard he had cause to fear was regarded by his 
 countrymen as a tyrant and a traitor. 
 
 In spite of the contempt which Napoleon had for 
 Beauharnais, he eagerly perused his highly coloured 
 accounts of events at Madrid. To confirm them he 
 sent his confidential messenger, M. de Tournon, into 
 Spain to ascertain the sentiments of the people. I 
 incline to think that this emissary, to save himself 
 trouble, contented himself with what Beauharnais 
 told him. His reports agree too closely with the 
 ambassador's to have been the result of independent 
 inquiries. Perhaps if M. de Tournon had used his 
 own eyes and ears he might not have so far misled 
 his master as to write : " The Prince of the Peace is 
 the tool of the English. An army of 30,000 men 
 would be more than enough to dictate to Spain." 
 
 The revelations of the Escurial, the activity of the 
 French agents in Spain, the obvious reluctance of the 
 emperor to publish the treaty, satisfied Godoy that 
 foul mischief was brewing. A heavy concentration 
 of troops was reported on the French side of the 
 frontier. Masses of men were moving up towards 
 Bayonne as if to take the place of that army of reserve 
 which, by the terms of the convention, was to enter 
 Spain only in the event of an English invasion. More
 
 254 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 ominous still, an army was collecting around Perpignan 
 so as to threaten Catalonia. That force was clearly 
 not destined for Portugal. 
 
 Godoy was haggard with anxiety. " Anarchy," 
 he writes, *' prevailed in the seat of government and 
 Charles IV. stood alone. In such an extremity I 
 knew that my own ruin was practically certain, but 
 if I had several times before begged for my dismissal, 
 I looked on it as infamous to abandon the king 
 when I saw him thus and when more than ever he 
 needed my assistance. I looked, too, at my country, 
 and saw how infatuated men were preparing its total 
 ruin or at least its decay and ignominy. Even were 
 it certain, I said to myself, that Bonaparte had re- 
 solved to place the prince of Asturias on the throne, 
 he would not do it without reward ; the integrity 
 of Spain, so happily preserved amid all the transfor- 
 mations of Europe, would not long escape his claws. 
 And what nations did this great man ever undertake 
 to protect without in the end making them his tri- 
 butaries and vassals ? and what else were the princes 
 who had accepted his protection but the mere 
 prefects of his empire ? Spain would become another 
 recruiting-ground for the imperial armies, like Italy 
 and Germany. Napoleon would attempt to embroil 
 the country between two powerful and hostile factions^ 
 then offer his mediation, and finally dismember or 
 sequestrate the kingdom. 
 
 " His designs I penetrated, but not the manner in 
 which they were to be carried out. Sure of a great 
 evil approaching rapidly, I lay awake devising schemes 
 for counteracting the plans of this restless, daring, 
 arrogant man. Persuaded that Spain could be saved
 
 The Invasion 255 
 
 only by a union of hearts and objects, I would have 
 urged on Charles IV. the heroic course of abdication 
 had not his son already half sold himself to the French 
 and laid himself under obligations which would have 
 meant the total subjection of Spain. Bonaparte 
 would have disposed of the country at his pleasure, 
 leaving her sovereign the merest ghost of his dignity 
 and making him a prisoner more surely than he ever 
 was at Valen^ay. 
 
 " If Prince Ferdinand, so ambitious of the throne, 
 had possessed the talents and the virtues necessary 
 to save Spain and defend his house in that terrible 
 crisis, I would have asked the king to place the crown 
 on his head ; and I say also that, if I had loved my 
 country less, I would assuredly have adopted this 
 means of transforming this prince's sentiments towards 
 me. I could, so much more easily than Ceballos, 
 have procured his friendship and confidence without 
 having had recourse to anything but my influence over 
 his august father. I might then have retired in peace 
 to my estates or have accompanied Charles IV., not 
 as a poor pilgrim in foreign lands, but into the heart 
 of my own country. That I did not do so and thus 
 rejected the chance of saving myself, helpless as I 
 stood, and exposed to lose my head, my country ought 
 at least to rememiber and to count me among her 
 loyal sons who have sacrificed to her their safety, their 
 honour, and their existence." 
 
 Godoy had, in fact, made a vain effort to escape 
 this crushing burden of a dying nation. Having 
 reconciled Ferdinand with his father, he proposed to 
 withdraw from the court, that it might not be said 
 that he was any longer a bar to their complete union.
 
 256 Godoy: the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 Charles replied that his retirement would be uni- 
 versally attributed to the influence of the French 
 emperor, and would thus bring the crown into con- 
 tempt ; moreover, he could replace him only by 
 ministers definitely opposed or secretly favourable to 
 France, both being equally fatal to the State. 
 
 Godoy then proposed to propitiate the princess 
 partisans by surrendering the command of the army. 
 " And so sacrifice the opportunity afforded us under 
 the treaty of Fontainebleau of having a Spaniard in 
 command of the allied forces in Portugal ? " queried 
 the king. " No ; you can give up the Admiralty if 
 you like, if you think that will give pleasure to Fer- 
 dinand. Let us ask him." The prince was sent for 
 and his father repeated to him Manuel's request and 
 the motives which prompted it. His royal highness 
 professed to be pained and shocked at the proposal. 
 He owed to his dear Manuel his happy restoration to 
 his father's favour, and he begged him, as a supreme 
 favour, never to desert him. The prince may at the 
 moment have been swayed by some rare impulse of 
 gratitude or generosity. He could hardly have fore- 
 seen the fate to which he was dooming the unhappy 
 friend of his father. 
 
 On December 24 the army of reserve commanded 
 by General Dupont stationed at Bayonne crossed the 
 Bidassoa without notice to the Spanish authorities or 
 permission from the Spanish Government and advanced 
 slowly towards Burgos. The treaty had specifically 
 laid it down that this corps should not enter Spain 
 except with the consent of both the contracting 
 parties and in the event of an attack by England. 
 But the articles of the treaty vvere secret, and the
 
 The Invasion 257 
 
 people cheered the troops as they passed, some be- 
 lieving that they were on their way to reinforce 
 Junot's army in Portugal, others hoping that they 
 had come to rescue their idol Ferdinand from the 
 clutches of the Choricero. Behind Dupont closed up 
 another army under Moncey ; Duhesme was ap- 
 proaching the Catalan frontier with rapid strides — 
 and it could not be pretended that Catalonia lay on 
 the road to Portugal. 
 
 " Before long," said Godoy to his king, '' the plains 
 which you see from the windows of the Escurial 
 will be white with the tents of Napoleon's armies. 
 The eagle has come to pluck your crown from your 
 head." Aroused at last to a full sense of his danger, 
 Charles convened his Council. Godoy recommended 
 him to appeal to the sixth article of the secret con- 
 vention and to insist that the French troops should 
 at once suspend their march till the emperor had 
 returned from Italy and an understanding could be 
 arrived at between the two courts. It was absurd 
 to pretend that these troops were needed for the 
 occupation of Portugal ; they were a menace to Spain, 
 and to Spain only. " I spoke for more than an hour," 
 says Godoy, " with the more heat since I saw in the 
 passing moments the last hope of restraining Bona- 
 parte or of thrusting him back by force of arms." 
 
 But he spoke in vain. " If the emperor insists on 
 the entrance of his troops, what then ? " asked the 
 king. " Appeal to the nation and defend ourselves 
 as best we can." " An heroic but desperate reso- 
 lution ! " exclaimed his majesty. The other coun- 
 cillors were of his opinion. The minister of Marine 
 suggested that Napoleon probably distrusted certain
 
 258 Godoy : the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 influences at work in his ally's court and therefore 
 found it necessary to strengthen his hold on Spain. 
 The shaft was, of course, directed at Godoy. " I 
 am well aware," retorted the generalissimo, " that 
 I am represented throughout the kingdom as the 
 peculiar object of the emperor's animosity ; but 
 he does not violate treaties and set his armies in 
 motion solely to attack me. And this I will say : 
 that if our lord the king here present does not 
 inspire him with confidence, neither will that other 
 person of whom some are thinking. In the long 
 run, of course, I shall be blamed for this invasion. 
 I shall have no other defence, then, than the testimony 
 of his majesty and of you gentlemen to what I have 
 said this day." 
 
 Unable to avert his country's ruin, he again offered 
 his resignation to the king. Junot, he tells us, had 
 invited him to take possession of his principality of 
 Algarve — possibly, as he suggests, to remove him from 
 Madrid. " False, unstable, and vain," he wrote, 
 " as was the position offered me by Junot, it was 
 in truth less dangerous than that which I held at 
 court, without any better security than the good-will 
 of Charles IV. Had I gone to Alemtejo, at the first 
 outrage committed by Bonaparte upon my sovereigns 
 and my country, I should at kast have been able to 
 raise Portugal and two-thirds of Spain, to collect a 
 large army, to open up communication with several 
 cabinets, and in the last resort to open our ports to 
 the English. The king would have had a safe place 
 of refuge, and Spain would have seen in me a true 
 friend. I showed Junot's letter to the king and gave 
 him my views. * If,' I added, ' as I do not expect,
 
 The Invasion 259 
 
 the treaty is fulfilled and Bonaparte conducts himself 
 honestly, I shall be able to renounce the principality in 
 favour of one of your sons. Perhaps, too, my retire- 
 ment to Portugal may remove Bonaparte's distrust 
 of my influence on the affairs of Spain ; perhaps, 
 too. It will appease that faction which never tires of 
 working against me.' 
 
 " ' No,^ replied Charles IV., interrupting me, ' that 
 faction pretends to work against you, but is in reality 
 working against me. I have reason afresh to suspect 
 Ferdinand ; I fear that he is in more or less intimate 
 relation with your foes and mine ; I fear that Bona- 
 parte is playing a double game and may attempt a 
 scandalous division which would result in the last 
 indignity to my crown and my person. Ferdinand is 
 no longer frank with me. He is embarrassed when I 
 converse with him, and always speaks of Bonaparte 
 with great enthusiasm. In the ministers I notice a 
 suspicious reserve ; I remark a species of coldness and 
 evasiveness in more than one person in my court ; 
 and now you wish to leave me, the only man on whom 
 I can absolutely rely, whom neither Bonaparte nor 
 my son could seduce ! Remain beside me, let us seek 
 some way out of our difliculties, and trust in God, who 
 knows my intentions. If, in spite of all, misfortune 
 overtakes us, let us go together and congratulate 
 ourselves that at least we have not been the cause of 
 it.' " 
 
 Then came ominous news from Portugal. On 
 February i Junot, by order of the emperor, de- 
 clared at Lisbon that the house of Bragan^a had ceased 
 to reign. It was easy, then, to decree the extinction 
 of an ancient dynasty. On the same day a messenger
 
 26o Godoy : the Queen''s Favourite 
 
 from the Tuileries reached Madrid. He brought the 
 long-expected answer to the king's letter of Novem- 
 ber 10. The emperor was not prepared to con- 
 sider a matrimonial alliance between his house and 
 his catholic majesty's till he knew whether or not 
 the prince of Asturias had been absolved of the 
 charges made against him and restored to his father's 
 favour ; as to the treaty, its publication must be 
 delayed yet longer, and the ex-queen of Etruria and 
 Godoy must wait in patience for the principalities 
 promised them. 
 
 Within the last two months Charles IV., robust 
 sportsman though he had been, had grown an old 
 man. Nervous and haggard, he glanced over the 
 letter and paled at its imperious tone. " These 
 dreadful complications ! " he groaned. " I will settle 
 them, I will settle them ! The emperor may be sure 
 of me. My feelings towards him are unchanged — 
 always, always. I will reply presently." And, eight 
 days later, the messenger started on his homeward 
 journey, bearing a mere acknowledgment of his 
 master's despatch. On the road home he heard the 
 Spaniards discussing the projected marriage of their 
 future sovereign with the daughter of Lucien Bona- 
 parte, and congratulating each other that the French 
 had come to pull down his cruel enemy, Godoy. 
 
 They were thus less concerned to hear that the 
 French had possessed themselves, by an adroit strata- 
 gem, of the fortress of Pampeluna, the key of the 
 Pyrenean passes. General Darmagnac, having arrived 
 with his brigade, took up his quarters in a house oppo- 
 site the drawbridge of the citadel. In the early 
 morning of February i6 a small party of his men
 
 The Invasion 261 
 
 surprised the sentry and the guard, and, at a given 
 signal, a hundred grenadiers concealed in their general's 
 house rushed to their support. The bridge being 
 secured, a whole battalion was admitted into the heart 
 of the fortress, with profuse apologies to the governor, 
 for what Darmagnac himself described as a dirty- 
 business. Two days before Godoy had addressed in- 
 structions to Vallesantoro, the viceroy of Navarre, 
 blaming him for having allowed the French to 
 encamp on the glacis of the fortress and bidding 
 him to be on his guard. Now his warning had been 
 disregarded, he could do no more than direct the 
 viceroy to protest formally to Darmagnac's superior 
 officer. Marshal Moncey. A protest was the only 
 offensive weapon which Charles IV. would give him 
 power to use. 
 
 Meantime Duhesme had marched his army along 
 the coast of Catalonia to Barcelona. The captain- 
 general, Santa Clara, consented to his passage on the 
 understanding that he was bound for Cadiz by way 
 of Valencia. On February 29 by a trick, similar to 
 Darmagnac's, he gained possession of the citadel. 
 To Alvarez Mariano, the governor of Montjuich, 
 Godoy had sent express orders not to admit more 
 than five Frenchmen at any one time into the strong- 
 hold. Mariano obeyed, and, on the approach of 
 Duhesme, raised the drawbridge. The French general 
 straightway told the captain-general that he would 
 storm the fortress if it were not peaceably surrendered. 
 The Spaniard weakly gave way, defending himself 
 afterwards with the excuse that the foreign troops 
 were absolutely in need of protection against the 
 townsfolk.
 
 262 Godoy : the Quecn^s Favourite 
 
 Commanded by his king to avoid a conflict with the 
 invaders at all hazards, Godoy could only gnash his 
 teeth at the weakness of his subordinates and repeat 
 the orders he had himself received : '' Keep the French 
 out if you can, but don't fight." Summoned to 
 admit the French into San Sebastian, the viceroy of 
 the Basque provinces applied to Madrid for instruc- 
 tions. He was told to surrender the place amicably. 
 In this individual case resistance would, for that 
 matter, have been useless. It would also have been 
 specially impolitic, for the demand was made — and 
 in the most courteous terms — by the dashing Murat, 
 grand-duke of Berg, who now arrived in Spain as 
 the lieutenant and representative of his imperial 
 brother-in-law ; and in him Godoy might have 
 placed great hopes, based on a long friendly corre- 
 spondence and exchange of presents. 
 
 But any doubt as to Napoleon's intentions was 
 dispelled by the unexpected appearance at the court 
 of Izquierdo. Seeking first Godoy, he told him that 
 he was charged by the emperor with a message for 
 the private ear of the king, but that it was of so 
 grave a nature that his majesty would certainly require 
 the help of his advisers. " If the king needs me, he 
 will command my presence," replied the favourite ; 
 and presently he was sent for by his sovereign. Never 
 before had Charles stood more in need of help. 
 The wolf had framed his indictment against the lamb. 
 
 Napoleon, in a long conversation with Izquierdo, 
 had raked together long-forgotten and imaginary 
 grievances against his ally, which the envoy had noted 
 and committed to writing under eighteen separate 
 heads. This universal benefactor felt it to be his
 
 The Invasion 263 
 
 duty to restore the blessings of peace to Europe at all 
 hazards, by any means, " regular or irregular, violent 
 or pacific, ordinary or extraordinary." Having es- 
 tablished peace on a permanent basis in northern 
 Europe, his majesty feared that the arch-enemy of 
 mankind, England, would seek a field for her pestilent 
 activity in the south. To defeat these abominable 
 designs, he had concluded with his ally the bene- 
 ficent treaty of Fontainebleau ; and, being aware 
 that an English party existed at the court of Madrid, 
 he had even thought it necessary to guarantee the 
 throne of Charles IV. But now, with indignation 
 and dismay, he found that this malevolent party had 
 stirred up bad blood between the two courts, even 
 imputing iniquitous and treacherous designs to him 
 and to his ambassador. These charges had not been 
 investigated — (his imperial majesty, it will be remem- 
 bered, had forbidden any inquiry to be made !) — 
 and, to his profound mortification, the king of Spain 
 had contented himself with passing these allegations 
 over in silence at the recent state trial. 
 
 In fact, the emperor could not but observe, with 
 regret and apprehension, the coldness of his royal 
 ally. A Spanish squadron lay idle at Cartagena, 
 though he had repeatedly asked that it might be 
 united with his fleet at Toulon ; the consuls reported 
 that commerce with France was subjected to vexatious 
 restrictions ; English goods were smuggled into Spain 
 with the tacit connivance of the authorities ; and — 
 most striking and inexplicable fact of all ! — Spain now 
 maintained an army nearly four times as great as 
 the expeditionary force the emperor had sent into 
 the country. (This was tantamount to saying that
 
 264 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 Spain had nearly four hundred thousand men under 
 arms !) In view of so unfriendly an attitude, France 
 was bound in duty to her own troops, scattered among 
 a foreign and hostile population, to occupy the for- 
 tresses which protected or menaced their rear, which, 
 too, they needed for hospitals and magazines. To 
 save his catholic majesty the unpleasant results of 
 a refusal, the emperor had therefore given orders to 
 his generals to occupy these strongholds as peaceably 
 as possible. 
 
 If the prince of Asturias had in reality conspired 
 against his august father, so far from admitting him 
 to the honour of any alliance, his imperial majesty 
 would hear with pleasure of his disinheritance. The 
 conflict of parties at the Spanish court left the future 
 so uncertain that France was now obliged to protect 
 herself against a possible change of policy. The 
 emperor therefore proposed to hand over the whole 
 of Portugal to his ally in exchange for the Spanish 
 provinces between the Pyrenees and the Ebro, or at 
 least to erect these into a neutral buffer State. 
 
 The exchange presented advantages to Spain, 
 relieving her for ever of any anxiety on her western 
 border and of the necessity of guaranteeing France 
 a right of way across her territory to Portugal. The 
 emperor trusted that his catholic majesty would 
 acquiesce in this exchange, as otherwise the time might 
 come when France would be obliged to take the 
 Ebro provinces without having anything to offer in 
 their stead. In conclusion, it was proposed to re- 
 establish the old family compact of the Bourbons, 
 but even more strictly. 
 
 Here, then, was the explanation of the seizure of
 
 The Invasion 265 
 
 the northern fortresses. Having virtually annexed the 
 provinces north of the Ebro, the emperor intimated to 
 their lawful sovereign that he could, if he liked, take 
 Portugal in exchange. But was this the true and the 
 complete design ? Izquierdo thought so. He was 
 convinced that Napoleon meant to have the provinces 
 and so to drag Spain at his chariot's wheel, as he 
 dragged the German and Italian States. Hervas, 
 the brother-in-law of Duroc, did not believe that 
 the emperor would attempt to seize the throne 
 during the life of Charles IV., but he might find a 
 pretext for setting aside his successor ; and that, in 
 the meantime, he would be ready to use the prince 
 as an instrument against his father was not to be 
 doubted. 
 
 It is to the honour of Charles IV. that he was not 
 prepared to purchase his personal security by handing 
 over a million of his subjects to a foreign yoke. The 
 monarchs of Bavaria and Saxony had accepted 
 Napoleon as their lord paramount and had been 
 richly rewarded for their submission with an enhance- 
 ment of dignity and substantial increment of terri- 
 tory. The proposed exchange, moreover, was not 
 disadvantageous to Spain. The Catalans and Basques 
 had proved subjects quite as troublesome as the 
 Portuguese were during the sixty years of Spanish 
 rule. Lisbon, the natural capital of the peninsula, 
 and Oporto, with its vast wine trade, might well have 
 compensated the king for the loss of Barcelona and 
 Saragossa. And if Spain lost a strong frontier towards 
 France, it was true, as Napoleon pointed out, that 
 she would, under the new arrangement, have but that 
 one frontier to defend. It is worth observing, also,
 
 266 Godoy: the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 that not only Izquierdo, but Escoiquiz, Ceballos, and 
 all the friends of the prince of Asturias, believed until 
 the twelfth hour that such a concession would satisfy 
 the enemy. 
 
 The old king had listened to the long indictment 
 recited by Izquierdo, and with a firmness and dignity 
 not perhaps to have been expected of him, replied 
 categorically to each of the counts. The emperor 
 not having addressed Charles directly, Izquierdo was 
 charged to note this rejoinder and to communicate 
 it to him by word of mouth. His catholic majesty 
 pointed out that his confidence in his imperial majesty 
 was sufficiently shown by his having suffered French 
 troops to possess themselves of his fortresses without 
 any previous notice. His son was fully restored to 
 his favour, and nothing could be further from his 
 thoughts than any alteration in the law of succession. 
 He relied on the clause of the treaty by which his 
 imperial majesty guaranteed to him the full posses- 
 sion and integrity of his dominions south of the 
 Pyrenees. If the emperor saw the necessity for any 
 further strengthening of the bonds between them, his 
 catholic majesty must take steps to make it plain that 
 he was not acting under compulsion or coerced by 
 the presence of the French armies. This last clause, 
 Godoy tells us, was added to explain or to excuse the 
 retreat to Seville which the king now meditated. 
 Napoleon himself might prefer his demands to be 
 conceded by a sovereign nominally free than to be 
 obviously extorted by force. 
 
 This defence, completely vindicating the king of 
 Spain, inspired Godoy with very faint hopes. In 
 this dolorous extremity, he informs us, he received
 
 MARIA LUISA, QUEEN OF ETRURIA. 
 
 267
 
 The Invasion 269 
 
 a suggestion from tlie queen of Etruria — the only- 
 member of the Spanish royal family who had ever 
 seen or spoken with the emperor. Fully persuaded 
 that he would take the northern provinces if they were 
 not given to him, this princess proposed that they 
 should be erected, with his consent, into a kingdom 
 for her little son, Charles Louis, in exchange for 
 Etruria. The scheme seemed practicable, and Godoy 
 asked permission to submit it to Napoleon on his own 
 responsibility, without compromising his sovereign 
 in any way. To this the king was loath to consent, 
 objecting that it would weaken the force of his own 
 reply communicated by Izquierdo. In the end, 
 however, he gave way. 
 
 Godoy proposed to the emperor that the Ebro 
 provinces should be constituted a separate viceroyalty 
 until the general peace, or else into a separate kingdom 
 under the ex-king of Etruria or another Spanish 
 prince of the blood. In conclusion, he offered to 
 withdraw from Spain, since his continuance at the 
 court appeared to stand in the way of a settlement. 
 The letter was approved somewhat grudgingly by the 
 king and handed to Izquierdo. A few hours later, 
 however, the envoy came to Godoy at Madrid and 
 told him that his majesty had, after mature reflection, 
 entrusted him with a letter in his own hand to 
 Napoleon, intended to soften the asperity of his 
 official reply. 
 
 Izquierdo then sped on towards the north, in his 
 haste to avert the ruin of a nation. Before he reached 
 the Ebro he was overtaken by another messenger. 
 Godoy, reflecting that his letter to the emperor might 
 clash with the king's, or impair its effect, ordered his 
 16
 
 270 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 agent to return it, remarking that, if it were now 
 published, it might injure him too much in the 
 estimation of the provinces concerned and of the 
 kingdom. The suggestion it embodied might, how- 
 ever, be made use of by the envoy should the need 
 arise. 
 
 It did arise. Izquierdo, on reaching Paris, found 
 his protests against the aggressions of the French 
 troops contemptuously disregarded, and his repre- 
 sentations met with a curt ultimatum. The emperor 
 was determined to annex the frontier provinces in 
 exchange for Portugal, and demanded the opening 
 up of America to French trade, and a defensive and 
 offensive alliance. Moreover, he was resolved to 
 settle, once for all, the succession to the throne of 
 Charles IV. The envoy contested each condition, 
 repeating Charles's assurance that all his difficulties 
 with the heir-apparent were composed, and fmally 
 proposing that the provinces of the north should 
 be allotted to a Spanish prince. His proposals 
 and explanations were hardly listened to — Napoleon 
 would not even suspend the march of his troops upon 
 Madrid until a final reply was received from the 
 court. " I presume that they will at least arrest 
 their advance when the ultimatum is accepted," 
 wrote Izquierdo on March 24 ; "I will never sign 
 a treaty ceding my own country of Navarre," he 
 added desperately. That sacrifice was not demanded 
 of him — while he wrote, the masters that he served 
 had no longer power to save or to alienate an acre 
 of Spanish land.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 ARANJUEZ 
 
 Charles IV., unknown to his people, had determined 
 upon flight. Most reluctant to leave the neigh- 
 bourhood of Madrid, where for so many years he had 
 hunted all day and dozed contentedly at eve, he had 
 yielded at last to the entreaties of his wife and Godoy. 
 The columns of Moncey and Dupont were converging 
 on the capital ; Murat was approaching to treat, not 
 as the ambassador, but as the lieutenant of the emperor. 
 A few days more and the king would find himself 
 a prisoner in his own palace in the midst of foreign 
 hosts. But beyond the Sierra, at Seville, he might 
 make terms with the invader. There his troops 
 might rally round him, there he could appeal to the 
 loyalty of the people. The French ships locked up 
 in the port of Cadiz since the morrow of Trafalgar, 
 would fall an easy prey to the Spanish batteries. The 
 way then lay open, should Seville no longer prove 
 a safe retreat, to the Balearic Islands. The French, 
 powerless at sea, could not attack the king there. At 
 no time, we are assured by Godoy, did Charles 
 meditate abandoning his people and following the 
 Bragangas to America. 
 
 The favourite, with a heavy heart, made his pre- 
 parations as secretly as possible and went about as 
 usual. He did not increase his guard, his house was 
 
 271
 
 272 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 still open to all, his ante-chambers were as crowded as 
 ever. Yet among the throng he noticed men who 
 could be there only to spy on his movements. Some 
 were agents of Ferdinand, some of Beauharnais. For 
 a long time past, the ambassador reports, chests and 
 coffers had been conveyed out of the generalissimo's 
 house by night and transported on the backs of mules 
 to some unknown destination. If so, it seems from 
 the sequel that only a very small part of the treasure 
 thus removed was recovered by the owner. Largesses 
 were distributed among the generalissimo's guards. 
 
 Meantime, couriers were galloping along all the 
 roads to Portugal, bidding the Spanish generals 
 return at once, with all their forces, to defend their 
 own sovereign. Junot, anticipating such an order, 
 had broken up Carafa's corps and dispersed it in small 
 detachments within a cordon of his own troops. 
 Taranco and Solano were, however, able to withdraw 
 their divisions to Galicia and Estremadura. 
 
 So far these movements had not aroused much 
 curiosity in Madrid. The country was nominally at 
 war with England and Portugal, there had of late been 
 much marching to and fro the frontier. But the 
 approach of the French set the city agog with wonder 
 and excitement. Did they come as friends or foes ? 
 did they come to help the prince of Asturias or the 
 Prince of the Peace ? There were conflicting rumours. 
 Meanwhile Beauharnais had noted the preparations 
 for departure. His agents spread the report among 
 the people. Alarm and distrust became general. 
 While a few of the wiser sort looked upon Napoleon 
 as the common foe, the multitude were early induced 
 to believe that he was the true friend of Spain and
 
 Aranjuez 273 
 
 that the projected departure of the king was one of 
 Godoy's devilish artifices to thwart his benevolent 
 intentions and to avert his own downfall. 
 
 With these murmurs sounding ever louder in his 
 ears, the favourite was summoned in hot haste to 
 Aranjuez. The king had lately written to him, 
 announcing that he had communicated the tenor 
 of Napoleon's last message and of his reply to his son. 
 The prince, indignant at the threat to exclude him 
 from the throne, had professed himself convinced of 
 the emperor's falseness and declared his readiness to 
 follow his father wherever he went. But the satis- 
 faction of the king was now changed to alarm. An- 
 other anonymous letter had reached him, adjuring him 
 to place his trust in Napoleon, bidding him beware 
 of Godoy and Izquierdo, and dissuading him from 
 his intended flight. " This letter," cried his majesty, 
 " proves that my son has divulged to some one the 
 particulars of our conversation ! " 
 
 He called in Caballero and asked him what was 
 the prevailing sentiment of the people. The minister 
 answered that the people had heard rumours that 
 the court intended to leave the neighbourhood of 
 the capital and were emphatically opposed to such a 
 step. Questioned, he admitted that he thought also 
 such a course a most unwise one and sure to bring on 
 war. " Very well," said the king, " now go to my 
 son and try to find out what he thinks." Caballero 
 replied that he knew already : the prince was con- 
 siderably affected by the feeling of the people, and, 
 it was to be feared, might at the last moment swerve 
 from the promises he had made his father. " Then 
 you know what he promised I " demanded the king.
 
 274 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 " Yes," said the minister, " he told me everything." 
 *' He does not, I suppose, believe what I told him ? '* 
 " He thinks your majesty has been deceived." " Now 
 I see that my son is in league with my enemies," 
 cried the unhappy father, " and that this letter is 
 his work. Caballero, I believe in you. Do not 
 betray my trust." 
 
 It was plain to Godoy that, without the adhesion 
 of the heir-apparent, all would be lost. At his re- 
 commendation, Charles sent for his son. He showed 
 him the anonymous letter, and, motioning him to be 
 silent, addressed him in a dignified and paternal tone. 
 '' You do not," he said, " approve of my policy. I 
 make you, then, this offer. I will withdraw from the 
 capital on the ground of ill-health ; I will appoint you 
 regent, with full powers to act and to treat in my name; 
 if you extricate this country from its peril, I will 
 associate you with me henceforward in the govern- 
 ment till the day of my death, which cannot be far 
 distant. If you fail, call on me and I will resume 
 this heavy burden without reproaching you. Dis- 
 union between us means the ruin of this kingdom. 
 Manuel, here present, concurs with me. He is ready 
 now to lay down all his offices, to divest himself of 
 the power which has made him the object of such 
 unjust attacks. Reflect, my son, on what I have 
 said, but take counsel from no one." 
 
 The king was silent. Ferdinand burst into tears 
 and fell on his father's shoulders. He protested 
 again that he had no will but his, that he was eager 
 to follow in all things so divine a. parent. He declared 
 himself unworthy of the honour offered him ; who 
 was he, without years or experience, to impose respect
 
 Aranfucz 275 
 
 on Bonaparte ? Then, turning to Godoy, the prince 
 embraced him and called him his friend, bidding him 
 save the nation, as he had saved it so often before. 
 
 "I am certain," says Godoy, "that the prince 
 quitted his father with the firm intention of sharing 
 his retreat, and that he announced his resolve to his 
 partisans to silence their opposition." Instead, it 
 spurred them on to fresh exertions. Among the 
 seducers of the prince, Godoy names his uncle, the 
 Infante Antonio, a stupid, insignificant old fellow, 
 who had devoted his few energies almost entirely to 
 shooting duck on an island in the Tagus. The 
 stirring of the waters had brought a good many 
 tadpoles to the surface, where they puffed themselves 
 out to bursting-point. Within a few hours, the king's 
 proposal to his son was known in the streets of the 
 capital, and was looked upon as a device of the infernal 
 generalissimo to stretch Ferdinand upon the cross 
 instead of himself. 
 
 The departure of the garrison of Madrid, including 
 the various corps of household troops, for Aranjuez, 
 raised the excitement in the capital to fever-point. 
 To calm the people, Godoy drew up a general order 
 explaining that the movements of troops were in no 
 way hostile to the king's good friend and ally, the 
 emperor, but intended solely to avoid the inconvenience 
 resulting from the too close association of large bodies 
 of men, friendly but foreign to each other. This 
 prudently conceived notice the Council of Castile 
 refused to publish. That grave body selected this 
 moment, when the French were within a few marches 
 of Madrid, to veto the orders of the commander-in 
 chief, and, by their refusal, to prolong the tumult
 
 2/6 Godoy : the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 among the king's subjects. The usually tranquil 
 royal residence at Aranjuez was now in turmoil. 
 Caballero, it is alleged/ had incited the peasantry of 
 the adjoining country to oppose the king's departure 
 by main force. 
 
 In vain Godoy urged his master to hasten away 
 without further ado. Against the natural slowness of 
 his countrymen and the cumbrous formality of the 
 court, danger itself pleaded in vain. In the midst 
 of the preparations came a letter from Beauharnais, 
 intimating that the army of General Duhesme, on 
 its way from the coast to Andalusia, might shortly 
 be expected in the neighbourhood of Madrid. " We 
 shall be taken between two fires," cried the king. 
 " What can I do ? I do not want to exasperate my 
 subjects and fall into the hands of the French as 
 well. I do not refuse to go, but at the moment it is 
 impossible." 
 
 Without listening to Godoy's frantic entreaties to 
 depart at once, his maj'esty sent for Ceballos and 
 dictated to him a proclamation intended to calm the 
 public. " In no act of his life," observes Godoy 
 caustically, *' was Charles IV. served more willingly 
 or more readily." In a few hours the good people of 
 Aranjuez were informed from every wall that the 
 French armies were traversing the country only to 
 protect it at threatened points and that his majesty, 
 surrounded by the love and devotion of his subjects, 
 had no thought of leaving the secure asylum in which 
 he found himself. 
 
 The announcement provoked a salvo of applause. 
 
 1 Lavauguyon to Murat : " Murat, Lieutenant de I'Empereur 
 en Espagne."
 
 Aranjuez 277 
 
 The trim gardens of the royal abode were instantly 
 invaded by cheering multitudes, to whom the king 
 was obliged to bow his acknowledgments till his back 
 ached. " A very frequent prelude," comments 
 Godoy, " to revolutions." 
 
 Was the king altogether sincere ? Godoy confesses 
 that he does not know. He neither commanded nor 
 countermanded the next preparations for the journey. 
 An ofhcer of the general staff was sent to greet Murat, 
 who was now at Aranda, and to elicit his intentions. 
 Meanwhile the people observed, with alarm and 
 suspicion, that trains of mules laden with goods con- 
 tinued to issue from the palace, in spite of the king's 
 assurances. Don Antonio asked his brother if it was 
 true that the court was to start on the night of 
 the 17th, adding that he was prepared to follow 
 without question. " Do not worry," replied the 
 king ; "if I go, it will not be by night or stealthily, 
 but by day and at the head of my troops." This 
 answer was repeated to Ferdinand and to Beauharnais. 
 Both were convinced that the idea of flight had not 
 been abandoned. That any deliberate resistance was 
 at that time meditated by the prince, Godoy does 
 not believe. 
 
 On the morning of the 17th the people of Aranjuez 
 were awakened by the tramping of marching battalions. 
 The guards had arrived from Madrid, heralding the 
 approach of 4,000 Swiss troops from Valdemoro and 
 the Royal Carbineers from Ocafia. The soldiers 
 were followed by a multitude of the townsfolk of 
 Madrid. It was rumoured at first that the French 
 had entered the capital ; a fresh cause for anxiety was 
 soon found in the assemblage of travelling carriages
 
 278 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 noticed in the courtyard of the palace. An uneasy 
 feeling was abroad ; yet the day passed quietly. In 
 the evening Godoy found the king, cheerful and con- 
 fident, disposed to laugh at his forebodings. The 
 favourite, half-persuaded that all was well, took leave 
 of the royal family at ten o'clock and quitted the 
 palace. It was for the last time. 
 
 The town was quiet. The streets were deserted, 
 and everything was as usual. There seemed to be 
 no cause for alarm. The door of Godoy's house was 
 open. He supped contentedly with his brother, Diego, 
 and Colonel Truyols, the commander of his regiment 
 of hussars. At the stroke of midnight he retired. 
 He had begun to undress when the profound silence 
 of the night was broken by a pistol-shot. He stood 
 motionless and listened. He heard his brother and 
 the colonel rush to the door and alarm the guards. 
 His strained hearing caught the sound of horses' hoofs 
 and — yes — afar off, but coming nearer, the noise of 
 an angry multitude. Throwing a cloak over his 
 shoulders, Godoy rushed upstairs in search of a window 
 that overlooked the park and the avenues leading to 
 the palace. His valet, trembling, followed him. 
 The window of the first room he entered looked on an 
 inner court. He turned impatiently to seek another 
 vantage-point, but found himself trapped. His ser- 
 vant, either half-witted through terror or in order to 
 shield him, had locked him in, and thus saved his life. 
 
 He heard the mob break like an angry sea against 
 the doors of his house. There were the sounds of a 
 very brief struggle, of flying feet, a howl of triumph 
 from a hundred throats, a crashing of doors, of glass, 
 of furniture. He heard the people, thirsting for his
 
 Aranjucz 279 
 
 blood, swarm through the corridors, rush up the stairs, 
 trample in the courtyard. His guards, hopelessly 
 outnumbered, had fled. He heard the screams of 
 his hated wife. They were soon hushed. Knowing 
 that she was no friend to her husband, the mob 
 showed her every mark of respect. Soldiers and 
 civilians lifted her on their shoulders and escorted 
 her, as if in triumph, to the palace of the king — to 
 the palace, absurdly remarks Thiers, " which she 
 should never have quitted," and to which, in fact, 
 she obtained the right of entry only when she became 
 the wife of the luckless Godoy. 
 
 Upon her departure the rioters glutted their 
 vengeance on the favourite's house. It was sacked 
 from cellar to attic ; all that could not be removed 
 was smashed. With an almost superstitious regard 
 for royalty, the orders which the king had so liberally 
 bestowed on his beloved minister were neither stolen 
 nor profaned, but carefully conveyed to the palace of 
 the giver. By a miracle, the room in which the object 
 of the mob's hatred lay concealed escaped their 
 search. Some assert that it was entered and that the 
 occupant eluded detection by hiding within a roll 
 of matting. This is obviously the wildest conjecture, 
 as, if it had been noticed where he was hidden, he 
 could not have escaped. It is most probable that, 
 not finding him on their first inrush, his enemies 
 concluded that he had fled across the park at their 
 first onset. His brother and his officers were seized 
 and disarmed and imprisoned in the barracks. 
 
 Who fired the first shot will never be known. It 
 was no doubt the signal preconcerted by the con- 
 spirators. The attack was premeditated. Its authors
 
 28o Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 were not far to seek. Beauharnais had taken the 
 precaution to sleep at the scene of action instead 
 of returning to Madrid. Prominent among the 
 assailants were the servants of the Infante Antonio, 
 who is said to have thrown his hat in the air with 
 senile skittishness on hearing that the attack had 
 succeeded. Caballero was probably in their counsels. 
 Their instrument was an eccentric nobleman, the 
 count of Montijo, who loved to fraternise with the 
 mob under the sobriquet of Tio Pedro, and led them, 
 disguised as a peasant, on this occasion. 
 
 By other accounts, the mine was fired by Ferdinand, 
 who told one of the bodyguard that the departure 
 was fixed for that night, but that he would not go. 
 The guardsman hastened to impart the news to his 
 comrades, who at once raised the alarm. The story 
 that the anger of the populace was first enkindled by 
 the departure of Pepita Tudo from Godoy's house 
 is hardly credible. Her lover was at Aranjuez merely 
 to pass the night, and she is not likely to have stayed 
 under the same roof as his legal wife in the very eye 
 of the court. 
 
 The noise of the tumult had reached the king and 
 queen, who had not gone to bed. In an agony of 
 apprehension, they awaited news of the one man on 
 whose loyalty and affection they could rely. If 
 the king gave any orders, they were not heeded. The 
 ministers appear to have hidden themselves. Before 
 the dawn the park was once more invaded by an 
 exultant mob. They brought with them the terrified 
 wife and daughter of their victim. " Death to Godoy I 
 long live the king ! " was the cry. 
 
 Charles sent for his son and told him to show himself
 
 Aranjuez 281 
 
 at the window in order to appease the people. Fer- 
 dinand replied that his appearance would be the signal 
 for renewed firing. The people would be satisfied 
 only with the instant dismissal of Godoy ; that, too, 
 was the only means of saving the favourite's life, 
 if he still lived. The king was ready to promise 
 anything to save his best friend. Ferdinand then 
 consented to address the people. He was not recog- 
 nised until a servant threw the light of a candle on 
 to his features. His announcement that the king 
 had dismissed Godoy was received with frantic ap- 
 plause ; it was confirmed an hour later by a decree 
 posted on the door of the palace, which ran : " Having 
 determined to command my army and navy in person, 
 I hereby relieve the Prince of the Peace of his functions 
 as generalissimo and high admiral. He is free to 
 retire to any place that may suit him. — I, The King. 
 Aranjuez, March 18, 1808." 
 
 There was more cheering, encouraged by which 
 the king and queen appeared on the balcony. They 
 were greeted with an outburst of loyal enthusiasm. 
 The mob, having had their way, were disposed to be 
 generous. Cries of " Viva Napoleon ! " were raised 
 when the French ambassador was seen approaching. 
 His excellency found the king broken in spirit. " Tell 
 the emperor," he said wearily, " that I am not going 
 to leave the country unless it is to visit him. Well," 
 the old man sighed, " Manuel is gone. I am sorry. 
 He has served me twenty years. I hope no ill has 
 befallen him." 
 
 While the king was speaking the object of his 
 solicitude lay still Imprisoned In the attic of his own 
 house. He had heard the tumult die away and hoped
 
 282 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 that the servant who had locked him in would pre- 
 sently return to set him free or would inform the king 
 of his sore peril. But the servant had been imprisoned 
 with other members of his household, and wisely 
 left the liberation of his master to chance. The day 
 wore on, and no one came. Godoy had had ample 
 time in which to explore his prison. It was fur- 
 nished with a bed, a table, three or four chairs, and 
 a box, in which the captive found some bread and a 
 jar of water. He ate as little as possible, prepared to 
 endure a long siege. 
 
 At nightfall he heard footsteps. They stopped 
 outside his door. " My husband has got the key," 
 he heard a woman say, " and I can't find him — what 
 am I to do ? " " That's all right ! " came the 
 assurance in a man's voice, " we will do with this as 
 with the others ! " The speaker hurled himself against 
 the door ; the prisoner had but just time to with- 
 draw into a dark corner when the lock gave way 
 and the man entered. He gave a quick glance round 
 the darkened room, looked under the bed, and went 
 out without noticing the form flattened against the 
 wall in the recess. He told the woman to hasten. 
 She came in and hastily gathered together her belong- 
 ings, including the jar of water. Godoy perceived 
 that she was one of the under-servants. Presently, 
 lamenting her master's hard fate, she joined her com- 
 panion on the stairs, and their footsteps died away. 
 
 Godoy had heard enough to satisfy him that his 
 overthrow had been completed and that the king 
 himself was perhaps powerless to protect him. He 
 must seek another asylum unless he was to perish in 
 hunger and thirst. Before he could resolve on a
 
 Aranjuez 283 
 
 course of action, he was overcome by sleep. He 
 dreamt, he tells us, that Bonaparte was dead and his 
 country freed from all danger. He awoke to find the 
 sun already high above the horizon. It is strange 
 that he had not attempted to escape by night and 
 that he should have selected broad daylight to emerge 
 from his retreat. I suspect his long fast and captivity 
 had made him light-headed. He crept down the 
 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 
 them. The three men slipped out of a postern-gate 
 into the darkness and stumbled across a ploughed 
 field to a carriage which was in waiting. There
 
 Bayonne 301 
 
 seems to have been no conversation between the 
 officers and their charge. The chasseurs closed round 
 the carriage and they set off at a brisk trot for the 
 camp of Chamartin. 
 
 Rosetti says that Godoy crouched at the foot of 
 the vehicle to escape the possible notice of some 
 peasants who were passing. The commandant laughs 
 at him for this, but few men's nerves would be at 
 their command after so terrible an experience as that 
 of Aranjuez, followed by a severe imprisonment ; and 
 a hostile demonstration, though without danger to him 
 of actual violence, was an ordeal which the wretched 
 man may well be pardoned for shirking. 
 
 He was accommodated in a mere hut in the centre 
 of the camp, surrounded by the soldiers of Napoleon. 
 His first inquiry was, who was reigning ? Some 
 answered Charles IV., others Ferdinand VH., others, 
 prophetically, Napoleon. Presently the faithful San 
 Miguel arrived, bringing with him a thrice-welcome 
 change of clothes. He was also able to present his 
 old master with a sum of one thousand pounds, pro- 
 bably remitted by some banker or creditor ignorant 
 of the order confiscating his property. 
 
 From San Miguel the liberated man heard of the 
 departure of Ferdinand for the north, and a chronicle 
 of the happenings since the fatal day. He saw 
 Murat at a distance, and shortly after the message of 
 Charles IV. was handed to him. " Incomparable 
 Manuel," cried the old king, " how we have suffered 
 at seeing you sacrificed for having been our only 
 friend ! To-morrow we start to meet the emperor, 
 and we will intercede for you, so that we may live 
 happily together. Always your friend. — Carlos." It
 
 302 Godoy : the Queen's Favourite 
 
 was a letter which might well have drawn tears to 
 the reader's eyes. A few hours after receiving it, 
 he was on his way to Bayonne under the escort of 
 Colonel Manhes. On April 26 he crossed the 
 Bidassoa, and, turning, fixed his eyes for the last time 
 on the country of his birth. 
 
 He was free, and the prince who had ruined him 
 was a captive. Godoy had been overthrown because 
 he had striven to put the royal family beyond the 
 reach of Napoleon ; Ferdinand had thwarted him, 
 and was now at the mercy of the despot in whom he 
 had professed to see a friend. Within twenty-four 
 hours of his arrival at Bayonne his royal highness 
 was informed that the emperor could recognise him 
 only as prince of Asturias ; that Charles IV. was alone 
 king of Spain. " I am betrayed ! " cried the prince 
 in his despair. He was indeed : he found that he 
 could not stir from the house assigned to him unless 
 he was dogged by gendarmes. To Escoiquiz and 
 Ceballos, those trusty councillors who had despised 
 the statesmanship of Godoy, Napoleon made no secret 
 of his intention to expel the house of Bourbon from 
 the throne. Meantime he would await the coming 
 of his good ally, Charles IV. 
 
 Godoy arrived five days before his old patron, a 
 week after Ferdinand. He was lodged in a house 
 adjacent to the emperor's seat of Marrac on the road 
 to Biarritz. The day after his arrival, he was sent 
 for by the man from whom he had tried to save 
 Spain. He was kindly and courteously received. Na- 
 poleon, who thought he looked " like a bull, with 
 something of the air of Daru," expressed his indig- 
 nation at his treatment by the Spaniards and inquired
 
 CHARLES IV. OF SPAIN. 
 
 (Goya) 
 
 303
 
 Bayonne 305 
 
 about his wounds. Godoy's face was still disfigured by 
 a scar. After these courtesies the monarch referred to 
 their past relations, and regretted that the ex-minister 
 had so often misjudged him. He had meant to do 
 so much for Spain — even at the last he had offered 
 her the six provinces of Portugal against three petty 
 provinces along the Ebro. Well, he did not reproach 
 Godoy, who, he believed, had acted towards his master 
 as he would have his own servants act towards him. 
 
 From the past the emperor abruptly turned the 
 conversation to the present. He told Godoy that 
 he held Charles's protest against his abdication and 
 that he was determined that Ferdinand should never 
 reign in Spain. A prince who had intrigued and re- 
 belled against his father ! — never, never ! He would 
 restore Charles IV. He presumed that Godoy 
 had no fondness for the people who had caused his 
 downfall. He promised him retribution. " As to 
 that," replied the fallen man wearily, " my career is 
 for ever at an end. I am interested now only in the 
 fate of my king and my country." He held, like the 
 emperor, that the old king's resignation, if extorted 
 by force, must be considered void, but hazarded the 
 suggestion that the regency of Ferdinand might be 
 the most acceptable solution of the present problem. 
 Napoleon reiterated his determination never to suffer 
 that rebellious son to reign. 
 
 Finding that Godoy was not prepared to sacrifice 
 his country either to his ambition or to his just re- 
 sentment, he dismissed him. " They were a wretched 
 lot," he said, speaking of the Spanish court, " but 
 Godoy was the best man among them. His project 
 of removing the royal family beyond the seas was 
 18
 
 3o6 Godoy : the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 at least a sound conception." Years afterwards, at 
 St. Helena, he paid his wary antagonist a less grudging 
 tribute. " He was a man of genius," he said. 
 
 The old king and queen, on their arrival, were 
 received with full royal honours. Bausset, Savary, 
 Meneval, and Constant have left us minute accounts 
 of their meeting with the emperor and of the momen- 
 tous events that followed — the events which Godoy 
 had so clearly foreseen and of which he could now 
 be only the melancholy spectator. Yet the cordiality 
 of the emperor towards his guests might well have 
 persuaded him that the restoration of Charles IV. 
 was a fixed point in the imperial policy. " Lean on 
 me, I am strong," said Napoleon to the old Bourbon, 
 assisting him up the palace stairs. And Charles, dis- 
 gusted with his son and his people, had no other 
 desire. " Where is Manuel ? " was his first inquiry 
 when he took his seat at the banquet prepared for 
 him. Napoleon invited Godoy to join them. If 
 the king now saw the favourite for the first time 
 since Aranjuez, the meeting must have stirred the 
 deepest emotions of both. 
 
 " Had I been made aware by the princess party, 
 upon my arrival, of the emperor's proposals and inten- 
 tions," writes Godoy, " a common plan of resistance 
 might have been concerted. But I was approached 
 only by the duke of Frias, whose visit was merely one 
 of courtesy and who did not refer by so much as a 
 word to the political situation." It is possible that 
 Ferdinand's hatred may have consummated, as it 
 began, his own ruin ; but it is unlikely that even his 
 favourite's arguments could have prevailed with 
 Charles IV. against the will of the emperor. In his
 
 Bayonne 307 
 
 imperial majesty the old king saw his best friend 
 and support. He executed his behests hurriedly, 
 delightedly. 
 
 Ferdinand wrote offering to restore the crown, 
 provided that the act of restitution should be done 
 in Spain with the consent and in the presence of the 
 Cortes. ** My son," replied Charles, " Spain owes 
 her critical situation to the perfidious counsellors who 
 surround you ; she can be saved only by Napoleon." 
 Ferdinand offered to assume the regency ; his father 
 replied by a decree appointing the grand-duke of 
 Berg lieutenant-general of his dominions. Escoiquiz, 
 less tenacious of the prince's rights than Godoy, 
 advised him to yield to the emperor's will. 
 
 In the afternoon of May 5 an orderly galloped 
 furiously into the courtyard of Marrac. A few 
 minutes later Napoleon learned that the people of 
 Madrid had risen in mad revolt against the invaders 
 whom they had persisted, but a month before, in hailing 
 as deliverers. The supposed allies of Ferdinand had 
 proved sterner taskmasters than the odious Godoy. 
 Spain's eyes were at last opened ; too late was she able 
 to distinguish friend from foe. Furious, the emperor 
 rushed in upon the startled king and queen. The 
 streets of Madrid had been deluged in the blood of 
 French soldiers and Spanish citizens — this was the 
 upshot of the devilish intrigues of their son with the 
 accursed English. A river of blood flowed for ever 
 between Ferdinand and the throne of Spain. 
 
 The prince was summoned. Terrified, he denied 
 all complicity in the rising of May 2. " The blood 
 of my people is on your head 1 " cried the old king, 
 " and that of the soldiers of Napoleon." He threat-
 
 3o8 Godoy: the Qucen^s Favourite 
 
 ened his son with his cane ; Maria Luisa launched 
 at her first-born the bitterest imprecations. " Listen," 
 thundered Napoleon, cutting short these recrimina- 
 tions. ** If you have not recognised your father by 
 midnight as lawful king of Spain and have not notified 
 this to Madrid, you will be treated as a rebel I " 
 Ferdinand, trembling, withdrew. 
 
 Godoy, sent for, found his master quivering with 
 indignation and wrath. *' This," cried the old king, 
 *' is the reward of twenty years* devotion to my 
 people ! Was I a Nero, a Caligula ? Have I not 
 refused again and again to shed a drop of my people's 
 blood ? Have I not humiliated myself to avert from 
 them the scourge of war ? Have I not cared for them, 
 as a father for his children ? And now my son 
 conspires against me, my people hurl me from the 
 throne with cries of delight. And now war is raging 
 in their midst. I resign. My abdication Is in the 
 hands of the emperor ! " 
 
 *' But, sire," protested Godoy, " think what you 
 are doing. . . . To abdicate the throne of your ances- 
 tors ! Surely the proposal was not made by you ? " 
 
 " By me ? No. The emperor has offered to 
 restore me to my throne by force of arms. He is 
 ready to march an army on Madrid. I refused to 
 trample on the bodies of my subjects. * Very well,* 
 he said, * since you will not reign, your son never 
 shall.* It is finished. Let the emperor take the 
 crown. Perhaps the Spaniards will be happier under 
 him than under me. You, as my only faithful servant, 
 I charge with the execution of the treaty." 
 
 " Never ! " answered the unhappy favourite. " Think 
 again. ..."
 
 Bayonne 309 
 
 " Then you, too, desert me ! Good. ... I will 
 attend to this myself ! " 
 
 In vain Maria Luisa joined her entreaties to 
 Godoy's. The weary old man was in haste to be 
 rid of his crown of thorns. Who can blame him ? 
 His people had clamoured for the intervention of 
 France, they had cast him down because he was pre- 
 pared to resist the invader. While they disputed — 
 king, queen, and ex-minister — Duroc brought the drafts 
 of the treaty for signature. Godoy, upon his master's 
 reiterated commands, turned with a heavy heart to the 
 discussion of the conditions. Charles ceded the crown 
 of his ancestors to the Emperor Napoleon, stipulating 
 that the integrity of Spain and the Catholic religion 
 should be maintained. In exchange, the emperor 
 guaranteed to the ex-king seven and a half millions 
 of francs a year, the use of the chateau of Chambord, 
 and four hundred thousand francs a year to each of the 
 infantes. Napoleon had bought the inheritance of 
 Philip II. cheaply enough. On May 10 Ferdinand and 
 the other princes, sent by Murat in haste from Madrid, 
 renounced all rights of succession to the crown of Spain. 
 
 They moved more freely now that they were 
 relieved of the burden they were so unfit to bear. 
 They went frequently to pay their respects to the 
 empress and were visibly gratified by the royal 
 honours extended to them. It was not easy to forget, 
 says the Comte de Senfft, their grand manner in con- 
 trast with the horror of their position, which they 
 did not seem to realise. *' King Charles IV., with the 
 queen and their inseparable Don Manuel Godoy, 
 went seldom to Marrac and only at the emperor's 
 luncheon, of which the king made his dinner,"
 
 310 Godoyt the Queen's Favourite 
 
 In after-years Godoy perhaps remembered only 
 the anguish with which he found himself obliged to 
 witness the deed assigning the crown of Spain to a 
 foreigner. That he did so with mingled sentiments 
 may also be believed. His body was still scarred with 
 the wounds he had received from the people who 
 resented his efforts to save them from this very doom. 
 Spain had cast him out with loathing and blows ; 
 she had herself thwarted all his endeavours on her 
 behalf for the sake of the prince who now abandoned 
 her. It is to his credit that he troubled to protest 
 at all against the abdication of Charles IV. That he 
 refused actively to further the enemy's designs is 
 proved by Napoleon's dismissal of him as " useless as 
 an ally and negligible as an opponent." 
 
 Yet during the five days preceding the old king's 
 coming to Bayonne, before Napoleon had realised 
 the extent of the old man's weakness, the favourite 
 might have sold his influence at a very high price ! 
 A principality the emperor might readily have granted 
 for the support of the man who was said to have ruled 
 Charles IV. and Maria Luisa for a score of years past. 
 Godoy, beggared, cast out, and dishonoured, asked 
 nothing, got nothing. Spain had rejected him — he 
 could not help her, he would not profit by her ruin. 
 For good or ill he was Charles's man, and his last act 
 was to take upon himself some of the obloquy of a 
 surrender which he had opposed. 
 
 The men who had overthrown him were of another 
 sort. The prince's partisans stayed at Bayonne to 
 greet the new king, Joseph. Ceballos, the time-server, 
 took office under him ; so did the " patriots " Jovellanos 
 and Urquijo ; O'Farrell, who had opposed Godoy's
 
 Bayonne 311 
 
 liberation, accepted the portfolio of war. The duke 
 of Infantado was among the deputation of grandees 
 chosen to greet King Joseph. And these were the men 
 who had denounced Godoy as a traitor to his country ! 
 They tried to make amends, it is true, by betraying 
 their new master as they had betrayed the old. 
 
 They had a worthy master in Ferdinand VII. 
 On May 13 he and his brother Carlos departed 
 for the home assigned to them at Valengay, in the 
 heart of France. There, while his countrymen were 
 pouring out their blood in defence of his rights, 
 he stooped to beg his conqueror to grant him the 
 hand of a princess of his house — an act so mean that 
 Napoleon refused to publish it, since it would not be 
 believed. He returned at last to the throne that 
 English bayonets rather than Spanish loyalty had 
 won for him, and speedily reduced his country to 
 a state in comparison with which the worst days of 
 Godoy must have been remembered as the Golden 
 Age. Verily, the Spaniards of Aranjuez and Bayonne 
 got the monarch they deserved. 
 
 More fortunate than his life-long enemy, Godoy 
 passed out of history, following his old master and 
 mistress into exile. He owed to them his exaltation, 
 he was true to them in their abasement. He sought 
 no office under the Bonaparte king, he craved no 
 favour of Napoleon. His coat had been bespattered 
 with blood and mud in Charles's service, but at 
 forty years of age he thought himself too old to 
 change it. Besides, he had drunk to the full of the 
 cup of greatness, for a mere sip of which Ceballos 
 and Ferdinand sold their honour.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE LAST LONG SCENE 
 
 From the fierce light that beats upon a throne the 
 erstwhile grand admiral and generalissimo of Spain 
 passed into a shadow which the searchlight of history- 
 has not yet altogether dispelled.^ Godoy survived 
 his fall forty-four years — more than thrice the duration 
 of his political career. He outlived friends and foes, 
 he outlived even men's memory of him. When he 
 died the sons and grandsons of those who had courted 
 his smile or conspired his downfall asked, in wonder, 
 " Was he, then, still among the living ? " 
 
 Yet this profound obscurity was sweetened for 
 many years by the warmth of loving hearts and con- 
 stancy in old friendships. Fitfully, too, it was 
 penetrated by gleams of the old rancours. On 
 June 1 8, after a brief stay at Fontainebleau, Charles 
 IV. and his queen arrived in an old equipage drawn 
 by mules at the noble palace of Compiegne. Their 
 train was numerous. With them was the queen of 
 Etruria and her little son, afterwards duke of Parma, 
 and the Infante Francisco de Paula, a boy of fourteen 
 years, the youngest of Charles's children ; with them, 
 too, were Godoy and all those whom Godoy loved. 
 
 1 For our knowledge of Godoy's domestic life from this point 
 onwards we are indebted almost exclusively to the researches of Senor 
 Juan Perez de Guzman of the Royal Academy of History of Madrid. 
 
 312
 
 The Last Long Scene 313 
 
 The wife who hated him had stayed among his 
 enemies. She passed the rest of her days in the 
 shadow of the cathedral of Toledo, under the protec- 
 tion of her brother, the cardinal. The daughter, 
 Carlota, whom she disliked because she was Godoy's 
 child, was brought to the Escurial by her father's 
 kinsman, Villena. Maria Luisa embraced her god- 
 child. " She remains with me," she told the mother ; 
 and the young marchioness of Boadilla del Monte, as 
 the girl was called, remained with the exiled queen 
 till the day of her death. 
 
 The tenderness which Maria Luisa lavished on 
 Godoy's daughter was not denied to his two little 
 sons, Manuel and Louis, the children of Pepita Tudo. 
 The year before the downfall Charles IV. had bestowed 
 on his favourite's mistress the title of countess of 
 Castillofiel. As the beloved of Godoy, she was 
 exposed to the full fury of his foes. On her way to 
 Andalusia she was arrested at Almagro in La Mancha, 
 and kept under rigorous police supervision. She was 
 stripped of all the wealth she carried with her, assailed 
 with contumely and derision. In her desperate plight 
 she addressed a piteous appeal to Murat. That chival- 
 rous soldier did not forget her. She was quickly 
 released and sent under escort to France. Godoy, 
 from the moment of his liberation, had not ceased 
 to appeal to the imperial lieutenant on her behalf. 
 At Bayonne she was reunited to him and her 
 family. She, her mother, and her sisters, Magdalena 
 and Socorro, were admitted by Maria Luisa to 
 her household, and all shared the hospitality of 
 Compiegne. 
 
 This was not very generous. Napoleon begrudged
 
 314 Godoy: the Queen's Favourite 
 
 even the meagre emoluments guaranteed to the ex- 
 king by the treaty of Bayonne. The royal family, 
 he directed, was to be lodged only in a wing of the 
 palace, on the pretext that the state apartments had 
 not yet been made ready for him. " The king will 
 thus get used to the quarters provisionally assigned 
 to him," he wrote, " and I shall not be deprived of 
 the chateau and park in the hunting season." He 
 was right : Charles asked for very little and amused 
 himself well enough with his fiddling. But the 
 northern air was too keen for this old man, born and 
 bred in the south. He petitioned his imperial " pro- 
 tector " for a change of air. Napoleon gladly con^ 
 sented. In October Compiegne, with its superb 
 domains, was exchanged for a gentleman's mansion at 
 Marseilles. 
 
 There we lose sight for a time of these exiles, 
 " the world forgetting, by the world forgot." No 
 English gentlemen of leisure were travelling in France 
 in those days to gratify their curiosity by visits to 
 this monarch retired from business. And the eyes 
 of Spaniards were turned only towards the less worthy 
 exile of Valengay. The queen of Etruria, at her own 
 desire, had been separated from her parents ; but, 
 instead of finding a home at Parma, her husband's 
 ancient seat, as she had hoped, she was ordered to 
 reside at Nice. An attempt to escape to England 
 brought down on her the wrath of the emperor. Her 
 son was taken from her and handed over to her parents, 
 and she was rigidly confined, with her daughter, in 
 a nunnery at Rome. 
 
 Charles does not seem to have protested with any 
 vigour against this harsh treatment of his daughter.
 
 The Last Long Scene 315 
 
 He and his family obtained leave, however, to estab- 
 lish themselves in the Eternal City in the summer of 
 181 2. They were permitted to see their daughter 
 once a month till she was set at liberty by the Nea- 
 politans, who, under the leadership of Murat, now 
 in arms against Napoleon, occupied Rome in January 
 1814. 
 
 Ferdinand, too, was free and re-entered Spain amid 
 the frantic applause of the people. Yet he was not 
 easy in his mind as to the validity of his father's 
 abdication, repudiated as it had been at Madrid 
 and Bayonne. But all the old king's anger had eva- 
 porated. He was anxious, above all, to see his heir 
 seated firmly on his throne. Questioned by Louis 
 XVHL, as head of the house of Bourbon, he expressed 
 his desire to leave the acts of Aranjuez in oblivion 
 and to sign a new deed of abdication in his son's 
 favour. He communicated this intention to all the 
 great Powers. Of course the proposal pleased nobody 
 in Spain, for its adoption would have made void all 
 the acts of the Junta reigning in Ferdinand's name 
 since 1808. The blame was at once thrown on to 
 Godoy. 
 
 The Pope, at the entreaty of the Spanish court, 
 very reluctantly ordered the favourite to leave his 
 master and to establish himself at Pesaro in the 
 Marches. The household of Maria Luisa was broken 
 up, for with Godoy went his mistress, her boys, her 
 mother, and her younger sister. Instead of avenging 
 himself on his son for this mean thrust, Charles per- 
 sisted in his abdication, which was finally drawn up in 
 terms acceptable to Ferdinand and signed on October I, 
 1 8 14. Regarding his son now as his king, the old
 
 3i6 Godoy: th^ Queen^s Favourite 
 
 man henceforward obeyed him almost with servility, 
 even to the detriment of those dearest to him. 
 
 When Napoleon returned from Elba Murat again 
 invaded the Papal territory, this time in his old master's 
 interest. The royal exiles fied north and found an 
 asylum at Verona, where Godoy joined them. He 
 fell in with his old acquaintance, Lord Holland, and 
 complained to him of his homeless condition. He 
 even spoke of the likelihood of his settling in England. 
 
 The rumour that he thought, instead, of establish- 
 ing himself at the Austrian court alarmed Vargas 
 Laguna, the Spanish ambassador at Rome, soon 
 after Napoleon's second overthrow. He therefore 
 readily acquiesced in Charles's demand for the recall 
 of Godoy to Rome, whither the royal family had 
 returned. The Tudos, however, took up their 
 residence at Genoa, continuing an assiduous and affec- 
 tionate correspondence with the queen. Only two 
 children were now left to solace her majesty's old age 
 — her son, Francisco de Paula, and Godoy's daughter, 
 Carlota. In 1817 there was some talk of marrying 
 these young people — a project which Ferdinand VH. 
 promptly nipped in the bud. The scheme disposes 
 of the scandalous rumour that the young prince and 
 the queen of Etruria were the favourite's children by 
 Maria Luisa. 
 
 Vargas Laguna suggested that Carlota should be 
 sent back to Spain, but Ferdinand would not allow 
 this, fearing that she might demand a share of her 
 father's forfeited wealth. For the same reason he 
 vetoed repeated projects of marriage between her 
 and various Roman princes. All the while the am- 
 bassador devilishly busied himself in trying to poison
 
 The Last Long Scene 317 
 
 the girPs mind, by means of her attendants, against 
 her father, and to excite her jealousy against her half- 
 brothers. At last, in the year 1820, she was married to 
 a Roman noble, Count Camillo Ruspoli. Her grand- 
 children to-day still bear the ducal title of Alcudia 
 which her father had ceded to her at her birth. 
 
 The malice of his old enemy did not cease to pursue 
 Godoy during the life of the king and queen. Vargas 
 Laguna obtained a complete ascendency over the 
 enfeebled mind of Charles IV., who consented to act 
 as a spy on his own wife and most devoted friend 
 without appearing to realise the injury he was doing 
 them. The old man appears at times to have been 
 inspired by a sort of senile roguishness. It seems to 
 have pleased him to do spiteful turns to the two 
 people who made sure of his devotion and affection. 
 Vargas Laguna was thus able to rely upon a friend in 
 the enemy's garrison when he heard, in 1817, that 
 the favourite again meditated seeking the protection 
 of the emperor of Austria. This design was warmly 
 approved by Maria Luisa and seconded by prince 
 Kaunitz, the imperial ambassador at Rome. 
 
 Godoy's statesmanship was better appreciated at 
 foreign courts than in his own country, and a new 
 career might have opened for him at Vienna. Pepita 
 Tudo entered into the scheme with her usual energy 
 and ardour. Hearing that Metternich was taking the 
 waters at Lucca, she presented herself there to the 
 all-powerful minister. Metternich was easily dis- 
 posed in the beautiful lady's favour and readily 
 granted her permission to send an agent, Don Juan 
 Martinez, to Vienna to ask for passports for herself 
 and Godoy. Martinez was in the pay of Vargas
 
 31 8 Godoy: the Quecn^s Favourite 
 
 Laguna, and the scheme was very soon communicated 
 to the court of Madrid. Godoy at Vienna, perhaps 
 at the ear of Francis II., was a possibility sufficient 
 to appal Ferdinand VII. and to enkindle all his latent 
 hate. He at once despatched an envoy to the em- 
 peror, selecting no other than Ceballos, who had 
 already repaid Godoy's services to him in the past 
 with so many injuries. 
 
 While this turncoat was on his way to Vienna, his 
 colleague at Rome, with the connivance of the gover- 
 nor, Tiberio Pacca, occupied himself with intercepting 
 Godoy's correspondence with Kaunitz and Pepita. He 
 worked on Charles's fear of losing his favourite and dis- 
 pleasing his son and liege lord so far as to induce him 
 to write personally to the emperor asking him to with- 
 draw the invitation issued by Metternich. The letter 
 was drafted by Vargas Laguna ; otherwise it would be 
 difficult to explain or to excuse the language in which 
 the old king speaks of his most loyal friend : " Your 
 majesty is not ignorant of the hatred of the Spanish 
 nation for Godoy, nor of the measures which I, my 
 son, and the Cortes have successively adopted against 
 him. That he has continued about my person and 
 that his prosecution has been abandoned must be 
 attributed to my benevolent mediation and to the 
 love and respect which my son entertains for me. 
 Such kindness should have filled the heart of Godoy 
 with gratitude.. . . . Notwithstanding, he has per- 
 mitted himself, without consulting me, to solicit 
 from your majesty not only naturalisation as an 
 Austrian subject, but the honours sovereigns are 
 accustomed to reserve for their most faithful 
 subjects."
 
 The Last Long Scene 319 
 
 The king wound up by asking the emperor not to 
 grant any request that would trouble his beloved son, 
 Ferdinand, and vowing that he would not tolerate 
 Godoy near him if he succeeded in his desire. This 
 letter was handed to Francis H. by Ceballos. On 
 February 2, 181 8, the emperor replied that he 
 had ordered his ambassador in Rome to inform the 
 Prince of the Peace that no Spanish subject could be 
 admitted into his dominions without the consent of 
 his natural lord. 
 
 The unworthy old dotard Charles had, in obedience 
 to his unnatural son, ruined the last hopes of the 
 man who had worked so much, suffered so much, and 
 lost so much in his cause. He even lent himself 
 to the persecution of Pepita Tudo and her children. 
 Ferdinand professed to believe that Godoy or his 
 mistress was possessed of some of the crown jewels 
 missing ever since the French invasion. Charles dis- 
 graced himself by asking the grand-duke of Tuscany, 
 who had taken the Tudo into his favour, to remove 
 her from his dominions and to allow the Spanish 
 minister to search her coffers ; but he pleaded that 
 his old favourite should not again be removed from 
 Rome. 
 
 Pepita protested, with her customary vehemence, 
 against these disgraceful aspersions. The death of 
 her younger son, Luis, added to her grief and to the 
 unhappy Godoy's. The positive declaration of Maria 
 Luisa that the few jewels in the possession of her 
 favourites were lawfully theirs and that much of the 
 missing treasure had been sold by her to supply the 
 needs of her family in exile at last caused Ferdinand 
 and his agents to cease their malicious pursuit ;
 
 320 Godoy: the Quccn^s Favourite 
 
 but so long as his old enemy lived Godoy and his 
 mistress were subject to the persistent annoyance and 
 supervision of his spies. 
 
 They were soon robbed of their steadfast protectress. 
 In the last days of the year 1818 the queen fell ill. 
 At a quarter past ten on the night of January 2 she 
 died, in the sixty-seventh year of her age, her last 
 glances wandering from her old lover and faithful 
 friend to her two youngest daughters, who arrived 
 only in time to close her eyes. Her husband was not 
 present. He was on a visit to his brother at Naples. 
 In his old age he seems to have contracted a dislike 
 for all those he had formerly loved. He was not 
 much troubled by his wife's death. Within eighteen 
 days he followed her to the tomb. 
 
 Godoy mourned bitterly the loss of the mistress 
 who had befriended him to the last and of the master 
 who had betrayed him. By a will executed in 1 81 5 
 the queen had bequeathed everything she possessed 
 to Godoy, " to whom, in discharge of our conscience, 
 we owe this indemnification for the many great losses 
 he has suffered in obedience to our orders and to those 
 of the king here present, and because we refused the 
 permission he sought to vacate his offices and retire 
 into private life." The will was respectfully trans* 
 mitted by Godoy to Ferdinand VII. His catholic 
 majesty ignored it, having been previously informed 
 that his father had withdrawn his consent to this 
 disposition of his wife's property. Regardless of 
 their mother's wishes, the princes and princesses all 
 greedily clamoured for their share in her estate. 
 
 Godoy, now approaching old age, was left penniless. 
 For years past he had subsisted on the bounty of the
 
 The Last Long Scene 321 
 
 queen ; for to the last he had made his country the 
 sole repository of his fortune. He was beggared now 
 by the cowardly deference of Charles to his son's 
 animosity ; yet he respected the ungrateful old man's 
 wishes and resolved to attempt no defence of his 
 career till Ferdinand also had passed away. His 
 patience was rewarded. In 1833 his bitterest enemy 
 died, leaving a legacy of civil war and fratricidal strife 
 to his disillusioned subjects. 
 
 Godoy now found himself in Paris, old and almost 
 destitute. His appeals to successive Spanish ministers 
 were futile. No one heeded him ; he was forgotten 
 by friend and foe alike. The recommendations of 
 successive ambassadors to the cabinet of Madrid were 
 ignored. In remembrance at last of his generosity 
 to the French royalist exiles, Louis Philippe settled an 
 annuity of ^200 upon him. In 1836 he published 
 his memoirs, said to have been written, at his dic- 
 tation, by a Spanish clergyman exiled to Paris. His 
 mild treatment of enemies, his readiness to impute 
 good motives to most of his opponents, his touching 
 loyalty to the old king who had at the last betrayed 
 him, should have done much to restore him to the 
 favour of his countrymen ; but a new generation had 
 arisen who took no interest, friendly or hostile, in 
 this venerable survivor of a bygone age. 
 
 Harder to bear than the neglect of his countrymen 
 was his abandonment by those dearest to him. His 
 daughter Carlota had gone back to Spain and been 
 granted his estates in Valencia. On the death of his 
 wife he married Pepita in order to legitimate their 
 son ; but she, too, deserted him and returned, upon 
 the death of Ferdinand, to Madrid. Who was there 
 
 19
 
 322 Godoy: the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 to care for this penniless, exiled old man, approaching 
 his seventieth year ? 
 
 In these last sad d^ys we catch very few glimpses 
 of the man who had once ruled over Spain and half 
 the New World. Lord Holland, at least, had not 
 forgotten him, and he refers with gratitude in his 
 memoirs to his lordship as the only person who, since 
 his fall, had shown any recollection of any service, great 
 or small, received from him. He presently received 
 a visit from the Whig nobleman, who, writing on 
 September 19, 1838, says : " I saw the Prince of 
 the Peace, much altered in appearance, but still the 
 same character of countenance. Good-humoured, 
 self-satisfied, somewhat jovial and hearty, in his bad 
 French and chuckling voice, and an arch expression 
 in his eyes, he complained much of the ingratitude 
 of the world. He complained bitterly of the Tudo, 
 to whom, he said, he had been attached from his 
 youth, and for whom he had incurred the imputation 
 of bigamy, and whom all the world knew he had 
 actually married, after the death of his first wife, 
 for the purpose of legitimating her son. He had 
 settled on her all he had in the world out of Spain, 
 and she had left him and taken the whole, so that he 
 was reduced to absolute penury, and lived entirely 
 on the small pension Louis Philippe allowed him. 
 
 " His estates . . . had been distributed in a strange 
 way : his Soto de Roma had been bestowed on the 
 Duke of Wellington, who had earned it ; but he knew 
 of no sentence or judgment of law depriving him of 
 it. As to the Alb uf era and his encomiendas^ these 
 had been conferred on the Infante Don Francisco ; 
 so that whenever he claimed his lands he found some
 
 The Last Long Scene 323 
 
 one in the enjoyment of them whom he had little 
 chance of dispossessing. He rather laughed at this 
 and his own helplessness, but he spoke with more 
 bitterness of the Tudo's ingratitude, and with some 
 indignation of the Liberals depriving him of the title 
 of captain-general. He had no great complaint of 
 Napoleon ... he had offered him fair terms of 
 reconciliation, if he had thought it either honourable 
 or possible to have accepted of them. . . . He spoke 
 with less bitterness of Ferdinand and with more of 
 Don Carlos than I expected. 
 
 " Soon after he left me I met, on the landing-place 
 of the hotel stairs, a dark and somewhat stately lady- 
 carried by two or three servants on a footstool to a 
 story above our apartment. ... It was the duchess 
 of Sueca, who is the daughter of the Prince of the 
 Peace and possesses no inconsiderable portion of his 
 landed property. But she neither allows him a 
 sixpence out of them or keeps up any intercourse with 
 him. She is married to a Roman prince. The Tudo 
 is living in comparative splendour at Madrid, while 
 her husband is training a miserable existence as a 
 pensioner or almost beggar in Paris, surrounded by 
 relations, acknowledged or unacknowledged children, 
 grandchildren, and what not — infantes, princesses, 
 duchesses, etc., not one of which condescends to take 
 the least notice of him or show the slightest tenderness, 
 regard, or interest about one to whom some owe their 
 station and riches, and all more or less their very 
 
 existence." 
 
 About the same time Godoy was consoled by a 
 testimony of good-will from young Spain in the person 
 of the brilliant writer, Ramon de Mesonero y Romanos,
 
 324 Godoy: the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 who has left us his recollections of the old man in his 
 last days : 
 
 " Happening to be in Paris and on the most cordial 
 terms with the venerable and affable Don Juan 
 Antonio Melon, an old friend of my father's, I 
 expressed to him my desire to pay my respects to 
 that famous but fallen historical personage, the Prince 
 of the Peace. We directed our steps, then, to the 
 humble dwelling of the man still entitled Prince of 
 Bassano, which was situated in a street behind the 
 Passage de I'Opera, on the fourth floor. The prince 
 received us with the greatest courtesy, and, Melon 
 having mentioned that I was a writer, he seemed 
 pleased and spoke freely about his misfortunes and 
 the injustice with which he had been treated by 
 certain historians, especially the count of Toreno. 
 He asked me, also, if I had read his memoirs and what 
 opinion the new generation had formed of him. 
 
 " I succeeded in convincing him that we had for- 
 gotten the passionate animosities and prejudices of 
 our fathers, and that, having suffered under the rule 
 of Ferdinand VH., with his Macanaces, Eguias, and 
 Calomardes, we were rather disposed to envy those 
 who had lived under governments more enlightened 
 and tolerant. I spoke with approval of his beneficent 
 endeavours to promote science and the culture of the 
 nation ; of the protection he extended to the men 
 of talent of his day ; of the travels of Rojas Clemente 
 and Badia which he had initiated ; of the expedition 
 of Balmis to America to disseminate vaccin, — all of 
 which seemed to gratify him extremely. He thanked 
 me in accents borrowed from the Italian language, 
 which he had used habitually for thirty years past.
 
 The Last Long Scene 325 
 
 and repeated that his most ardent wish was to return 
 to Spain and take a look round the Prado ; but that 
 the Government and the courts, everlastingly post- 
 poning his rehabilitation, deprived him of that 
 pleasure. He hoped, however, much from the justice 
 of his cause and the talent of his defenders, Perez 
 Hernandez and Pacheco. I replied that, being hon- 
 oured with the friendship of both those eminent 
 jurists, I would endeavour to reanimate their exertions 
 on behalf of the prince, and promised to do my own 
 humble best for his vindication." 
 
 Mesonero Romanos did not forget his promise, 
 and did justice to Godoy's services to civilisation in 
 a book he shortly afterwards published on Madrid 
 ancient and modern. Nor were the efforts of the 
 advocates unsuccessful in the end. On May 31, 1847, 
 — thirty-nine years after the catastrophe of Aranjuez — 
 Queen Isabella H. signed the decree restoring the 
 Prince of the Peace to his rank and dignities and 
 ordering the restoration of his property. But the 
 actual possessors of his estates well knew how, by the 
 tedious processes and circumlocutions of Spanish law, 
 to postpone from month to month the fulfilment 
 of this act of tardy justice. Against the arts of 
 procrastination so well understood by his countrymen 
 a man of fourscore cannot long contend. On 
 October 4,,,! 851, the unjust possessors of his lands 
 breathed freely — Godoy would never come back to 
 Spain. He had ended his long exile in a foreign land. 
 
 He passed away unremarked and scarce remembered 
 except by those who had good reasons to wish him 
 gone. The notice of his death appeared in but one 
 Spanish journal ; his epitaph was written by the
 
 326 Godoy : the Queen*s Favourite 
 
 last Spaniard who had defended him during life. 
 Mesonero Romanes wrote : 
 
 " We have seen this Colossus who, in our fathers' 
 time, directed the destinies of the monarchy and the 
 treasures of the New World, reduced to a modest 
 annuity of six thousand francs ; and, so resigned to his 
 fate and the dark vicissitudes of life, that he would 
 sit contentedly in the gardens of the Palais Royal or 
 the Tuileries, playing with the children, recovering 
 their hoops and tops, lending them his stick to ride 
 on, and taking them tenderly on his knee. He was 
 well known to the strolling players who haunted these 
 spots, and who took him for a retired actor or a veteran 
 devotee of the theatre. By them he was known only 
 as Monsieur Manuel. None of them guessed that 
 his noble brow had once borne a prince's crown ; 
 that from his bowed shoulders had once hung a truly 
 royal mantle ; that the ring on his finger had been 
 placed there on his marriage with a descendant of 
 Philip V. and Louis XIV. His pleasant smile of 
 benevolence and interest over and over again procured 
 the offer of a job as stage manager or prompter for 
 him whom armies and fleets had obeyed, who had 
 warred against the great republic, and who had ne- 
 gotiated treaties on equal terms with the emperor 
 himself. 
 
 " Truly the career of this man, as much as by his 
 rapid and amazing elevation as by his abysmal fall 
 and protracted agony, is most remarkable and perhaps 
 without parallel in the annals of history. Don 
 Alvaro de Luna and Calderon, dying on the scaffold, 
 appropriately concluded their tragic history. Olivares 
 and Lerma, the one banished to his estates, the other
 
 The Last Long Scene 327 
 
 covering himself with ^the purple of the cardinal, 
 barely survived their disgrace ; Nithard, Valenzuela, 
 Alberoni, Ripperda, the Princesse des Ursins, Squillace 
 — all died far from the scene of their triumphs, but 
 not completely forgotten or deprived of political 
 importance. 
 
 " Godoy alone has dragged on, through half a cen- 
 tury, an obscure and miserable existence in presence 
 of the great events of European history and without 
 figuring in any of them. He has survived his own 
 history ; he has heard the judgments of posterity ; he 
 has assisted at his own obsequies and has remained 
 indifferent to the indifference of three generations. 
 His death alone, in the eighty-fifth year of his age 
 and the forty-fourth of his exile, has recalled his 
 name to men and reminded the French capital of his 
 existence. Only a few Spaniards accompanied his 
 corpse to the church of St. Roch, where it was de- 
 posited, awaiting removal to his fatherland. The 
 memory of the Prince of the Peace has been thought 
 worthy, in the whole Spanish press, only of these few 
 lines ! " 
 
 "When I was last in Paris in 1865," continues 
 Mesonero Romanos, " I visited, as my custom is, the 
 cemetery of Pere Lachaise and lingered at that space 
 to the left of the chapel, known as the Spaniards' 
 Island. There, where are buried Moratin, Urquijo, 
 Fernan-Nuiiez, Garcia Suelto, and the tenor, Garcia, 
 and not far from the sepulchre of General Ballesteros, 
 is a small railed-in grave ; above it a tablet announces 
 that there lie the ashes of Don Manuel Godoy, Prince 
 of the Peace and Duke of Alcudia, the prodigy of 
 fortune and saddest example of ill luck."
 
 328 Godoy : the Queen^s Favourite 
 
 The man who fell in a supreme effort to rid Spain 
 of her enemies would prefer that the last words over 
 his tomb should proceed from a Spanish heart, even 
 if transcribed by an English pen.
 
 INDEX 
 
 The names of Godoy [Manuel), Charles IV., Maria Luisa, and 
 
 Napoleon I. are omitted 
 
 Abrantes, duchesse d' . See Junot, 
 
 Mme 
 Alba, duchess of, 28 
 Alquier, 121 
 Amiens, peace of, 140 
 Antonio, Infante, 275, 277, 295 
 Aranda, count of, 50, 53, 56, 
 
 69. 72, 73 
 Arguelles, 199 
 Azara, 99, 121, 138, 140, 164 
 
 Badia y Leblich, 147 
 
 Bale, treaty of, 77 
 
 Beauharnais, 219 et seq., 238, 281, 
 
 297 
 Beurnonvillef 152 et seq., 185, 192 
 Bonaparte, Charlotte, 240 
 Bonaparte, Joseph, 187, 310 
 Bonaparte, Lucien, 129, 132-45 
 Bourgoing, 53, 65 
 
 Caballero, iii, 114, 217, 233, 235, 
 
 242, 246, 273 
 Caballero, Eugenio, 243 
 Cabarrus, 76, 85, 98, 108 
 Campomanes, 93, 135, 242 
 Carlota Joaquina, princess of 
 
 Portugal, 98 
 Ceballos, 130, 132, 135, 151, 154, 
 
 187, 295, 299, 310. 318 
 Charles III., 23, 26, 36 
 Condillac, 25 
 
 Del Campo, 109 
 
 Duroc, 199, 207, 257, 309 
 
 Eden (Lord St. Helens), 23, 40, 61 
 Escoiquiz, 174 et seq., 187, 219, 
 
 221, 241, 246, 295 
 Espinosa, 199 
 Exelmans, General, 300 
 
 Ferdinand, prince of Asturias, 
 afterwards Ferdinand VII., 145, 
 173, 186, 211 et seq., 223, 226, 
 264, 281, 284 
 Floridablanca, 37, 39, 40-43, 48 
 Fontainebleau, treaty of, 240 
 Francisco de Paula, Infante, 312, 
 
 316 
 Frere, Hookham, 153, 164-9 
 
 Godoy, Antonia, 16, 121 
 
 Godoy, Carlota Luisa, duchess of 
 
 Alcudia, 127, 313, 321, 323 
 Godoy, Diego, 17, 80, 218, 278, 290 
 Godoy, Jose, 16, 79 
 Godoy, Luis, 17, 32, 80 
 Godoy, Ramona, 16 
 Goya, 28 
 
 Holland, Lord, 83, 322 
 
 Infantado, duke del, 233, 246, 
 
 295. 3" 
 Isabella II., 325 
 Izquierdo, 191 et seq., 204, 207, 
 
 262-70 
 
 Jovellanos, 108, 112 
 
 329
 
 330 
 
 Inde: 
 
 Junot, due d' Abrantes, 182, 206, 
 
 239, 248, 258 
 Junot, Mme, duchesse d' Abrantes, 
 
 179 
 
 Lancaster, Count, 27 
 Louis XVI., 40, 41, 69 
 
 Malaspina, 100 
 
 Mall6, 127 
 
 Maria, Antonia, princess of As- 
 
 turias, 176, 187, 188 
 Maria Isabel, Infanta, 143, 145 
 Maria Luisa, queen of Etruria, 
 
 116, 133. 252, 265, 292, 297, 
 
 312, 314 
 Maria Teresa, Princess of the 
 
 Peace, 107, 279, 313 
 Masserano, prince of, 194, 207, 
 
 238 
 Matallana, countess of, loi 
 Mesonero y Romanos, 323 
 Moratin, 89, 327 
 Murat, 251, 271, 292 et seq., 315 
 Musquitz, 102, 117, 122 
 
 Nelson, 182-5 
 
 Ocariz, 62 
 Ortiz, 28 
 
 Osuna, duke of, 109, 118 
 
 Parma, Luis, infante of, 118, 133 
 Perignon, General, 104 
 Pignatelli, 28 
 Pius VI., 99 
 
 Ricardos, General, 71 
 
 Saavedra, 108, iii, 113, 117, 119, 
 
 120 
 Saint-Cyr, Gouvion, 137, 139 
 San Ildefonso, treaty of, 96 
 Savary, 295 
 Stroganov, 198 
 
 Talleyrand, 138, 207 
 
 Tallien, Mme, 76 
 
 Trafalgar, battle of, 185 
 
 Truguet, no, 116 
 
 Tudo, Dona Josefa, 102, 251, 280, 
 
 313, 316, 317, 321, 323 
 Tudo, Magdalena, 103, 313 
 Tudo, Socorro, 103, 313 
 
 Urquijo, 119-31. 3io, 327 
 
 Vallabriga, Maria de, 107 
 Vargas Laguna, ^16 et seq. 
 
 Zinoviev, 38, 61 
 
 Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.
 
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