Star.
London, England, 1808-10-11 00:00:00

■

Tout Highness will have been already ronvltteed, by the inspee •
tints of the papers of your royal Father, of the regard that I have
always manifosted towards him. Your Highness will permit me
,1
under the present circumstances, to address you with frankness and
sincerity. I entertained an expectation, that on my arrival at Ma-1
deld, I should have persuaded my illustrious friend to make some
Decastsry reforms in his dominions, whichwould give considerable
sati.faction to the put* c feelings. The removal of the Prince of
Peace appearedto me to be indispensible to his happiness and the
interests of his people. The events of the north have retarded my
journey, and the occurrences at Aranjuez have supervened. I
do not constitute myself jug of the events which have taken
pbee, or of the conduct of the Prince of the Peace ; bat certain
it is that it is very dangerous for Kings to accustom their sub-
jects to shed blood, and to take the administration of justice into
rbeir own hands. I pray GOD that your Highness may not oneday
find it so. It would not be conformable to the interests of Spain.
to proceed severely against a Prince who is united to a Princess of
. the Royal Family, and has so long governed the kingdom. He no
looter has any friends. As little will your Royal Highness find any,
should you cease to be fortunate. The people eagerly avenge
themselves for the homage which they pay us. Besides, how could
the Prince of Peace he brought to trial, without implicating in the
process the King and Queen, your Royal Parents. Such a pro-
ceeding would foment animosities, and excite seditious passions,
the result of which might be fatal to your Crown. Your Royal
Highness has no other right to it, hut what you have derived from
your mother. If the cause injures her honour, your Royal High-
ness destroys your own claims. Let not your Highness rive
ear to weals and perfidious counsels. Your Highness has no right
to try the Prince of Peace. His crimes, if any are imputed to him,
disappear, and merge in the prerogatives of the crown. I have fre-
quently expressed my wishes, that the Prince of Peace should be
removed from the management of affairs. If I did not persevere
in my applications, it was on account of my friendship for King
Charles, and a wish (if possible) not to see the weakness of his
attachments. 0 wretchedness of human nature ! imbecility and
error ; such is out lot ! but an arrangement may take place ;—the
Prince of Peace may be banished front Spain, and I may offer hint
an asylinn in France.
" With respect to the abdication of Charles IV. that event
having taken place at the moment when my armies were in gpain,
it might appear in the eyes of Europe and posterity that i had sent
all those troops merely for the purpose of expelling my friend and
ally from his throne. As a neighbouring Sovereign, I ought to
inform myself of all the circumstances which have occurred, before
I acknowledge his abdication. I declare to your Royal Highness,
tothe Spaniards, aed to the whole world, that if the abdication of
King Charles be voluntary, and has not been forced upon him
by the insurrection and tumults of Ararjuez, I have no difficulty in
regarding and acknowledging your Royal Highness as King of
Spain. lam therefore anxious to have some conversation with
your Royal Highness on this subject. The circumspection which
I have observed for the last month upon this point, ought to con-
vince
your Highness of the support which you will find in me,
should it ever barren that factions of any kind should disturb you
on your throne. Whet King Charles informed me of the events
of the month of October last, the communication gave me the
greatest pain. 1 flatter mye, If that my representations contributed
to the happy issue of the affair of the Escurial. Your Royal High-
ness is rot altogether free feem blame : of this the letter which
you wrote to me, and which I have always wished to forget, is a
sufficient proof. When you are King, you will know how sacred
are the rights of the throne. Every application of an Hereditary
Prince to to a Foreign Sovereign is criminal.
" The marriage of a French Princess with your Royal High.
new, ir my opinion, accords with the interests of my people, and
I more especially regard it as a circumstance which would unite I
me by new tics to a house, whose conduct I have had every rea-
son to prai.e since the time that I ascended the throne. Your 1
Highness ought to dread the consequences of popular commo-
tions. It is possible that a 4sac,inations may be committed upon
some stragglers of my army ; but they would only lead to. the 4
ruin of Spain. I have learnt, with regret, that lone letters of the"
Captain General of Catalonia have been circulated at Madrid, and Id
that they have had the effect of exciting some irritation: Your
Royal Highness knows the inmost sentiments of my hart. You
will perceive that my attention is occupied by various points,
which require to be finally decided ; but you may be assured that
I shall, under all circumstances, conduct myself towards your per-
son in the same manner as I have done towards the King your '
father. i beg your Royal Highness to be persuaded of my anxiety
to bring every thing to a happy conclusion, and to find opportuni-
ties delving you every proof of my affection and esteem.

" My 6,tisin, IprayGon to take you into his high and holy
keeping. (Signed) " NAPOLEON.
* Bayonne, April 16."

.TV.

Instructions furnished to his Excellency Don Pedrd I.abrador.
" Most Excellent aeignor—YoUr Excellency is acquainted-with
the propositions made on the day of the King's arrival in this city,
and of what passed at the conferencein which I discussed them
with the Minister of Foreign Affairs." . .
" The preposit ioas. recently made by the latter, differing in some
respect,. but ro lessitiadmissible, are of the following tenor •
" 1. That the Emperor has irrevocably determined that the
Bourbon Dynasty shall no longer reign in Spain. .
" 2. That' he King shall cede his rights to the Crown both in •
his own name, and that of his sons, should he have any.
" 3. That should this point be agreed upon, the' Crown of
Etruria shall be conferred upon him and his descendants, Accord-
ing to the terms of the Sal;ps Law, •
" 4. That the Infant Hon Carlos shall make a aim ur renun-
ciation of his rights, and that he shall have a right to the succes-
sion of the Crown of Etruria, in default of issue of the King, - :
" S. That the kingdom of Sp§am. shall henceforth be possessed
by one of the brothers of the Emperor.
" 6. That the Emperor guarantees its complete integrity, and
A that of all its colonies,- withoursufering a single village belong-
ing to it to be :cps:wed from it... . .
" 7. That in like manner he guarantees the preservation of re-
ligion, property, &e. &c. ..- -
" 8. That should his Majesty refose those propositions, he shall
remain without compensation, and his Imperial Majesty will carry
them into execution by consent or force.
" 9. That if his Majesty agree and demand the piece of the
Emperor in marriage, this connection shall be immediately se-
cured on the execution of the treaty.
" These propositions were discussed in the Junta where the
King presided. I there stated my opinion, which was adopted by
your Exeellency and the other Members, and approved by his
Al..jesty, who is desirous that instructions should be prepared for
your 111. ...Henry accordiegly. •
" Your Excellency knows that promises the most flattering, and
assurances the most positive, were made and given to the King by
the Grand Duke of Bcrg, by the Ambassador of France, and by
G-t. ral Savory, '.,y direction of the Emperor, who said that no
obstructi.4l would arise to his acknemiedgment as Sove• eign of
Spain ; that nothing was desired hostile to the preservation of the
integrity of the kingdom ; and_you are apprized that these Vert..
sentations drew him from Xladrid to pay his cnnmliments to his
intimate tile, who he supposed would return with him to the
• capital, from the statement! of those three, and where splendid
arennurcele:e:ls were provided fur the Emperor. The journey
of his imperial sfajesty was deferred ; but the King, seduced by
new promises, made by GeneraiSavary, in the name of his Im-
perial Majesty, continued Lis progress to this city.
" Your Excels-Az.: should ask Mr. Champagny if the Ring be
at full liberty, and if he be so, he may return to his dominions, and
give audience to the Plenipotentiary, to whom the Emperor may
confide his powers. If not l'ree, your Excellency knovii.that
every act is absolutely nugatory ; and consequently whateyeetney
be agreed will have no other effect than to stain the reputation Of
the Emperor before the whole world, the eyes of which ire fiied
upon his conduct, and who knows what Spain has alividy done
in favour of France.
" I have shown to your Excellency the treaty of the elth Octo-
ber last,' by which the Emperor has guaranteed the integrity of
Spain in the person of the King, with the title of Emperor of the
two Americas. Nothing has intervened to destroy this treaty ;
on the contrary, Spain has added new claims to the gratitude of
France.
" The King has resolved not to ryieid to the importnnityidthe
Emperor • neither his own honour, nor his duty to his vassals,
_ permit din to do so. These he cannot compel to accept the Dy-
-1
, n:s;) of Napoleon ; much less can he deprive them of the right
,
the y- have to elect another Family to the 'Throne when the reign-
ing Family shall be extinct. • • - -
" It is not less repugnant to the feelings of the king to receive
as a compensation the Crown of Etruria ; for, besides that thee
mi.ntry is under the authority of its legitimate Sovereign, wholli
he would not prejudice, his Majesty is contented with the crown
that Peovicomecc had given him, has no wish to separate hiMacif

• •
front his subjects, .svtling Wei ittiti paternal affection, and
from whom he has reeeiVedltte most unequivocal prpofs of re-
speetful attachment. • --

" lf, on account of this refusal, the Emperor think fit to re-
sort to force, his Majesty hopes that Mutts E JUST 'Cr, fhe Dis-
penser of Thrones, win protect his just cause, and that of his
kingdoni.

As your Excellency is deeplypenetrsted with these prin-
ciples, and has already displayed them with that energy with
which Justice arms the man of probity, and the zealous friend to
his King and Country, it is needless for me to detail peoli; in-
structions fnr your guide, you beirg a Minister, in whose patri-
otism and affection to the Royal interests his Majesty reposes
full confidence.

" Goo preserve your Excellency many years.
" PEDRO CEVALLOS,
(For Den Pedro Coniez Labraler.)
" Bayonne, April 27, 1808.

No. V.
OFFICIAL DISP.ATCII

From Don Pedro Cevallos to the Minister of State of the Empe-
ror, of April 2R,1808.
" Most Excellent Sir !—Afthough the agitation of mind, to
which the whole Spanish nation would have been subject, has
hitherto been restrained by what has been printed and published
by the Grand Duke of Berg, and by all the French General* in
that country, indicating the sentiments of peace and good under-
standing which the Emperor of the French and King of Italy was
desirous of maintaining with the King my Master; and also on
account of the assurances which the Ambassador of his Imperial
Majesty in Madrid, the Grand Duke of Berg, and General Sa-
-1
vary had given to his Majesty of the approaching anival of the
Emperor in the said city ; on which account, the King determi-
ned to proceed to Burgos to meet him, to shew this public mark
of his affection, and of the high esteem he had for his person—it
has now become impossible longer to answer. lor the tranquillity
of such a numerous people, especially as they are apprized that
the King has been six days in Bayonne, andehey have no assur-
I once of his return to Spain.
" In such a state of affairs, his Majesty must he anxious for
the
_repose of his beloved subjects, and for this purpose to return
' to their bosoms to tranquillize their agitation, and to attend to the
heavy demands of public bus Mess, as bis absence would expose
his people to incalculable mischiefs which would fill his heart
with the most poignant grief. speeuy return his Majesty
promised in the most solemn manner to his people, grounding his
engagement on the assurances of the Emperor, that he should
shortly be restored to his country, and acknowledged to be her
Sovereign by his Imperial M ajest y.
" His Majesty has, therefore, ordered me to communicate to
you these observations, for the purpose of your submitting them
to the consideration of his Imperial Majesty, whose approbation
they will doubtless meet ; and his Majesty, my master, is ready
to treat in his dominions with his Imperial Majesty, on all conve-
nient subjects, with such person as the Emperor should be pleas-
ed to authorize fur that purpose el.

No. VI. .
ROYAL DECREE

Addressed to the Supreme Council of Castile by Ferdinand VII.
" Soon after the Prince of Peace was arrested, frequent and
earnest intreaties were made by the Grand Duke of Berg, by the
Ambassador of France, and by General Savary, in the name of
the Emperor, my intimate ally, that he should be delivered up
to the French troops, that he might be conveyed to France, where
his Imperial Majesty would order him to be tried for the offen-
ces he had committed. Thee solicitations were generally ac-
companied with threats, in case of refusal, to carry him otf by
force. In Vittoria they were repeated with equal importunity,
and I, wishing to form the mot.t prudent determination., consult-
stl with the Duke of Infantado and the Infant Carlos, with Don
Escoiquia, aid with Don Pedro Cevallos, my Principal
Secretary of State.

" This Minister on that occasion said, ' Sire, if I were to yield
to my atm personal feelings, I should, immediately recommend
the surrender of the Prince of Peace. But such a sentiment
ought to be stifled, and In truth I do stifle it when I contemplate
the duty you owe to your own sacred person, and the obliga-
tion you are under to administer justice to your subjects injured
by Don Manuel Codoy. This obligation is essential to the So-
vereignty, and your Majesty cannot disregard it without tread-
ing under foot whatever is most respectable among men. Un-
der this view, I think you ought to answer the Emperor Wor-
ming him, at the same time, that your Majesty has offered to
your august parents to save him from the penalty of death,
should he be capitally convicted by the Council. By your com-
pliance with this proposal, your Majesty will give to the world
a proof of your magnanimity, to your beloved parents a proof
of your affection, axed the Emperor will be gratified in obsersing
with what wisdom you discharge the demands of justice, and
conciliate the expectations of his Imperial and Royal Majesty:
" All approved of this salutary advice, and I did not hesitate
moment in adopting it, and proceeded to act upou it.
" I communicated it to the Council with the fit circumspec-
tion, to serve for their information and direction, and also that
they may take the moat active measures to protect the houses and
fanfilies of the four denounced persons. . (Signed)
" Bayonne, April 26, 1808. "? 1,1 HE KING.
" •i the President of the Coinicil.":""

No. VII,
Letter of the King to his Father, Charles IV.

" ,My honoured Father and Lord—Your Majesty has athnitted
that I had net the smallest participation in the proceedings at 1
Arinjnez, intended, as is notorious, and as your Majesty knows,
not td disgust you with your throne and Government, but to
maintain both, and not to abandon the vast multitude whose
maintenance depends upon the throne itself. Your Majesty also
told me that your abdication had been spontaneous., and that if
any one should attempt to persuade me it was otherwise, I should
not believe them, for it was the most pleasing act 'of your life.
Your Majesty now tells me, that though your abdication was most
certainly an act of your own free will, you nevertheless reserved
in your mind a right to resume the reins of Government when
you should think proper. 1 have therefore enquired of your Ma-
jesty, if you were disposed to resume your sceptre, and your Ma-
jesty has replied that you neither would return to the throne or
to Spain. Notwithstanding this, your Majesty desires me to re-
flounce in your favour a crown; conferred upon me by the fun-
damental laws of the kingdom, on your free 'resignation of it.—
son who has always been distinguished for his love, respect,
and obedience to his parents, nothing that can require the exercise
of these qualities can he repugnant to his filial piety, especially
when the discharge of my duty to your Majesty, as a son, is not in
contradiction to the relation I bear, as a King, to my beloved sub-
jects. In ords r that both these, who demand my highest regard,
may not be offended, and that your Majesty may to pleased with
my obedience, in the present circumstances, I am willing to resign
my Crown in favour of your Majesty, under the following ULM-
' tations :

" 1. That your Majesty will return to Madrid, whither I shall
accompany you and serve you as the most dutiful son.
" 2. That there a Cortes should be assembled ; or, if your
Majesty should object to so numerous a body, that all the Tribu-
nals and Deputies of the kingdom should be convoked.
`.4 3. That in the presence of this Council my renunciation
should be executed in due form, and the motives stated which
induced me to make it. These are, the love 1 bear to my sub-
jects; and my wish to make a return ler their affection towards
me, by securing their tranepeillity, and relieving them from the
horrors of a civil war, by means of a renunciation, having for its
object your Majesty's resumption of the sceptre, and your return
to govern subjects worthy of your love and affection.
" 4. 'That your Majesty should not be accompanied by inch-
' -viduals who have jently excited the liatred of the whole nation.
" .. That should your Majesty, as I am informed, be neither
disposed to reign in person, nor to return to Spain, in such case,
that I should govern in your royal name as your Lieutenant.—
There is no one who can have a claim to be preferred before me.
I am summoned thereto by the laws, the wishes of my people,
and the love of my subjects; and no one can take more zealous
and bounden interest in their prosperity. My renunciation, con-
I fined within these limits,will appear in the eyes of the Spaniards
a new proof of my preferring their preservation to the glory of
(•)
,'phis dispatch was not answered, and produced an effect
precisely the contrary of what might have been expected in a re-
gular course of things. 'The spies within, and theguards with-
out the Palace were doubled. The King, for two nights, endue
ed the insult of an Alguazil, who, stationed at the door, ordered
his Majesty and the Infant Don patios to retiree° their apart-
ment,. The first time the insult was offered, the King complain-
ed in severe terms, on which the Governor employedpolite lan
page, and manifested much aisdpprobation of such conduct ; but
this did net prevent the repetition, and probably this offensive
circumstance would have been repeated, had not the King ab-
stained from going our at night.

governing them, and Europe will deem me worthy of governing
a people to whose tranqt.illity I have shown myself ready to
sacrifice whatever is most flattering and alluring in human esti-
mation.

" That Coo may preserve the important life of your Majesty
for many happy years, is the prayer of your loving and dutiful son,
who prostratta himself at your royal fet.t.
(Signed) " itaitoimallo.
" Bayonne, May 1, 1808." . .

No. VITT.
Letter from ClurleslV. to his son Ferdinand.

" 114 y Son—The perfidious counsel, of the men who .nrround
your person, have placed Spain in a critical situation. The Em
peror alone can save her. _

" Ever since the peace of Bale, I have been firmly persuaded
that tilt essential interests of my people were inseparady connect-
ed with the preservation of a good understa,,ding with France.—
No sacrifice has been omitted by me in order to obtain this im.
portant object. Even when France was under the direction of
ephemeral Governments, I suppressed my private feelings, and
listened only to the dictates of policy, and the welfare of my
subjects.

4 When the Emperor re-established order in France, great
difficulties were removed, and I saw new motives to continue at.
tentive to the former system of alliance. When England decla-
red war against France, I happily endeavoured to continue neuter,
and to preserve to my people the happiness of peace. England
afterwards possessed herself of four of my frigates, and made war
upon me, even before it had been declared ; and then I was under
the necessity of opposing force to force, and the calamities of war
to my subjects, were the consequence.
" Spain environed by coasts, and indebted for a great portion
of her prosperity to her ultra-marine possessions, suffered by the
war more than any other State. The interruption to her com-
merce, and all the destruction incident to such a situation, affect-
ed my subjects, and some of them had the injustice to attribute
these events to my Ministers.

" At last. I had the happiness to see my kingdom tranquil
within. and free from inquietnde, so far as respected the inte-
grity of my dominions. I being the only one among the Kings of
Europe who sustained himself amid the storms of these later
tiers. Spain yet enjoyed this tranquillity, not then obstructed
by tliose Councils which have misled you from the right path.—
You have too easily permitted yourself to be inisled, by the aver-
sion of your first wife, towards France ; and you have thought-
lessly participated in the injurious resentments indulged against
my Ministers, against your mother, and against myself.
" It Was now necessary to recollect my own rights as a Father
and a King. With this view I caused you to be arrested, and I
?<Kind among your papers the proof of your crime. But at the
commencemept of this career, I melted at seeing my son on the
scaffold of des•ruction, and I admitted my sensibility to be ex-
cited by'the tears of your mother. I forgave you, notwithstand-
ing my subjects were agitated by the deceitful expedients of a fac-
tion, of which you have yourself been declared the leader. From
that instant I resigned all the tranquillity of my life, and was
complled to add to the distresses I felt for the calamities of my
subjects, the afflictions occasioned by the dissentious of my own
family.

4, My Ministers were calumniated to the Emperor of the
French, who believing that the Spaniards were disposed to re•
nounce his alliance, and seeing the discord that prevailed even in
the bosom of my own family, under various pretences, inundated
my provinces with his troops. While these occupied the right hank
of the Ebro, and appeared to have for their object the maintaining
the communication with Portugal, I entertained the hope that he
would not abandon the sentiments of esteem and friendship which
he had always manifested towards me. But when I perceived that
his troops had advanced towards my capital, I fet the urgency
there was for collecting my army round my person, to pres•rnt
myself before my august ally in a manner worthy of the King of
Sp:.in. I should have removed all his doubts, and have secured
my best interests. I gave orders to my troops to leave Portugal
and Madrid, and I united them in various parts of my monarchy,
not to abandon my subjects, but honorably to support the glory of
my throne. Besides, my extensive experience convinced me that
the Emperor of the French might very well entertain wishes con-
formable to his particular interest, and to the policy of the vast
system of the Continent, but which might be inconsistent with
the interests of my house. What was in such circumstances your
conduct ? You introduced disorder into my Palace, and infused
a spirit of mutiny into my Body Guard, against my person. Your
father was your prisoner—my Prime Minister, whom I had ap-
pointed and adopted into my family, covered with blood, was
driven from one danger to another. You dish,moured my grey
hairs—you despoiled me of the Crown, possessed with glory by
my ancestors, which they bad preserved without a stain. You
seated yourself upon my throne, and placed yourself at the dis-
posal of the people of Madrid, and of foreign troops, who were
then entering the capital.
" The conspiracy of the Escurial had already accomplished its
purposes. The acts of my administration were brought into pub-
lic contempt. Old, and oppressed by infirmity, I was not able
to surmount this new misfortune. I resorted to the Emperor of
the French, not as a King at the head of my troops, surrounded
by the pomp of royalty ; but as an unhappy and abandoned Prince,
I have found refuge and protection in the midst of his camp. I
owe to him my own life, that of the Queen, and that of the Prime
Minister. I have arrived at last at Bayonne, and you have so
conducted this negociation, that every thing depends upon the
mediation and protection of this great Prince.
" The idea of resorting to popular agitation would tend to the
t ruin of Spain, and expose yourself, my kingdom, my subjects, and
I my family, to the most horrible catastrophes. My heart has been
fully unfolded to the Emperor ; he knows all the injuries I have
received, and the violence that has been done to me ; he has de-
I clared to me, that you shall never be acknowledged as King, and
that the enemy of his father can never acquire the confidence of
Foreign States. He has, in addition to this, shewn me letters
written with your own hand, which clearly shew your aversion
to France.

"'Things being thus situated, my -rights are clear, and my du-
ties are much more so. It is incumbent upon me to prevent the
shedding of the blood of my subjects, to do nothing at the con-
clusion of my career,, which shall carry fire and sword into every
part of and reduce it to the most horrible misery. Cer-
tainly, if faithful to your primary obligations,•and to the feelings
of nature, you had rejected those perfidious Councils, and placed
yourself constantly at my side, for the defence of your father, you
had waited the regular course of nature, which would have ele-
vated you in a few years to the rank of Royalty, I should have
been able to conciliate the policy and interests of Spain, with that
of all. For six months, no doubt, matters have been in a critical
situation ; but notwithstanding such difficulties, I should have ob-
tained the support of my subjects. I should have availed myself
of the weak means wide+ yet remained to me, of the moral aid
which I should have acquired, meeting always my ally with suit-
able dignity, to whom I never gave cause of complaint ; and an
arrangement would have been made which would have accom-
modated the interests of my subjects to those ef my family. But
in tearing front my head the Crown, you have not preserved it
for -yourself; you have takenfrom it all that is august and sacred
in the eyes of mankind.

" Your behaviour with respect to me—your intercepted let-
ters, have put a brazen barrier between yourself and the throne
of Spain ; and it is neither your own interest nor that of the court,
try that you should reign in it. Avoid lighting a fire which will
unavoidably cause your complete ruin, and the degradation of
Spain.

" •I am King by the right given me by my forefathers: my ab-
dication was the resuk of force and violence ; I have nothing to
receive from you; nor can I consent to the convocation of the
Cortes—an additional absurdity, suggested by the inexperienced
persons who attend you.
. _ _

" I have reigned for the happiness of my subjects, and I do not
wish to bequeath them civil war, mutiny,' popular Juntas, and
revolution. Every thing should be done for the people, and no-
thing by the people : to forget this maxim, were to become the
accomplice of all the crimes that must follow its neglect. I Imve
sacrificed the whole of my life to my people; and in the advanced
age to which I have arrived, I shall do nothing in opposition to
theif religion, their tranquillity, and their happiness. I have
reigned for them ; I will constantly occupy myself for their sakes;
I will forget all my sacrifises ; and when.at last I shall be convin-
ced that the religion of Spain, the integrity of her proviuce., her
independence, and her privileges arc preserved, I shall descend to
the tomb, forgiving all those who have embittered the last years
of my llfe.

Dated from the imperial Palace of Bayonne, called the
Government Palate, May 2, 1808."

No. IX.

Letter written by King FerelinLtiVll. to his August Father, in
answer to the preceding.
My honoured Father and Lord—l received the letter that
your bftesty condescended to write to me, dated yesterday, and

1 will endeavour to ai wmtdltheparticulatatitiththatmoderation
and respect which is due to your Mqesty. •
" Your Majesty speaks, in the first place, with respect tn the
alteration in your political conduct towards France, af.:.r the-Ise:cc
of Basic ; and, in truth, I believe there is 710 individual in* pain
who has complained of it—rather all were unanhnot.s In praising
your blaisty for your confidence in, and fidelity to the pricrtlts
you had adopted. Mine, in particular, were entirely stniilar to our
own ; and I have given irrefrAgable proofs of it from tie moni.nt
when your Majesty abdicated the throne in my favour.
" Had the affair of the Escurial. which your ;vlaje.ty statrts
originated in the hatred with which my wife inspired me sgstiost
France, your Ministers, my beloved mother, and your itoyai
been examined with all the legal forma, it would have evid,titty
proved the contrary. Notwithatandi-g I had not the I:fa• it flu.
once, and no liberty beyond the thew of it, guarded, as I was, by
dlmestics whom you put round me, yet the el 'vrn counsellor's
Icho en by your Majesty were unanimously of opinion, that there
was no ground for the accusation, and that the supposed criminals
were innocent.

" Your Majesty talks of the distrust created by ;he ent-ance
of so many foreign troops into Spain; and that k your i% akar
recalled from Portugal Tout troops, and united those th.tt wereln
Madrid, at Araojuez. and Its neighbourhood, it was not to aban.
don your subjects, but to support the glory of the throne. WIU
your Majesty permit me to remind you, that no alarm need haft
been given by troops entering as friends and allies, but on the con
trary, that It ought to inspire additional confidence. Your Ma-
jesty will likewise permit me to observe, that, the orders given by
your Majesty were for a journey with the Royal Family to Se-
ville, and the troops were to keep open that road There wan
no parson who was not persuaded that this w is for the transport
of your Majesty and the Royal Family to America. Your Ma-
jesty also published a decree to quiet the minds of your subjects
in this particular; but as all preparations were made, and it wee
manifestly seen, that the coast of Andalusia was to see the Royal
Family assembled, despair took persession of the public mind,
and the movement of Marquez was the consequencl, The part I
rook in it your Majesty knows, which was no other than by yopr
command, to go to protect from the fury of the people the object
of their hatred, because he was believed to be the proposer of the.
j
" Let your Majesty ash the Emperor of the French, and his
Imperial Majesty will no doubt tell you what he said to me in a
letter that it:, wrote to Mt at X 1:t011.1, viz. that the motive of his
Imperial .and Royal Majes:y was, to induce your Majesty to make
some reforms, and to separate trout your person the Prince of
Peace, whose influent e was dh:. cause of ev,.ry calamity.
" The sod vers.si satisfaction that his arrest produced throughout
the whole nation,is an evident proof of the truth of what the Em-
peror declared. As to the rest, your Majesty is the best witness
that in the midst of the coin:notion at Aranjuez, not a word was
whispered whist your Majesty, nor against the person of any one.
'f the Royal Family ; on the contrary, they applauded your Ma-
j.tsty with the greate demonstrations of joy, and professions of,
flileliry to your august person. On this account, the abdication of
the throne which you made in my favour, surprised every body,
' and myself among the rest; for nobody expected it, or would
have solicited it. Your Majesty yourself communicated your ab-
dication to all your Ministers, enjoicing them to acknowledge
me as their natural Lord and Sovereign. You comm nnicated it
verbally to the Diplomatic Body, professing that your determina-
tion proceeded front your spontaneous will, and rhst you had be-
fore determined upon it. You yourself told it to your bt:loved bro-
ther, adding, at the same time, that the signature which your Ma-
jesty had put to the decree of abdication, was the happiest trans-
action of your life ; and finally, your Majesty told site personally
three days afterwards, that I should pay no attention to any as-
sertion of the abdication being involuntary, inasmuch as it was in
every respect free and spontaneous.
. _

. .
" My supposed hatred ts France in no respect appeared by my
conduct : the contrary will appear by my actions, of which I will
give a rapid narrative-.
" Your Majesty had scarcely abdicated the Crown in my fa.
Your before I addressed various letters front Aranjucz to the Em-
peror of the French, which are so many proofs that nw principles
with respect to the relations of friendship and strict alliance hap-
pily subsisting between the two States, were the same that your
Majesty had inspired tive with, and had yourself inviolably ols.
served. My journey to Madrid was one of the fttrongeat proofa
that I could give to his Imperial and Royal Majesty of the unli-
mited confidence I placed in him, since Prince Murat had entersil
Madrid the day before with a great part of his army, and the city
being garrisoned it was the sante as if I had delivered myself into
his hands. During two days of My residence in the capital, I was
informed of the particular correspondence of your Niaje,ty with
the Emperor of the trench, and I found that your Maj..sty had
recently solicited a Princess of his family to connect me with it,
and to insure more effectually in this way the near union and alli•
ante which was to subsist between the two States. Acconsmo-
dating myself entirely to these principles, and to the wish of your
Majesty, I wrote a letter to your Majesty, requesting the Princess
in marriage.

" I sent a deputation to Bayonne to compliment, in my name,
his Imperial and Royal Majesty. A short time afterwards, I in-
duced my beloved brother, the Infant Don Carlos, to set off, that
he might pay his respects to the Emperor on the frontiers. Not
content with this, I myself left Madrid, on the faith of the assu-
rances given me by the Ambassador of his Imperial Majesty, the
Grand Duke'of Berg, and General Savary, who had just arrived
from Paris, and who entreated an audience to tell me on the part
of the Emperor, that his Imperial Majesty only expected of me
to follow the system with regard to France which your Majesty
adopted; in which case, the Emperor would acknowledge me at
King of Spain and all the rest would be forgotten.
" Full of reliance on these promises, and persuaded I should
be met by his Imperial Majesty, I arrived at this city ; and oa
the same day that I arrived, verbal propositions were made to
some of my attendants, quite different from those which had
been before suggested, which neither my honour, my corscience,
nor my duty would permit me to concur in, since the Cortes had
sworn me to he their Prince and Lord ; nor were they consistent
with what I had lately sworn, when I accepted the crown that
your Majesty abdicated in my favour.
" I cannot comprehend how any letters of mine could have
come into the possession of the Emperor which prove my hatred
against France, since I have given so many proofs of my friend-
ship towards him, and have written nothing to indicate such a
disposition. .
" A copy of tke Protest had been lately shown me, which your
Majesty made to the Emperor, in the nullity of the abdication;
and yet wken I arrived in this city, and asked you respecting it, Ton
told me distioctly, that the abdication was voluntary, although not
intended to be permanent. I asked you at the same time, why you
did not apprize me of this before it was executed, and your Majesty
answered, that you did not choose it ; from which may be inferre4
that there was no violence used, at least not by me : it could not
be known that your Majesty intended to resume the reins of
Government on the contrary, you told me, that you neither
would reign, nor return into Spain.
" In the letter that I had the honour to put into the hands of
your Majesty on this account, I signified my disposition to re-.
nounce the Crown in your favour, when the Cortes should be
convened—and if not convened, when the Council and Deputlps
of the kingdom should be assembled; not because I thought thin
was necessary to give effect to the renunciation, but because
thought it convenient to avoid injurious novelties, which fro.
quently occasion divisions and contentions and to have every ,
thing attended to which respected your Majesty's dignity, sup •
own honour, and the tranquillity of the realm.
" if your Majesty should not chest to reign in person, I will
govern in your royal name, or in my ovris ; for nobody but nlyself
can represent your person, possessing as I do, in my own favour,
the decision of the laws, and the will of the people; nor can any
other person have so much interest In their prosperity;
"'l'o your Majesty I repeat again, that in such circumstances .
and under such conditions, I am ready to accompany your Ma-
jesty to Spain, there to make my abdication in the form expressed.
lo respect to what your Majesty has ald of not wishing to return
to Spain, with tears in my eyes I implore you, by all that is most
sacred in Heaven and Earth, that In case you do not chuse to re-
ascend the Throne, you will not leave a country so long known to
you, in which you may chnre a dtuation best suited to your in-
jured health, and where !au may enjoy greater comforts and
uanquillity of mind than-in any other.
" Finally, I beg your Majesty most 'affectionately, that yqu gra
seriously consider your situation, and that you will reflect on this
evil of excluding-our dynasty tor ever from the Throne of Spain.
and substituting in its room the Imperial Family of France. Fbis
step we cannot take without the express consent of all tbeindivi.
duals who have, or may have aright to the Crown:. Muth lee
without an equally expresied consent of thb Spanish people, as•
ebnibled in Cortes in a pLate of security ; and besides, being baW'
in a foreign country, it would be impossible that we could pee•
suade any one that we actedllreelt• ; arcl t'
riera'sor lama
would annul whatever we might w
tbr =mg
fatal consequences. - Milk' duu
co.
" Before I ceuratt.o this letter -
1011... VP'

,A 1