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

tions, if necessary, that had been given him; but
always in vain. Notwithstanding this, Seignor
Champagny talked of the last propositions of the'Ern-
peror, which were somewhat different from those
presented by General Savary, but not less irritating
eind violent ; and he concluded with telling Seignor
Labrador that the prosperity of Spain and his own
were at that moment within his power.
61 This Minister answered that he would communi-
cate to the King his master these new proposals. He
made those-reflections upon them which his talents, his
zee. 1;foi- the service of his Sovereign, and for the good
of his country,' naturally suggested • and he stated
that the welfare of his Sovereign, and that of the na-
tion, were inseparably united. Me added, that to
these two objects he had directed all his. attention in
various situations ; and, lastly, he said that he readily
admitted that his own prosperity depended on the issue,
because his fidelity to the King of Spain, and to his
native country, as well as the reputation he had ac-
quired by the faithful discharge of his duty, were con-
nected with it. Seignor Labrador, before-he termi-
nated the conversation, asked M. Champagny if the
King was in a state of liberty ? To which the.Freneh
Minister replied that there could- be no doubt of it.
On this, Labrador rejoined, Then he should be re-
stored to his kingdom.' To this the Frenchman re‘
plied, that, in respect to his return to Spain, it was
necessary that his Majesty should have a right nnder-
standing with his Imperial Majesty, either personally
or by letter.' _ _

This answer, added to the other circumstances,
left no doubt in the mind of the King, that he was
actually at Bayonne in a state of arrest ; however, to
give more ostensibility to this violence extended to-
wards his Majesty, I sent a note (No. 5.). by his
Royal order, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, tell-
ing him that the King was determined to return to
Madrid, to tranquillize the agitation of his beloved
subjects, and to provide for the transaction of the im-
portant business of his kingdom ; assuring M. Cham-
pagni at the same time, that I would continue to
treat with his Imperial Majesty, on affairs reciprocally
advantageous. No answer was given to this commu-
nication, nor had it any other effect, than to increase
the caution and vigilance before applied for the deten-
tion of his Majesty.
Senor Labrador was certainly not a fit person for
their purposes, for he was immediately got rid of under
the pretence of his not holding a rank corresponding
to that of Monsieur Champagny, and that his natural
dipsition was too inflexible.

" The tricks of diplomacy could not prevail over
the firmness of the King, or tl e zeal of his represen-
tatives, and the individuals of his Royal Household,,
who deliberated at a Council (his Majesty being pre-
sent), upon the interests of the King and the nation ;
so that the Emperor saw himself under the necessity
of changing his plan, in order to accomplish his Fur
pose, and he wished that the Royal Parents should
depart for Bayonne, in order to make them the ins:rA-
ments of the oppression and disgrace of their son.
For this purpose he ordered the Grand Duke of Berg
to employ all his arts to accelerate their journey to
Bayonne.
" The Royal Parents required, that the Favourite
should precede them in their journey, and the Grand
Duke made various applications to the Junta of Go-
vernment to obtain his liberty. The Junta had no
authority to liberate him, having in this point been
hid under positive restraint by his Majesty's orders
from Vittoria, as has been already mentioned ; but
the Council, misled by the suggestions of his Impe-
rial Majesty, and intimidated by the threat that the
Grand Duke would obtain by irresistible force what
would not be conceded as a favour, the Junta order-
ed the release of Don Manuel Godoi, who was im-
mediately conveyed to Bayonne, under an adequate
escort. The decree No. 6, in the hand writing of
the King, is an authentic proof of the determination
of his Majesty as to this particular.
" The Royal parents undertook their journey, and
proceeded in it with too much rapidity for the un-
happy state of health of Charles IV. ; but the inex-
orable will of the Emperor had determined that it
should be so.

" What his Imperial Majesty undertook • was a
most arduous task. It was necessary to his purposes
to deaden the sensibility of the King ; to destroy his
affection for his first born, which the most infamous
Court intrigue ever contrived had not yet wholly ex-
tinguished. Further, it was necessary, that these
loving parents, affectionate to some of their children,
should, with respect to him, substitute for their na-
tural tenderness the most frigid and cruel indifference.
To fulfil the purposes intended by Napoleon, in the
end, with. respect to the royal parents, they must be-
come the instruments of misery, correction, and im-
prisonment ; they were to become the jailors of their
children. His power, by triumphing over all the
feelings of nature, accomplished his purposes.
" I have proved that the abdication of the Royal
father at Aranjuez was a spontaneous act, and that
the motive to it was the partiality of his Majesty M.
wards his disgraced favourite. In Bayonne, he told
the King, his son, that he did not wish to return to
the throne of Spain ; notwithstanding that, he desir-
ed his Majesty should renounce the Crown, to make
a present of it to the Emperor ; that is, to present it
to a Sovereign, who, in part at least, has been the
origin of the difficulties of Spain, the only cause of
the loss of our squadrons, the mover of the disturban-
ces at Court, and in the nation, and of the intended
journey of the Royal Family to Seville, and from
thence to America, prevented by the explosion of the
17th of March.
" I leave to the wisdom of the Sovereigns of En-
rope to judge whether it be possible that a Monarch,
affectionate to his children, highly enlightened, pene-
trated deeply by the principles of religion, and pious
willout superstition, could without violence forget for
a int.rtimt all his duties to Inc family, and proscribe his
whole dynasty, to call another to the throne, for whom
he has no e-!eem, and, on the contrary, detests, as the
plunderer of those thrones which have come within
the reach of his ambition. If such be the change, it
is the most extraordinary revolution that history has
presented to the world.
" Ferdinand VII. over-awed, a prisoner, and con-
trouled by ciicumstances, on the Ist of May made a
conditional renunciation of his crown, in favour of
his august father. (No. 7.) To this followed the
letter of the Royal Father to his son, (No. 8.) and
the very discreet answer of the
.Royal Son to the Fa-
ther, (No. 9).