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

EXPOSITION

OF THE PRACTICES Mb MACHINATIONS WHOSE LED TO
THE USURPATION OF THE CROWN OF SPAIN, AND THE
MEANS ADOPTED BY THE EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH
TO CARRY IT INTO EXECUTION, BY DON PEDRO CE-
VALLOS, FIRST SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF DIS-
PATCHES TO HIS CATHOLIC MAJESTY FERDINAND VII.

" At a period when the nation has mole and con-
tinues to .make the most heroic efforts to shake off
the yoke of slavery attempted to be imposed upon
it, it is the duty of all good citizens to contribute, by
every means in their power, to enlighten it with re-
spect to the real causes that have brought it-into its
present situation, and to keep up the noble spirit by
which it is animated.
To make known to Spain and the whole world
the base means resorted to by the Emperor of the
French to seize the person Of our King, Ferdinand
VII. and to subjugate this great and generous nation,
is a duty well worthy of one who, like myself, is in
a condition to discharge it ; inasmuch as circum--
stances placed me in a situation to be an eye witness
of the events which preceded the catastrophe of Bay-
onne, and in which I bore a part. It was not in my
power to do this before, in consequence of personal
restraint, and from not having collected the docu-
ments necessary to accredit my statement. Some
are still wanting, which it was necessary to burn, in
consequence of dangerous circumstances, in which
every thing was to be feared ; others have disappear-
ed through the various incidents connected with that
unhappy period ; but those which I now present are
sufficient to prove the atrocious violence committed
against our beloved King Ferdinand VII. and the
Whole nation. _ _

" Though the conduct of Spain towards France
since the peace of Basle, a very interesting portion of
its political history in these latter times, is intimately'
Connected with the important events which form the
subject of this Exposition, it is not necessary to dwell
even upon its principal periods. It will be sufficient
to state what the whole nation, and all Europe,
knows, that the political system of Spain has con-
stantly been during this time to preserve friendship
aid the best understanding with France, and to
maintain, at all hazards, the ruinous alliance con.
eluded in 1796. .

" To attain this end, there is no sacrifice which
Spain has not made ; and as the pi eservation of thsi
Prince of the Peace in the high degree of favour he
enjoyed with Charles IV. depended in a great mea-
sure upon the continuance of this system, it was main-
tained with the gi (latest constancy and indefatigable
attention.

Fleets, armies, treasure, every thing was sacri.
ficed to France ; humiliations, submissions, every
thing was suffered, every thing was done to satisfy,
as far as possible, the insatiable demands of the French
Government, but the idea never once occurred of pre-
serving the nation against the machinations of an
Ally, who was over,running Europe.
<, The Treaty,of Tilsit, in which the destiny of
the world seemed to be decided in his favour, was

hardly concluded, when he turned his eyes towards
the West, and resolved on the ruin of Portugal and
Spain ; or what comes to the same purpose, to make
himself master of this vast Peninsula, with a view
of making its inhabitants as happy as those of Italy,
Holland, Switzerland, and the League of the Rhine.
" At this very time, the Emperor was revolving
in his mind some designs fatal to Spain (for he began
to disarm her), by demanding a respectable body of
our troops to exert their valour in remote regions, and
for foreign interests. This he effected without diffi-
culty, and there was placed at his disposal a gallant
and picked force of 16,000 men of all descriptions.
" The enterprise of making himself master of
Spain was not so easy as Napoleon imagined. It was,
above all, necessary to find out some pretext for car-
rying into execution the daring and gigantic plan of
subjugating a friendly and allied nation, that had
made so many sacrifices for France, and which this
very Emperor had praised for its fidelity and noble-
ness of character.

" Nevertheless, being accustomed to act with that
disregard to delicacy in the choice of his means, which
is characteristic of the man who imagines that the
conquest of the whole world, the destruction of the
human species, and the havoc of war are conducive to
true glory, he resolved to excite and foment discord
in the Royal Family of Spain, through his Ambassa-
dor at this Court.
44 The latter, though perhaps not initiated in the
grand secret of his Master, succeeded in seducing the
Prince of Asturias, our present King and Master,
and suggested to him the idea of intermarrying with
a Princess related to the Emperor. The affliction
which his Highness laboured under from a conjunc-
tion of circumstances, as lamentable as notorious, and
his anxiety.to avoid another connection into which it
was attempted to force him, with a lady selected for
him by his greatest enemy, and on thattccount alone
the object of his aversion, induced him to acquiesce
in the suggestions of the Ambassador, but with the
stipulation that it was to meet the approbation of his
august Parents, and under the impression that it would
strengthen the friendship and alliance then subsisting
between the two Crowns. Ilis Highness, actuated
by motives so cogent in a political point of view, and,
yielding to the solicitations of the Ambassador, wrote
accordingly to his Imperial Majesty.
%, A few days after our beloved Prince wrote this
letter, occurred the scandalous imprisonment of his
august person in the Royal Monastery of St. Lau-
rence, and the still more scandalous decree which was
issued in the name of the King, and addressed to the
Council of Castile. There are very strong reasons
to believe, that the unknown hand that frustrated
this feigned conspiracy was some French agent em-
ployed to fora and the plan which Napoleon had
formed.
" Fortunately the Spanish nation was deeply im-
pressed with its situation, entertained a just opinion
of the good disposition and religious principles of
their Prince of the Asturias, and suspected imtanta- 1
neously that the whole was a calumny fabricated by
the Favourite, as absurd as it was audacious, in order
to remove the only obstacle which then opposed his
, views.

4, It is already known, that on the imprisonment,
of the Prince of Asturias, his Reyal Father wrote to
the Emperor, no doubt, at the suggestion of the Fa-
vourite, complaining of the conduct of the Ambas-
sador Beauharnois, in h's clamiostine communications

sur-
witls the Prince of Asturias, and etpressing.his
prise that the Emperor had not come to a previous
understanding with his Majesty on a subject of such
pre-eminent importance to Sovereigns.
" As the imprisonment of the Prince of Asturias,
and, above all, the most scandalous decree fulminated
against his Royal Person, produced an effect com-
pletely contrary to the expectations of the Favourite,
he began to be afraid, thought proper to recede, and
to mediate a reconciliation between the Royal Parents
and their Son. With this view, as is stated in the
Abstract of the Escurial Cause, circulated by the
Council in consequence of his Majesty's orders of the
Bth April, he forged certain letters, and made the
Prince of Asturias sign them while a prisoner, which
being delivered into the.hands of the Royal Parents,
were supposed to have softened their hearts ; and by
these singular means did this innocent Prince obtain
a nominal liberty.
" This was the state of affairs when a French cou-
rier arrived at the Royal Palace of St. Laurence, with
a treaty concluded and sighed at Fontainblcau on the
27th of (*ober, by Don Eugenio Izquierdo, as Ple-
nipotentiary of his Catholic Majesty, and Marshal
Duroc, in the namik of the Emperor of the French.
Its contents, as well as those of the separate Conven-
tion, constitute Nos. 1. 2. of the documents annexed
to this Exposition.
“ it is worthy of observation, that the department
of the Ministry, of which I was at the head, was to-
tally unacquainted with the measures taken by Don
E. Itquierdo, at Paris, as well as with his appoint-
ment, his instructions, his correspondence, and every
part of his proceedings.
" The result of this treaty was to render the Em-
peror master of Portugal with very little expence ; to
furnish him with a plausible pretext for introducing
his armies into our Peninsula, with the intent of sub-
jugating it at a proper opportunity, and to put him in
immediate possession of Tuscany.
" The Favourite was to have for his portion the
Algarves and Alantejo, in full property and sove-
reignty, but the Emperor's answer to the letters of the
Royal Father had not yet arrived; it was completely
uncertain what it would be, and this filled him with
fear and anxiety.
" The intimate relations which the Favourite main-
tained at that period with the Grand Duke of Berg,
through the medium of his confident Izquierdo, flat-
tered him to a certain degree with the hope that every
thing would be settled to his wishes, though the inter-
position of a few millions might be necessary. But
neither the Favourite nor his confident knew the real
intentions of the person they were treating with at
Paris. In fact, the instant the Emperor found that
the Favourite had committed himself, and the Royal
Parents were brought into discredit, he shewed no dis-
position to answer his Majesty's letters, for the pur-
pose of keeping them in suspence, and inspiring them
with dreacirin the hope that they might form the re-
solution of withdrawing, though at that time he had
not completed his plan for taking at. advantage of
such an occurrence.

64 The Grand Duke wrote to the Favourite, that
he would employ every means to support him, but
that the negocsation was rendered very delicate, owing
to the extraordinary attachment which prevailed in
Spain towards the Prince of Asturias, and the consi-
deration due towards a Princess who was cousin to
the Empress, and in consequence of the part the Am-
bassador Beauharnois, her relative, took in the busi-
ness. (1).
64 Now it was that the Favourite began clearly to
discover how much his credit had sunk, and he gave
himself up for lost, in consequence of being deprived
of the support of his imaginary protector, the Em-
peror of the French. There were no means now ne-
glected by him to endeavour to ingratiate himself with
the Grand Duke of Berg ; every sort of expression,
every kind of deference was employed for this pur-
pose ; and the more effectually to avert the impending
storm, he prevailed on the Royal Parents to write to
the Emperor direct, and to request his consent to the
marriage of one of his cou sins to the Prince of Asturias.
64 Meanwhile the Emperor of the French appear-
ed to very much dissatisfied with the conduct of
Izquierdo, and kept him at a distance, in order to
cut off this direct mode of communication, and to
make himself more impenetrable.
44 His Imperial Majesty set off on a journey to
Italy, with that studied parade which all Europe has
witnessed, giving it such an air of importance, that
it was to be presumed he was going to fix the des-
tinies of the world. But there is reason to surmise,
that his real object was no other than to divert the
general attention to that quarter, for the purpose.of
misleading the other States, whilst his real designs
were directed to the invasion of Portugal and Spain.
" This artifice and dissimulation did not, however,
prevent the discovery of one of the articles in the
Secret Treaty of Fontainbleau, by his expelling, with
the greatest precipitation, from Tuscany, the Queen
Regent and her children, plundering the Royal Pa-
' lace, and seizing all the public funds of a Court that
was ignorant of the existence of such a Treaty, and
had committed no act of forfeiture.
" Whilst tke Emperor kept Europe in suspense by
his jourhey to Milan and Venice, he thought fit to
answer the letters, which he had some time before re-
ceived from the Royal Father, assuring his Majesty
that he never had the slightest information of the cir-
lcuMstances which he communicated respecting his
'eon the Prince of Asturias, nor ever received any lot-.
ter from his Royal Highness (2). Nevertheless his
Majesty consented to the proposed intermarriage with
a Princess of his family, undoubtedly with an inten-
tion of amusing the Royal Parents ; whilst he was
sending into Spain, under various pretexts, all the
troops which he had then disposable, and was studi-
ously propagating an idea that he was favourable to
the cause of the Prince of Asturias, and thus endea-
vouring to captivate the good opinion of the Spanish
nation.

The Royal Parents, struck with the terror which
this conduct of the Emperor naturally inspired, and
the Favourite being still more astonished, opposed no
obstacle to the entrance of the French troops into the
Peninsula ; on the contrary, they gave the most effet-
taal orders that they should be received and treated
even on a better footing than the Spanish troops.
(1) All this appears from the correspondence of the Favourite
with the Grand Duke, which the latter carried off from the (Ace
of the Secretary of State, during his Lieutenancy.
(2) Compare this statement with the contents of the letter
(No. s), from his Imperial Majesty to King Ferdinand, in which
he acknowledges having received the letter written to him by the
Prince of Asturias, on the suggestien of Ambassador Beattharoois.

• •' The Emperor, under the pretence o onsultint
the security of these troops, ordered his Generals,
by stratagem or force, to get possession of the for.
tresses of Pampeluna, St. Sebastian, Figuieras, and
Barcelona, which alone could present-any obstacle to
an invasion. They were accordingly taken by fraud
and surprize, to the indignation and sorrow of the
whole nation, to which the French still affected to
profess friendship and alliance.
• The Emperor conceiving himself already master
of all Spain, and thinking the time had arrived for
accelerating his measures, thought proper to write a
letter to the Royal Father, complaining in the bitterest
terms, that his Majesty had not renewed his applica.
tion for an Imperial Princess for his son the Prince of
Asturias. The King was pleased to return for answer
that he adhered to his former proposal, and was wit.
ling that the marriage should immediately take place.
• Some important proceeding was still necessary
to carry the project to a proper degree of maturity,
and the Emperor not willing to trust it to writing,
thought he could not find a better instrument than II
Don Eugenio Izquierdo, whom he hid detained in
Paris in a state of great dejection and terror, that had
been artfully impressed upon him for the purpose cl
his more effectually executing his commission, by it'll,
pressing the Royal Parents and the Favourite with
the same feelings.
• In this state of things, the Emperor ordered Ix.
quierdo to repair to Spain, which he accordingly did,
in a very precipitate• and mysterious manner. Ac-
cording to his verbal statements, he brought no pro_
posal in writing with him, nor was he to receive any,
and he had orders to remain only three days.

" On his arrival, under these circumstances, at
Aranjuez, the Favourite conducted him to the pre-
smee of the Royal Parents, and their conferences were
conducted with so much secrecy, that it was impossi-
ble for any one to discover the object of his mission;
but soon after his departure from this capital, their
Majesties began to skew a disposition to abandon the
metropolis and the Peninsula, and to emigrate to
Mexico.

" The recent example of the determination taken
by the Royal Family of Portugal seemed to have
fully corresponded with the views of the Emperor,
and there is reason to think that his Imperial Majesty
promised himself a similar success in Spain.
" But he must have been very ignorant of the Spa-
nish character to flatter' himself with such expecta-
tions.. Scarcely had the first reports gone abroad of
the intention of the Royal Family to abandon their
residence, a resolution clearly indicated by the many
preparations which were going on, when discontent
and fear were depicted in the most lively colours m
'the features of all the inhabitauts of the capital, and
of all ranks and classes of persons. This alone was
sufficient to induce their Majesties to refute the ru-
mour, and to assure the people that they would not
abandon them.
" Nevertheless, such was the general distrust, sucl
the magnitude of the evils which must have resulted,
land such and so many the symptoms of a determi.
nation to emigrate, that every one was on the alert, and
all seemed to be impressed w►th the necessity of pre-
venting a measure pregnant with so many mischiefs.
The danger increased, and the fears of the public
kept pace with it The consequence was, that the
commotions of Aranjuez, on the 17th and 19th of
March, burst forth like a sudden explosion ; the peo-
ple being led by a sort of instinct of self-preservation.
The result was, the imprisonment of the Favourite,
who, without the title of King, had exercised all the
functions of Royalty.
" Scarcely had this tempestuous scene taken place,
when the Royal Parents, finding themselves deprived
of the support of their Favourite, took the unexpect-
ed bat voluntary resolution which they had for some
time entertained to abdicate their Throne, as they
accordingly did, in favour of their son and heir the
Prince of Asturias. _ _ _

" The Emperor, ignorant of this sudden event,
and perhaps never supposing that the Spaniards were
capable of displaying such resolution, had ordered
Prince Murat to advance with his army towards M.
drid, under the idea that the Royal Family were al-
ready on the coast, and on the point of embarking,
and that Far from meeting the slightest obstacle on
the part of the people, all of them would receive him
with open arms, as their deliverer and guardian angel.
He conceived, that the nation was in the highest de.
gree dissatisfied with their Government, and never
reflected that they were only dissatisfied with the
abuses which had crept into the administration of it.
" The instant the Grand Duke of Berg was ap-
pized of the occurrences at Aranjuez, he advanced
with his whole army to occupy the capital of the
kingdom ; intending, no doubt, to profit by the occa-
sion, and to take such steps as should be best calcu-
lated to realize, by any means, the plan of making
himself master of Spain.
" In the mean while, the mysterious obscurity of
the Emperor's projects, the proximity of his troops,
and the ignorance in which Ferdinand VII. was of
the real object of the Emperor's approach, induced
the King to adopt such measures as appeared to his
Majesty best calculated to conciliate the goad will of
the Emperor. Not satisfied with having communi-
cated his accession to the Throne in the most friendly
and affectionate terms, the King appointed a depu-
tation of three Grandees of Spain to proceed to
Bayonne, and in his name to compliment his Imperial
Majesty. He also appointed another Grandee of
Spain to pay a similar compliment to the Grand Duke
of Berg, who had already arrived in the vicinity of
Madrid.
"One of the contrivances which the French agent
immediately had recourse to, was to assure the King,
and to spread the rumour in all quarters, that his Im-
perial Majesty's arrival might be expected every mo-
ment. Under this impression, the necessary orders
.were given for preparing apartments in the Palace
• suitable to the dignity of so august a guest; and the
King wrote again to the Emperor, how agreeable it
would be to him to be personally acquainted with his
Majesty, and to assure him with his own lips, of his
ardent wishes to strengthen more and more the alli-
ance which subsisted between the two Sovereigns.
" TheCiand. Duke of had in the mean time
entered Madrid, at the head his troops. He was
no sooner acquainted with the state of affairs, than he
began to' sow discord. He spoke in a mysterious
manner of the abdication of the Crown, exeepted bye
tile Royal Father in favour of his son, amidst the tu-
mults of Aranjuez, and gave it to be understood, that
until the Emperor had acknowledged Ferdinand VII.

it %vas impossible for him to take any step that should
appear like an acknowledgement, and that he must
be under the necessity of treating only with the Royal
Father.
4, This pretext did not fail to produce the effect
which the Grand Duke intended. The Royal Pa-
rents, the filament they were informed of this circum-
stance availed themselves of it to save the Favourite,
who remained in confinement, and in whose favour
Prince Min at professed to take an interest, for the sole
purpose of flattering their Majesties, mortifying Fer-
dinand VII. and sowing fresh matter of discord be-
tween the Parents and the Son.
(To be continued.),