THE ELEVATION OF JOSEPH BONAPARTE, KING OF NAPLES, ΤΟ THE THRONE OF SPAIN In another Paper, entitled Don Manuel Godoy of Badajoz, the intrigues and events have been related which finally resulted in the formal abdication of the throne of Spain and the Indies by the Spanish Bourbons, in favour of the Emperor Napoleon, or of any one he would designate to wear that crown, and, also, the inducements offered them to take that step in the month of May, 1808, at Bayonne, France, whither they had been invited to come from Madrid to meet the Emperor who would come from Paris to receive them. The treaties in that behalf with Charles IV. and Ferdinand VII. including provisions for the benefit of the other members of the royal Spanish family, having been duly executed they departed from Bayonne to reside in the splendid new residences provided for them in France, and the Emperor Napoleon, thereupon, selected his brother Joseph, then King of Naples, to sit upon the Spanish throne. On the 6th of June, 1808, Joseph arrived from Naples at Bayonne where he was received by his imperial brother with royal honours, and on the same day proclaimed King of Spain and the Indies. The Emperor had merely written his brother Joseph follows: "King Charles, by a treaty which I as have just concluded with him, has ceded to me all his rights to the crown of Spain. This crown I have destined for you. The Kingdom of Naples cannot be compared with Spain; there are eleven millions of inhabitants, a revenue of above 150 millions, and the possession of America. Besides this, it is the crown which will place you at Madrid, three days' journey from France, and which entirely defends one of its frontiers. At Madrid you are actually in France; Naples is at the other end of the world. I desire therefore that, immediately on the receipt of this letter, you will commit the regency to whomsoever you please, and the command of the troops to Marshal Jourdan, and that you set out for Bayonne by the shortest route possible, Turin, Mont Cenis and Lyons. Keep the secret from everybody; as it is, it will only be suspected too readily. Such was the simple and expeditious manner in which crowns were then disposed of, nay, even the crown of Charles V. and of Philip II.! But the most energetic measures had already been adopted at Madrid to obtain declarations in favour of the new dynasty; and the leading authorities there, perplexed and bewildered at the unparalleled situation in which they were placed, and by the earnest exhortations to submission which they received from their lawful sovereign, Charles IV., as well as from Ferdinand VII., were, without much difficulty won over to the interests of the rising dynasty. The junta of the government at Madrid had, indeed, at first protested against the abdications at Bayonne, but, after making certain reservations, were finally induced to conclude with the adoption of a resolution that the choice of the Emperor should fall on his elder brother Joseph, the King of Naples. The municipality of Madrid also presented a petition to the same effect; and the Emperor, satisfied with having obtained the colour of public consent to his usurpation, then issued a proclamation convoking an Assembly of Notables, one hundred and fifty in number, to meet at Bayonne on the 15th of June. On this occasion the Emperor addressed the following proclamation to the Spanish people: "Spaniards! After a long agony, your nation was on the point of perishing; I saw your miseries and hastened to apply a remedy. Your grandeur, your power form an integral part of my own. Your princes have ceded to me their rights to the crown of Spain. I have no wish to reign over your provinces, but I am desirous of acquiring eternal titles to the love and gratitude of your posterity. Your monarchy is old; my mission is to pour into its veins the blood of youth. I will ameliorate all your institutions, and make you enjoy, if you second my efforts, the blessings of reform, without its collisions, its disorders, its convulsions. I have convoked a general assembly of deputations of your provinces and cities; I am desirous of ascertaining your wants by personal intercourse; I will then lay aside all the titles I have acquired, and place your glorious crown on the head of my second self, after having secured for you a constitution which may establish the sacred and salutary authority of the sovereign, with the liberties and privileges of the people. "Spaniards! Reflect on what your fathers were; on what you now are! The fault does not lie in you, but in the constitution by which you have been governed. |