anuel
Godoy, "Prince of the Peace," raised, by her guilty love, from the
station of a private guardsman, to precedence above all the grandees of
Spain, a matrimonial connection with the royal house, and the supreme
conduct of affairs. She, her paramour, and the degraded King, were held
in contempt and hatred by a powerful party, at the head of whom were the
Canon Escoiquiz, the Duke del Infantado, and Ferdinand, Prince of
Asturias, heir of the throne. The scenes of dissension which filled the
palace and court were scandalous beyond all contemporary example: and,
the strength of the two parties vibrating in the scale, according as
corrupt calculators looked to the extent of Godoy's present power, or to
the probability of Ferdinand's accession, the eyes of both were turned
to the hazardous facility of striking a balance by calling in support
from the Tuileries. Napoleon, on his part, regarding the rival factions
with equal scorn, flattered himself that, in their common fears and
baseness, he should find the means of ultimately reducing the whole
Peninsula to complete submission under his own yoke.

The secret history of the intrigues of 1807, between the French Court
and the rival parties in Spain, has not yet been clearly exposed; nor is
it likely to be so while most of the chief agents survive. According to
Napoleon the first proposal for conquering Portugal by the united arms
of France and Spain, and dividing that monarchy into three separate
prizes, of which one should fall to the disposition of France, a second
to the Spanish King, and a third reward the personal exertions of Godoy,
came not from him, but from the Spanish minister. It was unlikely that
Napoleon should have given any other account of the matter. The
suggestion has been attributed, by every Spanish authority, to the
Emperor; and it is difficult to doubt that such was the fact. The
treaty, in which the unprincipled design took complete form, was
ratified at Fontainebleau on the 29th October, 1807, and accompanied by
a convention, which provided for the immediate invasion of Portugal by
a force of 28,000 French soldiers, under the orders of Junot, and of
27,000 Spaniards; while a reserve of 40,000 French troops were to be
assembled at Bayonne, ready to take the field by the end of November, in
case England should land an army for the defence of Portugal, or the
people of that devoted country presume to meet Junot by a national
insurrection.

Junot fort