cceeded, and in the last days of
April Godoy reached Bayonne, where by the thirtieth all the puppets
were assembled. Dejected and broken-spirited, the minister agreed to
play the part assigned to him. The honors of a royal progress had been
paid to Charles, and he posed for a few days as the King. Ferdinand,
whose character and behavior awakened the contemptuous scorn even of
Talleyrand, was the culprit at the bar, charged with dishonoring his
parents. The trial scene was a shocking exhibition of human frailty.
Ferdinand was summoned before a bench composed of his parents, who
claimed to be still sovereigns, and the French emperor; Godoy, looking
like a bull, as Talleyrand thought, sat sullenly by. The old King
demanded his crown. Ferdinand persistently refused to surrender it.
Finally the trembling and invalid father rose on his shaky, rheumatic
legs and brandished his staff; the undutiful son remained unmoved. A
second demand was made by letter; it was to the same effect, but the
answer was different. Ferdinand agreed that he would renounce his
throne before the assembled Cortes at Madrid, but there only, and to
Charles IV alone. At Napoleon's command Charles refused to consider
the proposal, giving as a reason that Spain could be saved only by the
Emperor. This was Napoleon's opportunity. Two days later an imperial
decree was promulgated, which appointed Murat dictator of Spain, under
the style "lieutenant-general of the kingdom."

[Illustration: In the collection of the Countess of Sandwich.

NAPOLEON IN HIS STUDY.

From the painting by Paul Hippolyte Delaroche]

Meantime that intriguer had been making for himself a tortuous
approach to royalty. Nothing could more hasten the progress of events
than a riot in Madrid. The sensibility of the inhabitants of that city
had been rasped by the French occupation; they had seen the departure
of their idol with irritation, and had been further exasperated by
Godoy's liberation. Murat set fire to the train of their passions
first by a new disposition of his forces, which so menaced the place
as to make it clear that he was no longer an ally, but a conqueror,
and then by the announcement that the infante Don Francisco was to be
despatched to Bayonne with his uncle and all the remaining members of
the royal family, including the Queen of Etruria and her children. On
May second the entire population rose to resist this insolent tyranny.
Murat was ready for the move; the confli