346

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

whose head they had been vociferating, at once taken away.This was in real fact the first cause of the national feelingagainst France , and of the subsequent war being alsonational.

Added to the evasion of their darling Ferdinand, and ofthe abhorred Godoi, the old king and queen next imploringprotection from the storm, obtained a numerous French escort, and fled to France . This was a step entirely oftheir own decision; but the Spanish people, fomented bytheir priests, attributed it ail to French intrigue or violence.

The agitation of the capital was, on the 1st of May,arrived at the point of inevitable explosion. Two French soldiers were killed in the open streets, and an aid-de-campof the grand duke was wounded, with difficulty escapingfrom a crowd of fanatics, calling for the blood of Godoi.Thus far, it is a truth, that acts of benevolence and forbear-ance had drawn upon Murat and upon the French the exe-cration of the Spanish populace.

I have forgotten to remind my readers, that on leavingSpain King Charles IV. had invested Murat with all theroyal authority of the state, which had been acknowledged bythe ministry and magistrates. On the 2d of May, theQueen of Etruria, with her son, the infant Don Francisco,entered her carriage to proceed to Bayonne. This becamea signal for fresh tumults amongst the people. Murat hadbeen vaguely warned of an approaching storm, but his dis-position did not allow him to heed it much. In fact, hehad taken none of those precautions which would have beenadopted had any serious idea been entertained of an import-ant hostile movement. So far from that, on the morning ofthe much misrepresented 2d of May, the French soldierswere walking about the streets of Madrid unarmed, and alarge proportion of the French forces were cantoned aboutthe neighbourhood without the city. At about seven o’clock