CELEBRATED INSURRECTION OF MADRID. 349

well knew it to be a lie. The same base falsehood wasrepeated in England, not only by the Tory war-and-blood-exciting press, but even by writers of better meaning. Areview, named, “ The Critical,” repeated the worn-outcalumny, when noticing a book of mine in 1817. From tenthousand “ victims,” the chronologers and the press, sometime afterwards, sank down to poor five hundred ;^but now,in the year of Grace, 1837, I beg to assure the friends ofhumanity, that they have only to mourn over one hundredand four killed, and fifty-four Spaniards wounded, all in allon that occasion from beginning to end. Of the French (but never mind them), five hundred and six were killed,including the unarmed men assassinated in the streets andthose killed in the conflict and from the windows. Thisdisproportion was caused by the fact of the French nothaving fired upon the Spaniards until a great number oftheir comrades were already lying dead in the streets.Many of my friends and comrades were personally engagedin this unpleasant affair; amongst whom I will mention theCount de Brivazac and Colonel D’Esmenard, who hasrecently edited and published the Memoirs of EmanuelGodoi, Prince de la Paz, or of “ The Peace,” as he iscalled, out of Spain . These gentlemen, and others whowere on the spot, assure me that the numbers I have statedare even themselves “ exaggerated.” Verily, the historianhas a difficult task!

A singular proof of the insurrection having been con-certed beforehand was elicited in the following way. Thenext day Murat sent for the Alcalde Major, or Lord Mayorof Madrid , when, upon asking him how the people couldthink of contending against such a force as he had 1 —theAlcalde very unwarily and naively replied, “ Sire, I toldthem they had no chance, but they would not believe me.”

Murat only laughed at this confession of participation, or