Napoleon’s object was thus gained. Dec. 1, 1807, Junot was in peaceable possession of Lisbon, and French garrisons held every strategical point between Lisbon and Bayonne. In regard to Portugal Junot’s orders were precise:[98]—
“So soon as you have the different fortified places in your hands, you will put French commandants in them, and will make yourself sure of these places. I need not tell you that you must not put any fortress in the power of the Spaniards, especially in the region which is to remain in my hands.”
November 3, without the knowledge of Spain, the Emperor gave orders[99] that the army of reserve at Bayonne, under General Dupont, shall be ready to march by December 1; and November 11 he ordered[100] that the frontier fortresses on the Spanish border should be armed and supplied with provisions:—
“All this is to be done with the utmost possible secrecy, especially the armament of the places on the Spanish frontier on the side of the eastern Pyrenees. Give secret instructions, and let the corps march in such a manner that the first ostensible operations be not seen in that country before November 25.”
At the same time a new army of some twenty thousand men was hurried across France to take the place, at Bayonne, of Dupont’s army, which was to enter Spain. November 13, the Emperor ordered Dupont to move his first division across the frontier to Vittoria; and on the same day he despatched M. de Tournon, his chamberlain, with a letter to King Charles at Madrid, and with secret instructions[101] that revealed the reasons for these movements so carefully concealed from Spanish eyes:—
“You will also inform yourself, without seeming to do so, of the situation of the places of Pampeluna and of Fontarabia; and if you perceive armaments making anywhere, you will inform me by courier. You will be on the watch at Madrid to see well the spirit which animates that city.”
Napoleon’s orders were in all respects exactly carried out. Dec. 1, 1807, Junot was in possession of Portugal; Dupont was at Vittoria; twenty-five thousand French troops would, by December 20, hold the great route from Vittoria to Burgos, and in two days could occupy Madrid.[102] The Spanish army was partly in Denmark, partly in Portugal. The Prince of Peace heard what was going on, and asked for explanations; but the moment for resistance had long passed. He had no choice but submission or flight, and Don Carlos was too weak to fly.
In Armstrong’s despatch of November 15, already quoted, one more paragraph was worth noting. At the moment he wrote, Napoleon had just given his last orders; General Dupont had not yet received them, and neither Don Carlos IV. nor Lucien Bonaparte knew the change of plan that was intended. Only men like Talleyrand and Duroc could see that from the moment of the peace at Tilsit, Napoleon’s movements had been rapidly and irresistibly converging upon Madrid,—until, by the middle of November, every order had been given, and the Spanish Peninsula lay, as the Emperor told Lucien, “in the hollow of his hand.” Armstrong, writing a fortnight before the royal family of Portugal had turned their vessels’ prows toward Brazil, asked a question which Napoleon himself would hardly have dared to answer:
“What will become of the royal houses of Portugal and Spain? I know not. By the way, I consider this question as of no small interest to the United States. If they were sent to America, or are even permitted to withdraw thither, we may conclude that the colonies which excite the imperial longing, and which are in its opinion necessary to France, are not on our side of the Atlantic. If on the other hand they are retained in Europe, it will only be as hostages for the eventual delivery of their colonies; and then, at the distance of three centuries, may be acted over again the tragedy of the Incas, with some few alterations of scenery and names.”
All these measures being completed by November 15, the day when Armstrong wrote his despatch, the Emperor left Fontainebleau and went to Italy. He passed through Milan and Verona to Venice; and on his return, stopped a few hours at Mantua,[103] on the night of December 13, to offer Lucien the throne of Spain.