JOSEPH RECEIVING THE ADDRESSES OF THE SPANISH SENATE.
CHAPTER VII.
JOSEPH KING OF SPAIN.
1808
Abdication of Charles IV.
After a series of the wildest, most tumultuous, and frantic scenes of which even Spanish history gives any account, Charles IV. abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinand. On the 20th of March, 1808, the new King, Ferdinand VII., was saluted by the acclamations of the people and the soldiers, and received the homage of the Court. One of his first acts was to arrest the hated Manuel Godoy. Murat was then in command of the French troops in Spain, and was about entering Madrid. Junot, with a French army, had taken possession of Portugal. Spain was nominally in alliance with France. England was consequently waging war against Spain. The French troops were in Spain to protect the kingdom from the English.