“I do not constitute myself a judge of what happened, or of the conduct of the Prince of the Peace; but I know very well that it is very dangerous to Kings for the people to become accustomed to shedding blood in their own attempts to obtain justice. God grant that Your Highness may not find it so yourself! It would not be for the interest of Spain to persecute a Prince who has married a Princess of the Royal Family, and who has so long governed the kingdom. He has no friends already, and Your Highness will have none, either, if you come to be disgraced one day, for people like to avenge themselves for the respect they have had to show us.
“Moreover, how could a Cause be framed against the Prince of the Peace without framing it also against the King and Queen, your parents? This Cause would foment hate and seditious passions, and the result would be fatal to the crown. To this crown Your Royal Highness has no rights beyond those transmitted by your mother. If the Cause soils her honour, Your Highness destroys your own rights. Do not listen to weak, perfidious counsels. Your Highness has no right to judge the Prince of the Peace; the sins which are imputed to him disappear in the rights of the throne.
“I have often expressed my wish for the Prince of the Peace to be removed from affairs. If I have not been more insistent, it has been because my friendship for King Charles overlooked the weakness of his affection. Oh, miserable humanity! Weakness and error are our lot. But all this can be made right if the Prince of the Peace is exiled from Spain, and I offer him an asylum in France.
“As the abdication of Charles IV. took place at the moment when my armies were occupying Spain, it will seem in the eyes of all Europe and of posterity that I sent these troops with the sole object of dethroning my ally and friend. As a Sovereign and a neighbour, I must therefore hear all about the event before recognizing the abdication.
“I tell Your Royal Highness that if the abdication of Charles was spontaneous, and he was not forced to it by the insurrection and consequent meeting in Aranjuez, I have no objection to admitting it, and acknowledging Your Royal Highness as King of Spain. I therefore desire to confer with Your Royal Highness on this matter.
“The circumspection I have observed for the past month in the matter ought to convince Your Highness that you will always have my support if factions of any kind disturb you on the throne.
“When King Charles told me of the recent events in October, I flattered myself that I had contributed by my entreaties to the peaceful conclusion of the Escorial matter.
“Your Highness is not free from faults; the letter you have written me is sufficient to show that, and I have always wished to forget it. Being a King, you know how sacred are the rights of the throne; any step of an hereditary Prince towards a foreign Sovereign is criminal. I consider the marriage of a French Princess with Your Royal Highness would be conformable to the interests of my people, and, above all, as a circumstance which will unite me by fresh bonds to a house which I have had every wish to honour ever since I ascended the throne.
“Your Royal Highness ought to beware of the consequences of popular insurrections; you might be able to make an assault on my scattered soldiers, but it would only lead to the ruin of Spain.
“I have seen with regret some letters from the Captain-General of Catalonia which tried to rouse the people.