“Your Royal Highness knows all the depth of my heart; you will observe that I am full of many ideas which require consideration; but you can be sure that in any case I shall behave to you as I have to the King your father.
“Your Royal Highness must be assured of my desire to conciliate matters, and to find occasions of giving you proofs of my affection and perfect esteem.
“May God have you in His holy and worthy keeping!
“Napoleon.”[8]
[8] From the “Memorias” of Nellerto and the “Manifestation” of Don Pedro Ceballos.
The King, oblivious of the veiled insult of the Emperor, that he had no right to the throne beyond that transmitted by his mother, still cringed to the Frenchman, and wrote:
“Vittoria,
“April 18, 1808.
“Señor, my Brother,
“I have received with great satisfaction your letter of the 16th, sent by General Savary. The confidence with which Your Majesty inspires me, and my desire to show you that my father’s abdication was the consequence of his own impulse, have decided me to go immediately to Bayonne. I hope therefore to leave to-morrow for Irun, proceeding thence to the country-seat of Marrae, where Your Majesty is.