♦Defence of the arsenal by Daoiz and Velarde.♦
At the commencement of the conflict Murat ordered a detachment of 200 men to take possession of the arsenal[32]. Two officers happened to be upon guard there, by name Daoiz and Velarde, the former about thirty years of age; the latter, some five years younger, was the person who had been sent to compliment Murat on his arrival in Spain. Little could they have foreseen, when they went that morning to their post, the fate which awaited them, and the renown which was to be its reward! Having got together about twenty soldiers of their corps, and a few countrymen who were willing to stand by them, they brought out a twenty-four pounder in front of the arsenal, to bear upon the straight and narrow street by which the enemy must approach, and planted two others in like manner to command two avenues which led into the street of the arsenal. They had received no instructions, they had no authority for acting thus, and if they escaped in the action, their own government would without doubt either pass or sanction a sentence of death against them for their conduct; never therefore did any men act with more perfect self-devotion. Having loaded with grape, they waited till the discharge would take full effect, and such havoc did it make, that the French instantly turned back. The possession of the arsenal was of so much importance at this time, that two columns were presently ordered to secure it: they attempted it at the cost of many lives, and the Spaniards fired above twenty times before the enemy could break into the neighbouring houses, and fire upon them from the windows. Velarde was killed by a musket-ball. Daoiz had his thigh broken; he continued to give orders sitting, till he received three other wounds, the last of which put an end to his life. Then the person to whom he left the command offered to surrender: while they were making terms a messenger arrived bearing a white flag, and crying out that the tumult was appeased. About two o’clock the firing had ceased every where, through the personal interference of the Junta, the council of Castille and other tribunals, who paraded the streets with many of the nobles, and with an escort of Spanish soldiers and imperial guards intermixed. It might then have been hoped that the carnage of this dreadful day was ended; the slaughter among the Spaniards[33] had been very great; this however did not satisfy Murat; conformably to the system of his master, the work of death was to be continued in cool blood. ♦Executions by sentence of a military tribunal.♦ A military tribunal under General Grouchy was formed, and the Spaniards who were brought before it were sent away to be slaughtered with little inquiry whether they had taken[34] part in the struggle or not. Three groupes of forty each were successively shot in the Prado, ... the great public walk of Madrid. Others, in like manner, were put to[35] death near the Puerta del Sol, and the Puerta del S. Vicente, and by the Church of N. Señora de la Soledad, one of the most sacred places in the city. In this manner was the evening of that second of May employed by the French at Madrid. The inhabitants were ordered to illuminate their houses, a necessary means of safety for their invaders, in a city not otherwise lighted; and through the whole night the dead and the dying might be seen distinctly as in broad noon-day, lying upon the bloody pavement. When morning came the same mockery of justice was continued, and fresh murders were committed deliberately with the forms of military execution during several succeeding days.
♦The Infante D. Antonio sent to Bayonne.♦
On the night of the third, the Comte de Laforest, and M. Freville, had a private conference with the Infante D. Antonio; and the Infante, whether inveigled by their persuasions, or influenced by his own fears after the dreadful scenes which had been exhibited, informed the Junta in the course of that night, that he should set off at daybreak for Bayonne, to share the fate of his family. They represented to him, that his presence in Spain would be infinitely more useful to the interest of the Bourbons, than it could possibly be in Bayonne; but he replied that his word was given, and his resolution fixed, and accordingly at daybreak he departed. ♦Murat claims a place in the Junta.♦ Murat had shown some little degree of respect toward this personage; as soon as he was gone, he informed the Junta that he should think proper to assist at their deliberations in future. O’Farrill and Azanza protested against his intrusion, and would have retired from the nominal authority which they held; they soon however assented to the will of the majority, pleading in excuse for their assent an unwillingness to appear as if they consulted their own interests alone, and a fear lest others should imitate the example of resignation, and then the capital of the kingdom would be left at the discretion of a hostile power, without any native authorities to protect it; ... a poor apology this, when they were mere instruments of that power.
♦Edicts for preserving peace in the capital.
Murat now affected to soothe and conciliate the people. He told them in his proclamations that thenceforth their tranquillity would be undisturbed, a blessing which they would owe to the loyalty of their character, and which would be assured to them by the confidence that the laws inspire; for in obedience to the dictates of humanity, he said, the military commission was suppressed. From this time every inhabitant, whatsoever his rank, who might have given cause for being seized by the French troops, provided[36] he had not borne arms against them, should be immediately delivered over to his proper judges, and tried by them: even in the excepted case, a judge nominated by the competent tribunal of the land should assist in regulating the process against the accused, till sentence was pronounced. No countrymen, or strangers, or ecclesiastics, should be molested on account of their dress. This alluded to an order which had been issued, prohibiting the cloak, lest arms should be concealed under it; but the cloak is so universally worn by the Spaniards, that the prohibition was thus modified on the third day after it had been issued, and repealed altogether on the following. Carriers, it was said, who were employed in bringing provisions to the town, should from that time be subjected to no vexation, neither should their carriages and beasts be detained; and only half the cattle of the muleteers should be put in requisition even in the most urgent necessity, and then they should be paid for at the regulated price, and not detained longer than three or four days. At those gates where carriers had suffered arbitrary detention in order to be searched and stript of their arms, instructions should be given to prevent abuse: but it was necessary, the edict said, to repeat the injunction against introducing fire-arms or other prohibited weapons: these were to be deposited at the gate.
♦Circular letter of the Inquisition.♦
The Holy Office, as that execrable tribunal impiously styled itself, which has been the disgrace and the bane of every country wherein it was established, lent its last aid toward the degradation of Spain. ♦May 6.♦ Four days after the insurrection, a circular letter was addressed by the Inquisitor-general, in the name of the Supreme Council, to all its subordinate tribunals. That insurrection, the anniversary of which, hopelessly as it began, and disastrously as it terminated, will be celebrated in after ages by the Spaniards as a day of proud and pious commemoration, ... one of the most solemn in their calendar, ... was called by the Inquisition a disgraceful tumult, occasioned by the evil intentions or the ignorance of thoughtless men, who under the mask of patriotism and loyalty were preparing the way for revolutionary disorders. The melancholy consequences which had already occurred, rendered, it was said, the utmost vigilance necessary on the part of all the magistracies and respectable bodies, to prevent the renewal of such excesses, and to preserve tranquillity; the nation being indeed bound to this good behaviour, not only by its own interests, but by the laws of hospitality toward a friendly army which injured no one, and which had given the greatest proofs of good order and discipline. It became therefore the duty of the well-informed to enlighten the people, ... to deliver them from their dangerous error, and to show them, that tumultuary proceedings could only serve to throw the country into confusion, by breaking those bonds of subordination upon which the peace of the community depends, ... by destroying the feelings of humanity, and by annihilating all confidence in government, from which alone the direction and impulse of patriotic feeling ought to proceed. “These most important truths,” said the address, “can by no persons be impressed upon the minds and hearts of the people with more effect, than by the ministers of the religion of Jesus Christ, which breathes nothing but peace and brotherly love among men, and subjection, honour, and obedience to all that are in authority: and as the Holy College ought to be, and always has been, the first to give an example to the ministers of peace, it accords with our duty and office to address this letter to you, that you may co-operate in the preservation of the public tranquillity. You are required to notify the same to all the subordinate officers of your respective courts, and also to the commissioners of districts, that all and each of you may with all possible zeal, vigilance, and prudence, co-operate in the attainment of so important an object.”
♦The Junta discharged from their authority by Charles’s reassumption.♦