Murat meantime had left Spain. Before he had well recovered from a severe attack of the Madrid colic an intermittent fever supervened, and when that was removed he was ordered by his physicians to the warm baths of Bareges. The Duc de Rovigo, General Savary, who had acted so considerable a part in decoying Ferdinand to Bayonne, succeeded in the command. ♦Several Frenchmen poisoned by the wine.♦ It happened at this time that several French soldiers, after drinking wine in the public houses at Madrid, died, some almost immediately, others after a short illness, under unequivocal symptoms of poison. Baron Larrey, who was at the head of the medical staff, acted with great prudence on this occasion. He sent for wine from different ventas, analyzed it, and detected narcotic ingredients in all; and he ascertained upon full inquiry that these substances, of which laurel-water was one, were as commonly used to flavour and strengthen the Spanish wines, as litharge is to correct acidity in the lighter wines of France. The natives were accustomed to it from their youth; they frequently mixed their wine with water, and moreover the practice of smoking over their liquor tended to counteract its narcotic effects by stimulating the stomach and the intestines: it was therefore not surprising that they could drink it with safety; though it proved fatal[39] to a few strangers. M. Larrey therefore justly concluded that there had been no intention of poisoning the French; if such a suspicion had been intimated, execrated as they knew themselves to be, the troops would readily have believed it; and a bloodier massacre than that of the 2d of May must have ensued.
CHAPTER VII.
ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES AT BAYONNE. CONSTITUTION OF BAYONNE. THE INTRUSIVE KING ENTERS SPAIN. BUONAPARTE RETURNS TO PARIS.
♦1808.
June.
Buonaparte meantime regarded the insurrection of the Spaniards with apparent indifference: as yet he was too little acquainted with the nature of the country and the national character to apprehend any difficulty in reducing them to submission, and he proceeded to regulate the affairs of Spain as if the kingdom were completely at his disposal. Of the Notables who were ordered to Bayonne, some had been nominated by Murat, others delegated by the respective provinces, cities, or bodies which they were to represent. The Archbishops of Burgos and Seville were summoned; several bishops, the generals of all the religious orders, and about twenty of the inferior clergy. Most of the Grandees were summoned, and some of the titular nobles to represent the nobility. Some cities were to choose representatives for the Cavalleros, or gentry, others for the commercial part of the people. Deputies were also named for Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Buenos Ayres, and the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, each being a native of the province which he was called upon to represent. Azanza had been sent for by Buonaparte to give him information concerning the royal property; ♦Azanza appointed President.♦ he was appointed president of the assembly, and considering the sentence of the old dynasty as irrevocably passed, devoted himself to the service of the new.
♦Urquijo summoned by Buonaparte.♦
Urquijo also was summoned from his retirement. Not having been implicated in the intrigues of Ferdinand’s party, nor in their subsequent errors, he was more at liberty to choose his part; he had warned Ferdinand of the snare, and he had sufficient foresight to feel assured that Buonaparte’s intentions could not be effected without a severer struggle than had entered into his calculations. Had it been possible, he would have chosen to keep aloof and remain in tranquillity. But of tranquillity there was now no hope; and reluctantly obeying a third order, he repaired to Bayonne, persuading himself, that as the usurpation could not be prevented, the wisest course was to profit as much as possible by the change. For it was possible, he thought, to stipulate for conditions with the new dynasty, and dictate laws, and establish institutions, which would enable Spain to resume that rank among nations, to which the position and size and natural advantages of the country entitled it. Thus he deceived himself. Urquijo had always been too confident of his own talents; he wanted that unerring principle of religion which allows of no compromise with iniquity; and having in his youth entered heartily into the cause of revolutionary France, the theoretical republican ended in becoming a prime agent of the military despot of France, for the subjugation of his own country.
♦He represents the state of Spain to Buonaparte.♦