his Empire dazzled and allured the
Emperor more than the assured support of Spain. Having determined for
that purpose to put one of his brothers on the Spanish throne, he
disregarded both the clamorous calls for aid from the King on one side
and the approaches of Ferdinand on the other. All remonstrance from
his own family was vain, and he proceeded with his scheme. A new
conscription secured the forty thousand men for Bayonne, and General
Clarke was ordered to fortify the frontier.

Exactly in the nick of time the intrigues at Madrid had come to a
head. On October twenty-eighth an armed Spanish force seized the
person and papers of Ferdinand. Godoy feigned illness and kept his
rooms, while the Queen examined what was found. It was said that there
was a cipher code for corresponding with friends; a memorial from
Ferdinand to Napoleon charging Godoy with a design to seize the
throne, and mentioning his mother's shame in covert terms; a memorial
from Escoiquiz asking from the Emperor the hand of a French princess;
and an order under the seal of Ferdinand VII, with blank date, to the
Duke del Infantado, appointing him to the command of New Castile on
the King's death. Two days later Godoy's connection with the seizure
was proved; for, ill as he feigned to be, he was observed entering the
Escorial after nightfall. Next day the King announced the discovery of
this "conspiracy" in a proclamation to his people, and wrote a letter
of similar wording to Napoleon, complaining that Beauharnais, the
French ambassador, had been the center of the intrigue. The charge was
strictly true, for this brother of the Empress's first husband, though
a bluff, honest man, was blindly self-confident, and had fallen into
the trap set for him in Paris. He was not unwilling to gratify
Josephine, he despised Godoy, and his evident friendship for the crown
prince had been largely instrumental in creating the popular
confidence that France would regenerate Spain by means of the
legitimate heir.

Charles also announced his intention of cutting Ferdinand off from the
succession, and humbly requested Napoleon's advice. A commission of
Castilian grandees was appointed to try the culprit, while
simultaneously strenuous efforts were made to force a confession of
conspiracy from him. The latter scheme failed, but the prince obeyed
with alacrity the summons to appear. Exactly what occurred is unknown,
but it can be imagined; some of the facts leaked out, an