e Great, the empire of Charles V had
been the most splendid in Europe, and Joseph perhaps dreamed that if
not first he might be second, eclipsed only by his brother.

Godoy was an adroit diplomat. In reply to Napoleon's letter he
personally asked and urged the bestowal on Ferdinand of a French
princess in marriage, but at the same time he also urged the
publication of what had been stipulated at Fontainebleau. The answer
was most dilatory, and when it was written there was a new tone:
Napoleon would gladly draw the bonds of alliance tighter by such a
match as had been so often suggested, but could such a mark of
confidence be shown to a dishonored son without some proof of his
repentance? He added that it would be premature to publish the
articles of Fontainebleau. In open contempt of that document, a decree
was issued on December twenty-third, 1807, from Milan, appointing
Junot governor of all Portugal. On February second, 1808, this paper
was communicated to the King of Spain by Beauharnais, with the
intimation that the treaty must temporarily remain suspended. The
scales now fell from Godoy's eyes. His agent in Paris informed him
that he had been coldly received by Champagny, the Minister of
External Relations; and soon afterward Mlle. Tascher de la Pagerie was
married to an unimportant member of the Rhenish Confederation, the
Duke of Aremberg. It was thought at Madrid that the Emperor had
abandoned both the court factions; public opinion, whether favorable
to one or the other, was soon united in a common irritation against
France, and before long it was current talk that Napoleon contemplated
the dismemberment of Spain by the connivance of Godoy.

Meantime the new conscription had been carried through, and ever
larger numbers of French striplings, dignified by the name of troops,
appeared at Bayonne, and crossed the border. The sturdy Spaniards
regarded them with amazement and contempt. There was no appearance as
yet of any English invasion, and the army in Portugal was in no need
of assistance; but Moncey followed Dupont with thirty thousand
so-called men; Duhesme led an army corps to Barcelona at one end of
the Pyrenees, while Darmagnac passed the gorge of Roncesvalles into
Navarre with his division, and seized Pamplona; Bessieres hurried on
behind with the guard; and Jerome was ordered to levy forty thousand
men in Westphalia. Figueras, San Sebastian, and Valladolid were soon
in French hands. The "Moniteur" of