onduct, Savary actually said, as if in a burst of
military frankness, that the Emperor was already on his way to assure
himself whether Ferdinand's dispositions toward the French system were
as sincere as his father's had been, and would of course be favorably
impressed if a personal interview should be sought by the young King
before his guest could reach Madrid.

At Burgos Ferdinand learned that Napoleon was not yet within the
Spanish borders; at Vitoria he was informed that the Emperor had not
yet even passed Bordeaux. His people had utterly disapproved of the
journey, but they acclaimed him joyously on the two days' progress to
Burgos. Thereafter he remarked a change, and the nearer he approached
the frontier the more they showed their irritation at his insensate
folly. At Vitoria, therefore, he summoned Savary, whose carriage was
"accidentally in the King's convoy," and reproached him with deceit.
It was too late; divisions of French soldiers were scattered all
about, among them the splendid cavalry of Bessieres. To wheel and
return would have been an open insult to the Emperor, which French
soldiers would not have tolerated. The uneasy young King thereupon
penned and despatched by a special courier a long letter recalling the
facts, and begging the Emperor to terminate the equivocal position in
which he found himself placed.

The reply was speedy and most insulting, for it studiously avoided the
recognition of Ferdinand's sovereignty. The Emperor had expected
before this to visit Madrid in person and institute some necessary
reforms, but affairs in the North had delayed him, and the revolution
at Aranjuez had changed the situation. He hoped Ferdinand would
quickly put an end to any attempt at a trial of Godoy, for its
revelations must necessarily dishonor the Queen. "Your Royal
Highness," he wrote, "has no other rights to the throne than those
transmitted through your mother." Had the abdication been a free act
or not? He would like to talk to Ferdinand as to whether or not it was
forced by the riots of Aranjuez. His "Royal Highness" had behaved ill
about his marriage, for he should not have acted without the King's
knowledge, and every such approach to a foreign sovereign made by an
heir apparent is a criminal act. If there had not been force at
Aranjuez, there would be no difficulty in recognizing Ferdinand;
moreover, a French marriage for him would be not merely advantageous
to the Spaniards, but to the inter