Savary to murder his wife and children, I know he would do it without a
moment's hesitation.' This was the man whose blandishments Ferdinand
was stupid enough to trust. He arrived at Bayonne on 20 April, ten days
before his father.
It took a week for Napoleon to bend the Bourbons to his will. On 5
May there was a violent scene, which ended with the Emperor
threatening to execute Ferdinand there and then if he did not abdicate in
favour of his fa ther. Already revealed as a fool, the prince proved himself
a coward also. Without even trying to call Bonaparte's bluff he caved in
and acknowledged Charles as King. Charles then immediately handed his
crown over to Napoleon, who eventually gave it to his brother Joseph. A
junta of Francophile Spaniards already summoned to Bayonne ratified
the arrangement. Ferdinand and his brothers were held in France under
house arrest, while Charles and Godoy were exiled to Compiegne. With a
choice sense of irony Napoleon selected Talleyrand as the man who
would have the 'honour' of offering Ferdinand hospitality on his estate at
Valen<yay- irony because Talleyrand thought the Spanish adventure was
the most disastrous aspect of a generally erroneous foreign policy. Some
have argued that this was the one occasion when the Emperor clearly got
the better of his vulpine Foreign Minister: that Talleyrand was playing a
machiavellian game by enticing Napoleon into the Spanish quagmire
while distancing himself publicly, but that Bonaparte outfoxed him and
compromised him by thus openly associating him with the abdication of
Ferdinand.
The bizarre events at Bayonne in April-May 1808 call for further
comment. Even as the negotiations were taking place, Spain exploded
into general revolution caused by the national humiliation implied by the
conference. Napoleon thus directed the forces involved in the rising at
Aranjuez against his own head. Why he did not use Ferdinand as a stooge
is still slightly mysterious, for the forced abdication cannot be explained
solely as a desire to find new thrones for his siblings. It seems that,
Ferdinand's enthusiasm for his cause notwithstanding, Napoleon never
trusted him. Having a very low opinion of his talents, the Emperor feared
the prince would not be a reliable ally but instead would become the
plaything of Court factions who would not necessarily be friendly to
France.
The Bayonne manoeuvre was a disaster that would eventually involve
Napoleon in five years of bloody fighting in the Spanish peninsula. The
affront to Spanish pride was dual: the conference should have been held
on Spanish soil, not French (preferably in Madrid) and Napoleon should
have confirmed Ferdinand as King. Even those sympathetic to the
marcin
(Marcin)
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