Note 27 — Chapter IV

The authors of the official history, published at Madrid, insist that the abdication was a pure voluntary act; that Charles, who was altogether incapable of deceit, displayed the greatest affection towards his son after that event; and that none of the innumerable Spaniards, who with the heroism of martyrs performed their duty through all the horrors of the subsequent struggle, ever entertained the slightest scruple upon that point. They maintain that the letters of the royal parents, which Buonaparte published, are so interpolated by him that they cannot be trusted; and they endeavour to show, that even in those letters proofs may be discovered that no violence was complained of by the writers. Perhaps this is the only point upon which these Spanish authors are not entitled to full and entire credit, ... for they wrote under the sanction and by the appointment of Ferdinand. In every other part, their history, as far as it has reached me, is written with sound judgement and admirable impartiality.