Note 40 — Chapter VII

M. De Pradt says these addresses were previously submitted to Buonaparte, and he was not satisfied with that of the Grandees, which expressed wishes for the happiness of Joseph and Spain, but contained no direct acknowledgement of him. Une bonne reconnaissance, bien formelle, bien prononcée, était ce qu’il fallait a Napoleon. He lost his temper, and was heard to say to Infantado, No tergiversation, Sir! acknowledge him plainly, or plainly refuse to do it. Il faut être grand dans le crime comme dans la vertu. Do you choose to return to Spain and place yourself at the head of the insurgents? I give you my word to send you there in safety; but I will tell you, that in eight days, ... no, ... in four and twenty hours, you shall be shot. The Duke excused himself upon the plea of composing in a language of which he was not master, and amended the address.

I have not such implicit reliance upon the authority of M. De Pradt as to insert this in the text. The Duque del Infantado and the other persons who had been trepanned with Ferdinand, were compelled to commit themselves in so many ways, that it would have been very useless to have equivocated in a single instance. No men were ever more justified in disclaiming as their own acts what had been done under manifest compulsion.