At the commencement of the conflict Murat ordered a detachment of 200 men to take possession of the arsenal[32]. Two officers happened to be upon guard there, by name Daoiz and Velarde, the former about thirty years of age; the latter, some five years younger, was the person who had been sent to compliment Murat on his arrival in Spain. Little could they have foreseen, when they went that morning to their post, the fate which awaited them, and the renown which was to be its reward! Having got together about twenty soldiers of their corps, and a few countrymen who were willing to stand by them, they brought out a twenty-four pounder in front of the arsenal, to bear upon the straight and narrow street by which the enemy must approach, and planted two others in like manner to command two avenues which led into the street of the arsenal. They had received no instructions, they had no authority for acting thus, and if they escaped in the action, their own government would without doubt either pass or sanction a sentence of death against them for their conduct; never therefore did any men act with more perfect self-devotion. Having loaded with grape, they waited till the discharge would take full effect, and such havoc did it make, that the French instantly turned back. The possession of the arsenal was of so much importance at this time, that two columns were presently ordered to secure it: they attempted it at the cost of many lives, and the Spaniards fired above twenty times before the enemy could break into the neighbouring houses, and fire upon them from the windows. Velarde was killed by a musket-ball. Daoiz had his thigh broken; he continued to give orders sitting, till he received three other wounds, the last of which put an end to his life. Then the person to whom he left the command offered to surrender: while they were making terms a messenger arrived bearing a white flag, and crying out that the tumult was appeased. About two o’clock the firing had ceased every where, through the personal interference of the Junta, the council of Castille and other tribunals, who paraded the streets with many of the nobles, and with an escort of Spanish soldiers and imperial guards intermixed. It might then have been hoped that the carnage of this dreadful day was ended; the slaughter among the Spaniards[33] had been very great; this however did not satisfy Murat; conformably to the system of his master, the work of death was to be continued in cool blood. ♦EXECUTIONS BY SENTENCE OF A MILITARY TRIBUNAL.♦ A military tribunal under General Grouchy was formed, and the Spaniards who were brought before it were sent away to be slaughtered with little inquiry whether they had taken[34] part in the struggle or not. Three groupes of forty each were successively shot in the Prado, ... the great public walk of Madrid. Others, in like manner, were put to[35] death near the Puerta del Sol, and the Puerta del S. Vicente, and by the Church of N. Señora