They were seeking for him thirty-six hours, and the anxiety of the king and queen was becoming insupportable; both loudly demanded their favorite. With a view of turning away the anger of the people from his head, Charles IV. issued an edict depriving Emanuel Godoy, Prince de la Paix, of all his offices and dignities, and authorizing him to choose for himself the place of his retreat. The favorite had more correctly estimated the hatred excited against himself; he had sought no other retreat than a loft in his palace. There, rolled up in a mat, with a few pieces of gold in his hands, he waited for the moment to take his flight. On March 19th, at ten o'clock in the morning; as he attempted to escape secretly, he was perceived by a soldier of that guard to which he had formerly belonged; immediately arrested, he was dragged to a guard-house. When he at length reached this sad refuge he was bruised and bleeding, from the blows showered upon him by all those who could reach him through the crowding ranks of the multitude and the barriers formed by the soldiers. At the barracks where the Prince de la Paix lay on the straw, the Prince of Asturias came to seek him out in the name of his parents, and to promise him his life. "Art thou already king, that thou canst thus dispense pardon?" asked Godoy, with a bitter perception of the change which had been effected in the position of the prince as in his own. "No," replied Ferdinand, "but I soon shall be." The royal uneasiness did not permit them long to leave the favorite in a guard-house, a prey to the insults and ill-usage of the populace; the king and queen remained obstinately faithful to their friend. A coach was got ready to take him away to a place of safety; as soon as it appeared, the people threw themselves upon the carriage and broke it up. When the noise reached the palace the old king burst into tears: "My people no longer love me!" cried he; "I will no longer reign over them. I shall abdicate in favor of my son." The queen's mind was occupied with no other thought than the safety of Godoy; she thought it assured by this renunciation of the throne, and willingly set her hands to it. The act of abdication was immediately made public, and saluted, at Madrid as at Aranjuez, by the transports of the multitude. Henceforth King Ferdinand VII. was alone surrounded by the courtiers; his aged father remained abandoned in the palace of Aranjuez. Murat was already approaching Madrid, and all eyes were turned towards him as towards the forerunner of the supreme arbiter. Ferdinand VII. hastened to send emissaries to him. The Queen of Etruria, who had only just reached her parents, wrote to him conjuring him to come to Aranjuez, to judge for himself of the situation. On March 25th, 1808, the French army made its entry into the capital.