The affairs of Spain had reached a crisis in the low intrigues of her
court. Marengo destroyed the influence of the anti-French party at
Madrid. Godoy, styled "Prince of the Peace" from his having negotiated
the treaty of Basel, had been made prime minister through the
influence of Queen Louisa, whom he had infatuated. Though successful
in being both the Queen's lover and the King's intimate friend, he was
nevertheless an incapable statesman. In 1796 he made Spain still more
subservient to France by the first treaty of San Ildefonso; and such
was the public resentment that he had to resign. Through Bonaparte's
influence he was restored to power, and in a second treaty of San
Ildefonso Spain became the servile ally of the Consulate. By the terms
of this compact, as already partly expressed in the treaty of
Lunéville, not only were Parma and Elba left in the hands of France,
but Louisiana was ceded to her, the French colonies in South America
were enlarged, and a combined force of French and Spanish troops was
organized, which compelled Portugal to abandon the English alliance
and accept Bonaparte's terms. The little but important realm was also
to shut her harbors to English ships, and pay twenty-five million
francs to France. In return, Tuscany was to be erected into a kingdom,
with the name of Etruria, for Louis, the heir of Ferdinand of Parma.
The latter was a son of Don Philip of Spain, and as his son, the young
King, had married the daughter of the ruling sovereigns of Spain, the
new royal family was virtually Spanish, their infant boy having only
one remote strain of Austrian blood.
When, shortly after, an actor in Paris recited from the stage, in
Bonaparte's presence, the line, "J'ai fait des rois, madame, et n'ai
pas voulu l'être," the house rocked with applause. The young King was
also brought to Paris and paraded as an attendant in the First
Consul's antechamber. A few felt the unworthiness of such a game, but
the national vanity was tickled. Attendant republics already revolved
about the great central French republic; were kingdoms, too, beginning
to join the round? It will be seen that, in comparison with the
radical anti-royalist policy of the Directory three years before,
these arrangements must be considered moderate. To abandon the Roman
and Parthenopean republics, and to constitute a new kingdom for a
Bourbon, were actions of great significance to the courts of Europe.