The kind-hearted old General expressed the utmost regret at his having been so imprudent as to trust himself a second time in Spain (for only a month before he had been conducted to Gibraltar under an escort from Malaga)--and hoping that his own consciousness of innocence would relieve him from any fear as to the result of the affair, gave him a letter to General José O'Donnell, who commanded in the _Campo de Gibraltar_; in which letter he requested, as a favour to himself, that every respect and attention might be paid to the young Frenchman:--a favour he had every right to ask, from one who had received so many more important ones at his hands.--
General O'Donnell, in his reply, stated that he had but acted in conformity with instructions received from Madrid--that Monsieur Murat had some months previously landed at Malaga from a vessel which, when on its passage with him to America, had been obliged to put into that port to repair some slight damage experienced in a gale of wind--that, during his stay there, he had publicly expressed his hostility to the king's government, and, instead of proceeding to his destination when the vessel again put to sea, he had appeared rather disposed to establish himself in that (not over-loyal) city.--The Spanish government viewed these circumstances with a very suspicious eye; particularly as his elder brother had, but a few years before, been one of the _aspirans_ to the constitutional crown of Spain;--and he had consequently been sent with a _guard of honour_ to Gibraltar, from whence opportunities for America are more frequent than from Malaga.
In compliance with Sir George Don's request, General O'Donnell promised that every attention should be paid to the youth's comfort, consistent with his safe custody, until instructions as to his disposal should be received from the capital.
The cause of the violent proceedings adopted by the Spanish government turned out eventually to be, that this scion of Despotism had sung _Riego's hymn_ all the way from Malaga to Gibraltar; some of his _guard of honour_ even joining in chorus! and that at Estepona he had, through the influence of a _colonato_,[32] persuaded an old barber who had shaved him--he being the ex-trumpeter of the _Nacionales_--to play the forbidden tune to the astonished fishermen of the place!