had some inkling of the fact that the prince had been treating direct with Napoleon; and this, along with another unfilial action of the prince, furnished an excuse for a charge of high treason.

It was spitefully pressed home and was revoked only on his humble request for the King's pardon.
Now, this "School for Scandal" was being played at Madrid at the time when Napoleon was arranging the partition of Portugal; and the schism in the Spanish royal House may well have strengthened his determination to end its miserable existence and give a good government to Spain.

At the close of the so-called palace plot, Charles IV.

informed his august ally of _that frightful attempt_, and begged him to _give the aid of his lights and his counsels_.[186] The craven-hearted King thus himself opened the door for that intervention which Napoleon had already meditated.

His resolve now rapidly hardened.