The French cavalry, hearing the tumult, entered the city by the gate of Alcala--a column of 3000 infantry from the other side by the street Ancha de Bernardo.

Some Spanish officers headed the mob, and fired on the soldiery in the streets of Maravelles: a bloody massacre ensued: many hundreds were made prisoners: the troops, sweeping the streets from end to end, released their comrades; and, to all appearance, tranquillity was restored ere nightfall.

During the darkness, however, the peasantry flocked in armed from the neighbouring country: and, being met at the gates by the irritated soldiery, not a few more were killed, wounded, and made prisoners.

Murat ordered all the prisoners to be tried by a military commission, which doomed them to instant death.

It is disputed whether the more deliberate guilt of carrying the sentence into execution lies with the commander-in-chief himself, or with Grouchy; it is certain that a considerable number of Spaniards--the English authority most friendly to the French cause admits _ninety-five_[58]--were butchered in cold blood on the 3rd of May.
This commotion had been preceded by a brief insurrection, easily suppressed and not unlikely to be soon forgotten, on the 23rd of April, at Toledo.