The Express.
London, England, 1846-09-14 00:00:00

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Tam Der.--Maralap, 14 tout. past 9; Afternoon, 51 mia. peg 9.
To.stoasow.—Yarnlag, 38 ma. pat 9; Afternocat, 19 Elia. past 10.

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LONDON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14.
Some circumstances have come to light, and are
but too well attested, respecting the betrothals of the
Queen of SPAIN and her sister, which utterly
preclude those feelings of satisfaction and of hope
naturally excited by the marriages of the young and
the favoured. It is one of the blessings of a constitu-
tional system of government, that the freedom of will
which the people enjoy under it, is also secured in
the more important acfs of life to the sovereign. In
absolutist countries, the emperor, or autocrat, disposes
of the hand of the princes and princesses of his
family, with a power which the young do not even
think of contradicting. Yet even thin is often com-
pensated by that paternal kindness of heart, which
the Czar NICHOLAS, for example, has ever shown in
consulting the affections and predilections of his family.
In the marriage of his children, the Czar has not been
guided by policy or by ambition. Nor has he, to
gratify or aggrandise them, sacrificed the happiness
or free affections of lesser or dependent princes.
In eonstitutional countries, the representative as-
sembly of the nation limits the royal choice to such
families and principles as may not endanger the safe-
guards on which a free government is founded. That
oared for, a sufficient degree of liberty is left to render
a royal marriage a spontaneous act, and thereby to
endow it with those prospects of domestic happiness
so seldom found where cold policy, or avarice, or
senile ambition, dictates the unions of the young.
We regret to say that the poor:Queen of SPAIN has
enjoyed, in the important matter of her marriage, not
one of the advantages or rights which ought to have
been hers either in a despotic or a constitutionalaystem.
A despotic parent would, if kind, have consulted her
affections; i; ambitious, would have concluded a
marriage advantageous to the country, and this ad-
vantage would have reflected credit and popularity on
the marriage. A constitutional control would also
have left some scope to the royal choice; and would at
least have set aside any candidate so physically and
mentally deficient as to render ma Tinge a mockery.
ISABELLA of Spain has enjoyed no such protec-
tion. The King of the French has stepped forth,
as the head of the family, to dictate her marriage;
and in this marriage, neither the free choice, nor the
spontaneous affection, nor the future happiness of the
Queen, have been consulted. They have been all
trodden under foot, and for what ? Not for any
Spanish, or any liberal, or any rational interest; but
to the mere doting, feudal, superannuated desire to
aggrandise and enrich an already over-aggrandised
and enriched family.
The moat important fact respecting the betrothal
of the Queen to Don FRANCISCO D'ASSIS is, that
ISABELLA was moat strongly averse to it, and that her
mother CHRISTINA was equally averse. Both Queens
considered that the happiness of the younger would
be best secured by a marriage with Prince Lnoroto
Or SAXE-COBURG. They both, conjointly, twice
made the demand of the British Government to aid
the young Queen in following up her free choice.
Lord ABERDEEN first refused ; and, he having done
so, the Whig Government does not seem to have
thought it advisable to put itself forward in direct
opposition to what was, indeed, the unwarrantable
dictation of the King of the French, but still to
his long-professed and determined will. They have
probably felt it to be a matter which must eventually
be decided in Spain itself ; if not by appeal to the
better feelings of the French nation.
The Queen of Spain, thus abandoned by the prudent
and perhaps necessary caution of the political parties
succeeding each other in power in England, of course
relapsed under the power of France. That court,
knowing that it could not effect the marriage of the
Due de MONTPENSIER with the Infanta without the
previous or simultaneous marriage of the Queen,
pressed the latter to conclude a match, and presented
Don FRANCISCO D'ASSIS as the least inimical to its
interests. We do not wish to state the chief objections
to DON FRANCISCO D'ASSIS ; Baffin it to know, that
the young Queen objected to it, as most repugnant
to her; and that her mother supported her
repugnance as well founded. M. BRESSON, the French
Ambassador, undertook to conquer this repugnance ;
and he did so, spending a whole night at the palace,
in exhortation, argument, and menace. It was with
evident reluctance, and in tears, that the young
Queen was brought to consent to, and to go through,
the ceremony of betrothal. The middle ages never
offered an example of a forced marriage, more violently
or disgracefully perpetrated, or where the august
victim was more completely sacrificed to the insolence
of a diplomatist, and to the dictation of his master.
Political writers arc much given to grave converse
on the immorality of Spanish Queens and Courts,
of which all ages have unfortunately afforded
example. Such crimes destroyed the respect due to
the throne, and contributed mainly to the fall of that
of FERDINAND'S father. In the present day, with
the principles of freedom sown through the country;
with publicity, more or less enjoyed, and impossible to
suppress; a Queen injured in her reputation loses her
legitimate influence, her hold of the national sceptre. '
Yet those who forte marriage upon a young Queen ;
who give her for husband against her will, a per-
sonage imbecile in body and in mind, the inevitable
object of her contempt ;—what seed do they sow ?
What do they prepare ? We shudder to have to
record, that the brutal zeal of an Ambassador should