The Sun.
London, England, 1848-04-27 00:00:00

THE SPANISH MARRIAGES.

Th; fot firth number of the Revue Retrospective,
published at Paris by M. Taschereau, contains the
following, important and interesting correspondence
respeetii-ig the Spanish marriages :
CHRISTINA To LOUIS PHILIPPE.
LZTTk;II FllOn QUEEN
Madrid, this 15th Drcember, 1844.
To 11. M. the King of the French, my beloved uncle.
Sire,—The kindness which your Majesty has always
manifested towards me encourages me to present to you
my respects and my congratulations on the occasion of
the marriage of the 'like d'Aumale. I hope that this
union may prove a source of happiness for all the ruyal
family, but more especially for your Majesty and my
dear aunt.

NV 14 are approaching also the holy festivals of Christ-
mas and the New Year, and I now pay you my respects
for those days. I can never forget, the pleasure I felt in
spending them near you, near aso estimable family ! I
trust one day to see that happiness renewed. If my
duties retain me at present near my beloved daughters,
I hops that, as soon as our wishes are accomplished, I
may be able to fly to you, personally to renew the ex-
pression of my sentiments. What those sentiments are
is no secret to you; you may therefore believe in the
sincerity, and accept of the wishes I offer up for you,
especially on the occasion of the coming holy festivals.
I have another act of duty to fulfil towards you, my
dear uncle; it is to inform you of my marriage with the
Duke or Rianzares. I believe that you know of it, al-
ready, blpeeially through my excellent aunt the Queen;
but I should feel wanting in my duty if I omitted to take
this step myself towards you. My dear aunt regarded
this resolution of mine with that maternal goodness na-
tural to her, and which gave me infinite joy. I doubt
not but this step will be equally well received by you,
whose kindness towards me is so long standing. The
Duke of Rianzares has come in for his share of this
kindness; and believe me, my beloved uncle, that the
gratitude and respect he feels for you are profound.
You may always rely upon his sentiments as upon
mina..
I hope that your health is as good as I wish it to 13.!
for many a long year to come. We enjoy, thanks be to
the Almighty, this blessing, and I have the gratification
to behold my daughters happy. They send you their
homage and congratulations, uniting their wishes to
those offered to God kr.:your Majesty's welfare, by her
who kisses a thousanlttmes the hand of your Majesty,
and is happy to be your Majesty's most affectionate, re-
spectful, and obedient niece,. _

MARIA CHRISTINA.

[To the original of the above letter a note is added in
thu handwriting of the secretary of the ex-King, M.
Fain, as follows :—" The King replied by an ' auto
graph complimentary letter on the 2d of February.
1845." The_following translation was also found in the
portfolio]
TO THE Eurrons oe THE HERALD°.
Madrid, June 6, 1846.
Gentlemen,—As the words pronounced in the Cham-
ber of Deputies of France, on tie 27th of .‘,l ay, by M.
Thiers, ono of its most illustrious members, may give rise
to a renewal of ancient and. unjust accusations against
the Queen-Mother—accusations which never had any
other foundation than the ignorance of facts incompatible
by their nature from publicity—it is impossible to re-
main silent any longer ; for, besides the danger of seeing_
public opinion led astray in the field of conjecture, the
Queen-Mother finds herse.lf attacked in her personal sen-
timents before a respectable body, whose discuSsions
certainly deserve an echo in Europe.
M. Thiers affirmed without hesitation, and w
expressing that courteous doubt which the subject
the circumstances seemingly commanded, ‘, the
Queen-Mother nourished in her heart an unqua
hatred against the sons of her sister; and that,
nated by that melancholy sentiment, she turned to
Naples, to seek for Count Trapani as husband fol
daughter."

"thout
t and
t the
lified
lomi-
rards
her

Whilst the blindness of party spirit has attribn4d to
the Queen-Mother, in tbis serious affair, views bas4d en
political calculations, more or less prudent, or on family
affections, more or less excusable (avouables), to allow
time to reply in presence of the profound silence of those
who might so easily defend this august Princess, Niould
be attended with the serious inconvenience of infallibly
misleading public opinion on a subject which touches so
nearly the royal dignity. To-day, however, when speak-
ing before a French Chamber of the marriage o the
Queen of Spain—of a question which, thougCdiplqma-
tic, is not the less essentially a national one—M. Then
has asserted that its most serious (funestc) complication
arose from the hatred nourished in the heart of the

Queen-Mother; the honour of that Princess, and of
who flatter themselves to have always loyally served,
demand that this unjust accusation, arising from a p
and vulgar sentiment, launched against a person wh
little deserves it, either as a queen or a mother, shl
be refuted.

Snrely, as a queen and as a mother, she ought to be
allowed to form a free judgment of the convenanca or
the impossibility of each of the candidates for the hand
of her daughter; but she has not, nor ever will have,
any other object in view than the welfare of the pe pie
whom she once governed, and it is the highest cons de-
rations of the public interest alone which can make .her
t
reject certain candidates. But, thank Heaven, those
diplomatic and political difficulties will not be increased
by those implacable hatreds, which are not entertained
hy this illustrious princees,;whose illustrious misfortunes
have not caused her to repent of her clemency : the rea-
son is as simple as it is honourable—it is that the Queen-
21iner does not know what hatred is.
Instructed by a long and painful experience, beholding
from the height of her greatness the spectacle of our
misfortunes, in comninnication with the leading men
which, in each contingency, every shade of opinion sent
to the Throne as the faithful expression of their views,
it could not escape her observation that in every faction
there are men and doctrines deserving of approbation ;
that each has had his day of triumph, of error and mis-
fortune ; that sincerity is to be round amongst them all,
and that where sincerity exists party spite is only ae
additional error which the vulgar regard as a political
creed which becomes the haunt of low and vulgar ambi-
tions. And wken such is the opinion of this august
Princess on all these opposed factions who have caused
so much disorder in the kingdom, and of whom there is,
perhaps, not one who has nut offended her, at least by
distrusting her intentions, is it credible that she should
have consulted those hatreds and angers, and not the
most high interests of the Government, to guide her in
the grave question which is to ensure the personal hap-
piness of her daughter, and to weich the country has
attached so many hopes of glory ? The reply cannot
be doubtful, especially as it is expected from the judg-
ment of Spaniards, and not from that of the French
deputy.
It Is truly astonishing that the man who endeavoured
to explain in a manner so little honourable the aversion
of her Majesty to the candidsteship in question, should
not have been more exact in his positive affirmations
that the Queen-Mother ardently desired a Neapolitan
candidate for the hand of her daughter. It is astonish-
ing that the sage historian, so well versed in the policy
of the day, should have gone so far back to find the
origin and the support given to the candidate which he
deplores so much. A solemn light will, however, soon
be thrown upon this serious affair, which has shaken the
union so necessary to the moderate opinion, and has dkl-
prived it of the name of a party, so useful in the hour
of struggle, and the singular martyrdom of this august
Princess will cease—a martyrdom which can only be en-
dured on the steps of a throne—to suffer calumny without
being able to reply to it.
It is true that the distance between the illustrious
French deputy and the modest writer of these lines is
immense; but with truth we nay side, and when my
heart tells me that the cause I defend is
noble and gene-
rous, I never hesitate before the quality of my ad-
veraaries.—l am, &c.,
(Signed)

AN. M. RUBIO.

TO TIER MAJESTY qUEENNIVI„AiI.RIA CHRISTINA.
June
,--tls
16, 1846.
My dearest Sister and NiecelllY' i with astonish-
ment, mingled with a sentiment which
for you prevents me from exeressin my friendship
that I have read the letter which the private more distinctly,
of the Duke of Rianzares has inserteNriivnattensecretary
journals, signed by himself. Nobody:has been abeleMadrid
tcover the end of the insinuations contained in thatladcuis-
remit upon the origin of what is calied the candidate_
ship of your brother, the Count .e Trapani, for the
hand of
,the Queen, your august daughter. In fact, the
discussions which the publication of this letter,
has occesioned in the public journals prove that
,no orte_ootllAl have been mistakeit. that . the design of.
these insinuationr..was, Hot only tti, attribute it to myself!
personally, as well• as to-my Government, but also to,
have it believed that it•was imposed by us against your
opinion and co,itiyry to vour will. These assertions are
so totally false that I am.unzible to tolerate them, and I
now demand justice for them.
' I think I ought, my dear niece, to notice here some
facts, upon' the accuracy Of wbiCh you will not refuse to
tear your testimony. -
At the time you were here in the midst of us, and even
before we had with you those frequent conversations,
those interchanges of confidence which our mutual feel-
ings tendered so pleasing to us, you did not cease to
express your desire that it was one of my ,tong who
should become the hu b dof - Isabella 11. . Y,"
told nz,„harL,. . 5..a11 Queen
this union was the •,, of a great irstijority
of the Spanish
those desists, natiori. You kuc ',w I was touch, 41 by
for whom xlltryLow i ap;)reciate,i t suffrages of a nation
regard, when i explained
all inY life,. so much esteem and
.
x.plained to you, at much length, the
reasons which inter
with, and which obi neill to prevent we acceding to that
and fullTeApeessioale.:" tO demand from you a clear
clifils_ulty. which I had 3touier ;
.:P=nion. I cannot forget the
ever,•,l succeeded you perceive them; how-
in convincing '
necessary to seek sow,e
other elug .You, that it would be
witS rsrofsrable might be founr .You,
and that which
ants of Philip V. These awong the princes,descend-
,_.iikll4, were then marriageable, to the number of
-since married, that number has eof them having been
to six, of whom three (the
sons softhereby been reduced
the deplorable position of bein Don Carlos), being in
canna be thought of; Spain
is deprived
by the law,
advantages which might have been
of the political
fusion of parties so unhappily ; ,
ag.tatant.t:Cir
prated from the
• 'that-the husband of the Queen might be chosen from
among the prinees of the Spanish race,:whor
nunciatiop, or treaty had deprivett.of their,
laVg,:re-
Weir Ilitimat
rights. of succession- to the throne of Spain, the-Cho' choice
_of the_ Qiieri cat Lel•!s,q;,%.,futs t!**eatl a tinita th.e4144-
eoes_;k.-p.,4 I_,-ritit--,„„-s.:..4, operation and foraeYeaa--
- to lie between the Duke of Cadii„ the..l)uke of Seville'
...- and the count Trapani. You know, .-usy-,t,
...ar plece, that
.. • far. from seeking. to influence your choice, ;march:it of the'-'
Quee4 your daughter, I have constantly told you that'
, • Lijegard ,to the first two I thought their quality as
Apt,
tetir:WSl• .. niards, born and educated in Spain, gave them some
___„:l7V< ,
.ritage. ; further, 'that. having myself often seen
1 :E-- ,. - :4003,). J,9g4g- -princes during _ their
.sojourn among
-5c ' adv- 1 lieZeVrd "than worth of
- 4,-: .37 . • • Ott Que4,q's And
4.k,,f,---...?,. ;-. , ~...k.;. .... _.:;,.,,__ _ .., i...._... . .
...,,,,,, ,'yam',
4.1"7.,,:.
~,
..„...:

(4/5

NI S

.mLLthJ

TH

your choice falling upon them. But you_ always told
me it was natural you should prefer your own brother;
you have even stated that this preference had often been
expressed by the Queen, your daughter, and that we
should have been wanting in our duty as parents and
friends, if we had not contributed, as much as it de-
pended on us, to facilitate an union which you appeared
to desire, and which appeared also to us satin actory in
all respects.
But the thought of imposing anything, e i her upon
you, the Queen, or upon Spain, never entered into my
mind, nor into that of my Government. We defy the
production of any trace of it. Still, I will not close
this letter without again calling your attention, as I
have already done so many times, to the dangerous con-
sequences which may follow upon calling a prince, an
entire stranger to Spain, to share the throne of the
Queen, your daughter, or to transfer the Crown into a
tamily other than its own. It is for the interest of the
Crown, for yours, and for that of Spain, that I solemnly
repeat this counsel to you. It is not less the interest of
France, which is so deeply interested in the greatness
and the prosperity of Spain, to preserve that lively
friendship which has united the two countries to this
day, which is now so precious to both, and so neces-
sary for the maintenance of the peace and repose of the
world.

I pray you, my dear niece, to be my interpreter both
with the Queen and the Infanta, your beloved daugh-
ters, in expressing to them, on my behalf, my wishes
for their happiness, and the affectionate friendship
which I entertain for them from the depths of my
heart ; and, for yourself, believe the sincerity of the
sentiment with which I subscribe myself, my very dear
sister and niece, your Majesty's most affectionate brother
and uncle,