Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-05-02
#isfellaitsons.
THE TROUBLES IN SPAIN.

'ONA''' ssstVihptS VI tuC IOitOW CTS VI u AIuC
OF pretenders to establish their power In
the peninsula. Unsuccessful as these
endeavors have been in the past, they
seem even more Quixotic at time when
the spread of liberal principles makes
return to the rule of absolutism alike un-
desirable and impossible. At the most,
these attempts can only result in the des-
truction of the fanatical followers of the
ambitious Bourbon who, like all his race,
seems incapable of learning wisdom by
experience. The Don Carlos whom de-
signing priests and ignorant peasants have
Just proclaimed under the title of Charles
VII. represents the same spirit of religious
and political intolerance as the first bearer
of the name. The formers rallying cry
is; Death to the Liberals" The latter.
as the champion Of the inquisition, found
his natural supporters in the Jesuits.
This century has already witnessed the
unsuccessful efforts Of two predecessors
OF OF the present Don Carlos to ascend the
throne of Spain. The first Carlos Maria
lsidor, SON of King Charles w., hoped to
accomplish his design after the deceass Of
his elder brother Ferdinand. and the op-
ponent OF the constitutional regime natur-
ally supported his pretensions. But
ms chances as heir-presumptive were de-
teated by the Marriage of Ferdinand with
Maria Christina, followed by the enact
ment in 1880 of the pragma,ic sanction.
which abrogated the Salic law, prohibit
ing the succession of females to the crown
and the birth of Isabel. Two years after
wards. when Ferdinand was supposed to
be at the point of death, the Carlists sue
ceeded in fraudulently prevailing upon
him to issue decree re-establishing the
Salic law, but on his restoration to health
this was Withdrawn, and his daughters
rights were confirmed
On the death of Ferdinand in 1888, Don
Carlos proclaimed himself king under the
title OF Charles Y. The Dowager-Regent
Maria Christina declared him a rebel. but
ne was successful in keeping up desul-
tory warfare for five years and making
Spain the scene of bloody dissensions.
Personally, however, he did little or moth
ing in the conduct Of the war The con-
clusion by Maria Christina of the famous
quadruple alliance had left the absolutish
champion no foothold in Spain, so that he
was glad to take refuge in England, from
which. however, he returned and carried
on his operations at home until 1899, when
he was obliged to seek shelter in France.
As he refused to renounce his claims, the
French government detained him at Bour-
ges. BY a decree unanimously confirmed
by the Cortes, his exclusion from Spain
was pronounced perpetual. In 1886 he
adopted the name of Count of Molino,
and having transferred his rights of sue
cession to his eldest son, as the Count OF
Montmolin, he was allowed to leave
France and retire to Austria.
1t was not till five years after the death
of the first Don Carlos in 1855, that his
SON attempted to enforce his claims to the
10 ho1 IL L.
introduce himself in disguise into Spain,
del Of Perpignan for short time, whence
he was permitted to return to London.
Gen. Ortega, Governor of the Barbaric
Isles, was the bold soldier who ventured to
declare him king underline title Of Charles
VI. He reckoned without his host, how
ever, for the little army of three thousand
men with which he landed in Valentia re-
fused to sustain the Quixotic enterprise
Both he and his brother Ferdinand were
, soon after arrested, but were set free after
having signed declaration abandoning
their claims. This declaration they re-
voked after their liberation and arrival at
place of safety, thus re-establishing the
rights which after their renunciati0n had
. been made the occasion of the assertion
of similar claims by Tuan, a younger
brother.
On the death of the pretender, Charles
VI: in 1861, the young man who now
claims to be his righttul successor, was
only thirteen years old. Affairs In Spain
of late years have not been favorable to
his prctensions. To be sure, the abdica-
ton of Isabella on June 25th, 1870, was
followed by Carlist instructions in the
northern provinces, but they were effect
ually put down by the government troops.
Don Carlos himself was on the point Of
assisting in them, when after having met
the Duke of Modena at Lyons and COM
pleted his warlike arrangements, he Was
arrested in that city by the civil authori-
ties. He was then travelling with an
Austrian passport under the name Of the
Marquis OF Alcantara. Being reminded
that he could reside only in the north Of
France, and that ii this condition were
violated he must leave the country, the
Prince proceeded to Switzerland.
These Carlist uprisings depend largely
upon the attachment, which is all the more
intense because misguided. of the noun
taineers to the Bourbons, which in many
respects resembles that of the Scottish
Highlande.s to the Stuarts. They are
still more dependent. however. upon the
cunning of priests acting upon the credul-
ity of peasants. But the time has gone by
for even that measure of influence which
once attended them when England and
France allowed recruiting within their
states for troops to put them down. They
/. have no generals like Zumalacarreguy and
s. Cabrera, and no hold upon the advanced
sentiment of the age. They may add fary
=. to the contending factions with which
5 Spain is tormented, but they cannot nope
to lift to power the exponent of an anti, i,
ouated absolutism. The Escorial will
never be tenanted by the pretenders,
whose imbecility in the past Is sure
pledge of their impotence in the future.