The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-08-29

a5dicatcd his rights in favor of the eldest ci
his three sons, Don Carlos, Count de Monte
molin known also ~ the hrctcndcr Charles
VI. HIS other two sons were Don j uan ana
Don Fernando. Until 1860 the Carlists in
cited sporadic ri.Ings in varioas parts OF
Spain, but never with much success. In that
year, however, Ortega, the GoyernOrGeneraI
of the Balcaric Islands, madc an attempt on
a somewhat larger scale. Having Il strong
garrison under his orders he won it over 10
The cause of Don Carlos and effected Il land
ing on the Californian coast, where the Pre-
tender and his Youngest brother, Don Fer
nando Joined him The attempt proved how
ever, failure The troops of Ortega refused
TO tigh, their cOuntrymcn, and all the leaders
were captured at San Carlos dc la Rapita.
Ortcga was shot, and the same fate was APP
parentlv reserved to the two princes, but
Queen Isabella spared the lives of her cousins
upon the condition OF their abdlcatlng for
ever their claims to the throne, which they
did in an act signed at TOrtosa on the 2jd OF
April of the same year. They were also to
be banishcd forever from SPAN. II Is true
that when they reached the French soil they
Immediately disavOwed the act they had just
signed, as one which had been eXactcd from
them by force; but that disavowaI had less
significance from the fact that both OF them
soon afterwards died Of the cholera at Trieste.
Don Juan remained thus the only descend
ant Of the original Don Carlos. lie was u
liberal, had acknowledged Isabella rs his
Queen, and was living in England without
showing any desire at all TO NEEDLE with pol
itics. But when in 1868 Isabella took flight,
Don Juan, around whom a number of the old
CarliSt leaders had by that time assembled,
ali at once launched out a proclamation as
sertlng his claims, which he at the same
time declared that he abdicatcd in favor OF
his eldest son, the present Don Carlos, then Il
youth twenty years of age
This was the beginning of the present Carl
list movement, and from this brief summary
OF facts it is evident that the whole Carlist
cause is something very closely approaching
to impostWe. Charles VI. having died with
out leaving children, and his brother, Don
Juan, having acknowledged the rule OF lSa-
bella, the present PrCtender has not the
semblancc of right to the throne. Besides, a
distinct provision of the law of Philip v, the
head of this miserable Bourbon dynasty, was
that no Prince of that house, whatever might
be his title to the throne, could ever become
king unless he was bern and educated in
Spain. This point inyalidatcs conclusively
| the professions of Don Carlos, who was born
and educated in Austria. That CarlSm could
have originated and sustained itself forty
years ago, when Charles Y. was himself in
| the field, is Ineligible enough. But that a
young man like the present Pretender-a
man without any recognised ability, and a
perfect stranger in the country Qor he never
saw Spain before 1S12)-could have succeed
ed as he has, is a fact which would be unin.
telhgibe if certain peculiar elements of ma
tional life were not at work in Spain-ele
ments which we may take occasion to review
on some other opportunity.