Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1874-01-24
What Is Carllsm /!

iScribner'S has timely and interest
ing paper on "Carlism in Spain, (which
at this juncture of affairs in that un-
happy country will commend itself to
many readers. The fact is that what
are now painfully notorious as the Car
ist troubles had their birth no longer
ago than March 20, 1880, when Ferdi-
nand VII. caused to be republished,
with additional sanctions, the Pragmat-
lea of his father, Carlos w., in order to
remove every obstacle which might be
in the way of the succession to the
throne of then expected child, what
ever its sex might be. AS the child
proved to be a daughter, since well
known as Isabella III. , her birth became
the signal for civil commotion in the
interest of Don Carlos Ferdinand's s
brother, aiming to revive the French
Salic law which Philip V. had intro
duced, and which the Pragmatica had
nullifed. We have not space to give
the writer's rapid but graphic summary
of historical events occurring during
Ferdinand's lifetime, nor the lucid and
interesting record he reproduces, touch
ing the celebrated Salic law itself. But
our readers will be glad to look over the
following clear statement of the Carlist
question proper, and its present posi-
tion as an element of discord in Spain.
"In a little less than year there
n oftaY Itha N1 ,ofs OF hn oN
ic Sanctjon), September 80, 1888, Ferdi-
nand died.
His daughter, Isabella IL, was
proclaimed Queen of Spain, under the
regency of her mother, Maria Christina,
and Immediately thereupon commenced
the war of revindication, or of the rival
claims to the throne of Spain. Such
was the origin of the Carlist party.
"The Don Carlos of that day styled
himself Carlos ", as though he were in
reality king, unjustly deprived of his
throne. His son, Carlos VI, Count of
Montmolin, perpetuated the claim, but
died in 1861, without issue, when his
brother, Don Juan de Bourbon, inher-
tied his brothers rights, but instead of
pursuing them signed an act of abdica-
ton at Paris, October 3, 1868, in favor
of his son, the Duke of Madrid, who
now represents the Carlos interests
under the name of Carlos VII.
GAS between the opposing claims OF
the Duke of Madrid and Alphonso, the
Prince of Asturias, it seems to us that
there can be no question. The right Of
Alphonso rests upon the ancient and
undeniable law of the Spanish mon
archy. If it be asserted, in opposition
to his claim, that Philip V. changed the
old Spanish law and substituted the
Salic law, which prevailed in France,
with the consent of the Cortes, it may
be answered that Carlos ~. and Ferdi.
nand VII. changed the law back again,
with the consent of the Cortes, and re.
stored the ancient law of the realm
and their act was surely as valid and
effective as that of Philip V. ,Alphonsc
is the son of Isabella II. and francisco
d'Assise, Duke of Cadiz, who were mar.
ried October 10, 1916. The Duke ot
'Cadiz is son of the Infant Francisco de
Paula, brother of Ferdinand VII.
"The Duke of Madrid, Carlos VII.
the Pretender, Prince of Bourbon and
Este, was born at Venice, March 27,
1848, of Don Juan de Bourbon and
Donna Beatrix d'Este, Archduchess OF
Austria. He was educated in the Mill.
tary Academy of Vienna In 1867 he
married, at Gratz, Styria, the Princess
Margarita de Bourbon, daughter of the
Duchess of Parma, and niece of Comte
de Chambord, the claimant of the
French crown, as heir of the elder
branch of the house of Bourbon"