The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-02-09
ALFONSO.
HIS CATHOLIC MAJESTY

HIS CATHOLIC MAJESTY.
THE DOUBTFUL PATERNITY OF THE YOUNG
KING-soAE FACTS IN RELATION TO HIS
CLAIMS To THE ROYAL SUCCESsION-A RO-
NANCE IN SPANISH HISTORY.
The Sentinel has already given the
biographical sketches Of the present claim
ants, false and true, to the Spanish throne.
The following communication is from the
Chicago Tribune, and relates 10 the probable
paternity of the newly proclaimed king,
Alfonso XII: A paragraph las been going
the rounds TO the effect that Alfonso
should not object 70 paying the debts owed
by his gay and dissipated mamma, because II
she had not been SO unprincipled he might
have been the son OF her poor, feeble has
band, instead of--what he is. This as
sumption shows a degree of ignorance OF
contemporaneous history quite wonderful
in a journalist, though natural enough
in anyone else. The truth is that
il Isabella had guided her con-
6uct by the strict line that most ladies follow,
Alfonso and his brother and sister would
have been deprived altogether OF the cues.
tionable blessing of mundane existence
Most people have heard of the Spanish
Marriages." great socio-politIcal intrigue
OF the reign Of Louis PHILIPPE. That crafty
old rat schemed to throw the Spanish sue
cession into his own family through the
|
would have married the Due to Queen
Isabella herself, then marrisgeble, but this
would be too giaring an attempt TO make
French influence predominant in Spanish
matters. Neithert the neighboring monarch
les nor the Spanish people would have
borne il a moment. What was the next
thing TO be done? The infamous plot de-
vised, matured and carried out was as follows
The Ducds Monrpensier was married to the
younger sister Of the queen, and the
queen heself mated with her cousin Francois
c'Assisis Marie Ferdinand. Due de Cadiz,
AN IMPORTANT IMBECIIE
from whom no beirs were to be expected.
The remarks of the queen mother (Christlna)
on the subject of this marriage were very
pointed, though scarcely quotable. Suffice
it to say that she commented on the Dues
physique and his voice as of such a character
as to provoke doubt as to his manhood,
W lille her daughter she knew TO DO of Q
very different constitution. Nevertheless,
the double marriages were performed and
carried out as far as the church and the law
could 90. Thus the children of the Due de
Moptpensier, the grandchildren of Louis
PHILIPPE, the cousin of our friends the
Comte dc Paris and the Due de Chartres
Prince de Joinville, were finally to come to
the Spanish throne. All very fine, Mess
ieures Conspirators. A beautiful plan,--
nothing could be more aStute If not admir-
able, more notable If not noble, more Bur-
bon If not beneficient, more Orleans il not
honest. There was one little flaw in the
structure, one weak link in the chain; it
was this: A party having a contingent
interest in the bargain was not consulted.
Ii only this little defect had been remedied,
the whole magnificent scheme would have
prospered, triumphed, succeeded, passed
fl.e md 2 he
memory of European kingcratt. The nom
consulting party in interest was the
YOUNG, BUxoA, LOVELY BRIDE,
Isabella, Queen of Spain. Almost as soon as
the plan was consummatsd by the double
marriage and the subsequent devel-
opments, the young Sonora Tor Senorita)
discovered it and destroyed it. She flew the
track, kicked over the traces, jumped the
game, saw them all, and went one better
Her method was simple. direct and effective,
and knocked the plot higher than kite.
We can fancy the CONSERVATION at Paris, the
chuckling at Lisbon, London, Berlin,
Vienna, and st. Petersburg, when the first
its interesting family news for Madrid found
way through the slow and torturous channels
by which Intelligence travelled in 1851. True,
the young lady rather overdid her part in
the machine smashing business, but this
extra zeal is TO be attributed to the enthn-
siasm OF youth, or some other cause I'M
known to anyone but herself. At any rate,
Don Alfonso and his brothers and sisters
arrived in due and orderly succession, and,
as might be expected, they are of quality,
in mind and body. quite exceptional in the
Spanish royal lIne-or any other royal line.
The marriage took place in 1916. IL wss
sometime between 1876 and 1850 that =
Spanish noblemaa named Serr2no was
known
A GREAT FAvoRITE IN COURT.
1t was In 1850 that child was born at the
palace, a son who died soon after birth. In
1851 sdaughter was born who is still living.
In 1852 another daughter was born who
died in 1854. In 1856 the queen suffered q
miscarriage, and in 1856 another, and finally
on Nov. IS, 1857, born Francs SEQ
Alfonso, the present king of Spain. Eff
teen years or so having elapsed
after Alfonso's birth, Isabella is
driven from her much abused and
very uncomfortable throne, and Spain
becomes nominally at least q repub-
lie. During the troubles of the turbulsnt
epoch, some good and true men came 10 the
surface from time to time; for instance,
Prim and CASTELAR,, But Prim was asSsssi-
mated, and CASTELAR, depossd, and after
many vicisSitudes one Serreno comes
prime minister Of the republic. From that
time forward events shaped themselves
steadily and consistently toward the res
toration of the monarchy, and they finally
eliminated in the late establishments of the
young Alfonso. One needs only
10 know the facts Of the case TO-