Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1875-01-21
ANTEoEDENTs OF ZINC ALFONSO.

The announcement of the proclama-
ton of Prince Alfonso as King Of Spain
and his recognition by the armies
operating against the Carlists of the
| north and centre of,that country, and
by the naval forces at Santander, is q
strange and unlocked for piece of in-
telligence. Upto this time the re
bellion against the Spsnish republic has
been chiefly represented by Don Carlos,
and against him the Republican armies
have been directing all their energies.
That the Republican party in Spain
will now suddenly ane tamely yield to
another royal pretender to the divine
right can hardly be conceived, but
! nothing that happens i'll Spain is en-
titled to be astonishing. Alfonso,
Marquis de Cosadongo, Prince of the
Astu,ias, who will be known as Alfonso
XII, If he should make good his claim,
is the son Of the ex~Queen Isabella II.
and her consort, Don Francis d Assists
and was born at Madrid, November %,
1857, being therefore seventeen years
of age. He followed his mother on her
expulsion from the throne ia 1868, and
continued to reside with her, while re-
ceiying education, until recently, at
Paris and Geneva, having in October
last been granted by the British Govern
nent the privilege of becoming a
student in The military college at
sandhurst, England, where he now Is.
In March, 1870, the prince went to
Rome to receive the sacrament At the
hands of the Pope, on which OCCASION
the Queen wrote to the latter, declar-
| ing to him that she did not aspire to
preserve to herself the right to the
throne, bat to transmit it to the prince
her son, adding; Il have formed the
proposition that the prince shall be
educated in such manner that if some
day the nation needs him, and God
wishes ii, be may go and perform his
labor witho.t exciting the hatred or
the opposition of any of the numerous
factions into which our country is UNI
fortunately divided, for he will have
learned that the good King of Spain
must not belong to any party, but to
all the Spaniards, and that God has
given the kings for the people and not
the people for the kings." On the 25th
Of June, 1870, the Queen signed a
formal sbdication in favor Of Alfonso,
at Paris, in the presence of the royal
family and several Spanish grandees
and generals who adhered to her cause.
At the election for King in the Spanish
Cortes GA the 18th Of the following
November eight votes were cast for
Altonso, while ten votes were cast in
blank BY others OF his sdhersnts. The
result, however, being the election of
Amadeus, of Italy, the Queen issued $
protest sgainat it. Since that time the
scheme for placing Alfonso on the
throne has never been abandoned, but
his sdherents have been % few in or
out of Spain that their intrigues nave
never assumed Importance until the
present. On the 2fd sltimo, in re
Spouse to al address from some
grsndeex, the young prince said that
monarchy alone could terminate the
disorders and uncertainty which pre-
vail in Spsia, aad further declared that
a majority Of the people of Spain We're
agreed 10 the opinion that he il the
only righ,ful representative of the
Spanish monarchy. A day or two ago
it was announced that General Martinez
Campas hsd pronounced in favor of the
prince and hsd carried over two
battslions from tho Republican
army. A portion Of the army Of
the centre was 1t once Withdrawn
from pursuit of the Carlsts to march
against Campas, but now we have it
indicated by cable that the main forces
of Spain, military and naval, have
followed in the ''new movement" that
q regency has been formed under
Conovas del CASTILLO, aud that thus has
been struck the 'death blow to the
Carlist cause.