The New York herald., 1878-11-11
ALFONSO'S ESCAPE
The Attempted Assassination Of the
King Of Spain.
INSECURITY OF THE DYNASTY.
Insncere Supporters, intriguing Politicians
and Sulen People.
BEARING OF THE YOUNG KING.

MApRID, Oct. q, 1873
.ne news flashed across the Atlantic Friday last
of the dastardly attempt to assassinate King
Alfonso MI. will have startled the American public
That "killing is no murder" when applied to royal
personages, is doctrine which. years roll on,
seems to be gaining adherents. Few of the crowned
heads Of Europe have failed to pass through the
pleasant ordeal Of the assassin's dagger, bomb or
ball Queen Victoria. of England; Queen Isabella
OF Spain; the late Emperor of the French,
Napoleon H.; Amadeus, of Savoy and his father
the late King Victor Emmanuel of Italy; the present
Emperor of all the Russas and the venerable Kaiser
Wilhelm of Germany, have all had their lives at
tempted by cowardly miscreants or infatuated mad
men. But. as Shakespeare says "There is divinity
doth hedge king" and in none of these instances
did success crown the regicida attempt Strange to
say but yet is fact that the only two instances in
our own days where the deadly bullet found its
"billet' in the persons OF the chiefs OF the
state were those OF President Lincoln and
General Prim--men who. though ruling the
aestinies of their respective countries. had
no pretensions to royal blood and no desire to
the purple. They paid the penalty of death for their
dsinterested loyalty their fellow countrymen ut the
hands of suborned murderers All of kngly race have
hitherto escaped and to the long list is to be
added the young Bourbon, who, noens volens, has
been thrust into the most rickety throne upon EARTH
against whom the dastardly attempt was made on the
occasion Of his return to the capital from his provn
cal tour Providence has protected the lad and it is
popular sympathies toward him to greater extent
than they have hitherto been manifested.
INSECURITY OF THE BOURBON DYNASTY.
Discreet and painstaking Don Alfonso has been
from the very day when, a Sandhurst pupil, he
received the that the throne of his ancestors
at his disposal and many as are the enmities he has
overcome it is secret to him or to anybody else
that he has much yet to do he feel that his
throne is consolidated and his dynasty secure. A
n
monarch only do so for the loaves and fishes he
throw into their laps Some of his most ardent par
tisans of those who egged his mother. the
cxQueeD Isabella to ruin and then deserted her in
her fall. Others of them nay even some of his pres
misguided lady in 1863 and not only helped to drive
her from the throne and into exile but actually took
revolution, Amadeus of Savoy. Could any monarch
in his sober senses give farthing rushght for the
loyalty of men like these Then outside
the charmed circle in which he moves the
malcontents arc legion, and nothing but
time and the evidence OF national prosperity
and progress under his rule will induce them to
cast in their lot with the restoration and to their
enmity to the Bourbon Proof Of this is the
strong determination of the existing government to
OF nothing like an opening of the safety valve
Of public opinion. The gagged press and the for
but indications in the same direction. All this has
but one effect in the minds of the unrehecting
both in Spain and abroad-namely to make them
think all is peace when in reality there is no
peace and nothing but the forced absence Of noise
All this Is very much to be regretted for IL Spain
must be true to her ancient traditions and remain
monarchy she could not have more worthy and ap-
propriate monarch than Don Alfonso. Young as he
himself man enough to resist the extreme Catholic
inspirations of his mother, grandmother and sister
veritabe trinity of fsnaticism and ntolcr-
ance-the impulses and suggestions Of sun
dry willy bishops and archbishops, the intrigues
seadu and onx h n
held his own and done all that mortal could do to
prove himself worthy of the throne of San Fernando.
A,f
not his, but rather of the institutions he represents.
Those institutions doomed to perish and it is but
THE KINGS HABITS
As soon az the traditional nine days of seclusion
prescribed by Spanish custom after family affection
had passed Don Alfonso with saddened heart betook
himself to the Escorial where day by day and night
by night he might be frettng and weeping by the
side OF the temporary mausoeum OF his lost Mercedes
in OF the capas of that gorgeous edce. That he
mourned his wife deeply and sincerely there be
doubt. 'Would to God / had lost my kingdom rather
than have lost INV wife, was his petulaIt excla,na.
Zion to Of his Minister'S in the early days of his
sorrow who chided him for fretting so uninanfully
when cares Of state called for all his manhood They
were an attached couple, and IL II were not
cuse can be pleaded for the early match After his
retirement to the Escorial the King only came to
Madrid two three times TO attend the councils OF
his Ministers, always returning the evening by
rail to the lonely temple OF ~ Philip II; Small trips
tains and the still older one of La Granja, filled up
his time. At last he determined. like wise man. to
try to shake of his melancholy and bestir himself
anew to the duties of his high position. His ad-
visers not long in finding occasion. II
was to be a visit to the northern cities and series
OF grand military in the plains near VII
toria. Accordingly Avila with its dingy cathedral,
narrow streets and coistered converts; valadod.
with its ancient pile, its classic walks, its public
square (the site of many auto de s and its unprc-
entious house where the immortal Cervantes lived and
abored, visited each in their turn. Warm popu-
lar ovations greeted the sorrowing monarch AZ he
dreamly sojourned in these fossil cities of old SPAIN
victim of countless official breakfasts dinners recep
IONS parades and third class theatrical performances
Once. and once only, did His Majesty seem at home
and that was on his visit to the time honored and
world famous archives of Smanca. Vitoria at last
was reached and the military "manGuvres'' COM
menced. respectable army OF fifteen to twenty
thousand men had been gathered together, and dur
ing several days put through their facings by
the King in person, in the presence of military del
egates from various Of the European nations. Our
own General Grant, invited by the King to vitoria
witnessed these displays and to him. IN to practical
man. rather than my self unuuformed civilian
leave all expression of opinion to the efficiency
non-eiicency of the Spanish troops there engaged.
All being overthe last redoubt taken. the last mine
order Of the day and the King resolved to return to
his capital stopping at Logrono and Zaragoza by the
way. AT Iogrofo his interview with the veteran
Espartero, Duke de la Victoria, was most affecting
In Zaragoza. the brave. he stayed four five days.
and ON Friday morning set of for Madrid.
THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION.
Nothing particular occurred to the royal train 1t
sped To the capital enthusiastic greetings ut
he dcpots. hastily passed. and triumphant manifesto
ions Of bunting, powder and coquence at the three
Or four towns where u halt was arranged. At half
past three r. NJ the OF artillery announced the
astefnlly and appropriately decorated for the occa
sion. On the platform His Majesty was received by
the civil and military authorities, commissions
from the Cortes, &c, in grand state. He looked
laded and pale In the midst OF one Of the
most imposing military displays ever witnessed he
mounted horse and rode to the neghboring Church
Of Atocho. where but ten short months ago he was
Joined In holy wedlock to Dofa Mercedes dOrleans.
his cousin. daughter of the Duke OF Montpensier.
at the gate of the church he met by his sisters
The Princess of Asturias at their head. He looked
the picture of misery and sadness. The solemn "Te
lte aoaiu mi nuIx hrill.
ant staff rode off to the palace. In among the
'staT' noticed Generals Primo de Riveros, Concha.
Qucsada, Torear Azcarraga and Others Most
p the houses rynte were gayly decorated and flags
were hoistcd on all the public buildings. Troops to
the number of nearly fifteen thousand lined the
streets and the order perfect All along the line
the ladies in the balconies waved their handkerchefs
and threw flowers across the path Of the youthful
sovereign. The Botanico. the Prado, the Cac Alcala
and the crowded Pucrta del Sol all safely
trivcrsed, no one dreaming of danger But now the
cayalcalc has entered the Gale Mayor Two PAGES