Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1878-03-27
A Royal Duel.

The history of the reign of Isabella,
mother of Alfonso, the present King of
Spain, can be briefly told. 1t was storm
and scandal from the very beginning
Ministry after ministry followed each
other-one, the conversative ministry
of 1858, continuing in power only forty
hours. In 1868 the trouble grew worse,
aud serious revolution was threatened
The Queen suspected her brother-in-
law, the Duke de Montpensier, and one
of the claimants to the throne in the
right OF his wife, and great iutriguer,
| with having aroused this revolution,
and one of her last acts was to ''invite"
him TO leave Spain. 1t was too late,
for, if popular rumor is to be trusted,
the Duke had already with his ample
funds placed Prim and Topete in posi-
ton to make their demonstration sue
cessful. With the Queen safely out of
the country, and her return made
moral impossibility, the Duke, who had
given in his adhesion to the provisional
government, and been allowed to return
to Seville, began an active canvass for
the vacant throne. At one time it gave
every promise of being successful, so
strongly was it supported by almost the
whole of the Liberal party.
But destiny had not done with the
TOO clever house of Orleans. A tragical
incident supervened upon his candidacy
and put him as thoroughly out of the
race as he had helped to put his royal
sister-in-law. On the 18th of January,
1870, the brother of the nominal King,
Don Francis, Don Henry de Bourbon,
Duke of Seville, used toward the Duke
of Montpensier, in a letter addressed to
SerranO and instantly published, terms
30 abusive that hostile meeting was
expected atonce TO result from it. Mont
pensier, however, allowed it TO go I'M
challenged. On the 9Th of March, in
Letter to the MOntpensierists, Don
Henry repeated the insult in more az
gravated form, calling the French duke
a ''Jesuit conspirator" against the peace
of the country and the happiness of the
people, and "bloated French pastry
cook" Montpensier had now no issue
left in such a country but to fight, and
on the 18th of March, 1870, the royal
cousins met at Dehese de CarabancheI
almost at high noon. Don Henry won
the choice of pistols and ground, and
the first shot. Moutpensier's second
bullet struck the princes pistol, and,
hra = h =
Montpensier's seconds thought the duel
might end here, but those of Don
Henry, Senior Rubio and another Re-
publican deputy thought otherwise.
''He has got my range" said Don
Henry, quietly, as they faced each other
for the third time. The Spanish princes
bullet missed, but MOntpensier's struck
him in the head, and he fell dead. "My
God, what have 1 done?' exclaimed
the Duke, as he bent over the dead man,
and he muttered in French some in
coherent words about protecting the
family" Though the duel had un-
doubtedly been forced upon the Duke
of Montpensier, rumOr hinted that the
imperial diplomatisJs of the Tuileries
had helped to fOment the quarrel in
order to destroy MOntpensier's chances
for the crown. If so, they merely helped
to draw upon the Tuileries the awful
of the German invasion!
So strong was the feeling awakened
against the French duke who had killed
a Spanish prince, and who furthermore
was the representative of Guizot's un-
forgotten intrigue, that the son of Louis
instantly became the best hated
man in Spain. Popular he never had
been. He was accused of parsimony,
though he had immense wealth, OF
alternate arrogance and subseryiency,
Of an incorrigible passion for plots, and
Df an unmanly hereditary trick of de-
serting his associates at a pinch. His
chances for the throne ended with the
shot which slew his cousin. What pros
poets there may have been of the eleya-
ion of the German Prince Leopold of
it is idle now to discuss.
They are wrapt in the war clouds of
lS70-71. On the 10th of November, 1870,
he Duke of Aosta, the second son of
Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, OBJ
aimed l9l out of 81 votes, Montpensier
receiving only Twenty-Five. Immedi-
itely after the fatal duel with the Duke
Of Seville, Montpensier had left Spain,
I cOurt-martial having sentenced him
10 months banishment from the capital
and to pay a fine of 81, 900 francs to the
family of the dead prince, whose sons
declined to receive it.