The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-12-03
NO. 36

= JSSo AseAU oo4AO, Uu lOI6luCdblOQS.
The youthful King-he was only Ii
years of age-had no reason to complain
y OF bis reception by his people. They were
!, more than tired of succession of alleged
: republics, but in reality military dictator
ships, and bored to death with the at
+ tempted citizen-monarchship of Amadeus
: the imported king from Savoy, and so the
g return Of their hereditary ruler was re-
garded as blessing by the nation, and ur
d tosthe hour of his death Alfonso was Q
: popular monarch. He soon showed that
he belonged to family accustomed to rule
D their fellow men, and more than once
: While still in his teens, he overthrow the
! mandates of his ministers by the obstinate
Y refusal to sign ''Yo Ell rey.n Nor did he
, show any desire to preserve that de.
corum of habit and conduct which the
: lesson of his mothers life should have
taught him. On the contrary, his gal
lantries were SO many that his courtiers
: called him their liking Charles, . a mem
orysof the English Merry Monarch.
But for while genuine love kept him
} in subsection and out of mischief. His
cousin Mercedes, daughter of the Duke of
Montpensier, who had been one Of his
earliest and best-liked playmates, had be-
come beautiful young woman. Alfonso
saw her and did what very few royal per-
sons have a chance of doing-fell desper-
ately in love, and found, what is still more
uncommon in royal circles, that his love
was returned. After suffering all the diff
| fculties which illustrate the proyerb,
true love never did run smooth, "he mar
ried Mercedes, only to see her die in his
arms a few months afterward. K sear
| later he married the Archduchess Chris
tine of Austria, as much for state reasons
as anything else, and in an interview with
his Majesty, which was published in a
French paper shortly before his second
nuptials, the King tells the story Of both
his wives
HIS LOVE FOR QUEEN MERCEDES.
II had, said the King, inferred my
whole past in the grave of Mercedes.
From my earliest youth she was my only
thought. Her image was ever present in
my mind, when passed my examinations
at the Vienna Theresianum, amid nv
comrades at the military school in Eng
land, in my study, and in the battle. lines
OF Lacar. 1t was against the wish of her
family and mine, against the advice of
President Canovas, and against public
opinion, which dislikes the Montpensier
| family, that succeeded in making her my
my wife. Iloved her as kings rarely do, and
lived with her like the most affectionate
bourgeois. We were never apart. We shared
equally work, pleasure and danger. Whenev-
er went out shooting by myself l brought
her home my bag. told her beforehand
whatever meant to say in public speeches.
She took deep interest in everything l
did, everything I said and everything l
attempted. When she died 1 desired
nothing SO much as to die myself. For
two months / shut myself up in the
Escurial, not, as has been stated, to ad-
dict myself to ascetic practices. like Philip
II, for am not bigot. but to weep over
Mercedes coffin.
AFTER that l sought amusement to
drown my grief, but I ultimately found
this existence would not do. Now that
am promised the hand Of the Archduehess
Chistine | feel that I am born to a new
life, and that may yet again be happy. It
is not for me, who love the Archduchess,
to make general reflections as to the best
sort of women. The Archd uchess uniteS
all the qualities of the best types of the
Viennese, for which l have much SYM
pathy. Her character is frank, her tenn
permanent gay. She is resolute. She was
made to insure the happiness of a man
worn out by anxiety and receptions, who
yearns for recreation at his own hearth. -
During the years since his second mar
riage Spain has been racked with earth
quake and pestilence, and on several
occasions King Alfonso has endeared him
self to his subjects by personal visits to
the hospitals and lavish contributions to
the sufferers. 1t, however began to be
noticeable that the health of the King was
growing feeble, and it was whispered that
signs Of hereditary disorder were making
themselves perceptible. The birth of two
daughters was a severe disappointment to
Alfonso and his subjects, and anxiety for
the Kings condition became of grave i'm
portanee, for female succession in Spain
would probably mean another civil war.
Public thought was diverted very recently
by the complications in the Carolines, and
doubtless the modification Of his position
in quarrel with the Mighty German EN-
pire fastened the Kings death. His legit-
mate successor is the little daughter born
in 1880, Maria de las Mercedes Isabella,
Princess of Asturias, who will ascend the
throne as Isabella III. 1t is limited, how
ever, that the widowed Queen is enciente,
and king may yet be born to the throne
of Spain.
To the student of history, the brief
sketch Of King Alfonsos life affords food
for much interesting contemplation. His
marriage with Mercedes of Montpensier
was the too late fulfllment of the crafty
policy which cost Louis Philippe, Of
France, his throne, and, by bringing the
Napoleons to power. laid the mine which
in after years exploded and drove Queen
Isabella into exile. The second marriage,
which again made an Austrian prin-
cess the consort of a Bourbon, recalls the
union of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette,
and both the fair Hapsburgs seemed to
bring misery and desolation in their train
With Marie Antoniette came famine rev
olution and regicide with Christine, earth
quake, cholera and, possibly now, civil
war of succession, or revolution.
There have been several wars of success
sion with the Spanish Bourhons. They
came to the throne amid a deluge of blood,
for the bequest of the throne of Spain by
the childless Charles II of the Austrian line
of Monarehs to the grandson of Louis
XIV, in 100, caused a fierce war with
the German-Austrian emperor, who re-
garded the Spanish succession as the natu-
raj heritage of the main dominion of
Charles V. However, the French Prince
won the day and began the line of Spanish
Bourbons. The father of Queen Isabella,
Ferdinand VII, annulled the Salic law to