Kansas City daily journal., 1896-09-27
tritles after what has so far proved the

tiIities after what has so far proved the
final defeat of the Carlist cause.
1t Is in accordance, also, with the inter-
View cabled over. the other day, in which
Don Carlos is reported to have denied that
he has entered into any engagement with
the pope or with Emperor Francis Joseph
not to attack the Spanish regency. He is
also quoted AZ saying that, while it Is true
that patriotism enjoins peaceful attitude
upon his part at present, the same patriot
ism might counsel a change of opinion, for,
he concluded, he is perfectly free to choose
the opportune moment to reassert his
rights.
All these things, therefore, point to the
certainty that his Catholic majesty in
ment at any time he deems that it has
arisen. His marriage. in 1884, with ting
Princess de Rohan. put him in command
of the necessary sinews of war, in the
shape of an ample fortune This and other
funds have been carefully husbanded for
use At the favorable moment.
who L. Don Carlos.
Don Carlos occupies in Spanish affairs
much the same position that Prince
Charles Edward did in those of Great
Britain during the last century. His fam
ily has been dispossessed for about the
same time. he has made similar ro-
similar heroic highlanders. the dwellers ip
the Basque provinces of the Pyrenees. he
has aroused among them the same en-
thusiasm and devotion. and has been as
sailed by the same weapons of scorn and
ccntumely by the majority in the lower
provinces. The Carlists Today are tha
Jacobites Of Spain. the flower and the
chivalry of the nation. to whom place and
profit-nay, even life itself-are nothing
in comparison with what rightly or wrong
ly they deem their honor and their duty.
The origin of the Carlist imbrogiio dates
back to SO distant an epoch that the mar
rative might almost begin with the tradi-
fionai fairy tale opening Once upon a
time" To be precise, however. 1t may be
said that Carlism as an independent move
ment sprang into being in 1888. on the
death of Ferdinand VII. The son of Charles
w., though barely so at the time of his de-
cease. had led troubled and eventful life.
Compelled by the great Napoleon to resign
in favor of Joseph Bonaparte within a few
days of his accession to the throne, he re-
mained a prisoner in France until the
downfall of the First Empire. Restored to
the throne of Spain after the abdication of
Napoleon at Fontainebleau, his reign son-
sisted of an endless series of dissensions
between the crown and the popular party,
In which the well nigh imbecile monarch
was used in turn as a puppet by each con- on
he emulated the fame of our own Henry
VIII. Within the space of twenty-eight
years he married five wives in succession.
The Princess Maria Theresa, of Naples:
the Infanta Isabella of Portugal. and two
priBcesses of SaXony bore the titles of
queens of Spain and wives of Ferdinand
of 45-married the Princess Christina, OF
NapleS che sister of King Ferdinand H.,
better known as king Bomba.
Birth of Isabella
The last wife of the wornout and weak
minded king was a woman possessing con-
personal attractions, and the birth OF 4
daughter to the hitherto childless monarch
in 1880 confirmed the almost boundless
sway exercised by the queen over her hus-
band. 1t is with the birth of this un-
fortunate princess that the dynastic
troubles of Spain may be said to have cul-
crown on the demise of Ferdinand VII
was his brother, Don Carlos Count of
Molina. the second son Of Charles ". and
grandfather OF the present pretender. The
with the reigning sovereign. He had sided
with the absolutist party when the king
alists. and had even headed an insurrec-
ton in Catalonia, whose avowed object
was the deposition OF Ferdinand VIZ.
Queen Christina. who knew that her ail;nr
husbands days were numbered, and who
was naturally anxious to rrolong her reign
after his death. employed her influence 10
induce him to disinherit his brother in
favor of his infant daughter.
The Sale law stood in the way of her
ambition; but the cortes, in which the
constitutional party then commanded q
majority, dreading the accession OF an alb
soiutist prince, were persuaded to repeal
the law that excluded females from the
throne The king. however. who, accord
ing to the state OF his failing health pass.
ed from abject subjection to the will of his
wife to equally abject dread of the church
was haressed with the perpetual qualms
of conscience as to the eSpediency OF
changing the succession. OF the dark cpl
sodes in royal history there are few darker
than the details of the contest waged dur.
ing the last three years of King Ferdi.
naDd's life between the partisans Of the
queer and those of the priesthood.
Time after time the wretched monarch
changed his mind. Finally the queen car
ried the day. According to the Carlist no.
tion. the dying wishes of the king wers
wi,fully disregarded. and the documents
which would have established Don Carlos
right TO the succession were suppressed 10y
fraud or violence. Be that as IL may. upor
the death OF Ferdinand in 1853. the hab,
Princess Isabella was declared queen oi
Spain under the regency of her mother
For five years afterward the country wa.
Gesolated by q terrible civil war between