The times., 1898-07-17
FOUR WEDDING RINGS.
Two Brought GIory to Spain and
Txyn Destruction, E-s4tF-

Two Destruction. 17e-t'f
Just at the moment everything Spanish
has a touch of vitality. So ii Is worth
while TO bark back a bit and see how
Spains greatness and her undoing had
springs that lay hid in the roupd of
wedding ring.
Several wedding rings. indeed. The first
of them went on the finger of Isabella,
the Catholic, heiress and queen of CASTLE.
1t was her marriage to Ferdinand of Ara
gon which made a Spanish Christian pow
er strong enough to send the Moors out
of Spain. Isabella was royalty charitable
and more than royalty pious. Witness her
VOW not to change her smock until Gran
ada was taken and the infidels out of
the land. She thought il would be but
matter of days. Instead it was three
years. but she kept her VOW. OF course,
a royal garment could not become dirty.
This one grew yellow and almost fell to
pieces. Dyers reproduced its hue-"Isa-
bella color was the proper loyal wear.
Columbus may have had a ribbon of it in
reward for finding new world.
She was a good queen, and better wo-
man, but grief is no respecter of persons.
Her son died in early manhood There
remained, 10 inherit CASTLE, Aragon,
Leon, all the wide new world, only her
idiot daughter, known in history as Ju-
anna la Folie, or Jane the Foolish. Fate
works darkly. Perhaps the insanity was
means TO the end of greater upbuilding
Juanna married MaSimilian of Austria
whose mother Mary of Burgundy. heiress
of Charles the Bold had left him that fair
Kingdom. OF his marriage with Juanna
came Charles the Fifth, ruler of three
fifth of his times known world. Besides
the lberian peninsula, he held the Low
Countries. Bavaria, Burgundy large
part of Italy and the greater moiety of
what is now the German empire He was
himself emperor, and holy Roman emper-
| or, as absolute in his well-settled domiu.
| ions as were his viceroys in the world
! wide Spanish colonies.
Spanish power and pride indeed reached
| their apogee in him. Yet. as all the
| world knows, he left his throne gave
! over place and power TO his son Phillip
ana spent his last years in the Escurial
| the gloomy and fantastic palace of the
| gridiron. busted in trying 10 make in
| numerable clocks keep the same time and
drawing from his failure a philosophic
! condemnation of his own earlier efforts 10
! make mems consciences keep exactly the
| same gait.
Now there is notorious discomfort with
| the rule of Queen Regent Marie Christine.
good woman and good mother that she
| unquestionably is. Tradition is long lived,
and 10 most Spaniards national history is
tradition. Not NATURALLY they remember
| that other Marie Christine. whose ambi-
ton wrought so i'll for her adopted coun-
try, a princess of Naples Bourbon. Of
course-she married King Ferdinand. not
so long after Wellington's English bay
| onets had put him back on the throne
| Napoleon had toppled over. The Spanish
| royal succession had until then been gov
erned rigidly by the Salic law-that is 10
say, Il went by the male line. Marie
Christine had only daughters. She was
young avaricious, vindictive Her hus-
band was infirm, a broken-down 4f-hau-
chez. At his death she preferred 10 be
the queen mother, possibly also queen
/ regent, rather than the queen dowager
hopelessly out OF date. SO she wrought
on the weak king TO set aside the Salic
law in favor OF ner daughter Isabella
thus shutting out his brother Don Car
los. Hence the Carhst party. They are
you will understand, the legitimists OF
Spain-the people who cling TO the old
ways, and believe in divine right and
male line. The Don Carlos of oar day is
a son of the first one. Ii was about lS3.
that Ferdinand set the royal tradition Al
naught He died very soon afrsrward
His widow and her low-born favorite
Manuel Godoy, got many fine fright il
course of the first Carlist war, but in tht
One last marriage brought Spanish for
tunes, Spanish honor to the lowest cob
Along toward 1SfT-S there was a great
bother among crowned heads regarding
the match young Queen Isabella mi gh
make She had nOminally come to the
thrOne-Slarie Christine and Godoy haC
been driven out of the country. She wa.
fat and ugly and stupid The Queen.
mother had purpOsely left her uneducat
ed. TO find her resource in a sort of pas
try cooks museum. --.. III -r...-
Isabella's younger sister the infantS
| Louisa, was graceful and beautiful. Bu
; princes on marrying bent overlooked he
she might have castles in Spain but N
throne. Every cabinet in Europe wa.
concerned TO tind Isabella a husband No
body closely affiliated to regning hous
t was eligible. because ali the other reign
: ing houses feared such an allnace-i
would be equivalent to giving Spain owe
J to that particular influence
Louis PHILIPPE, the willy citizen king
was nightly interested. He laid and car
: ried though a plan worthy Macchiaveli
: 1T was to marry his son. the Due d'Mont
] pensier TO Louisa, and bring about
: union between Isabella and her imbeciI
l cousin. Don Francisco d'Assissi. IsabelI
{ said openly that she hated the man VIII
: had been forced upon her. What so like
~ as that the marriage should prove un
= fruitful, and King Louis. Phillipe's grand
child, come to the throne?
This was reckoning without the host
5 of Isabella's lovers. Her misgovern
ment and gallantries, equally shameless
= ended in the loss of her kingdom. The
ought to be judged with the extenua
: tiOns of a mothers example, and the vic
d lence done to every womanly instinct b
= the exigencies of statecraft.