The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-17
THE KING OF SPAIN.
SOME REFLECTIONS ON HIS APP
PREACHING MAJORITY.

Postponed.
From the New York Evening Post.
Madrid, May 25.-On the occasion of the
fourteenth birthday of the young King of
Spain, May II, 1900, Spaniards have begun
10 realize that the minority of their sov-
ereign is fast drawing to a close, as the
posthumous son of Alphonso XII will
come of age, under the present constitu-
ton of the monarchy, on May II, 1902.
When the late Senior Canovas del Castillo
framed the constitution OF 1876 with the
assistance of the first Cortes of the res
toration, he contemplated fixing the ma
jority Of future sovereigns at the age of
eighteen, ard he recousidered his decis-
ion chiefly because the then reigning SOW
ereign, Alphonso XII, had been restored
10 the throne of his ancestors by the mi +
tary pronunciamento of Marshal Marti-
neg Campos in December, 1874, at the a-e
of seventeen, and had perfectly played his
part. There were precedents besides in
the past of Spain. One King Don Jaime
l. oil Conquistador) was declared of age
al eleven by the Cortes held at Mouzon.
Three kings succeeded at thirteen wears
old, one at fourteen two at fifteen, che
at sixteen, and two at twenty. The pres
ent Kings grandma, her, the ex-Queen
Isabella, was declared of age at thirteen
in lS4S by the Cores. to put an end to
the regency of the widow of King F'erdi-
nand VII, Dona Christina of Naples.
which had lasted ten years. The present
regency has lasted already more than
fourteen years, as Dona Maria Christina
of Hapsburg became a widow and regent
at the end of November, 1875, nearly six
months before the birth of her son, AL
phonso Kill
1t cannot be denied that the widowed
Queen has devote1.X and calamity done
her duty TO the state and her adopted
country. She has made herself wonder
fully respected by the people, and no for
eign ruler ask more. She has done
so especially by her irreproachable con
duct as woman and by the inhexble
way In which she has maintained the tone
and morality of the Spanish court The
breath of Islander has never eullied royal
~ since the reins of government passed
into the hands Ct The Austrian widow Of
Alphonso XII when she was only six-and
twenty, Her subjects of all classes her
enemies, the Carlists and Republicans.
have never challenged her devotion to
her children, and particularly to the son
whom she has had to watch and attend
so affectionately and 50 anxiously
through several severe Illnesses in his in-
FANCY and childhood 1t is said that she
has been rewarded in the way that moth
ers naturally appreciate most, by an OK
fraordinary affection and confidence on
the part of the still delicate-looking boy
Prince, whom she has so~care sully rearej
in the traditions cf the House of BSur-
Don, mingled with not a few Of the IDEAS
and traditions of the Hapsburgs
After looking TO his health, she has slow
ly developed his tastes for outdoor exar-
clses and athletic sports in the nouys of
the day not occupied by a very bread
range of studies Some Of thOca ,tr[o an
proach royalty even express fear that the
precocious interest, the inquiring dispesi-
ton, of their young King have been too
much used by his many pIofe ssors TO
cram him with classics, sciences. logic,
metaphysics, literature, history and math-
ematics. He has shown so much aptitude
Tor foreign languages that he talks and
writes besides his paternal Spanish a
his maternal German, English, French
and Italian. He is said TO be very fond OF
music. and singularly enough, equally so
Z of German classical music and of The
sprightly, gay. popular Spanish melodies
and guitar tunes. The Queen Regent has
shown that, like her predecessor S, she is
convinced that a King of Spain must be
above all a Catholic and a soldier. SIZE
secured for him as a godfather Pope I4eo
XIII, who has ShoWered on his royal
godson and on his mother marks of SYM
pathy and regard, which have sadly dis
pleased and disappointed the p1rtisans Of
the pretender Don Carlos and of his ron,
Don Jaime, still plentiful in many pow
inces Of Spain, in the ranks of the rural
and cathedral clergy, and, above all in
the religious orders of both sexes. She
brought her son up and his sisters. The
Princess of the Auslrias and the InfantI
Maria Theresa, as stanch Catholics. She
gave him as cOnfesSor her own spiritual
adviser the Jesuit Father Montana, aud
Alphonso XIII has been confirmed ana
taken his first communion in The caapei
royal at the palace. He is a regular ctm-
municant several times a year.
The military training of the King be-
gan directly Gen Sanchis was placed at
the head of his staff of professors, and
the colonel of artillery, Loriga, and two
other officers, detailed to initiate him 10
soldering. A select band of young no
bles of about his own age were drilled
with him, and later on by His Majesty,
in the Casa de Campo, large and pic
turesque royal domain outside Madrid,
and during the summer months in che
grounds of the Palace of Miramar at San
Sebastian. This training was tested for
the first time shortly before Alphonso
Kills fourteenth birthday in Madrid. The
Queen Regent, with the War Minister,
Gen. Azcarraga, and all the generals Of
her military household, the professors of
her son, accompanied the King to the
barracks, where a crack regiment of Ca
zadores is quartered with the FIRST regi-
ment Of the line, styled "Immemorial del
Rey," the lneal successor of the famous
"tercios of Flanders" of Charles V. Al
phonso XII wore on this occasion, as he
does at levee. drawing-rooms and all state
ceremonies, the uniform Of the Infantry
Cadet School at Toledo, dark blue tunic,
red trousers and the infantry shake.
Round his neck hung the toison dor or
Spanish golden fleece, and on his breast
was the Black Eagle cross of Germany,
a recent present from the Kaiser. He
took his place first on the right of
company in the evolutions of which,
sword In hand, he took part like any SUI
baltern, and then, stepping out to the
front, he put the company through all
it's tactical movements, giving the word of
command in a shrill, still boyish voice.
Afterward he inspected both regiments,
and ii is intended that he shall hence
forth be frequently put into contact with
the army both in Madrid and in the
provinces, over which he will tour during
the next two years. Nor viii the fleet be
neglected, it seems, as It is an open Sc
cret that Donna Christina wishes to en-
bark with her son and daughters in July,
on the flagship OF the squadron Of evolu-
ton, TO visit successfully Bilbao; Santan-
der, Gijon. Corunna, the arsenal and
dockyard of Ferrol, Vigo, going later on
in the autumn to Cadiz, San Fernando,
and round to the Mediterranean ports in
rdo IN Win n az RgrpplOOH degnitp /