The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-05-16
SPANS New KING

Tomorrow, May II, the birthday ami
yersary of the heir to the Spanish throne,
born in 1886, the youth will be crowned
ALFONSO Kill" in Madrid, with all the
pomp and splendor OF which the Spanish
people are SO fond, and the queen re-
gent OF the 2ast sixteen years will yield
the royal orerogative to the sor for
whose heritage she has endured with de-
termination and, patience the storm and
stress Of her regency. Like Maria The
resa, of her own beloved Austria, she was
ready to die for the heir to the throne
and to the coronation day she has ever
looked with a mothers pride mingled with
fervent anxiety
Marie Christina was born Of a stalwart
family. She is the daughter of the Arch
duke Karl Ferdinand: brother of the
Archduke Albreeht who was son of the
distinguished general and field marshal
Archduke Karl and so is, related closely
to the Emperor Francis Joseph. The lady
has not had the sympathy ef.the people
she was called to rule. She took life too
seriously for them. She has had to face
Carlist menaces of revolution and domes-
tic disturbances. through discomfort with
the rigors of taxation; the most ahomin-
able administration Of the government
and the humiliation ot.Spain through the
war with the United States. But she
has held together the interests of her
son, who will have the benefit of her
counsel in the conduct of the government
The prospect of a brilliant and benef-
cent reign for the young king is not re-
assuring. The war deprived Spain of
nearly tie whole remnant of her, once
great empire and destroyed her navy.
The people, since the conclusion Of peace,
have been in very tumultuary condition
and a considerable portion of the country
has been placed under martial law. At
the head of the army IS General Weyler.
who is of the revolutionary makeup Of
Serano and ~Prin. who in 1853 utilized
the army to- drive the dissolute Isabella
H., the grandmother of Alfonso Kill,
over the Pyrenees into France, where she
is now residing repenting for her crimes
at leisure.
Since the expulsion of Isabella in 1863,
Spain has had provisional governmental
regency under Serrano, two years res
toration of monarchy under prince Of
the house of Savoy Carignan, the reign-
ing dynasty.of Italy; then year. under
the Cortes, Amadeus having been frozen
out and compelled TO resign and go homo,
and a short-liyed attempt to have a re-
public under the distinguished i liberal
leader CASTELAR,, who had to face a Carlist
outbreak and the antageism Of the people
TO republican government in any shape.
Then came the military coup and the
proclamation of the Bourbon restoration
in the nerson. OF the. father of the youth
who will be crowned tomorrow head of
a kingdom loaded down with disturbing
influences which none but. the wisest
head can control in the interest OF peas
and prosperity.
The fourteenth monarch of Spain, it is
to be hoped, will have a more comfort
able time than his predecessors have had
since Ferdinand VII. at the beginning Of
the last century, began his ill-starred ca
reer. Since the late war it
is said that there are symptoms
Of the dawn of d new era. of com
aercial and industrial life In old Spain;
.