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Instant Download Test Bank For Principles of Physics A Calculus Based Text 5th Edition PDF Full
Instant Download Test Bank For Principles of Physics A Calculus Based Text 5th Edition PDF Full
Instant Download Test Bank For Principles of Physics A Calculus Based Text 5th Edition PDF Full
1843
1843–1848
I S A B E L L A I I ., Q U E E N O F S PA I N
Narvaez showed that this document was a fraud, as, at the death
of the Infanta, Don Henry was at some distance from Madrid, and
Francisco was at Pampeluna.
Isabella’s own feelings about her marriage were hardly taken into
consideration at all. As a matter of fact, she had been more inclined
to Prince Henry, the younger son of Doña Luisa Carlota, than to
Francisco, and it will be remembered that even as a child she had
admired the portrait of the Prince, which had been secretly sent by
the mother to the young Queen; but inclination had no part in the
negotiations, which were regulated entirely by self-interest and
policy, so the tide of influence was soon seen to be in favour of the
eldest son of Prince Francisco de Paula.
Don Henry was furious when he found he was left out in the cold
in the negotiation for the marriages of Isabella and her sister.
In a letter to Bulwer Lytton he writes:
It was soon seen that General Serrano’s influence with the Queen
surpassed the ordinary grade, and the Moderates were alarmed.
There were two parties in the royal palace—one on the side of
the Queen, and the other on that of the King; and the leaders of
these parties fostered the difference between the royal couple.
Francisco Pacheco, the King’s partisan, declared that a President
of the Congress was wanted who would give more independence to
the Crown, and who would receive the counsels of an intelligent
husband of the Sovereign; for the King-Consort should not be in a
position so secondary to that of the illustrious mother-in-law that she
can boast of having more power than he has.
When Isabella saw that Queen Maria Cristina’s influence in the
State was much resented by the Ministers, she advised her to go on
a visit to her daughter, the Duchess of Montpensier, and this counsel
was followed.
However, the want of union between the King and Queen was
soon evident to the world, and when it was announced that Isabella
was going to spend the rest of the summer at Aranjuez alone, whilst
the King remained in Madrid, it was seen that the Serrano influence
had become serious enough to cause a separation between the
royal couple. Isabella’s naturally good heart seemed softened when
she was leaving the palace, and it was evidently remorse which
prompted her to look anxiously back from the carriage, in search of a
glimpse of the husband at one of the windows of the royal pile. But
the coach rattled on, and the Queen’s search was in vain; whilst her
sad face, with its traces of tears, showed that things might have
been better had not the differences of the royal couple been
fostered, for their own ends, by intriguers of the camarilla.
Forsaken by his wife, Francisco followed the advice of his friends,
to enjoy himself in his own way; so he repaired to the Palace of the
Pardo, where banquets, hunting-parties, and other festivities
deadened his sense of injury at his wife’s conduct.
Those interested in the welfare of the land were disappointed
when the birthday of the Queen was celebrated by her holding a
reception alone at Aranjuez, whilst the King had a hunting expedition
at the Pardo. The Ministers came to the reception at Aranjuez, and
then promptly returned to the capital, leaving the Queen with her
trinity of Bulwer, Serrano, and Salamanca. General Salamanca was
at last sent by the King to Aranjuez to advise Isabella to return, but
she would not accept the condition of a change in the Serrano
position.
This refusal made the King decline to assist at the reception of
the Pope’s Nuncio at Aranjuez, and he was forbidden to return to the
royal Palace of Madrid.
Benavides, a courtier, anxious to heal this unhappy division in the
Royal Family, came to Francisco, and said:[16]
“This separation cannot go on; it is not good for the Queen or for
Your Majesty.”
[16] “Estafeta del Palacio Real,” Bermejo, vol. ii.
“That I can understand,” returned the King; “but she has chosen
to outrage my dignity as husband, and this when my demands are
not exaggerated. I know that Isabelita does not love me, and I
excuse her, because I know that our union was only for State
reasons, and not from inclination; and I am the more tolerant as I,
too, was unable to give her any affection myself. I have not objected
to the course of dissimulation, and I have always shown myself
willing to keep up appearances to avoid this disgraceful break; but
Isabelita, either from being more ingenuous or more vehement than I
am, could not fulfil this hypocritical duty—this sacrifice for the good
of the nation. I married because I had to marry, because the position
of King is flattering. I took the part, with its advantages. I have no
right to throw away the good fortune which I gained from the
arrangement. So I made up my mind to be tolerant, if they were
equally so with me, and I was never upset at the presence of a
favourite.”
Here the King was interrupted by Benavides saying:
“Allow me, Sire, to observe one thing. That which you now say
with regard to tolerance of a favourite is not in accordance with your
present line of conduct, for do you not demand the withdrawal of
General Serrano before agreeing to the reconciliation we are
asking?”
Then, with a singular calmness, the King returned:
“I do not deny that this Serrano is the main drawback to an
agreement with Isabelita, for the dismissal of the favourite would be
immediately followed by the reconciliation desired by my wife; but I
would have tolerated him, I would have exacted nothing, if he had
not hurt me personally by insulting me with unworthy names, failing
in respect to me, and not giving me proper consideration—and
therefore I hate him. He is a little Godoy, who has not known how to
behave; for he at least got over Charles IV. before rising to the
favour of my grandmother.”
The Minister of the Government listened with astonishment to the
King’s words. Don Francisco saw it, and continued:
“The welfare of fifteen million people demands this and other
sacrifices. I was not born for Isabelita, nor Isabelita for me, but the
country must think the contrary. I will be tolerant, but the influence of
Serrano must cease, or I will not make it up.”
Benavides replied that the Ministry deplored this unhappy
“influence,” which was getting burdensome to the Queen herself; but
Serrano had such a fatal ascendancy everywhere, and had won over
to his side the opposing elements, that any sudden step to put an
end to the evil would result in deplorable consequences for the
nation. “However, the Ministry has decided to get rid of this
pernicious influence,” continued Benavides. “It is seeking a way to
do so without a collision and its consequences; and one of the things
which would help to this course of the Cabinet would be the
immediate reconciliation of Your Majesties, as the preliminary to the
other steps which will lead to Serrano’s overthrow.”
The King refused. He said that his dignity demanded the
withdrawal of the “influence.” Fresh evident proofs had been given
that this hateful man was the cause of the Queen’s separation from
him, and therefore he was not inclined to go back from his word
about him.
So Pacheco and all the other Ministers, excepting Salamanca,
determined to resign if Serrano did not retire from the Court.
Benavides and Pacheco were among the deputation who
petitioned the favourite to agree to this step, but it was in vain. The
Ministers went backwards and forwards to La Granja without gaining
their purpose. Finally, in pursuance of the Pope’s advice, the Queen
decided to return to Madrid; and Salamanca, as Prime Minister, went
to the Escorial to report the fact to Bulwer.