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Games and Learning Alliance 5th International Conference GALA 2016 Utrecht The Netherlands December 5 7 2016 Proceedings 1st Edition Rosa Bottino
Games and Learning Alliance 5th International Conference GALA 2016 Utrecht The Netherlands December 5 7 2016 Proceedings 1st Edition Rosa Bottino
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Rosa Bottino
Johan Jeuring
Remco C. Veltkamp (Eds.)
LNCS 10056
Games and
Learning Alliance
5th International Conference, GALA 2016
Utrecht, The Netherlands, December 5–7, 2016
Proceedings
123
Lecture Notes in Computer Science 10056
Commenced Publication in 1973
Founding and Former Series Editors:
Gerhard Goos, Juris Hartmanis, and Jan van Leeuwen
Editorial Board
David Hutchison
Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
Takeo Kanade
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Josef Kittler
University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
Jon M. Kleinberg
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Friedemann Mattern
ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
John C. Mitchell
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Moni Naor
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
C. Pandu Rangan
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India
Bernhard Steffen
TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany
Demetri Terzopoulos
University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Doug Tygar
University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Gerhard Weikum
Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Saarbrücken, Germany
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7409
Rosa Bottino Johan Jeuring
•
Games and
Learning Alliance
5th International Conference, GALA 2016
Utrecht, The Netherlands, December 5–7, 2016
Proceedings
123
Editors
Rosa Bottino Remco C. Veltkamp
Institute for Educational Technology Utrecht University
Genova Utrecht
Italy The Netherlands
Johan Jeuring
Utrecht University
Utrecht
The Netherlands
LNCS Sublibrary: SL3 – Information Systems and Applications, incl. Internet/Web, and HCI
The 5th Games and Learning Alliance (GALA) Conference was held in Utrecht, The
Netherlands, December 5–7, 2016. It was organized by the Serious Games Society and
the Center for Game Research at Utrecht University.
The GALA series of conferences provides an excellent opportunity to discuss
important themes and emergent topics within the growing field of serious games. The
meeting involves academic researchers, industrial developers, teachers, and corporate
decision makers.
GALA 2016 received 55 submissions. Each paper was reviewed by at least three
Program Committee members. The Program Committee selected 27 of these papers for
presentation at the conference, and 14 for presentation at a poster session at the con-
ference. The majority of the authors are based in Europe, but all continents except for
Australia were represented at the conference.
The conference started with a day of tutorials, at which various topics such as
learner models, interactive virtual characters, addressing learners with different back-
grounds, and gamification were discussed. European projects such as WATCHME,
RAGE, and BODEGA contributed significantly to these tutorials.
It was an honor to have Jean-Marc Labat, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France,
and Yasmin B. Kafai, University of Pennsylvania, USA, as keynote speakers at GALA
2016. Jean-Marc Labat presented a meta-design perspective on enhancing the usage of
educational games by teachers, and Yasmin Kafai spoke about connected gaming: what
making video games can teach us about learning and literacy.
The conference featured eight paper presentation sessions. A number of paper
presentation sessions discussed the relation between serious games and particular
domains, namely, health, sustainability, management, maths and programming, and
soft skills. Other sessions discussed game development and the assessment of games,
the relation between games and learning, and mobile games.
As in previous years, selected best papers of the GALA Conference will be pub-
lished in a dedicated special issue of the International Journal of Serious Games, the
scientific journal managed by the Serious Games Society, which is a great reference
point for academicians and practitioners to publish original research work on serious
games and be informed about the latest developments in the field.
We thank the authors for submitting many interesting papers, the Program Com-
mittee members for reviewing these papers, and the Serious Games Society and the
Center for Game Research at Utrecht University for organizing the conference.
GALA 2016 was organized by the Serious Games Society and the Center for Game
Research at Utrecht University.
General Chair
Remco C. Veltkamp Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Program Chairs
Rosa Bottino ITD – CNR, Italy
Johan Jeuring Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Demo Chair
Jannicke Baalsrud BIBA, Germany/KTH, Sweden
Hauge
Tutorial Chair
Carolina Islas Sedano University of Eastern Finland, Finland
Program Committee
Anissa All University of Gent, Belgium
Alessandra Antonaci ITD-CNR, Italy
Sylvester Arnab Coventry University, UK
Jon Arambarri Virtualwaregroup, Spain
Aida Azadegan The University of the West Scotland, UK
Jannicke Baalsrud BIBA, Germany
Hauge
Per Backlund Högskolan i Skövde, Sweden
Norman Badler University of Pennsylvania, USA
Sylvie Barma Université Laval, Canada
Francesco Bellotti University of Genoa, Italy
Riccardo Berta University of Genoa, Italy
Rafael Bidarra TU Delft, The Netherlands
VIII Organization
Award Committee
Antonie Wiedemann University of Genoa, Italy
Publications Chair
Riccardo Berta University of Genoa, Italy
Mobile Games
Posters
1 Introduction
This paper evaluates the contribution of three selected simulation games to key
sustainability competencies. A quasi-experimental research design was chosen for the
games evaluation, in specific a pre-test post-test non-equivalent group design. About
160 students from the Rotterdam Business School, The Netherlands, played one of the
three games and shared their experiences.
In the next section, we will discuss the main sustainability competences relevant for
this research, namely normative competences, anticipatory competences and systems
thinking. Section 3 discusses why gaming is expected to be a valuable instrument. In
Sect. 4 the research approach is presented and the three games are introduced. The
results can be found in Sect. 5 and the discussion and conclusions can be found in
Sect. 6.
Tilbury and Wortman [17] indicate that there is a need for tools and educational models
that promote systems thinking. Typical sustainability topics like externalities, manage-
ment of common pool resources and economic growth vs. future needs require a more
holistic, systemic and interdisciplinary approach that offers room for learner-centered
knowledge construction next to absorbing factual information. Higher-order learning
demands a different pedagogical method; one that experiential learning can offer, such as
gaming.
Games in education are suitable tools to facilitate a systemic understanding of
sustainability [18], practice with contextual and paradigm changes [19] and play a role
in all four stages of Kolb’s experiential learning cycle. Games stimulate the players to
understand the subject matter based on participation and experimentation. Furthermore,
games have the unique ability to model the essential structures of complex systems and
present them to the player to experience and manipulate [20]. Finally games have the
potential to motivate players and emotionally engage them in the game dynamics.
However, many curricula currently do not include games. Literature research shows
very few articles that analyze games used in sustainability education. The existing
publications focus on game characteristics like player mode, type of game [21] or
describe their ‘operating mechanisms’ from a theoretical perspective [18, 22]. Evalu-
ation of the learning process and outcomes of simulation games are rare [18]. In this
paper we aim to contribute to amend this situation by showing the results of an
evaluation study of using sustainability games in education.
6 R. Weijs et al.
4 Research Approach
In this research existing games were used to test within a classroom setting. First the
selected games are introduced and linked to the SD competences, secondly the data
collection is explained.
Table 1. Summary of relevant key sustainability concepts addressed within the simulation
games
Game Concepts
Intergenerational Human needs & welfare levels, future generations, inter- and
equity game intra-generational justice, natural and technical capital, resource
capacity, just savings rate, wealth distribution, population size
Fisheries game Short-term & long-term profit, population growth (exponential
growth), renewable resources, carrying capacity and
overexploitation, resource depletion, private gain vs. collective gain
Externalities game Positive & negative externalities, climate change, CO2-emissions
(per unit of production), private & social costs, economic growth
(GDP), market mechanisms and market failure, level playing field
In January 2016 the games were tested by 9 classes. The classes consist of second
year students, following the course Sustainability and Business, as part of the Inter-
national Business Management Studies at the Rotterdam Business School. The groups
were divided by class, which means each class played one of the three games.
The games were randomly divided and finally each simulation game was played three
times. The setup of the data collection was similar for each class and follows the
following structure:
– One week prior to the game, students were asked to read the introduction materials,
define their strategy and fill in a pre-game questionnaire to test pre knowledge. All
information was provided within an online learning management system
– Game play for 75 min during class, where the gameplay was observed by other
lecturers, and the game output was collected digitally
– After the game, students were asked to fill in a post-game survey about cognitive
learning and assessing games as learning tools. As each game has different learning
objectives, separate questions were used to test the cognitive knowledge of the
students
5 Results
5.1 Respondents
In total 160 students participated in the simulation games experiment. After cleaning
the data, 124 respondent results remained who had the complete set of data (pre- and
post-test and game play). It is assumed that the classes are comparable as the students
had the same background (Table 2).
A 3% -3
B (correct answer) 68% 66% -2
C 29% 34% 5
3. What do you predict will happen in the game? What will be the result for the 3rd
generation after all rounds?
Accumulation 21% 21% 0
Collapse 5% 10% 5
Low-nature, high-tech 61% 34% -27
Similar to current generation 10% 13% 3
Survival level 3% 21% 18
A 14% 4% -10
B (correct answer) 73% 76% 3
C 12% 20% 8
12 R. Weijs et al.
A 16% 8% -8
B (correct answer) 61% 80% 19
C 8% 2% -6
D 14% 10% -4
5. The production costs grow linear, the externality costs exponential. At what point is the
highest gain?
A 4% 4% -
B (correct answer) 63% 71% 8
C 30% 22% -8
A 4% 4% -
6. What is NOT a reason for market failure?
It is not clear who exactly bears the consequences 12% 22% 10
and should be compensated
Market outcomes can be identified and associated 59% 51% -8
with a value (correct answer)
No rules and regulations that make the externalities 12% 10% -2
accounted for
The value of what is gained and/or lost is (ethically) 16% 16% -
difficult to measure
7. What do you predict will happen in the game?
More equal distribution of costs & benefits 39% 47% 8
Poorer becoming rich, richer will be poor 4% 8% 4
Richer become richer, poorer poorer 45% 37% -8
Zero-score (balance between costs & benefits) 12% 8% -4
Sustainable Competence Development of Business Students 13
Based on this research the educational value of using simulation games to contribute to
cognitive learning in sustainable development is questionable. The results show that
although some improvements are seen, the number of correct answers on other theo-
retical questions declined, albeit not significantly. The same holds for the normative
and anticipatory competences. Surprisingly however, a majority of respondents indi-
cate that they see additional value of games here within their education. The inherent
attractiveness of gaming proves favorable within this experimental setting.
The research also shows several aspects which can be improved and could posi-
tively contribute to learning. First aspect is retention. The post test was taken directly
after the game and students indicated that they will remember the experienced lessons
longer. By testing this competences after a longer period, it could be validated if the
competences indeed stay on a higher level. The second factor is the time of play. The
game was scheduled in one lecture. We know that time for playing is an important
factor and to run Kolb’s learning cycle multiple times could improve the outcomes.
Playing longer or more often would be an advice in the future. From the observations
we learned that most students played by trial-and-error. Considering the fact that one
has to be conscious of the rules and options within a game to devise a strategy, this
shows a lack of opportunity for the players to really get into the game and ‘master’ it.
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The Design of an Augmented Reality
Collaborative Game for Sustainable
Development
1 Introduction
The concept of sustainable development, or sustainability, was first introduced
in 1987 in the report of World Commission on Environment and Development
(Brundtland Commission) [2]. Sustainable development has been defined as the
search of significant shifts in technologies, techniques or infrastructure, meeting
today demands, without compromising future generations’ needs. In order to
improve people’s capacity of addressing sustainability, it is critical to dissemi-
nate information towards environment and development issues [15]. Neverthe-
less, such task is not trivial. Sustainability has specific requirements, that can
be summarized in two aspects: (i) the framing of issues contemplating individu-
als, families, communities and the society, and (ii) the representation of several
interrelated domains, such as ecology, economics, politics and culture [14].
c Springer International Publishing AG 2016
R. Bottino et al. (Eds.): GALA 2016, LNCS 10056, pp. 15–23, 2016.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-50182-6 2
16 A.D. dos Santos et al.
In this context, recent research [3,6] suggests that serious games, i.e. those
that do not have entertainment as their primary purpose, offer unique possibil-
ities for creating educational tools towards sustainability. Serious games allow
experimentation in controlled environments, useful for instance for simulating
future scarcity scenarios. They can be used as persuasive tools to influence play-
ers ideas and behaviors. They can provide compelling experiences helping to
create engagement towards sustainability. However, at the same time, there are
evidences that the approaches developed so far often fail to fully leverage such
potentialities [6] and several research questions remain open. Which are the
design models most suited to guarantee that these serious games can achieve
their pedagogical goals? Since collaboration among users is a relevant dimen-
sion for learning, which are the design elements and the technological tools that
can foster such cooperation? How innovative user interaction paradigms can be
exploited to improve the expected outcomes of sustainability serious games?
This work tries to provide some preliminary answers to these questions
through the description of Sustain, a collaborative game focused on raising
awareness on sustainable development issues. The aim of Sustain is to engage
the players in the management of a city, being responsible for creating and main-
taining infrastructures towards environmental awareness. To ground the theo-
retical aspect of Sustain, the game design has been based on a model specifically
proposed for driving the development of game-based sustainability learning by
Fabricatore and Lopez in 2014 [7]. Immersion and collaboration among players
are fostered by allowing co-located users to interact in augmented reality (AR)
with a virtual scenario, which is also projected on a screen to facilitate result
discussion and decision making.
Concerning the related works, the approaches most related to Sustain are
the games EnerCities [10] and Futura [1], which aim to engage the players
in city management mechanics. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation sup-
port the success of both games in offering enjoyable experiences and increasing
awareness concerning sustainability issues [1,10]. In addition, some recent prod-
ucts coupled augmented reality with sustainable games. As an example, in 2013
McDonalds Germany released the mobile app McMission, in which visitors, by
playing AR mini-games, receive information related to the societal and environ-
mental projects in which the company is involved [11].
To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first to base its game design on
the Fabricatore and Lopez model, and also the first to merge, in a sustainability
serious game, multiplayer collaboration, augmented reality interaction and city
management mechanics. Therefore, although the implementation is still in its
early stage, we think this work exemplifies the use of the adopted tools and,
thus, might allow to start a discussion about how to enhance their effectiveness.
2 Theoretical Background
The model proposed by Fabricatore and Lopez for game-based sustainability
learning [7], on which the design of Sustain was based on, is grounded on the-
oretically solid research, e.g. [13,14], and is the result of a thorough analysis
Augmented Reality Collaborative Game for Sustainable Development 17
Thus, to cope with such complex systems, the game design should consider
four main aspects. First, it is important to design for contextualization of the
game activity. In order to facilitate the transfer of game-based learning to real-
world contexts, the background story, gameplay and objectives should be coher-
ent with the sustainability values to target. Second, the game should empower
the players, who should be able to exert control on the game system by acting
as freely as possible. The rationale is that empowered players are likely to be
more easily engaged in the gameplay experience. Third, the game should foster
adaptivity, i.e. force players to adapt to non-player-planned disruptions in sys-
tem dynamics, which is an attitude that can help them better understanding
the complexity involved in sustainability scenarios. Finally, the introduction of
meaningful social interactions among players, and between players and artificial-
intelligence-based agents, can (again) help engaging the players and harnessing
their knowledge acquisition.
3 Sustain Game
Following the definitions of Fabricatore and Lopez model, the educational goal
of Sustain is not to provide direct instruction to players, but to engage them
in a complex system representing an urban area environment. The game aims
at increasing awareness on both immediate and long-term consequences that
policy-makers decisions’ can generate.
Although the current version of Sustain is a prototype, it employs all the
features that enable the discussion of the adopted theoretical framework, hard-
ware platform, augmented reality interaction and collaborative gameplay. In the
following subsections, we thoroughly discuss the design and implementation of
Sustain. Section 4 relates the actual game design with the Fabricatore and Lopez
model, and outlines future extensions of the game.
Sustain is a city management game for three players, whose goal is to expand the
population of an urban area, exploiting a set of resources (coal, oil and money).
The game rules aim at guaranteeing the relevance of sustainability practices,
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But here General Concha interceded by exclaiming: “Stop,
Manolito, stop the firing! For God’s sake remember we are in Her
Majesty’s palace!”
So the firing was stopped, and the little girls, alarmed at the
noise, fell into each other’s arms, and cried with fright, whilst the
Countess of Mina strove to still their fears. The noise of firing was
heard down the corridors and the staircases known by the names of
those of the Lions and the Ladies. General Dulce was not content
with quelling the invasion of the palace by firing down the chief
staircase to prevent the ascent of any interloper, but, leaving
Barrientos in command of half the Guard at that spot, he went with
the other half into the Salon of the Ambassadors, and there fired on
the insurgents from the windows, until the whole Plaza de la Armeria
was swept free from any more possible invaders of the royal abode.
In the meanwhile Boria, Don Diego Leon, and others, were
caught in the Campo del Moro, the gardens of the palace. No mercy
was shown to the would-be perpetrators of such a deed as the
kidnapping of the royal children, and Diego de Leon, who had been
covered with laurels for his brilliant services in the civil war, was shot
with his accomplices without demur.
In the meanwhile General Espartero, in his Palace of la Buena
Vista, was ignorant of the tragic scenes enacted at the palace until
they were over. Brought thither by the sound of firearms, he arrived
just as the insurrectionary force had been driven from the palace,
and hastening up the staircase stained with blood, he found the royal
children in their room weeping bitterly and much terrified, albeit at
the time of the alarming scene they had shown more courage than
could have been expected at such an early age. The Regent led the
little girls to a window of the palace to still the fears of the people,
who had hastened from all quarters at the noise of the firing, and the
halberdiers who had defended their young Queen and her sister so
bravely were all publicly applauded, promoted, and subsequently
given the Cross of San Fernando. The fact of gunshot penetrating
the royal apartment was unprecedented in history, and although the
halberdiers pressed into the room to protect the royal children, they
abstained from firing there on the invaders without, for fear of hurting
those in their charge. When the Cortes opened, Espartero escorted
the Princesses to the ceremony, and they were received with
enthusiastic demonstrations of loyalty.
A short time afterwards Argüelles had to insist on the Order of the
Palace, by which the French Ambassador was not allowed entry to
the palace without official permission from the Regent.
When the Infante Don Francisco and Luisa Carlota decided to go
to Spain to see what personal influence could do in obtaining power
over their nieces, the King of France did all he could to prevent the
fulfilment of the plan. Difficulties were put in the way of the illustrious
travellers having horses for the journey, but Luisa Carlota exclaimed:
“This new obstacle will not stop us, as, if we can’t get horses, we will
go on foot.”
The exiled Queen-mother did all she could to influence her
children against their aunt, and she placed within the leaves of a
book of fashions, which she sent them from Paris, a paper which ran
thus: “Do not trust that woman! She causes nothing but disgrace and
ruin. Her words are all lies; her protestations of friendship are
deceptions; her presence is a peril. Beware, my child. Your aunt
wants to get rule over your mind and your heart to deceive you, and
to claim an affection of which she is unworthy.”
It was in 1842 that, eluding the vigilance of the Countess of Mina,
the lady-in-chief of the royal children, Luisa Carlota managed to see
a good deal of her young niece Isabel. The Infanta constantly joined
the young Queen in her walks, and, not content with talking to the
young girl about her cousin Don Francisco, so as to make her think
of him as an eligible parti, she one day gave her niece a portrait of
her son in his uniform as Captain of the Hussars. This portrait
Isabella was seen to show to her little sister, and so annoyed was
the Marchioness of Belgida, the chief Lady-in-Waiting, at what she
considered the breach of confidence on the part of the Infanta, that
she resigned her post. Argüelles had striven to warn Luisa Carlota
against the imprudence of her course, for the question of the young
Queen’s marriage was one in which the dignity of the Government,
the honour of the Queen, and the good name of the Regent, had all
to be considered. Therefore any attempt to compromise the Queen
by forcing any opinion from her which could not be based on
experience was detrimental to all concerned. In the Cortes he said: “I
do not believe in absolute isolation for a young Queen, but I think
she ought to be surrounded by those who will give her a good
example of prudence and self-reflection.” On the day that the
Marchioness of Belgida’s resignation was accepted the widowed
Countess of Mina was raised to be a grandee of Spain of the first
order, and she was appointed to the post vacated by the Countess.
Then, in pursuance of the opinion of the Ministers, Espartero had the
Princesses taken to Zaragossa so as to prevent further intrigues
about the Queen’s marriage.
In the “Estafeta del Palacio Real,” Antonio Bermejo compares
Olozaga with Argüelles. “He was,” he says, “austere like Argüelles,
who might be a little brusque, but never had a word or a single
phrase left the lips of this old man which could sully the purity of a
Princess. Moreover, the new guardian of the Queen was so dense
that he let a book be circulated in the royal apartment, called
‘Theresa, the Philosopher,’ which was said to be at the root of much
of the light behaviour of our girls. Who allowed this book in the
palace? Whence came this vile work, calculated to pollute the throne
of San Ferdinand? Narvaez and Gonzalez Brabo saw the book lying
on a chimney-piece in the palace, and they indignantly cast it into the
fire. It was thus that people sought to shake the foundation of the
throne; it was thus that the seed of corruption was sown which
resulted in so much weakness and failure!”
CHAPTER VIII
MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES IN THE PALACE
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.