creased by the number of refugees who flocked back to the capital, under the protection of the amnesty which the queen had granted, and which the king, on his recovery, did not recal.

The ministry, however, was daily becoming more divided. The queen had looked to what was termed the liberal party for assistance, when a contest for the succession seemed about to arise. Several ministers entertaining sentiments favourable to political changes, had been introduced into the cabinet; but the prime minis ter, M. Zea Bermudez, was a declared enemy to the game of playing at constitutions. At the same time, he would not lend his countenance to the Carlists. He was willing to maintain the king's last settlement of the succession to the crown in favour of his daughter; but he was not inclined to go any farther in company with the political supporters of what was called the queen's party, or to make the infanta the instrument of changing the received constitution of the country. He indulged, therefore, in a policy which seemed equally unfavourable to the apostolicals and the liberals. On the one hand, Don Carlos, his wife, and his wife's sister, the Princess of Beira, a daughter of Portugal,were ordered to quit Madrid. The cause, or the pretext of this measure, was said to be the discovery of a conspiracy, framed by the intrigues of the princess of Beira. They retired to Don Miguel at Lisbon. Their departure did not quiet the unruly spirit of their adherents, who possessed, in the Royal Volunteers, a force always ready and inclined for action. Even in Madrid itself, they at tempted to disarm the troops that

occupied the military posts; they rendered it necessary to keep the garrison under arms, and yet, no attempt was made to disband them. Within a week after Don Carlos had left Madrid, a numerous band of apostolics, reinforced by convicts, repaired to Saragossa, with the design of seizing it. They came from Calatayud and other parts of Arragon, and intended to set fire to the town, that they might, in the confusion, have every thing completely in their power. When masters of the town, they were to proclaim Don Carlos. The plot was discovered on the day fixed for its explosion; but this did not induce them to renounce its execution on

the following day, the conspirators considering themselves sufficiently strong to rise in open rebellion. They were, however, soon driven from Saragossa, and troops were sent in pursuit of them. About 200 Royalist Volunteers, who took part with them, were disarmed. About the same time, the Carlists excited disorders, though of a less serious nature, at Murcia, Siguenza, and Cordova. At Badajos, the Royalist Volunteers rose, shut themselves up in the cathedral, and there defended themselves with great vigour till overpowered by the troops of the garrison.

While the minister thus kept down the Carlists, he acted with equal determination against all schemes aud proposals of the movement, or queen's party; and the dissensions in the cabinet, between the latter, and the party of "resistance," who adhered to the minister, daily became more violent. Notwithstanding all the influence of the queen, the minister prevailed. In the end of March, Piedra, minister of finance, Del Pino, minister of

justice, and Ulloa, minister of marine, the three great supporters of the movement party at the council table, were dismissed from their offices, and their places supplied with adherents of M. Zea. San Martin, secretary of the council, and Martinez, superintendantgeneral of the police, shared the same fate. The latter had been appointed to his office by the queen, during her brief regency, and had so conducted himself as to inspire the liberals with strong hopes. While all the other dismissed ministers received a sinecure or a pension, Martinez was ordered into exile at Badajoz. The triumph of the minister was complete, and he used it to announce, that he would still follow the same impartial system. A proclamation was issued to the captains-general of the provinces, denouncing equally the seditious movements of the Carlists, who were described as endeavouring to overturn the fundamental laws of the kingdom, by disinheriting the daughter of the king during his Majesty's illness; and the opposite, or constitutional party, who, affecting to support the legitimate succession to the crown, were said to convert their loyalty into an engine of faction, and threaten political innovations for limiting the rights of the throne, which they pretended to protect and uphold. The captainsgeneral were desired to watch over the intrigues and unions of both factions to restrain them from any attempt at disturbing the public tranquillity-and to prevent all persons from being armed within their districts, unless they belonged to the regular army, to the royalist volunteers, or to the reserve, whatever might be the authority or title on which they should pretend

to rely. This latter provision was chiefly aimed at bands of volunteers, who, to oppose the royalist volunteers, had begun to arm themselves in the cause of the queen, taking, from her name, the title of Christinos.

As a recompense, it was determined publicly to recognize the title of the Infanta in an assembly of the old Cortes, and thus remove the ostensible foundation of the claims of Don Carlos, whose adherents maintained, that, as the Salic law had been established by a decree of the Cortes, it could not be revoked by a simple rescript of the king. As soon, therefore, as the queen's party had been expelled from the ministry, a decree was issued, on the 4th of April, ordering the prelates, grandees, and titled men who had right to sit in the Cortes, and all towns and cities which had a voice in the Cortes by their deputies, to assemble at Madrid on the 20th of June, to take the oath of allegiance to the Infanta, as rightful successor to the crown, in default of a male heir. The elections in the "towns and cities," proceeded with great tranquillity. There was no popular constituency, and no popular spirit; there was no intention to have a deliberative assembly, but merely the old performers in a court-pageant. The ceremony took place with great pomp, on the appointed day, in the church of San Geronimo. The houses, and public buildings, were hung with rich tapestries and velvets, or adorned with allegorical paintings; and the day concluded with splendid illuminations. To judge from Madrid, Spain contained but one opinion. There was one excep

tion.

4

The king had applied to Don Carlos, who still remained at

Lisbon, to ascertain whether he would take the oath of allegiance to his daughter. Don Carlos returned a respectful, but very decided negative.

"Thy wish is, to know whether I would take the oath of fidelity to thy daughter, as Princess of Asturias. How much I desire that it were in my power to do so! Thou knowest me sufficiently to believe this. I speak from my heart when I tell thee, that this oath I would be the first most joyfully to take, and thereby save thee the sorrow which my refusal must occasion, and the consequences to which that refusal may possibly give rise. But my conscience and my honour will not suffer me to take that oath, for my right is so legitimate, that it does not belong to me to give it up. God gave me that right when it was his will that I should come into the world; and God alone could deprive me of it by giving thee a male heir, which I wish perhaps more than thee to be still the case. Besides, it is not only my right that I have to defend, it is the right of all who would be called to the throne after me. I find myself, then, under the necessity of sending thee the following declaration, which I address to thee and to all the sovereigns, to whom I expect that thou wilt make it known."

Don Carlos probably thought it more prudent to await the death an event which of Ferdinand, did not seem to be far distantthan to attempt to make good his claims against the actual and acknowledged occupant of the throne. The constitution of the king had recovered only partially from the shock which had so nearly proved fatal in the end of the preceding year.

In the events which had since taken place, he had been almost passive in the hands either of the queen or of his minister. Scarcely had he seen the estates of his kingdom pay homage to his successor, when his health began again to threaten dissolution. During August and September, disease assumed a more complicated form. The lungs were obstructed the limbs became paralized; and, on the 29th of September, an apoplectic fit terminated the life of Ferdinand VII. of Spain.

He had provided for the government of the kingdom, in the event of his dying while the heir was in minority, by a will dated in 1830. He there provided, that if, at the time of his death, any of his children should be under age, the queen was to be their guardian. If the son or daughter, to whom the succession might devolve, should not have attained the age of eighteen years at the time of his decease, then the queen was to be regent and governess of the monarchy, till the heir should com

plete the age of eighteen years. In order, that, for the government of the kingdom in the case abovestated, the queen might have the benefit of the wisdom and experience of persons whose loyalty and attachment to his person had been fully proved, he directed, that immediately after her taking charge of the government, a Privy Council should be instituted, with whom she should consult in all matters of importance, especially those which might be productive of geueral measures affecting the common welfare, but without being in any manner bound to act according to the opinion of that Council. His majesty then named the members of this Council, and appointed Count de Ofalia, and, failing him, M. Zea, to be its secretary. All questions were to be decided by the Council by an absolute majority of votes. He had likewise provided for the event of the queen-regent herself dying during the minority of the heir, by declaring that, in that case, the persons named by him to be members of the Council, to advise the queen-regent, should become a council of regency.

The queen now announced herself regent; and it would not have been unnatural if she had used her power to recal her own favoured adherents to office, and dismiss the minister who had expelled them. On the other hand, her adoption of the liberal party had been the result, not of principle, but of a politic regard to her daughter's title. That title the existing ministry had procured to be openly and solemnly recognized by the estates of the kingdom. They did not now show any inclination to disturb it. The first act of the regent, on the day of the king's

death, was to issue a decree continuing M. Zea, and his friends, in their offices. She issued, too, a manifesto, in which she seemed to have adopted all their principles, and held out no encouragement to innovators. The regent there said, "religion and monarchy, the primary elements of the political existence of Spain, shall be respected, protected, and maintained by me in all their vigour and purity. The Spanish people possesses, in its innate zeal for the faith of its fathers, the stronger guarantee, that no one will dare to require obedience from it, unless the sacred objects of its reverence and adoration are respected. My heart rejoices in co-operating with this zeal of a nation eminently Catholic, and in giving it the assurance that the immaculate religion which we profess, its doctrines, its temples, and its ministers, shall be the first and the most sacred objects of the care of my government. I will maintain most religiously the form and fundamental laws of the monarchy, without admitting dangerous innovations, however respectable they may appear in their origin, for we have already unfortunately experienced their disas trous effects. The best form of government for a country is that to which it is accustomed. Α stable and compact power, founded upon ancient laws, rendered respectable by custom, consecrated by ages of duration, is the most powerful instrument for increasing the welfare of nations, which can never be done when the supreme authority is weakened, when the ideas, the customs, and the established institutions are attacked,when existing interests are disturbed for the purpose of creating new ones, and giving rise to