QUEEN ISABELLA’S GIRLHOOD, AND THE DANGERS WHICH BESET IT
1840-1846
The little Princesses now lived in the imposing Palace of Madrid, with
all the retinue befitting their position, but far from the mother who,
with all her faults, loved her little girls, and had only left them
to save them from the greater losses with which they were threatened.
Espartero, who was now a sort of Dictator of Spain, took up his
residence in the Palace of Buena Vista, in the Alcalá in Madrid, which
is now the Ministry of War.
The secret influence which was working in Madrid in favour of Luisa
Carlota and her husband led to their being suggested as guardians to
the royal children, in a little book called “The Maternal Guardianship
of H.M. Isabel II. and Her Royal Highness’s Sister, Maria Luisa
Fernanda.”
But Government declared against the appointment of personages who were
known to nourish such hatred to the mother, who sent an indignant
protest from Paris against the project. So Argüelles was appointed
guardian, and in his choice of coadjutors certainly did his best
to improve the environment of the little Princesses. Of course the
appointment caused much discontent on some sides. The uncle and aunt
declared that it was made in the desire to separate the Princesses from
their relatives, and that it was wrong to put them under a man who had
been an enemy of their father.
Argüelles had indeed suffered at the hand of Ferdinand VII., who gave
him seven years at Ceuta when he returned to Spain as King; but this
had only been for his political opinions. Indeed, the Minister was so
eloquent that he was called “the divine Argüelles.”
As the army reigned supreme, in the person of Espartero as Regent, the
counter-influence of Argüelles in the palace was very beneficial.
The Royal Guard, both outside and inside the palace, was now formed of
the famous halberdiers, and it was on the night of October 7, 1841,
that the valour of this body of soldiers was put to an unexpected test.
General Don Manuel de la Concha and General Leon plotted with
Queen Maria Cristina to get possession of the persons of the young
Princesses, carry them off to France, and hand them over to Don
Evaristo Perez de Castro and a Canon, a partisan of the ex-Regent, by
whom they would be escorted to their mother in Paris; and for this bold
proceeding they had only a small number of soldiers. General Concha
was to get possession of the person of the Regent, whilst General Leon
was to carry off the Princesses from the palace. General Dulce was the
guardian angel of the little girls that night. He was standing on the
landing of the grand staircase, when he saw a company of armed soldiers
coming up the steps, under the command of a young lieutenant called
Boria.
“Where are you going?” asked Dulce.
“Where my duty takes me,” was the curt reply.
“Then, you ought to stop your men in this shameful course; you are
young, and to-morrow you will repent your conduct.”
As he did not reply, Dulce checked his progress by putting his sword
to his breast; but the young man stepped aside, and cried with a loud
voice: “Lads, fire!”
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!”