Alfonso XII of Spain

“ He was able to give a lesson in deportment to his hosts and also to satisfy the resentful pride of his fellow-countrymen. The whole episode shows how individuals can control events when the masses can only become excited; kings and diplomats may still be the best mechanics to handle the complicated machinery on which peace or war depends. Alfonso XII died in November 1885, soon after Morier's departure for another post, but not before he had testified to the high esteem in which our Minister had been held in Spain. ”

“ The Circulo Hispano Ultramarino in Barcelona, [p. 249] agitating continually for the restoration of Alfonso XII., was a strong agent in the monarchical movement. Figuerola Ferretti worked strenuously as secretary of the society, and this officer is the possessor of the only escutcheon signed by Alfonso XII., in which he paid tribute to the Colonel’s valiant conduct in the Cuban War of 1872. ”

“ The queen fled to France. A provisional government was organized, and an election of members of the Cortes was ordered to decide on the form of the new government. The Cortes met, and in May, 1869, decreed that the new government should be a monarchy. About the same time the crown was offered to King Louis of Portugal, who, however, declined it. Last June, Queen Isabella abdicated in favor of her son Alfonso, prince of the Asturias, who will be Alfonso XII. if he ever becomes king of Spain. Later in the year Prince Leopold, of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen, was invited to the throne. ”

“ In Turkey, the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina revolt against the intolerable abuses of Turkish rule under Abdul Aziz. In Germany, civil marriage legalized throughout the empire. In Spain, the Bourbons regain power, Alfonso, son of Isabella II, being crowned king under title of Alfonso XII. Canovas del Castillo is made regent, and prosecutes attempts to suppress the Carlists. ”

“ National policies and projects of reform on the part of those in power get little beyond the stage of rhetoric, while government is too largely given over to the interplay of personal ambitions. To many the young king, Alfonso XIII, has seemed the most liberal-minded of the higher officers of the Spanish state, and in both word and deed he has appeared, until recently at least, to merit the characterization. Attaining to his majority at the age of sixteen, in 1902, he married the granddaughter of the English Queen Victoria in 1906,—an augury in itself of liberal views. ”

“ After a long reign which succeeding generations have ever borne in mind as a period of glory, justice, and general prosperity, Alfonso VI died in 1109 of a broken heart at the defeat of Ucles and the loss of his only son. His daughter Urraca, queen of Leon and Castile, who governed the country during her son’s minority, espoused Alfonso I, king of Aragon, as her second husband. But instead of strengthening the unity and power of Christian Spain, this alliance led to furious civil wars which served to strengthen and prolong Moslem dominion. ”

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BOYS AND GIRLS AS RULERS OF MEN. ALFONSO XIII., KING OF SPAIN. BY MRS. SERRANO.
There have been a great many Kings, since Kings first began to rule; but perhaps the little boy who to-day wears the Spanish crown is the only one among them all who was born a King; his father, Alfonso XII., having died more than five months before his birth, the throne remaining vacant during that time. ”

“ He has a son who would save him if the dotard would permit: a tall young man, with a splendid carriage and an ugly, magnetic face—alert to every detail of modern régime. But the young man is a184 king, and kings, as everyone knows, have the least power of anybody. Alfonso XIII, with all his indefatigable energy, can leaven but a very small lump of the blind self-sufficiency of Spain. He plays a hopeless part bravely and is harder-working than most of his peasants. ”

“ Little as the Spaniards love the Queen Regent, to whom they cannot pardon her two cardinal offences of being a "foreigner" and of disliking the bull-fight, they have a certain affection for Alfonso XIII, "the only child born a king since Christ." Indeed, Spain seems to have been always sympathetic toward childhood in palaces. ”

“ If, however, the severe and impartial historian must perceive blemishes in the character of Alfonso I as a man, justice must, in his favour, throw into the scale the difficulties which beset him in bequeathing to the next generation a well-cemented political existence, and a nationality, as we may say, sufficiently compact to withstand the storms which shook the peninsula. He had to attend to the internal organisation of society and externally to secure it an advantageous position in relation to the various nations of Spain, Christian and Mussulman. ”

“ Alfonso VII lived to see the hardly won town of Almeria again wrested from Castile. On his return from a military expedition he died in the pass of Muradal, a prince endowed with strength, intelligence, and the love of justice, full of zeal for the Christian faith and generous to churches and cloisters. With him the series of “emperors of Spain” comes to an end (1157) .
With the death of Alfonso VII of Castile, and that of Raymond of Aragon and Catalonia, which followed five years later, the Christian kingdoms of the Spanish peninsula again entered on evil times. ”

“ Alfonso has frequently declared himself ready to accept the wishes of the Spanish people in this matter, saying only a few years ago that if Spain should so decide he “would be the first to draw his sword in defence of the republic.” Too much weight should not be given to these political gropings of the Spanish people, for the forces of conservatism,—such as the nobles and the wealthy, the clergy, and the devoutly faithful (notably in the rural districts) ,—are still very powerful. Even the king has recently been charged with a tendency to become reactionary. ”

“ His capacity for dealing with men was considerable, and he never allowed himself to become the instrument of any particular party. In his short reign peace was established both at home and abroad, the finances were well regulated, and the various administrative services were placed on a basis that afterwards enabled Spain to pass through the disastrous war with the United States without even the threat of a revolution.
Alphonso XIII. (1886–) , king of Spain, son of Alphonso XII., was born, after his father’s death, on the 17th of May 1886. ”

“ He engaged in a number of campaigns against the Moslems, and made some minor conquests, but these wars were of slight consequence except as they bore on his struggles with the nobles. The same thing may be said for Alfonso’s European policy, which aimed not only at the aggrandizement of Castile but also at his acquisition of the title of Holy Roman Emperor. The kings of Castile had long claimed the throne of Navarre, and Alfonso now attempted to invade that realm, but desisted when it seemed that this might lead to complications with Jaime I of Aragon. ”

“ Almost equally renowned was Jayme I, [75] the King of Aragon, who took the Balearic Isles from the Moors in 1229, Valencia in 1237, the province of Murcia in 1266, and who, before he died in 1276, had gained thirty pitched battles with the enemy, and had founded, some say, more than two thousand Christian churches. But he has the credit of having introduced into Spain the terrible Inquisition (in 1232) , and that goes far toward counterbalancing his meritorious work for the freedom of his country.
Alfonso X, called “the Wise,” because he was more a scholar than soldier, succeeded St. ”

“ Political power is left in the hands of an unscrupulous minority who work for personal, not national aggrandizement, and the distrust such elections have engendered keeps the better element of the people aloof from the government. Only fifteen per cent of the Spanish people vote. The king has, like England's ruler, the right of absolute veto. If Spain is now so blessed as to have for her king a worthy descendant of Isabella the Catholic, the remedy for the political dishonesty may be close at hand. Young Alfonso XIII has an intelligence of the first order ”

“ Dishonesty and oppression in an administration always breed the spirit of rebellion. Don Carlos, who regards Alfonso as a usurper, and believes himself the true King of Spain, issued, April 13, from his retreat in Switzerland, a manifesto to his supporters. In this he arraigned the government, sought to inflame the excited Spanish populace against the Queen Regent, her son and her ministers, and declared that they had permitted the Spanish standard to be dragged in the mud. ”

“ If you want Alfonso to be a great King, let him breathe the pure air of fine deeds. Take him away from the gloomy atmosphere of the royal palace; let him inhale the fresh breezes of liberty. His talents will develop, and he will become a different boy.”
It was indeed true the little Prince was in an unnatural atmosphere in the palace, where the tunic of the nun Patrocinio had become an object of worship, and where the King, in his stuffy apartments, gave himself over to the study of relics which were brought to him at a high price by the priestly folk, who made harvest out of his credibility. ”

“ In the case of Ferdinand and Alfonso it may also have represented a protest against the like pretensions of the Holy Roman Emperors, then reigning principally in Germanic Europe. Alfonso seemed in a fair way to create a peninsula empire, for he was able to make the kings of Aragon and Navarre, the counts of Barcelona and Toulouse, various lesser princes of Spain and southern France, and some rulers of the Moslem taifas swear fealty to him as their feudal sovereign. The imperial confederation had no real strength, however, for the spirit of separatism was as yet too deeply rooted. ”

“ The Constitution of 1876 was a reconciliation of monarchical principles and those of a democracy. The new king died before he had reached the age of thirty, and his son Alfonso XIII, born after his father's death, was represented by his mother till his majority. To María Cristina of Austria, Spain owes an unending debt of gratitude. Under her wise rule the country had some years of the peace she so needed; and even what is termed disaster, the recent loss of colonies, is a blessing in disguise. Spain to-day needs all her strength for herself. ”

“ Three hundred years later, Alfonso X of Castile was not only a distinguished linguist and poet, but the greatest astronomer and lawgiver of his age. When the Spanish people have once more made education as general as it was under the accomplished Arabs, and adopted the division of power insisted on in a letter from Bishop Hosius to the Emperor Constantius, "Leave ecclesiastical affairs alone.... We are not allowed to rule the earth," they will take the rank their character and genius deserve among the nations. ”

“ Alfonso reigned eleven years, and died in the winter of 1885. In the spring of 1886 the young King was born, his mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was declared Regent, and will continue to govern the country for the young Alfonso XIII. until he is old enough to take care of the country himself.
During all these troublous times Canovas steadily upheld the crown; through riot and revolution he never wavered, and was even banished from Spain on one occasion because of his well-known sympathy for the crown. ”

“ He did not accept any military post during the revolution until Marshal Serrano in 1874 offered, him the direction of the staif, and he only accepted it after clearly stating that he was a royalist and partisan of Alfonso XII. In his long and brilliant career he never swerved from his steadfast resolve never to be mixed up in any political or military intrigues or pronunciamientos—to use his own words, “not even to restore my king.” ”

“ His reign had not been free from struggles with the nobility, and the latter were in no small degree responsible for the weak result of his foreign policy; only an exceptionally capable monarch, such as Pedro III had been, could handle successfully the grave foreign and domestic problems of the time. The nobles and towns of Aragon proper and Valencia had banded together in a league called the Union, and they used their combined influence to exact new privileges from Alfonso. ”

“ These estates were held as a fief, subject to tribute and military service. Henry and later Teresa (on the former’s death) profited by the civil strife to increase their holdings and acquire real strength. Urraca died in 1126, and matters were arranged by the recognition of the young Alfonso (Alfonso VII “the Emperor”) as king in his grandfather’s domain, while Alfonso the Battler gained some territories adjoining his kingdom of Aragon. [19]
Alfonso “the Emperor.”
The death of Urraca did not end the internal strife in Christian Spain. ”

“ But on the taking of Seville by St. Ferdinand, the centre of gravity was completely changed. In the thirteenth century, Spain was passing through a great social and intellectual revolution, and the first man of intellectual Spain was Alfonso of Castile. If his royal highness, the heir apparent to the crown of England, were a senior wrangler, and a double first-class man at the English universities; if he were called upon to fill the post of Astronomer Royal of England, in default of any other man in the kingdom worthy even to be compared with him in that department of science ”