NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE arrangements for the double marriage at Madrid go forward, in spite of the anticipated obstructions. The dreaded Cortes has met, and is even reported to seem pleased with the project. Meanwhile the diplomatic turmoil about the affair con- tinues, most 4vourably for newspaper writers; furnishing articles, fierce and innumerable, to the journalists of London, Paris, and Madrid. One would think that heaveti and earth were coming together, instead of the Infanta Luisa and the Due de Montpen- sier. Mr. Bulwer is .undoubtedly writing most able notes in Madrid, putting the received constitutional doctrines into neat official language ; Lord Norrnanby is described as bullying M. Guizot in Paris ; Queen Victoria is said to have written severely to King Louis Philippe ; and some London journals let it be un- derstood that their foreboding menaces reflect the lowering aspect of Lord Palmerston. "The gentlemen connected with the press" burst with indignation at the small deference shown to them by the parties to the Montpensier marriage. You would think that Lord Pahnerston and 't we" were the slighted guardians, if not the offended father. Now, we are not aware that when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, she asked leave of the Spanish Ambassador, or even took counsel of the Madrid Heraldo.
Mr. Bulwer is careful to allow Queen Isabella a choice, if it be a free one. This is a most shallow pretence. . The Queen is not sixteen years of age ; and if she were not guided by those about her, she really would be "as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile "—not at all a proper person for Mr. Bulwer's approbation.
One absurdity pervades the whole affair — the refinement of sagacity which amplifies dangers in the remote future that may never exist. No royal alliances could well make Spain a worse neighbour than she is ; but, we repeat, a little infusion of better blood into the Spanish line might make her a better neigh- bour; and, at all events, there is a ludicrous frivolity in the solemn air with which, amid the present anarchy of the Penin- sula, some far-seeing folks descry the perils to arise through the union of the young people and its obstetrical contingencies.
