The Courts of Europe are evidently anxious that the Regent
of Spain, Queen Christina, should be supported, and the Catholic Church is exerting itself to the same end. The Diplomatists never lose an opportunity of honouring the Queen, and the levees are attended by crowds of Prelates. The Generals, too, are friendly, even Lopez Dominguez, the Radical soldier, accepting office ; and it is loudly announced that the Govern- ment will permit perfectly free elections, which would be an unprecedented novelty. Nevertheless, there is uneasiness. A General of the Montpensier family has publicly insulted the Queen, and is to be tried by court-martial, his only excuse being intoxication, and there is an obvious dislike of the Queen Regent as a formalist and a foreigner. Her adversaries, who are grouping round the old Queen Isabella, will probably await her accouchement in April ; but if her child is a girl, there will be a pronunciamiento of some kind. Senor Zorrilla, it is said, has determined on a rising before January ; but a rising in Spain without direct military support is rarely formidable, and the terror inspired by King Alfonso, who never pardoned mutiny, has not yet worn off.
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