It is stated that the Royalist Army in Spain will
be unable to move for two months, that the King is disheartened by his ill- success in the field, and by the divisions between his Ultramontane and Liberal supporters, and that he has even spoken of abdication. His elder sister, the Princess Girgenti, a widow of 24, with some ability and strong religious opinions, has been sent to join him, and will, should he abdicate, be declared Isabella III. of Spain. It is most probable, however, that the rumour of abdication has arisen only from words uttered in a fit of temper, and that if Canvas del Castillo fails, the experiment of Absolutist govern- ment will at least be tried. The Government is in fact Abso- lutist already, no one speaking of the Cortes, and the Ministry decreeing new fundamental laws,—such, for instance, as a new Marriage Law, distinguishing between the privileges of Catholics- and non-Catholics, and dissolving all marriages contracted by priests or nuns, on the Royal authority alone. The Government lacks nothing except the energy and success which can make ab- solutism tolerable.
Previous page
