Note 18 — LORD PALMERSTON. ON THE CASE OF DON PACIFICO: HOUSE OF COMMONS, JUNE 25, 1850.

Note 18, p. 197.—The question of the Spanish Succession and the quelling of the Carlist revolt here entered on demands further elucidation. It will be remembered that Don Carlos, after the Quadruple Treaty of 1834, had gone to England. Arrived there, he was really in an anomalous position. It has been said that he carried his dreams with him into exile. Now he had made no promises further to observe the stipulations of the treaty, and—rather curiously—he was not even held by the English authorities as a prisoner of war. What, then, was more natural than that after a short time he should quit England, run through France in disguise, and bob up at the Carlist headquarters in the Basque Province of Navarre? It was at once evident to the world that, so far as the suppression of the Spanish Pretender went, the Quadruple Treaty was nil. For various reasons, the Basque provinces had been from the outset the hotbed of Carlism; and from this centre a vigorous and, for a time, successful war was waged for Don Carlos. We say deliberately, “waged for” him: because, like another famous Pretender, Don Carlos was a figure singularly incapacitated for leadership or hero-worship. His political abilities were meagre; and of his personal courage there was more than a doubt. And yet, with the perverse good luck that also waited upon another Pretender, he was fortunate in his supporters. Chief among these was Zumalacarregui, a general of marked strategic talent, who made a pretty fight for his worthless master. Except for the advantages of a mountainous country for base and a devoted population about him, the Carlist leader had little to work with; but he made the throne of Cristina tremble. The struggle endured—a civil war that became notable for its peculiarly Spanish atrocities—until the Government was forced to appeal to France for aid. It should be stated that after the flight of Carlos from England an article had been added to the Quadruple Treaty to the effect that France should prevent troops and contraband of war from crossing the Pyrenees, and that England should cut off aid to the Carlists by sea. This was not enough to stifle the uprising. The appeal to France met with a certain hesitation on the part of that Government. Louis Philippe now feared to irritate those Powers who were more or less openly sympathetic with Carlism. England was sounded to see if she would stand for a joint responsibility with France in the matter of intervention. Lord Palmerston replied negatively. The hesitation of France then ceased. The answer was returned to Spain that no military assistance could be given. By this time the Queen Regent had become unpopular; and moderate men, as a relief from practical anarchy, were beginning to turn toward Don Carlos. His prospects looked decidedly bright. But the inspired fatuity that was seemingly the birthright of the Pretender did not allow him to profit by his golden moment. He would hear of nothing short of absolutism; instead of listening to compromise, he made a feint of marching on Madrid; and, after being soundly beaten by the Government General, Espartero, escaped into Portugal, Sept. 14, 1839, having racked Spain with a civil war of six years’ duration, with no gain even to himself. So the revolt collapsed. Cristina had been ousted from the Regency by the popular hero Espartero. Next Espartero was driven into exile by his own party. Cristina then came back to Madrid, where her daughter Isabella, made of age by a legal fiction, although only a girl of fourteen, was crowned (November, 1843) Queen of Spain, with a Ministry of the Moderado party, under General Narvaez.