When I reached a foreign land, the first need of my soul and the first thought of my heart was to raise my voice in friendship, the voice with which I have ever spoken to you with a sense of unspeakable tenderness, both in good and bad fortune.
Alone, abandoned, and a prey to the deepest grief, my only consolation in this great misfortune is to open my heart to God and to you, to my father and to my children.
Think not that I shall be satisfied with lamentations and barren recriminations, or that, to explain my conduct as Queen-Regent of the realm, I shall attempt to excite your passions; on the contrary, I have done everything to calm them and would gladly see them at rest. The language of self-restraint alone is consonant with my affection, my dignity, and my glory.
When I left my country to seek another home in Spanish hearts, rumour had informed me of your great exploits and your high qualities. I knew that in every age you had leaped forward to the combat with the noblest and most generous ardour to defend the throne of your Sovereigns; that you had defended it at the price of your blood, and that in days of glorious memory you had deserved well of your country and of Europe. I then swore to devote myself to the happiness of a nation which had shed its blood to break the captivity of its Kings. The Almighty heard my oath, your manifestations of joy showed me that you were conscious of it, and my conscience tells me that I have kept it.
When your King, upon the brink of the tomb, dropped the reins of State from his failing grasp and placed them in my hands, my gaze fell alternately upon my husband, my daughter's cradle, and the Spanish nation, thus uniting the three objects of my love in order to recommend them to the protection of heaven in one prayer. My painful experiences as mother and wife while my husband's life and my daughter's throne were endangered could not distract me from my duties as Queen: at my voice universities were opened; at my voice long-standing abuses disappeared and useful reforms, wisely considered, were brought forward; at my voice those who had sought in vain a home as exiles and wanderers in foreign lands, returned to their hearths and homes. Your joyous enthusiasm at these solemn acts of justice and mercy could only be compared to the extent of the grief and the depth of bitterness to which I was abandoned; for myself I reserved all sadness, and for you, Spaniards, all joy.
At a later date, when God had called my august husband to Himself, who left the government of the whole realm in my hands, I strove to guide the State as a merciful Queen-Regent (justiciera). During the short period which elapsed since my elevation to power until the convocation of the first Cortes, my power was unique, but it was not despotic, or absolute, or arbitrary, for it was limited by my will. The most dignified people in the realm and the Council of Government, which I was bound to consult by the last wishes of my august husband upon all matters of grave import, pointed out to me that public opinion demanded other guarantees from me as the repository of the sovereign power. I gave those guarantees, and freely and spontaneously convoked the chiefs of the nation and the procuradores of the realm.
I granted the royal statute and I have not infringed it. If others have trampled it under foot, they must be responsible for their actions before God, who holds laws sacred.
The Constitution of 1837 was accepted by me, and I took the oath to it; to avoid infringement of it, I then made the last and greatest of sacrifices—I laid down the sceptre and I was forced to abandon my daughters.
In referring to the events which have brought these cruel tribulations upon me, I shall speak to you as my dignity demands, with self-restraint and in words well weighed.
I was served by responsible Ministers, who were supported by the Cortes. I accepted their resignation, which was imperiously demanded by a revolt at Barcelona; then began a crisis which was only concluded by the renunciation which I signed at Valencia. During this deplorable period, the municipality of Madrid revolted against my authority, an example followed by other important towns. The rebels insisted that I should condemn the conduct of Ministers who had loyally served me; that I should recognise the movement as legitimate; that I should annul, or at any rate suspend, the law of municipalities which I had sanctioned, after it had been voted by the Cortes; and that I should endanger the unity of the Regency.