At last the military hero arrived at the palace, which then stood where there are now some little houses, opposite the old Custom-house.
The interview seems to have been somewhat stormy. Maria Cristina is reported to have said: “I have made you a Count, and I have made you a Duke, but I cannot make you a gentleman.”[14]
[14] Series of biographies of Spanish generals published in La Vanguardia during 1907.
At last the Queen-Regent had to submit, and she had to agree to the conditions under which Espartero was willing to accept the post of Prime Minister.
On August 21 there was a meeting in Barcelona for the purpose of manifesting loyalty to Maria Cristina, and when the Queen-Regent appeared in her carriage, with her little daughters, the leaders of the meeting exclaimed: “This is the true expression, lady, of the opinions of Barcelona!” It was commonly known as the “frock-coat meeting,” as it consisted of those of a superior class; but the confusion caused by the “blouse” people led to a cessation of the cries of “Viva la Reina!” The matter would have blown over if Francisco Balmes, a lawyer partisan of the Queen-Regent, and Manuel Bosch de Torres, had not been shot in a street fray on the following day.
Then, unfortunately for Maria Cristina, she acted under the advice of the French Ambassador, M. de Redotte, who came to pay her his respects in the Palace of Barcelona, and declined to dissolve the Cortes or to withdraw the project for the Corporation elections by royal decree.
Maria Cristina was evidently now very unpopular, and the press was full of calumnious attacks about her secret marriage with Muñoz.
When, moreover, the Ministry suggested that the Queen’s post as Regent should be shared with Espartero, the Prime Minister, she proudly declared that, as she had decided to go abroad, it could be given to whom they thought fit.
The scene was worthy of Maria Cristina as Queen and mother. Fate had been against her. She had failed where success had seemed so easy, and the most dignified thing was to leave the field to him who, she declared, whilst pretending to maintain her influence, had never ceased to undermine it. So on August 28 the Queen-Regent left Barcelona for Valencia, without even bidding farewell to the Corporation.
The parting between the Queen-mother and her little girls was very sad, and, while going in the carriage of Espartero’s wife down to the port, she was eloquent in her injunctions to the General to protect her fatherless children; and when the ship left the port, it was to leave Espartero practically master of the situation.