In the meanwhile Boria, Don Diego Leon, and others, were caught in the Campo del Moro, the gardens of the palace. No mercy was shown to the would-be perpetrators of such a deed as the kidnapping of the royal children, and Diego de Leon, who had been covered with laurels for his brilliant services in the civil war, was shot with his accomplices without demur.
In the meanwhile General Espartero, in his Palace of la Buena Vista, was ignorant of the tragic scenes enacted at the palace until they were over. Brought thither by the sound of firearms, he arrived just as the insurrectionary force had been driven from the palace, and hastening up the staircase stained with blood, he found the royal children in their room weeping bitterly and much terrified, albeit at the time of the alarming scene they had shown more courage than could have been expected at such an early age. The Regent led the little girls to a window of the palace to still the fears of the people, who had hastened from all quarters at the noise of the firing, and the halberdiers who had defended their young Queen and her sister so bravely were all publicly applauded, promoted, and subsequently given the Cross of San Fernando. The fact of gunshot penetrating the royal apartment was unprecedented in history, and although the halberdiers pressed into the room to protect the royal children, they abstained from firing there on the invaders without, for fear of hurting those in their charge. When the Cortes opened, Espartero escorted the Princesses to the ceremony, and they were received with enthusiastic demonstrations of loyalty.
A short time afterwards Argüelles had to insist on the Order of the Palace, by which the French Ambassador was not allowed entry to the palace without official permission from the Regent.
When the Infante Don Francisco and Luisa Carlota decided to go to Spain to see what personal influence could do in obtaining power over their nieces, the King of France did all he could to prevent the fulfilment of the plan. Difficulties were put in the way of the illustrious travellers having horses for the journey, but Luisa Carlota exclaimed: “This new obstacle will not stop us, as, if we can’t get horses, we will go on foot.”
The exiled Queen-mother did all she could to influence her children against their aunt, and she placed within the leaves of a book of fashions, which she sent them from Paris, a paper which ran thus: “Do not trust that woman! She causes nothing but disgrace and ruin. Her words are all lies; her protestations of friendship are deceptions; her presence is a peril. Beware, my child. Your aunt wants to get rule over your mind and your heart to deceive you, and to claim an affection of which she is unworthy.”
It was in 1842 that, eluding the vigilance of the Countess of Mina, the lady-in-chief of the royal children, Luisa Carlota managed to see a good deal of her young niece Isabel. The Infanta constantly joined the young Queen in her walks, and, not content with talking to the young girl about her cousin Don Francisco, so as to make her think of him as an eligible parti, she one day gave her niece a portrait of her son in his uniform as Captain of the Hussars. This portrait Isabella was seen to show to her little sister, and so annoyed was the Marchioness of Belgida, the chief Lady-in-Waiting, at what she considered the breach of confidence on the part of the Infanta, that she resigned her post. Argüelles had striven to warn Luisa Carlota against the imprudence of her course, for the question of the young Queen’s marriage was one in which the dignity of the Government, the honour of the Queen, and the good name of the Regent, had all to be considered. Therefore any attempt to compromise the Queen by forcing any opinion from her which could not be based on experience was detrimental to all concerned. In the Cortes he said: “I do not believe in absolute isolation for a young Queen, but I think she ought to be surrounded by those who will give her a good example of prudence and self-reflection.” On the day that the Marchioness of Belgida’s resignation was accepted the widowed Countess of Mina was raised to be a grandee of Spain of the first order, and she was appointed to the post vacated by the Countess. Then, in pursuance of the opinion of the Ministers, Espartero had the Princesses taken to Zaragossa so as to prevent further intrigues about the Queen’s marriage.
In the “Estafeta del Palacio Real,” Antonio Bermejo compares Olozaga with Argüelles. “He was,” he says, “austere like Argüelles, who might be a little brusque, but never had a word or a single phrase left the lips of this old man which could sully the purity of a Princess. Moreover, the new guardian of the Queen was so dense that he let a book be circulated in the royal apartment, called ‘Theresa, the Philosopher,’ which was said to be at the root of much of the light behaviour of our girls. Who allowed this book in the palace? Whence came this vile work, calculated to pollute the throne of San Ferdinand? Narvaez and Gonzalez Brabo saw the book lying on a chimney-piece in the palace, and they indignantly cast it into the fire. It was thus that people sought to shake the foundation of the throne; it was thus that the seed of corruption was sown which resulted in so much weakness and failure!”
CHAPTER VIII
MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES IN THE PALACE
1843