The mace-bearers, with their plumed hats and their breasts bearing the embroidered arms of the city, were standing in statuesque immobility on their elevated places directly under the canopy at the head of the chamber. Every seat was filled; the boxes had their full complement of ladies, and outsiders and representatives of the press crowded the gangways. The President of the Congress sat at the official table, flanked by his officials, and all was expectation when the slight, dapper figure of Brabo, dressed in black and bearing the scarlet portfolio of office under his arm, walked with determined step to the seat of honour on the black[15] bench of the Ministers, and from thence returned the astonished glances of the deputies with a scornful smile and a contemptuous look. After waiting for the storm of dissentient remarks to subside, the Minister rose to his feet, and in clear, concise tones declared that he had been summoned by the Queen to the palace at 11.30 on November 3, and, being admitted to the royal presence, he found that the audience included all the staff of the gentiles hombres, including General Domingo Dulce, who had distinguished himself so bravely on the night of the attempted kidnapping of the little Princesses; Don Maurice Carlos de Onis, President of the Senate; the Duke of Rivas; the Count of Ezpeleta; the Marquis of Peñaflorida, and the Marquis of San Felices, Secretary of the Senate, with Don Pedro José Pidal, President of the Congress of Deputies, the President of the Academy of Languages, etc. The gathering also included the Patriarch of the Indias and the Notary of the King. And it was in the presence of this august assembly that Her Majesty had made the following declaration: “On the evening of the 28th of last month, Olozaga proposed my signing a decree for the dissolution of the Cortes, and I replied that I did not wish to sign it, having, among other reasons, the fact that this Cortes had declared me to be of age. Olozaga insisted; I again objected, rising from my seat and proceeding to the door at the left-hand side of the table. Olozaga intercepted my passage and locked the door. Upon this I turned to the other door, but he then stepped to that one, which he also locked. Then, catching me by the dress, he made me sit down, and seized me by the hand and forced me to sign the document. Before leaving me he told me to say nothing of the occurrence to anybody, but this I declined to promise.”
[15] The Ministerial seats are now upholstered in blue.
“Then,” continued Brabo, “at Her Majesty’s request, we all signed the royal declaration, for its transmittance to the archives.”
It was with great dignity and cleverness that Olozaga followed the statement of Brabo by refuting the points, holding his own as to his innocence, and yet not incriminating the Queen of untruth. When the unfortunate man had entered the Cortes with his brothers, cries of “Death to him!” came from a box filled with officers of the regiment of San Fernando, whilst shouts of “Viva!” came from other directions.
“Happen what may,” said Olozaga, “I deserve the confidence of the Queen, which I won as a Minister;” and it was in a voice trembling with emotion that he continued: “The life I have led justifies me—the person of my heart, my daughter, my friends. My colleagues have all found me always an upright man, incapable of failing in my duties, and this opinion I cannot sacrifice to the Queen, nor to God, nor to the Universe. Being a man of integrity, I must show myself as such before the world, even if it were on the steps of the scaffold itself.”
It is difficult to get an impartial opinion upon this episode, so fraught with importance and so conclusive of the short-sighted policy of putting the kingdom into the hands of a young girl of thirteen, who was utterly inexperienced in the art of government, as the Regent had lived away from the palace, and fate had sundered her from mother, aunts, uncles, and relatives, who, in any other station of life, might have aided her with their counsels. In the excitement of the moment the Minister had doubtless treated the Queen as he would his own daughter, and, keenly anxious to gain the decree which would empower him to rid himself of the majority of Moderates in the House, Olozaga had not stopped to consider how an exaggerated report might colour his action to the tone of that of a man guilty of gross lèse-majesté. The Queen was but a child in his eyes, and when she demurred at the seeming cruelty and ingratitude of dissolving a Cabinet which had been so favourable to the anticipation of her majority, it is probably true that the Minister patted her familiarly on the wrist, and said, with a smile of satisfaction and superiority: “I will accustom My Lady to such cruelties!”
The return of the Queen-mother was now solemnly demanded by a deputation of grandees, senators, and deputies. The necessity of the young Queen having a person of experience at her side was eloquently set forth; and those who were envious of the power of Gonzalez Brabo eagerly advised a course which would curtail his influence and lead to the supremacy of the Moderates. So Maria Cristina returned to Spain on February 28, 1844, arriving at Barcelona on March 4, and at Madrid on March 21.
However, Gonzalez Brabo managed to retain power under the new state of affairs, albeit at the price of being termed a traitor by his own party.
In spite of being accused of acting as a panderer to the Moderates, Olozaga’s advice to the Queen to legalize the marriage of her mother with Don Fernando Muñoz was a step of good policy. The ceremony in the chapel of the royal palace was celebrated by the Patriarch of the Indias.
The husband was endowed with the decorations and dignities of his position, and the Queen published the following decree: