These were the words with which he scornfully spurned their offer.
The republicans never forgave him, and later when, after the dethronement of Isabella, his name was again proposed in the cortes by his supporters, Prim and Sagasta were his most bitter enemies.
On Don Carlos' behalf, insurrections—speedily repressed—took place in 1869 and 1872. But the insurrection headed by him in person in 1873 proved much more formidable and kept the Basque provinces in a great confusion till the beginning of 1876, when it was crushed.
Before the commencement of the war of 1872-76, Don Carlos defined clearly his position and views in various manifestos addressed to the people of Spain. He declared that with him the revolutionary doctrine should have no place. What Spain wanted, said Don Carlos, was that no outrage should be offered to the faith of her fathers, for in Catholicity reposed the truth, as she understood it, the symbol of all her glories, the spirit of all her laws and the bond of concord between all good Spaniards. What Spain wanted was a real king and a government worthy and energetic, strong and respected.
The opportunity for Don Carlos was found in the troublous times that led to and followed the abdication of Amadeo I., Duke of Aosta, who had been elected by the cortes. The four years' war commenced in spring, 1872, and a year later Amadeo abdicated in a message saying that he saw Spain in a continual struggle, and the era, of peace more distant; he sought remedies within the law, but did not find them; his efforts were sterile.
Thereupon the two chambers combined as the sovereign power of Spain and voted for a republic. The two years of the republic were the stormiest in Spanish history, and it was then that the Carlists made the greatest progress. They numbered probably one-third of the people of Spain. A republic was not suited to the disposition of the Spaniards, and Castelar, who had the helm of the ship of state, gave up his task in disgust. Then Alfonso XII., son of the exiled Isabella, was proclaimed heir to the throne. Alfonso XIII., is his son.
Alfonso XII.'s first task was to suppress the Carlists, and in this he succeeded. The people were tired of the continual strife. Royalists and republicans alike welcomed the new monarch.
The number of his followers gradually dwindling and finding that continued resistance would be unavailable, Don Carlos was finally convinced that it would be useless to continue the struggle. So early in 1876 his army disbanded. Accompanied by his bodyguard he crossed the Pyrenees. As he stepped his foot on French soil he turned as if to bid farewell to Spain, but his last words, energetically pronounced, were: "Volvere, volvere! I will return, I will return!" And it is the belief of his followers that his time is near at hand.
HIS LOYAL FOLLOWERS.
No man has more devoted followers. The army that fought for him during the Carlist revolution was one of the most heroic that has ever been gathered together. To his standard came young men of good family from every nation. He was regarded as the representative of the old regime of monarchists, and in his ranks were those who hoped for the re-establishment of the now obsolete divine right of kings. He was the head of the house of Bourbon in all Europe. Except for the existence of Maria Theresa, daughter of Ferdinand of Modena, married the Prince Louis of Bavaria, Don Carlos would be the legitimate representative of the royal house of Stuart, and, barring the English act of settlement, King of Great Britain and Ireland.