A ROYAL QUARREL AND THE RECONCILIATION

It was soon seen that General Serrano’s influence with the Queen surpassed the ordinary grade, and the Moderates were alarmed.

There were two parties in the royal palace—one on the side of the Queen, and the other on that of the King; and the leaders of these parties fostered the difference between the royal couple.

Francisco Pacheco, the King’s partisan, declared that a President of the Congress was wanted who would give more independence to the Crown, and who would receive the counsels of an intelligent husband of the Sovereign; for the King-Consort should not be in a position so secondary to that of the illustrious mother-in-law that she can boast of having more power than he has.

When Isabella saw that Queen Maria Cristina’s influence in the State was much resented by the Ministers, she advised her to go on a visit to her daughter, the Duchess of Montpensier, and this counsel was followed.

However, the want of union between the King and Queen was soon evident to the world, and when it was announced that Isabella was going to spend the rest of the summer at Aranjuez alone, whilst the King remained in Madrid, it was seen that the Serrano influence had become serious enough to cause a separation between the royal couple. Isabella’s naturally good heart seemed softened when she was leaving the palace, and it was evidently remorse which prompted her to look anxiously back from the carriage, in search of a glimpse of the husband at one of the windows of the royal pile. But the coach rattled on, and the Queen’s search was in vain; whilst her sad face, with its traces of tears, showed that things might have been better had not the differences of the royal couple been fostered, for their own ends, by intriguers of the camarilla.

Forsaken by his wife, Francisco followed the advice of his friends, to enjoy himself in his own way; so he repaired to the Palace of the Pardo, where banquets, hunting-parties, and other festivities deadened his sense of injury at his wife’s conduct.

Those interested in the welfare of the land were disappointed when the birthday of the Queen was celebrated by her holding a reception alone at Aranjuez, whilst the King had a hunting expedition at the Pardo. The Ministers came to the reception at Aranjuez, and then promptly returned to the capital, leaving the Queen with her trinity of Bulwer, Serrano, and Salamanca. General Salamanca was at last sent by the King to Aranjuez to advise Isabella to return, but she would not accept the condition of a change in the Serrano position.

This refusal made the King decline to assist at the reception of the Pope’s Nuncio at Aranjuez, and he was forbidden to return to the royal Palace of Madrid.

Benavides, a courtier, anxious to heal this unhappy division in the Royal Family, came to Francisco, and said:[16]

“This separation cannot go on; it is not good for the Queen or for Your Majesty.”

“That I can understand,” returned the King; “but she has chosen to outrage my dignity as husband, and this when my demands are not exaggerated. I know that Isabelita does not love me, and I excuse her, because I know that our union was only for State reasons, and not from inclination; and I am the more tolerant as I, too, was unable to give her any affection myself. I have not objected to the course of dissimulation, and I have always shown myself willing to keep up appearances to avoid this disgraceful break; but Isabelita, either from being more ingenuous or more vehement than I am, could not fulfil this hypocritical duty—this sacrifice for the good of the nation. I married because I had to marry, because the position of King is flattering. I took the part, with its advantages. I have no right to throw away the good fortune which I gained from the arrangement. So I made up my mind to be tolerant, if they were equally so with me, and I was never upset at the presence of a favourite.”

Here the King was interrupted by Benavides saying:

“Allow me, Sire, to observe one thing. That which you now say with regard to tolerance of a favourite is not in accordance with your present line of conduct, for do you not demand the withdrawal of General Serrano before agreeing to the reconciliation we are asking?”

Then, with a singular calmness, the King returned:

“I do not deny that this Serrano is the main drawback to an agreement with Isabelita, for the dismissal of the favourite would be immediately followed by the reconciliation desired by my wife; but I would have tolerated him, I would have exacted nothing, if he had not hurt me personally by insulting me with unworthy names, failing in respect to me, and not giving me proper consideration—and therefore I hate him. He is a little Godoy, who has not known how to behave; for he at least got over Charles IV. before rising to the favour of my grandmother.”

The Minister of the Government listened with astonishment to the King’s words. Don Francisco saw it, and continued:

“The welfare of fifteen million people demands this and other sacrifices. I was not born for Isabelita, nor Isabelita for me, but the country must think the contrary. I will be tolerant, but the influence of Serrano must cease, or I will not make it up.”

Benavides replied that the Ministry deplored this unhappy “influence,” which was getting burdensome to the Queen herself; but Serrano had such a fatal ascendancy everywhere, and had won over to his side the opposing elements, that any sudden step to put an end to the evil would result in deplorable consequences for the nation. “However, the Ministry has decided to get rid of this pernicious influence,” continued Benavides. “It is seeking a way to do so without a collision and its consequences; and one of the things which would help to this course of the Cabinet would be the immediate reconciliation of Your Majesties, as the preliminary to the other steps which will lead to Serrano’s overthrow.”

The King refused. He said that his dignity demanded the withdrawal of the “influence.” Fresh evident proofs had been given that this hateful man was the cause of the Queen’s separation from him, and therefore he was not inclined to go back from his word about him.

So Pacheco and all the other Ministers, excepting Salamanca, determined to resign if Serrano did not retire from the Court.

Benavides and Pacheco were among the deputation who petitioned the favourite to agree to this step, but it was in vain. The Ministers went backwards and forwards to La Granja without gaining their purpose. Finally, in pursuance of the Pope’s advice, the Queen decided to return to Madrid; and Salamanca, as Prime Minister, went to the Escorial to report the fact to Bulwer.

It must be noted that Salamanca’s name was not in the list of Ministers suggested by Narvaez. The Queen wished it to be added, but Narvaez declined to follow suit, as he knew that this statesman was supported by Bulwer, whose dislike of the King was well known; and the way he had spoken of Francisco before his wedding naturally made the King averse to seeing him.

Bulwer worked with Bermejo against Isabella during the premiership of Salamanca, and the publication in The Times of a demand for the royal divorce was due to him.

At last Francisco and Isabella were reconciled. It was on October 13 that the King returned to the capital. He entered the gate of the palace in a carriage drawn by six horses, with a mounted escort of the Guardia Civil. He was dressed quietly in black, and Brunelli, the Pope’s Legate, was seated on his left. Narvaez, Count Alcoy, Count Vistahermosa, rode by the coach, and two carriages followed with the high dignitaries of the palace.

The King looked pleased. General Serrano, whom he hated so cordially, had left Madrid, and the Queen was waiting for him at the window. Brunelli was about to follow the royal couple as they walked away after their first meeting, but Narvaez said: “Whither away, Your Eminence? Let them be alone with their tears and kisses. These things are done better without witnesses.”

The Queen arrived that day at her dwelling in the Calle de las Rejas. There was a family dinner-party in the evening at the palace, and, in a private interview with her daughter, Maria Cristina begged her to be more discreet in future; and she reminded her that although she had, as a widow, allowed herself to be captivated by a commoner, whilst she was the wife of the King she had never allowed her thoughts to wander beyond the circle of her rank and her duty.

The reckless extravagance of the Queen excited much remark. Courtiers are still living who recollect seeing Isabella give her bracelets to the beggars who sometimes infest the courtyard of the palace.

When Miraflores, who was considered the soul of truth, received a reckless order from the Queen to dispense a certain amount of money on some petitioner, he had the sum put in pieces on a table, and it was only the sight of the large sum which was thus laid before the Queen which showed her the extravagance of her command.

A great influence was soon found to be at work in the palace in the person of Sister Patrocinio, whose brother, Quiroga, was one of the gentlemen-in-waiting.