e will be
successful, and especially because he fears that M. Bresson has taken
so active a part in favour of other arrangements, that he will not be
very eager in support of Don Enrique, and will perhaps think that if
this arrangement can be rendered impossible the chances may become
greater in favour of some other arrangement which he and his
Government may prefer. But such future embarrassments must be dealt
with when they arise, and Viscount Palmerston submits that for the
moment, unless the British Government had been prepared to close with
the offers of the Duke of Rianzares, and to follow at once the course
recommended by Mr Bulwer, the steps suggested in the accompanying
drafts are the safest and the best.

Viscount Palmerston has great pleasure in submitting the accompanying
private letter from Mr Bulwer announcing the withdrawal of the Spanish
troops from the frontier of Portugal.

[Pageheading: THE DOUBLE BETROTHAL]

_Mr Bulwer to Viscount Palmerston._

MADRID, _29th August 1846._

MY LORD,--I have troubled your Lordship of late with many
communications....

I have now to announce to your Lordship that the Queen declared last
night at twelve o'clock that she had made up her mind in favour of
His Royal Highness Don Francisco de Asis.... Your Lordship is aware
under what circumstances Don Francisco was summoned here, the Court
having been, when I wrote on the 4th, most anxious to conclude a
marriage with Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, and only induced to
abandon this idea from the repeated intimations it received that it
could not be carried out....

The same night a Council was held of the Queen Mother's friends,
who determined to bring matters forthwith to a conclusion. Queen
Christina, I understand, spoke to her daughter and told her she
must choose one of two things, either marrying now, or deferring the
marriage for three or four years. That the Prince of Saxe-Coburg was
evidently impossible; that Count Trapani would be dangerous; that Don
Henry had placed himself in a position which rendered the alliance
with him out of the question, and that Her Majesty must either make up
her mind to marry her cousin Don Francisco de Asis, or to abandon for
some time the idea of marrying.

The Queen, I am told, took some little time to consider, and then
decided in favour of her cousin. The Ministers were called in, and the
drama was concluded....

H. L. BULWER.

_P.S._--I learn that directly the