Prince, and Lord
Aberdeen on the other. Aberdeen, as Foreign Minister, declared that
England would neither recognise nor support Prince Leopold as a
candidate for the hand of the Queen of Spain; while Louis Philippe
solemnly promised, both to Aberdeen and to Victoria, that the Duc de
Montpensier should not marry the Infanta Fernanda until after the Queen
was married and had issue. All went well, and the crisis seemed to be
over, when the whole question was suddenly re-opened by Palmerston,
who had succeeded Aberdeen at the Foreign Office. In a despatch to
the English Minister at Madrid, he mentioned, in a list of possible
candidates for Queen Isabella's hand, Prince Leopold of Coburg; and
at the same time he took occasion to denounce in violent language the
tyranny and incompetence of the Spanish Government. This despatch,
indiscreet in any case, was rendered infinitely more so by being
communicated to Guizot. Louis Philippe saw his opportunity and pounced
on it. Though there was nothing in Palmerston's language to show that he
either recognised or supported Prince Leopold, the King at once assumed
that the English had broken their engagement, and that he was therefore
free to do likewise. He then sent the despatch to the Queen Mother,
declared that the English were intriguing for the Coburg marriage, bade
her mark the animosity of Palmerston against the Spanish Government, and
urged her to escape from her difficulties and ensure the friendship
of France by marrying Isabella to the Duke of Cadiz and Fernanda
to Montpensier. The Queen Mother, alarmed and furious, was easily
convinced. There was only one difficulty: Isabella loathed the very
sight of her cousin. But this was soon surmounted; there was a wild
supper-party at the Palace, and in the course of it the young girl was
induced to consent to anything that was asked of her. Shortly after, and
on the same day, both the marriages took place.

The news burst like a bomb on the English Government, who saw with rage
and mortification that they had been completely outmanoeuvred by the
crafty King. Victoria, in particular, was outraged. Not only had she
been the personal recipient of Louis Philippe's pledge, but he had won
his way to her heart by presenting the Prince of Wales with a box of
soldiers and sending the Princess Royal a beautiful Parisian doll with
eyes that opened and shut. And now insult was added to injury. The Queen
of the French wrote her a formal letter,