ne hundred and five votes, only twenty-three
being given for Montpensier and sixty-three for a republic.

On the day that King Amadeo set foot on Spanish soil Prim was
assassinated; it was perfectly well known at whose instigation, and the
man whom the Spaniards themselves said was _demasiado honesto_ (too
honourable) for the hotch-potch of political parties into which he was
thrown without a friend or helper, began his vain effort to rule a
foreign nation in a constitutional manner. After he had thrown up the
thankless task in despair, the absurd Republic of Zorilla and Castelar
made confusion worse confounded, and it was with a feeling of relief to
all that the _pronunciamiento_ of Martinez Campos at Muviedro put an end
to the Spanish Republic under Serrano, and proclaimed the son of Isabel
II. as King.

He was but a lad of seventeen, but he had been educated in England; he
was known to be brave, dignified, and extremely liberal, so that he was
acclaimed throughout Spain, and during his short life he fully justified
the high opinion formed of him. But the Government of Canovas was
reactionary, and when the unexpected death of Alfonzo XII. left his
young wife, the present Maria Cristina of Austria, a widow under
exceptionally trying circumstances, Canovas himself placed his
resignation in her hands, knowing that the Liberals were the party of
the nation, and promised to give his own best efforts to work with what
had up to then been his Opposition, for the good of the country and of
the expected child, who a few months later had the unusual experience
of being "born a king."

Whatever may be said about the present Regent,--though in truth little
but good has been said or thought of her,--she has been most loyal to
the constitution, holding herself absolutely aloof from all favouritism
or even apparent predilection. She has devoted her life to the education
of her son and to his physical well-being, for he was not a strong child
in his early years, and she has done her best, possibly more than any
but a woman could have done, to keep the ship of State not only afloat,
but making headway during the minority of her son.

Two things militate against good government in Spain, and will continue
to do so until the whole system is changed: what is known in the country
as _caciquismo_, and the pernicious custom of changing all the
Government officials, down to the very porter at the doors, with every
change of ministry. It