in 1846 the double marriage of these two children was celebrated with
great splendor at Madrid. The Queen was married to her cousin Don
Francisco d'Assisi, and her sister to the Duke de Montpensier, fifth
son of Louis Philippe.

[Illustration: From the painting by J. Siguenza y Chavarrieta.
The Duke de la Torre sworn in as Regent before the
Cortes of 1869.]

If, upon the birth of Liberalism in Spain, that kingdom could have
been governed by a wise and competent sovereign, the concluding
chapters of this narrative might have been very different. No time
could have been less favorable for a radical change in policy than the
period during which Isabella II. was Queen of Spain. Personally she
was all that a woman and a Queen should not be. With apparently not an
exalted desire or ambition for her country, this depraved daughter
of a depraved mother pursued her downward course until 1868, when the
nation would bear no more. A revolution broke out. Isabella, with her
three children, fled to France and there was once more a vacant throne
in Spain.

The hopes of the Carlists ran high. But the Cortes came to an
unexpected decision. They would have no Spanish Bourbon, be he Carlist
or Liberal. The reigning dynasty in Italy was at this moment the
adored of the Liberals in Europe. So they offered the Crown to Amadeo,
second son of Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy. Three years were quite
sufficient for this experiment. The young Amadeo was as glad to take
off his crown and to leave his kingdom, as the people were to have him
do so. He abdicated in 1873.

The Liberal party had been regretting their loss of opportunity in
1870. France had passed through many political phases in the last few
years, and the present French Republic had just come into existence.
Again Spain caught the contagion from her neighbor, and Spanish
Liberalism became _Spanish Republicanism_.

When Castelar, that patriotic and sagacious statesman, friend of
Garibaldi, of Mazzini, and of Kossuth, led this movement, many
hopefully believed the political millennium was at hand, when Spain
was about to join the brotherhood of Republics! But something more
than a great leader is needed to create a Republic. The magic of
Castelar's eloquence, the purity of his character, and the force of
his convictions were powerless to hold in stable union the conflicting
elements with which he had to deal. The Carlists were scheming, and
the Corte