Transcription
Madrid Thursday Evening Nov 9th 1843
My dear Papa :
I have just finished a long despatch of many foolscap / pages to the government, giving them an account of the late events / here and I will now recapitulate a part of it for your benefit :
On Saturday last after three weeks work the / Chamber of Deputies had united a sufficient number of members / to be constituted and elect a President : Mr/ Olozaga, who had / returned a few days before from his mission to Paris, was generally / designated as the Candidate : I believe I have told you that / the “progresistas” (liberals) and Moderados united to put down / Espartero and after his fuall called themselves the “parliamentary / party” _ Olozaga, the son of an obscure Country physician belonged / to the former, and was with, Cortina his rival, at the head of / the party _ very soon after the provisional government was es - / tablished Corima showed signs of disaffection, and in spite of / all efforts to conciliate him, at length announced “the he did / not accept the situation” or in other words declared himself / an enemy to the gov’t _ under these circumstances Olozaga became / all important to the Moderato party : He was appointed Minis- / ter to Paris, Instructor to the Queen, and at length made a Knight / of the Golden Fleece : this last was a bitter pill to the “Aristocratic / party : the order in question being generally confined to Crowned / heads and royal princes, and only possessed by a very few of / the oldest in Spain _ The provisional Ministry of /
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Lopez, it was expected, would retire as soon as the Queen was declared / of age, and M. Olozaga who had been intriguing against, and had / overthrown, some half dozen ministries, would then deign to accept / office and carry on the government.
This was the state of things up to Saturday [^ last] the day / for the election of the President of the Chamber _ all the caucuses which / were held to bring about a union of parties, or rather of factions having / failed in their object _ after balloting twice, Olozaga was elected / by a majority of only six votes more than the number requisite for / a choice _ Cortina being his opponent : It is now reported that Olozaga / with such a feeble support will not undertake the formation of a / cabinet; and as the Lopez and his friends retire, the little Queen runs / the risk of being abandoned by constitutional advisers at the very / time when she will be in the greatest need of them _ It is certainly a / most complicated position _ The Moderados and friends of Christina influence / the army thro Narvaez and the other generals; but tho they assert they / have also with them the majority of the nation, it does not appear / so from the constitution of the popular branch of the legislature where / the progresistas greatly outnumber them _ In all this confusion there / seems very little importance attached to a difference of principle; / men are all things, political opinions _ nothing _ It would be difficult / to say on what points of policy Olozaga + Cortina differ save the / cardinal one of being in or out of office. _ Every body intrigues with / every body else _ sometimes it seems as if they were in opposition from / the mere love of a row; since it has happened repeatedly that both / Olozaga + Cortina have pulled down a ministry would [^ without] being willing / to build up one in its place. _ I am told on good authority that one / of the present ministers is at the same [^ time] in correspondence with Don Carlos / and Gen’l Linage, the Agent of Espartero in Gallicia [sic]; and it is confidently / asserted that Cortina who was bullying the Lopez Cabinet and obtaining /
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Whatever he wanted for his friends [^ in Madrid] was at the same time stirring up the / insurrections of the provinces and aiding to overthrow the government which / he had so lately helped to establish :
The President having been elected on Saturday _ on Monday / the subject of the Queens majority was taken up; and after being discussed two / days; the voting by the two chambers united was fixed for Wednesday : long / before the appointed hour the streets leading to the Palace of the Deputies were / occupied by the people; and the tribunes + Galleries crowded with Spectators / The Deupties + Senators sat together promiscuously; the President of the Senate taking / a long time it seemed as if question would pass unanimously, but at length / a no was heard, followed 15 others, all received with murmurs of disapprobation / _ The majority however was very large; the numbers being 193 to 16 : upon the / official announcement by the Secretary “The Cortes declare of age Queen / [page torn]-la 2nd” the Spectators in the galleries broke into loud “vivas” in [wax seal] / [page torn]-ere soon joined by the Senators + Deputies who rose in their pla-[wax seal] / and cheered tumultuously waving their hats in the most uproarious manner / It was a very exciting scene, all who were present taking part in it expect / the foreign representatives _ The session closed amid shaking of hands and / mutual congratulations between members and lookerson; and the news / was soon spread over the city by the pealing of bells and firing of cannon _ / In the Evening there were Serenades and illuminations; and like true Spa: / niards the people are pleased with a “funcion” without thinking much / about the end or object of it :
Tomorrow Friday the 10th is the day appointed / for the ceremony of coronation and taking the oaths _ I have just received an / invitation from the Introducer of Ambassadors, who announces that the Queen / will proceed at 2 pm to the Palace of the Senate and that the ceremony will / be celebrated “de gran gala” _ one of the first acts of the new royalty as I hear / to be a grand dinner to the distinguished strangers who reside at her Court / and who have not for some time been troubled by regal hospitalities _ My / long friend Mr. Livingston goes about with me to the shows and sights and /
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Has been fortunate in coming to Spain at such an interesting period.
The Insurrection still drags on at the old points and has lately / broken out in new ones _ Vigo an important port of Galicia having revolted / about ten days ago : It seems likely that the declaration of the Queen’s majority will / have have some effect on these places, who [^ they] affect great veneration for the royal / authority in General and this little Queen in particular.
I am delighted that our [^ domestic] affairs are sharing the prosperity of the country / and look forward with interest to the first performances of the “Eureka”; a / name of good omen at least _
You must think of me this winter, should any / opening present itself; as I have no inclination to defer my return beyond / the period you mention _ June and July next : I begin already to think of Nevis / strawberries from one’s own vines _ Good night _ I must dispatch my package / by tonights mail to the punctual miller, for the steamer of the 29th /
Many kisses to Mama + the Girls Your affectionate son
A.H.Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
