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ISABELLA II. 423 equal certainty upon the nobility, tho clergy, and the common offender. The masculine in- tellect, the feminine charms, and the rare vir- tues of Isabella have been a favorite theme for historians of all subsequent times, and the affection in which all her subjects held her person is still cherished throughout Spain for her memory. The sudden deaths of Don Car- los, Don Pedro Giron, and her brother Al- fonso, so opportunely for her interests, left no stain of suspicion upon her. For Ferdinand she always entertained the warmest affection, which was not always faithfully returned. Her genuine piety colored every action of her life. In person she was equally beautiful as in char- acter. She had a clear complexion, light blue eyes, and auburn hair. She had five children : Isabella, married to Emanuel of Portugal ; Juan, a virtuous prince, who died in 1497, aged 20; Juana, who married Philip, archduke of Austria, and was the mother of the emperor Charles V. ; Maria, who espoused Emanuel after the death of her sister; and Catharine, the wife of Henry VIII. of England. (See FERDINAND V.) ISABELLA I !. (MARIA ISABEL LUISA), ex-queen of Spain, born in Madrid, Oct. 10, 1830. She is the eldest daughter of Ferdinand VII. and his fourth wife, Maria Christina. The ques- tion of her succession to the throne caused in Spain a bloody civil war. Her father, having no son, repealed (March 29, 1830) the Salic law, introduced into Spain by Philip V., and named the expected offspring of his fourth marriage to succeed him, thus excluding his brother Don Carlos, who was then heir pre- sumptive by virtue of that law. Ferdinand dying Sept. 29, 1833, Isabella, then only three years old, was proclaimed queen. Don Carlos took up arms, supported by a large body of adherents, known as Carlists. The contest gradually assumed the worst form of civil war, the clergy taking sides with Don Carlos, while the queen's party was identified with that of the exaltados, liberals, or constitutionalists; the queen mother, who had taken the title of regent, having guaranteed a constitution to Spain. The young queen was supported by the majority of the people, and in 1834 it was almost unanimously agreed by the legislative cortes that Don Carlos and his descendants should be for ever excluded from the Spanish throne ; a decree which was confirmed by the constituent cortes in 1836. Peace was vir- tually concluded at the end of August, 1839, at Vergara, by the convention between the Carlist general Maroto and Gen. Espartero, the most successful of the constitutionalist commanders, and Don Carlos fled to France. During the course of the struggle the queen regent vacil- lated between the two parties of moderados, or conservatives, and exaltados, or liberals. The ministry of Mendizabal modified the constitu- tion, enlarged the electoral law, and introduced other reforms; but the juntas, still dissatisfied, demanded the constitution of 1812, which was finally extorted by the insurrection of Madrid, June 18, 1837. The great insurrections of Barcelona and of Madrid in 1839 caused tho flight of the queen mother into France (Octo- ber, 1840). Espartero now became head of the government, and on May 8, 1841, was de- clared regent, but was finally compelled by an insurrection of the friends of Christina and the radicals to abdicate; tho cortes, by advancing the majority of the queen 11 months, placed her on the throne, Nov. 10, 1843. Gen. Nar- vaez, who had placed himself at the head of the insurrection, became chief of the cabinet in 1844, and in the following year the consti- tution was modified in a reactionary sense. On Oct. 10, 1846, under the influence of Louis Philippe, she was married to her cousin, Don Francisco de Asis, and at the same time her sister Maria Ferdinanda Luisa was married to the duke of Montpensior. This alliance gave rise to sinister comments, and resulted in do- mestic unhappiness and in injurious reports in regard to the conjugal fitness of the king and the conjugal fidelity of the queen. Isabella established alliances with Austria and Prussia, and in 1849 sent an army to aid the pope. An attempted assassination of the queen in 1852 was turned to account by the conser- vatives, who procured the dissolution of the cortes and the adoption of repressive mea- sures. Several liberal generals having been banished, on June 28, 1854, Gens. O'Donnell and Dulce headed a military and civil insurrec- tion in Madrid, and succeeded in reestablishing a liberal government. The queen mother fled again to France, and the queen proclaimed an amnesty, opened a new cortes, and legalized the sale of church property. In 1856 an at- tempted coup d'etat by O'Donnell, and the suppression of revolts in the south of Spain, gave the queen more power, and reestablished the constitution of 1845. This induced the most reactionary measures, which in turn brought about a year later the fall of the Nar- vaez cabinet and the formation of a more lib- eral ministry (October, 1857). A war with Morocco, undertaken by O'Donnell, was suc- cessfully terminated in April, 1860. The in- tervention in Mexican affairs jointly with the French, and under the lead of Prim, in 1861-'2, was speedily cut short by that general. Waste- ful enterprises in Santo Domingo and against Peru and Chili proved entirely fruitless. In 1865 Isabella was compelled by the resignation of her ministers to give her sanction to the bill repealing the law of 1861, by which the re- public of Dominica was incorporated with the monarchy ; and in the same year she ordered the sale of all the crown property, with the ex- ception of the royal residences and entailed es- tates, for the benefit of the nation. In 1866, under the influence of the priests and a new Narvaez cabinet, she abolished freedom of the press and placed public instruction in the hands of the clergy. Insurrections, instigated and partly led by Prim, broke out in that and the