usually, of aristocratic) marriages. Shall we condemn Christina because she followed the rule of her order? Let us be just; though she doubtless married Ferdinand from selfish motives, she "was a much better wife than he deserved, and her influence in annulling the absurd Salic law has been of advantage to the Spanish nation; because had Don Carlos, a fanatic monk, succeeded his brother Ferdinand, the awful horrors of religious despotism and persecutions, worse, far worse, even than their civil wars, would have deluged the country in blood, and stifled the last sigh of freedom.
The reputation of Christina had spread through the kingdom long before her arrival; and on her appearance in Madrid, her youth, beauty, and affability realized the most sanguine expectations, and filled all Spain with enthusiasm. She studied from the first to make herself popular, and succeeded; she flattered the prejudices of the people, conformed to their usages, and adopted their dress. All this, aided by a countenance beaming with benevolence, and a charming smile which always played about her lips, soon caught the hearts of her subjects. .
During her marriage with Ferdinand, she became the mother or two daughters, Isabella the Second, born October 10, 1830, and Louisa, now wife of the Duke de Montpensier, born January 30, 1832. Through the influence of the queen, Ferdinand was induced, in March, 1830, to revoke the Salic law. The effect of this measure being to deprive the king's brother, Don Carlos, of the succession in favour of Isabella, gave rise to many intrigues during the latter part of Ferdinand's life, and after his death caused a dreadful civil war. During the illness of the king, in the last three years of his life, he appointed the queen regent of the kingdom, and on his death, in September, 1833, he left the regency, during the minority of Isabella, to Christina.
The death of the king was the signal for a war, which burst out at once in all parts of Spain. The country was almost equally divided between the adherents of Don Carlos, called Carlists, and the supporters of Isabella the Second, called Christinos, from the regent. After changing her ministers several times, Christina attempted to govern the kingdom without sharing her authority with any representative assembly. Finding herself, unsuccessful in this, she appointed two ministers successively, who were to give a more popular form to the government. But the dissatisfaction still continuing, Maria Christina was forced, by a military insurrection at La Granja, where she was residing, on the 13th. of April, 1836, to issue a decree, pledging herself to adopt the constitution of 1812, with such modifications as the Cortes might agree to. But afterwards, when the Cortes enacted the law of the "ayuntamientos," limiting the powers of the municipalities of the kingdom, it met with so much opposition, that it was found impossible to execute it. Maria Christina, in her perplexity, confided to Espartero, who was exceedingly popular, the formation of a new ministry. Espartero required her consent to the repeal of the obnoxious law, the dissolution of the existing Cortes, and the removal from her person of certain individuals. Unwilling to comply with these conditions, and unable otherwise to carry on the government longer, she resigned the regency, and retired into France, in October, 1840, with her husband, who had been originally a
