Don Carlos was only seventeen years of age when he met and fell in love with Margaret, the daughter of the Duke of Parma.  She was only fourteen, and the mother of the young prince persuaded them to postpone the marriage for three years.  With his wife the pretender received a large fortune and he has been able to maintain a court in the semblance of royalty for several years.

Thirty years ago Carlos might have been king.  The crown was then offered him by Prim and Sagasta, who journeyed to London for the purpose.  They said it should be his if he would support the liberal constitution proposed for the country and would favor the separation of church and state.  It was the latter idea that led to his rejection of the proffered honor.  His strict Roman Catholic training made him refuse, for religion was more to him than anything else.

Carlos’ scornful refusal.

“When I come to my throne,” he declared, “I shall rule my land as I see fit.”

These were the words with which he scornfully spurned their offer.

The republicans never forgave him, and later when, after the dethronement of Isabella, his name was again proposed in the cortes by his supporters, Prim and Sagasta were his most bitter enemies.

On Don Carlos’ behalf, insurrections—­speedily repressed—­took place in 1869 and 1872.  But the insurrection headed by him in person in 1873 proved much more formidable and kept the Basque provinces in a great confusion till the beginning of 1876, when it was crushed.

Before the commencement of the war of 1872-76, Don Carlos defined clearly his position and views in various manifestos addressed to the people of Spain.  He declared that with him the revolutionary doctrine should have no place.  What Spain wanted, said Don Carlos, was that no outrage should be offered to the faith of her fathers, for in Catholicity reposed the truth, as she understood it, the symbol of all her glories, the spirit of all her laws and the bond of concord between all good Spaniards.  What Spain wanted was a real king and a government worthy and energetic, strong and respected.

The opportunity for Don Carlos was found in the troublous times that led to and followed the abdication of Amadeo I., Duke of Aosta, who had been elected by the cortes.  The four years’ war commenced in spring, 1872, and a year later Amadeo abdicated in a message saying that he saw Spain in a continual struggle, and the era, of peace more distant; he sought remedies within the law, but did not find them; his efforts were sterile.

Thereupon the two chambers combined as the sovereign power of Spain and voted for a republic.  The two years of the republic were the stormiest in Spanish history, and it was then that the Carlists made the greatest progress.  They numbered probably one-third of the people of Spain.  A republic was not suited to the disposition of the Spaniards, and Castelar, who had the helm of the ship of state, gave up his task in disgust.  Then Alfonso XII., son of the exiled Isabella, was proclaimed heir to the throne.  Alfonso XIII., is his son.