Whilst the negotiations for the release of the disabled _Virginius_ were dragging their slow length along--they were conducted by the Spaniards with all the dilatoriness which distinguish them--that nation underwent a weird series of political changes and intrigues. The Republican party, although flattered by Prim, who wished in his heart to be the first President of the Iberian Republic, was evidently distasteful to the majority of Spaniards, accustomed to the pageantry of the solemnest and most stately of European Courts. It was therefore deemed necessary to establish an interregnum with Marshall Serano as Regent, and to cast about for some Catholic prince to place upon the vacant throne of the Bourbons. Choice fell upon Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen--a most luckless selection, since, by offending the susceptibilities of France, it led to the Franco-Prussian war. King Victor Emmanuel's son, Amedeo, was now offered the crown of Spain, and accepted it, swearing to observe the Constitution over the body of Prim, who had been assassinated on December 28, 1870, by an unknown hand. How Amedeo failed to satisfy his new subjects, and finally was compelled to resign his ill-fitting crown and return-to Italy; how an abortive attempt to establish a Republic failed, and degenerated into anarchy; how Don Carlos and his followers caused useless shedding of blood in the Northern Provinces; and how, finally, Queen Isabella's son was restored in 1874, under the title of Alfonzo XII., are matters of history doubtless well-known to every reader of this book, and therefore only need to be recorded as reflecting upon Cuban affairs. When the Cespedes' Republic fell, the victorious Monarchy reappeared. But rebellion, overt and covert, still disturbed the distracted island until 1874, when the tragic death of Cespedes broke down the revolutionary spirit and brought about a temporary lull.