the whole of the vast colonial empire of Spain on the continent of the Americas was totally lost. On the death of Ferdinand VII., June 29, 1833, another element of discord was introduced. The first Bourbon king, Philip V., in defiance of ancient Spanish precedents to the contrary, had introduced the Salic law from France, and had procured its solemn promulgation by Cortes. Ferdinand VII., with the consent of Cortes, abrogated this law, and left the crown to his only child, Isabella II., an infant of less than three years old, with her mother, Christina of Naples, as regent. His brother, Don Carlos, who, since the king's last marriage, had been intriguing against him with the ultra-conservative party, claimed the throne under the law of Philip V. Henceforth a dynastic question was added to the standing constitutional one. The Carlists declared themselves the champions of legitimacy, the divine right, and of absolutism; and thus forced the party of Isabella, the Christinos, to appeal for support to the liberal and constitutional party, though they had no more real attachment to the cause, and no more intelligent appreciation of its benefits than had their opponents. A blunder of the liberal party in hesitating to confirm the "_fueros_" of the Basques, the last vestige still intact of the ancient constitutional and municipal liberties of Spain, greatly strengthened their opponents, who at once seized the opportunity and loudly confirmed them. A war of seven years followed, in which the older liberal generals lost all their former military prestige against Zumalacarregui in the Basque Provinces, and against Cabrera in Aragon. But the assistance of England, and still more the incapacity of Don Carlos, at length enabled Espartero to finish the war by the convention of Vergara, August 30, 1839, by which _fueros_ were confirmed to the Basques on their laying down arms. Cabrera continued the war in Aragon and Catalonia, but two years afterwards was forced with his followers to take refuge in France. During this period constitutional liberty had apparently made great progress in Spain, and several useful reforms had been set on foot. But its course had been marred by deeds of atrocious violence, such as the massacre of the monks and the destruction of the convents in 1835, when valuable treasures, both in art and literature, which had been spared in the great Peninsular War, were finally lost. All ecclesiastical and church property had been declared national, and the sale of it had been commenced, tithes were wholly suppressed, the _mesta_ was abolished--with results as to the division of property detailed in a former chapter. From the regency of Christina dates, in a great degree, the shameless corruption, the selfish intrigues, the abuses of all kinds among the upper _employes_, which with rare exceptions have marked every subsequent government of Spain. A reaction set in in 1843, with Narvaez as its real chief.