“The Carlists and the Jesuits plotted to turn out Isabel II., and now they are trying to overthrow King Alfonso. They ruined Queen Isabel because she loved the people and hated the priests, and now they are trying to do the same with _los Reyes_ because they are popular in the country. But let them try! There are still many of us who remember what we suffered in the last Carlist war, and we do not intend to have another. Let them try to touch _los Reyes_! We will kill every priest in the country before they shall put a hand to that work!” “Well,” I objected, “this is very fine talk now that Don Carlos is dead and buried, but if you did not want him for your king, why did so many of you fight for him?” “If you were ordered to fight and knew that you and your children would be put in the street if you refused, would you not fight rather than let your family starve? The men who paid our wages said: ‘You will go with us to fight for Don Carlos or you will never have another day’s work from us.’ What help had we against our masters? Do you think we wished to take arms against Queen Isabel? If the Jesuits had not been in the affair, no one would have taken notice of her little faults. The Jesuits intended her to commit faults when they married her to a man who was no man. If she had not been good to us they would have let her stay.” The popular songs expressing loyalty to Queen Isabella have not been forgotten in the forty odd years that have elapsed since she was dethroned, for in 1909 they were revived, with such slight alterations as were needed to bring them up to date. Here is a specimen: “_Si la Reina de España moriera Y Don Carlos quisiera reinar, Los arroyos de sangre correrian Por el campo de la libertad._” (“If the Queen of Spain were to die and Don Carlos wanted to reign, the streams would run with blood on the field of liberty.”) The intricacies of succession being little understood by the people, this song was modernised by substituting “Victoria” for “de España” and “Don Jaime” for “Don Carlos.” During the suspension of the Constitution the song was not sung aloud: the people said that “Maura had forbidden it.” Directly the Liberals came in it was heard again everywhere. Here is another: “_No reinará Don Jaime, No reinará, no, no! Mientras España tenga Bayoneta y cañon._” (“Don Jaime shall not reign while Spain has a bayonet and a cannon.”) And another, perhaps in some ways the most interesting of the three: “_Dicen de Barcelona De un mitin clerical, Que Don Jaime asistió Provisto de un disfraz. Al ver la bronca de palos y morral Creyó que le tiraban bomba encima de nocedal!_”