The Circulo Hispano Ultramarino in Barcelona, agitating continually for the restoration of Alfonso XII., was a strong agent in the monarchical movement. Figuerola Ferretti worked strenuously as secretary of the society, and this officer is the possessor of the only escutcheon signed by Alfonso XII., in which he paid tribute to the Colonel’s valiant conduct in the Cuban War of 1872. It is interesting to see that the opinion of the republic published in “Contemporaneous Truths” by this Ferretti was echoed by the great leader of the party himself, for Señor Castelar writes: “There were days during that summer of 1874 in which our Spain seemed completely ruined. The idea of legality was so lost that anybody could assume power, and notify the fact to the Cortes, and those whose office it was to make and keep the laws were in a perpetual ferment against them. “It was no question then, as before, of one Ministry replacing another, nor one form of government substituting another; but a country was divided into a thousand parts, like the Kalifat of Cordova after its fall, and the provinces were inundated by the most out-of-the-way ideas and principles.” When the great republican speaks in such a derogatory way of the republic of which he was the leader, it is not strange that public opinion turned to the restoration of the Bourbons as the salvation of the country. Society clamoured for such balls and entertainments as had formerly taken place at Court, or which had been patronized by the palace, and the dreary disorder wearied both politicians and patriots. The house of the Dukes of Heredia-Spinola never ceased to be the scene of the reunion of Alfonsists, and as General Martinez Campos played his daily game of tresillo at their table, many expressions of hope for the return of the ex-Queen’s son fell upon his ears; whilst the Countess of Tacon, who had been Lady-in-Waiting to the little Prince of Asturias as a child, was loud in her opinions. It is interesting to note that this lady subsequently filled the same office for the restored King’s little daughter, the Princess of Asturias, Doña Maria de las Mercedes. From a social point of view the salon of the old Countess of Montijo ranked foremost in Madrid, and it assembled within its walls the frequenters of Court society in the reign of Isabella. Scenes from “Don Quixote” were given with great success at the Countess’s little theatre; and the year of the restoration was marked by a very successful dramatic representation, in which some of the members of the old nobility took part. Moreover, the services held every Friday in the private chapel of the mansion, where great preachers made remarkable orations, were a protest against the irreligion of the period. On these occasions ladies of Court society, among whom may be noted Clara Hunt, wife of one of the diplomats of the English Embassy--who was quite a notable singer--gave proofs of their talent.