A MADRTD SCANDAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 9, 11 January 1876, Page 4

A MADRTD SCANDAL.

The London correspondent of the Melbourne Argus writes :— In Spain, Madrid has been stirred by a terrible story of scandal, suoh as seems native to the soil of tbat city. Ivfany persons have been imprisoned for giving it circulation, and, in the opinion of the Times' correspondent, it is an invention intended to discredit the joung King. Our Vanity Fair gives the details as follows: — "The story goes, that some time since the young King Alfonso became enamoured of a beautiful girl, the daughter of a lieutenant-colonel in the Spanish army, then absent, and fighting with his regiment in the north. The young lady's oiother, it is said, was, for her age, equally beautiful with her daughter, and it soon came to . be known among the neighbors that the King and the Duke de Sesto were very constant, visitors at the house, and at length it became known fo the Colonel's brother, who thought it his duty to write to the Colonel himself, and to put. him in possession of the remarks which were ; b&ing made. The Colonel at onoe left his regiment, returned to Madrid, saw his brother, and took a lodging in the Buburb.. It was arranged that the King and the Duke should be surprised at the house ; and one night about six v-zeeks ago, the Colonel calmly loaded his revolver and went to his house, where it was of course supposed that he was still in the north. On entering abruptly one of the rooms, he found there the young King, and at once fired at him. In the excitement, however, the shot missed and took no effect, and the Colonel bad his pistol again levelled when a door behind him opened, the Duke broke in, and before tbe Colonel could repeat his fire, shot him dead in the back. Almost immediately after, the servant and the police, alarmed by tbe explosion, burst into the room, but, on seeing who was concerned, they allowed themselves to be dismissed with the assurance thai; the Colonel had shot himself in a moment of madness— and the two adventurers returned, home with nothing but their memory of the. night's events. The next day, the Madrid newspapers announced in effect that the Colonel had committed suicide, —-but it was foreseen and feared that so tremendous a secret, known as it was to several persons, would in all probability soon leak out. Every precaution, therefore, tbat ingenuity could suggest was, and still is, being taken to prevent this result. Letters were regularly opened at the post-office. Personal requests were madia to more than one Foreign Minister not to bint at it in aby letter or reports. All the foreign newspaper correspondents were had up and bound to secrecy, under well-un-derstood .penalties, and all those who give ocular testimoay of the occurrence were soon found to have mysteriously disappeared. It is as ensy, no doubt, in Madrid to stab a royal reputation as to assassinate an enemy with a dagger. The main question is, whether any murder was committed. If the body of the victim was found, then how did he come by his death f Ons thing is certain. King Alfonso is waning in popularity, and- bis solitary position must be both painful and perilous.