THE BIRTH OF THE SPANISH INFANT.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2417, 15 December 1880, Page 4

THE BIRTH OF THE SPANISH INFANT.

The New York Times, after a detailed account of all the anticipation of and preparations for the birth of a prince of the Austurias as heir to the throne of Spain, gives the following description of the birth of the infant: — “ The eventful day at last arrived. The Prime Minister, who had been sleeping for a week in the back kitchen, so as to be handy in case of emergency was aroused at half-past 2 p.m., and mounting his horse, rode at a terrified pace to summons the doctor. Sixty-four Cabinet Ministers and eminent grandees were summoned by the district telegraph messengers, and rushed to the place in hot haste, and they were assembled in the front parlour, where they were supplied with gingerbread and lemonade, and passed six consecutive and very tedious hours, etiquette forbidding them to read newspapers or to employ their time in any way except by looking at the family photograph album and the Spanish Patent-office report. At length a joyful blast on the cornet—which was played by the Queen’s private chaplain—announced that the happy moment had arrived, and that Spain had an heir to the throne of the Bourbons. Twenty minutes later the King entered the room, carrying a gold platter in his hands, on which was laid the new prince carefully wrapped up in an Afghan made for the purpose by his grandmother Isabella. The sixty-four Cabinet Ministers and grandees sprang up, bowed in that courtly manner with which the artists of the opera-bouffe have familiarised us, and shouted with one accord, ‘ Long live the prince.’ They then crowded round the platter and remarked what a manly little fellow the prince was, and how strikingly he resembled his father, and swore that he had the same expression of mouth as the late Charles V., and that on the whole he was just such a prince as they had expected. What was their dismay when the King, with many blushes and much hesitation, managed to say, ‘ Thank you very much, but it’s a girl you know.’ An awful silence fell on the assembly. One by one they solemnly climbed out of the window —as Spanish etiquette forbids a subject to go out of a door when the sovereign is present and went home. The news spread rapidly, and as the Spaniards learned that the expected prince was a girl, their discontent found expression in loud murmurs, and half a dozen leading assassins went home to clean their guns and make ready to relieve their feelings by a shot at the King. It has certainly been a most unfortunate affair. True, it is a mistake which can be remedied at a comparatively early date, but the obstinancy of the German mind is proverbial, and no one can feel sure what course the Queen will see fit to adopt. In the meantime, the 75,000 dollars’ worth of presents, suited only for a prince, arc to be sold for what they will bring, and the King is understood to have taken to smoking the strongest cigars, and to be plunged in melancholy.”