3-086-140 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Christina, Queen-Regent of Spain, and her son, Alfonso XIII., King of Spain, 1898. '...on the same day, April 20, that the Spanish Government received the momentous communication [that war had been declared by the United States], but at an earlier hour, the Queen-Regent Christina, in person, with the little boy her son, King Alfonso XIII., by her side, opened the Session of the Cortes or Parliament at Madrid, delivering a very earnest and dignified Speech from the Throne upon this occasion of great trouble and anxiety to the kingdom and to the loyal nation. Her Majesty observed that "a part of the people of the United States, foreseeing that a free manifestation of the wishes of the Cuban people, through the Chambers that were convened, was about to frustrate for ever the schemes against the Spanish sovereignty," which had prompted the aid given to the insurgents in that unhappy island, might induce the American Government to perpetrate an act of aggression which, added to the threats and insults that Spain had already endured, would break off peaceful relations.' From "Illustrated London News", 1898.