Spain and the Spaniards

Front matter

VOL. BY N. L. THIBBLIN. " AZAMAT-BATUK." IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON : HURST AND BLACKETT. PUBLISHERS, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1874. All rights reserved, CONTENTS or THE SECOND VOLUME. CHAPTER page I. CAMPO DEL HONOR. . ... 1 II. THE SEVEN TEARS' WAR . . .60 III. SPANISH FIGHTING .... 114 IV. ALFONSISM VerSllS CARLISM . . . 153 V. PRIM AND AMADEO .... 177 VI. SPANISH REPUBLICANISM . . . 202 VII. CASTELAR AND FIGUERAS . . . 224 VIII. MARSHAL SERRANO, DUQTJE DE LE TORRE 246 IX. ADIOS ! ..... SPATN AND THE SPANIARDS.

Chapter I. Campo Del Honor

sjMHE Field of Honour is nowhere in par- JL ticular. It may sometimes be on the bald top of a hill, sometimes in a wayside hut, sometimes at the bottom of a God-forsaken valley, or rather of a loophole amidst the moun tains. It always reminded me of those Con tinental hats, watches and umbrellas upon which the rather vague stamp of " London" is marked, but a mere look at which tells you at once that they have issued from the back workshop of some half starved German working-man. The Carlists in vented this Campo del Honor, in the first place, because they thought they were really doing an honourable work ; and, in the second, because VOL. II. b they had reasons for not wishing to give their exact address. Orders, or manifestoes issued by Don Carlos, or any of his Generals, being dated from the " Field of Honour," no clue is given the enemy as to the whereabouts of the Carlist forces.

Up till July last there was no end of Campos del Honor, for every small cabecilla had the right of dating his communications from that indefinite locality. But when Don Carlos entered Spain, the Field of Honour, par excellence, became his head-quarters. We have already seen that the Carlist generals were greatly opposed to the entry of the Pre tender into Spain, before they had quite organised the troops with which they intended to carry on the struggle. But Don Carlos seems to have become sick of his retreat, and, acting upon his own responsibility, entered Spain without informing any of his generals ; and it must be said that the moment he selected for his entry denoted, on his part, a larger amount of intelli gence than is usually attributed to him. On the 9th of July his partisans obtained a very important victory over the Republican troops near Ripoll, in Catalonia.

They captured something over six hundred prisoners, killed Brigadier Cabrinetty, took a couple of cannons and a large quantity of arms and ammunition. A partial Carlist rising broke out about the same time in the province of Leon and in Galicia ; while, on the other hand, the news was spread that Malaga, Murcia, Seville, Alcoy, Granada, and Cadiz were in the hands of the fntransigentes, and that a sort of Commune had been established at Carthagena. Don Carlos received also information that Valdespinas had captured Santa Cruz, and signed a Convention, according to wliich all internal Carlist differences seemed to have been settled. At the same time a considerable landing of arms and ammunition for the Carlists had taken place at Lequeitio, and enabled the Carlist chiefs to arm at least six or seven thousand fresh volunteers.

The moment really seemed most favourable to the Pretender for the commencement of his campaign, and without saying a word to even his most intimate councillors, Don Carlos left the chateau of St. Lon on the 15th of July for Bayonne, on his way through which town to the village of Ustariz, he gave orders for his horses and equipment to be for warded to Zugarramurdy. The next morning, at five o'clock, the gates of B a chateau, situated within a mile of Ustariz, were opened in order to allow a riding party of five gentlemen in private clothes to pass out, apparently for the purpose of enjoying the fresh morning air of the mountains. Three of the five gentlemen were Frenchmen, well known in the neighbourhood, and the two others were guests of theirs. They took the direction of the hills and forests of St. Pee and Sare, and soon disappeared in the mountain paths.

The morning was most lovely, and the company seemed greatly to enjoy their ride. Neither gendarmes nor Custom House officers were encountered ; but, even had the case been otherwise, the three French gentlemen could not have been stopped, and as to their foreign guests, they were provided with all the papers necessary for proving that they were neither Carlists nor even Spaniards.* As soon as the party turned off the high road aud entered the forest paths, every chance of annoyance was gone, and one of the two foreign- * How far Don Carlos and his French friends set M. Thiers and his police at defiance, may be seen from the subjoined de cree issued on the 27th of October, 1872 : " Le ministre de l'interieur, " Vu l'article 7 de la loi des 13 et 21 novembre et 3 decembre 1849, aiusi concu: looking gentlemen, riding an excellent bay Irish hunter, urged his horse ahead of the party, who evidently treated him with the respect due to a personage of some importance.

The other foreigner, a young and fair-looking man, followed , " Vu l'article 8 de la meme loi, ainsi concu : " Vu les rapports de MM. les presets des Basses-Pyrenees et de la Gironde, etablissant que le prince don Carlos de Bourbon, due de Madrid, se serait livre dans ces deux departements a des manœuvres ayant pour but de fomenter la guerre civile dans un pays allie de la France ; " Considerant que la presence de l'etranger sus-designe sur le territoire francais est de nature a comprouiettre la surete pub lique : Arrete : " Art. 1" H est enjoint a S. A. R. le prince don Carlos de Bourbon, due de Madrid, de sortir du territoire francais. " Art. 2. M. Goullez, eommissaire general de police, attache a la direction de la surete generale, est charge de 1' execution du present arrete. " A Versailles, le 27 oetobre 1872.

"Le ministre de Vinterieur, " VIOTOK LEFBAHC. " Pour ampliation : " Le directeur de la sHrete generale, " DE NEKYAFX." The Spanish Pretender has resided and earned on his affairs on the French soil till the 16th of July, 1873, that is to say for fully nine months after his expulsion was thus ordered. close behind him. The former was Don Carlos de Bourbon, the latter his orderly officer, Ponce de Leon, grandee of Spain. After having ridden for a couple of hours, the party reached the frontier, crossed it at the foot of Pefia de Plata, and alighted at a small smuggler's inn close by the border line. Marquis de Valdes pinas and General Lizarraga, to whom word had been sent during the night, were already waiting with the members of their staff and an escort. These officers having saluted Don Carlos as their King, and kissed his hand, the Prince proceeded to change his travelling costume for a brilliant uni form that had been brought over beforehand, and then continued his journey to Zugarramurdy, where some three thousand volunteers were as sembled to greet him.

A Te Deum was sung in the village church, after which the villagers and the volunteers pressed forward to kiss the hand of him whom they acknowledged as their Sove reign ; and, whatever might have been the poli tical opinions of the spectator, he could hardly fail to be impressed by the spontaneous enthusiasm which prevailed in the mass of the people assembled. For fully an hour Don Carlos stood on the door-step of the church, unable to proceed forward. The cries were really deafening, and overpowered the sound of the cannons firing at Pena de Plata, and the desperate ringing of the church bells. As soon as the Pretender was able to liberate himself from the crowd of his over-enthusiastic adherents, he went to the village prison and re leased some sixty Republicans confined in it, gave each of them half a sovereign, and osdered them to be escorted to France.

Afterwards, he visited the few wounded who were in the village, and went to lunch at the house of the village priest, whilst the volunteers outside the house were entertained with the reading of the follow ing Proclamation : " Yoluntarios ! Invoking the God of armies and listening to the voice of agonized Spain, I present myself amongst you fully confident of your courage and your loyalty. " Poor in resources, but rich in faith and heroism, you have gloriously maintained an almost incredible, fabulous campaign, and in the midst of unceasing privations and fatigues you have asked only for one thing — avmB. " My efforts for satisfying this want will not have been quite fruitless. And having, as far as it was in my power, fulfilled that duty, I come now to perform another, and one much more pleasant to my heart.

I come to combat, like yourselves, for our fatherland, and for our God. No sort of pohtical consider. ation shall compel me longer to look on, my arms folded, at this heroic struggle. " I deplore the blindness of the army which fights against us, because it docs not know you, and does not know me. Both you and myself would have received it with open arms if in an hour of inspiration it could have perceived that the Monarchical flag had been for fifteen centuries the flag of all the glories and honours of the Spanish army, and if it had understood that the only truly Monarchical flag is my banner— the banner of Legitimacy and Right. "But as, unhappily, this is not yet clear to them, we are compelled to subdue by force a ruinous and impious revolution which maintains itself only by violence.

" It is with irrepressible emotion that I receive the sincere homage of your enthusiastic loyalty, and that I put my feet on the noble Vasco-Navarre soil, whence I address now the ex pression of my gratitude to the generous defenders of the just cause, and speak my friendly welcome to all the Spaniards. " Spain asks us with loud cries to come to her rescue ! " Volunteers ! forward ! " Volunteers, Spain says that she is dying ! " Volunteers, let us save her ! " Caelos. " Zugarramurdy, 16th July, 1873." Then followed a review of troops, a visit to Pena de Plata, receptions of officers, who began immediately to pour in from all sides, until at last Don Carlos started with some two thousand five hundred men and two cannons for the celebrated Bastan valley. Here began for me a kind of life I shall not soon forget.

Marching, reviews, popular demonstrations, and hunting for quarters and food, took me during six weeks fully eighteen hours daily, leaving barely six hours a day for writing, rest, and refreshment. As every one expected that Don Carlos would be anxious to begin his new campaign by some brilliant engagement, and as we knew that Eli zondo, the first large place on the road we took, had been fortified by the Republicans, and was guarded by a garrison of some six hundred men under Colonel Tejada, we all hoped to have a nice little fight in a couple of days. The village of Arizcun was the place at which we were to pass the night of the 18th, and whence, as we supposed, we were to move on the next morning for an attack. But it turned out that, except some manœuvres upon the surrounding heights, we had to witness no military spectacle of any sort.

The troops commanded by General Lizar raga manœuvred very well, satisfied Don Carlos thoroughly, and showed the column of Tejada that the Carlists were already in sufficient numbers to protect their master. That was appa rently all the Carlist generals wTanted for the moment. They did not care about attacking Elizondo, for they were sure to lose a great number of men, and to be unable to hold the place should the forces of Pamplona attempt to take it back again, for no support could be ex pected Elio's troops being then far away in the Amezcoas. But the General himself, leaving his command to Dorregaray, came to salute his King as soon as he heard of his having entered Spain. The old gentleman rode on horseback, with two aid-de-camps and a small escort, through nearly the whole of Navarre to meet the Prince at Arizcun.

It was probably owing to Elio's advice that we had no fight at Elizondo, and marched next morning off the high road to those abominable rocky paths which I had never been able to re concile myself with. Narvarte, Labaen, Erasun, and Leisa were the little mountain villages which had successively to provide with food and night shelter some two thousand five hundred soldiers, a King, his brilliant staff of marquises and counts, and two or three hundred horses and mules. How they managed it one would be puzzled to say, but everybody had some shelter, and every stomach some sort of nourishment. That both were abominably bad can be easily imagined, but in nearly all cases the bad quality of the supply was fully compensated by the heartiness with which it was offered. Of the manner in which Don Carlos was received by the simple-minded villagers, no one can make oneself an idea, unless one knows the temperament and notions of the Basque people.

It was not only that houses were decorated in every village he passed through, that green stuff and flowers covered the streets, that cries of " \!va el Rey !" "Viva Dona Margarita /" and " Viva la Religion /" gave everybody a headache, and that every man, woman, and child got perfectly mad in attempting to kiss anything belonging to Carlos Setimo, from his hand down to the tail of his horse. The real degree of de votion of these people was best to be seen in the manner in which the wants of the Carlist columns were attended to. When the Republicans passed, all that still existed in the way of horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs were high up in the mountains, and no rations could be got by any human force under several hours' time; while when the Carlists passed everything was at hand. When the Republicans passed the men were all away from the villages, so were the alcalde and the priest too, and the democratic commander had to get his information about the enemy from old women and children ; while the smallest Royalist band was informed in every possible way by the members of the ayuntamiento (municipal council), who were the first to welcome it, and every man of the village was quite ready to risk his life for the sake of getting the band out of danger.

Don Carlos had already been four days in Spain before the commander of the Pamplona troops learned it, and was enabled to make a move ; while we learned at Navarte of this commander's intention to move within about three or four hours after his trumpet had called out the regiments. Don Carlos Avas quietly taking an afternoon walk through the village of Narvarte, when a confidente, or spy, came with the news that four thousand men with six cannons were leaving Pamplona, some six hours' march distant from our village. A council of war was at once called, consisting of the Elio, Lizarraga and Marquis Valdespinas, and the question whether a battle was to be accepted or not was brought before them. Don Carlos appears to have been in favour of a fight, but as the Carlist forces were considerably smaller than those of their enemy, the generals insisted upon not accepting a battle, and continuing the march for a junction with Dorregaray.

Consequently, in a couple of hours, off we march very much as if we were flying, for we scarcely stopped anywhere for more than a couple of hours from Sunday the 20th, to Tuesday the 22nd, and this our first march may be considered a very fair specimen of Carlist marches. To begin with, we left Narvarte about six p.m., and had to march all night, and the rocky foot path we had to follow passed within a gun shot of San Estevan, another strongly fortified and well guarded Republican place. A company of good shooters could have completely routed our column, spread in an endless line over two or three miles of a most impracticable mountain track. No thing was, however, attempted by the Republican troops shut up behind their fortifications, and ap parently only too glad that we did not attack them.

But the consciousness that one is marching under such unfavourable conditions is by no means com forting. Fancy a pitch dark night, a most horrible Abyssinian causeway, which makes man and horse stumble on every step, and is constantly and most abruptly going up and down hill; add to that the effect produced on one's ner vous system by orders of a general desmon tadura (or getting off the horses), and silencio, a strict prohibition of anything like a cigarette or a match being lighted, and you will have a fair idea of this little promenade. We knew, of course, that the Pamplona column was unable to reach us, but the proximity of the San Estevan garrison, actually full masters of our lives, was by no means refreshing. Our appre hensions of danger calmed down only after mid" night, when the village of Labaen wras reached, where at all events some rest was allowed to our exhausted limbs and nerves.

It should be added here, however, that Don Carlos and his generals fully shared the fatigue of the men. All of them walked throughout at the head of the column, leading their horses by the bridles and having but a small vanguard before them. At Labaen a rather original sight presented itself. The place, which is so small that it could not even be called a village, was all at once crammed as it has certainly never been before. It was utterly impossible even for Don Carlos and his staff to move a single step forward before the vanguard was marched to its quarters, consisting of a couple of little huts outside the village. The loud talk of some two thousand men, for several hours kept silent and now set at liberty, the neighing of horses, the roar of donkeys and mules, the barking of dogs— everything had its place in this picture of indescribable confu sion, lit by means of straw torches and such bits of wax candle as could be found in the village church.

It took us two hours before every one of the officers, men, and horses had shelter. Of food there could, of course, be no question at such an hour ; but a sound sleep and a little cup of everlasting chocolate, which you find when nothing else can be found, rendered us quite fresh and bright next morning. Don Carlos, who is invariably entertained at the priests' houses, which, as a rule, are the best in the villages, had here an opportunity quite unexpectedly, to show his courtesy to the fair sex. The Marchioness of Vinialet, whose son had been severely wounded at the battle of Udave, and for a time left as dead on the field, came to see him at the ambulance of Lecumberri, aud was on her way back to Biarritz when we met her at Labaen. The brave lady had travelled on horseback, with a couple of guides, all the way from the fashionable seaside place to the frontier of Guipuzcoa, and the best bed in the priest's house was, of course, given to her.

On the next morning when the troops marched off again and passed her window, she was made the object of an ovation which, I am sure, few women have ever received. But no fatigues or privations seemed to influence in any way the Carlist volunteers. Whenever there was no prohibition, singing and laughing were going on all day long, and when there was an hour to spare after dinner, or before nightfall, the fandango was sure to be seen danced somewhere in the village square, and ball playing everywhere. AtErasun, half way between Labaen and Leisa, where we dined, or at least were supposed to dine, the mounted body-guards of Don Carlos gave us quite a performance in that way. A brass band, which usually played not only on entering and leaving the villages, but took advantage of every halt, began to play a national dancing melody, and nearly the whole of the horsemen of the escort set at once to dance the fandango, with tumblers half full of wine on their heads.

The great thing is to dance so as not to lose a single drop out of the tumbler, which result was attained with full success on this occasion, to the perfect delight of the population of Erasun and to the apparent satisfaction of the Pretender himself, who was looking out of the window, throwing now and then a duro (five-franc piece) to the most clever ofthe dancers. To march twenty miles over mountains and to dance and sing as soon as an hour's rest is given, seem quite natural to the Carlist Volunteers and the Republican army, recruited chiefly outside of the Vasco-Navarre provinces, will have a long time to wait before it equals the Carlist volunteers in agility, endurance, and gaiety. On reaching Leisa, the largest of the villages on our way, we had a regular triumphal entry. The place was brightly decorated, and the village square being a rather large one, a march past had been got up of all the troops we possessed. with the band playing, church bell ringing, and all the rest of it.

The impression produced on the inhabitants of Leisa must have been very strong indeed, for the landlady at whose house I had my quarters cut the throats of two Spring chickens and presented me with them, supposing. probably, that I had something to do with the grand sight she had just witnessed. But, alas! though I had for several days not tasted any thing beyond stale ammunition bread and miserable ration mutton, I was too exhausted to be able even to look at the chickens. They went straight into my saddle-bags and were on the next morning regularly devoured by a number of my companions in misfortune, staff officers of the Pretender. All I saw of them (I mean of the chickens, not of the officers) was a rather dried up leg. VOL. II. c But these triumphal entries and marches past occupied rather more time than we could safely afford, for when we readied Lecumberri the Pamplona column turned out to be only two hours behind us, "chastising" the Lesaca inhabitants for the reception they gave us.

Matters began to look quite unpleasant, and we pushed off more smartly than ever with the view of effecting our object, which was to make a junction with Dorregaray. It was only on the 24th of July, fully six days after his entry into Spain, that Don Carlos was out of danger of capture. There was an expression of relief to be seen on everyone's face when, on approaching Salinas de Oro, Dorre garay's forces, some four thousand five hundred strong, with two additional cannon appeared drawn up in order of battle on the surrounding hills. The Republican Commander-in-Chief, General Sanchez Bregua, having missed his chance, had nothing left but quietly to retire, ordering a general concentration of troops to be made atVitoria, in the direction of wdiich Don Carlos had evidently to move. Knowing, however, how slow the Republicans are in effecting all their movements, General Elio did not seem to take much notice of the enemy's prospective arrangements.

The Carlists marched now as quietly forward as if there was no enemy at all, enjoying anew no end of enthusiastic receptions in every village and town, and having solemn military masses and Te Dennis whenever a suitable occasion presented itself, that is to say, wherever any miracle has been formerly performed or some hermitage still preserved. In this manner it was only on the 29th that we reached the neighbourhood of Vitoria, leaving thus the enemy fully five days to effectuate his con centration. But no enemy was to be seen outside the walls of the city, in sight of which we then passed with all the smartness of a British army corps marching towards the field of its autumn exploits. Only at a place called Tres Puentes did we see some traces of the Republican cavalry ; but as no attack was made upon us we pushed on, cut the railroad between Vitoria and Miranda, stopped a train, took out of it eleven officers going to reinforce the garrison of Vitoria, had them sent as prisoners to Las Amezcoas and marched off to Orduna, the ancient Basque city, from which our journey through Biscay was to begin.

If Don Carlos could have had any doubts about his popularity in the Basque provinces, his journey through the rich province extending from the plains of Vitoria to the walls of Bilbao would have c finally dissipated them. British loyalty itself has never produced anything similar to the receptions Don Carlos, his staff and the several thousand men marching with him had to enjoy at Ordufia, Durango, and Zornoza, not to speak of the numberless little villages situated between these towns. Besides the province being throughout Carlist, the " Biscayinos " knew that "His Majesty Charles VII.'s" object was to revive the old custom of the Kings of Spains giving their oath to the fueros under the traditional oak-tree at Guernica. True that the old oak under which Ferdinand and Isabella swore, in 1476, to uphold the Basque fueros had been long ago cut down and burned by the French, and that another planted in its place underwent the same treatment from the hands of Queen Christina's generals.

But, somehow or other, there is still a big oak on the traditional spot, with two young reserve trees by its side. On the 2nd of August an altar was dressed with the image of Nuestra SeSora de la Antigua on it, and Don Carlos de Bourbon, in full uniform and surrounded by a numerous staff, rode down from Zornoza, not exactly to swear loyalty to the fueros, but to swear that he would come again and give his oath to uphold them when tie had succeeded in conquering the throne of his an cestors, and when his coronation as King of Spains will have actually made him " Sefior" of Biscaya. The ceremony was in every way a success, and the road from Zornoza to Guernica, a distance of about eight miles, was almost as thronged with people as Fleet-street on a Lord Mayor's show. Peasants and gentry from all parts of the country assembled to witness the ceremony ; but, as only a few thousand people could possibly find access to Guernica itself, the great majority had to content themselves with a mere glance at the passing King, his staff and escort, only the most lucky of them succeeding in kissing the hand or the leg of Don Carlos, or perhaps even not more than the tail of his horse.

Some of the old women got quite mad, cried bitterly, and one of them, in screaming out her " Llorando hablo /" fell senseless under his white Andalusian stallion. Purposeless and unbusinesslike as all these military promenades of the Pretender may look, I must confess my belief that Don Carlos has done more for his cause by this tiresome journeys through Navarre, Alava, and Biscaya, than he could have done by half a dozen of those moun tain "battles" in which several thousand cartridges , SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. are used on both sides for the purpose of killing two and wounding three men. By showing himself to the Vasco-Navarre population, he stimulated their enthusiasm, and revived the courage with which they have to bear the burden of the war.* He also put a stop to the very unfavourable stories which began to circulate with reference to the reasons of his absence.

I was asked myself, by some of the peasants, whether it was true that Don Carlos was dead, and an Italian cobbler substituted in his place, and by others whether it was true that he was living in Paris in debauchery. It was the least Don Carlos could have done, to come over and give the simple-minded highlanders at least the satisfaction of having a steady look at him for whom thejr sacrificed so readily their lives and their hard-earned pesetas. There was another point also in which his appearance on the Spanish soil and his promenade through the provinces had a favourable effect. * As far as a Spanish alcalde's statistics can be relied upon, over 70 per cent, of the yearly produce of the country was, in less than a year, swallowed up by the rations alone, both Carlist and Republican. At all events such was the statement made to me by the alcalde of Leisa ; and he added, that that was nothing when compared with the hardships imposed upon the peasants by heavy money contributions.

On the news of his arrival, Velasco was not only able to bring his Biscaya bands to eight strong battalions, but to get up a couple of Castilian battalions in addition to them. These two battalions formed immediately the nucleus of a separate Castilian force, and before such a force has been got up there can be little thought of crossing the Ebro, for the. provinces of Castile wTould not stand an invasion of Vasco-Navarre men. They will rise only in so far as Carlism shall be represented to them by their own volunteers, not by those of other provinces. The English press was constantly urging upon Don Carlos to cross the Ebro if he desired to be regarded with proper deference by London leader writers; and in this the press showed an utter ignorance of Spanish affairs and Spanish character. In the first place, very few of the Vasco-Navarre volunteers would care to march beyond the Ebro.