( 195 ) 

 CONVERSATION WITH A SPANISH LIBERAL. 



ZUMALACARREGUY RoDIL AND THE CuRA MERINO. 



" J'ai vu les mceurs de mon temps, et j'ai publie ces lettres." 



THE present position of affairs in the Peninsula is replete with in- 

 terest. Notwithstanding the formidable quadruple alliance, there is 

 still a party in Spain ready to dispute the Queen's succession a party 

 not only formidable in numbers, but commanded by men who have 

 succeeded in inspiring their followers with the most unbounded con- 

 fidence in their measures, and now it seems further strengthened by 

 the presence of their acknowledged sovereign. One is curious to 

 know something more than mere rumour of men who occupy so 

 distinguished a place in the fortunes of Spain. What is reported of 

 them is so coloured by the medium through which it passes, that 

 it is difficult to arrive at a correct estimate. I was, however, fortunate 

 enough to encounter a Spaniard of my acquaintance, who from poten- 

 tial reasons has for some years past been more familiar with the 

 sombre magnificence of Hyde Park than the more piquant beauties 

 of the Prado de Toledo, who has been formerly mixed up with most 

 of the Spanish leaders, and is well acquainted with all. The following 

 conversation passed between us. 



" And pray who is this doughty countrymen of yours who figures 

 so conspicuously ? who is this Juan Zumalacarreguy, who has remis 

 en question, the Spanish succession, who sports with the famous qua- 

 druple treaty as Willem Van Nassau does with our protocols, and at 

 whose (outlandish) name, Rothschild and our English bondholders 

 turn pale, and exclaim, ' hope deferred maketh the heart sick ?' " 



" Ora quien es ? Who is he indeed ? Es un traidor y ladron. In 

 plain English, he is a traitor and a thief," replied my Spanish 

 friend, in an angry tone. 



" Two points, in which, Amigo," I rejoined, " you must allow 

 that he is not singular. The intestine troubles of your country have 

 displayed a lamentable incongruity of political character in almost 

 all your public men, who with a Protean flexibility have adapted 

 their principles to all the varying phases that for some years past 

 have marked the political horizon of Spain, and have enlisted them- 

 selves as readily under the banner of absolutism as under that of the 

 Constitution. But a truce to these reflections ; donnez moi des ren- 

 seignmens upon this Spanish Vendean." 



11 Juan Zumalacarreguy," said my companion, after admitting the 

 justice of my observation, " is one of those men whom revolutions 

 drag from a state of insignificance to enact a splendid part in the 

 great drama of human life. In the year 1820 he was only a captain of 

 infantry, and well known for his ardent attachment to the Constitu- 

 tion. During the short struggle in 1823 which followed the unhal- 

 lowed intervention of the French Bourbons, Zumalacarreguy, who 

 was escorting a convoy of prisoners to Pampelona, was suddenly 

 surprised by a party of guerillas of the Army of Faith, and after a 



