196 CONVERSATIONS WITH A SPANISH LIBERAL. 



feeble resistance, made prisoner and conducted to Irati. From this 

 place he made his escape, but on reaching Pampelona he was imme- 

 diately arrested, and brought to a court-martial on a charge of 

 treachery. On the day previous to receiving his sentence, which, 

 throughout the garrison of that place, it was notorious would be a 

 passport to the next world, Zumalacarreguy again succeeded in 

 effecting his escape, and reached the head-quarters of the Army of 

 Faith in safety, in whose ranks he immediately obtained the grade of 

 coloneL From that period till the year 1831 he continued in active 

 service, and in high favour with Ferdinand ; but on the disgrace of 

 the royalist volunteers he retired to his native province, Navarre, to 

 the viceroy of which he was acting as military secretary on the de- 

 mise of his benefactor Ferdinand. That Zumalacarreguy would 

 have espoused the cause of his royal patron's daughter there can be 

 no doubt, had he not received from the court an affront which sunk 

 deeply into a mind like his he was left out in the list of promotions so* 

 prodigally made by the Queen-Regent on assuming the reins of go- 

 vernment ; thence his adherence to the cause of Don Carlos." 



" And which makes good," said I, laughing, " your old Spanish 

 proverb, ' Es el occassion que hace el ladron' And yet from his ac- 

 tions, I must presume him to be a man of superior abilities, and 

 peculiarly fitted for the part he has to play." 



" There you are right. His greatest enemies do not deny him the 

 possession of extraordinary skill and energy of character. It must 

 not be forgotten that the bravery of El Pastor, the activity of 

 Lorenzo, and the veteran experience of Quesada, have all in their 

 turn been baffled by his skill and the mountain bravery of the bands 

 he commands. With these he has recently executed a successful 

 march upon Biscay to cover the disembarkation of arms and ammuni- 

 tion sent out from this country ; and on his return, he turned the 

 machinations of his foes against themselves, and defeated them with 

 great slaughter." 



" And how much longer," said I, interrupting him, " will this 

 singular state of society endure in Spain, which appears to loathe all 

 improvement, and cling with religious fanatacism to an order of 

 things incompatible with that philosophical spirit of reform, which 

 almost in every other part of Europe is removing, stone by stone, the 

 mouldering fragments of the mighty edifice reared by feudal barba- 

 rism and monkish superstition." 



" The view you have taken of my country," said the Spaniard, 

 " is not quite correct, though I am aware the one generally taken 

 in England. You must not suppose that the inhabitants of insur- 

 gent provinces are so much under the influence of the priesthood 

 as it is generally represented ; this is a popular error, which in this 

 country causes the real position of Spain to be viewed through a false 

 medium. These people are actually in arms for the defence of their 

 fneros (communities), which are more extensive than those enjoyed 

 by any other population in Europe ; they consist in the power of 

 choosing their own magistrates of furnishing their own contingent 

 to the army, and of importing foreign goods free of duty ; these Don 

 Carlos has promised to maintain, and hence their attachment to his 



