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SCENES IN SPAIN. 



BY AN OFFICER OF THE BRITISH LEGION. 

 No. II. 



MIRANDA DEL EBRO is a town of considerable importance, situated 

 on both banks of the river Ebro. During the present struggle it has 

 always been occupied by a large body of troops, as, from its position, 

 commanding a passage of that river, and being the key to the large 

 towns southward, it would be a serious blow to the Queen's cause 

 were it to fall into the possession of the Carlists. Here it was, that 

 on the last day of November the legion arrived, full of bright anti- 

 cipations, for the close of the following day would see us in that El 

 Dorado of our imaginations, Vittoria. Since we had left Bilboa, a 

 month previous, we had endured many hardships, we had experi- 

 enced not a few of the actual rubs incident to a soldier's life on 

 active service. We had frequently to put up with very indifferent 

 rations, to march from thirty to forty miles a day, and afterwards to 

 repose for the night under the canopy of heaven, or, worse than that, 

 to find ourselves doomed, fatigued and knocked up, to pass the night 

 on picket. We were, likewise, one month in arrears of pay ; but the 

 remembranceof all these vanished at the prospect of reaching Vittoria. 

 In the larger towns in which we had hitherto been quartered, such 

 as San Sebastian, Santander, and Bilboa, we had been received with 

 kindness and hospitality. Balls and fetes had welcomed our arrival, 

 and our duties being light, our pay regular, and billets excellent in 

 each of these, our pleasant prognostications on the present occasion 

 are not to be wondered at. The men, although many were ragged 

 and shoeless, were healthy and in good spirits. 



Miranda on that day presented the appearance of a perfect Babel. 

 Crammed with Spanish and English troops, and fresh regiments con- 

 tinually arriving, the tumult and confusion were beyond description. 

 The narrow streets were absolutely impassable, mules laden with the 

 baggage and ammunition of the army, whole regiments of cavalry 

 and infantry intermixed with them, soldiers vainly attempting to re- 

 gain their regiments, the imprecations and curses, both in Spanish 

 and English, of the assembled multitude, and the efforts of the officers 

 to restore some degree of order, made the scene complete. My 

 billet ticket was given me, and after struggling for two hours through 

 the crowd, I had the satisfaction of finding that the house had been 

 previously occupied by seven officers and about seventy men. Spanish 

 houses are seldom superabundantly provided with furniture, but this 

 one was completely gutted from top to bottom. Happy enough was 

 I, however, to get under any roof on this occasion, and after a slight 

 repast, consisting merely of a few small cakes of chocolate boiled to 

 the consistency of a jelly, which served me for breakfast, dinner, and 

 supper, I joined my companions in the balcony, who were amusing 

 themselves in surveying the ludicrous scenes occurring in the streets 



