MONTHLY RLVIEW OF LITERATURE. 581 



ble town and a seaport, but the moral effects of the victory, by inspiring his 

 troops with new courage, and hopes of success, and by discouragingthe Queen's 

 troops, at that time suffering greatly from sickness, would have been great. 

 Bilboa is no great distance from Burgos, which is within a few days' march 

 of Madrid ; and it is easy to foresee what an army, flushed with victory, and 

 confiding in its general, might have done. We must remember, too, that at 

 that time none of the foreign auxiliaries had arrived, and that the greatest 

 dissatisfaction prevailed, both with the Regent and her ministry, in whom 

 the nation placed no confidence ; in short, all was doubt and uncertainty. 

 But, by the death of the Carlist general, the face of affairs was completely 

 altered. In that man were centered the hopes of Nicholas and his allies, the 

 French legitimists, and the English conservatives, and with him they died. 

 Don Carlos immediately retired from Bilboa, for his army was then without 

 a head, and the Spaniards had time to look about them. Their first step was 

 to shut up the convents, and this was done with less bloodshed than might 

 have been expected, from their determined hatred to the friars ; their second 

 was to demand the deposition of Toreno, and the establishment of a liberal 

 ministry, and in this they were successful. Meanwhile, Carlos retired to the 

 mountains, and, after mature deliberation, appointed the Virgin successor to 

 Zumalacarregui, being well aware that neither he himself, nor any one of his 

 followers, was capable of supplying his late general's place. 



" Even under such distinguished patronage, the arms of alleged legitimacy 

 do not appear to have met with any success, as no movement of importance 

 has taken place since the retreat from Bilboa. Exiled princes seldom succeed 

 in their attempts to recover their thrones ; for such is their infatuated love of 

 power that they engage in the most desperate enterprizes without reflecting 

 on the difficulties they have to contend with. The signal failures of the Stuarts 

 in Scotland, and of the Bourbons in Brittany and La Vendee, might have 

 taught Don Carlos, if indeed he ever heard of these events, that his enterprize 

 was attended with little prospect of success. His good fortune at first arose 

 from his having an active and enterprising general, but more from the imbeci- 

 lity of the Queen's government. Zumalacarregui was allowed to organize, it 

 is said, sixteen battalions in xNavarre, before Carlos returned to Spain. This 

 number is probably exaggerated ; but the very fact of troops being allowed to 

 collect openly is a striking ^proof of the weakness of the government at that 

 time. The armies sent aga'inst the rebels were ill appointed, badly officered, 

 and worse commanded ; for Mina did nothing, and Valdez gave up to his 

 enemy nearly the one-half of the French frontier, whence all their supplies 

 are received. The fact is, the Spaniards, though not deficient in bravery, 

 make bad troops : for, though in modern warfare they have distinguished 

 themselves in defending towns and strong positions, they never can be com- 

 pared in the field with either French, British, or German. There is a want of 

 energy in the Spanish character, a 'devil-may-care' sort of humour, that 

 makes them take things as they find them, which has ever been the greatest 

 bar to the improvement of the nation. This feeling, though wearing off 

 amongst the intelligent classes, is still quite observable amongst the peasantry 

 and lower orders, and this, in my opinion, joined with their hatred of subor- 

 dination, prevents their being good soldiers. 



" Zumalacarregui was an ambitious enterprising man, and a good soldier ; 

 and with his knowledge of the country, and of his troops, he found no difli- 

 culty in keeping at bav the ill-appointed expeditions sent against him. Upon 

 that man alone, I consider, the cause of Don Carlos and his party rested ; but, 

 even whilst he lived, his chances of success were small; for, even supposing he 

 had got possession of Madrid, the provinces would very probably have risen 

 en masse against him, when reduced to the last extremity, as they did during 

 Napoleon's invasion. 



" Ever since the death of the Carlist chief, matters have evidently been 

 fallin back with the /oo<iou«. The fact is, they want a head ; their move- 



