SPAIN. 



643 



reactionary course, and it promises to render an ac- 

 count to the Cortes, of what it has done, immediately 

 after the cessation of the circumstances which oblige 

 it to solicit extraordinary power. 



On October 2d, the republican volunteers of 

 the town of Eeuss declared their adhesion to 

 the movement in Catalonia, cut the telegraph- 

 wires, and stopped the trains. Great alarm 

 prevailed on October 1st, at Bejar, where the 

 populace endeavored to set a prisoner named 

 Pec and his accomplices at liberty, but the 

 civil governor, aided by the respectable classes, 

 succeeded in restoring order. The Eepublican 

 deputy Noguera had organized a band in the 

 province of Huesca, cut up the railway lines, 

 and freed the prisoners in jail. A band, com- 

 manded by the deputy Joaritzto, had been 

 defeated in the vicinity of Martarelli by an 

 armed column of troops. Agitation continued 

 to prevail at Xeres and other towns of Anda- 

 lusia. Serious events were apprehended, but 

 affairs at Madrid were tranquil. 



The Cortes opened on October 2d, and the 

 Government presented a bill suspending indi- 

 vidual rights until the insurrection, which was 

 increasing, should be quelled. On October 4th 

 the ministry was charged with concealing the 

 truth with regard to the situation of affairs in 

 the provinces. At Eeuss an important man- 

 ufacturing town in Catalonia the insurgents 

 were said to number 10,000. The town, how- 

 ever, was soon relieved of their presence, as 

 their leaders were anxious to avoid an engage- 

 ment with the troops. Santander had estab- 

 lished an understanding with Torrelavega, La- 

 redo, and Castro, to cause a rising in those 

 towns on a given day. A rising was feared 

 throughout Castile, and it was said that the 

 city of Valladolid had pronounced. On Octo- 

 ber 5th the ministerial papers asserted that 

 Sefior Paul, the deputy, had threatened with 

 death all those persons who did not join the 

 insurrection. Acts of vandalism and pillage 

 and assassination were perpetrated by the 

 insurgents. The situation was considered 

 bad, but not desperate, if the army remained 

 faithful to the Government. The plan of the 

 republicans was to raise all the provinces, and 

 afterward to attempt a coup de main upon 

 Madrid from various points at once. On Oc- 

 tober 6th the Eepublican minority retired from 

 the Chamber before the vote upon the bill for 

 suspension of individual liberties. General 

 Prim urged them to remain, in a speech partly 

 of entreaty and partly angry, intimating that 

 he should regard them as enemies, and that he 

 would meet iron with ir'on, force with force. 

 Senor Castellar said they might reconsider 

 their determination in deference to judicious 

 counsels, but they would never yield, to threats. 



Meanwhile the republican risings spread all 

 over Spain ; their headquarters were in Man- 

 resa, 30 miles north of Barcelona; several 

 bands were roving through Andalusia. The 

 volunteers in Madrid offered their assistance 

 to the Government, and several battalions left 



the capital to perform active service in the 

 field. The connection between Madrid and 

 Barcelona was interrupted. The insurgents 

 evacuated Eeuss, however, at the advance of 

 the troops, and were subsequently defeated by 

 General Baldrick with a loss of 80 dead, 300 

 wounded, and many prisoners. Fights took 

 place between the national troops and the re- 



Siblican insurgents in Catalonia, Aragonia, 

 Id Castile, and Andalusia, the troops corning 

 off victorious. 



In October, the Government took still more 

 decided measures against the republicans. The 

 police-inspectors of the different quarters of 

 Madrid received instructions to warn the in- 

 habitants to arm their servants in order to 

 defend their houses. The civil governor or- 

 dered the republican clubs to be closed in 

 Madrid. Several batteries of artillery and 

 regiments of infantry started from Madrid in 

 pursuit of the insurgents in the neighborhoo'd 

 of Alcala de Henares, the garrison being reen- 

 forced by some chasseurs of the Military School 

 of Toledo. A grand review was held by Gen- 

 eral Prim of the troops in the city, mustering 

 8,000 to 10,000 in number, evidently with the 

 intention of showing his real military strength 

 and to disprove the current rumor that the 

 garrison had been reduced by detachments to 

 3,000. The insurrection was declining in Cata- 

 lonia, Granada, and Andalusia. About 6,000 

 rebels submitted themselves in the provinces 

 of Tarragona, Gerona, Lerida, and Barcelona. 

 The movement, however, continued in Valen- 

 cia, but strong bodies of troops were expected 

 to make the attack. Madrid was still quiet. 

 The Committee of the Cortes recommended 

 the passing of a formal vote of censure on the 

 Eepublican minority, and the authorization of 

 legal proceedings against those deputies who 

 have joined the insurrection. On October 14th, 

 official intelligence was received, stating -that 

 the insurgents of Valencia and the greater part 

 of those from the country had retired to a part 

 of the city which they were fortifying. Eighteen 

 battalions of Government troops had occupied 

 the greater portion of the town. The repub- 

 lican movement was now reduced to Valencia, 

 and to a few small bands of insurgents in Cata- 

 lonia and Aragon, but they were daily sur- 

 rendering. On October 15th, the insurgents 

 at Valencia proposed to capitulate, but the 

 authorities demanded unconditional surrender. 

 In Bejar, forty-five miles south of Salamanca, 

 a revolt broke out and many inhabitants fled. 

 A detachment of troops were ordered there to 

 restore order. The republican leaders, Paul 

 and Salvochea, were abandoned by their ad- 

 herents and fled to Gibraltar. Their adherents 

 were defeated on their retreat through Anda- 

 lusia, TO being killed, and the rest dispersed. 

 A number of republican provincial papers were 

 suppressed. The deputies 'forming the Eepub- 

 lican minority did not attend the sessions of the 

 Cortes. The committee appointed by the Cortes 

 to investigate the attitude of the Eepublican dep- 



