710 



SPAIN. 



The Carlists' loss was seventy dead, while the 

 Government troops only lost six dead and 

 thirty-two wounded. Upon his arrival in the 

 Basque provinces, King Alfonso issued a proc- 

 lamation to the inhabitants, calling upon them 

 to lay down their arms, and offering a pardon 

 to all those who would submit to his authority. 

 In consequence, defections from the Carlist 

 army became quite frequent. Toward the end 

 of January, a general advance of the Govern- 

 ment troops toward Pampeluna took place. 

 In the beginning of February they succeeded 

 in relieving this city, which had been besieged 

 by the Carlists for five months, and in taking 

 from the latter Puente del Reina, and other 

 strong places, and forcing them to retire to 

 Estella. Owing to extreme carelessness, how- 

 ever, on the part of the Government troops, 

 the Carlists succeeded in recapturing Lacar, 

 thus enabling them to bring their artillery 

 safely to Estella. In the mean while, General 

 Loma, in Guipuzcoa, also continued to ad- 

 vance, and occupied the whole coast up to 

 Zumaya, from which city he drove the Car- 

 lists, pursuing them to Cestona. In February, 

 several changes were made in the Army of the 

 North. General Laserna was replaced by Gen- 

 eral de Quesada y Mathews, in the command 

 of that army, and General Echeverria took 

 command of the Second Corps of the Army of 

 the North, in place of General Prima de Ri- 

 verda, who had only held that position since 

 January, while General Echague was appoint- 

 ed to the chief command of the Army of the 

 Centre. On February 26th the Carlists made 

 a severe attack on Bilbao, but were repulsed, 

 with considerable loss. In March the Carlist 

 cause suffered a severe loss in the defection of 

 General Cabrera, one of its oldest partisans. 

 He published an appeal to the Carlists, calling 

 upon them to lay down their arms, stating that 

 the country imperatively demanded peace. 

 Appended to the appeal was a convention, 

 offered by the Madrid ministry and accepted 

 by Cabrera. It provided that the Basque and 

 Navarre provinces which submitted to King 

 Alfonso within a month should enjoy their 

 fueros as they existed before the present war ; 

 that all Carlist civil and military appointments 

 and decorations, after having been duly proved 

 before Cabrera, should be recognized, their 

 holders being incorporated in the Alfonsist 

 army and civil service, but that this privilege 

 should not extend to persons who did not sub- 

 mit within a month after the publication of the 

 convention. Cabrera was to have the right 

 of proposing appointments, decorations, or re- 

 wards, to officers who, without exercising an 

 active command, had deserved this favor by 

 their conduct under present circumstances. 

 The Madrid Government would undertake, in 

 concert with the Cortes, to make good the 

 material damage sustained by communities and 

 individuals in districts then the theatre of war. 

 Immediately after the appearance of this docu- 

 ment only eight Carlist officers took advantage 



of the convention and submitted to King Alfon- 

 so ; but as the year progressed the defections 

 from the Carlist army increased to an alarming 

 extent. Serious differences also arose between 

 Don Carlos and the Carlist Council for Na- 

 varre. The Navarrese Junta left Estella and 

 established itself at San Esteban, near the 

 French frontier. The Carlists at Renteria, 

 Oyarzum, and around Bilbao, hoisted a flag of 

 truce and fraternized with the royal troops. 



The defection of General Cabrera caused Don 

 Carlos to proceed with great severity against 

 any other of his generals suspected of treason. 

 Thus, General Lizarraga, one of the most prom- 

 inent leaders of the Carlist cause, was arrested 

 in Catalonia in March. During the month of 

 March the Government troops continued to 

 advance at various points. In Catalonia Gen- 

 eral Campos captured the city of Olot, taking 

 300 prisoners, and soon after gained another 

 decisive victory at Ridaura. In April the Gov- 

 ernment made a new levy of troops, at which 

 the total number of recruits obtained was 43,- 

 000. During the month of April the war con- 

 tinued with varying success. In the begin- 

 ning of April the Carlists were defeated in an 

 engagement near Tolosa in Guipuzcoa, while, 

 a few days after, the royal troops lost Fort 

 Aspe, near Santander, with 200 prisoners and 

 four guns. Toward the latter part of the month 

 a portion of the Carlist forces on the frontier 

 of Navarre revolted against their leaders. They 

 demanded peace, and submission to the Gov- 

 ernment of King Alfonso. In May a report, 

 stated to be official, was published, of the Car- 

 list forces in the provinces of Navarre, Biscay, 

 Guipuzcoa, Alava, and Castile. In this re- 

 port, the total number of men was stated at 

 40,029, but, as neither the Basque Tercios, nor 

 Jamdesa's brigade, nor Dorregaray's two bat- 

 talions were reckoned, Don Carlos's army at 

 that time could not, according to this report, 

 be much less than 50,000 men. In May the 

 Carlists shelled Guetaria and did great dam- 

 age. The fire was returned from the fort and 

 five men-of-war in the harbor, which forced 

 the Carlists to retire with great loss. The 

 Government forces soon gained another impor- 

 tant victory at Montserrat. They captured 

 the formidable positions of the .Carlists on that 

 mountain, with a loss of only 93 killed an$ 

 wounded. During May General Cabrera raised 

 a force of about 600 former Carlists for King 

 Alfonso, which he placed under the command of 

 Aguirre, a formerly well-known Carlist chief. 

 Toward the close of May the Government 

 troops under General Montenegro drove the 

 Carlists under Dorregaray from their fortifica- 

 tions at Alcora, in Valencia. The Carlists lost 

 about 100 killed and 320 wounded, and retired 

 toward Lucerna. The Carlists were also de- 

 feated with considerable loss at Balaguer, in 

 Lerida. In June General Jovellar was ap- 

 pointed to the command of the Army of the 

 Centre. By withdrawing troops from differ- 

 ent parts of the country, and especially from 



