The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-17 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN SPAIN.

Referring to the recent success o the Royal army,

Daily New-s
remarks :

The long expected battle between the principal
armies of Alfonso XII. and Don Carlos was fought On
the 7th inst. at Nanclares, in the province of Alava,
and has resulted in the decisive defeat of the Carlists.
The junction of the army commanded by the Alfonsist
General Quesada with the forces under General Loma
made a battle inevitable, but the Carlists were the
attacking party. Don Carlos prepared for it by
changing his Commander-in-Chief, mourning the nomi-
nal command to save the feelings of General Mendiri,
and making General Penile chief of his staff. The
engagement began, as well as can be made out from
the meagre reports, by a.fierce attack upon born-a, who
commanded the Alfonsist left, and who was driven
back at least as far as Puebla. Hereupon Quesada,
with a vigour for which he has not hitherto had credit
given him, fell upon the Carlist left under Mendiri at
Nanclares and completely defeated it. By this opera-
tion the left of the force under Perula was completely
exposed, and had not that officer recalled his bat-
talions with the utmost haste the Carlist army would
have been cut in two. Vittoria was thus in the
fullest sense relieved, and, after having been for
eighteen months cut off from the rest of Spain, became
the head-quarters of the victorious general of th 9
Madrid Government. Of course all the Carlist posi-
tions south of that place—many of them of great strength
—are now in the hands of the Alfonsists. Very
few particulars of the battle are given, its importance
appearing most of all from its consequences. It is
stated to have lasted five hours, and the issue was
decided by vigorous charges of Alfonsist cavalry.
Various statements are made respecting the Carlist
line of retreat, which would naturally be into the pro-
vince of Navarre. The preservation of Estella with
its depOts and arsenal, is a matter of the Utmost
importance to Don Carlos, and it does not appear
that he is cut off from the road to that forti-
fied position. Salvatierra, on the river Zadorra,
which Quesada is reported to have entered on
Sunday, is fourteen miles beyond Vittoria on the
line of railway to San Sebastian, and thirty-four
miles from Miranda, Quesada's headquarters a week
ago. It may be inferred from the route taken by the
Alfonsist General that the Carlists are retreating down
the valley of the Eaa to Estella. Contrary to the use
and wont of the armies on both sides General Quesada
is following his enemy up briskly, and the Carlists
nowhere make a stand. The field statistics of the
battle of Nanclares scarcely correspond to its political
importance. The victors have very little to say of
guns, colours, and priseners, and the Carlist retreat
would seem to have been effected In good order. The
advantages to the Alfonsists, are, however, very great.
A fortnight ago we heard of Carlist irruption into
Castile, and of recruiting expeditions into • the
provinces of Santander, and the Asturias. All this is
now at an end, and the Carlists, instead of gaining new
ground in the east, are concentrating in Navarre' leav-
ing Alava to the enemy. The Carlist juntas of Villa-
real and of Alava dre stated to have withdrawn into
Navarre, and numbers of the soldiers of the provinces
are giving themselves up to the Alfonsists. It remains
to be seen whether the commanders of the
Northern Army have the energy to make the most
of the very great moral and material advantages
they have WOD. The impression made upon the
populations which have hitherto favoured the
cause of Don Carlos by the defeat of his army
cannot but be considerable, and it will be all
the greater on account of the recent return of
Quesada to the policy, of Moriones—that of mak-
ing the inhabitants of the Carlist districts pay
in cattle, money, or any other kind of moveable pro•
perty, for the luxury of maintaining a pretender of
their own. The mere ground recovered, being in fact
the whole province of Alava, is an important gain, and
coinciding with the deliverance of the greater part of
Aragon from the invasion of Dorregarray, ought greatly
to raise the confidence of the people and Government
of Spain. For a long time the power of Don Carlos
has seemed to be the only one that was increasing in
that country, but it does not stand the test of serious
attack, and the Madrid Government is more likely to
realize its hopes of pacifying the country than it has
been at any time since the death of Marshal Concha.