The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-11-21 00:00:00

ENTRY OF THE TROOPS INTO BUM

The following is from the Correspondent of the Globe,
writing from liendaye, the 12th inst.

Last evening Generals Laserna and Loma entered
Iron. The enthusiasm was not so great as had been
supposed, for the pressure of the bombardment had
been relieved during the four previous days, and the
place had been almost abandoned by the Carlists
when they withdrew their forces to form the lines of
Gainchnzqueta and San Marcos. This morning a
few companies were sent to possess San Martial,
in which a few Carlists still remained, and to dis-
lodge any they might find in La Plinths, a ferry
post about two kilometres higher up the river than
Irun. The line of burning houses Jong the east
skirt of San Martial and up the bank of the Bidassoa
soon showed there was no more refuge left for the
Carlists in that direction. Guipuscoa is now almost
entirely in the hands of the troops. The Carlists of
the right and the centre of the line which was broken
yesterday at Gainchuzqueta have passed by the path
which winds from Lesaca over the precipitous Sierra
of Arjachulega into Navarre, and will beyond Al
doubt oppose the passage of the troops by that way
to Vera, should it be attempted. Those who were
driven back from San Marcos have retired on Tolosa,
and if any further operations are to be made by the
troops they will probably be in that direction. It
may seem strange that such a hypothesis is possible ;
but the army returns to-morrow to San Sebastian by
orders from Madrid, which, it is said, further direct
the generals to return to the line of the Ebro. I shall
not speculate upon the latter part of this news, which
may be untrue, or, at least, may be revoked by the re-
monstrances of the army or the pressure of public
opinion ; in any case we return to San Sebastian to-
morrow, abandoning the idea of fuming a passage across
the Arjachulega range into Navarre. It seems that the
('arliste were surprised at the ease which Loma took
their positions at San Marcus; these were held by
six battalions, commanded by Ceballos, and were con-
sidered the key of the p)sition. On the night after
the battle the inhabitants of Oyarzun denounced the
general as a traitor, but cheered Don Carlos, who re-
mained there (not at Lecuona, as I said in my last
letter). The King does not seem to have believed in
the treason as readily as his people, for in answer to
some words of sympathy which were addressed to him
by a foreigner, he said, with a shrug of the shoulders,
"Quo voulez vous? On no peut pas etre toujours
vaniquer."

The left of the Carlist line yesterday was commanded I
by Valdespina, and the trenches of Munnoundi and
the smaller hills behind it, which detained the division
of Loma during two home and a half, were manned by
two battalions. The loss of the troops before this
position was over 200 men. The Carlists fought well,
both there and at San Marcos, but they were driven
from the first position by the heavy fire oghe artillery,
and they were obliged to abandon the second to avoid
being cut off by the troops which Loma commanded in
person, and who fought their way across the level
ground beyond the extremity of the hill to the left, in
which direction lay their only retreat towards Tolosa.
The town of Iron presents an appearance at once
grotesque and horrible. It is completely surrounded
by burning houses, and some have been set on fire
inside the town itself during the day. Heaps of
furniture rescued from the burning houses are piled in
the street, and the throng of soldiers who pass have to
wind between the masses of bedding and sofas, drawing.
room nick-nacks and kitchen utensils, and over piles
of broken crockery strewed with books soaked in
rain and splashed with dirt. The abandoned houses
of the Carlists are burnt or gutted. Great gaps in
the street line marls the frequent fires, and the
windows of those whose position was at all exposed
are blocked with tin cases full of sand, or built up with
loose stones and boards. On every side one sees .
charred walls, broken glass, shattered framework,
and houses pitted with bullet marks or bored by the
passage of some larger shot. Everywhere vengeance
has followed to complete the work of war. I entered
the cafe-house to the left of the Casa Consistorial,
where Iron was accustomed in quieter times to sip
its evening sorbet beneath the shade of the acacia
trees in front ;on one side a philosophic mule NSW
munching pilfered maize heads; around it groups
of noisy soldiers were gambling for cuartos ;
and in the rest of the house their companions
were dancing while a burly Migueleta strummed
upon the portion of a piano which had been
left by a bursting shell. In the midst of all
this disorder, in a town where the population are
maddened with passion, hate, and suffering, after
two days of victory, some rioting wbuld perhaps
have been pardoned on the part of the soldiers, but
no excesses have been committed by them; they are
everywhere orderly, sober, and good-humoured. An
old soldier who noticed the behaviour of the troops
in Irun yesterday said that out of such men the
best soldiers in Europe might be made. The con-
duct of the soldiers contrasts favourably with that
of the inhabitants and the Volunteers, who have per-
mitted themselves every outrage on the property of
their enemies. Private vengeance had broken be-
yond the bounds within which the terror of the Carlist
cannon had contained it, and hastened to lay its
flaming hand on the property of the oppressor who
has himself escaped its wrath. Houses within the
town itself were set on fire, and at one time it seemed
possible that the wind would spread the flames to the
whole place. General Loma and his aides-dc-camp
were engaged during the afternoon in extinguishing
the burning houses where the flames had not become
too strong, and it is probable that he will succeed in
putting a stop to the outrage before it assumes more
formidable proportions.

The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, and
a large party of sportsmen commenced shooting in the Royal
preserves at Sandringham on Tuesday morning, the weather
being bright and pleasant.