The National Register.
London, England, 1822-01-20 00:00:00

No. 1,351.—V0L. XV.]

CORRESPONDE.VCR FROM SPAM

BILBOA, JAN. 3.—1 have the satisfaction of in-
forming you, that the banditti who hovered about
this town, and who hoped to have an opportunity for
blundering it on Christmas-day, are entirely dis-
persed. It was in vain that they took a position on
a hi; from WhTch They ladle ;Agnes and fired tins-
ketry, either for the purpose of seddeing or alarming
tla. inhabitants of this place ; for during the whole
time every thing remained tranquil. The following
circumstance mainly contributed to their dispersion:
—The curata Guazala had engaged a person named
Lendn, who had obtained the temporary command of
the Regimcntary Militia, in a criminal correspond-
ence. The curate despatched an emissary to his
correspondent with a letter, but in consequence of
this messenger being in a state of intoxication when
he reached i-the city, the whole plot was discovered.
The emissary and the commandant were immediately
arrested. The letter contained a request that the
commandant would hold himself ready with all the
men at his disposal, and that he would post at the
gates of the city men in whom he could place con-
fidence, in order to facilitate the entrance of the
banditti into the city.
The immoral conduct of the curate of Guazala,
who carries about with him a number of prostitutes,
has lost him the favour of some of the Serviles, tt ho
might otherwise have been disposed to encourage
his proceedings. Two days ago he robbed an agent
belonging to a neighbouring village, and took from
him 3,000 reals, with which he had been intrusted
to make several purchases.
For a long time past the enemies of constitutional
liberty had, by all the means in their power, how-
ever vile they might be, endeavoured to organize
some elan in the provinces bordering upon France.
Bayonne seems to 'have been the focus from whence
the genius of evil spread its pestilential breath.—
Several refugees in that town were planning how
civil war might be brought about in these tranquil
districts, and it is to be lamented that the French
Government could permit conspiracies to be hatched
against a government and a nation with whom it is
in peaceful relations.
About the middle of Dec. some discontented
bands were observed in Arragnn,but quichiy sub-
dued by the firmness of General Alava and the
troops : about that time, also, several small towns
and villages in Navarra manifested the same dis-
content ; many young men left their homes and
ihrmed themselves into strong bands. The dis-
effected or seduced have met with the fate they do-
served, for they have been completely dispersed, and
they returned home cursing those who, under the
cloak of a religion which they insult, had worked
up their minds to bloodshed and violence. Navarra
is quite tranquil now.
There can be no doubt but that the plan had ra-
mifications in Biscay ; and what must. scandalize
every man that wishes well to his country is, that
priests have been the chief instigators and directors

of these plans.
Bilboa most fortunately possesses a body of vo-
lunteers composed of the select and most sound part
of its population. In April last this very corps
contributed to put a stop to the insurrection in the
province of Alava. It was thereliwe natural to
suppose that these ..;lunteers (who have armed and
clothed themselves at their own expellee) were
looked upon with jealousy and hatred Ly those men,
unworthy of the name of Spaniards, who aimed at
plunging this province into the most criminal ex-
. -acs.

- The insurrection in Navarra was afterwards
known, and on the 25th of December. in conse-
quence of circulars sent by a priest to some villages,
:many men turned out, and armed themselves in the
neighlanwhocd of Cerverio, four leagues from Bilboa
This latter town had then only SI soldiers of the
regulars, 50 of whom, together with 50 volunteers
of infantry and 12 of cavalry, immediately net out
for some of the refractory districts, which they soon
brought to a sense of duty. However, the same
priest, called Cluczala (tinmerly a guerilla chief of
no reputation, (scoured other villages, and, aided by
other priests and friars, held out to the peasants as
a lure the plunder of Bilboa, which town being
considered rich, could not but be a point of attrac-
tion to a set of wretches whose minds were wrap-
l•ed up in ideas of pillage and violence.