The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-09 00:00:00

BILBOA.

DEC. 29.—The Carlist faction has experienced a mortal
defeat ; a blow from which it cannot recover. The whole
of the enemy's artillery has fallen into our hands ; it con-
sists of 28 guns, among which is the monster-mortar, as it
is called, a 36. pounder, several 24 and 18-pounders, and
the rest twelves, nines, and howitzers. The greater part of
these are beautiful brass guns, with all their ammunition
and appurtenances complete. The whole park of artillery,
in fact, is taken ; the mules attached to the same are also
in our possession, together with a quantity of military stores
of every description, which are coming to light in the neigh-
bourhood daily. The quantity of gunpowder is very great.
The official returns cannot be made out.

There are 150 prisoners taken—among them nine officers,
one of whom was aide-de-camp to the general of engineers ;
besides there were a hundred wounded Carlists found in
different houses at Oleaveaga, &c. Hitherto it has been
impossible to ascertain the Carlist loss. It must, however,
have been very severe ; the field of battle was strewed with
their dead bodies and those of the Queen's soldiers. After
their signal defeat the Carlists fled by Galdacana towards
Durango. Eguia was asleep at his quarters in Oleaveaga
when an officer brought him the intelligence that Las Ban-
deras was taken, and that the Queen's array was advancing.
He flew into a violent rage, and ordered the officer to be
shot, for having, as he persuaded himself, told him a false-
hood. He soon, however, found the report to be a true one,
and fled upon the back of a mule, across the floating bridge
opposite to San Mauros. Three Englishmen also slept at
Oleaveaga on Christmas-eve ; from the description of the
inhabitants I imagine one of them to have been Lord Ra-
nelagh, whose predictions in the various letters which have
appeared in the Times have been proved to be incorrect, in
a manner astounding to the Pretender, whose cause Lord
Ranelaghespoused, to the astonishment of all those who
know, as I happen to do, that he was received with hospi-
tality and kindness at San Sebastia❑ by General Evans ;
and had every opportunity given to him, as a mere traveller
and observer, which he stated himself to be, of knowing our
strength at that station. But let that pass.
The returns of the loss on' the Queen's side are not
yet made up ; but it is calculated at about 900 ; of whom
from 200 to 250 were killed. Among the latter was the
brave Commandant Ulibarrena, who commanded the light
companies d'elite during the daring attack on the night of
the 24th. The Baron de Meer, and General Mendez Vigo
were wounded, but not dangerously.
Since the army entered Bilboa, the weather has been so
extremely severe, that the streets and roads are almost im-
passable : the snow is several feet deep ; and it is a curious
fact, that for the last six winters the snow has not laid on
the ground. Notwithstanding these impediments, I have
visited the batteries round the city, and the positions where
the severest injury had been done, The defence made by
by the national guards and garrison of Bilboa) cannot by
too highly praised. The national guards have had thirty-
nine killed and 90 wounded during the siege ; of the killed,
eight ware officers belonging to the most respectable fami-
lies in Bilboa. The whole loss in killed and wounded is
estimated at nearly a thousand.

The hostile batteries were many of them within half-pis-
tol shot of each other, and at the entrance at the suburb of
Zendeca, the Augustine Convent, and a large house called
El Palacio, the former occupied by the Carlists, and the
latter by the Queen's soldiers, are not more than ten yards
apart. In that vicinity it was that the trioSt desperate at-
tempts of the Carlists
.Wcri4 t*.tt.t., and that the greatest
slaughter t 94 blftte. 'Cho whole street of Zendeca is corn-
fActZly destroyed ; the ruined walls of the houses are
knocked through and through with cannon balls, and you
can only reach Old Convent over heaps of ruins,
A very remarkable incident occurred at this convent,
which is within ten yards of the large house, where the out-
pickets of the Queen's were. One night, about a fortnight
ago, the sentinel, a young Oaliciati recruit, heard an un-
usual noise, like persons working or knocking_ at intervals
at some heavy object With a large hamtner, He mentioned
it to his officer ; more attention was paid to the sounds,
which became now perceptible. The circumstance having
been reported, to the proper authorities; the Chief Engi-
neer and other officers attended, and it apiicared clear that
the enemy were making a mine from the Augustine Con-
ven to the house. Immediately a countermine was com-
menced, and as it advanced the surmises which hard been
formed were realised : the miner was distinctly heard at his
work, and the countermine was proceeded with with due
caution. At length, after several days, the end of the
Carlist miner's crow-bar was thrust through the, thin parti-
tion of earth which remained between him and the Chti§tino
delver—the latter caught hold of the bar and endeavoured
to pull it through ; the Carlist supposing, no doubt, that
the stop to his bar arose from its having got hitched between
two stones, or something of that sort, worked it from side to
side, in order to extricate it. The Christine held on, and
worked with him, until the aperture having become suffi-
ciently large, he gave one strong pull at the crow-bar,
wrested it from the hands of the Carlist, threw it behind
him, 'and thrusting a blunderbuss which he had for his pro-
tection into the hole, fired at the scared miner, who was
killed, and the enemy's plan frustrated. Had the Carlists

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