The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-17 00:00:00

SPAIN.

Intercepted account of the total ruin of the Carlist
cause in Spain, in a letter from Mr. E. B. Stephens (cor-
respondent of the Morning Post) to Mr. Mitchell (corres-
pondent of the Morning Herald)
Durango, Tuesday, Dec. 27.
" My dear Mitchell—Thank God I'm alive, and I write

to tell you that we are all safe ; that is Ranelagb, Butts
and Son, Humphrey Bell and myself ; we have had a
most infernal drubbing. What has become of the army,
Heaven knows, it has been a complete debacle. I know
little more than that Espartero took the broken bridge of
Luchana on Saturday evening, because it was not defended
by a sufficient force. Ranelagh and Bell fought like devils,
charging at the head of thirty men to retake the advanced
post ; but a scoundrelly Captain of the 6th Regiment of
Biscaye, who I hope will be publicly disgraced, said that
he was of the reserve, and drew off his men, so that our
friends found themselves fighting against Espartero
with five Biscayans. Que vottlez you: Q The
Trincadouras came sweeping up, and clearing the cause-
way with grape-shot ; the column gained a footinr, on
the bill, and made a hurra on the Banderas, which 6
they carried before the dawn ; the cry along our line then
was they are coming.' This was quite enough for me,
so I mounted my mule, and gallopped off venire d terre,
along the Camino Real de Monguia. The infantry fled
through the snow to Galdacano ; the Prince and suite
with the artillery, i. e. all that was saved, to Guernica.
Ranelagh, Colonel Butts and Son, minus their baggage,
gained the same place on foot—poor Ranelagh, in a mag-
nificent dressing-gown a' la Louis the Fourteenth. The
whole of his baggage, including his splendid toilette case,
well stocked with Delcroix's most exquisite perfumery,
and two of Truefit's elaborately-made whigs, fell into the
hands of the Christinos : for myself, I rode on, without
a pesetta in my pocket, to find out the Senora Calle,
who gave me a couple of dollars instead of two hundred,
alleging that she would soon be in Bayonne, and would
then pay me the rest—cold comfort this ! Entre 720718, the
game is up, and I shall cut my stick ; you may therefore
expect to see me in Bayonne almost immediately ; to tell
you the truth, I'm dead beaten ; I hope the new ma-
nifold machine has not been dispatched hither from
Bayonne ; pray write and tell me if I have any chance of
tinding on this side the. Pyrenees my surtout, umbrella,
and the two bottles of Scotch whisky—there's no swallow-
ing their cursed aqua dente ; also how the devil I'm to get
across the frontier to Iron with my baggage, and whether
I could travel better to St. Jean de Luz with or without
my mule ; I know I can sell her at Irun for what she cost
me at Estera, but I don't know if I can manage my bag-
gage so as to avoid delay at Behobia without a help, but
after all sell her I must, for I am regularly cleaned out.
Tell me also what I am to say to the people at the Pass-
port-office there. I still retain my Bayonne receipt for my
English one. Shall I bring one from Don Gulielmo Sierra?
The day after I receive your letter I shall start for Bayonne,
and happy shall I be to find myself once more with a
whole skin at the Hotel St. Etienne, for I have had quite
enough of this cut-throat work ; therefore request that
cl.-".'clloo.'*g the 111441:s de Lde to keep all letters and
newspapers for me lest they should cross me on the road.
Many thanks for all favours, my dear Mitchell, in haste for
poste, after riding over the snow from Guernica.
Most truly yours,
" E. B. STEPHENS."

In the sitting of the 6th instant the Committee of Na-
tional Rewards proposed the following Bill to the consi-
deration of the Cones :

" Article 1. The defenders of Bilboa, and the army and
navy, as well Spanish as English, who contributed towards
raising the siege, deserve well of the country.

" Art. 2. The President of the Cortes shall write an au-
tograph letter to the General-in-Chief; Don Baldomero
Espartero, in testimony of the nation's gratitude, directing
him to return thanks in the name of the Cortes to all the
Generals, officers, and troops, as well of the army as the
navy, who had assisted in the defence of Bilboa, or in
raising the siege ; and another to the illustrious Commo-
dore of his Britannic Majesty's naval forces stationed on
the coast of Cantabria, for the services which his marines
and sailors have rendered to our cause ; and finally, another
to the Corporation of Bilboa, to the authorities, the na-
tional militia, and inhabitants, which is to be read every year
on the 25th day of December with due solemnity.
" Art. 3. The ground hitherto occupied by the Capu-
chin Convent is to be destined for a square, to be called
The Square of Bilboa,' in the centre of which a bronze
monument, of elegant and simple construction, is to be
erected, for the purpose of perpetuating the glory of the
defenders and liberators of that invincible city.
" Art. 4. The Government shall be authorised-Ist, to
defray out of the national purse the reconstruction of all
the edifices belonging to loyal subjects which had been
destroyed during the siege ; 2dly, the erection of a simple
and majestic monument, in the most convenient situation,
which shall manifest to posterity the valour displayed by
the inhabitants of Bilboa during the sieges which they sus-
tained against the Carlist faction ; and idly, the amount of
the pensions which may be accorded,to the widows and or-
phans of the defenders and liberators of Bilboar