The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-30 00:00:00

MORNING SUN

HISTORY. OF THE O'DONNELLS

OF SPAIN.

General O'Donnell, whom the recent disturbances in
Spain has again brought before the world, is descended
from an ancient Irish family of the county of Donegal,
in the province of Ulster. The beautiful castle, which
was built by them near the town of Donegal, about the
12th century, still remains, and• is the chief ornament
to the present day. The stately monastery for Fran-
ciscan Friars of the Observantine Order, founded in
1474 by Hugh Roe, son of O'Donnell, Prince of Tyr-
connell, remains at a small distance from the town, and
attests by its ruins its former architectural beauty. The
most remarkable features in this edifice are the two
narrow passages, one built over the other, and which
seem to have been places for depositing valuable effects
in time of danger ; the upper one is covered with stones
laid along on the beams of stone that cross it, and the
lower one with stones laid across on the walls, each of
them exactly after the Egyptian manner of building.
Here the pious Roderic O'Donnell, Bishop of Derry,
died in the Franciscan habit, and on the Sth of October,
1550, was buried in the place.
The O'Donnells, ancient and honourable of name,
lay claim to a Royal Milesian descent, and deduce
their lineage from the common ancestor of the O'Nials,
Earls of Tyrone (originally Kings of Ulster), and the
O'Melaghans, Kings of Meetly. Without dwelling,
however, on so remote an era, we may remark that
Hugh-Roe ('Donnell, the celebrated Prince of Tyr-
tunnel), was one of the most extraordinary men that
Ireland ever knew, and that a long line of ancestry
bearing his name blaze in the annals of that kingdom,
renowned for chivalry and bravery in arms.
Turbulence teems to hare been the leading charac-
teristic of the O'Donnells, and desperate enterprise
their delight. At a time when their history becomes
clear and traceable, viz., in the reign of our Elizabeth,
we find one of this redoubtable family bidding defiance
to the English Government, and refusing to admit any
Sheriff into his district. To compel his submission,
the Council at Dublin had not sufficient troops,
and Sir John Perrot, therefore, resolved to en-
trap him or his son by stratagem. The Lord
Deputy accomplished this object thus : He sent
a bhip freighted with Spanish wines to Done-
gal, the captain of which entertained all who would
partake of his liberality. Young O'Donnell, with a
couple of his companions, accepted the invitation, and
when overcome with wine were made prisoners, and
conveyed as hostages to Dublin for the chief of Tyr-
connell. But prison-bars and castle-durance little
pleased the heart of an O'Donnell, and at last, with
many other hostages, he escaped again to Donegal, and
soon after he had lAnded at the blue bay of his home-
stead was invested with the chieftaincy of Tyrcoanell,
and took in marriage the daughter of O'Nial, chief of broad
T) rope. In 1600 O'N,al met O'Donnell and the Spanish
emissary Oviele, at his castle in Donegal, upon the ar-
rival of supplies from Spain at Killybegs, to concert
the plan of a rebellion. Shortly after this, the
English taking advantage of O'Donnell's ab-
sence in Connaught, marched a strong party
to Donegal, and took possession of their monastery,
which was unsuccessfully assaulted by O'Donnell.
Opliged by the stress of circumstances to take refuge
in. Spain, the O'Donnells embarked with the Spaniards
at. Kinsale, leaving the English in undisturbed pos-
seision. . .

In this newly-adopted country, retaining all the
chivalry of their ancestors, they followed the military
profession, relying upon it for ari increase to their fame,
and when the British army landed in the Peninsula in
1807, four brothers held commissions in the Spanish
service, viz, Henry, Charles, Joseph, and Alexander.
Henry O'Donnell first served under Gem Blake in
1809, and the part which he took in the relief of
Gerona, at the head of the Ultonia regiment, brat
brought him and General Saarsfield into notice. In
1810, he was appointed to the command in Catalonia,
where he created an army and held the French in
check. Defeated on the plains of Vich, by General Sou-
ham, and afterwards successful at the village of Abishal,
for which he wa created Count Abishal, he had the
glory of witnessing the surrender of a whole French co-
lumn under the command of Gen. Schwartz. The Cata-
lonians were justly proud of this gallant deed, and he
became with them a great favourite. Deprived of his
command in 1811, he wal next year named a member
of the Regency, bat towards the close of the war re- I
joioed the army, and commanded at the capture of
Pancorvo. On the return of Ferdinand VII. his full
rank was confirmed, and fresh honours bestowed on
him. After holdinz, the command of the Army of the
Bidoasse, he was placed at the .head of the troops des-
tined for an expedition against South America. In
thfirtommand it is believed that he acted an equivocal
part, by first siding with the mutineers and then betray-
iag'them. The Constitutionalists roundly affirm that
he had pledged himself to their interests, and was en-
gaged in the conspiracy of 1819. After the restora-
tion, Count de Abishal retired to France, and died at
Montpellier, May 17, 1834. This title becarneextinet
in the person of his son, who was shot, and whom we
shall notice afterwards.

Charles O'Donnell, the second brother, and a staunch
Royalist, commanded a division of the Army of
the Faith in 1822, when he experienced a defeat.
During the War of Independence he held command in
Valencia, and at the Peace was made Captain-General
of Old Castile. He hal four sons, three Royalists
and. one a Christino. Of the three Royalist sons,
Pepe—who followed Ids King to Portugal, and
passed through Englend, and afterwards organized the
Cellist cavalry—was killed while pursuing a party
of carabineers into Paropeluna; the second was bathe-
rous y massacred at Barcelona, and the third joined
Charles V. in the August of 1836, in Guipuscoa. The
Christino brother, who some days ago occupied the for-
tress of Pampeluna, was wounded some time since in
an action in the northern provinces, and in 1837 held
the rank of brigadier in the Queen's service. Charles
O'Donnell, the father, it is believed, died of a broken
heart on hearing the late of his teo sons. He had pte-
vinuAly been smitten to the soul by the event of one of
them joining that party to which he had himself been
always opposed.
Joseph O'Donnell, the third brother and a Royalist,
embraced the patriotic cause, aid commanded at the
battle of Castalla in 1812, where he was defeated by
Marshal Suchet. Ile commanded the lines of San
Roque in 1820, and pursued and attacked Riego, who
was then traversing the lower part of Andalusia with
fifteen hundred men. His reccontres being dubious he
fell into disgrace with the Constitutionalists, and on
their gaining the ascendancy he retired into private life.
Alexander O'Donnell, the fourth and youngest bro-
ther,of Count of de Abishal, joined the French, and
commanded a Spanish regiment, to which Joseph Na•
poleqn, gave his own name. Having been sent to the
campaign of Moscow he was taken prisoner, and the
Emperor Alexander having ordered all the Spaniards
formerly belonging to the French army to to collected
into one corps, which by special permission assumed his
name, the command was conferred upon Colonel Alex.
onnell, and he sailed with his regiment for Spain.
This
distinction saved him from the Afrancesadoes, and
his rank was confirmed. Alexander has two sons, Pepe
and Emilio, officers in the Urban Gilary ds a • t Seville.
In the instance which fellows, as sell as those al-
luded to above, of brothers
opposed to each other in
these deadly strifes, this larnii
y mill ever stand as a me-
lancholy example of the consequences of civil dissension.
At the action of Alsazua, a small town in the centre
of Borunda, eight leapies north-w
Pampeluna,and
situated on the heft of the river wl:i:ethof eiees name to the
district, Zumalaearregui, on the ci of April, met with
the Chris t'nos,who showed a dispositionfice
u withdraw. to-
wards the forest. " They dare not outZ u -
malaearregui, and with all possible
speed rushed
with his men, crying "a lii halioncla The forward
ood was
cleared ; the Christinos were pursued, and naked steel
worked its vengeance. -Among the officers
was Colonel Leopold O'Donnell, only son of Count
Abishal. When taken be was running up a hill, but
the ground beini; broken, his foot slipped, and be fell.
At this moment half a dozen Carhiat soldiers and
a serjeant called on him to surrender. O'Don-
nell did not rise, but in. an inclined pos-
ture begged his life, saying, Todos zooms ttos—'
todos sontos herntanos." Zunaalacarregui fell back
upon Echerri-Aranaz, and here the fate of the prisoners
was decided. He sent to the nearest Christino autho-
rity a formal notice that he should order O'Donnell and
ether.officers and men to be shot, by way of requital for
the execution of a certain number of Carlists, whose
cases be specified. When-this resolution was
announced
O'Donnell's firmness forsook him. He burst into tears,
and with earnest and repeated supplications intreated
Zurnalacarregui to merle his sentence. The latter
was all but overcome. He was moved by the youth
and name of the suppliant, and felt a soldier s
reluctance to extinguish a ~title which .had been
honourably won on the field of battle. While he was
yet wavering between his natural feelings and the cone
viction of duty, lie was informed that O'Donnell offered
a large sum for his release, and it was represented that,
the sum was to supply the wants of his half-naked sol-.
fliers., " No," proudly replied the inflexible soldier,
"my troops slid: never consent to clothe themselves
with the price of blood O'Donnell was led out and shot.
The present representanee of the O'Donnell family
in Ireland is Sir Richard Annesley O'Donnell, ifertel
of Newport Hong?, in the county of Mayo, who sue-1
etedei to the title oa the' dreeease of his brother, Sir'
Hugh Moore O'Donnell. in 1808 The O'Donnell
Alf at now is Neweor • in it 4
t I 'flute, the county of eease•

Two nights ago a van, belongilig to Laifite-
Caillard and Co., and laden with m.,-i:eliantlise and effects
of travellers, who Isicc.ton-tlfeir way fr4nt Lyons to. Paris
by the diligence-otstkai-eumpany,
was robbed near Paris.
The robbery way not di,covered. before. the htst'ehange
of horses. The leather coverirtg.harl been .cut, and a
bale of velvets, valued at four or five thousand francs,
stolen ; but the thieves . must have been disturbed in
their operation, which was probably carried on at one
of the relays, as they left behind property of much
greater value.
.tt
tIi...Ap9E3T PETTICOAT GOV ERNMENT
Ev.s
0 13. ritish empire extends over
2.Boo,,fraparre miles, and contains a population of
179435,00g,50u15.—.New Pork Paper.

INSOLVENT COURT.
IN TIE THOALIS STOWELL.

The insolvent in this case was the well-knewn com-
mon informer whose name has already been so fre-
quently before the public.
Mr.-WooDnuFFE on behalf of the insolvent applied to
the Court that he might h 3 permitted to go out on bail
until the 3d of January, the time appointed by the Chief
Commissioner for his filing a new schedule.
Mr. Coosa opposed the application on the part
of the St. Martin's Loan Society, to which the
insolvent was indebted in the sum of 801.
After reading over several items in the balance-sheet,
and commenting upon them, the Learned Counsel said
that only one of the sureties was present, and he trusted
the case would be postponed for further consideration.
Mr. COMMISSIONER ksw said that this case had
been previously heard at great length before Mr. Chief
Commissioner Reynolds, and he did not feel himself
bound to adjudicate upon, the application without fur-
,,ther information upon the subject. He should, there-
fore, order it to stand over until such time as a.commu-
, nication should be made with the Chief Commissioner,
when one day's notice should be given to the opposing
creditor of the acceptance of bail.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
OLD COURT..

Samuel Whapliam, aged- 38, who during the present
sessions had pleaded not guilty to three indictments
charging him with utterly,.b forged Bank of England
notes, was yesterday placed at the bar, and retracted
his plea of not guilty and pleaded Guilty.
Sentence deferred. _

POST-OFFICE ROBBERY.— Thomas Poor, aged 25, was
indicted for stealing a postletter, containing a bank note
value 51., the property of the Postmaster-General.
It appeared from the evidence that the prisoner
was a shopman in the employ of Mr. Dawes, a grocer
residing: in Maddox-street, Regent-street, whose shop
was also a receiving-house for the Post-office. On
the 21st of September last, Hugh Jones, a porter in the
employ of Mr. Myers, of Conduit-street, posted a letter
directed Mrs. Myers, Herne Bay, at the receiving house
of Mr. Dawes. In that letter Mr. Myers had enclosed
a five-pound note and a piece of cambric. It never
reiched its destination. James King, a shopman of Yr.
Dawes, had received the letter from Jones, and had
placed it in a drawer, to which the witness had access.
The prisoner had assisted King in sorting the letters
that evening. The next morning the prisoner was sent
into the City, and a person resembling the prisoner had
changed the note at the Bank of England, and received
four sovereigns and twenty shillings in silver., The
person changing the note had written as his name
and address on the back of it, " Thomas Smith,
107, Oxford-street." The handwriting was sworn to
by Mr. Dawes as resembling that of the prisoner,
lie was taken into custody, and on searching his lodg-
ing the piece of cambric, which had been Inclosed by
Mr. Myers in the letter was found there, and four sove-
reigns were also found there which the prisoner's wife
said' her_ husband had brought home on The previous
Wednesday. The prisoner received an excellent cha-
racter.

The Jury without hesitation found the prisoner Guilty,
and he was sentenced to transportation for 12 years.
The Attorney-General, Mr. Shepherd, and Mr. Gur-
ney conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Bodkin de-
fended the prisoner.
ANOTHER POST-OFFICE I.IOBBERY.—John Odd! Rath-
bone, aged 38, was indicted for stealing a post-letter
containing one sovereign, he being employed in the Ge-
neral Post-office. .

It appeared that in consequence of various complaints
of the miscarriage of money letters in the Golden-square
district, in which the prisoner was employed, the Post-
office authorities, in order to test him on the 14th of
October, last, enclosed a marked sovereign in a letter
directed Mr. E. ['Gowan, 16, Great Windmill-street,
Haymarket, and placed the letter among those the pri-
soner was sorting, so as that it should be given to him to
deliver. Mr. M'Gowan, who had been apprised of what was
about to be done, gave information that the letter
had not been received by him. The prisoner was im-
mediately arrested and searched, and the marked sove-
reign was found in his pocket, and on examining a water-
closet, to which the prisoner had been during the course
of the morning, the fragments of the letter were found
underneath the sink.

The prosecution in this, as in the former case, was
conducted by the Attorney-General, Mr. Shepherd, and
Mr. Gurney.
Mr. CLARKSON, for the defence, raised the point as
to whether, under the circumstances, the letter could be
considered as a Post-letter, seeing it had never regularly
been posted, and contended that the indictment was bad
in consequence.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL contended that the fact of
the sovereign being the property of the Postmaster-Ge-
neral, was sufficient to sustain the second count of the
indictment.

Mr. Baron Gusts;Ev reserved the point for argument
The Jury found the prisoner Guilty.
STEALING POST-OFFICE MONEY ORDERS. David
Henry Gilchrist, aged thirty-one, was indicted for steal-
ing a post letter, yosstainingfonr orders fu3he payment
of money, the property of Josephatker.
It appeared that the prisoner was a carpenter,
lodging in Charles-street, Westminster, and that he
had been requested by .Joseph Baker, a corporal in the
56th regiment of foot, who could not write, to write to
his (Baker's) father-in-law, requesting him to send 20/.
in order to procure his (Baker's) discharge. The pri-
soner wrote the letter, and added at the conclusion a
request to the father to direct his answer to
Corporal Baker, Mr. Butt's eating-house, Charles-street,
Westminster. This latter portion of the letter the pri-
soner did not read to Baker. The letter was received
by Baker's father at Shrewsbury, and an answer, in-
closing four Post-office orders for five pounds each, was
returned, directed as requested. Prisoner went to Butt's,
and asked fur the letter, which was delivered to him.
The orders were taken to the Post-office and money re •
ceived. Baker on making inquiries di: covered what had
occurred, and the prisoner was taken into custody near
Reading.
The prosecution, which was instituted by the .Post-
office, was conducted by the Attorney-General, Mr.
Shepherd, and Mr. Gurney.
Mr. CLARKSON, for the prisoner, took various objec-
tions to the indictment, and contended that there was no
such thing known to the law as a Post-office money
order, and that therefore it could not be considered a
valuable security. There was nothing on the face of it
importing any warrant or order whatever. It was merely
a request for the payment of money ; and although the
stealing of a request for the delivery of goods was lar-
ceny, yet the law did not recognise any such critne as
stealing a request for the payment of money.
Mr. SHEPHERD contended that the document was
strictly and legally an order for the payment of money
within the meaning of the Act of Parliament.
Mr. GURNEY followed on the same side.

Mr. Baron GURNEY said he would consider the points,
and his Lordship also promised to consider another
point raised by Mr. Clarkson, as to the sufficiency
of the proof of the handwriting of the . Postmaster
of Shrewsbury to the orders. His Lordship said,
however, that he had very little doubt but that the
orders were both warrants and orders within the meaning
of th• Act, and that he .felt sure they were, legally speak-
ing,orders. He had no doubt the offence was a larceny.
tie would, however, cOnsider all the points that had beon
raised. The Jury found the prisoner Guilty.
Mr. Cr—tub:so:4 moved in arrest of judgment, on the
same grounds on which he had objected to the indictment.
The prisoner was then removed from the bar.