The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-02 00:00:00

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MADRID, DEC. 23.

(From the Times Correspondence.)
We had begun to flatter ourselves that the in-
surrection in the northern provinces was definitively

put down. The tardy victories of Saarsfield, and

the active administration of Valdez, had set our
minds too much at ease as to the state of Biscay,

Guipuscoa, and Navarre. It now appears that the
insurgents, learning wisdom from experience, have
resolved on persisting in a system of sanguinary
agitation, taking care never to present themselves
in the mass before the troops of the line, until their
numbers or their discipline have become such as to
insure them the victory. It can no longer be said
that they are destitute of leaders. Merino, the
priest, is at best but a chief of guerillas, and has,
in fact, little influence with the faction over which
he hoped to preside. The true leader of the insur-
rection, Zavallo, is a man of a very different cha-
racter. He professes to be the chosen representative
of the three disturbed provinces, and it is under his
auspices that the new system of agitation is carried
on. Aware of his great and dangerous influence,
General Valdez had found means to open a corre-
spondence with him, for the purpose of inducing
him to abandon his fastnesses in the mountains, end
retire, like others of his party, into France. I have
seen, in fact, a letter from the priest who acted as
'he go-between. This clerical envoy professes the
strictest neutrality, but at the same time
describes the scattered forces at the disposal of
Zavallo as daily increasing in importance, and as
already extremely formidable both in numbers and
discipline.
It is known that Zavallo was at Bilboa at the time
of the death of King Ferdinand, and it was there
that as soon as the intelligence arrived the insur-
rection broke out into " a sudden flood of mutiny."
Judging of the rest of Spain by what he observed
in his own immediate neighbourhood, Zavallo had
expected that the rising would be general, and it
would undoubtedly have been much more general
than it has proved had the Pretender only ventured,
when the tide turned in his favour, to show himself

in the country. But the time has now gone by,
and the cause of Don Carlos is not to be saved by
all the skill of ?Avail°, nor by the high tone he as-
sumes in his correspondence with General Valdez.
To the offer which was made to him of a safe
conduct across the French frontier, Zavallo returned
for answer that he would not entertain any proposal
in which he was not treated as the Commander-in-
Chief of the forces of Charles V., and the chosen
representative of the three provinces of Biscay,
Guipuscoa, and Navarre. The amnesty for his
followers alluded to in the letter of General Valdez
he professed to despise, declaring that he expected
soon to be in a situation where he would be the
dispenser of pardons, and not the object of them.
The better to enforce the language of his letter he
caused three carabineers, whom he had previously
made prisoners, to be brought out and shot in
presence of the envoy of General Valdez, declaring
that similar measures of reprisal would be taken
whenever he heard of any execution for political
offences against the existing Government within the
bounds of what he calls his jurisdiction.
I have seen other letters from Bilboa in which the
greatest alarm is expressed for the fate of these pro-
vinces. Even here in Madrid complaints begin to
be raised against Zarco del Valle, the new Minister
at War, pretty nearly of the same nature with those
which were so loudly expressed against his prede-
cessor. He is accused of indecision and want of
energy, and the somewhat pompous display of acts
of clemency on the part of the Government is im-
puted to him as a felt. It is said that as soon as a
fresh act of amnesty appears, the insurgents return
home in triumphant crowds, and loaded with booty,
to their native towns and villages, exulting over the
comparative poverty of those who had remained
faithful to the Queen, declaring that the Queen's
Government had issued an amnesty because it was
not strong enough to punish, and boasting of their
readiness to take up arms in the cause of Don Carlos,
as soon as they should be called upon by their chiefs.
Such arguments as these are not very conclusive
in favour of that unsparing severity which begins
to be recommended by such of the journals as lay
claim to liberality and independence, especially as
they can be met by the Carlist leaders with the ap-
plication of the lex tar:anis. It is asserted that no
less than a thousand individuals have already suf-
fered death for their participation in the present re-
bellion. It is quite certain that a very small portion
of them are enumerated in the Gazette, and it is
even doubtful if the Captains-General of provinces
think it necessary to communicate such trifling de-
tails to the Central Government.
Each Captain-General is in fact a little king in
his province, and only more absolute than his no-
minal superior in, Madrid because he is less under
the influence of public opinion. Witness, for in-
stance, the excessive hesitation displayed in the re-
moval of the Conde de Cuba, the weakest and most
inefficient of these functionaries, from the united
viceroyalties of Murcia and Valencia. It is
said that this tardy act of vigour has at
length been accomplished, and that his se-
cond in command, Martinez San Martin, has really
been directed to supersede him. If this be the case, I
venture to say, from what I know of the character
of the man, that San Martin has accepted the ap-
pointment with a firm resolution to exercise his new
functions as independent of all control as does
Llander in Catalonia, E-peleta in Arragon, or Que-
sada in Old Castile. There is no one, for instance,
who doubts that if Llander were to be sent for by
the Queen, he would find some courtly excuse for
deferring the journey to Madrid. It may be con-
venient for the present to wink at this provincial
dictatorship, but it is clearly about to be undermined
by the new territorial system introduced by the
Home Minister, Don Xavier de Burgos.
An idea is still abroad that Zea is hostile at heart
to these innovations, and that he has yielded against
his will to the force of circumstances, and to the

rising ascendancy of Burgos. In this explanatio
of the state of the Cabinet I have no great faith,
although it is pretty generally received, and although
Burgos makes no secret of his resolution either to
carry the liberal measures he contemplates, or to re-
tire from the Administration.
It was only this morning that the French Ambas-
sador, Count Rayneval, ascertained the fact, which
has probably reached you from Paris or Bayonne,
that his late Secretary, M. Perier, had been way-
laid between Vittoria and Tolosa, and deprived of
the despatches with which he was charged. The
party that stopped him had been in waiting, it is
said, for the mail from Paris, which is supposed,
fromits non-arrival, to have also fallen into their
hands. When M. Perier's carriage was stopped he
contrived to make his escape, and from a cottage in
the neighbourhood sent a note to his servant to fol-
low him, if possible, with the despatches to Tolosa,
which, with the assistance of a guide, lie suc-
ceeded in reaching by a by-road. The servant,
after some delay, was also permitted to follow
him, but was refused horses by the post-master,
under pretence of his not being provided with
a separate passport. As for the despatches,
they were carried into some mountain recess, to be
laid before the Junta de Gobierno, which was pro-
bably sitting there under the Presidency of Senor
Zavallo. On the direct road to France there has,
in fact, been no security for travellers for the last
two months, with whatever passports they may
have been provided. The English messenger,
Draffen, who arrived here on the sth of November
last, was also waylaid, and had his despatches vio-
lated, although not ultimately deprived of them, as
M. Perier has been. M Draffen sets out again this
evening for London, but as he is to be provided
with a military escort on his arrival in the dis-
turbed districts, he will probably reach the frontier
in safety.
Don Domingo Lopez, a nephew of the Curti
Merino, has been taken at Lerna, by one of Que-
sada's Lieutenants, and sent to Valladolid for
trial.