The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-04 00:00:00

SPAIN AND MOROCCO.

The following (from the Gibraltar Chronicle) are
further particulars and details of the Spanish war
in Morocco :

JAN. 24.

The following;is an extract from a private letter
of an officer belonging to General Rios's division,
dated from the camp at the Custom-house of
Tetuan, Jan. 20 :

" I write a few lines on the bare floor to let you
know lam well. My regiment was the first that
entered the Custom-house. The Moors had left
there some goods, but not of great value. The
Moorish camp is in front, half a league off. If the
enemy descends to the plain we shall have a gene-
ral action, but I doubt if he will accept battle in
this way,for he seems very timid, although he is
in great force, particularly in cavalry. In a recon-
naissance we made this morning we fired a few
shots, but nothing further. Our entrance into
Tetuan—or siege, if siege it is to be—will take
place soon, as we are only a league from the town,
of which we have a clear view from the camp. In
the army there is great enthusiasm."
By the arrival of the Marocain this morning
from Tetuan we learn that a severe action was
fought yesterday before that town. From nine in
the morning until five in the evening the firing on
both sides was heavy and continuous. Our infor-
mant, who viewed the battle from a distance, could
not say which army commenced the attack; but he
believes that a very great force on each side was
engaged, as the Spanish reserves were moved for-
ward in the afternoon and took up a position close
to the scene of action.

Both armies after the battle returned to the
ground they had before occupied. The Moorish
positions are on some heights, north of the Tetuan,
favourably situated for the defence of the city. No
particulars of the losses on either side were known,
but both armies are supposed to have suffered se-
verely._

The Marocain was freighted by the Spanish Go-
vernment to convey from Cette to Ceuta 100 bul-
locks and upwards of 100 bales of compressed hay.
From Ceuta the steamer was sent to the coast of
Tetuan, where she landed the bullock at the Port
of Martin, but brought the hay to this bay. The
Marocain, after taking in a cargo of wool, proceeds
direct to Marseilles.

JAN. 25.

The Hoja Suelta, of Algeciras, describes the ac-
tion before Tetuan of the 23d as an attack by the
Emperor's Black Cavalry on the battalions of the
2d corps forming the Spanish advanced guard.
With the assistance of the artillery the attack was
repulsed, with slight loss, it is asserted, on the part
of the Spaniards, there being only two officers
amongst the killed, one belonging to the cavalry
and the other to the infantry. A squadron of the
Farnesio and onc of the Villaviciosa regiment made
a brilliant charge on the Moorish cavalry.
The body of Lieutenant-Colonel Barrueta, of the
artillery, was brought from the vicinity of Tetuan
to Ceuta on the 16th. The colonel committed sui-
cide by shooting himself with a pistol in a tent
during the absence of the other officers who were
residing with him. The cause which led to this
rash act was not known.

" The Town Council of Cadiz," says the Consii-
tucional, " have ordered that on the day in which
the news of the fall of Tetuan may be received, it
shall be celebrated by bands of music playing
through the streets, a general ringing of bells, by
the houses being adorned by hangings, by illumi-
nations, and other public amusements ; 500 rs. vn.
are to be given to every family belonging to Cadiz
who has a s-on in the ranks of the army at the seat
of war ; wine, tobacco, and cakes to the wounded
and sick from the army, and a ration to the poor of
the the prisons."
The fellowint, steamers arrives at Milaga with
wounded and sick from the seat of war in Africa :
The Spanish steamer Cid, on the 20th inst., with 2
officers and 157 rank and file ; the Spanish war
steamer Conde de Regla, on the 21st, with 3 officers
and 156 rank and file ; the French steamer Bre-
tagne, on the night of the 21st, with 4 officers and
200 rank and file.

JAN. 26.

We have received to-day private advices from the
Spanish camp, dated on the night of the 23d inst.
The action of that day was, after all, bet an unim-
portant affair. There was a great deal of firing from
the artillery, which might easily give to a distant
spectator the impression that a severe struggle was
taking place. The immediate cause of the fighting
was the construction by the Spaniards of a fort on their
right front. The Moors came down to molest the
works, and this led to a good deal of skirmishing, ar-
tillery firing, and some charges of cavalry. In one of
the latter, a Spanish soldier took a yellow banner
with cords, tassels, &c., and for this he was promoted
to the rank of sergeant, and decorated on the field.
The Moors did not show in very great force, and were
easily repulsed by the cavalry and artillery. When
the Spanish troops retired at dusk to their own
ground they were but weakly followed by the
Moors. 'Whilst such animated scenes are taking
place beneath the walls of Tetuan the city itself
looks deserted and lifeless, not even a curling thread
of smoke giving evidence of its being inhabited.
The fighting of the 23d offered the means of in-
troducing to the game of war the young Count
d'Eu (son of the Duke de Nemours), who had just
arrived in the Spanish camp to join Marshal O'Don-
nell's staff. He was out under fire with the skir-
mishers, and has received, as the reward of hie first
day's real service, the cross of San Fernando. The
young Count is described as a nice looking boy,
with a complexion of almost feminine delicacy.
This, it is surmised, will be soon bronzed to the
proper campaigning tint by a life under canvas and
exposure to the African sunshine, wind, and rain.
It seems that the 97 mules taken some time since
from the Spaniards were not all stolen in one night,
bat at different times. The account of the manner
in which the Moors effected the capture reads like
a page of one of Cooper's novels about the Red In-
dians. The different Kabyles are called upon to
contribute, each tribe, its most expert thieves and
cattle lifters. These divide into two parties; one
creeps stealthily, venire a terra, as near as is prac-
ticable, without detection, to the quarter in which
the mules are picketed, and when the other party
has raised a false alarm and fired a few shot in front
of a distant quarter of the Spanish camp, and all
eyes and ears are on the stretch in that direction,
the mule stealers dash in and seize their prey.