The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 13, 1860

oR 0 COO.
SPAIN AND

(From tlie Correspondent of the Times.)
CAMP IN FRONT OF' CEUTA, DEC. 31.
Yesterday was a summer day of great beauty and
considerable heat, when it was pie asanter to emain
over
under the shade of the tent than to scramble
hours.
our hilly territory during the four mia-daY
or they had
Apparently the Moors thought so too,
ee wp e
the discretion to remain quiet until thr , when
they advanced and opened fire upon our left, direct-
ing their attacks especially against the parapets in
front of Ros de Olano's camp. They concentrated
their force more than usual, instead of spreading it
over a very long line,und. their fire was so well us-
over
as to induce some to believe that ththem the
ey must
have got a supply of cartridges, sparing
time thcygenerallylose in loading their long. guns out
of a bag of loose powder and bullets. But it is more
probable that the difference arose from their being
massed. They were bolder yesterday than they
have lately be en —probably they were fresh troops,
for of late we had observed that they were any-
thing but forward. Some of them actually came to
the low parapets which are thrown up in advance
of the redoubts as cover for our troops, and, seiz-
ing the stones, tried to pull them down. Our total
loss in the affair was 17 wounded.
I am enabled to give you, from Spanish official
sources, some details of the proceedings of the squa-
dron the day before yesterday at the port of Tetuan.
The vessels arrived at the mouth of the river at one
p.m., and by half-past one were in position, when
the Moorish forts began the fire. These consist, ac-
cording to the acccount given to me, of the small
tower already often spoken of, another fort, and an
earth battery. At the first broadside fired by the
squadron, in reply to the Moorish cannonade, the
fort blew up, a shell having fallen into the powder-
magazine. By half-past two the fire from the ships
had silenced all the Moorish guns, and the squadron
steamed out of the river, but presently re-
turned, when the fort and castle recommenced
their fire. In less than half an hour this was
silenced for the second time, and the ships again
departed and again returned. This time the Moors
did not fire. The ships opened upon the works
and knocked them to pieces, destroying all that
was not solid stone, and at half-past three finally
departed. The captain of the French steamer,
which was present at the bombardment, congratu-
lated the Spanish Admiral on the very complete
manner in which he had done his work, and on the
rapidity with which it had been executed. The
vessels that chiefly distinguished themselves were
the steam frigate Villa de Bilbao, which did not
go out of the river on the two occasions when
the others left it, but remained circling and ob-
serving the enemy, and the little steamer Vulcano.
The fire of the Moors did no harm whatever; not
a Spaniard was wounded, not a hull, spar, or rope
touched. This is the Spanish account of the affair.
To-day is not so fine as yesterday, and the wind
has shifted to the east. It is but a light breeze at
present,—but this is the way these Levanters begin,
- and to-night it may blow a gale. Nevertheless, a
move is decided upon for to-morrow. Six rations
are being drawn, heavy baggage is to be sent on
board the steamers that will accompany us, the
General-in-Chief has struck his tent and had it re-
placed by a small one. If this wind holds, I believe
head-quarters will move only to a short distance
beyond our present extreme left ; if it changes we
expect to go further,—as far, I presume, as it is con-
venient for the army to march before night, and in
presence of the opposition we expect from the
enemy. A large mass of rations is on board the
steamers that are to follow us along shore. Half a
million rations—a month's supply—have been for
some days shipped, and I believe the quantity has
since been increased.
General Jose Concha arrived in camp soon after
noon to-day. Finding himself at Cadiz, on his re-
turn from the Havannah, he came across to visit
General O'Donnell. They have now ridden out to
the redoubts.
So far as I have had as yet an opportunity of ob-
serving, and of ascertaining from officers who have
been here from the very first day of the war, the mili-
tary tactics of the Moors are very limited and mono-
tonous. Their stratagem is always the same ; they
throw out a few men as a decoy—a sort of forlorn
hope—in the expectation that the Spaniards will
advance against them as an easy prey. If the Spani-
ards did so they would instantly become a mark for
hundreds of sharpshooters, concealed in holes and
corners, among rocks and behind trees, and vigi-
lantly watching for a mark. To the possible suc-
cess of this ruse de guerre it is obviously essential
that the Spaniards should not be aware of the
proximity of a lurking foe 50 times more numerous
than the one visible in the open ground. To con-
ceal their ambush the Moors display all the craft of
savages. One rarely sees a strong body of them
ensconcing themselves in a position. One sees five
or six in one direction, and eight or ten in another,
converging towards an apparently uncertain point,
while in other directions other small groups move,
often only two or three men, sloping quietly along as
if they were admiring the landscape rather than
meaning mischief. Then they disappear, either
among trees or behind inequalities of the ground,
and are seen no more, and you know not whether
they are gone until you have had enough experi-
ence of their ways to feel sure that they have all
betaken themselves to an allotted position, and that
while perhaps you have never seen 50 men at a
time, there are probably a thousand assembled
within range of your skirmishers. The aversion they
show to coming to close quarters and encountering
a bayonet charge, renders it difficult to believe that
their frequent advances against our positions are
prompted by a serious hope of obtaining possession
of any part of works fully manned, defended by ar-
tillery, and which every day renders stronger.. I
should rather take their object to be to provoke our
troops to move out from their cover to ground where
they might afford easy marks for the espingardas of
the enemy. They have only been too often success-
ful in this, and the consequence has been the killing
and wounding of hundreds of men without any cor-
responding advantage. A great deal of ammunition
has thus been fired away, which had been much
better spared. The Spanish generals, however, have
begun to find out their mistake. Theist Corps,which
has been longest here, and has had the most expe-
rience of this kind of warfare, has for some time
past adopted the plan of not replying to the Moorish
skirmishers, but of lying quiet, and letting them
come on (if they please, which they rarely do) until
they are near enough for action more decisive than
the exchange of long shots. Similar reserve has, I
here, now been enjoined to the 2d Corps, and judg-
ing from the conduct of those troops of the 3d Corps
which were yesterday engaged, it is probable that
General Ros de Olano, who, on his first arrival here
seemed rather disposed to retaliate upon and follow
up the foe, now sees that there is nothing to be
gained by such a course, with a quickfooted enemy
who flies when attacked and returns in swarms
when the Spaniards retire, as they must ultimately
do, to their positions, to hang upon their rear and
pelt them with bullets.
A Moor was brought into camp this morning,
who was at first supposed to be a prisoner, hut was
proved to be one who had come over, impelled, it is
supposed, by hunger' gin jud • at least from the eager-
ness with which he threw himself
piece of bread he caughthimself upon the first
sight of. He is not a good
specimen of his countrymen, being undersized, ill-
made, and, seeniingly, of very obtuse intellect.
SPANISH HEAD-QUARTERS C
OF CASTH.LEJOs, JAN: 2.
We have at last made a move, although but a
short one, Lad an action elsewhere than on the old
monotonous ground immediately around the re-
doubts, and obtained a full and near view of th
Moo.' 1511 camp. Long before daylight yesterday
General Prim's division struck its tents, and when
the trumpets sounded /liana, which they did at an
unusua•tly early hour, it was marching off to our
left, past Ros's division. Head-quarters shortly
followed. righting began about 8 o'clock. The
object of the movement was, I need hardly say, to
march upon „Tetuan ; but this is not to be done with
the facility it might be were the distance the only
difficulty to, by got over, our first day did not take
us very fa-r,, and several others (I fear to conjecture
how many are likely to elapse before we reach the

desired city. The immediate work to be done yes-
terday was to fight ourselves into a position south of
the one we previously occupied, with the sea for our
base of operations. In this we ware successful. To
sum up the results of the day's work, before en-1
tering into its details, we are now one league from
our last camping place in front of Ceuta ; the 3d
corps is in front of us ; the Moors have broken up
the camp, of which I shall presently speak, and were
seen, early this morning, moving off towards the
ridges that stretch away inland from Cape Negro.
Up to this hour (2 p.m.) there has been no fighting,
nor is there any appearance of there being any to-
day. In fact, the general opinion is that there are
no Moors left in our neighbourhood, and that they
have gone to wait for us at some other point. I
am thus enabled to resume my correspondence,
which the necessity of observing the operations,
two changes of camp, and various other circum-
stances, have compelled me to suspend, although
with much to write about, since my letter of the
31st of December.
Upon the very first advance yesterday of General
Prim's division, which was supported by General
Zabala's corps, it became evident that the Moors,
however active and audacious they had shown them-
selves when this army stood upon the defensive;
were unable to resist the superior resources of civi-
lised warfare when themselves seriously assailed
At a very early hour of the day the position it was
intended to occupy was completely cleared of them.
They gave way on all sides before the Spanish in-
fantry and mountain guns (artillery on muleback)
and before two squadrons of hussars, in all about
150 or 180 horses, which acted against them in the
level. Although I have previously described the
ground between Ceuta and Cape Negro, as far as
we had been able to observe it on the spot and
through telescopes, it will be well to give you as
clear a sketch as I can of that which has been
gone over since yesterday morning. Our move-
ment was a little to the east of south, parallel to
the sea. Facing in that direction from the point
whore head-quarters had been for nearly three
weeks, there come first a series of irregular ridges,
furrowed by ravines, and over which were
fought several of the skirmishes recorded in
former letters. The distance to which this kind
of ground extends, beyond the Alphonso redoubt
and the 3d division camp, is very short, and the last
ridge overlooks a kind of amphitheatre, which for
convenience' sake I may call a fiemicircle, although
that is not its exact form, of which the sea is the
chord. The part of this amphitheatre nearest to our
lines is sloping, rough, broken, and bushgrown, but
its further portion is perfectly level, of an apple-
green colour, from the grass, weeds, and yellow
flowers with which it is overgrown, and well suited
for the action of cavalry. The slopes down into the
fiat are in some parts sprinkled sparingly with trees,
but are chiefly covered only with brushwood, com-
posed of laurustinus, holly, and a great variety of
shrubs and bushes by name to me unknown, inter-
spersed with heath, wild thyme, bluebells, narcissus,
and a host of other aromatic and flowering plants,
many of which arc now in blossom, as they would
be in the month of May in England. These tracts of
brushwood, or chaparral, as they are called, the taller
bushes upon which are in many places six feet high,
are most dangerous to the legs and feet of horses,
especially in parts where it has been burnt and the
fire has left stumps and long stems, black and har-
dened, which often severely punish both horse and
hoi a sman. At a short distance within this plain, on
the highest part of the uneven ground, is one of the
castillejos, a small white, square, ruined building,
which more resembles a limekiln than anything
else. Another of these buildings overlooks the sea
from the southern extremity of the high ground
which surrounds the valley, It is from within 100
yards of this latter castillejo that I now write. Near
the water's edge, towards the centre of the level line,
is a large brick building, or rather the ruinous re-
mains of one, which is said to have been a powder-
mill, and where I am assured that some machinery
of English manufacture was found, rather ancient, it
is true, but which I suppose the Anglophobs will
take as an additional proot of British sympathy
with the Moors. It is quite as good evidence as some
that they have brought forward.
As before stated, the enemy offered little resist-
ance, and were speedily driven from one position to
another with very small loss on cur side. Here and
there they showed some daring, and even a disposi-
tion to advance against the Spanish troops. Over-
looking a shallow wooded ravine, shortly before
reaching the level, a battery of the mountain artil-
lery had taken up its position. The Moors came
on, howling furiously, waving their arms and bran-
dishing their long guns, to the further side of the
hollow, which men on foot could easily pass. There
were a score of horsemen and a crowd of infantry.
They paused, however, to indulge in their custo-
mary vociferations and cries of "perro! perro!" and
this gave time to treat them with a round of grape,
which sent them scampering at once. In the mean-
time the two little squadrons of Princesa Hussars
(the regiment with white pelisses which the gallant
Diego Leon commanded in the civil war) had got
well into the valley, preceding most of the infantry,
and looking out for an opportunity for a dash.
Some Moorish cavalry were seen, but they kept
aloof. The hussars had made one little charge,
when an aide-de-camp of General Prim's rode up to
them, and gave them an order which appears not
to have been clearly understood. The story has
been variously related, but I believe the aide-de-
camp has cleared himself, and the whole thing has
been shown to have been an unfortunate mistake.
As he was leaving them he said something about
their charging freely when they saw a chance ; that
the Moors were cowards, and would not stand, The
commandant of the Hussars misunderstood the
words, and thought the term " cowards" applied to
his men. This, at least, was the impression made
on one captain whom I saw and heard, immediately
after the charge, as he returned reeking with sweat
and with bloody sabre, relating it, with marks of
furious indignation, to an officer of the Staff.
The immediate consequence of the misunder-
standing was that the commanding officer
ordered a charge, and away went his handful
of Hussars through tho enemy's skirmish-
ers and up a narrow and slightly ascending
valley, or rather gorge, leading from the level to a
secluded plateau on the lower slopes of the moun-
tain, where the Moorish camp was pitched. Oar
infantry was Rot well advanced in masses, a con-
siderable force of Moors were still in and around
the camp, and from the heights on either side of
the confined lists in which this desperate contest
was entered upon a severe fire was opened upon the
Hussars, who continued their furious career until
they reached the camp itself. Of what passed there
are but confused accounts. The Moors, although
surprised by the sudden appearance of this very
forlorn hope, quickly recovered from their panic,
and the cavalry suffered severely. They brought off
some trophies, however, some arms and a bundle of
papers, the nature of which I have not yet been
able to learn, nor have I, as you will suppose, much
time to go in quest of minor details. The loss
of the Hussars has been variously stated, but of the
officers two were killed and five wounded, which
is a large proportion out of two squadrons. One
wounded officer fell into the hands of the Moors,
who busied themselves with taking off his uniform,
which they doubtless thought worth preserving. He
was brought away, half naked, by his comrades,
who charged to rescue him. Another officer was
brought back with his face and neck cut to pieces.
I am assured that he had at least a dozen cuts
from the Moorish 9unsias—straight short swords,
which they grind very sharp. Most of the wounds
received were from the flank fire, as they rode to and
from the camp. The affair was a most unfortunate
one, but at the same time highly creditable to
the gallantry of the Hussars. On a small scale it
\reminds one, by various circumstances, of the
famous Bilaklava charge, and the coincidence
in several respects struck many here. During the
rest of the day the two squadrons remained drawn
up in the plain near the sea, but no further oppor-
tunity occurred for them to act. To-day they are
reinforced by a considerable body of Lancers and
other cavalry, or, I should sa
of a cavalry division now inthye theypla forminbelow
part
of
Had there been a strong foreel:of artillery and
cavalry in :this plain yesterday, it appears to me
there would have been no difficulty in capturing

the Moorish camp. But there had not been time
to cut roads for the passage of the guns, and the
brunt of the day was borne by the infantry, aided
by the mountain guns, and occasionally by those
of give gunboats and several war steamers, which
lay all day close in to shore.
The positions it was proposed to take and occupy
having been successfully gained, with few casualties
on our side, it would, perhaps, have been wise to
remain contented; to have held them, and resisted
any attempts to retake them, but not to have ad-
vanced further in a direction where it was not in-
tended to retain the ground that might be cap-
tured. Here, however, it appears there was a se-
cond mistake. General Prim commanded the fight-
ing division yesterday, and, it is said, he mis-
understood the directions of the chief, and advanced
further than it was intended he should do. It was
still very early in the day when his troops were
seen, he foremost among them, crowning height
after height on our right (that is to say, receding
from the sea), until they had occupied an extensive
line, to be abandoned at nightfall. General Prim's
fighting qualities are well known, and some may be
disposed to suspect that, if he advanced further than
was intended—as ho certainly did further than was
necessary or useful—be was not sorry to take the
benefit of any doubt there may have been upon his
mind. Certain it is that ho was in his element yes-
terday. With two glittering stars upon his breast,
and his gold-headed General's cane in his Land, he
was forward among the balls, generally on foot, and,
to everybody's wonder, remained, as hitherto in this
war, without a scratch. Unfortunately, many of his
men were less fortunate, and the afternoon's fight
was far more costly than that of the morning. The
Moors, who had the advantage of the high ground
and of a very good position, defended it with great
tenacity. Probably they thought that an attack on
their camp was intended, and they fought for their
pennies, and fought extremely well. For three or
four hours there was a heavy fire kept up on both
sides. A battalion of artillerymen distinguished
itself greatly and suffered severely. It was em-
ployed in throwing up a parapet, and appears not
to have been sufficiently supported; it had to lay
down pick and spade, and to take to its muskets. A
large number of the officers of this battalion were
killed and wounded. On one occasion General
Prim seized the colours of a battalion, and, placing
himself at its head, made a dashing charge, driving
back the enemy. I think it was about 1 p.m., and
the General-in-Chief and his Staff and escort were
down in the plain, close to the first of the white
buildings I have mentioned, when, oil a massage
being brought to him—l believe asking reinforce-
ments for the troops on the heights —(Marshal
O'Donnell ordered a battalion of General Zabala's
reserve to advance, and himself, drawing his sword
and putting spurs to his horse, rode forward up the
mountain, loudly cheered by some troops ho passed
on the way, and closely followed by his aides-de-
camp and the rest of his habitual retinue. I believe
the reason of this sudden move was that he desired
to animate by his presence the troops who were
enduring and returning a very severe fire, until
such time as the more slowly advancing support
could reach them. It appears to me, however, that
there was no such urgency as to warrant him in
exposing himself to such a fire as he presently got
into. The loss of the present general-in-Chief
would be almost an irreparable one to Spain and
this army at the present moment. Ido not mean
by saying this to exalt his military talents above
those of other Spanish Generals who might per-
haps be named, but it is obviously a great
advantage that the commander of this army
should unite in his own person the three im-
portant posts of Commander-in-Chief, Minister of
War, and Prime Minister. This union must have a
most beneficial effect upon the operations in Africa.
There can be no demur to or appeal from his orders
and decisions ; whatever he directs must be done,
whether in Madrid or here, and whatever he de-
mands must be forthcoming within the shortest
possible time, without requiring the sanction of any
other authority. Moreover O'Donnell is undenia-
bly popular with this army, which seems to have
much confidence in him, and it certainly would be
difficult to supply his place. And for the above
reasons 1 cannot but agree with the observations I
hear fall, especially since yesterday, from officers
here, who sal that his life is too valuable, especi-
ally at the present conjuncture, and with his plans
all in his own keeping, for him to be justified in
exposing himself to be knocked over, like any pri-
vate soldier, by a ball from a Moorish espingarda.
To have seen him and his Staff riding for ward yes-
terday, sword iu hand, to where the bails were fly-
ing on all sides of them one might have taken them
for a troop of cavalry seeking risk and distinction.
It is to be supposed he considered it proper to be
done, but I know a good many who take a different
view of it. He afterwards retired a little to the brow
of a hill, where the Slippers were thowing up a para-
pet which was to serve as a defence for our troops
during the night, and there he was less exposed, but
still under fire. The horses were sent a short dis-
tance down the hill for protection, but the Generals
and Staff remained there till dark. Two or three
officers were hit, to my knowledge, while up there ;
one of them, Major Modet, of the Engineers at-
tached to O'Donnell's Staff, was severely wounded
very near the General-in-Chief, and will have to
return to Spain. Another was slightly wounded ;
another received a bullet which made a furrow com-
pletely across the top of his low-crowned shako,
narrowly missing his head, owing to its being fired
from higher ground than that on which he was
standing. I cite only those cases which came to
my knowledge, and say nothing of grazes and con-
tusions from spent balls. The road down-hill from
the front was not a cheerful one during the after-
noon. One saw many a poor fellow going down
bleeding on a stretcher—dead bodies, half enveloped
in a blanket, being toilsomely carried away on men's
shoulders ; while here and there in a corner some
unlucky wretch was groaning and shrieking under
the hands of the surgeons. Firing went on till it
was quite dark, when the Moors retired as usual,
and our troops did the same, while the positions
we retained were occupied by fresh battalions.
The return of the Spanish loss in the action I
have briefly and imperfectly described (writing in
haste and with endless interruptions), is not yet com-
plete, but I believe it will prove to be between 500
and 600 killed and wounded—by far the larger
number of these casualties having occurred in the
afternoon. I never attempt to guess the enemy's
loss, nor do I give much heed to the conjectures I
hear or read on that head, even when they pro-
ceed from high authority ; for I believe it to be
exceedingly difficult to estimate the loss of one's
opponents even appraximatively in a war of this
kind, where they fight so much under cover, and
make such efforts to carry off their dead. It seems
probable, however, that in the early part of
yesterday's affair the Moors suffered much more
than the Spaniards, and especially owing to the
artillery. The shells and grape from Lopez-
Dominguez's mountain battery can hardly have
failed to tell severely upon them. On the other
hand, in the afternoon, I suspect the Moors lost less
than the Spaniards. They were better covered,
they had higher ground, and an excellent position.
If the day's work had been limited to the morning
fight I should have said it was not only a short, but
an extremely good and cheap one. That of the
afternoon, which might in great measure have been
avoided, added nothing to our gains but a great
deal to our losses.
The action of the Ist of January, syllich will he
known as that of Castillejos, is the only one as yet
fought in this war which may claim the name of a
battle, by reason of the movements made, the
ground covered, and the amount of loss. In one or
two of the fights upon the lines around Ceuta the
fire was, perhaps hotter for a short time than it was
yesterday; but, as a whole, yesterday's affair was
the most considerable this army has yet had. The
Moors are apparently no great strategists ; never-
theless, yesterday, when they saw the Spaniards
decidedly assuming the offensive and determined
to advance, they seem to have had some idea of
strategical combinations and diversions. They mus-
tered in front of our right redoubt (Isabella II.),
and opened fire, in hopes, doubtless, of diverting
attention from the direction in which General
Prim was moving; and they also made a move-
ment as if they would have passed between the

Alfonso and Espana redoubts (the two on the left),
and cut us off from Ceuta, occupying the ground
we ha .d just left. The last manoeuvre, however,
would have required a much larger force than they
appear to have had, and it is not to be supposed
that they seriously contemplated it, but rather that

heir movement, had it been made by a civilised

General, would have induced his opponents to attri-
bute to him the intention referred to.

From various points of the high ground we yes-
:erday rode over we obtained a most distinct view

of the Moorish camp, established in a pleasant shel-
tered recess, amid grass and foliage, and consist-

Lng, as it seemed to me, of some 200 or 300 tents,

arranged with much regularity, and looking from
the distance very white and neat, although it is

more than probable that they would be found nasty
enough on a near approach, if we may judge from
the filthy condition of the few prisoners hitherto

made. I forgot to mention, by the by, that five
Moors were taken yesterday, three of them badly
wounded. A considerable number of arms were
also captured. I saw a mule-load of escingardas in
camp to-day.
Last night, Bead-quarters encamped close to the
sea, on a slight elevation covered with brushwood,

:h© 6th :-

which afforded excellent material for fires. These
were very welcome on account of the damp, but
the cold was trifling. Yesterday, New Year's Day,
was as warm as Midsummer in England. The
weather was glorious, the sun not oppressively hot,
a lovely day in any country, and particularly wel-
come here after all the rain we have lately had ;
but as soon as the sun set such a dew fell upon
everything that in half an hour the canvas of
the tents was wet through. To-day has again been
fine—hotter even than yesterday, but the after-
noon was rather cloudy. It is now night ; the sky
is perfectly clear, with the exception of a few thin
streaks of clouds above the sea horizon ; the moon
is high and bright, and the camp fires flame and
sparkle all around and up away on the mountain
slope, where Prim's battalions, in two in-
trenched camps, form our advance in that
direction. General O'Donnell was out towards the
front very early this morning with only two or three
Aides•do•Camp, and soon afterwards orders were
given to Head-quarters to strike tents and move to
where they now are, close to the little old white
house overlooking the water, and from which may
now be seen 20 steamers, some of them men-
of-war and some storeships, floating black
and still upon the calm sea at a very short distance
from shore. In front of the said white house, by-
the-bye, was observed a small mound, which some
soldiers had the curiosity to break open. It was a
Moorish tomb, and contained human bones and
skulls, which seemingly had lain there long, for
they were dry and mouldering: In one of the
skulls a rat had made its nest and deposited its
young.
The Moors, no doubt, apprehended an attack
upon their camp, for they raised it in the night, and
early this morning they were descried far in the
distance moving away in the direction of the moun-
tain, a little to the west of Cape Negro. Some few,
doubtless, still lurk in this neighbourhood, for a
soldier who straggled a short way from camp has
had his arm broken by a shot. Otherwise the
neighbourhood is to all appearance quite clear of
them. Brigadier Macquena, second chief of the
staff, went out this afternoon with a couple of squad-
rons to reconnoitre. He saw a few cavalry who
issued from a sort of country house, and executed a
distant fantasia in his honour, but that was all. It
is not to be supposed that the enemy intends to let
us reach Tetuan without further opposition, but we
suppose that he has betaken himself to some advan-
tageous position, whence to assail us on our passage.
The general impression is that we shall have a fight
towards Cape Negro. Meanwhile we have been
spared the one which everybody expected' for to-
day, and have thus been enabled to encamp com-
fortably, and bring up the cavalry and sonic artil-
lery, including a rocket troop, which it is expected
will astonish the Moors. It was hoped we should
push onwards to-morrow, but I believe that to bo
impossible, as the roads are still to be made by
which the artillery must pass.

JAN. 3, 8 A.M.

Another lovely morning, giving good promise of a
fine hot day. As yet there arc no signs of a march,
and there can be little doubt we shall pass the day
where we are. If we can only have a few days of
this weather, the task of the Spanish army and
Generals will be greatly lightened and shortened.
The Spaniards are in good spirits, and the manner
in which the Moors were driven from their position
on Sunday, and have since hastily abandoned their
camp, has increased the confidence of all here.
People now begin to talk of a march to Tangiers, to
follow quickly upon the capture of Tetuan.
The post from head-quarters did not go out yes-
terday-. As its hour of departure to day is uncertain,
and will probably be early, I close this despatch.
Although I date it Camp of Castillejos, which is
the most natural name of our present encampment,
the official designation of this is, I am just informed,
Campanzento de la Condesa, and it is thus, I believe,
that the official despatches will be dated.

2 P.M.

Marshal O'Donnell has just returned from a
short recounaisance in the direction of Monte Negro,
the mountain near the seashore before reaching

Cape Negro. The object was to examine the ground.
Some 50 Moorish tents were discovered inland from

the mountain, and a few cavalry were seen, but no
large force. There is no probability of fighting to-
day, as far as present appearances go. I fear the
fine weather is about to leave us. There is a fitful
menacing breeze from the west, which experience
tells us is the usual precursor of high wind and
heavy rains. Fortunately we have now better
ground to go over than that we have left behind
us. At the same time, if such a tempest as the last
should come, a move will.be scarcely possible.
General Zabal, who commands the 2d corps, and
was present in the action of the Ist inst., has gone
into Ceuta sick. General Orozco, who commands
one of the divisions of that corps, has temporarily
replaced him.
From the high ground on which head-quarters
camp stands, the whole of the army of operations
may now be discerned. On the heights in our rear,
beyond the valley, is the 2d division, a little in front
and to the left of the redoubts Alfonso and Espana
In the plain, nearer to us, is the cavalry division—
about 1,200 sabres and lances, and near it the artil-

lery, of which nearly all has come up, and the rest
is each moment expected. It includes a siege train
of rifled 12 pounders. On the rising ground to the
left is General Prim's division, of eight battalions,
and in front of head-quarters eamp is the third divi-
sion. I estimate the whole strength of the army
(exclusive, of course, of the first division, about
10,000 strong, which remains to keep the lines of
Ceti's) at 21,000 or 22,000 men ; five divisions of
infantry, the cavalry division, the artillery, and two
battalions of engineers. The Ist corps, which was
the weakest, is now the strongest of the three. It

suffered much early in the campaign from the enemy's
fire and from cholera, but has since been reinforced.
The 3d corps, on the other hand, arrived here very
strong, and has been greatly thinned by disease,
which attacked it much more severely than either
of the other two corps. The number of cases on some
days were as many as they had ever been in the
other two taken tcgether. The engineers, who have
been worked extremely hard, have also been great
sufferers, not from bullets, but from cholera andother
maladies. Their companies were 135 men strong on
arrival ; they are now 90. It is to be hoped, however,
that the army is getting acclimatised and accustomed
to exposure and hardship, and that few weakly sub •
jccts remain. The doctors say, too, that the ground
we have got upon is far healthier than that we have
left. It is dry enough under foot, and apparently
of a more sandy quality, but the climate is as
damp as ever from dusk until two or three hours
!after dawn. Such heavy dews I scarcely ever saw
as those which fall on this North African coast.
'l'lu•y soak through everything us effectually as rain,
than which, however, they are, of course, much less
annoying, as they do not make mud. An hour or
two of the scorching sun of these regions dries them
up most effectually. Taken altogether, however,
it is clear that this climate is uncongenial to Euro-
pean—or at least to Spanish—constitutions, Amoug
the officers I hear many complaints of headaches,
disordered stomachs, and general malaise—not suffi-

cient to induce them to put themselves on the sick
list, but which inspire apprehensions lest they
should be the precursors of more decided illness.
The heat of the sun during the long day of the Ist,
when everybody was abroad from daylight till after
dark, produced unfavourable symptoms in not a
few. Movement and action, however, are at any
time better than the stationary monotony of a camp,
and if we can but have a little more fine weather,
and march on towards Tetuan, there are good hopes
that the cases of sickness in this army will descend
to the ordinary average in a campaign.
We are expecting reinforcements, but, unless
they arrive quickly, we are likely to march with-
out them.

We have received, by the arrival of the mail
steamer Peru. at Southampton, files of the Gibraltar
Chronicle to the 6th inst., containing interesting
intelligence from the seat of war in Morocco. The

following are the latest items in the Chronicle of

"We have news from the Spanish camp up to yesterday.
Nothing of importance had occurred since the advance to
Castillejos on the Ist. Cholera was much on the decline,
and the army greatly improving in health. On the 4th the
Moors showed themselves in some force, and there was some
skirmishing, in which the Spanish loss in killed and
wounded was under 20. The Spanish army was stationary
yesterday, but an advance along the sea shore was to be
made to-day. It was not known how far the army was to
move in the day's march, nor whether t'he assault and oc-
cupation of the Cape Negro pass was contemplated.
" The Moors had given little trouble to the Spanish army
in its forward movement up to the sth, and it was expected
that severe fighting would take place between Castillejos
and Tetuan."

The Gibraltar Chronicle of the3lst ult. publishes
;he following account of a visit to Ceuta by a party

of English officers. These gentlemen speak of the
courtesy and kindness shown to them by the Spanish
authorities, all of whom, from the General to the
private soldier, seemed to vie with each other in
showing them personal kindness

" Thursday, Dec. 29.
" It may be interesting to most of your readers to know
the result of a trip to Ceuta. A party of officers and civi-
lians landed at mid-day, and after calling on the Governor,
proceeded on foot to the camp, where the party was intro-
duced to General O'Donnell, who most readily gave a free
pass to any part of the camp. Proceeding by the new road
in a short time heavy firing was heard in the front, and on
ascending a ,teep. hill the scene of action was immediately
apparent. Entering a battery of three 6 .pounders where a
large party of officers and the staff of General - was as-
sembled, the position of the Spanish strongholds were
pointed out to tho strangers. Tho General aryl his staff

displayed the greatest civility. From this position we were
enabled to gain a good insight into the mode of warfare, the
Moorsadvancing with wild cries kept up a brisk fire on the
Spanish skirmishers who as briskly replied ; a brilliant
charge on the part of the Spanish drove their foes from a
ridge that might have proved troublesome.
" The intrepidity of the Spanish officers was most con-
spicuous—an officer in particular was noticed. Three Moors
secreted behind a mass of rocks, kept up a harassing fire on
the Spanish skirmishers. The advance was sounded, and
the officer, many yards ahead of his troops advanced alone
against the Moors, who, after discharging their weapons at
him to no effect, retreated hastily.
" About 5 p.m. the Moors advanced in great force, and
the thine. became general along the whole front. As even-
ing closed,r the Spanish skirmishers fell back on the bat-
tery, and the Moors retreated also at nightfall.
" On the 30th the party started for the Serrallo, and were
most courteously received by the officer in command, who
at once ordered horses, nine in all, an escort of cavalry dis •
mounting for the purpose, and, accompanied by several
officers of high rank, proceeded to visit the several redoubts,
two of which formed the scene of the contest of the 25th of
November.
" The difficulties that the Spanish troops met with on first
landing were strongly apparent, no roads of course existed,
the Ist division had to fight their way step by step to the
summit of the ridge on which the redoubt Isabel 11. is now
situated. The slopes of the ravines were then thickly
planted with cork trees. Now, a good road leads to the
summit, and the trees were cleared away for a considerable
distance. From this redoubt tke Spaniards have never been
driven, as some ill-informed journals have reported, and the
formidable nature of the work itself, in its present state,
shows what Spanish perseverance can effect in a short
time. There were Spanish outposts visible in the valley
beneath, and several Moorish tents could be seen on a
mountain side, about a mile and a half in front. There are
five redoubts, that of Isabel 11. being on the extreme right,
and that of Francisco de Asis on the extreme left.
"From the redoubt Isabel 11. the whole camp and scene
of operations are visible. Between the outposts of the
Spanish army and the mountains above Tetuan lies a plain
watered by a river, and the Moorish camp is situated in
this plain, where they are said to await the Spanish ap-
proach. General O'Donnell and his Staff visited the redoubt
while our party was there. On the return of the party to
the Serallo, General Echague, who commands the gallant
Ist division that won the heights and sustained the brunt
of the struggle of Nov. 25, accompanied them, and in the
Serrallo, an impromptu luncheon was set before them, the
General himself vieing with the Staff in showing over
civility. On leaving the General's quarters, the Spanish
officers said that they only regretted it was not in their
power to do more than they had done to make the visit
pleasant.
" The English party left the camp with but one feeling—
namely, that of conviction that the Spanish army has met
with difficulties in this inhospitable country that have been
overcome with unexampled rapidity and success, and that
the Spanish officers are distinguished, from the general to
the subaltern, by courage in the field and true csur.tesy to
the stranger, uninfluenced by any political questions."
The same paper, in its succeeding number, gives
a further communication by one of the party who
visited Ceuta in the yacht Isis :
" It appears that the Spaniards are advancing towards
Tetuan, constructing roads in the first instance to enable
them to advance their artillery to the left, near the sea. The
Moors do not appear in great numbers, but during Thurs-
day and Friday last, when our informants were there,
some smart skirmishing was going on commenced by the
Moors, but they kept at great distances, though in many
cases their shots told with great precision. The Spaniards
had some rifled cannon in front, the firing from which did
execution among tho enemy. The late heavy rains and bad
weather had produced some cholera and other maladies,
but the spirit and temper of the troops were excellent. To
the right, in the direction of Serallo and the redoubts,
excellent roads had been constructed and considerable por-
tions of the wood cut down. As far as our informants
could judge, the intention of the Spaniards is to advance
on Tetuan, but it is said that a large Moorish force
lies encamped between the present Spanish front and that
town on some level ground, where it is probable an action
will be fought. The party express the greatest satis-
faction at their reception by the Spanish authorities of
every rank. They were presented to Generals O'Donnell,
Ros de Olano, Echague, Gassett, and many of the staff,
from all of whom they received the most polite and marked
attention. Everything was shown to them in the camp and
the redoubts. Horses were lent to them to visit the various
important points, and everything done to facilitate their
obtaining the best information. The troops are abundantly
supplied with the best provisions of every kind, and are in
the best possible spirits ; but they express an anxiety to
advance more rapidly, and to meet an enemy more prepared
to come to close quarters."

THE HINDOO FEMALE CHILD.

(From Rural _Life in Bengal.)

Instead of wandering about the exterior of their
huts and contenting ourselves with admiring their
rustic features and pictorial aspect, let us step
closer, and without violence to the sanctity of Hin-
doo privacy, or Mohummedan, peep within, and
observe its humble inmates, for humble they
are. The interior of the dwelling is " poor in-
deed !" ' The walls, like the floor, are of pure white
smooth mud. There is a little square window at one
end, scarce 18 inches wide, and five or six feet high,
whilst beneath the eaves there is a space also to per-
mit the escape of smoke. Some trifling superiority
may exist between this and the huts, or bungalows,
of those in better or is middling circumstances—
which may be more commodious—have mat walls in-
stead of mud—be furnished with wooden doors—
and have either a large window, or a pair of win-
dows, with wooden bars and rustic shutters to them;
but, generally speaking, there is little variety be-
tween the two extremes—the dwelling I have de-
scribed and the brick-built houses of the rich. To
return, then, to the humble cottage. Its master is
in the fields, attending to his crops, or other duty.
The wife is in the hut, which " serves her for kit-
chen, for parlour, and hall." But she is a mother
also—and it is to the occupant of the grass mat near
the entrance that 1 wish to direct your attention.
There lies her little one. It may be a boy—or, in
Ilindoo estimation, less happily, a girl—" an ani-
mal of a decidedly inferior sort." With the
Hindoo, however, I believe the disparaging
estimate arises, in reality, not altogether from
an assumed inferiority in creation, but
very considerably, also, from the troubles and anxie-
ties which are incidental to the disposal of a daugh-
ter when she has arrived at so called maturity, and
when the evils of their own social abominations
may cast her on their hands for life—a widow !
And here it may properly be observed that the
Asiatic and the European, of certain classes, share
much alike in the difficulties which obstruct the
matrimonial path. The Brahmin, or other Hindoo
of high caste, is neither at liberty himself to marry
with a lower degree, nor so to unite his daughter.
She must be msitched. with one who is her equal—
or her whole family and kindred are dishonoured.
Her apparel, you observe, is ample. Her long
clothes, " liberal as the air ;" her crinoline, wide as
the heavens themselves—in short, she is in want of
nothin g —al lis provided. An Indian April day is
cloak and blanket enough ; but her bright amber
skin shines, you may remark, more bright than a
schoolboy- s "morning face." Christian mothers are
often in the habit of wasting the delicious " cold
drawn" contents of a certain oil-bottle, by pouring
it down the throats of their unfortunate little
ones •, but an Indian mother is more frugal. In-
stead of troubling herself with its interior, which
is generally left to take care of itself, or corrected
by simple alteration of habits or diet—she more
frequently endeavours to fortify the exterior, and
adorns its little figure by a coating of mustardC oil
—which serves as triple protection against heat,
cold, and musquitoes. From the day of her birth
such has been her morning toilet, and until she be
a year old such it will probably continue; and thus
adorned, scarce wo,l bLe five day 01J, probably, ore