The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-30 00:00:00

/

v-Akor. -
SPAIN AND Mall 0

(Front the arrupondent of the Times.)
• CAMP ON THE HEIGHTS OF CAPE NEGRO,
Sunday, Jan. 15.
The most important movement yet made by the
Spanish army in Africa took place yesterday, and
was attended with some sharp fighting and come
:plete success. Very early in the morning General'
-Prim, with the 2d corps, approached the chain of
; hills that run inland from Cape Negro, directing
Is movement rather to the right, with a view to
leceive the enemy, and leave them, at least, in
doubt whether he was not going to turn the extre-
mity of the chain. Then, suddenly changing his
direction, he came down upon the pass over the
chain, where the hills sink and invite a passage.
This is quite close to the termination of the beach
along which we have lately been marching, and
`was rapidly carried by Prim, the Moors making
-but a feeble resistance, notwithstanding the highly
'defensible nature of their positions. The Spaniards
..were already established on commanding heightsto
the right and left of the rugged mule-road that
winds through the mountains when Gen. O'Doa-
• nell and his staff advanced to the scene of contest.
' From a lofty and difficult eminence to the left, to
the summit of which their panting horses scrambled,
a fine view was obtained over the valley of Tetuan.
. _ On the left hand extended the coast beyond Cape
Negro, stretching away into the distance in a sue-
, cession of narrow headlands'; the smooth sand of
the shore served as yellow fringe to a level brown
plain, varied with green spots of various tints, and
having a great deal of water on its surface—ponds
• of various sizes, probably resulting from recent
rains. The general aspect of the plain is marshy.
One sees the river towards the furiher side, wind-
:ing towards Tetuan. The city is masked by a
range of low heights, between which and a
range of high mountains it is situate. Al-
' though both yesterday and to-day I have wan-
dered a good deal about the hills occupied by
the Spaniards, I have not yet discovered a
point whence one obtains a view of the
city, although from several are seen a tower and a
" few buildings said to be in its suburbs. From the
commanding position taken up by the General-in-
Chief, and from another to which he afterwards
transferred himself, an excellent view was obtained
of the proceedings of the second corps, cleverly and
effectively handled by General Prim. The pano-
rama was most picturesque and interesting. From
the long series of hills, many of them very steep and
-difficult of access, which compose the part of the
Cordillera to the right of our line of march the Moors
were driven in quick succession by the Spanish
infantry. These behaved extremely well all through
the day afterwards, when they met a far more ob-
stinate resistance, as well as at the early period of
-the day I now refer to, and I have no doubt that
they would have behaved equally well, and have
displayed much gallantry, against a more formid-
able opponent ; but I must add that but scanty
laurels are to be won by triumph over a fog whose
soldiers fight so feebly, and whose leaders display
such incapacity, as the Moors did yesterday. I may
not please some of mySpanish friends by saying this,
but they themselves feel its truth, and they proclaim
it. when they express their unbeunded surprise at
the manner in which the enemy allowed himself yes-
terday to be swept from positions which might have
been defended with scarcely better weapons than
sticks and stones. These Africans seem to act by the
rule of contrary ; they fly in the face of all known
military tactics; they allow strong positions to be
taken without firing a shot, and then attack them to
get them back; they run when they ought to stand,
and fight when they ought to run. I wish it were in
my power to send you a photograph of the hills over
which the Spaniards yesterday chased them, with
very moderate assistance from their artillery, which
was more than once distanced by the rapidity of the
advance and the difficulties of the ground. The
Moors mustered thick, and received reinforcements
during the day from the hills on the right of our line
of march before ascending the pass. They had a great
deal of good cover to fire from, and the ascents to
their positions were long and steep. It was hard
enough work to climb some of them, without hav-
ing to fight. But the Spanish soldiers ran up them
gaily, and the foe did not wait their coming. Then,
when the ground was more favourable, the Spa-
niards made repeated charges, for the most part a
discretion—that is, not in line but in loose order,
pretty much as each man chooses. For a short time
the fight was really exciting. I should rather call
it-a hunt at that period of the action. Erery mo-
ment one heard the trumpets of one battalion or
another sounding the lively call which means
"charge bayonets." The Moors seem by this time
to know that call, and as soon as they heard it and
the shouts of " Viva la Reina !" which the soldiers
set up, one saw them jump out of their covers, fire
d few parting shots, and scamper off at a pace which
made it very difficult to come up with them. There
were a great many horsemen among them, but, as
I have before said, they do not seem to have any idea
of acting as cavalry. I very distinctly saw 80 or
100 horsemen advance along a ridge and open fire
upon some companies of infantry. The infantry
eet up a shout and charged them, scattered across a
pike of nearly lee ei ground, and going in "
Lead
long," every man for his own bayonet. Tee Moors
turned tail end galloped off. It looked odd to see
horsemen running from an infantry charge. The
same number of European cavalry would have
charged to meet the infantry and cut them up. But
everything is by the rule of reverse in this war. A
rally attempted by a considerable body of Moors,
horse and foot, who seemed to meditate taking our
advancing and widely-spread line in flank, was
checked by the fire of some mountain guns. Two
or three shells pitched among the foremost made
them alter their position, and drove them again
more to our front, where their resistance was
feeble, and the whole position—a very extensive
one for the number of troops that had taken and
held it—remained in our hands. Before it was com-
pletely conquered the sappers and other soldiers
cu
pick and spadeng a road for
were at work withcutting
the heavy artillery in our rear, and throwing u
intrenchments on the heights for bodies of troopsP
to occupy and pass the night in.
The summits of the range being thus occupied
and defended, it might have been expected that the
Moors, feeling themselves beaten and having no.
thing to gain by defending some lower hills that
still intervened between the Spaniards and the
plain, would continue their retreat to the level
ground, since they certainly could not dream that
they should recapture what they had lost. Things
turned out differently. On one of the last elevations
(a small round steep hillock), before arriving in the
valley, they had established a redoubt, with a deep
ditch and a high parapet, altogether a very pretty
defensible position but for two circumstances con-
nected with it. One was that it was within short
artillery range of the higher ground in its front,
and the other was that the ditch and parapet, were
around only one-half of its circumference, so that,
in rear, light cavalry might almost have galloped
into it ; or, at any rate, it was easy to be out-flanked
and taken by infantry. Some rifled 4-pounders set
its, occupants scampering once or twice, the shells
"Ming just within it ; but the Moors returned,
and for the time the gunners did not trouble them-
selves much about them, since they had other things
to occupy them
; for the Afoors had established
themselves behinde
a low ridge somewhat to their
left of the
redoubt,
at each
having a knoll or slightly
rising ground
ende of it ; and here they made
a stand which, had it been
ade in the fine positions
they bad so easily relinquished would have effectu-
ally stopped our progressedfor at least one day,
hard fighting
and would have occasioned us much
and very heavy loss before arrivienge:i judgee
thisof
gates n the valley of
Tetuan, and within, as far as I
a
the dis-
tance, two leagues of its gates.
The true
yniy
so
Tetuan, when approached by the route
took, are the pass and heights that were
easily taken. Now we have before us a fine plain, on
which troops can manoeuvre, and it will be an easy
morning's march to the city, unless the Moors take
heart of grace, and prove much better fighting men
than they have lately shown themselves. It is diffi-
cult to believe that after giving way so easily in
the mountains they will make very stout resistance
in the plain. In mountain warfare, and on such
rugged ground as we have lately been fighting over

the bet aeera ragular and ireagaie.r tk 001)3
in great measure disappears. In our next engage-
ment it will be re-established, and, moreover, the
Moors, who are already so afraid of the Spanish
mountain guns that two or three well directed shots
generally serve to dislodge them, will find themselves
,-;epposed to several batteries of 12-pounders, some of
them rifled guns, with which they have not yet made
acquaintance, besides a rocket troop aid upwards of
1,000 cavalry, which has hitherto, from the unfavour-
able nature of the country, been able to do scarcely
anything. To return, however, to the closing act of
yesterday's combat. From their sheltered and not
ill•chosen position the Moors kept up a heavy fire,
which, although it could not secure them any ulti-
mate advantage, inflicted considerable loss on their
opponents. I suspect, indeed, that more of these
were killed and wounded there than in the whole
previous fights. The 2d Corps had alone been en-
gaged, and was holding a considerable extent of
position, so that at the particular point at which this
episode of the action occurred there was but a small
disposable force, and it was necessary to wait the ar-
rival of the 3d Corps before taking those steps which
were certain to dislodge the enemy. Meanwhile a
severe fire was directed against him, but the troops
engaged had been firing a great deal, and ammuni-
tion began to get low and had to be economised.
The fire, however, on both sides, was very sharp and
well kept up, and was probably not the less telling
upon the Moors that I heard a Spanish brigadier
order his men to fire slowly and take good aim—
which is too often the contrary of what many of these
young troops do. General O'Donnell and his staff
were on the ground, and, as is not unusual, rather
more under fire than was necessary. O'Donnell, on
arriving, rode a little forward, and shouted " Viva la
Reina," to which the troops engaged gave a hearty
response. Two officers attached to headquarters
Staff, Major Villalon, of the Engineers (who was in
the Crimea with the French army), and Major
Galiano, were hit, but fortunately their hurts were
very slight. The firing continued a considerable
time, and the Moors exhibited great tenacity with
even much intrepidity (some of them, apparently
officers, riding out in front amid a shower of balls),
until at last the head of the 3d Corps made its appear-
ance, winding through the defiles of the mountain.
The first two battalions that cams up went down
to the Moorish position without firing a shot,
and its defenders evacuated it without waiting for
a hand-to-hand contest. The day's work was now
done. It was getting late in the afternoon, and,
moreover, the heavy artillery, which had been
wearily toiling since 6 a.m. through the heavy
sand of the shore, had not yet all arrived on the
Ceuta side of the pass (which proved, when we came
to march it, fully four miles from our last camp), and
roads had to be made for it to cross. So there was
no intention of moving further upon that day.
The plain was full of Moors, horse and foot, thou-
sands of them, irregularly scattered in all direc-
tions, but the principal body was on a slight undu-
lation of the ground, within short artillery range of
a small elevation, to which went a slender battalion
of infantry and three or four mountain guns.
Previously to this, I have omitted to mention that
50 cavalry, headed by Don Carlos Coig, a nephew of
O'Donnell's, charged the Moors, and cut down a
few, but also suffered somewhat from the heavy fire
to which they were exposed. The Moorish horsemen
did not await the onset, and the Spaniards went
rather further than was prudent. One is tempted
to take hazardous liberties with such a feeble foe
as the Moors have shown themselves in the four
actions that have occurred since the army left its
Ceutan lines and fairly assumed the offensive. Thus
I much doubt whether the battalion and mountain
guns just spoken of could have been safely placed
wLere they were—although they were supported at
a short distance by two or three small svadrons—
in presence of an European foe as numerous and as
near the Moors in their front. The Moors, however,
showed no disposition to annoy them, and did not
even fire a shot, but rather appeared inclined to give
ground. It had' been raining heavily for some time,
everybody was drenched, and so, I suspect were the
Moorish firelocks: Their construction is such that
they can hardly be of any service in rainy weather,
and this is not the first time that I have observed
them suspend fire abruptly when rain came on, al-
though in general, even after they are beaten, they
keep up a distant skirmishing. The fight was evi-
dently over for the day, and it results were far
greater than could reasonably be expected. Mar-
shal O'Donnell looked, and no doubt was, very well
pleased. He ordered the captured positions to be
held by the 2d and 3d corps, and returned to his
quarters, which, for that night, were at the foot of
the pass on the side looking towards Ceuta. In his
rear camped the artillery, a considerable part of the
cavalry and Rubin's division, the reserve, as it is
called, which formed the rearguard yesterday, and
last night pitched its tents on the seashore, there
composed of sand and of such beds of shells as would
delight a conchologist.
I do not yet know the official return of the Spa-
nish loss in yesterday's action, but I have beard it
stated at about 400 killed and wounded, and should
not, from the nature of the fight, suppose it to be
much more. OH the other hand, I should think the
:Mors had 1::st more than in any affair I have wit-
nessed during this war, and that chiefly by reason
f the artillery practice, much of which was very
Zood. I saw many shells fall and immediately burst,
where the Moors were thick. The Spanish Caza-
dores pressed them hard, also, from position to po-
sition, and pelted them with shot as they fled out of
their covers and were for a short time in full view.
A considerable number of bodies have been found scat-
te:ed about, and doubtless many others lie among the
thick brushwood which coversthe hillsand the greater
part of the ground over which the battle was fought.
A wounded prisoner was taken, and was sent on
board ship this morning. He said he was the ser-
vant of a Moorish santon (priest, or rather saint),
who was in the fight as well as himself. He appeared
somewhat more intelligent than the others that have
been taken, and his answers to the questions put to
him corresponded in many cases with what we have
some reason to believe to be the truth. On being
asked how many fighting men the Moors had, he
declared they were extremely numerous. Were
they 20,000 or 30,000 !' he was asked. He laughed
at the question, and, taking up a handful of sand,
said that they were as numerous as its grains.
Then, how was it that they did not make more
resistance? He said that they were acobardctdos,
daunted by the losses they had experienced, that
they had been told the Spaniards were few in num-
ber and not to be feared ; that they were surprised
at finding them dangerous opponents, and that it
was becoming difficult to get them to serve, espe-
cially the men on foot. Concerning yesterday's
action, towards the close of which he was wounded,
he could of course say but little, but he declared
that the Moorish loss was heavy, and that a great
many of Muley Abbas's escort were killed and
wounded. I have heard from other sources that
the Moors, previously to this war, had the meanest
possible opinion of the Spaniards, especially in a
military capacity. Officers who have been quar-
tered at Melilla have told me that the Moors in that
neighbourhood always spoke of the Spaniards as
very weak, mud (dojos, and contrasted them with
`he French, of whom they thought very highly.
General Rios's division arrived off the coast to

the south of Cape Negro yesterday evening, and is
very probably landed by this time. Ho brings
about 5,000 men--a welcome add;tion to this little
army, which I am assured is even smaller than I
reckoned it to be. It is now said not to exceed
17,000 or 18,000 men. Of course, the corps left on
the lines of Ceuta is not included in this estimate,
for the correctness of which I do not vouch, al-
though I am inclined to credit it when I see how
very slender are many of the battalions.
This morning, while again riding over part of
yesterday's battle-field, I came upon the ground on
which a small Moorish camp had been pitched.
From appearances it had been raised within the
preceding 24 hours. There was very little note-
worthy about it. There were the small gutters to
carry off the rain, marking the exact spots where
the tents had stood, and
one old tent had been
struck and left there. There were two or three rude
earthen pots and
cooking utensils, and scattered
about was a good deal of
A profusion of
matting of a coarse de-
scription, and tolerably dirty.
orange-peelstrewed the place,
the whole aspect of

-~

r 4;,,

which did not convey tht.: idea of its halving been
either comfortable or fragrant as an abode, although
it was probably at least as much so as the Moorish
habitations we have hitherto seen. At the foot of
the Cordillera, just at the entrance to the pass, stood
a small hamlet, or rather an insignificant group of
huts of the very rudest description. A roof of rushes,
supported on a framework of crooked sticks, more or
less twined and bound together with branches or
reeds, without windows and with a hole instead of
a door, seems to content the population of this dis-
trict as a dwelling. The huts in question are now
burnt. They were, of course, deserted by their in-
habitants, but I nevertheless suspect that a large
amount of animal life must have been destroyed in
the flames.