The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-07 00:00:00

MARSHAL O'DOZVNELL.

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The telegraph brings us news of the decease of
Marshal O'Donnell, Duke of Tetuan, one of the
ablest generals of Spain. Leopold O'Donnell was
a descendant of a family of Irish refugees, and was
born in 1808. He entered the Spanish army at
an early age, and was a captain when but 19 ;
at 25 he held a colonel's commission, and after the
death of Ferdinand VII., in 1832, he declared him-
self in favour of the new law of succession and the
regency of the Queen-Mother. While his brothers
were fighting in the ranks of Don Carlos he won
laurels in the constitutional army. He was created
Count of Lucena on his having compelled Cabrera
to raise the siege of the town so named, and at the
conclusion of the civil war he was promoted to the
rank of lieut.-general. He was a faithful adherent
of Maria Christina, and exerted his utmost skill at
the head of the army of the centre to counterbalance
the influence of Espartero, notwithstanding the
desperate condition of the Queen's position. When
the Queen-Mother was at length compelled to resign
the regency, he watched over her safety and guarded
her to the frontier. Espartero's elevation to the re-
gency compelled him to resign his command, and
to take refuge in France. While in exile he WAS
busy in fomenting the agitation against Espartero ;
and in 1841, when the military conspiracies broke
out all over Spain, General O'Donnell repaired to
Pampeluna, where he placed himself at the head
of the rebellion. Again conquered, he returned
to France, where he continued to carry on his
machinations against the Regent, whom he had
the satisfaction to see overthrown in 1843. General
O'Donnell was afterwards sent to Cuba as captain-
general, and while there amassed a considerable
fortune. He was said to be by no means opposed
to the slave trade. On his return to Spain he be-
came a member of the Senate, and joined the Op-
position against the Ministry. Narvaez, on his re-
turn to power, appointed him director-general of
the infantry, a post which he filled until the year
1851. Amid the Court intrigues of this period he
left the party of Queen Christina and joined the
Moderate party, opposing at the same time the
Court and the various Ministers which succeeded
that of Bravo.,Murillo, under Generals Roncali
and Lersundi and Count San Luis. Early in 1854
he was implicated in a conspiracy, but contrived to
avoid the warrant for his arrest, and to keep himself
concealed for some months either in Madrid or at
Carvaligo in the environs. At length, in the midst
of the tumults excited against the Government by
a forced loan, he came from his retreat on the 28th
June, took the lead of the revolution, and fought
an indecisive battle with royal troops at Vicalvaro.
On the 7th July he published a political programme,
dated at Manzanares, demanding the Constitution
of 1837, the emancipation of Isabella, the perpetual
banishment of the Queen-Mother, and sundry im-
portant reforms. Most of the captains-general joined
him with their troops. Espartero united himself to
him, and the Queen was compelled to dismiss her
obnoxious Ministers, and to summon Espartero to
form a Government, in which General O'Donnell
became Minister of War. For some time the two
chiefs agreed, but at length a dispute arose in con-
sequence of the conduct of Signor de la Escosura,
the Minister of the Interior, towards the Clerical
party. O'Donnell declared that either he or this
Minister must resign, and Espartero replied, << Both
or neither." After a struggle of some days' duration
the whole Ministry resigned, save O'Donnell, who
was charged with the formation of a new Ministry.
The Cortes was at the moment in recess, but a frac-
tion of it met and passed a vote against the new
Premier, which he treated as illegal. During the
few days from the 15th to the 20th July, 1856, he
succeeded in quelling insurrections which broke out
in Madrid, Barcelona, and Saragossa, as well as in
many other places. He was speedily placed in a
false position for one who. had declared himself an
advanced Liberal, for he wan between the men of
progress whom he had abandoned, and the Conser-
vatives, who could not see in him their representa-

tive. In point of fact he re-established the Consti-
tution of 1845, and as a natural result Narvaez
returned to power. In March, 1857, General
O'Donnell lost his seat in the Cortes, but, keeping
that in the Senate, he there opposed Narvaez with
consummate skill, and contributed mainly to the
downfall of the Minister, which took place in Oc-
tober of the same year. After a number of short-lived
Governments had succeeded, O'Donnell returned to
power on the Ist July, 1858, and formed one of the
most successful Spanish Governments of modern
days. The most remarkable event of his adminis-
tration was the war against Morocco, which was
declared on the 22d October, 1859, and in which
O'Donnell took the field as commander-in-chief.
After much loss and suffering, from the climate and
the heavy rains, as well as from sanguinary engage-
ments in January, a great victory was won on the
4th of February, 1860, and on the 6th Tetuan was
captured. Muley Abbas, the Moorish general, en-
tered into negotiations which were broken off. The
Spanish army marched upon Tangier on the 23d of
March, and after two battles, the second of which
was a decisive victory, peace was imposed upon
Morocco, with conditions such as insured its per-
manence. This war produced a great moral effect,
and O'Donnell, and his Generals Echague, Zabella,
Ros, and Prim, became deservedly popular in Spain.
He was promoted to the rank of field-marshal and
created Duke of Tetuan. On Dec. 6, 1860, an at-
tempt was made to assassinate him. He continued
in office till February, 1863, when he resigned in
consequence of the Queen's refusal to dissolve the
Chambers, and was succeeded as 'War Minister by
General Concha. Since then he has been both in
and out of power. In 1864 Narvaez was again
President of the Council, but in the next year
O'Donnell held the reins ; however, in July, 1866,
he again was compelled to resign office, and Narvaez
resumed the post of President of the Council.