The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-29 00:00:00

//2- e

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD.

SPAIN AND MOROCCO.

(From the Times' Special Correspondent.)

CAMP IN FRONT OF CEUTA, DEC. 10.
The skirmish which was comMencing yesterday
morning :When. Isent off my letterlasted until dark,
but was not of sufficient importance for a detailed
account of it to be interesting, out of Spain. These
small fights occur every two or three days. and
since I first arrived here they have been invariably
provoked by the enemy, excepting on the 12th inst.,
when General Prim brought on an affair. The
Moors advance firing and menace :air line, and, of
course, we are obliged to repulse them Their ob-
ject is probably only to harass us, for they cannot
expect, with the forces they present, to gain an ad-
vantage' over those we have. We•hadjust as soon
they kept quiet, for, they give us trouble and cost
us men, and there is no profit and little glory to be
gained. Yesterday a sort of strategical idea
seemed to have struck them, but it was so clumsy
a one, a mancouvre so easily detected, that, if they
expected it to succeed, they must have an exceeds
ingly low opinion'of Spanish intelligence. They
brought down about 800 to
.1,1300 cavalry, appa-
rently expecting that the attack of their infantry
would tempt us-out of our lines to ground where
the horse could act. Of course they were dis-
appointed; our artillery drove away the cavalry,
and the musketry fire nearly. ceased for an hour or
two, but breezed up about 3 o'clock and lasted till
night. The shots were rather king, but, neverthe-
less, some of them told, and we had upwards of 100
killed and wounded. In the early part of,the day.
the Moors planted a flag on an eminence consider-
ably in our frott, and it is supposed there was sortie
General or great personage among them, whose
banner it was. The evening skirmish was oil an
eminence in front of the Isabel 11. redoubt
(right of all), a hill' the. summit of which is a
long level ridge. :At the further extremity of
the ridge a nutnist+7-of pieces of rock end large
stones afford cover to Moorish sharp-shooters.' It
is a very favourite position of theirs, and I call it
Tombstone-hill, in order to, distinguish it.• At
one end of the hill the Spanish skirmishers lay
down upon the slope which runs down into the
valley immediately in front of the redoubt; their
object was, not to fight, but merely to hold the
ground until night, so they kept just below the
brow, and returned the enemy's fire only occasion-
ally. Their practice while thus recumbent did not
do them much credit, and I understand they are
not accustomed to fire in that posture. A rifled
four-pounder on the redoubt ,occasionally sent a
shot amen e.• the Moors and set some of them running,
but upon the whole they stood 'their ground very
stoutly, and some of them gave proof of great cou-
rage, advancing singly along the ridge until they
caught sight of the first Spaniards posted below it,
when they discharged their espingardas and re-
treated.. Ifthey had had better shots to deal with,
not one of those .who played this hazardous trick
ought to have returned alive to his friends. One
or two only were hit, and two or three of their
comrades made gallant efforts and exposed them-
selves very much to. carry them off. These small
incidents afforded some amusement to the lookers-
on, who could not, however, but think it dearly
purchased when they saw sundry pool• fellows, in-
cluding two or three officers, carried by wounded,
and some deal bodies taken to the rear in blankets.
As to the loss of the Moors it were idle to hazard
conjecture. although it is the fashion here, as in
.nost armies under similar circumstances, to make
Them—the loss of the enemy being, of course, always
-stimated greatly to exceed our own. It is pro-
hable, however, that the Moors do generally suffer
considerably more than the Spaniards, for the simple
-eason that the latter have artillery and their op-
ponents have not. In the early part of yesterday
the rifled mountain battery of Major Lopez Domin-
guez, a cousin of Marshal Serrano, made acme good
practice, and must have been unpleasant to the
doors.
While fighting, even when only exchanging long
:hots, the Moors keep up a most hideous howling
and shrieking, vituperating their enemies in bad
Spanish, and making the mountains redound with
the often-repeated epithet of " perms"- (dogs). To
this the Spaniards condescend not to reply, except
with bullets, although in the civil war it was no un-
usual thing to hear Carlist and Christina skir-
mishers &bilging each other, and especially indulg-
ing in 'unhandsome reflections upon each others'
Sovereign.
During the lull in the middle of the day, when
there was almost a cessation of firing, the Com-
mander-in-Chief rode to our extreme left to visit the
corps of General Pros . do Olano, which has esta-
blished its camp in a picturesque recess of the shore,
formed by two wooded hills that slope down
towards each other's base almost into a dell. The
tents are pitched with much regularity ' • the sur-
rounding cork trees afford abundant fuel, and last
night the place *as in a blaze of light from the
camp fires. The nights., and especially the early
mornings for two or three hours before daybreak,

have now'become so cold that it is most fortunate
that wood is plentiful hereabouts. On O'Donnell's
arrival the corps was drawn up to receive him, the
band playing the Marcia Real (which has become
the Spanish national air since the follies of the
Progresis:a party disgusted people with Reigo's
hymn and other Liberal melodies) ; some battalions
were in advance, with skirmishers thrown out, as a
little firing was still going on, and the enemy
visible on various points at no great distance from
our line. The sun shone brightly, and the cov-
dceil was good, as was also the appearance of the
troops. The corps is said to be about 11,000

strong.
This morning General Prim went out with his
division, consisting of seven battalions, over the
hills on our left ,along shore, to protect the men
working at the continuation of the road, which is
to be completed as far as the level beach in the
direction of Tetuan. With him went a battalion
of engineers and another of artillerymen, who are
to cut the road. The move is to a considerable
distance beyond our lines, but the Moors have made
no attempt to molest the Spanish troops, which
were protected in the early part of the day by two
steamers and a gunboat. The enemy has a whole-
some dread of the fire from the ships. Other roads
are in progress connecting the redoubts, and it
is probable that when the next skirmish
occurs the wounded will be conveyed along them
to the shore, and sent off in boats to vessels
waiting there. It will be a shorter and easier
transit than taking them through the tedious wind-
ings of the fortifications into Ceuta, and it will,
moreover, serve as practice previous to the ship-
ment of-wounded in the fighting we may expect as
we proceed along the coast to Tetuan. Up to Ca[ e
Negro it is expected, as I think I have already men-
tioned, that there will be small difficulty or opposi-
tion to our march, but there the ground again be-
comes difficult (it is said that there is a deep and
rugged ravine), and we may possibly have to form
an entrenched camp and abide there until the en-
gineers have overcome obstacles. Meanwhile we
are menaced with a change of weather; the sailors
predict rain, which would retard our operations, and
probably increase the amount of sickness, lately
sensibly diminished under the beneficial influence of
a few fine days. The transitions here are great
and rapid ; to-day, at 2 o'clock, the sun was so hot
as to render exposure to it, when in exercise, by no
means pleasant ; it is now half-past 4, and one is
very glad to put on a warm greatcoat, even under
the shelter of a tent.

Of our life in camp there is not much to tell you
that would have the charm of novelty. Of the
hardships aril pleasures (the latter not numerous),
the disagreeables, the shifts, and the fun of that
mode of existence you heard much, even to the
minutest details, during the still recent compaign in
the Crimea, and now to enlarge upon them would
be but to repeat a thrice-told tale. With fine
weather, things are endurable enough for persons
not over delicate ; wind and rain sadly mar our
comparative happiness. Here only for a few days,
it is not worth'while to do many things which would
contribute to comfort and greatly improve our con-
dition. We rough it, and hope for an early move, a
successful fight, and a period of repose at Tetuan.
Ceuta having within the last few days been
made a free port, except for articles of estaneo
(Government monopoly), such as tobacco and salt,
supplies begin to improve, although as yet but
slowly. A restaurant has just been opened at
head-quarters of the productions of which I can-
not yet !Teak from personal knowledge, but which,
I am assured, far surpasses in the prices, al though
not in the qmility, of its dishes, the Freres Pro-
vencaux or the lamented Verroy. I suspect its
habitues will not be nummpus, for the Spanish
officer is generally frugal, and sets no great store
by the pleasures of the palate. Generally speak-
ing, as far as I have observed, the officers Bless to-
gether in small groups, a tent forming but a limited
dining-room, and nearly the largest of those we
have here being pretty well crowded with half-a-
dozen persons. Tables, too, are rather a difficulty,
since we brought little furniture with us, and have
not as yet had opportunities of borrowing any from
Moorish palaces. About a fourth part of the furni-
ture that the British army left behind it in the