Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-01-16
THE REVOLT I'm SPAIN.
The lnsurreetIOn i'm Cadiz.
The Conflict Between the Mill
tary and the People.
Exciting Scenes and Incidents.
Correspondence Of the London Time,

A
If colea not excepted. Alcoiea determine
q the downfall Of government already a
It but overthrown.; but Cadiz, the first
n support Juan Prim, has also been Id
4 first to set his government at defanc,
I and to exhibit the strength Of that arme
: militia which, instituted at the com
: mencement of the revolution as a balanc
. to the ancient military influence, wa
i naturally looked to by the Democrats
? party as its safeguard against any returl
. to the old system.
/ When the sun rose on Sunday, 9Th, tn
, relative position Of the two parties wa
: as follows The troops, altogether abou
I three thousand strong, held the barrack
| have already named, thus commanding
the landgate but IS the suburb of Sal
Jose just outside was occupied by tn
insurgents, the gate was available t
neither party. The troops held the Gus
tomhouse, which they made their head
quarters, and the whole Of the wall be-
tween it and the barracks, thus keeping
possession Of the sea. gate and gate near
the customhouse called the Seville gate
Two forts-San Sebastian and SAINTS
Catalina-with the park Of artillery, were
IN the possession Of the military, but
being isolated and only slightly garri,
soned, they took little part in the con-
fict.
| The TOwnhouse formed the headauar>
ters of the militia, among whom one Sal
gochea, and also Junco, q master tailor
seem to have acted prominent parts. II
had been abandoned by the municipal
authorities, who had taken refuge in the
Courthouse In the basement Of the
TownhOuse the insurgents placed a &C.
FOUNDER cannon, directed towards the
sea gate, while at the left of the building,
across the ends Of the street, which there
opened on to the square, were two barri-
cades, each armed with a similar gun,
and on the right very strong and extern
siVe two-sided barricade constructed Of
barrels and crates filled with stones,
which likewise was provided with two
guns Of similar calibre, pointed acress the
| square. The conyerging fire Of five guns
could thus be brought to bear on any
troops attempting to assault the Town
house, for the square was much narrower
at the sea gate end than at the other
These guns, too, which proved 50 fright
fully destructive to the troops, were
loaded with every variety Of old iron
nails, screws, locks, keys, fiat irons, and
scraps Of every kind, Of which saw heaps
Afterwards in the basement Of the Town
house.
Besides this, every street which opened
towards the walls and most Of the great
thoroughfares contained loophOled barri-
cades from five to six feet high, con-
structed of paving>stones or occasionally
| OF barrels of cement, bales Of brown
paper, or sacks Of coffee, etc. Stones
were carried up TO the roofs of the houses,
and also saw two S-inch guns in posi-
ton on the south side, but which did not
seem to have been fred, the principal
attacks being made on the east side ofthe
town. The troops in the CustOmhouse
directed their efforts against the houses
OPPOsitO the OustonslaOs.so aud ths sIrooIs
leading from it into the town. They
succeeded in possessing themselves Of
several of the houses, but in the streets
they seem, from the marks on the walls,
to have been uniformly unsuccessful,
never penetrating far up them, and, from
the immense number Of marks of rifle
balls, either they must have fired very
wildly, or fought most desperately. 1t
was in one of these attacks that General
Peralta received serious wound in the
foot, which later compelled him to
transfer the command to General La
serna.
The troops from the barracks endeay-
ored to storm the barbados on the
square and to take the TOwnshouse,
which they cannonaded from the wall
with shot, shell and grape, the marks and
destructive effects Of which missiles, to
gether with innumerable rifle shots, are
visible over the entire facade Of the
Town ,hOnse and most Of the other build
ings on the square. The trees which |
grew there, now torn by grape, present |
q most curious spectacle, as do also the |
richly furnished and decorated rooms Of !
the municipality, the statues, busts,
clocks, chairs, lustres, writing tables, etc,
being perforated and destroyed by the |
numerous projectiles that entered through
the windows.
| found any attempt to count the num-
Der Of shot marks on the houses which |
had suffered most quite useless, and it |
seems utterly unaecountable how the |
force engaged should have been able to
fire away so many shots in the sixty five |
hours during which the fighting lasted. A |
Spaniard stated that he counted three |
hundred in a space eight metres by four
on the facade of the Town~house, which |
building was struck thirty times by can
non shot and shell.
The most fatal attack was that made /
on the 9th by the Cazadores de Madrid, |
who, landing from Trocadero, came |
through the sea gate, and rushing on,
notwithstanding the fire of the cannon,
succeeded in crossing the first barbados;
but being unable to take those behind /
them, were killed almost to man be-
tween the two. 1t is said that Of l25 not
% escaped. Throughout the next
morning the fighting was undated; the
troops were reinforced by BOG men of the
regiment Barcelona, and a vessel in the
harbor commenced bombardment which,
however, was discontinued, owing, it is
said, to the energetic Intervention Of the
American and the other Consuls.
Several attempts had been made by /
vessels in the harbor to furnish food and
ammunition to the troops through
the Seville gate, but this being |
perceived by the insurgents, they |
were stopped by the fire from the houses.
The insurgents, too, were running short
Of cartridges; bat ir the afternoon they
succeeded in possessing themselves Of
the wall and sea gate, the centre of their
enemy's line, thus dividing the forces /
opposed to them into two, gaining pos
session of the mole and relieving the |
Town-hOuse from the cannOnade to which /
it had been hitherto exposed. That
evening the fire diminished, and next
morning the flag for parley was hOisted
at the CustOmhouse.
A truce was then agreed upon to bury |
the dead, during which, also, those so in
clined were to be allowed to leave the
city, permission afterwards limited by
the insurgents to women, children and
old people, and Of which it is said some
twenty thousand persons availed them~
selves. In the meanwhile, too, the Cons
suls, who till then with some other for
eigners had been kept in the city as a |
safeguard against bombardment, made |
strenuous efforts to arrange matters and
save the place from further bloOdshed.
The government willingly continued
the suspension Of hostilities from day to
day, thinking it prudent to remain passive
until the preparations Of Gen. de Ro6as
were cOmpleted