The New York herald., 1874-12-11
NEW YORK HERALD FRIDAY DECEMBER H. I874TRIPLE


the Oariist position round Renteiia and Oyarzun.
the Cariist siege artillery would have been IN great
still far from being In . position 70 attack the
Carists round Irun. As l said before. the
conduct OF the Carlst generals In raising
the siege was some thing tnexplicaDle. Had tney
attacked that morning there Is not the slightest
doubt that they would have entered lrun Even
the night before they had entered the town and
OBTAINED possession OF the church, and the night
OF the intenued assault they had carried their
cupled the church, ready for The assaulling COL
umn To have raised the siege under these CIR.
cumstances was probably one OF the greatest
trated by any general The gums at san Marcai
were not removed but during the wnoe OF Satur.
day they fired only very few shots to keep up
appearances, and everybody IN Hendaye was at
loss to account Tor the cessation Of the lombard
meak
Immediately crossed over into France and an.
nounced The raising oil the siege. THIS was on sat
urday morning, at seven O'clOck-by telegraph
but until Monday nobody seems to have suspected
the truth, and all the papers simply announced
tions. The truth Is that the ten guns and Two
mOrtars which composed the TWO lower batteries
mad been sent on to Vera, and General Elio was
already engaged in disposing his army to oppose
the advance Of General Iona from san. Sebastian.
WHAT WAS DONE SUBSEQUENTLY,.
In order to understand tue operations which
the map. 1t win be seen tnat the three fortresses
are in the hands Of the republicans, form an equi-
lateral triangle. on the soutn OF this triangle,
running parallel with tn0 rO8Q WnlCQ cOuueCJS
Irun with Hermann, Is range Of mountains called
the Arala OF which the height OF San Marcla over.
looking lrun is the extreme northern point they
extend IN southerly direction TO Pampeluna, and
during this whole distance they are not crossed by
a single practicable road. Commencing at San se-
Arals Ara "a a short distance south Of Hermann
e three tr therefore,
q KIND OF mountain triangle. There is road con-
Meeting Irun and Hernani-as ! have already
tVnr Aivfvf frnvv Irunf EQn
basLian, and, stll another, from San Sebastian to
Hermann, coincding as 1t were with the noun
rom France runs through Irun 70 san Sebastian,
and from there south TO Hermann and thence TO
Tolosa, crossing This mountain wall near Hermann
through narrow valley. AS the greatest distance
between these iortresses is only sixteen miles, Il
would naturally be supposed that the country en-
closed between them could be held 0y their garr,.
sons. This has not been the case, however. The
Carlists have hitherto held the country and lso-
lated the lortresses rom each other as completely
as though they were 100 miles apart, owing to
the apathy or the incapacity OF their adversares.
When the siege OF Irun was commenced the Car.
cia on the French frontier around to the heights
above Fontarabia on the sea, and 1t was on this
carst Ws Batteries were plantea After Iona had
landed troops at Los PASSAGES near san sebastian,
however, II Is easy 10 see that this lne was threat.
ened In the rear, and the siege artillery, which
had only been dragged to its position by almost
impossible mountain roads, drawn by slow mov-
winch the CarilsIs might be Obliged to retire, IN
the greatest danger. It was to avoid the capture
oi the artillery BY an astsck rom Ine sac o. san
was Withdrawn mp the valley OF the Bidassoa-
me only thing that can be SAID with regard TO
this movement ts that 1t WAS
CHARACTERISTIC OF EXCESSIVE CAUTION.
For, after all. Tour hours were sufficient to have
assault, and. although 1t might have been taken
In this way, would nave been Jnst as difficult Tor
one party to d5g or as for the and tine
arriving at the batteries. General Ell0. however,
Immediately made preparations to face Loma's
army. There IS a mountain range extending along
the coast almost to San Sebastian Parallel to this
range, and extending from run around In haH
fns na IN more ~ ess a1 ~ OF
are really the loot hills OF the Arala Mountains,
and south OF them runs the road from Irun TO Her
mani Along the summit 0I this range OF hills Gen.
eral E0 depoyeo his troops as lar as AstraRarraga
near Hermann. IL may be asked why he extended
seu with maintaining the line from the sea coast
over OyarZun TO the Arala Mountains, which would
defend ! am not ia y position to explain this,
but suppose IT was to protect the roao TO Tol0sa,
which, leading from San Sebastian, was only de-
sary. therefore, to extend the line almost to Her.
mani IN order 70 cover this road. the range Of
eral places particularly opposite Kanteria- wnere
the river Oyarzun breaks through them to ial
into the sea at Passages. The lett OF the Carist
line was, therefore,. parated from the centre BY
this little valley and rlver and the heights occu-
pied by the Carlist left south OF this are called san
Marco.
THE LINE FOR OPERATIONS
Their line, therefore, extended from Astragar-
front OF Oyarzun. The line was about ten miles
long, and to de!end 1t they did not have more than
1000 men, under the direct Command oil General
Valdespina. Iona advanced from the direction
san sebastian on the morning Of the 10th against
the Carist LETT, at san Marco: The heights OF san san
barta1ons OF Gupuzcoans numbering, perhaps,
1900 men do not know exactly how many men
Iona brought TO the attack, but II IS certain that
he mad landed 200 men at Los Passages. and that
occupying only snort circle around san Sebastian,
his line was much shorter than that 0. the Car
lists. He was therefore free TO throw the greater
part OF his troops against any desired point. and
as near as can Judge he MADE the attack against
san Marco with 10000 men. After about three
hours artillery engagement during which time
three or four fainthearted assaults were made
bold turning movement, which, had he been OPP
posed by any otner general than Ceballos would
THE REPUBLICAN TAcrIcs
have spoken OF the little narrow valley OF the
Oyarzun, which separated the Carllsts lett from
their centre. Up this little valley, almost to the
road between the town OF OyarZun and Hermann,
Iona penetrated, thus separating the Carist CEN
tie from the left. Up TO this time the fghting.
although animated, had not been very decisive on
either side. The Carllsts had not lost hundred
men and mad mol shown the slightest sign oi CIV.
ing way, while the republicans had not more tnan
Two hundred killed and wounded. When CeDallos
saw Iona cutting Oh the Carllst lett rom the
centre aud thus placing himself between TWO nres,
instead OIL holding his almost lmpregnaole position
with greater teIacity than ever unll the Carllst
ceQJTe uHueT NdllcSplud dtIemptcu W buUW iOf-
waru line OF troops and attack Iona IN the rear
and cut him OF, he became panic stricken
and gave the order to retreat IN what can only
be termed the most cowardly manner. Had he
not done this, had he defended the position with
anything like the tenacity with which the Carists
deiended their positions at AberzuZa, Iona, who
had made very brilliant but at the same time
most dangerous manpuvre, would nave been
completely cut OF from San Sebastian and sur
rounoed. The Carlist centre was already in move
ment 10 execute this when from the height above
Oyarzun, where General Valdespna was directing
mi
scending tue southern slopes OF san Marco.
This was about three O'Clock In the afternoon.
The republicans, who had up to that moment
been unsuccessful In gaining the heights imme-
dialely occupied them and pursued Ce6alos down
TO the Hermann road. The Carlists' lett was CON-
pietely cut OF from its centre. Towards evening
:ne weather became wet and rainy and as night
advanced 1t could not be seen from Oyarzun
which direction Cebal0s nad taken, out Iona
contented himself With occupying the Carlist posi-
tions and burning all the villages and iarm houses
as far as his troops could advance. Thus ended
the first DAYS fight as the heights OF San MARCO