The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-08-22
Policy of Don Carlos and Strength of His Army.

From Q leading article in the London
Register, of July oath, we take this inter
esting extract:
AS to the policy Of Don Carlos, it is
frankly set forth in his proclamations and
public letters. He 10 heart and soul Cath
allie, he is lie true Spaniard, q patriot
King in the beat sense Of the word. He
will not, be says, be the King of party /;
he claims the allegiance of all Spaniards !;
he wishes to be the King aud protector,
not of this or that class, or interest, but of
Spain. eff )" said he in his first manifesto
to the Courts of Europe, ''by the help of
placed upon the Throne of Spain, will en-
deavour to Loyalty conciliate the useful in
situations of our epoch with the indisput-
able institutions of the past, leaving to the
general Cortes, freely elected, the great
and difficult mission Of securing to my be-
loved country q constitution which shall
be both Spanish and defnitive."
Men have too frequently lost sight of the
fact that, before the Carlist war began,
Don Carlos, in his an iety to avoid blood
shed, endeavoured to vindicate his claims
by purely peaceful. and constitutional
means. In the first Cortes of Amadeo, ~
ont of the 800 members were returned by
the Carlists but at the next elections the
Liberals and the Government officials prac-
tised the grossest intimidation to prevent
the election of Carlist candidates, and no
resource was, therefore, left to Don Carlos
but to appeal to the sword.
Begun by q few scattered bands, in the
summer of 1872, the Carlist rising gradually
assumed the proportions of great civil
war. In the spring Of 1873 the main Car
list Army of the North Numbered only
5000 men fronl that time the Carlist
forces rapidly increased. By the end of
the summer there were 1000 men at Es-
tells, and Is 600 elsewhere in the Basque
provinces, with about ii 900 in Catalonia.
This was the official estimate published
not at Estella, but at Madrid.
At the present moment the Carlists hold
all Catalonia, except few towns, and the
whole Of the Basque provinces, except four
fortesses garrisoned by the Alphonsists.
On the 30th OF June lsst the field state OF
armed and organized troeps land, there
fore, left ont of account the guerillas and
flying coiumns Of Asturias, Gaiicia, and
the other prOvinces) was as follows in.
fantry well armed and equippedl, 100 O0C
men; Cavalry Completely equipped)
field guns, 100; seige- guns, and guns
mounted 10 s0Ttresses, I5z-total, 337 guns
There is no doubt that the Carlist Army
10, at THE moment, fully equal TO any
force Of the same numbers in Europe and
when We remember that this Army been
raised, organized, and armed, not by q
powerful State in time of peace, but by
men like Carlos, clio, Savails, Tristany,
Dorregaray, and Mendiri, in the midst of q
hostile country, with all the Liberal forces
Of Spain arrayed against them, can we
doubt OF the future of the Carlist war,
after such brilliantly successful results in
the past - 1t 10 indeed strange that the Lib
eral Press, which implicitly believed here in
England when il predicted the complete
destruction Of the Cariist forces at the
time when they might be counted by
hundreds, should still fortell, day after
day, the defeat OF that same Army, now
that its numbers have risen to over q hum
dred thousand, Local aud partial sue
ceases Of the LibeFals, like those Of the
hrst week Of July, cannot affect the main
fact that Carlos has powerful and efficient
army at his command, which has never yet
suffered anything like o serious defeat.