Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-03-11
CARLIST SOLDIERS.
they resemble FaIstAn 3 Arr

Ahey hesemOie Falstan y Army.
One of the special correspondents of
the London Daily Telegraph was re-
Gently passenger on train which was
captured by Carlists. He says:
1t would have done the eyes of Sir John
Gilbert good to have beheld the wonder
ful panorama of picturesque rapscal.
lions suddenly revealed from either win
dow Of the compartment in which | was
placed. How the pencil OF our brave
English artist would have rejoiced in
delineating these splendid outlaws
Fine, dashing fellows they really were
tall of stature, brawny Of limb, well set
up, and all, in military phrase as fit as
fddes for marching and fighting, and
robbing the mail | noticed that many
Of their number-nearly one-half--were
neither sallow nor swarthy, but fair, au-
burn-haired, and with blue eyes. They
were bullet-headed race generally, and
such remarkable similarity Of physiog-
nomy as existed among them never yet
observed 10 any aggregation of human
lty, even IN camp-meeting Of negroes.
The rails ran in dark narrow line
along the base of huge stony ravine,
and on either side, on the grades OF
natural amphitheatre, the Carlists were
grouped by twos and threes, and tens
and scores They were clad in almost
every conceivable variety Of apparel,
but in two items their costume was uni
form. They all wore the same scarlet
cap, of loose pancake form, and they
were all sandal.shod, there bare toes
candidly asserting themselves through
the ligatures crossing the instep, and
tied to sole Of untanned leather. Thus
shod they will march, it is said twenty
or twenty-five miles day with ease,
supporting nature very cheeriully on a
bit of bread, an onion, as much cold
water as the mountain torrents win yield
them, and as much tobacco as they can
eontrive to steal from any village they
happen to pass through. A jovial life,
truly! quite of the Robin Hood kind.
and all the more fascinating when you
know that you are fighting for the altar
and the throne. For to a gentleman,
moreover, who, besides being a Legiti.
mist and an Ultramontane. is bit of
an artist and bit of Bohemian as
well, campaign with the Carlists must
be a career OF unmingled delight. When
you are not fighting you can sketch; and,
| repeat, the sight ! saw at noon on Sun
day would have done John Gilbert's eyes
good. All Holywell street and Tavi.
stock street, Covent Garden; all the old
fripper's shops of Bayonne, all the old
clothes stores of the Paris Temple, the
Roman Ghetto, the Coomb at Dublin,
and the Gusedubs at Glasgow, had ap-
parently been rihed to furnish forth the
equipments of these astonishingly rag
ged regiments. The pantalon garance
of the French infantry officer was pal.
pable in hundred instances. | knew
1t at once by its cossack cut, tight at
the ankles and baggy at the hips. At
least score of old English militia tu.
MICS were visible in my immediate vicin-
ity, and to these were adjoned a mum.
Der of moeskin and fustiap jackets,
such Us those worn by French railroad
porters. 0ne gentleman wore closely.
fitting vest of faded scarlet, trim
med with narrow gold lace and
ornamented with little sugar. loaf
buttons = many of the latter un-
fortunately wanting-which could have
sworn had been once the mess waistcoat
of an officer Of the staff in her Maiestys
service. The gentleman's splendor
however, suffered surcease at the waist
coat, and the combinations we're simply |
a pair Of sheepskin galligaskins, worn,
not like Bryan 0'Lynn's, with the skinny |
side out, and the woolly side in, but
vice versa, They were, no doubt, in any |
case, mighty convenient, and as the gen
tlemen sat on the hillside sucking a
cigarito, he only wanted set of pipes
to make him look like Pyrenean Pan.
The ages Of the men ranged between fifty |
and fifteen; and they seemed drawn |
from every class but that of artisans
Well-to-do farmers and herdsmen, shep-
herds and farm lads, appeared to be the
staple. Very few, indeed, looked like
professional soldiers; but every one
seemed as though he could fight, and, if
need was, would fight desperately.