m^. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BEQUEST OF Alice R. Hilgard ^ SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. BY N. L. THIEBLIN. BOSTON : LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. New York: LEE, SHEPARD AND DILLINGHAM. 1875- GIFT , i/-*^^ Stereotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry, 19 Spring Lane. Ty3 PUBLISHERS^ NOTE The author of this work, Mr. N. L. Thieblin, now for the first time appearing before the American public, began his English journalistic career in Lon- don as foreign correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette. In the intervals of his resrular work he wrote some humorous sketches for the same journal, signing them with the Oriental nom de plume of Azamat-Batuk. These bright contributions, mainly- bearing upon the manners and ways of the English themselves, secured their author a wide reputation; and, when during the Franco-Prussian war he joined the French army as special correspondent af the same paper, his letters from the field of battle were eagerly looked for and largely quoted even in this country. After the conclusion of that war, the New York ivi8584C5 3 4 PUBLISHERS' NOTE. Herald engaged Mr. Thieblin to go to Spain, and the present volume is the result of his sojourn and travels in that country. The author has thoroughly- revised and abridged for the American public the original London edition produced in April last by Messrs. Hurst & Blackett, in two volumes, upon which the press commented in the most flattering terms. Here are a few extracts from the reviews published by the leading English periodicals : — "Here is at last a book on Spain of the kind we have been asking for. Mr. Thieblin fills his pages with his personal experiences among the armed fac- tions ; he takes a comprehensive survey of the present situation, and describes the men who have made them- selves most conspicuous. . . . Mr. Thieblin's style is not only easy, but graceful." — Saturday Heview^ April 11, 1874. "Mr. Thieblin's grand merit is that he takes his reader with him. Having read these sketches, we seem to realize the sensation of having actually plod- ded with a Carlist column through the arid gorges of Navarre, or looked out over the Plaza in Madrid while a revolution was going on. We have visited PUBLISHERS' NOTE, 5 Spain in Mr. Thieblin's company, and enjoyed our visit — this is the best thing we can say of the book." — Spectator^ July 11, 1874. "We need not say that it is vivacious and inter- esting; nothing that is dull can come from the author's pen; but we may say that it is also very informing. Beneath all his brilliancy of description, Mr. Thieblin is careful in collecting and sifting in- formation. He is indefatigable in pursuit of it. Not only is this the most graphic book about Spain of late years — it is the most useful. It has the impor- tance of history, and the fascination of romance." — British Quarterly Review^ for July, 1874. "Mr. Thieblin's experiences have been many and varied, and they have supplied him with a consid- erable quantity of literary stock, which he has from time to time served up for our delectation in a man- ner which certainly deserves gratitude. His recipe is a good one, and his dishes are always piquant; but, perhaps, he has never been more successful than in his latest attempt. The volumes before us are full of interest, not only of the kind which is due to the subject of which they treat, but also of the interest which arises from a brisk and humorous style, well fitted to give expression to the author's acute discernment of character and effect." — JExam- iner, April 11, 1874. 6 PUBLISHERS' NOTE. "We congratulate Mr. Thieblin upon the appear- ance of these volumes at an opportune time. By the aid of this really-entertaining book the present state of Spain may be easily divined, and the Cosas de Espana brought before the mind's eye." — Athe- nceum^ April 11, 1874. Not less flattering reviews were published at the time of the appearance of the English edition by four or five New York papers, among which the usually very reserved Nation, of July 2d, said, " We know of no book that so well represents the con- dition of modern Spain." CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Bayonne and Biarritz, where Spain begins 9 CHAPTER II. First Visit to the Carlist Camps 30 CHAPTER HI. Dios, Patria, y Key 62 CHAPTER IV. Don Carlos, his Wife, and his Views 88 CHAPTER V. From Bayonne to Madrid 101 CHAPTER VI. The Federalist Coup (I'Etat 117 CHAPTER VII. The Countess of Montijo on Spanish Mob-rule. . . 128 CHAPTER VIH. Federalist Elections and Federalist Festivities. . . 188 7 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. On the Top op the Silver Mountain 155 CHAPTER X. Santa Ceuz , 172 CHAPTER XI. Campo del Honor 199 CHAPTER XII. Spanish Clerical Matters 260 CHAPTER XIII. Prim and Amadeo 280 CHAPTER XIV. Alfonsism versus Carlism 299 CHAPTER XV. Spanish Eepublicanism 316 CHAPTER XVI. Castelar and Figueras. 342 CHAPTER XVII. Marshal Serrano, Duqce de la Torre 359 CHAPTER XVIir. Adios! 365 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. CHAPTER 1. BAYONNE AND BIARRITZ, WHERE SPAIN BEGINS. 1ET US start a la Disraeli, with a sentence of nice, ^ impudent, phrenetic bluster, something like this : "The thunder groaned, the wind howled, the rain fell in hissing torrents, impenetrable darkness covered the earth." Of course, in March, 1873, there was no bona fide thunder to be got in London ; but that does not mas- ter, since everybody knows that in the case of Ixion no sort of thunder groaned either. As to howling wind, torrential rain, and impenetrable darkness, there is always plenty of that in this country. So the open- ing sentence will do very well. Now, just fancy a man sitting in London, constantly chilly in-doors, thoroughly wet when out of doors, and with nothins: to divert him from the consciousness of his utter misery except the prospect of reading or writ- ing no end of newspaper rubbish. I thought the posi- tion really unbearable, and was at my wit's end what to do with myself, when again, as in the case of Ixion, 9 10 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. " a blue and forky flash darted a momentary light over the landscape;" or, speaking in plainer language, a friend knocked at my door, and came to ask whether I should like to go to Spain, and if I could start the next day. I knew Spain already, liked it immensely, not to say loved it, and seized the proposal with both hands* The next evening at 8.45 I was off to Charing Cross, and within less than three days found myself amidst a blooming vegetation, and under a bright blue sky, expanding itself over the favored country like a gigan- tic dome of lapis lazuli. And I felt towards London and England, as we all often feel towards good old relations, that I liked them all the better at a certain distance. Is there any need to describe the journey to the foot of the Pyrenees? The night I left London was one of those nice British nights every one knows. The Channel was perfectly raging, and the wind so violent ifs to tear off with terrific noise the roof of one of the railway carriages, and to cause some other " damage to property." At Dover, three steamers were supposed to start: the Belgian, running to Ostend, declined to leave before daybreak ; the French mail steamer refused to go at all; while the captain of the "Maid of Kent" simply advised the passengers to take a stiff glass of brandy and soda to begin with, and then another to follow, as he had to detain them a little on account of * The author has been sent out to Spain on behalf of the New York Herald, as the special correspondent of that journal. The pages he now submits to the public contain but little of what has been already published in the Herald. B A TONNE AND BIARRITZ, \\ the low tide. " The Calais harbor is a hell of a place in heavy weather," we were informed, " and more sea was required to land in anything like safety." In a few hours this "more sea" turned up, and all those who were not going on a mere pleasure trip were on board. We remained at the mercy of the furious ele- ment nearly all night, were all the time mercilessly tossed about, but still reached Calais long before the captain of the French mail had made up his mind to leave Dover harbor. Of course, one could not possibly pass Paris without stopping there at least for a day. A few hours more must also be spent at Bordeaux, to sip with a friend a bottle of the sort of wine which never reaches Lon- don, and only after that can one conveniently afford to be hurried off to the sad and disheartening Landes. Should you ever have to go to Bayonne, take my ad- vice, don't go that way unless you are in a great hurry. Find out rather some steamer at Bordeaux, for there is hardly any corner in France which leaves a more pain-, ful impression than the Landes. The North about Lille and the Belgian frontier is not picturesque, but at all events you see a sort of manufacturing animation there ; while in the country south of Bordeaux, the eye meets nothing but pine forests, patches of sand, and grayish -looking fields, sometimes without a trace of any other vegetation than fern. Miles and miles are passed without the sight of a hill or a living being, except an occasional cow ringing her melancholy bell, or a grunting pig rushing out of a ditch on the ap- proach of the train. Now and then you come across a lot of horses let loose j their shaggy coat, their awk- 12 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. ward, shy sort of look, make you forget that you are south of the French vineyards — you believe yourself in the steppes of Kussia. Of human beings, you see liter- ally nothing, except when the train stops at the station ; and only by and by, when vaguely discerning on the distant horizon the blue clouded chain of the Pyrenees, do you feel relieved from the seediness that oppressed you, and begin to believe that you will really have something better to see presently. The fresh smiling vales and hills around Bordeaux, the sprightly, enervating activity of the city itself, make you feel the sadness of the Landes still stronger ; and w^hen you reach Bayonne, you wonder by what sort of misunderstanding or forgetfulness, Nature allowed the large plot of land between the Gironde and the Adour to remain in that rough and unfinished con- dition. Bayonne gains immensely if you enter it by the river. The bar of the Adour is in itself quite a sight for the stranger. First of all, it cannot be always passed ; and that is already something. Very fre- quently ships have to remain several days outside, waiting till a favorable tide turns up. The sea may be like a mirror, but on the bar itself there is always a havoc ; while, when the sea is rough, the mouth of the Adour assumes the aspect of some infernal caldron. A man fresh to the sea would never believe any ves- sel could pass through it. The white boiling waves dash up high in the air, with all the rage and cries of a thousand infuriated witches. Caught by one of these waves, the ship is immediately pitched up and down in such a way that no efforts will make anybody or BAYONNE ANX> BIARRITZ. 13 anything on board remain in its place. Every fresh wave coming from behind looks as if it would wash off funnel, paddle-boxes, and everything else ; yet the steamer bounds up again, and in three or four minutes slips quietly down on the smooth surface of the river. But one can only get a chance to enjoy this sight when the naval bulletins, posted on the wall of the Custom House at Bayonne, announce, "Passage de la barre praticable." When they declare it " diificile," nobody makes even an attempt to enter the river, or to leave it; and it is quite a common thing to see English and Spanish crews knocking about at Bayonne, sometimes for a week, without being able to get out into the gulf. In the spring of 1873, when the general flight from Madrid had set in, and the Northern Railway was cut, there remained no other road to France but that via Santander or Bilbao, and thence on by steamer to Bayonne. How many senoras had then to faint and cry on the mere approach of that bar! But the Adour speedily recomforted them. The large and handsome river, with its rich vegetation on either side, reminded them of their own Rio Nervion and the entrance to the capital o'f Biscaya. The sight here is even much more grand, for, though English mining industry and commercial activity have rendered the approaches to Bilbao much more animated, the approaches to Bayonne are more picturesque, the river is larger, and the groves and woods bordering it are incomparably more beauti- ful and profuse. It is not an exaggeration to say that Spain begins at Bayonne and Biarritz. It is here that you first see 14 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. mantillas going to church ; that you read sign-boards written in French and Spanish; that you hear the Castilian tongue — and often the purest. During the summer months you meet certainly more Spanish than French faces at Bayonne ; and in the Allees Marines^ the beautiful promenade along the river, you are first puzzled by the bullocks dragging the carts, being dressed in a kind of linen dressing-gowns, and having elaborate red nets on their heads. Lifting up their wet nostrils, they look at you as if anxious to ascer- tain whether you are not disposed to take them across to the country where their race has a so much more glorious and so much less laborious life. In the market-place and in the leading street you meet very frequently mules with their heavily-loaded alforjas ; and the genuine muleteers, dressed in their picturesque costumes, leave you in no doubt of your being in close vicinity to the land of Don Quixote. The huge build- ing which lodges the municipal council, the Mairie, the theatre, the custom house, and a good many other things, has large arcades through the basement, quite in the Spanish style, and one of the streets of Bayonne consists almost entirely of arcades. On the whole, Bayonne would be a pleasant-looking town if it were not for a very mournful, since immem- orable times, unfinished cathedral, and some very ugly- looking old fortifications. The Yauban bastions outside the town, being covered with grass, do not much ofiend the eye, but the old castle and the citadel have a ruined and mouldy look which afiects the aspect of the town very unfavorably. Being a place forte de premiere dassej Bayonne garrisons a whole military division BAYONNE AND BIARRITZ. 15 and no end of siege and fortress artillery — a circum- stance which also adds very little to the pleasantness of the town, except through the supply of some mili- tary bands, which play twice a week 'during the after- noon on the Place d''Armes, and assemble in that way the fashionable belles of Biarritz as well as the indige- nous Basquese girls. The former come to make a show of their toilets in all imaginable carriages and pony chaises, while the latter walk quaintly about, to let people have a look at their graceful bearing, and at their plain but coquettish head-gear. What is here to be seen of England is most vener- able, and to a certain extent even glorious. In the first place there is a vast number of invalid and elderly ladies and gentlemen, naturally suggesting the idea of usefully-spent lives, of overwork, of large fortunes made by business-like habits and all that sort of thing. Then there is the English cemetery, which contains the bodies of the oflScers and soldiers of the 2d Life Guards, who fell under the walls of Bayonne in 1814. Then again there is the little frontier town of Hendaye within a few miles of Bayonne — a town which was intimately connected with Great Britain through the strong brandy it produced. Opposite that place, on the left bank of the Bidassoa, lies the old picturesque Spanish town of Fuentaiabia, close to which the Duke of Wellington crossed the fords, and surprised and defeated Marshal Soult. In a word, wherever one looks, one finds something to remind one of "dear Old England." Almost throughout the whole of the Departement des Basses-Pyrenees one finds a number of English families of limited means, who look pretty 16 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. much as if they had settled down there, and some of them, at Biarritz, even do a bit of business in addition to their living pleasantly, cheapl}-, and in a good cli- mate. They takfe a house by the year, sublet it during the three months' season for the same rent they have to pay for twelve months, and retire meanwhile to places like Ascain, Behobie, or Cambo, where provis- ions are at half the Biarritz season prices ; while the loveliest walks, excellent fishing, and occasionally a good day's shooting, can be had for nothing. Bayonne was always the great Carlist centre, but during these last years it has become so more than ever. Under the government of M. Thiers everything was done, if not to prevent, at all events to render the Carlist movement more difficult. The gendarmerie was re-enforced by some men specially sent from Ver- sailles. Troops were echelonned all along the frontier, and the greatest watchfulness seemed to be exercised in Bayonne itself. Spaniards who were unable to prove their being leading members of the Alfonso or Isabella party were, without distinction of either sex or age, arrested and interned by the dozen. All this, however, did not much affect Carlism, for its chief support in the Basses Pyrenees comes not from the Spaniards, but from the French landed proprietors, who, in that prov- ince, are nearly all legitimists, and from the mass of the population, who make a good deal of money out of Carlism in every possible way: by smuggling arras across the frontier, by the supply of horses, uniforms, BAYONNE AND BIARRITZ, 17 and other war requisites, as well as through the general affluence of i:>eople this side of the Pyrenean frontier — an inevitable result of all Carlist risings on the other side of it. M. Thiers was too cautious to provoke any strong feeling against himself on the part of the Frenph Basques, and still more so on the part of the rich no- bility of the Province ; but he did all he could in an underhand manner. Yet his best efforts proved a failure. He was legally unable either to arrest or to interne the wealthy southern landlords, nor could he invade their houses for the purpose of searching them. Consequently, though strangers of all nations were greatly molested by the gendarmes and the police, in the streets, on the high roads, and in the hotels, Carlism progressed all the same, for it was carried on much more within the quiet residences of the landed nobility and gentry than anywhere else. Even the much perse- cuted Spaniards managecl, somehow or other, to estab- lish a regular committee, which styled itself " La Real Junta Auxiliar de la Frontera," delivered passes, con- cluded contracts, etc., and was holding its sittings in a Spanish hotel in the principal street of Bayonne. An- other committee, consisting of Frenchmen, concealed its occupation still less than the Spaniards did. When arrived at Bayonne, I was soon brought into contact with some of the leading representatives of these committees, and, as my duties implied, tried to ascertain in what way the Carlists had managed to organize themselves, and where they got money and arms from. I knew that there had been a committee in London, and another in Paris; but the London committee did not send out any money at all, while 2 18 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. the Paris Committee collected only a little over five thousand dollars, which could not go a long way. From all that I have learned subsequently, it appears that the present Cnrlist movement began with about twenty thousand dollars, which Don Carlos's uncle, the Duke of Modena, supplied to the young pretender. If, at the outset, the nobility and the population of the south of France had not assisted Don Carlos as they did, l>e would not have had any chance at al3 of aniving where he now is. A few instances will show by what practical contrivances they managed to help him. Some three thousand uniforms of the Mobiles — a souvenir of the Franco-German war — were (for ex- ample) to be sold at Bordeaux, and at once a gentle- man was instructed to buy them ; while a couple of landed proprietors of Bayonne stored them until a party of reliable contrabandists could be secured to smuggle the stock across the frontier. In a few weeks, six or seven battalions of the Carlist army did not, except through their Bo'ina (Basque cap), differ in any way, in their outward appearance, from the inohlots the Prussians used to capture and slaughter so freely. Another similar affair took place at Bayonne itself. The municipality possessed there another souvenir of the last war, in the shape of a stock of some ten thou- sand cartridge-pouches and sword-belts. One of the councillors, a gentleman of a Carlist turn of mind, suggested that time had arrived to realize the public money so unprofitably invested, and proposed that the stock should be sold by auction ; but another member, of a more Republican shade, opposed the motion as likely to serve the insurgents of a country which was BATONNE AND BIARRITZ, 19 on friendly terras with France. A rather sharp dis- cussion ensued, without apparently leading to any result. But the Carlists found out a leather merchant from so distant a province as Burgundy, caused him to write and make a j)rivate offer to the municipality, and the whole stock was sold for about a franc per com- plete accoutrement. As a matter of course, neither the pouches nor the belts went to Burgundy, but were sent directly to Navarre, Guipuzcoa, and Biscaya, where .they have been doing some capital service up to the present day. Perhaps a still better illustration of the manner in which Don Carlos was served by his foith- ful and ingenious allies, is furnished by the supply of two cannons which I happened to see myself first stored in a little chateau near Biarritz, and subse- quently in full operation on the Carlist battle-fields. I shall have even to tell, by and by, how I was compelled to smuggle one of these cannons. At present, how- ever, it will be enough to say that two brass four- pounders, cast at a foundery near Nantes, were, it seems, declared to be defective on inspection, and doomed to be turned into metal again. 01* course that was but a manoeuvre for getting them out of the French govern- ment's hands. In a few days they were packed, and a French priest booked them at the railway-station to some village close by Bayonne, as marble statues of a Virgin and some saint for his church. He travelled all the way himself with the awkward luggage, and recom- mended every railway guard to be most careful in deal- ing with his cases, containing, according to his story, very fine works of art. In this and similar ways the whole of the existing 20 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. Carlist army was organized at the outset, and what we have since heard of the Deerhound's and other large landings of arms, began only when Don Carlos became sufficiently master of the North of Spain to impose contributions and to raise little local so-called loans, which enabled him to send out money to England in larger quantities than he had had at his disposal before. During the last two years, the department of the Basses Pyrenees turned more Spanish thnn ever, for in addition to swarms of Carlists, and to all those Spanish families who came every year on pleasure trips to the Pyrenees, everybody whose financial position permitted an escape from places where there were disturbances — and disturbances were everywhere in that sad country — sought refuge on the French coast of the Gulf of Biscaya. Consequently, every place, down to the smallest village on that coast, was literally crammed with genuine blue-blooded caballeros and senoras. Now it was only natural that in so large a number of representatives of one country there should be all imaginable varieties, genera, and species: Carlists, Alfonsists, Isabellists, Amadeists, Serranists, Esparte- rists, Cabrerists, and no end of other "ists," all con- spiring, all gesticulating, all talking at the same time, though somewhat different nonsense; but almost all charming men, accompanied very often by still more charming women. Biarritz, the fashionable Imperialist watering-place, diffei's greatly from anything that the traveller meets on his approaching the Spanish frontier. The little BATONNE AND BIARRITZ. 21 town, or more correctly the little village, is built on an exceedingly ugly spot, almost without any vestige of gardens or shady grove. It is evidently a place predestined to serve as a resort for people rather fonder of parasols than of leafy canopies. The houses are small and irregularly-shaped, without any reference either to the comfortable or the picturesque ; and the few large mansions which have been erected by Napo- leon and some of his counsellors and friends are cal- culated only to exhibit still more strongly the general ugliness of the place. The largest building in that way, the Yilla Eugenie, looks more like a reformatory or some cavalry barracks than like a villa. One wonders now what could have ever induced the late Emperor to select this spot for 'embellishment, except that it was near Spain — which he had all reasons for disliking — and that it offered excellent sea-bathing, which he seldom, if ever, indulged in. Sitting on the shore, and looking at w^hat Napoleon contrived to call into existence at Biarritz, one feels more than ever inclined to give a sad smile at the memory of the Empire. What a vast amount of money spent to create a summer residence for the Empress " when she becomes a widow " (and not able to live in France) ! What an amount of artifice conceived in preparing friendly arm-in-arm walks with Bismarck, during which, under the softeninoj influence of the blue sea and the blue mountains, the fate of Europe was supposed to be decided, though in reality nothing was decided, except the catastrophe to the creator of Biarritz and to the nation which paid for this creation ! All this, however, does not prevent Biarritz from 22 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. being an excellent place to take a sea-bath, for the two establishments offer every comfort in that way, and the beach in front of the Casino is of a description which can hardly be found anywhere else, the bottom of the sea being as smooth as the best polished marble, and the rollers all that can be wished for. The coast itself is also capable of affording no end of enjoyment to people endowed with a little taste for the picturesque. Seldom do you find a place where, within the same limited space, the waves break in so great variety of beautiful modes. On one spot you see them rolling softly, harmoniously, as though kissing the shore, and whispering to it sweet words of love ; while close by, they dash furiously, like so many gigantic, white-robed, mad women. Here they break abruptly against a cllft^ and are thrown back in silver spray ; there they quietly spread themselves in a rich carpet, whiter than snow itself. The Spanish coast is seen from Biarritz to the best advantage, the sharp lines of the mountains being all softened down, and the perpetual play of light and shade, and the variety of color, giving the whole picture quite a fairy touch. If Biarritz had not been trans- formed into a country branch of "the vast cafe-restau- rant called Paris," it would certainly have soon become a favorite resort of true lovers of good bathing and fine sea-side views. But it is a place at which you should never avert your eye from the sea. As soon as you cast your glance across the landscape, you are at once oppressed with the utter dreariness of the scene ; the town itself is unbearable, and the neighboring country as near an approacih to the Landes as can be found in the whole of that otherwise picturesque corner of France. BATONNE AND BIARRITZ. 23 The yearly invasion of distinguished foreigners and of Paris fashionables has also given quite a peculiar character to the population of Biarritz. Men and beasts, women and children, seem all to look different from what they are in other parts of the Basses Pyre- nees. The national Basque costume is almost given up, as is also the Basque language. The muleteer, though a thorough Spaniard, does not look any longer a genuine one, for he is mixed up here with sham Turks, sham Arabs, and sham everything else, as if it were in a masquerade. Instead of working all the year round, the population works only three months, the main feature of their work being that of cheating everybody in eveiy way, and to an extent which secures them a most comfortable livelihood during the remaining nine months. As long as the Empire lasted, there was at least the guarantee of fashionable, if not always re- spectable, society offered to the rich traveller by the excessive prices of living ; while at present even this advantage is gone, and the Casino of Biarritz, in which baccarat is now carried on all the year round, will probably soon transform Biarritz into about the worst place of that sort in the whole of Europe. To the student of men and manners, St.-Jean-de- Luz is the place which offers most attractions in this neighborhood, for, although there still exists a large number of Basque villages in France, there is no really Basque town except St.-Jean-de-Luz. Everything is here as of old, the piety^, the virtue of the peojjle, their 24 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. quaint sharpness, their tongue, their costume, the agility of their movements, down even to their bhie berets and white alpargatas (hempen sandals), and to the unbeara- ble cries of their female street-hawkers. You feel at once you are far from the northern regions, where a man has to think of his dear fuel, his dear provisions, and the high rent he pays for his shelter. Of fuel the Basque requires next to none ; the food is cheap, and he means it to be good too ; as to the shelter, although he has always a good one, he does not concern himself much about it, as his whole life is passed outside the house, in the street, the field, and on the high road. His ancestors, who were always fighting, but never conquered, had all been ennobled by the princes to whom they swore allegiance, and the Basque has con- sequently up to our times preserved a kind of pride which gives boldness to his look, and makes him talk to you on terms of perfect equality. And in the majority of cases it is perfectly immateiial to him what tongue he talks — Basque, Spanish, or French; he knows them all equally well, though he immensely prefers his harsh-sounding native language. At the first glance you throw at the Basque peasant, yoii per- ceive by his quick and agile walk, his cleanly cotton costume, and his loud, harsh voice, that the man has not crept out of some black underground hole. The brownish, hard features of his face, quite open under the beret, tell of a life passed under cheerful sun rays ; and the bright though somewhat dreamy expression of his eyes seems to be full of praise of the beauties of the sea and mountain scenery, which they have ever contemplated. You cannot intimidate a man of this BATONNE AND BIARRITZ. 25 sort, for neither the majesty of the nature surrounding him, nor the violence of the enemy, has ever done so for centuries and centuries past. He is all blood and passion ; and if you offend him, he dashes at you, how- ever mighty or powerful you may be. When the Basque left his native place at the foot of the moun- tains and went to mix with the population north and east of him, he lost by and by his national character, and in the Beam and in the Landes you meet beggars on every step, while you find none in the so-called Labourd and the Soule. However dull St.-Jean-de-Luz may seem to a stranger, the Basque won't give it up on any consideration. The usurping sea tried to get it from him, and was actually swallowing up the town, but — a Gascon Gascon et demi — the Basques stopped it, and are now managing to raise their decaying capital to its former state of prosperity. The Basque likes even the gypsies he has so long harbored at considerable danger to himself, for it is probably thanks to gypsies that the inhabitants of St.- Jean-de-Luz w^ere formerly accused of witchcraft and burned alive en masse. He made even these gypsies work as steadily as he does himself; at least if the male gypsies do not still work much, the female do. Known under the name of cascaroUes^ they are all engaged in the fish trade, and from six o'clock in the morning the whole town is resounding with the pier- cing, unbearable cries of " Sardmas ! Sardi-i-nas ! " Formerly, when the railway from Bayonne was not completed, the most valiant cascarottes used to start at five o'clock in the morning to Bayonne, some thirteen miles distant, and returning by noon were off again at 26 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. two P. M., and back at sunset, running thus — for they never walk, they trot — barefooted, something over fifty miles a day ; and in the evening, after the com- pletion of their laborious task, they were dancing on the beach of St.-Jean. This dancing is another quite original aifair here. The cascarottes dance almost the ^^vhq fandango as the Basques, but they dance it without music, to the sing- ing and the clapping of hands of the spectators. The more regular lL^?^^Q[\\Q fandango can, however, be al- ways seen on Sundays, either at 'the special squares arranged in every village for the pelota {jeu de paume), or at St.-Jean, in front of the bathing establishment. The orchestra consists, as a rule, of a bad violin and still worse liorn. Two big empty casks with two planks on them, two old chaiis on these planks, and two bad musicians upon the chairs, are deemed sufficient to enliven the dance. The sounds they get out of their instruments are something horrible ; nevertheless, you can sit for hours looking at the graceful movements of both men and women. Perpetual wars have developed in the Basque a taste for bodily exercise, and bodily exercise has produced agility and gracefulness. Every one knows what fierce and invincible finjhtinor material was at all times found in these more or less direct descendants of the Iberian tribes which, as traditions report, used, when besieged and reduced to the extremi- ty of hunger, to eat their wives and children, salting such parts of the flesh as they could not consume in a fresh condition. The Roman soldiers who went out to fight the Vascons were sure never to return ; and the Moors, after having conquered the whole of the B A TONNE AND BTARRITZ. 27 Peninsulff, could never enter the so-called Basque provinces of Spain, the population of which is absolutely the same as on this side of the Pyrenees. The only difference between the French and the Spanish Basques is, that the former looks much more civilized, much more tamed down — a circumstance which may be, per- haps, accounted for on the principle of that process to which M. Michelet alludes, when he says that the people of France are a nation of barbarians civilized by conscription. The Spanish Basque, who never knew whjit conscription was, and always fought for his privilege of not being compelled to fight, remains in a state of cHjmparative savagery when put into juxtapo- sition with the peasant from the Basses Pyrenees. Yet, if the improved Vascon has all the merits which can be wished for in a citizen of an orderly community ; if he is steady, hard-working, and intelligent ; if his religious and moral character is irreproachable, — woe, nevertheless, to those who are dependent upon him ; he will suck the last drop of blood X)ut of them ; and there is no greater misery to be seen in France than where the small Basque capitalist comes into contact with the laborer of a neighboring and poorer county. Yet the Basque is good-natured, kind, and rather poetical in his aspirations. The Basque literature, which is almost all manuscript, or even oral, as preserved in the national ballads, is said to be rich, and to have many charms in its way. 1 give here a verse of a popular song, which may at least shov/ how the lan- guage looks in print, and a Fjench translation to it, boriowed from a local writer, as I have never been able to catch, myself; a single word of Basque except " Urrc," or " Urra," which means, I think, water. 28 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. Tchorrittona, nourat houa, * Bi hegalez, airian? Espagnalat jouaiteko, Elhurra duk bortian : Algarreki jouanengutuk Elhurra hourtzen denian. Petit oiseau, blanche nacelle, Qui fait en I'air vogucr son aile, D'Espagne gagnes-tu les monts? Dans les ports que Thiver assiege, Laisse, crois-moi, fondre la neige : Ensemble nous les passerons. Although neighbors, as a rule, seldom live on friendly terms, on the Spanish frontier of France peace has never been disturbed. An explanation of this may be found in the fact that it is not actually Frenchmen and Spaniards who meet on that frontier, but the Basques of France and the Basques of Spain ; and as all the Basques of Spain are Carlists, they turned the French Basques into Carlists too. At all events, the personal support which Carlism obtains in the frontier villages is quite as efficient as the material support which its leaders receive at Bayonne. Every Carlist that has, for some reason or other, to enter France, is sure to find a safe and hospitable home ; and the cure Santa Cruz has lived at St.-Jean-de-Luz for months and months, both before entering Spain and after having fled thence, and though the police and the gendarmes were daily and nightly on loot to discover him, they had never any chance of success. Since the advent of Marshal McMahon, the importation of arms and other war materials had also been greatly facilitated. BAYONNE AND BIARRITZ. 29 There exist in the south of France two lines of custom- house : the first runs through Bayonne, along the Southern railroad; the other along the frontier itself. A decree of M. Thiers, of March, 1873, prohibited the transfer of arms and war material beyond the first of those lines, so that anything that the Carlists wished to bring into Spain could be stopped at Bayonne, and all along the road from Bayonne to the frontier. The chances of such materials being captured were thus greatly increased. But after Marshal McMahon had assumed power, the French Legitimists in Paris managed somehow or other to have that decree annulled, so that arms and^war material could be brought close to the frontier without interruption by any one ; and as there is nothing more easy than to smuggle them during the night through the endless mountain and forest paths, all those who wished to support the Spanish Pretender found useful * and even profitable employ- ment. I begin to think, however, that we ought to pro- gress more speedily towards those mountains. We touch already La Rhune, the first Pyrenean height in this part of the country, and the only one which Paris excursionists attempt to ascend, when anxious to have a look at the Spanish territory. But we have to go much farther than they go, and tliough in Spain things se empiezan tarde^ y se acaban nunca (are commenced late and finished never), in this business-like country the same principle "would not answer." So let us get rid of Biarritz, Bayonne, and the Basques, and proceed at once to the sad but charming land tras los monies. 30 SPAIN AND THR SPANIARDS, CHAPTER II. FIEST VISIT TO THE CARLIST CAMPS. NEVER would I have thought, on leaving London, that I should have to take to smuggling, and be transformed into a mysterious Spanish contrahandista. Yet such was the case. To be able to get on a sure footing among the partisans of Charles VI I., one wanted, first of all, to get the necessary permission and safe- conduct from General Elio. He being, however, in the mountains, I had to depend upon Cailist representa- tives at Bayonne for finding out his whereabouts. One of them, a most accomplished gentleman, said he would do everything in his power, provided I would not ob- ject to going somewhat out of the usual way of trav- elling, and would for a few hours submit to certain restrictions of my free-will. It was impossible to go straight by the high road to the frontier, for M. Thiers' gendarmes and soldiers, posted at all the frontier cus- tom-houses, had strict instructions to let no one pass into such portions of Spain as were occupied by the Carlists. Those who wished to go to the Peninsula had to go either md Irun, the only frontier town still in Republican hands, or take a steamer at Marseilles to Barcelona, or at Bayonne to San Sebastian, Bilbao, or Santander. But it was only in theory, not in actual FIRST VISIT TO THE CARLIST CAMPS. 31 practice, that communication with Carlij^t territory was cut off, for both arms and men did cross the frontier, only they did not cross it by the high roads, on which w^atch was kept. There are two railway lines from France to Spain ; the one runs via Bayonne, the other via Perpignan. Between these two lines, on the whole length of the Pyrenean chain, are several roads, with post coaches, old-fashioned inns, little custom-houses, stupid doua- niers^ most clever contrabandistas^ and all the rest of it. These roads are excellent and most picturesque, and the horses and mules of the locality think noth- ing of eight or even ten miles an hour, notwithstand- ing the road running all the time sharply up and down hill. It was on these roads that the close watch on Carlists had been established by M. Thiers. Every carl was searched, every carriage examined, every rider and pedestrian asked to give a full account of his intentions and his destination. But right and left of every one of these high roads are forest and mountain paths trodden out by shepherds and smugglers since times immemorial, and, as to their number and directions, defying all cal- culation. A few of them are comfortable enough for a clever mule to pass with its burden ; but no gen- darme or douanier^ however valiant he may be, has ever ventured to enter them ex officio. He would be lost if he did not meet any smuggler to show him the way, and would be murdered if he attempted to inter- fere w4th the man's avocation. These rocky, lonely tracks were now the leading thoroughfares of Carlism. On the day fixed for my starting, at about five o'clock in the afternoon, an elegant carriage and pair 32 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. drove to my hotel at Bayonne, and the waiter came to inform me that a gentleman was waiting for me. It was agreed beforehand that I should have nothing in the way of luggage except an umbrella, a plaid, and a pocket revolver, upon the carrying of which I in- sisted, and which proved perfectly useless. I took good care not to make my friend wait, and found hira in the carriage, in company with something very simi- lar to a coffin. It occuj^ied the whole width of the front seat of the carriage, and was covered with a black cloth. Some passers-by began already to as- semble as we drove away, and my companion said that he was not sure that inquiries would not be made at his house as to whether any of his children had died. " If I had not to fetch you, I would have avoided the heading street," said he ; and on my inquiring what the coffin-like box contained, answered, with the heartiest laugh, " One of the two brass cannons you have seen the other day at L.'s country-house. But don't be uneasy about that. We shall get through all right. Besides, I told you you had to submit to my orders if you wished to pass." Of course, I answered I was not uneasy, though I had full reason to feel that, if the French authorities caught us, we should have no end of police troubles, while the Spanish would be almost justified in shooting us at sight. But, some- how or other, as soon as we were out of the walls of Bayonne, on the long and beautiful road of Donchari- nea, I forgot all about the uncomfortable article we were carrying, and the purpose for which we carried it. The weather had speedily changed on that after- noon. Towards six o'clock the sky was quite covered, FIRST VISIT TO THE CARLIST CAMPS. 33 and towards eight so lieavy a rain and so perfect a darkness set in that we both began to slumber. All at once the carriage stoppel, and a number of suspi- cious-looking persons appeared at both the doors. I was just about to ask my companion whether I would be permitted to get "uneasy" now, when I heard, " Ah, here are our men,'' and was asked to alight. I had still not made out what we were about, when the cofiin-like box was taken out of the carriage and carried off into an apparently quite impracticable wood, as nimbly as if it were a bundle of bamboos. The opera- tion was done in the twinkling of an eye, and the six men who carried avv^ay the heavy case looked, under the light which the carnage lanterns threw upon them, like so many gigantic highwaymen of some sensational novel. " It is their business now to carry that piece across, and we have nothing moie to care about," said my friend. " A couple of miles more drive and we shall have a good supper and a first-rate guide ; I am only sorry that the night is so shockingly bad, else you would surely have enjoyed the trip." About a mile this side of the Doncharinea bridge, in the middle of which passes the actual frontier line between Fi-ance and Spain, and on which any person fond of majestic positions can easily have the treat of trampling with one foot anarchical Spain, and with the other disreputable France, is a little village of the name of Ainhoue, the last French village on that road. The large inn here is ke])t by four exceedingly tall, ex- ceedingly dark, and exceedingly sharp sisters. The eldest, a spinster about forty-five, is the manageress 34 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. of the concern ; and should I ever know a man in want of a heroine for a romance, I shall send him to the auberge of Marie Osacar, to study that remarkable specimen of womankind. French, Spanish, and Bas- quese tongues are not only at her command, but are each used with somethings of a classical ele^yance. There is, besides, scarcely any patois in which she does not feel as comfortable as a fish in the water. On my expressing my astonishment at her versatility, she merely remarked that her line of business required it. And what this " line of business " is, would be by no means easy to describe in a word or two, as it is done when one speaks of commonplace human crea- tures. Besides being an inn-keeper, this worthy spin- ster is a money-lender, a political agent for Don Carlos, a police agent for the French prefect, a commission- merchant, the head of a band of smugglers, and a perfect master of all the gendarmes, custom-house officers, and every local authority, Spanish as well as French. When we arrived at her inn, she shook hands with my companion in a manner that showed that they were old and intimate friends. Some signifi- cant twinkles of the eye were exchanged, some un- intelligible Basque sentences uttered in an undertone voice, and all seemed to have been settled immedi- ately. An excellent rural sujiper was served to us, with a bottle of good Bordeaux, and as there were other people in the dining-room, we were officially informed by the amiable landlady, about ten o'clock, that our beds were ready. But that was simply a stroke of strategy calculated to make local customers retire, so as to enable her to put out the lights. The FIRST VISIT TO THE CARLIST CAMPS. 35 gendarmes were getting very particular, she said, and would not give up watching the house as long as they saw lights. So my friend and I had to lie down in bed for a while, and at about midnight she gently knocked at the door, informing us that "everything was ready." This " everything " consisted of a mys- terious and by no means attractive individual, wrapped in a nondescript rug, and armed with a heavy stick. " Pray don't make the slightest noise, gentlemen," recommended the clever spinster. "Your very steps should not be heard, else the dogs are sure to raise an infernal barking all over the village, and you will at once have the gendarmes rushing at you. Don't open your umbrellas either, for the fall of rain upon them would certainly be heard." Such and similar were the experien-ced female's advices, all of which we duly complied with, and passed the village as successfully as any escaping bur- glar ever did. Our guide, in his soundless sandals, was, while marching ahead of us, no more audible than our shadow would have been, and we really did all that was in our power to imitate him. We began to breathe freely only when quite out of the village, and away from the high road. It would be perfectly idle on my part to attempt to describe this pedestrian night tour. We were thor- oughly wet in a few minutes, and had some seven miles to scramble over forest and mountain paths, in themselves probably very picturesque ; but I saw noth- ing but darkness, and felt nothing but rain and most slippery mud. Now and then our guide stopped and seemed to listen to something ; nothing, however, was 36 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. to be heard except the heavy fall of rain on the trees and the distant roll of mountain streams. It took us two monotonous and tiresome hours to reach the actual frontier, and to bring ourselves out of the jurisdiction of the French gendarmes, and another hour's quite as fatiguing walk put us face to face with the first Carlist outpost. Of course, there came the usual " Halt !" " Who are you?" "I will shoot you!" and similar exclamations, more or less justified by the profound darkness we were plunged in. By and by, however, everything was satisfactorily explained, and we were escorted to the old deserted monastery of the first Spanish vil- lage, called Urdax, where a couple of rooms were pro- visionally fitted up for General Elio, the actual com- mander-in-chief of the whole Carlist army, but nomi- nally "the Minister of War and Head of the General Staff of His Majesty Charles YII., King of all Spains." It was nearly four o'clock in the morning, and as one may imagine, the old gentleman we wanted was sound asleep. But a Carlist colonel, quite as old as the general himself, a companion in arms of his in the Seven Years' War, and now his temporary aide-de- camp, said that he had orders to awaken El Excelen- tisimo Senor General whenever any one arrived or any news was brought ; and with a tallow candle, without even a substitute for a candlestick in his hand, he showed us the way to the general's bedroom. On an immense old-fashioned bed, with discolored chintz curtains, was lying an old man with a full gray beard, and a colored silk handkerchief tied on his head. There was not the slightest vestige of any FIRST VISIT TO THE CAR LIST CAMPS. 37 military attribute in the room, and looking at the old man in his night garment, one would have taken him for a retired lawyer, retired professor, retired trades- man — for anything retired, but never for a general in active service at ihe head of a incoherent mass of vol- unteers, bearing, to the common belief of the outside world, a very close similarity to brigands. The old gentlemnn gave me full leisure to examine him and his entourage^ for he did not take the slightest notice of me till he had put on his spectacles, lighted a cigar, and looked through a large bundle of letters which my companion had brought him. Now and then he put him a question, or requested liim to read something he could not make out himself, and it was only when he had gone through the whole correspondence, that he asked my fellow-traveller who I was, and what he brought me for. I was then introduced, handed him my credentials, and explained the object of my visit. " O, I shall be very glad," answered he, with the kindest smile, "to give you any information I can; and, if I were a qu.'irter of a century younger, I should have at once got up and had a talk with you. But I am too old for that. Besides, I suppose you want something more than to have a mere talk. You want to see something. So we will arrange things differ- ently. Your friend will return to Bnyonne, wliile you had better stay here over night, and we shall see to- morrow what we have to do. Mennwhile, I advise you both to dry your clothes, and to have a glass of aguardiente with some hot water, if there is any to be had. That will answer for punch." And thereupon the old pro tempore aide-de-camp was ordered to take 38 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. care of us, the general wishing all of us huenas noches. In the next room a stoat old priest, in a rather greasy cassock and a little black velvet cap, his housekeeper just as stout and greasy as himself, and wrapped in an old-fjisbioned shawl, and a couple of old Carlist officers, were already assembled. The news of the arrival of strangers had evidently spread amongst the inhabitants of the deserted cloister, and they all got up, anxious to hear whether there were any noticias. Some choco- late, aguardiente, sugar, water, and cigarettes were iii readiness on the table, and a bright wood fire was pleasantly crackling in the huge, ancient-looking fire- grate. The reception was most friendly and homely. An apology was made for the absence of any fresh socks, but two pairs of new hempen sandals were brought forward, to enable us to get rid of our wet boots, while the cure insisted upon our rubbing our feet with some salt and vinegar, as upon a cosa muy hueiia. And while we were thus drying, cleaning, and restoring ourselves, all sorts of questions poured upon us like another shower. "Where was S. M. El Rey? What was said in Europe? Did many people in France, England, and America turn into Cnrlists ? Were there any arms going to be sent? Was any money forthcoming in support of the great causa? Would Henri V. soon ascend the throne of France?" and so on. We were anxious to satisfy our hospitable hosts to the best of our ability, but still more anxious to ascertain whether there was any chance of procur- ing a rideable beast for my companion and a bed for myself. The old housekeeper was the first to perceive FIRST VISIT TO THE CARLIST CAMPS. 39 our cravings, and, thanks to her, after about an hour and a half of gossip, I was lying in a hard but clean bed, and my friend carried off as far as the frontier by the old, yet still sure-footed, mule of the fat Senor cura. My bed was in the same room where we were drying ourselves. It was looking very unattractive when we came in, but as I noticed that the sheets and pillow- cases were changed by the stout housekeeper, whilst our conversation was going on, I lay down in full con- fidence, and slept as sweetly as if I had been in some friend's country-house in Kent or Massachusetts. Early next morning, — or rather in a couple of hours, for I went to bed after five A. M., — I was awakened by some noise in the room, and saw, much to my aston- ishment, the old colonel busily engaged in instructing a niuchacho^ or volunteer lad, how, if not exactly to polish, at least to clean my boots. I jumped out of the bed as quickly as I could, and tried to persuade the colonel that there was no occasion for his taking any trouble of that sort; but my exhortation made the matter only worse, for he took the brush and boots out of the lad's hands, and began violently to brush them himself. A regular struggle ensued between us, and though I managed finally to get the boots out of his possession, things did not much improve on that ac- count; for in a few minutes he appeared with a basin of water, wherewith I had to wash myself, and a little later with my coat, plaid, and umbrella perfectly dried and cleaned, and I learned also that the bed I had slept in was his bed. It was evident that he mistook me for some important person, and wishing to render himself generally useful, overdid the hospitality which one is 40 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. always sure to meet on tlie part of the simple-minded country folk in Spain. That our colonel was very sim- ple-minded indeed, will probably be clear without my pointing it out. He entered the ranks of the Carlists as a private in 1833, and rose to a colonelcy through sheer courage. He retired to Iiis native village when the war was over, and had now reappeared, again to take part in the struggle. His occupations at home were, perhaps, of a nature which caused him to Iook at boot-cleaning as quite a pleasant sort of work for a change, since boots ai'e a thing almost unknown in the Basque provinces, scarcely anything being used but hempen sandals. Still I must avow that the sight of a boot-cleaning colonel, when one first visits a foreign army, produces a rather queer impression. Yet I saw that man frequently afterwards, tried to study lum, and never lound in his natuie anything but profound self-es- teem, unlimited courage, and quite an un-Spanisli sense of duty. Only, good gracious! what a thick skull that old fellow had ! It was truly a dura cabeza JEspanola. Scarcely had I time to dress when the colonel ap- peared again, saying that El Excelentisimo Seiior Gen- eral asked for me. I went into the next room, and found the old gentleman seated at a table, answering the letters brought to him during the night. He was dressed in private clothes, and a casual visitor, on seeing his venerable face and peaceful spectacles, would have probably taken him for a medical man writing pre- scriptions. Two little cups of thick chocolate, with bits of dry toast, and two glasses of water, were brought in by the old aide-de-camp, and the general invited me to take breakfast. FIRST VISIT TO THE CAR LIST CAMPS. 41 " I am glad you have arrived so timely," said Le to me ; " I am going to have an inspeclion tour tiiis morn- ing, and, if you like, I can offer you a seat in a liltle carriage which they have provided for me. We may remain on the tour for several days, and may have sometimes hard fare, and perhaps hard lodging, cer- tainly rain ; but that, I suppose, will not frighten you, else you wouhi not have come here." I thanked the general, nnd gladly accepted his invi- tation, but, being then fresh to Carlist work, wondered only how I should proceed on an expedition of several days, having not even a shirt or a tooth-brush with me. As he said, howevei-, that he had some more letters to write, and that I had time to take a walk about tlie viUage, I thought I might get a chance of sending a note to Bayonne, and receive some of my thmgs, if not the same day, at least before our journey was over. Urdax is a miserable little village, situaied in a kind of loophole, and within about a mile from the French frontier. It consists of scarcely a hundred houses, but the village must have been a prosperous one formerly, for some of the houses are of a very substantial appear- ance, with coats of arms on the entrance-doors, and with everything to denote that the proprietors were enjoying a comfortable income. As a matter of course, the chief occupation of its inhabitants was smuggling. But, at the time I was at Urdax, no business of any sort was transacted, nor was there any one to carry it on, the wdiole village being occui)ied by Carlist volun- teers, only a few of whom were armed, the majority being all day long engaged in the village square either in beinoj drilled with sticks in their hands as substitutes 42 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. for rifles, or else in playing ball. The upper floor of the deserted convent, in a room of which the general was lodged, served as barracks for those volunteers who could not find lodging elsewhere ; while the basement, evidently containing formerly the monks' refectories and conversation-hall, was transferred into stables for the few horses and mules which the Urdax force had in its possession. When I came down into the square, I found the old colonel engaged in looking after an old four-wheeler inscribed Sermcio Particular^ and which was probably a remnant of some postal establishment. Five mules were being harnessed to it, and three volunteers were to form the general's guard on the journey. I won- dered in what way the colonel meant to make them escort us, but I soon found that the problem was very plainly solved. One volunteer got on the box by the side of the driver, and two inside the carriage together with us ; and when tlie general was ready with his let- ters, away we rattled with a certain serious gayety, for there is always some sort of pleasurable excitement in getting oflT. Our cheerfulness was, however, justified by the fact that the cannon which had been left in the wood on the previous night, was now lying on the ground in the middle of the square, and some five hun- dred volunteers assembled around it were getting quite mad, crying. Viva Carlos SetiTno! Viva El Ge7ieral Elio ! Viva el canon! and viva a good many things else. The six contrabandistas got two hundied and fifty francs, plenty of wine, plenty of cheers, and started back with fresh instructions to be carried out on an- other i^oint on the next day. "The cannon has not FIRST VISIT TO THE CARLIST CAMPS. 43 yet either a gun-carriage or any ammunition," said the general, " but still it is something that we have got this much. Don't they look happy, the chicosf'' (little ones) added he, with a smile of satisfaction ; and leav- ing them in their martial exhilaration, we entered the carriage, the old boot-cleaning colonel, who did not go with us, promising me to forward my note to Bayonne, and thus giving me the prospect that, at least on my return to Urdax, I should get a clean shirt. General Elio is the oldest leading member of the Carlist party, and is, at the same time, regarded as their ablest man. Constant personal intercourse dur- ing our journey, and the frequent opportunities I had subsequently both of seeing the general at work and of talking to him, entitle me to say that I found him to be a most accomplished and able man, — I was almost going to say a genius in his way, — and, strange as it may sound, one of the most liberal Royalists I know either in France or Spain. He has lived many years an exile in various countries of Europe, and has thus acquired a thorough knowledge of their institutions. It is impossible for any one to look more like an old Englishman than the general does, when travelling with his English passport, and with his umbrella, gaiters, felt hat, and similar articles — all marked with the names of London makers. This old soldier began life under Ferdinand VII., as an officer of the Royal Guards. He was a colonel at the time of the death of that king (1833), and was among 44 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. the first who fcrmed the Carlist party ui^on the abroga- tion of the Salic law, by wliich abrogation Carlos V. was deprived of his rights to the inheritance of the throne of Spain after the death of his brother. Dur- ing the war for the liglits of the aspirant thus put aside, — known in Carlist history as the Seven Years' War, — Elio commanded a brigade ; and driving now up and down the liills of Navarre, he constantly pointed to nie villages and other places where there were com- bats in the old time, evidently regretting that he no longer possessed I he physical vigor of forty years ago. When, in 1839, the Carlist struggle came to an end, Elio went abroad with Charles Y,, and had but few opportunities to take any part in politics until 1860, when he joined Ortega's attempt to bring upon the throne Count de Montemolin (Charles YI.). Ortega was Governor-General of the Balearic Islands, and con- ceived the idea of raising the garrison under his com- mand in favor of Charles YI. He landed with his adhei ents on the Catalonian coast, near Tortosa ; but the attempt proved a failure, and both Ortega and Elio were captured at San Carlos de la Rapita, and con- demned to be shot. During his long residence in France, Elio had, however, foimed many frien and I have been already over and over again re- proached by old Carlists for being too lenient towards the Republicans. What we want is to attract people, not to frighten them. I have given strict orders that whenever prisoners are taken they should be disarmed and released, as we neither want to keep them, nor desire to shoot them. The more Republicans we re- lease, the more will their ranks get demoralized. A man fights quite differently when he knows that, if captured, he will be executed. He prefers then to die on the battle-field. While now, by releasing prisoners, I in- duce them to fight less steadily and to surrender more easily. What does it matter to me that the snme man will appear three or four times in the ranks against my troops ? The more times he appears, the more I am sure o^ his being a bud soldier." FIRST VISIT TO THE CAR LIST CAMPS. 53 These words of tlie general often came to my mem- ory subsequently, when I saw Carlists fighting, and when I witnessed, as in the case of Estella, for in- stance, over six hundred prisoners disarmed and sent under escort to Pampelona, so as to protect them from an attack of the infuriated NavaiTc peasants on their journey. And the policy of, in this way, demoralizing the enemy's ranks has certainly been one of the most successful measures the general has adopted. " Of course," continued he, coming to this subject over and over again, '• I cannot be answerable for oc- casional accidents which may occur now and then. A chief of a partida volaiite might capture sometimes a few militiamen {3figueUtes) against whom the Carlists are particularly angry because they are voluntary, not per force soldiers. Such men might be sometimes killed, without or with the sanction of the commander of the band. But these things cannot be helped in w^ar. Then again, where is justice when people speak of us being murderers and assassins when we shoot a spy, w^hile the Republicans, when they torture and massacre men whom they suspect of Carlism, are rep- resented as merely using just measures of severity. My owm brother, the Vicar of Pampelona, has now been for several months imprisoned in an underground cell of the citadel of that town, and as he is almost as old a man as myself, he is pretty sure to see his life's end there. Dorregaray's mother and sister are also in prison at Santander, and when in the skirmishes any Carlists are taken prisoners, they are not only shot, but their bodies are mutilated. People talk also about our enlisting men forcibly. Well, you will see yourself, 54 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. if you remain here some time, that we have more men than we can possibly make use of. Why should we take men by force when we have not arms enough to give to those who come willingly ? All the miser- able calumnies spread about us will cool down by and by ; I am perfectly sure of that. " There are one or two points more in which public opinion in Europe abuses us. One is our stopping the railway traffic in the North of Spain, and the other our alleged attacks upon and robbery of peaceful travel- lers. With reference to the railway traffic, I can tell you I am constantly in negotiation with the same M. Pollack whom you have seen at Bayonne, and if we have not arrived yet at any result, it is not our fault. I told him over and over again, and urged him to use Pereira's influence, since he is the chief proprietor of the railway, for re-establishing the traffic upon the condition that no troops or war material should be carried by rail. If Pereira and his agents cannot ar- range that matter with the Madrid government, we, on our part, cannot permit the enemy to turn against us the advantage which would be derived from rail- way communication. As to our attacking and robbing peaceful travellers, and especially women, that is pure nonsense. I don't believe that any man, and certainly no woman, has ever been molested or robbed, except by bandits, wdio may, on a lonely road, attack a travel- ling party and give themselves out as Carlists. All I could, do was to give orders to shoot oft-hand every man who could be proved to have been guilty of any- thing of that sort. The cure Santa Cruz himself is now mider sentence of death for having disobeyed the FIRST VISIT TO THE CARLIST CAMPS. 55 commander of his province, General Lizarraga. Sev- eral reports had been circulating that Santa Cruz's men, who formed at the outbreak of the war a very useful flying party, had lately committed many acts of vio- lence. How far this was correct, I have not yet been able to ascertain. I believe the reports to have been greatly exaggerated. However, I directed Lizarraga to incorporate Santa Cruz's men into his own force, and to put Santa Cruz himself under more stringent control. The cure refused to obey this order, and I have, without the slightest hesitation, confirmed Lizar- raga's sentence, by which Santa Cruz is to be shot as soon as he is caught." ' While we were thus talking about the now sadly celebrated cure, our carriage was driving nearer to Elizondo, and on the right hand side of the road, the general pointed out to me a little village high up in the mountains. "Do you see those little white houses?" asked he. " Well, that village is called Lecaroz; I had often to stay there during the Seven Years' War, and for the fact of my having been there, and its inhabitants not having communicated to the Christinos information of my whereabouts, and of the number of men and the quantity of arms I possessed, the whole of the village was burned to the ground ; and the male population were ranged in a line, and every tenth man of them shot by Mina. Now, we have never done anything of that sort. That was the work of the Liberals, supported by the English, the Portuguese, and the French." Several times, also, did the conversation turn to- 66 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. wards the Pretender, and on my expressing some curi- osity as to what sort of person " the king " was, Gen- eral Elio spoke, as nearly as I can remember, some- thing to this purpose : — " He is intelligent, very kind-hearted, and of un- doubted personal courage, but I am unable to say whether he will be distmsjuished as a statesman. Many intelligent men have failed as statesmen, while many persons of inferior intelligence have proved quite equal to the little statesmanship lequired in a sover- eign. Several countries, we know," added he, with his good-natured smile, " could, I believe, supply illus- trations of this." I agreed with him, but remarked that he was not quite justified in referring to constitutional govern- ments, when Don Carlos was commonly recognized as the representative of absolutist theories, and his answer was, — " You are greatly mistaken if you think that the king ever dreamed of absolute power. He knows, and his counsellors know still better, that absolutism is impossible in our days. He understands also the bad policy of giving any secular powder to the clergy. The legitimate monarchy in Spain will not only rule with the advice of the Cortes, but will restore all the ancient franchises — the fueros^ as we call them — which have been violated in turn by all the progres- sive parties. It will support religion, of course, but will not go a step beyond what the religious feeling of the people requires in that respect. Our enemies say ice will overrun the country with monks and priests. This is simply nonsense. If any person is disposed to FIRST VISIT TO THE CARL 1ST CAMPS. 57 a monastic life, government, it seems to me, has as little business to op}Dose it as to encourage it. There is — or rather was — among our peasantiy, and even among our educated classes, a religious fervor that may be deemed fanatical ; and if our monks were fanatics, it was not because they were monks, but because they were Spaniards. If I should call a true, good Carlist in the next village, and tell him that one of our detachments had been beaten somewhere, he would not believe me. He would answer that God would not permit Carlistas to be beaten. You cannot make such people less fanatical or less religious by closing the monasteries, as the Progresistas did. A foolish and unjust measure hke that could never have had any other consequence thnn what we see — that is, the increase of the very fanaticism it strove to stamp out. And, say what you may against the monks, if you studied the Basque provinces, where priests and monks have always been powerful, you would see much in their favor. There is not a single peasant in these piovinces — man or woman — who does not write grammatically and in a clear hand the Basque language, and many write equally well the Spanish language too. Their good health is the result of their morality. Not only are there no l)eggars here, but distressing ]^overty is almost unknown. Much of this is due to the priest- hood, and the remainder to what the priests help them to maintain — the ancient privileges of the Basque provinces and Navarre. We enjoyed here, up till Christina's time, the most pei-1'ect self government, and never knew what conscription meant. Over and over again have I voted here as a landlord of Navarre on 58 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. a footing of perfect equality with the poorest of my farmers. You are surprised at the strength and cour- age of our young volunteers, some of whom, as you have seen, are scarcely sixteen years old. It is the result only of their pure lives, and the absence of that source of ruin to the young men of other countries — the conscription, with its barrack life and all the vices of large cities. It is not amidst the fresh air and rocky soil of these mountains that people can ever get demoralized. Some of these lads have never been even as far as Pamplona or Vitoria, and all they know of the world at large is what the cura and the muleteer tell them. I can assure you that every one who has lived here feels as certain as I do, that neither the intense religious feelings, nor loyalty to the ancient monarchical institutions, can ever be eradicated from the minds of the people in the Vasco-Navarre prov- inces, unless the very face of the country is changed, and these mountains are levelled to the ground. I believe that all the Republicans of Spain can be easily enough made Monarchists, but never will the moun- taineers be made Republicans. And we have moun- tains and mountaineers everywhere over the Penin- sula.'' As a matter of -course, a journalist representing an American paper could not leave the question of Cuba untouched, and I had to bring the general on the subject. " Well," replied he, " it is difficult to say anything positive at present. Slavery, of course, will be abolished, and a special constitution will be granted to the colony. But you are probably anxious to know whether the FiJiST VISIT TO THE CARLIST CAMPS. 59 king could be induced to part with any portion of the Spanish dominion in the New World. To this I must say that no government could safely venture such a policy. Its declaration to that effect would be its own 'death-warrant, for it would appear to balance meaner considerations against national feeling. My own opinion is — and I believe that, to a certain extent, this is also the king's opinion — that colonial policy is simply a con- sideration of debtor and creditor accounts. If a colony pays, keep it ; if it is a loss and a burden, cut it adrift. The English colonial disintegration party is rational. But the subject is tangled with sentiments of nation- ality and pride ; and you see that even the English government, so strong and powerful, dare not declare plainly the colonial policy in which they seem to be- lieve. How, then, can any Spanish government be asked to do so ? If we could sell Cuba, we should, by a stroke of the pen, restore our national finances. But to make such a sale a most powerful hand is needed, and no hand can be powerful — and in Spain less than anywhere — unless it holds plenty of money. Thus there is a vicious circle ; we could not sell Cuba, save in a condition that would make its sale superfluous. This is a vital topic with us. It will come up often, and we must only endeavor to prevent, by all proper good-will and courtesy towards the American govern- ment, the arising of any pretext for their occupying the island." Though when we started the general threatened me with the prospect of bad lodging and bad fare, we never 60 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. saw either on the whole of o^r journey. He was everywhere received witli open arms by the popula- tion, and either at the houses of the cures, or at those of some leading inhabitant, comfoitable meals were invariably waiting lor us ; so far comfortable, at least, as Spanish cooking allows. At the house of a rich proprietor at Elizondo, among others, we had a bottle of sherry, the taste of which I still remember, and which cannot be obtained anywhere except in those cathedral-like vaults called JBodegas^ which are the great attraction of every traveller at Jerez. At night we almost invariably returned to the little palacio of Bertiz, the property of General Elio's sister- in-law, which is situated on the junction of the San Estevan and Pamplona roads. The capital of Navarre was within a few miles of the place where we thus took our night's lodging, and half a dozen of German Uhlans would certainly have captured us there most easily. But, in the first place, there were no German Uhlans at Pamplona, and, in the second, the popula- tion around Bertiz would never have even inadvertently betrayed the temporary residence of the general. " We are quite safe here," said the old gentleman to me, on the first evening we went there to bed ; " I have drawn some curtains on the road from Pamplona. Two little flying parties, numbering about twenty-five men altogether, but commanded by two very old and expe- rienced ofiicers, are watching the road at a distance of a few miles from here, and should any suspicious move be made by the enemy, they are sure to awaken us in time. For the little risk run here we have the advantage of good beds, and of suppers without the oil and garlic, which you seem to dislike so much." FIRST VISIT TO THE CAR LIST CAMPS. 61 And really our beds were excellent, and garlic and oil were banished from the bill of fire, except in that kind of thick bread soup, which is quite a national supper dish in Spain, and which the old gentleman seemed to be exceedingly fond of But it was quite easy for me to dispense with it, since the supper was always so copious and the vegetables so delicious, that the most capricious appetite might have been con- tented. Never shall I forget the little artichokes, not larger than a middle-sized fig, and melting in one's mouth, outer leaves, brush-like core, and all else in- cluded. One could scarcely believe it to be the same vegetable that gives so much trouble to cook and con- sumer in other countries. During the day when the general was transacting business, I -walked about the villages, watching the country life of Navarre people, imd tlie first efiforts of the Carlists to organize themselves into something like an army. I must confess that the |)ictu!es I saw in these and subsequent wanderings contained much of ugliness, dirt, ignorance, and superstition ; but they contained also many elements of that sort of primitive virtue, self-denial, and courage, which always offer the most refreshing sight to a mind intoxicated and be- wildered by the contemplation of all the blessings of our much extolled civilization. 62 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. CHAPTER HI. BIOS, P ATRIA, Y EEY. THE heading of this chapter — God^ Fatherland^ and King — is the great Carlist motto, and tlie watch- word to which every peasant of the northern provinces of Spain answers by rushing to take up arms. Patria phiys, indeed, a much less important part in it than Dios and Hey^ for, whenever joyous shoutings are heard among Carlists, Fatherland is seldom mentioned. It is always " Yiva Carlos Setimo^'' " Viva la Religion^^ " Viva los Carlistas,''^ or Viva this or that special Car- list leader. Patria means, among the Carlist volun- teers, as a rule, their own particular province, often even their village only. Of Spain, as a whole, they don't know much, and care less still about it. Half of these men, being pure Basques, do not even understand Spanish at all. " Carlos jSetimo^^ sounds well enough when cried out by the enthusiastic and strong-voiced lads, but it looks rather queer when represented by the Pretender's crest figuring on the buttons, arras, and colors. It assumes then more the aspect of some chemical for- mula than of an^^thing else, for it is written in the plain way of C7., not in the form of a C more or less picturesquely intertwined with a YH, as one would ex- pect it to be. DIOS, P ATRIA, r RET. 63 Of the present Pretender the Navarre and Basque people know but very Httle. It is quite enough for them that he is M Rey^ and that his name is Carlos. They venerate in him the old tradition. And I am almost sure that the great majority of them firmly be- lieve him to be the son of Charles Y., under whom their fathers — in some cases even themselves — fought forty years ago. Thus to general causes which make these mountain tribes rise against any government established in Madrid, is added the intense feehng of hatred against those who inflicted upon the Basque provinces the calamities which these provinces had to bear during the Seven Years' War. So strong, indeed, is this feeling, that I have constantly heard the Repub- licans called by the name of Christinos^ which means soldiers of Queen Christina, a denomination evidently preserved from the former war. It is only the more civilized portion of the Carlist volunteers that under- stands that the present government of Madrid has noth- ing whatever to do with Christina, and accordingly calls the regulars by the nicknames of" Negros," " Liberales," " Progresistas," and the like. The mutual hatred and jealously amongst all the Spanish provinces have assumed in the Vasco-Navarre parts of the Peninsula such an intense form, that nothing short of some Madrid dic- tator, accepting the American principle, "Good Indians are only dead Indians," can put a stop to Carlism. Zumalacarregui, whatever might be thought of his hu- manity, was certainly not very wrong when he made up his mind to give no quarter to the enemy, a resolution to which the " Eliot Convention " put a stop. lie seemed to have accepted the rather plausible theory, 64 SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. that the more enemies he killed, the fewer would re- main. Such a principle, barbarous as it may look, was at all events sure, if acted upon on both sides, to lead to a speedy conclusion of the war, and probably to the final settlement of a pen