THE SUEZ MAIL.

Auckland Star, Volume V, Issue 1422, 2 September 1874, Page 2

THE SUEZ MAIL.

THE OARLIST WAR.—HORRIBLE ATROCITIES. Every one will regret to hear that Marshal Concha was killed at the head of his army while fighting with the Carlists in the neighbourhood of Estella. General Zabala has been appointed tho Marshal's successor. After the death of the Marshal the Republican army returned to its former position without disorder. Marshal Concha's last words were—" I die in the van of the army. An officer of hussars took up the body, and placing it upon his saddle, endeavoured to defend it against the Carlists, who were determined to effect its capture. The officer ultimately bad to let go his burden, but the Republican soldiers seized it and carried it away in safety. The Carlists mutilated the Republican wounded, cutting off their noses and ears and carrying their heads on the points of their bayonets. This conduct has produced great excitement among the Republicans, and will, it is feared, lead to sanguinary reprisals ; but the Government has resolved to prevent, as tar as it can, all acts of cruelty. The force engaged in the battle near Estella were about 20 000 on the Carlist side and 40,000 on that of the Republicans. The latter employed about 70 pieces of artillery, and the former made but little use of five small guns. The Republican loss, at the lowest estimate, was over 3,000 men, including about 320 prisoners, whilst the Carlists most certainly did not lose more than 400. The Republican Army, nevertheless, returned to its former positions without disorder, and without leaving any trophy in the hands of the enemy. It is stated on good authority that the available strength of the Republican army is as follows :—lnfantry, 120.000 ; cavalry, 10,000. This estimate does not include 43,000 men of the reserve.— Five thousand Carlist with 500 infantry, cavalry, under Don Alphonso, have attacked the town of Teruel, in Aragon. They were repulsed by the Republican troops with the loss of forty killed, many wounded, and 100 prisoners. From Madrid we learn that an En Tlish merchant, living at Linares, has been seized in the Sierra Morena by armed bandits, and that they havedemanded a considerable sum for his ransom.. The Pope has sent his blessing to the" Vicariate of Madrid and all its -mbjeets. As this embraces the whole national army, much significance is attached thereto, especially as his Holiness has not acknowledged the Bishop of TTrgel's felicitations for Saiat Peter's Day. The said Bishop is a Carlist. Senor Camacho, Minister of Finance, will shortly lay his budget before the Council of State. The revenue is estimated at 2,700,000,000 reals. -■ The Lyons Decentralisation, a rabid Legitimist organ, publishes a telegram it professes to have received direct from Estella, Klated June 30, which says :—" The inhabitants of the burnt villages have flocked hither demanding revenge. Dorregarry has had 400 Republican prisoners shot in tbebackas incendiaries. He has declared war without quarter to the enemy." The pious print in which this horrible piece of news appears with all the prominence type can give it does not find a syllable of blame or attempted extenuation of such atrocious butchery ; on the other hand it draws a terrible picture of the excesses of the Republican troops, which, it says, have left ruin behind them, have everywhere robbed, and sacked, and burnt, leaving villages completely destroyed. There are no reasonable grounds for believing that there is a word of truth iv this, but when the Carlists boastfully announce that they themselves have shot 300 prisoners in cold blood itf is difficult not to believe them. .:,

So long as the civil war in Spain was limited for the most part to bloodless manoeuvres and bootless skirmishes and to so-called battles which lasted all day and resulted in a few wounded and fewer still killed, it was difficult to take much interest in it. But the sanguinary and cruel character it has lately assumed will make others besides those immediately concerned desire to see it brought to an end. The murders and mutilations perpetrated by the butcher Dorregarry, who seems aspiring to rival the most ferocious chiefs of the Reven Years' War, cannot fail to arouse the horror and indignation p,f Europe, and will surely induce the French Government to take rigorous measures to prevent aid being facilitated to the Carlists frem the ports and aero 33 the frontier of France.