hat the
Chief, Merendon, has inaugurated a Carlist movement in Toledo, with a
well-armed force, exceeding 280 men--to wit, 150 horsemen and 130
infantry--and that he hopes shortly to gather numerous recruits. The
"Seccion de Noticias" makes up the body of the paper, and is richer in
information. We are told that the most excellent and illustrious Bishop
of Urgel, accompanied by several sacerdotal and other dignitaries,
arrived in the town of Urdaniz, at half-past seven on the previous
Wednesday evening. His Lordship rested a night in the house of the
Vicar, and left the following morning, escorted by his friend and host,
the said Vicar, Brigadier Gamundi, and Colonel D. Fermin Irribarren,
veterans of the Carlist army, for Elisondo. From that the prelate was
reported to have started to headquarters, "to salute the King of Spain,
august representative of the Christian monarchy, which is the only plank
of safety in the shipwreck of the country."

The _Cuartel Real_ warmly congratulates the Bishop on the fact of his
having come to the conviction that "the present war is a religious war,
and on that account eminently social"--(social in Spanish must have some
peculiar shade of meaning unknown to strangers, for otherwise there is
no sequence here)--and proceeds to speak with an eloquence that recalls
that wretched Republican, Castelar, of the standard of faith in which
resides Spanish honour and--here come two words that puzzle me, _la
hidalguia y la caballerosidad_; but I suppose they mean nobility and
chivalry, and everything of that kind. The next notice in the royal
gazette is purely military, and makes known that the siege of the
important town of Oyarzun has begun. "On the 20th the batteries opened
fire, and, according to report, the enemy had one hundred men _hors de
combat_." The batteries! There is a touch of genius in that phrase.
Reading it, one would imagine that the Royalists had a royal regiment of
artillery, and that eight pieces of cannon, at the very least, played
upon the unfortunate Oyarzun. A jennet with a 4-pounder at its heels
would be a more correct representation of the strength of the Carlist
ordnance.

To resume the story of the siege of Oyarzun. "On the 21st," adds _El
Cuartel Real_, "there was talk of a capitulation, and it is possible
that the place has surrendered at this hour." The paragraph that
succeeds it is a gem: "Of the 1,010 armed rebels in Eibar (Guipuzcoa),
210 betook themselves to Sa