No. 565.
Mr. Cushing to Mr. Fish.
Madrid , July 2, 1874, (Received July 23.)
Sir: The funeral ceremonies in honor of General Concha occurred today, the body being taken from the church of San José, in the calle de Alcada, (the parish church of the deceased,) and conveyed in procession of superior military and civil authorities of the nation, district, and city, with accompaniment of troops of all arms, by the calle de Alcadá, the Puerta del Sol, the Carrera de San Geronimo, and the Paseos, to the church of Atocha, where the final services were performed.
Particulars of the late military movements before Estella have now arrived.
General Concha’s death took place substantially under circumstances as stated in my dispatch No. 47, with this material difference only, that the shot of which he died entered the body on the left side, under the shoulder-blade, and came out through the right breast.
Reflection on the subject, with all the details before me, satisfies me that the failure of this attack on the defenses of Estella was not due exclusively, if in any great degree, to the death of General Concha.
The troops of the government were spread over a long line of at least twelve kilometers, in three separate divisions, and of course the enemy, operating from the center of this semi-circle, possessed advantages of defense superior to the means of attack in-the hands of General Concha.
[Page 892]The transportation of the latter seems to have been inadequate to the exigency; for the troops reached their destined positions so far in advance of the coming up of the train, that a long delay was necessary before they could be put in motion, and after all with but half rations, Meanwhile, this delay in the advance enabled the Carlists to see clearly what was the intended point of attack, and gave them time to mass at that point a body of troops apparently superior in numbers to those which could be brought up for the assault. In addition to this the attacking forces operated under the extreme disadvantage of the occurrence of rain-storms, which converted the field of movement into deep mud, so as physically to impede as well as morally to dishearten the assailing columns, which nevertheless made the assault with undeniable gallantry and courage, so as in effect to have carried several exterior lines of intrenchment, and then to have yielded at last only to superior numbers. In effect, the circumstances on this occasion of the attempt to carry Monte Muru, and the result, are strikingly similar to those which occurred in the attempt of General Serrano to carry the intrenchments of San Pedro Abanto last March. It is manifest that thus far the forces brought into the field by the government are utterly inadequate to combat successfully the Carlists, operating, as the latter do, not only in the Basque provinces and Navarre with constant assistance from France, but also in the secondary ranges of mountains traversing Aragon, Catalonia, and a large part of Valencia.
And yet it is difficult to see how the government is to obtain the additional hundred thousand men, which it ought to have in order to bring the war to a speedy conclusion. The present sum total, according to the best attainable estimates, is two hundred thousand men.
All the troops of reserve now being collected in depot or sent forward are youths of the age of nineteen, mozos, (boys,) as they are expressively called in the military language of the country. I have had the opportunity of seeing many thousands of these recruits here, who are in appearance intelligent and spirited, yet are much more slender in frame than regular troops of the same class in the United States.
I do not hear of any troops being sent forward to Cuba, where the captain-general seems to be left to such resources of men or money as he may be able to get together in the island.
According to the latest official estimates here the number of troops sent from the peninsula to Cuba, from the year 1869 down to the present day, is 82,500, of which number 36,412 have succumbed in the field or from disease, leaving only a nominal force of say 46,000, (many of whom must be invalids,) for present service of the government. In addition to which it deserves to be noted that a large number of muskets purchased by the last captain-general for use in Cuba have been withdrawn and ordered home for use in the peninsula.
It is not surprising that, under these circumstances, great discouragement should prevail in official circles here, to say nothing of more or less uncertainty respecting the purposes and actions of political parties throughout the country; with the great question rising above all others, whether or not, at some unexpected moment, the troops may not pronounce I—for it is no exaggeration to say that the political fortunes of Spain at all times during the present generation, and never more so than at the present time, are mainly dependent on the will of the army.
I have, &c,