No. 572.
Mr. Cushing to Mr. Fish.
Madrid, August 15, 1874. (Received September 3.)
Sir: Since the date of my dispatch No. 63, of July 20, some military events of importance have occurred, which I proceed to communicate. During this period, until within a few days, there has been a relative cessation of active movements in Navarre, as well as in the Basque provinces; but the war has been prosecuted with exceptional activity by the Carlists in Catalonia, Aragon, and Valencia, in which provinces there are not only numerous detached Carlist parties in action, but a large force united under the command of Don Alfonso de Este, being the same force which took and pillaged Cuenca.
After the Carlists had left Cuenca they were pursued, overtaken, and defeated by troops of the government.
Meanwhile, at Olot, in Catalonia, where the Carlists had a depot of prisoners of war, the statement is constant, in various forms, that, as incidentally referred to in my dispatch No. 66, of July 31, a large number of prisoners have been shot in cold blood—one hundred and sixty, according to some accounts, and more than two hundred, according to others; but, as yet, no official report on the subject has appeared, and the exact details, including the number of men shot, are still a matter of uncertainty.
In consequence of the activity of the Carlists in the region of country historically known as the Maestrazgo, which occupies a large portion of the province of Castellon, one of the three provinces into which the old kingdom of Valencia is divided, a new army corps has been constituted, [Page 907] entitled “the Array of the Center,” at the head of which has been placed Lieutenant-General D. Manuel Pavia, who distinguished himself a year ago in the suppression of insurrections in Seville and elsewhere in Andalusia; and who, as captain-general of New Castile, was the immediate author of the establishment of the present government. Important results are anticipated from his well-known activity and courage.
In the mean time the Carlists have made two desperate but unsuccessful attacks on the city of Ternel, capital of the province of that name in Upper Aragon, and they have broken up all communication by rail in a large part of Catalonia.
It is understood that General Pavia has already entered upon operations against the considerable force of the Carlists now concentrated under the command of Don Alfonso de Este at Chelva, in the Maestrazgo.
Finally it appears that operations are about to recommence at Navarre, after several weeks of quiescence on both sides. The Carlists surprised and pillaged La Guardia, a small town within a few miles of the headquarters of General Zavala, the commander-in-chief of the army of the north, threw up fortifications at Oteiza, in advance of Estella, and pushed a column to Miranda de Ebro. On the other hand, the Carlists have been driven from Oteiza by a division of government troops under command of the captain-general of Navarre, General Mori ones. And it appears that General Zavala has now moved forward to Miranda de Ebro. But there is no public information as to General Zavala’s plan of campaign. Its importance, however, cannot be overestimated, for, if successful, he will undoubtedly break the force of the Carlists, suffering as they are for want of munitions of war and still more for want of provisions; and, on the other hand, if he should be defeated, we may expect of the Carlists an immediate irruption into the fertile fields of Castile.
I have, &c,