the siege of Tortoza, and found full employment for the enemy during the remainder of the year.

and

"After the battle of Margalef, Henry O'Donnel reunited his forces, and being of a stern, unyielding disposition, not only repressed the discontents occasioned by that defeat, but forced the reluctant (and lawless) Miguelets to supply his ranks and submit to discipline." Thus, in July he had twenty-two thousand men, when Marshals Mac Donald and Suchet combined to crush him, when Napoleon's order to invest Tortoza arrived. On this O'Donnel, after making a skilful feint towards Trivisa, suddenly threw himself with ten thousand into the fated city, from whence, upon the noon of the 3rd July, he fell furiously upon the French entrenchments, and made a fearful slaughter of the troops of Laval. After this he retired to Tarragona. Having cut off Mac Donald's communication with the walled city of Ampurias, he now conceived and executed the most skilful and vigorous plan which had yet graced the Spanish arms.

Leaving Campo Verde in the valley of Aro, on the 14th he marched rapidly down from Casa de Silva upon Apasbil, where the French, under Swartz, were entrenched. He attacked them, slew two hundred, and, taking the rest, embarked them for Tarragona, whither he retired soon after, to take a little repose, being troubled by his last wound; yet in January, 1811, we find him again in arms, directing the movements of the army, and harassing Marshals Mac Donald and Suchet, though unable to ride or appear in the field; and on his being created Conde de Abispal, he resigned the command of his Catalonians, three thousand in number, to Campo Verde, being so disabled by wounds that he was quite unable to conduct the siege of Tortoza.

In October, 1812, he was appointed to that situation, which several Irish soldiers of fortune have held-Captain-General of Andalusia, and on Wellington reaching Cadiz in December of that year, after the retreat from Burgos, on his making a complete reorganization of the Spanish forces, the First Reserve Corps was given to the Conde de Abispal, and

the Second Reserve to Lacy. Thus they both served in the new campaign which ended so gloriously on the field of Vittoria. After this signal victory, the task of reducing the forts near the tremendous pass of Pancorbo, which secured the approach to the Ebro, was given to the Irish Conde and his Andalusians, to whom they fell partly by storm and partly by capitulation.

On the 14th July, 1813, to O'Donnel and his reserve of five thousand was permanently entrusted the important duty of blocking up the French garrison in Pampeluna, now almost the last stronghold of Napoleon in Spain. This task he conducted with great vigour, while Wellington secured the passes of the Pyrenees and pushed the siege of San Sebastian; but on Soult forcing the passes on the 25th July, such an alarm reached Pampeluna, that the Conde de Abispal spiked some of his cannon, blew up his magazines, abandoned the trenches, and but for Picton's victorious stand at Huarte was prepared to retreat. On the fortunate arrival of a small Spanish division under Don Carlos d'Espan, the blockade was resumed and the siege pressed with renewed vigour.

O'Donnel was posted on the right of Marshal Murillo at the great and decisive battle of Pampeluna, so absurdly and obstinately styled by the British the battle of the Pyrenees, from which it is nearly thirty miles distant. Soult was completely overthrown, and in August O'Donnel reinforced the seventh division in occupying the important passes of Exhallar and Zugaramurdi. After this, being again troubled by old wounds, he fell ill and resigned his command for a time to Giron. In November he resumed it again, and occupied the beautiful valley of the Bastan, prior to the invasion of France under Wellington.

In February, 1814, he led six thousand men at the passage of the Goves, and was engaged in all the operations on the Lower Pyrenees with the Spaniards under the Prince of Anglona. He served in that victorious campaign which terminated at the blood-stained hill of Toulouse, where, as General Napier so pithily remarks, "the war terminated, and with it all remembrance of the veteran's services."

In the Constitutional war which ensued in Spain nine years after, and during the invasion of that country by monarchical France in 1823, the O'Donnels bore a prominent part, and adhered to Ferdinand VII. The Conde de Abispal was appointed a field-marshal, with the office of Governor and Political Chief at Madrid, and on the 25th March he issued a proclamation announcing that the amnesty granted by the Cortes to those in arms against the King was about to expire, and concluded by a brief warning to the factious and the constitutionalists to lay down their

Don Henry O'Donnel, Knight Grand Cross,

Sc., General of the 3rd Corps, fc.

Having learned that some ill-disposed persons have confounded my private opinion with those sacred obligations which my oath and duty impose upon me, and have given out that I am unwilling to support the Constitution of 1812 even to the last extremity, and until the national representation, lawfully constituted, should have made certain changes therein; I do declare that I am resolved to defend it, according to my oath, until it shall be altered by those means which the Constitution itself prescribes, and that I deem as traitors all Spaniards who, deviating from the path of duty traced out by law, shall cease to obey the same. Such were my sentiments when, in answer to an address from M. Montijo, I wrote a letter which they charge me with having published, and such will ever be my sentiments. But my opinion as an individual shall never prevent me from fulfilling my duty as a general and a citizen of Spain.

Madrid, 17th May, 1823.

But ere long he found the difficulty of reconciling his private sentiments and conviction with his duty to a king who had become the tool of France. Abispal proved the Talleyrand of Spain, and lost all favour by his indecision and vacillation; for after receiving the Grand Cordon of the Order of Carlos III. from the hands of Ferdinand VII., he passed over to the Constitutionalists. From

that day his power declined, and he was glad to seek shelter from the fury and clamour of the people at Montpelier in France, where he lived in

retirement and much reduced in circumstances.

His son, Leopold Count O'Donnel, remained in Spain, and had attained the rank of Colonel when the civil war broke out between the Carlists and Christinos, a step in which the children of the four elder O'Donnels were strongly divided, brother against brother, and cousin against cousin.

Thus, on the 2nd May, 1835, when Quesada was attacked by Don Zumalacarregui (the Claverhouse of Spanish loyalty) his division would have been annihilated but for the timely succour he received from Colonel Leopold O'Donnel de Abispal, who unfortunately was taken prisoner by the Navarrese while vainly struggling to rally the Royal Guards. All who were captured were barbarously shot by the Carlists, and of all who perished none was more regretted than the young, handsome, and chivalric O'Donnel. Though a colonel in the service, he was merely accompanying Quesada to profit by his escort so far as Pampeluna, where he was about to celebrate his nuptials with a beautiful Spanish girl of high rank, and the heiress of an old and wealthy family. A noble ransom was offered, but Don Tomas was inexorable !

His father, Henry O'Donnel, then in his old age, died of a broken heart at Montpelier on hearing of his son's disastrous fate.

Colonel John O'Donnel (a cousin of Leopold's) commanded the 2nd regiment of Castilian infantry, while his brother Charles led the insurgent cavalry of Don Tomas, and at the head of his own corps, the heavilyarmed and ferocious lancers of Navarre, performed in his twenty-fifth year the most brilliant feats of the Constitutional war. For his romantic victory over Lopez, in fair battle on one of the immense plains of Old Castile, he was made Knight of San Ferdinando. Soon after, he was mortally wounded in action near Pampeluna, and as he expired in agony, he exclaimed:-"I wish some one would send a bullet through me and end this misery!-I have but a short time to live. Already four O'Donnels have perished in this war; and their blood has been shed on the right side as well as on the wrong!"

He referred to Leopold, who was

shot in cold blood at Alsassua; to his second brother, who lost a leg at Arguijas, and died under the amputation; to Charles, who lay on a bed of sickness from which he never rose; and to John, who was wounded in battle at Mendigarra; and being dragged from bed by a mob at Barcelona, was cruelly murdered in the streets and literally cut into ounce pieces. He and Carlos left wives and children in France.

Leopold, the Conde de Lucena, and his brother Colonel Henry O'Donnel, who in the Spanish affairs of the present year have taken a part so prominent, are the sons of Charles O'Donnel, Captain-General of Old Castile. The latter resided for many years at Valladolid, where one of his chief friends was John Cameron, Rector of the Scottish College, and where the Conde, his eldest son, was educated. Passing through all the regimental ranks with honour to himself, and acquiring the reputation of a staunch royalist, a stern and determined soldier, he was a general when, on the 18th of January, 1854, Madrid was the scene of a species of coup d'etat. In July, 1843, Espartero had found it necessary to take strong measures against the Christinos, who had bombarded Seville, where he was attacked by General Concha and forced to seek refuge in Britain. Returning in 1854, he seconded the insurrection which effected the overthrow of the anticonstitutional government of which Queen Christina was the head. Generals Leopold O'Donnel and Concha were ordered to retire in exile to the Canary Isles, as leaders of the opposition, having signed a memorial to Queen requiring the instant convocation of the Cortes. They soon returned, however, and then followed the long expected general result, when the whole provinces were declared under martial law, Saragossa was deluged by blood, and the government were forced to prepare a scheme of constitutional reform, to satisfy the demands of the people. On the 19th July General O'Donnel and his former rival, Marshal Baldomero Espartero, who from the humble situation of a carpenter rose to be Regent of Spain, formed a ministry, which had a thousand difficulties to encounter amid the corruption of the court, the hostility of the clergy, and the fiery restlessness

of the Carlists. Thus before July, 1855, Spain was again convulsed, and Catalonia insurged under Cabecilla Marsal, the Carlist chief. Espartero tendered his resignation to the Queen, who sent for the braver and firmer O'Donnel, then a marshal of Spain. He advised her to retain his rival; but she replied with tears that she must leave Madrid, as her life was in danger; and the diplomatic exertions of O'Donnel prevailed upon the duke to withdraw his resignation. By the 21st July Galicia was insurged; but the Carlists were finally suppressed. The Queen, full of gratitude, heaped every favour on O'Donnel, and on her fête day opened the grand ball with

him.

On recovering from a serious illness early in the present year (1856), Marshal O'Donnel was appointed Minister of War for Spain; and almost immediately after risings occurred in several of the provinces. The cry of the insurgents, says the Nacion, was Death to the rich! Persons of rank were seen distributing money among them, and many were provided with bottles of turpentine and other inflammable liquids to fire the public buildings.

O'Donnel, who inherits with his Irish blood the gift of oratory in no small degree, thus described these riots to the Cortes :

So

At Barcelona there have been disturbances; and what caused them? Socialism! Palencia and Burgos have been in arms. Why? Ask Socialism ! In Saragossa a thousand acts of Vandalism have been witnessedthousands hurried from thence to Palencia, armed with musquets; but not to preach the Gospel! Incendiary manifestos are circulated, and what is their character? cialist! At Valladolid men, women, and children emulated each other in the walk of horror and pillage. All these acts declare that there exists a truth which must be proclaimed; for subversive ideas-ideas hitherto unknown in Spain-prevail among our masses, and excite them to these deadly conflicts which are contrary to that faith the Apostles preached of old. What we have now at stake is not this or that political flag, but the sacred ties of family and of property. But we shall chastise these excesses with the strong hand, and the instigators shall be visited with greater severiey than those tools whom they urge to battle in the streets against us.

These sentiments brought on an altercation between him and Senor

Orenze, which in February led to his challenging the Spaniard, in face of the whole Cortes, to fight a duel; but their meeting was prevented by the authorities. In that month Napoleon III. repeatedly expressed his confidence in the spirit and energy of O'Donnel and the honesty and uprightness of Espartero, with a hope that they would continue united.

O'Donnel, a hardy soldier and staunch adherent of despotic princiciples, is still disposed to bear matters with as high a hand as in 1854, when he revolted at the head of the Spanish cavalry.

On the 14th July, Espartero again resigned office, and to O'Donnel was assigned the task of forming a new ministry, as Premier and President of the Council; but almost immediately after the populace of Madrid insurged, O'Donnel attacked them at the head of the troops, who fought for a whole night with the insurrectionists, who had resolved to proclaim a republic. Espartero disappeared, and O'Donnel declared the whole kingdom in a state of siege, i. e. martial law. The fighting in Madrid lasted twenty-four hours; General Infante assembled fifty members of Cortes, but the Conde de Lucena instantly dispersed them, as with only one dissentient voice they passed a vote of want of confidence in his ministry; but having eighteen thousand bayonets under his orders, he cared not a rush for their vote.

General Mac Crohon commanded a column which held the suburbs of the city. The fighting was desperate near the Royal Palace, the Plaza Mayor and the Cuesta de San Domingo. Pucheta, the fierce bull-fighter, led the armed socialists. O'Donnell had thirtyeight officers and soldiers killed, and

two hundred and twenty-one wounded, out of thirteen battalions with sixtynine pieces of cannon, who fought the revolted and disaffected of the National Guard, from whom nineteen thousand stand of muskets, with a vast quantity of warlike munition, were taken. More than one thousand dead lay in the streets, and the hos pitals were filled with the wounded and dying, before O'Donnell quelled the rebels and announced to the queen that Madrid was calm.

Then Saragossa rose in arms for Espartero; the people of Barcelona joined them, but were crushed by General Zapatero, a noted l'icalnarist, or adherent of O'Donnel; Armero, Captain-General of Old Castile, overawed the discontented at Valladolid and Rio Seco; at Girona and Junquero the fighting was desperate, but the socialist party were found to succumb to the power of O'Donnel, to enforce whose authority a French army of occupation is now gathering on the Pyrenees, and threatening, as in the days of Ferdinand VII., to enter Spain.

Honors were showered upon his adherents; the whole of the loyal National Guard were decorated at once, and the lace-manufacturers failed to meet the demand for epaulettes. Grand crosses and batons were strewed among the ladies of the Vicalnarists; Colonel Henry O'Donnel, the Conde's brother, was gazetted majorgeneral; Mac Crohon, his second at the Ministry of War, was appointed lieutenant-general, and the highest favors were bestowed upon his friends and brother soldiers, Concha, Messina, and Ross de Olano. His power seems principally established now at Madrid; but how long it may be so, time alone can tell.

As there are few sensations which convey more happiness then that of waking up after a dream of vivid pain and finding the certainty of joy around you; so there is nothing more dreadful then the recovery from unconsciness to a full sense of the reality of present misery; and such was my lot as I slowly regained my senses in the Haupt Strasse of Heidelberg, and found myself supported by the arm of Lord Ellersly, who had chanced to pass that way, and had seen me fall. He took me at once to to his lodgings, and when I told him of the news I had heard, I had his warmest, yet most delicate sympathy in my sorrow. It was violent at first, but subsided soon to a calm melancholy; and the one great wish of my heart now was to see the beloved face of my uncle before the grave closed over it for ever. So after settling some little business connected with my lodging, I was enabled to leave Heidelberg in four hours after my receipt of Kildoon's letter. At present I could have performed the journey by rail and Rhine in three or four days, but steam power in its locomotive application had not yet appeared to bless the traveller, and I had to post the whole journey; which I did, resting not day or night till I found myself on board the Antwerp packet which was to land me at the Tower of London stairs, wind and weather permitting, in twenty-four hours.

On the deck of the boat, when floating down the tide of "the lazy Scheldt," I read and re-read Kildoon's letter, which ran thus :-

From "a Legend of Leitrim."

My dear cousin Walter,

You are doubtless prepared by my previous lettter on the subject [I had not received one] for the melancholy tidings I have now to communicate, namely, the death of our dear uncle; he was just one fortnight ill, but never spoke after his first attack. C. who came down from Dublin express, said it was a hopeless case from the first, and he expired without a struggle on the morning of the 14th. We will delay the funeral as long as possible to give you time to reach this, but we suppose you are already far forward on your homeward journey, as I wrote to you every second day since the attack took place, and cannot account for your silence, but will forward this at all events on the chance of finding you.

In haste, believe me to remain Ever your affectionate cousin G. N. KILDOON. P.S.-I need not to you, who knew me so well, expatiate on the profundity of my sorrow for our beloved defunct relative-but the Lord's will be done, and we must submit as becometh christians.-G. N. K.

This letter puzzled and distressed me as much as its postscript disgusted and angered me. Not only had I never heard from home of my uncle's illness, but for fourteen days previous to his attack I had not received any letter from the Darragh. I now bitterly accused myself for ever leaving home, blaming the motive which had produced my exile, which was a boy