commanded the Spanish army. In the war of the Constitution, in 1820, he commanded the lines of San Roquet, and attacked Riego, in Andalusia. On the success of the Constitutionalists he retired into private life. Leopold, his second son, died without issue.

Henry, the third son, Count Abisbal, married Maria Ignacia, daughter of a Catalonian, and he had by her one son, Leopold O'Donell, Conde d'Abisbal, who was taken prisoner in the battle of Alsazua, and shot in cold blood at Echerri-Aranaz, by orders of Zumalacarragui. He died without issue.*

MEMOIR OF HENRY O'DONELL, COUNT ABISBAL.

Don Henrique Josè O'Donell (third son of General Joseph O'Donell, Colonel of the regiment of Ultonia, and Maria Josephine, daughter of the Chevalier D'Anethan, Seigneur de Densborn,) was born in 1770, in the province of Andalusia. At the age of fifteen years he entered the Royal Guards, and served under the Prince of CastelFranco, in the war of 1795, against the French Republic; but until 1808, he had no opportunity of distinguishing himself for capacity or valour. Spain had been inactive and apathetic under the despotic system which had ruled her so long; but foreign invasion and usurpation at once awakened her slumbering energies, and recalled her to a recollection of her true position. Periods of revolution rapidly develop the master-spirits of the time, and more especially men of military courage and ambition. O'Donell embraced the national cause with an ardour which bespoke his thorough sincerity. He was then a major in an infantry regiment. In the beginning of 1809 he made himself conspicuous amongst the numerous officers and chiefs of bands who rushed to the defence of the country. During the siege of Gerona he distinguished himself by indefatigable activity. He formed part of a corps d'armee under Blake, charged with the protection of Aragon and Catalonia, and was repeatedly sent by that general to introduce succours into the town, or to divert and embarrass the enemy. In one of these engagements, O'Donell threw himself with such vigour upon Brugnolas, as to attract upon that point the greater part of the enemy's forces, while Llander and other officers operated towards the town, and succeeded in introducing provisions. The results which attended these combined operations had sometimes raised the hopes and courage of the besieged. On one occasion the Spaniards met with a serious reverse. O'Donell commanded the advanced guard, with which he was to force a passage for a convoy destined to revictual that unfortunate town. General Wimpfen had the rere guard at the head of the convoy, and Blake remained upon the heights of Bisbal, to protect their movements with the main body of the force. The French general, profiting either by the temerity of O'Donell, or the false calculations and slowness of Blake, placed himself between the two corps, cut off their communications, and made himself master of the convoy. O'Donell

* The title is extinct. He had an illegitimate brother, Stephen O'Donnell, an officer in the Spanish army.

found shelter under the fort of Condestable, and it was only by exposing himself to excessive dangers, and by the exercise of great daring, that he succeeded in rejoining the army. Another enterprise, which had the same object of succouring Gerona, had also an unsuccessful result. O'Donell shewed himself not less brave, but not more fortunate. On every occasion, however, whether victorious or defeated, he was conspicuous for his personal courage. In an action which took place a short time after, at Maga, he was seen fighting hand to hand the very last in the retreat. Such were the antecedents of this general when he arrived at the command of Catalonia. The Central Junta, which elevated him to that high position, wished to recognise and reward his patriotism as well as his military qualities. His first care was to reorganise the army of Catalonia, which had sustained so many checks under the command of Blake, and which, in other respects, had never taken the properly defined character of a regular army. The voluntary rising of the population accorded better with a system of guerillas, than the organization and observance of duty found only under regimental colours. Most of the difficulties presented themselves in the rules for the enrolments of the militia. O'Donell decided the National Government to fix the obligation of service at two years. He was equally active in devising the most effectual means for collecting taxes from an almost exhausted country. He applied himself to fixing firmly the basis of his future system of operation. The conduct of the enemy traced out for him the course he was to follow. At this juncture, the French generals acted without unity or concert. They clogged each other's movements, and prejudiced the general action of the war, in following the impulses of their own will, or of some isolated circumstance. They were aptly compared by Napier to fiery steeds which sweep along, each in a different direction, the chariot to which they are attached. In the presence of these disunions which paralysed the action of the French army, O'Donell decided on avoiding every general engagement which could draw together the French generals; and that the war of detail and by detachment, carried on at many points, was the surest means of obtaining fortunate results. It was the application, upon a great scale, of a guerilla warfare. Everything dictates the adoption of this system, which, from the experience of history, as well as the suggestion of common sense, seems to be the true system of war by a country in insurrection against an occupying enemy. O'Donell separated his army into a certain number of corps, destined to act simultaneously upon different points, and to divide the forces of the enemy by dividing his attention. The first engagements which took place were not favourable, and the Spaniards suffered a severe check in the environs of Vich; but O'Donell soon took a brilliant revenge for those reverses. Sir William Napier has recounted with the highest eulogiums the skilful and energetic manœuvre, which the Spanish general displayed upon that occasion. Baraguay D'Hilliers was posted in the Lampurdan with 18,000 or 20,000 men. These troops

were necessarily scattered; 700 men guarded Palamos, San Felien, and other small ports along the coast; 1200 under General Schwartz, had taken up their quarters in Bisbal, a short march from Gerona; 200 were at Calonga, uniting Bisbal with Palamos; the remainder were in Figueras, Rosas, Olot, Castelfollet, Gerona, Hostalrich, and a large number in hospital. Having precise information upon all those particulars, O'Donell left a part of his garrison in Tarragona, sent the Baron D'Eroles to Montserrat, Colonel Georget to Ignalda, Obispo to Martorel, and marched with 6000 bayonets and 400 horse, across the mountains. From San Culgat at Maltaro he followed the coast, passed Tordera below Hostalrich, and moved rapidly by Vidreras upon Llagostera, which he reached on the 12th September. Neither Macdonald, nor Maurice Mathieu, nor Baraguay D'Hilliers, had any knowledge of his arrival. They knew little of his march, save the rumours which he himself thought fit to circulate respecting it, and none knew the real object which he proposed to himself. Some said that he went to engage a French corps which had entered Cordagna from Navarre; others, that he was concentrating at Manresa; and the majority concluded that he was still at Tarragona. Leaving Campoverde with a reserve in the valley of Aro, he sent detachments to surprise Calenga, and the posts situated along the coast. Two English frigates seconded this operation. In the meantime, on the 14th, O'Donell moved rapidly from Casa de Silva upon Bisbal. Schwartz had his infantry and some cavalry under arms in an entrenched camp. He accepted battle, but, after losing 200 men, and seeing no retreat, he surrendered. All the troops echelloned upon the coast, were fain to do likewise. In all, not less than 4000 men capitulated. The prisoners and the spoil were embarked on board the English vessels and sent to Tarragona. It was this feat of arms which procured for General O'Donell his title of Conde de Abisbal.*

The numerous wounds which he had received in different campaigns at length abated his activity, and no longer allowed him to retain his command. The Cortes, however, soon placed him at a post, which, exposed to less fatigues, demanded not less energy and prudence. In the commencement of 1812, Abisbal was appointed member of the Regency. The circumstances were difficult and imposing. It was a moment when a project for a Constitution was submitted to the Cortes, and when the Infanta Donna Maria Carlotta made attempts to attain the Regency; it was an epoch when the country fell back upon herself for laws and principles of government, while a foreign enemy was still master of the greater part of the soil, and the perils which came from without were augmented by the struggles within. The Regency, of which Count Abisbal made part, was composed of five members. The election which had chosen it was evidently guided by the anti-reform spirit. In this council of five, O'Donell alone presented himself as the advocate of liberal ideas.

* O'Donell ordinarily signed himself "L'Abisbal.

But, of all the members of the executive power, he was the one who possessed the greatest knowledge of military affairs, and the capacity necessary for the direction of military affairs, and thus his influence succeeded in neutralizing the Conservative, or re-actionary tendencies of the Regency. To the Constitution-the recent work of the Cortes-he professed inviolable attachment; and he pronounced, in the sitting of the 22nd January, these significant words :-"We are persuaded that the Constitution will be the foundation on which the monarchy will rest secure for ages. We will sustain every act which the Cortes shall decree." O'Donell continued to acquit himself with great ability and energy in the various duties of his high office, when an event occurred, which led to consequences that seem to have ever afterwards given a bias to his conduct and opinions. The defeat which the Spanish army, under the command of his brother, General Don Josè O'Donell, sustained at the battle of Castalla, aroused a strong feeling in the country. Instead of ascribing this disaster to its true cause the imprudence of the general in command-public opinion cast the responsibility of it on the Count Abisbal. Some members of the Cortes allowed themselves to be hurried into violent accusations, and it was in vain that the more moderate and reflecting, as well as the true friends of reform, essayed to keep the question within its just limits. Abisbal believed it to be due to his own honor to tender to the Cortes his resignation. He thought that it would not be accepted, and that he would thus be justified before the country. But the Cortes, under the influence of a temporary excitement, accepted his resignation by a large majority. O'Donell was far from anticipating this unexpected and painful result, which confirmed, to some extent, the accusations of his enemies -he regretted, when too late, the rash precipitancy which had hurried him to tender his resignation. His retirement was the signal, for the Regency, of a change of policy, which it did not hesitate to adopt; it surrendered itself altogether to its anti-reform tendencies, and thus departed more and more from the opinions of the majority of the Cortes. Ere long, O'Donell was again called to a military command; but though he obeyed the summons, he had not forgiven, and never forgave, the deep wrong, as he considered it, which the Cortes had done him. He displayed not the hearty zeal and fiery energy which had rendered him renowned. Still, at the head of the army of Andalusia, which he formed, he co-operated with success in the final achievements which hurled the French from the Spanish territory. Before the close of the war, the state of his health obliged him again to resign his command. He obtained from the Cortes permission to retire to Cordova. Daring his sojourn in this city, he encountered deputies of the party hostile to reform, and was said to have formed with them a connection inconsistent with past political opinions; that he was ready to take against the Cortes a retaliation for the severe and unexpected blow which they inflicted upon him; and that he showed a willingness to sacrifice his political opinions and attachments to avenge a private and personal wrong. From this

time he was distrusted by the liberals, and with some reason, for he neglected, on his part, no occasion for shewing his hostile dispositions towards the Cortes. Ere long, he reassumed the command of his army. It was the period when the English troops poured into the south of France, followed by a part of the Spanish forces. Lord Wellington expressed to the Count Abisbal a desire to see him cross the frontier, and follow to the last the fortune of the Allies. He refused to accede to this request, giving as his reason, that, in his absence, the organization of his army had deteriorated, that his troops were reduced to extremity, and had need of repose. He demanded, in consequence, that he would be permitted to remain in Old Castile, under the influence of a milder climate. It was conjectured that, possibly, he may have thereby sought, by thus bringing himself nearer the seat of government, to be able more readily to execute the project he was supposed to have conceived, of taking vengeance on the Cortes. The General-in-chief of the English army, to whom suspicions of this nature were communicated, suggested his cantoning his army on the banks of the Ebro, instead of advancing into Castile. Abisbal at once complied, and he appears to have engaged himself entirely in his military duties. The return of Ferdinand soon led to a decided reaction. He entered Madrid on the 13th May 1814, and on the 14th he dissolved the Cortes, and abolished the Constitution of 1812. Political events had tended to place Abisbal in a position to be looked upon with suspicion by both parties. From his personal hostility to the Cortes, he was supposed to rejoice in their suppression, while the decided part which, as one of the Regency, he had taken to establish the Constitution, made him suspected by the court. Such, however, was his reputation as a military leader, that he was selected to take command of a corps d'armée, which crossed into the French territory in 1815. Haying to maintain order rather than to fight-to observe rather than to act-he acquitted himself of this duty with great tact and moderation. Subsequently, he was named to command the troops destined for the American expedition against the revolted colonies. At this period a spirit of insubordination had spread itself through the army, since the time that General Elia had taught it that bayonets could subvert a constitution, and Mina the opposite lesson, that it could re-establish one. The chiefs laboured to shape it to subserve their political passions, and to draw it along with their party interests. At frequent intervals, the troops exhibited symptoms of sedition and revolt, and thus hindered the government from becoming settled. But at no time did this pernicious disposition in the army take a character so menacing, as it did among the troops under orders to embark for America. The great body of those troops were concentrated at the camp of Victory, near Port St. Mary's. Whole battalions, officers and men, refused to embark. Numbers were for proclaiming anew the Constitution of 1812; and it has been said that Abisbal, at one time, was a party to the movement. The spirit of revolt was at its height, when it was effectually crushed

by a determined act of the general, and in the following manner. On the night of the 8th July, at ten o'clock in the evening, he assembled the garrison of Cadiz, composing about 5000 men, and led them from the city. In passing the Isla, he took with him the troops which were quartered there, with the corps of field artillery, and marched towards Port St. Mary's, the focus of the mutiny, without communicating his objects or intention to any one. About five o'clock in the morning, before entering the camp, he called a halt, and addressing his troops, he announced that he was about entrusting to them an expedition, short in duration, easy of accomplishment, and the success of which would merit for them the thanks of their country and their sovereign; that if they consented to follow him, he pledged his word that they should not be embarked. All swore to obey his orders, and at their head he entered the camp of Victory, a part of 7000 men destined to embark the first. This division assembled at the same moment under pretext of taking exercise, found itself all at once enveloped by a corps with loaded arms and a formidable artillery. The General-in-chief called around him the officers, and ordered their regiments to lay down their arms, and cry, "God save the king." All repeated this cry without knowing the meaning of the command. In the midst of the stupor caused by the sudden demand, he pronounced the general dismissal of the officers from the service, and had arrested 123 prisoners of all grades: some regiments he disarmed, and dispersd into the interior of Andalucia; the remainder, still comprising 3000 men, received other commanders. Abisbal forthwith announced to government what he had done, and that this formidable mutiny was completely crushed He received, as a reward for this service, the grand cordon of the Order of Charles III. Some days afterwards, he was called to Madrid, to give there more ample details, and on his arrival found himself displaced in the command of the expeditionary army. The rumour spread that he was in disgrace, but it was not so. The government published a decree, in which they detailed the services of the general, and the wounds which prevented his embarking. In the meantime, they appointed him Captain-General of Andalucia, President of the Audiencia of Seville, and political and military governor of Cadiz.

The insurrection effected by Riego in 1820, again involved the Count Abisbal in the struggles of civil war. Sent by the government to combat the insurrection, he threw himself into the ranks of the insurgents, and decided the success of their first efforts. He aspired to place himself, at once, at the head of the movement, and attract to himself the glory of that enterprise. But others of distinction-Ballasteros, Morillo, Mina, came to dispute the first rank with him. Notwithstanding these jealousies, he shewed so much activity, and gave so many proofs of good faith, that at the close of the events of that period his power and influence were increased. In 1823, he had the command of the first military district and of the army of the centre, and united in himself the powers of the political with those of the

military chief. While the French army of intervention was advancing on the capital, Abisbal entered into communication with several personages of the moderate party, who hoped to disperse by negociation the storm. which impended over the country. They thought that by introducing some modifications into the constitution, they would be able to rally together the divided leaders -to reunite the nation and the king,—and to find some pretext for arresting the march of a foreign army without actual collision. The constitution of 1812, more anti-monarchical than really liberal, weakened the royal power without establishing the democratic principle, and was, in fact, a constitution bad in theory and in practice, and especially as applied to Spain: but perhaps the period was badly chosen for introducing the changes which it required. The opinions of the Count Abisbal upon this subject were made known by their publication, in the public journals, of two letters of great interest. The first was addressed to that General by the Count de Montijo, father of the present Empress of the French. It painted in sombre colours the state of Spain; the capital menaced; the troops, the nation, torn asunder by divisions; a government without power; a constitution impracticable, &c. It stated that the Count Abisbal alone could put an end to so many misfortunes, and called upon him to be the Liberator of Spain, and of Europe, in arresting the progress of anarchy, of civil war, and of foreign invasion. The second letter was the reply of the Count Abisbal: it conveyed that, as General of a division of the Spanish army, it was his duty to execute the orders of government, at the head of which was found his Majesty, and that he was determined to do so, although the actual minister was not in a position to relieve the state from the critical condition to which it was reduced by the incapacity of previous ministers, and especially by the imprudence of the last, who had provoked actual war without displaying the energy necessary to sustain the dignity of the nation, or proposing the conciliatory measures which would be able to re-unite the leading men of the country, and prevent foreign invasion; that he himself was convinced that the majority of the nation had no wish for the constitution as framed in 1812, and that the course which he would advise was the following: To announce to the army of invasion that the nation, in concurrence with the king, proposed to make in that constitution the changes which experience had vindicated as necessary, and consequently, that it should retire from the Spanish territory, and treat amicably by means of its ambassador; that the king should establish himself in Madrid, to prove that he was not retained against his will at Seville; that to carry out the necessary reforms in the constitution, he should convoke another Cortes; that the minister should be changed; that there should be a decree proclaiming a general amnesty of the past, and an engagement given by the government to employ, without regard to previous opinions, those men who, by their talents, their services, and their patriotism, were entitled to be preferred. The Count Abisbal sent copies of this letter to Ballasteros,

In

Mina, Morillo and the other leaders. It was coldly received. Moderate counsels were not adapted for the temper of the national party. The army was made to believe itself betrayed: a number of the officers assembled together, and went in a body to reproach their general with the abandonment of the constitution, and the vacillation of his conduct. A scene of the most angry character ensued; in fine, the officers demanded that he should give up his command. He refused them, but afterwards he sent to the Cortes his resignation, and demanded his passports to go to Seville, and justify his conduct to the king. He did not proceed to Seville, but subsequently took the route of the Pyrenees, and retired into France. The events of that period seem to justify the Count Abisbal in the decision he formed. On the one side, a national party, who would not listen to moderate counsels, and yet, who were unable to resist the armed intervention of France on the other, a king who waited only the defeat of the national party to re-establish despotism. August, Morillo and Ballasteros deserted the Cortes, and seduced their armies to join the King; in September, Corunna was lost, Pampeluna and Santona surrendered, and Cadiz was taken by assault; Mina escaped from Barcelona to England; the king returned to Madrid, abrogated the constitution, and decreed the banishment of the Cortes for ever from Madrid. From this period till the death of Ferdinand in 1833, Spain continued to languish under a wretched despotism, with now and then fitful struggles here and there through the provinces, to raise the standard of revolt. The Count Abisbal never returned to Spain, or re-entered the service of the king. He settled first at Limoges, where he lived for several years. He died at Montpellier on the 17th May, 1834, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He left an only son, Leopold, Count Abisbal, a Colonel in the queen's service, who was taken prisoner at Alsazua, and shot the next day by orders of Zumalacarreguy. The title is extinct.

Charles, or Don Carlos O'Donell, the brother of this Count de Abisbal, was the fourth son of Joseph. He was Director-general of Artillery during the Peninsular war, and a staunch royalist. At the battle of Murviedro, fought 25th October, 1811, he commanded the centre of the Spanish army.

In the annals of the Peninsular War, vol. iii. p. 147, we read:

"By an oversight of Blake the left wing was so widely detached, that the centre was inconsiderately weakened. Suchet immediately took advantage of this error, and directed a powerful attack on the Spanish centre in order to isolate the wings. In this point the Spaniards fought with desperate bravery, and though at first forced to retire, being again rallied by their leader, they drove back the enemy with signal courage. Receiving however, no support from the wings, the centre was obliged at length to give way; but by a skilful disposition of cavalry, which continued to show front to the enemy, the infantry retired in perfect order."

At the peace, Don Carlos tain-general of Old Castile.

O'Donell was made CapDuring the late war he

was a Carlist. He left four sons, the eldest of whom, Carlos Pepe, accompanied Don Carlos to Portugal and to England, and afterwards organized the Carlist cavalry. He was killed while pursuing a party of carbineers into Pampeluna, leaving one son, Carlos O'Donell, now an officer in the Spanish army, and the only hope of preserving the name in Spain.

The second son Juan, a Carlist, was made prisoner and confined in Barcelona, whence he was taken out and barbarously massacred by the populace, which so affected his father, that he died of a broken heart. The third son, Henry, was a Colonel of cavalry, and joined Don Carlos in Guipuscoa, August 1836. The fourth was Don Leopold, now Duke of Tetuan. Alexander, the fifth son of Joseph O'Donell, was the only one of his family who did not join the patriot side in the war of independence. He joined the French, and commanded a Spanish regiment, to which Joseph Bonaparte gave his own name. Before the conclusion of the war, he was sent to take the command of a regiment in the unfortunate expedition to Russia. He was taken prisoner there; and the Emperor Alexander, having ordered all the Spaniards formerly belonging to the French army into one corps, which by special permission assumed his name, the command was conferred upon Colonel Alexander O'Donell, and he sailed with his regiment for Spain. This distinction saved him, and his rank was confirmed. He had two sons, Pepe and Emilio (Christinos,) both officers, in 1839, in the urban guards at Seville.

Don Leopold, now Duke of Tetuan, (son of Don Carlos, who was the son of Joseph O'Donell, a native of Mayo in Ireland,) is perhaps the greatest man of his name that ever lived. It is exceedingly difficult to compile from the public prints anything like a reliable account of him, nor shall we attempt any lengthened narrative of his exploits, or at all discuss the merits of his political career. Like all living premiers and successful statesmen, he has his political enemies. With the Churchmen, the Absolutists, the Reactionists, he is black-Cave Romane hic niger est! With the extreme Liberals, and the unsound reversionist party, he is treacherous, because, though professing liberal principles, he is moderate and anti-democratic. Like most men and all politicians, he is not always consistent, nor always right; but the day that he succeeded in pushing the weak and incompetent Espartero from power, and becoming Prime Minister himself, he laid the foundation of the only good and constitutional government that Spain has yet seen.

He entered the army at an early period, and had attained the rank of Colonel before he was twenty-five years of age.

When Don Carlos commenced the struggle which proved so disastrous to Spain, two of the sons of General Charles O'Donnell declared for this prince; but Leopold took the other side, fought courageously for the young Queen, became, in 1838, chief of the staff, and subsequently was placed in command of the army of the centre. At the close of the Carlist war he was nomi

nated a General of Brigade, and created Count of Lucena. The personal courage of this great man is beyond question, but his enemies have constantly asserted that it is not so much to that quality that he owes his brilliant career as to the favour and protection of Espartero, by whom he was appointed chief of his staff. In 1840 O'Donnell embraced the cause of the Queen-mother against the people and the army, and abandoning his command, he emigrated with her to France. In 1841, when Espartero was declared sole Regent, O'Donnell demanded permission to return to Spain as a friend of the established Government, and is said to have made the most solemn declarations of harbouring no design against the public tranquillity. Espartero, then Regent, freely allowed him to return. Shortly after O'Donnell's return, a formidable insurrection took place in various parts of Spain, and O'Donnell headed the malcontents at Pampeluna. He was, however, utterly unsuccessful, and was obliged, on the 21st of October that year, to fly into France. In 1843 the regency of Espartero was terminated, and he himself was obliged to fly into England. It is stated that in the transactions which led to his fall, O'Donnell was the chief actor. His reward was the governor-generalship of Cuba, where he amassed an immense fortune by the slave trade. In 1844 Queen Christina returned to Spain, and formed a corrupt and anti-constitutional government, of which Narvaez and General Concha were the chief leaders. O'Donnell returned to Spain in 1850, when Narvaez was in power, and then his political career commenced in earnest. This minister hated him thoroughly. Narvaez carried every thing with a high hand, none except a few progressistas daring to make the slightest opposition! O'Donnell announced that he was about to reinforce that opposition; but the Minister is said to have silenced his agitations by the lucrative appointment of Director-general of Infantry This, say his enemies, was the place best suited for his future ambitious plans, as he could organise the army according to his pleasure. Narvaez soon seeing his error, dismissed him, and O'Donnell once more rushed into the ranks of the opposition party, who, knowing his talents, received him willingly as their chief leader; and Maria Christina, as being the most vulnerable, was the great object of attack. Narvaez left the ministry, and was exiled by Maria Christina, but O'Donnell gained nothing by the transaction. Sartorius was named Minister, and the struggle became more desperate than ever. O'Donnell was persecuted, and lay concealed at Madrid. He excited a military insurrection; fought at Vicalvara, where he was defeated; he retread into Anda lusia; he published a manifesto, in which he made an appeal to the people to rise in defence of their liberties! He offered them his sword, and flung himself into the ranks of the liberal party; but he was defeated and obliged to fly, and his property was declared confiscated. In July, sorely against her will, Queen Isabella sent for Espartero, and commissioned him to form a ministry. He entered the capital under triumphal arches, and was hailed as a general deliverer. On the 18th of July he formed a ministry in conjunction with O'Donnell, but his government encountered