mited circle, remarked only by his own
comrades, and by the generals under whom he served, as a good drill and
an efficient regimental officer. After twenty-five years' service, he
occupied the undistinguished post of colonel of a Spanish line regiment.
The probabilities were, that he would end his life with the embroidered
cuff of a brigadier-general, and be forgotten as soon as the earth had
closed over him. One man died, leaving a disputed crown; and spurred on,
as some say, by injustice done to him, as others maintain, by an
enthusiastic devotion to a principle, Zumalacarregui, in the twenty
months of life that were still accorded to him, raised and organized, by
his own unaided energies, a numerous and efficient army,
outmanoeuvred the practised leaders, and defeated the veteran troops
that were sent against him, and made himself a name that has been
repeated with respect and admiration by some of the highest military
authorities in Europe.

Don Tomas Zumalacarregui, a native of Guipuzcoa, was twenty years of age
when he first saw fire at Saragossa in 1808. When the French raised the
siege, he returned home, and remained there till Guipuzcoa, following
the example of the other Spanish provinces, declared against the
usurpation of Napoleon. He then immediately joined Jauregui, better
known as El Pastor or the Shepherd, on account of his having, like
another Viriatus--but without becoming a bandit--exchanged the crook for
the sabre. In spite of the youth of his new follower, El Pastor found
him of great assistance; and it is even said that Zumalacarregui,
ashamed of having for leader a man who could not write, undertook to
teach him, and succeeded in so doing. The war of independence at an
end, Areizaga, captain-general of the Basque provinces, appointed
Zumalacarregui his aide-de-camp; and finally, by his interest and
recommendation, procured him a captain's commission in the line. In this
new position the young officer made himself remarked for two things--an
inflexible firmness of character, and an enthusiastic love of his
profession. All his leisure was passed in the study of tactics, and he
rarely opened a book that treated of any other subject.

In 1822, under the constitutional _regime_, Zumalacarregui, being of
known Royalist opinions, was deprived of his company. He joined Quesada,
who was at the head of the _realistas_ in Navarre, and from him received
command of a battalion, which he kept till, at the end