The last paragraph in this curious little gazette, printed up amid the
clouds on the summit of the Silver Hill, states that the Royal quarters
were at Abarzuzu on the 17th instant, and that Estella, close by, was
stubbornly resisting, but would soon be in the power of the Royalists. A
column which had attempted to relieve the garrison was energetically
driven back towards Lerin by two battalions commanded by his Majesty in
person. But by the time _El Cuartel Real_ came under my notice Estella
had fallen, and the Carlists had put to their credit a genuine success.

As the question of Carlism is still one of prominent interest--is,
indeed, what the French term an "actuality," and may crop up again any
day, the letter of the claimant to the throne to Don Alfonso (alluded to
some sentences above) is worth translating. It is the authoritative
exposition of the aims of the would-be monarch, and of the line of
policy he intended to pursue should he ever take up his residence in
that coveted palace at Madrid. Its date is August 23rd, 1873, and the
contents are these:

* * * * *

"MY DEAR BROTHER,

"Spain has already had opportunities enough to ascertain my ideas
and sentiments as man and King in various periodicals and
newspapers. Yielding, nevertheless, to a general and anxiously
expressed desire which has reached me from all parts of the
Peninsula, I write this letter, in which I address myself, not
merely to the brother of my heart, but without exception to all
Spaniards, for they are my brothers as well.

"I cannot, my dear Alfonso, present myself to Spain as a Pretender
to the Crown. It is my duty to believe, and I do believe, that the
Crown of Spain is already placed on my forehead by the consecrated
hand of the law. With this right I was born, a right which has
grown, now that the fitting time has come, to a sacred obligation;
but I desire that the right shall be confirmed to me by the love of
my people. My business, henceforth, is to devote to the service of
that people all my thoughts and powers--to die for it, or save it.

"To say that I aspire to be King of Spain, and not of a party, is
superfluous, for what man worthy to be a king would be satisfied to
reign over a party? In such a case he would degrade himself in his
own person, descending from the high and serene region where
majesty dwells, and which is beyond the reach of mean and pitiful
triflings.

"I ought not to be, a