Sefior Castelar made a great speech on the 12th of
September on the military situation. He admitted that Carlism had increased in a very formidable manner, that there were now 50,000 Carlists, "some of them not yet well disciplined nor well armed," but with an exceedingly good organisation in the Provinces of the North. He apprehended that they must "at any cost" try to cross the Ebro before long,—if only because famine threatens them from behind. The truth was, he said, that the Republicans had "much less than the half" of the Carlist forces. In Cata- lonia the Republic had some 12,000 men, but their discipline was so bad that they were of no use, and on account of this bad discipline, there were times "when the people fear much more the arrival of the troops of the Government than the arrival of the Carlist bands." The difficulty of providing the reserves with arms, ammunition, and clothing was exceedingly great. An heroic effort must be made. The reserves must be called out "with the celerity of lightning." The Basque provinces, which contain no longer even a refuge for the Republicans, must be punished severely and at once. In short, S. Castelar was exceedingly frank, and not particularly hopeful ; but at least he faced the danger boldly, and was resolute to meet it.
