The Republican victory at Irun has not been followed up,
General Loma having received orders to re-embark all his troops and proceed to Santander. The troops are said to be enraged, and murmurs are heard that Serrano's Government is playing the country false, and that it desires to protract the war for the sake of postponing the assembling of the Cortes. It is hardly possible to suspect even a Spanish Government of treachery like this, but it is quite possible to suspect it of wishing to terminate the war by a "transaction," rather than to risk its only army in a battle which despair might render terrible. One thorough defeat of the national army, and the Intransigentes would be masters of half the towns in Spain. This kind of calculation is the regular mode in Madrid, and is the reason why anarchy in Spain lasts so much longer than in any other country.
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