It is not very easy to see what Marshal Concha
is at, in what appears to be called his pursuit of the Carlists. He has been marching southwards, after leaving a garrison in Bilbao, bas occupied Miranda and La Rioja, which gives him the command of the line to Burgos and Madrid, and also the eastward line skirting Navarre ; and he is said to be threatening Estella, and to have seized Orduna and the passes in Biscay east of Bilbao. But surely he would never have passed the mountains southwards for such a purpose as that, when it might have been in his power, if not to attack the Carlists directly, yet to cut off their lines of supply from France, by placing himself between the Carlists and the French border, and when he could have occupied the passes in Biscay from the north, instead of from the south of the mountains? Can it be that he feared for his own communications with Madrid, if he remained north of the mountain chain ? Or is it possible that Serrano may need his help for the political crises which occur every month or two in the capital? General Pavia has resigned his command in Madrid, in spite of the pressure put on him to remain, and with Sagasta as Home Secretary, political affairs in Madrid look somewhat reactionary.
