NEWS OF THE WEEK.
IF the accounts from the South of Spain, supplied by the French papers, can be relied on, the Queen's forces have at length begun to act with vigour; and the insurrection is in a great measure suppressed for the present. General SAARSFIELD is reported to have left Burgos on the evening of the lltb instant, at the head of about fourteen thousand men. Part of this force moved in the direction of Bilboa to the left ; the main body advanced on the Vittoria road, under his own command. On the 14th, the right wing of this latter division en- countered the Curate MERINO, at the head of a large body of in- surgents. An action ensued, which very speedily terminated in the total rout of the latter; who retired to the other side of the Ebro, in the direction of Vittoria. The place where this battle was fought is said to be Belorado; but this is not distinctly stated in any of the accounts. That we should still remain in ignorance of the particulars respecting the most important action which has occurred since the breaking out of the insurrection, is a proof of the obscurity which hangs over the movements of both parties, and warns us to receive all accounts from the seat of war with distrust. At this distance, if we are correctly informed as to the names of the placee,-tve are still at a loss to know their exact posi- tion; as no map of Stain le,s yet, we believe, made from actual survey, and all the maps are consequently more or less in- accurate.
After the defeat of MERINO, the main body of SAARSFIELD'S army is said to have encountered little opposition on its road to Vittoria ; which place it entered on the 19th instant. This sudden activity on the part of the Queen's troops is attributed by some of the Bayonne correspondents of the French journals to the dis- missal of SAARSFIELD from the chief command, and the appoint- ment of QUESADA in his room ; but this report is not generally credited.
The movements of the other division of the forces which left Burgos appear to have been attended with equal success. In every direction they drove the insurgents before them, without en- countering any but the most trivial resistance ; and it is even said that they have taken possession of Bilboa.
EL PASTOR, released from St. Sebastian, has been also making progress. He expelled the insurgents from Tolosa on the 24th; and has left a considerable body of men to guard the pass of Irun, through which numbers of the routed Carlists attempted to make their escape into Spain.
The Paris correspondent of the Times states that the accounts from Madrid are not satisfactory. The private letters assert, that the continuance of ZEA BERMUDEZ at the head of affairs is likely to become quite fatal to the Queen's popularity. He is believed to be a tool in the bands of the Northern Despots, and to be quite indifferent to the real interests of Spain. Cauz, the Minister of War, shares his unpopularity; and it would seem that the main reliance of the Queen is on the fidelity of the Captains-General of the provinces, who act very independently of the orders they re- ceive from Madrid. The Liberal party is strong in the capital ; but it must be recollected, that although these accounts may give us pretty accurately the state of public feeling there, a great change must take place in the provinces, and in those cities, Toledo for example, where the clergy are predominant, before Ab- solutism becomes hateful to the mass of the people.
