Machiavelli made it well written that a military conquest comes with a political usurpation and then a cultural invasion. From the time of the conquest of Navarre, it seems that the author of the Prince was inspired by it. Thus, the Spaniards have been indoctrinating us for five centuries with the help of a large number of intellectuals of proximity. Everything that reminds us of our national particularity, or our past struggle for freedom, those historians will disfigure it with an official and false story, nicely decorated, but with the cellophane of academicism.

The example of Zumalacárregui and the Carlist wars is illustrative. Contrary to the traditional historical trend, a few decades ago official historiography states that Zumalacárregui was nothing more than a Spanish patriot, the Fueros had nothing to do with the popular uprising that shook Euskal Herria, and only the defense of the “Throne and the Altar” pushed the Basque poor to fight the rich liberals. They say that the Outlaws, for the people, were limited to tools, contributions and customs, and that, moreover, the liberalist victory implicitly implied, among other things, the privatization of communal lands (and so it happened). However, our grandparents would be stupid, because they didn't care about going to war for eight years, paying more contributions or making commodities expensive. Nor the loss of communal lands. They don't care! Only by the kings, the Inquisition and the Religion died and were killed. Zumalacárregui, as it is now said, did not raise any foral flag.

They forget about how, at the beginning of the war (14-11-1833), a record was set up at Estella in which the rebel leaders said otherwise. That the uprising concerned the defence of the rights of ‘Carlos VIII de Navarra y Rey de Castilla V’, and so they decided to delegate the command of the troops to Zumalacárregui, which, in addition to its accession to the King, ‘was subject to the forces and laws of this Kingdom’. Copies of the minutes were sent to the four Members and, days later, meeting in Etxarri Aranatz, ‘decided jointly to appoint the Basque forces’. Religion is not mentioned in this important act, just as our historians do not mention it.

What is more: five months later, Zumalakarrangi is invincible, has the Basque Country at its mercy, and yet there is no news from the King, as everyone believes he is in Portugal. And then there was the famous manuscript letter that Sorau's historian found. It was written on April 9, 1834 by Zurbano, Business Agent of the Diputación de Madrid, addressed to Secretary José Basset. That is to say, a communication at the highest level of the liberal institutions of Navarra. Zurbano reports that he has arrived in Madrid “a claim by Zumalacárregui in which he says that, because of the impotence and forcefulness with which Don Carlos takes refuge in the defense of his cause, the Kingdom of Navarre and the Basque provinces are declared as the Federal Republic”.

Some believed that this text revolutionized Basque historiography, because it coincided with what many authors of the time (Mackencie, Xaho, Wilkinson, Laurens, Lassala, Legia, Somerville, Lataillade, Aviraneta, Viardot and others) said. Even the famous pirate said that ‘there were rumours declaring the independence of the provinces’. Of course, the fact that the great Zumalacárregui was the precursor of Basque independence and Republicanism was too big a toad to swallow. And the chair chose it between contempt and silence.

But as if it were a puzzle in which the new pieces fit better and better, the image of what happened in the spring of 1834 is becoming clearer and clearer. José Antonio Urkijo himself, one of the historians who speak of our ‘independence’, gives loose data that reinforces what Sorauren has found. In fact, in addition to the High Officials of the Deputation, General Harispe, Commander General of the Netherlands Pyrenees, wrote a letter to the Minister of the War of France on 6 May, telling him that ‘on different and quite safe roads, very special news had come: The Junta de Navarra, seeing how the game Don Carlos leaves, reached an agreement with Zumalacárregui to proclaim the independence of Navarra and the three Basque provinces and to build a federal republic […] Because it cannot be denied that this separation would be very simple and successful in those provinces, as they are only linked to Spain through very weak ties”.

Harispe was an expert in the problem of the Basque Country. He was from Baigorri and held a high office to see what was going on, as he was responsible for the border. Therefore, to say the same thing that Zurbano said a month later ‘on different and quite safe roads’ is something that must be taken into account. The news was also spread throughout Europe: on 14 May, according to the Geneva newspaper L’Europe Centraleev, ‘Zumalacárregui has published a document for the inhabitants of the four provinces in which it manifests its independence and exempts them from the authority of Mr Carlos or the Queen’. The news was so important that the newspaper was annexed to a note by the Austro-Hungarian Chancellor, Von Metternich. In Italy, Giornale del Regno delle Sue Sicilie on 14 June did the same, and it would not be difficult to find any more references. In other words, the Basque deputies, the press and the European governments then received what many chroniclers reaffirmed: that the Basques could take the King out of the political equation, not the Fuero nor the Basque freedom. French Hispanist Louis Viardot said in 1836: ‘Once and for all, if it is admitted that Navarre and the Basque provinces are only fighting for their independence and not for the Carlist cause, the issue is simplified’.

The rest is already known: Pretender Carlos finally entered Navarre and Zumalacárregui rejected the idea of an independent federal republic, as this political renewal meant a leap into the abyss in that absolutely monarchic Europe. But what happened is there, and they will have to admit it sooner or later, as they had to admit the brutal conquest of Navarre or the massacres of 1936.

In the meantime, let us rejoice: in this spring, driven by the people, a precursor of the future federal, independent and communist Basque republic was created: Tomas Zumalakarrangi.