The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-13 00:00:00

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the Madras, for Petropaulouski.

STAMPED ....sd.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

There is no political news from Sydney, as the
Parliament was not sitting. The Sydney Herald

howitzers, and four mortars; and this was con-
tinued for four or five hours. The 32-pounders '
were placed on the open ground, about 200 yards
from the walls, and this exposed the men who
served them to a deadly fire from the rifles of the
besieged ; the placing of the guns so near, when
they would have been effective at a much longer
range, proved to be a costly blunder. Cap. Hol•
land then ordered the assault, and the disasters of
the Imperial troops began. On the information of
others, he had believed that there was only a dry
ditch running round the city, instead of which it
was found that there was a deep unfordable moat.
This proved the one rotten link in the plans for
the city's capture. A breach had been made in the
walls, and Captain Graham, with 20 men, volun-
teered to plant ladders for a storming party.
The volunteers picked up their ladders with a
cheer, which unfortunately was taken up by the
rifles in front and the Ist battalion behind, neither
of whom knew exactly what was going on, but
rushed past their officers to join in what they im-
agined to be the assault. Arrived at the moat,
which had been reported dry, the whole party stood
huddled together, exposed to a deadly fire from the
wall. A ladder was thrown across the moat, and a
few men with several officers got upon it; but it
gave way, and no further attempt was made. It
was here that a Chinaman (a sergeant-major of the
Rifles), rushed forward with Ward's flag, and stood
for several minutes amid a fire, calling on his men
to come on; his clothes were cut in six places by
rifle bullets, but he escaped unharmed. A few men
who had managed to cross the moat attempted the
breach, but were shot down ; the rest seeing it im-
possible, for want of proper appliances, to cross the
moat, and becoming tired of being shot down like
sheep, retreated under the protection afforded by
the two guns, which again began to throw shell into
the breach. Captain Holland now ordered a re-
treat, and directed the guns to be brought to the
rear. Without waiting to see his directions carried
out, he embarked in his chop ; the other boats fol-
lowed, and the retreat became general, the man-
darin troops falling into confusion. Major Cooke,
of the Rifles, is reported to have kept his men toge-
ther, and fought for about two hours longer, trying
to save the guns ; and the other regiments of disci-
plined Chinese are said to have supported them. In
spite of every effort to save the guns, it was found
impossible to do so, as they were deeply imbedded
in the mud. The enemy made a sortie, and were
repulsed ; they fired from a six-pounder with better
effect, and at last the guns were abandoned.
A correspondent of the North China Herald, upon
whose narrative the above account is based, gives
the following additional particulars of the occur-

says :--

Parliament not being in session, there is little to engage
the attention of the public on political matters. Most of the
questions that were till lately the subject Of popular agita-
tion have been settled by legislation ; and although doubts
exist as to the soundness of the measures which were
avowedly passed in deference to popular clamour, the dis-
continuance of the perpetual excitement which those ques-
tions produced is a very happy consummation.
The Intercolonial Conference on the tariff question is to
take place at Melbourne towards the end of next month.
The Colonial Secretaty is about to visit Queensland to pro-
pose terms for the settlement of the border customs dif-
ficulty. Mr. Hoskins, Mr. Buchanan, and Mr. Lewis, late
members of the Assembly, have received Government ap-
pointments.

WEST COAST OF AFRICA.

LIVERPOOL, Saturday.

The royal mail steamship Athenian, Captain R .
F. Loury, arrived here this morning from the West
Coast of Africa, with 880 ounces gold dust, £1,500
in specie, 33 passengers, and a full cargo.
Notwithstanding the Athenian experienced strong
N.E. gales for three days after leaving Madeira, she
has made a capital run home, Her dates are—
Benin, February 28 ; Fernando Po, 28; Cameroon,
March 2; Old Calabar, 3; Brass River, Nun, and
Bonny, 7 ; Lagos, 10 ; Accra, 12 ; Cape Coast Castle,
14; Cape Palmas, 16; Sierra Leone, 21; Bathurst,
25 ; Teneriffe, 31 ; Madeira, April 2.

rence :--

The rebels fought admirably, and were all well
armed with European muskets. A mistake was
made in placing the guns so close to the walls ; the
artillerymen were shot down as they stood beside
them, as there was no cover. I doubt whether their
fire did much execution among the garrison, as it
was all concentrated on one point of the wall, which
of course they took good care to avoid. When the
troops advanced to the assault, however, they stood
gallantly in the breach and fired point blank at
them. The loss of the Soonkiong force cannot yet
be correctly ascertained, as stragglers will pro-
bably drop in for some days to come. At the pre-
sent time it consists of about 600 killed, wounded,
and missing. Twenty casualties occurred among
the Europeans. Captains Maunder, Macarthy,
Macleod, and Bosworth killed, and twelve other
officers, besides four marines, wounded. Among the
former are Captains Graham, Murray, Tapp, Silver-
ton, and Dunn. The latter is shot through the
groin, and it is feared will not recover.
The retreat, it appears, was orderly, and only a
portion of the mandarin's troops fell into confusion.
Major Brennan has made an attempt against a
city called Fooshan, which was unsuccessful for
want of boats. The troops behaved very gallantly,
it is said, but lost ten killed and ten wounded.
This is the third expedition against the rebels in
the course of a few weeks which has been un-
successful.

The latest intelligence to hand eays, briefly, that
Captain Gordon, RE., is to command the disci-
plined Chinese, in place of " Captain Holland."
From Ningpo, we learn that General Lebrethon
has been succeeded in command of the disciplined
Chinese force by General Tardif, and that the
troops were, at the date of our advices (Feb. 19)
under the walls of Shaou-hing ready for the
assault. Breaching guns of heavy metal had been
brought down from Shanghae by Captain Dew,
and a note received at Ningpo on the 18th inst.
stated that the city would be attacked on the first
or second day following. The taking of Shaou-
hing will be a great event, as it will open up the
whole of the silk and cotton districts, and greatly
improve the commercial prospects of Ningpo. Should
Shaou-hing be taken, Hang-chow will be made for
at once.