The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-17 00:00:00

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Plymouth in his fiagship, acre teitsiatriamoiak?:,/aez
Sutlej, 35, Capt. M. Cannolly, on a:tib!tiitala'z24'4l,
The paddlewheel steamer Locust,' =ice A/.7
fitted as a supernuinerary tender to . ;
steam reserve, is ordered to be fitted withumit's S
patent rudder and steering apparatus. This vessel
being era-oe--1 Exclusively on harbour service it is
of the utmost importance that she should be able to
turn in the smallest possible space, an advantage
obtained by the use of Lumley's rudder,.
In order to facilitate the coaling of vessels of war
at Chatham and Sheerness, an operation which now
causes considerable delay, Admiralty directions
have been received for one of the spare steam en-
gines now in store to be fitted on board the Ocean
coal depot, in order that, the work of coaling up the
various steamvessels, which now occupies some days,
may be completed in a few hours.
An Admiralty order has been received at
Chatham announcing that the percentage charge-
able to all officers on board vessels of .war for use
of furniture, mess fittings. &c,, is reduced: 'from 71to 5 per cent. Directions have also been received
to fill up and keep complete in store the several
articles of uleetro-plate, out!, ry, linen, china, glass,
&c., required for all ships in the iilst division of tho
steam reserve svi4ll the exceptio;l of gunboats.
Letters reopived at Portsmouth by our corre-
spondent from Barbadoes, dated Jan. 22, announce
the arrival there that morning of her Majesty's
screw transport Adventure, Commander'. B. Leth-
bridge, with the head-quarters of the 3d West India
Regiment from Jamaica. This vessel was appointed
to sail for the Gambia, west coast of Africa, on
Jan. 24. The Adventure, since leaving England on
Nov. 1, 1862, had done remarkably well, and
steamed no less than 9,711 nautical miles. She
arrived at Madeira on Nov. 9, and left again on the
11th. Jamaica was reached on the 28th of the same
month. There the Artillery taken out from Wool-
wich was disembarked, and the 3d company of the
14th Regiment, and the 2d company 3d West India
Regiment, taken on board. The ship left for St.
Lucia on Dec. 3, where she arrived on the 10th,
discharged the troops on board and took others on
board for Barbadoes, where she arrived on the 110.
She again exchanged troops and sailed on the 13th
for Demerara where she arrived on the 16th. Ex-
changes of troOpti were next carried out with Trini-
dad on the 17th, Barbadoes again on the 20th,
Jamaica Dec, 29, Belize (Honduras) Jan. 2, 1863,
Jamaica the 13th, ant', finally, Barbadoes on the
22d. Other letters received by our correspondent
state that the Adventure sailed at 4 a.m. on Jan.
24 for Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Lagos, to
relieve the troops stationed at those places.

The Bombardment of Acapulco.

PANAMA, Jan. 25, 1863.

The enclosed is a translation of a letter received
in this city from an eye-witness of the bombard-
ment of Acapulco by the French fleet. The
writer is a Mexican, but gives a very correct
and reliable account of the whole affair, which
has been confirmed by other parties. It is evident
that the Mexicans had a very respectable force on
shore, and for that reason the French concluded it
would not be prudent to remain on shore or in the
port, and were compelled to leave for some other
port where they could get fresh provisions and
other supplies. During the bombardment the Mexi-
can flag was shot down three times; but the mo-
ment it fell they hoisted a new flagstaff. The Mexi-
cans conducted themselves with great bravery, and
deserve credit for the gallant manner in which they
defended their forts and city.
ACAPULCO, Jan. 17, 1863.

I will herewith give you an account of what has
happened with the French squadron on the days of
the 10th, 11th, and 12th inst.
On the morning of the Bth came in sight the
Pallas, the Galatea, the Cornelie, and the Diamant.
Soon after the latter advanced with a white flag,
making the following demands on the citizen Go-
vernor of the State, Diego Alvarez, as I have un-
derstood them :

1. That satisfaction should be given for and the
official report made to the Government by General
Ghiurdi, in connection with the Bayonnaise, be re-
tracted.

2. That the fortifications be dismantled outside,
as they were nothing for such naval batteries, as
they were only composed of two old 24-pounders,
mounted on old marine carriages.
3. That they should be permitted to take in
water and coal, and elso provisions.
All of which was denied to them, although Mr.
Van Brunt and others used their best endeavours
to get some concessions for them.
On the 9th their pretensions underwent some
modification, to the effect that the Admiral aban-
doned the point of exacting the dismantling of the
fortifications, but insisted upon the others ; and the
captain of the Diamant added the threat that in the
space of two hours they would sweep all the forti-
fications clean. Although Gen. Alvarez fully under-
stood the disadvantages of our old artillery, badly
mounted and of short reach, in comparison with
their modern pieces, he refused all their exactions
with much dignity, adding, that if the French squa-
dron entered the port he would fire upon it. The
resolution was communicated to them at 6 p.m. on
the 9th. On the 10th, between 8 and 9 a.m., the
French squadron entered, the Diamant towing the
Galatea, and the Pallas the Cornelie. At 9 a.m.
exactly the forts Hornos, Cameron, Grifo, and Can-
delaria opened fire about the same time. This last
fort of the Condalaria had only a 12-pounder and
another small piece, while our artillery were saved
although dismounted. The look-out fort, called I.
Alvarez, opened fire likewise. But pretty nearly
all the forts had no piece large enough to reach the
squadron. Particularly the guns of the Grifo
and the Hornos were silenced immediately, as
the pieces were dismounted by the enemy's
projectiles, which came down on them in regular
showers, or perhaps the carriages were too old
already to stand the shock of firing. The Fort
Cameron, which is nearly down at the entry of the
harbour, probably fired the most shots. The Cora-
mandante of it, citizen Camilo Bracho, held out
firing on the enemy until he had no guns left to
oppose. The Candalaria also fired many shots. It
appears that the Pallas was struck by a ball fired
from the Cameron just above her water-line, by
which she must have been severely damaged. The
fort Candalaria, which had but one gun, was ob-
served by the United States ship Saranac at anchor
in a corner of the Tambuco, and the Americans had
to admire the valour of our soldiers fighting there,
as they only left it with their small gun when all
their ammunition had given out. Our forts were
mostly without parapets. The commander of the
Cadalaria was so much heated or fatigued that he
took off his coat, taking "fresco" under a shower of
bombs and balls of great calibre.
Great things these French have done. When
they observed that not a single soldier was left_ is
the forts—all situated near the water's edge—they
rolling
jumped ashore to finish the gubnrsealkefitn,gwohrichthey
readily accomplished by either
While they disembarked
de c tt
oe d. b
Ty
hae
yh efiarve yd
them into the water.
firing over the gro wh
eeyremporvoet
from their vessels
uthnedyt
sixty-pound bomb-shells out of rifled cannon.
All this oecurred on the 10th. On the 11th and
12th only the Pallas continued shelling the fort
Alvarez. When they ceased firing, the fort answered
by a few shots, but none of them reached the enemy,
although these were the best of our guns. The Pal-
las continued to send us her bombs for three days
—sixty-pounders out of rifled cannon—and fired in
all about 1,300 shots, until the evening of the 12th,
when the whole squadron left in the direction of
Manzanillo and Mazatlan without obtaining any-
thing they demaudeu. Of our troops about eight
or nine were killed; wounded but few.
The city suffered a good deal, too, by the bombs
that fell into it by accident. Several houses were
set on fire, and others more or less injured. The
house of P. Ravarte and Co. (formerly the house of
A zuyet a, Huarte, and Co.) burnt down almost one-
half, causing a loss of merchandise, &c., of from
20,000 to 30,000 dollars, without counting the ma-
terial of the house. Several poor families, who had
deposited here their few possessions, lost all by
the fire.

BANK ROBBERY AT MANCHESTE.R.—Between
Saturday
effected
night and yesterday morning an entrance
was
by thieves into the new premises erected in
Pall-mall, Manchester, and occupied by the Bank of Man-
chester, who abstracted from an old safe a quantity of gold
and silver, amounting to £1,060 4s. The principal safe had
resisted all attempt to force it open. The thieves appear to
have gained access through a wall from an adjoining build-
ing, in which they had secreted themselves before it was
locked up on Saturday,