The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-08 00:00:00

BARRACK CONTRACTS for the Supply of
COALS, COKE, KINDLING WOOD, and CANDLES
in Great Britain ; and COALS, COKE, TURF, and
CANDLES in Ireland,

War-office, Pall-Mall, London, S.W.,
25th February, 1e65.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that the Secretary of
State for War is prepared to receive TENDERS for the sup-
ply of the following Articles at the various Barrack Stations
in Great Britain and Ireland, for a period of One Year, from
Ist April, 18 5, viz.:—
COALS, COKE, KINDLING WOOD, and CANDLES
in Great Britain ; and
COALS, COKII, TURF, and CANDLES in Ireland.

Tenders will not be ent,rtained unless made upon the pro-
per printed form, which may be obtained, with every requisite
information, upon application at this Office, or to the various
Barrack Masters, between the hours of Ten and Four o'clock
each day, Sundays excepted.
The Tenders must be sent to this Office, addressed to the
Director of Contracts, marked on the outside " Tender for
Coats or Candles," as the case may be, on or before Monday,
13th March next, after which day no Tender will be received
The Se.retary of State for War reserves the right of reject-
ing any or all of the Tenders.
. _ - —• • • -

THOMAS HOWELL, Director of Contracts.

SAILORS' ORPHAN GIRLS' SCHOOL and
11011 E, Hampstead. Offices. 77, Cornhill.
I'ATRON —The QUEEN.
TRUSTEES. _

Capt. the Hon. Francis Maude, I The Rev. Canon ihampnevs
R. IN Thomas Baring, Esq., Ar
TREASURERS.
R. C. L. Bevan, Esq. I -Robert Banbury, Esq.
This Institution is desicrned to supply a great national
want, viz., an asylum for the orphan daughters of sailors in
the Royal Navy and Merchants Service and of Marines.
It clothes, maintains, and educates them for domestic
service. and provides a home free of expense for former
inmates while out of situations, thus shielding them from the
temptations they might otherwise be exposed to.
The Committee earnestly APPEAL for CONTRIBU-
TIONS to meet the increasi' g applications through the
recent storms and loss tf life at sea, and to enable them,
eventually to obtain premises more commensurate with the
necessities of this great maritime country, which loses 2,000
sa'aors annually by casualties alone, without including those
who may perish by war.
Subscriptions thankfully received by the bankers, Messrs.
Barclay, Bevan, and Co., Lombard-street, and by the Secre-
tary, at the Offices, No. 77, Cornhill.
SWEETING, Hon. Soo.
CHARLES NASH, Sen.

Nu was the first away, but was pulled back as they
rounded the stable turn, and the running was taken up by
Filbert, Nu going on second, Dr. Syntax third, close in the
whole rear were Jarnicoton, Ring of Clubs, Wandering
Minstrel, and Aurelian, last of all being Claret Cup. Pro-
ceeding along the far side the leading horses closed up and
ran in a compact body to the canal-bridge, when Dr. Syn-
tax improved his position, followed by Aurelian, the pair
being seen in close company with the favourite as they came
along the bottom. On entering the straight Filbert ran wide,
which let up Dr. Syntax, who, with Aurelian and Nu on
either side, came on with a slight advantage to half way in
the distance, where the former was beaten and dropped
back, leaving Nuwith the command, which she retained to
the enclosure, where Wandering Minstrel, who had been
disappointed in getting through his horses, joined her from
this point, and a splendid race ensued, Nu running longest,
and just winning in the last stride by a short head. There
were three lengths between the second and third, Dr. Syn-
tax was fourth, Aurelian fifth, and Jarnicoton sixth. Then
came Knave of Trumps and King of Clubs side by side.
Claret Cup was last. •
Sweepstakes of 5 sovs, with 25 added ; weight for age, with
certain allowances. T.Y.C. 3 subs.
Lord Westmoreland's Usher, 9st llb (Morgal 1
Lord Stamford's Qui Va La, sst 71b (carried sst 81b
7st 13Ib (A. Edwards) dis.
( Heartfield
and 6 to 4 agst Jupon.
Captainßetting-5
T etnl
latter
ae hmteolal
'4BeojallnuP°llthsnellruernning, and won by two lengths;
same second and third. On returning to scale an objection
was raised against the winner for not carrying his proper
weight ; the matter was subsequently investigated by the
stewards, and the race was awarded to Usher, who was
bought in for 75 guineas.
The Tyro Stakes, 5 sovs each, with 100 soya added; for
2-yr-olds, Bst 101 b; fillies, Bst 51b. Winners extra. T.Y.C.
22 subs.
Mr. Giubelei's Proserpine, Bst 51b (A. Edwards i 1
Mr. Pardoe's Chapel Royal, 9st lib (inc 51b ex) (Loates 2
Mr. Saxon's Miss Harriette, Bst 51b (J. Grimshaw 3
Betting-5 to 4 agst Proserpine, and 6to 4 agst Chapel
Royal.
The latter made play to the distance, where the favourite
..headed him and won by a length; bad third.

There seemed little reason to think, when I re-
ported four weeks ago the important conclusion of
the bombardment which the forth of Wilmington
sustained on the 24th and 25th of December, that
before 21 days had flown the attack would be re-
newed more seriously than before, both by land and
water, and that Fort Fisher would succumb to the
only danger which, as I then pointed out, it had to
fear—to an attack by land. Two years' experience
of Secession have taught me that it is vain for any
one to attempt truthfully to record any important
passage of this war unless he is on the spot at the
time of its occurrence and witnesses its main fea-
tures himself. In addition to the vigilance at all
times imposed upon a public writer lest he should
during the continuance of war disclose facts or sta-
tistics which are injurious to and may be employed
to the prejudice of the weaker belligerent, it is im-
possible, either from public journals, written pas-
sionately and under great excitement, or from pri-
vate sources, which reveal only that insignificant
part of the actionin which the narrator participated,
to gather more than a glimpse of what has passed.
Premising that my sketch of the second attack on
Wilmington, unlike that which I attempted of the
first, is derived only from participants. in the Laction
who escaped from the fort just before its capture
and spoke with limited knowledge and under strong
excitement, and that it is impossible to arrive at a
more accurate narrative, inasmuch as General Whit-
ing, Colonel Lamb, and their associates are almost
without exception prisoners, I will proceed to state
what is here believed to have happened at Wil-
mington on the 13th, 14th, and 15th inst.
Late upon the evening of the 12th information
reached General Whiting, in Wilmington, that the
fleet of the enemy was again drawing up towards
Fort Fisher, and that a second attack seemed immi-
nent. It may confidently be asserted that upon
this occasion the feeling in Wilmington in reference
to such an attack was satisfaction, and anticipated
triumph rather than alarm or misgiving. Everyone
believed, and believed rightly, that Fort Fisher had
little to fear from a bombardment by sea, and the
presence in the neighbourhood of Wilmington of
• one of the finest divisions of General Lee's army
afforded substantial grounds for thinking that the
landing of Federal troops and their anticipated effort
to attack the fort by land would be neither easy nor
safe proceedings. Upon the morning of Friday, the
13th, four ironclad vessels, of which one was the
new Ironsides, and the other three were turreted
monitors, occupied the same position as they held
in the Christmas-day attack, and drew near to the
land face of Fort Fisher; but upon this occasion,
instead of lying at from 1,600 to 1,800 yards from
the guns of the land face, they approached within
1,200 yards. Your readers will perhaps remember
that in my account of the last bombardment I stated
that Fort Fisher mounted no very heavy guns on
the land face, the largest being an 8-inch smooth-
bore or 68-pounder, and a 42-pounder rifled gun.
Profiting by his experience of the feebleness of Fort
Fisher's fire from the land face on the 24th and 25th
December Admiral Porter ordered his ironcladyes-
sels to stand much closer in on January the 13th
and to open fire at not much over 1,000 yards. And
here I may remark that the commentary made by
Gen. Sherman, when conversing with a lady in the
interior of Georgia some weeks ago, upon the offi-
cers of the Northern and those of the Southern
armies, seems every day to become truer and truer.
Gen. Sherman said, " There is no comparison be-
tween the valour of the rank and file of the two
armies; and as an evidence, the Southern army has
held us back for nearly four years, when the odds
have often been five to one against it. But the
Federals far surpass the Confederates in the industry
and perseverance of their officers. Our generals out-
wit and outmanceuvre yours because they work ten
times harder than yours. We spare neither time
nor trouble to give effect to our schemes. Your
generals, on the contrary, trust to little more than
naked unassisted valour." It is impossible to doubt
that if Fort Fisher had been a Federal and not a
Confederate fort, there would upon the 13th of
February have been two or three large rifled guns
on the land face, which would have made it impos-
sible for any vessel possessed by the Federals to
have lain within 1,200 yards of their muzzles. But
the interval between Christmas-day and the 13th of
January was spent in a jubilee over the past triumph,
rather than in active preparations for securing ano-
ther. Those Englishmen who still maintain that
the 68-pounder is the best gun afloat would perhaps
reconsider their opinion had they seen how impotent
it proved itself upon this occasion to produce any
effect upon Monitors at 1,200 yards. It is not
doubted by anybody that at 200 or 300 yards the
68-pounder smooth-bore is equal to any rifled gun ;
but the man who thinks that future actions at sea

It seems that Fort Fisher fell because the guns on
its land face were too light to cope with iron-clad
vessels, because its two ablest leading officers were
wounded at the outset, and because its garrison was
inexperienced, incoherent, and loosely coupled, and
finally, because the Confederates in 1865 do not
fight with the vigour and elan of 1862 and 1863.
There is no reason to think that the fort as a de-
fensive work was materially injured by the bom-
bardment from the sea, although that bombardment
was m aintained by ships at comparatively short
range. The official reports of both Confederate and
Federal officers should be anxiously watched for
information on this head. But it is fair to deduce
from the experience of Fort Fisher, and still more
from the experience of Fort Sumter, Sullivan's
Island, and (most of all) Battery Wagner before
Morris Island was evacuated by the Confederates,
that sand forts are the only works which can long
resist the tremendous projectiles of modern times,
and especially the huge 2001 b. or 3001 b. shells from
rifled guns which constitute so prominent a feature
of this war. It seems to me still an open question
whether it would not be possible to casemate the
embrasures of such a work at Fort Fisher ; but Gen.
Whiting seemed to be of opinion that such casemates,
if rivetted with wood, would not last more than
from 9 to 12 months before the wood rotted, and
allowed the superincumbent mass of sansedosttop,li wouldnters
drop
into the gun chamber. In addition, if any other
wood than palmetto logs were used, th
when the revertment was struck by a h
do more damage than any amount of hostile missiles