The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-25 00:00:00

SIEGE OF OPORTO.

From the month of September, 1832, to that of
August, 1833, the " heroic and invincible " city of
Oporto, with a force which, including the armed citi-
zens, never exceeded eight or nine thousand men, encou-
raged by the presence of the great Dorn Pedro,
defended itself agsinst the whole power of Dom Miguel,
who surrounded it with an army of more than thirty
thousand men, excited by all the arts of the
ancient bigotry, and supported by a most
powerful artillery. During the painful interval of
those eleven months the inhabitants suffered an amount
of privation and distress from famine and disease, that
must have reached an indescribable intensity of misery,
but for the efforts of private charity. A soup kitchen,
such as ought now to he seen diffusing its grateful
odours over every town in Great Britain and
Ireland, was established on a scale to supply
six thousand rations daily, and afforded a relief that
rescued the city from the agonising cries of starvation,
and the garrison from the dangers of panic and terror.
Cholera afflicted the devoted city for nearly eight of the
eleven months of its severe probation, in the course of
which, it endured frequently bombardments, and two
most determined assaults, the latter costing the besiegers
from three to four thousand men on each occasion.
During the first assault the defence was gallantly
directed by the brave Duke de Terceira, who is now a
prisoner at Oporto ; and the second assault, commanded
by the French General Bourmont, was repulsed by the
intrepid Duke Saldanha, who has since changed places,
and, although engaged in the same cause, is now the
assailant of that interesting city—vicissitudes that give a
romantic character to the changeful phases of civil war.
After exhausting the powerful means at his disposal,
it is well known that Dom Miguel was obliged to raise
the siege of Oporto, and subsequently to abandon Por-
tugal. Yet, in the face of this striking evidence of the
defensibility of Oporto, most of tha letters just received
from that city appear to have been written under the
apprehension that an immediate attempt would be made
to enter it by assault, although the present gar-
rison consists of a force in number nearly equal
to, if not so well disciplined, as the assailants,
and possesses the enormous advantage of nume-
rous batteries and entrenchments, which, if not
of a perfectly scientific character, are, nevertheless,
the same that baffled every attempt of an army four
times the number of the besieged. Everything that
courage and skill could achieve might ba expected from
the brave Duke Saldanha ; but, with a force not ex-
ceeding eight thousand men, including the isolated corps
of Cazal, and wholly without battering artillery, it may
be confidently assumed by those who have friends at
Oporto, that they are exposed to no immediate peril, as,
with such limited means, all military experience forbids
any attempt to enter such a city by force of arms.
Nevertheless, the situation of Oporto is one of pain-
ful interest, and its commercial prospects of the most
gloomy complexion from the probability of a lengthened
blockade, by sea and land, suspending all business and
deeply affecting British property to a large amount.
Yet is that gloom relieved by the brilliant traits which
experience constrains us to recognise in the character of
the much injured Portuguese, who by their prudence and
integrity during the severe ordeal of the last siege, which
endured beyond the usual term of commercial credits,
presented au example, unprecedented in the annals of
commerce, of a seaport cut off from all intercourse with
the interior, and deprived of its resources from in-
numerable debtors in the provinces, without the occur-
rence of one single bankruptcy, during the awful
trial of eleven months. This astounding result
may in part be ascribed to the indulgent conduct
of the Bank, and of individuals, as honourable
to their forbearance, and to the good faith of their
debtors, as it is worthy of imitation by all commercial
nations, when suffering under extraordinary pressure.
But the blockade may cut off supplies of provisions to
an extent sufficient to cause great distress to the inha-
bitants, without reducing the garrison to military ex-
tremities ; nor can any early compromise be expected
between thecontending parties, both being so deeply com-
mitted to their several systems that nothing short o
utter despair could induce either to yield.
It is true that Oporto may be reduced to severe straits,
but it must not be forgotten that the Queen's Govern-
ment is also much distressed for money, the recent pay-
ment of the dividends having been made with great dif-
ficulty, and at a heavy sacrifice ; so that mutual weak-
ness may protract the struggle, by leafing each party to
hope, from the chapter of accidents, for some change in
their favour.
Can England, as the old and faithful ally of Portugal,
be considered as a feeling and prudent witness of such
a state of things without making some effort to rescue a
gallant and suffering people from impending
ruin, involving her own present and future in-
terests, both commercial and political, to an
extent that may not be estimated, even by the
known benefits of the past connexion, but rather with
reference to the altered state of Spain, and the obvious
and important changes, which the French have for a
long period been lavishing their blood and treasure to
prepare, on the shores of that fairy lake, which in per-
spective, their ardent fancy paints as all their own, be-
yond the pillars of Hercules.—PHlLO JUSTITLE.

ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF
STONE FENCES.
Common, or dry stone walls, for durability, and an effec-
tual saving to the crops, are not surpassed by any other kind
of fence. Their construction is somewhat expensive, but
the benefit resulting from the removal of nuisances in the
shape of weeds, which are too often allowed to luxuriate un-
molested under the common hedges, will more than counter..
balance the extra expense. Another important point is the
saving of land; and the security stone fences afford against
the ravages of hares, rabits, &c., is not less beneficial.
Although the advantages of stone fencess are obvious, yet
with many they are not in very high repute. They object
that they are every year falling, and that, therefore, they
require much labour to keep them in repair. This objection
has some force, from the fact that many of the fences are
very unskilfully built. In this country the stone is generally
abundant, of the best quality, and of suitable form, for the
purpose of dyke building. Those who follow it as a trade
should select the smallest stones for a foundation, with which
the wall should be raised to the height of eight inches or a
foot from the ground, This will take up the greater part of
the rubbish, as small stones is generally considered to be.
Afterwards a larger size should be selected, and laid in
double rows on each side of the wall, which may raise its
height to about eighteen inches. Next the largest and best
stones should be taken and laid across the wall, so as firmly
to bind together the two sides—reserving smaller, but well-
shaped
stones to complete the structure. In using small
stones for the foundation, it may be as well to throw up a
spading of earth so as to form a kind of embankment against
the wall, and at least a foot high. By this means the small
stones are all covered, will be but little affected by frost, and
will lie as firmly as the largest materials within common se-
lection. Even if no larger than the stones on a macadamised
road, they would make a firmer and surer foundation than
broad, flat stones. They will settle uniformly and equally
into the earth ; and, being pressed upon by larger stones
above, will lie steady and unmoved in their place. When
large stones are used as bottoming, the heaving of the frost,
and the softness of the earth in a wet season, will cause them
to settle more on one side than another, and thus disturb the
structure above them. The method here recommended may
appear strange to some; bnt those who have doubts may
have an opportunity of comparing walls that have been so
constructed with others differently built, when the former
will be found to have stood the test of time, while the other
has become delapidated. Some fall into an error through
the pains they take to lay the smooth surfaces of the stones
outward, that the dyke may have a handsome appearance.
To effect this they often lay the stones in the most unfavour-
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pressure, to the destruction of the fence. Whatever efforts
may be made, no great beauty can be given to a dry stone
crowdedad smooth
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wall; and here, as in other cases, utility ought not to be
sacrificed to beauty. The wall will eventually look best that
lies best. Every stone should be laid in the position in
which it can have the solidest bed, and bind together most

effectually the atones beneath and about it, without regard to
the beauty of the structure when completed.—Ayrshire
Agriculturist.

BENEVOLENCE.—It was stated on Friday, at a
meeting held in the board-room of the Hospital for Ccnsimp
tion and Diseases of the Chest, that the late Miss Catherine
Lee had bequeathed the sum of 2001. for the uses of the
charity; and also that the late William Tyrringham Praed,
Esq., the Member for St. Ives, had left 1004 for the same
charitable appliance.