The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-29 00:00:00

SIEGE OPERATIONS BY NIGHT AT

CHATHAM.

CHATHAM, May 28.—A novel and-interesting descrip-
tion of siege operations took place on Tuesday night on
the great lines at Chatham, commencing about nine,
o'clock. About 1,400 men of the Royal Sappers and
Miners and those t elonging to the East India Company,
with the whole of the Royal and Hon. East India Coin-
pany's engineer officers, under the command of Captain
Fitzroy Somerset, R.E., assembled on the parade in
marching order, with all their working toolz, for the ope-
rations of the siege, to be conducted under the command
-f Col. Saudhanr, the director of field work instruction.
The place of attack held by the garrison was the Spur
Battery.
On the troops arriving in the lines they commenced
tracing the ground, forming parallels, and sunken and
elevated batteries. As soon as the tracing was com-
pleted, the signal was given for the troops to advance.
A party provided with arms was sent out as pickets,
and sentries in front of the right, left, and centre of the
parallel to give an alarm, in case of their meeting patrols
of the garrison Toe party advanced to such a distance
as they could jnstdiscgrn each other. On head vance party
meeting with a patrol from the garris.in, they challenged
and fired ; an l as they were satifivd it was the enemy
they fell back upon their supiorte, and wiihout firing
again returned to the working party, who on being in-
formed of the approach of the enemy from the garrison
stood to their arms, and poured fourth a raking fire of
musketry, which was ably kept up fr )m one end of the
line of fortificatiims to the other.

Those troops from the garrison sent a party, under
command of Lieutenant Lockhart, R.E , as a patrol
from the works, coming out from the Brwnpton Sally-
port, in the curtain between Prince Edward's and
the King's Bastion ; a party was then sent forward
to take from the parallel, and advanced about
300 yards from the counterscarp, when they haled,
and as they were provided with fire-balls they as-
certained they were advancing too near the enemy's
works. Directly the patrols from the garrison fell in
with the sentries from Ithe parallels and were fired upon
they lighted their light balk., placing them at equal diX
tances from each other ; they then retired to about 150
yards in advance of the counterscarp. When the light
halls were burnt out they were replaced by others. The
firing was kept up by the troops protecting the parallels
and batteries with considerable spirit, and, as the night
WAS very dark, the reflections from the firing of the
musketry had a very impesing effect. During the in-
tense firing which was kept up for some time from one
extremity of the line of the fortifications to the other, the
Spur Battery, in charge of Quartermaster Bradford,
R.E., lighted several fireballs in the salient of the
King's Bastion and Spur Battery, the object being to
ascertain the position of the enemy against him. Owing
to the distance, the reflection caused by the extreme lights
produced a most magnificent sight, and for miles round it
had all the appearance of a large town being on fire. The
whole of the proceedings were considered perfectly
satisfactory to all the officers of the garrison, and par-
ticularly to Col. Sandham, under whose directions these
military and engineer movements were carried out. The
sight was uitnessed by about 3,000 spectators. The
troops were marched to their barracks at half-past 11
o'clock ; they left the lines in columns. A night siege
has not been seen in Chatham for many years.

DECLINE OF PAUPERISM.—There is a reduction of
nearly 50 per cent. in thp number of paupers this year
in the Galway workhouse, as compared with the corres-
ponding period in 1855. In the latter year the num-
bers were 862 to 487 in 1856.

A letter from St. Petersburg, of May 19th, says :
" Vice-Admiral Wassilieff has been appointed military
governor of Astracan, and commander-in-chief of the
Russian fleet in the Caspian Sea. This fleet is to be
greatly increased. Two new divisions, composed en-
tirely of gun-boats, will be created, and a part of the old
Sebastopol ships-of-line have been placed at the dieposs.l
of Admiral Wassilieff, to be incorporated in the fleet."
SINGULAR CASE OF SOMNAMBULISII.—About 2 o'clock
on Sunday morning, the 18th instant, the servant girl at
the Duke of Wellington, St. Mary•streef, Swansea, was
aroused from her sleep by a continuous screaming, which
seemed to be that of a woman. The noise also awoke
the host and hostess, Mr. and Mrs. Mai Jelly. The
servant, having got up, opened a window which looked
upon the back premises, whence the screams appeared to
proceed, and irtirnated that if the noise did not cease,
as it was disturbing the whole neighbourhood, she
would fetch policeman. It was at this time raining
and blowing very vehemently. A man's voice,
which appeared to come from the roof, instantly re-
plied, " For God's sake, do fetch a-policeman." The
servant-girl then, by the direction of her master and
mistress who had by this time got up, went to the police
station and returned with some officers. A ladder was
procured from tile late premises of Messrs. Matthews, and
mounted first by Mr. Marvelly, who laid hold of a man
who was htan-ling on a roof near the chimney. He had
on his night dress only, a nightcap, nightgown, and
drawers, and was drenched to the skin. In agitated tones
he entreated Mr. Marvelly to hold him fa-t. Having
reaehed the ground he said that he had been robbed, and
his mind appeared evidently wandering. He was taken to
the Castle Hotel where it was ascertained that he had been
staying. His chamberdoor, which was locked, was burst
open, and the window found thrown up. His money was,
of course, found to be all right. The somnambulist is, we
hear, a Mr. Griffiths, a commercial traveller from Trede-
gar. When first spoken to after being rescued from his
fearful position, he stated that he had been drinking a
little too much over night. He must have gone to bed,
and have risen up in a state of somnambulism, opened
the window, whence he descended a depth of about seven
feet on the roof of some stabling belonging to the Castle,
thence he succeeded in getting on to the roof of the Duke
of Wellington. It is supposed that upon awaking fnm
his sleep and feeling his great danger, he commenced
the screaming which aroused the servant girl. Mr.
Qriffiths left Swansea the same - morning,—Swansea
.11