The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-06 00:00:00

trj64
I Ive V
611341
natair.

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, August 5•
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise,
Prince Leopold, and Princess Beatrice left Osborne
this afternoon for Switzerland.
Her Majesty and their Royal Highnesses, With
the suite in attendance, embarked on board the
Royal yacht Victoria and Albert, Captain the Prince
of Leiningen, U.C.8., in Osborne Bay, soon after
12 o'clock, and shortly afterwards left for Cher'

nourg.
Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse took Ica
Fe
of her Majesty at Osborne Pier.

The Princess of Wales drove out yesterday,
:ended by the Hon. Mrs. Hardinge.

SIEGE OPERATIONS AT CHATII4IIL

One of those very pretty siege attacks both by
land and sea for which Chatham is celebrated at
the clCse of the drill season was made on tl'e
lines" yesterday in the presence of a great
muster of spectators. The reason for these annual',
siege reviews at Chatham, which are always beau'
tiful and sometimes of the greatest interest, fnaY
be told in a few words. Chatham is the finishing
school for the Royal Engineers, and there the last
practical touches are given to their most technical
education. There is taught practically what is
almost always elsewhere taught theoretically. "
real siege on the formidable Chatham lines is
undertaken—sometimes on the sea side, seine'
times on" the land. Every year the place of at'
tack is different, and therefore, also, is the pia°
of defence. But both assailants and defenders, as
far as the works go, do prec;sely what they would
do in actual warfare, and the works of attack are as
well and solidly completed as were those before
Sebastopol itself. When all these works, however,
are done it is usual to utilise them by a great siege
attack on the lines, and by blowing up part of the
new-made works with not too heavy charges, hat
enough to illustrate the action of mines.
Yesterday the programme included all these feat°
of battle, but it was on the whole rather toe pre-
tentious for the handful of men at disposal. " The
thin red line" was thin everywhere, and at places
so thin as to be quite imaginary. The whole force
under arms, both besiegers and defenders, wean°t
more than 4,000 men, and the work to be done
would have required 40,000. The siege, therefore/
was a very imaginary one, and from the same troops
having to be moved by long distances to the dif-
ferent points of attack there were terribly long le,:
tervals between the acts. The theory of the attaes•
and defence was supposed to be as follows
whole of the south-west face of Chatham lines had
been regularly invested from St. Mary's Creetic
New Brompton. For all the first and greater part
of the second parallels, however, there was
sufficient ground, so these were taken for granted'
i
but the third and fourth parallels were complete ll
their minutest detail, except that, for the One
want of space, the fourth had to be thrown up Deal
to the besieged works than could ever have hapPe,
in actual warfare. These works were beautifully
finished, in some parts the earth being as much °8
25 feet thick, the minimum now considered neces‘
sary to resist heavy rifled guns from fortifications;
Every device known to modern siege operatic:olSW%
carried out, and one, a new one, but likely to Nei,
into use extensively—a screen battery—was 13°14
to perfection. The besiegers were supposed t°
about to make an attack on four points siniul,tar-
neously, but, as the troops were not enough let
such manoeuvrzs, two attacks were made; the f 11.3
of which was repulsed, and then, after a very I°4
pause, two others, which were successful. nef°,l:o
the attack commenced Lord Napier of Magda;
with General Murray, who was in command, r° d
round the lines of the besiegers and inspecte,
them from first to last. Soon after two
the mimic siege began with a slight attack on °e
extreme left of the position of St. Mary's HOTIIOric
and from St. Mary's Creek. This, however, 1/30
a very slight affair, and only interesting from tbs
fact of the garrison springing some torped°
under water when they saw the boats coral";
These, of course, were sprung long before the boa
tt
were in danger, but their effect was quite enough 0
show what a terrible engine of river and naval we'
fare may be made of these hidden machines. yeh
terday, though their charges were ...111, Lheic Alb° .0
was very heavy, and they sent the sea flying uPlia
gigantic columns high into the air. They wc"
have broken the back of any vessel of war that ha
been close over them at the time of their explosiS
This, however, was but a picturesque ePis°
of the attack—the real business was done agile
I Prince Henry's Bastion, to take which by es°4l3 •
he°
was next attempted. The besiegers sprung t
the
mine, and a great mine it was, too, hearing uP
earth like water, as its great mass of flame a,Lio
smoke rushed out into the air. Under cover (4b,
great fire and the confusion supposed t° the
created by the explosion of the mine, ,
storming party divided into three divisio';
and, headed by Sappers and the ladder Part,ie,l
rushed across the open. In a few minutes twi,
were across and had their ladders down l°o
the ditch, and the whole 32 carried across ag!cie,l
and laid against the Bastion at the other al
and the men instantly began to swarm thet:
under a covering fire front their own suPPlca
The garrison, however, were not to be t 3 is
by surprise ; they swarmed to the defence the
numbers, and one would have thought from
incessant roar that some 10,000 men had tithe
engaged, so continuous was the crack of aio
Snider rifle. It seems almost incredible that a sili%
wearou can be made to fire so fast. CotnPa .og
firing with it yesterday seemed to be del/01'1110
long, irregular, but always sustained volleys• eir
assailants got a footing in the Bastion, but shed
triumph was to be only short lived. The hesjegthe
were too strong for them, and after one °',.hoce
most animated mimic contests that have:ca
seen at Chatham, the assailants were fairly °rid,
out and forced down their ladders r ataro
in spite of the covering fire from their Merit to
and shells, were chased across the open hac,tei
their trenches. Had it been real warfare, bey
would have been almost annihilated—certages-
would have got such a lesson as would have fot
tually prevented any resumption of the assailit ' or
that day at least. The enemy, however, were ° the
posed to be all powerful and determined to take
fore'
place at any cost. After a short respite, there at,
two other attacks were made on the eafeehlecihgere•
rison, but this time both were together, and there
rison, but this time both were together, 5d
r 5 at
fore successful. The rear of the besiegers wOryory
St. Mary's Sallyport was only defended by 3 At
powerful stockade opening on St. Mary's ere.,
•while the Redan battery on the east centr?tre of
supposed to have been destroyed by the ,
?moat
the fourth parallel, and to have had a 10''139 a
effected in it. The stockade was taken first. oips
continuous fire from the gunboats and 01 it,
launches, its defenders were driven fr° agi'
and, under cover of this attack, a party ° charge
lacers advanced towards it and affixed a heavya bi
of powder, which was fired on their retirl 0
r'eater
means of a long fuse, and in an instant the hinters r
part of the massive stockade was laid in the
fc'
far and near. The explosion was the Sig°l storar
advance on the Sallyport, and also for the
ing of the Redan, both of which were 11°`" fog
rnenced in earnest. The Still i
lostn v,
llyport was
0 the
minutes, for there were no guns to oPYrs,ia,
th
assailants, and only a handful of men. rip
Rollin, however, it was very different, and was too
a fierce fight, but the fire of the assailants V‘.
d their
heavy. Their covering p krties enable a ono
pers to get to work, and in a few miunteethe ditcht;
strong " trestle" bridge was thrown acr‘-'ss,,rs had of
The defennoiaoS,
and thea it was all over.
beat a hasty retreat, and the two
.c°o ano!ut
garr.isio
attack, uniting, drove the whole I)°,lribis
-erritic uproar of musketry, from P°lll, and
there was nothine. left to defol",,,,iog to
proec°4
very naturally brought the whole