The , siege of Antwerp continues to fill the first place
in thn departMent Of Fereign 'News. • ' • • The Lunette of St. Laurent was 'taken by assault :on. Friday ! morning. The -preliminary measures ate not 'without interest. We quote following from TiMes7= • " ' " When the sap was prepared for the deseent into the fosse, three modes Pie; '.stinted themselves to take the fort. One was to attack the gorge by a strong fdrce, by which there was a probability of great loss. The opening of the ,breach by the artillery wradd. be so:tnuch lost time; and.the third- mode, which Was suggested by General Hato, and which was in unison with the principle on Which the siege was cOadueMd; was to plhee a mine hi the flitirlt of the lunette. Thii lad was adopted, and executed with brilliant and fortunate results. " On the 10th, a raft was constructed Under the blindage near the fosse. During the night, fourteen workmen of the gngineers, led by an officer,_crossed „the fosse; and fastening themselVei to the left 'flank of the fort near the iailant, 'they reMained there, five houra, 'daring Which eveWmemis that art could -suggest "".1' produced no .other effect thia that of removing two bricks. ; • " The difficulties: were: such, that in the day following it became a matter of deliberation whether they-should not resort to the .more certain, though. more '71 tedious, process of opening the breach with artillery. Geherallfaim persisted; and at sax o'clock in the evening of the 11th, the -engineers crossed the fosse a :, second time; still unobserved by the. besieged in the fortreSS; Who, -by- a' lucky .cbefice, could, not enfilade thit fosse, which is, not ander ally guns but those; of ; r
the cum itself.. I • •
" The firing .of the besiegers against the Citadel.was besides at:this time ex'• :Ireinely quick, in Order"to- turn off the attention-of the garriSon. To give you an idea ot its rapidity, !need only state, that on this night 77,000 Cartridges were corisurn'ed.. After,a hard labour of several heurs,:and the einployroent of petards, ,the Una at last suceeeded in destroying &coating of brick, and a thick layer of cement, by which they attained their object. An excavation was .sooa made, 'into which.. the miners entered.. Thus these resolute' men retrained lodged in .the. very flank of the lunette from the 12th to the-18th; and"during this time theyhad dug to the depth of thirty feet -under ihe 'platform of the tort. . The excavation was in the, form of a T, rn the unperyatt 'of Which. there were three
;magazines. .V:esterdav evening, each of these was charged with 500 kilograms, (1,0001b English) of powder: . The remainder of the night was einployed in. filling' Up the-excavations with a considerable , number of sacks of 'earth.. earth. • - • • .
"It is now said, that at nine o'clock the officer eonirnanding the lunette had a siispiciori of What was goiag on, and communicated these suspicions to General Chasse; who sent him answer that he must be mistaken. Be-that. as it 'may,. -1 about four o'clock 'this morning, every:thing being prepared, the train of the 1 mine was fired. The soldiers then retired within- the second parallel, 'and
half an rhour- after, a v '
iolent explosion, followed by an eruption of stones, several r of which fell, at our side, announced that a practicable breach had been effected.: , E The first detonation was followed b1 a: second, oecabioned by the exploSion small magazine of, shells and _grenades, which hid the .appearance of a brilliant discharge of fireworks. –The garrison of the lunette tOok the explosion as the,'
effect of a bomb." ." • • ' - •
Tho breach formed by the, exploiion Wag almost immediately drossed by the storming force; and with.extremely small loss— only two men.are said to have -Men on:the- occasion.. Of the gar- . rison, a iiart escaped: into:the Citadel; the remainder, 64 in num- her, with the, officer, were taken prisoners. Thii is; not the usual. ; praCtiee itr Storming ; .but the French make War with as much hit' - inanity is valour.' Seven, of • the Dutchmen who were wounded _1: were treated with, the greatest attention; The lunette, it is said, 1 has not proved of so muChvalue as was antioipated: it has in some riiessnre facilitated the construction of the-breaching-batteries, in , tended to-batter the, bastion- of Teledo ; but it has been found ne- OssarY, in order to insure -.their success, . to take up, ground in • i front the `buildings of the town. The consequence has.been..: the-throning of a nuniber of shot and shellS.into the latter. , Some of the idle of our great city havb gone ov,er witness the ''t of the siege:; which are especially interesting as they are Seen during the night frem the• •roof of the theatre. The fall of few of the splendid Missiles inthe neighbourhoOd of the gaping .f groupes,;te whom they have hitherto-served is a raree-show, would damp their curiosity pretty considerably: • • ; ' There:is rePort that cliAssg,.hs go4O'over the Tote-do-,.1 Flandre, in order to get quit of the damp ,of the caseniatei in the ,. Citadel. Froth the assumed facility with which- he can transfer him's& froin fort to fort, it seems probable .that in the long Turthe•r.i may give Marshal GERAiRD the slip altogether. , Four. Belgian, r vessels have been sent down the rivet, with A vieW to prevent such a catastrophe; though,. as the only object is the evacuation of thin t fort, we should rather, have expected that measures Would be taken.,. I to hasten it. I The weather' confinues, dreadful, and every thing .:in nature. TOkIr glootny,' bet the Prench'golilieri,-Who Workiand laugh, knee-deep in the mud,-; and. with .bullets and shells ; falling round them; an gayly, as if they were waltzing in a. ball2room., The toss from the,comMeneement , of the, Siege; is stated to be _extremely snall, COD-, •••i sidering difficultiesand tin:ration. --General ,110iO, 'the engineer,,,, gets the credit Of this; front' hii achnr: able:plans.afippro,ich-
