BOMBARDMENT OF VALPARAISO.

West Coast Times, Issue 247, 7 July 1866, Page 3

BOMBARDMENT OF VALPARAISO.

(Translated for the Sydney Morning Herald from the second edition of La " Patria, published at Valparaiso on March 31 .) At midnight, as we write, the great Spanish army is still confronting Valparaiso. Our city has been bombarded, but the damage has really been insignificant •, about 4000 inhabitants who had left the city returned, and many from the country had come in to assist in defending their countiy. We had stationed pickets, and artillery, infantry, and cavalry were ready at a moment's warning to proceed to any point along the shore on which the enemy might attempt to disembark any of his troops. We held our lines of defence, fully guarded by the national troops, divided into three sections — the first at the stores in the Plabe del Orden, under the command of Colonel Orteaga ; the second on the Place del Orden and La Victoria, under Colonel Escala ; the third close to the Central Railway Station, under Lieu-tenant-Colonel Borgono, the whole under the command of General Anna and Colonel Viliabon. The total number oj troops in and about the city were as follows . — Battalions of the Line, Nos. 1 anp 10 ; one brigade of marines, the Civic Battalions of Valparaiso and Santiago, the Valparaiso Rifle Volunteers, the Santiago Artillery, the Civic Artillery, and one battalion artillery of the line, one battalion mounted guerillas, the Valparaiso Civic Cavalry, and a brigade of police — in all, about 4000. M. Errazuriz, War Minister of the Interior, and the Intendant of the Province, were both very active in assisting in such measures as were necessary for the safety of the city The streets and squares were full of people, and the troops were on duty all night in Santiago and Valparaiso. Next morning they continued in their positions. The police force, hi half companies, were also distributed at various points throughout the city, and a number of citizens not engaged in the defences of the city under-

took the maintenance of order. The greatest crowds' wefte assembled in Conception and Allegra squares, in one of which the flag of Mr Kilpatrf6k, thje American minister, still floated over his residence. At about seven a.m. on the 31st, H.M. frigates Sutlej and Leander entered the harbor, and anchored a short distance apart to the southward of the entrance, in front of the Spanish fleet and transports, then anchored opposite the Vena del Mar, close to the gunboats Devastation and Nereus and the French gunboat Egeria. The American fleet, under Commodore Rogers, was the last to move, but their movements were rapidly executed, and they soon took tlieir position on the north-east side of the harbor, within a short distance of the Spanish fleet. Mr Kilpatrick, the American minister, was on board the Vanderbilt. Ihe Spanish fleet commenced operations by steaming slowly in shore in the following order :—: — La Numaucia, La Kesolucion, Villedi Madrid, La Blanca, La Vencedora, La Maule, and the Numancia's launch. The smaller ships remained at their former anchorage. The Numancia went ahead of her consorts until she reach'dd the' middle of the bay, about a mile from the chore, and at ten minutes past eight a.m. commenced the bombardment by firing a shell into the city. This was followed by the Chilians hoisting the national flag on the flagstaff of San Antonio. The remainder of the fleet then took up the following positions : — Resolucion in front of the central railway station, Ville de Madrid 500 or 600 metres from the Custom house stores, Vencedora in front of Del Cabo, and the Blanca close to the other vessels. The Numuncia moved slowly round, giving orders while the firing lasted. The. Blanca opened a y heavy fire on the Custom House stores, and was joined by the Ville de Madrid, until the buildings began to smoke, the shots blowing the tops off the houses and making ruins of the walls. The shots from the rifle guns of the latter vessel were particularly noticeable by their whistling through the air, and the smoke and flame ' which followed where they took effect. Many of the shells burst the air, a number in the water, and several on the beach. The Blanca next commenced operations against the Bourse and La Intendencia, two very prominent buildings, but the | firing was not so rapid as that against the Customs stores. A number of shots were also fired at the flagstaff. The Resolucion fired at the Railway Station ; -and the Vencedora, lying a short distance from La Calle del Cabo, cannonaded the dwellings along* the seaside, particularly the residences of Mr Edwards and others close to the Intendencia. Every five minutes a great white smoke issued from her sides, and before the bullets — from her 68pounders and 32-pounders — walls crumbled as if they were paper. About eleven o'clock a shell from the Vencedora set fire to the batbs adjoining the Union Hotel, to which the flames communicated, and spread to Planchada and Cbchrane streets, shrouding all the left side of the city in smoke. A few minutes pa3t twelve o'clock the Numancia hoisted a signal to cease firing, and all the fleet immediately obeyed and moved away. The total number of shots fired was about 2000, out of which only 113 took effect. Of these, sixty-one struck the Intendencia, nineteen the Bourse, and twenty-eight the railway station. The heaviest loss sustained is that at the Custom House stores, where a large quantity of merchandise wss stored. The value of the portion destroyed is estimated at 700,000d01. The heaviest sufferers are foreign houses, that of Echucard alone losing 100,000dol. /The French merchants have, through their consul, sent in a claim for indemnity. There have been many deaths on board the Spanish vessels; several were killed on board the Ville de Madrid. The buildings destroyed were the second and third sections of the Custom House stores, the house of Mr Galls, Manet and Co.'s establishment, Templeman and Co.'s stores, the buildings of Mr Edwards, and those of Mr Orsa, the Union Hotel, and building adjoining the Hotel Lafayette, and the premises of Don Noncesti Adverchez. The Spanish Admiral, in an official letter to the American Minister, states that he has no further intention of bombarding the city.

The reports furnished by the Hobarfc Town paper 3as to the success of the late experiment in acclimatising the salmon are encouraging. The " Mercury" of the 25th ult. says :— " The latest accounts from the salmon ponds on the the Plenty are of tho most encouraging and gratifying description. The whole of the ova brought out by the last vessel has been hatched, and the number of young fish, from it lias long since passed all count. When last attempted the number was supposed to havo greatly exceeded 10,000, but Mr Kamsbottoni was very much afraid of exaggeration, or of raising undue expectations. He had no hesitation, however, in saying that the number of fish from tho second batch of ova was very much in excess of those from the first. The trout from the first batch of ova, kept in a pond and race by themselves, are now ready to spawn, and will afford the means of thus multiplying their number. The parr or young stlmon, also kept in a pond and rnce by themselves, until the success of the experiment on the second batch of ova was determined, were also in a spawning condition, but have novr been turned into the Plenty to shift for themselves, and 'will, no doubt, find their way into the Derwent, and in due time to the sea. The parr let out many months back are now, no doubt, out at sea, whence they are expected back in January or February next by Mr Eamsbottom, fullgrown fish. Notliing could have been more satisfactory ov encouraging than the accounts we have got from the ponds from time to time."