through the engine-room, and destroying both the machinery and all those on duty below. For the previous fifteen minutes neither the Spaniards nor Peruvians had done much to injure each other, till they had partially proved the range of their respective guns. Most of the Spanish gunners fired at random, whilst the Peruvians fired by a system of concentration of batteries, which is the most destructive way to use artillery, whether against ships, forts, or small or large bodies of men. A body which is struck by eight heavy shots at the same moment will suffer more than if struck by twenty-four single shots one after the other. In Napoleon's great victories he used the concentration of his artillery in almost every engagement. Before the battle began, his first object was to discover if the commander or his staff were within the range of his guns. If they were, he brought his guns to bear upon them, especially if they were congregated near each other. The Peruvians deserved great praise for their bravery and obedience; but if the Spaniards had continued the engagement for four hours longer, or returned to the attack on the following day, Callao would have been at their mercy.

About three-quarters of an hour after the first shot was fired, a terrible accident happened which dismounted two of the most valuable guns on shore. Owing to carelessness or ignorance, one of the gunners, whose duty it was to bring ammunition from the magazine close by to the Armstrong circular turret batteries, dropped one of the percussion shells on the hard stones, and it exploded, igniting some of the charges and the fuzes of the other shells within the turret. Every soldier around the batteries was destroyed, among whom were Signore Galvez, the Minister of War, and Signore Bordan, the chief military engineer. Soon after the accident at the Armstrong turret, a shot from one of the gunboats dismounted and disabled the large Blakeley gun mounted between the railway station and the American ice-house. The gun was known by the name of the American battery, because it was mounted and worked by American gentlemen of great experience. The other large Blakeley guns, mounted between the Pacific Steam Navigation Company's office and the American ice-house, were quite useless after three o'clock, owing to the springs of the compressers being broken; and the other Blakeley guns

mounted at the back of the French hospital became silent through the same defect. We began to be anxious, for the heavy guns being disabled, the other light gun batteries, except that of Santa Rosa, were useless when opposite to an ironclad navy. The battery of Santa Rosa, composed of sixtyfour pounders, being fourteen feet above the level of the sea, and well protected from the stones on the sea-shore, the guns were always ready for action. The fearful effects of the concentration of the guns of this small battery were proved on the 2nd of May, 1866.

Till the last moment, the Peruvians had made little preparation for the defence. They had some Blakeley and Armstrong guns, but they were only partly mounted. The Callao people were discouraged at their defenceless state, and would have remained doing nothing, in a kind of torpor, but for the brave American, and more especially the English merchants. These men came manfully forward to defend the land of their adoption, and joined heart and hand to protect the young republic. They roused the degenerate descendants of the Spanish race to go forth like men to defend their liberties. The ladies sewed sand-bags for the forts. Some of the foreigners fought, but the greater part employed themselves in tending the sick and wounded in the thick of the fighting. Singularly enough, in spite of all the shot and shell flying about, no one engaged in these works of mercy was injured during the whole bombardment. Amongst these foreigners, the Reverend Mr. Murphy, of the London Mission, was indefatigable in his exertions. The English consul, in the midst of this self-devotion, presented a humiliatory contrast. He instantly fled on board the Shearwater, and left British subjects to shift for themselves. The English flag was disgraced by that act. in the English consular service perpetually; the consular employés, being generally foreigners, are only intent on what they can scrape together, and have no other interest in our honour.

But so it is

Two days only before the Spaniards appeared did the batteries approach completion. Land guns were scarce, and we had to take cannon from the old steamers in the harbours. The most experienced of us, who had been an artillery officer, arranged where each battery should be, and the number of guns to be mounted. The shore was strewn

with pebbles, varying in size from one pound to twenty; yet no one thought of the loss of life among our gunners that this single circumstance would occasion, till we suggested blinding the front of the batteries with sand, a proposition imperfectly carried out, except in front of the Santa Rosa battery, where I fought. It was suggested to President Prado the necessity of arming the batteries en barbette-that is, mounting the guns along a ridge, and not in embrasures. The President, and a few of the more intelligent of his advisers, approved of the plan, but the system was only partially used; and the result was, that while the gunners at the Santa Rosa battery for the most part escaped, the Peruvian gunners at the other batteries were shot down like dogs, and many perished from the splinters of the pebbles on the beach. The ship guns were mounted on platforms, as in a ship. But there was a great want of engineers, and the native gunners were lazy and ignorant. With the exception of one gentleman, sent out by the Blakeley Company to superintend the mounting and working of their own guns, the whole Peruvian staff were as ignorant as children of gunnery; and I do not think one of them had ever in his life seen a cannon fired in anger. The large Blakeley and Armstrong guns being mounted and in perfect preparation, with their open mouths turned seaward, the previously discouraged population of Lima and Callao began to feel new courage, and to grow now as over-confident and boastful as they had latterly been too despondent. They came down in thousands to stare at and greet the guns, and shaking their fists at the horizon over which the Spanish fleet was beginning to lift, they cried out, "What guns!" "What shot!" "God be praised!" "Those cursed Spaniards will catch it now!" The native gunners, who had never fired off a shot in anger before, grew so excited when they were instructed how to point and fire, that some of them jumped up on the guns and began to brandish their knives and defy the Spaniards.

No vessel of war in the world would be able to bear the concentration of eighty heavy guns, fired simultaneously by electricity at point-blank range.

The admiral's vessel, the Villa de Madrid, that came gaily into battle, her band playing, her yards squared, and her head turned viciously to the shore, soon sang another tune when the battery of Santa Rosa, open

ing on her, swept away all her boats, and killed and wounded many of her men. This was the first indication the Spaniards had had that the town was at all fortified, and they had supposed that they were going to make as quick work with us as they had done at Valparaiso. The admiral very soon had enough of this; and giving orders to tack, retired, and signalled for a second vessel to take his place. The second vessel, finding the oven hotter than even the admiral had done, soon made room for a third. The Santa Rosa, battery, the highest of all the Callao batteries, being about six feet higher than the decks of the Spanish vessels, was the most formidable enemy they had to encounter, and was the one they were the least able to injure. The Spaniards, instead of trying percussion shells at this battery, used time shells, which, intended for a mile and fired at only half a mile, generally burst several hundred yards behind our gunners. As I stood taking notes in the Santa Rosa battery, some Italians employed in the battery began to quarrel about a beefsteak, one of them having greedily eaten not only his own portion, but that of two of his companions. The angry men were ripe for murder when I approached them.

"For shame," I cried. "It is these accursed Spaniards you should fight. Go to your posts."

One of the rascals drew his knife at me. I fired a bullet through his hat, and warned him that the next would be through his body. Then I changed hats with him, called them all noble Italians, and sent them to work with cries of "Death to the Spaniards."

The chulos fought very well. They were led to understand, nevertheless, that any one of them leaving his gun without leave of the commander would instantly be shot. An amazon from Lima acted as an aide-de-camp, and walked up and down the battery, a bottle of Pisco in one hand and a revolver in the other, vowing to shoot the first man who deserted the guns. She was there during the whole engagement, in the thick of the shot and shell, and, although an enormously tall woman, was never wounded. Her cousin, Caterina, too, was close by on horseback, with bags of lint and bandages slung around her. From the moment she took her position, that brave woman never deserted her post.

We were just loading on the recoil, and

were all at the ropes, when half a pebble came and carried off the head of my poor Number Four. The man's neck struck against my arm, and the body for a moment clutched the rope, and then fell stiff, in the attitude of pulling. I instantly threw my cloak over the body, that the sight might not discourage the men. After the fourteen Spanish vessels began to falter and hang back, the gunboats came in; and they fared even worse. One retired all but sinking. The Blakeley guns proved perfect; but the carriages were like toys, and so weak that parts of them gave way after three rounds. The Armstrong guns were of great service, some of the shots piercing the whole length of the vessels, and sweeping down the firemen. At the close of the day the Spaniards, in a sort of desperation, fired pieces of iron bars, which, however, did us but little harm.

After four and a half hours' firing, the Spaniards withdrew, much mauled, and with the admiral and the second in command disabled.

The moment the Spaniards turned tail, on the 2nd of May, thousands flocked to the batteries.

The officers, gunners, and volunteers were complimented, thanked, and embraced for their bravery and success. Every one who wished could both eat and drink; in fact, the people were mad at their victory and salvation. Port, sherry, and champagne were handed round like water, not in glasses, but in bottles. I found myself surrounded by hundreds of men and women, who would insist on pouring champagne in token of the national gratitude; and I believe, if I had let them, they would have made me swim in a bath of that pleasant and costly beverage. For a week after, Lima and Callao were illuminated, and public feasts held in honour of their first independence. Political prisoners were released from their cells and rewarded with presents, and several murderers in the chain-gang had their fetters knocked off. The people and the press having publicly thanked me for my services, and as the discontented, the hungry, and lazy were preparing for another revolution, I bade good-bye to Peru, and shipped on board the American man-of-war Lancaster as a passenger, bound for Norfolk, Virginia.

The majority of the white population of Peru is composed of Americans, English, Italians, and Germans. Three-fourths of the English, especially those in the interior,

are deserters from English ships, and runaway convicts from the British colonies.

Among those who took an active part in the battle of Callao were two of the crew of the Bella, which ship has been so often mentioned during the Tichborne trial.

Like almost all sailors, they went by nicknames. One was called Yorkey, and the other Yankey Joe. I heard that Joe was blown up at the Armstrong battery, on the 2nd of May; but Yorkey shipped for the voyage, and came home with me on board the Lancaster, and took his discharge from that vessel in the port of Norfolk, Virginia, on the 18th of March, 1867. In what name he was enrolled on the ship's books I do not know. I first met him and his companion at the port of Equador, in March, 1866. March, 1866. They were wandering about Peru and the other republics for over a period of nine years. They spoke Spanish well, and lived from hand to mouth, generally working as labourers and handy men. When I met them they were travelling on foot from the gold mines of Barbecos, in the republic of Columbia, close to Panama. They related to me their adventures, their shipwreck, misery, and the ill-treatment they received. There were four or five of the crew saved and taken to Australia by the ship Osprey. As they landed without money or clothes, they were compelled to go to a common lodging-house, where they boarded on credit. From Australia they shipped on board a vessel bound for Callao, where they arrived as poor and as penniless as when they landed in Australia. Having heard of the riches of Peru, and being determined to punish the captain for the part he took in cheating them when they first shipped on board his vessel, they deserted on the first opportunity. After concealing themselves two or three days in Lima, they worked their way into the interior, living by charity as they went on. Joe was married to a native woman, with whom he resided some time on the hills, and whom he abandoned, being afraid of being murdered by her former lover. Yorkey was a sober, steady man, could read and write, and tell as interesting a tale as any sailor on board.

I will here cite one very important fact in connection with the guns in the various batteries during the action of the 2nd of May, 1866. The most of our new guns were disparted, but the old guns were not. As disparting a gun, and the object of dis

parting it, may not be well known to the public, I will describe it in the language of a gunner. Owing to the rolling of a ship at sea, the disparting of naval guns is of greater importance than guns mounted on shore.

By disparting is meant dividing the difference of the diameters of the breech and muzzle of the gun by two; and if a sight the height of that half difference were placed on the muzzle of the gun, a line of sight would be created perfectly parallel to the cylinder or bore of the piece. Suppose two frigates engaged at one hundred fathoms' distance, the guns of one of these only being disparted, a decided advantage is possessed by that ship over the other frigate; for there can be little doubt but the guns of the latter ship would be directed by the upper surface of the gun, and the consequence would be that the shot would go from 18 to 20 feet above the ports of her opponent.

SOME EXPERIENCES OF A CONTRIBUTOR.

DEAR

To the Editor of "ONCE A WEEK." EAR SIR-I have read, with a good deal of interest the series of "Experiences" which a gentleman who formerly occupied the editorial chair of The Miscellany has been contributing to your pages for some weeks past. In this interest I have no doubt your readers have pretty generally participated. The mysteries of editorship, for some occult reason or other, possess an unaccountable fascination, even for the general reader who is free from literary aspirations; who is not in the least afflicted with the terrible malady-generally, alas! chronic and incurable-known as cacoëthes scribendi; and who never even saw his name in print. But for those readers who have tasted type, and have contributed to periodical or other literature, the interest is intensified a hundredfold. The latter are able pretty fully to comprehend and appreciate the editor's reflections, to vouch for the general accuracy of his descriptions, and even, to some extent, to sympathize with his difficulties. Speaking simply for myself, I may say that I recognize felicitous touches in many passages of the "Experiences;" and, better still, I recognize in other passages a generosity and kindness of heart which my own experience leads me to believe by no means universal

among the editorial fraternity. It must be harrowing in the extreme for an editor whose heart is composed of something more susceptible to kindly impressions than the nether millstone to receive such a communication as that of the poor lunatic, set out in the first instalment of the "Experiences." There is a simple, unaffected pathos about that despairing, broken-hearted wail of a shattered constitution and an enfeebled brain, to which no words of mine can give adequate expression. To receive such a letter as that, and to feel conscious of his utter impotence to do anything to alleviate his fellow-man's terrible calamity, must have induced a hypochondriacal train of thought on the part of the editor of The Miscellany for the rest of that day, at least. It was probably something of this sort that made Thackeray's editorial burden too weighty for his shoulders to bear.

I have not taken pen in hand this evening, however, to dilate upon the miseries and inconveniences incidental to the editorial position. Sooth to say, editors, generally speaking, are sufficiently able to do that for themselves. Many of them, indeed, are a great deal too fond of making themselves ridiculous in that way. To judge from their own account of the matter, there is no calling under heaven so irksome, so laborious, so difficult, so unremunerative, so unsatisfactory, and in every conceivable respect so utterly abominable, as theirs. I have sometimes wondered if they are addle-headed enough to suppose that the veriest dolt in Christendom-or heathendom either, for that matter-is ever by any chance taken in by this silly, conventional, stereotyped twaddle. I wonder if they are ignorant of the circumstance that it at once occurs, even to the most commonplace intellect, upon a perusal of such senseless jeremiads, to ask the very obvious and pertinent question— Why the dickens don't you cut the concern, if you dislike it so much? Why don't you go to boot-blacking, stone-breaking, mud-collecting, or some other congenial occupation: something for which you are fitted, and which you won't find too great a strain upon your faculties? Is it because you are sacrificing yourself from a high sense of your duty to the public? Because, if so, the public are so ungrateful as to give you no credit for your exalted philanthropy. The public, you know, are coarse. They are so ungenerous and il