THE DEMOLITION COMMENCED.

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tions, had the general charge. But Captain Shaw, R. E., had been sent out expressly from home to arrange the firing of the mines, so as to secure the safety of the spectators. He began with experiments, which, fortunately, were on a small scale; for he very soon furnished an example of an "Engineer hoisted by his own petard." For believing, on a certain occasion, that all his shafts had exploded, he too quickly returned to the place of danger, when suddenly another explosion occurred. For a moment, the gallant captain believed that his last hour had arrived; but though raised from the ground, and thrown upon his face, he was fortunately uninjured. A sapper on the 2nd March, was less fortunate, having been greatly hurt about the head and face by the unexpected explosion of a shaft supposed to have been already sprung. This man remained in hospital many weeks, but eventually recovered.

The earlier mines were fired by long trains of powder laid on the ground in furrows, and slow burning fuses. That was a very picturesque and exciting process. But after the arrival of a Voltaic battery from England, the affair was arranged in the scientific manner, which suited better to this age of wonders. The Engineer thenceforth played the part of Jupiter. The mines were fired, and the works destroyed, by home-brewed lightning. At the sound of a bugle, the mysterious wires were joined, and dipped into the little quicksilver glass,

by the operator's hands, causing an instantaneous explosion, and scattering in a second the labours of many years.

Although the English in Corfu sincerely regretted the destruction of the works, yet most of them took great interest in watching the process and its results. During the last ten days of February, throughout the whole of March, and the first part of April, there were constant, and at first almost daily explosions; sometimes there were two or more on the same day. They usually took place at five in the afternoon. Now, it was at Fort Neuf; oftener at Fort Abraham; and oftener still at Vido. The English of both sexes were eager spectators; approaching as near as they ventured, or were permitted. The Greeks looked on the mines of Fort Abraham from a greater distance, and at those of Vido from the Line Wall of the town near the sea. Whatever they felt, I myself never saw or heard them express any anger or disgust. One man, however, was overheard by some one exclaiming, just before a rampart was blown up: "I wish that Lord Roosel were on the top of it." But resignation But resignation was the prevalent feeling after my return, whatever it might have been at the outset. Probably after their first fears they looked upon it as a boon that the citadel was not to be touched, and that Fort Neuf was to be

A NEEDLESSLY LOST OPPORTUNITY.

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destroyed at one side only; that next to the

sea.

Some of the explosions were very fine sights. The spectators' eyes would be fixed on some escarp or counterscarp, which they were aware was doomed. Then, as soon as the bugle sound of "fire" was heard, a rumbling noise followed, and the huge wall would appear to shake, and to advance, with the centre bulging out, like a war-horse bending his knees for a charge, and then the great mass would jump into the wide and deep ditch; whilst mighty fragments were hurled into the air and sometimes to considerable distances. Torrents of the densest smoke, accompanied, and too often partially concealed, the picturesque effects of the explosions.

Many of the officers of the ships of war in the harbour were anxious to try their guns on some of the walls or towers of Vido. But for fear of offending the Greeks, the permission was at first denied. It was eventually granted by a letter from England, which however arrived too late, and after the round tower, the last good butt for target practice, had been well undermined preparatory to explosion. So the opportunity was lost of trying the power of the Armstrong guns.

There were always a number of English men-ofwar in Corfu during the last months of the British Protectorate, and generally also some foreign ones.

On the 4th March, an Austrian frigate quitted the harbour in pursuit, it was said, of Danish vessels; a sight not pleasing to most of us.

On the 5th March, the first step was taken towards removing the British garrisons from the Ionian Islands. The 2nd battalion of the 6th Regiment under Colonel Hobbs, embarked that afternoon on board the Orontes transport, and started the next morning for Jamaica. In its march through the town, there were considerable crowds and some excitement. But the wonted cheering of the soldiers was not (as far as I could observe) reciprocated by the inhabitants, although no feelings of hostility were manifested on the occasion.* The destruction of the doomed works was at that time the daily occupation of the troops, and the unpopularity of England was at its highest point, so that the only wonder is, that the troops departed in peace and free from insults. But even at that period, there were many honest Ionians, who still retained their confidence in the British name and people. The following extract from a letter, dated the 14th March, and addressed to me by a Cephalonian official of most estimable character, gives I believe, a just idea of the sentiments of many of his countrymen. "Although the islands have been

I have been assured, since writing the above, that many of the petty tradesmen were in tears in the town, grieving over the loss of their customers: like the tailor in "Don Cæsar de Bazan."