242 
     
     BELGIUM flJV‘D H OLD/2N1). 
     
     From the London Observer. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The citadel of Jlntwerp is at length in 
     
     the hands of those who are proclaimed by 
     
     the Powers of the Conference its rightful 
     
     owners- The Dutch flag was lowered to 
     
     the victorious besiegers on Monday eve- 
     
     ning, and those who command for his 
     
     Belgian Majesty are by this in possesion of 
     
     the keys of the fortress. It will be recol- 
     
     lected, as we stated last week, that the 
     
     breaching batteries commenced their fire 
     
     on Friday. On Saturday the cannonade 
     
     on both sides was kept up with extraordi- 
     
     nary energy, the besiegers pressing their 
     
     works close up to the fosse, and the be- 
     
     sieged retarding their operations with all 
     
     the missiles which the utmost refinements 
     
     in the art of war could bring forth for 
     
     such an occasion. The loss of life at 
     
     this eriod is said, not without reason, to 
     
     have een great on both sides; but the spi- 
     
     tit and the resolution of the besiegers sur- 
     
     mounted every obstacle, and on Sunday 
     
     morning, at nine, General Chasse had the 
     
     mortification to see the body of the works 
     
     reduced to a heap of ruins, and the build- 
     
     ings of the interior demolished or in flames, 
     
     and to learn that a breach had been 
     
     made sufficiently practicable to justify an 
     
     assault. Under such circumstance, with 
     
     his troops dispirited, and all hope of suc- 
     
     cour from the Prince of Orange complete- 
     
     ly extinguished, General Chasse, at nine 
     
     o‘clock on Sunday morning, hoisted a flag 
     
     of truce, and the firing being immediately 
     
     suspended on both sides,Lieutenant-Colonel 
     
     Zelig of the Dutch Artillery, and Major 
     
     Delprat, of the Engineers, were dis- 
     
     patched to Marshal Gerard with propositions 
     
     for a capitulation. A Council of War was 
     
     instantly summoned, and after a negocia- 
     
     tion prolonged till Monday evening, at half- 
     
     past ten, the terms for the evacuatiou of 
     
     the citadel by the Dutch troops were fi- 
     
     nally signed. It is understood that Chasse, 
     
     in the first instance, demanded as the con- 
     
     dition of his surrender, that the garrison 
     
     should be allowed to march out with all the 
     
     honors ofwar, and carry with them all 
     
     their material to Holland. This proposition 
     
     met a'decided refusal, and it was finally 
     
     arranged that the citadel of Antwerp and 
     
     its dependencies. the Tete de Flandres, 
     
     Forts Burght, Zwyndrecht, and Austre- 
     
     weel should be delivered up, with all their 
     
     artillery, ammunition, and provisions, the 
     
     troops and inhabitants, if any, keeping 
     
     their baggage, horses, and effects, and 
     
     the ofiicers retaining their arms. The 
     
     garrison, it was also agreed, should march 
     
     out with the honors of war, and Marshal 
     
     Gerard engaged to have them conducted 
     
     back to the frontiers of Holland, where 
     
     their arms shall be restored to them as 
     
     soon as the King of Holland shall have 
     
     ordered the delivery up of Forts Lillo and 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     THE BRITISH AMERICAN. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Liefkenshoek. With this view, Marshal 
     
     Gerard was to send without delay, an offi- 
     
     cer to the Hague, and permit General 
     
     Chasse to dispatch one on his part, if he 
     
     should think proper. It was also provi- 
     
     ded, that for the sick and wounded the 
     
     necessary boats should be furnished at [the 
     
     expense of the Dutch Government, to Ber- 
     
     gen-op-Zoom;such of the sick as were 
     
     not in a state to be removed continuing to 
     
     receive medical attention at the expense 
     
     ofthe Dutch government, from surgeons 
     
     of that nation, who should enjoy on their 
     
     leaving, the same advantages as the gar- 
     
     rison. 
     
    
   
   
    
     These, divested of their formalities, 
     
     are the principal provisions of the capi- 
     
     tulation, and the French having taken pos- 
     
     session of the out works, both parties are 
     
     now anxiously waiting for the decision 
     
     of the king of Holland wtih respect to 
     
     Forts Lillo and Liefkenshoek, as on that 
     
     decision depends the ultimate fate of) the 
     
     troops, and perhaps the stay of the French 
     
     army in Belgium, It appears that while 
     
     negociations were going on with Marshal 
     
     Gerard, the Dutch fleet, consisting of a 
     
     frigate, two sloops, three steamers, and 
     
     ‘20 gun-boats, with aforce of 2,000 men 
     
     from the garrison of Lillo and the forts 
     
     in the neighbourhood, made a violent at- 
     
     tack on the pasition occupied by Gen. 
     
     Sebastiani at the dyke of Doel, with the 
     
     obvious intention of forcing thte passage of 
     
     the river. The troops of the General, 
     
     consisting of little more than 700, repulsed 
     
     this attack with the bayonet, and com- 
     
     pelled the enemy to abandon their en- 
     
     terprise, with the lass of one hundred men, 
     
     although protected by the fire of near 200 
     
     pieces of artillery. In this affair the Gene. 
     
     ral lost 12 killed, and 40 wounded. The 
     
     deplorable condition in which Major de 
     
     la Fontaine found the citadel is beyond all 
     
     description. Not a house was left which 
     
     could shelter the garrison; their ammuni- 
     
     tion and provisions were either des- 
     
     troyed, burnt, or blowu up, and only 
     
     sufficient food was left for one days, ra- 
     
     tions. The casemates, or vaulted passa- 
     
     ges, were all knocked down; and Chasse 
     
     himself was seated in a vault at a table, 
     
     with every thing around him destroyed by 
     
     thebombs. The garrison bore theirmis- 
     
     fortunes with great bravery and devoted- 
     
     ness, and until Friday night not a murmur 
     
     escaped their lips. On that night a“depu- 
     
     tation of the garrison waited on Chasse, 
     
     and urged him to make a desperate sortie ; 
     
     and either to succeed in spiking the guns 
     
     of the besiegers, or fall in the attempt. 
     
     They complained that the fire of the 
     
     enemy prevented them from standing to 
     
     their guns, and that they preferred risk- 
     
     ing their lives on the field of battle, to 
     
     being murdered by bombs coming from an 
     
     enemy away from their sight, and against 
     
     whom they could take no sure aim. Chasse 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     an 31 
     
     felt all the force of this remonstrance 
     
     having proved to the world the brhver 
     
     of his men, and satisfied the honor of h- 
     
     country, he succumbed to superior force" 
     
    

    
     The first interview the French Commie 
     
     sioner had with Chasse, he was iutroduced 
     
     with his eyes covered. The veteran the 
     
     instant he saw him, ordered the band 9 
     
     to be removed. “We have no more 59. 
     
     crets,” said he, “ admire the glorious work 
     
     of your bombs—tell Marshal Gerard the 
     
     exact situation of the citadel.” 
     
    

    
     The Journal du Commerce, 
     
     Paper, says also that “ The citadel offers 
     
     a picture of extreme desolation—no build. 
     
     ing remains entire—all are totally destrov. 
     
     ed or crippled by the projectiles of the 
     
     besiegers, not a foot of ground but i. 
     
     ploughed up by the balls and shells. One 
     
     important building still stood, it was the 
     
     provision warehouse; Saturday night it 
     
     was destroyed, with all its contents. It 
     
     would appear that this loss determined the 
     
     beseiged to capitulate. It is clear that 
     
     they held out to the last extremity. Ge. 
     
     nerel Chasse is confined with a rheumatic 
     
     attack, and not able to come out. The 
     
     Marshal, accompanied by the Royal Dukes, 
     
     paida visit to him in his quarters in the 
     
     citadel. It is said that at the interview 
     
     the old veteran observed he was 
     
     afraid the French would consider that he 
     
     might have defended the citadel better ‘ 
     
     than he did. “ My dear General,” replied 
     
     Gerard, “ your conduct has been that of a 
     
     brave man, and the world will do you jus- 
     
     tice. In the name of the French army, 
     
     1 am proud to say that they admireyouas 
     
     a soldier, and are anxious to call you their 
     
     brother.” lmme Iiately after the conclusion 
     
     of the negociations signals were made 
     
     from the citadel, and the twelve Dutch 
     
     gun-boats in the river attempted to escape. 
     
     They were fired on from the batteries 
     
     erected on the banks by the French, and 
     
     their commanders finding it hopeless to get 
     
     dOWn the Scheldt, strewed the decks 
     
     with gun-powder, and set them on fire. . 
     
     They were all consequently destroyed, : 
     
     except one ofthe smallest. ‘This act was 
     
     perpetrated by the express command of 
     
     the King of Holland, in order to prevent 
     
     their falling into the hands of the Belgians, 
     
     The French state their loss, during the 
     
     seige, to be five officers and sixty-eight 
     
     privates killed, and ten officers, and 479 
     
     privates severely wounded. The slightly 
     
     wounded are not included in this estimate. 
     
     The loss of the garrison is about 250 men. 
     
     The monster mortar; of which we gm 
     
     some account, fired eight or ten shells dU‘ 
     
     ring the seige; but, as far as we can learn; 
     
     the garrison 'were more‘ frightened. than 
     
     hurt by its explosion. The shell requiredls 
     
     so large, the extent ofits range so uncer‘ 
     
     tain, and the danger of discharging It 50 
     
     great, that it cannot form a model for 1 
     
     class. Some of the shells burst the m0‘ 
     
    
   
   
    
     2’ 
     
     «a.