3º. As the faults leading to failure in the first part of the siege were repeated in the second, while the enemy’s resources had increased by the gain of time, and because his intercourse with France by sea never was cut off, it follows that there was no reasonable security for success; not even to make a lodgement on the breach, since no artificial materials were prepared and the workmen failed to effect that object. But the first arrangement and the change adopted in the council of war, the option given to general Bradford, the remarkable fact, that the simultaneous attack on the horn-work was only thought of when the first efforts against the breach had failed, all prove, that the enemy’s defensive means were underrated, and the extent of the success exceeded the preparations to obtain it. The place was won by accident. For first the explosion of the great mine under the tower of Los Hornos, was only prevented by a happy shot which cut the sausage of the train during the fight, and this was followed by the ignition of the French powder-barrels and shells along the high curtain, which alone opened the way into the town. Sir Thomas Graham’s firmness and perseverance in the assault, and the judicious usage of his artillery against the high curtain during the action, an operation however which only belonged to daylight, were no mean helps to the victory. It was on such sudden occasions that his prompt genius shone conspicuously, yet it was nothing wonderful that heavy guns at short distances, the range being perfectly known, should strike with certainty along a line of rampart more than twenty-seven feet above the heads of the troops. Such practice was to be expected from British artillery, and Graham’s genius was more evinced by the promptness of the thought and the trust he put in the valour of his soldiers. It was far more extraordinary that the stormers did not relinquish their attack when thus exposed to their own guns, for it is a mistake to say that no mischief occurred; a serjeant of the ninth regiment was killed by the batteries close to his commanding officer, and it is probable that other casualties also had place. [Sidenote: Captain Cooke, forty-third regiment. Vide his Memoirs.] [Sidenote: Bellas.]