The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-06 00:00:00

monarchy, bee h.ne tvrin..l aei,:aiwiedgtnent with
which the note begins is of little importance. We
believe that even now Prussia is anxious to leave
the Danish State untouched, but anxious also to
satisfy Germany and leave to herself a double course
of action. It will be for England and the other
Powers that signed the former treaty to do their
utmost to keep Prussia to that arrangement ; and
as M. von Bisinark especially acknowledges their
right to assist in tha, settlement of the Danish ques-
tion there will be no undue assumption on their
part if they continue their remonstrances against
the course the allies aro still pursuing,
POST.—The general engagement which it was
anticipated would have taken place on Thursday
along the entire line of,the Danish defences has not
yet been reported. It is probable, however, that the
allied armies have been chiefly occupied in making
preparations for a straggle which they now know
will prove a serious one. An attack, but of what
nature we have not been told, was made on that part
of the Danish line covering the approaches to Schles-
wig, and some shells are said to have fallen into that
town. It was not, however, of long duration, end
was unattended by any material success. A singular
collision is reported to have taken place between the
Austrians and Prussians themselves, and is attri-
buted either to the blunder or the design of two
Danish guides, who led the allied forces against each
other instead of against the enemy. It certainly
seems a very odd kind of mistake; and, calling to
mind as we do the difficulty not unfrequently expe-
rienced in maintaining harmony between Austrian
and Prussian troops when garrisoned together in
some of the German towns, we can scarcely
help suspecting that the true cause of
the collision has not been assigned. In
any case, however, the circumstance cannot
fail to breed ill-will between two bodies of troop;
which have never regarded each other with special
favour. Reinforcements are daily bast:ening from
the South; and, however anxious `.'
n© Germans are
to strike a speedy blow, the'are still more desirous
to make it a sure one. nilaeyj are well aware that it
will need vastly ",,uperior numbers to drive the Danes
frornithei! entrenchments ; and as their collective
stalliiing armies reckon hundreds of thousands of
troops, whilst the entire Danish army does not exceed
fifty thousand men, they are not unwilling to turn
their vast resources to account. The conduct of
the Austrians and Prussians may not seem very
valorous, but no one can doubt that it is wise.

The right wing of the invading army is, as the
public) are aware, composed of the Prussians ; the
Austrians, under General von Gablenz, forming the
left wing. Whether from design or from the cir-
cumstance that the Prussians, in advancing from
Eckernforde, arrived at the line of the Danish
defences sooner than their allies, is not apparent ;
but no combined action took place between the two
armies on the first day when a collision took place
with the Danish forces. In the attack on Missunde,
Prussians were alone engaged, and whilst that action
was in progress the Austrians remained inactive. On
Tuesday, however, the tactics of the invaders were
reversed, and whilst the Prussians were recovering
from the effects of the repulse which they had sus-
tained on the previous day, the Austrians pushed
forward in the direction of the Danewirke, and an
engagement took place, in which, so far as we are
in a position to judge, they were defeated. The
Austrian army, as our readers will recollect, entered
Schleswig at Rendsburg, a town lying almost due
south of the Danewirke, and about midway between
the eastern and western coasts of the peninsula.
From thence they proceeded along the Rendsburg
and Flensburg Railway to the Sorg, which having
crossed, they occupied on Monday evening a vil-
lage named Kropp, a few miles south of the Danish
line of entrenchments. On the afternoon of Tues-
day the vanguard of the Austrians, under the
command of General von Gablentz, attacked the
Danish position. With the details of the action
we are as yet unacquainted; but the tele-
grams transmitted from Copenhagen and Berlin
concur in stating that the attacking force gained no
material advantage. According to an official despatch
transmitted by Field-Marshal von Wrangel to Ber-
lin, the Austrian vanguard, together with the van-
guard of the Prussian division of the Guard, at-
tempted to force some of the Danish fortified posi-
tions in front of the Danewirke. In doing this a
sharp infantry engagement took place, the German
Commander-in-Chief taking credit for having com-
pelled the Danes to give way at the point of the
bayonet. Some posts are mentioned from which it
is alleged that the Danes were dislodged, and the
German troops are said to have forced their way on-
wards till they came under the fire of the guns in
the Danewirke, when we are left to infer that they
found it expedient to retire. In his despatch the
Prussian Field-Marshal claims to have taken a rifled
gun, and in a telegram dated from Rendsburg it is
stated that the Austrians captured 200 prisoners.
The Danish version is somewhat different. It is
admitted that a gun was lost, but it is said that the
Austrians suffered a repulse and succeeded in secur-
ing no position of importance. The statemeat at first
put forward by the Austrians, that they had taken
a fortified position called Bostrop, situated a short
distance in front of the Danewirke, has since been
disproved; and from the Danish accounts we learn
that the King of Denmark himself witnessed the re-
treat of the Austrians from this position. That the
latter suffered severely is now admitted, 400 of the
Brigade Gondrecourt, including several superior
officers, having been put hors de combat. At all
events, whatever may have been the actual result
of Tuesday's engagement, it was not of such a nature
as to encourage the Austrians to follow up their
success on the succeeding day. It would seem that
hitherto the attacking force has not attempted to
operate against that line of fortifications on which
the Danes chiefly rely for the protection of the
peninsula. Outside the Danewirke are a number of
isolated positions which must be carried before the
main line of fortifications can be attacked. It was
against some-of these that the Austrians operated on
Tuesday. The Danewirke, however,which lies behind
them, has still to be assailed, end it is a significant
fact that when the Austrians came within range of its
guns they car eluded that they had gone far enough.
Though we must still wait for fuller details of
the engagement at Missunde, it is now clear that
the first hasty telegrams which we received con-
veyed a most inadequate idea of the nature of the
results of the first collision between the Danish and
German troops. Half-a-dozen returned as killed
and wounded on the side of the defenders, and from
100 to 150 on that of the aggressors, led us to sus-
pect that the affair of Missunde was a mere skirmish
between the outposts of the two armies. Succeed-
ing telegrams, however, dissipated the miseone:dp.
tion. The loss of the Danes was raised to
.150 or
200, whilst that of the Prussians react ed double
that number. A large number of
russian officers
P:c
were reported to have been eith wounded or slain,
amongst the former the -King's brother, Prince
Frederic Charles. The Prussian Commander-in-
Chief seriously intended to force a passage across
the Schiet at Missunde, and for several hours per-
tinaciously persevered in the attempt. His repulse,
and the subsequent retirement of his troops, must
therefore be accepted as evidence of the ability of
the-Danes to maintain their position, though opposed
to a force vastly superior in point of numbers, and
fully justifies the expression attributed to Prince
Frederick Charles, that a serious resistance will be
opposed by the Danes to the Austrian and Prussian
advance.
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