The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-10 00:00:00

I 'here has been a long and somewhat stormy
aitti ng• of the Council of State at Copenhagen, which,
we are told, very nearly led to a Ministerial crisis.
The in utter in discussion was the final dismissal of
Ger.ers 1 de Meza, and the appointment of his euo-
cesi for. De Meza, as you are aware, had from the
bef ;inning the supreme command of the Danish
art ny, and he gave the orders for the retreat from
th a Danne werk. From the moment the King and
his Prime Minister, Bishop Monrad, had, on account
of that backward movement, to face the indignation
of the e.rmy at Sonderborg and of the mob at Copen-
hagen, the ruin of the ill-starred commander was
resolved upon, and the wily statesman at the head
of affair a had openly pledged himself to consummate
it. De Meza was, as you may remember, recalled
from h' .s command immediately upon the arrival of
the array at Sonderborg, and his post was occupied
by General Luttichau, the former Commander-in-
Chief of the Artillery. At the same juncture Kauff-
mann was superseded by Stjernholm at the head of
the Staff. All these, however, had been mere tem-
porary arrangements, and it was high time the
Government at Copenhagen should come to defini-
tive resolutions. A sense of justice and the consci-
ousness of the real nature of the transactions at
Schleswig enlisted, it would seem, an exalted per-
sonage in the interests of the disgraced general, and
prompted him stanchly and generously to plead his
cause. But the Prime Minister was inexorably bent
on the immolation of his scapegoat, and made the
removal of De Meza a Cabinet question. He carried
his point as a matter of course, and the acknowledged
author of the retreat from the Dannewerk disappears
altogether from the scene of his exploits at the
head of the Danish army. At the same time Gen.
Luttichau is also relieved from the supreme command
which he only held in a provisional capacity, and
resumes his former place at the head of the Artil-
lery. Oar new General-in-Chief is Gerlach, who
had hitherto only the command of the first division ;
Stjernholm retains his position as permanent Chief
of the Staff, and his predecessor, Kauffmann, will,
it is said, have the command of a brigade. The only
victim in the case is De Meza, and it is observable
that, as in the first moment of excitement and per-
plexity choice was made of Luttichau because he
was the only man in the Council of War who had
stoutly voted against the retreat from the Danne-
werk, so now that men's minds are in a cs lmer
mood, and that retreat begins to be looked upon as
matter of stern necessity, the man to be put forward
is Gerlach, simply because he chanced to be absent
from the Council, and had therefore no occasion to
give any opinion on that sad but inevitable measure.
Nothing is seen or heard of the Prussians, and it is
only by a strong effort that we can bring ourselves
to remember that we are here in a state of war and
siege. The conduct of the enemy appears to my
Danish friends utterly inexplicable. The German
and other papers are all full of the secondary part
they were made to play at the taking of the Danne-
werk by some portentous achievement against the
position of Dybbol. The Austrians who reaped at
Bastrup, Oversee, and elsewhere such laurels as
were to be obtained in this ignoble campaign of four
against one, were induced to fall back on the second
line, and leave the past of honour to their Prussian
allies. The bastions on the heights at Dybbol were,
as those same papers asssrted, to be stormed at the
first onset, and the very island of Aisen could not
be safe against the enterprising ingenuity of Prince
Frederick Charles, who could as readily throw a
bridge over the Sound in this vicinity as he did
over the Schlei, between Arnis and Coppeln.
Somehow, however, events have not as yet
justified these great vaunts. The Prussians came,
saw, bat did not conquer. The petty skirmishing
at outposts achieved but little towards carrying the
Dybbol forts at the point of the bayonet. We were
then given to understand that the Prussians were
preparing themselves. Their heavy artillery had
not arrived; it was for their pontoons they were
waiting. A terrific cannonade was to be the prelude
of their savage onslaught. Nothing was to begin till
all could be achieved. The storming of the bastions,
the passage of the Sound, the annihilation of the
Danes, were to be accomplished at one blow. All
measures were taken for a full, immediate, and de-
cisive success. The22d of last month, then the 26th,
were the days appointed for the mighty deed. But
all these days passed, the month itself Caine to an
end, and the inaction of the Prussians became daily
more absolute and complete.
" What is the meaning of all this P my Danish
friends ask. " Has Prussia resolved upon wearing
us out with ennui, and, without offering or accept-
ing an armistice, does she shrink from a conflict
which would have no political results ? Is this
merely a show and mockery of war, and must the
lives that have been and are being sacrificed be
looked upon as mere counters in the deep game that
politicians are playing behind the soldiers' back ?
If the Prussians were so bent upon achieving the
occupation of Schleswig, if it seemed to them that
nothing was actually done until Dybbol and Alsen
were reduced, why do they not come on ? Their own
turn has come; their Austrian allies have made
room for them, The best chances are offered them
for retrieving the past. They are face to face with
us—double and treble our number, strong in the
advantages of all the most formidable contrivances
of modern artillery. How is it that they are afraid
to come on ?

The word "afraid," as applied to the armies of
that nation whose destinies the Great Elector and
Frederick 11. grounded on the excellence of their
military organisation, seems really too absurd. It
has had but rare chances of distinguishing itself
since 1815. Its first trial at Missunde was not very
encouraging—nay, some people describe that en-
counter as a positive Prussian defeat. It takes time
to bring into action raw regiments, whose officers
have seen as little the as their men. lam not by
any means disposed to believe all I hear ; but some
of the Danes, who were far advanced at the outposts
on the 22d (the day on which the Prussians made a
forward movement on the village of Dybbol, and
when they had four infantry brigades, with cavalry
and artillery, against two Danish regiments), assure
me they could sea on the other side of the lines
Prussian officers urging their men on with the flit
of their swords, that they could hear them calling
their men " craven hounds" and all sorts of igno-
minious names, but without inspiring them with
sufficient pluck to bring them to face the heavy
cannon that began to open fire upon them from the
bastions at Dybbol hill.
I repeat it is ridiculous to suppose that the long-
meditated and often announced attack of the Prus-
sians should be put off day after day simply from
disinclination of the soldiers of that nation to come
to the scratch. But that such is the interpretation
the Danes begin to feel inclined to put on the sluggish
movements of their adversaries is a fact I can vouch ;
and it is always in the power of the Prussians to
give the lie to such disparaging surmises by making
good their boasts by bravo deeds.
It does not seem conceivable that if the Prussians
andga wise
at any time intended to try their strength
Dybbol they should deem it a good
oounsel to waste so much precious time, allowing
the Danes full leisure to complete those works of
fortification which on our first arrival, three or
four weeks ago, were yet in so imperfect a state.
What could, early in February, he done by 40,000
men, may soon be, in March, beyond the achieve-
ment of thrice the number. 'rho whole line is
now ready ; and the Flame alacrity has been ex-
hibited by the D tnea in the erection of batteries
along the Sound on the Alson side, from the church
and castle of Sondcrborg down to Kjcer end Ron-
have, and as far as the extreme point of s‘rnkiel
sore. For any remissness that the Danes may have
been guilty of at the outset of the war, the still
greater slowness and most unaccountable inertia of
their adversaries make ample amends, There seems
to be a resolution on the part of the Prussians that,
if there is to be a struggle at all, it should be put
off until all the defensive contrivances of the Danes
may contribute to render it in an extreme degree
fierce and desperate.

MARCH 1, Evening.
I have bees to day o❑ bohrd the Rolf brake.