The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-24 00:00:00

Tr LE WAR IN DENMARK.

.0. 6........

(Ro the limes Special Correspondent with. the Danish

Army.)
MID DLEFART, ISLAND OF FIINEN, March 16.
I ha ve been little more than foureand-twenty-
hours ;in Fredericia; but I think I have quite done
with it. The never-failing kinder ss of the officers
at headquarters greatly contributed to expedite my
business. They were my indefatig able companions
in my rambles on foot; they mounted me, and gave
me their assistance, as the best of guides, when I
rode. On the evening of Monday I presented myself
at headquarters, and was most kindly received by
the chief of the Staff, Colonel Reich, who not only
in the name of the Commander-in-Chief gave me
full permission to view the place within and without,
but personally commended me to an Artillery officer
of high rank, who, as I said, pat himself and his
horses entirely at my service. I have said all this
simply from a desire to convey to the English peo-
ple an idea of the high regard and benevolence with
which the representatives of their press are treated
by the Danes. The love of this people for England
and the English has outlived all the sad vicissitudes
of 1801 and 1807, and is not to be repulsed by the
" cold shoulder" the English Government, accord-
ing to their views, has turned upon them in this
their hour of trial and sore affliction.
On leaving the Kolding-gate yesterday we soon
came to that " Oversvommelse," or inundation,
which, as I said, answer the purpose of a great out-
ward moat to the western line of bastions, and op-
poses an impassable barrier to any enemy attacking
the fortress on this side. The great ditch is above
an English mile in length, and its width sometimes
exceeds 1,000 feet. It is too deep for either foot or
horse to attempt to ford it, and as its dammed-up
waters are fed by a perennial stream, rushing with
arrowy swiftness through it, it is not greatly to be
affected by the most prolonged summer drought.
Wherever the moat is bridged over for the conve-
nience of the high roads or chausges, the pass is
guarded by batteries protected by solid trenches.
Barely a short half mile beyond the flooded ground
we left the foremost Danish pickets behind us, and
had nothing between us and the Austro-Prussian
outposts, which were nowhere visible at that mo-
ment, but which, we are assured, are always lurk-
ing in the woods in the vicinity of Stonstrup and
Erritso—but a slender zone of debatable ground,
across which rifle balls are frequently exchanged
on either side. Upon leaving the King's or Northern
Gate, almost in contact with the town bastions, you
have the intrenched camp, occupying what was for-
merly the drilling-ground, and extending a trifle
more than an English mile between the City Gate
and the Treelde Wester Skov. That wood also is in
possession, if not of any enemy's corps, at least of
their patrols, who employ their time in closely
watching the movements and vainly striving to
disturb the works of the Danes. The intrenched
camp of the Danes on this spot may be looked upon
as a kind of second Dannewerk, and it was under-
taken, I believe, after the fall of that great national
bulwark, and the retreat of its defenders to the
narrower fields of action offered to them by Dybbol
trenches and the bastions at Fredericia. The camp
is strengthened on the land side by earthworks or
batteries, provided with moat and palisade, and
armed with cannon of a good large calibre ; a
breastwork for the infantry runs also all along the
life. The five forts or ramparts aro so constructed
as to be invulnerable only in front. They are not
only completely open behind, but have been so
placed as to be fully exposed to the fire from the
town bastions; so that even in the event of the
enemy succeeding in possessing himself of one or
of all of them, he would always be unable to hold
them or lodge himself in them.
Strong as the present reduced line of Fredericia
is, it is certain that it has been seriously impaired,
owing to the loss, on Tuesday last, of that second
outward line which from Gudso followed a ravine
crossing nearly the whole isthmus as far as Rands-
fiord, or Little Strand. By the occupation of Er-
ritso and Stonstrup, the Austro-Prussians have not
only advanced their patrols on the western side
within little more than half an English mile from
the city gate, but have also established themselves
at Snoghoi end Sanddal-house, whence their artil-
lery command the Sound all across to Middlefart
and Strib, and either have, or can at any moment,
put at an end to all traffic and intercourse of the
Danes between the coasts of Funen and Jutland on
this side. Had the Austro-Prussians been able to
do what they did is 184)-1 e , possess themselves
of the ground now occupied by the Danish in-
trenched camp, Fredericia could have been com-
pletely blockaded by land and sea ; the same hos-
tile batteries which had power to bombard it from
the north and west weuld also have been able to
sink any vessel making for its harbour, either from
the other side of the Sound or from the open sea,
As it is, although the northern side is safe, and
will be so as long as the Danes hold their intrenched
camp, great annoyance may at any moment be
occasioned both to the city and to the places across
the Sound by the occupation by the enemy of
Snoghot and Sanddal-horse, on the western coast. I
have told you that a few shells, thrown almost by
way of a first experiment upon Strib and Middlefart,
had the effect of frightening the population of these
two places and determining their flight. Not a few
of them have been to some extent reassured by the
subsequent silence, and have returned to their
desolate homes ; but they all live like man placed
at the mercy of a pitiless foe—prepared at any mo-
ment to seek refuge in some place of security to
which the wisest of them have already removed their
families, goods, chattels, and all they care for in
the world.
The Danes, however, are not a people to fear their
enemies because they count them, or to allow their
arm to be weakened by vague misgiving, or even
by well-grounded apprehensions. They are not
blind to the magnitude of their danger ; they do not
undervalue their enemy. They look evil in the face.
They do their best as men, well knowing that no
more is expected of them.
I came back to this place to-day in the afternoon,
desirous once more to see the Sound at its narrowest
point, and to try to catch a glimpse of the Austro-
Prussians, whose patrols, I was told, are daily show-
ing themselves along shore on the other side. I
walked from Middiefart to Kongebro, or King's
Pier, the very spot where the ferry crosses from
Funen into Jutland when the sea is too rough to
allow the usual traffic by Strib or Middlefart. I
ascended the hill which further contracts the Strait
for a short distance, and the brow of which com-
mands the opposite shore far and wide, and has
lately been armed with well constructed batteries. I
had scarcely set my foot on the hill crest when I saw
a score of Prussian hussars prancing gaily on the
beach, their sabres glancing bravely in the bright
evening sun, and their light chargers frisking and
Capering in the keen bracing air that betokened a
frosty night. They were escorting some lumbering
conveyances which might be heavy artillery or am-
munition.
The Danes looked at them through spy-
glasses behind their trenches, and I asked them, by
way of pleasantry, " whether they did not think
their pieces could knock over a few of those cava-
liers for our entertainment." But they answered
with some severity that "they were soldiers and not
murderers, and left the shooting of pickets and of
outpost sentinels to their uncivilised enemies, who
seem to delight in such work and be proud of it."
I had written thus far, and was preparing to sit
down to supper, when a friendly officer brought the
news that a brisk cannonade had begun at Dybbol
on Teeeday, and had continued this day. Although
I have not bed for
slept intwo nights at Fredericia,
because no bed was to be had, I shall be off in a few
minutes, hoping to reach Sonderborg in the course
of to. morrow, or at the latest at Friday, when a
steamer leaves Assens for the Isle of Alsen.
SotspEußouo, march 17.
I left Middiefart last evening at 10, and making
the best speed I could with post horses, reached As-
sons at 2 a.m., and continued my journey as far as
Faaborg, where I arrived at 8, having thus crossed
Funen in all its length in the course of the night.
I was aware that no steamer would leave Assens
till to-morrow, and I hoped to reach Sonderborg
this day by chartering a fishing boat at Faaborg and
crossing the Little Belt at Murnmark in Alsen, a
place only eight miles distant from Sonderborg
across the little isle. The night was bitterly cold,

and the roads were as hard with frost as in the hard-

est winter. The morning was unspeakably bright
but perfectly calm, and I spent no less than eight
hours in crossing a branch of the sea hardly as many

miles from:shore to shore. The coast of Als or Alsen
was plainly visible, though dim and dusky, from
the plies of my embarkation. Such wind as we had

was from the east, consequently right against us,

and as we tacked, and rowed, and toiled on our way,
the boom of the cannon was wafted incessantly over
the still waves, and the feathery smoke of gun-

powder, and the wavy track of the shells, rose above
the crest of the low hills forming the outline of the
little island, and told us that the work of destruc-

Lion was in progress. For a man who had been

baffled all his life in his desire to witness some im-

portant scene of real warfare, and whose mission,
moreover, was to be present at some such action and
report upon it, my position of a distant spectator

was sufficiently fretting. There was no other remedy
than patience in the case, however, and I sit near
the helm of the tub-like craft that conveyed me
with such resignation as I could command, com-
menting upon the folly that had taken me away

from Sonderborg at the only available opportunity,
after in vain waiting for it more than six weeks,
and mentally thanking the kind friends who had
sent me on a fool's errand all the way to Jutland,
with the vain hope that I should there see some-
thing like that real game of war for an exhibition
of which it was vain to look for an opportunity
about the Dybbol position.
When it pleased Heaven I at last came ashore at
Mummark, but there fame had of course greatly

exaggerated the terrors of the struggle now in pro-
gress; fearful stories were rife of the shells that
showerei like rain at Sonderborg, and neither en-
treaties nor bribes, nor even threats, could procure
me horses or carriage to get me over the eight miles
distance that separated me from the long-coveted

scene of action. Where there is a will there is a

way, however, and in my case the will was so un

commonly strong that in about half an hour I:suc-
ceeded in getting on. The thunder of artillery rose

in intensity as the sun sunk in the horizon, and a

every brow of a hill we ascended at Tanslet, Horup,
Vollerup, and Ulkebol, we could both see the flash
and hear the boom, and follow the cloud of every
shot as it lingered hazy and transparent on the
still air of one of the purest skies that ever smiled
in a frosty northern sunset. More dense and omi-
nous, other columns of smoke arose here and there
over the vast landscape, and through these there
gleamed the vivid flames which consumed the homes
of the inoffensive peasantry. War in all the grim-
ness of its awful majesty was displayed before me
as 1 advanced, and I had hardly alighted when
some of the particulars of its havoc for the last three
days were communicated to me.
The fearful wind that had accompanied me to
Funen and Jutland had done its work in Alsen and
Sundewitt, and by drying the ground of the Prus-
sian lines had enabled those troops to accomplish
their work, so that on the morning of Tuesday they
were ready to unmask their batteries, and from the
west of the peninsula of Broagerland, and from the
heights of Ragebol, they opened fire on the left and
right of the Danish position. Their main attacks
were directed against the Dybbol bastions, but they
found leisure to direct a score or so of shells upon
the town of Soaderborg, some of which hit the Slot,
or Castle, some fell on the houses and in the streets,
but did, as I am assured, no harm to the inhabitants,
The Prussians fired about 350 shots on Tuesday, 500
yesterday, and probably a larger number today.
The bastions on the Dybbol position suffered no ma-
terial harm—noise, at least, that could not imme-
diately be repaired. The lose of life was, however,
severe on the part of the Danes ; a shell entered one
of the blockhouses the day before yesterday, and
another yesterday. A few men and officers were
killed and wounded by the first; by the second no
less than 40. To-day, together with the cannonade,
a general fight took place, during which the Prus-
sians advanced upon the position of Dybbol village
and upon the height of Avnbjerg. The readers who
have had the patience to run through the foregoing
letters ought to be sufficiently familiar with the
names of these places. The village of Dybbol lies on
the right of the road, about ha' f a mile beyond the
bastions on Dybbol hill. The Prussians had at-
tempted to take the village on the 22d of last mouth,
but had fallen back before the fire of the Danish bat-
teries, and the Danes had since taken up a position in
its habitations and intrenched themselves in its ele
voted churchyard. The defence was as obstinate as
the attackwas violcnt,ancl the Danes neon quered lost
ground by three successive charges. They had, how-
ever, to give way before overwhelming forces, and
as the day closed the Prussians remained in posses-
sion. The same occurred on the height of the
Avnbjerg, a hill rising on the left of the road, at
about the same distance from the Danish bastions
as Dybbol village, ie., half an English mile; the
summit was repeatedly taken and retaken on either
side, but remained in the end in the power of the
Prussians. It would be vain to disguise the im-
portance of this (acquisition ; for were they able to
maintain themselves in it in spite of the fire which
will not fail to be directed against them from the
bastions, had they power to rear batteries on its
brow, they could undoubtedly keep up a tremend-
ous fire against the Danish bastions with terrible
effect. You are aware that the weakness of the
position of Dybbol was always the left, which was
from the beginning open to the Prussian fire from
the crest of Broagerland. That crest, however, rises
at a considerable distance, and although the Prus-
sian cannon could from that distant spot reach Bas-
tio❑ No. 7 of the Dines, three miles off, yet no very
serious injury could be done ; no such damage as
may be expected to accrue to the Danish position
from the dangerous proximity of the Avnbj erg.
Night put an end to the conflict of to-day, in spite
of the brightest moonlight, but the struggle can
be renewed to-morrow at daybreak, and no one can
foresee with what result. The losses of the Danes
have been severe, especially this day. At the time
I telegraphed to you only 70 wounded had been
brought in ; their number has since risen, as I am
told, to 250, amongst them several officers. Colonel
Streberg, of the Bth, is among the killed.
Even as I am writing, at 2 o'clock after midnight,
I hear a noise which seems very like the bursting of
a shell within the town. Many of the inhabitants
have fled, and I must have met hundreds of car-
riages loaded with persons and furniture on my way
from Mummark. But by far the greatest number
remain, women and children too. The Danish
soldiers appear to be delighted at the prospect of
the commencement of real war, and they sing,—
" Now will we fight the foe again."

The Wreck of the Desert Flower,

OFFICIAL REPORT.

TO THE LORDS OP THE COMMITTEE Or PRIVY COUNCIL

FOR TRADE.
My Lords,—l beg to report that I have held an official
inquiry, assisted by Captains Harris and Cow, into the cir-
cumstances attending the loss of the ship Desert Flower on
the morning of March 4, which took place on the Long
Bank, off the coast of Ireland, in the vicinity of Wexford.
The Desert Flower was a new ship, on her first voyage,
bound from Liverpool to Calcutta, laden entirely with coal.
She was built in St, John, N. 8., in the year 1863, registered
at Liverpool of the burthen of 1,216 tons, owned by Messrs
Ryland and Seddons, of that part, and was commanded by
Mr Wm. J. Harvey, who hold a certificate of service, which
certificate was lost at the same time as the ship. The De-
sert Flower left Liverpool at noon on the 2d of this present
month, and was towed 45 miles SW and by W from Holy-
head, where she was cast off by the tug at 1 p,m. on the 3d
inst. Sail was made, and the ship proceeded down the Irish
W. with a south-easterly Channel, stee-in{; SW by VT
wind. At 7 p,m. the same day the Tuskar Light was made,
bearing about WSW, or half a point on tho starboard or lce
bow, at a distance of two miles. The ship was then tacked,
and stood off the land, heading about NE till near midnight.
At this time she was wore round towards the land, and
headed SW and by W W, or WSW, going about
three and a half knots an hour. At 1 a.m. the captain, for
the first time, ordered a cast of the lead to be taken, which,
after a little delay, in consequence of the lead-line fouling,
gave 11 or 11; fathoms. This was quickly followed by ano-
ther cast in 10 fathoms. The master then went down to
consult his chart, but, before doing so, desired one of the
crew to call all hands up about ship. Before the master
could return to the deck the ship struck heavily. Efforts
were made to back her off with the sails, which proved in-
effectual. Within 10 minutes five feet of water were found
in the well. The boats, all of which were stowed on board,
were got out safely, and most of the crew betook themselves
to them, leaving the master, chief and second mates,
steward, and two hands on board. The tide, which was at
that time flood, drifted the boats from the ship towards the