The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-14 00:00:00

TEE WA.

INTYIARK

(From the Times Special Correspondent.)
DANSIH HEAD QUARTERS, SONDEREURG,
March 3.
If we may rely on the information that reaches
us from Germany, the grand day appointed by the
Prussians for a mighty effort against Dybbol is the
1 lth inst. They are now, agreeably to the same
authorities, working hard at their own trenches
and erecting their batteries, making ready for a
cannonade which is to silence the fire of the Danish
bastions. Eight days is a long time to wait, how-
ever, for people who have been for nearly a month
in daily expectation of an attack, and who have not
forgotten that first the 20th, then the 26th of Feb-
ruary had been with the same confidence named by
those same German papers as the days that were
to usher in the beginning of the end, and that both
these days and others passed without one ounce of
gunpowder beiug burnt, except in some of those
outpost skirmishes, in the wanton shooting of
sentries behind the bash, which may, perhaps, be
among the inevitable evils of war, but which cer-
tainly do not further its objects or hasten its termi-
nation:
With a view to avoid these deplorable encounters
the Danes have drawn in their outpost considerably
'within the woods of Stenterup and Boffel, and, espe-
cially on the south, have fallen back close almost
to their line of fortification on the skirts of Dybbol-
hill. Towards the north, however, they still hold
Dybbol-village, stretching up as far as Ragebol,
'esterday a large column of infantry, with two
field-pieces, marched from the latter place upon the
little wood which bears the name of Ragebol Skov,
drove the Prussians from its cover, and established
itself in the wood, with the determination to cut
it down, an operation which has by this time been
accomplished. The attack on the wood cost the
Danes four men wounded and an officer. After
levelling the wood with the ground the Danes will
probably again fall back on the almost adjoining
Tillages of Ragebol and Dybbol, having thus a clear
ground before them all round their outposts.
For people who are sent out to fight and who are
debarred from fighting, nothing is more natural
than to speculate upon the why and wherefore there
should be no fighting. There are come of the Danish
officers whom I see daily who have all this time
been very sceptical as to their own royal Government
on the one side, and those of Austria and Prussia
on the other, ever being really in earnest about this
outbreak of hostilities, to which the force of circum-
stances and the impatience of their subjects brought
them. " There was a power in Germany and a
power in Denmark," they think, " far greater than
that of the rulers who sat at the helm of the public
business. The Schleswig-Holstein question was a
point of honour to be settled by a mortal duel be-
tween the two nationalities. The Germans looked
upon the duchies as a rallying point for all their
aspirations after unity, liberty, and aggrandise-
ment ; they sought in the vindication of claims
grounded upon musty charters and pedantic
quibbles a means of self-assertion and an op-
portunity for joint action. The Danes clung,
if not to Holstein, at least to Schleswig, with the
tenacity of despair, and thought that their very
existence was wound up with the possession of the
Eider frontier. The animosity of the dispute was
not to be allayed by the moral authority or by the
material strength of the respective Governments.
The two nations were rushing to war with or with-
out the consent of their rulers. To avoid being
dragged, these latter took, or pretended to take, the
lead in the warlike movement. By planing them-
selves in the van of the German armies, Austria and
Prussia snubbed the Band, dumbfounded the
national unions, and floored their Angustenburg
idol. Danmark, on her own side, humoured the
proud feelings of her brave people, assumed a lofty
tone, and made a great show of her determination
to nail her flag to the bastions of the Dannewerk;
all this was mere make-believe. The Dannewerk
was given up after three days' skirmishing, a luck-
less General was made the scapegoat, and now a
new feint is made of a desperat3 defence of the
ramparts of Dybbol and Fredericia. The Prus-
sians came up to those ramparts breathing fire and
-vengeance; yet a month goes by and the contend-
ing parties stand face to face, as if spell-bound,
without exchanging one blow. It is a position of
affairs that no one clearly understands ; upon which;
therefore, every one deems himself authorized to put
the very worst conclusion. It seems evident that
there exists somewhere a disinclination to fight—
nay, a determination not to fight. Such is by no
means the disposition of the troops on either side;
for the Danes, for their own part, are burning to
blot out any blemish which may cling to their
fair escutcheon in consequence of their loss of
the Dannewerk, and the Prussians are smarting
under the bitter consciousness that the fight at the
Dannewerk reflected no credit on their arms, and
that they have their honour to retrieve. What stays
the hands of the combatants in their own despite
is the deliberate act of Berlin, Vienna, and Copen-
hagen, where wily statesmen, flattering themselves
that their own turn has come, that they have re-
gained their ascendancy over those stormy factions
which had almost shakes the reins from their hands,
are now planning some compromise, patching np
some arrangement, in which it may be possible for
themselves, for their people, and for the European
Powers to acquiesce, and in the meanwhile have
made up their minds that the mischief of war should
go no further, and that the armistice which they
dare not proclaim in words should, de /ado, be
observed on either side.

I deemed it my duty to submit to you the gloomy
and somewhat uncharitable surmises to which this
prolonged suspension of hostilities gives rise, and
which, truly, might engender a belief that the
Schleswig-Holstein war was a sham from beginning
to end. For my own part, as I think the key to the
mystery is to be sought rather in the Cabinets of
the interested parties than at the head-quarters of
the belligerents, I shall express no opinion of my
own on the subject, and shall limit my observations
to the fact that if the strong lines at Dybbol are at
at any time to become the ground for a decisive
struggle, that struggle will be all the bloodier and
more desperate the longer it is put off. I rode
yesterday along the whole line of the ten bastions,
spreading out like a fan on that triangular piece of
ground of which the Sonderborg bridges are the
apex. I had with me an English officer of high
rank who has made the science of military engi-
neering the pursuits of a whole life and who came
to inspect the works as an amateur, and the con-
clusion he came to after a careful survey was that
the Dybbol line is one of immense strength ; so
strong, indeed, as he expressed himself, that "the
Danes have only to shut the door and take the key
along with them, sure that their bastions would
take care of themselves by the sheer advantage of
the ground." The activity of the Danes in adding
strength to their stronghold exceeds all belief.
Besides forts and bastions they have during these
last few days erected a sufficient number of wooden
barracks to enable two or more regiments to encamp
outside the town, and right in the centre of the
position at Dybbol Mill, and so to be ready on any
emergency to support the regiments doing
duty
at
the outposts. The same unwearied alacrity is
shown by the Danes in the rearing of batteries
along the Sound. There are no less than 11 already
in a fair condition of defence, from those at Sonder-
borg Church and Slot, or castle, to those at the ex-
treme point at Arnkielsore. I visited most of them
to-day with the English officer above mentioned,
and we were for a long time especially inspecting
the works which are going on at Ronhave and
Skovfogedhus, or Forester's-house, the two spots
where it is most likely the Germans may be induced
to try to throw a bridge across from the opposite
shore at Sandbjerg and Storeskov. The probabi-
lities of their making such an attempt, and, what is
of greater moment, of their carrying it to a success-
ful termination, seemed to my intelligent military
English friend very slight. The width of the Sound
at the above-named narrowest points is no less than
800 glen, or about 1,609 English feet, and the depth
of water in mid-channel, where the current is very
strong, is 72 feet, Before the Prussians could dream
of throwing the bridge, they would have to silence
all the batteriea on the Danish side, and besides, all
each gunboats as would not fail to attack them from
the Northern entrance to the Sound it Arektelsore,

Unless they can by sheer superiority of their cannon
obtain at least 12 hours' uninterrupted quiet, the
work of throwing the bridge would be a ery ar-
duous achievement. The shores on eitu( r side of
the Sound, at this end, are very fiat, and the bat-
teries of the Prussians would have t be aid on low
ground, offering no material advantage ever those of
their adversaries. Up to this time, I have been
assured, nothing is heard or seen that may in any
manner induce a belief that the Prussians are pre-
paring for an attack on this quarter. Their patrols
are indeed to be seen daily in the woods of Sannbjerg
and Storeskov, from the safe shelter of which they
amuse themselves by constantly firing at the
Danish pickets, and at the workmen busy in the
construction of batteries. Their rifle balls have
done no injury to the Danish soldiers as yet, and
the latter have been instructed by their officers
to take no heed of all that useless popping, and
on no account to answer the enemy's fire. The
cold blood and forbearance with which these good
Danes submit to these orders, standing to be shot
at without wincing, is truly admirable.

March 4.
General Gerlach, the newly appointed Commanm
der-in-Chief, has to-day put forth his first order of
the day, or proclamation, to the Danish army. Like
the King's own act in the same style, published on
the Bth of February, it seems carefully to avoid all
allusion to the chance of any immediately approach-
ing conflict. The general tells his soldiers that
" his Majesty the King has trusted him with the
command of the active army." He informs them
that " having been in the midst of them for 50 years,
he knows how far he can rely upon them, how sure
he is that they will bravely follow their leader. In
the war of 1848-50 it never happened that any man
under his command disgraced his banner or fell
short of his duty; he would now, as their old
general, make himself fully answerable for them.
They will be sure to show themselves true and
brave Danes worthy of the confidence that King
and nation place upon them. He will make their
well-being the first object of all his cares. In return
he demands their unbounded confidence. They will,
with God's help, brave together all dangers for the
sake of their King and Fatherland."
The longer I live among these Danes the more
strongly I feel inclined to award them the palm as
the people, of all people on earth, among whom the
simplicity of patriarchal morals is to be found
associated with the most thorough refinement of
civilised manners. We dined yesterday with a
large party of officers, a score of them, at a large
farm out of town, where most of them are quar-
tered. The farmer is the father of 12 daughters
and three sons. Most of the girls (I may well say
young ladies, of an age varying between nineteen
and four) waited upon the company at table. At
the head of the long and large board sat the farmer
himself, his second wife, looking like a sister to
her eldest step-daughters, and the said daughters'
governess. The whole bevy of the maidens and
women wore strict yet elegant mourning, in honour
of the deceased King, and with utter disregard of
the order of the present King, declaring the mourn-
ing period to be at an end. The neatness and taste
of those sable garments, the dressing of the hair,
all the gestures and movements of the fair Hebes,
bore the marks of good taste and good breeding.
The style was faultless. Some of the girls were tall,
slender beauties; most of them had dark hair and
light gray eyes ; they moved about with an elegance
of deportment which kept the eyes of their military
guests admiringly yet respectfully rivetted on them.
Those girls, their mother and governess, are used to
the solitude of their farm life ; they are not very
ready with their tongue, and a deep scarlet mantles
their cheeks whenever any of the company addresses
them. Yet they go through their domestic and
hospitable task with unerring tact and inborn grace.
Were time allowed to break the ice, and to still the
flutter of their maidenly emotions, they would prove
themselves equal to sensible conversation on many
topics. The books on their drawing room tables, the
fine prints on the walls, the piano in the corner,
and the exotics trained with care in the window•
sill tell you that. Your French or English, in which
they will not venture to answer you, are by no
means unfamiliar to them. Their governess comes
out of a first-rate Copenhagen Normal School, and
is an accomplished linguist.
One of my letters informed you that fears were
entertained that the Austro-Prussians would dese-
crate the abode of the dead at Flensburg by remov-
ing the bronze lion which had been erected as a
memorial on the grave of the Danish soldiers killed
in the war of 1848-50, and buried in the cemetery
of that town. The Danes here, stubbornly and to
the very last, refuse to believe that their enemies
could be capable of so mean and wanton an act
of mere vandalism. The outrage has, however,
been actually committed, and with the utmost
aggravation of the offence by the manner of
its perpetration. Some of the good citizens
of Flensburg, aware of the evil intention
of the Germans, sent a deputation to the civil corn.
missioner ZAlitz, hinting that, if the monument was
an eyesore in the eyes of the Prussians, it would
immediately be removed by themselves and placed
somewhere out of sight. Their prayer, however,
was not listened to; the unfortunate lion was hurled
from its pedestal, it was dragged in the mud, broken
up, and mutilated. Its head and tail were paraded
triumphantly, as we are here assured, about the
streets of Altona and Homburg. Surely all Europe
may wish the Germans joy of their glorious trophies!
The country is iu a great measure free from snow,
but the air is still raw, and we have not seen the
sun for 10 days. The larks in the clouds, however,
give us hope of forthcoming slating,
DANISH HEADQUARTERS, SONDERBORG,
March 4,
Two Austrian regiments, a force of about 4,000
men, have been added to the 42,000 Prussians, who
have been for the last four weeks confronting the little
Danish army at Dybbol. The newly arrived troops
have taken up their quarters at bandbjerg. The
Danes here are quite sure that their Prussian foes,
mustering as they did a force twice as large as
their own, would never have had the pluck to face
the heavy cannon of the Dybbol bastion unless their
Austrian allies came to inspire them with a little of
that dash and that spirit which distinguished them
at Bustrup. The coming up of the Austrians, there-
fore, has been hailed here as the harbinger of that
long-expected and long-protracted attack for
which the Danes are praying so fervently ;
and from some rumours of a great stir in
the enemy's camp, which have been spread at
headquarters this evening, the great event of the
campaign may even be looked for to-morrow. We
have, however, so often gone to bed with similar
anticipations, and have so constantly awakened to
disappointment in the morning, that I think we may
sleep with an easy mind for this and for many a
night to come. An attack upon the lines at Dybbol,
if we consider the cares that have been taken to add
to their naturally formidable strength, and the
enormous forces which are now arrayed against
them, would be so tremendous and so really epic an
affair, as to deserve a prominent place in military
annals. But I really question whether such a
slaughter as it could not fail to occasion will be
allowed to come to pass in our age. Already the
best opportunities for action have been suffered to
go by. The nights have been for the last week or
two unusually dark, and the weather is gloomy and
muggy enough even by day to allow a storming party
to creep unobserved almost up to the cannon's
mouth. The war, ever since we came here from
the Dannewerk, has been a mere make-believe ; and
it ie impossible to resist the conviction that, while
the belligerent parties affect to reject all proposals
of an armistice, and wink at the useless effusion of
blood at the outposts, the work of diplomacy is
going on behind the scenes, and protocols are
already preparing for signature.
Bloodshed in driblets we have almost daily. The
operation of relieving the pickets from duty hardly
ever takes place without an exchange of rifle shots
by way of mutual good-by. In some instances,
however, the innate good humour of these lento=
people gets the better of the fell intent with which
they watch each other's movements,
and I am happy
to have it to record that yesterday Danes and Prus-
sians, instead of popping with their rifles, were ac-
tually pelting each other with snow balls, with the
high glee of schoolboys released from their task.'
Those who would wish to see eTen a Amimarocnhp6la.ce