The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-19 00:00:00

'ERRUARY 19, 1864,

least exaggeraiion, on the hardships ono difficulties
toe Danish army had to contend with in its retreat,
because I think, on the whole, that this retreat was
effected in as admirable order ss could be expected
under the circumstances, and these brave troops
evinced throughout a hardy spirit and a manly en-
durance above any high praise that my poor pen
could bestow upon it. We had tint gone half a
mile from Schleswig before we found a very heavy
piece of siege artillery forsaken on the road. The
eight horses which dragged it had become, owing
to the state of the roads, as powerless as so many
new littered kittens, and all the efforts of the
men to share the work with them had proved
unavailing. In the same manner, as we advanced
on our dismal march, we, who were in the
rear, came up with broken carriages, dismounted
caissons, and horses fallen never to rise. The ob.
struction to our progress was indescribable. We
moved inch by inch; it was one step, two steps,
and a halt, and especially at night, as we approached
some krog, or public-house, the throng of convey-
ances, especially of sutlers and other camp followers
of every description, who insisted upon stoppingon
the highway to feed their cattle, could not be
broken through either by entreaty or menace, by
love or force. Human selfishness, improvidence,
cowardice, could not fail to exhibit their most
hideous features on tois occasion as in other great
calamitous occurrences. I passed wretches on the
road, on the second night, who lay on the stones by
the wayside, regardless of the snow that was cover-
ing them like a pall. I roused some of them, trying
to awaken them to their danger, but in vain, ann
went my way, shrugging my shoulders, speculat-
ing on the awakening which might or might not
await them in the morning. How many may have
perished by the cold, how many of the horses and
how much of the ?materiel were left behind, I have
co means to tell, but I am sure all was done that
ournan valour and determination could achieve. Not
a little confusion indeed reigned during the night,
but order came in the morning. The battalions of
infantry marched steadily and compactly in their
ranks; the men, who in the midst ot their suffer-
ings had no reason tocomplain of hunger, toiled on
resolutely ; the houses, hospitably open to them on
toe road, did not lure them to unreasonably long
delays. Whanever any delay or obstruction on the
road occurred of any inconvenient length, the bight
of an officer—the clear, sharp, ringing voice ot my
friend the artillery captain, for instance, who
showed throughout an energy and strength of will
perfectly indomitable—had on the few laggards all
the effecqi of a trumpet. Up they Is! aaed, ready
and willing, more instantly amenable to duty
and subordination than any other troops I ever
marched with. I nave now seen regiment after regi-
ment cumiog in, not much the worse for their 48
hours' dreadful tear and wear. Most of the field
pieces, also, have been safely conveyed to their new
positions, though the same may not be said ot some
of the heaviest ammunition waggons. Glen. Wilster,
who commanded at Fredericketedt, has been able to
bring all his garrison to Sonderborg without the
toss either of one man or horse, or even of any part
of nis heavy siege train.
In the midst of all this magic drama of the retreat
from the Dannewerk occasional flashes of comic in-
cident were not wanting. The oddity of the head
gear, the variety of skull caps, hoods, wrappers, and
blankets, with which every man strove to shelter
himself from the wintry blast, according as his fancy
suggested or his means afforded, gave the whole
train a quaint, ludicrous appearance. The few men
who lay exhausted in the waggons, swathed and
muffled, were covered with the thick falling flakes
till they looked like statues or snow-men, and alto-
gether there was something so ghastly and unreal
in the whole mass of men tied things that the state
of my imagination, disturbed by long unrest,
jumbled together the present with a distant past,
and made meat times fancy I was moving along a
train of masquerading carriages on an Italian torso,
such a one tot instance as I saw last year at Turin
just a twelvemonth ago, only the procession was
silent and not gay, so that it was rather the ghost
of a mummery than the thing itself. I saw burly
officers of a fine cirayoon regiment, men who are
tignt as birds when in the saddle, but who have
rio more legs than the Queen of Spain is supposed
to have—l saw them, I say, blundering and
stumbling along the road the ettioae way, put-
ting, and panting, tumbling also occasionally (I
had myself two rather heavy faits on the villainous
hard ice)—and swearing rather savagely at the
unwonted, ann to them unendurabe mode of loco-
motion; but here they were at dinner last evening
safe and whoie, all of teem laughing at the sore trial
(hey bad to suomit to in their 48 flours' stroll, and
not a little vain, in their heart of hearts, at the lea:
which they had, wil y r illy, been able toaccomplish.
The Austrians, we were told, only entereo Schles-
wig at 4 o'clock in the morning ot Saturday ; bur ii
was no, long before they gave chase, and we had
them in our rear betore we were ten miles on our
way. They met, however, With not a few ot the
aifficuliies we had to contend with, and although we
hear of frequent skirmishes on the whole of the long
and wide line of retreat, still I have not been able
to obtain certain information of any serious engage-
ment except at a phece cllled Biteculu Itrug, at
about four miles from Flensburg, on the very road
we hit:J followed from Schleswig, where two regi-
ments of infantry, the let and 11th, with two field
pieces, under Colonel Beck, commanding the let
Regiment of Foot, came into collision with a widely
superior force cf Austrians—who had, we are told,
16 cannon with them—and made good their ground
for some time, twice attacking the enemy with the
bayonet, but falling back at last, after suffering
severe losses, especially in officers. Ail the staff of
one of the companies of the Ist Regiment was left
on the well contested field.
The main part of the Danish army is now concen-
trated here, relying on the natural strength of this
sea-girt little island, and on the outworks at
Dapped which guard the only approaches to the
narrow Sound on the mainland. The enemy is
close on their track, and at the moment I am writ-
ing I hear the hurrahing of the various detach-
ments, which are marching to the outposts in the
expectation of a brush with the Austrians. It is
rather cdd that so little should ever be heard of the
Prussians. With the exception of their first not
very successful attack on Missunde on Tuesday last,
the troops'of that nation have hardly been seen or
heard of anywhere at the front, and all the toil and
honour of the campaign seems to have been left
to the Austrians, in whom the Danes recognise
worthy adversaries, while they speak of their Prus-
sian foes with contempt.
Altogether, I do not believe any army in the
world could have behaved more honourably under
so great a variety of untoward circumstances than
the 7) tnes have done in this unfortunate retreat.
Should any chance be offered them of retrieving
(heir losses by any trial at all amounting to fair
fight, I nave nu doubt they will acquit themselves
to the fullest credit, and if the Austrians or Prus-
sians choose to employ all their overwhelming
strength against this position of Alsen, where their
vast saperiority of numbers will avail them lees,
they may find out that the Danes are not as easily
dislodged as it seemed good to their leaders that
they should be at the Dannewerk.
The whole population along the road, and even
at Flensburg, gave proof the utmost sympathy with
the toiling and sulfuring troops. Every door was
open ; food and assistance of every description were
every where at band, a proof either that the Danes
are not so implacably hated by their Schleswig sub
jects as their German friends,describe them, or that
the kindliest feelings ot humanity had got the better
of political animosity.

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/ SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMKS.—The Arneriefins are beginning to look ai
their fi❑ancial policy in a new light. Toe Federal
House of R.presentatives has actually entertained
a proposal to raise by taxation a sum equivalent to
our entire revenue. It is true that the idea has not

yet taken any practical shape, and we should think
it exceedingly doubtful whether the expectations
which it implies could ever be realised, but at any
rate it marks a new conception of circumstances
and obligations. Hitherto the proceedings of the
Americans have been an strangely contrasted with
our own methods of finance that we could but look
with am,zement upon the operation of a doctrine
so novel. It seems to be understood that the Fe-
deral States will require for the ordinary and ex-
traordinary expenses of their Government during
the ensuing financial year a sum of money amount
ing, in our currency, to at least S.:180,000,000. Tais,
it is calculated, may cover all outgoings on account
of civil, military, and naval administration; but it
includes no provision for the interest of the na-
tional debt. That item is reckoned et £11,000,000,

though the rate of interest actually current has re
cently been made matter of active controversy
among economists in this country. However, we may
assume for the purpose of our present remarks that
Mr.Criase must provide a gross sum of £190,000,000
for the requirements of the financial year. How is
all this money to be raised? Mr. Cnase understands
as well as Mr. Glandatone the various expedients at
the command of a financier. It is competent to him,
as he knows, to adopt in any proportions any or ell
of three great courses. He may raise money by Cus-
toms, by Excise, or by an Income Tex, and he pro-
poses, it seems, to press all these instruments into nib
service. But there is this singularity about his prac-
tice—that, whereas he places the heaviest burdens
ei.ctly where we should place the lightest, be does
not by all his proposals together profess to raise any-
thing like the amount which the Government will
require. After acknowledging that £190,000,000
will be wanted, he proceeded to explain a scheme of
taxation from which he expects at the outside a pro-
duct ofonly £45.000,0000, thus leaving more than
three-fourths of the neediul sum to be procured in
some other manner. Tnis enormous residue, it is
unnecessary to say, he intends to borrow; so that,
in fact, the essence of his budget is a gigantic mete
completely eclipsing, all other sources of revenu
On these principles the whole finance of Americo
reso,ves i,srlt into a system of living on bortoweo
.notiey, It Mr. Cnase is to borrow £145,000,000 eut
of £190.000,000, here rea'ly appears very little not-
son why he should not tike the whole sum on loan
at once, and save himself and the people all the vexa
•ion ot tries. A. this conjuncture, however, the
House of Representatives instructs the Committee
of Ways and Means to inquire into the expediency
ot so increasing the duties on foreign and domestic
arieles of luxury as to make them :yield a sum of
£70,000,000 a year. 11 suers a measure could be
s neck:SSW ily cerried out, it would effect ti tle lees
r hill a revoiution in the Federal system of finance
ai'herto, the Americans, though so prodigal in their
expenditure, have raised coreperatively little b 3,
taxation, and next tr nothing by any taxes except
Customs. Last year Mr. Chase calculated on oh-
raining £14,000,000 from Customs, £25,000,000
from Excise duties, and about £6,0001)00 from le
come Tax; so the!. his whole regular revenue would
nave amounted to some £45,000,000. But his esti•
mates were not realised. rhe Customs did not yield
the produce expected from them, but .he Excise
produced only some £6,000,000 or £7,000,000 in-
stead of £25,000.000 and the returns of the Income
Tax are sri 1 unknown. Nor have these disappoint
ments induced Mr. Cease to reconsider his policy,
for he has proposed to do no more this year than
raise the sum of £45,000,000 by the same meals and
in the same proportions, but, as he hopes, with more
complete success. Altogether, as we have said. he
would only raise by taxation a quarter of the re-
venue required for the needs of the State, and then
borrow all the rest. The scheme now suggested,
though it is silent on the vital question of direct
taxation, proceeds upon the principle of meeting
expenditure by taxation of some kind, and not.
mainly by loans. If carried successfully into exe-
cution, it would provide for nearly half the outgo-
ings of the year from a regular yearly income, and
would teave proportionately less to be raised by
borrowing. In fact, it would bring the ordinary
revenue of the Federal States up to some 1:80 000;000
a year—a resp: ctuble contribution trom people ac
cult owed to provide on ly £15,000,000 eri16,000,000.
The question is on what principles or by what con-
siderations Mr Chase's policy has been hitherto
recommended. It is a policy diametrically oppose()
to all the principles of finance recognised by modern
economists, and especially to such as are most
ardently advocated by the admirers of American in-
stitu'ions in this country. Protective tariffs and
ruinous loans are its principal features, while,
scarcely any attempt is made to raise revenue by
direct taxation. It is of course natural to supp ere
that Mr. Chase knew the temper of his countrymen,
and shaped hi. 4 policy accordingly. He and his cot-
-agues m ty have seen that an expenditure was re
quired for the purposes of tee war eo large as to be
er beyond the scope of any ordinary budget. A
people unaccustomed to taxatton,and babitu ted to
budgets of X 15,000,000 a year, could hardly be ex-
oeco d, perhaps, to contribute on a sudeen some
£210.000,e011 from their own pie kets, and there was
,tie less redeem for pressing them in this resprc
inasmuch es they enj.ryed the singular re eoutce o
Antnlinhed public credit. America ad no asinine
-tent, and was therefor., ai liber?y to incur th:s
obligation in place of oppressing thra,lt by burdens
,otoierable it th.. moment. einem bur im,igint-
t.:at these were really the views which prevailed
with President Lincoln's Government, and to som
extent, indeed, we must reg.,rcl them es sound. An
a-tempt to iocre,-se tenfold the imuteCiate taxatto,
of the people would probehly have produced, it rev
rtsistauce to the Government, at least. opposition to
the war, and it may well have seemed a more judi
cioas policy to draw upon the rich Lund of public
credit. intact and avreleble. Bat etiq it is extraor-
dinary that this fund should have been absorbed
.vith so little hesitation, and with much very little
relief from present taxation—nor can we omit to
mention that the whole system is characterised by
some American writers, not as a makshitt or tie-
ecesity under extraordinary ciicumstences, but as
;he expression of an admirable financial polity
ahsomtely transcending all systems at work in flit
o.d World. According to these expositions the
wealth and productiveness of the country are suc-
cessfully preserved by Mr. Cnase's plata of opera-
tions, and the result will be that the nation, after
carrying on a war of incredible costliness with
-camel', a sensation of pressure, will find itself upon
the conclusion of peace, not exhausted and impove-
rished as Great Britain was in 1815, but abounding
in means and money, and able consequently to
sustain. or liquidate its debt without the slightest
difficulty. If these curious doctrines contain any
truth, the new scheme will do rather harm than
good. We need hardly say that we regard the
measure now proposed as based on sounder views,
but between the inquiries of a committee into a
system of taxation and the actual realisation of
revenue from the taxes discussed there is a very
wide interval indeed. Moreover, it appears doubt-
ful in the extreme whether so large a sum as
£70,000,000 could ever be obtained from the
sources in question. We are not told bow the
burden is to be distributed between) Customs and
Inland Revenue; but, if t he division is to be equal,
Customs must produce £351'00,000 a year instead
of £14,000,000, and Excise £35,000 000, t° id of
17,00000. Can these results be secured,ins
and
from taxes on luxuries only ? We are certainly
told that the Americans are living most sump
,uously, but the description applies princi all -
to the great cities of the North-East, and the Pro)
iwch. au.ighgereestisstaheeleixgthrrtoe
nandoeafetitoiohsnfekilort for
f),-ooppbtwrhelenioee:
stoPebrietYhowilho
heavy a superstrac.ure. Sooner or later the Ame-
,,glacntaitnoanstism;
euas snit
dnddti
ihscciasotve discover
sr resolutionl hrri
(e):81
of
tweightapprehensionh e
House
actuallyt
fair,ru t
haonwdaervraei
vrdesire
at
tn, txo confrontwuhpeonn
ltuhxetuhrdei
:syd
willffio ot n!
be
ye .
t.
reckoningouW
nd
utterly inadequate io meet the accumulation of
demands.
POST.—The important note addressed by Austria
and Prussia to the minor German States must have
the effect ot bringing to an issue the q
has virtually, if not ostensibly, agitated
whichorsom
y
time past the two sections of the Confederation. Tee
Diet has submitted t.) much at th
he
great Powers, it remains
tobe to be seeenhaWnhdestohlert
will allow its authority completely superseded.
When the toe jo,ity of t fie r epreseritalires at Frank
tort refused to insist on
burg's withdrawal fro _the Dike of Augtisten-
m the Duchies,
t ie AustroePruseien and rejec‘rd
prop-teal tor Making tee inva-
sion of Schleswig con
of he C.,n•ii.utioll of N
,ingent on the non suspension
"verilh'
r. A .Stria anti Prtls
sea disregarded the Federal
troop- through dec-sima, marched their
lave Ki„l,
whichheHolstein, oblged the pretender to
had made his head quarters.
and invaded Schleswig
onhe ground of tne non-
e°mPtiatice ot the Danish Government with the de
'winds made on it ine
atuution. In all this resp Pct to the obnoxious Con
the
Diet, though with no good
grace, quietly acquiesced. Schleswig having been
occupied by the allied armies, armies, another slow was
directed against th
authority of the Diet by the
Prussian Commande
er•in Chief. Without any previ-
ous communication
of the protest of with
the Diet, and in defiance
the Federal Commissioners, he
garrisoned the principal
towns in Holstein with
Prussian troops. This, however, was an indignity
to which the majority in the Diet could not be ex-
pected to submit
• Several of the minor States ad-
dressed their protests to the Council of Frankfort

g4inst the vickation of Federal territory, end ft‘'
committee Was 4pp mired to illeire into and rtpell
upon tne 'Acts completned of. Feuding the decieiere
however, the great Powers have now gone a ate?
farther, and, not contented with occupying 11(4-
stein with their own troops, have demanded the
withdrawal of those which constitute the artny of
!he Confederation. Tnis is in effect the substance
of the note addressed by Austria and Prussia to the
minor Powers. Looking on the Saxon and iieniE,
verian troops in the light of a F,derat reserve,atio
assuming that their forces constitute, in truth, the
Federal army, they state that there is 130 1013ger
any necessity for such a reserve. They vvill them
selves take care that execution is properly nerriel
out, and, should a reserve bon übsequently decried
necessary, they willtake upthemselves the del,
of supplying it. Such is the nature of the deMeou
now made by Austria and Prussia on the m;-or
Powers, and we shall await with no little curiosity
the response which will be given to it. arum thet
course now taken by the great German Pewere "f
is not only apparent that they intend to dispose o
the Duchies as to them seems best., but that dr
tnode of disposition en which they have resolved to
not one which they believe will find fay AO in tin'
eyes of the lesser Sates. Whether Austria atiu,
Prussia intend to abide by the Tree y of ISO, a"
restore the Duchies to the King of Denwaric tit
soon as he shalt h.t.ve made certain concessions, •::
whether they intend to retain them themselves, it is
clearh that they do not propose to opt what nnor
e regarded as the national programme. They itiir
Powersintentions,
have, however, for some tune suspecteiter
and have gone so far as to organise ie.,4
sures to frustrate them. At the inetance of Bacel1;
_...:eruments of that kingdom,
:cectonfrencebetwevn the Ministers of the respeet_l_r
~,W rteo3berg, the two Hrisses, and B idol hee to
ummoned to agree upon a course of actiou in
en,
eventb of the recognition of the Duke of Augaltsho
_uorng bring disallowed by the other members in
io
U.. 0 tederaion, or the dioluemberaleot of
it" 4tioe
S ',cone, 1103°I;i's
of
the
erctty not being effeeted Ly the finarsep.ra ,0
Duchy of Schleswig from that kingeoto. :0.
far as the States are concerned which bale C
tented to accept the above•mentioned hae's ciets_l-'
,n,
ther II renc,.of opinion can subsist
purplyP
rigid
c nisei
domestic real , °b.it'ets with which that scr of c
into tff'et, by them in Holstein vv. eteolf
suppose that there are any who coneclen-Were
Pilet —Federal execution--.,:e(10 coot
elleved wrien the Federal Commissioners
.:to
deep ached to Holstein that it was the intentil;id
of the majority
of the Diet that itleY„::,l 'Or
ta only temporerily administer the: D4ll t!"it jog;
bur ili grievances were redressed by the D4"le",s ie.ve
Wriell We notice the course which ea% with
the taken it is impossible to avoid beiog sf'nee morlt
was serious
i disadvantages under which PtenproOgn
w4uoitspleiince:dw i
tbhy t hheerG7retnidaennituNcl
orr.efl,adt ieornaot
iboinP:
0,,,:oloi
tifill.
~o,imatFeederal execution
.weacaomepelled tocouesei tile evacuationeftha'n„ the
.tiork "`
obi.
~ ‘ powers of the Diet, and Deew, wing
n,tig...it; to accede to that advice for the sake to P foo
eution was an set Wit"l"„,4l
in the right in the eyes ot Ear"P°' i; wito
the
eitBiheer England or Denmark believed tnatcitier
tention of the Confederation siMeli
arook the
the trouble province,
e f
veilingand
their German u cos
cool
trate
atdecent disguise. Now, however, all conceetpioar
'Pew an end ; and, at the instance of tiih'e
Powers of the Confederation, the Diet ie tcl:„; ado
upon to direct that te uchy which Nvf's °";",tosili
lterPio°:cleer:i;ll; nor
acknowledged
of a ministerial- ct, and *Won ,ch4ifig,
shall
the sovereignty of the 11)60'Ll'rinis is
.11 be handed over - of
to another rt esid" 1
one of the objects
with which,under the Pr .00 0
of Bavaria,
a meeting of th® repreeeoteti Toe&
several of the German States has been ne,seeii 00
The Schleswig-Holstein question has eve ae
fruitf u of complications, that we e%Perculti
surprisevitot at the discovery of the singular 1; anal e'
of necessity must arise, not 00 ra,ll(3clioi
garde
of
the the mode, but as to the right e` E-040 e'
two Duchies. The unanimetle ' ioair
Germany declares that tne Dechiea are the
soiubl
crime
united, and must in any event 1.15100arlt•
fate, But. although wrested Ono lite heed°'
theya
Holstein
at the present moment in differenprjee•
is in the possession of the Coofe ;000
cl whereas Schleswig is in the position of aPr 00
of rquered by Austria and Prussia in their cove ne
yeit European Powers. The Confederation opt tiet
the extent in
the disposal of Schleswig; and' Iris 6111
xtent of their votes in the Diet, APA,torti 0.
.„..,.Prussia,is are powerless to determine the '.7leit 00
tithe tein. That this difficulty has faced toot
leoser
attention both of tee greater and of to4t 0015.
~German Powers is apparent from their ren,,, that
I is in order to get rid of this diffieoe'Joieer
Austria and Prussia have called upon tnipeiveli
composed
powers to withdraw the Federal reserve, e%eg fro°
r, e posed of Saxon and Haooverian toot t 0,0!
0.. Duchy of Holstein ; and it. is viitn tPeapitekt
tohl:'hcet that some of the lesser Stateshsve °pool
Diet the expediency of despatching 0. Oa°
troopstif into Schleswig. Such then ie the to id 0,1
the D ;no-German dispute, snd it e/!heot it°
seem that the despoilers of Denmark 6113,;:csitii*
wrangle with each other • the 111'
reepecting
of the booty.