The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-26 00:00:00

DENMARK,

(From the Times Special Correspondent lately at the _Danish,

Head-quarters.)
COPENHAGEN, May 20.
Colonel Latibye loaves the War-office, and we shall never
know how many of the sad blunders committed by the
Danish Government must rest upon his personal responsi-
bility. The proud attitude taken by the army at the Dan-
newerke ; its hasty withdral from it ; the position of Dybbol
held against the advice and remonstrance of its defenders ;
and the stronghold of Fredericia abandoned before the enemy
had even made up his mind to attack it;--all these must be
laid at the door of the 'War Minister. Possibly they were ael
measures adopted in obedience td high political considera-
tions; but the man at the head of the military department
ought to have, at least in time of war, a will and an
honour of his own, and ought to make neither him•
self nor his army the scapegoat for the sins of wavering
politicians. The immediate cause of Col. Lundbye's retire-
mcnris said to be a petty squabble he had with the Finance
Department with respect to the salaries of some of the (fa-
cials under his immediate control. It has therefore, us I
said on a former occasion, at the time of the resignation et
the Minister of the Interior, no political significance what-
ever. The whole weight of public affairs in this country
recta upon Bishop Monrad, who, like the Cas ears in the old
Roman world, is invested with all the dignity cf supreme
pontiff and supreme ruler, goes by the name of " The Pope,"
and lays perhaps claim to Papal infallibility. He is a large
brained man, dexterous, plausible. A large party in this
country evince the most unshaken faith in his abilities.
The fine regiment of the Grenadier Guards has been re-
called from Funen, Yesterday or the day before a fine
Hussar regiment also came home from their northern can-
tonments in Jutland. The reserved of three years are being
dismissed, and the troops actually in the field are dwindling
to very moderate proportions.
It is hardly to be supposed that Government would seri-
ously think of putting the army on a peace footing, atter
refusing to accede to the terms of a permanent armistice,
and only with the utmost reluctance submiteing to a bare
temporary suspension of hostilities. The dismissal of the
reserves may be defended as a provident measure ; weeding
the army of midile• aged, family men, whom it was a mis-
take to summons to the standards; but one might ques-
tion the wisdom of the removal of some of the best corps
of foot and horse from the seat of war. The Guards came
late iato action at Alsen; they did little, and grumbled
much. A month of idleness in the favourite hatints of
the capital is not calculated to engender among these
gallant household troops a taste for the hardships of a
campaign. This is the season of the year when even nations
in a state of the most profound peace deem it expedient to
remove their troops from the ease of garrison life, and send
them into the open air, to accustom them to the discipline
of encampments—the English to Aldershot, the French to
Chalons, the Italians to Cirie, St. Maurice, or Somma
Without detracting a tittle from their bravery, we may be
allowed to say that the Danish troops showed themselves
during the last three months somewhat deficient in drill
and efficiency as to the use of their weapons. The four
weeks' truce might certainly have been turned to the best
purpose by training men and officers to incessant infantry
and artillery practice. At all events, there seemed no occa-
sion to show before the world and before the enemy so in-
discreet a hurry about quitting the field. Unquestionably,
should the Conference break down, as it is too likely to do,
without coming to satisfactory results, Denmark is not in a
condition to retake the field, single-handed, against the
whole host of two colossal Powers—at least on the main-
land. The stronger the reason for concentrating her forces
in Funen, and prepare for a desperate defence, where the
ground can still be held against all odds.
We are told that the presence of troops in the capital was
a matter of necessity—that for the dignity of the Crown, in
the interests of public order, it was not deemed expedient
to leave the posts in this large city in the keeping of a
citi-
zen militia for an indefinite length of time. Yet we are
not allowed to throw out even a hint about the Government
being haunted by its fears of a Copenhagen mob, Possibly
no such fears exist. For my own part, lam perfectly seep •
tical as to the existence of a mob in this city. lam con-
vinced that the municipal police have not only an easy
task, but a perfect sinecure in their charge of keeping the
peace ; and I firmly believe the Government would best con-
sult its safety, no less than its honour, by showing the most
perfect confidence in a people who fully deserve it, and
sending as many bayonets and sabres as they can muster
where they may be most advantageously employed. I
should not be surprised if the new Minister at the head of
the War-office, Colonel Reich, wore to act as if he were of
the same way of thinking.
Upon the retirement of Col. Lundbye, the War-office has
published some particulars as to the correspondence which
took place between the Minister of War and the Commander •
in-Chief, in the early days of April, with a view to deter-
mine, if possible, on whom should rest the blame of the un-
toward mismanagement which led to the fall of Dybbol.
Teese revelations may have some historical interest for the
Danes, and may eventually help us to get at the truth.
The whole truth, however, may never be known. As it
happened on the occurrence of the loss of the Dannewerk,
the transactions of the responsible authorities are enve•
loped in a mystery which time only may tear asunder.
There is no doubt but Government attached the
utmost importance to remaining in possession of the Dybbol
position until, on the first meeting of the Conference, an
armistice should not only remove the danger of its fall, but
even conceal from the world the dire extremities to which
the stronghold had been reduced. On the 13th the War-
office sent word that Dybbol should be defended to the ut-
most. They seemed, soon afterwards, to become aware of
the impracticability of the undertaking ; they asked
" whether the withdrawal had begun ?" " whether the
exhaustion of the troops was very great ?" " whether, in
the event of the abandonment of the forts on the main land,
opportune measures had been taken for the security of the
island of Alsen ?" The answers were that " the troops
were not worn out or dispirited ;" that " the retreat could
not be safely effected at once ;" that " all provisions had not
yet been taken to put Ala in a state of defence."
For all that, I must insist upon the intelligence I sent
from the spot at the time. Nearly all the officers, with
hardly one exception, made no mystery of their conviction
that the place was untenable, They thought it practicable,
as well as desirable, to steal out of the position in the night.
They were aware that the troops were not only half dead
with incessant exertion, but also greatly disheartened—that
two regiments, on the 14th, flatly refused to go out to the
front—that they were ready enough to brave danger against
all odds, provided only they could be brought face to face
with the enemy—but that they had been too long sent forth
to an unavailing butchery. The incipient mutiny of those
two regiments yielded to the gentle and firm remonstrances
of their officers, and the soldiers followed their leaders
across the bridges, for nothing could equal the docility and
resignation of these good Danes to the last--but the demo-
ralization of the troops was no less evident to all men in
command. Picket duty was discontinued, the rifle pits
were abandoned to the enemy, and the men could even no
longer be induced to keep a look out from the embrasures,
so utterly overpowered were they by the terrific fire of the
Prussian artillery. There is nothing disparaging to
the bravery of the Danish soldiers in all this. They
had done all that could be expected from mere men, and I
have the authority of a competent French officer, Colonel
Fevrier, that "no troops in the world could have behaved
with greater fortitude." But still there is an end to human
endurance; more had been demanded of these troops than
mere flesh and blood could achieve. The soldiers were at
the end of their strength; the officers sew it and acknow-
ledged it, and all of them, those at headquarters at their
head, were convinced that further resistance would lead to
some disastrous catastrophe. They said so; they assured
us that they bad said so to the War-office, that they had
repeatedly applied to Copenhagen for leave to withdraw
from the position, but that their instructions did not allow

them to think of their safety. All this I deemed myself in
duty bound to repeat for truth's sake. That the prolonged
stand at Dybbol, under such circumstances, was a fatal
and capital blunder, from a military point of view, there
cannot be the least shade of a doubt. That the officers who
were most unanimously of that opinion should have con-
spired to mislead the Government by false representations,
and dig their own graves from a false point of honour, is
far less credible than that the Government, actuated by
mere political motives, anxious to appear before the Con-
ference with all honour of an unbroken strength, and still,

perhaps, disturbed by the outcry occasioned by the aban-
donment of the Danneweik, blinded itself to the real posi-
tion of affairs, resolved upon a chance which might appear
doubtful, and chose the sacrifice of a part of the army as the
least evil. The conduct of the Government may yet be

accounted for on political grounds; that of the army, as it
would result from the pieces now given to the light, would
appear sheer madness, deliberate suicide.
It seems that the German troops in Jutland are no longer
to be fed at the expense of the inhabitants, but to apply for
their support to the stores cf the Commissariat. They are
not, however, to fare at the expense of their Government
as:sumptuously as Gen. Falkenstein had decreed they should
live at the cost of the poor Danes. Not only are the wine,
liquor, beer, and the famous 10 cigars altogether out of the
ques!ion ; but even meat. bread, &c., will be reduoed to
half the rations that had been originally deemed essential to
the welfare of these valiant troops.

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