The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-15 00:00:00

LATEST INTELLIGENCE. limited. Freight was ..-etarce, and the rates bad
declined to 21d. for London, and 2s. for Liverpool.
(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS) Business w.s very dull at Jamaica, and the coffee
and pimento crops scarce. Prices were unchanged,
and sugar ranged from 18s. to 225., according to
the quality.
The weather was line at Demerara, and favour-
able for the estates.
Freights heavy. Exchange on London, 90 days,
1- per cent. premium.

THE WAR IN DENMARK.

DRESDEN, MARCH 13,

A large public meeting to consider the affairs of
Schleswig-Holstein took place here to-day. The
resolutions passed were to the following effect :
" Complete satisfaction should be given to the
rights of the Duchies. The German people should
support those Governments who demand the entire
rights. Any solution not completely separating
the Duchies from Denmark would be treason against
Germany and German honour. Confidence can
only be restored in Germany by following the line
of conduct marked out by the wishes of the Ger-
man people."

The Proposed Conference.

L'Europe of the 14 th inst. publishes the following
as the text of the last note addressed by the Govern-
ments of Austria and Prussia to the Governments
which signed the Treaty of London of 1862 :
" The Government of had hoped that the
Danish Government would have shown a more con-
ciliatory spirit. Had it been so, the two great
Gamma Powers would have willingly stopped their
military action and entered into negotiations. But,
with regret, we must state that our hopes have been
deceived. The attitude assumed by the Court of
Copenhagen, its refusal to accede to the Conference
proposed by England, impose upon us the duty of
maintaining the coercive measures to which we
have had recourse. Important strategical conside-
rations have justified the authority given to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Austro-Prussian troops
to enter Jutland to cover the position of his forces
and to keep in check the Danes assembled at Fre-
dericia, preventing them from threatening the
flanks of the army, or from devoting all their
strength to the defence of the lines at Duppel.

.•••••••.••••••

HAMBURG, MARCH 13 (Evening).

It is believed here that the attack upon Duppe
will commence on Wednesday. The Prussians in•
tend to deliver the assault upon the 22d, the birth
day of the King of Prussia.

COPE NHAGEN, March 10.
The following official report has just been pub
lished by the Ministry of War
Headquarters, March 9, 1 p.m.

"Yesterday morning the 20th Infantry Regi-
ment, on outpost at Modal, was attacked by e
hostile division of all arms. The outposts were
hotly pressed, especially at Heisekurg and Kerne-
berg, where the Dane Company was forced out of
its line of retreat, and has probably been captured.
Our forces withdrew without cffering resistance,
and took up an outpost position behind Erritsiia,
about 1,200 yards in advance of the inundation
works and the fortified camp. The enemy has oc-
cupied Sandalshuse,Fuglesandskov, and Stroustrup.
"Simultaneously with the attack upon the out-
posts before Fredericia, the enemy appeared in
great force at 9 a.m. in front of the outposts of the
4th division, Between 3 acid 5 o'clock an im-
portant infantry and artillery engagement com-
menced in rear of Veile. But as this position
became untenable after the evacuation of Veile, it
was abandoned about quarter past 5, and the retreat
commenced northwards, the enemy pursuing with
10 or 12 guns, as far as the heights of Juelsberg.
'` General Waster, Captain Hoffmann, First
Lieutenant Weyen and Second Lieutenant Kohler
are wounded, besides ten men of the 20th and two
of the 19th Regiment. In addition to Captain Dane
and his company, Second Lieutenant Rosenstano
and 18 men of the 20th Regiment are missing. It
is stated that they were cut off while upon patrol
in front of the Havreballe pass. The loos of the 4th
division is not believed to be great. Nothing took
place last night, and up to 10 45 this morning before
Fredericia.''

" The two Powers had the less hesitation in
allowing this strategic movement as they had good
grounds to use reprisals towards the Danish Go-
vernment, which had issued orders to seize in the
open sea all vessels belonging to the belligerent
States and to States forming part of the Confede-
ration.

"The extension given, however, to the military
operations does not in any respect alter the previous
declarations of the Government of - relative to
its attitude in the present conflict. To prove in a
still more patent manner that its conciliatory views
are sincere and that its intentions are unchanged,
the Government of -- declares itself ready to
conclude an armistice with Denmark, either upon
the basis of the evacuation of the positions of Duppel
and of Alsen by the Danish troops, or of Jutland by
the Anstro-Prussian army, upon the basis of the
military uti- possidctis. But in either case the
Government of -- insists upon the condition that
cessation of hostilities by sea shall be included in
the armistice, and that all captures shall be recipro-
cally returned, and all embargo on vase's i❑ port
removed.

" The Government of -- declares itself, at the
same time, ready to enter into conference with the
Powers interested to discuss the proper means fur
the re-establishment of peace."

Daglladetof to-day doubts whether the advance of
the Prussians towards Fredericia heralds an attack
upon that fortress, or is merely a tactical reply to the
landing of the Guard in Holstein. In the former
case Dagbladet finds much comfort in the faot that
the fortress has been placed in good defensive
condition within the last few weeks. General
Lundvig, the commandant, is twit likely to aban-
don the defence easily; and Lieutenant-Colonel
Reich, his next in command, is said to be one
of the most skilled Danish artillery officers.
Major-General Wilster, wounded before Fre-
dericia, on Tuesday, by a shell in the arm and side,
arrived here this morning by the train from Korsor.
As soon as he has recovered from his wounds, the
Major-General will return to the army. Captain
Hoffx ain, General Wilster'a chief of the Staff, also
wounded in the engagement of the Bth, has had la's
leg amputated below the knee, and is now in hospital
at Fredericia.

The Cat and the Brand v, Military

Recruiting,

TO THE EDITOR OF TIIE SUN.

Sta,—l would beg permission to say a few words
through the medium of your extensively circulated
journal on the subject of military flogging and
branding, which cccupied the attention of the
House of Commons on Thursday, I do not pro-
pose to consider the question from the philanthropic
and humanitarian point of view, but simply as a
choice of evils. It is said that, havit,g regard to
the exceeding rough raw materials which hare to
be wrought up into the soldiers of which our army
is composed, discipline cannot be maintained with-
out the lash and the brand. But the brand and
the nine tails of the cat are just so
many se ire-crows hung up to scare away the
bone and muscle of the country from entering the
army. The like principle applies to the navy.
Which is the greater evil of the two ? the hypo-
thetical difficulty—for it is not proved—of main-
taining discipline, or the dead certainty of fright-
ening men out of the army ? It is not merely the
cruelty of the system, as its degrading character,
that op:Tates so strongly to deter men from enter
ing a service where it is in force, and where they
may thus run the chance, for a venial offence, of
being disgraced and degraded for life, and never be
able to hold up their heads again. The very patrons
of it, who ask, " what punishment would you sub-
stitute if that were done away with ? ' answer them-
selves by telling you that the punishments arejustas
severe, and therefore just as effective, in foreign
armies where flogging does not exist. I repeat, it
is chiefly the disgraca and degradation which Eng-
lishmen look at in this question. The English-
man asked to recruit says very naturally "if I
were to enlist in a foreign army I should not be
liable to this irrecoverable degradation. By enter-
ing the service where the soldier is flogged, I place
myself immeasurably below the level of the com-
mon soldier in other armies." If we still had the
press gang, or if we had substituted a conscrip-
tion, we might be in no danger of getting men
to recruit our armies, because we could force them
into the ranks. But now that our service, army
and navy both, is strictly a volunteer one, to
frighten men away from it by brandishing the
cat and the branding iron in their face seems
❑ot consistent with

THE SUEZ CANAL DIFFICULTY,

PARIS, MARCH 15.

The Moniteur of to-day says :—" The Emperor
had charged the Duke de Morny to make a report
upon the questions at issue relative to the Suez
Canal. This report stated the basis of a com-
prordse which appeared equitable to the Emperor,
and its conclusions were communicated to the Vice-
roy, who requested the Emperor to settle the diffi-
culties between the two parties.
" The Emperor, accepting the arbitration, has
formed acommittee to examine the question at issue."

SPAIN.

MADRID, MARCH 14.

Some Madrid journals ask what would be the
course of the Government if an European war were
to break out in Italy.

PRANCE.

BOT-MgEs Mach 14.—Sales for realisation have
caused caused a slight retrograde movement,
Threes, for the Account, being now at 6Gf. 65c.
Mobilier have also receded, having been done at
1,055 f., bat have since recovered to 1,0601 r. Rail-
way Market without animation, with prices gene.
rally firm. The market again recovered towards
the close, and left off as follows :

COMMON SENSE.

41 per Cents .. 93, Italian Loan 63
Do. end month.... th) 40 Do. end month —
3 per Cents
Do. cud month.... 96 75 Do. end month....
Credit Mobilier....l9e2 60 Russian
79 -`3315 --- Spanizth Threes .• • • --
Credit F oncier ....1565 Rome Debt -—
BD.
kensdhaano mroens th .... 1)67 Austrian

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE ARMY.

Captain hay, 72d Highlanders, is about to retire
from the service.
The 78th Highlanders will shortly proceed to
Dublin, there to be quartered.
Lieut.-Colonel Enderby Gordon, Royal Artillery,
is to succeed Lieut.-Colonel Ward in the R. .111.
Repository, Woolwich.
Major-General B. Willis has accepted the £6OO
per annum retirement.

Roman

Deferred _ _

RAlLiveYs.
Cash. Account.
Orleans ....... 1005 .. 1007 50
Northern ....... 955 957 50
New ditto .......
Lyons and AleditGrranean
New ditto .....
S luthern, ..............
Western ..............
Eastern ...........a..
Sardinian .............
Austrian ...............
Lombard
..............
North of Spain , .......
Saragossa ............
Ditto to Barcelona ....

930 - 930 -

- -
653 75 .. 657 50
516 2.5 .. 517 50
480 476 --
378 - 377 50
405 - ~ 410 -
531. 50 .. 537 50
- 483 75
685 - 587 50

Lifeboat Services,

CASTLETOWN, Id° of Man, March 12.

The schooner Water Lily, of Pwllheli, left Dun-
dalk on the 9th March, in ballast, bound for Bangor,
and on the evening of the next day was driven by
stress of weather into Derlyhaven Bay, where she
anchored with two anchors out. About noon on
the 11th a very violent gale from the N.W. came
on. One of the anchor chains parted, acd the
vessel dragged cut round Fort Island into the Tides.
way. A signal of distress was then hoisted, and
the lifeboat at this place belonging to the National
Lifeboat Institution was at once transported to
Derlyhaven Bay, and launched to the rescue of the
shipwrecked crew. It was now blowing a furious
gale of wind, but the lifeboat soon reached the
vessel and succeeded in rescuing the crew, consist-
ing of three men and a boy, and afterwards landed
them in safety. The vessel ultimately became a
total wreck.

WEST INDIA AND PACIFIC MAILS.
SOUTHAMPTON, MARcit 15.
The Royal Mail steamship La Plata, with the
above mails, has arrived hero. She brings 105 pas-
sengers, 5,194,690 dols. in sPecie, and 1,619
packages of cargo.
The La Plata left St. Thomas on the 29th ult.,
and on the Ist inst, spoke
the English barque
Northern Light
; on the 10th, the barque Harvey ;
on the 12th, the ship Avalanche, homeward bound;
and on the 14th, off the Lizard, the ship Devon-
shire from Calcutta.
A severe earthquake had been expErifinced at
Copiapo. Several houses were damaged, but no
lives were lost.
The Government of Santiago had issued a pro-
posal for a loan of six thousand dollars at 7 to 8
per cent. Up wards of two millions were at once
tendered for the first half.
1
General business at Chili was good. Freights
less active at £4 10s, Exchange, 411 to 41,1 d, per

LOSSIEMOUTH, March 12.

The smack Barbara, of Burghead, laden with
coals, sprung a leak, and afterwards came on shore
at this place, during a gale of wind last night. The
National Institution lifeboat stationed hero was soon
launched and succeeded in saving the vessel's crew.
The smack afterwards became a total wreck.
ORMESBY, Norfolk, March 14.

Nine lives were saved this morning from the
Alice, of Newcastle. The vessel had struck on the
Cross Sand last night in very stormy weather, when
the crew took to their boat, and was afterwards
picked up by a Caistor yawl. The Scratby and
Caistor lifeboats had also gone off with the view of
rendering assistance to the same crew.

dollar. _
The British bark Countess of Winton had been
Government of Peru had entered into a con-
destroyed by fire in Valparaiso Bay-
The
tract with Messrs. Oyague, Graham, Rowe, and
Co., for the conversion of the Bolivian currency and
the introduction of a new standard national coinage,
whereby all Bolivian coin will
be sent out of the
country, or melted in Lima,
in two years. Anew
currency had been established,
and an exchange on
London fixed, Which it was anticipated would be
most beneficial for the extension of commercial re-
lations with the country.
Lima exchange, 90 days' sight, 37d.
The news from the West
India Islands is unim-

Mr. BOHN has sold his publishing business and
classic copyrights to Messrs. Bell and Daldy, of Fleet-street.
THE LOCK-OUT OF THE YORKSHIRE COLLIERIES.
—The leek-out at the South Yorkshire collieries,
there seems to be little doubt, will become an accomplished
fact, so that in the course of a few days there will be some-
thing like 3,700 men out of work. Both sides seem deter-
mined, so that the struggle will evidently be the most se-
vere that has ever taken place in the district. The men,
it appears, will be dependent in a great measure for sup-
port on the union, which now extends over England, Scot-
land, and Wales, and are confident of being ab.e to make 'a
long stand. At present there are between 500 and 600 out,
but th 9 c Poly Will be 9ut Of WQl'l4 in II kW OM

portant.
The traugactiona in the produce market were