The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-16 00:00:00

THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN' WAR.

(From the Times Special Correspondent wth the Danish
Army.)
DANISH HEAD-QIIARTERS, SCHLEINVIG, Feb. 5.
What we witnessed here yesterda7 may be set
down among the mere amenities of vier. So far as
we might judge from the
,sound, there was from
early morning firing all along the lire. We could
hear the cannon from the Dannewerk, where, as we
were told, attempts were made upon :he outposts of
Fort or Battery No. 12, a fort plsced it a spot
where the lines of the Great and Lit:le Dannewerk
intersect each other. Some firing
went on on the
side of Missunde also,,but it was a slack, random
fire, resultless and apparently objectless. The moat
earnest efforts was made upon the inmeciate posi-
tion of the town of Schleswig itself, and we had to
put ourselves to no great inconvenience to behold
the engagement from beginning to end. From the
upper windows of our hotel, Stadt Hamburg, and
from the Chaussee leading from it to Cistle Got-

torp and the suburb of Fredericksherg, but espe
cially from the summit of the castle itsel, we were
enabled to survey every movement, both on the
Danish and the Austro-Prussian side.
Castle Gottorp is a huge square pile of buildings,
constructed in a modern barrack-like style, and sur-
rounded by lower wings or pavilions, which, like
the main portion of the central structure, are, in
fact, used for the accommodation of troops. Inside
the court are a few round turrets, the remnants,
probably, of the original edifice in olden times, and
in front, in the centre, ever the main entrance, there
rises a square tower, which may have been the keep,
surmounted now by a turret of treat height, from
which we saw the whole country stretched out like
a map before us, as far as eye could reach.
In front of us, facing the east, we had the broad
level of the water of the Schleswig Fiord, or Schlei,
with the town branching out on both its banks ; on
our left the Altstadt as far as Holm; on our right
the suburb of Friedericksberg, as far as the pon-
toon-bridge of Hadeby, with the inner lake of
Hadeby Nor reaching far to the south, answering
on one side the purpose of a vast moat to the forts
of Friedericksberg, of Bustrup, and the cluster of
the Great Dannewerk. Beyond Hadeby, in a per-
fectly straight line, carving its way, as it were,
through the vast undulations of the ground,
stretched the main road to Eekernforde. To the
left of this road the shore rosein long woody bluffs,
with the villages of Gartorp and Steekswig lining
the heights. At the foot of. these Fartrop and
Steckswig heights the broad sheet of water of the
Schlei was hemmed in by large sandbanks on either
side, forming a narrow sound, called Stecksswig-
Snaevering, to expand soon after wards into a still
broader surface, widening into a great round bay to
the south, almost up to the Eekernforde road above-
mentioned, and on the north-east gradually cot.-
tracting itself to wind through the narrow pass of
Missunde. Nearer to us, in the centre of what I must
be allowed to call a lake, between the Altstadt and
the Fredericksberg suburb, and not much more than
half an English mile distant from the Altstadt
shore, lay the low, narrow islet of Meversberg, a
mere slip of land, bristling with batteries at the
water-edge.
The whole country to the south of the Schlei,
from a little beyond Hadeby to Missende, is already
occupied by the Austro-Prussians, and from where
we stood we could distinctly see the Prussians, three
lines deep, posted on the Fartorp and Steekswig
height. From those heights their artillery, at about
10 in the morning, opened fire on the island fort of
Meversberg, which immediately answered with
becoming spirit. A couple of hutdred shots were
expended on each side in two or three hours, with
no loss of life or limb on the Danish side, but with
damage to the Prussians, as we are told, of one or
two cannon dismounted. It is likely, I should say,
that the enemies have hitherto only field-pieces on
their position. One of their shells, however, fired
from Fartorp, flew over the Meversburg and fell on
the ice, a few yards from the bank at Altstadt, to the
great amusement of some of the Schleswig boys, who
ran to pick up the fragments. The distance from
Fartorp to the nearest point of the Altstadt can be
no less than a mile and a half English.
So far as can be made out of the Prussian move-
ments, it would seem that they are bent on attempt-
ing to cross the Schlei ; availing themselves of
that narrow channel, which, as I have said, separates
the low sandbanks on either side opposite to their
positions at Far torp and Steekswig, and which I
have already designated under tee name of Stecks-
wig-Sneevering. The surface of the Schlei is still
covered with thick ice in all its expanse ; bat frum
the foot of Castle Gottorp, where we stood, we could
see the breach which has been kept up by the Danes
by sheer might of axe and steam, a blue serpentine
line, which follows the windings of the deeper channel
of the fiord, coasting like a moat the little island fort
of Meversberg, and running eff in the direction of
Missunde, to follow the meanderings of the Schlei
all the way to its mouth on the Ilaltic. Whether
the Austro-Prussians will have it in their power to
let their pontoons slide down the ice as far as the
water edge, and there throw a bridge over the chan-
nel from ice crust to ice crust, time will show. To
effect this operation they will have to stand the fire
of the batteries at Vinding and Fys ng, two villages
lying on the northern shore, and seeeping over the
sandbanks opposite Steckswig,
Should the Austro-Prussians prefer making an
experiment of the power of their art llery, it is very
probable that with heavy pieces ttey could from
Fartorp silence the batteries of Meversberg, and lay
the Altstadt of Schleswig in ruins; little gain to
themselves, this latter feat, but no joke to the in-
habitants, who would thus be ill requited for their
alleged German propensities.
Such, if I have succeeded in conve7iog
my mind
to the reader, is the position of the coitending par-
ties at Schleswig; or what I may call the water-side,
Inland to the south of the Frederickiberg suburb,
and to the west of HadebyNor, the Aug ro Prussians,
who have their head quarters underMarshalWran gel
at Krop, face all the line of the Dannewerk, and turn
their main efforts against that cluster of forts which
bears the name of the Great Dannewert, from No. 1
at Fredericksberg to No. 12, which was the ob-
ject of their onset yesterday. Opposite to Bus-
trup and Bustrup Vorwerk they are posted at
K 6 ugshoj, or King's Height, and in other localities
offering the advantage of elevated ground, and
placed at no greater distance than a mile from B as-
trup, not quite two English miles from the very
centre of Schleswig and Castle Gottorp. It was at
this point, at the Bustrup advanced posts, that the
action was so warm on Wednesday afternoon. The
Austrians pushed so boldly forward on that occasion
that, had they been aware of their advantage, or had
they had daylight enough, there might have been
some ground for the kind of panic which spread
about in Schleswig that the enemy might possibly
carry the town by a coup de main that very night.
The hasty barricading of the Castle Gottorp
Avenue, and of the Chaussee between the old and
new town, prove that some apprehensions were en-
tertained even in high quarters, and a still stronger
proof of the danger which the town ran is the de-
parture of the King, who left us in the night or
early morning, it was said, fur Flensburg. The
officers here, among whom his Majesty is not too
popular, comment rather severely upon this conduct
of the King, and ask to what purpose Christian
IX. inconvenienced himself by travelling hither all
the way from Copenhagen if he wis to go back so
soon, on the first appearance of danger, without as
much as showing his countenance to the men toil-
ing at the outposts, and without, Indeed, achieving
any greater feat than the promenade in the mud
described by me in a former letter. It is not thus,
they say, that their good Danish King Frederick
VII. would have behaved in such emergency ! The
danger to the King, no less than ;o the whole army,
is, however, by no means trifling. Were the Aus-
tro-Prussians to find their way across the Schlei, at
some unguarded point, they might be on the flank
and rear of the Danish army before this latter had
time to effect its retreat to their last stronghold of
Duppel and the isle of Alsen. A timely backward
movement, and the abandonmen: of the Dannewerk,
is not, perhaps, a very remote contingency.
The bravest Danish officers cannot Phut their eyes

PosT.—A few evenings since Lord Palmerston, in
reply to a question put in the House of Commons,
stated that, although reductions would probably
be made in the estimates for the forthcoming year
for the military and naval services, the efficiency
either of the army or of the navy would be in no
wise impaired. This country pays largely for the
maintenance of both its armies and its fleets, and
not unnaturally receives with gratification announce-
ments that the annual estimates for their support
have been materially reduced. So long ea the nation
is at peace, persons are apt to imagine that the mil-
lions which are yearly taken out of the taxpayers'
pockets for military and naval purposes are so much
money thrown away. Of what avail is it, they ask,
to have thousands of men quartered in barracks
throughout the country whose sole employment con-
sists in attending useless parades, and in owning
fleets of fast sailing frigates and impenetrable iron-
clads which are from year's end to year's end either
quietly riding at anchor or listlessly cruising from
one part of her Majesty's dominions to another !
Those who indulge in this strain, however, forget
that the maintenance of these armaments and the
preservation of peace stand to each other in the re-
lation of cause and effect, and thae it is precisely
because this country possesses well appointed armies
and efficient fleets that those armies and fleets are
happily kept in continual idleness. When, how-
ever, circumstances arise which promises to test the
capabilities of the country, either for purposes of
self-defence, or for maintaining in the eyes of the
world that prestige which constitutes no unimpor-
tant element of national greatness, those who cavil
most at the expenditure occasioned by the support
of our military and naval armaments evince the
greatest anxiety lest in the hour of trial they
should be found inefficient, and watch with more
than ordinary jealousy any attempts to reduce
them. At the present moment the nation is at
peace with every European Power, but there is
only too great a probability that that peace may be
of no long duration. At such a time, then, the
nation would receive with anything but satisfaction
an announcement that the Government deemed it
expedient to reduce materially the power of either
the military or the naval branch of the public ser-
vice. The navy estimates for the ensuing year have
now been laid before Parliament, and it is gratify-
ing to find that, whilst the perfect efficiency of the
navy is secured, a decrease of upwards of £300,000
will be effe,;ted in the expenditure demanded for
its support. The total sum required for the service
of the navy for the year 1864 5 will be £10,432,610 ;
the last vote having been £10,736,032; show-
ing a decrease of £303,422. There is, how-
ever,always a difference between the sums demanded
from Parliament and the estimated net expenditure,
arising from various causes, and we accordingly find
that the latter for the ensuing year will be
£10,169,022, or somewhat more than a quarter of
a million less than the amount actually required to
be voted by Parliament. The decrease in the esti-
mates now before us, though considerably less than
that effected in the estimates for 1863.64, as com-
pared with those of the year preceding, is, however,
such as could scarcely have been anticipated consi-
dering the comparatively trifling modifications made
in what may be termed the existing standard of the
navy, and is mainly attributable to superior
management on the part of the Admiralty. The
net expenditure for the year 1862-63 was upwards
of eleven millions and a half; whereas that for the
following year was less than ten millions and a half,
giving a decrease of upwards of a million. The
difference, however, between the estimates for the
two years was mainly occasioned by the extraordi-
nary expenditure occasioned in the former year in
commencing the construction of our iron-clad fleet.
Last year theestimates were reduced to their normal
limits ; and if, this year,they have been still further
reduced, the circumstance must be attributed, as
we have already observed, to the more careful
management of those entrusted with the disburse-
ment of the public] money. A reference to the
several items of increase and decrease in the pre-
sent estimates confirms the accuracy of this im-
pression. In the following items reductions have
been made ;—The vote for wages to seamen and
marines will be £47,304 less than that of last year,
while for their victuals and clothing there is a
decrease of £112,867 in the sum demanded, The
amount granted to the Storekeeper-General of the
Navy for naval stores and for building and repair-
ing vessels is reduced by £169 951, and that for the
Comptroller of the Navy by £195,137. Under the
item of halt-pay to officers there is a decrease of
£21,551; in that of civil pensions and allowances
£949 ; whilst the vote for medical stores is reduced
to the extent of £1,650. The estimate for wages
to artificers abroad is diminished by £752, and that
for scientific experiments by £685, making the
total for the reductions for all those branches of the
service £550,846. As against those, however, we
find that the Admiralty-office will cost £3,283 more
than it did last year, and that the vote for the Coast-
guard Service will be increased to the extent of
£1,023. Her Majesty's home establishment will
call for an additional expenditure of £9,258, and
those abroad of £1,296. The estimate for wages to
workmen employed in the home establishments
shows an increase of £162,438, and that for new
works either projected or in progress in the dock-
yards, an excess of £16,000. The votes for miscel-
laneous services and for military pensions are in-
creased by about £lO,OOO ; whilst for the army
department and the conveyance of troops, the esti-
mates show an advance of upwards of £44,000 on
those of the past year. As, however, the total of
the items of increase amounts only to £247,424
there is a net decrease on the entire
estimate to the extent mentioned above.
The present state of the navy of this, and indeed of
every other country, is one of transition, and so long
as that continues to be the case we can look for
no surprising reduction in the navy estimates.
The largest item of increase will be found in the
vote for wages to our dockyard artificers, and that
the item in question does not show a still greater
increase is a matter for congratulation. On the
other hand in the decrease in the estimates for
the Storekeeper's and Comptroller's depart-
ments we find those evidences of economy and re-
trenchment which the nation has so long sought,
and sought in vain, in the several departments of
the Admiralty. Ten millions sterling may seem an
extravagant sum to pay annually for the mainte-
nance of a navy, but when it is borne in mind that
it is to our immunity from the aggressions of other
States the sum will not be considered preposterous.
As a nation, we find it profitable to insure the
peaceful prosecution of our commercial pursuits, and
we therefore regard the expenditure occasioned by
the military and naval services in the light of pre-
miums annually paid to secure that end.
HERALD.—No one doubts the perfect accuracy of
Lord Russell's statement as to the date on which
the detention of the rams was determined ; but it is
to be regretted that the noble lord's explanation was
not a little fuller. As the case stands now, it would
appear that Lord Russell came to the decision to
stop the rams on the 3d of September ; and, strange
to say, Mr. Layard on that very day wrote to
the Treasury, desiring that the rams should be
stopped. Obviously Lord Russell must have
been so convinced of the necessity of losing no
time that he telegraphed to his subordiaate in
London. Mr. Layard carries out Lord Russell's
instructions and writes to the Treasury. But on
the 4th September, the day after Lord Russell
telegraphed the order for the detention of the rams,
he writes to Mr. Adams to state that the subject is
under the consideration of her Majesty's Ministers,
and only on the Bth is the determination of the
Government to stop the rams announced to Mr.
Adams, and even then in a form not requiring Lord