The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-18 00:00:00

DENMARK.

(From the Times Special Correspondent lately at the Danish
Head-quarters.)

COPENHAGEN, May 15, p.m.

There is good reason to believe that the Prussians
are not willing to abide by their own part of the
terms of the armistice. It was stipulated that the
intercourse between the Danish Islands and the in-
vaded districts of Jutland should be free, but we
find that travellers are not allowed to cross from
Funen to Jutland, between Middlefart and
Gnoghoi, nor across the Lum Fiord, between Aal-
borg and Norresundby. It was with the greatest
difficulty, and after 24 hours' delay, that the post
was allowed to proceed beyond Aarhuus.
The Prussians seem also to carry on their depre•
dations in Jutland as freely after the armistice as
they did before it. A merchant in Aarhus writes
that on the 13th an intimation was conveyed to hint
that his shop would be plundered. That shop, like
other clothes' stores in that town, was closed by the
Prussians, who set their seals on the locks, and put
sentries to the doors. The military authorities of the
invading army keep the property of the citizens
under lock and key, and help themselves to it when-
ever it suits their purpose. It is thus that other
shops at Aarhuus were robbed, some to the extent
of 3,000 thalers—some even for larger sums. On
the 12th and on the following day horses and
cattle were forcibly taken from the peasants, and
goods from the shopkeepers. On the same day,
the 13th, a contribution of 200,000 thalers was, we
are assured, laid upon the town ; 400 woollen
blankets were plundered from the shops; besides a
large number of horses and cattle from the country.
At Randers all the corn stores have equally been
put under sequestration, and their contents are at
the mercy ofithe invaders. Goods which had been
seized before the 12th have been carried away as
lawful prey on the following day—that is, three
days after the armistice was announced, and 24
hours after it had come into operation.
The Berlingske Tidende, a semi-official organ,
defends the Danish Government from the charge
which has been brought against it, of breaking its
contract with the Dnke of Augustenburg. At the
time that the Dake,placed himself in open treason
and rebelion against his Sovereign, in 1848.50, the
King's Government agreed to pay to the Duke
1,500,000 specie•thalers upon certain conditions,
among which there was the exclusion of the Duke
and his family from all the Danish dominions, and
a solemn promise on their part never to disturb the
tranquillity of the State. That sum was intended
as an indemnity for the confiscated property of
the Duke, which lay in the Isle of Ala and other
parts of Schleswig. That property was, however,
only valued at 1,300,000 species ; it was, besides,
encumbered with mortgages to the amount of
360,000 species. The sum of 1,500,000 species
(8,500,000 f.), vastly exceeding the real worth, was
allowed from mere generosity of the then King,
Frederick VII., probably with a hope to put an
end for ever to the pretensions of a Prince who had
shown so little scruple both as to the end he was
driving at and as to the means by which he hoped
to attain it. As the Danish Government were un-
able or unwilling to pay the stipulated sum at once,
they converted it into bonds to bearer of 2,000
species each, and paid these bonds regularly in half-
yearly instalments on the 30th of June and 31st
of December of every year, up to the end of last
year (1863), when the sum still due was 274,000
species principal, and 13,400 interest, or altogether
287,000 species. As the payments were, however,
by a common agreement, to be made by the State
Treasury at Altona, and this town was occupied by
the Federal troops before the 31st of:Decereber last,
the Danish Government conceives that the payment
should have been made by the Federal Commis-
sioners charged with the administration of Holstein,
and out of the revenues of that Duchy.