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

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING,

passed in 1857 to the end of 1862, there had been 13,331
sentences of penal servitude punishment ; of these 3,825 were
for three years, and 4,432 were for four years, e eking to-
gether 8,257, or two-thirds of the whole numb r. In Scot-
land, during the same period, there had been 1,292 sentences
of penal servitude passed, and of these tie o ere for three
years and 529 for four years, or more than e , • half. In Ire-
land, during the same period, there had been 2,157 sentences
of penal servitude; and of these 711 were for three years
and 751 for four years, being considerably above two-thirds
of the whole. Her Majesty's Government, coinciding in the
opinion of the commission that those sentences ought not
to be continued, thought that the minimum period of penal
servitude should be increased. The commissioners looked to
the lengthening of the sentences as the beat means of pro-
ducing a salutary effect, and in principle the Government
entirely concurred with that recommendation of the commis-
sioners. But that recommendation was intimately connected
With another, which was, that all male convicts not disquali-
fied for removal to a colony should be sent to Western Aus-
tralia during the latter part of their punishment. That re-
commendation was entitled to the greatest weighteand he was
bound to say that although the Government hadnot been able
to act on it, the commissioners were fully justified in making
it. With the exception of the hon. member for Pontefract
(Mr. Childers), the commissioners were unanimous. The
right hon. gentleman the member for Oxfordshire, whode-
clined to sign the report of the commission, stated his reason,
in which he expressed an opinion favourable to the removal
from this country to Western Australia of as many male
convicts as the colony was able and willing to receive. The
Lord Chief Justice, though differing in principle from the
rest of the commissioners, stated that the urgent demand for
labour in Western Australia rendered that colony willing to
take a very large proportion of our convicts. He saw the
wisdom of supplying that demand, by which both the mother
country and the colony would be benefited and a new field
opened for the convicts themselves. He (Sir G. Grey)
agreed with every word that the Lord Chief Justice had
written on that subject. He was bound to say that they
could not have anticipated the extreme apprehension and
alarm with which the inhabitants of the Eastern settle-
ments had received the recommendations of the commission.
Those recommendations, however, had created the greatest
alarm, to such an extent, indeed, that it had been thought
prudent not to carry them into effect. He thought, on the
other hand, that there bad been an exaggerated feeling in
this country as to the bens fits likely to accrue from the
adoption of the recommendation, because it would be some
time before it could have been of any practical effect. He
had made a careful calculation of what would be the result
of carrying out the recommendation, and he found that for
the five years ending 1862 there were 2,900 convicts sen-
tenced to penal servitude each year. From these had to be
deducted 1,400 women and juvenile offenders and others
who were unfit for hard labour, so that there remained 1,500
available to be sent to Western Australia, supposing' they
were sentenced to not less than seven years. Against these
being sent to Western Australia, both her Majesty and the
Government had been memorialised and petitioned by the
inhabitants of Eastern Australia. Now, he for one,
admitting the colonists to express their views on the
subject, denied their right of dictating to her Majesty as to
matters affecting the inhabitants of another colony
thousands of miles away. With regard to sending con •
victs to Western Australia, he found that at present as
many as 630 were sent every year. That number the
Government would continue to send, but they would
not carry out the recommendation of the commission.
In fact it would be unjust to Western Australia for the
Government to turn a deaf ear to their wishes and discon-
tinue the practice of sending convicts to that colony.
Another alteration in the law with regard to Western Aus-
tralia would tend to remove the apprehensions of the other
colonists, namely, the conditional pardon with regard to
long sentences. Under the existing system the convict might
receive a pardon, and he could return to any town in Europe
or go to any other colony, if he had the means to do so and
if he so pleased. What the Government proposed now to do
was that one condition of a pardon should be that the
convict should not quit the colony until the expiration of he
term of his sentence, but every inducement would be held
out to him to pursue an honest life, and there would be no
undue interference with his movements. With regard to the
general question of transportation and penal servitude, the
Government had come to the determination of adopting the
term of five years as the minimum of penal servitude, and
abolishing the sentence of three and foul years. The next
important recommendation of the commissioners was one on
which there was a difference of opinion. It was that with re-
gard to cone icts sentenced to penal servitude being subjected
to nine months' separate imprisonment, and then to labour
on public works for the remainder of their term, that re-
mainder to depend on their good conduct. That was a very
important question, and upon it there was a difference of
opinion between the Lord Chief Justice and the commission.
The evidence showed that the hope of remission of the
sentenee was the most powerful inducement that could be
offered for good conduct. Such was the opinion of the direc-
tors of all the convict prisons both in England and Ireland.
The Lord Chief Justice said that if the principle had been a
good one it would apply equally to short as to long sentences.
There was, however, a great difference between them. A
prisoner sentenced to twelve months' or two years' im-
prisonment had the end of his sentence always before trim,
and he knew when it would arrive; but a prisoner sentenced
to twenty years' penal servitude became desperate unless
some hope were given him. It had been objected that in this
system there was a want of certainty in the punishment
Upon this point there had been great popular misapprehen-
sion. There was no want of certainty in the punishment.
The punishment was fixed at a certain minimum, which
might be reached through the good conduct of the convict.
Say, a man was sentenced to twelve years' penal servitude,
which might by good conduct be reduced to nine years.
That was the minimum punishment, but the punisnment
might extend to the twelve years. There was, there ore, no
uecertainty, and the judges, in passing sentence, knew this
and framed the sentences accordingly. The recommendation
of the commissioners was that no lets than three-fourths
of the sentence should be absolute, and that the remission ot
the other fourth should depend on the good conduct of the
convict. He thought the house would do well in act ing on
that recommendation and adhering to the present system.
The right hon. gentleman, in explaining a recommendation
of the Royal Commissioners that tickets-of-leave should
enable the holder to proceed beyond the limits of this coun-
try, said that a revokable license in its terms carried with
it the necessity of limiting the convict by the terms of his
licence to the jurisdiction within which that licence was
given. Even if given to go to our own colonies, it would
lead to remonstrances from our colonies against the principle.
On the whole therefore it had not been thought possible to
extend the limits of the licence. The bill would therefore
recognise the existing state of things, and not make any
alteration in the practice as regards tickets of leave. Fol-
lowing another recommendation of the commissioners, it
was proposed that when a license was revoked the convict
should undergo the whole term of imprisonment that he had
yet to serve under his sentenee at the time the ticket of leave
was granteci,instead merely of the time which was unexpired
at the period of committing the offence, or in other words
that the convict should begin where he left off. It was pro-
posed also to make certain breaches of the licence ognisable
by magistrates, and punishable when of an inferior character
by summary conviction, instead of remission to prison to
serve out the remainder of the original sentence. Under
the provisions ot the bill there would be no sentence of penal
servitude for less than five years. It a ticket of leave holder
committed an indictable offence the licence would be revoked,
and if forfeited by a conviction the whole of the original
sentence would be undergone from the date when the licence
was granted ; if the breach of the licence was of a character
cognisable by a magistrate, then the punishment would be
summary conviction. The convict would oe called upon to
produce his licence when required, and if he was suspected
of a breach of his licence, then he would be apprehended,
taken before a magistrate, and the case inquired into, and
if coming within the magistrate's jurisdiction, the case
would be punished by imprisonment, but in that case the
conviction was to be reported to the Secretary of Stale for
the Home Department, who would, according to his discre-
tion, revoke the licence or not. Another recommendation
of the Royal Commissioners was to give to local magistrates
the power of ordering the immediate infliction of corporal
punishment in the case of prisoners guilty of insubordina-
tion in cenvict prisons. As the law at present stood, such
Punishment could only be inflicted by the authority of the
directors of the prison. As it was desirable, for the sake of
example, that such punishment should take place at once,
and as it was difficult to communicate with all the directors,
he proposed to embody such recommendation in the bill, and
give power for any two local magistrates to be called in, take
evidence on oath, and exercise the power of ordering corporal
punishment in the case referred to. The right hon gentle •
wan concluded by moving for leave to bring in the bill.
Mr. ADDERLEY submitted the scheme of the Govern-
ment to a rigid and searching scrutiny, contending that it
was based upon an unsound principle, inasmuch as it pro-
posed to remedy the inefficiency of the existing law by fur-
ther extending a principle which had already failed. Tile
right hon. gentleman stated several objections to the mea-
-1 sure, and laid particular stress upon the fact that it pre-
tended to embody the recommendations of the Royal com-
mission, whereas it omitted the most essential feature ot
them. He would legislate so as to make punishment the
sole object, and the punishment should be precisely under•
stood by all, and should be definite, uniform, and bitter. He
would ebolish tickets of leave, and make the sentence liter-
ally coincide
be no aci llevi.t tieon of the man's punishment inpun'ishment to follow. There
e: pt b
prison
promotion,
class
to a throughnot
her,
andindustry th e
good conduct, from one
length
of the sentence should never be abridged unless by the
exercise of the Royal clezunidcy. Let a measure of that
istimcp:le andd intelligible kpuinndishbemepnatssweid);lldanhae
be an effectual one. The
misdeeds,
Lord foread
long
the gaols, and, for
would be fewer prisoners ible to all ; there
the first time in this country
be somethine like terror attached in
otr, hinis piedriinedd ,otf there
crimi-
nalwo u ldto the question of
L otordtheN
punishmentAA S t hougth.
transportation to Western Australia, that the Government
had come to a hasty conclusion, and that a much larger
ex .
tension of the system might be adopted. eloreover, he
believed that the inhabitants of the other Australian
settle-
mentsi would became satisfied that that might be dune with-
out inflictin4 any evil upon them. The measure was also
objectionable in not providing an adequate supervision by

the police over ticket-of-leave men. In other respects it

met with hia approval.

Mr. WHITBREAD spoke in favour of the measure,:and
argued that without stimulants to good behaviour on the
part of the convict it would be impossible to keep eight
hundred or a thou.and prisoners in order, and useless to
hope for their reformation, and that the ticket-of leave

system hsd not failed.
Mr. CAVE discussed the general question of crime and
its correctives in an able and interesting speech.
Mr. C. FORTESCUE treated the subject from the Colo-

nial-office point of view, and justified th 3 Government in
not proposing any more extended system of transportation
to Western Australia than the capacity of that colony ad-
mitted of. He thought that those prisoners who were sen-
tenced to long terms of imprisonment should receive a large
portion of their sentences at home, and should only even-

tually find their way to Australia as a boon, and as a mode
of dealing with them at the end of their sentences ; in fact,
that transportation should partake of the character of exile

rather than anything else. He believed that the proposals
of the Government would eventually satisfy both the inha-
bitants (4 'Western Australia and of the Australian colonies
generally.
Sir J. PAKINGTON said that as a memLer of the
Royal commission, and feeling deeply interested in the sub-
ject, he wished to make a few remarks on the plan submitted

.. .
by the Government. Ha felt bound to admit that the right
hon. gentl, man had evinced a desire to follow on, the re-

commendation of the Royal Commission as closely as he
fairly could, The right hon. baronet had referred to the
act of 1857, and the causes which led to the change that
then took place. He (Sir J. Pakington) had before re-
marked on the great jumps in the sentences from two years'
imprisonment to seven years' transportation, and an inter-
mediate period was fixed upon, shorter sentences of penal
servitude being substituted for seven years' transportation
The right hon. gentleman said the commissioners had re-
ported unfavourably of the experiment. As one of the com-
mistioners he entirely concurred in the report. He thought

that those short sentences had not answered well, and he
had no idea that the criminal courts would have acted upon
them to the extent that they had done. If the courts of
justice would carry out their sentences in this spirit of
lenity, it was a matter of minor importance what system of
punishment the Government should adopt. He thought
therefore that Government were correct in the course they
had taken, and that at all events the term of penal servitude
should be made longer. He would next advert to a most
important topic, namely, the determination of the Govern-
ment to disregard the recommendation of the Royal Com-
mission on the subject of carrying out transportation to
Western Australia on a greatly extended scale. lie was of
opit ion that they could not look to Western Australia to
carry out transportation, and he looked with anxiety to
the agitation which had taken place in that colony on
this subject. If there was a serious objection to carry-
ing out transportation in Western Australia by the
colonists generally, it was the duty of the Government to
concede to this objection; but it ought to be recollected
that the greatness of Australia was to be dated to the ad-
vantages derived from convict labour. The cause of the cry
against transpottation had arisen from :he great extent of
emigration to Australia in connexion with the gold digging.
But the views entertained by the colonists as regarded the
introduction of convicts were exaggerated ones. Yet, al-
though he thought this circumstance had been greatly ex-
aggerated by the colonists of Australia, he still thought that
the Government were right in concurring in the opinion
expressed by the people of Australia on the subject, He
begged now to observe that he was favourable to the prin-
ciple of the remission of punishment, as it was calculated to
reform the convict, although this was in opposition to the
opinion of the Lord Chiet Justice of England ; and he was
therefore glad that the Government had retained in this
bill the principle of remission of punishment, He, however,
thought the remission of punishment ought to be accom-
panied by proper supervision of the ticket-of-leave convict.
The right hon. gentleman then referred to the evidence of
Sir Richard Mayne, in which that gentleman stated that
he had told the police not to take cognizance el ticket-of-
leave men. This showed that supervision was clearly ob-
jected to by the head of the London police. The right hon
gentleman the Secretary of State seemed not to concur in
the course pursued by Sir Richard Mayne in this respect.
Well, that might be so, but it was clear that the head of the
London police had given the directions to which he had
referred, and be (Sir J. Pakington) was now glad to find
that the Home Secretary did not concur in this instruction
to the police, for he (Sir J. Pakington) considered that they
should have a system of supervision carried on by the police
over the ticket aof-leave men. (Hear, hear.) Upon the whole
he concurred in the general views taken on this subject by
the right hon. the Secretary for the Home Department, and
he would hereafter give the measure his most careful con-
sideration.
Mr. CHILDE RS, after some remarks upon the system
of transportation, the changes it underwent, its results and
its failures, strongly insisted upon the repugnance enter-
tained by the Australian colonists to transportation, and
their desire to see it come to an end, so that the whole of
that continent should be settled by free people.
Mr. NEW DEG 4,7 T E combated these views of the
Australian colonist, and urged the injustice of their refus-
ing to one of the colonies means it desired of augmenting
its resources by convict labour, He repudiated the idea
that,at the dictation of any body of its colonists, this country
should be deterred from seeking an outlet for its criminals
for the benefit of its colonists no less than for its own
benefit.

After a few observations by Mr. MARSH,
Mr. WALPOLE compared the scheme proposed by the
Government with that propounded by the right hon mem-
ber for Staffordshire (Ur. Adderley), and confessed a pre-
ference for the former. In reference to the subject of
granting tickets-of-leave, he observed that men in all stages
and conditions of life were operated upon by the encourage-
ments ot hope and the dete ring effects of fear ; and he re-
minded the house that, if they only offered fear and deniett
the pleasure of hope, they would only debase the prisoner
and turn him out of prison a worse man than he was when
he went into it. He deplored the opposition of the
southern and eastern colonies of Australia to a system ot
transportation, and hoped that the difficulties on that
point might still be overcome. He attributed the increase
of crime in 1861 and 1862, in Ireland, to the failure of the
Crops, and in England to commercial pressure; but as that
increase of crime was concurrent with the diminution
of sentences to penal servitude to three years, ho be-
lieved that the increase of the minimum punishment
from three to five years, as proposed by the Government,
would have a good effect in reducing the number of crimi-
nals. As to the remi,sion of sentences, he suggested that,
instead of the convict being under the supervision or
espionage of the police, he should be permitted to return to
a known place of abode, and should report himself privately
to the police if he left that place during the time his condi-
tional licence lasted. The last point was a difficult one ; but
when a prisoner out upon his conditional licence. by com-
mitting a new offence, abused the Crown's mercy towards
him, he ought to be made to undergo the whole of the
punishment which had been remitted (Hear, hear.) Upon
the whole he could not but give his cordial approbation to
the bill which had been introduced that night. (Hear.)
But we ought, in his opinion, to obtain some penal station
near to England, to which the worst criminals could at once
be sent, and treated with a severer punishment than that
now inflicted on the public works. That was not a matter
of legislation, but ot regulation on the part of the G worn-
ment. That, superadded to the provisions now proposed,
would make the system as good as it could be proved, and
make it more efficient in deterring criminals from crime,
while it did not exclude the principle of reformation.
After a few words in reply from Sir G. GREY,
Ile motion was then agreed to, the bill read a first time,
and ordered for a second reading on Monday week.
THE METRIC SYSTE NI OF WEIGHTS AND
ME AbURE 3.

Mr. W. EWART obtained leave to bring in a bill
to render permissive the metric system of weights and
measures.
The house adjourned at twelve o'clock,

RELIGION OF THE IRism—The Census of Ire-
land in 1861 found in that country 4,505,266 Roman
Catholics 693,357 persons belonging to the Established
Church, 523,291 Presbyterians, 45.399 Methodists, 4,532
Independents, 4,237 Baptists, 3,695 Quakers, 393 Jews,
and 15,666 of various other persuasions. The number 01
persons belonging to the Established Church is ratber less
than the population of the diocese of Lincoln. Or the
Roman Catholics five years old and upwards 45.8 per cent.
could neither read nor write, of the Established Church 16
per cent., 11.1 per cent, of the Presbyterians, 9 par cent. of
the 'Methodists, 6.8 of the Independents, 9 2 of the Baptists,
4.1 of the Quakers. Many persons described themselves as
belonging to communions little known to the outside world
There were 2,756 Covenanters —there were Kellyites,
Darbyites, Walkerites,and Morrissonians. The religion of
two persons is described as " Palatine ;' one man puts
down his religion as "self opinion," There are 7 " Old ,
Lights," and 18 " New Lights." There is a " Crow-
-1 wellian Protestant," but he stands alone. So does a
"Positivist." There are 11 persons "of no particular
sect," two "doubtful," one unbeliever, ono Atheist, and 72
point-blank " of no religion."
[ADVERTISEMENT.]—Consumption, all nervous, bilious,
liver, and stomach 3omplaints, is every stage, are only ag-
gravates and accelerated by drugs of every description, but
perfectly curable by Du Barry's health restoring Revalenta
Arabica. Food, as proved by thousands of cases which nazi
been considered hopeless. We quote a few.—Cure No. 62,1114. i
nisi Lange, 18 years of age, cured after the medical men had
abandoned all hope of her recovery from the last stage of
pulmonary consumption, with fearful cough, expectoration,
exhaustion, spitting of blood, perspirations, hollow cheeks,
emaciated to a sktleton. She is now, thank God, a perfectly
healthy, blooming, fleshy girl.—N. Lange, Commissaire de
Police. Cure, No. 45,270. Mr. James Roberts, of Fernley
Surrey, of ,hirty years' diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver
derangement. and partial deafness.—Cure, No. 47,121. Miss
Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestion,
gatherings. low spirits, and nervous fancies.—Cure, No.
54,816. & tie Rev. James l', Campbell, Faaenham, Norfolk,
of indigestion and torpidity of the liver, which had resisted
all medical reatment. In tins, Ilb, 28 Skl; 21b, 411 6d; bib.
I is; 12ib, 225; 241 b 10s. Barry du Barry and Cf., No. 77,
ttegent-street, London ; also For num and Mason; and all
grocera and ehean.ta in every town of the United Kingdom.

THE SCHLES WIG-HOLSTEIN WAR.

from the Times Special Correspondent with the Danish
Army.)

DANISH HEADQUARTERS, SONDEREURG, ISLE
OF ALSEN, Feb. 8.
A week has barely expired since I landed at this
place from Korsor and Cipenhagen, on my way to
the headquarters of the Danish army, with a hope
to be still in time to witness ••otne of the incidents
of the fight for the D4nnewerk, and here I am,
already, back again at the end of six days, after
seeing the close of that fight.
I was at Schleswig on Friday evening, the sth,
somewhat disposed to lay.aside all expectation of
any great events for the night, although there was
a talk about a contemplated attack on the part of
the enemy, when an artillery officer, with whom I
had become intimate, acd with whom I had dined
and sat after dinner that very day, name back after
a few minutes' absence, and with an altered voice
and under the strictest reserve told me that " the
Council of War, upon receiving positive intelligence
that the enemy had been that very day reinforced
to the full extent of 35,000 men, had resolved upon
the sudden abandonmett of the position of the D ,n-
-newerk and an immediate retreat upon Flensburg
and Aleen. He asked my word of honour not to

telegraph the sad ❑ews for the whole of that night,
but it was a superfluous precaution ; the whole tele-
graphic establishment at Schleswig was already
packed up in vans at the head of the retreating
columns, and I since found the same measures had
been taken at Flensburg and every where on the
road till I came to this place, where I am assured all
telegraphic communication with Eogland is inter•
rupted, not only at Sonderburg, but at Copenhagen
itself.

I W 413 not the earliest, but certainly by no means
the latest, to receive a hint of the inteneed back-
ward move of the Dentsh army. One of the briga-
diers in command placed himself at the head of his
culuma at 10 o'clock in the evening with the full
understanding that he was to march to the advanced
posts at Fredericksburg and Bustrup, when, on the
very ground, he received orders to take the road to
Flensburg. Die surprise, the humiliation, the rage
of the Danish officers may better be conceived than
described. I did not see them breaking their sword
biades on the ground, as I saw French officers do
on the marble tables at the Milan cafes after the
armistice and Peace of Villafranca, but the indigna-
tion of these Northraen, although less demonstrative,
was no less heartfelt and genuine. Tney all asked,
" why wes not the Denuewerk given up on the
first summons by 'Wrangel it Denmark was not
sufficiently strong to defend it with honour; and if
there was a chance ofa generous, however ultiroateiy
unsuccessful, resistance, why were we not at least
allowed to strike a blow for that costly line of
citadels; why were we made to quit the spit like a
duellist who refuses to condescend to any reasonable
apology before appearing on the ground, then ftes
the ground just as the time has come when there
can be noretreat witnout ignominy ?" They ailowed
indeed that the line was too long, the defending army
too small, the disproportion with the enemy tam
great, and that by tarrying on their position the
Danish army might have been taken in the rear by
some of the Austro-Pruseians breaking throu h the
line of the Schlei ; but all these difficuitees could
and shou'd have been foreseen from the beginning,
more than 10 day; ago. Nothing, since Wratigel'e
intimation had been met with such bold defiance,
had occurred to alter the position. Either that posi-
tion was too weak to attempt any defence whatever,
or such defence should have been pushed up to tee
broadest exigencies of honour, regardless of conse-
quences; the Daneewerk should not have been
eiven up without at least some deed of arms worthy
of the high respect with which the world had been
taught to pronounce the name of that stronghold.
The conduct of the Government and of the Com-
mander-in-Chief appeared to the Danes inexplica-
ble, and they thought that their warlike fame had
been sacrificed to the pitiful shifts of a craven home
policy or to the treacherous intrigues of a remorse-
less foreign diplomacy.
I had nothing to fear for myself had I made up my
mind quietly to await the arrival of the Austro-
Prussians at Schleswig, but I was, in a certain man-
ner, attached as a correspondent to the Danish
army, and made it a point of honour to follow its
fortunes, wherever they might be. Ail the mines ut
Potosi, I felt sure, could not at that pinch have
helped me to a horse or a conveyance ; but the
friendly captain, to whom I was already indebted
if I ever got a chair to sleep in or a table to write at
since I had come to headquarters, off:-red me a seat
on his military eau, and I have been travelling
with him ever since. Teey had given him the post
of honour at the rear-guard, and it was past 10
when we set out with his battery on the rued to
Flensburg.
Tne weather had been soft and sloppy for the lasi
five or six days at Schleswig, but the snow, which
tad been falling in large sluggish flakes on Friday
morning, began to gain consistency
before we sat out
in the evening; the wind rose, keen and boisterous,
from the north-east, and at its very first blast the
state of the atmosphere and the look of the country
were changed as if by magic. The snow thickened
and hardened on the ground, tlae road became smooth
and bright as glass, horses and men slipped dread-
fully, and fell almost at every step. Nut ens horse
in the whole Danish army was rough-shod that
night—on the contrary, the shoes both of saddle
and draught horses were worn smooth by the last
five or six days' incessant march on muddy ground,
and the progress of the army met with terrible bin-
drance at the outset. The wind Was SO chill auo
violent, the melting snow in our flees was so baud-
.ng, that in spite of thy multitudinous wrappings I
-nun found my seat in the open van intolerable, ano
lighted, together with the motley crowd from thou
.ands of vehicles (not two of which were covered)
and took my place in the line of march by the sloe
and was tramping
along, now at the head, now at
ail], who had also quitted his saddle
o.
nfeEHrYeabrraovfeheilsPbaitery.
It was not long before our march began to exhibit,
on a small scale,some of the horrors of the famous
retreat of the French from Moscow. The night was
dark, the cold terrible ; the thermometer, I dare say,
did not mark more than four or five degrees below
the freezing point, but the chill in our veins told a
very different tale, and the slipperiness of the road
was perfectly awful. The snow, which was falling
thick and fast at frequent intervals, lay in the
fields three or four inches deep, and fringed the
trees in the forests with the most picturesque fret-
work; but it was
trodden to the thinnest layer by
all the feet, hoofs, and wheels of a whole host, till
it glistened like ice in the occasional gleam of some
pale star, as one or two peeped out in the ski
through the gips opened in the mass of clouds by the
fitful blast. Dragoons, artillerymen, all who travel
on saddle, were dismounted, even led-horses were
put to the direct exertions to keep their footing ;
draught horses had to be held up, and cannons,
-issons, and ammunition or luggage waggons to
be dragged by the sheer strength of men, whose
read was
zo steadier. The falling of men and
beasts, the tracking of wheels and taxletrees, was
prodigious. It took us an nine hours to go er
the first Danish mile and a half (less than seven
English) of ground. Morning broke upon us long
nefore wu were half way between Schleswig and
F.ensburg, End we reached the latter place about
4 o'clock p.n. on Saturday, having accomplished
the whole d stance of 22 E...glish miles in 18 tio_,uis
Toe halt at Fiensburg was of only two hours. Soon
after dark we were again toiling onwards
in the
direction of Kraseu and Gravenstein ; we in
the latter pace at about 8 aon., after a second night
rehearsing all the horrors of the previous one
in au
aggravated form, and only came to the end of our
journey here at sunset last evening, after little less
than 48 howl' unmitigated suffering. Tee outing
wind, the drifting snow, the darkness, the slipperi-
ness of the roads, were the sa:'; e throughout.
out. Even
at Sonderburg, even in the streets and open places
of the town and environs, where horses. had to be
picketed aed the soldiers to lie by
Omr side as they
best could, men and cattle had to
strive hard with
the treacherous ground, they bad to weather thee
turious storm as Heaves sent it, not a few of h
t Kings who
cursing to their hearts the rat.dness o
must needs go to war and must Ilea de wage war in
deep winter! I
have touched, in a few words, and without the
,