The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-14 00:00:00

THE WAR IN DENMARK.

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

DANISH HEAD QUARTERS, ULKEBOL, April 8.

The cannonade was rather hot for the best part of
the day yesterday in front of the bastions, but the
town of Scaderborg enjoyed a comparative repose,
and was only visited by an occasional shell from
Broagerland. The fire of its ruined buildings
smouldered still for a few hours in the morning, but
went out before night. _ _

Among the many good qualities I had reason to
admire in the Danish character, I must mention the
total absence of conceit, and of all propensity to brag
or bluster. Tbey, I must say it in sober honour and
truth, never disguised from themselves the terrible
difficulties and dangers of their position. They never
flattered themselves that they could offer a very long
resistance against the terrible odds that two such
colossal Powers as Prussia and Austria conspired to
bring against them. They looked upon their isolated
position, upon what they ccnsidered as " the heart-
less desertion of all their natural allies, espe-
cially Sweden and England," with silent but deep
dismay. They were no less determined to stand
their ground like men ; they were sufficiently sure
of themselves to know that the world would never
reproach them with leaving anything undone that
mere men could do. Bat they were also aware that
their days were numbered, and that, without some
unforeseen providential interference, themselves,
their brave army, their old Monarchy with the
cause—in their eyes the most righteous and holy—
must succumb. Neither had they any overweening
opinion of the famous positions which to some
extent made up for their deficiency in mere nu-
merical forces. They knew fall well before the out-
break of the war, that the Dannewerk was a fortress
not to be manned by anything less than thrice
the troops they could muster; nor was the word
" impregnable" ever applied within my hearing
either to the Dybbol bastions or to the ramparts of
Fredericia. The Danes took their station behind
these lines with full consciousness that they could
and would do their utmost; but with perfect know-
ledge, likewise, that even the fall of these fortresses,
one after another, was a mere question of time.
Time has, as yet, dealt gently with them. This
day completes the second month since the Danish
rear came to an end of its disastrous march from
Schleswig within these intrenchmenta, closely pur-
sued by the Germans, who have been ever since
cooling their heels outside of them. Daring these
twa months all has been tried that investment,
assault, and bombardment could achieve; but no
material advantage has been gained by the besiegers,
if we except the occupation of the Avnbjerg and of
Dybbol village, by which their line of operation has
been considerably advanced, and the Danish position
exposed to the chances of either a furious onset or
a sudden surprise. For the rest, the bastions on
Dybbol will have received no serious, or irreparable
damage, and any attempt to take them by storm
must still be a feat of very doubtful issue, and can
only be attended with success on the condition of a
vast amount of bloodshed,

Still the fall of Dybbol, and even the loss of Alsen,
is matter of by no means uncertain and even remote
contingency, in the opinion of the Danes, if the
game be allowed to go on much further. Who can
read through the chapter of accidents by which for-
tresses may be lost or won ? What foresight or pro-
vidence can guarantee a suit of armour against all
Saws or gaps ? What watchfulness is proof against
all chances of surprise ? What stout endurance can
hold out against the effects of incessant exertion ?

The Danes have made up their minds to do their
duty, and meet their fate like men. Their fall,
without the intervention of a special Providence, is
inevitable. It may be today or to-morrow ;it may
be put off for two or three weeks, or for as many
months. What they rely upon is merely the indo-
mitableness of their own soul, the confidence that
the world may never have to say that less has been
done by them than could be expected of mere mortals.
Neither do the Danes sin in underestimating their
enemies. As tar as the Austrians are concurred,
there never was a more universal topic of conversa-
tion in the Danish camp than the dash and spirit of
the Imperial troops, the skill of their officers, the
thorough temper and discipline of the men. From
Bastrup to Ove-so, and from Gads° and Veile to the
ramparts of Fredericia, the Danes not only acknow-
ledged that they had worthy adversaries before
them, but they extolled the brilliant qualities of
Croats and Hungarians even to the disparagement
of their own no less sturdy but somewhat heavier
and clumsier troops. As to the Prussians, it is pos-
sible that they may be looked upon with greater
rancour and antipathy, but you are aware that, in
the encounter of the 17th ult., the Danes paid full
rand of praise to the pluck with which the infantry
of that nation came to close quarters with the
bayonet on the outskirts of the Dybbol village.
That the raw recruits in the Prussian army wavered
and hung back, both on February 22 and on March
28, when their officers urged them to a rush upon
the heavy cannon of the bastions on Dybbol-hill is
a fact which I have asserted on the most positive
testimony of many Danish officers, men of honour,
and gentlemen in whose truthfulness I have as full
reliance as upon my own. On the first occasion, I
repeat, Prussian officers were seen striking their
recreant soldiers wirh the flat of their swords, and
were heard upbraiding them with the exclamation,
" Verdammte hunte !" Oa the latter, the ringing
word of command, " Vorwarts, Vorwarts," was an-
swered with a sulle❑ '• Nein, nein !" the soldiers
striking the butt end of their muskets on the ground,
like men of whom impo)sibilities are expected, and
who oppose the mere vis inertia to entreaty, threat,
or remonstrance.

All this occurred here and there. I said it, and
abide by it. The best proof of the extreme proba-
bility of the story, if not of its absolute veracity,
lies in the very fact that the " hunde" did not ac-
tually come on the 22d, as they were desired, and
that they could not be induced to obey the " for •
ward" order on the 28th. Had the officers only
asked of them feasible things, and had the men
been sufficiently amenable to discipline, we should
not now be discussing about the chances of the ap-
proaching fall of Dybbol, fur its forts would already
long since have shared the fate of those of the Dm-
newerk. That the men did not second their leaders
as they should have done is also proved by the very
great disproportion between the casualties among
the soldiers and officers, as resulting from the,Prus-
sians own official accounts, bearing witness to the
extraordinary exertions demanded of the wearers of
epaulettes to sustain the sinking courage of the men
in the ranks. Bat while the Danes remarked and
related all this, they neither evinced surprise nor
showed any disposition to crow over this momen-
tary vacillation of their enemy's spirit. They were
fully aware that the great mass of the Prussian army
consisted of very young recruits who had never seen
fire, and they saw that a display of valour was ex-
acted from them which could scarcely be exhibited
by long-tried veterans. Small blame to the Prus-
sian soldiers if they paused and wavered before the
muzzles of those heavy Dybbol batteries. That
their heart failed them at that first juncture is no
security to the Danes that those same laggards may
not become heroes, and may not come on with ir-
resistible resolution on a second or third attempt.
Whatever Prospects hard fate may have in
store for them, however, the Danes can hardly
bring themselves to believe that Dybbol may fall
before the Conference opens, or even during the
first and second week or its sittings. Their pleni-
potentiaries, they flatter themselves, will bring be-
fore the negotiators of the opposite party, and be-
fore the arbitrating Powers of Europe, all the argu-
ments which may be pleaded in behalf of a small
and weak, but as yet neither broken nor seriously
worsted Power. Danmark will still be able to speak
out loftily and fearlessly, to hold her own, to appeal
to the respect and admiration, not to the insulting
pity, nor yet to the barren syniPather, of sister
nations.

Hid the Conference time to meet and to delibe-
rate for five or six days before any untoward news
reaches it as to serious Bluish disasters at Dybbol,
we must, indeed, for ever despair of diplomacy, if
one of the first questions brought forward and satis-
factorily solved is not that of a suspension of hosti-
ties. The Germans have had fall two months wherein
ti? display all their overwhelming strength, and to

strike a decisive blow if they thought a lnd, or, at
least, a doubtful cause could be hallowed by signal
and final success. As they have taken tters so
coolly and leisurely, when there was n ) diplomacy
to tie down their hands, they ought to be less loth
to allow arms to rest now, and to ail); d leisure for
peaceful negotiation to do away, if r. osiible, with
the necessity of further bloodshed. The Danes
ought to be entitled to breathe. Be it remembered
that they have been most reluctantly driven to this
Conference; that they have throughout exhibited
the most unqualified disgust at the bare mention
of an armistice. They have been goaded to despair
by the heartless desertion of Europe ; they have
been blinded with anger at the " false promises and
perfidious suggestions," by which they were lulled
into an improvident security, and induced to give
up Rendsburg, Frederickstadt, and, perhaps, even
the Dannewerk, under the influence of that
specious declaration that if they listened to their
friends' well-meaning advice " they should nut
be left alone in the struggle." The evil that diplos
macy did them diplomacy should endeavour to
undo. Honourable conditions of peace may yet be
wrenched from discordant and irresolute Germany;
at all events, there is no reason why the roar of the
cannon should not be silent in the field while the
droning hum of diplomatic sages is heard in the
Cabinet.

By writing this I am aware I give mortal offence
to some of my dearest Danish friends, especially
those belonging to the Dagblad and Eider-Dane
school, who will hear nothing but of a glorious
downfall of Denmark, and of the burying of all her
brave children under her ruins, But with all due
deference to their authority, I must be allowed to
express my opinion that the Conference and an
armistice may still be the best means to befriend
their country and lead to the ultimate triumph of
whatever is just and holy in their cause.

PERVERTED HERO WORSHIP,

(From the Daily News.)

Day by day since General Garibaldi's arrival in
England he has been deluged with correspondence
of all kinds. Not merely has he received letters
having a definite and legitimate aim, but advice,
tracts, prophecies, and pamphlets have poured in
with a fecundity perfectly astonishing to those of
his staff whose duty it is to open and submit to
the general the communications sent. Pre-eminent
amongst the letter-writers have been enthusiastic
autograph-hunters, who, without previous know-
ledge of the general, without either introduction to,
or the faintest claim upon him, have written in
shoals for specimens of his handwriting. He begins,
with characteristic good nature, by readily comply-
ing with these somewhat inconsiderate requests.
The autographic appetite has, however, grown by
what it fed upon, and the number of daily applica-
tions has increased almost with the rapidity of the
nails in the horseshoe. As it would probably keep
a clerk of average industry fully employed were
written answers sent to each of these applicants,
and as the gentlemen who act as private secretaries
to the General are already worked to the full extent
of their powers, it is hoped that the non.acknowledg.
ment of requests for an autograph will be attributed
not to discourtesy, but to its being as impossible to
comply as it is to give written refusal. The physical
powers even of heroes are finite, and as no one
would wish that during the remainder of the
General's stay in England he should be excluded
from visitors, shut out from seeing and being seen,
and he chained to his desk solely to gratify young
ladies by writing "Giuseppe Garibaldi" for their
albums, it is to be hoped, in the interests of the
public at large, that he will see the wisdom of
abiding by the resolution hinted at, and will
peremptorily, but silently, decline requests which
it is scarcely delicate to make. Whilst on this
subject we have to allude, as we do with infinite
pain, to an act of Vandalism such as we would have
fain believed impossible inEngland. The tree planted
by General Garibaldi in the garden of the Poet
Laureate on Friday last, had two of its branches
torn off during the night of Saturday. It was
carefully watched by Mr. Tennyson's gardener until
after dark, but between bedtime on Saturday and
the morning of Sunday was so mutilated that the
beauty of its foliage is permanently and seriously
marred. The tiny tree itself possessed previous
interest of association; it was valued for the cir-
cumstances under which it had been procured and
presented to Mr. Tennyson, who has now the mor-
tification of feeling that its crowning honour—that
of being reset by Garibaldi—has been its bane.
Whilst the injuries done to this plant ( Wellinglonea
gigantea) were being pointed out to the present
writer, he heard with mortification of the indecent
intrusion to which Mr. Tennyson is exposed.
Strangers are found from time to time seated
in his garden, peering in at his windows,
wandering freely through his grounds. From
the lawn in front, when conversing with
his family in assumed privacy, he has, on
casually looking up, discovered an enterprising
British tourist taking mental notes of his conver-
sation from the branches of a tree above. Mr.
Tennyson has been compelled to make fences, raise
embankments, train foliage, and in fact half fortify
his house, and in spite of all is not permitted to
enjoy what any of our readers so circumstanced
would expect to enjoy as a thing of course—the
quiet freedom of a country home. We have given
the date of this last outrage, the place of its occur-
rence, and a description of the thing stolen. If we
cannot bring the paltry offender to justice, we shall
at least prevent his boasting of his pilfered treasure,
and it is for Mr. Tennyson's admirers to consider
whether, for the sake of our reputation as a not un-
civilised people, it be not possible to touch the album-
fillers, autograph-hunters, and relic-mongers of
Cockney drawing-rooms, that neither burglarious
entrance nor felonious abstraction is a form of hero-
worship consonant with the national cause.