The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 6, 1864,

houses of Broacker, whence the view is into Flens-
burg Bay and to the point where the hamlet of
Brunsius stands, also over to Hollnis, I perceived a

stir in the road outside, soldiers and natives in

groups standing about the houses and on the banks
(" knicks " they call them), and all gazing curiously

seaward, and, my attention thus challenged, I
quickly discerned the long, low, wicked-looking hull
of the sea monster, lying to near the shore, seem-

ingly about an English mile from my post of ob-

servation. There were her three slender masts, only
one of them with a yard crossing it, her low, coffin.
like turrets, her black and taciturn physiognomy,
inscrutable to the keenest gaze through the strongest
lenses. No busy stir of seamen on her deck, no

bare-armed gunners busy at their earronsdes, but

all proceeding behind an impenetrable screen. Her

crew might be at dinner cr asleep, or they might he
preparing behind those gloomy and mysterious bul-
warks to send a hurtling storm of missiles to the

shore. There she lay, an iron mask ; her purpose
unfathomable. It apparently was one of observa-
tion rather than of aggression. Her reconnaissance

may bear fruit hereafter, but, as far as yesterday
went, it was bloodless. She was out on a voyage of
discovery. Probably she knew that the telegraph
which had been established mainly to give notice of
her movements had been discontinued, that the bat-
tery at Brunsius had been disarmed and the pon-
toon bridges at Eckernsund broken up ; so she could
come in with comparative safety to look at the lay
of the land, and see if she could pitch upon a point
handy for doing mischief. She went up past Hollnis
and had a peep at Eckernsund, where at that time
I apprehend that one bridge still remained (for I
had crossed it not two hours previously), although I
hear that it has been since removed. After lounging
about for raome time, as if half tempted to have a
shot the man on Brcacker steeple, she put coals
on and steamed away under a cloud of smoke across
the sunlit water—yesterday as smooth as glass, and
reflecting the sky's deep blue—to her old station by
Alsen Island. People said she had only been
making her observations with a view to a night
attack; and certainly the night that followed
was not ill adapted to an enterprise of the kind,
being one of the blackest darkness, but Rolf Drake
did not think fit to profit by it, and if she had
her profit might well have proved her loss, for, if I
mistake not the object of certain movements of
guns I noticed, she would have been well received.
For reasons unknown to me there are constant
changes in the batteries about here) the number of
guns placed in them, &c. ; one day you see a bat-
tery armed, the next it is disarmed; the three-gun
batteries at Eckernsund were lately reduced to two
guns each ; the two 24 pounder batteries near Gam-
melsmark, 1at.„15- of four.
guns each, last night had
only tve-,, apiece, If the weather permits the active
PwAing forward of the siege works we shall soon
have powerful batteries pounding the forts at a dis-
tance of 600 yards, or less. For the present, how-
ever, things may,
perhaps, go on quietly enough
for a few days, The Danes seem little prone to
dashing sert'es, and disposed to let their enemy
come near. 'glen are valuable to them, and perhaps
they are reserving themselves for the great conflict

which now appears inevitabie, unless they choose
to evacuate Duppel and Alsen. I observe that my
colleague at Sonderberg speaks of the Danish
smoothbores being no match for the Prussian rifled
artillery, but certainly a very large proportion of the
Danish projectiles that have been sent over here are
of conical form, and fired from rifled cannon. All
that I have happened myself to see have been of that
kind, and if the Danes fired better, or had better
luck, or if the Prussians had not their blindages to
get behind, the casualties would have been more
numerous on their side, I mean that there has
been at times a pretty sharp fire from the Danes,
but their shells burst too high or go too far, and so
have done very little harm, the return of casualties
in the batteries sent you in a recent letter having
been since then little, if at all, augmented. What
is certain is that the Prussians have good artillery
and good artiller:,men ; both their 12 pounder s
and 24 pounders are beautiful pieces, and their
practice is remarkably good. As for their small
arms, their voldnadelgetachr, or rifle, the more
they use it the more pleased they seem to
be with it, This very morning I ave. been speak.
ing about it with the adjutant of a fusileer regi-
ment quartered here. He assures me that it proves
most solid and serviceable, never gets out of order
or misses fire—not even when, as in the early part
of the campaign, the men were lying out in the
snow and their arms got wet and covered with rust.
You will remember that at Oversee the Austrian
rifles, from similar reasons of exposure to the
weather, would not go off, and a part of the troops
engaged had to charge a long distance with the
bayonet under a heavy fire from the DAM'S' and
suffered severe loss. A great part of that loss would
assuredly have been avoided had the Austrians had
the Prussian gun. This is a strong case in support
of the superiority of the latter weapon, the two
great advantages of which are rapidity of loading
(combined with perfect) by the breech, and ignition
of a prepared cartridge by simple puncture, thus
avoiding the use of caps, priming, &e. I hope what
I have said in this and a previous letter concerning
the excellence of the Prussian weapon may induce
some practical men in England to turn his attention
to it. The cost of the gun is not great, being only
between 12 and 13 thalers-30s. to 395. English.
As very exaggerated reports have been current
with respect to the Prussian loss in the night affair
of the 28th, I may as well repeat that it amounted
to 156 officers and men killed and wounded. They
all belonged to the Bth and 18th Regiments. No
officers were killed on the spot, but three were ex-
pected to die, and probably are dead by this time.
The whole number of officers wounded and missing
were 10; three of these (two of them wounded, and
one unhurt) remained in the hands of the Danes. I
returns
tfoobfr
at
tdht eoa
lrni
ogl
no
oss st ehosef ;r
wit nhi
sdeee. e d they could have no
am perfectly convinced that the Prussians give true
Prussian Guard have
joined this army corps by rapid marches from the
North. Two of them are stationed at Broacher and
in its vicinity. Artillery and great quantities of
ammunition continue to come up. The idea of
besieging Fredericia appears completely abandoned,
at least for the present.
Singe my last I have been down to Flensburg,
which I thought a very poor sort of Schleswigian
village when I first made its acquaintance, early in
February, but which
appears quite a large and
G
luxurious town in comparison with such places asravenstein, Broacher, Nobel, and the other poor
famine-striken. At Flens-
quarters, the Crown Prince
ovvilelracgreoswadnedd
ahnadmpleatrstlaybout here—all grevionsly
burg are now the head
and his staff, the principal hospitals of the army,
including one established by the Knights of St.
John, who have brought with them sortie newly-
devised ambulance waggons and improved stretchers
for carrying the wounded off the field. Along the
road from Flensburg to Gravenstein, Eckernsund,
and Broacher one usually meets, especially in fine
weather, numerous officers riding or driving up to
the front to visit the works and batteries, take a
general view of the progress of affairs, and, perhaps,
conveying orders from the Field-Marshal. But
Vlensburg is rather far off for those who desire to
note as closely as possible all the incidents of the
campaign, and such remain up here, roughing it as
best they may. The want of accommodation within
five or six miles of the D appel lines is such that it
seems scarcely possible for headquarters to come
nearer than Gravensteiu, which itself is already
overcrowded, and the Schloss taken up by Prince
Frederick Charles and his staff, Prince Charles, the
King's brother, being also still there,
After a bright gleans the rain is again coming
heavily down, and the evening closes gloomily and
with little promise of better weather. Water and
mist shroud land and sea with a thick veil, and
even through the glass little is to be discerned of
what passes in front. Up by the trenches.
north from the Veinmingbund, I see that the
soldiers have been erecting straw huts, propped
against the banks and hedges, as some slight pro-
tection from the wet. Straw architecture is much
cultivated up here, and the soldiers make out of that
material and a few sticks very neat and rather pic-
turesque picket-huts and sentry-boxes, the latter
framed out of four uprights, the two front ones
somewhat higher than the hixl.e,r env!, with a few