The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-12 00:00:00

HIGHWAYS DISTRICT SURVEYING BILL.

On the motion for going into Committee on this Bill,
Sir GEORGE GREY said that the Bill had been
read a second time on the understanding that it should
not be further proceeded with during the present
session.

COUNTY-RATES AND EXPENDITURE BILL.

On the motion for the resumption of the debate on
the second reading of this Bill,
Sir J. PAKINGTON declared his intention to press
the motion of which he had given notice, that the Bill
should be road a second time that day six months.
. After some observations from Mr. STAFF:,RD and Mr.
HumE, the Bill was read a second time, and ordered to
be conamltt,d certain amendments having been agreed to.
PROTECTION OF WOMEN BILL.

After several p:Aitions had been presented in favour of
this Bill, the House went into Committee on the Bill.
Mr. C. WYNN objected to the course pursued with
respect to the Bill which had come down from the House.
Lords, but which was now proposed to them with
only seven lines of the original measure as it passed that
House. Thq Right Lion. Gent!emu moved the rejec-
tion of the clause.

Mr. BRIGIIr felt some difficulty as to the course he
should pursue with respect to the Bill until he had
heard the opinion of the Attorney-General upon the
present state of the law on the subject.
After some observations from Mr. SPOON ER,

The ATTORNEY-GEgERAL said the claitse ap-
plied to all persons who for lucre or gain, and by frau-
dulent representation, procured the seduction of any
young female. He thought, however, if the clause were
carried, that it would defeat the object which the Hon.
Gentleman had in view.
After a few words from Mr. ANSTEY,
At the suggestion of Sir GEORGE GREY
The House resumed, the Chairman reported pro-
gress, and obtained leave to sit again this day week.
HIGHWAY RATES BILL.

This Bill was read a third time and passed.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of,
and the House adjourned at Six o'clock.

THE LATE JAMES KNOX POLK
Official intriligence has been received at this Legation
that James Knox Polk, so lately President of the United
States, expired on the 15th day of June last. Unlike
his predecessors, he has ended life before the even-
ing of old age ; but net before completing an
illustrious and memorable career. The judgment of
his countrymen ever marked him out for high services.
Raised successively to the first places in the state—chair-
man of the most important Congressional Committee,
head of the Ilouse of Representatives of the whole Ame-
rican people, supreme Magistrate in his own Com-
monwealth, President of the Federal Republic—he
ever approved his fitness for the highest trusts; excel-
ling not more in station than in laboriousness. prudence,
temperance, and fortitude. He defined, established, and
extended the boundaries of his country. He planted
the laws of the American Union on the shores of
the Pacific. His influence and his counsels
tended to organize the national treasury on the
principles of the Constitution, .and to apply the
rule of freedom to navigation, trade, and industry.
Most beloved where best known, he lived happily, and
died in the midst of his country's unexampled prosperity,
which his own measures had contributed to establish.

I invite the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the United
States, and all others of ray fellow-citizens now iu the
United Kingdom, to share the sorrow of his family aad
his country. His memory as a public msn lives in honour,
and will endure ; the youth of our country will be
formed to virtue, by emulating the purity of his private
life. GEORGE BANCROFT.

United States' LegatiGn, London, 11th July, 1849.

DENMARK AND THE DUCHIES.

DEFEAT OF THE GERMANS BEFORE
FREDERICIA.

The Hamburgh Borsenhalle of Saturday has the
following :
" At two o'clock on the 6th inst. the Danes made a
sortie with an army of sixteen battalions from Fredericia,
and attacked our positions. The accounts are various,
but the attack seems to have been fearful, and our troops
and the batteries have unquestionably suffered very
much. By next post we shall hear the nearer details.
The post- office at Hadersleben, three o'clock in the
afternoon, July 6, 1849."
Communications from the Army Post•office at
Kolding:—
" The Danes have made a sortie with 20,000 men from
Fredericia. The army retires upon Veile."
Another account states, from the mouth of a tra-
veller :

•
" That the 4th Rifles have suffered very much, rind
that one battery had been taken by the Danes; but they
had been driven back again, and the samo regained."
"Erritsoe, near Fredericia, July 6, 9 o'clock A.N.

" This morning the Danes made a sortie against our
left wing, drove our troops back, and destroyed sever2l
Of our entrenchments. The sth and 6th battalions of
Schleswig-Holstein Infantry and the 4th Rifles have suf-
fered very much. The Danes forced the Holstein troops
back upon Stenstrup, and set fire to their qaarters, lout
were again in turn also driven back. The vanguard and
the right wing are now to attack the Danes in the flank.
The wounded are being conveyed to Kolding. About
fifty Danes are prisoners. Stenstrup and several other
villages are in flames, and burning.
. _

.‘-.lladersleben, July 6.

" During the nights of the sth and 6th inst. the Dames
made a sortie from Fredericia; drove the outposts in,
and captured four pieces of artillery and two howitzers,
which had been placed the day before in battery. The
Ist and 2d Holstein Infantry battalion suffered much,
but, being the first troop the enemy encountered, fought
very bravely. Most of the officers have fallen, or are taken
and wounded. How great the loss has been cannot be
made out, but, to judge from the 4th Rifles, the loss must
have been very considerable. The whole of the Danish
army is said to be in Fredericia, and the Guards ware
also brought into action, and were opposed to the Ist
Holstein battalion, which suffered so much. Between
three and four o'clock this morning the Holstein troops
succeeded, however, in driving the Danish forces with
considerable loss back again into the fortress."

This account is confirmed by the Altona Mercury,
which is the organ of the Schleswig- Holstein Pro-
visional Government. This journal has the fol-
lowing:—
" Altona, Saturday Evening, July 7.

" We had sent our usual matter to press when we re-
ceived the following account from our army
near Fredericia, which, coming from a respectable
party, we publish, and for the present are coin-
pell,d rather reluctantly to digest, but with the
remark, that as regards the last part of the statement
considerable allowance must be made for the surprise at
first manifested, and the alarm felt, by persons at the dis-
tance. Should the retirement, however, of our troops
from before Fredericia not be a planned affair, the ma'Aer
remains earnest enough for us to view; and we must
also feel surprised enough that, on our side, the
troops were not sufficiently prepared for such an at'iack,
and complete success on the part of the Danes, as the
movements of the Danish ships of war, and the supposed
embarkation of the corps under General Rye, should
have forewarned the General commanding officers of
suoh a blow being in contemplation."