The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-09 00:00:00

AUSTRIA.

There is no truth whatever in the rumoured defeat
of BEm. On the contrary, he is at this moment in
possession of Hermannstadt ; the Russians have com-
pletely evacuated Transylvania with the exception of
Cronstadt, where there is a small garrison, and the
whole of the province is, with that exception in pos.
sesion of the Magyars, as PUCUNEE has retired into
Wallachia.

WELDEN was at Comorn on the 29th, and is.
sued a proclamation to the Hungarians :—" The
aurEaort had on his accession given to Hungary
equality of rights with the other portions of the
Empire, and consented to pardon all who returned
to their allegiance. PrinceWINDISCIIGRATZ had acted
in a spirit of clemency in accordance with this pro-
mise; having, after his victorious troops had pene
trated to the Theiss, and taken Kaschau and Tokay,
called no one to account who submitted to the law.
Only the traitors who desolated their country for the
gratification of their ambition were menaced with
destruction. •He gave them twelve hours to
return to the Imperial flag; after the expiration of
which, if they still resisted, he would batter Comorn
as long as he had a man or a gun left, so help him
God !"

This proclamation produced no result and WELDER
returned to Vienna on the Ist instant.

General GORGEY was advancing to the succour of
Comorn, and the besieging army had been obliged to
suspend their operations, in order to concentrate and
take measures for resisting GORGEY'S attack. The
Austrians had suffered greatly in the siege, from their
being forced to bivouac in the midst of snow and bad
weather. The simultaneous defeats of General REM-
BERG at Losenez, and of Sucu's brigade at Hatven
are fully confirmed. The Russian General, Ham-
MERSTEIN, had not entered Hungary, and, in fact, in
the northern portion, at Eperies, Kaschau, and the
regions round, there were no troops of any kind,
Austrian or Hungarian, for the very good reason,
that all the provisions of the country had been com-
pletely consumed and the granaries emptied. JELLA•
cinca is again at Pesth.
BRUCK and NIGRELLI have been ordered to pro-
ceed to Verona as Plenipotentiaries, to treat with the
King of SARDINIA.
The elections of Deputies for Frankfort are stopped.
Those who have been chosen have been called upon to
suspend their intended journey, and the recall of the
Austrian Members from the National Assembly is ex-
pected.

DENMARK AND THE DUCHIES,
DEFEAT OF TIIE DANES, AND DESTRUCTION

OF A DANISII SHIP OF THE LINE.

We have received Ilamburgh papers of the 6th
inst. Certain news from the scene of war, which
came to Hamburgh on the morning of the 6th inst,,
and which were published in an extra edition of the
Borsenhalle, have filled the people of that town with
enthusiasm and surprise. It appears that an engage-
ment has taken place between the Danish naval force
and the German strand-batteries, in which, though
the latter were the weaker party in guns and artil-
lerymen, the Danes were defeated, and sustained con-
siderable loss. The following account of the action
was brought to Altona by the Prince of NoER, who
was an eye-witness of the affair :
Several Danish men-of- war, viz , King Christian
VIII., 84 guns, and the frigate Gefion, 42, the brig
St. Croix, and the two war-steamers Geyser and
Skirner, besides a third steamer towing six landing
craft, appeared in the evening of the 6th inst. in the
offing of the bay of Eckernforde, when they anchored.
E .rly on the morning of the 6th one of the steamers
and the brig parted company with the squadron, and
stood out to the east, but the rest of the squadron
weighing anchor at seven o'clock, sailed into the
harbour of Eckernforde, and at eight o'clock com-
menced engaging the strand batteries, which answered
their fire, until after ; cannonade of several hours the
northern battery was silenced by the steamer Geyser.
Shortly afterwards, however, the Christian VIII.
went aground in the inner harbour, and the Gefion
had her rudder shot away. In consequence of this
disaster the Christian VIII. hoisted a flag of truce,
and a Danish officer was sent on shore, who offered to
spare the town if the German batteries would cease to
fire, and allow the two Danish ships to get away.
These terms having been rejected by the military
commander of the German forces, as well as by the
magistrates of Eckernforde, another parley commenced,
and a truce of two hours was finally agreed upon.
This truce enabled the Germans to get the northern
battery into working order, and to relieve the men
that had been working the southern battery almost
without cessation, while the Danish ships were busily
engaged repairing damages, and the Chris-
tian VIII. struggled hard to get afloat. This
being at length effected, a signal was made for
one of the steamers to come in and take the Chris-
tian VIII. in tow, but a couple of shots which were
fired from the Strand batteries warned the steamer to
keep off, which then veered round and stood out in
the tack of the ships that had left in the morning.
After the expiration of the truce, the hostilities were
recommenced by half a battery of Nassau Artillery
opening upon the two Danish vessels, and playing
with great precision and effect, whole the Danes tired
a broadside now and then. In the course of the en-
gagement the Christian VIII. managed to run again
aground and to catch fire, and was at length compelled
to strike to a Holstein battery of two pieces, aided by
some Nassau light artillery. The surrender of the
Christian VIII. was almost immediately followed
by that of the Gefion, and the Danish sailors of the
Gefion, aided by the German soldiers, set about to
save the crew of the chxistiatz YLU. i 400 wen were

saved, but at eight o'clock, P.M., the vessel, which had
been burning steadily all the while, exploded wit h the
remaining 700 men. Of the crew of the Gefion 250
escaped without injury, but the number of the Ult. d
and wounded was not less than 150. The Germans
had but one man killed and thirteen wounded. The
reports of the battle give due praise to the courage of
the Danish sailors, and no less praisk is given to the
German Commander, the Duke of SAXE-COBURG, for
his judicious arrangements, and the humanity and
zeal which he displayed in his attempts to save the
unfortunate crew of the Christian VIII.