The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-26 00:00:00

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.

(From the Tinzes' Military Correspondent.)
GORLITZ7 June 21.

The Prussian dash into Saxony has been a great
military_ success. It has given Prince Frederick
Charles the advantage of being able to attack the
Austrians as they issue with a narrow front from the
passes of the mountains, instead of being obliged to
fight them on their own terms in an open country,
as would have been the case had they been allowed
to occupy this kingdom. At the present moment
the Prussian patrols and pickets are pushed close up
to the Austrian frontier, the issue of the narrow
defile which the Elbe cleaves in the Erz-Gebirge is
secured, the Saxon army has retired into Bohemia,
and without pulling a trigger the Prussian army
has by the rapid action of its chief gained as great
advantages as could have been looked for from a
victorious battle in this part of the theatre of war.
There is only one point in Saxony where Saxon
troops are still found, and where the Saxon stan-
dard is still hoisted. The little fortress of Konig-
stein, situated on an isolated sandstone cliff on the
left bank of the Elbe, about nine miles from the
Austrian frontier, is still occupied by a Saxon gar-
rison. Inaccessible from the steepness of the rock
on which it stands, and at a considerable distance
from the surrounding heights, this fortress has
never been reduced. From the hill of Lilienstein,
which stands on the opposite side of the river, and
has a command over the fortress of more than 150
feet, Napoleon attempted to bombard Konigstein,
but his artillery was not heavy enough to send shot
over the 3,000 yards which separate the summit of
the two hills. With their rifled cannon the Prus-
sian artillery could now easily, from the hill of
Lilienstein or from that of Paffenstein on the op-
posite side, engage the guns of the fort on equal
terms, but it is doubtful whether the Prussian com-
mander will deem it worth while to drag artillery
to the top of these steep hills in order to force
the capitulation of the small garrison of 1,200
men, who, in the event of Saxony remaining in
his possession, must fall into his hands, and,
in case of his being obliged to retire, can add so
little to the force of his enemies. It is more pro-
bable that Konigstein, guarded by its escarpments
and impossibility of approach, will still be allowed
to retain its reputation for impregnability.
In most of the villages and hamlets of Saxony,
certainly in all those which lie on roads leading to
the frontier, Prussian soldiers are billeted; cavalry
and artillery horses fill the farmsteadings of the
border farmers, and field guns and artillery car-
riages are packed on many a village green. But the
Saxons have no complaints to make, and, as far as
can be judged from appearances, seem highly to ap-
prove the occupation of their country by the Prus-
sian army. The Saxon peasantry and the soldiers
are on the most friendly terms, and a stranger who
did not know the Prussian uniform, in passing
through the villages, would suppose that the troops
were quartered among the people of their own coun-
try. As soon as the Prussian vanguard crossed the
frontier, Prince Frederick Charles issued a most
stringent order, in which he insisted on the troops
showing every respect for private property and for
the comfort of the inhabitants. This order has been
strictly observed both by officers and men, but not
from fear of the military punishment which would
be the consequence of its transgression. The kind-
hearted soldiers have brought with them none of
those horrors which too often follow in the train of
an army which occupies a strange country. On the
contrary, were it not for the swords and bayonets
of patrols which glitter in the sun along every road,
the scene is one of perfect peace. In come places
the men are helping the peasantry to carry the hay
harvest, in others they may be seen working in the
cottage gardens, and nearly always are spending
money in the village shops ; the bare-legged coun-
try urchins get taken up for rides on the cavalry
or artillery horses as they go to be watered, or are
invited, half afraid, to peep into the muzzle of a
rifled gun, and only when, with the contempt
bred by familiarity, some too adventurous young-
ster tries to introduce a handful of cornflowers
into the mouth of a piece of ordnance is he warned
off the precinct of the battery by the reluctant
sentry.

The Hanoverian troops are reported to have been
obliged to retreat to Gottingen, and to have failed
in making good their passage to the Main. If this
be true they are in a precarious position, for General
Manteuffel has united with General von Falkenstein
at the town of Hanover, and together they have
marched on Ilildesheim. General von Beyer has
cut off the communication to Frankfort, so that,
pressed on both sides by superior forces, the liano-
verians seem to have little hope of escape.

No news as yet of an Austrian advance in force.
On the 18th a patrol crossed the frontier of Upper
Silesia at Guau, a village about five miles east of
Pless, and exchanged shots with a Prussian patrol ;
OR the 19th an officer, escorted by a few Hussars,
crossed the same frontier at Klingebeutel, and came
into collision with a Prussian cavalry patrol. A
very slight skirmish ensued, but without, so far as
has been ascertained, any harm being done to either
side. This is all that is certainly known of the Aus-
trian movements. How long Marshal Benedek's
long silence is to endure, or -what it portends, time
alone can show. Some think he is uniting the Bava-
rian and Saxon armies with his own, and intends to
come down into Saxony in overwhelming force by
the Upper Saale and Leipsic, while others adhere
faithfully to the idea that Silesia is destined to see
the first battle.

It is reported in the papers here that Austria,
Bavaria, and Wurtemberg have requested Baden to
take up arms against Prussia, and have threatened
in case of refusal to make a partition of the Grand
Duchy. As the army of Baden musters only about
9,500 infantry, 1,800 cavalry, 1,500 gunners, with
38 field guns and 150 pioneers, a total field force of
not quite 13,000 men, with a reserve of 2,800 in-
fantry, 400 cavalry, and 500 artillery and engineers,
with 15 siege guns, or a total force of about 16,700
combatants, the presence of this unwilling ally in
the field would hardly compensate to the southern
league for the shock such a threat would give to the
public mind of Europe.
The names of the general officers who command
the different corps d'armee are as follows :—The Ist
Corps, levied and recruited in the province of Prus-
sia Proper, is under the command of General von
Bonin; the 2d, or Pomeranian Corps, of General von
Schmit ; the 3d, or Brandenburg Corps, and the
4th, or Saxon, have no command at the present mo-
ment, and are considered to be under the immediate
control of Prince Frederick Charles ; the sth, or
Posen Corps, is under General von Steinmitz ; the
6th, or Silesian, under Von Mutius ; the 7th, or
Westphalian, is in Hanover under General von
Falkenstein ; the Bth, or Rhineland, is commanded
by General Herwarth von Bittenfeld, who seems to
be -called indiscriminately Herwarth or Bittenfeld.
The great body of the cavalry is under Prince
Albrecht, and the corps of the guard is commanded
by Prince Auguste.of Wurtemberg.
The destructive effects of war are as yet confined
to railways, to telegraph wires, and bridges. Three
fine
bridges have already been sacrificed. The
wooden bridge over the Elbe at Riesa was burnt by
the Saxons the night before the Prussians entered
their territory; the stone bridge of Meissen was blown
up by the Saxon army on its retreat. In Upper
Silesia the bridge of Alyelowitz has been blown up
by the Austrians, and that of Oderberg is mined and
ready to be fired.
The army of Wurtemberg is reputed to be hasten-
ing towards the north, and the troops of Hesse-
Cassel to have given up the hope of being joined
by the Hanoverians, and to have retired to Frank.
fort. No later news has been received from. Got-
tingen, so that the fate of the Hanoverian army is
at present unknown.
The Prussian military authorities have taken care
to make the inconveniences of the present state of
affairs sit as lightly as possible on the inhabitants
of the country in which their troops are quartered.
Passenger traffic on the railways of Saxony is re-
sumed, except where the broken bridge of Riesa
causes a gap which is not yet closed. Telegraphic
messages are received at the bureau, and are cer-
tainly delivered in the neighbourhood ; whether
hose to England. reach their destination as certainly

is a matter of doubt, for the lines in Hanover are not
supposed to be in workiug order.
The patrols of Austrian troops wh. 1. have ap-
peared in Upper Silesia have not been f( Rowed up to
the present time by any columns of invasion. The
time which has elapsed since their a?rearance seems
to augur that they were not the precursors of an
attack ; it appears more probable that they were
either sent forward purely to gain information, or
that, as Austrian troops were being moved from
the district about Cracow to the west, they made a
feint, en passant, against Silesia, with the object of
drawing the attention of the Prussian commanders
from the real point of attack. Where this real point
will be no one on this side of the frontier can know
for certain. The issues of thepasses are well watched
on this side, and beacons are established on every
bill, and beside them sentries stand constantly ready
to set them on fire and so flash from hilltop to hill-
top the news of the enemy's approach. These bea-
cons are made with straw wrapped thickly round
tall poles and daubed plentifully with pitch ; beside
each stands an improvised sentry-box, also of straw,
which affords in the meantime shelter from the sun
or rain to the sentinel, and which will also serve in
case of necessity to add to the brightness of the
flame of the beacon. The roads leading to the fron-
tier are constantly patrolled both by night and day;
while vedettes and pickets are found on the rise of
every knoll and the corner of every wood.
_ _ _

The Prussians have not been careless witnesses of
the great struggle in America. The organisation of
the army shows that its administrators have
eagerly noted all the results of modern science and
advanced civilisation which the contest between the
Federals and Confederates called into the service of
war. Orders and reports are no longer conveyed
tardily by aides-de-camp or orderlies ; they are
flashed from corps to corps along the wires of the
telegraph, for to each head-quarters a field telegraph
division is attached, which as soon as head-quarters
are established connects the temporary bureau of
the chief of the staff with the nearest permanent
telegraph station.
We have this evening received intelligence that
the harbour of Bremen has been occupied by the
Prussian gunboats, but we have still no authentic
news of the Hanoverian army.
Prussia is about to raise 40,000 men in Holstein,
and is said to have called for the contingents of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
This, with the capture of the Hanoverian army, will
place nearly all the fighting men of Northern Ger-
many in the Prusgian ranks. Either side has now
done its best to enter with as strong an army as
possible on the campaign, the issue of which must
decide whether the supremacy in Germany is to
belong to the Protestant and progressive North, or
to the Catholic and Coti,ervative South.