The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-05 00:00:00

THE PRUSSIANS IN SAXONY.

(From a Correspondent of the Times.)

DRESDEN, July 1.
The town continues perfectly quiet. Our nights
are sometimes disturbed by the clattering of cavalry
patrols through the streets on their way to or from
the outskirts of the town, and both night and day,
during the greater part of this week, the boom
of explosions connected with the preparations
for mining the bridges has at intervals struck
upon the ear. The Prussian engineers have been
employed upon this work by night as well as by
day, and the stout masonry of the picturesque old
bridge seems to have given them considerable
trouble in forming the chambers for the reception
of the charges. At first the rumour that the
bridges were to be mined caused some little ex-
citement ; some supposed a retreat of the Prussians
to be imminent ; others lamented the probable de-
struction of one of the greatest ornaments of Dres-
den ; but as people came to see that the immediate
destruction of the bridges was not intended, and
that the preparations being made were only a pre-
cautionary measure in case a retreat should be
forced upon the Prussian troops, the excitement
soon calmed down.

The passage.of troops through the town towards
the front seems in a great measure to have ceased
during the past week—in fact, I question whether
any great force has been moved forward through
Dresden since the departure of General von Bitten-
feld, the commander of the wing of the Elbe army,
which first entered the town. The place of the troops
which then marched out was taken by Landwehr,
belonging to the Reserve Corps, of which the garri-
son of Dresden at the present time principally con-
sists. It is true, we still have continual movements
of troops in and out of the town ; but I am inclined
to believe that these only indicate a change of
quarters among the regiments of the garrison, and
not the arrival or departure of fresh troops. The
force employed on outpost duty round the town is
bivouacked in the open country, without tents or
any kind of shelter, for the army carries no tents
with it; and, as far as I can leatn, the troops, after
having been three or four days in bivouacks, are
brought into the town, while those quartered in the
town are sent out into the country. Thus all have
their regular turn of town and bivouack life.
With regard to the distance to which the Prussians
have advanced up the valley of the Elbe, it is ex-
tremely difficult to get any correct information.
More than a week ago the Berlin papers announced
that they had reached the Bohemian frontier ; while
at the same time a Prussian officer here assured me
that their outposts were not then at Pirna. My own
impression is that during the first two days the
Prussians occupied Dresden they pushed forward
along the valley of the Elbe more boldly than they
did for some time subsequently. In the great alarm
which took place on the third day after their entry
into the town, and when it was supposed that the
Austrian troops at least, if not the Bavarians also,
were in the immediate neighbourhood, the outposts,
which had the previous day been a considerable dis-
tance in advance of the town, were withdrawn into
the very suburbs ; and for some days afterwards I
suspect any advance up the Elbe was very cau-
tiously made. Indeed, I question whether any great
force has been sent through Dresden towards Bo-
hemia by the passes of the Elbe ; the great majo-
rity certainly of the troops under General von Bit-
tenfeld left the town by the right bank of the river,
and therefore probably took the Bautzen direction.
I should not be surprised to find that any Prussian
troops that may be at Bodenbach, beyond Konig-
stein, have reached that place, not by the road through
Dresden, but bysome other route. The possession of
Konigstein by the Saxons, though its garrison is
small, and under the conditions of modern warfare
can no longer be considered impregnable, has this ad-
vantage, that itprevents the Prussians availing them-
selves of the railway which runs along the Elbe and
at the foot of the rock on which the fortress stands, to
establish communication between Dresden and Bo-
denbach. There are nosignsof this railway beingused
for the transport of troops or materiel towards the fron-
tier of Bohemia; indeed, I believe the Prussians have
themselves destroyed the line at no great distance
from Dresden.

For the last few days there have been constant
reports here of great battles having been fought in
Bohemia, and two nights since a long train of some
GO or 70 carts was brought into the town, which
rumour said were intended for the transport of the
wounded. The papers of last night confirm the
truth of these reports, but we are as yet altogether
without any trustworthy intelligence as to the
results of the engagements which have taken place;
in fact, the first accurate information we receive
regarding them will probably be derived from
the English newspapers. The news contained
in the Dresden papers is, of course, purely
derived from Prussian sources ; they announce
great successes on the part of the Prussians at
Nachod and Munchengratz within the last few
days, and speak of numbers of prisoners having been
taken. Popular belief, however, refuses to give im-
plicit credence to these accounts ; Saxon patriots
speak cheerfully of an action in which the Saxon
troops are said to have greatly distinguished them-
selves ; and I know from an authentic source that
on Thursday night Toplitz was illuminated in honour
of a reported victory of the Austrian army. Be-
tween such contradictory accounts it is impossible
for us here to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion.
At the time to which I have referred there were no
troops of any sort, either Austrian or Prussian, in
Toplitz, and there seem to have been no Prussian
posts on the road leading from it to Dresden until
getting to the neighbourhood of this town.
Dresden is beginning to feel some of the effects of
a military occupation. The town is, of course, under
Martial law, and allusion has been made in a public
proclamation to the possibility of a state of siege
being declared. Rumour speaks of arrests having
been made for the expression of sentiments unfa-
vourable to Prussia, though I cannot answer for the
truth of the reports. It is, however, no secret that
on Friday three officials of the Saxon Government
—a Geheimerath and two other gentlemen holding
high situations connected with the Saxon police,
which still continues to exercise its functions in the
town, were suddenly ordered to leave Saxony within
24 hours, on pain of being treated as spies and dealt
with according to martial law. Last night a pro-
clamation was issued directing all arms in possession
of private individuals t 9 be given up by midday on
Tuesday, and the penalty of death is held over the
head of any in whose hands arms may be found in
the event of a battle in the town o r its immediate
neighbourhood. The inhabitants are also warned,
in case of the troops being called out, to keep within
their houses, and it is further directed that if such
an alarm should be given during the night the win-
dows of the houses are to be lighted up. These re-
gulations have been probably called forth by the
treatment received by the Prussian troops in a town
in Bohemia, where it appears that they were fired
upon by the citizens from the windows of the houses.
I cannot suppose that there is the remotest possi-
bility of such reprehensible and useless conduct,—so
certain to lead to an aggravation of the horrors of
war—being imitated by the inhabitants of Dresden,
for the greatest good will
to and friendliness continue
exist between the
PoPillaee and the soldiery.
While, however, these precautionary measures are
being adopted on military grounds,.
is satisfactory
to be able to give an emphatic denial to the report
which has been widely spread that the Prussian
Government had put the conscription in force in
Saxony. The story has no foundation whatever in
fact. Another widely circulated rumour, that a daily
contribution of 10,000 thalers hadbeen imposed upon
this kingdom, I believe to be equally untrue, though I
am not in a position positively to contradict it. The
country, however, has to bear the expense of the pay
and subsistence of the troops which occupy it, and in
Dresden the maintenance of the soldiers quartered
upon the householders is a tax which presses heavily
upon many. Foreigners have to share this liability
with natives 'and the dining-room of one English
family has been for the last week in the occupation
of half-a-dozen Hussars of a regiment of Landwehr.
Apart from the inconvenience, however, of the in-
trusion of such visitors into one's family circle, the
expense of feeding the Einquartirung is byno means
inconsiderable when they remain for any length of
time. For the Prussian soldier fares well, now that