The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 16, 1E66.

LAW INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.
(Sittings at Nisi Priusbefore Lord Chief Justice Cockburn
and a Special Jury.)
PERINAWSKI V. FREEMAN AND ANOTHER.
This was an action brought by the plaintiff, a tailor at
the West-end, against the defendants, who are house sur-
geons at St. George's Hospital, for alleged improper treat-
ment, to which the defendants pleaded not guilty.
From the evidence of the plaintiff and some of his wit-
nesses it appeared that some months since ho was suffer-
ing severely from piles, and he obtained admission into the
hospital, and was placed under the treatment of the defend-
ant. He was forcibly subjected to sitting over scalding
water according to his statement, and he sustained serious
injuries in consequence.

A MERICA.

ARRIVAL OF THE CUBA.

The Royal Mail steamer Cuba, from Boston and
Halifax, arrived at Queenstown at 3.45 p.m to-day
(June 15). She brings 246 passengers and
$1,649,927 in specie. She landed 100 sacks of
mails and 30 passengers," and proceeded imme-
diately for Liverpool.- All well.
(Via Roche's Point.)
- '

NEW YORK,
June 5 (Evening).
The Fenians at Fort Erie being prevented from
receiving reinforcements by Federal picket boats,
evacuated that place before daylight on the morn-
ing of the 3d inst., leaving 32 men on picket duty,
who were captured by the Canadians. 400 Fenians,
including O'Neil and a number of other officers,
were captured by the Federal boats, and are now
held prisoners at Blackrock, under the guns of the
Federal steamer Michigan.
General Meade arrived at Buffalo on Sunday
night, and ordered General Sarny to seize all arms
intended for the use of the Fenians. _ _

The reports of the number of killed and wounded
in the fight at Ridgway are conflicting—only six
Canadians are positively reported killed. Five
Fenians are reported to have been tried by drum-
head court-martial at Fort Erie on Sunday, and
shot on Monday. The Fenians are stated to be
moving in large bodies towards the frontier. They
are concentrating opposite and threatening Mon-
treal, Cornwall, Prescott, and Kingston. The
Federal District Attorney has ordered the vessels
guarding the St. Lawrence River to sink any boat
attempting to cross with Fenians on board.

The Fenians are in large force near Saint Albans,
Vermont. 30 of them seized arms in a private store
at Watertown, and cArried them towards Potsdam.
General Meade sent troops to intercept them.
Armed Fenian vessels have left Chicago, Detroit,
and Erie. British regulars and volunteers are
arriving at all exposed points of the frontier in
large numbers. No further danger from raids is
to be apprehended.
5,000 Fenians are reported to be on the St.
Lawrence, mostly at Malone, Potsdam, and oppo-
site Montreal and Edwardsburg. They have no
artillery and are poorly armed. Numbers were
arriving yesterday, but to-day it is said many are
seeking to return. 1,000 left Fairfield, and 1,800
left Highgate yesterday, all going towards the
border. The inhabitants of St. Armaud's have re-
moved their valuables to Montreal. General Meade
is at Ogdensburg.. Recruiting has progressed
vigorously among the Fenians in large cities. On
Tuesday and Wednesday 2,000 were enrolled at
New York. Large contributions have also been
made to the Fenian treasury.

It is, however, generally considered that the ac-
tion of the Federal authorities will cause a per-
manent and immediate abandonment of the Fenian
scheme for the invasion of Canada.

Stephens is in Washington.

NEW YORK, June 7 (Evening).

President Johnson has issued a proclamation
against the Fenians. In this document he ad-
monishes all good citizens against aiding 'Or coun-
tenancing the expedition being carried out by evil
disposed persons from Federal territory against the
British colonies, in violation of the laws of the
United States and the law of nations. Ile expects
the national officials to employ all lawful power to
arrest and bring to justice all such persons, and has
empowered General Meade to employ the Federal
land and naval forces to prevent the carrying on of
the said expedition. •
General Sweeny was arrested at St. Albans last
night by the Federal authorities ; and Roberts, the
President of the Senate faction, was arrested in New
York to-day by the Federal Marshal.
Warrants have been issued for the arrest of
other prominent Fenians. •
The Fenian prisoners at Buffalo were released on
Tuesday, the men on their own recognizances and
the officers on bail, to appear when required, and
answer the charge of a violation of the neutrality
laws. •

Various seizures of Fenian arms and supplies by
the Federal authorities are reported. The Fenians
who seized the arms at Watertown were overtaken
by the Federal troops at Richville and the arms re-
covered. The Fenians were retained prisoners.
- The Richmond Circuit CoUrt has adjourned until
the first Tuesday in October, until which time the
trial of Mr. Davis is postponed. His counsel has
gone to Washington to appeal for his release on
parole or bail.
The amount of the public debt on the Ist inst. is
officially stated at $2,800,000,000. The coin in the
Treasury amounts to $50,000,000.
The shipment of gold yesterday to Europe
amounted to $3,500,000.
The City of London, Herman, Nova Scotia, and
Africa have arrived out.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
Money easy. Gold, 1421. Exchange on Lon-
don, 157 ; Paris, 3.60. Stocks quiet. New York
Centrals, 98 ; Illinois, 117* ; Erie, 63k ; 5-20
Bonds, 1021. Cotton steady. Midland Upland,
38c. ; receipts three days, 6,000 ; sales two days,
3,500 ; stock, 115,000. Flour and wheat dull.
Corn and provisions quiet. Coffee steady. Sugar
and molasses firm. Petroleum dull; crude, 26}
refined, 42.

ORLEANS, June 5.

Cotton dull ; low middling, 33 to 35 ; receipts
'our days, 3,750 ; experts four days, 19,000 ; stock,
L 24,000.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.

(From the Correspoadettl.)
KOHLFORT, June 12.
This little town, the junction of the two lines of
railway which lead from Eastern Saxony and
Southern Silesia on Berlin, is not unlikely to be the
scene of exciting events should war between Aus-
tria and Prussia really occur. At a distance of 140
English miles, or six hours' journey by an or4i-
nary train, from the Prussian capital, it is about 16
miles, or three quarters of an hour's railway tra-
velling from Gorlitz, where two Prussian corps
d'armee are at present cantoned. The town itself
is protected to a certain degree from an attack
from the west by the small stream of the Tschirne,

which—no important obstacle in its general course
—forms near the town some small lakes, behind
which infantry or artillery might with confidence
await the attack of an enemy's cavalry. The
real importance which Kohlfort acquires from a
military point of view is due to the convenient
situation here afforded for the concentration of
troops previously spread along the frontiers to resist
an advance from either Eastern Saxony or Silesia.
If the enemy should attack from Saxony, the troops
at Gorlitz can avail themselves of the river Neisse,
which flows close to that town, as a line of defence,
and covered by it check considerably superior num-
bers until the corps coming from Silesia have time
to reach .Kohlfort. Should, on the other hand, the
direction of the attack be from Silesia, the river, Boher,
over which the railway passes near Butzlau, affords
a line that will protect the troops, who retiring from
Silesia have to cover the assembly at Kohlfort of
the troops coining in from Gorlitz. Of this strategi-

cal point the Prussians appear to intend to take ad-
vantage. The head quarters of Prince Frederick
Charles at Muskau, are about 20 miles to the north-

west, fullg
le corps tr
armee, mustering over
60,000 est and
figh t w
atGorlitz, while in Silesia
the same number are within easy distance of this
point of junction. It is curious to notice in this dis-
trict the extreme prevalence of semi-Russian two-
tiunn are

graphical names. The existence of this apparently
anomalous nomenclature is due to this portion of
the kingdom being still inhabited by the repre-
sentatives of the Slavonian tribes who formed
the population of the whole of Prussia before it
became subject to the ancestors of its present
Teutonic possessors. The name of Muskau is iden-
tically the same with that of the capital of Russia,
and a
.quarter of a century ago was still pronounced
Moscov. The Slavonian inhabitants now number
about 80,000 souls, probably a much smaller num-
ber than were living here at the time of the Seven
Years'War, but they still remarkably preserve the
physiological peculiarities of their race, and are
almost entirely untinged With Germanic blood. All

remembrance of an origin different from that of
their fellow countrymen has, however, long since
died out from among them, and they would regard
it is anything but • a compliment to be told that
they are by blood more nearly allied to the Poles
than to the inhabitants of Brandenburg oi• Saxony.
Popular opinion has to-day sketched out new
plan of operations for General Benedek. It is Low
distinctly asserted—how the information has been
obtained, or to whom the Austrian General has
confided his plans, cannot be so clearly ascertained
—that the Austrian army is to advance in force
against Silesia, to mask the fortresses in that pro-
vince, press against the Prussian left with its main
body, force it into Prussian Saxony, and then,
taking up the line of the Oder, to cut off Berlin
from the old provinces of the kingdom. This plan,
successfully carried out, would deprive the Prussians
of some of their finest recruiting ground, but the
steep roads through the narrow valleys of the Riesen
Gebirge and the fortified places in Silesia would
require considerable time to pass, during which the
hostile army that is now watching the issues of
the passes could be largely reinforced by means of
the railway transport at its disposal. Neither could
the Austrians by this route avail themselves of their
cavalry, which they not unjustly consider to be the
best in the world. The telegram which announced
that the Emperor had reached Olmutz has, after
creating considerable excitement in Berlin, been
contradicted ; now, in the revulsion of popular feel-
ing, rumours of probable peace are being circulated
widely on this side of the frontier, but beyond the
mountains it appears that serious preparations are
being made to open the campaign.
On the Silesian frontier the Austrians are reported
to be cantoned in force on a line stretching from
Zanernig, near the county of Glatz, to the vicinity
of Cracow, and to have a strong corps near Frei-
stadt, on the road leading on the Prussian fortress
of Ratibor. It is possible that the collection, or,
more probably, the discovery of the collection, of
large numbers of Austrian troops in this direction
may have given rise to the rumour to which allusion
has been made above, but, even if the reported con-
centration at Freistadt be a fact, it does not prove
that auy serious attack against any province fur-
ther north than Silesia is contemplated. Many men
in Prussia whose opinions are entitled to conside-
ration have held for some time past that in the
event of war the Austrians would cross into Silesia,
but only with the intention of overruning the province
and levying contributions on its inhabitants, while
the main attack would be made through Saxony.
Perhaps the result of this very opinion being enter-
tained may lead to an attack against the line
of the Oder through Silesia, for of course the ob-
ject of every General who conducts an advance is
to burst out where he is least expected, and where
his columns are likely to meet with the least amount
of resistance.

It is expected that the proposal of Austria will
not be brought before the Diet till Thursday; should

it be carried and Federal execution decreed against
Prussia, Austria will enter the field as the chief
executioner of the orders of the Bund. The States
of the Confederation which are almost certain to join
Austria are Wurtemberg, Hanover, Nassau, Hesse
Darmstadt, and Saxony. Bavaria can hardly do
otherwise on account of her position, but she does
not seem inclined to enter heart and soul into the
national Cave of Adullam, and the Prussians hope
that although the Bavarian army must be certainly
mobilized, and probably in the field on the side of
their enemies, the blows it will strike against them
may sometimes fall short, and may never be very
severe. Of the others public opinion in this country
speak a little sharply. Should a future opportunity
ever occur for settling old scores, Prussia will, no
doubt, have an unkindly remembrance of them all,
but especially of Wurtemberg, which would fare,
indeed, ill if its fate were to be decided by the uni-
versal suffrage of the Prussian people in their pre-
sent frame of mind.

In winter, or after much rain, the country be-
tween the Neisse and the Elbe, through which run the
affluents of the Upper Spree, is marshy, and much
intersected with brooks, which, on account of the
flatness of the ground and the consequent slight fall
for drainage, form many ponds and little lakes;
when these are filled with water the Spree-wald is
not fit for the movement of cavalry or artillery ;
but when, as- at present, the weather has been toler-
ably warm for a short time the water evaporates,
and this district affords a very fair field for the em-
ployment of those arms. The Prussian War-office,
fully alive to this fact, are said to be massing a large
force of cavalry in this direction, which is to be or-
ganized on a different system to that which is in
general use in the service. Usually a certain number
of regiments of cavalry are attached to each corps
d'armee, and follow the movements of their corps,
except when actually upon the field of battle ; an
exception, it is said, is now about to be made to this
rule ; only one cavalry regiment is to be left with
each corps, and the remainder, with a strong force
of artillery, to be organised as a large independent
cavalry corps, which will, if the campaign should
open on the side of Saxony, have an opportunity of
proving its mettle. That the Austrians will make
great use of their horsemen cannot be doubted ; so
much care has been lately bestowed in their army
in this particular branch of the service that it will
doubtless have a chance afforded it of adding to
its already high reputation. If the campaign takes
place on the Saxon frontier, an opportunity may be
afforded for arriving at some decision on the ques-
tion which has for the last few years been rather
polemically discussed by many of the military
authorities—namely, whether arms of precision have
abollshed the necessity of cavalry in the field of
battle, or if it is possible for squadrons to execute
a charge under the fire of rifled artillery.
It is supposed that the Austrian troops which left
Altona, if they can pass through Hanover without
molestation, will be sent in the direction of Hesse
Darmstadt. They and the troops of Wurtemberg,
Hesse, and Nassau are there, it is said, to be
made into one corps. When war breaks out this
corps is to be despatched against the Prussian pro-
vinces on the Rhine. It can only be surmised that
such a destination is intended for them, but it is
known that the Prussians have a strong force at
Wizzlau, the only object of which would be to guard
against some such attack being made on West-
phalia or Rheinland. Were the Austrians to suc-
ceed in cutting off communications between Berlin
and the eastern provinces, and this heterogeneous

division at the same time to be successful on the
Rhine, affairs would go badly with Prussia. Some
are bold enough to predict that this, or something
of a like nature, will be the result of the first cam-
paign ; but the issues of war cannot be judged
on paper, more especially when it is almost
impossible to ascertain satisfactorily the number
of troops each Power has or is likely to put into
the field, to say nothing of the reserves and recruits
which each may be able to raise. Nor, even if num-
bers were known, can any just conclusion be arrived
at•except by those who are admitted to the inner-
most secrets of both political and military Cabinets.
States and provinces are not to be implicitly de-
pended upon. Were Hanover to side with Prussia,
as many Say she must do, to avoid her own imme-
diate annexation, such an attack on the Rhine pro-
vinces might be attended with not only disastrous,
but perhaps fatal, results to the corps which might
be detached to separate the Rhenish territories from
the main kingdom of Prussia. Should the war break
out in the neighbourhood of this town the names of
the actions will probably have almost a familiar
sound. There is hardly a road leading to the
frontier which has not some town or village that
has given a name to a battlefield. And this iS
natural, for Central Germany has already been the
theatre of three of the most fierce contests which
have been recorded in the history of Europe. The
Thirty Years' War, the campaigns of Frederick the
Great during the Seven Years' War, and the last
offensive campaign of Napoleon before his abdica-
tion, have all given celebrity to the naMes of some
of the places in the immediate neighbourhood.
About 25 miles to the west is Bautzen, where the
French Emperor defeated the Allies in 1813, but did
not by his victory succeed in shattering their coali-
tion. A short distance beyond Gorlitz lies Reich-
embach, where Duroc was killed, and Buntzlau was
the scene of another of Napoleon's victories gained
over the Prussians, To the north is the little town

of Sagan, where Frederick the Great met with one
of his few defeats at the hands of the Russians, and
in the south is Landshut, where he fared equally ill
with the Austrians. Still the locality suggests me-
mories most glorious to the Prussian arms, for to
the east and south-east are Leignitz and Schweid-
nitz, the two fields where those victories were gained,
which, with Leuthen and Rossbach, established for
ever the fame of the hero of the Seven Years' War.