DENMAEK. 



DERBISHIRE, STEWART. 339 



only ford over the Schlei, at Misunde, where 

 a few companies of Schleswig-Holsteiners 

 forced a passage across the ford against the 

 volunteers under Aldrosser and Von der Tann, 

 whereby the Danes were compelled to retreat 

 earlier than they otherwise would have done. 



" At present the nature of the fortifications is 

 entirely changed. Since 1850 the attention of 

 the Danes has been directed to strengthening 

 the Dannewerke, and they have chiefly en- 

 deavored to fortify the weak point on the riv- 

 er Treene, and oppose sufficient obstacles to 

 another attack from the rear. 



" To achieve their object they took possession 

 of the town of Fredrickstadt, where the above- 

 named river falls into the Eider. This place 

 they fortified, and, as is well known, the 

 Schleswig-Holsteiners, at the close of 1850, 

 vainly endeavored to take it by assault. At 

 present Frederickstadt, with the tete du pont 

 on the Holstein bank of the Eider, forms, on 

 account of its swampy situation, an uncom- 

 monly strong point, since the passage over the 

 Eider is completely commanded on this side, 

 and it could only be reduced by a regular 

 and very difficult siege. Even supposing 

 an enemy were to pass the Treene, either 

 above or below Frederickstadt, little would 

 be gained, since the whole land as far as 

 Frederickstadt, two German miles beyond 

 Schleswig, is cut up by canals and water- 

 courses which can all be filled by opening four- 

 teen sluices, arranged for that purpose in the 

 Treene. The few dams which form the means 

 of communication in this extensive system of 

 inundation works are in addition commanded 

 at all fitting points by intrenchments, and 

 larger works, as far as Hellingstadt. At the 

 commencement of the town of Schleswig, on 

 the heights rising from the mainland, a series of 

 powerful batteries, armed with guns of the 

 heaviest caliber, offer a new hindrance to the 

 advancing foe. The Austrians, to whose share, 

 according to the latest accounts, the task of at- 

 tacking this position is to fall, will find it no 

 easy matter. Still the difficulties which await 

 the Prussians in their advance by the Rends- 

 burg road are still greater. The intrench- 

 ments commence at this point, at the village of 

 "Wedelspang, and the first line stretches toward 

 the east through the Selker Noer to the Schlei, 

 toward the west in the neighborhood of the 

 Rothen Krug, to which point the batteries ex- 

 tend from the opposite direction of Helling- 

 stadt, and at the junction the defences are 

 crowned with a very powerfully armed and 

 fortified battery. A second line of intrench- 

 ments commences behind these, with a strong 

 block-house at Bustorf, comparable to a small 

 fortress, and culminates in the opposite direc- 

 tion at Husbye, which again, being transform- 

 ed into a kind of large place d'armes, is con- 

 nected with Hellingstadt by a series of smaller 

 intermediate works. This second line entirely 

 commands the first, and Bustorf, in particular, 

 Bars impregnable by assault, owing to the 



deep and extended Bustorf dyke, situated be- 

 tween that place and the Schlei. 



" A third and last line of intrenchments ex- 

 tends from the town of Schleswig over the 

 Erdbeerburg, the Anneten hohe, and the Pul- 

 verholz, as far as the Zoological Gardens, and 

 here again it is connected with the works 

 extending from Husbye and the village of 

 Schubyke. Finally, to prevent a passage of 

 the Schlei, and an attack from thence, the 

 ford at Misunde is powerfully fortified, and a 

 very strong tete du pont constructed there." 



" Intrenchments, furnished with guns of the 

 heaviest caliber, are also raised at every point 

 where any attempt of the sort could possibly 

 be made." 



DERBISHIRE, STEWART, "Printer to the 

 Queen's Most Excellent Majesty " in the prov- 

 ince of Canada. Mr. Derbishire was the son 

 of an English gentleman, the late Dr. Derbi- 

 shire, of Bath, England. Dr. Derbishire mar- 

 ried a scotch lady, Miss Allan Masterton, of 

 Edinburgh, the intimate friend of Burns ; the 

 " Allan " of the song " Here are we met, three 

 merry boys." Miss M. was distinguished for 

 great personal charms, and more than average 

 mental abilities, and was the subject of those 

 lines addressed by Burns to "Bonnie Ann." 

 Mr. Derbishire commenced life as an ensign in 

 the British array, which service he. soon left 

 and .turned to the study of the law, practising 

 with considerable eclat, having been engaged 

 in several cases of much public interest, in the 

 conduct of which he distinguished himself. 

 He defended the cause of the " Dorchester La- 

 borers" prosecuted for "machine" breaking 

 and agrarian outrages, in 1832. The case cre- 

 ated great public interest at the time. At an 

 early period of his life, Mr. D. connected him- 

 self with the London press, and he was the 

 author of a very useful little work, entitled the 

 "Parliamentary Intelligencer." He exerted 

 himself largely in the movement which effect- 

 ed the Reform Bill ; his personal as well as 

 literary services being always at the disposal of 

 his party, and ever rendered with the zeal of 

 conviction and the self-sacrificing devotion of 

 his warm-hearted nature. 



During the Spanish Constitutional "War, Mr. 

 D. was commissioned by a London journal to 

 proceed to the seat of war as special corre- 

 spondent at the headquarters of the Constitu- 

 tional army. Here he not only acquired a rep- 

 utation as a writer, but was also noted for his 

 personal bravery. He volunteered at the as- 

 sault of Irun, for which he received a medal, 

 as well as a very handsome letter from Sir De 

 Lacy Evans, the English commander. Mr. D.'s 

 conduct also earned the high approbation of 

 Narvaez, under whose eye he served in the 

 campaigns of Castile, Valladolid, and Segovia, 

 and whose orders he carried in the decisive ac- 

 tion which, terminating in the defeat of Gomez, 

 virtually placed the crown of Spain on the 

 head of Isabella the Catholic. The Boston 

 "Courier," some years ago, amongst several 



