The Express.
London, England, 1854-01-12 00:00:00

DENMARK.

Letters from Berlin speak of a difference that has
sprung. up in the Danish ministry, with respect to
the Oriental question. The majority, who deealetl.s
represent the public feeling of the country, &deist(' a
junction with England. The President of the minis.
ten, on the other hand, bad insisted upon Denmark's
adherence to her old terms of amity with Russia.
It is thought extremely probable, in the event of
hostilities breaking out, that Count ReeentlovCri-
minil
would become the Minister of Foreign main.
The coast defences set on foot by the Danish minis-
try are mostly confined to Alsen, which is
to be metamorphosed into an island-fortress
as strong as possible. Concurrently with
this, Denmark is endeavouring to deprive,
as far as in her lies, the fortress of fiends.
burg of all its strategetical importance, because the
18,000 troops absolutely required to man the works
could no longer be maintained. Besides, in case of
a war, Danish egotism is satisfied with defending
itself, without heeding the Duchies.
Letters from Holstein of the 4th inst. are much to
the same effect. One correspondent says that a
Danish ministerial crisis is at hand; the present
Minister of Foreign Affairs will resign, and the
Minister for Holstein, Count Reventlov-Criminil,will
be his successor. Mr. Scheel, the Itoyal COMMiI•
sioner in the Holstein Diet, will then enter the Hol-
stein Ministry. The Count's qualifications for Lis
office are said to rest partly upon his intimate
acquaintance with the Courts of Vienna and St.
Petersburg, partly also upon his uncommon tact and
the flexible dexterity of his character. Certain
in-
dividuals regard this as essential for a post in which
the occupant will have carefully to avoid all collision
with either party.

INDIA AND CHINA.

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

We have received our despatches in and

of the Overland Mail.

The dates are :—Calcatta, Dec. 6; Madras, liEc.

[0; Shanghai, Nov. 19; Amoy, Nov. 18; Hong

Kong, Nov. 27 ; Singapore, Dec. 4 ; Penang, Dee. 0
Galle, Dec. 13; Bombay, Dec. 14 ; Burmah, Nor. 20.
The following is the summary of the h•.nib

Times :

We are in receipt of intelligence from Burnish to
the 21st nit., which tends to confirm the warlike
reports which have been recently bruited abroad in
reference to Pegu. It is alleged that a chief styled
Meng-Dat-Meng, (or the Fighting Prince) is to leave
Ave on the 20tis instant with a large force,
and that on the same date an insurrection is

to break out simultaneously in the different
towns and districts of Pcgu. A chief is also at Tha-
rawaddy with 10,000 men under his command, and it
is reported, and seems believed in by the inhabitants
of the country, that he has received the honorary
title of the "Nine Golden Umbrellas," and has been
appointed governor in futuro of Rangoon on the
faith of hie promises to drive us out of the country.
Governors in embryo have likewise been nominated
to Tonghoo and Martaban, and a robber chief named
Moung Byo, at present in the vicinity of Pegu, has
been appointed governor of that province and byriare.
This worthy is to commence operations against us
as soon as the plains become dry enough to admit
of his doing so, and, in common with his confreres,
is to keep the country in as great a state of dip
organisation and tumult as possible tinto the
arrival at Rangoon of the "Fighting Prince."
He, last month, sent word to the Gonna of
a village about twenty miles distant from:Pegu, that
he required his presence, and that of all his followers,
at his head-quarters ; a refusal was returned, and in
consequence the village was entered, the brother of
the Goung was decapitated, while his son and
heir was speared in the presence of his afflicted
mother, whom the wretches spared as she
was pretty, and took prisoner to their boats; the
lady, however, having found an opportunity,
jumped overboard and swam to the shore, where
she laid herself until next day, when she gave in-
formation to the authorities, and had four of the
party arrested. We are glad to learn that a com-
bined attack on the rest of this band of robbers is in
contemplation, when there seems every probability
that they will either be shot or burg.
As to the amount of credence to be given
to the rumours of a war in December in
Burmah, if we are to judge from the reports
which reach us, the country appears to be in a most
distressing state, and there seems some foundation
for supposing that the different bands of Dacoits now
pillaging on every side are under the guidance of
some able hand, who keeps himself quiet.
From the North West weave informed that a portion
of the force alluded to in oar last summary had
marched from Peshawar to Muttannee, under the
command of Col. Cotton, for the purpose of blockading
the Afresdies in the Khohat Pass while we built a tort
at Bazeed Khel. The object in erecting this
fart is to prevent the A freedies cultivating the land
at the base of the bills without permission, thus effec.
tually subjugating the tribe by rendering their very
existence dependent on their good conduct. The
blockade which is now maintained cuts off their

communication with either Kohat or Peshawar.
A skirmish took place, the particulars of which
are, that Captain Coke, who commands the bri-
gade, blockaded one end of the pass, and permitted a
body of Bungoosh Affghans, under the command of
Shere Khan, to attack the Koetul. The Atiffiaus
were beaten off, and Captain Coke then took up
three of his own companies, and succeeded in re-
pulsing his antagonists, not however before he was
himself wounded slightly in the face by a buliet.
The Koetul still !email), in the pos.sess:‘a
of the Afreedies, and Captain Coke has ma•
tared a plan for its reduction by his own men, cot
wishing again to trust to the Bungooshees. The
mountain train left Peshawur for Celonel Cotto:ts
camp on the 21st ultimo, and teals of all descrip-
tions and one hundred barrels of gunpowder had
been despatched for its use. The hill tribes, it is
stated, had surrendered ; their supplies were reduced
to forty-five maunds of grain, and thus being nearly
starved they came in. Sir John Lawrence has coa-
sented to remove the blockade, provided the tribes
agree to our holding military possession of the pais
and to our building forts in it. Since writing the
above we find that a gallant operation has txea
planned and suceesfully carried out against the tribe
of the " Borees" who reside in an almost inaccessible
valley in the pan. The force is now commanded by
Colonel Boileau who has rejoined H. M.'s 22nd Foot,
and, on the 29th ultimo, a party consisting of the
Mountain (mule) train, four hundred men of
Her Majesty's 22nd Regiment, two hundred of
the 20th Regiment N. 1., four hundred of the nOth
or Goorka Regiment, and four hundred and fifty of
the Guide Corps, proceeded to penetrate the outer
range of hills, at two points, distant shout a mile
and a half from each other. The Guidi s pushed

on with the intention of taking the enemy in
flank, and this manoeuvre was so successful,
that on the main body of the force entering the
Amhergush pass, they found it abandoned,
although the burning embers and half rested Indian
corn which were found, proved that the enemy bad
made a most precipitate retreat. The force on de•
ploying from the Amhergush l'ass re-united and
shortly after came to three villages of the Boras
situated at the foot of some precipitous crag!,,
which, before the villages could be invaded.
became necessary to gain possession of. The duty
devolved upon the Goorkas and Guides, who, ird
on by Lieutenants Hodson and Turner, effected
the capture in gallant style, driving the enemy
from crag to crag, and keeping them at bay from 11
in the morning until 3 in the afternoon. Every
inch of the ground was disputed by the Afreedeer,
and Lieut. Turner especially has distinguished hut.
self. The three villages were afterwards bunt;
the want of gunpowder, which unfortunately Nvis
in charge of the Sappers who had fallen in
the rear, and had received orders to stand
fast at the Shergush Pass, alone prevented s
number of small towers being blown up. fhe
chief commissioner witnessed the operations, and the
scene which tho burning villages presented in the
mountain fastnesses is described as grand and solemn,
the.