The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-09 00:00:00

DENMARK.

The respective positions of the troops in the duchies
are these : The Saxons and Hanoverians, amount-
ing together to about 12,000 men, occupy the fron-
tier of Schleswig; the Austrians are in the south-
west of Holstein, but just within the frontiers of
the duchy, not far from the Elbe; the Prussians
have not yet entered Holstein ; they occupy
the approaches from Lubeck, The Danes
are concentrated between Schleswig and Frede-
rickstadt ; they occupy a very strong line
of defence, formed of a range of hills, the flanks of
which are covered by inundated plains. The Danish
army is estimated at nearly 60,000 men, resolute
and well commanded. Their position is protected
by field-works, and will be difficult to force.

THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.
We take the following from the New Zealand
Advertiser of Nov. 12:—" The past month has nor
been barren of events. We have had the opening
of the General Assembly, the resignation of the
Domett Ministry, the formation of a Whitaker
Administration, and the evacuation of Mere Mere,
the Maori stronghold, by the rebels. It is to be
regretted that. the Maories were permitted to escape
without sustaining any loss, with the exception of
two or three old guns, and that no efforts were
made to prevent their retreat, by attacking them
in their rear. Though it was repeatedly predicted
by the Auckland papers, and by Auckland cor-
respondents of Southern papers, that great things
were to result from the attack upon Mere
Mere, and that the Maori loss would be some
thing fearful to contemplate, it was generally
thought here that when this stronghold was taken
there would be no Maories found in it. This turns
out to be the case. On Thursday, October '29, the
new steam gunboat Pioneer made her first recon-
naissance of the native position of the Waikato,
when she was fired upon by the rebels, but without
her sustaining any injury,. General Cameron and
his staff remained half an hour making themselves
acquainted with the nature of the position. The
steamer then retired. On the Sunday following a
new post, which had been estaablished above Mere
Mere, was attacked by the rebels, when a sapper
was shot dead, and a sailor wounded in the leg.
It was supposed that one of the rebels was killed.
On the same day the Pioneer proceeded up the
river, and fired several shots at some natives.
News was soon afterwards brought that the enemy
were evacuating Mere Mere, and paddling over the
swamp in 18 large canoes. When the steamer ar-
rived at Mere Mere there was not the least sign of
the enemy. On the following day the troops landed
when the found no one to oppose them ; and the
news we hear of the rebels is that they have turned
up in the neighbourhood of the Thames, and that
the natives of that distict had joined them.
" GENERAL CAMERON'S DESPATCH.
" Head quarters, Queen's Redoubt, Nov. 4.
-
" Sir,—I have the honour to inform your Ex-
cellency that the day following the arrival here of
the Pioneer, being occupied in clearing her of
stores, &c., and in landing two 40 pounder Arm-
strong guns at Whangamariuo, which were placid
in position to command the landing-place at
Mere .Mere, I proceeded on the 29th ult. in the
Pioneer, with Commodore Sir William Wiseman,
and was enabled to make a more complete recon-
naissance than before of the enemy's works. They
occupied them strongly on this occasion, and fired
several rounds at the steamer from three guns which
tney had in position. I found that the difficulty
of landing tro .ps rapidly for an attack, and the re
sistence to be expected from the nature of the
defences, had not been over-estimated, which in-
duced me to mike a further reconnaissance higher
up the river, with the view of selecting some
point at which a force could be landed to turn
the enemy's position while his attention was occu-
pied in front by the steamer and gunboats. I,
therefore, proceeded again, on the 31st, up the
river in the Pioneer, with Sir William Wiseman,
as far as Rangariri, and, having observed a point
favourable for landing about six miles above Mere
Mere, I arranged with the Commodore to embark
the name night the force shown in the margin (3
field officers, 5 captains, 11 subalterns, 2 staff offi-
cers, 21 sergeants, 9 drummers, 612 rank and file ;
in all 663), with two 12-pour der Armstrong guns.
The Pioneer and Avon, with the four gunboats in
tow, got under way at half-past 2 o'clock on the
morning of the 31st, and reached the point fixed
for the landing about 6 o'clock. No attempt wey
made to oppose the troops, who took up a command-
ing position about 400 yards from the back of the
river. As I proposed bringing up an additional force,
on the following night, I ordered a breastwork to
be constructed for the protection of the camp,
which I left under the command of Colonel
Mould, C.B. During the afternoon of the Ist,
while the necessary preparations were in progress
for the conveyance of the remaining part of the
force, the officer in command at Whangamarino and
Maramarna rivers. I -embarked at once in the
Pioneer, with 250 men of the 12th and 14th Regi-
ments from the Koheroa, and on reaching Mere
Mere it was evident the enemy had abandoned his
'position. A party of 250 seamen, under Commander
Mayne, R.N., and the detachments from the Kohe-
roa, under the command of Colonel Austen, second
battalion,l4th Regiment, landed on the position, and
were ordered to hold the ground during the night,
which was occupied the following day bydetachments
I of the 12th, 14th, 18th, and 70th Regiments, amount-
ing to about 500 men, who are employed in throw-
ing up a redoubt there, The steamer Pioneer left
this about 10 a.m. on the 2d, for the purpose of
. communicating with the camp at Takupetohetohe,