The Press.
London, England, 1857-06-06 00:00:00

THE EXPEDITION TO PERSIA.

THE latest intelligence from Mohammerah, up to
the 22nd of April, states that the troops continue
healthy, but that the weather was becoming hot, and
that the known insalubrity of this " pestilential hole "
was exciting the anxious solicitude of Sir James
Outram for the care of his soldiers. The ground
twelve miles higher up the Karoon was being
examined in the hope that it might prove a better
situation for the camp
We are in great difficulty about our troops. Sir James,
it appears, had intended, on hearing that peace had been
signed, to withdraw a large portion of them to India, in
order to prevent their unnecessary exposure to this dread-
ful climate during the summer months. Now it is re-
ported that he does not feel himself authorised to do so,
and must house the troops and supply them, here and at
Bushire, as best he may. It is said that he is greatly
annoyed at being thus unnecessarily embarrassed, and who
can wonder at it ? However, he intends to do the best he
can, and is at work day and night giving directions and
superintending the arrangements for the location of the
troops. Captain Green, his military secretary, and the
quartermaster-general are to be despatched to Sablah, a
place twelve miles higher up on the banks of the Karoon,
to report upon its fitness for a military camp ; and Sir
James intends going thither himself, with General
Havelock and the superintending surgeon, to see how far
it promises to be a healthy locality. It is beyond the
swamps, and mud huts may be erected there without
great difficulty. One great drawback is that the summer
is fast approaching, and unless the men have better
protection than tents great sickness may arise among
them.

Something of the same kind is to be done at Bushire,
and Sir James talks of going thither as soon as he has
perfected the arrangements here. If the Ministry at home
had only left matters in his hands a better peace would
have been made, and one condition would have been that
he should locate his troops in the most healthy locality
while it was necessary for them to occupy the country.
According to the terms of the treaty the ratifications may
be delayed till the beginning of June, and we are to con-
tinue here till Affghanistan has been evacuated by the
Persian troops, and until the British mission has been
received at Teheran.—Letterfroni Camp, April 2nd.

The Persian army was even in a less satisfactory
condition than our own :

Reports received from the districts about Shuster and
Dizful give a lamentable description of the Persian army.
After their disgraceful flight at the appearance of the
three small river steamers they retired to Dizful, and
were plundered at every step by hordes of marauding
Arabs. Shortly after their arrival at that post an urgent
application was received by the Shahzadah from the
Government party at Shuster, representing that the
sheiks and townspeople were ripe for revolt, and would
certainly massacre them unless assistance were sent to
them immediately. The Shahzadah accordingly marched
thither with several regiments, but their situation is
rather precarious, as the people are reported to be plotting
with the Itukhtiari fur their expulsion. The entire army
is unpruvided with tents, and very badly off for supplies.
The Shahzadah is anxious to retire upon Ispahan, but
such is the attitude assumed by the Bukhtiari and Seg-
wend that he is atraid to attempt a march through the
passes. His own son prepared to start for the interior a
short time ago, but dread of the wild mountain tribes has
decided him to remain where he is for the present. There
can be little doubt that were it now allowable for us to ad-
vance upon Shuster, the whole Persian army would
surrender et discretion rather than fight or attempt to furce
their way towards Ispahan.

Great dissatisfaction appears to be felt in the Anglo-
Indian camp at the sudden conclusion of peace :

The longlookelfor steamer Comet has arrived from
Bagdad, bringing Galignani up to the Irith ult. J suppose
the draught of the treaty therein published may be
regarded as authentic. As far as I can learn, Ferouk
Khan had consented to much more than we have now
obtained from Persia in his negotiations with Lord Strat•
ford de Itedcliffe, and what has finally been agreed upon
seems to be very much below what we had imperatively
demanded. All these concessions, moreover, have been
made subsequent to our successes over the Persian forces.
We feel persuaded that, though Sir James might not have
insisted upon all the original demands, he would certain!),
have obtained something more than what hes now satis•
fled the English Ministry.—lb.

Several accidents in the Karoon are reported.
Among them that of a youngster named Birch, a
midshipman of the Falkland, who while bathing in a
creek was carried away by the stream and drowned
before assistance could be rendered.

A letter from Bagdad, May 4, gives some details
of interest concerning the intended return to Teheran
of the British Mission :

The Government of his Majesty the Shah•in•Shah of
Iran hes apparently shown no disinclination to confirm
tho treaty of peace entered into at Paris on the 4th of
March of this year between Lord Cowley on the part of
England, and Ferouk Khan on that of Persia; for
although by the articles of the treaty three months were
allowed before it was necessary that the respective copies,
after having been ratified at London and Teheran, should
he exchanged at Bagdad, yet so great has been the speed
at which the Persian messengers hare travelled that the
further ratinntion of the peace baa taken place one DAQ3I,OI

553

and two days before the stipulated time. It is rather re•
markable, as showing the great desire of the Persians for
peace, that the bearer of the Teheran copy of the treaty
actually arrived here before the English copy of the
treaty had been received. It is to be hoped that the Per-
sians will show the same alacrity in withdrawing their
troops from Herat.

Hassan•Ali•Khan, the chief of the Ghabour tribe, is on
his way here to tender the requisite explanations to Mr.
Murray, and to invite him in the name of the Shah of
Persia to return to Teheran.

It is likely that the British Embassy will leave Bagdad
in fifteen days from this time. As the markets have been
drained to supply the wants of the army at Bushire there
will be some difficulty in procuring the necessary number
of mules and other beasts of burden, and the cortege of the
ambassador will be numerous ( probably 500), including
the Persians who took refuge under his protection.
The mission has now been resident at Bagdad for more
than twelve months, and never at any time have there been
so many English together within the walls of the ancient
city of the Caliphs as at the present. Including some
officers of General Oritram's staff, there may be nearly
twenty English here in all, yet the natives of the city are
by no means as yet accustomed to the novelty of their
appearance, and they are followed by crowds wherever
they go.

Major Barr, of the Bombay army, has been for some
days employed in taking photographic views of the mosques
and minarets and ancient buildings of the city.

Mr. r3tephens, her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Tehe-
ran, leaves to day for London with the ratified copy of the
Anglo-Persian Treaty.

The Persians here seem to be rather amused than grafi-
fled at the favour shown to their countryman Ferouk Khan
at Paris and London, and all say that the treaty would
have been received with greater favour had it been rt ferret
for confirmation to Sir James Outran, who came out tr•on
England not only to assume the command of the anal*
but empowered to treat for peace.
It will be impossible to remove the army from
Bushire until the month of September, on account of the
south•western monsoon, which sets in about the middle of
June.

There might be time to withdraw a portion of the Euro.
pean troops before then, but we must remain until the
conditions of the treaty have been fulfilled ; though, in
truth, the Persians do not seem disposed to avoid them.
An officer of high rank is to meet the English mission at
the frontier, and each tribe is to furnish an escort through
its territories. It is expected the march will occupy six
weeks.

Mr. Stevenson, consul at Bagdad, has arrived in
London with the ratified treaty, which will shortly be
laid before Parliament.

GENERAL CONCHA AT CUBA.—A recent letter from
Madrid gives the following account of the policy of
General Concha towards the slave dealers of Cuba :
"In the early days of this (his second) command in
Cuba he pursued the slave trade with extraordinary
rigour and activity. Cordons of troops were estab-
lished on all sides, and frequent domiciliary visits
were made to the plantations. When this vigilance
and severity had produced their effect, and, owing to
the rarity of the article, the value of negroes had
nearly doubled itself, the Captain General suddenly
relaxed the rein, and connived at importation, on
condition of receiving four ounces per head fur each
negro, instead of two, with which his predecessors
had contented themselves. It is estimated that
10,000 slaves have been brought into Cuba during
his command there, and that he has made about
800,000 dollars by the transaction. To this enor-
mous sum must be added, it is said, others also
very considerable, received in the form of pots de
vin, in other words, bribes, for preferences and
protection granted to particular enterprises. So
that General Jose Concha, who is noted for his
parsimony, will return to Europe with a princely
fortune."

A NEW MANURE has been invented by M. Biches,
a gentleman of some note in the agricultural world
in Paris. It is a chemical composition, the nature
of which is still kept secret by the inventor ; but its
mode of application is rather curious, the grain in-
tended to be sown being mechanically coated with
the compound previously to its being consigned to
the earth. The rich principle being thus in imme-
diate contact with the seed to be developed, the soil
needs no other kind of manure. Four pounds of
the compound are sufficient for an acre of land.
According to M. Biches experiments, the application
of his manure would raise the present yield of
France from 82,000.000 hectolitres of wheat to
410,000,000. Dr. Stockhard, Professor at the
Academy of Tharand, in Saxony, has lately pro-
nounced in favour of this system.
A NEW DISCOVERY or GUANO has taken place off
Cuba. The Keys rocks, just off the south side of the
island, have Leen found to be covered with guano to
that extent that 150,000 tons might Le " annually
extracted." Upon an analysis this guano presents
some singular properties distinct from the guano of
Peru, for it possesses uric acid, urate of ammonia,
ammoniacal salts, forty per cent of sulphate of tuna,
and twenty peg ccut of phosphate of lime.

554

Court nb lastion.

THE GRAND DUKE CONSTANTINE.

His IMPERIAL HIGHNESS paid a brief visit to her
Majesty the Queen at Osborne on Saturday last,
returning to the Continent at daylight on the
Monday following. The Admiralty yacht had been
despatched to Cherbourg to bring over the Prince,
who slept on board on Friday night, the yacht,
putting to sea at six a.m. on Saturday morning. No
salutes were fired either by the garrison or ships in
port as the Osborne steamed out. While en route,
after breakfast, his Highness expressed a wish that
the officers of the Osborne should be presented to
him, and Captain Seymour accordingly presented the
different officers of the ship, among them Mr. G. H.
K. Bower, Master, R.N., commanding the Osborne
(who was toaster of the Agamemnon, under Admiral
Lyons, when she " went in " at Sebastopol, at the
bombardment), and whom the Grand Duke asked if
be did not find himself in a very "hot berth." The
reply of the gallant officer is not recorded. The
yacht, making a remarkably quick passage across,
arrived off Hurst Castle by half-past twelve, and was
saluted by the garrison with twentyone guns.
A look-out man was stationed at Hurst Castle, by
whom the approach of the yacht was signalled to
Osborne, and her Majesty was thus informed of the
arrival of her Imperial visitor almost as soon as the
Osborne came in sight.
Near Cowes was lying the United States' paddle-
wheel frigate Susquehanna, recently arrived in order
to assist in laying down the Atlantic submarine
telegraph cable. This was the first vessel to salute
the Grand Duke on his arrival in England. The
Osborne neared her at 12.55, when Captain Sands
immediately beat to quarters, manned yards, and
saluted with twenty-one guns in good style. The
royal yacht squadron battery at Cowes also saluted
as the Osborne passed, and soon after her Majesty's
ship Eurydice anchored near Osborne, paid the same
cimpliment, with manned yards and ship dressed.
The yacht arrived off Osborne at 1.25. Captain the
Hon. Joseph Denman immediately put off in the
Queen's barge, and landed his Highness at Osborne
pier, where is Royal Highness Prince Albert,
accompanied by the Prince of Wales and Prince
Alfred, received the Grand Duke. The guard of
honour was from the 93rd Highlanders, and his
Highness looked at them with an expression of con-
siderable interest and admiration. M. de Sabouroff,
M. de Golovnine, M. de Haurowitz, Colonel de Greig,
aide-de-camp, Prince Ouchtomsky, and eleven
inferior attendants, landed with the Duke. The
royal party and the suite immediately got into her
Majesty's carriages in waiting, and drove to the
house, the Grand Duke, the Prince, the Prince of
Wales, and Prince Alfred occupying the first
carriage. The Queen, accompanied by the Princesses,
the Duchess of Kent, and the Duke of Cambridge,
aid attended by the Earl of Clarendon and by
the Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting, received
the Grand Duke at the hall door. After the
%twat introductions the royal party lunched, and
in the afternoon the Queen and Prince, accom-
psnied by the Grand Duke and the Duke of
Cambridge, walked and drove in the grounds.
In the evening the royal dinner party included his
Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Constantine,
their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Kent, the
Princess Royal, and the Duke of Cambridge, his
Serene Highness Prince Leiningen, the Russian
Minister and Countess Chreptowitch, the Earl of
Clarendon, Viscount Palmerston, Lady A. Bruce,
Captain J. H. Seymour, R.N., M. de Sabouroff, M. de
Golovnine, M. de Haurowitz, Colonel Greig, and
Prince Ouchtomsky, in waiting to the Grand Duke,
and Colonel Tyrwhitt.

On Sunday, his Imperial Highness spent the
morning in his own apartments, and gave audiences
to Viscount Palmerston and to Lord Clarendon.
In the afternoon, her Majesty, accompanied
by Prince Albert, the Grand Duke, and the
Duke of Cambridge, embarked on board the royal
yacht, which at once stood away towards Spithead.
The keen look-out kept on board the squadron de-
tected the royal yacht before she had moved two
lengths from Osborne. The ships were moored in
two lines, and the Colossus, Exmouth, Archer,
Malacca, and Brisk, beat to quarters, and got ready
to salute, while the crews of the Vesuvius, Devasta-
tion, Volcano, Rolla, and Sealark stood ready to
man yards. As the royal yacht approached, with
the Russian ensign at the fore and the Royal
standard at the main, the salute was thundered out
from the squadron with manned yards, and with the
standards of Russia and England at the fore and
main. The unwonted sound of a royal salute from
the squadron on a Sunday afternoon brought all the
loungers of Portsmouth to the beach.
The yacht then stood well out to tea. It had
been intended that the royal party should have
{node it trip round the islt►nd, but a stiff breeze

THE PRESS.

blew outside, with a heavy swell, so that after steam-
ing out about twenty wiles the yacht's head was
put about, and she returned through Spithead, the
same ceremonies being observed as she repassed the
squadron.
The royal party were landed at Osborne pier at seven
p.m. The dinner party included the same names as
on the previous day, and at eleven that evening his
Imperial Highness the Grand Duke took leave of the
Queen, and, accompanied by Prince Albert, embarked
on board the Osborne for the night. His Royal High-
ness Prince Albert returned to Osborne, and at five
a.m. on Monday the yacht weighed and left, under a
salute of twenty one guns from the "R. Y. S."
battery at Cowes. As she approached Spithead,
with the Grand Duke's standard at the main, the
Exmouth, 90 gun ship, led off a general royal salute
from the squadron at Spithead, all with mastheads
dressed. By a quarter to six the Osborne was out of
sight from Port,mouth, and steaming away at full
speed for Calais, where she arrived safely at seven
p.m., and landed his Imperial Highness, who on
Tuesday morning proceeded by rail to Antwerp,
en route to the Hague and Hanover.

Her Majesty and the Court returned to town on
Thursday from Osborne.
The Queen holds her first drawing-room this
season to-day (Saturday) et St. James's Palace.
It is expected that the Queen will proceed on
Tuesday, the 9th of June, to Windsor Castle, where
her Majesty will dispense the usual royal hosp►tali-
ties during the Ascot races.
The following Court receptions have also been
appointed :—Thursday, June 18, Queen's levee at
St. James's ; Friday, June 19, concert at Bucking-
ham Palace; Tuesday, June 23, Queen's second
drawing room at St. James's; Wednesday, June 24,
Queen's state ball at Buckingham Palace ; Friday,
July 3, concert at Buckingham Palace ; Thursday,
July 9, Queen's state ball at Buckingham Palace.

Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston arrived in
town on Thursday from Broadlands.

Viscount Stratford de Bedeliffe and the Hon. Miss
Canning have arrived in town from Constantinople,
with the intention of passing a few months in this
country.
Miss Burdett Coutta has arrived in town for the
season.

Earl Fitzbardinge is dying. The noble earl bas
been reconciled to Mr. Grantley Berkeley.

Volittral.

MR. WILLIAM BLANSHARD, of the Northern Circuit,
has been appointed Recorder of Doncaster, in the
room of the late Mr. Robert Hall, M.P.

THE ELECTION COMMITTEE CH kIRMEN have been
chosen as follow :—Sir J. Y. Buller, Mr. J. M.
Cobbett, Mr. Deasy, Mr. E. C. Egerton, Mr. E.
Ellice, junior, Mr. Milnes Gaskell, Mr. G. A. Hamil-
ton, Mr. Gathorne Hardy, Mr. T. E. Headlam, Mr.
Ingham, Mr. Scholefield, Mr. tier Seymer. The
five panels from which the members to serve on
committees are chosen have been drawn as follows :
No. 1, E ; No. 2, D ; No. 3, C ; No. 4, B ; No. 5, A.

THE CONFIRMATION OF THE HON. J. T. PELH.AM
as Bishop of Norwich, was celebrated at Bow Church,
Cheapside, on Thursday. The proceedings were
only formal. Her Majesty's writ for the election,
the record of the election by the dean and chapter,
and the decree of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
were read and subscribed by the vicar-general. The
bishop elect then took and subscribed the oaths
of supremacy, abjuration, simony, and canonical
obedience. There remain two other ceremonies—
viz., the consecration and enthronement of the new
prelate.

A PUBLIC MEETING OF BEERSF.LLERS wag held on
Tuesday at the London Tavern, to concert measures
for securing the rejection of Mr. Hardy's Beer Bill.
The principal arguments adduced by the different
speakers against the bill were—first, it was not re-
quired, as it was an incontestable fact that drunken-
ness was on the decrease ; and, secondly, that it would
ruin the prospects and confiscate the property of the
40,000 persons now engaged in the beer trade. Several
speakers addressed the meeting, urging the utmost
resistance to the bill, but Mr. Bishop, the secretary,
said that having recently corresponded on this sub-
ject with the trade in several large towns, he was
sorry to find that great indifference prevailed among
them with regard to Mr. Hardy's bill, and that the
general feeling was that it would not dolthebeerseller
much injury. Resolutions in accordance with the
object of the meeting were then carried, and the
proceedings terminated.
THE ENFIELD SMALL-ARMS FACTORY, it appears from
an official report, cost in the gross total amount of
money expended from the Ist day of January, 1854,
to the 31st day of March, 1837 (31 years), 240,5931.,
including 75,9801. for buildings, 64,667/. for
machinery, 27,2701. for Moro; 4,7161. for salaries? and
67,9521, for wades,

SATURDAY,

THE CIVIL SERVICE ESTIMATES (NOS. 1 and 2)
have been published. No. 1 is the estimate for
public works and buildings, which amounts in toto
to 919,4521., equivalent to an increase of 21,882/. 43
compared with 1856. The items run thus—viz.,
196,1461. for public buildings and royal palaces
(Great Britain), 116,3451. for royal parks and
gardens, Ste., 162,861/. for the new Houses of Parini.
ment, 120,0001. for Holyhead Harbour, 224.0001. for
harbours of refuge, 443/. for Port Patrick Harbour,
77,557/. for public buildings in Ireland, and 22,1001.
fur Kingstown Harbour. No. 2 includes the salaries
and expenses of public departments, which form a
grand total amount of 1,509,1161., against 1,514,•203/.
tor the year 1850.

THE BALLOT SOCIETY met on Tuesday, and
passed the following resolutions in reference to the
parliamentary proceedings of the session :
That this committee desire to record their conviction
that the motion to be made by Lord R. Cecil on Thursday
next, for a committee to inquire into the expediency of
collecting the votes at elections in counties and univet.
sines by way of voting•papers, ought to be opposed by
every member of Parliament favourable to the ballot.
That Mr. Berkeley, M.P., be requested to bring on
motion for the ballot it possible on Tuesday, June 30th,