The Express.
London, England, 1847-04-07 00:00:00

We subjoin the letter of our oorrevondent :
MA kelt

- - ,
There hag bete a complete lull in political affairs sia-e
last communications of tke 19th and 20th inst. The visit sit
Colonel Du. saga may or may not have influenced the em.
versetiens et' parties here who occupy themeless with she-
amens, public matters, but certainly there has been danag
the ten days a very observable change in the tote in
which these controversies were wont to be maintained.
Whether an arrangement is or is not now going on, the
agency employed in effecting it is to a considerable de.
gr; e occult and suopiei MS, the result of the next low days
will more el, arly snow; in the meantime, as it is neeemuy
reedy for t;:poeket, I hive merely thought it se-
to advert to the arttral phasis of the question, w{.ll.
out entering more deeply into epecul dimes on the subject,
which misht turn out to be altogether unfunded. Tee
Spanish commissioner arrived here,e.s I stated, oa Saterdey,
the 20th inst. He was co .ducted to the pris ote residence of the
Count dis Antos, who directed General Career, the cc it er
officer iu charge 0: Cie defences, to conduct the colonel ever
the lines. the Sunday Colonel &mange had an interv;eu
with Mt !•:s. Manuel and Jose Poses ,• and on the fillowieg
day, ins!enl, as he had stated it to be his intention in his
letter, ci procecdiug to Vigo by sea (nmich he mieLt hue
done, as the packet communicated), ht returned again to the
head-quarters of the Queen's general ; and, as ha. bees in.
timated to rue from a well-informed quarter, it is probable
he has gone to List; so, in order to communicate the result of
his visit to the parties on wheat behalf he woo cent hither.
In the meantime, I am assured that his luggage remains at
Oporto, a circumstance which indicates his intention to re-
turn. The Viscount de Si did not have any cummulication
with Col. Buenoga, unless the interchange .;f mutual compli-
meets dnring an accidental rencontre on the road may be so
termed. no: has the Spaniard'. visit altered the destination el
the projected expedition under the command of the siscount,
who, after three unmeeessful attempts, the last of which
was made yesterday, at length, this day at 2 e.x. got safely
over the lior, and proceeded on his desination. As the ex-
pedition has Ooll' got clear off, it may not be imprudent to
observe that I entertain some Anubta as to its being ready
intended fur the Alearves ; and these doubts are chiefly
created by its having curve to my knowledge that the Porto
steamer had only 24 hours' supply of coal on board yeearilay,
at the moment when she was hilly expected to be tarried
over the Bar. Probably the intention of the Viscount de 8i
is to lard his division at Aveiro, and to cut off the poisige
of the Vougu from Soldanha, in case he should find it ac-
cessary to retreat by this route towards the capitol. ht
support of this supposition, it may he mentioned that
letters from Liehon of the 19th Me., and of a date
yet more recent, elate positively, that the duke has de-
clared his utter inability to Mike the projected attack,
or even to invest this city unless he is strengthened by some
tropes in 'the Minho ; and he is said to have urged his
government to demand the nei-tance of an armed force from
Spain, foiling iu obtaining which, be has offered his resigna-
tion. Though this news may be altogether apocryphal, the
position in which the marshal has so long remained readiest
it beyond a doubt that he feels his utter incapacity to assume
the offensive, and certainly his power of moving will not in-
crease with the progress of the spring.
The Count d'Alcuargem, attended by his staff, came. to
Oporto on the 26th, and left again on the 27th fur his inci-
sion this general's object in visiting the capital was to hold
a conference with the Junta respecting the stole of affairs
and of the military operations. The disposition of the carious
troops remote. as wh, n I last wrote. Oporto is at this ele-
ment very slenderly garrisoned, but the slightest appearance
of a move on the part ef Saldanha, who is still at Oliviers
d'Azemais, would suffice to concentrate several divisions
upon the capital. Vinhoes has returned, it is said, to Villa-
real, where the united division of Carol and himself is OA.
doled.

An affair between the 7th Cacadorcs and the Queen'. par-
tisans took place at Ciuninho (near Valence), on the 26th,
in which the latter were totally defeated, leaving in the
hands of the Junta's soldiers 34 prisoners, including several
officers. The 7th Cagadons is one of the best regiments in
the Portugttc,c army,and itappeare to be thoruughlystaunch
to the Septembrist colours. Another affair has taken place
at Guards, in the Beira, which I that city in the pos-
session of e Junta. Although these are only trifling suc-
cesses, they infuse a certain degree of confidence into the
popular party, which is one of the ingredients of success.
The Castle of Viana, which was closely invested, had not
yet surrendered to the foci! of the Junta at the date of the
last ailvices thence.

With respect to the commercial state of this city, I have
little or nothing to say. The English merchant., who are
interested in the cargoes and bottoms of tho ships which
have been seized and sent to Lisbon by the blockading
squadron, are loud in their complaints of the injustice and
wrong that have been done them; and. indeed, it would
seem as if the queen's government was blindly sacrificing
even the very persons who have been their partisans through-
out this revolt. A reward I:ke this, however, does not
seldom prove to be the only recompense which aliens reap
at the hands of a foreign nation into whose domestic quarrels
they obtrude themselves ; and most certainly I must say
that more vigorous, blind, undiacriminatiog partisanship
than that displayed by a certain section of our countrymen
who are settled in Portugal has never yet been shown in any
pre•iolls domestic strife.
The expedition under the Viscount Sada Bandeira has
now put to sea. It consists of the Mindello, Porto, and
Vesuvia steamers, and a small armed schooner. The first
two veseele are very good sea-boats, the Miodello carrying
a 681 b. gun, and the latter four 2816, carronades. With
good management they may keep the blockading squadron
at bay, an the range of the Miodello'a long gun far exceeds
that of the Donna Marie's armament. The fact to which I
have already referred—that ti,ere were only 21 hours' coal on
board the Porto —is almost conclusive against the destination
of the expedition bing for the Algarve., which is at least
35 or 40 hours' steam distance. The number .f troops is that
which I stated in my lust letter, viz., 1,200, consisting of the
Fusiliers of Liberty, the battalion of Coimbra, and one of
the battalions called the Legionaries, all of which are Meade
and tried molten, enthusiastic in the cause, well nilicsered
and armed. The Count de Taipa and Mendez Leite (who
conducted the recent successful fray on Aveiro) are of the
party.
Arum I.—The packet which sailed from Southampton
on the '27th, arrived off the Bar yesterday, at 3 o'clock, p.m.
She brought intelligence from Vigo that the blockading
squadron had received a reinforcement of two steamers,
mz., the Duke of Cornwall and the Royal Tar, armed with
heavy guns, and parily mann. dby English seamen. Some
supplies hal been thrown the Castle of Viana, by the
Donna Maria frigate. The vessels of war were ex petted off
the port, and a report has been brought up from the Fox
that three of them are already visible in the offing. Not-
withstanding these symptoms of vigour, two English mer-
chantmen end a Dutch gailiot entered the river yester-
day, and the former were immediately taken up for
the purpose of shipping Port wines to England, at the high
freight of 63a. per ton. Tl,c Black Cat, schooner, laden with
urns and ammunition, and having on board, it is said, a
Miguelitc agent with a supply of money, was shortly ex-
petted off the coast ; her exact destination was not known,
but that will probably depend upon circumstances, as she
will land her cargo whenever the most favourable engem-
! nity for doing so with advantage may present itself. The
expedition under the command of the Viscount Sada Ban-
dews has also the same orders, viz..: to lan4 either to the
north or the south of the Tagus, as circumstances best dictate.
There is nothing new to report with respect to the military
movements on either side. Saldanha is reported to have
detached the 10th regiment (his rearguard) to Coimbra,
with two guns, and 150 horse ; but this is not a certaiaty.
A letter from his camp, dated the 2Sth (the day before the
expedition sailed hence), asserted that 2,100 infantry awl 2.10
horse were about to be despatched from Lisbon to the Alma-
tejo ; but this statement is evidently intended to deceive, as
the Queen's government has no such disposable form at its.
i command in the capital.