The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-28 00:00:00

THE PENINSULAR MAIL

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-ship
Poonah, Captain Sparkes, with the Peninsular and heavy
portion of the Bombay mail, has arrived. She brings 119
passengers, including the lion. Mr Wind&ld and Captain
Johnston from Gibraltar.

The Poonah has in freight 8 packages of specie, value
£1,511, also 90 packages of silks and shawls, 50 bales of
cotton, and 159 packages of sundries,
On the 19th the Poonah spoke the steamer Baroda and
steam-ship Himalaya bound to Malta. On the 22d she
spoke the steamer Laconia bound east.

Her Majesty's gun-boats Procris and Redpole were at
Gibraltar, the Pysche, Tamer, Marlborough, and Cossack
were at Malta, and the Turkish frigate Raschel and trench
frigate Perdri± wore at Alexandria,
Her Majesty's screw-frigate Galatea, 26 guns, from Port-
land, arrived at Gibraltar on the 20th, and proceeded on
course up the Meditirranean,

e4iIIRALtAR, May 2.

The Riff pirates hi the neighbourhood of Melilla seem
little disposed to be peaceful neighbours of the Spanish for-
tress, notwithstanding the settlement of the new territorial
limits by the Sultan's brother, Muley-el-Abbas, about a year
ago. The last letters from Melilla say that on the night of
April 22 the Ruffians had destroyed some of the Spanish
works in the newlytannexed territory. The Spanish engi-
neers, it seems, have been constructing roads, bridges, and
drainage works in the vicinity of their fortress, and the
Riffians, it is said, imagine that the roads were intended to
facilitate the transport of artillery into the interior, and
under this impression endeavoured to stop the progress of
the works.

The steamer Sydney Hall, which arrived on Monday from
the western coast of Batbary, brings no commercial intelli-
gence of importance. The Sultan's edict in favour of the
Jews, issued on the solicitation of Sir Moses Montefiore,
does not appear to be at once productive of the practical
benefit anticipated by the Hebrew portion of the Sultan's
subjects. The fact is, that equal treatment of Mahometan
and Jew is so alien to the spirit and praotice of the Moorish
authorities that it must be some time before the principle of
even-handed justice to all his subjects inculcated by tha
Sultan will be voluntarily carried out by his subordinates.
In the meantime, however, the Jews invoke the protection
of the representatives of the Christian Powers in the king-
dom of Morocco when Moorish governors commit acts of
violence or oppression in contravention of the Sultan's edict.
We believe that all the foreign representatives have now
received instructions from their respective Governments on
this subject. In addition to those before named, we are
informed that the consuls-general of Portugal and the
United States have been instructed to afford every protec-
tion to the Moorish Jew.

The French Government is reported to have made certain
demands on that of the Sultan in consequence of the murder
of a French subject some months ago near one of the gates
of Tetuan, and of the asylum afforded in Morocco territory
to one of the Arab chiefs implicated in the recent rebellion
in Algeria. The following are reported to be the specific
demands of the French, to which they require compliance
within 40 days, threatening to blockade the Morocco ports
if due satisfaction is not given:-1. The surrender of the
murderers of the French subject, or, if they cannot be dis-
covered, the payment of an indemnity of half a million of
francs 2. The removal of Hash Hash, the governor of
Tetuan. 3. The surrender of the Arab chief who has sought
refuge in Morocco. It is generally supposed that those de-
mands will be complied with,
Another instance is reported of the sharp practice of the
Spanish artillery at Tarifa, which has lately, on several
occasions, inflicted damage on peaceful merchant vessels,
and in one case killed an English seaman in a North Shields
vessel. The sufferer this time is the Bremen brigantine
Argo, which left the Bay of Biscay yesterday afternoon for
New York. According to the master's report, he was be-
tWeert three and four miles from the shore and had not yet
arrived abreast of the Tarifa fort, when without any previ-
ous warning, he was fired into from the Spanish battery.
The ball passed through the galley and shattered the leg of
the cock. The Argo was to wed back into this bay by the
Lion Beige, and the wounded man is now under treatment
in the civil hospital here. It is not yet known, we eelieve,
whether amputation of the limb will be necessary.
The Gibraltar Chronicle of the 13th instant says—" Her
Majesty's gun-beat Procris has arrived here with the
master and sift men of the British barque Nelson, of New-
castle, the vessel which was recently wrecked on the Riff
coast, near Allitacemas. The boat which was bringing
these men to Tangier was, it seems, compelled by strong
headwinds again to seek the shore two days after starting,
and the Procris on threading her way back along the coast
discovered their whereabouts from signals made by the
Moors on land, The master end crew were very kindly
treated and all their wants provided for by the Riffians,
and the Moorish governor of the district in which they
were wrecked, Abd Islam Emkashed, The tribes of Riff
have hitherto had such a bad reputation from their acts
of piracy that it is pleasant to record this proof of their
humanity to shipwrecked mariners. The old tradition that
shipwrecked Christians are fair prey, and, if their lives are
vouchsafed them. can capect no better lot than to be carried
off into the interior as slaves, still lingers amongst the wild
tribes of the African coast. Some Spanish mariners,
wrecked on the coast below Mogador were a short time since
rescued from the hands of the local chiefs with some diffi-
culty, and after a captivity of considerable length, It seems
of importance, therefore, in the interest of shipwrecked sea-
men of every nation, that some pains should be taken to en-
courage the natives of Africa to substitute for the barbarous
practices of a former time a humane and hospitable treat-
ment of the mariners who may unfortunately be cast upon
their shores. A liberal reward for every shipwrecked sailor
brought in and safely delivered up to his consul at the
nearest port would be the most infallible means of securing

this object; and, if the Governments themselves do not
undertake to pay such reward, it may safely be asserted that,
of all the benevolent associations which are formed in Eng-
land for the accomplishment of real or imaginary good in
every part of the world, not one would be more deserving of
public support than a society for saving the lives of wrecked
seamen, the subscribers to which would know that every
shilling they gave would be employed to prevent a ship-
wrecked c,untryman being knocked on the head or carried
into captivity, and to ensure his being well treated, and
restored to his friends."

THE DANUBIAN PROVINCES,

-

The Bucharest Journal publishes different official
documents relative to the coup d'etat of Prince
Conza—his proclamation to the Roumanians, the
decree dissolving the Elective Assembly, the statute
explaining the enactments of the Convention of
1858, and the decrees on the press. The following
is the text of the proclamation :

"Roumanians,—Six years will soon have elapsed
since the political existence of Roumania, was
solemnly recognised and proclaimed in a treaty
between the Sublime Porte, our suzerain, and the
great Powers of Europe. This international act,
of the 18th of August, 1858, endowed our country
with liberal institutions the progressive develop.
meat of which would have assured our prosperity.
Roumania has nevertheless remained almost sta-
tionary. Whence arises the evil ? Having been
raised to the throne by the unanimous votes of the
Elective Assemblies, .1 had a right to expect the co-
operation of those who imposed on me the glori-
ous but difficult task of reorganising the
country. In vain have I given multiplied
proofs of the most scrupulous respect for Par-
liamentary privileges, and successively called all
parties to power; I have made numerous con-
cessions to the Assemblies, and have even spon•
taneously relinquished certain sovereign preroga-
tives; but all to no purpose. The union of the sister
Principalities has been accomplished; the monastic
property, comprising one-fifth of the whole territory
has been restored to the national domains; bat these
grand results, obtained by my Government, have
been forgotten. The interests and dignity of your
country, your wants and wishes, have been sacri..
fired to evil passions. For his devotedness to the
national cause, the elected Chief of the Roumanians
has been rewarded with outrage and calumny, and:a
factious oligarchy has unceasingly obstructed his
efforts for the public good. I resolved to make a
last appeal to the patriotism of the Assembly. In
accordance with the great principles of equality and
justice, I wished to see every Roumanian in a posi-
tion to obtain by his industry a portion of the soil ;
but the Assembly responded to:the law presented for
that purpose by a vote of censure on the Govern-
ment. Such a state of things could no longer be
endured. 1 therefore determined to call on you all
to judge between the Assembly and the elected of
Roumanians, and a new electoral law was presented
for assuring to the country a more complete and
truly national representation. This law the As-
sembly refused to discuss. I have consequently no
other alternative but to make an appeal to the na-
tion, to the citizens of all ranks and all fortunes.
" ALEXANDRE JEAN.,

FATAL SCAFFOLD ACCIDENT.—Yesterday an
aczident terminated fatally to George Pickering, aged 16
years, rc,iding in Little College-street, Westminster. It
appeared that the deceased was at work at the new build-
ings, near Chelsea Hospital, and was ascending a ladder
with a saw on his head. When about 30 feet high, and in
the act of getting on the scaffold, the saw slipped off his
head, when he let go with buth hands to catch the saw,
and fell to the ground with a most fearful crash. He was
at once removed to St. George's Hospital, and expired on
his admission,