The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-25 00:00:00

MAIL STEAM-PACKETS.

At Malta—The Oberon, Lieutenant Gardner.
En route to Cagliari—The Vengeance, 84, Cap-
tain S. Lushington.
En route to Gibraltar from Malta—The Belleisle,
Captain J. Kingcome..
En route for Marseilles from Malta—The Volcano,
Lieutenant J. Crang.
En route for Malta from Marsailles—The Flamer,
Commander La•ie.

En route from Malta for the lonian Islands and
Greece—The Spitfire, Lieutenant J. A. Macdonald.
En route from the lonian Islands and Greece for
Malta—The Ardent, Lieutenant-Commander W.
No wel.

En route for Trieste and Constantinople—The An-
telope, Lieutenant F. Smyth.

PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL STEAM NAVIGATION COM-

PA N T'S FLOTILLA.

At Southampton—The Oriental, the Hindostan,
the Achilles, the Ripon, the Pacha, and the Tagus.
En route for Gibraltar and Southampton from
Malta—The Sultan.
kn route from Qibraltar for Malta—The Euxine.
En route for Constantinople and ports of the Black
Sea from Alalta—The Tiger and the Erin.
At Malta—The Ariel and the Indus.
FOREIGN SIM'S OF WAR ANI) YACRETS IN PORT.

The French steamers S:sostris and Leonidas—the
United States steno-frigate Princeton—the Norw•e-
gian corvette NordstjETnen—the schooners Gitana,
Merlin, and Ariel—the Ottoman schooner Sajah
Catera.

Tii IMAuM.—Our attention has been recalled to
the paragraphs which have appeared, in this portion
of our paper respecting Lieutenant Cawley, late of
the Imairn, and we are now sivisfied that no ships of
war were asJetnhled at Port Royal in consequence
of any charge against that officer. It appears, how-
ever, that some unpleasant circumstances in relation
to a transaction with a commercial house at Madeira
had been brought by Commodore Pting, under the
notice of Vice-Admiral Sir F. Austin, commanding
on the station, by whom they were referred to the
Admiralty for further inquiry, but that, although
Lieutenant Cawley's pay was impressed for a short
period, that impressment was taken off, the Admiralty
having received a satisfactory explanation. We there-
fore regret the error into which our correspondent in
the first instance led us, and the trouble and annoy-
ance that error has occasioned.

PORTSMOUTH, JAN. 24.—The Meander, 44, Capt.
the Hon. H. Keppel, arrived at Spithead this morning
from the eastward, and saluted the Commander- in-
Chief. She is a very handsome looking frigate, and
has made a most extraordinarily quick passage, hav-
ing left Sheerness yesterday only at noon, and
anchored at this roadstead at nine o'clock this morn-
ing. She went ten to eleven knots during the pas-
sage, although under very adverse circumstances, the
rigging and sails being covered with hoar frost and
snow. She is fully manned, with a finer crew, as a
body, than any other ship in the navy possesses.
Captain Keppel has been compelled to refuse numbers
of first class seamen, such has been the avidity to sail
with this gallant and popular officer. This, we be-
lieve, is the Meander's first commission. She is an
improvement upon the old 42's and 46's, by Sep-
pings, and clearly works well. She draws 17 feet
aft as she now sits upon the water, with all her stores
and munitions of war aboard. The new screw launch
with which she has been supplied, is a failure. In the
first place the boat has been built seven tons weight,
instead of one half that weight as the extreme ; the
consequence is, she draws too much water for
shallow rivers such as she is intended to navigate.
It is Captain Keppel's intention, however, to con-
struct a suitable boat for the 4-horse power machi-
nery when he arrives out. The launch now on board,
when tried, made about five knots; but when towing
a boat she went no faster than a ,culler could pull.
It is considered that teak is too heavy, while fir
would have been more suitable and quite as service-
able as the boat is coppered high up. The Raja of
Sarawak's berth is on the main deck, occupying the
space of two guns, and those of the Lieutenant-
Governor of Labuan are on the same deck. Mrs.
Napier and family also go out in the Meander, and
supernumerary officers for the China squadron.
The Powerful, 84, advanced ship, is ordered to be
brought down from the ordinary, and rigged. It is
expected she will be the ordinary guard instead of the
Illustrious, 72, and kept upon the war establishment
similar to the sea-going ordinary guard-ships at the
other ports.
The Duck and Lively lighters sailed with stores
for Devonport yesterday.
The Confiance steam-tug, Mr. John Jagoe, master
commanding (acting), arrived this morning from
Devonport, with marines belonging to this division,
and seamen gunners for the Excellent, late serving
in her Majesty's ship Albion, 90, Captain Fremantle,
recently paid off at that port.
The Rochester lighter, with stores from the east-
ward, arrived this morning.