The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-23 00:00:00

PERSIA.

The following is an extract of a letter from an English
officer forming.one of the party of English now in Persia,
and dated from Tabriz :
" Nearly every individual comprising our party has suf-
fered severely from illness. A great part of the country we
travelled over was low, marshy, undrained land. The fatigue
of riding from sunset to sunrise, and the unhealthy miasma
atmosphere we passed through, were, J think, the principal
causes of 'our suffering. One of the strongest and most
healthy of the serjeants, an artilleryman, was carried-off,suth.
denly ; and on our arrival at this place there was scarcely
an officer or serjeant fit for duty.
" On entering Teheran I was much struck with the sol-
dierlike appearance and the excellent order of the Persian
regiment. No troops in the world could have made a bet-
ter show after so long and harrassing a march. I was not
prepared for this ; the many instances of Persian humbug
that had passed under my observation had led me to doub-
the truth of all that had been said or written on the subject
of the army of the late Abbas.
" I was present .at the proclamation of Mohammed
Mirza as Naib i Saltanus (heir-apparent to the Throne), by
the late Schah. The old Monarch had shown on this oc-
casion a vigour and decision that could not have been
looked for. Besieged and pestered on all sides by his nu-
merous kin, and by the hundred mothers of the Princes in
his Andarun, he withstood, alone, their various interested
entreaties, and kept manfully to his determined purpose of
nominating to the vacant dignity the eldest son of the for-
mer heir apparent. On various occasions Futteh Ali
Schah had pretended to hold communication with, and to re-
ceive advice from his late uncle, Aga Mohammed Khan, in
dreams ; the circumstances well authenticated attending
some of these visions of the night, would make many a man
hesitate before he refused credence to these stories of su-
pernatural agency. At the crisis above named, Futteh Ali
declared that Aga Mohammed had stood by him in a dream,
and had sternly commanded him to appoint his grandson
heir-apparent, promising to assist and direct him, as lie had
assisted and directed Futteh Ali. All this was firmly be-
lieved by the Persians, and it produced on the minds of
many the desired effect.
" The appearance of Mohammed is much in his favour ;
there is an openness of expression in his countenance, and
a frankness of manner about him which none of the other
Kajar Princes possess. His character is as yet unstained
by the horrible and unnatural vices to which all his rela-
tions, without exception, are addicted. He has however
great difficulties to contend with, an empty treasury, and
an army four or five years in arrears.
" The Prince has shown several instances of personal
intrepidity, of which the following is one instance A
few days before ascending the throne, a disturbance broke
out at Teheran, where some monopolists had hoarded grain
for the purpose of raising the price, and creating a scarcity
before the new wheat could be brought in in sufficient
quantities. In consequence, the bakers could not supply
bread to the people, and a popular tumult was raised,
headed by a Mullah, who made himself most conspicuous
in exciting the people to acts of violence ; this Mullah
forced his way into the presence of the Prince, and behaved
in an outrageous manner, abusing the Prince to his face.
Mohammed did all in his power to.meet the emergency of
the moment ; he ordered his own private stores of wheat
to be thrown open to the people : but the conduct of the
Mullah was considered as deserving death ; he was accord-
ingly strangled, and his body, with the crime for which he
was punished written on the breast, was exposed in the
public square. "

A few nights ago, at the dose of the entertainments
at Old Drury, an elderly and infirm gentleman, accompanied
by a young lady, to all appearance a daughter, was leaving
the theatre in quest of a carriage, when two gentlemen (per-
sonally known to me, but who shall be nameless) planted them-
selves in the middle of the pathway and accosted them in the
grossest language. The young lady, as was natural, shrunk
back much terrified. Her companion seemed to be bewildered.
At this moment a gentleman who was passing, and had ob-
served what had occurred, stopped and expostulated with them,
attempting to explain the impropriety of their conduct, and the
respectability of the parties whom they had so infamously in-
sulted. This was only answered by an attempt to thrust him
away made by the taller of the ruffians. A short struggle
ensued, which ended, to the infinite satisfaction of all who had
witnessed his conduct, by the taller ruffian being deposited in
the gutter.—Morning Paper.
LORD CASTLEREAGH s PARLIAMENTARY
TRUTH.—The (Belfast) Northern Whig, in a very able and
conclusive manner, exposes the falsehood of an assertion lately
made by his Lordship in the House, respecting an alleged
petition from Down. "We have never heard," says our con-
temporary, " of such a thing as a petition from any part of
Down, in favour of keeping up tithes ! But, on the contrary,
we have had to publish strong petitions, of a directly oppo-
site description, from almost all quarters of the county L This
young Lord has high claims on the kind consideration of the
Ministry. He shows a readiness to fight their battles, with
a recklessness of consequences, which ought to earn for him
their special gratitude and favour. We beg leave to suggest
that he shall endeavour to obtain a few parish petitions from
Down in support of tithes. Let his Lordship make the
at-
tempt ; and, if he succeed, we shall confess that we are in
error. We now tell him, that we defy him to get so much
as one public tithe petition from awl part of the county. If
he cannot (and once more we challenge him to the trial),
what shall we say of his attempted contradiction of Mr. Craw-
ford—what of his own accuracy of assertion—what of his
misrepresentation of the feelings of the people of Down?