The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-14 00:00:00

THE PENINSULAR, MAILS.

SOUTHAMPTON, WEDNESDAY, 9 30 r. M.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-
ship Tagus, Captain E. Christian, has just arrived
with the Peninsular mails, in charge of Lieutenant
Hay, R N., and dates from Glom t..r, May 6 ;
Cadiz, May 7 ; Lisbon, May 9 ; and Oporto and
Vigo, May 10.

ghe brings 61, passengers, specie value 2,7051.
10s., 9371 Spanish doubloons, 639 half-chests of
oranges, 154 boxes of potatoes, 68 boxes of dates,
233 bags of coffee, 15 cases of ergs, 12 quarter
casks and 6 cases of wine, 8 bullock, and 27 pack-
ages of general merchandise ; olso ow) bull and two
cows, }.resents from the King of Portugal to Queen
Victoria.

The Tagus had fine weather outwards, and home-
wards strong southerly winds in the B.y.
May 10, off Oporto, Braganze. requested to be
reported. May 13, at 4 p.m., passed the South-
ampton, from Calcutta. Jan. 17, and same day
at 5 p.m., passed the American shin Southampton.
At Gibraltar, Ler Majesty's steamers Curlew and
Snake ; at Lisbon, her Majesty's steamer Princes
Royal, and the ususl Portuguese fleet ; at Vigo,
tho Peninsular'and. Oriental steamer Alhambra.
The screw steamship Dutchman arrived at
Gibraltar on the evening of the 2d from Malta,
with the head-quarters of the 31st Regiment, under
the command of Colonel George S aunton. The
men landed next day, and the Dutchman returned
to Malta on the morning of the sth for the re-
mainder of the regiment.
The French steamer Franc Comtois arrived in
the bay on the evening of the 2d, with the French
steamer Jacquart in tow, which had lost her rudder
and fan of the screw about two months ago, and
was obliged to put into Fayal, where the other
steamer went to bring her away. They left for
Marseilles on the morning of the 4!h.
Gibraltar exchange on the 2d was quoted—Lon-
don, 90 days, 511 ; Paris, sf. 37c. ; Marseilles,
; Genoa, sf. 40c.

Lisbon exchange by this, mail was quoted for
thre3 months as follow :—From London, 5311
Pari.,. 533 ; Amsterdam, 41k; Hamburg, 471
Genoa, 532. Supply of bills on London limited,
as well as money, which remained over at the rate
quoted. Stocks had again declined, and little bus'
ness had been done until the Bth, when a slight
react:ou in favour of a rise was , experienced. Last
quotations are—Three per Cents., registered 481
to 3 ; Coupons, 47i to 48 ; Deferred, 271- to 28 ;
Bank of Portugal shares, 9 to 10 per cent. pron. ;
Rink of Oporto shares, 22i to 24 per cent. prera.

THE BRITISH ARMY IN PERSIA.

(Prom the Times' Correspondent.)

MOSAMMERA.H, APRIL 6.
My last gave you an account of the capture e"
this place on the 26th ult , and the precipitate
flight of the large Persian army. Without baggage;
cattle to carry the camp equipages we could not, 0'
course, follow them up, so without loss of time Sir
James ordered a small expedition to be got ready
with all despatch, in order to track the enemy 011
the banks of the aroon liver. This expedition
consisted of three small river steamers—viz., tilt!
Comet, Planet, and Assyria (the first of which
only is armed), one gunboat, and three eutterth
under the command of Acting Commodore Ren"
nie, of the Indian Navy, and 300 men from her
Majesty's 61th and 78th, under the command of
Capt. Hunt, of the latter corps. Several of Sir
James's staff also accompanied them, and Captain
Kemball, political agent at Bagdad. The expedi"
tion left at noon on the 29th, and on the 31st die"
covered a second trace of the Persian army, from
which it appeared that they had five guns With
them, and another wheeled conveyance, found o 0
afterwards to be the Shazadah's carriage. Serf
it seems that one of the gun carriages had bee"
disabled, and the gun accordingly put into ti
boat, which was afterwards captured. On near-
ing Akwaz, on the morning of the Ist, the
Persian army was discovered occupying a strong
position on the right bank of the J iver. Here tb°
military party landed, on the left bank, and pro-
ceeded to Akwaz, the gunboats opening fire upon
the enemy. Almost at the first sight of our prepe'
rations the large host, consisting of about 8,000
men, took to flight, and retreated hurriedly in the
direction of Dizful, while hordes of Arabs were olr
served hanging on their rear, ready to plunder or
harass them. The expedition remained two days
at Akwaz, communicating with the Arab tribes?
and securing or destroying large heaps of grail'
which had been stored there by the Persians. -It',
number of mules and sheep were also captured and
brought down by the steamers, and 150 new statids
of muskets in cases. This done, the little band re"
turned to Mohammerah, which they reached on the
4th inst. •

The moral effect of this little affair will be greit
in these part., for the Persians had boasted that,
no force we could bring against Mohammerah could
take it in less than a year, and, confident in thi°
overweening security, they had made no prepary
tions for an orderly retreat. It is clear that the
Persian army in this quarter is utterly disorganiz eat
and can never make head against us. It was the
intention of Sir James to have moved up a sub"
cient part of our force to occupy Shuster, and to
put the troops into summer quarters in that repo'
tedly healthy locality, and to have taken the r.e,"
mainder himself to disperse the Serkeseckshißasbl
army before Bushire. The men, indeed, have a greg:
longing to meet this gentleman, whose name theyhO"
curtailed into " Cheeky Bashi ;" but lo 1 all our
schemes are for the present held in abeyance hi
the news, which arrived yesterday, that peal,
was signed in Paris on the 4th ult. What
be done next no one appears to know. It ,11
clear, however, that the authorities at home cow,
not have heard of our victory at Khushah, muds
less of our 'late successes Ihre. If Feruk Kb?:
has given in to all our just demands so much tu
better ; but if not, and we have patched up an i,;
glorious peace when our politiou enabled us to a
something better, let the blame fall where it i 0
due. We are quite of opinion that some of our
t
demands were not what they ought to be—that
too much consideration was given to petty c 0 11:e
plaints of the Mission, many of , which were t."of
offspring of undignified behaviour on the part „4
some of our own officials. _Nevertheless, there To
a just pause for the war, and it is sincerely t° do
hoped that in any arrangement that has been 1113
full atonement and indemnity have been secured,
The nation may rest assured that, bad the exec,,,ll,
tion of the negotiations been left with Sir Jarees
to whose hands, we understand, they were c°l-0
mitted----this result would have been attained e
he left the soil of Persia. Now we are in the
as to what has been done at Parts or in Downivi;
street. - -

he
The people here are refilling the town, and the
Arabs from all quarters are sending in their Or
mission. "Never, leave us ; never let the Per
SifillS return," is their constant cry. The bazgl'in.
are now open, and provisions coming in allivor
dance. Though no authority has been placed° ht
the town, hardly a complaint has been brotigto
in, and when such occurs, even of a religi°„,
nature, the people prefer bringing it to our cll.
lain, ST James's Arabic interpreter, than to fiee
ing the deciion of their own ulewa.

ROYAL MEDICAL BENEVOLENT COLLI/GZ—She
annual general meeting of this institution took plsc!itls;
terday at the office in Soho-squara, the Right kir It
Earl Manvers, president of the college, in tho ohair'e
appeared by the report, which was read Ly the !..fo•
tary, that the institution was making the most sat' dial
tozy progress in every way, and was receiving e"
ivlx
support on all hands. The animal subscriptions deirt„.
the past year amounted to 2,769/., the ordinsry el
tions to ,876/., and the special donations to the c"`o4,
fund to 2,7601. At the close of the ordinary haslet,.
the meeting was made special for the purpose "f
firming an agreement entered into between the cott:pnt
of the college and the Devon and Exeter Bor'evooo/.
Medical Society, for the transfer to the college of I;:iingot
Stock on very favourable terms. The Pr"?.."tero
which were throughout of the most friendiY eua. ,:deat
terminated with a vote of thenks to the noble pre-
of the college, who occupied the clair.