The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-13 00:00:00

WAR IN PERSIA.

(Prom the Times' Correspondent.)'
BASRA, MARCH 10.
i• My last to you was dated from Bushire on the
"26th ult., and, though there is little to communi-
cate, I now send you another line to say how mat-
ters are going on. The strong nolft-westers whic)
prevaile I for nearly a fortnight prevented. any re-
itiforcements . from comiug up, and, in fact, pre-
eluded all intercourse even with the shipping in the
Bushire roads. Some little was deub, however, in
despatching transports to the estuary of the Shatt-
ool Arab, and on the Bth inst. the following v(s,els
were moored at the month of the river :—th'e
Ocean' Monarch, with artillery; .the Putty Moo-
harek, with camp followers ; the Avalanche and
the Euxine, with horse artillery • the Kingston,
witla two companies of the 78th Highlanders; the
Bride of the Sea and the Putty Sultan, with five
companies of her Majesty's 64th ; also the sloop
Falkland and two gunboats. On the -6th inst.,
moreover, when the weather bad become fair, three
steamers—viz., the Feroze, Pioneer, and Potin-
ger, steamed into the harbour of Busifire with five
vessels in tow, bringing the 23d Native Infantry,
part of the 3d Cavalry, and more artillery. This
was a cheering sight to Sir James Outram, who,
as soon as part of the Scinde Horse arrives (ex-
pected- at Bushire about the 15th), will bring up
the remaining
.part of the force destined to act
against Mohammerah. This force will consist of
about 3,5q0 men of all arms, and an equal garrison
will be left with the camp before Bushire. There is
little fear, however, of any attempt being made on
the latter by the enemy, and should they try that
game. every preparation has been made .to give
them a warm rec'eption. Four redoubts, armed
with heavy guns, have been constructed, so as to
command every avenue towards our entrenchments.
It is rumoured, however, that the Persian Regu-
lars got such a lesson at Kooshab that they have
declined making any advance in, our direction, and,
to meet this feeling, orders have been sent to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Army to
strengthen his position below the passes, but on no
account to meet the English in the plains.
The arrival of so many vessels at the mouth of
the Shatt 00l Arab has evidently led the Persians
to believe that we shall land somewhere in that 'Vi-
cinity, and accordingly a large body of cavalry his
been despatched from Mohammerah to watch our
movements. The preparations which the enemy
had previously been making to strengthen their
Iposition on the banks of the Haffar, leading to the
town are sufficient proof that they anticipated our
attack thence ; whereas there is some reason to be-
lieve that the route by the Barnisheer would hare
beau ultimately chosen, and that the former was
merely a feint. The Ba.misheer is only navigable
for boats of light draught, and it would conse-
quently have necessitated great delay and an in-
finity of trouble to sransport our troops and mate-
riel by that route, nevertheless the att 4ck 'from that
side had two advantages ; first, we should thereby
have taken the enemy in the rear, and thus 'ren-
dered all their forts on the Ha.ffar useless ;: and se-
condly, we should hays been in what are regarded
as indisputably Persian waters. A circumstance
which took place the other day, however will in
all probability change the point of attack. The
Comet, a smalHron steamerbelonging to the Indian
navy, which has been stationed on the river for the
last eight years, and employed exclusively in car-
rying mails, was fired upon by a body of Persiaus at
a place called Buerdoh, eight miles below Mohair-
merah. The fire consisted of musketry and jinjalls,
and nine balls have been extracted from the paddle-
boxes. The fire was not returned by the steamer,
which proceeded on her course towards the mouth of
the river uninjured. On the 9th the Comet returned
again to Basra with despatches, and as she passed
Buerdeh the Serbages set up .a continuous shout of
defiance. It is to be hoped that this glaring infrac-
tion of the neutrality.cif the river will be noticed by
the Turkish authorities, who, however, much
to their own eventual injury, have allowed
the Persians of late to ere et very strong forts
commanding the river. Had we not been at war
with Persia, this would not have been allowed
without serious question on the part of the Turks ;
consequently, the latter may almost be s Lid to have
countenanced their opposition to us. Letting that
pass, it is now clear that wo shall be blameless on
all hands, if we retort upon the Persians their
attack upon us in what are called neutral Waters.
It is sincerely to be hoped that the capture of
Mohammerah will induce the Persians to come to
terms. Had they not violated the terms of the
treaty with regard to Herat I presume the present
war would have been avoided ; for, notwithstanding
your strictures on the subject, I feel convinced that
our Government would not have proceeded to open
hostilities with the Shah for the minor Points of
difference. The dismissal of the Prime Minister
appears to be one of our demands,—a demand, per-
chance, beyond what we ought to ask, considering
the alleged attitude to the Court assumed by our
mission. It would be hardly fair to ourselves to
offer such a sacrifice, or even to consent to. it.
Nevertheless, it is probable that the Shah would
give up his Minister if we would change our Ambas-
sador. At all events, it is to be hoped' that the
representative who has done nothing to bring about
a good understanding between the two Powers
will not be permitted to interfere_ in the terms of
the treaty, should one be concluded ; and further,
that if is deemed necessary that Mr. Murrayshould
hold the post of Ambassador at the Court of Te-
heran subsequent to the ratific.ition,,the term will
be limited to the shortest period
CAMP BEFORE MORAMMERAH, Ats.Rell 29.
The English forces have again proved victorious,
and Mohammerah has been captured, with the loss
of about ten in killed and wounded, The whole
affair was admirably managed, and the: greatest
credit is due to all concerned in it On the 21st
inst. Sir James Outram, with the war steamers
and sloops, joined the shipping that had pre-
ceded him to the mouth of the Shattool Arab,
and preparations were immediately set on foot
for an advance up the river. On the morn-
ing of the 24th all the steamers with their
tows, got under way and steamed up the stream.
A magnificent sight it was on this noble river. The
Arabs on the Persian side came down to the banks
and greeted us as we passed with shouts of wel-
come. The four-gun battery which the Persians had
constructed at Buerdeh bad been removed, so that
our vessels passed on without opposition, and came
to anchor before the Arab village of Hert-h, about
four mile; below Mohammerah. At 8 p.m. a boat
was despatched to reconnoitre a small low islind,
in the centre of the river, to the west of the north-
ern fort, with a view of planting a mortar battery
there ; but they found the spot so swampy that the
project was abandoned. Next day, however, a
strong raft was made, and during the night was
towed by the Comet and planted in position, with
three 51-inch and two 8-ihch mortars, under the
command of Captain Worgan. All this was effected
without attracting the attention of the enemy, and
the greatest praise is due to the officers and crew of
the little Comet, whole services in this instancee
as well as throughout the expedition, have been
most useful. At daybreak of the 26th the thortats
opened fire, and great must have been the coest-r-
-nation of the enemy, who could see nothing before
them to give notice of such a. " good morning" but
a boat-load of pressed hay, moored so as to protect
the raft. Within an hour the war steamers moved
up one by one, two of them taking the Clive and
Falkland in tow, and as they came within range
the batteries opened a raking fire upon them. This,
was net returned till the vessels had got into the
best position for commanding their works ; then
they blazed away in earnest, and at the distance of
two miles the scene looked like a grand display of
fireworks. The enemy fought bravely, and
well, but in about two hours their fire
slackened, and the signal was hoisted on Conn
modore Young's ship for the advance of the trans-
ports. One of our shelli now fell' upon a magazine
near the northern fort, which exploded amid the
cheers of our crews and soldiers. As 'the troop-
ships and steamers moved onward they were fired
upon by two field pieces which the enemy
planted in the date groves below the southern foit
and also by bands of matchlock men. A ball from
the latter came in close contact with Sir James
One
Outram's foot, but a lucky hookah saved i
native, however, was killed by a round _ shot on
board the Scindian, where Sir James and his staff
were. The troopships and steamers now passed
the
the forts, and anchored close to .
it
banks of the
south of Jaber's fort, and the disembaratio.n_ of the
effectekd wh great
_nen, artillery, and horses
despatch and without any owpaspo_sition. A party of
Scinde Horse, only 4-5 in number, under Captain
M. Green, ien proceeded. to reconnoitre, while.
our small force, t •
consisting of not more than, OM