The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-08 00:00:00

PORTSMOUTH GARRISON.

Two companies of the 77th Regiment, under the
command of Major Stratton, will proceed for Dowlair,
Wales, to-morrow (this day).
Toe two companies of the 4th Foot, at Weymouth
Barracks, will move to Exeter on the 12th inst., on
being relieved by the 82d Foot on the preceding day.
Three companies of the 82d Regiment will move
into the garrison on the 13th inst.
Two divisions of the 50th Foot arrived here from
Dover on Wednesday and Friday ; they will be fol-
lowed to-morrow by the head-quarter division.
We are informed that the two officers mentioned in
our military report on Monday last, as having been
arrested for maltreating a brother officer, have been
released with a reprimand.
The 4th Foot, in Anglesea Barracks, Portsee, will
embark about the 11th inst. for Plymouth.
PLYMOUTH, Arun s.—Her Majesty's sloop Colum-
bine, 16, Captain John C. D. Hay, came in last
evening ; left Hong- Kong on the 29th of November ;
arrived at Singapore en the 7th, and left on the 10th
of December ; arrived at the Cape of Good Hope the
27th of January, and left the 4th of February ; ar-
rived at St. Helena the 7th, and left the 20th of
Febrvary ; arrived at Ascension on the 25th, and left
the 26th of February, and touched at St. Michaels on
the 28th of March.

Her Majesty's frigate Amazon, 26, Commander
Troubridge, and sloop Albatross, 12, Commander
Arthur Farquhar, with the Semiramis East India
merchant ship, were at Singapore on the 18th of
December.

When the Mauritius bore. N.N.W., distant 300
Miles the Columbine spoke the barque Lord John
Russell, dismasted in a cyclone the day before; her
master declined help and was left steering in the di-
rection of the Mauritius. The master of the Colum-
bine having the day before predicted the approach of
the cyclone, tacked to avoid it, and experienced only
a moderate gale ; when the shattered barque was
fallen in with the day after, his calculations were
found to be fully verified..
Before arriving at the Cape the Columbine had a
stern boat washed off in heavy weather.
There were none of ber Majesty's ships at St. He-
lena. The Governor, Sir P. Ross, was in a very de-
clining state of health, and not expected to survive
more than two or three days after the departure of the
Columbine.

February 22d, lat. 13 15 N., long. 8 53 W.,
spoke the Mary Jane schooner, of and for Sunder-
land. February 23d saw an English barque home-
ward bound.

The Tortoise receiving ship only was at Ascension.
The island is flourishing and in an improving con-
dition.

In lat. 25 30 N., long. 35 19 W., spoke the ship
Liverpool, outward bound, with emigrants.
From the Cape fine weather was experienced up to
the departure of the sloop from St. Michael's on the
28th of March. On the 29th they lost a second stern'
boat. On the 2d of April they lay off the Lizard, in
thick heavy weather, with the.: wind south-west and
west. On the 3d the wind veered to north-west, and
blew heavier than ever, but it cleared, and they made
the Lizard.

Within the last year and a half the Columbine
has been ashore five times, and during the last three
months she was on the China station she was present
at the destruction of upwards of 100 piratical junks.
A large portion of her efficiency and usefulness is to
be ascribed to the skill and energy of Captain Hay,
who has recently been so honourably promoted. The
purser, one midshipman, and the clerk, are the only
officers now on board the Columbine who left Eng-
land in her. She sailed_ on- Friday evening for
Chatham, where she is to be paid off.
Her Majesty's sloop Alert, 8, Commander Hugh
Dunlop, which arrived on Thursday evening from the
Coast of Africa, left Sierra Leone on the 13th of
February for England in consequence of the ill health
of the captain, but as the gallant officer recovered
when at sea, she put back to the river Gambia, and
left again on the 10th of March for England. She
has taken but three prizes, but has liberated from
barracoons in the Gallinas and Wenn° Islands nearly
2,000 slaves. Tha chit:di; of the Gallinas wish to
have an English official resident established there.
March 21-25 29 N., 13 25 W., spoke the Ameri-
can ship Zenobia, Captain Jackson, 18 days from
Philadelphia, for Rio, California, and Calcutta; she
kindly and gratuitously supplied the Alert with such
necessaries as she had on board, refusing compensa-
tion. March 28-33 0 N., 22 42 W., Earl of Ripon
from Cardiff fur New Zealand.

There have been only two deaths (from fever) on
board the Alert during her absence on the station.
Sierra Leone and the coast generally is healthy.
The Alert was commissioned on the 25th of Octo-
ber, 1847. She brings invalids from the Centaur,
Wolverine, and Heroine, and several brass guns be-
longing to the Albert, one of the vessels employed in
the expedition up the Niger. Like all the other re-
cent arrivals she has latterly experienced very rough
weather. On the 30th ult. lost a boat overboard ; and
on the 4th inst., when 100 miles from land, was
obliged to lay to, injured her rudder, sprung her fore
mast, and experienced other damages.
Her Majesty's brigantine Griffon, 3, Lieutenant-
Commander James B. Thurburn, arrived on Friday
morning, the sth, from South America; left Rio Ja-
neiro the 31st of January, when there were in har-
bour the flag-ship Southampton, 50, Captain Nicho-
las Corey, and the steam-sloop Cormorant, 6, Com-
mander Herbert Scomberg. The sloop Tweed, 18,
Commander Lord F. J. Russell, was at Pernambuco,
where yellow fever prevailed among the merchant
vessels, some of which had lost nearly all their crews.
The disturbances which had for some time prevailed
at Pernambuco were fast declining ; skirmishing,
which formerly was frequent near the city, occurred
very seldom now.
The steam-gun vessel Rifleman, 4, Lieutenant-
Commander Stephen, Second-Lieutenant Crofton,
had taken, on the 10th of January, the celebrated
steam-slaver Providentia. She was seen on the 9th
in Santos harbour, where she steamed on the 10th,
steering at first directly towards the Rifleman in or-
der to deceive her officers. The prize had on board
stringers for two decks, and planks numbered and
marked, all evidently for slave purposes; she was sent
to St. Helena for condemnation. Her engineers ad-
mitted having been four trips in her to the coast of
Africa, bringing from 1,600 to 2,000 slaves each time.
The Providentia, it will be remembered, was off the
coast of Africa with a tender, a felucca, when they
were descried by one of her Majesty's steam frigates
(said to be the Gorgon), on which the Providentia
hoisted a French ensign and pendant and pretended
to chase the felucca. When the steam-frigate was
under full chase of the felucca the Providentia slack-
ened her pace and hauled clear off, leaving the com-
paratively insignificant prise to be captured.
The Griffon has taken no prizes on the station, but
ran one ashore. She spoke no ships on the passage
home, and has recently experienced very severe
weather.
The Seagull packet, Lieutenant Commander Small,
which landed a Brazil mail on Thursday afternoon,
having left Rio Janiero on the 22d of February, re-
ports that when the Penguin arrived on the 14th of
January, she was put under quarantine having touched
at Bahia and Pernambuco, where the yellow fever
was raging. The fever was also making sad havoc
among the English, Swedish, and German seamen at
Rio. Six English died on the 18th of February,
making 60 with those dead of the nations named
within ten days. The master, his wife, and the mate
of the Scottish schooner Warrior, were dead. The
Cormorant, Commander Scomberg, had taken the
Pauline, which was fully equipped fur the slave-trade
and had 1,000 dollars on board.