The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Marquis of Dalhousie's Administration of
British India. Volume the Second. By Edwin

Arnold, M.A. Saunders, 01ley, and Co.
The second volume of Mr. Arnold's very interest-
ing and thoughtful history records the annexation
of Pegu, Nagpore, and Oudh, and gives a general
review of Lord DAlhousie's rule in India. While
endeavouring with impartial hand to throw light
upon the various incidental causes of the great
Indian mutiny, Mr. Arnold dues ample justice to
the eminent qualities of the great Proconsul of
whom he writes, and justly observes that while the
superfices of his work have been destroyed by cir-
cumstances, the foundations remain upon which
others are since building, and calling the old work
new.

The War in America —1863,64 . By Edward
Pullard. 1 voi., pp. 407. Saunders, OLley, and
Co.

The history of" the Third Year of the War"
from the B ittle of Uaancellorsville to the present
time is here fully recounted with ample details and
particulars, The names of the various battles and
the different commanders are farniliar to all news
paper readers, but even those most au fait with the
various details of the war will be glad to reperuse
them in this collected and comprehensive form.
After a cursory review of the several events he has
recorded, Mr Pollard very emphatically declares
that " it is impossible that a nation should have
suffered as the South has suffered in this struggle,
should have adorned itself with such sacrifices,
should have illustrated such virtues to relapse at
the end into the old routine of its political exis-
tence. "We have not," he exclaims, "poured out
our tears, we have not made a monument of broken
hearts merely for the poor negative of a peace, with
nought higher or bet.:cr than things of the past.
Not so does nature recompense the martyrdom of
nations or of individuals. It pronounces the
triumph of resurrection."

The Muscles and their Story, from the Earliest
Times. By Joh❑ W. J. Blundell, M.D. one
Vol. Pp. 289. Chapman and Hall.

This very valuable volume gives not only a his-
tory of the scionce of gymnastics from the ear•
liest times, but it also affords much useful infor-
mation on the impartant subject of exercise, as
connected with mental and bodily development.
By a due attention to the precepts and practice
herein inculcated, the happy desideratum—" a
sound mind in a sound bo,ly"—is alone to be
insured. By the judicious diffusion of such prin-
ciples we might again behold "a race such as the
Doric mothers bore."

Christmas Week at the Railways.

The whole of the past week has been one of hard labour
and of almost herculean exertion at several metropolitan
termini. Game, geese, turkeys, sausages, pork pies, and
other rural delicacies have been all that time fl awing into
London in a manner pertsctly astonishing,
putting such a
strain upon the staff and appliances of each company as to
almost neutralise any profit which they zmy derive from it.
It would be tedious to enumerate the particular arrange-
ments at each btatiou. it will be sufficient to say that the
progress of sorting and delivery is identical with that pur-
sued at the Post-office in regard to the letters which arrive
by each mail, and that the loss or the misplacing of a parcel
is the exception. The immense supply of turkeys and
geese from Norfolk and Suffolk to the London markets, to
goose clubs, and in the shape of presents to private friends,
has forced upon the Great Eastern Company the employ"
ment of 300 horses, 170 vehicles, and 200 men, in addi-
tion to the number ordinarily employed. The men are
divided into two gangs, one of which works by day, the
other by night. At the South-Eastern they have only to
employ 4 additional hands and 3 horses. It is nor, however,
that the men of Kent or the Kentish men are not as gene.
roue to their London friends as are the inhabitants of the
Eastern counties, for one of them last week sent as many
as 24 pheasants to a friend. The line, in fact, taps the good
nature of only one,
one cwnereas the Great Eastern goes
through the heart of at least half a dozen. At the Brighton
the extra staff and plant are 12 men, 9 horses, and 5 vans.
At the South Western they have had to call into their ser-
vice the aid of 15 extra men and 30 extra horses, and to
make their collecting carts delis try vans. At the Lon
don, Chatham, and Dover there has also been an extra
strain upon their ordinary staff—but the remarks we have
made in regard to the South Eastern are applicable to
its rival. At the Great Western the extra strain
is measured by 70 horses, 40 men, and 15 vans.
This is confined to the parcels department solely,
for all consignments to the markets aro dealt with in
the goods department. At the North Western
they have had, too, a large additional staff of men and bays.
In the sorting shed alone they have had a corps of 16 at
work night and day, and 48 men to conduct and superintend
the process of delivery, in which they have had to employ
15 extra carts, 5 two-horse vans, and 4 omnibuses. At the
Great Northern the extra force consisted of 3 clerks, 4 por-
ters, 3 carts, and 6 horses.—Observer.

A woman of loose character, named Maria
Moncquet, 46 years of age, was three days ago
found murdered in her room in the Rue Cerise, at Toulouse.
The murderer had drawn his ,finite twice acr.ss her throat,
and inflicted a terrific wound. The weapon could not be
found, and from a quantity of water halving been thrown
on the ground, the supposition is that after committing the
crime he washed the knife before returning it to his pocket.
A box which was in the room had been forced open, and
the linen it contained was scattered on the floor. Two
glasses containing some wine were found on the mantle-
piece, from which it would appear that the man and woman
had been drinking together. The police are making search
for the murderer,