The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-31 00:00:00

INDIA AND CHINA MAILS.

The screw steamship Pera (belonging to the Pen-
insular and Oriental Company's fleet), Capt. T.
Jamieson, arrived at Southampton yesterday, bring-
ing the heavy portion of the above-mentioned mails.
The Pera took out the India and China mails of the
4th inst., leaving Southampton at 2 p.m. on that
that day, so that she has accomplished the voyage
out and home, including the stay at Alexandria to
exchange mails, passengers, cargo, &c., and all other
stoppages at intermediate ports, in a little over 257
days. She sailed from Alexandria, on her return
voyage, on the 17th ; Malta on the 21st ; and Gib-
raltar, on the 25th. She experienced variable strong
winds, and fine weather, from Alexandria to Malta;
thence to Gibraltar, fresh westerly breezes; from
Gibraltar to Cape St. Vincent, strong easterly winds;
and thence to Southampton, light easterly winds,
with variable fine and foggy weather.

The Pera brought 63 passengers (viz., 29 first-
class, 23 second, and 11 children); and on freight,
1,705 bales of silk, 97 boxes of oranges, and 37 pack-
ages of general merchandise. She had no specie.
On the 20th inst. the Pera passed her Majesty's
ship Firefly, steering to the eastward.
At Alexandria were:three French transports and
a Swedish corvette.
Her Majesty's ships Renown, Agamemnon, Mel-
pomene, and Quail were at Malta ; and the Argus
and Redpole at Gibraltar.
The remainder of the British Garibaldians, who
were left behind at Gibraltar from the steamer
Me3azzo, embarked on board the steamship Mavro-
cordatos, which sailed for London at 2 p.m. on the
23d inst., having had a free passage granted them
in that .vessel, The Gibraltar Chronicle of the 25th
says :
" The subscription that was opened here for
+1,o;„ as Pritish subjects,
amounted to 463 dols., the whole of which was ex-
pended in providing them with food and lodging for
15 days. Previous to their departure they addressed
letters of thanks, for the kind treatment they had
received, to his Excellency the Governor and Capt .
Sayer, the police magistrate, and requested that
their gratitude to the inhabitants, officers, and sol-
diers, for the liberal subscriptions raised on their
behalf, might be publicly signified."
It appears that the 2,000,000 dols. of the Moorish
indemnity was shipped at Mogadore on board the
steam transport Ferrol, and not the steam-frigate
Princess de Asturias. The specie was contained in
635 boxes. TheFerrol called at Tangier on the 19th,
on her way to Alicante with the treasure on board.
A private letter from Mogadore, dated Jan. 15,
received at Gibraltar by the French steamship Ma-
rocain, which called there on her way from the
coast of Morocco to Marseilles, says—
" The import trade has been at a standstill since
the 24th ult. in consequence of the unpleasant state
of the Spanish question ; but I am happy to say
that an influential person succeeded, on the 12th
inst., in persuading the authorities to give up the
money, and so avoid a change of masters to the
place itself. Now we hope for a revival of trade."

The British schooner Wye was at Mogadore, and
the steamship Gladiator, with goods from England,
was about to leave for the Canary Islands. There
were two British and two Portuguese sailing vessels
loading at Mazagan ; and the Emily Wylde, with
a cargo of Indian corn, left that port on the 16th
for Cork. _ _

The Correa de Andalucia of Malaga, of the 20th
inst., in an account from the Penon de la Gomera
(penal settlement on the coast of Africa), states that
the commander of ate Moorish outpost stationed
before that place by order of the Emperor since
November last, with theview of preventing aggres-
sions on the part of the Ritaans, went to pay on the
6th a farewell visit to the Spanish Governor. He
explained to the officer that as the term for his re-
lief had long since expired, he had come to the de-
termination of relieving the post himself, and pro-
ceeding to Tangier. The Governor gave the Moor
some money, and assured him that he was perfectly
satisfied with the manner in which he discharged
his duties.

Latest accounts from Melilla are to the Bth inst.,
at which date nothing new had occurred there.
With respect to the question of limits the chiefs of
the Kabyles continued to hold meetings. The Moors
of Frajama and Cobrerizas were opposed to giving
up their homes, unless the Emperor indemnified
them for the loss, and preferred paying tribute to
the Queen of Spain, if the protection and security
of their property was guaranted to them.
It is stated that the Spanish Government has
granted to the British Consul at Bilboa the ground
this gentleman solicited for the purpose of con-
structing a cemetery for Protestant burials.
A Sardinian 50-gun sailing frigate, named the
Beraldo, but lately armed en flute, and used for the
conveyance of troops, wene ashore on the coast of
Corsica. The accident was caused by her missing
stays when beating up to Genoa. Intelligence of
it having reached Bastia, the Passe Partout and
the Letizia immediately got up their steam, and
proceeded to the spot to afford assistance.
A collision occurred on the morning of the 14th
inst. between the Spanish schooner Activa, Capt.
Soler, and the steam transport Marquez de la Vic-
toria, on her voyage to Tetuan, with a squadron of
the Albuera cavalry. The transport put on all
steam to save herself, as she was making much
water, and reached Ceuta on the same day. She
had also to:abandon her boats sent to the assistance
of the schooner. Another steamer, the Leon, was
expected at Ceuta from Algeciras to convey the
cavalry to Tetuan. The Marquez de la Victoria
had subsequently reached Cadiz, where she is to
repair damages. The Activa was towed into Malaga
Bay on the morning of the lath by the Sardinian
ship Emilia Eloisa, Captain Joseph Scoponi, The
schooner was completely dismasted and unmanage-
able, and it was only owing to the prompt assist-
ance rendered by the Sardinians that they could
reach the port in safety. The two boats belonging
to the steamer, rimmed by an officer and 22 men,

which were sent to the assistance of the schooner,
arrived at Malaga at the same time.
Three French vessels of the line—viz., the Tage,
from Messina ; the St. Louis and the Imperial, from
Gaeta, arrived at Toulon on the evening of the 16th.
The Fontenoy only was to remain at Gaeta.

The Pensular and Oriental Company's steamer
Ellora, with the outward Bombay mails of the 12th,
arrived at Malta at daylight on the 21st, and left
for Alexandria at 3 p,m. the same day. The Cey-
lon, hence on the 20th, with the Calcutta and China
mails, arrived at Gibraltar at 1 p.m. on the 25th,
and left at 6 p.m. on the same day for Malta.
The British steamer Victor, seven days from
Plymouth, arrived at Cadiz on the 17th inst. with
the steam dredger Excavator in tow, and the steam
transport San Antonio, 2 guns, Lieut. Cantillana,
from Tangier, arrived there the same day.

On the 21st the British merchant steamer Don
Pedro, Capt. W. Taylor, 12 days from Glasgow and
44 hours from Lisbon, arrived at Gibraltar with
17 bullocks and a general cargo; on the 22d, the
Britannia, Captain J. White, eight days from Lon-
don and three from Vigo, with Government stores,
a general cargo, and 90 bullocks ; and on the 24th,
the Atlantic, Captain A. Horsfall, 61 days from
Liverpool, with a general cargo for Malta and
Alexandria.

The British Brig James McQueen, Captain B.
Gales, which arrived at Gibraltar on the 25th, in
20 days from Malta, bound to Antwerp with a cargo
of barley, reported having been in collision with an
unknown vessel on her voyage from Malta, whereby
she had received some damage in her bows.
The brig Empress was spoken on the 16th inst.,
in lat. 37 56 N., long. 6 8 E. ; and the bark Mary
Ridley, on the 19th, in lat. 36 12 N., long. 4 41 W.,
both bound westward, by the Albanian, arrived at
Gibraltar.

Quotations of exchange and freights remained
unaltered at Gibraltar.

LITERATURE.

My Life, and What shall Ido with it? A Question.
for Young Gentlewomen. By an Old Maid.
Longman.

This is a very instructive and interesting little
volume, and it is one which presents some wise
suggestions on the important question of rightly
employing time and of improving whatever oppor-
tunities may be afforded, so as to benefit others,
and thus render life worth living for. The authoress
thus explains her motive at the outset. " The object
of the following pages is to point out, especially to
the younger women of our sisterhood, the more
practicable ways in which educated gentle-
women who have the leisure and the will may
employ their own advantages in the im-
provement of uneducated and ungentle women,
and of their social condition, and to show
how they may best prepare for the work."
This object has been carried out in the
most satisfactory manner, and all thinking and
conscientious persons will agree that the effort is
a noble one, to teach those who are desirous of
doing good, but, through ignorance or carelessness,
are not doing it, how to render their works pro-
fitable, so that their lives will be pleasing now
from the consciousness of energies employed and
kind feelings cultivated, and hereafter their death-
beds will be made bright and blessed by the
thought that they have been serving their fellow-
creatures on earth, and pointing the right path to
their brethren who are heirs of the same heaven.
This excellent and admirable little work is
summed up in the following eloquent and effective
conclusion, which accurately and impressively
conveys the epitome of its pages :

There are three facts which I have sought to prove in
this work. The first is, that the works assigned popularly
to " sisters of charity" are no special works of any set or
portion of women, but are equally the work of every pro-
fessing Christian woman, just so far as she has received the
power, and can obtain the opportunity of carrying them on.
The second is, that anything which tends to separate
women thus occupied from the rest of their class, not only
tends to limit the number of workers, but injures the effi-
ciency of their work, and altogether destroys the reflected
benefits which would naturally be derived, from the right
performance of this part of their duty, by their own fami-
lies and their own class of society. The third is, that the
preparation needed for such a life and labour of love is just
the preparation which gentlewomen need to fit them for
the domestic and social duties of wife and mother. If any
of my readers have come to the same conclusion, let them
act upon it. " Christian life is action ; not speculating,
not debating, but doing. Feelings pass, resolves and
thoughts pass, opinions-change ; what you have done lasts
in you. Through ages, through eternity, what you have
done for Christ, that and that only you are. Women of
wealth, women of talent, women of leisure, what are you
doing in God's world for God ?"

Garibaldi, and other Poems. By M. E. Braddon.
Bosworth and Harrison.
This little volume is decidedly above the average
of ordinary verse, and its freshness and spirit afford
a delightful contrast to the tedious and pretentious
compositions which generally meet us in modern
volumes of poetry. The lesser ppems are, as is
usually the case, the most satisfactory. If the
author will be, for the present, less ambitious in his
attempts and restrict himself to lyrics, composed
with care, he will, we have no doubt, achieve better
things. There is, too, something wanting in his
verse, notwithstanding all its fervent love of truth
and noble aspirations. There is more of the wild
romance of the youthful enthuEis.st than the deep
but sober feeling, which is more real if less vivid.
In these poems one passion controls a life—madness
follows on broken trust, death on blighted affec-
tions. The actors in their romances or tragedies
seem incapable of acquiring that noble experience
of which the poet speaks when he bids us
"Know how sublime a thing it is
To suffer and be strong."
Much of this extravagance of sentiment is pro-
bably due to the impetuosity of an eager writer,
and will disappear with future experience. We
subjoin a favourable specimen of the author's powers,
in which fresh and healthful feeling is combined
with grace of expression and melody of rhythm:—
AMONG TIIE HYACINTHS.
We have left the world behind—
We have lost the beaten track,
And the hum of the city upon the wind
We have only to guide us back.
Oh I this is indeed to live,
To be free to dream and to dare,
When all that the busy world can give,
Is a murmur on the air.
In the wool where the hyacinths grow ;
And the earth is as blue as the sky,
We wander to-day till the sun sinks low,
And the rosy shadows die;
Till the day, with its soul of flame,
Till the beautiful day shall die;
To return, but not to return the same,
With one cloud in the changing sky.
So but once we may live these hours,
So reckless, and radiant, and gay;
But once may gather these wild-wood flowers,
That wither ere close of day.
For the bright spring moments die,
As the blossoms perish and fade ;
And the careless jest, and the low reply,
Are past with the light and shade.
And through life, ah ! never again
'Will the same brief hour return,
With alternate throb of joy and pain,
In the hearts that beat and burn.
Oh, weary, and flat, and stale,
Is the life we throw away,
The talents and powers of no avail
To shorten one summer's day.
But, who leaves the world behind,
To go from the beaten track,
Should hear low voices upon the wind,
That sweetly call him back :
That breathe from the wild-wood flowers—
That cry in the murmuring stream,
" This mortal and earnest life of ours,
Was given us not to dream ;
" To question its depth and truth,
Or to fear its darkening close :
But to do great deeds in our golden youth,
And to scorn the slave's repose :
" To scorn the slave, who lies,
And basks in the summer sun,
Who leaves to lament him, when he dies,
On the wide world's face, not one.
" Then up from amongst the flowers,
The path is wide and free,
And earth claims of man his noblest powers,
To conquer her misery."

Family Pictures. By the author of " Mary
Powell," &c. Hall, Virtue, and Co.
A volume from the pen of this pleasant and
popular authoress can seldom fail to please, and
the reader will at least find a degree of originality
in the work before us. It is not, as some might
conjecture from its title, a series of domestic stories,
but a collection of sketches of family worthies of
whose ancestry their descendants have good reason
to be proud. Joseph Paice, one of the foremost of
these, was one of those rare and admirable cha-
racters that are occasionally met with, in which
all the baser and meaner failings that disfigure
humanity are entirely absent, and a benevolence
of heart and simplicity of nature remain until the
last, notwithstanding crosses and disappoint-
ments that would have soured less genial and
kindly hearts. Like Goldsmith's vicar,
Even his failings leaned to virtue's side,"
and we cannot wonder at the affectionate reverence
with which his descendants and friends of the third
and fourth generations cherish his name and me-
mory. Other companion portraits of good, simple
folk of the old schootbear him company. Afterwards

we have many miscellaneous sketches, one of the
most pleasing being a description of Claremont as it
was in the days of the Princess Charlotte. At the
conclusion of the volume there is also a paper trans-
lated from the Italian of Torquato Tasso, containing
a charming portrait of domestic peace and comfort,
and some sound advice on the education and moral
government of a young family. Though not per-
haps possessing all the attractions of Miss Man-
ning's original works, there is much to interest and
gratify the reader in these reminiscences of bygone
days.

.A stro-Meteorology.
No. I. of the Society's Journal.

The initial number of a new periodical publica-
tion, under the title of Record of the Astro-
Meteorological Society, has just made its appear-
ance. It is issued in a pamphlet form—a form
admitting readily of its preservation. At the close
of No. I. there is an intimation that the second
instalment will be forthcoming on the Ist of April,
containing a prediction of the weather for April,
May, and June. So that the projectors of the new
periodical would appear to intend a quarterly issue
of it eventually. We mention this, because other-
wise the readers of this new scientific journal might
fall into the notion that the Record purposes to
appear every alternate month, No. I. being dated
Ist of February, and No. 11. being announced, as
already remarked, as forthcoming on the Ist of
April. At the commencement of the initial number
now before us, there is an " Address to ths Public"
from the projectors at once of the society and of
the society's periodical. It opens with the following
observations :

The founders of the Astro-Meteorological Society have
only one object in view, which is the furtherance of such
knowledge of the causes of changes in the condition of the
atmosphere as will lead to a foreknowledge of the periods of
storms, or excess of heat or cold, drought or rain. They
feel confident that these effects are the results of causes at
present perfectly unknown to the scientific men of Europe
and America. While they willingly acknowledge the
talents and industry of the scientific world, they submit
that, whether arising from prejudice or accident, the fact,
unhappily for the interests of society, exists, that those
talents and that industry have been hitherto misdirected,
in the search for a solution of the great problem of the
causes of changes in the weather. It is only after more
than a quarter of a century's close observation of those
changes, by several gentlemen, having no interest in any-
thing but the truth being known upon this subject, that
those observers have come to a decided conviction that
there exists in nature a principle which—though little
known to society, and not known at all to the savans,
whose eyes have been strangely blinded to its perception—
really and truly leads to a foreknowledge of the state of the
atmosphere. The value of this foreknowledge to farmers,
gardeners, builders, shipowners, merchants, navigators,
corn dealers, fishermen, travellers, military and naval com-
manders, and others, is so vast and important, that no
apology can be required for the attempt now making to
establish, on the sound basis of induction, a theory which,
if true, can alone offer to society all the advantages of
a previous knowledge of the atmospheric changes, on
which the interests of all those important classes depend.
And the writer having explained more in detail the
design kept in view by the association, concludes
his introductory remarks in the words subjoined :
It is the present intention of the society to issue frequent
papers, monthly if possible, of a similar character with the
present. These will contain abundant evidence of the con-
nection between the several positions of the earth among
the other bodies of the solar system, and those great and
important changes in the weather on which the interests of
society depend. Their most important features, however,
will be our attempts'
to foreshow for some weeks in advance
the leading characteristics of the coming season. These
prognostications will be the result of the joint labours of
several observers, who have made the subject their study
for very many years. It must not be expected, however,
that any effort will be made, as yet, to frame a minute, er
even a daily, prediction of the weather. But so far as long
and careful observation, and an unbiassed desire to benefit
society, by setting forth the results, may be depended on,
the weather predictions found in these columns will be ac-
ceptable. Their continuance will of course depend on the
degree of public support the society may meet with. To
persons disposed to oppose our speculations, we can only
say, with the ancient-philosopher, Strike, but hear 1"

The exclamation, by the way, being that—rinrr
axx dico&—not of the " philosopher, but of the
great warrior Themistocles. A classical slip of the
pen, however, like ,this, has "nothing whatever to
do, we are quite aware, with" the merits or demerits
of the "Record," as the organ of Astro-Meteorology.
As to those merits or demerits the public may now
satisfy themselves by examining the papers con-
tained in the inaugurative number of the society's
monthly or quarterly periodical. Among these
contributions will be found a little treatise giving
" The Theory of Astro-Meteorology ;" a chapter on
" The Rainfall in England ;" an essay, by W. H.
W., on " Astro-Philosophy ;" and another on the
" Causes of the Curve of Mean Temperature." The
last mentioned paper is illustrated by a very curious
diagram of the curve, as noted at Greenwich in
1858, during the months of January and February.

SAVING TEE CREWS OF STRANDED VESS.ELS.

A series of exceedingly interesting experiments,
having for their object the providing a certain
means of communication between stranded vessels
and the shore as a means of preserving thy lives of
their crews at a time when communication by boat
would be impossible, was brought to a close at
Portsmouth in a most satisfactory manner on Satur-
day last. The trials have extended over a period of
some months, and the means proposed to be em-
ployed have been tested in every possible way by
the gentleman who has suggested—in fact, carried it
out at his own expense, Lieut. G. S. Nares, senior
lieutenant of her Majesty's ship Britannia, Capt.
Robert Harris, the naval cadet training ship in
Portsmouth harbour. Lieutenant Nares employs
the common kite principle as his chief agent; but
while he sends his kite away to leeward, and con-
sequently towards the shore, he retains the means
on board the stranded vessel of bringing down the
kite when flown sufficiently beyond the beach, or
that the line attached to the kite may be hauled
upon by the people on shore, and the end on board
the vessel being attached to a hawser, and the
latter on reaching the shore being hauled up the
cliff, a means of escape to the crew and passengers,
however numerous they may be, so long as the
vessel holds together, or however violent may be
the surf which intervenes between the ship and the
land, is open to all with the most perfect safety by
a boatswain's cradle, basket, or slung cask, being
attached to the hawser, and hauled backwards and
forwards bythe people of the vessel and those on shore.
To bring the kite to the ground when sufficiently ad-
. vanced beyond the face of a cliff, or high-water mark,
Lieut. Nares has a second line attached to the
right angle of the kite ; holding on to this line,
and letting go the flying line of the kite, the latter
instantly capsizes and descends to the earth. This
mode is applicable to the rescue of a crew of a
vessel which has been driven well on shore, but is
in a position, either from the surf or the formation
of the coast, in which no vessel can approach her.
Another mode in which this life-kite may be used
is where it may be able to effect a landing on a
beach to leeward, but the boats are washed over-
board or stove, or the position in which the
vessel may lie on' a bed of rocks may render boats
useless. In this case the flying-line of the kite
is attached by a toggle to the bunghole of a cask,
to a couple of breakers with a boat's mast
lashed athwart them, or round a man's chest, with
the knot between his shoulders; in either ease
the kite finds the supporting power, and conveys
the object its line is fast to on shore, another line
being attached to the cask, raft, or man from the
vessel, and the communication with the shore is
complete. The particular credit due to Lieutenant
Nares consists in having, by his second line, devised
a means of bringing a kite to the ground at the
moment required, and in also making use of the kite
in attaching its flying line to the people an object in
the water, a carrier of his hawser's hauling line to
on the shore. Kites have been tried before,
but have failed for the want of these two great
requisiles. A few years since a vessel drove
on shore on the Devon coast, close under
the land. The captain sent up a kite, which
flew over the people's heads on the shore, but they
had no means of reaching it, and the whole of the
unfortunate crew perished in sight of the people on
shore, who were there ready to aid them could
the line from the kite overhead have reached
their hands. On Friday last the brig
Mercy, of Bristol, was wrecked at Porthleven, in
Mount's Bay. A tremendous surf was running,
but to save the crew it was necessary to form
some communication otherwise than by boat. A
cask was thrown overboard among the breakers,
with a small line attached, and was, after great
difficulty and risk of life on the part of the people
on shore, got hold of, and a hawser hauled on
shore, to which a swung basket was attached, and
the crew were saved. In this case the kite would
nave conveyed the cask to the people on the
beach without their having to risk their lives by
running into the breakers and surf to lay hold of
it. The concluding experiments by Mr. Nares
were made from her Majesty's steamer Bullfinch,
Lieutenant James. The Bullfinch on this occa-
sion
Nares
shore, and
and the ex-
perimentssion was 6 Ort On s yardswered fromperfhas presented his plan to the Shipwrecked Fisher-
men's Society, and also the fifty guineas which
had been awarded him.
ectthlye.

It appears that of the funds belonging to the
Mexican bondholders at Mexico a sum of about £45,000
was saved, owing to that amount being represented by bills
of exchange which had not fully matured. These have
since been collected, and the proeeeds are believed to be
secure. Upon their arrival on this side they would, with
the £16,000 already in the Bank of England, make a total
sufficient to meet the 12s. remanet of the last distribution
n the shape of dividend.

A Vienna letter, of the 27th, announces that the
Austrian Government and Prince Michael of Servia have
entered into a convention for the reciprocal extradition of
political and other prisoners,