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.,ani all other
stoppages at intermediate ports, in a littre over 25.1
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 Gibi•altar, 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
Melazzo, 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
their benefit, as distressed British subjects,
amounted to 463 dole., 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 iols. 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 Correo 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 the Moorish outpost stationed
before that place by order of the Emperor since
November last, with the view of preventing aggres-
sions on the part of the Riffians, 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 A etiva, 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 OR the morning of the 15th 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, manned by an officer and 22 mon,

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, 62 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 eve!), 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 yor, nra. 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 poems 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 enthusiast 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 THE 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 tho 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 ore 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 I 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
crosses and disappoint
last, notwithstanding
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 wcnder 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 school bear him company, Afterwards'