The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-29 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PAR LIAMEN T.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(THIS DAY.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at twelve o'clock.
The attendance of members was very small.
On the motion of Mr. lIAXTER, it was ordered that
the house at its rising adjourn until Friday next.
On the motion of Mr. HAYXER new writs were
ordered—

For Wolverhampton in the room of Mr. Villiers, ap
pointed Judge-Advocate-General.

For Aylesbury in the room of Mr. Bothell, appointed
a Solicitor-General.

For Oxford in the room of Sir W. P. Wood, appointed
Vice-Chancellor.

For the Leith Boroughs in the room of Mr. Moncrieff,
appointed Lord Advocate.

For Dumfriesshire in the room of Lord Drumlanrig,
appointed Comptroller of the Household.
For the City of Gloucester in the room of Admiral
Berkeley, appointed one of the Lords of the Ad-
miralty.
For the county of Limerick in the room of Mr.
Monsell, appointed Clerk of the Ordnance.
For Brighton in the room of Lord A. Hervey, ap.
pointed one of the Lords of the Treasury.

On the motion that a new writ be issued for South-
ampton. in the room of Sir A. Cockburn, appointed
Attorney-General,

Mr. FORRESTER said that there was a petition
before the house against the return of Sir Alex. Cock-
burn for Southampton, charging him with being guilty,
by his agents, of bribery and corruption ; and he (Mr.
Forrester) wished, therefore, to have the opinion of the
Speaker whether a new writ could be issued under those
circumstances.

The SPEAKER said that in this case it would depend
entirely on the vote of the house. If an election petition
complained of an undue return in consequence of bribery
and corruption, but did not pray for the seat, it was
competent for the house to issue a new writ ; but if the
seat was prayed for, the house could not issue a new
writ, because it did not know whether the person for
whom the seat was prayed, was duly elected.
Mr. F. FRENCH said that as the charge was one of
bribery and corruption, it appeared to him that no in-
jury would be sustained by the issuing a new writ. All
that the opposing candidate would have to do, would be
to serve a declaration on each voter as he came to the
poll, that Sir A. Cockburn was not duly qualified, and
on the facts of this petition being proved, the hon. and
learned gentleman would be declared unseated, and the
opposing candidate seated as a member, of course.

Mr. HAYTER said that he was desired on the part
of Sir A. Cockburn, to state that he would not have
consented on any account to the issuing of this writ, had
he not been fully assured that the persons who had
made these charges of bribery and corruption, were fully
competent to resume them after the new election.
The writ was then ordered to be issued.
On the motion that a new writ be issued for the bo-
rough of Carlow, in the room of Mr. Sadleir, appointed
one of the Lords of the Treasury.
Mr. BUTT inquired if the petition which had been
presented against the return of Mr. Sadlier, did not
pray for the seat.

Mr. HAYTER said that he had read the prayer of
the petition, and so far as he could understand it did not
pray for the seat.

Mr. G. BERKELEY said that he could state, on the
authority of the hon. gentleman himself, that such was
not the case.

Reference was then made to the petition itself, lying
on the table of the house, and it being found that it only
prayed that the election would be declared null and void,
the new writ was ordered to be issued.

The SPEAKER notified to the house, that in con-
sequence of two of the members of the general Com-
mittee on Election Petitions—Mr. BAINES and Mr.
MoNsELL—having ceased to be members of the house,
he had issued his warrant to appoint Sir F. BARING and
Mr. C. FORTESCUE, members of the committee in their
places.

Mr. HEADLAM gave notice that immediately
after the recess, he should put a question to the
Government as to whether it was their intention to
introduce any measure for the improvement of the law
of Mortmain, founded on the report the committee of
last session.

The house then adjourned until Friday' next, at two
o'clock.

CLERKENTVELL--(THIS DA Y).

EXTENSIVE ROBBERY.— William Carden, a labourer,
was placed at the bar before Mr. Corrie, charged with
stealing a quantity of lead piping and other articles, the
property of Mr. William Osborne, a builder, of King
Henry-street, Kingsland, under the following circum-
stances :

It appeared from the evidence of the prosecutor,
that having for a long period been robbed of a quantity
of lead piping and other building materials from some
villa residences which he is constructing at Kingsland,
he yesterday gave information to the police, which led
to the apprehension of the prisoner. The policemen
went to a marine store shop dealer in the neighbour-
hood, and having asked if he had bought some lead, he
was answered in the negative, but was told that the
prisoner who lived close by had on Christm-as Eve
offered a, hundred-weight of lead for sale. Finding that
to be the case, the constable went to the house of the
prisoner this morning, and, having apprehended him,
proceeded to search the house, when he found some
copper among a quantity of lead piping and a number
of other articles, some of which the prosecutor stated he
thought was his. The prisoner gave very contradictory
accounts of his possession of the property, which were
on inquiry contradicted.

The prisoner, in defence, said that he was innocent,
and that he could prove that the whole of the property
was his own.

Mr. Corrie said he should remand the case for a
week, in order to give the police the opportunity of mak-
ing further inquiries. .
The business of the Court did not commence until 25
minutes to 11.

PROFESSOR FARADA Y'S LECTURES AT THE
ROYAL INSTITUTION.

Yesterday this eminent chemist delivered the first of a
juvenile course of six lectures on chemistry, at the
Royal Institution. Though avowedly designed for the
instruction of the young, and therefore presented in a
most familiar form, the lectures of so distinguished a
professor cannot fail to be replete with interest even for
those who have long made the science their study ; and
this was abundantly proved in the introductory lecture
of yesterday. Of Professor Faraday it may without
the slightest hyperbole be said that he makes the details
of his science as interesting as a fairy tale. The extreme
lucidity of his explanations is only exceeded by the
admiraable manipulation which conducts his experiments.
With a view to disembarrass his subject of all repulsive
technicality, the learned professor declares his intention
1 of commencing his course by dealing with the most
familiar objects, and those that were always at hand—
fire, air, and water. By some very obvious experiments,
he illustrated the difference between the mechanical and
the chemical properties of air and water. The first he
showed by an instance of the common fountain ; the
latter by igniting a small piece of potassium by the con-
tact of water. He next considered the phenomena of
combustion, showed the different degrees of combusti-
bility of various bodies, and illustrated the importance
of air as a supporter of combustion by some beautiful
experiments with licopodium, or "pantomime lightning."
Combustion without flame was then exhibited, in what
are commonly known as sparks ; and the important
influence of such agents as nitrate of potash and chlorate
of potash in promoting this species of combustion was
illustrated. This led him to explain these solutions.
He showed that, though not inflammable themselves,
even on contact with flame, they were capable of produc-
ing powerfully explosive compounds, when mixed with
sulphuret of antimony and other substances. So power-
ful was the effect of these salts in some cases as to
render the presence of the atmospheric air unnecessary
to support combustion. This he showed by burning
phosphorus, mixed with nitrate of potash, at the bottom
of a vessel full of water. The learned professor then
proceeded to decompose some chlorate of potash by
heating a retort containing the same with charcoal, in
order to eliminate the principle which in these salts
tended to support combustion. The result was oxygen ;
and a variety of beautiful experiments followed, all tend-
ing to establish the conclusion that oxygen was the
great supporter of combustion. The lecture was listen-
ed to throughout, by a crowded audience, with the
closest attention.