The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-11 00:00:00

ARMING OF THE PEOPLE.

We have received the following circular from a cor-
respondent at Newtown, in Lancashire, who states that
it has been generally circulated in that district :
TO THE WORKING CLASSES OF NEW-
TOWN.

FELLOW TOWNSMEN,—WiII you permit one, who
actuated by a very strong feeling for your peace,your safety,
and your commerce, and who feels deeply interested in
your general welfare, to offer you at this most momen-
tous period the most disinterested advice. I have no
claims to your confidence other than that of an honest
member of society, anxious for 'the prosperity of our
townouuLthemelfaro ef.itainhalgtants, but the time is
renaerocismitical !pry, theaggressiva acts of Iriolonoaconi-
mitted in a neiglabouribg town.

You say that you have wrongs that require redress,
which I admit ; but you have unhappily been taught
that the medium of redress lies only in your being
armed and prepared to use them. Abandon, I conjure
you, my fellow townsmen, the idea of such a source,
which can only lead to ill consequences to yourselves
individually, and even if suc2essful (of which there can
be no hope), it would end in the worst tyranny of Go-
vernment. History and experience prove the enormous
mischiefs which have ever resulted from tumultuous and
sanguinary changes in political and social strife.
Of the men who have for months endeavoured to
teach you the doctrine of arms I will say nothing. They
may, or they may not, be honest. That you believe in
their integrity to a certain extent is evident, and that
you indulged in the hope of their success by supporting
one for months in luxury far superior to that which
greets your own table, is equally well known. You have
a perfect right to dispose of the proceeds of your indus-
try in any way consistent with your interest, or conge-
nial with your feelings, without effecting thereby any
injury to your fellow-citizens, but it is a matter of consi-
deration whether your families have not stronger claims
upon you than these men have.
Man by nature is dependent upon his fellow-man ; in
our social state we are dependent upon each other : the
operative and his family are dependent for the food and
wages of his industry rendered to his employer. Consider
then for amoment if you were all out of work for two weeks,
the manufactories shut, wages neither paid nor earned,how
could your wives and families subsist ? You may live
(but God forbid you should entertain the thought) on
the plunder of your wealthier neighbours, who would
then be reduced to the same state of misery as your-
selves. Subsistence would be cut off—famine would
stare us on every side—and countless numbers of us
would inevitably perish the victims of the criminal ex-
citement of men who ought to have known better. No
pen can describe, no tongue can tell, the results—the
tremendous results—that would be realized. No siege,
however bloody and desolating—no war however wild
and ferocious, has shown a parallel for the misery that
would instantly descend upon society.
I pray of you, my fellow townsmen, that the idea of
arming, training, and parading, be entirely abolished.
Let your voices be loud against intimidation, violence,
and incitement to arms for the destruction of life and
property, and although unorganized bodies may commit
murder and outrage, against the disciplined forces of the
state—aided as that force will be by the moral power of
wise and good men—resistance would be scattered to
the winds.

By every power that I can imagine I implore you to
obliterate the idea of any proceeding which may injure
yourselves, or tarnish the credit and repute of your
town.

Trade is greatly injured by this excitement ; and let
me remind you, with the best possible feeling, " That
resistance to the civil force with arms is treason, and
punishable with death."
I remain, my fellow townsmen,
AN INHABITANT.
Newtown, May Ist 1839.

MANY-COLOURED STARS.—The light of the
stars is by no means uniform ; the ray of Sirius, for in-
stance, differs not merely in intensity, but in kind from the
ray of Vega; and in countries where the atmosphere is
less humid and hazy than ours, the difference is striking
to the naked eye—one star shining as an emerald, another
as a ruby, and the whole heavens sparkling as with various
gems. This attribute of variety of colours also charac-
terises the double stars; but the remarkable thing is, that
in many instances, when one is of one marked colour, its
companion is of the opposite. Instances abound in which
a red and green star are associated, or a yellow and blue.
When the stars are of different degrees of brilliancy, this
contrast may originate in an optical delusion—in that ten-
dency which disposes the eye, when gazing on any bright
colour, to endow fainter objects near it with the op-
posite or complimentary colour by way of relief;
but the explanation is not universally borne out, inas-
much as many couples, in precisely similar circum-
stances, show no such contrast. Sir John Herschel was
at first decidedly inclined to attribute this phenomenon to
an actual difference of colour; and although he has since
—perhaps on good grounds—half relinquished that con-
clusion, we have the acquiescing testimony of Struve,
founded on observations with the Dorpat telescope, whose
clearness has never yet been rivalled, so that we may not
absolutely part with the early pleasing speculations of the
British astronomer. "It may easier be suggested in
words," says Sir John, " than conceived in imagination,
what variety of illumination two stars—a red and a green,
or a yellow and blue one—must afford a planet circulating
around either ; and what cheering contrasts and grateful
vicissitudes, a red and green day, for instance, alternating
with a white one and with darkness, might arise from the
presence or absence of one or other, or both, from the
horizon."—Dr. Nichol's Architecture of the Heavens.
A GEORGIA LOAFER'S SOLILOQUY.—Here
I am, a beautiful rascal, low in funds, sunk in reputation,
seven hundred and fifty miles from home, and no mule to
ride. If I owe my landlord anything, I will stay and eat
it out with him like a gentleman ; and if I owe any porson
else anyth:ng, I freely forgive the debt.
Some stranger, and Irishman we presume, has
been extensively placarding the walls of our city, offering
a reward for a lost favourite dog, and in order that there
may be no mistake in recognising the animal, he states in
conspicuous characters that the dog answers to the name
of " Queen," and is deaf!—Glasgow Chronicle.