The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-17 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SIIN.

SlR,—The initiative taken by the committee of
which I have the honour to be secretary, in calling
the working men of London to meet in Hyde Pc.rk
to express their sympathy with General Garib aid],
and to protest against the French occupation of
Rome, and not to insult, as Cardinal Wiseman has
it, the religion of others, has led to consequences of
the most serious character, not only upon the ques-
tion directly at issue, but also upon tha most sacred
one of the rights of Englishmen to meet and speak
freely.

I have explained, in the name of this committee,
how the first public meeting was entirely taken
out of our hands, and why we thought prudent to
decline calling another meeting. Several news-
papers have complained that sufficient publicity
was not given to our decision.

Now, I beg to protest against this strange mode
of proceeding of a certain portion of the Press.
At least 50 copies of the letter announcing the de-
cision of the committee were sent to the London
press—but very few did insert it—they all had re-
produced the erroneous statement that I had an-
nounced a second meeting; they were bound in
duty to the public to insert the contradictory letter;
by not doing so they led their readers to believe
that our committee would be in Hyde Park, and
they led to further confusion and disorder.
As Englishmen we thought we had a right to
meet quietly in the people's park to further an ob-
ject dear to our hearts : that right being interfered
with by a lawless mob, we thought it was our duty
to abstain from giving them another opportunity of
creating disorder, because of the name we had in-
scribed on our flag ; but after the proceedings of the
second Sunday—after the unaccountable inaction, of
the police—we feel that the Garibaldi question ',must
be left aside for the present, that we must call upon
our countrymen to examine whether, under the
pretence that there has been or might be disorder,
Englishmen are to be debarred from the right of
meeting.

A Hyde Park meeting is the ultima ratio populi
—it is the right to hold them we cannot surrender.
We must test the question whether the parks are
ours, whether we have a right to peaceably meet
there as well as anywhere else, and to discuss every
topic which we think deserves our attention, with-
out being interfered with by the police or mob
force.

The reasoning applied by Sir R. Mayne to this
particular case may apply to any other meeting—
why does he not close every hall in London because
of the riotous proceedings in Ireland and at Birken-
head ? why not close every concert-room because of
the riotous conduct of a few Irish sailors at Wool-
wich ? why not close every publichouse because of
the Westminster row P

The haste with which Sir R. Mayne tries to make
the most of this, and the conduct of the mayors of
the city of London and of Bradford, in refusing to
convene public meetings when called upon to do so
by their fellow-citizens, raises up a suspicion that
our liberties are in jeopardy, and if we are warm
sympathisers of the defenders of liberty in other
parts of the world, we shall show that we also cant
defend our right. If, as the Working Men's Garb..
baldian Committee, we feel bound to abstain from
compromising a sacred name in a row with the
" dear Irish children" of Cardinal Wiseman, or the
satellites of Sir R. Mayne, we reserve our rights as
Englishmen to take such counsels as our conscience
shall dictate.

I. SPARKHALL,
Secretary of the Working Men's Garibaldian
Committee.

335, Strand, Oct. 15.

PHYSICAL CONDITION OF ZHE SUN.

By what agency is the light and heat of the sun
maintained? What is it that feeds that vast fur-
nace to which we owe vegetation, and in a great
measure our very existence ? An agency affording
it the necessary aliment there must be, otherwise it
would soon b'a exhausted. This question has long
engaged the attention both of astronomers and
natural philosophers, and various theories have been
proposed with a view to solve it. The most plausi-
ble explanation appears to be that there is an inces-
sant flow of cosmical matter and aeroliths towards
the sun, which absorbs them, and is thereby enabled
to continue its emission of light and heat. This view,
first propounded by Mr. Waterston, has since• been
modified by Mr. Thompson, who supposes that the
cosmical matter destined to feed the sun has to make
its way through a resisting medium, the density of
which constantly increases as its strata approach the
sun. Thus the friction arising from the rapid mo-
tion of each particle through this medium will ren-
der the particle itself incandescent, and the heat
thus generated will contribute its quota to the tem-
perature of the solar sphere. In a recent paper
addressed to the Academy of Sciences, M. Faye
strongly opposes these theories, first, because sup-
posing a resisting medium to exist, this medium
mast move with the sun, in which case it may be
be proved that a body circulating within this me-
dium will not fall into the sun ; and then, because
nothing has been done to try the possibility of such
an hypothesis by tangible experiment or observa-
tion ; while, on the other hand, what has been ob-
served proves rather the eontrary—for how, our
author asks, could motionless clouds be seen during
total eclipses in any atmosphere supposed to be tra-
versed in every direction by cosmical particles with
such velocity as to go round the sun in less than
three hours P This latter argument, it must be ad
mitted, is a telling one ; but M. Faye stops here,
and does not venture to hazard an opinion of hii
own upon the matter.—Graignant's il essenger.

BANK OF ENGLAND.

An Account, pursuant to
cap. 32, for the week ending
f Oct., 1862:

he Act 7th and Bth Victoria,
on Wednesday, the 15th day

ISSUE DET
otee issued

'iRTMENT.

Government Debt £11,015,1C0
Other Securities .. 3.634,9C0
Gold Coin & Bullion 15,441,895
Silver Bullion ....

£30,091,895
BANKING DEPARTMENT.
eroprietors' Capi- Government Scou-
tal .............. £14.553,000 rities (including
Rest
Public Deposits (in- nuity) £12,163,992
eluding Exche- Other Securities 18,931,696
quer, Savings' , Notes
Banks, Commis- Gold and Silver 788,365
missioners of Na- Coin
tional Debt, and
Dividend Ac-
counts) 6,253.982
Other Deposits 15,712,485
Seven Day and
other Bills 735,392

X 30,001,95

£40,315,988

£40,315,953
MILLER, Deputy Cashier.