The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-06 00:00:00

HOLLAND.

The First Chamber of the States-General termi-
nated the examination, in sections, of the bill on
religious liberty on the 31st ult. MM. Eysinga,
Lolsy, Martens, Van Sevenhoven, and Van Ryche-
verse' have been named reporters.
The Catholic party is still as active as ever.
Their exertions appear to increase as the proba-
bility of the obnoxious Bill passing into a law be-
comes more certain.
Petitions against the law continue to be sent in
in considerable numbers ; nearly 100 have been re-
ceived.

THE LA TYSON OBSERVATORY.

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The Midland Observatory Committee; we are glad to
state, were again at their post on Tuesday evening—
Mr. Alderman Birkin in the chair—to renew the effort
to complete the subscription required for securing to
Nottingham the splendid gift of Mr. Lawson, of Bath,
(10,0001. in value), and to complete it within the time
now limited by Mr. Dawson for this purpose, before
the Ist of October. Within a month the inhabitants of
Nottingham and the Midland Counties are required to
supplement the funds already promised to the Observa-
tory Committee, to the extent of five thousand pounds ;
otherwise this opportunity of securing for this ad-
mirable site an efficient Observatory. which will be
public and not private property, available for public
use, and not dependent on the caprice or inclination
of any private individual, will be utterly lost. By
the institution of such an establishment a great blank
would be filled up in British science. We believe
we are right in stating that no hiatus is, at this mo-
ment, more severely felt by those engaged in scientific
observation than the want of an observatory upon a
large scale, calculated to facilitate the advancement of
science and discovery in a degree to which private en-
terprise and scientific devotion, however ardent, cannot
aspire unaided. So deeply are we convinced of this,
that could any effectual method of laying the claims of
this locality to be provided with an observatory, and
the rare opportunity placed within its grasp, before the
British Association now about to assemble on the 7th
inst., at Hull, we firmly believe that the general convic-
tion of the importance of such an object would induce
the friends and lovers of science at large to contribute
handsomely to promote it. We do not expect that
the British Association, as a body, would do this ;
nor do we think it desirable that any extraneous in-
influence should be brought to bear upon the observa-
tory, by giving a right of interference to any popular
body apart from that under whose immediate charge the
institution may be placed. But the individual support
of those interested in science should, we think, be courted
for a purpose so thoroughly identified with its promo-
tion—and at a moment, too, when recent planetary and
stellar discoveries, and the appearance of illustrious
strangers in the still of comets in our heavens, appear
to point to even more astounding discoveries in creation
than even the few last years of Lord Rosse's telescope
and the prophetic calculations of Adams and Le Verrier
have made us familiar with. Meanwhile, the town of
Nottingham has been divided anew into two districts,
and some zealous members of committee have under-
taken to repeat and extend the canvass for subscriptions
formerly set agoing.—Nottingham Guardian.