The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-26 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.

Yesterday a Special Court was held at the Mansion-
house for the purpose of presenting to Major-General
Sir Charles Felix Smith the freedom of the City for his
gallant conduct in Syria. The Court was unusually
crowded. It was stated on the paper of business that the
Court would not proceed to any of the ordinary topics.
Deputy GODSON requested to be informed whether ap-
plication had been made to Prince Albert to lay the first
stone of the new Royal Exchange.
The LORD MAYOR said, he believed that application
had been made, and that his Royal Highness had been
pleased to acquiesce.—(Hear, hear.)

PRESENTATION OF THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY OF LONDON

TO MAJOR-GENERAL SIR CHARLES F. SMITH.
Major-General Sir Charles Felix Smith having entered
the Court amidst loud cheers,
The CHAMBERLAIN (Sir James Shaw, Bart.) rose, and
with the usual forms swore in the new citizen, In pre-
senting the freedom in the magnificent box, the counter-
part of those presented by the Corporation to Sir Rbbert
Stopford and Commodore Napier, Sir James addressed
the gallant new member of the Corporation in a short
speech.

Sir C. Smmr, who was frequently interrupted by
cheers, said—" I have to offer my unfeigned and most
grateful acknowledgments for this especial mark of your
favour. On this Syrian affairso much of misrepresentation
has gone forth to the world, that it becomes essential—a
duty I owe to you—to clear up one point, lest my fellow-
citizens (fur such I presume I may now hare the honouf
of designating you)—lest, I say, my fellow-citizens might
imagine that they had conferred a signal mark of their
approbation upon one who had done little to deserve
it. I will pass over the amusing fictions with which
the British public have been diverted, and come at
once to the report in the newspapers of Sir Robert
Stopford's speech at the Mansion-house. A peru-
sal of that report would lead an otherwise uninformed
person to suppose that I was only intended" to
command the land forces at the siege of Acre, and
that my health was such as to prevent me from parti-
cipating largely in the operations of the. campaign. I
have an assurance from the lips of my respected friend,
the Gallant Admiral, that such was not a faithful re-
presentation of what it was his Excellency's inten-
tion to impart. It is true that I was taken seri-
ously ill the day after I left Gibraltar, and that I ar-
rived on the Syrian coast in a state of health far from
satisfactory—so much so, indeed, that I could not take a
very active part on shore in the establishment of our
first depot station for the distribution of arms to the na-
tives ; but, like the Admiral, I issued my orders from the
flag-ship, and I gave my counsel to him, being held by
his Excellency as jointly responsible with himself. I
was absent for eighteeen days, having gone to Con-
stantinople for the purpose of seeking instructions
from the British Ambassador as to general operations,
tnd to define all that had theretofore been ambiguous or
equivocal in our • respective positions ; for it will
hardly be credited that my instructions from her
Majesty's Government were only dated in London,
on the 10th of September, the day on which (although
contrary to the orders then in the Admiral's possession)
we bombarded Beyrout, and were received by me the
10th of October, the day on which I took possession of
that place, after having returned from Constantinople
with the Sultan's firman, empowering me to com-
mand the whole of his Imperial Majesty's troops
in • Syria, coupled with an instruction, giving
me the control over the Turkish squadron in
all matters connected with military movements.
That I so continued to command, having to con-
tend with unparalleled obstructions and diffi-
culties, is shown by the official despatches of the time; ,
but if more be required, I, have the unfortunate evidence '
of a severe wound;•disabling one limb, which will remind
me of Acre at every.guture step in life. I have been 32
years on foreign sepsice,, for the most part contending
against the climate gt jite„ tropics, or actively engaged
with the enemies of,,,cim qcwiatry ; I am now about to
return to my statioil,(fibroad,.. but, if ever I come back..
to England again, it
(skill be my earnest endeavour so
to qualify myself as `o•' "cultivate and improve my ac-„
quaintance with tKeigzens of London.—(Cheers.)
The Gallant 'Offreer"tlien shook hands most cordially
with the Lord,Mayor and several of the members of the
Corporation, and left the Court amidst loud acclamations.

ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREEN-

WICH.

EXTRAORDINARY DISTURBANCE OF THE
MAGNETIC INSTRUMENTS.
(From the Cambridge Advertiser.)
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Oct. 26.
On the 25th of September of the present year, a most
extraordinary disturbance of the magnetic instruments
was observed at the Magnetic Observatory attached to
the Royal Observatory of Greenwich. The disturbed
state of all the instruments attracted the attention of Mr.
Glaisher (chief assistant in the Magnetic Department),
at an early hour of that day, and he immediately com-
menced a series of observations on all the instruments
at short intervals. After a time the disturbance became
so small that the extraordinary observations were dis-
continued ; but it again increased, and observations were
again immediately made with all the instruments, and
repeated as rapidly as it was possible for one observer to
do so. But for the promptitude and judgment displayed
by Mr. Glaisher on this occasion, the record of this dis-
turbance, unprecedented in this magnetic latitude, would
probably have been lost. The following statement will
;ive an idea of the magnitude of the disturbance : that
within eight minutes of time, the declination needle
changed its position more than 21 deg. (having passed
in both directions the range of the observing telescope,
which includes that angle): that the verticle force was
increased by more than 1-40th of its whole value, the in-
strument having then reached the extremity of its
range; and that the horizontal force was increased about
1-30th of its whole value.
The following more detailed account is taken princi-
pally from the abstract furnished by Mr. Glaisher. It is
to be remarked that the time throughout is Gottingen
mean solar time, civil reckoning ; that the readings of the
theodolite for the declination needle increase as the north
end of tho needle moves towards the east, and that the
reading for the astronomical meridian is 269 deg. 51 min.
45 sec. nearly ; that the increasing readings of the verti-
cal force magnetometer imply increasing vertical force,
one division being equal to 0.00471 of the whole vertical
force ; and that the increasing readings of the horizontal
force magnetometer imply increasing horizontal force,
one division being equal to 0.002214 of the whole hori-
zontal force.

Early in the morning of the 25th of September, the
needles were in an agitated state. During the appear-
-ince of an aurora additional observations were taken,
:Lnd the declination needle in less than three hours tra-
versed an arc of 34 min. After this the needles were in
a tolerably quiet state, and extraordinary observations
were discontinued.

The observation at 10h. A,M. showing a charge of 17
min. of arc from the previous reading, at Bh. A.M., extra
observations were again resumed, and continued till 11h.
A.M. ; no.hing remarkable appearing during this time,
they were again discontinued.
At 2h. P.M., Gottingen mean time, it was evident that
all the needless were affected by some unusual cause of
disturbance, and incessant observations were at once
commenced, the instruments being observed successively
as quickly as one observer could take them. At 3h. 53m.
Mr. Hind joined, and subsequently Messrs. Dunkin and
Paul. From this time to the discontinuance of the ob-
servations two persons were constantly engaged, one
taking the observations with the vertical force magneto-
meter—the other those of the declination needle and of
the horizontal force magnetometer. About 2h. 40m. P.M.
the motions of the needles became very peculiar ; the
vibrations of the declination needle and of the vertical
force magnetometer being quite destroyed ; and those of
the horizontal force magnetometer being reduced to a
continuous succession of jerks or starts. It will, perhaps,
contribute to clearness if the motions of the three instru-
ments are now separately described.