The Sun.
London, England, 1812-08-10 00:00:00

UUUp 01
.1101.-n3IIICII fitting 0011Ter.lern
pretty close ranks. 'and at a brisk pace. 'Mindful
of the ridicule whiCh had been excited against
him toe preceding vicar, he continued to observe
them L:. silence for some lime ; but being at last
convincedthatthe appearance was real, he went
into the house, and' 'informed Mr. Lancaster that
he had something curious -to Show him. They
'went ant together; but, before -Stricket had
:either.spok7erf or pointed to the place, his master's
son had himself 'discovered the aerial troopers ;
andLwhen, ConSciotis' that the same appearances
were visible to both, they infortnedthe family; and
the phenontena were alike seen•by alr. -
These/visionary horseinen -sechtedto come from
the lowest part Of Soutet-fell, -and became visible
at a place called -Knott .; they then mbved in re-
gular troops along the side the fell, till they came
opposite to Blakohills, when, they went over the
mountain.,- . Thus they described a kind of curvi-
lineal path ; ,and both their first and last appear-
ariceS were_boundedby the top of the mountain.
The pace at 'which these shadowy forms pro-
ceeded, was a-regular swift walk ; and the whole
time of the continuance of their appearance was
upwards ,of two hours .; but farther observation.
was then precluded by- the approach of darkness.
Many troops were seen in succession
.; -and fre-
quently the last; or last but one,- in a troop, would
quit his position,gallOp to the front, and then ob-
serve the sonic paic with the others. The same
changes were visible to all the spectatorsi and
the view of the phenomena was not confined to
13lakehills only, ‘‘ but was seen by every person at
every cottage within the distance of a mile." Such
arc the particulars of this singular relation, as
given
,by Mr. Clarke'. The attestation is signed:
by taneaster and Strieket„ and dated the 21st of
of July,: 1745. The number Of persons- who
witnesssed. the march of these aerial- travellers
seems to 'have been, twenty,six.

These phenomena_have by some been consider-
ed as mere deceptia• visus ; but it appears in the
highest degree improbable, - that so many specta-
tors should experience the same- kind of illusion,.
and at exactly thesame period:, We should_rather
attribute the appearances to:particular.states. of
the atmosphere, and suppose them to be the sha-
dows of realitiest . the airy. resemblances of
scenes actually passing in a distant part of the
'country, and by some singular operations of na-
tural causes, thus expressively imaged On the ac:-
elivity of the mountains. We shall illustrate, our
opinion by some particulars relating 01 the Spec-
tre of the Broken, an' q.erial figure tizftt is some,
times seen among the Hartz Mountains'in Ha-
novert

" Haying ascended the Broken," observeS M.
llaue, from iwhose diary this account is transcrib-
ed;.`,` for the thirtieth time, I was at,length.so
fortunate as to have the pleasure of seeing this
phenomenon. The sun rose about four o'clock,
and the atmosphere being quite serene towards
the east, his rays could pass without any obstruc-
tion over Ileinrichshohe.. In the South-west,
however, towards Achtermannshohe, a brisk west
wind carried before it thin transparent vapours.
About a quarter past four I looked round, to see
whether the atmosphere would permit me to have
a free prospect. to the south-west, when I ob-
served, at a very great distance, towards Acbter-
mannshohe, a human figure of a monstrous size
A violent gust'of wind having almost carried away
my hat, I clapped my band ;.o it, by moving my
arm towards my head, and the colossal figure did
the same. •

The pleasure which I felt at; this discovery
can hardly be described; for I had already walked
many a weary step in the hopes of seeing this
shadowy' image, without being able to gratify my
curiosity. I immediately made another move-
ment, by bending my body, and the colossal figure
before inc repeated it. I was desirous of d9ing
the same thing oncemore, but my Colossus had
vanished. I remained-in the same position,,wait-
ing to see-whether it would return, and in a few
minutes it again made its appearance owthe Ach-
terinanshohe. I paid my respects to it a second
time, and it did- the same by me. I then called
the landlord of the Broken (the neighbouring inn),
having both taken the same position which I had
taken alone, we looked towards the Achtermanns-
hohe, but •saw nothing. We had not, however,
stood long, when two such colossal figures were
formed over the above eminence, which repeated
their co' mplimcnts by bending their bodies as we
did, after-which they vanished. We retained our
position,. kept our eyes fixed on the same, spot,
and in a little' time the two figures again stood.
before, us, 'and were joined by a third. Every
movement that we made these figures imitated.;
but with this difference, that the phenomenon
was sometimes weak and faint, sometimes strong
and Well defined."

• This atrionS detail, concerning the .imitatire
powers of the Spectre of the Broken, demonstrates
that, the actions of .human beings are sometimes
pictured on the clouds; and when, all the eircum-
stitites of the phenomena on 'Souter-fell are con;
sidered,. it seems highly 'probable that some thin
tqoufs must have been hovering round its sum-
mit at the time when the appearances, were ob-
served, It. is also. probable that these vapours
nizist have been impressed:with the shadowyforms
that seemed, to "
•iMitate, humanity," by a par-
ticular operation of. the sun's ray g; united •with
some singular, but unknown refractive combina-
tions, that were then taking place in-the minor
sphere. .

it,should be remarked, that the time when these ap-
pearances were Observed, was the eve of the rebellion, when
,3-ale troops of horsemen might be privately exercising.

Sce Gottingitsches Jourrlal der Natttrwisenscliaften,
Vol. I. Part HI. •

.At the Lindsey Quarter Sessions, W. Needham,
miller, of 'ullerby, a man of considerable pro-.
pertyovas convicted of stealing a quantity of bar-
ley; anti -sentenced to be transported furl years.

.The erection Of the new Ga6l, Town Hall,
for iitie County of Rent, is proceeding with ne;
tivitrat Maidstone :The expense is estimated at
160,0001.

In the' fire in Virginia-street, Glasgoxii, on
Wednesday se'nr ight, scven persons untortunatety
Lost their lives, aid several others were much
hurt.
,The dani:g.2 is egtimated at 21,0001.

',:../.1,1:11-41,L;:ki...t
• L.ir -2.-1-IZ4 -X4:12
OE 4'ol,2ts'•;JJ• , -

[FROM AZiTIGALZ/CAN MONITOII,.]

Civitas cii is libeztat,... est
,ptAita qaa: SLI23 Stat .viritips;
non ex alien° arbi4iv peLk(l2t.'
All the. world are now talking and cony:raft-flat-
.
ing themselves on what is called the Re-este:dish-
ment of the Kingdom of Polaud---tir-e•restoration
of the Poles to their former independence. It is'
'the chat jot: every 4offcc-hote in the Kingdom.—
The soi-di:xint Democrats of course rep!esimt it as
ore among :the many benevolent, actions of their
idol, Napdleim the Despot, *aye, and even our
sober and rational loyal nun of. England, although
they dete'st iluonapnte., ean:tot help applauding
and admiring this act Of his, and rejoice'at the.
newly reeov.ered indenentience ofl the' -" pour
Poles and, it. the same time, condemning, as
a matter of coarse, the partition, qr, nthre pro-
perly spealiimg, -the annihilation ot Poland as a
nation. Fine philanthropic, costhoyblitan senti-
ments; No doubt, the
,loyal, as-wcil as the a-
cobin, , Englishmen, all concur in cOannending-
Puonap:lt: for the re-ef3tablistinient ot Poland, in
like manner as they did ills_ taildne3s awl his
11 ne-
ral views when. he abolished the Inquisition in
Spain, without reflecting, lioWever, tiltit'the in-
trodUctionirito the Iqtter eouniry or ilia i'c~l'me
Spies 04 ic'Tenclarates-, were greaon' curses tilan
the Inquisition and the AigOzds, tijytt the
black robes worn by the latter, yvere Only changed
fOr the blue ones worn by the iariner yet, with
consiticriig.the new tyrannical sysielus
posed on the Sphniards, -i3tibtaaparte is lauldd to
the very "skies, for these his apparent acts of jos=
tier; and l:berality.

1, am well acquainted with Poland, having h,een
a - riesident in that country :n 17J4, in toe very
zenith of its it possessed. ac-
complished King "a brit an.. Court, When its
capital Was the' cc.iltre 'of attraction in the North
of Europe. 1 knew. it at a time when the flame
of Lint:rty was lighted up in its provinces,
if not extinguisned; would have produce:las many
bonfires as those lighted up by the Blacks in St.
Domingo. -I,knew.Poland after its -partition, when
its once splendid capital was reduced to a provin-
cial town of 'Prussia.

The reader, therefore, will not think it\ pre-
sumptions in me to deliver. my opinions re-
specting this kingdom, the character of ..its in-
habitants, its liberties, and its annuihilatiOn as
a kingdoM ; I will from hence endeavour to
prove that. the whininr, about the loss of Polish
liberty was nothing more than a captandum vulgus.
I have taken a quotation from Livy as a motto
to this article, for the purpose of proving what I
believe no man will ever attempt to deny—that
no state can be free unless it rests upon its own
strength, and does not depend upon the arbitrary
will of another ; the events which have• of late
taken place on the Continent of Europe sufficiently
prove the truth of the above political axiom of
the Roman historian.

Every man the least conversant with history,
knows that.the Kings of Poland were fastened up-
on them by the Court of RuSsia. Even. their last
King, Stanislaus 4 whose dethronement the Poles
affected so much to lament, was forced upon them
by the imperial and imperious Catherine, in direct
opposition to the choice of the Poles themselves.
Nay, it is well known, that soon after his corro,
nation, Stanislaus was carried off h 1 the Confede-
rate Poles, and was very near being killed by
them. Thus, then, the very soul, life, and es-
Se2CC of the Polish Constitution, owed its situa-
tion to foreig-a intrigues.. This, surely, does not
look like independence.
As to the people, which is principally composed
of the peasantry, for there is no middleclassthe
inhabitants of Poland being either governors or
the governed, masters or slaves ; they were all in
a state of vassalage ; a Polish peasant. Was for-
merly as much. his master's property as a Negro
slave is that of a West-India Planter : while every
Polish Nobleman was a petty sovereign he could
frame. any mnnicipal.or local IaWS for his own ter-
ritories ; he might e-ven. vas
murder. or rob-
bery, for -his person as inviolable ; and he
could moreover ".fiord an asylum to any person
he wished to protect, however , atrocious his
guilt,
_ivirateAr the nature. of. his crimes ! As
to his own vassals, he might flog 'them and hang
them if he pleased, for he was accountable to no
tribunal

In Poland, there are a sort of noble slaves, and
to.:distinguish them from, the others, they wear
one boat and one sandal, the farmer being con-
sidered the insignia 'of nobility. ThiS mark of
distinction is confined to the noble slaves of Li-
thuania, while the other slaves wear two sandals.
The „mode of punishing these noble slaves was
likewise different -t6 that of the others ; for in-
stance, when a man of the former description
was to be bastinadoed, a carpet or a mat was
spread on the
.floor for that purpose, on which
the culprit was ;itfetcheci to receiye his punish-
ment, whereas the un-noble slaves received it on
the bare ground-e-Euriable distinction l And,
strange to relate; 1..-sawthis distinction with i:e-
gard to flOgging .kept up in Poland so late 's -in
1804, after they, had endeivoured to effect a Re-
volution, foUnded on' the basis of Liberty and
Egnality.
AS to the King, himself, he was regarded by
the AristOcracy as a Russian Spy, who were of
course always at variance with him; and when
he experienced any particular insult from,thein,
he sent -weeping messages to the Court of St.
Petersburghe -which was always , ready to inter-
le-re for its Representative or Viceroy.
In the Polish Diet there was no independence ;
for the principal and most wealthy Nobles, al-
though uncommonly rich, were nevertheless pen-
sioners of the Court of Russia. CoUnt Joseph
Potocki, the richest indiVidual in Europe, and
the Czartorinskys, were always the serviletoeds
and agents of the Courts of Russia, and -of course.
Continually, opposed to those who were unfriend-
ly to that Power. Even when, the first parti-
tion took place, the PoleS themselves, at leaSt
those who were in the Russian interest, sanction-
ed it in the `Diet, on their COnfederiition Day; as
th.ey -tailed it.
In matters of religion, the Pole's were as into-

• ...11i.(-41 WATER AT LONI
Morning, 46.minutt's aftevi4.