The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-02 00:00:00

THE NEW PLANET

Since the:discovery of theexultra-zodiacal planet Ceres,
on the Ist of January, 1801 (soon after followed by the
discovery of Juno, Pallas, and Vesta), no occurrence
has, perhaps, excited so much interest in the scientific
world, as the newly-discovered member of our planetary
family, Astrea. The observations of one of the greatest
living authorities on the law of Bode, of whose sagacious
and far-sighted conjecture the recent discovery would
seem to afford an additional confirmation, will doubtless
be peculiarly acceptable to those who have not Sir John
Herschel's work immediately at hand. The concluding
sentence is, however, remarkably curious, and shows that
even the highest authorities may at times, from extreme
caution, prove at fault:— _ _

" The planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
and Saturn, have been known from the earliest ages in
which astronomy has been cultivated. Uranus was dis-
covered by Sir W. Herschel in 1781, March 13, in the
course of a review of the heavens, in which every star
visible in a telescope of a certain power was brought
under close examination, when the new planet was im-
mediately detected by its disc under a high magnifying
power. It has since been ascertained to have been ob-
served on many previous occasions with telescopes of
insufficient power to show its disc, and even entered
as a star, and some of the observations which
have been so recorded have been used to improve
and extend our knowledge of its orbit. The dts•
covery of the ultra-zodiacal planets dates from the
Ist day of 1801, when Ceres was discovered by
Piazzi at Palermo ; a discovery speedily followed by
those of Juno by Professor Harding, of Gottingen ;
and of Pallas and Vesta by Dr. Olbers, of Bremen.
It is extremely remarkable that this important ad-
dition to our system had been in some sort surmised
AS a thing not unlikely, on the ground that the intervals
between the planetary orbits go on doubling as we recede
from the sun, or nearly so. Thus the interval between
the orbits of the earth and Venus is nearly twice that
between those of Venus and Mercury ; that between the
orbits of Mars and the earth nearly twice that between
the earth and Venus ; and so on. The interval between
the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, however, is too great,
and would form an exception to this law, which
is, however, again resumed in the case of the three
remoter planets. It was, therefore, thrown out by the
late Professor Bode, of Berlin, as a possible surmise,
that a planetmight exist between Mars and Jupiter, and
it may easily then be imagined what was the astonish-
ment of astronomers to find four revolving in orbits
tolerably well corresponding with the law in' question.
No account a priori, or from theory, can be given of
this singular progression, which is not, like Rephi's laws,
strictly exact in its numerical verification ; but the cir-
cumstances we have just mentioned lead to a strong be-
lief that it is something beyond a mere accidental co-
incidence, and belongs to the essential structure of the
system. It has been conjectured that the ultra.
zodiacal planets are fragments of some greater planet
which formerly circulated in that interval, but has
been blown to atoms by an explosion, and that more
such fragments exist, and may be hereafter discovered.
This may serve as a specime❑ of the dreams in which
astronomers, like other speculators, occasionally and
harmlessly indulge."

NEGLECT OF MAGISTRATES.—CompIaints from the
country keep coming in upon us relative to the vast incon•
venience to which the public are put, for want of proper
attention of the magistracy to their duties. This is an un-
pardonable inconvenience to the public, and it must find
correction from the proper quarter. If gentlemen who are
in the commission of the peace feel it enough to have the
honour of being so, the sooner that notion is changed the
better both for themselves and the community at large. The
honour and credit (if it is to be looked upon as such) of being
a magistrate is in the due attention to public duty. Neglect
is derogatory to a magistrate, and prejudicial to society. Let
us hope that the new year, upon which we have just entered,
will produce better things, and before it terminates many
needed, useful, and beneficial changes will have been brought
about and accomplished.—From a Correspondent.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.

The Lord Mayor received the following letter, to which
his attention was particularly claimed, from the Water-
man and Lighterman's Company:—
" Waterman's Hall, Dec. 31, 1845.

"My Lord Mayor, We are directed by the Court of
the Master-wardens and Assistants of the Company of
Watermen and Lightermen ai the river Thames, to draw
your Lordship's attention to the late proceedings at
Blackfriars-pier of the Steam-boat Company called
"The Waterman's Steam-boat Company," and as from
the similarity of name your Lordship and the public may
suppose that the Waterman and Lighterman's Company
are parties to these proceedings, we take this oppor-
tunity of informing your Lordship (and perhaps your
Lordship will have the kindness to make it known in
other quarters) that the Waterman and Lighterman's
Company are not parties to, or in any manner connected
with, such proceedings, nor are they interested in thr•
affairs of the Waterman's Steam-boat Company.—We
hare the honour to be, my Lord Mayor, your Lordship's
very humble servants,
" CLARKE and COOPER, Solicitors to
the Waterman and Lighterinan's Company.
" To the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor."

The LORD MAYOR said it was very probable that the
confusion apprehended to a certain extent existed, from
the cause assigned by the gentlemen who had written to
him, and he considered it extremely proper that there
should be a disclaimer as public as possible upon the
part of the Waterman and Lighterman's Company of any
connexion between that and the Waterman's Steam-
packet Company. He thought it right, too, to let the
public know that the poor watermen, in whose behalf
public appeals had been made to their sympathies, as
being connected with, and deriving profit from, the
Waterman's Steam-packet Company, had nothing to do
with that Company, and derived no advantage .whatever
from it. No ; nobody had any benefit from it, with the
exception of the individuals who had been able to pur-
chase shares in the speculation.
The LORD MAYOR stated that he had recived 1/. 10s.
from A. B. C., for the poor-box.
The three children who had been brought before his
Lordship on Wednesday, at the instance of a gentleman
(who had seen one of them pilfer), and whose destitute
condition his Lordship so much deplored, were agai❑
placed at the bar.

The policeman appointed to make inquiry about the
parents of the boys, stated that he could learn nothing
whatever about them, as the children were entirely un-
known in the places were they said they resided.
The LORD MAYOR said the contusion evidently be-
came worse confounded, and that the necessity for the
interference of the Legislature was every day more and
more apparent in regard to the protection of poor
children. He wished one of the acting Commissioners
of Somerset House would take the trouble of visiting
the justice-room, to witness a few of the scenes which
daily occurred, exhibiting the totally destitute condition
of so many boys and girls, and endeavour to strike out
some plan for the consideration of the Legislature. It
was impossible that he could send the children before
him to prison, or into the streets. The officer of the
City of London Union must take them to the house of
reception at Peckham._

Mr. Thwaites, one of the officers of the City of ry,ndon
Union, having, at his Lordship's desire, attended upon
the occa,don, said, in answer to some question, that
under peculiar circumstances the officers of the union
accompanied the applicants for refuge to the house at
Pe9kham, but they had not the power of compelling
any pi rsons to remain in it, for it was one of the regu-
lations that any inmate might discharge himself.
The LORD MAYOR said he could not see how such a
regulation could, with any degree of propriety, extend
to children, and he was determined that these before
him should be provided for by the union until their
parents should be found. He was of opinion that the
officers of the union ought to make out a list of cases
similar to that which at that moment presented itself,
and hand it to the Commissioners of the Poor-law, that
they might, upon such unquestionable grounds, apply to
the Legislature.

Mr. Thwaites submitted to his Lordship that as asylums
were in a state of preparation for the houseless, the
evil adverted to would, in a great measure, be remedied.
The LORD MAYOR—But until the time arrives when
such asylums shall be ready for the reception of the
poor, the union must take care of those who appear
within its limits. I must say that a vast deal of distress
and misery havo arisen from the fact that the City of
London Union have no premises in the City is which
they could protect the poor, and it mould appear as if
the authorities kept their workhouse at Peckham in order
that objects should have more than ordinary difficulties
to encounter when seeking assistance. In such an ar-
rangement there certainly is no humanity.

Mr. Thwaites assured- the Lord Mayor that he and
his brother officers left au effort untried to carry out his
Worship's views, and that they were subjected, in the
performance of their duty, to great annoyances from the
violence and depravity of many of the parties who were
constant customers to the union.
The LORD MAYOR—I admit that you do your duty,
but the board do not perform theirs. A board ought
to be immediately called to take the matter to which I
have called the peculiar attention of the powerful press
of the country. I am resolved not to let the matter
drop, for it is ultimately connected with the happiness
of the porum unity.
The children were then conveyed to the union at
James, for untawfutlol
l'Aelccilihra:znbcyhtahleliso,ffiner.
GUILDHALL.
One of the partners of the firm of Crowley and Co.,
carriers, King-street, Smithfield, appeared before Mr.
detaining a carpet bag and its
contents, booked at their office, to be sent to Onester.
yanswer the complaint of Charles
clothes'lbe
' and complainantnther things,said the
intended bag
forn t atti coned
boy, aa
nsdui tof
was
as
2tadkeonftonMecoesmsrber.
s.erowleVe, as general earriers, on the
A receipt was taken, and three
weeks elapsed bef,re he heard that it had not reached
szi}rpcl it had not arrived. He now
Us firstination. The party at Chester made complaint
there, and was a
the bag, but deta'ned it
complained, therefore, that Messrs-,
lin
),,vpi
lar tlst Is
comingad thenutt .L o: for-
wardedne
Candamt's negligence had obliged the London.. The
coun-
try--
to buy new plothes, as the boy was
Lon-
don next week.

Tho innkeeper said he was not at all to blame, and he
did not detain the parcel. The Alderman was probably
aware that the Grand Junction Railway Company was
a monopoly, and would not allow the carriers to have
/Pparate trucks, and take care of their own goods. They
were obiige4 to 4eiiireF them to the Company. He could
prove the delivery of thif carpetbag to tlfe Company,
and he had written for an explanation, but there had
not been stifficient time to allow of investigation. The
comp)ainant made his first 4pplication on Christmas-
day, and a letter was aclaresied to the Company next
day, to which no answer had yet been given, owing to
increase of business incident to the season, lie should
have an answer in two or three days. These great c0rn-
,y(?!..141 not move in business at the steam-engine
pue., _ _

The complainant asked if he was to be the sufferer

because other people were dilatory ? Was not thirty
days a monstrous time for a railway to do anything ?
Mr. Alderman CfrALLis had no doubt the non-delivery
of the parcel had occasioned very great inconvenience,
which Messrs. Crowley regretted fully as much as he did;
but the complainant could very easily understand that
carriers of all descriptions were overburdened with busi-
ness just now. If the application had been made three
weeks ago, there would have been time to look over the
books and make inquiries immediately, but how they
were so constantly engaged with the current business
they had not time to refer to the past. The application
for a little delay was, he thought, perfectly reasonable.
The complainant said he should object to any delay.
Next week he must buy the boy another suit of clothes.
Mr. Alderman CHALLIS said the innkeeper ought not
to be called upon to do more than he could do. lle coull
not make slow bodies move quick. The complainant had
better wait a few days longer. _ _

The complainant said he bad waited too long already.
He would instantly commence an action.
Mr. Alderman CHALLIS said, if the complainant
would not be assisted by an adjournment he must dis-
miss the complaint.
The complainant retired, vowing he would bring an
action.