The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-12 00:00:00

SV N, JULY 12, 1848.

NEW ZEALAND.

day will at least convince them of the estimation in which
they are held by those who formerly most trusted them.
They may linger on for a time by the aid of a
friendly minister, but the settlers can only anxiously
look forward to the period when the claims of this
rapacious body must be finally extinguished, and the
whole colony placed under the more vigorous manage-
ment of the British Government. To this consumma-

Lion we ara tending. It is a question of time, but until
the consummation arrives, time—our only inheritance—
is wasted, and we shall still remain the victims of their

broken pledges, of their repudiated obligations.
"The Woodstock sails to-morrow for London direct
with a cargo of oil and wool, the produce of this settle-
ment. Wool is rapidly increasing in importance as an
export, from the number of stations now established in

_ -
the southern province, and the early increase of the
flocks, and promises soon to become one of our staple
exports. Three hundred and seventy-six bales of wool
are on board the Woodstock, and we believe there
are nearly two hundred more, with other produce, wait-
, ing a convenient opportunity of being shipped direct to
England. Through the activity and good management
of Captain Nicholson, her commander, the vessel has
been got ready for sea with great dispatch, and due pro-
vision has been made by him for the comfort and conve-
nience of the passengers, of which there are several both
cabin and intermediate.

The Supply returned on Monday from Queen Char-
lotte's Sound. The negotiations with the natives for the
purchase of the Waitohi were unsuccessful, the natives
declining to part with the district, though they offered to
sell the adjoining bay ; but it is believed that
eventually some arrangement may be made with them,
and the Wsituhi secured. The greater part of the na-
tives belonging to Queen Charlotte's Sound have left
fur Taranaki. Not more than about sixty of them are
living at Waitohi and its neighbourhood."

---
THE EXPECTED COMET‘,
Public attention having been recently drawn the
anticipated return of the great comet of 1264 and 1556,
after an absence from our system of 292 years, the fol-
lowing particulars, which were stated in a lecture upon
the science of astronomy, delivered by Mr. Henry Al-
'flans, jun., before the Hackney Literary and Scientific
Institution, in the Mermaid Assembly Rooms, may
not be uninteresting:—" On the sth day of nlarch,
1556, this eccentric wanderer was first perceptible in
the sign Libra. Pursuing its celestial course with
great velocity, it touched the left wing of the sign
Virgo, passed below the knee of the constellation
Routes, whence it ascended to the northern pole
of the ecliptic (its inclination being 32 degrees 6
minutes) towards Andromeda, where it lingered,
but receding towards the northern Fish, it was
there lost. Its perihelion (or nearest point to the sun)
was passed on the 21st day of April, just two days pre-
vious to its final disappearance. Whilst it remained
withie the circle of those tropical stars which never
set, the comet was visible all night long ; and
throughout its course, the apparent magnitude of
the head was uniformly as large as Jupiter to
the naked eye. Its motion ran contrariwise to
the succession of the Zodiacal signs, and within the
space of four days it completed seventy degrees west-
ward, and thirty degrees northward, directing its path
towards Saturn (then in Aries), but apparently slacken-
ing its speed as it approached that planet. At
first its heliocentric motion was retrograde—at last,
direct. In the intermediate course it was most
swift, dispatching fifteen degrees daily. The
nucleus (or body) presented the aspect of
a bright globe of flame equivalent to a half-moon, but
the rays and colours varied and interchanged like the
flickering of a flame agitated by the wind. The tail was
moderately long and much attenuated; at first presenting
a martial aspect, but subsequently dissolving into a pale
and livid complexion; the stream of rays was denser near
the head, and more rarified towards the extremity of the
tail, which at first pointed eastward, but as the comet
mounted to the north, the train took a southerly direc-
tion. This eccentric member of the solar system has
been conjectured to be identical with that mighty comet
which startled Europe in the year 1264, so particularly
described by Palmologus, Zuinger, Calvisius, Matthew
Paris, and other chroniclers of the period. That por-
tentous visitant was first discernible near the sign Taurus,
behind the planet Venus; and it raged during the whole
summer season, until the 7th day of October. It was
sopriegeidnialylly passing
gved in the twilight of the evening, but
the sun on the 6th of July, at a rapid
rate (the place of its perihelion being 21 degrees of Ca-
pricorn), it re-appeared shortly before the morning
twilight towards the eighth degree of Cancer, whence it
retrograded very quickly into Gemini, threading its
way between Canis and Orion, but ultimately retreating
into the latter constellation. Its movement from east to
wt st was more than equal to 50 degrees of latitude,
and hardly 5 of longitude. The inclination of its
parabolic orbit to the ecliptic was 364 degrees ; and the
distance of its perihelion (that of the earth being 1)
was 0-4450. At first it followed the morning star,
but subsequently preceded that brilliant orb. The
train or tail was very long and broad, re-
sembling a fan in shape, emerging from the
eastern horizon before the dimmer nucleus, and, when
fully ascended, stretching itself upwards, and shoot-
ing its rays to the meridian, the comet occupied
in length one-half of the heavens, presenting a fear-
ful apparition to the eye of the superstitious spec-
tator. As it swept along through space, the tail
diminished daily in breadth, but proportionately
increased in length and brilliancy. Contemporary
historians relate many terrible calamities as befalling
the nations of Europe during the year 1264; among
other strange coincidences, it is related in the Libri
Chronicorum (printed at Nuremberg, A.D. 1493), and
confirmed by other writers in the middle age, that
on the occasion of the first appearance of this
blazing star, the Sovereign Pontiff, Urban IV.,
was seized with an alarming distemper, which
confined his Holiness to his apartment during the entire
period that the comet prevailed; and on the night that
the comet disappeared the Pope expired. In 1556 its ap-
pearance was accompanied by similarly strange sublunary
events. The victorious Emperor, CharlesV., to the amaze
men tof the world, suddenly resigned the crowns of Ger-
many and Spain, and betook himself to a monastery,
where he shortly died. It was in a paper read before
the Royal Society of London about the middle of
the last century (Vide Philosophical Transactions,
vol. 47), that Mr. Dunthorne hazarded the supposi-
tion that these two celestial strangers were identical—
a conjecture also countenanced by the eminent French
astronomer, M. de Lalande. This hypothesis has
recently found a sanguine advocate in Mr. J. R. Hind, the
discoverer of the new asteriod. But its return during the
current year (1E48), although indorsed by these high au-
thorities, is very problematical; for the cautious Dr. Hal-
ley has expressly included the comet of 1556 along with
five others, concerning whose elements he was sceptical,
as the observations handed down by Paulus Fabricius and
the older astronomers (which formed the basis of his
computation) were neither made with good instruments
nor mathematical precision, so that great difficulty
experienced in harmonizing their conflicting
oAfdtehqeuate disturbingallowance
forcessh
whichould also i
sbe eccentricm ad
encounter through its approximation toefo
the realms of
bodies in its lengthened journey through the
its i path only
space. Besides, we possess exact details o
1 visible. As
during one-fourth of the 50 days it was -112 t .
traveller r a thev
ea accounts.
Adequate
amountm a
for the elements of upon
theotLheartanhenlavanenuly.
1264, founded

We have received New Zealand papers to the Ist of
March, and subjoin the following intelligence, which we
take from the New Zealand Spectator of that date:—
" The departure of a vessel direct for England,
freighted with produce of this settlement, renders it ne-
cossiry for us to say a few words on some of the topics
affecting our local interests, on which those in the
mother country interested in our welfare desire informs•
tion. On must ot these subjects we have, as opportunity
offered for their discussion, entered fully; but on an ecca-
sion like the present it will be necessary again to refer
to them in a summary manner. After a weary in-
terval of eight years Crown grants have at length
been issued to the New Zealand Company for the dis-
tricts in the neighbourhood of Port Nicholson; and the
statement of this fact proclaims the final adjustment of
all disputes with the natives relating to lands in the
districts for which these grants have been made; the
roads undertaken by the Government are carried on
with increased vigour, opening the country districts
for the occupation of additional settlers, and afford-
ing, when they are completed, the means of increas-
ing our trade with the natives by the improved faci-
lities of communication. The
.money obtained by {he
natives for their labour on the roads is for the most
part spent either in the purchase of clothes and other\
necessaries, the produce of English manufactures, or in-
vested in stock (either horses or cows), thereby adding
to the permanent wealth of the colony. The work of
clearing and cultivation is proceeding this summer with
renewed vigour, and the cargoes of stock imported from
the neighbouring colonies find ready purchasers in
the country settlers; so that the different country
districts present indications of hopeful progress. These
are encouraging signs of returning prosperity. but we
want the assurance of their permanence. These are
the bright spots—the lights of the picture on which
the eye, attracted by their prominence, rest. But
if we turn to :the other side, if we name
the three great wants of the settlement, they
are precisely those essential elements of colo-
nisation which it was to be the peculiar business of
the New Zealand Company to keep in their due re-
lation to each other, so as to insure the greatest pros-
perity. We want land, labour, and capital. The roads
now in progress open up fresh districts to the settlers,
but the absentees in too many instances interfere to pre-
vent their profitable occupation, there is an absolute scar-
city of labour of all kinds, and bat little prospect of a re
medy for this want, the wages of labouring men are from
3s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. a day, while female servants are
hardly to be procured on any terms. An influx of
fresh capital would materially assist in developing the
resources of the colony, since the recovery of the old
settlers from the losses inflicted on them by the
previous mismanagement of the Government and
the company must be the work of ;time. But our
prospects on these points are unsatisfactory. As long
as the New Zealand Company are allowed to mar
our prospects, as long as they continue their mischievous
existence, the progress of the settlement will be slow and
uncertain; the result of the meeting held hero on Mon.

----- - -
A NEW OPERATION on the FOOT.
REMOVAL OF THE BONES OF THE HEEL AND ANKLE-
JOINT.—We have just seen in the Lancet an account of
the progress and successful termination of the case in
which Mr. Thomas Wakley removed all the hinder por-
ticn of the foot (the astragalus and os caleis), at the Royal
Free Hospital, of which Mr. Wakley is one of the sur-
geons. The man who became the subject of the opera-
tion had for many months suffered from disease of some
of the bones in the foot, and had been a patient in
hcspitals both in London and Brighton, without having
derived relief. As he had set himself strongly
against losing either his leg or his foot, the
v removaliou s
ly h
ao which
recourse
s ewould o
rsuch have
abeen
case theas rheomperdeyse,npterde:
Mr. Wakley determined upon the bold and daring
operation of extracting only the bones which were
diseased, leaving the patient, if possible, the sound
portion of his foot, and trusting to time to show how far
usefulness and power might be restored to the then use-
less portion of the body—a method of proceeding never
before attempted.
" Various operations have been performed upon the
ankle joint, the most important being of the two Moreau's
—viz., the excision of the lower extremity of the tibia
and formula; portions of the other bones entering into
the formation of the foot and ankle, have been removed
by the gouge and the saw; but there is no previous case
on record of the entire removal of the two important
bones of the foot—the astragalus and os calcis."
This operation was, however, performed on the 27th
December last, by Mr. Thomas Wakley, and it was
briefly noticed in our journal about the same period.
The patient was placed under the influence of chloro-
form, and the extraction of the bones was completed in a
few minutes with only alight loss of blood, and the
complete safety of the anterior tibril artery, the antici-
pated danger to which had been supposed to
form an insuperable obstacle to the successful issue
of the attempt. On the 17th of January, the wounds
made in the operation had healed, and on the 21st of
February the patient was discharged from the hospital
convalescent. .He is now, we find, a stout and healthy
man, able to pursue his former occupation as a tailor,
walking with ease with the help of a stick and a high
heeled boot, and preserving a useful member, which
under a less advanced state of surgical science, ho must
have inevitably been deprived.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
PORTSMOUTH, JULY 11.—Sir Charles Napier's squa-
dron has received sailing orders, and will leave with the
squadron under his command, the St. Vincent, flag, 120,
Captain Dacres; the Prince Regent, 92, Captain Martin;
the Bellerophon, 78, Captain Baynes; the Amphion, 36,
Captain Williams; the Dragon steam-frigate, Captai❑
Hall; the Blenheim steam guard-ship, Captain Chads;
the 'Tweed, 18, Commander Lord F. Russell; the Pilot,
16, Commander M. Lyon (both hourly expected to join
the squadron from Plymouth); the Helena, 16, Com-
mander Smith; the Frolic, 16, Commander Vansittart,
&c., about Saturday for a cruise in the Channel. Yeskr-
day the Blenheim and Amphion had a short trial
from Spithead round the Knab and back. The Blen-
heim weighed at ten a.m., and started in an
easterly course, making very good speed. The Am-
phion was delayed until 11.30, from " a screw loose" in
the old quarter; she then used steam and sail until well
up with the Blenheim, outside the Knab; Amphion then
Curled sails, and both vessels went off at full steam before
the wind until 1 15 P.M., the Amphion beating the Blen-
heitntibout three-quarters of a knot an hour; rate of the
Blenheim 4 knots.'rhey then steamed back to the entrance
of the Channel to Spithead against the wind, which was
light, when the Amphion beat the Blenheim nearly at
the same rate; Blenheim stopped and made sail, working
to Spithead. The Amphion proceeded to the former
anchorage, where she arrived about tour; Blenheim did
not take up her former berth before six. Her per-
formances are considered as highly satisfactory. Cap-
tain Chads exercised the crew aloft when off the Knab,
which, it is almost unnecessary to say, was done in first-
rate style.
The Collingwood, 80, Captain Smart, K. H., was
mustered, &c., yesterday, by Sir Charles Ogle, the
Commander-in-Chief. The inspection and exercise of
the men resulted in the most gratifying compliments
from the Admiral. She was towed into harbour last
evening, and this morning at four o'clock commenced
unloading the freight. The specie, amounting to thirty
tons, was expressed to London by a special train on the
London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, in charge
of Mr. Chambers, the freight agent, and Mr. R. Sut-
ton, the superintendent of the Portsmouth traffic on the
above railway, who delivered it at the Bank of England
this afternoon. The ship will be ready for paying off
early next week.
Wind north; moderate breezes and fine weather.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATILB..--Her Majesty and
his Royal Highness Prince Albert honoured the per-
formances at her Majesty's Theatre with their presence
yesterday evening. In attendance upon her Majesty
and his Royal Highness were the Countess of Cherie-
mont, the Hon. Miss Kerr, Lord Camoys, Major-
General Wemyss, and Lieutenant-Colonel Seymour.
His Royal Highness Prince George also honoured the
theatre with his presence. Amongst the audience we
observed—His Grace the Duke of Wellington and the
Marquis and Marchioness of Douro, his Royal High-
ness the Conde de Montemolin, the Duchess of Leeds
and Miss Lane Fox, the Duchess of Hamilton, his
Excellency the Russian Minister, his Excellency
the Sardinian Minister, his Excellency the Swedish
Minister, his Excellency the Hanoverian Mi-
nister, the Marquis of Huntley, the Marquis
of Donegal, the Earl of Falmouth, the Earl of Besbo-
rough, the Earl Delawarr, Lord Ward, Lord Walpole,
Lord James Hay, Lord Burghers!), Count Arthur de
Courcy, Lady Colborne, Lady Sheffield, Lady Howard,
Lady M. Bentinck, M. C. Koudriaffsky, Gen. the Hon.
A. Upton, the Hon. W. A. Bathurst, the Hon. G. S.
Jerningham, General the Hon. H. Cavendish, General
Shubrick, Major Gordon, Major Waite, Major Buckley,
Colonel Wildman, Sir John Duckworth, Bart., and Lady
Duckworth, Sir R. Brownrigge, Sir Henry Dymock and
Lady and Miss Dymock, Sir J. Bailey, Bart., Sir Ralph
Howard, Bart., Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, Captain Crow,
Captain Scott, Mr. Barry Baldwin, M.P., and Miss B.
Baldwin, Mr. Parnther, Captain Somerset, Mr. Drum-
mond, Mr. H. Broadley, M.P., Mr. and Mrs. Ewings, &c.
ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY.—The half-yearly ge.
neral court of the Royal Humane Society was held yes-
terday afternoon, at the offices, No. 3, Trafalgar-square,
B. Bond Cabbell, Esq., in the chair. The minutes of
the previous court having been read, and confirmed, Mr.
Charlier, the secretary, read the report, from which it
appeared that since December last the number of per-
sons who had been successfully treated after immersion
in water was 64, beyond recovery 3, attempted suicides
18. In Hyde-park, since December last, 19 cases had
come under the attention of the Society, out of which
17 persons were successfully treated, and two beyond
recovery. There had also been 11 attempted suicides
during the same period. The Society's honorary re-
wards were voted to Lieut. W. R. Smith, RN., for sav-
ing the life of Mr. West, the second Master of her Ma-
jesty's ship Endymion ; to Mr. F. Hutchinson, surgeon,
of Farringdon-street, for restoring by skilful and unre-
mitting exertion, George Thornton, also for his valuable
and prompt assistance rendered on frequent occasions,
and to Mr. H. A. F. Lusignan, for saving the life of
Edward Blundell. The Archbishop of Canterbury hav-
ing been elected one of the Vice-Presidents in the roomt
of the late Archbishop, a vote of thanks was passed o
the Chairman, when the proceedings terminateyde ,
terminated.
MELANCHOLY DEATH OF AN ACTOR. Yesterday,
Mr. Bedford held an inquest, by adjournment from
es.
Sa-
turdayt last, at the Coach and Horses, Y
rk
minster, on the body of James Smith, aged 48, for many
years an actor at several of the minorytohreka.
srterae.e t,Ta and
deceased, it appeared, resided at No. 12,
week. with
ne
his
was in very bad circumstances, being in
4s. arrearsper
landlord to the amount of 5L 18s.
was last seen alive on Thursday, i athe 29th of last month,
and on Thursday last was found dead under singular
circumstances. On that day a quantity of putrid liquid
matter oozed through the floor of the deceased's room,
and fell into the shop underneath. The deceased's door
was forced to see from what cause this proceeded, when
his body, far advanced in decomposition, was found
lying on the floor. A bottle labelled " hydrocyanic
acid" been found in the room, the contents of
having
the bottle and also of the stomach were analyzed, but
nothing of a deleterious nature was found, and the
general opinion was, that he had died in a fit. The
jury returned a verdict of " Found dead."
BRAZILS.—LIVERPOOL,
.JULY 11.—The
barque Priscilla arrived in the Mersey Ahlo fy, withersey to-da
dates from Pernambuco to the
June. Freights
were at 635. per ton for sugar in cases, and per lb.
for cotton. Business was extremely dull. Exchange
closed at 2s. Id., but good bills could not be obtained at
that rate.
Viscount Morpeth left town yesterday morning, to
attend the agricultural meeting at York.

script of a Dominiciau friar, preserved in Pembroke Hall,
Cambridge, they are open to grave exceptions, and form
but a sandy foundation for the calculating astronomer
of the nineteenth century. Is there not also a palpable
difference of several degrees between the elements of the
two ? Considering, therefore, that the cometary re-
volutions are subject to extensive fluctuation,,
since these frail bodies are so susceptible of opposite
attractions from I.,owerful neighb:.uring orbs-..
weighing the difficulty of proving identity aft, r
a lapse of 292 years—and the laxity of previous ob-
servations ; above all, reflecting that the orbits of
only three of these singular bodies are satisfactorily
settled, whereas probably 800 appearances are known,
and the elements of nearly 100 recorded; may we not
reasonably pause, and, with the sagacious Halley, legiti-
mately doubt before yielding assent to a predic-
tion, not wholly gratuitous, nor placed beyond the
range of possibility, but tt depending too closely
upon conjecture, though seeking to ally positive
calculation and observation in its support ? But,
in spite of mathematical discrepancies, imperfect
instruments, and conflicting data, should the approach
of this comet crown the other wonderful occurrences of
this eventful year, it will afford another astronomical
triumph; as the comet will then have completed its
twentieth revolution round the sun since the creation of
the world.