The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-15 00:00:00

/ / / ,
~. ‘ - _,..., • . '
.- - . -diiiii--1 111 ,- .' '
........„ e 4,4 .
- -N. -; 5te,,,,,
,o \-z. , , veal- lkdt , -4,'" A; xi. •
... .
k _
<..__ .. , ,a - i r 4. : 0 (D's ._\ . ' I 0-I 1: ' 0 Alm , „.I.' `-- 1 ,t=t)7l: ':::4'
. as':'':4‘l4.Hl6.';.''
' '''':.
- 'Ill'‘°::
45'61'
4 *-.
e11444:7-
t.,,, , , A . ' - •sc-s -.--_- ,- - ,
„, 14 , ,
...- M . ' ",:, *< \ ~ , 4. ' e .- •
11117
4ifv;V.4-., , ......‘
A ,
..):: - -ti, 9k- ,''' "7' oi-.1.1,\„ „.. . .
...i
~.. ts, v
i 4
_...‘„...,..: aill''
, -'._srorOlt
-----_-:-.-___::-- ,

-7
e .

NE IV S PAPE R

~ f
/ ~; Q

THE COME,

A )35-..Z-:. tl-411MN
iLV.' ::,tlet
----4---. I c't="4B-;V.. V,17--.
TO THE EDITOR OF t • Atilq44.o,:;:t.*-„,
- , , 1:.,,,,i
SIII,—I transmit a few additi, i :I, SIR - ' hlip,_,
il
reference to the comet which h.,: reciii-* e(wii"
,t-- , _
general attention. 4,--- ~.. ‘..Y
rrom an observation at the Royalidbsemitorld
Greenwich, on June 30, one at Mr. Bishop's Obser-
vatory on July 2, and a third taken at the Impe-
rial Observatory, Paris, on July 5,1 have calculated
the following orbit:—
Passage through perihelion Jane 12, at 4h. Om. 7s.
a.m., mean time at Greenwich.

PRICE 4d.
STAMPED sd.

raised, equipped, and armed his company at his own

Longitude of the perihelion, 249 deg. 13 min.
55 sec. ; ascending node, 278 deg. 50 min. 26 sec.—
from true equinox of July 1.
. Inclination of orbit to ecliptic, 85 deg. 38 min.
32 sec.
Logarithm of perihelion distance, 9.9147259.
Heliocentric motion—direct.
The close agreement of these elements with the
observed path of the comet up to this date proves
that its period of revolution must be one of consi-
derable length, though any attempt to determine
itS•duration at present would be fruitlesS. Whether
we shall ever ascertain it with any degree of cer-
tainty will depend upon the time the comet can be
observed, and upon the amount of deviation from
parabolic motion which the later observations may
indicate. The small differences so far remarked
between the true and calculated places of the
nucleus are probably due to the earth's attraction
upon it, which will have slightly affected its geo-
centric position from clay to day, particularly in the
early part of the month.
The follow ing.ephemeris will represent the track
of the comet during the ensuing fortnight, by the
expiration of which time its increasing distance
from us will most likely have carried it to the limit
of naked eyev vision:—
AT GREENWICH—AImwranT.
Right North Distance from
Ascension. Decimation. the Earth in
h. m. s. De;r. Min.
. 14 643 57 5 .. 37,800,000.
14 13 27 .. 56 10

expense.
We were obliged to get out a narrow lane and
walk towards the encampment on foot ; a sentry
stopped us, and we observed that there waS a sem-
blance
of military method in the camp. The cap-
tain was walking up and down in the varandah of
the poor, deserted hut for which he had abandoned
his splendid home. A "Book of Tactics"(Hareie's)
—which is, in part, a translation of the French
"Manual"—lay on the table. Our friend was full
of fight, and said he would give all he had in the
world to the cause. But the day before, and a
party of horse, composed of 600 gentlemen in the
district, with from £20,000 to £30,000 each, had
started for the war in Virginia. Everything to be
seen or heard testifies to the great zeal and resolu-
tion with which the South have entered upon the
quarrel. But they hold the power of the United
States and the loyalty of the North to the Union at
far too cheap a rate. Next day was passed in a
delightful drive through cottonfields, Indian corn,
and undulating woodlands, amid which were some
charming residences. I crossed the river at Nat-
chez, and saw one fine plantation in which the corn,
however, was by no means so fine as I have often
seen. The cotton looks well, and some had already
burst into flower—bloom, as it is called—which had
turned to a flagrant pink, and seemed saucily con-
scious that its boll would play an important part in
the world. In this part of Mississippi the Seces-
sionist feeling was not so overpowering at first as it
has been since the majority declared itself, hut the
expression of feeling is now all one way, The rage
of Southern sentiments is to me inexplicable, mak-
ing every allowance for Southern exaggeration. It
is sudden, hot, and apparently causeless as summer
lightning. From every place I touched at along
the Mississippi a large proportion of the popula-
tion has gone forth to fight, or is preparing to do
so. The whispers which rise through the storm
are few and feeble. Some there are who sigh for
the peace and happiness they have seen in Eng-
land. But they cannot seek those things ; they
must look after their property. Each man maddens
his neighbour by desperate resolves, and threats, and
vows. Their faith is in Jefferson Davis's strength,
and in the necessities and weakness of France and
England. The inhabitants of the tracts which lie
on the banks of the Mississippi, and on the inland
regions hereabout, ought to be, in the natural order
of things, a people almost nomadic, living by the
chase and by a sparse agriculture, in the freedom
which tempted their ancestors to leave Europe.
But the Old World has been working for them. All
its trials have been theirs ; the fruits of its expe-
rience, its labours, its research, its discoveries, are
theirs. Steam has enabled them to turn their rivers
into highways, to open pritnceval forests to the
light of day and to man. All these, however, would
have availed them little had not the demands of
manufacture abroad, and the increasing luxury and
population of the North and West at home, enabled
them to find in these swamps and uplands sources of
wealth richer and more certai❑ than all the gold
mines of the world. But there must be gnomes to
work those mines. Slavery was an institution ready
to their hands. In its development there lay every
material means for securing the prosperity which
Manchester opened to them, and in supplying their
own countrymen with sugar. The small, struggling,
deeply-mortgaged proprietors of swamp and forest
set their negroes to work to raise levees, to cut down
trees, to plant and sow. As the negro became valu-
able by his produce, the Irish emigrant took his
place in the severer labours of the plantation, and
ditched and dug, and cut into the waste land. Cot-
ton at 10 cents. a pound gave a nugget to every boll.
Land could be had for a few dollars an acre. Negroes
were cheap in proportion. Men who made a few
thousand dollars invested them in more negroes and
more land, and borrowed as much again for the same
purpose. They waxed fat and rich—there seemed no

July 12 ..
13

1:1
„ 15 ..
„ 16 ..
„ 17 ..
„ 18..
19

.. 14 19 7 55 20 .. 43,000,000
.. 14 23 55 .. 51 33 ..
.. 11 2S 6 .. 53 51 .. 45,200,0:,0
.. 14 31 45 53 17 -
.. 14 34 5S .. 52 44 .. 53,400,000
.. 11 37 50 .. 52 13 ..

~ 20 .„ .. 14 40 26 5t 41 .. 0,600,C00
„ 21•. .. 14 42 46 51 18
„ 14 44 55 .. 50 53 .. 63,700,0004
„ 23 .. 14 46 54 .. 50 30
„ 24 .. 14 48 44 .. 5o 9 •68,800,00},
„25 .. .. 14 50 28 .. 49 49
„ 26 .. 14 52 5 49 3o 73,900,0004
„27 .. .. 14 53 36 .. 49 12
„ 28 .. 14 55 4 .. 48 55 .. 78,900,000+
The intensity of light this evening will be bare ily
1-10th of that on the 30th of June, while on 1 he
28th inst. it will be reduced to 1-60th.

Independently of a general prevalence of unfa-
vourable weather in the last days of June, t ho
sudden appearance of the comet in Europe is fu'Lly
accounted for by the course it was then follow'mg
among the stars. Its places calculated from the
above orbit would be at midnight, on June 27, right
ascension sh. 21m.; north declination, 15 de•g. 8
min. ; on June 28, right ascension, sh. 40m.; north
declination, 25 deg. 13 min. ; on June 29, )light as-
cension, 6h. 6m. ; north declination, 36 deg. 11 min.
On the 27th it therefore set long before the sun ;
it rose after him on the 28th, and again sot before
him by three quarters of an hour or upwards in the
latitude of London. On the morning of iche 29th
it would be above the horizon at daybreak, and
might possibly have been discovered so fir as its
position was concerned, though clouds appear to
have prevented its being detected until the evening
of the same day, when it was remarked in several
places a few degrees above the N.N.W. horizon.
Since this date, on account of its increasing declina-
tion, it has never set, nor can it do so for at least a
month from the present time.
The circumstances attending the comet's appear-
ance at this return to perihelion are as favourable
as possible for the exhibition of its brilliancy ; had
the event occurred in December or January it would
probably have passed through these parts of space
unobserved from the earth.

By measures taken here on the night of the 11th,
the principal dimensions of the comet were as sub-
joined :

Miles.
Breadth of the cometic retulorsity at the nucleus 150,000
Depth from preceding edge to nucleus
Diameter of the nucleus
Length of the tail
It is still a beautiful object in the telescope, the
more condensed part shining with a pale yellow
light, and the luminous sector thrown out towards
the sun being yet discernible, though with a very
indefinite outline. A bright streamer proceeded
from the nucleus on the Bth inst., some distance up
the tail, quite changing its previous aspect ; it has
since faded away leaving the more usual dark or
hollow apPearance in the centre..
I am, Sir, your obedient servant.
J. R. HIND.
Mr. Bishop's Observatory, Regent's Park,
Saturday.

bounds to their fortune. But threatening voices came

from the North—the echoes of the sentiments of the
civilised world repenting its evil pierced their ears,
and they found their feet were of clay, and that
they were nodding to their fall in the midst of their
power. Ruin inevitable awaited them if they did not
shut out these sounds and stop the fatal utterances.
The issue is to them one of life and death. Whoever
raises it hereafter, if it be not decided now, must
expect to meet the deadly animosity which is dis-
played towards the North. The success of the South
—if it can succeed—must lead to complications and
results in other parts of the world for which neither
it nor Europe is now prepared. Of one thing there
can be no doubt,—a slave State cannot exist with-
out a slave trade. The poor whites who will have won
the fight, will demand their share of the spoils. The
land is abundant, and all that is wanted to give
them fortunes is a supply of slaves. They will have
that in spite of their masters, unless a stronger
power prevents the accomplishment of their wishes.

The following are the elements of the new comet,
as calculated at Naples by the Director of the Oh-
servatory, M. Capocci. They differ in some respects
from those of Mr. Hind : Passage through the
perihelion, June, 4.719; longitude of perihelion,
231 deg. 46 min. 8 sec. ; longitude of ascending
node, 278 deg. 53 min. 24 sec.; inclination of the
orbit, 85 deg. 26 min. 30 sec. Perihelion distance,
0.71891. Motion, direct. M. Capocci adds that the
above elements bear a certain analogy to those of
the fine comets of 1684, 1742, 1807, and 1819; and
that the differences existing between these and the
present one may perhaps disappear when a helio-
centric arc shall have been obtained, of sufficient
length to ensure the greatest precision in the cal-
culation of the orbit. M. Donati, of Florence, it
will be remembered, has already adverted to the
similarity of the orbits of this comet and that of
1807.