The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-04 00:00:00

THAMES.

STEALING A HANSOM CAR.—George Wilson, a cab-
driver, who, notwithstanding his bad character, and a con-
viction for fraud, and another for felony recorded against
him, has managed to obtain his licence, was charged with
stealing a Hansom cab, value £l5, and selling it for £25.
The prosecutor in this case is Alfred Budd, a cab pro-
prietor,
of 5, Hereford-place, Devonshire-street, Mile-end.
He unfortunately became acquainted with the prisoner a
few weeks ago, and he employed him to do a little business
for him, and to sell a horse and pony. The prosecutor
was in possession of a Hansom cab, worth £45, which he
had hired for a month of Mr. Stoneham, cab proprietor, of
Bedford-street, Seymour-street, Euston-square. On Tuesday
last about half-past 12 o'clock the prisoner said he knew where
there was a clarence cab and two horses for sale for £2O,
and recommended the prosecutor to strike a bargain at once
and purchase them. Mr. Budd said he had no money ; on
which the prisoner said, " Oh, I can get the money ; if you
lend me your horse and cab, I know where to borrow it."
Mr. Budd, who was highly elated at this information,
allowed the prisoner to drive away with his horse and cab,
and appointed to meet him au hour afterwards in Arthur-
street, London-bridge. The prisoner never went there, but
drove immediately to the stables of Mr. James Short, a cab
proprietor and licensed victualler, in Old-street-road, St.
Luke's, to whom he represented that the Hansom cab
belonged to Mr. Budd, who was hard up and wanted to sell
it. After some conversation, Mr. Short agreed to give
£25 for the Hansom cab. The offer was accepted, and
Mr. Short paid- the amount in gold to the prisoner, who
immediately absconded with the money. He was appre-
hended yesterday by Copping, a po'Lle constable, No. 370
K, who asked him what he had done with the money, to
which he replied, " I have lost it." The prosecutor was
cross-examined by Mr. Gomm, clerk to Mr. Young, solici-
tor, on the part of the prisoner, and by Mr. Wontner, who
watched the case for Mr. Short, and he said he never gave
any authority to the prisoner to sell the Hansom cab. Ho
never thought of such a thing. The cab belonged to Mr.
Stoneham, and he intended to hire it again.
Copping said the prisoner had been convicted of fraud,
for which he was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment,
and was also convicted of felony.
. . .

Mr. Yardley committed the Prisoner for trial.

The precise amount of specie to be taken for the
East by the Peninsular and Oriental steamer Indus,
to-day, is £195,828, of 'ich £63,720 is for India and
Ceylon, and £132,108 for China and the Straits. The
latter sum includes £35,000 shipped on account of the
Government to Hong Kong. Nearly the whole is silver,
the gold being £1,530 only.
EAST WORCESTERSHIRE ELECTION.—Mr. Pa.
kington and Mr. Calthorpe have addressed meetings of elec-
tors at Dudley, Pershore, and Evesham. On Wednesdayboth
the candidates attended at Evesham, it being fair-day, and
spoke in public. Mr. Pakington having been accused of being
a " bigoted Puseyite" denies the charge. In a speech at
Bromsgrove on Tuesday he admitted that having resided
in the parish of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, he had attended
divine service there and subscribed to the charities, but that
did not necessarily identify him with the " High Church"
vkws of Mr. Liddell. Viscount Ingestre attended the same
Meeting, and spoke in favour of Mr. Pakington, and said if
the ballot was to be granted to constituencies he should also
claim the privilege for members in recording their votes in
the House of Commons. Mr. Calthorpe at Pershore on
Tuesday denied that he was a nominee of Lord Ward. As
to the new Reform Bill, it was impossible to say how the
seats set at liberty by disfranchisement of boroughs would
be distributed, but he should oppose any bill that would
give a large majority to the towns, and should insist that
at least an equal number be given to the counties. He
would also vote for an assimiliation of the county and
borough franchise, and was in favour of Mr. Locke King's
£lO county franchise. He would decline to pledge himself
to vote for a repeal of the income-tax next year, but would
vote for reform in its assessment. He had never been a
member of a ballot society, and would not pledge himself to
vote for it,

Within the last few years a new theory has been
proposed by Sir William Reid, Mr. Piddington,
and Lieutenant Maury, founded upon many ob-
servations taken at sea ; it is to this effect—that
when we see the clouds travel, say from the
west, apparently in a straight course, such is not
the case, their direction being circular ; the
air, which floats the clouds is travelling in a
vast circle ; this motion of the air is called a
cyclone, and its existence has been abundantly
proved by inspection of the logs of ships on the
same day and hour in a given space, say of 400
miles, when it has been found that one ship had a
west wind, another a south, a third an east, and
a fourth a north wind—showing that, within
the position of these ships, the wind, instead of
blowing strainlt,,,n„wastitit*elling in a circle.
ship,lbund in the centre of the circle,
experiences a dead calmoind the barometer always
falls in consequence of the diminished atmospheric
pressure, the air being thrown off, like water from
a mop. This calm space is generally 100 miles
across, and at the inner edge of the circle or
cyclone of the motion of the air is very rapid,
causing a sudden transition from calm to a hurri-
cane. As the circle expands the motion be-
comes slower, till we get the gentle breeze.
From a vast number of observatious it has been
found that the cyclones begin in the tropics, and
that they are formed daily ; that in the Atlantic
Ocean they travel from the equator in a north-
easterly direction, more or less; and, what is very
remarkable, the whirl or circular motion is always
from west to south, south to east, east to north, and
north to west—exactly the reverse of the motion
of the hands of a watch. As it is necessary that
this should be well remembered, it will be advis-
able for the reader to look at a watch to more
firmly impress the fact on the memory. On the south
side of the equator the direction of the whirl is the
very opposite.
I now proceed to explain how this circular motion
of the air causes the change of the weather in this
part of the world. When the cyclone is formed
the north-easterly motion commences travelling over
the ocean, just as we in summer see small whirls of
dust on the roadside, only the ocean whirl or
eyclone may be 700 or 1,000 miles in diameter ;
and. it has been observed that in the summer
and autumn months the direction of the
centres of the cyclones has been to the
west of these islands. In the winter and spring
months the centres of the cyclones have been ob-
served to travel to the south—say over Portugal
or the Mediterranean. Now if the air does
move in a circle, and the centre of the cir-
cumference be to the west, the effect would be
that we should get a south wind ; and if the
centre were south-west, the south wind would be
very warm. This is exactly our case at the present
time. Now let us suppose that a series of cyclones
were travelling in a line drawn from the island of
Trinidad to the North Cape, it would at once on a
map be seen that a wind would steadily blow over
those islands from the balmy south ; hut let the
line of direction of the centres of the cyclones be
from Trinidad to Moscow, and the northern half of
the cyclone would then travel over England which
would first have passed over the cold parts of
northern Europe, and we then get an east
wind, which being very dry, attracts the
moisture from our bodies, and the heat becoming
latent, we suffer severe cold. If the centres of the
cyclones travel over the Mediterranean we then
get a north wind ; but when the centres of the
cyclones travel over Iceland we get a west wind.
The explanation, therefore, of this long-continued
mild weather is this : that, contrary to the usual
order, the centres of the cyclones in winter arc
taking their summer direction—namely, to the west
of these islands instead of the south, and as long as
this is the case we shall have a continuance of this
wonderful temperature; but let the direction of
these centres be changed across the Bay of
Biscay, or up the Mediterranean, and down will go
the temperature in consequence of our getting the
cold, dry east wind, which has travelled over the
colder parts of Russia and Norway, and old
Winter assumes his iron sway. It is difficult
to convey by mere words the full meaning •f
what is here advanced. The best way is to get a
map of the world on Mercator's projection, which
can be bought for sixpence at the Christian Know-
ledge Society's depot, and draw two lines—one
from Trinidad to the North Cape, and the other
from Trinidad to Moscow, with circles drawn on
each line to the south and west of these islands,
and it will be seen that, according to the position
of the centries bearing in mind the direction of
the whirl, we should have a wind from every
part of the compass. If this theory of the
wind be correct, we may yet hope by the as-
sistance of the electric telegraph to predict
the direction of the approach of the cyclones
from the south, and, knowing their direction, may
possibly in some degree be able to foresee the wea-
ther. In fact, we may even now give a pretty
good guess as to the direction of the wind at a
distance by that which we experience ; for suppose
we have a south-west wind, and the centre of the
cyclone is to the west of the Isle of Man, then would
the wind at Edinburgh be from the south-cast.
We also now learn why in this latitude the prevail-
ing temperature depends not upon the light of the
sun above the horizon at noon, but upon the position
of the centre of the cyclone. Thus, if on the 21st of
December the centre of the cyclone be over the
Atlantic Ocean, in lat. 50, long. 15 W., we shall
have a summer temperature ; on the other hand, if
on the 21st of June the centre of the cyclone is

travelling over Spain, we shall have a cold north
wind approaching a winter temperature.
minis great discovery of the " Law of the
Cyclone" appears to add another link to our know-
ledge of the great chain of exact laws which
regulate the material universe, the diligent study of
which must expand the mind. Thus, when stand-
ing on some high hill—Bromsgrove Lickey, for
instance—we see the magnificent procession of
clouds appearing in the distant horizon ; and fol-
lowing each other in thick battalions, and sailing
away till they are lost in the immensity of the view,
we can imagine them travelling in a mighty circle,
the exciting cause of which is the heat and light
of the sun, the apparent source of alt physical power;
or ,standing beside some vast wood, we hear the
sublime roar of the wind, the sound seems almost
vocal to a suggestive mind.

ELECTION INTELLIGENCE.

THE WEST RIDING.

A requisition has been presented to Sir John William
Ramsdell, M.Efor Hythe, soliciting him to become a can.
didato in the Liberal interest for the representation of the
West Riding of Yorkshire, in the place of Lord Goderich,
who will succeed his late father as Earl of Ripon in the
House of Lords.
It is expected that Sir John Rarasden will be elected
without opposition.