The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-12 00:00:00

FLANDERS MAIL.

BRUSSELS, JAN. 7.—The extraordinary consignments
of cast-iron from Liege to Germany are terminated. It
seems that the whole quantity is 12 millions of kilo-
grammes, not from 20 to 25 millions, as at first spoken
of.' It is probable, however, that the proposed augmen-
tation of the import duty in the States of the Customs
Union having been put off, the proprietors of the iron-
works of Liege have thought it most advisable to limit
their consignments, in order not to overstock the market.
The king will not return from Ardenne till next week

BRUSSEI:;, JAN. B.—Fur some years past the Govern-
ment has caused a species of hops to be cultivated which
is new to this country. It is called Kent hops, and
proves to be so superior to all other kinds, that we think
we ought to recommend it to the growers. Those who
wish to obtain plants, may have them gratis by applying
to the experimental farm belonging to the State at Forest.
The total receipt of the iron railway during the
month of November last, was 788,266 francs. The
quantity of goods conveyed was very near 44 millions of
kilogrammes, about 10 millions more than during the
preceding month.
To-morrow another vessel (the Jan Van Eyck) is to
leave Antwerp for our colony of St. Thomas, in Guate-
mala. It has on board 120 passengers, most of them re-
lations of those who are already settled there.
PoSEN, Dec. 28.—Considerable sensation has been
occasioned here by an attempt made on Christmas night
by tw,) Poles, \V. V. L. and V. M., said to be political
prisoners, to escape by flight. The affair is in-
volved in some obScurity. Several young Poles,
neither natives of the province, nor possessed of pro-
perty in it, have been living here, who, by their lan-
guage in public places, attracted the notice
of the police officers,who, after repeated warnings having
been disregarded by the younginen, thought it necessary
to arrest them. Whether they are emissaries of what is
called " Young Poland" is uncertain. Two of them, the
above mentioned, V. L. and V. N. (a third V. D., be.
longing to a distinguished family in Poland, is
.said to be
confined in our citadel), attempted to escape from the
third story of the police office ; V. L. succeeded, but V.
M. fell on the pavement of the street where be was soon
found weltering in his blood. He is now in the hospital
and hopes are entertained of his recovery.
An old tika,e has lately been promulgated in the
kingdom of Poland which is of considerable importance;
it ordains that no person in office in the kingdom shall
be promoted to the higher departments of the Adminis-
tration unless he can prove that he has previously been in
the service of the State for five years in the Government
of Great Russia. The effect of this will be to throw the
whole of the administration into the hands of Russians
or of Poles wl.o have already become wholly or partly
Russians.—A I/yen/eine Zeituny, Jan. 4.

THE COMET NOW VISIBLE A
FERIUDIC ONE.
_ to THE EDITOR 01/ THE "TIMES."

Sir,---I have great pleasure in transmitting you the transla-
tion of a letter which I yesterday received from my friend
Professor Schumacher, and doubt not you will think a corner
of the Times well occupied in diffusing over the civilised
world a knowledge of the fact that the comet recently disco-
vered by M. Faye in the constellation of Orion actually belongs
t 3 our system. In a postscript to his letter the Professor tells
me that its period is six years and 219 days. It is much to be
regretted, that owing to extraordinary unfavourable weather,
which, since its discovery, seems to have pervaded nit only
Great Britain, but even Europe, the observations of it are so
few. Since my communication to you, published in the Times
of November 30, I have seen it but once; and in Ireland mat-
ters are still worse, for neither the Earl of Rosse nor Dr.
Robinson has obtained even a glimpse of it.
Observatory, Kensington, Jan. 10. JAMES SOUTH.

( Translation.)
"The importance of the intelligence contained in the follow-
ing letter of Professor Gauss, induces me to communicate it to
astronomers without delay.
" Altona, Jan. 5, 1844.

~ SCHUMACHER."

LETTER FROM PROESSOR GAUSS, DIRECTOR OF THE 01-
SEAVATORY OF GOTTINGEN, TO THE EDITOR OF THE
A stron. Nachrichten.
" The attempts of Mr. Peterson to reconcile the apparent
motion of the Comet with a parabolic orbit having given un-
satisfactory results, I have induced Dr. Goldschmidt to com-
pute one independent of that hypothesis, from the observations
of November 24, December 1, and December 9, and he has ob-
tained from them the following elliptic elements :-
" Epoch of mean longitude 1843, December, 211876 mean
time at Berlin, 58 deg. 31 m. 39 sec. (reckoned from the ap-
parent equinox).
" Mean daily motion... 535 sec. 7079
" Perihelion
" Angle of eccentricity 3l deg. 29 m. 39 sec.
" Log. of semi-axis-major
" Node
" Inclination ..
"Motion direct.
"If the elements thus derived from observations made
during so short an interval as 15 days can be confided in, the
orbit of this comet approaches nearer to a circular one than
that of any other yet known.
" The accordance of the observations hitherto made with
Dr. Goldschmidt's calculations stands as follow :-the sign +
indicating that the calculated places are in excess :-
A R. Dccl.
sec. sec.
Nov. 24.- 0.4 - 4.4 Paris.
26.-21.4 + 6.8 Paris.
27.-13.3 + 7.3 Paris.
28.-12.4 -11.8 Paris.
29. + 3.7 + 1.1 Paris.
Dcc. 1. + 3.6 + 5.6 Altona.
2. + 0.3 - 5.5 Paris.
4. + 5.4 - 0.2 Altona.
9.- 9.6 -. 4.9 Altona.
- 5.1 -10.2 Alton& (Merid. Obs.).
10.-13.5 -20.1 Altona.
- 9.3 -24.8 Altona ( Merid. Obs. ).
11.-33.3 -30.9 Paris.
-14.0 -24.7 Altona.
-14.4 -22.4 Alto7a. (Alerid. Obs.).
12. -25.8 -38.4 Paris.
13. - 7.3 -27.0 Altolia.
-23.1 -22.8 Gottingen.
" From the 13th of December till this day the weather has
been constantly cloudy.
" Gottingen, Jan. 2.

• C. F. GAUSS."

COMPLIMENT TO TEI E TA A YER S.-To-m orrow
being the first day of Hilary Term, the Law and Equity Courts
will be opened in Westminster Lell with the usual formalities.
—Stansforst of Wednesday.