The Sun.
London, England, 1821-07-10 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Juvr 9.
THE EARLDOM OF THE LORD CHANCELLOR.
Soon after twelve o'clock, the Earl of LIVER-
POOL announced that his Majesty had been pleas-
ed to .elwiate Baron Eldon, LOrd high Chancel-
lor of Great Britain,. to the rank of a Viscount
and Earl of the United Kingdom.
The LO RD CHANCELLOR, who was seated on
the Woolsack, immediately retired from the
House for the purpose of robing, in order that
he might receive his new dignities. Shortly af-
terwards he entered the .House by the door be-
low the bar, where he was met by the Lord Great
Chamberlain, the Earl of Liverpool, and Earl
Shaftesbury, in their Peers' Robes ; Sir Thomas
Tyrwhitt, is his Official Costume, and Sir George
INaylor, as the Representative of the Earl Mar-
shy], in his tabard. His Lordship was introduced
to the House by the Earl of _ Liverpool and the
Earl of Shaftesbury, and, on getting within the
bar, Sir George .Nailor presented him with his
Patent of Nobility. His• Lordship then advanced
to the Throne, and kneeling in front of the Chair
on which his Majysty sits when he attends the
Rouse, there deposited his Patent. Having
taken it up again and risen, he proceeded to the
body of the House, and. delivered it to the Clerk
to be" read ; it was read accordingly, and an-
nounced that his Majesty had been pleased to
confer the titles set forth on his Lordship, for his
7ea.lous, honourable, and meritorious services as
Lord •High Chancellor of England for a period of
nineteen years: At the'conclusion of the read-
ing of this Instrument, the new created Earl
took the usual oaths ; and then, attended as be-
fore by the Lord Great Chamberlain, and the
Noble Earls, by whom he had been introduced.,
took his seat, first as a junior Earl, and then, by
-virtue of his office as Lord High Chancellor, as
senior Earl. The ceremony being thus conclud-
ed, the House adjourned during pleasure. His
Lordship shortly afterwards resumed his seat- as
Lord Chancellor.

After questions had been put to the Judges,
-who attended pursuant to order, and their an-
swers had been received, the judgment.given by
the Court below in the case of The King v.Wolfe,
was atfurned.

"Mr. Walpole, from the Treasury, presented
Accounts of the Net Produce of the Consolidated
Fund during the two last corresponding Quarters
in 1820 and 1821.—Laid ou the table.

- The Exchequer Bills for Public Works Bill,
the Irish Stamp Duties Bill, and the Lunatic Trus-
tees Bill, were read a third time and passed.

AGRICULTURAL lIORSE TAX.

On the question that the Husbandry Horses
Duty Repeal Bill be read a third time,
The Earl of LAUDERDALE expressed his sur-
prise that not a single word should hav% been
said in explanation and support of the measure
since it had reached their Lordships' House.—
Far from not wishing to repeal taxes, he
.was one
of those who were desirous that an inquiry should
be set on foot into the public expenditure for re-
pealing those taxes which were most oppressive
and the least productive. But yet he could not
approve of the present measure.* He thought the
mode and manner in which the tax was to he re-
pealed injurious, and *conceived that the abolition
of that on leather would have afforded much
more general relief. The whole amount of the
relief produced by this measure would not in
fact exceed one per cent. on the rent paid by the
farmer, so that the benefit would be scarcely felt
by poor tenants, and would be almost confined
to great and rich farmers. Next year the ma-
nufacturers would, come and say, you, relieved
the agricultural interest last Session, how can you
now refuse to relieve us ? Yet if taxes were thus
given,up to gratify all interests, what would be-
come of that Revenue which the Noble Earl had
represented as necessary to support the State?
Linder such circumstances he could not vote for
the repeal of the tax on husbandry horses.
The Earl of LIVERPOOL stated, that if the pre-
sent Bill had originated with his Majesty's Go-
vernment, it would have been his duty on its se-
cond reading to explain the grounds on which it
was founded. But the measure had been proposed
by the Agricultural Committee appointed by the
Commons. Its introduction had been resisted in
the other House by his Majesty's Government,
and it was only after the measure had received the
sanction of a large majority of Parliament, that
they had declared themselves in its favour. He
would fairly admit that he would have much pre-
ferred that the propositiOn should never have
been made, or the Bill tendered to their Lord-
ships. And if he were, asked whether he con-
sidered the relief of 400,0001. thits given to the
farmers, equal to the advantages which would
result from the repeal, he should not hesitate to
answer, no. He had originally declared in that
House, that he saw no ground for expecting that
en 3, good would result from the appointment of
an Agricultural Committee, bnt that on the con-
trary, much mischief might possibly ensue. But
the Noble Earl opposite was for adopting another
course, and for having a Committee to inquire in-
to the state of the Revenue, in order to see what
taxes might be most conveniently repealed. If
This were done, it would be attended with the
same consequences as the Agricultural Committee.
Every Member of the Committee would have a
favourite object in view, and would propose the
repeal of a particular tax. Some specimen of
this might be produced by his Noble Friend's
speech, for whilst he (Lord Lauderdale) Was for
repealing the leather tax, he (Lord Liverpool)
thought that there were many others which
it would be more beneficial to abolish. The
present measure, however, was attended by one
advantage. If it were not felt by the country at
Jarge, it was at least one by whic;t relief was di-
rectly given from the Exchequer tattle individuals
.concerned. It must also be recollected, that the
Agricultural interest was, of all others, .that on
-which the pressure was the greatest. Nay, the
subject itself was taxation, and on such a head
some deference ought to be paid to the sentiments
Of the other House, unless the ioconvetrience
should be very great indeed.
The Earl of CARNARVON considered the pre-
cent system of finance altogether wrong. Indi-
rect taxation had attained its makimurn, and new

taxes could neither increase the Revenng nor
create a Sinking Fund. The best, if not the only
way, to augment the Revell* would, in fact, be.
to reduce many of those taxes which were least
productive. He contended that the alteration in
the value of our. currency, coupled with the un-
alterable nature of the interest of our National
Debt, formed the true cause of the great distress
experienced by the country. The years of peace
were rapidly passing before us. We had already
gone through a number of years equal to half the
longest period of peace enjoyed for centuries by
this country, and yet 'nothing had been done to
retrieve our condition. Before their'Lordships
assembled next Session, they Qught to come to
some decision to look the difficulties of •the coun-
try in the face, and not to wait till years of dan-
gers returned.
The Earl of LAUDERDALE briefly replied, and
contended that instead of, being impoverished,
the country was much richer at this time than in
179(2.—The Bill was then read a third time, and
passed.—Adjourned.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

[FROM VARIOUS t3URCES.]

[No. XVI.).
CANovA.—This artist has just completed a
work that is said to be superior to any of the
former productions of his chisel. It is a colossal
groupe representing Theseus slaying a Centaur.
The hero has seized hold of the neck of his
enemy, whose human portion of his figure ap-
pears to be still making some impotent efforts
against his vanquisher, who is wielding in his
other hand the massy club of Periphatus. This
composition is intended for the imperial Court
at Vienna.

RAIN OF SILK.—M. Laine, the French Con-
mil at Pernambucoy says, in a letter dated No-
vember Ist, 1820, that at the beginning of the
preceding month there was a shower tram the
sky consisting of a substance resembling silk, of
hich many persons preserved specimens. This
phenomenon extended to the distance of thirty
leagues inland, and nearly as, many off to, sea.
He adds, that a French vessel was covered with
the silky material. The specimen which M. Laine
has sent to the Editors of the Jimmies de Phy-
sique et de Chimie appears to bear some analogy
to the silky filaments which are occasionally to
be seen in the environs of Paris, where they are
borne through the air in every direction.

MONUMENT OF COPERNICUS.—The colossal
bronze statue of Nicolaus Copernicus, about to
be erected at Warsaw, will be placed in front of
the magnificent edifice (belonging to the Society.'
of the Friends of Science) in the Cracow suburb,
not far from the site of the church of the Domi-
nicans, which has been taken down. This illus-
trious man will be represented as seated upon an
antique chair, finely dressed in an academical
toga, and holding in one.hand a celestial sphere
marked with astronomical circles. The expence
of this monument will be defrayed by voluntary
contributions.

ATROPIA.—A substance has been discovered
in the plant Belladonna Atropia, which gives to
it the particular properties it possesses. This
substance has been called ; it is white,
shining, crystallizable in long needless insipid,
and little soluble in water or alcohol ; it forms
regular salts with the acids, and is capable of
neutralizing a considerable quantity of them.
When Atropia, and Potassa are mixed in a red
heat, the ashes (solution) mingled with muriate
of iron produce a brilliant red.

TN LEPIDOLITE.-Professor Gmelin
has detected lithia in two specimens of lepidolite;
one being Swedish, and the other from Moravia.
lie endeavoured without success to form alum
with this alkali and the supersulphate of alumine.

NATURAL PHENOMENON.-It is stated in ac-
counts from Giessen, in Hesse Darmstadt, that
on the 3d of Ma'y there fell i❑ different parts of
that city a rain of the colour of blood. Professor
Zimmerman analyzed it, and says that its compo-
nent .parts were oxy'd of iron, an earthy acid
(d'acide de terre), and carbon. Many of the
inhabitants were ninth alarmed' by the shower.
ZOOLOGY.—M. Diard, a young French na-
turalist, found at Surnakra in .1819 a tapir, an
animal which until then had never been met with
except in the new world. It does not differ from
the American tapir, except in colour ; the extre-
mity of the ears, the rump, the, back, the belly,
and the sides being white, while every other part
is of a deep black. This fact is the more worthy
of notice, as it overturns the reasonings of Huffon
respecting the difference between the animals of
Asia and those of America.

FRENC:f INSTITUTE.-The prize proposed this
year by the Academie Royale des Sciences, in
the class of Physics, is to determine by means of
accurate experiments what are the causes of
animal warmth whether chemical or physical ?
The academy expressly requires that the quantity
of caloric emitted in a given time by a healthy
animal and the quantity of caloric produced by
its respiration be ascertained with the utmost
exactitude ; also that this caloric be compared
with that produce, by the combustion of carbon,
in forming the same quantity of carbonic acid.
The prize will be a gold medal, of the value ~of
3,000 francs, to be adjudged at the sitting of 1823.

THE. AtiSTalAti SOCIETY' OF Music.tr. AMA—
TEURS.—This admirable institution possesses a
very fine library of about 000 volumes, alt of
which are on subjects belonging to the. literature
of music. any of the books are exceedingly
rare and costly ; among the more valuable arti-
cles are many inedited MSS. particularly one
containing materials for a continuation of Ger-
ber's Kunstler Lexicon. All these works are
classed and described in a catalogue raisonne.
In addition to the literary publications and
MSS. there is a collection of about 7000 pieces of
music by, upwards of 700 different composers,
and these also are catalogued both in alphabetical.
order and according to their Themes. The same
Society has likewise a museum of Turkish and
other singular musical instruments and curiosi-
ties ; with a collection of more than '5OO portraits
of composers, singers &c. For the most of
what has been done the public arc indebted to
the zeal and ability of Baron von Knorr. He it
was who accomplished in so admirable a manner

the extremely difficult task of systematizing and
arranging the various compositions, The Cata-
logue, containing' very -valuable critical anti
biographical notices of each composer, is alone'
sufficient to attest the industry, imformation, and
enthusiaim with which he labours to promote the
excellent views of this institution, to render its
of real service to advance the art, and animate
its professors.

13ORTABLU IfoltsEs.—The Swedish Journag
speak very highly of certain portable houses that
have been invented by Major Blom, who is cele-
brated at Stockholm for' his knowledge of me-
chanics. These edifices, which are constructed
of wood, may be elevated in a single day, and
contain, if not every comfort, at least all that is
necessary for a small family. In cold weather,
they are warmed by a stove.
AEROSTATICS.—A Roman Journal states, that
M. Mignorelli, of Bologna, has, discovered a me-
thod of giving a horizontal direction to balloons.

SPANISII LITERATURE.-Don TorribioNunnez,
Professor of the University of Salamanca, has
collected the various statistical writings of Ben-
tham, and formed them into a regular system of
Politics; such a one as he conceives to be parti-
cularly adapted to. the wants of his countrymen
at the present juncture. The title of this work,
which has already met with great commendation,
is— Sisiema de la Glenda Social ideado
.per el
Jurisconsulto Ingles Jeremias Bentham,
,y puesto
en egemcion conforme. d los principios del a?:t or
original, por cl D. D. Torribio Nunnez, &c.--
Marshal De Haro's Account of the Defence of
Gerona,. Relacion Historica de la Defensa de Ge-
rona, is a Tublication that may be consulted with
advantage both by the historian and the military
tactician, and is particularly rich in materials for
a narrative of the important events of the late
war. Several works have been translated from
the English and French ; even the Memoirs -of
Bergami, and the Queen's Trial have found
both translators and publishers. But boOks
of more permanent interest are not overlook-
ed, as is proved by an announcement of a
Spanish version of Robertson's Charles V., and of
the Principles de la .Legislation Universel.—The
thirteenth volume of the translation of Mrs. Ben-
net's Novels has appeared, containing Rosa o'la
nina Mendiga (the Beggar Girl) ; and a female
writer, named Donna Juana Barrera, has trans-
lated another English novel, under the title of

Cieclia o'el Padre :y al Hija. D. Vincente Fer-
nandez Villares has produced a good translation
from a French novel of Dueray-Dumenil, called
Dias en el Campo o'Pintura Historica de una
piquena Familia. Little original poetry has ap-
peared ; nothing, indeed, worthy of mention, ex-
cept some political and patriotic Odes, and a
performance of D. Rafael de Caceres, which de-
serves notice merely from the extravagance of the
subject, it being a system of Myology in verse.
,The title of this curious poem is Exposicion
Metrica SUCCinia y Exacta di todos los . illasealos
del sCuerpo ,Humano o' sea la Miologia puesta en
verso Castellano!

A curiosity of great antiquity, and unique in
its kind, has lately been brought to this country
by a gentleman, who acquired it with a deal of
trouble and eXpence on the Continent. It con-
sists of our Saviour and the twelve Apostles in
amber, of large dimensions, with the, heads of
hard stone. They are supposed by several pro-
fessors who have seen them to be of the sixth
century.