The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-31 00:00:00

Wittitton

THE FUNDS-(CLOSING PRICES.)
BRITISH FUNDS:
flank Stock
3 per Cent. Red. .... ... 94,3- 'Ditto Bonds
3 per Cent. C0n5......... !Ditto Old Annuities
3i per Cent. Red... 101} !Ditto New Annuities —
New 3i per Cent......... Ex. Bills, 1,000/....2d 63 pm
Nr.ns 5 per Cen'... - •Ditto SQOI 63 am
Long Annuities to expire , Ditto Stall
Jan. 1860 ... ...... 12 11-16: Sank Stock for' Acct. 172
)ct. 1859 ...... ... 12 9-16 India Stock for Opg...
an. 1860 — !Consols for Opg. ..... 94/
VUNDS.

rGIZEIG
Austrian, 5 per cent
Belgian,ls per cent
Brazilian Bonds
Buenos Ayres6 per cent 26
Chilian, 6 per cent
Colombian, 6 per cent —
Ditto, 1624 23
Cuba Bonds, 6 per cent —
Danish, 3 per :ent
Greek, 1625, 5 per cent
Mexican, 5 per cent
6 per cent. 1837
Perurian,lB2s, 6 per ct.

:Portuguese, 5 per cent.
Ditto, New Ditto 4ll
Prussian, 5 per cent.
Russian, 5 pei cent cent
Ditto, ...... .
Spanish, 5 per cent IS
Ditto, Deferred.... .
French, 5 per cent. —f. —c.
Exchange —f —c
French, 3 percent —f. —c.
Dutch, per cent. —
Ditto, 5 per Cent. ... 101 i

SHARES.
Bristol ::.nd Exeter (70 paid) ...... 491
Cheltenham and Crest Western (80 pidd)... 21
Eastern Counties (23 paid) .
Ditto New (—paid)
Great Western, (65 paid)
Ditto New Shares (50 paid) . ..... 64
London and Brighton (50 paid) 36
London and Blackvrall ( paid)
London and Birmingham 189
Ditto.,New Shares t 21401,-1;
North Midland Railway (100)
South Eastern and Dover (50 paid)......... 224
Ditto Scrip (VO raid)

SPIRIT o► the PUDLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE. EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.

GLOBE.—We are continually hearing of instances
of persons escaping from justice by the defects of the
Criminal law, and these defects are very often aggra-
vated by the looseness-With which the law is adminis-
tered. There is an article in the Times of this morn-
ing, calling on Sir Robert Peel to rectify the abuses
that exist; and though the tone of our Contemporary's
remarks must meet with general approbation, we ire
not disposed t? *roe entirely with his view of the
,subject. Th4roposition that." strict adherence to the
very letter -of criminal law is not essential in the pre-
'sent day;" is one whiCh we think it.-weuld be very dan •
gerous to act upon. There is already too much of what
"judge-made law ;3" and it is this fact which
;gives rise to . the many discrepar Tics in the punish-
' inents allotted to the Same degree 'of guilt in different
cases. We are for leaving .as:litt'le as possible to the
discretion of the Magistrate.-'.'fohowever good the
judgment of an individual ape, be, it cannot be in-
vested with that authority,wiiictt- tau distinct voice
of the Legislature carries with We do not hold
with the opinion, that if their.prh-lOms of r law are
unjust they should not be clifeirCA for nothing is
more likely to keep a' bad; blisltAhe statute-book,
than the knowledge that it-I,OW* strietlyenforced
'against those who may •haveirall. tl,6nder it. There
is sufficient carelessness'alreadte preparation of
Aids of Parliament, and if the .56sislature felt that
'their laws would.be interpieted idording to circum-.
stances, less particularity than .* iijOW nat present would
be observed, and further .obse'p.han already exists
would cloud the statute 'booli.f- 1.14 e Times complains
that-a prisoner cannot be c0n04301 of a higher of-
fence than that. for indicted, though,
*lie may be found : degree .of crime
than that which 11( ith. Otir Con-

temporary propos
liberty to order tht
the time of the trial

re should be -fit
he indictment It
iot help th'

judgment NAnita h
vould be an error
vrong, side. "We
ency which con-

would be a laxity.
is hardly to be defe
on the severe, and
are no advocates fo

trives loop7holes for ilt ;- but, if strict
legal forms are dr all, we think it
should be in favour of the accused, and not for the
purpose of rendering his position more perilous.
STANDARD.—Mr: Richard. Cobden is, it would
appear, resolved to rival the glories of r. Daniel
O'Connell: Like the great mendicant of the west,
Cobden has organised his, glossae iat on," has
"-reeifleetiksv?-,' hie army
of holy men, and laid the foundation of his rent, to
he accounted for as such things are accounted for in
Ireland—that is, not at all. "Tu vogue Marcellus
eris." . Mr. Cobden shall be the O'Connell of the
mills. The enterprise is ambitious, but not quite so
bold as it may at first sight appear. Flammock, the
type of the order of agitators, was an ignorant
blockhead, as well as a poltroon ; and though men
have been misled by the temporary success of de-
magogues, to doubt that they are all alike igno-
rant blockheads and poltroons, the majority of dema-
gogues' have been such from the beginning—from
Thersites to Flammock, from Flammock to
our own day. The qualifications for the office
are indeed few and vile. Lord Bolingbroke bas enu-
merated them with a precision that we think some
well-meaning Juries of the present time would be
led by an inartificially drawn inuendo to declare,
upon their oaths, intended for a living agitator:
The following is Lord Bolingbroke's inventory :
" 11l manners, impudence, a foul mouth, and a
fouler heart." As Mr. Richard Cobden has
but just commenced his career, it remains to be
seen whether his outfit is complete ; for our own
part, we doubt his' qualifications, and we are
the more disposed to doubt them, because we find
him already at loggerheads with some of his Whig
and Whig-Radioal friends. This is beginning much
too soon. Mr. Cobden is, however, plainly betrayed
by his sanguine temper into a too exact imitation of
his Irish model. Mr. O'Connell was able to bully the
Whigs and Whig-Radicals, because he had a party
ready formed, or rather was the representative and the
thec e a tout rhee
r of
hand,
a partya
d haslo asg i nexistence.
e treal
l.
y llr
no
I p.
artparty
Cobden,
worth
naming—if we may so speak, he has but the staff and
skeleton of a sedition. His League is composed of a
few interested individuals of no talent or general
influence, and living in a very • narrow circle,
His lectures are but poor shadows of even the lay
Irish incendiaries. Where are the Jack Lawless's,
the Tom Steele's,.the Tom Reynolds's, and all the
rest ? Who will compare Smith and Achind to such
riot manufacturers ? His Conference is but a puny
parody of the Irish priests ; and as to his rent, it is
still to be collected. It is not only, however, in the
matter of officers and military chest that Mr. Cobden
miscalculates when he puffs himself into rivalship
with Mr. Daniel O'Connell. In the main strength
of their respective forces—in the rank and file,
which must constitute the main strength of every
army—the difference between the O'Connellites • and
the Cobdenites passes calculation. Mr. O'Connell
counts, or lately did count, his followers by the mil-
lion. Mr. Cobden, if he were to enumerate, would
find it a matter of some difficulty to exhibit hundreds.
The Chartists, with whom he is at war, have engrossed
all the floating materiel of discontent. It has been
seen what a feeble attempt at rebellion Chartists and
Leaguers made when associated last autumn. From
this it may be easily imagined how infinitely Con-
temptible either of them must be separated from the
other.

ON LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS.
A memoir on this subject was read before the
members of the Electrical Society, a few days ago, by
the Secretary, Charles V. Walker, Esq. The practical
object was to remove all doubt about the propriety of
connecting metallic boches with the lightning, rod,
and to demonstrate the necessity of so doing. The
much-talked of lateral spark he showed to be due to the
diffusion of free electricity, and the division to the por-
tion of a flash required to compensate the outercoating
of a jar, the lower of two discs, or the earth. The free
electricity is due to an inductive action of the portion of
the charge which does not pass. his well known that
the inner coating of a jar contains more of the
electricity than does the outer .of the other. It;
therefore, a flash leaves the inner, equivalent to that
required by the outer, it is evident that the. portion
remaining will have such an inductive action on the
outer coating as to expel part of the passed flash from
it, and so convert it into free electricity. Mr. Walker
terms this the "induced residual," and shows that it .
so depends on the original excess and on the flash
itself, as to equal (1— 1-n) 6, when n represents
the ratio of excess and (6) the flash, from the fact
that the greater the distance between the coating•the
greater the ratio of excess. Mr. 'Walker alludes to the
distance of the clouds, and proves n in the above for-
mula to be very great : the value of 6 is known by
the magnitude of a lightning flash; and hence he
declares the great amount of that portion of a lightning
flash converted into free electricity, or " induced
residual." But experiment has demonstrated that a
lateral spark is attendant on the discharge even of a
Leyden battery ; much more, therefore, is such an
effect to be 'expected from, the discharge of a cloud.
Are cannot Fctend, to -give an abstkact of the whole

• which he ling be. il
guilty of a ,'...fly( ; c
le standii cli*rgt.id. w
ies 014 the .Tudg,l
he .amq itienti of th
k
al. 'I *e,caliil(
.as to• .4rnis of ,
ended, kt,st; It NV
can. 'piTy t)lc Is
o
)r th, rtAifleni(
)r the ° •cirO at" gui
lepartedi, from at .