The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-26 00:00:00

A NEW PLANET.

Dec. I4.—At 6 hours 23 min. mean time, right ascen-
sion in arc, 64 deg. 4 min. 5.3 sec. 2-lOths. At 12 hours
43 min. mean time, right ascension in arc, 64 deg. 1 min.
10 sec. 3-10ths.

We then determined the following places with the
wire-micrometer, each place being the mean of five ob-
servations.

At 13 hours 34 min. 55 sec. and 6-10ths mean time,
right ascension in time, 4 hours 16 min. 2 sec. 44-100ths;
declination north, 12 deg. 39 min. 54 sec. 2-10ths. At
13 hours 42 min. 36 sec. and 5-10ths, right ascension in
time, 4 hours 16 min. 2 sec. 8-100ths; declination north,
12 deg. 39 min. 53 sec. 1-10th. At 14 hours 33 min. 27
sec. and 1-10th, right ascension in time, 4 hours 16 min.
0 sec. 20-100ths; declination north, 12 deg. 39 min. 52
sec. 1-10th. Or, taking the mean,—At 13 hours 56 min.
59 sec. 7-10ths mean time; right ascension in arc, 64 deg.
0 min. 23 sec. 6-10ths; declination north, 12 deg. 39
min. 52 sec. 1-10th.

The motion is retrograde, and its daily amount, as
determined from the observations, 8 hours apart, is—in
right ascension, 14 min. 21 sec. 2-10ths of arc; in decli-
nation it is quite insignificant.
Mr. Hencke's place of December 8 agrees very nearly
with this.

The star is probably a new planet near its opposition.
Vesta is pretty near it, and is also in opposition.
On account of the difficulty of following it, I have
thought it best to send you the news directly, and I beg
you to make it known in England, that a sufficient num-
ber of observations may soon be collected.
Excuse the shortness of this letter, which is written
in great haste. Yours, &c.,
Berlin, Dec 15.

ENCKE.

THE SUPPOSED NEW PLANET OR
COMET.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—ln consequence of a letter which I received from
Professor Schumacher, on Friday afternoon, at about
nine o'clock in the evening of that day I directed my
five feet equatorial to the place of a supposed new star,
seen in the constellation Taurus, on the Bth instant, by
Mr. Hencke, of lliessen, in Prussia.
Nearly in the centre of the field of the telescope I in-
stantly saw a star of perhaps the 10th magnitude
lying in the line, joining two stars of the 9th or 10th
magnitude, and reckoning from the lower or northern
one, not quite half-way between them. Finding the
differences of right ascension and declination between
these two latter stars accorded very well with those
given by Mr. Henske, I inferred that they were his
guide stars, avid that the star between them was his pre-
sumed new star; nor had I any doubt that it was iden-
tical with that which Mr. Petersen (Professor Schui
macher's assistant) actually did see, although it "was co
very faint he could assert nothing.' I did not, how-
ever, think it right to send you any notice of my ob-
servation, not having had any authority from Profes-
sor Schumacher to publish any part of his letter which
had drawn my attention to the subject ; but a com-
munication from Mr. Hinde to you on the matter, which
appeared in this morning's Times, and which announces
that he has not seen any star answering the description
of the supposed new one, induces me to send you this,
as I cannot account for his having overlooked it ; know-
ing, as I do, that he is an excellent astronomer, that his
eyes are young, whilst mine are old, and that his tele-
scope transmits more than twice as much light as the
one which I used does, but which exhibited to me the
star I wanted the instant I looked into it ; so that I
never took the trouble to appeal to any of my larger
telescopes, although, in expectation that they might be
wanted, they were planted ready for the purpose.
For the more certain identification, therefore, by►
others of the guide stars between which the star I saw
lies, I will state (by reference to a diagram coarsely
made at the time, and which, fortunately, has not
been destroyed), that parallel with these guide stars
were two other stars of the 10th or 11th magnitude,
firming, with the two guide stars, a long quadrangle,
inclined to the parallel of declination, at an angle of 50
or 60 degrees, in the direction north preceding, or south
following—the side of the quadrangle formed by the
two guide stars extending at each extremity a little be-
yond its opposite, formed by the two stars of the 10th
or I lth magnitude; again, there is a bright star hang-
ing down to the north, which makes nearly an equila-
teral triangle with the guide stars.
Nevertheless, there may have been some other star
between the two guide stars on the Bth inst., as well as
that which I most assuredly saw between them on the
19th, and as the existence or non-existence of a planet
or comet in the neighbourhood is probably dependent on
the stir seen by me on the 19th being identical with the
one seen by Mr. Hencke on the 8:h, the matter ought
not to be left in doubt. I have therefore thought it right
to transmit to you data whereby any one with a little
care may, without difficulty, direct his telescope to the
spot where Mr. Hencke saw his star; and, by examining
those stars in its vicinity, may have a fair chance of
picking up the supposed planet or comet, if that which
I have seen and described the position of be not Mr.
Hencke's star.

The stars in the head of the constellation
Taurus resemble the letter "V," and which, when
they are on the meridian (as they now are at
about ten o'clock at night), is inclined to the bori-
zon at an angle of about 30 degrees. The lower side
of the V is bounded by the magnificent star Aldebaran
to the left, and by Gamma Tauri to the right ; whilst
the upper side is formed of Epsilon Tauri on the left,
and Gamma Tauri on the right. Between Aldebaran and
Gamma is a group of stirs composed of the two Thetas,
and others, whilst the three Deltas and others are simi-
larly situated in the upper side, each group being nearly
in the centre of its respective side—circumstances to be
borne in mind, lest one side be taken for the other, as I
have frequently seen done when a night glass has been
the telescope in use.
Direct, then, a night glass to the group of stars in the
lower side of the V, so that Aldebaran and Gamma Tauri

be seen on the lower part of the field on the left, and
fix upon a point which shall make with them an equila-
teral triangle, the apex of which shall point upwards,
and that is the spot where Mr. Hencke saw his star. It
i. moreover rendered remarkable by being just above
the base of a small isosceles triangle of stars, the apex
of which is turned downwards ; and commencing this
apex star, reckoning from right to left, we have A or
the apex star of the seventh magnitude, B of the fifth
magnitude, and C of the sixth. Hence, by reference
to this triangle A B C the plAce which the supposed
planet or comet occupied on the Bth may be found, al-
though the field of the night glass employed be suffi-
ciently large to admit their being in it during any exa-
mination extended beyond the place assigned by Mr.
Hencke to his star.

But if a telescope be used whose field of view does
not include some degrees, then, as the stars Aldebaran

and Gamma Tauri, by those who know where to look
for them, are nearly as easily seen with the naked eye
as is the planet Jupiter, all that is necessary will be for
the observer to fix on a point in the heavens which
being below them shall make an equilateral triangle with
them, and that will be the place of Mr. Hencke's star.
If he then directs his telescope to this place, he will see
the triangle A B C, if not in his telescope, certainly in
its finder, that is if the latter be good fir anything, and
may, by its means, move his telescope so that he may
certainly view in it the guide stars to Mr. Hencke's star
without difficulty ; indeed, the stars B and C are visible
to the naked eye, if the observer know where to look
for theni. _

The diameter of the field of an ordinary night-glass is
about six degrees ; Aldebaran and Gamma Tauri are
nearly four dgrees asunder ; Aldebaran is of the first
magnitude, Gamma Tauri of the third. The apex star
A of the triangle A B C is distant from B and C nearly
one degree ; and B is distant from C nearly one degree
and a-half.

To find this planet (if it be onel a large telescope is
not indispensable: it will be well, however, to have
four silver wires in its eye-piece, crossing each other so
as to divide the circumference of the field into eight
equal arcs, care being taken to insert such wires as from
their thickness shall be easily perceptible without artifi-
cial illumination when the telescope is directed to the
heavens. By bringing then any star to the centre of
the field where the wires decussate, there will be no diffi-

culty in laying down an extemporaneous map of all-the
s cchange
pass of pl piece
unnoticed. of
stars visible in the field of the telescope, and, this being
amountreferre d o a
rcei
willa
In such manner was it that, with an ordinary night-
gla.is held in the hand out of his library window, Olbers
discovered Pallas and Vesta, the former resembling a
star of the ith magnitude, the latter one of the 6th.
11'hilst with an achromatic of about 2 inches arrt ore
and about 30 inches focus, with which when at Gottin:

gen in 1832 I could see no traee of Jupiter's belts, and
which would not show his first and second satelites with-

out diffi tilty, Harding discovered the planet Juno, al-
though, as he told me, it had the appearance of a star

only of the 9th magnitude.
Hoping, that, that. this letter may, by ea-awing the at-
tention of observers to the point at issue, lead to the
correction of my o!tservation, if it be erroneous, and
coable others to find the supposed 'Anna or comet, if
either the one or the other exist,
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
Monday, Dee. 22. J. SOUTH.

CURLING M ATC IEI AT EGLINTON CASTLE.--A
challenge was given to Lord Eglinton, by a partyof '4 crack
curlers" from Dundonald, consisting of four, namely, Messrs.
Gibson, Collennan, Dykes, Hillhouse, Guthrie, C)rossburn,
Aiton, and Fullarton, whose known celebrity justly entitled
them to anticipate a glorious victory over his Lordship. On
Saturday, the 13th current, the parties met on the Asphalt
Rink, at Eglinton' Castle, when, after a keenly contested
game, his Lordship claimed the victory by a majority of one
shot.—Edinburgh Advertiser.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—l have this day received from Professor Encke,
of Berlin, a letter, of which I subjoin a translation.
There appears to be no reasonable doubt that the object
to which it relates is a new planet. As it is highly im-
portant that observations should be made with the least
possible delay, I request that you will have the good-
ness immediately to publish this in your paper.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
G. B. AIRY.
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Dec. 22.
TRANSLATION.

On the 13th of December, Mr. Irencke, of Driessen,
gave notice that he had found a star of the 9th magni-
tude in a place where, before, there was none. He gave
its position by reference to the star map of the Berlin
Academy, 4.th hour (which particular map was very
carefully drawn by Professor Knorre), from which its
place appears to have been—
December s.—At 8 hours ; right ascension in arc,
65 deg. 25 min. ; declination north, 12 deg. 41 min.
Yesterday, Dec. 14, we sought for it with our refractor,
and found, by comparison with the star map of the Berlin
Academy (which alone, on account of the fulness of its
details, could have enabled us to discover it) a star of
the 9th magnitude, not marked in the map, whose place
was—

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE MORELIG PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
TIMES.—The meeting of Parliament being now
fixed, th-s anticipations of the world are drawn to
that important question on which it will be the first
duty of Parliament to pronounce judgment; and
never since the Peace did expectations more lively, or
hopes more vivid, greet the Legislative Assembly.
The dissolution of two Ministries, and the recon-
struction of a third within the brief space of 15 days,
add to the interest which had already been created by
the rumours of apprehended scarcity. And in the
brief interval which must elapse, public curiosity is
gratified by the revelation, or public spirit delighted
by the developement, of a new policy ; every man is
prophesying after the dictates of his apparent in-
terest, or his supposed intelligence. Innumerable
are the versions of the Ministerial programme; vari-
ous are the shades of change which individual pre-
science foretells ; everything from a nominal to an
extreme innovation, and from an innovation to a de-
struction of the corn-law, is reported as probable, or
as certain, just as the prejudices of the informant
be agricultural or ccmmercial, and the temple of
his political cult in Bond-street or Manchester.
But one thing is striking enough. The mind of
every man is prepared for a change. Nobody seems
to think that the corn-law can remain as it is. A
conviction of an alteration being inevitable is as
strongly impressed on the agricultural mind as on
the manufacturing. It oozes out in the midst of
bovine celebrations and shouts of " No surrender."
Those who meet their tenantry to congratulate, or
to condole, or to exhort—all equally manifest the
same alarm, despite of every attempt to conceal it.
They deprecate all exaggeratoons about scarcity ; they
depreciate the reports of its existence; they say the
state of our harvests demand no such sweeping
change; but in the midst of these protestations they
exhibit a consciousness of the necessity which must
herald the advent of a change. To the rest of the
community—that vast assemblage of human beings
who owe no allegiance to, and have no interest in,
the soil—whose only wealth is in their sinews or
their brains—who trade on the capital of industry or
ingenuity, and whose every hope of happiness is
closely knit with the increased happiness of the hu-
man race ;—to this vast and motly crowd the repeal
of the corn-laws has become a great and insurmount-
able necessity—a necessity which hardly tolerates the
mention of delay, and which will scarcely brook
the suggestions of a merciful compromise. In
such a state of things what is a Minister to
do ? The voice of the people calls one way, the in-
terests of a class another. Is it impossible to re-
concile the two ? Must the interests of a class—a
large class' and not uninfluential—be so directly hos-
tile to the behests of a people, that no midway line
presents itself, on which their dispute may be adjusted
without dishonour or detriment to either ? The
people cry aloud that new avenues of commerce, and
new channels of industry, be opened to their labour;
the producers exclaim against the injustice which
deprives them of their only market. They deprecate
competition ; their enemies pray for it. The one class
defies the rivalry of the world, the other shrinks from
the emulation of a few remote districts. The one
calls aloud to other nations—" Give us bread ; we will
give in return the broad cloths or Leeds, the cutlery
of Sheffield, the cottons of Manchester, and the wares
of Wolverhampton. Feed us, and we will clothe
you. We will enrich you with all that use can
demand or luxury purchase from the loom, the wheel,
and the steam-engine : we will enrich our own
countrymen with the wealth which always flows
from successful industry and unwearied toil." The
other mutters, grumblingly, and in low accents—
" This manufacturing interest is a fearful thing:
it grows up like a Tower of Babel, and seems to
threaten Heaven ; therefore Heaven will punish
it, unless it is stopped in its growth. It presents an
awful idea to every pious mind ; therefore, let us
have no rivals in the bread-market, else we become
very poor, and our lands pass away from us." Such
are the two parties who are before the country. On
their claims it will be the Premier's duty to pass
sentence—a sentence which will be final or ephemeral
—comprehensive and decisive, or short, variable, and
of many changes—according to the terms in which
it is couched, and the wishes which it satisfies. It
may be that a scrupulous sense of fair play, or a
feeling somewhat like a fear, and apt by hasty minds
to be confounded with a fear, of a dominant class,
will induce him to propose terms of capitulation so
favourable to the worsted party, as almost to disguise
the reality, and certainly to retard the enjoyment, of
the achieved conquest. Ile ihay propose, for example,
an intervening fixed duty so high in its assessment,
and of so distant a termination, as really to deprive
the people for years to come of the benefits which they
may expect from the fulfilment of their desires. Or,
ag tin, under the impression, or assumed impression,
that a great change would be a great wrong, and
that he is bound to compensate those whom he is
about to damnify, he may introduce such a scheme
of taxation as, by shifting the burden of imposts from
the producing to the consuming body, may not only
deprive the latter of the substantial fruits of their
victory, but may also—when the temporary panic
has subsided—raise the value of land to an undue
amount. In either case the Premier will act in-
juriously to the country and his own fair fame. In
either case, his policy can only be short-lived, and,
after enduring a few years of bitter censure, would
be condemned to an ignoble doom. Ten years ago a
compromise was possible, was desired, was popular.
But ten years have added three millions to our popu-
lation, but have not added the means of employment
for three millions. There are many more to be paid and
to be fed, but there are not commensurate means for
feeding and paying them. We are arrived at that
epoch in our commercial and manufacturing history
when we must bid, and bid boldly, for the mercantile
empire of the world, or consent to subside, with an
increasing population and decreasing supplies, into a
condition the most pitiable of all—the condition of a
country where there are a few rich monopolists, and
the rest are beggared idlers. The alternative is a
fearful one; but one which the people of England have
not only the opportunity but the heart and courage
to ward off. It is to that people that the Premier
must eventually submit his own decision for confir-
mation or disapproval. Be his judgment or his coun
sel what it may, it is by their verdict that his policy
must stand or fall ; and before such a court no just
Minister, no honest statesman, need tremble ; for
though they sometimes err in their opinions of men,
or in their views of measures—though they may
magnify the benefits or exaggerate the importance of
particular schemes—their errors are neither lasting
nor pernicious. The people cannot be deluded, ani
will not deceive themselves, for a long time together.
They have no love for mere theories, and avoid the
pursuit of empty shadows. If they engage with
zeal and steady perseverance in the advancement of
any policy, depend upon it they have reason to be-
lieve that policy is necessary and advantageous. If
-they petition for years and years together for any
one boon, be confident that that boon is not a fiction,
If they complain of any grievance, that grievance is
not imaginary. More than this, and. above this—no
sense of wrong, no desire of gain, blinds them to the
sacred light of justice. They regard it as the noblest
trait of their national character that success only
makes them merciful; and that in the elation of
victory, they can spare the vanquished. To just
compromises—to equitable compensation—if the jus-
tice of it can be proved, and its extent assessed—they
will not demur. Conscious that their own cause is
just, they wid not condescend to tarni,h it with the
pettiness of narrow injustice. Demanding what is
right for themselves, they will not deny what they are
satisfied is right to others. But they will resent an
extortionate demand ; they will reject against an
unjust assessment; they will repudiate with scorn the
attempt to impose a new tax under the guise of
eliciting a composition for an old one. They may
sometimes be fretted, but never can be played
upon with impunity. On Sir Robert Peel de-
volves the duty of proposing such a compromise ;
hut its acceptance rests with the English people.
Sir It. 'ben Peel resumes office under every fa-
vourable auspice. Ile resumes it disembarrassed
of Asst promises arid past alliances. He resumes it
with the eneoutagement of a nation's desires, and the
confides of a nation's hop . It is for him to settle
that hang ; a
-spute which has survived the names and
badges of faction. On his settlement of it hangs that
prospective laurel which no great Minister ever yet
could banish from his inward contemplation. Let
him at once propose a great and comprehensive mea-
sure—final in its kind, but parent of innumerable
consequences—great and just at the same time—and
the gratitude of all posterity is his. Let him play
with this important business as a thing or shreds and
patches, to be docked here and stitched there—his
power is gone for ever. Does he ask forhtere ai s signon e
atto
guide him in his course ? Behold
hand. Two days ago one single meeting at Man-
chester collected 60,0001. A week ago a bucolic
meeting at Lewes scraped together 2001. Ecce Sig-
'Wm ! Let him look to the spirit of energy, enter-
prise, and perseverance which the men of the North
have displayed in this new crusade ; and let him not
be deterred by taunt or menace, false shame or fear,
from carrying out a scheme of policy on which men
of feelings and lineage similar to his own have set
their hearts. They will support him; the people of
England will rally round him; and—should even a
powerful party rebuke him—he may answer in the
"bold language of antiquity—"Neque verU, Quirites,
ego eratn, qui hoc tanturn Imperium, tanquam patri-
ciorum provinciam, administrare
ALVERTISER.—It has often been our lot to
eulogise the eloquence of the League at their meet-
ings in Covent- rden and elsewhere, hut never did
ga
that body or its friends make such a display of elo-
quence as that which electrified the people of Man-
chester on Tiresday. We do not allude to the
speeches of Mr. Cobden or those of any other of' the
gentlemen present. The eloquence to which we
;pude was not the eloquence of worth : it was the

eloquence of deeds. In the verdict of sixty thousand
pounds being returned in one brief hour, for the
funds of the League, the monopolists will discern a
a more powerful argument against the corn-laws,
thin they would in twelve months' mere speechifica-
tion. Oratory is lost on the landed interest : they
either cannot or will not feel its force. They are
practical persons. Figures of speech do not tell with
them. Plain stubborn facts, not flowery language,
are the things to make an impression on their minds.
A good round sum in the shape of a subscription to
the funds of the League, will weigh immeasurably
more with the landlords than the rounded periods
of their most accomplished orators. The Morning
Advertiser was the first journal to refer at
any length to the intention of the League to
raise a fund of 250,0001. for anti. monopoly
purposes. We know that the idea had been deemed
Utopian.
Itwas our purpose to show that there
was nothing impossible or improbable in it. We
argued at some length its peefect practicability.
We expressed our entire confidence in the attach-
ment of free-traders to their principles, and glanced
at their readiness to make great personal sacrifices
for the triump of those :principles. We little
thought that we should so soon be furnished with
such splendid proof of the correctness of all we had
said. Little could we have imagined, on Monday
week, when calling on the friends of free trade to
respond to the appeal which the League was about
making to them—little could we have then sup-
posed that, within eight days of that time, more
than one-fifth of their quarter of a million
should be raised in one hour and on one spot.
Yet such is the fact. It stands before us attested
beyond all doubt. It is exhibited in all the public
journals to men's wondering minds. It seems to us
like a dream. What, then, must it be to the mono.
polists? If it had been possible for any landlord
still to discredit the popular report, that corn-law
repeal was near at hand, there can be no such person
now. The man who could still cling to the belief that
the corn monopoly may yet be withheld, would be a
strange person indeed. Cowper said he would go from
Land's-end to John O'Groat's house, to see a soldier at
his devotions. It would be almost worth making an
equally long journey to see the man—if any such man
there be—who still clings to the notion that the corn
monopoly may be maintained for some years to come.
The 60,000/. "great fact" will not be lost on Sir
Robert Peel. He will hear a voice in it which he
dare not disregard. If he has been meditating any
half-measure of corn-law repeal, the conviction must
now force itself on his mind, that half measures will
not satisfy the country. The people are bent on
total repeal, and will accept of nothing short of it.
The Premier, it is true, may by means of his large
majority, carry a half-and-half measure, in defiance
of the arguments and remonstrances of the total
abolitionists. Still the conviction must be as strong
on his mind, as it is on the minds of the rest of the
community, that the corn-laws must, ere long, be
swept away, root and branch. Whatever may be the
character of the measure which the Premier means
to propose in the coming session, it is satisfactory to
know that in less than two years entire repeal must
be carried. By that time we must have a general
election. And as surely as to-morrow's sun shall
rise, will that general election reverse the existing
order of things in the House of Commons. A general
election will give us, instead of the present monopolist
majority of ninety, a free-trade majority far exceeding
that number. Our hopes centre in a general election.
The eyes of the country are fixed on it. It is for-
tunate, in one sense, that a general election is not
likely to take place immediately. Such an event was
deemed probable one short week ago. The impres-
sion now is, that we shall have another registration
before a dissolution of Parliament takes place.
That is just what is wanted. The League have
always said, that though their gains on the registry
have been very great both in towns and counties, the
free traders are not yet so fully prepared as they
could wish, for giving battle to the monopolists at a
general electiou. The League are anxious for
another registration before Parliament is dissolved.
Their wishes will, in all probability, be granted. Let.
then the free traders be making all the needful pre-
parations. And nothing can more substantially assist
the League in their warfare with the corn-laws, than
liberal contributions to the fund of a quarter of a
million, now proposed to be raised. It is to be hoped
that the noble example set by Manchester will prove
contagious, and that before a fortnight has elapsed,
we shall have to announce that the entire sum has
been subscribed.

HERALD.—The " unequivocal expression of the
public voice" is becoming daily more ridiculous.
Scarcely any incident connected with them occurs
without tending still more to strip the lion's hide
from the League. The few cotton-spinners directly
interested in the success of the cry for the total
removal of protection are beginning to appear in their
proper light, divested of pretence of expounding pub-
lic opinion, and surrounded by no other party than is
brought around them by an interest like their own,
or an interest in point of time more direct—the desire
of each day's pay. The last exhibition of the Anti-
Corn- la w League's power over public opinion was made
by that body itself when, less wise than their fellow-
labourer and friend, the Irish free trader, they decided
upon publishing their accounts. Mr. George Wilson,
who has the unenviable task of listening to the ora-
tions at Covent-garden and elsewhere, is not, we
would imagine, a very facetious gentlemen. We
could not charge this as a fault, for the discipline to
which he is submitted, especially when, as at the last
meeting, Quaker Bright loses his place and is com-
pelled to suck an orange till he finds it again, would
banish levity as effectually as one of Cromwell's exer-
cises. Yet Mr. Wilson must have been attempting a
joke when he read the following statement as an ac-
count of " what had been done with the money already
paid :"

LEAGUE FUND, £lOO,OOO.
Dr. (A)
January 1, 184.5. To balance on hand £36,675 19 9
December 6. Subscriptions and Bazaar re-

_
ceipts to this date 35,678 8 10
To discount and interest received this year B2O 4 H