The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-16 00:00:00

CHINA.

(Fton-. the China of Oct. 9.)
'The American clipper ship Memnon, tua
totally I,,st in Gropar Straits on tho 16th of Sep:em-
ber—crew saved; and the barque
which had been deserted by her crew, WAS fallen in
with off Bintang by tha Honourable East India Cow.
pany's steamer Hooghly, and tow€d into Singapere.

(Prom the 11fail of Oet. 16.)
After our: last number was issued we received a
report of an extensive fire at Canton on the night
previous, which has destroyed, is is said, from two to
five hundred houses, and from 50,0001. to 150,0001.
worth of property. But so vague and various are the
reports, bath as to the extent of the damage, and the
nature of the property destroyed, that after a week a e
cannot form a more precise estimate than that above
given.

From the Overland Friend of China of Oct. 30 )
In the China Sea there have been one or more

severe typhoons, as experienced by her Majesty's
ships Hastings and Sphynx, and the merchant
vessel ifeloise, and others. The Peninsular and
Oriental Steam Navigation Company's Steam-ship
Pekin appears to have narrowly escaped destruction
in the typhoon of the Ist and 2d inst., the Lascar
crew having become panic-stricken, and hid them-
selves away.
The health of troops in the garrison of Hong-
Kong, as regards the aggregate number of sick in
hospital, is somewhat on, a par with our last month's
report—viz., 124 against 129. Of these, there are 79
of the 59th Regiment, against 93 of last month-24
of the Ceylon Rifles against 17—and 21 of the Ord •
nance against 17; the prevalent disease being still
bowel complaint. There have been four deaths, viz.,
two of the 59th, one of the Ordnance, and the other
in the Ceylon Rifle Corps. In the month of October
last year the total number of deaths was 18—the
contrast is therefore most favourable. The occupa-
tion of the Mindru as a depot for convalescents has
doubtless been a great means in the end attained. At
present there are 78 men on board that vessel; two •
thirds of whom, we are told, are fit for duty if re-
quired, and the remainder are rapidly recovering
strength.

The intelligence from, or rather about, the " re-
hellion in Kwang Si" continues to be of a very vague
nature, and seems to excite little interest in Canton,
whether amongst Chinese or foreigners.
On Monday afternoon, the 20th of October, a fire
broke out on board the Fort 'William, the receiving
ship of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Naviga-
tion Company, from the capsizing of a pot of an
inflammable polishing nature. The flames spread
with such rapidity to the poop, that the family of
Captain Macqueen had barely time to escape below
to the entering port on the gun deck, whence they
were rescued by the boats of her Majesty's ship
Hastings. By the united exertions of the officers
and men of her Majesty's ships Hastings, Sphinx,
Salamander, and Minden, United States sloop of war
Marion, and Hon. E. I. Co.'s steamer Nemesis, the
P. and 0. steamers Singapore, Sir Charles Forbes,
and the H. and C. Hong-Kong (in readiness to
tow in case of need), the fire was extinguished
at a late hour, without having done much damage,
except to the private effects of Captain Macqueen
and his family, which being all in the poop cabins,
were totally destroyed. The other property on board
the vessel was not, as generally supposed, of great
value. The destruction of the poop, forecastle, bul-
warks, and mast comprise nearly the entire injury
done to the vessel.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
Dates—Canton, Oct. 27 ; Shanghae, Oct. 18 ; and
Amoy, Oct. 20,
CANTON.—Business during the month has been pretty
good, generally, but not so brisk as in the month pre-
vious. The august news, of lower prices for congou,
caused a considerable check in exports ; but to the
present date shipments of tea from all ports, are fully six
millions i❑ excess of shipments at same period last year.
SHANGLIAL—In cons( queuee of the immense number
free-booting vessels hovering about the mouth of the
of Yangtse Kiang, junks,for the north( rn provinces, have
been atraid to proceed, and as a sequence have refrained
from purchasing English goods, and the market fur
them since last report has had a downward tendency;
so much so, as regards cotton goods, that grey shirtiugs
have been exported to Canton, where sales at reasonable
prices can be effected to some extent. The August news
had some t ffect on the tea market, but not very great,
as shown in the quantity of tea exported during the
month.

AMOY.—Busizess at this port since last report has
been unusually dull.

MARSEILLES, DEC. 13.
The Banshee, Captain Hosken, has entered the
port this evening, at half-past six, with the India
Mail, having performed the distance from Malta in
53 hours.

The Bentinck was detained 24 hours at Malta,
owing to bad weather.
We continue tranquil at Marseilles.

COURT CIRCULAR.
OSBORNE, SUNDAY.
Her Majesty, his Royal Highness Prince Albert, the
Prince of Wales, and the Princess Royal, attended by
the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Household, were pre-
sent at divine service at Whippingham Church yesterday
morning.
The Rev. T. Protheroe officiated.

A deputation from the Trustees of Essex Turnpike
Trust, consisting of Sir Jobn Wood, Messrs. Tower,
Cox, Dixon, Fisher, Hobbs, Brewster, Tober, and Codd
(Clerk to the Trustees), had an interview with Sir
George Grey, yesterday, at the Home-office.
Sir Gaspard Le Merchant had an interview with Earl
Grey at the Colonial-office, yesterday. Mr. Carrie, M.P.,
had also an interview with the Noble Earl.

The Oxford University Commission had a meeting
yesterday, at the official residence of the First Lord of
the Treasury, in Downing-street. Present—the Bishop,
of Norwich, the Dean of Carlisle, the Master of Pem-
broke, the .Re v. H. G. Liddell, J. L. Dampier, Esq., the
Rev. Professor Powell, the Rev. G. W. S. Johnson, and
the Rev. A. P. Stanley, Secretary.
Lord Monteagle transaoted business yesterday at the
Railway Department of the Board of Trade.

Dispatches were sent cif yesterday from the Colonial-
office to the Governors of the Cape of Good Hope and
Sierra Leone.

NATAL.—A new weekly journal has appeared in
Urban under the title of The Natal Times. It is very well
printed, and although of small dimensions, appears to be an
excellent medium for advertisements, judging from the
number contained in its early impressions, of which the first
five have just reached us.
TEE BOILER EXPLOSION AT KINGSWOOD.—The
inquest on the body -of the unfortunate man, Thomas
Waller, killed by the dreadful boiler explosion at Kings-
wood, near Bristol, the particulars of which were fully de-
tailed in The Sun, was commenced yesterday by the
coroner, Mr. W. Joyner Ellis, at the Tennis Court Tavern,
Warmby. The only evidence gone into was as to the iden-
tity of the body, the coroner explaining that it would be
necessary to adjourn the inquest, in order to give time for
the Government to consider whether they would send down
an inspector,to assist at the investigation.
THE GEORGE STEPHENSON TESTIMONIAL..--A
meeting of the committee of the George Stephenson Testi-
monial has just taken place-3,000/. has been raised. It has
been decided that the statue shall be erected in the court-
yard at Euston station. This is said to be the place most
consonant to the feelings of Mr. Robert Stephenson.
PRINTERS' PENSION SOCIETY.—We understand that
a sermon will be preached in aid of the funds of this most
excellent charity, on Sunday morning next, the 21st inst.,
at St. Helen's Church, Great St. Helen's, Bishopsgate-street,
by the Rev. John Edmund Cox, M.A., F.S.A., the vicar.
We hope the benevolent efforts of the Reverend Gentleman,
who has so generously come forward on behalf of this so-
ciety,
will be seconded by a crowded congregation, not only
of the journeyman portion of the business (for the relief of
whose brethren and their widows when overtaken by age
and infirmity the society has been principally founded), but
also of master printers and all who are connected with
or in-
. terested in the printing profession, as well as a kind and phi-
lanthropic public.

The suspension of liessrs. L kie, Brothers, and
Co., a respectable firm in the
Their liabilities
trade, was an-
nounced yesterday morning.
to be between 30,000/. anAO liabilities are uneerateod
have originated solely from the difficult The stoppage is said to
culty
property in Demerara, which
there is, consequently, ich is, nevertheless, valuable, and
of reatising certain
may prove Y, a prospect that the ultimate liquida-
tion favourable.
The accounts of the state of trade in the provinces
during the past weekwhole, not unsatisfactory.
At Manchester, are, upon the
chester, after a slight recovery from the effects pro-
duced by the French revolution, the market has again gra-
dually declined, but at other manufacturing places business
hascontinued active. The improvement at Nottingham is sus-
tained, and the promise fOr the spring, as regards the demand
both for lace and hosiery, is said to be excellent. At Bir- 1
mingham there is no diminution of general employment,
and the iron trade is steady. The Irish linen market has
again shown much animation.
LENGTH OF THE DAY.—That the day is longer
or shorter as you go north or south of the equator is a fami-
liar fact to our readers. Off Cape Horn, 56 degrees south
latitude, the days in mid-winter are about nine hours long.
The longest day at London is sixteen hours and a half ; at
Hamburgb, seventeen hours ; at St. Petersburgh, the longest
day has eighteen hours and the shortest five ; at Tornea, in
ahalf,
and the longest day has twenty-one hours and
and the shortest two hours and a half; at S - intz b ergen, the
longest day is three mouths and a half.

THE WEST OF IRELAND LAND
INVESTMENT COMPANY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUR.
have just read, with extraordinarj satisfac-
tion, the prelitoiaary prospecius of the above compauh
as will as an account of the Proceedings of the
committee before the President of the Board of Trade,
as reported in your columns of Wednesday last. And
it is with equ a satisfaction that I observe, by your
comments on that meeting, that the laudable objects
of the company are finding a supporter in your
influential pen, a circumstance the public will be quite
prepared for, knowing your readiness at all times to
advocate every measure calculated to afford iractical
and substantial aid to Ireland. For that good must
result from sueh a company, well organized, and under
prudent, skilful, and judicious management, few can
doubt. •

My avocation in life, both as a practical farmer and
s a laud agent, has led me for many years to think
deeply on the condition of agriculture, end without
referring pE rticularly to Ireland, 1 have low, felt how
grievously the full dtvel.pmeot of our landed resources
ti!tv:- been retain, d by want of the Ldvantsge of com-
bined shill and capital in their management. And
so far back as August, 1847, I published in a London
weekly journi.l a letter, L' On the Expediency of
Establishing Farming Conifanies with a wto 11w
Improvement of Neglected .1 ands." And in which
leiter, inter alia, the following obiervations were
made :—" While cheerfully bearing testimony to the
spirited course pursued by innumerable intelligent
and enterprising farmers in every part of the empire,
I cannot shut my eyes to the miserably defective and
slovenly farming
visible in many localities ; a state of
things arise g chiefly • from that greatest of all nimpe-
diments toimprovement—want of capital in the
occupier.
Viewing this, then, as the
districts, and applyingindiein
main evil, and looking to want of skill in many as
another, I have long thought that an effectual remedy
might be found in the establishment of farming com-
panies, to take into their occupation lands. in various
toi them all those
improvements
panics would unquestiuorjs,;
which capital,
Yb
No
bp yfeadr, cans alone COM.
mand and carry out.
investment, such com-
certain than any railroad. No fear of domestic com-
petitors `breaking up th •
ell. lines,' but a visible and
tangible security always
at hand in their stock
and crops, and customers and store
market to purchase their current constantly in the
increased employment of the produce ; while the
benefit that would be found poor would confer a
cottager in the kingdom . • at the hearth of every
bend the slightest difficulty obtitTor do I appre-
which to carry out the proposed schemring lands on
such companies, prudently and judiciousl ; for under
landowners would be found but too happyytoconducted,
neglected properties in the way of that imp rpout t eir
which combined skill and capital would ensure.venig h
ad
ent
then as to management, a well selected committee
shareholders, assisted by local bailiffs, with account-
ants of
and clerks, would form an efficient suitable
staff."
d •
n table
staff."
If, then, such companies were considered essential
to the improvement of neglected lands in England in
1847, how much more applicable are they to the pre-
sent impoverished condition of the agriculture of
western Ireland at this moment ; and I can conceive
no greater blessing to the distressed population of that
portion of the empire, and no safer employment of
capital, than in the business-like objects of the "Land
Investment Company" now about to be formed.
One feature in its intended operations strikes me as
especially valuable and important, the combixing hand
in hand agriculture with manufacture. Each will thus
support the other, and add immeasurably to the re-
sources and prosperity of both. And while the result
will be a safe return for the capital employed, incal-
culable benefit will be felt, far and wide, in the locali-
ties in which these extensive
ried on.
That such a combination of industry, skill, and
capital must lead to successful results to those'em-
barked in it we have every reasonable ground to ex-
pect, especially as regards the agricultural branch of
its operations. For what is it that has hitherto caused
agriculture to advance less slowly in prosperity than
most other branches of our national industry ? Be-
yond all question it is the isolated manner in which
its labour and its capital have always been employed.
Who ever heard of a firm of farmers, much less of a
company ? No, the farmer fights his way single-
handed.; No multitude of counsellors—no partners to
aid by their beads or their purses his operations ; but
left solely to his own resources, be is deprived of those
advantages in the prosecuting of his calling which
combined intelligence and capital afford to others.
See the strides that our other great branches of in-
dustry have made. Look at our shipping, our mining,
our railroads, our manufactures, all carried on by the
united skill and money of companies in some shape or
other. For every firm may be called a company,
and but very few of our leading concerns are to be
found conducted single handed.
Everything, therefore, in the shape of success, may
reasonably bo relied on from ae extensive practical
combined operations of the " West of Ireland Land
Investment Company," and I cannot too strom:
recommend to the friends and well-wishers of ,at
important but neglected section of the kingdom, to
give every aid to an undertaking calculated to. pro-
duce such extensive good.
I am, Sit, your'most obedient servant,
ARTHUR OC revius BAKER.
Wincanton, Dec. 12,1851.

DARING HIGIIWAY ROBBERY.-A daring highway
robbery, attended with great violence, was committed in the
Meadows, near Nottingham, on Saturday night, at eight
o'clock. John Knapp, a cattle-jobber, of Botte:ford, left
Nottingham on his way to Wilford, having a considerable
sum of money on his person : he purchased a pistol at one
of the gunmakers in the town, and having charged it with
ball imagined himself secure. When about half a mile from
Nottingham, on a lonely pathway, he observed five men a
little in advance of him. He had the pistol in his hand,
and had taken the precaution to put it on the full-cock.
Upon getting up to the men one of them saluted him, but in
a moment he received a blow from behind from a life-pre-
server; he immediately drew the trigger, holding the pistol
at the head of the man in advance, who was striving to foetal
hold of him; unfortunately the nipple broke off, and the
robbers perceiving all danger from fire-arms to be passed,
commenced beating the unfortunate jobber with life-preservers
and other bludgeons. When rendered senseless they rifled
his pockets of 211. in gold. Mr. Knapp, from the darkness
of the night, was unable to recognise the faces of any of the
robbers. He is now lying in a precarious state at the Talbot
Inn, Nottingham.

At Wandsworth Police-court, yesterday, James
Leary, an Irish labourer, was placed at the dock before Mr.
Hardwick, who sat for Mr. Beadcn, on a charge of
cutting open the head of of Rachael Dean, his landlady,
with an iron fire-shovel, and also her wrist, with the same
weapon. He was also charged with committing assaults on
two of the police who went to apprehend him, one of whom
he attempted to strangle. Mr. Hardwick ordered the prisoner
to pay 51., or be committed for two months for the assault
on the woman, and committed him for one month to hard
labour for each assault on the police, making an imprison-
ment of four months.

LONDON TEMPERANCE LEAGUE. The third
monthly meeting of this league was held yesterday evening
in Exeter flail; Mr. John Cassell in the chair. There was
a large attendance. Among those present were the Rev. W.
N. Robinson, A.M., Messrs. G. Cruikshank, T. W. Kellogg,
Richard Place, George E. Lomax, of Manchester, &c.
Let-
ters were read from several
ted
not attend
tem-
perance movement, regretting that they could withthe perso
the demonstration. Among others from Father
who, on account of his health, couadcnonotnecundertake the jour-
neyalluded to the deleterious
Buckingham, &c. The chairman
to London; Mr. Rathbone, of Liverpool; Mr. Silk
but he rejoiced to be able to state that, although the effects of intoxicating liquors upon the people of this country,
popula-
tion of England had been steadily increasing, the ratio .of
intoxicating liquors consumed in this country had not kept
Dace with it, but, on the contrary, had considerably decreased.
uring the ten years ended 1850, the decrease had been
upwards of 2i millions of gallons of spirituous liquors, or,
allowing for increase of population, 4i millions, as compared
with the previous ten years. The consumption of malt
during the same time had decreased 3 millions, or, allowing
for increase of population, 4} millions of bushels. Notwith-
standing the increase in the number of foreigners who visited
England during the existence of the Great Exhibition, he
believed that there would be a diminution this year in the
quantity of intoxicating liquors consumed of no less than
between two and three millions of gallons as compared with
1850. Mr. Lomax, Mr. Kellogg, Mr. Cruikshank, and others,
addressed the meeting.
The commercial advises from New York by the
Africa are very favourable, and confidence was
as to the extent of business that would be transacted increasing
r
the coming year. The further arrival
°fr.': would be sent
from California, although the greater part '-':
to England, had strengthened the money6oo,oool.
market, and the
best paper continued to I" discounted
the week, the house
ease at 7 per
cent. There had been a failure
large in lead. The
being that of Cornell and C 0.,. -31..ge
but, although the want of
dates from San Franciso weree J.O; the
rainy season was still !ley) Ist of November. The
are or-the most satisfactory and decided
1 Water interfered with mining'
yield in all districts about eleven quartz crushing machines',
operations, the accounts of the
kind. There were
by steam, at work in the southern mines,
mostly
and eight in There were differences of
ones Were in process of erection.
propelled
dhe northern, and about fifty-nine additional
ofrichness that would pay for crush-
believed that, with proper nsanagement, quartz
ing, but some
low as a halfpenny per pound 'would pay
averaging even as
opinion as to the degree
well.av Twopence-halfpenny to fourpence per pound was what
had been generally considered the lowest for profit. A dis-
covery of gold in considerable quantities was alleged to have
been made on Queen Charlotte's Island, one of the British
possessions north of Vancouver's Island.
SOUTHAMPTON, DEC. 15 —The Ripon steamer,
Captain Moresby, proceeded this morning on her e icial trial
trip, as announced yesterday, having on board Captain
Corry, R.N., Captain Tinling, R.N., Captains Engledon and
Soy, Mr. Penn, the engineer ; and Mr. Lamb, superintend-
ing engineer ot the Peninsular and Oriental Company. She
proceeded down the river to Cowes Roads, and thence to the
measured mile in Stokes Bay, which she performed rn
min. 8 secs., equal to 11,726 knots per hour; engine' glne
making 191 revolutions; and running the same
a flood tide,
back, she did the mile in 5 min. 30 secs.
equal to 10,909 knots, giving an average oefgain:3tl7,
a quarter of a knot
improvement on her Saturday's trial of 16g or
indicator,
per hour. She is fitted with the Patel:tour.
She returned
being an
which showed a speed of Ili knots Per the expectations
iwnhtoicdhohckadabte3e3noforr.m:4_e,dhoafvhinegr 19muPitiOxv.e....rn
It is understood
MARRIAGE OF LORD ents.
nuptials of the Noble Lord with
Countess of Warwick,theil not take place until the month
the Hon. Miss Charteris w 1
that on account of the deatillito°f°Lord Brooke's mother, the
of February next.