The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-15 00:00:00

FLAX CULTIVATION.

A movement, now in progress, for the promotion of
flax cultivation in Ireland was described on the 7th
inst., and it was mentioned that application had been
made to the Board of Trade to incorporate a company
with a capital of 1,000,0001., who proposed to encou-
rage production by the offer of a certain price per acre
for the crops that might be raised. To this applica-
tion, we are glad to say, the following favourable reply
was received this morning :
" Office of Committee of Privy Council for Trade,
Whitehall, Nov. 13, 1850.
" Sir,—With reference to the paper transmitted to this
board on behalf of Lord Talbot and others, and to the
interview between Mr. Labouchere and yourself, Mr.
Doulan and Mr. Clayton, in which you stated that the
object of the persons applying to form a joist-stock com-
pany in Ireland for the preparation of flax upon an im-
proved method, and upon a very extensive scale, and
thereby to encourage the cultivation of flax in that coun-
try, and that the parties were desirous of ascertaining,
before incurring further expense, how far it was probable
chat their Lordships would think it right to recommend
to her Majesty to grant a charter of incorporation to
such company when formed, I am instructed to state to
you, for the information of the parties iaterested, that it
het, not been usual for this board to recommend the
gronting of charters of incorporations for any purpose
of a commercial character except in cases where the en-
terprise was necessarily of such magnitude as to require
a capital larger than could be expected to be raised by
persons associated in the ordinary mode of partnership.
Under ordinary circumstances, therefore, my Lords would
be unable to hold out any expectation that such a charter
as that now sought could be granted. My Lords, how-
ever, taking into consideration the present circumstances
of Ireland, and being strongly impressed with the great
importance of encouraging at this time by every means
the cultivation of fi,,x , in that country, would be dis-
posed, upon a sufficient case being made out, to
relax the rule by which they are governed under ordinary
circumstances, and they therefore direct me to say, that
so soon as the company proposed to be established
in Ireland shall have been so far matured, and such
a body of directors willing to take upon themselves the
management of the affairs of the company named, as
may hold out a reasonable assurance that the objects of
the promoters of the company, as above defined, will be
adequately carried into effict, my Lords will, on the
matter being referred to them by her Majesty in council
in the usual mode, be prepared to -recommend that a
charter of incorporation should be granted.
" The charter will be required to contain the pro-
visions usual in such cases, restricting the operations of
the company until a certain proportion of the capital is
subscribed for, and a certain amount paid up, and re-
quiting a deed to be executed providing for the due go-
vernment of the company, and for auditing the accounts,
and for enforcing the payment of the sums subscribed
by the shareholders. The particulars of these provisions
may be the subject of future arrangem.et,
" I am, Sir, your obedi. nt servant,

" JAMES BOOTH.
"Thomas Price, Esq.,Eastcott-cottage, WeSt Pinner."

Nobody is worth anything who has not a comfort-
able share of vanity; it is the manner, and not the matter,
of the thing that is offensive. —Eliza Cook's Journal.

MARYLEBONE.—The Bishop of London has licensed
the Rev Arthur Baker, 8.A., of Wadham College, Oxford,
late curate of Trinity Church, St. Marylebone, and the Rev.
Thomas Walter Perry, M.A., late curate of St. Peter the
Groat, Chichester, to be curates of the newly formed district
of All Saints, St. Marylebone. A new church, the foundation
stone of which was laid a few days since by Dr. Pusey, is to
be erected in this district, aed is to be consecrated on Nov. 1
(All Saints Day), 1552.

THE PREVENTION OF CRIME.

LETTER. V.

TO THE RIGHT HON. SIR GEORGE GREY,
BART., M.P., &a. &o.
Sir,—The object o making the colony purely
agricultural so long as convicts were sent, or retained
there as convicts, is to remove from those who are
reformed that temptation to return td their old habits,
which is inevitably offered by a town population, and
therefore greatly lessen, if not effectually prevent, the
risk of such colony becoming a bad foundation for
future communities.
To carry out thin plan into practical operation I
would suggest the following mode of proceeding as
being easy of execution, offering to the convicts every
chance of reformation, useful in establishing a
colony, beneficial to the mother-country, and without
the pernicious effect above adverted to, of placing the
labour of the convict in competition v ith that of the
honest and industrious.
First. Send to the proposed colony a steamer,
with scientific men, and implements to ex-
plore the coast and the interior, and to fix
on the best place for the future colonies ; then
dispatch two or three vessels with the clergymen,
schoolmasters, surgeons, surveyors, artificers in the
principal trades required in an infant colony, and
military; a preference being given to all who were
married, and who should be entitled, after five years'
service, to allotments of land if they desired to settle
—3OO or 400 convicts from the Portland Convict Es-
tablishment, who being partly reformed would be less
troublesome in starting the infant colony, and would
be far better for the convicts themselves, than sending
them, as has been proposed, to existing colonies, where
the temptation to return to their old habits would be
so much greater.
There is no doubt that such convicts would be most
willingly received at many of the existing colonies,
but to send them there would be merely a recurrence
to the very principle which has already produced such
baneful effects, viz., making the interest of the set-
tler, and not the reformation of the convict, the first
object. The question should be,—ls it for the ad-
vantage, not of the colonist who requires a labourer,
but of the reformed convict, that he should be sent to
an old colony, or to such a one as I have proposed ?
And I should be quite content that Colonel Jebb,
who made the suggestion in his excellent report on
the Portland Convict Establishment, should decide the
question ; for he truthfully remarks in another para-
graph, " There is too wide a distinction between the
full privileges of a ticket of leave and the penal gang
rin Norfolk Island." No one who has studied the
subject can doubt that it is not possible to grant to a
reformed convict a ticket of leave in an old colony
without running the greatest risk of his returning to
his old habits.
Yet anything approaching to the assignment sys-
tem, the only alternative yet offered, would assuredly
produce a similar effect in a far greater degree.
Maconochie's " Australiana" is clear and decisive on
this point, and proves that its practical working is
precisely what might have been anticipated by every
person who considered the reformation of the convict,
and not the advantage which the settler would receive,
was the object to be attained.
Secondly. Let the site of the first colony be not less
than a mile from the harbour, which should be ins-
proved, a pier built, and an excellent road made to it.
A few of the convicts should be employed in culti-
vating some land under the superintendence of the
agriculturists, but the greater part should be employed
in erecting a penitentiary capable of holding 1,000
convicts, with barracks for the military, workshops
for the various artificers, a large Government store or
bazaar, where every article produced by the convicts
should be sold, and everything required by the free
settler, except spirits of every kind, the sale of which,
or even the importation into the colony, should be
prohibited except as an article of medicine.
Everything, whether imported into the colony or
produced by the convicts, should be sold at a profit of
10 per cent., which should be divided into three
parts—one-half retained for the exaenses of the es-
tablishment, a portion of the remainder placed to the
credit of each convict who had produced the article,
and the rest set apart to provide a fund wherewith to
assist the most exemplary in conduct in settling upon
an allotment of land.
ThiAlv. When the buildings were completed the
number of convicts should be increased to 1,000, and
a portion of them should be employed in erecting
another penitentiary, capable of holding another 1,000
convicts, not nearer to the first than ten miles, and
towards the interior; another portion of the convicts
should be employed in making a good road between
the two colonies, and in dividing the land on either
side into farms, varying from 50 to 300 acres, making
cross-roads, and cultivating a few acres in each al-
lotnient.
Fourthly. Then, and not before, free settlers should
be invited to take possession of the lots, upon terms
which I will presently mention, and offering far
greater advantages to the heal fide settler, although
not to the speculator, than any of the New Zealand,
Otago, or Canterbury schemes. It is hoped and be-
lieved that at this time many of the convicts would
be steadily reformed, and desirous of working for the
free settler at fair wages; and as soon as the greater
part of the lots for five miles between the first and
second colonies bad been occupied, the convicts
should be employed in building another penitentiary
on one side of the first colony, but not nearer than ten
mules, and on the land between this penitentiary and
the first similar measures should be pursued as be-
tween the first and the second.
When free settlers arrived in sufficient numbers to
occupy the sites, then another penitentiary should be
built on the other side of the first, but not less than
ten miles from it; and, when required, similar ones on
either side of the second penitentiary, but not nearer
to it than ten miles—the object being, that the greatest
distance a convict should have to walk to his work
either on the road or the field should be five miles.
Thus you would have six penitentiaries, each ca-
pable of holding 1,000 convicts, at a distance from
the first colony, or seat of government, of ten miles;
if the plan worked as well as I anticipate, preparations
should be made for abandoning the first penitentiary
as a convict establishment, the building converted
into useful public offices, one of which should be a
dwelling for the labourers, the land between it and
the harbour laid off in streets to serve as the future
town, no land in which should be sold, but let on
moderate ground rents, the proceeds of which should
be applied to the future wants of the town, so as to
prevent the necessity of taxation.
I will state in my next and concluding letter the
plan for colonization which I would propose in oppo-
sition to what is called the Wakefield plan, and
which holds out such manifold advantages to the free
settler, that I believe no moral doubt will remain on
the minds of those who have watched the
progress of emigration that the lots would be ra-
pidly occupied.
I have the honour to remain, Sir, &c.,
RIGBY WASON.
Corwar, Nov. 4, 1850.

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE OF MR. PEN-
NINGTON, LATE OF THE TREASURY.

It is with the deepest regret we have to announce
the melancholy suicide of Mr. Pennington a gentle-
man who for fifteen years past has filled highly im-
portant offices in her Majesty's Treasury, which took
place yesterday afternoon. About half-past four
o'clock, as police-constable Henry John, T 223,
came out of Gore-house, Kensington-gore (late the
residence of Lady Blessington), he heard the report
of firearms discharged in one of the plantations in
Hyde-park, abutting on the Great Western road, al-
most directly opposite Gore-house. He immediately
ran across the road and entered the park at the small
wicket-gate close to the spot, and discovered the un-
fortunate gentleman lying on his back in the planta-
tion, with his arms extended. In his right hand a
double-barrelled pistol was tightly grasped, one of
the barrels of which had just been discharged, and
on the lock of the other barrel was a percussion-
cap, and the lock was cocked. The unfortunate
gentleman was then still breathing, a motion of
the lips and mouth being distinctly perceptible
for five or six minutes, after which he appeared to
expire. In less than ten minutes after the fatal act
bad been committed Police-Sergeant Davis, T 20, Ca 113411
up, and was followed by Mr. Bonney, a-surgeon of
Knightsbridge, who, hearing of the occurrence, exa-
mined the body, which was lying at the root of fir-
tree. He found that the deceased had shot himself
through the right temple, and that the ball had passed
out at the back of the head, where the brains were
exuding. Mr. Bonney pronounced the deceased to be
quite dead. Policeman 209 A, on duty in the park,
then came up, and a stretcher was procured from the
T station-house, Church-court, adjoining Kensington
Church, and the body having been placesi on it was
carefully removed to the residence of Mr, Spreadbrow
the beadle, who immediately had it placed in the dead
house of the parish in:Rose and Crown-yard, adjoining
the house. The clothes of the deceased gentleman were
then searched, and in his pockets were found a silver
Geneva watch with a gold guard chain, and a silver
Bramah key attached, a gold toothpick, three cambric
handkerchiefs marked " G. J. P„" a sovereign
purse, a blue silk pane, and 9s. in silver, and some
other small articles ; also a card-case, in which were
two cards, with the name " Mr. Pennington, N 0.20,
Cumberland street, Portman-square." Mr. Spread-
brow immediately proceeded to that address, and
inquired if Mr. Penniugton was from home, and was
inform,d that he was. He then showed one of his
cards and the card-case, which were identified as
having belonged to the deceased. Subsequently the
butler in the family went to Knightsbridge, and
identified the body as that of his _ master. It
appears that Mr. Pennington had a fit about three
months since, from the effects of which he had scarcely
recovered, and about a fortnight since he had resigned
his situation. He bad left his house about half-past
two o'clock in the afternoon, to take a walk with his
daughter, and returned home in about au hour.

Shortly afterwards he again went out alone, saying
hd would take another walk. The butler states that
he had never seen before the double-barrelled pistol,
a new powder flask, and 32 bullets, wrapped in a
piece of brown paper. The body awaits a coroner's
Inquest.

THE POLISH BALL.
The opposition that has been made in certain
qnarters to the ball annually given for the relief of
the Poles seems to have had but little effect; for the
attendance last night at the Guildhall, when the fes-
tival got up under the auspices of the Lord Mayor
took place, was quite as large as upon any former
occasion. Several of the civic functionaries, beaded
by the Lord Mayor, were present ; and about mid-
night the hall was completely filled with the " Friends
of Poland," many of them dressed in fancy costumes
—presenting a coup dad not often equalled for varie-
gated brilliancy. The decorations provided for the
November feast were left untouched, and the gay and
parti •coloured trophies suspended about the hall af-
forded a pleasing and animated contrast to the neutral
physiognomy of the architecture. The windows and
panels were, as usual, ribbed with gas, and the thou-
sands of burning jets which were thus visible formed
not only a marked feature of embellishment, but
threw the whole area into a blaze of light that
rivalled day itself in gorgeous effulgence. The
official chambers were devoted, as before, to
the accommodation of the guests ; and the ample
resources of the Guildhall in this respect are too
well known to need eulogy now. There is no lo-
cality in London where a large public ball can be
carried on with the comfort and convenience ensured
here ; and this without regard to numbers, as the
vast profusion of individuals drawn together upon
such occasions as the present has again and again de-
monstrated. In addition to the amusement of dancing
in the great hall, an excellent concert was performed
in the council chamber by Mdlle. Angri, Miss Dolby,
Miss Bassano, Miss Messent, Miss Ransford, Mr.
Allen, Mr. T. Williams, Mr. Lefort, Mr. Whitworth,
and others, conducted by Mr. Lindsay Sloper,
whose exertions were in all cases gratuitous. The
access to the concert-room was cut off to the late
corner by the crowds that flocked into it ; but the ap-
plause and encores that reached the listeners in the
neighbouring vestibules testified the extent of the
gratification kindled by the talent of the several per-
formers. Besides the Lord Mayor, Alderman Car-
den, and Mr. Sheriff Hodgkinsoa, there were present
the Earl and Countess of Devon, Lieutenant-Colonel
Rowland Smyth, the Hon. Mrs. Rowland Smyth,
the Hon. Mr. Stanley, Captain Townshend, R.N.,
Mrs. Townshend, Lieutenant-Colonel Rochfort,
Mr. Anstey, M.P., Lady Webster, Lord Dudley
Stuart, the Rev. Mr. Fisk, &c., &c.
The funds of the Literary Association, we trust,
will be considerably augmented by this reunion,
which, we repeat, has never been excelled for
fashionable brilliancy. It is gratifying to find that
the cause has thus been taken up so warmly ; and
that the benevolent feeling which has always pre-
vailed in this country in favour of those unhappy men
—who, in addition to the miseries of expatriation and
the severance of domestic ties of the nearest and
dearest kind, are thrown upon a foreign soil in a state
of absolute and bitter dependence—has not weakened.
The wretchedness and suffering incident to such a
position cannot be thought of for a moment without
sensations of the deepest compassion ; and it is, there-
fore, a matter of congratulation that the means of the
society, established for the express purpose of
alleviating as far as may be the bodily distress of these
oppressed patriots, are periodically repaired by the
subsidies gathered from such meetings as those in
which the public participated so willingly last night.

COURT CIRCULAR.
WINDSOR, Nov. 14.
The Queen and his Royal Highness Prince Albert
walked this morning in the Slopes.
The Royal Family took their accustomed airings.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by
Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. C. B. Phipps, Colonel the
Hon. Charles Grey, and Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. A.
Gordon, went to London this morning, at eleven
o'clock, to preside at a meeting of the Royal Com-
missioners for the Exhibition of 1851. •
His Royal Highness and suite travelled by s special
train o❑ the South-Western Railway, and is expected
to return about four o'clock.

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of ii:ent visited
the Queen this morning, and partook of luncheon
with her Majesty.
The Marquis of Lansdowne and Lord John Rus-
sell left the Castle to-day.
The Royal dinner party at the Castle this evening
will include her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent,
her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lady in Waiting on
the Duchess of Kent, the Lady in Waiting on
the Duchess of Gloucester, Baroness de Speth, Major-
General and Lady labella Wemyss, Sir George C.
Couper, and Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. A. Liddell.

His Royal Highness Prince Albert arrived at the
New Palace of Westminster at a quarter before
twelve o'clock yesterday, and went to inspect Mr.
Dyce's fresco in her Majesty's robing-room. His
Royal Highness afterwards presided at a meeting of
the Royal Commission for the promotion of the Ex-
hibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, to
be held in the year 1851.
The Commissioners present were Earl Granville,
Lord Overstone, the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere,
Sir Richard Westtnacott, Mr. Cubitt, Mr. T. P.
Gibson, Mr. J. Gott, and Mr. P. Pusey, M.P.
Mr. Scott Russell and Mr. Stafford Northcote,
secretaries to the Royal Commission, attended. Mr.
Edgar Bowring was also in attendance. Colonel
Reid, R.E., chairman of the Executive Committee ;
Colonel Lloyd, and Dr. Lyon Playfair, Special Com-
missioners, were present.
During the sitting of the Commission a deputation
from the Goldsmiths' Company was introduced, and
had an interview with the Prince and the other Com-
missioners. The deputation consisted of Mr. James
Garrard, prime warden ; Mr. Alderman Copeland,
M.P., and Mr. Perceval N. Johnson, wardens; Mr.
Hayter, Mr. John Masterman, jun., and Mr. I\ a-
therstone.

The meeting broke up soon after three o'clock. His
Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by Colonel
the Hon. Charles Grey, and Lieut.• Colonel the lion.
Alexander Gordon, proceeded to the terminus of the
South-Western Railway, returning to Windsor by a
special train.

The Oxford University Commission met yesterday
at the official residence of the First Lord of the
Treasury, in Do wning•street. Present, the Bishop
of Norwich, the Dean of Carlisle, the Master of Pem-
broke, the Rev. A. G. Liddell, J. L. Dampier, Esq.,
the Rev. G. 11. S. Johnson, and the Rev. A. P.
Stanley (secretary).

The Marquis of Lansdowne returned to town yes-
terday, from a visit to her Majesty, at Windsor Castle.
Lord John Russell arrived at his residence, Pem-
broke Lodge, Richmond Park, yesterday, from a visit
to the Queen, at Windsor Castle.
Lord Monteagle had an interview with the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer yesterday. Mr. Wilcox,
M.P., had also an interview with the Right Hon.
Baronet yesterday, at his official residence in Down-
ing-street.

FOREIGN FUNDS.
DUTCH FUNDS.—AxminAz. Nov. 12.

Bills. Money.
Active Debt, 2% per Cont•• •• •• •• •• • 54 54%
Ditto, 3 per Cent •• •• •••• •• •• •••• •• 64% 64%
Ditto, 4 per Cent.. •• •• •• ••••• • • • •• 84 84%
Amort Syndic, 3% per Cent .........
East India Loan, 4 per Cent.. •• •• •• • • 83% 83%
Frankfort, 3 per Cents. ••.•••• •• •• 50% 51%
Russian 5 per Cents., Hope & Co. •• • • 102 10214
Ditto, ditto, Steiglitz •• •• —•••• • • 84%
Spanish New 5 per Conts.;• ••••••• 111 12
Ditto, 3 per Cents. ...•—•••• •• • • •• 31% 31%
Austrian 5 per Cents., Metallics —— •• 66% 68
Ditto 2% per Cent. —•• ••••• • •• 35% 35%
Commercial Company, 4% per Cent • •
Exchangeon London, at sight •••• •• 11 80
Two months.— •• •• .• •• •• •• 11 75
On Hamburgh, at sight .. •• 35 12
Two months. •••••••• •• • . 34 93
On Paris, at sight-- —— • • 56 31
Twomouths. —.... 55 93
HAMBURGH ruigns, Nov. 11.

Bills. Money.

Hanoverian New Loan, 5 per Cent.....
Ditto, 3% per Cent.
Bank Shares.... •••• • • • • • •
Prussian 5 per Cent. ...... •• • ......
Anglo-Russian Loan • ............
Hamburgh Certificates, 5 per Cent • •
New 4 per Cent., Hope and Co. ......
Ditto Stieglitz, 4 per Cent. ..........
Hamburgh, 3% per Cent ...... ••.. •• 86)4
Lubeck Loan (1850)
Belgian Loan, 2% per Cent... —
Anglo-Danish Loan, 3 per Cent .... • . 72
Ditto, in 1001. Shares • • • • • • • • ......
Dttto,s per cent. 93 92
Anglo.Swodish Loan . ........
Ditto, Transport Loan ......
Ditto, Hy p., 4 per Cents 95
Norwegian 4 per Cents. .... 100
Spanish New 5 per Cent..." ..... 12 '
Ditto, 3 per Cents. ................ 29% 29
Ditto,
Angl )-Portuguese Loan, 2% per Cent • •
Dutch Actual Debt, 2% per Cent. ••• • •
Ditto 3 per Cent. ••• • • • •• • •
National Bank Shares
American, 6 per Cent. .............. 101 - NS%
asuman.

Hamb. Bergd.
Ditto, Priority Shares •• • •••• •• --
Berlin and Hamburg •••••••• .. .. .. 78
Ditto, Priority Shares .. ••• • • .... .-- —,
Ditto, second emission .. ....... ... —.—
Magdeberg•Wittenburg .. •• .• ........ 47 45
Ditto, 5 per Cents. ...... •••• —•• ..
Cologne and Minden ... • .......... •• 82 81
Ditto, Priority Shares .... ..... ... _
Ditto, 5 per Cents... •.• • .. •....... _
Frederick-William, Northern ........ 31 30
M el)cii; tioet,' berg
Priority. ...
Shares,.. 4") ii . per.. •C'en.t.. _2B _
Altona and Kiel ..... • ............. _
Gluckstadt .. • ........... • • ........ _ _

CURIOUS CALCULATION.--The Rev. Mr. Gannett
reckons that each individual averages three hours comma.
tion daily, at the rate of a hundred words a minute, or
twenty pages of an octavo volume in an hour. At this rata
we talk a volume of 400 pages in a week, and fifty-two
volumes in a year.