The Sun. — London, England, 1853-06-22 00:00:00

PP'l‘ LATEST FOREIGN NEWS. PRANCE. flied , to Th—anc euvres of the t roops i n t h e C amp d e S a t ory , t a k z dt ,__e Place on Monday, under the orders of the favourable not p os t pone d on account o f t h e un unrable State of the weather. The troops were drawn 2v l) at h alf - Past one o'clock, and were joined by the bri -4-04,0f infantry from Versailles. The Emperor arrived , r .t e lY after two o'clock in an open carriage, accom ceg. dby Prince Napoleon. His Majesty, who was I, ; _e,lved by Marshal Magnan, immediately got on horse ii44) and took the command, accompanied by the fi r r1 8 11 ,??, as his aide-de-camp. The infantry occupied the metre, the cavalry the rear, and the artillery the 1 , - "" e. The infantry having formed into squares, with a aetriain number of guns in the centre of each, kept u d p , f or ZP fire on an imaginary enemy. They afterwards fo the into line, leaving spaces between the battalions r ea 1 vary to act. A considerable number of evo lotl°lll3 were afterwards executed with admirable pre . f 7 O %) neither the generals nor the troops knowing be h:ee,hand What orders the Emperor intended giving. The t le et v Y S tate of the ground, from the incessant rain, tile rendered it necessary to desist. His Majesty, in generals e4 ' etli ngi gave a grand dinner at Trianon to all the and superior officers of the camp, and returned '; • Cloud about nine o'clock. he Mini ster of M ar i ne w ill l eave P ar i s on th e 2d p g for Cherbourg, and after stopping two days in that Will visit Brest, Rochefort, andLorient. 1 13, , A.. arali al de St. Arnaud, the Minister of War, after v ir e g passed in review the Division of Cavalry at Lune to s,,ll_aturday, proceeded, by orders of the Emperor, e -11 ;75rock to a h . res ects to the Prince of Prus vit:::° haPpensptoy be is at ;resent in the Rhenish Pro terislled market for Government Securities was cha t r . anc hew: illgeneralldulness throughout the day. A ream , 4lltvheer,eiteosoinkgplace towards the termination of business, prices . show an advance of per cent. kici.°:_iljhree per Cents, for the account, and th e e e Fo . u i r t: th e "Leif Per Cents, for cash, and of ati per 'lt ttr,quotation of the latter description of stock for the 4 4 ti l)f the month. The amount of business transacted flu e e Railway Share Market yesterday was not . very (s)..seunrarievde., although a general improvement in prices has Northern Pans and Lyons shares advanced 15f. ; Btr u b er ei 10f. ; Paris and Orleans, 10f. ; Paris and Closing Mee, re 9f. ; Paris and Rouen, 2f. 50c. 15 4 .----41orthern, 880 f. ; Paris and Orleans, 1,050 f. Paris 411(1 Strasbourg 890 f. ; Paris and Lyons, 900 f. , -4 and Rouen, I,ooof. TURKEY. haw•'TANTINePLE June 9.—The firman, or rather the 'Polt .sher ,.. i ff, relative to the oncessions which have been th e 9 , .for some time past, to be made in favour of 4th rlgtians of the Eastern Church, was issued . on the th e 4 . 18 t• On the 7th it was solemnly communicated to Parr, reel' and Armenian patriarchs, convoked for that at the palace of the Minister for Foreign Af tekaoa ri cc°lllpanied by the leading members of their con kitl)• T his h a tti- s h er iff conta i ns no thi ng new ; is th e form a l a fbrnial recognition a nd the confirmation of it all and im mun iti es accor d e d to the Christians etigrtler Sultans , and by Abdul-Medjid himself, and Ili t 4 h t ! c l in the b ' erats of investiture. the „,"1 document the Sultan expressly recommends to tie47ftriarehs the strict observance and rigorous execr!• Gov, these stipulations, and enjoins them to inform his . at e re r t ruent of any infractions of the same, that immed.i generajels 'nay be obtained. The Greeks, however, 'to not seem well satisfied with some of the dispos!-- No, 7 n tioag ofthis hatti-sheriff, which confers, in their opi slire ;:°,° much power upon the patriarchs. This mea of R owever quite in conformity with the demands H ated Menschikoff ; ' and although it has not been . 4 ti e -"` In the form of a treaty, as he demanded, it kid :ertheless thought that it will answer the purpose,. vil eo et ve to maintain and protect the rights and pri ,i.eB,ol the Christian subjects of the Porte. ivho oalabine, first secretary of the Russian legation, of ,/,'lad remained at Constantinople after the departure SiLdtee Menschikoff and the embassy, left here on r j , in order to convey the hatti-sheriff to Odessa. I s L eref,; ur ned this morning in a war steamer bearing . a tak e g, which vessel will, it is said, remain here a gre e away the personnel of the Chancery of Com , and ald,andof the Post-office ins case the Emperor uocide not to renew relatio. 4Zt4tiln.e, the aspect of affairs is still warlike, and 1- °l ; t e continues its preparations with unabated acti t° . " 70 officers of the Prussian engineers have left Frei ins the fortresses on the . Danube ; and two po l ye fficers in the Turkish service, as professors at f:teehnic School, have been ordered to be ready thed B " B " 4l , and have been provided with the necessary Th.:, One of th em , M. M agnan , is a staff officer. tt _ Ivi i i e f-; greate s t uncertainty prevails as to the a . tude l i t k o ely :1010 powers that signed the treaty of 1841 are assume in the impending struggle. The news 4 by the last couriers is so contradictory, that it Yet irssible t o f orm an opinion upon the subject. o A s. s . ti e a ppears that the ambassadors have given no p ,lassurances to the Porte, which lives upon hope. been ' 1 44 d e Bruck, the Austrian internuncio, who has e. lie4 l 7,Peeted, has not yet arrived. It is generally b c 3 f nat he is the bearer of instructions . from the Court t ieh, etill a, which will throw some light upon this ques te:Artier' frigate which has been stationed in the arrive le d an onll , londay last at Constantinople. Yes 44(plar,the Tunis isteamer, the Minos, arrived with o h - ve l ues from the Bey to the Porte. kili' 4 , l °lada evening the Turkish Custom-house was herdown. Y Happily the magazines and warehouses ok e %saved, so that the loss is confined to the public Th Joe th e , follo w i ng are some g l ean i ngs f rom t h e G erman I;„ 4 's „re l ative to the East : Nn 4 i(sec Gazette of the 16th, states that warlike thavtarations continued to be made in that port, but ‘tkii s t e w perso ns ser i ous ly f eare d w ar. It adds, that it crbo;,ated that the Russian troops who were to have g at e the Pruth had received counter orders.. " The to4,gazette, under date of Smyrna Bth, N it'or a few das since received orders s t a o y s s e:n s t a l r , c o e O ly o bad the this garrison to Constantinople, and ""e erde; been made known, when all the troops t ° ile4l 4 l) ll „` l 2 ed to be sent. It was therefore found necessary kei;;°,int by lot the quota required. The numoer of t ide rni ,', lo have volunteered to join the army is very con 'Qrvi-r,"'e• Several political refugees have offered their TO to the Ottoman Porte. Ne e ') 8 t- Pctersburgh journals whicilaave arrived in 0 1e I t P r esent the curious fact—that they are completely 11 4 ,(4 14 , r especting the affairs of Turkey. That word is ' 4 at t ' l e 'i found in them, which would seem to imply . tes o lz o Russian Government desires to envelope its 4 ‘,""nris in the most complete secrecy. Its from St. Paersburgh of the 11th, announce tfth,:rinl.enschikoff had just been named governor , r w Crim ea l t he Ll ° re giments are now being organised in Turkey on ear„,'4ll of th e Ch asseurs o f Vi ncennes . Th e y are to tried like them, will manoeuvre in the same man kleiemand will be dressed like the Zouaves. These re. t Tha, are intended to serve in the Balkans. Vis ti; a laB t Fren c h s t eamer has brought 40,000 muskets 4litiOe , Porte. 2,000 gunners have left for Varla and CIS (r AR ADDRESSED BY THE CABINET T. 04 ,1 -; PETERSBURGH TO ITS REPRESEN YES AT FOREIGN COURTS. I)or t folio • is .. —a lit a -wing a, translation in extenso of this im mocument " St. Petersburgh, J . une 11, 1853. 11 W irr"--The mission of Prince Menschikoffin ru T ra ur o k ur ey s l ag al ' 1. 11)., ready given rise to the most exaggerated kltr° l lrs to which his departure and the inteFruption o l f til tht- ° ! 4 which ensued would doubtless add still more— lat,- It advlsable to sendyou on this subject some general Ili a - Y t iZ ti ° ll , to enable you to rectify the false reports which in which you re o s.id o e n - e .1 4 1 :(! been spread in the Item ~nink it superfluous to tell attributed there is . n t jtsi l ;, °,f truth in the pretensions attributed to us b some a l a. 0 4, 4 1 , of claiming either an addition of territo r y or . 'ale ,Nvantaovons regulation of our Asiatic frontier, o . i 4%1 -gilt of b nomination and revocation of the Patri h religious protecto- Ne , tOf C onstantinople, or any 411 Y -644 ing to exceed that which et w er e exercise virtne oftradition theouran tere Dractically, and legally in Turkey, in 51 ' treaties y are sufficiently well acqu with h ,„ : • OU , 4 qt` - ‘:‘,, 4 , C Y of tho Emperor to know that his Majesty does . "vie; l 'in the ruin and destruction of the Ottoman Empire, tate B aved by it ; that, on the contrary, stat u it ql h w as kli ktil l, ' a nd still regards, the actual comeuEuropean p s b e r e a n e s t . tet t 'n and to \i'itttie3t% which would no i t lite fai r f e tosebetween theaaEslwurtha in wa s violent made;co n contact l trtt., e4e ll other in the East if a vac Iti el Turks 44° garde the protection of the Russo-Greek inte w s o t rs a h n l y p -4 ,, we do not need to watch over I)°"iti4A get s than those assured to us by our treaties, o in ur . t n th; s3tl ' the influence resulting from . the religious sy Z'll' erg Which exists between fifty millpns f o t f h lt e el,dk faith and the great majority o . °e , t 1. ° I the Sultan • u Ch s tst s ia e n f '4 4 -'Ae it is in factsand not in words—an in a secular influence influence which ascended the tilt found-K,eaporor rea dy made when he t'l h tr " 41e6 ,,.." yell' hh could not renounce, -4 . 1131 6 le •' e 't arouses, withou r s t re elinquishing f mdeference ~ k lO , . uspicions i . tis / t ,ens inheritance of his august predecessor . the mission o 1 - Ire 4 1 ; 0 :Z h much as to tell you how little foundation f reports spread relative to thallt° keusch'kf which never had any other object thl t t i t o a l t i l'atig l em e- en tof the Holy Places. seri;haans taeu_gthowla tot . e an historical detailof Bs a o ll . passed since the year 1 lllN'°4Btience acquits us of being the first to wi m th ee o t o th s a e t . c leea,, ll4l - We knew how pregnant it was the U, traces for the peace of the East—perhaps forpeace ' . e t' ri w°ll4 . W have not ceased, since its origin, to call N„111, 1 % - Ch the great Cabinets to the position_.es ; . eict, eu it would place us, or th . e grave eventiutliti rtiteeda,:l4o4nallyacriasuesii;:d th e successp:e development it has the actual crisis, hash the o h m e m uc o h nl j o u n s t - L', re tn ".nr pd forebodings. It will suffice utz titi - p ill a d vYon, that in consequence of the first concessions %-" the -' 'l' France in favour of the . Latins at Jerusalem, to, detriment of the secular privileges accorded to the 141. "' tjle 1113 1* .po reeiving that the evi_dentnpairttitoa bliNlenZiihei Po e - for ih - e L tins was gradually lead t i s tat lit'''. wo rship e , felt himself bound to addreri a a n u i grave e for a the rights and interests of stilts °i letter on the snbject to the Sultan. The re y4t)'?' that Step were first of all the convocation . of a 'lite-i'llt"tee, exclusively composed of Turkish ulemas, t° neili Was occupied with an arrangement f a nature to tas a i ate the reciprocal pretentious ; then, after long dis !1.1111- 05an,N. followed a reply from the Sultan to the Emperor, Ill g t4 1 ... c1a g the final solution of the question, and contain anejei; I.iost Solemn promises on the maintenance of tanniti Drnilegs granted by the Porte tothe_Giv a e r k ra c n o g ru e. e 4t ea• firman, embodying the details of that head' Was at the same time communicated to us. At the No Of th at finnan a Hatti-Sheriff ah of the S . an e 4 hte o fi lli r se d arid co nfirmed in the m auto ost fo gr rm p m almanner . th s tellew acts accorded to the a Gnd reeks at different eriod ! an `fer e 6 ? (l c er . l b! sultan Mahmond, confirmed by th p e actual 6 41 th a pizit ~,a . tBh that lett er and firman were conceived in a Itt terms which deviated slightly from the strict statu quo which it had always been our care to maintain, nevertheless, it appearing to the Emperor that those docu ments satisfied to a certain extent his just solicitude for the interest and immunities of the Russo-Greek worship at Jerusalem, a desire of conciliation induced his Majesty to accept them. They were taken cognizance of in a man ner to give them the value of a solemn and definitive transaction. " In presence of those categorical documents, officially communicated after a long and weary negotiation, the Im perial Government was surely justified in considering for ever closed a debate in which ,its moderation, had suc ceeded in obviating the dangers, and which left the Latins in possession of new advantages. You are aware that, unhappily, it has not been so. " I should be carried toofar if I was here to relate all the acts of weakness, tergiversation, and duplicity, which have signalised the conduct of the Ottoman authorities, when it was a question of fulfilling the engagement taken towards us, and of proceeding to Jerusalem, accor din g to the pre scribed custom, for the promulgation, enregistra , tion, and execution of the finnan sent for this purpose to the Holy City, according to the explicit assurance given to our mis sion at Constantinople. The Turkish Commissioner once insisted on the spot, dared to declare to our C onsul, who on the reading and enregistration of the firman, that he had no knowledge of that act, and that it was not men tioned in his instructions. Although later, on our recla mations, the firman was read and enregistered at Jerusa lem, it was done with restrictions insulting to the Eastern worship. But, as regardsthe act itself, if we except the ac complishment of these simple formalities, the principaldis rositions have been openly transgressed. The most fla grant infraction was the placing in the hands of the Latin Patriarch the key of the principal door of the Church of Bethlehem. This act was contrary to the precise terms of the firman. It deeply wounded the feelings of the clergy, and of the whole population of the Russo-Greek confes sion ; because, according to ideas entertained in Palestine, the possession of the key seems to imply that of the whole temple. The Turkish Government thus testified before the eyes of all, even against its own interests, to the supremacy it accords to another confession than that to which the ma jority of its subjects belong. " Such a disregard of the most positive promises con signed in the letter of the Sultan to the Emperor ; so pa tent a breach of faith, aggravated still more by the pro ceedings and deriding language of the Councillors of his Highness, were certainly of a nature to authorise our august master, wounded in his dignity, in his friendly con fidence, in his creed, and in the religious sentiments which he shares in common with his people, to demand on the in sta-, a striking reparation. His Majesty might have done so if, as he has been accused by an opinion false in its sources, he only sought a pretext to overthrow the Otto man Empire. But he did not wish it. He preferred ob taining that satisfaction through the medium of pacific negotiations. He once more endeavoured to enlighten the Sovereign of Turkey on his wrongs towards us, as also against his own interests, and appealed to his wisdom to correct the faults of his Ministers, and with that object in view Prince Menschikoff was sent to Constantinople. " His mission had two objects : " 1. To negotiate in lieu of the firman which had been discarded, a new arrangement which, without depriving the Latins of that which they had latterly obtained (for we were desirous to avoid placing, in exacting this retraction, the Ottoman Porte vis-à-vis France precisely in the false posi tion in which it was placed towards ourselves), should ex plain, at least, those concessions in a manner to take away the appearance of a victory obtained over the Russo-Greek faith, and to establish, by means of some legitimate com pensations, the equilibrium overthrown at the expense of the latter. " 2. The corroboration of such arrangement by an au thentic act, which might serve us at once as a reparation for the past, and a guarantee for the future. " That first portion of the mission of our ambassador ex traordinary, in itself of a most difficult nature, as it implied establishing an accordance between the reciprocal but con tradictory privileges and interests of Russia and France, was, we think, undertaken in an extreme spirit of conci liation ; dispositions to which, we are glad to say, the French Government responded. After long discussions it at last bore fruit, and the result was the drawing up of two new firmans without opposition from the French Ambassador. " But, as I have already observed, the question under negotiation presented another face. To obtain an arrange ment was not all. Without au act to make it valid, which would offer the guarantee that the new firmans should in future be executed and religiously observed in their prin ciples and consequences, it is evident that those docu ment, after the flagrant violation of the one that had pre ceded them, could not have any more value than it in our eyes. The Emperor attached the more importance to this guarantee, because it constituted really the only separa tion which he demanded after the outrage done to his dignity by the breach of faith of the Ottoman Porte, especially after the circumstances which rendered it the more patent. " Prince Menschikoff was charged to endeavour to ob tain it by means of a convention, which he would sign with the Turkish Government. Of a treaty so called there was never question. " The form of this convention was loudly dec laimed against as bearing atteinte in principle against the rights of sovereignty of the Sultan ; as conferring upon us de facto, in the name of religion, a right of perpetual inter ference in the internal affairs of Turkey. We think that a phantom has been conjured up—that fears are entertained, the foundation of which is more special than real. "In principle a convention, or even a similar treaty, would be nothing unusual, and we do not understand in what more they would constitute an attack upon the sove reign autonomy of the Sultan, than the capitulations and other acts that France and Austria already possess in Tur key. For in principle alone, that is to say as concerns the independence of the Sultan, it imports little that an act applies to such or such number greater or lesser of his sub jects, in favour of whom a right of foreign protection should be exercised. " The guarantee by treaty assured in another state to the interests of a foreign communion has been at all times usual. At the period of the Reformation, for instance, states, even great Catholic states, have concluded treaties or conven tions with other states, by which they guaranteed in their territories to the Protestant communion certain priviligos, enfranchisements, and immunities, in such manner that even at the present day the civil position of that comunion still reposes upon those basis, without the states which gave such guarantees regarding themselves for such reason hurt in their sovereign rights or in their political indepen dence. With the more reason in principle may such acts be concluded with a Mussulman state, the Christian sub jects of which have suffered, and still suffer so often, not only in their immunities, but in their properties, and in their existence. "As regards the fact, as far as we are concerned, the thine exists already, and the form of a convention whic h wo Ave proposed would offer nothing now in the matter of religious protection. The treaty of Kaynardji, by which the Porte engages itself to protect at all times in its states the Christian religion and its churches, implies sufficiently for us the right of surveillance and remonstrance. This right is again established and still more clearly specified in the treaty of Adrianople, which has confirmed all our an terior transactions. Those of Kaynardji date from the year 1774. We thus de facto possess, since eighty years, in writing, the right now disputed, and the mention of which day is regarded as of a nature to cause quite a new revolution in our relations with the Ottoman Porte, con ferring upon us the effective sovereignty over the immense majority of its subjects. Surely, during this lapse of time, if we had been disposed to make abuse of it, as incurable distrusts suppose, occasions were not wanting, especially of late, when Europe was a Fprey to anarchy—when the Governments, powerless against internal discord, were ab sorbed or distracted by the revolution of the West, and left open field in the East to the ambitious views attributed to us. If we entertained the intentions which it is pleased to give us, would we have waited to carry them out until peace was re-established in Europe ? Would we have disposed our forces in such guise as to offer to our neighbours a moral and material support ? Would we have worked with zeal, as we did, to reconcile our allies to put aside all that might be hurtful to the in timate union of the Powers? On the contrary; we would have sought to keep up their discords. We would have let the European Governments to fight it out between themselves or with their revolted subjects, and, taking ad vantage of their embarrassments, would have marched without obstacle to the realisation of what is called our invading policy. Now that social order is, happily, every where re-established, and that the States re-seated on their foundations may dispose more freely of the common action of their forces, the moment would be strangely chosen to follow up such a line of policy. " Once again, in principle and in fact, a convention with the Porto in the interest of our co-reliesonists is ' nothing new. It would not offer us any advantage which we have not for a long time possessed, and which we could have abused if we nurtured the intentions attributed to us. If we are strong we do not need it. If we are weak, such an act would not make us feared the more. This is so true that we never should have dreamt of snaking the proposition on the special question of the holy places, if the Porte had not compelled us, by forgetting its former promises, to endeavour to bind it more strictly to the maintenance of the statu quo of the sanctuaries of Pales tine—if, when we protested against the concessions made to our detriment, it had not given us for excuse that, as regards the holy place, France had a treaty and Russia had none. "Moreover, wo have never made a so-called convention the sine qua non condition of our reconciliation with the Porte. Whilst giving to Prince Menschikoff when sent on his mission to Constantinople, that form to the minute of the stipulations he had to negotiate, it left him full lati tude to modify them, not only in the terms, but also to obtain them under any other form which might be less re pugnant to the susceptibilities of the Porte, or of foreign diplomacy. It is after that authorisation that our negotia tor arrived on the spot, and having convinced himself of the obstacle that our project of convention would meet with, confined himself to demand, under the name of Sened, an act which better harmonised with Oriental usages, and was less conformable to the solemn ideas ordi narily implied by the word convention in the law of Euro pean right. Two extended clauses of that first project of Sened, by which, we demanded, not, as has been pre tended, the right to confirm the election of the Patriarch of Constantinople, but simply the maintenance of the ec clesiastical immunities and temporal advantages accorded ab antequo by the Porte to the four patriarchs of Con stantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, as well as to the metropolitan bishops and other spiritual heads of the Eastern Church, having raised too serious objections, Prince Monschikoff did not refuse to suppress those two clauses altogether. A second project was the result, upon the acceptance of which he for a long time insisted. The Porte persisting in rejecting every sort of engagement which bore a bilateral and synallagmatic form, our ambas sador finally, at the last moment, in the spirit of his in structions, went so far as to declare that if the Porte would accept and sign immediately a note, such as the subjoined project, he himself would be satisfied with such document, and consider it as sufficient reparation and guarantee. " Such was, then, at the moment Prince Menschikoff quitted Constantinople, the veritable ultimatum put by the Imperial Cabinet; and it was in consequence of the delay shown by the Porte in accepting the document in question that our negotiator left for Odessa, and broke off diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Government. " What he successively conceded on the form and sub stance of our propositions, he conceded equally on the terms originally fixed for their acceptance. He was ordered, after a long and fruitless waiting, to demand a definitive reply from the Porto within three days, and although that reply ought consequently to have been given to him on the Bth of May, ho did not leave Constantinople till the 21st. " After three consecutive months of laborious negotia tions, having exhausted oven to the last possible conces sions, the Emperor finds himself compelled to demand pre remptorily the acceptance pure and simple of the project of note. Nevertheless, moved by the considerations of patience and long, animily which have hitherto guided him, he leaves to the Porte another delay of eight days to come to a decision, after which, whatever effort it may cos . :; his he will find himself obliged to t c a o k n e cilt miaeaigsniiredsispo top sti r i oc o ur ns e, by a more pronounced attitude, THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 22, 1 8 53. the satisfaction which he has hitherto in vain endeavoured to obtain by pacific means. " It is not without profound regret that the Government of the Emperor has assumed this attitude. But from blindness and obstinacy it has been endeavoured to drive back Russia into a position, as it were, at the extreme limit of moderation, where it cannot retire one step more without the loss of its political consideration. " We beg of you, sir, to communicate these facts to the Government to which you are accredited, bringing to its knowledge the important document annexed to the dispatch. We beg of it to give to it the greatest attention ; it is the Gordian knot of the question at this moment ' • the knot which it is still our wish to loosen pacifically, but which it appears to have been endeavoured to make us cut through. By submitting our ultimatum to the imperial judgment of the Cabinets, we leave it to them to decide if, after the serious wrongs of which the Porte has become cul pable towards us—after it has given us so many causes of legitimate resentment—it were possible to put up with a lesser satisfaction. The conscientious examination of our project of note will prove that, shorn of all form of treaty, or even of synallagmatic contract, it contains no thing contrary to the rights of sovereignty of the Sultan, nothing which implies on our part exaggerated pretensions attributed to us by a distrust as insulting to us as it is little justified by our anterior acts. This examination will suffice, we hope, to dispel the false reports circulated on our haughty exactions, and to prove that, if the rejection of the last means of conciliation (Arniers moyens d'acco modement) which we propose to solve the difficulties which have been purposely thrown in our way, in the affair of the holy places, should bring about complications of a nature to compromise peace, it is not on us that the respon sibility must rest in the eyes of the world. (Signed) " NESSELRODE." dividends were paid not out of revenue, but out of capi tal. (Cries of " No, no.") Mr. COLES CHILD, who was elected a director at the last meeting, begged to say that during the period he was auditor of the company he could assure the pro prietors that he had fully satisfied himself, in the per formance of his duty as auditor, that the accounts presented to them were a true and faithful representa tion of their affairs. Mr. G. SMITH and Mr. IVTLEAFS, members of the Committee of Shareholders, condemned the course pur sued by Mr. Hamilton, and said there was no founda tion for his statements. Mr. G. TEtomrsoN said, it could be shown that every word of them was true if they were allowed to be gone into. Mr. J. WILSON said, the steam-boats did not earn more than 31 per cent., although they were allowed to divide 5 per cent., and called upon the shareholders to reject the bill. Mr. GREY, one of the committee, said that he and the other members of it had given the subject their most careful attention ; the directors had given them the most unreserved access to every matter relating to their in quiries, and the surveyors at Lloyd's, who were inde pendent parties, had valued the property of the steam boat company. These men were employed by all the great merchants of London in valuing vessels, and there could be no doubt that they had valued them at a fair price between man and man. The committee had adopted that valuation, and they were satisfied that it was the interest of the railway company to purchase the steam boats at the price mentioned, and to work them in con nection with the railway. (Hear, hear.) Mr. MACLAURIN said, that Mr. Wilson and other gen tlemen appeared to forget that the efficient and success ful working of the steam-boats in connection with the railway had had the effect of increasing the traffic on the latter between 70,0001. and 80,0001. per annum. (Cries of "Oh, oh !") He would ask proprietors whether there was any sense in such expressions as "Ph, oh !" against the facts he had stated. The opposition could only arise from those who wished to damage the property, but he hoped the majority would vote in favour of the bill. Mr. C. CHILD explained that it would simplify the accounts very much to merge the property of the steam boat company into that of the railway company, and to work them as one concern. _ _ . _ . The following is the text of the project of note or ultimatum, above alluded to : " PROJECT OF NOTE. " The Sublime Porte, after the most attentive and serious examination of the demands which form the object of the mission extraordinary entrusted to the Ambassador of Russia, Prince Menschikoff, and after having subm itted the result of that examination to his Majesty the Sultan, loses no time (se fait nn devoir emprcsse) in notifying by the present to his Highness the Ambassador, the Imperial decision emanated on ithe subject, by a supreme trade, under date of (Mussulman and Christian's date). " His Majesty the Sultan, being desirous of giving to his august ally and friend a new proof of his most sincere friendship, and his great desire to consolidate the ancient relations of good neighbourship and perfect entente which exist between the two States, placing at the same time implicit confidence in the ever-benevolent intentions of his Imperial Majesty for the maintenance of the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire, has deigned to ap preciate and take into serious consideration the frank and cordial representations of which the Ambassador of Russia has rendered himself the organ in favour of the orthodox worship of the East, professed by his august ally, as also by the majority of their respective subjects. , The undersigned has received, in consequence, the order to give by the present note the most solemn assurance to the Imperial Government of Russia, represented to the Sultan by his Highness Prince Menschikoff, of the un changeable solicitude and generous and tolerant sentiments which animate his Majesty the Sultan, for the safety and prosperity in his States of the clergy, church, and religious establishments of the Christian faith in the East. . . The CHAIRMAN said, he would not trouble the meeting with any observations respecting the personal attack made upon him by Mr. Hamilton ; but, with regard to the increase in the working stock referred to, it was per fectly clear to the proprietors who understood the subject that increased traffic would require an increase in the working stock ; and if the traffic continued to increase, they would have still further to increase their stock. The increase of working stock at present contemplated would carry them over the next three years. Their traffic receipts amounted in 1844 to 160,0001., in 1845 to 220,0001., in 1846 to 336,0001., in 1847 to 430,0001., in 1848 to 469,0001., in 1849 to 457,000/., in 1850 to 514,0001., in 1851 to 638,0001., and in 1852 to 749,0001. The original capital of the company was 1,800,0001. ; in 1844 it was increased 3,000,0001. and since that period 6,000,0001., and by that outlay they had effected a great public service. There was a prospect of considerable in crease in their revenue from the gradual development of their traffic, which, with economy in working, would tend to increase their future dividends. The steam-boats had cost, including various improvements, 25,000/. more than they were to give for them. They were kept in a perfect state of repair, and out of the receipts the Steam packet Company had made a reserve of between 20,000/. and 30,0001., after paying dividends, on the average of 6 per cent. per annum. That would show whether they had paid more than 31 per cent. The resolution approving of the bill was then put and carried by a large majority, 11 recording their rotes against it. The Solicitor read the heads of a bill for reviving the powers for the purchase of land and for extending the London-bridge terminus ; to divert a footpath at Red hill ; and to substitute a level crossing for an existing bridge over the Bricklayers' Arms branch. The time for the purchase of land was extended for one year, and for completion of works to two years. The CHAIRMAN, in reply to questions, stated that 15,0001. would be expended in the construction of a bonded warehouse at the London-bridge station, and 10,000/. in the improvement of the booking-offices and waiting-rooms. The resolution approving of the bill was then carried. The bill to effect the junction or approximation of the stations at Reading, of the Reigate and Reading branch, and of the Great Western Railway was read, and ap proved of unanimously. The CHAIRMAN then proposed. that the bill to autho rise the company to extend the North Kent line from Strood to the existing line and station of the company at Maidstone and to raise capital for the purpose be ap• proved. The Solicitor read the heads of the bill which provided for the supply of water to Maidstone, and specified that no dividend should be paid on the ordinary stock of the company at the end of three years unless the line was completed. Mr. HAMILTON contended that the line would not pay its working expenses, and that they would exceed the receipts by 5,0001. per annum ; that the line would be no protection to them, and that, if the object in making it was to prevent any rival scheme from connecting Maidstone with. London by a nearer route than at pre sent, it would signally fail, as the distance from Maid stone through Strood would be 411 miles, but by a direct line to London it would be about 32 miles. vV " To render these assurances more explicit ; to precise in a formal manner the principal objects of this high solici tude; to corroborate by supplementary explanations, ne cessitated by the march of time, the sense of the articles which, in anterior treaties concluded between the two Powers, relate to religious questions ; and to provide for ever against any shade of misunderstanding and disaccord on this subject between the two Governments, the under signed is authorised by his Majesty the Sultan to make the following declarations : " 1. The orthodox worship of the East, its clergy, its churches, and its possessions, as also its religious establish ments, shall enjoy in future, without any hindrance, under the shield (egide) of his Majesty the Sultan, the privileges and immunities conferred upon them ab antiquo, or which may have been accorded to them at different periods, by the Imperial favour, and, in a principle of high equity, shall enjoy the advantages accorded to other Christian con fessions, as well as to the foreign legations accredited to the Sublime Porte, by convention or by private agreement. " 2. His Majesty the Sultan having deemed it necessary and equitable to corroborate and to explain his sovereign firman, invested with the Hatti-Houmayoun, the 15th of the moon of Rebiul-Akbir, 1268 (16th Feb., 1852), by his sovereign firman of , and to ordain further by another firman, in date of , the repairs of the cupola of the temple of the Holy Sepulchre, those two firmans shall be textually carried out and faithfully observed, to maintain for ever the actual data quo of the sanctuaries possessed by the Greeks exclusively, or in common with other con fessions. _ _ " It is understood that this promise extends equally to the maintenance of all the rights and immunities enjoyed ab antique by the orthodox church and its clergy, as well in the town of Jerusalem as outside, without any prejudice to the other Christian communities. "3. In case the Imperial Court of Russia should make the demand, a convenient locality shall be assigned in the city of Jerusalem, or in the environs, for the construction of a church consecrated for the celebration of divine ser vice by Russian ecclesiastics, and of an hospital for indi gent or sick pilgrims, which establishments will be under the especial surveillance of the Consulate-General of Russia in Syria and Palestine. " 4. Firmans and necessary orders will be given to the proper persons and to the Greek Patriarchs for carrying out these sovereign decisions, and an ulterior understand ing will be come to for the regulation of the point of detail which may not have been inserted either in the firmans concerning the Holy Places of Jerusalem, or in the present notification. " The undersigned has, &0., Sze." AMERICA. ARRIVAL OF THE ATLANTIC. LIVERPOOL, TUESDAY. The CHAIRMAN explained that the clauses relating to the water were inserted in the bill to avoid an expensive opposition in Parliament, and that the traffic between Strood and Maidstone would be sufficient to yield 34 per cent. on the outlay, after allowing 40 per cent. for the working expenses, without reckoning anything for the increase of traffic on other portions of the line. The engines which now stood in steam at the Strood station would have time to go on to Maidstone over the pro posed new line, and to return in time to convey the train hack from Strood to London. He did not believe that the working expenses would amount to 40 per cent. Mr. MACLAURIN thought that the estimated cost of the line at 22,0001. per mile was excessive, and that half the money would be ample if proper means were used to have it cheaply constructed. The CHAIRMAN said that their engineer hadinformed them that a most respectable contractor had offered to con struct the line, includingland, forlBo,ooo/., which he (the engineer) considered a fair offer, but that less than he had estimated (250,0001.) would not be sufficient to complete everything which the traffic would require. The works would be put up to public tender. Mr. HAMILTON moved an amendment, to the effect that the bill be not proceeded with, which was not seconded, and consequently fell to the ground. The resolution approving of the bill was then carried, there being only two hands held up against it. On the motion of Mr. MACLAURIN, the best thanks of the meeting were voted to the committee—Messrs. Morgan, Smith, Grey, Wilkinson, and Ivyleafe for their valuable services, and also to the chairman and directors. By the steamer Atlantic we hare advices from New York to the 11th instant. She has brought 207 pas sengers, and $306,833 in specie on freight. The Atlantic passed the steamer Niagara, for Boston, at 11 a.m. on the 17th, and the steamer Pacific at 8 p.m. on the 11th, 90 miles from New York. The New York _Herald states that Mr. Crampton, the British Minister, had received dispatches by the late steamer relative to the fishery and reciprocity question, and urging the matter upon the attention of the United States Government. Mr. Buchanan was desirous of having the negotiations transferred to London. Her Majesty's frigate Leander arrived at New York on the 10th, from Plymouth, with Lord Ellesmere and suite on board. The steamer Washington, from Bremen and South ampton, arrived at New York on the Bth. The steamer Philadelphia has arrived at New Orleans, with the Californian mails of the 16th of May. The Illinois sailed from Francisco on the 16th, with $1,600,000 in gold dust on freight. Dreadful riots had occurred at Quebec and Montreal on the occasion of Father Gavazzi's lectures. He lectured on the 6th at Quebec, and many persons were injured by the mob. Father Gavazzi was himself thrown out of the pulpit, and received a severe cut on the head, and another on the face. On the 9th he gave a lecture at Montreal. The Catholic portion of the community became furious, the military were called out, and were ordered to fire on the mob, when seven persons were killed, six mortally injured, and ten severely wounded. Telegraphic accounts state that there was great ex citement at Montreal on the 10th. Late accounts from Rio Grande state that Caravajae and his associates had been released, and had entered suits against the United States' Marshal for false arrest and imprisonment. The steamers El Dorado and Prometheus had arrived at New York from San Francisco, the former with 688,792 dols., and the latter with 500,000 dols. in gold dust on freight. Their advices had, however, been anticipated. No business of importance had been transacted in the New York Stock-market. Money was abundant at 6 to 7 per cont., and, in some instances, at 5 per cent. This concluded the proceedings of the railway meeting. The special meeting of the South-Eastern and Con tinental Steam-packet Company was then held, Mr. J. Macgregor, M.P. in the chair ; and a resolution ap proving of the bill , authorising the railway company to purchase the steam-boats and other property of the company, was unanimously carried, and the meeting separated. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY.) The LORD CHANCELLOR took his at on the woolsack at five o'clock. TRANSFER OF LAND. Lord LYNDHURST, after reading an extract from the report of the commissioners appointed to inquire into the subject of registration of titles, asked the noble and learned lord on the woolsack whether he had in con templation any measure relating to the subject of faci litating the transfer of real property. The LORD CHANCELLOR said that he had no plan in immediate preparation ; but the moment the bill for the registration of assurances passed the other house, his attention would be anxiously turned to the subject. He considered registration as but the first step to wards a complete amendment of the present system of the transfer of landed property. Lord BROUGHAM and Lord BEAUMONT ex pressed their satisfaction at hearing the answer of the noble and learned lord, and agreed with him that registration, of itself, was not sufficient to remedy the evils of our present laws relative to the tenure and transfer of landed property. Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition from seve ral of the town councillors of Bath in favour of the Charitable Trusts Bill. INCOME TAX BILL. The Earl of ABERDEEN rose and said : My lords, in moving the second reading of the Income Tax Bill, I may be permitted to place before your lordships a general view of the objects entertained by her Majesty's Government in making this proposition, and to point out the advantages which they expect the country to receive from its adoption. At the first formation of the Government I stated to the house that there would speedily be experienced great financial difficulties, oreauther a financial crisis, by the fail ure of a large portion of our revenue, in consequence of the early cessation of the income tax ; and I added that it would severely try the ingenuity and ability of any person to put us in a condition to repair that breach. My lords, the income tax having expired in the month of April, it became necessary for her Majesty's. Government to consider what course it was expedient to pursue. I believe it would have been found impossible to allow the income tax to ex. pire without being renewed, as it would have been impos sible to find a substitute for that tax. The surplus at our disposal was insufficient to enable us to take this course, and the taxes necessary for the purpose of supplying the deficiency occasioned by the loss of the income tax would have been so onerous, so oppressive, so unequal, that they would in fact have created more dissatisfaction, and have been more unpalatable to the people than the income tax itself. (Hear, hear.) We therefore had no hesitation in deciding upon renewing the income tax ; but then the question arose, in what manner, for what period, and with what modifications, should this be attempted. My lords, it must be admitted that there is something in the nature of the income tax itself, notwithstanding the immense and incalculable advantages we have derived from it both in war. and peace, there is something in its nature which is open to radical objections. (Hear, hear.) There is no doubt but its inquisatorial nature is highly irksome and objectionable, and cannot be se parated from it. It allows also the principle of self asssesment, which b affords faCilities, not to say encourage ment, to fraud, very much to the loss of the revenue, and to the injury of morality—that also is an objection which cannot be removed. It must also be admitted, that for some nine past, and especililly 'recently, a growing feeling has existed that the tax itself is An equal and unjust, from the mode in which it is im posed. (Hear, hear.) It has been felt that to tax trades and professions the same as land, that to tax preca rious incomes in the same manner as realised incomes, was in itself unjust ; and this feeling has gradually ex tended so as to embrace the whole body of public opinion, and it is demanded in every quarter, both by public men and in the press, that some change should take place by varying the rate of taxation according to the different sources of income ; a principle also which received addi tional weight from having been adopted by her Majesty's late Government, who announced, by their organ in the House of Commons, their intention to adopt it, although without explaining any special mode of carrying oat this system, which, not explaining or announcing, they pro bably had not in view. But, my lords, I think, notwith standing the prevalence of this conviction to which I have referred, and for which I must admit there is much foun dation, my right hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exche quer so dealt with that notion in the speech with which he introduced his financial measures, that he absolutely silenced all opposition to his plan, which he proved to be the only one capable of being put into operation. I do not recollect, in the whole course of my life, any in stance in which the triumph of reason over strong convic tion was more significantly displayed, than by my right honourable friend. Ido not say that he proved that the mode of assessing the tax adopted was just and equal, but he proved that any other mode was impossible, and that any attempt at another mode would be attended with still greater inequality and injustice. Now, my lords, what is the inference to be drawn from this ? Not that the in come tax should not be renewed, but that it should not form any permanent portion of our financial system, and that, in renewing it, we should take care to secure means by which it should be extinguished in a given time—by which, in fact, I may say, it should expire of itself. (Hear, hear.) My lords, with this view we resolved upon the renewal of the tax ; but to give the public confidence as to its cessation was most desirable. To renew it for two or three years, with the declaration and intention that it should then expire, I fear, after what we have seen, and what has already taken place on this subject, that neither Parliament nor the country would have entertained much confidence in the cessation of the tax, and, therefore. it became necessary to give a proof of the sincerity of the Government in the manner in which they pro posed the renewal of the tax, and to provide means which should obviously at the given period enable you, if you thought fit, to get rid of it without sacrifice and with out loss. We therefore propose, my lords, to re-enact it for two years more at the present rate of 7d. in the pound, for two years at the rate of 6d. in the pound, and for three additional years at the rate of sd. in the pound, by which it will cease in the year 1860 ; and at that period we shall have provided a substitute for the tax, without any addi tional burden or sacrifice whatever. (Hear, hear.) My lords, I will not attempt, of course, to predict what may happen in the course of seven years; the events that may occur are beyond our foresight, and we can only form our plans according to the circumstances which may be antici pated in the ordinary course of affairs, I think that in the descending rates of the tax we have given an intima tion, a pledge, an evidence, of our sincere desire for the gradual reduction of the tax, and I shall state in a few moments the mode in which we shall provide for its total extinction. Now, my lords, in renewing the tax, we also propose to make large remissions of taxation, in such modes as shall be most beneficial to the trade and com- merce of the people, and shall add most to their comfort and prosperity. (Hear, hear.) In this we shall follow the policy and the example of Sir Robert Peel, from which the country has already derived such inestimable advantage, and from which I trust that it will derive still more. As the estimated surplus of the year amounts to no greater sum than 800,0001. of course, to effect this object, other sources must be sought, and I shall state to the house, in a few moments, how they are to be obtainod. In the first place, there will be a certain extension of the income tax itself. It appears but reasonable that incomes below 1501. should also be charged with the tax. Incomes between 1001. and 1501. have derived great advantage by the re missions of taxation which took place in 1842 and 1845, and from the measures which have been adopted in conse quence of the existence of an income tax ; they will also derive great advantage from the remissions of taxation now to be made • and it seems but reasonable, therefore, that they should be prepared to share in the burden of the in come tax, which is now about to bo modified. However, it is intended that incomes from 1001. to 1501. shall only be taxed at the rate of sd. in the pound, so that incomes of 1501. will pay 7d. for the first two year, 6d. for the next two years, whilst both they and incomes down toloo/. will pay sd. for the remaining three years. The sum esti mated to be obtained from this extension of the tax is 250,0001. Then comes the extension to Ireland. Now, my lords, in principle it cannot be denied that there is no doubt that Ireland ought to be equally taxed with Eng land. This principle was acknowledged by Sir Robert Peel in 1842, when he imposed the income tax, by a com pensatory tax he proposed for Ireland—a duty on spirits of Is. a gallon, and an increased stamp duty. It is true that the spirit duty was very speedily repealed, and some time afterwards a very large proportion of the stamp duty was also repealed. But the p rinciple of equal taxation cannot possibly be controverted ; and it is proposed now to extend the income tax to Ireland, by which it is ex pected that 450,0001. will be obtained. But although Ire land has received the same advantage as the cther parts of the kingdom have derived from the imposition of the in come tax in 1842, and the measures of general relief passed in consequence, still the situation of that country, no doubt, requires consideration, and calls for large and liberal deal ing. Although the distress under which that country has laboured with such severity has been mitigated, and in deed has ceased, still the effects of the calamity of 1847 re main to be alleviated and removed ; and in imposing the income tax, it has been thought wise and just to make a great remission of the burdens now imposed upon Ireland. My lords the consolidated annuities represent a capital of 4,500,000/. ; 1,500,000/. may be said strictly to belong to the establishment for the relief of the poor, but the other 3,000,0001. are more or less connected with the land. Now, my lords, the committee of your lordship s ' h ouse w hich sat upon this subject, I believe, recommended the remis sion of 2,000,0001. of these consolidated annuities, but it is the intention of her Majesty's Government to propose the remission of the whole. This may be considered a boon which I think may fairly compensate for the imposi tion of the income tax, inasmuch as a large portion of those annuities, the capital of which represents an annual charge of 245,0001. three-fourths of them, I believe would endure for forty years, whereas the income tax will expire in seven years. The condition of • Ireland, of course, varies in different parts of the country, and, therefore, those remissions of burdens, how ever desirable, and however fair on the whole, operate unequally in different parts. There is no reason, perhaps, why Belfast should not pay an income tax just as well as Glasgow or Liverpool, whilst, on the other hand, the western provinces are utterly unable to discharge the existing obligations. But although the remission may be more woloome and more sensibly felt in one part of the country than another, still the remission of the whole amount appeared to be the most just and equitable mode of proceeding. I will now state to your lordships the whole remission of taxation which it is intended to make, by means of which a permanent income will be secured, and from which we anticipate the extinction of the income tax. From 1853 to 1860, the period at which the income tax will expire, the remission will take place, and the gross loss to the revenue in the present year, arising from this remission, will be 165,0001. I will state the amount for the whole period, in order that persons may be enabled to contrast the income tax as it will exist at the end of this period, with the amount of permanent taxation we shall have realized in order to extinguish it. The remission of the soap duties will be 1,126,0001. ; stamp duties, 418,0001. ; assessed taxes, 290,000/. ; post horses, 54,0001. Total of remissions connected with the inland revenue department, 1,888,0001. Then, as regards the customs—tea duties, 384,000/. ; minor duties, 120,000/. ; and from another source, 262,000/. In short, we calculate that the whole amount of remitted taxation during this period will amount to 5 , 384,0001 • Now we calculate, according to the example RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS. LONDON ANDSOUTH-EASTERN RAlLWAY.—Traffic re turn for the week ending Juno 18, 1853 £17,459 4 9 Corresponding week last year 14,012 16 2 Increase in 1853 £3,446 8 7 LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST RAILWAY.— Traffic return for the week ending June 18, 1853 £13,622 4 4 Corresponding week last year 10:752 9 6 Total of the half-year to this date, 1853 254,104 16 3 Total of the half-year to this date, 1852 225,889 19 4 GLASGOW AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAlLWAY.—Traffic re 'vurn for the week ending June 18, 1853 £4,730 4 10 Corresponding week last year 4,030 8 9 £699 16 1 Increase in 1853 THE IRISH EXODUS.—The emigration mania is said to have somewhat abated in parts of the kingdom, the ' approach of harvest being probably the main cause, but the western counties still contribute their full contin gent Ito the vast Irish population now settling down beyond the two great oceans. The departure on Friday of a large body of emigrants from Galway was marked by a !painful and characteristic scene. A poor man named Francis had struggled through the agitated crowd that besieged the platform, in order to bid his brother farewell. He had been previously in a delicate state of health, and, exhausted and overcome by his struggles and intense emotion, he fell into a swoon, and shortly afterwards expired. SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.—The committee some time since appointed by the Society of Antiquaries to frame a new set of regulations for the government of that body, have, we are informed, given in their report, —and we are led to believe that it is of a character to imply a complete revivification of that long slumberous body. The present state of the matter, we understand, is, that the report has been referred back to the com mittee for their consideration of certain amendments sug gested by the council ; and we hope ere long to be enabled to give our readers who have followed with in terest the recent proceedings within this society, some idea of its provisions. Meantime, we may say that the reduced subscription is fast justifying itself as a source of revenue, and the soreness which attended the dis cussion of that question is, we have reason to think, as fast wearing out.—Athenceunt. TESTIMONIAL.—Mr. Samuel Smith, the writing master of St. Olave's Grammer School, was lately waited upon by a deputation of youths, educated in the school, but now in the employment of the highly-respectable firms of the Messrs. Scovells, Jeremiah Filcher and the purpose o f Sons, and Ch ar l es C ur li ng, E sq., w h ar fi ngers , & c ., f or presenting him with a very beautiful inkstand, as a small token of their esteem and regard. Mr. Smith was also presented with a silver tea service, by the boys of the school, in the year 1837. HUNGARIAN WOMEN.—They are almost all pretty — nay, even handsome ; tall, elegant figures, yet plump ; small feet, oval faces, long dark hair, hanging braided into two tresses, far down the back ; rather dark com plexion, it is true, but at the same time dark, animated eyes, red lips, exquisitely beautiful teeth ; and brisk and li v ely withal in manner and gesture.—Scenes of the Civil War in Hungary. RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE. SOUTH-EASTERN. A special meeting of this company was held yesterday at the Bridge-house, Hotel, London-bridge, to consider four bills now before Parliament ; Mr. Jas. MacGregor, M.P., in the chair. Mr. Herbert, the secretary, having read the notice convening the meeting, The CHAIRMAN said, they had to ask the sanction of the proprietors to the measures promoted by the company in Parliament. They had already passed the House of Commons, and were now in the House of Lords. It would be useless to occupy their time in alluding to the approximation of the station at Reading, without having to pass over a distance of some half mile, as at present, nor to other matters referred to in the first bill he had to submit for their approval. The bill was for continuing permissive powers to the South- Eastern Railway Company to become the purchasers of the steam-ships of the South-Eastern and Continental Steam Packet Company, for working the ferries be tween Folkestone and Boulogne and Dover and Calais ; and it was inconceivable that any opposition should be offered to a bill for a purpose so necessary to their pros perity; but the united influence of the steam-ship asso ciations of Great Britain, and of numerous parties in terested in steam navigation was brought to be bear against the bill in the House of Commons. The whole passenger traffic between England and France last year was 167,074 persons, of whom 103,220 passed by Folkestone and Dover ; 29,793 of that num• ber used the Government packets, and 78,427 the steam-ships of the South-Eastern and Con tinental Steam Packet Company. It was most desirable that the steam-ships !employed in the ferry should be under the control and direction of the railway company, and that the railway company should be at liberty to use them legally for all proper purposes ; and the Government steam-ships of England and France, and those of the South-Eastern and Continental Steam Packet Company, afforded the only means of communi cation at Folkestone and Dover between the coasts. The bill dissolved the Canterbury and Whitstable Rail- I way Company, and authorized the necessary capital to purchase it, and it enabled the raising of 300,0001. for the general purposes of the company. They were in debted to the Committee of Proprietors for setting forth at length the objects of the application of the 300,0001. The next subject to which he had to refer was the ex tension of the North Kent line from Strood to Maid stone, and it might be said to involve the whole policy of the company. A bill for the completion of this rail way, the junction link from the existing line at Maid stone to that of Strood, passed the House of Commons in 1847, was read a second time in the Lords in that year, and then suspended. Its obvious utility was seen on the map, whether they looked to the traffic on the North Kent line of railway between London and Strood, which averaged 4,6251. per mile per annum ; to the present traffic between Strood (which was, in fact, Rochester and Chatham) and Maidstone ; to the amplification by railway facilities of the commerce of those places ; or to the general incidents of traffic on the lines of the com pany, and the directors unanimously recommended the completion of this portion of the South-Eastern Railway, which would average as much as the general earnings of the line. To understand their present position it was necessary to refer for a moment to the past, and to re collect that the original act for constructing the main line to Dover and the Continent passed in 1836. It provided for a capital of 1,850,0001. In 1840 power was got to enlarge the station at London-bridge, and to raise a capital of 120,0001. In 1842 1,066,0001. more was found necessary for the original works ; and in 1843 266,6001. beyond that. In 1843 149,3001. was also asked for and got for the present Maidstone branch, and 177,777/. for the Bricklayers' Arms branch and station. In 1844 533,0001. was granted by Parliament to make the Canterbury, Ramsgate, and Margate branch, and 266,6001. for the Folkestone branch and harbour and general purposes. They would, therefore, observe that a company, the capital of which was xed in 1836 at 1,850,0001., had obtained in 1844 power from Prlia ment to expend in railway works in the county of Kent 4,429,2771., viz.: -3,183,2001. in the works, which it was supposed at first would be constructed for 1,850,0001., and 1,246,0771. in new and additional works. It then appeared to Parliament that the gigan tic character of railway undertakings and their import ance to the country required peculiar watchfulness and direction on the part of the Legislature ; and hence the reference of projects for railways to the railway depart ment of the Board of Trade. The report of that de partment showed that a very extensive and comprehen sive system for the accommodation of the South-Eastern district was proposed by the company, while, under the speculative mania of the times, schemes, as large, but not so perfect, were suggested by other parties. He called attention to the fact that the sanctioned outlay of capital in 1844 was 4 ,500,000/. They hoped then to have been shielded from all further Parliamentary con tests, and to have been permitted to pursue in peace the objects they had before them, to secure the traffic of the south-eastern district by the gradual extension of their system of railways in Kent. Guided by those views, in 1844, the company made the most liberal propositions to Lord Dalhousie for the extension of their lines, and were received in like spirit by that nobleman, whose decision was in favour of a south eastern system of railways in Kent ; and, in equivalent, they offered to his lordship the guarantee of the capital which they bad then embarked to construct large works —some much valued for the service of the State, and admitted to be unremunerative. Between that period (1844 and 1553) they had expended between 5,000,0001. and 6,000,0001. of money in the construction of these works. There had been no pause on their part in pro moting in Kent and Sussex the completion of that rail way system to which they had pledged themselves. The rival projects since suggested by other parties had ema nated from an impatience of the county of Kent for an extension of the North Kent line from Strood to Chil ham. The position in which the sanction to the projects now submitted would place the company was this ?-- They had expended a capital of 10,630,0201., liable to reduction by the realisation of surplus property to the sum of 10,379,3751., exclusive of the cost of the Strood and Maidstone branch of the Reading Ex tension, but including the payment for the Canterbury and Whitstable line and the steam-ships, and the outlay of the 300,000/. additional capital. The gross earnings of the company last year were 773,7711., or 14,8801. per week. The outgoings were-346,289/. working expenses, 197,173/. fixed charges, 7,430/. Parliamentary charges—in all 543,992/. The working expenses and Parliamentary expenses were 45'726 per cent. Assuming the 500,000/. which was to pay for the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, the 100,0001. for the steam-ships, and the 300,0001. to close the capital account, to be raised at 4 per cent. per annum, it would require 15,455/. per week at the same percentage rate of expenses as last year to pay the dividend paid last year, which was 18s. 6d. per 301. stock, or 3/. ls. Bd. per cent. Since the Ist February the receipts to the 18th of June amounted to 261,8861. or 23,4521. more than at the corresponding period of last year, and which showed an increase of 1,1721. 12s. sd. per week. The earnings of the steam-ships, the saving of part of the Canterbury and Whitstable rent, and the rentals to be derived from portions of the further outlay of 300,0001., which might be taken at 3,0001. per annum, would be an addition thereto, and would, they trusted, aid in producing better results. He concluded by moving a resolution approving of a bill for enabling the completion of the purchase of the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, and the steam-ships of the South-Eastern and Continental Steam Packet Company, and the raising of additional capital for those objects, and for the general purposes of the company. Mr. RENSHAW seconded the motion. The Solicitor read the heads of the bill. A PROPRIETOR wished to know whether any of the profits of the railway company had been devoted to the steam-packet company, and if so, how much had been given them. The CHAIRMAN said that sums had been voted to the steam-packet company for special services to promote the traffic on the railway. Towards these special ser vices the Boulogne and Amiens, the South-Eastern, and the Northern of France Railway companies had con tributed, and he believed the contributions amounted together to about 15,0001. The service between Dover and Calais did not pay the steam-boat company, and the Northern of Franco and the South-Eastern Railway com panies had voted money towards the expenses. In reply to other questions he stated that the number of passen gers conveyed between England and France was 167,074, and of this number 108,220 had passed over the South- Eastern Railway, and 78,000 over in the South-Eastern steam-boats, and 29,000 by the Government boats. The proprietors of the South-Eastern and Continental Steam Packet Company were also proprietors of the South- Eastern Railway ; and on undertaking the service, with a view to promote the traffic on the railway, they were told they would be guaranteed 5 per cent. on their out lay. The boats had been valued by the surveyors at Lloyd's at 90,0001., and that was the sum the South- Eastern Company would have to pay if they purchased them, which sum was about 20,0001 less than they had cost the steam-boat company. lie would like to know how the 108,000 passengers in the year were to be secured to the railway company if they had not had the steam-boats under their control. It was quite natural that the other steam-boat companies should be opposed to the railway company having steam-boats of their own. The matter had undergone the careful consideration of a committee of shareholders, and they had approved of the whole of the measures promoted by the directors. Mr. HAMILTON then proceeded to read a long state ment he had prepared for the occasion, amid confusion and cries of " question." It stated, in reference to the increased expenditure for rolling stock, that, with the exception of about 12 miles of the Tunbridge Wells and Hastings line, it was nearly two years since any addi tional line had been opened belonging to the company. In the first six months of those two years 65,4811. was expended in the purchase of 20 new engines and 40 carriages to meet the Exhibition traffic. In the second six months of 1851, 41,1851. was charged to capital for working stock, besides an additional sum on the same account placed to the debit of revenue. In the second half-year of 1852 the further sum of 6,3911. was charged to capital on the same account, making the total charge for additional working stock in the two years ending 31st January, 1853, 113,0571, The gross traffic for those two years exhibited an inc rease , com pared with the previous two years, of 353,0001., but with no increase in the amount applicable for dividend beyond 3d. per share. He complained that they were running express trains throughout the year, 101 miles, from London to Margate, at about ld. per mile, and 67 miles, from London to Reading, under id. per mile, for first class passengers. After making some personal observa tions on the chairman, which were received with con siderable disapprobation by the meeting, he concluded by stating that the moneyed interests knew that the EAST LANCASHIRE. A special general meeting of this company was held at Bury, near Manchester, on Monday afternoon, to con sider the draft of two bills now before Parliament, one of which is a bill to extend the East Lancashire Railway from Clifton (where it now joins the Lancashire) to Manchester, a distance of four miles ; and the other bill is one to extend their railway to Southport and Rainford, and to make arrangements with the St. Helen's Canal and Railway Company. Mr. THOMAS DUGDALE, chairman of the board, pre sided, and in opening the proceedings, briefly referred to his spfrech at the last half-yearly meeting of the company in explanation of the bills now brought before the share holders, under the standing orders of the House of Lords. To construct the Clifton Extension, the bill took power to raise 150,0001. (of which 130,0001. would be required for the line and stations), leaving 20,0001. to cover contingencies, with the usual borrowing powers, when half the capital was paid, and power to issue bonds. He contended that, independent of the commer cial advantages to be derived from constructing the new line, the toll they at present paid the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company would pay 10 per cent. upon the outlay; but it was shown by one witness before the par liamentary committee, that a house with which he was connected would be able to send traffic equal to 1,5001. a-year over the new line, and one of his neighbours would do the same. These parties sent their traffic at present by cart to Manchester, for want of present means to do it with sufficient dispatch. Another reason for this extension was that a coroner's jury had declared the trains to be so numerous over the Lan cashire and Yorkshire line at present as to be danger ous, whilst it was known that a feeling of insecu rity prevailed amongst all passengers by this company's line over the part of the journey from Salford to Clifton. (Hear, hear.) The second bill was to make a branch from Ormskirk station to Southport, and an extension from Skelmersdale to Rainforth, extensions which would be made at 84,0501., and the advantage of which to this company could not be over estimated. A gross receipt of 101. per week per mile would give a profit of 5 per cent. on the capital, after paying working expenses, and the worst portion of the present line had a gross receipt of double that amount. This portion of new works would be 14 miles in length, of which three were already made. It had been ascertained from the printed lists of visitors to Southport that 40,000 persons visited that place from East Lancashire district last year, who would have passed over portions of these branches had they been formed. Mr. DAVID PRICE wished to know if it was true they were to pay 15,000/. for the madhouse at Clifton ! Mr. GRUNDY, solicitor, said they had agreed to pay nothing yet, and the payment was to be settled by arbi tration of the Mayor of Manchester. The marginal references in the bills were then read over. Resolutions approving of the bills were moved by the chairman, and after a short address from Mr. D. Price, who ridiculed the notion of the Clifton and Manchester Extension being constructed for anything like the money con t e mplated, they were p asse l b y a large meeting w ith only one dissentient. THE GENERAL SCREW COMPANY.—We hear that the d Queen of the S ou th is on her way to England fr om Cal cutta, with 50 passengers ; and that the Hydasp es i s d o a a g il y o . e p rr e b e t e e dl latter mr ship M w aasuoribtliiugse to refuse numerous, full of pass engers an d applications for a passage. I which we have already followed, that this amount of re mitted taxation, large as it is, will recover itself in the course of this period, just as the remissions of taxation in 1844 and 1845 have had that effect ; and taking the same average as we have already experienced during the period since 1842, we have arrived at the same result. Therefore, at the end of the period to which I have referred, there will be an income tax remaining —the present income tax being 5,550,0001., and the additions now proposed being 590,000/.—making a total of 6,140,0001. There will also bo now permanent sources of revenue to meet that, namely, a legacy duty of 2,000,0001., spirit duties, 436,0001. licenses, 113,0001., making a total of 2,519,0001. There will be an anticipated reduction of charge on the Three and-a-Quarter per Cents., the result of the operation of Mr. Goulbourn's measure, amounting to 624,0001. The average annual diminution of charge, according to that which has taken place during the last three years, will amount in seven years to 640,0001. In the year 1860 will fall in the Long Annuities, being 1,292,0001., with others amounting to 854,0001., making 2,146,0001. So that the whole of the reductions of chard and the permanent sources of income which I have mentioned will amount together to 5,959,0001., making an amount within 180,0001. of the 'then existing income tax : so that, if the Legislature should think proper, the income tax may be dispensed with without any charge or sacrifice. Now, my lords, I must say that this appears to me to be a solid system of finance. (Hear, hear, hear.) It has already been received with great acceptation by the country, and has met with very general approval. I believe that, coupled as thi s p roposa l i s , w ith a fi xe d faith in and ad herence to that system of free trade so wisely adopted, if you pcnevere in this system of finance, and also if we should be fortunate enough to perserve the inestimable blessings o f peace which we have experienced for the last forty years—l believ e th a t i n th a t case thi s coun t ry w ill see times of happiness and prosperity which hitherto it has not yet kn own . M y lords, I beg to .move the second read ing of this bill. The Earl of DERBY : My lords, I do not rise for the purpose of offering any opposition to the second reading of this bill, because I am quite aware that the state of our finances is not such as would enable us to dispense with that large sum of money which is annually brought into the Treasury by the income tax. But I must say that the speech of the noble earl, from first to last, appears to me to be a contradiction both of the premises from which he proceeded and of the conclusions at which ho arrived, and I cannot but believe that some of his calculations are of a character so vague and delusory as to render it absolutely impossible to reckon upon them with any degree of cer tainty as to what may happen or what may be done in the next six or seven years. (Hear, hear.) The noble earl began by stating all the objections which there were to an income tax at all. He spoke of its inquisitorial character, and—quoting an argument which was used, I believe by the Chancellor of the Exchequer—he stated that this was a tax peculiarly suited to the time of war, which ought to be a weapon not always kept in the hand, but hung up against the wall ; and then, having established the unfit ness of this tax for the ordinary revenue of the country, the noble earl, without assigning any season, comes to the conclusion that the tax should be renewed, not in time of war, but for the general serviee of the country in time of peace, and for a period, which, accord ing to the views of the noble earl and his collea gues, is more than double the period for which it was Government. (Hear.) The renewal of by the atanxy ene was asked for by Sir R. Peel, for the purpose of assisting the taxation, and he, expressed a hope that at the end of three or five years he might be enabled to dispense with it; but as each successive period has come to a close, every Government has found itself, in consequence of the reduction of taxation, in a position in which it was absolutely necessary to ask for a continuance of the tax, notwithstanding all the objections to whom it was open. But the difference between former Govern ments and this Government is this, that whereas they have asked for it for a limited period, in consequence of the actual state of the revenue, the noble earl and his col leagues ask for a continuance of this tax for the purpose of carrying into effect, and still further extending those principles of taxation upon which the noble earl has pro nounced a eulogium. But after the noble earl has come to the conclusion that, notwithstanding the character of the tax altogether, it is still necessary to impose it, and to continue it for a longer period than on any former occa sion, he next proceeds to discuss the character and parti cular incidents and details of the tax, and he tells your lordships that, in addition to the inquisitorial nature of the tax, it is impossible to deny but that between various classes of the community it operates with gross and grie vous injustice, the consequence of which I should have thought would be that the noble earl, in proposing its re newal for so long a period, would have sought to have diminished and redressed that injustice. (Hear, hear.) The noble earl has referred to the intention of the late. Government to draw a distinction which he confesses to bo equitable, namely, where property is realised, on which no deductions have accrued, and the income derived from which is permanent, and without any drawback—to make a distinction between that species of property and pre carious incomes. He says that he does not know in what manner the late Government intended to carry that, into effect; but now the noble earl must forgive me if I re-.... mind him that he should not come to any hasty conclu sion on this point, inasmuch as the late Government, hav ing had no opportunity of bringing their proposal forward, did no more than indicate the outlines of it. An important part of our budget was rejected by the House of Commons, • and consequently the Chancellor of the Exchequer , never , had an opportunity of developing the mode in which he pro posed to carry into effect the principle of which h e acknow ledgedj the justice, and on which he was prepared to act ; of which, too, the noble earl acknowledges the justice, but on which he is not prepared to act. The noble earl has taken credit for the great ability and skill which characte rised the speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in sup port of his proposition for maintaining the present income tax, with all its acknowledged injustice, and lie attributes the success which has attended the passing of the bill 1 through the other House of Parliament to tho powerful reasons stated by the right hon. gentleman in support of ' his views. He has forgotten, however, to recite amongst the persuasive inducements which might have obtained the ' acquiescence of the House of Commons, that while the Chancellor of the Exchequer undoubtedly deprived a cer tain class of the advantages which they might have ex pected from the equalisation of the pressure of the income tax by establishing a distinction between fixed and pre carious incomes, he at the same time gave a boon to all that class by fixing an oppressive tax, in the shape of a succession tax, on real property, from which that class of property is at present exempt. I have every respect for the great ability and the great power in debate and argu ment of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but I must ven ture to retain my own opinion, that the success of the in come tax in its present and amended form was not attri - butable to any powerful arguments, but to the counter ad vantage of having a very heavy tax thrown upon real pro perty. Having established that the income tax is an in quisitorial tax—having, in the neat place, proved, and having assumed that its manner of assessment was grossly unjust and partial, the noble earl proceeds to take great credit for not having made this tax a portion of the per manent revenue of the country. As I have stated ,before, so far from having given any indication of an intention to relieve the country from this tax, the present Government have asked for the continuance of the tax for a period more than double what was asked for by any previous administration, but they hold out a prospect, though clouded by various hints and insinuations, and have taken credit to themselves for providing for the re duction of the tax at the end of seven years. (Hear, hear.) Now, the noble lord wishes the house to believe, and I wish I could believe, that there was on the part of Govern ment, and still more on the part of Parliament, any wish, or indeed that it was in their power, to give up this income tax at the expiration of the period of seven years. I should have given credit to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for really intending to act upon the principle which he professes, of doing away with this tax, if lie had begun by making some earlier and some more rapid dimi nution of this tax. But the fact is that the Government retain the tax in its full amount for a period of two years ; then they propose to diminish it by one penny in the pound for a period of two years more ; at the expiration of that time it is to be reduced by 2d. out of 7d.; and then it is, to remain unaltered until the expiration of seven years. Then, all at once, the noble earl believes that at the end of this seven years it will be possible, and Parliament will consent to get rid of the tax of sd. in the pound, a sur plus of 4,000,0001. or 5,000,0001. being required to effect that object. (Hear.) If the Government had proposed that the tax should be taken for seven years, and an an nual reduction of one penny in the pound should take place during that period, I should have thought that the proposal carried with it evidence of sincerity, inasmuch as the reduction would be very gradual, and it would bo within the limit s of an ordinary surplus to meet the defi ciency, whereas sd. in the pound is manifestly beyond the extent of the power of any probable surplus at that time. (Hear.) But the noble earl takes credit for saying that at the expiration of the period of seven years there will be a sufficient surplus in the Exchequer to enable you to get rid of the income tax, and he enumerates items for which I am quite prepared to give him credit—namely, the re duction of the Three per Cents, consequent on the mea sure of Mr. Goulburn, and the falling in of the Long An nuities in 1860. But then, in order to make out a surplus, he first of all shows that there will be a reduction of in come to the amount of 5,800,0001., and he then shows that there will be—by a reduction of duty, on which he calcu lates, and by tke diminution of other charges—in point of fact, a saving, at all events, equal to the 5,800,000/. which he is about to lose by the remission of the tax. But then, in order to establish his surplus, he is obliged to go further, and he is obliged to assume that, for the purpose of getting rid of the income tax, the reduction of 5,800,0001. will not only be covered by additional in come falling in, but also that the effect of the reduction generally will have been so great that the whole amount of 5,000,0001. will in the course of seven years been have there will g b o n o d a n t o increasetl Je re revenue. n n u f e . consumption, I ha v no doubt ar that > conse quently to the revenue, arising from the reduction of tax ation in many things ; but observe that th e whol e question; which the noble earl assumes, the whole b asis of his e calcula tions b tax, is that that amount shall have been so great that it °- tions upon which you are going to ge t rid of th shall have restored the whole amount of the loss accruing brought back 0 o r u n idi u n n c t o i n m n e s . to ( i H t s e o a r r i i by the e bo r n ed n u d c a t , io n n n , tw an i gine chance, of whichit is absolutely impossible to ' form My lords, that is a matter of the merest speculation, the merest d ths b t the slightest opinion, and which may be effected by one hundred different circumstances, of which it is impossible that the noble earl should have the smallest data, and yet it is upon the accuracy of those calculations that ho depends for the ability of reducing the income tax in seven years. (Hear.) Now let me call the attention of your lordships to a f e w points, in which it is quite manifest that the noble earl's arguments defeats itself. He states that he shall hails from the income tax in calculated revenue a present amount of 5,500,0001., together with an addition of '250,0001., which is to arise from the extensi on o f th e tax to incomes below 1501. a year, and the sum to be derived from thefextension of the tax to Ireland. Then he is to have 5,500,0001., and about 590,0001. from the extension of the tax to classes not now subject to it. But he has forgotten that before the expiration of the seven years he means to reduce the income tax from 7d. to 5d., and does he expect that the tax will produce the same amount at sd. as it does at 7d. ? (Hear.) Now this will affect the whole of the calculations upon which rests the present prospect of getting rid of the in come tax. I am merely following the noble earl's figures, and surely he must see that there is a mistake affecting 2-7ths of his whole calculation. Believing, as I do, that the tax will be permanent, I do not dispute the theoretical justice of charging the landed property of Ireland,but I think it would have been better to postpone a proposal of this kind to a period when the land of Ireland would be better able to bear it, and if the tax is to be only temporary, I cannot say that I think it was worth while making such a proposition I.'