The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-09 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAt EVENING, DECEMBER 9, 1446. •

matter at present. than that at first sight it appears to be a
mere attempt to holster the declining credit of the Bank of
Lisbon and the lost credit of the Companha de Contienps,
by merging the capital already jeopardised in thole two esta-
blishments into a still more hazardous speculation, which,
whilst it professes to be based op the procaple of a self-
liquidating joint-stock company, with a sinking fund corn•
mensurato to the exigency under which it will be established
of tieing dissolved after a given period of thirty years, is in
reality only an effort to induce people to embark in the
speculation upon the strength of an exclusive banking mono-
poly. granted by the government for the number of years
specified. How far this will succeed in calling out the
hoarded funds of the capitalists of Lisbon, I am as yet not
in a condition to offer any opinion. A very short time will
perhaps qualify me to form a judgment, which I will then
give.--A musical entertainment took place at the San Carlos
theatre on Saturday last, during which the public enthu-
siasm (somewhat fanned, it is true, by unmistakable agen-
cies) ripe to such a pitch as to induce the audience in
demaud the National Hymn of the Charter six times; I left
the theatre just as the fresh accession of loyalty had culmi-
nated to the seventh degree, and how many more repetitions
of the chant took place I am unable to say. General Prim
and his aide,Viseount Equevillez, arrived at Lisbon lastn;ght,
having passed from Oporto through Coimbra and Santarem.
They report favourably of Dss Antas's partisans. He
b p.m. 23rd.—The London mail of the 17th is not yet in.

for its partition amongst the great powers of Europe.
This precious production had, previous to publication,
been sent to the Emperor Nicholas by M. d'Oustenoff,
his Imperial Majesty's envoy at Constantinople. The
reputed author is a certain Razi, an employe in the
Belgian chancelry, but who was formerly in the
secret service of Russia. The document is well drawn
up, which makes people doubt its being the produc-
tion of an illiterate man like Bari. Indeed, it is
generally supposed to have been concocted by
some one of greater rank and talent than the
ex-Russian spy, and who is as remarkable
for his love of mischief as for his eccentricities.
It must, however, be confessed that the amuse-
ment he affords the public by his display of the
latter peculiarities more than indemnify 'them for
the annoyance ho occasions in his character of a
mischief-maker. Nothing, however, could have been
more uncharitable than to drag poor Razi from his
obscure infamy, before the public, adding ridicule to
the loathing with which such men are generally re-
garded. Razi, however, has received, what, to a
mind like his, must be a panacea for all injuries,
namely, a handsome present from no less a person
than M. d'Oustenoff, the Russian envoy. This conduct
has naturally given offence, and indeed a certain dis-
quiet to the Porte, to see so prominent a mark of
approbation thus given, to such a nefarious proposi-
tion as that contained in the document in question.
Explanations have been verbally demanded by the
Porte. England and France, we are happy to say,
have strongly expressed their disapprobation of the
unprecedented conduct of the Russian envoy.

PARIS. Dec. 8.
It is not news to inform you that M. Guizot gave a
grand ball to the Bey of Tunis. The Bey may have
conceived on that occasion a high opinion of Parisian
society, but he must also have understood the diplo-
matic isolation of the French government ; for of all
the ambassadors or foreign ministers at present in
Paris, there was none present but the Spanish Am-
bassador. The Pre4se was right when it announced
that the Minister for Foreign Affairs had despatched
a protest to Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, on
the subject of the annexation of Cracow. This mani-
festo is written with great dignity. M. Guizot starts
in it by declaring that the destruction of the
liberty of Cracow is in direct violation of the
treaties of Vienna ; he explains that there was no
pretext afforded for spoliation, and that no argn-
ment in its favour can be drawn from previous circum-
stances. He terminates by signifying to the powers
that they have put an end to the treaties of \ ienna,
and that France no longer considers herself bound by
them, but will in future act as may best suit her
honour and her interests. Though the Opposition
journals seem not to receive with great favour the
protest of M. Guizot, it must be owned that he has
hitherto done all that circumstances required. The
French government, in declaring the future nullity of the
treaties of 1813, is inaugurating an entirely new state
of things; it answers acts of despotism by threats
of liberty ; and can anything be more grave or more
decisive than this, so long as words do not produce
acts? The declarations of M. Guizot form a radical
change of policy. In signing it, M. Guizot has signed
his own condemnation. It is impossible for this
minister of peace at any price, the man whom the
nation most mistrusts, to remain a minister at a mo-
ment when a propaganda, and perhaps a European
war, are in perspective. M. Guizot will be unable, I I
repeat it, to go through the session.
The Paris journals have made numerous comments
upon the financial state of France : I shall now say a
few words on that subject. For the last few days,
the stock and share markets have worn a more
favourable aspect; prices haverisen. Money isless scarce
on Change. Exchanges are made at low prices, and
the discount on bills does not exceed from 31 to 4 per
cent. Lastly, it is considered probable that the pay-
ment required for the Lyons and Northern Company,
in December, will be made with facility. The onl v cause
of serious anxiety was the state of the Bank of France.
That establishment, which generally possesses as much
in gold as there are notes in circulation, was at one
time in possession of 80 millions of gold, to meet an
amount in notes of 270 millions. There was little to
alarm in such a state of things. In a financial crisis,
a bank in possession of gold to one-third of the amount
of its notes in circulation may be considered safe.
The regents of the bank, however, who are by no
means remarkable either for courage or capability,
finding themselves in a novel situation, had already
caught fright, and were thinking of negotiating a loan
either in London or Amsterdam of two millions

SPAIN.—A correspondent from Madrid, under
date the 30th November, has sent us the following state-
ment, confirmatory of the " situatiou" of which we published
addan seer
to
tt yesterday
ils moupecr utisnugalthSepatish ee.
nMe owt er, s. He
which has
are worthy of notice: "At twelve o'clock to-day the present
ministers were expecting their dismissal. The opposition
party, or coalition of Progressistas and dissenting Moderadoe,
supported by the Infente D. Francisco, father of the King-
Consort, have worked hard, and, it would appear, with suc-
cess, to beat the adherents of the Queen-mother. Their
object is to get into power immediately, so as to be in time to
upset the elections, which promise a considerable majority in
favour of the cabinet. Should the present ministers remain
in power two days more, it wiU be too late, as the election
days are the 6th and 7th of December. It is a fact worthy
of attention, to show the state of affairs at the paean, that
the Queen-Mother has called daily dining the pest week
upon her daughter without being able to obtain an inter-
view for any length of time. Last evening, at half-past eleven,
she went again, and was kept waiting a long while, the
queen being closeted with some one else. When this person
departed, Queen Christina was admitted. The star of the
Duchess de Rianzares is evidently fast setting, at least for a
time. You may rely upon the correctness of these details.
Last night, at twelve o'clock, a fire broke out at the offices of
the ministry of war, which is still burning. The whole of
the records, as well as the offices of the minister and sub-
secretary, have been reduced to ashes.
ITALY.—The encyclical letter of Pius IX. to the
Catholic Bishops, opens by a homage in honour of the late
Pope " cujus certe memoriam et gloriosa facto, aureis notis
inscripta in ecelesire fastis semper admiratis tuo posteritas."
The holy father then continues :—" You are aware, yellers-
ble brethren, how the most violent and terrible warfare IMP
been waged against the Catholic cause in this unhappy cen-
tury, by those who have met together in an odious league,
strangers to the holy doctrines, turning a deaf ear to truth,
and drawing up from the ways of darkness the most ruon-
strous opinions, exaggerating them as much as in their power
and spreading them among the people. We shudder from
our very heart, and it is with heartfelt sorrow that we recall
the frightful errors the numerous and varied artifices, the
traps, the snares, the intrigues, by means of which those
enemies of truth and light, those crafty masters of lies endea-
vour to extinguish in the hearts of all the fear of God, jus-
tice and probity, to pervert murals, to confound divine and
human right, who seek the overthrow of the Catholic church
and civil society. Then follows a nomenclature of the ene-
mies of the church, among which, figure those who deny
the revelations, blasphemers, those who subject to reason
the authority of the church and the word of God,
Sectarians and others. The rest of the encyclical
letter contains exhortations to the clergy written in
en enlightened and religious spirit. The duties of
the clergy are traced out under the three reports of doctrine,
discipline, and practical life. Before ordaining, the bi hops
are called upon to examine the candidate, to see if he be fit
to be ordained, and this examination is to be severe, both m
regards the acquirements and the morals of the candidata.
Young men intended for orders are to receive a raglans
education from their very youth. The best means for in-
structing the faithful, and for preventing proselytism, is the
simple expounding of the word of God, without the vain at-
tirements of eloquence. The letter terminates by a prayer to
the Throne of Grace, under the invocation and through the
intercession of the Mother of God, of Mary the Immaculate
Virgin, of the Prince of Apostles, to whom Jesus entrusted
the keys of the Heavenly empire, of the apostle Paul, and
all the saints, and through the apostolic benediction.
The Pope has decreed a universal jubilee to be held
at St. John Lateran and Santa Maria Maggiore, to commence
on the second Sunday in Advent, and to continue till the
27th, the festival of St. John. Full indulgences (indulgentia
peceatoruns omnium plenissiout ) will be granted.
GERMANY.—BERLIN, Nov. 2R.—I have informed
you that the Breslau deputation received from the king a
favourable answer. The question respecting commerce and
intercourse with Cracow is said to have been one for which
the Prussian cabinet was wholly unprepared, and the
people were, therefore, far from expecting so positive and
consoling an answer as was yesterday given by the king to the
petition for the continuance of the commerce of Silesia and,
Prussia with Cracow, en the same footing as hitherto. The
deputies of the city of Cracow were most graciously assured
that by the negotiations which were already on foot between
the cabinets of Vienna and Berlin, the commercial relations
of the city of Cracow, under the dominion of Austria, should
be regulated so that in future the commerce of the province
of Silesia and of Prussia in general should enjoy the same
advantages as hitherto. The king is said to have added, that
though the political forms of Cracow were changed by the
interference of the three protecting powers, yet the treaty of
Vienna of 1815 would be the basis of the treatment of all
the other relations of the late assemblies.— Allgemeine
Zeitung, Dec. 3.
Nov. 29.—Our Minister for Foreign Affairs has
just received an energetic protest from Lord Palmerston
against the absorption of the republic of Cracow. M. de
Kamptz has been sent on a special mission to Vienna, to
regulate the commercial interests of Prroisia in regard to the
incorporation of Cracow with the Austrian dominions.
VIENNA, NOV. 29.—The Swabian Mercury takes,
upon itself to assert that the " violent declamation of the
English and French journals respecting the occupation of
Cracow produces as little effect amongst the polite of
Vienna as the protests of England and France are likely to
produce on the Northern courts."
The Carlaruhe Gazette of the 3rd inst. says :—" A
i document will be shortly published to be communicated to
the courts of London and Paris, to prove that the northern
powers had the right of suppressing the republic of Cracow
without the co-operation of the other powers which signed
the treaty of Vienna. In this manifesto a categorical dis-
tinction will be drawn between the powers who guarantee
and those who participate directly in the contract. By
standing guarantee the guarantees do not acquire the right
of prohibiting the contracting parties from undoing their
work, and entering into new agreements. This rupture can
only have for result to dispense the guarantees from the obli-
gation of interfering in the discussions of the contracting
parties. England and France only stood as guarantees, and
did not perticipate in the contract; they only took a passive
part at the time of the formation of the republic of Cracow.
Thus, the treaty of Vienna has not been violated; but it
would be so if France and England wished to regard them-
selves as contracting parties instead of mere guarantees."
Stitlotal ILLNESS OP PRINCE METTERNICIL—The
Cologne Gazette, of December 7, states, on the authority of
a correspondent from the Danube," that the above distin-
guished statesman is dangerously ill, and that he has been
confined during several days to his bed. It appears that he
is suffering under a species of fever, which allows him no
rest. The Gazette adds that Count Munch-Bellinghausen,
the President of the Germanic Diet, is with the prince night
and day.
'The Frankfurter Journal, of Dec. 6, copies the fol-
lowing remarkable paragraph from a Berlin paper :
" Waasaw, Nov. 28.—At the commencement of the
Russian new year, the kingdom' of Poland, the existence
of which was guaranteed at the Congress of Vienna, will be
abolished, and the territory be formed into a Russian pro-
vince. The arrangements are already made. On the 10th
of January the line of customs between Russia and the
kingdom' of Poland will be removed, and a free inter-
course will take place. This measure will confer many
advantages on Polish manufacturers."
WuarEmneuo.—A royal ordonnance has been
issued convoking the Chambers for the 4th January next.
HitFesLAw, Nov. 29.—The Schkaische Zeituny
states that the commercial deputation which went to Berlin,
in order to induce the government to take steps for securing
the interests of Silesia, with reference to its trade with
Cracow, had returned to Breslaw. The members of the
deputation report that they rece.ved the assurance of the
government, that it would pay particular attention to the
trading interests of that province, and that it had already
demanded the maintenance in Cracow of the status quo of
customs and duties as guaranteed by the treaty of May 5,
1815. Should the negotiations prove successful, the Prus-
sian provinces contiguoue to the Cracovian territory will be
placed on the favourable footing enjoyed by them previously
to the annexation of the republic If the statement of the
Silesian Gazette be true, the positive announcement made,
a few days before, by the commercial Blatt of Breslaw, that
the territory of the ex-republic will be comprised in the
line of Austrian customs. annesrs to be at least premature.

sterling.
Fortunately the panic has come to an end. Gold
begins to flow in instead of out. On the 4th instant,
the bank received 1,200,000 francs in cash,and money,
which went out through the arteries of circulation,
is now coining in through the veins. The corn im-
portations, which exhausted ready money, will soon
completely stop ; France has received from the ex-
terior more than two millions of bushels of wheat, as
great a quantity as was imported at the time of the
famine in 1818.
The current account of the Treasury with the bank,
which is only paid at present by a deposit of twenty.
four millions, will infallibly increase between this and
the first month in 1847. On one hand, the Treasury,
after having made the six months' payment of the
Three per Cent. Stock, which falls due on the 22nd of
December, will require TIO more than can be met by the
ordinary revenue. On the other hand the emission
of royal bills now taking place, the reimbursement
of twenty millions about to be made by the Northern
Company, and the advances of the receivers-general,
will form in the hands of government a fund which
will necessarily be paid into the bank. I should not
be astonished if the reserve cash in the bank was to
be 110 or 120 millions before the end of January. I
must observe to you that the uneasiness, if there be
any uneasiness, is purely financial. It results from
the incumbrancee which the multiplicity of industrial
speculations has produced on the l'aris Bourse.
Money is not realised only because too much has been
called for. As regards commerce and manufactures
neither have diminished their operations. Apart
from the manufacture of common goods, which
languishes because the peasants purchase little
owing to the inundations and a bad season, all the
establishments are glutted with orders, and all hands
are employed. It is therefore to be hoped, that if
the political situation improves, and the railroad
schemes, which the public do not look upon favour-
ably, are liquidated, serenity and prosperity will
reign again in our finances, the equilibrium of which
has appeared to be for a moment disturbed. 0.

CONSTANTINOPLE, Nov. 29.
Mr. Alison, the oriental secretary of the British
Embassy, has just returned from Salonica, whither
he had been sent by the lion. Mr. Wellesley, to in-
quire into charges which had been made by the Turk-
ish authorities against the English Consul of that
place, of giving passports to rayahs, which enabled
them to avoid paying the haratch or capitation tax.
After a minute inquiry into all the circumstances of
the case, it was found that the charges were ut-
terly frivolous. Though, from the fact of lonians
wearing the same costume, and speaking the
same language as the Greek subjects of the Porte,
not a single instance has yet been known of a
British Consul taking advantage of the facilities
thus afforded him of practising any fraud upon
the Turkish government. Neither Russia nor Greece
can claim an exemption from the same accusation.
Russian protection is sold at the chancelry at Pera for
a trifling sum, and without other difficulty than
merely the asking. The purchasers are generally
Greek rayahs. The passport, however, is seldom
produced but where the holder wishes to have the
privileges of a Frank ; but where it is his interest to
pass for a rayah, he remains in his original character.
Witness the example given in the late trial of the
assassin Stamiatades, who made an attempt on the
life of the Prince of Samos. Stamiatades was a
rayah, but having once fled to Russia to escape
punishment for a political offence, he there obtained a
Russian passport, under protection of which he re-
turned to Turkey to put his murderous design into
execution. He was not mistaken. Russia extended
her shield over the assassin, and saved him from the
death he so richly merited. As far as Greece is con-
cerned, a certain check has been put to the evil. The
Porte has sent instructions to its envoy at Athens to
refuse signing any Greek passport until it be proved
that the applicant is a real (Joni fide subject of
the Hellenic government. This order has been
communicated to the Turkish consuls through-
out the dominions of King Otho. The general sys-
tem pursued by the Greek subjects of the Porte, who
wished to practice the frauds to which I have alluded,
was to pay a short visit to Athens, or any other town
in the Hellenicterritories, and on their departure from
thence to take a passport as a subject of King Otho. I
These false passports have been hitherto always
visied by the Turkish consuls, for whom it was im-
possible, for the reasons already given, to distinguish
between a Greek of Athens and one of Constanti-
nople. A sensation has been produced at the Porte
by a document published in a late number of the
Go:elle of Leipsig. In this document the near ruin
of the Ottoman empire is foretold, and a plan is given

'Ube Grout.

in general cabins -

The rate to

return thanks to the Almighty, under 'whose protection 4
you were enabled happily to get through a long and ]
laborious session. In summoning you to new labours, I
reckon as ever upon your patriotism. It is our duty to pc- ,
cupy ourselves seriously with our financial legislation. My
government will immediately submit to yon the budget of
the next year. The constitution, our mutual bond and
guide, requires that the Chambers, in voting the budget of
each year, shall not discuss the expenditure incurred, but
thst to be made. Thus, my government will no longer have
to apply to you for provisional credits, which attack the ad-
ministrative independence, and the liberty of the parlia-
mentary control of the budget. Confiding, therefore. in your
zeal and intelligence, I expect your efforts towards this im-
portant point. My government will a‘so submit to you
some bills, the urgency of which you will appreciate. My
relations with other powers continue to be friendly. Believe
me, gentlemen, when I say that it is a great satisfaction
efor
me to find myself again in the midst of you, and at bing
able to express to you my gratitude for the film and loyal
support, which, iu the interest of the State, you have given
to my govprnment. Let us not separate, gentlemen, with-
out thanking Providence for the benefits for which the nation
shows itself every day more and more worthy. Let us con-
gratulate ourselves mutually on the progress of our agricul•
ture and our mercantile navy. Sooner or lister this progress
wi'l leave no doubt in the mind of any person as to the sue-
cess of our efforts for the welfare of the country and the
discharge of our debt to the Powers which have been our
benefactors."
We read in the same journal—" On the 11th ult.' M.
Coletti was attacked by • violent inflammation of the kid-
neys, accompanied by the most alarming symptoms. For
five days the life of the minister was considered in danger ;
since the 17th the malady began to subside. All apprehen-
sions for the life of the Minister have ceased."
We learn by letters from Trebisond, of the 12th ult., ,
that the cholera was still raging at Tauris at the end of
October. It is said that from the 11th to the 27th of that
month 10,000 persons had died, and that the number of
deaths daily when the account left was 200. At Bagdad
the cholera had ceased to rage, except in a sporadic form,
and the European Consuls had returned to the town from
the environs which had not yet been attacked by the disease.
A letter from Constantinople of the 16th ult, states that
about 400 vessels in Turkish ports, bound for the Black
Sea, to take in corn, were detained by the storms which had
been raging for the last month.
The small-pox was prevalent at Constantinople, and had
muieldminogntohts
twoa ottradrefsstewmertertg,iovfen4esto. Constantinople
the carried off a great many victims.
the Sob
the engines for which were ordered in England. Bye letter
from Constantinople, of the 17th, we learn that the steamers
were in a very forward state, and that the engines had just
arrived from London.
A Smyrna journal of the 20th ult., states that the corn
crops in a great part of Turkey have this year been good ;
but as all the stores of the preceding year have been
exhausted, it recommends that they should be replenished
ae a precaution against a failure next year, and no exports be
allowed, unless there should be a surplus when the stores
have been replenished.

THE GREAT WESTERN Was to have left New York

on the 26th ult. If she dii so, she has now been out
thirteen days; but, as the wind is against her, she is not
expected at Liverpool before to-morrow.

Yesterday her Majesty and her Royal Consort
took their accustomed early walk in the pleasure grounds.
Earl Grev arrived at Osborne House yesterday
afternoon, acid had the houour of joining the royal circle
at dinner.
Their R.H. the Duke of Cambridge and Prince
George, visited H.R.H. the Duchess of Gloucester yester-
day, at Gloucester House.

The Chancellor of the kat:in:quer and Lady Mary
Wood, left town yest( rday for Bowood-park, Wilts, on a
visit to the Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne.
General It. Colleton Dickinson, the oldest surviv-
ing General connected with the Royal Artillery, expired
on the sth inst., at his residence near Notting-bill, at the
advanced age of 84, and atter a military. service of 6.5 years.
Yesterday Lord Palmerston received a deputation
from the Aborigine.' Protection Society, charged with pre-
senting a memorial, craving his lordship's influence with the
French government in favour of the natives of the Georgian
and the Society Islands; and more especially that the ac-
knowledged independence of the latter might be permanently
secured. The deputation received a cordial assurance that
his lordship's sedulous attention would be given to the
subject.

TIIE MEMBERS FOR TIM CITY OF LONDON.—
The Liberal candidates for the representation of the City of
Lond..n at the next general election will, it is now under-
stood, be Lord John Russell, Mr. Patteson, Sir G. Lar-
pent, and Mr. Rothschild.

From Last Night's Gazette.
DOWNING-STREET, DEc. S.—The Queen has
appointed 11. T. Bowen, Esq., to be her Majesty's Solicitor-
General for the island of Trinidad.

WAR-OFFICE, Dec. 9.
11th Light Drags.—Serj.-Major E. Bradbury, from lot Drag. Gds.,
to be cornet, without pur.
22nd F.—Li. nt. 11. A. M. Deane, from 63rd F., to be lieut., vice
F. Minket, who ret. on b.-p. 63rd F.
29th F.—Brev.-031. 11. R. Wyatt, from h..p. Unatt., to be Lieut.-
Col., vice Byer.-Cal. J. Simpson, who exch.; Major A. T. Hemphill
to be Lieut.-CoL, by pur., sire Wyatt, who ret. ; Capt. G. L. Way
tote motor, by pur.; Limit W. Kirby to be rapt., by pur.; Ens. V..
S. SlllllllOllB to be lieut., by pur.; G. A. Ferris to be ens., by pur.
33rd F.—Ens. W. M. Pechell to be heat., without par., vice Keane,
prom. in 56th Y.; Gent. Cadet F. S. Vacher, from the RI. Mil. Col,
to be ens.
4 Itit F.—Lieut. J. A. I. Phillipps to be capt„ by pur., vice Radon,
who ret.; Ens. W. IL Ilothan: to be lieut., by pur.; G. White to be
ens by per.
71st F.—Lieut. F. G. Scott to be emit., by pun, vice Brickenden,
who ret. ; Ens. J. I. Mardonnell to be lieut., by pur. • 0. Wern yss
to be ens., by pur. ; Lieut. W. 9 Prince to be adjutatlt, vice Scott,
I prom,
76th F.—Ens. 11 Rising to be lieut., by pm., vice Whitter, who
ret. . • J. F. Bland to be ens., be pur.
/114 F.—Lieut. 11. E. Smell to be eapt.„ without pur., vice Brev.-
major Edmonstone, dee.
95th F.—Lieut. C. A. Cobbe to be cant., by pur., Ties Thompson,
who ret.; Paws. T. li. Feneren to be lieut., by pur. ; S. B. Kekewich
to be ens., by pur.
97th F.—Ens. 11. S. J. Vicars to be Ikut., by pax., vice IVoods,
whose prom. hss been canc.; Ens. T. Venables to be lieut., by
pur., vice Cornish ,who ret ; O. B. Cannon to be ens., by pur.
RI. Newfoundland COP.—Lieut. B. C. Oliphant, front 96th Regt.,
to be lieut., vice Hunt, prom:

OFFICE OF ORDNANCE, Dr,c. 5.
RI. Artillery—Capt. and Brer.-ratijor W. H. Bent to be Lieut.-Col.,
vice Hornsby, &a. • See. Capt. G. Sandham to be (apt. ; First Lieut.
T. Knox to be sec. eapt.; Sec. Lieut. A. M. Calvert to be Mat lieut.

PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL STEAM
NAVIGATION COMPANY.

The sixth annual meeting of the proprietors in this
company was held yesterday, at their offices. St. Mary-axe.
About 100 gentlemen were present. Sir John Campbell,
K.C.H., the deputy-chairman of the court of directors,
presided.
Mr. JANIS ALLAN, the secretary, read the notice con-
vening the meeting, and the annual report of the directors,
from which we select the following as the most important

passages
The board of directors are enabled to Inform you that the net pro-
fits of the year ending 30th September, 1446, exieed those of the cor-
responding year, 1345, by the sum of 19,0001. The directors have
appropriated out of the half-year's trading receipts, the sum of
22,000'1. to the insurance fund, which makes that fold now amount to
106,0001. The ships of the company, during the period referred to,
have been covered by insurances effected upon them to the extent of
3106,0001., and by these measures the board considers that the wishes
of the body of proprietors, in regard to protecting the floating property
of the company, have been fully carried out. They recommend that
the principle already adopted, of establishing an insurance fund, shall
continue to be acted upon until that fund shall accumulate to the sum
of 200,0001. With such a fund to meet contingencies, together with
the provision in the depreciation fund, set apart out of profits fur
maintaining the floating property of the eompiny at its original value,
the directors feel that the value of the company's stock is being suffi-
ciently and permanently guaranteed. hoeing the past year, the
directors have hail under their consideration the subject of reducing
the rates originally established in 1843 for paegage.money by the 0001-
pany's amide between England and India, and Kiri!, next year sr-
rangementa will be adopted for carrying into effect such a reduction
as will be equivalent to a diminution of ten per cent. on the company's
present full fares between Southampton and Calcutta, Madras and
Ceylon, for first-class accommodation. The caperw of the transit
through Egypt has also been diminished in consequence of late restu.
lotions adopted by order of the his Highness the Pacha; and the entire
reduction is intended to stand thus: fur instance,
From Southampton to Calcutta, let rime accommodation
for general passengers hitherto chained by this company 1128 0 0
Transit through Egyp paid by them in addition lB 0 0
Amount hitherto charged for laicism assuomodsthwi -

.1143 0 0

The directors propose, in lieu of the above rate, to charge El la 0 0
And the *Titmice through Egypt being reduced how £l2 to 12 0 0

in March, 1847, will be ...

£127 0 0

It is the intention of the directors shortly to have a branch of the
London establishment appropriated to the special purpose of reo'ivi.R
' • direct f,

all parcels and packages from the parties forwarding them, a,
it will be their anxious desire to afford to the public, in this matter,
every accommodation that can be reasonably required. As the mm-
pany's vessels are expected, in the course of the ensuing year, to
extend the present communiistion with China to the port of Bombay,
the directors have considered it to be essentially necessary to procure
adequate dock accommodation at the port of Bombay, and, with this
view, they arc now in treaty for the docks there, called the " 3laaairon
Docks," and the preinisea connected therewith, the negotiation for
which they base reason to believe will terminate satisfactorily. It
appears evident to the directors that there is an anxious and increas-
ing desire in the public mind to procure, through the instrumentality
of this company, a further extension of the benefits of steam nasign-
tion, especially in the Eastern Seas, and ere long it will become neces-
sary for your directors t. adopt a decided course of policy upon this
question. The connexion of Calcutta with the line to China, joining
at Singapore, and also the extension from llong Kong to the northern
port of Shanghae, has been, as already intimated to the proprietors,
strongly urged upon the directors, and thefe is no question but that
each additional branch lines would materially benefit the existing
isperations of this company, by weaving an increased intercourse and
traffic to the main lines. The directors desire to proceed deliberately
and prudently in any additional extensions; but they feel that it will
be decidedly for the permanent interest of this company, to place itself
In suet, a position, that if the extension alluded to, as well as that
embracing the Australian colonies, be determined upon by her Ma-
jesty's government, the company may be enabled to show that they
power sufficient capital wherewith to carry out such operations.
The proprietors were made acquainted, in the last report, with the
feet that Ins Highness the t'acha of Egypt had adopted arrangements
for placing under the control of his government the Egyptian Transit
Company, and that this company'a ateam-vessel, the Delta, Ito., had
been purchased by his Iliglinem. At the time when these measures
were adopted the Puha very urgently premed the directors to consent
also to sell the other small iron steam-vessels, the Cairo and Lotus,
which, for 110111 C years, had been navigating the river Nile, under a
firm= from his Highness. The directory, though they were aware
that theee two vessels were every year becoming less available for the
passengers' transit, sod that a decided objection would be made to this
company substituting others more imitable, were nevertheless unwill-
ing to comply with the request referred to mild they had some Colin-
/Imre of the manner in which the transit establishment would be