The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-11 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER no 1867.

Elie eVaireoo.

TO CONIMPONDENTIL
Alvadbassata Welded toe "The Ivrea" London 'Togas
veal be at this Mee. 10, loavarta-street, by Two
co tin dq of poldioatton.

DRURY•LANL

Thu EVINING THE film: liarVllloE. Mr. Phelps, Matra
J. C. Cougar, H. Blnelsir, L Maim Barrett, Tempts, de.. Mrs.
Hoe nano Veda, Miss Horatian, tor.—. Mid THE LADIES' CLUB.
Mesdazaes Sestet Maley and ILMia Bakker.

HAYMARKET.
Tien Ennuis, WLNNINU CARD. Mr. Compton.—OUß
AMERICAN COUSIN. Mews. Bothern, Chlppendrle,
Raymond, Mirk, Gordon, He.: Mee tames Robertson, DZIr:,
Burke, &e..—And PIBII OUT Or WATER. air. Compton.

LYCEUM.

Tins EYwirmo, THE iiIifEESS OP TdE MILL.—And
HAMLET, PRINCE (Jr DENMARK. Mr. Pechter, Mews
Emery, Ryder. P. Mathews, (.411mem, Mellon, and Dalton
Ibises Elasorthy, Bishop, and Carlotta Leclereq.

PLINCIRTIL
TIOSEVInIne, A LITTLE FLIRTATION. —At ter which ABRAM
HA POGUIL Mama. Bowleanit, Vining, D. Murray, J. 0. Moro.
0. 1. NenUk. Ac. : Mime Duets. and Mrs. Boactcaull —And NO
ONI, ROUND THE CORNILL

TED IMMO, THE FRENCH EXHIBITION.—RIND TO A
FAULT. Mr. Panel!, & Mks Hughea —And WILLIAM TELL
WITH A VENGEANCE. Mama Marne, June, and Fenton;
Meadams Onynna, Jolusatoos, Holt, and Weatnersby.

HOLBORN.

THIM gnomes, FOR LOVE, kiery. IL J. Montague, Price,
Oarden, Westland, and 11. Wlddleomb; Mesdames Stephens,
Reined*. C. Saunders, Re.—And MARY TURNER; OR, TU
WICIOUS WILLIN. MiasJosepha

ill/TANWIA.

Tll7ll ETzsrso. THE SPANISH PAGE.—THE MARRIAGE
CERTIFICATE. Mrs. S. Lana—Mr. J. Millicent and Mr. and
Mrs. Lanes& Ethiopian Automata ; Mrs. Y. PNDip ; Magilton
Le Grand.—Wlth WILD CHARLIE. Mr. B. Howe.

MON WATT./ AT LONDON BRIDGE.
MN DAT —Wetting. Ih. 10m....—Afternoon, lh. 30m.
AYOLAON—YantWL 11 40a.......A1tfin100k. 4.13.

LONDON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11.

Tar Railway interest is passing through an
interesting phase. Committees of Investigation
are no novelty ; they date from the memorable
times of Mr. HUDSON ; but they are becoming by
degrees more practical. The old plan was to de-
nounce certain abuses, at best but imperfectly
ascertained, and then to appoint a fresh board of
directors, who in a short time began to repeat and
even exaggerate all the follies and intrigues of
their predecessors. The shareholders were often
apathetic, often intolerant, in correcting the noto-
rious faults of railway management. No person
would be worse received at a half-yearly meeting
than a speaker who was acute enough to discern
flaws in the accounts, to point out extravagance of
expenditure, errors of policy, evidence of jobbery,
and all the various modes by which railway com-
panies have been brought to their present stress.
The predominant thought with each shareholder
was that such denunciations, however true they
might be, had the undesirable effect of depre-
ciating the value of the stock in the market.
The prediction of evil has always been unpopular,
and more especially when it brings with
it its own fulfilment. Even the sternest moralists
feel little goodwill towards the unflinching advo-
cate of right who on the highest principles lowers
the value of their property 5 or 10 per cent.
Hence in former days committees of investigation
were comparatively rare. They were the ultimo
ratio, only to be adopted when the price of the
stock had fallen so much that it was practically
impossible for it to go much lower. A change
from this comfortable sort of feeling has been
rudely effected by the disasters which have be-
fallen some of our largest companies. It is uo
longer a question of depreciation, but of destruc-
tion of property. Proprietors have begun to
perceive that unless some move be made they may
bid farewell to all chance of dividend
for many years to come. They have tar- ,
dily enough found out that a board of
directors who have other people's money to play
with, and possess either an ambitious or combative
Ot credulous spirit, can bring far more discredit on
a great undertaking than the worst fault-finder
that ever spoke at a general meeting. Hence the
spirit of rebellion is abroad. Shareholders are
not only talking, but beginning to act. Hardly a
week passes when on some occasion or other that
peculiarly autocratic class, the directorial, finds
its power sensibly slipping away. Shareholders
have come to the conclusion that they have
some right to judge upon the conduct of their
own affairs, and have got half way towards
carrying it out. There is still a good deal to be
done. Old opinions or even prejudices cannot be
got rid of all at once. Nevertheless, a great step
has been taken in the right track.
In dealing with the railway interest there are
two points to be kept in view—the one regarding
the public at large ; the second as respects the
proprietors themselves. The first may be dis-
missed in few words. Railways are a national
necessity. Let any one consider the effect of even
a temporary stoppage of traffic on, say, the London I
and North Western, the Great Western, and Great
Northern lines. It would be difficult to estimate
the loss, not merely to merchants and manufac-
turers, but to the community in general. Rail-
ways are a recognised part of our social system,
and we cannot do without them. It is impossible
that we should allow them to drift into such
financial destruction that the working could only
be carried on at a loss, and therefore would cease
altogether. Under these circumstances the State
would doubtless interfere to prevent such a contin-
gency. But here we come to the second part of
the question. How would the shareholders
fare f If the line passed into the hands of the
Government they would receive nothing more than
the net profits, which, considering the expenses of
Government management, would represent at best
• vanishing quantity. It may be urged that this
is in a great degree the present position. True,
but the statement admits of some qualification.
Affairs are usually best conducted by those who
are chiefly interested. The motive for economy
enforced by • reduced or non-existent dividend, is
far more powerful than all the care and conscien-
tiousness of • public official. As we have already
said, shareholders must take their own business
in hand, and submit to the trouble of looking after
their own interests.
A certain amount of self-denial will undoubtedly
have to be practised. It was certainly pleasant to
hear a chairman propose a dividend at the rate of
5 per rent. per annum out of net earnings which,
as it has proved, had no existence. These ficti-
tious distributions must be abandoned at once and
for ever. What sort of responsibility rests
upon the late directors of the London
and Brighton Company fur pushing this system
to its utmost limit we do not care to inquire.
However the circumstances may be explained away,
the actual fact remains, that the company has been
brought to such a financial state of destitution that
it cannot pay its guaranteed dividends. Appa-
rently, when the power of borrowing ceased, the
power of paying ceased also. Happily the pay-
ment of fictitious dividends has received a severe
if not fatal blow. Railway companies cannot
raise money on capital account as easily as
they used to do. Expenses of renewals and
repair of rolling stock will have to come out of
actual revenue. If the shareholders get less
income they will at least have the satisfaction of

knowing that their property is comparatively
secure. The chief sufferers by the change of sys-
tem will be contractors, engineers, parliamentary
lawyers, brokers, and negotiators of that most
ruinous specimen of ingenuity, Lloyd's bonds.
These parties, however, have done so well in late
years that they can have no reason to complain.
If directors are to blame for the present deca-
dence of railway affairs, the ordinary proprietors
have at least been partieipes rruninia. it is only
just to say that (to put it in moderate terms) a
highly coloured report was received at a half-yearly
meeting with all the outward signs of utmost
satisfaction. The price of the shares perhaps rose
the next day, and this amply condoned for suspi-
cions of reticence or false statement. Besides,
were not the accounts certified by competent
and well paid auditors ? This confidence has had
most fatal results. A proper railway audit entirely
independent of the directors is required, if pos-
sible appointed by the Government, and working
from day to day.
Some misapprehension exists with regard to
the additions to capital made by railway com-
panies in late years. There is no doubt that the
plan has been greatly misused, but it does not
follow that it is altogether wrong. Take, for
example, an analogous case, that of a manufac-
turer. He finds his business increasing, and wishes
to add a new wing to his factory. Capital is re-
quired for this purpose, and he borrows or takes
a partner with, say 5,0001. This transaction is
perfectly legitimate ; but what would be said,
supposing that the manufacturer were to deal
with this 5,0001. by constructing his new building
with 2,5001., and putting the remaining 2,5001.
in his pocket as part of the general profits of the
year ? This is precisely what the railway com-
panies have done, at least in some proved cases.
It is no wonder that the same kind of transaction
is suspected in many others, and that railway
stocks, as banking shares were last year, are
favourite marks to " speculators for the fall."

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

THE LORD MAYOR'S DDR:EIL

Though looking to see the day when the State
visit of the Lord Mayor to Westminster, with the Re-
corder's biographical notices of in-coming Lord Mayor%
will follow the tasteless show of the old procession, the
Tines nevertheless allows that the dinner is safe. Its po-
litical convenience gives it a peculiar claim to vitality. On
Saturday, however, the utterances of the principal guestadid
not rise above the common level of after-dinner speeches. It
would have been satisfactory if Mr. Disraeli had found WOW
substantial reason to allege in support of his faith in the
peaceful character of Europe. Home politics were passed
over with the barest reference, but though there is •
great temptation to suspend domestic change until a new
house arises such a course is not free from danger. The
notion of anything like cessation in the history of the
House of Commons must be sedulously discouraged.
The Daily liewa notices the barrenness of the ministerial
utterances, and characterises Mr. Disraeli's speeches in the
City as the curious result of a mixture of his Buck-
ingham experiences and his study of Lord Palmerston.
He describes the condition of the country as satisfactory,
which is as though be were content with the fact that for
the first time in the memory of this generation we have
five political prisoners lying under sentence of death, their
criminal act representing • standing conspiracy in the
sister island against the government of the United
Kingdom. We have suspended the Habeas Corpus in
Ireland, and converted the police of that country into •
veritable soldiery, while in our own towns and cities a daring
spirit of lawlessness is abroad, and the measures which
formerly ensured our safety no longer suffice. To sum up
the condition of the country, and omit all notice of such
facts as these, is like preparing a balance-sheet of a railway
and omitting the debenture debt. Besides, we do not
cure disease* the existence of which we deny. A govern-
ment which thinks the date of the country satisfactory is
a government that will perpetuate what is amiss in it.
Readers, moreover, who find Mr. Disraeli asserting that in
the continental sky there are no clouds of a menacing cha-
racter, will begin asking themselves whether all they have
heard lately of French armaments and preparations for
war, and French Intervention in Italy, and Salzburg inter-
views, and Prussian circulars, and Cretan insurrections,
and collective notes on the Eastern question, and Fenian',
and bread riots, and Abyssinian expeditions, is • horrible
and absurd hallucination. If we are to believe Dr. Pan-
gloss at the Guildhall the peace of Europe is preserved by
a constant state of universal suspicion and alum, which
keep* every nation armed to the teeth against its neigh-
' bour.

The Herald appears to regret the pomp of the City
pageant in the olden days, and tale! refuge from the
meagre spectacle of Saturday in the brightness of the
banquet at night ; and the Standard thinks that eventhose
to whose own eyes the state of Europe appears gloomiest
will acknowledge that Mr. Disraeli speaks with authority,
and that he has far more accurate data to start from in his
anticipations of peace than they can have in their appre-
hensions of war.

If possible, the Star, treating of corporation reform, ob-
serves, we shall avoid inserting the end of the wedge where
it might knock over the soup tureen and the punch bowls,
but if the City and the aldermen oppose the judicious and
necessary changes in municipal government which have
been so long demanded, they will have to share the fate of
the men in armour and the banners. The Star trusts that
an alderman with a ladle opposing improved civic admi-
nistration will never form a companion picture to that of
Mrs. Partington with her mop fighting the Atlantic
Ocean.

Elm Court.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Nov. 9.

The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon and
again this morning, accompanied by the Princess of Wales
and Princess Louise.
To-day is the birthday of the Prince of Wales.
The Duke of Cambridge. attended by Colonel the Hon.
J. Macdonald, arrived at the Castle yesterday.
General Sir W. Knollya, Dr. Holmium, and Mr. H.
Fisher have also arrived at the Castle.

The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, and Prince
Christian, attended by Major Grey, Colonel the Hon. J.
Macdonald, and Major-General F. H. Seymour, went out
shooting this morning.

M. and Madame Van de Weyer had the honour of dining
with the Queen and royal family yesterd►y.
....
...

Nov. 10.
The Queen, accompanied by the Princess of Wales and
Princess Louise, drove out yesterday afternoon.
The Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince and Princess
Chriatisn, Princess Henriette of &hleawig•Holateio,
Princess Louise, Prince Leopold, Princess Beatrice, and
the Duke of Cambridge, and the ladies and gentlemen in
waiting, attended Divine service this morning in the pri-
vate chapel. The Very Rev. the Dean of Ely preached the
sermon.

Her Majesty's private' band played in the drawing-room
alter dinner last evening before the royal family, where
the ladies and gentlemen in waiting bad the honour of
joining the royal family.
The following ladies and gentlemen had the honour of
receiving invitations:—Major-Cenral Hoe. A. N., Lady
Mary, and Miss Hood ; Lieutenant-Colonel and Mrs. Fer-
guson, Lady Emily Seymour, the Hon. Florence
and Mime Georgina Seymour, Mr. and Mrs. Erskine, of
Centrals; Colonel H. and the Hon. Mrs. Ponsonby, M.,
Madame, and Miss Van de Weyer, Mr. Betel Van de
Weyer, and Mr. Albert Van de Weyer, Colonel and Mn.s
G. Gordon, the Rev. R. Duckworth, and Mr. Woodward.
The band played the following selection of music, under
the direction of Mr. G. Anderson:

Overture, "7.ampa " Herold.
Selection, " rant"
Andante and Minoetto Minton* "Surprise"
March, "Le Prophet*" Meysrbeer.
Scene de Dense, "La Ba)adere" A über.
The Duke of Cambridge, attended by Colonel the Hon.
J. Macdonald, has left the castle.

Despatches were received on Saturday ►t the Colonial-
offioe from the Governors of Malta and Gibraltar.
Despatches were sent to the Governors of the Cape of
Good Hope, Natal, St. Helena, Sierra Leone, Lagos, and
the North American Provinces.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

ITALY.
The Roman correspondent of the fronting Post
gives the following account of the arrival of the
Garibaldian prisoners in Rome on the afternoon of
the 4th :

The prisoners marched in by the Porte Pia and down by
the new descent from the Quirinal, escorted by dragoons,
gendarmes, and Roman infantry, crowds of people
running to get a sight of them. There seemed to be 500 or
600 of them, or perhaps more, but, not marching in mili-
tary order, it was difficult to count them. Their appearance
was generally speaking shabby, and their costumes
extremely varied ; but among then' were some very fine
young men with dandified types of the Garibaldian uni-
form. One especially, who headed the column, had • very
defiant air. Menotti has had • ball through his hand,
but is among those who have effected their retreat under
the leadership of his veteran father. The dead and wounded
on both sides are estimated by an eyewitness just returned
from the field of battle with whom I have conversed
at about 500. I have just seen six omnibuses full of
wounded soldiers, chiefly French and Zonaves, taken to
the military hospital. It was • wretched sight. Other
vehicles were also employed on this sad sal vice ; and among
them I remarked a little basket phaeton belonging to
Prince Lancellotti, in which, stretched side by side, were
a Zonave and a Garibaldian, both handsome young men,
eipecially the latter, who was shot through the lungs—
victims of Papal fanaticism and patriotic enthusiasm.

The Italia of Naples of the 4th announces that
orders had been received to reinforce the posts of
the National Guards that evening. The Italia,
Roma Progreso Nazionak, Nuoea Roma, and
Popolo d'ltalia of Nov. 3 were seized by orders of
the governmeut. Some of the Italian journals
are advocating a league against the consumption
of French products by Italians.
The Journal de r Aveyron publishes a letter from
Mine. Costee, whose husband defended Monte
Rotondo against Garibaldi. Mme. Costes took
refuge, with her son of six years of age, in the
Castle of Piombino.

The Garibaldians having taken the building (she writes)
I presented myself with my son, and I must do them the
justice to say that they neither insulted nor threatened
me. There were even some who took my hand and who
comforted little Maurice, who was crying, fearing that
they would kill his father. I was desired to leave the
castle in order to see the GeneraL Garibaldi himself was
in Monte Rotondo. I asked to be taken to my husband,
and whilst he was treating with the conqueror I waited in a
house under the protection of the faithful legionaries and
some Garibaldian officers. Robert (M. Costes) capitulated
on conditions. The officers were allowed to retain their
swords. Robert refused to promise that they would not
fight any more against the general. At last I was told
that my husband was in the church, where all were
assembled. I went across the city, and arriving at the
church was presented to thegeneral, who merely looked at me.
His doctor said " You are free to go to Rome, and shall
have an escort." 'replied "I will go with my husband,"and
on entering the church I found him there.

(RZtTZR's TIELIGRAIIR.)

PARIS, Nov. 11.

A despatch from Rome announces that a French
General entered Viterbo, on the 10th, with a mixed
column. The troops were welcomed with joyful
demonstrations.

The Pontifical troops have re-occupied Frosinone,
where they met with a aimiliar reception, the
Garibaldiana having rendered themselves very un-
popular there in consequence of the heavy taxes
they had imposed upon the inhabitants.
A detachment had commenced taking possession
of the valley beyond Tivoli. No resistance was
expected.

In s few days a pamphlet will be published by
Dentu, entitled "Napoleon the Third and Europe
in 1867."

FLORENCE. Nov. 11.
Rear-Admiral Provano has been appointed
Minister of Marine.

Senator Montezemolo has been appointed Prefect
at Naples.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs has addressed •
circular to the diplomatic agents of Italy abroad
explaining the development and present state of
the Roman question. This memorandum enlightens
the powers on the Roman question, and enables
them to decide whether it will suit them to accept or
not the proposal of France to meet in conference.
The King has signed a decree alloting 50,000 fr.,
to be distributed in aid of the wounded in the
Roman expedition and of the families of the killed.

THE HURRICANE IN THE MEXICAN GULF.