The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-06 00:00:00

HIGH WATER. AT LONDON NIIDOL

Tae 301 h.
IV-Moimow—Mornlng. Sk. •k..._..Al{erseeo, 412.

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY c.

ALTIIOUGH financial affairs do nut for the mo-
ment wear a very promising aspect, still they
afford a strong contrast to the position just a year
ago. The corresponding week of 1866 was as
regards commerce the gloomiest ever known within
living memory. The great failure of OVEHLND,
Or 'Leer, and Co., one of the moat serious that
has ever occurred, served then to complete the
destruction of that mutual confidence which is
the life and soul of trade. Credit had been
already severely shaken by the disasters of several
other companies, but the downfall of the greatest
monetary establishment of the kingdom gave the
final blow. From that tune men ceased to trust in
each other. Money washoarded and capital allowed
to lie waste as completely as if the possessors,
iestead of being versed in modern economical
science, were as little enlightened as a Chinaman
or Hindoo. To a certain extent the alarm that
em e rated twelve months ago has prevailed until
wow. One form of commercial difficulty, indeed,
seems hardly possible to be removed. The panic
of 1866 has laid bare the unsound financial
management of our railway companies. Scarcely a
week passes without some fresh and damaging
revelation, re perhaps altogether unexpected, since
it his long been surmised, if not well known, that
there are many features in railway finance
that could hardly bear to be publicly exposed.
The London, Chatham, and Dover afforded at
mu* the first and worst illustration, but it
has been succeeded by several others. The London
sod Brighton, which only lately stood in the
highest rank, has sunk, not irretrievably low, but
at least so far that it will take both time and good
management to restore it to its former place.
These are the vestiges of the great crisis, but they
give nevertheless some consolation. It appears
almost certain that the knowledge thus afforded
will benefit us in the end. At all events we have
the immense advantage of knowing the truth. It
is no longer a question of fighting with shadows,
of dealing with surmises, which on either one side
or the other were probably untrue, and certainly
exaggerated. The events of 1866 have com-
pelled US to look our troubles fairly in the face,
said when once that is done the victory is more
than half gained. It may fairly be predicted
that the railway interests, comprising, as they
do, the largest joint-stock investments in
So empire, will ultimately benefit by the light
that has been so rudely cast upon them. There
will be a period of depression—we are going
through it now—but a recovery is curtain
sooner or later. The final result will doubtless be
to place railway property upon a sound and antis-
factory basis. It will pass out of the category of ape-
culatiou, since there will be no chance of the start-
ling disclosures of loss, or the announcements of
unexpected profit, which have hitherto been freely
weed for operations on the Stock Exchange. The
opportunity for these effects has been effectually
overthrown. Everything now must be above
board. The conductors of the great companies
know that absolute frankness has become, not
Imply advisable, but imperative. It will not
do to rely on the formal statements made by a
chairman or a solicitor at a Wharncliffe meeting
convened to sanction a bill for an extension or
branch of which the shareholders know little
and care less. This sort of dictatorial policy
has disappeared, and seems likely to be suc-
ceeded by • movement in the opposite ex•
Creme. Railway proprietors, after submitting for
years to a humble acquiescence in the projects of
their directors, manifest now a strong desire to
discredit everything their official representatives
may say, and, in fact, to put trust in nobody.
The error of showing excessive distrust is as great
as that of granting unlimited confidence. It seems
almost a hopeless task to reiterate the lesson that
directors and shareholders hare at least a common
Interest in the well-being of their property, and
for this reason alone, to discard all other motives,
should exercise a mutual forbearance.

Willis. the case of " Willingale r. Maitland" is
still undecided attempts have been made to punish
ether peasants for copying Willingale's example.
The right of lopping wood in Epping Forest from a
certain day in November to another day in April in
each year has been exercised from time immemo-
rial by the inhabitants of Loughton. A great por-
tion of the forest has been—properly or improperly
—enclosed by the lord of the manor ; the poor
people near believe their right to the wood to be
Mill unimpeachable ; hence incrimination and
beart•burnings on the one hand, and persecution
and imprisonment on the other. It is much to be
regretted with a snit still undecided in a
court of equity, and after an 'a ;,#terinz injunction
has been obtained which protects Willingale, that
his neighbours should have been brought before