The Express.
London, England, 1868-02-29 00:00:00

lltt erpreoo.

AUVISRTHRUP.STS must be tnrwarted 0 Mean.. J. V. 3..R7-
box and au.., E, easteeltreet, Holborn, and sd, Mateo-
garden tha awe: hilly appointed Agin...

FIAVMARRIGT.
TITIA EViNfIG. TDR BROKEN-RPARTIM .:VTR—DAVID
GARRICK. Mown. thirkstone. Ungers, he.: and Miss
Robiartoon.-110X A ` COX. Ur. Itookdono acid }lr. Compton.
YAM ILt JAR,IS.D Mr. Compton.

rsurcicsTs.
Trtle l'czNlN; ARRAN NA I'OCIUR. Mr. cnd Drs. D. Dm-
desalt. Mr. Aluinit, Aldan. Dim!nick Murray, Nes,llk, &Shore ;
Mlos BarncttSr.. Addle—After which THE ,1014,11.. 31t.
mad Dri. J. S ;Luke, Mr. Thing, * Mlai

STZAND.
Tilts Mt ENING, OLD 84LT. %!esorra ?men% flrlfor4 41; Jame,:
Miss Nc'ly —PA litlA . OIL VILE LK %I PRIER & :1,15:.5.
James, ()nine. N,lrwu, ask Yentrm : Met',lames Swenborough,
DarlanJ. fot...tvne. Holt, &c,—tml COAL I:4U WKE.

HOLBORN.
Tnts .6,EN1110, THE FLYINI: SCUD. Sltr.gra Mee,
Hordes Arther. Welland, url Wilue.tt : Mes.lamct
Woodall, l.eve,•, awl Attendee.' —Vonclistle tt VALENTINg
All I OIL4ON. Mlle. Wouteru, little H0we:140,4(.4.

BRITANNIA.
Trim EVENING. ALL Bllr ONE. Me,. Rertot.h, 40.1
Orawford Nle.lanN.3l:,,Grtenay. and Covenvy.—lNlN
ISM S. Issue: P•114,1111111i4Ci Myra. Deane. 1...5k, NeWII4M. said
the tlchay.-e Family Mdlle •4trioltm. and A:".As Rose Malmo.

HIGH WATS& AT LONDON BMWS.
Tms DAY —Mnrntair. sh. SDa--..AfterroolL eh. 60m.
To-Noitsow —Morning. US. tOsi— ..AtterooseL M. NM.

)111Tletet MARII:MILN, and DE...TnA, are received
autal Id o'clock to Insertion same eventug. 9a. Od.

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEB. 29.

DIRECTORS AND DIVIDENDS.

DIRCUTORS are on their trial before the public.
They have enjoyed a long and pleasant monopoly
of power. Indignant and reined shareholders
have striven, but with partial success, to tecape
from an intolerable yoke. Their grievances would
excite more general sympathy were they less free
from the charge of culpable negligence of their
own intswests. It is their votes which originally
gave Ohs: to the ten who have a.•rved them so
badly. But, although a despot styled a director, like
a despot who takes the name of Emperor, can beset
of having been chosen by universal suffrage, yet
the voters in either case may allege that they have
had little chalet, iu the matter. Practically, the
directors of all companies are self-elected in the
first instance. When a company is constituted. a
bean] of direchas is provided L.r as part of rho •
scheme. Sometimes at the first meeting of the
shareholders a vote is taken as t., whether or not
the men wham, names are printed in the prospectus
shall lie continued in the offices they provisioaally
bold, hut more frequently it is provided in the
article,' of association that these gentlemen shall act
as directors for a longer or shorter period. Further-
more, it is provided that the men who du the ehare-
holders the honour of superinten ling their affiars
shall lie handsomely remunerated fur their :elf MI-
/tatted it: delegated lalemis. It is a maxim among the
visas of men who aspire to rele a company that
once a director always a director. The duties are
often very light, and the rewards very precioaa
There is patronage as well as jay. It is even
possible to win social tiosition by becoming a
member of the hoard of an important company.
This is true of railway companies in particular.
The ruler of a railway is brought into immediate
contact alike with the nobility of ethumerce
and with the nobility of the land. lie has
many opportunities for doing a service to
penonvea holding high official ptaitioes. He
ean enrich an indigent liver by eatini:.g a
a branch line to pass through his properly ; he can
raise a contractor from poverty to opulence by
entrusting him with the construct:on of stew lines
of rail. On his dependents ha am lastaw piates
far more valuable and esteemed than imply which
were once within the gift of ministers of state. If
be desire to enter Parliament, he has special facili-
ties for gratifying his ambition. It is doebtfal if
the doors of the House of Coinoi.:.is do not swing
back more readily at the kneel: to' the railway
director than at the 301:11.1i.11.5 eltleat awl of
an hereditary peer.
At length the days tf hays ct me
upon those directors to whom fola,.ao lies bif!:erto
been so kind. Throughout the a tuntay the ehare-
holders are in rebellion agai.a; Ideir inasteri.
There was a time when to dia i.ire an ample
dividend was sufficient to insure eethrsiastic -totes
of thanks and lizartfelt expresaloas of c.
But in these days of open discontent, the declara-
tion of a large dividend excites smq.icion and
arouses opposition. Shareholders complain of
confidence abused and property of Treeieted—they
clamour for the resignatien of men ahem they
once overwhelmed with e9llllll/1!)011tS, :LA ex-
press bitter regret that they are ateße to
inflict a heavier penalty than that of eastuie the
directors from their seats and then causing
them to forfeit their fats, their patro-
nage, and their influence. in many cases
the punishment is not so severe it. reality ItS in ap-
pearance. The banished director is capable of
bearing with fortitude his exil: :coin the la-,ard.

As an ordinary shareholder, he has a beat advival
tage ovor those who have Inol n. practical kn•>w- •
ledge of the manner in which lnisnl is cond..zted
behind the scenes. tied he c v,,e his I:nowledge
so as to embarrass and outwit 11; M.ltTellBo7,. At
meetings of the shareholder. Ins tar, p a imonve-;
nient questions. If lie posses; ,•rdi•tary pr..denm
he can play his cards in such a ',a to taisaire
his early restoration to 0,1:c... The ordinary
Engliahman is only too re.,dy ENt to pardon sold
thou deify the director havice, ,elf
to 1.0 inorapetent or worse, confo,isoli his
mho! teomings, and puts ltin:self forrarl :.t the
censorious critic of others with a view to si:rilant
and humiliate them.

Although the foregoing rentArke apply to !lirec-
tore in-general, yet they do not apply with olual
force to the directors of all joint-stock companies.

For instance, were it not for the manual ,efforts
of the directors many companies, such as those for
banking and other purposes, could hardly be so
prosperous as they are. It is seldom that a
director can do much to increase the traffic of a
railway, but he can easily increase the business
of a bank. If the member of a firm having large
monetary transactions, he can employ the bank
for the purpose, and thereby help to give the
shareholders a larger dividend. On the other
hand, he can use the bank for his own purposes,
and he may do this in such a way as to enrich
himself at the expense of others. In all cases,
however, directors have a road to wealth open to
them which none but the unscrupulous will tread ;
yet, as there are a few directors whose consciences
are elastic, and whose scruples never interfere with
their enrichment, this road is sometimes trodden.
A knowledge as to the state of a company is in-
valuable on the Stock Exchange. When turned
to account, it is as sure to lead to fortune
as playing with loaded dice. All this is matter of
notoriety : the abuses of the system which has
done so much for directors and so little for con-
fiding shareholders are generally admitted. The
remedy is less obvious. The simplest and surest
one is that which will not be adopted. Vigilance
and energy on the part of shareholders would cure
the evil; but it is as difficult to get shareholders
to do their duties as to get directors who are true
to their trusts. The Americans have tried the
solution of the problem in a mode which deserves
notice. The directorships of their railway com-
panies are purely honorary poets. The president
is well paid, and is held responsible for the effi-
cient management of the undertaking. Some
alteration ought to be made in our system. What-
ever change be made, we hope it will not take the
i form of establishing the minute supervision and
I official control of the Government.

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY E

ban .become w, and the directors advise that
tbs finthcom rftmeetfittsitd dna &dimwtt.
and that no resolution sln nit adopied in eeferenoe
to the declaration of dividend... In the mean-
time the " oonsmittee cl consultation," write
in cheerful terms of the company's prospects
though they feel that until confidence in
railway securities is fully restored, the renewal
of the debentures will prove a difficult part
of the financial business. They approve of
the bill already referred to, and think
a steady increase of dividend will be ob-
tained by abstaining from schemes of exten-
sion and from further guarantee obliga-
tions. They, however, prudently add, "It
" would bejunwise to expect a sudden recovery
" from evils so deep-seated as those which oppress
" the Great Western Company." The recognition
of past errors and of present duty is complete in
the reports of these great companies, and we can
only hope the sincerity of their repentance and of
their promises will be proved by the character
of their future policy.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

(THIS DAY.)

The whole status of naturalised citizens being
under the consideration of the two governments of

the United States and Great Britain, the Times suggests
whether it would not be better to avoid, exempt under
urgent necessity, acting upon the laws as they
at present stand ; and thinks that after all
it may deserve consideration whether we have • right to
punish Nagle for the mere feet of his being • Fenian and
conspiring against the Queen. His offence, if any, con-
slats solely in his acts off the Sligo coast, and these are
almost too contemptible for this elaborate trial and for
this array of legal and international difficulties. Morally,
if not legally, a similar consideration may apply to his I
fellow prisoners. We have only too many prisoners as it
is, and it is not well to run the risk of damaging
the prestige of justice by trying to press its claims
too minutely, and failing, it may be, in the attempt.
In another article the Times depicts the thirty men at
Messrs. Pontifez and Co.'s as driven to. an attitude of
hostility against their employers by the terrors of an organ-
Batton which two men who came on their ground used
against them. While the public pities the men who have
thrown away U. 14s. • week because they had not a half-
holiday also, it will pity much more the millions who bare
to do bard work on a third of those wages and never get •
holiday at all.
The Daily Noss thinks Mr. Disraeli was perfectly justi-
fied in supplying Lord Chelmsford's place. The suggestien
of malice end spite is aboard. Mr. Disraeli is too good a
politician to let these feelings sway his public conduct.
He deserves credit for the courage with which he has dis-
regarded the intrusion of personal pretensions into a purely
public business. Lord Chelmsford has to thank an indis-
creet confidant for the disclosure that his retirement is
not voluntary, and that his friends' estimate and his own
of the relative value of his services and those of Lord
Cairns is not that of his party anti the world. Mr. Ward
Hunt's nomination is, in its way, a good precedent. The
liberal party contains members whose abilities and poli-
tical standing far transcend Mr. Hunt's, but who have
been confined to subordinate offices.

The Telegrapk, defending Mr. Disraeli from many
of his critics, disputes the view that he has outstripped
so many competitors because he was ready to profess any
principles that would help him into power. He has
often held firmly to unpopular views. He was •
eulogist of Louis Napoleon's when few men praised
him. He spoke respectfully of the church of Rome
when three-fourths of the conservatives reviled
it. He was an anti-Italian when nearly all England we.
on the other side. He was friendly and fair to the United
States when ninety-nine out of every hundred conserva-
Cue, and nearly all " good society," were Confederate in
tone.

The Herald confidently aMrms that the government u
it ie, is one of the strongest that has ruled over the
country for many years, strong in parliamentary ability,
in unity of purpose, and in public confidence.