The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-03 00:00:00

PARIS AND ROUEN RAILWAY.

The general meeting of the shareholders of this corn-
Tany was held on Wednesday, at the terminus in the
late d'Anisterdam—Baron de l'Espcie in the chair. The
seeting was unusually numerous. The report stated
fiat up to the 30th June last 'the account of the con-
ttructions and establishments amounted to 75,338,902 f.
isc. Since then there had been added, for various pay-
alents, including 4,350 f,, as part of the subvention of 16
millions to the Cherbourg Company, a total of 5,123,218 f.
s7c., which carried the whole account to the sum of
89,462,121 f. 12c. The receipts for the half-year ending
Dec. 31, 1854, have amounted to 6,439,646 f. 55e., and
the expenses to 3,219,082 f. 52c., leaving a net profit of
3.220,614 f. 3c. As the profit of first half-year was
2163,889 f. 79c., Me profit for the whole year was
5,384,503 f. 82c., from which sum must be taken for sink-
kg fund, projector's shares, payment to the Dieppe Com-
pany, &c., &e., 702,925 f. 57c. ; total, 4,681,578 f. 25c.,
or 65f. per share, for the whole year. But, as a sum of
27f. 50c. bad been paid per share for the first half year,
the dividend now remaining to be paid was 37f. 50c. per
share. As in that amount a sum cf 121. 50c. was in-
cluded for interest, the dividend for each joussanee share
would be 25f., or, with what had been already paid, 40f.
per share for the whole year. The dividend would be
paid at the office of the company on and after the sth of
February. The report then refers to the amalgamation
which the board of directors had signed only the day
before, in virtue of the powers conferred on it in 1853
for the purpose by the shareholders. The following
appear to be the principal points of arrangement :
There are to be in the amalgamated company 300,000
shares ; of which Rouen takes 114,000 ; Havre,
34,286 ; Western, 70,000 ; Cherbourg, 51,428 ; and St.
German, 27,000 ; leaving 3,286 over, which are to lie
sold at the Bourse for the profit of the company.
The companies undertake to execute the branch lines
from Argent/in to Granville ; from Serquign7 to Rouen,
from a poict on the line from Mezidon to Lo Mans to
the line from Mantes to Cherbourg ; from Rennes to
Brut ; from St. Malo to Redon, from Le Mans to
Angers, and from Lisieux to Honflear. The Govern-
ment is to give a subvention of 37 millions towards the
execution of these lines, to grant a prolongation of the
concession of all the lines to 99 years from 1858, to
guarantee 4 per cent. on the bonds of the new company,
to give up its claim to one-half of profits after 8 per cent.,
to give 18 millions to the new company to execute the
line from Caen to Cherbourg, and to allow a part of
that sum to be paid from the money due to the state by
the Havre and \Vestein eompanieq. Such are the con-
ditions agreed on ; and iu conseutirg to them, the bead
considered, the report declare, that it had acted best fur
the interests of the shareholders. The accounts and
dividend were agreed ta, and a vote of thanks was
passed to the board of director=, and the rrnnee.lingsi
terminated.

PROMOTIONg, (f:c., IN THE CIVIL
SER.VICE.

BOARD Or TnADE.—Mr. H. Lack, senior supplemen-
t try clerk, has been appointed junior clerk, Messrs.
E. W. Par ley, T. Gray and W. PaUrickson, junior
supplementary clerks, have h; en appointed senior sep-
plcmentary clerks. Alc.sr3. N. Lee, NV. W. LeaLer, J.
Walsh, T. ff. Babington, U. JGI:CF, it. Town end, C. L.
Bell, 11, D. M. Spence, and A. Stoneham, have been
appointed jollier supplementary citrks. Messrs. J. W.
Willes, C. Beach, A. Carr, and Swine, have been ap-
pointed fourth,-class 'clerks in the office of the RegiArar•
General of Seamen ut;der tho Board of Trade.

CUSTOMS.—StNeraI clerkships will be vacant, it is ex-
pected, immediately, in the Examiner's, Comptroller-
General's, and Reeeiver•Generars offices, owing to daily
expected orders from the Treasury to enlarge these de-
partments. Mr. C. H. Saunders has been appointed
clerk to the Inspector-General of Imports and Exports
in London. Mr. J. E, Tindall has been appointed clerk
at the London Decks. Mr. F. Sa-nons has been ap-
pointed principal coast officer at Preston. Mr. P. Tux-
ford, searcher, fourth class, has been promoted to the
third class, in London.
CHARITY COMMISSION.—The appointment of Paid
Comrnissiener for Charities in England and Wales is
vacant, caused by the death of the Reverend Professor
Richard Jones; 1,2001. per annum till March, 1857,
when the act states that the irimber of paid commis-
sioners shall be reduced from three to t QVC).
POOR-LAW BOARD.--,--Mr. Charles Grey Retallick,
S.C.L,, Cambridge, has been appointed private secretary
to Mr. Alfre I Austin, hanister-at-law, one of the in-
spectors under the commission.
CHATHAM DOCKYARD.—Air. Donald Grant has been
appointed third-class clerk in the Chatham dockyard,
vice Skellett, superannated. Mr. J. Butterer has Leen
nominated to the new appointment'of assistant school-
master at C4thatn dockyard.—Civil Service Gazette.

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD, FEB. 2.
BRASENOSE COLLEGE.

This afternoon Mr. Samuel Harvey Reynolds, B. A.,
scholar of Exeter College, was elected Fellow of this
college, on the Frankland foundation ; and at the same
time Mr. Charley James Wood, B. A., of this college,
was elected llulmes Exhibitioner, on the original foun-
dation. The former gentleman wa3 awarded the Newdi-
gate prize in 1853, "The Ruins of Egyptian Thebes,"
and in the Easter term of last year obtained a first
class " In Literis llumanioribus," in the second public
examination. The latter, in Michaelmas term, 1853,
obtained a first class "In Literis Humanioribus," and a
second "In Jurisprudentia et Kist. Mod.," also in the
second public examination.

MIL

THE MINISTERIAL CiiISIS.

( &ow, the 131-C33 of this day.)

We have reason to believe that the Earl of Derby did
not decline to form an Administration when graciously
consulted on that subject by her Majesty. On the con-
trary, we are assured that his lordship pledged himself
that under no circumstances should her Majesty bo left
without a Ministry, and that he and his friends were
perfectly prepared to form one if all efforts failed to con-
struct a strong Government, which the interests of the
country required. With this view we hear that the Earl
of Derby advised her Majesty to have recourse to several
combinations before the
Queen should appeal to a party
which, though singly
the most numerous in the House of
Commons, cannot command an absolute majority in
that House, and had already been defeated by the com-
bined I, ertionp.

The application by the Earl of Derby to Lord Pal-
merston to join the intended Adminiqration and take
the lead of the House of Commons, was one of these
combinations, and was an arrangement, we Lave reason
to believe, pressed upon the noble earl by Mr. Disraeli,
with whose pretensions to that post it might seem to
conflict.

Thera was only one feeling in the Conservative party,
namely, to merge all individual c:aitus for the sake of
giving the country the advantage at this critical period
of a strong Government. There were no sacrifices
which the Conservative leaders were not prepared to
make, so long as the arrangements they led to were
consistent with personal honour and the essential prir.-
ciplee of the Conservative party.
Wit have understood that the application of Lord
Derby wag mot favoerably received by Lord Palmers-
ton, the noble lord expressing his readiness to serve
under Lord Derby, and his sense of duty, which ought
to influence public men at this moment iu rallying round
their Sovereign. His lordship, we are assured, stated,
as was anticipated, his difficulty in joining the Adminis-
tration alone, and the names of two of his friends, Mr.
Gladstone and Mr. Herbert, were mentioned as those of
persons ho wished to accompany him. No obstacles
were urged to such an alliance, both these right honour-
able gentlemen having been originally, and for a long
period, members of the Conservative party. The inter-
view with Lord Palmerston was so satisfactory, and
promised to be so conclusive, that the Earl of Derby,
it appears felt himself justified in returning im-
mediately
_to the palace and informing her Majesty of
the prospect of a result anxiously desired at this critical
moment by her Majesty, viz , the formation of a strong
Conservative Government. About midnight, after a
suspicious delay of ten hours, a communication from
Lord Palmerston was received by the Earl of Derby,
closing in a very unsatisfactory manner the negotiations,
and forwarding communications from Mr. Herbert and
Mr. Gladstone in the same spirit.
Lord La esdewne was yesterday morning summoned to
the Queen at Windsor Castle, and had an interview with
her Majesty. The Queen and Prince Albert afterwards
came to town in a special train, together with the Noble
Marquis, who subsequently, it is stated, had interviews
with Lord Palmerston and Lord John Rowell.

Eight e"clock-17.:-=-Tt is reported that Lord John
Russell has been "sent for," and is engaged in forming
a Government.

Assuming the truth of this rumour, it would seem that
a reconstruction of the Coalition is despaired of. Had
such been the intention, either Lord Palmerston or Cla-
rendon would have been called in. It is probable that
Lord John will attempt a union with those friends from
whom he separated himself in joining Lord Aberdeen.
Neither Lord Palmerston nor Mr. Gladstone are likely
in that case to take any office in a Cabinet which would
be composeti of purely Whig elements.

We do not regret the failure of Lord Derby's attempt
to construct a Government by union with Lord Pal-
merton. That attempt was dictated by a sense of
public duty, and was made in compliance with the wish
of a considerable number of Conservative members of
the Legislature. Through the refusal of Lord
Palmerston the formation of that great neces-
sity of the time, a strong Government, is, we fear,
wholly impracticable. We do not understand the mor-
tification which this abortive result must eccasion to
the party which acknowledge Lord Derby as their
leader. But it is only right that the extent of his failure
should be defined. He hat failed to effect a junction
with Lord Palmerston—nothing more ; and a failure on
this ground is infinitely more consolatory to us than if
it had arisen from dissensions or jealousies among his
own party, or from the inordiea,te pretensions of any
members of it. While that party remains united and
true to itself, we shall never despair of the security of
our constitutional system, or of its inherent power to
eventually overcome all obstacles which may exist- to
the formation of a firm and truly national Govern-
ment. But should that party, from any circumstances
whatever—from the weakness or selfishness of indi-
viduals, or from any such dereliction of principle as re-
cent times have presented us with too many examples
of—be broken up, we shall regard the future course of
events with the gravest apprehension. The Conserva-
tive party of late years, though it has had little part in
directing the actual administration of affairs, has had
great influence in preventing crude changes, and in
checking that systematic corruption of which so many
disgraceful examples heve lately been made public.
Were this party to be dissolved, its salutary con-
trolling power would be lost, and with the
utter wreck of all political principle, and the
disruption of all party ties, Parliamentary con-
tests would sink into vulgar strife for place, and the
Lcgir,l,tints ~.0u4.1 lose the respect of the people and the
met- authority which now attaches to its decisions.
When Lord Aberdeen placed the resignation of him-
self and colleagues in the lisivis of the Queen, her Ma-
jesty had simply to consider whether she should call to
moiviitoritilt:yrelovf tib4eB,late Ministry or a representative
her councils representitive of the majority of 305,
of the which supported it. As a con-
stitutional Svvereign, the course to be pursued waq too
plain to be mistaken, anti, unsatisfact,,ry as t'io result has'
proved, we heartily rejoice that this course was taken by
the Queen, as It will serve to dis,tel a conception which
has lately gone abroad, that there was ass influence at
Court adverse to the fur:nation of a truly, independent
Ministry. In sending for Lord Derby, the Queen
walked in the straight, broad path of the Constitution,
and fulfilled, we will venture to say, the hopes and ex-
pectations of a great majority of her people.
In the Peers, Lord Derby could have had no expecta-
tion that he would meet with serious, or at all events
with inconvenient, hostility. his decision must
have been regulated by the fact that his party was
in a minority in the Commons, and that it was liable to
be outvoted unless ho could increase its strength by the
adhesion of some statesman with a considerable personal
following. For our own part, we should have viewed
the presence of Lord Palmerston and his friends in a
Derby Cabinet with great distrust. 'We are not insen-
sible to the weight of experience which must attach to
an Administrative. Parliamentary career of forty
years, in the course of which his lordship has filled
many offices, and joined Ministers of every shade
of political opinion ; but we should have thought it
very questionable whether his lordship's peculiar
talents and experience, even when added to
the votes of his friends, would have made amends fur
the uneasiness with which this fusion must have been
regarded, and the division which it might have intro-
duced into the Cabinet. Lord Palmerston's proceedings
in counection with the late Government have not tended
to raise his character. No intelligible explanation has
ever been given of his sudden retirement from the Aber-
deen Cabinet a year ago, and his equally sudden return
to it. 'We have witnessed him for some months past a
constant defender of all the acts of that Ministry. He
was satisfied with its construction and measures up to
the period of its dissolution. In a word, we think that
Lord Derby's Government would have been essentially
stronger without Lord Pahnerston and his friends than
with them ; for the real strength of a Government
at the present crisis would depend much more on
the unity of its councils and the complete confi-
dence felt by its mamb, r in each other than on
individual reputations, or on calculations of the few votes
they can command.
Undoubtedly the Derby party is in a considerable
minority in the House of Commons ; and while a chande
remains that a Government can be constructed likely to
command the support of the majority, opposite as the
elements of which it is composed may be, and widely
as its objects and opinions may differ, his lordship acts
wisely in declining to assume the powers of Government.
A minority can only conduct the business of the country
by the forbearance of its opponents, or of that class known
as independent members ; and the result of the ex-
periment of 1852 shows how little that forbear-
ance can be relied on, with the House of Com-
mons constituted as it is at present. Should it
be found that no other Administration is possi-
ble, the Legislature would he bound to refrain
from any active opposition to it, and it would be in a
position to carry whatever measures it deemed essential
for rescuing the country from its difficulties, and carrying
it triumphantly through the contest in which it is
engaged.
In the temporary failure of Lord Derby to effect such
an arrangement as would insure the ministry he might
form a majority in the Commons, we see no ground for
discouragement. The Conservative party remains
united, and in this union consists its virtue and its
strength. If it suffers itself on any pretence to be
divided, its power is gone, and the only solid security
left us for the honest, legitimate, and effective working of
our constitutional system will be lost. The patty must
by thie time perceive its deficiencies. It has not ap-
pealed to the country with sufficient boldness, nor
been nearly so active as it ought to have been in
orgaeising its forces and in testing the opinion of con-
stituencies. It is net true that ° "the battle of the
constitution is to be fought in the registeation
courts," though the regist:•atiou demands much more
attention nail the party has given to it ; but it is true
ghat the battle is to be fought on the busting'. The con-
test in the Legislature conies too late ; votes, not rea-
sons, then bear sway. With forty or fifty more sup-
porters in the Commons, Lord Derby's task would have
been an easy one, and if his pasty really hopes to bear an
active part in the Got/eminent of the nat on, it must
shako off its lethargy, a'k itself hew it is that for so
many years past it has been playing a loafing game, and
resolve to devote itself heartily to the work of increasing
by every constitutional means, its influence in the
coun-
try, and its strength in the Legislature. Pubic spi: it is
the first, the second, the third requisite necessary to
convert what, at worst, is just now but a check into a
cettain victory. The present policy of the party is,
strict reserve on the political combinations which may
be attempted, and the disicterested support of measures
by whatever men proposed, which are necessary t
it
ios
rescue the army from the miserable state ion hos flop it
p
ought to hold as a great European Power, and,
military, 1!_
spite
dp:
plunged, and restore the country to the high w
of all that waxy said to the contrary, a great military
nation."