The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-06 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Stn,—Having for many years observed the independent
and impartial tone which your paper has always evinced
upon mitten', whether political or not, and recol-
lecting the immense amount of information which
you furnished at the time when railway projects
and property were so constantly before the numerous
Committees of both Houses of Parliament a few years
ago, I propose, if you will, to lay a few remarks before
the public, through your columns, on the important
subject of Railway
Amalgamation which is just new
engrossing so much of general attention.
The time for doing so is the more appropriate, apart
from the reason just assigned; for we are at length ar-
rived at a definite position in our railway system. The
great body of the country is furnished with the main
trunk lines which form the avenues of commerce, and
the chief means of minor social intercourse. The sub-
sidiary branches which were necessary to connect
secondary but yet highly important places and districts
with the arteries of the country, have, in a vast number
of instances, been construati d, end urn in daily admirable
working order. A network ot railways is a term that is
no longer an hyperbole in England. A single glance at the
map will prove its correctness and astonish us with the
amount of the skill and capital that has b-en expended
for its completion, and the magnitude of the advantages
which have been enjoyed by every class of the community
from its constitution.
The benefits derived from railways have been incalcu-
lable. To say nothing at present of the immensity of
those operations which have put 200,000 labourers into
constant employment during the last ten years,—thus
relieving the poor rate and the labour market to an in-
calculable extent—which have brought into play an
amount of artistic and mechanical skill which was never
equalled, and which never could have been suspected—
which have elicited an amount of business-talent, and a
depth, variety, magnitude, and adaptedness of scientific
attainment which has so wonderfully advanced the great-
ness and the wealth of the country, and placed her
prosperity on the surest and most enduring basis: to say
nothing of all this, we have only to look at this grand
network of railways, to hear the daily accounts ot how
time has been almost annihilated, how convenience has
been furthered, and how the country has progressed in
solid wealth at the present moment, and how its pro-
gress has been provided for the future, to become in some
degree aware of tho importance of our great railway
system of communication.
And yet railways do not pay, or least they do not re-
turn such dividends as ought to be paid for the immense
amount of skill, labour, and attainment as are represented
by the investments of the shareholders, and the energy,
thought, and power, by which these investments are, or
ought to be, turned to account for the benefit of the deposi-
tors, through the use of whose capital the several lines have
been formed. It is generally supposed, so generally in-
deed that it has become an axiom, that all adventures
entered upon by private individuals, however numerous,
however wealthy, however combined, are to a certain
extent hazardous, decidedly more so than any that are
promulgated by the authority of a state, however tem-
porary or insecure in character it may be. This notion
has prevailed from time immemorial, and with the repu-
diation of the United States before their eyes, the griev-
ous malversations of the Mexican bonds, the hollow de-
ficiency of the Austrian loan, and the miserable short-
comings of the Spanish and Portuguese Governments,
patent to their senses, Englishmen have rather trusted
to state credit than to tho security proffered by pub-
lic faith, through the instrumentality and sound organi-
zation of a number of private individuals.
Such being the case, the principle is evidently esta-
blished that private enterpriae !light to reap a higher
reward than any that can be obtained from investments
in a state fund. All experience is in favour of such a
view. Just in proportion to the risk, so ought
to be the
gain. If the risk in railways he but small, it is at any
rate affirmed that no state countenance secures the divi-
dends. Yet why should not this be at least virtually the
case. If there be no state authority to throw its mantle
of protection over the shareholders, there is at least the
banding together of true and honourable men, whose char-
acters and whose properties more than countervail, by far,
the questionable advantage of party or political pupil-
lage, and standing on the groundwork of their own merits,
ought to be able to put forth the hand to pluck the fruit
ot that perseverance and wisdom by which its maturity
has been at length completed.
But it is not so. In innumerable instances the share-
holders are unable to taste that for which they have
wrought. It is not because they are too small in their
number, for numerically they are of more importance than
the creditors of the national debt itself. The amount of
property which they hold now reaches to more than
300,000,0001. starling, an amount that has never been
subscribed by private enterprize before since the world
began.
Looking at the matter, in its relative as well as its direct
bearings, it would appear that it becomes of national con-
cern. It may not indeed be too much to assert that there is
hardly a town or a hamlet in the kingdom in which
there is not some one immediately interested in our rail-
way system.
Being of the nature of freehold property—for though
the shares are mere personality, the basis of their value
is unquestionably freehold—a lower rate of return has
been put up with than would under any other circum-
stances have been endured. But yet, though of
freehold nature, it is not more so than is funded pro-
perty, but partakes of its character—the only difference
being that the whole property of the state is pledged to
reimburse and secure the fundholder, while the share-

holder has only his own lino and the security of his fel-
low-shareholders to fall back upon. He ought, therefore,
to receive the greater reward, especially as ho has nut
only to rest upon the security of the property, but, also
upon the good faith of those with whom he acts, and
with whom, it should be remembered, he is a partner,
and upon whose credit, to a certain extent at least, its
value depends.
But, Sir, I must remember that your space is valuable,
I will, therefore, conclude for to-day; and, in my next,
show how this immense mass of property has been
affected by its past management, and how it is likely to
be affected, and how the public is likely to bo affected
by the proposed fusion of interests among several of the
great companies now in progress, and who, in their
constituents, comprise nearly the whole of the moneyed
population of the country, remaining, Sir, your very
obedient servant,

I.3r(t.