The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-02 00:00:00

Memorandum of Austria and Prussia to the
Federal Diet,

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE,

lIAMMERSMIIIi AND CITY.

FRANXVORT, Feb. 26.
At yesterday's sitting of the Federal Diet the
representatives of Austria and Prussia moved that
the command of the Federal troops in Holstein

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held on
Monday at the London Tavern—Mr. J. Parson in the chair.
The retort was taken as read.
The CIIIIRMAN said he had taken the chair on that occa •
ion at the request of his colleagues, but intended to resign
at the conclusion of the business. He then explained the
various paragraphs in the report. The permanent working
agreement with the Great Western Ccmpany would be for
10 years, and would commence from the opening of the lane
in July or August next. The great difficulty in respect of
forming the junctions with the Great Western had been to
accommodate the suburban traffic without interfering with
the long and express traffic on that company's main line.
The Hammersmith Company was to pay £25,000 towards
the expense of constructing these junctions by the Great
Western, and a rental of £6OO a year. He thought it a ju-
dicious arrangement for both companies. Then there was a
difficulty to be overcome in respect to working the trains
from the Hammersmith line to the Metropolitan line so that
they should be enabled to run without delay at the junction
into the heart of the city. The liabilities of the company
were estimated at £90,000. The net cost of the land for rail-
way would be £72,000, the estimated cost of the land by the
contractor was £16,500, to be paid for partly in shares and
partly in debentures, equivalent to £lO,OOO in cash. The
land for the railway had cost £BO,OOO, which was double the
estimate. The contractor had paid £15,000 to be relieved
from the land portion of his contract, and the company
to pay £25,000, including £4,210 for the portion of the Tal-
bot estate, making together the extra £lO,OOO. The com-
pany had a bill in Parliament for an extension from Ham-
mersmith to Richmond. They now proposed to raise £60,000
on preference shares; but Mr. Rummens, who had taken
17,000 out of the 18,000 shares of the capital of the com-
pany, had power to object to raising money on preference
shares before the opening of the line, lest it should damage
his interests in any way. Mr. Blake had resigned his seat
at the board, and he (the chairman) would also resign.
Mr. SURGEY seconded the motion for the adoption of the
report, and it wrs carried.
The directors were authorised to consolidate the 18,000
ordinary £lO shares into stock, Mr. G. C. Taylor was elected
a director in the room of Mr. Blake, and Mr. G. C. Taylor
was elected auditor.

should be transferred to the Commander-in Chief of

,he Austro-Prussian forces, and that two civil com-

missioners from the great German Powers should be

appointed to share in the Government of the Duchy.
The motion is to be put to the vote in a week. Its

presentation to the Diet was accompanied by the
following memorandum

" Austria and Prussia—Upon the Ist October of
Lest year the high Federal Diet passed the follow-

Mg resolution To request the Governments of

Saxony and Hanover to furnish to the civil com-

missioners a division of troops of about 6,000 men,
in proportions to be arranged ; but at the same time

to request the Governments of Austria and Prussia,
in community with those of Saxony and Hanover,
to hold themselves ready to furnish a superior force

for the immediate support of the said division in
case of actual opposition to the carrying out of the

execution.'

"In consequence of this resolution, the four Go-
vernments charged with the execution have con-
certed together the requisite military measures which
have been approved by the high Federal Assembly
in its resolution of the ith of December last, which
says The above-named Governments shall be
made acquainted herewith, through their ambassa-
dors, and charged with making the necessary com-
munication to the Danish Government, as also with
the execution of the measures in accordance with
the military arrangements made by them.
" It had been determined in these arrangements
that Austria and Prussia should each place a first
reserve of 5,000 men upon the Holstein frontier,
and that, to admit of their more rapid concentration
they should be placed under the orders of the Saxon
commander-in-chief of the execution troops. In
case, however, of hostilities upon a great scale being
brought about by the Danish Government assuming
a hostile attitude, and threatening the Duchy of
Holstein, the two above-named Governments shall
each put at least an army corps in the field, and in
that event the chief command over their united
forces shall be regulated by arrangement between
Austria and Prussia.!

The meeting was then made special for the purpose of
raising £60,000 by the issue of 5 per cent. preference shares,
with a view to pay off the debts of the company ; but as
Mr. Rummens, the contractor, objected to give his assent
for two months, no resolution on the subject could be
adopted.
Mr. J. Parson then resigned his seat at the board, and
left the chair.

A special meeting, convened by a requisition from the
shareholders, was then held, and Mr. T. Eyre Foakes, a
director, was called to the chair.
A long discussion ensued regarding the proceedings in the
recent case of " Parson v. Surgey," in which Mr. Parson,
Mr. Surgey, Colonel Ward, Mr. W. A. Wilkinson, Mr.
Foakes, and other proprietors, took part, freely expressing
their views on the subject of the recent trial as effecting the
interests of the company.
On the motion of Mr. M. S. TATHAM ; seconded by Mr.

"The immediate execution has been carried ou,
in Holstein without resistance, so that it has been
possible to withdraw from that Duchy the troops
which then formed the first reserves, and to allow
of their advance into the Duchy of Schleswig with
the other detachments of the Austrian and Prussian
force.
" The subsequent occurrences, which have es-
Burned the full character of war made by Denmark
through the seizure of German ships by Danish
cruisers, threaten the execution troops in Holstein
as well as the allied army in Schleswig ; and the
former are now only protected against attacks from
the north by the occupation of the Duchy of
Schleswig by Austrian and Prussian troops. In so
much as this circumstance—as recognised by the
Saxon nation of the 15th of February last—shows
the necessity of a stronger occupation of Holstein,
Prussia and Austria, in accordance with the above-
quoted Federal resolution,are first called upon for this
purpose to bring the original execution corps under
Lieutenant-General von Haketo its former strength,
that is to say. to furnish 5,000 men to the first
reserves in Holstein.
" Herewith, however, the further contingency
foreseen has occurred, namely, that the ' superior
force' held in readiness by Austria and Prussia, and
actively employed in covering to the northward the
position of the execution corps, is now called upon
to lend the execution troops that assistance which,
according to arrangement, presupposes the common
and united disposal of the command-in•chief upon
which Austria and Prussia are agreed.
" The representatives of Austria and Prussia are
instructed to call especial notice to the pressing
necessity, even from a purely military point of view,
of this unity of the military chief command of the
troops stationed in the Duchies of Holstein and
Schleswig. Protection against hostile attack, the
combination of strategic operations, and the suc-
cess of offensive and defensive war against the
common adversary, can only be secured under a
common head.
"The Governments of Austria and Prussia be-
lieve that this meas'ire is based upon the arrange-
ments approved by the I igh Diet, the presupposi-
tions of which have already been realised. But they
are the more desirous to obtain further approbation
of these arrangements by the high Federal Diet, as
all errors and misunderstanding., such as have
arisen at Altona, will thus be avoided, and all rela-
tions will be definitively regulated.
" They consider it at the same time as self-evident
—as has been already expressed in the report of
the committee of the 19th September last—that
henceforth the Governments of Austria and Prussia
shall each nominate a civil commissioner to conduct
the administration of the Duchy of Holstein in con-
cert with the Saxon and Hanoverian commissioners,
aid to enter into mutual relations with the admini-
strative authorities in Schleswig.
" Upon the basis of the proceeding, therefore, and
hoping to obtain the assent of their Federal allies,
the Governments of Austria and Prussia move—
" 1. That the high Federal Diet may declare itself
in reference to the arrangements between the four
Governments cited and approved in the Federal
resolution of Dec. 7 last, Article 2, agreed that the
chief command of the execution troops in Holstein
should pass to the Commander-in-Chief of the
Austro Prussian forces.
" 2. That the high Federal Diet will bring this
resolution to the knowledge of the Governments of
Saxony and Hanover through their representatives,
and request them to give the necessary orders to
their military commanders.
" 3. That the high Federal Diet will approve the
nomination of two new civil commissioners for Hol-
stein by Austria and Prussia, and will receive
I notice of the said nomination."
to

A. 0. WILKINSON, the following resolution was adopted :
" That the shareholders retain the opinion expressed in the

resolution passed at a former meeting, and cannot allow
Messrs. Parson and Blake to retire without recording their
entire concurrence in the comments of the Lord Chief Justice
on the impropriety of directors speculating in land through
which their railway is intended to pass."
On the motion of Mr. G. SCLATER-BOOTH, M.P., se-
conded by Mr. T. CURTIS, the following resolution was
unanimously passed :
" That this meeting desires very cordially to thank Mr.
Surgey for his unremitting attention to the interests of the
company, and to assure him that in defending on public
grounds the action teesntly brought against him, he has
rendered essential service not only to this company but to
the public at large."
It was understood that the directors at their first meeting
would elect Colonel Ward to the vacant seat at the board.

The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks to the
chairman.

Circular Despatch of Prussia upon the Suc-
cession Question.

BERLIN, Feb. 27.
The circular despatch forwarded by the Minister
for Foreign Affairs to the Prussian diplomatic agents
at the various German Courts, on the 14th inst., has
just been published. It relates to the report of the
committee of the Federal Diet upon the succession
question, and is as follows :

" Your excellency must be aware that at the sitting
of the Federal Diet on the 11th inst., the majority
of the committee upon 11J1stein affairs presented a
report upon the succession question, dwelling exclu-
sively upon the London Treaty of the Bth May,
1852, demanding that the Germanic Diet should
acknowledge this treaty to be not binding upon the
Confederation, declaring it impossible of execution
and rejecting the pretensions of King Christian IX.
of Denmark based upon this title.

" The Ministers of Prussia and Austria, upon
their parts, put forth a vote of the minority, of
which a copy is appended. You will see, therefore,
that we have not thought it conformable to the
position and dignify of the Confederation that it
should be occupied with a question which it has in
no way at present treated ; that the first part of the
report denies the validity of the Treaty of London,
which has been affirmed by no one; that the second
part expresses an opinion of the impossibility of
carrying out the treaty—an opinion which clearly
exceeds the limits of its competence ; and that the
third part, lastly, rejects pretensions in the name of
a title upon which they are not founded.
" Your Excellency will be good enough to Ex-
plain clearly to the Government of these points
of view, developed at greater length in the vote,
arid do what lies in your power that the represen-
tative of that Government at the Germanic Diet
sholl be furnished, for the vote which is to take
place in a fortnight, with instructions agreeing
with the said points of view."

NOVEL MATCH.-A very curious match has just
been made, which will cause an immense deal of
interest in sporting circles and lead to a great deal of specu-
lation. A gallant colonel has laid a noble lord and friends
500 even that they do not cause a letter to be delivered by
hand on horseback a distance of 30 miles within the hour.
No restriction has been placed on the number of horses or
riders to be employed on the occasion, and tho match wil
take place at Newmarket either on the Saturday in the
Houghton Meeting or on the Monday following.

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 2, 1864.

exceptional. Now, however, as they had got their rolling
stock in good condition, they might again hope for improve..
merit.

Mr. STIRLING seconded the motion, which was adopted.
Mr. LUMBp referring to the projected competing line from
Parton to the iron ore field, urged the reduction of the rates
with a view to avert the threatened opposition.
The CHAIRMAN said it was iaexpediont to entertain the
question of a reduction of toll.
A dividend at the rate of 12 per cent, per annum for the
half-year ending Dec. 31 was declared, and it was rool7ed
that the remuneration of the directors bo increased from
£lOO to £2OO per annum.