The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-24 00:00:00

THE BANQUET.

The banquet took place at flirt) o'clock, under the
presidency of Mr. W. N. Row, the Mayor, who had
upon his right Lord Palmerston, Mr. J. Chichester
Nagle, and Mr. J. Worth, and on his left Mr. J.
Sillitant, Mr. F. Hole, the Rev. J. F. Sydenham,
and Mr. Cartwright. About 150 sat down to din-
nci!. The usual loyal and constitutional toasts were
gi'ren from the chair.

'The Rev. J. F. SYDENIIAM, in responding to the
toast of the " Bishop of the Diocess and the Clergy of
all Denominations," thanked Lord Palmerston for
the excellent manner in which he had filled up the
unprecedented number of ecclesiastical offices which
had recently fallen to his nomination. Against those
appointments a very few only of extreme views
had only ventured to feebly remonstrate.
Captain LANE returned thanks for the " Army,
.Navy, Militia, and Volunteers."

The CHAIRMAN then proposed the toast of the
eTening—"Lord Viscount Palmerston," and in
tense but forcible terms obser►ed that as a member

he was an honour to the borough, but as a states-
men and a Minister, not only to the borough, but
also to the whole country.
Lord PALUERSTON, who was received with seve-
ral rounds of moat tremendous cheering, said—Mr.
Mayor and Gentlemen—l beg to return to you my
most tlincere thanks fur the kind manner in which
this toast has been proposed and received, and I can
assure you that a testimonial of goodwill from the
people of Tiverton must always be most grateful
to me. (Cheers.) I feel under most peculiar
obligations to the people of this town. I came here
first a stranger—an entire stranger—to you, and if,
as you did, you accepted me as your member, it
could only be from your thinking that my conduct
in public life had been such as to deserve your ap-
probation. (Hear.) From time to time it has been
a source of great pride and gratification to me to
find on every ecclsion of my revisiting this town

that the cordiality of my reception maybe accepted
as a proof that the good opinion which originally
led to your taking me as your member has not been
diminished, but increased. (Cheers.) I can assure
you that I feel a most hearty pride at being, and, I
trust, continuing to be, your member. (Cheers.) The
rev. gentleman who returned thanks for the clergy
did me the honour to allude to matters which are the
personal acts of the Minister who fills the office that

I do—l mean the choice of the persons who are to fill
the high dignities of the Church. Well, lam glad
that the selections which I have thought it to be my
duty to make have met with general approval. I
hold the task of making those selections to be
one of the most important duties that can devolve
upon the person who holds the office which I have
the honour to fill, because there are many things
which depend upon a good choice—these are, in the
first place, the moral and religious training of the
country—of those who are members of the Church

of which these persons are chosen to be high digna.
taries ; but there is a further bearing on a good selec-
tion in these cases, because in a free country like
this, where every man is entitled to hold his own
opinions, where men are accustomed to investigate
the grounds of the opinions which they entertain or
which they may intend to adopt, there must neces•
sarily be great differences on religions subjects. No
doubt we might all wish that the whole nation
could be of one creed. That is impossible in a free
country; but what can be done, and what ought to be
done. is that those who hold high office and those
who are at the head of the Established Church
should by their bearing towards those who differ
from them in religious opinions mitigate those
acerbities which are, perhaps, inherent in the diver-
sities of opinion on so important a matter, both here
and hereafter ; that they should, by their manner
and bearing towards those of different opinions,
render those differences as little perceptible as pos-
sible, and endeavour to inculcate that charity which
is the basis of our common religion. 1 trust and
believe that the choice which it has been my lot to
make has been made in this direction, and that those
Who have been elevated to fill high positions in the
Established Church will by their bearing towards
different communions continue to prove that,
although each may be sincere in holding opinions
at variance One with another, will, nevertheless,
all feel that there are common feelings, com-
mon interests, and
common obligations which
pervade the
mesa and that those feelings,
interests, and obligations
ought not to be embit-
tered by any asperities between different sects.
(Cheers.) we have most unhappily seen very
recently proofs that in the si4ter kingdom those
differences of religion have led to most disastrous
and lamentable outbreaks; but let us not ascribe it
entirely to difference of religious opinion ; they are
rather connected with long-established fends, and
ahonid be looked upon rather as political demon_
strations than as uncharitable feelings in regard to
the religions of the two parties who come in eon-
tact. (Hear, hear,) Notice was also taken of the
circumstance that it has fallen to the lot of the Go.
Tani:tient of which I am a member to preserve to
gentle-
this country the blessings of puce, el'77

men, no doubt the preservation of peace, with
honour, with consistency, with the interests and
dignity of the country, with its interest at tic me and
its dignity and reputation abroad, the preservation
of peace upon such conditions is the p mary duty
of any administration that may be charged with the
conduct of national affairs. (Hear.) Ido not think
it desirable that we should be of that section, which
I believe really does not now exist, although it is a
byeword sometimes used, I do not think it desirable
that we should be of the peace-at.any-price party.
I do not believe that those who are commonly de.
signated_by that name are at heart insensible to the
honour and interest of the country. (Cheers.)
There may be differences of opinion as to the meg.
nitnde of the case, as to the validity of the reasons
which may induce the country to draw the sword;
but I am persuaded that there is no Englishman
who would hot, if he thought the interests and
honour and dignity of the country were at stake,
join in its defence by whatever means, personal or
otherwise, which he might be able to command.
(Cheers.) There have been,.indeed, of late years
during the five years which I have been in office
several cases which might have led this country
into war. We might have embarked in war, and
with great acquiescence in popular feeling, for the
rescue of the Poles. Well, we deplore their unhappy
fate; we endeavoured to enlist in their cause the
moral and political action of all the different Powers
of Europe, and we did so ; but they unfortunately
failed, and perhaps it was in the nature of things
that our efforts should not succeed. But however
the enthusiasm of a large portion of the community
might have urged us to take more active measures,
we did not think—and I believe the majority of
the country is of opinion that we thought right—
we did net think that was an occasion on
which it would be justifiable to call on the
people of England to make those exertions and
sacrifices which such a war would have called for.
Then there was the American civil war. There is
much diversity of opinion as to the merits of the
contending parties. Some are for the North on the
ground of their hatred of slavery; some are for the
South on the ground of their love of freedom and
independence. We might have been involved one
way or the other if we had listened to many of those
who urged different courses of action, we might
have been involved in the quarrel ; but I believe the
country is glad we have abstained from taking that
coarse. (Cheers.) We could have had nothing to
gain, and we should only have added thousands of
our own sons to the hetacomb of victims which that
calamitous and bloody slaughtering war has sacri-
ficed. (Cheers.) We may hope that time and re-
flection and recent advices from Americashow some
favourable symptoms—we may hope that time and
reflection, and the feet of the immenses losses which
have been sustained, and the slight hopes of success
which appear on the part of the North—we may
hope that many months will not elapse before some
progress will be made towards healing that tremen-
dous breach which now exists. (Cheers.) But of
this I am convinced, that if we had yielded to those
who, from the purest motives and from a sincere
conviction, urged us to interfere to offer our media-
tion to endeavour to reconcile the quarrel between
the parties before matters were ripe for our adjust-
ment, we should not only have failed in accom-
plishing that object, but we should have embittered
the feelings between that country and this, and
have rendered the future establishment of gcod
relations between us and them less easy and more
difficult. (Hear.) Therefore I think our neutrality
was wise, and I am sure that it is appreciated by
the country at large. (Cheers.) Well, then came
that unfortunate Danish question, and I am sure
every Englishman who has a heart in his breast and
a reeling of justice in his mind, sympathises with
those unfortunate Dan es—(cheers)—and wishes that
this country could have been able todraw the sword
successfully in their defence—(continued cheers).—
but I am satisfied that those who reflect on the season
of the year when that war broke out, on the means
which this country could have applied for deciding
in one sense that issue, I am satisfied that those who
make these reflections will think that we acted
wisely in not embarking in that dispute. (Cheers.)
To have sent a fleet in midwinter to the Baltic every
sailor would tell you was an impossibility, but if it
could have gone it would have been attended by no
effectual result. Ships sailing on the sea cannot
stop armies on land, and to have attempted to stop
the progress of an army by sending a fleet to the
Baltic would have been attempting to do that which
it was not possible to accomplish. (Hear, hear.) It
England could have sent an army, and although we
all know how admirable that army is on the peace
establishment, we must acknowledge that we have
no means of sending out a force at all equal to cope
with the 300,000 or 400,000 men whom the 30,000,000
or the 40,000,000 of Germany could have pitted
against us, and that such an attempt would only
have insured a disgraceful discomfiture—not to the
army, indeed, but to the Government which sent
out an inferior force and expected it to cope success.
fully with a force so vastly superior. (Cheers.) We
are, as a nation, I trust, sufficiently strong to defy
attack from any enemy. We have, in round num-
bers, 300,000 militia and volunteers, in addition to
the regular army, and, as they can be immediately
increased, we have force amply sufficient to defy
attack from whatever quarter it may proceed.
(Cheers.) We have a fleet growing every year,
adapting itself to the modern requirements of naval
warfare, and fully adequate for the defence of the
country. Oar object is defence—not aggression.
(Cheers.) But this state of things does not allow
this country to undertake vast operations beyond its
confines; calling on the nation to make great exer-
tions, to make great sacrifices, both of men and
money, in order to send out an army fit to cope with
the vast establishments maintained byother countries.
(Cheers.) Well, we did not think that the Danish
cause would be considered as sufficiently British,
and as sufficiently bearing on the interests and the
security and the honour of England, as to make it
justifiable to ask the country to make those exer-
tions which such a war would render necessary ; and
I am sure that the verdict of the country will be
that, in this respect, the Government judged
rightly. (Cheers.) But, while we have preserved
peace, the nation has been doing its work too. It
is the duty of the Government to keep the country
at peace as long as it can do so without sacrificing
its honour, its dignity, or its interests. It is the
duty of the people of the country to prosper its
trade, to extend its commerce, to increase its re-
sources, and to promote its welfare of every sort
and kind. This duty has been nobly performed
by the people of this kingdom ; and there never
was a period of equal length during which this
country has made such enormous strides in wealth,
and in everything which constitutes the comfort,
the happiness, and the welfare of the nation.
(Cheers.) The Government can only contribute to
these results by removing obstacles and affording
facilities, but it remains for the people themselves
to make those exertions by which alone these results
can be obtained. (Cheers.) Government cannot
interfere with private enterprise. Every now and
then we are called upon to subsidise or assist this
or that enterprise ; we are told that a little contri-
bution from the public revenue would set up this
manufacture, would assist another, would give scope
to industry, and would foster a rising commerce;
but these things are only done in countries where
the people are paralysed by despotic power, and
where they require the vivifying and electrical
touch of the Government to rouse them to an exer-
tion which is not their natural condition, nor their
habitual practice. (Cheers.) In this country every
man is alive, every men knows best how to employ
his capital, how to direct his genius, whatever it
may be; whatever line you may take, whether it
be active exertion in distant parts, or the studious
labour of invention at home, or the direction of the

industry of thousands of our manufacturiLg work-
men, in this country every mau knows beet how to

contribute to the public wealth and to his own
prosperity and advantage, and all that the Go.

vernal:int has to do is to leave thing 3
to throw down barriers and obstructions, where

barriers and obstructions are pressed, and
to give that freedom to industry and
activity to commerce by which alone the general
Welfare of the country can be advanced. (Cheers.)
That has bEm our task, and I think we have per-
formed that, task well and sqcceBBfully, and if any%

body will take the trouble to look back, which few
men are disposed to do, because they are too busy
looking forward (" hear," and cheers); if any man
will look back and glance at the immense progress
which has taken place in this country during the
last thirty years, he will be astonished at the mag-
nitude of the improvements which have been made,
the magnitude of the obstructions which have been
thrown down, ithe magnitude of the new doors to
industry which have been opened, and the pro•
gress which the country has made in national
wealth and the comfort and happiness of the people.
(Cheers.) I need not, indeed, preach these doc-
trines in this town, because they have not only
been understood, but successfully practised. It
is not in Tiverton, where a most thriving and
durable manufacture has been so long established,
that I need debate on the advantage which genius,
industry, enterprise, capital properly applied and
adapted, with skill produce not only to the indivi-
dual who directs the machine, but to the whole
community who are in any way connected with
such a system. (Cheers.) The noble lord, after
passing a high eulogium on his lamented colleague,
Mr Heathcote, concluded by thanking the guests
around, him for the manner in which he had been re-
ceived among his kind friends in Tiverton, saying
that these periodical visits were always marked with
a red letter in his diary. The noble lord resumed
his seat amid loud and prolonged cheering, and
the party soon afterwards separated.

The Great English and French Railways.

THE GREAT WESTERN.

We come next to this great and powerful under.
taking, which, however, as regards a large portion
of its shareholders-that is, the holders of ordinary
stock-has long, however, produced only compara-
tively indifferent results. A definitive amalgamation
was effected last year between the Great Western,
the South Wales, and the %Vest Midland; but for the
purposes of this article we must assume that they
were united under one administration in 1862 and
1861. The Great Western, which, like its old rival,
the London and North Western, was originally a
comparatively modest affair-merely aiming at
placing London and Bristol in communication with
each other-has thus acquired colossal dimensions
of late. Instead of confining itself to Bristol, it has
stretched far away to Milford Haven, Birkenhead,
and Weymouth ; and at the close of January, 1864,
the following concerns were comprised in its not
very prosperous, but still highly important enter-
prise :-The Abingdon, the Berks and Hants Ex-
tension, a moiety of the Birkenhead, the Bourton-
on.the-Water, the Bristol and South Wales Union,
the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk, and Pontypool, the
East Somerset, the Ely Valley, the Leominster and
Kington, the Milford (from Sept. 7, 1863, to Jan.
31, 1864), the Much Wenlock and Severn Junction,
the Severn Valley, the Shrewsbury and Birming-
ham, the Shrewsbury and Chester, a moiety of the
Shrewsbury and Hereford, the Stourbridge, the
Stratford-upon-Avon, a moiety of the Tenbury, the
Tewkesbury and Malvern, the Vale of Llangollen
(from Aug. 31, 1863, to Jan. 31, 1864), the Welling-
ton and Severn Junction, part of the West London
Extension (from April 1, 1863, to Jan. 31, 1864),
the Witney and Wycombe, the Calne (from Nov. 3,
1863), and the Nantwich and Market Drayton (from
Oct. 20, 1863). The length of wey worked-assum-
ing for the purposes of comparison that the West
Midland and ;South Wales were amalgamated with
the Great Western in 1861 and 1862-was conse-
quently as follows :-Miles in operation, Dec. 31,
1861, 9891 (7241 double and 265 single); Dec. 31,
1862, 1,148 (748 double and 400 single) ; and Jan.
31, 1864, 1,199 (783 double and 416 single). In 25
months the general undertaking thus expanded to
the extent of 2091 miles. Tne traffic acquired, the
working expenses incurred, and the profits realised
upon this mileage in 1861, 1862, and 1863 4 (that is
1863, and Jan., 1864) were as follows :-
Year. Revenue. Expenses. Profits.
1861 £2,887,020 .. £1,422,249 .. £1,464,771
1862 .... 3,097,241 .. 1,554,002 .. 1,543,239
1863-4 .. 3,465,658 .. 1,667,679 .. 1,791,661
Although the result here disclosed is satisfactory,
still some confusion is created by the last year's
figures being for 13 months, the company having
decided oa making up its accounts to July 31 and
January 31 in each year, in order to equalise to a
greater extent the dividends of the two half-years.
If we deduct one-thirteenth part from the total set
down as the revenue for 1863 4, we arrive at a sum
of £3,199,069 as the approximate receipts of 1863.
Applying the same test to the working charges, the
total would be reduced to £1,529,396, and the
profits for the year would be £1,659,673, The in-
crease in the revenue, comparing 1863 with 1861,
would thus be £312,049, acquired with an increase
of £117,147 in the working charges. While, then,
the proportion of working charges to rough re•
ceipts was 49.25 per cent. in 1861, it appears to
have been reduced to 48 11 per cent. in 1863.
There has thus been an improvement effected in
this regard of at least 1 per cent.-a very important
matter when vie are dealing with a rough total of
£3,000,000 ; there still, however, seems to be some
room for the realisation of some further economy.
From circumstances, perhaps, beyond the control
of the directors, the finance of the Great'Western
has been administered on principles differing radi-
cally from those of the London and North-Western.
Thus, while the latter has a comparatively small
amount of preference stock, in the Great Western
the preferential charges have in some years,
although the company is now recovering
itself to some extent, almost entirely swamped
the unfortunate proprietors of ordinary stock.
Thus, of the £39,719,140 raised by the three com-
panies-Great Western, South Wales, and West
Midland-to December 31, 1861, only £13,164,575
was ordinary stoch-and 25 months later-that is
January 31, 1864-of the £40,666,111 raised, only
£13,318,244 was ordinary stock. It is to be hoped
that as years roll on this stock will find itself in a
better position than it does at present, as for the
year ending January 31, 1864, the dividends paid
paid upon it were at the following meegre rates :-
Upon £540,944, 0.75 per cent.; £1,400,500, 1.08
per cent.; upon £23,899, 2.12 per cent; upon
£8,175,199, 2.35 per cent. ; upon £2,426,416, 3 per
cent. ; upon £188,087, 3.28 per cent. ; and upon
£563,199, 4.68 per cent. The amount of preference
stock outstanding, January 31,1864, was something
tremendous, as the following recapitulation shows;
---1,10,050 at 3 per cent ; £1,715,424 at al per
cent.; £3,460,384 at 4 per cent. ; £1,321,950 at 41
per cent. ; £4,269,963 at 41 per cent.; £36,000 at
41 per cent. ; £2,315,765 at 5 per cent. ; £219,055
at 51 per cent.; £1,846,482 at 6 per cent.; and
£175,000 at 8 per cent.-in all, £15,470,093. The
total capital raised by stock of all kinds at
the close of January, 1864, was £30,286,951, the
company having created or assumed £B,OOO of 4
per cent. and £1,480,034 of 41 per cent. debenture
stock. The debenture debt outstanding January
31, 1864, was £10,379,160 (rather more than the
London and North Western, which, in fact, so far
as its undertaking proper is concerned, finds itself
distanced by the Great Western in matter of capital)
the bulk of which was floating at rather more than
4 per cent., £1,500 bearing interest at 31 per cent.,
£598,900 at 4 per cent,, £5,337,703 at 41 per cent.
£3,891,645 at 41 per cent. £136,640 at 41-, per cent.,
and £482,772 at 5 per cent. The company's credit
would appear, comparing this year with 1861, to
have somewhat improved, the amount of debentures
outstanding at 41 per cent. having increased, while
the extent of the 41 per cent, debt has been reduced.
Thus, the position of the debenture debt at the close
of 1861 was as annexed :-X217,207 at 31 per cent.,
£3.800 at 31 per cent., £1,525,898 at 4 per cent.,
£2,366,257 at 41 per cent., £5,128,700 at 41 per
cent., £352,107 at 41 per cent., and £1,644,964 at 5
per cent. 'These figure s, it should be observed, re-
present the debenture debt of the three companies-
Great Western, West Midland, and Scull Wales
combined ; and they afford another proof that what
may now in general terms be styled the Great
Western has for several years past been paying a
liberal rate of interest upon its debenture capital.
The company is struggling gallantly to overcome
the difficulties of its position, although its financial
history may be said to have been for some years a
race between the growth of revenue and the growth
of fixed charges. On the whole, the position of the
ordinaryol4reholiaus may be said to be improving,