The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-20 00:00:00

RE PORT

Cf the Directors of the Manchester and Leeds Railway
Company, at their General Half-yearly Meeting hel,l on
the 18th of March, 1839.
The Directors of the Manchester and Leeds Railway
Company gladly avail themselves of the present opportu-
nity for reporting to the Proprietors the
progress of this
great undertaking, as well as for putting them in posses-
sion of such additional information respecting the general
circumstances and prospects of the Company as the !apse
of another half year may enable them.
As to the state of the contracts which are LO:: lot
throughout the line, the Directors huvo the benefit of ca-
pealing to their Engineers' Report, which was
preSellted'to
them last week, and an abstract of which is annexed. From
tlis document it appears that the contracts, with two or
three cxeptons, arc proc.ceding in a very satisfr...etca
manner.

In reporting the state of the Company's finances, the
Directors beg to congratulate the shareholder.; upon the
very satisfactory manner in which the calls, which title-
amount to half the entire capital stock of the Compalw,
continue to be paid up, the actual amount remaining due
upon them being less than three-fourths per cent.
The Directors take this opportunity of observing that the
whole of the sum called up has been already expended ; that
at some periods the expenditure has considerably antici-
pated it, so that of 433,000/. being the amount of the loans
which they were authorized to take up by the Act-of Par..
liament, 200,0001. have in addition been appropriated.
The Directors have great pleasure likewise in stating that
not only has the entire amount of 433,0001. b, en contracted
for, but that further loans are placed at their disposal, to
meet any future sum which the Company ra iy have to
borrow to complete their present ❑ndertaking, or to
extend it according to the provisions of the Bill
which is nosy pending in Parliament. They refer to
this circumstance as indicative of the flattering opinion,
which the public entertain both of the soundness of this
principle and productiveness of the returns of the Man-
chester and Leeds Railway. To prove the correetris of
this view of the case the Directors think it their duty to
acquaint theTroprietary that a Committee Ins been en-
gaged for sonic time in examining the various d,ste by
which the income arising from the expected traffic was ori-
ginally calculated, as well as what may be fairly con-
sidered additional to it, and their report is very sati.-.Le-
tory, and confirms the opinion entertained by the Directors
from the first projection of the Railway, that the advan-
tages which the Proprietors are likely to derive from the
investment of their property in the Stock of the Company
will be very remunerative.

e purchasesof
railway e of
aretli e
nowland
s o required
neatly
i
the ling formation of
fcoormtibileetedthat the
Directors can with tolerable accuracy
which is more favourable than .hey
anticipated report
would
u result,l
i b o
the case, when they presented their last half-yearly report.
The I'arliamentary estimate for the land was 200,000/., •
which suns is not exceeded more than 50,0001. This is a
conclusion of great consequence to the interests of the
Company, after the unprecedented difficulties and expences
to which they have been subjected by a vexatious and
unrelenting opposition. The contracts for the entire -
works have been let for the aggregate sum of 1,153,16131 ,
to secure the completion of which the Directors calculate
it may be necessary to apply for a further sum of 230,63/.
for contingencies and extras, which is 20 per cent. upon tho
contract prices. To this must be added 158,0001. for iron
rails, and the same amount for Parliamentary expenses,
engineering, management, salaries, interest on loans to the
time of opening the line, &c. Ike., making a total for the
formation of the entire railway of 1,933,7091. The dis-
posable capital of the Company arising from 13,000 shares,
at 100/. each, and 433,0004 of loans, is 1,733,0004, which
leaves a balance required by the Company to complete their
present undertaking, of 200,799/.
In addition to this it will be remembered by many
of the Shareholders that the amount of capital to be
expended in the purchase of sites of land for stations,
and the erections thereof, as well as
in furnishing
the Company with locomotive engines, earria:es,
trucks, Scc., for carrying passsengcrs, merchandize, and
which is estimated at 350,000/. (and which sues is now
considered sufficient including the working of the new
line, though not their formation) would require an appli-
-
cation to Parliament for the purpose of obtaining the re-
quisite powers. These sums are therefore both included
in the new Bill before Parliament, which has passed the
Standing Ordcrs,and is fixed to go through the second read.'
ing on Tuesday the 19th inst. It is obvious the
ref ore,
that the new -Bill possesses a two-fold charsctcr, and is I
required first to place the Ccmpany in a position to seem
plish the object of the present Act in all its designs ; an r?
likewise secondly to construct the additional lines, tile natu.'. I
of which have already been fully explained. An erroneousre
impression, however, having been received by some per-
sons i
sons upon this subject, the Directors think it desirable *no i
to state that the amount of capital required for these twow I
objects is intended to be raised by the creation of 13 0
new shares-of 501. each, whick cannot be issued until 00
Bill is obtained, as was stated to the Spe sial Meetingthe
the Proprietors, held on the 17th of January lest. °l.
In closing their observations upon this subject,
the Di-
-
rectors feel in duty bound to notice the remarks
made upon
their junction line at a meeting convened by the Church-
wardens of Manchester, in consequence
'tension entertained by them that its formation
of an appre-
hension
the burial ground connected • ormation would
with the workhouse of
this wwn. The Directors consider
to state that they entertain as delicate it due to themselves
turbing the ashes of the dead, be a feeling about dis-
of the gentlemen who took they poor or rich, as any
part in the proceedings of that
meeting, or of the commun.
ity in general. That from the
first projection of the juncti • '
on line, tl • anxious ndea
their c . - ,
your has been to elicitthe
best information from every 1
1 source within their reach, as to the precise points of de-
-1 ; marcation between the ground in which the interments
Ihave, or have not taken place. That the result of

EVEN ENG EDITION.

this investigation has determined them in marking
out their line; and they have now the high satisfaction of
being able to inform their friends that the opinion which
tertained at the first is fully confirmed by subsequent
IL,,,;ry. and that the formation of the junction line from
;;:.eve Davie Bridge, past the workhouse, will
rut di:iiurb a single interment. With this statement as to
the non-existence of any serious obstacle arising to the
prosecution of their plans from the burial-ground belonging
to the Manchester workhouse, the Directors proceed with
great rle sur^ to record their conviction that it would be
difficult, adequately, to state the immense advantages
likely to arise to this Company, and to the towns of Man-
chester and Salford, from a junction of the Manchester
aad Leeds Railway with that of the Liverpool and Man-
eneqer Railway Company, es well as the favourable cha-
racter of the line now fixed upon in almost every point of
view for securing this important object. It ought not to
be overlooked that the quantity of land required for the pur-
pose is either not occupied or very partially so, or covered
with property of comparatively little value ; that the por-
tion immediately required for our stations, with a very
small exception, is already secured to the Company
on very advantageous terms ; that the stations of the
two great Companies associated in this junction are im-
mediately contiguous to the centre of the town, and parti-
cularly convenient to the Exchange and the Post-office
4istance not exceeding four hundred yards), and are
, situated to promote the object for which the
money has been expended upon the great thorough-
fares by which they are surrounded, and especially by the
openin: of the new Victoria bridge, to secure to the borough
of Salford a participation in the same benefit with that
cf Manchester. ( Hear, hear.) As to the line •itself
in respect of its engineering propel ties it will be
sufficient to state that their engineers have decided upon it
as the best which can be selected for the purposes of a

mirabl

Junction.
In conclusion, the Directors beg to observe that they have
proneded to ballot for the retirement of three of their mem-
bers in compliance with the regulations of their Act, and
that the parties retiring from the Directory are the Hon.
Capt. Thos. Best, Mr. Henry Forth, and Mr. Thos.
Broadbent, who are eligible for re-election.
Mr. HEALD then read the following abstract of the
Engineers' Report :
ENGINEERS' REPORT.
Engineers' Office, Palatine-buildings,
Manchester, March 9, 1839.
To the Directors of the Manchester and Leeds Railway.
Geserenstres,---Having received the following resolution
passed at your board on the 11th of February, " That the
engineers be requested immediately to prepare a report on
the progress and present state of the works with such general
engineering observations relating thereto as will enable
the Directors to give to the Shareholders as correct and
faithful an account of the proceedings in this department,
referring particularly to the portion of the line between
Manchester and Littleborough, and stating as accurately
as possible the time when the works on that part will be
completed, as also, when the engine-houses and work-
shops, and watering-places and offices, and conveni-
ences essential to the partial opening of the line in May
next, will be ready. Such report to be laid before the
Beard on or before the 11th day of March next at the
latest." We have carefully examined and fully considered
the state artd progress of the works, accompanied by the
real ient engineers, and their particular districts. Previous
to commencing the survey Mr. R. Stephenson met us in
Manchester, and we obtained his assistance in arranging
the plans and sites for the engine houses, workshops,
watering-places, and other offices connected with that de-
pertrnent. We also arranged the sites and plans for the
requisite buildings for the passenger stations at Manchester,
Rochdale, and Littleborough for the opening of that por-
tion of the line. The whole of the works consisting of
excavations, embankments, bridges, culverts, and the lay-
ing the permanent way, are in such an advanced state
between Manchester and Littleborough that there can be
no doubt of this portion of the line being ready for open-
ing in the month of May next.
The material in the excavations through which this por-
tion of the line runs, is generally of so very favourable a
nature that the permanent road will be maintained at a
very small cost when compared with most other railways.
The maintenance of permanent way is generally a very
heavy item in the current expenses of railways for some
3ears after they are opened. The only place on this per-
lion of the-line where the material is bad is at Moston
cutting, and the embankment at each end, where the
material is clay, in which probably some slips may occur.
Mere than one-half the permanent road between Manches-
ter and Littleborough is laid.
The viaduct at Manchester is nearly completed, except-
ing that portion required for the stations, sidings, &e. ;
nnd it is now arranged to proceed without delay with the
extension of the arches up to Lees-street, and to make
provision for the arrival and departure of passengers.
The whole quantity of earthwork between Manchester
and Littleborough is 2,107,360 cubic yards, and out of
this quantity there is executed 2,043,360, leaving only
64,000 cubic yards of earthwork to be executed. There
are 54,972 cubic yards of masonry, out of which 50,898
are executed, leaving only 4,074 yards to be executed,
excepug the masonry required for the stations. The
n hole cf these works have proceeded in a rapid and satis-
factory manner; the embankments are very high and nu-
merous, some of them being 70 feet in height, but the ma-
terial is of such excellent quality, there is not the slightest
unearanee of derangement, nor do we expect any will take
place. We have the satisfaction of stating that the large
culverts under these heavy embankments which required
an much care to make safe, are all in a perfect state. The
line will be finished to within 180 yards of the entrance to
the Summit Tunnel by May next, but as there is no suit-
' able place for a station there, it will not be desirable to
0;;L:n it further than Littleborougb. The Roach Brook,
7:12i.:::: is taken over the Railway near the tunnel entrance,
,0.31 be made to answer the purpose of a watering-place for

engines.
The tunnel at the summit of the country is not being
proceeded with as rapidly as the contractors ought to do,
and some change must he immediately made as regards the
number of men employed, and the general management of
the work. If a sufficient number of men be employed,
there can be no difficulty in completing the tunnel in the
year 1840.
The total length of driftway is 3,010 yards, of which
1,840 is completed, leaving 1,240 to be executed.
The completion of the driftway is of very great im-
portance, not only by draining off the water, but it will
give a better admission of air. From the large size it is
being made, we shall be able, when it is finished, to com-
mence tunnelling at a point intermediate between the
shafts, and thus increase the number of faces for the tunnel.
The present number of faces in operation is 24.
The remainder of the Report enters into details as to
the various contracts on the line, their state of progress,
and the difficulties peculiar to some of them.
(The Report is signed) GEO. STEPHENSON.
THOS. L. GOOCH.
Mr. JAMES BRACKENBURY, solicitor, read the ac-
counts,
by which it appeared that the total receipts to
Tune 30, 1838, were 415,0061. ; less the total disburse-
(3£2,1561.), 728501. So much of the calls paid
a Ivance as have subsequently become due, 35,4201. ;
•ing a balance of 37,430/. Amount received on ac-
t of calls to December 31, 259,680/. ; additional,
of calls paid in advance, 31,2751. ; amount received
on loan, 1:30,600/.--which with interest made a total
receipt of 560,773/. The Expenditure included the fol-
lowing amongst other items :—For land and compensa-
tion, and attendant expenses 94,575/. ; works 208,069/. ;
engineering, 6,4471; steam engines and other articles in
stock, 5,5771. ; total expenditure, 323,373/. ; leaving a
balance in the banker's hands, on the 31st of December
last, of 237,399/.
JOSEPH PEASE, Esq., of Darlington (father of the
Member, we believe), moved that the Report of the
Directors be received, and that their proceedings be
approved of and confirmed.
J. BROW N, Esq., of Manchester, seconded the motion.
THOMAS FIELDEN, Esq., of Todmorden (brother to
the Member for Oldham), asked the rate of interest
paid for the money borrowed? and the Chairman ex-
pLiincd that the Directors had borrowed some money
at 4-j- per cent., but other Railway Companies
having advertised to give five per cent., they were con-
sequently obliged to give the same.—Mr. Fielden asked
if tits Directors were giving five per cent. for the whole ;
and the Chairman further explained that they had
thought it right to place all the lenders on the same
footing ; and that indeed some of them had stipulated
that should the Company subsequently give five per
cunt. to other parties, they should also receive interest
at that rate.—Mr. Fielden said if this was not a floating
contract,
.it amounted to nothing ; and he could not see
the propriety of giving a man more than he asked. Other
Companies had borrowed since that time at 4i per cent.,
and had never raised the rate of interest they paid.
SAMUEL BROOKS, Esq., of Manchester, banker, said
that the North Midland Railway Company, and all the
large lines in the kingdom had of late been offering and
giving 5 per cent., and he thought the Directors would
have done wrong, if they had had the power to give one
party 4- per cent., and others 5 per cent.
Mr. FIELDEN said it was extremely liberal to give
away the Proprietors' money, and he thought they might
as well give it to those parties to whom they had given
too little for {heir land.—(A laugh.)
A SitattEnoLDEn. asked if any land had been bought
for too little from Mr. Fielden.—(Renewed laughter.)
Mr. FIELDEN asked how much had been borrowed at
4i per cent. ?
The CHAIRMAN said, that the Directors for a long
time could get no offers of money at that rate of interest,
and all the offers at four and a half per cent. amounted
to about 70,000/. He thought if Mr. Fielden himself'
had lent money to the Company at four and a half
per cent., with the stipulation that if they gave others
five per cent. he should have that rate also, and they
were now to refuse giving him more than four and a
half he would have just cause of complaint against them.
The motion for the adoption of the report then passed
with but one dissentient (Mr. Fielden).
On the motion of Mr. Ashton, seconded by Mr. Pein,
the accounts up to the 31st December last also passed,
Mr. Fielden being again in a minority of one.
On the motion of Mr. Penny, of Liverpool, seconded
by Mr. Ormerod, of Manchester, the Hon. Captain
Best, Mr. Forth, and Mr. Broadbent, were re-elected
Directors.
The common seal of the Company having been af-
fixed
to the register of Proprietors, Mr. Wood left the
Chair. Joseph Pease Esq., was called thereto ; and
on the motion of Mr.i PEIN, seconded by Mr. John
Brown, the thanks of the
sdt.m in the
meeting
Wood, for his able conduct g werec
ha ir.voted to Mr.
The meeting then
On Tuesday, some hot having fallen from
coke
alimn opti4vsesiennggionveeronthethwe:Nrcastle and Carlisle Rail-
way,ge about two miles
above Ilexham, the structure teonoliCrfiird and damage was
done to the extent of nearly 2001.

cu

The number of Members who voted for Mr.
VILLIERS' motion is below our hopes, but equal
to our estimate. On Tuesday, when the debate
began, we announced that he would be supported by
about 200 Members ; and, with the tellers, he had
only three short of that number. We were dis-

placed in his high office by the Liberals. We
understand why Parliamentary Reform and Ca-
tholic Emancipation should have been open ques-
tions in Mr. PITT'S and Lord LIVERPOOL'S
Cabinets, because neither of them was formed on
the principle of carrying those measures. But the
present Cabinet owes its existence to professing the
principles on which the repeal of the Corn-laws is
demanded. For them not to be united on this
question is as absurd as it would have been in Mr.
PITT'S Cabinet not to have been united on the
French war. The Ministers who oppose the repeal
of the Corn-laws have acted as treacherously, or as
deceitfully as Mr. PITT would have acted had he
opposed the French war after having formed his
Cabinet on the principle of carrying it on.
If Lord LANSDOWNE and Lord MELBOURNE
had not deserted the principles on which they were
carried into power, the Cabinet would have been
united in recommending some change in the Corn-
laws ; and then they would have come down to Par-
liament with an immense budget of facts, all tend-
ing to prove the evils of the present system. When
the GREY Cabinet wanted a Coercion Act for
Ireland the Ministers collected from all quarters
accounts of outrages, burglaries, assassinations,
robberies, stealing of arms, &c., and dressing up a
frightful picture, carried their measure of tyranny
almost by acclamation. If the present Cabinet
had so acted, and if Mr. POULETT Timm-
SON had declared on authority that our trade was not
likely to stand against foreign competition, that the
natural and healthy progress of society was checked,
that poverty was increasing, that crimes were mul-
tiplying, that discontent was over-running the land,
that our institutions were violently assailed ; and if
he had supported all these assertions by documents,
as he might have done, and had traced all the evils
up to the Devil's laws, as he also might have
done, we do not believe that the House
of Commons would hare resisted an array of facts
brought forward on such authority, and and we are
sure that all the town constituencies of the empire
would have been stirred almost into madness by
them, and would have demanded a repeal of the
Corn-laws in an irresistible voice. But the Minis-
ters do not believe in half the evils caused by those
laws ; they are, in truth, ignorant of their effects ;
their personal and their class interest attaches them
to the Corn-laws, and they have been indifferent
or opposed to the repeal. Had it been otherwise,
Liverpool, Maidstone, Lynn, Bath, and a score of
other towns, whose representatives being Tories,
supported the Tory party, would have compelled
them to vote in the interest of their constituents,
and the minority would have been far more nume-
rous even if it had not swelled into a majority. To
the indifference, the ignorance, or the treachery of
some Members of the popular Cabinet, the popular
party is indebted for the comparatively small mino-
rity which supported Mr. VILLIERS. This is a
sad and lamentable conclusion for us to arrive at,
but we believe it to be correct, and it teaches the
constituencies that they must rely on themselves,
and not on any Ministers.

the PRESIDENT'S Message to Congress, on the
Boundary question, and a variety of miscellaneous
intelligence more or less bearing upon the subject
of that document. The Message, with the intelli-
gence referred to, will be found at length
in another part of The Sun. The tone of
the Message is remarkably conciliatory, and
altogether well calculated to allay the war
ferment on the frontier. Mr. VAN BUREN frankly
admits that both parties have been in the wrong,
and by pointing out the imminent danger to the
peace of England and America of allowing this
question to remain undecided, as exemplified in
these incidents, he urges the necessity of an imme-
diate, friendly adjustment. The Washington
Correspondent of the Courier and Inquirer, writing
of the effect produced by ttePRESIDENT'S Message,
and the debate which followed its presentation to
Congress, says —" The prevailing impression here
may be briefly stated. Great Britain is wrong in
claiming territory which does not belong to her.
The General Government is wrong, in having so
long acquiesced in unjust claims. Governor FA IR-
F ELD is wrong in having undertaken a rash, ill-
advised, and ill-executed movement. And all parties
would be doubly and trebly wrong, if, in the nine-
teenth century, they should suffer a question of this
kind to interrupt the pacific relations of two countries,
bound together by so many ties of kindred, associ-
ation, and interest, as are the United States and
Great Britain." In the truth of the closing ob-
servations, we wholly and heartily concur. No
madness could equal the going to war to settle such
a question as this ; and we trust that on both sides,
the efforts of the Executive will be directed to the
prevention of every act having a tendency to dis-
turb the friendly relations happily subsisting be-
tween two great and free nations. If the agents of
the two Governments cannot agree about fixing the
Boundary Line, let the question be referred to the
arbitration of a third Power. This will save a
world of trouble, by preventing the representatives
of the people in either country from raising a popu-
lar clamour about the abandonment of claims by the
Executive. In the meantime not an hour should
be lost in bringing the question to a final issue.
While it remains unsettled the peace of
the two countries will be left at the mercy
of gangs of frontier brigands, instigated to
the commission of the worst outrages by the rebel
refugees from the Canadas.
_ _

The Corn-law Delegate?, we are happy to see,
increase in boldness and vigour, as if they meant to
realize Mr. O'CoNNELL's words, and find in their
defeat strength to secure a future victory. They are
to enlarge in every way the basis of their Associa-
tion, and to form a great national Anti-Corn-law
League, of which the head-quarters is very properly
to be placed at Manchester, the centre of the great
interest most. immediately aggrieved by the Corn-
laws. They are no longest o consider themselves
merely as the Delegates of the manufacturing towns,
but as the factors or agents of the community at large,
and are properly to advocate those great and en-
during principles which constitute freedom of trade.
Civil and religious liberty have already been con-
secrated, and though in practice they are yet fre-
quently violated, their principles are rooted in
society, and their branches must every day enlarge
and extend. Freedom of industry has never yet
been acknowledged, and it will be the duty of this
great and noble League to establish and consecrate the
great principle. Every person knows that in the early
ages of our society, as well as in most other societies,
every kind of labour was performed by slaves. Thus
labour and bondage became correlative terms, and
throughout Europe labour is still united with
degradation, and the labourer is more than half a
slave. On the ancient union of labour and bon-
dage, the descendants of the labourers' first masters
still claim the right to dictate in a vast number of
particulars the mode in which men may or may not
employ their industry. They must not buy here
and must not sell there—they must not buy one
thing and must not sell another—they must have a
licence for this business and a permission for that—
and this kind of interference by the Legislature
with the freedom of industry is tolerated and sanc-
tioned by all classes. The great principle is not,
in fact, yet theoretically recognized in society ; but
we hope by the exertions of this League to see
it established, so that it shall be considered as
great a wrong on the part of the Legislature to in-
terfere with the trade or industry of individuals as
to prescribe their religion or curtail their personal
liberty. Founded on such a wide basis, and
acting on these principles, while the Associa-
tion directs its first efforts against that greatest
of all the existing violations of free trade, the
Corn-laws, it will soon embrace in its ranks all that
is enlightened and wise, and be the parent of a
great reformation in our social economy. While
the Association is thus extending its sphere of
action, it looks at the means by which the objects
it contemplates can be obtained, and the opposition
made by the two Houses of Parliament to the first
principles of justice, have already made it
think of ulterior measures, and taught it to
regard the present constitution of the House
of Commons as an insuperable bar to free-
dom of industry. Again, then, we are forced on
the conclusion that the denial of justice has con-
verted the fiscal or economical question of the
Corn-laws into a great Constitutional or social
qnestion, which will be pregnant with the most im-
portant consequences. The resolutions of the
Delegates to agitate this subject in their own neigh-
bourhoods, by lectures, by public meetings, by dif-
fusing information amongst all classes, are practical
and wise ; and we augur, from their business habits,
the most complete success. It is not frequently
that so goad a cause finds such excellent workmen ;
and it is very seldom that philosophy finds so much
reason to praise the schemes of worldly men as she
now has to praise the Anti-Corn-law League and
agitation. Our report of the proceedings of the
Delegates in another part of The Sun gives all the
particulars of their plan and the resolutions they
have adopted.
The country also will be illuminated on the
existing mis-representation in the present defective
constitution of the House of %Commons. That is
the core of our political disease—the cause of
failure in the great question of further organic
reforms, and the real secret of the ill success of the
Delegates on the Corn-laws. Mr. JosEPII
PARKES exposed and laid bare the anomalies and
defects of the representative system. under which
groan and labour—defects which
are,the National Con-
vention and the dissatisfaction of the working
people now
the creation of the
classes, who know that they, as well as the middle
classes, are not equitably. or honestly represented in
the Legislature. The rich monopolize the legis-
lative power. Agriculture swamps trade and
commerce in Parliament. The following is an
analysis of the majority and minority on Mr. VIL-
LIERS' motion of Monday night :

MAJORITY.
County Members English ............... 120
Welch ............... 10
Scotch ............... 17
Irish .................. 37
160

For the latest news from South America, as well
as an account of the aspect of affairs in. that
part of the world, we must refer to our extracts from
the American Papers. The limitation of our space
affords no room to-day for a syllable of comment.

The debate in the House of Commons last night, on
Lord SANDON'S motion, for a return of various papers
and correspondence relating to the French
blockade of Mexico, will convey to the French
Government a just impression of the importance
attached to this question in England, to-
gether with the very unfavourable light in which the
conduct of France is viewed, not only by British mer-
chants, but by the highest legal authorities in this coun-
try. In the expression of an opinion that the conduct
of France was throughout a violation of the Law of
Nations, all parties in the House were unanimous. This
is a censure which France must, and will feel most
acutely. It will wither the laurels gathered at the for-
tress of Ulloa.

The political contests which agitated Paris for the
last two months, have been succeeded, within the last
few days, by a profound repose. The Cabinet, though
not yet Gazetted, is regarded as complete—subject
perhaps, to the change of an appointment or two, of
secondary importance ; and, therefore, there is no field
for political action till after the opening of the
Chambers. We regret, however, to find the
Courrier Francais, the National, and one or two
more Liberal Journals, holding out encourage-
ment to the " Resistance" party in Belgium. These
"sympathetic responses," as the Belgian Republican
Journals style them, may greatly embarrass the TRIERS
Cabinet, pledged as it is to resist the Treaty of the
Twenty four Articles.
The Earl of CLARENDON arrived in Paris on Mon-
day from Madrid, on his way to London. On the pre-
vious day Marshal CLAUSEL set out for London, where
he purposes to remain only a week, in order to be back
at the opening of the Chambers.

THE NEW CITY POLICE BILL.

BREAD-STREET WARD MEETING.-(THIS
DAY.)
__ .

Borough Members ...............•

This morning, at 10 o'clock, a highly respectable meeting
of the inhabitants of the Ward of Bread-street, was held
at the school-house, Little Distaff-lane, for the purpose of
taking into consideration the New Bill introduced into Par-
liament intituled " A Bill for the further Improving the
Mice in and near the Metropolis." In no part of the
City, perhaps, notwithstanding the great excitement that
prevails in every district—does there exist a stronger deter-
mination to resist to the utmost the contemplated invasion
of the rights and privileges of the citizens than in the
Ward of Bread-street. The requisition upon which the
meeting had been convened was numerously signed by the
most wealthy and influential inhabitants belonging to all
parties in the Ward. On taking the chair,
Alderman LAINSON observed that be had thought it
right, on receipt of the requisition, to convene them
together, for the purpose of expressing the opinions which
they entertained of the measure brought before Parlia-
ment by her Majesty's Government. In his opinion that
measure was altogether so objectionable, that they were
called upon by every means in their power not only to de-
monstrate its impropriety, but also to give to it their
most strenuous and determined opposition —( Cheers. )
The great and paramount object of the Bill was to deprive
the citizens of London of that control over their Municipal
affairs, which they had so long exercised with credit and
honour to themselves, and benefit and satisfaction to the
community.—( Hear, hear.) If the citizens of London, by
any culpable apathy of theirs suffered this measure to pass
into a law, they would ever afterwards be chargeable with
a gross and wilful abandonment of their duty.—( Cheers.)
He understood that a series of resolutions had been drawn
up, which would he submitted to them by some of the
gentlemen around him; and he had no doubt from the
public spirit of the gentlemen who had been entrusted
with their concoction, that they would be such as would
deserve the entire and hearty approval of the meeting
.
(Cheering.)

Mr. NOLOER briefly proposed the first resolution, to the
effect that it was the opinion of the meeting that the New
Bill, if passed into a law, wouldibe an unjust and arbitrary
infringement of the chartered rights of the citizens, and an
the Crown dveosult-,
not o
LinAgs
Da
secondeddeslrllC
vest-
ing indirect
ear t
na Cak
mu
ipnoi rsi t eor v
oe
fr puoierairtiprniviiniegtleies,kbiuntg
c,Mr. onlyß cuacuKs
tlotn corheofresolution, which was then
hitherto unheard of.
put and carried unanimously.
Mr. HARRILD, in proposing the second resolution, to the
effect that the citizens of London had from t
exercised the right of electing their ownmaTiletraimmemorial
making regulations for the security of the city' and the
of
n
serration of the peace, and that. they had administered thosee
powers with prudence and diligence, and had from time to
time adopted such improvements as the altered circum-
stances of the City required, said that he had been one of
that Reform party by whose strenuous exertions the pre-
sent Ministers had been kept in power, but that he no
lorger accorded in the principles by which they appeared
to be actuated. He was far from attaching ally blame to
the Reform party for the manner in which the Government
appeared now disposed to act ; but he could not help de-
claring his disapprobation of the conduct of Lord John
Russell in
turning round like a reptile upon those who bad
been his firmest and most efficient supporters.—( Cheers.)
Mr. HANCTEY seconded the resolution, which was then
put and carried unanimously.
Mr. BLACKMORE said he had great pleasure in proposing
the next resolution. He would have been disposed to have
given a stronger tone to tile resolution, as far as regarded
the conduct of the Ministers, but he had forborne to do so, in
deference to the opinion of several of his fellow Common
Councilmen. He could not express, in terms sufficiently strong,
his abhorrence of the men who, under the cloak of friendship,
were absut tlunge a dagger into the liberties of their fel-
low-citizens.-(Cheers.) He spat upon the gabardine of the
Alinisters, and entertained for them a feeling of toe most profound
contempt.—( Hear.) He concluded byth propentimentng a resolution
to the effect, that the meeting agree in ss of
John Russell, when he introduced the Municipal Corporation
Bill, viz., 6! That the only notion he could form of a Municipal
Government, was that the keeping the peace should be under
the control of the persons who were deemed proper to have the
government of the town, and that the meeting were of opi-
nion that the only efficient remedy against oppression was for
the people to retain a share of that power in their own pos-
session.
Mr. Wxnerams seconded the resolution, which was carried
unanimously.
Mr. j oHN LAWRENCE, in proposing the next resolution,
said that the Bill then under consideration was the most ex-
traordinary one ever introduced within the walls of the
House of Commons. By a few lines dexterously introduced
into the preamble of the Bill, the whole of the privileges of the
citizens of London, which they had purchased not only with
their purses but their blood, were carried away at one fell
swoop.—(Hear.) That infamous 13ill—for he could designate
it by no other term—created nineteen new offences that were
never before known to the law, and enabled a common police-
man to usurp the functions that had hitherto been only exer-
cised by the legal authority of the 31agrdistrates. He was happy
to state that the inhabitants of the Wa had been to a man
unanimous in resisting this encroachment upon their civil
liberties as would be seen by the petition then on the table,
from which not a single sig so
nature that had beensolicited was
withheld.—( Cheers. ) He concluded by proposing, " That in the
opinion of the meeting it was the duty of the City Representa-
tives in Parliament, and all her citizens who had seats in the
House of Commons, to oppose the Bill in every stage of its
progress."
Mr. WADE seconded the resolution, which was carried by
acclamation.
Mr. SIIUTTLEWORTIT, in proposing a vote of thanks to the
Worthy Alderman in the Chair, said they were all well aware
of the very efficient and satisfactory manner in which the Ma-
gistrates of the City of London performed their duties under
the present system, and lie trusted the day was far distant
when they would see that system by
duction of a power over which the City of London
exer-
cised no control.—( Hear, hear, hear.) There
was no place
on the face of the earth where property was more secure—
where the privileges of the citizens had been less infringed

MINORITY.
County Members ...... English ...............
Scotch ...............

Irish ..................

Borough Members ......................

197
Thus, this second division of Mr. VILLIERS
gives the Anti-Corn-law Delegates, a majority of
Borough Members, but only a minority of twenty-
seven County Members, to set off
How againon st 184
will orn-
law representatives of Counties I lgthe
FINALITY of the Reform Bills be maintained by
Tories or Whigs ? Not long after the former shall
have supplanted the latter in office : the Whigs
will then join the movement, and the Tories will
discover their weakness in resistance to the Nation.

By the packet-ship, England, Captain WAITE,
which arrived at Liverpool last night, we have re-
ceived New York papers to the 2d inst., bringing

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESnAv, MARCH 26, 1R :q9

upon, and where fewer misdemeanors had been committed,
than in the City of London.—(Hear, hear. )
Mr. DAVIDGE having seconded the motion, the vote of
thanks to the Chairman was carried by acclamation.
Alderman LAINSON, in expressing his acknowledgments for
that mark of their approbation, said he was astonished that her
Majesty's Ministers, with the dispositions by which they pro-
fessed to be actuated, should produce a Bill having for
its object no other tendency than that of depriving the
citizens of London of a right and privilege which they
had hitherto exercised in the most irreproachable manner.
He had yesterday had an opportunity of consulting with the
Middlesex Magistrates upon the subject, and he was happy
to find that th it opinion was in perfect unison with
that of the citizens of London. Even one of the gentlemen, an
intelligent and upright Magistrate, observed, that if the Bill
were allowed to be carried into a law it was not only the liber-
ties of the Citizens of London, but of the country generally that
would be endangered.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. HARRILD, after a suitable eulogium on the advocacy
given by the Press to the cause of the Citizens, proposed
a vote of thanks to the Press of England generally,
but in particular to the London Press, for the opposition they
had given the proposed Bill.
Mr. WILLIAMS seconded the resolution, which was carried
unanimously.
Mr. Coss moved that the resolutions should be inserted in the
Sun, Times, Chronicle, and Morning Advertiser Newspapers,
which was agreed to.
The meeting then separated.

MONEY and COMMERCIAL NEWS.

CITY, TWELVE O'CLOCK.

LATE AND IMPORTANT FROM

AMERICA.

(From New York Papers received to the 2d Lst.)
(From the Washington GloN )
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT.
To THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES:
I lay before Congreec several dispatches from his Ex-
cellency the Governor of Mains, with enclosures, communi-
cating certain proceedings of the Legislature oithat State,
and a copy of the reply of the Secretary of State, made by
my dircetior:, together with a note from 11. S. Fox, Esq.,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Great
Britain, with the mswer of the Secretary of State to the
same.

Her Majesty's packet, Seagull, with the Brazil mail,
has arrived at Falmouth, although not due for a fortnight
hence. She sailed from Rio Jan. 23, was detained to the
above date from the 16th, in consequence (it is presumed)
of the resignation of the Brazilian Cabinet, and the re-
forming of it was not known when the packet left. A
Minister from Buenos Ayres to this country, has come
passenger in the Seagull, and his visit is a special object,
supposed for the reconciliation of the present difficulties
between France and Buenos Ayres, through the media-
tion of England. The French squadron were still block-
ading the River Plate. The Seagull has brought on
freight 13,000/., and the rate of Exchange on London at
her departure was quoted 29i to 291.
LIVERPOOL COTTON MARICST, MARCII 19.—We have
had a lively demand for Cotton to-day. The sales from
6,000 to 7,000 bags, of which one half are on speculation,
at an advance of id. per lb.
The following letter has been posted at the North and
South American Catfeehouse, from Rio Janeiro, the 22d
January:—
" We have now fine weather, and there has been much
activity in business, especially in Exchanges, large sums
having been passed at various rates, from 293- to 30. Ame-
rican paper partly at 60, out we close at 291, and bills
at 29i. Stock is very heavy, and sales to some extent
have been effected at 70 ex-dividend. It is stated that the
Minister will issue about 1,200 contos, about 150,0001.
new stock, and not more at present. The remainder of
the new credit of 3,780 contos to be sold, or rather to be
fixed, in the London market."

Early in the month all the Ministers had resigned.
However, an election for a Senator is now going on.
From Rio Grande nothing particularly new. The
little that had arrived there is rather in favour of the Imp:-
rialists than otherwise.

From the River Plata our advices are of the 6th ins
The Blockade still continues.

The arrival of the American packet ship from New York
of the 2d inst. (the England, Captain Waite), caused
some sensation, owing to the important intelligence she
brings respecting the North East Boundary question.
Exchange from New York 4 dolls. 82c. Stocks lower,
1161; by the last accounts they were 1181.

It will appear from those documents that a numerous
band of lawless and desperate men, chiefly from the ad-
joining British provinces, but without the authority or
sanction of the Provincial Government, had trespassed upon
that part of the territory in dispute between the United
States and Great Britain, which is wstered by the River
Arco. took, and claimed to belong to the State ef Maine ;
and that they had committed excessive depredations there
by cutting and destroying a very large quantity of
timber.' It will further appear, that the Governor
of Maine, having been officially apprised of the cir-
cumstance, had communicated it to the Legislature,
with a recommendation of such provisions, in addition
to these already existing by law, as would enable him
to arrest the course of said depredations, disperse the tres-
passers and secure the timber which they were about car-
rying away; that in compliance with a resolve of the Le-
gislature, passed in pursuance of his recommendation, his
Excellency had dispatched the land agent of the State,
with a force deemed adequate to that purpose to the scene
of the alleged depredations, who, after accomplishing a
part of his duty, was seized by a band of the trespassers,
at a house claimed to be within the jurisdiction of Maine,
whither he had repaired for the purpose of meeting end
cansulting with the land agent of the province of New
Brunswick, and conveyed as a prisoner to Frederickton,
in that province, together with two other citizens of the
State, who were assisting him in the discharge of his duty.
It will also appear that the Governor and Legislature
of Maine, satisfied that the trespassers had acted defi-
ance of the laws of both countries, learning that they were
in possession of arms, and anticipating (correctly, as the
result has proved) that persons of their reckless and des-
perate character would. set at nought the authority of
the Magistrates, without the aid of a strong force, had
authorized the Sheriff, and the officer appointed in the
place of the land agent, to employ, at the expense of
the State, an armed posse, who had proceeded to the
scene of these depredations, with a view to the entire dis-
persion or arrest of the trespassers and the protection of the
public property.
In the correspondence between the Governor of Maine
and Sir John Harvey, Lieutenant-Governor of the province
of New Brunswick, which has grown out of these occur-
rences, and is likewise herewith communicated, the former
is requested to recall the armed party advanced into the
disputed territory for the arrest of trespassers, and is in.
formed that a strong body of British troops is to be held
in readiness to support and protect the authority and sub-
jects of Great Britain in said territory. In answer to that
request, the Previncial Governor is informed of the d !ter-
mination of the State of Maine to support the land-agent
and his party, in the performance of their duty, and the
same determination for the execution of which provision is
made by a resolution of the State Legislature, is commu-
nicated by the Governor to the general Government.
The Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, in call-
ing upon the Governor of Maine for the recall of the land-
agent and his party from the disputed territory, and the
British Minister in making a similar demand upon the
Government of the United States, pi oceed upon the as-
sumption that an agreement exists between the two
nations conceding to Great Britain, until the final settle-
ment of the boundary question, exclusive possession of,
and jurisdiction over, the territory in dispute. The im-
portant bearing which such an agreement, if it existed,
would have upon the conditions and interests of the par-
ties, and the influence it might have upon the adjustment
of the dispute, are too obvious to allow the error upon
which this assumption seems to rest, to pass for a moment
without correction. The answer of the Secretary of
State to Mr. Fox's note will show the ground taken by the
Government of the United States upon this point. It is
believed that all the correspondence which has passed be.
tween the two Governments upon this subject has alrealy
been communicated to Congress, and is now on their files.
An abstract of it, however, hastily prepared, accompanies
this communication. It is possible that in thus abridging
a voluminous correspondence, commencing in 1825 and
continuing to a very recent period, a portion may have
been accidentally overlooked ; but is believed that
nothing has taken place which would materially change
the aspect of the question as therein presented.
Instead of sustaining the assumption of the British
functionaries that correspondence disproves the existence
of any such agreement. It shows that the two Governments
have differed not only in regard to the main question of
title to the territory hi dispute, but with reference also to
the right of jurisdiction, and the fact of the actual exercise
of it in different portions thereof. Always aiming at an
amicable adjustment of the dispute, both parties have ed.-
tertained and repeatedly urged upon each other a desire,
that each should exercise its rights, whatever it considered
them to be, in such a manner as to avoid collision, and
allay, to the greatest practicable extent, the excitement
likely to grow out of the controversy. It was in pursuance
of such an understanding that Maine and Massachussetts,
upon the remonstrance of Great Britain, desisted from
making sales of lands, and the General Government from
the construction of a projected military road in a portion of
the territory of which they claimed to: have enjoyed the
exclusive possession ; and that Great Britain, on her part,
; in deference to a similar remonstrance from the United
States, suspended the issue of licenses to cut timber in the
territory in controversy, and also the survey and location of
a railroad through a section of country over which she also
claimed to have exercised exclusive jurisdiction.
The State of Maine had a right to arrest the depreda-
tions complained of; it belonged to her to judge of the
exigency cf the occasion calling for her interference ; and
it is presumed that had the Lieutenant-Governor of New
Brunswick been correctly advised of the nature of the pro-
ceedings of the State of Maine, he would not have regarded
the transaction as requiring, on his part, any resort to
force. Each party claiming a right to the territory, and
hence to the exclusive jurisdiction over it, it is manifest
that, to prevent the destruction of the timber by trespassers,
acting against the authority of both, and at the same time
avoid forcible collision between the contiguous Govern-
ments, during the pendency of negotiations concerning
the title, resort must be had to the mutual exercise of
jurisdiction in such extreme cases, or to an amicable and
temporary arrangement as to the limits within which it should
' be exercised by each party. The understanding supposed
to exist between the United States and Great Britain has
been found heretofore sufficient for that purpose, and, I be-
lieve, will prove so hereafter, if the parties on the frontier,
directly interested in the question, are respectively governed
by a just spirit of co :ciliation and forbearance. If it shall
be found, as there is now reason to apprehend, that there is
in the modes of construing that understanding by the two
Governments, a diffarence not to be reconciled, I shall not
hesitate to propose to her Britannic Majesty's Government
a distinct arrangement for the temporary and mutual exer-
cise of jurisdiction„' by means of which similar difficulties
may in future be prevented.
But between an effort on the part of Maine to preserve
the property in dispute from destruction by intruders, and
a military occupation by that State of the territory, with
a view to hold it by force, while the settlement is a sub-
ject of negotiation between the two Governments, there
is an essential difference, as well in respect to the posi-
tion lof the State, as to the duties of the General Go-
vernment. In a letter addressed by the Secretary of
State to the Governor of Maine, on the Ist of March
last, giving a detailed statement of the steps which had
been taken by the Federal Government to bring the con-
troversy to a termination, and designed to apprise the
Governor of that state of the views of the Federal Exe-
cutive in respect to the future, it was stated, that
while the obligations of the Federal Government to do
all in its power to effect the settlement of the boundary
question were fully recognised, it had, in the event of
being unable to do so specifically, by mutual consent, no
other means to accomplish that object amicably, than by
another arbitration, or by a commission with an umpire
in the nature of an arbitration; and that in the event of
all other measures failing, the President would feel it his
duty to submit another proposition to the Government of
Great Britain to refer the decision of the question to a
third power. These arc still my views upon the subject,
and until this step shall have been taken, I cannot think it
proper to invoke the attention of Congress to other than
amicable means for the settlement of the controversy, or
to cause the military power of the Federal Government to
be brought in aid of the State of Maine, in any attempt to
effect that object by a resort to force.
On the other band, if the authorities of New Brunswick
should attempt to enforce the claim of exclusive jurisdic-
tion set up by them, by means of a military occupation on
their part of the disputed territory, I shall feel my self
bound to consider the contingency provided by the Con-
, stitution as having occurred, on the happening of which a
State has the right to call for the aid of the Federal Go-
vernment to repel invasion.
I have expressed to the British Minister to this Govern-
ment a confident expectation that the agents of the State of
Maine, who have been arrested under an obvious misap-
prehension of the object of their mission, will be promptly
released ; and to the Governor of Maine that a similar
course will be pursued in regard to the agents of the Pro-
vince of New Brunswick. I have also recommended that
any militia that may have been brought together by the
State of Maine from an apprehension of a collision with
the Government or people of the British Province, will be
voluntarily and peacefully disbanded.
1 cannot allow myself to doubt that the results antici-
pated from these representations will be seasonably re-
, alized. The parties more immediately interested, can-
not but perceive, that an appeal to arms, under exist-
ing circumstances, will not only prove fatal to their pre-
sent interest, but would postpone, if not defeat, the attain-
ment of the main objects which they have in view. The
very incidents which have recently occurred, will neces-
sarily awaken the Governments to the importance of
promptly adjusting a dispute by which it is now made
manifest that the peace of the two nations is daily and im-
minently endangered. This expectation is further war-
ranted by the general forbearance which has hitherto cha-
racterist. d the conduct of the Government and people on
both sides of the line. In the uniform patriotism of Maine,
her attachment to the Union, her respect for the wishes of
the per pie of her sister States, of a hose interest in her
welfare she cannot be unconscious, and in the solicitude
felt by the country at large for the preservation of peace
with our neighbours, we have a strong guarantee that she
will not disregard the request that has been made of her.
As, however, the session of Congress is about to termi-
nate, and the agency of the Executive may become neces-
sary during the recess, it is important that the attention of
the Legislature should be drawn to the consideration of
such measures as may be calculated to obviate the necessity
of a call for an extra session. Withntihaattmtera vyeb'tsvioinrlek liyatoivuiee,
thought it my duty to lay the whole
and to invite such action thereon as you
occasion requires.
Washington, Feb. 26,1839. M. VAN BUREN.