The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-15 00:00:00

'AIL WAY AND PUBLIC COMPANIES
IN P.4I2LIAZEN7.

On Tuesday, on the conclusion of the engineering
and general evidence, the committee passed the bill
of the Mid Kent and Addiscombe Railway, the
Brighton Company having withdrawn their oppo-
sition, reserving it for the commitee of the Lords.
The clauses of the London and North Western
Company's Additional Powers Bill having been
settled, the committee intimated that they would
proceed with the hearing of the Stafford and lit-
toxeter Company's Bill. The opposition case of the
London and North Western Railway against the
Wellington, Drayton, and Newcastle, and West
Cheshire Railway Companies, was concluded, and
the proceedings are still pending in the Radstock
and Keynsham, West Riding, and Edinburgh and
Glasgow committees. The following went through
in committee on unopposed bills. Metropolitan
and Thames Valley Railway, for branch lines
between Brentford, Southall, Twickenham,
Islewertb, and Chertsey, and uniting the
Gmat Western and South Western Itlilways,
and to raisa £333,000; North-Eastern, for a line of
10 miles between Market Weighton and Beverley,
and to raise £177,000; West Midland and Severn
Valley Railway, for alteration in the terms of the
lease of the Severn Valley, and for the exercise of
its borrowing powers by the West Midland ; Hor-
sham, Dorking, and Leatherhead, for a line of 13
miles from the Brighton Railway at Horsham to
the South-Eastern at Dorking and to raise £160,000;
Hatfield and St. Alban's, for extensions between
these points, and to form junctions with the Great
Northern and London and North-Western, and to
raise £93,000, the Great Northern subscribing
£20,000; Dublin and Meath, to raise a further sum
of £60,000.
THE THAMES EMBANKMENT.—On Tuesday the
committee of the House of Commons, of which Mr.
Cowper is chairman, appointed to inquire into the
merits of the bill for embanking the north side of
the river Thames from Westminster to Blackfriars-
bridge, and for making new streets in and near
thereto, and from Blackfriars-bridge to the Man-
sion-house, met in committee room No. 13. Mr.
Sergeant Wrangham, Q.C., opened the case for the
bill at considerable length, but as the subject mat-
ter of it is so well known to the public it is unne-
cessary to refer to it further than to say that the
bill proposed the appointment of a Thames Embank-
ment Board, to consist of four members of the Me-
tropolitan Board of Works and two of the City
Corporation, to construct the embankment, together
with a public roadway, 100 feet wide, from West-
minster-bridge to the eastern boundary of the Inner
Temple, and 70 feet wide from thence to Black-
friars-bridge, with all necessary approaches, with
three streets from Blackfriars-bridge, communicat-
ing with Surrey-Street, Norfolk-street, and Arun-
del-street ; also a street 70 feet wide from Black-
friars-bridge to the Poultry and Mansion-house,
with continuous thoroughfares from Wellington-
street, 'Waterloo-bridge, to Hungerford-market,
through the Adelphi, and passing through White-
hall, terminating opposite the Horse Guards. Lands
reclaimed from the river are to be appropriated for
public walks and gardens, and the board, with con-
sent of the Treasury, may borrow £1,500,000.
The annual accounts to be audited and laid before
Parliament under the designation of the Thames
Embankment Fund. The works to be approved of
by the Admiralty and Commissioners of Woods and
Works. Mr. H. Scott, Q.C., appeared for the Metro-
politan Board of Works, the City Gas Works, and
the Duke of Buccleuch; and Mr. Calvert, Q.C., and
others, for the Duke of Northumberland, the crown
lessees, the benchers of the Temple, wharfingers,
and owners of property not in opposition to the
public principle involved in the bill, but for the in-
sertion of clauses protective of their properties and
interests. The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, the
chairman of the Thames Embankment Commission,
was the first witness examined, and gave evidence
in favour of the bill, and the committee adjourned
to this.

Yesterday the committee on the bill for the amal-
gamation of the Eastern Counties and other compa•
vies reported that they had considered the bill, and
had found its preamble proved, that the certificate
of the Board of Trade had been laid before them,
showing that each of the companies, the Eastern
Counties, East Anglian, Norfolk, Eastern Union,
and Newmarket, had paid up and expended more
than one-half of their respective capitals. The com-
mittee found that in 1354 an agreement was entered
into between the Eastern Counties, Norfolk, and
Eastern Union Companies, by which the undertak-
ings of the two latter companies were to be worked
by the Eastern Counties, and thegross joint receipts
of the three companies, subject to certain deductions
were to be divided between them in the proportion
of five-sevenths to the Eastern Counties, one-seventh
to the Norfolk, and one-seventh to the Eastern
Union, and that such agreement was confirmed, and
the Eastern Counties were required to apply to Par-
liament in the present session for an act to amalga-
mate the company upon the basis of a division of
profits. The committee further report that the
amount of fixed charges on the several undertak-
ings of the three companies varies considerably,
and that in consequence the rate of dividend on
the ordinary stooks of the companies differs in
amount, and that in order to effect an amalgama-
tion upon the basis required by the act, and in a
manner that shall be practicable and equitable and
fair to all the parties concerned, the committee
had found it necessary to fix the total nominal
amount of the capital of the new company to be
amalgamated at a higher sum than the aggregate
amount of the capital of the various companies
parties to the amalgamation. The proposal to build
and use steam vessels by the new company was not,
the committee added, proved to their satisfaction.
The bill, as it came from the committee, is now re-
printed prior to its introduction to the House of
Lords, where the Eastern Union, who dissent from
its provisions, will oppose it. The bill in its amended
form provides that as regards the Eastern Counties,
Eastern Union, and Norfolk, the amalgamation shall
be formed by a fusion of all the stocks, the quantity of
stock assigned to each company being measured by
the fixed liabilities affecting it, that all the fixed lia-
bilities and preference shares shall attach to the
amalgamated company, and that the quantity of
ordinary stock shall be apportioned among the three
Companies in their respective ratios, and a similar
arrangement applies to the other companies amal-
gamating.
Yesterday, during the progress of the opposition
of the Lancashire and Yorkshire to the West
Riding, Hull, and Grimsby Railway, the committee
cleared the
room, and on the readmission of the
parties, Mr. Puller, the chairman, intimated that
unless counsel for the opposition could bring for-
w trd stronger evidence the committee were of
opinion that Great Grimsby was a port of consider-
able importance, and adjourned. The case of the
proposed amalgam al of the North Eastern and
Newcastle and Carlislo Railways was opened by
Mr. Denison, Q C., awl opposed by Mr. Mere-
wether and Mr. Webster for the London and North
Western, several witnesses for the bill being exa-
mined. The Team Valley Eatensloes bia of the North
Eastern Railway was finally disposed of, the lietton
Colliery Company refusing the clauses offered and
reserving their opposition for the Lords. The case of
the Radstock and Keynsham was concluded in Mr.
Adair's committee, and Mr. Hope Scott Will sum up
the proceedings to-day. The Wellington and New.
c tstle, and Edinburgh and Glasgow bills are still
under consideration. The committees on the Liver-
pool Water bill, and Middle Level Drainage bill
are still occupied, with evidence on the merits of
those measures.

THE THAMES EMS AN KM ENT.—The committee re-
assembled yesterday, Mr. Cowper in the chair,
when Capt. Borstal, secretary to the Thames Con-
servancy ; Mr. D. W. Harvey, commissioner of the
city police, and Sir It. Mayne, commissioner of the
metropolitan police, were examined at considerable
length, their evidence being in favour of the pro-
posed embankment, and of the opening of new
thoroughfares, to meet the greatly increasing
trade and traffic of the metropolis: The last
witness threw out a new suggestion, to the effect
that the communication from the embankment
and Cannon-street, should be continued up to Wm_
breek, the western side of which should be removed

and the 'new thoroughfare runs right up to the
Mansion-house, instead of carrying the communi-
cation, as was now proposed, at great expense dia-
gonally, and thereby avoiding the demolition and
removal of a number of new warehouses and offices
recently erected. The committee, after a roc-exa-
mination of the Lord Mayor, adjourned to this day.

AMERICAN NEWS.

Baton Rouge, which has surrendered to the
Federal gunboats, very much, no doubt, as New
Orleans has done, is a place of considerable conse-
quence, situated on the left bank of the river, and
about 120 miles above the latter place. Baton
Rouge, so called from a red pole that marked the
boundary between the red man's territory and the
acquisitions of the whites in former days, is the
State capital. It contained a United States
arsenal, which was seized by the State, and is the
site of an extensive prison and the State lunatic
asylum, It political tendencies may be estimated
by the fact that, out of a population furnishing
1,300 voters at the last election, no less than 875
men entered the ranks of the Confederate army
when 'it took the field, and more than 240 enrolled
themselves as a home guard. The next place of
consequence on the Mississippi is Natchez, and
above that lies Vicksburg. Between Baton Rouge
and New Orleans lie the great plantations belong-
ing to ardent Secessionists, with only one exception
perhaps. Here are the estates of the Mannings and
Wade Hamptons, of South Carolina, of Bringer,
Kenner, Burnside, Duncan, Governor Roman, and
others, vast tracts of sugar fields covered with
' costly machinery, and mills for crushing, boiling,
and refining, and negro quarters, all facing the
river in sections, and bounded at the back by
swamps, bayous, and dense forests. These gentle-
men will, no doubt, follow the example of the autho-
rities, and submit to force majeure.
If Gen. Butler is wise—and there are some vat)
doubt he is—he will keep his men out of the city,
but, under any circumstances, there must be danger
in the position of any force, naval or military, near
and in such a place as New Orleans, unless they be
maintained in strength. It will be curious to watch
the conduct of the negroes, of whom there must be
some 60,000 or 70,000 in and about the city. Who-
ever they were who expressed joy at the sight of
the " old flag" and were fired upon according to
Commodore Farragut, it is tolerably certain they
were not negroes. To them the stars and stripes are
associated only with the extension of slavery, and
the sight of the banner under which they have been
specially oppressed would give them no joy. That
there may be thousands of Union men in New
Orleans is likely just as there are Chartists in Lon-
don and Orleanists and Legitimists in Paris—but
the Mayor expressed in his defiant and courageous
message to the Federal captain the opinions of the
vast bulk of the people and the voice of the prepon-
derating classes in wealth and position. If the in-
habitants of New Orleans all maintain the attitude
assumed by the Mayor and the Council of the city,
it may set the politicians of Washington thinking
on the situation, and may open their eyes more
clearly to the great troubles to come. Men like
Mr. Sumner, who are disposed to admit that, if no
Union sentiment exists in the South, it is impossible
to govern it according to the forms of Republican
Government, should the people refuse to accept the
Federal officers, may discover the task before them
is incapable of accomplishment. Nor is the position
of the Republican party likely to gain strength by
the very events which place the objects it sought
apparently within its grasp. At every fresh vic-
tory there is a defection, and the debates in Congress
recently have revealed the intensity of the flames
which are awaiting the first fissure to leap out in
all their fury. The Confiscation measures proposed
in so many forms, and advocated so zealously, and
resisted with such vehemence, have had no result,
except to exasperate the passions of both sides, and
all the talk about emancipation has ended in en-
abling a few slaveholders in the district of Colum-
bia to sell their slaves at a good price, for the head
money they will receive is a high average as "nig-
gers" go at present.
Fort Macon, as we anticipated, has surrendered,
and the port of Beaufort, North Carolina, is open.
It is strange that there is no news from Savannah,
but, unless the Federals manage things very badly,
that city ought to share the fate of New Orleans.
In that case Wilmington, Charleston, and Mobile
would be the only places of consequence in the
hands of the Confederate States along their whole
seaboard.
It must be remembered that there is no cotton
grown near New Orleans. The plantations com-
mence about Natchez, and, as orders have been given
to keep it on the plantations, it is not at all likely
the Federals will get much of it. From Beaufort
we may get some naval stores, and the Federals
may procure some sugar from New Orleans ; but,
out of all the places which have fallen into their
hands, none has yielded any cotton to pay for the
powder burnt in getting it. The new collector of
the port of New Orleans will not have much to do,
according to all appearances. Will the importers
take Confederate money for their goods ?
The military movements of Beauregard are not
known to us, but it is just possible he may have
marched from Corinth upon Memphis to the east in
order to get the support of the flotilla in some grand
coup. If Halleck has anything like 160,000 men,
the position of the Confederate corps becomes to the
last degree dangerous; and the Federal General,
who is a highly trained and scientific soldier (the
author of the best work on soldiering ever written
in America), is not the man to lose the great advan-
tages afforded to him by the possession of such an
enormous force. The Federals are gradually encir-
cling and closing in on the heart and head of the
Secession movement. On the north-east angle of the
Confederacy they have pressed down as far as the
Rappahannock, a,nd have only left to their enemies
the divided allegiance of the James and York
Rivers, and Norfolk, on the seashore of Virginia.
The coast of North Carolina is theirs, except Wil-
mington. They hold all the coast of South Carolina
and of Georgia, except Charleston and Savannah,
and the eastern shores of Florida are open to them
whenever they please. On the Gulf (we presume)
Pensacola only remains to the Confederates—
though nothing has been heard for certain of the
state of affairs there for some time back—and
Mobile, and the profitless coast of Texas. M'Dowell
on the Rappahannock, however, is exhibiting im-
mense caution, or is waiting for some develop-
ment of
Banks's movement; :perhaps, indeed, he
is in observation lest the Confederates, if beaten
at Yorktown
hours
en
g hassuccess
an
not effect to do what mortal general can-
Private lerteer°s4l:teat he
en
lending
enormouswhere
fie
elattacks.
and
battering train, and upwards of 110,000 men ; but
there is some difficulty in finding them, and this
difficulty is notit likelydoes so to decrease as the army ad
v.
The Washington correspondents of the New York
journals are not trustworthy, for the simple reason
that they are rarely admitted into any society
where they can obtain information, and that they
make the most reckless assertions and surmises, in
order to conceal their ignorance, as they must write
something about every movement which takes place,
or which they imagine to have occurred.
If X
Mercier has received instructions to act as mediator

it must be very recently iadeed, and so sagacious a
etcktesnipn as the Emperor is not likely to propose
41:1 armistice to the North at the very ilLomo.t it.
hopes of conquest are at the highest. The paper in
which the story of a consultation having taken place
at Washington between the Federal Cabinet and
the foreign
tnLeiyis.
,oh Lions had /311 diplonis tic corps is utterly unworthy of
belief. The paragraph in question is probably fur-
by the same person who stated that Lord
introduced, Captain Semmes, of the Sum-
Seward as a British subject, in ofder to
obtain a passport for him. The Committee of Way 8
and Means has reported a rote of £45,000,000 ster-
ling for the army of the United States for the year
1863. But if the war is over then or before it, there
must be another sum of £14,000,000 provided for,
being the bonus or bounty of 100 dols, payable to
each of the 700,000 soldiers in the Federal army the
moment the war is declared to be over. The ten-
dency of public opinion in regard to this army re- P