The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-14 00:00:00

that they would receive only a fixed sum of 2 per
cent. per annum, or £40,000 a year, which he con-
sidered was a very foolish bargain.
The CHAIRMAN said the matter ha 1 been very
fully discussed at a former meeting of the company
before the agreement was entered into, and whether
it was right or wrong it was now too late to com-
plain of it.
Major-General STUDD said that the statements
made at the Antwerp and Rotterdam Railway meet-
ing that the latter and the Est Belge would receive
£177,120 before the Sambre and Meuse portion
would increase beyond £40,000 a year, he thought
they would never get anything more than 2 per cent.
per annum.

Mr. HOYES said there was an apparent discrepancy
in the statements of the two companies, but he did
not consider it serious, as the Sambre and Meuse
would have a right to participate in surplus profits
beyond a certain amount, and as they worked rail-
ways cheaper in Belgium than in England, they had
reason to expect there would be a surplus in which
they would participate. He then asked for ex-
planations as to the sinking fund, and expressed an
opinion that the directors should give them more
information as to the Great Central of Belgium
Company.
The CHAIRMAN explained that the Great Central
of Belgium Company was originally intended to
amalgamate the Antwerp and Rotterdam, the Est
Beige, and the Sambre and Meuse companies ; but
the Belgian Government refused to sanction the
fusion, and determined that each company should
be bound to stand on its own basis, so that until
the Great Central of Belgium Company possessed
property of their own, there was some difficulty as
to its legal existence. The difficulty would, no
doubt, be got over, but at present it was necessary
to provide additional rolling stock. With regard
to the redemption of the bonds the full interest of
£7,000 a year was continued to be paid, and £250 a
year for redemption, so that at the end of about 50
years the principal and interest of those bonds would
be entirely paid off. After some further explana-
tions,

Mr. HOYES expressed himself perfectly satisfied,
especially as the Chairman did not agree in the
statements made at the Antwerp and Rotterdam
meeting with respect to the operation of the agree-
ment made with the Sambre and Meuse Company.
Mr. AUSTIN, a director, stated that the board had
made the best terms they could with the Great
Central Company, and he had no doubt they would
in a very few years participate in surplus profits
contemplated.
The CHAIR3IAN believed that the estimate of traffic
upon which the agreement was founded would be
very soon realised.

The report was unanimously adopted, the dividend
was recommended to the general meeting for ap-
proval, and also the re-election of Mr. Austin and
Mr. Taylor, the retiring directors.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the chairman.

MANCHESTER, SHEFFIELD, AND LINCOLNSHIRE.

It appears that the contract for the construction
of this company's new direct line from Manchester
to Liverpool, authorised in the past session of Par-
liament, has been let to Messrs. Brassey, and that
the works are to be vigorously prosecuted until com-
pleted throughout.

The British American Provinces.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
MONTREAL, Aug. 28.

In my previous letters from this city, the true
metropolis of Canada, as well as from Quebec,
Ottawa, and Three Rivers, I have recorded my con-
viction, the result of extensive intercourse :with all
classes of men, that the bulk of the people, both
English and Mach, Protestant and Roman Catholic,
are not so much hostile to the Confederation of
the Provinces as profoundly indifferent. I have
furthermore found reason to believe that this indif-
ference would speedily give place to earnest and
systematic opposition, if the majority were once per-
suaded, as some few already are, that Confederation
was sought for Imperial, and not for Colonial pur-
poses, and that Great Britain was not prepared to
pay the whole, or even the greater part, of the costs
and charges of the change. To Confederation per
se, there appears to be little dislike—no more than
the instinct of Conservatism usually applies to all
efforts at innovation that are not the results of an
imperative and overpowering necessity; but to Con-
federation, accompanied by any considerable in-
crease of the burdens of taxation, there is a strong
repugnance among all the non-politicians of the
country. If there be one thing more than another
that characterises both the great sections of the
Canadian people, and more particularly the French
of the Lower Province, it is their unpatriotic objec-
tion to pay the legitimate costs of the great liberties
they enjoy. These may be strong epithets, but they
are no stronger than the truth, as many Canadians,
both politicians and non-politicians, are willing to
admit when the question of Confederation is fairly
argued. The politicians in office, and many who
are out of office, are exceedingly loyal. As the
phrase goes, they are " more loyal than the Queen,"
and are quite willing to make the people pay for
loyalty as they would for any other luxury. But
the people themselves, loyal because loyalty is the
fashion, are not desirous of any such change in the
working of the sentiment as would entail much
pecuniary outlay, present or prospective. Among
a smaller class, well affected to the British connec-
tion, thankful for the liberties they enjoy at a smaller
cost than any other civilised people in either hemi-
sphere, and averse from change of any kind, there
is a vague feeling, only expressed in private inter-
course, that whether the British provinces remain as
they are, or whether they confederate, as the govern-
ing party desires, and as the British Government
recommends, the inevitable result is annexation to
the United States. The result, though not in itself
what they would prefer, has no terrors in their eyes;
for though it might be accompanied by participation
in the public debt of the great country of which
Canada would become one of the constituent mem-
bers, it would also be accompanied by a partnership
in the immense resources of the Union, and freedom
from the incubus that now weighs upon Canadian
energy and enterprise, in the shape of a constant
liability to be involved in hostilities with the Federal
Government, not in consequence of any fault com-
mitted or offence given by Canada, but on account
of it forming a part of the British Empire. Among
the arguments used by this class of men, some of
them Canadian born, some of them settlers of a
quarter of a century's standing, many of them largely
engaged in the trade, manufacture, or agriculture of
the province, and a large portion of them accustomed
to think for themselves, irrespective of the party po-
litics, with which they refuse to have any concern,
commercial considerations take a leading part. They
urge " That the general indebtedness of the Govern-
ment is on the increase; that the expense of the Vo-
lunteer force, small as it comparatively was, amounted
' on the Ist July last to $750,000, a large sum in a
budget that does not contrive to equalise income
and expenditure; and that the various canals and
pSoublic works, both of Upper and Lower Canada are
suited to the requirements of trade as scarcely
to defray the cost of management. They add that
varying the existing tariff, between a duty of 10
to 25 and SO per cent
upon British manufactures,
cannot be increased for purposes of revenue without
letting in the smuggler, giving an unwholesome bias
to the native manufacturer, and otherwise defeating
its own purpose. That Stamp and Excise Duties, re-
lied upon to supply the deficiency of revenue, how-
ever productive they may be, cannot contribute very
largely to the public necessities, when levied among
a population of no more than 2,500.,000, the majo-
Irity of whom are self-sustaining agriculturists, whose
commercial transactions are few and simple. That
the repeal of the Reciprocity Treaty, determined by
the Federal Government for spite, and for no nobler
reason, but which that Government has a perfect
right to abrogate without any reason at all, will soon
be felt in the diminished value of all Canadian com-
modities which are not dependent for their price on
that which prevails in the British markets. That
canfederation, provided New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia were willing, might alleviate some of these
evils, by facilitating future and expanding present
lk trade with the Maritime Provinces, but only to the