The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-21 00:00:00

DUBLIN AND DROGHEDA.

The half-yearly report of the directors, to be submitted
to the next general meeting, shows that the traffic re-
ceipts for the half-year ending 31st of December, 4852,
amounted to 30,3471., being an increase over those of
the corresponding half of the preceding year of 3,1161.
This increase appears to the directors as very satisfac-
tory, and leads them to look forward to such a further
augmentation of the company's income, when the via-
duct over the Boyne will be completed, and extension
of the Navan branch to Kells will be opened for traffic,
as will afford the shareholders a fair return for the
capital they have embarked in the undertaking. The
viaduct over the Boyne at Drogheda has been steadily
progressing ; and though the weather during the winter
has been very unfavourable, the contractor, Mr. Evans,
still hopes to have it ready for the passage of trains at
the time originally agreed on, viz., in the month of May.
In pursuance of the resolutions passed at the last general
meeting, the preference of 4 per cent. shares then
created have been issued to the extent of 1,454 shares ;
and with the proceeds arising therefrom, and other
moneys in the hands of the company, the mortgage debt
due to the Dublin and Belfast Junction Company has
been reduced from 183,4331. to 130,0001. As these
preference shares afford a most unexceptionable security,
the directors have no doubt that they will soon be dis-
posed of, and the company thereby enabled to effect a
saving in the annual charge for interest. The balance
of net profits for the half-year is 10,7141., out of which
the directors recommend a dividend of 245. per old share,
and Bs. per third share, to be declared, which will
amount to 9,1261., and will leave a balance to be carried
to the reserve fund of 1,5881.

GREAT SOUTHERN AND WESTERN (IRELAND).—The
half-yearly meeting of this company was held in Dublin
on Saturday. The attendance was large, and the chair
was taken by Sir E. M‘Donnell, chairman of the com-
pany. The directors, in their report, stated that the
traffic for the past half-year, as compared with the cor-
responding period of 1851, showed an increase of 16,139/.,
nor was the increase confined to any particular traffic,
but appeared to be extended to passengers, goods, and
cattle. There was a slight increase in the working ex-
penses, which, as compared with the receipts, were
equal to 34 per cent. The .nett surplus revenue for the
half-year was 60,9581., out of which a dividend at the
rate of 41 per cent., or V. 2s. 6d. per share, was recom-
mended. This would leave a balance of 4,708/. to be
carried to the next half-year's account. Arrangements
had been made for carrying out the magnetic telegraph
between Dublin and Cork. The Killarney Junction
Railway. will be openel in May next. The report was
unanimously adopted.
EAST INDIAN RAILWAY.—The annual general meet-
ing of this company was held on Friday, at the office, 50,
Old Broad-street; Mr. H. A. Aglionby, M.P., in the
chair. The report, which we have already published,
was then read. A balance-sheet, and a statement of the
receipts and expenditure during the past year; were also
submitted to the proprietors. The home receipts, for
calls on original shares, deposits on extension B shares,
guaranteed interest, &c., were 200,0681,115. ld. ; India,
9,9851. 6s. 11d. ; total, 210,5031. 18s. Payments, in-
cluding interest to proprietors, 144,3841. 12s. 7d.; India,
161,2281. 13s. ld. ; total, 305,6131. ss. Bd, The chair-
man moved the adoption of the report, which was
unanimously agreed to ; and, in reply to a question,
stated there was no reason to apprehend any interference,
as regards any other line, by which their interests would
be affected. A vote of thanks to the chairman and
directors terminated the proceedings.

IS THERE A BOURBON IN THE UNITED STATES l—The
Mo
fausaezvienri
f
eaao
of the
second Amer nanumsbereiralo?
underPuena inth'se MconndthulcYt
most eminent literary men in the United States—con-
tains an essay professing to establish the existence, in
writerlak s
the person of the Rev. Eleazer Williams, an American
missionary, of Louis XVII., heir of the throne of
France—in other words, that young Dauphin
attempts
a wen-
t, in whom
Simon, the jailor, treated with such brutality, and whom
historians relate to have died in his childhood. The
narrative is by one Rev. John Hanson, whose
" worth
kanndowabnilcilt4"yiras
aanssuofreNd,bwy
ythoerkß.evT.
hDer.
to prove, amongst other things, that Belanger, in 1848,
confessed, when dying, that he had conveyed the Dau-
phin to the United States ; that the French A.mbassa-
dor, Genet, acknowledged that the Dauphin was in the
state of New York in 1817 ; that the Indian woman,
his reputed mother, does not acknowledge him to be her
child, whilst boxes of clothing and medals of Louis
XVI. and Maria Antoinette were left with the child ;
that he recognised the portraits of Simon the jailor, and
of Madame Elizabeth, when unexpectedly placed before
him by Professor Day; that, like the Dauphin Williams
was idiotic at the age of thirteen, and that various in-
quiries have been made about him, from time to time,
by ecclesiastical and other dignitaries of France. This
is the substance of the various allegations attempted, to
be substantiated by outward testimony; but the evidence
most direct, and at the same time most susceptible of in-
stant disproof, is that advanced by Mr. Williams, him-
self, and which is to this effect :—He asserts, and is so 1
far supported by the evidence of others, that when the
Prince do Joinville was in America in 1841, he sought
out the rev. gentleman, and paid him distinguished at-
tention. But this is far from being all. The Prince not
only sedulously cultivated the rev. gentleman's acquaint-
ance, but, in an interview fixed by himself, disclosed the
facts of William's history. A variety of circumstantial
evidene is given, but most of the rest is highly impro-
bable, and almost refutes itself. Thus it is said, " With
dto documents Mr. Williams has regar been unaccount-
since he rec.&
• ably careless. A short time . wed a letter,
purporting to be from the private secretary of Louis
Napoleon, making inquiries in a respectful manner con-
cerning the events of his life, and also similar communi-
cations from several French bishops, and a cardinal, but
for reasons best known to himself, he returned no
i answer. These letters, together with one from Louis
L Philippe, were accidentally burned a few weeks ago
; whilst lying on his table " (!) All this is very clumsy—
)4 unworthy of a rappist or even a clairvoyant.

The blighting and withering curse which has so
long brooded over the destinies and darkened the
prospects of the Australian colonies, in the midst
of all their golden prosperity, is at last withdrawn.
Transportation to Van.Dienien's Land has ceased.
The vial of wrath which we have for sixty years
been pouring forth on this noble and beautiful
region is spent to the last drop ; the deadly wine
we have poured out for our remote colonies is
drained to the dregs. Henceforth we shall plant
wheat without tares, and cease to burden one com-
munity with the crimes and vices of another. This
victory of right and•juitice has indeed been slow.
The transportation system received its first shock
from the report of the committee of the House of
Commons in 1837. It has lingered since then for
fifteen years, but has never recovered the blow it

_ .
then received. That report effectually discredited
transportation in the form in which it was most

lucrative to the settler, least injurious to the con-
vict, and most economical to the mother country.
Before 1840 transportation was, in fact, a system
of slavery, of forced and unremunerated labour for
the benefit of individuals, stimulated by the free
application of the lash.
We have not one word to say against the nume-
rous and conclusive arguments which the committee
of the House of Commons, presided over by Sir
William Molesworth, adduced against what was
called the assignment system. Material wealth was
purchased at the expense of frightful moral pollu-
lion, and the new society was deepliiii-o-FuMfa
with the poison of crime. But bad as this system
was, experience has shown that it was infinitely
better than any that has succeeded. Change has
followed change, each in its turn announced as an
important improvement, each in its turn discarded
as a failure and a scandal. We rejoice sincerely that
the struggle with Australia is brought to an end,
and congratulate the country that the end, though
tardily arrived at, has been reached soon enough
to enable us to concede the point without disgrace.
The resolution to discontinue transportation was,
it appears, taken by Sir John Pakington, but
great credit is due to the Duke of Newcastle for
the bold and decisive manner in which he has
carried it out. It had been intended to send several
more ships to Van Diemen's Land,—in fact, to
continue the system till new arrangements could
be matured and decided upon. This was a very
imprudent resolution,—a very ungracious way of
doing a gracious act. The quarrel has been suf-
fered to go so far with the Australian colonies
that every fresh ship sent out was felt by them
as an insult—almost as a blow. Every such event
has lately been received with one universal outcry
of indignation, and with demonstrations of popular
displeasure gradually increasing in fierceness and
bitterness. It was not worth while to incur all
this odium, and stir up all this hatred, for the sake
of a mere temporary convenience—for the sake of

a policy which we were about to abandon. Govern-
ment has fully met the wishes .of the colonies, at
the expense of much inconvenience and some pecu-
niary loss. We sincerely trust that this liberal
policy will be met and appreciated with a corres-
ponding spirit by the colonies. Canada conciliated
by the Clergy Reserves Bill, Australia attached to
us by the cessation of her great grievance, afford a
favourable earnest of the colonial administration of
the Duke of Newcastle. A career thus begun bids '
fair to triumph over many " impossibilities." The
" impossibilities" of restoring peace, order, and
good government to the Cape, and of giving self-
government to the Australian colonies, on the
same terms as have been given to North America,
are, we trust, about to disappear before that unpre-
judiced judgment and strong will which have alone
been wanting to carry into effect principles the
truth of which has come to be universally recog-
nised.

The abolition of transportation to Van Diemen's
Land had become so clear and obvious a necessity
that very few practical statesmen can be found to
contest it for. a moment. But this step, so clearly
wise and right in itself, is but the beginning of a
controversy involving questions the most difficult
and opinions the most opposed. We have got rid
of transportation, but crime unhappily remains.
How shall we deal with it ? Shall we bury it out
of our sight in some other remote corner of the
universe, or shall we retain it among us, and seek
to turn it to account by employing it on national
works ? For a limited time transportation is to be
continued to Western Australia. It would be un-
reasonable to cavil at this resolution. The colony
is separated by a long and stormy voyage and an
impassable desert from our eastern settlements ;
and, possessing neither_ good harbours, a fertile
soil, nor, as far as we know, mineral riches,
is in some danger of being deserted for the
golden regions o the east. There is no fear
of any intercourse by land between the two
extremities of the Australian continent ; nature
has placed between them a burping and river-
less waste, the waters of which are salt, and the
level below that of the ocean. This is, so long as
we make Western Australia a place of transporta-
tion, a fortunate circumstance-, and we ought to be
careful, if we do not wish to find in Western Aus-
tralia a new Van Diemen's Land, so to regulate
our steam-packets as not to remove its isolation.
We trust this resolution of Government will,, at any
rate, teach us something of the geography of Wes-
tern Australia—whether it be a narrow strip of
land closely confined between the sea and the great
desert, oriwhether a range of mountains is interposed
between them. The splendid geographical situation
of the Gulf of Carpentaria, the beautiful -pastoral
country at its head, and the singularly temperate
climate which all who have visited the gulf describe
,as prevailing,there, may attract, and possibly de-
serve attention. Removed by fifteen degrees of
latitude from our most ' northerly settlement, such
a colony could hardly excite a reasonable jealousy,
and would seem to offer better prospects than the
settlement of Port Curtis, formed and abandoned
some years ago.
But, while we are indulging such speculations,
causes are at work which seem to point to the
speedy extinction of transportation as a punish-
ment. The terror of transportation as opposed to
forced works at home lies principally in the igno-
rance of the people. A long sea voyage and a
foreign land are beginning to lose their awe-inspir-
ing influence on the mind of the English peasant.
The tree of knowledge has been plucked, the whole
earth is mapped out before us, and its remoter re-
gions are as well known to this generation as the
neighbouring country was to their forefathers.
Transportation is, after all, a species of emigration,
and emigration is no longer regarded with dislike.
When everybody wished to stay at home it seemed
reasonable to send our criminals abroad; now that the
wish for expatriation is becoming general, it may
not be unwise to keep them at home. If Cain had
been a Scot the old. epigram tells us his doom
would have been to stay at home, and England
seems to occupy towards Australia somewhat the
same relation as Scotland was supposed to do to-
wards England. Possibly, the vexed question of
secondary punishments will 'at last be solved by
economical rather than by moral or philanthropic
considerations. The day is probably not far distant
when we shall be relieved of a superfluity of labour,
and glad to retain on our own shores those
criminals whose services we have hitherto been so
anxious to dispense with. If, however, this be not
so, and transportation is to continue, we trust we
shall avoid the error of selecting the most delightful
climates of the world, where existence is itself a
luxury, for the punishment of our criminals, and
seek for less genial skies and a sterner and wilder
nature to add new terror to crime.

THE AUSTRALIAN MINING COMPANIES.
(Front the Observer.)

We referred, in tho. Observer of Sunday last, to
the wonderful impetus that had been given by the
recent discoveries in Australia to the land compa-
nies, which had been for so many years struggling
for a bare existence, and without any apparent
prospect of an ultimate return for the capital in-
vested. These companies now give evident indica-
tions of turning out among the most valuable specu-
lations to which the Australian settlements have
given birth, and have had the effect of directing the
attention of our capitalists to the many other remu-
nerative investments which these colonies present.
We propose, therefore, in the present article, to
devote a few remarks to another department of the
material wealth and yet undeveloped resources of
this vast and extraordinary region, of which little
beyond the coast lines have yet been explored,
although these have already put forth attractions
which, within the last year or two, have produced
a mighty stream of emigration, not from England
alone, but from every quarter of the globe.
COPPER.-it is evident that we are only yet upon
the threshold of the discoveries which a. few years,
or even months, may bring forth. The geological
character of the soil has, as yet, been only cur-
sorily examined; and when. the aid of science is

called into requisition, the most barren and in-
hospitable districts will, in all probability, disclose
subterranean treasures which will effect the most
extraordinary revolutions in the social status and
future advancement and prosperity of the colony.
Upon this point we do not speak without past
experience, and in the complete absorption of the
manual labour of these colonies from 'all the
other departments of industry, by the astounding
discoveries of the gold fielils, the public of this
country have probably forgotten the enormous
returns which were obtained a few years since
from the Burra-Burra copper mines in South Aus-
tralia, the extraordinary results of which were
then considered as among the marvels of mining
speculations. These mines were started in 1845,
with a capital of 12,0001. subscribed by a few mer-
chants,and traders of Adelaide. In five years the
company had with these slender means raised up-
wards of 56,000 tons of valuable copper ore, the
value of which was 738,0001. Nearly all the ore
hitherto raised has been sent to this country for the
purpose of smelting at a very considerable expense,
but the vast coal fields which are now being worked
will enable the Australians to smelt their own cop-
per, while the general importance of bringing into
active operation these coal resources to both the
colonies and the mother country cannot be too
highly estimated. It appears that there is no na-
tural deficiency of this valuable mineral ' • for on
the eastern coast of Australia, about 70 or 80 miles
to the north of Sydney, the capital of New South
Wales, and conveniently situate within a short dis-
tance of the coast, coal fields, with seams of the best
quality, have been discovered, and the appropriate
name of Newcastle has been given to the district.

COALS.—These coal-fields have been.
worked upon a'Tery tmited
appliances of improved machinery and modern
mining science ; they have been in the hands of
private individuals without adequate means, the
only association that has hitherto worked them to
any extent being the Australian Agricultural Com-
pany, to which we alluded last week, although,
from the want of labour and means of transport;
the revenues of this company have been by no
means so large as their coal vend might otherwise
have led them to anticipate. The chief seat of the
coal deposits in New South Wales are the counties
of Durham and Northumberland, to the north of
Sydney. Through these two districts, and, form-
ing the line of separation, runs the Hunter river,
terminating at the port of Newcastle. The valley
of the Hunter is, independently of its coal fields,
extremely rich and fertile, and it is in this district
that a new company, the Australasian Coal Mining
Company, which has just been established in this
country, has undertaken to commence its opera-
tions. They have already obtained upon favour-
able terms the lease of the Four Mile Creek Col-
liery, situated near Morpeth, a rising town en the
Hunter river, about twenty miles from the sea.
This colliery is already well 'mown for the superior
coal it produces. It has the peculiar advantage of
being worked upon the level, the coal actually crop-
ping out to the surface, which insures its freedom
from water, one of the most troublesome visitors
and most serious sources of expense in a coal mine.
Besides the seam of steam coal there is, in the Four
Mile Creek Colliery, a lower seam of coal of a de-
scription well adapted for smelting purposes, aid
this is the fuel of which the copper companies of
South Australia will doubtless largely avail them-
selves, while it will also be extensively employed in
smelting the rich masses of iron stone which in many
of the coal fields are found in close proximity, as we
find them in Staffordshire and South Wales at
home. In addition to this colliery the directors of
the Australasian Coal Mining Company have se-
cured a lease of a valuable block of 320 acres, close
to the town of Hexham, a little lower down, and
also situate on the Hunter river, about 15 miles
from the port of Newcastle. This last district has
a ten feet seam of valuable coal, and as it is pro-
posed to work the mines at a royalty of 9d. per ton,
and as the mines can be surrendered at any time
on giving a twelvemonths' notice, the liabilities are
comparatively trifling, and the outlay of capital
merely what is required for the requisite machinery
and the laying down a tramway to convey the coal,
a distance of fifteen miles, to the port of Newcastle.
By the terms of the royalty agreement the company
are required to raise 10,000 tons of coal per annum,
or to pay for so much ; but it is evident that when
the mines are once fairly in working order the
quantity raised will fax exceed this amount. The
valley of the Hunter, through which the proposed
line of railway will run, is almost level—there are
no engineering difficulties ; and, independently of
their own coal and passenger traffic, the company
anticipate that they will derive a very handsome
revenue from the conveyance of the coals from the
other collieries higher up the river, as well as from
the conveyance of goods, many rising towns being
already built upon the banks of the Hunter, among
which are Maitland, Darlington, Dulwich, Leming-
ton, &c.

LABOUR.—In the present position of the colony
it may naturally be expected that the difficulty of
procuringi anything like a sufficient supply of
manual labour, upon reasonable terms, would form
one of the chief obstacles to the efficient working
of these mines, the superior attractions of the gold
fields having already drawn off the greater portion
of the miners employed in the Newcastle coal dis-
tricts. To facilitate their operations and get rid
of this serious difficulty, arrangements have been
made with an eminent house for a regular supply of
Chinese labourers, who will be indentured for a
specified period, and at a fixed rate of wages. It
is well-known that the wages in China are merely
nominal, and that large numbers of the natives of
that country have already emigrated to California,
and that they are extensively employed in the Aus-
tralian colonies. Experience has shown them to
be as efficient labourers as the Europeans, and they
are, generally spealii ng, steady and industrious, while
the retmuneration which, in our colonies would be
looked on as low, are deemed bythem unusually large.
It may also be anticipated that, whenthe novelty and
excitement of gold digging have worn off, those,
and they are by far the greater number, who have
had a great deal of hard work without any adequate
return, will be glad to go back to the comfol is of
civilised life, to continuous, but not oppressive and
exhausting, labour and regular wages. It will
scarce be believed that though coals may be raised
and delivered at a fair profit at the colleries of 12s.
to 13s. per ton, such are at present the difficulties
in the way of providing means of transport, either
by land or water, that at a (distance of barely 100
Rifles from the pit's mouth, in the town of Sydney,
they are selling at 3/. 10s. per ton. When these
obstacles are removed, and a regular supply can be
obtained at a fair price, the consumption through-
out the colonies will, as a matter of course, be
largely increased. The production of coal is inti-
mately connected with the most necessary wants of
civilised life, and must largely increase every year
in a country which is making such wonderful pro-
gress.

IRoN.—With the supply of coal will keep pace
the development and working of the rich copper
and iron mines of the colony, while the proposed
extension of steam communication to its shores will
add largely to the demand that already exists. But
great as the home consumption must necessarily be,
other and most important markets are at this mo-
ment open for Australian coal. Our steamers trad-
ing with India, China, and the western shores of
America have been hitherto supplied with their
fuel chiefly from England, and the great additional
expense they entailed, and the loss and incon-
venience from delays, when the coal depots, as
sometimes happens, are exhausted, are well known
to all engaged in the shipping trade of this country.
Now it has been ascertained that the vessels trading
from Australia to India, China, and the Pacific
usually proceed to their destinations in ballast, and
the freights are in consequence almost nominal. Coal
shipments may, there.bre, be effected at very mode-
rate rates to these countries, and nearly all that
can be raised for some time to come might be ab-
sorbed in these quarters alone. We need scarce
remind our traders of the great inconvenience felt
at Melbourne, Geelong, and other towns in
Southern Australia, to which the tide of immigra-
tion has recently set in with so full a current, from
the want of fuel. A load of wood will sometimes
fetch three or four pounds ; and one settler, writing
home, states that, having offered 20s. for a truck
full of wood, the man turned round upon him
with great indignation, asking, did he suppose he
had stolen it ?

FUTURE PROSPECTS.—AIthough it is known that
coal exists in abundance upon the Eastern coast,
and within a week or ten days' sail of Melbourne,
such is the difficulty, under present circumstances,
of obtaining a supply, that orders have been ac-
tually received in this country to send out coals on
freight to Australia ! With an illimitably supply
of the finest wool in the world, with a climate
suited to the growth of cotton, which has been al-
ready cultivated in some districts of South Austra-
lia, with an abundant supply of iron and copper
ores of the richest quality, it only requires the full
development of the vast coal fields of Australia to
set in motion that spirit of manufacturing and pro-
, ductive industry which is so striking a characteris-

---- tie of The Anglo-Saxon race, and which has enabled
r _ .
_land to assume the first rank in the comity of
nA leh . Under these circumstances we cannot
doubt at the opening of the Australian coal
mines upon an extensive scale will be the
first step in the future manufacturing progress of
the country; nor can we hesitate to believe that, as
a commercial speculation, it offers a safe and legal-
, mate field for the profitable employment of capital,
as furnishing an abundant supply of an article of
general consumption, and for which, at the present
moment, there exists an almost unlimited demand,
the exigencies of the, colonists having actually coal-
pelled them to import steam coal from Engla,nd.
into Melbourne and Sydney. In the selection of
the directors of the new company we are glad to
observe that gentlemen of high standing and expe-
rience have been chosen—some of them connected
with the leading steam-ship companies trading
with Australia, and all of them practically ac-
quainted with the trade and requirements of the
colonies. It is proposed to obtain a charter of incor-
poration, which will limit the liability of each share-
holder; and application will also be made to the Colo-
nial. Legislature for an act of Council to authorise the
execution of the works which are required, namely,
the construction of a railway and the erection of
the necessary machinery. To accomplish all these
important results the whole amount of the capital
sought to be raised is only 200,0001., in 40,000
shares, of 51. each ; but this is explained by the
fact of the mines being already in working order,
and only requiring machinery and labour, while
the construction of the tramway will not cost
more than similar lines in the. United States, which
average 1,5001. to 2,0001. per mile.
The whole history of the Australian colonies has
been a series of marvellous discoveries and unex-
ampled progress, and there is little doubt that both
will be mutually promoted by the inauguration
under such high and satisfactory guarantees of a
company established for the purpose of developing
one of the most valuable and important elements
of the natural wealth of a country.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE, OXFORD-STREET.
Under the Management of Mr. C. Kean.
THIS EVENING, Faa. 21,
Will be produced Shakspers's Tragedy of MACBETH (as acted
at Windsor Castle, by Royal command). Principal characters by
Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean.
To conclude with the new and criginel Grand Comic Christ-
mas Pantomime, entitled HARLEQUIN CHERRY AND FAIR
STAR; or, The Green Bird, the Dancing Waters, and the
inging Tree.