The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-09 00:00:00

five days after, on the 21st February, we are surprised by
the issue of a second circular, emanating from the minority,
and signed as before by Messrs. Coles Child, Warren, and
Byng, reiterating their former rejected arguments, im-
pugning the policy agreed to by the collective authority
of the board, and concluding with a charge against the
chairman individually of acting illegally in the issues of
stamped proxies; and although these three gentlemen refer
to the circular of the 16th of February as a circular
bearing Mr. Macgregor's signature,' and as Mr. Mac-
gregor's letter,' and treat it as emanating from him indi-
vidually, it appears they were present at a full board when
the letter was agreed to and resolved upon by all the other
directors. The charge against Mr. Macgregor is simply in-
correct ; but their attempts to encourage animosity
against the chairman and impugn the conduct of a majo-
rity of the board, nearly a month before the half-yearly
meeting, is so utterly inconsistent with the well-regulated
government of any great company, that it should be at
once put an end to by an expression of the marked displea-
sure of the proprietors.
" Next, we have an address from the new candidates,
who are put forward by the committees of London, Liver-
pool, and Manchester, Messrs. John N. R Campbell, Mat-
thew Forster, and Jonathan Mellor. These gentlemen, so
far from being introduced for the purpose of restoring
peace and promoting unanimity, at once candidly acknow-
ledge they are not able to give any opinion on the point iu
dispute, viz., the Lewisham and Bromley line. Their
views, if anything, are rather against the line, and conse-
quently, as I shall presently show, fatal to the interests of
the company, whilst their introduction to the board at this
particular crisis, instead of contributing to consolidate the
direction would seem to aggravate the disunion, by creating
a third party in au assemblage which is already split into
two. The other portions of their circular consist of such
generalities and platitudes as are usually to be found in the
address of any ordinary candidate seeking for a seat at
railway direction, instead of presenting any argument or
reason to demonstrate the propriety of their election to
the exclusion of others who already enjoy your entire
confidence.
" One circumstance connected with these candidates is
at least curious, that the two first-named gentlemen were
not shareholders when the last year's list of shareholders
was printed, or at any rate not till the end of the year ;
and this I confess affords some grounds for implicit belief
I in their avowal of imperfect acquaintance with the affairs
of the company, and especially with the vital question
which now occupies the attention of the directors, and it
affords some ground for conjecture that they are now
brought forward for a special purpose,—viz., to upset the
present direction.
" LEWISHAM AND BROMLEY.
" Many of the proprietors may not fully understand the
importance of the project of the Lewisham and Bromley
line, and look at it as a mere branch to bring traffic to
Bromley. Such is not the case; and the real object and
the success of this scheme are most important to the future
welfare, and even the protection, of the company.
" Every year attacks have been made on the South-East-
ern Railway Company, and plans have been projected for
a Mid-Kent line, and meetings held in aid of this scheme
all over the county : a scheme, moreover, which must in
the course of time be carried out.

Should any other company succeed in carrying out a
line which would join the South-Eastern Railway Com-
pany on the other side of Tunbridge, every man who looks
at the map will see the injury your property will inevitably
sustain. _ _ _

" But by carrying out the Lewisham and Bromley line,
you practically commence this work yourselves—you secure
your position—place the wedge in the Mid-Kent for fur-
ther operations when time and circumstances will permit,
and make opposition next to impossible. Well acquainted
with the county of Kent and the position of the South-
Eastern Railway Company, I warn the proprietors that
the rejection of the Lewisham branch would be an act little
short of suicide. Looking at the great capital of this com-
pany already embarked, to stop short now at making six
miles of railway (to"secure that already completed), and on
such poor and insufficient grounds as those promulgated by
the minority, is an error that I cannot for a moment be-
lieve the proprietors will be unwise enough to be led into.
" Imputing no wrong motives to the gentlemen who are
so advising the proprietors, I can only say, for my own
part, that, numerous as the enemies the South-Eastern
Railway Company has had for years to contend with, they
never had, or will have, any more inimical to their interests
than those gentlemen who thus injudiciously advise us,
and who will place in the hands of some other parties the
power to make a line elsewhere, which we repudiate—
moreover, should we, unfortunately, once repudiate the
Lewisham and Bromley line, you will not be in a position
again to apply to Parliament or oppose any other company;
and, it is to be borne in mind that, at this very moment,
two other companies, one of them actually in unison with
the Brighton Company, are promoting bills in Parliament
for a line to Bromley and beyond.