The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-29 00:00:00

neglecting to make fitting provision for main-
taining the " effective value" of the plant," and
" way," or in setting aside a depreciation fund, far
beyond actual exigencies and requirements.
At present there appears to be a tendency among
shareholders to fail into the latter error. The most
strenuous and indefatigable exertions have been
made by parties, who have entered into an
organized combination to depress railway pro-
perty, to create alarm in the public mind, to
excite a panic that must be productive of the most
fatal results. The "Bears" of the Stock-Exchange have
had recourse to many devices to advance their favourite
theory, the total worthlessness of railway securities.
For this purpose there is no extent to which they are
not prepared to go ; they stick at nothing to pro-
mote their objects. No sooner is one fraudulent pre•
text exposed than another is started. They are
continually entering into contracts to an enormous
amount for the sale of property which was never in
their possession, on the chances of being enabled by
unfounded rumours and baseless insinuations to de-
press the quotations so far that they may be entitled
to receive considerable differences on settling days.
This bold and unscrupulous party have
lately succeeded in exciting the most gloomy
anticipations as to the amount of the depreciation
of " plant" and " road ;" under a pretended anxiety for
the interests (!) of the shareholders, they have raised
an outcry that has reverberated throughout the length
and breadth of the land. Grossly exaggerating the
amount of " deterioration," they have insisted upon
larger sums being appropriated from the net profits,
to form a "depreciation fund," sums far beyond the
amount actually required for that purpose, and thus
by unduly depressing the dividends, and also by
creating vague fears in the minds of timid proprietors,
projects have been attended with but
tthooeirmnuecfharsiuocucs ess
.
Two reports which have just appeared most op-
portunely will, however, go far to place these im-
portant questions on a proper foundation, and to
relieve the minds of those really interested in correct
solutions from the apprehensions to which they have
recently given way. The first is a report to the
directors of the London and North-Western Railway
Company, " On the present Condition of their Moving
Stock, with Remarks on the nature and necessity of a
Deterioration Allowance," by Captain Hulse, the
general manager of the railway. The second is a
report from the same gentleman and Messrs. Docx-
RAY, NORRIS, WOODHOUSE, APCONNEL, TEE VITHICK,
RAMSBOTTOM, and WATKIN, all of whom hold
important situations in the employment of the
company, "On the present Condition of the
,Per-
manent Way, with Remarks on the nature and extent
of a Fund for Deterioration, and on the principles of
Relaying and Maintaining the Road." The great ex-
perience and sound practical knowledge of these
gentlemen would entitle these reports to the utmost
consideration ; but a mere perusal will satisfy the
most sceptical (provided it be an honest scepticism,
not occasioned by "Bearish" propensities), that all the
necessary elements in the calculations have been fully
taken into account, and that sound conclusions have been
arrived at. These reports, it is true, refer more par-
ticularly to the position and prospects of the North-
Western Railway, but the principles on which they
are founded will apply to every existing company,
with some slight modifications as to the nature and
extent of its traffic, and the present condition of the
"plant " and "permanent way."
Captain Hursn and the directors of the North-
Western Railway are entitled to great credit for the
public spirit and generosity which induced them to
consent to the publication of these important results
of the laborious and protracted inquiries
that took place, and thus to give to the railway com-
munity the valuable documents that had been pre-
pared for their own exclusive use. This praise-
worthy conduct will, we have no doubt, be fully
appreciated, and the parties will be rewarded by the
consciousness of having added largely to the general
stock of knowledge on railway subjects, and of
having materially contributed to disperse those doubts
ancidifficulties which haveihitherto tended materially to
depreciate railway property generally, in consequence
of the fears and apprehensions excited by the existence
of an " unascertained but inevitable liability."
We regret that our space this day will not permit
us to enter into the details of these able documents ;
we shall probably do so on a future occasion. Mean-
while we most heartily recommend every person in-
terested in railway property to bestow a calm and
attentive perusal on the statements contained therein.

It appears that some of the morning papers were
in error in the report of what took place on Thursday
evening in the House of Lords on the subject
of the Bankrupt Law Consolidation Bill. Lord
BROUGHAM on Thursday, after mentioning that he
had had a communication from the LORD CHANCEL-
LOR, requesting him, in consequence of his Lordship's
illness, to put off till after the Whitsun holidays the
Committee on the Bill, which stood for that evening,
also stated that the CHANCELLOR and he were agreed
on all but some unimportant details, which would
soon be settled, and the Bill immediately go on.
LordßuGllAm pledged himself, and also pledged
the CHANCELLOR, that no delay whatever should take
place, and he then moved the committal of the Bill pro
forma for the purpose of introducing several amend-
ments. This was done, and on Friday these amend-
and the Bill ordered to be
reprinted,
the
etcof
June.
Committee now stands adjourned
amend-
ments
o e n s
Tuesday, were
and th reported
the

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The following is the speech delivered at the close
or the last sitting of the Constituent Assembly by the
President, M. ARMAND MAURAST :
" Citizen Representatives,—My first sentiment, at the
moment of taking leave of you, would lead me to express
the deep gratitude which I feel for the kindness which
you have on every occasion manifested towards me. Yet,
however great may be the honour which the National
Assembly has done me, I beg its permission, in return-
ing it thanks, to speak at this parting moment only of
itself, of its labours, and of its claims to the esteem of its
fellow-citizens. It would be unworthy of you that I
came here to sing your praises; but it may not perhaps
be useless for me to give a rapid summary of what has
been your policy, and to briefly state by what striking
traits the National Assembly is presented to the view of
the clear-sighted, and to those unbiassed by passion. It is
unnecessary for me to recapitulate the details of our la-
bours; what took place at two phases of our existence, at
the commencement and at the end, will be sufficient to poin t
out its leading characteristics. The National Assembly has
had the singular fate of exciting, at its opening and at its
close, the mistrust and the injustice of extreme parties.
Regretted now, perhaps, by those who attacked it at its
commencement, it is every day assailed by the very men
who then regarded it with the greatest enthusiasm and
the most sanguine hopes. That is the history of all
moderating powers; and thanks be rendered to your
wisdom, you have refused the support of your majority
to all violence ; you knew that reaction and Utopian
schemes engendered each other, and in your patriotic
solicitude you kept yourselves at an equal distance from
both one and the other, thus realising by your acts what
many know how to preach of, but few to practise. What
you have sincerely and constantly wished for is the Re-
public. Founded by popular acclamation, it received
from you the sanction of law, and if your labours be
examined, it will be admitted that you have left no doubt
in the mind of any one as to the manner its which you
understand it. Warned by signs, the meaning of which
is evident to
all, that society had arrived at an age when
transformation was absolutely necessary, you have re-
garded political power as the active instrument of social
amelioration,
And let me be permitted to say, that if
we, the ardent and constant supporters of the
Republic, had only laboured for a personal work, for a
fruitless displacement of men and institutions, we should
have been not only vulgar ambitious men, but detestable
intriguers. The peace and even the temporary prospe-
rity of the country are not to be staked at such a miser-
able game of personality,. If universal suffrage were
only to bring back France to the point at which it found
her, if it were only to give us a petrified society, pre-
carious order, permanent iniquities without progress,
without general ameliorations,i
without concord at home,
as without grandeur abroad (may
God forgive me the
im-
pious expression), better would be for the people to have
the brutality of despotism.—(Sensatiou.) Such is not
the lot which the National Assembly has prepared for
future generations. Independt:ntly of the propositions
which have not been brought to a conclusion, you will
find in the summary of its labours a consideralle number
of decrees and bills, which fully testify to its constant at-
tention to the interests, the wants, and the sufferings of
the poorer classes. lam aware that the benefit is as
yet little apparent, that misery, which still exists because
path, andre march
it was so deep rooted, still complains of delay. There
have been, notwithstanding, serious, extensive reforms
effected, but which can only be durable by the aid of
haprogressivet
diffieulties, but also not to be precipitate, lest everything '
nmovaar
not to flinch before
necessary to enter on
egularly in it;
should be compromised and plunged into an abyss of
danger. When the necessities of the exhausted tree-
airy rendered it essential for you to husband all kinds
of resources, you adjourned both postal reform, that of
the duty on salt, and that .of the direct contribution,.