The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-21 00:00:00

[The following appeared
ast night :—]

FRANCE.

The National says:—" We learn that a protest has
just reached Ezris from the prisoners at Ikllesisle.
We have net seen the docamt,nt, but. ,ia have hen
told that the irritation exi..,ted amongst the
prisoners arose from the fact of Colonel Pierre having
made use of the terms repris de .1 tatice, in speaking
of those who had not enjoyed the benefit of the
amnesty."
A letter from Elbeuf of the 18th states that the
trade of that town is now more prosperous than it
has ever been. All the winter articles, which are
generally purchased in November, were bought up
this year in October by several houses for exporta-
tion, and the articles for summer wear, the sale of
which seldom begins until December, are now almost
all sold.

The Paine says—" M. Dillon, Consul of France at
the Sandwich Islands, arrived some days ago in Paris.
It is believed that the Government will not now
delay to publish the official documents on the events
which have occurred there."

The Council of Discipline of the Order of .Advo-
cates assembled on Tuesday for three hours, to deli-
berate on the conduct of the counsel belonging to the
bar of Paris in the trial at Versailles. Nothing
has transpired as to its decision ; but it is said
that, at the next meeting, M. Cremieux, M. Jules
Favre, and the eight other advocates, will be sum-
moned before the Council, to have the result of the
deliberation communicated to them. Some persons
are of opinion that the return of M. Madier de
Montjau, who has been to defend some prisoners tried
before the Court of Assizes of the Haute Garonne, on
a charge of conspiracy, will be waited for before the
meeting takes place.

in our Third Edition of 1 which he had received stzted that there was a
growing disposition to accede to the convention. He
was of opinion that it would be ratified, and he
recommended them to adopt the terms.—(Hear.)
By the List packet 47 '360 do!:4rs 112-1 been sent over,
and 250,000 dollirs were in the course of recovery—
whi.:h he belLved cei Lin —by .Mant
Mackintosh, and Co. The funds as they
arrived would be placed under the con-
trol of their own agents and Messrs.
Facian.—(Hear.) He advised the bondholders to
appoint well- paid agents in Mexico, in order that
their interests might be properly attended to. In the
course of a month and a half they would receive
1,500,000 dollars through the house of Messrs. Baring.
Such were the arrangements he had made at Wash-
ington, Boston, and New York.—(Hear.) The Hon.
Gentleman was much cheered at the conclusion of
his address.
Mr. BEACON said he was one of the committee of
bondholders, and read a statement to the effect that
Messrs. Schneider had refused to pay the money
entrusted them to pay the dividends. Their excuse
was that they had not received the whole of the
balance, though the Mexican Government intimated
that they had, but they would not even pay what
they had in their hands.—(Hear.)
After several questions and much discussion, Mr.
POWLES moved " That this meeting has heard with
great satisfaction. that Lord Palmerston had interfered
to obtain the rights of the bondholders, in order to
show that they looked to the Government."
Mr. ROBERTSON observed that the cotnmunication
with respect to the interference of the Home Govern-
ment must not be considered official.
The motion was, therefore, withdrawn.
Mr. LAWRENCE moved a vote of thanks to Mr.
Robertson for his zeal and assiduity, and that the
convention he had entered into be cordially accepted.
He hoped the motion would be carried unanimously.—
(Cries of " No, no.") He hoped they would do so
unanimously out of respect to Mr. Robertson, and
to show the Mexican Government and Lord Palmers-
ton that they all pulled together.
This having been seconded,
Mr. SAMP3ON objected to their agreeing to the
convention, as the next packet might bring its rejec-
tion, in which case they could stand upon their
original terms. He moved as an amendment that a
cordial rote of thanks be passed to Mr. Robertson,
and that the meeting be adjourned until the decision
of the Congress had been ascertained; which was
seconded
Ultimately a cordial vote of thanks was passed to
Mr. Robertson, and the latter part of Mr. Sampson's
amendment was agreed to.
The meeting was then adjourned until the news of
the ratification or rejection of the convention reaches
this country.

BANK OF AUSTRALASIA.

A half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of the
Bank of Australasia was held yesterday, at the
c s of the corporation, Austin-friars, Oliver Farrer,
Esq., in the chair. The attendance of proprietors was
rather numerous.

The advertisement convening the meeting having
been read,
The SECRIITA.RT read the following report :
" The directors, in accordance with the precedent
established for the past two years, submit to the
present meeting the following brief statement of the
affairs of the Bank. The banking operations of the
corporation have proceeded steadily, and the directors
believe that few, if any, had debts have been incurred
during the half-year. The realization of the proper-
ties held by the Bank continues to engage the anxious
attention of the directors, but they regret that AO
advantageous opportunity has yet offered itself for the
accomplishment of so desirable an object, occasioned,
among other causes, by the continued depression in
1 the value of stock, and the large quantity expected to
be forced upon the market. The commercial and
agricultural affairs of the colonies still hold out the
prospects of improvement noticed in the last report;
at the same time it must be borne in mind that the
boneficiel influences of the advance in the price of
wool in this country, and of emigration, had not pro-
duced any very sensible effect at the date of the last
advices. The directors have pleasure in stating
that the subject of steam communication between
this country and the colonies has been taken up by the
Government, who have invited tenders for contracts
for that purpose; and it is confidently expected that
that most important object will soon be carried into
effect. The liquidation of the debt due from the Bank
of Australia has not progressed so satisfactorily as the
directors had anticipated; at the same tin.e they
see no reason to doubt the ultimate recovery of
the whole claim. They have felt it their duty
to take legal proceedings against some of the
shareholders in England who have not thought
proper to avail themselves of, the offers repeatedly
made to them, of coming to terms of compromise;
and the instruc• ions they have given to their super-
intendent, must, they expect, lead to an early settle-
ment of the debt. The sum received, amounts, in
England, up to this time, to 56,2351., and at Sydney,
up to the date of the last return, to 69,2371., making
together 125,4721. In accordance with the wishes
expressed by the proprietors at the last yearly meet-
ing, the opinion of counsel has been taken relative to
the appointment of auditors, and the case, with the
opinion, will now be read to this meeting."
The case for the opinion of counsel, which was
next read, stated that at the last public annual meeting
of the proprietors a resolution was proposed that the
directors should call a special general meeting of the
proprietors for the purpose of appointing auditors,
provided it should not be inconsistent with the
deed of settlement. This resolution was negatived,
but another to the following effect was passed ;
that it was the opinion of the meeting that the
auditors of the bank accounts should be appointed
by the proprietors. Upon this the opinion of counsel
was requested—viz., whether, under the deed of set-
tlement, the auditors could be appointed by the pro-
prietors ; and if so, what qualification such officers
should have 1 Counsel stated, in reply to
these questions, that they were of opi-
nion, according to the present constitution of the
company, that the appointment of auditors would not
only be unauthorised, but even repugnant to some of
the express provisions and general policy of the deed
of settlement; and therefore thought that auditors
could not be appointed without some express alteration
in the constitution of the company, which might be
made, under the 27th section, at a general meeting
of the proprietors.
The CHAIRMAN said it now became his duty to
make a few observations on the different topics con-
tained in the report. They were all aware that this
meeting was called fur general purposes—at which
no accounts were submitted, and was in fact, and in
short, a meeting for pleasant conversation between
the directors and proprietors. The report stated
that the past banking operations of the corpora-
tion had proceeded steadily, and that the
directors believed that no bad debts had been
' incurred during the past half-year; and he would
merely simply state with respect to this paragraph
that at some of the branches the business bad in•
creased considerably, whilst at others it had remained
stationary, but at no one place had the business
materially diminished. At the Sydney branch,
which was the most important, the business
had not extended as much as the magnitude
of the place might lead the proprietors to
expect, but this was owing to the money due from
the Bank of Australia not having been paid. With
respect to Launceston the business was comparatively
small for the same reason. The business at Port
Philip had been very satisfactory. At Hobart Tow❑
it was nearly similar to what it was at the last meet•
iag, and was not worse in any respect. At Port
Adelaide the business had gone on very rapidly ;
indeed he might almost say that he feared it had
gone too much a-head—(Hear, hear)—for there was
some anxiety with respect to one or two accounts,
which, however, the directors had positively ordered
to be reduced, and he had the satisfation of stating that
Mr. Hatherton had been over there and reported fully
on those accounts, and he did not anticipate any loss
upon them. But from the great distance at which
the business was carried on—a year being nearly
required before any communication could pass between
the directors and the branches—it was an impossibility
to have their orders carried out as if their stations
were near at hand. There were influences also
acting upon the managers, which in some cases they
had strength of mini or power to resist, and those
influences were strengthened by the want of a more
ready intercommunication with the directors ; but,
upon the whole, the business had been satisfactory.
As to the realisation of their properties, they would
hardly be surprised to hear that they had not been able
to do much, because they were perfectly well aware
that though during the last nine months the price of
staple commodities of Australasia had very much
increased in value in this country, yet what took place
here was not felt in the colonies until after the
lapse of a considerable time; and, therefore, to
have forced their properties on the market at
a time when large properties belonging to
other concerns were expected to have been brought to
sal would, in point of fact, have been an absolute
sacrifice of the property of the bank. An instance
was mentioned the other day where sheep were sold
at something like 91 each and their wool only at
Is. a head. It was apparent then that before
they disposed of any property they should wait
until this great influx was taken off the market. lie
hoped and expected that the price of wool would in-
crease 40 or 50 per cent. in the course of the year, and
the proprietors might rest assured that the directors
would take advantage of the market at the first fa
vourable opportunity. He fully expected and antici•
pated that the improvement which had gone on in the
price of wool and emigration would tend materially
to promote the prosperity of these colonies. Steam
navigation was very probably about to be established
between this country and Australasia, and if so
established, they might be assured that a most mate-