The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-24 00:00:00

a-Inningjfl

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1849.

Twelve months have elapsed to-day since that 24th
of February, 1848, when the magnificent fane of
Royalty which had been built up under the dynastic
influence of the Orleanists crumbled into ruins, and
when a pure Democracy emerged from those ruins in
the final, the most abrupt, the most comprehensive,
and the most glorious of the Three Great French
Revolutions. To-day Paris commemorates the anni-
versary of her emancipation. A solemn festivity,
civic, military, and religious in its character, attests
that her citizens appreciate the services of those im-
mortal patriots who were the founders of the Re-
public. One and; Indivisible. Since the memorable
sitting when the Provisional Government was se-
lected from the incorruptible minority of the old
Chamber of Deputies, the statesmen who were then
invested with supreme and almost irresponsible
authority by the acclamations of the people have
been visited by many striking vicissitudes. They
have been scattered : they have been traduced : they
have been debarred from any participation in the toils
and; responsibilities of government. Some of them,
numbered amongst the suspected, are living as exiles
in the drawing-rooms of Piccadilly. Others, taken
in arms as the conspirators in the Rebellion of May,
are awaiting the punishment of their offences in the
dungeons of Vincennes. Others, again, the staunch bils
calumniated upholders of the principles of Democratic
Moderation, are still deliberating upon the destinies
of the country among the ranks of herrepresentatives.
Whatever may be the situation of these remarkable
men at the present moment, we are satisfied that the
population of France will look back to the magna-
nimity of their great actions on the 24th of last
February with none but sentiments of admiration,
mingled and, as it were, consecrated by a thousand
tender recollections. Every patriotic citizen of that
Republic which was proclaimed by the Provisional
Government will remember that those illustrious
democrats were the only men who had the courage to
save France from the perils of an unprecedented ca-
tastrophe. They will on this day call to remembrance
that the Provisional Government preserved the
nation from falling into the abysses of anarchy ; that
the Provisional Government raised the crown which
had been abandoned in the kennel by the fugitive
monarchists, and dedicated it for ever and ever to the
sovereign people themselves. They will not have
forgotten on this first anniversary of the most sudden
and most complete of all revolutions that the cause of
Democracry was doubly sanctified by the virtues of
the multitude and by the heroism of the revolutionary
Government. They will recal to recollection the
magnanimity of the people in the rapture of victory,
and the magnanimity of the political leaders of the
' people in the agonies of a danger which has no
parallel in the history of mankind. They
will recognize again in the retrospect of those
renowned days, the inviolability of property,
when the palaces were invaded by the insurgents—
when that solemn inscription Mort aux Voleurs ! was
scrawled at the street corners—and when the brave-
hearted ouvriers, the men in blouses, the toilers from
the forge and the loom, became the spontaneous vin-
dicators of probity and the guardians of the reputa-
tion of the people, by shooting with their muskets any
wretch detected in the act of purloining a silver spoon
or a picture-frame. They will remember, moreover,
how the Provisional Government emulated the mag-
nanimous proceedings of the populace, by declaring
even before the stench of the gunpowder had
cleared away, before the first stone had been
dragged from the barricades, before the embers of
the guard-houses in the Champs Elysees had been
extinguished, that the punishment of death was
abolished for political offences. Not one incident
will be forgotten that tends to enhance the glory of
the crowd who effected the Revolution and of the
statesmen who established the Republic. The ho-
mage paid to Religion when the marble statue of the
DIVINE AUTHOR of Christianity was carried between
the uncovered multitude through the streets to the
sanctuary—the impassioned eulogium pronounced
upon the democrats by the Abb6 Da L scou-
DAME, the BOSSUET of the nineteenth cen-
tury, when speaking from the pulpit of
Notre Dame—the facilities afforded to the
members of the dethroned dynasty and to the
Ministers of the conquered Cabinet to escape without
molestation from the confusion which they had them-
selves originated,—nothing of all this will be lost
sight of. And least of all will be forgotten that sub-
lime occurrence which will live for ever in the most
heroic pages of history, to be loved through all time
by the most remote posterity ; that incident when,
again and again, at the peril of his life, with swords
brandished about his head, with daggers raised and
ready to descend into his bosom, with muskets pointed
at his heart and fingers pressed against the triggers, LA.
MARTINE rejected the red flag—meaning Terrorism, and
Pillage, and Cruelty, and Sedition—and electrified even
that infuriated rabble into obedience by one of those
sudden inspirations of eloquence which reverberate
in the very souls of the population like tones from
heaven.

While these events are forcibly recalled to the me-
mory of the citizens of the French Republic by this
anniversary of the 24th of February, it will not be
surprising if, in gratitude for the glorious acts of the
Provisional Government twelve months ago, when
France was rescued by that Dictatorship from indescrib-
able misfortunes, some generous thoughts are turned to
ALBERT in his prison and to Louis BLANC in his
banishment. Many of the faults and extravagances
of the more Utopian theorists and of the more rash
demagogues may, on such a day as this, be forgiven,
and forgiven,'too, without an indiscreet temerity—
seeing that twelve months having elapsed since the
foundation of the Republican institutions, those
institutions are stronger at the present period than
they' have been during the whole of that in-
terval. Within that intermediate time the Re-
public has been twice saved from destruction—
it has been saved by the unarmed and
heroic eloquence of LAMARTINE, and by the
sword of the vigorous and self-denying CATAIGNAC.
It has had its martyrs, from Deism, the Archbishop,
down to the least noticed of that Garde Mobile which
entered the civil battle of June as striplings and
emerged from it with the renown of veterans. Be-
sides this, the Republic has received a Constitution,
and, throughh teshea ta
rConstitution,
a PazesliencEl4r a T.l
"mani-
festo e
otY
recently"—o issued by the Moderate Republicans).—
country"—(these dr
"The country
wished by the imposing election of the
10th ofDecember
to associate the glorious name of
co t
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE with the strengthening of the
Republic." It has done so. By the election of the Prince
LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, by Universal Suffrage
speaking through the urn of balloting, France has
permanently consolidated the Democratic Republic
One and Indivisible. Her citizens can now look back
from the elevation of this additional year with loving
and reverential eyes at the last 24th of February.
They can laugh to scorn the whispers of those aristo-
crats and reactionnaires who'maintained that the new-
born Democracy would be ludicrously evanescent.
They can point to the dangers they have surmounted,
to the good they have accomplished, and to
the position they have attained. They can
cherish with pride that motto which, though
reviled by the sycophants of Absolutism, is the truest'
amulet of Republican France, that divine cry, which
is the voice of the Revolution—Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity. For these reasons it is, that the 24th of
February, 1849, is an anniversary not to be comme-
morateti by midnight vigils and Lenten macerations,
but rater with the rejoicings befitting great people,

who have worked out their own social and political
salvation.

We have already directed the public attention to
the statements that had been issued by the directors
of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway Com-
pany respecting the capital and revenue accounts of
the company for the half-year ending the 31st of
December last, and also of the receipts and payments
in respect of the capital created for the purchase of
the Great North of England Railway. The general
half-yearly meeting was held at- York, on Tuesday
last, when these accounts were submitted to the
shareholders, together with a full report of the various
matters worthy of being brought under their notice.
It appeared that the total receipts on account of
revenue for the half-year amounted to 366,0191. 18s.,
which, added to the former surplus of 34,650/. Bs. 6d.,
made a total of 400,6701. Cs. 6d. After providing for
the working expenses of every description, the in-
terest on borrowed capital (including the interest
on the Great North of England and Hartlepool
loans), there remained to the credit of the company
on the revenue account, 244,6791. 3s. Bd., which,
after deducting the rents of the leased lines, would
leave sufficient to pay a dividend of 7 per
cent. per annum on the share capital, and a
balance of 6,309/. 7s. 2d. The directors, how-
ever, only recommended a dividend at the
rate of 6 per cent.: per annum, after payment
whereof, an available surplus of 59,777/. 9s. 6d.
would remain at the disposal of the company. An
amendment was moved, that a dividend at the.rate
of 7 per cent. should be declared. The meeting,
however, was generally in favour of the prudent
course suggested by the directors, and the amend-
ment was negatived by a large and decisive majority.
A very cheering statement was contained in
the report, which proved, beyond the possi-
bility of . doubt, the confidence entertained
in the soundness and stability of the undertaking, and
in the integrity of the management. It was an-
nounced that " within the last few days the directors
have had offers of loans to a very large amount at 4
per cent. interest ;" and that " there is a prospect that
before long money may be obtained at a still lower
rate." This is, indeed, satisfactory intelligence. The
pressure on the Money Market has hitherto occasioned
the greatest difficulties which the railway companies
have had to encounter. Their property was depre-
ciated in value—there was a total cessation of confi-
ience. Funds could not be obtained to carry on the
works on any terms, or if some few capitalists,
wiser than their fellows, had sufficient foresight to
seize the golden opportunity, the most exorbitant
rates of interest were demanded, and in very many
instances, paid, for the required accommodation. The
healthiest symptoms in the case, the strongest evi-
dence of a general restoration to sanity, the most
propitious auguries of the future prosperity of the
railway interest, are to be discerned in the fact that
money in abundance can now be obtained " at 4 per
cent." on railway debentures, with every prospect
of its being before long at a still cheaper rate, when
7 or 8, or we believe in some instances 10, per
cent. was readily paid during the past year.
Indeed, railway property of every description ap-
peared to be "tabooed." No capitalist would take
the question of a loan into consideration. Many
bankers seemed to entertain a religious scruple against
affording any accommodation to those suspected of
dabbling in railway shares, of polluting their hands
with the " accursed thing." These absurd rumours
were strengthened and confirmed by the Bearish
fraternity, who lost no opportunity of increasing
the panic by spreading the most absurd rumours
respecting the position and prospects of the principal
companies, and profiting by the fears they had them-
selves excited, by unhesitatingly selling shares for
delivery at a future period which they had never
possessed, nor ever contemplated acquiring. These
baseless insinuations, these vile fabrications, have,
however, lost their power, confidence is fully restored,
and money can be easily obtained on the security of
dividend-paying lines, such as the York, Newcastle
and Berwick. 2

Considerable discussion was excited with respect
to the leases of the Newcastle and Carlisle, and
the Maryport and Carlisle Companies. In the
statement put forward by the directors in the month
of November last, they stated, in a manly and
straightforward manner, that they " did not intend
to press the acceptance of these leases upon the pro-
prietors in opposition to their wishes, being quite
prepared to take upon themselves the responsibility
they had incurred on behalf of the company." In
pursuance of that pledge, the Chairman now an-
nounced " that when they found a minority—a con-
siderable minority—were opposed to their views, the
directors were the last men in the world to divide a
great company like this." The question was there-
fore withdrawn for the present. The drafts of the
bills were submitted to a special meeting, and all
were agreed to, but it was upon the understanding
that those referring to the leases above referred to
should be made permissive, and should not be binding
on the company unless expressly agreed to at a fu-
ture period. Now, we cannot quite assent to the
justice or propriety of such a course. As the Chair-
man most properly explained, " the same aversion "
did not always exist to those agreements that has
lately been exhibited. Formerly the spur was
freely applied ; the directors were accused of lagging,
and stimulated forward in every mar.ner practicable
If they were not prepared to undertake weighty per-
sonal responsibilities on behalf of the general body,
they were regarded as not having the interests of the
proprietors at heart, of not reposing the same confi-
dence in the shareholders that the latter exhibited
towards them. Now, however, it is altogether differ-
ent; nothing is to be done without the express
sanction of the body being first duly had
and obtained. The mutual confidence that once was
so highly lauded, is totally disregarded and forgotten.
It is true that the Chairman and other directors in-
curred heavy responsibilities for the exclusive be-
nefit of the company ; however advantageous the
contracts might have proved, they could in their
private capacities have gained nothing thereby. It is
true that if they had not boldly stepped forward and
concluded the arrangements, formidable rivals would
have arisen, who might have diverted a considerable
portion of the traffic, and occasioned very serious in-
jury to the company. That danger was averted
by the promptitude and decision of the energetic
Chairman and his efficient coadjutors; and now that
there is no longer any risk, the shareholders are asked
to sit down quietly • and calculate whether the
arrangement will prove profitable or otherwise, in
order that if the former • should prove the case the
contract mays be confirmed, and the company reap
the advantage ; but if the latter, that the loss should
be cast upon those who came forward during the
emergency. This is not exactly the " fair play" of
which Englishmen are so fond. There :is no mu-
tuality or reciprocity. It is something of " the-
head-I- win- tail-you- lose" character. The com-
pany are to have all the advantages, the contract-
ing directors all the disadvantages. We trust that on
more mature consideration the shareholders will per-
ceive how very derogatory to their own characters it
must prove, if they take advantage of the chivalrous
offer of the Chairman and his brother directors.

Considerable discussion also took place respecting
the purchase of Great North of England shares by
the company. As a committee have been appointed
to investigate the matter, we shall abstain from
all comment until their report is returned.

DRURY LANE THEATRE.--Yesterday morning a
performance took place at this theatre, combining some of
the greatest attractions of the French equestrian troupe. It
was the last juvenile fete of the season, and the children
of the Licensed Victuallers' Asylum were present at the
express invitation of the manager. There was also a large
muster of the rising generation in the boxes and the arena.
EXETER HALL.—Handers magnificent oratorio,
Israel in Egypt, was produced here last night, in the same
style of perfection that has characterised the other perform
•
auces of the sacred Harmonic Society since it has been under
the direction of Mr. Costa. The best praise we can give
to last night's performance is, that it really was so good as
to present no points for criticism. The orchestral accom-
paniments and the choruses (among which we may mention
especially the " Hailstone chorus") were alike excellent.
The leading vocal portions of the oratorio were sustained by
Miss Dolby, Miss Birch, Miss L. Pyne, Mr. H. Phillips, Mr.
Lackey, and Mr. Machin.
'We are happy to be enabled to state upon authority
that the report of the Earl of Dalhousie's indiposition,.
alluded to in our correspondent's Indian intelligence, is'
erroneous. Notwithstanding his arduous and respon-
sible duties, the Governor-General's health has greatly
satisfactory
imprnzorveodin
wrsocre hisTE arriElvaßlEaAtstuhße seat
TREASURES
This report shows the State to be in ooarf n
aw Moa
sr
t*A—sit
ay: n sp.
condition,
year,w 9ith
p3alro4lasncioll,92 csins the Treasury, at the close
of the

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
During the course of the sitting of the National
Assembly on Thursday M. GERMAINE SAEUT laid on
the table the draft of a decree to quash all politi-
cal convictions pronounced during the reign of the
ex-King Louis PHILIPPE, and to replace all those
affected by them in the position they held previous to
their conviction. The object of the decree, it is said,
is to restore General MONTHOLON, and the other
officers condemned with him for the affair of Bou-
logne, to their former rank in the army.
The debate on the electoral law was resumed, and
the Assembly passed clauses disqualifying place-
holders. By the clauses agreed to on Thursday,
presidents of law courts, archbishops, bishops, and
vicars-general, presidents of Protestant consistories,
commanders of military divisions and sub-divisions,
intendants and sub-intendants of military divisions,
receivers-general and private receivers of finance,
keepers and inspectors of forests, and, in fine, all per-
sons holding local employments of an official kind are
interdicted from becoming Members of the Legis-
lature.

The discussion of the electoral law was con-
tinued in the sitting of yesterday. The 77th
Article was the one under consideration. It sets
forth the exceptions to the general rule laid
down by Article 28 of the Constitution, to the effect
that no paid public functionary shall be capable of
becoming a representative of the people. The ex-
ceptions proposed are, the Ministers, the Under-secre-
taries of State, the Commander-in-Chief, or the
National Guard of the Seine, the procureurs generaux
of the Courts of Cessation and Appeal, the Prefect
of the Seine, and citizens charged temporarily with
a command, or an extraordinary mission, either at
home or abroad. The exception in favour of
Ministers was at once adopted.—M. BERNARD
opposed the exception made in favour of
Under-secretaries of State, and, notwithstanding
the efforts of Mll. FRESLON and BILLAULT, an
amendment for their exclusion was carried by a con-
siderable majority. The Assembly agreed to the
exception in favour of the Commander-in-Chief of the
National Guards of the department of the Seine. The
exception of the procureurs generaux was carried by
a majority of 408 to 328. The exception in favour
of the Prefect of the Seine was rejected. This, last
vote created a great sensation, as the effect of it will
be to prevent M. BERGER from being a Member of
the next Assembly. At four o'clock the debate was
still going on.
To-day is the anniversary of the Revolution, and
the friends of the Republic had intended to honour
the day by a festival, but it having.been ascertained
that the reactionary party had instructed police
agents to mingle with the crowd, for the purpose of
creating a fictitious disturbance, in order to give
General CRANGARNIER an excuse for ordering the
troops to fire on the people, the chiefs of the Repub-
lican party have been urgent in their endeavours to
persuade the people to abstain from any demonstra-
tion which may afford their enemies this much de-
sired excuse for having recourse to violence. The
Reforms says—
" In presence of the incessant provocations of power,
we supplicate the people to give up their intention of a
manifestation which offers inevitable dangers. The re-
presentatives of the Mountain, the delegates of the
National Electoral Congress, the directions of workmen's
associations, the delegates of corporations, the Bureau
of the delegates of the Luxembourg, and the editors
Democratic Socialist journals, will publish to-morrow an
address to the people to abjure them to rest calm, and
honour the great anniversary by proving to their ene-
mies their respect for true order and legality."
The negotiations . between the Club of the Rue de
Poictiers and M. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE have not
yet been brought to a conclusion. In the meantime,
the communications between the Rue de Poictiers
and Claremont are more frequent than ever. How
many times has Al. DELESSERT crossed the channel
since the arrival of the Duchess of MODENA in
London ?
The Presse has a " communication" which con-
firms the intelligence that Count COLLOREDO had
officially made known his instructions, that the Court
of Vienna could not admit any other basis of negotia-
tion at Brussels than that of the treaties of 1815. The
conferences have, in consequence of various circum-
stances, been adjourned, and M. LAGENEE, the French
Plenipotentiary, has accordingly returned to Paris.
In another portion of the same communication, it is
stated that the King of PIEDMONT does, by virtue of
the 99th article of the final act of the Treaty
of Vienna, mean to interfere in Tuscany, and
with that view is now concentrating a force
at Sarzana, on the Tuscan frontier, of 12,000
men, under the command of General MAR-
MORA, and that the army will enter, as soon as the
Sardinian Government shall have combined with that
of Naples, a common action, by which, while the
Sardinian army is entering Tuscany the Neapolitans
shall march on Rome by Terracina.
The Committee of Justice is now occupied with the
consideration of the proposition of M. LUCIEN
MURAT. M. CASABLANCA, the representative of Cor-
sica, explained the cbject of the proposition. Joacniu
MURAT, before he was called to the throne of Naples,
had purchased of different private individuals the
Elysee-National, a part of the domain of Neuilly, and
other estates, to the amount of ten millions. At that
period (1808), and by a secret article in the treaty
of Bayonne, MURAT ceded the property which he
possessed in France to the Emperor NAPOLEON, in
exchange for an annual revenue of 500,000 f., charge-
able on the domain of the Crown at Naples, which
NAPOLEON had reserved in order to establish majorats.
In 1815, MURAT, having lost both the throne of
Naples and his revenue of 500,000 f., demanded
from the Provisional Government established
by the Chamber of Representatives after the
second abdication of NAPOLEON, the restitu-
tion of the propel ty which he had alienated in
1808. This claim was admitted by a decree of the
sth July, 1845, but which Louis )VIII. refused to
execute. The heirs of MURAT appealed in vain, first
to the Council of State, and afterwards to the Civil
Tribunals; their appeals were always rejected, on a
plea of incompetency, founded on the fact that the
affair being connected with a political treaty, could
only be decided en by the Government. Thus re-
jected, the heirs of MURAT now make an application
to the National Assembly. M CASABLANCA contended
that, as the arrangement was made by treaty, the
National Assembly was alone competent to decide on
the matter, inasmuch as it alone had the power of
giving sanction to treaties. The Hon. Gentleman
concluded his arguments by beseeching that an end
might be put to a denial of justice which had existed
for 33 years.
The -Government had just decided that a marble
bust of General DE BREA shall be placed in the Na-
tional Museum at Versailles.
The _National has the following on the subject of
the recent emeute at Niort:--
" According to a letter which we have received from
Niort, it would appear that the principal cause of the
popular exasperation there was improper language em-
employed by the Colonel of the 2d Regiment of Chas-
seurs to the crowd. It would appear, also, that the
stroke of a sabre given by that officer has caused a se-
vere wound. We may say that the Ministerial order
which sent to Saintes a squadron of cavalry to keep gar-
rison there was not called for by motives of public
utility. The only cavalry barracks which exists at
Saintes is the old church, where about forty years back
were fitted up some very unwholsome stables now
abandoned for some years, and which it would take
100,000 f. to repair. It the squadron was sent there, it
was altogether to please M. Dufaure, who supported the
proposition of M. Rateau,
ano, above all, to satisfy the
demands of Marshal Bugeaud, recently named represen-
tative for the Charente-Inferieure, and who received a
a good number of votes at Saintes."
Marshal BuGEAur• has done his best to excite a
revolutionary outbreak at Lyons, but, thanks to the
prudence of the people,
his efforts have not been suc-
cessful. It appears that he ordered that sentinels
should no longer be placed on guard at the tree of
liberty, or at the statue of the Man of the People,
whereupon, says the Courtier de Lyon, of the 21st,
narie estroy the
s to d.
the workmen apprehending that these orders had
been given to enable the reactio
statue in the night, mounted guard over lit. The
police immediately caused several persons to be ar-
rested, but with so little cause that when brought
before the authorities on the following day the
whole of them were dismissed. On the evening
of the 20th the people re-assembled and commenced
singing the Marseillaise, whereupon the police agents
retired to the barracks, and from which a regiment of
Dragoons at once emerged, sword in hand, and
without the people having been previousty summoned
to disperse, charged them, wounded several, and
killed one man on the spot. In order to excuse this
illegal conduct of the soldiers, which in the case of
in which he speaks of the
the man killed amounts to murder, the Mayor of
Lyons has issued an affiche,
occurrence of grave disorders having occurred in the
city for some days past. The Corricr says, "No
disorder exists or has existed in Lyons, and this eifiche
is only put forth to palliate the murder of last night."
The National states that M. Nona, who was sent
to London by NARVAEZ to conciliate Lord PALMERS-
TON, not being in a position to retract the calum-
nious charges made against Sir 11. 13m.wen, was
civilly invited by the Noble Lord to go home as quick
as possible.
BOURSE—PARIS, FRIDAY, FEB. 23.
THREE O'CLOCK.—The French Funds have again
risen to-day, and at one period the Five per Cents.
reached 83F. 50c., but they closed for the account at
83f. 10e. The Bank of France Shares rose no less than
275 f.. They had at one time reached 2,500 f. Spanish
Funds have also risen. Fifty Thousand French Five
per Cents. Rentes were discounted to-day, which shows
that an effort is making in some quarter to push up the
market. Exchange on London (30 days), 25 20 ; ditto
(90 days), 25 10.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, FEB. 23.
Boulogne end Amino, io—Central
,Frame (Orleans

and Vierzon), 12,A -Namur and Liege, 81/—Nortliern of
France, 10%— Orleans and Bordeaux, 4—Paris and Rouen,
21 ex div.--Paris and Strasbeurg, 35/6—Rouen and Have,
13% Sambre and Meuse, s—Tours and Nantes, DA.