The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-13 00:00:00

.4,13
rtuirtc

LONDON, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1349.

Another of -the most liberal and enlightened Sove-
reigns of Christendom has just been compelled to fly
from the capital of his dominions, and to seek shelter
in an obscure seaport, from the ingratitude of the
very people upon whom he has squandered his bene-
factions. If Pius IX. has been driven by the insen-
sate passions of his children from Rome to Gaeta,
LEOPOLD lrbas been obliged to fly for his life from
Florence- to Piombino. And while these paternal
Monarchs are expiating in banishment the crime of
their benevolence, the tyrant of Naples remains upon
his throne unmolested, the charlatan of Prussia con-
tinues in the plenitude of his royal authority, and
the stripling upholder of Austrian Absolutism
wields his sceptre with unrelenting power over
his enormous and incongruous territories,
Those potentates, to employ the language of
Holy Writ, are wise in their own generation.
They see that by denying their holiest rights to the
masses, and by acting according to the ruthless prin-
ciples'of despotism, they can better preserve to them-
selves the pomps and riches of their dignity. They
see that the very men who summon their people to
the enjoyment of the blessings of freedom are those
who are repaid for their generosity by being hurled
down from their temporary elevation by the ignorant
and fanatical races they have emancipated. In all
this there is bitter reason for the friends of liberty to
weep over the. destinies of Italy, over those destinies
which dawned so gloriously immediately
.upon the
accession of JOHN Masier FERRETTI to the chair of
the Sovereign Pontificate, but which has since been
overclouded by the ultra-democratic madness which
has seized upon the unfortunate Italians themselves.
The crime which has conduced to the downfal of
the Grand Duke of TUSCANY is the crime of his
liberal enlightenment. Like the POPE, he had
voluntarily bestowed a Free Constitution on the
multitude. Recently he had gone even further; be
had signed with his own hand the decree, ordaining
that thirty-seven Tuscan deputies should participate
in the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly.
The beneficence of his policy has, however, only
elicited the ingratitude of the population. An insur-
rectionary movement in the capital has compelled
him to escape furtively from Florence—to hasten
from Sienna, where three of his faithful ad-
herents were massacred under his very windows,
and to take refuge in Piombino, whence it is
conjectured that he may have subsequently proceeded
to Porto Ferrago, in that island of Elba which is
celebrated as the place of the Great Emperor's first
captivity. In the case of Pies IX. the popular out-
break is more comprehensible than in that of LEOPOLD
IL lhe accusation levelled against the Porseier, the
cause of the assassination of his Prime Minister, the
reason for the sudden oblivion of the glorious acts
which had one, by one: emanated from the heart, and
been achieved by the hand of Pio Noxo, was the fact
that the PONTIFF refused to declare war against
Austria. In consequence of that refusal the
rational Guard turned those arms, which he him-
self had given them, against his palace, and
tee National A2aeulbly, which he himself
heed ;lite existence continued their sittings with
the most da.'Laielly apathy, while a foul murder was
being perp trated upon their very threshold. Not-
:
esithstancliag thie, notwithstanding the Bone:labs
sung to the poignard which had slain Count ROSSI,
there was a plain and appreciable reason for the out-
break of .the Roman populace. The Pore had re-
fused to declare war against Austria—and although
the fault of "tbat refusal lay not with Pius IX., but
on the coritary redoundel infinitely to his glory as
one who believes himself to be a priest of the GOD of

Peace—the Romans, in the delirium of their
patriotic ardour, did not charge the fault of
the refusal upon the incongruity of his
duties as:an ecclesiastical Monarch, as a Pope andas a
Prince, but raised their infuriated and undiscerning
hands against the noblest of their benefactors. The
fault of the Romans, moreover, was not their deter-
mination at all costs to join the patriotic war against
the alien oppressors of their country—that determi-
nation being honourable to them as freemen and as
lovers of their fatherland—but it was in those
frightful excesses into which they were hurried by a
blind and indiscriminating fury. It was in such
extravagances of atrocity as prompted them to chaunt
a derisive De profundis under the windows of the
weeping relatives of Rossi, and to deposit
the dagger which had penetrated his heart in
a golden box placed between two lighted wax-candles.
" The heart of MARAT," says CIIA.TEAUBRIAND,
" was placed in a precious pyx, in a rich repository ;
a cenotaph of gauze was erected on the Place du
Carrousel, where the public went to visit the bust,
the bath, the lamp, and writing-desk of the divinity :
the wind, however, changed; the filth poured from
the agate urn into another vase, was emptied into the ,
common sewer." So may the wind change now, if
the Roman multitude will but listen to their better con-
sciences. GIOBIRTI has already declared that he will
not allow the Sardinians to participate in the farce of
the Constituent Assembly; and he is even now em-
ploying his influence for the pacific reconciliation of
Pope Pius IX. and the Roman populace.

With LEOPOLD 11. it is different. He has done
nothing which can be construed into a dereliction of
his own duties as a constitutional sovereign. The
solitary accusation that can be levelled against him is
that he has granted not only everything that prudence
dictated to him as just, but everything that his people
demanded from him under the erroneous impression
that it would be beneficial. He has now yielded his
signature to the decree sending thirty-seven Tuscan
deputies to the Constituent Assembly, and the very
circumstance of his having conceded this among so
many other things to his people, has induced them to
rise against him with cries of " Death to LEOPOLD!"
" Viva! Pio Nono!" " Viva! Leopoldo Secundo 1" were
the cries which resounded for sixteen months in
Rome and in Florence; and now Pius IX. is lament-
ing the ingratitude of the Romans at Gaeta, and
LEOPOLD 11. that of the Florentines at Piombino.
Until the Italians know better how to discriminate
between their foes and their benefactors they may
dream, and only dream, of their nationality. They
must expiate their criminal blunders before they can
expect good fortune to descend upon their patriotism.
They must place more reliance upon the sincerity of
those statesmen who have risked everything to effect
their emancipation. They must not mistake a
cowardly attack upon a building containing
only a few old men and a handful of
Swiss servants armed with halberts for an act of
popular heroism. They must not look upon a Mur-
derer as their national Saviour. They must discri-
minate between the wise recommendations of an
Administrator and the insane excitations of a Dema-
gogue. They must listen rather to the voice of
GIOBERTI than to that of STURBINETTI, to the ad-
vice of LEOPOLD rather than to the frivolous declama-
tions of CICEROICCIIIO. Then they may hope to
realise the magnificent visions of Mazzisr, to satisfy
the honest expectations of PEPS, and to accomplish
that great work which was commenced under the
venerable auspices of Pio Novo.

The directors of the London and North-Western
Railway Company have issued their account for the
six months ending the 31st December last, prepara-
tory to the general haf yearly meeting which is to
be held on Friday next, the 16th instant. It is a full
and satisfactory docwnent, affording the most valu-
able inforalation as to the position and prospects of
the company. It will be peculiarly acceptable on the
present occasion, inasmuch as the calculations and
estimates put forward by the directors in the latter
end of October lust may be closely tested, and their
accuracy subjected to the strictest ordeal. These
calculations have hitherto been proved to be
correct in every particular. The results have
proved in some degree more favourable
than had been anticipated, the directors hav-
ing " endeavoured. to avoid giving an undue
colouring to the prospects of the company." This
was a wise precaution. When so many interested
persons were desirous of deteriorating the property
of the shareholders, and of keeping up the railway
panic that had been excited, any variation from the

estimates would be eagerly seized on, and unceasing

harped on. Many futile attempti were made to im
peach the estimates contained in the important state

ment to which we have alluded. The "Bears" of
the Stock-Exchange and their unprincipled abettors
found their occupation gone. By an organized
system of enormous lying they had suc-
ceeded in reducing the value of every
description of railway property. Even the
shares of the London and North-Western Company
were quoted at a discount but a few days before the
publication of the authorized statement. A great
change, however, immediately followed its appear-
ance : the complete and satisfactory refutation of
" the erroneous statements and calculations" that had
been put forward cast discredit upon the other
assertions and insinuations of the alarmists. An
immediate improvement took place, and, within a
week or ten days, prices of railway stock generally
had risen to the extent of 12 or 15 per cent. Since
that period there has been a steady progressive im-
provement, and, by a reference to the present
quotations, it will be found that the increase has,
in many instances, amounted to from 30 to 40
per cent. on the prices of the 23d of October last.
North-Western shares, which on that day were sold
for 991., were yesterday in demand at 1371. to 1381.,
and we are greatly mistaken if the publication of the
present balance-sheet will not be productive of very
beneficial results.

The most interesting point to the shareholders will
necessarily be the amount of dividend which they are
to receive on their capital stock. In the former
statement, the directors made their calculation of
the gross revenue that would be required to pay 7 per
cent. per annum ; that was the probable amount of
dividend which they encouraged the shareholders ,to
hope for when the main line and branches were fully
opened, and all the capital of the company had been
rendered productive. That expectation has been
more than fulfilled—a dividend of 3i per cent. will be
declared on Friday next for the half year ending the
31st December last, and after payment thereof there
will remain to the credit of the company a disposable
balance to be carried to the next account of
71,3981. Os. 2d. It will thus appear that 311 per cent.
might have been paid out of the profits had the direc-
tors considered it desirable, and a large balance still
have been retained. It is, however, always better to in •
crease than to diminish the dividends ; and we shall
confidently anticipate that such an increase will
speedily take place.

After the great fact of the exact amount of the
dividend has been ascertained—a question that comes
home to every shareholder—the next points to be
considered relate to the clear profits of the company.
Have the gross receipts of the company increased or
fallen off? Have the working expenses been kept
within due limits ? The answers to these interro-
gatories will prove no less satisfactory. It will be
found that there has been an improvement of the
gross revenue, while there has been a diminution of
the working expenses.
Thus we find, that the gross revenue for the year
ending 31st June, 1848, amounted to 2,194,093/., or,
on an average, 42,1941. per week, while the gross
revenue for the six months, ending 31st December'
amounted to 1,154,0191. Ils. 7d., or, on an average,
44,385/. 7s. 4id. per week—an improvement of
2,1911. 7s. 4id. per week. This goes a considerable
way towards the increase of 6,4241. a week that will
be required when all the lines now in progress of
construction are opened for traffic, and made fully
convertible.

Again, the w•crl:ing expenses have been esti-
mated at fcrty per cent, on the gross receipts,
Now those charges during the present half year
amounted to 382,141/. 3s. 7d., little more than 31 per
cent, on the total revenue of 1,154,0191. lls. 7d.; and
if we add the parish rates and taxes, amounting to
30,3031. 12s. 4d., and the duty on passenger traffic,
26,125/. is. 10d., we shall find that the total amount,
438,569/. 17s. 9d., does not quite amount to 38 ler
cent. on the gross revenue. Here, then, is an im-

THE SUN, LONDON,

portant saving of 2 per cent. on the receipts, amount-
ing for the past half-year to no less than 22,5801.
on the estimates. The other parts of the account
are equally satisfactory. It appears that the calls in
course of payment amount to 371,2021., and the
calls still to be made to 5,124,3971., which, with the
sum of 15,822,1481., already paid up, will give a total
capital of 21,317,7471. The amount of debentures is-
sued under the seal of the company, which in the last
account, to the 30th June, stood at 9,186,671/.155. 10d.)
had been increased to 9,626,267/. 19s. 3d., of which
there had been applied in payment of calls
upon shares in, and raised specially for, the use.of
subsidiary lines connected with the company, and re-
presented by the capital of the respective under-
takings, 3,559,262/., leaving a balance of 6,067',0061.
appertaining to capital expended on the main line
land branches.

We congratulate the shareholders most heartily on
these very satisfactory accounts, which must have very
beneficial influences, so far as the market value of their
property is concerned.