The Sun.
London, England, 1838-10-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 183,5.

very little of that tr4ffie passed along the Grind Junction
line at all.

After a few words from Mr. BItUNEL, in explanation,

Mr. BRIGHT, the Deputy Chairman, as the substitute
for the Chairman, returned thanks for the resolution which
had been passed by the Proprietors. It was impossible to
state what the feelings of the Directors had been during
the last six weeks, traduced and vilified as they had been
by jobbers and journalists, who in their ignorance and im-
pudence had, to some extent, misled the unwary.—
( Hear, and loud cheering.) They had been assailed
week after week—their actions and their - characters
lnd been impugned, but they had borne all in silence, be-
cause they were aware that, ere long, they would appear
before the Proprietors, the only legitimate tribunal.—
(Hear, hear.) That day their judgment once deterred,
had been pronounced. He thanked them, not for their
verdict, for no thanks was due for justice—not for
their approbation, thr that they• had merited; bttt
in the name of the arectors from his heart he
thanked them for the kindness with which their verdict
had been pronounced, and ti e feeling with which
their approval had been confirined.—(Cheers ) He hoped
he might be allowed to express a bode, in which he would
include not only the •Directors, but their gifted enginetr—
that man, singular in his genius as in his manly modesty—
(Cries of " On, oh," followed by loud and vehement cheer-
-6;o—fearless of obloquy—patient under imputations—
(Cheers)—strong in his opinions, yet open to conviction,
placing-no pride in art, but as it led to the investigation
of truth-4 assuredly unexampled and unimpeachable in.
tegr;tv, that ere long he would overcome by convictmn his
honourable opponents, and triumph over the dastardly
wretches who had basely p,rbrz.d to paltry gain —(Loud
and vehement cheering ) He trnste.l that they might
often thus meet—they to render, and the Pi oprii.tors to re-
ceive, their account. If they knew themselves, they felt that
they were not unworthy ; and if they knew the Proprietors,
they were convinced that their s •rvicei would be received
with kindness and with gratitude —(Loud cheering.)
Mr. H EYWORTH then moved a vote of thanks to the
ChAi,m in for the diznitied manor in which he had con-
ducted the proceedings of the meeting.
The reo•ion was carried amid loud acclamation, and the
meeting afterwards broke up.

SHEFFIELD AND MANCHESTER

RAILWAY,

Considerable progress has been made in the -prosecution
of this important undertaking between these two great
commercial towns. The first contract for works having
been let to Messrs. Smith, Eekersby, and Worswiek, there
was a grand meeting on the 24th ult., of the Directors,
Shareholders, and other parties iitterested in the concern,
about the centre of the line, to celebrate the first tweaking
of the ground. The preliminary business of the morn-
ing consisted of Mr. Vienoles, the engineer, explaining the
arious details of the works. By refer& nee to the Parlia-
mentary and other plans and sections, the whole distance
will he found to be 391 miles, joiteing the Manchester and
Birmingham Railway at Chancery-lane, Ardwick, thence
by the Pottery at Gaston to within 900 yards of Ashton-
under-Lyne. Proceeding in a direct line, it passes over
the river Tame and Peak Forest Canal, at Dultitiford,
to the Dewsnup colliery close by the villege of Ne atoe-
green, crossing the new turnpike-road from Hyde
to Mottram, throueh Godley and Hattersley, to the
river Etherow or Mersey, at Broadbotton ; it then gee
near the reservoirs of Mr. Pottor's print-works, within half
a mile of Glossop, by Denting-vale, to the entrance of the
tunnel near Saltershrook ; after passing through the tun-
nel, the line will be by the valley of the Don, by Peniston,
Oxspring, and Wortley, to the terminus at Sheffield. Mr.
ropes,
sent t
and
o dhim ea
Vignoles then availed himself of the opportunity of exhi-
biting a new boring instrument
pbayblehisof sun in
Germany. It is worked by
pene-
trating a twelve-inch bore, at six feet per day, through a
so:id rock, the
.importance of such an effective and ingenious
instrument in a work like the Sheffield and Manchester
Railway need not be expatiated upon. The Company
the adjourned to an excellent cold collation, in the prin-
cipal marquee, Lord Wharncliffe in the Cheir, supported
by Mr. Vignoles, the Hon. John Stuart Wortley, George
Sidebottom, E,q., the other Directors, &c. The repast
being over, and the usual toasts given, the health of the
Noble Chairman was proposed with three times three,
and most rapturously received by the whole Company,
upon which,
Lord WHARNCLIFFE rose and said,—Since I have pre-
sided at the Board of Directors, my anxious wish has been
to induce them, and I found no difficulty in so inducing
them, to act in such a manner as should eke confidence
to the public, by showing that it is our earnest wish and
honest determination to perform, to the best of our power
and means, the duty that we have undertaken. I have
ever impressed upon them, and they have acted upon it,
that at no time ow.tlit we to look to the raising of the
shares above their real value—( Hear)—but. rather to let
the public judge 'calmly and dispassionately of the work
we have undertaken, and then there is no fear as to their
deciding rightly in the end, or that all those who have
subser:bed to this groat work will obtain sufficient remu-
neration for this employment of their capital.—(Hear, and
cheers.) Thisis one of the greatest comfit unicatioes (for
the Leeds and Manchester line must also be taken into
account) between the two lergest and most flourishing
counties of the North ; and I flitter myself that this
Railway will open out advantages to the towns of Shef-
field and Manchester such as are little experi •nced at
present ; and, indeed, except so far as Sheffield is con-
cerned, it does not appear to me that this Railway is va-
lued as it deserves.—(Hear.) I also flatter thyself that
this line will prove to be the beginning of the nearest com-
munication between the ports of Liverpool and Hull.
There can be no doubt that if a proper line cen b
formed from Peniston to Barnsley, from thence to the
Humber will be a work of very little difficulty ; and, us I
have been informed, and have reason to believe, that that
communication between Peniston and Barnsley will not he
found more difficult than that from Peniston to Sheffield ;
and therefore I cannot help hoping that the work wo ha‘e
set on foot will be found many miles—some say thirty miles
—the shortest communication between Hull and Liver-
pool.—(Hear, and cheers.) •And I leave you to judge
how far that will be an advantage, not only to tie, the Sub-
scribers, but to the whole trading community of the coun-
trv.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, 1 will give you the health of
Mr. Vignoles, the engineer, and success to hint in the
undertaking."
Mr. CHARLES VIGNOLES, in acknowledging the. toast
(which was drunk with cheers), begged to say that he
considered this one of the most auspicioes days in his pro-
fessional career. It was at all events the first step towards
the completion of that great work which for the last two
or three years had been the subject of his great anxiety—
a work which was to put forth the power of the it), (emotive
engine, and the carrying of a . railway through a country
and over difficulties which, up to the present time, had
been considered almost insurmountable. But,
with the
confidence of the subscribers, with the kind support (which
indeed he had always received) of his Lordship and the
Directors, and with that confidence which he hoped
every professional man had, or ought always to have, in
his own plans, he did not doubt of carrying the work to
a successful completion.—( Cheers.) At all events, so far
as gradients were concerned, it had been successfully'
demonstrated that they had nothing at all to apprehend ;
and
.he believed all the Directors and Subscribers were
convincedotl
rygli that there was but one point unresolved, viz ,
otherw h whet
point, materials
his
o own mind
tunonte
least, wouldvr as
as
neleetarar taes.
Every
daylight. He had always put forth to them, that this
three miles of tunnel would pass nearly, if not altogether,
through hard niAterials ; and he thought their own in-
spection that day would show then that there was little to
apprehend that-it would be otherwise. Probably, at the
next half-ye arty meeting, in February next, he shauld be
able to report that the
lliat being
generalityo of the
so, linend as was foundher
be of that hard material which he had always avowed his
expectation to find it.
peered to be some little anxiety on this score amongstp
their friends in Sheffield, he had thus expressed his
opinion, and his belief that it was the only thing wanting
to give the public confidence in the line, and to enable hint
to carry it out with all the vigour desirable. His own pro-
fessional reputation, his own fortune even, were embarked
in this undertaking, and he considered it one of the best
speculations a man could enter into ; therefore they
might feel fully assured that he vas he t.ty in the cause.
He gain thanked them, and would assure them that he was
about to make a sacrifice of every other professional enzate-
rnent, in order that he might give his whole attention to this
line. He hoped that when next they met on a festive oc-
casion. its object would be to celebrate, not the commence-
ment, but the completion of' the summit tunnel —(Cheers.)
B permiss on of the chair lie would give a toast, and he
would calf upon them to drink with him, to the noble and
rising family of Lord Wharncliffe—(Cheers)---that such
success, as those prest.nt had been wishing to their own un-
de:eak;ne, might attend them through life ; and that they
might prove worthy scions of that noble stock which had re-
flected so touch honour on both sides of our summit ridge.—
(Drunk with cheers.)
The Hon. JOHN STUART WORTLEY (his Lordship's
eldest son) then returned thanks ; and, after the healthy of
Messrs. George and William Sidebottom (the latter Vice-
Chairman of the Board), and other persons connected with
the Railway, had been respectively drunk, the party sepa-
rated, delighted with the conviviality of the day, and im-
pressed with the convietion both of the importance and
utility of the undertaking, its conlparat;ve facility Of execu-
tion as well as the moral certainty, from Cleo Pcimia': and
trading districts the lino passes through, of its afforu.r!g
most lucrative remunerating return es the capital invested,