The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSEIA_Y Tig„VENING, FEBRUARY l5, IMO,

5,0001. only was to be then ava►lable, for 10,0001.;
that a mortgage of the property at St. John's should be
executed by Mackay and Co., as a security for any
transactions which might be had between the parties ;
and that the plaintiffs should have the absolute control
of all consignments, either by sale or otherwise, as they
might think necessary. In a letter from Mackay to the
plaintiffs, it was stated that the ship was launched and
was about to sail for the port of Liverpool—where the
plaintiffs carried on business—with a cargo of timber,
and in July Mackay sent to the plaintiffs a power of
attorney to sell the ship and bills of lading only, signed
by the master, with a specification of their contents and
an invoice. Subsequently Mackay and Co. became em-
barrassed in consequence of the failure of a house in
Liverpool, and eventually stopped payment. The vessel
and cargo were sold by Mackay and Co. to the defend-
ants, Crane and M'Grath, who afterwards re-sold to
the defendants Rankin and Co., who then consigned the
ship to Rankin, Gilmour, and Co., another branch of
their own firm, at Liverpool. The plaintiffs allege these
transactions on the part of Rankin and Co. were done
with a knowledge of the failure of Mackay and Co., also
of the previous consignment of the plaintiffs; that the sale
to Rankin and Co. was only colourable, and without a
valid consideration, a bought note, not negotiable by
them, being the only payment made to Crane and
M'Grath; and that, in fact, Crane and M'Grath were
themselves only trustees for Mackay and Co.
The Solicitor. General and Mr. Cairns were counsel for
the plaintiffs; Mr. Wood and Mr. Tillotson appeared
for the defendants, Rankin and Co.; and Mr. Hether-
ington was counsel for the assignees of Mackay and Co.

EXCHEQUER.-(THIS DAY.)
The Court sat to day in Banco, and took the demur-
rer papers, but no case of importance came on during
the morning.

COMMON PLEAS.—(THIS DAY.)
The Court of Common Pleas did not sit i❑ Banco

SHERIFFS' COURT.—(THIS DAY.)
(Before Mr. Under-Sheriff BURCEELL.)
BELL V. BROMAGE.
This was an action brought by the plaintiff, as public
officer of the National Provincial Bank at Leominster, to
recover of the defendant, a farmer at the same place, the
sum of 2521. 4s. 3d., for money advanced, &c.
Evidence was adduced in support of the claim, and as
the defendant did not plead, a verdict was given for the
amount claimed.
IMPORTANT CASE—CROCKFORD V. TUCKER.
The plaintiff in this action sought to recover the sum
of Si. 135., for certain numbers of the Law Times supplied
to defendant.
Defendant pleaded that he was not indebted.
On the part of the plaintiff, it was shown that plaintiff
is sub-editor and publisher of the Law Times, and de-
fendant is a solicitor at Chard. In 1844, a letter, signed
" Arthur Tucker, Taunton,"—but he resided at Chard—
was sent to the office, directing the Law Times to be
tarnished regularly, and it was sent down by the post
for two years. Defendant was written to for payment,
but did not reply till proceedings were threatened.
Mr. J. W. SAUNDERS, for the plaintiff, said it could
scarcely be conceived that there were two solicitors of
the same name in a small town, or that if the papers did
not reach their destination, some at all events would not
have been returned by the Post-office; but, nevertheless,
if the defendant would now pledge his honour, as a gen-
tleman, that he did not give the order, that he did not
receive the invoices, that he knew nothing of the papers,
and had not received them, the action should even now
be discontinued.
Mr. F. EDWARDS, the defendant's Counsel, said the
defendant was willing to state upon oath that he did not
give the order, and that he had only received a few
papers at intervals, and that he considered they were
sent to him on approbation, as papers were frequently
sent to him in that way, and he never considered he
would be called upon to pay for them.
The UNDER-SHERIFF did not think that the defendant
could be examined even by consent of all parties; but,
perhaps, the explanation given would be satisfactory,
for it was well known that papers were frequently sent
in the way mentioned, and few people had more than
lawyers. He himself had a great number sent.
Mr. SAUNDERS said that there had been applications
made each half year, and defendant, therefore, must
have been aware he was to pay.
Chorley, a clerk in the Law Times office, was called
to prove that the papers had been ,duly posted, and
that on each cover there was the address of
the Law Times office, and that none were returned
They were not put in at the post-office, but were put
into a post-office bag at the Law Times office, and the
mail-cart called for them. The papers were directed—
" A Tucker, Chard." The word " solicitor" was ge-
nerally printed.
In cross-examination, the witness said that he did not
know that a Mr. Edward William Cox was editor and
proprietor of the paper, and that Mr. Crockford was
merely a servant. Had heard plaintiff say Mr. Charles
Cox was the proprietor.
The letter in which the order was given was tendered
in evidence; but as it was admitted that it was not in
the handwriting of the defendant, an objection was taken
to its being received.
Mr. SAUNDERS contended that as it had been shown
the papers had been sent to defendant, it must be pre-
sumed that the order had been written with the know-
ledge of the defendant.
The UNDER-SHERIFF considered that the letter was
not admissable.
Mr. EDWARDS contended that the plaintiff had been
nonsuited, first, on the ground that the plaintiff was
only a servant, and could not maintain the action, as
Mr. Edward Cox had admitted his brother was the pro-
prietor of the paper; and, secondly, there was no proof
the paper ever reachd the post-office.
The UNDER-SHERIFF said that he considered that
there was evidence to go to the jury on that point, and
if the defendent chose to submit to a verdict, be (the
Under-Sheriff,) would reserve the writ, in order that
an application might be made to the Court above on the
point, whether there had been evidence to go before the
j ury.
Mr. EDWARDS said he would prefer going to the jury
on the whole case.
The ease which bad occupied nearly the whole of the
morning was proceeding. Witnesses being called for
the defence.

THE CALEDONIAN SOCIETY'S ANNIVERSARY BALL
—This ball took place last evening, at the Hanover
Rooms, where a numerous and gay company assembled
to partake of the amusements that the directors of this
society always offer their friends. The rdoma were
tastefully laid out, and decorated with armorial emblems
and clan tartans. Over the boxes were various flags,
with Scotland's in the centre. Dancing commenced
shortly after nine o'clock, the music coneucted by Mr.
Guiness and his accomplished band, who introduced, for
the first time and arranged expressly for the occasion, a
Scottish Mtdley Polka, comprising a variety of beautiful
and appropriate melodies, which seemed to give great
delight. Tne juvenile band of the Royal Caledonian
Asylum were also present, and gave increased interest to
the scene. Mr. Mackay and Mr. Byford had their
management, playing between the dances various
marches and other music. Supper was served at
one o'clock, in the spacious hall, presided over
by Captain Lamont, R.N., the Pesident of the
Society. The arrangements for the comfort and
satisfaction of the members friends and guests were
so complete, that it would be ungracious not to mention
them. The Gallant Captain, whose philanthropy is
widely known, propostd " Her Majesty's health," and
afterwards " The Ladies," which were received with
due honours. The company resumed dancing after-
wards, and continued its pleasures till an early hour.
Those who honoured the ball with their presence last
night will, we aro sure, ever remember it as one of great
enjoyment, and especially so when they know that any
profit that may have been derived from it, will be placed
to an excellent and praiseworthy object, instituted by
the society and its President, of accumulating a fund for
apprenticing the orphan children educated a,. the Cale•
donian Asylum, of which we believe her Majesty and
Prince Albert nave signified their approval and patron-
age. Among the many present, we observed some of
the society's earliest and best friends. Captain Forbes,
we regret to hear, was absent from indisposition.
M. DB BALZAC AND blx. WARREN..--In a recent
number of the Revue des deux Mondes, in the course of
an elaborate criticism on " Ten Thousand a Year,"
written by M. Forques. an eminent French critic, there
occur the following striking contrast between the two
French and English novelists above named. We con-
sitter Gammon the real hero of this mixed drama, which
at once resembles Othello and Les Plaideurs of Racine:
the Satan of this epoptia, which brings to one's memory
at once " Paradise Lost," and the "Lutrin." Consum-
mate skill: perfect hypocrisy: indomitable energy: un-
bounded ambition :—there you have Gammon! He was
no common ruffian, hardened and irredeemably lost
in the complex meshes of his dark deeds. His
intellect was too great, his ambition too
high, to allow of his engaging in any paltry plots or
schemes. Gammoa, debased by his means, was nut so
by his ends. A strange and jealous clinging to his own
dignity, an anxious care for the esteem and approbation
of society, survived that irreproachable honesty which
would have secured both. This perjurer—this forger—
this (for we must speak out 1) thief, is yet stern, proud,
haughty. His soul, polluted perforce a thousand times,
still remains susceptible of generous emotions. And
that pure love which it yet could feel, proves that it was
not innately degraded. This is thrown forth into bold re-
lief, and thus is individualised this remarkable
character. We dwell much upon it, because
both as regarding human nature and local circum-
stances—as touching the strongly defined lights and
shadows which are yet so harmoniously blended to-
gether, we have not among all the creations of modern
novelists, found one so exact, so true, so complete. Let
us institute a comparison between Gammon and that
galley-slave whose wonderful avatars M. de Balzac
takes such delight in telling ! The fantastic apparition
will vanish in the presence of that other image, so
strongly conceived and reproduced : the silly, weak
sketch will turn pale by the side of the truthful and sub-
stantial painting ! Again, how far above M. de Balzac
' rises Warren ! He troubles not our conscience; he shakes
not eternal principles, nor wholesome faith. He strips
not even the wicked of all claim to our compassion; and
he knows how, without offending our just discernment,
to make us feel a deep interest in the painful expiation
of a criminal punished by himstlf. And now—let us
boldly put the question—is not genius far better thus
employed, and the cause of art itself further advanced,
than by an author who considers it his greatest glory to
place some chimerical crown of light on the smooth, but
polished, forehead of a miserable convict?
ACTS OF PARLIAMENT.—A return moved for by
Mr. Brotberton, M.P. for Salford, shows that from 1842
to 1847 48 inclusive, there were passed by the Imperial
Parliament 2,463 Bills, of which 830 were public, 236
private, and 1,397 local and personal Acts.

LAMARTINE'S NEW 'WORK.

I?APHAEL ; or Pages of the Book of Life at
Twenty. 13y Alphonse de Lamartine.
Larnartine's "Raphael" will henceforth be num-
bered amongst those little volumes which are our
most precious favourites : it will be treasured up on
the same shelf with Goethe's " Werther," with
Chateaubriand's " Atala," with St. Pierre's " Paul
and Virginia," with Beckford's " Vathek," with
Dickens's " Christmas Carol," with Defoe's "Robin-
son Crusoe," with Cottin's " Elizabeth," with Gold-
smith's " Vicar of Wakefield," with Johnson's " Ras-
selas," with: -Voltaire's " Zadig," with Rousseau's
"s .Novelle Heloise." It is—to borrow its own exqui-
site phraseology (p. le2)--" a hymn of the martyr-
dom .of love." Although the narrative is penned
under the fictitious name of another character, it is
impossible not to see at once that its eloquence is not
more the emanation from the intellect of the poet of
" Jocelyn," and of the historian of the " Girondins,"
then its passion, its sentiment, its sadness, its en-
thusiasm, and its unblaspheming idolatry of the
dead are the revelations of that first love which
crossed the path of his youth like a voluptuous
shadow, and evoked his genius from the abysses of
an eternal melancholy. The whole story has about
it the impress of actuality, and the vivid
colouring of recollection. It constitutes the final and
complete record of that affection which has been
hinted at by Timon, that affection which possessed the
heart of the young De Prat when he was wandering
among the landscapes of Italy, and which he conse-
crated to immortality with the first intonations of his
lyre. The Julie of Raphael is identical with the
Elvira of Lamartine; and those names will for ever
be linked together like the names of Beatrice and
Dante, of Laura and Petrarch, of Mary and Burns, of
Sacharissa and Waller, of Eleanore and Tasso, of
Madame de Warens and Rousseau, of Heloise and
Abelard. They will be mingled together in the re-
membrance of the world as inextricably as light with
the diamond, or as perfume with those blossoms which
are (p. 102) " as the letters of the fragrant alphabet of
nature," of that Nature which is (p. 57) "the high
priest, the noblest decorator, the holiest poet, ar.d
most inspired musician of God I" And the love of
Genius and Beauty, of Julie and Raphael, or, as we
would' call them more truthfully, of Elvira and
Lamartine, will for ever float like a beam of glory
over the rocks of Chatillon, and the ruins of
Haute Combe, and the avenues of Aix, and the
lake of Savoy—like the' fame of Theocritus
over Sicily, of Heloise over Paraclet, of Rousseau
over Chambery, of Petrarch over Vaucluse, of Reno
over Brittany, and of Tasso over Sorrento. Even if
the golden sentences which are Comprised in this
volume did not ring like the coinage of reality, rather
than like that of imagination, there are incidental
passages which disclose the features of the author
under the disguise of his creation. As when, speak.
ing in the person of Raphael!, he says (p. 123), "the
music of Julie's heart was in mine, but I could never
`give it forth to the world ; and the verses she was one
day to inspire were destined to sound only on her
grave. She never knew before she died who she had
loved. In her eyes I was her brother, and it would
have matter' d little to her that I had been a poet to the
rest of the world." There is in this the inarticulate
murmur of a regret that the poet has perhaps never
yet acknowledged to himself—a regret that Elvira had
not lived to witness the renown of that unknown
stripling who was after her demise to be beloved as a
bard, obeyed as an orator, admired as an historian,
and respected as a statesman. "She never knew before
she died who she had loved!" With the same secret re-
pining he exclaims elsewhere in the voice of Raphael
(p. 200), " then I had vague dreams of shining exploits,
ofa stirring destiny, which Julie would watch from afar,
and rejoice to see me struggling with men, rising in
strength, in greatness and in pourer; I thought she
might one day glory secretly in having appreciated me
before the crowd, and in having loved me before pos-
terity." Again, under the same pseudonym he writes
of his self-education thus (p. 206)—" I was also a
passionate admirer of orators. I studied them with
the presentiment of a man who would one day have to
speak to the deaf multitude and who would strike the
chords of human auditories." In the obscure and pre-
maturely closed existence of Raphael there is nothing
whatever to justify such reflections ; and the whole
portraiture possesses anomalies and incongruities
only to be reconciled by regarding Raphael as a
picturesque masquerade assumed for the moment by
Lamartine. The book is, therefore, we are satisfied,
only an extension of those earlier verses addressed by
the poet to the manes of his adored Elvira, those
verses which he himself has designated Jp. 126)
" the feeble strophes of the perpetual hymn of his
heart." In reverting thus to. the recollections
of his youthful tenderness and calamity he
has found reason to cry out in a paroxysm
of anguish (p. 221). " 0 ! Memory, art
thou a gift from Heaven ! or pain of Hell !" A bitter
thought which has frequently recurred to us all ; and
returned without an answer. A thought, the bitter-
ness of which is only enhanced to those who remember
with earnest devotion, for to them (p. 145) " there is
neither to-day nor yesterday in the powerful echoes
of memory; there is only always."—" Raphael" is a
prolonged hymn of adoration to the shade of the de-
parted Elvira : it is a burning ode of Love the sen-
-1 tences of which are lambent like flames of fire. In
producing this song of passion Lamartine has strung
his lyre with his heart-strings. He has opened to
our gaze not only the gorgeous coffers of his intellect,
but the innermost recesses of his susceptibility. He
has torn some leaves, bedewed with his tears, from
the Book of his Life : and the price of that offering is,
to us, the more wholly inestimable from the remem-
brance of those touching lines in his " Harmonies :"
" Le livre de la vie est le livre suptame
Qu'on ne peut ni fermer ni rouvrir A son choix ;
Le passage attachant ne s'y lit pas deux fois,
Mais le teuillet fatal se tourne de lui-mane:
On voudrait revenir I la page on l'on aime,
Et le page ou l'on meurt est diet sous cos doigts!"
We know no volume which is more purely a Love
Story than " Raphael." Its vitality is the Master
Passion. It breathes throughout a strain of tender-
ness indescribably bewitching; and over the whole is
diffused a sadness that elevates the incidents into an
atmosphere of celestial pathos. The plot—if the book
may be said to contain any such mechanism as is im-
plied in the word—has the characteristic of perfect
simplicity and infinite naturalness. Several passages
are conceived in a tone so rapturous and impassioned
as to tremble upon the verge of the voluptuous ; and
yet these casual episodes of ecstacy do not mar in
the faintest degree the chaste and serene dignity of
the fiction. Conspicuous among all those outbursts
of' enthusiasm are the descriptions of the declaration
of Julie's love for Raphael—of the interview between
them, when at midnight Julie half opens the door of
her chamber—and of the time when the lovers are
about to destroy themselves by a double suicide in a
trance of sublime happiness. Sometimes they gaze
into each other's eyes until their affection becomes,
as it were (p. 59), " an immutable thought in the
eternity of an instant." Sometimes, from their
yearning for an everlasting union in heaven, they are
Lain to regard Death without emotions of terror, and to
look upon it as little else than (p. 28) " a voluptuous
vanishing into space' Raphael has loved before he
meets with Julie, but his boyish passion for Antonina
has been only (p. 39) " a childish ecstacy, a flower
fallen from the stem before its hour of perfume."
After a career of vagrant extravagance and licenti-
ousness the love of Julie descends upon him like a
purification ; he learns the twofold efficacy of prayer
and adoration (p. 118), " the one full of rapture, the
other of tears—both divine!" He beholds in her
etherial features the perfection of earthly beauty, and
can exclaim when depicting her loveliness (p. 54)
" The human face speaks a language to the eye, and
in youth the countenance is an instrument of which
one look of passion sweeps the keys." He shudders
lest (p. 105) their " looks and hearts should evapo-
rate amid the splendour of external nature." And in
the fervour of his almost preternatural and seraphic
joy he ejaculates (p. 107), " 0 Love ! the base may
fear thee, and the wicked proscribe thee ! Thou art
the high priest of this world, the revealer of Im-
mortality, the fire of the Altar 1 and without
thy ray, man would not even dimly compre-
hend Eternity !" Enlarging upon the charms
of his companion-heart, he cries out in a sudden inspi-
ration of eloquence (p. 122), " She was Poetry with-
out a lyre—true as the heart, simple as the untutored
thought, dreamy as night, brilliant as day, swift as
lightning, boundless as space ! No rules of harmony
could have bounded the infinite music of her mind ;
her very voice was a perpetual melody, that no cadence
of verse could have equalled. Had I lived long with
her I should never have read or written poetry. She
was the living poetry of nature and of myself; my
thoughts were in her heart, my imagery in her eyes,
and my harmony in her voice." Of the purifying
influence of the mutual devotion of Julie and Raphael
Lamartine says, in the person of the latter (p. 233),
" The innocent nudity of our souls was chaste, though
unveiled, as light that discovers all, yet sullies no-
thing," They realise that epitome of human exist-
ence which Bulwer Lytton has expressed in a line so
felicitously epigrammatic—" They love: they suffer,
and they feel a God." Their love, their sufferings,
and their common recognition of the Unseen
Divinity, we leave to the hallowed recol-
lections of the poet. Their subtlety pro-
tects them effectually from the profanation of
criticism. As a literary composition, " Raphael"
will rank high even among the noble productions of
its illustrious writer. It is, in the most literal accep-
tation of the word, a poem in prose; and that none
but a true poet could have penned such delineations
of nature as are scattered in profusion through the
narrative may be rendered apparent by the quotation
of one isolated, but daintily beautiful sentence (p.
267) :—" There was no other sound than that of the
fall of 'me dry leaves of the preceding winter?

which, as the _sap rase and throbbed, fell at. the foot of
the tree, to make room for the new and tender foliage."
Other incidental " touches" of the pen will remind
the reader of the " History of the Girondins," of
the jewels of thought which are there set in the silver
broidery of language. It is thus when Lamartine
calls Macchiavel (p. 204) " the sublime practitioner
of the diseases of empires ;" when he terms Plato
(ibzd.) " the word of antiquity made man ;" when
he designates Thucydides (p. 205) " the Demosthenes
of history ;" and says of Tacitus ( ibid.) that he was
" a compendium of mankind." Of the latter immor-
tal author he declares (p. 206)—" I owe to his writ-
ings more than the fibres of the flesh, I owe all the
metallic fibres of my being." Alluding to the great
Lord Chatham, he asserts in a congenial mood of
homage (ibid.) that " his inspired and lyrical elo-
quence seems more like a cry than like a voice."
And Cicero he typifies (p 204) as " a stratum of
divine philosophy and serenity, through which all
waters seem to be filtrated and clarified, and through
which his great mind flows in torrents of eloquence,
wisdom, piety, and harmony." In one magnificent
paragraph he lays the colossus of Infidelity in the
dust, where he speaks of a disciple of Voltaire's
bold but barren philosophy thus (p. 225)—" Nothing
existed for him that was not palpable ; what could
not be calculated contained no element of certitude in
his eyes; matter and figures composed his universe;
numbers were his god ; the phenomena of
nature where his revelations; Nature herself
his bible and his gospel ; his virtue was
instinct—not seeing that numbers, phenomena, na-
ture, and virtue, are but hieroglyphs inscribed on the
veil of the temple, whose unanimous meaning is—
Deity." In this noble sentence the poet of Christen-
dom has repeated with greater emphasis that adoring
reverie which he had already recounted in his har-
monious and meditative verses:—

" La Nature a deux chants, de bonheur, de tristesse,
Qu'elle rend tour l tour ainsi que noire ccear;
De I'une I l'autre note elle passe sans cease :
Homme 1 l'une est ta joie, et l'autre ta douleur!
L'une sort du matin et chante avec l'aurore,
L'autre gemit le soir un triste et long adieu;
Au premier, au second, le ciel *mid: Adore 1
Et de l'hymne eternel le mot unique est Dieu!"

Upon lowlier themes the writer discourses in equally
oratoric and epigrammatic tones; as, for example, where
he observes of Madame de Warens and her renowned
worshipper (p. 150), " The amours of this woman
and Rousseau appear like a leaf torn from the loves of
Daphnis and Chloe, and found soiled and defiled on
the bed of a courtezan." It is not, however, for
these brilliant sayings alone that " Raphael" is re-
markable ; it is especially remarkable and inestimably
precious as the revelations of the first love of the
obscure youth of a great poet, given to the world by
the ripened manhood of a great statesman. It is as
the voice of a buried affection sounding over the dis-
tance of more than thirty years, and rising in plain-
tive accents above the turmoils of a recent revolu-
tion. As such this volume must ever be regarded as a
phenomenon of constancy, of genius, and of abstraction.
It is the transfiguration of Elvira by the glory of
Lamartine.

THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS, 1847.48. By
D. Morier Evans.
Mr. Evans has indeed presented us with a clear,
succinct, and faithful narrative of the strange events
that occurred during a period of great prosperity and
extraordinary depression, of commercial activity, and
complete paralysis, of bold and daring speculation,
and of wild panic, and a total prostration of credit.
These events have already formed the subjects of in-
vestigation by Committees of both Houses of Parlia-
ment, and experienced and trustworthy witnesses
have traced the causes that led to the monetary ex-
citement of 1847 and 1848, to the overthrow of many
mercantile houses previously of the highest cha-
racter and credit, and to much suffering and distress
of the industrious classes. Mr. Evans relates the
circumstances plainly and distinctly. He furnishes
" a plain unvarnished tale." His great object is to
be accurate in every particular, however minute ;
" studiously avoiding attempts at dissertation, and
strictly eschewing theories, he has endeavoured to
confine himself to a description of Facts and
Figures,' which while they may prove serviceable to
most parties connected with mercantile pursuits,
can be looked upon as offensive by few."
Such were the views by which the au-
thor was actuated, and he has fully carried them
into effect. He has not exaggerated or distorted the
real circumstances of the case, for the purpose of pro-
moting any cause, or furnishing arguments to support
any particular question. He gives the real state of
facts : the reader may draw his own conclusions.
Mr. Evans, however, is not a mere unimpassioned
recorder of events ; he has examined them in a keen
and philosophical spirit,' and contrasted them with the
parallel transactions of former periods of excitement.
His arrangement is admirable, bringing forward the
various occurrences in regular and harmonious
order, so as to exhibit their connexion with each
other, and' to show how the latter naturally resulted
from the preceding events. The work is divided
into three epochs, "The Railway Mania and its
Effects," "The Food and Money Panic," and "The
French Revolution." The railway mania has, indeed,
existed during the entire period, although its form
has been materially changed from an implicit con-
fidence, that would seize on the most absurd and
ridiculous scheme, to an unreasoning timidity, that
induced shareholders to sacrifice their property
for half its real value. In the first in-
stance, an unfounded rumour, a vague surmise
sufficed to further enhance the prices of scrip in
every project, while, subsequently, a whispered in-
sinuation—" the shrug, or hum or ha, those petty
brands that calumny doth use"—would induce trem-
bling shareholders to cast stock of the best established
dividend-paying lines into the market, to be sold—
we should rather say sacrificed—for whatever it
might bring. The narrative commences at November,
1844, when "the bullion in the Bank was 14,300,0001.,
the notes in circulation 21,000,0001., the rate of inte-
rest in Threadneedle-street 21 per cent., Consols
above par, and Exchequer-bills (at lid. per diem)
60 premium." It was a period well suited for wild
and rash speculation. Money was cheap and abun-
dant, and profitable channels for its employment
were eagerly sought for. An extraordinary activity
was apparent in the share market, and new projects
were every day brought before a confiding public. In
the beginning of 1845 the Bank of England intro-
duced a change of practice with respect to its dis•
counts. It had previously charged one uniform rate
on paper of every description. Any that would be
accepted was cashed at the same price. Then, how-
ever, a minimum rate was announced, which might
be varied according to the character presented. The
stock of bullion was steadily increasing and " rail-
way securities" were looking up; in fact, it was the
fashionable investment of the day ; and legitimate
and speculative operations were carried on to an ex-
tent that could scarcely be credited. Mr. Evans thus
describes the progress of the excitement
" Between the months of May and June the increase
of speculation was fearful. The papers teemed with ad-
vertisements, unrestricted to the limits of ordinary
announcements—columns scarcely sufficed to give the
world a knowledge of each scheme ; lists of Provisional
Committeemen, which in the beginning of the year had
seldom exceeded a dozen or twenty names, now extended
their length to twenty times that number. Earls and
Marquises struggled with London capitalists and rustic
landowners, to add attractiveness by the sanction of their
names. The needy barrister professed affection for a
seat at the councils of the boards, which seemed likely
to bring more profit than law, and was as importunate
as most persons to be ensured that position. Number-
less M.P.'s, with a few aldermen, made a traffic
on their presumed responsibility ; the plurality church-
man and the ill-provisioned curate also were not behind
in the general scramble, and the lifesome sketch of the
country being engaged in one universal game of hazard,
was without exaggeration realised. Never before were
such times or such prospects.' The fortunes made in
some few cases maddened their gainers. Their success
soon spread, rich and poor were alike susceptible, and
the ' great chance' was not neglected. It was a golden
moment for the Alley man—the jackal of the Stock
Exchange—his perceptive faculties were sharpened, and
he pushed his vocation assiduously."
The truth of the above sketch will be recognised
by every person at all conversant with the events of
the year '4s—of railway notoriety. We would
gladly follow Mr. Evans through his able narrative,
accompanying him throughout the " rise and pro-
gress" of the delusion, and ultimately to the decline
and fall of the speculators, if space permitted. We
would also notice his graphic descriptions of the
" strange eventful history" of " the food and money
panic," until there was a total cessation of confidence,
and credit would scarcely be afforded to houses of the
most unquestionable solvency, and until the virtual
suspension of the Bank Charter Act by the well-
known letter of the 25th October, 1847. We
would with him examine the results of
the expulsion of the House of Orleans
and the subsequent democratic movement on the
Continent, but we must refrain. We trust that our
readers will not be contented with the brief sketch
which we have given of this able compilation, but
that they will judge for themselves of its claims. We
can assure them that they will not be disappointed,
but that they will derive much benefit from the
perusal. It will be found a work of real practical
utility to all classes, more especially to those engaged
in mercantile pursuits. The tables showing the
prices of Government and other securities in every
successive month, the Bank of England
of
ful while those
r
and the prices of the leading articles
1845 to 1848, will be peculiarly use
who desire to see authentic copies of the
balance-sheets
p returns,
produce from
from
statements of
trustworthy sources.
of the suspended firms, will find the
the leading houses selected rom
will
be rewarded
We have no doubt that the
so work
ly merits,
le success it eminent

SPIRIT of' the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
_____Fllo3l TUE thonNiNg PAPERS OF TIM DAY.

TIMES.—Our notice Of the important sii-lei;eq of
East Indian Railways has been confined of late to the
occasional communications contained in our City corre-
spondence, or to such brief notices as that which
appeared in our Parliamentary intelligence yesteidey.
To say the truth, we were anxiously waiting tiii the
common and obvious interests of all parties concerned
should have suggested some final and promising er-
rangement, for there never yet was a question started on
the leading points of which such perfect unanimity was
known to prevail. 411 considerations of duty, interest,
econpmy, and security concur in recommending the im-
mediate introduction of railways into India; all calcula
tiens show that the enterprise would be attended with
profit to the proprietors, and inestimable advantages to
the Government, and these circumstances have produced
their natural results in the formation of a company will-
ing to undertake the project upon the ordinary rues
of remuneration. We need not recapitulate the now-
familiar argutut nts by which the necessary proles!, iti us
are proved. Up to this stage of the transaction
there is not, nor indeed can there be, any d.tference
of opinion. The whole case now turns upon the con-
ditions requisite to secure each psi ty in its fair pro.
portion of the expected gains. Our readers are aware
that the shareholders of the company, whilst pro
fessing their full belief in the essentially remuneraiive
character of the undertaking, have yet demanded of the
Court of Directors a guarantee of a fixed and certain re-
turn upon the money embarked, and the question which
is here instinctively suggested refers to the inconsistency
of sentiment thus apparently evinced. If the scheme is
profitable, why require a guarantee ? Why should the
Court of Directors be compelled to give security for a
certain return which the applicants themselves expect to
be forthcoming from some other quarter ? Either the
undertaking will, according to the ordinary calculations
of probability, yield a profit or it will not; if it will, the
guarantee is superfluous, if not it may be ruinous. To
exact such security is nothing less than to apportion
all the profits of the scheme to one party, and all the
loss to another ; to leave one all the risk,
and another all the gain. Such is the view
of the matter which might, perhaps, at the first
glance be entertained. The case, however, between
the parties, •has been very fairly stated, and
when impartially examined will be found to
assume a totally different aspect. It is not on account
of the distance of the locality, or the experimental cha-
racter of the project, or the insecure tenure of the pro-
perty, or any such extraordinary contingencies, that the
shareholders demand what is doubtless an extraordinary
concession. They base their requisitions on the far
more intelligible grounds of clear and palpable recipro-
city. They ask unusual indulgence in consideration of
unusual conditions imposed. If the Court of Directors
will grant the land between Calcutta and Delhi on such
terms as accompanied the purchase of the land between
London and Bristol, the East Indian Railway Company
would be as well content as the Great Western was to
commence their works without a guarantee. But the
case is widely different. When the Great Western
Company had obtained their Bill they became an indee
pendent association, free to construct their line after their
own fancies, to open it at their own pleasure, and to work
it, in all respects, at their own discretion. After the
experience of the last few years we need not say that the
interests of a railway company are tolerably certain to
be now and then opposed to the interests of other parties.
In such cases English railways consult their own con-
venience, real or presumed. They increase or diminish
the number and speed of their trains, augment or reduce
their staff of servants, raise or lower their fares, encourage
branch lines or check them, and actvirtually without any
other rule than that suggested by their own interests as
conceived by themselves. They take the management
and the risk of the speculation, and are content to abide
the chance of the result. But see how these circum-
stances are altered in the case before us. For reasons of
state policy, sound beyond all doubt in themselves, the
Court of Directors desire to control the company largely,
if not absolutely, on every one of these points. They
claim a voice in the selection of the line, or of that
portion of it which shall be first commenced;
they dictate conditions of construction; interfere with
the rates of fares and tolls; and reserve a general
right of supervision and direction in the whole con-
duct of the traffic. That such powers are wisely
reserved, under the peculiar conditions of our Indian
empire, may be true enough; but the privileges should
be paid for, and the mode suggested by the shareholders
for balancing the account seems peculiarly adapted to the
nature of the case. They say that the requirements of
the Court altogether preclude the possibility of forming
such an estimate of the project as would suffice in ordi-
nary instances to attract the necessary capital. As the
company is not to select its own line, or to have the ab-
solute direction of its own works, it is impossible to cal-
culate the outlay; as it is not to enjoy the regula-
tion of its own traffic, or the arrangement of its own
fares, it is impossible to -calculate the returns; and
in the absence of these two indispensable data it
necessarily follows that all speculations upon the
investment must be unfounded and conjectural.
They require therefore that a minimum dividend shall
be guaranteed them by those controlling authorities
through whose interference alone such a supplementary
payment can ever be necessary. Left to the ordinary
management of private enterprises, the line would pay ;
if this management is to be influenced for the advantage
of other parties, and a deficiency results, it is fitting that
those who enjoy the benefit should bear the loss. The
most direct method of proceeding would be for the In •
dian Government to take the work into its own hands,

for which purpose the money could only be raised by a
five per cent. loan. To this scheme, however, there
are the obvious objections inseparable from all
public works, and which are so well illus-
trated in our national dockyards. The cost of the
undertaking would infallibly be far greater, and the
execution far worse. It is, therefore, clearly advisable to
enlist the activity and resources of private enterprise in
the prosecution of the task, and nothing can be plainer
than that if the Indian Government can secure all the
benefits of this plan together with all the advantages of
the other, at an outlay no greater than this latter would
of itself demand, it must needs be concluding a profitable
bargain. These are the terms on which the shareholders
have tendered their agency. In return for a guarantee
not exceeding the interest payable upon the loan which
would be required by the Government, they
undertake to execute the task with all that
economy, judgment, and expedition which render
private speculations so conspicuously superior to
public works, and yet at the same time to leave the
Government in possession of all those powers of control
and interference which could only have been so dearly
purchased by a system of direct contracts and manage-
ment. With such terms the Court of Directors is, un-
happily, discontented. It is apparently desirous of se-
curing all the profit at none of the cost. It demands all
the control, and yet repudiates the risk which the cir-
cumstance of that control so necessarily enhances. In
the meantime, however, and while this unbecoming dis-
pute is pendieg, the highest interests of the empire are
suffered to languish, and an undertaking fraught with
incalculable benefits to India and to Britain is deferred
in the hopes that protracted haggling may drive an un-
fortunate company to premature dissolution or au uure-
, munerative bargain.