The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-21 00:00:00

BRITISH IRON COMPANY.

The following Circular, addressed to each Proprietor,
has been sent to us for insertion ; and though we profess
to know little of the actual condition of this unfortunate
Company, and the statements come only from one side,
yet looking at the vast property which has been sunk in
the concern, we think it . chary to publish it. Most of
the financial statements lirwilitim* omitted, but enough it;
given-to show that the a .of the% Company require
the serious consideration of thl Proprietors:—
Castle-court, Budge-row, London,
- August 19, 1841.
Sir,The Directors of the British Iron Company, in
their Circular convening a Special General Meeting of
the Proprietors, to be held on the 26th August, for the
purpose of taking into consideration and deciding upon a
Resolution " That the 13ritish. Iron Company he dis-
solved," have stepped out of their way in the concluding
paragraph, in order that they might be offensive to the
Requisitionists, for the dissolution of the Company, and
mislead the Shareholders.

The Trustees of the United Shareholders will on the
present occasion content themselves with simply stating
that it was not a great majority who appointed the par-
tisan Committee now sitting, but a miserable minority,
consisting of twenty-eight out of a meeting of two hun-
dred.

Mr. Horsley Palmer has repeatedly stated that he was
a most unfit person to be a Director of the British Iron
Company ; and the manner in which the Directors of
this Company upon all occasions act, proves that his col-
leagues are equally unfit with himself. In all Com-
panies, where the Directors Understand their duties, it is
an invariable rule that whenever they convene a special
general meeting, in consequence of receiving a requisi-
don, that, without making any remark, they send to
each Proprietor an exact copy of the requisition, with
the signatures thereto, and insert the clause in the deed
of settlement which eiupowers them to call the meeting ;
they do not garble the requisition ;—they do not insert
in their circular, statements which are offensive and un-
founded ;—they do not, when the signatures are few,
insert the names of the requisitionists, with the number
of shares held by each ;—neither do they, when the sig-
natures are numerous, respectable, and influential (as is
the case with this requisition), totally suppress the names
and numbers ! !

The Directors gain nothing by this conduct, because it,
compels the united Shareholders to correct their mis-
statements, and to expose their motives.
Taking the result of the " past management of the Di-
rectors as the best guile for the
.future," it will be evident
to every Shareholder who will give the matter his atten-
tive consideration, that unless " The British Iron Com-
pany be dissolved," in the course of a few years inevit-
able ruin will fall upon the Company, and the private
property of every Shareholder will be in jeopardy, by the
liabilities and-debts entailed upon them by tha present
system of management. This picture of impending ruin
is neither suggested by the prejudices of the United
Shareholders, nor caused by their distrust and want of
confidence in the Directors, but is the result of a very
careful investigation of the voluminous Reports issued
by the Directors in May, 1841 ; and which Reports you
will find, if you will take the trouble to examine them,
prove, that under the management of Mr. Larpent and
Mr. Horsley Palmer, and the other Directors, the total
loss sustained by the British Iron Company in fifteen
years, amounts to 954,250/., and the simple. interest on
the paid-up capital, 753,077 L, making in the whole the
sum of ONE MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND
SEVEN THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND
TWENTY-SEVEN POUNDS-which has been lost I !
From the statements made by the Directors concern-
ingthe valturittid -cii.pabill*ti of The several mines, es-
tates, and properties of the Company, the Trustees of the
United Shareholders have no hesitation in declaring,
that they ought to have been extremely productive ; and
they are reluctantly driven to attribute the enormous
loss of the Company's funds to the gross mismanagement
and total incompetency of the Directors, which fact,
if anything beyond their own Report is required, can be
substantiated, by reference to the opposite results which
have arisen from a different system of management, dur-
ing the same period of time, to the Baileys, the Craw-
shays, the Guests, and the other great iron-masters
throughout England, all of whom have made princely
fortunes, whilst the Directors of the British Iron Corn- ,
pally have, lost, including interests on capital, nearly two
millions ! !

• The Trustees of the United Shareholders having taken
every possible means to make themselves fully ac-
quainted with the present position and future prospects
of the Company, are fully convinced that the only safe
and judicious course left for the Proprietors, is to at-
tend the special general meeting, to be held on the 26th
of August, at the London Tavern, and to support the
resolution, " That the British Iron Company be dis-
solved," by which. they will put an end to their losses
—pay their debts—and divide THIRTY-ONE POUNDS
PER SHARE—if the valuation contained in the Direc-
tors' Report prove true.
It is, however, a duty that every Proprietor owes to
himself and his co-partners, prior to this meeting, to
peruse with the utmost attention the Reports of May,
1841, whereby he will become acquainted with the ex-
tent of the ruin produced by the past management of the
Directors, as admitted in their own Report, and which
it is more than probable, shows not all, nor tells tho
worst.

In order that the United Shareholders may be prepared
to act upon a plan well digested, and well organised, on
the 26th of August, so that they may be enabled to carry
into effect the great object they have at heart for the be-
nefit of the Proprietors, a preliminary meeting of the
Shareholders will be held at twelve o'clock, on Wednes-
day, the 25th of August, at the London Tavern, to decide
upon the best and most proper course to be adopted, at
which meeting your attendance is earnestly requested.
JAMES BAILEY, Hon. Sec.