The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-21 00:00:00

OPENING OF THE LANDEN AND

HASSELT RAILWAY.

The opening of this line took place on Tuesday last,
and was celebrated at Hasselt with great festivities.
At a quarter-past one a special train left Brussels,con-
veying the Minister of Public Works, and the Secretary
General of his department, Mr. Kennard, the president,
and Messrs. Brnneau, Bullot, Barry, and Tercelin-
Sigart, directors of the Concessionary Company, toge-
ther with a numerous party of guests, both Belgian and
English, amongst whom were many ladies.
On their arrival at the Hasselt station, at half-past
four, they were received in a magnificent pavilion by M.
de Thence, the Minister of the interior, who was sup-
ported by M. de Schierval, the governor of the province,
General Delahaye and D. lacoste, and the other au-
thorities, both civil and military.

As soon as M. de Baray, the Minister of Public Works,
had taken his place in the pavilion, he was addressed.
on the part of the company, by M. Bruneau, who touched
briefly but energetically on the present advantages
that would result from the new line, and on the still
greater importance it would assume on its junction with
the line from Maestricht to Aix la-Chapelle (now in
course of execution), whereby a communication would

be established between the Scheldt and the Lower
Rhine, and the Hasselt Railway would become the first
international line between Holland and Belgium. M.
Bruneau having also acknowledged the zealous co-ope-
ration of the Government and of the engineers of the
Ponts et Chausse s.

M. de Bavay intimated, in reply, that the Government
would always he ready to aid in any work of public utility,
and expatiated, in his turn, on the benefits which the new
line would confer on the province of Limbourg and its
chief town, by the connexion of the latter with the
reseau of the State railways. He looked upon it as a
noble result of the intervention of foreign capital, di-
rected by skilful and earnest men, and he complimented
the company on the vigour and promptitude with which
they had prosecuted their works, during a season of
great financial difficulty.
Both these speeches were received with loud and long-
continued shouts of " Viva le Rot!"

Two Royal decrees were afterwards read by the Se-
cretary General of the Minister of Public Works—the
one creating Mr. Kennard a Knight of the Order of
Leopold, and the other promoting to the third rank in
the corps of the "Pants et Chauses" M. Grosfils, the
resident engineer of the company.
A procession was then formed, and the whole party
left the station, headed by the colossal figure of Don
Christopher, the effigy of a knight armed cap a pie,
and with lance in hand, the history of which is
involved in some obscurity, but which is said to
represent a noble Spaniard, who, in the thirteenth
or fourteenth century, saved Hasselt from famine.
At six o'clock a superb banquet of 200 covers was
served at the Hotel de Ville, in a saloon very richly and
tastefully decorated. The seat of honour was occupied
by Mr. Kennard, the president of the company, who had
on his right hand the Minister of Public Works, and on
his left the Minister of the interior, the Archbishop of
Liege, Messrs. Bruneau, Bullot, Barry, and Tercelin-
Sigart, the Generals commanding the province and bri-
gade, M. Bareel, &c. Amongst the guests we observed
M. de Coyet, Grand Marshal of the Court of Sweden,
and who is an extensive proprietor in Limbourg.
At the dessert Mr. KENNARD rose to propose the first
toast, " The King," and spoke as follows:—In rising to
propose our first toast, I feel assured that no preface is re-
quired on my part to excite your loyalty to that excel-
lent monarch under whose paternal and fostering
reign so many blessings have been conferred on this
rapidly improving country. When the wisdom of
your senators accepted a Saxon prince for their future
ruler, they rightly judged that he who had naturalised
himself in a foreign land, and had acquired the love and
respect of his adopted countrymen, had given con-
vincing proof of the possession of high qualities both of
heart and mind. It was no easy task or slight responsi-
bility that was involved in the acceptance of the sove-
reignty of Belgium—a country just emerging from a
successful revolution, and still agitated and convulsed by
the struggle it had gone through. How triumphantly,
through the prudence of his measures, and the sagacity of
the councillors whom he summoned to his aid, that task
has been achieved, it is not for me to dilate upon ; but,
after the ceremonies of to-day, I am naturally reminded
of one—perhaps the crowning benefit—conferred by him
on this country : I mean the construction of the rEseau
of the railways of Belgium ; nod I cannot but look upon
it as a conclusive manifestation both of his wisdom
and his policy that almost the first great national act of
the enfranchised state should be one which, while it re-
flected imperishable honour on his own name, secured
at the same time the permanent well-being of his sub-
jects, by developing all the resources of the country, by
bringing together its agricultural and mineral districts,
and, beyond this, by its furtherance of that great
system of international communication which I
believe to be destined, more than any other
human agency, to work out the civilisation of the
world. This was an act, gentlemen, which requires no
eloquence on my part to bring home to every one oadfeydoul,
and to which, on the present occasion,
need only thus briefly advert, to ensulream
Iyhoauve now the
perrseuntering
with me, heart and soul, int,/ the
.toats
hteiresence of the
taken a part
honour to propose—a toast which,
have slenkindiy
distin;uished Ministers who
life of his Majesty
in our. festivities,
~Tothe Ih e have3l and the greater
ong
posing,• If
Leopold, King of the Belgians
In his delivery of this speech, Mr. Kennard was in-
terrupted continually by loud acclamations, which were
ork sthe
repeated at the close with the greatest possible en-
thusiasm.
havingT duly repliiied in
the Queen of Great B • • " la.
the name of the King, proposed in return " The health
and they
of
ehrr.e MK Majestyjenni sntaerr Kennard acknowledged Public
W
also greeted with prolonged cheers.
wthelen*;gwa:
"The King of the French, the Proprietors •f
France;" which was replied
to by M. Bullot on the) part
of his countrymen present.
M. de Bavay afterwards
proposed " The Health cof the
President of the Company;" •
which was followed by a
toast from M. Bruneau
' To the Prosperity of thaa City
of Hasselt."
Mr. Barry then expressed the gratitude whicih the
company felt to the Minister of Public Works, w•Do had
granted the concession, and aided and encourag ed the
works; and he was persuaded, that, from the um liner is
which the Government fulfilled its engagement e with
private companies, foreign capitalists would neve
isr
ths
hesi-
tate to engage in Belgium iu such enterprises
present,
the dives' ion of
At ten o'clock a splendid ball, under
.n
the spaci, Ins SR.
11. Kerers, of Brussels, was given
kt in
till a late hour
loon of the Casino, and was i?
the
following mornireg two
and at seven and ten o'cloc
back to B.nassels
• left Hassell, eonve)
special trains
,ho will, no douht, long preilerve
the numerous guests, si
the recollection of
the interesting ceremony they
wit-
nessed, and of the
hospitality which they received
from the population of Hasseit and the concessionary
company.

A general feeling of sympathy has 1-
amongst all ranks of people for the
Mr. Calcraft, the lessee of the
has been plunged, throutrl' '
the drama in the Iris'
officers of the
of Sir Ed
and of '
has 1.
on ,

Calei
John

Colone
Captain
Smith,
praisewor
stand that
to play on t.