The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-26 00:00:00

WATERFORD AND KILKENN Y ling and Midland, 21. 10s. 6d.—Strathern Junction, 3/. 15s.
RAILWAY COMPANY. —Wishaw and Coltness, 481. 10s.
GLASGOW, NOVEMBER 24.
The half yearly general meeting of the proprietors of
STOCK EXCIIANGE.—The sales are—Ayr and Galloway,
the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway was held yesterday 28s. 6d.—Caledonian, New, 453.—Caledonian and Dumbar-
afternoon, at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate• street; tonsliire, 38s.—Direct Bombay and Madras, 7s.—Dun-
the lion. P. S. Butler, M.P., in the chair. dee and Arbroath, 39%—Dundee and Perth, New, 101.—
The report stated that the first contract, embracing a Edinburgh and Glasgow, Halves, 201. 18s.—Ditto, Quarters,
distance of 51 miles from Kilkenny to Bennett's-bridge, 18% —Glasgow General Terminus, 131.—Glasgow, Kilmar-
was nearly complete, and it was proposed to lay the nock, and Ayr, 683%—Ditto, Halves, 71. 19s.—Glasgow,
rails on that portion within a few weeks. Another con- Dumfries, and Carlisle, 53s.—Glasgow,_ Kilmarnock, and
tract, including a heavy viaduct, had been let, and it was A,rsc.l ro san , 32s.—Glasgow, a
Southernas Airdrie,o fi‘aadnrdasMirisk.la4l._tocntronn,
anticipated the works would be so much advanced in March 41
Bristol and South Wales, 235. 3d.—Madras, Nellore, and
nest as to admit of the line being opened from Kilkenny to
Arcot, 3s.—Manchester and Southampton, 27s.—Midland,
Thomastown. The directors proposed to make the Halves, 6%—Scottish Central, 19/.—Stirlingshire and Mid-
meeting special, for the purpose .of taking powers to land Junction, 50s.—York and Newcastle, Preference, 7%.
borrow money. Negotiations had been going on with
the Government for a loan, but owing to the intricacy
of the machinery with which the Board of Works had
been trammelled, they had as yet proved unsuccessful.
Hopes were entertained, however, that Government
would shortly see the expediency of advancing money to
expedite the progress of lines in the position of the
Waterford and Kilkenny Railway ; and if those
hopes were realised, the whole of the line could
be proceeded with without any call being made
upon the shareholders till June, 1847, when it was pro-
posed to call up 31. per share. It could only be done,
however, by, the indulgence and assistance of the share-
holders ; and unless the arrears of calls were called up,
the line must stop at Thomastown, and even the open-
ing of the line to that extent would be much delayed.
Several shareholders complained of the complicated
manner in which the accounts were kept, and of the ex-
penditure being extravagant, and eventually, after a
lengthened discussion, the report was adopted, and a
committee appointed to inquire into the state of the ac-
counts, and to report upon the future prospects of the
company.
Power was then taken to borrow money from the Go
vernment, and the meeting terminated.

THE LANDED ARISTOCRACY.
(From the Times.)
The question has been frequently asked—and it calls
for an answer—what the country gentlemen are to do in
the next, and probably the next two or three sessions.
Whatever is meant by " the country gentlemen," they
certainly seem just now rather out of work. The natural
class so called—they who risk their necks in keeping up
with the hounds, and their fortunes in experimental
agriculture—have latterly been a little put out in
matters of government. A county magistrate is not the
thing that he was. As for the political body which still
rejoices in the designation of " the country party," it
has still less to do than the class which it professes to
represent. It is not yet a twelvemonth since Mr. W.
Miles boasted, of course with some degree of truth, that
" the country party" had a prevailing voice in the
Legislature. A brief review, however, of what has
been done in the Legislature during the last twenty years
gives great importance to the question, what is the
country party to do ? The country party has in its
day taken a very decided and vigorous course against
Roman Catholic emancipation—against a reform of the
House of Commons—against the emancipation of the ne-
gro—against municipal reform, and against ecclesiastical
reform—against liberal educational measures—against
concessions to the Dissenters—and, to pass over some
minor affairs, against the repeal of the corn-laws. Its
opposition has not been unprofitable, nor entirely un-
successful. Unquestionably we should have gone very
much farther, and fared very much worse, had it not
been for the Conservative drag. It has saved us from
not a few excesses and errors. It is evident, however,
on a very cursory view of the period, that on the whole
the battle has gone against the country party; and still
more evident, that nearly all, if not quite all, the ques-
tions to which the country party devoted its attention,
are now settled for an indefinite time. All the classes
and interests of the realm seem to have taken out new
leases from the State. After much bargaining and liti-
gation, the terms are now settled, and are not likely
soon to be disturbed. No suitor appears in court. We
were promised a revival of the question last mooted, viz.,
the corn-laws; but the unfortunate plaintiff finds his case
hopeless, for his grievance has vanished. If any subject
is disposed of—for the present, at least—it is agricul-
tural protection. What, then, is " the country party"
to do? The difficulty is aggravated by the fact that
the country gentlemen and the country party remain
in their original integrity and splendour. Nay, it admits
of a question whether the former, at least—whether the
landed aristocracy of England—are not more thoroughly
established, more influential, more admired and wor-
shipped, than they were twenty years since. At any
rate, the gloomy predictions as to the speedy desolation
of the circle in Hyde-park, which a brilliant writer in
the Quarterly pronounced on the passing of the Reform
Bill, have been the reverse of fulfilled. Go where you
will, into country or town, never were the aristocracy in
such feather as now. Never were their houses, their
equipages, their yachts, their amusements, their enter-
tainments,in such splendour. What is still more to the
purpose, never did they show so much energy and
talent. Many of them derive enormons revenues from
an almost direct partnership in gigantic mercantile,
manufacturing, or mining undertakings. Many are able
statesmen, or distinguished for eloquence, poetry, or
science. They are mutually connected in a great family
compact, not to use that term in an invidious sense, of
unexampled extent and power. They are connected also
by intermarriages with all the wealthy, able, and enter-
prising in the country. They are not only respectfully,
but cordially and eagerly invited to contribute
their names and their talents to almost every
kind of public institution or design. They are most of
them men of business, and able to prove at either desk or
council-table, platform or committee, that their capacity
is equal to their rank. What is more than all, or rather
the proof and token of all, is, that they seem to have
survived the more carping and malignant forms of envy.
If the merchants and manufacturers of this country have
a weakness, it is in aspiring too eagerly to the acquaint-
ance and standing of the aristocrcy ; not in any wish to
lower the class to which they are themselves too anxious
to rise. Such are some of the features which constitute
a description of natural ascendancy which the world
cannot equal. That such a body will do a great deal
is most certain, for such powers cannot lie in abeyance.
Hence the greater importance of the question, " What
will it do?" The dozen peaceful revolutions which have
given alternate terror and repose to the last twenty
years have been accomplished, happily, without damaging
the aristocracy. We will not now inquire how
this has been done. In France the ecclesiastical esta-
blishment and the aristocracy perished at a blow. The
nobles and the clergy were guillotined or banished. In
other countries the pride, the corruption, the ig-
norance, or the idleness of the privileged classes
cut them out of all share in the social progress, and
made them the victims, instead of the controllers, if not
the authors, of reform. In the British empire there has
long been that good understanding, that friendly inter-
mixture, that cordial co-operation of classes which has
prevented the most successful triumphs of the one from
being the unqualified defeat of the other. The baffled
have not met with either ruin, injustice, or insult. The
most exploded causes have had their locus penitentice, the
severest Parliamentary defeats have had their compensa-
tions. The unhappy victims of each successive revolu-
tion, instead of wandering over the earth as exiles, or
going over to the camp of the stranger, are found in a
few short months oblivious of their wrongs, in the un-
diminished enjoyment of all their private, and, perhaps,
even their public, dignities and prizes. Such at least is
the case at this moment. The tremendous reverse of
last session, which was to have been the end, if not of
the world, at least of the British aristocracy, has passed
over harmless. It swept the skies like the tail of a
comet, and collision, conflagration, or deluge, was most
confidently anticipated. The comet went by, and we
are where we were. It is true that another calamity has
intervened. But what is the lesson of that mysterious
visitor ? It tells us how much more powerful
Heaven -is than man ; and how much more a few ani-
malcule can effect than the most important legislative
systems or repeals, and the most powerful combinations
of man. While the minds of all are intent on the pro-
digy, our own quarrels are forgotten. What, then, are
the landed aristocracy to do ? The first of all their
offices, privileges, and powers remains almost unscathed
by the storm. They have now more call than ever to do
that which lies at their own doors, and which none can
do so well as they. The improvement of the labourer is
their first duty. An Augustan age begins, and if our
villages need not keep pace with the transfiguration of a
metropolis, they may at least pass from penury, disease,
dirt, and moral degradation, to abundance and health, to
cleanliness and comfort, to order, purity, and religion.
It is in the power of the most wealthy aristocracy in the
world to elevate the sons of the soil, and the ancient in
stitutions of the country, though ever so much tampered
with, still leave it in the power of the landowner to give
the labourer employment, and poverty relief. The
almshouse, cruelly disguised and depraved as it has lately
been, is still open to the inspection of the magistrate,
and the interference of the agricultural representative or
the hereditary lawgiver. The aristocracy can at least do
this. If they only ask, they will not be denied the im-
provement of the poor. Their estates, their villages,
their dependants, their local position, their prestige still
are theirs, and are all they require for the undertaking.

MADRID AND VALENCIA. RAIL-
WAY
COMPANY.
Yesterday, at twelve o'clock, an adjourned general
meeting of the proprietors of the Madrid and Valencia
Railway Company was held at the London Tavern,
Bishopsgate-street. Mr. Chadwick took the chair.
The SOLICITOR read the case which had been sub-
mitted to counsel since the last meeting. The case en-
tered into are the particulars connected with the attempt
to constitute the company, with which the public are
already familiar. The principal points submitted to
counsel were the following :
" Ist. To suggest to the company what steps the
directors ought legitimately to adopt to effect a dissolu-
tion of the company.
"2d. What majority of shareholders in London could
ni dg
issolve
dve.EH the Messrs.
English
company.
companyiostbhheerta
shareholdersn
d Whaley,shouldhahad
bethe
not
counseldissolved,h
epower."
t 0 u
wp
hp
oo sm-
the case was submitted, were of opinion that the English
directors had no power to alter the constitution of the
company, that it could not legally be dissolved in Eng-
land, and that it was affected by the Spanish law, no
English Act of Parliament, applying to railways, em-
bracing it.
The CHAIR3IAN deeply regretted the unavoidable
absence of Dr. Bowring, who on the occasion of the
last meeting had suggested the courso which the di-
rectors had since pursued. He for one would do all he
could to carry out Dr. Bowring's views ; but, from the
opinion which had been submitted to them, they would
learn that very serious obstacles lay in the way of their
putting an end to the company as had been desired by a
large body of the shareholders. He was in a position to
state that negotiations were pending with some large
capitalists, by which, if carried into effect,
the discontented shareholders would be paid off. As
soon as the arrangement was duly perfected a public
announcement would be made, and a meeting of the
shareholders called. Beyond that nothing could be done
by the directors, who would for their own sake do all
they could to promote the affairs of the company.
Mr. DRURY understood from the speech of the Chair-
man that the directors were in treaty with some men of
capital: that agreement if carried out was tantamount to
a sale of the line, and he moved that the directors be
empowered to sell the line imrnediately.—(Uproar.)
Mr. BIGG thought the meeting would have a diffi-
culty in adopting any substantive resolution, and advised
a delay.
Mr. LINDOW could not avoid attaching blame to the
directors for having promised to the proprie•
tors in February last, and so late as July, that the
Spanish money would be forthcoming. If the
Spanish shares had been forfeited, according to
the terms of the letter of allotment the Spanish people
would have had nothing to do with the line, and they
would then be in a condi:ion to dispose of the company.
But he was of opinion that the proprietors in England
could dissolve the company, and felt surprised, knowing
Spain so well as he did, that the Spanish people were
such fools as to have anything to do with the line.
A long conversation ensued upon the propriety of
allowing the Spaniards extended time to pay up on the
shares allotted them, which was ended by
Mr. HARVEY rising to move the adjournment of the
meeting. In the course of some eloquent and humo-
rous remarks he made upon the affairs of the company,
he disclaimed impugning the integrity or the talent of
the directors ; he firmly believed they had done all they
possibly could to promote the interests of the propieters.
But he thought they were entitled to, and could obtain,
better terms ; and as to there being any difficulty
about dissolving the company, he considered that
exaggeration had been indulged in to intimidate
them from proceeding vigorously. In the Cornwall
and Devon Central a similar difficulty had been started
to impede dissolution, but, although he had been
thwarted by the directors of that company, he had filed
his bill in Chancery, and, although beaten on a de-
murrer before the Vice-Chancellor, he had appealed to
the Lord Chancellor, and the effect of that movement
was, that he had, a few days since, been paid for the
shares, premium and all, together with the costs of the
suit, by the directors of that company. They
were not in a worse position; and he advised them to
wait, and by all means repudiate the negotiation
of the directors at Madrid. He would take 28s. per
share down, and a reversonary hope of what might be
got out of Spanish honour ; or he would take 30s. down
and sign a general acquittance and discharge.
The Hon. Proprietor's very characteristic address
was loudly cheered, and the adjournment carried by ac-
clamation, the time not to exceed six weeks, to be in
the discretion of the board of directors.