The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-10 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 1846.

The Earl of DALHOUSIE, on Tuesday night, brought
forward, in the House of Lords, his statement of the
intentions•of the Government with respect to the rail-
way legislation during the present session of Parliament ;
and the principle of the measure, which was exactly that
stated by Sir ROBERT PEEL in the Commons on the
previous night, was received with the unanimous appro-
bation of their Lordships. It has been found, that
from the severity of the losses sustained since the
mouth of October last, a very great disinclination
exists on the part of the public to invest any money
in railway speculations, and, consequently, no matter
how promising the speculation might appear, iF a new
call were made the shares would become greatly de-
pressed in value. The great majority of the holders of
scrip who, animated by seeing the large fortunes
realised in the course of the last few years in similar
speculations, have plunged recklessly into the several
schemes, and applied the entire amount of their dis-
posable capital in the payment of the first deposit, or the
purchase of shares in which the first deposit alone had
been paid, are generally unable to comply with
any new d,•mand, and, as a matter of course,
are obliged to sell the shares they hold for
any stun that may be offered,—in many io_
stances glad to get rid of them, even at the loss of all
they have already paid, on being saved from further
liability ; and this, too, at a time when but a small pro-
portion of the first deposit has actually been expended,
and there would be a considerable dividend, if the scheme
could be abandoned and the assets of the company
equitably distributed amongst the persons entitled thereto,
after payment of all charges and expenses fairly affecting
them. It is, however, in the power of any individual share-
holder to prevent the dissolution of the company and thus
to keep a large amount of capital locked up, the releasing
of which would prove of universal service to the com-
merce of the country. Unfortunately there will always
be found persons ready to job and to disregard the
general interests, so that it is found to be quite impos-
sible to effect any such dissolution, no Matter how
beneficial it might be to the shareholders at large. Such
a State of law is manifestly unjust gild unnamable,

and the object of the present Bill is for its improvement,
enabling the several railway companies to wind up their
affairs, if they shall think proper so to do. Many diffi-
culties will be found in carrying this into execution, but
these are merely matters of detail, and the recess will
give time for full consideration. Nothing can be fairer
than the principle of the measure, that persons actually
and bona fide holding a full moiety of the stock of the
company, shall be entitled to call for its issolution,
and that therefore the funds of the company should
vest in a trustee or official assignee, who would,
after satisfying all claims properly chargeable thereon,
distribute them amongst the persons fairly entitled
thereto. This, however, maybe held to give rather too
great a power to the large shareholders. For instance,
it might be worth the while of a large rival company to
purchase a considerable number of shares fur the ex-
press purpose of bringing to a conclusion a rival specu-
lation, which might interfere with themselves. We
should, therefore, at present prefer that the majo-
rity of votes be taken according to the scale
established by the Joint-stock Companies Regula-
tion Acts of last session, it having been, after mature
reflection, selected as the scale most proper for
giving to the small as well as the large shareholder the
influence to which he would be fairly entitled in the
management of the affairs of the company. Again, we
think that it would be desirable if a similar number of
shareholders were given the power of suspending for
the present the operations of the company, and getting
back at once a portion of the deposits, leaving a suffi-
cient sum to meet all the liabilities of the company, and
a small sum in hand for the trivial expenses
which might be necessary between the present time
and the next session of Parliament. By such a
provision as this a large sum would now be released,
brought into circulation, and rendered applicable
to the general purposes of the country. We know many
instances in which the shareholders, although feeling
the greatest degree of confidence in the soundness and
eventual success of the project, and unwilling to dissolve
the company, after having incurred all the preliminary
expenses, would be rejoiced if it could be suspended for
a given time, and an opportunity then afforded to them
of deciding whether the scheme should be abandoned or
carried into execution, and, in the meantime, the
amount of money, which could not possibly be required
in the interval, would be placed at their disposal. Should
it then be determined to persevere in the schemes
a call could be merle in sufficient time to make the neces-
sary deposit in Parliament for next session ; and these
shareholders who did not comply therewith should abso-
lutely forfeit their shares, of which a new allotment
might take place, givin4 a preference to the eld
shareholders, if such should be considered desirable.
In the event of a reaction in the money market,
the schemes which have already stood the test
of Parliamentary inquiry would probably be re-
vived, and prosecuted with general satisfaction to
the parties at present interested in their eventual
comp!etion. Sir R. PEEL announced on Wednesday that
the difficulties of detail (springing from the law of partner-
ship), fur the due development of the principle he hes
laid down, are already under the consideration of the
highest legal men in the country. He also suggested
that, in order to acquaint parties as early as possible
with what they must do to avail themselves of the mea-
sure to be brought forward immediately attee, the recess,
the Board of Trade, the moment the legal Distance re-
sorted to by the Government shall have f .ished them
with the fittest machinery for effectuating their views,
shall issue circulars to the beads of the different Compa-
nies, informing them of the necessary steps to be taken
for obtaining the benefit of the contemplated Act.

A more fearful responsibility impends upcn the landed
proprietors of Ireland than is possibly conjectured by
themselves. Morally, politically, and socially, it will be
incumbent upon them to ameliorate, by every means in
their power, the woes and almost unparalleled privations
of their tenantry. Particulars of the three visitations
simultaneously hanging ever the Irish multitude—the
visitations of organised murder, of an universal dearth
of provisions, and of mart epidemics, spreading far
and wide throughout the population ; and yet with
these poste; teas disclosures before them, how have the
Irish landlords acted ? Why by silence, by neglect, by
desertion ! The Premier conjures them to co-operate
ith the Legislature in succouring their destitute -coun-
trymen ;—they respond to that solemn and official ad-
juration by resigning their patrimonial estate; to the
providsnce of their agents ! An accumulation of ex-
igencies renders their personal interference in the do-
mestic economy of their possessions more than
ever a matter of woeful necessity ; yet, in spite
.:f this inap.-Tative position of affars, the only
etY. ct produced by these circumstances upon the
wealthier classes in Ireland is an increase of fashionable
emigration. Sir ce the development of so many contem-
poraneous evils in that beautiful but desolate island,
the pernicious absentee system has been marvellously
and lamentably extended. Not only have the habitual
defaulters in this respect persisted in their most taneful
course, but ue.v seees,ions, in a like direction, have
tended, more than we have the heart to calculate, to
render the sufferings of the Hibernians more
abasing and snore hopeless. Fur this mis-
taken and ingl Tious behaviour h t them, however,
rest pareeetly assured that in some fashion er other they
will ultimately be held accountable. It is futle—it is
impossible, to shirk the duties imposed upon them as the
vtiardlans of the labouring Irish by the inserutible will
of OMNIPOTENCE. When a contagion, whether moral,
vegetable, or animal, has broken out in a country, it will.
unless impeded by a courageous interference, ravage
every sectional division of the empire indiscriminately.
During the height of the plague at Jaffe, when the
soldiers were stricken by a terror which endangered
the lives of the healthiest veterans in the French army,
NAPOLEON entered the different wards of each hospital,
respired the infectious atmosphere, and himself dressed
the ulcerous sares of the sufferers. .History vouches for
this—the pencil of DAVID has immortalized it. By that
sublime act of valour a new confidence was infused into
the soldiers, and the fatal malady ac rally decreased in
its violence. Let the landlords of Ireland display some
tokens of it similar intrepidity ; let them return to
the scenes of devastation, and endeavour earnestly and
hopefully to assuage the pangs already experienced by
so many millions. Humanity addresses them in the lan-
reuage of adjuration, not so much as a class, as indi-
viduals. It some movement of the kind be not adopted,
the consequences rennet by any possibility be computed !
W say this, not so much in reference to present
miseries (frightful as those miseries undoubtedly are), as
in reference to the terrific extension of whatever
miseries are already, experienced, as months are per-
mitted to elapse. What are some few of the most recent
,facts? Why these—and the deductions to be drawn
, from them are as obvious as they are heartrending. First
of all the prospects of the next harvest could scarcely be
ono jot more unpropitious. Agricultural labour has been
almost wholly prevented by the bleakness of the tempe-
rature as well as by successive torrents of rain, which
have, according to the Dublin Deering Post.
" fLoded the country to an extent as great
as the fearful year of 1816." Three-fifths
of the oats, usually sown before the 17th March,
remain still out of the earth, and time must be allowed
before the ground will be sufficiently recovered from this
severe pluvial irrigation to permit of its being touched
by the spade. Then, again, the fears of typhus fever, so
long entertained, have beer, and are being unhappily
realised in various localities. Insomuch so, that the
Tralee Poor-law guardians have taken into consideration
the establishment of a temporary free hospital at Dingle.
An intelligent sojourner in the county of Meath gives us,
moreover, a most desolate picture of the sufferers in his
vicinity. With a vast portion of the respectable inhabi-
tants of that neighbouroood, or, as -our informant ex-
presses it, with " the meat-eating people" of Meath, the
supply of potatoes upon which they are now subsist-
ing cannot last beyond the commencement of
June. After that period what may not be the conse-
quences? GOD knows ! These are but an infiaitessimal
portion of the grievances now sustained or to be sustained
by the Irish people. The faint echoes of their woe alone
reach our ears, but those are eminently mournful and
imperative. On these accounts the landlords of Ireland
must rouse themselves from their apathy, if they are
desirous of rendering their own prosperity permanent.
A vast future deficiency both in worldly wealth
and in their reputations as men and Christians might
be prevented by a comparatively moderate disbursement
at the present moment. Their own pocke6, as well as
their own consciences, cry out to them for their interpo-
position. Let them take example by that benevolent
gentleman of Arch-hall, who is feeding sixty children
daily at his own private expense. In grati-
tude we will give the name of this true
philanthropist ;—it is Mr. SAMUEL GARNET. Let
them note the subscription made by the soldiers on the
Sutlej ; and the 3,0001. contributed by the inhabitants of
Calcutta for the relief of Ireland. And, looking at
these things, let them be shamed into a compliance with
Sir ROBERT'S requisition. That Right Hon. Statesman
has evinced throughout the present session a sympathy
for the, Irish which should be a pattern and an in-
citement to these absentee landlords—not the least
token of .ba 7inCerity of which sympathy is, that intro-
duction of the " Protection of Life (Ireland) Bill,"
which has retarded the progress of his favourite measure
la 4 .idled a fresh amount of vituptrAtiOu Roil his ,

conduct. So earnest is the Prime Minister's a ish to
allay the present diseased excitement of Ireland, that he
has actually given a Bill for that purpose precedence
of his great fres-trade scheme. Take that exhibition
of self-forgetfulness in the Minister as a stimulus to
your own exertions in the same cause, you landtd pro-
prietors of Ireland, and the pangs of your countrymen
may be yet effectually alleviated!

We have intelligence from Madrid to the Ist inst.
Another Ministerial crisis appears to be at hand. NAR-
VAEZ and his new colleagues have quarrelled about some-
thing, but whether it is the marriage of the QUEEN, or
the new law of the Bourse, or whether CHRISTINA and
the Camarillo, have got up a plot to destroy NARVAEZ, it
is impossible to say. Little doubt however remains that
a violent Cabinet explosion had taken place, and that the
Ministers EGANA and PEZUELA. had tendered their re-
signations, which however had not been accepted.
On the Ist the Three per Cents. closed at 32, at 30
days, with 4 premium ; the Five per Cents. were not
quoted ; the shares of the Bank of San Fernando were
at 270 f. ; ditto of the Bank of Isabel, 170 f.

The only intelligence of interest in the Paris papers
relates to Spain. The latest accounts appear in the
Fresse, a journal generally supposed to be well informed
respecting the doings of Queen CHRISTINA and ber few
associates, who now rule the destinies of Spain. It will
be seen, from the subjoined statement in that journal,
that there is a subject, independent of what is put forth
by public rumour, which " is too delicate to enter upon
for the present." We have no doubt it refers to some
dark scheme now in agitation behind the scenes, and
fear that another revolution must take place before this
intriguing, desperate woman is brought to her senses. "A
rumour was current on Sunday that a new crisis had
again unexpectedly overturned the NARVAEZ Ministry,
and yesterday (Monday) the report assumed a degree of
consistency. We have j ust read in a letter, received yester-
day by express, dated the 2d, and written by a person whose
information has never misled us, that a very warm dis •
cussion had taken place between General NARVAEZ and
the Ministers of Justice and the Marine on the subject
of the new law for regulating the operations on the Ex-
change. It is known that one of the first acts of the
MIRAFLORES Ministry was to suppress time bargains.
When the General resumed the Government it was pre-
tended that this injunction would be immediately
taken off; and the Heraldo pronounced this to be
a calumnious assertion. The declaration of the
Heraldo was contradicted by two or three persons
whose intimate connexion with General NARVAEZ
gave them considerable influence, and therefore did not
gain any credit. It appears, however, that it was well-
founded. It is certain that when it was debated what
,hould be done in this matter the Ministers could not
come to an agreement, General Nanvaez, supported by
M. BURGOS, was opposed to the suppression of time bar-
gains, which was maintained by MM.Pezuesee and EGANA.
General NARVAEZ became outrageously warm, and
MM. PEZUELA and Ecassa were so offeeded by the un-
statesmanlike language of the President of the Council
that they left the Cabinet immediately, tendering their
resignations. The letter in which we have found these
details expatiates largely on the cause of this new ex-
citement in the mind of General NARVAEZ, but the sub-
ject is of a nature too delicate for us to enter upon, at
least at present. The letter adds that General NARVAEZ
sent the same evening for the Marquis DE VILLUMA
and Baron DE MEER. "If this news be confirmed,"
continues the writer, 'it will not be long be-
fore I come and shake you by the hand in Paris ;
unless, indeed, events should force the whole
body of the Liberals to come forth in defence of the
throne they have founded, the institutions they have
won, which is not impossible, for the absolutists have
never held their heads so high nor spoken with so much
insolence.' The author of this letter belongs to that
fraction of the Conservative party which is called the
Puritans, and is one of the most influential members of
it. On the other hand, we have been told that the
NARVAEZ Ministry has withdrawn en masse, and that
MM. MONS, PIDAL, and CASTRO I' OROZCO have been
aesembled in council to form a new Ministry. Every
friend of Spain must applaud a crisis which may bring
into power men like CASTRO Y OROZCO. A Ministry
thus composed, particularly after what passed at the
last sitting of the Congress, would find a general sym
pethy in the people, and an immense majority in the
Chambers. Nevertheless, however great may be the
confidence which we have in the persons from whom we
derive the forgoing information, their news is too im-
portant and too unforeseen for us to guarantee their
exactitude."

The Semaphore of Mart:cilles contains the following
from Algiers, dated the Ist

"We have received by the Pharamond steamer an account
of a very seri:Ali engagement between our troops and the
Arabs, the particulars of which had not yet reached the
Algiers journals. That engagement had taken place between
the eolumn of General Cavaignac and a large native force,
six leagues to the north-west of Tlemcen. General Ca-
vaignac had received in that town a sort of challenge, for-
warded to him by a new lialifa, anxious to try hi; strength
with him. '['hat Kalifa appointed for the General and his
column the day and place of the encouttsr. On the 2.33 of
March, the day fixed in the challenge, General Cavaignac
marehed out with a corps of cavalry and his column to the
greund, where the enemy was drawn up awaiting his arrival.
The Arabs appeared to be trivvards of 3,000 in number,
1,200 horsemen and 2,000 infantry. The engagement soon
commenced, and lasted two hours. The Arabs fought with
great determinati ,n, but, once broken, they took to flight,
!caving 20t) killed on the field. We are said to have expe-
rienced somet oss ; a chief of battalien and several officeis
were among the dead. It appears that Marshal 13 ugeaud
considered the affair as extremely importar.trsince he imme-
diately dispatched an officer of the staff; Captain I'ourcet, in
the Pharamond, with an account of the engagement to the
Minister of War. This intelligence was brought to Algiers
on the 31st, in the evening, by the packet Tartare, which left
Oran on the 20th."

The saViiried letter from Dresden, dated April 2, ap-
pears in the Augsburg Gaz. tte. The Chamber of Repro
senta.tives in that capital cannot fail to cause great un-
easiness to the Germanic Confederation ar:d the abso-
lute Sovereigns on tee Continent, for it has been en-
gaged nearly for the whole of its sittings in aivancing
the principles of Constitutional Government :
"A few days ago the Fourth Committee of the Second
Chamber presentetlits report on the royal decree of August
26th, 1815, interdicting political associations and meetings.
The following is the language of the Committee :—' The
Government regards the present Constitution a, a work for
ever terminated, 113 the last term of perfection, beyond
which it. is not allowable f,r the people to carry their views.
It is at le.:st in this manner of regarding the matter tbat the
decree has been drawn up. Re.trictiens ought not to be op-
posed to the spirit of associati.,n, since it is a spirit which
has produced more great things than all the police regulations
in the world, and the apprehension that the right of meet-
ing may be abused by no means justifies its absolute inter-
diction—it can only recognise the necessity of legal measures
being adopted to prevent the evil. Other constitutional
states, and amongst them the German state of Baden, have
inscribed in their institutions the right of association as an
unalienable right, cot acknowledging any other limits than
those of the law. That is what Saxony also desires. The
contrary enactments of the Germanic Confederation cannot
be appealed to in this question, since then apply- to sedition,
high treason, and the overturning of established order. But
the loyal intentions of the Saxon people do not admit of any
doubt, and the present tranquillity renders all preventive
measures superfluous. The Committee is therefore ofopinion
that the Chamber should invite the Government to present
to the Saxon Parliament a Bill to regulate the exercise of
their right of association.'
On the Paris Bourse on Tuesday the Three per Cents. closed
at 83f. 55c. ; the Five per Cents., 1191. 95c. ; The Orleans
Railroad shares, 1,217 f. ; Rouen, 1,030 f.; Havre, 737 f.
50c.; Great Northern, 755 f. ; Avignon, 887 f. 50c.; Vierzon,
6721. 50c. ; Bordeaux, 6171. 50c.; Boulogne 505 f.; Basle,
230 f. ; Paris and Strasburg, 5201. ; Tours and "Nantes, 540 f.;
Paris and Lyons, 5721. 50c.; Spanish Actives, 334; Spanish
Three per Cents., 36V,.
The following are the quotations for other lines:—
Lyons and Avignon definitive, 5401.; Bordeaux and Cette
(Mackenzie), 502 f. 75c.; ditto (Espeleta), 509 f. 50a.; Char-
leroy, 495 f ; Bordeaux and Cette definitive, 535 f.
MMISEII.T.ES, Arran 3.—Marseilles and AVignon, 945 f. ;
Northern, 772 E 50c.; Paris and Lyons, 6021. 50c.