The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-27 00:00:00

that " the diversion of capital from its ordinary em-
ployment in commercial transactions to the construc-
tion of railways," was one of the chief cau es of the
commercial distress that so lately paralysed the na-
tional industry, and brought many of the most useful
members of the community to the verge of bank-
ruptcy. The folly of sinking our floating capital in
the construction of railways, instead of applying it to
the production of commodities for legitimate
trade, has been commented upon in the most stringent
terms. It has been insinuated that the sterling divi-
dends that have been paid have been provided for out
of capital, and have not been realised by fair and
legitimate :traffic; and every device that could be
resorted to for injuring the prospects and depreciating
the property of a large and influential class of our
fellow-subject; whose enterprise should have ob-
tained the national gratitude, has in turn been
i adopted. It would appear as if the object of the
parties had been to excite a railway panic, to work
upon the minds of weak and timid persons, and
thereby induce them to withdraw their capital,
at any cost and at any sacrifice, ,from the
investments in which they had realised ample divi-
dends, paid with the utmost regularity, and upon as
valid and safe securities as any that could be selected.
Too mach success, we regret to say, has, for the time
being, attended the attempt. While every description o
property throughout the entire country became un-
u3ually depreciated in value, the fall in the value
of railway shares was wholly unprecedented. It is
notorious that even at the present prices seven or
eight per cent. may readily be obtained on the amount
invested in the purchase of shares in some of the
oldest and most secure undertakings. It may safely
be asserted that the present market price of shares in
the principal trunk lines throughout the kingdom is
not fifty per cent. on their real and bona fide value.
It might naturally have been expected when
the trading, the commercial, and the manufacturing
interests were unusually depressed, when every
branch of industry was paralysed, and those who in
ordinary times earned large incomes by the exercise
of their several trades or callings, were only too happy
if the losses did
.not exceed the profits, and they
could live upon a portion of the capital realised in
more propitious seasons, that railway property
should share the general fate, that dividends should
be lowered, and that the selling value of railway
stock should be more than proportionately depre-
ciated ; but there can be no valid reason
why that depreciation should have been carried
to' the extraordinary extent which has surprised
and astonished those best acquainted with the
changes and fluctuations of the money market,
and baffled the calculations of the most sagacious and

experienced persons. This state of affairs cannot
possibly be prolonged "for any considerable space of
time—a change must speedily come that will once
more place meters upon a sound and satisfactory
footing. Already indications may be discerned of an
approaching improvement in the prices of every de-
scription of securities, and of an abundant sup-
ply of money at easy rates of interest. There
is an ample supply of bullion in the coffers of the
Bank of England and of the private. and joint-stock
banks throughout the kingdom. The reserve of
notes in the banking department, too, is far more
than can possibly b 3 required, and which cannot be
maintained at so high an amount if the directors
desire to keep up a fair dividend to the proprietors of
Bank Stock. It is, therefore, only reasonable to
suppose that greater money accommodation will
speedily be granted to the community in ge-
neral, and every legitimate facility afforded to those
desirous of obtaining legitimate discounts, and, as a
natural consequence, that persons who now, from an
absurd timidity, keep their resources hoarded and
locked up, will speedily seek for beneficial invest-
ments for the capital now lying idle and unpro-
ductive.

As railway property has been the most depreciated
it is almost certain that the reaction will be the
greatest therein. Indeed, there is no possible reason
why it should not be the case. For what other species
of investment can six per cent. now be obtained, and
that can be procured in the best lines, and at the
lowest dividends that have been struck for
many years past? These dividends will not
only be maintained, but in almost every in-
stance a considerable increase may be looked
for, with the greater degree of commercial activity
that is approaching, and also with the new branches
that are coming into daily operation, and which will

act as feeders to the main line. The reports of all
the leading companies that have recently been pre-
sented to the half-yearly meetings of shareholders
hold out the strongest hopes of better times and
greater prosperity rapidly approaching. We would
strongly reccommend all persons interested, before
they permit their property to be sacrificed at the pre-
sent most inadequate prices, either by the sale of
their shares or by neglecting to pay up
the calls that may be made thereon, and their conse-

quent forfeiture, to examine carefully the position
and prospects of the company to which they belong,
and they will then speedily discover how absurd are
their fears, and how subversive to their own best

interests, and suicidal is the policy that would lead
to such a course.

On a future occasion we shall be prepared to show
;hat the expenditure upon the construction of rail-

ways could not, under a proper monetary code, in any
degree have injured the commercial interests, on the
contrary, that the parties to whose spirit and enter-
prise we are indebted therefor, are national benefac-
tors in the highest degree, and deserving of national
gratitude.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The announcement of the arrival of Prince Louis
NAPOLEON in Paris on Sunday was premature. The
Assernblee Nationale says—
" Louis 'Napoleon was expected yesterday in Paris,
an apartment having been engaged for him in the Rue
Tranchet. The National was, therefore, ill. informed in
announcing his arrival. Ile has left London, but is de-
tained on the road by serious indisposition ; his family
themselves are ignorant of where he is or when he will
arrive. The Prince intends to make the journey in the
strictest incognito, and not to make known his arrival
until he takes his seat as representative. There was a

report current in London that he would be arrested on
arriving in Paris. Several of his partisans who had in-
tended to have got up a kind of ovation in his honour
have given up the idea. The success of his candidateship
in France drew towards him a crowd of courtiers of a
secondary order in London; in order to escape their
importunities he was compelled to receive the visits
of his friends at the house of a Madame B. The
Government has adopted the most energetic measures
to oppose any attempts at an ovation in favour of
Louis Napoleon; it has assured itself of the feelings of
four battalions of the Garde Mobile and of the Garde
Republicaine, who, it is said, aro determined to fire on
any one who may raise a cry of Vivo l'Empereurr
The Garde Marine and the Gendarmerie have been also
held in readiness to support the Garde Mobile. All the
troops are ordered to be on the alert, and cartridges
have been distributed at all the barracks. General Ca-
vaignac and his council appear determined to offer an
energetic resistance against all attempts. Persons who
are generally well informed on the subject declare that
on the first occasion of any bloodshed in consequence of
the presence of Louis Napoleon, the General will demand
of the National Assembly the banishment, not only of
the Prince, but of all his family. It appears that the
Napoleonist party, instead of meeting any support from
the Red Republicans, would meet with a decided oppo-
sition from them. The Government fears that under
pretence of fighting for the Pretender the Republicans
of June would assemble in arms, and become, after
gaining success, more formidable than before their late
defeat."

It would appear from the Reforme that Prince
Louis NAPOLEON cannot reckon upon the Red Re-
publicans for assistance in the furtherance of his
ambitious projects, should he entertain any such.
That journal emphatically warns all true Republicans
against a Russian plot for restoring monarchy in
Frances and placing a Bonaparte on the throne.
The itfoniteur du Soir officially contradicts the
statement which appeared in the National, that four
French steam-frigatea had arrived at Venice with
4,000 men.

It would appear from a statement in the National
that the French citizens inhabiting Pesth have offered
their assistance to the Hungarians, in their struggle
against the reactionary attempts of the Ban JELLA•
cutcu and his semi-barbarous Croats, who are endea-
vouring to establish in Hungary by force of arms the
despotic rule of the Emperor of AUSTRIA. The
National says--.
" The Hungarians know that it is prudent for them to
count on their own patriotism; but the war that they
sustain is so truly the struggle of liberty against abso-
lutism, that allies spring up about them to march by
their aide against the common enemy. Corps of volun- I