The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-19 00:00:00

GERMAN Y.

The German Diet has adopted the following resolu-
tions tor the regulation of the publication of its pro-
ceedings :
" 1. The proceedings of each sitting of the Diet, as
far as no objection exists to their immediate publica-
tion, shall, in their essential purport, be printed as
speedily as possible, in the daily journals chosen for
that purpose.
" 2. The publication of the protocol of a sitting,
with the exclusion of all matter that is to be kept
secret, is permitted within a fixed period, hereafter to
be defined, but at longest one year from the date of
the protocol. The Diet reserves to itself the measures
necessary to take to insure the verbal accuracy of the
reports of the protocols.:
" 3. A Committee of five members of the Diet,
chosen for a year, will be elected, who will be
charged with the following duties :—A. To put in
execution the resolution No. 1, and as far as neces-
sary to make to the Diet the necessary proposals for
doing so. B. To superintend the drawings of the
resumes of the sittings for the journals appointed,
with the omission of all not calculated for immediate
publication, and to see that it is inserted as soon as
possible. C. To prepare for the successive
publication of the protocols, by fixing the dates of
their appearance, when they are permitted.
Every envoy of the Diet is allowed to address
any representations to the Committee in reference to
the publication of matters that directly affect his Go-
vernment, or to make any proposals to the Diet itself
respecting them. In case of difference of opinion in
the Committee, the question is to be referred for
decision to the Diet.

" Finally, this Committee is authorised, at a proper
time, to report to the Diet how these resolutions have
worked in practice, and what modifications in them
may be desirable."

This Committee has been chosen ; the foregoing
resolutions are the first of the series, being the autho-
rity on which all the others are to follow. The
official journal is the Ober-post-amts Zeitung.
Letters from Vienna state that the sisters of Kos-
suth have arrived in that city as prisoners.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
LYONS AND AVIGNON.
A meeting of the shareholders interested in obtain-
ing a return of the caution money was held on Wednes-
day at the London Tavern, to consider and determine on
the immediate steps to be taken; Mr. Alderman
Salomons in the chair.
The CHAIRMAN said he bad called the meeting with
a view of obtaining their opinion under the circum-
stances in which the holders of shares in the old
Lyons and Avignan Company are now placed. The
meeting would recollect that in 1846 there was a
company formed, consisting of English and French
shareholders, for the purpose of constructing a line from
Lyons to Avignon. The capital,was subscribed, and the
concession completed; but there were reasons to appre-
hend at that time that the various details on which the
assumed capital was based were erroneous. A period
of famine and commercial difficulty followed. The
French Government, at the time M. Guizot was in
power, agreed with the directors of the company that
there was reason to believe the estimated cost of con-
struction was fallacious, and that the concession to
the company required modification, in order to enable
the company to carry out the undertaking. The
French Government at that time brought a Bill
into the Chamber of Deputies, embodying cer-
tain modifications of the concession for the line.
The democratic part of the Legislature deemed
the modification so proper that they agreed to
the Bill as introduced, but when it came
before the Chamber of Peers a question was raised
as to the probability of a scarcity of money, which
was borne out by the great financial difficulties evi-
denced in the failures of 1847. The Chamber of
Peers thought it would be more favourable to the
French national interests that such enterprises should
be got rid of rather than to encourage railways, and
the Bill was thrown out. The Lyons and Avignon
Company had no other alternative than to dissolve
the company, and to divide the funds in hand ; the
caution money being left in the hands of the
Government. From that date to the pre-
sent time various applications had been made
for the return of the caution money. He
had had several interviews on the subject of the
caution money with Louis Napoleon since he be-
came President of the French Republic, and he had
received from the President assurances that as far as
lay in his power he would do all he could to place
the claim of the shareholders in the best possible
position. He had no doubt, if the question rested
with the President, that they would obtain what they
required. On the Ist of December the late Assembly
—about its last act—gave its approbation to the
framework of a concession for a line from Lyons to
Avignon. Having looked closely through the condi-
tions of the lease, which was for ninety-nine years, they
were most ample and favourable, and on the 19th day
of the present month the line is to be conceded to some
company. As far as he was aware, there was only
one company in treaty for the line, and, conse-
quently, if no second company appeared, it would
be given to the company who had been a consider-
able time in negotiation for the line. He was not
aware that any of the English parties in treaty fur
the line had represented the interests of the old com-
pany in that concession. The present proprietors were
called together to determine what step should be taken
on the 19th instant, or whether they ought to protest
against its being given to any other company ten-
dering for the line, or whether it was their interest
to tender for the line, themselves. Every Minister
of Public Works in succession had been ap-
plied to on the subject, and they had offered
on behalf of the company that if the Government
were willing to grant the concession, the shareholders
would subscribe to make the line. The conditions
of the new concession specified that the capital should
be 120,000,000 f. (4,800,0001.), the Government to
subscribe one-half that sum; but under the old condi-
tions they did not offer to subscribe anything towards
the undertaking; and with a view to enable the new
parties to raise money, they would be authorised to
raise one-half of their moiety of the capital on bonds
at 5 per cent. interest. He had but little hope of suc-
cess in obtaining the new concession, as it appeared
the whole matter had been arranged in the Minister's
office, and he believed that three or four English con -
tractors and capitalists were the parties who would
obtain the concession.
The memorial to the President of the French Re-
public was then read. It states that the committee
nominated to represent the claimants consists of the
following gentlemen, viz.:—Mr. Alderman Salomons,
M.P., the Hon. W. Ashley, Mr. J. Bagshaw, M. 1.,
Mr. F. B. Barlow, Mr. J. Field, Mr. J. A. Frank-
land, Captain Kelly, Mr. J. P. Kennard, Mr. F.
Mowatt, M.P., and the Hon. C. P. Villiers. M.P.
The CHAIRMAN, on moving the adoption of the
memorial, stated that the material part of it was,
that they were ready and willing to take the con-
cession upon the condition of the caution-money
being brought into account. He believed the object
of the English contractors was to deal with the in-
terest of the old company in the caution money, and
to give them ss. or Gs. Bd. in the pound.
After some observations from Mr. OLITERA and
Mr. Baesnaw, M.P., on the propriety of the Lyons
and Avignon and Bordeaux and Cette shareholders
acting together, with a view to obtain a return of
the caution money,
Mr. Mow Arr, M.P., explained the grounds upon
which they claimed a return of the caution-money.
The estimates of the French engineers, upon which
the original concession was granted by the Govern-
ment, and accepted by the company, amounted to
76,000,000 f. (3,040,0001.), for the construction of
the line from Lyons to Avignon and the branch to
Grenoble. On the company's engineers making a
fresh estimate of the cost, it was found that it would
be 130,000,000 f. (5,200,0000, or 4,800,0001. without
the branch to Grenoble. These estimates were veri-
fied by the French engineers, and it was admitted by
the French Government that the company were enti-
tled to a modification of the concession, and as more
money would be required for the construction of the
line than they were authorised to raise, they could
not proceed with the undertaking. It had been ad-
mitted by the French authorities that the failure in
carrying out the enterprise was not the fault of the
company, but it arose from circumstances over which
they had no control.
Resolutions were passed adopting the memorial,
adding the Honourable C. P. Villiers, M.P., Mr.
F. B. Barlow, and Mr. F. Mowatt, M.., to the com-
mittee appointed on the 15th of May, 1851, autho-
rising the committee to declare the readiness of their
constituents to tender for the concession of the
railway from Lyons to Avignon, as authorised by the
law of the late National Assembly, or to adopt such
other measures as may be found expedient for se-
curing the recovery of the caution-money now in
abeyance, expressing a hope that no English capitalists
will interfere to weaken or prejudice the indisputable
claims of the company, and that they will feel under
great obligations to any member of the committee
who will undertake to proceed to Paris as a deputa-
tion to represent their claims to the French Govern-
ment, and to enforce the same in every suitable
manner.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the c.hairman.

-.-.„-- -
au. r.—At Bologna, a plan has been started to
erect a Pantheon, for commemorating all the great men
born in that city. The execution of the statues and busts
is to be en trusted to M. Bollsami, professor of sculpture at
the Bolog aft Academy of Fine krts, in whose atelier two
statues, Psyche and Eve, in white marble, are now much
admired. At Florence, the exhibition of the Academy has
been curie led by a bronze group of Cain and Abel, made by
the profess or of sulpture. The mediaeval buildings of Siena,
Pisa, and Lucca, are being actively restored, and the domes
(cathedrals) of Prato andmOanrvyieintojuhdiacvioeuusnrdesetrogroataiotrns ocoutthe
ere MN reizered.—Builder.
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