The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-21 00:00:00

the 18th instant. Had not that meeting been held in
an upper apartment instead of one nearer to the
ground, all Bishopsgate• street would have flocked
around the portals of the London Tavern to ascer-
tain what fearful orgies were being enacted by a body
of gentlemen who had met ostensibly for the purpose of
discussing matters involving interests to the amount of
several millions. Shouts, yells, hurrahs, hisses,
hootings, and denunciations, issuing from hundreds
of unwearied throats, conspired to produce a din
which will be long remembered with a shudder by
some at least of those who had the mishap to be of
the auditory on that occasion. It is, however, to be
hoped that, for the sake of decency and common
sense, no scenes of a similar nature will be re-
enacted on any future day, and that the constituency
of so important a concern will not continue obsti-
nately blind to the pernicious consequences which
must result from demeanour so disgraceful both to
their own respectability and to the true interests of
the company, which cannot fail to be seriously
damaged by having public feeling in this great com-
mercial metropolis outraged by such unparalleled
ebullitions of lamentable indecorum.

A new page has now been opened in the annals
of this railway. In accordance with the apophthegm
" on revient toujours cz ses premiers amours," the
talented Member for Maldon has been once more
borne into office amid the frantic enthusiasm of his
supporters. The Waddington dynasty is restored,
and the chosen favourite was yesterday unanimously
elected by the Board of Directors as their chairman.
Two directors of opposite policy have ere this sent in
their resignations, and their places will be, doubtless,
supplied by participators in the views of the present
administration. The ascendancy of the party has been
demonstrated, not merely by the majority of suffrages
obtained by the Chief himself, but by the re-election
of the two directors whose term of office had ex-
pired, and who were declared adherents of the new
phase of policy. Of these gentlemen, moreover, one
carried great weight, from the very large pecuniary
interest which he has in the concern, as well as from
his straightforwardness and judgment ; and the
other made assurance doubly sure by an ad
eaptandunt oration of startling energy, on
Tuesday last. Mr. WADDINGTON now fills an
arduous and most prominent position in the railway
world. The acts of the new Board, whether for good
or for evil, will all be laid at his door. Should he be
unable, within the next six months, to effect a pal-
pable saving in the expenditure—which may be ac-
complished, not by a cheese-paring economy, but by
a judicious examination into the details of the loco-
motive establishment, and a close but not illiberal at-
tention to the features of a sound and safe reductions
where it can be carried into effect without any dan-
gerous paring to the quick ; and should he fail in
producing an improvement in the peculiar department
of his adoption, the traffic, he must make up his mind
to weather the re-awakened tempestuousness of the
shareholders as best he may. It will then be " con-
fusion worse confounded." A decent dividend will
likewise be longingly awaited, the more so after the
denial of that soothing distribution at the last half-
yearly meeting ; and the days are gone for ever
when there can be any tampering with traffic
accounts, squaring the expenses to suit the dividend,
and not the dividend to suit the expenses. But if Mr.
WADDINGTON shall be found to devote his energies
and acknowledged abilities to ensure, as head of the
Executive, a spirit of unanimity and concord in its
councils, whereby the development of the resources
of the line shall be fostered, the dangers of competi-
tion amicably arranged, its revenues enhanced, and
the condition of a vast undertaking, hitherto sadly
mismanaged, materially exalted, then let all by-
gones be bygones, and all heartbtarnings be consigned
to oblivious repose in the "tomb of all the Capulets."
Those who were his most active opponents should,
without going to the extreme of reposing a blind and
implicit confidence in his cabinet, tender it a gene-
ral and generous support, bearing in mind, that al-
though the absence of legitimate control may inspire
a Directory with a ruinous self-sufficiency, it is ut-
terly impossible that any administrative body can be
conducted creditably or profitably, either as regards
itself or those whose interests it ought to shield and
superintend with a jealous affection, if it be obnoxious
on every occasion to suspicion, contumely, or factious
opposition.