The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-08 00:00:00

TO the SHAREHOLDERS of the METRO-
POLITAN SALOON OMNIBUS

COMPANY.

GENTLEMEN, -I thought it 'my duty, on the 29th ult., to
bring to your notice the exact reasons of my quitting your
Direction ; and did so, as I hoped, in the least offensive man-
ner. It appears this has brought down so much virulence
against me persomilly, that to show the cause I had to explain
myself. I shall just quote from the minute book, to which,
I ;presume, you can refer. The first entry refers to the
patentee, and runs thus :—" That the patentee receive 3,000
paid-up shares, 2001. in cash, and 51. ss. per annum for each
omnibus running ; that the Company run no omnibus but the

' Saloon ; ' anetilat in case Of amalgamation, sale, or other
disposal of the Company, the patentee's interest is increased
0'7,0001., 5,0001. of which is to be in cash, and 2,0001. in
paid-up shares."

- This ends the first minute, and with it, as I and others
presumed, the Patentee's bargain with the Company, and for
which he was to bear all expenses to the 28th October.

A subsequent minute, read about twelve days after, runs
thus—" That 2,700 paid-up shares be placed, 1,000 each to
Mr. Shillibcr (a Director) and Mr. Jones (the Solicitor of the
Company), the other 700 to be placed as the Patentee and
Mr. Jones should think most advisable "—at the same time
the names of four Directors were mentioned who were to
have 100 each, and it was given to be understood that the
remaining 300 were to be divided between the Contractor
and the "irresponsible individual" 1 alluded, to in my letter
of the 26th ult.

Now, gentlemen, I leave the result to your own judgment ;
and recollect that, Mr. Jones, the Solicitor, had settled upon
the amount of his annual salary. That your funds have gone
to pay for attacks on public and privat )'eharac ter, the various
squibs, cautions, posters, &c., which have been managed by
the " irresponsible individual," fully bear out.
Now, as to the motion proposed by Mr. Parker on the 19th
November, and which I seconded, " That no person was to
sit as director on the 26th who had not qualified," he pre-
mised that on looking over the share-roll he found only three
directors' names who had signed for their shares, only one of
whom (in faet himself) had paid. I made known my inten-
tion of opposing any person endeavouring to qualify on paid-
up shares, and knowing on the 26th that no further payment
had been made by a director, I tested it by sending in my re-
signation. On Thursday, the 27th, I was told that the
minutes had been waived for a fortnight to meet the conve-
nience of certain directors. On Friday, the 28th, at one
o'clock, I looked at the share-roll book, in presence of the
patentee, and drew his attention to it, that not one director's
name had been added to the list on or sines the 26th, and
then and there I sat down and wrote the letter I published
that evening.

Now, gentlemen, was I or not justified in acting as I did ?
Put it to each of yourselves ; and am I for this to be abused
and placarded out of your and my own funds? However,
this part is in the hands of my solicitor.—l remain your
obedient servant,

A. H. ST. JOHN O'NEILL.
37, Moore-street, Chelsea, Dec. 5, 1856.