The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-22 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST.
The directors of this company have issued their half-
yearly report to be submitted to the meeting of proprie-
tors on Thursday next. It states that the amount of
capital raised up to the 30th of June, 1851, is 7,175.817/.,
consisting of 1,522,5871. mortgage debt, 1,037,5961. pre-
ference capital, and 4,615,634/. consolidated stock. The
directors have steadily pursued the policy of declining to
take loans, except for a long period, such as 10 years,
so as to place the company as far as possible beyond the
risk of fluctuations in the money market ; and they have
no difficulty in obtaining money for this period at 4 per
cent. The additional capital expended during the past
half-year, irrespective of additions to working stock,
amoanta-to 18,4721., of which 9,302/. is for the new ter-
minus at London-bridge. This work has been completed
for about 143,0001., or 7,0001. less than the original esti-
mate. The works contemplated in the estimate of
7,200,0001. given in October, 1848, have been completed,
the liabilities all extinguished (with the exception of
about 20,0001. for land claims, &c., owing to legal diffi-
culties), and the assets all realised with the exception of
the remaining surplus lands and other property. The
value of the surplus land may be safely taken at about
57,0001. This would have left about 109,000/. of
surplus capital on the estimate of October,
1848, supposing the traffic not to have varied
materially from the then figure of 450,4791. per
annum. Since that period, however, the gross
annual income has increased upwards of 100,000/. of
which about 40,0001. has arisen from goods traffic, which
has 'advanced, in less than three years, from an average
of 1,2001. to an average of upwards of 2,0001. per week,
and the amount of work done has increased in a still
larger proportion. The whole amount expended out of
capital in providing for the additions called for by the
lucre iced traffic from the end of the year 1848 down to
the commencement of 1851 has been only about 28,000/
which still left a margin of about 81,000/. of unexpended
capital within the original estimate of 7,200,0004 The
time, however, bed arrived when the further increase of
working stock. &c., could no longer be delayed without
serious detriment to the traffic, and 121 vehicles, costine
in all 18,882/., have been added to the stock during the
past half-year. Tee passenger-stock is now sufficient for
the traffic, and tLe directors are proceeding to provide
for the increase in the goods department The question
of any further sum being required beyond 7 200,0004
will not be raised unless the progressive increase of the
traffic should render further accommodation indispensa-
ble. The gross revenue for the half-year has been
248,635/., showing an increase of 20,066/. over the
corresponding half-year of 1850, of which 15,6891. has
been in the passenger, and 4,377/. in the goods traffic.
The average increase over the corresponding period
of 1850, which, during the first four months of the year,
had been 850/. per week, has, since the opening of the
Exhibitien on the Ist of May, been only 450/. per week.
The principal results hitherto obtained from the Exhi-
bition haw been the establishment of a cheap and direct
route between London and Paris viel Newhaven and
Dieppe. The influx of passengers attracted by the
cheap fares has been so great that it has become neces-
sary to provide two passages each way daily. On com-
paring the receipts and expenditure for the half-year
ending the 30th of June, 1851, with the corresponding
period of 1850, it appears thil at the former period the
receipts amounted to 241,204/., the expenses to 107,3551.,
and the miles run to 774,899, and at the latter men-
tioned period the receipts amounted to 221,138/., the ex-
penses to 98,634 i, and the miles run by the trains to
580,140. The principal heads of increase in the ex-
penses have arisen from the competition at Hastings,
and the increased number of trains ran partly to ac-
commodate the traffic, which since the commencement
of the Exhibition has been chiefly of a low-priced de-
scription, and partly to extend the facilities for residence
le the vicinity of the line. An increase of about 3,0001. in
thelocomotive department is due to the construction of
new engines of a lighter description for the traffic of the
branch lines. The report alludes to the opening of the
Ashford and Hastings line, and to the pro-
posal made by the directors to the South-
Eastern Company with a view to prevent un-
necessary competition for the traffic between London and
Hastings, which were rejected. It goes on to state that,
" The directors notified to the South-Eastern Com-
pany their determination to make no alteration in the
existing rates, and to take no step whatever in the way
of competition, unless compelled to do so in self-defence;
but as the South-Eastern Company, after the first month,
increased the number and speed of their trains, and re-
duced the fares fur the 94 miles from London through
Ashford to Hastings considerably below their regular
fares for the 67 miles from London to Ashford, the di-
rectors had no alternative but to place additional trains
on the line at the same fares. Expense was thus entailed
on both companies, and the proceeds of the traffic were
diminished; but the result hitherto fully justifies the di-
rectors in resisting the demand for a concession of half
the entire traffic in respect of the circuitous Ashford
line, the loss sustained by this company having been
much less than that proportion. In any event it will
be satisfactory to the shareholders to know that their
rights at Hastings are so effectually secured that there is
no danger of any competition depriving them of their
fair share of the traffic.
" The opinions of ibe directors on the question of audit
remain unchanged. They are anxious that the pro-
prietors should on all occasions exercise the ample powers
of investigation which they at present possess, like men
of business determined to understand their own affairs;
but they deprecate all attempts to apply to railways the
continental principle of substituting Government boards
wad Acts of Parliament for individual vigilance and ex-
ertion—a principle which is scouted in every other
branch of English commercial enterprise.
" The net amount at the credit of tho revenue account
fors The
half-year is 144,5281, whereof ea appropriated for
interest on the mortgage debt 31,2301, for dividend on
preference
capital, 27,9074: together, 59,137_1. Leaving
a balance of
85,3914 Out of which the directors re-
commend a dividend of 11. 16s. ee cent. for the half-
year, amounting
credit of the current to 83,0811., leaving a balance to the
nwthhalf-year of 2,3101.
" All shares on
been forfeited and sold,leh any calls were in arrear
()have
which there are arrears on
withof the exception of 4
These shares will be sold calls amounting to 1,410/
immediately,l and the stock
and shares account thus finally
The auditors; report states thayt closed."
The by their con-
tinuous and monthly audit most tully and strictly ex-
outlined the accounts, and they find them correct.
The mortgage debt account shows that 551,100/. was
borrowed at 5 per cent., 6,0001. at 41 per cent., 196,427/.
at ‘if per cent., 162,000/. at 4+ per cent., 604,560/. at 4
per cent., and 2,500/. at 3t per cent, making together
1,522,5874 The capital account shows that 7,174,407/.
had been received, and 7,137,561/. expended, giving
credit for 59,1421. surplus land and other property,
leaving a balance of 36,845/. The revenue account for
the half-year stated that 251,882/. had been received, in-
cluding 3,947/. from the last account, and that 107,3551.,
had been expended, leaving a balance of 144,527/. The
reserve fund amounts to 26,1124

SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY.
The number of passengers conveyed on this railway
rto and from tho London-bridge terminus, on Saturdo),
,
aL;vraii ls,73s—namely, 7,983 to 14)ndon, end 7,752 frcm
d o,;biados.

LETTER from JOHN MITCHEL.
LATEST NEWS FROM THE " EXILES "-SAFE

ESCAPE OF M'MANUS.
We copy the following from the Freeman's Journal:—
"Bothwell, Van Diemen's Land,
St. Patrick's Day, 1851.
" My dear Gray,—Will you do us, felons, a favour?
You will see by three newspapers which I send you by
this post, that the official people here, through the
Advertiser, which is the' Government organ,' are trying
to deprive us of all respect and consideration by charg-
ing us with a breach of faith in the mere matter of
riding out of our prescribed bounds sometimes—as if
we could not as easily leave the island: M'Manus has
shown them how easily, the minute he was free of his
parole. In short it seems not enough that we are in
the power of these gaolers, and subject to every brutal
usage they may choose to inflict, but as was always yet
the trick of their English nation,' they must also
blacken and belie their enemies. Therefore, you see
they lie like Britons.
" I believe the plot to be this—to produce in England
the impression that our parole cannot be trusted, and so
to procure from London authority for Sir William Deni-
son to take us into custody and set us to work. And the
plot may succeed if no notice be taken of it. Now, the
favour you are to do us is, simply to make it known that
these fellows do not impeach our good faith without
being at least answered. And this you can do by print-
ing such extracts from these papers, and making such
remarks as you may judge best for the purpose. But
for God's sake no appeal ad misericordiam
" Is it not said that Sir William Denison must be an-
swered, for the present, only thus? And is it not a gal-
lant thing in him to set his newspaper to abuse men who
are under his lock and key, that be may do a pleasure
to his employers—the British Government and the
British nation generous, chivalrous, magnanimous
British nation!
" So now that I have vented my wrath, I feel easier,
and am in a good humour. Therefore I must tell you
that from many individuals and families of that same
British nation, settled in this country, we have re-
ceived (Martin and I) the kindest and most
considerate attentions and hospitalities. Indeed the
agreeable society of their houses has rescued us
from the abomination of felonious company, or (what
would have been our only alternative) the grimmest au-
litude. lam very grateful to these good people; and
whatever may be my horror of the English Government
in Ireland, I assure you I don't hate Englishmen, and as
for Englishwomen, I love Englishwomen.
" You have heard, I am sure, of our way of life here,
through the friends of O'Meagher, Martin, &c., for they
keep perpetually writing letters. So I need hardly in-
dulge in description. Yet here's one taileau for you.
Imagine Martin and me, atter a glorious ride of twenty
miles through noble old woods, lying on the bank of a
fine lake, deep in the central mountains. It is noon day,
and so calm the water is hardly rippling on the pebbles,
and the wooded banks and promontories, and the
endless wilderness of bush stretched away through
the smoky district to blue peaks of the north-west, are
all sleeping in the sun, and bathed, and beam-
ing in an atmosphere of gold and purple. A boat
nears us slowly by help of both sail and oars; a sun-
burnt man in a sailor's jacket stands in the stern sheets,
holding the tiller; by his side on crimson cushions, sits a
fair and graceful girl. The sun-burnt fellow is O'Meagher,
and that lady, so fair and graceful is, who do you think?
Why Mrs. O'Meagher, you dog. Martin and I spring:into
the boat, do our greetings, put the boat's head about, set the
sail, for a breeze has sprung up, and skim along under a tri-
colour flag (you know O'Meagber is great in flags), till we
open a quiet bay, at the head of which bay stands a pretty
cottage with verandah and a gum-tree jetty stretching
into the water. We step ashore, and are welcomed into
our friend's newly-built house by his newly-wedded wife.
They have elegant rooms, books, horses, boats—why it
is almost like living. I usually feel our condition here
to be a kind of syncope or trance, our movements to be
somnambulatory, and our apparent doings and sayings
to be sick men's dreams; but this is absolutely a kind of
tuasi life.
" Until lately we used to be perpetually going to the I
lakes—that is, Martin, O'Dogherty, O'Meagher, and I
—and we had a pleasant enough time of it; but I fear
that is almost over now. Sir William Denison will pro-
bably
be provoked into enforcing his regulations, and
then, I suppose, we must be content with our bounds.
" Are you tired, or will you take another taideau? A
cavalcade has been organized to go and see the Ouse
river—a fine clear, full, whirling, rushing, deep-eddy-
ing stream, as large as the Erne or Boyne, and we are
returning by moonlight, careering through the lonely,
woods and frightening the five wits out of the opos-
sums, that clamber in a great hurry tosthe very tops of
the trees as we go thundering along, for all the ladies
ride like demons. We dismount at a hospitable
house. There is a good wood tire, a lively tea-table, a
piano, and amongst the songs that while away the even-
ing we aro always sure to hear the " Shan Van Vocht,"
or " The Wearing of the Green," or the like. The good
souls do this to please the exiles; and Martin and I ride
home to our little cottage as neary content as it is possi-
ble for banished men to be.

"For after all, you know the case is bad—much worse
than death. And all Irish movements at present are a
thing to gnash the teeth over, if that were any com-
fort. Yet I, duly perpending all these things, have
resolved not to gnash my teeth, but to make the
best of this affair, to take care of my health
(which is better than it had been for ten years
tiefure my kidnapping), to read, to ride, to smoke, yea,
to drink, and in ail Way. to enjoy my death-in-life, in
defiance of the very devil. It will be over some day. I
shall revisit the breathing world through the horu-g..te
—that is. round Gipe Horn—and then--
" In the mean time I expect Mrs. Mitchel and the chil-
dren out here very soon, In fact, they may arrive by any
tide, and then I mean to farm and feed my sheep, like an
Arcadian swain, or Australian squatter, and teach
the buys whatever I know—make hem good horsemen,
and bring them up iu the love and fear of the British
constitution. Gray, do you remember the offer you
made to me as I stood in the dock waiting fur my sen-
tence? It you forget it, I do not, and, my dear fellow,
I never will.

" Mr. O'Brien is now living i❑ a district near Laun-
ceston, in the north of the island. I have never seen
him since my kidnapping, but have had several let-
ters from him. When he was about to remove
from New Norfolk to his new abode, he wrote
to us to say, that Bothwell being directly in his
way, he would spend a day with us, ride up with us
to the lakes the next day (that being also in his way);
spend another day there, and go forward with O'Meagher
on his journey to Campbelltown. You must know it
is usual to let the common prisoners, when they have
a pass to go from one district to another, take
their own route, and remain days on the way; and
M'Manus, when he had a similar journey to make some
months ago, did the very same thing which O'Brien pro-
posed to do. Well, it came to the Governor's ears that wo
expected the pleasure of this visit; so he made haste to get
a written order dispatched to O'Brien, requiring him to pro-
ceed to his destination by way of Bridgwater and the mail
coach road, and not to loiter on the way.' For you
know if three rebels should get together they might plot
mischief, and danger might arise to the British consti-
tution. Three rebels! Why it is the precise number
that makes a riot. Wherefore Sir William acted with
prudence as well as magnanimity.
" I sat down merely to ask an editorial favour of
you, and here I have written you a long rigmarole. If
you like to print any of it, or all of it, do so ; but at
any rate do the main thing for us ; don't let those in-
fernal English papers get up a cry of breach of parole'
against us. They have beaten us—could they not now
let us alone?—l remain, my dear Gray, very truly yours,
" JOHN MITCHEL.
_ _ _

" P.S.—I bethink me that I ought to tell you how it
fell out that M'Manus found himself at liberty to make
his escape. Of course when the Governor took him into
custody, and revoked his ticket of leave,' his parole
was at an end, and it would require a new ticket of leave
and new promise to revive it. In O'Dogherty's
case, after his month's hard labour, his ticket-
of-leave was restored, and a new parole required
of him. Not so M'Manus: he was not set at
liberty again by the Governor, but in spite of the
Governor, by the intervention of another power, the
Supreme Court.' And far from giving him bank his
'comparative liberty,' or taking a new parole, the Go-
vernor sent him orders at once to report himself at a
' hiring depot.' But it was too late. M'Manus had a
clear day or two, and good friends, a ship was ready to
sail, and so he went off.