The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-23 00:00:00

THE SUN LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 23, 1860.

TILE NATI%

The Royal paddle pacht Victoria and
Capt. the Hon. J. Denman, left Portsmouth on Mon-
day morning for a day's cruise in the Channel, and
returned to that port yesterday.
The survey of the contract-built screw gun ves-
sel Cormorant, 4, has been completed at Chatham
Dockyard by Mr. Lang, the master shipwright,
and the other officials connected with that establish-
ment. The result of the survey was generally satis-
factory, the vessel, which is a first-rate specimen of
her class, being built of sound substantial materials,
and the workmanship equally good. The utmost
pains were taken by the party engaged in the
survey to ascertain that the timbers were of sound,
well-seasoned oak, and this was found to be the case.
The Cormorant will be immediately undocked, when
the Bombay, 84, will go into the same dock to be
converted into a screw steamer.
The Racehorse, 4, screw gun vessel, another of
the contract steamers built for the Admiralty by
Messrs. Wigram and Co., is to be sent from Wool-
wich to Chatham dockyard to be surveyed. She is
a sister ship to the Cormorant.
The Plover, 4, screw gun vessel, is nearly com-
pleted at Chatham for the first-class steam reserve.

found conspiring to the injury of others they will
become amenable to the law, and public opinion
will side with those who resist their encroachments.
Let them beware of this error. As long as they
only haggle with their employers they may have
their own way. The public may think them foolish,
or extravagant, or misguided, as the case may be,
or it may possibly concur with their views, and
wish them success ; but the instant they overstep
their proper limits and begin to meddle with the
rights of others they will find the whole country
against them, and will, they may be very sure, get
the worst of the struggle. This, in a few words, is
the position in which they stand. The workmen
have done themselves no good by the "Strike" of
last year, which was conceived on unjustifiable
principles and directed to preposterous ends. They
did, however, find some support when the masters
attempted by the introduction of the " document"
to curtail those privileges of combination which
the law allowed, but if those privileges are still per.
verted to the injury of independent workmen and
the destruction of personal freedom they may de-
pend upon it they will find themselves utterly
without sympathy in any second contest.

BAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

GREAT NORTHERN.

The adjourned extraordinary meeting of this
company was held yesterday at the railway sta-
tion, King's-cross, Mr. G. H. Packe, M.P., in the
chair.
The CHAIRMAN stated that the extraordinary
meeting held a fortnight ago had been adjourned
to that day for the consideration of the remaining
bills on their list, in compliance with the standing
orders of the
~Hozi§e of Lords. The only bill he had
Initibniit fdr their approval wag' a bill for establish-
ing railway communication between Bedford and
Cambridge, and for other purposes. The bill was
promoted by an independent company for power to
construct a railway from the London and North-
Western line at Bedford to Cambridge, and to form
a junction with the Great Northern Railway at
Sandy ; also to authorize contracts to be entered
into between the proposed company and the Great
Northern and other companies for working the
traffic, and for the interchange and forwarding of
traffic, and the division and appointment of the re-
ceipts arising therefrom. It was a railway in which
they were in no way interested except as to its
passing across their line at Sandy, and forming a
junction with it.
Mr. Leech, the solicitor, read the heads of the
bill and the clauses relating to the Great Northern,
London and North-Western, and Eastern Counties
Railway Companies. The company were to have
power to purchase a short railway made by the late
Captain Peel, and to use the Bedford station of the
London and North-Western Company, and the Cam-
bridge station of the Eastern Counties Railway
Company.
A formal resolution approving the bill was car-
ried unanimously, and the meeting separated.

MONMOUTHSHIRE.
At the half-yearly meeting of this company, held
on Wednesday at Newport, Lord Tredegar in the
chair, a dividend at the rate of 5 per cent. per an-
num for the half-year ending the 31st of December
last was declared.

greatly developed by the construction of larger
pontoons, capable of lifting vessels of the heaviest
burden, and they had taken steps for the inime.
diate construction of one such pontoon.

STATE OF E(7YPT.

(Fro-;n the Times' CorreGponeegt.)

ALEXANDRIA, I‘.l.ky 11.
The result of the meeting of subscribers to the
Isthmus of Suez Canal Company, about to be held
at Paris, is looked for with some feelings of curio-
sity. A show of carrying on works in the Suez
Desert is still kept up ; but every one is agreed that
it is nothing more than a mere pretence, and that
not the slightest real progress is made. Even M. de
Lesseps' friends show great reserve when questioned
on the subject. The information we derive from
them amounts to little more than that some sort of
temporary jetty and lighthouse have been built
at the Pelusian end of the canal, and that large
numbers of huts have been erected for h.bourers. A
great deal is added about limestone found in vari-
ous spots, and about shrubs and bushes scattered
over the ground which are destined to be made use
of for converting the said stone into lime.
On the other hand, we hear that obstacles arise
and interfere with even the merest initiatory ope-
rations of the labourers, to an extent far more
serious than even the most determined opponents
of the scheme had ventured to predict. Thus,
we hear of limekilns having had to he abandoned
almost as soon as built, because it was found impos-
sible to keep them clear of the sand, which
shows an obstinate tendency either to accumu-
late around any obstacle it meets with in the
course of its flights, or else giving way beneath the
foundations and allowing the whole fabric gently
to subside within its bosom ; or, again, we hear of
ditches having been dug to carry water to some
particular part of the works, also found useless,
because before the water has run many yards every
drop is found to be absorbed.

Unfortunately, the Egyptian Government has
not kept itself so completely aloof as to enable it
peremptorily to disclaim all responsibility, and to
maintain its innocence of having lent its counte-
nance and having encouraged the waste of money
that has been accomplished. Notwithstanding
their formal declarations that no attempts to un-
dertake the works would be permitted without the
sanction of the Porte, they have done more than
merely close their eyes to what was going for-
ward; thus, among other things, allowing mate-
rials to be imported free of duty, and stone to be
extracted gratis from the Government quarries. It
is more than probable, therefore, that Said Pasha
will some day have to resist an attempt to make
him pay the reckoning there will he between M. de
Lesseps and his ill-advised subscribers.
An arrangement has been concluded between
the English residents at Alexandria and the Bri•
tish Government by which the church we have
possessed here for some years past obtains the
rare privilege for similar foundations in foreign
countries of possessing a small fixed revenue.
The Government has agreed to take on lease a
plot of land, part of the spare ground upon
which the church stands, originally presented
to the British community by Mahonuned Ali
Pasha. Of late years, through the immense
rise in the price of well situated lands suitable
for building purposes, it has become exceedingly
valuable. A rent of £340 per annum will be paid
for the ground to the church, and the Government
undertakes to erect a building upon it which will
comprise suitable consular residences and offices,
including accommodation for the British post-office,
court-house, and other official requirements. The
occupants will pay the Government a fair rent,
equivalent to that which they pay to private indi-
viduals for the scattered tenements they now occupy.
The arrangement will be advantageous to all
parties, and we shall have the satisfaction of seeing
the representatives of • our Government and the
public offices we possess in this country accommo-
dated in a manner infinitely better adapted to their
requirements, more convenient to the public as
well as to themselves, and more in harmony with
the importance of their functions in Egypt, and
with the magnitude of our interests in this country,
and which, moreover, in the eyes both of foreigners
and of natives, will be more becoming to our dignity
' as a nation, thereby placing ourselves on a level
with our French neighbours, who, with their cha-
racteristic appreciation of the advantages of being
placed in a high and independent position in the
eyes of Oriental nations, have for many years
possessed a handsome building, combining in an
eminent degree the requirements referred to, and
situate in the most central part of the town, while
the British offices had to be looked for in bystreets
and corners.
At the beginning of this week we experienced a
sharp shower of rain—a very unusual phenomenon
at this season of the year. It has, unfortunately,
caused some very serious damage to the Cairo and
Suez Railway. A portion of the embankment in
the Desert over an extent of about six miles has
been more or less washed away, and telegraph posts
have come down, thereby interrupting the commur.
nication with Suez. This part will soon be reme-
died, but the injury done to the embankment will
be more difficult to repair, and it is said will require
at least 15 days' labour of some 2,000 men.
Information has been received in Egypt of the
death of Mr. Plowden, her Majesty's Consul in
Abyssinia. He is stated to have died of wounds
received in an attack made upon him by one of the
chiefs under Negoussi, the rebel Governor of Tigre,

while he was travelling through that province on
his way from Gondar to Massowa. He wa; ran-
somed by King Theodore for 1,000 dollars, but was
already in a dying state. The assistance rendered
to the Governor of Tigre by the French, in return
for the grant of territory which he has made to
them on the seacoast, is said to be largely contri-
buting towards enabling him to resist the authority
of Theodore.