The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-23 00:00:00

Railways in and to Indic

There is no man who, from first to last, has done
more good work for the promotion of railway com-
munication in India than Mr. W. P. Andrew.
From the time when, more than twenty years ago,
he wrote a remarkable pamphlet, far in advance of
the times, under the modest nom de guerre of an
" Old Indian Postmaster," up to the present day,
he has laboured most assiduously, and has devoted
no common energy and ability to the furtherance of
this great object. On the general subject of Indian
railways,, or any particular points connected with it,
no man is listened to with more respect. We were
glad, therefore, to see him the other day coming
frankly and honestly forward to vindicate in the
columns of the Times the Indian Government with
respect to the good faith which it had always ob-
served in the matter of its guarantees. " I have
been a party to no less than four contracts with the
Secretary of State for India in Council conferring
the advantages of the
guarantee of the Government
of India on the several undertaking, with which I
am connected, and in no instance has there been
for a moment the slightest cavil as to the amount
of interest due from Government, or a day's delay
in the payment of the amount. Even during the
height of the mutiny, the good faith and punctuality
for which the Government of India has ever been
distinguished, were as manifest as in ordinary
times." This is no more than ought to be said
about the good faith of the Indian Government,
but it is well that it should be said on
such high authority. After this, Mr. Andrew
goes on to explain in a very lucid manner the real
character of Government guarantees in India, and
the precise powers which they confer on the Govern-
ment granting them. On this the 7 imes observes
that " the evil incidental to Indian guarantees lies
in the readiness of the Indian Government to grant
them. The moment any of the five per cent.
enterprises creep up above par, a fresh supply is
threatened, aad thus the previous investors never see
their stocks attain a proper position in the market.
But for this constant swamping of any premium to
which they may reach, they would probably before
this have acquired a popularity in India that might
have tempted native capital to flow iuto them, a result
which has thus far been remarkably absent. Certainly,
if the debt is, as Mr. Andrew suggests, to be looked
upon as almost equally sacred with the liability to the
English fundholder, it would be well that Parliament
should at once assume a greater supervision over it,
since in that case, where there is the present jea-
lousy of affording the slightest aid to English lines,
we may assume there would also be some disposition
to restrain the extension of our credit commitments
for a territory so distant." But the fact is that there
is not at present any readiness on the part of the In-
dian Government to guarantee any experiments of
the kind, and that, as far as we understand the mat-
ter, Parliament has really nothing to do with it.
If an imperial guarantee were given, of course
Parliamentary supervision would be called for ; but
as it is, the supervision of the Secretary of State for
India in Council, which is vigilantly exercised, is all
that is required. Turning to another and perhaps
more important subject, we may say that we observe
with much satisfaction that Mr. Andrew is again
moving—and he is one of those men who seldom
move in such cases without eventual success—for
the promotion of the great national scheme of the
Euphrates Valley Railway. This is a project the
immense advantages of which far transcend either
the difficulty or the cost of execution. To open
out a new and more expeditious " overland" route
,ed
on mtehne other hand, such as
offeredgigan t o gigantic
e it
to India would seem to be
tsa
under-
takingsmall,
a;ndbtuhte tfahceiliitmieps
to encourage every reasonable expectation of success
in all the different aspects in which it can be re-
garded—political, military, commercial, and finan-
cial. On the present occasion, we merely
glance at this important subject. But it is one
which we shall keep steadily before us, and
to which we shall return from time to time, as
the scheme appears to develope itself. It can-
not be in better hands. Napoleon said that he
had faith only in successful men. Mr. Andrew has
been eminently successful. The schemes which he
has worked out have prospered ; and this, the
greatest scheme of all to which he has directed his
energies, will, we believe, be eventually accom-
plished.

The Riotous Proceedings in Wolverhampton.

WOLVERHAMPTON, Friday.
At about midnight on Thursday the magistrates
came to the determination, from information they
had received, that to effectually secure the peace of
the town last night it would be necessary to obtain
the presence of another troop of cavalry, and like-
wise to call up the yeomanry. They therefore at
once telegraphed to the officer commanding the Bth
Hussars at Coventry, and at the same time inti-
mated what they had done to the commanding
officer of the district at Manchester. Yesterday at
about half-past one o'clock a troop of the Bth Hus-
sars, under the command of Capt. Kennard, arrived
at Wolverhampton by special train from Coventry,
and during the afternoon two telegrams were re-
ceived from the Home Secretary giving instructions
for the swearing in of special constables, but com-
municating no instructions by virtue of which the
authorities would be empowered to stop the lectures.
The refractorylrish inhabitants and their abettors
from the vicinity have threatened the life of the
mayor, Sir John Morris, and to destroy his works
and also the private residence of the mayor's manager,
Mr. Fuller, under the belief that they are aiding
and abetting Murphy, the lecturer. The lecture
last night was to be on the confessional. Towards
the lecturer and his cause a large amount of sympa-
thy has been expressed by the Protestant working
men of the town ; all the operatives at several manu-
factories have come forward and volunteered their
services to protect the lecturer during the evening,
and arrangements were made by the lecturer and his
party to admit between 500 and 600 of these men—
all armed.by some weapon of their own choosing—
by the side door of the hall.
It was expected that Irish miners would come into
should
ol w
pe magistrates reassembled
ithe town last night from Bilston, Willenhall, Porto-
bel10,
udbe elsewhere.drawn
four o'clock. It was resolved that One tro ,p of
hussars
the direction of a local magistrate,itl
)
ueen
es
a- sdriy uat roe , under
rch
to any part of the town that might possibly ba at-
tacked ; that the yeomanry should be sent out as
patrols to those outlying thoroughfares specially
oreoapteonfedn;uassnadrs,tlbtayt
150
oe
policemen,Agriultural Hall, the
place of the lecture, should be guarded by the other
threatened
and by the
volunteers of the town, acting as special constables.
WOLVERHAMPTON, Friday Night.

The town was patrolled throughout, and the hall
was well guarded. Ten thousand people were out-
side. Threats were made of firing the property in
the town. A rush at the hall was defeated, and
many bludgeons were taken from the Irish. Three
thousand people were at the lecture. The town was
cleared at ten. Father Kelly was sent for by the
stipendiary, and he he gone 0414330 the Irish.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

ALLOCUTION OF THE POPE.
ROME, Feb. 22.

At a secret consistory held this morning the
Pope announced his intention to canonize Brother
Leonardo of Porto Maurizzio. His Holiness then
delivered a short allocation, in which he alverted
to his letter to King Victor Emmanuel in 1865,
written with the object of providing for the vacant
bishoprics, and declared that the negotiations for
that purpose, which have now been resumed, were
not broken off through the fault of the Holy See.
Ilis Holiness lamented the fact that the bishops
whom he sends to empty churches will find theirpro
perty appropriated and their religious congregations
expelled ; adding, " They will find affliction and
misery; nevertheless we send them for the salva-
tion of souls. They will go in the name of Jesus
Christ, confiding in the protection of the Mother of
God." His Holiness concluded by stating that it
was not expedient to say more in the present state
of things ; but unless God interposed, the future
was clearly to be foretold by the deplorable events
which have already taken place. " Nevertheless,"
said his Holiness, "we must rely upon the protec-
tion of Heaven to change our sorrow into joy."
The Pope then announced that he had preconised
several bishops, and hoped to be able to increase
the number at future consistories. The number of
bishops preconised this morning is thirty, two of
whom are for France, three for the Island of Sar-
dinia, four for Piedmont, two for Sicily, four for
Tuscany, two for the Marches, two for the patri-
mony of St. Peter, five for Hungary, one for Bava-
ria, one for Ireland, and five in partibus.