The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONIMY EVENING, AUGUST 12, 1867.

River Railroad aro stated to be 13 per cent. on the entire
amount of money represented. While this result must be
very encouraging to the stockholders, it has a broader sig-
nificance as bearing on the value of railroad property,
and on their earnings. it is true that this road
has the advantage of immediate connection with
the metropolis. But it divides, for the whole year
the passenger trade with the Harlem Road. During
the summer months the river carried thousands
of passengers, and nearly all the freight. Competition is
for eight months sharp and constant. The road was very
expensive in construction, and the cost of maintenance is
very heavy. Yetit is earning, according to the statement
eight per cent. for regular dividends on the increased capi-
tal, and five per cent. to be applied to other purposes. If this
can be done on that road, on two cents a mile fare, why
cannot it be done elsewhere ? There is no business mat-
ter in which all classes are more interested. Transporta-
tion is an element of cost in almost every article of con-
sumption. The capital invested in railroads in the United
States is about $1,500,000,000. Are the statements of net
earnings on the Hudson River Road at two cents a mile
fare correct ? If they aro accurate, why ao not other rail-
roads make as favourable an exhibit ?-1,71ea Gazette.
The Bridgeport Standard learns that the New
York and New Haven Railroad Company intend soon to
put a new invention for ventilating cars on their road.
The air passes in at the front window, over water, where
it is purified, and then is distributed through pipes opening
into various parts of the car.
The Wall-street Journal reports that at a meeting
of the board of directors of the New York Central Railroad
Company, held at Albany on July 25, Henry Keep resigned
the presidency of the road. The position was unanimously
tendered to William C. Fargo, but he declined. H. H.
Baxter was then elected president of the road. Tho ad-
vices from Albany are to the effect that the regular half
yearly dividend of three per cent. has been declared, and
that Mr. Richard M. Blatchford (of the old direction) has
been elected to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resigna-
tion of Mr. Keep. Mr. Blatchford was the vice-president
under the administration of tho late Dean Richmond, and
left the direction, in common with other friends of Mr.
Vanderbilt, last December.
The same journal states :—" A good deal of talk
is made at Cincinnati over aome alleged astounding dis-
closures concerning the sale of the Lafayette and Indiano-
polis Railroad to H. C. Lord and others. W. F. Raynolds, of
Lafayette, formerly President of the Lafayette Road, is
charged with fraudulently concealing the financial condi-
tion of the road from a part of the directors, and paying no
dividends for fifteen years, secretly accumulating the sur-
plus earnings, and representing the road as losing money,
while it was in a most flourishing condition—all for the
purpose of buying up the stock for a song. The Tippe-
canoe County Commissioners sold him the county's stock
in the road in 1865 for $25,000, when it really was said to
be worth $340,000.
RNILROADS Iv TEXAS.—The Houston and Texas
Central Railroad Company has acquired by purchase a
controlling interest in the Washington County Railroad.
The Central Company now takes the Washington County
Railroad into their own hands. The lino is to be put in
thorough repair.
The Kansas City Advertiser of the 13th inst.
says:—" We learned yesterday that the iron for the Fort
Scott and Kansas City Railroad had been secured, and
that the work of laying it would begin in the course of a
month ; also that the most of the heavy grading upon this
road will bo completed in 60 days between this and Paola,
a distance of 40 miles, so that when the work of laying
the iron begins, the light grading can be rapidly completed.
We may not be surprised to hoar of a pleasure trip being
given by this road to Fort Scott, on Now Year's Day, 1868.
COMFORT FOR RAILWAY TRAVELLERS ON THE
CONTINENT.—Tho directors of the Baden railways have
set a good example in the way of improvement. All the
carriages of every class are to be furnished with heating
apparatus in winter, a great boon to the third-class pas-
sengers. Hitherto only first and second-class carriages
bad been so provided. In Franco first-class carriages are
alone supplied with hot-water cylinders for the feet. In
England the first step has yet to be taken in that direction.

DIVIDENDS.

The TVall-street Journal says the Pacific Bank, of
New York City, will pay 5 per cent. on demand, free of tax ;
the Southern Bank of New Orleans, 4 por cent., at the Cho-

mical Bank, New York; the Fulton Fire Insurance Corm
pany, 5 per cont.; the Republic Fire Insurance Company,
61 per cent.; the Yonkers and New York Fire Insurance
Company, 5 per cent.; the Williamsburg City Fire Insur-
ance Company, 5 per cent.; the Cleveland, Columbus, and
Cincinnati Railroad Company, 4 per Cent.; the Cincin-
nati and Martinsville Railroad Company, 3 per cent.
on the Guaranteed Stock, and the Columbia Oil
Company, of Pittsburg, 75 cents per share. The
Sensenderfer Mining Company, of Colorado, have de-
clared their regular monthly dividend for June, of 1 per
cont., payable at the office of the company, 19, Broad-
street. New York, on July 25th. The Eureka Lake and
Yul-a: Canal Company, Consolidated, have declared a
quarterly dividend of 2i per cent., payable in gold on
demand at their office, 31, Now-street, New York. The
Allegheny and Pittsburgh Oil Company have declared a
dividend of 1 per cent., and the Dalzell Oil Company of
2 per cent. (on their reduced capital stock of 8100,000),
both payable on demand at their respective offices, in
Philadelphia.
The St. Nicholas Insurance Company of Now York
City will pay a dividend of five per cent., free of tax, on
August Ist ; the Corn Exchange Bank, five per cent. ; the
Home Insurance Company, five per cent; the Broadway
Insurance Company, six per cent. ; the Peter Cooper Firo
Insurance Company, five per cent. ; the Delaware and
Bariton Canal and Camden and Amboy Railroad and
Transportation Companies, five per cent. ; the New
Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company, five per
cent. on the full stock, and two dollars per share on the
scrip stock ; the Buffalo and Erio Railroad Company, five
per cont.; the Sixpenny Savings Bank of this city a semi-
annual dividend at the rate of six per cent. per annum ;
and the Universal Life lusumnce Company, three and one,
half per cent.
The coupons of the first mortgage bonds of the Union
Pacific Railroad Company (Eastern Division), duo August
Ist, will be paid on that day, by Dabney, Morgan, and Co.,
New York; of the first mortgage bonds of the Memphis
and Charleston Railroad Company, due on August Ist, by
Winslow, Lanier, and Co., New York ; and of the first
mortgage bonds of the Hudson River Railroad Company,
duo August Ist, at the treasurer's office, New York.

And alluding to Juarez he said :—" After having
conquered this impious enemy, who has spilt the
blood of our fellow-citizens, and outraged our flag
—to treat with him would be to give the lie to
the entire campaign which we commenced the
31st of October, 1861. It would be to say to the
Mexican Indians : Have confidence no more in
us ' • trust no more the flag of France.' " But this
is what is said to-day by the blood of poor Maxi-

milian.
In that debate M. Rouher praised the new Em-
peror of Mexico, and his bold, but prudent and
sagacious policy. And, speaking of the French
expedition in Mexico, he added : " This will be a
glorious page in history." That glorious page was
closed on the 10th of June, 1867 ; and now the
Mexican expedition may be classified under four
heads : French brag, Napoleonic desertion, treachery
of Lopez, and murder of Maximilian.
When, in April, 1865, far-seeing politicians
trembled for the fate of Mexico, M. Rouher re-
Have no fear ;"
—this matter is, that
panlidedatdodetdhe: L,, elgvihslaattiivsetßruoedyin:
we have accomplished a great deed, a great enter-
prize ; what is true is that legitimately called
upon to revenge the wrongs committed in this
vast territory of Mexico, we have established there
order, civilization, and liberty ; what is true, is
that we have suppressed anarchy and civil war ;
and that in a few years this pacified country will
bless France."
Two years have nearly passed, and what is true
is that Napoleon 111. founded an Empire in Mexico,
and conducted thither an Emperor ; and in the
moment of greatest danger he deserted the Empire
and the Emperor ; and that the Empire was de-
stroyed and the Emperor shot.
The Minister of Bonaparte concluded his speech
to the Legislative Body of France by declaring
that he know well the policy of Juarez, who had
said—" I will weary out the French troops and
make them go back to France." And M. Rouher
gave him to understand that he was mistaken in
his reckoning. But, after all, he was not mistaken.
Napoleon's army did return to France, and Maxi-
milian, abandoned and betrayed, is shot.
The French army, however, is returned, therefore
the work is accomplished. The balls of Juarez have
put an end to Maximilian. He who is dead is
more to be envied than he who sentenced him to
death, or than he who permitted the execution.
By a glorious end Maximilian has been able to
blot out his errors ; and history will pardon in him
all except the one unpardonable fault of having
believed the promises and accepted the offers of
one who shortly before had been his brother's un-
relenting enemy. Maximilian ought not to have
forgotten that Napoleon I. always reserved for his
own family crowns that were worth having, and
he might have replied to Napoleon. 111. that, fol-
lowing the example of his uncle, he should have
created his own cousin Emperor of Mexico.—
7estininster Gazette.

111 E NORTH ADAMS SCANDAL.

REV. MR. MERRILL'S CONFESSION.
(From the Springfield Republican.)
Rev. S. M. Merrill, the Plattsburg Methodist
minister, who was the hero in the scandal case with
a young lady at North Adams, and afterwards
tried to make people think he was drowned, when
he had in reality run away, appears now in the role
of a penitent, confessing his misdeeds and asking
for mercy, in a long communication addressed to
the 7 roy Times. Mr. Merrill lays the beginning of
his troubles to the fact that he was poor and in
debt. Changing about from place to place, after
the Methodist plan, the first years of his ministry
not getting enough to live upon alone, and after
that burdened with a constantly increasing family,
his debts continually grew more in number and
larger, and he was so low-spirited thathe he could only
and
find consolation in the company of t young
giddy. Thus
sTtahtusionheed
in
wentN eornthfrAomdambsa,dintolBw6olr,swe,hteirlel
he found the needed consolation particularly in the
company of one young lady, which may have
been natural enough, but to the unimpassioned ob-
server would hardly seem to furnish the help needed
in his particular case. From this point the confes-
sion goes on as follows, closing with a despairing
plea to the public for mercy. Whether Mr. Mur-
rill in the confession tells the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, we leave it for the public, to
which he appeals, to judge. To us this confession
appears fully as remarkable as any of the previous
developthents in this remarkable case :
" My debts perfectly overwhelmed me at times.
I sought the society of the young, and where most
freedom. and gaiety could be found there I visited
most frequently. This gave occasion for talk. Some
scandal soon started in connection with my name.
But as God is true, I only sought this society in
preference to the more sober to drown my trouble
of
listenmintdo
mind.
thewasproud and wilful, and would not
counsel of friends. Up to this time
my reputation as a minister had not materially suf-
fered. As the last year drew to a close my reputa-
tion was suffering more than I was at the time
aware of. I was indiscreet. I called at the house
of the family with whom my name has been so
sadly associated more frequently than I ought to
myself an injury, but
knows I did not intend
havethe f
family
done.
to injure any one. Two or three of the family were
i dunuott ooneldy
members of the choir and excellent singers. This
served to furnish relief from the gloom and darkness
also.ld
which had settled down upon me. I always appeared
cheerful. But it was all put oWestn. I I
me was t
the miserlaabldy
e
indeed. When on my way ,
whose name has been
and so unf
ace om ortunately
her to associaAlbany,
ted with
my own in Troy,accompanied
a most careless and imprudent step. This gave oc-
casion for that awful article which appeared in the
limes, charging us with an elopement. When
that article was published we were more than 200
miles apart, and when the paper was handed me
and I read the article the last ray of light seemed to
be extinguished. I was on my way home. Oh
God! my mind wandered and my brain was on fire.
I tried to pray. I wept and walked the boat. I
returned to Troy and secured a retraction in the
papers. But whatever paper I took in my hands
froth distant parts of the country, my eyes were
horrified with the most extravagant and false state-
ments in relation to me. And here I desire to say
that no part of the blame or censure belonging
to me for imprudence or wrong doing in the whole
matter should be cast upon the young lady involved
in this sad affair. lam older, and on my un-
covered head let the blows of condemnation fall. I
am to blame. Every fair-minded person will see
that what I now say cannot be said to screen me
or in any way help my case, further than as truth
will do it. But as God is my judge, and as I expect
to give a strict account at His bar in the last great
day for all I speak and do ; and as I hope for ac-
quittal when all men shall stand silent before God,
so far as any crime is concerned with me, or any
other being on earth, as far as I know, that young
lady is as pure as the stars that shine over her head
by night, or the sun which lights her path by day.
" I went home to my desolate and sorrow-bowed
family. I tried to
hope. I tried to pray. A
horror of darkness came over me. I owed full
one thousand dollars, three hundred of which was
bank paper just due, and but one hundred dollars
on earth to pay the debts. My reputation was
blasted—my hopes crushed. I walked my house—
I walked the streets in gloom. I did not know
what to do. I resolved to throw myself into the
river, and either sink to the bottom never to rise
or escape in the darkness and never be seen again
by any one I knew. I arrat4.;ed the grim and
dreadful work with the hot tears burning their
way down my face. I plunged wild and madly
into the stream. But, oh God ! The agonised
cries of my poor affrighted boys tore into my
bleeding heart. I made my way out far down
the river. I ran to my house, and passing up
through the cellar, got some dry clothes, and
started on my dreary and desolate course to-
wards Canada. All night long I walked, and
cried and prayed, those fearful cries tearing into
my heart and making me sick and faint. But
the awful deed was done. The ruin was
accomplished. For two weeks I moved about
from place to place a walking desolation. For
the first time it occurred to me that my

life insurance might be paid to my wife, sup-
posing me drowned, and at last subject her and
my family to the additional disgrace of being
suspected of complicity in wrong. I wanted
them to be pure and innocent as the light of heaven.
This I could not bear, I went to my desolate room
and wrote a letter to my distracted family that I
was alive, and not to take any money on my life
insurance. Oh God, what an hour was that I I
began to realise as I had not done before the awful
fall I had experienced. Oh, I held my poor throb-
bing temples in my hands. I lay in agony upon
the floor. I tried to pray. When that letter was
once in the office I felt an indescribable relief. But
oh, the sadness of my poor heart ! What sleepless
nights ! What long, weary, desolate days ! Oh
my poor Cordelia, the companion of my youth !
How true and forgiving ! My poor children 1 For-
saking all their childish sports to mourn for one
whom they had loved and trusted with the faith and
purity of the angels ! All these things hung upon me
and filled me with a horror of darkness. How many
times I asked myself the question, Is this true, or
is it a hideous dream—some horrid nightmare, from
which I shall awake to find myself at my home safe
and happy ? But alas ! it is too true.
" And now, how can language give adequate ex-
pression to the thoughts and feelings of such a sad
and desolate heart as mine ? How have I wronged
them ! I will not blame any one but.myself. I will
attempt no excuse whatever ; I alone am to
blame ; I ought to have suffered on, if need be,
till death. Then there is the church of God for
which I have worked so hard. How I have
injured and disgraced her ! How I have wounded
and wronged the ministers ! How I have loved
and prayed for them ! God knows I did not
intend to harm one of them. Oh, the com-
mu❑ities where I have lived ! How I have wronged
them all ! And the whole public, how I have in-
sulted and wounded it. Oh ! I am a poor, deso-
late, helpless, ruined man ! I come to the church,
to the ministers of all denominations, to the
people of Plattsburg, who have been so distracted,
but so forgiving and kind, and hold up my trem-
bling hands, and raise to you my weary longing
eyes, and ask you to forgive me. By all that is
humane and tender, by all that is to be hoped for in
this world, and by all that is to be desired in the
next, I ask you to forgive me ! As ye would that
men should do unto you, do you even so unto
them.' Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one
of the least of those ye have done it unto me.' Oh,
think of my long public life without one stain upon
it save my debts, which God knows many of them I
could not help, and then find it in your hearts to
forgive me I Oh, think of my wife, noble, gener-
ous, and pure—think of my poor children, who in
their grief have forgotten to play, and for their sake
forgive me, and extend a friendly hand to me once
more. If I had ever betrayed your trust before, I
would not ask it. But surely you will not refuse
me now. Oh, think of your own happy homes and
mine all desolate and sad—think of your own sweet
children, some of whom are in heaven; and then
think of mine, and for their sake forgive me. lam
prostrate in the dust—l am helpless and homeless—
I lift up my poor trembling hands once more, and
ask you to forgive and help me.—Yours in peni_
,ence and sorrow, " S. M. MERnILL."

The War of the Express Companies.

(From the Round Table.)
Few people who have not had special opportu-
nities for examination are aware of the magnitude
of the business transacted by express companies in
this country. From small beginning, going back
to the time of canal-boats and stage-coaches, this
business has grown until now it extends over the
continent, and is as übiquitous as the post-office
itself. There is not a village in the country,
whether in the East, the South, or the West, which
has not its express office ; and packages of large
and small dimensions, of great or little value, may
by their agency be distributed with certainty and
despatch to any point, even in the remote settle-
ments of the newest territories, and, for aught we
know, to the towns in our new acquisition on the
shores of Behring Straits on the North Pacific.
During the war the express companies were called
into request in every hamlet in the land, to carry
to the soldiers in the field the thoughtful contribu-
tions of home which kept them inspired with the
tender memories that cluster around associations
of the affections, and the good Samaritan supplies
of the Sanitary Commission were effectively trans-
ported by them to the points where they were most
needed for the relief of suffering.
The stimulus thus applied gave to all the express
companies enormous gains. After distributing in
dividends sums that to the uninitiated would appear
fabulous in the extreme, the stock of the companies
was quadrupled by a new capitalisation, and the most
stringent rules and treaties were made between the
companies to avoid competition among themselves,
and to insure unity of action in the event of any
outside opposition.
The National Bankers' Express Company was
projected, and as it threatened to deprive the old
companies of the very lucrative portion of their
business which consists of the carriage of packages
of specie, bank notes, and securities generally, it
was considered desirable to crush the project in its
infancy. This was effected by purchase. Hardly,
however, had the National Bankers' Company been
absorbed when a new opposition took its place.
The Merchants' Union Express Company at once
took the field, and occupied it with a great deal of
energy and determination to succeed. For several
months during which it has been in operation it has
succeeded so well in establishing its popularity with
the public that it has done more than a fair share of
the express business. To be sure that business has
not as yet been profitable to the stockholders, but
the new company has not suffered in the competi-
tion as much as the old ones.
The course of the old companies towards their
new rival has been marked from the outset by a
spirit of intolerance of competition which clearly
indicates a determination on their part to erec-
themselves into dangerous monopolies. But it is
too late in the day to bring forward arguments in
favour of competition or against monopolies ; an
intelligent public will require neither. The ques-
tion at issue is whether the old companies own a
monopoly of the express business, or whether, like
every other calling in this country, it is open and
free to fair competition.
The Merchants' Union Express Company has
been established upon the co-operative system, which
is now attracting so much attention in England and
in this country. The stockholders in this company
are mostly merchants who pay out large sums
yearly for express freight, and they have adopted
this plan in order to reduce what they conceive
to be the excessive charges of the old companies.
Of course, the old companies have a perfect right
to take all proper measures to retain their busi-
ness ; but we think that the course they have
determined on for that purpose is not only unfair
in itself, but that it is, as a matter of prudential
foresight on their part, a mistake. It is true
that the presidents of the old companies deny
that they have instigated the legal proceedings which
have been commenced for the purpose of winding up
the Merchants' Union Company. It is probable that
the assertions of these gentlemen are correct, but the
public will still believe that some one interested in
the old companies is at the bottom of the proceeding.
The nominal plaintiff in the action asserts that he is
the owner of fifty shares of Merchants' Union
stock, and seeks to dissolve the company in order,
as he says, that he may get his money back. His
money which he aims to save amounts to about
$1,500, and yet it is notorious that the expenses of
the proceedings he has instituted already amount
to many times that sum ; and should he succeed in
dissolving the company he and every one else knows
that he would never realise his money by such a
success. Here, then, is an example of the old
adage of throwing good money after bad with a
vengeance. It has been asserted in a card of the
attorneys of the Merchants' Union Company that the
gentleman who has brought this action against the
company was paid $1,700, by persons in the interest
of the old companies, to bring the suit. Although,
since the publication of that card, Mr. Water-
bury, the person alluded to, has issued an answer