The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-10 00:00:00

Wakefield. On a show of hands 11 were in favour
and 12 against it. A poll was demanded.
The next was a bill for incorporating the Cheshire
lines committee, and for authorising that committee
to make and execute certain new railways and
works, and to raise additional capital. The three
companies were to subscribe £34,000 each. On a
show of hands 11 were in favour and 17 against the
bill, and a poll was demanded.
The next was a bill to enable the Halifax and
Ovenden Junction Railway Company to vary the
line of their railway and to increase their capital,
and to enable the Lancashire and Yorkshire and
Great Northern Companies to subscribe £30,000
each. On a show of hands 9 were in favour of the
bill and 15 against it, and a poll wasdemanded. The
result of the poll in respect of the four resolutions
was that 10 persons present representing £110,847
stock, and 93 proxies, representing £606,074 'stock ,
together £716,921, were in favour of the resolutions
approving the bills ; and three persons present re-
presenting £15,560 stock against them, leaving a
majority of seven persons present, representing
£606,074 stock—total, £701,361 stock, in favour of
the resolutions approving the bills.
The proceedings then terminated.

LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST.
A meeting of shareholders in- this company was
held yesterday at the London Tavern with a view to
prevent the making of any further extension lines,
and the consequent outlay of further capital. Sir
Charles Jackson was unanimously requested to take

that a committee be appointed to inquire into the
affairs of the company, and to report to the his-
tory of the lines proposed to be.vested in the Lon-
don, Brighton, and South Coast Company to see
that no new liability be incurred, and generally to
inquire as to branch lines and as to the withdrawal
of the bills.

Mr. J. T. MACKENZIE seconded the motion. He
thought they should have business men on the
Board who would protect their property in future;
who would refrain from insane rivalry, and endea-
vour to improve the property. The Surrey and Sus-
sex Junction would, no doubt, do very well for soli-
citors, contractors, and engineers, but would be most
injurious to the company. The shareholders must
stop these gentlemen, and protect the property.
He need only mention that the conduct of the
South-Eatern and the London, Brighton,--and
South Coast Railway Companies towards each other
had been disgraceful in the extreme. They had been
going on with reckless indifference as to the effect
it would have on the property of the shareholders.
In that way they had wasted between them
£10,000,000, and would besides commit themselves
to as much more, 'unless the proprietors now inter-
vened to prevent them. The only salvation for both
lines was a cordial alliance, and an endeavour on
both sides to serve each other honestly. By this
course they would save more than £lOO,OOO a year
In working expenses alone. They might then go
jointly to Parliament for the abandonment of all the
useless lines they were now empowered to make.
They had-now an- excellent property if it were pro-
perly managed, and that was.what the shareholders
should insist upon. He held a very large stake in
the undertaking, and he had but one interest to
serve, in which all independent shareholders must
coincide—the sole object being to protect and im-
prove the property. (Hear.)
Mr. F. WILsoN said he was prepared to state that
the directors would not oppose the appointment of a
committee, if the object. was not hostile to them,
and for improvement of the property. They were
prepared to meet them in a friendly spirit, and to
consider the propriety of abandoning certain lines.
He said that Mr. Lawrie, the chairman, had resigned.
lie then moved a resolution to the effect that a
committee of large independent shareholders be ap-
pointed to meet the directors in a friendly spirit,
and consult with them as to what should be done for
the benefit of the undertaking.
Mr. GOEZ cautioned the shareholders not to be led
away from the great object they hal in view. They
should elect their own men, otherwise they would be
defeated, and the vicious, bad system would be con-
tinued.

Mr. FIELDER proposed a resolution to the effect
that the meeting viewed with great satisfaction the
desire of the directors to have a full inquiry by in-
dependent large shareholders, and that the meeting
pledged itself that the desire of the directors should
be carried out at the next meeting.
Mr. ADAMS seconded the amendment.
After some observations from Mr. COHEN the
amendment was rejected, and the original motion
was carried unanimously.
Sir C. Jackson, Col. Miller, M.P., Mr. H. Goez,
and Mr. Mackenzie were appointed a committee,
with power to add to their number. A resolution
was unanimously passed, requesting the shareholders
to rescind the proxies given to the directors.
The proceedings concluded with a cordial vote of
thanks to the chairman for his able conduct in pre-
siding, and three cheers for Sir C. Jackson.

GERMANY AFTER TIIE WAR OF 1866.

(From the Westminster Gazette.)
We do not care to gainsay our illustrious
author, if he only seeks to cherish the hope that
Prussia, at a nearer or more distant day, may re-
turn to the paths which she has forsaken, of the
Divine law and of historic right; it is enough for
us to expose, and by the aid of our author's
own testimony, to prove unanswerably that such
return is at the present moment absolutely impos-
sible, that the establishment now of a new and
stable order of things, in union with Prussia, is a
contradiction in terms. The impossibility, very
clear in itself, becomes still more apparent upon
casting a glance at. the history of Prussia, where
we shall see the black colour we have before
spoken of almost always predominating. Let us
even question those who give the tone to this
Prusso-mania ; their writings and speeches bristle
with the proofs, that almost all that has ever been
done in Prussia was but the preparation and the
paving the way for the events that have just
occurred. The works of Knopp, too, which the
Prusso-maniacs cannot read with patience, agree
in the main with their own representations, with
this difference, that in the one what honest folks
reprove as wrong, in the other is considered
right, because springing from an historical ne-
cessity. But laying aside books, how, we may ask,
could the idea of the Prusso-mania that dominates
at present have at once carried away all parties ;
were not the minds of all parties peculiarly suscep-
tible to, and prepared for its reception ? Was not
Prussia from of old ever given to violence and rapa-
city, to haughtiness and malicious intrigue ? Was
she not devoid of poesy, of Christian chivalry, of
nobility and genuine heroism ? How is it to be
explained that these un-Christian and un-German
qualities have from time immemorial been re-
garded, in the language of the German people, as
synonymous with Prussian habits and manners ?
On the exhibition of such defects, who has not
over and over again heard the exclamation, " how
truly Prussian ?" How old is the custom in Ger-
many of altering the Prussian motto, " suum
cuique tribue," by substituting the word " rape "
for the word " tribue," of describing the Prus-
sian eagle as the bird of prey, of calling it a
cuckoo, because of its custom of laying its eggs in
other birds' nests, and of styling crafty plots
Prussian tricks ? We must have recourse to her
most learned antiquarians to discover, if possible,
the period when these popular views first sprang
up in Germany. Are these, perchance, mere out-
breaks of rancour and bitterness ? They meet us
in and out of Prussia ; they reach our ears wherever
the German tongue is heard, in all innocence, often
even in the merriest moods. Verily, the language
of the people has, like history, its own tribunal.
But such judgments must not be made univer-
sal ; exceptions must be acknowledged ; and we
cheerfully recognize the existence of such excep-
tions, and especially those fine and noble races
whose territory the Prussian State has long since
annexed. These censures refer alone—and on this
too great stress cannot be laid—to the specific and
dominant " Prussianry." This " Prussianry," in-
deed, has, in its way, no parallel in all Europe.
Beyond the bounds of ancient Germany it has its
roots in the lands of some Sclavonic neighbours,
a portion of whom, millions in number, to this day
live in the midst of their German conquerors ;
while another portion, intermarrying with these—
a not very happy mixture—has begotten a mon-
grel kind of race. Here grew and throve this
singular rapacious military State, drawing its
strength, not from the warlike spirit of its people,
but from a most cruel military conscription. As
its origin was in usurpation, so also was its
growth. llence that indelible stamp on the
Prussian army (in spite of the fine elements it
now possesses) of a frigid joyless discipline, com-
bined with a certain rude arrogance ; hence that
want of cheerful, soldier-like cordiality and
brotherhood, of chivalrous gallantry, and, above
all, of a high feeling for its sacred calling of com-
bating for right, of protecting the weak, of re-
straining the wrong-doer virtues which even
heathenism inseparably attached to the idea of a
hero. Had the heroes of heathenism—celebrated
in song—but heard of such deeds of rapine as
have of late been perpetrated in Bohemia and
Moravia, in Saxony and Hanover, in Hesse and