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

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
the chair.
The notice convening the meeting having been

read;
The CrlitiamArt_said that this preliminary meet-
ing had been called for the purpose of devising
means to prevent the further outlay of capital, and
to induce the shareholders to adopt a decided course
of action for the protection of their property. He
would chiefly confine his observations to the propo-
sal of the directors on the- 16th inst. to take over
three other railway undertakings—the West Sussex
Junction, the Chichester and Midhurst, and the
Surrey and Sussex Junction Railways. He did not
suppose that the first mentioned line was a very
heavy matter. The Surrey and Sussex Bill pro-

.•
posed to raise additional capital of £1,380,000, to-
wards which £244,000 had been subscribed, leaving
£1,135,000; the capital of the Chichester and Mid-
burst was £411,000, of which £35,200 had been
subscribed, leaving £375,000, and the West Sussex
a capital of £333,200, of which £lO,OOO had been
subscribed, leaving much more than £1,000,000 of
additional capital to be raised for those under-
takings. In November last the directors assured

the shareholders that, with the exception of the out-
lay of a very small sum, the directors would not
promote any new line ; but they now asked them
to sanction the taking over of three new lines he
had mentioned. They were told that the Surrey
and Sussex Junction was not a new scheme, yet he
considered the scheme now proposed in reference to
it was entirely new. They were told in the 11th
paragraph of the London, Brighton, and South
Coast Report of July, 1865, that the Surrey and

Sussex line was promoted by an independent com-
pany, and intended to run from a point one mile
south of Croydon to Tunbridge Wells, and that the
directors, feeling that it was a useful scheme, had
entered into a working arrangement with that com-
pany. In the following April the shareholders
were asked to approve a subscription to that line in
order to forward the works. Every one supposed
that the line was promoted by an independent
company, but it subsequently appeared that the
Brighton company would have to subectibe the whole
of the capital for that line. At the next meeting
they were told that the Surrey and Sussex would give
the company a third line to Brighton. He thought

the shareholders were not bound in ary way to take
over that line, which he did not suppose would be a
paying line. (No, no.) The Chichester and Midhurst
certainly would not pay, neither would the other.
The Surrey and the Sussex would be a competing
line, would be the fifth line totunbridge-wells, and
render their own line from the Three Bridges to
Tunbridge-wells almost worthless. It was proposed
not only to take over those three undertakings, but
all their liabilities, unless the shareholders could put
a stop to it. It was proposed to take over those
lines at par. He feared that the directors were inte-
rested in those lines, that they were directors' lines,
and that they wanted the company to invest their
money in them. The company had better have
nothing to do with those lines, because if they did
they would find it a very costly matter to abandon
them, should that course be deemed expedient. They
would be opposed by the landowners, and have not
only to pay a large amount of compensation, but pro-
bably 150 a day in perpetuity. The Kemp Town
Extension at Brighton would be no convenience to
the public, and would cost £200,000. There was the
Ouse Valley line, one half of which was to be aban-
doned ; and there were other lines equally useless
that ought never to have been made. In 1857 the
capital of the company amounted to £7,797,000, but
at the end of 1866 it amounted to .£16,462,191,

. ,
showing au increase of 111 per cent. in capital, while
the revenue in 1857 amounted to £446,000, and in
the past half-year to £503,060, showing an increase
of only £76,420, or only 17 per cent. and a fraction.
He contended that the 2 per cent. for the past half-
year had not been earned. There were many items
charged against capital that ought to have been
charged against revenue ; £84,000 was charged to
capital for interest on unproductive capital, and
£20,425 for fighting in Parliament against the new
Brighton line was also charged to capital. They
had charged £91,000 for new locomotive engines to
capital, and nothing to revenue for renewing old
ones. In that way they made a dividend. A large
amount of the preference capital was being placed
at 90 per cent., and some, he. was told, at 88; so
that out of £1,000,000 issued the company would
not receive more than £900,000. He estimated that

,he traffic for the present year would not exceed

£1,270,000, and that the working, &c., expenses
would be about £727,000, leaving £543,000 surplus
revenue ; and as the preference charges would be
£519,996, he supposed the company would not have
more than £23,000 for ordinary dividend. So
there was encouragement to take over new lines,
and they must stop everything in the shape of capital
expenditure. They must, in fact, speedily decide
on a mode of action to stop those people who now
had the management of their affairs. He had been
informed that some large shareholders had recently
met the directors, and after some conversation rushed
out of the room, and soon after the price of the
shares dropped considerably. (Cheers.)
Col. MILLER, M.l'., said that, under the circum-
, stances, the directors had not anything tempting to
offer. The shareholders must be aware of the neces-
sity of the case, and those who called the present
meeting were justified in so doing. He had felt it his
duty to protest against the policy of the directors.
(Hear.) He then adverted to the large increase of the
capital in the past ten years, and the very small in-
crease of revenue in proportion to the large increase
of capital. That, he thought, was enough to con-
vince directors as well as shareholders that the policy
of railway extension in that direction was a wrong
one. The constitution of railway boards was very
imperfect; they seemed to be very much influenced
in their proceedings by engineers, lawyers, secre-
taries, and other persons ; and thus often lost
sight of the commercial principle which ought to
guide them. The bit-by-bit legislation had done
immense injury to railway property, instead of deal-
ing with it in a comprehensive mauner, and sanc-
tioning lines that would not only be valuable to the
country but profitable to the shareholders. (Hear.)
He then adverted to the unprofitable nature of some
of the lines constructed by the company, and stated
that if the company went on in its present cont..°
they would soon arrive at a point when there would
not be a penny of dividend for the ordinary capital.
He concluded by moving a resolution to the effect

Mr. J. T. MACKENZIE seconded the motion. Ile
thought they should have business men on the
Board who would protect their property in future ;
')vho Would refrain from insane rivalry, and endea-
votc to improve the property. The Surrey and Sus-
stx Junction would, no doubt, do very well for soli-
eito7s, contractors, and engineers, but would be most
injurlons to the company. The shareholders must
stop these gentlemen, and protect the Froperty.
He need only mention that the conduct of the
South-Eastern 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
£10,0u0,000, 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.
He 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 had 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. Goes,
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 THE WAR OF 1863.

(From the Westnzinster 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 ifs 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 Pilla-
r 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, tc) 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. Hence 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, andrabon
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 lianoyer, in He mid

The influence of not a few .statesmen and
generals in the Prussi an service, who were not
Prussians by birth, as. Stein, Blucher, Gneisensu,
(Moltke, too, the present chief of the Prussian
army, is no Prussian.) Nevertheless, Prussianiszn
played an important, part in the years 1848-49 in.
Frankfort, and aNerwards in Erfurt, until it wa s
defeated at OlmiLtz. Nevertheless it was Prussi-
anism that conferred upon Frederick William W
what he termed a " highly valued claim." Since
then the Beriin Chambers have sympathised with
the Italian, spoliators. Vincke, one of the chief
leaders t:tzere, is pre-eminent for this. He is said
to be a personal friend of the Italian King, that
prince of the Masonic Lodges in which Bishop
Ketteler sees the cradle and the school of Prussi-
an;sm! Where, then, can one find a reasonable
ground for the painful astonishment he ex-
presses, that the rottenness that had penetrated
everywhere else had reached the green wood?