The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-31 00:00:00

Mr. R. Berson in the chair.

The Secretary read the minutes of last meeting,
which were confirmed.

The CHAIRMAN said he was sorry to say he had

received no news from the other side of the water,

The debate upon theaddress of the Emperor was st

going on in the Brazilian Chambers, and until this

►vas ended no other matter would come on for con

sideration. The old question of the stability of the
present Ministry and the war engrossed public at-

;ention. The Government had to lay on fresh
;axes, but he had no information at pre3ent to lay
_ _

before the proprietors respecting their own affairs, so
that everything remained in statu quo. It was hardly
worth while to ask them to meet again by adjourn-
ment, for if anything should transpire between this
and the holding of the next ordinary meeting in Oc-
tober the directors would let them know by circular.

There could be no 'doubt that their agent at Rio
wa3 doing all he could for them. The only other
question he had to refer to was that of the deben-

tires.

At the end of the present inonti!)
_L13:3,01

would become due, awl they had arranged for more
than one-half of them. The debenture holders could
take the company's guaranteed interest for the defi-

ciency. The company's debentures were now being
offered to the shareholders and others at 95, the in-
terest being 7 per cent per annum, which he thought
a good investment. The St. Paulo Railway Com-
pany was doing no better than they were in getting
their debentures taken up, so that he hoped the pro-
prietors would approve what the directors were doing
in that respect. They had provided for the renewal
of £73,000 oat of the £132,000 of debentures falling
due, and up to the end of December next they would
have to be renewed. He trusted there was nothing
to make them uneasy about those matters.

Lord GOUT, in reply to a question, stated tha
near the end of last mouth the directors had sent a
circular to the shareholders informing them that a
certain amount of 7 per cent. debentures were falling
due, and for which they could subscribe. If the
shareholders had come forward as the directors had
and taken up anything like their proportion the de-
bentures would have been all provided for. As they
now saw that another Brazilian company was ad-
vertising the issue of debentures at 95, the interest
being at 7 per cent. per annum, the directors had
just decided on doing the same—namely, to offer
the debentures for five years at 95, leaving 7 per
cent. interest to be paid out of their guarantee from
the Brazilian Government. He would second -the
motion that the meeting be dissolved.
A SHAREHOLDER believed, if it were generally
known that the debentures would be issued at a
lower rate than par, that the remainder would have
been taken up.
The CHAIRHAN said they had sent a circular to
the shareholders on the 29th of June, but they singe
found there was no chance of placing them in that
way. The whole of the company's debentures only
amounted to £250,000, and they had a guarantee of
£56,000 a year to pay the interest and principal if
neceaary. There was not a railway company any-
where that could pay off their debentures at once
without sufficient notice.
In reply to questions it was stated that the Minis-
ter now at the head of the Brazilian Government
was in favour of the company's claim for the ex-
tended guarantee. He was of the same opinion in
1863, and had not changed his mind. The measure
had passed the Chamber, and only required the sanc-
tion of the Senate.
Mr. MAXWELL said he believed that the direc-
tors had done the best they possibly could for the
shareholders, and he had confidence in them.
After some further observations it was agreed to
dissolve the meeting, and the proceedings con-
cluded with a vote of thanks to the chairman and
directors.

to report to an adjourned meeting of shareholders."
Mr. Rous seconded the motion.
A long discussion ensued, and several amend-
ments were moved, but the resolution proposed by
the chairman was adopted by a large majority.
Mr. H. Green and Mr. St. George Burke were
then elected directors in the room of Mr. Hoare,
deceased, and Mr. Rendle resigned, and the meet-
ing adjourned to the Ist of November next.

Miscelli

News

Admiral Tegethoff with his suite, left Liverpool
on Saturday by the China for Mexico, proceeding
by New York and Washington. It is stated that
an officer of the American navy will accompany the
Admiral to Queretaro. Juarez has, we believe,
signified to the United States Government his wil-
lingness to deliver up the body of Maximilian. Im-
mediately after the execution the corpse was em-
balmed. Juarez is said to have been compelled by
his subordinate commanders to order the death of
the Prince. It has generally been supposed that
the execution was highly unpopular among the
Indian inhabitants, and Juarez himself was an
Indian.

We noticed last week the serious illness of Judge
James W. Wayne, and this week we have to announce
his death, which occurred at Washington, Friday,
sth instant, at the age of 77. He had been ap-
pointed to his office by President Jackson. lie
was a Southerner from, the State of Georgia.
This vacancy reduces the Judges of the Supreme
Court to 8, but in compliance with the law lately
passed fixing the number at 6 the vacancy will not
be filled. The death is also announced of John A.

King, son of the celebrated Rufus King, once
United States Minister to St. James's. The late
Mr. King had held several responsible offices, even-
tually obtaining the high position of Governor of
the State of New York. He was educated at the
English public school of Harrow, and was there a
contemporary of Lord Byron and Sir Robert Peel.
He was delivering an address at Jamaica, Long
Island, on Independence Day, when he was stricken
with paralysis, and died a few hours afterwards, at
the age of 80. Another death is noted in this week's
advices, that of Mr. E. J. Westmoreland, British
Consul at Brunswick, Georgia, who, on Friday, sth
July, was shot by a man named Martin. The late
Consul had but a few hours before married a
lady of Brunswick, and it is thought jealousy
led to the murder. The assassin was arrested,
and committed to the Savannah Gaol. It ap-
pears that :General Meagher fell from the deck
of a steamer near Fort Benton, and was swept
away by the current. He was born at Waterford
in 1823, and in 1848, as a leader of the young Ire-
land party, he was arrested during the abortive
rebellion, tried for high treason, and sentenced to
death. This was commuted to transportation to
Tasmania, whence he escaped in a very questionable
manner in 1851. He proceeded direct to New
York, where he was enthusiastically received by his
countrymen in 1852. In 1861 he entered the army
as a captain for the war, and rose to the rank of
brigadier-general. He was not very successful as
a soldier except in using up the men under his
command, but be served till the end of the war,
and was then appointed secretary of Mcntana, and
was acting-governor when he was drowned. Ex-
Governor and Ex-Senator Lazarus W. Powell has
also died during the week.
Congress has defeated by a heavy majority the
resolution introduced in the House on the 9th to re-
assemble Congress in October to take up the work
of Impeachment, and to compel the Judicitrfs, Com-
mittee to make a report. The majority of the Com-
mittee held that there were no grounds for impeach-
ment, and on this plea refused to report. Last
Monday, July 22, Congress adjourned to the 13th
November. The House rejected Mr. Munger's
resolution for an investigation of rebel prisoners by
the Nortb, and resolved that the House would en-
tertain no resolution implying other than humane
treatment of rebel prisoners.
By the Java we learn that Congress had passed
the supplemental Reconstruction Bill with the
amendments of the House in the Senate, by a ma-
jority of 31 to 6, and in the House by 111 against
30 votes, and the bill had gone to the President.
A million dollars had been appropriated for Re-
construction, but the President states that the act
will necessitate the appropriation of $14,000,000,
and that Congress should consider if, in abrogating
civil Governments, the National Government would
not become responsible for the debts incurred before
the rebellion, amounting to $100,000,000. The
Justiciary Committee were instructed by the Senate
to inquire whether Kentucky, Maryland, and Dela-
ware have Republic forms of government.
Our neighbour, the Echoes of the Clubs, is too
young to know the injury it may do by concocting
despatches and publishing them as genuine docu-
ments. Some time ago such a despatch appeared
in its columns, as from the pen of Mr. Seward.
This bore too unmistakeably the stamp of its origin
to impose and obtain an extended circulation. But
the Echoes has been much more successful in its last
attempt. If the Echoes succeeded in imposing on
the Pall-Mall Gazette, and other English journals
of repute, it is little wonder that American news-
papers have been deceived. We cut from a leading
weekly the following item :—" The Russian Go-
vernment has taken the remarkable step of pro-
posing that Russia, France, and the United States
interfere with England in behalf of Ireland. The
wrongs of the Irish must be grave indeed to attract
the attention of the Czar of Russia, but it is not
likely that England will thank him for his inter-
ference or follow his advice." We hope our contem-
porary will next exercise its ingenuity in a more
harmless direction. It should bear in mind that it
can give circulation to a report injurious to its
country, but it cannot undo, the mischief, unless
aided by some such powerful journal as the Times.
The change wrought in Richmond may be
gathered from the fact that the negroes have nomi-
nated Cornelius Harris (coloured), a shoemaker,
for Mayor, and three negroes and two whites for
the city council. On the register lists, so far,
the blacks predominate by 1,700. Twenty negroes
are to be enrolled in the police force, so intensely
to the disgust of the white members of that body
that they all threaten to resign.
At Memphis, Tennessee, the completed list foots
up 7,185 coloured, and 3,945 white voters. In
Georgia we find partial returns from various coun-
ties, which uniformly show a large majority of
coloured voters. In Savannah the negroes regis-
tered outnumber the whites three to one.
General Butler, at the head of his committee for
grubbing to the roots of the assassination conspi-
racy, has set to work with his usual vigour. On
Wednesday, 10th, he examined Mr. Ould, formerly
Confederate Commissioner for exchange of pri-
soners. Mr. Ould was closely questioned with refer-
ence to the course taken by thevariou,s Federal officers
and the impediments thrown in the way of effecting
the exchange. The president of the committee
directed his questions so as mainly to bear on Gene-
ral Grant. The public cannot see the connection
between this exchange and the assassination con-
spifacy. A committee has been appointed by Con-
gress to inquire into the treatment of Federal pri-
soners im Confederate prisons, and such evidence
as Mr. Butler endeavoured to elicit is more pro-
perly within their province. The Conservatives
desire to instruct Shank's committee to investigate
the alleged ill-treatment of Confederate soldiers in
Northern prisons, as a reference to the reports in
the War Office show that more Southerners died
during their detention in the North than Northerners
detained in the Southern gaols.
General Butler has introduced and passed reso-
lutions in the House of Representatives for the
appointment of a committee to inquire into the
assassination plot, and of this committee, consisting
of five, he has been appointed chairman. Power
is granted to send for persons and papers, and to sit
during the recess of Congress. Also to grant par-
dons to those who turn evidence. Mr. Butler still
holds that Mrs. Surratt was unjustly convicted, but
it is thought that his object is to implicate people
in the highest position in the guilt of this horrible
conspiracy.' Surratt might be brought before
the committee as an evidence, and pardoned if he
made a full confession. The following is the last
and most pithy of the resolutions :—" Be it further
resolved, that as the crime to be investigated is of a
most heinous, and, in this country, unprecedented
character, and is believed to have included in its plan
and perpetration many persons holding high positions
of power and authority because of the civil war, who
were active through inferior persons as their tools
and instruments ; and as such persons may be pre
vented from giving evidence because of liability to
punishment for participation in such conspiracy ;
therefore, in order to open all sources of evidence,
the committee be empowered to report a bill grant•