The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-14 00:00:00

RAILWAYS.

What is to be the fate of railways in war ? Re-
cent quotations in the Stock Exchange show this
to be one of the most important questions of the
age. Englishmen have many millions already
embarked in continental lines, and the constant
efforts of foreign Governments are to encourage
further contributions. Yet, if we may judge from
the state of the share market since New Year's-
day, it is to be inferred that we have entered upon
these investments without any adequate under-
standing as to the extent to which in the event of
a European rupture they are to be treated with
the consideration bestowed on all other private
property. While French, Sardinian, and Aus-
trian Government stocks have declined 5 per cent.,
the shares of the railways in Austria, Lombardy,
and Piedmont have sustained a fall of between
15 and 35 per cent. Indeed, in the Lombardo-
Venetian the momentary depreciation has been
much heavier, and this instance affords the best
exemplification of the nature of the fears on the
question. The £2O shares of that concern, on
which £6 is paid, stood at nearly £9 a few days
before the opening of the new year. They have
since touched £5, thus showing a depreciation of
nearly 50 per cent. The net profits are at present
at the rate of about 12 per cent. per annum, and
there are solid data to warrant an expectation that
under normal circumstances they will not merely
be maintained, but exceeded. Yet the mere
rumour of war has produced an effect as if half the
property had at once been irretrievably swept
away. Are we to assume, therefore, that a railway
in any country which may be the scene of hostilities
is necessarily to be considered a ruined enterprise,
and that it must be expected either to remain shut
up for years or to be exposed to wanton destruc-
tion P Supposing views of this kind to be seri-
ously entertained, they must apply to every
continental line almost indiscriminately, since the
point at which a war commences is frequently that
which suffers the least from its ultimate ravages.
If railway destruction is, under any circumstances,
the order of the day, there can be no reliance
on the safety of such property in one country
more than in another, and the world must sink
to a state of unprecedented barbarism, since
none but savages assail works of art and bene-
ficence constructed at the cost of individuals for the
general purposes of commerce and civilisation. But
for the test furnished by prices yesterday, it could
hardly have been supposed that at the present epoch
such apprehensions could have arisen. The public
would probably have been inclined to rely that
there is no modern Power prepared to incur infamy
of that description, and the supposition might have
been that, although many questions of strategy
must be involved in the consideration as to the
modes in which such works may be dealt with, and
the uses to which they may be applied by hostile
armies successively holding possession of any given
territory, a natural code would soon grow into
recognition that would, as far as possible, insure
full respect for private rights. The warning given,
however, by the events of the week is that no con-
tinental railways should be trusted until some un-
derstanding better than that which now prevails
. shall have been arrived at regarding the contin-
gencies to which they are to be exposed. The inte-
rests involved are so novel and vast, and are likely
to be so mixed up with the future advancement of
all countries, that they might well have formed a
branch of the discussions of the latr Paris Congress.
As it is, the public can only congratulate themselves
that they refused to advance 35 millions sterling
for the construction of lines in Russia, and bear in
mind, when they receive future invitations, that if
they consent to venture it must be with the liability
at any moment to find their property reduced to
half its nominal amount on the utterance of a few
significant words by a potentate with 400,000 men
at his command, and surrounded by courtiers whose
fortunes require to be replenished by imposts on
the Bourse.--Times City Article.