The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-11 00:00:00

BARRACKS AT NOTTINGHAM.

Mr. LOCKE, on the part of Sir R. Clifton, asked the
Secretary of State for War when the Government intended
to build barracks at Nottingham on the land which was
purchased from the Duko of Ne wcastle in 1862 for the sum
of £5,200 ?
The Marquis of HARTINGTON said it was quite true
that no vote had been taken for the erection of the barracks
in the estimates this year. The proposition, however, to
erect such accommodation would not be given up.
THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH (IRELAND).

Sir J. GRAY rose to move the following resolution :
" That the position of the Established Church in Ireland
is a jast cause of dissatisfaction to the people of that coun-
try, and urgently demands the consideration of Parlia-
ment." The honourable baronet said the subject he was
about to bring under the attention of the house was one
,:rhich possessed remarkable interest to the people of Eng-
land as well as Ireland. It was his intention in dealing
with the subject not to raise an unpleasant or acrimonious
discussion either within or without that house, and he hoped
that no one single word which might fall from his lips
would give offence to those in favour of the
Church as an Establishment. He trusted the house might
be of opinion that the time had arrived when
some active step might be taken in the matter, because it
was the general opinion in Ireland that the Established
Church in Ireland had failed in every one object
for which it was introduced into the country.
The Catholic subjects of her Majesty, he could
assure the house, woull never rest
.until some
step was taken to remove that which was looked
upon with dislike by the great majority of the
people in Ireland. The hon. baronet then proceeded to
refer to a series of statistics to show the numbers of Pro-
testants and Catholics in various parts of Ireland, remarking
that one of the causes of the decrease of Catholics in some
places was caused by famine, pestilence, and emigration.
He next proceeded to quote various opinions to show that
the State Church was introduced into Ireland for political
purposes. To show the injustice of maintaining the
Establishment the hon. member traced its history from its
foundation in the 16th century to the present day, and
argued that it had been founded in tyranny and violence,
and perpetuated in injustice as an alien institution, and the
church of a miserable numerical minority of the people.
He reminded the house that the honour of England was
deeply involved in the question, and called upon them to
treat it as a matter of imperial interest, and, at all events,
consent to give it their earnest consideration.
Colonel GREVILLE, as a sincere Protestant and an
attached member of the Church of England, seconded the
motion, on the ground that the Irish Church was an ano-
maly, the cause of endless heartburnings and animosities,
and of weakness to the British empire. In the interest of
religion and social harmony it was time that the question
should
be settled once and for ever • and that could only
be done by placing, all religious ;acts in Ireland on an
equality. In other words, let
et Parliament deal with Ire-
land as it had done with Scotland' and Canada, and by that
means secure the lasting gratitudeand constant loyalty of
the Irish people. But that
was not all,for pecuniarily re-
garded, England herself would profit byitililethadoption of
a new and more equitable policy ; and
Thirty thousand pounds sterling might be
yearlysaisvadwise '—
by the withdrawal of the grant toMaynooth, a similar
amount spent on the Lord Lieutenancy, and at least a
million more as the cost of supporting a large stand-
ing army. Glancing at ,the proposition which once
enjoyed so much of the favour of Whig statesmen, that
the Roman Catholic clergy sh ould be maintained out of
state grants, he observed that even if it were acceptable to
to the Romish priesthood, which it was not, it was cer-
tainly not a desirable measure, for the tendency of the pre-
sent age was to take away rather than create religious en-
dowments.
Mr' C. FORTESCUE, in indicating the course which
the Government proposed to take, delivered a speech of a
decidedly trimming character. Ministers, he urged, occu-
pied a very differentsuptthat which was held
either by the position' from
they could not rs or opponents of the motion, and
they saw their waytoundertakeh .to deal with the question unless
they saw their Way to bri
mediately, yet in abrief bringing about a change, if not im
of what should be and
; with a clear view not only
not only of what should bout of what should be done ;
should be built up ; and with pulled down but of what
tdistinct knowledge of the
state of public opinion both in
well as in Ireland, as being sufacinegiand and Scotland, as
tured to enable them to bring their dtlY Powerful and ma-
gainztisions to a practical
result. He admitted the case a
Irish Church, and personally regarded the resolution the
cordial sympathy and concurrence. n ewiiith feelings of
t°o:l3rse it on any
fore, on the part of the Government, eclined, there-
principle of abstract equity or justice,
•rmanent policy ; and whilst declining also to grounds of
o take charge
of the resolution, he did so because of the impossibility
of
carrying it into effect. At the same time he wished it well
and God speed.
Mr. R. P. _DAWSON opposed the motion, and ex-
pressed his continued determination to Fnstain in its in-
tegrity the united Church of England and Ireland in the
latter country.
Mr. P. URQUHART remarked that he had heard, with
feelings of mingled pleasure and regret, the speech of the
Irish Secretary, and
The O'DONOGHUE uttered a similar sentiment, be-
cause, after the statements made on previous occasions by
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he had expected that
the Government would have adopted a very different
course on the subject.
Mr. WHIT' SIDE was also astonished at the doctrine
laid down by Mr. C. Fortescue. The course proposed to
be taken by the Government was a remarkable illustration
at_ihtao NJ, by throwing out hints for the encouragement of
uPon one subject they might secure a vote • upon

another, that of reform, which they were just on the eve
of debating. Adverting then to the arguments of the
mover of the resolution, the right hon. gentlememan denied
that Ireland was essentially a Roman Catholic country, or
that the position of the Established Church there consti-
tuted a reason for its destruction any more than the fact
that the Church of England being in a minority in Wales
was sufficient ground for its abolition in the principality.
The present was a wretched attempt to withdraw the at-
tention of Parliament from the true state of Ireland, in
which there was a large revolutionary party, whose object
was to destroy the monarchy and establish a republic in
its stead. It was a direct attack upon the property of the
country, which was represented by the wealth and intelli-
gence of Ireland ; for the annihilation of private property
must follow the ruin of the property of the Church. It
should be remembered, too, that at the period of emancipa-
tion, the Roman Catholics voluntarily abandoned all claim
to interfere with the Established Church, and both Dr.
Doyle and Archbishop Murray declared themselves per-
fectly satisfied with the settlement then made. Recurring
to the policy of the Government, the right hon. gentleman
observed that he preferred the manful declaration that not
one shred of its property should be left to the Church to
keeping up a perpetual agitation and holding out the pro-
spect of that property being operated upon at a more con-
venient season, when agitation had been successful,
and the time was favourable for undertaking tae good
work to which the right hon. gentleman had bidden
"God speed." What was that good work? Was it
not the work of spoliating the Church, the appropriation
of property that did not belong to them, and which
they had no right to take away ? He trusted -that the
house would not forget that this was a Protestant State ;
which meant that, whilst they respected antiquity and the
practices of their Church, they, nevertheless, asserted
the right of private judgment, and vindicated the inde-
pendence of the human mind. lie trusted, then, that the
Church would never be overthrown by a British Parlia-
ment, and certain he was that it would never be destroyed
save by the vote of a recreant senate and the consent of
an apostate nation.

Sir H. HOARE, believing the motion was based on
justice, gave it his hearty support. He was convinced
that until the great anomaly of the Irish Church was re-
moved peace in Ireland would be impossible.
On the motion of Mr. ESMONDE, the debate was then
adjourned until Friday.
Leave was given to Mr. Ayrton to bring in a bill to
appropriate a portion of the income from the Finsbury
estate of the suppressed stall of Finsbury, for the relief of
the spiritual destitution of the metropolis.
Leave was also given to Mr. Sergeant Armstrong to in-
troduce a bill to amend the law relating to mixed mar-
riages in Ireland.
The orders of the day were subsequently gone through,
and
The house adjourned at half-past one o'clock.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

+-

BAHIA AND SAN FRANCISCO.

The 17th half-yearly general meeting of this com-
pany was held yesterday at the London Tavern ;
Mr. T. M. Weguelin, 11.1. P., in the chair.
The report, au abstract of which has appeared in
The Sun, was taken as read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report and statement of accounts, congratulated the
shareholders upon a steady increase in their traffic,
and though it was not so rapid as they had hoped
for, still the progress was steady, and gave the ex-
pectation that at no distant interval the receipts
would cover the expenses, and they would then have
the whole of the guaranteed dividend. The traffic
receipts continued to progress up to the latest date,
and the secretary, Mr. Clay, had just informed him
that the traffic receipts during the first ten weeks of
this year amounted to £8,091, against £6,036 in the
corresponding ten weeks of last year, showing an in-
crease of £2,055, or above 30 per cent. It was ne-
cessary for him to say that the traffic had been better
this year, in consequence of an abundant crop. As
the Government now seemed determined to construct
I the converging roads to the railway, it was to be an-
ticipated that the company would be able to main-
tain the steady increase in their traffic. The great
interest the President of the province had taken in
the construction of the roads was most important for
the development of the traffic on their line, so that
the company's working expenses should be at least
equalled by their traffic receipts. It was merely in
consequence of the deficit in the receipts to cover the
working and other expenses that the directors asked
the shareholders to assent to a proposition for de-
veloping the traffic to that extent ; as it was quite
clear that it was not the interest of the company to
endeavour, by the outlay of extra capital, to increase
the traffic to the advantage of the Government. The
directors considered that certain facilities might be
given to the traffic, by the outlay of a certain sum
which could in itself be made remunerative ; but if
there should be any deficiency of return on the extra
outlay it could be borne by the usual profit on the
company's interest account. For that purpose the di-
rectors proposed to borrow £20,000 ; but they did not
expect that it would be necessary to spend more than
£lO,OOO or £12,000 to accomplish the object they had
in view. They proposed to purchase and work two
steamboats from the present terminus of the railway
to the landing-place in the city of Bahia, as no doubt
the passengers and goods thus conveyed would pay
the full interest on the capital employed ; another
object was to construct workmen's houses which
would pay a fair rent, and a market place at Ala-
goinhas, the terminal station of their railway, to
encourage the formation of a town. It was believed
that the comparative small outlay proposed by
the directors would not only yield a fair return
on that capital, but have a moral effect in the
province, and place the company in a position
to request that the much needed roads might
be proceeded with more rapidly. He was happy
to state that the railway throughout had been
accepted by the Government, the President of
the province was perfectly satisfied with it, and
the only request he had made was that the direc-
tors should put up a clock at Bahia, which would be
done. Mr. Morgan, their worthy vice-chairman,
had suggested the opportunity of stating what was
very gratifying to the directors, and must be equally
so to the shareholders, that the company had com-
pleted the line within the capital, and was now
in good working order, having been constructed
within the estimated cost. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. MORGAN, deputy-chairman, seconded the
motion for the adoption of the report and statement
of accounts.
Mr. ROBERTSON said that the dividend would have
been at the rate of 61 per cent. per annum, instead
of 6 per cent., if it were not for the damage that
had been done to their line by the floods. He
thought the expenses moderate, although they
had been increasing during the past half-year. He
was opposed to raising money for steamboats, be-
cause he considered the money would be lost.
The CUAIRMAN said the object was to develope
the traffic and convey goods and passengers from
the company's present terminus,? 31 miles from
Bahia, into the centre of that city. The two
sotfealmigehrtserwsouthldeycowstouabldoubte£, 6a,boloeo ,t
oa n
cdo wn
vi tehy
threa aidffi e
direct to and from the railway without delay.
The
Board unanimously recommended the plan proposed,
with the view to develope the traffic sufficiently to
cover all working expenditure, and thus secure for
the shareholders the full 7 per cent. guaranteed by
the Brazilian Government.

A long discussion ensued on items of account, in
the course of which objections were made to the
paragraphs in the report relating to the steamboats,
and to miring £20,000 without any guarantee.
After some observations from Mr. Goez, Mr. J.
Watson, and other shareholders, on a show of hands
an amendment for the omission of clauses 7 and 8 of
the report was negatived, and the report was carried.
A poll was demanded.
A resolution authorising the directors to raise
£20,000 for the purposes mentioned, on such terms
as they might deem advantageous, was carried. The
retiring directors, Mr. If. Lewis, M.P., Mr. J. Mor-
gan
The proceed'
Mor-
gan, Mr. R.. J. Gainsford, and Mr. Wickham, were
reel-elected, and a dividend of 12s. per share was cle-
ared for the past hllf- ,ear
, 3 , payable on the lOth inst.
to
the chairman and directors.

LONDONDERRY AND COLERAINE.
The ordinary general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at theoffice, Coleman-street-build-
ings, Moorgate-street ; Mr. J. It. Hall in the chair.
The report stated that there were three statements
of revenue account. The first, embracing the period
from the 30th of June, 1858, to the 30th of June,
1862, during which the entire rental of the railway
was taken by the Public Works Loan Commis..
sioners, in part payment of their loan and the inte-
rest thereon, The second, from the 30th of June,

1862, to the 10th of April, 1865, was to the end of
the lease. The company having obtained an Act
of Parliament to capitalise all its debts in 1862,
issued. debentures in lieu thereof, the yearly interest
on which absorbed, together with the very trifling
office expenses, all the rent received. The third,
from the 10th of April, 1865, gave the result
of the working of the railway, at which date the
lease terminated and the line reverted to the com-
pany. The rent payable under the terms of the
lease granted for seven years by the Public Works
Loan Commissioners to Mr. W. M'Cormick, and
which expired on the 10th of April, 1865, was
£8,500 per annum for the first two years and
£lo,oooforeachsubsequentyear. Atthe expiration of
the term the lease was relinquished, owing to the
loss the Belfast Northern Counties Railway Coin-
,
parry, who had taken a sub lease from Mr. 111‘Cor-
mick, stated they had sustained under its terms.
This, the directors regretted to say, the subsequent
working proved, as the net proceeds for the year
ending April 10, 1866, could not be estimated above
£B,OOO. Still the traffic showed upwards of £9OO
increase for the six months ending Dec. 31st over
the corresponding period of the preceding year. On
the railway reverting to the company the directors
entered into a working arrangement with the Bel-
fast and Northern Counties Company on terms
which were considered fair, but as a clause in the
agreement enabled its discontinuance at any three
months' notice, it was always in the power of the
directors to terminate it should any change be con-
sidered desirable. From June 30, 1862, to the ter-
mination of the lease the rental was absorbed in
paying the interest on the various classes of deben-
tures, all of which was regularly met to the 10th
July last ; but owing to the condition of the rail-
way at the termination of the lease the directors
were forced to expend the greater part of the traffic
balances in the renewal absolutely required ; in con-
sequence of which the interest on the B, C, and D
debentures for the six months ending Jan. 10th last
was not paid. The directors had not lost sight of
the possibility of turning the reclamation powers of
the company to some advantage. The expenditure
on capital account amounted to £653,593, leaving a
balance of £1,694. The revenue account from April
10th last to Dec. 31st showed that £13,364 had
been received, and £18,691 expended, leaving a bal-
ance of £5,327 against revenue.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said that since the expiration of the lease 12
months ago the directors had appropriated certain
sums out of revenue to repair the fences in several
places, and put the line in a workable state. having
no funds to resuscitate the reclamation powers of
the company, the directors had opened communi-
cation with the Irish Society, with a view to their
assuming the right of reclamation granted to the
company. If the proposition should result in a
feasible arrangement, it would be laid before the
proprietors for their approval.
Mr. LAVER, in reply to a question, stated that the
terms for working the line were about 2s. per mile
for a certain number of train miles, and at a lower
rate for a greater number of miles. The terms were
about equal to 50 per cent. of the gross receipts.
The company had no plant to work the line. The
rolling stock had been sold years ago, and there re-
mained on that account about £5,000 due to the
company, for which they held £19,000 of D deben-
tures as security. The full interest on all the de-
bentures of the company was £9,700 a year.
The report was adopted, and a vote of thanks to
the chairman concluded the proceedings.