The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-28 00:00:00

GREAT LUXEMBOURG.

A general meeting of this company was held yes-
terday at the London Tavern, preparatory to the
general meeting to be held at Brussels ; the Hon. F.
Scott in the chair.

The report was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said on looking at the accounts the share-
holders would see how large was the increase of the
traffic, but how small was the increase of net
revenue in comparison. That was accounted for by
reasons of an exceptional character. When they re-
flected on the political state of Europe during the
last few months, and what had taken place before
the war broke out, they would see reasons why the
traffic should have suffered. At this time last year
they had an epidemic among their flocks, which was
communicated to Holland and adjacent countries,
causing a diminution in their cattle traffic. The
cholera was not only rushing through this country,
but in Belgium, and it had a depressing influence
on their pockets and spirits. He was in that coun-
try in June last, and all the hotels were empty, and
he was there about three weeks ago, and the same
account was given him that no traveller would pass
through the country. The industrial concerns at the
end of their southern line had been stopped, but they
were now being resumed. The means of developing
the line had received the most anxious consideration
of the board. The directors had been most careful
of the expenditure, and would continue to be so.
With regard to the Ourthe line the directors still
maintained the same opinion they had already ex-
pressed, that it was a most valuable auxiliary to their
system.
Mr. CLOSE seconded the motion for the adoption
of the report.
Mr. HARLEY said he was informed that the Go-
vernment had given notice to the Central Belge that
they would not be permitted to book through the
State system unless they adopted the State's fares.
This was a most important matter for the interest
of the Great Luxembourg, and he wished to know if
a similar notice'had been given to the company.
Mr. REED replied in the negative, and said if
notice had been given the company would look after
the interest of the shareholders.

The report was then adopted, and a vote of thanks
to the chairman closed the proceedings.

DUNDALK STEAM PACKET.

The half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held at Dundalk on Tuesday ; Mr. J. Brennan
in the chair.

The report recommended a dividend at the rate
of 9 per cent. per annum, and it was adopted unani-
mously.

Banquet at the Mansion House.

Last evening the Lord Mayor and the Lady
Mayoress entertained a numerous company at din-
ner, which was served in the Egyptian-hall. The
guests, about 160 in number, included the Mayor
of Windsor and the Mayor of Cambridge, Alderman
and Sheriff Gibbons and Sheriff Figgins, Sir John
Thwaites and the members of the Metropolitan
Board of Works, with their engineer Mr. Bazelgette ;
Rear-Admiral Ommaney and the members of the
Board of Conservancy of the Thames, with Capt.
B urstall, their secretary; the chairman (Mr. Lintott)
and the members of the General P urposes Committee
of the Corporation; the chairman (Mr. Chas. Reed)
and the members of the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs'
Entertainment Committee ; Mr. John Abel Smith,
M.P., Mr. Chas. Gilpin, M.P., the Master (Mr. H.
N. Nissen) and Wardens of the Fruiterers' Com-
pany ; the Master of the Mercers' Company ; Mr.
Chambers, the common-sergeant ; and the directors
of the National Provident Institution. The dinner
was served with much splendour, and -on the re-
moval of the cloth the company, on the invitation
of the Lord Mayor, drank first to the health of her
Majesty the Queen, and then to that of the Prince
and Princess of Wales and the rest of the Royal
family. The Lord Mayor, in proposing the prin-
cipal toast of the evening, referred to the presence
of the Metropolitan Board of Works and the Thames
Conservancy Commissioners. The public generally,
he said, would accord praise to the Metropolitan
Board of Works for the able manner in which it had
carried out its varied functions. No one who knew
anything of the great system of main drainage of
the metropolis, or who had opportunities of watch-
ing its progress, but must look upon it as one of the
marvels of engineering skill in modern times. He
hoped it would be a great success in the end, and a
source of blessing to the metropolis. In the Thames
embankment, which was being carried out under the
supervision of the same Board, they would have
when completed one of the grandest improvements
of the metropolis. Ile hoped, however, he might be
permitted to say that, besides beautifying the me-
tropolis, there was another necessity, and that was
of purifying it. He considered it to be his duty
publicly to declare, from recent observation, that
the residential condition of the poor of the metro-
polis was a blot on - the civilisation of our times.
(Hear, hear.) He was not prepared to throw the
onus on any one. It might be the duty of the Go-
vernment or the Metropolitan Board, or of the pub-
lic; but he said, without hesitation, that something
must be done if they valued that which was incom-
paboltyti,is
beyond everything else—the sanitary condi-
tiongreat metropolis. (Cheers.) He assured
the Metropolitan Board that the Corporation of
London would be ready at all times to go hand-in-
hand with them. Sir John Thwaites replying to
the compliment, said they had done their best as a
Board to purify this great city, and the main drain-
age had nowthan
or 18
on the whole been in operation for
more months, and there was this
singular fact—that in those districts which had
been marked black by the Registrar-General
during the recent visitation of cholera the
main drainage was incomplete, and that those
districts where the main drainage was finished
had been singularly free from the epidemic.
The district which had been so
painfully affected by
the disease was one in which the main drainage was
in progress, but not complete ; but he hoped that in
21 months or two years it would be complete. He
could only further say that whatever differences
might have existed between the corporation and the
Metropolitan Board, or between that Board and the
Thames Conservancy Commissioners, it was the duty
of all three to combine their powers for the welfare
of this great metropolis. Let, he said, all their ener-
gies be directed to that which would improve the
sanitary condition of themetropolis, and they would
be entitled to its confidence and ultimately to its
gratitude. Mr. Deputy Fry briefly replied to the
toast on behalf of the Conservancy Commissioners.
Mr. John A. Smith, M.P., in proposing the health
of the Lord Mayor, referred to the conspicuous part
that gentleman had taken in relieving the distress
consequent upon the visitation of cholera, and of
which he (Mr. Smith) had been a witness. It was,
he said, his confident belief that those exertions had
saved the lives of hundreds of poor people, and the
manner in which he had conducted his official duties
in other respects had raised the office of Lord Mayor
in the estimation of the public. He believed, too,
that it had conferred upon the City of London and
upon the country at large avery great and important
benefit, in convincing them that the duties of a Lord
Mayor were not confined to dispensing of hospitali-
ties, however unlimited and however generous those
might be ; but that those duties embraced a watchful

care of all the interests most dear to them as citizens.
He felt that the presence and the interest of the
Lord Mayor in reference to all. the public
events which had marked his mayoralty had been
attended with the happiest results, and that he had
satisfied all thinking men that the attachment which
was felt to the office of Lord Mayor was not merely
a sentiment, but was connected with their best
and truest interests. As the City of Lon-
don was the guiding star of all other mu-
nicipal institutions in the country, the conduct of
the Lord Mayor and the manner in, which he had
proved the usefulness of his office had added still
more to the reverence for municipal institutions,
with which•he (Mr. Smith) believed the glory and
safety of the country were greatly identified. The
toast was drunk with enthusiasm, and the health of
the Lady Mayoress was afterwards proposed in
graceful terms by the Master of the Fruiterers' Com-
pany (Mr. Nissen). At intervals during the evening
a number of glees and songs were sung by Mr.
Montem Smith, Mr. Fielding, Mr. E. Ball, and Mr.
Henry Buckland. The company separated about
11 o'clock.

VENETIA.

(From the Times Military Correspondent)
VENICE, Sept. 19.

It is not to be expected that Austria can give up
Venetia with nothing but compliments on both
sides. The Italians are an excitable people, long
subjection has taught them to be over-suspicious and
ready to make accusations, and their military failures
have not put them in a humour to be generous. On
the other hand, the Austrians have been so long a
ruling race that they are perhaps too much disposed
to despise popular clamour. The people, too, have
come to regard Venice and all it contains as sacred,
so they keep a jealous watch on every package that
is taken away, and not without reason either, for
Austrian officials are apt to be too zealous and carry
matters with a higher hand than is intended by or
pleasing to their Government, and especially to the
Emperor. There have been many scandals spread
abroad here, and to listen to the Italians and believe
them would be to commit oneself to theppinion that
the Austrians are a nation of robbers. To be just,
I believe that the Emperor wishes to behave honestly
by the Italians, and a plain statement of certain
grievances which appear to be real may lead to an
investigation of the point at issue. The following
may be accepted as the truth of an affair which has
created great excitement among both Italian and
English cultivated society here, as I have carefully
compared both sides of the question.
On the 21st of July a Benedictine priest and man
of letters named Dr. Dudik presented himself to
Count Dandolo, Keeper of the Archives, with an
order from Count Crenneville, Adjutant of the Em-
peror (which may, therefore, be considered as having
proceeded from the Emperor himself), giving him
authority to select such documents as were proper
to be removed to Vienna for safer keeping. He
brought with him -a list, but against some of the
documents named in it a query had been put, and
Dudik said that he would not claim them from the
hands of Count Dandolo, so no further notice
need be taken of them, except to say that among
them were papers relating to England, France,
and Germany in past ages—in fact, general cor-
respondence of the Republic on foreign affairs.
Now, it appears that the Emperor of Austria issued
an order some years ago, which yet remains in force,
directing that all public documents in the archives
were to be retained there, and not to be removed
on any pretext whatever, so that Count Dandolo
was in the right when he quoted this order and ob-
jected to give them up. Dudik is said to have re-
plied significantly that he was attended by a file of
soldiers, who waited below. Dandolo could offer
no further resistance, and it was arranged that
Dudik should return the next morning at 8 o'clock
to commence his selections. In the meantime Dan-
dolo, who neither knew Dudik by sight nor had
ever seen the signature of Count Crenneville, waited
upon General Alemann, the military Governor of
Venice, early in the morning, and laid the matter
before him. The latter said that Count Crennc-
vine's orders were superior to his own, and di-
rected Dandolo to submit. At 8 a.m., accord-
ing to appointment, Dudik returned and be-
gan his labours. Nothing was done secretly,
and Signor Pazini, head of the reading room, was
directed to assist in making a list of the documents
removed, which was afterwards signed in duplicate
by all the persons immediately concerned in the
transaction ; one copy being taken away by Dudik,
the other remaining in the hands of Count Dan-
dolo. The bulk of papers selected was considerable,
and caused wild rumours to be spread abroad, but I
can positively assert from my own knawledge that
by far the greater part consisted of documents re-
lating to Istria, Dalmatia, and Aquileia, provinces
still remaining in the hands of Austria. There
were, however, others which certainly ought to
belong to Venice, relating as they do to the history
of the Republic both internal and external. Among
these were 32 volumes of " Commemriali," a sort
of pro memoria drawn up for reference of the Doge
and council, and ranging from A.D.'1300 (about)
upwards, towards the later days of the Republic ;
correspondence relating to Germany and other coun-
tries from about the sixteenth century to the fall
of Venice ; " Misti del Senato," or index to pro-
ceedings of the Senate ; " Pacta,"—that is, treaties
of the Republic ; all the Byzantine Arab documents,
which are said to be unique, and perhaps some
others. It appears that certain papers have been
taken from St. Mark's Library also. On hearing
of what had occurred, Signor Namais, secretary of
the Institute, wrote to Count Dandolo, calling upon
him to make a public protest ; but the Keeper of
the Archives found himself placed in a very difficult
position, and may be supposed to have urgued some-
what as follows :—" I do not approve the abstrac-
tion of these papers ; but I have a double duty,—to
obey the Austrian Government and the Emperor,
whose servant I am, and, at the same time, to pro-
tect the archives. If I protest publicly I may be
removed, and who can say what obliging partisan
may be introduced in my place—perhaps even Dudik
himself ? I will not make a bid for popularity at
the risk of losing control over the documents and
the list that has been left behind." At any rate,
whatever he may have thought, he remained at his
post, contenting himself with drawing up an appeal
to his Imperial Majesty, to which he appended his
own signature, and obtained also that of Signor Va-
lantinelli, the head of St. Mark's Library, because
St. Mark's, too, had lost some of its treasures. The
appeal was sent to Gen. Alemann, who considered
that his duty prevented him from forwarding it, but
sent it to Namias, probably under a misapprehension
that it came from the Institute, for Count Dandolo
and Signor Valantinelli are both members of the
latter. Since then it is said that the list, or part of
the list, has appeared in a Padua journal, but it is
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Count Dandolo is a man of much liberality of feel-
ing in relation to his duties, and in his hands the
Austrian Government has obtained the goodwill of
literary men by the free access which he has always
permitted to the valuable papers under his charge.
As Englishmen we have to thank him for having
enabled Mr. Rawdon Brown to publish the State
papers, one volume of which has appeared and the
second is in the press. He has taken charge of the
archives since 1861, and will, it is to be hoped, con-
tinue to do so under the Italian Government. No
complaint is made against General Alemann, who
is decidedly popular here ; he probably only did his
duty, and there is little doubt that the Emperor will
restore with pleasure into the hands of their proper
keepers documents of such great value, as soon as
he shall receive a request to do so from the King of
Italy. In the meantime there has been a little storm
about the affair, and it would be a graceful act if
Austria would return those that do not belong to
her by right, trusting the Venetians to take care of
them for the present.

But this is not the only accusation 'brought against
the Austrians. They are also said to have taken
away pictures which are not theirs of right, and here
lies a considerable difficulty, for there are several
conflicting statements which are bard to reconcile.
It is admitted on both sides that 16 or 18 valuable
pictures were packed up, and h,ad, I believe, started