The Sun.
London, England, 1832-04-06 00:00:00

That the said two projects were afterwards united by
means of coalition between the Directors of the respective
companies, though without the sanction of a General
sleeting of Subscribers; that the said Directors, since
such coalition, have materially altered the originally con-
templated lines of the projected Railway, as regards the
termination of the said lines in London and Birmingham,
and their direction in various intermediate parts; that the
said Directors have, besides, entirely abandoned a Branch
Railway, which, according to the original propositior,
Was to have been carried from the main line to
Northampton; end that such material alterations in the
said original project have been made by the said Directors
without the approbation or sanction of any General Meet-
ing of Subscribers.
That the estimated expense of the said project was in
the first instance 1,500 000/., and that many of your Pe-
titioners became Senscribers on the faith of such original
estimate of 1,500,000/. ; that in October 1831, (one yea,
after the date of the Contract Deed,) it was announced by
the said Directors, that, according to a fresh estimate, the
tree would be increased to the sum of 2,000,000/. ;
that according to the estimate now lodged in the Private
Bill Office, in the present year 1832, the expense will
amount to the sum of 2,500,000/. ; and that not one of
these several estimates, so increased from time to time
has been yet submitted to, or approved by, any General
sleeting of the Subscriners ; nor would your Petitioners
save ventured to become Subscribers, had they anticipated
that such enormous additions would from time to time
have been made to the originally estimated expense.
That the entire complement of Shares proposed in the
first instance, has been since greatly increased by the self-
nominated Directors, and that many more of such share-
have been issued than was originally intended, or than was
announced to the Public; and that the Subscription Lis-
contains the names of many parties unable to fulfil their
nngegements : and that an extensive assignment of shares
of the said undertaking has been made.
That a Contract Deed with subscriptions to the amount
of 1,761,000/. only has been lodged in the Private Bill
°les, bring a deficiency of 739,000/. on the total sum
required to complete the said undertaking, according to
the estimate at presert made thereof.
That the Contract Deed bears date the 15th day of
October, 1830, and was executed under the belief that an
application for a Bill would have been made to you'
Honourable House in the next ensuing Session ; but that
no application was then made, nor were your Petitioners,
or any General Meeting of Proprietors called together, to
approve of such suspension of the undertaking.
That at the time of signing such Contract Deed your
Petitioners concluded that, before any application was
trade to Parliamene for a Bill, the Directors would have
vorrsened a General Meeting of Subscribers, for the pier-
Pose of submitting to them their general plans and arrange-
ments, as well as the expediency of making such application.
That no communication has ever been made to your
Petitioners, or to any General Meeting of the Subscribers,
of the disposition of the Land Owners anti Occupiers of
Land, along the said projected line, and how far, and in
what proportions, they assent, dissent, or remain neuter;
but that your Petitioners are informed, that along the
whole of the said line of Railway of 112 miles, the dissents
extend over no less than 71 miles.
That your Petitioners were especially induced to sub•
scribe to the said undertaking, by reason of another and an
independent project, for a Railway from Liverpool to Bir
minghanr, intended to be connected with the said London
and Birmingham Railway : that the said projected line
from Lis erpool to Birmingham was repe itedly and strongly
held out to your Petitioners by the Directors in their ad-
vertisements and prospectuses, as an inducement to
embark in the said project for a Railway between London
and Birmingham. But your Petitioners beg leave to re•
present to your Honourable House, that the said projected
Railway between Liverpool and Birmingham havin been
since abandoned, to the great detriment of the projected
London and Birmingham line, the view', and opinions of
your Petitioners have accordingly undergone a consider-
able change.
That a requisition was signed by'many of your Peti
tioners and other Subscribers, and sent to the said Direc-
tors, requesting that they the said Directors, would pub-
lish a full, explicit, and authentic report of the then state,
condition, and prespects of the Company, and would after-
wards convene a General Meeting of the Shareholders, to
take the same into consideration, and to determine what
steps under the then existing circumstances, it might be
expedient to adopt : that such Requisition was presented
to the said Directors on the 14th of January last, one
month before the presentation of their Petition for the
Bill to your Honourable House, but that no definitive an-
swer was returned to the said Requisition, till the 10th
day of Fehruary, nearly one month alter its presentation
to the said Directors, and that even the said Directors
merely stated in their reply, that they proposed to address
a circular to the Subscribers ; that a circular, furnishing
some loose information, was accordingly so sent, but that
no General Meeting has jet been convened in compliance
with the washes of the Requisitionists.
That your Petitioners would not have signed the said
Contract Deed, had they known that the said Directors
proposed to assume to themselves a discretionary and irre-
sponsible power of doubling the said estimate, of aban-
doning and altering the projected lines, of suspending and
renewing their applications to Parliament, and of acting
on the most important occasions without the knowledge of
the Subscribers, or their sanction, in General Meeting
assembled.
That in consequence of these secret, irresponsible, and
unsanctioned proceedings of the Directors, your Petitioners
tit:f others have been precluded from obtaining sufficient
oerrrnation with respect to the Subscription List, and
and
thpataPtehr: recently
otb
di posited in the Private Bill Office,
they ma._ . Y. apprehend,P and have reason to believe, that
pec,i.,o,Yb;elnvolved in
.large payments in support of the
List. reason of the insufficiency to the Subscription

Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray, on behalf of
theselves ,
'n" other Subscribers, that they may not be
dmeemed or taken to he Subscribers to the present under-
tg, and that thei
talonr names may be erased from the Sub
counsel, a iption Contrat, and that they may be heard by then
gents, and witne-ses, againit the insertion of
their names in the said
and against such parts of the
Preamble of the said sill, and such of the provisions therein
h 8 affect tht ro, or that they catty have such other relief in
trr premiers as this Hort. Huube ihall think proper.