The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-07 00:00:00

HAMMERSMITH AND CITY.

The ordinary half-yearly general meeting of the
shareholders of this company was held yesterday at
the offices of the Great Western Railway, Padding-
ton—Mr. Foakes in the chair.

The directors' statement was read by the secre.
tary. It stated that the directors had the pleasure to
report that within the last week they had received
from the Great Western and Metropolitan Compa-
nies the draft deed of transfer of this company's un-
dertaking. They would lose no time in considering
it, and having it referred to counsel for settlement,
and they trusted that by the end of the month it
would be submitted to the proprietors for approval.
It was satisfactory to observe that the intrinsic value
of the line appeared to be fully established. The traffic
accounts had not been rendered to the directors
since the agreement for sale was entered into, but
they noted from the Metropolitan Company's report
that the gross receipts on the line were £36,564
during the year just ended, as compared with
£22,357 in the preceding year, which was equivalent
to an increase of 63. per cent. With the rebate
under the old working arrangement this would
probably already cover the amount guaranteed by
the purchasing companies, and the directors had no
doubt that as the district became more and more
populated, when the traffic was developed, and
when the London and South-Western Company's
extension from Kensington to Richmond opened, a
very considerable further increase might be antici-
pated. No advantage could of course accrue to this
company from any such improvenient; but it was
nevertheless a satisfaction to be assured that the
proprietors had invested in a substantial under-
taking. The directors had pro forma to recommend
the payment of the following dividends, receivable
from the Great Western and Metropolitan Com-
panies, at the rate of £5 2s. 6d. per cent. on the
original stock, 5 per cent. on the preference shares,
first issue, April, 1864, and 5 per cent. on the pre-
ference shares, November, 1865.
The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the
report, congratulated the shareholders upon the
substantial condition of the company.

The report was adopted, and the dividends recom-
mended therein agreed to.
A vote of thanks to the chairman closed the

meeting.

SPIRIT OF TIIE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The war-clouds which are rapidly clear-
ing on the side of Bohemia hang still ominously on
the Southern slopes of the Alps. Between Austria
and Italy no armistice has yet been signed, but
simply a truce of eight days, which expired on the
2d, and has been prolonged till the 10th. Negotia-
tion 3 are at this moment being carried on at Cormons,
in Istria, but by mere military plenipotentiaries,
treating without the intermediation either of allies
or neutrals. Should their endeavours prove fruit-
less, there is nothing to prevent a fresh outbreak of
hostilities. In the meanwhile Austria will sign no
armistice until the Italians withdraw from all Aus-
trian territory not comprehended within the boun-

darTes of Venetia. The wish for a prolongation of
the contest in this instance is evidently on the par

of iustria. So far as we may gather from the tone
of the public press and from intelligence reaching
us through private channels, the irritation of the
Italians at the turn events have taken since the be-

ginning of the war has already considerably subsided
They are fain to admit that they have had through•
out no one to blame but their ill-luck. They have
certainly no reason to complain of their Prussian
ally, nor even, on the whole, if they are just, of their
Austrian opponent. The cession of Venice, uncon-
ditional, it is asserted—has been stipulated among
the first articles in the Preliminaries of Nikolsburg.
Nothing more can be reasonably required of Austria,
nor is Prussia bound to support the Italians in any
further demands. It seems, however, that not in
the Preliminaries, but in some scheme of pacification
about to be discussed before the French Govern-
ment,
.a clause has been introduced concerning the
" rectification of the frontiers." That clause may
be stretched to any indefinite meaning, for Italy
may ask for anything beyond, and Austria insist
on withholding anything within, the present limits
of Venetia. The boundaries of Venetia, agreeably
to the Austrian circumscription of its territory in
1815, are very distinctly, though arbitrarily, traced.
The coasts of Istria and Dalmatia could hardly
be claimed by the Italians with any better title
than the lonian Islands. If they secure the whole
terra firma of the ancient Republic of St. Mark, they
may cheerfully renounce all transinarine possessions.
To these possessions, indeed, hardly any serious
claims are put forward by sober-minded Italians.
There are extravagant men in all countries, and
there are, therefore, men in Italy who would assert
the abstract rights of their country to Trieste and
Istria, no less than to Nice and Canton Ticino,
Corsica and Malta. But the vast majority are
swayed by no such irrational ambition. They are
aware that Trieste has belonged to Austria since
1382, and, although the Venetians doubtless colo-
nized and ruled over the coasts of Istria as well as
Dalmatia, the nationality of those countries is, to
say the least, problematical. The mass of the
population in the interior is Slavonic, and the ad-
mixture of Italian elements in the cities and along
the coasts is not more remarkable than at Pera and
Galata, or any of those maritime towns which bear
so deep a trace of Italian enterprise. But if the
possession of Trieste and Istria by the Italians is
not defensible either on historic or ethnographic
grounds, what are we to say on the score of mere
expediency? Those harbours and that indented
coast are everything to Austria, and, through her,
to Germany ; they would he no gain, but rather a
loss, to Italy, as they would keep up that rivalry
between Trieste and Venice which so nearly gave
the coup de grace to the latter city. Indeed, even
during the most sanguine hopes of the Italians at
the outbreak of the war, no serious thought wag
ever entertained of pushing the frontiers of the
kingdom beyond the Isonzo ; and if the subject
was ever broached at all, if hopes were cherished
that Persano's fleet might effect a lauding on
those coasts, it was merely that some vantage
ground might be secured on which to carry on
negotiation, giving up what was absolutely unte-
nable in exchange for what seemed practicable no
less than desirable. By renouncing Trieste the
Italians fancied they could make sure of Trent.
It is on that small district or districts of Trento
and Roveredo that all the longings of the Italian
people are now centred, and it is there that lie all
the dangers of a fresh collision. There can arise no
doubt as to the nationality of those districts. The
Germans themselves designate them by the appel-
lation of Walsch—i.e., Italian Tyrol, and the in-
habitants are as purely a Lombard race as their
neighbours of Brescia or Bergamo. With the excep-
tion of some valleys incorporated with that terri-
tory in 1815, the Trentino is, nevertheless, a very
old possession of Austria. The bishopric of Trent
was made a part of the county of Tyrol as early as