The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-12 00:00:00

GREAT WESTERN.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held yes-
terday at the Railway Terminus, Paddington, the Hon. F.
Ponsonby in the chair.
Mr. Saunders, the secretary, having read the notice con-
vening the meeting, the report and statement of accounts
were taken as read. .
The CHAIRMAN said that, proceeding to the regular busi-
ness -of the half-yearly meeting, it was his duty, in sub-
mitting to the proprietors. the report of the directors and
the accounts, to call their attention in the first instance to
a subjoct touched upon in them respecting the capital
account, and also respecting the promise he gave at the
previous meeting of the company in reference to that ac-
count. Ho hoped that he had fulfilled that promise to the
satisfaction of the proprietors. He would, however, reserve
any discussion on the subject to the period when he should
submit a resolution on the matter. They well knew the
result of sudden political events on commercial intercourse,
and it was impossible to say what in this respect might
occur, and this was another reason why he thought the
proprietors should support the recommendation of the
directors for the payment of a 2 per cent. dividend. On
looking bacl to the proceedings of the past half-year he

337
1,175
15,299

BURNING A N.

.695
30,027

-362
1,143
10,367
674
25,424

'GRO IN AMERICA.

The New York Tribune of January 15 has an
article entitled, " Burning Slaves," in the course of
which the following horrible story is quoted from
the Union Springs Gazette, a journal of Alabama :
" The deceased has the reputation of having, even
to a fault, ever been a kind and humane master.
On the day before the murder, Mr. J. had whipped
this boy Milford, or had him whipped for some
misdemeanour, and had him chained or locked
up till Monday morning, when he went to
him, took off his chain, and told him
to 'go to .the mill and go to work.'
The boy made some impudent reply, when Mr. j,
told him if he did not stop his insolence he would
knock him down with a lock, and turned to walk
away. The boy then took an axe that was lying
near and struck Mr. J. on the head and knocked
him down, dropped the axe and walked all
steps, then turned and went back, took the'aa3xrea andfew
struck him three times more on the head, and retired
a short distance and sat down, making no attempt
to escape. A public meeting of the citizens, indis-
criminately, was called on Wednesday, to determine
what should be done with the negro, when the
b
proposition was made to urn h!___ alive,
to the number of 200 or 300 votingfor everyit
.Tohnaet,
evening, at three o'clock, in the presence of 500
persons, he was chained to a tree and burned. Just
before the fire was set he confirmed the above state-
ment in every partictar. Ile stated also that he had
determined to kill
his master some time before—
that, his having him whipped the day before had
not instigated him to the brutal deed—that lie had
his knife op en in his pocket to do the deed when
his master should come to unfasten him, but his
heart failed him ; but that when he told him if he
did not stop his insolence he would knock him
down, he proceeded to execute his fell purpose.
The culprit ceased to show any signs of life two
and a half minutes from the time the torch was
applied. On the 24th ult. Mr. Simon B. Thornhill,
who resided near Troy, Mo., punished one of his
negroes for misconduct. The negro then rushed on
his master with a large knife and stabbed him,
which caused his death in two days. The negro was
taken to Troy and confined in gaol. The affair
caused much excitement in the county, and on
Saturday a very large number of persons collected
at Troy. repaired to the gaol, took the murderer
out, and lynched him by burning."

The Continental journals state that the negotia•
tions for a commercial treaty between Russia and Austria
have been hitherto unsuccessful. It is reported that while
Austria is willing to make every concession Russia refuses
to lower the duty on soma of the plot important articles,