The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-15 00:00:00

DOWNFALL OF RAILWAY SECURITIES.

We published the other day in the column de
voted to 'such topics the circular of an eminent
house of brokers of American securities established
in London,. England, in which it was stated that
•the late proceedings of certain prominent railway
companies here had not only shaken the faith of
British capitalists in that class of securities, but
had Created a profound sensation in financial
circles on .the continent of Europe. The state-
ment was the more remarkable as it was evidently
reluctantly extorted from the parties who made it,
their business being to invest British moneys in
American securities, and their interest, conse-
quently being directly in favour of the inflation—
not the depression—of the latter. The companies
to which reference was especially made in the
circular were the New York and Erie, and the
Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana ;
and the circumstances which led to the allusion
were the report of the former, in which it
was shown that three years' abstinence from
dividends had left that corporation more
deeply involved than ever, and the late
financial scheme of the Michigan Southern by
which the holders of stock were irreparably in-
jured—without their consent—by the creation of a
preferred 10 per cent. stock. The prudent reader
will thus learn that the system of misrepresenta-
tion and fraud which has been the mainstay
of our railway securities for so many years
has at last broken down, and. that even the
English now see through it. So long as English-
men were eager to invest their money in our
bonds and stocks, railway building was not only
comparatively easy, but the natural decline in such
securities was ch-eked, if not arrested, by a de-
mand for them from abroad. For several years
many of the leading capitalists of England have
made a rule of keeping a certain amount of
money in securities of this country ; they ob-
tained from 7 to 10 per cent. on their invest-
ment, and were satisfied that the gigantic growth
of their country would tend to increase rather
than diminish their dividends. They are now as-
cer iainino- their error. They now learn—from the
report of' the Erie, for instance—that a railroad
well built, well equipped, in a good situation,
and doing a good business, cannot always be
certain of money enough to pay its ex-
penses ; and they learn, as well from the report
of the Erie as from the creation of a preferred
stock in Michigan Southern, and when trouble
befalls these corporations the directors will ex-
tricate themselves it they can by the sacrifice of
the stockholders. It is not surprising that such
discoveries should teach them to wash their hands
of us and of our securities at any cost. We leave
to the "great financiers" and the poor creatures
in the press whom they hire to do their
puffing the whole responsibility of the shame
and disgrace thus brought upon our financial
community. Another Sidney Smith might well
be called into being to denounce the scandalous
dishonesty by which the foreigners who have
put their money in our railway securities have been
robbed and ruined. Such a case as that we pub-
lished the other day, where a poor German, having
invested all his savings, some 8,000 dols., in the
purchase of 106 shares of Michigan Southern
Stock, took ship for this country, and
found, ou arrival, that without his know-
ledge the directors of the company had
created a preferred stock, thus depreciating
his property irom 50 to 70 per cent. and in all pro-
bability rendering it ultimately worthless, such a
sue might well exercise the highest sarcasm and
invective. For such things, under other names, men
wear particoloured suits in penitentiaries. This
railroad system of ours, which has done so much for
this country, and helped indirectly to make so
many fortunes, will, in reality, prove the ruin,
moral and financial, of all connected with it, save
only the rogues who have the cunning to escape
the final convulsion. Men are sick of the old lies
and the old balderdash about the schemes of the
wicked "bears," and the unprincipled operations of
Wall-street. It needs but a very little common
sense to perceive that as between the two sets
of speculators there is nothing to choose, but, if
anything, those are the most vile who try to swindle
other people, and especially foreigners, into placing
their money where they will lose it. It is not the
" Bears," or Wall-street, or this or that great
journal that is ruining the railways ; it is
the simple, naked fact that the principle on which
they have been constructed and wrought is
a combination of ignorance and fraud. In some
cases they fall victims to an error in their principle,
but in the vast majority of cases they are ruined by
the fraudulent management of their directors, who
knew when they started them, and persuaded people
to put their money inthem, andhawkedthern among
our friends in Europe, that they were worthless,
and that a vendor of such commodities oughfati
false
have been held liable for obtaining money on
letences —New York Herald,

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE•

LATEST BETTING.---FEIDAY.
EBOR HANDICAP.
8 to 1 agst Borderer (taken and offered)
9to 1 agst Underhand (taken and offered)
9 to 1 apt Tasinania (offered)
10 to 1 agst Warlock (taken and offered)
10 to 1 agst Hobgoblin (taken)
12 to 1 agst Mons. Dobler (taken)
25 to 1 agst Mongrel (taken and offered)
GREAT YORKSHIRE STARES.
2to 1 agst Vedette (offered)
9 to 2 agst Saunterer (cffered)

ST. LEGER.
6to 4 agst Blink Bonny (taken and offered'
4to 1 agst Ignoramus (taken and offered)
9 to 1 apt Tournament (offered)
15 to 1 agst Arsenal (offered)

TIM FrEST RUSSIAN NEWSPAPER.—From researches
which have been made in the Imperial Liberaty at St.
Petersburg, it appears that the first Russian journal was
published in 1702. A ukase of Peter the Great, dated
the 16th December, 1702, authorised the publication of
the Moscow Gazette, the first number of which appeared
the same day. No existing collection, however, pos-
SCSSO3 a copy of any journal earlier than the 2d Janullauary,
1703. In France, the first journal, founded by Re•
,dot, appeared in 623.