The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-28 00:00:00

(-- -f-
-marri women
,s,/
were sleeping in one room. These
;are nglish. You may fancy the state of Ireland is
Air from you, or that you are far fren that fearful
state. I solemnly believe that three years hence, with
free trade, England will have become another Ireland.
(Hear.) I see no chance of escap e—no more does
a single Minister of the Crown. If things are to im-
prove, as they say they are, let them hold out some
authority to tell us when, where, and eow ttiis i.e to
happen ; but all is silence, and it is the silence of de-
spair. They themselves, so far from that, are con-
vinced that the present race of farmers must be swept
away to make room for those Manchester men who
find fault with you because you cannot grow corn by
steam and drain by electricity.—(" Hear, hear," and
laughter.) But five years of this system will abolish
the poor-laws.— (Hear.) No labouring man will be
able to obtain relief from the parish five years hence
if this free trade continues. Why, the guardians of
my union told me the other day that if there was to
be a slack trade in our neighbourhood, where manu-
facturers are now comparatively flourishing, that in
twelve months of depression in trade more than one-
half of the farmers in the Keighley union will be sold
up to pay the poor-rates.--(Hear.) But reoolleet it
is the land which keeps up the charitable institutions
of this country. In three years more of free trade
they will be bankrupt. There is scarcely an institution
in this country that is supported by charity but wind
will be bankrupt. I tell the factory operative that free
trade will repeal the Ten Hours Bill. The landed gentry
are the men who will pass that measure. Free trade
will drive them all to beggary and ruin, and they
will then cease to be Members of the House of Come
mons if it continues. They then will leave those men
to grind the faces of the poor and trample them under
their feet, that they may grow more rich by the ruin-
ing of their own workpeople. But what is to be the
short result of all this state of things ? As I said
when addressing the farmers of Haddington, transpor-
tation awaits the labourers, as it has been the lot of
the needlewomen.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Sidney Her-
bert, one of Sir R. Peel's Cabinet Ministers, is now
openly engaged in raising a fund to transport the
needlewomen. What have they done that they should
be torn away from the land of their birth ?—(Hear.)
What is the system now adopted by Sir R. Peel and
his friends but the transportation of white slaves ia-
stead of the transportation of the black ? Gentlemen,
I must apologise to you for having addressed you
at such length.—(Cries of "Go on, go on.") I
feel so deeply upon this question that you must
forgive me if once more I warn you that in your
hands alone rests your future fate.—(Hear, hear.)
If your landlords choose to join you, I would
in kindly language rebuke them for their pre-
vious neglect. I would remind you that they have
stood aloof at a period when you trusted—alas! too
confidently—in the honour of English country gen-
tlemen.—(Hear, hear.) But let me remind you, like
the lark in the fable when it told its young ones that
were trying to be off—let me remind you that you
must trust in your own efforts, in your own strength,
and in your own power, which, when united in Great
Britain and Ireland, is irresistible.—(Load cheers.)
And when I see such a meeting as this before use,
convened on so short a notice and in so slightly popu-
lous a district as this, I feel convinced that if you
will take my advice and warm yourselves with one
twentieth part of the spirit which glows within my
breast, in two years the cotton lords of Lancashire
shall either be annihilated, or on beaded knees they
shall sue for your protection. I beg leave to second
the resolution which has been moved by Mr. Jeffer-
sou.—(Loud and continued cheering.)
Several other resolutions were proposed and car-
ried, after which three cheers were given for the
chairman, and three for Mr. Ferrand. The latter
gentleman, in taking his leave, called upon the farmers
not to forget the " Wool League," and the proceed.
ings were brought to a close about half-past five.

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-G.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TIMIS.-IVe ask for five minutes' attention
while we du our best to improve an occasion. We
cannot indeed say that its occurrence is unparalleled,
or that it is never likely to be repeated, but the et.,
ample is at any rate the most extraordinary yet sup-
plied from a tolerably extensive assortment. People
will confess, we think, that they had yet to learn
what a concern could be brought to by irresponsible
management on one side and unreasoning confidence
on the other. The Caledonian Railway is a line con-
necting the three important stations of Carlisle, Edin-
burgh, and Glasgow, and draining by means of its
tributaries some of the remotest districts of the north.
Its affairs have been entrusted to the management of
a certain body of directors, on whose ability, integrity,
and judgment the most implicit reliance was placed
by a numerous and intelligent proprietary. For a
very long period indeed all insinuations to a contrary
effect were indignantly rejected, and the suggestions
of a few malcontent shareholders were overwhelmed
and lost in the resolute acclamations of their
brethren. At length the truth began to
dawn ; the directors were superseded by a fresh
election, and as these lines meet the reader's
eye this morning the new administration will be
communicating to their constituents the veritable
state of affairs which on their accession to office they
found to exist. For the benefit of our constituents
we will go through the same process, although the
task preents some difficulties from the inadequacy of
common arithmetic to represent the vary peculiar re-
sults of the calculation. In fact, though we have
had a fair amount of practice lately in estimating un-
productive properties, we are almost at a loss for
appropriate expressions of the values before us. Com-
pared with the Caledonian Railway the rental of the
New Forest shows a creditable profit, and Mr. Dela
field's estate might be said to yield a handsome com-
petence. To begin with, it is only by an algebraical
sleight of hand that the general purport of the
balance-sheet exhibited—that is to say, the proportion
borne by the income of the company to its outgoings
—can be intelligibly represented. It seems that the
ratio in question does not admit of expression in
what theological disputants term a " naked
verbality ;" but is obtained by the well-known
mathematical process of augmenting invisible
quantities in order to bring them under the
operation of ordinary rules. If, therefore, for calcu-
lation's sake, we increase the receipts of the Caledo-
nian Railway by 30 per cent.—a result not really
very probable, as the permanent way is still imperfect
—and diminish its working expenses by 8 per cent.—
a contingency less unlikely, seeing that its engines
have been seized for debt, and that no more coke is
procurable upon credit—we shall learn that the con.
cern may be expected to yield a gross annual l.ss of
28,5891. This statement, however, is far too favour-
able to be maintained. The phrase of " less than
nothing" conveys no adequate idea of the property in
question. The negative assets of the company are
claimed by a swarm of competitors ; and, though it
is difficult to appreciate the value of the object thus
sought, we are gravely told that several companies
are clamouring to establish their own interest in this
desirable concern. Its liabilities, moreover, are
yearly on the increase. It was a favourite practice
with the late directors to buy up or take leases of all
rival lines. Thus in the single month of Novem-
ber, 1848, three new purchases were made, each of
which averaged a guarantee of 7 per cent. on the part
of the Caledonian Company, although it was unable at
that moment to meet its own current obligations. In
particular there was the Clydesdale line, now paying
not quite the whole of its working expenses, which
eligible property was secured to the Caledonian share-
holders by the cleverness of their directors at a cost of
a 6 per cent. guarantee and 50 per cent. bonus upon its
capital. Guarantees of the same kind to the Greenock
Company and the Barrhead Company will shortly be
coming into operation, and so promiscuous indeed have
been the attentions of the proprietary that they are
likely to be sued for breach of promise by half-a-dozen
other lines. These transactions were devised to secure
the Caledonian in a monopoly of traffic against all in-
convenient rivalry, and the judgment which presided
at the negotiations may be inferred from the fact that
at this moment its receipts are vitally endangered by
the impending competition of the Nithsdale line. So
much for a broad general prospect of the company's
affairs. As regards the chances of creditors, it is an.
nounced that the income of the last half-year, after
snaking all allowances for curable disorders of
management, would be too little by about 50 per
cent. to meet the first class of guaranteed or pre-
ferential claims, and would show au actual deficiency
of upwards of 5,0001. even if the liabilities to other
lines were left undischarged. No supposition, is
fact, short of total repudiation could bring the con-
cern into a state of solvency. Touching the item
termed " cash in hand," or ways and means at pre.
sent existing, the new directors report that they fiticl
the treasury absolutely empty, from which extensive
store they have to meet bills to the amount of
74,0001. falling immediately due, while
whatever has been made for the accruing interest
on debentures, for rents leng overdue noft::
ottaet
claims upon the company. Even the Queen's
taxes have fallen heavily in arrear, and the general
stores of the establishment have been left to tab
care of themselves. We can only sum up these
disclosures in a series of paradoxes. After so many
years' working the company have got nothing; they
are likely to have less. There are scores of squab.
blers for all they have, and as many more for all they
have not. The ultimate expectancy of the original
shareholder is a quantity which nobody attempts to
symbolise. We admit that this is an extreme cuh
and not exactly to be represented as a fair specimen
of railway properties. Still it is no more than may
be the lot of any company under the same manage.
ment ; and this management is no other than that for
which the adversaries of a Government audit are so
desperately battling. In fact, the ex-directors of the
Caledonian Railway enjoyes iri n eminent degree
that confidence of the shareholders which is so speci.
ously appealed to. They met their constituents fre-
quently they propounded their schemes in full
ineeting they were supported by the tasjorltY