The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-12 00:00:00

FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 12, 1850.

not warrant a re-adjustment of official incommq,
which, while it conciliates public opinion and gratifies
the prevalent desire for economy, will still supply the
Cabinet, the diplomatic corps, and the judici4i bench
with occupants as distinguished, as honourable, and
as efficient as heretofore—this is a question which
may, in our judgment, be not improperly submitted
at the present time to the arbitration of a Select Com-
mittee.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
SOUTH EASTERN.
The half-yearly general meeting of the proprietors
of this company, adjourned from the 14th ult., was
held yesterday at the Bridge-house Hotel, London-
bridge, for the purpose of electing auditors. Mr. J.
Macgregor, chairman of the board of directors, was
in the chair.
The CHAIRMAN said—Gentlemen, the half•yearly
general meeting of the proprietors in the South-
Eastern Railway, held on the 14th of March, was
adjourned to this day, for the purpose of electing
three auditors. Before, however, proceeding to this,
the business of th" day, I beg to state that the direc•
tors on the 21st March carried out the resolution of
the proprietors, and reduced their number to nine—
viz., Mr. Macgregor, Mr. Renshaw, Mr. Bradshaw,
Mr. Browne, the lion. Mr. 13yng, Mr. Ironside Mr.
Jack, Mr. Smale, and Captain Warren. And the
directors are advised by counsel of eminence that they
had the right, under the provisions in the company's
Act of Parliament, to reduce their number. I have
further to state that a bill was filed by Mr. Thomas
Carlisle on the 14th ultimo, praying for an injunction
to restrain the company from paying the present or
any future dividends until the completion and open-
ing to the public for traffic of the Ashford, Hastings,
and St. Leonard's line of railway. An application
for the injunction was made to the Master of the
Rolls on the 23d ultimo, when, after argument, the
Master of the Rolls granted the injunction as to future
dividends, giving the company liberty to take the
opinion of a court of law on the construction of the
Act of Parliament under which the question raised
arises, and reserved for further consideration the
question as to the payment of the present dividend,
giving the company leave to file affidavits as to the
probable time of completion of the line, and their
possession of the requisite funds properly applieable
to the purposes of its completion. The company,
filed such affidavits on the 4th instant as the cir-
cumstances admitted of, and as counsel advised would
be sufficient, and the case was brought on again be-
fore the Master of the Rolls yesterday, when his
Lordship requested that the resources of the company
should be stated in more detail. It is proposed
therefore to file on Friday such further affidavits as
the Master of the Rolls has suggested, and the case
will be brought on again on Monday next. The pro-
prietors who gave fourteen days' notice of their inten-
tion to be candidates for the office of auditors are
Messrs. John Ball, 57, Coleman-street, City ; Thomas
Browne, 3, Albert-road, Regent's-park ; Joseph
Wilson Buckley, Ellergill Villa, Surbiton, Kingston-
on-Thames; Coles Childe, Greenwich ; Herbert
John Hughes, 17, Claremont-street, Edinburgh ;
Edwin Keet, 7, Gloucester-terrace, Kensington ;
John Longmore, 5, Portland-place, Borough-road,
Southwark ; Meredith Meredith, 21, Cannon-street-
road, Whitechapel ; John Morgan, 1, Amen-corner,
Paternoster-row; George Smith, 57, Conduit-street,
Hanover-square ; Henry Edward Wardle, 12, Ed-
wards-street, Portman-square ; and John Hill Wil-
liams, 12, Waterloo-place, Pall-mall. It is, how-
ever, my duty to state that Mr. Meredith and Mr.
Wardle, two of the candidates, are not duly qualified
for the office.

Mr. J. WILSON requested the indulgence of the
meeting while he stated his reasons for proposing
that they should not, on the present occasion, proceed
to the election of auditors. In the first place, pro-
ceedings relating to auditors and to all railway in-
terests were at present pending before the Legisla-
ture, and it would be best to wait until they saw
what the result of those proceedings would Zbe. In
the second place, he saw balloting papers distributed
in the room, and he was sure that if the choice of the
proprietors differed from that of the chairman, Mr.
Macgregor would come forward with his proxies and
swamp their votes.—(Order, order.) He contended
that the candidates were all of them agreeable to and
in the interest of the directors. The speaker was
proceeding, amid much disapprobation, to prove his
statement in the cases of individual candidates, when
he was called to order by the chairman. He pro-
ceeded to say that the opinion that the working of
the South-Eastern system was bad, ab was
gaining ground with the public, and that the time
was not far distant when the management of the
railway would be placed on a foundation more likely
to make it a valuable property. The whole fault lay
with the present direction. The committee of in-
vestigation had reported that there was scarcely any-
thing wrong, yet they had expressed disapprobation
of the conduct of the directors in no less than
eleven cases which had come under their notice.
and not one of the recommendations contained in their
report had been carried into effect. Mr. Wilson then
referred at length, amid repeated interruptions, to the
conduct of the chairman in disregarding the order of
the board for the sale of stock, amounting in value to
1.56,0001., in consequence of which a heavy loss ac-
crued to the company ; in withholding the books from
the inspection of the proprietors, contrary to the Act
of Parliament ; and in making certain alterations in
the financial statement, with the object, as Mr. Mac-
gregor termed it, "of relieving the revenue account."
He concluded by moving, " That the choice of au-
ditors be postponed until the proceedings in relation
to the auditing of railway accounts, now before the
Houses of Parliament, shall he determined."
Mr. COLEMAN seconded the motion.
Mr. MORGAN said that the committee of investiga-
tion had elicited nothing very dreadful against the
chairman or the other directors ; but a cabal had got
into the concern, who were doing all they could to
sink it. He felt confident, however, that their exer-
tions would be unsuccessful.—(Hear.)
Mr. GEORGE SMIT/I thought it would simplify the
question if Mr. Wilson were to remember that the
Act of Parliament obliged them to elect three auditors.
It would be absurd if they did not fulfil the purpose
for which they were assembled.—(Hear, hear.) What
they wanted at their meetings was a little calm consi
deration. Their property had been depreciated 30
per cent, during the past month, and the cause he
believed to be the want of confidence in their directors.
He was at some loss to understand fully the state of
their affairs, and for that as well as other reasons he
wished that auditors should be appointed who would
explain them. He therefore moved, as an amendment
to Mr. Wilson's motion, that they should forthwith
proceed to the election of auditors.—(Hear, hear.)
The amendment having been seconded by Mr.
Romose, was put from the chair, and carried.
Mr. Hor.eAND then moved that Mr. Thomas
Brownie, Mr. Coles Child, and Mr. John Morgan, be
nominated auditors to the company.
Mr. CHALLICE, seconded by Mr. HILL, proposed
Mr. John Longmore as an auditor.
Mr. WILSON inquired whether the chairman, int
case a poll was demanded, would make use of the
proxies which he was understood to hold.
The CHAIRMAN said, that in giving an answer to
the question about proxies, he thought he was entitled
to say afzw words respecting the charges which had
been made against him by Mr. Wilson, as well as the
general interests of the company. Mr. Smith had
stated that there was a difficulty in understanding
the position of their affairs, and that the auditors
would make it more plain to them, He (the Chair-
man) had been labouring for five years to become
master of their affairs, and to make them patent to
the shareholders, and he would say that they were
not so complex that a just opinion might not be
formed upon them. Now with respect to the ques-
tion of proxies, it should be remembered that 5,000
was somewhere about the number of persons actually
interested in the company, while 4 few hundreds only
attended at their meetings. Y 7
-s.e felt that he was
responsible not only to those who came to the meet-
ings, but to those who had entrusted him with their
proxies, and though he was sure that the decision of
the proprietors would render the use of his proxies
unnecessary, yet if disqualified or unfit persons were
elected, he would not engage not to exercise the
powers he possessed. Mr. Wilson had brought for-
ward allegations a
year old, relating to circum-
stances which were
fully investigated a twelve-
month ago. In all the matters to which that gentle-
man referred he (the Chairman) had acted according
to what he sincerely believed would be for the benefit
of the South-Eastern Company; and if Mr. Wilson
doubted the truth of his word, he would have an op-
portunity, before long, of examining him upon oath
in a Committee of the House of Common.—[Dlr.
Wilson—l thank you for the suggestion]. If he (the
Chairman) had become poor by that company, he
trusted he had not become dishonest.—(Loud cheers.)
His salary of 2,0001. per annum bad been again
alluded to. He thought he deserved some :remune-
ration for his exertions; and, whether in their service
or elsewhere, he must earn his livelihood ; but he
would say, if they were dissatisfied with the amount
of his salary, it was perfectly at their disposal, and
they might reduce it as much as they pleased.—
(No, no, and cheers.) He next alluded to the
Chancery proceedings instituted by Mr. Carlyle to
prevent the directors from paying the half-yearly
dividend until the opening of the Ashford and Hast-
ings Branch. The directors had made a declaration,
founded on the oaths of the engineer and contractor,
that, in their opinion, the line would he ready to be
opened in August next, and therefore, if Lord Langdale
made an injunction to prevent;the payment of the.pre-
sent dividend, the warrants could not be issued before
August. But he trusted Lord Langdale would not
listen to such an application. He (the Chairman)
would say to him, with Bassanio in the play_
" To do a gnat right, do a little wrong,
Aud curb this cruel devil of his will."
For this was one of the most cruel steps ever taken

by any one ; it would seriously embarrass the com-
pany, and if it were successful it would deprive of
their all for a considerable time, many widows and
ethers who dcptAided entirely on their dividends fur
support. He was thankful, howeser, to tell them
that they micht rely on their line being opened in
August.—(Cheers.)
After some further discussion, and examination of
the candidates as to their qualification for the office of
auditors, the question was put from the chair, and the
three following gentlemen were declared to be
elected :—Mr. C. Child, Mr. J. Morgan, and Mr. T.
Browne.
Mr. J. Wilsort then made an unsuccessful attempt
to induce the proprietors to litsen to his advocacy of
Mr. Gordon Thompson, who has recently been de-
prived of his seat in the direction. Mr. Wilson de-
clared that all the acts of the directors, in which Mr.
Thomp,on was not invited to take part, would be ille-
gal and void.
The CHAIRMAN replied that the directors had acted
in the matter under the best advice.
The proce?dings then terminated with a vote of
thanks and three rounds of cheers for Mr. Macgregor.

YORIC., NEWCASTLE, AND BERWICK RAILWAY.-

Yesterday the committee on this company's Bill, con.
sistin of the lion. R. Clive, chairman ; lion. J. For.
rescue, lion. E. Littieton, Mr. Moody, and Mr.
Evelyn, met for the first time, to consider this com-
pany's proposed Bill for making arrangements as to
payment for the purchase of the Great North of
England Railway. Mr. Talbot, Q.C., opened the
case for the promoters of the measure, the object
being to spread the payments to be made by the
York, Newcastle, and Berwick,- for the purchase of
the Great North of England Railway, over a longer
period of time. For this purchase it appears that the
former company had created 159,000 shares of 251.
each, upon which the sum of 8/. per share only has
been called, and in order to relieve the company from
calling up the remaining 171. per share before the Ist
July next, and satisfactorily and effectually to carry
out the purchase, it is proposed that three tenth parts
shall be paid in 1853, four tenths in 1855,and in three
tenths:in 1856. The petitions of shareholders in the
York, Newcastle, and Berwick Company, praying to
be heard against the Bill, were dismissed by the
committee on the ground of their not having been
presented in due time, and of the Leeds and Thirak
Railway Company, on the ground that they had no
locus standi.

RUGBY, WARWICK, AND WORCESTER RAILWAY.--
Yesterday, in the settlement of this company's affairs
before the Master in Chancery, Richards, two impor-
tant decisions were come to, in dealing with the cases
of a large number of transferrees of shares, who had
received back 15s. per share out of the 21. 2s. deposit,
for which the original shareholders had paid and
signed the deed. His Honour the Master held that
all parties in the position of bankers and stockbrokers,
who had received back dividends from a railway com-
pany winding up its own affairs, simply in the capa-
city of agents, and not having any beneficial interest
in the shares, were not to be held liable as contribu-
tories under the Act, but that their respective princi-
pals, whether in the capacity of original allottees, or
as transferers, were to be ; also, that a person being
either a mortgagee or a depositee, or having a benefi-
cial interest in a share himself, although not an
original allottee, was a contributor under the Act.
It was contended that, as the instruments trans-
ferring the shares were not stamped, it was not a
valid conveyance, and that the party or parties were
not liable; but the Master overruled the objection.
Mr. Daniel appeared for Mr. Wryght, the official
manager • and Mr. Valiance, solicitor to the estate,
and Mr:James, Mr. Rosburghe, and Mr. Foulkes
for other parties. The official manager reports the
assets at about 3,000/., in the hands of the Account-
ant-General; and the liabilities at between 5,0001.
and G,OOO/. The Northamptonshire Banking Com-
pany claim 3,300/. ; the secretary, Mr. Weller,
1,000/. ; and the solicitor 5001. The chairman of the
company was Sir H. G. Ward, now Lord High
Commissioner of the lonian Islands. About 20,000
shares were allotted, and 40,0001. received from
shareholders as deposit; 5,600 shares were bought
up by the directors at a premium in the market, and
9,000 shares were reserved in their own hands, it is
said, for landowners. The 40,0001. was spent in
" preliminaries," leaving a balance in hand of 21.
LONDONDERRY AND ENNISKILLEN RAILWAY._...
The necessary notice has been given to the Railway
Commissioners, and should the inspector to be ap-
pointed by them as expected, arrive during the pre-
sent week, the line will be opened to the public both
for passengers and goods by the time originally
named in the contract, the 20th of this present month.
Londonderry Journal.

BOHN'S SHILLING SERIES.
REPRESENTATIVE 3IE.N. By Ralph Waldo
Emerson.
LIFE OF 111AHO3TET. By Washington Irving.
GENUINE AUTOBIOGRAPHY. By Benja-
min Franklin.
Conspicuous, to our thinking, in the midst of the
present multiplicity of cheap publications, is the
series of shilling volumes recently commenced by
Mr. Henry Bohn, whose "Standard Library" has
already acquired for him considerable distinction for
his enterprise. Why we regard this periodical issue
of work, not restricted from cheapness by the force
of copyright, as being superior to most of its nume-
rous competitors, is because of two or three very
matter-of-fact particulars, which, notwithstanding
their merely business-like character, are not beneath
the notice of criticism, at any rate not beneath the
notice of criticism in an age of economy and compe-
tition. Therefore it is that we do not shrink from
explicitly specifying the excellence of the paper and
the general beauty and clearness of the typography,
as being among the prominent causes of the popularity
of Mr. I3ohn's latest s; eadation—the materials for
the production of a cheap but handsome volume
being judiciously applied only in the case of works
whose indisputable ability goes far to prove the skill
exercised in selection. To say anything further in
demonstration of this than to particularise the repub-
lication of the authentic autobiography of 13enjmmin
Franklin, whom we may be allowed to designate the
Philospher of Method and the Genius of Mediocrity,
would be superfluous if we wished to restrict our-
selves within the limits of a niggardly and parsi-
monious applause .but the influence likely to be
exercised indirectly over the intellects of the miscel-
laneous population by the patronage accorded to any
such wholesome and beneficent enterprises in the
way of disseminating valuable literature, appears to
be a matter of so much importance, and a movement
en avant so entirely deserving of encouragement, that
we must perforce extend our allusions, in a few addi-
tional words, to the ether reprints from the American
originals with which Mr. Bohn has here preceded
Franklin's sententious Autobiography. The lucid and
in many respects masterly narrative in which Wash-
ington Irving (one of the purest and noblest prose
writers in the English language) has recounted the
surprising career of Mahomet the Great Imposter,
has already acquired a recognition so world wide and
decisive as to remove the necessity of any critical
demonstration. With regard to the " Representative
Men " of Emerson, we might speak in terms precisely
similar, but that we have a secret conviction that the
admirers of this eccentric genius are only now begin-
ning in this our England to grow in intensity and to
multiply in numbers. If once the accridity of his
hatreds can be overlooked, and the angularity of his
style be permitted, it will prove impossible not to recog-
nise through the haze of the one the gentlest sym-
pathies, and through the ruggedness of the other the
most profound and venerable earnestness. Besides
this, in the thick of his oddities, oddities of rhetoric
that sprout up in all parts, in every nook and cranny
of his meditations, we come every now and then to a
phrase so felicitous, or a thought so beautiful, that we
would cull them as eagerly as we would some lovely
and fragrant blossom growing at intervals in the thick
of a jungle of weeds and brambles. It is thus, when
he calls Plato (p. 43) " the Euclid of Holiness," or
when he says of the style of that great philosopher
(p. 27) "his patrician polish, his intrinsic elegance,
edged by an irony so subtle that it stings and para-
lyses, adorn the soundest health and strength of
frame ; his daring imagination gives him the more
solid grasp of facts ; as the birds of highest flight
have the strongest alar bones." Again it is a noble
fancy of his, when speaking of Swedenborg, he says
(p. 70) " melodious poets shall be hoarse as street-
ballads, when once the penetrating key-note of nature
and spirit is sounded—the earth-beat, sea-beat, heart-
beat which makes the time to which the sun rolls, and
the globule of blood, and the sap of trees." How
powerful, moreover, is that ejaculation of his in re-
ference to the moral and spiritual ambition of man,
where he says (p. 91) that Providence " has shown
the heaven and earth to every child, and filled him
with a desire for the whole; a desire raging, infinite ;
a hunger, as of space to be filled with planets ; a cry
of famine, as of devils for souls." And in like manner
it is with a kindred intenseness of expression that he
exclaims of the writings of Montaigne (p. 83), " I
know not anywhere the book that seems less written :
it is the language of conversation transferred to a
book ; cut these words and they would bleed ; they
are vascular and alive." No one who has once
listened to Emerson reading one of his lectures—his
tall, thin figure swaying with the methodical mono-
tony of mechanism—his head stooping—his keen and
earnest features listening in every muscle for the
perception of his more odd and recondite thoughts
by the audience—his collar worn ei la Byron without
a suspicion of dandyism—his voice drawling and ac-
centuated with a certain twang of Yankeeism (as where
he talks of the " dray-ma" and so forth)
can fail to here that strange enthusiast-voice ringing
again upon the tympanum of their memory through
every sentence of his works subsequently perused.
The recollected tune to which the writing is thus set
by the remembrance, is a wonderful help towards its
better apprehension and appreciation. Such as these
three books now particularised—by Emerson, Irving,
and Franklin—is the cheap and estimable series on
the publication of which Mr. Bohn has now, happily
fur the masses, adventured.

310 RE VERSE AND PROSE. Vol. H. By

the Corn-law Rhymer.
In noticing the appearance of the preceding volume
of the work here brought to a conclusion, we
commented upon that sudden demise of its author,
which had unexpectedly rendered it posthumous.
Since then we have only found reason to lament
more and more earnestly the departure of one whose
genius was at once robust and sensitive, exquisitely
Alive to the beautiful, enamoured of justice to the
extent almost of delirium, and at the recognition of
wrong overflowing with wrath and indignation. It
is, consequently, with the utmost avidity that we turn
to these final scraps of his composition in verse and
prose, the gleanings of his fruitful intellect; devour-
ing also with a curiosity and pleasure, which we are
satisfied will prove very general, a critique on the
poetical writings of Ebenezer Elliott, penned fur the
Quarterly Review by the late Robert Southey, and
rejected by the editor of the Quarterly after Southey
had corrected the proof-sheets of the article. Three
Lectures on Poetry, appended to the present volume,
and delivered on divers cccasions by the departed
poet, will be read with interest by all those
interested in that the loftiest of all the
departments of literature. Nor will the perusal of
these lectures be unattended by gratification, many
of the least dogmatical passages being replete with
critical excellence. From the popular hymns written
by the Corn-law Rhymer not long before his de-
cease we yesterday extracted one of peculiar ex-
cellence into our columns, which we trust had its
due weight upon the consciences (if they have any)
of the Sabbatarians. From the miscellanies and
lyrics from " Life according to Law," an unpublished
opera, we could find several verses worthy of
extract as appropriate specimens of Ebenezer Elliott
in his happiest style, but, unfortunately, the collection
in this the second and concluding volume are so few,
that we would not further diminish their attractiveness
by stinting their number yet more. " The Poor
Man's Day" will be found exquisitely beautiful, and
" Sunderland's Glory" unconscionably grotesque.
Other metrical pieces in the volume, such, fur ex-
ample, as the loyal and patriotic ‘ Ode on the
Marriage of Victoria the First," are, like the veriest
trifles from the same band, unusually meritorious.
The work, we trust, may have a circulation befitting
the literary legacy of the Corn-law Rhymer.