The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-12 00:00:00

VIE BALLET,

The Direction of her Majesty's Theatre has not thought It would
be justified, by the unprecedented magnitude of the Lyrical resources
now collected, in diminishing in the smallest degree the attractions
of the Ballet Department, the source of so much recreation to the
Subscribers and the Public, and the following arrangements have
been effected :
Mdlle. CARLOTTA GRIST, Mdlle. MARIE TAGLIONT, Signora

AMALIA FERRARIS,

Fronk tho San Carlos, Naples, her first appearance at this Theatre

And Aldlle. ROSiit,

Supported by Signora Garnbadella, Jilada.me Petit Stephan, Md
Rosa Vergniaud, Ausundon, Julienne, Larnourettux, Fanny Pascales
Dttialer, &c.,
M. PAUL TAGLIONI,
M. GOSSELIN, &c.,
With a numerous Corps do Ballot, which has been greatly
•reared by the accession of fresh talent.
Arrangements are pending with other artistes ofgreat attraction
Maitre de Ballet, M. PAUL TAGLIONI

M. CIIARLE3,

Sens Maitre de Ballet, and Master of the French School of Chore.

graphy, M. GOSSELIN.
Rigisseur de la Danse, and Master of the English School of Choro.

graphy, M. PETIT.
Composer of the Ballet Music, Signor PUGNI.
Principal Artist to the establishment, Mr. Charles Marshall.
The Costume Department will be directed by Mr. Coombes and
Miss Bradley, under the superintendence of Madame Copere.
Principal Machinist, Mr. D. Sloman.
Head of the Property Department, Mr. Bradwell.
The Subscription will consist of the same number of nights as last
season.
Other arrangements of peculiar interest are in progress.

PRINCESS'S THEATUE.
mr• M. Maddox, Sole Lessee and Manacer.
THIS EVENING will be performed Beßlurs Opera, entitled LA
SOMNAMBULA. Count Rodolph, Mr. Weiss; Elvin°, Mr. Allen ;
Alessi°, Mr. Wynn; Therese, Madame Feron ; Liza, Miss Julia
Bleaden ; and Amine, Miss Louisa Fyne.
Alter which MOT AND COLD.
To be followed by the Ballet of THE THREE STATUES.
To conclude with MT WIFE SHAN'T ACT.

olOtl WATER AT LONDON I3RLD43E.
Tais DAT —Morning, 12 min. after 1 I Evering, 32 min. after 1
To-Me/mow—hi inning, 60 min. after 1 j Evening, 10 min. alter 2

THE WEATHER.—SuN OFFICE, MARCH 12,
THERMOMETER, Lowest, 29; Highest, 39; Noon 43,

BARONETER, 30*6.
WIND N.N.E.--Sne sunshiny weather.

Cerberus may be appeased—the Ministerial hands that
throw those sops being little prepared for the real but
inevitable consequence of such agreeable and palate-
able concessions. Is it necessary to say what that
consequence is ? to say that the appetite for reduction
is only thereby whetted ? to say that the hunger and
thirst after retrenchment, so far from being dimi-
nished, becomes, as each additional sop is
swallowed, enormously and insatiably increased ?
We think not : we think it unnecessary to
detail these assertions—as unnecessary to do
so as to argue that the Government in acting as
they are doing are only laying up for themselves,
session after session, an accumulation of yet more im-
portunate difficulties.

Wonderful it is, but not the less true, that Cabinets
as well as individuals are incapable of profiting by ex-
perience. Not a reform has ever been refused by
Parliament, the refusal being accompanied by a con-
cession, but the demand from without has acquired
additional energy in consequence of that most absurd
kind of opposition. The refusal has been idle,
because accompanied by the concession : the
concession has been useless, because accompanied by
the refusal. Eappstite bent en mangeant. Bit by
bit these frivolous concessions have been consumed,
until, by one bold effort, the whole of the rest of the
reform has been gulped together. It was so with
the Corn-law question ;it will be so likewise with the
question of financial retrenchment. But will the
ruling Government, like that magnanimous Govern-
ment which preceded it, be open to the force of con-
viction, even though that conviction be opposed to
their own individual and political interests ? Is
Lord Joins RUSSELL prepared at an emergency
to emulate that sublime moral courage evinced by
Sir ROBERT PEEL, by getting up in the House of
Commons, and in the presence of the country ac-
knowledging that his former views had proved erro-
neous ? Can we expect from the lips of the Noble
Premier, as from those of his Right Hon. predecessor,
a generous declaration that if any credit were due in
this matter it would be owing to " the unadorned
eloquence of RICHARD COBDEN ?" Time alone can
show whether the Whigs really possess this
magnanimity. Time alone can prove whether
as a body they are capable of this most honourable
and laudable kind of tergiversation.
Meanwhile we are steadily advancing with minute
steps towards the accomplishment by some party—be
it Whig, Radical, or Peelite, Tory, Agricultural, or
so-called Conservative —of all our brightest day-
dreams of financial reduction. Bluster as the aristo-
cratic faction may about their determination to with-
stand to the last the encroachments of the democratic
masses—they will prefer, as rational men,
to yield up some portion of their spoils,
rather than drive the people to that last
terrible extremity, in which, to use the power-
ful expression of Mr. CARLTLF, " the official
holy of holies is scandalously laid bare to dogs and
the profane." Rather than this, our good pampered
placemen will consent to forego some few of their
superfluous luxuries, a dozen or so of their golden
platters, an ell or so of their fine linen or their
purple. Fortunately the people can, by this means,
be always secure of obtaining their reasonable wishes
for improvement ; they can always at the last push
obtain their heart's best desires by the Terror of the
Grand AlternatiVe.

As we had anticipated last week, the delegates
appointed by the different Railway Companies to de-
termine the proper measures to be adopted for addi-
tional legislation on the audit of accounts, and
other purposes, have approved of the draft of a
Bill, which wilt, it is hoped, provide for the great
object to be attained at least as efficiently as the Go-
vernment measure, and which will not be open to the
grave and serious objections that may fairly be urged
against the latter. The gentlemen upon whom the
arduous duty devolved have well discharged the trust
confided to their hands, and have collectively and
individually earned for themselves the thanks and
gratitude of the large and influential constituencies,
by whom they were chosen ; and they have
shown how utterly unwarranted was the asser-
tion so rashly put forward by the Noble -Vice-
President of the Board of Trade when he assured
the assembled Peers, that " it was not likely that
any large number of railway proprietors would com•
bine to bring in any Bill cf the kind during the
present session. At that very time Lord GRAN VILLE
might have known that persons elected at public
meetings, and representing capital to the extent of
120,000,0001. sterling, bad decided on the principles,
and almost, settled the details of such a Bill—
a Bill which we unhesitatingly declare to be
far superior, in every particular, to that
brought forward on behalf of the Government,
and which, if carried into effect, would ensure the
great desideratum—a scrutinizing, searching, and
continuous audit of accounts, and convince the
shareholders and the public that the sum about to
be divided had been honestly earned within the pre-
ceding half-year, and that every expense incurred in
producing that revenue, whether actually paid or
hanging as a liability over the company, had been
faithfully provided for.
It may with much truth be asserted, that any
legislation on the subject is rather tardy, that we are
practically " shutting the stable-door after the steed
has been stolen." The gravest errors were com-
mitted by the payment of dividend out of capital ;
but that will no longer be possible when
the capital account has been virtually closed, which
is, or will be, the case in the great majority of com-
panies before any law can be brought into operation.
If then the shareholders, with the limited powers
which they at present possess, have been enabled to
defeat the former boards, to institute the most
stringent and searching investigations, and bring to
light every mistake or fraud that has, been committed,
there is surely but little reason why they should
now be subjected to most vexatious and un-
necessary interference on the part of GBovrietril
ment, and that they alone, among
capitalists, should be considered incapable of
managing their own affairs, and looking after
their own property. We have seen joint-stock banks
involved in serious difficulties through the errors
and culpable negligence of their directors, but
it has never been proposed that the proprietors
should be no longer permitted to control their own
concerns, or that all their accounts should be sub-
jected to the inspection of a prying official, whose
secresy could not be relied on, and whose disclosures
to rivals in business might be extremely prejudicial
to the best interests of the companies. But yet we
ask, if the principle of extraneous interference be once

affirmed, if the sharp point of the wedge be intro-
duced, who can say what may be the results or to
what lengths it may not prozeed ? whether, in fact,
it may not lead to the establishment of an inquisito-
rial system, from which no Englishman engaged in
. . _ _ _

any joint-stock partnership will henceforth be secured?

Lord STANLEY, last night, in a singularly able
speech, explained the serious objections to the Go-

vernment Bill, and also the nature of the measures
that had been prepared by the delegates ; although it

could no longer be pretended that a Bill would not

be brought forward on the part of the shareholders.
Lord GRANVILLE still pressed forward, and would

not agree to a single day's postponement.

is, however, probable, that he will consent that

both Bills should be referred to a Select gommittee

.o report fully on their respective merits to the House,

The Noble Lord has taken a day to decide, and we
Unit that he will not persist in obstinately forcing a

measure most distasteful to an everwhelmning ma-
jority of those interested in railway property, with-
out a full and searching inquiry, and mature and

attentive consideration.

It may be well to state briefly the nature of the
Bill brought forward by Lord STANLEY, on behalf of
the delegates, before we enter into an examination of
the relative merits of the different propositions. The
Bill, after declaring that "it is expedient that to
make further provision for the keeping and
making out of the accounts of all com
panies in a uniform manner ; conveying more
full and detailed information respecting the financial
condition of aueh companies, their receipts and dis-

_
bursetnents, profit and losF, and enforcing a strict

in - _
separation such accounts between the capital out-
lay of such companies and their current income and

expenditure, and affording better security that no

dividend shall be made by which the capital or stock
may be in any way impaired," provides that " the

accounts of every railway company already incorpo•.

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