The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 19, 1868.

TILE ADISSINLEV EXPEDITION.

(From the Times' Special Correspondent.)
SENAFE, May 27.

Sir Robert Napier with the rear guard of the
force arrived here on the 24th inst., and will pro-
bably leave on the 29th. It is expected that he will
remain about a week at Zoulla, but his plans are
not yet, I believe, positively settled, and will pro-
bably be regulated by the c )nilition in which he
finds the arrangements at Annesley Bay for the
embarkation of troops and stores, So far
these arrangements have succeeded admirably.
Before Magdala was taken—indeed, if I re-
member rightly, before the force had come
within sight of it--the Commander-in-Chief, con-
sidering the rainy season a more formidable
foe than Theodore, hal commenced provisional
preparations for the speedy return of the troops,
and his instructions were so well carried out by the
Assistant Quartermaster-General that the pro-
gramme laid down fur their re-embarcation has
been adhered to without a single miscarriage or the
loss of a day. In my last letter I told you what
troops had embarked up to the 21st instant. Since
that date the following troops have left Annesley
Bay :—The 10th Bengal Cavalry embarked on the
23d, the 2d Sainde Horse on the 24th, the 23d Pun-
jab Pioneers on the 24th and 25th, the 12th Bengal
Cavalry and 21st Punjab Infantry on the 25th, the
G 14, Armstrongs, and 5-25, mortars, with the ele-
phants, on the 26th ; the 3d Light Cavalry and the
Head-quarter Wing 10th Native Infantry are to
embark to-day. The last of the troops not wanted
for baggage-guard or to assiat in the embarcation
of stores will leave Annesley Bay on the Ist or 2d
of June. Sir Charles S aveley will probably leave
with them. The 3d Native Infantry and 25th Na-
tive Infantry, with the Madras and Bombay
Sappers and Miners, are to be the last to quite
the country, Brigadier-General Schneider remain-
ing with them in command. As regards the desti-
nation of the troops after leaving Abyssinia, the
3d Dragoon Guards, the 33.1 (Dake of Welling-
ton's), the 4th (King's Oivn), the 10th Company
Royal Engineers, the A 31 and B 21 Batteries pro-
ceed to England ; the 45th (Sherwood Foresters),
to Madras ; the . 26th (Cam eronians), to Calcutta ;
G. 14 and 5-25 Batteries to Bombay. The Bombay,
Bengal, and Madras native troops-return respec-
tively to their own Presidencies. The G 14, baying
only a year or thereabouts left to complete their
tour of foreign service, had fully counted on going
to England ; but, much to their disappointment, a
telegram came out from home ordering them back
to India.

The floods in the Senafe Pass have been very fre-
quent since I last wrote. Almost every other day a
telegram is received at head quarters announcing
the destruction of this or that part. of the road. With
the exception, howeva, of one lamentable accident,
in which seven native followers were suddenly over-
taken by the torrent, and swept helples.3ly away,
nothing but the road has as yet suffered, and even
the damage done to this is never greater than a few
hours' hard work can repair—l mean 53 far as is
necessary to make the road passable for men and
baggage animals. The carts now at Senafe will pro-
bably, if the rains continue, either have to be
abandoned as useless or else taken to pieces
and carried on mules over those portions of
the pais which have suffered most. The floods,
though very violent while they last (in one case the
water rose, it is said, to the height of 20 feet), are
of very short duration, and usually affect but a
comparatively small portion of the pass. They
generally occur at about the same hour of the day,
late in the afternoon, and give timely warning of
their approach. It is not known how the unfortu-
nate natives whose fate I have mentioned could
have failed to make good their escape. Hence
little or no uneasiness is felt about the safety of
the troops or stores that have still to be taken down
the pass. Unless there ghoul I be a considerable
charge for the worse in the present state of the
weather, the task will not be dangerous or even
difficult. It is not expected that the troops will be
detained, or that anything worse will happen than
the loss of labour involved in repairing the damage
done to the road by these constantly recurring
floods.

A visit from Kassa, the Tigre chief, to Sir Robert
Napier, has been, perhaps, the principal event of
the week. Kassa's proceedings, however, not un-
naturally attract considerably less interest now than
when his alliance and friendly aid in procuring
supplies were of vital importance to the force, and
the Durbar held in his honour yesterday, though
graced with the usual display of handsome uniforms
and expenditure of gunpowder, was rather a tame
affair. It consisted almost entirely in the presenta-
tion of complimentary gifts—such a rifLes, pistols,
cloths, &c., to the Tigre Chief and a few of his
principal followers. More substantial gifts were at
the same time promised, and Kassa will indeed have
every reason to congratulate himself upon the cour-
tesy and good faith with which he has throughout
treated his English allies. It is said that before the
last Durbar at Adabaga, when Kassa was to all ap-
pearance hesitating whether he should meet Sir
Robert Napier, some of his councillors toll him
that these strangers coal I no doubt be pleasant and
smooth-spoken enough when they were coming into
Abyssinia and wanted his assistance, but that if he
accepted their friendship and let them pass peace-
ably through his country, he would find them very
different men when they were coming out of it.
Happily, he himself thought otherwise, or at least
resolved to act as if he thought otherwise (for it is
not easy to believe that, as an Abyssinian diploma-
tist, he really put faith in the fair promises of a
stranger), and he has had his reward. He has been
treated more generously now that his alliance is of no
use to us than when we were most anxious to secure
it. Ile has been given already two mountain guns,
about 850 muskets, about 400,000 rounds of am-
munition, and a large quantity of powder. If he
comes to Zoulla, which he talks of doing, and would
doubtless like to do if he were sure that the Sho-
hoes would ever let him come back, he will not im-
probably receive in addition two mortars and some
more muskets and ammunition. A telegram has
also been sent to Bombay for, I believe, six moun-
tain guns, so that he is likely to have, for Abys-
sinia, very formidable means of attack and defence.
In yesterday's Durbar he tried in the usual Abyssi-
nian fashini to commit Sir Robert Napier to a pro-
mise that England would protect him against his
enemies the Egyptians, but was told that with all
these newly-acquired arms he might fairly'be ex-
pected. to hold his own.
A review was held here in honour of her Ma-
jesty's birthday on the 25th (the 24th falling on
a Sunday), and three hearty cheers, which must
have rather astonished the Abyssinian lookers-on,
were given for " the Queen," whose welcome
message of congratulation is still fresh in the
memory of the troops. Military discipline alone
forbade a similar and no less hearty tribute being
paid to the Commander-in-Chief, who, always
popular with his soldiers,—not more from their
confidence in his generalship than from his un-
ceasing thoughtfulness and considerate regard for
their :interests,—is just now, of course, their
idol. A few forcible words, in which, not with-
out emotion, he, thanked them for the way in
which they had done their duty under him through-
out this campaign, and their cheerful soldier-
like endurance of the hardships which it had
entailed upon them, went home to every heart. It
is not often that pride is so keenly and so justly
felt by a General in his soldiers, or by soldiers in
their General, as was felt on this occasion, and for
the moment, I believe, the troops actually forgot
and forgave even the terrible want of a " butcher's
bill"—they have, by the way, been materially con-
soled for this want by finding, from the unanimous
expression of delight and applause on the part of
the Eugl6l3 Press, that the country could scarcely
have thought more highly of what they have done
if they had been wounded by hui:dreds
and killed by scores. " What will they say
in England," has been, I believe, the one pre-
dominant thought ie the breast of every
officer and solder since Magclala fell, and it se‘una
now to be considered that England has said pretty
nearly as much as she could say. " What will they
do in England ?" is, perhaps, the prevailing thought
now.A.By one of those mysterious arrangements

which our Abyssinian post-office, in its inscrutable
wisdom, vouchsafes, and to which experience has
taught us its weak creatures meekly to bow,
no English newspapers have been delivered
by the last mail. The second great question,
therefore, has had no light publicly thrown
upon it. But privately letters have been re-
ceived of a very reassuring tone, and whereas.
the debate in camp used to turn upon whether
there would be auy Abyssinian medal and extra,
pay, it now turns upon whether the medal will be:
of a becoming pattern, and whether the extra payr
is to be for six months or a year. The latter pr(,-
blem receives, as a rule, the more favourable seitu-
tion, greater confidence being felt in the generosity
of the country than in its good taste. Various de-
vices have, however, already been sent home, and
it is hoped that for once there will not be the usual
unnatural divorce between beauty and the emblem
of valour. Theo lore himself recently created a
very becoming order, from which (if it be considered
scarcely dignified to copy altogether an Abyssinian
device) at least a hint might be made, or St. George,
as the patron saint both of England and of Abye.-
sinia, might be made to do appropriate service
with his dragon.

Apropos of the notice taken of the Abyssinian
campaign by the English press, I may mention that
the cartoon in Punch representing Sir R. Napier's
introduction to the Duke of Cambridge and un-
gracious reception, however cleverly it may hit off
the relations ordinarily existing between the Horse
Guards and the Indian service, is out here consi-
dered by no means fair or applicable in this parti-
cular instacce. Sir Robert Napier has not, indeed,
been so fortunate as to escape all opposition,
although, as you point out in your leading article of
the 28th ult., he has been less fettered than the
majority of distinguished English Generals. Intone
or two influential quarters he has met with an op-
position which might have seriously hampered the
plans of a less determined man. But it is only
common justice to make it known that from the
hake of Cambridge Sir Robert, so far from being
thwarted or cold-shouldered, has invariably re-
ceived in all his suggestions throughout this cam-
paign the warmest encouragemeat and support.

RA IL IVAY INT EL LIG CE.

GRAND TRUNK OF CANADA.

A meeting of stock and bond holders in this com-
pany was held yesterday at the London Tavern—
Mr. A. Creak in the chair. There was a large at-
tendance of proprietors.
The CHAIRMAN commenced the proceedings by
reading the notice convening the meeting, which
was held in consequence of the directors having re-
fused to furnish a list of the registered proprietors
to Messrs. Marshall, Paine, and Co. ; and- also for
the purpose of considering the position of the com-
pany, and as to whether they should ask for the re-
' signation of the present Board. The advertisement
was signed by Mr. Hartridge and himself. He had
no wish to enter into the turmoils of, public life,
but having proposed a resolution at the last meet-
ing for the purpose of bringing about a change in
the management of their affairs, he had been
requested by several gentlemen. who had sup-
ported his views at the half-yearly meeting to
continue his exertions. Having incurred a certain
amount of responsibility in proposing that resolu-
tion, and Mr. Hartridge having seconded it, they
had now to stand the brunt of a very disagreeable
affair. It was with a view to improve the position
of the company and to bring about a more satisfac-
tory state of things in respect of their mismanaged
property that he was induced to act in this matter.
Much dissatisfaction had been expressed by the pro-
prietors at what they considered the mismanage-
ment of their affairs. At the last meeting several
proprietors not only desired a change iu the manage-
, meut in Canada, but also in London. It was very
hard that they had not received any satisfactory
explanation of the matters complained of. The
conduct of the gentleman in the chair, on the occa-
sien referred to with regard to the voting, was very
unsatisfactory, although it was considered by
some very clever for the chairman to declare
that the proposition moved by him and seconded
by Mr. Hartridge was not carried. Several share-
holders had expressed great dissatisfaction at the
state of affairs, and Mr. Ritter felt that the time
had cone when they should be informed as to who
their partners were. Mr. Paine and others were
desirous of having a list of the stockholders and a
change iu the management. He then referred- to a
circular letter that had been sent to Mr Hartridge
and himself in consequence of their advertisement
calling the present meeting. The letter informed
them that if it should be the pleasure of the share-
holders at the next general meeting to instruct the
Board to apply for further power in respect of grant-
ing a list of the bond and stock holders, such power
would forthwith be applied for. They were asked
to point out, specifically, any things, either as
regarded the present or the future, which
were considered wrong or undesirable in the
management of the undertaking. It stated that
this practical request the Board felt bound to
urge, in the interest of the bond and stock holders
generally ; and that the Board felt themselves
personally entitled to insist upon this point, because
of their stake in the undertaking, the actual hold-
ing of themselves and their firms being at this mo-
ment represented by £1,170,000 of ordinary and
preference stocks (entirely irrespective of leased
lines, equipment bonds, and postal bonds), which
the board thought must incline them to seek for
the means of promoting the wellbeing of the under-
taking. In justice to the board, he felt bound to
read the letter, in which was enclosed a pamphlet
by Mr. Brydges, their managing director in Canada,
explaining how it was that the Great Western of
Canada could obtain their wood fuel on better
terms than the Grand Trunk could, and some
other matters as to the general expenditure, but it
was too long to read, and he thought it was not a
satisfactory explanation. He had three resolutions
to submit to the meeting. The first resolution was
" That this meeting entirely disapproves the reso-
lution of the board not to supply the requisition-
ists with a list of the bond and stock holders."
There was nothing whatever in the Com-
pany's Acts to prevent the directors giv-
ing a list, if they felt so inclined. He found
that Mr. Watkin, at the Manchester Association
meeting had advocated the issue of a printed list of
shareholders in every English railway company, to
be sold at 2s. Gd. each copy ; and therefore he could
not understand how Mr. Watkin could refuse the
proprietors a list of the stockholders, &c., in this
case. He would call upon Mr. Handyside to se-
cond the motion, as he held £lOO,OOO stock in the
company, and was greatly interested in the success
of the concern.

Mr. FILDES, M.P., contended that Mr. Brydges'
letter should have been read to the meeting. (Cries
of " No, no.")
Mr. H. R. PRICE considered that it was the duty
of the directors to give the proprietors the list of the
bond and stockholders. He believed, if they per-
severed, the list would be granted.
Mr. C. LEGG regretted that the directors should
have refused the list of stockholders. He thought
it a bad precedent; and it looked like a desire to put
off the evil daj as long as possible. •
Mr. CONEYBEARE hoped the proprietors would
carry the resolution unanimously.
The resolution was then put and carried unani-
mously.
The CEIAIRMAN said the seconi resolution he had
to submit was to the effect, that in the opinion of
the meeting the time had arrived when the interests
of the company would be best served by the retire-
ment of the present board. He meant the London
Board. He then at considerable length argued that
the retirement of those gentlemen wou'd be bene-
ficial to the undertaking. Most of the gentlemen
on the board were of high standing, great ability,
and were constantly engaged in most important
affairs for themselves and others. Their business
was so vast that it was impossible for them to atte-id
sufficiently to the details of the Grand Trunk Rail-
way so as to make it a successful and remunerative
undertaking. On comparing the traffic receipts of
1867 with those of 1865 he found they were £16,000
less and expenses £85,000 more than in. 1865; includ-
ing an increase in the train mileage of 07)000 miles.

On comparing this result with the Great Western of
Cart ada he found that the latter had an increase in
thei r receipts for 1867 of £95,000, and an increase
in •the working expenses of £55,000, as compared
wi th 1865, showing a profit on that increased traffic
of £40,000. The reports of the_company appeared
to him to have been drawn up so as to suit each
occasion, and to tide over, as it were, each half-
yearly meeting, without apparently carrying out
any general plan of operation. They were told in
December, 1863, that £70,000 a year would be
sufficient to renew the permanent way in five years
and extinguish it out of revenue, but before that
time expired their principal officer told them, at the
end of 1866, that they would require to expend for
the next three years £125,000 a year on those re-
newals. They were told that 788 miles had been
renewed, leaving about 600 miles to renew. But,
unfortunately, that was not all; they were told by
Captain Tyler that 200 miles of rails so renewed
would have to be taken up and renewed with bet-
ter rails. The expenditure on the renewal of the
permanent way up to the end of last year had been
£259,000 in four years, instead of £350,000 esti-
mated in 1863 for five years He then referred
to the accurate manner in which the estimate by
the engineer of ,the Great Western of Canada had
been carried out. In 1861 he estimated that
£361,000 would be required for renewals of the
Great Western line in the course of the following 51
years. The chairman then went into several de-
tails respecting the management of the company's
affairs, showing how inconsistent they appeared to
him, and concluded by trusting that the affairs of
the company would be placed in the hands of as
honourable gentlemen as they now had on the
board, who could afford to devote exclusively their
time and attention to the interests of that great
company. (Cheers.) -
Mr. 11.[TTEtt seconded the motion, and in doing
so entered into many points connected with the
management of which he did ❑ot approve. lie had
attended their meetings for 11 years without taking
any part in the proceedings until it was proposed to
level the priorities of the first and second pre-
ferences with the third and fourth preference,
which was what he and others could not consent to,
and he thought it ever since his duty to keep a
strict look out for his property.

Au amendment, to the effect that the resolution
be not entertained until after the next half-yearly
meeting of the company, was negatived, there being
one hand in favour of it.

The motion was then carried by the meeting,
-which was a very large one, there being only one
dissentient.

On the motion of Mr. IIAnnuDGE, seconded by
Mr. ELLIS, a resolution was unanimously carried
to the effect that a committee be appointed (with
power to add to their number) to communicate the
resolutions of the meeting to the existing board,
and to take such other steps as they might deem
necessary to protect and promote the interests of
the Company ; and that such committee consist of
Mr. A. Creak, Mr. Hartridge, Mr. Ritter, Mr.
Handy side, Mr. Staples, Mr. R. Haig, and Mr. L.
Paine.

Mr. ADAMS recommended the committee to get
the best and most influential men in the company
they could to assist them.

The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the chairman.

PROGRESS 1N MEAT PRESERVA7ION.

(From the Melbourne Argus).

The loud complaints arising from the over-supply
of meat in the eastern and southern peas of in-
habited Australia, and the under-supply of meat in
the United Kingdom and the more thickly popu-
lated portions of the continent of Europe, have now
fairly turned the general attention to the subject
here, and hence we have to include a fresh item of
news in our budget for home. We have to com-
municate, therefore, the following intelligence
The first general meeting of the Melbourne Meat-
preserving Company has been held, and judging
from the report of the proceedings there seems a
likelihood of our surplus stock of meat being, by
the agency of this association, turned to profit tole
account. As we have already informed our English
readers, the basis of this company is Mr. S. S.
Ritchie's process, which has been successfully sub-
jected to numerous stringent trials. It is not quite
a new one, having been known and tested for at
least twenty years, and not the least experiment
attempted is its keeping for two years, and then
being found deliciously fresh on opening. The
present enterprise is on an apparently thoroughly
sound basis, and the capital required for the start
has been freely subscribed. The company is for-
tunate in having secured the services of Mr. Ritchie,
who, with Mr. M'Call, was formerly proprietor of
a meat-preserving establishment in Great Britain,
and has had much experience in the business.
There have been unnumbered processes of
bmeat-
preserving designed, but the advantage of
Mr. Ritchie's is, that it is thoroughly practicable.
The Contemporary Review for February, in an article
on " The Food of the People," speaks highly of it,
and quotes the opinion of the committee of the So-
ciety of Arts that it is " the only plan by which
they have as yet found that unsalted meat in a
healthy, edible condition has been generally im-
ported." The process is no longer experimental,
therefore, but as an absolute commercial fact com-
mends itself to business men. The British public
may feel assured that they will have a fair .oppor-
tunity of ascertaining the merits of the article which
it is proposed to produce.
At the monthly meeting of the Royal Society, a
paper written by Mr. Postle was read by Mr. Ellery
On the Preservation of Meat by Freezing." The
system proposed by Mr. Postle differs Materially frorn
others now in operation, and notably from that of
Mort. Instead of using ammonia or ether, he pro-
poses by the extraction of the heated air to reduce
the atmosphere below freezing point, and to main-
tain it in this condition by supplying a stream of
cold air. A good deal of discussion took place on
the subject, and the opinion of the scientific gentle-
men present seemei generally to be that Mr.
Postle's theory was accurate. Mr. Napier, a mem-
ber of the well•known ship-building firm on the
Clyde, stated that Sir W. Thompson had adopted
the same principle for a reverse purpose, namely, to
create artificial heat in a cold room. Professor
M'Coy seemed to think that the system would be
more expensive than the freezing process by am-
monia or ether ; but Mr. Postle himself believed
that it would b 3 less costly. There appears to be
no doubt that the matter is worthy of further in-
vestigation and experiment.
A new system of meat preservation has been in-
troduced to the public by a Mr. Sayce, who, when
carrying on the business of a druggist in Mel-
bourne, occasionally distinguished himself by his
local manufactures in his own line. A few days
since several gentlemen met at the stores of sir.
W. B. Jones, Collins-street, west, for the purpose
of testing -the merit of the new plan. The process
was found to consist in the injection of a fluid not
hitherto used for the purpose, and it is said that
joints can be cured this way as expeditiously and as
cheaply as by the common mode of salting. A cask
of mutton, killed in the hot weather two months ago,
and subjected to Mr. Sayee's process, was opened
on this occasion. The meat was found to be
perfectly sweet, and portions which had been
cooked were fresh and juicy ; but it remains to be
proved whether meat so cured will pass successfully
through the ordeal of long sea voyages. However,
the plan. has been sufficiently successful to warrant
the carrying out of experiments on a larger scale.
From Sydney we learn that the project for ship-
ping a trial cargo to England of meat preserved by
Mort's freezing process is likely to be carried out in a
short time. The committee appointed report that
the amount promised for theepurpose approximates
to the sum of £5,000, a considerable proportion of
which is from Queensland. Mr. Mort considers
that the meat should be purchased so as to be in
course of delivery during the months of July and
August, and he entertains hopes of being able to
send the ship from the colony with the meat during
the month of September.

EXCLUSIVE, VERY IMPORTANT, RARE, AND VALUABLE
are the properties of Lamplough's Pyretic Saline, curing the
worst headaches, sickness, skin, or biliary affections. Pleasant,
Pailaable, and ittylpraing. Solkby all chenaists.—[Aclyt.]