The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-13 00:00:00

CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAIL

WAY.

COMMUNICATION WITH IRELAND.
Yesterday the first general meeting of this Com-
pany was held at the office, No. 62, Moorgate-street.
Mr. COLLETT, M.P., who is also Chairman of the
Board of Directors, having been called to the chair,
stated that the meeting had been called in accordance
with the Act of Incorporation, and he also expressed
his regret that in the present instance he was not
enabled to go so fully into the details of the Com-
pany's affairs as ho could wish. The formation of
the Company arose from certain negotiations with
respect to the transmission of the mails, and after
communications with the Lords of the Treasury and
the Post-office authorities, the necessary surveys had
been made, and plans submitted, after which the
subject of constructing the line was brought before
Parliament, in a Committee, upon which was Sir
G. Clerk. With respect to the amount to be realised
by the traffic, it was estimated at 50,0001. for the
transmission of the mails, the conveyance of troops,
and various other Government purposes. The
sum now demanded by the Company was 40,0001.,
but notwithstanding that the Directors had had
several interviews on the subject with her Majesty's
Government, no arrangement had as yet been come
to. lie had just received a note from Sir George
Clerk, in which he stated that as Sir Robert Peel
and the Chancellor of the Exchequer were both out
of town at the present moment, it would be impos-
sible for him to make any definite communication on
the part of the Government which might be submit-
ted to the meeting. Such being the case, it was pro-
posed to adjourn the present meeting until Friday,
the 30th inst., when it was considered that the Di-
rectors would be in a position to state to the meeting
the result of the negotiations with the Government.
A PROPRIETOR wished to know whether the delay
in these negotiations was caused by any difference re-
specting the amount demanded, or whether it arose
from an objection to the principle.
The CHAIRMAN replied that it was merely a ques-
tion as to terms. The Company considered they
were entitled to the sum they demanded, and they,
therefore, were determined to adhere to the first pro-
posal. In conclusion, he would state that a change
had taken place in the Direction, Sir John Guest
having retired, and the llon. Mr. Stanley being ap-
pointed in his place.
A vote of thanks was then passed to the Chairman,
after which the meeting adjourned to the 30th.

Lord Minto's able and statesman-like speech on
the state of the navy has given great satisfaction to all
who take an interest in the proper maintenance of that
right arm of our national strength. That the navy has
been most unwisely reduced to an unprecedented low
state, at a time when the political horizon presents a
cloudy and troubled aspect, is evinced by the fact,
as stated by his Lordship, that at the present moment
we have only nine line-of-battle ships in commission,
three of which are small seventy -two's employed upon
distant stations. his Lordship also might have added
the astounding fact, that should the services of the St.
Vincent be required in the Mediterranean, the whole
coast of England from Sheerness to Falmouth will be
left in a totally defenceless and unprotected state, there
not being a single man-of war ready for sea in any
port throughout Great Britain We would ask Lord
Haddington is this being prepared for any emergency?
—Hampshire Independent.
TIIE NEW NOVEL, 44 PAILSONS AND WIDOWS," BY
THE AUTHOR OF " PETER PRIGGINS."—Of country cler-
gymen we already possess in works of imagination
several exceedingly interesting portraits, from the racy
sketches of old Father Chaucer's Pilgrimage to Canter-
bury, to the highly-finished picture in Goldsmith's Vicar
of Wakefield, but they form a class of society iiffording
many varieties—the social, the intellectual, the witty,
and the humorous, are sure to be found in their ranks,
and their sayings and doings would furnish a rare ban-
quet to any wayfarer anxious for that great attraction
to sign-boards, " good entertainment." At *est, so
it appears, thought the clever author of " Parsons
and Widows," and in the three amusing volumes he has
provided for the reader there is ample evidence he
thought right. He has taken off, the roofs of parsonage
houses and rectories as easily as the Devil on Two
Sticks did the dwellings of the Spanish laity, and let us
into the many pleasant secrets they concealed. The
widows, too, a section of the great female family, who,
time out of mind, have been peculiarly famed for knowing
what they are about, are also made to contribute their
experience for the reader's amusement. In short,
" Parsons and Widows" may be considered, for both
sexes, one of the mot attractive 110'018 of the season,