The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-14 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

IMPORTANT MEETING OF THE GRAND
JUNCTION RAILWAY COMPANY.

LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY EVENING.-At the special
meeting of the Grand Junction Company, held here
to-day, the chair was taken by
JonN Moss, Esq., who addressed the meeting
nearly as follows :—Before desiring Captain Huish to
read the Directors' report to you, I will beg leave to
occupy a few moments of your time ; first, for the
purpose of stating that the London and Birmingham
Board having, since this meeting was called, proposed
an interview between deputations from their Board
and ours, that meeting took place yesterday ; and
although we are not in a condition to report to you
that anything has been done, yet, in conformity with
their suggestion, it is our intention to propose to you
an adjournment of this meeting till the 30th instant,
without (unless required by you) entering at all upon
the second important subject on which we called you
together. I trust that you will agree with us that,
as matters now stand, any discussion would be inex-
pedient. Having said thus much on behalf of the
Board, I desire to avail myself of this, the first
convenient opportunity, of making one or two
remarks on a matter concerning me personally. You
are all, doubtless, aware of the statement made by the
Chairman of the London and Birmingham Company,
at their late meeting, as to a correspondence between
him and myself, and of the published resolutions of
our Board thereupon, and of the London and Bir-
mingham Board's reply, which his just appeared. It
appears by that reply " that the London and Bir-
ming Directors are content to leave the question
where it now stands." And, under these circum-
stances, I am sure the Grand Junction may be con-
tent also, and I am greatly rejoiced to be able thus
summarily to dispose, I hope for ever, of so painful a
matter. The only thing remaining for me is to ex-
press my regret at the construction put by Mr. Glyn
on my letters, that I was indisposed to admitl that .I
had received a letter from him on the 19th ofgLiniisl,
unless he would consent to have our private corre-
spondence published; in this he certainly misunder-
stood me. In answer to his request of the 9th of
November, when he enclosed me a copy of his note of
the 19th of August, I wrote by return of post in the
following words :
" I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the 9th instant.

" Certainly I should in all cases be not only ready,
but most anxious to correct an erroneous impression
caused to the prejudice or the annoyance of yourself,
or any other gentleman, by any act to which I had
been a party ; but, after reading your letter and its
enclosures, I must candidly say that they leave me
nothing to explain, ap.d that I am, after a perusal of
the-m, more and more satisfied of the perfect accuracy
of our published statement.
" Though I cannot now doubt that I received this
note, I cannot lay my hands on it ; and I do not at
all wonder at this, because it appears that it was a
private note, marked private,' and you had before-
hand formally apprised me that no such notes were to
be considered as from your Board, or even from you
as Chairman ; its contents, therefore, and even the fact
of its receipt, had escaped my recollection."
And I added :

" You are at liberty to publish this correspondence,
and all the rest, from beginning to end, both official
and private ; for you cannot be more anxious than I
am to have everything connected with this case, and
all the others, fully known and sifted."
And again, in the very last letter I wrote him—
namely, on the 25th of November—l endeavoured to '
make more plain my reasons for declining to make
the mere dry admission that I had received a par-
ticular letter, by saying :
" I cannot be a party to contradict the published
statement of the Grand Junction Directors, the truth
of that statement remaining to this hour untouched ;
and the question not being at all whether a letter of a
particular date was ever received by us, but whether
a letter of a particular purport."
I will only add that I regret that Mr. Glyn misun-
derstood these letters, for I admit that he was entitled
to have it made clear that he had written to me a
letter on the day he said he had, if he thought that
material under the circumstances, and it was always
my intention (however our differences with his
Board might have stood at this meeting) to have
availed myself of this public opportunity of stating
that he had done himself, as well as me, injustice, by
supposing that I was unwilling to admit that he had
so written. I can safely say, for myself and my bro-
ther Directors, that we have been most desirous to be
on the best possible terms with the London and Bir-
mingham Directors, and particularly with the Chair-
man, knowing the importance it is to both our con-
cerns. I sincerely trust nothing has occurred to
prevent us being so hereafter. I would say more did I
not feel that the two Boards and the Proprietors must
wish to see what has passed buried in oblivion. These
being my sincere feelings, you will not expect me to take
up your time by any lengthened remarks upon the
London and Birmingham's construction of our July
agreement ; but I am unwilling, occupying the posi-
tion I have the honour to occupy, to allow any oppor-
tunity to pass without expressing my most entire and
unqualified dissent from such a construction of such
an agreement. I am not sorry, however, for the
opportunity afforded, me by this, I may truly say,
forced expression of my feelings, of referring to an
instance in which the view I conceived it my duty to
take of an agreement entered into for " mutual de-
fence" has left me for a long time back under the
imputation of a want of foresight in not purchasing
for the Grand Junction Company the Chester and
Birkenhead Railway—an imputation which has re-
cently been often repeated to my prejudice, and
which, on that account, I am sure you will excuse
my taking this opportunity of trying to remove. Now,
what are the facts ? The Grand Junction Company
entered, some years ago, into an agreement with the
Liverpool and Manchester Company, involving stipu-
lations for mutual defence, and for the promotion of
each other's fair interests. The Chester and Birken-
head Railway was more than once offered to me on
very low terms, such as made me feel anxious to pur-
chase it. I considered such a purchase, without the
consent of the Liverpool and Manchester Company,
would be inconsistent with the spirit, if not the let-
ter, of our agreement with them. They declined to
consent even to our using the line, feeling that the
result would be the abstraction of traffic which other-
wise would pass over the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway ; and, therefore, I gave up all idea of the
negotiation, and have had ever since to bear the
blame of not making, when I had an opportunity, a
good arrangement for the Grand Junction Company.
I will now ask Captain Iluish to read the Directors
report as to the important arrangement with the Li
verpool and Manchester Company. Mr. Moss was
much applauded at the conclusion of his address.
Captain Huisit then read the report of the Direc-
tors, which was to the effect, that
"They had recently concluded a conditional agree-
ment with the Directors of the Liverpool and Man-
chester Company for an amalgamation of the tinder-
takings. A joint Committee of the two Boards was
appointed to consider the terms of the amalgamation,
and they came to a decision which received the
unanimous opproval of both Boards. The
rehceLaitveed wrnpoeol
and Manchester Company having already

401. shares this year, to iguish
Grand Junction Company having issued new 121. 10s.
shares, to meet their subscription to the Lancaster
and Carlisle Company, it has been arranged that each
holder of a Grand Junction 1001. share, or other stock
equivalent in amount, shall have a new 251. share,
and that being done, that the whole shall be consoli-
dated on equal terms in one capital stock (instead of
shares) under clauses in the Bill for which, with the,
concurrence of the trustees, the Directors intended
to apply in the ensuing session of Parliament.
The Proprietors were probably aware that the Liver-
pool and Manchester Company have already agreed on
terms for the amalgamation of the North Union Rail-
way, including the Bolton and Preston line, with their
undertaking; and the Directors had no hesitation in
stating their opinion, that, by the union of the varied
interests now about to be combined, important ad-
vantages would be secured. The necessity for ob-
taining increased accommodation in Liverpool, with-
out being dependent on another company, had long
pressed seriously on the attention of the Board, and it
had become desirable to shorten the distance to Bir-
mingham, by avoiding the bend round by Newton.
The first of these objects will he secured without the
necessity for a further destruction of expensive pro-
perty, by the formation of a new line for a traffic that
may be accommodated by the existing one ; and the
attainment of the second will now be facilitated by
the united exertions and influence of the companies."

The report concluded by stating that the various pre-
liminary measures had been taken to obtain legisla-
tive sanction to the branch lines to Shrewsbury and
the Potteries, and the line from Stafford, through the
Trent Valley, to Rugby.
Mr. Moss then proposed a resolution, confirming
the preliminary agreement between the companies,
and authorising the Directors to apply for an Act of
amalgamation.
Mr. ROBERTSON GLADSTONE, the Deputy Chair-
man of the Board, seconded it; and it was carried
unanimously.
Mr. LEWIN MozLEir then addressed the meeting,
congratulating the Company on the settlement of dif-
ferences.

A vote of thanks to the Chairman was then pro-
posed by Mr. E. Mozley, who remarked on the high
character and integrity of Mr. Glyn, Chairman of
the London and Birmingham board.
The CHAIRMAN, in returning thanks, said he quite
concurred with Mr. Mozley, that nothing could be
further from the intention of the Grand Junction
Board than to cast the slightest reflection on Mr.
Glyn's personal honour.—(Hear, hear.) The depu-
tations had met the day before, and, without stating
with certainty what the result would be, he enter-
tained a sincere hope that they should be able to
bring the differences to an end; at all events, he
should do the best
.he could to bring about a satis-
factory termination.—(Hear, and cheers.) He could
not omit the opportunity to state that to the activity
of Mr. Mozley, in bringing about the meeting, the
Directors were very much indebted. It was due to
both the Mr. Mozleys to say that they had been very
serviceable in allaying Mr. Glyn's feelings.—(Hear.)
It was here stated by Captain Huish that some
360 Proprietors had as yet neglected to arrange about
their new eighth shares, and that they had better not
delay it any longer, for that they were subject to
forfeiture.

The CHAIRMAN expressed an opinion that such
shares had better be sold on the Ist of January, and
accounted for to the Proprietors.
The meeting, which was a highly satisfacivty one,
then dispersed.

DINNER TO SIR H. POTTINGER

IN BELFAST.

We notice that the Mayor has called a town meet-
ing for to-morrow, upon a most respectable requisi-
tion, for the purpose of inviting Sir Henry Pottinger
to a public entertainment, upon the occasion of his
expected visit to this country, and to this, his native
town.

We almost think that this tribute of respect to the
most eminent living character connected with Belfast
has been too long delayed. It would not have seemed
unbecoming if the merchants of this town had been
the first to honour a diplomatist who accomplished a
task that had baffled the skill of all former nego-
tiators with the Chinese empire, and had opened the
trade and commerce of one-third of the world to the
mereantile classes of Europe and America.
Sir Henry Pottinger has, indeed, succeeded in
breaking down the greatest Chinese wall—which,
formed by the prejudices of that peculiar people, pro-
mised to be more lasting than the granite bulwark of
their territories, and which was certainly more
effectual in resisting the progress of civilisation than
the material erection in opposing the arms of in-
vaders. There are good reasons to anticipate, from
the success of his negotiations, the gradual intro-
duction of European habits and European teachers
amongst the Chinese people.
It is not easy to foresee the commercial results
that may follow to Eastern Asia from the increased
activity of this most industrious and numerous race;
while political consequences of great importance will
undoubtedly follow their more intimate connexion
with Europeans ; and we may hope that the oppor-
tunities secured from our possession of Hong-Kong,
for instructing the native Chinese in the truth of the
Christian religion, will not he long neglected.
It is a singular fact that the Commander of the
Forces in the expedition against the Chinese, Sir H.
Gough—who is now Commander of the Forces in
India—is, like Sir Henry Pottinger—and, we believe,
his successor also, on the Chinese station—an Irish-
man. The distinguished part that Irish officers have
borne in our Eastern Empire is the best answer that
can be afforded to that party who are perpetually
complaining of the neglect of Irish merit. Without
referring to the Marquis of Wellesley, and the con-
queror of Seringapatam, we might mention that Lord
Keane, the commander of the first Affghan expedition,
and the late Sir William Macnaghten, were both
Irishmen ; while, amongst the principal negotiators
from the British Government with China, Lord
Macartney, like Sir Henry Pottinger, was a native of
this neighbourhood.—Banner of Ulster.