Star.
London, England, 1824-07-21 00:00:00

THAMES TUNNEL.

Yesterday a Meeting was held of the Directors of the
Thames Tunnel Company, WILLIAM SMITH, Ebq. M.P.
in the Chair.

The Outrun.% vr stated the object of the Meeting.
This was the first General Meeting holden pursuant to
the Act of Parliament incorporating the subscribers. It
will be recollected, that on the Bth of February last, a
Meeting was held at the same Tavern, to take into con-
sideration the plan of Mr. Brunel, the justly celebrated
engineer and mechinist, for making a communication
between Wapping and Rotherhithe, by means of a
tunnel under the bed of the river, thirty-four feet in
•breadtli, and eighteen and a half feet high. At the
Meeting many scientific and intelligent Gentlemen were
invent, and such was their approval of the scheme,
that a third of the capital necessary for completing the
undertaking was subscribed at that Meeting, and the
'remaining sum in a very short period after. Without
delay they obtained their Act of Incorporation, under
'the title o. the Thames Tunnel Company, and that Act
reoeived the Royal Assent on the 24th of June. To the
general traffic between Middlesex and Essex on the one
side of the River, and to Kent and Surrey on the ether,
this-communication must be of the utmost benefit.
:%luch advantage will be derived from it to the exten-
sive commerce carried on in the docks and warehouses
a both sides of our glorious River, while the valuable
Lavigation of it will neither be interrupted by an arch
bridge of iron, nor by one of suspension. The spot fixed
uonn for the Tunnel is 21/8 miles from London Bridge,
and its direction will be from King Edward-street on
the North, to Union-place, Swan-lane, on the South, so
affording the most unlooked-for advantages to both
those populous districts; in the first of which a new
market has just been opened. The breadth of the River
at. this place is nearly 1,100 feet, and in time of war,
the passage of troops and warlike stores must be a
matter of great national importance, especially as
the power of letting water into it at pleasure will
stop the passage without destruction to the work, or
indeed doing any material injury to the work itself.-
-As to the practicability of the thing, there can be no
doubt about it. It has been twice tried—first in 1793,
at Gravesend, which failed through the unscientific
character of Vie plan. Much the same was the fate of
another, which was undertaken in 1809, at Rotherhithe;
bit that was brought to within 50 yards of its comple-
tion, when the water came in, and the work was aban-
doned. The present plan is calculated either to avoid
or to overcome all impediments. By careful boring, the
strata in the line of communication have been fully as-
certained ; after the alluvial soil of the river comes a
deep bed of gravel and sand, and below this the clay
through which the Tunnel is to be carried. The upper
part of the Tunnel will be 46 feet beneath high water
mark, and will have 14 feet of solid clay above it. The
peculiar feature of Mr. Brunel's plan is;. that in exca-
vating the passage a powerful framework is pushed for-
ward, consisting of several compartments, within which
the excavators work, and as they remove the earth, they
are closely followed by the bricklayers, who fill in the
body of the Tunnel, thereby retaining the surrounding
ground in its natural state of solidity. The bed of blue
clay is so fit m and consistent, that the bricklayers work
might have been spared, had it not been determined to
guard, as much as possible, from any accident.
After the Chairman had made his opening statement,
the Report of the Committee of Directors was read to
the meeting by the Secretary.
R. H. MARTRW, Esq. moved, that the Report be re-
ceived, adopted, printed, and. circulated for the use of
the subscribers. Mr. Marten observed, it was necessary
for him to do justice to Mr. Brunel's conduct in some
very striking particulars. He had voluntarily proposed
that the first payment he should receive from the Com-
pany should only be made when be had brought the
virak within 60 feet of its completion; and that the
second payment should only be made when the Com-
pany began to receive back some of the money laid out
In the undertaking. Pleased with the liberality thus
displayed by Mr. Brunel, the Committee had, in some
degree, attempted to meet it by a corresponding libera-
lity; and that was, by giving him 1,0001. a-year as
soon as a return was made on the capital laid out. Mr.
Brunel and his son had declared, that they would not
ismer, or in any way aid or support any other Tunnel
between Blackwell and London Bridge.
Admiral IN4EDWARD COORINOTOM, Bart. M.P. then
moved the thanks of the Meeting to W. SMITH, Esq.
.M.P.their present Chairman, for his zeal and attention
to the Bill for incorporating the Company, in its pas-
sage through Parliament.
Mr. BRAMAH rose to move a small remuneration to
those who had, as he might say, the surveillance of this
great work. He then moved that 10001. a year should
be divided among the Directors, according to the re-
spective periods of their attendance to their duties. This
meant as a mere mark of respect to them, not as any
remuneration to them for their trouble in the direction.
After a few remarks, the motion was carried.
Thanks were then voted to Messrs. Sweet, Stokes, and
Carr, the Solicitors, for their care in watching the Act
t:trt;ugh Parliament, and the Meeting separated.

The free town of Bremen has just effectuated a re.
duction in the interest of its public debt, which will in
future pay only four per cent.
Application has been made for the exercise of the
Royal prerogative in the case of Mr. Robinson, whose
various trials at the Old Bailey occupied nearly the
whole of Saturday and Monday ; and no doubt u en-
tertained of a favourable result.

:••••,r, od• ••
COURT OF CHANCERY THIS Dint •

TEE LATE DUKE OP QUEENSBERRY'S WILL.
Mr. TRESLOVE said he was instructed to pray. his
Lordship to direct ?it order to hum for the sale and dis-
tribution of four bunched and seventy thousand pounds,
three. per Cent. Stock, standing in the name of the Ac-
countant-General. The motion was not opposed, all
the parties consenting.
The Loao Catiscor.coa.—l do not see how lought to make such
an order.
Mr. TRULOVE—AII the parties consent, my Lord.
The LORD CHANCILLOC—That may be. They may all consent,
but what right have they to make me a broker for the market? I
do not see how I can make the order. If lam wrong, Mr. Tres-
love, set me right.
Mt. HART.—my Lord, they cannot sell the stock at once. They
must wait until the broker can find purchasers for it in different
portions.
The Loan Culacti.t.oa.—l cannot make the order. My doing
so would be attended with very serious consequences in the market.
The motion must be dismissed.
ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL'S OIFICE.
Yesterday the SOLICITOR-GENERAL made the usual
motion about this season of the year, that the time for'
taking in directions for sales and transfers of Stock in
the Accountant-General's Office may expire on the 21st
of August; for taking in orders for the payment of
cash on the 24th; and that it may be shut up entirely
on the 28th of August.
His LORDSHIP, in granting the motion, intimated his
wish that all motions for the payment of money out of'
Court might be made as soon as possible. He would
now make an order that all motions for injunctions shall
be made before the Master of the Rolls ; and as his Ho-
nour will sit tomorrow in the Vice-Chancellor's Court,
and whatever other days (to be then named) which may
be thought convenient to his Honour and the Bar, he is
to hear all applications which are before the Court of a
pressing nature, and which are to be heard by consent,
and any other his Honour has jurisdiction to hear.