Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-04-23
From Our Regular Correspondent ]
Our European Letter.
LONDON, Eng , April 3, is

Our European Letter.
LONDON, Eng April ), 1879.
A very lively fight is going on here be-
tween the trustees of the Atlantic and
Great Western Railway Company. who
propose to lease the road to the Erie Com
pany for ninety nine years, and the share
holders represented by Mr.. James McHen-
~, who built the road. and is strongly OPP
posed TO the lease. The most conspicuous
antagonist of the McIIenry party is one
Rev. j. Bates, who, instead of attending
10 his little pocket parish of seven hundred
souls, for which he receives $3.50 year,
interposes his sacred Office " and secular
ability against the very man who appoint
ed him trustee, and gave him money TO
visit America for the purpose of looking
after Atlantic and Great Western interests.
Jewett's arguments and Blrlow's dinners
were too much for the parsons fidelity to
his employer. Mr.. McIIenly ought by
this time to be better judge of men.
When parsons come down from their
pulpits to dabble in finance, forfeiting
allegiance to their "holy calling" then
look out for treachery. This reverend
inancer should either quit the pulpit or
the stock exchange, the house of God or
the house of merchandise. He cannot
serve both God and MammOn. The At
lantic and Great Western Company,
which owns over six hundred miles of
road, and represents capital of $780,
100000, is in very bad hands. Nothing is
wanting but an honest administration to
bring the stock up to par in the course OF
a very few years. Its freight and passen-
ger business is rapidly increasing, and
during the last year it has effected several
very profitable connections. But, rs in
the case of Erie, there is II perpetual
quarrel among the sharks of London and
New York, who wish TO wreck the road
for the sake of the salvage" The COM
mite of shareholders named at the
McTIenry meeting on the llth Of last
month do not seem TO hold together, and
the Erie lease seems now to be the inevi.
table soluton,-a contract which Mr..
Mcllenry declares will prove a loss of Il
million Of dollars n year to the share
holders to begin with, and before the ex-
piration of the lease, loss of, perhaps,
twenty millions year. The amount of
business that such road will do hun
bred years hence, when every village
through which it runs has become u large
city, is almost incompatible. The share,
holders who have the sagacity to see this
are vigorously protesting against the pro-
posed robbery.
The distress and misery that has been
brought about in the west of England by
the Cornwall Bank failures, and the fla
grant mismanagement and wanton eXtrav-
tgances that examination of the official
iqudations has exposed, recalls to mind
Mr.. Charles Francis Adams Chapter on
Erie" He avows that he has distinct
preference for Dick Turpin and Jack
Shepherd, us compared with modern
" iinancers,n who, under the protection OF
law which is weak to reach the rich, " de-
YOUR widows houses" and swindle the
helpless and credulous. 1t would seem
that the holder and more hardened villains
who "took the road - when GAY wrote
his Beggars' OPERA have transferred
the scene Of their operations from lIonna.
low Heath and Burnham Beeches to snug
board rooms and bank parlors, where in
sumptuous security they cause their vic
Tins to stand and deliver" without the
risk Of defeat and capture that the old
fashioned highwayman incurred. There
IRE several discount companies in London
whose accounts, if they were carefully
scanned ut the present moment, would
present neat complication, that would
cause the depositors serious uneasiness
rhe art of finance (somG call it Il SCIENCE,
Is practcel at present in England. de-
mands careful revision, and, may add
publication,
An acquaintance who went to Algiers in
search of sunshine and repose, writes me
that he found the former, but complains
bitterly of the bad accommodation of the
hotels. The weather the past month has
been delightful, and on the Goth Of March
green peas, new potatoes and Strawberries
abounded in the markets. My own cxpe
rience of Algerian hotels is not of u rose
tie character. The cooking Of the estab
Iishment at which sojourned did not re
mind me Of Bignon's or the nice little
linners that my cool friend Zoppi of the
Hotel DIES Etats-Unis can compose when
the spirit moves him. helr thpt large
md elegant English hotel is to be erected
on the Boulevard de II Republiqne. II
well managed it will achieve great sue.
cess, as grumbling among the English and
American visitors is the rule, both in
respect TO food and accommodation at the
present establishments. An English
friend of mine, who, when ut home at hi.
castle on the Isle of Wight, prides himself
N his substantial hospitality, protests thai
though his bill at his hotel is never less
than five hundred francs week, he has
never had decent dinner in two
months residence in Algeris. 1t is to be
hoped that the new Grand Hotel will rem.
edy this unsatisfactory state of things.
am reminded, in this connection. of two
English gentlemen going to Blidhah Gin
Algeris), and arriving late at night were
shown into room Of an inn, the ceiling
of which swarmed with vermin The
beds were narrow, hard and uninviting
and the night was hot The guests sum
moned the landlord, and pointel to tho
ceiling, when he shrugged his shoulders
Al. 1 L. Il.