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Leader (1850-1860), 29th December 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1238, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      . —1 1—— . I ing accidents in various ways , which have not only been rejected , but have in fact not heen examined by the official authorities . In the meanwhile , Mr . WADDiNGTONhas treated the shareholders as the prifests in >; BpiL . EAu ' 0 ^ oetn treated each other ; he bets fttittg a folk ^ fcooksftt the head of his opponents- ^ his answer to tli $ report of the committee of investigation . His | answer consists in telling the sarase story backwartlsti The committee state that his policy of spending , the funds oftlie railwagpin extrtBBiBous'enterprisesi Tilbury branch , Hackney branch , Lowestoft Harbour , Ipswich boats , Harwich boats , Margate boats , and a dancing saloon at Woolwich , had eaten up the funds and threatened to reduce their progressively declining dividends to nil . No , he answers , strangers had projected a Tilbury Line which would have competed with your own ; the Great Northern threatened to " tap" Cambridge and Colchester and Norwich ; the East Anglian was assisting the Great Northern ; the Eastern Union was competing with you by the aid of its boats ; but I have drawn all these competitors to be parts of your own system , or allies who will not hurt you . I have improved Lowestoft Harbour , made the town rise with a traffic of its own , and brought through that port half of the German trade in cattle , giving you a more paying traffic on the line than the average rate of profit . You have , said the committee of investigation , neglected the permanent way ; you have spent upon it only ^ 3 , 200—a previous committee told you you should expend jg 23 , 000 a year ; your own . engineer said you should expend J ? l ' 5 O , O 0 O . No , says Mr . Waddington , if we have spent only £ 3 , 200 out oftlie revenue , we have spent .= £ 22 , 000 within the year ; and the engineer did not recommend an outlay of igl 50 , 000 : . € 50 , 000 of that was to be in works and completions ; the rest , if spent on the permanent way , spread over ten years . You have connived at the percentages with which Mr . Gooch swelled out his modest salary of £ 600 a-year to thousands of pounds , sterling . No , answers Mr . Wj \ ddingt 9 n ; others , before I entered the railway in ^ -March , 1851 , had agreed that Mr . Gooc ^ should have no salary until he saved ^ K } , € fOO in the locomotive working , and five per cent , on any saving beyond that . It was I who objected to that arrangement , but Mr , Gooch was paid five per cent , on Mr . Robert Stevenson ' s recommendation . You have connived , said the committee , at the fraudulent appropriation of stores to the unknown extent , perhaps of ^ 10 , 000 or even ^ 40 , 000 . No , answers Mr . Waddington , it was I who detected the peculation , and the loss is not ^ 40 , 000 , but under ^ 5 , 000 , perhaps not more than ^ 1 , 823 . You have cooked the accounts , and threatened us with a dividend of nil . The accounts are clear , answers the Chairman , your dividend was nil for the first half-year after I entered the railway ; it is now rising , and is likely to be live per cent . But Mr . Waddington finds a motive for these charges ; he denounces " Mjr . Bruce , the head of the East Anglian Company , which has been amalgamated , but which wishes to become the preponderant power in the system . According to Mr . Waddington , Bruce is the ( Czar of the Eastern Counties ) . Waddington himself , we suppose , is the Napoleon , dominating that commercial power , Peto , Betts , and Brass icy , and thus forming the Western Alliance which is destined to rule the territory . Another form of anarchy has burst out in Northumberland , and this looks really serious . The Duke , who takes his title from the county , has issued an ukase to restrain his tenants as to their method of farming : besides"his rent , the farmer is to pay a penal rent of J& 5 Q an acre if he break up grass-land without leave , « € 5 an acre for fallow not manured in a particular manner , J £ 5 for every acre not cultivated in the four-course rotation , jfiflO for exceeding a' certain potato acreage , . 425 for not laying down certain acres in permanent grass , . £ ' 5 for mowing without dressing the land in a particular manner , j& 5 for every ton of straw or hay sold , with other A' 5 penalties . The consequence ia that the tenants mutiny . Mr . Wotherell , of Kirkbridge , to whom the Duke had spontaneously awarded a prize of ^ 30 for the best cultivation on the estate , declared farming under such terms impossible , threw up his tenancy , and is hailed by his brother farmers in a public meeting as their leader in . inaking a stand against the attempts to renew the principles of feudalism and serfdom . Now n vast number of fnrms in the country are held upon

      absurd covenWftts ;¦ £$ » possible in some cases that the very titlfe of thfc landlord might be affected by altering tit * , local usage ; but acting with their farmers a » d public opinion , the landlords could readily procure every legislative facility fo * improvement ^ without damnification for themselves . Let them take their stand upon their rights after this Northumberland fashion , and we should sooo / Bave an ajgWBfriah insurgency spreading over the country , all tft&imoTre formidable beeasttse it would be recruited by the respectable farmers . It really looks as if the agricultural constituencies , not without formidable alliance on the part of the boroughs , would soon be compelling their representatives in Parliament to put to the landlords the alarming question what their rights really are ?

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      1238 THEM ADER . , [ No . 301 , Saturday ,

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      lffE _ WAE .

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      The greatest intelligence of interest in connexion with the war still continues to have reference to the lamentable fall of Kars . The terms of capitulation have now been given to the world in an interesting-document , the greater part of which we reproduce below ; and further particulars have reached England , of the sad condition of affairs which rendered the capitulation an act of necessity , or atJeast of justice to-the remnant of the brave garrison . The defenders of the place had plucked up fresh heart and hope from the defeat of the Russians on the occasion of their memoraable assault on the 29 th of September . They expected to see the besiegers retire ; but they did not retire . On the contrary , they increased the strictness of their blockade . The besieged , from day to day held on in the hope that aid would arrive from Erzerouna ; but no aid came . Veli Pacha , in his endeavours to advance to the rescue ,, was continually baffled by the skirmishing parties of the Russians ; the cold weather came on ; snow lay thickly on the Soghanloug ; the deaths from sheer want of food increased to eighty a day ,. though cats and horses were used as articles of consumption ; desertions , it is said ( on the authority of the Russians ) , took place ; and General Williams felt that further resistance was in vain . Some interesting particulars of the result are contained in a letter fro m Constantinople : — "On the 14 th of November , General Moaravieff summoned the place , at the same time promising an honourable capitulation . The Russian General , admirably served by his spies , assured "Vassif Pacha that he need not count on any succour , and that a longer resistance would only serve to prolong the effusion of blood , which , henceforth was useless . On the following day , the Mushir presided at a council of war , composed of all the officers of the garrison . Their opinions were divided . Some advised a desperate attack on the Russians , and others a retreat on Erzeroum , cutting their way through , the enemy ' 3 lines . Williams Pacha proposed prolonging the defence for some days more in the hope of Selira Pacha ' s arrival . This last opinion prevailed , and they forthwith sentr to the Russian head-quarters Major Teesdale , accompanied , by Mr . Churchill , the private secretary of General Williams , to demand of General Mourny ieff a delay of ten days , and liberty to send a courier to Erzeroum . Captain Thompson left immediately ; he met at Hassan Kaleh a Russian corps d ' armce . The moment he became assured that Selim Pacha would attempt nothing , be returned to Kars as speedily as possible . Vassif Pacha and Williams Pacha , out of mere humanity , decided at last on capitulating . The Ottoman garrison and the English who were at Kars are prisoners of war . By a special article , which does great honour to the Mushir and to Williams Pacha , the Hungarians and Poles who were in the Ottoman army were allowed to retire on Erzeroum . " They have since arrived at that city , together with General Kmety . The English officers will remain prisoners of war ; but General Moiuavicff , in ordering the garrison to file off before him , dispensed with our countrymen taking part in the movement . The Russian Commander , in a despatch which he has transmitted to St . Petersburg , says that " the Turkish army of Anatolia has been ' annihilated , in consequence o f the fall of Kars . Eight thousand Turks belonging to the Nizam or regular army have been made prisoners , and six thousand rediffs ( militia ) have been sent to their homes . " As far as the " annihilation ' is concerned , there is probably some Muscovite exaggeration here . A nostile movement on the part of the Russian army ( according to the Military Gazette of Vienna ) is expected to take place ugninst Erzeroum . General MournvieiF is reported to have sent a column to Akhaltssik . Of the movements of Omar Pacha , there arc contradictory accounts . One account says that , on hearing that Prince Bagration hud re < : civi « d reinforcements , the Turkish Commander- m-Unet hastily recrossed the Ingour , and fell buck on Souchum-Knleh . Another states that , at tin : date of the last advices received at Trebizond , Oninr was still near Kutnis , the garrison of wlndi , it is said , has gone to Gori , in order to ddWul th « passes which command the entrance into ( m > rgia . tielim Pacha , with J 2 . 000 men , is still at TrcbisMirul , waiting for the arrival of the Kfr yptmn . division . lie has received orders to go to Erzcrouin . -From the Crimea , there is little new . 1 n « weather has been very bad in the Black Son ami in the Mediterranean . Twelve merchant ; vessels 01 various nations have been lost ivt the Sulmo uioutn

      Untitled Article

      Distkess at Arkxow . —The Rev . W . G . Ormsby , rector of Arklow , diocess of Dublin , calls attention to the distressed condition of the poor fishermen in the town of Arklow , in the county of Wicklow , many of whom are almost reduced to famine by the failure of the hen-ing-fishery , which , has been gradually declining for the last four years . The . neighbouring inhabitants are too poor to afford much relief ; and appeal is therefore made to all Englishmen who have the means to succour their fellow creatures . Clerk-Assistant to the House op Commons . — Mr . May succeeds Mr . William Ley as first clerkassistant to the House of Commons , on that gentleman ' s resignation . Mr . May is the author of a treatise on " Parliamentary Practice . " The Late Wells Election . —The following address has been issued by Mr . Serjeant Kinglake : — " To the Honest Electors of the City of Wells . Gentlemen , — I am anxious , without delay , to offer my earnest and sincere thanks to those electors who , with honest and unswerving independence , have given me their support at the recent election . I feel proud to have Jed you to the poll , and there publicly to have received the sanction of your free opinions . You need feel no disappointment at the result of the contest . That result has been effected by a combination of secret and irregular influences which cannot and will not prevail against tlie firm and unshaken demonstration you have just made . The success of your opponents will probably 1 e very temporary . My thanks , my grateful thanks are due to you , one and all . Be stedfast in your purpose , be prepared to act as you have done , and the day of victory , be assured , is at hand . " Oxford University Foundations . —The forin of statute for regulating the university foundations of more than fifty years' date , which waa promulgated in the term preceding the long vacation , having been amended by the Hebdomadal Council , will be promulgated afresh on Tuesday , January 29 , at two o ' clock . The principal changes which have been made are the substitution of a declaration of church membership , on the part of a Professor taking office , for the promise of conformity which it was proposed formerly to exact ; the proviso that no Professor shall hold the office of Radcliffo Observer or of Public Lecturer in any college ; and the embodiment of a proposition on the part of the Master and Fellows of Balliol College to attach to the Savilian Professorship of Astronomy , at tho earliest opportunity , a Fellowship in their Society . In return for this , it is proposed to give the Master and one Fellow of Balliol a voice in the appointment of all future Savilian Professors of Astronomy . Tub Irish University . —Reform is slowly but surely making head in Trinity College . The Regius Professorship of Greek , remodelled aa it has been by tho recent statuto , is now held by a junior follow ( tho Rev . Thomas Stack ) who , last week , by tho unanimous vote of the Provost and senior fellows , was elected as the fittest pei'son to discharge tho duties of this now very responsible office Hithorto , tho Regius Professor was elected annually from among j tho Benior fellows , and the office was littlo bettor than a more sinecure , the sinallnoss of tho salary ( . £ 100 a-year Irish currency ) , contributing , porhajts , to tho neglect of 0110 of tho most important branches of collogiato oluflsicol education . The new change will involve a complete revolution in tho system of oxrunination for scholarship—tho highest roward hold out to the classical student in Trinity College . By tho old arrangement , a scholarship was far oasior of attainment than an honour of the first class at tho ordinary term examinations , and this was attributable to tho fact that for tho latter tho examines aro presumed to bo appointod on tho score of supoiior fitness , while for tho scholarship , according to official routine , senior follows alone were oligiblo , or , in caao of absence or illness , tho junior follows noxt in order of seniority , without regard to any other quaiilioation for tho o ( nco . All this will bo put an end to by tho appointment of a pormanont ltogiua Professor of Groelc , and henceforward young men of Hooond or third-rato ability will hardly attain to tho highost honours awarded to classical proficiency . — Times .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 29, 1855, page 1238, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2121/page/2/