TO MR. LEFEVRE
SECRETARY TO THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND STEAM PACKET COMPANY, SOUTHAMPTON.
SIR, —I am in receipt of your letter of the 20th instant, intended, I suppose, for publication.
I have already stated, that in the negotiation of the sale of the existing South-Western Packet Company's ships to the intended new Company, I have not taken, and that I do not intend to take, any part; and I do not, therefore, consider that it concerns me to ensure upon the subject and explanation of your statements. The gentleman who will carry into effect the purchase already provisionally made, will, I have no doubt, take care, before they pay the purchase-money, to see, either that the mortgages now affecting the ships (which you considerably over-state) are paid off, or that proper allowance is made to the new Company, if (which I conceive is not probable) it shall be found more convenient to continue the mortgages on foot.
You know perfectly well that the question which unfortunately arose between us, on an attempt to amalgamate the Company of which you are secretary, with that in which I am interested, had reference to an arrangement quite different in kind from that which is now on foot, and therefore that such question can have no application to the present case; and I trust that in this particular, and all others connected with these arrangements, in which you may obtrude your interference, those whom you address will, before attaching any weight to your statements or arguments, ask themselves if it can be to their interest to heed your advice. I know not whether you tender it as a holder of a single share in the Railway Company (retained by your express avowal for the purpose of enabling you to attend and attack me personally at our meetings)—as a leading promoter of a rival railway to London by Petersfield, (now happily defunct except as to its liabilities)—as a leading promoter of a rival broad gauge line from Southampton to Salisbury, not a very likely to be sanctioned by Parliament—or as the Secretary and Agent of the present South of England Steam Packet Company, whose Directors have provisionally contracted to sell the stock and good will of their Company to the new Company, in case of its formation, which you are, therefore, desirous to prevent.
Ot is right that those whom you address should be aware that you are qualified to advise them in one or all of the above capacities, and in no other. The application of a small modicum of common sense to such a state of things, will render your attempts as harmless as they ought to be; and as, judging from the present prospects of the new Company, they in fact are.
Wm. Jas. CHAPLIN
London, 23rd February, 1846.