The Express.
London, England, 1864-04-01 00:00:00

THE GOVERNMENT ANNUITIES BILL,

Last night a meeting of working meu wa,
in Exeter-hall for the parpw of considering the Govern.
meet Annuities Bill ; r. ATITON M.P., in the chair.
Mr. HARTWELL proposed the following resolution, " nut
while strongly depreciatieg any unnecessary help •,t itkr-
['ream on the pert of government in reference to the
management of working men's societies, or in regard tr,
measures for their social advancement, this meeting gladly
acknowledges the value of legislation for further securieg
the proper administration of such societies, and woul.l
welcome any judicious measures for increasing their stability
and usefulness generally, after a full and searching invent,.
puce into the present condition and management of all the
friendly societies of the United Kingdom."
Mr. CONNOLLY seconded the resolution. He was opposed
to the government bill, because it was founded on a c.o.
tralising principle. The people of this =matey did not re.
quire governmentnuning. The bill would destroy the friendly
societies ' • and as a result of it there would not be • trade
society in this country in ten ears. (Hear, and " oh, oh.")
Mr. J. LECIATER next addressedthe meeting io support
of the resolution. He believed that Mr. Gladstone's inters.
tions were good. but that he was mistaken. He was of the
same opinion as Mr. Cobden, who said that all government
shops were bad. When production was left free the i oh.
lie a better and a clasper article than if government
to manufacture it themselves. So it would be
under the propond lgovennient annuities. The govern.
moot could wet CWOdtla the business of an insurance of
without going to an immense expense, and without liability
to great fraud. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Kamm row to move an amendment. The pre.
ceding speakers represented the bill as so utterly Lad and
rotten that it could not be worked. If that was so, where
was the necessity of so much agitation against the Lill
(Hear, bear.) If a rich man went to the government he
could purchase an annuity cow. Why should not a poor
man have the same privilege! (Cheers.) Did not the
government pass the Ten Hours Bill! Was not that pro-
tean= for the working-clames j and was it not a measur,, in
the interest of those claim! (Chasm) As oiled the work.
ing-classes, he inserted for the government the right to pro-
tect the morals, the health, and the life of all classes.(Hear.)
And what was the object:of the government in proposing
the measure under discussioo ? To afford greater security
to those who invested a portion of their earnings for the
benefit of their families. Was it not for the benefit and
interest of the working classes that they should have this
security! (Hear, hear.) As things now stood, if a working
man, from want of work, illness, or lay other cause, was
unable to keep up his payments, he lost the whole of his
investment. (Hear, bear.) That would not be so under
the government bill. (Cheers.) The government did not
propose to interfere with existing societies. It offered to
the working classes the mews of insuring with perfect
security. (Hear.) It was for the working classes to decide
whether they would go to the government offices or to the
existing societies. (Hear, hem, and cries of "time, time")
Mr. Henriette concluded by proposing as an amendment,
that the bill brought in by the Chancellor of the Exchequer
for extending government assurances to the working classes
was deserving of public support. (Cheers.)
Mr. Henson Plum seconded the amendment, which
was surorted by Mr. DAVIS.
Mr. omit mid that the evil of the measure was that it
would destroy confidence in the existing friendly societies.
and by that means bring about their ruin. (" Hear, bear,"
and " No, no.") The more a thoughtful man considered
the subject the more readily would he come to the coedit.
Mon that the bill was designed as a blow against the manly
independence of the working classes. (" Hear, hear," and
" Ob.")
The amendment was then put, and the show of hand'
appeared so squally divided that the chairman declared his
inability to decide on which side the majority was.
The or resolution was then put, and although the
chairman decided that the majority was in favour of it, there
was a very general impression that the meeting was as
equally divided at least with regard to the resolution as to
the amendment.
The meeting then broke up.

SIR ROBERT PEEL, M.P., AND THE DANISH WAR.
—The annual meeting of the members, barmy members,
and friends of the Tantworth Volunteer Ride Corps wee
held in the townhall of that town yesterday evening.
Among the speakers were Sir Robert. Bart., M.P., and Mr.
J. Peel, M.P., the members for the borough. Sir Robert
Peel rid—They all saw with rtisfaction the news the news-
papers had brought them, that the heroic Danish forces had
✓ooms: oily resisted the overwhelming power of Prussian
✓esins. (Applause.) But his frieod (the chairman) wee
wrong when be said that a nation of 2,000.000 or 3,000.000
bad never been known to resist permanently the attacks of
moos numerous nations. That was mot the case, few the
republic of Switzerland, surrounded by great empires, had
for centuries stood the shock of war, and still remained
erect in its independence sod proudin its linertr. (Hear.)
SYMPATHY WITH DENMAEK.—A public meeting
convened by the Mayor, and over which his worship pre-
sided, was held at Newcastle on Wednesday night, and pro-
nouneed emphatically on the side of Denmark. An used.
meat was moved, but was almost unanimously rejected.
Sympathy with the Dante in their pliant struggle with
Austria end Prussia was enthusiastically expressed ; and the
crowded arembly, desiring that in any measure which
might be taken by this country the integrity and indepee-
deoce of Denmark may be the end in view, doornail*
favour of the extension of material aid to the invaded nation.
if peaceful means should fail of securing that object.
Those resolutions the Mayor was requested to sign on be-
half of the meeting, and tratismit to the First Lord of the
Treasury and to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
—Neircsarre o,ronicle.

LODGING-HutBES FOR THE LABOURING CLA,,DI.
—The Court of Common Council, on the reoocomeodation
of their Committee for Improvements, have just autho-
rised the expenditure of nearly 30,0001. in the erection of a
series of improved dwellings for the labouring poor is
Clerkeowell oo the plan already successfully carried out by
Mr. Alderman Waterlow in • densely populated part of
Finsbury.
THE Aar OF CoNveasarea.—lf the reader has
known the happiness of iseocisting intimately with so y man
or woman who brought the old system into our age, he can
surely never ogees to regret that that exquisite tact and
suavity is vanishing from society. How really deliciorta
a thing it was! How—when its atmosphere bad owe
wrapped in round—we felt ourselves expand in it, as sea-
anemones do in warm and sheltered eaves. where there is
no chance of a breaker ever disturbing the surface ! "
body is going to say anything disagreeable to anybody!
Everybody's small feelings arid prejudices will be remem•
bend. Kind things will be seen to be dropped gently.
calling for no reply. The speaker will consider whether
what be hen got to say can interest his audience, and will
never poor out his egotism irrespective of their feelings."
It is • vision of Paradise, like Mahomet's promise to the
blessed :—" Ye shall sit on seats opposite one soother.
All grudges shall be takes away out of your hearts." And
thee this delightful conversation (we talk now—we never
convene), with its careful give and take, its courteous
drawing forth of the most modest in the party, its a =
anecdotes and friendly discussion, all came to us
snob organs of speech—so soft, so full and modulated.
Where are those voices gone—those female voices of the
last vesication? We bear sweet singers now; bat
hardly ever sweet talkers, sweet laughers. We talk
too loud, or else fall into the atrocity of whin-
peke to our seat neighbour, so that no third
person hairs us. In the days of good manners, everybcid
talked far the whole circle, but never raised • voice beyond
the pitch of sweetness and good breeding. Our words sod
sentences come out gurgling and spluttering like bitter ale
when the cork is drawn ; theirs sowed smoothly like rick
wine out of their own 6n. old silver claret jugs. Lit not •
pity that this art—which is everybody's art, which 611 s up
all the interstices of life. sad is of tenfold more import-
ance to human happiness than all the painting, music, and
sculpture in the world—should be allowed to sink into
oblivion like those of making Venetian glass, or the Tyrian
dye? Shall we teach children to chatter four language
and sever teach them not to interrupt people who are
speskieg one of them! Shall we instruct young ladies
to warble like nightingales, and then have them to scream
like cockatoos in small assemblies, and sit dumb as owls in
large ones! There are well-bred people now—people whom
nature has dowered with such Datum' tact and dignity.
that nothing me have surpassed it. But for the great mess
of society, the want of an education of manners—the dying
out of the old traditional practice is surely a deplorable
thing. We have got back boor, and seem on the way to
get back powder. May the kind fates give us one thin
more—the manners of the people who wore hoops and
powder of old, and the memory of whose suave courtesy
comes tow like the odour of their own in r,"..issale, or of
• drawing-room full of Eaters sandal-wood boxes and
pot porrri. —Fraser's Maga:4 ne for April.
Ova Miasma. —They are night reverie., in which
there is simply such a change is the character of the
mental train as we should expect from the change of the
oonditiona Oar day experiences furnish the niateigals out
of which they are woven. " A dream," seith Solomon
wisely, " couseth through much business." Let us reflect
on what actually happens. As we gradually pass into
slumber, we are still thinking ; but some of our sensations,
especially the important ones of vision, are now entirely
shut oat, and others become dim and still dimmer ; we pass
from the world of eases to the world of ideas. sod our idea.,
being so longer eclipsed by the superior splendour of seam-
tea, skins out with greater apparent brilliancy ; the ordinary
laws of association go on in full operation, idea sug-
gesting idea, but no looger controlled by the presence of
outside realities; sometimes • dull sensation reaches the
mind, sad either niinidieui:mieroeptibly with the entreat of
thought, or alters al er its direction—it creates a
hitch in the dream thus the mental theatre-show
proceeds till we sink into deep sleep, where even fancy
slumbers, or open our eyes at morn sod look out upon thee
hard facts which banish the spectres of the night—for all
ghosts disappear at cock.crowieg.—Afacmillan's Mage,,nr
ter April.

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