The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-18 00:00:00

Royal General Annuity Society.

A special general meeting of the subscribers to
this charity was held yesterday at the London Ta-
vern. At the hour appointed for commencing busi-
ness, only two of the directors—Sir John Heron
Maxwell and Mr. Moir—were in attendance, the
remainder of the board, with the secretary, being
absent. After waiting for some time, and no other
official of the charity making his appearance, Sir
John Maxwell was asked to take the chair, with
which request he complied.
The CHAIRMAN said he was placed in a most un-
pleasant position owing to the absence of his brother
directors and the secretary, and no books or docu-
ments of the charity forthcoming. Late on Satur-
day afternoon he received a notice from the secre-
tary that the meeting called for to-day had been
postponed, but not stating to what day it had
been postponed. He at once wrote to the
secretary to know by whose authority and for
what purpose the meeting had been postponed, and
also to what day. To this note he only received
an evasive reply, and he therefore caused a letter
to be inserted in several of the daily papers of this
morning, stating he should feel it his duty to attend
the meeting, and inviting the subscribers to meet
him, and he felt greatly obliged to those who had
responded to his request. He then went on to cha-
racterise the whole management of the charity as
most unsatisfactory, and considered the secretary
totally incapacitated for the duties of his office.
(Cheers.) The charity was rapidly sinking into
that objectionable condition from which, in April
last, he had, with the aid of Mr. Moir and the sub-
scribers, rescued it. He thought it was the duty of
the subscribers to take up the question, and not al-
low so useful a charity to be so grossly mismanaged
and neglected. (Cheers.)
Mr. M. Mom moved—" That the conduct of the
secretary in absenting himself from the present
general meeting, and of which he was fully cogni-
sant, is discourteous and highly censurable, and that
the mode in which the business of the secretaryship
has been transacted during the last 12 months is
one requiring the serious attention of the sub-
scribers." The whole management of the charity
was a disgrace to all concerned.
Mr. PALMER seconded the resolution.

Dr. RA3ISAY supported the resolution. He found
by the imperfect balance-sheet of the charity that
while during the past year only £4OO had been paid
to annuitants, the expenses had been about £9OO,
£4OO of which had been taken by the secretary as
salary. (Cries of " Shame.")
The resolution was agreed to unanimously.
Mr. DALY then moved and Mr. WAnTON seconded
a resolution, which was also carried, recommending
that a requisition be signed by 10 subscribers and
three directors, in accordance with the rules, and
sent in to the secretary requesting him to call a
general meeting of subscribers on the 9th of May
to consider the management of the charity since
April 1864, and to devise means for placing it in a
more satisfactory position.

The requisition was then signed by 10 of the sub-
scribers present, and the meeting, during which the
most extraordinary statements were made, then
closed with a vote of thanks to the chairman.

" Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below."
and worshipped God instead of mammon for at least
once in their lives. The crowd enjoyed its own
performance exceedingly, and being in the musical
-vein-favoured. itself-nd the on:lookers by giving
" John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave,"
" The star-spangled banner," " The red, white,
and blue," " Hail Columbia," and other popular
airs with genuine delight in the sound of their own
voices. When there were no more songs to be
sung the speechmakers took possession of the arena
and made the most of the opportunity. One emi-
nent Loyal Leaguer declared amid vociferous ap-
plause, " that this was the most glorious day the
world had seen since the day of the Crucifixion."
He did not, however, inform his hearers who the
divine victim was on this occasion, or perhaps re-
flect that the South, if as irreverent as himself,
might have accepted the comparison as readily as'
the North. There was much more to the same effect,
though in varied phraseology, which seemed to be
as greatly to the taste of the Puritan clergy and the
staid and sober members of the New York Chambers
of Commerce, many of whom were on the balcony
to the right and left of the speaker, as to that of the
rowdy Irish carmen and porters who mingled in the
crowd. The Wall-street meeting ultimately ad-
journed to Union-square, after dinner time, when a
repetition of the morning's performance was given,
with the addition of music, Chinese lanterns, and an
illumination. In the evening the Loyal League
opened its club-house to its friends, and as the
hall porters were not over particular, everybody
who applied was admitted. The champagne is de-
scribed, with true American hyperbole, as having
" run in rivers," and as " Copperheads" and
" traitors" were as free to partake as Republicans
and negrophilists,
the uproariousness of the celebra-
tion is likely to be long remembered in New York
by scores of people who never before tasted liquor
more refined and aristocratic than Lager beer or a
44 whisky skin."

_ .
And while scenes such as this were enacted in
New York, the same kind of performance went on
all over the country. Mr. Lincoln being at the
front with the army preparing for a triumphal entry
into Richmond, the Chief Magistrate had no oppor-
tunity to witness or take part in the rejoicings of
his people ; but his Ministers at Washington were
severally drawn out, and invited to declare them-
selves on the great subject of the day. A general
holiday having been declared in Washington, the
clerks of the Post-office and the Treasury turned
out in procession, and being joined by the Loyal
Leaguers, the firemen, and the general population
of the city, both white and black, marched with
streaming banners to Mr. Seward's home, and called
upon that eminent functionary to make a speech.
The Secretary lost no time in responding to the call,
and, knowing the temper of the crowd, made several
telling innuendoes against Great Britain, which ap-
pear to have been thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated.
" " Whatlainabou shall
t writing
I tell thetingaty foreign despatches," he
said. Emperor of China? I
shall thank him in your name, fellow-citizens, for
never having permitted a piratical flag to enter the
harbours of his empire." This was slap the first at
England, and was highly relished. " What shall I
say to the Sultan of Turkey ? I shall thank him for
always having surrendered rebel insurgents who
have taken refuge in his kingdom." This was slap
the second, aimed apparently at the Canadian autho-
rities, and hitting Great Britain, but indirectly.
" What shall I say to the Emperor of the French ?''
A voice in the crowd called out, " Tell him to get
out of Mexico." Mr. Seward was too discreet and
prudent a diplomatist to heed the interruption, much
more to approve it, and merely said that " he would
tell the Emperor to go to Richmond and get the
tobacco so long held there by the blockade, pro-
vided the rebels had not used it up." This fell
rather flat upon the auditory, and the Secretary
proceeded with a suggestive and welcome topic, and
went on to declare what he would say to Earl
Russell. " lle would tell Earl Russell that British
merchants could now get plenty of cotton in the
or dinarYway cheaper than they could by running
the blockade. Furthermore, he would say that
thehad
once war
o was not for empire, as the Earl
asserted, but for the rights of
human nature ; and that if Great Britain would
only be just to the United States" (he did not specify
any act of injustice), " Canada would remain un-
disturbed by the Federal Government so long as she
preferred the authority of the noble Queen to volun-
tary incorporation with the United States." From

To-day the jubilation at the capture of Richmond
is not quite so effervescent as it was yesterday.
Wall-street has the head-ache after its debauch,
and has this morning been informed, unofficially,
but none the less authentically, that the victory was
a good deal more theatrical in its character than the
first accounts led the public to imagine. Wall-
street is in consequence in lower spirits, and the
Bulls are sending up the price of gold again at a
rate that, if persisted in for many days, will be de-
clared disloyal. It is asserted on high authority—
though not yet mentioned in the newspapers—that
the evacuation of Richmond really commenced on
the 24th of March ; that the attack on that day by
the Confederates upon Fort Stedman was a feint to
throw General Grant off his guard and veil the real
movements of the bulk of the Confederate army;
that the battles before Petersburg were consequently
fought by only a third of Gen. Lee's forces ; that
both Mr. Lincoln and Gen. Grant were aware by
the 25th or 26th that the evacuation had com-
menced ; that, when Gen. Sherman visited Gen.
Grant and the President, he also was made aware
of what had been done, and was hurried back to his
command in hot haste, lest in his absence General
Joseph E. Johnstone should be so largely rein-
forced by Gen. Lee as to justify the Confederates
in a combined attack on the long victorious columns
of the hero at Atlanta. Whether the victory be
substantial or illusory, it is not pleasant to describe
the spirit in which it has been received. I am, how-
ever, compelled to say that to the best of my judg-
ment—from what is to be read in the newspapers,
to be heard in society, and to be studied out of the
whole public opinion of all classes, rich and poor,
learned and unlearned, American and semi-Ameri-
can—the prevalent feeling is not one of thankful-
ness at the prospect of peace, but of exultation at
the strength which the North has exhibited. Mr.
Lincoln has made no sign as yet of any conciliation,
or offered any terms to the Confederate sbut those
of absolute submission. TheVice-President, who has
recovered the power of speech, if not of reasoning,
talks of hanging the Southern President " 20 times
as high as Haman," and of condignly punishing all
other traitors great and small. The more promi-
nent members of the Republican party speak in a
similar spirit, though with more decency of expres-
sion ; though the journals of this city, with a better
appreciation of the true duties of the Government,
with scarcely an exception, urge upon Mr. Lincoln
the expediency of offering a general amnesty. It is
generally expected that a proclamation in this spirit,
though not, perhaps, to the full extent of including
Mr. Jefferson Davis in the list of those whose
offences are to be forgiven, will be immediately
issued from Richmond, whither Mr. Lincoln has
proceeded, and where Mrs. Lincoln has gone to join
him.