The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-01 00:00:00

MEETING AT MANCHESTER OF THE
FBIENDS OF POLAND.

On Wednesday evening a soiree, " in commemoration
of Poland's struggle for independence, in 1830, from un-
der Russian. oppression," was held at the Manchester
Athenaum. The room in which the meeting took place
was profusely decorated with the flags of England, France,
Turkey, and Poland.

Mr. ABSOLOM WATKIN presided, and in opening the
proceedings referred to the loss which the Poles had sus-
tained by the death of Lord Dudley Stuart. The present
contest with Russia could not be otherwise than favour-
able to the Poles, but he was of opinion that our Go-
vernment would have acted more wisely if they bad
raised Poland and Hungary, instead of waiting for
Austria.

After an address from M. Labentowicz, a Polish re•
fugee,
M. ZARMORSICI, a student from Cracow, gave a sketch
of the dismemberment of Poland. In referring to the
present war, he stated that there were now 160,000
Poles compelled by Russia to fight against England and
France ; but that if the Poles rose ea mane, these
160,000 would desert from the Russian army, and fight
on our side.
Several other addresses were delivered by Poles, in
the vernacular tongue, and the proceedings were of a
most animated character.

A public meeting was held in the Lecture-room,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on Wednesday evening, " to com-
memorate the Polish Revolution of 1830, and to give
unmistakeable expression to the opinion and resolution of
the people cf Newcastle and Gateshead in sepport of the
immediate restoration of Poland's indepondence." Mr.
William Cook, of Gateshead, presided. The room was
densely crowded i■ every part.

On Wednesday last, the Poles in Brussels celebrated
the anniversary •f their last great national struggle by
attending a solemn-mass at the Church of Our Lady of
Victory, to pray for the souls of those who died for the
independence of their country, and to implore the bless-
ing of Heaven on the arms of France and England
throughout the present war.

THE CIVIL SERVICE SUPERANNUATION
FUND.

(From the Civil Service Gazette.)

The imposition of a civil burden on the civil service
can only be defended on the old freebootiug principle of
the assumed right of the strong to oppress the weak, un-
less it can be shown that in the matter of superannuation
allowances a sort of commercial transaction is entered
into between the parties, and' that the person who
makes what is termed his "contribution to the superan-
nuation fund" is entitled to and receives a full equivalent
for his payments. What is this pretended equivalent ?
In every case the health of the applicant for the retiring
allowance is completely broken down, or the infirmities
of age have come upon him before he can make his
claim and send in the certificates which speak to his in-
capacity for further active employment. In fact, the
act " knoweth him not" unless he can comply with the
one essential condition that he shall bo shattered in
health, or worn out, and nearly good for nothing. But
let us take the most favourable case. A civil servant
enters the service, we will suppose, at twenty, and goes
on paying his "contributions" for five-and-forty years,
when, although arrived at the mature age of 65, he is
still tolerably hale and hearty, and, with a natural desire
to retain his salary as long as he can, he continues at
his post for three or four years more. He then, feel-
ing his health breaking, sends in kis papers, and finally
settles down upon the reduced income which the
Treasury allots him. How long can this retired civil
servant expect to enjoy—if a man just bordering upon
70 years of age, suddenly withdrawn from his daily em-
ployment, can be said to enjoy anything—this pension,
which is deemed the equivalent of his payments for nearly
60 years ? We should be glad if the Government calcu-
lator, Mr. Finlaison, or any gentleman who has paid
attention to the subject, would tell us the value in years'
purchase of a deferred annuity under such circumstances ;
and also what relation it bears in money value to the
long-continued payments of the civil servant, to say
nothing of the great probability of his dying before ac-
quiring any interest in the pension.
Of course, we pmt this case for the sake of illustrating

;he injustice of the odious Superannuation Act, without

for one moment believing that any official employ" will
really be subjected to its provisions for the lengthened
period referred to. On the contrary, our firm onvic-
tion is that it must be soou erased from the statute-book,
and vanish to that limbo where many a piece of ill-
judged legislation has gone before. So long, however,
as it retains its rapacious hold on the public service, wjiose
cause we advocate, we will use every fair argument to
expose the moral wrong it perpetuates.
In the pension, limited as its duration must of neces-
sity be, which the civil servant gets in exchange for his
payments, he may esteem himself liberally and hand-
somely dealt with when he reflects upon what will be the
result in case he happens to die while " in harness"—no
matter whether his end be hastened by close application
to his duties or not. He knows that in that event, after
perhaps years of " contribution" to the mythic "fund,'"
his equivalent will he simply nothing. He has belonged
to a sort of Government tontine, in which, although the
longest survivors get something, yet, strange to say, the
nation at large gets the best part of the subscriptions.
Time was when, if a man had the ill-luck to break his
leg or his collar-bone by falling down an open cellar, or
otherwise to sustain any bodily injury short of life, by
the culpable negligenee of others, he had his remedy at
law, and exemplary damages were given as a sort of salvia
for his broken limbs • while, if owing to the same negli-
gence, he had the misfortune to lose his life, the law al-
lowed no remedy. Lord Campbell's Act, however, as
railway companies know to their cost, has set this mat-
ter right; the limb is compensated for, but the life is still
more valued, and the widow or other representative of
the deceased stands in his place. The monstrous ano-
maly of the old law is precisely the principle of the Su-
perannuation
Act. A civil servant loses his health, or
from advancing years becomes good for little, and a pen-
sion is awarded to him, but if he lose his life while in the
service, no matter from what cause, his widow and chil-
dren may appeal in vain to the Treasury sympathies,
and fruitlessly point to the sum paid, often during a
long series of years, by the husband and father who is
no more !
Our columns have teemed with melancholy instances
of this oppressive feature of the act. We trust we shall
not wound the feelings of friends if we refer to another
case, which, since it has recently happened under the
immediate eye of the First Lord of the Treasury and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, will, we believe, have its
weight 'with men of their known humanity and Christian
feeling. We allude to the late Mr. E. J. Crafer, of the
Treasury, a valuable public servant, who for several
years filled the highly confidential post of private secre-
tary to the patronage Secretary of the Treasury. This
gentleman a few weeks back fell a victim to the visita-
tion of cholera. He was taken from the active discharge
of duties, and has lett a widow and eight young children
to mourn his loss, who derive no advantage whatever
from the fund. What arguments can answer such a case
as this ?

Lruntroot, Nov. 30.—The United States mail steamer
Pacific, Nye, commander, took her departure for New
York to-day at 6 a.m., with 173 passengers and the mails
on board.
THE STOWE ESTATES.—We hear that these estates
are to come to the hammer in January next, the annual
rental on the farms being about 10,0001. 500 trees in
the gardens and park are condemned, and will soon be
felled. The house property in the town will also be
sold. The mayor and a deputation from the council
have waited on Lord Chandos, at Wootton, to arrange
about the purchase of the Town-hall and its appurte-
nances, when it was offered at 1,200/. As the council
have no funds they may possibly raise it on security of
the borough rate, or a few speculative persons may pur
chase it aa a profitable investment!