The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-07 00:00:00

THE ROYAL GENERAL ANNUITY
SOCIETY.

Yesterday evening the anniversary festival of this
excellent institution was celebrated at the London
Tavern, when about three hundred gentlemen, inte•
rested in the prosperity of the society, sat down to a
sumptuous dinner, provided in the usual recherche
style of Messrs. Bathe and Breach, the spirited pro-
prietors of that establishment.
The Hon. Edward H. Stanley, M.P., occupied the
chair. Among the company right and left of him we
noticed—Earl Powis, the Hon. W. T. Campbell, M.P.,
Sir M. R. Shaw Stewart, Bart., Sir Richard Jodrell,
Bart., Sir John Heron Maxwell, Bart., C. N. New-
degate, Esq., M.P., the High Sheriff of Surrey, the
late High Sheriff of Surrey, Thomas Greene, E q.,
M.P., Joseph Locke, Esq., M P., William Cubitt,
Esq., M.P., Richard Bremridge, Esq., M.P., Sa-
muel Gurney, jun., Esq., Stephen J. Aldrich, Esq.,
secretary of the institution, William Lofr, Eq.,
Esq., M.P., Captain Sir Edward
Belcher, lt .N .
, the Mayor of Rye, the Mayor of
George Sanders,
B Aaiun the Mayor of Gravesend and Town Clerk ;
Henry Pownall, Esq., Thomas:King, Eiq , &c.
The vocal arrangements, which were of the most
effective kind, were under the direction of Mr. Hobbs,
assisted by Miss Birch, Miss E. Birch, Mr. Francis,
Mr. Young, Mr. Howe, and Mr. Seguin. The band
of the Coldstream Guards was also in attendance, and
played during the dinner.
The gallery at the bottom of the room, and the
open space immediately behind the chair, were occu-
pied by nearly two hundred elegantly dressed ladies.
On the removal of the cloth, the grace of "For
these and all thy mercies" was beautifully sung.
The Hon. CHAIRMAN, in giving "The health of
ber Majesty," said that he had the honour to propose
to the company a toast which he was well assured
would require few words of his to make it universally
aceeptable. Wherever or whenever a party of Eng-
lishmen were gathered together, on any occasion like
the present, for the promotion of the cause of charity,
there was one toast which stood first, and which in-
cluded a name which never failed to draw forth the
expression of English loyalty and affection.—(Cheers.)
He gave " The Health of her Majesty the Queen,"
and he was sure the company would join him in right
goodwill in drinking "The Health of her Majesty
the Queen," with three times three.
The appeal was enthusiastically responded to.
The National Anthem was then sung with great
effect.
The CHAIRMAN then gave " His Royal Highness
the Prince Albert, Albert Prinee of Wales, and .the
rest of the Royal Family."
Glee—" Hail to thee, Albert."
The next toast was " The Arc, hbishop of Canter-
bury and the rest of the Clergy.'
The Rev. Mr. JONES returned thanks.
Solo and glee—" Sound the loud timbre]."
The CHAIRMAN having proposed " The Army and
Navy,"
Sir EDWARD BELCHER, as the naval equerry of
Lord Gough, in Canton, returned thanks on behalf
of both services.
" Rule Britannia." •
The CHAIRMAN said, that in proposing the next
toast he was warranted, not only by custom, but also
by inclination. He considered that he-spoke not only
to the distinguished assembly immediately around
him, but also to those fair beings whom he. saw, who
had that day honoured the meeting with their presence
—(Applause)—and without whom this meeting would
be very different in its character from what it now
was.—(Cheers.) He had the honour to propose
" Prosperity to the Royal General Annuity Society."
He remembered to have heard it stated that it was the
remark of a most distinguished foreigner, who, after
a residence in this country, was asked what parti-
cular object most impressed itself on his mind,
that it was not all the wealth of the land, it was not
all the wealth and splendour of our cities, it was not
all the comfort of our towns, nor the fertility of our
soil, or the extent of our commercial enterprise, that
had impressed him with such feelings of admiration
as the number, the opulence, and the variety of our
charitable institutions.—(Cheers.) That remark
came better from a foreigner than from 'an English-
man. But they might be forgiven if it were matter
of pride with some, and if all felt it, that while in other
countries cases of distress were of more rare occur-
rence in comparison with their own, there was no
country whose charity and bounty were more ready
to relieve distress. He believed that there was hardly
any great degree of human suffering which was not,
at least, alleviated, if not removed, by institutions
such as this.—(Applause.) On behalf of this society,
he did not think it too much to say that among all
those institutions which had dispensed good
there was none which—looking to the funds
placed at its disposal—had dispensed a greater
amount of happiness, or had relieved morelutfering
than this society. It filled a void,: which, until this
institution was founded, no other institution met.
Here there were many cases of those becoming an-
nuitants on the fund whose previous position had en-
abled them to subscribe to the funds of the society,
perhaps; and who, from a position of comfort, had
been reduced to a state of poverty. These' were a
class of persons who were not there who had struggled
through a long life with poverty—whose life had not
been engaged in warding off distress and poverty,
and who were prepared to meet it, but who, from no
fault of their own, had fallen from comparative luxury
to indigence. They were persons whose feelings re-
volted against soliciting relief as a matter of legal
right. He felt that what he had said was sufficient;
that every one whom he addressed was well acquainted
with the objects of the society. He knew that the
management of this institution was in no respect in-
ferior to the magnitude of its objects, and he thought
it was unnecessary to do more than to ask the com-
pany to drink with as much cordiality as ever a toast
which had been drunk in that room,
"Prosperity to
the Royal General Annuity Society."—(Cheers.)
Mr. ALDRICH, the Secretary, read the first report
of subscriptions.
Song—" Youth and Age."
Earl Powis said he was sure the company would
deem the exhortation which they had Just heard
superfluous when he told them that the toast which
he was about to propose was the health of Mr.
Stanley, their chairman—(Cheers)—and'to that gen-
tleman he must add that their thanks were peculiarly
due for his presence that day. This was not the
mere formula and stereotyped mode of expression on
such occasions, because it was peculiarly fitting to
this day and to this occasion. It was from the summit
of the Andes and from the shores of the Pacific that
Mr. Stanley had hurried home to preside over this
meeting.—(Cheers.) And when he reflected upon the
charms of travelling in that herni-phere—on the
scenery, which could not fail to attract the
interest of every one, he felt that their
Honourable Chairman could feel no ordinary interest
in the welfare of this society, and that he evinced
no ordinary determination to discharge whatever
public duty might fall to his lot, in hurrying home to
be present with them that day.— (Cheers.) It
needed not that he should call to the recollection of
those whom he addressed the annals of the family of
which their chairman was a member. 'Whether they
turned to the past grave pages of English history, or
to those of lighter fiction, still we were made familiar
with the name of Stanley as the heroes of many
doughty deeds ; and it was a matter which would not
be without its significance, that their Hon. Chairman
had been able to be present from another quarter of
the globe, and from another hemisphere, through the
punctuality attending one of those great feats 'of
commercial enterprise of the merchantaof London,
by which so rapid a communication was- established
over half the world. Who that were present at the
time had not dwelt with delight on the silver tones
of matchless eloquence with which Lord Stanley had
pleaded the cause of this charity. The Noble Earl,
in highly eulogistic terms, proposed "The Health of
the Chairman," and the toast was responded to with
the most vociferous cheering.
The CHAIRMAN returned thanks. He had little
thought when he was in a distant part of the globe
that he should have been able to be present on this
occasion. He had written home to say it would be
impossible to attend on the day originally named.
He was aware that he had filled the duties of chair-
man inadequately—(Loud cries of " No, no")—and
his excuse must be that he had only been in England
48 hours ; but he could assure them that no man
could be more zealous in the cause of the society than
he was.
Mr. FRESIIFIELD, High Sheriff of Surrey, proposed
" Mr. Newdegate and the Members of the House of
Commons."

Mr. NEWDEGATE returned thanks.
BENNY POWNALL, Esq., gave the health of Mr.
Thomas King, and the other Vice-Presidents of the
institution.

Mr. NEWDEGATE proposed the health of the Se-
cretary, Mr. Aldrich. ,
_ _

Mr: ALnalcu thanked the meeting most sincerely
for the honour they had done him. That was indeed
a proud day for this excellent institution. He could
show them by figures the results of the exertions he
had made in its behalf. They had on this occasion
the largest meeting that had ever assembled together
on any of the preceding festivals of the charity.—
(Loud cheers.) They had not only the largest meet-
ing of gentlemen, merchants, and traders of this city
present, but the amount of that day's subscriptions
was nearly double the one announced cn the last oc-
casion.—(Cheers.) The present was the largest col-
lection ever made at any anniversary of the charity;
be was going to say the largest amount almost col-
lected at the anniversary of any charity, for it
amounted to the sum of 3,215/.—(Loud cheers.) He
was delighted to hear that the meeting felt so warmly
in their good cause. They could boast of that which
no other charity could boast—they bad had two living