The National Register. — London, England, 1815-12-17 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. SIC ASYLUM FOlt UNFOR rUNATE FEMALES. On M, nday was a very numerous Meeting at the City of London ravel n, whit]) was attended by ladies as wel! as gen tlemen • Mr She itf Rrll wis called to the chair, and shortly opened the h—ines- of the Meeting. Mr Watkins then read a very long and able report of th Committee of the Society that had already been :ii•tituted. The In , titution commenced in the year, 181 0 . and took every pains in their power to impress upon the public mind the coormity of the evil that called far redress. A petiti r., signed by 2 , c4) ousehoidcrs of London, was pre sented to the corporation, who to- , k it into their consideration, and passed the followinv, Resolutions That this Court, being deeply interested in the preservation of public morals. and iv the welfa. e of the youth of this city, is much impressed with the iii port of the Committee appointed to consider the Petition of ttpwards Of-2000 inhabitant householder:, complain ing of the i2reA number of prostitutes which frequent the pub lic stree., ; ' y which it appears, that the evil referred to in. the said Petition. exists in a degree and to an extent so great, as 1n 0 ,1i% to call tu;on this Court to use the utmost possible; means to remove it, at;cl to prevent its pernicious influence." Several other resolutions were passed at the same time for the furtherance of the object. At first there was a house taken at Stepney for the accommodation of such females as appeared to he wholly destitute The Asylum now is in Church-lane, Whitechapel. The Committee were convinced from expe rience, that a majority of the prostitutes who walk the streets would never forsake that practice while it yielded them enough to supply Oieir wants ; but still there was a great many who had been seduced, and would be glad to return to !he paths of virtue, if they could tind a temporary asylion and honest em ployment. The females who had been admitted into the Asy lum did not cost the Institution more than ss. tid. per week ; their (mil labour supply the remaining 2s. 9d. which was neces sary for their hoard. The Report was so voluminous, that we find it impossible to give more than a very short abstract of it; it generally recom mended the clearing the streets from prostitutes, and sending them r' some temporary asylum, where pains should be taken to fit them for employment, and to get them into service. The, Report stated numerous cases of the most aggravated and af flictitig species of seduction; and particularly recommended the pioseention of those procuresses, and keepers of brothels, who take every possible means of inveigling young women to their houses, for the purposes of prostitution. The Rev. Joseph Mann moved the first Resolution, which was suggested by the Report which had been read. He drew an animated picture of the miseries into v hick unhappy females Are reduced by crime ; and appealed to the feelines of the au dience of both sexes, whether it was not absolutely necessary to take some steps to [cinch e, or at least diminish, so great an ,evil. The Rev. G. Clayton, jun. seconded the motion in a very .eloquent speech, which was received with great applause. After giwelhng in a very feeling manner on the miseries to which un 41app‘ e so liable, he confessed that, at hist, he doubt ,ed whether anv important benefit could result from the labours pf the Soe.i tv. Upon mature delibeiation, however, he was now convinced that much good might be done Ile was not so sanguine or Utopian in his ideas, as to expect that any rapid re formation of public morals could be expected from the adoption of the Resolutions which were now proposed to them. lie bad no doubt, however, that they would tend immediately to d . 1• nith the evil, and that it was within their power to reclaim a nionl , er of individuals, who would otherwi•e be irrecoverably pluiL.eil in vice and misery. How great must be their joy at reclaiming any from this gulph of ruin and perdition! It would be a joy, something liordering on the divine and celestial joy, such as we read ti: he angels feel in Heaven when one sinner repentetl'—('-. «i 0/ p/aq.se). Such joy the subscribers to the pasetit would feel, even although the reformation of manners inNht not he so general as was hoped. The-com pany present should retAlitct,_ that if this cotiutry-stood now DEC. 1 high and pre-eminent in Europe-if England was the brightest star in the constellation of nations--it was owing, not merely to the benignity of the throne. the wisdom of its Counsellors, the bravery and magnanimity of its military defenders ; hut, in a still greater degree, to its moral character— omph/web As long as they cherished and cultivated these moral anti religious feelings, England would still stand as a rock among the waves, unassailable Itself, and the bulwark of other nations. He had no doubt but that the assembly he saw before him was numer ous and respectable enough to originate propositions which would lead to the most important results. There were sever al other speakers, principally Clergymen, in support of the diferent Resolutions. The Rev. Mr. Hyatt strongly recommended the encourage ment of females in all those situations, which were equally fitting, of more fitting, to women than to men. He had seen in many shops of haberdashers, . milliners, linen-drapers, and ethers, men only employed. we had asked some of the shop keepers, why they did not rather employ women, who were certainly as well qualified to measure tape and linen as the men ? The answer was, as he conceived, a libel en the fethale sex. The shopkeepers told him, that the Ladies preferred being secy. ed by men than by women. The consequence of this unjust preference was, that no less than 5000 females, who otherwise might have obtained au honest livelihood by the employment, were driven into the streets. He thought that the Ladies should take up this important consideration ; amid, for the good of their own sex, prefer dealing with those s hops where females were employed. The Rev. Rowland Hill then called the attention of the meet ing to another consideration. We perpetually heard from masters and mistresses complaints of the badness of servants ; we did not, however, so often hear the complaints of the latter about the badness of masters and mistresses. He could not conceive any thing more cruel, than, for a word which was perhaps improper and impertinent, but provoked by bad usage, to dismiss immediately a servant girl. who was under the pro tection of her master and mistress. Of such immediate dismissal, the ruin of the unfortunate female was usually the immediate consequence; and that ruin often drove them to prostitution. — lie had hitherto given but small support to the society ; but being now convinced of the benefits which might be expected from it, he was determined to put down his name as a Life-Go venor. He advised every one present. who, like him, was old, and whose hairs were grey, to do to the same. It would be of much more importance to the society than a subscription of a gu inea a year, from a man who had probably not many y e a rs to live. The Lord Mayor having entered the room, Sheriff Bell im. mediately resigoed the Chair to hint" His Lordship then apo logized for not being present sooner, but he bad been detained by his duties at the Mansion-house.--In the discharge of his duties these this day, he hail been afflicted with the sight of many of those poor females who were the objects of the consi deration of the present Meeting. He had given this subject much attention , having been one of the Committee of the Common Council to which the petition of the householders was referred. lie expressed the strongest wishes fur the suc cess of the Institution. After a variety of observations from different speakers in support of the Resolutions, they were all unanimously agreed to. A liberal subscription was then immediately entered into, and the Meeting broke up. ST AT E PA PER.. TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE DUKE DE RICHELIEU. The Allied Sovereigns having confided to Marshal the [hike of Wellington the command in chief of those of their tr.iops, which according to the fifth article of the Treaty, concluded this day with France, ale to remain in this country during a cer tain number of years, the undersigned Ministers, Stc. &c. tirc. 'think it their duty to give some explanation to his Excellency the Duke de Richelieu as to the nature and' extelit of the powers att4ebtxl to Lille 04111414nd. i a