The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-02-09 00:00:00

MENDICITY SOCIETY.

A special general meeting of the subscribers to the Society for
, the Suppression of Mendicity was held on hatu-day, at the I. ree-
RlRMine 'Tavern, in Great Queen-street, for the purpose of giving
a full explanatory statement of their accounts, and of the proceed-
ings of the Board of 31anagement. The meeting was convened in
' conrequenceof a resolution of the Board, who conceived it nett's-
sat, to refute ecru in charge made against them by at anonymous
writer in The Times newspaper. There were present about 1311
Ladies and Gentlemen, chiefly subscribe?, to the Institution. A
statement of the receipts and expenditures of the Society, from the
let January to the 31st December, 11122, agreeably to the auditor's
Report, was handed to each person on entering the meeting. At
one o clock the Right lion. Sturges Bourne was called to the chair,
and stated in brief toms the object of the managers in calling the
fleeting. •
Dorf ea Blunt, Esq., read to the meeting a Report of con-
siderable length, in which he entered fully into all particulars re-
lative to the acts and views of the Society. In referring to the
items to which the writer of the paragraph in Tile Times had ob-
jected, he stated, that no comment had been made on the first item,
which related to disbursements and loans to mendicants ; but that
to the several others, the paper to which he alluded had referred In
the most severe and unwarrantable terms. The Gentleman then
explained the manner in which the expenses had been Incurred.
Of the second item, 4031. Ills. M. had been paid to constables, at
the rate of 275. a week to each ; 441. 3., M. in fees to the different
police of ; and 131. for expenses Incurred at the Sessions—
making a total of 4till. Is 10d. The sum of 411. 7s. I Id.' ad-
vanced to beggars by order of parishes in the country, had been
repaid. Of the sum of 4731. I Is. 7d., 1381. was paid to the acting
clerk, who had the charge of the boos, and whose office It was to
make all payments of the Society.; BM. to the registering clerk ;
1001. to the clerk, whose business it was to make inquiries relative
to the applicants for relief; 801. to the clerk of the parish
for his assistance ; and 331. 11s. 7d. to the superintendent of ,
the Society's lodging-house. Of the sum of 21$!. Is. for
salaries to the " begging letter department" 1001. was paid to a
clerk, and the remainder of the sum to eight other individuals,
who were employed in this department. Mr. Brock entreated the
meeting to recollect that the clerks were engaged every day, from
an early to a late hour, and of course had no other employment.
To the sixth item in the society's acceuut, the managers wished to
call the particular attention el the nsesting, because it was the item
to which the greatest orb' eetfen hod bees rids by the Times news.
paper. Before he passed to this hem be remarked, that the charge
preferred by the Tuner was one of gee cal misapplication of the
society's funds; and that the Timer hod challenged any person to
point out a single error in the statement it had set forth. The
gentleman then pointed out some arithmetical errors in the pars-
g aph to which he alluded ; among while; to one which asserted
that 827 persons had been sued vagrants by the society, when the
number should have been /27, making a difference of 800. He
remarked particularly on the dislmrommesoess of the Times, in
not having accompanied their remarks with the observations of the
Smisity, on the necessity of expending the sum they had laid out;
be read the to which he referred from the reports of the
Society. e gentleman then referred to the sixth item in the se.
count of 'expenditure*, and stated, that originally the managers of
the Society were in the habit of sitting in the office, hut this was
found very inconvenient to many. .Afterwards they took it by
tarns; soon after they decided that a proper officer should be
VOto preside with the officiating manager. They decided
L a year should be his salary; and their only difficulty
was to procure •gentleman who woe competent to undertake the
office. They flied on Mr. Bodkin, whose long acquaintance
with the state of the poor and the laws for their relief, eminently
fitted him for the situation. Mr. Bodkin accepted it, having first
requested that the remuneration should not be settled until the year
had ended, and it could be seen whether or not he had discharged
its duties. Ilia place was no sinecure—from an early to a late hour
he was actively engaged, was never absent from his duty, except
when detained by sickness, and his conduct on every occasion was
the most satisfactory. The minute of the board, by which they
granted to him the annual sum of 3001. declared that the Society
had received the most powerful assistance from Mr. Bodkin, sad
that eevveerryy thinge had been done by him in a manner the most
a votes for the grant were nearly all those who
cassopmed the Bawd of Management; and yet the writer in the
Than triumbeady asked who they were, and why they did not
us foram'la propriis pentads? When a gentleman was &Rey-
naldo elected to the office which Mr. Bodkin bad filled pro temper,
Hu Bhikin cautioned his services to the Society gratuitously.
llr.lkeekesncluded by stating what the Society had done for the
rabbi geed. and how considerably Mr. Bodkin's assistance had
peeenMeil their views.
laN Stri'veliLD felt that Ms observations would expose him to
the beenility of a great power, which, thank God, the feelings of no
Man lr obi essatry would allow him to despise. For reasons of
eridelameetdi not be aware, the public paper to which he alluded
bed glees protection to the calumnies against the Society. The
Noble Lard had that day visited the meeting for the purpose of
hie opinion according to the statements laid before them;
haLinlssegivigisly messed of the conduct of the board of managers,
andaertandarly mdm instance of employing an acting manager,
w W
gives m much offence to some nameless individual.
Ths eneshamm &ass to till the office the Noble Lord knew to
be refs* goal lled for it, and justly e 'titled to the remunera-
tion which bad been given him. If a peace had afterwards taken
the situation at a reduced salary, it slum d be recollected that all
bad been previously arranged, and the d ity rendered more easy by
M labour of his predecessor. The N.hle Lord concluded by
wsewing that the meet be received, en l that the opinion of the
vasseing is, that the charge against the alendicity Society had un-
11711the most complete refutation.
.Wetstoi HOITOX, Req., M.P., observed, that he did
am think the Society had been bound to attend in any way to the
else& of an anonymous writer ; but as their dependence was on the
public, and the public only, it was necessary that they should he
ahem suspicion, and to study the effect rather than the cause. Ile
sbessld anticipate that the decision of the meeting would be, that
the individual alluded to had completely failed in establishing
what be asserted. He (the Hon. Gentleman) could not tell the
motives which had produced the statement ; it might have arisen
from private pique ; but at all events it must merit the charge of
flippancy and ignorance, because the writer was totally uninformed
on the subject. The Hon. Gentleman concluded by seconding the
motion which had been proposed by his Noble Friend.
A Gentleman, whale name we could not learn, congratulated the
Meeting on the abundant refutation that had been given to the
slander contained in the columns of the Timer. It was, in fact, his
opinion, that instead of the Honorary Secretary having been over-
paid for his exertions while holding the temporary appointment of
acting manager, he had not been sufficiently rewarded, nor did he
consider it necessary that be should hare resigned his office of llo-
notary Secretary while in possession of the other, as it should be
remembered that his situation was not permanent, but temporary.
Indeed, he thought that a vote of thanks ought to be given to the
writer of that scurrilous article in the Finder, as without it there
could not have been such an ample, such a satisfactory explanation.
Mr. BURGOYNE wished to say a few words with regard to the
appointment that had excited SO much discussion. Ile was the
more anxious to do this, as he was among the first who had pro-
posed this expedient, from the conviction that experience had given
him of its necessity for the completion of the objects of this Society.
He would ask, alter the resolution of such an appointment taking
place, by way of experiment, where could theCommetee of Manage.
went find a titter peson among its members than Mr. Bodkin, he
having been connected with the Society from its lint establishment,
and, moreover, thoroughly acquainted with the operation of the
poor laws. It was necessary that the experiment should have been
paid for: and he defied any body to say, considering the duties to
be perfornied by this officer, that 3001., the sum agreed on, was
too much ; but he sincerely believed, that but fur this allowance,
the appointment never would have been alluded to by the Times.
The writer of the paragraph was also much mistaken as to the ob.
jects of the Society, as he seemed to argue that it liad been created
with a view of increasing paupers rather than diminishing them.
Mr. Sinn° NUS, a subscriber, entered into a desultory history
as to the annoyance he had received from beggars on his way to
church on Sundays • but the cries of "Question I" became so loud,
that he was compelled to sit down.
The CHAIRMAN then put the question, which was carried WM.
nimously, amidst loud cheers.
The CHAIRMAN stated that he could not repress the feelings of
satisfaction he experienced from the manner in which the motion
had been carried, as it conveyed an ample refutation of the calumny
that had been put forth against the conduct of the Society. li'hy
did uot the writer come forward to make good his charges ? The
doors were open to him, and he would have been listened to with
impartiality ; but his absence was an abundant answer to these
questions, lie knew that he hail no gin... d for them. He trusted
that this would operate as a caution to those who wielded that
mighty engine, the public presa, not to suffer their columns to be
open to the anonymous imputations of irritated calumniators.
111 r. FREESE wished that the report abould be printed, for the
benefit of those subscribers who had not heard it read. This, for
some reason that was inaudible to us, was objected to.
Mr. WILLIAms, the treasurer, moved a vote of thanks to the
Chairman, which was seconded, end carried unanimously.
The CHAIRMAN returned thanks.

A vote of thanks ;;;ilrebivet! to the Committee of Manage-
ment, which was carried unanimously.
Mr. IVILLIAMS returned thanks, and stated, that he had the
authority of Sir Richard Birnie for saying, that this was one of the
most useful institutions in aid of the Police that could be deivsed,
and that it tempered the extremes of rigour and mercy, on the one
hand, by punishing impostors, on the other, by extending the hand
of charity to those unhappy persons who required protection.
A Gentlenum stated, that he was authorised by two Noble Lords
and an honourable Baronet (Lords 'Alford and Calthorpe and Sir
Thomas Acland), who had heard the report read, but could not
wait the termination of the proceedings, to express their perfect ap-
probation of all that was contained in the report, and one of the
Noble Lords, Lord l,ilford, from a thorough conviction of the uti-
lity of the establishment, had left a donation of 201.; an example
which he hoped to see followed by the company present.
The meeting this' dispersed.