The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-06 00:00:00

nurses, washerwomen, &c., and generally have given satisfaction;
one of them writes thus to the Inspecting Officer :
" Sir,—According to promise, I now let pal know how I am get-
ting on. 1 never was so happy in all my life. I have indeed a kind
master and mistress; they look to my comfort in every way ; I
might well say it is equal to my own home. I only wish to God
that more of the women were so well provided for as I am, sir. Wlll
you return the association thanks in my name, for their kindness to
me and my child ; also for the 10s. I have received, with which I
have bought some clothes. I hope that I will keep my situation a
long time. The lady seems to like me very well, and she says
that anything in her power she will do to promote my comfort.
With my sincere thanks to yon for your kindness,
" Your obedient servant, .. E. D."
Many ,women, natives of Nova Scotia and Canada, on being pro-
vided a passage by Government to their own country, have been
granted a donation of 3/. each, to provide them with comforts for
themselves and children during the voyage. To 17 women of dif-
ferent regiments, all married with 'leave, has the Association been
thus beneficial.
On the 26th of June information was received from the Ports-
mouth Local Committee, that 34 women and 72 children would be
forwarded to London, on their way to their husbands' parishes, from
Malta, from whence they had been ordered home, their regiments
having gone on to Turkey. The Inspecting Officer of the Association
was immediately ordered to the Waterloo Station, where, having
with difficulty got them all together, he took them to the Pay
Office in Westminster, *where they were to receive passage warrants
for their different destinations. But they were unable to proceed
till the next day ; and thus would have been left utter strangers In
the streets of Westminster, searching in vain for lodgings, which,
with the small Government allowance granted for that purpose, they
were unable to pay for. Respectable lodgings were found for themh
all, and their children ; and the next day they were despat to
their destinations, with a small donation for travelling expenses. It
is needless to add, that all these women were married with leave,
and many of them most respectable wives of non-commissioned
officers.
Upwards of 3,500 women and 7,000 children haveer been kept
whom
from
actual want during the last six months, the great part of
still remain claimants on the Association, especially those who have
become widows and orphans. This has been done by the outlay
during the past six months of 9,1721., chiefly in weekly payments,
both by the Central Committee and the 78 Local Committees.
Besides these 10,500 women and children, fresh applications are
made almost daily to the office
i thus showing that e number f
women and children left behind s much greater than the public
were led to suppose by the Parliamentary Return called for in both
Houses of Parliament. This, however, is accounted for by showing
the inaccuracy of the Parliamentary Return, as follows :-
63d Regiment. 63d Regiment.
Parliamentary Return. Association Return.
No. of Women and Children, No. of Women and Children,
170. 245.
The Association return was received during the same month that
the Parliamentary Return was given ; and as it contained the name
of every woman, and the number and ages of every child, and was
signed by the Colonel commanding the regiment, it may very fairly
be considered to have been the most accurate one. If there be such
a discrepancy in the returna of one regiment, what must there be
in 40 ? • -

MARRIAGE WITHOUT LE ATE.
It is a curious fact that has been brought to light by the practical
experience of this Association, that, without exception, those sol-
diers who have married with leave, or whose wives were admitted
into barracks, and recognised by the regiment, have left the largest
families, and, in consequence, are by far the most deserving of corn-
miseration. To these persons the Association has been of the
greatest benefit ; while, at the same time, amongst those women
married without leave, much misery has been found to exist, which
the Association has not refrained from alleviating.
The Committee, however, regret to find, that notwithstanding all
the positive and practical good that has been effected by the Associa-
tion, there still remain in the minds of some military men strong ob-
jections to its operations; it is still urged that undue encouragement
is :given to marriage without leave, and that large numbers have
thus married since the institution of the AssociAloa. If the opera-
tion of the Association had afforded such eneouragement, surely evi-
dence of it would have appeared from a number of applications for
relief on the part of woolen who had married in anticipation of it.
Only one application has been made at this office by the wife of a
soldier whose marriage certificate was dated in 1854, se that the ob-
jection would appear to be entirely groundless ; and it might be con-
sidered almost needless to say more in answer to it. But the Com-
mittee have it to show, that while they have only contemp,ated
those cases as entitled to relief which they found already sanctioned
by Government, or acknowledged by commanding officers, they have
made a rule (No. 3), and have taken all the means in their power to
give it publicity, which puts it out of their power to relieve
any who may have married calculating on assistance from
them ; thus taking into consideration and providing against a con-
tingency which might have arisen, but which has not occurred.
The following are the rules with reference to this subject:-
1. No sold.er's wife is entitled to relief whose name is not entered
in the regimental return, which, though it contains the names of all
women whether married with or without leave, is yet signed by the
Colonel commanding the regiment, and thus they are partially ac-
knowledged.
2. The Government mates no difference between these women,
and the passages of all are equally defrayed to the parishes of their
husbands.
3. The rule for the relief of soldiers' wives married without leave
is only retrospective : for no soldier who has married without leave
since July, 1854, will be entitled to relief for his wife.
On the 4th July, 1854, at the largest Meeting ever held by the
General Committee, General the Earl of Beauchamp in the chair,
it was unanimously resolved—
" That from and after the date of this resolution, the 4th July,
1854, no wife or widow be entitled to a donation or pension who
shall have marriel a soldier without leave, whether they belong to
regiments on active aervice or to regiments now under orders of
readiness for active service, provided that such orders of readiness
were received subsequently to the formation of this Association, on
the 7th March, 1854.
As the Government, the officers commanding regiments,t and the
Association have found it absolutely necessary to countenance, to a
certain extent, marriage without leave, and as it appears from the
returns of the married men of the 30 regiments of the line, and the
10 regiments of Cavalry, that a large proportion of them in each
regiment are married without leave, it becomes a serious question
how far the treatment hitherto carried out towards wives of soldiers
has been successful in the prevention of matrimony. It is evident
that, in spite of all the certain misery entailed upon them, soldiers
wilt marry, and can find respectable women to marry them; it is
also evident from the universal sympathy shown to their wives and
families on the present occasion, that the country would gladly be •
friend them effectually ; the Committee would therefore direct par-
ticular attention to the concluding remarks at the end of this report,
in hopes that some practical measu e may be decided upon as
speedily as possible to prevent the recurrence of so much unmerited
misery and destitution.

COLLECTIONS on the DAY of HUMILIATION.
Thousan4 upon thousands of Her Majesty's loyal subjects joy-
fully followed her most gracious example on this day, and poured
in of their abundance for the support of an Association which their
beloved Queen and his Royal Highness Prince Albert had honoured
with their joint patronage from its first commencement.
Had it not been for the noble contributions made on the Day 01
Humiliation, this Association would have been totally unable to
grapple effectually with the dire distress and destitution brought to
light by its operations.
All the great religious communities in the kingdom, except the
Roman Catholic, unanimously joined ontliat day to help the soldier's
wife and child.
To the Church of England especially this Association is indebted
for considerably more than two-thirds of the total amount collected.
The Wesleyan body also contributed largely and generously; the
Jews, too, joined munificently in this national effort by having col-
lections in their synagogues. The Committee remark with much
pleasure that these astonishing collections were quite voluntary. No
Queen's Letter was issued, and never was any public subscription so
heartily assisted by the poor man's penny. In numberless congre-
gational collections more than one pound's worth of halfpence was
given. Even the prisoners in a large Government prison put their
names down for a subscription of more than 201. The total amount
collected on that day would have been even greater had not many
of the collections been made for the sailor's as well as the soldier's
wife. Of these collections the Committee had the pleasure of paying
over one-third to the Association for the widows of sailors and
marines.
The Committee would point out most emphatically that, notwith-
standing the remarkable exception in the Fast-day Collections, no
religins distinction whatever is made in the distribution of this
noble charity, recipients are not even asked to what religion they
belong.

OTHER COLLECTIONS.
At the heal of these stands the county of York. The Yorkshire
Association (with his Grace the Archbishop and all the nobility aid
gentry of the county as patrons and liberal subscribers) has remitted
to the Central Association the large sum of 5,000/. The pre
soldiess has
very cons derately and effectually aided the cause of the r's
family, hut uo paper, either of daily or weekly circulation, ha the
practically assisted these poor people as the London Journal."
editor of that paper, by the weekly issue of 12 supplements, at one
halfpenny each, has realised the surprising suns of 1,4211., which
has been paid In weekly instalments of 1201. Nothing proves so
unanswerably as this does the sympathy of the poor, as the purchase
of the supplement was not compulsory on the subscribers to the

paper.
Subscriptions have been received from all parts of the world ;
from Panama, Bahia, Bombay, Quebec, Nova Scotia, St. John's,
New Brunswick, Brussels, Pau, Lausanne, Bonn, Paris, Calais,
Calcutta, Ceylon, Montreal, Boulogne, the Black Sea Fleet, Ber-
muda, Fredericton, New Brunswick, &c.
The generous sympathy of the Navy for the wives of the Anny
has been very gratifying ; indeed the first person who by an able
letter in "The Times" roused the public to a sense of their neglect
of the soldier's wife, was " A Naval Officer."
But of all the subscriptions, perhaps the most touching was that of
the Chelsea Pensioners. One old veteran, in paying his penny, was
heard to remark, " Had there been such an association in my day
when I was away at the wars, my poor old woman would not have
died in the workhouse." Several bodies of men of the working
classes have agreod to send in weekly penny contributions ; the men
of Price's Patent Candle Factory, and the men of the Crewe Loco-
motive Department, have already paid in considerable sums
collected in this way.
From several large towns considerable amounts have been re-
mitted, from Wallsall, Cheltenham, &c.; but the town of Bath has
exceeded them all by several hundred pounds.
The RAILWAY COMPANIES—L YING-IN-HOSPITALS.
So universal has been the sympathy displayed towards the poor
people whom this association has taken by the hand, that all the
Peatlines of railway have been made free s child.
articularly the London and North Western,to andthe thesoldier' Portsmouth
Line, where not oniy have the children been carried free of expense,
but the extra weight of baggage of their poor mothers has not
the
been
charged for, an example which the Committee earnestly trust all
Railway Companies will universally follow.
Two lying-inhospitals in London—the British Hospital, in En.
dell-street, and the Queen Charlotte's—most generously opened their
doors to the_ soldier's wife. Many a poor woman has had deep cause
for thankfulness for the care taken of her at the British Lying-in-
Hospital in Endell-street,
Music, poetry, and the fine arts have all been enlisted in this good
cause. Oe simple poem by a child reed narly 201. for th ao-
ciation ; and the admirable skttch by al
Geisorgee Thomas, Esq.,e of the
soldier's " Separation from his Emily," presented by that gentle-
man to the Committee of the Bath Fancy Fair, has done good ser-
vice to the cause—representing so truthfully as it does the
the distress which this association is so effectually mitigating.reality of
LOCAL COMMITTEES.
The assistance and practical working of the 78 local committees
all over the kingdom has been most invaluable. To the clergy of
chap Church of England, the staff-officers of pensioners, tie garrison
chains, the local magistrates, and other benevolent persons, the
committee desire most cordially to tender their hearty thanks. Had
it not been for the indefatigable exertions of the Senior Garrison
Chaplain of Dublin, the Rev. Charles Hort, upwards of 400 women
and 800 children would now have been the inmates of the workhouse,
for in Ireland no out-door relief is panted. The staff-sergeants in the
several districts have proved themselves worthy of the profession to
which they are an honour ; one fine fellow, on being offered remune-
ration for the great trouble he had taken in relieving the poor sol-
diers' wives inters district, exclaimed,forbid that I should take
any payment fo helping my comrades' wives and families in their
distress. A perfectly organised sy stem is now established by means
of the Local Committees throughout the kingdom, quarterly state-
ments are regularly transmitted, showing the number of women and
children, and the expenditure; and regiments that began regiment-
ally to distribute their own funds have cordially handed over th
balance of their funds to the Association, being satisfied with its work-
ing, and perfectly content to abide by its rules and regulations.
It is necessary to state, however, that the Association has not
been permitted to relieve any of the widows and orphans of the Foot
Grds, the officers commanding those regiments having funds of
their own for the relief of the wives and families of their men, and
not wishing to burden the Association.
Extract from the Report of the Limerick
merick, Local Committee :
Li Aug. , 1854.
"We have 17 women married with leave on our list. It appears
that the women married with leave have the heavier families.
"It is incontestible that the major part of the women relieved by
this Committee would, ere this, have been in the workhouse if they
had not been aided.
" We can safely declare our conscientious belief that the women
on our list, 83 in number, have shown themselves deserving of the
relief administered to them. We ha
ve universally manifested a de-
plaint against one of them. They ha
sire to obtain work. Several of them have obtainer situations as wet
nurses, a great fact in proof of the decent, healthy, and well-con-
ditioned state of these individuals. Many are working at the shirt
business for a mere trifle, to earn which they must labour all day I
and several are learning the trade of shirttaaking without wages, in
hopes of being able to assist themselves. Upon a fair review of their
conduct and their general appearance, we can safely say that the
women relieved by our Committee are creditable to the army. Even
with the relief they receive, their position is far too trying a one to
be anything but a warning, instead of an attraction, to other females
to enter into the same state ; and we advisedly give it as our opinion
mischief
the operations of this Committee are not calculated to create the
misachief which some imagine is likely to result from the charity and

fi One commandin; officer who could not find amongst his soldiers'
wives married with leave a sufficient number willing to embark
with their husbands and leave their families behind, were permitted
by authority to complete the number by selection from the oakum
rforaeu marrloct ivithout Wing out of barracks.