The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-29 00:00:00

form of the declaration contained in the :Id George the
4th, and the Ist an. 3 2d of Victoria, as would enable
Jews to hold Corporate cffices.—( Ihar.)

ROYAL ASYLUM, PATRONISED BY TILE QUEEN, FOR

DESTITUTE FEMALES.

The Chairman of the Coal, Corn, and Finance Com-
mittee brought up the following interesting report
on the reference to examine the allegations contained
in the petition of the Committee of the Royal Asylum
for the reception of Destitute Females, praying for
pecuniary assistance :—" We have proceeded in the con-
sideration of the petition and have been attended by
Mrs. Pirie, Mrs. Pearson, Miss Fry, Miss Shepherd,
Mrs. Fry, and Mr. Charles Pearson, a deputation with
Mr. Cooper, the honorary secretary, whom we severally
heard, and it appearing that the Institution was esta-
blished in 1822, for the reception and reformation of
young females who stand exposed to the fearful
consequences of vice and ignorance, and par-
ticularly those who have been convicted at the Central
Criminal Court, and imprisoned for first off,nces,
for those discharged from service for dishonesty, but not
prosecuted, as well as for the ignorant and destitute,
who, although not guilty, arc incapable of obtaining
their livelihood. The only property of the Instituiion
is the asylum at Manor-house, Chelsea, which is held
on lease for twenty-one years, at the low rent of 73/.
per annum, upon which a considerable sum has been
expended in fitting it up for the purposes of the
Institu-
tion. The utmost economy seems to be adopted in the
establishment, and most of the officers perform their
duties gratuitously. The expense of carrying on the
Society in 1839 amounted to 1,590/. 2s. 3d., including
about 500/. expended in repairs of the building, &c.,
and the income arising from gifts, subscription!, and the
sums received for the work done by the inmates
amounted to about 1,323/., the latter item reaching
nearly 300/., leaving a deficit of 2651. 2s. 3d. The
Committee find that the building at Chelsea, which has
been thoroughly repaired and conveniently adapted to
its present uses, is arranged to contein about fifty in-
mates, and might, if the funds would permit, be en-
larged to accommodate double the number ; but a debt
has already been contracted for the necessary repairs.
It also appears that the Committee of the Sheriffs'
fund have entered into an arrangement by which
twenty female prisoners from the Central Criminal
Court are to be constantly maintained and taught in
the asylum, for winch 800/. per annum is to
be paid out of the Sheriffs' fund towards the
expenses of the establishment. Tile Committee
having attentively considered the several circum-
stances connected with the Institution, and the im-
portance of sending timely assistance to a So-
ciety, having for its object such benevolent intenticeis,
are unanimously of opinion that the sumo of 210/. be
granted in aid of its funds."
Mr. BOLT seconded the grant.
Mr. WELLs objected to the grant. He did not
see how the disposal of the money in such a way could
benefit his felloic-citizens ; and he thought the Magda-
len quite sufficient for the purposes described. No
doubt the Society, if they obtained this grant, would
come in regularly for 300 guineas a y ear upon the Cor-
poration.
Mr. LOTT supported the grant, and considered it
highly honourable to the Corporation to originate as it
did an institution of the kind.

Mr. LAWRENCE thought that the Society was a
hobby of the very charitable and excellent ladies who
were labouring to bring it to perfection, and that seve-
ral public institutions had much stronger claims.
Mr. PEWTRESS said that he was no enemy to im-
provements or charitable institutions, but he wished to
call the attention of the Court to the principle upon
which the Royal Asylum was established, and which
was radically bad. It was stated that the house was
open to those who were discharged from prisons, who
arc convicted of crimes. Now he wished to know
whether criminals were to be treated in a way su-
perior to that in which the guiltless were treated ? He
looked upon such an institution as an imputation
upon the law. The law provided for destitute per-
sons such as the report alluded, and the proper
asylums for them were the union-houses. if these
union-houses were to shelter the innocent poor, surely
criminals ought not to be taken from the prisons to a
more comfortable place of refuge. He meant to say that
there was a legal receptacle for all such people, and that
they ought not to be thus made a species of tax upon
the citizens. There was another thing in societies of
this sort to which he objected. These criminals were
kept a limited time in the asylum, and again introduced
to virtuous society. Now, if they happened not to be
reclaimed, they would inevitably corrupt the virtuous
and innocent.
Mr. H. L. JONES said, that Mr. Powtress had used
an odd argument in favour of his position against the
grant, in stating that the union-houses were open to
receive the unfortunate females discharged from prison
after having been confined for criminal offences. So
that he woti!d send these guilty persons straight from
gaol into the union-houses, as if the poor had not
enough to contend with there without being subjected
to contamination from the inmates of a prison.—
(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") It was surely
inure judicious and more humane to separate
objects of the Society's compassion from those who
were compelled from necessity to seek the alternative of
the union-houses ; and if they are to be separated,
where are they to go if not succoured by the henevo-
l'ence of those who thus stood forward to save them from
in-etrievable ruin.—(Cheers.)
Mr. CHRISTIE said that he was in the Committee
whe.7 the grant was proposed, and the question there
was whether the sum recommended should not be 5001.
____(llacr, hear.) For the sake of having unanimity in
the Cou.-t, the smaller sum was agreed to.
Mr.. RILL thought the class of charities to which the
Society' belonged was one which had peculiar claims upon
the heart of the Corporation. The unfortunate females
the Charity contemplated must have a refuge some-
where, and .;f the poor were to be put into workhouses,
in justice let them be kept at a distance from those who
added crime to' poverty.—(Cheers.)
Alderman TOOMAS WOOD never expected that there
would be any hes;tation as to the grant. The institu-
tion s,vas loudly ca:led fur by the state of the gaols and
the state of the public morals, and it was one to the as-
sistanco of which the Sherffs gave all their energies, and
the great object of which was to reclaim effectually. .
The grant of 2101. was then agreed to by a large
maj,arity. .