The Sun.
London, England, 1824-02-09 00:00:00

MENDICITY SOCIETY.

On S&turday a special Meeting of the Sub-
scribers to the Mendicity Society was held at Freemasons'
Hall, for the purpose of receiving a Report from the Board of
Management, in refutation of certain attacks made upon the
Society in The Times JoUrnal. The Chair was taken at
twelve (on the motion of Mr. 'WILLIAMS, M.P.) by the Right
Hon. STURGES BOURNE, supported by Lord Suffield, Lord
Calthorpe, Sir Thomas Acland, Bart., Lord James Stuart,
Lord Lilford, Sir T. Dyke Acland, Sir Richard Birnie, Sir
Hugh Dalrymple, Lord Rocksavage, Dr. Bloomfield, Sir
John Sewell, John Drummond, Esq., Gen. Austin, Gen.
Browne, and several other public characters.
The Chairman opened the business by explaining, that in
consequence of certain imputations which had been cast upon
the Society, the Board of Management thought proper to call
together the Subscribers, to hear a Report which they had
prepared in answer to the charges alluded to.
Mr. IRVING BROCK then read the Report of the Board. It
commenced as follows :

" The IVlanagers of the Society for. the Suppression of Men-
.clieity have judged it advisaiin td convoke this extraordinary
meeting of the subscribers, in consequence of certain articles
which have recently appeared in the Times newspaper. The
tendency of those articles is obviously to lower the Society in
the estimation of the public, and to destroy the good under-
standing hitherto existing between the subscribers in general,
and that portion of them to whom the conduct of the Society's
concerns has been entrusted. The Managers feel all the im-
portance of preserving and cultivating that good understand-
ing. General confidence is essential to the well-being of every
charitable institution ; but this Society, from its peculiar cha-
racter, could, less than any other, survive the loss of public
opinion ; without 'which all its energies must be paralyzed,-
and the most strenuous endeavours of its Directors be rendered
abortive.. Under this conviction the Managers have consi-
dered it their imperative duty promptly to reply to the accusa-
tions of the Times, and they hope that the method they.have
adopted of meeting this question, is one best calculated re-
move any unfavourable impression which those accusations
may have created. It has been selected in preference to any
other mode, not only because it obviates the necessity of de-
scending to controversial discussion in the public prints, and
affords the most complete means for deliberate investigation
and minute scrutiny ; but because it also offers to the subscri-
bers an opportunity, should they be disposed to avail them-
selves of it, immediately to remove the management of tile So-
ciety's office into the hands of other individuals, whom they
may deem more deserving of such a trust. The Managers
will not stop to inquire into the probable motives of the writer
in the Times, nor will they speak of the spirit which pervades
his letter, still less 'will they notice the epithets applied per-
sonally to themselves. Referring these matters to the good
sense and discernment of the public, they proceed to the exa-
mination of the facts which have been alleged, and which the
subscribers are probably aware are grounded upon the state-
ment of recepts and expenditure for the year ending December
1822, annexed to the Fifth Annual Report of the Society% pro-
ceedings. This statement has been reprinted, and the door-
keepers were directed to deliver it to every person entering this
room.
The subscribers are now requested to refer to that ac-
count, while each item is under examination, that the explana-
tion about to be offered may be clearly comprehended. In the
statement of receipts, there appears only one item calling for
remark; namely, the sum of 1211.- 13s. lld. deducted for
poundage from the amount of subscriptions. It will be readily
believed, that the collector to this institution is fully employed
in receiving the subscriptions of 3,000 contributors."
The Report then went on to explain the whole mechanism of
the Society-, and gave the following as the summary of the ac-
counts, inviting attention to the books, with all the necessary
details :

STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE,
FROM THE IST or JANUARY TO THE 31ST OF DECEMBER,
1-82:7,, AGREEABLY TO THE AUDITOR'S REPORT.

1322, Jan.l-70Dec. 31.
To Balance ,
Subscriptions
Less by Poundage

s. a. f. s. a.
- 395 0 1

£2979 3 0
_ 121 13 11

Tickets sold - - -
Loans repaid by Mendicants -
sundries - . - - -
Rewards _ - _
Received from Parishes in the Coun-
try on account of Monies advanc-
ed to Paupers - - _

2857 9 1
10 15 0
99 6 2
2 0 6
69 5 0

23 9 8

Association for Relief and Employ_
merit of the. Manufacturing and
Labouring Poor ..
Proceeds of an Exchequer Bill sold

3062 5 5

Ist Item

£4397 15 9

423 9 5
512 0 10

.4.:. s. 0.
(By Loans to Mendicants 160 8 1
1 Disbursements 61100..1024 7 9
1 Employment of do. 205 16 1
1 EPences -at !1'.•:.
. Lodging Ho,:.:!e
for Fern-Airs ' -

133 16

4:. 5. a.

1!.95 10 5

Expences of Appre-
hensions, Prose-
cutions, & cQmita..
hies Wages ' -
Advanced to Paup-
els by order- of
Parishes in , the
Country -
Salaries, -
473 11 7
Investi-
gating CasDo., Begging
es
- 'Voted to the
D epartment 296 1 0
-
Letterse e r e
...
tary for acting as
Assistant Mana-
ger, from the 25th
of March, 1821,
7th Itemto the 25th No-
vember,-
-
be-
ing at the rate of
3001. per annum .500 0 0
87 10 0
Bth Item Petty Expences - 80 111
9th Item Advertisements - 84 16 0
10th Item Stationery - - 108 16 9
11th Item Printing - • 146 7 0
12th Item Taxes - - 'l7 5 2
13th Item
1 Repairs and
.Furni-
ture. - - 12 14 1
Balance - - 492 12 1
Rent 1822,

2d Item

3d Item

4th Item

461 1 10

41 ; 1 1

sth Item

6th Item

£4397 15 9

" Upon this statement, a charge of general misappropria
tien of the Society's funds.,, has been made ip the Times news
pane:.
-Here the Report points out the numerous errors and mis.
calculations of the articles in question.. The Report then pro.
ceeds.

" It will be seen at a single glance, however, that this charge
is founded upon a total misconception of .the nature, objects,
and principles of the institution ; and were it not that this mis-
copception is so glaringly apparent, the friends of the Society
would indeed have reason to view with serious alarm this grave
accuse,tien,- countenanced as it has been by, the conductors of a
public journal." • .
With respect to the objects of the Society, the Re-pert
says :—" The Society has never assumed the title of Mari-
ac-cordilig to the common acceptati9n .of the term. It
has never been pretended that its funds are subscribed fcr the
purpose of being ` divided amongSt the Beggars,' as the Time:
asserts. Mischievous, indeed, would be its proceedings, if
such were its object. • The sole end of the Society has ever
avowedly been to suppress 211endicity—tolessen, and, if poSible,
to extirpate -a great moral and -political evil—to render begging
dangerous and unprofitable as a trade, and by destroying the
inducements of some,.and removing the necessities of others, to
take away the reproach from our country, that while she was
contributing millions annually, to the relief of her own poor,
and most liberally to the wants of other ,nations, the streets of
the metropolis prisented, at every turn, spectacles of misery and
destitution.
If then, in allusion to the call made in the Times, for the
names of those who appointed Mr. Bodkin, proceeded as fol-
lows

" ,T,he \writer in the Times asks Who are these votets-?' an.. 11

adds, let them come forward in propria persona.' The Board,
therefore enjoins the names of those Managers who were pre,.
sent when, the above Resolutions passed, as they appear upon,
the minutes
Lord 'Viscount Belgrave, W. P. Crauford, Esq., Charles
Francis, Esq., J. F. Gordon,• Esq., Jonathan Harrison, l-. j.,
James Jacks, Ese , S. J. Loyd, Esq., A. Macklew, Esq. M.P.
Basil Montagu, Esq. Matthew Martin, Esq. Capt. Owen, lt.N.
the lion. C. J. Shore, W. C. Thomas, Esq., Irving Brock,
Esq.; L. Williams, Esq., James Alley, Esq., A. Corbett, Esq.
Henry Entwistle, Esq,, A. A. Goldsrnid, Esq., Peter Poland,
Esq., John Griffin, Esq., John T. Hope, Esq., Robert Ingle-
by, Esq., Sir John W. Lubbock, James Millar, Esq., A. G.
Milne, ESq., Henry Pownall, Esq., John S. Taylor, Earl., the
Hon. Cairn: G. G. ViTaldegrave, R.N.
" The Board now determined to, appoint an Assistant-Ma-
nager. In .consequence of the advertisement several candidates
offered themselves,_ and, after much care and deliberation, a
41kt took place, by which Mr. William Walker was elected
Assistant-Manager, in which office he has now 'acted twelve
months, and under this title his name appeirain the last An-
nual Report.
" The Subscribers, bearing in mind that the accusations
agabast the Board are .grounded upon the very same Report,
will be surprised td find that although Mr. Walker's name is
therein printed as Assistant-Manager, it is yet insinuated that
"the office was intended (to use the language of The Titnes) as
a permanent birth for Mr. Bodkin.'
" Since the appointment of Mr. Walker, Mr. Bodkin has
continued gratuitously to perform the duties of Secretary : and
the boainess of the lustitution is conducted, in every department
with ahe precision and harmony which prove as beneficial to the
public as they are satisfactory to the Managers.
" The manner of Mr- Walker's nomination, by means of
public advertisement, of Mr. Walker, who was unknown to
The Board until the advertisement introduced him to their no-
tice, will enable the Subscribers to judgeehow far the transac-
tion justifies the assertion in The Times, that the Managers
combine for the purpose of intrigue, private emolument, or
disguised patronage.'
" Whether Mr. Bodkin, who, ever since the formation of the
Society,- had discharged the duties as Honorary Secretary,
should relinquish them because lie undertook another totally
distinct office for a limited period, is a question which it was
scarcely worth while to raise, and upon which each subscriber
cap/exercise his own opinion, but it does not in any way bear
efiaitthe charge of malversation preferred, against the general
Management of the Society's affairs. Mr. Bodkin was under-
stood to occupy the`office of Assistant Manager temporarily
and experimentally ; and as it had been cenferied on him by
the subscribers at large, he was probably reluctant to lay it
down, end perhaps considered that his retaining the title would
not be objected to him, since he was so soon to resume the si-
tuation in its literary sense.
" The Managers have now applied themselves to every part
of the flagrant deception,' and the shameful disclosure,'
which the TiMes affects to have promulgated. They feel no
uneasiness as to the consequences of censure so wholly ground-
less, so entirely undeserved. The subscribers will, no doubt,
think with them, that imputations which admit of such easy
refutation may be expected to advance rather than impede the
prosperity of the Institution. The explanation those impu-
tations have called forth will, probably, gain an accession of
supporters, now, for the first time, satisfied with the capability
of this Establishment to diminish the sum of human suffering,
and to direct the general flow of benevolence into useful and
proper channels. The undeviating attention of the Managers
en the trust reposed in them for six years, in which period
more than 23,030 Cases have been treated with care and hu-
manity, must render them competent judges of what is the
' true meaning and intention of the Subscribers ;' and, in re-
Ord to the success which has crowned their exertions, the im-
proved state of the public streets affords unequivocal and une
erring evidence
" In their connection with the Mendicity Society, the Ma-
nagers have engaged in endeavours to remove or assuage the
from
distresses of their fellow-creatures' amino prevent the artful
` andparticipating hi funds intended for the
relief
of genuine fraudulent
fr
" They have been acting for an object of great public utility,
in the pursuit of which obtect they could have no feelings to
fe : ae :ghee
of maany be supposed to accompany the con-
"ill
The subscribers impoant duty.
know how to estimate their claims
to general confidence. Their names are before the world."
Lord SuFFIELn rose—His Lordship felt afraid, that, in
ria in ft yi
0u b us td tilts
cohsi
the course which it would be his duty to pursue on the present
Occasion, he should be exposing himself to the hostility of that
gigantic and overwhelming power, which, lie thanked God,
there was no man, however high, in this country, who was in
a condition to despise. He, who was ever a steady friend of
the Liberty of the press, the palladium of national free-
dom, had lately seen, with the deepest regret, that some
part of that press had lent its aid to the circulation of ca-
lumnious writings. He spoke disinterestedly of the affairs
of the Mendicity Scciety, for lie had given it his support
solely from a conscientious belief of its utility.—(Hear,
hear !)—and admiring, he did, the inestimable value of a free
press, he deplored that its battery should, from any quarter,
or for any motive, have been directed against a Society
which he knew, eo he most beneficial. Struck by the animad-
versions which had been levelled at this Intitutions, he attended
the meeting of this day, prepared to listen to whatever attack
could be made upon it, to hear the defence, and to decide
fairly to the best of his judgment in either case. Free discus-
sionwas all he.sought for, without that lie should not have at-
tended the meeting ; he was for nothing which was not to be
done under the public eye.—(Applause.)--It wait his boast to
feel, when speaking. of the public presse that as the Meaneet
might be exalted by its praise, so the highest might be degraded
by its just censure.—(Applause.)—Subject then to this respon.
slbility, he must say, that the report just read contained a
complete refutation of the - anonimous calumnies which had
been. published against the Society.-a.(Applausen—This was
his solemn belief. With respect to the proceedings of the
Society, he had not been. able personally to attend much
to them within the last two years. .But with respect to the
appointment of an Assistant Manager, that was a proceeding
which had his cordial support. This, however, it scented, gave
offence in some quarter, he cared not where, and
broeght forth
en insinuation that the office was .a job. To the teeth of the
person so impugning them he should say there was not a shadow
of foundation for their charge, and that so far from the appoint-
ment being got up in a corner, he would tell their anonymous
opponent, that there was no person in the community more
desirous than the Board of Management were for open
doors, for putting down every species of corruption, and
detecting private or secret arrangements.—(Cry on Hear
Neither were there any men more benevolent towards the
poor, or who were more ready to extend the hand of relief
to the abode of wretchedness.—(Hear, hear I)---The anonymous
writer, of whose conduct he complained, had, by way of depre-
ciating the Mendicity Society, held up that of the Stranger's
Friend, where the visitors served gratuitously. I-le was
ready to praise them far that merit, although he was not al-
ways the supporter of gratuitous services. But it
.should be
recollected that it was to the present Society the metropolis
was indebted for bringing the higher circles, who had less op-
portunities of knowing the haunts of poverty, better ac-
quainted with the means. of practically administering. to the
wants of real sufferers. Recurring to the Report, he repeated
his defence of the appointment of Assistant Manager, the ne-
cessity of which appointment could not be too highly praised.
The name of Mr. Bodkin suggested, itself to him, because Or
his activity and knowledge of the business of the Society, and
it was he (Lord Suffield) who also proposed or concurred in .the
pecuniary remuneration of the officer, because of his utility,
and having heard that he had either given up a profession,
or it hail abandoned him, in consequence of his unceasing at-
tendance to the affairs of the Society.—(Hear !)—As to his re-
taining his title of Hon. Secretary, after he had received remu-
neration for his other services, that was entirely a matter of
taste, upon which he would not give as opinion, nor did he think
it concerned the Society.—(Bear, hear f)—They had now, in Mr.
Walker, an Assistant manager, who was willing totlo th ealuty for .
2001. a year. But he must over aatl over again say, thetthe Report
contained a complete refutation of the charges brought by the
anonymous writer. What were the motives of the writer, it
was impossible for him to say ; hat that he had utterly mistaken
the real object of the institution was palpable. The Society
-originated in a smaller attempt made by Mr. MartM, and had
been.found ettinently useful in the way described in the Re-
port; but it was never intended, in the strict sense, to be a elm-
ritable institution ; on the contrary, its avowed object was, to
clear streets of sturdy paupers, and prevent begging- rom
being made a trade. lie apologised for occupying the time of
the Meeting, and. concluded by moving a Resolution in appro.
batien of the Report, and that the charges against the Society
had undergone the most complete refutation.—(Applause.)
Mr. W i i titoT HOLT oN,, el. V. (Under Secretary of Staten

seconded the Motion: lie said, that although in point of prin,
ciple, it-Was not necessary.for them to answer' the attack of
an anonymous .writer, yet, as a Society emanating from the
,public„ andlependint audit' that public for support; it `was in-
,'cumbent upon them..not only, to shew. that theidunds.were not
Squandered away, but-"also that' they were above susPicion.—
(ApplaOse.),-When the attack was likely to provoiinjurious„
however unjust in its origin and culuninious in its motive, they
wert,'he- thought, bound to Come col-Ward. and defend them-
!)—ln advocating the Society,. he did not, like
his Noble Friend, ,feel that he had any apPrehension from,
or was opposed. to any part of the public press
,;;,,fo,r,lie had too
high an opinion of that press to believe, that when convinced
of its being misled by anonymous At would: per-i
sist in the unhandsome and unjustifiable conduct which had
ltd -to this inquiry.,-( Hear, hear !)---With the motives ofAheir
calumniator, they had nothing to do, his motives might be
malevolent—they might 'be thi offspring rif flippancy and
ignorance. The Public would see from the Report how much
the attack was worth: Indeed he felt satisfied that the publi-
city to which this charge . had given rise, would produce a be•
neficial effect upon their object, 'and- that the' increase of means
which
.would consequently be placed at. their disposal, would
soon render the relative proportion, between their funds
and their expenditure, less a subject of regrec.--(fipplause.)—
The real question is, could the great purpose, .of the So-
ciety be carried on at a less expense - than it was ?--:(Hear 1)—
Could they work with a, cheaper machinery, aid 'hope to
produce the same beneficial results ? In such a Society there
ought to be a unity of action, or else ,they would fail in.
the attainment of their object. The Honourable Gentleman
entirely approved of. the remuneration giien to. Mr. Bodkin,
who had simplified the business of the office for his successor,
and therefore enabled it to be filled with less trouble and to be
performed _on cheaper terms. The whole conduct of the So:
ciety was now before the Meeting—let.' those who dissented
from the Re port, at once manfully come forwarcl and stay so.
If they did not, their silence must be taken as assent within
these, wills, whatever construction might be put upon their
conduct out of doors—(Near, hear!)—He had no doubt that
much practical good would result from this day's proceedings,
and he could not believe that any respectable portion of the
public presS would, after haVing had the oppOrtuniiyef being
satisfied of the untruth of the attacks made through its medium,
persevere in giving publicity to anonyMous calumnies. ( Hear !)
Mr GOLDSMITH, Mr. FREaeD, and Mr. J. SimoNs, also
spoke highly in favour of the Society, and of all its proceedings.
On the question being put upon Lord SUFFIELD'S motion
for the adoption of the Report, it was carried unanimously.
The Cita.rwritx said, that he cottld not suffer the business of
the day to close, without declaring his abborence of this sys-;
tens of annonymous attack upon individual of respectability,
honourably and benevolently engaged in the laudable objects
for which this Society had been established. Why was not the
writer, if he really meant honestly, present -to vindicate or re-
tract his accusation ? the latter he must have done ; for he en-
tirely agreed with the preceeding Speakers,- in thinking that the
thanks
tlckaslu w
Reopnortthweams aotfiourill
oatr.l3dicomplete
irAeitftintation of r
111.I'.,mnteeY; otoed
to the Cm AIRMAN, who acknowledged this marki o 1;. aetrn tn.