The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-10 00:00:00

MEEtING OF " SWELL. irIOBSMEIV."

A. meeting was held on Monday evening last, at the
White Lion Tavern, Fashion-street, Brick lane, Spital-
fields, where there was an attendance of about 100 per-
sons, principally belonging_ to Ole class known as " Swell
Mobarnen.' •
The meeting was.convenecLier, the purpose oftaking
the opinion of such Characters with respect to the work-
ing of an institution, which is intended to lend a helping
hatid to those off,' fifers who way be disposed to "square
account," with society, and to lead an bonett life;
The room in which the meeting wls held was well
lighted and comfortable. A free and easy manner pre-
vailed, but everything was carried on decently, the cries
of " order " and "chair" being, immediately, followed by
attentive silence.-
A stranger would! havnbad no suspicion that the men
there assembled- ware at war'with society.; They one
and ail appeared well fed, well clad, and at ease with
themselves. In the course of the eveniag several showily-
-dressed Youths, 'wlid were evidently the "aristocracy "
of the class, walked into the room. These were mostly
babited as clerks Or young men in offices, some wearing
gold guard chaincothers with pistol keys dangling from
their waistcoat pockets, 'and having oiamon, pins in
their cravats. They were, however, all " mobswen,"
as they are called—men who in some instances, we are
assured, are gaining their 101. or even 201. a week, by
light-fiagered operations. Indeed several present were
pointed out as " sawyers;" ".moving in the best
society, and, doing a heavy business." Besides these there
werea notorious' " cracksiiien" (housebreakers),
,and
one or two " fence'° (receivers of
_stolen goods),, who
were said to be worth their weight in gold. •
Oa the entry of one who was unknown to the rest, a
cry was raised of " Only kenones' there!" "No square
men in the.roolu!" which being interpreted meant only
"nobs," or first-clav thieves—none who are following as
honest course of life are t. be 'present ; whereupon it was
reitre,ented to the stranger that the meeting was a pri-
vate one.

Mr. H.
,11a-rilfw, who bad convened the meeting,
opened theleusitiesS of the evening by saYiagthat he 'was
about to found a society for the purpose of assisting those
-
who' really ;triclsincierely meant to help themselves. He was
awaree..hat many of the men there wished to give up their
present courses, and that they would rejoice to see a way of
eOcap:iefrom the cireuinstances in which they were in•
volved. No doubt some of them liked their mode of life,
and took a pleasure in it; but others had been driven to it
by force of circumetances; by had treatment. at home, by
early neglect, and ;other degrading influences. ,He had
represented' the case of such.. peteonsito benevolent.
people, and; had fowl many gentlethen ready to.proffer
their assistance towards bettering the -condition of the
well disposed among them—indeed he had already been
promised funds to a large amount immediately the offs'
cers of the society were appointed. It remained with
themselves to close with such offers, and honestly, strive
to redeern, their-characters, and be upright in ail their
elealings,as Englishmen and good citizen, ought,to be
(Cheers.) Triese woes felt inclined to choose the betty
way would be treated, inot as a ilo aannals' requiriegea
cage, nor yet chiloro, to be kept in -learfing•sti lugs,
but as full-grown, thinking men, -who might be trusted
(for he knew there wereAnany, of them:not Ansensible to
a treling ;offbuitotir), and. who -were capable !of apieri•
elating sympathy and confidence., (Applause) They
must, however,- steadily bear in mind that 'it any
trickery oreleceptioli were practised by them towards
soon a society, it must s inn come to an end, so that et
behoved them each to act as a moniter to the other, 'kcal
prevent aay impositiou upoo tee
,funds of au instetuti n
that miry one of them should regard as-his .owns Mr.
Mayhew then recetieted are instance in which he had
trusted a notorious teief at a public meeting with a wive,:
reign, requesting him t get it changed, but intimating
that no prosecution ;would folloN if tie absconded with
tee money. Tee man had brought back the silver, and
proved.thatean appeal to his hetter nature had not been
made in vain. He keew, -fie added, that manylof the.
men pie-en t-were tracked by the *police uht.ii they were
utterly weary of their lives. He Wiened to bold out to
such persone-a hand Of encouragement; to stand between
the two great diyisiotis of eoeiety—the comfortable and
the wretched, the rich and the poor—and, if puisible, to
extricate some of thelatter from their misery. He bad
occasionallyffound bigh(virtues in what were called the
"darigeruus classe3;" and he never lost faith in any man.
in whom he could •discern the germ of right foriliog4
He hoped to be able to found a home and an industrial
asylum, as well as an emigration society, for such .4,
were tired 'of evirCoagets, and who siiMerely wiehed.to
retrieve. the character they had lost in the world, and he
would be ha'py to 'bard how far the men present were
diep sod to embrace a propesal of such a nature.
After some little delay, a decen.ly-dre sed young man
stepped for Ward, and said that he wished to state a few
things ab mt the kenobe" life of-which he, fur his part,
had seen quite e rough. r They all knew that their way
of living was unsatisfactory ; they might get 191. in, a
day, and thin go a fortnight without gaiuing a.penny ;
or they might have six:months of it in prison, which was
rather " a cooler." He fur one wanted to be:rescued
from such a life. He confessed he was a thief,' but he
had seen no end of trouble, and be earnestly desired to
reform. If he, could Only get an hone .t living, he would
not be as he was then,. (" Hear,"- and cheers.).
The next speaker wee n returned convice Who had
come back last Septomber, and found work. sorrietihnee,
brit failing that, said he was obliged to make: up by
plunder. For three months he had been ernpved ;n
the docks, but since that time work had been scarce, arid
when be was short of provisions he was driven to steal,
for starve Ise ewould not. But if he could 'obtain oteu-
pation he would readily give up his old habits. . • ;
The thirdeipeaker hed 'been transported in 1839, and
had been five years in this country since his return. He
worked for a time at his trade;-but when work was
scarce he took to thieving, aed got again into trouble.
It was only two months since he waelasti in Olson. Hie
was a tailor by trade, and if security ter 51. could be ob-
tained be could get employment.
A gehtleman-present promised thereciiiired guarafntee
—an arinottucement wae fallowed by three rounds
of applause.
A very earnest and apparently well-disposed man re at
addressed the meeting. He as well known to them all,
and had often been in trouble. (Hear.) He ha i often
tried to alter his condition, and failed to do so. He was
a good tradesiner, and if he could procure assistance he
would go tow ork, and he knew that many of thew felt the
same. (Cheers.) HiS wages ought to be ss. a day,
but he would. willingly work for 3-, only he had no one
to recommend him. It hunger,and want oppressed him,
he was driven to plundir ; but what uvula he du ? He
was nut to starve to the streets. Still, he would rather
work for is. than seal for a pound. He had often
walked about in hunger, cold, and destitution rather
than do that which was wrong. He wi-bed to go to
work to-morrow morning if he could get it. He vt hhed
the public to know that the men there really wanted to
work. In his opinion prisons, bulks, and convict gaols
were not places of reformation, but demuralieation.
The next speaker had a tale of grievanue to record
against the police. Ile had come out of prison pine
months ego, arid found occupation as a militia taiair, for
the articlss oir.Wlriele.. lie worked Were. not, saleable, oir
else the authorities would nut have treated him
them. Otie dIY 1 Woe coming home with two coat
tied up in a' bundle. A policeman,. aiefin had know
him before, met him, lind roughly accosted him wit
" What have you gut there ?" He was obliged to gc!,
with-theapolicepan to.
denounced
pnblic-'mush .an.andtile
contents 'of his bundle He deouneed such conduct
as tyrannical. He believed that,nineteeri'but of twenty
among those present wished to get an honest living, bia id
London it was impossible. The policerned would
them, and reproach theni with 'bOtig coeeicied thitees.
Nay, they void insult their *Wives', *lie's-ever .virtuous
these wives might be. " kenobo!' life might be a
merry one while it -lasted; but when they got into 'the
" Steel" (Ooldbath,fiehiS Prieorisn. it !was a- vcry'diffeient
matter, and the horrors of tratepertation-• were truly
awful. Tho...e ;,who felt: this were to be -relied upin.
"Try us, gentlemen," he addede "and we Will not de-
ceive you. '
Tee statement .of the last • SpeAket .sc mcerning the
po'ice was corroborated by another, 'olio ob•eived that
" he had beenn-a thief,- but wis now' a custerinonger,
and worked hard, having fu keep a wife and family.
He was going Nome with some groceries fur his family,
when a policeman came up, to him and .used biro in
a brutal manner. He wrote to Worship-dtreet, and
then to Scotland-yard, to complain, whereupon an 'in-
spector came down araLsad, " So you have 'been com-
plaining, have you? We know what you are."
He answered, "I am a man." " Yee, but what have
you been ?" said the inspector. "That is nothing to the
purpose," was the reply. " Oh, es it, ii'; ate' you lead
better say ate more about, this matter, or.you may -be
knocked out of what 3/enters:sand be as you were before."
No more passed at the time ; but, continued the-speaker,
"the policeman who-had: originally -strucksme.catbe and
asked pardon for the assault, begging me not td prose•
cute the inquiry." , •
The next persi4n who &deb.-eased the meeting was de-
scribed as an ." old fake." He had' been, lie, said, " a
thief from his earliest childhei?d, or, as lie expressed At
"from a pinafore," through the mistaken kindness of a
fond mother, whet gave him' halfpennies and encouraed
him to spend money. iI i began by robbing his grand-
father, and " thievecLinstba.l of 60'304 His mother,
finding that school: was neglected here him triee'ilrk early,
but be pia) ed truaritefronahis master, antihodkli fits to It
noose 181. evereta9attirdltY night, yet'thillir4i;r
part if
his time was epent -in rtrahng.. If he saw anything
that wanted ruevieg,-he moved it. 'After various cum-
rnittals and sunciry.cseapes he ..as sent to the ",Start''
(Newgate), and transported for seven Yeer'se The speaker
then gave a graphic description-of 'his- Work in ".irons"
at Port-mouth, and hie etitimat tra;reiportation to Ber-
muda, where the governor, taking compassidn, on so
young an offender, sent linnice the carpenter's slhop, and
kept him working at 44ha,ttraln fir five years. He learnt
his trade there. Oe his eoure-te this country h; worked,.
for a time, but.ifterwantti;re,umed his old h Sttit,
he found tbis way of difie too hard, and f, r the ;lafrt
years he had been honest. • Ne'ee,tlo4!...'stae difficulties
were considerable, for tlrp lice had :ctoggpd lie path
and even turned him out of several et e
eatienby ieforite
„..
LI? his inastLs''that be was au old 0i4t.414.4tr.' : 1:7;
In proof ct,the above statement, keealieel opon a shop.
mate who was in the.roo4 o,cotrie ferwardseetd testily
to the fact. The shopmate said in cerroleiratiere ri
all true. This man worked witlesinelsi';ereSienthe"eg?,. an l
,
got turned off by a policeman telling 4:.ne•empljtytcr tha
he was a convicted thief.:',. •• • -••

At this period of the proceedings. Mi 4. l'vl.4fikt‘v- mere
fully explained the character of Vie_pr,.ip. .bec.l institution.
It was intendtd to et.tablilhlielti a indging.:cropei heisai.fi
to receive the men immediately on
th!vi.-.4eaving prison.
If they had any. 9.1"11P./ vv:iiich PbeNhatilirtarneti :during
their incarceration, they 'thigot fieposit flt in, tire sii:vin(is
bank of the inotiiiition until; an opportuatroccuired i'oi.
advantageously using the amount:'":A:' register 'would be
kept of euoiluyerwilling.to!give. work tr ist4 Werel
. assurance
disposed to refotm, and ghee`{assurance 0 per
~,• iiff•.. ct Co . I