The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-19 00:00:00

vember, 1855, when you were quarrelling with
John Sadleir ?—I supposed.
"Did mortal know that you altered that deed
except John Sadleir ?—James must have known it.
I will not swear that he was present at the altera-
tion ; he accepted it. I will not swear that there
was any man present except John Swileir.
" Mr. Norris was then examined and cross-
examined at considerable length, after which the
case for the bank closed.
" Mr. Sullivan stated that there never was a
second deed. He wished to ask the-official manager
a question.
"Mr. M'Dowell, in reply to Mr. Sullivan, de-
posed that there had never been but one bank deed
in his possession, and that was the deed referred to
by Mr. Hickey as the one in which the alteration
was made ; and he never heard of any subsequent
deed, but there was a deed executed before it.
"The further hearing of the case was adjourned
to this (Wednesday) morning."

SOCIETY,"" MISSION," AND "ASYLUM
LIFE."

A writer in a contemporary says :—I doubt
whether anyone living besides myself has given
the time I have to the study of that species of
literature, the subject-matter of which is the Re-
ports of Religious and Philanthropic Societies--
dry reading, but very instructive.
I speak within bounds when I say that the
working capital of these societies and institutions,
having their head quarters in London, and other
large towns, is not less, year by year, than two
millions of money. A very large portion of this
capital is annually obtained by " voluntary sub-
scriptions." There is also a large portion which
has accrued from legacies, and to this there is a
large annual addition.
I cannot trace the existence of any one institu-
tion or society, which according to the opinions of
the founders and supporters has not a truly good
object. Too much cannot be said in praise of
English liberality as shown in these reports ; there
is scarcely one spiritual or temporal evil towards
the eradication or alleviation of which there is not
some effort being made by this species of moral ma-
chinery. We are a busy mercantile people very ad-
hesive to shop business, but not careless to forget
the claims of Christianity and humanity. Very
regardful of the health of the " till," we may grudge
the time, or be ill able to spare it, to do our own
alms, but we are ready to take liberally from that
" till" to do good deeds by the agency of others.
The machinery by which the money is raised
admits of a very wide, penetrating, and elastic aps
plication :—Meetings with speeches made by
volunteers who have either rank, or elo-
quence, or notoriety to attract auditors,
aided by trained and salaried advocates ; ser-
mons by preachers whose names or known talent
are likely to fill the church, and procure a good
" collection ;" tavern dinners, got up with great
pains, by persons skilled at the work, long pre-
viously advertised, the list of stewards framed upon
a system, the object being to convey to the public
the idea that a Royal or noble chairman will have
the support of a great number of men of rank,
with others eminent for piety, philanthropy, &c.
In addition to these three methods of " appeal,"
there are many other means and appliances en-
listed for the same end—bazaars, concerts, balls, and
the use of cleverly-written circulars sent by post
to all classes of persons likely to respond; then,
there are prettily-contrived boxes for " collecting"
in private houses; there is the " card" system for
getting in small sums.
A society or institution once started, the yearly
report, of course, is framed, not only to relate its
past work, but to elicit help from fresh sources by
its relation of the " openings" for future increased
usefulness.
It is clear there must be great rivalry in the bone•
volent race ; it has become, therefore, a branch of
social science how best to push an " interest." No
mercantile houses take more pains to solicit orders
than do the " societies.'' They have their highly-
salaried travellers to go through the land to stir up
the minds of the almsgiving classes; organising
secretaries to establish tributary provincial asso-
ciations. There can be no doubt of the fact that
the various " interests " are kept alive by sheer
hard work ; no stone is left unturned beneath which
a halfpenny subscription may appear to wait a
call. Deputations, practised tongues, know the
hits to make ; they do more than justice to their
briefs ; they address themselves to the soverLigus
of country Lady Bountifuls, the half-sovereigns
of the clergy and professionals, tradespeople's
crown-pieces, the sixpences from schools, the copper
of the villager. The result is that parent societies
deal with gigantic incomes ; of course, there is the
expense of collection to be deducted • still the great
fact remains—there is a large annualcapital. John
Bull is a very liberal fellow, but he is somewhat
whimsical. 'Voluntary subscriptions depend upon
sustained interest in the particular society. Dead
men and women not only tell no tales, but legacies
are realised, expressions of goodwill which cannot
be alienated. It is of great importance, therefore,
to get post mortem goodwill to draw from executors.
To this end I find almost every " report" carefully
gives the form of a bequest, that testators may see
clearly how legally to bequeath money to the so-
ciety. I will not trust myself to state the total of
money so left by will during the last 10 years, even
to the some 30 or 40 societies and institutions to
whose reports I have had access. It is a 'very large
I sum—a very large portion of ii, is in the hands of
trustees for purposes fisa which there is in reality
no other security than the existence of a society or
institution which may any day alter all its rules,
change its character, or be dissolved. I regret to
-add my conviction, founded on good grounds, that
the system of touting for legacies is one much abused.
There are members of the legal profession who could
tell strange tales on this head.
Of course, under the high pressure of great rivalry
much that is morally wrong is perpetrated in raising
the money for many societies. The speeches of
the " travellers," the " reports)" the " tracts" are
highly seasoned. " They will have it so," lam
told by a retired proficient. A few days' stney
of what "reports" say that clergy do abroad, the
attendance at a few meetings where the over-
whelming success of the society's agents is
told by some eloquent deputation, puzzles one's
philosophy to account for the fact that the same
means do so little at home. Anecdotes form the
great staple of a good deputation's talk; they are
well tel are what ladies call " pretty ;" sonic of
us grown gray in the world wonder how it is that
for home, domestic ends these lovely traits of piety
and benevolence so seldom appear. Who ever
heard of a little boy selling his dessert to his mother
for 2d. a night during the holidays that he might
put the money into the County Hospital Fund ? I
will, however, at present say no more upon the quality of the reports. Let me :now speak of the
nature of the " management." Of course, this
varies a good deal; in all cases it is a great object
to
parade great names before the eyes of the sub-
scribers. Whether as patrons, presidents, or vice-
presidents, noble names are considered indispen-
sable. These titled and Royal
ssuepappoarsteirfs
tree
Nd.eornye
all type honour to. It would
vitality of the institution dependedh' upon the amount
en
of nobility it can parade.there are certain
snaoemneofpprioofuesssional, some and philanthropic
mercantile
til:; s otmh
ees n o balree,
worked in as committee-raen oratreasurers. There
committee msuipttpeoe,sedoftocoduortshe,e ati k
osalaried
s t °iti'llu teieorns ;
ththereesae are auditors, who are Cuppsosed to audit. The
hon. secretary is often one of the well-k own. ishi-
secretary is a ~l'salarised
lanthropie city men, connected, however) With We t-
end society. The working
many most Carelessly.
official, who really does the work. Some " rules"
of the ma-
chine.is my belief, not lightly taken up, that
are carefully drawn ; very
Now, let us look at the real working
It
on the average the business is really done by a very
limited number of the committee, who sometimes
are wholly under the thumb of the secretary. In
very many cases this officer really has it almost
all his own way. The leviathian societies have
1 great patronage; there are, of course, in their cases
more members of the committee who really work ;
still, so far as the financial system is concerned,
the secretary has often even in these cases held it
all in his own hand. He has the monthly accounts
prepared, gives the data for the yearly reports ;
doing the drudgery, he is allowed great freedom of
action. On his activity depends the keeping up the
list of great names, the putting out of appeals, the
dunning for back payments, the securing all that
is necessary for a " telling " anniversary, be it f!,
" meeting" or a dinner.
" Societies"parade known of business as mCom-
mitteemen; many of th (27. t
PLesame names are soparaded
for very many different societies; they have their
own firm's h'.lsiness to attend to; it is known, too,
that they are for ever here and there at " meetings "
&c. ', it is utterly impossible they can really attend
to the regular business of any one of the societies.
- From some amusing confessions in my possession.
I gather that, in salaried official opinion, it is for-
tunate that these highly puffed gentlemen do not
attesa;,, for they are said " to be sery bad men of
ousiness;" " either crotchetty or so prejudiced that
being
they are always finding fault."
It requires great tact to make a good Secretary;
highly paid, he has every interest to keep the
thing goine• • he
The iro ~. soon finds this to be no easy task.
n of philanthropy may be for once forced to
a white heat, The launching• •
is one thing—to keep
of a new institution
drew its breath is another up the warmth by which it
the hands of scheming Secretaries
thing. Weak Peers in
in anticipation
will work hard to launch the institution which,
born 0 tla cm, ging 01912 A teillPQrArY eclat. When