The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-17 00:00:00

17, .16 b.

' METB 0 DICA I MEN DIGITY.

Of all unprofitable methods of almsgiving that of
bestowing incliserimina,e charity upon the beggars
in the st,eets of London is perhaps the worit.

Mendicity, unfortunately, 'is a profession or trade,
and a profitable one too. The beggars have their
regular beats. They have special methods •of
working upon the sympathieS and tender feelings
of charitable persons ; they look to the steady
prosecution. of their c4ling for a rubsistenct
which can scarcely be called precarious. The
office of interfering between the oulstt e'ched
hand of charity and the wretched crea-
ture who t, all appearance is sunk in the
lowest depth of human misery is an ungracious one,
but it is one which, fa the sake of_ the deserving
poor should not be neglected. There are, un-
doubtedly, to be met with in the streets of London
objects worthy of all cominiseration, but how are
we to distinguish between re4l and fictitious misery?
Tile Flianoes are as about ninety to one that a. L n-

don beggar is an ritrinPator. There are some per-
sons of excelleet • intention who.would say " For
the sake of that one turn not away from the
ninety." It is added. that we ought het in any
case, save one of notorious and patent imposture,
to harden ouihearps against thespectacle of human
misery, lest in the end we prove too successful, and
become, in fact, indifferent to the sufferings of our
fellow-creatures. Now suggestions of this descrip-
are very captivating at first sight. There are few
persons removed themselves from absolule misety
who would not be disposed to afford a certain mea-
sure of relief to any poor creature who might be
in their way, could they feel the assurance that
by so doing they were not encouraging imposture.
It is not from want of compassion, but flour the
absence of certainty, that men who know this
town well have brought themselves to turn a deaf
ear to the beggar in the public streets. Even men
like Lord Shaftesbury, who have made charity,
as it were, a career, have told the public that if
they would not work more evil than good they
must rush past the street beggars withoUt any
idea of affording them relief. They are for the
most part mere impostors. Just the same' is the
case of the begging letter writers, and of other who
toll Choir piteous stories to the public through the
advertising columns of the daily journals. To
make our meaning clear with reference to this last
class we will take a few headings from the Men-
dicity Society's report, such as are commonly em-
ployed in this form of application To the
charitable, benevolent, or affluent;" "To the
humane and benevolent ;" "To those who can
feel for the sick and hungry ;" " Awful
distress of a clergyman's daughter ;" " Distress
of a widow with a large famdy—unparalleled suf-
ferings—literally starving." Against all such head-
ings, and the applications to which they serve as
introductions, we pray all our benevolent readers
to be continually ou their guard. If they should
be 53 ill-advised as to attend to any of these heart•
rending requests, the probabilities are that they
wiil be merely affording encouracement to some
idle and profligate person to continue a career of
vice and shame.
The question then arises, "What is to be done?"
Is is pretended that misery does not exist in the
back streets and blind alleys of London ? Surely
not ; misery is there to be found in many very
terrible forms, and misery which requires all the
assistance which can be spared by those who have
been blessed with more abundant means. If it is
desired to,deal with it—in the first place, we would
say let every one attend in the first instance to
those cases of distress which fall within his own
immediate knowledge. How few of us are there
who are able to do all we would wish to do in
alleviation of the well-ascertained misery around
us which we know to be real ! In the next place,
there are the metropolitan wagistrates, who are
among the best almoners that wealihy and cha-
ritably-disposed persons can find. Not 5 per
cent. of the contributions to the poor-boxes
of the police-courts is expended upon impos-
tors. There are the great Hospitals—there are
the clergy in the more distressed quarters cf the
town. There can be no difficulty in applying
any spare sovereign to the relief of real distress.
But if any one should desire to be his own almoner
he can become so with safety if he will but call
in to his assistance the organization of the Men-
dicity Society. By the outlay of a very trifling sum
in the form of an annual subscription to this most
useful institution any ore can procure that every
application to him for alms, either in person or by
letter, shall be thoroughly investigated. There
are persons employed by the society well acquaint-
ed with the chronicles as well as with the con-
temporary history of London Rascalism, who
will follow the applicant to his home and test the
value of his assertions. If he conies well out of the
inveAigation steps can be taken for his relief with
confidence—if not, an impostor is unmasked. It is
some time since we have seen any public document
half so interesting as the Fortieth Report of the
Society for .the Suppression of Mendicity, which
has just been published. Well nigh every form of
imposture practised by the London mendicants is
herein discussed, and suitable cautions are given to
unweary Samaritans. For example, the society tell
us that since the commencement of the late war a
system of fraud has been practised by a gang of im-
postors, " who, on hearing of the death of any
officer in the army or navy, find out his relatives,
and make unfounded claims for debts pretended
to have been contracted by him, either for
money lent or goods supplied, and remaining
unpaid." Rather than submit to unp'easant
proceedings, which might iuvelve the good name
of a deceased relative, his family discharge the
claim, and only find out their mistake when it is
too late. Then we are told of Dr. Dewhurst, now
styling himself Brier, who is bringing out a pub-
lication of enormous general interest, but, unfortu-
nately, there is a breakdown about the preliminary
expenses. There is the "American Dodge" too,
which should not be altogether ignored. A pack
of swindlers on the other side of the Atlantic are in
the h :bit of addi essing letters to " dead men" in
this country, dated, let us say, "Gaol Hospital,"
and commencing, "Dear —," or, "Kind and
Honourable Benefactor." It may at first excite
surprise that these fellows should select their corre-
spondents from the churchyard, but their hope is
to extract a remittance from the piety of surviving
relatives, out of respect for the memory of the
deceased.
To described the multifarious forms which Lon-

don mendicity, whether personal or literary, as-
sumes, would be to transcribe the report with
which we are now dealing. Let us, however, en-
treat our readers to be on their guard against all
persons unknown to them who come to their houses
with begging petitions. Their object is a great-
co it. With regard to the beggars who expose their
sores in the public streets, we would only say that
vitriol, judiciously applied, can do a good deal.
Then, again, about the pale, piteous widows with
children, who look so wan that a man at first feels
like a ruffian when he passes them by without re- ,
lieving their apparently dire distress.
TB use
are
hired—by the hour, and the day ! Twins com-
mand a ready market. There are also many unfor-
tunates who have just escaped shipwreck ; a good
many of them are involved in marine misfortunes
off the Kentish coast, and are only saved by the
exertions and well-known gallantry of the Deal
Loatmen. Not a few noble relics of the various
searches after Sir J. Franklin are still extant among
us—it is fair and natural that they should apply tot'
us for relief. They need never be hindered by any
difficulty of expression, for in the neighbourhood of
Drury-lane and o, her such places petitions exactly
suited to every category of human misery can be
bought by the gross. —Times.

POLITE ATTENTION TO FRANCE.

(From Punch )

Our firm ally is arming fast
Against some foe unknown ;
'Twould be an inattention vast
To let him arm alone.
His foe, of course, must needs be ours,
His battle we must share ' •
But which of all the foreign Powers
To fight shall we prepare t

A steam fleet must invasion mean,
But whom will he invade ?
No matter ; put our own marine
In case his force to aid ;
To aid, and just a little more;
With ample odds to meet.
In short, to guard Britannia's shorn,
Get up a Channel fleet.

Gibraltar is the key of Spain ;
Look out, it you are wise !
Alarm, perhaps, is weak and vain,
For we are close allies.
For arming 'gainst a sudden stroke
Our cause may turn out none.
Then our Ally has had his joke,
And armed himself for fun.

But hie example we should take
If but to be polite,
And ample preparation make
With any foe to fight ;
The compliment at least to pay
Of walking in his track,
While 'tis impossible to say
Whose shores he may attack.

The detachment of Royal Marines, under Us
command of Lieutenant M`Meekan, paid off from
her Majesty's ship Monarch, yesterday received
wages at Woolwich, each man receiving an amount
ranging from 301, to 601.