The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIIE "LONDON REVIEW" ON " CADGERS" CIIER-
ISIIED BY THE STATE.—If the " Amateur Casual"
has done no other good, his narrative has called
attention to a subject of which the public were
entirely ignorant ; but it was left to the Parlia-
mentary Report on Vagrancy to open our eyes to
the shameful manner in which the community are
defrauded in the name of charity. When by acci-
dent we lift a stone, we are astonished by the num-
ber of obscure creatures that are immediately seen
scuttling away into darkness. The President of
the Poor Lawßoard has just lifted such a stone, and
the " cadger and tramp" has been discovered in all
his loathsomeness and depravity. It is not gene-
rally known that her Majesty's Government keep
boarding-houses for the reception of rogues and
vagabonds, and so ingeniously contrive their
arrangements that no honest man or woman cares
to ask admittance to them. Yet such is the plain
state of the case. The casual wards of the work-
houses throughout the kingdom have, by the in-
genuity of that noble fraternity the " cadger," alias
the henroost robber, the clothes stealer, and looter
general to the provincial community, become regu-
lar stages and houses of refreshment to these vaga-
bonds, who are far more dangerous than the crimi-
nal population, inasmuch as they carry on their
occupation under the guise of poverty, and with
an organisation so perfect as to baffle all attempts
at their regulation, much less their coercion. Mr.
Hotten, of Piccadilly, has given the public a specimen
of the cadger's map of a country district. Her Ma-
jesty's Poor Law Commissioners are now informed on
the very best authority that every member of that
fraternity possesses a map of the entire country, and
knows the nature of the bed and table that is pre-
pared for him in every union in the kingdom, and
that is saying a good deal, for the variety is charm-
ing, and affords a proof of the system, or rather
want of system, in which relief is conducted by a
great public department. And the extraordinary
feature of their organisation is, that it is carried on
by means of written communications on the walls of
the wards themselves. Mr. Andrew Doyle, the in-
spector for the Chester district, in his admirable re-
port, gives specimens of their " handwriting on the
wall,' which he informs us are to be found in every
workhouse in the kingdom. The wall is, in'short,
the cadger's card-basket, where he makes appoint-
ments, and his visitors' book where he expresses his
opinion as to his treatment. Here are three an-
nouncements for instance :
" Private Notice.—Saucy Harry and his Moll will be at
Chester to eat their Christmas dinner, where they hope
Saucer and the fraternity will meet them at the Union, 14th
November, 1865."
" Notice to ourPals.—Bristol Jack and Burslem was here
on the 15th of April, bound for Montgomeryshire for the
summer season."
"Notice to Long Cockney, or Cambridge, or any of the Fra-
ternity.—Harry the Mark was here from Carmarthen, and
if anybody of the Yorkshire tramps wishes to find him he
is to be found in South Wales for the next three months.
17th April, 1865."
We confess it is something newto find casuals of the
criminal class giving their invitations for Christmas
gatherings six weeks in advance, and talking of their
rounds for the " summer season." That the cadger
makes his rounds as regularly as her Ma,jesty's judges
go the circuit, and that the county in like manner
finds him his lodgings and board as a matter of
course we gather from these " jottings by the way."
There is not a particle of disguise about the matter;
he never pretends that he is a casual, in the legal
sense of the term, but boldly claims his right to board
and lodging as often as he happens to come that way,
and not only board, but clothing. The cadger,when his
clothes are too ragged to wear,or too f ull of vermin,sim-
ply tears them up and then demands new ones. "Tear-
ups" are becoming a distinct variety of the tramp
genus, and the only effectual method of cure is to
clothe them in old sacks. However depraved human
nature may be it cannot stand ridicule. It may
easily be conceived that the cadger is not an agree-
able person to spend the night with ; indeed there
is a general accord among the masters of workhouses
that their riotous and blasphemous conduct is so
fearful that no respectable wayfarer will share with
them the shelter and food of the casual ward. The
consequence is that the very class of deserving poor
for whom the accommodation was intended never
get it, and the whole system of casual relief is
monopolised by thieves and idle vagabonds, with
the full knowledge of the authorities. In order
to repress the casual as much as, possible a diet is
given which certainly cannot be called inviting. Dry
bread and skilly, or gruel, is nourishment pre-
sented in the most obnoxious form ; this may
be be fair treatment for the " cadger," budt itto
the
cruelty, wholly undeserved, when offer.se
can we
honest wayfarer. Now the questbioe
ntwieen these
by any arranaement distinguish
two classes and mete out tleraicehs the hospitality
they deserve? The late
President of the Poor Lawft
all young able-bodied
question by refusing relief Cl3holrd, answered the
men, by exacting a task o
lowyooirokenfrtoionfaplleNlviheeo-aslipclieerds
for relief, and by the call,
to
the professional
as assistant relievaisb
very effectually deterrentsrelieving
ffi '
officers.
cadger, for he will not workifheeecratialinhley would notlpit,andhe
shirks the police-officer, who
permit
the casual to make his regular rounds over
and over again. On the other hand, the honest
wayfarer was distinguished by the possession of a
certificate given him by some one who knew the
particulars of his distress. These regultitions acted