Star.
London, England, 1816-11-27 00:00:00

MEETING AT THE AGINSIOAVIOUSB.

Yesterday a Meeting was convened at the Mansionl
House, for the purpose of promoting subscriptions is
aid of the charitable instivatioos for Cie relief the'
distressed Manufacturers of Spitalfields,.and the other
north-east districts of L•indon. By hal( past one
o'clock the Egyptian-hall, which was allowed by the
LORD MAYOR for the accommodation of the Meeting,
was nearly filled. Seats were reserved for the Ladies,
_ _

a considerable number of whom attended, particularly
of the Society of Frieecls.
At two o'clock the LORD MAYOR entered the Hall.
took the Chair, and opened the business of the Meet-
ing. He began by expressing his happiness at se ing
so numerous and so resrctable a Meeting. especiall)
when he considered the benevolent and praise worthy
object which called them together. On no occasican
was the claim more urgent on the compassion and.
liberality of the rich than that which would be pre-
sented on the part of the districts whose sufferings
the Subscriptions this day to be recommended were
intended to relieve,,which comprehended not only the
parish of Spitalfields, but the north-east quarter of
the Metropolis. _The scene of misery and distress was
extensive, and entirely without the means of relief
within itself.. The utmost liberality that could be
expected could only produce a slight alleviation ; tor,
in the general state of poverty and misery in which
all classes were placed, a complete remedy could not
be found. Oar poor laws had for their (eject to
procure the means of subsistence to those woo were
unable by their own exertions to earn them. and bad
in practice the effect of preventing any one from
dying tot want of mod ; but until lately their Cult
operation was happily never required, and a laudable
feeling of pride made many prefer 'privation and
suffering to an application for parish assistance. He
was of opinion that this feeling Glenda still be en-
ccissraged, and that the best way of assisting the poor
would be to maintain their indepelideut slit* I..we
ther with their industrious habits ; and by providing.
for them the means of labour, to teach them to be-
lieve that they assisted themselves. Many thousands,
he was persuaded, were willing to l ib-)ur to preserve
themselves from pauperism, if they could be employed
at any rate of remuneration which would admit of
their earning the means of subsistence, and that they
would turn their hands to any thing rather than be-
come objects of gratuitous charity. He had no doubt
that the Committee of the Association who called the
present Meeting for the relief of their distressed
neighbours, would be glad to listen to any hints by
which their bounty might be expended, so as to en-
courage labour While at supprated ind'geace. His
Lordship professed that he was akays averse to any
measure that tended to encoutar idleliest or promote
pauperism, and his reflections had been much directed
to the means of alleviating the pr. ssure of the times
without doing rioter. His situation exposed him to
witness many instances of distress. and daily pressed
on his mind plans for removing or alleviating it. He
Was sometimes in the habit of sending 30 or 4.0 a
day from London to their parishes; and it was ex-
tremely distressing to him .to think, mat lie must,
either burden the criunty with the expenses of their
transpire, or send them home with an order which
imposed on the parishes through which they passed'
the charges of their maintenance. With respect to
the employment of the poor in some sort of labour
by which, while they were receiving national assis-
tance, they might. be increasing the national resources,
he had thought of many plans, one or two of which
he might mention to the 'Meeting. •He had made a.
representation to the Ministers on on of those plans,.
to which little -attention had been paid. He had-
suggested that 50,000 acres of waste land might be'
brought into cultivation, by which '20,000 men might
be employed. They might be see at work with •
small expense, and in a short time would cease to
cost the country a farthing, while they were increasing
its produce. He had turned his attention to the best
means of relieving those distressed manufacturers
whom this day's charity was intended to assist ; and
he was led to suggest, that a subscription of one
pound from every, individual able to contribute, for
the purchase of the goods manufactured in Spital-
fields, would be the most beneficial charity. This
collection would form a fund for the purchase of the
articles that now found no market ; and every sub-
scriber would receive the value of his subscription at,
'the plate of his residence, with no other. condition
titan that he took Spitalfields goods, thus employing
the manufacturer without injuring the shopkeeper or,
the retail merchant. His. Lordship next alluded to
a -species of employment by which the means, of sub:
sistence might be provided for al conststerable number
of the destitute poor, and as .the cold season was aJ
.vaucing. a considerable saving of fuel tr4bt be
effected. He. had- seen, when he vas in Wales, a
species of mixture which produced a good fire, made
of clay and coals, two parts of the former to one of
the latter. The mamstacture of this article might
.employ a good number of hands. Mud ittr the pur-
pose might be easily obtained from the Towner, :and
'the viiroaehing whiter would create a midi market,

. .
while the poor themselves would be supplied with
fuel (which he was told in a letter he had received
today was as good as coke) at a chva?er rate than
formerly. The Lord Moor said he had throyni ndt
these hints, a$ he beltercd in doing so he might be
'baking usifill .atiggestions, and was sure at least that
la offering the fruit of his reflections directed to
such objects, he was complying with the spirit of
the Spitalfields Associations, and was acting in
unison with the feeling of the Meeting. Labour
must be found, or general distress mu .t ensue.—
No poor rate short of i general irnd oppressive bur-
den on the country could at present alleviate to any
extent the miseries of the labouring and manufactu-
ring classes. Before he sat down he could not help
adverting to one thin, on which he thought these
was a general and a groundless complaint. We had
heard much clamour on the high price of the at tides
of subsistonee, and the exorbitant profit exacted by
butcher's and bakers; but it there realty was any
cause for this clamour, it might easily be checked or
removed. Esicourageatent, might be given to those
who sold at reasonable rates, and those who did other-
wi,e should be deserted. For that purpose he would
recommend to all who now heard him to go to the
markets themselves, mad not intrust tie purchases for
their families to their servants.
.They would thus see
with their on n eyes who was the honest and re.ison-
able butcher or baker ; and by encouraging such,
would force all to imitate their example, and sell as
cheaply as they could do c msisttn:tly with a proper
remuneration for their own lah,ur, anti a reasonable

interest for their c.tpital in trade. 'lbis Wai the prac-
tice he himself follotted, and he found it extremely
useful in being supplied clue tply and honourably.—
He had ritthing more to ..etain the meetiag with at
present, and would nom propose that they should
pr.iceed to the business of its assembling, with a re-
commendation that, as it was coiled for the pur-
poses of charity, nothing but charity should be heard
from the lips of tlinse who meant to address it.—
i Loud aNdaute.)
Heise M. J.- J LisTalt, Secretary to the Associa-
tion, read the following Address :
" The Committee of the Association for the Relief
of the Industrious Poor of Spitalfirlds and it; neigh•
bourftcoti, address themselves to the public on behalf
of the district to which their labours have been de-
elect, in full confidence that its condition needs only
to be known to receive the sympathy and assistance
isf the benevolent.
" That part of die metropolis which is commonly
included under tl-e general term of Spitalfields, com-
prises, besides the parish of that name, these of Beth.
141-green. Shoreditch, and part of Whitechapel; the
Hamlets of Mile-end New Town, and Mile-end Old
Town, and some other places in the vicinity. The
number Of opulent individuals, in this district, is es-
ceedin small, and its etiormous pftpulation is chiefly
.ssi the inatittfacturing and Lamming classes
who are employed by persons residing for the most
part in the city. In favourable times they are in ge-
mral able, by their industry, to earn a comfortable
übbistence, thong') eve.. then, from sickness and ca.
s.ialties, there ate always to be found many instances
• A indivtdual buffeting ; hut when a depressi .n in
trade materially diminishes the demand for labour,
multitudes are at once deprived of employment, and
suffer all the miseries of Want. The applications to
the parishes for suppo:t soon become mote than they
CAA relieve. A large proportion of those who are
called on for the pant rate are themselves at these t:mes
'in need of assistance, and under such circumstances
'to advance the assessment would• increase the diffi-
culty of collecting sit, and often render the payment'
altogether impossible. Thus the utmost pittance that
can be dealt out to the indigent is insufficient to sup-
port eiisteece, and the distress becomes extreme.
•• This was the state of Spitalfielt and its neigh-
bourhood when the Association was first instituted,
in the year 1812, and from the exertions made at that
time the Committee have the happiness to\know that
many were rescued from perishing. Their operations
were suspended as soon as the pressing necessity for
them ceased; but they have now been imperatively
called upon to resume them by an extent and severity
of distress that has net been equalled at any forma
period within their knowledge.
" Of the inhabitants of this district a large propor.
'ion are dependent on the silk Manufacture, and
form, in some degree, a separate class—possessing a
character of their own that peculiarly entitles them
to c intoiiseration. In offensiveand quiet in hisdemea-1
nour, and accustomed to decent and domestic habits,
the Weaver is in general industrious in prosperous'
times, and patient in adversity—he is seldom found
addicted to licentiousness and dissipation, and his.
earnings, when in full work, enable him to live with
respectability ; but his sedentary employment induces
a want of bodily vigour that unfits him for bard la-
bour; so that when his usual occupation fails, his con.
dition is particularly helpless.
" Of this class nearly two thirds are at this time
unemployed. and without the means of support ; as
well as a multitude of porters, labourers, and mecha-
nics in different wades. They cannot disperse them-
selves in the country, which is already overburthened
with poor—and where at former times of difficulty,
temporary work might have been obtained, numbers
'ot old hands are.now dismissed. Even the resource
ot the Army and Naty no longer exists for the desti-
-Imm ; and many are refused admission at the teak-
-1 1 houses, which are too crowded to receive them.
" To lighten in some degree this mass of cala-
mity, the Committee provided a depot ; where they
have sold, since the middle of September, at a very
'low price, 92 ton 18 cwt. of salt •cod, 280 bands of
herrings, and 16 ton 8 cwt. of rice ; by which a loss
has been incurred of more than £6OO a and in order
the better to Assist the most afflicted cases, at more
than one hundred Members compose the Onnatittee,
they have divide i n.emselves into 38 Soh-Commit-
tees,. *each eft which undertakes the visiting ot a Dis-
trict. Llurinig the last eleven weeks they have. paid
mots thin WO visits, and distauteil £856, mostly

. .
in mime of from one
.t.tl three Iphiiii%46l. 4'::onv, WM.
families, . Which contain also* 14;409 indliklu ‘lll-i.
and while engaged in altisiereice,, their
,have riot*
ed an extremity 01 starring,
,of *hicb thifse -whO sic
not themselves accustomed to taplore.tligilintlei of
poverty,. Can form but .an. inadequate idea . .
find numbers who had been accustomed to lap .
TIA
their faidilies respectably, reduced from long want
'of employment to sell or pawn their forniturei which
had been purchased with the savings of inemer yeirsi
to obtain food. Their beddint:, their c/7thes, and
the very looms andtools on whip they were aectis-
tomed to depend for subsistence ate; in many in;
stances, got,eand little is left them but Ofe bare
walls of the;r rooms—Pauperism is spreading to ati
extent truly alarming. Many decent families 114,4
had all they were possessed of suited, to psy Arreani
i:f refit—others are deeply in debt lor the Common
neceasariti,of life—some have a-Lusted their homes in
despair, unable to endure the bight of their starving
families; and many pine under lingering
.diseasesi
imiught On 7rom the want of fond and cl Ailing.,
" The partk'tilars of every ease Visited are pre:
served, and Open to the inspection of any person dee
sitosts to peruse them.• Ti,e following may serve 01

A specimen :
0. V. Swan.streer, Brick-lane.—Thi: pont 'man
has heen ont of wort neArly twelve rcont:o. His
wile • has Lately heen cottoned with tier kwentieth

child. They now in the greatest wel!it. Their
eldest son, a y.,Ung min 23 years of age; caught a
cold write time ago (throtwll the badness cif his shoes
when searching about. for employment); which hat
broity;ht on a decline, and he lies on his death
bed, in his tathees apartment. T:lis young man hat
a wife and two children.

" IL W. a weaver, Bryan-street, has a wife and
family of seven children, whom he has supported
with comfort until within a few months; but from
die want of employment, he has been obliged from
time to time to pledge the little stock of furniture
and clothing they possessed to misty the cravings of
nature—until, from extreme distress and sickness,
thy have been induced to ask lei- an asylum in the
woikhouse—but which for want of room they have
not been able to obtain.
" Multitudes of cases like these are to be lief
with in all parts of the district. To relieire such
widely extended misery, the finances of the Coniniits
tee, though liberally assisted by the Generil Aims
elation, have been altogether inadequate—and with
their utmost endeavours to contract their expenditure,
it has considerably exceeded their reteipts. They
have. made application to Government for help, and
obtained a grant of 801) pair of shoes, 1000 blankets,
and SOO palliasses ; but with an expression of regret,
that there was no money *hien could be made
available for their use ti and they now feel it their
duty to appeal earnestly to the humanity of the
public. The Spital-fiAds Soup Society has lately
recommenced its operations, and *um sells 3e(;0
quarts of soup daily ; but it stands in need of large
supplies to enable it to continue in action. The Spis
tal•fi:,-Ids Benevolent Society also, which has long
been a blessing to the poor, is assiduously employed
in conjunction with this Association—and as the
three Institiitions have but one objeci--to give the
most effectual assistance to this deeply suffering
district, it is proposed that such funds as may now
be raised, be appropriated to their joint use.
" The Committee ate sensible, that employment
is the only permanent and effectual remedy for the
evils they deplore—and while they are willing to
Julie that this will teturn in the Spring, they will be
thankful for any suggestions that may tend to open
new channels for labour. But in the mean time the
liberal aid of charity, and the indefatigable exertions
Of those who undertake to dispense it, are urgently
required, to alleviate the horrors of the approaching
winter—to support deserving poiertyi that trembles
on the brink of ruin—in Save them that are ready to
perish. Those in happier citcomstances that
and who are there but must feel for the overwhelm-
ing afflictions of their indigent neighbours, may be
assured, that what is granted by their benevolence
will be applied with strict economy and caution."
Mr. T. &terms then rose, and spoke as follows:
84 My Lord—As one of the persons who were in-
strumental in convening this Meeting, it has been in-
timated to me, that it is my duty to explain our ob-
jects—this, and this alone, I can truly say, has urged
me to place myself in a situation more prominent and
more considerable than any other circumstai:ce would
warrant. It has been my lot to see something of the
distress OA rages in our unhappy district; and who-
ever has siren, as I have seen, the utmost ravages of
hunger, cold, and disease, would excuse the trans-
gression of propriety I feel I commit io coming for-
ward so early, would do, as I do, would endeavour
to enkindle in the breasts of others those strong emos
dons of compassion which the sight of such distress
would raise in his own mind, and would feel mast
deeply interested that sonwhing this day may be
done, may be nobly done, for die relief of my poor
neighbours, sunk as they are to the lowest depths' of
misery. But first allow me to state the causes in
which it -originate:, because they are generally un-
known, because they are very curious and peculiar,
and because a knowledge of these operate as an apo:
logy for this public application, as it will shew that
this district has claims not only on your compassion,
but something like' claims even on your justice, not
only those claims which, distress always has .on the.
benevolence of the affluent,. but those intimates and
almost legalized claims *bid) the labourer possesses
'on his own employer, the rnechanieon his own mas-
ter, the pauper on his own parish. I mike bold to
think that I can convince you that' the persons for
whom we plead are your own labourers, your own
mechanics, and your.own poor. In the Act-by which
the Loot Laws were established in'thiscountrhAhere
is a clause enabling Magistiates, •where any parish ii
too poor to support its oivo inhabitants, 'to conjoin
'with it other parishes word nompetent. This is right,
and, if it stopped hire, this Meeting would be super.