Star.
London, England, 1818-01-06 00:00:00

rence of the Magistracy, but a wry elifTerent opinien;
was held by the worthy Chief IMlagistrate of London,'
whom he had the hooourto see near him (Applause).
That respectable inividual, the moment he was ap-
-lied to by him (Mr. Stephen) on the subject, at once
stated his participation with the feelings of the Com-
mittee, and frankly said that if 501. would de them
any service, be should with much pleasure grant it.
(A/plows.) Being asked if he would grant the use
of the large Hall in the Mansion-house for the use of
a meeting, if the Committee should see cause to re-
quire it, he instantly agreed, stating at the same time
his anxious desire that something should be done.—
He had repeatedly relieved from the City funds
many of the poor individuals brought before him in
the Justice Room, and he (Mr. Stephens) had no
doubt he had often done so out of his own pocket.
But what was to be expected unless something was
effectually done ? In passing the poor creatures to
their parishes, the Overseers perhaps gave them a
few pence to get rid of them, but was this the effec-
tual way-of removing mendicity ? Again, in other
instances, the wandering honseless seaman was sent
to Bridewell—a hard reward of his bravery in de-
fence of his country—(Load applauses),—to be sent
to Bridewell as a rogue and vagrant. Let those say
the contrary who will, there -must necessarily be
always a call for discriminating charity, and for t -
benevolent employing their time in causes of charity,
which was more valuable than money. The Board
of Admiralty had offered a vessel on certain condi-
tions ; but would this alone of itself be sufficient ?
How could the miserable Seaman be sent aboard in
his state of nudity ? Would those, who wished to
send him off, do so without giving him shoes, or
stockings, or clothing ? If they did, where was the
charity they boasted of?--where the good they wish-
ed to be thought having done ? If such articles
were to be given him, how, he would ask, were
they to be procured without money ? This cer-
tainly must, if raised at all, be procured by public
charity; for it was impossible to suppose that the Ad-
miralty could give away the public money illegally.
These were considerations which forcibly struci his
mind ; and he had to beg pardon for having so long
detained the Meeting. The most effectual plan was,
first, to examine the respective cases ; and thus would
good be done, by the axe being laid to the root of the
evil. Unless something was now done, the men must
perish. The mode in which relief was to be admi-
nistered was not now before the Meeting, nor were
they called to decide on that. The meye point was
simply the existence of distress, the necessity of ap-
pointing a Committee, with powers to look into that
distress, and with money to aid them in theirlabours.
The Committee would decide on the mode, as that.
was their particular province. Let individuals pur-
sue, at their own discretion, their own views of relief
the more the better ; but let them, in one mode or
another, endeavour to deliver from a state of distress,
pitiable and most deplorable, a class of men whose
sufferings must come home to the hearts of-English-
men, for they had been their country's defenders, and
that country could never see them, in the language
of the Poet, driven

" -P-- To beg their bitter breed
" Through Realms their valour eyed 1"
—( Applause).—lt was impossible to view this state
of distress without sympathy, and also without afford-
ing it every possible relief—(Hear, hear).
Sir JAMES SHAW, in explanation, said, he had not
doubted the existence of this distress in its most
xravated shape ; his only doubt was, as to the appli-
-1 cation of the best and most efficacious mode of relief
—!Hear). No man was more anxious than he was
to relieve from suffering that brave class 'of men who
h nobly fought and bled for their country. His
o wish was, that the aid should be given on a
suitable scale, in 'conjunction with Government and
the Civic Magistracy. For this he was certainly most
anxious, from a persuasion that without it no perma-
nent good could be accomplished. 'lbis was his firm
belief; from a knowledge of the former circumstance,
when, by their united means, a much larger number
of sailors than could be now picked up were relieved
throughout the metropolis. He had by no means
said that this Meeting was unnecessary—Weer).

. . .
The Loan Maroa said, that he attended this
Meeting, not as Chief Magistrate, but in his pri-
vate capacity as a man, anxious to promote its
objects. After the observations they must have all
formed, and the statements they had heard, it was
quite unnecessary for him to say any thing in confir-
mation of the distresses which prevailed among the
unemployed sailors. Any mode of relief would be
better than to delay further any active attention to
these poor people, in the expectation of some more
effective plan being struck out. It was most to be
wished that Government would go hand in hand with
them—but if they did not, they must go to work by
themselves. (Applause.) The seat thing would
be to commence with a discriminating Opus, sou to
separate the real sailor from the impostor. It *as
only last week, that, by getting clothes for some poor
sailors, he was able to procure them employment at
the West India Docks. If the same aid were affor-
ded on a general scale, the same result must inevi-
tably follow.—(Helm, hear.)—He felt It his duty to
attend there to-day, and offer his services in the pro-
motion of a business in which the motto was CAority.
His Lordship ' concluded by saying—" They," the
tailors, " protected us in the worst of
_times, and we
should prove unworthy of their future services and
ungrateful for their past, if in their hour of greatest
distress, we did not chm ! and relieve their si.
tuation."—(Great applause.
nyerate
Lord COCHRANE woul not say much, because if
they had not been unanimous, he was sure the state-
ments they had heard would have made them so.
He had come there to subscribe his mite, hoping it
would do some good. To propose asuitiscngptsois for
the whole kingdom, s was done allots' two years
' ago, in this very room, was useless and monstrous,
for what had been its result? Was the country not
as distressed now as it was then? Were the. pour
seamen not in a situation in which Government
should relieve them? The Admiralty had funds in
their hands Which were the exclusive property of
seamen. Were' not the Droits of. Admiralty such ?
(Load applauses.) jr so, what became of them?—
How were they applied?—Hear, hear, hear.) The-
! Admiralty have offered an old bulk for 'the use of
the Committee. Is that the sole reward of gallant
yseamen, who in deeds of prowess have gone far be-
yond the army; for hatl the navy not done brilliant
,:lrfldits, where would have been' the army, whine