The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-06-07
DELEGATED BENEvOLENCE.


The recent anniversaries" at Exeter Hall,
in New York, Boston, and other great central
points. have attracted considerable attention to
a species of harmless, though perhaps some
what questionable amusement annually In
dulged in by respectable number Of other
wise good enough people. Benevolence has
become genteel; nay, fashionable. We are not
sure that it has not in many instances ct least,
taken the place of religion. When wesay this'
we know we lay ourselves open to censure from
two Numerically opposite sources-from the
" evangelicals," and from the "moral," non
church going, or "non-professing people,
Now, it is not our intention to question the mo-
tives of any one; if we have any fault to lind,
it is with the ostentatious manner In which
private virtue sad liberality are blasoned
abroad to the world, in direct contravention OF
the Divine command.
The practices incident to the conduct OF
many of these religious associations are 80
manifestly antagonistic to cultivated taste,
and their aims and objects 80 devoid OF all pre-
tensions to common sense, that they have natu-
rally long since provoked the wits, poets, dra-
matists, and writers Of essays and novels TO
satirise and ridicule them most numerically
And, by a very natural though grave mistake
these writers confound the good a':''Sincere,
though, perhaps, Ittlsvain and foolish, ami
versarians,~ with the Aminadab Sleeks-the fat
and oily hypocrites. This is saltogether wrong
and doing gross injustice to millions of good
people.
Mr.. CHApBASD, we have reason to believe,
is not a representative man, though we would
not undertake to affirm as much of the Rev.
CHARLES HoNsYnAN, Of Lady Whittlesea's
Chapel of Ease. Mrs. Jellaby's, also, we fear,
is q very correct picture. The rank and file OF
this faithful army seldom gives much offence,
however. It is the self-constituted leaders,
the men and the women who attend the ami
yersaries, who travel far journeys at other
peoples expense, make great speeches and
publish mighty reports, who usually bring
odium upon the cause they advocate, and, to
put it in the very mildest phrase, succeed in
making themselves supremely ridiculous.
Take the Peace Society, that greatest Of all
humbugs under the sun. We remember some
wears age, under the auspices of that bright
ani shining light, ELIHu BuRRlTr, "the learned
blacksmith" this Society held what they were
pleased to call a Universal Congress at Stutt-
CART. With view Of more thoroughly i'm
pressing the Cossack, the Walloon, the Hum
the Frank, and the Suavian, Of the feasibility
of their pet scheme, they brought live Indian
chief, GsoRaR Conway, along with them, ar
rayed in his picturesque sylvan costume Great
was the eclat of the Congress. When the war
commenced in 1861, where was the Peace So
ciety thens 1t was not 80 much as heard o.
Its individual members, perhaps, may have
kept their "hands unsullied," by procuring sub
stitutes, or ensconcing themselves unto "bomb-
proof" places. But no sooner was the war
over, and the best American blood shed in tor
rents, than this pulling pack of canting philan-
thropists publish begging circular, announ-
cling that they have resumed their labors, which,
with charming naiuete, they say, chad been su'-
pended during the war"
It is known that the Northern church was
7fercest in its cry for war, blood and slaughter;
many Of its foremost minister's to this day still
indulging in this yindict.Ye spirit Yet IN
that same latitude we hear of petitions for fur
ther legislative action, 80 as to inhibit
restaurateurs and others from laying turtles
on their backs. This will show how morbid
and fictitious sentiment can take the place of
genuine humanity and religion. BAnNuM's
boa, and the rabbits it devours for breakfast,
concern these silly people more than the
thousands Of men, women and children, white
and black, suffering and dying all around them
for want of the neoessaries Of life.
There is something radically defective in the
whole modern system Of benevolence. We are
not now speaking of "poor rates" but Of the
numerous volunteer associations for the
amelioration, &c., Of man and beast.
Charity is godlike virtue, and to be COM
mended always and everywhere But we think
it unfortunate that people should fatter them
selves they are doing meritorious deed when
they listen to public appeal, and subscribe q
given amount to some philanthropic associa-
ton, instead of coming into personal contact
with the poor, as was the wont before the
modern appliances came into vogue. The old
way, we believe, was the best. 1t opened the
heart of the giver as well as his hand, and
nothing Of what he gave was lost on the way ;
whereas charity by proxy has great ten
dency to produce callous, pharisaical feeling
of self-righteousness, and to ALLEVIATE, more
and more, with every year, instead of drawing
together, the several classes and elements Of
society.
But say, the giyer has pure motive, and
preserves his heart soft and open; it is still
an evil that SO much of what is given in per-
feet good faith is squsndered A cotemporary
compares this expense attendant on benevolent
operations to the waste Of force by friction
in mechanics. This is shown by the
workings of many foreign missionary societies.
Reports prove that the cost, to an English
of converting some Jews, is about
e7OO, or $500 per head. Here is q machine
in which majority of the power is absorbed
in overcoming friction.
The friction was strikingly manifest in our
State Hospital and Relief Associations during
the war, where agents, superintendents and
doctors, matrons and nurses, all
in their turn, tithed the articles contributed in
good faith, and often with fearful eyes and
praying hearts, for the relief Of the sick and
wounded soldier All the result Of represen-
tative benevolence imperfectly organized.
Look at the American Bible Society, one of
the wealthiest institutions Of the kind on the
continent. What a magnificent building they
have erected, worth millions now; for what to
D. .In,o 80 hal lat nd