Transcriber's Note
Superscript text is indicated by caret signs, e.g. "Adm^l".
Large tables have been refactored for display on smaller screens.
Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks and/or placed next
to the text which they illustrate, and may not match the locations
give in the List of Illustrations.
The text (enclosed in ~swung dashes~) beginning "Removing any goods off"
on p. 444 was printed as vertical text.
On p. xxii, the figures "2,721,73" and "54,00" were each printed
without the final digit.
Corrected errata are listed at the end of the text.
[Illustration: A MIDNIGHT MEETING.--REV. BAPTIST NOEL SPEAKING.]
LONDON LABOUR
AND THE LONDON POOR
A Cyclopædia of the Condition and Earnings
OF
THOSE THAT _WILL_ WORK
THOSE THAT _CANNOT_ WORK, AND
THOSE THAT _WILL NOT_ WORK
BY
HENRY MAYHEW
THOSE THAT WILL NOT WORK
COMPRISING
PROSTITUTES · THIEVES · SWINDLERS · BEGGARS
BY SEVERAL CONTRIBUTORS
With an Introductory Essay on the Agencies at Present in Operation in
the Metropolis for the Suppression of Vice and Crime
by
THE REV. WILLIAM TUCKNISS, B.A.
CHAPLAIN TO THE SOCIETY FOR THE RESCUE OF YOUNG WOMEN AND CHILDREN
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME FOUR
First edition 1851
(_Volume One only and parts of Volumes Two and Three_)
Enlarged edition (Four volumes) 1861-62
New impression 1865
ADVERTISEMENT.
It would be a work of supererogation to extol the utility of such a
publication as “London Labour and the London Poor,” so apparent must be
its value to all classes of society. It stands alone as a photograph of
life as actually spent by the lower classes of the Metropolis. That one
half of the world does not know how the other half lives is an axiom of
antiquity, but the truthful revelations and descriptions of the London
street folk, workers and non-workers, and the means by which they
exist, will go a great way to enlighten the educated classes respecting
matters which have hitherto been involved in mystery and uncertainty.
The class of individuals treated of in this volume are the Non-Workers,
or in other words, the Dangerous Classes of the Metropolis; and every
endeavour has been made to obtain correct information, not only through
the assistance of the police authorities, but by an expenditure of much
time and research among the unfortunates themselves. Their favourite
haunts, and the localities in London wherein they chiefly congregate,
as well as their modes of existence, are accurately described; in
addition to which have been inserted very many deeply interesting
autobiographies, faithfully transcribed from their own lips, which go
far to unveil the intricate schemes of villany and crime that abound
in the Metropolis, and prove how much more rational and effective are
preventive measures than such as are merely correctional.
Every phase of vice has been investigated and treated of, in order that
all possible information that can prove interesting to the moralist,
the philanthropist, and the statist, as well as to the general public,
might be afforded. In a word the veil has been raised, and the skeleton
exposed to the view of the public.
In order to inspire hope and confidence in those who would shudder
and lose heart in the perusal of such a record of crime and misery,
the volume is prefaced by a comprehensive account of the agencies in
operation within the Metropolis for the suppression of crime and vice,
in which is detailed the aim and scope of the numerous religious and
philanthropic associations now actively following the footsteps of that
Divine Saviour, Whose chief mission was to the poor and guilty.
These brave workers now abound in all the dark places of the
Metropolis, and the fruits of their labours, particularly in the
case of youthful criminals, are becoming, through the blessing of
Providence, abundantly apparent.
A vast amount of statistical information, compiled from authentic
records, is contained in the body of the work, and in the Appendix, and
a few illustrations are introduced, graphically showing the extremes of
vice and crime.
The publishers have to thank Sir Richard Mayne and the authorities at
Scotland Yard, as well as the Secretaries of the various charitable
societies, for much valuable information and assistance.
_Stationers’ Hall Court;
December, 1861._
CONTENTS.
THE AGENCIES AT PRESENT IN OPERATION WITHIN THE METROPOLIS, FOR THE
SUPPRESSION OF VICE AND CRIME.
BY THE REV. WILLIAM TUCKNISS, B.A.
PAGE
UNIVERSAL DESIRE FOR INVESTIGATION xi
MERE PALLIATIVES INSUFFICIENT TO CHECK THE GROWTH OF CRIME xi
DECREASE OF CRIME DOUBTFUL xii
GENERAL DESIRE TO ALLEVIATE MISERY xiii
GUTHRIE ON GREAT CITIES xiv
SOCIAL POSITION OF LONDON xv
AGENCIES AT WORK IN LONDON xvii
Their Number and Income xvii
CURATIVE AGENCIES xviii
British and Foreign Bible Society xix
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge xix
Institution for Reading the Word of God in the Open Air xix
Theatre Services xix
London City Mission, xx
Church of England Scripture Readers’ Society xxii
Religious Tract Society xxiii
Pure Literature Society xxiii
PREVENTIVE AGENCIES xxiv
National Temperance Society xxiv
United Kingdom Alliance xxiv
Free Drinking Fountain Association xxv
Ragged School Union xxv
Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes xxv
Female Servants’ Home Society xxvi
Female Aid Society xxvii
Training Institutions for Servants xxvii
Field Lane Night Refuges xxvii
Dudley Stuart Night Refuge xxvii
Houseless Poor Asylum xxviii
House of Charity xxviii
Foundling Hospital xxviii
Society for the Suppression of Mendicity xxviii
Association for Promoting the Relief of Destitution xxviii
Association for the Aid and Benefit of Dressmakers and Milliners xxix
Young Women’s Christian Association and West-end Home xxix
Society for Promoting the Employment of Women xxx
Metropolitan Early Closing Association, &c. xxx
REPRESSIVE AND PUNITIVE AGENCIES xxx
Society for the Suppression of Vice xxxi
The Associate Institution xxxi
Society for Promoting the Observance of the Lord’s Day xxxiv
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals xxxiv
REFORMATIVE AGENCIES xxxiv
Reformatory and Refuge Union xxxiv
Reformative Agencies for Fallen Women xxxv
Magdalen Hospital xxxvi
London by Moonlight Mission xxxvii
Society for the Rescue of Young Women and Children xxxvii
London Female Preventive and Reformatory Institution xxxvii
CONCLUDING REMARKS xxxviii
INTRODUCTION AND CLASSIFICATION. BY HENRY MAYHEW 1
WORKERS AND NON-WORKERS 2
Classification of ditto 11
THOSE WHO WILL WORK 12
Enrichers 13
Auxiliaries 16
Benefactors 19
Servitors 20
THOSE WHO CANNOT WORK 22
Those who are provided for 22
Those who are unprovided for 22
THOSE WHO WILL NOT WORK 23
Vagrants or Tramps 23
Professional Beggars 23
Cheats and their Dependants 24
Thieves and their Dependants 25
Prostitutes and their Dependants 27
THOSE THAT NEED NOT WORK 27
Those who derive their Income from Rent 27
Those who derive their Income from Dividends 27
Those who derive their Income from Yearly Stipends 27
Those who derive their Income from obsolete or nominal Offices 27
Those who derive their Income from Trades in which they do
not appear 27
Those who derive their Income by favour from others 27
Those who derive their support from the head of the family 27
THE NON-WORKERS. BY HENRY MAYHEW 28
PROSTITUTES.
THE PROSTITUTE CLASS GENERALLY. BY HENRY MAYHEW AND
BRACEBRIDGE HEMYNG 35
PROSTITUTION IN ANCIENT STATES 37
The Jews, &c. 39
Ancient Egypt 43
Ancient Greece 45
Ancient Rome 49
The Anglo-Saxons 34
PROSTITUTION AMONG THE BARBAROUS NATIONS 58
African Nations 58
Australia 67
New Zealand 71
Islands of the Pacific 76
North American Indians 84
South American Indians 90
Cities of South America 93
West Indies 94
Java 96
Sumatra 99
Borneo 103
PROSTITUTION AMONG THE SEMI-CIVILIZED NATIONS 104
Celebes 107
Persia 108
The Affghans 111
Kashmir 115
India 117
Ceylon 125
China 129
Japan 136
The ultra-Gangetic Nations 139
Egypt 141
Northern Africa 149
Arabia, Syria, and Asia Minor 151
Turkey 155
Circassia 158
The Tartar Races 160
PROSTITUTION AMONG THE MIXED NORTHERN NATIONS 163
Russia 165
Siberia 167
Iceland and Greenland 172
Lapland and Sweden 174
Norway 177
Denmark 179
PROSTITUTION IN CIVILIZED STATES 181
Spain 191
Amsterdam 195
Belgium 195
Hamburg 196
Prussia--Germany 198
Berlin 198
Austria 200
Modern Rome 201
Turin 203
Berne 204
Paris 205
PROSTITUTION IN LONDON. BY BRACEBRIDGE HEMYNG 210
GENERAL REMARKS 210
SECLUSIVES, OR THOSE THAT LIVE IN PRIVATE HOUSES AND APARTMENTS 215
THE HAYMARKET 217
DEGREE OF EDUCATION AMONG PROSTITUTES 218
BOARD LODGERS 220
Autobiographies 220
THOSE WHO LIVE IN LOW LODGING HOUSES 223
Swindling Sall 223
Lushing Loo 224
SAILORS’ WOMEN 226
Visit to Ratcliff Highway 228
Visit to Bluegate Fields, &c. 231
SOLDIERS’ WOMEN 233
Visit to Knightsbridge 235
THIEVES’ WOMEN 236
Visit to Drury Lane, &c. 236
PARK WOMEN 242
Examples 242
THE DEPENDANTS OF PROSTITUTES 246
Bawds 246
Followers of Dress Lodgers 247
Keepers of Accommodation Houses 249
Procuresses, Pimps, and Panders 250
Fancy Men 252
Bullies 253
CLANDESTINE PROSTITUTES
Female Operatives 255
Maid Servants 257
Ladies of Intrigue and Houses of Assignation 258
COHABITANT PROSTITUTES 259
Narrative of a Gay Woman 260
CRIMINAL RETURNS 263
TRAFFIC IN FOREIGN WOMEN 269
THIEVES AND SWINDLERS.--BY JOHN BINNY.
INTRODUCTION 273
SNEAKS, OR COMMON THIEVES 277
Juvenile Thieves 277
Stealing from Street Stalls 277
Stealing from the Till 278
Stealing from the Doors and Windows of Shops 279
Stealing from Children 281
Child Stripping 281
Stealing from Drunken Persons 282
Stealing Linen, &c. 283
Robberies from Carts 284
Stealing Lead from House-tops, Copper from Kitchens, &c. 285
Robberies by false Keys 286
Robberies by Lodgers 288
Robberies by Servants 289
Area and Lobby Sneaks 290
Stealing by Lifting Windows, &c. 292
Attic or Garret Thieves 293
A Visit to the Rookery of St. Giles 294
Narrative of a London Sneak 301
PICKPOCKETS AND SHOPLIFTERS 303
Common Pickpockets 306
Omnibus Pickpockets 309
Railway Pickpockets 310
A Visit to the Thieves’ Dens in Spitalfields 311
Narrative of a Pickpocket 316
HORSE AND DOG STEALERS 325
Horse Stealing 325
Dog Stealing 325
HIGHWAY ROBBERS 326
A Ramble among the Thieves’ Dens in the Borough 330
HOUSEBREAKERS AND BURGLARS 334
Narrative of a Burglar 345
Narrative of another Burglar 349
PROSTITUTE THIEVES 355
Prostitutes of the Haymarket 356
Common Street Walkers 360
Hired Prostitutes 361
Park Women 362
Soldiers’ Women 363
Sailors’ Women 365
FELONIES ON THE RIVER THAMES 366
Mudlarks 366
Sweeping Boys 367
Sellers of Small Wares 367
Labourers on board Ship 367
Dredgermen or Fishermen 368
Smuggling 368
Felonies by Lightermen 368
The River Pirates 369
Narrative of a Mudlark 370
RECEIVERS OF STOLEN PROPERTY 373
Dolly Shops 373
Pawnbrokers, &c. 374
Narrative of a Returned Convict 376
COINING 377
Coiners 378
Forgers 380
CHEATS 383
Embezzlers 383
Magsmen or Sharpers 385
Swindlers 388
BEGGARS.--BY ANDREW HALLIDAY.
INTRODUCTION 393
ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE POOR LAWS 394
Statistics of the Poor Laws 397
Report of the Poor Law Board 397
STREET BEGGARS IN 1816 398
MENDICANT PENSIONERS 399
MENDICITY SOCIETY 399
Examples of Applications 401
BEGGING LETTER WRITERS 403
Decayed Gentlemen 404
Broken-down Tradesmen 405
Distressed Scholar 405
The Kaggs’ Family 406
ADVERTISING BEGGING LETTER WRITERS 410
ASHAMED BEGGARS 412
THE SWELL BEGGAR 413
CLEAN FAMILY BEGGARS 413
NAVAL AND MILITARY BEGGARS 415
Turnpike Sailor 415
Street Campaigners 417
FOREIGN BEGGARS 419
The French Beggar 419
Destitute Poles 420
Hindoo Beggars 423
Negro Beggars 425
DISASTER BEGGARS 427
A Shipwrecked Mariner 428
Blown-up Miners 429
Burnt-out Tradesmen 429
Lucifer Droppers 431
Bodily Afflicted Beggars 431
Seventy years a Beggar 432
Having swollen Legs 433
Cripples 433
A Blind Beggar 433
Beggars subject to Fits 434
Being in a Decline 435
Shallow Coves 435
Famished Beggars 436
The Choking Dodge 437
The Offal Eater 437
PETTY TRADING BEGGARS 438
An Author’s Wife 440
DEPENDANTS OF BEGGARS 441
Referees 445
DISTRESSED OPERATIVE BEGGARS 446
Starved-out Manufacturers 446
Unemployed Agriculturists 446
Frozen-out Gardeners 446
Hand-loom Weavers, &c. 447
APPENDIX.
MAPS AND TABLES
ILLUSTRATING THE CRIMINAL STATISTICS OF EACH OF THE COUNTIES OF
ENGLAND AND WALES IN 1851.
PAGE
Map showing the Density of the Population 451
Table of ditto 452
Map showing the Intensity of Criminality 455
Table of ditto 456
Map showing the Intensity of Ignorance 459
Table of ditto 460
Table of Ignorance among Criminals 462
Table of Degrees of Criminality 464
Comparative Educational Tables 465
Map showing the Number of Illegitimate Children 467
Table of ditto 468
Map showing the Number of Early Marriages 471
Table of ditto 472
Map showing the Number of Females 475
Table of ditto 476
Map showing Commitals for Rape 477
Table of ditto 479
Map showing Committals for Assault with Intent to Ravish and
Carnally Abuse 481
Table of ditto 482
Map showing Commitals for Disorderly Houses 485
Table of ditto 486
Map showing Concealment of Births 489
Table of ditto 490
Map showing attempts at Miscarriage 493
Table of ditto 494
Map showing Assaults with Intent 497
Table of ditto 498
Map showing Committals for Bigamy 499
Table of ditto 500
Map showing Committals for Abduction 501
Table of ditto 502
Map showing the Criminality of Females 503
Table of ditto 504
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
A MIDNIGHT MEETING--REV. BAPTIST NOEL SPEAKING _Frontispiece_
GREEK DANCING GIRL--HETAIRA--AGE OF SOCRATES _Page_ 45
ROMAN BROTHEL--IMPERIAL ERA 47
WOMEN OF THE BOSJES RACE 59
GIRLS OF NUBIA--MAKING POTTERY 65
WOMAN OF THE SACS, OR “SAU-KIES,” TRIBE OF AMERICAN INDIANS 85
DYAK WOMEN--BORNEO 103
CHINESE WOMAN--PROSTITUTE 129
SCENE IN THE GARDENS OF ‘CLOSERIE DES LILAS’--PARIS 213
A NIGHT HOUSE--KATE HAMILTON’S 217
THE NEW CUT--EVENING 223
THE HAYMARKET--MIDNIGHT 261
BOYS EXERCISING AT TOTHILL FIELDS’ PRISON 301
CELL, WITH PRISONER AT CRANK LABOUR IN THE SURREY HOUSE
OF CORRECTION 345
FRIENDS VISITING PRISONERS 377
LIBERATION OF PRISONERS FROM COLDBATH FIELDS’ HOUSE OF CORRECTION 387
INTRODUCTION.
THE AGENCIES AT PRESENT IN OPERATION WITHIN THE METROPOLIS FOR THE
SUPPRESSION OF VICE AND CRIME.
One of the most remarkable and distinctive features of the present age
is the universal desire for analytical investigations. Almost every
branch of social economy is treated with a precision, and pursued with
an accuracy, that pertains to an exact science. Demonstration has been
reduced to a mathematical certainty; figures and statistics everywhere
abound, and supply data for further research.
Too often, however, it happens that the solution of the social problem,
or the collation of facts tending to throw light upon the moral and
religious condition of our country, forms the goal, and not the
starting point of our labours.
Having accomplished a diligent, and often a laborious, search, and
succeeded in eliminating truth from a mass of contradictory evidence,
men are generally satisfied with the mere pleasure derived from
success. Their knowledge, the hard pursuit of which has called forth
immense energy and perseverance, and entrenched largely on their time
and capital, is no longer the means to an end, but the end itself.
Having gathered a few pebbles from the exhaustless arcana of social
philosophy, they complacently enjoy their newly-found treasures,
without a thought of the practical uses to which they may be applied.
Other men are found who enter into their labours, and use the materials
thus collected as the basis of further philanthropic investigations.
While thus perpetually rising higher in the scale of intelligence, and
arriving at closer approximations to truth, men too often neglect to
turn their discoveries to any utilitarian or practical purpose, and
rest content with merely theoretical results.
Thus it is that while an inductive philosophy is built up from a
series of statistics and particulars, very little is being done to
reduce this knowledge to practice. The science of investigation is
admirable as far as it goes, and the pursuit of truth is at all times
an object worthy of human ambition; but it must become the pioneer to
tangible results, or its utility will by no means be apparent; and
indeed it becomes a question, in an active state of existence, how
far knowledge, which is final in its character and valuable merely
for its own sake, is calculated to reward the efforts expended on its
acquisition. It is true that the old philosophers held a contemplative
life to be the highest development of human happiness, but their dreamy
and fluctuating views are hardly likely to carry weight in an age of
bustling activity; and it is equally certain that the bare, quiescent
contemplation of evil in all its endless ramifications and hideous
consequences, apart from all remedial efforts, is not likely to prove
satisfactory to the philanthropist, nor consolatory to the Christian.
It is only so far as knowledge opens up to us the path of usefulness,
and directs us how and where to plant our energies for the benefit of
the human race, that it becomes really valuable. If, however, knowledge
be power, and if the discovery of an evil be half-way towards its
cure, then have we a right to expect that our humanitarian and other
appliances for the alleviation of misery and the prevention of crime,
should at least keep pace with modern developments of social science.
Hitherto men have been content to declaim against these evils, wherever
they existed, without suggesting any feasible remedies.
For a length of time our philanthropic schemes have partaken too
much of the character of mere surface appliances, directed to the
amelioration of existing evils, but in no way likely to effect their
extirpation. We have been dealing with effects rather than with first
causes, and in our zeal to absorb, divert, or diminish the former,
the latter have generally escaped detection. When too late, we have
discovered that mere palliatives will not suffice, and that they are
powerless to resist the steady growth of crime in all its subtle
developments. For, as well might we attempt to exhaust the perennial
flow of a spring by the application of sponges, as prescribe external
alleviations for our social disorders.
Our homes, penitentiaries, and industrial reformatories will continue
to do their work of mercy upon an infinitesimal scale, and will snatch
solitary individuals from impending destruction; but in the meantime
the reproductive process goes on, and fresh victims are hurried upon
the stage of suffering and of guilt, from numberless unforeseen and
unsuspected channels, thus causing a continuous succession of want,
profligacy, and wretchedness.
We have affected surprise, that, notwithstanding all our benevolent
exertions, and the completeness and efficiency of our reclaiming
systems, the great tide of our social impurities continues to roll on
with increasing velocity. Happily, however, for future generations,
there is a manifest tendency in the present age to correct these fatal
mistakes, and to return to first principles.
The science of anatomy is not confined to hospitals and
dissecting-rooms, nor restricted in its application to the human frame.
Social science conferences, and other associations are laying bare the
deeply-imbedded roots of our national evils, and are preparing the way
for their extirpation. Men are getting tired of planting flowers and
training creepers to hide their social upases, and are beginning to
discover that it is both sounder policy and truer economy to uproot a
noxious weed than to pluck off its poisonous berries.
We have flattered ourselves that education and civilization, with all
their humanizing and elevating influences, would gradually permeate
all ranks of society; and that the leaven of Christianity would
ultimately subdue the power of evil, and convert our outer world into
an Elysium of purity and unselfishness. The results, however, of past
years have hardly answered these sanguine expectations; and our present
experience goes far to prove, that while there has undoubtedly been
progress for good, there has been a corresponding progress for evil;
for although the criminal statistics of some localities exhibit a
sensible diminution in certain forms of vice, we must not forget that
an increase of education and a growing intelligence bring with them
superior facilities for the successful perpetration and concealment of
crime.
All the latest developments of science and skill being pressed into
the service of the modern criminal, his evasion of justice must
often be regarded less as the result of caution, or of a fortuitous
combination of favourable circumstances, than of his knowledge of
chemical properties and physical laws. So far indeed from our being
able to augur favourably from the infrequency of convictions, the
fearful tragedies which are occasionally brought to the surface of
society, coupled in many instances with a surprising fertility of
resource and ingenuity of method, are indicative of an under current
of crime--the depth and foulness of which defy all computation. We may
add further, that the immense difficulty of obtaining direct evidence
in cases of criminal prosecution, and the _onus probandi_ that the
law, not unfairly, throws upon the accusers, are sufficient to hush
up any cases of mere suspicion; so that at present we possess no
adequate data by which to gauge the real dimensions of crime, or to
judge respecting its insidious growth and power. It is not, however,
so much with crime in the abstract, as with the most prolific sources
of vice that the philanthropist has to deal; and it is a highly
suggestive and encouraging fact that, in these days, men are concerned
in investigating the various causes of crime, and in exposing its
reflex influence upon society. Just in proportion as they adhere to
this course, which is distinguished alike by prudence and sagacity,
will they become instrumental in effecting a radical reformation of
existing evils, and in restoring society to a more healthy and vigorous
condition. “What we want in all such cases is no false rhetoric and no
violent outbursts of passion, but clear statements of that vivid truth
which contains the intrinsic elements of reformation amongst mankind.
The true philanthropist is the man whose judgment is on a par with his
feelings, and who recognizes the fact that there is some particle of
meaning in every particle of suffering around us.
“Some of this wretchedness is remediable, the result of actual causes
which may be altered, though much is beyond human control. In an age
like this, however we may toil to overtake the urgent need of our own
time, the difficulty is, at the same time, calmly and deliberately
to satisfy the fresh wants which may daily arise--keeping pace with
them. With the heavy defalcations from past years weighing upon them,
our statesmen and economists are often bewildered at the magnitude of
their engagements; while the best and wisest amongst us are crushed
and appalled by the new and giant evils which are continually being
brought to light. Earnest thought, however, is the true incentive to
action,”[1] and we would thankfully recognize as one visible result of
the increasing attention given to matters of public interest, a growing
disposition on the part of all who are qualified by position and
authority, to grapple manfully with the various phases of wretchedness
and crime now contributing their influence upon our social condition.
Nowhere are these hopeful indications more manifest than in this giant
metropolis, where the various conditions of ordinary life seem to be
intensified by their direct contact with good and evil; and where
Christianity appears to be struggling to maintain its independent
and aggressive character, amid much that is calculated to retard its
progress and check its influence.
It is here, within the crowded areas and noisome purlieus of this
greatest of great cities, that we may gather lessons of life to be
gained nowhere else--and of which those can form a very inadequate
conception, who dwell only in an atmosphere of honied flowers and rural
pleasures.
It is here especially that the sorrows and sufferings of humanity
have evoked an active and pervasive spirit of benevolence, which has
infected all ranks and penetrated every class of society; so that the
high born and the educated, the gentle and the refined, vie with each
other in a restless energy to alleviate human misery and to assuage
some of the groans of creation. This disposition to relieve distress
in every shape, and to mitigate the ills of a common brotherhood,
proclaims at once its divine origin, and is, in fact, the nearest
assimilation to the character of Him who “went about doing good.”
The germ of this heaven-born principle has survived the fall; and
though its highest development is one of the distinguishing marks of
the true Christian, its existence is discernible in all who have not
sinned away the last faint outlines of the Divine image.
Some philosophers, indeed, would persuade us that there is no such
thing in existence as a principle of pure, unmixed benevolence; that
every exercise of charity is simply another mode of self-gratification,
and every generous impulse a mere exhibition of selfishness.
Undoubtedly there is a “luxury in doing good,” and the ability to
contribute to the happiness of others is one of the purest sources of
human gratification; but we question whether an act, resulting from
mere self-love, is capable of yielding any solid satisfaction to the
agent; and we therefore hold the existence of genuine benevolence,
believing that it is a principle innate in the human breast, and
requiring only to be developed and consecrated by religious influence
to become one of the most powerful levers for the evangelization of the
world.
Unhappily there are too many who have schooled themselves to the
practice of inhumanity, and closed up the springs of spontaneous
sympathy, thus depriving the heart of its rightful heritage, and
restricting the sphere of its operations to self. Those who thus
sever themselves from all external influences are left at length in
undisturbed possession of a little world of their own creation. No
longer linked to their fellow-men in the bonds of true fellowship,
their orbit of activity becomes narrower, until at length every
avenue to the heart is hermetically sealed, except such as minister
to self-gratification and indulgence. The man who has thus estranged
himself from the rest of creation, and become isolated from all the
ties of a common humanity, is indeed an object of unqualified pity,
because he has destroyed one of the purest springs of happiness.
He who, on the other hand, is most fully alive to the claims of
universal brotherhood, and whose heart is most
“At leisure from itself,
To soothe and sympathize,”
is the highest type of man, and the best representative of his race.
This spirit of brotherhood if recognised by the world, would “hush the
thunder of battle, and wipe away the tears of nations. It would sweep
earth’s wildernesses of moral blight, causing them to blossom as the
rose.”
Those persons who accustom themselves to speak of London as a mere
seething caldron of crime, or as a very charnel-house of impurity,
without any redeeming character or hopeful element, are surely as wide
of the mark as they who under-rate its vast resources for crime, or
take a superficial view of its predominant vices.
It would, perhaps, be a curious and not unprofitable subject of
inquiry how far the metropolis contributes its influence for good or
evil upon the provinces, and to what extent the country is capable of
reciprocating this influence. Probably, allowance being made for the
difference of population, the law of giving and receiving is pretty
evenly adjusted. Those forms of vice which seem to be more indigenous
to our great cities are steadily imported into the country, while on
the other hand, the hamlet and the village transmit to the town those
particular vices in which they appear to be constitutionally most
prolific.
It is in the crowded city, however, that the seeds of good or evil are
brought to the highest state of maturity, and virtue and vice most
rapidly developed, under the forcing influences that everywhere abound.
“Great cities,” says Dr. Guthrie, “many have found to be great curses.
It had been well for many an honest lad and unsuspecting country
girl, that hopes of higher wages and opportunities of fortune--that
the gay attire and polished tongue, and gilded story of some old
acquaintance--had never turned their steps cityward, nor turned them
from the rude simplicity, but safety of their rustic home. Many a foot
that once lightly pressed the heather or brushed the dewy grass, has
wearily trodden in darkness, and guilt, and remorse, on these city
pavements. Happy had it been for many that they had never exchanged
the starry skies for the lamps of the town, nor had left their lonely
glens, or quiet hamlets, or solitary shores, for the throng and roar of
our streets. Well for them that they had heard no roar but the rivers,
whose winter flood it had been safer to breast; no roar but oceans,
whose stormiest waves it had been safer to ride, than encounter the
flood of city temptations, which has wrecked their virtue and swept
them into ruin.
“Yet I bless God for cities. The world had not been what it is without
them. The disciples were commanded to ‘begin at Jerusalem,’ and Paul
threw himself into the cities of the ancient world, as offering the
most commanding positions of influence. Cities have been as lamps of
light along the pathway of humanity and religion. Within them science
has given birth to her noblest discoveries. Behind their walls freedom
has fought her noblest battles. They have stood on the surface of
the earth like great breakwaters, rolling back or turning aside the
swelling tide of oppression. Cities, indeed, have been the cradles
of human liberty. They have been the radiating, active centres of
almost all church and state reformation. The highest humanity has
been developed in cities. Somehow or other, amid their crowding and
confinement, the human mind finds its fullest freest expansion.
Unlike the dwarfed and dusty plants which stand in our city gardens,
languishing like exiles for the purer air and freer sunshine, that
kiss their fellows far away in flowery fields and green woodland, on
sunny banks and breezy hills, man reaches his highest condition amid
the social influences of the crowded city. His intellect receives its
brightest polish, where gold and silver lose theirs, tarnished by the
scorching smoke and foul vapours of city air. The mental powers acquire
their full robustness, where the cheek loses its ruddy hue, and the
limbs their elastic step, and pale thought sits on manly brows, and as
aërolites--those shooting stars which, like a good man on his path in
life, leave a train of glory behind them on the dusky sky--are supposed
to catch fire by the rapidity of their motion, as they rush through
the higher regions of our atmosphere, so the mind of man fires, burns,
shines, acquires its most dazzling brilliancy, by the very rapidity of
action into which it is thrown amid the bustle and excitements of city
life. And if, just as in those countries where tropical suns, and the
same skies, ripen the sweetest fruit and the deadliest poisons--you
find in the city the most daring and active wickedness, you find there
also, boldly confronting it, the most active, diligent, warm-hearted,
self-denying and devoted Christians.”[2]
London then may be considered as the grand central focus of operations,
at once the emporium of crime and the palladium of Christianity. It is,
in fact the great arena of conflict between the powers of darkness and
the ministry of heaven. Here, within the area of our metropolis, the
real struggle is maintained between the two antagonistic principles
of good and evil. It is here that they join issue in the most deadly
proximity, and struggle for the vantage-ground.
Here legions of crime and legions of vices unite and form an almost
impenetrable phalanx, while the strong man armed enjoys his goods in
peace--no, not in peace, for here too the banner of the cross is most
firmly planted, and Christianity wins its freshest laurels. Here is
the stronghold, the occupation of which by the everlasting gospel,
has given vigour, support, and consistency to the religion of the
world. Here is concentrated that fervent and apostolic piety that has
made itself felt to the remotest corner of the earth; and here is the
nucleus of missionary enterprise, and the radiating centre of active
benevolence.
“The Christian power that has moved a sluggish world on, the Christian
benevolence and energy that have changed the face of society, the
Christian zeal that has gone forth, burning to win nations and kingdoms
for Jesus,” have received their birth or development in London.
Since, then, this busy mart of the world, in which the most opposite
and dissimilar wares are exhibited, is made up of such composite
materials and conflicting elements, it is only fair that while
estimating its capabilities for crime, and endeavouring to plumb
its depths of depravity, ignorance, and suffering, we should, when
possible, faithfully depict their opposites, and take cognizance of
such instrumentalities as present the best antidotes and alleviations.
It is questionable, indeed, how far the cause of religion and morality
would be promoted by a ghastly array of facts, representing the
dimensions of crime in all its naked deformity, or by any exhibition,
however truthful, of vice and wretchedness under their most repulsive
aspects, and without any cheering reference to corrective and remedial
agencies. The effect produced upon the mind, in such a case, would be,
in the generality of instances, blank despair; and the only influence
thus excited would partake strongly of that morbid sympathy and
unhealthy excitement, awakened by delineations of fictitious distress.
To unravel the dark catalogue of London profligacy, and present to
the eye of the reader the wearisome expanse of guilt and suffering,
unrelieved by any indications of improvement, would be like exhibiting
the convulsive death-agony of a drowning man without the friendly
succour of a rope, or like conjuring up the horrors of a shipwreck
without the mental relief afforded by a life-boat.
We need the day star of hope to guide us through the impenetrable gloom
of moral darkness. The olive branch of mercy and the rainbow of promise
are as needful tokens of social and religious improvement, as of abated
judgments and returning favour.
After being required to give attention to figures and statistics
representing crime in the aggregate, the mental eye requires
alleviation from the gross darkness it has encountered, and looks
impatiently for some streak of light in the moral horizon, indicative
of approaching day. To view London crime and misery, without their
encouraging counterparts, would be like groping our way through the
blackness of midnight, unrelieved by the faintest glimmer of light.
Just, however, as stars shine brightest in the darkest nights, so may
we discover some element of hope under the most appalling exhibitions
of human depravity, which thus serve as a background to portray in
bolder relief, and by force of contrast, the redeeming qualities of
Christianity.
As a work of absorbing interest and utility to the British
philanthropist, Mr. Mayhew’s wonderful book, “London Labour and London
Poor,” stands probably unrivalled. The mass of evidence and detail,
accumulated after the most careful and indefatigable research, and
the personal interest which is sustained throughout, by the relation
of facts and occurrences, gleaned from the author’s own private
observation, or in which he took an active share, render his work both
invaluable to the legislator and acceptable to the general reader.
While, however, the former will refer to it as a book of reference,
the latter would probably rise from its perusal, with a sickening
apprehension of London depravity, and unless fortified by a previous
knowledge of counteracting agencies would probably form a too
lugubrious and desponding view of its social aspects. As any such
impression, derived from _ex-parte_ statements, would be highly
detrimental to the cause of truth and religious progress, and might
contribute to the relaxation of individual effort, the publishers
have naturally hesitated to allow one of the most startling and vivid
records of crime to go forth to the world, without directing attention
to the most approved and popular agencies, for the correction of such
abuses, as have been faithfully delineated in the course of the work.
The following brief summary of charitable and religious organizations,
having for their object the repression of crime and the diffusion of
vital Christianity, is intended therefore to form a supplement, or
prefatory essay, to the fourth and concluding volume of _London Labour
and London Poor_.
It would be impossible, within the narrow limits that have been
assigned to this essay, to do more than touch in a cursory and
incidental manner upon some of the principal agencies now at work
within the metropolis, for the suppression of vice and crime; the
object being not so much to exhibit the results which have rewarded
such instrumentalities, great and incalculable as they are, as to
indicate the best channels of usefulness, towards which public
attention should be constantly directed; not to foster pride and
self-complacency by tracing the progress we have already made, in
the race of Christian philanthropy, but rather to show how we may, by
rendering efficient support to existing organizations, advance still
further towards the goal, and rise to higher degrees of service in that
ministry of love, which aims at nothing less than the regeneration of
society, and the restoration of its unhappy prodigals to a condition of
present and eternal peace.
What we want is not so much the elaboration of new schemes and the
introduction of untried agencies, as a more unanimous and hearty
co-operation in sustaining such as are at present in existence, many
of which though fully deserving of a large measure of confidence and
support, are grown effete solely from want of funds to maintain them in
efficiency.
It has been truthfully remarked that there is hardly a woe or a misery
to which men are liable, whether resulting from accidental causes or
from personal culpability, which has not been assuaged or mitigated
by benevolent exertions. Experience indeed would go far to prove that
there are everywhere around us two mighty conflicting elements at
work, each having no other object than to pull down and destroy the
other. Every vice has its corresponding virtue, every form of evil
its counteracting influence for good, every Mount Ebal, its Gerizim;
the one being designed to act as an antidote or corrective to the
other, and to restore the type of heaven which the other has defaced.
The highest glory of our land--a glory far removed from territorial
acquisitions and national aggrandisement, and that which makes it
pre-eminently the admiration and envy of all other countries--are its
benevolent and charitable endowments. There is not another nation
in the world, where eleemosynary institutions have obtained such a
permanent hold upon the sympathies of all classes of society, nor where
such vast sums are realized by voluntary and private contributions.
“Palatial buildings, hospitals, reformatories, asylums, penitentiaries,
homes and refuges, there are, for the sick, the maimed, the blind, the
crippled, the aged, the infirm, the deaf, the dumb, the hungry, the
naked, the fallen and the destitute; and it is to the support of such
institutions, and the works which they carry on, that the nobles of
the land, and our prosperous merchants devote a large proportion of
their wealth.” No less than 530 charitable societies exist in London
alone, and nearly £2,000,000 of money is annually spent by them, while
probably the amount of alms bestowed altogether is not less than
£3,500,000.[3]
How far these resources, vast and extended as they really are, are
capable of satisfying present demands, may be best inferred from the
state of our criminal population, which is still to be counted by tens
of thousands, even while our prisons, refuges, and reformatories are
filled to overflowing.
“In spite,” says the author just quoted, “of our prison discipline, our
classification system, our silent system, and our separate system, all
these efforts that we make, and perhaps boast that we make, to turn
back the law-breaker to honest paths, nearly 30,000 criminals are each
year sent to prison, who only know the higher classes as objects of
plunder, and the maintenances of law and order as things; if possible
to be destroyed, and if not avoided.” £170,000 are annually expended
in London for the reformation of such offenders, and every modern
appliance that mercy or ingenuity can devise is brought to bear upon
our prison system, with what results may be clearly ascertained by the
large and increasing number of re-commitments--which form a proportion
of something like 30 per cent. on such as have been previously
incarcerated; while these, be it remembered, represent only the number
of those who render themselves amenable to justice by detection; there
being no means of ascertaining how many continue their avocations with
impunity.
Results like these are sufficiently disheartening to the
philanthropist, and embarrassing to the statesman, and serve to
show that however necessary it may be to devise methods for criminal
reformation, it is even more incumbent upon us, and far more
remunerative in the end, to carry out the principles of prevention.
The various agencies, at work in London, for the suppression of vice
and crime, may be treated under the following heads, which will serve
to indicate their relative value and proportionate influence; and
though, in their popular sense, many of the words used, may appear to
be only convertible terms, it is intended, for the sake of perspicuity
and arrangement, to assign to each a distinctive and separate meaning.
Thus the word _curative_ is used, not in its loose, remedial sense, as
applying to expedients calculated to produce a diminution of crime, but
must be understood as tending to the entire and absolute change of the
human will, and the renovation of a corrupt nature--such a thorough
change, in fact, as is implied in the word _cure_.
{ 1. Curative (radical).
Agencies for the { 2. Preventive (obstructive).
suppression of vice { 3. Repressive and punitive (compulsory).
and crime. { 4. Reformative (remedial).
1. _Curative Agencies._
Under this head _religion_ naturally occupies the foremost place;
since, by its restraining influence and converting power, it presents
the only true antidote, and the only safe barrier to the existence or
progress of crime; all other specifics, however valuable, being liable
to the imputation of failure, and their influence being either more
or less efficacious, according to the various phases of moral disease
exhibited by different mental and physical constitutions.
While applying political expedients for the cure of such disorders, it
must ever be borne in mind, that the origin of all evil is to be found
in the corruption of the human heart, and in its entire alienation
from God; and it is only so far as these intrinsic defects can be
remedied, that any permanent influence will be produced. That power,
therefore, which seizes upon the citadel of the heart, controlling
its affections, regulating its principles of action, and subduing its
vicious propensities or illicit motions, is the only sovereign remedy
for crime. In its natural state the heart may be compared to a fountain
discharging only turbid and bitter waters; but while various agencies
are employed to sweeten, disguise, or check this poisoned current,
religion is the only influence which purifies the fountain head, and
dries up the noxious springs, by placing a wholesome check upon the
first motive principles of action--the thoughts.
The truth of these remarks is even more strikingly exemplified in
the sudden and complete transformations of character, effected by
the all-mighty influence of religion. The moral demoniac finds no
difficulty in bursting the chains and fetters, in which society has
attempted to bind him. He is never changed, only curbed, pacified, or
restrained by such artificial modes of treatment. The wound may be
cauterised, cicatrised, or mollified, but the poison, if left in the
system, is sure to rankle and exhibit itself afresh. Religion, however,
casts out the unclean spirit, restores human nature to its right mind,
and asserts the supremacy of reason over that of passion and caprice.
Next in value and importance to religion itself, are those subordinate
instrumentalities calculated to exhibit or extend its influence, and
which bear the same relation to it as the means do to the end. Such
are the various agencies, in that divinely-appointed machinery for the
regeneration of mankind, the universal spread of “truth and justice,
religion and piety” throughout the world, and for the formation and
support of the spiritual Church of Christ.
The most powerful and efficacious of all levers for the social, moral,
and spiritual elevation of mankind is the _Word of God_. Into whatever
quarters of the habitable globe the sacred volume is diffused, there is
a corresponding spread of civilisation, and a sensible improvement in
the scale of humanity; and those countries are most socially, morally,
and politically debased, in which its circulation is debarred or
restricted.
Here it is only right to mention those societies which are directly
concerned in diffusing the Scriptures.
_The British and Foreign Bible Society_ is one of the most honoured and
influential channels for promoting the circulation of the Word of God,
“without note or comment.” It dates its origin from 1804, and since
this period it has, either directly or indirectly, been instrumental in
translating the Scriptures into 160 different languages or dialects,
including 190 separate versions. Connected with this Society, there are
in the United Kingdom 3728 auxiliary branches or associations.
The number of issues from London alone, during the last financial year,
amount to 594,651 copies of the Old Testament, and 544,901 copies of
the New Testament. The grants made during the same time amounted to
£58,551 17_s._ 7_d._ The total receipts of the Society derived from
subscriptions, and from the sale of publications, amounted last year to
£206,778 12_s._ 6_d._
Next to the Bible Society, the _Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge_ is most directly concerned in the propagation of the
Scriptures. It was founded in 1698. During the past year 157,358
Bibles, and 78,234 New Testaments have been issued, besides
prayer-books, tracts, and other publications. In addition to the
dissemination of religious works, its objects include the extension of
the Episcopate in the colonies, by contributing to the erection of new
sees, and the support of colleges and educational institutions. The
receipts for the past year amounted to £31,697 19_s._ 7_d._ besides
£81,516 6_s._ 8_d._ received for the sale of publications.