female children between 12 and 13 years of age, and the other to
simplify and facilitate the prosecution of persons charged with
keeping houses of ill fame, were this year submitted to parliament,
but unhappily without success, having been lost either on technical
grounds, or for want of support. It is refreshing to turn from the
supineness of statesmen to the energy and decision manifested by
private associations in resisting the encroachments of vice. The _East
London Association_, composed of a committee partly clerical and partly
lay, and including most of the influential parochial clergy in the
district, was instituted four years ago for the purpose of checking
“that class of _public offences_, which consists in acts of indecency,
profaneness, drunkenness, and prostitution.”
Its modes of action are as follows:--
1. To create and foster public opinion in reprobation of the
above-named acts.
2. To bring such public opinion to bear upon all exercising social
influence, with a view to discountenance the perpetrators and abettors
thereof.
3. To secure the efficient application by the Police of the laws
and regulations for the suppression of the class of public offences
above named; and to obtain, if necessary, the institution of legal
proceedings.
4. To procure the alteration of the law, wheresoever needful to
the object contemplated, and especially to the obtaining further
restrictions in granting Licenses for Music and Dancing to houses
where intoxicating liquors are sold.
5. To find Houses of Refuge and means of restoration for the victims
of seduction by honest employment, emigration, &c.
It is satisfactory to state that already, and with the very limited
funds placed at the disposal of this Association, no fewer than
“seventy-five houses in some of the worst streets in the east of
London, hitherto devoted to the vilest purposes, have been cleared
of their inmates; one of these houses having had thirty rooms, which
were occupied by prostitutes; that more than one house ostensibly
open for public accommodation, but really for ensnaring females for
prostitution, has been closed; and that in one instance of peculiar
atrocity, the owner of the house has been convicted and punished.
Handbills have also been issued, containing extracts from the Police
Acts, to show the power of remedy for offences against public decency,
such as swearing, the use of improper language, and the exhibition of
improper conduct in the streets.”
Such are the objects and results of this Association, and such the
praiseworthy example set to other London districts, which if vigorously
followed would result, at least, in the repression of vice, and in a
marked diminution of crime.
“It is chiefly from the reserve which, rather by implication than by
compact, has so long been preserved in those influential quarters
where the power to correct and guide public opinion is maintained,
that the crying social evil of our day has attained such dimensions,
and exhibited itself in such dangerous and revolting forms as we
have referred to. Preachers, moralists, and public writers have been
deterred by the difficulty and delicacy of the subject from their
obvious duty of protecting the social interests, and a sluggish
legislature, ever inert in introducing such measures as are calculated
to foster and conserve the public virtue, has thus lacked the external
pressure which might have aroused it to vigilance and forethought in
the discharge of its duties. Recently, however, there have been clear
indications that a distrust of the old plan is spreading. With manifest
reluctance, but not without interest, has public attention fastened
itself on a subject in which not merely the happiness of individuals,
and the peace of families, but the national prosperity and the concerns
of social life, are felt to be bound up. Inquiries as to the best mode
of doing something to stem the tide of immorality which is coursing
onwards are made in quarters where indifference, if not acquiescence,
was formerly manifested. Public opinion is ever slowly formed, but
is seldom wrong at the last in detecting the true source of generic
evils, and in applying to them the best remedies. Example, also, is as
contagious on the side of virtue as of vice; and where an initiative
step, taken by another, appeals to our intuitive sense of right and
duty, it is seldom that the courageous right-doer has to wait long for
the expression of sympathy and the proffer of aid.
“It is only recently that the great sin of our land has received a
measure of the attention it has long and loudly called for.
“First in one quarter, and then in another, has the subject been
discussed with tolerable delicacy, and with an approximate fidelity.
“The discussion has done good. Men have thought about the subject,
have been led to measure the fearful dimensions of this evil, to
observe its progress and influence within their own neighbourhoods,
and have come at last to deplore the existence of that which they have
too long tolerated or connived at. Where remedial measures have been
attempted, they have not lacked for countenance and support; and,
in some quarters, at least, there have been indications of a desire
to pass from the feebler stage of alleviation to the more potential
remedy of prevention. Whilst it seems to be admitted on all hands,
that to aim at the forcible extinction of immorality would be Utopian
and disappointing, the repression and diminution of crime is felt to
be an imperious obligation upon all who are vested with any power and
influence for that end.
“We cannot help regarding the measures which have been recently
adopted by certain parochial authorities in the metropolis as at once
a proof of the benefit which has arisen from the partial discussion of
this subject in the various public channels into which it has gained
admittance; and we regard it, further, as a cheering sign that a
deepening conviction is spreading on all sides respecting the absolute
necessity of a well-organised antagonism to evil, in place of our
former supine indifference, or more culpable acquiescence. Some of
the most influential metropolitan vestries have commenced a crusade
against the keepers of bad houses in their respective parishes, and,
by the vigour and promptitude characterizing their prosecutions, seem
determined to hunt down the hosts of abandoned householders who are
mainly concerned in extending and facilitating immorality.
“Aristocratic St. James’s, and more plebeian Lambeth, have alike joined
in these laudable measures; and it is to be noticed, with extreme
satisfaction, that the steps thus taken have been almost invariably
successful, and that severe punishments have been inflicted upon the
wretches who were the objects of these prosecutions. Such a movement
cannot be sufficiently applauded, and fervently is it to be trusted
that the example thus shown in these influential centres may not only
reach to every other parish in the metropolis, but may also stir up
the parochial authorities in every city and town in the land to a like
course of procedure. This is to strike at the main root of the evil. In
vain are all our Reformatories and Refuges, in vain the endeavours of
Christian people to repress the evil by exertions for the rescue even
of a large number of its victims, if the floodgates of vice be allowed,
by public neglect, to remain open, ever to pour out into our streets
fresh streams of wickedness and pollution. There are, no doubt, persons
who think that measures, such as those now under consideration, will
not materially check the traffic in vice, but will only lead to its
being more subtly and secretly practised. Even that result, if brought
about, would be something gained, something as a protest on the side
of public purity and virtue, and something in the amount of warning
and terror brought home to guilty breasts, leading them to dread
retribution in future, whenever offended justice could detect them
in their malpractices. But in truth there is no limit to the amount
of good which would result from these repressive measures becoming
universal and well-sustained.
“Many persons would be saved from future ruin, a manifest check would
be given to the further development of iniquity, and the example of
authority thus generally exercised in aid of the cause of virtue, would
greatly tend to the spread of sounder views of social duty in regard to
this matter.”[7]
One of the greatest scandals on a country professedly Christian, is
the extent to which Sabbath desecration pervades the metropolis.
Although the traffic now openly pursued in the streets, or carried on
with impunity in shops, is strictly illegal, yet the technicalities
which are too often allowed to obstruct the ends of justice, and
the smallness of the fines inflicted, even where summary conviction
follows, concur to render the law, in this particular, a mere dead
letter.
The permission to sell on Sunday, originally extended only to
vendors of perishable articles, is now claimed by whole troops of
costermongers, who, presuming upon the license they have so long
enjoyed, no longer hesitate to ply their usual calling in the most
public and offensive manner, frequently pursuing their traffic in the
open streets during the hours of divine service, and disturbing whole
congregations by their noisy vociferations around the very doors of our
churches.
These evils call loudly for more stringent legal measures, and it is to
be hoped the time is not far distant when some improvement will take
place.
As one means of directing public attention to this subject, by the
circulation of appeals and tracts, and of promoting the introduction
of salutary legal provisions for the repression of such acts of
desecration, the _Society for Promoting the Due Observance of the
Lord’s Day_ is entitled to a large measure of support. The efforts made
by the Society to awaken public opposition to the obnoxious provisions
of Lord Chelmsford’s Sunday Trading Bill, were probably mainly
instrumental in securing its rejection.
One of the noblest repressive agencies within the metropolis is the
_Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals_, established
in 1824, which employs a number of agents to frequent the markets
and public thoroughfares, for the purpose of bringing to punishment
persons detected in the commission of acts of cruelty to animals. It
seeks, moreover, by means of suitable tracts, to diffuse among the
public a just sense of the duty of humanity and forbearance towards the
lower orders of creation. Allusion was made during the present year
to the objects embraced by this Society from upwards of two thousand
London pulpits, which will doubtless have the effect of directing the
attention of the benevolent public to an instrumentality which has
already achieved a large amount of good; and only requires to be better
known to enjoy a corresponding measure of support.
4. _Reformative Agencies._
Must be understood as referring solely to individuals, and include
all such measures as are employed to effect an external change of
character, and render those, who are vicious and depraved, honest and
respectable members of society.
While, however, agencies of this kind are reformative in their relation
to persons, they have also a preventive aspect, when viewed in their
bearings upon the entire community; for the reformation of every
vicious man is a social boon, inasmuch as it removes one individual
from a course of vice, and thus diminishes the aggregate of crime.
As a nucleus of reformatory operations, and a “centre of information
and encouragement,” the _Reformatory and Refuge Union_ was established
in 1856. It seeks to diffuse information respecting the various
agencies at present in existence, and to encourage and facilitate the
establishment of new institutions. In connection with the Union is a
“_Female Mission_” for the rescue of the fallen. The Mission maintains
a staff of female missionaries, whose business it is to distribute
tracts among the fallen women of the metropolis, to converse with them
in the streets, and visit them in their houses, in the hospitals, or
in the workhouses. These missionaries, “as a rule, leave their homes
between eight and nine o’clock at night, remaining out till nearly
twelve, and occasionally till one in the morning. They are located in
different parts of London, near to the nightly walks and haunts of
those they desire to benefit. They have the means of rescuing a large
number who have been placed in the Homes or restored to their friends.”
There are upwards of fifty metropolitan institutions for the reception
of the destitute and the reformation of the criminal, or those who are
exposed to temptation, capable of accommodating collectively about
4,000 persons of both sexes.
Nine of these institutions are designed especially for the reception
and training of juvenile criminals, sentenced under the “Youthful
Offenders’ Act,” and two for vagrants sentenced to detention under the
“Industrial School Act.” Three are exclusively appropriated to the
benefit of discharged prisoners, and the rest are chiefly employed in
the rescue and reformation of destitute or criminal children.[8]
Most of these institutions, with the exception of such as are certified
by Act of Parliament, and aided by Government subsidies, are supported
entirely by voluntary contributions and by the earnings of the inmates,
who are either admitted free on application, or by payment of a small
sum towards the expense of maintenance.
Such is the benevolent machinery now at work within the metropolis for
the reformation of our criminal population, and for the preservation of
those who are in a fair way of becoming the moral pests and aliens of
society.
The results, both in a religious, social, and sanatory point of view,
achieved by these different agencies, are beyond all human calculation;
and it is mainly to their beneficial and restraining influence that the
peace, safety, and well-being of society may be attributed.
The other _Reformative Agencies_ are those adapted to the rescue and
reformation of fallen women, or such as have been led astray from the
paths of virtue.
There are twenty-one institutions in London devoted to these objects,
and unitedly providing accommodation for about 1,200 inmates. Ten of
these are in connexion with the Church of England, and in the remaining
eleven the religious instruction is unsectarian and evangelical.
Three, viz., _The Female Temporary Home_, _The Trinity Home_, and _The
Home of Hope_, are designed for the reception of the better educated
and higher class of fallen women. One, viz., _The London Society for
the Protection of Young Females_, is limited to girls under fifteen
years of age; and another, _The Marylebone Female Protection Society_,
affords shelter exclusively to those who have recently been led astray,
and whose previous good character will bear the strictest investigation.
It may be fairly assumed that the objects of all these institutions
are substantially the same, viz., the reformation of character, and
the restoration of the individual to religious and social privileges.
While, however, the end is in most cases one and the same, the methods
and subordinate means adopted to insure its attainment, are often
strikingly dissimilar, and present distinctive and almost opposite
features. Thus one class of institutions, in imitation of our Lord’s
merciful forbearance towards the sinner, make their treatment
pre-eminently one of love, and seek by means the most gentle and
attractive to win back the stubborn wills and depraved natures of those
entrusted to their care. Kindness is the only instrument used in laying
siege to the hard heart, and in mollifying the seared conscience. Stern
discipline, irritating restraints, and rigorous exactions, form no
part of a system which is built up on the model prescribed by Him, who
“spake as never man spake.”
That a mode of treatment which affords such a remarkable coincidence,
and such a striking parallel to the divine method of dealing with
the sinner, so eloquently taught under the parable of the Prodigal
Son, should be found by experience to be the only really efficacious
one, can hardly be a matter of surprise. The fact is too notorious to
require any proof that in numberless instances
‘Law and terrors do but harden’
the heart which can be easily subdued by the exhibition of Christian
kindness. Here is the omnipotent weapon which has achieved such moral
victories, when wielded by gentle and loving women, like Miss Marsh,
Mrs. Wightman, and Mrs. Sheppard.
The opposite mode of treatment, however successful it may be in the
restoration of external character, or in the subjugation of turbulent
passions, is defective, inasmuch as it fails to influence the heart,
and therefore at best contributes only to an incomplete and partial
cure. The almost penal character of the system pursued in many of
the older penitentiaries is founded on the misconception, that the
injury sustained by society in the departure from virtue of her female
members, can only be atoned for by some personal mulct inflicted on the
offender. While, therefore, the ultimate object is the reformation of
lost character, this is too often overlooked or rendered subsidiary to
the proximate one of propitiating society; and the austere regimen by
which the latter point is secured, is generally found to be subversive
of the other. When, however, as is too frequently the case, society is
the _tempter_, the offence may surely be condoned by a less rigorous
process! Society may indeed well waive the right to compensation
for supposed damages, when it can be proved that she is at least
_particeps criminis_, and when, moreover, she has a personal interest
in the speedy restoration of her unhappy prodigals. The retributive
suffering, which, in the majority of cases, so surely overtakes the
female delinquent, may be urged as another reason for dealing leniently
with the erring; but the strongest justification of such a method is
undoubtedly derived from the success attending it, and from the Divine
sanction which it has received.
The impediments which the old penitentiary system of close confinement,
criminal fare, and hard labour, have unfortunately presented to the
rescue of fallen women is too well known to those who are accustomed
to deal with this class. Frequently are the urgent entreaties of the
missionary to forsake an abandoned course of life, and seek shelter
in some institution, met with either rancorous denunciations against
the penal system, or by polite but firm refusals to submit to the
discipline, which is supposed to extend to all reformatory asylums.
Gradually, however, this prevailing opinion is being cleared away, and
the fallen women themselves are not slow to distinguish between the
two opposite methods of treatment, a fact which is rendered clearly
apparent by the overwhelming number of applications for admission into
those Homes which are characterized by a more humane and gentle regimen.
The oldest reformatory institution in the metropolis for the reception
of fallen women is _The Magdalen Hospital_, founded in 1758. During the
last 100 years of its existence nearly 9,000 women have been admitted,
about two-thirds of whom have been restored to friends or relations.
At the time when this charity was first instituted “the notion of
providing a house for the reception and maintenance of ‘Penitent
Prostitutes’ seems not to have suggested itself to the public mind.
Even good and actively benevolent men appear to have been startled at
the novelty of the proposition, while they doubted the wisdom, and
still more the success of such an attempt. The newspapers of that
period contained both arguments against, and ridicule of the plan and
its promoters. God, however, blessed the undertaking, and raised up
friends and supporters in every direction.”
So that eighteen years after its incorporation its friends were able to
use the following cheering language.
“We see many fellow-creatures, by means of this happy asylum, rescued
from sorrow in which they had been involved by all the iniquitous
stratagems of seduction; in which condition they had been detained
by a species of horrid necessity; from which they had no probable or
possible retreat; and in which they must, therefore, according to all
human appearance, have perished. We see them restored to their God,
to their parents, to their friends, their country, and themselves.
What charitable heart, what truly Christian hand can withhold its best
endeavours to promote an undertaking so laudable, so beneficent? Who
would not desire to add to the number of souls preserved from the
deepest guilt--of bodies rescued from shame, misery, and death? Who
would not wish to wipe the tear from a parent’s eyes--to save the hoary
head from being brought down with sorrow to the grave?”
An interval of half a century elapsed after the foundation of the
Magdalen Asylum before the establishment of any similar institution.
Within the last ten years, however, public attention has been directed
with increasing interest to this subject, and numerous efforts have
been made to provide more ample accommodation for those who are
desirous of escaping from their wretched mode of life.
The _London by Moonlight Mission_, inaugurated some years ago by
Lieutenant Blackmore, has been followed in our own day by the
_Midnight Meeting Movement_, which has excited a world-wide sympathy
and interest, and has been very generally approved even in quarters
where encouragement could be least expected. The commencement of
these meetings in London was the signal for similar experiments in
Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Dublin,
and other large towns.
Twenty-two of these meetings have now been held, and attended by
upwards of 4,000 women, more than 600 of whom have been rescued, and
either restored to friends, or placed in situations, where they are
giving satisfactory evidence of outward reformation, and many of them
of a thorough change of character.
The largest association in London for the reformation of fallen
women, is the _Society for the Rescue of Young Women and Children_.
The Society has at present eleven homes in various parts of London,
and one at Dover. Four of these are “Family Homes” for the reception
of _preventive_ cases, or young girls who have not strayed from the
path of virtue, but are addicted to crime, or are in circumstances of
danger. One is a Home for orphan children, from nine to thirteen years
of age; and the remaining seven are for fallen cases.
Upwards of 2,700 women and children have been admitted into these
Homes since the Society’s formation in 1853, the greater part of whom
have given satisfactory proof of having been reclaimed and permanently
benefitted. The Society’s income for the past year amounted to £6,789
17_s._ 2_d._ The Homes are under the care of pious and experienced
matrons, who labour incessantly to promote the spiritual and social
welfare of their charges.
Another institution of recent origin, but of rapidly increasing growth,
is the _London Female Preventive and Reformatory Institution_, which
already numbers four Homes, and has admitted, during the past year,
upwards of 250 inmates.
The following are the objects embraced by the Institution:--
“I. To seek the destitute and fallen by voluntary missionary effort.
“II. To afford temporary protection to friendless young women, whose
circumstances expose them to danger; also to effect the rescue of
fallen females, especially those decoyed from the country, by admitting
them to the benefits of this Institution.
“III. To restore, when practicable, the wanderer to her family and
friends, whether in town or country.
“IV. To qualify those admitted into the Institution for various
departments of domestic service, to obtain suitable situations for
them, and provide them with clothing.
“V. To aid such as for approved reasons wish to emigrate.
“VI. Above all, to seek the spiritual welfare of the inmates.”
The two last-named Societies and the _Home of Hope_, which is another
Refuge identical in character and spirit with that last named, have
received most of the cases rescued by the midnight meetings.