[ 500 ] [MAY, 



I'UULIC CHARITIES.* 



The general fact that this country abounds with charitable institutions, 

 beyond any other in the world, in proportion' to the amount of its popula- 

 tion, is notorious is matter of pride and exultation to Englishmen ; but 

 the fact is equally true, though not hitherto equally notorious, that never 

 were charitable institutions so infamously administered, so corrupted, so 

 wasted, so plundered, so turned from the purposes to which the pious 

 founders originally destined them to so pervading an extent too is suffi- 

 cient to make every Englishman hang his head with shame. It seems to 

 shew would we could hide the conviction from ourselves that the 

 moment you invest a man with office, or entrust him with authority, virtue 

 flies, and selfishness of the coarsest kind seizes the abdicated seat, and 

 sears up the sense of honour. 



For what ultimate purpose did the benevolent individuals, from whom 

 they all orginate, bequeath their property in the support, or the institution 

 of public charities ? To enrich the wealthy? Surely not, but rather to 

 relieve the burdens of the miserable to feed, clothe, educate the poor. 

 Well, and are they not actually so applied ? No ; the great mass of the 

 property is in reality in the hands of the aristocracy, of the clergy, and of 

 corporate bodies ; much of it is consumed in political intrigue ; much of it 

 in family aggrandizement, more in personal emolument and indulgence, 

 and the insignificant remnant doled out unwillingly and scantily to those 

 injured classes, for whoso sole advantage assuredly the whole was, at first, 

 designed. 



But all this, it will be said, has very much the air of a random assertion* 

 Ten years ago such a declaration might have been received as a random 

 assertion ; but now we speak on authority and * by the card.' Thanks to 

 the exertions and resolution of Mr. Brougham, light has been thrown into 

 the den of Cacus; and in spite of all let and hindrance, the time is not, 

 we trust, far remote when we shall he allowed to penetrate unimpeded 

 into all its complexities, into its deepest, darkest recesses; and ferret and 

 rout out every filthy and lurking abuse. Though numerous instances of 

 intolerable abuse are already actually dragged into open day, almost, or 

 perhaps quite as many remain screened in darkness. To Mr. Brougham, 

 however, we are wholly indebted for all we have learnt, and to him is 

 gratitude justly due from those who have already more or less benefitted, 

 by the fears of some, and the prudence of others ; but still more will it be 

 done from a distant, and not very distant posterity; for sure we are, 

 abuses of this kind require only to be generally and thoroughly known to 

 force on reform, first or last, privately or publicly. The rich and powerful 

 must relax their hold ; and corporations, if they resist, will be themselves, 

 and most deservedly, swept away with the corruptions they have sanc- 

 tioned by sharing the plunder, and the impediments, by which they have 

 arrested the career of benevolence. 



Tn 1816 a Committee, called the Education Committee, was appointed, 

 to inquire into the provisions for the education of the poor of the Metro- 

 polis. This committee had no ulterior views ; but the course of their 

 inquiries elicited such an extent and variety of abuse, as naturally suggested 

 an extension of the inquiry over the whole country. In 1818 a commis- 



An account of Public Charities, digested and arranged from the Reports of his Majesty's 

 Commissioners oil Charitable Foundations in England and Wales, with Notes and Com- 

 njents; Siinpkin and Marshall. 



