Robbery of Charitable Foundatims. The public, however, is well acquainted with this mockery of justice; moreover, it does not fall within our plan to give an history of the vile transaction. Our object in treating this subject, as in every other, is to give some idea of the number of individuals connected with the abuse of public charities; their names, and, as far as possible, the amount of corrupting influence at their disposal. The time is peculiarly fitted for an exposition of this nature. Thousands of the infirm and aged are now famishing for the funds, wasted in luxury and riot, and to which they have an undeniable claim. There are thousands more, young, industrious, and able-bodied, perishing for want of employment, and destitute of the means of transporting themselves to countries where employment might be obtained, and their families comfortably supported. To these classes, it will be right to point out the immense property of which they have been defrauded, to which they have a legitimate claim, and which ought to be administered to relieve their present necessities. We shall divide our essay on this subject into three heads. First, we will select a few of the most notable cases of charitable abuse. Secondly, we will give the names of the principal persons connected with charitable foundations; the incomes of particular endowments, and an estimate of the total revenue of all public charities. Thirdly, we shall say a few words on the exclusive right of the poor to these funds. And, lastly, we shall probably say a few words on "the fraternal hug" on this subject, betwixt lord Castlereagh and Mr. Brougham, during last session of parliament. We have already noticed in our List of Places the connexion of a Right Reverend Bishop and a Noble Peer, with this wholesale robbery of the poor, we shall therefore pass over the cases of Mere, Spital, and St. Bees,* and come at once to that of Pocklington, situate in the East Riding of Yorkshire. This school was founded by John Dowman, in the year 1525, for the gratuitous instruction of the inhabitants. Parson Shield is the master, and the Reverend Thomas Brown, unfortunately DEAF, the usher. For many years they have been sharing a yearly income, according to the Parson's account, of £900; but according to the evidence of some of the parishioners, £1200 for the management of a school, where, for eleven years together not a single scholar was taught. St. John's College, Cambridge, is visitor to the charity. On the publication of the First Report of the Education Committee, a panic spread through all the monkish establishments in the kingdom; and Dr. Wood, master of that college, sent two persons * Vide Dr. Tomline and Lord Lowther. Robbery of Charitable Foundations. down to examine into the condition of the school. Things were found in avery deplorable state; in the lower room, the floor was up, and the windows broken in; in fact, the room had been turned into a carpenter's shop. There was only one scholar; he was busily engaged in the master's house, most probably turning the spit, or occupied in other domestic drudgery. Parson Shield, who, it appears, was very anxious about the revenue, though very careless about the duties of the school, had been about ten months in Chancery, endeavouring to set aside some of the leases, on account of the lowness of the rents. After ascertaining the gross abuses of this charity, we should have imagined Dr. Wood would have quite new-modelled the school. No such thing; every thing was left nearly in the same state: he suggested some regulations relative to prayers, morning and evening, Michaelmas and Lady-day, and that was all. That vigilant reformer of abuse, Mr. Wilberforce, many years representative of the county of York, lately expressed his surprise that the perversion of this charity should have been so long unnoticed by him. We should have been equally surprised, had this, or any other abuse of importance, ever attracted his attention, and he applied an adequate and efficient remedy. HUNTINGDON SCHOOL.-This case exhibits a refinement on the ordinary mode of corruption at elections. The poor are plundered of their property by the magistrates, and that property is again employed in the purchase of their votes on the election of their representatives. The case is this: In the reign of Edward II. land had been left, to the amount of 143 acres, for the maintenance of a free school. At that time, the annual rent was £35, now it lets for £160, although, on the lowest estimate, it could not be worth less than £900 per annum. The corporation, to procure the return of the members at the least expense to themselves, let out, or more property give away, this property of the poor to the burgesses, as bribes to return such persons as they approve. There is never, as one may naturally expect, a contested election in this place; for, should any of the electors vote in opposition to the corporation, he is immediately turned out of the poor land, for which they are in trust. This case needs no comment. We shall only briefly notice some of the charities in the country, in order to come at those in the metropolis, which are less known, no account having appeared of them, except in the First Report of the Education Committee. At Wellingborough, in Northamptonshire, there are lands belonging to different charities, which a short time ago let for only £68, although worth nearly £1100: the trustees at one period enjoyed the leases. At Yeovil, -1 Robbery of Charitable Foundations. in Somersetshire, there are estates possessed by trustees destined for four different charities, all four of which are equally abused. One estate worth £700 a year, only educates seven or eight boys; lands valued at eleven or twelve hundred pounds a year, only afford a wretched pittance to sixteen paupers; and land worth £150 a year is let for £2: 1: 4, chiefly to the trustees. The estates appertaining to the hospital of Croydon, founded by Archbishop Whitgift, were valued by the surveyor of the house at £2673 a year; yet they are let for £860; and, down to 1812, they fetched no more than £336. A free school too was specially appointed to be kept for the benefit of the inhabitants; but none has been taught within the memory of man, although the master receives the emoluments, teaching another school for his own profit; and the inhabitants are now instructing the children of the poor, at their own expense, in the very room devised for their gratuitous instruction. At a richly endowed school at Berkhamstead, the master only taught one boy, and the usher lives in Hampshire. Lately the fines on the renewal of the leases, amounted to £5000, which were shared betwixt these two industrious individuals. All the charities we have mentioned were exempt from the investigation of the Commission of Inquiry appointed last year. It is impossible but the participators in so much peculation, fraud, and abuse, should feel grateful to the government by whom they were protected; and, no doubt, they perfectly agree with lord LONSDALE, who sends eight members to parliament, has the gift of four or five church livings, and participates largely in the revenue of St. Bees' Charity, that the English constitution is "the MOST GLORIOUS which could be devised!" The charities in the Metropolis for the relief of the aged and infirm, the education of the children of the poor, and for gratuitous lectures to the public, are very numerous. In some of these the funds are accumulating in the hands of the trustees; in others they are, appropriated wholly foreign to the intention of the founders; while, in some instances, ample revenues are limited to a few objects, conformable indeed to the letter, but by no means to the spirit of the endowment, Of the numerous bequests of this nature, we can only spare room for a few of the most important and flagrant cases of abuse; first premising, that the whole of the facts are taken from the evidence of the parties themselves, as published in the Reports of the Education Committee... The first charitable foundation we shall notice is Christ's Hospital. The average income of this foundation is more than £40,000 per annum, de Robbery of Charitable Foundations. rived from extensive estates in Surrey, Essex, and Lincolnshire.* It was founded by EDWARD VI. to which very valuable legacies, by private individuals have subsequently been added. Lady Ramsey left an estate worth £4000 per annum; and Mr. Stone a capital estate in Lincolnshire worth £3200 per annum. The governors are the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and twelve common councilmen; besides benefaction governors, who give to the institution not less than £400. Including the Hertford establishment, there are about 1000 children maintained and instructed in reading, writing, classics, mathematics, and other branches of learning. The total amount of salaries is £6990, including £1054 paid in pensions to retired officers and widows. Dr. Trollope is the head master;-salary £240:16: 8, with the privilege of selecting the scholars for the exhibition at the Universities, for whom there is a provision of £70 a year each. The salaries of the under masters are about £200 per annum. Great abuses prevail in the introduction of improper objects on this foundation. The original charter of King Edward clearly limits the charity to the aged, infirm, and destitute; nevertheless, children of opulent persons, principally clergymen's, have been admitted to the benefit of the institution. There was a child of the Rev. Dawson Warren, minister of Edmonton, who, according to his own statement, had an income of £850, and according to the affidavit of a churchwarden of his parish, £1200 a year. There was admitted a child of the Rev. Baptist John Proby, a relation of Lord Carysfort, commissioner of the custody of the Rolls. Mr. Proby had two livings of £400 a year; he had received £3500 from his father; he had an expectancy on his mother's decease of £3000; he had £80 a year in the right of his wife, and £1000 of marriage portion; nevertheless the committee of the governors decided, after "much deliberation," that John Carysfort Proby, the name of the boy, was a proper object for maintenance and education in the hospital." Several other cases of improper admissions, have been brought to light, principally from the activity of Alderman Waithman, relative to the children of Egerton Stafford, Mason Wright, Dr. Markham, and others. In some of these cases proceedings were instituted in Chancery; they were long and learnedly argued; but, though some years have elapsed, no judg ment, we believe, has yet been pronounced. ......... .Expenditure....£ 41,061 Income in 1815..... Robbery of Charitable Foundations. CHARTER HOUSE.-This great establishment was likewise founded for the benefit of the indigent, for the maintenance of eighty poor men, and for "the instructing, teaching, maintenance, and education of poor children and scholars."THOMAS SUTTON,a merchant of London in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and a great benefactor to the poor, was the founder. The scholars on the foundation are limited to forty-two; but there are others, not on the foundation, who pay for their education. The yearly expenses of the establishment are from £17,000 to £18,000 per annum. Seven church livings belonging to the Charter-house, some of which are worth from £1000 to £1200 a year, are in the gift of the governors. Dr. FISHER is the head master; salary £800 a year, a house, candles, vegetables, and an allowance for linen. The other temporal advantages enjoyed by this gentleman, are a college-living at Elton; a stall at Norwich; and a living in Lincolnshire; besides which, lately he had a nephew on the foundation, and two sons exhibitioners at the Universities, with incomes of £80 a year from the institution. The emoluments of the other officers appear not so exorbitant. The salary of the master of the school is about £300 a year, of the usher £160, and the registrar has £290, with a house to live in. The dereliction from the ordinances of the founder, and the abuses which prevail, appear more flagrant than in Christ's Hospital. Instead of the scholars being "poor children," they are, generally, the children of opulent persons. The following extract from the Minutes of Evidence before the Education Committee, will give some idea of the connexions and necessities of the " poor children and scholars" now upon the foundation. It is the Receiver of the House, Mr. Barber, who is interrogated. Can you tell the Committee what, in point of fact, is the general description of the boys who are upon the foundation ?—I am not competent to do that from my own knowledge; of a few of them I can speak, knowing them. As to those whom you personally know?-There is a son of Mr. Chester, deputy master of the ceremonies; there is a young man of the name of Fuller, whom I know. Who is he?-His father is a surgeon in the country. Do you know any others?-There is a boy of the name of Proby,* the son of a clergyman. Is he a kinsman of Lord Carysfort ?—I rather think he is: there is also a young man of the name of Ramsden, the grandson of the late master of the hospital, whom Dr. Fisher has succeeded; there is also a boy of the name of Fisher, a nephew of the master; but there are no others that I know of. * Master Tonson again! This, no doubt, is the same Mr. Proby whom we have just noticed as having, contrary to the charter, got another of his children admitted into Christ's Hospital. .! |