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Kb. 4&4, JtrtY 17, 1858.] TEE LEiDEB, 68...
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THE SOCIAL EVIL—ITS FOREIGN ELEMENT. Who...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Crystal Palace Prospects. Tire Recent Me...
to came ¦ forward to take the remainder , but cp to the present time , although the shareholders have done their pa . it , and thus prevented an actual collapse , the public have manifested little inclination to follow the example . Now , if we consider the low rate of interest that has prevailed for some time past , it is certainly a . discouraging circumstance , and not very readily to be accounted for , that the public should stand aloof from a preference stock offering six per cent , interest . If the whole of the Debenture Stock were issued , the preference claims on the Company ' s property would stand thus : 6 per cent . Debenture Stock . £ 250 , 000 7 per cent . Preference Shares 150 , 000 j £ 400 000 To secure this there is property which cost about 1 , 400 , 000 / ., but it is easy to see that the causes which operated to reduce a 5 / . share to 25 s . do not , in the estimation of cautious investors , make the security as good as could be devised . The belief of those who huvc carefully investigated the concern is , that with good management the security would be ample , but that , with the leaven of the old system of management , it is sufficiently open to doubt to justify the neglect of the public . This opinion must be strengthened by the facts which came out , at tlic late meeting-, from which it appears that the most intelligent members of the board find great difficulty- in getting their colleagues to consent to those improvements of the management which are indispensable to success . The past failure has arisen from intelligible causes ^ extravagance , total want of rational supervision , and entering iq > on a variety of contracts that offered' no chance of toeing' profitable . The Directors , until recently , had no store committee , exercised no supervision over purchases , and took no steps to ¦ prevent waste . Some of the worst evils of the old system have now been removed , but n negative improvement will not convince the public that buying the Debenture Siock will be a prudent step , and there is still a debt , on account of the land , to the amount of 65 , 000 / . hanging over the concern . This debt is due next July , secured , we believe , by a mortgage , which the holder ( Mr . Wythcs ) would have the power- to foreclose . Leaving out the question of management , to which , we shall return , our statement contains all the unfavourable circumstances that we have been able to discover , and when it is remembered that the accounts up to April , 1-858 , show a profit upon the year of nearly li , O 00 A , after deducting alL expenses and interest oa preferential debts , the depression of the shares seems greater
than can be accounted for , except on the supposition that the public distrust the progress of the concern . Sincerely desiring the success of this great enterprise , wo should recommend the large shareholders—who will be called upon to contribute that portion of the deficiency which the public may not supply by taking the Debenture Stock—to consider seriously whether a sufficient change has been made in the old system of management to render it probable that conscience will be revived . Judging from the aspects of tha present season , it is an improvement upon ( he last , but not equal to the most fortunate of former years , and many fine davs have iortunato of former years , and many fine days have
occurred on which the receipts have not equalled their proportion of expenditure . The only ideas yet apparent in the management are llower-shows and concerts ; the hi g her purposes of the undertaking seem' for tlie time to be in abeyance . Eor the Howcr-shows the palace is admirably adapted , while , for the concerts , its capabilities arc limited ,, and , as it appears to most musical critics , not rightly understood by the Directors . If the Crystal Palace consisted only of the great transept , there would be little fault to find with the present system ; but when we observe no cflbrta made to utilize the immense collections it contains , no endeavours to make the place of use for Art , Education
, Science , invention , and Trade , we cannot wonder at the depressin g views which the public take , that the shares are at 25 s ., and that the Debenture Stock hangs ( ire . The enterprise is too large and too costly to pay as a mere place of amusement , chiefly worked on specially d ; iys , mid the shareholders may depend upon it , ' the- public will not liclicvo in its success until they have witnessed for some time a very di Hereat process from what has hitherto appeared ) and until they aec one largo class after another made to ( col ' Unit the Crystal Palace is really anntioiml institution of substantial value to enduring interests iind tothe community at Inrgc . The riiliiwi would gain , not lose , in its nt . lmotions for purposes of recreation by the
comprehensive system which we hope one day to see carried out . The shareholders have evinced their desire to support such a plan . It is known to be the wish of the chairman and other able men that it should be adoptedj but" liow not to do it , " is unfortunately the way of the " Board . "
Kb. 4&4, Jtrty 17, 1858.] Tee Leideb, 68...
Kb . 4 & 4 , JtrtY 17 , 1858 . ] TEE LEiDEB , 687
The Social Evil—Its Foreign Element. Who...
THE SOCIAL EVIL—ITS FOREIGN ELEMENT . Whoever Las walked through Regent-street , day or night , or passed along Sherrard-street ,. Queenstreet , and other offshoots from the Quadrant , must have observed a great number of boldlooking , over-dressed women , unmistakably foreign , displaying a profusion of showy jewellery , and wearing indescribable bonnets— -which '' exist only in name . " Who , then , arc these strangers whose cheeks appear to bloom with rude health , who
seem , from their leering looks and indiscriminate smiles of invitation , to be so happy—who app arently possess such large stores of gold and jewels , and who array themselves in velvet and satin ? They are a portion of the fallen daughters of Eve , for which we are indebted to oar continental neighbours . The outward seeming , however , will not bear the test of examination . Their diamonds are false , their gold is neither that of Australia nor California—it is manufaelured at
Birmingham ; the roses on their cheeks vanish on the visitation of a few drops of rain , the healthy colour disappears , and a cadaverous complexion with repulsive features present themselves to the beholder . Their genial spirits are also assumed . They have long ago lost the sense of sliame or modesty , they do not even think their impure calling is against the morals of society or opposed to the laws of virtue , they have descended to that depth of degradation at which ; tliey regard their profession somewhat in the same light the tradesman regards liis . retail business . How do these Women come here ? to the vices of what particular class do they minister ? The answer presents itself without difficulty . They are not found in the eastern districts of the metropolis—or the City—they are
found only at the West-end , congregated in the localities we have indicated , and in some other si reets abutting on the residences of the aristocracy ' and the haunts of fashionable roue ' s . This fact affords pregnant insight into the cause and the continuation of-this social blot . The foreign element of the great " social evil " lias only made its appearance publicly in our streets within the last twenty years . Before that time foreign impures contented themselves with the privacy of reception houses , the knowledge of whose whereabouts was confined to certain of the nol ) le and wealthy . Now , they have increased to such a degree in some localities , that like the Norway lat
which has well-nigh extirpated the British rat , they have driven away native rivalry , and havo set up an absolute monopoly in particular walks . _ The " social evil" is now attracting much attention . Philanthropists and moralists are * busied in the solution of the difficult problem . Let us help them to the proper mode of dealing with the mischief by a few ( acts . We will begin by showing liow these foreign women conic to England , and the causes of their rapid increase . There exists in this metropolis established agents , mostly foreigners , both men and women , whose special and only
business , for years past , lias been , and is , to visit periodically Paris , Belgium , Hamburg , and Holland , to entrap well-looking young girls whore the principles of virtue yet exist , by false pretences of highly paid employment , and , where the dictates of virtue present no obstacle , by equally false pretences of inducing rich English lords and dukes to take them into keeping , and to supply thorn with all tlic luxuries at the command of boundless wealth . The inexperience of the majority of these young creatures is the foundation of sure success on the
part ol the agents in this vile trufiic . When inveigled to this country , and taken to what is called the foreign " reception" bouses , the mission of the agent in ended as soon as the victims arc delivered to the principals , and the commission -paid . The virtue of this unsuspecting and unwilling—though these form the smallest part of the number brought over hero—is soon overcome l ) y the position in
which the victims ( md themselves placed . At . first a semblance of lioncst labour is . preserved . The girls arc supplied with work for a few days . They an ; 1 Ikmi recpiired to discharge an extortionate hill for board , maintenance , nnd clothing . They aro of course ; without funds , tluty wo friendless and unacquainted with the language of tlic country , and the catastrophe
need not be detailed . This traffic is carried on solely for and with , the pecuniary support of the titled and wealthy . As soon , as a fresh importation of girls takes place , cards of ifivitation are issued to clubs and mansions , perhaps from Newmaa-street , or Queen-street , or TTorton-sfcreet , or Jermyn-street , or Charlotte-street , or Golden-square , or from some one of the foreign houses which las a noble and affluent connexion on their books . Here we find the true principle of demand and suppl y practically carried out . If the wealth of the rich did not create the demand , the supply would cease . Here is the root of one portion of the " social evil ; " not ,
however , that portion whicli is now extending itself so widely and audaciously as almost to form an integral part of oar social institutions . There is yet another class of foreign women on whose presence some light can also be thrown . These are the gaudily dressed women we see parading with unblushing hardihood , night and day , in our public streets . These foreigners are inere professional impures . They require neither bribery nor solicitation to come to this country . They come because their company is acceptable to a , certain class of " fast" men and worn-out debauchees , whose continental experience has infused into them a morbid
taste for special continental vices . These are the foreign women whose presence is most to be deprecated , whose location here is accompanied by other social evils hot . inferior in . magnitude , and who with most effect can be dealt with if proper means are put in motion . These women T ) ring with them their maquereaux > or bullies— -foreigners , French or German—who live on the wages of their immorality , and who may be seen daily ia scores lounging about Coventry-street , aud frequenting various cafes and hotels in Leicester-square . It is to the presence of this vile class , male and female , that our West-end streets in that locality are not to be used without feelings of shame and indignation on the
part of English matrons . It is mainly owing to the congregation of these foreigu prostitutes and their bullies that Coventry-street , the Haymarket , and Leicester-square , from about eleven o ' clock to two in the morning , present a scene of open profligacy unmatched in any city of the world . We have purposel y indicated two great divisions of : foreign-prostitution , because , no effort in one direction only , however energetic , would reach them both . Here is the stumbling-block of the moralists and p hilanthropists now at work , but all astray—a stumbling-block that will prove , we fear , au insuperable obstacle to the accomplishment of
trie good work they have "in hand . How can any society for the purification of public morals , however high the names and large its means , expect to do any tiling effectual when personages in high life arc the main props of the system ? The very peer and the very parliamentary commoner likely to be heard loudest in condemnation of the system , and likely to subscribe the largest sum to suppress it , wouid be found among the steadiest and most munificent supporters or foreign " reception" houses . What , for instance , would that elderly M . P ., the patron of a well-known foreign house ia Gerrardstreet , familiarly known among ; the inmates as " Papa , " who pays ungrudgingly immense sums to the procuress for special privileges , say , if any
parochial or legislative attempt were made to interfere with his costly debaucheries ? What would certain hereditary legislators say at any direct interference with their peculiar fancies , lor which they pay so profusely ? How wrathful would be Lord A , who widely opens his well-filled purse , on condition that / his peculiar fancy is respected , and that all introductions to him arc made only in _ the costume of a shepherdess ; or the Marquis Z , who insists on the adoption of the costume of the fifteenth century , with powdered hair , tlio expense of which he annually defrays ; or a third nobleman , whp supplies the establishment with white kid gloves on conditions to which we shall not further allude . These are not matters of
imagination , they are sober facts : the reception houses are in the streets wo have indicated—the names of the habitues i \ re at the service of the parishes whenever they dare and honestly determine to prosecute , regardless of influence , whether it . he exercised by an e , r- Premier who bus interfered on behalf of more than ouo foreign Jille dejoie , or by sonic venerable jurfgt ; whotso predilections and practices arc not altogether of a judicial charaelor . Then , again , liow can tho other not so highly patronized class ljo dealt ; with so as to hold out , reasonable hope of seeing « n intolerable nuisance abated , when both police and magistrates arc openly obstructed in tlic just exercise of their
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 17, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17071858/page/15/
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