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of this communication will not permit me to detail the various improvements pointed out by experience and gradually adopted; but a brief statement of the manner in which the charity is now conducted, may not only serve to promote similar attempts in large manufacturing towns, but will also furnish a most important lesson to the whole community. The members of the committee are of different religious denominations; they meet once in two weeks at six o'clock in the evening, at the Soup House: here Dissenters and Churchmen, forgetting their little differences of opinion in other respects, unite cordially together in the work of christian benevolence; the committee is numerously attended, and the business transacted with great regularity and decorum. The sight of so many respectable persons, of various religious sentiments, acting harmoniously for the relief of suffering humanity, is indeed an impressive and edifying spectacle. This is one of the triumphs of philanthropy, peculiar to the present day, over that intolerant, narrow, and bigoted spirit which is in effect crying out, "Stand by thyself, come not near me, for I am holier than thou." (See Isaiah lxv. 5.) This Institution, with the Bible Society and that for the education of all the Poor on the liberal plan of Lancaster, will show, not only that Churchmen and Dissenters may unite beneficially for the noblest of purposes, but it will tend to make worthy characters better acquainted with each other; it will dissipate fears, remove prejudices, and, by uniting the energies of all the virtuous part of the community, accomplish objects which they could not separately have obtained.-The committee, deeply sensible that the success of every charity mainly consists in personal inspection, and in a scrupulous and minute attention to all the details connected with it, has framed its regulations accordingly--a constant oversight is kept up by the members of the committee in rotation, and the whole so contrived as not to press heavily upon any individual. The following By-Laws will show the manner in which the business is conducted.

By-Laws of the Committee of the Spitalfields Soup Society. 1. THAT this Committee do meet once in two weeks, subject nevertheless to the call of the Secretary, upon the requisition of Six of its Members.

2. That this Committee do meet at Six o'clock in the Evening, the time to be determined by the middle watch of three, and that every Member be able to a fine of One Shilling, who shall not come into the Committee Room before the reading of the List of Members be concluded, without an excuse deemed reasonable by a majority of the Members present.

3. That not less than nine Members shall constitute a Quorum for trans acting business.

4. That the Treasurer be appointed Chairman of this Committee; and

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that it be the duty of the Chairman to read the fair Minutes, to keep order, and to put such questions as may come before the Committee during its sittings.

5. That if the Chairman be not in the Committee Room before the reading of the List of Members be concluded, the Members present shall be at liberty to choose a Chairman from among themselves.

6. That in consequence of the power vested in this Committee by a General Meeting of the Society, of electing its own Members, such elections be determined by Ballot, not less than four negatives to exclude. 7. That no Member of the Committee shall absent himself during its sitting without permission from the Chair.

8. That the order of business in the Committee, after reading over the List, and balloting for new Members, be first to receive the Report of the Sub-Committee appointed to examine the Visitors' Book. 2dly. To read over the Minutes of the last Sitting; after which, new propositions shall be taken into consideration.

9 That the daily Visitors, or their Substitutes procured from among the Members of this Committee, appointed to assist at the preparation of the Soup, attend at Six o'clock in the evening, precisely, for that purpose, under the fine of 1s. for absence at the precise time, or of 2s. 6d. for total absence.

10. That this Committee considers the regular attendance of its SubCommittees appointed to assist at the delivery of the Soup, essential to the proper support of the Institution, and therefore that no fine can be imposed adequate to the default of any one Member of those Sub-Com mittees, or of his Substitute, who must be procured from among the Members of this Committee. Nevertheless, it is agreed, that every Member who shall not himself, or by Substitute, in his turn, be at the Soup House at the precise time for delivering the Soup by the dial at the House, shall forfeit the Sum of Five Shillings.

11. That the Morning and Evening Visitors do severally note in the Visitors' Book the precise time of their coming by the dial in the House.

12. That all Moneys received by the Treasurer for Fines be appropriated to the use of the Society, in defraying the expenses attending its Meetings, and to such other purposes as inay appear eligible to this Committee.

13. That no Member of this Committee shall, either directly or indirectly, derive any emolument from this Institution.

By the following arrangement, a printed copy of which is distributed to each of the members, it comes only to the turn of the same individual to attend at the making and distribution of the Soup once in three weeks; and the days being fixed, every one knows his time. If however, from illness or some unavoidable cause, he cannot attend, he must find a substitute from among the committee; and those termed Supernumeraries at the bottom of the list, will be naturally looked to to supply the deficiency. But instances rarely occur of any one of the committee being absent from his post, much less of deserting it without providing a substitute; indeed it frequently happens that volunteers from the committee assist those upon duty. The following list is made out to the end of May, in case the committee should deem it expedient to continue the distribution so long.

SPITALFIELDS SOUP SOCIETY;
With the Appointments for the Delivery of Soup,
During the present Season, 1811-1812.

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Bernard Harrison

Saturday William Moline

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Brick Lane

1, Leadenhall-street..

John Sanderson, Jun. 16, Old Jewry

Monday Daniel Bell Hanbury. Plough-court, Lombard-street

21, Fine-court, Spitalfields.

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It has been found of great advantage to appoint sub-committees for particular purposes. Thus there is a sub-committee of three members to provide the meat, another for barley and peas, a third for pepper and salt, and a fourth for onions; one also for inspecting the visitors' book, whose duty it is to bring forward any remarks recorded in that book which may appear of sufficient consequence to engage the attention of the committee at large. There are other sub-committees for different purposes. All bills must be passed at the committee, and are paid by a check signed by the chairman and two members.

Privileges of Subscribers.

Every subscriber has the privilege of issuing six recommendations per week, until the number of applicants exceed the means of supply. The following is the form of the recom mendation.

I recommend

living at

having

in family, to receive

Quarts of Good MEAT SOUP, on paying One Penny per Quart, at the Soup House, Brick Lane, SPITALFIELDS.

18

Subscriber.

Apply at No. 53, Brick Lane, Spitalfields, between the Hours of Ten and One on the Working Days of the Week,

The subscribers should, if possible, visit every person to whom they give a recommendation, and it is also necessary that they should be very particular in filling in the exact residence of the applicant, persons of this description being not so easily found as those in the richer classes of society. The poor person takes the recommendation to the visitors at the Soup House. It is here numbered, put upon a file, and the applicant receives a ticket in its stead, bearing the same number as that put upon the recommendation. The latter being preserved, the name and residence of the parties may at any time be obtained, by reference from the number of the ticket, of which the following is the form. It is usual to allow one quart of soup to every two persons in a family.

It is requested that this TICKFT may be kept clean, and not lent or disposed of, and the Number remembered, in case it should be lost.

Spitalfields Soup Society.

Deliver to No.

INSTITUTED 1797.

} Quart

Of Good Meat Soup, at One Penny per Quart,
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
March 2 4 69 11 13 16

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Old Halfpence will be refused.

Apply at No. 53, BRICK LANE, SPITALFIELDS, between the Hours of Ten and Twelve.

At first the applicants were served with soup every day; but on account of the distress in Spitalfields, the numbers increased so rapidly, that the committee was obliged to adopt the plan of distributing it only every other day to the same persons; and that there might be no confusion, half the tickets were printed with red ink and half with black. On one day, then, all the black tickets came, and on the next day the red, and so on alternately.

Composition of the Soup.

In the boiling-house are five cast iron boilers of different capacities, capable of making from 3000 to about 3300 quarts of soup. The boilers are all numbered, and the proportion of the ingredients for each, fairly written out and pasted upon a board, which is hung up in the Soup House for the use of the visitors. The following is the formula for one of the large boilers, which furnishes from 700 to 800 quarts of soup.

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