Speeches: Literary and Social

THE NEWSVENDORS' INSTITUTION, LONDON, APRIL 5, 1870

[The annual dinner in aid of the funds of the Newsvendors'
Benevolent and Provident Institution was held on the above evening,
at the Freemason's Tavern. Mr. Charles Dickens presided, and was
supported by the Sheriffs of the City of London and Middlesex.

After the usual toasts had been given and responded to,

The Chairman said that if the approved order of their proceedings
had been observed, the Corporation of the City of London would no
doubt have considered themselves snubbed if they were not toasted
by themselves. He was sure that a distinguished member of the
Corporation who was present would tell the company what the
Corporation were going to do; and he had not the slightest doubt
they were going to do something highly creditable to themselves,
and something highly serviceable to the whole metropolis; and if
the secret were not at present locked up in the blue chamber, they
would be all deeply obliged to the gentleman who would immediately
follow him, if he let them into it in the same confidence as he had
observed with respect to the Corporation of the City of London
being snubbed. He begged to give the toast of "The Corporation of
the City of London."

Mr. Alderman Cotton, in replying to the toast, said for once, and
once only, had their chairman said an unkind word about the
Corporation of London. He had always reckoned Mr. Dickens to be
one of the warmest friends of the Corporation; and remembering that
he (Mr. Dickens) did really go through a Lord Mayor's Show in a
Lord Mayor's carriage, if he had not felt himself quite a Lord
Mayor, he must have at least considered himself next to one.

In proposing the toast of the evening Mr, Dickens said:-]

Ladies and gentlemen,--You receive me with so much cordiality that
I fear you believe that I really did once sit in a Lord Mayor's
state coach. Permit me to assure you, in spite of the information
received from Mr. Alderman Cotton, that I never had that honour.
Furthermore, I beg to assure you that I never witnessed a Lord
Mayor's show except from the point of view obtained by the other
vagabonds upon the pavement. Now, ladies and gentlemen, in spite
of this great cordiality of yours, I doubt if you fully know yet
what a blessing it is to you that I occupy this chair to-night,
because, having filled it on several previous occasions for the
society on whose behalf we are assembled, and having said
everything that I could think of to say about it, and being,
moreover, the president of the institution itself, I am placed to-
night in the modest position of a host who is not so much to
display himself as to call out his guests--perhaps even to try to
induce some among them to occupy his place on another occasion.
And, therefore, you may be safely sure that, like Falstaff, but
with a modification almost as large as himself, I shall try rather
to be the cause of speaking in others than to speak myself to-
night. Much in this manner they exhibit at the door of a snuff
shop the effigy of a Highlander with an empty mull in his hand,
who, having apparently taken all the snuff he can carry, and
discharged all the sneezes of which he is capable, politely invites
his friends and patrons to step in and try what they can do in the
same line.

It is an appropriate instance of the universality of the newsman's
calling that no toast we have drunk to-night--and no toast we shall
drink to-night--and no toast we might, could, should, or would
drink to-night, is separable for a moment from that great inclusion
of all possible subjects of human interest which he delivers at our
doors every day. Further, it may be worthy the consideration of
everybody here who has talked cheerfully to his or her neighbour
since we have sat down at the table, what in the name of Heaven
should we have talked about, and how on earth could we have
possibly got on, if our newsman had only for one single day
forgotten us. Now, ladies and gentlemen, as our newsman is not by
any means in the habit of forgetting us, let us try to form a
little habit of not forgetting our newsman. Let us remember that
his work is very arduous; that it occupies him early and late; that
the profits he derives from us are at the best very small; that the
services he renders to us are very great; that if he be a master,
his little capital is exposed to all sorts of mischances,
anxieties, and hazards; and if he be a journeyman, he himself is
exposed to all manner of weathers, of tempers, and of difficult and
unreasonable requirements.

Let me illustrate this. I was once present at a social discussion,
which originated by chance. The subject was, What was the most
absorbing and longest-lived passion in the human breast? What was
the passion so powerful that it would almost induce the generous to
be mean, the careless to be cautious, the guileless to be deeply
designing, and the dove to emulate the serpent? A daily editor of
vast experience and great acuteness, who was one of the company,
considerably surprised us by saying with the greatest confidence
that the passion in question was the passion of getting orders for
the play.

There had recently been a terrible shipwreck, and very few of the
surviving sailors had escaped in an open boat. One of these on
making land came straight to London, and straight to the newspaper
office, with his story of how he had seen the ship go down before
his eyes. That young man had witnessed the most terrible
contention between the powers of fire and water for the destruction
of that ship and of every one on board. He had rowed away among
the floating, dying, and the sinking dead. He had floated by day,
and he had frozen by night, with no shelter and no food, and, as he
told his dismal tale, he rolled his haggard eyes about the room.
When he had finished, and the tale had been noted down from his
lips, he was cheered and refreshed, and soothed, and asked if
anything could be done for him. Even within him that master
passion was so strong that he immediately replied he should like an
order for the play. My friend the editor certainly thought that
was rather a strong case; but he said that during his many years of
experience he had witnessed an incurable amount of self-prostration
and abasement having no outer object, and that almost invariably on
the part of people who could well afford to pay.

This made a great impression on my mind, and I really lived in this
faith until some years ago it happened upon a stormy night I was
kindly escorted from a bleak railway station to the little out-of-
the-way town it represented by a sprightly and vivacious newsman,
to whom I propounded, as we went along under my umbrella--he being
most excellent company--this old question, what was the one all-
absorbing passion of the human soul? He replied, without the
slightest hesitation, that it certainly was the passion for getting
your newspaper in advance of your fellow-creatures; also, if you
only hired it, to get it delivered at your own door at exactly the
same time as another man who hired the same copy four miles off;
and, finally, the invincible determination on the part of both men
not to believe the time was up when the boy called.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have not had an opportunity of verifying
this experience with my friends of the managing committee, but I
have no doubt from its reception to-night that my friend the
newsman was perfectly right. Well, as a sort of beacon in a
sufficiently dark life, and as an assurance that among a little
body of working men there is a feeling of brotherhood and sympathy-
-which is worth much to all men, or they would herd with wolves--
the newsvendors once upon a time established the Benevolent and
Provident Institution, and here it is. Under the Provident head,
certain small annuities are granted to old and hard-working
subscribers. Under the Benevolent head, relief is afforded to
temporary and proved distress. Under both heads, I am bound to say
the help rendered is very humble and very sparing, but if you like
it to be handsomer you have it in your power to make it so. Such
as it is, it is most gratefully received, and does a deal of good.
Such as it is, it is most discreetly and feelingly administered;
and it is encumbered with no wasteful charges for management or
patronage.

You know upon an old authority, that you may believe anything
except facts and figures, but you really may believe that during
the last year we have granted 100 pounds in pensions, and some 70
pounds in temporary relief, and we have invested in Government
securities some 400 pounds. But, touching this matter of
investments, it was suggested at the anniversary dinner, on the
high and kind authority of Sir Benjamin Phillips that we might
grant more pensions and invest less money. We urged, on the other
hand, that we wished our pensions to be certain and unchangeable--
which of course they must be if they are always paid out of our
Government interest and never out of our capital. However, so
amiable is our nature, that we profess our desire to grant more
pensions and to invest more money too. The more you give us to-
night again, so amiable is our nature, the more we promise to do in
both departments. That the newsman's work has greatly increased,
and that it is far more wearing and tearing than it used to be, you
may infer from one fact, not to mention that we live in railway
times. It is stated in Mitchell's "Newspaper Press Directory,"
that during the last quarter of a century the number of newspapers
which appeared in London had more than doubled, while the increase
in the number of people among whom they were disseminated was
probably beyond calculation.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have stated the newsman's simple case. I
leave it in your hands. Within the last year the institution has
had the good fortune to attract the sympathy and gain the support
of the eminent man of letters I am proud to call my friend, {24}
who now represents the great Republic of America at the British
Court. Also it has the honour of enrolling upon its list of donors
and vice-presidents the great name of Longfellow. I beg to propose
to you to drink "Prosperity to the Newsvendors' Benevolent and
Provident Institution."