VIRTUOUS MALVERSATION.
DIE " Central Association in Aid of the Wives and Children, Widows and Orphans, of Soldiers ordered to the East," has been convicted of withholding relief from wives and widows, children and orphans, of soldiers ordered to the East, because the husbands and fathers had not been well-conducted men. When the glaring impropriety of that conduct is pointed out to the Honorary Se- cretary, by a clergyman vindicating the just claim of a woman his parishioner, the Honorary Secretary retorts, that the clergy- man is "encouraging perjury and falsehood," in combination with "the most disreputable newspaper" in the country—meaning the Times. So the officer of the Central Association not only punishes women who are the objects contemplated by the charity, but up- holds the propriety of doing so with vituperation. As the Asso- ciation was professedly established, not to reward morality and punish vice in individual soldiers, but to discharge a specific moral obligation towards the dependents of those who are removed in the service of their country, the new rule enforced by the Honorary Secretary, applying the fund as a premium on individual morality, is a misappropriation of funds ; and the breach of trust is brought home to that officer of the subscribers who so lightly distributes charges of encouraging vice. Of course, the fault in the adminis- tration of the fund will be corrected.
It is the greater since the Central Association has been specially advocated as supplying the void left by the more formal rules of the Royal Commission ; of which it was presumed, that it would not recognize as wives, women whose husbands had married with- out regimental leave, and would not relieve any but the wives and children of deceased soldiers so licensed. It turns out that the Cen- tral Association is more strict than the official Commission. The public feeling excited by the ease, however, is likely to prove useful in the future administration of both bodies. Whatever may have been tolerated heretofore, the public is not now disposed to sanc- tion the principle of withholding relief on formal grounds from any poor women and children whose husbands and fathers are re- moved by actual service in the war ; and rules to that effect, whether traditional or not, must, in deference to that general opinion, be revised. This is so obvious, that we do not suppose the Royal Commissioners will demur to the necessity; and the very existence of the Central Association depends upon its com- pliance.
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