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Title: A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis

Containing a Detail of the Various Crimes and Misdemeanors

by which Public and Private Property and Security are, at

Present, Injured and Endangered: and Suggesting Remedies

for their Prevention

Author: Patrick Colquhoun

Release Date: March 21, 2011 [EBook #35650]

Language: English

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Transcriber's Note: This book was published in 1800 and contains some inconsistent spelling, capitalization, hyphenation, and punctuation typical of that era. These have been retained as they appear in the original, including the inconsistent use of a period after the pound symbol (e.g., £.100 and £100). Inconsistent italicizing of l., s., and d. has been normalized to italics. Long-s (ſ) has been normalized to s. Printer errors have been resolved with reference to a later and apparently corrected printing of the same edition, available at the Internet Archive, http://www.archive.org/details/atreatiseonpoli03colqgoog. Unresolved printer errors are indicated with red dotted underlining; hover the mouse over the underlined text to see a Transcriber's Note. A list of these notes also appears at the end of this e-book.

CONTENTS
INDEX

A

TREATISE

ON THE

POLICE OF THE METROPOLIS;

CONTAINING A DETAIL OF THE

VARIOUS CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS

By which Public and Private Property and Security are, at present, injured and endangered:

AND

SUGGESTING REMEDIES

FOR THEIR

PREVENTION.

The SIXTH EDITION, Corrected and considerably Enlarged.

BY P. COLQUHOUN, LL.D.

Acting as a Magistrate for the Counties of Middlesex, Surry, Kent, and Essex.— For the City and Liberty of Westminster, and for the Liberty of the Tower of London.

Meminerint legum conditores, illas ad proximum hunc finem accommodare; Scelera videlicet arcenda, refrænandaque vitia ac morum pravitatem.

Judices pariter leges illas cum vigore, æquitate, integritate, publicæque utilitatis amore curent exequi; ut justitia etvirtus omnes societatis ordines pervadant. Industriaque simul et Temperantia inertiæ locum assumant et prodigalitatis.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY H. BALDWIN AND SON, NEW BRIDGE-STREET, BLACKFRIARS;

FOR JOSEPH MAWMAN, IN THE POULTRY,

SUCCESSOR TO MR. DILLY.

M.DCCC.

TO THE SOVEREIGN,

Who has graciously condescended to approve of the Author's Efforts "To establish a System of Morality and good Order in The Metropolis:"

AND TO HIS PEOPLE;

In every Part of the British Dominions; whose favourable Reception of these Labours, for the Good of their Country, has contributed, in a considerable degree, to the Progress which has been already made, towards the Adoption of the Remedies proposed for the Prevention of Crimes, the Comfort of Society, and the Security of the Peaceful Subject:

This Improved and Enlarged Edition of

The Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis,

is humbly

and respectfully

DEDICATED.

LONDON,
Jan. 1, 1800.

ADVERTISEMENT.

OCCUPIED in a variety of laborious pursuits, which afford little time either for study or recreation, the Author once more presents this Work to the Public with an unfeigned Diffidence, arising from his consciousness, that under such circumstances it must require their indulgence. This, he trusts, will be granted when it is considered, that his employments are of a nature unfriendly to that critical accuracy and precision, the necessity of which is impressed on his mind, not less by a sense of his own personal character, than of his obligations to the long-experienced candour and liberality of his readers.

In the present Edition much new matter has been brought forward, and considerable improvements have been attempted by the introduction of official facts, and authentic details calculated to elucidate and explain the general system first placed by the Author under the review of the Public. Their extensive approbation (although his only reward) is of a nature which can never be too highly estimated. That approbation has not only been confirmed by many of the first and most respectable characters in these kingdoms, not less conspicuous for talents and abilities than for that genuine patriotism which distinguishes the good subject, and the valuable member of Society; but also by several Foreigners eminent for learning and virtue.

While we deplore the miserable condition of those numerous delinquents who have unfortunately multiplied with the same rapidity that the great wealth of the Metropolis has increased: while their errors and their crimes are exposed only for the purpose of amendment: while the tear of pity is due to their forlorn state, a prospect happily opens through the medium of the Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, for the adoption of those remedies which will unquestionably give a seasonable check to immorality and delinquency; so as by their prevention not only to protect the rights of innocence, but also increase the number of the useful members of the community, and render punishments less frequent and necessary.

To witness the ultimate completion of legislative arrangements, operating so favourably to the immediate advantage and security of the Metropolis, and extending also similar benefits to the country at large, will prove to the Author of this Work a very great and genuine source of happiness.

To the Public, therefore, in general, and to the Legislature in particular, does he look forward with confidence for that singular gratification which, by giving effect to his well-meant endeavours for the prevention of Crimes, will ultimately crown with success the exertions he has used in the course of a very intricate and laborious investigation, in which his only object has been the good of his country.

LONDON,
1st January, 1800.

PREFACE.

POLICE in this Country may be considered as a new Science; the properties of which consist not in the Judicial Powers which lead to Punishment, and which belong to Magistrates alone; but in the Prevention and Detection of Crimes, and in those other Functions which relate to internal Regulations for the well ordering and comfort of Civil Society.

The Police of the Metropolis, in every point of view, is a subject of great importance to be known and understood; since every innocent and useful Member of the Community has a particular interest in the correct administration of whatever relates to the Morals of the People, and to the protection of the Public against Fraud and Depredation.

Under the present circumstances of insecurity, with respect to property and even life itself, this is a subject which cannot fail to force itself upon the attention of all:—All are equally concerned in the Information which this Work conveys; the chief part of the details in which are entirely novel, not to be found in books, and never laid before the Public through the medium of the Press, previous to the first Publication of this Treatise.

It may naturally be imagined, that such an accumulation of delinquency systematically detailed, and placed in so prominent a point of view, must excite a considerable degree of astonishment in the minds of those Readers who have not been familiar with subjects of this nature; and hence a desire may be excited to investigate how far the amazing extent of the Depredations upon the Public here related, can be reconciled to reason and possibility.

Four years have, however, elapsed, since these details have been before the Public, and they still stand on their original ground, without any attempt which has come to the Author's knowledge, to question the magnitude or the extent of the evil.—On the contrary, new sources of Fraud and Depredation have been brought forward, tending greatly to increase the general mass of Delinquency.[1]

In revising the present Edition, the Author felt a strong impulse to reduce his estimates; but after an attentive review of the whole, excepting in the instances of the Depredations on Commercial Property, (which have been greatly diminished by the establishment of a Marine Police, applicable to that particular object,) he was unable to perceive any ground for materially altering his original calculations.—If some classes of Theft, Robbery, and Depredation, have been reduced, others have been augmented; still leaving the aggregate nearly as before.

The causes of these extensive and accumulated wrongs being fully explained, and accounted for, in various parts of the Work; a very short recapitulation of them is, therefore, all that is necessary in this Preface.

The enlarged state of Society, the vast extent of moving property, and the unexampled wealth of the Metropolis, joined to the depraved habits and loose conduct of a great proportion of the lower classes of the people; and above all, the want of an appropriate Police applicable to the object of prevention, will, after a careful perusal of this work, reconcile the attentive mind to a belief of the actual existence of evils which could not otherwise have been credited.—Let it be remembered also, that this Metropolis is unquestionably not only the greatest Manufacturing and Commercial City in the world, but also the general receptacle for the idle and depraved of almost every country; particularly from every quarter of the dominions of the Crown—Where the temptations and resources for criminal pleasures—Gambling, Fraud and Depredation almost exceed imagination; since besides being the seat of Government it is the centre of fashion, amusements, dissipation and folly.

Under such peculiar circumstances, while immorality, licentiousness and crimes are known to advance in proportion to the excessive accumulation of wealth, it cannot fail to be a matter of deep regret, that in the progressive increase of the latter the means of checking the rapid strides of the former have not been sooner discovered and effectually applied.

It is, however, earnestly to be hoped that it is not yet too late.—Patriots and Philanthropists who love their country, and glory in its prosperity, will rejoice with the Author in the prospect, that the great leading features of improvement suggested and matured in the present Edition of this Work will ultimately receive the sanction of the Legislature.

May the Author be allowed to express his conviction that the former Editions of this book tended in no small degree, to remove various misconceptions on the subject of Police: and at the same time evidently excited in the public mind a desire to see such remedies applied as should contribute to the improvement of the Morals of the People, and to the removal of the danger and insecurity which were universally felt to exist?

An impression it is to be hoped is generally felt from the example of the Roman Government, when enveloped in riches and luxury, that National prosperity must be of short duration when public Morals are too long neglected, and no effectual measures adopted for the purpose either of checking the alarming growth of depravity, or of guarding the rising generation against evil examples.

It is by the general influence of good Laws, aided by the regulations of an energetic Police, that the blessings of true Liberty, and the undisturbed enjoyment of Property are secured.

The sole object of the Author in pointing out the accumulated wrongs which have tended in so great a degree to abridge this Liberty, is to pave the way for the adoption of those practical remedies which he has suggested, in conformity with the spirit of the Laws, and the Constitution of the Country, for the purpose of bettering the state of Society, and improving the condition of human life.

If in the accomplishment of this object the Morals of the People shall undergo a favourable change, and that species of comfort and security be extended to the inhabitants of this great Metropolis, which has not heretofore been experienced, while many evils are prevented, which in their consequences threaten to be productive of the most serious mischief, the Author of this Work will feel himself amply rewarded in the benefits which the System he has proposed shall be found to confer upon the Capital of the British Dominions, and on the Nation at large.

Preparing for the Press, by the Author of this Work.

A TREATISE

ON

THE COMMERCE AND POLICE

OF

THE RIVER THAMES:

CONTAINING

AN HISTORICAL VIEW OF

THE TRADE OF THE PORT OF LONDON;

THE DEPREDATIONS COMMITTED ON ALL PROPERTY IMPORTED AND EXPORTED THERE; THE REMEDIES HITHERTO APPLIED; AND THE MEANS OF FUTURE PREVENTION, BY A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF

RIVER-POLICE;

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE VARIOUS MAGISTRATES AND OTHERS

EXERCISING OR CLAIMING JURISDICTION ON THE RIVER;

AND OF THE

PENAL STATUTES AGAINST MARITIME OFFENCES

OF EVERY DESCRIPTION.

[The above will be published in the course of the Spring, by
Jos. Mawman, in the Poultry.]

CONTENTS.

CHAP. I.

GENERAL VIEW OF EXISTING EVILS.

 

PAGE

Ineffective System of Criminal Jurisprudence.—Facility of eluding Justice.—Severity and inequality of Punishments.—Necessity of revising our Penal Code.—Certain dangerous Offences not punishable.—Receivers of Stolen Property.—Extent of Plunder in the Metropolis, &c.—Proposed Restrictions on Receivers.—Coiners and Utterers of Base Money; the extent of their crimes.—Defects in the mode of prosecuting Offenders.—Pardons.—Periodical Discharges of Prisoners.—Summary of the causes of the present inefficacy of the Police, under nine different heads.

1

CHAP. II.

ON THE SYSTEM OF PUNISHMENTS:
THEORETICALLY CONSIDERED.

The mode of ascertaining the Degrees of Punishment.—The object to be considered in inflicting Punishments—Amendment, Example, and Retribution.—In order to render Criminal Laws perfect, prevention ought to be the great object of the Legislature.—General Rules suggested for attaining this object.—Reflections on the Punishments authorised by the English Laws, and their disproportion.—The necessity of enforcing the observance of religious and moral Virtue.—The leading Offences made Capital by the Laws of England considered, with the Punishments allotted to each; compared with, and illustrated by, the Custom of other Countries; with Reflections.—The Code of the Emperor Joseph the Second, shortly detailed.—Reflections thereon. 29

CHAP. III.

THE CAUSE AND PROGRESS OF SMALL THEFTS.

The numerous Receivers of Stolen Goods, under the denomination of Dealers in Rags, Old Iron, and other Metals.—The great Increase of these Dealers of late years.—Their evil tendency, and the absolute necessity of restraining them by Law.—Petty Thefts in the Country round the Metropolis.—Workhouses the causes of Idleness.—Commons.—Cottagers.—Gypsies.—Labourers and Servants.—Thefts in Fields and Gardens.—Frauds in the Sale and Adulteration of Milk.

74

CHAP. IV.

ON BURGLARIES AND HIGHWAY ROBBERIES.

These Crimes more peculiar to England than to Holland and Flanders, &c.—A General View of the various classes of Criminals engaged in these pursuits, and with those discharged from Prisons and the Hulks, without the means of support.—The necessity of some antidote previous to the return of Peace.—Observations on the stealing Cattle, Sheep, Corn, &c.—Receivers of Stolen Goods, the nourishers of every description of Thieves.—Remedies suggested, by means of detection and prevention.

93

CHAP. V.

ON CHEATS AND SWINDLERS.

A considerable check already given to the higher class of Forgeries, by shutting out all hopes of Royal Mercy.—Petty Forgeries have, however, encreased.—The qualifications of a Cheat, Swindler and Gambler.—The Common and Statute Law applicable to Offences of this nature, explained.—Eighteen different classes of Cheats and Swindlers, and the various tricks and devices they pursue.—Remedies proposed.

110

CHAP. VI.

ON GAMING AND THE LOTTERY.

The great anxiety of the Legislature to suppress these Evils, which are however encouraged by high sounding names, whose houses are opened for purposes odious and unlawful.—The civil Magistrate called upon to suppress such mischiefs.—The danger arising from such Seminaries.—The evil tendency of such examples to Servants and others.—A particular statement of the proceedings of a confederacy of Persons who have set up Gaming-Houses as regular Partnership-Concerns, and of the Evils resulting therefrom.—Of Lottery Insurers of the higher class.—Of Lottery Offices opened for Insurance.—Proposed Remedies.—Three Plans for drawing the Lottery so as to prevent all Insurance.

133

CHAP. VII.

ON THE COINAGE OF COUNTERFEIT MONEY.

The Causes of the enormous increase of this Evil of late years.—The different kinds of false coin detailed.—The process in fabricating each

Species.—The immense profits arising therefrom.—The extensive Trade in sending base Coin to the Country.—Its universal circulation in the Metropolis.—The great grievance arising from it to Brewers, Distillers, Grocers, and all Retail Dealers, as well as to the Labouring Poor.—Counterfeit Foreign Money extremely productive to the Dealers.—A summary View of the Causes of the Mischief.—The Defects in the present Laws explained:—And a Detail of the Remedies proposed to be provided by the Legislature. 171

CHAP. VIII.

ON RIVER PLUNDER.

The magnitude of the Plunder of Merchandize and Naval Stores on the River Thames.—The wonderful extent and value of the Floating Property, laden and unladen, in the Port of London in the course of a year.—The modes heretofore pursued in committing depredations through the medium of various classes of Criminals, denominated River Pirates:—Night Plunderers:—Light Horsemen:—Heavy Horsemen:—Game Watermen:—Game Lightermen:—Mudlarks:—Game Officers of the Revenue:—And Copemen, or Receivers of Stolen Property.—The effects of the Marine Police Institution in

checking these Depredations.—The advantages which have already resulted to Trade and the Revenue from this system partially tried.—The further benefits to be expected from Legislative Regulations, extending the System to the whole Trade of the River. 213

CHAP. IX.

ON PLUNDER IN THE DOCK-YARDS, &C.

Reflections on the causes of this Evil.—Summary view of the means employed in its perpetration.—Estimate of the Public Property exposed to Hazard.—A Statement of the Laws at present in force for its protection:—Proofs adduced of their deficiency.—Remedies proposed and detailed, viz:—1st. A Central Board of Police.—2d. A Local Police for the Dock-yards.—3d. Legislative Regulations in aid thereof.—4th. Regulations respecting the sale of Old Stores.—5th. The Abolition of the Perquisite of Chips.—6th. The Abolition of Fees and Perquisites, and liberal Salaries in lieu thereof.—7th. An improved Mode of keeping Accounts.—8th. An annual Inventory of Stores in hand.—Concluding Observations.

249

CHAP. X.

ON THE RECEIVERS OF STOLEN GOODS.

Receivers more mischievous than Thieves.—The increase of their number to be attributed to the imperfection of the Laws, and to the disjointed state of the Police of the Metropolis.—Thieves in many instances, settle with Receivers before they commit Robberies—Receivers always benefit more than Thieves:—Their profit immense:—They are divided into two Classes:—The immediate Receivers connected with Thieves, and those who keep shops and purchase from Pilferers in the way of Trade:—The latter are extremely numerous.—The Laws are insufficient effectually to reach either class.—The existing statutes against Receivers examined and briefly detailed, with Observations thereon.—Amendments and Improvements suggested with means to ensure their due execution.

288

CHAP. XI.

ON THE ORIGIN OF CRIMINAL OFFENCES.

The increase of Crimes imputed to deficient Laws and an ill-regulated Police:—To the

habits of the Lower Orders in feeding their families in Alehouses:—To the bad Education of Apprentices:—To the want of Industry:—To idle and profligate menial Servants out of Place:—To the Lower Orders of the Jews, of the Dutch and German Synagogues; To the depraved Morals of aquatic Labourers:—To the Dealers in Old Metals, Furniture, Clothes, &c.—To disreputable Pawnbrokers:—And finally, to ill-regulated Public Houses.—Concluding Reflections. 310

CHAP. XII.

THE ORIGIN OF CRIMES CONTINUED:
FEMALE PROSTITUTION.

The pitiable condition of the unhappy Females, who support themselves by Prostitution:—The progress from Innocence to Profligacy.—The morals of Youth corrupted by the multitude of Prostitutes in the streets.—The impossibility of preventing the existence of Prostitution in a great Metropolis.—The Propriety of lessening the Evil, by stripping it of its Indecency and much of its immoral tendency.—The advantages of the measure in reducing the mass of Turpitude.—Reasons offered why the interests of Morality and Religion will thus be promoted.—The

example of Holland, Italy, and the East-Indies quoted.—Strictures on the offensive manners of the Company who frequent Public Tea Gardens:—These places under a proper Police might be rendered beneficial to the State.—Ballad-Singers—Immoral Books and Songs—Necessity of Responsibility for the execution of the Laws attaching somewhere. 334

CHAP. XIII.

THE ORIGIN OF CRIMES CONTINUED:
STATE OF THE POOR.

The System with respect to the Casual Poor erroneous.—The effect of Indigence on the Offspring of the Sufferers.—Estimate of the private and public Benevolence amounting to 850,000l. a year.—The deplorable state of the Lower Ranks, attributed to the present System of the Poor Laws.—An Institution to inquire into the cause of Mendicity in the Metropolis explained.—A new System of Relief proposed with respect to Casual Poor, and Vagrants in the Metropolis.—The distinction between Poverty and Indigence.—The Poor divided into five classes, with suggestions applicable to each.—The evil Examples in Work-Houses.—The stat. of 43 Eliz. considered.—The

defective system of Execution exposed.—A Public Institution recommended in the nature of a Pauper Police, under the direction of three Commissioners:—Their Functions.—A proposition for raising a fund of 5230l. from the Parishes for the support of the Institution, and to relieve them from the Casual Poor.—Reasons why the experiment should be tried.—Assistance which might be obtained from Gentlemen who have considered this subject fully. 351

CHAP. XIV.

ON THE DETECTION OF OFFENDERS.

The present state of the Police on this subject explained.—The necessity of having recourse to known Receivers.—The great utility of Officers of Justice.—The advantages of rendering them respectable in the opinion of the Public.—Their powers by the common and statute Law.—Rewards granted to Officers in certain cases of Conviction.—The Statutes quoted, applicable to such rewards.—The utility of parochial Constables, under a well-organized Police.—A Fund for this purpose might arise from the reduction of the expences of the Police, by the diminution of Crimes.—The necessity of a competent Fund.—A new System for prevention

and detection of Crimes proposed.—The functions of the different classes of Officers.—Salaries necessary to all.—Improvements in the system of Rewards suggested.—1040 Peace-Officers in the Metropolis and its vicinity, of whom only 90 are stipendiary Constables.—Defects and abuses in the system of the Watch explained.—A general Plan of Superintendance suggested.—A view of the Magistracy of the Metropolis.—The inconvenience of the present System. 381

CHAP. XV.

ON THE PROSECUTION OF OFFENDERS.

The prevailing Practice when Offenders are brought before Magistrates.—The duty of Magistrates in such cases.—Professed Thieves seldom intimidated when put upon their Trial, from the many chances they have of escaping.—These Chances shortly detailed.—Reflections on false Humanity towards Prisoners.—The delays and expences of Prosecutions a great discouragement to Prosecutors.—An account of the different Courts of Justice, for the trial of Offences committed in the Metropolis.—Five inferior and two superior Courts.—A statement of Prisoners convicted and discharged in one year.—Reflections thereon.—The advantage which

would arise from the appointment of a Public Prosecutor, in remedying Abuses in the Trial of Offenders.—From 2500 to 3000 Persons committed for trial, by Magistrates, in the course of a year.—The chief part afterwards returned upon Society. 422

CHAP. XVI.

ON THE SYSTEM OF PUNISHMENTS:
CONSIDERED PRACTICALLY.

The mode authorised by the Ancient Laws.—The period when Transportation commenced.—The principal Crimes enumerated which are punishable with Death.—Those punishable by Transportation and Imprisonment.—Number of Persons tried compared with those discharged.—The system of Pardons examined; and Regulations suggested.—An historical Account of the rise and progress of Transportation.—The system of the Hulks; and the Laws as to provincial and national Penitentiary Houses.—Number of the Convicts confined in the Hulks for twenty-two years.—The enormous expence of maintenance and inadequate produce of their Labour.—The impolicy of the System.—The system of Transportation to New South Wales examined, and Improvements suggested.—Erection of National Penitentiary Houses recommended.—The National Penitentiary House (according to the Proposal of

Jeremy Bentham,

Esq.) considered:—Its peculiar advantages with respect to Health, productive Labour, and Reformation of Convicts.—General Reflections on the means of rendering Imprisonment useful. 435

CHAP. XVII.

CRIMINAL POLICE OF THE METROPOLIS.

The Police of the Metropolis examined, and its Organization explained.—The utility of the system, established in 1792 examined and explained.—Its great deficiency from the want of Funds to reward Officers for the detection and punishment of Offenders.—Suggestions relative to stipendiary Justices, and the benefits likely to result from their exertions in assisting the City Magistrates.—The vast labour and weight of duty attached to the chief Magistrate and Aldermen in London.—The benefits to result from Established Police Magistrates exemplified by the System already adopted under the Act of 1792.—The advantages which would arise from the various remedies proposed in the course of this Work, only of a partial nature, for want of a centre-point and superintending Establishment.—The ideas of Foreigners on the Police of the Metropolis.—Observations on the Old Police of Paris, elucidated by Anecdotes of the Emperor Joseph II. and Mons. de

Sartine.—

A Central Board of Commissioners for managing the Police, peculiarly necessary on the return of Peace.—This measure recommended by the Finance Committee. 501

CHAP. XVIII.

PROPOSED SYSTEM OF CRIMINAL POLICE.

A Proposition to consolidate the two Boards of Hawkers and Pedlars, and Hackney Coaches, into a Board of Police Revenue.—The whole Revenue of Police from Fees, Penalties, and Licence Duties, to make a common Fund.—Accounts to be audited.—Magistrates to distribute small Rewards.—A power to the Board to make Bye Laws.—A concurrent Jurisdiction recommended.—The Penitentiary House for reforming Convicts.—Measures proposed after the Board is established—namely, A Public Prosecutor for the Crown:—A Register of Lodging Houses—The Establishment of a Police Gazette—Two leading Objects: the prevention of Crimes; and raising a Revenue

for Police purposes.—The enumeration of the Dealers, who are proposed to be licenced.—A general View of the annual Expence of the present and proposed Police System.—Suggestions respecting a chain of connections with Magistrates in the Country.—The Functions of the proposed Central Board of Police.—Specification of the Trades to be regulated and licenced.—The advantages likely to result from the adoption of the Plan. 536

CHAP. XIX.

MUNICIPAL POLICE OF THE METROPOLIS.

Extent and Opulence of the City of London, its Streets, Lanes, Allies, Courts and Squares estimated at 8000.—Churches, &c. 400.—Seminaries for Education 4000.—The various Institutions and Societies for Learning, for the fine Arts, and for charitable and humane Purposes.—The Courts of Law.—The Prisons—Suggestions as to improving the System of Imprisonment for Debt, particularly as relates to Small Debts: and as to dividing the judicial and ministerial Labours among more Officers.—The internal or municipal Regulations established in the Metropolis by several Statutes; respecting Paving—Watching—Sewers—Hackney

Coaches—Carts—Watermen—and Buildings.—Necessity of rendering these Laws uniform and coextensive, so as to consolidate the System of Municipal Police.—Expence calculated at 1,000,000l. a year.—Suggestions for reducing it.—The present Epoch calls for Improvements. 567

CHAP. XX.

CONCLUSION.

A summary View of the Evils detailed in the preceding Chapters.—Arguments in favour of a more energetic Police as the only means of remedying these Evils.—A general View of the estimated Depredations annually in the Metropolis and its Vicinity; amounting in all to Two Millions sterling.—A View of the Remedies proposed—1st. With respect to the Corruption of Morals.—2d. The means of preventing Crimes in general.—3d. Offences committed on the River Thames.—4th. Offences in the Public Arsenals and Ships of War.—5th. Counterfeiting Money and fabricating Bank Notes.—6th. Punishments.—7th. Further advantages of an improved System of Police.—Concluding Reflections.

602

A

TREATISE, &c.

CHAPTER I.

A general view of the Evils existing in the Metropolis, and the causes from which they arise.—Necessity of a well-regulated Police.—Ineffective system of Criminal Jurisprudence.—Facility of eluding Justice. Severity and inequality of Punishments.—Necessity of revising our Penal Code.—Certain dangerous Offences not punishable.—Receivers of stolen property.—Extent of plunder in the Metropolis, &c.—Proposed restrictions on Receivers.—Coiners and Utterers of Counterfeit Money; the extent of their crimes.—Defects in the mode of prosecuting Offenders.—Pardons.—Periodical discharges of Prisoners.—Summary of the causes of the present inefficacy of the Police, under nine different heads.

NEXT to the blessings which a Nation derives from an excellent Constitution and System of general Laws, are those advantages which result from a well-regulated and energetic plan of Police, conducted and enforced with purity, activity, vigilance, and discretion.

Upon this depends, in so great a degree, the comfort, the happiness, and the true liberty and security of the People, that too much labour and attention cannot possibly be bestowed in rendering complete the domestic administration of Justice in all cases of criminal delinquency.

That much remains to be done in this respect no person will deny; all ranks must bear testimony to the dangers which both life and property are at present subjected to by the number of criminal people, who, from various causes (which it is the object of the Writer of these pages to explain), are suffered with impunity to repeat acts of licentiousness and mischief, and to commit depredations upon individuals and the Public.

In vain do we boast of those liberties which are our birthright, if the vilest and most depraved part of the Community are suffered to deprive us of the privilege of travelling upon the highways, or of approaching the Capital in any direction after dark, without risk of being assaulted, and robbed; and perhaps wounded or murdered.

In vain may we boast of the security which our Laws afford us, if we cannot lie down to rest in our habitations, without the dread of a burglary being committed, our property invaded, and our lives exposed to imminent danger before the approach of morning.

Imperfect must be either the plan or the execution, or both, of our Criminal Code, if crimes are found to increase; if the moral principle ceases to be a check upon a vast proportion of the lower ranks of the People; and if small thefts are known to prevail in such a degree, as to affect almost all ranks of the Community who have any property to lose, as often as opportunities occur, whereby pilfering in a little way can be effected without detection.

If, in addition to this, the peace of Society can, on every specious pretence, be disturbed by the licentious clamours or turbulent effusions arising from the ill-regulated passions of vulgar life, surely it becomes an interesting inquiry, worthy the attention of every intelligent member of the Community, from what source spring these numerous inconveniences; and where is a remedy to be found for so many accumulated evils?

In developing the causes which have produced that want of security, which it is believed prevails in no other civilised country in so great a degree as in England, it will be necessary to examine how far the System of Criminal Jurisprudence has been, hitherto, applicable to the prevention of crimes.

If we look back to the measures pursued by our ancestors two centuries ago, and before that period, we shall find that many wholesome laws were made with a view to prevention, and to secure the good behaviour of persons likely to commit offences. Since that æra in our history, a different plan has been pursued. Few regulations have been established to restrain vice, or to render difficult the commission of crimes; while the Statute Books have been filled with numerous Laws, in many instances doubtfully expressed, and whose leading feature has generally been severe punishment. These circumstances, aided by the false mercy of Juries in cases of slight offences, have tended to let loose upon Society a body of criminal individuals, who under a better Police—an improved system of Legislation, and milder punishments,—might, after a correction in Penitentiary Houses, or employment in out-door labour, under proper restraints, have been restored to Society as useful members.

As the Laws are at present administered, it is a melancholy truth not to be contradicted, that the major part of the criminals who infest this Metropolis, although committed by magistrates for trial on very satisfactory proof, are returned upon the Public in vast numbers year after year; encouraged to renew their former practices, by the facility they experience in evading justice.

But this is not all:—The adroit Thief and Receiver, availing themselves of their pecuniary resources, often escape, from their knowledge of the tricks and devices which are practised, through the medium of disreputable practitioners of the Law; while the novices in delinquency generally suffer the punishment attached to conviction. If, as is the case in some other countries, evidence were allowed to be received of the general character of persons, put upon their trial for offences, and the means by which they obtain their subsistence, so as to distinguish the old reputed Thief and Receiver from the novice in crimes, the minds of Jurymen would be often enlightened, to the furtherance of substantial justice; and a humane and proper distinction might be made between the young pupil of depravity, and the finished villain; as well in the measure of punishment, as in the distribution of mercy.

The severity of the punishment, which at present attaches to crimes regarded by mankind as of an inferior nature, and which affect property in a trivial manner, is also deserving the most serious attention. It is only necessary to be acquainted with the modern history of the criminal prosecutions, trials, acquittals, and pardons in this country, in order to be completely convinced that the progressive increase of delinquents, and the evils experienced by Society from the multitude of petty crimes, result in a great measure from this single circumstance.

It will scarcely be credited by those, whose habits of life do not permit them to enter into discussions of this sort, that by the Laws of England, there are above one hundred and sixty different offences which subject the parties who are found guilty, to death without benefit of Clergy. This multiplicity of capital punishments must, in the nature of things, defeat those ends, the attainment of which ought to be the object of all Law, namely, The Prevention of Crimes.

In consequence of this severity, (to use the words of an admired Writer,) "The injured, through compassion, will often forbear to prosecute: Juries, through compassion, will sometimes forget their oaths, and either acquit the guilty or mitigate the nature of the offence: and Judges, through compassion, will respite one half the convicts, and recommend them to Royal Mercy."[2]

The Roman Empire never flourished so much as during the æra of the Portian Law, which abrogated the punishment of death for all offences whatsoever. When severe punishments and an incorrect Police were afterwards revived, the Empire fell.

It is not meant, however, to be insinuated that this would be, altogether, a proper system of Criminal Jurisprudence to be adopted in modern times.

In the present state of society it becomes indispensably necessary, that offences, which in their nature are highly injurious to the Public, and where no mode of prevention can be established, should be punished by the forfeiture of life; but these dreadful examples should be exhibited as seldom as possible: for while on the one hand, such punishments often defeat the ends of Justice, by their not being carried into execution; so on the other, by being often repeated, they lose their effect upon the minds of the People.[3]

However much we glory (and we ought to glory) in the general excellence of our Criminal Law, yet there is no truth more clear and obvious than this:—"That this code exhibits too much the appearance of a heterogeneous mass, concocted too often on the spur of the occasion (as Lord Bacon expresses it):—and frequently without that degree of accuracy which is the result of able and minute discussion, or a due attention to the revision of the existing laws; or how far their provisions bear upon new and accumulated statutes introduced into Parliament; often without either consideration or knowledge, and without those precautions which are always necessary, when laws are to be made which may affect the property, the liberty, and perhaps even the lives of thousands."

Some steps have indeed, been taken in Parliament, since this work first appeared, towards a general revision of our Statute Law;[4] and which, it is hoped, will ere long be adopted. Whenever the time shall arrive that the existing laws, which form the present Criminal Code, shall be referred to able and intelligent men effectually to revise, consolidate, and adjust the whole, in a manner best suited to the present state of Society and Manners, the investigation will unquestionably excite no little wonder and astonishment.

Penal laws, which are either obsolete or absurd, or which have arisen from an adherence to rules of Common Law when the reasons have ceased upon which these rules are founded; and in short, all Laws which appear not to be consonant to the dictates of truth and justice, the feelings of Humanity, and the indelible rights of Mankind should be abrogated and repealed.[5]

But the deficiency of the Criminal Code does not arise solely from an erroneous and undigested scale of penalties and punishments. While on the one hand, we have to lament the number of these applicable to certain offences of a slight nature; we have equally to regret, that there exist crimes of considerable enormity, for the punishment of which the Law has made no provision.

Among the most prominent of these crimes, may be ranked the receiving Cash or Specie, Bank-Notes or Bills, knowing them to be stolen.

To this very high offence, in its nature so productive of mischief in a Commercial Country, no punishment at all attaches; inasmuch as Specie, Notes and Bills, are not considered for this purpose to be Goods and Chattels; and the law only makes it a crime to receive property so described.

If therefore a notorious Receiver of stolen goods shall be convicted of purchasing a glass bottle or a pewter pot, he is liable to be punished severely; but if he receives ten or twenty thousand pounds in Cash, Bank Notes, or Bills, he escapes with impunity![6]

Innumerable almost are the other instances which could be collected from Reporters of Criminal Cases, shewing the deficiency of the Criminal Code; and in how many instances substantial justice is defeated, and public wrongs are suffered to go unpunished, through the objections and quibbles constantly raised in Courts of Justice; and which are allowed to prevail, principally, for want of that revision of our laws and those amendments which the present state of Society and Commerce requires.

One of the chief nurseries of Crimes is to be traced to the Receivers of Stolen Property.

Without that easy encouragement which these Receivers hold out, by administering immediately to the wants of criminals, and concealing what they purloin, a Thief, a Robber, or a Burglar, could not in fact, carry on his trade.

And yet, conclusive and obvious, as this remark must be, it is a sorrowful truth, that in the Metropolis alone there are at present supposed to be upwards of Three Thousand Receivers of various kinds of stolen Goods; and an equal proportion all over the Country, who keep open shop for the purpose of purchasing at an under-price—often for a mere trifle,—every kind of property brought to them; from a nail, or a glass bottle, up to the most valuable article either new or old; and this without asking a single question.

It is supposed that the property, purloined and pilfered in a little way, from almost every family, and from every house, stable, shop, warehouse, workshop, foundery, and other repository, in and about the Metropolis, may amount to about £.700,000 in one year, exclusive of depredations on ships in the River Thames, which, before the establishment of the Marine Police System in June 1798, were estimated at half a million more, including the stores and materials!—When to this is also added the Pillage of his Majesty's stores, in ships of war, Dock-yards, and other public repositories, the aggregate will be found in point of extent, almost to exceed credibility!

It is a melancholy reflection to consider how many individuals, young and old, who are not of the class or description of common or even repeated thieves, are implicated in this system of depredation; who would probably have remained honest and industrious, had it not been for the easy mode of raising money, which these numerous Receivers of stolen goods hold out in every bye-street and lane in the Metropolis: In their houses, although a beggarly appearance of old iron, old rags, or second-hand clothes, is only exhibited, the back apartments are often filled with the most valuable articles of ship-stores, copper-bolts and nails, brass and other valuable metals, West-India produce, household goods and wearing apparel; purchased from artificers, labourers in the docks, lumpers, and others employed on the River Thames, menial servants, apprentices, journeymen, porters, chimney-sweepers, itinerant Jews, and others; who, thus encouraged and protected, go on with impunity, and without the least dread of detection, from the easiness of access, which their various employments give them, plundering every article not likely to be missed, in the houses or stables of men of property; or in the shops, ware-houses, founderies, or work-shops of manufacturers; or from new buildings; from ships in the river; nay even from his Majesty's stores, and other repositories, so that in some instances, the same articles are said to be sold to the Public Boards three or four times over.

Thus the moral principle is totally destroyed among a vast body of the lower ranks of the People; for wherever prodigality, dissipation, or gaming, whether in the Lottery or otherwise, occasions a want of money, every opportunity is sought to purloin public or private property; recourse is then had to all those tricks and devices, by which even children are enticed to steal before they know that it is a crime; and to raise money at the pawnbrokers, or the old iron or rag shops, to supply the unlawful desires of profligate parents.

Hence also, Servants, Apprentices, Journeymen, and in short all classes of labourers and domestics, are led astray by the temptations to spend money, which occur in this Metropolis; and by the facility afforded through the numerous Receivers of stolen Goods, who administer to their pecuniary wants, on every occasion, when they can furnish them with any article of their ill-gotten plunder.

The necessity of adopting some effectual regulations respecting the numerous class of Dealers in old metal, stores, and wearing apparel, is too obvious to require illustration; and the progressive accumulation of these pests of Society is proved, by their having increased, from about 300 to 3000, in the course of the last twenty years, in the Metropolis alone!

Similar regulations should also be extended to all the more latent Receivers, who do not keep open shop; but secretly support the professed Robbers and Burglars, by purchasing their plunder the moment it is acquired: of which latter class there are some who are said to be extremely opulent.

It would by no means be difficult to form such a plan of Police as should establish many useful restrictions, for the purpose of checking and embarrassing these criminal people; so as to render it extremely difficult, if not impracticable for them, in many instances, to carry on their business without the greatest hazard of detection.

But laws for this purpose must not be placed upon the Statute-Book as a kind of dead letter, only to be brought into action when accident may lead to the detection, perhaps of one in a thousand. If the evil is to be cured at all, it must be by the promotion and encouragement of an active principle, under proper superintendance, calculated to prevent every class of dealers, who are known to live partly or wholly by fraud, from pursuing those illegal practices; which nothing but a watchful Police, aided by a correct system of restraints, can possibly effect.

Nor ought it to be argued, that the restraints, which may hereafter be proposed, will affect the liberty of the Subject. They will assist and protect the honest and fair dealer; and it is perfectly consistent with the spirit of our ancient laws, to restrain persons from doing evil, who are likely to commit offences; the restrictions can affect only a very few, comparatively speaking; and those too whose criminal conduct has been the principal, if not the sole cause, of abridging the general liberty; while it subjected the great mass of the people to the risk of their life and property.

Whenever Dealers, of any description, are known to encourage or to support crimes, or criminal or fraudulent persons, it becomes the indispensable interest of the State, and the duty of the Legislators to prevent them from pursuing, at least, the mischievous part of their trade; and that provisions should be made for carrying the laws strictly and regularly into execution.

While restraints of a much severer nature than those which are hereafter proposed, attach to all trades upon which a revenue is collected; can it be considered as any infringement of freedom, to extend a milder system to those who not only destroy liberty but invade property?

The present state of Society and Manners calls aloud for the adoption of this principle of regulation, as the only practicable means of preserving the morals of a vast body of the Community; and of preventing those numerous and increasing crimes and misdemeanors, which are ultimately attended with as much evil to the perpetrators as to the sufferers.

If such a principle were once established, under circumstances which would insure a correct and regular execution; and if, added to this, certain other practicable arrangements should take place, (which will be discussed in their regular order in these pages,) we might soon congratulate ourselves on the immediate and obvious reduction of the number of Thieves, Robbers, Burglars, and other criminals in this Metropolis, being no longer able to exist, or to escape detection. Without the aid, the concealment, and the opportunities, afforded at present by the multitude of Receivers spread all over the Capital, they would be compelled to abandon their evil pursuits, as no less unprofitable and hazardous, than they are destructive to the best interests of Society.

This indeed is very different from what is said to have once prevailed in the Capital, when criminals were permitted to proceed from the first stage of depravity until they were worth forty pounds.—This is not the System which subjected the Public to the intermediate depredations of every villain from his first starting, till he could be clearly convicted of a capital offence.—Neither is it the System which encouraged public houses of rendezvous for Thieves, for the purpose of knowing where to apprehend them, when they became ripe for the punishment of death.

The System now suggested, is calculated to prevent, if possible, the seeds of villainy from being sown; or, if sown, to check their growth in the bud, and never permit them to ripen at all.

It is proposed to extend this system of prevention to the Coiners, Dealers, and Utterers of base Money; and to every species of theft, robbery, fraud, and depredation.

The vast increase, and the extensive circulation of counterfeit Money, particularly of late years, is too obvious not to have attracted the notice of all ranks. It has become an enormous evil in the melancholy catalogue of Crimes which the Laws of the Country are called upon to assist the Police in suppressing.—Its extent almost exceeds credibility; and the dexterity and ingenuity of these counterfeiters have, (after considerable practice,) enabled them to finish the different kinds of base Money in so masterly a manner, that it has become extremely difficult for the common observer to distinguish their spurious manufacture from the worn-out Silver of the Mint.—So systematic, indeed, has this nefarious traffic become of late, that the great dealers, who, in most instances are the employers of the Coiners, execute orders for the Town and Country, with the same regularity as manufacturers in fair branches of trade.

Scarcely a waggon or coach departs from the Metropolis, which does not carry boxes and parcels of base Coin to the camps, sea-ports, and manufacturing towns. In London, regular markets, in various public and private houses, are held by the principal Dealers; where Hawkers, Pedlars, fraudulent Horse-Dealers, Unlicensed Lottery-Office-Keepers, Gamblers at Fairs, Itinerant Jews, Irish Labourers, Servants of Toll-Gatherers, and Hackney-Coach Owners, fraudulent Publicans, Market-Women, Rabbit-Sellers, Fish-Cryers, Barrow-Women, and many who would not be suspected, are regularly supplied with counterfeit Copper and Silver, with the advantage of nearly £.100 per cent. in their favour; and thus it happens, that through these various channels, the country is deluged with immense quantities of base Money, which get into circulation; while an evident diminution of the Mint Coinage is apparent to every common observer.

It is impossible to reflect on the necessity to which all persons are thus reduced, of receiving and again uttering, Money which is known to be false and counterfeit, without lamenting, that by thus familiarizing the mind to fraud and deception, the same laxity of conduct may be introduced into other transactions of life:—The barrier being broken down in one part, the principle of common honesty is infringed upon, and infinite mischief to the very best interests of Society, is the result, in cases at first unthought of.

To permit, therefore, the existence of an adulterated, and ill-regulated Silver and Copper Coinage, is in fact to tolerate general fraud and deception, to the ultimate loss of many individuals; for the evil must terminate at some period, and then thousands must suffer; with this aggravation, that the longer it continues the greater will be the loss of property.

Nor has the mischief been confined to the counterfeiting the Coin of the Realm. The avarice and ingenuity of man is constantly finding out new sources of fraud; insomuch, that in London, and in Birmingham, and its neighbourhood, Louis d'Ors, Half Johannas, French Half Crowns and Shillings, as well as several coins of Flanders and Germany, and Dollars of excellent workmanship, in exact imitation of the Spanish Dollars issued from the Bank, in 1797, have been from time to time counterfeited apparently without suspicion, that under the act of the 14th of Elizabeth, (cap. 3,) the offenders were guilty of misprision of High Treason.

These ingenious miscreants have also extended their iniquitous manufacture to the coins of India; and a Coinage of the Star Pagoda of Arcot was established in London for years by one person.—These counterfeits, being made wholly of blanched copper, tempered in such a manner as to exhibit, when stamped, the cracks in the edges, which are always to be found on the real Pagoda, cost the maker only Three Half-pence each, after being double gilt.—When finished, they are generally sold to Jews at Five Shillings a dozen, who disposed of them afterwards at 2s. 3s. or even 5s. each; and through this medium, they have been introduced by a variety of channels into India, where they were mixed with the real Pagodas of the country, and passed at their full denominated value of Eight Shillings sterling.

The Sequins of Turkey, another Gold Coin, worth about five or six shillings, have in like manner been counterfeited in London;—Thus the national character is wounded, and the disgrace of the British name proclaimed in Asia, and even in the most distant regions of India. Nor can it be sufficiently lamented that persons who consider themselves as ranking in superior stations of life, with some pretensions to honour and integrity, have suffered their avarice so far to get the better of their honesty, as to be concerned in this iniquitous traffic.

It has been recently discovered that there are at least 120 persons in the Metropolis and the Country, employed principally in coining and selling base Money; and this, independent of the numerous horde of Utterers, who chiefly support themselves by passing it at its full value.

It will scarcely be credited, that of Criminals of this latter class who have either been detected, prosecuted, or convicted, within the last seven years, there stand upon the Register of the Solicitor to the Mint, more than 650 names!—And yet the mischief is not diminished. When the Reader is informed, that two persons can finish from £.200 to £.300 (nominal value,) in base silver in six days; and that three people, within the same period, will stamp the like amount in Copper, and takes into the calculation the number of known Coiners, the aggregate amount in the course of a year will be found to be immense.

The causes of this enormous evil are, however, easily developed.—The principal laws relative to Counterfeit Coin having been made a Century ago, the tricks and devices of modern times are not sufficiently provided against;[7] when it is considered also, that the offence of dealing in base Money, (which is the main spring of the evil,) is only punishable by a slight imprisonment; that several offences of a similar nature are not punishable at all, by any existing statute; and that the detection of actual Coiners, so as to obtain the proof necessary for conviction, required by Law, is, in many instances, impracticable; it is not to be wondered at, where the profit is so immense, with so many chances of escaping punishment, that the coinage of, and traffic in, counterfeit Money has attracted the attention of so many unprincipled and avaricious persons.

Having thus stated many prominent abuses which appear to arise from the imperfections in our Criminal Code, as well as the benefits which an improved system would extend to the country; it now remains to elucidate the further evils arising to Society, from the abuses practised in carrying the existing statutes into execution.—As the laws now stand, little or no energy enters into the system of detection, so as to give vigor and effect to that branch of Police which relates to the apprehension of persons charged with offences; and no sooner does a Magistrate commit a hacknied Thief or Receiver of stolen Goods, a Coiner, or Dealer in base Money, or a Criminal charged with any other fraud or offence punishable by law, than recourse is immediately had to some disreputable Attorney, whose mind is made up and prepared to practise every trick and device which can defeat the ends of substantial justice. Depraved persons, frequently accomplices, are hired to swear an alibi; witnesses are cajoled, threatened, or bribed either to mutilate their evidence, or to speak doubtfully on the trial, although they swore positively before the committing Magistrate.

If bribes and persuasions will not do, the prosecutors are either intimidated by the expence,[8] or softened down by appeals to their humanity; and under such circumstances, they neither employ counsel nor take the necessary steps to bring forward evidence: the result is, that the Bill is either returned ignoramus by the Grand Jury; or, if a trial takes place, under all the disadvantages of a deficient evidence, without a counsel for the prosecution, an advocate is heard for the prisoner, availing himself of every trifling inaccuracy which may screen his client from the punishment of the Law, the hardened villain is acquitted and escapes justice: while, as we before noticed, the novice in crimes, unskilled in the deficiencies of the Law, and unable, from the want of criminal connections, or that support which the professed thief receives from the Buyers of stolen goods, to procure the aid of counsel to defend him, is often convicted!

The Registers of the Old Bailey afford a lamentable proof of the evils arising from the present mode of trying criminals without a public Prosecutor for the Crown.—In the course of seven years, previous to the Police Establishment, no less than 4262 prisoners, who had been actually put upon their trial by the Grand Jury, were let loose upon the Public by acquittals.

Since that period no material diminution has taken place, except what may be easily accounted for by the war; and when to this dreadful Catalogue of Human Depravity, is to be added, the vast number of criminals who are periodically discharged from the different gaols by proclamation, and of cheats, swindlers, gamblers, and others, who have never yet been discovered or known, we may state with certainty that there are at this time many thousand individuals, male and female, prowling about in this Metropolis, who principally support themselves by various depredations on the Public.

Nor does the evil rest here; for even convicted felons, in too many instances, find means to escape without punishment; and to join that phalanx of villains, who are constantly engaged in objects of depredation and mischief.

No sooner does the punishment of the law attach on a criminal, than false humanity becomes his friend. Pardons are applied for; and it is known that his Majesty's great goodness and love of mercy has been frequently abused by the tricks, devices, and frauds, too commonly resorted to, by convicts and agents equally depraved as themselves; who while they have recourse to every species of falsehood and forgery, for the purpose of attaining the object in view, at the same time plunder the friends and relatives of the prisoner, of their last guinea, as the wages of villainy and misrepresentation.

By such nefarious practices, it is much to be feared, that many a hardened villain has eluded the punishment of the Law, without any previous reference to the committing Magistrates, who may be supposed to have accurately examined into his character and connections; and what is still worse, without extending to the Community those benefits which might arise from important discoveries useful to Public Justice; such as convicted felons are always capable of making, and which, in conjunction with transportation, it should seem, ought to be one indispensable condition, upon which pardons should be granted to capital convicts.

Instead of these precautions which appear to be absolutely requisite, it is to be lamented, that without reflecting that a common thief can seldom be restrained by military discipline, many of the worst class of convicts have received his Majesty's gracious pardon, on the simple condition of going into the Army or Navy: This has been no sooner granted, than the Royal Mercy has been abused, either by desertion, or by obtaining a discharge, in consequence of some real or pretended incapacity, which was previously concealed. Relieved in so easy a manner, from the heavy load of a capital punishment, the culprits return again to their old practices; and by this means, punishment not only ceases to operate as a prevention of crimes, by example, but becomes even an encouragement; while the labour of detection, and the expence of trial and conviction, are fruitlessly thrown on an injured individual, and their effect is wholly lost to the Public.

In addition to the enormous evil arising from the periodical discharge of so many criminals by proclamations, acquittals, and pardons; the Hulks also send forth, at stated times, a certain number of convicts; who having no asylum, no home, no character, and no means of subsistence, seem to have only the alternative of starving, or joining their companions in iniquity; thus adding strength to the body of criminals, by the accession of men, who, polluted and depraved by every human vice, rendered familiar to their minds in those seminaries of profligacy and wickedness from whence they have come, employ themselves constantly in planning and executing acts of violence, and depredation upon the Public; and some of them, rendered desperate from an additional degree of depravity, feel no compunction in adding the crimes of murder to that of robbery, as has been too clearly manifested by many late instances.

From what has been thus stated, is it not fair to conclude, that the want of security which the Public experiences with regard to life and property, and the inefficacy of the Police in preventing crimes, are to be attributed principally to the following causes?

1. The imperfections in the Criminal Code; and in many instances, its deficiency, with respect to the mode of punishment; as well as to the want of many other regulations, provisions, and restraints, applicable to the present of Society, for the purpose of preventing crimes.

2. The want of an active principle, calculated to concentrate and connect the whole Police of the Metropolis and the Nation; and to reduce the general management to system and method, by the interposition of a superintending agency, composed of able, intelligent, and indefatigable men, acting under the direction and controul of his Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department.—On these persons, it is proposed, should devolve the subordinate care and direction of the general Police of the Metropolis; so as to obtain, by the introduction of order and arrangement, and by efforts of labour and exertion, a complete History of the connections, and pursuits of all or most of the criminal and fraudulent persons who resort to the Metropolis; (either natives or foreigners;) forming, from such materials, a Register of all known offenders, and thereby establishing a clue for their detection, as often as they are charged with committing depredations on the Public—with power to reward Officers of Justice, and all other persons whose services are found to be useful in the discovery or detection of delinquents of every description.—To keep an Account of property stolen, or procured by swindling or fraudulent transactions in the Metropolis, as well as in other parts of Great-Britain:—To establish a Correspondence with the Magistrates in Town and Country, so as to be able more effectually to watch the motions of all suspected persons; with a view to quick and immediate detection; and to interpose such embarrassments in the way of every class of offenders, as may diminish crimes by increasing the risk of detection: All this, under circumstances where a centre-point would be formed, and the general affairs of the Police conducted with method and regularity:—where Magistrates would find assistance and information; where the greater offences, such as the Coinage of base Money, and Lottery Insurances, would be traced to their source; the care and disposal of convicts, according to their different sentences, be minutely attended to; and the whole System conducted with that intelligence and benefit to the Country, which must arise from the attention of men of business being directed solely to these objects, distinct from all other affairs of State; and their exertions being confined principally to the preservation of the morals of the People, and the prevention of crimes.

3. The want of an Institution of Police Magistrates in the Dock Yards, and in all great Commercial and Manufacturing Towns, where there are no Corporations or Funds for the administration of Public Justice.

4. The want of a Public Prosecutor for the Crown, in all criminal cases, for the purpose of preventing fraud, delay and expence in the administration of Justice.

5. The want of a more correct and regular System, for the purpose of obtaining the fullest and most authentic information, to avoid deceptions in the obtaining of pardons.

6. The deficiency of the System of the Hulks.

7. The want of an improved System with regard to the arrangements and disposal of Convicts—destined for hard labour or for transportation.

8. The want of national Penitentiary Houses, for the punishment and reformation of certain classes of Convicts.

9. The want of a more solemn mode of conducting Executions; whenever such dreadful examples are necessary for the furtherance of Public Justice.

Having thus explained the general features of the actually existing Crimes, and their probable causes, we shall in the next place proceed to some considerations on the present principles of Punishment in this Country, as compared with those in other Nations and ages. It will then be requisite to enter into particular and minute details on both these subjects; and to offer some suggestions for the introduction of new and applicable laws to be administered with purity under a correct and energetic System of Police; which may be, in some degree, effectual in guarding the Public against those increasing and multifarious injuries and dangers, which are universally felt and lamented.

CHAP. II.

Of Punishments in general.—The mode of ascertaining the degrees of Punishment.—The objects to be considered in inflicting Punishments—namely, Amendment—Example—and Retribution.—The Punishment of Death has little effect on hardened Offenders.—Examples of convicts exhibited in servile employments would make a greater impression.—Towards the rendering criminal laws perfect, Prevention ought to be the great object of the Legislature.—General Rules suggested for attaining this object, with illustrations.—The severity of our laws with respect to Punishments—not reconcileable to the principles of morality, and a free government—calculated in their operation to debase the human character.—General Reflections on the Punishments authorised by the English Law.—The disproportion of Punishments, exemplified in the case of an assault, opposed to a larceny.—In seduction and adultery, which are not punishable as criminal offences.—The laws severe in the extreme in political offences, while they are lax and defective with regard to moral Crimes.—The necessity of enforcing the observance of religious and moral Virtue by lesser Punishments.—General Reflections applicable to public and private Crimes.—The dangers arising from the progress of immorality to the safety of the State.—The leading offences made capital by the laws of England considered, with the Punishment allotted to each; compared with, and illustrated by, the custom of other countries, in similar cases, both ancient and modern: namely, High Treason—Petit Treason:—Felonies against Life, viz. Murder, Manslaughter, Misadventure, and Self-defence:—against the Body, comprehending Sodomy, Rape, Forcible Marriage, Polygamy, and Mayhem.—Against Goods or Property, comprehending Simple Larceny, Mixt Larceny, and Piracy,—and against the Habitation, comprehending Arson and Burglary.—Concluding Reflections relative to the severity of the Laws, and their imperfections with regard to Punishment—The new Code of the Emperor Joseph the Second, shortly detailed.—Reflections thereon.

PUNISHMENT, (says a learned and respectable author) is an evil which a delinquent suffers, unwillingly, by the order of a Judge or Magistrate; on account of some act done which the Law prohibits, or something omitted which the Law enjoins.

All Punishment should be proportioned to the nature of the offence committed; and the Legislature, in adjusting Punishment with a view to the public good, ought, according to the dictates of sound reason, to act on a comparison of the Crime under consideration, with other offences injurious to Society: and thus by comparing one offence with another, to form a scale, or gradation, of Punishments, as nearly as possible consistent with the strict rules of distributive justice.[9]

It is the triumph of Liberty, says the great Montesquieu, when the criminal laws proportion punishments to the particular nature of each offence.—It may be further added, that when this is the case, it is also the triumph of Reason.

In order to ascertain in what degree the Public is injured or endangered by any crime, it is necessary to weigh well and dispassionately the nature of the offence, as it affects the Community.—It is through this medium, that Treason and Rebellion are discovered to be higher and more dangerous offences than breaches of the peace by riotous assemblies; as such riotous meetings are in like manner considered as more criminal than a private assault.

In punishing delinquents, two objects ought to be invariably kept in view.—

1. The Amendment of the Delinquent.

2. The Example afforded to others.

To which may be added, in certain cases,

3. Retribution to the party injured.

If we attend to Reason, the Mistress of all Law, she will convince us that it is both unjust and injurious to Society to inflict Death, except for the highest offences, and in cases where the offender appears to be incorrigible.

Wherever the amendment of a delinquent is in view, it is clear that his punishment cannot extend to death: If expiating an offence by the loss of life is to be (as it certainly is at present) justified by the necessity of making examples for the purpose of preventing crimes, it is evident that the present System has not had that effect, since they are by no means diminished; and since even the dread of this Punishment, has, under present circumstances, so little effect upon guilty associates, that it is no uncommon thing for these hardened offenders to be engaged in new acts of theft, at the very moment their companions in iniquity are launching in their very presence into eternity.

The minds of offenders, long inured to the practice of criminal pursuits, are by no means beneficially affected by the punishment of Death, which they are taught to consider as nothing but a momentary paroxysm which ends all their distress at once; nay even as a relief, which many of them, grown desperate, look upon with a species of indifference, bordering on a desire to meet that fate, which puts an end to the various distresses and anxieties attendant on a life of criminality.

The effect of capital punishments, in the manner they are now conducted, therefore, as relates to example, appears to be much less than has been generally imagined.

Examples would probably have much greater force, even on those who at present appear dead to shame and the stigma of infamy, were convicts exhibited day after day, to their companions, occupied in mean and servile employments in Penitentiary Houses, or on the highways, canals, mines, or public works.—It is in this way only that there is the least chance of making retribution to the parties whom they have injured; or of reimbursing the State, for the unavoidable expence which their evil pursuits have occasioned.

Towards accomplishing the desirable object of perfection in a criminal code, every wise Legislature will have it in contemplation rather to prevent than to punish crimes; that in the chastisement given, the delinquent may be restored to Society as an useful member.

This purpose may possibly be best effected by the adoption of the following general rules.

1. That the Statute-Laws should accurately explain the enormity of the offence forbidden: and that its provisions should be clear and explicit, resulting from a perfect knowledge of the subject; so that, justice may not be defeated in the execution.

2. That the Punishments should be proportioned and adapted, as nearly as possible, to the different degrees of offences; with a proper attention also to the various shades of enormity which may attach to certain crimes.

3. That persons prosecuting, or compelled so to do, should not only be indemnified from expence; but also that reparation should be made, for losses sustained by the injured party, in all cases where it can be obtained from the labour, or property of the delinquent.

4. That satisfaction should be made to the State for the injury done to the Community; by disturbing the peace, and violating the purity of Society.

Political laws, which are repugnant to the Law of nature and reason, ought not to be adopted. The objects above-mentioned seem to include all that can be necessary for the attention of Law-givers.

If on examination of the frame and tendency of our criminal Laws, both with respect to the principles of reason and State Policy, the Author might be allowed to indulge a hope, that what he brings under the Public Eye on this important subject, would be of use in promoting the good of Mankind, he should consider his labours as very amply rewarded.

The severity of the criminal Laws is not only an object of horror, but the disproportion of the punishments, as will be shewn in the course of this Work, breathes too much the spirit of Draco,[10] who boasted that he punished all crimes with death; because small crimes deserved it, and he could find no higher punishment for the greatest.

Though the ruling principle of our Government is unquestionably, Liberty, it is much to be feared that the rigour which the Laws indiscriminately inflict on slight as well as more atrocious offences, can be ill reconciled to the true distinctions of Morality, and strict notions of Justice, which form the peculiar excellence of those States which are to be characterised as free.

By punishing smaller offences with extraordinary severity, is there not a risque of inuring men to baseness; and of plunging them into the sink of infamy and despair, from whence they seldom fail to rise capital criminals; often to the destruction of their fellow-creatures, and always to their own inevitable perdition?

To suffer the lower orders of the people to be ill educated—to be totally inattentive to those wise regulations of State Policy which might serve to guard and improve their morals; and then to punish them for crimes which have originated in bad habits, has the appearance of a cruelty not less severe than any which is exercised under the most despotic Governments.

There are two Circumstances which ought also to be minutely considered in apportioning the measure of Punishment—the immorality of the action; and its evil tendency.

Nothing contributes in a greater degree to deprave the minds of the people, than the little regard which Laws pay to Morality; by inflicting more severe punishments on offenders who commit, what may be termed, Political Crimes, and crimes against property, than on those who violate religion and virtue.

When we are taught, for instance, by the measure of punishment that it is considered by the Law as a greater crime to coin a sixpence than to kill our father or mother, nature and reason revolt against the proposition.

In offences which are considered by the Legislature as merely personal, and not in the class of public wrongs, the disproportionate punishment is extremely shocking.

If, for example, a personal assault is committed of the most cruel, aggravated, and violent nature, the offender is seldom punished in any other manner than by fine and imprisonment: but if a delinquent steals from his neighbour secretly more than the value of twelve-pence, the Law dooms him to death. And he can suffer no greater punishment (except the ignominy exercised on his dead body,) if he robs and murders a whole family. Some private wrongs of a flagrant nature are even passed over with impunity: the seduction of a married woman—the destruction of the peace and happiness of families, resulting from alienating a wife's affections, and defiling her person, is not an offence punishable by the Criminal Law; while it is death to rob the person, who has suffered this extensive injury, of a trifle exceeding a shilling.

The Crime of Adultery was punished with great severity both by the Grecian and the Roman Laws.—In England this offence is not to be found in the Criminal Code.—It may indeed be punished with fine and penance by the Spiritual Law; or indirectly in the Courts of Common Law, by an action for damages, at the suit of the party injured. The former may now (perhaps fortunately) be considered as a dead letter; while the other remedy, being merely of a pecuniary nature, has little effect in restraining this species of delinquency.

Like unskilful artists, we seem to have begun at the wrong end; since it is clear that the distinction, which has been made in the punishments between public and private crimes, is subversive of the very foundation it would establish.

Private Offences being the source of public crimes, the best method of guarding Society against the latter is, to make proper provisions for checking the former.—A man of pure morals always makes the best Subject of every State; and few have suffered punishment as public delinquents, who have not long remained unpunished as private offenders. The only means, therefore, of securing the peace of Society, and of preventing more atrocious crimes, is, to enforce by lesser punishments, the observance of religious and moral duties: Without this, Laws are but weak Guardians either of the State, or the persons or property of the Subject.

The People are to the Legislature what a child is to a parent:—As the first care of the latter is to teach the love of virtue, and a dread of punishment; so ought it to be the duty of the former, to frame Laws with an immediate view to the general improvement of morals.

"That Kingdom is happiest where there is most virtue," says an elegant writer.—It follows, of course, that those Laws are the best which are most calculated to promote Religion and Morality; the operation of which in every State, is to produce a conduct intentionally directed towards the Public Good.

It seems that by punishing what are called public Crimes, with peculiar severity, we only provide against present and temporary mischiefs. That we direct the vengeance of the Law against effects, which might have been prevented by obviating their causes:—And this may be assigned in part as the cause of Civil Wars and Revolutions.—The Laws are armed against the powers of Rebellion, but are not calculated to oppose its principle.

Few civil wars have been waged from considerations of Public Virtue, or even for the security of Public Liberty. These desperate undertakings are generally promoted and carried on by abandoned characters, who seek to better their fortunes in the general havoc and devastation of their country.—Those men are easily seduced from their Loyalty who are apostates from private virtue.

To be secure therefore against those public calamities which, almost inevitably, lead to anarchy and confusion, it is far better to improve and confirm a nation in the true principles of natural justice, than to perplex them by political refinements.

Having thus taken a general view of the principles applicable to Punishments in general, it may be necessary, for the purpose of more fully illustrating these reflections, briefly to consider the various leading Offences, and their corresponding Punishments according to the present state of our Criminal Law; and to examine how far they are proportioned to each other.

High Treason is the highest civil Crime which can be committed by any member of the Community.—After various alterations and amendments made and repealed in subsequent reigns, the definition of this offence was settled as it originally stood, by the Act of the 25th of Edward III. stat. 5, cap. 2. and may be divided into seven different heads:

1. Compassing or imagining the Death of the King, Queen, or Heir Apparent.

2. Levying War against the King, in his realm.

3. Adhering to the King's enemies, and giving them aid, in the realm or elsewhere.[11]

4. Slaying the King's Chancellor or Judge in the execution of their offices.

5. Violating the Queen, the eldest daughter of the King, or the wife of the Heir Apparent, or eldest Son.

6. Counterfeiting the King's Great Seal, or Privy Seal.

7. Counterfeiting the King's Money, or bringing false Money into the kingdom.

This detail shews how much the dignity and security of the King's person is confounded with that of his officers, and even with his effigies imprest on his Coin.—To assassinate the servant, or to counterfeit the type, is held as criminal as to destroy the Sovereign.

This indiscriminate blending of crimes, so different and disproportionate in their nature, under one common head, is certainly liable to great objections; seeing that the judgment in this offence is so extremely severe and terrible, viz. That the offender be drawn to the gallows on the ground or pavement: That he be hanged by the neck, and then cut down alive: That his entrails be taken out and burned while he is yet alive: That his head be cut off: That his body be divided into four parts: And that his head and quarters be at the King's disposal.—Women, however, are only to be drawn and hanged:—though in all cases of treason, they were heretofore sentenced to be burned: a cruel punishment, which, after being alleviated by the custom of previous strangulation, was at length repealed, by the Act 30 Geo. III. c. 48.

There are indeed some shades of difference with regard to coining money; where the offender is only drawn and hanged; and that part of the punishment which relates to being drawn and quartered is, to the honour of humanity, never practised. But even in cases of the most atrocious criminality, the execution of so horrid a sentence seems to answer no good political purpose.—Nature shudders at the thought of imbruing our hands in blood, and mangling the smoaking entrails of our fellow-creatures.

In most Countries and in all ages, however, Treason has been punished capitally.—Under the Roman Laws, by the Cornelia Lex, of which Sylla, the Dictator, was the author, this Offence was created.—It was also made a capital Crime when the Persian Monarchy became despotic.

By the Laws of China, Treason and Rebellion are punished with a rigour even beyond the severity of our judgment, for the criminals are ordained to be cut in ten thousand pieces.

There is another species of Treason, called Petty Treason, described by the Statute of the 25th of Edward the III. to be the offence of a Servant killing his Master, a Wife killing her Husband, or a Secular or Religious slaying his Prelate.—The Punishment is somewhat more ignominious than in other capital offences, inasmuch as a hurdle is used instead of a cart.—Here again occurs a very strong instance of the inequality of Punishments; for although the principle and essence of this Crime is breach of duty and obedience due to a superior slain, yet if a child murder his parents (unless he serve them for wages) he is not within the Statute; although it must seem evident to the meanest understanding that Parricide is certainly a more atrocious and aggravated offence, than either of those specified in the Statute.

By the Lex Pompeia of the Romans, Parricides were ordained to be sown in a sack with a dog, a cock, a viper, and an ape, and thrown into the sea, thus to perish by the most cruel of all tortures.

The ancient Laws of all civilized nations punished the crime of Parricide by examples of the utmost severity.—The Egyptians put the delinquents to death by the most cruel of all tortures—mangling the body and limbs, and afterwards laying it upon thorns to be burnt alive.

By the Jewish Law it was death for children to curse, or strike their parents; and in China, this crime was considered as next in atrocity to Treason and Rebellion, and in like manner punished by cutting the delinquent in one thousand pieces.

The Laws of England however make no distinction between this crime and common Murder; while it is to be lamented that offences far less heinous, either morally or politically considered, are punished with the same degree of severity; and it is much to be feared, that this singular inequality is ill calculated to inspire that filial awe and reverence, to parents, which all human Laws ought to inculcate.

The offences next in enormity to Treason, are by the Laws of England, denominated Felonies, and these may be considered as of two kinds, public and private.

Under the head of Public Felonies we shall class the following: having peculiar relation to the State.

• 1. Felonies relative to the Coin of the Realm.
• 2. —————— to the King and his Counsellors, &c.
• 3. —————— to Soldiers and Marines.
• 4. —————— to embezzling Public Property.
• 5. —————— to Riot and Sedition.
• 6. —————— to Escape from Prison.
• 7. —————— to Revenue and Trade, &c.

We consider as comprehended under Private Felonies the following crimes committed, 1. Against the Life, 2. the Body, 3. The Goods, 4. The Habitation of the Subject.

Against Life.

1. By Murder.

2. By Man-slaughter.

3. By Misadventure.

4. By Necessity.

 

Against the Body.

1. Sodomy.

2. Rape.

3. Forcible Marriage.

4. Polygamy.

5. Mayhem.

 

Against Goods.

1. Simple Larceny.

2. Mixt Larceny.

3. Piracy.

 

Against the Dwelling

or Habitation.

1. Arson.

2. Burglary.

Those Crimes which we have denominated Public Felonies being merely of a political nature, it would seem that the ends of justice would be far better answered, than at present, and convictions oftener obtained, by different degrees of Punishment short of Death.

With regard to Private Felonies, it may be necessary to make some specific observations——

The first, in point of enormity, is Murder, which may be committed in two Ways:—first, upon one's self, in which case the offender is denominated Felo de se or a Self-murderer;—secondly, by killing another person.

The Athenian Law ordained, that persons guilty of Self-murder should have the hand cut off which did the murder, and buried in a place separate from the body; but this seems of little consequence.—When such a calamity happens, it is a deplorable misfortune; and there seems to be a great cruelty in adding to the distress of the wife, children, or nearest kin of the deceased, by the forfeiture of his whole property; which is at present confiscated by Law.

By the Law of England, the judgment in case of Murder is, that the person convicted shall suffer death and that his body shall be dissected.

The Laws of most civilized nations, both ancient and modern, have justly punished this atrocious offence with death. It was so by the Laws of Athens, and also by the Jewish and Roman Laws.—By the Persian Law Murderers were pressed to death between two stones; and in China, persons guilty of this offence are beheaded, except where a person kills his adversary in a duel, in which case he is strangled.—Decapitation, by the Laws of China, is considered the most dishonourable mode of execution.

In the ruder ages of the world, and before the manners of mankind were softened by the arts of peace and civilization, Murder was not a capital crime: Hence it is that the barbarous nations which over-ran the Western Empire, either expiated this crime by private revenge, or by a pecuniary composition.—Our Saxon ancestors punished this high offence with a fine; and they too countenanced the exercise of that horrid principle of revenge, by which they added blood to blood.—But in the progress of civilization and Society, the nature of this crime became better understood; private revenge was submitted to the power of the Law; and the good King Alfred first made Murder a capital offence in England.

In this case, as in that of Self-murder, the property of the murderer goes to the State; without any regard to the unhappy circumstances of the families either of the murdered or the guilty person, who may be completely ruined by this fatal accident.—A provision which seems not well to accord with either the justice or mildness of our Laws.

Man-slaughter is defined to be The killing another without malice, either express or implied: which may be either, voluntarily, upon a sudden heat; or involuntarily, but in the commission of some unlawful Act. And the Punishment is, that the person convicted shall be burnt in the hand, and his goods forfeited.—And offenders are usually detained in prison for a time not exceeding one year, under the Statutes regulating the Benefit of Clergy.

Homicide by Misadventure is, when one is doing a lawful act, without intent to hurt another, and death ensues.—For this offence a pardon is allowed of course; but in strictness of Law the property of the person convicted is forfeited; the rigour of which, however, is obviated by a Writ of Restitution of his goods, to which the party is now, by long usage, entitled of right; only paying for suing out the same.

Homicide by necessity or in Self-defence, is another shade of Murder, upon which no punishment is inflicted: and in this is included what the Law expresses by the word Chance-medley: which is properly applied to such killing as happens in self-defence upon a sudden rencounter. Yet, still by strictness of Law, the goods and chattels of the person charged and convicted are forfeited to the Crown; contrary, as it seems to many, to the principles of Reason and Justice.

It should be recollected that in all cases where the Homicide does not amount to Murder or Man-slaughter, the Judges permit, nay even direct, a verdict of acquittal.—But it appears more consonant with the sound principles of Justice, that the Law itself should be precise, than that the property of a man should, in cases of Misadventure, Chance-medley, and Self-defence depend upon the construction of a Judge, or the lenity of a Jury: Some alteration therefore, in the existing Laws, seems called for in this particular.

Having thus briefly discussed what has occurred relative to the punishment of offences against life, we come next to make some observations on what we have denominated Private Felonies against the Body of the Subject.

By the Grecian, Roman, and Jewish Laws, the abominable crime of Sodomy was punished with death.—In France, under the Monarchy, the offenders suffered death by burning.

The Lombards were said to have brought this detestable vice into England, in the reign of Edward the Third.—In ancient times the men were hanged, and the women drowned: At length by the Act 25th of Henry the Eighth, cap. 6, it was made Felony without Benefit of Clergy.—

It has been doubted, however, whether the severity of the punishment of a crime so unnatural, as even to appear incredible, does not defeat the object of destroying it, by rendering it difficult to convict an offender.

The same objection has been made with respect to the crime of committing a Rape. A proper tenderness for life makes the Law require a strong evidence, and of course the proof is nice and difficult; whereas, were the punishment more mild, it might be more efficacious in preventing the violation of chastity.

By the Law of Egypt, Rapes were punished by cutting off the offending parts;—The Athenian Laws compelled the ravisher of a virgin to marry her. It was long before this offence was punished capitally by the Roman Law: but at length the Lex Julia inflicted the pains of death on the Ravisher.—The Jewish Law also punished this crime with death; but if a virgin was deflowered without force, the offender was obliged to pay a fine, and marry the woman.

By the 18th of Elizabeth, cap. 7, this offence was made Felony without Benefit of Clergy.

It is certainly of a very heinous nature, and, if tolerated, would be subversive of all order and morality; yet it may still be questioned, how far it is either useful or politic to punish it with death; and is worth considering, whether, well knowing that it originates in the irregular and inordinate gratification of unruly appetite, the injury to Society may not be repaired without destroying the offender.

In most cases, this injury might be repaired by compelling (where it could be done with propriety,) the criminal to marry the injured party; and it would be well for Society, if the same rule extended not only to all forcible violations of chastity, but even to instances of premeditated and systematic Seduction.

In cases, however, where marriage could not take place, on account of legal disability, or refusal on the part of the woman, the criminal ought to be severely punished, by pecuniary damages to the party injured, and by hard labour and confinement, or transportation for life.

The offence considered as next in point of enormity to Rape, is Forcible Marriage, or Defilement of Women: but it is somewhat remarkable, that by confining the punishment to offences against women of estate only, the moral principles are made to yield to political considerations; and the security of property in this instance, is deemed more essential, than the preservation of female chastity.

In short, the property of the woman is the measure of the crime; the statutes of the 3d of Henry the Seventh, cap. 2. and the 39th of Elizabeth, cap. 9, making it Felony without Benefit of Clergy, to take away, for lucre, any woman having lands or goods, or being an heir apparent to an estate, by force, or against her will, and to marry or to defile her. The forcible marriage and defilement of a woman without an estate is not punished at all; although, according to every principle of morality and reason, it is as criminal as the other. It is indeed an offence not so likely to be committed.

However, it seems in every point of view, impolitic to punish such offences with death; it might be enough, to expiate the crime by alienating the estate from the husband—vesting it in the wife alone, and confining him to hard labour; or by punishing the delinquent, in very atrocious cases, by transportation.

Polygamy stands next as an offence against the person:—It was first declared Felony by the statute of James the first, cap. 11, but not excluded from the Benefit of Clergy, and therefore not subject to the punishment of death.

Though, in one view, the having a plurality of wives or husbands, appears only a political offence, yet it is undeniably a breach of religious and moral virtue, in a very high degree.—It is true, indeed, that in the early ages of the world, Polygamy was tolerated both in Greece and Rome, even after the People had arrived at a high pitch of refinement.—But since the institution of Matrimony under the present form, Polygamy must be considered as highly criminal, since marriage is an engagement which cannot be violated without the greatest injury to Society. The Public Interest, therefore, requires that it should be punished; and the Act 35th George III. cap. 67, which punishes this offence with transportation, is certainly not too severe.

Mayhem, or Maiming, is the last in the Catalogue of Offences against the Person. It was first made Single Felony by the 5th of Henry the Fourth, cap. 5.—It is defined to be maiming, cutting the tongue, or putting out the eyes of any of the King's liege people. The statute of the 22d and 23d of Charles the Second, cap. 1. extends the description of this offence to slitting the nose, cutting off a nose or lip, or cutting off or disabling any limb or member, by malice forethought, and by lying in wait with an intention to maim and disfigure:—And this statute made the offence Felony, without Benefit of Clergy.

To prove malice in this crime, it is sufficient that the act was voluntary, and of set purpose, though done on a sudden.

Mayhem, as explained in the above statutes, is certainly a very atrocious offence; and as the punishment is not followed by corruption of blood, or the forfeiture of the property of the offender, it is, according to the present system, perhaps not too severe.

One particular sort of Mayhem by cutting off the ear, is punishable by an Act 37 Hen. VIII. cap. 6. which directs that the offender shall forfeit treble damages to the party grieved, to be recovered by action of trespass; and £.10 by way of fine to the King.

We next come to examine Private Felonies against the Goods or Property of the Individual, viz. Simple Larceny, Mixt Larceny, and Piracy.

Simple Larceny is divided into two sorts;—1st, Grand Larceny, and 2d, Petit Larceny.—The first is defined to be the felonious taking and carrying away the mere personal property or goods of another, above the value of twelve pence.—This offence is capital, and punished with death, and the forfeiture of property.

Petit Larceny is where the goods, taken in the above manner, are under the value of twelve pence; in which case, the punishment (according to the circumstances of atrocity attending the offence,) is imprisonment, whipping, or transportation, with forfeiture of goods and chattels.

Thus it appears, that by the rigour of the Law, stealing the least trifle above 12d. subjects the offender to the loss of life; a punishment apparently repugnant to reason, policy, or justice: more especially when it is considered, that at the time this Anglo Saxon Law was made, in the reign of Athelstan, 860 years ago, one shilling was of more value, according to the price of labour, than seventy-five shillings are at the present period: the life of man therefore may be justly said to be seventy-five times cheaper than it was when this mode of punishment was first established.

By the Athenian Laws, the crime of Theft was punished, by paying double the value of what was stolen, to the party robbed; and as much more to the public.—Solon introduced a law, enjoining every person to state in writing, by what means he gained his livelihood; and if false information was given, or he gained his living in an unlawful way, he was punished with death.—A similar law prevailed among the Egyptians.

The Lex Julia of the Romans made Theft punishable at discretion; and it was forbidden, that any person should suffer death, or even the loss of a member, for this crime.—The greatest punishment which appears to have been inflicted for this offence, in its most aggravated circumstances, was four-fold restitution.

By the Jewish Law, Theft was punished in the same manner: with the addition of a fine according to the nature of the offence; excepting in cases where men were stolen, which was punished with death.

In China, Theft is punished by the bastinadoe, excepting in cases of a very atrocious nature, and then the culprit is condemned to the knoutage—a contrivance not unlike the pillory in this country.

The ancient Laws of this kingdom punished the crime of Theft differently.—Our Saxon ancestors did not at first punish it capitally.—The Laws of King Ina[12] inflicted the punishment of death, but allowed the thief to redeem his life, Capitis estimatione, which was sixty shillings; but in case of an old offender, who had been often accused, the hand or foot was to be cut off.

After various changes which took place under different Princes, in the rude and early periods of our history, it was at length settled in the 9th of Henry the First, (A.D. 1108,) that for theft and robbery, offenders should be hanged; this has continued to be the law of the land ever since, excepting in the county palatine of Chester; where the ancient custom of beheading felons was practised some time after the Law of Henry the First; and the Justices of the Peace of that county, received one shilling from the King, for every head that was cut off.

Montesquieu seems to be of opinion that as thieves are generally unable to make restitution, it may be just to make theft a capital crime.—But would not the offence be atoned for in a more rational manner, by compelling the delinquent to labour, first for the benefit of the party aggrieved, till recompence is made, and then for the State?[13]

According to the present system the offender loses his life, and they whom he has injured lose their property; while the State also suffers in being deprived of a member, whose labour, under proper controul, might have been made useful and productive.

Observations have already been made on one consequence of the severity of the punishment for this offence; that persons of tender feelings conscientiously scruple to prosecute delinquents for inconsiderable Thefts. From this circumstance it is believed, that not one depredation in a hundred, of those actually committed, comes to the knowledge of Magistrates.

Mixed or compound Larceny has a greater degree of guilt in it than simple Larceny; and may be committed either by taking from a man, or from his house. If a person is previously put in fear or assaulted, the crime is denominated Robbery.

When a Larceny is committed which does not put the party robbed in fear; it is done privately and without his knowledge, by picking his pocket, or cutting the purse, and stealing from thence above the value of twelve pence; or publicly, with the knowledge of the party, by stealing a hat or wig, and running away.

With respect to Dwelling Houses the Common Law has been altered by various acts of Parliament; the multiplicity of which is apt to create confusion; but upon comparing them diligently, we may collect that the following domestic aggravations of Larceny are punishable with death, without Benefit of Clergy.

First, Larcenies above the value of twelve pence; committed—1st. In a church or chapel, with or without violence or breaking the same; 23 Henry VIII. cap. 1: 1 Edward VI. cap. 12.—2d. In a booth or tent, in a market or fair, in the day time or in the night, by violence or breaking the same; the owner or some of his family, being therein; 5 and 6 Edward VI. cap. 9.—3d. By robbing a dwelling house in the day time, (which robbing implies a breaking,) any person being therein: 3 and 4 William and Mary, cap. 9.—4th. By the same Act, (and see the Act 23 Henry VIII. cap. 1.) in a dwelling house, by day or by night; without breaking the same, any person being therein, and put in fear: which amounts in law to a Robbery; and in both these last cases the Accessary before the fact is also excluded from the benefit of Clergy.

Secondly; Larcenies to the value of five shillings; committed—1st. By breaking any dwelling house, or any outhouse, shop, or warehouse thereunto belonging, in the day time; although no person be therein, which also now extends to aiders, abettors, and accessaries before the fact: 39 Elizabeth, cap. 15; see also 3 and 4 William and Mary, cap. 9.—2d. By privately stealing goods, wares, or merchandise in any shop, warehouse, coach-houses, or stable, by day or night: though the same be not broken open, and though no person be therein: which likewise extends to such as assist, hire, or command the offence to be committed: 10 and 11 William III. cap. 23.

Lastly; Larcenies to the value of forty shillings from a dwelling house, or its outhouses, although the same be not broken, and whether any person be therein or not; unless committed against their masters, by apprentices, under age of fifteen; 12 Anne, stat. 1. cap. 7.

Piracy is felony against the goods of the Subject by a robbery committed at sea.—It is a capital offence by the civil law, although by Act of Parliament, it may be heard and determined, according to the rules of the common law, as if the offence had been committed on land. The mode of trial is regulated by the 28th of Henry VIII. cap. 15; and further by the Acts 11 and 12 William III. cap. 7. and 39 George III. cap. 37; which also extend to other offences committed on the High Seas.

Felonies against the Dwelling or Habitation of a man are of two kinds; and are denounced Arson and Burglary.

Arson or Arsonry is a very atrocious offence—it is defined to be the malicious burning of the House of another either by night or by day. It is in this case a capital offence; but if a man burns his own house, without injuring any other, it is only a misdemeanor, punishable by fine, imprisonment, or the pillory.

By the 23d of Henry the Eighth, cap. 1. the capital part of the offence is extended to persons, (whether principals or accessaries,) burning dwelling houses; or barns wherein corn is deposited; and by the 43d of Elizabeth, cap. 13, burning barns or stacks of corn in the four northern counties, is also made Felony without Benefit of Clergy.

By the 22d and 23d of Car. II. cap. 7, it is made felony to set fire to any stack of corn, hay, or grain; or other outbuildings, or kilns, maliciously in the night time; punished with transportation for seven years.

By the 1st George I. cap. 48, it is also made single felony to set fire to any wood, underwood, or coppice.

Other burnings are made punishable with death, without Benefit of Clergy; viz. Setting fire to any house, barn, or outhouse, or to any hovel, cock, mow, or stack of corn, straw, hay, or wood: or the rescuing any such offender: 9 George I. cap. 22.—Setting fire to a coal-mine: 10 George II. cap. 32.—Burning, or setting fire to any wind-mill, water-mill, or other mill: (as also pulling down the same:) 9 George III. cap. 29; but the offender must be prosecuted within eighteen months.—Burning any ship; to the prejudice of the owners, freighters, or underwriters: 22 and 23 Charles II. cap. 11; 1 Anne, stat. 2. cap. 9; 4 George I. cap. 12.—Burning the King's ships of war afloat, or building: or the Dock-yards, or any of the buildings, arsenals, or stores therein: 12 George III. cap. 24.—And finally, Threatening by anonymous or fictitious letters to burn houses, barns, &c. is by the Act 27 George II. cap. 15, also made felony without Benefit of Clergy.

Burglary is a felony at common law; it is described to be when a person, by night, breaketh into the mansion of another, with an intent to commit a felony; whether the felonious intent be executed or not.

By the 18th of Elizabeth, cap. 7, the Benefit of Clergy is taken away from The Offence; and by the 3d and 4th William and Mary, cap. 9, from Accessaries before the fact.—By the 12th of Anne, stat. 1, cap. 7, if any person shall enter into a mansion or dwelling house, by day or by night, without breaking into the same, with an intent to commit any felony; or being in such houses, shall commit any felony; and shall, in the night time, break the said house to get out of the same, he is declared guilty of the offence of burglary, and punished accordingly.

It is, without doubt, highly expedient that this Offence should be punished more severely than any other species of theft; since, besides the loss of property, there is something very terrific in the mode of perpetration, which is often productive of dreadful effects.

The ancient laws made a marked distinction in the punishment, between this Offence, which was called Hamsokne, (and which name it retains at present in the Northern parts of this kingdom) and robbing a house in the day time.

There are many other felonies which have been made capital (particularly within the present century) which do not properly fall within the class above discussed;—for an account of these the reader is referred to the general Catalogue of offences specified in a subsequent Chapter.

The number of these various capital Offences upon which the judgment of death must be pronounced, if the party is found guilty, has been already stated to amount to above one hundred and sixty.—And yet if a full consideration shall be given to the subject, it is believed that (excepting in cases of Treason, Murder, Mayhem, and some aggravated instances of Arsonry) it would be found that the punishment of death is neither politic nor expedient.

At any rate, it must be obvious to every reasoning mind, that such indiscriminate rigour, by punishing the petty pilferer with the same severity as the atrocious murderer, cannot easily be reconciled to the rights of nature or to the principles of morality.

It is indeed true, in point of practice, that in most cases of a slight nature, the mercy of Judges, of Juries, or of the Sovereign, saves the delinquent; but is not the exercise of this mercy rendered so necessary on every occasion, "a tacit disapprobation of the laws?"[14]

Cruelty, in punishment for slight Offences, often induces Offenders to pass on from the trifling to the most atrocious crime.—Thus are these our miserable fellow-mortals rendered desperate; whilst the laws, which ought to soften the ferocity of obdurate minds, tend to corrupt and harden them.

What education is to an individual, the Laws are to Society. Wherever they are sanguinary, delinquents will be hard-hearted, desperate, and even barbarous.

However much our ancestors were considered as behind us in civilization, yet their laws were infinitely milder, in many instances, than in the present age of refinement.

The real good of the State, however, unquestionably requires that not only adequate punishments should be impartially inflicted, but that the injured should obtain a reparation for their wrongs.

Instead of such reparation, it has been already stated, and indeed it is much to be lamented, that many are induced to desist from prosecutions, and even to conceal injuries, because nothing but expence and trouble is to be their lot: as all the fruits of the conviction, where the criminal has any property, go to the State.—That the State should be the only immediate gainer by the fines and forfeitures of criminals, while the injured party suffers, seems not wholly consonant to the principles either of justice, equity, or sound policy.

Having said thus much on the subject of severe and sanguinary Punishments, it may not be improper to mention a very recent and modern authority, for the total abolition of the Punishment of death. This occurred in the Imperial Dominion, where a new code of criminal law was promulgated by the late Emperor, Joseph II. and legalised by his edict in 1787.

This Code, formed in an enlightened age, by Princes, Civilians, and Men of Learning, who sat down to the deliberation assisted by the wisdom and experience of former ages, and by all the information possible with regard to the practice of civilized modern nations; with an impression also upon their minds, that sanguinary punishments, by death, torture, or dismemberment are not necessary, and ought to be abolished; becomes an interesting circumstance in the annals of the world.

"The Emperor in his edict signed at Vienna the 13th of January, 1787, declares his intention to have been to give a precise and invariable form to Criminal Judicature; to prevent arbitrary interpretations; to draw a due line between criminal and civil offences, and those against the state; to observe a just proportion between offences and punishments, and to determine the latter in such a manner as that they may make more than merely a transient impression.—Having promulgated this new code, he abrogates, annuls, and declares void all the ancient laws which formerly existed in his dominions.—Forbidding at the same time every criminal Judge to exercise the functions of his office, on any but those who shall be brought before him, accused of a criminal offence expressed in the new code."

This system of criminal law is so concise as to be comprehended in less than one hundred octavo pages. It commences with laying down certain general principles, favourable in their nature both to humanity and public liberty.—In determining the Punishments (which will hereafter be very shortly detailed) the following rules are laid down for the Judges.

"The criminal Judge should be intent on observing the just proportion between a criminal Offence and the punishment assigned it, and carefully to compare every circumstance.—With respect to the Offence, his principal attention should be directed to the degree of malignity accompanying the bad action,—to the importance of the circumstance connected with the Offence,—to the degree of damage which may result from it,—to the possibility or impossibility of the precautions which might have been made use of to prevent it.—With respect to the Criminal, the attention of the Judge should be directed to his youth,—to the temptation or imprudence attending it,—to the punishment which has been inflicted for the same Offence, and to the danger of a relapse."

Those denominated

Criminal Offences,

viz.

1. Offences against the Sovereign and the State; including High Treason.

2. Offences against human life and bodily safety.

3. Offences against honour and liberty.

4. Offences against possessions and rights.

 

Those denominated

Civil Offences,

viz.

5. Offences that endanger the life or health of the Citizens.

6. Offences that affect the fortunes or rights of the Citizens.

7. Offences that tend to the corruption of morals.

The offences are divided into seven different classes.

It is impossible, within the narrow compass of this Work, to enter into a particular detail of the various subdivisions of the Crimes and Punishments explained in this Code; which must be perused, in order to form a clear and comprehensive view of the subject. The following Specification therefore contains merely the heads or outlines of the System; which it is hoped may be found, from the mode of its arrangement, to convey to the reader both amusement and instruction.

ABSTRACT

OF

THE CRIMINAL CODE

OF THE

EMPEROR JOSEPH II.

Crimes

.

Punishments

.

High Treason.

1. Laying violent hands on the Sovereign, whether injury results from it or not.

Confiscation of property; imprisonment for not less than 30 years; and branding on each cheek with the mark of a gallows

[15]

if the prisoner is remarkably depraved.

2. Attacking the Sovereign by speeches or writings.

Imprisonment 8 years, and not less than 5.

3. Persons conspiring and taking up arms, or entering into alliance with an enemy, &c. are guilty of

sedition and tumult

.

Confiscation of Property and 30 years' imprisonment, with branding as above.

Criminal Offences relative to the Sovereign and the State.

4. He who enters the house or abode of another, and uses violence against his person, goods, or possession, is guilty of

open force

.

Imprisonment, not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years, and condemnation to the public works.

5. He who violently resists the authority of a Judge, or Officer of Justice, although no wound result, is guilty of

open violence

.

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years; but where there is an injury and wounds, not exceeding 8 nor less than 5.

6. Breach of trust, in a Governor, or Chargé des Affaires; neglecting the interest of the State, or betraying his Country, &c.

Imprisonment not less than 8, nor more than 12 years, and condemnation to the public works, and in aggravated cases, the pillory.

[16]

7. A Judge, who from corruption or passion is guilty of an

abuse of judicial authority

.

Imprisonment not less than 8, nor more than 12 years, and condemnation to the public works, and in aggravated cases, the pillory.

8. Accomplices attempting to corrupt a Judge.

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years; and condemnation to the public works.

9. Forgery, by attempting to counterfeit public bills of the State which circulate as money.

Imprisonment not less than 30 years, and branding with a hot iron.

10. Falsifying a public bill, by changing or altering it, or imitating the signatures.

Imprisonment not less than 12, nor more than 15 years, and condemnation to the public works.

11. Coining false money, resembling the Coin of the Hereditary Dominions, or foreign Coin current by law; even though of equal weight and quality, or superior to the current Coin.

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years, with condemnation to the public works.

12. Coining false money, by using a bad alloy; and by fraud giving false money the quality of good.

Imprisonment not less than 12, nor more than 15 years, and condemnation to the public works.

13. Accomplices in fabricating tools for Coining.

Imprisonment not less than 8, nor more than 12 years, and condemnation to the public works.

14. Assisting in the escape of a prisoner.

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years; and condemnation to the public works.

15. Magistrates granting indulgencies contrary to law, &c.

Imprisonment not less than 12, nor more than 15 years; and deprivation of authority.

Criminal Offences against Human Life and Bodily Safety.

16.

Murder

,—by wounding a man so that death ensues, including all accomplices.

Imprisonment not less than 15, nor more than 30 years; the latter in cases of consanguinity.

[17]

17. Killing a man in self-defence, if the slayer exceed the bounds of necessity.

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years, and condemnation to the public works.

18.

Murder

,—with an intention to rob or steal the property of the person, or other property intrusted to his care.

Imprisonment not less than 30 years, with the hot iron; in cruel cases, to be closely chained, with corporal punishment

[18]

every year.

19. Assassination by stratagem, arms, or poison.

Condemnation to the Chain,

[19]

not less than 30 years.

20. Inducing another to commit Murder; by caresses, promises, presents, or threats; whether death is the result or not.

Imprisonment not less than 5, nor more than 8 years, and condemnation to the public works.—If murder is committed, the criminal shall suffer as a murderer.

21.

Duelling

,—or challenging another to combat with murderous weapons on whatever pretence the challenge be grounded.—The person accepting the challenge is equally guilty, after agreeing to combat with murderous weapons.

If death ensues; condemnation to the chain for 30 years, where the survivor is the challenger. If the survivor be the party challenged, imprisonment, not more than 12, nor less than 8 years, and condemnation to the public works. If neither fall, imprisonment to the challenger, not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years; and hard labour in the public works.

22. Accomplices acting as assistants and seconds.

Imprisonment not less than 1, nor more than 5 years.

23. A woman with child using means to procure abortion.

Imprisonment not less than 15, nor more than 30 years; and condemnation to the public works: augmented when married women.

24. Accomplices advising and recommending abortion.

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years, and condemnation to the public works.—Punishment increased when the accomplice is the father of the infant.

25. Exposing a living infant, in order to abandon it to danger and death; or to leave its deliverance to chance; whether the infant, so exposed, suffers death or not.

Imprisonment not less than 8, nor more than 12 years; to be

increased under circumstances of aggravation.

26. Maiming by malignant assault.

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years.

27. Suicide or self-murder, without any sign of insanity.

The body to be thrown into the earth by the executioner, and the name of the person and crime to be publicly notified and fixed on a gallows.

Criminal Offences against Honour and Liberty.

28. Calumny—false accusation—injuring a man of his right, or robbing him of his good name unjustly and without proof (See post. No. 56

.)

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years, and condemnation to the public works; with corporal punishment if the party receive injury.

29.

Rape

,—or forcibly, by associates, threatnings, or shewing weapons, overpowering and forcing a woman to submit, and shamefully abusing her by rendering her incapable of opposition.

Imprisonment not less than 3 years, nor more than 12, and condemnation to the public works.

30. Accomplices aiding in the commission of a rape.

Imprisonment not less than 5, nor more than 8 years; and condemnation to the public works.

31.

Forcibly carrying a person out of the State

without his will, or the consent of the Magistrate, enlisting men into foreign service, &c.

Imprisonment not less than 15 years, nor more than 30 years; augmented if the criminal is a natural-born subject.

32.

Forcibly, or by address, secretly carrying away a Minor

past the years of infancy, under the care of parents or guardians, &c.

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years; if no injury result—otherwise imprisonment, not less than 8, nor more than 12 years, and condemnation to the public works.

33.

Forcibly, and by address, getting possession of any woman

contrary to her will, obtaining her consent to marriage, or shameful debauchery, and carrying her from her abode; whether the design is accomplished or not.

Imprisonment not less than 5 years, and not more than 8; and condemnation to the public works.

34.

Forcibly carrying away a woman known to be bound by lawful marriage

, or under protection of parents, and without her consent.

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years, and condemnation to the public works.

35. Accomplices aiding and assisting.

The same.

36.

Unlawful Imprisonment

, or keeping a person in confinement against his will and of his own private authority.

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years; augmented in cases of damages.

Criminal Offences against Possessions and Rights.

37.

Fraud.

—Obtaining the property of another by stratagem, with an evil design on his possessions, honour, or liberty; forging title deeds or contracts, or

altering

the same.

Various, according to the degree of malignity—in general by imprisonment not less than 8, nor more than 12 years; and in smaller offences, not less than 5 nor more than 8; and condemnation to the public works.

Perjury

in a Court of Justice, assuming a false name, &c. &c. bearing false witness.

The same.

38. Theft, or taking a moveable from the possession of another by fraud, and without his consent. (See post. No. 47

.)

Imprisonment not less than 1 month, nor more than 5 years, if unaccompanied by aggravating circumstances: but in aggravated cases, imprisonment not less than 5 nor more than 8; or not less than 8, nor more than 12 years.

39. Accomplices in Theft.—abettors and receivers, &c.

Imprisonment not less than 1 month nor more than 5 years, and condemnation to the public works.

40.

Robbery

—committed alone or in company, by using violence, or forcing a person to discover effects, on which the offender has felonious views.

Imprisonment not less than 15 years, nor more than 30; if wounds ensue, in consequence of the violence used. And if acts of cruelty or wounds, occasioning death, then the punishment of the chain additional.

41.

Incendiary

—where one undertakes an action from which fire may ensue, or with intention to prejudice, or cause damage, with a view to profit by the disorder that takes place, he shall be considered as an

incendiary

, whether damage ensues or not.

Imprisonment not less than 8 nor more than 12 years; and condemnation to the public works:

when the flames have been stifled. Setting fire to a Camp, Magazine, Barn, Timber-yard, &c. from 15 to 30 years; according to the circumstances of the case. 42. Bigamy—where one bound by the tie of lawful matrimony, concludes a second marriage with another person, single or married.

Imprisonment not less than 5 nor more than 8 years, or condemnation to the public works; if the person with whom the offender contracts the second marriage was acquainted with the first.—If concealed, then imprisonment not exceeding 12 nor less than 8 years.

Civil Offences that endanger the Life or Health of the Citizen.

43.

Misadventure

—where without any ill intention, by means of poisonous merchandize, or apothecaries selling adulterated drugs, any person suffers danger or injury.

Imprisonment from 1 month to a year, or condemnation to the public works, if the offender has caused any immediate damage; but if the cause of damage be remote, imprisonment from a day to 1 month.

44. Damage to man or child, occasioned by riding or driving carriages with too much speed; or injury received by persons incapable of guarding against danger, occasioning a wound or death, which might have been prevented by due vigilance.

Imprisonment from 1 day to a month; to be augmented, in case death or wound should have resulted from the accident.

45. Breaking Quarantine, &c. and fabricating false bills of health.

By a Military Court of Justice.

46. Actions prejudicial to health, or nuisance, where the necessary precautions prescribed by the laws of health are neglected in cases of dead animals, distempers among cattle, &c. &c.

Condemnation to the public works, with or without fetters; either from 1 day to a month, or from 1 month to a year.

Civil Offences that affect the Fortunes and Rights of Citizens.

47. Stealing to the value of 25 crowns of any moveable, when not accompanied with aggravating circumstances: Stealing Wood in a Forest—Poaching by an unqualified person—Stealing Fruit from Trees—or earth from open Fields—though beyond the value of 25 crowns. (See ante, No. 38

,

39

.)

Confinement, corporal correction, and the augmentation of the punishment if requisite.

48. Using Frauds in playing at Games allowed by Law.

The pillory and condemnation to the public works, in atrocious cases; also imprisonment, from 1 day to a month, and restitution.—In case of foreigners, the pillory and banishment.

49.

Accomplices

co-operating in such Frauds.

Imprisonment from 1 day to a month.

50.

Playing at prohibited Games.

A fine of 300 ducats, or imprisonment.

51.

Persons selling Merchandize

at higher prices than fixed by the Police, or by false weight or measure.

Imprisonment from 1 day to a month, which may be augmented.

52.

Adultery.

Corporal correction, or imprisonment from 1 day to a month.

53.

Contracting illegal Marriages.

(See ante,

No. 42

.)

Imprisonment from 1 day to a month, and condemnation to the public works.

54.

Servants

receiving earnest, and engaging to serve more masters than one, or otherwise misbehaving.

Corporal correction or imprisonment from 1 day to a month.

55.

Masters

giving servants a false character.

Imprisonment from 1 day to a month.

56. Libels on another by writings or disgraceful prints or drawings, causing injury to another. (See ante, No. 28

.)

Condemnation to the public works; reserving the right to recompence to the party wronged.

57. Distributing or publishing Libels.

Condemnation to the public works; reserving the right of recompence to the party wronged.

58.

Actions

by which danger by fire may be occasioned; such as smoking tobacco in a stable, timber-yard, &c.

Corporal correction.

59. Acts of hasty petulance, leading to quarrels, assaults, and damages.

Imprisonment various, or condemnation to the public works.

Civil Offences that tend to the Corruption of Morals.

60. Wickedly insulting the Supreme Being by words, deeds, or actions, in a public place, or in the presence of another person.

Detention in the hospital destined for madmen; where the offender is to be treated like a man out of his senses, until his amendment be perfect and assured.

61. Disturbing the exercise of Public Worship, &c.

Imprisonment from 1 day to a month; to be augmented by fasting and corporal correction.

62. Writing or Preaching against the Christian Religion, and Catholick Faith, &c. &c. Heresies, &c.

Pillory and Imprisonment, from 1 day to a month, or to a year.

63. Committing indecencies in any public street or place.

Imprisonment from 1 day to a month, augmented by fasting.

64. Attempting to seduce or insult women of reputation, by shameful debauchery, and using gestures, or discourses, tending to that purpose.

Imprisonment from 1 day to a month.

65. Carnal Commerce by Man with Beast, or with a person of the same sex,—

Sodomy

.

Corporal Correction, and condemnation to the public works; and banishment from the place where the offence has been publicly scandalous.

66. Consenting to shameful debauchery in his house; Keeping a

Bawdy House

.

Condemnation to the public works, from 1 month to 1 year; to be augmented when an innocent person has been seduced; second offence, the pillory.

67. Any person, man or woman, making a business of prostitution, and deriving profit from thence.

Imprisonment from 1 month to a year; second offence, punishment double, and augmented by fasting and corporal correction.

68. Dealing in Books, Pictures, or Prints which represent indecent actions.

Imprisonment from 1 day to 1 month.

69. Disguising in masks, and obtaining admission into societies, and secret fraternities not notified to the Magistrate.

The same.

70. Harbouring in dwellings persons not known to have an honest mean of living.

The same.

71. Banished persons, from the whole of the Austrian Dominions—returning, &c.

Corporal correction, to be doubled at each successive return; and the offender to be banished from the Hereditary Dominions.

In contemplating the various component parts of this Code, it is easy to discover that although some features of it may be worthy of imitation, upon the whole it is not suited either to the English constitution or the genius of our people. It is, however, a curious and interesting document, from which considerable information may be drawn; if ever that period shall arrive when a revision of our own criminal Code (in many respects more excellent than this) shall become an object of consideration with the Legislature.—At all events it strongly evinces the necessity of adapting the laws to the circumstances and situation of the Government; and of the people whose vices are to be restrained.

The total abolition of the Punishment of death (excepting in military offences cognizable by Courts Martial) is a very prominent feature in this Code; which appears to have been founded in a great measure on the principles laid down by the Marquis Beccaria, in his Essay on Crimes and Punishments: That able writer establishes it as a maxim, which indeed will scarcely be controverted—"That the severity of Punishment should just be sufficient to excite compassion in the spectators, as it is intended more for them than the criminal.—A punishment, to be just, should have only that degree of severity which is sufficient to deter others, and no more"—This authour further asserts, "That perpetual labour has in it all that is necessary to deter the most hardened and determined, as much as the punishment of death, where every example supposes a new crime:—perpetual labour on the other hand, affords a frequent and lasting example."[20]

Doubtless, the fundamental principle of good legislation is, rather to prevent crimes than to punish.—If a mathematical expression may be made use of, relative to the good and evil of human life, it is the art of conducting men to the maximum of happiness and the minimum of misery.

But in spite of all the efforts of human wisdom, aided by the lights of Philosophy, and freed from the mist of prejudice or the bigotry of darker ages;—In spite of the best laws, and the most correct system of Police which the most enlightened Legislature can form: it will not be altogether possible, amid the various opposite attractions of pleasure and pain, to reduce the tumultuous activity of mankind to absolute regularity:—We can only hope for a considerable reduction of the evils that exist.—Let the Laws be clear and simple;—let the entire force of the Nation be united in their defence; let the Laws be feared, and the Laws only.

CHAP. III.

The causes and progress of small Thefts in London explained and traced to the numerous Receivers of stolen Goods, under the denominations of Dealers in Rags, Old Iron, and other Metals.—The great increase of these Dealers of late years.—Their evil tendency, and the absolute necessity of Regulations, to prevent the extensive Mischiefs arising from the Encouragements they hold out, to persons of every age and description, to become Thieves, by the purchase of whatever is offered for sale.—A Remedy suggested.—Petty Thefts in the country round the Metropolis—Workhouses the causes of idleness—Commons—Cottagers—Gypsies—Labourers and Servants; their general bad character and propensity to thieving small articles from their Masters, encouraged by Receivers.—Thefts in Fields and Gardens—Their extent and amount throughout England—Frauds in the sale and adulteration of Milk in the Metropolis.

IN a preceding Chapter the small thefts committed by persons not known to belong to the fraternity of Thieves, are estimated to amount to the enormous sum of £.700,000 a year.

This discovery (except what relates to embezzled silk, cotton, and worsted) was originally made through the medium of a considerable Dealer in Rags and Old Iron, and other Metals, who communicated to the Author much interesting information, respecting Receivers of stolen Goods, confirmed afterwards through other channels, the substance of which has been already alluded to; and of which the following are more ample details:

That there exists in this Metropolis, (and also in all the towns where his Majesty's Dock-Yards are established) a class of Dealers, of late years become extremely numerous, who keep open shops for the purchase of Rags, Old Iron, and other Metals.

"That these Dealers are universally, almost without a single exception, the Receivers of stolen Goods of every denomination; from a nail, a skewer, a key, or a glass bottle, up to the most valuable article of portable household goods, merchandize, plate, or jewels, &c. &c.

"That they are divided into two classes:—Wholesale and Retail Dealers. That the Retail Dealers are generally (with some exceptions) the immediate purchasers in the first instance, from the pilferers or their agents; and as soon as they collect a sufficient quantity of iron, copper, brass, lead, tin, pewter, or other metals, worthy the notice of a large Dealer, they dispose of the same for ready money; by which they are enabled to continue the trade.

"That the increase of these old iron, rag, and store shops has been astonishing within the last twenty years.

"That, as the least trifle is received, the vigilance of the parties, from whom the articles are stolen, is generally eluded; by the prevailing practice of taking only a small quantity of any article at a time.

"That the articles thus received are generally purchased at about one-third of the real value, and seldom at more than half;—glass bottles in particular, are bought at one penny each, and no question asked:—they are afterwards sold to dealers in this particular branch, who assort and wash them, and again re-sell them to inferior wine-dealers at nearly the full value:—this has become, of late, an extensive line of trade.

"That further facilities are afforded by the dealers in old iron, in the collection of metals, rags, and other articles purloined and stolen in the Country; which are conveyed to town by means of single-horse carts, kept by itinerant Jews, and other doubtful characters; who travel to Portsmouth, Chatham, Woolwich, Deptford, and places in the vicinity of London, for the purpose of purchasing metals from persons who are in the habit of embezzling the King's stores, or from dealers on the spot, who are the first receivers; from them, copper-bolts, nails, spikes, iron, brass, lead, pewter, and other ship articles of considerable value are procured.—These single-horse carts have increased greatly of late years, and have become very profitable to the proprietors.

"That some of these dealers in old metals, notoriously keep men employed in knocking the broad Arrow, or King's mark, out of the copper-bolts, nails, and bar iron, whereon it is impressed, and also in cutting such bar iron into portable lengths, after which it is sold to the great dealers, who supply the Public Boards; and who are in some instances supposed by this means to sell the same Article to these boards even two or three times over.

"That the trade thus carried on, is exceedingly productive both to the retail and wholesale dealers; many of whom are become extremely opulent, and carry on business to the extent of from ten to thirty, and in some few instances, fifty thousand a year in old metals alone.

"That the quantity of new nails, taken from the public repositories, and from private workshops, and disposed of at the old iron shops exceeds all credibility.

"And finally, that the retail dealers in old iron, with some exceptions, are the principal purchasers of the pewter pots stolen from the Publicans, which they instantly melt down (if not previously done) to elude detection."

Thus are the lower ranks of Society assailed on all hands; and in a manner allured to be dishonest, by the ready means of disposing of property, unlawfully acquired, to satisfy imaginary and too frequently criminal wants, excited by the temptations which the amusements and dissipations of a great Capital, and the delusion of the Lottery, hold out.

The rapid growth of this Evil within the last twenty years, and the effect it has upon the morals of menial servants and others, who must in the nature of things have a certain trust committed to them, is a strong reason why some effectual remedy should be administered as speedily as possible.

It seems, under all circumstances, that the regulation of these Iron-shops, by licence, and by other restrictions connected with the public security, has become a matter of immediate necessity; for it is a dreadful thing to reflect that there should exist and grow up, in so short a period of time, such a body of criminal dealers, who are permitted to exercise all the mischievous part of the functions of Pawnbrokers; enjoying equal benefits, without any of the restrictions which have already been extended to this last class of dealers; who themselves also require further regulations, which will be hereafter discussed.

But beside the dealers in old iron, it will be necessary to extend the regulation proposed, to dealers in second-hand wearing apparel, whether stationary or itinerant; for through this medium also, a vast quantity of bed and table linen, sheets, wearing apparel, and other articles, pilfered in private families, is disposed of; and money is obtained, without asking questions, with the same facility as at the iron shops.

To prevent metals from being melted by Receivers of stolen Goods, and other persons keeping crucibles and melting vessels, by which means the most infamous frauds are committed, to the evasion of justice, by immediately melting plate, pewter pots, and every kind of metal that can be identified; it may be also necessary to regulate, by licence, all Founders of metal, and also the horse and truck carts used for the purpose of conveying old metals from place to place: so as, upon the whole, to establish a mild, but complete System of Prevention; by limiting the dealers in old metals and second-hand wearing apparel, to the honest and fair part of their trade, and by restraining them with regard to that which is fraudulent and mischievous.

At present these respective dealers may truly be said to be complete pests of Society.—They are not, like Pawnbrokers, restrained, as to the hours of receiving or delivering goods.—Their dealings are often in the night time, by which means they enjoy every opportunity of encouraging fraud and dishonesty.

It is impossible to contemplate the consequences arising from the seduction of so many individuals, young and old, who must be implicated in the crimes which these abominable receptacles encourage, without wishing to see so complicate and growing a mischief engage the immediate attention of the Legislature, that a remedy may be applied as early as possible.[21]

This System of petty thievery and general depredation is, however, by no means confined to the precincts of the Metropolis: it is extended in a peculiar manner through the different Counties in its Vicinity.—The following particulars, extracted from Mr. Middleton's View of the Agriculture of Middlesex, will enable the Reader to form some judgment of the extent of the mischief, and the causes from which it originates; producing and increasing that band of plunderers, of which the Metropolis itself has ultimately been at once the Nurse and the Victim.

"The funds raised for supporting the Idle Poor of this country (says this intelligent writer) are so numerous, efficient, and comfortable, as to operate against the general industry of the Labouring Poor.

"Lodging and diet in the workhouses, in every instance, are superior to what the industrious labourer can provide for his family. It is obvious that this must have an influence over their minds, and become most injurious to the interests of society; it holds out encouragement to prefer the workhouse to labour; and, by filling the poor houses with improper inhabitants, it reduces the amount of industry."

The annual expence of each pauper is calculated by the same Writer at about Fifteen Guineas; a stout healthy labourer in husbandry, with a wife and three children, earns only Thirty for the support of five persons.

"The want of prudence is increased, and general industry lessened, on the part of the poor, by the facility with which voluntary contributions are raised during every temporary inconvenience, such as a few weeks' frost, or an extraordinary advance in the price of provisions.[22] And also by the constantly cloathing upwards of ten thousand children of the labouring Poor in this Country.

"Every institution which tends to make the poor depend on any other support than their own industry does them great disservice, and is highly injurious to society, by diminishing the quantity of labour which annually produces consumable goods, the only wealth of a nation."

Although these suggestions may appear harsh, and some of them may admit of more extended discussion, yet they certainly deserve very serious consideration; as do also the following observations on the Commons and Waste Lands with which this kingdom still abounds; and on the general character of Servants and Labourers; the latter of which afford but too melancholy a confirmation of many opinions which the author of this treatise has thought it his duty to bring forward to the Public eye.

"On estimating the value of the Commons in Middlesex, including every advantage that can be derived from them in pasturage, locality of situation, and the barbarous custom of turbary, it appears that they do not produce to the Community, in their present state, more than four shillings per Acre! On the other hand, they are, in many instances, of real injury to the Public, by holding out a lure to the poor man; by affording him materials wherewith to build his cottage, and ground to erect it upon; together with firing, and the run of his poultry and pigs for nothing. This is, of course, temptation sufficient to induce a great number of poor persons to settle upon the borders of such Commons. But the mischief does not end here; for having gained these trifling advantages, through the neglect or connivance of the Lord of the Manor, it unfortunately gives their minds an improper bias, and inculcates a desire to live, from that time forward, without labour, or at least with as little as possible.

"The animals kept by this description of persons, it is soon discovered by their owners, are not likely to afford them much revenue, without better feed than the scanty herbage on a Common; hence they are tempted to pilfer corn, &c. towards their support; and as they are still dependant on such a deceptious supply, to answer the demands of their consumption, they are in some measure constrained to resort to various dishonest means, so as to make up the deficiency.

"It is a notorious fact, that in all cases cottages not having any ground belonging to them promote thieving to a great extent; as their inhabitants constantly rob the neighbouring farms and gardens of root and pulse sufficient for their own consumption, and which they would have no temptation to do, if they had the same articles growing of their own." Hence Mr. Middleton suggests the evil admits of an easy remedy, namely, the allotting to each cottager a piece of ground.

"Another very serious evil which the Public suffers from these Commons is, that they are the constant rendezvous of Gypsies, Strollers, and other loose persons, living under tents which they carry with them from place to place, according to their conveniency. Most of these persons have asses, many of them horses, nay, some of them have even covered carts, which answer the double purpose of a caravan for concealing and carrying off the property they have stolen, and also of a house for sleeping in at night. They usually stay a week or two at a place; and the cattle which they keep serve to transport their few articles of furniture from one place to another. These, during the stay of their owners, are turned adrift to procure what food they can find in the neighbourhood of their tents, and the deficiency is made up from the adjacent hay-stacks, barns and granaries. They are known never to buy any hay or corn, and yet their cattle are supplied with these articles of good quality. The women and children beg and pilfer, and the men commit greater acts of dishonesty. In short, the Commons of this Country are well known to be the constant resort of footpads and highwaymen, and are literally and proverbially a public nuisance."——

"The Labourers of this country are ruined in morals and constitution by the public houses. It is a general rule, that the higher their wages, the less they carry home, and consequently the greater is the wretchedness of themselves and their families. Comforts in a cottage are mostly found where the man's wages are low, at least so low as to require him to labour six days a week. For instance, a good workman at nine shillings per week, if advanced to twelve will spend a day in the week at the alehouse, which reduces his labour to five days, or ten shillings; and as he will spend two shillings in the public house, it leaves but eight for his family, which is one less than they had when he earned only nine shillings.

"If by any means he be put into a situation of earning eighteen shillings in six days, he will get drunk Sunday and Monday, and go to his work stupid on Tuesday; and should he be a mechanical journeyman of some genius, who by constant labour could earn twenty-four shillings or thirty shillings per week, as some of them can, he will be drunk half the week, insolent to his employer, and to every person about him.

"If his master has business in hand that requires particular dispatch, he will then, more than at any other time, be absent from his work, and his wife and children will experience the extreme of hunger, rags and cold.

"The low Inns on the road sides are, in general, receiving houses for the corn, hay, straw, poultry, eggs, &c. which the farmers' men pilfer from their masters.

"Gentlemen's Servants are mostly a bad set, and the great number kept in this county, is the means of the rural labourers acquiring a degree of idleness and insolence unknown in places more remote from the Metropolis.

"The poor children who are brought up on the borders of commons and copses, are accustomed to little labour, but too much idleness and pilfering. Having grown up, and these latter qualities having become a part of their nature, they are then introduced to the farmers as servants or labourers; and very bad ones they make.

"The children of small farmers, on the contrary, have the picture of industry, hard labour, and honesty, hourly before them, in the persons of their parents, and daily hear the complaints which they make against idle and pilfering servants, and comparisons drawn highly in favour of honesty. In this manner honesty and industry become, as it were, a part of the nature of such young folks. The father's property is small, and his means few; he is therefore unable to hire and stock a farm for each of his children; they consequently become servants on large farms, or in gentlemen's families, and in either situation are the most faithful part of such establishments."——

"One great hindrance to comfort in a life of agriculture, and which drives liberal minded men, who are always the best friends to improvement, out of the profession, is the want of laws to put a total stop to the Receivers of stolen goods. These are the wretches who encourage servants in agriculture, and others to pilfer, by holding out the lure of buying every article, which such servants can bring without asking them any questions. Most things which are usually produced on a farm, from so small an article as an egg, to hay, straw and grain of all sorts are daily stolen,[23] and sold on the sides of every principal road in this county. Among the Receivers are to be reckoned Millers, Cornchandlers, Dealers in eggs, butter and poultry, and the Keepers of Chandlers' shops.

"The Drivers of Gentlemen's carriages are intrusted to buy hay, straw, and corn, for their horses; in the doing which, they generally cheat their masters of 5s. in each load of hay, of 2s. 6d. in each load of straw, and 1s. in every quarter of corn. This gives them an interest in the consumption, makes them extremely wasteful, and brings on habits of dishonesty.

"The Ostlers at the Inns on the sides of the roads, purchase stolen hay, straw, corn, eggs, and poultry. A person who kept a horse several weeks at one of these inns, in attending occasionally to see the animal, discovered him to be fed with wheat, barley and oats mixed together, which could only happen by the farmers' servants robbing their Master, and selling the corn to the Ostler."——

"The fields near London are never free from men strolling about in pilfering pursuits by day, and committing great crimes by night. The depredations every Sunday are astonishingly great. There are not many gardens within five miles of London, that escape being visited in a marauding way, very early on a Sunday morning, and the farmers' fields are plundered all day long of fruit, roots, cabbages, pulse and corn. Even the ears of wheat are cut from the sheaves, and carried away in the most daring manner in open day, in various ways, but mostly in bags containing about half a bushel each. It has been moderately estimated, that 20,000 bushels of all the various sorts are thus carried off every Sunday morning, and 10,000 more during the other six days of the week; or one million and a half of bushels in a year, which, if valued at so small a sum as sixpence each, would amount to £37,500.

"The occupiers of many thousand acres round London, lose annually in this manner to the amount of much more than 20s. an acre.

"A Miller near London being questioned as to small parcels of wheat brought to his mill to be ground, by a suspected person, soon after several barns had been robbed, answered, that any explanation on that head would put his mills in danger of being burnt. Well may the farmers say, 'Their property is not protected like that of other men.'"

Mr. Middleton calculates that the depredations committed on the landed interest probably amount to 4s. an acre per annum, on all the cultivated lands in England, or to eight millions of pounds sterling per annum: and including the injuries done by game and vermin, he supposes, that the farmers' property suffers to the amount of 10s. an acre, or nearly twenty millions annually.

The following curious circumstances relative to the adulteration of Milk in the Metropolis, ought to be added to the list of petty frauds, which not merely affect the pockets but the health of the inhabitants of London. The number of milch cows kept for the purpose of supplying the Metropolis with this article, is stated by Mr. Middleton, after very diligent inquiry, at 8,500; and each cow is supposed to afford on an average nine quarts of milk per day.—

"When the families of fashion are in London for the winter season, the consumption, and consequent deterioration of milk are at the highest; during the summer months, when such families are for the most part in the country, the milk may probably be of rather a better quality.

"The milk is always given in its genuine state to the retail dealers; and as it is sold to them by the Cow-keepers after the rate of twopence and 1-8th of a penny per quart, and is retailed by them at threepence halfpenny per quart, the profit is surely so large as ought to prevent even the smallest adulteration. But when it is considered how greatly it is reduced by water, and impregnated with worse ingredients, it is much to be lamented that no method has yet been devised to put a stop to the many scandalous frauds and impositions in general practice, with regard to this very necessary article of human sustenance.

"It is certainly an object well deserving the particular consideration of the Legislature. It cannot be doubted, that many persons would be glad to make some addition to the price now paid for it (high as that price is) provided they could, for such increased price, procure so useful an article in domestic œconomy perfectly genuine.[24]

"Five or six men only are employed in attending near three hundred cows. As one woman cannot milk above eight or nine cows twice a day, that part of the business would necessarily be attended with considerable expence to the Cow-keeper, were it not that the Retailer agrees for the produce of a certain number of cows, and takes the labour and expence of milking on himself.

"Every Cow-house is provided with a milk-room (where the milk is measured and served out by the Cow-keeper) and this room is mostly furnished with a pump, to which the Retail Dealers apply in rotation; not secretly, but openly before any person that may be standing by, from which they pump water into the milk vessels at their discretion. The pump is placed there expressly for that purpose, and indeed is very seldom used for any other. A considerable Cow-keeper in Surrey has a pump of this kind, which goes, by the name of the Famous Black Cow (from the circumstance of its being painted black) and is said to yield more than all the rest put together.

"Where such a pump is not provided for them things are much worse, for in that case the Retailers are not even careful to use clean water. Some of them have been seen to dip their pails in a common horse-trough. And what is still more disgusting, though equally true, one cow-house happens to stand close to the edge of a stream, into which runs much of the dung, and most of the urine of the cows, and even in this stream, so foully impregnated, they have been observed to dip their milk-pails.

"A Cow-keeper informs me, that the Retail Milk Dealers are for the most part the refuse of other employments, possessing neither character, decency of manners, nor cleanliness.

"No person could possibly drink of the milk, were they fully acquainted with the filthy manners of these dealers in it.

"The same person suggests, as a remedy for these abuses, that it would be highly proper for every Retail Milk Dealer to be obliged to take out an Annual Licence from the Magistrates; which licence should be granted only to such as could produce a certificate of good conduct, signed by the Cow-keeper and a certain number of their customers; and also on their being sworn to sell the milk pure and unadulterated."

CHAP. IV.

General Reflections arising from the perpetration of the higher and more atrocious crimes of Burglary, Highway Robbery, &c.—These crimes more peculiar to England than to Holland and Flanders, &c.—The Reason explained.—A general View of the various classes of Criminals engaged in Robberies and Burglaries and of those discharged from Prison and the Hulks.—Their miserable situation as Outcasts of Society, without the means of Support.—The necessity of some Antidote previous to the return of Peace.—The means used at present by Thieves in accomplishing their nefarious Purposes.—Observations on the stealing Cattle, Sheep, Corn, &c.—Receivers of Stolen Goods shewn to be the Nourishers of every description of Thieves.—Remedies suggested, by means of Detection and Prevention.

IT is impossible to reflect upon the outrages and acts of violence continually committed, more particularly in and near the Metropolis by lawless ravagers of property, and destroyers of lives, in disturbing the peaceful mansion, the Castle of every Englishman, and also in abridging the liberty of travelling upon the Public Highways, without asking—Why are these enormities suffered in a Country where the Criminal Laws are supposed to have arrived at a greater degree of perfection than any other?

This is an important inquiry, interesting in the highest degree, to every member of the Body Politic.

If, in pursuing such an inquiry, the situation of Holland, Flanders, and several of the Northern States on the Continent, be examined, it will be found that this terrific evil had (alluding to these States previous to the present war) there scarcely an existence: and, that the precaution of bolting doors and windows during the night, was even seldom used; although, in these Countries, from the opulence of many of the inhabitants, there were great temptations to plunder property.

This security did not proceed from severer punishments, for in very few Countries are they more sanguinary than in England.—It is to be attributed to a more correct and energetic system of Police, joined to an early and general attention to the employment, education, and morals of the lower orders of the people; a habit of industry and sobriety is thus acquired, which, universally imbibed in early life, "grows with their growth, and strengthens with their strength."

Idleness is a never-failing road to criminality. It originates generally in the inattention and the bad example of profligate parents.—And when it has unfortunately taken hold of the human mind, unnecessary wants and improper gratifications, not known or thought of by persons in a course of industry, are constantly generated: hence it is, that crimes are resorted to, and every kind of violence, hostile to the laws, and to peace and good order, is perpetrated.

The criminal and unfortunate individuals, who compose the dismal catalogue of Highwaymen, Footpad-Robbers, Burglars, Pick-Pockets, and common Thieves, in and about this Metropolis, may be divided into the three following classes:

1. Young men of some education, who having acquired idle habits by abandoning business, or by being bred to no profession, and having been seduced by this idleness to indulge in gambling and scenes of debauchery and dissipation, at length impoverished and unable to purchase their accustomed gratifications, have recourse to the highway to supply immediate wants.

2. Tradesmen and others, who having ruined their fortunes and business by gaming and dissipation, sometimes as a desperate remedy, go upon the road.

But these two classes are extremely few in number, and bear no proportion to the lower and more depraved part of the fraternity of thieves, who pursue the trade systematically; who conduct their depredations under such circumstances of caution, as to render detection extremely difficult; and whose knowledge of all the weak parts of the Criminal Law is generally so complete, as to enable them to elude justice, and obtain acquittals, when detected and put upon their trial:—Namely—

3. 1st. Servants, Ostlers, Stable and Post-Boys out of place, who, preferring what they consider as idleness, have studied the profession of Thieving.—2d. Persons who being imprisoned for debts, assaults, or petty offences, have learned habits of idleness and profligacy in gaols.—3d. Idle and disorderly mechanics and labourers, who having on this account lost the confidence of their masters or employers, resort to thieving, as a means of support; from all whom the notorious and hacknied thieves generally select the most trusty and daring to act as their associates.—4th. Criminals tried and acquitted of offences charged against them, of which class a vast number is annually let loose upon Society.—5th. Convicts discharged from prison and the Hulks, after suffering the sentence of the Law: too often instructed by one another in all the arts and devices which attach to the most extreme degree of human depravity, and in the perfect knowledge of the means of perpetrating Crimes, and of eluding Justice.

To form some judgment of the number of persons in this great Metropolis who compose at least a part of the Criminal Phalanx engaged in depredations and acts of violence, it is only necessary to have recourse to the following Statement of the number of prisoners discharged, during a period of four years, from the eight different Gaols in the Metropolis, and within the Bills of Mortality.

1. Discharged by proclamation and gaol-deliveries; having been committed in consequence of being charged with various offences for which bills were not found by the Grand Jury, or where the prosecutors did not appear to maintain and support the charges

5592

2. Discharged by acquittals, in the different Courts; (frequently from having availed themselves of the defects of the Law,—from frauds in keeping back evidence, and other devices)

2962

3. Convicts discharged from the different gaols, after suffering the punishment of imprisonment, &c. inflicted on them for the several offences

2484

Total

11038

The following is a Statement of the number of these discharges from the year 1792 to 1799 inclusive:—

1. Discharged by Proclamations and Gaol-deliveries

8650

2. Discharged by Acquittals

4935

3. Discharged after punishment: or by being bailed or pardoned

6925

Total

20,510

If to this deplorable Catalogue shall be added the Convicts which have been returned on the Public from the Hulks within the same period, namely, from 1792 to 1799 inclusive, either from pardons, escapes, or the expiration of their punishment, the numbers will stand thus:

Enlarged in

1792

303

— —

1793

435

— —

1794

62

— —

1795

67

— —

1796

38

— —

1797

39

— —

1798

93

— —

1799

346

 

1383

Total from Gaols and from the Hulks

21,893

Humanity shudders at the contemplation of this interesting part of the discussion, when it is considered, who these our miserable fellow-mortals are! and what is to be expected from the extreme depravity which attaches to the chief part of them!

And here a prominent feature of the imperfect state of the Police of the Metropolis and the Country is too evident to escape notice.

Without friends, without character, and without the means of subsistence, what are these unhappy mortals to do?—They are no sooner known or suspected, than they are avoided.—No person will employ them, even if they were disposed to return to the paths of honesty; unless they make use of fraud and deception, by concealing that they have been the inhabitants of a Prison, or of the Hulks.

At large upon the world, without food or raiment, and with the constant calls of nature upon them for both, without a home or any asylum to shelter them from the inclemency of the weather, what is to become of them?

The Police of the Country has provided no place of industry, in which those who were disposed to reform might find subsistence in return for voluntary labour; which, in their present situation, becomes useless to them, because no person will purchase it by employing them.[25] Under all these circumstances it is to be feared, indeed it is known, that many Convicts, from dire necessity, return to their old courses.—And thus, through the medium of these miserable outcasts of Society, crimes are increased and become a regular trade, because many of them can make no other election.

It is indeed true, that during the first three years of the present war, many Convicts and idle and disorderly persons were sent to the Army and Navy: but still a vast number remained behind, who could not be accepted on account of ruptures, fits, or some other disability or infirmity; which, although they incapacitate them from serving his Majesty, do not prevent them from committing crimes.

While it must be evident, that the resource afforded by the present war, gives employment, for a time only, to many depraved characters and mischievous members of the community; how necessary is it to be provided with antidotes, previous to the return of peace; when, to the multitude of thieves now at large, there will be added numbers of the same class, who may be discharged from the Navy and Army?—If some plan of employment is not speedily devised, to which all persons of this description may resort, who cannot otherwise subsist themselves in an honest way; and if the Police of the Metropolis is not greatly improved, by the introduction of more energy, and a greater degree of System and Method in its administration; it is much to be feared, that no existing power will be able to keep them within bounds.

It is in vain to say the Laws are sufficient.—They are indeed abundantly voluminous, and in many respects very excellent, but they require to be revised, consolidated, modernized, and adapted in a greater degree to the prevention of existing evils, with such regulations as would ensure their due execution not only in every part of the Capital, but also in all parts of the Kingdom.

The means these depredators at present use in accomplishing their nefarious purposes are complicated and various; and of late years have become as much diversified as it is possible for the ingenuity of men to devise, who frequently join good natural abilities to all the artifices of the finished villain.

It is no uncommon thing for the more daring and strong-minded to form themselves into gangs or societies; to the exclusion of those of their fraternity whose hearts are likely to fail them, and who are supposed not to be sufficiently firm, so as to secure their accomplices against the hazard of discovery in case of detection.

Robbery and theft, as well in houses as on the roads, have long been reduced to a regular System. Opportunities are watched, and intelligence procured, with a degree of vigilance similar to that which marks the conduct of a skilful General, eager to obtain an advantage over an enemy.

Houses, intended to be entered during the night, are previously reconnoitred and examined for days preceding. If one or more of the servants are not already associated with the gang, the most artful means are used to obtain their assistance; and when every previous arrangement is made, the mere operation of robbing a house becomes a matter of little difficulty.

By the connivance and assistance of immediate, or former servants, they are led to the places where the most valuable, as well as the most portable, articles are deposited, and the object is speedily attained.

In this manner do the principal Burglars and House-breakers proceed: and let this information serve as a caution to every person in the choice both of their male and female servants; since the latter as well as the former are not seldom accomplices in very atrocious robberies.

The same generalship is manifested in the nocturnal expeditions of those criminal associates upon the highways.

A perfect knowledge is obtained every evening of the different routes and situations of the patroles:—they are narrowly watched, and their vigilance (wherever they are vigilant) is in too many instances defeated.

Infinite pains are bestowed in procuring intelligence of persons travelling upon the road with money, bank-notes, or other valuable effects; and when discovered, the most masterly pains are concerted to waylay and rob them of their property: Nor have the measures pursued by those atrocious villains, the Footpads, exhibited less skill in the plans adopted; while their outrages are too often marked with those acts of cruelty and barbarity which justly render them objects of peculiar terror.

The same adroitness also marks the conduct of those who turn their attention chiefly to picking of pockets, and other smaller robberies.

It would almost fill a volume to detail the various artifices which are resorted to, in carrying on this species of thieving; by which even the most cautious, and those who are generally upon their guard, are not exempted from the ravages of these inferior pests of Society.

In addition to the injuries or losses arising from burglaries, highway-robberies and lesser thefts, it is to be lamented that extensive and increasing depredations are made upon horses, cattle and sheep, and also upon flour, corn, potatoes, provender, and poultry; stolen from the drovers, millers, corn-factors, and farmers in the vicinity of the Metropolis. These have been stated more at large in a preceding Chapter.

It cannot be too often repeated that the great facility experienced, in the immediate disposal of every article obtained by dishonesty, is one of the chief encouragements to all the acts of outrage and depredation enumerated in the course of this Work.

It frequently happens that the Burglars, the Highwaymen, and Footpad robbers, make their contracts with the Receivers, on the evening before the plunder is obtained; so as to secure a ready admittance immediately afterwards, and before day-break, for the purpose of effectual concealment by melting plate, obliterating marks, and securing all other articles so as to place them out of the reach of discovery. This has long been reduced to a regular system which is understood and followed as a trade.

Nor do those Thieves who steal horses,[26] cattle and sheep experience more difficulty in finding purchasers immediately for whatever they can obtain:—they too, generally, make a previous bargain with the Receivers, who are ready at an appointed hour to conceal the animals, to kill them immediately, and to destroy the skins for the purpose of eluding detection.

It sometimes happens also, that the persons who perpetrate these robberies are journeymen-butchers, by trade; who kill whatever they steal, and often afterwards sell their plunder in the Public Markets.

If, by wise regulations, it were possible to embarrass and disturb the extensive trade carried on by all the concealed Receivers, who are the particular class having connection with the professed thieves, a very great check would be given to public depredations.

In suggesting Remedies, this of all other appears, at first view, to be the most difficult; because of the apparent impossibility of regulating any class of Dealers who have no shop, or visible trade, and who transact all their business under concealment:—but still the object is to be obtained by a combination of different legislative regulations, carried into execution by a consolidated, vigilant and well-regulated Police.

The detail, however, of the means of detecting Receivers will, of course, be discussed hereafter, in a subsequent Chapter; at present the following Hints will suffice.

A register of lodging-houses and lodgers in every parish, liberty, hamlet, and precinct, where the rent does not exceed a certain sum (suppose ten shillings) weekly, would prove one great means of embarrassment to Thieves of every class; and of course would tend, with other regulations, to the prevention of Crimes.

Night-Coaches also promote, in an eminent degree, the perpetration of burglaries and other felonies: Bribed by a high reward, many hackney coachmen eagerly enter into the pay of nocturnal depredators, and wait in the neighbourhood until the robbery is completed, and then draw up, at the moment the watchmen are going their rounds, or off their stands, for the purpose of conveying the plunder to the house of the Receiver, who is generally waiting the issue of the enterprise. Above one half of the present Hackney Coachmen, in London, are said to be (in the cant phrase) Flashmen designed to assist thieves.

It being certain that a vast deal of mischief is done which could not be effected, were it not for the assistance which night coaches afford to Thieves of every description, it would seem, upon the whole, advantageous to the Public, that no Hackney Coaches should be permitted to take fares after twelve o'clock at night; or, if this is impracticable, that the coach-hire for night service should be advanced, on condition that all coachmen going upon the stands after twelve o'clock, should be licensed by a Board of Police. By this means the night-coachmen, by being more select, would not be so open to improper influence; and they might even become useful to Public Justice in giving informations, and also in detecting Burglars, and other Thieves.

Watchmen and Patroles, instead of being, as now, comparatively of little use, from their age, infirmity, inability, inattention, or corrupt practices, might almost at the present expence, by a proper selection, and a more correct mode of discipline, by means of a general superintendance over the whole to regulate their conduct, and keep them to their duty, be rendered of great utility in preventing Crimes, and in detecting Offenders.[27]

At present the System of the nightly watch is without energy, disjointed, and governed by almost as many different Acts of Parliament, as there are Parishes, Hamlets, Liberties, and Precincts within the Bills of Mortality; and where the payment is as various, running from 8½d. up to 2s. a night.

The Act of the 14th of George IIId. (cap. 90.) entituled, An Act for the better regulation of the Nightly Watch within the City and Liberty of Westminster, and parts adjacent, contains many excellent Regulations, but they do not extend to the eastern part of the Metropolis; and for want of an active and superintending agency, superior to beadles, it is believed and felt that they are not, (even within the district included in the Act,) correctly carried into execution: and that no small portion of those very men who are paid for protecting the public, are not only instruments of oppression in many instances, by extorting money most unwarrantably; but are frequently accessaries in aiding, abetting or concealing the commission of crimes, which it is their duty to detect and suppress.

If as an improvement to the preventive System, and as a check upon the improper conduct of parochial Watchmen, a body of honest, able, and active Officers, in the character of Police Patroles, were attached to each Public Office, or to a General Police System with a sufficient fund to defray the expences, to follow up informations for the detection of negligent servants of the Public, and liberally to reward those who were active and useful in apprehending delinquents, and in making discoveries, tending either to the recovery of property stolen, or to the detection of the offenders, little doubt need be entertained, under the guidance of a Central Board and vigilant Police, aided by zealous and active Magistrates, that such a System would soon be established, as would go very far towards the prevention of many atrocious crimes.

Among the various advantages which may thus be expected to result to the Community from the arrangements recommended in this work, would be the suppression of Highway Robberies. A desideratum impracticable in the present state of the Police, although easy and certain under a Police Board; having a general superintendance competent to look at every point of danger, and with pecuniary resources equal to an object so interesting to the inhabitants of this Metropolis.[28] Upon the adoption of this important measure, therefore, (a measure so strongly recommended by the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Finance[29]) depends in a great degree, that security to travellers on the highways in the vicinity of the Metropolis; the want of which, and of many other valuable regulations, for the prevention of crimes, has long been a reproach to the Criminal Jurisprudence, as well as the Police, of the Country.

CHAP. V.

Reasons assigned why forgeries and frauds must prevail in a certain degree, wherever the interchange of property is extensive.—A considerable check already given to the higher class of Forgeries, by shutting out all hopes of Royal Mercy:—Petty Forgeries have however increased:—The Reason assigned.—The qualifications of a Cheat, Swindler, and Gambler explained.—This mischievous class of men extremely numerous in the Metropolis.—The Common and Statute Law applicable to offences of this nature explained.—The different classes of Cheats and Swindlers, and the various tricks and devices they pursue, to enable them to live in idleness, by their wits.—Sharpers, Cheats, and Swindlers, divided into eighteen different Classes—1st. Sharpers who become Pawnbrokers.—2d. Sharpers who obtain Licence as Hawkers and Pedlars.—3d. Swindlers who open shops as Auctioneers.—4th. Swindlers who pretend to discount Bills.—5th. Itinerate Jews.—6th. Cheats who sell by false Weights and Measures.—7th. Swindlers who defraud Tradesmen of Goods.—8th. Cheats who take Genteel Lodgings with false Names, &c.—9th. Cheats who personate former Masters to defraud their Tradesmen.—10th. Cheats who personate Footmen, and order Goods from Tradesmen.—11th. Cheats and Sharpers who deceive Persons from the Country.—12th. Cheats and Sharpers who trick Shopmen and Boys out of Parcels.—13th. Sharpers who attend Inns to pick up Parcels by various tricks and devices.—14th. Cheats who go from door to door, begging on false Pretences.—15th. Sharpers selling smuggled Goods; known by the name of Duffers.—16th. Female Sharpers, who attend Court and Public Places.—17th. Female Bankers who lend money to Barrow-Women at 6d. a day for Five Shillings.—18th. Cheats who pretend to tell Fortunes.—Various Remedies suggested.

IN a great Metropolis, like London, where trade and commerce have arrived at such an astonishing height, and where from the extensive transactions in the Funds, and the opulence of the People, the interchange of property is so expanded, it ceases to be a matter of wonder that Forgeries and Frauds should prevail, in a certain degree:—the question of difficulty is, why the Laws and the means of prevention, have not kept pace with the progressive advancement of the Country; so as to check and keep within bounds those nefarious practices?

Forgeries of the higher class, so dangerous in a commercial country, have by the wise policy of the Executive Government, in shutting out all hopes of the extension of the Royal Mercy to the guilty, received a most severe check: beneficial in the highest degree to the country, and clearly manifested by the records of the Old Bailey, where trial for offences of this nature certainly do not increase in number.

But it is to be lamented, that, with regard to petty forgeries and frauds, this is by no means the case, for they seem to multiply and advance with the opulence and luxury of the country; and to branch out into innumerable different shades, varying as the fashions of the year, and as the resources for the perpetration of this species of fraud change their aspect.

When those depraved people who (to use a vulgar phrase) live entirely by their wits—find that any tricks which they have practised for a certain length of time become stale, (such as pricking the belt for a wager, or dropping the ring) they abandon these; and have recourse to other devices more novel, and more likely to be effectual in cheating and defrauding the unwary.

One of the most prevailing and successful of these, is the fraud practised upon shop-keepers, tradesmen, publicans, and others, by the circulation of forged copper-plate notes and bills for small sums, of £5. and £10. the latter purporting to be drawn, by bankers in the manufacturing and sea-port towns, on different banking-houses in London.

This species of forgery has been carried to a considerable extent suggested no doubt by the confidence which is established from the extensive circulation of country bankers' notes and bills, now made payable in London; by which the deception is, in some degree, covered, and detection rendered more difficult.

The great qualifications, or leading and indispensable attributes of a Sharper, a Cheat, a Swindler, or a Gambler, are, to possess a genteel exterior, a demeanor apparently artless, and a good address.

Like the more violent depredators upon the public, this class (who are extremely numerous) generally proceed upon a regular system, and study as a trade all those infamous tricks and devices by which the thoughtless, the ignorant, and the honest are defrauded of their property.

The common law has defined the offence of cheating—to be a deceitful practice in defrauding, or endeavouring to defraud, another of his own right, by means of some artful device, contrary to the plain rules of common honesty.

The Statute of the 33d of Henry the Eighth, cap. 1. entered into a more specific explanation of what might constitute such an offence, and fixed the mode of punishment; by declaring, "that if any persons shall falsely or deceitfully obtain, or get into his hands or possession, any money, goods, &c. of any other person, by colour or means of any false privy token, or counterfeit letter, &c.—he shall, on conviction, be punished by imprisonment, the pillory, or whipping—saving to the party aggrieved the same power of recovering the property as he might have had at Common Law, &c."

From this remote period, until the 30th of George the Second, the Legislature does not appear to have seen the necessity of enacting any new Law, applicable to this species of offence.

In the progress however of Society and Commerce, joined to the consequent influx of riches, producing luxury and extravagance, a larger field opened for cheats and sharpers of every description; insomuch, that the evil became so great, and the existing Laws were found so insufficient, as to render it necessary to provide a legislative remedy.

In applying this remedy, it seems that the great increase of a new species of cheating, practised by persons known in modern times by the name of Swindlers, had suggested the propriety of defining the offence, in a more applicable and specific manner, and of rendering the punishment more severe. By the act of 30 Geo. II. cap. 24. it is declared, "that all persons obtaining money, goods, wares, or merchandise, by false pretences, shall be deemed offenders against the Law and the public peace; and the Court, before whom any such offender shall be tried, shall on conviction, order them to be put in the pillory, or publicly whipped, or transported for seven years."

Thus stand the Laws at present with regard to Swindlers.[30] They ought certainly to embrace a wider field, so as to reach those artifices by which sharpers and persons of depraved minds, obtain money from the ignorant and unwary, by assuming false characters, taking genteel lodgings, and cheating innocent tradesmen, who lose large sums annually by such depredations.

We shall next proceed to particularize the various classes of Sharpers who thus prey upon the public: reserving all that relates to those more immediately connected with Gaming Houses and Lottery Insurances to the subsequent chapter.

I. Sharpers who obtain Licences to become Pawnbrokers,[31] and bring disgrace upon the reputable part of the trade, by every species of fraud which can add to the distresses of those who are compelled to raise money in this way; for which purpose there are abundance of opportunities.—Swindling Pawnbrokers, of this Class, are uniformly receivers of stolen goods; and under the cover of their licence do much mischief to the Public. The evil arising from them might, in a great measure, be prevented by placing the power of granting licences in a general Board of Police; and rendering it necessary for all persons to produce a Certificate of character, before they can obtain such licence; and also to enter into recognizance for good behaviour.[32]

II. Sharpers and Swindlers who obtain Licences to be Hawkers and Pedlars; under the cover of which every species of villainy is practised upon the country people, as well as upon the unwary in the Metropolis, and all the great towns in the kingdom.—The artifices by which they succeed, are various, as for example;—By fraudulent raffles, where plated goods are exhibited as silver, and where the chances are exceedingly against the adventurers;—By selling and uttering base money, and frequently forged Bank Notes, which make one of the most profitable branches of their trade;—By dealing in smuggled goods, thereby promoting the sale of articles injurious to the Revenue, besides cheating the ignorant with regard to the value;—By receiving stolen goods to be disposed of in the country, by which discoveries are prevented, and assistance afforded to common thieves and stationary receivers;—By purchasing stolen horses in one part of the country, and disposing of them in another, in the course of their journies; in accomplishing which, so as to elude detection, they have great opportunities;—By gambling with EO Tables at Fairs and Horse-races.

A number of other devices might be pointed out, which render this class of men great nuisances in Society; and shew the necessity of either suppressing them totally, (for in fact they are of little use to the Public;) or of limiting the licences only to men of good character; to be granted by a general Board of Police under whose controul they should be placed, while they enter at the same time into a recognizance in a certain sum, with one surety for good behaviour; by which the honest part would be retained, to the exclusion of the fraudulent.

III. Swindlers who take out Licences as Auctioneers, and open shops in different parts of the Metropolis, with persons at the doors, usually denominated Barkers, inviting strangers to walk in. In these places, various articles of silver plate and household goods are exposed to sale, made up on a slight principle, and of little intrinsic value; associates, generally denominated Puffers, are in waiting to bid up the article to a sum greatly beyond its value, when, upon the first bidding of the stranger, it is knocked down to him, and the money instantly demanded; the goods, however, on being carried home and examined, are generally found to be very different in reality, from what their appearance exhibited, and upon a close examination the fraud is discovered.

Neither the common Law, nor the Act of the 30th George II. cap. 24, seem to be sufficiently broad and explanatory to include this species of offence; and hence it is, that this mode of selling goods continues with impunity, and seems to increase. It is not, however, meant here to insinuate that all petty auctions are fraudulent.—It is to be hoped there may be some exceptions, although probably, they are not numerous. A licence from a general Board of Police, and to be subject to certain restrictions only burdensome to the dishonest, and obliging the parties to find security, would, in a great measure, regulate this kind of business, in a proper manner.

IV. Swindlers who raise money, by pretending to be Discounters of Bills, and Money Brokers; These chiefly prey upon young men of property, who have lost their money at play, or spent it in expensive amusements, and are obliged to raise more upon any terms, until their rents or incomes become payable; or who have fortunes in prospect, as being heirs apparent to estates, but who require assistance in the mean time.

Availing themselves of the credit, or the ultimate responsibility, of such thoughtless and giddy young men, in the eager pursuit of criminal pleasures, and under the influence of those allurements which the Faro Tables, and other places of fashionable resort hold out—these Swindlers seldom fail to obtain from them securities and obligations for large sums; upon the credit of which they are enabled, perhaps, at usurious interest, to borrow money, or discount bills; and thus supply their unfortunate customers upon the most extravagant terms.

Another class, having some capital, advance money upon bonds, title-deeds, and other specialities, or upon the bond of the parties having estates in reversion: by these and other devices too tedious to detail, large sums of money are, most unwarrantably and illegally, wrested from the dissipated and thoughtless: and misery and distress are thus entailed upon them, as long as they live; or they are driven, by utter ruin, to acts of desperation or to crimes.

A Law seems absolutely necessary to be pointed at this particular mischief, which is certainly an increasing evil.—Humanity pleads for it; and Policy points out the necessity of some effectual guard against those miseries which it generates; and which could not exist in so great a degree, were it not for the opportunities held out by these blood-suckers, in affording money to the young and inexperienced, to be expended in scenes of gambling and debauchery.

V. A Class of Cheats of the Society of Jews, who are to be found in every street, lane and alley in and near the Metropolis, under the pretence of purchasing old clothes, and metals of different sorts; Their chief business really is to prowl about the houses and stables of men of rank and fortune, for the purpose of holding out temptations to the servants to pilfer and steal small articles, not likely to be missed, which these Jews purchase at about one third of the real value.—It is supposed that upwards of fifteen hundred of these depraved people are employed in diurnal journies of this kind; by which, through the medium of bad money, and other fraudulent dealings, many of them acquire property, and then set up shops and become Receivers of stolen Goods.

It is estimated that there are from fifteen to twenty thousand Jews in the city of London, besides, perhaps, about five or six thousand more in the great provincial and sea-port towns; (where there are at least twenty synagogues, besides six in the Metropolis;) most of the lower classes of those distinguished by the name of German or Dutch Jews, live chiefly by their wits, and establish a system of mischievous intercourse all over the country, the better to carry on their fraudulent designs in the circulation of base money,—the sale of stolen goods, and in the purchase of metals of various kinds; as well as other articles pilfered from the Dock-Yards, and stolen in the provincial towns, which they bring to the Metropolis to elude detection,—and vice versâ.

Educated in idleness from their earliest infancy, they acquire every debauched and vicious principle which can fit them for the most complicated arts of fraud and deception; to which they seldom fail to add the crime of perjury, whenever it can be of use, in shielding themselves or their associates from the punishment of the law.—From the orange boy, and the retailer of seals, razors, glass, and other wares, in the public streets, to the shop-keeper, dealer in wearing apparel, or in silver and gold, the same principles of conduct too generally prevail.

The itinerants utter base money to enable them, by selling cheap, to dispose of their goods; while those that are stationary, with very few exceptions, receive and purchase, at an under-price, whatever is brought them, without asking questions.

VI. Cheats who sell provisions and other articles by means of false weights and measures. Nothing requires the assistance of the Legislature in a greater degree than this evil; to shield the Poor against the numerous tricks thus practised upon them, by low and inferior shop-keepers and itinerants.

The ancient System of regulating this useful branch of Police by the Juries of the Court-Leet, having been found ineffectual, and in many respects inapplicable to the present state of Society, an act passed the 35th of his present Majesty, (cap. 102,) to remedy the inconvenience with regard to fraudulent weights; but difficulties having occurred on account of the expence of carrying it into execution, certain amendments were made by another act, (37 Geo. III. c. 143,) and the Magistrates in Petty Sessions have now power to appoint Examiners of weights, and to authorize them to visit shops, seize false weights, &c.

This plan, if pursued as steadily as that which already prevails in regulating Bakers, promises to produce very valuable benefits to the lower ranks of people at a very small expence.

VII. Cheats and Swindlers who associate together, and enter into a conspiracy for the purpose of defrauding Tradesmen of their goods.—One of these sharpers generally assumes the character of a Merchant;—hires a genteel house, with a counting-house, and every appearance of business.—One or two associates take upon them the appearance of Clerks, while others occasionally wear a livery: and sometimes a carriage is set up, in which the ladies of the party visit the shops, in the stile of persons of fashion, ordering goods to their apartments.—Thus circumstanced, goods are obtained on credit, which are immediately pawned or sold, and the produce used as a means of deception to obtain more, and procure recommendations, by offering to pay ready money,—or discount bills.

When confidence is once established in this way, notes and bills are fabricated by these conspirators, as if remitted from the country, or from foreign parts; and application is made to their newly acquired friends, the tradesmen, to assist in discounting them. Sometimes money and bills upon one another are lodged at the bankers for the purpose of extending their credit, by referring to some respectable name for a character.

After circulating notes to a considerable amount, and completing their system of fraud by possessing as much of the property of others as is possible, without risk of detection, they move off; assume new characters; and when the bills and notes are due, the parties are not to be found.

Offences of this sort, where an actual conspiracy cannot be proved, which is generally very difficult, are not easily punished; and it seems of importance that frauds and impositions of this sort, and others of the same nature, where the confidence of tradesmen and manufacturers is abused by misrepresentation and falsehood, should be defined, so as to render it difficult for the parties to escape punishment.

VIII. Cheats who take genteel Lodgings, dress elegantly, assume false names:—pretend to be related to persons of credit and fashion—produce letters familiarly written to prove an intimacy,—enter into conversation, and shew these letters to tradesmen and others, upon whom they have a design—get into their good graces, purchase wearing apparel and other articles, and disappear with the booty.

This species of offence would be very difficult to reach by any existing Law, and yet it is practised in various shapes in the Metropolis, whereby tradesmen are defrauded to a very considerable extent.—Some legislative guards would certainly be very desirable to define and punish these offences also.

IX. Cheats, who have been formerly in the service of Milliners, Mantua-Makers, Taylors, and other Traders, who have occasion to send to shop-keepers and warehousemen for goods;—These, after being discharged from their service, getting into the company of sharpers and thieves, while out of place, teach them how to personate their former employers; in whose names they too frequently succeed in obtaining considerable quantities of goods before the fraud is discovered.

It would certainly be a good rule at no time to deliver goods upon a verbal message; and it would be useful if all persons discharging servants, would give notice of it to every tradesmen with whom they deal.

X. Cheats who personate Gentlemen's footmen; These order goods to be sent to a genteel lodging, where the associate is waiting, who draws upon some banker in a distant part of the town for the money; or, if the check is refused, a country bank-note (the gentleman just being arrived in town) is offered to be changed, which, although a forgery, often succeeds: if this should also fail, this mischievous class of people, from habit and close attention to the means of deception, are seldom at a loss in finding out some other expedient; and before the fraud is discovered, the parties are off; and the master transformed into the livery-servant, to practise in his turn the same trick upon some other person.

XI. Cheats who associate systematically together, for the purpose of finding out and making a prey of every person from the country, or any ignorant person who is supposed to have money, or who has come to London for the purpose of selling goods.—It is usual in such cases for one of them to assume the character of a young 'Squire, just come to his estate; to appear careless and prodigal, and to shew handfuls of bank-notes, all of which are false and fabricated for the purpose.

Another personates the guardian of the 'Squire, while a part of the associates pretend to sit down to play, and having won money of the young spendthrift, who appears extremely ignorant and profuse, the stranger's avarice gets the better of his prudence, and he is induced at length to try his luck,—the result is that he is soon left without a penny.

XII. Cheats who prowl about in all the streets and lanes of the trading part of the Metropolis, where shopmen and boys are carrying parcels: These, by means of various stratagems, find out where the parcels are going, and regulating their measures accordingly, seldom fail by some trick or other, (such as giving the lad a shilling to run and call a coach,) to get hold of the property.—Porters and young men from the country should be particularly cautious never to quit any property intrusted to their care, until delivered (not at the door) but within the house to which it is directed.

XIII. Cheats who attend Inns, at the time that coaches and waggons are loading or unloading. These by personating porters with aprons and knots, or clerks with pens stuck in their wigs or hair, and by having recourse to a variety of stratagems, according to the peculiar circumstances of the case, aided by their having previously noticed the address of several of the parcels, seldom fail of success, in the general hurry and confusion which prevails at such places. This proves how necessary it is at all times to have one or two intelligent officers of justice, who know the faces of thieves, in attendance, while goods are receiving and delivering.

XIV. Cheats who go from door to door collecting money; under pretence of soliciting for a charitable establishment, for the benefit of poor children, and other purposes. But the money, instead of being so applied, is generally spent in eating and drinking; and the most infamous imposition is thus practised upon the charitable and humane, who are the dupes of this species of fraud in too many instances.

XV. Sharpers who are known by the name of Duffers. These go about from house to house, and attend public houses, inns, and fairs, pretending to sell smuggled goods, such as India handkerchiefs, waistcoat patterns, muslins, &c. By offering their goods for sale, they are enabled to discover the proper objects, who may be successfully practised upon in various ways; and if they do not succeed in promoting some gambling scheme, by which the party is plundered of his money, they seldom fail passing forged country bank notes, or base silver and copper in the course of their dealings.

XVI. Female Sharpers who dress elegantly, personate women of fashion, attend masquerades, and even go to St. James's. These, from their effrontery, actually get into the circle; where their wits and hands are employed in obtaining diamonds, and whatever other articles of value, capable of being concealed, are found to be most accessible.

The wife of a well-known sharper, lately upon the town, is said to have appeared at Court, dressed in a stile of peculiar elegance: while the sharper himself is supposed to have gone in the dress of a clergyman.—According to the information of a noted receiver, they pilfered to the value of £1700. on the King's birth-day (1795,) without discovery or suspicion.

Houses are kept where female Cheats dress and undress for public places.—Thirty or forty of these sharpers generally attend all masquerades, in different characters, where they seldom fail to get clear off with a considerable booty.

XVII. Among the classes of Cheats may be ranked a species of Female Bankers. These accommodate barrow-women and others, who sell fish, fruit, vegetables, &c. in the streets, with five shillings a day; (the usual diurnal stock in trade in such cases;) for the use of which, for twelve hours, they obtain a premium of six-pence, when the money is returned in the evening, receiving thereby at this rate, about seven pounds ten shillings a year for every five shillings they lend out!

The Author, in the course of his Magisterial duty, having discovered this extraordinary species of fraud, attempted to explain to a barrow-woman on whom it was practised, that by saving up a single five shillings, and not laying any part of it out in gin, but keeping the whole, she would save £7. 10s. a year, which seemed to astonish her, and to stagger her belief.—It is to be feared, however, that it had no effect upon her future conduct, since it is evident that this improvident and dissolute class of females have no other idea than that of making the day and the way alike long.—Their profits (which are often considerably augmented by dealing in base money, as well as fruit, vegetables, &c.) seldom last over the day, for they never fail to have a luxurious dinner and a hot supper, with abundance of gin and porter:—looking in general no farther than to keep whole the original stock, with the six-pence interest, which is paid over to the female banker in the evening; and a new loan obtained on the following morning, of the same number of shillings again to go to market.

In contemplating this curious system of Banking, (trifling as it seems to be) it is impossible not to be forcibly struck with the immense profits that arise from it. It is only necessary for one of these female sharpers to possess a capital of seventy shillings, or three pounds ten shillings, with fourteen steady and regular customers, in order to realize an income of one hundred guineas a year!

XVIII. Cheats who pretend to tell fortunes. These impose on the credulity of the public, by advertisements and cards; pretending a power, from their knowledge of astrology, to foretell future events, to discover stolen property, lucky numbers in the Lottery, &c.

The extent to which this mischief goes in the Metropolis is almost beyond belief; particularly during the drawing of the Lottery.—The folly and phrenzy which prevail in vulgar life, lead ignorant and deluded people into the snare of adding to the misfortunes which the Lottery occasions, by additional advances of money (obtained generally by pawning goods or apparel) paid to pretended astrologers for suggesting lucky numbers, upon which they are advised to make insurances; and under the influence of this unaccountable delusion, they are too often induced to increase their risks, and ruin their families.

One of these impostors who lived long in the Curtain-Road, Shoreditch, is said, in conjunction with his associates, to have made near £300. a year by practising upon the credulity of the lower orders of the people.—He stiled himself (in his circulating cards) an Astronomer and Astrologer; and stated, That he gave advice to Gentlemen and Ladies on business, trade, contracts, removals, journies by land or water, marriages, children, law-suits, absent friends, &c. And further, that he calculated nativities accurately,—His fee was half-a-crown.

An instance of mischievous credulity, occasioned by consulting this impostor, once fell under the review of the Author. A person having property stolen from him, went to consult the conjuror respecting the thief; who having described something like the person of a man whom he suspected, his credulity and folly so far got the better of his reason and reflection, as to induce him upon the authority of this impostor actually to charge his neighbour with a felony, and to cause him to be apprehended. The Magistrate settled the matter by discharging the prisoner; reprimanding the accuser severely, and ordering the conjuror to be taken into custody, according to law, as a Rogue and Vagabond.

But the delusion with regard to Fortune-tellers is not confined to vulgar life, since it is known, that ladies of rank, fashion, and fortune, contribute to the encouragement of this fraudulent profession in particular, by their visits to a pretended Astrologer of their own sex in the neighbourhood of Tottenham-Court Road: This woman, to the disgrace of her votaries, whose education ought to have taught them the folly and weakness of countenancing such gross impositions, found the practice of it extremely productive.[33]

The act of the 9th George the Second, cap. 5, punishes all persons pretending skill in any crafty science; or telling fortunes, or where stolen goods may be found; with a year's imprisonment, and standing four times in the pillory (once every quarter) during the term of such imprisonment. The act called the Vagrant Act, made the 17th year of the same reign, (cap. 5,) declares such persons to be rogues and vagabonds, and liable to be punished as such.

It is sincerely to be hoped that those at least who are convinced from having suffered by the gross imposition practised upon the credulity of the people by these pests of Society, will enable the civil Magistrate, by proper informations, to suppress so great an evil.

Innumerable almost are the other tricks and devices which are resorted to by the horde of Cheats, Swindlers, and Sharpers, who infest the Metropolis.

The great increase of commerce, and the confidence resulting from an intercourse so wide and extended, frequently lays men of property and tradesmen open to a variety of frauds; credit is obtained by subterfuges and devices contrary to the plain rules of common honesty, against which, however, there is no remedy but by an action of common law.

If it were possible to look accurately at the different evils arising from fraudulent and swindling practices, so as to frame a statute that would generally reach all the cases that occur, whenever the barrier of common honesty is broken down, it would certainly be productive of infinite benefit to the community; for, in spite of the laudable exertions of the Society established for prosecuting swindlers, it is to be lamented that the evil has not diminished. On the contrary, it has certainly encreased, and must continue to do so, until the Legislature, by applicable Laws and an improved System of Police, either directly or collaterally attaching to these offences, shall find the means of suppressing them.

CHAP. VI.

The great anxiety of the Legislature to suppress the evils of Gaming:—The Misery and Wretchedness entailed on many respectable Families from this fatal propensity:—Often arising from the foolish vanity of mixing in what is stiled, Genteel Company; where Faro is introduced.—Games of Chance, though stigmatized by the Legislature, encouraged by high-sounding names, whose houses are opened for purposes odious and unlawful:—The Civil Magistrate called upon by his public duty, as well as by the feelings of humanity, to suppress such mischiefs.—The danger arising from such seminaries—No probability of any considerations of their illegality, or inhumanity, operating as a check, without the efforts of the Magistracy.—The evil tendency of such examples to servants in fashionable Families, who carry these vices into vulgar life; and many of whom, as well as persons of superior education, become Sharpers, Cheats, and Swindlers, from the habits they acquire.—A particular Statement of the proceedings of persons who have set up Gaming Houses as regular Partnership-Concerns; and of the Evils resulting therefrom.—Of Lottery Insurers of the Higher Class.—Of Lottery Offices opened for Insurance—Proposed Remedies.—Three Plans suggested to the Author by Correspondents.

GAMING is the source from which has sprung up all that race of cheats, swindlers, and sharpers, some of whose nefarious practices have already been noticed, and the remainder of which it is the object of the Author to develope in this chapter.

Such has been the anxiety of the Legislature to suppress this evil, that so early as the reign of Queen Anne, this abandoned and mischievous race of men seems to have attracted its notice in a very particular degree; for the act of the 9th year of that reign (cap. 14. §§ 6, 7,) after reciting, "that divers lewd and dissolute persons live at great expences, having no visible estate, profession, or calling, to maintain themselves; but support these expences by Gaming only; Enacts, that any two Justices may cause to be brought before them, all persons within their limits whom they shall have just cause to suspect to have no visible estate, profession, or calling, to maintain themselves by; but do for the most part support themselves by Gaming; and if such persons shall not make it appear to such Justices that the principal part of their expences is not maintained by gaming, they are to be bound to their good behaviour for a twelve-month; and in default of sufficient security, to be committed to prison, until they can find the same; and if security shall be given, it will be forfeited on their playing or betting at any one time, for more than the value of twenty shillings."

If, in conformity to the spirit of this wise statute, sharpers of every denomination, who support themselves by a variety of cheating and swindling practices, without having any visible means of living, were in like manner to be called upon to find security for their good behaviour, in all cases where they cannot shew they have the means of subsisting themselves honestly, the number of these Pests of Society, under a general Police and an active and zealous Magistracy, would soon be diminished, if not totally annihilated.

By the 12th of George the Second, (cap. 28. § 2, 3,) "the Games of Faro, Hazard, &c. are declared to be Lotteries, subjecting the persons who keep them to a penalty of two hundred pounds, and those who play to fifty pounds."—One witness only is necessary to prove the offence before any Justice of the Peace; and the Justice forfeits ten pounds if he neglects to do his duty under the Act:—and under this Act, which is connected with the statute 8th of George I. cap. 2, it seems that "the keeper of a Faro Table may be prosecuted even for a penalty of five hundred pounds."

Notwithstanding these salutary laws, to the reproach of the Police of the Metropolis, houses have been opened, even under the sanction of high-sounding names, where an indiscriminate mixture of all ranks was to be found, from the finished sharper to the raw inexperienced youth. And where all those evils existed in full force, which it was the object of the Legislature to remove.

Though it is hoped that this iniquitous System of plunder, has of late been somewhat restrained by the wholesome administration of the Laws, under the excellent Chief Justice who presides in the High Criminal Department of the Country, in consequence of the detection of Criminals, through the meritorious vigilance and attention of the Magistrates; to which the Author of this work, by bringing the evil so prominently under the view of the Public, may flatter himself in having been in some small degree instrumental: Still it is much to be feared, that the time is not yet arrived which would induce him to withhold the following narrative.

Gaming, although at all times an object highly deserving attention, and calling for the exertions of Magistrates, never appeared either to have assumed so alarming an aspect, or to have been conducted upon the methodized system of Partnership-Concerns, wherein pecuniary capitals were embarked, till about the years 1777 and 1778, when the vast licence which was given to those abominable engines of fraud, EO Tables, and the great length of time which elapsed before a check was given to them by the Police, afforded a number of dissolute and abandoned characters, who resorted to these baneful subterfuges for support, an opportunity of acquiring property: This was afterwards increased in low Gaming Houses, and by following up the same system at Newmarket, and other places of fashionable resort, and in the Lottery; until at length, without any property at the outset, or any visible means of lawful support, a sum of money, little short of One Million Sterling, is said to have been acquired by a class of individuals originally (with some few exceptions) of the lowest and most depraved order of Society. This enormous mass of wealth (acquired no doubt by entailing misery on many worthy and respectable Families, and driving the unhappy victims to acts of desperation and suicide,) is said to have been afterwards engaged as a great and an efficient capital for carrying on various illegal Establishments; particularly Gaming-Houses, and Shops for fraudulent Insurances in the Lottery; together with such objects of dissipation as the Races at Newmarket and other places of fashionable resort, held out: all which were employed as the means of increasing and improving the ill-gotten wealth of the parties engaged in these nefarious pursuits.

A System, grown to such an enormous height, had, of course, its rise by progressive advances. Several of those who now roll in their gaudy carriages, and associate with some men of high rank and fashion, may be found upon the Registers of the Old Bailey; or traced to the vagrant pursuit of turning, with their own hands, EO Tables in the open streets; These mischievous Members of Society, through the wealth obtained by a course of procedure diametrically opposite to Law, are, by a strange perversion, sheltered from the operation of that Justice, which every act of their lives has offended: they bask in the sun-shine of prosperity; while thousands, who owe their distress and ruin to the horrid designs thus executed, invigorated and extended, are pining in misery and want.

Certain it is, that the mischiefs arising from the rapid increase, and from the vast extent of capital employed in these Systems of ruin and depravity, have become great and alarming beyond calculation; as will be evinced by developing the nature of the very dangerous Confederacy which systematically moves and directs this vast Machine of destruction—composed in general of men who have been reared and educated under the influence of every species of depravity which can debase the human character.

Wherever Interest or resentment suggests to their minds a line of conduct calculated to gratify any base or illegal propensity; it is immediately indulged. Some are taken into this iniquitous Partnership for their dexterity in securing the dice; or in dealing cards at Faro.—Informers are apprehended and imprisoned upon writs, obtained, by perjury, to deter others from similar attacks. Witnesses are suborned—officers of justice are bribed, wherever it can be done, by large sums of money[34]—ruffians and bludgeon-men are employed to resist the Civil Power, where pecuniary gratuities fail—and houses are barricadoed and guarded by armed men: thereby offering defiance to the common exertions of the Laws, and opposing the regular authority of Magistrates.

It is impossible to contemplate a Confederacy thus circumstanced, so powerful from its immense pecuniary resources, and so mischievous and oppressive from the depravity which directs these resources, without feeling an anxiety to see the strong arm of the Law still further and unremittingly exerted for the purpose of effectually destroying it.

Whilst one part of the immense property by which this confederacy was so strongly fortified was employed in the establishment of Gaming-Houses, holding out the most fascinating allurements to giddy young men of fortune, and others, having access to money, by means of splendid entertainments,[35] and regular suppers, with abundance of the choicest wines, so as to form a genteel lounge for the dissipated and unwary; another part of the capital was said to form the stock which composes the various Faro-Banks which were to be found at the routes of Ladies of Fashion: Thus drawing into this vortex of iniquity and ruin, not only the males, but also the females of the thoughtless and opulent part of Society; who too easily became a prey to that idle vanity which frequently overpowers reason and reflection; and the delusion of which is seldom terminated till it is too late.

Evil example, when thus sanctioned by apparent respectability, and by the dazzling blandishment of rank and fashion, is so intoxicating to those who have either suddenly acquired riches, or who are young and inexperienced, that it almost ceases to be a matter of wonder that the fatal propensity to Gaming should become universal; extending itself over all ranks in Society in a degree scarcely to be credited, but by those who will attentively investigate the subject.

At the commencement of the troubles in France, and before this Country was visited by the hordes of Emigrants of all descriptions, who fixed a temporary or permanent residence in this Metropolis, the number of Gaming-Houses (exclusive of those that are select, and have long been established by Subscription,) did not exceed above four or five: In the year 1797, not less than thirty were said to be actually open; where, besides Faro and Hazard, the foreign games of Roulet, and Rouge et Noir, were introduced, and where there existed a regular gradation of establishment, accommodating to all ranks; from the man of fashion, down to the thief, the burglar, and the pick-pocket—where immense sums of money were played for every evening, for eight months in the year.[36]

In a commercial Country, and in a great Metropolis, where from the vast extent of its trade and manufactures, and from the periodical issue of above Twenty Millions annually, arising from dividends on funded security, there must be an immense circulation of property, the danger is not to be conceived, from the allurements which are thus held out to young men in business, having the command of money, as well as to the clerks of merchants, bankers, and others concerned in different branches of trade: In fact, it is well known, that too many of this class resort at present to these destructive scenes of vice, idleness, and misfortune.[37]

The mind shrinks with horror at the existence of a System in the Metropolis, unknown to our ancestors, even in the worst periods of their dissipation; when a Ward, a Waters, and a Chartres, insulted public morals by their vices and their crimes: for then no regular Establishments—no systematic concerns for carrying on this nefarious trade, were known.—No Partnerships in Gaming-Houses, were conducted with the regularity of Commercial Houses.

But these Partnerships have not been confined to Gaming-Houses alone. A considerable proportion of the immense capital which the conductors of the System possess, is employed periodically in the two Lotteries, in Fraudulent Insurances, where, like the Faro Bank, the chances are so calculated as to yield about 30 per cent. profit to the Gambling proprietors; and from the extent to which these transactions have been, and we fear still are carried, no doubt can be entertained that the annual gains must be immense.—It has, indeed, been stated, with an appearance of truth, that a single individual acquired no less than £.60,000 during one English Lottery!

Although it is impossible to be perfectly accurate in any estimate which can be formed; for in this, as in all other cases where calculations are introduced in this Work, accuracy to a point is not to be expected; yet when all circumstances are considered, there appear just grounds to suppose that the following Statement, placing the whole in one connected point of view, may convey to the Reader no very imperfect idea of the vast and unparalleled extent to which this horrid mischief had arrived; and to which, if not closely watched, it may yet rise once more.

GAMING.

 

 

Persons attached.

Money played for nightly.

Yearly aggregate lost and won.

 

 

 

£.

£.

1. 7 Subscription Houses open one-third of the Year, or 100 nights

suppose

1000

2000

1,400,000

2. 15 Houses of a superior class one-third of the Year, or 100 nights

——

3000

2000

3,000,000

3. 15 Houses of an inferior class one-half of the Year, or 150 Nights

——

3000

1000

2,225,000

4. 6 Ladies' Gaming Houses 50 Nights

——

1000

2000

600,000

 

 

 

 

7,215,000

FRAUDULENT INSURANCES IN THE LOTTERY.

350 Insurance Offices at 100

l.

a day average, during the 33 days of the Irish Lottery

1,155,000

 

400 Insurance Offices at 150

l.

a day average, during the 33 days

[38]

of the English Lottery

1,980,000

 

 

 

3,135,000

 

Total

10,460,000

This aggregate is only to be considered as shewing the mere interchange of property from one hand to another; yet when it is recollected that the operation must progressively produce a certain loss, with not many exceptions, to all the innocent and unsuspecting adventurers either at Pharo or the Lottery, with an almost uniform gain to the proprietors; the result is shocking to reflect upon.—To individual families in easy circumstances where this unfortunate mania prevails, as well as to the mass of the people who are fascinated by the delusion of the Lottery Insurances, it is the worst of all misfortunes.—By seizing every opportunity to take advantage of this unhappy bias, it is no uncommon thing to see the pennyless miscreant of to-day become the opulent gambler of to-morrow: leaving the unhappy sufferers often no alternative but exile, beggary, or a prison; or perhaps, rendered desperate by reflecting on the folly of their conduct, to end their days by suicide,[39] while wives, children, and dependants are suddenly reduced from affluence to the lowest abyss of misery.

In contemplating these vast establishments of regular and systematic fraud and depredation upon the Public, in all the hideous forms which they assume, nothing is so much to be lamented as the unconquerable spirit which draws such a multitude of the lower ranks of Society into the vortex of the Lottery.

The agents in this iniquitous System, availing themselves of the existence of the delusion, spare no pains to keep it alive; so that the evil extends far and wide, and the mischiefs, distresses, and calamities resulting from it, were it possible to detail them, would form a catalogue of sufferings of which the opulent and luxurious have no conception.

Of how much importance therefore is it to the Public at large, to see these evils suppressed; and above all, to have this novel System completely annihilated, by which Gambling Establishments have been formed upon commercial principles of methodical arrangements, with vast capitals employed for the most infamous and diabolical purposes.

Let those who have acquired wealth in this way be satisfied with what they have gotten, and with the misery their gains have occasioned to ruined thousands: let them abstain from employing it in channels calculated to extend these evils. The Law is generally slow in its operations: but it seldom fails to overtake the guilty at last.

To this Confederacy, powerful in wealth, and unrestrained by those considerations of moral rectitude, which govern the conduct of other men engaged in the common pursuits of life, is to be attributed those vast additional hazards to which the young and inexperienced have been subjected—Hazards, which not only did not exist before these establishments were matured and moulded into System; but which were considerably increased, from its becoming a part of the general arrangements to employ men of genteel exterior, (and it is to be feared too, in many instances of good connections) who, having been ruined by the delusion, descended as a means of subsistence, to accept the degrading office of seeking out those customers, whose access to money rendered them proper objects to be ensnared.—For such was the nature of this new System of destruction, that while a young man entering upon life, conceived himself honoured by the friendship and acquaintance of those who were considered to be men of fashion, and of good connections, he was deluded by splendid entertainments into the snare, which afterwards robbed him of his property and peace of mind.

Such were the arrangements of this alarming and mischievous Confederacy, for the purpose of plundering the thoughtless and unwary.—The evidence given in the Court of King's Bench, in an action, tried for Gaming, on the 29th November, 1796, served pretty fully to develope the shocking System of fraud pursued, after the inexperienced and unwary were entrapped into these receptacles of ruin and destruction.[40]

While a vice, ruinous to the morals and to the fortunes of the younger part of the Community who move in the middle and higher ranks of life is suffered to be pursued in direct opposition to positive statutes,—surely, blame must attach somewhere!

The idle vanity of being introduced into what is generally, but erroneously, termed genteel society, where a fashionable name announces an intention of seeing company, has been productive of more domestic misery and more real distress, poverty, and wretchedness to families in this great City (who but for their folly might have been easy and comfortable,) than many volumes could detail.

A mistaken sense of what constitutes human happiness, fatally leads the mass of the People who have the means of moving in any degree above the middle ranks of life, into circles where Faro Tables and other games at hazard are introduced in private families:—Where the least recommendation (and Sharpers spare no pains to obtain recommendations) is a passport to all who can exhibit a genteel exterior; and where the young and the inexperienced are initiated in every propensity tending to debase human character; while they are taught to view with contempt every acquirement, connected with the duties which lead to domestic happiness, or to those qualifications which can render either sex respectable in the world.

When such infamous practices are encouraged and sanctioned by high-sounding names,—when sharpers and black-legs find an easy introduction into the houses of persons of fashion, who assemble in multitudes together, for the purpose of playing at those most odious and detestable games of hazard, which the Legislature has stigmatised with such marks of reprobation, it is time for the Civil Magistrate to step forward:—It is time for him to feel, that, in doing that duty which the Laws of his Country impose on him, he is perhaps saving hundreds of families from ruin and destruction; and preserving to the infants of thoughtless and deluded parents that property which is their birth-right: but which, for want of an energetic Police in enforcing the Laws made for their protection, is now too frequently squandered; and the mind is tortured with the sad reflection, that with the loss of fortune, all opportunities (in consequence of idle habits) are also lost, of fitting the unfortunate sufferer for any reputable pursuit in life, by which an honest livelihood could be obtained.

In this situation, the transition from the plain gamester to the fraudulent one, and from that to every other species of criminality, is easily conceived: and it is by no means an unfair conclusion, that this has been the fate of not a few who have been early introduced into these haunts of idleness and vice; and who, but for such an education, might have become useful members of the State.

The accumulated evils, arising from this source, are said to have been suffered to continue, from a prevailing idea, that Persons of Rank and their immediate associates were beyond the reach of being controlled, by laws made for the mass of the People; and that nothing but capital offences could attach to persons of this condition in life.

If these evils were, in fact, merely confined to Persons of rank and fortune, and did not extend beyond that barrier where no general injury could accrue to Society, there might be a shadow of excuse (and it would be but a shadow) for not hazarding an attack upon the amusements of the Great, where the energy of the Laws to controul their œconomy may be doubtful: but surely in the present case, where the mischief spreads broad and wide, no good Magistrate can or ought to be afraid to do his duty, because persons in high life may dare to sanction and promote offences of a nature the most mischievous to Society at large, as well as to the peace, comfort, and happiness of families.

If the exertions of the Magistracy are to be suspended until the Higher Ranks see the frivolity, the shameful profligacy and the horrid waste of useful time, as well as the cruel destruction of decent and respectable families in that point of view which will operate as an antidote to the evil, it is much to be feared that it must, under such circumstances, become incurable.

But there are other inducements, more nearly allied to the occurrences in humble life, which render it in a particular degree incumbent on Magistrates to make trial, at least, whether there is not sufficient energy in the law to control the hurtful vices of the higher, as well as the middling, and inferior ranks of the People: The examples of the great and opulent, operate most powerfully among the tribe of menial servants they employ; and these carry with them into the lower ranks that spirit of gambling and dissipation which they have practised in the course of their servitude; thus producing consequences of a most alarming nature to the general interests of the Community. To the contagion of such examples, is owing in a great measure the number of persons attached to pursuits of this kind, who become the Swindlers, Sharpers, and Cheats, of an inferior class, described in the preceding Chapter: and from the same source spring up those Pests of Society, The Lottery Insurers, whose iniquitous proceedings we shall in the next place lay before the Reader.

These, with some exceptions, are composed of persons, in general very depraved or distressed: the depredations committed on the Public by their means are so ruinous and extensive as to require a consideration peculiarly minute: in order to guard the ignorant and unwary, as much as possible, against the fatal effects of that fraud and delusion, which, if not soon checked, bid fair to destroy all remains of honesty and discretion.—These Classes consist of

Sharpers, who take Lottery Insurances, by which means gambling, among the higher and middling ranks, is carried on, to an extent which exceeds all credibility; producing consequences to many private families, otherwise of great worth and respectability, of the most distressing nature; and implicating in this misery, the innocent and amiable branches of such families, whose sufferings, arising from this source, while they claim the tear of pity, would require many volumes to recount; but silence and shame throw a veil over the calamity: and, cherished by the hopes of retrieving former losses, or acquiring property, in an easy way, the evil goes on, and seems even yet to increase, in spite of every guard which the Legislature has repeatedly endeavoured to establish.

With a very few exceptions all who are or have been proprietors of the Gambling Houses are also concerned in the fraudulent Insurance Offices; and have a number of Clerks employed during the drawing of the two Lotteries, who conduct the business without risk in counting-houses, where no insurances are taken, but to which books are carried, not only from all the different Offices in every part of the town, but also from the Morocco-Men; so called, from their going from door to door with a book covered with red leather for the purpose of taking insurances, and enticing the poor and the middle ranks to become adventurers.

Several of the Keepers of Insurance Offices, during the interval of the drawing of the English and Irish Lotteries have invented and set up private Lotteries, or Wheels, called by the nick-name of Little Go's, containing Blanks and Prizes, which are drawn for the purpose of establishing a ground for Insurance; the fever in the minds of the lower order of the people is thus kept up, in some measure, all the year round, and produces incalculable mischiefs; and hence the spirit of gambling becomes so rooted from habit, that no domestic distress, no consideration, arising either with the frauds that are practised, or the number of chances that are against them, will operate as a check upon their minds.

In spite of the high price of provisions, and of the care and attention of the Legislature in establishing severe checks and punishments for the purpose of preventing the evil of Lottery Insurances, these criminal agents feel no want of customers; their houses and offices are not only extremely numerous all over the Metropolis; but in general high-rented; exhibiting the appearance of considerable expence, and barricadoed in such a manner, with iron doors and other contrivances, as in many instances to defy the arm of the Law to reach them.

In tracing all the circumstances connected with this interesting subject, with a view to the discovery of the cause of the great encouragement which these Lottery Insurers receive, it appears that a considerable proportion of their emolument is derived from menial servants in general, all over the Metropolis; but particularly from the pampered male and female domestics in the houses of men of fashion and fortune; who are said, almost without a single exception, to be in the constant habit of insuring in the English and Irish Lotteries.

This class of menials, being in many instances cloathed as well as fed by their masters, have not the same calls upon them as labourers and mechanics, who must appropriate at least a part of their earnings to the purpose of obtaining both food and raiment.

With a spirit of gambling, rendered more ardent than prevails in vulgar life, from the example of their superiors, and from their idle and dissipated habits, these servants enter keenly into the Lottery business; and when ill luck attends them, it is but too well known that many are led, step by step, to that point where they lose sight of all moral principle; impelled by a desire to recover what they have lost, they are induced to raise money for that purpose, by selling or pawning the property of their masters, wherever it can be pilfered in a little way, without detection; till at length this species of peculation, by being rendered familiar to their minds, generally terminates in more atrocious crimes.

Upon a supposition that one hundred thousand families in the Metropolis keep two servants upon an average, and that one servant with another insures only to the extent of twenty-five shillings each, in the English, and the same in the Irish Lottery, the aggregate of the whole will amount to Half a Million Sterling.

Astonishing as this may appear at first view, it is believed that those who will minutely examine into the Lottery transactions of their servants, will find the calculation by no means exaggerated; and when to this are added the sums drawn from persons in the middle ranks of life, as well as from the numerous classes of labourers and artisans who have caught the mania; it ceases to be a matter of wonder, that so many Sharpers, Swindlers, and Cheats, find encouragement in this particular department.

If servants in general, who are under the control of masters, were prevented from following this abominable species of gambling; and if other expedients were adopted, which will be hereafter detailed, a large proportion of the present race of rogues and vagabonds who follow this infamous trade, would be compelled to become honest; and the poor would be shielded from the delusion which impels them to resort to this deceitful and fraudulent expedient; at the expence sometimes of pledging every article of household goods, as well as the last rag of their own, and their children's wearing apparel, not leaving even a single change of raiment!

This view of a very prominent and alarming evil, known to exist from a variety of facts well established and evinced, among others, by the pawnbrokers' shops overflowing with the goods of the labouring poor, during the drawing of the three Lotteries, ought to create a strong desire on the part of all masters of families, to exert their utmost endeavours to check this destructive propensity; and to prevent, as far as possible, those distresses and mischiefs which every person of humanity must deplore. The misery and loss of property which springs from this delusive source of iniquity, is certainly very far beyond any idea that can be formed of it by the common observer.[41]

A general Association, or perhaps an act of Parliament, establishing proper regulations, applicable to this and other objects, with regard to menial servants, would be of great utility.

If a Legislative regulation could also be established, extending certain restrictions to the members of the different Friendly Societies situated within the Bills of Mortality, with regard to Fraudulent Lottery Insurances, above seventy thousand families would be relieved from the consequences of this insinuating evil; which has been so fatal to the happiness and comfort of a vast number of tradesmen and artisans, as well as inferior classes of labourers.[42]

Such prohibitions and restraints would have a wonderful effect in lessening the profits of the Lottery-Office Keepers; which, perhaps, is the very best mode of suppressing the evil.—At present, the temptation to follow these fraudulent practices is so great, from the productive nature of the business, that unless some new expedient be resorted to, no well-grounded hope can be entertained of lessening the evil in any material degree.

In addition, therefore, to what has already been suggested on the subject, other expedients have occurred to the Author; and some have been suggested by persons well informed on this subject.

The Lottery in itself, if the poorer classes could be exempted from its mischiefs, has been considered by many good Writers and Reasoners as a fair resource of Revenue; by taxing the vices or follies of the People, in a country where such a considerable proportion of the higher and middling ranks are possessed of large properties in money, and may be induced, through this medium to contribute to the assistance of the State, what would (probably to the same extent) be otherwise squandered and dissipated, in idle amusements.

It is a means also of benefit to the Nation, by drawing considerable sums of money annually from foreign Countries, which are laid out in the purchase of tickets.

In many respects therefore, it might be desirable to preserve this source of Revenue if it can be confined to the purchase of Tickets, and to persons of such opulence, as upon the abolition of the Lottery could not probably be restrained from squandering their money in another way, from which the State would derive no benefit.

The Lottery, on the plan upon which it is at present conducted, has not yet ceased to be an evil of the utmost magnitude, and perhaps one of the greatest nurseries of crimes that ever existed in any country.—At the close of the English Lottery drawn in 1796, the Civil Power was trampled upon and put to defiance in a most alarming and shameful manner, disgraceful to the Police of the Metropolis. The means used for this purpose have been already fully detailed; ante p. 156 in the note.

The profits of these Cheats and Swindlers were said to be immense beyond all former example, during the Lottery drawn in the spring both of 1796 and 1797; and of course, the Poor were never in a greater degree plundered.

In calculating the chances upon the whole numbers in the wheels, and the premiums which are paid, there is generally about 33 1-3d per cent. in favour of the Lottery Insurers; but when it is considered that the lower ranks, from not being able to recollect or comprehend high numbers, always fix on low ones, the chance in favour of the insurer is greatly increased, and the deluded Poor are plundered, to an extent which really exceeds all calculation.

At no period is there ever so much occasion for the exertions of the Magistracy, as during the drawing of the English and Irish Lotteries; but it is to be feared, that even by this energy, opposed as it always undoubtedly will be, by a System as well of corruption as of force unexampled in former times, no proper check can be given, until by new Legislative regulations, some more effectual remedy is applied.

The following expedients with the assistance of a superintending, energetic, and well-regulated Police, it is to be hoped, might be the means of greatly abridging this enormous evil, and of securing to Government the same annual revenue, which is at present obtained, or nearly so.

"1. That the numbers of the Tickets to be placed in the Lottery Wheels shall not be running numbers, as heretofore used; but shall be intermediate and broken; thereby preventing insurances from being made on specific numbers, from the impossibility of its being known, to any but the holders of tickets, or the Commissioners, what particular ticket at anytime remains in the wheel.

"2. That all persons taking out licences to sell Lottery Tickets, shall (instead of the bond with two sureties for one thousand pounds, now entered into under the act of the 22d George 3. cap. 47,) enter into a bond, with two sureties also, for £.50,000—which sum shall be forfeited, on due proof that any person, so licensed, shall have been, directly or indirectly, concerned in taking insurances contrary to law; or in setting up, or being connected in the profit or loss arising from any illegal insurance-office: or in employing itinerant Clerks, to take insurances on account of persons so licensed.

"3. That besides the above-mentioned bond, all licensed Lottery Office Keepers shall, previous to the drawing of each Lottery, make oath before a Magistrate, that they will not, in the course of the ensuing Lottery, be concerned, either directly or indirectly, in setting up any illegal offices for the sale of tickets, or insurance of numbers, contrary to law: Which affidavit shall be recorded, and a certificate thereof shall be indorsed on the licence without which it shall not be valid. And that the affidavit may be produced in evidence, against persons convicted of illegally insuring; who shall in that event be liable to the punishment attached to perjury, and of course, to the ignominy of the pillory and imprisonment.

"4. That all peace-officers, constables, headboroughs, or others, lawfully authorised to execute the warrants of Magistrates, who shall receive any gratuity, or sum of money from illegal Lottery Insurers, or from any person or persons, in consideration of any expected services in screening such offenders from detection or punishment, shall, on conviction, be rendered infamous, and incapable of ever serving any public office; and be punished by fines, imprisonment, or the pillory, as the Court, before whom the offence is tried, shall see proper.

"5. That all persons who shall be convicted of paying money on any contract for the benefit arising from the drawing of any Lottery Ticket, insured upon any contingency (not being in possession of the original ticket, or a legal share thereof) shall forfeit £.20 for every offence, to be levied by distress, &c.

"6. That an abstract of the penalties inflicted by law on persons insuring, or taking illegal insurances in the Lottery, shall be read every Sunday, in all churches, chapels, meeting-houses, and other places of public worship, during the drawing of the Irish and English Lotteries respectively; with a short exhortation, warning the people of the consequences of offending against the law: And that a copy of the same shall be pasted up in different parts of Guildhall, and constantly replaced during the drawing of the Lottery; and also at all the licensed Lottery Offices within the Metropolis.

"7. That a reward, not exceeding £.50 be paid to any person employed as a clerk or servant in any illegal Lottery Office, who shall be the means of convicting the actual or principal proprietor or proprietors of the said office, who shall not appear themselves in the management; also a sum not exceeding £.40 on conviction of a known and acting proprietor; and a sum not exceeding £.10 on conviction of any clerk or manager, not being partners.

"8. That the punishment to be inflicted on offenders shall be fine, imprisonment, or the pillory; according to the atrocity of the offence, in the discretion of the Court before which such offenders shall be tried."

The following Plans have also been transmitted to the Author by Correspondents who appear to be well-wishers to Society. They are here made public, in hopes that from the whole of the suggestions thus offered, some regulations may ultimately be adopted by the Legislature towards effectually remedying this peculiarly dangerous and still-increasing evil.

PLAN I.

"It is proposed, that the Prizes only should be drawn, and that Seven Hours and a Half per Day should be the time of drawing, instead of Five Hours, by which means a lottery of the same number of tickets now drawn in thirty-five days, would be drawn in seven days and a half; and each adventurer would have exactly the same chance as he has by the present mode of drawing; since it is evidently of no consequence to him whether all the blanks remain in the Number Wheel undrawn, or an equal number of Blanks are drawn from a blank and prize wheel; the chance of blank or prize on each ticket being in either case exactly the same.

"According to the usual mode of drawing, 50,000 tickets take about thirty-five days in drawing, which is 1,420-6/7 per day.—By increasing the time of each day's drawing, from five hours to seven and a half, 2,131 tickets would be drawn each day; but as the reading prizes above £.20 thrice, causes some little delay, I reckon only 2000 per day; at which rate 15,000 tickets, the usual proportion of prizes in a Lottery of 50,000 tickets, would be drawn in seven days and a half. Thus the Period of Insurance would be nearly reduced to one-fifth part of its present duration, and the daily insurance on Blanks, and Blank and Prize, which opens the most extensive field for gambling, would be entirely abolished. Reducing, therefore, the time of Insurance to one-fifth, and the numbers drawn to less than one-third of what they have hitherto been, there could scarce remain in Lotteries thus drawn, one-fifteenth part of the insurance as in former Lotteries of an equal number of Tickets.—It is also worthy of remark, that as all the late Lotteries have been thirty-five days at least in drawing, the Insurance Offices had thirty-four to one in their favour the first day, by which circumstance they were enabled to tempt chiefly that class of people who can only gamble on the lowest terms, and to whom gambling is most extensively pernicious, with a very moderate premium, (e.g. about twelve shillings to return twenty pounds) which increases daily by almost imperceptible degrees, and thus insensibly leads them on to misery, desperation, and guilt.

"But in the proposed Plan, the Insurance Offices would have only six days and a half to one in their favour the first day; so that they must begin with a much higher premium than the generality of the common people can advance, which premium must each day be very considerably increased.—These considerations would undoubtedly operate as an absolute prohibition, on far the greatest part of Lottery Insurers; beside which, the great probability of numbers insured being drawn each day, would deter even the Office Keepers from venturing to insure so deeply, or extensively, as they have been accustomed to do.

"Should it be objected, that if Insurance is thus abridged, or prohibited, tickets will not sell, and the Lottery, as a source of Revenue, must be abandoned: the following expedient may, it is apprehended, effectually obviate such an objection.—

"Let Tickets, which cannot now be legally divided below a sixteenth, be divisible down to a Sixty-fourth share, properly stamped; which regulation, while it would greatly benefit and encourage Licensed Offices, would equally discountenance illegal Gamblers; and whilst it permitted to the lower orders of the Community a fair chance of an adventure in the Lottery on moderate terms, would co-operate with the restrictions on Insurance to advance the intrinsic value, as well as the price of tickets, which every illegal Scheme evidently tends to depreciate."

The preceding Plan appeared in the Appendix to the fifth edition of this Treatise; in consequence of which the Author received the following observations and which therefore he presents as—

PLAN II.

"The Suggestions as far as they extend and relate to the shortening the duration of the drawing are highly useful, but they fall short of the object, and the Plan, if executed, would nearly prevent the sale of tickets, and totally so that of shares, and consequently abolish Lotteries altogether;—a consummation devoutly to be wished by every friend to the public, but under the pecuniary influences, which perhaps too much affect political considerations, little to be expected.

"It will be necessary to exhibit only a plain Statement of the proportionate chances in the wheel during the 7½ days of drawing on the Scheme of 50,000 Tickets, viz.—

 

 

Prizes.

 

Blanks.

 

1st.

Day

15,000

to

35,000

2

⅓

to a Prize

2d.

—

13,000

—

35,000

 

3d.

—

11,000

—

35,000

 

4th.

—

9,000

—

35,000

 

5th.

—

7,000

—

35,000

 

6th.

—

5,000

—

35,000

 

7th.

—

3,000

—

35,000

 

last.

—

1,000

—

35,000

35 to a Prize.

"Hence it is evident, that on supposition the value of the Prizes diminish by an equal ratio, every day of drawing, still the actual value of the Prizes in proportion to the permanent number of the Blanks will be diminished by the relative proportion increasing at the rate of about 4666 Blanks every day after the first. Consequently it must follow, that the premiums of insurance, as well as the price of Shares and Tickets, instead of acquiring in their value a very considerable increase, must be subject to a very considerable diminution.

"To maintain the foregoing Plan, No. I. which is a good ground-work for lessening the evil, I take the liberty (says my Correspondent) of suggesting the following improvement.

"After the Prizes are drawn each day, let the proportion of the Blanks, namely, 4666 be drawn also. Let there be a suspension likewise of five or seven days between each drawing for the sale of Tickets and Shares, and to give time for insurance. It may be objected, that the time being thus prolonged the inconvenience will remain the same; to avoid which, the blank numbers so drawn, must be done secretly and sealed up by the Commissioners, or, they may be drawn openly but not unfolded or declared, and if necessary, made public after the drawing; by which means the insurance against Blanks or Blank and Prize will be equally abolished."

PLAN III.

"The Evils of a Lottery are many.—The Advantages might, if well regulated, be as numerous. According to the Schemes that have hitherto prevailed the principle has been wrong. Since the bait held out has been the obtaining of an immense fortune, and the risk has been proportionably great—Insurance has reigned unchecked by all penalties and punishments that could be devised to the ruin and misery of thousands. The price of tickets has been fluctuating, and fortunes have been won and lost on the chance of the great Prizes keeping in the Wheel: the £.20 prizes have always proved dissatisfactory, as though there are only 2½ prizes on an average to a blank, yet such is the uncertainty, that many have scores of tickets without obtaining the proportionate advantage even from these low prizes. It is thought, therefore, that a scheme which should offer considerably more chances for prizes of and above £.50, and which should ensure a return on all blanks, would be acceptable. If also it could be made to prevent insuring of tickets and capitals, it seems to be the grand desideratum in this branch of financeering.

"The principle on which these benefits may be obtained is this. There should be a considerable number of moderate prizes, such as might be fortunes, if obtained by the inferior ranks, and of consequence sufficient to answer the risk of the rich. The tickets to be drawn each day should be previously specified which may be done by appropriating a certain share of the prizes to a certain number of tickets. All the tickets not drawn prizes of £.50 or upwards shall be entitled to a certain return, which would be superior to a chance for a £.20 prize.

"SCHEME.

Number of Prizes.

 

Value of each.

Total Value.

 

 

£.

£.

25

 

5,000

125,000

25

 

1,000

25,000

100

 

500

50,000

250

 

100

25,000

600

 

50

30,000

1,000

 

 

255,000

49,000

—£.5 returned on each.

 

245,000

50,000

Tickets.

 

500,000

"SCHEME OF DRAWING.

"Let 2000 Tickets from No. 1, to 1999 inclusive, (with Number 50,000) be put into a Wheel the first day, and proceed in the same manner numerically for 25 days. In the other Wheel, each day let there be put the following proportion of Prizes, viz.

 

 

£.

£.

1

 

5,000

5000

1

 

1,000

1000

4

 

500

2000

10

 

100

1000

24

 

50

1200

40

 

 

10,200

1960.

—£.5 to be returned on each.

 

9800

2000

Tickets.

 

20,000

"In Lotteries where the lowest prizes have been of £.20 the blanks have been the proportion of 2½ to a prize. If therefore a person had seven tickets they were entitled to expect only two £.20 prizes or £.40. In this, however, they were frequently disappointed, and their chance for a prize of £.50 or upwards has been as about 200 to 50,000. By the above Scheme, if a person has seven tickets they are sure of a return of £.35, and have the chance of 40 to 2000, or 1000 to 50,000 for a superior prize. The certainty of the numbers and the prizes to be drawn each day would prevent insurance on those events, and every ticket being a prize there could be no insurance against blanks.

"In fact, the Lottery might be drawn in one day,—thus: Let there be twenty-five bags containing each 2000 numbers, either promiscuously chosen or of stated thousands. Let there be also 25 bags each containing the 40 prizes above appropriated to each day's drawing. Let the Commissioners empty one bag of numbers and one of prizes into two wheels. Let them draw 40 numbers out of the Number Wheel, and the 40 prizes out of the other. The remaining 1960 numbers to be entitled to £.5 each.—Then let them proceed with other 2000 numbers in the same way."

At all events, whether these Plans for reforming this enormous evil, are or are not superior to others which have been devised, it is clear to demonstration, that the present System is founded on a principle not less erroneous than mischievous; and, therefore, it cannot too soon be abandoned; especially since it would appear that the Revenue it produces might be preserved, with the incalculable advantage to the nation of preserving, at the same time, the morals of the people, and turning into a course of industry and usefulness the labour of many thousand individuals, who, instead of being, as at present, pests in Society, might be rendered useful members of the State.

CHAP. VII.

The Frauds arising from the manufacture and circulation of base Money:—The Causes of its enormous increase of late years.—The different kinds of false Coin detailed:—The Process in fabricating each species explained:—The immense Profits arising therefrom:—The extensive Trade in sending base Coin to the Country.—Its universal Circulation in the Metropolis.—The great Grievance arising from it to Brewers, Distillers, Grocers, and Retail Dealers, in particular, as well as the Labouring Poor in general.—The principal Channels through which it is uttered in the Country and in the Metropolis.—Counterfeit foreign Money extremely productive to the dealers.—A summary View of the Causes of the mischief.—The Defects in the present Laws explained:—And a Detail of the Remedies proposed to be provided by the Legislature.

THE frauds committed by the fabrication of base Money, and by the nefarious practices, in the introduction of almost every species of Counterfeit Coin into the circulation of the Country, are next to be discussed.

The great outlines of this enormous evil having been stated in the first Chapter, it now remains to elucidate that part of the subject which is connected with specific detail.

One of the greatest sources of these multiplied and increasing frauds is to be traced to the various ingenious improvements which have taken place of late years, at Birmingham, and other manufacturing towns, in mixing metals, and in stamping and colouring ornamental buttons.

The same ingenious process is so easily applied to the coinage and colouring of false money, and also to the mixing of the metals of which it is composed, that it is not to be wondered at, that the avarice of man, urged by the prospect of immense profit, has occasioned that vast increase of counterfeit money of every description, with which the Country is at present deluged.

The false coinages which have been introduced into circulation, of late years, are Guineas, Half-Guineas and Seven Shilling Pieces, Crowns and Half-Crowns, Shillings, Sixpences, Pence, Halfpence, and Farthings, of the similitude of the coin of the realm: of foreign coin, Half Johannas, Louis d'ors, Spanish Dollars, French Half-Crowns, Shillings and Sixpences, 30 Sol pieces, Prussian and Danish Silver money, and other continental coins; to which may be added, Sequins of Turkey, and Pagodas of India. These foreign coins except in the instance of the Spanish Dollars[43] issued by the Bank of England in 1797, have generally been sold as articles of commerce for the purpose of being fraudulently circulated in the British Colonies or in Foreign Countries.

So dexterous and skilful have Coiners now become, that by mixing a certain proportion of pure gold with a compound of base metal, they can fabricate guineas that shall be full weight, and of such perfect workmanship as to elude a discovery, except by persons of skill; while the intrinsic value does not exceed thirteen or fourteen shillings, and in some instances is not more than eight or nine. Of this coinage considerable quantities were circulated some years since, bearing the impression of George the Second: and another coinage of counterfeit guineas of the year 1793, bearing the impression of his present Majesty, has been for some years in circulation, finished in a masterly manner, and nearly full weight, although the intrinsic value is not above eight shillings: half guineas are also in circulation of the same coinage: and lately a good imitation of the seven-shilling pieces. But as the fabrication of such coin requires a greater degree of skill and ingenuity than generally prevails, and also a greater capital than most coiners are able to command, it is to be hoped it has gone to no great extent; for amidst all the abuses which have prevailed of late years, it is unquestionably true, that the guineas and half-guineas which have been counterfeited in a style to elude detection, have borne no proportion in point of extent to the coinage of base Silver. Of this latter there are five different kinds at present counterfeited; and which we shall proceed to enumerate.

The first of these are denominated Flats, from the circumstance of this species of money being cut out of flatted plates, composed of a mixture of silver and blanched copper. The proportion of silver runs from one-fourth to one-third, and in some instances to even one-half: the metals are mixed by a chemical preparation, and afterwards rolled by flatting mills, into the thickness of shillings, half-crowns, or crowns, according to the desire of the parties who bring the copper and silver, which last is generally stolen plate. It is not known that there are at present above one or two rolling mills in London, although there are several in the Country, where all the dealers and coiners of this species of base money resort, for the purpose of having these plates prepared; from which, when finished, blanks or round pieces are cut out, of the sizes of the money meant to be counterfeited.

The artisans who stamp or coin these blanks into base money are seldom interested themselves. They generally work as mechanics for the large dealers who employ a capital in the trade;—and who furnish the plates, and pay about eight per cent. for the coinage, being at the rate of one penny for each shilling, and twopence-halfpenny for each half-crown.

This operation consists first in turning the blanks in a lathe;—then stamping them, by means of a press, with dies of the exact impression of the coin intended to be imitated:—they are afterwards rubbed with sandpaper and cork; then put into aquafortis to bring the silver to the surface; then rubbed with common salt; then with cream of tartar; then warmed in a shovel or similar machine before the fire; and last of all rubbed with blacking, to give the money the appearance of having been in circulation.

All these operations are so quickly performed, that two persons (a man and his wife for instance,) can completely finish to the nominal amount of fifty pounds in shillings and half-crowns in two days, by which they will earn each two guineas a day.

A shilling of this species, which exhibits nearly the appearance of what has been usually called a Birmingham shilling, is intrinsically worth from twopence to fourpence; and crowns and half-crowns are in the same proportion. The quantity made of this sort of counterfeit coinage is very considerable: it requires less ingenuity than any of the other methods of coining, though at the same time it is the most expensive, and of course the least profitable to the Dealer; who for the most part disposes of it to the utterers, vulgarly called Smashers, at from 28s. to 40s. for a guinea, according to the quality; while these Smashers generally manage to utter it again to the full import value.

The Second Species of counterfeit Silver money passes among the dealers by the denomination of Plated Goods; from the circumstance of the shillings and half-crowns being made of copper of a reduced size, and afterwards plated with silver, so extended as to form a rim round the edge. This coin is afterwards stamped with dies so as to resemble the real coin; and, from the circumstance of the surface being pure silver, is not easily discovered except by ringing the money on a table: but as this species of base money requires a knowledge of plating as well as a great deal of ingenuity, it is of course confined to few hands. It is however extremely profitable to those who carry it on, as it can generally be uttered, without detection, at its full import value.

The Third Species of base Silver-money is called Plain Goods, and is totally confined to shillings. These are made of copper blanks turned in a lathe, of the exact size of a Birmingham shilling, afterwards silvered over by a particular operation used in colouring metal buttons; they are then rubbed over with cream of tartar and blacking, after which they are fit for circulation.

These shillings do not cost the makers above one halfpenny each: they are sold very low to the Smashers or Utterers, who pass them where they can, at the full nominal value; and when the silver wears off, which is very soon the case, they are sold to the Jews as bad shillings, who generally resell them at a small profit to customers, by whom they are recoloured, and thus soon brought again into circulation. The profit is immense, owing to the trifling value of the materials; but the circulation, on account of the danger of discovery, it is to be hoped is not yet very extensive. It is, however, to be remarked, that it is a species of coinage not of a long standing.

The Fourth Class of counterfeit silver-money is known by the name of Castings or Cast Goods. This species of work requires great skill and ingenuity, and is therefore confined to few hands; for none but excellent artists can attempt it, with any prospect of great success.

The process is to melt blanched copper, and to cast it in moulds, having the impression, and being of the size of a crown, a half-crown, a shilling, or a sixpence, as the case may be; after being removed from the moulds, the money thus formed is cleaned off, and afterwards neatly silvered over by an operation similar to that which takes place in the manufacture of buttons.

The counterfeit money made in imitation of shillings by this process, is generally cast so as to have a crooked appearance; and the deception is so admirable, that although intrinsically not worth one halfpenny, by exhibiting the appearance of a thick crooked shilling, they enter into circulation without suspicion, and are seldom refused while the surface exhibits no part of the copper; and even after this the itinerant Jews will purchase them at threepence each though six times their intrinsic value, well knowing that they can again be recoloured at the expence of half a farthing, so as to pass without difficulty for their nominal value of twelve pence.—A vast number of the sixpences now in circulation is of this species of coinage.

The profit in every view, whether to the original maker, or to the subsequent purchasers (after having lost their colour,) is immense.

In fabricating Cast Money, the workmen are always more secure than where presses and dies are used; because upon the least alarm, and before any officer of justice can have admission, the counterfeits are thrown into the crucible; the moulds are destroyed; and nothing is to be found that can convict, or even criminate the offender: on this account the present makers of cast money have reigned long, and were they careful and frugal, they might have become extremely rich; but prudence rarely falls to the lot of men who live by acts of criminality.

The Fifth and last Species of base coin made in imitation of silver-money of the realm is called Figs or Fig Things. It is a very inferior sort of counterfeit money, of which composition, however, a great part of the sixpences now in circulation are made. The proportion of silver is not, generally speaking, of the value of one farthing in half a crown; although there are certainly some exceptions, as counterfeit sixpences have been lately discovered, some with a mixture, and some wholly silver; but even these did not yield the makers less than from 50 to 80 per cent. while the profit on the former is not less than from five hundred to one thousand per cent. and sometimes more.

It is impossible to estimate the amount of this base money which has entered into the circulation of the Country during the last twenty years; but it must be very great, since one of the principal Coiners of stamped money, who some time since left off business, and made some important discoveries, acknowledged to the Author, that he had coined to the extent of two hundred thousand pounds sterling in counterfeit half-crowns, and other base silver money, in a period of seven years. This is the less surprising, as two persons can stamp and finish to the amount of from 200l. to 300l. a week.[44]

Of the Copper Money made in imitation of the current coin of the realm, there are many different sorts sold at various prices, according to the size and weight; but in general they may be divided into two kinds, namely, the stamped and the plain halfpence, of both which kind immense quantities have been made in London; and also in Birmingham, Wedgbury, Bilston, and Wolverhampton, &c.[45]

The plain halfpence are generally made at Birmingham; and from their thickness, afford a wonderful deception. They are sold, however, by the coiners to the large dealers at about a farthing each, or 100 per cent. profit in the tale or aggregate number. These dealers are not the utterers; but sell them again by retail in pieces, or five-shilling papers, at the rate of from 28s. to 31s. for a guinea; not only to the Smashers, but also to persons in different trades, as well in the Metropolis as in the Country Towns, who pass them in the course of their business at the full import value.

Farthings are also made in considerable quantities, chiefly in London, but so very thin that the profit upon this species of coinage is much greater than on the halfpence, though these counterfeits are not now, as formerly, made of base metal. The copper of which they are made is generally pure. The advantage lies in the weight alone, where the coiners, sellers, and utterers, do not obtain less than 200 per cent. A well known coiner has been said to finish from sixty to eighty pounds sterling a week. Of halfpence, two or three persons can stamp and finish to the nominal amount of at least two hundred pounds in six days.

When it is considered that there are seldom less than between forty and fifty coinages or private mints, almost constantly employed in London and in different country towns; in stamping and fabricating base silver and copper money, the evil may justly be said to have arrived at an enormous height. It is indeed true that these people have been a good deal interrupted and embarrassed from time to time, by detections and convictions; but while the laws are so inapplicable to the new tricks and devices they have resorted to, these convictions are only a drop in the bucket: while such encouragements are held out the execution of one rogue only makes room for another to take up his customers; and indeed as the offence of selling is only a misdemeanor it is no unusual thing for the wife and family of a culprit, or convicted seller of base money to carry on the business, and to support him luxuriously in Newgate, until the expiration of the year and day's imprisonment, which is generally the punishment inflicted for this species of offence.

It has been already stated [page 16, &c.] that trading in base money has now become as regular and systematic as any fair branch of trade.—

Certain it is, that immense quantities have been regularly sent from London to the Camps during the summer season; and to persons at the sea-ports and manufacturing towns, who again sell in retail to the different tradesmen and others who pass them at the full import value.

In this nefarious traffic a number of the lower order of the German Jews in London assist the dealers in an eminent degree, particularly in the circulation of bad halfpence.

It has not been an unusual thing for several of these dealers to hold a kind of market every morning, where from forty to fifty of these German Jew boys are regularly supplied with counterfeit halfpence; which they dispose of in the course of the day in different streets and lanes of the Metropolis, for bad shillings, at about 3d. each. Care is always taken that the person who cries bad shillings shall have a companion near him who carries the halfpence, and takes charge of the purchased shillings (which are not cut:) so as to elude the detection of the Officers of the Police, in the event of being searched.

The bad shillings thus purchased, are received in payment by the employers of the boys, for the bad halfpence supplied them, at the rate of four shillings a dozen; and are generally resold to Smashers, at a profit of two shillings a dozen; who speedily re-colour them, and introduce them again into circulation, at their full nominal value.

The boys will generally clear from five to seven shillings a day, by this fraudulent business; which they almost uniformly spend, during the evening, in riot and debauchery; returning pennyless in the morning to their old trade.

Thus it is that the frauds upon the Public multiply beyond all possible conception, while the tradesman, who, unwarily at least if not improperly, sells his counterfeit shillings to Jew boys at threepence each, little suspects that it is for the purpose of being returned upon him again at the rate of twelve-pence; or 300 per cent. profit to the purchasers and utterers.

But these are not the only criminal devices to which the coiners and dealers, as well as the utterers of base money, have had recourse, for answering their iniquitous purposes.

Previous to the Act of the 37 Geo. 3. cap. 126, counterfeit French crowns, half-crowns, and shillings, of excellent workmanship, were introduced with a view to elude the punishment of the then deficient Laws relative to Foreign Coin.

Fraudulent die-sinkers are to be found both in the Metropolis and in Birmingham, who are excellent artists; able and willing to copy the exact similitude of any coin, from the British guinea to the sequin of Turkey, or to the Star Pagoda of Arcot. The delinquents have therefore every opportunity and assistance they can wish for; while their accurate knowledge of the deficiency of the laws, (particularly relative to British Coin) and where the point of danger lies, joined to the extreme difficulty of detection, operates as a great encouragement to this species of treason, felony, and fraud; and affords the most forcible reason why these pests of society still continue to afflict the honest part of the community.

An opinion prevails, founded on information obtained through the medium of the most intelligent of these coiners and dealers, that of the counterfeit money now in circulation, not above one third part is of the species of Flats or composition money; which has been mentioned as the most intrinsically valuable of counterfeit silver, and contains from one fourth to one third silver; the remainder being blanched copper.—The other two thirds of the counterfeit money being cast or washed, and intrinsically worth little or nothing, the imposition upon the public is obvious. Taking the whole upon an average, the amount of the injury may be fairly calculated at within ten per cent. of a total loss upon the mass of the base silver money now in circulation; which, if a conclusion may be drawn from what passes under the review of any person who has occasion to receive silver in exchange, must considerably exceed one million sterling! To this we have the miserable prospect of an accession every year, until some effectual steps shall be taken to remedy the evil.

Of the Copper Coinage, the quantity of counterfeits at one time in circulation might be truly said to equal three fourth parts of the whole, and nothing is more certain than that a very great proportion of the actual counterfeits passed as Mint halfpence, from their size and appearance, although they yielded the coiners a large profit.

Even at present the state both of the silver and copper coinage of this kingdom (the copper pence only excepted) deserves very particular attention, for at no time can any person minutely examine either the one coin or the other, which may come into his possession, without finding a considerable proportion counterfeit.

Until, therefore, a new coinage of halfpence and farthings takes place upon the excellent plan adopted by Government, with respect to the pence now partially in circulation, what must be the situation of the retail dealers, the brewers, distillers, and many other classes of industrious traders, who in the course of their business, are compelled to receive depreciated counterfeit money?[46]

The burden is not only grievous beyond expression, to those who have no alternative but to take such base money in payment; but extends indirectly to the Poor: in as much as the diminished value of such coin, arising from its reduced or base quality taken in connection with the quantities thrown into circulation, tends to enhance the price of the first articles of necessity.

The labourer, the handicraftsman, and the working manufacturer, being generally paid their weekly wages, partly in copper money of depreciated value;—it is obvious that they must obtain less than they would otherwise receive, were the coin of a higher standard; for the retail dealers who furnish the poor with food, must shield themselves, at least in part, against the unavoidable losses arising from base money; by advancing the prices of their various commodities.

Nor are such advances made upon a principle which cannot be defended; since it is evident that the relative value even of the old copper coin of the Mint to gold or silver, is nearly twice its intrinsic value; and while such copper money cannot be paid into the receipt of his Majesty's Exchequer, or received in payment by the officers of the revenue, the burden and loss of a diminished coin fall entirely upon the traders, (who are compelled to receive such money,) and upon the labourers and mechanics through whose medium it is chiefly circulated.

While the disproportion thus stated between the denominative value of copper and silver money is so very great, it is evident that the legal coinage of copper must produce an immense profit; as one pound of copper estimated at 15 pence[47] will make as many halfpence, of the legal coinage, as pass for two shillings.

This fact plainly shews the vast temptation which is held out to those who carry on the counterfeit coinage, where the profit from the coiner to the dealers, and from these dealers to the utterers, at the full denominative value, must be in many instances from two to three hundred per cent. When to this circumstance is added the security which the deficiencies in the present laws hold out, the whole operates as a kind of bounty to these fraudulent people, who cannot resist the prosecution of a trade where the profit is so immense, and where a coinage equally pure and heavy as the old mint standard would even be extremely productive.[48]

In every view the evil at present arising from base money of every denomination appears to be of the greatest magnitude—while its extent will scarce be credited by any but those who have turned their attention very minutely to the subject.

The trade of dealing in counterfeit coin acquires its greatest vigour towards the end of March; for then the Lotteries are over, when Swindlers, Gamblers, Pretended Dealers in Horses, Travellers with EO Tables, and Hawkers and Pedlars go into the country, carrying with them considerable quantities of base silver and copper money; by which they are enabled, in a great degree, to extend the circulation, by cheating and defrauding ignorant country people.

In the spring season too, the dealers in counterfeit coin begin to make up their orders for the different country towns; and it is supposed, upon good grounds, that there is now scarcely a place of any consequence all over the kingdom where they have not their correspondents; it is also a fact well established, that many of these correspondents come regularly to the Metropolis, and also go to Birmingham and the neighbouring towns once or twice a year for the purpose of purchasing base money, where the evil is said to be increasing even more than in London.

It very seldom happens, on account of the great demand, (especially of late years) that the dealers have ever any considerable stock on hand. The base money is no sooner finished, than it is packed up and sent to customers in town and country; and with such rapidity has it been fabricated, on occasions of pressing emergency, that a single dealer has been known to procure from the coiners who worked for him, from £.300 to £.500 for country orders, in the course of the week!

The lower ranks among the Irish, and the German Jews, are the chief supporters of the trade of circulating base money in London;—there is said to be scarce an Irish labourer who does not exchange his week's wages for base money; taking a mixture of shillings, sixpences, and copper.

The Jews principally confine themselves to the coinage and circulation of copper; while the Irish women are the chief utterers and colourers of base silver. A vast number of these low females have acquired the mischievous art of colouring the bad shillings and sixpences, which they purchase from the employers of Jew-boys, who cry bad shillings.

It is somewhat singular that among the Jews, although many cases occur where they appear to be coiners of copper money and dealers to a great extent, yet scarce an instance can be adduced of their having any concern in the coinage of base silver: neither are they extensive dealers in any other base money than copper.

The Jews, however, deal largely in foreign coin, counterfeited in this country; having been the chief means by which Louis d'Ors, Half Johannas, as well as various silver coins, (particularly Dollars) made of base metal, have been sent out of this country. It is through the same channel that the Sequins of Turkey have been exported; and also the Pagodas of India.[49]

In contemplating and in developing the causes of the vast accumulation and increase of base money, which has thus deluged the country of late years, the evil will be found to have proceeded chiefly from the want of a new coinage:—of laws, applicable to the new tricks and devices practised by the coiners:—of proper checks upon fraudulent Circulation:—of rewards for the detection and apprehension of Offenders;—and of a sufficient fund to ensure the prompt execution of the law; by a vigorous and energetic Police, directed not only to the execution of apposite laws in the detection and punishment of offenders, but also to the means of prevention.

The vigour and energy requisite to put good and apposite laws in execution for the suppression of crimes of every kind, but particularly that of the coinage and circulation of base money, depend much on the zeal and activity of the Magistrate: and on the affording an adequate pecuniary resource, to enable him to reward men who may undertake to risk their persons in the company of desperate and daring offenders, in order to obtain that species of evidence which will produce a conviction. Without such pecuniary resource, the law, as well as the exertions of the Magistrate, becomes a dead letter: and his efforts for the purpose of promoting the ends of public justice, are crippled and lost to the Community.

In suppressing great evils, strong and adequate powers must be applied, and nothing can give force and activity to these powers, but the ability to reward liberally all persons engaged in the public service, either as police officers, or as temporary agents for the purpose of detecting atrocious offenders. The following ideas are therefore suggested with a view to the important subject at present under discussion.

The Coinage Laws (except those relating to copper money) which contain the most important regulations in the way of prevention, having been made a century ago, it is not to be wondered at, in consequence of the regular progress of the evil, and the new contrivances and artifices resorted to, in that period, that many obvious amendments have become necessary. A consolidation of the whole laws from the 25th of Edward the Third, to the 14th of his present Majesty, would, perhaps, be the most desirable object; as it would afford a better opportunity of correcting every deficiency, and of rendering this branch of the criminal code, concise, clear, explicit,—applicable to the existing evils, and to the means of prevention.

For the purpose, however, of more fully elucidating this proposition, it will be necessary to state the existing laws, and what are considered as the most apparent deficiencies therein.

We will begin by giving a short Summary of the existing Laws.

25 Edw. III.

stat.

5,

cap.

2.

1 Mary,

stat.

2,

c.

6.

1 & 2 Ph. & Mary,

cap.

11.

5 Eliz.

cap.

11.

14 Eliz.

cap.

3.

18 Eliz.

cap.

1.

These acts make counterfeiting the gold and silver coin of the realm—counterfeiting foreign money, current within the realm—knowingly bringing false money into the realm counterfeit to the money of England; or bringing in

any

false and counterfeit money, current within the realm; in order to utter the same here;—diminish

ing or lightening any current (gold or silver) coin—High Treason.—Counterfeiting foreign money, not current in the kingdom—Misprision of Treason.

8 & 9 Will. III.

cap.

26

(made perpetual by 7 Anne, c. 25)—

9 & 10 Will. III.

c.

21.

These Acts contain a detail of the principal offences and punishments, upon which prosecutions are founded at present.

7th of Queen Anne,

cap.

24.

Allows 400

l.

a year for prosecuting offenders; increased by 15 Geo. II.

c.

28. § 10, to 600

l.

15th of George II.

cap.

28.

Amends some of the above laws, and establishes new regulations relative to the Copper Coinage.

11th George III.

cap.

40.

Makes further regulations respecting the Copper Coinage; which, however, have not been at all effectual.

Since the last edition of this work the following additions have been made to the Statute Law on this subject.

By 37 Geo. III. c. 126, so much of 15 Geo. II. c. 28, as relates to halfpence and farthings, and the statute 11 Geo. III. c. 40, and all other acts relating to the copper money of this realm, are extended to all such copper money as shall be coined and issued, by the King's Proclamation.—This was for the purpose of protecting the Coinage of penny and twopenny pieces made for Government by Mr. Boulton, of Birmingham; and which it is believed have not yet been counterfeited, at least to any great extent.

By the same statute, 37 Geo. III. c. 126, persons counterfeiting any foreign gold or silver coin, tho' not current in this realm, are made guilty of felony, punishable by seven years' transportation; as are also persons bringing the same into the realm, with intent to utter it.—A penalty is imposed on persons tendering such counterfeit coin in payment, or exchange; for the first offence, six months' imprisonment: for the second, two years; and on the third, they are declared guilty of felony without Clergy.—Persons having more than five pieces of such counterfeit coin in their possession, shall forfeit the same, and also a penalty of not more than £.5, nor less than 40s. for each piece; or suffer three months' imprisonment.—Justices are impowered to grant warrants for searching suspected places, for such counterfeit foreign coin; which with the tools and materials may be seized and carried before a Justice, who shall secure the same as evidence: to be afterwards destroyed.

By statute 38 Geo. III. c. 59, the act 14 Geo. III. c. 42, prohibiting the importation of light silver coin of this realm, was revived and continued till June 1, 1799.—And by statute 39 Geo. III. c. 75, it was made perpetual.

By statute 38 Geo. III. c. 67, Copper Coin not being the legal Copper Coin of this realm, and all counterfeit gold or silver coin whatever, exported, or shipped for exportation, to Martinique or any of the British Colonies in the West Indies or America, is declared to be forfeited, and may be seized as under the laws respecting the Customs.—And a penalty is imposed on persons exporting it, of £.200 and double the value of the coin.

We next proceed to state the deficiencies which still remain unremedied.

1. The punishment inflicted on the different offences specified in the Coinage Laws, do not seem to be adequate to the degree of enormity, in some instances; while in others, from being too severe, the law is not always put in execution. The sale of base Money (for instance) under the value it imports, is only punishable by a year's imprisonment; although in point of fact, it is well known, that the Sellers are the Employers of the Coiners; that with them this high offence originates, and but for them it would not have been committed: while the actual Coiners, who work for these Dealers merely as Journeymen, subject themselves to the punishment of Death.

2. Prosecutions under the stat. 8 & 9 W. III. c. 26, are at present limited to commence within three months. This may often defeat justice, as offences committed in the country frequently cannot be tried in less than four, five, and in some cases nearly six months. ☞ The limitation to twelve months would remove the difficulty. [There is no such limitation in the statutes of 37 & 38 of Geo. III. just alluded to.]

3. The words Milled Money seemed necessary, in the minds of the makers of the act of 8 & 9 William III. cap. 26, to form the description of coin similar to the current Coin of the Realm; and that Act declares it to be felony to take, receive, pay, or put off counterfeit milled Money.—A considerable portion of counterfeit Coin is cast, and not milled. ☞ The words counterfeit Money, Milled or not Milled, would remove the ambiguity.

4. It does not appear that any provision is clearly made, or punishment inflicted, for the offence of uttering base silver Money in exchange, as well as in payment: except under stat. 8 and 9 Will. III. cap. 26, where the expression of counterfeited milled money is used, the ambiguity of which has already been noticed. The words in the stat. 15 Geo. II. c. 28. are, "any person who shall utter or tender in payment," and it seems that the word utter cannot be detached from the subsequent words, "in payment." [The partial remedy applied in this particular in the instance of counterfeit foreign gold and silver coin, under 37 Geo. III. c. 126, should be extended to all cases of counterfeit money.]

5. The laws peculiarly relating to the Copper Coinage, although more modern, have also been found to be extremely defective, and totally inadequate to their object. The Act of the 11th of his present Majesty, cap. 40, indeed, makes it felony to sell Copper Money of the similitude of the current Money of the Realm at a less value than the denomination doth import; but the benefit of Clergy not being taken away, and no specific punishment being mentioned, the offenders are generally subjected only to a year's inprisonment, which proves no check whatever, as their families carry on business in the mean time; and if they sell plain or evasive Halfpence, or what are called Irish Harps, or mix them with stamped Half-pence, similar to the current Coin of the Realm, so that the stamped Coin does not exceed the value of what the denomination imports, it is doubtful whether the prosecution will not fail.

☞ It is submitted, that a statute ought to be framed, declaring it Felony, punishable by seven years' transportation: 1st. For any person to make or manufacture any piece of Copper or other metal, with or without any device whatsoever, with an intent that it shall pass as the Copper Monies of the Kingdoms of Great Britain or Ireland. 2nd. For any smith, engraver, founder, &c. or any person, except those employed in the Mint, or authorized by the Treasury, to make or mend, buy or sell, conceal or have in their possession, without a lawful excuse, any puncheon, stamp, die, mould, &c. on which shall be impressed, or with intent that there shall be impressed on the same, any resemblance whatever, in part or in the whole, of such Copper Monies. 3d. For any person to buy or sell, or offer to buy or sell, or to utter or tender in payment, or to give or offer to give in exchange, thirty or more pieces of Copper in any one day; such piece resembling or being intended to resemble, or passing or being intended to pass as the current Copper Money of the said kingdoms.

That such proposed statute should also make it a misdemeanor (punishable by a fine of 40s. for the first offence, £5. for the second, and £10. for every subsequent offence) for any person to buy, sell, utter, &c. any number less than thirty of such pieces of Copper, resembling or intended to resemble or pass, &c. as such current Copper Money. The fines to be recoverable in a summary way before one magistrate. This would reach Turnpike-men and others, who wilfully pass bad Halfpence at one gate which are refused at another: and would generally check the circulation of base Copper Money, which has become an evil of great magnitude.

6. The laws, as they now stand, are silent regarding Provincial Copper Coin, or what are called Tokens, representing an Halfpenny. It might perhaps be useful to legalize Tokens or Provincial Coins on three conditions. ☞ 1. That the Copper of which they are made shall be pure.—2. That this Coin shall be at least 10 per cent. heavier than Mr. Boulton's new Coinage.—3. That the parties circulating such Coin be responsible to the holders, for the value in Gold or Silver, when demanded: and shall stamp their names and an obligation to that purpose on the Coins, Tokens, or Medals so issued by them.—It would be necessary under such circumstances that every person, issuing Tokens or Medals, should take out a Licence for that purpose from the principal Officers of the Mint, as an authority for such Coinage: giving security at the same time to observe the above Conditions.

It may, however, be worthy consideration, whether these tokens should not be wholly suppressed, and the offence of fabricating any Copper pieces passing, or intended to pass "as, for, or in lieu of" the lawful Copper Coin, be made felony: and that such tokens should in all respects be considered as actual Counterfeit Coin, and treated accordingly: or, at all events, that persons issuing and circulating such tokens should be liable to a severe penalty; and bound to pay the holder, on demand, the full denominated value.

7. The mischievous agents of the Dealers in base Money, the persons who keep Flatting-mills, and other machinery, for preparing, and rolling their metals, for being coined into base Money, are not at present within the reach of punishment by any existing law. Although by preparing the metal for the subsequent process of stamping, they are in fact parties concerned, without whose aid the Coinage of what are called Flats, or milled money, could not be carried on.—The chief difficulty is in punishing persons for producing an article which may be turned into coach and harness ornaments, buttons, and many purposes as well as base Money.

☞ With respect to this whole tribe of dangerous manufacturers, whose trade and abilities are so liable to be perverted to iniquitous purposes, it has been under consideration to regulate them, by legislative measures, to the following effect: viz. "That no person, except those employed in the mints, shall erect, set up, or use, or knowingly have in possession any cutting engine for cutting round blanks by the force of a screw out of fatted bars or sheets of Copper, or other metal; or any stamping press, fly, rolling mill, flatting mill, or other instrument for stamping, flatting, or marking metals, or which, with the assistance of any matrix, Stamp, or dye, will stamp or mark Copper or other metals, or prepare the same for stamping or marking, without first giving notice thereof in writing to persons authorized to keep an entry and registry thereof, containing the Christian and Surnames of the owners of such instruments, and describing the use thereof, and the house or other place in which the same is intended to be erected, set up, used or kept; and to give the like notice on any removal, under a certain penalty, recoverable as in the case of Hair Powder, and other revenue laws."—It is believed, on the best authority, that the Licence here proposed (especially as it would subject the parties to no pecuniary burden) would meet the approbation of the principal manufacturers, on account of the facilities which it would afford in detecting and in embarrassing those who set up machinery for unlawful purposes.

8. No provision is made in any Act against, and consequently no punishment is inflicted on, the offence of buying base money to recolour it—☞ This is a modern device, and may be remedied, as it seems, by enacting—"That every person who shall buy, take or receive any blank or round piece of blanched copper, mixed metal, or metal of any sort whatsoever, for the purpose of colouring the same, or causing the same to be coloured, or with intent or knowledge that the same shall or will be coloured, or which shall have been coloured, so as to pass for the current Gold or Silver Coins of Great Britain or Ireland, shall be punishable by a fine of £.20 and one month's imprisonment; and that any person who shall buy or sell, or offer to buy or sell any piece of blanched Copper, &c. which may formerly have passed as or for such current Gold or Silver Coin, shall be punishable by a fine of 40s. recoverable in a summary way; or by one month's imprisonment."—This last penalty will reach the Jew Boys, who cry bad shillings, and will prove, it is hoped, an effectual check by means of a very mild punishment upon shopkeepers, tradesmen, and others, who inadvertently sell defaced counterfeit shillings without reflecting that although they obtain 3d. in this traffick for what is not intrinsically worth one farthing, that the same counterfeits are again coloured, and received by them at the full value of 12d.

9. No existing law gives any power to Magistrates upon information on oath, to search for, or seize Counterfeit Coin of this realm in the custody or possession of known Dealers or reputed Utterers; although these Dealers and Utterers are now the persons (and not the actual Coiners) who keep the base money: neither is there any power to seize base money conveying in coaches or waggons going into the country. Under this shelter the Dealers are enabled to hold markets for sale in their houses, where they frequently keep large stocks; and base money is also sent into the country without the least hazard of detection or seizure.

☞ Here again the partial remedy introduced by 37 Geo. III. c. 126, should be extended and applied.

10. No power is directly given by any existing law, (not even by the modern Act last mentioned) though upon the most pointed information, to search the houses or workshops of coiners in the night time. Hence it is that detection becomes so difficult, and the evil increases, because the law in some measure shields the offenders from discovery. Since in Lottery offences (which are certainly greatly inferior in their enormity to Coining) a power is granted to break open houses in the night-time, surely no reason can be assigned why treasonable offences, in Coining base Money, should not in this respect be on the same footing. Unless a positive power is given to search in the night, and suddenly to force open doors or windows, it will be impossible to detect the Makers of Cast Money.

11. The act 11 Geo. III. cap. 40. gives a power to Magistrates to issue their warrants to search for tools and implements used in the Copper Coinage, (with regard to Silver or Gold Coinage of this realm no such power is given); but, what is very singular, no punishment whatever can be inflicted by any existing law on the owner or proprietor of such tools for making Copper Money, nor upon the person in whose house they are found; and if when such search is made, there should be found only plain Halfpence, or Irish Harps, or evasive Halfpence or Farthings, varying in the Stamp in any degree from the current Coin of the Realm, so as not to be of the exact similitude, (a practice which has now for some time very much prevailed) the act in question is defeated; inasmuch as the crime of felony does not attach to offences short of Coining Copper Money of the similitude of the current Coin of the Realm. The Coinage of base Copper therefore goes on with impunity; because it is owing to the carelessness of the parties themselves if ever they permit the law to reach them.

12. The laws now in being give no power to seize Counterfeit Halfpence; either in the hands of the Dealers, who keep a kind of open market at their own houses every morning to supply Jew Boys, who cry bad Shillings, or in those of many others in various trades, who become the channels of circulation to a vast extent without risk or inconvenience. Neither does the statute law authorize the apprehension of Jew Boys, who go out every morning loaded with counterfeit Copper, which they exchange for bad shillings.

☞ To remedy this part of the evil, it is proposed, "That on complaint made to any one Justice of Peace upon oath, that there is just cause to suspect that any person is concerned in making or using, or has in their custody any unlawful puncheon, stamp, die, mould, &c. made for the purpose, or which may be applied to the purpose, of counterfeiting the Gold, Silver, or Copper Coin of the Kingdoms of Great Britain or Ireland; or of making or manufacturing any pieces of metal intended to pass as such coin, or any cutting engine for cutting round blanks by means of force applied to a screw, or flatted bars of metal, &c. or any wash or material which will produce the colour of Gold or silver, or copper, or any round blank of base metal or mixed metal, or of brass copper, or lead, so as to resemble such coin; or who hath been concerned in buying, selling, taking in exchange, receiving, or putting off any Gold, Silver, or Copper Money, not melted or cut, at a lower rate or value than the same doth import, such Justice may, by a warrant under his hand, cause the house, out-house, and other places occupied by such suspected person to be searched, either by night or by day; and if any of the articles hereinbefore mentioned, or any counterfeit or pretended coin, blanks, or round pieces of metal be found, the parties to be seized, and, with the said articles, brought before a Justice, and such articles may be afterwards used in evidence, and then broken, defaced, and disposed of as the Court or Justices shall direct.

"That any Constable, Headborough, or Beadle, and every Watchman, while on duty, may apprehend and detain all and every person or persons who may be reasonably suspected of having and carrying, or any ways conveying for the purpose of selling or trafficking in the same, any counterfeited or forged Gold, Silver, or Copper Money, whether the same shall resemble or be intended to resemble, or shall pass or be intended to pass as and for the coin of the said kingdoms, or of any foreign Country or State; or having in their possession, without lawful excuse, any round blanks of base metal or mixed metal, &c. or any pieces of Gold, Silver, Brass, Copper, or Lead, of a fit size and figure to be coined, coloured, or converted into Counterfeit Money; with power also to seize and detain the said Counterfeit Money, blanks, &c. and convey the same, with the person or persons apprehended, before one or more Justices; and if the party shall not give a satisfactory account how the same came into their possession, or shall not produce the party from whom it was received, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment in a summary manner."

13. The statute 37 Geo. III. cap. 126. (see p. 194) has restrained the evil pointed out in former editions of this Treatise, respecting the counterfeiting of Foreign Gold and Silver Coin. It is to be wished, however, that the penalties imposed on the exportation of such counterfeit Coin by 38 Geo. III. cap. 67, could be further extended and enforced.

14. It must here be repeated, that the great cause of the defect in the execution of the Laws against Coiners, is the want of a proper fund for Prosecutions and Rewards, and other expences for detecting Offenders.—The acts 7 Anne, cap. 24, and 15 Geo. II. cap. 28, allow only £.600 for the expence of prosecutions, which has never been increased for above half a century; although the offences, as well as the expence of detection and prosecutions, have increased, at least, six fold.

15. The reward of £.40, given under the Acts 6 and 7 William III. cap. 17; 15 Geo. II. cap. 28, is construed to be limited only to the Conviction of actual Coiners and Clippers of Gold and Silver; and is not allowed to extend to colouring and finishing, as well as a number of other offences connected with making, counterfeiting, and uttering base Money:—the reward for Copper Coin is by the said Act of 15 Geo. II. cap. 28, limited to £.10, and is by no means a sufficient encouragement to Officers to do their duty. It would be a great improvement if a liberal sum were allowed by Parliament for detections, prosecutions, and rewards; to be paid on the report of the Judges who try the offenders, according to the merit and trouble of the apprehenders, prosecutors, and witnesses; whether there is a conviction or not.

The following rewards have been suggested as proper to make part of a Bill now in a state of preparation, for the general Regulation of the Coinage: and which is meant to include all the remedies before hinted at and pointed out: a Legislative measure which must do honour to the Minister who will carry it into execution.

 

£.

s.

d.

To persons contributing to the conviction of

Coiners of British or Foreign Coin, or persons plating with Gold or Silver

, or

persons colouring with wash

or

materials to produce the colour of Gold or Silver

, any blanks or flats of metal, base or mixed, to resemble the said current Coin

40

0

0

Convicting, &c. persons guilty of counterfeiting Copper money of these Kingdoms or of Foreign States, or colouring such Copper money to resemble the same

20

0

0

Convicting, &c. persons guilty of uttering counterfeit Gold and Silver Coin, and selling it at a lower rate than it imports

10

0

0

Convicting, &c. persons guilty of buying or selling Counterfeit Copper money of Foreign States at a lower rate than it imports

10

0

0

To be paid without deduction or fee, within one month after such conviction, on tendering a certificate to the Sheriff.

It is also proposed that the Treasury shall have power to issue out of the Duties of Customs a sufficient sum of money for prosecuting offenders against the Mint laws.

Whatever might be the effect of these amendments in the Mint laws, and necessary as they appear to be, it is still to be feared that until a new coinage of Silver money and Copper halfpence and farthings shall take place, no legislative restrictions, regulations, or punishments, can produce an effectual cure to this enormous evil; although, from the many deficiencies which have been detailed, it is evident a great deal of good may be done immediately in this way.

A coinage of Silver money is a great State question, which may require a fuller consideration; but no doubt can be entertained of the indispensable necessity of such a measure, as soon as circumstances will admit.

If to a new coinage of shillings and sixpences, should be added an extensive coinage of silver money of the value of four pence and three pence, according to ancient usage, it would prove a great convenience to the public, and remedy much of the inconvenience which arises from the ponderous nature of Copper money; while a smaller quantity would be required for circulation.

No doubt can be entertained of the nation deriving considerable advantages from having increased the weight of copper coin, so as to bring it as near as possible to the intrinsic value of the metal of which it is composed.

This arrangement will, it is hoped, ultimately prove the means of effectually preventing counterfeits; and the copper, being a native article produced in the country, may in time, through the medium of coined money, become a profitable branch of commerce with foreign nations; where even an extensive circulation may be insured, in consequence of the intrinsic and denominative value being the same, or nearly so.

This is exemplified in the policy of Sweden, where the copper dollar being so heavy as to answer to sixpence sterling, has long been exported; and forms a considerable, and even a profitable branch of commerce to that nation.

In Russia the Three Copee Piece is very nearly of the weight of six English halfpence, yet its current value is only a small fraction above one penny sterling;—and thus by issuing no copper coin where the denominative is not in proportion to the intrinsic value, every class of dealers who vend the necessaries of life are shielded against loss; and every unnatural rise in the price of provisions for the subsistence of the poor is of course prevented.

This principle seems to have been admitted by the Legislature; for when the subject of Copper Money was under the consideration of the House of Commons, at a period not very remote, the Journals shew that an opinion then prevailed, "that the most effectual means to secure the Copper Coin from being counterfeited, was, that the denominative value of such Coin should bear as near a proportion as possible to the intrinsic value of the metal of which it was formed."[50]

In fine, it is a question worthy of attention, whether in order to prevent clamour, and to shut out at once all pretence for circulating any of the old Copper money, good or bad, after the period when Mr. Boulton shall be able to furnish a sufficient quantity of halfpence and farthings for circulation, it might not be proper to consider how far it would be practicable as a measure of State policy, to introduce a clause into the proposed Bill, empowering the Treasury, within a given time, to receive all the old Copper Coin, good and bad, at a certain price per ton, allowing a bonus to the honest holders of it of 20 per cent. above the current price of Copper.—This would at once clear the country of counterfeit halfpence and farthings, and would reconcile the holders to the loss; while the pecuniary sacrifice to Government would be more than compensated an hundred-fold by a compleat and instant renovation of this species of coinage.—As the chief part of the bad halfpence are good copper, they could be recoined, or sold, as might appear most beneficial.

It is earnestly to be hoped that the further regulations proposed will be adopted; and followed up, by an extensive coinage of Silver money, so as to shield the honest part of the Community against a system of fraud, rapid beyond all example in its growth, and unparalleled as to its extent.[51]

Certain it is, that base money contributes more to the support as well as to the increase of the number of those mischievous and abandoned members of the community, who exist wholly by different kinds of fraud, than any other device which they pursue to enable them to live in their present state of idleness and debauchery, and to indulge in luxury and extravagance.

The increase is certainly astonishing, since it is known that in London and the Country, there were some time since fifty-four actual Coiners, and fifty-six large Dealers, besides, at least, ten Die sinkers, whose names, characters, and pursuits, were perfectly known; but these bear no proportion to the horde of smaller dealers and utterers of base money in the Metropolis, and in most of the commercial and manufacturing towns in the kingdom. Their numbers must amount to several thousands. From being at present nuisances to society, in the constant habit of defrauding the Public, they might be rendered (through the application of the remedies proposed) useful members of the State; by changing a life of idleness and crimes, for a course of useful labour and industry.

CHAP. VIII.

The magnitude of the Plunder of Merchandize and Naval Stores on the River Thames.—The wonderful extent and value of the Floating Property, laden and unladen in the Port of London in the course of a year.—Reasons assigned for the rise and progress of the excessive Pillage which had so long afflicted the Trade of the River Thames.—The modes pursued in committing Depredations as the result of a regular System, which had been established through the medium of various classes of Criminal Delinquents, denominated—River Pirates—Night Plunderers—Light Horsemen—Heavy Horsemen—Game Watermen—Game Lightermen—Mudlarks—Game Officers of the Revenue—And Copemen, or Receivers of Stolen Property.—The devices practised by each Class in carrying on their criminal designs.—General Observations on the extent of the Plunder and number of Individuals implicated in this Species of Criminality.—The effects of the Marine Police in checking these Depredations.—The advantages which have resulted to Trade and Revenue from the partial experiment which has been made.—The further benefits to be expected when, by apposite Legislative Regulations, the System of Protection is extended to the whole Trade of the River.—General Reflections arising from the Subject.

THE immense depredations committed on every species of Commercial Property in the River Thames, but particularly on West India produce, had long been felt as a grievance of the greatest magnitude; exceedingly hurtful to the Commerce and Revenue of the port of London, and deeply affecting the interest of the Colonial Planters, as well as every description of Merchants and Ship-Owners concerned in the Trade of the River Thames.

The subject of this Chapter will therefore be chiefly confined to a detail of the causes, which produced these extraordinary and extensive depredations, and the various means by which they were perpetrated; and also to the remedies which have been successfully applied since the publication of the preceding editions of this Work, for the purpose of reducing within bounds, and keeping in check, this enormous and growing evil; for certain it is, that previous to the establishment of the Marine Police System, in the Month of July 1798, the increase had been regular and progressive, while the easy manner in which this species of property was obtained, generated an accession of plunderers every year.

To those whose habits of life afford no opportunities of attending to subjects of this nature, the details which are now to be given will appear no less novel than extraordinary; and with respect to the extent of the mischief in some instances perhaps incredible. The West India Planters alone have estimated their losses by depredations upon the River and in the Warehouses at the enormous sum of £.250,000 a year. It cannot be unreasonable then to suppose, that the extent of the plunder on the other branches of Commerce, which form nearly 5-6th parts of the whole value of Imports and Exports, could not be less than £.250,000 more, making an aggregate upon the whole of Half a Million sterling![52]

Surprising as this may appear at first view, yet when, by a cool investigation of the subject, it comes to be measured by the scale of the astonishing Commerce which centers in the port of London, (according to the annexed Abstract) and the vast extent of Floating Property moving constantly upon the River Thames, and the adjacent Wharfs and Quays subject to depredations; when by calculation it is also found, that the whole amount of the aggregate plunder, great and extensive as it appears to be, does not much exceed three quarters per cent. on the value of the whole property exposed to danger: the Reader will be reconciled to an estimate, which from the elucidations contained in this chapter, will ultimately appear by no means to be exaggerated.

ABSTRACT

OF THE IMPORTS INTO, AND THE EXPORTS FROM, THE PORT OF LONDON;

Made up from the Public Accounts for one year, ending the 5th day of January, 1798; but differing with regard to the value, from those accounts; in which the price is estimated on data established many years ago, when the articles of commerce imported and exported were not rated at above half the sum they now fetch, exclusive of duty.

It is, therefore, to be understood that the following Estimate of Foreign Articles is made up according to the present value, as nearly as it has been possible to ascertain it, by the payment of the Convoy-duties, under the Act 38 Geo. 3. cap. 76—It exhibits a very astonishing picture of the immense opulence and extent of the commerce of the Metropolis; and accounts in a very satisfactory manner for the vast resources of the Country, which have been manifested in so eminent a degree in the course of the present and former wars.

From whence arrived.

Number of vessels including repeated voyages.

Average Tonnage.

Value of Goods Imported.

Value of Goods Exported.

Total Value of Goods imported and exported.

 

 

 

£.

s.

d.

£.

s.

d.

£.

s.

d.

East Indies

53

41,456

6,544,402

10

2

3,957,905

5

1

10,502,307

15

3

West Indies

346

101,484

7,118,623

12

8

3,895,313

18

7

11,013,937

11

3

British Continental Colonies

68

13,986

290,894

4

10

1,347,250

1

7

1,638,144

6

5

Africa and Cape of Good Hope

17

4,336

82,370

15

0

449,077

19

3

531,446

15

1

Southern Fishery

29

7,461

250,689

3

2

54

16

4

250,743

19

6

Greenland Fishery

16

4,769

64,142

0

8

0

0

0

64,142

0

8

United States of America

140

32,213

1,517,386

2

8

3,898,864

12

9

5,416,250

15

5

Mediterranean and Turkey

72

14,757

390,794

19

10

118,914

3

7

509,709

3

5

Spain

121

16,509

776,686

12

2

171,073

4

6

947,759

17

8

Portugal

180

27,670

414,359

7

2

438,877

16

2

853,237

3

4

France

56

5,573

15,951

17

8

859,974

16

0

875,926

13

8

Austrian Flanders

66

5,104

21,027

3

2

118,064

2

2

139,091

5

4

Holland

329

19,166

673,241

17

4

1,538,120

3

6

2,211,362

0

10

Germany

235

37,647

2,658,011

8

2

8,014,260

3

0

10,672,271

11

2

Prussia

608

56,955

220,827

14

0

211,662

12

0

432,490

6

0

Poland

69

17,210

207,477

0

0

35,468

18

3

242,945

18

3

Sweden

109

14,252

152,707

6

10

169,293

18

4

322,001

5

2

Denmark and Norway

202

48,469

94,821

3

6

711,082

10

8

805,903

14

2

Russia

230

56,131

1,565,118

7

6

452,106

16

7

2,017,225

4

1

Foreign Coasting

(Including repeated voyages.)

Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney

46

5,344

218,916

12

8

83,281

12

1

302,198

4

9

Ireland

276

32,824

1,878,971

7

2

659,922

14

1

2,538,894

1

3

British Coasting

[53]

(Including repeated voyages.)

Coal Trade

3676

650,000

1,700,000

0

0

10,000

0

0

1,710,000

0

0

English Coasting incl. Wales

5816

500,000

3,900,000

0

0

2,200,000

0

0

6,100,000

0

0

Scotch Coasting

684

60,000

300,000

0

0

300,000

0

0

500,000

0

0

 

13,444

1,779,326

30,957,421

8

2

29,640,568

4

6

60,597,989

12

8

RECAPITULATION.

 

Ships and Vessels.

Tonnage.

Foreign and Coasting Trade as stated in the foregoing

Table

13,268

1,773,326

Value of Merchandize imported

£.30,957,421

8

2

Value of Merchandize exported

29,640,568

4

6

Total imported and exported

60,597,989

12

8

To which add the Local Trade within the limits of the Port, in the Upper and Lower Thames, and the River Lea

235,000

0

0

With a view to give the mind of the Reader a competent idea of the whole of the property upon the River Thames, which is exposed to hazard, the following estimate is added

, viz.—

 

 

 

1. Value of the Hull, Tackle, Apparel and Stores of 2144 British, and Coasting vessels, trading to the port of London, without including, as above, the repeated voyages

8,825,000

0

0

2. Value of the Hull, Tackle, and Stores of 3507 Lighters, Barges, Punts, Hoys, Sloops, &c. employed in the Trade of the Thames, River Lea, &c.

350,000

0

0

3. Value of 3349 Wherries, Bumboats, and Police Boats employed on the River, &c.

25,000

0

0

 

70,032,989

12

8

4. Value of Goods, including Coals, exposed in Craft and upon the Quays, to the risque of pillage on an average each day in the year; (Exclusive of the Public Arsenals, Ships of War, Gunboats, Transports, and Hoys, for conveying Navy, Victualing, and Ordnance Stores, nearly equal to five Millions more)

235,000

0

0

General Total

70,267,989

12

8

Let the mind only contemplate this proud view of the Commerce of a Single River, unparalleled in point of extent and magnitude in the whole world; where 13,444 ships and vessels discharge and receive in the course of a year above three Millions of Packages, many of which contain very valuable articles of merchandize, greatly exposed to depredations, not only from the criminal habits of many of the aquatic labourers and others who are employed, but from the temptations to plunder, arising from the confusion unavoidable in a crowded port, and the facilities afforded in the disposal of stolen property.—It will then be easily conceived, that the plunder must have been excessive, especially where from its analogy to smuggling, at least in the conceptions of those who were implicated; and from its gradual increase, the culprits seldom were restrained by a sense of the moral turpitude of the offence; and where for want of a Marine Police applicable to the object, no means existed whereby offenders could be detected on the River.[54]

The fact is, that the system of River depredations grew, and ramified as the Commerce of the Port of London advanced, until at length it assumed the different forms, and was conducted by the various classes of delinquents, whose nefarious practices are now to be explained under their respective heads.

1st. River Pirates.—This class was generally composed of the most desperate and depraved characters, who followed aquatic pursuits. Their attention was principally directed to ships, vessels, and craft in the night, which appeared to be unprotected; and well authenticated instances of their audacity are recounted, which strongly prove the necessity of a vigorous and energetic Police. Among many other nefarious exploits performed by these miscreants, the following may suffice to shew to what extent their daring and impudent conduct carried them.

An American vessel lying at East-lane Tier, was boarded in the night, while the Captain and crew were asleep, by a gang of River Pirates, who actually weighed the ship's anchor, and hoisted it into their boat with a complete new cable, with which they got clear off.—The Captain hearing a noise, came upon deck at the moment the villains had secured their booty, with which they actually rowed away in his presence, impudently telling him, they had taken away his anchor and cable, and bidding him good morning. Their resources afforded them means of immediate concealment. No Police then existed upon the River, and his property was never recovered.

A similar instance of atrocity occurred about the same time, where the bower anchor of a vessel from Guernsey was weighed, and, with the cable, plundered and carried off in the same manner.

Although only these two instances of extraordinary audacity are specified, others equally bold and daring could be adduced if the limits of this Work would admit of it. When vessels first arrive in the river, particularly those from the West Indies, they are generally very much lumbered. Ships in this situation were considered as the harvest of the River Pirates, with whom it was a general practice to cut away bags of Cotton, Cordage, Spars, Oars, and other articles from the quarter of the vessels, and to get clear off, even in the day time as well as in the night. Before a Police existed upon the River all classes of aquatic labourers having been themselves more or less implicated in the same species of criminality, generally connived at the delinquency of each other, and hence it followed, that few or none were detected while afloat and the evil became so extensive.

It was frequently the practice of these River Pirates to go armed, and in sufficient force to resist, and even to act offensively if they met with opposition.—Their depredations were extensive among craft wherever valuable goods were to be found; but they diminished in number after the commencement of the war; and now since the establishment of the Marine Police they have almost totally disappeared.

On the return of peace, however, if a system of watchful energy is not maintained, these miscreants must be expected (as on former occasions on the termination of wars) to renew their iniquitous depredations in great force, as numbers of depraved characters may then be expected to be discharged from the Army and Navy.

2d. Night Plunderers.—These were composed chiefly of the most depraved class of watermen, who associated together in gangs of four or five in number, for the purpose of committing depredations on the cargoes of lighters and other craft employed in conveying goods to the quays and wharfs. Their practice was to associate themselves with one or more of the watchmen who were employed to guard these lighters while cargoes were on board, and by the connivance of these faithless guardians of the night, to convey away in lug boats every portable article of merchandize, to which, through this medium, they often had too easy access.

These corrupt watchmen did not always permit the lighters under their own charge to be pillaged.—Their general practice was, to point out to the leader of the gang those lighters that were without any guard, and lay near their own, and which, on this account, might be easily plundered. An hour was fixed on for effecting the object in view. The Receiver (generally a man of some property) was applied to, to be in readiness at a certain hour before day-light to warehouse the goods. A lug boat was seized on for the purpose. The articles were removed into it out of the lighter, and conveyed to a landing-place nearest the warehouse of deposit. The watchmen in the streets leading to this warehouse were bribed to connive at the villainy, often under pretence that it was a smuggling transaction, and thus the object was effected.

In this precise manner was a quantity of ashes and hemp conveyed in 1798, to the house of an opulent Receiver. Several other cargoes of hemp, obtained in the same manner, were conveyed up the river, and afterwards carted in the day-time to the repositories of the purchaser, till by the vigilance of the Police Boats, a detection took place, and the whole scene of mischief was laid open.

This species of depredation went to a great extent, and when it was considered that the very men who Were appointed to guard property in this situation were themselves associates in the criminality, and participated in the profit arising from the booty; and that matters were so arranged as to secure the connivance of all those who were appointed to situations with a view to detect and apprehend delinquents; it ceases to be a matter of wonder, that the plunder in this particular line was excessive.

In many instances where goods could not be plundered through the connivance of watchmen, it was no uncommon thing to cut lighters adrift, and to follow them to a situation calculated to elude discovery where the pillage commenced. In this manner have whole lighter loads even of coals been discharged at obscure landing places upon the river, and carted away during the night.

Even the article of Tallow from Russia, which, from the unwieldiness of the packages, appears little liable to be an object of plunder, has not escaped the notice of these offenders: large quantities have been stolen, and an instance has been stated to the Author, where a lighter loaded with this article was cut from a ship in the Pool, and found next morning with six large casks of tallow stolen, and two more broken open, and the chief part plundered and carried away. In short, while the river remained unprotected nothing escaped these marauders.

3d. Light-Horsemen, or Nightly Plunderers of West India ships.—This class of depredators for a long period of time had carried on their nefarious practices with impunity, and to an extent in point of value, that almost exceeds credibility; by which the West India planters and merchants sustained very serious and extensive losses.

The practice seems to have originated in a connection which was formed between the Mates of West India ships[55] and the criminal Receivers, residing near the river, who were accustomed to assail them under the pretence of purchasing what is called sweepings, or in other words, the spillings or drainings of sugars, which remained in the hold and between the decks after the cargo was discharged. These sweepings were claimed as a perquisite by a certain proportion of the Mates, contrary to the repeated and express rules established by the Committee of Merchants, who early saw the evils to which such indulgences would lead, and in vain attempted to prevent it. The connivance, however, of the Revenue officers became necessary to get these sweepings on shore, and the quantity of spillings were gradually increased year after year by fraudulent means, for the purpose of satisfying the rapacity of all whose assistance and collusion was found necessary to obtain the object in view.

The connection thus formed, and the necessary facilities obtained, from the sale of sweepings, recourse was at length had to the disposal of as much of the cargo as could be obtained by a licence to nightly plunderers, composed of Receivers, Coopers, Watermen, and Aquatic Labourers, who having made a previous agreement with the Mate and Revenue Officers, were permitted, on paying from thirty to fifty guineas, to come on board in the night,—to open as many hogsheads of sugar as were accessible,—and to plunder without controul. For this purpose, a certain number of bags dyed black, and which went under the appellation of Black Strap, were provided.—The Receivers, Coopers, Watermen, and Lumpers, went on board at the appointed time, for all these classes were necessary. The hogsheads of sugar and packages of coffee, &c. were opened; the black bags were filled with the utmost expedition and carried to the Receivers, and again returned to be refilled until daylight, or the approach of it, stopped the pillage for a few hours. On the succeeding night the depredations were again renewed; and thus, on many occasions, from fifteen to twenty hogsheads of sugar and a large quantity of coffee, and also in some instances rum (which was removed by means of a small pump called a Jigger, and filled into bladders with nozzels,) were plundered in a single ship, in addition to the excessive depredations which were committed in the same ships by the Lumpers or labourers who were employed during the day in the discharge of the cargo.—Instances have been adduced, and judicially proved, of various specific ships having been plundered in an excessive degree in this manner; and it has been estimated upon credible authority, that previous to the establishment of the Marine Police, above one-fifth of the whole fleet suffered by nightly plunder.—The ships subject to this species of depredation were generally known from the characters of the Mates or Revenue Officers who were on board, and were denominated Game Ships, where the aquatic labourers, called Lumpers, would on every occasion agree to work without wages, and even solicit their employers to be preferred on these terms, trusting to a general licence to plunder for their remuneration.

This nefarious traffic had long been reduced to a regular system. The mode of negociation necessary to obtain all the requisite advantages for carrying into execution these iniquitous designs, was not only perfectly understood, but in most cases, where new Officers were to be practised upon, a plan of seduction was resorted to which seldom failed to succeed, when one or more of the old practitioners in this species of criminality happened to be stationed in the ship.—In this particular line of aquatic depredations, (which certainly was the most mischievous,) scenes of iniquity have been developed, which, from their extent and magnitude, could not have been credited had they stood on any other foundation than that of regular judicial proofs.

4th.—Heavy Horsemen, otherwise denominated Lumpers of the most criminal class, who generally selected ships where plunder was most accessible, either from the criminal connivance of the Mates and Revenue Officers, in permitting nightly plunder, or from the carelessness or inattention of these Officers.

This class, many of whom occasionally assisted in the depredations committed during the night, were exceedingly audacious and depraved. They generally went on board of West India ships, furnished with habiliments made on purpose to conceal sugar, coffee, cocoa, pimento, ginger, and other articles, which they conveyed on shore in great quantities, by means of an under waistcoat, containing pockets all round, denominated a Jemie; and also by providing long bags, pouches, and socks, which were tied to their legs and thighs under their trowsers.

It is a well-established fact, which does not admit even of the shadow of a doubt, that these miscreants, during the discharge of what they called a Game Ship, have been accustomed to divide from three to four guineas a-piece every night from the produce of their plunder, independent of the hush-money paid to Officers and others, for conniving at their nefarious practices.

Long habituated to this species of depredation, they became at length so audacious, that it was found extremely difficult to controul them where a disposition existed to protect the cargo from pillage, and where no seduction had taken place.—And indeed, so adroit had this class of Lumpers become, that no ship escaped plunder in a certain degree, wherever they were employed, in spite of the greatest vigilance and attention on the part of many of the shipmasters.

5th. Game Watermen, so denominated from the circumstance of their having been known to hang upon West India ships under discharge for the whole of the day, in readiness to receive and instantly convey on shore bags of sugar, coffee and other articles, pillaged by the Lumpers and others in the progress of the delivery of the cargo, by which they acquired a considerable booty; as they generally on such occasions were employed to dispose of the stolen articles, under pretence of their being a part of the private adventures of the crew, for which service they usually pocketed one moiety of the price obtained.—It was by such assistance that Mates, Boatswains, Carpenters, Seamen, and Ship Boys, have been seduced, and even taught to become plunderers and thieves, who would otherwise have remained honest and faithful to the trust reposed in them. Many of the watermen of this class were accustomed to live in a style of expence by no means warranted, from the fair earnings of honest industry in the line of their profession.—An instance has been known of an apprentice lad in this line having kept both a mistress and a riding horse out of the profits of his delinquency.

6th. Game Lightermen.—This class, which is composed of the working, or Journeymen Lightermen, who navigate the craft which convey West India produce and other merchandize from the ships to the quays, are, with some exceptions, extremely loose in their morals, and are ever ready to forward depredations by the purchase or concealment of articles of considerable value, until an opportunity offers of conveying the property on shore. Many of these Lightermen, previous to the establishment of the Marine Police, were in the constant habit of concealing in the lockers of their lighters, sugar, coffee, pimento, ginger, &c. which they received from Mates, and other persons on board of West India ships.—These lockers are generally secured by a padlock; they are calculated to hold and conceal considerable quantities of goods, whether stolen or smuggled, which were seldom taken out until after the discharge of the lighter, unless in certain instances where skiffs attended them.—When completely unladen, the practice has been to remove to the road where empty craft usually lies a-breast of the Custom-house quay, and then carry away the stolen or smuggled articles—and it has not seldom happened that many of these Lightermen have, under pretence of watching their own lighters while laden at the quays, or in connivance with the Watchmen selected by themselves, actually plundered the goods under their charge to a very considerable amount, without detection.

Nor does it appear that the nefarious practices of these Lightermen have been confined to West Indian produce alone. Their criminal designs were directed to almost every species of merchandize placed under their charge; and the tricks and devices to which they were accustomed to resort, clearly evinced that their plans for obtaining pillage had long been systematized, and that they seldom permitted any opportunity whereby they could profit by making free with property under their charge to escape their attention. As a proof that this assertion is well grounded, the following authenticated case, among others which could be detailed, is stated as an instance of the extreme rapacity of this class of men.—A Canada merchant, who had been accustomed to ship quantities of oil annually to the London market, finding (as indeed almost every merchant experiences) a constant and uniform deficiency in the quantity landed, greatly exceeding what could arise from common leakage, which his correspondents were quite unable to explain; having occasion to visit London, was resolved to see his cargo landed with his own eyes; so as, if possible, to develope a mystery heretofore inexplicable, and by which he had regularly lost a considerable sum for several years. Determined therefore to look sharp after his property, he was in attendance at the wharf in anxious expectation of a lighter which had been laden with his oil on the preceding day; and which, for reasons that he could not comprehend, did not get up for many hours after the usual time.

On her arrival at the wharf, the proprietor was confounded to find the whole of his casks stowed in the lighter with their bungs downwards. Being convinced that this was the effect of design, he began now to discover one of the causes at least, of the great losses he had sustained; he therefore attended the discharge of the lighter until the whole of the casks were removed, when he perceived a great quantity of oil leaked out, and in the hold of the vessel, which the Lightermen had the effrontery to insist was their perquisite. The proprietor ordered casks to be brought, and filled no less than nine of them with the oil that had thus leaked out. He then ordered the ceiling of the lighter to be pulled up, and found between her timbers as much as filled five casks more; thus recovering from a single lighter-load of his property, no less than fourteen casks of oil, that, but for his attendance, would have been appropriated to the use of the Lightermen; who, after attempting to rob him of so valuable a property, complained very bitterly of his ill usage in taking it from them.

7th. Mud-Larks, so called from their being accustomed to prowl about, at low water, under the quarters, of West India ships; (or at least that class which were denominated Game, these being mostly the objects of pillage;) under pretence of grubbing in the mud for old ropes, iron, and coals, &c. but whose chief object, when in such situations, was to receive and conceal small bags of sugar, coffee, pimento, ginger, and other articles, and sometimes bladders containing rum, which they conveyed to such houses as they were directed, and for which services they generally received a share of the booty.—These auxiliaries in this species of pillage were considered as the lowest cast of thieves; but from a general knowledge of the Receivers in the vicinity, they frequently afforded considerable assistance to the Lumpers, Coopers and others, who collected plunder in the progress of the ships' delivery.

8th. Revenue Officers.—Notwithstanding the laudable severity of the Commissioners of his Majesty's Customs and Excise, in making examples of their inferior servants by immediate dismission, on proof made of any offence, or even neglect of duty; a certain class of these officers, who are denominated Game, have found means to promote pillage to a very extensive degree, not only in West India ships, but also in ships from the East Indies, and in every ship and vessel arriving and departing from the River Thames, of which it is to be lamented, that too many proofs have been adduced. This class of officers generally make a point of at least having the appearance of being punctual and regular in their attendance upon their duty, and by never being found absent by their superior officers obtain preferences, where such can be given, with respect to those particular ships which afford the best harvest, either from being under the charge of Mates or others, with whom they have had criminal transactions in former voyages, or from the cargo being of a nature calculated to afford a resource for plunder. They are also generally acquainted with the Copemen or Receivers, with whom and the other officers, after seducing the Mate, (if not already seduced) they negociate for the purchase of whatever can be plundered.

In those seasons of the year, when the crouded state of the port renders it necessary to have recourse to extra and Glut Officers, the general distress of this class of men, and the expectations most of them have formed of advantages by being placed on board ships of a certain description, render it an easy matter to seduce them; and by such means had every obstruction been removed to the perpetration of these excessive robberies, in all their ramifications, which had so long afflicted the port of London.[56]

9th. Scuffle-Hunters—so denominated probably from their resorting in numbers to the quays and wharfs where goods are discharging, under pretence of finding employment as labourers upon the landing places and in the warehouses, and from the circumstance, of disputes and scuffles arising about who should secure most plunder from broken packages. This class of men, who may fairly be considered as the very scum of society, frequently prowl about with long aprons, not so much with a view to obtain employment, as for the purpose of availing themselves of the confusion which the crowded state of the quays often exhibits, and the opportunity of obtaining plunder; in which object they have too frequently been successful, particularly when admitted into the warehouses as labourers, where they have found means to pilfer and carry away considerable quantities of sugar and other articles, in which they were not a little countenanced, by similar offences committed by journeymen coopers and others, who, under the colour of sanctioned perquisites, abstract considerable quantities of sugar, thereby subjecting the proprietors to an accumulated loss: for, in addition to the first cost or price of the article, the duties which have been paid form no inconsiderable part of the ultimate value. It is only necessary to resort to the Journals of the House of Commons, and the Appendix to the Report of the Dock Committee in 1796, in order to be satisfied, that the plunder in the warehouses has been excessive. And if credit is to be given to the evidence then brought forward, and also to the affidavits of persons, who have worked for many years in the sugar warehouses, the loss sustained on an importation of 140,000[57] casks of sugar has not fallen much short of £.100,000 a year.[58]

10th. Copemen or Receivers of Stolen Commercial Property.—This mischievous class of men may be considered as the chief movers and supporters of the extensive scene of iniquity which has been developed and explained in the preceding pages of this Chapter. They were heretofore extremely numerous, and divided into various classes.[59] Those denominated Copemen formed the junto of wholesale dealers, who were accustomed to visit ships on their arrival, for the purpose of entering into contract with such Revenue Officers or Mates as they had formerly known or dealt with, and such others as they could by means of friendly officers seduce to their views.

Their negociations were carried on in a language and in terms peculiar to themselves; and commenced by settling the price of

Sand

by which, in their cant language, was meant

Sugar

.

Beans

or

Coffee

.

Pease

—

Pimento

or

Pepper

.

Vinegar

—

Rum

and

other Liquors

.

Malt

—

Tea

.

It was their custom to afford assistance wherever such articles were to be procured by providing Black Straps, (i.e., the long black bags already mentioned) to contain sugar, and calculated to stow easily in the bottom of boats, without being discovered on account of the colour. They also procured bladders with wooden nozels for the purpose of containing rum, brandy, geneva, and other liquors, and furnished boats to convey the plunder from the ships during the night.

Some of these Receivers had acquired considerable sums of money by their nefarious traffic, and were able to tempt and seduce those who would permit them to plunder the cargo, by administering to their wants by considerable advances of money which, however, rarely amounted to a moiety of the value of the goods obtained, and frequently not 1-4th part, particularly in the article of Coffee.

Other classes of Receivers purchased from the Lumpers, Coopers, &c. after the property was landed, and being generally engaged in business as small grocers or keepers of chandlers' shops, and old iron and junk warehouses, they were accustomed to protect it in its transit, from one criminal dealer to another, by means of false bills of parcels.

It would fill a volume to recount the various ramifications of this nefarious traffic, and the devices used to defeat Justice and elude the punishment of the Law.[60]

It extended to almost every article imported into, and exported from, the port of London. But the dealings in stolen West India produce were by far the most extensive; at the same time it appears from recent investigation, that the East India Company and the Russian and American Merchants, as well as the Importers of Timber, Ashes, Furs, Skins, Oil, Provisions and Corn, were also considerable sufferers. The Coal Merchants have likewise sustained losses to a great amount annually, while every species of goods imported have been more or less subject to depredations.

Nor has the Export Trade on the River Thames been in any respect secured against the rapacity of this phalanx of plunderers. Many well-authenticated cases have recently been developed, which prove that Hamburgh vessels outward bound, have been plundered to a considerable amount,[61] particularly those which were laden with sugar, coffee, and other West India produce. Outward-bound ships to every part of the world have also been more or less objects of plunder, to the numerous herds of delinquents who were employed upon the River, aided by their associates in iniquity, the Receivers.

To enter into particulars, or to detail specific instances, would far exceed the limits prescribed for this branch of the general catalogue of delinquency exhibited in this Work. Suffice it to say, that the most satisfactory evidence can be adduced, that the system of depredation which had so long prevailed, and which had advanced with the growing Commerce of the Port, had pervaded every species of Merchandize laden or discharged, as well as the Tackle, Apparel and Stores of almost every ship and vessel arriving in, and departing from, the River Thames.

Nor can it be a matter of wonder, that such pervading mischiefs should have prevailed when it is known, that above 5000 individuals, employed in various stationary situations upon the River, have, with a very few exceptions, been nursed from early life in acts of delinquency of this nature.

In a group so extensive there are unquestionably many different shades of turpitude; but certain it is, that long habit, and general example, had banished from the minds of the mass of the culprits implicated in these offences, that sense of the criminality of the action, which attaches to every other species of theft.

Such was the situation of things in the Port of London, in the month of July 1798, when the Marine Police Institution, a wise and salutary measure of Government, arose from the meritorious exertions of the West India Merchants.

The object of this Establishment was to counteract these mischievous proceedings, and by salutary arrangements in the Science of Police to prevent in future a repetition of those crimes which had so long contaminated the morals of the people, and operated as an evil of no small weight and magnitude on the Trade of the River Thames.

How far this System, planned and adapted to the exigencies of the case, and carried into effort by the Author of these pages, assisted by a very able and indefatigable Magistrate, and by many zealous and active Officers, has been productive of the benefits which were in contemplation, must be determined by an accurate examination of the state of delinquency, among the aquatic labourers and others, employed at present in ships and vessels in the River Thames; compared with what existed previous to this Establishment, as detailed in the preceding pages of this Chapter.

Although much yet remains to be done to prevent the renewal of those criminal proceedings, which have by great exertions been happily in many instances suppressed.—Although the Marine Police[62] has been unquestionably crippled by the want of those apposite Legislative Regulations, upon which its energy and utility, as a permanent Establishment, must, in a great measure depend, yet the proofs of the advantages which have resulted from it, not only to the West India Trade[63] (for the protection of which it was originally instituted) but also to the whole Commerce and Navigation of the Port of London, are so decided and irrefragable, that specific details are unnecessary, especially since Deputations of the most respectable Merchants from the whole Commercial Body, sensible of the benefits derived from the system have solicited the sanction of Government, for the purpose of passing a Bill to extend the design, so as to afford the same protection to the general Trade of the Port, which has been experienced by the West India Planters and Merchants;[64] and requesting to be permitted to defray the expence by an annual assessment upon the Trade.

It may only be necessary in this place to state, that under all the disadvantages and difficulties attending the execution of this design, it may truly be said to have worked wonders in reforming the shocking abuses which prevailed.—The River Pirates do not now exist in any shape.—The Nightly Plunderers, denominated Light Horsemen, have not dared in a single instance to pursue their criminal designs.—The Working Lumpers, denominated Heavy Horse, are no longer to be found loaded with Plunder.—Watermen are not now as formerly to be recognized in clusters hanging upon the bows and quarters of West India ships under discharge to receive plunder.—Lightermen, finding nothing to be procured by attending their craft, are accustomed to desert them until the period when they are completely laden.—Journeymen Coopers do not wilfully demolish casks and packages as heretofore, since no advantage is to be reaped from the spillings of sugar, coffee, or other articles.—The Mud-Larks find it no longer an object to prowl about ships at low water while under discharge, since the resource for that species of iniquitous employment, which they were accustomed to solicit, is no longer in existence.—The criminal class of Revenue Officers, who had long profited (in many instances to an enormous extent) by the nefarious practices which prevailed, have not been able to suppress their rage against the New Police, by the vigilance of which they feel themselves deprived of the means of profiting by the system of plunder, which they had so perfectly organized, and which, in collusion with the Revenue Watermen, they were so well able to cover by availing themselves of their official situations, on many occasions, in protecting to the houses of the Receivers articles which were both stolen and smuggled.

By means of a Police Guard upon the Quays, which forms a collateral branch of the General System, the Scuffle-hunters and Long-apron-men, who were accustomed to prowl about for the purpose of pillage, have in a great measure deserted the quays and landing-places; while the Copemen and Receivers, finding from several examples which have been made, that their former infamous pursuits cannot be continued without the most imminent hazard, have, in many instances, declined business, while not a few of these mischievous members of society have quitted their former residences, and disappeared.

Such has been the effect of the remedy which has been applied towards the core of the enormous evil of River Plunder.

It is not, however, to be understood that this System has entirely eradicated the pillage which prevailed, a circumstance not to be expected, since the design was partial and limited in its nature, and only intended for the protection of West India property, although very extensive benefits have unquestionably arisen from its collateral influence, and its energy, in terrifying thieves of every description upon the River, and diminishing their depredations, which, but for the dread of detection by means of the Police Boats in the night, would unquestionably have been committed.

But while it is readily admitted that amidst the opposite attractions of pleasure and pain, it is impossible to reduce the tumultuous activity of such a phalanx of individuals to absolute order and purity, who have been in many instances reared up in habits of delinquency. And while it is a vain hope to expect that crimes can be totally annihilated, where temptations assail the idle and the dissolute, and religion and morality, or even in many instances, the fear of punishment, does not operate as a restraint;—yet is it, notwithstanding, clear to demonstration, from the effects produced by the limited experiment which has been made, that the General Police for the River Thames which is in contemplation, aided by the apposite Legislative regulations which experience has suggested to be necessary,[65] must in its operation, under the guidance of an able and active Magistracy, so far diminish and keep down the depredations which were committed, as to prove scarce a drop in the bucket, when compared to the extensive and enormous evils which it has been the object of the promoters of this new System to suppress.

Although in this arduous pursuit, the Author of this work has experienced infinite difficulties and discouragements, yet is he rewarded by the consciousness that he was engaged in an undertaking in which the best interests of Society were involved:—that independent of the pecuniary benefits derived by the State, and the Proprietors of Commercial Property (which already have unquestionably been very extensive,) he has been instrumental in bringing forward a great preventive System, and by administering the Laws in conjunction with a very zealous, able, and humane Magistrate,[66] in a manner rather calculated to restrain than to punish,[67] a multitude of individuals, together with a numerous offspring, are likely to be rendered useful members of the Body Politic, instead of nuisances in Society.—The advantages thus gained (although his labours have been in other respects gratuitous,) will abundantly compensate the dangers, the toils, and the anxieties which have been experienced. In the accomplishment of this object, both the interests of humanity and morality, have been in no small degree promoted: unquestionably, there cannot be a greater act of benevolence to mankind, in a course of criminal delinquency, than that which tends to civilize their manners;—to teach them obedience to the Laws;—to screen themselves and their families from the evils and distress attendant on punishment, by preventing the commission of crimes; and to lead them into the paths of honest industry, as the only means of securing that real comfort and happiness which a life of criminality, however productive of occasional supplies of money, can never bestow.—If it shall be considered (as it certainly is) a glorious atchievement to subdue a powerful Army or Navy, and thereby secure the tranquillity of a State—is not the triumph in some degree analogous, where a numerous army of delinquents, carrying on a species of warfare no less noxious, if not equally hostile, shall not only be subdued by a mild and systematic direction of the powers of the Law; but that the conquered enemy shall be converted into an useful friend, adding strength instead of weakness to the Government of the country?

Such has been, at least, the result of the partial operations of the Marine Police; and such will unquestionably be the issue of the general measures which have been planned and arranged, when the Key-stone shall be finally laid to the fabric, by passing into a Law the Bill which has been prepared for the extension of this design to the protection of the whole trade of the port of London.[68]

CHAP. IX.

Reflections on the Causes of the Existence and Continuance of the Frauds, Embezzlements, Peculation, and Plunder in his Majesty's Dock-Yards and other Public Repositories, and in the Naval Department in general.—Reasons why the Evil has not been suppressed.—A summary View of the Means employed in committing Offences of this Nature.—Reasons assigned why the Defalcation of this Species of Property must be extensive.—Illustrated by the immense Value, and by an Estimate, and general View, of the Public Property exposed to Hazard.—A summary View of the Laws which relate to Offences on Public Property; proofs adduced of their Deficiency.—Remedies proposed and detailed under the respective Heads of—1st. A Central Board of Police—2d. A Local Police for the Dock-Yards—3d. Legislative Regulations proposed in Aid of the Police System—4th. Regulations respecting the Sale of Old Stores—5th. The Abolition of the Perquisites of Chips—6th. The Abolition of Fees and Perquisites, and liberal Salaries in lieu thereof—7th. An improved Mode of keeping Accounts—8th. An annual Inventory of Stores in Hand—Concluding Observations.

UNDER the pressure of those accumulated wrongs, which constitute the extensive frauds, embezzlements, pillage, and plunder, known and acknowledged to exist in the Dock-Yards and other Public Repositories, it is not easy, at first view, to assign a reason for that apparent supineness, on the part of men of known honour and integrity, who have heretofore presided, and who now preside at the Public Boards, in not using the means necessary to remedy so great an evil.

This may possibly be accounted for, by the extreme difficulty which men, constantly occupied in a laborious business, find in pursuing inquiries, or forming arrangements, out of their particular sphere; more especially when such arrangements require those powers of business, and that species of legal and general information, which do not usually attach to men whose education and habits of life have run in a different channel.

Under such circumstances, it is scarcely to be wondered at, that greater efforts have not been used, (for great efforts are unquestionably necessary,) to correct those abuses, which have long existed; and which have been progressively increasing; by means of which, not only the property of the Public suffers a vast annual diminution by frauds and embezzlements, but the foundation of all morals is sapped; and the most baneful practices extend even to men in the upper and middle ranks of Society, who are too seldom restrained by any correct principle of rectitude in transactions, where the interest of Government only is concerned; either in the supplying, or afterwards in the taking charge of the custody of Public Stores.

When the object in view is to acquire money, the power of example, sanctioned by usage and custom, will reconcile men by degrees, to enormities and frauds which at first could not have been endured.—Acting under this influence, it too often happens that a distinction is made, as regards moral rectitude, in the minds of many individuals, between the property of the Nation, and private property.—While the most scrupulous attention to the rules of honour prevails in the latter case, principles, the most relaxed, are yielded to in the former.

And thus it is, that in such situations, inferior agents also, induced by example, become insensibly reconciled to every species of fraud, embezzlement, and peculation.

It is no inconsiderable source of the evil, that large gratuities are given, under the colour of fees,[69] to those who can assist in promoting the views of the fraudulent, or in guarding them against detection.—What was at first considered as the wages of turpitude, at length assumes the form, and is viewed in the light of a fair perquisite of office.

In this manner abuses multiply, and the ingenuity of man is ever fertile in finding some palliative.—Custom and example sanction the greatest enormities: which at length become fortified by immemorial and progressive usage: it is no wonder, therefore, that the superior Officers find it an Herculean labour to cleanse the Augean stable.

A host of interested individuals opposes them. The task is irksome and ungracious. The research involves in it matter of deep concern, affecting the peace, comfort, and happiness of old servants of the Crown or the Public, and their families; who have not perhaps been sufficiently rewarded for their services; and who, but for such perquisites, could not have acquired property, or even supported themselves with decency.

It is an invidious task to make inquiries, or to impose regulations which may ultimately affect the interest or the character of dependants, who have heretofore, perhaps, been regarded as objects of partiality or affection. Those whose duty it is to superintend the departments, knowing their own purity, are unwilling to believe that the same principle of rectitude does not regulate the conduct of others in inferior situations: and matters, of apparently greater importance, constantly forcing themselves upon their attention, the consideration of such abuses is generally postponed: while those who detect or complain of their existence, seldom meet with much encouragement; unless some specific act of criminality is stated, and then it is referred, as a matter of course, to the proper Law Officers.

These circumstances, however, only prove the necessity of some other and more effectual agency to remove an evil, which (if the assertions of those whose efficient situations give them access to the very best information as to its extent and enormity are correct) is of the greatest magnitude, and calls aloud for immediate attention.

To understand how this is to be accomplished, it will be necessary in the first instance to develope the means which are employed to commit these abuses, frauds, and embezzlements.—Then to take a general view of the property exposed to depredation, and afterwards to examine the nature and effect of the Laws and regulations now in being for the purpose of preventing these evils; and last of all, to suggest remedies.

The abuses, frauds, and embezzlements, are multifarious, and are perpetrated through the medium of a vast variety of agencies, which naturally divide themselves into two distinct branches.

The first relates to frauds committed by the connivance and assistance of Clerks, Store-keepers, and inferior officers in the Dock-yards, and other repositories, and in ships of war and transports; in receiving and delivering Naval, Victualling, and Ordnance stores;—in surveys;—in returns of unserviceable stores;—in what is called solving off stores;—in fraudulent certificates;—in the sale of old stores; and innumerable other devices; by which a number of individuals are enriched at the Public expence; and a system of plunder is supported by fraudulent documents and vouchers of articles which have no existence but upon paper.

The second branch relates to the actual pillage of new and old Cordage, Bolts of Canvas, Sails, Bunting, Twine of all sorts, Fearnought and Kersey, Leather and Hides, old and new Copper, Locks, Hinges and Bolts, Copper Bolts and Nails in immense quantities, Bar-Iron, old Iron, Lead and Solder, Ship's-Plank, Oars, Timber of small sizes, Blocks, Quarterstuff, Candles, Tallow, Oil, Paint, Pitch, Tar, Turpentine, Varnish, Rosin, Beer and Water Casks, Iron Hoops, Biscuit Bags, Beer, Bread, Wine, Brandy, Rum, Oil, Vinegar, Butter, Cheese, Beef, Pork, &c.—All these articles suffer a vast annual diminution, by means of that plunder which has become habitual to a number of the inferior servants of the Crown, who have in their respective situations, access to such stores.[70]

This species of plunder is much encouraged by the difficulty of detection: Vast quantities are constantly provided, and the store-houses are generally full; it happens therefore as a matter of course, that the articles which were recently deposited are issued first; and hence many valuable stores, it is said, have remained untouched and unseen for forty or fifty years, until a number of articles perish or become unserviceable from length of time.—An annual inventory, upon the plan suggested at the close of this Chapter, rendered practicable by more extensive store-houses, would remove this obvious inconvenience.

All stores being delivered under the authority of warrants signed by the Commissioners and proper officers, the clerks, or in their absence the foreman of the warehouses, where the articles stated in the warrants are deposited, deliver the stores; and, if opportunities offer, large additional quantities are said to be frequently sent out, by the connivance of the inferior officers; sometimes stores are even delivered two or three times over, under colour of the same warrant, without discovery.

A similar System prevails with regard to stores sent to the public repositories from dismantled ships of war and transports.

Many vessels in the coasting trade, and even ships of foreign nations, it is said, touch at Portsmouth and Plymouth, merely for the purpose of purchasing cheap stores;—and it is well known, that many dealers in naval stores in the neighbourhood of the Dock-Yards are chiefly supplied in this way.

The plan which prevails at present with regard to the sale of old stores, not only proves a kind of safeguard to these fraudulent dealers; but is also in itself subject to great abuses, from the delivery of larger quantities than are actually included in the public sales, by which the parties concerned are said frequently to pocket considerable sums of money.[71]

The artificers in the Dock-yards, availing themselves of their perquisite of Chips, not only commit great frauds, by often cutting up useful timber, and wasting time in doing so; but also in frequently concealing, within their bundles of chips, copper bolts, and other valuable articles, which are removed by their wives and children, (and, as has appeared in judicial evidence, by boys retained for the purpose) and afterwards sold to itinerant Jews, or to the dealers in old iron and stores, who are always to be found in abundance wherever the Dock-yards are situated.[72]

The Naval, Victualing, and Ordnance Stores pillaged in the Dock-yards and other public Repositories, and also from ships of war, transports, and navy and victualing hoys, in the River Thames, and Medway, must amount to a very large sum annually. The detections, particularly in the victualing hoys and transports, since the establishment of the Marine Police, prove the existence of the evil, and the wide field which it embraces.

The vicinity of the Metropolis;—the assistance afforded by old iron and store shops on the spot;—by carts employed in this trade alone, constantly going and coming from and to the Capital;—by the advantage of an easy and safe conveyance for ponderous and heavy articles, in lighters and other craft passing up and down the River; and the extensive chain of criminal connection, at every town and village on the Thames and Medway, which a course of many years has formed, joined to the ease with which frauds are committed, have combined to render this nefarious traffic a very serious and alarming evil.

Among the multitude of persons concerned in it, some are said to keep men constantly employed in untwisting the cordage, for the purpose of removing the King's mark, or coloured stran, which is introduced into it as a check against fraud; while others (as has been already noticed) are, in like manner, employed in knocking the Broad Arrow out of copper bolts, nails, bar iron, and other articles, on which it is impressed, so as to elude detection.

It is scarcely to be credited, to what an extent the sale of the cordage, sail-cloth, and other Naval articles, including victualing stores, thus plundered, is carried, in supplying coasting vessels and smaller craft upon the River Thames, at a cheap rate.[73]

If the actual value of stores deposited at the different Dock-yards and public Repositories in the course of a year, is to be considered as a rule whereby a judgment may be formed of the extent of the losses sustained by frauds, plunder, and embezzlement, it will be found to be very erroneous, since a large proportion of what forms the great aggregate loss sustained annually by Government, does not arise from the actual stealing of stores, but from frauds committed in fabricating documents both at home and abroad.

Reasons have already been assigned, why many individuals reconcile their minds to devices, whereby they may be suddenly enriched at the Public expence, who would be shocked at the idea of over-reaching an individual. For the purpose, therefore, of estimating truly the probable extent of the evil, a general view must not only be taken of the Naval, Victualing, Ordnance, and other Stores at all times deposited in the Public Arsenals, but also the stores and provisions on board of the numerous ships of war, and transports, constantly consuming and replacing in all quarters of the Globe; and to measure the whole by the great annual expence, which is incurred in this necessary service, The Bulwark of Britain, and the Glory and Pride of the Nation.

Looking at the subject in this point of view, where the ramifications are so extensive, and the opportunities so numerous, whereby in the hurry and confusion of carrying on a most important public service, frauds and embezzlements may be committed with impunity, the question is, Whether measures are not practicable, whereby the public loss, by the rapacity of individuals, may not lie greatly diminished, and what system would be best adapted to the attainment of this object?

To illustrate this proposition it may be necessary to form an estimate, in the first instance, of the stationary and floating property belonging to his Majesty, in the different Public Arsenals and ships of War.—The following statement is hazarded with this particular view, not as an accurate detail of facts; for accuracy to a point under the present circumstances is neither practicable nor absolutely necessary. It is sufficient if it tends to elucidate and explain an important point, on the subject of the frauds and depredations committed on the public stores, which would not be otherwise intelligible or useful to the public, to the extent which the Author contemplates.—

Estimate of Floating Naval, Victualing and Ordnance Stores, in
the different Repositories and Ships of War.

Naval, Victualing and Ordnance Stores at

Deptford and Red House

£.1,800,000

——

Woolwich

150,000

——

Sheerness

100,000

——

Chatham

200,000

——

Portsmouth

1,300,000

——

Plymouth

900,000

——

Ireland, Leith, and other parts

50,000

——

in the Arsenals at Halifax, and the East and West Indies

150,000

——

Gibraltar, Minorca, &c.

50,000

——

in 900 Ships of War and Transports in Commission

2,300,000

 

Total

£.7,000,000

The annual pecuniary Supplies for the Navy may be estimated at Thirteen Millions a year during war; of which sum about Six Millions may be applicable to the pay of the Officers and Seamen, and Seven Millions to Ships-Stores, Provisions, &c. The last two, namely, the stores and provisions being in a constant state of movement, both at home and abroad, furnish abundant resource for frauds and depredations, which may certainly be greatly diminished, though perhaps impracticable to be eradicated entirely.

The object, therefore, is to devise means whereby this diminution may be accomplished: and in pursuing this important inquiry, it will be necessary to precede it by the following general view of the Laws now in being, which relate to offences committed in the Naval and other Public Departments.

The Acts of the 31st of Elizabeth, (cap. 4.) and the 22d of Charles II. (cap. 5.) made it felony, without Benefit of Clergy, to steal or embezzle any of his Majesty's Military or Naval Stores or Provisions, above the value of Twenty Shillings.

By the 9 and 10 of William III. (cap. 41.) the Receivers of embezzled stores, or such as should have the same in their custody, are subject to a penalty of £.200.

From this period, till the 1st of George the First, the attention of the Legislature does not seem to have been directed to this object; when by the statute, 1st Geo. I. stat. 2. cap. 25, the principal Officers or Commissioners of the Navy were authorized to issue warrants to search for Public Property stolen or embezzled, and to punish the Offenders by fine or imprisonment.

A succeeding Act, (9 Geo. I. cap. 8.) empowered the Judges to mitigate the fine of £.200 imposed on persons having in their possession public stores, and to punish the offenders corporally, by causing them to be publicly whipped, or kept at hard labour for six months in the House of Correction; which certainly was a great improvement.

By the Act 17 Geo. II. c. 40. jurisdiction was given to the Judges of Assize, and the General Quarter Sessions, to try the Offenders, and punish them by a fine not exceeding £.200, imprisonment for three months, and other corporal punishment.

The Laws on this subject were further amended by the 9th of his present Majesty, cap. 35; by which the Treasurer, Comptroller, Surveyor, Clerk of the Acts, or any Commissioner of the Navy, are empowered to act as Justices, in causing Offenders to be apprehended and prosecuted. These powers were given with a view to establish a greater degree of energy in detections; but experience has shewn that the purpose has not been answered.

The last Act which relates to the protection of the Public Stores, was made the 12th year of his present Majesty's reign (cap. 24.) and related solely to burning ships, warehouses, and naval, military, or victualing stores, in any of the dominions of the Crown; which offence is made felony without Benefit of Clergy.

A very superficial view of the above Laws will demonstrate their insufficiency to the object of Prevention. And even if they were complete, the task imposed on the public officers, who are on every occasion to act as Justices, has proved from experience to be a measure ill calculated to attain the object in view, namely, the detection of offenders; otherwise the evil would not have increased.—Other remedies must therefore be applied. It is not, however, by any single act of the Legislature, that the enormous frauds and depredations in the Navy and Victualing Departments of his Majesty's service, which the Commissioners and chief Officers, under whose management they are placed, are so anxious to suppress,[74] can be remedied: This important object must be obtained by a combination of various salutary measures, calculated to afford collateral aid to specific Legislative Regulations, and to secure their effectual execution, by means which are now to be explained under their respective heads.—

I. A General Police System.

By the Establishment of a Central Board of Police, on the Plan strongly recommended by the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Finance, in their 28th Report, ordered to be printed in June 1798:—It is there proposed to bring under regulations by licences, all those classes of dealers in old and second-hand ships' stores—old iron and other metals, and several other dangerous and suspicious trades, the uncontrolled exercise of which, by persons of loose conduct, is known to contribute to the concealment and multiplication of crimes.—Infinite embarrassments would, through this collateral medium, be placed in the way of those particular Dealers, who reside in the vicinity of the Dock-yards, and who, by a variety of criminal devices, while they are instrumental in doing much mischief, have been able, in many instances, to elude Justice, and to carry on their nefarious practices with impunity.

A Board of Police so organized, by means of Licences and subordinate Officers, as to keep the conduct of these classes of delinquents in view who, by giving facilities to the embezzlers and stealers of naval and other stores, are the chief sources from whence the evil springs; and with power to refuse Licences to those who are known to have been guilty of criminal conduct; would operate very powerfully in limiting these classes of dealers to the honest part of their trade, by which infinite mischief would be prevented.

II. A Local Police for the Dock-yards.

Salutary as the Central Board, recommended by the Select Committee on Finance, must certainly be in controlling and checking the Naval plunder, in common with the general delinquency of the whole country, it would seem indispensably necessary, under circumstances where the moving property is so extensive, and where there exists so many resources and temptations leading to the commission of crimes, to fix on some one person the responsibility of carrying the Laws into effect, and of controlling and overawing the various classes of Delinquents, whose attention is directed to the Dock-yards, as a means of obtaining plunder: That for this purpose, one able and intelligent Magistrate should preside in a Police Office, to be established by Law, at or near the Dock-yards, at Chatham, Portsmouth, and Plymouth, with an establishment consisting of one Clerk, two House and four Boat Constables, with two Police Boats attached to each Office. One Magistrate would be sufficient at each Office, as assistance from the neighbouring Justices could always be procured in case of sickness, or absence, or where any judicial proceeding would require two Magistrates.

No establishment would be necessary for the Dock-yards, and Public Arsenal, at Deptford and Woolwich, as the great civil force, and the number of boats attached to the Marine Police Office at Wapping, when strengthened, extended, and improved in the manner which is proposed, would be competent to carry into effect the Laws now in being, and such as may hereafter be enacted, for the prevention and detection of offences in every part of the River Thames, from London Bridge to the Hope Point.

The Magistrate proposed to be established at Chatham, could occasionally administer justice at Sheerness, while the Boat Officers belonging to the Institution, might be employed advantageously in traversing the River Medway, and in keeping a watchful eye on the various Receivers of stolen goods, who reside in the vicinity of that River, between the two Dock-yards.

At Portsmouth and Plymouth there would be regular employment for the respective Magistrates, and the Boat and other Officers on these establishments.

These three Institutions may be conducted at an expence not exceeding one thousand pounds a year each, viz:—

 

£.

s.

d.

To the responsible resident Magistrate

300

0

0

To his Clerk

100

0

0

To the Constables, 6 in number, 50

l.

each

300

0

0

To House Rent, Coal, Candles, Stationary, tear and wear of Boats, and Rewards for meritorious Services

300

0

0

Total

1000

0

0

Towards defraying this expence, the fees which would be received, and the penalties inflicted for minor offences, under the Legislative regulations hereafter to be proposed, would go a certain length in reducing the expences of the three Police Institutions. But considering the advantages likely to result from those Establishments, were the expence to be incurred even fifty times the amount of what is estimated, it would in all probability be much more than compensated by the savings to the Public, which will result from the preservation of the Public property, independent of the advantages which must arise from an improvement in the morals of a numerous class of delinquents, who have long been in a course of criminal turpitude.

A Police System thus organized under the direction of a Magistrate in each situation, whose attention would be solely confined to this one object, could not fail to be productive of the greatest good, especially when aided by officers, well selected and encouraged to be vigilant and pure in their conduct, from the advantages they would derive from a moiety of the pecuniary penalties, when offenders were convicted, in addition to their salaries, thereby rendering their situations comfortable and desirable, and fortifying them against seduction and connivance with Receivers and Thieves, as too often has been discovered to take place, with respect to parochial Constables resident near the Dock-yards, by which Public Justice has been frequently defeated. The terror which such a System would excite, and the extensive evils a Boat Police are likely to prevent, can only be conceived by those who have witnessed the effect of the Marine Police on the River Thames.

But still apposite Legislative regulations will be necessary to give full effect to this design, and the following heads are suggested as likely to be productive of infinite public advantage, when passed into a Law.

III. Legislative Regulations proposed in aid of the general and local Police System.

1st. That persons having possession of New Naval Stores; or Naval Stores not more than one-third worn, with the King's mark thereon, shall be deemed guilty of receiving goods, knowing them to have been stolen, and on conviction may be transported for 14 years; with power, however, to the Court to reduce it to seven years, or to impose a fine, or punish the offender corporally at its discretion.

2d. Defacing the King's Mark, on any of his Majesty's Stores, to be deemed felony, and punished by transportation for 7 or 14 years.

3d. The powers and provisions of the Act of 2 Geo. 3. cap. 28. commonly called, The Bumboat Act; and also, the general powers and provisions of the Thames Police Act, when it shall pass into a Law, to be extended to all his Majesty's Dock-yards, and to the Rivers and Creeks leading thereto, within the distance of 20 miles.

4th. In all cases where the Crown or its Agents shall decline to prosecute persons, in whose possession the King's Stores shall be found, any one Justice before whom the offender is carried, may proceed as for an offence under the Bumboat Act, or the Thames Police Act (by which maritime offences are to be more minutely explained) and if the party shall not give an account to the satisfaction of the Justice, how the said goods came into his possession, to be convicted of a misdemeanor, and subject to a fine of 40s. or such other minor punishment as these Acts direct.

5th. That all Marine Police Constables (whether the Thames Police, the Medway Police, or the Police Offices at Portsmouth and Plymouth) shall have power to board all hoys and craft in the service of his Majesty, while employed in conveying stores, or in returning after such stores are delivered, for the purpose of searching the same; and in all cases, where stores are found which appear to have been abstracted from the cargo, or otherwise unlawfully obtained, to seize and convey the same, with the offender or offenders, (without prejudice to the service) before a Justice; and in case the Solicitor for the Crown, (on due notice given, shall decline to prosecute for the major offence) the parties in whose custody the stores were found, not giving a satisfactory account of obtaining the same, shall be convicted of a misdemeanor, and punished by fine or imprisonment.

6th. The act of having jiggers or small pumps, or bladders with or without nozzles, or casks for drawing off liquor in hoys or craft; of throwing goods over board when pursued to elude detection; of fabricating false bills of parcels, to cover suspected goods, and defeat the ends of Justice; of having goods in possession, suspected to be King's stores, and not giving a good account of the same; of refusing to assist Marine Police Constables in the execution of their duty; of obstructing the said Officers; of damaging Police Boats, to be punished as misdemeanors, under the authority of the said Bumboat Act, and the proposed Thames Police Act; namely, by fine or imprisonment.

7th. Boats, craft, carts, carriages, or horses, &c. from which stolen or embezzled King's stores shall be seized, to be forfeited, and disposed of as directed by the said Marine Police Bill.

8th. In all cases where, in seizing stores, articles not having the King's mark shall be found intermixed with stores having such mark, the party in whose possession they are found shall be obliged to give an account, to the satisfaction of the Justice, by what means he obtained the unmarked stores, otherwise the same to be forfeited, and sent to his Majesty's Repositories.

9th. Power to be granted to the Commissioners of the Navy, or any one Justice, to issue warrants, on proper information upon oath to Peace Officers, to search for King's stores, without any proof of such stores being actually stolen, taken, or carried away. The power of the Commissioners in this case to extend to all Counties in England.

10th. The Laws relating to falsifying, erasing, or fabricating documents, vouchers, books, accounts, or writings, of any kind, with an intent to defraud his Majesty, to be revised and amended, so as to apply more pointedly to offences of this nature.

11th. Persons in his Majesty's service in any of the Dock-yards or Public Arsenals, having King's stores in their possession, to the amount of 5l. value, and not being authorised to keep such stores, to be conclusive evidence of embezzlement, and to be punished by transportation.

12th. As an encouragement to excite vigilance in Officers of Justice, it is humbly proposed, that the Commissioners of his Majesty's Navy, Victualing, and other Departments, should be authorised, and required by Law, to pay the following rewards for the conviction of offenders, on the certificate of Judges and Magistrates, before whom such convictions took place—

40l. on Conviction for any Capital Offence.

20l. on Conviction for Felony, punished—Transportation, Fine or Imprisonment, or Whipping, before a Superior Court.

10l. for Misdemeanors, by Indictment before the Quarter or General Sessions of the Peace.

2l. for Convictions before Justices for Minor Offences.

From such Legislative Regulations infinite would be the advantages which might reasonably be expected, when by the establishment of a Naval Police System, their due and proper execution would be rendered certain; and also, in all cases, where the evidence against offenders, although perfectly conclusive as to the fact, may be deficient in some points of legal nicety, by putting the onus probandi on the offender, and treating it as a minor offence: the ends of Public Justice will, in a great measure, be answered by inflicting some punishment on the offender, and however inferior it may be to what he deserves, it will still have an excellent effect, since it is not so much by severe punishments, as by the certainty of some punishment being inflicted, and the obloquy of a conviction when offences are committed, that Delinquents of this class are deterred from the commission of crimes.

Having thus traced the outlines of such remedies, for the protection of his Majesty's Naval, Victualing, Ordnance and other stores, as certainly require Legislative Regulations; it remains now to consider, what other measures may appear necessary, within the limits of the authority with which the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are invested, for the purpose of rendering the Preventive System complete.

Those which have occurred to the Author of this Work will be classed under the following Heads:

IV. Regulations respecting the Sale of Old Stores.

V. The Abolition of the Perquisite of Chips.

VI. The Abolition of Fees and Perquisites of every description; to be recompensed by a liberal increase of Salaries.

VII. An improved Mode of keeping Accounts.

VIII. An annual Inventory of Stores on hand.

IV. Old Stores.

The mode at present practised in disposing of unserviceable Naval and Victualing Stores by Auction, in the Public Arsenals and Repositories, is productive of infinite evils, independent of the cover which is thereby afforded to many purchasers, of loose conduct, in protecting them, by means of the certificates they obtain against the penalties of the Law, as Receivers of stolen and embezzled goods of the same species and quality; thereby not only defeating the ends of Public Justice, but operating as an encouragement to these criminal dealers to extend the iniquitous part of their trade, by holding out facilities and incitements to those who have access to commit depredations on the Public Property, which possibly would never have otherwise taken place.

The Public Sales at the Dock-yards and other Repositories, draw together men of loose and depraved morals; who, in order to obtain bargains, do not hesitate (wherever it can be done) to seduce, by means of pecuniary gratuities, the inferior officers and labourers into the evil practice of mixing superior stores with unserviceable articles, ordered to be made up in lots, so as to elude discovery. New and valuable cordage has been detected coiled within old cables,[75] while frauds also are practised as to the weight, and in the delivery of greater quantities than are actually sold.—Such practices have taken place in spite of the vigilance and attention of the superior officers, by which a two-fold mischief arises,—in the immediate loss which is sustained by the frauds thus practised, and in the cover which is thus afforded for the protection of additional stores purchased clandestinely; perhaps from the persons who have been thus corrupted.—An evil so prominent, in the view of a very able and penetrating Judge now upon the bench, as to induce him to declare publicly in Court, immediately after a trial, where a notorious offender (as many notorious offenders do) escaped Justice, under the cover of his certificates: "That Government had better burn their old Stores than suffer them to be the means of generating so many offences"—or to the same effect.

It is however humbly presumed that a remedy may be applied without the destruction of such valuable materials; and the following suggestions are offered with a view to this object.

Plan for an improved mode of disposing of unserviceable Naval and Victualing Stores.

1st. That instead of selling those stores upon the spot where the criminal connections are formed, the Naval articles shall be made up in assorted lots suitable to the London, Bristol, Liverpool, Whitehaven, Glasgow, Newcastle, and Hull Markets. That a responsible Agent should be appointed to conduct the sales at each of these Ports.—That they shall be men of the first respectability in the commercial line, who can give ample security for their fidelity in the execution of the trust reposed in them.—That they shall receive the stores at the yards or repositories where they are made up, and convey them to their respective Warehouses at their own expence: on having an allowance of 6 per Cent. for Freight-charges, Warehouse-rent, Insurance against Sea-risk and Fire, and all other expences; and 4 per Cent. for commission on the amount of the Sales.

That the said stores shall not on any pretence be sold to dealers, but only to the actual consumers, or Rope Spinners to convert into small cordage; nor shall any certificate be granted to purchasers on any pretence whatsoever.

That accounts of sales shall be furnished monthly, and such sales shall be accompanied by a full remittance for the amount, it being always understood that no credit is to be allowed.

That at the end of each year, an inventory shall be transmitted on a specific day to be fixed, of the whole stores on hand, and a general account current shall be then furnished; in which shall be exhibited, agreeable to a form to be prescribed, a complete view of the whole transactions which have occurred during the preceding year, with a full remittance for the balance due on the said account.

2d. That the Metalic Stores which are deemed unserviceable shall be deposited in a commodious Magazine in London, under the charge of a responsible Agent, competent to such a trust.—That it shall be his duty to employ proper Artificers to convert all that are capable of being converted into serviceable Stores, and when so renovated, to be returned to Deptford Yard.—And such Metalic Stores as are incapable of being converted into useful purposes at a moderate expence, so as clearly to demonstrate a saving to Government, shall be disposed of to founders and others, at the best price that can be obtained.

The Agent for Metalic Stores to be allowed 10 per Cent. on the value as ascertained, by the original Invoice, founded on a survey and valuation upon oath, and this to be in full of Freight, Carriage, Warehouse-rent, Insurance from fire, and all other expences, including Commission for his trouble, on all Stores that are again converted to useful purposes; and 7½ per cent. on the value of such as are sold, in consequence of their being incapable of being rendered useful; so as to make it the interest of the Agent to render as large a portion useful as possible.

It is presumed that by an arrangement of this kind, an immense sum will be saved to the Public annually; who would retain the Contractor's profit in all cases where Old Stores are received back at the price of old Metal, and again returned at the full contract price, after a small expence is incurred in converting them into serviceable Stores.

3d. That in consequence of the superior resource for the consumption of Provisions, Casks, &c. in London, the whole of the unserviceable Victualing Stores (except such as from their small value and bulky nature will not defray the expences of conveyance) shall be collected in a large repository in London, under the charge of an able and intelligent Agent, who shall give proper security for his faithful management; and conduct the sales upon the principles already explained for ready money only, rendering an account and making his payments monthly, and a final Account and Inventory at the end of the year; to be at the whole expence of removing the goods from the different Repositories to the Magazine in London; to be allowed 4 per Cent. Commission on the sales, and 6 per Cent. in lieu of all charges.

4th. That the attention of the respective Boards may not be diverted from other objects by attending to the details, which will arise in the management of those establishments, a superintending Agent shall be appointed, who shall receive the directions of the different Boards, and correspond with the local Agents.—He shall moreover be the Receiver General of the monthly remittances, and shall immediately pay the same as directed by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.—It will be his duty to arrange the shipping of Old Stores from the different Yards, in conformity to the wants or demands of the respective Agents, so as to keep up their several assortments, by conveying to each not only such articles, (as far as it can be done) as are most in demand, but also such as comparatively fetch the best price.—He shall receive the monthly and yearly accounts, and lay an abstract of the same before the Lords of the Admiralty, and the Navy and Victualing Board respectively, as they apply to their different departments, and shall be the general medium of communication from the respective Boards to the local Agents.—The superintending Agent shall transmit a regular invoice to the local Agents of all goods shipped:—Shall keep regular books and accounts of all transactions under his charge, and shall receive for his trouble 1 per cent. on the Remittances or Payments which he may make, under the directions of the Lords of the Admiralty.

By this arrangement it will be the interest of all the parties concerned, to render the sale as productive as possible; and as the stores in question will constantly be exposed to sale, where the demand for such articles is most extensive, the probability is, that higher prices will be obtained than at present; and that upon the whole, after paying all expences, a larger aggregate sum will be received annually by Government, since, as the sales are only to be made to the actual Containers, the Dealer's profit will make a part of the Sale Price, and will be thereby secured to the Public. As men of the first character and respectability may be expected to solicit for such Commissions, no doubt can be entertained, either of the purity of their conduct, or their exertions to sell to the best advantage. Their credit and interest, and also the emulation between one Agent and another, as to who shall make the best sales, will prove a powerful stimulus and a strong ground of security.—Above all, the plan is easy and practicable:—It imposes no trouble upon the superior or inferior officers in the different Naval Departments, and no doubt can be entertained, that while it shuts up all the avenues to fraud and peculation, which at present operate so powerfully in facilitating the stealing and embezzling of Naval and Victualing Stores, in the result it will prove highly beneficial to Government.

V. The Perquisite of Chips.

The extensive evils arising from the permission granted to Artificers in the Dock-yards, to convert chips to their own use, and to remove them in bundles from the Dock-yards, having already been noticed, it may only be necessary to add, that on the abolition of this perquisite, which the Author has reason to believe is now in contemplation, a liberal increase of wages should be made to the Artificers in lieu thereof; and that hereafter Chips should not be sold in the Yards by Public Auction, but removed to a place of deposit at some small distance, and disposed of, not to the highest bidder, but at such price as should be offered above the estimated value, and by no means by contract.

By adopting this mode, the saving of useful Timber, Time, and Property, which, through the medium of the existing practice, is purloined, lost and stolen, would probably exceed any estimate that has been formed from a view of the present abuses.

This measure, while it forms an important Link in the preventive Chain, would appear to be easy and practicable.

If necessary the superintending Agent for unserviceable stores, whose functions have already been explained, could take upon him the sole management of the disposal of the chips at the different Yards, by which a handsome sum might be obtained annually in aid of the resources of the State, perhaps more than would be sufficient to pay the additional wages of the Artificers, while no existing arrangement in the Yards would be disturbed, nor any trouble given to the Officers, who at present fill the respective Departments in those Arsenals.

VI. The Abolition of Fees and Perquisites, and an Increase of Salaries.

The total Abolition of Fees guarded by the severest penalties, is an important object in the preventive System: Until this is effected, it will be in vain to expect purity of conduct. Under this pretext, men of loose principles, in transactions with Government, seldom fail to seduce from the strict line of their duty, avaricious, extravagant, or indigent Officers, whose business it is to check and control the receipt and delivery of property, and to arrange, settle, and adjust Accounts, or to form Public Documents. The delusion and seduction of these Officers is not seldom effected by the supposed liberality of those whose business must pass through their hands; and they are not at all times perfectly aware of the injury that is done to the Public.

It has already been observed, and it is a circumstance much to be lamented, that in too many instances, where individuals have pecuniary transactions with any of the Departments of Government, a dereliction of principle is apparent which does not extend to the general intercourse of society, and hence arises the necessity of stronger guards, where the Public interest is concerned; and nothing appears to be better calculated to counteract this baneful propensity in the human mind than the total abolition of fees and perquisites.

It is said to be no uncommon thing to pay 300l. for a Clerk's situation in the Dock-yards, where the salary does not exceed 30l. or 40l. a year; and it is known that some who hold such situations live very expensively. It may be fairly asked, in what manner a person so situated is to reimburse himself? the conclusion is obvious, and the result has been already explained, which may perhaps be still farther elucidated by stating the following fact:—

An Officer of Justice having discovered some instances of pillage and peculation going forward in the course of the removal of old copper and other articles, from a dismantled ship of war, complained to the Store-keeper in the Dock-yard, whose province it was to have received those articles into his charge, which were conveyed elsewhere.—He replied thus: "D—n it, mind your own business.—Such things have always been done, and will continue in spite of you and me; it will, at any rate, last our time."

While the resources of Government are fully commensurate to the liberal remuneration of its servants, so as to place them above all temptations to abuse the trust reposed in them: and while such remuneration is in itself no less politic than just, the object and view of the Author of these pages differs widely from this faithless servant of the Crown. The suggestions now offered, lead to measures, which he now trusts to the honour and credit of those respectable characters, at the head of the different departments, are in the best train of being adopted, by the total abolition of Fees and Perquisites, and a liberal Increase of Salary, in lieu of the reduction of income, which such an arrangement will occasion: Such salaries as will secure to the Nation those inestimable advantages, which always result from rectitude of conduct, zeal, accuracy, and fidelity, in the discharge of Public trusts committed to subordinate Officers. It is by this and other wise and practicable arrangements, that a confidence is to be established, "that the resources of the State will not only last our time," but extend to many generations; while the improvement of Public morals will contribute, in an eminent degree, to the happiness and prosperity of the country.

VII. An improved Mode of Keeping Accounts.

Under an impression, that very few improvements have been introduced, since the establishment of the original System, for keeping the Navy and Victualing Accounts, brought forward by King James II. when Duke of York; while the frauds which have been committed by various devices, prove some imperfections in the mode of accomptantship as now practised, since no means appear to exist, whereby deficiencies can be checked and discovered; it may be worthy of inquiry, whether many of the modern improvements, which the vast extent of our Commerce has introduced, might not be rendered useful in establishing new Checks, by means of a System of Book-keeping, which would have the same effect in detecting frauds, and discovering inaccuracies, as prevails in arranging and closing the accounts of well-regulated Commercial Establishments; adopting at the same time in the general detail, particularly in the transit of stores, some of these excellent regulations, which have been found so salutary and useful in the system of the Excise. Of the practicability of improvements of this nature there can be little doubt, since it merely depends on the exercise of that knowledge, attention, and assiduity, which, when properly exerted, has generally accomplished objects, which have often appeared impracticable to minds uninformed, or not enlarged by an extensive intercourse with the world, or a knowledge of the general affairs of life:—But as this observation can in no respect apply to the respectable and intelligent Individuals, who superintend the Great Public Concerns, which have been subject to the various abuses, which they feel so anxious to remedy, sanguine hopes are entertained, that an improvement in the mode of keeping the Official Accounts may be speedily carried into effect.

VIII. An annual Inventory of Stores.

Supposing an accurate System of Book-keeping to be adopted, and to be followed as a part of the proposed System of Accuracy, indispensably necessary, by an annual account of Stores; the advantages resulting from it are not to be estimated by the most sanguine mind. Independent of the benefits which would arise from the general accuracy, which would thus incircle the whole œconomy of the design, discoveries would be made wherever frauds or embezzlements took place, while the labour and expence, which such a task might impose, would be compensated one hundred fold, in the National advantages which it would produce.

Thus has the Author briefly gone over the whole ground, which he had assigned to himself, as comprehending every object on the subject of the depredations on his Majesty's Stores, which appeared likely to render his suggestions useful to his country, whether they relate to improved Legislative Regulations requiring the aid of Parliament, or to Measures competent for the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to carry into effect. In the prosecution of this task he has been stimulated in a particular degree, by the laudable and patriotic disposition, which has been manifested to promote improvements in Naval Police, and the honourable proofs he has received of a desire to render his suggestions useful.

If the period should indeed arrive (and it is to be hoped it may soon arrive) when these suggestions, or even a part of them, shall be acted upon, in a manner calculated to promote the National Interest, the Author of these pages will then feel himself gratified, and rewarded by the pleasing reflection, that his well-meant labours, in placing an important branch of the political œconomy of the country in this particular point of view, have not been in vain.

CHAP. X.

Receivers of stolen Goods more mischievous than Thieves;—the latter could not exist without the assistance of the former:—the Suppression therefore of Receivers would restore to Society, and to honest Industry, a great number who at present live by crimes.—The increase of Receivers of stolen Goods to be attributed to the imperfection of the Laws, and to the disjointed state of the Police of the Metropolis.—The number of common Receivers does not exceed sixty; of whom not above ten are persons of property able to purchase valuable articles.—Thieves, in many instances, settle with receivers before they commit robberies:—Receivers always benefit more than Thieves:—Their profit immense:—They are divided into two classes.—The immediate Receivers connected with Thieves, and those who keep shops and purchase from Pilferers in the way of trade:—The latter are extremely numerous.—The Laws are insufficient effectually to reach either class.—The existing statutes examined and briefly detailed, namely, the 3d and 4th of William and Mary, cap. 9; the 1st Anne, cap. 9; the 5th of Anne, cap. 31; 4 George I. cap. 11; 29 George II. cap. 30; 30 George II. cap. 24; 2 George III. cap. 28; 10 George III. cap. 48; 21 George III. cap. 69; 22 George III. cap. 58.—Observations on these respective statutes.—Amendments and improvements suggested.—Means proposed to ensure the due execution of these improvements.

HAVING in the preceding Chapters completed the proposed explanation of the various depredations and frauds upon the Public: It remains now, in the order of the plan, to examine and follow up the progress of this property, from the hands of Thieves, Robbers, Cheats, and Swindlers, to that of Receivers, or first Purchasers of Goods stolen or fraudulently obtained.

In contemplating the characters of all these different classes of delinquents, there can be little hesitation in pronouncing the Receivers to be the most mischievous of the whole; inasmuch as without the aid they afford, in purchasing and concealing every species of property stolen or fraudulently obtained, Thieves, Robbers, and Swindlers, as has already been frequently observed, must quit the trade, as unproductive and hazardous in the extreme.

Nothing therefore can be more just than the old observation, "that if there were no Receivers there would be no Thieves."—Deprive a thief of a sale and ready market for his goods, and he is undone.

Let the strong arm of the law, and the vigour and energy of the Police be directed in a particular manner against Receivers; and the chief part of those robberies and burglaries, which are so much dreaded, on account of the acts of violence which attend them, would absolutely cease to exist:—and the resource for plunder being thus narrowed in so great a degree, robberies on the highway would alone seldom answer the purpose of the adventurer; where the risk would be so exceedingly multiplied, while the advantages were in the same proportion diminished;—the result therefore would be, that in the suppression of the Receivers, the encouragement to become Thieves and Robbers would be taken away: and the present Depredators upon the Public must either return to honest labour as useful members of the State, or submit to be starved.

Obvious and desirable however as a measure of this sort would be, it has never hitherto been put in practice. This has proceeded from a variety of causes; one of the principal of which is the disjointed state of the Police of the Metropolis, occasioned by a number of jurisdictions clashing with each other, and preventing the full operation of a proper system of vigilance and energy; which, with the aid of apposite and improved laws and a superintending agency, could not fail, either to root out all the Receivers of stolen Goods of any consequence, or compel them to abandon their mischievous trade.

These observations apply to that class of Receivers alone, who are in immediate connection with the thieves, burglars, and highway robbers;—and who aid and assist them in the purchase and concealment of whatever is stolen.—From the best information that can be obtained, their number does not exceed fifty or sixty in all; of whom not more than ten, (whose names and places of abode are well known) can be said to be persons of property who can raise money to purchase articles of considerable value.

Aided by a well-regulated and energetic system of Police that might pervade the whole Metropolis, how easy would it be, to compel these large dealers to abandon the trade? The measure of watching their houses day and night, would cost no great sum, and would embarrass the thieves and burglars, more than any other system that could be pursued.

It rarely happens that thieves go upon the highway, or commit burglaries, until the money they have previously acquired is exhausted. Having laid their plans for new depredations, negociation is frequently entered upon with the most favourite Receiver, who (to use their own language) is likely to be staunch, and to keep their secrets.—The plan is explained.—Some liquor is drunk to the good luck of the enterprize, and the hour fixed when they are to return with the booty: if plate is expected, the crucible is ready in a small furnace, built for the purpose, instantly to melt it, and arrangements are made for the immediate concealment of the other articles.—Of the nature of these previous arrangements, something has already been said in Chap. IV. on Burglary and Highway Robbery.

There are, however, exceptions to this rule, where the Receivers are not trusted till the booty is acquired; and where it is in the first instance removed to the houses of the thieves, or to those of some of their friends; but it seldom remains longer than may be necessary to obliterate the marks: for money must be procured. Most thieves are improvident; their wants are therefore pressing—they must sell—the Receiver knows this and makes his own terms;—and he of course enjoys by far the largest share of the profit.

The plunder thus purchased, finds a ready vent through the extensive connections of the Jew dealers, both in this Country and upon the Continent: and from the facts already stated in the course of this Work, it may easily be conceived that the trade is not only extensive, but that the profit is immense, since it rarely happens (except in the articles of plate,) that thieves receive to the amount of above one-third; or one-fourth of the value of what is stolen.

The mass of the Receivers of stolen property in and near the Metropolis, (exclusive of those more immediately concerned in River-plunder, as stated in Chapter VIII. on that subject,) may be classed in two divisions:

"1. The Dealers already mentioned, as immediately connected with professed and notorious thieves, and who are their principal supporters, especially when apprehended and under prosecution. Many of these have themselves been originally thieves upon the town, acquitted, pardoned, or discharged from the hulks: who prefer the trade of a Receiver as less hazardous and more profitable, than that of a thief; and to conceal the fraud frequently set up Chandlers-Shops, Coal-Sheds, Potatoe-Warehouses, or Old Iron-Shops, and not seldom become Masters of Public Houses, that they may appear to have some visible means of obtaining a livelihood. Those who have not been originally thieves generally keep shops in different branches of trade, some of whom are very opulent.

"2. The Dealers in Old Iron and other Metal—Rags—Old Wearing Apparel—Buyers, Refiners, and Workers of Gold and Silver—Dealers in Second-hand Furniture, and Building Materials, and that Class of Sharping Pawnbrokers who have connections with criminal people.

"The Dealers last mentioned are extremely numerous, and amount to several thousands in the Metropolis alone, some of whom are innocent Receivers, not aware that they are purchasing stolen articles;—others, careless Receivers, asking no questions, and purchasing every thing that is offered:—but a large proportion of criminal Receivers, who purchase every thing that is offered in the way of trade; well knowing, from the price and other circumstances, that the property was originally stolen."

As the Laws now stand, (numerous, and pointed as they appear to be) it has been found from experience, that neither of these classes can be easily reached; and hence it is that they have multiplied in so great a degree, (particularly the small Receivers) within the last twenty years, and may even be said to have reigned with impunity.

For the purpose of suggesting an effectual legislative Remedy, it will be necessary to examine shortly the laws now in being, which are applicable to this peculiar offence.—

By the Statute of the 3d and 4th of William and Mary, cap. 9, it is enacted, "that Receivers of stolen Goods, knowing them to be stolen, shall be deemed Accessaries after the fact."

But this offence being dependent on the fate of the Principal—a Receiver, thus circumstanced, could not be tried till after the conviction of such Principal; so that, however strong and conclusive the evidence might be, the Receiver was still safe, unless the Thief could be apprehended—and even if apprehended and put upon his trial, if acquitted through any defect of evidence, the Receiver, (although he had actually confessed the crime, and the goods found in his possession, could be proved to have been stolen,) must be acquitted:—this offence also, even if completely proved, applied only to capital felonies, and not to petty larceny.

These defects were discovered, and partly remedied by the Statutes 1 Anne, cap. 9; and 5 Anne, cap. 31, which enact, "That Buyers and Receivers of stolen Goods, knowing them to be stolen, may be prosecuted for a misdemeanor, and punished by fine and imprisonment; though the Principal be not previously convicted of felony."

This Act, 5 Anne, c. 31, also greatly improved the Laws applicable to this species of offence by empowering the Court to substitute a corporal punishment instead of fine and imprisonment; and by declaring, that if the felony shall be proved against the Thief, then the Receiver shall be taken as Accessary, and shall receive judgment of death; but the benefit of Clergy is reserved.

The Laws being still found insufficient, the Statute of the fourth of George the First, cap. 11, enacted, "That Receivers of stolen Goods, knowing them to be stolen, should, on conviction, be transported for fourteen years; and that buying at an under value should be presumptive evidence of such knowledge:—and the same statute makes it felony (according to the nature of the felony committed in stealing the Goods) for any person directly or indirectly to take a reward for helping any person to stolen Goods; unless such person bring the felon to his trial, and give evidence against him."

But these amendments also proving ineffectual, and not being found to apply immediately to persons receiving stolen lead, iron, copper, brass, bell-metal or solder taken from buildings, or from ships, vessels, wharfs, or quays—It was enacted by the 29th of George the Second, cap. 30, "That every person who shall buy or Receive such articles, knowing the same to be stolen, or who shall privately purchase these respective metals by suffering any door, window, or shutter, to be left open between sun-setting and sun-rising, or shall buy or receive any of the said metals in any clandestine manner, shall, on conviction, be transported for fourteen years, although the principal felon has not been convicted." Sec. 1.

The same Act empowers one Justice to grant a warrant to search in the day time for such metals suspected to be stolen, as by the oath of one witness may appear to be deposited or concealed in any house or place; and if goods are found, the Act goes so far as to empower two Justices to adjudge the person having the custody of the same, guilty of a misdemeanor, if he cannot produce the party from whom he purchased, or give a satisfactory account how they came into his possession; and the offender shall, for the first offence forfeit 40s. for the second 4l. and for every subsequent offence 6l. Sec. 2; 6.

This Act also empowers officers of justice (and watchmen while on duty) to apprehend all persons suspected of conveying any stolen metals, as already described, after sun-set or before sun-rise; and if such persons cannot give a good account of the manner in which they were obtained, two Magistrates are in like manner authorized to adjudge them guilty of a misdemeanor, and they forfeit forty shillings, &c. Sec. 3; 6.

The persons also to whom such articles are offered for sale or to be pawned, where there is reasonable ground to suppose they were stolen, are empowered to apprehend and secure the parties and the materials, to be dealt with according to law. And if it shall appear even on the evidence of the thief, corroborated by other testimony, that there was cause to suspect the goods were stolen, and that the person to whom they were offered, did not do his duty in apprehending the person offering the same, he shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and forfeit twenty shillings for the first offence: forty shillings for the second, and four pounds for every subsequent offence, Sec. 5, 6. And so anxious has the Legislature been to suppress the evil of stealing and receiving metals, that the 8th Section entitles the actual Thief to a pardon, on the discovery and conviction of two or more of the Receivers. And the 9th Section screens from prosecution any person stealing such metals, who shall discover the Receiver to whom the same were delivered, so as a conviction may follow.—In spite, however, of these numerous and apparently effectual checks, it is to be lamented that the evil has continued to increase.

In the following year it was provided by the Act 30th of George the Second, cap. 24, that it shall be lawful for any Pawnbroker, or any other dealer, their servants or agents, to whom any goods shall be offered to be pawned, exchanged, or sold, which shall be suspected to be stolen, to seize and detain the persons offering the same, for the purpose of being examined by a Justice; who is empowered, if he sees any grounds to apprehend that the goods have been illegally obtained, to commit the persons, offering the same, to prison for a period not exceeding six days; and if on further examination, the Justice shall be satisfied that the goods were stolen, he shall commit the offender to prison, to be dealt with according to Law; and although it may, under such circumstances, afterwards appear that the goods in question were fairly obtained, yet the parties who seized the supposed offender shall be indemnified.—Sec. 7, 8.

It would have been useful if the principles of the first of these excellent acts had extended to every kind of goods and chattels, horses, cattle, money, and Bank-notes,[76] as well as to the metals therein described. Indeed it is to be lamented, that the System has not been to look at great features of abuse in the gross, so as to meet every existing evil at once. Thus another partial Statute was made, 2 George III. c. 28, extending the provisions of the 29th Geo. II. c. 30. to goods, stores, or materials taken from ships in the River Thames, by enacting, "that all persons purchasing such goods, knowing them to be stolen, or receiving the same in a concealed or clandestine manner between sun-setting and sun-rising, shall be transported for fourteen years, although the principal felon be not convicted:" but by the wording of this Act, it is doubtful if it applies to receiving goods stolen from vessels not afloat in the river.[77]

The next Statute applicable to the Receivers of stolen goods, is the 10th of George III. cap. 48, by which it is enacted, "that every person who shall buy or receive any jewels, gold, silver, plate or watches, knowing the same to be stolen, where such stealing was accompanied by a burglary or highway robbery, may be tried as well before as after the principal felon is convicted; and whether he be in, or out of custody; and if found guilty, shall be transported for fourteen years."

Eleven years after passing of the above mentioned Statute, the Legislature, appearing to be impressed with the great extent of the depredations committed by persons stealing pewter pots, and desirous to punish the Receivers, the Statute of the 21st of George the Third, cap. 69, enacts, "that every person who shall buy or receive any pewter pot or other vessel, or any pewter in any form or shape whatsoever, knowing the same to be stolen, or who shall privately buy or receive stolen pewter, in a clandestine manner, between sun-setting and sun-rising, shall on conviction, be transported for seven years, or detained in the House of Correction, at hard labour for a term not exceeding three years, nor less than one; and may be whipped not more than three times; although the principal felon has not been convicted."

In the following Session of Parliament, the Statute 22 George III. c. 28. (said to have been framed by an able and experienced Lawyer and Magistrate),[78] removed many of the imperfections of former Statutes, and particularly that which respected Petty Larceny; by enacting, "that where any goods (except lead, iron, copper, brass, bell-metal, or solder, the Receivers of which are punishable under the 29th George II. c. 30. noticed before,p. 295.) have been stolen, whether the offence amount to Grand Larceny, or some greater offence, or to Petty Larceny only; (except where the offender has been convicted of Grand Larceny, or some greater offence; when the Receiver must be prosecuted as an Accessary, and under the 4th George I. c. 11, may be transported for fourteen years; see page 295.)—Every person who shall buy or receive the same, knowing them to be stolen, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by fine, imprisonment, or whipping, as the Quarter Sessions, who are empowered to try offenders, or any other Court before whom they shall be tried, shall think fit, although the Principal be not convicted; and if the felony amounts to Grand Larceny, or some greater offence, and the person committing such felony has not been before convicted, such offender shall be exempted from being punished as Accessary, if the principal shall be afterwards convicted."—Sect. 1.

This Act also empowers one Justice to grant a warrant to search for stolen goods in the day time, on oath being made that there are just grounds of suspicion; and the person concealing the said goods, or in whose custody they are found, shall in like manner be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished in the manner before-mentioned.—Sect. 9.

The same Act extended the powers granted by former Acts relative to metals, to any other kind of goods: by authorizing peace officers (and also watchmen while on duty) to apprehend all persons suspected of carrying stolen goods after sun-setting and before sun-rising, who shall, on conviction, be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and imprisoned, not exceeding six, nor less than three months.—Sec. 3.

Power is also given by this Act to any person to whom goods, suspected to be stolen, shall be offered to be sold or pawned, to apprehend the person offering the same, and to carry him before a Justice.—Sec. 4.

And as an encouragement to young Thieves to discover the Receivers, the same Act provides, That if any person or persons being out of custody, or in custody, if under the age of 15 years, upon any charge of felony, within benefit of Clergy, shall have committed any felony, and shall discover two Receivers, so as that they shall be convicted, such Discoverer shall have pardon for all felonies by him committed before such discovery.

These various Acts of Parliament prove how very prominent the evil of receiving stolen goods has been in the view of the Legislature.—It is to be lamented however, that a more general and comprehensive view has not been taken of the subject, by substituting, instead of the piece-meal System which has been from time to time adopted, on suggestions applicable only to particular cases, one general law that should have embraced every object, and remedied every defect in the existing Statutes, on this important subject of criminal jurisprudence.

That these Laws, numerous as they are, and applicable as many of them appear to be, have not been in any degree effectual, is clearly manifested by the unquestionable increase of the evil, even to an extent beyond all calculation.

Under such circumstances, where the Receiver is in reality the greatest offender, and even the source from whence most of the burglaries and highway robberies have their origin, the Thief being not seldom his pupil—Why should not the Receipt of Stolen Goods be made an original offence?[79]—Why should not the rewards for detection, and the punishment on conviction, be the same, in the case both of the Receiver and the Thief?

In contemplating the best means of preventing depredations upon the public, the simplest and perhaps the most effectual mode would be to make a stand at this particular point; by bending the attention wholly to the means of destroying effectually the trade of Receiving stolen goods; under the fullest conviction that by accomplishing so valuable a purpose, thieving and swindling in all its branches would also be, in a great measure, destroyed.

It is believed, that this object (difficult as it may appear) is attainable, by well digested applicable laws, containing and enforcing such regulations as would ensure a full and energetic execution.

The importance of a measure of this kind is so immense, that if even a considerable part of one Session of Parliament were employed in devising and legalizing a proper System, it would be time well and usefully spent for the benefit of the Country.

The obvious means of remedy seem to lie within a narrow compass. The first point to be obtained is the Licensing all those dealers (some of them already particularized in pages 292, 293), whose various branches of trade are friendly to the encouragement of depredations; and the putting them under the control of the Central Board of Police, in the manner stated more fully in the concluding part of this Work.—

The next step must be to consolidate and improve the Laws now in being, relative to Receivers of stolen goods; by an arrangement which shall render the whole clear and explicit, and applicable to all the evils which have been felt to exist.

And lastly to make the following additions to these Laws:

"1. To make the receiving stolen goods an original offence; punishable in the same manner, in all cases, as the principal felony is punishable by Law.

"2. The offence of receiving money, bank notes, horses, cattle, poultry, or any matter or thing whatsoever, to be the same as receiving goods and chattels.

"3. The persons committing any felony or larceny to be competent to give evidence against the Receiver, and vice versa; Provided that the testimony and evidence of such Principal Felon against the Receiver, or the evidence of the Receiver against the Principal Felon, shall not be of itself sufficient to convict, without other concurrent evidence: and that the offenders so giving evidence shall be entitled to his Majesty's pardon, and also to a reward of from 10l. to 50l. as hereafter mentioned; unless they shall be found guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury.—By this means the Thief will be set against the Receiver, and the Receiver against the Thief.

"4. That rewards be paid for the detection and apprehension of Receivers as well as Thieves, in all cases whatsoever, according to the discretion of the Judge; whether there shall be a conviction or not; which reward shall not be less than ten and may extend to fifty pounds.

"5. That the various classes of dealers to be licensed shall enter into recognizance for their good behaviour: and that no licences be granted to persons having been convicted of felony or perjury, nor to any but such as can obtain and produce a certificate of good character.

"6. That all such licensed dealers, as also Publicans, Pawnbrokers, &c. shall be subject to a penalty for concealing any stolen goods which may come into their possession, after the same are advertised;—or punished with transportation, if it can be made appear that such goods were purchased at an under value, being known to be stolen.

"7. That all drivers of Hackney-Coaches, employed to take fares after twelve o'clock at night, shall be licensed by the Magistrates of the division; and shall enter into recognizance for their good behaviour, themselves and one surety in 50l. at least; and that every such coachman shall be obliged, whenever he carries any goods or valuables, to make a report of the same, on the following morning, to the Magistrate of his district, if no suspicion arises as to any improper or felonious intention; but in all cases where a felonious intention shall appear, the coachman to be authorized and required to call the assistance of the watchmen and patroles, and to seize and apprehend the parties, and lodge them and the goods in the nearest watch-house; there to be kept until brought before a justice, at the Public-Office of the district, on the following morning: And although it may ultimately appear that the coachman was mistaken and the parties innocent, yet where it shall be manifest to the Justice that he hath acted bona fide, he shall not be liable to any prosecution:[80] and if it shall appear that the goods so conveyed were stolen property, then the coachman shall be entitled, whether a conviction shall follow or not, to a reward of two guineas; and in all cases where a prosecution shall follow, he shall be entitled to such further reward as the Court shall think proper.

"8. That all watchmen or patroles who shall appear upon proper proof to connive at the commission of felonies[81] in the night time, or while they are on duty; or shall knowingly conceal any felonious removal of stolen goods, or goods suspected to be stolen, and conveying to Receivers' houses, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to be imprisoned, whipt, or put in the pillory.—And in all cases where such watchmen or patroles shall observe any goods or other articles conveyed in Hackney-coaches, or in any other manner, while they are upon duty, from one place to another, they shall report the same to the Justices at the nearest Public Office, in the morning: But if they shall have good grounds to suspect a felonious intention, and that the property is stolen, the goods and all the parties concerned shall be conveyed to the nearest watch-house, for the purpose of being brought before a Magistrate; and such watchmen (acting bona fide) shall not be liable to any prosecution in case of a mistake; and if a felony shall have been actually committed, they shall each be entitled to one guinea, besides their proportion of any future reward which may be ordered by the Court who shall try the offenders.[82]"

In the formation of such a System, it is absolutely necessary that care should be taken to secure a regular and perfect execution, by means of a proper superintendance and inspection:—without this, the best laws will remain a dead letter.—Such has, in fact, been the case in a great measure with respect to several of the very excellent Statutes, now in force, relative to Receivers of stolen Goods; and such also would be the case with regard to the laws relative to the Revenue, if a System had not been established to secure their execution.

If it be allowed that the prevention of crimes is at least of as much importance to Society, as any consideration connected with partial revenue:—if experience has shewn that, after the skill and ingenuity of the ablest lawyers and the most profound thinkers have been exhausted in framing laws to meet offences, which are daily committed; these offences are progressively increasing:—Is it not clear to demonstration, that some active principle is wanting, which does not at present exist, for the purpose of rendering these laws effectual?

This principle of activity is, (it is humbly apprehended,) only to be established by the introduction of such a System of regulation, as shall attach to all classes of dealers, who, in their intercourse with Society, are in the train of encouraging either directly or collaterally, transactions of an immoral, a fraudulent, or a mischievous nature.

The idea is not new in the System of jurisprudence of the country;—Publicans have long been under regulations prescribed by Magistrates; Pawnbrokers also have been of late years regulated to a certain extent by Statute.—Let the same principle be extended to the other dealers alluded to; and let the Legislature, profiting by that experience which has manifested the cause of the inefficacy of a vast number of penal Statutes, establish such a system of regulation, inspection, and superintendance, as will insure to the Public the full benefits arising from good laws, administered with activity, purity, and discretion.

Nothing can evince in a greater degree the necessity of inspecting the execution of all laws of regulation where the well-being of Society is concerned, than the abuses which occur with regard to the two classes just mentioned, namely, Public-houses and Pawnbrokers.—Many excellent rules are established by the Legislature, and the Magistrates; but while it is seldom the interest of the depraved or dishonest part of these two classes to adhere to such rules, by what means is the execution to be insured, so as to operate as a complete protection to the Public?—surely not by the operation of the law through the medium of common informers; since independent of the invidious nature of the office, experience has shewn that the public good rarely enters into the consideration of persons of this description; who look merely to their own emolument, frequently holding up the penalties as a rod by which money is privately extorted, and the parties laid under contribution, for the purpose of allowing them to continue in the practice of those abuses, which the engine used for this nefarious purpose was meant to prevent.

The System of Inspection, thus strongly and repeatedly recommended, while it remedied these corrupt practices, by preventing the existence of the evil, could only be disagreeable to Fraudulent Dealers.

The honest and fair Tradesmen, as things are at present circumstanced, are by no means on an equal footing with men who carry on business by fraudulent devices.—Such fair traders who have nothing to dread, would therefore rejoice at the System of inspection which is proposed, and would submit to it cheerfully; as having an immediate tendency to shield them from fraudulent competition, and to protect the Public against knavery and dishonesty.

CHAP. XI.