A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis
by Patrick Colquhoun · English · Gutenberg #35650 · 1,149,223 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis
Author: Patrick Colquhoun
Release date: March 21, 2011 [eBook #35650]
Language: English
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Produced by Robert Connal, Linda Cantoni, and the Online
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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., L.100 and L100). Inconsistent italicizing of _l._, _s._,
and _d._ has been normalized to italics. Long-s has been normalized to
s. The pointing hand symbol has been rendered as [-->]. 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 have been noted with a [Transcriber's Note].]
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, refraenandaque vitia
ac morum pravitatem.
Judices pariter leges illas cum vigore, aequitate,
integritate, publicaeque utilitatis amore curent exequi; ut
justitia etvirtus omnes societatis ordines pervadant.
Industriaque simul et Temperantia inertiae 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]
[Footnote 1: See Mr. Middleton's interesting Report on the County of
Middlesex, and the extracts from thence in Chapter III. of this
Work.]
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
[Transcriber's Note: should be p. 28]
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
[Transcriber's Note: should be p. 333]
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
[Transcriber's Note: should be p. 421]
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
[Transcriber's Note: should be p. 434]
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
[Transcriber's Note: should be p. 535]
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
[Transcriber's Note: should be p. 565]
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 aera 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]
[Footnote 2: Blackstone's Commentaries.]
The Roman Empire never flourished so much as during the aera 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]
[Footnote 3: Can that be thought a correct System of Jurisprudence,
which inflicts the penalty of Death, for breaking down the mound of a
fish-pond, whereby the fish may escape; or cutting down a fruit-tree
in a garden or orchard; or stealing a handkerchief, or any trifle,
privately from a person's pocket, above the value of 12d;--while a
number of other crimes of much greater enormity, are only punished
with Transportation and Imprisonment; and while the punishment of
murder itself is, and can be, only Death; with a few circumstances of
additional ignominy?]
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.
[Footnote 4: See the "Report from the Committee of the House of
Commons on Temporary Laws;" May 13, 1796--and also the "Report from
the Committee for promulgation of the Statutes," December 5, 1796; and
the "Resolutions of a Committee of the whole House," March 20, 1797.]
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]
[Footnote 5: Blackstone.]
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]
[Footnote 6: It is said the same construction of the Law has been made
with respect to the Offence of buying or receiving Horses, knowing
them to be stolen.]
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 L.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 L.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 2_s._ 3_s._ or even 5_s._ 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 L.200 to L.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.
[Footnote 7: The partial remedy applied to some of these evils by
Statutes passed since the former Edition of this Work, shall be
noticed in a subsequent Chapter dedicated to the subject of Coinage.]
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_!
[Footnote 8: No hardship can be so great as that of subjecting an
individual, under any circumstance whatsoever, to the expence of a
public prosecution, carried on in behalf of the King: Besides adding,
almost on every occasion, to the loss of the parties, it is productive
of infinite mischief, in defeating the ends of Justice.]
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]
[Footnote 9: Beccaria, or Crimes and Punishments, Cap. 6.]
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_.
[Footnote 10: He lived 624 years before the Christian aera.]
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]
[Footnote 11: It has been thought necessary, by the
Legislature, to explain and enlarge these clauses of the Act
25 _Ed._ III. as not extending, with sufficient
explicitness, to modern treasonable attempts. It is
therefore provided by the Act 36 _Geo._ III. _cap._ 7, "That
if any person (during the life of his present Majesty, and
until the end of the Session of Parliament next after a
demise of the Crown) shall within the realm, or without,
compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend death or
destruction, _or any bodily harm, tending to death or
destruction, maim, or wounding, imprisonment, or restraint_
of the person of the King, his heirs, and successors, or to
deprive or depose him or them from his stile, honour, or
Kingly name; or to levy war against the King within this
Realm, in order by force to compel him to change his
measures; _or in order to put any force or constraint upon,
or to intimidate or overawe_, BOTH HOUSES, OR EITHER HOUSE,
OF PARLIAMENT; or to incite any foreigner to invade the
dominions of the Crown: and such compassings, &c., shall
express, utter, or declare, _by publishing any printing, or
writing_, or by _any other_ overt act or deed"--the offender
shall be deemed _a Traitor_, and punished accordingly.]
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 [Transcriber's Note: sewn] 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 1. By Murder.
Life. 2. By Man-slaughter.
3. By Misadventure.
4. By Necessity.
Against the 1. Sodomy.
Body. 2. Rape.
3. Forcible Marriage.
4. Polygamy.
5. Mayhem.
Against 1. Simple Larceny.
Goods. 2. Mixt Larceny.
3. Piracy.
Against the 1. Arson.
Dwelling or 2. Burglary.
Habitation.
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 L.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 12_d._ 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.
[Footnote 12: King of the West Saxons, anno 688.]
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]
[Footnote 13: That acute Reasoner, the Marquis BECCARIA, who wrote
after MONTESQUIEU, holds this last opinion.--"A punishment, (says this
able writer) to be just should have only that degree of severity which
is sufficient to deter others: perpetual labour will have this effect
more than the punishment of death."
BECC. chap. 28.]
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]
[Footnote 14: Beccaria. _See ante page_ 45.]
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 1. Offences against the Sovereign and the
Criminal Offences, State; including High Treason.
_viz._ 2. Offences against human life and bodily
safety.
3. Offences against honour and liberty.
4. Offences against possessions and rights.
Those denominated 5. Offences that endanger the life or health
Civil Offences, of the Citizens.
_viz._ 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 Confiscation of property;
the Sovereign, whether injury imprisonment for not less than 30
results from it or not. years; and branding on each
cheek with the mark of a
gallows[15] if the prisoner is
remarkably depraved.
2. Attacking the Sovereign Imprisonment 8 years, and not
by speeches or writings. less than 5.
3. Persons conspiring and Confiscation of Property and
taking up arms, or entering 30 years' imprisonment, with
into alliance with an enemy, branding as above.
&c. are guilty of _sedition
and tumult_.
* * * * *
_Criminal Offences relative to the Sovereign and the State._
4. He who enters the house Imprisonment, not less than
or abode of another, and uses 1 month, nor more than 5 years,
violence against his person, and condemnation to the public
goods, or possession, is works.
guilty of _open force_.
5. He who violently resists Imprisonment not less than
the authority of a Judge, or 1 month, nor more than 5 years;
Officer of Justice, although but where there is an injury and
no wound result, is guilty of wounds, not exceeding 8 nor
_open violence_. less than 5.
6. Breach of trust, in a Imprisonment not less than 8,
Governor, or Charge des nor more than 12 years, and
Affaires; neglecting the condemnation to the public works,
interest of the State, or and in aggravated cases, the
betraying his Country, &c. pillory.[16]
7. A Judge, who from Imprisonment not less than 8, nor
corruption or passion is more than 12 years, and
guilty of an _abuse of condemnation to the public works,
judicial authority_. and in aggravated cases, the
pillory.
8. Accomplices attempting Imprisonment not less than 1
to corrupt a Judge. month, nor more than 5 years; and
condemnation to the public works.
9. Forgery, by attempting to Imprisonment not less than
counterfeit public bills of 30 years, and branding with a
the State which circulate as hot iron.
money.
10. Falsifying a public bill, Imprisonment not less than 12,
by changing or altering it, nor more than 15 years, and
or imitating the signatures. condemnation to the public works.
11. Coining false money, Imprisonment not less than 1
resembling the Coin of the month, nor more than 5 years,
Hereditary Dominions, or with condemnation to the public
foreign Coin current by law; works.
even though of equal weight
and quality, or superior to
the current Coin.
12. Coining false money, by Imprisonment not less than 12,
using a bad alloy; and by nor more than 15 years, and
fraud giving false money the condemnation to the public works.
quality of good.
13. Accomplices in Imprisonment not less than 8,
fabricating tools for nor more than 12 years, and
Coining. condemnation to the public works.
14. Assisting in the escape Imprisonment not less than 1
of a prisoner. month, nor more than 5 years; and
condemnation to the public works.
15. Magistrates granting Imprisonment not less than 12,
indulgencies contrary to nor more than 15 years; and
law, &c. deprivation of authority.
* * * * *
_Criminal Offences against Human Life and Bodily Safety._
16. _Murder_,--by Imprisonment not less than 15,
wounding a man so that death nor more than 30 years; the latter
ensues, including all in cases of consanguinity.[17]
accomplices.
17. Killing a man in Imprisonment not less than 1
self-defence, if the slayer month, nor more than 5 years, and
exceed the bounds of condemnation to the public works.
necessity.
18. _Murder_,--with an Imprisonment not less than 30
intention to rob or steal the years, with the hot iron; in
property of the person, or cruel cases, to be closely
other property intrusted to chained, with corporal
his care. punishment[18] every year.
19. Assassination by Condemnation to the Chain,[19]
stratagem, arms, or poison. not less than 30 years.
20. Inducing another to commit Imprisonment not less than 5,
Murder; by caresses, promises, nor more than 8 years, and
presents, or threats; whether condemnation to the public
death is the result or not. works.--If murder is committed,
the criminal shall suffer as a
murderer.
21. _Duelling_,--or If death ensues; condemnation to
challenging another to combat the chain for 30 years, where the
with murderous weapons on survivor is the challenger. If
whatever pretence the challenge the survivor be the party
be grounded.--The person challenged, imprisonment, not
accepting the challenge is more than 12, nor less than 8
equally guilty, after agreeing years, and condemnation to the
to combat with murderous weapons. 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 Imprisonment not less than 1,
assistants and seconds. nor more than 5 years.
23. A woman with child using Imprisonment not less than 15,
means to procure abortion. nor more than 30 years; and
condemnation to the public works:
augmented when married women.
24. Accomplices advising and Imprisonment not less than 1
recommending abortion. 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, Imprisonment not less than 8,
in order to abandon it to danger nor more than 12 years; to be
and death; or to leave its increased under circumstances of
deliverance to chance; whether aggravation.
the infant, so exposed, suffers
death or not.
26. Maiming by malignant Imprisonment not less than 1
assault. month, nor more than 5 years.
27. Suicide or self-murder, The body to be thrown into
without any sign of insanity. 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 Imprisonment not less than 1
accusation--injuring a man of month, nor more than 5 years,
his right, or robbing him of his and condemnation to the public
good name unjustly and without works; with corporal punishment
proof (See post. No. 56.) if the party receive injury.
29. _Rape_,--or forcibly, Imprisonment not less than 3
by associates, threatnings, or years, nor more than 12, and
shewing weapons, overpowering condemnation to the public works.
and forcing a woman to submit,
and shamefully abusing her by
rendering her incapable of
opposition.
30. Accomplices aiding in the Imprisonment not less than 5,
commission of a rape. nor more than 8 years; and
condemnation to the public works.
31. _Forcibly carrying a Imprisonment not less than 15
person out of the State_ years, nor more than 30 years;
without his will, or the augmented if the criminal is a
consent of the Magistrate, natural-born subject.
enlisting men into foreign
service, &c.
32. _Forcibly, or by Imprisonment not less than 1
address, secretly carrying month, nor more than 5 years; if
away a Minor_ past the years no injury result--otherwise
of infancy, under the care of imprisonment, not less than 8, nor
parents or guardians, &c. more than 12 years, and
condemnation to the public works.
33. _Forcibly, and by Imprisonment not less than 5
address, getting possession of years, and not more than 8; and
any woman_ contrary to her condemnation to the public
will, obtaining her consent to works.
marriage, or shameful
debauchery, and carrying her
from her abode; whether
the design is accomplished or
not.
34. _Forcibly carrying away Imprisonment not less than 1
a woman known to be bound by month, nor more than 5 years,
lawful marriage_, or under and condemnation to the public
protection of parents, and works.
without her consent.
35. Accomplices aiding and The same.
assisting.
36. _Unlawful Imprisonment_, Imprisonment not less than 1
or keeping a person in month, nor more than 5 years;
confinement against his will augmented in cases of damages.
and of his own private
authority.
* * * * *
_Criminal Offences against Possessions and Rights._
37. _Fraud._--Obtaining the Various, according to the degree
property of another by of malignity--in general by
stratagem, with an evil design imprisonment not less than 8,
on his possessions, honour, nor more than 12 years; and in
or liberty; forging title smaller offences, not less than 5
deeds or contracts, or nor more than 8; and condemnation
_altering_ the same. to the public works.
_Perjury_ in a Court of The same.
Justice, assuming a false name,
&c. &c. bearing false witness.
38. _Theft_, or taking a Imprisonment not less than 1
moveable from the possession of month, nor more than 5 years, if
another by fraud, and without unaccompanied by aggravating
his consent. (See post. No. circumstances: but in aggravated
47.) cases, imprisonment not less than
5 nor more than 8; or not less
than 8, nor more than 12 years.
39. _Accomplices in Imprisonment not less than 1
Theft_.--abettors and month nor more than 5 years, and
receivers, &c. condemnation to the public works.
40. _Robbery_--committed Imprisonment not less than 15
alone or in company, by using years, nor more than 30; if wounds
violence, or forcing a person ensue, in consequence of the
to discover effects, on which violence used. And if acts of
the offender has felonious cruelty or wounds, occasioning
views. death, then the punishment of the
chain additional.
41. _Incendiary_--where one Imprisonment not less than 8
undertakes an action from which nor more than 12 years; and
fire may ensue, or with intention condemnation to the public works:
to prejudice, or cause damage, when the flames have been stifled.
with a view to profit by the Setting fire to a Camp, Magazine,
disorder that takes place, he Barn, Timber-yard, &c.
shall be considered as an from 15 to 30 years; according
_incendiary_, whether to the circumstances of the case.
damage ensues or not.
42. _Bigamy_--where one Imprisonment not less than 5
bound by the tie of lawful nor more than 8 years, or
matrimony, concludes a second condemnation to the public works;
marriage with another person, if the person with whom the
single or married. 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 Imprisonment from 1 month
without any ill intention, by to a year, or condemnation to the
means of poisonous merchandize, public works, if the offender has
or apothecaries selling caused any immediate damage;
adulterated drugs, any person but if the cause of damage be
suffers danger or injury. remote, imprisonment from a day to
1 month.
44. Damage to man or child, Imprisonment from 1 day to
occasioned by riding or driving a month; to be augmented, in
carriages with too much speed; case death or wound should have
or injury received by persons resulted from the accident.
incapable of guarding against
danger, occasioning a wound or
death, which might have been
prevented by due vigilance.
45. Breaking Quarantine, &c. By a Military Court of
and fabricating false bills of Justice.
health.
46. Actions prejudicial to Condemnation to the public
health, or nuisance, where the works, with or without fetters;
necessary precautions prescribed either from 1 day to a month, or
by the laws of health are from 1 month to a year.
neglected in cases of dead
animals, distempers among
cattle, &c. &c.
* * * * *
_Civil Offences that affect the Fortunes and Rights of Citizens._
47. Stealing to the value of Confinement, corporal correction,
25 crowns of any moveable, and the augmentation of
when not accompanied with the punishment if requisite.
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.)
48. Using Frauds in playing The pillory and condemnation
at Games allowed by Law. 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_ Imprisonment from 1 day to a
co-operating in such Frauds. month.
50. _Playing at prohibited A fine of 300 ducats, or
Games._ imprisonment.
51. _Persons selling Imprisonment from 1 day to a
Merchandize_ at higher prices month, which may be augmented.
than fixed by the Police, or by
false weight or measure.
52. _Adultery._ Corporal correction, or
imprisonment from 1 day to a
month.
53. _Contracting illegal Imprisonment from 1 day to a
Marriages._ (See ante, No. month, and condemnation to the
42.) public works.
54. _Servants_ receiving Corporal correction or
earnest, and engaging to serve imprisonment from 1 day to a
more masters than one, or month.
otherwise misbehaving.
55. _Masters_ giving Imprisonment from 1 day to a
servants a false character. month.
56. _Libels_ on another by Condemnation to the public
writings or disgraceful prints works; reserving the right to
or drawings, causing injury to recompence to the party wronged.
another. (See ante, No. 28.)
57. Distributing or publishing Condemnation to the public
Libels. works; reserving the right of
recompence to the party wronged.
58. _Actions_ by which Corporal correction.
danger by fire may be
occasioned; such as smoking
tobacco in a stable,
timber-yard, &c.
59. Acts of hasty petulance, Imprisonment various, or
leading to quarrels, assaults, condemnation to the public works.
and damages.
* * * * *
_Civil Offences that tend to the Corruption of Morals._
60. Wickedly insulting the Detention in the hospital destined
Supreme Being by words, deeds, for madmen; where the offender
or actions, in a public place, is to be treated like a man
or in the presence of another out of his senses, until his
person. amendment be perfect and assured.
61. Disturbing the exercise Imprisonment from 1 day to a
of Public Worship, &c. month; to be augmented by
fasting and corporal correction.
62. Writing or Preaching Pillory and Imprisonment,
against the Christian Religion, from 1 day to a month, or to a
and Catholick Faith, &c. &c. year.
Heresies, &c.
63. Committing indecencies Imprisonment from 1 day to a
in any public street or place. month, augmented by fasting.
64. Attempting to seduce or Imprisonment from 1 day to a
insult women of reputation, by month.
shameful debauchery, and using
gestures, or discourses,
tending to that purpose.
65. Carnal Commerce by Corporal Correction, and
Man with Beast, or with a condemnation to the public works;
person of the same and banishment from the place
sex,--_Sodomy_. where the offence has been
publicly scandalous.
66. Consenting to shameful Condemnation to the public
debauchery in his house; works, from 1 month to 1 year;
Keeping a _Bawdy House_. to be augmented when an innocent
person has been seduced;
second offence, the pillory.
67. Any person, man or woman, Imprisonment from 1 month
making a business of to a year; second offence,
prostitution, and deriving punishment double, and augmented
profit from thence. by fasting and corporal
correction.
68. Dealing in Books, Pictures, Imprisonment from 1 day to 1
or Prints which represent month.
indecent actions.
69. Disguising in masks, and The same.
obtaining admission into
societies, and secret
fraternities not notified to
the Magistrate.
70. Harbouring in dwellings The same.
persons not known to have an
honest mean of living.
71. Banished persons, from Corporal correction, to be
the whole of the Austrian doubled at each successive return;
Dominions--returning, &c. and the offender to be banished
from the Hereditary Dominions.
[Footnote 15: In cases where a criminal appears to be remarkably
depraved, and that the apprehensions he may excite require such
precautions, he shall be branded on each cheek with the mark of a
gallows, so visibly and strongly impressed as not to be effaced either
by time or any other means whatever.]
[Footnote 16: This punishment is different from the pillory in
England. In the German Language it signifies an exposure on the public
theatre of shame. The Criminal is chained and guarded on an elevated
scaffold, and exposed an hour at a time, with a paper on his breast
denoting his offence.]
[Footnote 17: When a criminal is condemned to severe imprisonment, he
has no bed but the floor, no nourishment but bread and water, and all
communication with relations, or even strangers, is refused him. When
condemned to milder imprisonment, better nourishment is allowed; but
he has nothing to drink but water.]
[Footnote 18: Corporal punishment is inflicted with a whip, rod, or
stick, publicly, on the criminal; the degree of punishment (within 100
lashes or strokes at one time) depends on the sound prudence of the
Judge.]
[Footnote 19: The punishment of the Chain is inflicted in the
following manner. The criminal suffers severe imprisonment, and is so
closely chained, that he has no more liberty than serves for the
indispensable motion of his body.--Chained criminals suffer a corporal
punishment once a year, as an example to the Public.]
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]
[Footnote 20: The punishment of death is not authorized by any
right.--If it were so, how could it be reconciled to the maxim, that a
man has no right to kill himself?
The punishment of death is a war of a whole nation against a citizen,
whose destruction is considered as necessary or useful to the public
good.--If I can demonstrate that it is neither necessary nor useful, I
shall have gained the cause of humanity.--If the experience of all
ages be not sufficient to prove that the punishment of death has never
prevented determined men from injuring society--if the example of the
Romans--if twenty years' reign of Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, be not
sufficient, let us consult human nature in proof of my assertion.
The death of a criminal is a terrible, but momentary spectacle; and
therefore a less efficacious method of deterring others, than the
continued example of a man deprived of his liberty, and condemned to
repair by his labour, the injury done to Society. A condition so
miserable is a much more powerful preventive than the fear of death,
which men always behold in distant obscurity.
BECCARIA, cap. 28.]
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 L.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]
[Footnote 21: This remedy as it respects Receivers of stolen Goods, is
specifically explained at the close of a subsequent Chapter which
relates entirely to that subject, and to which the Reader is
particularly referred.]
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.
[Footnote 22: This observation can only apply to such voluntary
contributions as are liable to abuses, and where the poor are
permitted to dispose of the benevolence of the opulent in their own
way.--The _Soup-Charities_ established in different parts of the
Metropolis are a peculiar exception, inasmuch as they contribute only
to the relief of those that are really objects of distress, while no
Public Charity heretofore instituted has been found to be liable to
fewer abuses. In a great Metropolis like London, it has been clearly
established, that in spite of every regard to prudence and oeconomy,
decent families will be suddenly broke down, while the habits of life
peculiar to the lower orders, and their want of the knowledge of
frugal cookery have proved a source of much real calamity; for where
nothing is laid up, every pressure arising from sickness, child-birth,
or death throws many hundreds upon the Public, who have no legal
parochial Settlement, and who but for some relief must absolutely
perish;--While the Soup-Charities hold out immediate and constant
relief to many families, who might otherwise perish with
hunger;--while this species of relief may be said to be accessible to
every indigent family in the Metropolis, no lure is held out to the
idle or profligate. It cannot be disposed of, as bread, meat, and
coals, for gin and other articles. There is therefore scarcely any
risque of deception, more especially as the applicants pay down half
the original cost on receiving it--Thus establishing the means of
discrimination between _real_ and _pretended distress_. About 10,000
families, composed chiefly of persons who had not the means of
obtaining sufficient food to support nature, consisting of 50,000 men,
women, and children, were relieved by the daily distribution of Soups
at _Spital-Fields_, _Clerkenwell_, _St. George's Fields_, and
_Westminster_, during the last winter, at an expence to the
Subscribers not exceeding One Guinea for every 504 meals of rich
nourishing Soup, which those poor people received. But this is not the
only advantage which attends these Institutions, since there is every
reason to believe, that while the poor are thus frugally fed, they are
taught by example, and by circulating among them printed friendly
advices, what they never knew before--_The means of making a little go
far_, by introducing the same beneficial mode of dressing food in
their own houses. And from a minute attention to this object, the
Author has great satisfaction in stating, that from the eagerness
shewn to obtain the Soup, and the thankfulness almost universally
expressed for the benefits it conferred, there is every reason to
hope, that more good has arisen to the industrious poor from these
establishments (which are now extending themselves in the Villages and
Manufacturing Towns) than by any plan which has ever been resorted to
for relieving distress. Among the various classes of benevolent
individuals, to whom the Public have been indebted for their pecuniary
and personal aid in promoting this design the Society of _The Friends_
is peculiarly prominent. To the zeal and perseverance they have
manifested, and the valuable time they have bestowed, in giving effect
and utility to the System, is owing much of its success.]
"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.
[Footnote 23: These thefts are committed by degrees in a small way,
seldom exceeding a truss of hay or a bushel of corn by one man at one
time; and are generally of smaller articles. In some places the
stealing of gate-hooks and iron-fastnings is so common as to compel
the farmer both to hang and fasten his gates with wood. _Middleton._]
"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 5_s._ in each load of hay, of 2_s._ 6_d._ in each
load of straw, and 1_s._ 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
L37,500.
"The occupiers of many thousand acres round London, lose annually in
this manner to the amount of much more than 20_s._ 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 4_s._ 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 10_s._
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 oeconomy perfectly genuine.[24]
[Footnote 24: Not satisfied with the profit here stated, which,
considering the difference of measures, is above 100 per cent. is a
common practice with the Retailers of this useful article to carry the
milk first home to their own houses, where it is set up for half a
day, when the cream is taken from it, at least all that comes up in
that time, and it is then sold for new milk. By which means, what is
delivered in the morning is no other than the milk of the preceding
afternoon, deprived of the cream it throws up by standing during that
time. By this means a farther considerable profit accrues to the
Retailers, and the milk is greatly reduced in point of strength and
quality. This cream, poor as it is, they again mix with flour, chalk,
and perhaps other more baneful ingredients, and yet it finds a ready
market in the Metropolis. _Middleton._]
"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.
[Footnote 25: That man will deserve a statue to his memory who shall
devise and carry into effect a plan for the employment of _Discharged
Prisoners and Convicts_, who may be desirous of labouring for their
subsistence in an honest way.--It is only necessary for some men of
weight and influence to make the attempt, in order to insure the
assistance of the opulent and humane in so good and necessary a Work.
See a future Chapter as to the present state of punishment and the
remedies proposed.]
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.
[Footnote 26: The frauds and felonies committed in the course of a
year with respect to horses exceed all credibility. Above thirty
thousand of these useful animals are said to be flayed and boiled in
the Metropolis, at the Seventeen Licensed Houses, annually, of which
about one-fourth are brought there alive, supposed chiefly to be
stolen horses. These Establishments require many additional
regulations to enforce and insure that purity of conduct, which the
Legislature had in view when the Act of the 26 Geo. 3, cap. 71, was
passed for licensing persons to slaughter horses. In the operation of
this Act is strongly evinced the inefficacy of the best laws, when
measures are not pursued to insure an accurate and chaste execution.
Wherever the vigilance of a General Police does not extend its
influence in carrying into effect all regulations of a preventive
nature, it is in vain to hope that the evil in the view of the
Legislature will be diminished.]
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]
[Footnote 27: The depredations which are committed almost every
evening in Cheapside, and the adjacent streets leading into it,
affords strong proofs of the necessity of an improved system with
regard to watchmen and patroles.
Allured to that particular part of the Metropolis, from the extensive
and valuable property in _piece goods_ and other portable articles
which are constantly removing to and from the different shops and
warehouses:--a multitude of thieves and pickpockets, exhibiting often
in their dress and exterior, the appearance of gentlemen and men of
business, assemble every evening in gangs, watching at the corners of
every street, ready to _bustle_ and _rob_, or to _trip up the heels_
of the _warehouse-porters and the servants of shopkeepers carrying
goods_; or at the doors of warehouses, at dusk and at the time they
are locked, to be ready to seize loose parcels when unperceived; by
all which means, aided by a number of other tricks and fraudulent
pretences, they are but too successful in obtaining considerable
booty. In short, there is no device or artifice to which these
vigilant plunderers do not resort: of which an example appeared in an
instance, where almost in the twinkling of an eye, while the servants
of an eminent silk-dyer had crossed a narrow street, his horse and
cart, containing raw silk to the value of _twelve hundred pounds_,
were driven clear off. Many of these atrocious villains, are also
constantly in waiting at the inns, disguised in different ways,
personating _travellers, coach-office clerks, porters and coachmen_,
for the purpose
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