such circumstances, with any degree of accuracy; and after several
views of the subject a conclusion is drawn, that the net expence to
the Public, for the maintenance of 1402 convicts in 1797, after
deducting the estimated value of labour, amounted to 20,878_l._ 14_s._
10-1/2_d._ being at the rate of 14_l._ 17_s._ 9-1/2_d._ per man.

It appears, however, that out of the whole number of 1402 maintained
in 1797, only 1030 were actually employed. The labour of the remaining
370 was, therefore, in a great measure, lost to the Community.

At any rate, the value of this species of labour must be precarious,
and the advantages resulting from it problematical.

Since the mere "possession of so many idle hands will sometimes be a
temptation to engage in works, which but for this inducement, would
not recommend themselves by their intrinsic utility."[146]

[Footnote 146: See 28th Report of Finance Committee, page 17.]

While it is admitted, that considerable improvements have been made
with regard to the reduction of the expence; that provision has also
been made for religious and moral instruction, by established
salaries to chaplains;--and that the contractors have honourably
performed their part of the undertaking; it is much to be lamented,
that this experiment has not been attended with more beneficial
consequences to the Public; not only in rendering the labour of the
convicts productive in a greater degree, so as at least to be equal to
the expence; but also in amending the morals of these miserable
out-casts; so that on their return to Society, they might, in some
respect, atone for the errors of their former lives, by a course of
honest industry, useful to themselves and to their country. On the
contrary, experience has shewn, that although an expence exceeding
623,000_l._ has been incurred by Government in the course of 22 years,
most of them, instead of profitting by the punishment they have
suffered (forgetting they were under sentence of death, and undismayed
by the dangers they have escaped) immediately rush into the same
course of depredation and warfare upon the public: nay, so hardened
and determined in this respect have some of them been, as even to make
proposals to their old friends, the Receivers, previous to the period
of their discharge, to purchase their newly acquired plunder. It has
already been shewn, that those few also, who are less depraved, and
perhaps disposed to amend their conduct, can find no resource for
labour; and are thus, too frequently, compelled, by dire necessity, to
herd with their former associates in iniquity, and it is much to be
feared, that the chief part of the multitudes, who have been
periodically discharged, have either suffered for new offences, or are
actually at present afflicting Society by reiterated depredations.[147]

[Footnote 147: See the Examination of the Author before the Select
Committee of the House of Commons.]

After maturely considering the enormous expence, and the total
inefficacy of the System of the Hulks, aided by the new lights which
have been thrown upon the subject by the important documents called
for by the Select Committee on Finance, it appears clear to
demonstration, that it would be for the interest of the Country to
abandon the present System; and the Author heartily joins in the
opinion expressed by those respectable members of the Legislature,--"_That
our principal places of Confinement, and modes of Punishment, so far
from the Conversion and Reformation of the Criminal, tend to send him
forth at the expiration of the period of his imprisonment more
confirmed in vice; and that the general tendency of our oeconomical
arrangements upon this subject, is ill calculated to meet the
accumulating burdens, which are the infallible result of so much error
in the System of Police_."

Having thus explained the nature and effect of the punishment
inflicted on convicts, through the medium of the Hulks, and also the
expence attending these establishments; it will be necessary in the
next place, to examine the authentic documents, as they relate to the
transportation of Felons to New South Wales.

From the Appendix, page 122, of the 28th Report of the Select
Committee on Finance, printed the 26th of June 1798, it appears that
the number of Convicts sent to New South Wales and Norfolk Island[148]
from the year 1787 to the year 1797 inclusive, stood thus:--

          Men and
           Women.   Children.  TOTAL.
  1787      778        17       795
  1789     1251        22      1273
  1790     2029         9      2038
  1791      408        11       419
  1792      412         6       418
  1794       82         2        84
  1795      133         3       136
  1796      279        13       292
  1797      393        10       403
           ----        --      ----
           5765        93      5858

[Footnote 148: Norfolk Island is a small fertile spot, containing
about 14,000 acres of land, situated about 1200 miles distant from
Sydney Cove in New South Wales, where the seat of Government is
fixed.]

It appears also from another document in the same Report (being the
last return of Convicts in the two Settlements) that their numbers
stood as stated in the following Table,--

                 Convicts  |Convicts  |Convicts   |Total     |Total
                           |Victualled|Emancipated|          |Men
                           |          |           |          |and
                 Men  Women|Men  Women|Men   Women|Men  Women|Women
                 ----------+----------+-----------+----------+-----
  In New South }           |          |           |          |
  Wales on the }           |          |           |          |
  31 Aug. 1796 } 1633   755|  78     5|  20      9|1731   769|2500
                           |          |           |          |
  In Norfolk   }           |          |           |          |
  Island on the}           |          |           |          |
  22 Oct. 1796.}  379   167|  53     0|  12      3| 444   170| 614
                 ----   ---| ---     -|  --     --|----   ---|-----
                 2012   922| 131     5|  32     12|2175   939|3114

  To which add the Convicts sent in 1796 and 1797,
  including Children                                           695
                                                              ----
                                                       Total  3809

The diminution of Convicts from 5858 to 3809 is to be accounted for,
by a certain proportion leaving the Settlement after the expiration of
their time, and also by deaths,[149] which in the natural course of
things must be expected.

[Footnote 149: In 21 months after the arrival of the first Convicts in
May 1788, there were 77 deaths and 87 births in the whole Settlement.]

In resorting to this mode of disposing of Convicts, which at the time
must be considered as a choice of difficulties, a very large sum of
money has been expended.--Certainly much more than could have been
foreseen at the commencement: Since it appears from the 28th Report of
the Select Committee on Finance, who certainly have bestowed infinite
pains in the investigation, that the total amount exceeds _One Million
Sterling_, as will be seen from the following Statement, extracted
from page 120 of that 28th Report, viz:

  Disbursed for 5858 Convicts including 93 Children, transported
  to New South Wales

                                               £.   _s._ _d._
  In 1786                                    28,346   3    6
  -- 1787                                    29,242  11   10-1/2
  -- 1788                                    18,008   9    2
  -- 1789                                    88,057  18    2
  -- 1790                                    44,774   4    6-1/4
  -- 1791                                   129,019  19   10-3/4
  -- 1792                                   104,588   2    3-3/4
  -- 1793                                    69,961  16    6-1/2
  -- 1794                                    79,381  13   11-1/2
  -- 1795                                    75,280  19    0-3/4
  -- 1796                                    83,854  18    0
  -- 1797                                   120,372   4    8-3/4
  To which add the total Naval Expences     166,341   4   11
                                        ------------------------
            Total Expences in 12 Years  £.1,037,230   6    7-3/4

Specification of the heads of Expences above stated--

  Expences of the first Establishment of the
  Settlement and Transportation of Convicts         264,433  11  0

  Expences of Victualing Convicts and the
  Settlement from hence                             186,270   1  3-1/4

  Expences of Cloathing, Tools, and Sundry
  Articles                                          116,658  15  3

  Bills drawn for the purchase of Provisions,
  &c. for the use of the Colony                     138,225   9  8-3/4

  Expence of the Civil Establishment                 48,134   0  2-1/4

  Expence of the Military Establishment              94,993  11  3

  Expence of the Marine Establishment                22,173  13  0-1/2

  Naval Expences as above                           166,341   4 11
                                                ----------------------
                                         Total  £.1,037,230   6  7-3/4
                                                ----------------------

Thus it appears, that in executing the sentence of the Law on 5765
Convicts more than One Million Sterling has been expended, nearly
equal to 180_l._ for each Convict, exclusive of the expence incurred
by the Counties, and by Government in the maintenance at home; and
without taking into the account the very considerable charge, which
must have been borne by the private Prosecutors in bringing these
Offenders to Justice.

The Select Committee in their laborious investigation of the effects
of this System, very justly observe, "that the numbers of the Convicts
do not appear to have kept pace with the increase of the
expence."--They proceed to state (page 27 of the Report) "that after a
trial of twelve years, it seems not too early to inquire whether the
peculiar advantages likely to arise from this plan are such as may be
considered as compensating for its probable expence. The security held
out by the difficulty of return on the part of the convicts is the
only advantage that strikes the eye: but the nature of this advantage,
the amount of it, and the certainty of it, seem not altogether
undeserving of inquiry; nor whether a security of the same sort more
at command, and more to be depended on, might not be purchased on less
exceptionable terms. It may be also worthy of inquiry (add the
Committee) whether the advantages looked for, from this establishment
may not be dependent on its weakness? and whether as it grows less
disadvantageous in point of finance, it will not be apt to grow less
advantageous in the character of an instrument of Police? The more
thriving the Settlement the more frequented: The more frequented the
less difficulty of return.--The more thriving too the less terrible.
To persons in some circumstances;--to persons who otherwise would have
been disposed to emigrate, it may loose [Transcriber's Note: lose] its
terrors altogether, especially if by money or other means the
servitude be avoidable. This inconvenience had already become sensible
in the instance of the comparatively old planted Colonies. Many,
though innocent, went thither voluntarily, even at the price of
servitude, while others under the notion of punishment, were sent
thither for their crimes; so that while to some the emigration remains
a punishment, to others it may become an adventure; but a punishment
should be the same thing to all persons, and at all times."

Contingencies, the Committee remark, may diminish the utility of the
Establishment, or may increase the expence. "Bad seasons, and the
destruction of the vegetable part of the stock of food: Mortality
among the as yet scanty stock of cattle.[150] Mischief from the
natives,--from insurrection among the convicts, or from the enemy.

[Footnote 150: An account of the Live Stock in the possession of, and
Land in cultivation by, Government, and the Officers civil and
military, 1st September 1796, extracted from page 123, of the above
Report of the Select Committee on Finance.

                                      Civil and
                                      Military
                         Government.  Officers.  Settlers.  Total.

  Mares and Horses           14          43         0          57
  Cows and Cow Calves        67          34         0         101
  Bulls and Bull Calves      37          37         0          74
  Oxen                       46           6         0          52
  Sheep                     191        1310        30        1531
  Goats                     111        1176       140        1427
  Hogs                       59         889       921        1869
                           ----        ----      ----        ----
                            525        3495      1091        5111[G]
                           ----        ----      ----        ----

[Footnote G: In addition to the above Stock 61 head of Cattle were
discovered in the year 1795, about 50 miles S.W. of the town of
Sydney, which must have been produced from three Cows which strayed
from the Settlement in 1788. This proves that at least one of the Cows
at the time must have been big with a Bull Calf, and also gives the
data for calculating the rate of the increase.]

  Land in cultivation, viz:--      Acres.

  Government                       1700
  Civil and Military Officers      1172
  Settlers                         2547
                                   ----
                                   5419

The above 1700 acres were unemployed in 1796, on account of the want
of public labourers, and the many buildings required--about 4-5th
parts of the 1172 acres were sown with wheat--much timber cut, but not
burnt off, on the 2547 acres belonging to the settlers.]

"Here, as at Sierra Leone, malice may produce an expedition of
devastation. The illusions to which the spirit of rapine is so much
exposed may give birth to an enterprize of depredation; apprehensions
of any such event entertained here would necessarily give birth to
preparations of defence. The apprehensions may be well or ill
grounded--the measures taken for defence successful or unsuccessful;
but the expence in the mean time is incurred. The distance is
unexampled, and all danger as well as all expence swells in proportion
to the distance: these topics appear to merit consideration.

"Another circumstance is, that the labour of the whole number of
persons sent to these colonies, whether as Convicts or Settlers, _is
entirely lost to the Country_, nor can any return, to compensate such
a loss, be expected till that very distant day, when the improved
state of the Colony may, by possibility, begin to repay a part of the
advance, by the benefits of its trade.

"Supposing abundance established, and remaining for ever without
disturbance, it may be deserving of consideration, in what shape and
in what degree, and with what degree of assurance, Government, in
point of Finance, is likely to profit by the abundance: for the stock
of the individuals, which each individual will consume, lay up or
sell, is on his own account; is not the Stock of Government. The
saving to Government depends upon the probity and zeal, and
intelligence of the Bailiffs in Husbandry, acting without personal
interest in the concern at that immense distance."

After opinions so decided, the result of an inquiry, aided by
extensive information, and conducted by men of talents and judgment,
it would ill become the Author of this Work to offer (if he could
suggest,) additional arguments to prove the disadvantages which have
attended, and which are likely to attend the transportation of
Convicts to New South Wales. Although with regard to mere
_subsistence_, there may be a prospect (and it is yet a distant one),
of the Colony becoming independent of supplies from this Country; yet
with respect to most other articles its wants will experience no
diminution, and having once engaged in the project, humanity requires
that the Settlement should be supplied at the expence of the Nation.

When the measure of establishing this Colony was adopted, a hope was
probably entertained that while the great difficulty and expence of
the passage home, joined to the fertility of the soil and the
salubrity of the climate, might induce convicts to remain after the
expiration of the period specified in their sentence, so as not to
become offensive again to their native Country; the removal to an
unknown region, inhabited by Savages, and situated at such a remote
distance from Great Britain would exhibit this species of punishment
in so terrific a light as to operate powerfully in preventing crimes.

Experience, however, has shewn that this salutary effect has not been
produced, and that crimes are not to be diminished by the dread of
punishment in any shape. This great desideratum is only to be attained
by a well-regulated Police, calculated to destroy the sources from
whence evil propensities spring, and to remove the facilities by which
criminality is nourished and assisted.

Under the present circumstances, where the mind continues depraved,
and where the harvest is so prolific, it ceases to be a matter of
wonder that a considerable proportion of the convicts transported to
New South Wales, have found their way back to their native
Country;--and that not a few of them have again afflicted Society by
renewing their depredations on the Public.--It is, indeed, lamentable
to reflect, that after the extreme labour which has been bestowed, and
the unparalleled expence which has been incurred, no effect whatsoever
favourable to the interest of the Community, or to the security of
innocence, has been produced. Looking back to the period when
Government was relieved of the expence of Convicts, almost of every
description under sentence of Transportation, and reflecting on the
enormous expence which has been incurred since the channel of
disposal, through the medium of the late American Colonies, has been
shut up; considering that within the short period of twenty-five years
no less a sum than 1,663,974_l._[151] has been expended in
transporting and maintaining about 15,000 Convicts, which would have
cost nothing under the old System;--it cannot be sufficiently
lamented, that so liberal a provision had not been employed in
establishing Systems of Prevention. One fourth part of this enormous
sum expended in a proper establishment of Preventive Police, would
probably have rendered transportation and punishment in a
considerable degree unnecessary, while the Country would have
benefitted by the industry of a large proportion of these outcasts,
who would then have been compelled to earn an honest livelihood by
their labour.

[Footnote 151:

  Expence of maintaining about 9000 Convicts in
  the Hulks, from January 1, 1795, to January 1,
  1798                                                    £.  623,022

  Expence of Transporting Convicts in 1785 and 1786             3,722

  Expence of Transporting and Maintaining Convicts
  from 1786 to 1797, New South Wales                        1,037,230
                                                          -----------
                                                   Total  £.1,663,974]

Deploring the mass of turpitude which has drawn from the resources of
the Country so enormous a portion of wealth, it is no little
consolation to be able to look forward to a measure recommended by the
Select Committee, and in the train of being adopted by Government,
which holds out so fair a prospect not only of gradually diminishing
this expence in future, but also of rendering the labour of Convicts
productive, and of securing the Public against the repetition of those
depredations which have been rather increased than prevented, by the
System of punishments which have been heretofore adopted.

The advantages in contemplation are to be attained by carrying into
effect a _proposal for a new and less expensive mode of employing and
reforming Convicts_, which has been offered to the consideration of
Government by JEREMY BENTHAM, Esq. and which appears to have been
fully investigated by the Finance Committee, who state it (p. 20, of
Report 28,) "to be no small recommendation to the plan, that the
Contractor proposes to employ the prisoners on his own account,
receiving a proportionally smaller sum from the Public for their
maintenance.--That the great and important advantages which
distinguish that plan from any other which has been hitherto
suggested, consist in the certain employment and industrious
livelihood which it insures to those whose terms of confinement are
expired. In the responsibility which the Contractor proposes to take
upon himself, for the future good behaviour of Criminals entrusted to
his care, even when they shall be no longer under his control: in the
publicity which is meant to be given to the whole conduct and effect
of the Establishment, _moral_, _medical_, and _oeconomical_, as well
by an annual report of the state and proceedings, as by the constant
facility of inspection, which will in an unusual manner be afforded by
the very form and construction of the building, upon which the prompt
and easy exercise of the superintending power of the Governor himself
principally depends."

These advantages appear to the Committee of more importance, when the
periods of the enlargement of the several Convicts now on board the
Hulks are taken into consideration. The pernicious effects produced
upon the unfortunate persons confined in these seminaries of vice; and
the circumstance of 1411 destined to be enlarged in the course of 7
years, to afflict the Society from which they have been separated--the
Committee consider as deserving of very serious consideration: and
they conclude their view of the subject by expressing, an uncommon
degree of solicitude, that no delay should take place in the execution
of the contract with Mr. Bentham, "because it would deprive the Public
for a longer time of the benefits of a plan, which they cannot but
look to as likely to be productive of the most essential advantage,
both in point of oeconomy and Police."

The object in view is by the aid of ingenious machinery, to render the
labour of every class of Convicts so productive to the Contractor, as
to admit of their being maintained at 25 per cent. less than the
expence incurred on board the Hulks; while a rational prospect is held
out of reforming these Convicts and returning them upon Society, not
only with purer morals, but with the knowledge of some trade or
occupation by which they may afterwards earn their bread;--but this is
not all.--The proposer of this important design insures to the
Convicts, after the expiration of their time, the means of obtaining a
_livelihood_; by setting up a _Subsidiary Establishment_, into which
all who found themselves otherwise destitute of employment would be
admitted, and where they would be continued in the exercise of the
trades in which they were employed during their confinement.

It is, however, impossible to do justice to the merit of this
_Proposal_, without laying it wholly before the Public. It seems to
embrace every object calculated to remove the errors and difficulties
of the present System, while it promises in a short time to relieve
the Finances of the Country from the enormous and unparalleled expence
which is incurred by the Establishment of the Hulks, and by
Transportation to New South Wales.

PROPOSAL

FOR A NEW AND LESS EXPENSIVE MODE OF

_EMPLOYING_ AND _REFORMING CONVICTS_.

The Author, having turned his thoughts to the Penitentiary System from
its first origin, and having lately contrived a Building in which any
number of persons may be kept within the reach of being inspected
during every moment of their lives, and having made out, as he
flatters himself, to demonstration, that the only eligible mode of
managing an Establishment of such a nature, in a Building of such a
construction, would be by _Contract_, has been induced to make public
the following Proposal for Maintaining and Employing Convicts in
general, or such of them as would otherwise be confined on board the
Hulks, for 25 per cent. less than it costs Government to maintain them
there at present; deducting also the average value of the work at
present performed by them for the Public: upon the terms of his
receiving the produce of their labour, _taking on himself the whole
expence of the_ BUILDING, _fitting up and stocking_,[152] without any
advance to be made by Government for that purpose, requiring only that
the abatement and deduction above-mentioned shall be suspended for the
first year.

[Footnote 152: All these articles taken into the account, the
originally-intended Penitentiary Houses on the late Mr. Blackburne's
plan, would not have cost so little as £.200 per man:--for 1000
Prisoners, £.200,000: exclusive of the whole _annual_ expence of
maintenance, &c. to an unliquidated amount.]

Upon the above-mentioned Terms, he would engage as follows:

     I. To furnish the Prisoners with a constant supply of
     wholesome _Food_, not limited in quantity, but adequate to
     each man's desires.

     II. To keep them _clad_ in a state of tightness and
     neatness, superior to what is usual even in the Improved
     Prisons.

     III. To keep them supplied with _separate Beds_ and Bedding,
     competent to their situations, and in a state of cleanliness
     scarcely any where conjoined with liberty.

     IV. To insure to them a sufficient supply of artificial
     _warmth_ and _light_, whenever the season renders it
     necessary: and thereby save the necessity of taking them
     prematurely from their work, at such seasons (as in other
     places) as well as preserve them from suffering by the
     inclemency of the weather.

     V. To keep constantly from them, in conformity to the
     practice so happily received, every kind of _strong_ and
     spirituous liquor; unless where ordered in the way of
     medicine.

     VI. To maintain them in a state of inviolable, though
     mitigated seclusion, in _assorted_ companies, without any of
     those opportunities of promiscuous association, which in
     other places, disturb, if not destroy, whatever good effect
     can have been expected from occasional solitude.

     VII. To give them an interest in their work, by allowing
     them a share in the produce.

     VIII. To convert the prison into a _school_, and, by an
     extended application of the principle of _the Sunday
     Schools_, to return its inhabitants into the world
     instructed, at least as well as in ordinary schools, in the
     most useful branches of vulgar learning, as well as in some
     trade or occupation, whereby they may afterwards earn their
     livelihood. Extraordinary culture of extraordinary talents
     is not, in this point of view, worth mentioning: it would be
     for his own advantage to give them every instruction by
     which the value of their labour may be increased.

     IX. To pay a penal sum for every _escape_, with or without
     any default of his, irresistible violence from without
     excepted; and this without employing _irons_ on any
     occasion, or in any shape.

     X. To provide them with _spiritual_ and _medical_
     Assistants, constantly living in the midst of them, and
     incessantly keeping them in view.

     XI. To pay a sum of money for every one who _dies_ under his
     care, taking thereby upon him the insurance of their lives
     for an ordinary premium: and that at a rate grounded on an
     average of the number of deaths, not among imprisoned
     Felons, but among persons of the same ages in a state of
     liberty within the Bills of Mortality.

     XII. To lay for them the foundation-stone of a _provision
     for old age_, upon the plan of the _Annuity Societies_.

     XIII. To insure to them a _livelihood_, at the expiration of
     their terms, by setting up a _Subsidiary Establishment_,
     into which all such as thought proper, should be admitted,
     and in which they would be continued in the exercise of the
     trades in which they were employed during their confinement,
     without any further expence to Government.

     XIV. To make himself personally responsible for the
     reformatory efficacy of his management, and even make
     amends, in most instances, for any accident of its failure,
     by paying a sum of money for every Prisoner convicted of a
     Felony after his discharge, at a rate, increasing according
     to the number of years he had been under the Proposer's
     care, viz. a sum not exceeding 10_l._ if the Prisoner had
     been in the Penitentiary Panopticon _one_ year: not
     exceeding 15_l._ if _two_ years; not exceeding 20_l._ if
     _three_ years; not exceeding 25_l._ if _four_ years; not
     exceeding 30_l._ if _five_ years or upwards: such sum to be
     paid immediately on conviction, and to be applied to the
     indemnification of the persons injured by such subsequent
     offence, and to be equal in amount to the value of the
     injury, so long as it did not exceed the sums respectively
     above specified.

     XV. To present to the Court of King's Bench, on a certain
     day of every Term, and afterwards print and publish, at his
     own expence, a Report, exhibiting, in detail, the state,
     not only moral and medical, but economical, of the
     Establishment; showing the whole profits, if any, and in
     what manner they arise; and then and there, as well as on
     any other day, upon summons from the Court, to make answer
     to all such questions as shall be put to him in relation
     thereto, not only on the part of the Court or Officer of the
     Crown, but, by leave of the Court, on the part of any person
     whatsoever; questions, the answer to which might tend to
     subject him to conviction, though it were for a capital
     crime, not excepted: treading under foot a maxim, invented
     by the guilty for the benefit of the guilty, and from which
     none but the guilty ever derived any advantage.

     XVI. By neatness and cleanliness, by diversity of
     employment, by variety of contrivance, and above all, by
     that peculiarity of construction, which, without any
     unpleasant or hazardous vicinity, enables the whole
     Establishment to be inspected at a view, from a commodious
     and insulated room in the centre, the Prisoners remaining
     unconscious of their being thus observed, it should be his
     study to render it a spectacle such as persons of all
     classes would, in the way of amusement, be curious to
     partake of: and that, not only on Sundays, at the time of
     Divine Service, but on ordinary days, at meal-times, or
     times of work: providing thereby a _system of
     superintendance, universal, unchargeable and uninterrupted_,
     the most effectual and _indestructible_ of all securities
     against abuse.

Such are the methods that have occurred to him for accomplishing that
identification of "_interest with duty_," the effectuating of which,
in the person of the Governour, is declared to be one of the leading
objects of the Penitentiary Act.--[19 GEO. III. ch. 74.]

The station of Gaoler is not in common account a very elevated one:
the addition of Contractor has not much tendency to raise it. He
little dreamt, when he first launched into the subject, that he was to
become a suitor, and perhaps in vain, for such an office. But
inventions unpractised might be in want of the inventor: and a
situation, thus clipped of emoluments, while it was loaded with
obligations, might be in want of candidates. Penetrated, therefore,
with the importance of the end, he would not suffer himself to see any
thing unpleasant or discreditable in the means.

_Outline of the Plan of Construction alluded to in the above
Proposal._

The Building _circular_--about the size of _Ranelagh_--The Prisoners
in their Cells, occupying the Circumference--The Officers, (Governor,
Chaplain, Surgeon, &c.) the Centre.

By _Blinds_, and other contrivances, the Inspectors concealed (except
in as far as they think fit to show themselves) from the observation
of the Prisoners: hence the sentiment of a sort of invisible
omnipresence.--The whole circuit reviewable with little, or, if
necessary, without any change of place.

_One_ Station in the Inspection-Part affording the most perfect view
of every Cell, and every part of every Cell, unless where a screen is
thought fit occasionally and purposely to be interposed.

     Against _Fire_ (if, under a system of constant and universal
     inspection, any such accident could be to be apprehended,) a
     pipe, terminating in a flexible hose, for bringing the water
     down into the central Inspection-Room, from a cistern, of a
     height sufficient to force it up again by its own pressure,
     on the mere turning of a cock, and spread it thus over any
     part within the Building.

For _Visitors_, at the time of Divine service, an _Annular Gallery_,
rising from a floor laid immediately on the cieling of the Central
Inspection-Room, and disclosed to view, by the descent of a central
_Dome_, the superior surface of which serves, after descent, for the
reception of Ministers, Clerk, and a select part of the Auditory: the
Prisoners all round, brought forward, within perfect view and hearing
of the Ministers, to the front of their respective Cells.

_Solitude_, or _limited Seclusion_, _ad libitum_.--But, unless for
punishment, limited seclusion in assorted companies is preferred: an
arrangement, upon this plan alone, exempt from danger. The degree of
_Seclusion_ fixed upon may be preserved, in all places, and at all
times, _inviolate_. Hitherto, where solitude has been aimed at, some
of its chief purposes have been frustrated by occasional associations.

     The _Approach_, _one_ only--_Gates_ opening into a walled
     _avenue_ cut through the area. Hence, no strangers near the
     building without _leave_, nor without being _surveyed_ from
     it as they pass, nor without being known to come _on
     purpose_. The gates, of _open_ work, to _expose hostile_
     mobs: On the other side of the road, a wall with a branch of
     the road behind, to _shelter peaceable_ passengers from the
     fire of the building. A mode of fortification like this, if
     practicable, in a city, would have saved the _London
     Prisons_, and prevented the unpopular accidents in _St.
     George's Fields_.

     The _surrounding Wall_, itself surrounded by an open
     palisade, which serves as a fence to the grounds on the
     other side.--Except on the side of the Approach _no public
     path_ by that fence.--A _Centinel's Walk_ between; on which
     no one else can set foot, without forcing the fence, and
     declaring himself a trespasser at least, if not an enemy. To
     the four walls, four such walks _flanking_ and _crossing_
     each other at the ends.--Thus each Centinel has two to check
     him.

In contemplating the whole of this important design, it is impossible
to avoid congratulating the Public on the prospect which now opens by
a recent vote of Parliament,[153] for the purpose of carrying it
speedily into effect.

[Footnote 153: At the close of the Session in June 1798, the House of
Commons voted 36000_l._ to Mr. Bentham, toward the expence of carrying
his plan into execution. See the Appropriation Act, 39 Geo. III. c.
114.]

It comprizes in its structure every thing humanity can dictate, or
which a mind full of resource, and a judgment matured by great depth
of thought could suggest, for the purpose of relieving Society from a
dreadful and oppressive evil.

It is even to extend comforts to offenders in the course of
punishment; and they are to be returned to Society after the period
expires, not as at present, polluted and depraved beyond what the
human mind can conceive; but impressed with the force of religious and
moral instructions, with an abhorrence of their former course of life,
and with a resource for obtaining an honest livelihood by the trade or
occupation which they were taught during their confinement.--And if
employment should fail, when at liberty to make their own election, an
asylum is provided, into which they will be admitted, and where they
may continue to exercise the trades in which they were employed during
their confinement, with certain advantages to themselves.

These Convicts are, moreover, while in confinement, to have an
interest in the work they perform, by being allowed a share of the
produce, which may be either partly or wholly applied in laying the
foundation-stone of a provision for old age, upon the plan of the
Annuity Societies, which is to form one of the oeconomical
arrangements of this excellent Establishment.

Among many other advantages calculated to improve the morals of
delinquents, and to render them useful to Society, it will possess,
after a certain period, the singular faculty of extending to the
Public these incalculable benefits, _perhaps without any expence
whatsoever_; since it may be reasonably expected, that by training
both Sexes to productive labour, extended and rendered valuable by the
proposed introduction of ingenious machinery, it will hereafter become
an object of advantage to new Contractors, (after the System is fully
matured, and the profits arising from it clearly ascertained), to take
upon them the conduct of the design, without stipulating for any
annuity or assistance whatsoever from Government. Nay, the certainty
of this profit, and its magnitude arising from labour alone, may,
perhaps, ultimately even create a competition of Contractors, who,
instead of _receiving_, will be induced to _offer_ a premium to
Government for the appointment to the situation; the value of which
will be evidenced by the increasing annual profits.

It is, indeed, highly probable, that as the Institution advances to
maturity, under a plan so admirably adapted to render labour
productive in the greatest possible degree; in the same manner will
the profits gradually increase year after year until they shall be
rendered obvious and certain, and not as at present depending on
speculative opinions.

The proposed annual report to the Court of King's Bench, through which
medium the progressive profits will be generally promulgated, will
create notoriety, and excite attention; and it is by no means
improbable, that when the contract becomes open, by the decease of
the two Gentlemen to whom the Public are to be indebted for this
invention, that it will acquire _a precise value_, like any other
saleable commodity.

This was exemplified in the instance of Convicts sent to America,
which for a great length of time cost Government a large sum annually,
until a discovery of the profits, arising from the disposal of the
services of Felons, created a competition, which eased the Public of
every expence whatsoever on account of their Transportation.

But these are not the only advantages which the Country will derive
from this new Penitentiary System. Its success will rapidly change the
oeconomy of the many unproductive Houses of Correction, which have
been erected at an enormous expence to the different Counties, under
the Act of the 16th of Geo. III. cap. 43. Those in the management of
these respective Establishments will gladly follow an example which
mingles in so great a degree--_humanity with reform and profit_,
thereby holding out a prospect both of diminishing crimes, and
reducing the County Rates, now estimated by the Finance Committee at
_fifty thousand pounds a year_ for prisons, and criminal Police alone.

Such are some of the benefits which may be reasonably expected to
arise from the proposed Penitentiary System. If they shall be realized
to the extent which is contemplated, so as to render transportation,
as well as the Hulks, unnecessary, the pecuniary saving to Government
in twenty years will be immense. This may be ascertained by referring
to a preceding page, where the disbursements in the criminal
department are inserted, which have taken place since the commencement
of the American war, which rendered a new System necessary. If to this
sum is added the expences incurred by the Counties, it will probably
be found to have exceeded _Two millions sterling in all_.

But still further advantages may be contemplated in addition to those
of a pecuniary nature.--By retaining delinquents in the Country, and
rendering their labour profitable to the State, a new source of wealth
is opened which never existed at any former period, since the labour
of convicts transported, whether to America or New South Wales, has
been totally unproductive to the Country.

The success of such a design, once clearly manifested, would give a
new and favourable turn to the System of Punishments. Labour would be
exacted in almost every case, not more for the benefit of the State
than the advantage of the Prisoner, since labour and reform generally
go hand in hand.--Without the aid of labour, it is in vain to expect
an improvement in the morals or habits of delinquents--without an
asylum to which discharged prisoners can resort for employment, their
punishment produces no advantage. On the contrary, the vices of a
Gaol send them forth more hardened in iniquity, and greater adepts in
the trade of thieving than before.

Nothing, therefore, can be more hostile to the diminution of crimes
than the present mode of punishment for small offences, by a short
imprisonment, without being employed in useful and productive labour.

Under this defective System the different Gaols in the Metropolis and
the Kingdom, are periodically vomiting forth hordes of Minor
Delinquents, who serve as recruits to the more desperate gangs, and
remain in a course of turpitude until cut off by the commission of
higher offences. Some exceptions, doubtless, there are; but while the
resource for honest labour is so effectually shut out, many who have
totally lost character, and are without friends, seem to have no other
resource.

To all who may be confined in the proposed Penitentiary Establishment,
this difficulty will be removed.--A difficulty in the present state of
things, the magnitude of which cannot be estimated, since it generates
most of those evils to which are to be attributed the extensive
corruption of morals, and the increase and multiplication of crimes.

Upon the whole, it would be expedient to give full effect to the new
Penitentiary System as soon as possible; which, to use the language of
the Select Committee, (p. 30.) "seems to bid fairer than any other
that was ever yet offered to the Public, to diminish the Public
expenditure in this branch, and to produce a salutary reform in the
objects of the proposed institution."

At the same time for the purpose of rendering the System of
Punishments useful in the greatest possible degree to the Community,
and that they may operate, in the fullest extent, as an example,
tending to the prevention of crimes, it would seem that the following
general principles should be adopted.

     1st. That examples of punishment by death, (except, perhaps,
     in cases of Murder), should only take place twice a year:
     and that the impression upon the Public mind may be stronger
     from the less frequency of such painful exhibitions, they
     ought on all occasions to be conducted with a degree of
     solemnity suited to the object in the view of the
     Legislature, when the life of a fellow-creature is
     sacrificed, that it may really prove useful in deterring
     others; and not be contemplated with indifference, as is too
     often the case at present, without making the least
     impression, or being in any degree beneficial to the great
     ends of Public justice.

     2d. That the System of the Hulks should be at once wholly
     abandoned, as a source of great expence, producing in the
     result infinitely more evil than good, and thereby
     exhausting the Finances of the Country without any one
     beneficial consequence.

     3d. That Transportation to New South Wales and Norfolk
     Island, should be limited to a few of the most depraved,
     incorrigible, and irreclaimable Convicts, whose vicious and
     ungovernable conduct, while under the discipline of a
     Penitentiary House, rendered their reform hopeless.--That
     shipments should only take place once in three years, and
     that the Civil and Military Establishment of the Colony
     should be gradually reduced, so as to bring the National
     Expenditure on this branch of Police within moderate bounds.

     4th. That every thing should be done to accelerate the
     erection of National Penitentiary Houses.--That their
     capacity, including appendages, should be equal to the
     accommodation of 3,500 Convicts of all descriptions, so as
     to admit of different degrees of treatment and labour,
     according to the _age, sex, and state of health of the
     Convicts_.

     5th. That the local Penitentiary Houses in the different
     Counties, destined for the Punishment of persons convicted
     of Larcenies, and other minor offences, should be conducted,
     as nearly as possible, upon the plan of the National
     Establishments; and also by contract, under circumstances
     where the labour of the Convicts may, by the resources of
     the Contractor, be rendered (without hardship) equal, or
     nearly equal, to the expence; a measure conceived to be
     almost, in every instance, practicable, where knowledge of
     business, stimulated by interest, shall form an ingredient
     in the executive management.

     6th. That there should be attached to each County
     Penitentiary House, a Subsidiary Establishment, into which
     all discharged prisoners should be admitted who choose it,
     and where they might be continued in the exercise of the
     trades in which they were employed during their confinement,
     and for which they should receive wages in proportion to
     their earnings, until they could otherwise find a settled
     employment through an honest medium: thus giving those who
     are desirous of reforming an opportunity of sheltering
     themselves from the dangers of relapse, which arise from
     being afloat upon the Public--idle, and without the means of
     subsistence.

In carrying the Penitentiary System into effect, it ought not to
escape notice, that the hardship imposed on Convicts, with respect to
manual labour, would be no more than every honest artisan who works
industriously for his family, must, during the whole course of his
life, impose upon himself. The condition of a Convict would, even in
some respects, be superior, inasmuch as he would enjoy medical
assistance, and other advantages tending to the preservation of
health, which do not attach to the lower classes of the people, whose
irregularities not being restrained, while their pursuits and labours
are seldom directed by good judgment and intelligence, often produce
bad health, and extreme indigence and distress.

The difficulty which has heretofore been experienced with respect to
productive labour in the Provincial Houses of Correction will vanish,
when the System shall be exemplified in the National Penitentiary
Establishment. To conduct a Plan of this nature with advantage to the
Public and to the individual, an assemblage of _qualities_,
_dispositions_, and _endowments_, which rarely meet in one man, will
be necessary--namely, _education, habits of business, a knowledge of
the common affairs of life--an active and discriminating
mind--indefatigable industry--the purest morals, and a philanthropic
disposition, totally divested of those hurtful propensities which lead
to idle amusements_.

Such men are to be found, and would come forward, as Contractors, with
ample security as often as opportunities offered, after the System
became matured. It is only by the uncontrolled energy of talents,
where duty and interest go hand in hand, that labour is to be obtained
from Convicts.--No fluctuating management, nor any superintendance
whatsoever, where a spring is not given to exertion by motives of
interest, can perfect any Penitentiary design; or, indeed, any design
where profit is to be derived from labour. Hence the ill success of
almost all the well meant establishments with respect to the Poor,
and to most of the local Penitentiary Houses. In some instances a few
establishments at first hold out prospects of success; but at length
they dwindle and decay, and in the result they have mostly all been
unprofitable. The death or removal of an active or philanthropic
Magistrate produces a languor, which terminates often in the ruin or
the abandonment of the design.

The National Penitentiary System is guarded against this contingency;
and until the local Establishments can enjoy equal advantages, success
in any degree is scarcely to be expected, and _permanent success_ is
altogether hopeless.

The object to be attained is of great magnitude.--Let an appeal be,
therefore, made to the good sense of the country, and to the feelings
of humanity in behalf of an unfortunate and noxious class of
individuals. Let the effects of the present System be candidly
examined, in opposition to the benefits which may result from that
which is proposed, and let the decision be speedy, that Society may no
longer be tormented by the evils which arise from this branch of the
Police of the country.

The suggestions which are thus hazarded on the subject of punishments,
are by no means the refinements of speculation doubtful and uncertain
in their issue.

The System accords either with what has been already enacted by the
Legislature or recommended by the Finance Committee. And the whole
has been admitted to be practicable under an able and permanent
superintendence. A hope may, therefore, be indulged, that where the
interest of Society and the cause of Humanity is so deeply concerned,
a design which holds out so many advantages, will experience that
general support which it unquestionably merits; since its object is
not only to reclaim the Out-casts of the present generation, but also
to rescue thousands yet unborn from misery and destruction.

CHAP. XVII.

     _The Police of the Metropolis examined--Its organization
     explained, with regard to that branch which relates to the
     prevention and suppression of Crimes.--The utility of the
     new System, established in 1792, examined and
     explained.--Reasons assigned why this System has not tended,
     in a greater degree, to the suppression and prevention of
     atrocious Crimes--Its great deficiency from the want of
     funds, by which Magistrates are crippled in their exertions,
     with regard to the detection and punishment of
     Offenders.--Reasons in favour of a New System.--The Police
     of the City of London (as now constituted) explained and
     examined.--Suggestions relative to established Justices, and
     the benefits likely to result from their exertions in
     assisting the City Magistrates: from whose other engagements
     and pursuits, that close and laborious attention cannot be
     expected which the Public interest requires.--The
     Magistrates of London the most respectable, perhaps, in the
     world.--The vast labour and weight of duty attached to the
     chief Magistrate.--The Aldermen have certain duties assigned
     them, which ought not, in justice to be augmented, as they
     act gratuitously.--The benefits which result to the
     Community from established Police Magistrates, considered in
     different points of view; and exemplified in the advantages
     which have arisen from the System under the Act of
     1792.--General Reflections on the advantages which would
     arise from the various remedies which have been proposed in
     the course of this Work.--These benefits, however, only of a
     partial nature, inadequate to the object of complete
     protection, for want of a centre-point and superintending
     Establishment, under the controul of the first Minister of
     Police.--Reasons assigned in favour of such a System.--The
     advantages that would result from its adoption.--The ideas
     of enlightened Foreigners on the Police of the Metropolis
     explained.--Reflections suggested by those
     ideas.--Observations on the Police of Paris previous to the
     Revolution in France: elucidated by Anecdotes of the Emperor
     Joseph the Second and Mons. de Sartine.--The danger of an
     inundation of Foreign Sharpers and Villains on the return of
     Peace.--The situation of Europe requires, and the necessity
     of a well-regulated Police points out the utility of, a
     Central Board of Commissioners for Managing the
     Police.--This measure recommended by the Select Committee of
     Finance, since the publication of the last Edition of this
     Work._

Having in the preceding Chapters endeavoured to bring under the review
of the Reader, not only those prominent causes which have occasioned
that great increase of Public Wrongs, which every good man must
deplore, but also the _various classes of delinquents_ which compose
the melancholy catalogue of human depravity; having also stated such
observations and facts, relative to _detection_, _trials_, and
_punishments_, as seemed to be necessary for the purpose of
elucidating a subject of great importance to be understood; it remains
now to explain and develope the _System_ hitherto established for the
purpose of protecting the Public against those enormities; and from
which is to be expected that energy, and those exertions, which have
been shewn to be so indispensably necessary, for the suppression and
prevention of crimes.

The POLICE _of this great Metropolis_ is undoubtedly a System highly
interesting to be understood, although heretofore (as far as the
Author has had access to know) it has never been, at any period, fully
explained through the medium of the press;--and hence it is, that a
vast proportion of those who reside in the Capital, as well as the
multitude of strangers who resort to it, have no accurate idea of the
principles of organization, which move so complicated a machine.

It has been already stated in a preceding Chapter, that twenty-six
Magistrates, forming that respectable body, comprehending the
Lord-Mayor and Aldermen,[154] sit in rotation every forenoon, at the
Mansion-house, and at Guildhall, and take cognizance of all matters
of Police within the ancient jurisdiction of the City of London; while
twenty-six established Magistrates appointed for every other part of
the Metropolis,[155] including the River Police, having particular
offices or courts of justice assigned them at convenient distances in
Westminster, Middlesex, and Surry, sit every day (Sunday excepted)
both in the morning and evening, for the purpose of executing all the
multifarious duties, connected with the office of a Justice of the
Peace, which unavoidably occur in large societies.[156]

[Footnote 154: The following are the names of the Aldermen at present
in the Magistracy of the City; arranged according to their Seniority.

  1761  Right Hon. Thos. Harley,      Bridge Ward Without
    72  Sir Watkin Lewis, Knt.        Lime-street
    72  Sir William Plomer, Knt.      Bassishaw
    74  Nathaniel Newnham, Esq.       Vintry
    82  John Boydell, Esq.            Cheap
    84  Paul Le Mesurier, Esq.        Dowgate
    84  Brock Watson, Esq.            Cordwainers
    85  Thomas Skinner, Esq.          Queenhithe
    85  William Curtis, Esq.          Tower
    86  William Newnham, Esq.         Farringdon Within
    86  G.M. Macauley, Esq.           Coleman-street
    89  J.W. Andersen, Esq.           Aldersgate-street
    90  Harvey C. Combe, Esq.         Aldgate
    90  Sir Richard Carr Glyn, Knt.   Bishopsgate-street
    93  William Staines, Esq.         Cripplegate
    95  Sir John Eamer, Knt.          Langborne
    96  Sir William Herne, Knt.       Castle-Baynard
    96  Robert Williams, Esq.         Cornhill
    97  Charles Hamerton, Esq.        Bread-street
    98  Charles Price, Esq.           Farringdon Without
    98  Peter Perchard, Esq.          Candlewick
    98  Thomas Cadell, Esq.           Walbrook
    98  George Hibbert, Esq.          Bridge Within
    98  James Shaw, Esq.              Portsoken
    98  John Perring, Esq.            Broad-street
    99  William Leighton, Esq.        Billingsgate

Sir John William Rose, Knt. Recorder of London, a Magistrate, holding
rank above the Aldermen who have not served the office of Lord
Mayor.--He assists at the General and Quarter Sessions of the Peace,
and in the principal affairs of the City; but does not sit in
rotation.

Richard Clark, Esq. Chamberlain, acting judicially with respect to
Apprentices.

Mr. Newman, Clerk to the Lord-Mayor, or Sitting Alderman at the
Mansion-house.

Mr. Whittle, Clerk to the sitting Alderman at Guildhall.]

[Footnote 155: The following are the Public Offices in the Metropolis;
(exclusive of the City of London;) and the respective Magistrates who
_preside_, and the Clerks who _officiate_ at each.

  Westminster.

    Bow-street,      Sir William Addington, Knt. }
    Covent Garden.   Nicholas Bond, Esq.         } _Magistrates_.
                     Richard Ford, Esq.          }
                     Mess. Lavender and Davies, _Clerks_.

    The following seven Public Offices were established by the
    Act 32 Geo. III. cap. 53. and continued for 5 years by 36
    Geo. III. cap. 75.

    Queen's Square,  Cranley Thomas Kerby, Esq. }
    St. Margaret's   Henry James Pye, Esq.      } _Magistrates_.
    Westminster.     Patrick Colquhoun, Esq.    }
                     Mess. Arthur Gliddon and J. Jones, _Clerks_.

    Great Marl-      Nathaniel Conant, Esq.  }
    borough-street,  John Scott, Esq.        } _Magistrates_.
    Oxford Road.     Phillip Neave, Esq.     }
                     Mess. H.P. Butler and J. Thornton, _Clerks_.

  Middlesex.

    Hatton Garden    William Bleamire, Esq. }
    Holborn.         Aaron Graham, Esq.     } _Magistrates_.
                     Robert Baker, Esq.     }
                     Mess. A. Todd and W. Upton, _Clerks_.

    Worship-street,  John Floud, Esq.      }
    Finsbury-Squ.    William Brodie, Esq.  } _Magistrates_.
                     John Nares, Esq.      }
                     Mess. Chas. Lush and J. Chalmers, _Clerks_.

    Lambeth-street,  Rice Davies, Esq.      }
    Whitechapel.     Henry Reynett, D.D.    } _Magistrates_.
                     Daniel Williams, Esq.  }
                     Mess. John Smith and J. Bailey, _Clerks_.

    High-street,     George Storie, Esq. }
    Shadwell.        John Staples, Esq.  } _Magistrates_.
                     Rupert Clarke, Esq. }
                     Mess. J. Rowswell and G. Skeen, _Clerks_.

  Surrey.

    Union-street,    Gideon Fournier, Esq.         }
    Southwark.       Benjamin Robinson, Esq.       } _Magistrates_.
                     Richard Carpenter Smith, Esq. }
                     Mess. D. Campbell and J.A. Jallicoe, _Clerks_.

  Marine Police,     P. Colquhoun, Esq. superintending Magistrate,
  Wapping New          gratis
  Stairs.            John Harriot, Esq. Resident Magistrate
                     Henry Lang, Esq. Chief Clerk
                     William Brooke, Cashier
                     Three Junior Clerks, and Ten Surveyors, &c.

N.B. The whole Fees and Penalties taken and received at the seven
Offices, established by 32 Geo. III. cap. 53. are paid into the
_Receiver_ on account of the Public, and the whole expences of the
Establishments are defrayed from the funds placed in his hands for
that purpose.]

[Footnote 156: The Marine Police Magistrates, on account of the extent
of the Establishment, and the number of River Officers under their
Control, never leave the Office from the time that business commences
in the morning until a late hour in the evening.]

This Institution of established Justices (except with regard to the
three Magistrates at Bow-street, and the Justices at the Marine Police
Office,) was suggested to the Legislature, in consequence of the
pressure felt by the Public, from the want of some regular and
properly-constituted Tribunals for the distribution of justice; where
the System should be uniform; and where the purity of the Magistrates,
and their regular attendance, might insure to the People, the
adjustment of their differences, at the least possible expence; and
the assistance of gratuitous advice in every difficulty; as well as
official aid, in all cases within the sphere of the Magistrates in
their respective districts.

The duty of these established Magistrates, (in conjunction with
other Justices of the Peace, who find it convenient to give
their assistance,) extends also to several important judicial
proceedings; where, in a great variety of instances, they are
empowered and required to _hear_ and _determine_, in a summary way;
particularly in cases relative to the _customs, excise, and
stamps--the game laws--hawkers and pedlars--pawn-brokers--friendly
societies--highways--hackney coaches, carts, and other carriages--Quakers
and others refusing to pay tythes--appeals of defaulters in parochial
rates--misdemeanors committed by persons unlawfully pawning property
not their own--bakers for short weight, &c.--journeymen leaving their
services in different trades--labourers not complying with their
agreements--disorderly apprentices--alehouse keepers keeping
disorderly houses--nuisances by different Acts of Parliament--acts of
vagrancy by fraudulent lottery insurers--fortune-tellers; or persons
of evil fame found in avenues to public places, with an intent to
rob--As well as a multitude of other offences, in which Justices have
power to proceed to conviction and punishment, either by fine or
imprisonment_.

The duty of the Magistrates also extends to a vast number of other
objects, such as _licencing Public Houses_, and establishing Rules and
Orders for Publicans,[157] _watching over the conduct of
Publicans--swearing in, charging and instructing parochial constables
and headboroughs from year to year, with regard to their duty--issuing
warrants for privy searches; and in considering the cases of persons
charged with being disorderly persons, or rogues and vagabonds, liable
to be punished under the Act of the 17th of George II. cap. 5, and
subsequent acts of Parliament--in making orders to Parish Officers,
Beadles, and Constables, in a variety of cases--in Parish Removals--in
billeting soldiers--in considering the cases of poor persons applying
for assistance, or admission to workhouses--in granting certificates
and orders to the wives of persons serving in the Militia_, and also
_in attesting recruits, for the Army--in attending the General and
Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and in visiting the Workhouses,
Bride-wells, and Prisons_.[158]

[Footnote 157: See Tract on Public Houses, by the Author of this
Treatise.]

[Footnote 158: The Magistrates at the Marine Police confine their
attention almost wholly to the cognizance of offences, either
committed on the River, or connected with Maritime Affairs, and his
Majesty's Stores in the Public Arsenals.]

In addition to these various duties, many criminal cases occur in the
course of a year, which are examined for the purpose, if necessary, of
being sent to superior tribunals for trials:--such as charges of
_Treason, Murder, Coining, and uttering Base Money, Arson,
Manslaughter, Forgery, Burglary, Larceny, Sedition, Felonies of
various descriptions, Conspiracies, Frauds, Riots, Assaults, and
Misdemeanors of different kinds_:--all which unavoidably impose upon
every official Magistrate, a weight of business requiring great
exertion, and an unremitting attention to the Public Interest, in the
due execution of this very important Trust.

When the Police System was first established in the year 1792, the
public mind became impressed with an idea that the chief, if not the
only, object of the institution was to prevent _Robberies_,
_Burglaries_, and other _atrocious Offences_; and that the suppression
of those crimes, which bore hardest upon Society, and were most
dreaded by the Public at large, was to be the result. These
expectations shewed, that neither the powers nor authorities granted
by the Act of Parliament, nor the other duties imposed upon the
Magistracy of the Police, were understood. For this Statute (useful as
it certainly is in a very high degree in many other respects,) does
not contain even a single regulation applicable to the prevention of
crimes; except that which relates to the apprehension of suspected
characters, found in the avenues to public places, with intent to
commit felony; who are liable to be punished as rogues and
vagabonds,--and even this provision does not extend to the city of
London.

But this is not all--an establishment has been created, without the
most necessary of all engines to give vigour and effect to the
exertions of the Magistrates; namely, a pecuniary Fund to defray the
expences of detecting criminals, and of rewarding those who bring
informations useful to Public Justice. The expence of each Public
Office being restricted to _two thousand pounds_ a year, and the
establishment in _salaries_, _rents_, _taxes_, and other
_contingencies_ exhausting that sum, nothing remains for one of the
most necessary purposes of the Institution--the _Prevention_ and the
_Suppression of Crimes_.[159]

[Footnote 159: It is by no means to be understood, that this
deficiency arose from any want of real attention or public spirit on
the part of the respectable individuals who framed and promoted this
act. It was perhaps as much as could reasonably be expected at the
time, until the public mind could be more fully informed. It was by
the operation of this act, that a correct view of the improvements
necessary to complete the System, were to be obtained. This first step
was, therefore, of great importance; and it is but justice to state,
that to the Authors of this Act the Public will be indebted for every
subsequent arrangement, which may be adopted for perfecting the Police
of the Metropolis.]

It is in vain to expect that either vigour or energy can enter into
that part of the System, where a great deal of _both_ is necessary,
_without Funds_.

If criminals, at war with the Community, are to be detected--if risks
are to be run to effect this purpose--if it is to be done, (as it must
frequently be) at the hazard of the loss of health, and _even of
life_, by watching desperadoes in the night time--if accurate
informations are necessary, either to discover where stolen property
is deposited, or where the delinquents are to be found; a Fund must be
provided, or the Public cannot be protected. Those, whose province it
is to watch over the Police must not expect that men, capable of
giving them useful information, will return a second time, if they
have not some adequate reward bestowed upon them for their labour,
risk, and trouble. Without such power of granting small rewards, (so
far as that part of his duty which relates to the discovery of
property plundered, and the detection of the offenders is of
importance to the Public,) a Magistrate is placed in the situation of
a person pledged to work, _without tools or implements of labour_, by
which he can in any respect accomplish his purpose. And hence it is,
that among the numerous causes assigned in the course of this Work,
for the increase of Crimes,--this is none of the least.

Not that it is meant that any additional burthen on the Public, by an
extensive expenditure of money, would be necessary--A very moderate
sum judiciously and oeconomically laid out, would bring to
Commissioners of the Police, or to the _disbursing Magistrates_,
through some medium or other, an early account of most of the
depredations committed upon the Public, as well as every circumstance
relative to coiners and sellers of base money.--This would lead to the
detection and apprehension of most of the offenders; and thereby
strike such an universal terror, as (assisted by the other salutary
regulations proposed in this Work) would soon reduce the number of
Thieves, Coiners, and other delinquents; and thus, of course, diminish
the ultimate and great additional expence which follows conviction, in
all cases where felons are in the course of punishment.

In this view of the subject, it would prove a Regulation calculated
greatly to reduce the aggregate expence; for surely, if _a few
guineas_ judiciously laid out, in the first instance, would save
_fifty_ afterwards to the State, it must be a wise and a good
arrangement; and in this way it would probably operate. But this would
not be the only saving to the Nation: by preventing crimes, all those
concerned in projects of mischief must, instead of preying upon the
industry of others, assist the State, by contributing their share to
the national stock of labour.

Next to the want of a sufficient pecuniary Fund, the most obvious
deficiency in the present System of executive Police in the
Metropolis, is that which regards the Magistracy of the City of
London; _where the case is precisely reversed_; for _there_ the funds
for the detection and discovery of offenders, may be made as ample as
the Corporation shall think fit; but the want of a _Stipendiary
Establishment_ must prevent the operation of that System of vigour and
energy, which the increase of Criminals and the present state of
Society demand.

The Magistrates of the City of London form a body, perhaps the most
_respectable_, and _independent_ of any in the world; but besides the
unavoidable, important, and multiplied affairs of the Corporation, in
attending the various Courts of the Lord-Mayor--Aldermen--Common
Council--Common Hall--Wardmotes--Conservancy--Courts of
Requests--Court of Orphans--and General and Quarter Sessions of the
Peace, and Justice Hall at the Old Bailey, they have avocations and
engagements in business, which must necessarily occupy their minds.
It cannot, therefore, reasonably be expected, that they should forego
their own important private interests, and bestow upon the business of
the Public that attention which their situation as Magistrates seems
to require.[160]

[Footnote 160: The Author having had occasion to represent to a late
Chief Magistrate, of great talents and respectability, the enormous
evil arising from _base coin_:--He very judiciously observed, that to
do any good in protecting the Public against this species of offence,
_it would require the mind of a Magistrate to be given up to that
object alone_. This pointed and accurate remark is sufficient to
elucidate, in an eminent degree, the necessity of Magistrates with
salaries, in all large Communities.]

The Chief Magistrate cannot, in the nature of things, while the
immense load of municipal affairs, joined to his own private concerns,
presses constantly upon his mind, bestow either time or attention in
considering the cases of delinquents brought before him; or in
following up informations, and devising plans necessary to detect
offenders; and yet this detail of duty, even from the pass-vagrant to
the most atrocious villain, is imposed on him, by ancient immemorial
custom and usage; at the very moment when he is overpowered with other
official business, of great magnitude and importance; which can be
transacted by no other person. Hurried with constant engagements,
inseparable from the functions and dignity attached to his high
office, and the general government of the City, a Lord-Mayor is just
beginning to understand the duties attached to the Chief Magistracy,
at the period when he must lay it down.

The other Magistrates of the City having had a precise line of duty
anciently chalked out, when Commerce and Society had made less
progress, the same System continues; nor would it be proper to expect
an augmentation of labour, or a greater proportion of time, from
Magistrates who serve the Public gratuitously.--The unremitting
attendance and indefatigable industry, which the Public interest
requires, it would be vain and unjust to expect, from any but
Magistrates selected for that purpose, and that only.[161]

[Footnote 161: The Select Committee of the House of Commons on
Finance, in their 28th Report (already repeatedly quoted), appear to
be very strongly impressed with the necessity of Police Magistrates,
and a Concurrent Jurisdiction for the City of London.--They express
themselves in the following words: "It is further to be stated, that a
considerable defect is felt in the Police of the Metropolis, from the
limited jurisdiction of the present Magistrates in every part of it,
and from the want of an Institution similar to that of the Police
Offices to be established in the City of London, as was originally
intended and proposed: that the delay which necessarily takes place in
obtaining the sanction of the local Magistracy in either case, to the
warrants of those presiding in other districts, operates in all cases
to the advantage of offenders against the Laws, and to the obstruction
of Public Justice: add to which, that the numerous and important
avocations, both public and private, of the truly respectable
Magistracy of the City, is too often inconsistent with that constant
and unremitting attention which the due preservation of the Police of
the Metropolis requires. That it would be unfortunate indeed if any
local jealousy founded upon no just grounds, though entertained by
honourable minds, should continue to deprive even the Inhabitants of
the City itself, as well as those of the rest of the Metropolis, of
that security which a more permanent attendance, and a perfect
intercommunity of Jurisdiction in Criminal matters between the
Magistrates of every part of the Metropolis, and of the five adjoining
Counties, could not fail to produce."--See p. 13, 28th Report, 26th of
June, 1798.]

With the increase of those blessings which are supposed to arise from
a course of prosperity and wealth, there is generally an increase also
of _evils_ and _inconveniences_; and hence it is that while an influx
of riches preponderates in _one scale_, an augmentation of crimes acts
as a counterbalance in the _other_:--thus requiring the constant and
progressive application of such antidotes and remedies as will
preserve the _good_, while the _evil_ is diminished or kept within
bounds.

It seems that the Metropolis is now in that situation where the active
and unceasing attention of Magistrates with salaries, has become
necessary to promote a vigorous and energetic execution of the Law,
for the general protection of property, and the safety of
individuals.[162]

[Footnote 162: If this were the case, neither the Bank, nor the
avenues to every part of Cheapside, &c.[H] would be beset with gangs
of rogues and sharpers, both men and women, who support themselves
principally by the resource which the vast amount of moving property,
in money and portable goods, affords them, in this part of the
Metropolis; where, it appears, capital offenders are rarely detected;
since, at the Old Bailey, those convicted in the course of a year,
from the City and County, run in the proportion of about 1-7th part
for London, and 6-7th parts for Middlesex.[I]]

[Footnote H: See p. 106.]

[Footnote I: Vide Table, p. 429.]

Contemplating the various existing evils detailed in this Work, and
which form so many prominent features of Police, requiring the
constant and watchful eye of the Magistrate, it seems clear to
demonstration, that unless official duties become the sole business
and pursuit of the parties engaged in them, the Public Interest must
suffer; and (although imperceptible in their progress), Crimes will
increase and multiply; at a time when the comfort, happiness and
security of Society, require that they should be diminished.

In consequence also of the great accumulation of the Statute Laws,
requiring the attention of Justices in a vast number of instances,
which did not occur a century ago, their duty has so multiplied as to
require the _whole time_ of Magistrates acting in all great Societies;
an observation which applies not merely to the Metropolis, but to many
large Provincial Towns. It follows, therefore, almost as a matter of
course, that Stipendiary Justices have become indispensably
necessary.[163]

[Footnote 163: In the measures finally proposed by the Finance
Committee, in the 9th Article (page 30), they recommend it to
Parliament, "That two additional Offices of Police should be
established in the City, consisting each of three Magistrates, to sit
at the Mansion-house, and at Guildhall, for the purpose of assisting
the Lord-Mayor and the Court of Aldermen: such Magistrates to be named
by the Lord-Mayor and Court of Aldermen; and paid out of the General
Funds arising from the proposed regulations; to sit permanently, as at
the other Offices, with Commissions from the Crown, extending over the
whole Metropolis, and the counties of Middlesex, Kent, Essex, and
Surry."]

If men of business, integrity, and talents, could once be prevailed on
to accept of such employments, and execute the trust reposed in them
with zeal and attention to the public interest, and with firm and
independent minds, attached to no Party, infinite advantages must
result to the Community from their services.[164]

[Footnote 164: A Police Magistrate has nothing to do with the politics
of the Country; and he is incapable, and unworthy of the trust reposed
in him, if he permits any bias, or influence, but that which is
immediately connected with a correct and chaste execution of the Laws,
to take hold of his mind.--It is only by this line of conduct, that he
can either render himself useful or respectable.]

Where men of this description pledge themselves, as they must
necessarily do, to give up every other pursuit, assiduously and
constantly to execute the laborious duties of a Police Magistrate;
Justice also requires that the reward should be commensurate to the
sacrifices which are made. It is the interest of the Community that it
should be so: for in the present extended state of Commerce and
Society, no gratuitous System can ever be expected to answer any
purpose of real utility.

While the higher order of Magistrates receive the just reward of their
useful labour, bestowed in the exercise of their functions in
promoting the public good--where can be the impropriety of extending
the same species of remuneration to inferior Magistrates; who must
devote even a greater portion of time and attention to the
multifarious duties assigned them?

The office of _Assistant Magistrates_ in the City might be assigned to
six active and honourable men, who would give _their whole attention
to_ the criminal department of the Police. The proceedings of these
Magistrates should be sanctioned by the presence of the Aldermen, as
often as one or more could conveniently attend; on which occasions
they would necessarily preside, as holding within their own district,
the highest rank in the Magistracy.

The difference in point of benefit to the Community between a _Mind_
constantly occupied in objects of public utility, and that which is
only occasionally employed, is great beyond all possible
calculation.--Nor is the measure without precedent, even in the City
of London, since the Recorder may, in his high office, be fairly
considered in the light of a Magistrate with a salary.

Ready on every occasion at their Sittings in the morning and evening,
to offer their advice or assistance to the labouring people, as well
as all ranks of the Community, who apply for it--to adjust their
differences, and to protect them against wrongs and oppressions:
prepared also, as a matter of business, to receive and follow up
informations where crimes have been committed, and never to lose sight
of the object while it is practicable to attain it; these Assistant
Magistrates would afford incalculable advantages to the City: which
would be still farther increased, if a System of co-operation of the
other Police Magistrates were established, upon a plan which would
unite their energy, and render their jurisdiction co-extensive. (See
_ante_ pages 419, 420).

It is a well-known fact, that since the establishment of Police
Magistrates for Westminster, and the parts of Middlesex and Surry,
contiguous to the City of London, great benefits have been experienced
from the assistance and advice which have been afforded to the
indigent, and the ignorant.

Many quarrels and little law-suits have been prevented, and
innumerable differences immediately reconciled without any expence.

It is in this manner that Magistrates, acting up to the spirit of
their Public Duty, and bestowing their _whole_ attention upon whatever
relates to that duty, confer those obligations upon the Community
which no moderate remuneration can repay.

The office of a Police Magistrate is not like other public
situations:--for the business is multifarious, seldom admits of any
recess or a vacation.--It is, or ought to be, _constant_, _laborious_,
and without _intermission_.[165]

[Footnote 165: In the month of October, 1793, a respectable Committee,
representing the great body of the Manufacturers in Spitalfields,
waited on His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home
Department, with an Address of Thanks for the Establishment of the
Police System; the substance of which is as follows:

"That it is the opinion of this Society, that great benefits have
arisen, with regard to the security of property, from the correct and
regular manner in which the judicial business has been conducted by
the Magistrates of Police; in consequence of whose vigilance and
attention, an effectual check has been given to a System of
depredation which heretofore occasioned a loss of many thousands per
annum to the Silk Manufacturers:"--And it was Resolved,--"That the
Thanks of this Society are due to the Right Honourable Henry Dundas,
one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; and also to Mr.
Burton, and the other Members of Parliament, who proposed and
supported the Police System, for the share they had in the
establishment of a judicial Tribunal, which has been found to extend,
to the Silk Manufacturers, many advantages in a just and proper
execution of the Laws which were not heretofore experienced."]

But with all these advantages, even improved by competent funds
appropriated to the different Public Offices, still a _Centre-point_
is wanted to connect the whole together, so as to invigorate and
strengthen every part, by a superintending Establishment, under the
immediate controul of the Secretary of State for the Home Department:
There, indeed, the constitutional superintendence of the Police of the
Metropolis, as well as of the whole country, rests at present; but
from the vast weight and increase of other Public Business, connected
with the general affairs of the State, foreign, colonial, and
domestic, it has been found impracticable to pursue that particular
System which has now become, more than ever, necessary for the
detection of criminals. It seems then, that in executing a task so
complicated and multifarious, a delegation of subordinate _Responsible
Management_ to a _Central Board of Police_ should be resorted to: as
the only means of giving strength, vigour, and energy to a System,
heretofore only partially useful; and which, in its present disjointed
state, is incapable of extending that Protection and Security, which
has been shewn in the course of this Work, to be so much wanted, and
so indispensably necessary.

To understand the Police of the Metropolis to that extent which is
necessary to direct and superintend its general operations, it must be
acted upon _practically_; and those who undertake the _superintendence_
and _management_ alluded to, must be men _able_, _intelligent_,
_prudent_, and _indefatigable_: devoting their whole attention to this
object alone. Clerks might be continually employed with great
advantage in entering and posting up under the proper heads, such new
information as should be obtained from day to day; and hours should be
appointed for receiving such intelligence from all proper and
well-informed persons, who might choose to offer the same; so far as
such information related to Public wrongs, and offences against the
peace, safety, and well-being of Society.

Under such a System, with a proper power of remunerating Officers and
others, scarcely a _Robbery_, _Burglary_, _Larceny_, or _fraudulent
Transaction_, could be committed, where the perpetrators would not be
very speedily detected and brought to justice; for then the
Magistrates, in their respective districts, would be enabled to act
with confidence, vigour, and energy, in the discovery and apprehension
of offenders;--and the effect would be to excite a general terror in
the minds of every class of delinquents; which could not fail to
operate strongly as a means of preventing crimes, and improving the
morals and the happiness of the lower orders of the People.

In addition to this these responsible Commissioners of Police might,
with great propriety, and with no little public utility, have
committed to them the superintendence of _all Receipts and
Disbursements of the accounts_, and of _all monies applicable to
objects of Police_: these they should lay annually before Parliament,
if required, accompanied by a General Report; that the Legislature, as
well as the Public at large, might see in what manner the funds had
been applied; and what progress had been made in the prevention of
crimes, and in restoring among the Labouring People that sense of
morality, which never, perhaps, was at a lower ebb than at present.

The most enlightened Foreigners who have visited this Metropolis, and
contemplated the nature and organization of our Police System, join in
one general remark upon it; viz.--"_That we have some shadow of
Police, for apprehending Delinquents, after crimes are actually
committed; but none for the purpose of preventing them_."--This
certainly is, in one sense, literally true;--and from this source,
combined with the imperfection of the Criminal Code, have arisen all
those enormities and inconveniences already so amply detailed.

Attached to the Laws and Government of his country, even to a degree
of enthusiasm, the Author of this Work will not be too prone to seek
for greater perfection in other nations: or to quote them as examples
to be imitated in the Metropolis of the British Empire; and still less
if such examples should tend, in the slightest degree, to abridge that
freedom which is the birth-right of every Briton. But as all true
liberty depends on those fences which are established in every
Country, for the protection of the Persons and Property of the People,
against every attack whatsoever: and as prejudices ought to be
banished from the mind in all discussions tending to promote the
General Weal, we ought not to be ashamed of borrowing good Systems
from other Nations; wherever such can be adopted, consistent with the
Constitution of the Country, and the Liberty of the Subject.

In France, under the Old Government, how much soever many parts of the
System of that Country were justly reprobated, by all who were
acquainted with the blessings of Freedom, yet, in the management and
regulation of what was denominated _The Police_, there existed that
kind of Establishment, with regard to personal security, and
protection against the depredations of the most depraved part of the
community, which Englishmen have certainly never enjoyed; who, on the
contrary, have suffered manifold inconveniences from an idea, (surely
a very erroneous one,) "that we must endure these public wrongs, and
expose our property and lives to the attack of murderers, robbers, and
highwaymen, as the price of _Liberty_."

When difficulties are felt, it is our duty to look at them
dispassionately; to face them with fortitude, and to discuss them with
intelligence--divested of all prejudices generated merely by habit and
education. By pursuing this mode of investigation, it will be
discovered that in other Governments there may be some Establishments
worthy of imitation; and which, perhaps, might in part be adopted, not
only in perfect consistency with the Freedom of the Subject; but with
the advantage of extending to the mass of the People, who are not in a
course of delinquency, more real liberty than they at present enjoy.--

At the commencement of the troubles in France, it is a curious fact,
that the Lieutenant-General of the National Police, as well as that of
the Metropolis, had upon his Registers the names of not less than
twenty thousand suspected and depraved characters, whose pursuits were
known to be of a criminal nature; yet, by making this part of Police
the immediate object of the close and uniform attention of one branch
of the Executive Government, Crimes were much less frequent than in
England; and the security extended to the Public, with regard to the
protection of Life and Property against lawless depredation, was
infinitely greater.--To elucidate this assertion, and to shew to what
a wonderful height the System had advanced, the Reader is referred to
the following Anecdotes; which were mentioned to the Author by a
Foreign Minister of great intelligence and information, who resided
some years at the Court of France.

"A Merchant of high respectability in Bourdeaux had occasion to visit
the Metropolis upon commercial business, carrying with him bills and
money to a very large amount.

"On his arrival at the gates of Paris, a genteel looking man opened
the door of his carriage, and addressed him to this effect:--_Sir, I
have been waiting for you some time; according to my notes, you were
to arrive at this hour; and your person, your carriage, and your
portmanteau, exactly answering the description I hold in my hand, you
will permit me to have the honour of conducting you to Monsieur De
Sartine._

"The Gentleman, astonished and alarmed at this interruption, and still
more so at hearing the name of the Lieutenant of the Police mentioned,
demanded to know what _Monsieur De Sartine_ wanted with him; adding,
at the same time, that he never had committed any offence against the
Laws, and that he could have no right to interrupt or detain him.

"The Messenger declared himself perfectly ignorant of the cause of the
detention; stating, at the same time, that when he had conducted him
to _Monsieur De Sartine_, he should have executed his orders, which
were merely ministerial.

"After some further explanations, the Gentleman permitted the Officer
to conduct him accordingly. _Monsieur De Sartine_ received him, with
great politeness; and after requesting him to be seated, to his great
astonishment, he described his portmanteau; and told him the exact sum
in bills and specie which he had brought with him to Paris, and where
he was to lodge, his usual time of going to bed, and a number of other
circumstances, which the Gentleman had conceived could only be known
to himself.--_Monsieur De Sartine_ having thus excited attention, put
this extraordinary question to him--_Sir, are you a man of
courage?_--The Gentleman, still more astonished at the singularity of
such an interrogatory, demanded the reason why he put such a strange
question, adding, at the same time, that no man ever doubted his
courage. _Monsieur De Sartine_ replied,--_Sir, you are to be robbed
and murdered this night!--If you are a man of courage, you must go to
your hotel, and retire to rest at the usual hour: but be careful that
you do not fall asleep; neither will it be proper for you to look
under the bed, or into any of the closets which are in your
bed-chamber_; (which he accurately described);--_you must place your
portmanteau in its usual situation, near your bed, and discover no
suspicion:--Leave what remains to me.--If, however, you do not feel
your courage sufficient to bear you out, I will procure a person who
shall personate you, and go to bed in your stead._

"The Gentleman being convinced, in the course of the conversation,
that _Monsieur de Sartine's_ intelligence was accurate in every
particular, he refused to be personated, and formed an immediate
resolution, literally, to follow the directions he had received: he
accordingly went to bed at his usual hour, which was eleven
o'clock.--At half past twelve (the time mentioned by _Monsieur De
Sartine_), the door of the bed-chamber burst open, and three men
entered with a _dark lantern_, _daggers_ and _pistols_.--The
Gentleman, who of course was awake, perceived one of them to be his
own servant.--They rifled his portmanteau, undisturbed, and settled
the plan of putting him to death.--The Gentleman, hearing all this,
and not knowing by what means he was to be rescued, it may naturally
be supposed, was under great perturbation of mind during such an awful
interval of suspense; when, at the moment the villains were preparing
to commit the horrid deed, four Police Officers, acting under _Mons.
De Sartine's_ orders, who were concealed under the bed, and in the
closet, rushed out and seized the offenders with the property in their
possession, and in the act of preparing to commit the murder.

"The consequence was, that the perpetration of the atrocious deed was
prevented, and sufficient evidence obtained to convict the
offenders.--_Monsieur De Sartine's_ intelligence enabled him to
_prevent_ this horrid offence of robbery and murder; which, but for
the accuracy of the System, would probably have been carried into
execution."

Another Anecdote, was mentioned to the Author by the same Minister,
relative to the Emperor Joseph the Second: "That Monarch, having, in
the year 1787, formed and promulgated a new Code of Laws relative to
criminal and civil offences;[166] and having also established what he
conceived to be the best System of Police in Europe, he could scarcely
ever forgive the French Nation, in consequence of the accuracy and
intelligence of _Mons. De Sartine_ having been found so much superior
to his own; notwithstanding the immense pains he had bestowed upon
that department of his Government.

[Footnote 166: Vide page 63 & _seq._ of this Volume.]

"A very notorious offender, who was a subject of the Emperor, and who
committed many atrocious acts of violence and depredation at Vienna,
was traced to Paris by the Police established by His Majesty, who
ordered his Ambassador at the Court of France to demand that this
delinquent should be delivered up to Public Justice.

"_Mons. De Sartine_ acknowledged to the Imperial Ambassador, that the
person he inquired after had been in Paris;--that, if it would be any
satisfaction, he could inform him where he had lodged, and the
different gaming-tables, and other places of infamous resort, which he
frequented while there;--but that he was now gone.--

"The Ambassador, after stating the accuracy and correct mode by which
the Police of Vienna was conducted, insisted that this offender must
still be in Paris; otherwise the Emperor would not have commanded him
to make such an application.

"_Monsieur de Sartine_ smiled at the incredulity of the Imperial
Minister, and made a reply to the following effect:--

"_Do me the honour, Sir, to inform the Emperor, your Master, that the
person he looks for left Paris on the 10th day of the last month; and
is now lodged in a back room looking into a garden in the third story
of a house, number 93, in ---- street, in his own Capital of Vienna;
where his Majesty will, by sending to the spot, be sure to find
him._--

"It was literally as the French Minister of Police had stated.--The
Emperor, to his astonishment, found the delinquent in the house and
apartment described; but he was greatly mortified at this proof of the
accuracy of the French Police; which, in this instance, in point of
intelligence _even in Vienna_, was discovered to be so much superior
to his own."--

The fact is, that the French System had arrived at the greatest degree
of perfection; and though not necessary, nor even proper, to be copied
as _a pattern_, might, nevertheless, furnish many useful hints,
calculated to improve the Police of this Metropolis, consistent with
the existing Laws; and even to extend and increase the Liberty of
Subject without taking one privilege away; or interfering in the
pursuits of any one class of individuals; except those employed in
purposes of _mischief_, _fraud_, and _criminality_.

The situation of this Country, (indeed of every country in Europe,)
has changed materially since the dissolution of the ancient Government
of France.--The horde of sharpers and villains, who heretofore
resorted to Paris from every part of Europe, will now consider London
as their general and most productive theatre of action; for two
obvious reasons:--1st. Paris being exhausted of riches, its Nobility
banished, and the principal part of the active property there
annihilated, the former resources for the support of criminal and
depraved characters no longer exist; while that Metropolis holds out
no allurements similar to what were formerly experienced. 2dly. The
ignorance of the English language (a circumstance which formerly
afforded us some protection), will no longer be a bar to the resort of
the continental sharpers to the Metropolis of this kingdom. At no
period was it ever so generally understood by Foreigners; or the
French language so universally spoken, by at least the younger part of
the People of this Country.--

The spirit of gaming and dissipation which prevails in London,
promoted already in no inconsiderable degree by profligate characters
from the Continent, the opulence of the People, and the great mass of
active property in circulation, will afford a wide field for the
exercise of the invention and wits of that description of men, both
foreigners and natives, who infested Paris under the old Government,
and which rendered a more than ordinary attention to its Police
indispensably necessary.--

The termination of the present war will probably throw into this
country a vast number of idle, profligate, and depraved characters,
natives of this, as well as of other nations, who will require to be
narrowly watched by a vigilant and well-regulated Police. The
probability of such an accession to the numbers already engaged in
acts of delinquency, serves to establish new and incontrovertible
arguments in favour of the proposed _Board of Responsible
Commissioners_, for managing the affairs of the Police of the
Metropolis; to form a _Centre-point_, and to bind the System together.

To be well prepared against every possible evil, is one great step
towards prevention; and among the many advantages already detailed, as
likely to result from a _Board of Police Revenue_, this would be none
of the least.

In every view in which the subject can be considered, such a System,
strengthened by good and apposite Laws, could not fail to be
productive of vast benefits to the Community. _Petty Thefts_ affecting
all ranks who have any property to lose, and destroying the moral
principle, would be greatly abridged:--as would also the plunder from
vessels in the River Thames, as well as from the public Arsenals,
Dock-yards, and Ships of War. The more atrocious Crimes of Burglary
and Highway Robbery, would suffer a severe check, in the
embarrassments which would arise from the System of detections and
Rewards--from the restrictions proposed to be laid upon Receivers of
Stolen Goods; upon Night Coaches,--and from other regulations
applicable to those particular offences. A large proportion of the
_Coiners_, _Dealers_, and _Utterers of Base Money_, feeling the risk
of detection, as well as of punishment, greatly extended and
increased, would probably abandon the business as hazardous and
destructive. The completion of the General System would also, either
collaterally or immediately, reach the tribe of Cheats, Swindlers, and
Lottery Offenders, in such a manner as to occasion a considerable
reduction of their number, by narrowing the ground, and destroying the
resources by which they at present flourish.

The establishment of such a System would be an immediate benefit to
every man of property, as an individual, independent of the Public at
large; but even in another point of view, it is doubly necessary at
this juncture, when new events are daily occurring, of a nature truly
interesting to the peace and well-being of Society, and to the
tranquillity of the State; rendering it more than ever necessary to
establish a System of unremitting vigilance. It is a fact well
established, that it was principally through the medium, and by the
assistance, of many of the twenty thousand miscreants who were
registered, previous to the anarchy of France, on the books of the
Lieutenant of Police, that the contending Factions in that distracted
country, were enabled to perpetrate those horrid massacres and acts of
atrocity, which have been beheld with detestation, abhorrence, and
astonishment, by every civilized nation in the world.

Let it be recollected, at the same time, that Mankind, in a state of
depravity, arising from a long course of criminal turpitude, are
nearly alike in every country; and that it becomes us to look with a
jealous eye on the several thousand miscreants of the same description
which now infest London; for they too, upon any fatal emergency,
(which GOD forbid!) would be equally ready as their brethren in
iniquity were, in Paris, to repeat the same atrocities, if any
opportunity offered.

As the effectuating such an object has become so great a
desideratum;--and as it is to confer those blessings which spring from
a well-regulated Police, calculated to extend a species of
protection[167] to the inhabitants of this great Metropolis, which
has never been heretofore experienced:--it can scarcely fail to be a
matter of general satisfaction to know that the Select Committee of
the House of Commons on Finance, have strongly recommended to
Parliament a System of Police, similar to that which had been
submitted to the consideration of the Public in the former editions of
this Work.

[Footnote 167: In mentioning what regards the protection of the
Metropolis, with the inefficiency of the existing Civil Force in
Constables, it is impossible to overlook those eminent advantages
which have arisen from the excellent institutions of the Honourable
Artillery Company, the Light Horse Volunteers, and the other
associated Corps, who have so nobly stood forth in the hour of danger
to support the deficient Police of the Country.

To these Patriotic individuals, the inhabitants of the Metropolis are
under infinite obligations.

Regardless of their own _ease_, _convenience_, _interest_, or _personal
safety_, the members of these public-spirited associations have ever
stood forward in the hour of tumult and disorder gratuitously, and at
their own expence, for the protection of their Fellow-citizens, and
for the preservation of the Public peace.

The assistance they have, on every occasion, afforded the civil power,
and the sacrifices of valuable time which they have made, at the risk
of health, and under circumstances where they were compelled to forego
that ease and comfort, which, in many instances, from their opulence
and rank in life, are attached to their particular situations--it is
to be hoped will never be forgotten by a grateful Public.]

In order that improvements, sanctioned by such high authority, and the
adoption of which are so important to the best interests of Society,
may be fully explained and elucidated; a detail of the measures, which
have been recommended, with general observations on the proposed
System, are reserved for the ensuing Chapter.

CHAP. XVIII.

     _The System of Police recommended by the Select Committee on
     Finance explained.--A proposition to consolidate the two
     Boards of Hawkers and Pedlars, and Hackney Coaches, into a
     Board of Police Revenue.--The whole Revenues 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--also the Penitentiary
     House for reforming Convicts.--Other 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 to be
     attained--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 Police System. Observations on the
     effect of the System recommended by the Finance Committee,
     with respect to the Morals and Finances of the
     Country.--Suggestions respecting a chain of connection with
     Magistrates in the Country, and the mode of effecting
     it.--Licences to be granted by select Magistrates in the
     Country, and by the Central Board in London and the
     neighbourhood.--The Functions of the proposed Board
     explained.--Specifications of the Trades to be regulated and
     Licenced.--General Reflections on the advantages likely to
     result from the adoption of the plan recommended by the
     Finance Committee.--Concluding Observations._

Impressed with a deep sense of the utility of investigating the nature
of the Police System, the Select Committee of the House of Commons on
Finance turned their attention to this, among many other important
objects in the Session of the year 1798; and, after a laborious
investigation which occupied several months, (during which period the
Author of this Treatise underwent several examinations),[168] they
made their _final Report_--in which, after stating it as their
opinion, "that the general tendency of our oeconomical arrangements
upon this subject is ill calculated to meet the accumulating burdens,
which are the infallible result of so much error in our System of
Police"--they recommended it to Parliament to reduce or consolidate
"the two offices of Hawkers and Pedlars, and Hackney Coaches, into a
Board of Police Revenue, under the direction of a competent number of
Commissioners, with such Salaries as should bid fair to engage
talents adequate to the situation, and as should be sufficient to
command the whole exertion of those talents.--That the Receiver of the
Police offices, should be the Receiver-General of the funds proposed
to be collected by this Board.--That the superintendence of aliens
should form a part of its business.--That the fees and penalties
received at the several offices of Police, together with the
Licence-duties and penalties, if any, which shall be in the collection
of this consolidated Board, shall make one common fund, out of which
all salaries and expences of the several offices of Police should be
defrayed, as well as all those of the Consolidated Board, and that all
payments whatever should be made by the Receiver, under the sanction
of this Board, subject to the approbation of the Lords Commissioners
of his Majesty's Treasury.--That the accounts of the Receiver should
be audited and signed by the Board before being delivered to the
Treasury, or the office for auditing accounts.--That the balances in
the hands of the Receiver, after retaining what may be sufficient for
current expences, should be paid into the Exchequer at frequent and
fixed periods.--That Magistrates of Police should be impowered to
distribute small rewards to Constables or others, for meritorious
services, to be paid by the Revenue, after receiving the sanction of
the Board: And further, that the Board should have power to make
Bye-laws, for the regulation of such Minor Objects of Police as
relate to the objects of their superintendence, and to the control of
all Coaches, Chairs, Carts, Barrows, and the conduct of all Coachmen,
Chairmen, Carters, &c. and the removal and prevention of annoyances,
and the correction of all offences against the cleanliness, the quiet,
and the free passage of the Streets of the Metropolis, similar to the
powers now possessed by the Commissioners of Hackney Coaches, and
subject in like manner to the approbation of the Superior Judges in
the Courts in Westminster-Hall."--The Committee further recommend that
two additional Police Offices should be established in the City of
London, consisting each of three Magistrates, to be named by the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen, and paid out of the General funds, and to have
Commissions from the Crown, extending over the whole Metropolis, and
the Counties of Middlesex, Kent, Essex, and Surry; and that the
Commissions of the Magistrates of the other eight Offices should
extend in like manner over the whole Metropolis, and the four
above-mentioned Counties.[169] And finally, the Committee recommend
that no time should be lost in carrying into effect the Plan and
Proposal of Jeremiah Bentham, Esq. for employing and reforming
Convicts, as a measure which bids fairer than any other that was
offered to the Public, to diminish the Public expenditure in this
branch, and to produce a salutary Reform in the object of the proposed
Institution.

[Footnote 168: See Appendix to the 28th Report of the Committee.]

[Footnote 169: It is not proposed in the Bill, now in preparation,
hereafter stated, to introduce any thing respecting the City of
London, unless the consent of the Lord-Mayor, Aldermen, and
Common-Council, shall be previously obtained.]

Other measures are stated by this Committee as well calculated to
facilitate the means of detection and conviction of Offenders, and to
reduce the expence which is now borne by the Public, or sustained by
private Individuals, in the maintenance of a very inefficient Police;
while they seem calculated to lessen the growing Calendars of
Delinquency, but which may be better matured after the consolidation
of the Offices here proposed shall have taken place.--"Such as the
appointment of Counsel for the Crown, with moderate Salaries, to
conduct all Criminal Prosecutions, and rendering the Solicitor to the
Board useful, either in such Prosecutions as any of the Public
Officers might find it necessary to institute; or in such Criminal
Prosecutions at the suit of Individuals, as the Public Justice of the
Country should render expedient.--Such as a Register of Lodging-houses
in the Metropolis.--Such as the establishment of a Police Gazette, to
be circulated at a low price, and furnished gratis to all persons
under the superintendence of the Board; who shall pay a licence duty
to a certain amount: And such also as an Annual Report of the state of
the Police of the Country."

In considering this Report in general, it is no slight gratification
to the Author of this Treatise, to discover that all the great
features of his original design for giving to Police its genuine
character, unmixed with those judicial Powers which lead to
punishment, and properly belong to Magistracy alone, have been
sanctioned by such high authority.

In taking a general view not only of what is specifically recommended
by the Select Committee of the House of Commons; but also of the
Report itself, two leading objects appear to be in contemplation,
namely--

     1st. The prevention of crimes and misdemeanors, by bringing
     under regulations a variety of dangerous and suspicious
     trades;[170] the uncontrolled exercise of which by persons
     of loose conduct, is known to contribute in a very high
     degree to the concealment, and by that means to the
     encouragement and multiplication of crimes.

     [Footnote 170: The Trades alluded to are these
     following,--vide Appendix (C) 28th Report of Select
     Committee of the House of Commons on Finance, page 45, 46,
     and 47.

     _New Revenues._

     1. Wholesale and Retail Dealers in old Naval Stores,
     Hand-stuff, and Rags.

     2. Dealers in second-hand wearing Apparel, Stationary and
     Itinerant.

     3. Dealers in old Iron and other Metals, &c.

     4. Founders and others using Crucibles.

     5. Persons using Draught and Truck Carts for conveying
     Stores, Rags, and Metals.

     6. Persons Licenced to slaughter horses.

     7. Persons keeping Livery Stables, and letting Horses for
     hire.

     8. Auctioneers, who hold periodical or diurnal Sales.

     _Existing Revenues proposed to be transferred with a view to
     a more effectual control, and to an improved Finance._

     9. Hackney Coaches and Chairs.

     10. Hawkers and Pedlars.

     11. Pawn Brokers.

     12. Dealers in Horses.

       N.B. The new Revenues are Estimated to yield         £.64,000
       The increase of the existing Revenues is stated at     19,467
                                                            --------
                                                            £.83,467
                                                            --------]

     2d. To raise a moderate Revenue for Police purposes from the
     persons who shall be thus controlled, by means of Licence
     Duties, and otherwise so modified as not to operate as a
     material burden; while a confident hope is entertained, that
     the amount of this revenue will go a considerable length in
     relieving the finances of the country, of the expences at
     present incurred for objects of Police, and that, in the
     effect of the general System, a considerable saving will
     arise, in consequence of the expected diminution of crimes,
     particularly as the chief part of the expence appears to
     arise after delinquents are convicted.[171]

[Footnote 171: The amount of the general expence of the Criminal
Police of the Kingdom as stated by the Committee on Finance in their
28th Report is as follows:

  1st. The annual average of the total expence
  of the Seven Public Offices in the Metropolis,
  from the institution in August
  1792 to the end of the year 1797, being
  a period of 5-1/2 years                              £.18,281  18  6

  2d. The total expence of the Office at Bow-street,
  in the year 1797, including remunerations
  to the Magistrates in lieu
  of fees, perquisites, and special services,
  and the expence of the patrole of 68
  persons                                                 7,901   7  7
                                                         -------------
                       Total expence for the Metropolis  26,183   6  1

  3d. The money paid to the several Sheriffs for
  the conviction of Felons in 1797                        9,650   0  0

  4th. The expence of maintaining
  Convicts on board
  the Hulks, (exclusive
  of 415 under Sentence
  of Transportation in
  the different gaols),
  amounted in 1797 to           £.32,080   0  0

  5th. The expences incurred in
  the employment of
  Convicts by the Navy
  and Ordnance Boards,
  probably amounting to
  not less than from 10_l._
  to 20_l._ per Man per
  annum, were by computation       1,498  14 10-1/4

  6th. The annual average of
  cloathing, victualling,
  and transporting Convicts,
  and of the Civil,
  Military, and Marine
  Departments of New
  South Wales, and Norfolk
  Island, from 1786
  to 1797                          86,457 12 11-1/2
                                   ----------------
                                                     120,036  7  9-3/4
                                                     -----------------
                                                     155,869 13 10-3/4
  To which add the farther sums
  annually charged on the
  County Rates, or incurred
  in places having peculiar
  Jurisdiction in England          50,000  0  0

  Borne by the Sheriffs in
  England                          10,000  0  0       60,000  0  0
                                   ----------------- -----------------
                              Total for all England  215,869 13 10-3/4]

By the consolidation of the two Boards of Hackney Coaches, and Hawkers
and Pedlars, the functions of the Commissioners will become very
extensive and laborious, since in addition to the inspection and
control of the different suspicious trades proposed to be licenced, it
will be useful to the Public, and, indeed, the System will be
incomplete, unless they not only keep constantly in their view the
general Calendar of delinquency; but also carry into effect such plans
as, on mature deliberation, and (many will unquestionably be
found practicable), shall, in a great measure, prevent the
terror--dangers--losses and inconveniences which arise from foot-pad
and highway robberies, burglaries, and other atrocious offences,
which are so prevalent in and near the Metropolis at present.--This
duty will naturally attach to the Central Board, and which the
Commissioners, (from the accurate information their situation will
enable them to procure, and the Civil Force they may have at their
disposal,) will be well qualified to execute with advantage to the
Community; and while competent pecuniary resources will arise from the
Licence Duties imposed, aided by legislative regulations, applicable
to this, and other objects tending to the general prevention of
Crimes, blame may fairly be imputed wherever a considerable degree of
success is not manifest, by the gradual diminution of the more
atrocious, as well as the minor offences.

The Select Committee of the House of Commons having stated it as their
opinion, that the principle upon which the plan which has been brought
under their review is founded, "_if liable to no error; and that
supposing it faithfully executed it gives the fairest prospect of
success_:" the Public will naturally become anxious for an enjoyment
of the benefits which may be expected to result from its adoption.

As its leading feature is the security of the _rights of the
innocent_, with respect to their Life, Property, and Convenience, the
measures of this board must, in a peculiar degree, be directed with
prudence and discretion to this particular object. This will be
effected not only by increasing the difficulty of perpetrating
offences, through a control over those Trades by which they are
facilitated and promoted, but also by adding to the risk of detection,
by a more prompt and certain mode of discovery wherever crimes are
committed. Thus must the idle and profligate be compelled to assist
the State, by resorting to habits of industry, while the more
incorrigible delinquents will be intimidated and deterred from
pursuing a course of turpitude and criminality, which the energy of
the Police will render too hazardous and unprofitable to be followed
up as a trade; and the regular accession of numbers to recruit and
strengthen the hordes of criminal delinquents, who at present afflict
Society, will be in a great measure prevented.

These objects (in the opinion of the Select Committee) are to be
attained by the establishment of a _Central Board of Police Revenue_;
the views of the Members of which should be directed to the means of
adding "Security to the Person and Property of the peaceful Subject;
the Morals of the People, and the general Finances of the Country; by
those powers of action which are likely to operate most beneficially
towards the prevention of Crimes."

To accomplish these purposes it would seem, (after mature
deliberation), to be necessary not only to extend the Licensing System
over the whole Kingdom; but also to form _a chain of connection_
between the Central Board, and every district of the Country, with a
view as well to a more effectual Control ever those suspicious
Traders, who are to become immediate objects of attention on the part
of the Police, as to establish a more correct and certain mode of
collecting the proposed Revenue.

This chain of connection would appear to be only attainable through
the medium of Select local Magistrates,[172] to whom a certain degree
of responsibility would attach, and who by means of Stationary
Surveyors, (being Constables), appointed by themselves, and under
their immediate Control, would be enabled to superintend the
collection of the Licence Duties, and in a particular manner to
inspect into, and regulate the general Police of the District, while
in conjunction with other Justices in the division, they granted the
Annual Licences to the different Dealers upon the same plan which is
at present pursued with respect to Alehouses.

[Footnote 172: It is presumed, that the distinction of _Select
Magistrates_, joined to the patronage arising from the appointment of
inferior Officers of Police in the respective Districts of the
Country, (as Surveyors and Collectors of Licence Duties), would be
considered as a sufficient inducement to men of Property, talents, and
respectability, to undertake this very honourable Trust: to which it
may reasonably be hoped, that many would be stimulated, in a
particular degree, by the impulses of patriotism, and a desire to
introduce a correct and improved System of Police in their respective
Districts.]

From this general rule, however, on account of the peculiar situation
of the Metropolis, a deviation might be necessary and useful to the
Public. It would, therefore, seem that the Dealers resident within a
certain distance round the Metropolis, should receive their Licences
from the Central Board, and be immediately under its control.--The
advantages resulting from this arrangement are obvious.--The chief
part of the Receivers, and Criminal Dealers, who contribute in so
great a degree to the increase and concealment of the numerous
offences, which are committed in and near the Metropolis, require that
the superintendance should not be divided, but that it should be
confined entirely to the Board, where all intelligence is supposed to
center; and whose peculiar duty it will be to watch the progress of
Crimes in all their ramifications, and to adopt measures for
preventing the growing corruption of Morals, by which every species of
delinquency is generated.

For the purpose therefore of compassing this and every other object in
the view of the Select Committee, it is suggested that the proposed
Board should be authorized to exercise the following

     FUNCTIONS:

     I. To manage that branch of the Police which relates to
     Hackney Coaches and Chairs.--To enforce strictly the laws
     now in being for the better ordering this system so
     necessary to the comfort and convenience of the
     Metropolis.--To obtain new powers (where wanting) to compel
     a greater degree of cleanliness and security, with respect
     to these vehicles.--To banish, if possible, from the
     fraternity those criminal characters denominated _Flash
     Coachmen_, and to secure civility, and prevent
     imposition.--For this last purpose a department should be
     continued, as at present, (a part of the Institution,)
     having a concurrent jurisdiction with other Magistrates, for
     the purpose of hearing and determining disputes between
     Coachmen and the Public.

     II. To execute the laws relative to Hawkers and Pedlars.--To
     regulate and improve the System respecting this suspicious
     class of Dealers, and more effectually to extend the control
     over them by means of the Select Magistrates in each
     District of the Country where they travel, for the purpose
     of more narrowly watching their conduct.

     III. To grant Licenses in the Town District (_i.e._ within
     the limits of the Penny-Post, while the Select and other
     Justices grant similar Licences in the Country;) under the
     authority of the proposed general Police Bill, to the
     following Traders, and others,[173] viz.

     [Footnote 173: Nothing can exceed the pains and labour which
     have been bestowed in settling the description of the
     persons, proposed to be licenced, with a view to an accurate
     system of Legislation. A regard to this accuracy made it
     necessary to abandon [Transcriber's Note: blank in original;
     probably 'two'] classes recommended by the proposer to the
     Select Committee; because on attempting to frame a Bill, it
     was found impracticable in one case, and impolitic in
     another, to apply Legislative rules that would not either be
     defeated or invade the privileges of innocence.[J]]

     [Footnote J: Persons keeping Crucibles, and Auctioneers.]

     1st. Purchasers of second-hand, and other Household goods,
     for Sale.

     2d. Wholesale purchasers of Rags, and unserviceable Cordage,
     for Sale to Paper-makers.

     3d. Retail Purchasers of Rags, and unserviceable Cordage,
     for Sale to Paper-makers.

     4th. Purchasers of second-hand Apparel, made-up Piece-Goods,
     and Remnants for Sale.

     5th. Walking or Itinerant Purchasers of second-hand Apparel,
     made-up Piece-goods, and Remnants for Sale.

     6th. Purchasers of second-hand Naval Stores, for Sale.

     7th. Wholesale Purchasers of second-hand Metals, for Sale.

     8th. Retail Purchasers of second-hand Metals, of persons in
     general, for working up.

     9th. Every Worker of second-hand Metals purchasing the same,
     from persons in general, and not from Licensed Dealers.

     10th. Purchasers of second-hand Building Materials for Sale.

     11th. Persons keeping Draught-Carts for second-hand goods,
     purchased for Sale.

     12th. Persons keeping Hand or Truck Carts for second-hand
     goods, purchased for Sale.

     13th. Sellers of Unredeemed Pledges, otherwise than by
     Auction: and also to control and inspect the conduct of
     these dealers, so as if possible to confine them to the
     innocent part of their Trades; and to collect and receive
     the respective Licence Duties.[174]

     [Footnote 174: If Twine Spinners and Rope Spinners of a
     certain class could be brought under similar regulations, it
     would prove extremely beneficial, inasmuch as the small
     Manufacturers in this line are known to give considerable
     facilities to the Stealers of Hemp on the River Thames.--A
     number of small Rope and Twine Manufacturers have undersold
     the fair trader, by working up Stolen Hemp, purchased at
     half price; and it is but too evident from discoveries which
     have recently been made, that this evil has gone to a very
     great extent, and that considerable benefits would be
     derived to the Public, by placing _Twine and White Rope
     Spinners_ under the control of the Police, at least within
     the proposed District of the Metropolis.]

     IV. To grant Licences also in like manner to other Traders,
     which are already under some degree of Legislative
     regulations; (but which require a more efficient Control),
     provided it shall be thought expedient by the Legislature to
     transfer these branches to the proposed Board, as requiring
     in a particular degree the superintendance of the Policy
     System, viz.

     1st. Pawnbrokers in Town and Country.

     2d. Persons keeping Slaughtering-houses for Horses, and
     other Animals, not for the food of Man.

     3d. Dealers in Horses, and persons hiring, keeping at
     Livery, and transferring Horses from hand to hand, with a
     view to establish a check against Highway Robberies, and to