A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis Part 13

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

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

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

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

[Footnote 40: The following is the substance of the most striking parts of the Evidence of John Shepherd, in the action alluded to.

"The witness saw Hazard played at the Gaming-House of the defendant, in Leicester-street.--Every person who was three times successful, paid the defendant a Silver Medal, which he purchased from him on entering the house, at eight for a guinea, and he received six or seven of these in the course of an hour for the Box Hands, as it was called. The people who frequented this house always played for a considerable sum. Sometimes .20 or .30 depended on a single throw of the Dice. The witness remembered being once at the defendant's Gaming-House about three or four o'clock in the morning, when a gentleman came in very much in liquor.--He seemed to have a great deal of money about him.--The defendant said he had not intended to play, but now he would set to with this fellow.--He then sc.r.a.ped a little wax with his finger off one of the candles and put the Dice together, so that they came seven every way. After doing this, he dropped them into the box and threw them out, and afterwards drew all the money away, saying he had won it.--_Seven_ was the main, and he could not throw any thing but _seven_. The young gentleman said he had not given him time to _bar_.--A dispute arose between the defendant and him. It was referred to two or three persons who were round the table, and they gave it in favour of the defendant. The gentleman said he had lost upwards of .70. The defendant said, _we have cleared him_. The witness has seen a man p.a.w.n his watch and ring in several instances; and once he saw a man p.a.w.n his coat and go away without it.

"After the Gaming Table was broken by the Bow-street Officers, the defendant said it was too good a thing to be given up, and instantly got another Table, large enough for twenty or thirty people. The frequenters of this house used to play till day-light: and on one or two occasions, they played all the next day. This is what the defendant called, _sticking to it rarely_. The guests were furnished with wine and suppers gratis, from the funds of the partnership, in abundance. Sunday was a grand day. The witness has seen more than forty people there at a time. The table not being sufficient for the whole, half-a-crown used on such occasions to be given for a seat, and those behind looked over the back of the others and betted."

The person above-mentioned (whose name was Smith) who p.a.w.ned his coat, corroborated the above evidence; and added, that he had seen a person after he had lost all his money, throw off his coat and go away, losing it also.]

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

The idle vanity of being introduced into what is generally, but erroneously, termed genteel society, where a fashionable name announces an intention of seeing company, has been productive of more _domestic misery_ and more _real distress_, _poverty_, and _wretchedness_ to _families_ in this great City (who but for their folly might have been easy and comfortable,) than many volumes could detail.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Footnote 41: In consequence of a very accurate inquiry which has been made, and of information derived from different sources, it appears that fraudulent Lottery Insurances have not diminished. The Offices are numerous all over the Metropolis, and are supposed to exceed four hundred of all descriptions; to many of which there are persons attached, called _Morocco Men_, who go about from house to house among their former customers, and attend in the back parlours of Public Houses, where they are met by customers who make insurances. It is calculated that at these offices (exclusive of what is done at the _licensed_ offices) premiums for insurance are received to the amount of _eight hundred thousand pounds_, during the Irish Lottery, and above _one million_ during the English; upon which it is calculated that they make from 15 to 25 per cent. profit.--This infamous confederacy was estimated, during the English Lottery of the year 1796, to support about 2000 agents and clerks, and nearly 7500 Morocco Men, including a considerable number of hired _armed Ruffians_ and _Bludgeon Men_: these were paid by a general a.s.sociation of the Princ.i.p.al Proprietors of these fraudulent Establishments; who regularly met in Committee, in a well-known public house in Oxford Market, twice or thrice a week, during the drawing of the Lottery; for the purpose of concerting measures to defeat the exertions of the Magistrates, by alarming and terrifying, and even forcibly resisting, the Officers of Justice in all instances where they could not be bribed by pecuniary gratuities;--to effect which last purpose, neither money nor pains were spared; and the wretched agents of these unprincipled miscreants were, in many cases, prepared to commit murder, had attempts been made to execute the Warrants of Magistrates; as can be proved by incontestable evidence. It is greatly to be feared that too much success attended these corrupt and fraudulent proceedings, in violation and defiance of the Laws of the Kingdom.]

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

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

[Footnote 42: The regulation proposed, is this--that every member belonging to a Friendly Society, should be _excluded_ or _expelled_, and deprived of all future benefits from the funds of that Society, on proof of his having insured in any Lottery whatsoever, contrary to law;--and that this rule should be general, wherever the Acts of Parliament, relative to Friendly Societies, have taken effect.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

156 in the note_.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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