A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis Part 57

Among these, the following have occurred to the Author as highly deserving attention.--

1st. The Act of the 30 Geo. II. cap. 24. makes it a transportable Misdemeanor, to obtain _Goods_ or _Chattels_ by false pretences.--But as _Horses_, _Cattle_, _Poultry_, _Bank Notes_, _Bills of Exchange_, or _Notes of Hand_, although equally objects of Fraud, are not deemed in Law to be _Goods_ or _Chattels_, offences of equal, if not of greater magnitude, are not within the meaning of the Statute, and hence appears the necessity of an Amendment.

2d. The present Act relative to p.a.w.nbrokers is extremely deficient, and not only in several important points ambiguous; but also inapplicable in a variety of instances to the general views of the Legislature, as they regard the security and interest of the Poor, while in others, perhaps unnecessary and useless restrictions are imposed on the p.a.w.nbrokers themselves.

3d. As the Laws respecting Forgeries now stand--the act of forging the Firm of a Commercial House, and obtaining goods on the Credit of such Firm, is only punishable as a Misdemeanor; although in this case this offence is of a tendency _the most dangerous that can be conceived_, in a Commercial Country, where (from the unbounded confidence which prevails) it is so easy to obtain credit.

A case occurred and came under the cognizance of the Author in 1796, where a Swindler a.s.suming the Firm of a respectable House in Bristol, ordered goods from Manchester to be sent to Portsmouth, where the person (committing the Forgery) stated, that one of the Partners meant to go to meet them.--Two parcels of goods were obtained by this device, and immediately sold at half the value by the Sharpers, which led to a discovery, and enabled the Author to guard the unsuspecting Manufacturers in York and Lancashire, against the injuries they were likely to sustain, by the operation of a very complicated and artful conspiracy to rob them of their property to a great amount.

4th. The Receiving of _Cash or Specie, Bank Notes, Bills of Exchange, or Notes of Hand, knowing the same to be stolen_, is not at present a Criminal Offence: In a Commercial Country where such offences may be productive of much evil to Society, Why should not the Law extend to every species of Property in the same manner as to Goods and Chattels?

5th. Although Arson is considered (and justly so) as a high Criminal Offence, yet the offence of a person setting fire to his own house, with a view to defraud the Insurers, is considered only _a simple Misdemeanor_, and punished as such; and where a house at a distance from others is set on fire so as to occasion no danger to the neighbourhood, _it is not an Offence known in the Criminal Code_, even although it may appear to have been done for the purpose of defrauding the Insurers.

With a view to the prevention of this very atrocious crime (of which there have been but too many instances of late years) it would seem right that it should be _clearly defined_; and that it would not be too severe to punish offenders by Transportation; since in all cases, where the fire extends to a neighbouring house the offence of Arson is committed, and the punishment is Death.

6th. Much inconvenience is at present experienced from the circuitous and expensive process of Law, which must be resorted to for the purpose of removing bad and profligate _Lodgers_.--In cases of small concern, where the rent does not exceed a few shillings a week, it would be an act of great humanity to empower Magistrates to decide in a summary way.--It would check that spirit of litigation, which is the destruction of the Labouring People.

7th. As a means of controlling many offences, which are generated by an a.s.semblage of loose and immoral characters, who are constantly afloat in the Metropolis, _a General Register of Lodging-Houses_, would certainly be attended with very beneficial effects: and to use the language of the Select Committee of the House of Commons in their 28th Report, page 31,--would also "be a Regulation, which, if discreetly used, might probably afford the means of materially a.s.sisting both the Police and the Revenue."[207]

[Footnote 207: See pages 105 and 539 in this Work.]

8th. The extensive Plunder committed on the Farmers round the Metropolis, under the pretence of _Gleaning in Harvest_ is a very serious evil, and calls aloud for a remedy.--The practice is pernicious and ruinous to the Morals of the Families of the Labouring People in every part of the Country, since through this medium children learn pilfering habits, before they know that it is a crime.

A slight punishment on all who gleaned in any case previous to a complete removal of the corn or vegetables, and on every occasion, without first obtaining leave of the Proprietor, would prove a very salutary Regulation--for it appears that every Thief charged with stealing corn pretends it was obtained by _Gleaning_.

9th. The existing Laws being found ineffectual in controlling the habits, and in turning into a course of useful industry the labour of the herds of Gypsies, who surround the Metropolis, and commit depredations in every part of the Country, it would be exceedingly desirable,[208]

both with respect to policy and humanity, to provide some effectual Legislative Remedy, since the idle, vagrant, and miserable life of this profligate community can be as little desirable to themselves as it is hurtful to the Public.--Compelling a residence which shall be _stationary_, and obliging them to bind out their children apprentices at a certain age, so as to incorporate them with the ma.s.s of the people, would certainly prove a very salutary Regulation.

[Footnote 208: See pages 84, 5.]

10th. The frauds and adulterations in the article of _Milk_ sold in the Metropolis, as detailed in the 3d Chapter of this Work, pages 89 to 92, seem to justify the interference of Parliament for the purpose of placing _Milk Dealers_ under the inspection and controul of the Police: Here the injury is not merely confined to the frauds thus practised on the Public, but the healths of the Consumers are in some measure endangered from the infamous devices which are practised.

11th. For the purpose of saving much unnecessary expence, and also to remove the inconvenience arising from the length of time, which frequently elapses before persons charged with offences, in Southwark, Greenwich, and the villages surrounding the Metropolis, make it lawful to try offences committed in Surry, Kent, and Ess.e.x, within five miles of the three Bridges, at the Justice Hall of the Old Bailey, which may be done before a Jury of the Vicinage, with great advantages to Public Justice, and without touching on the rights of the Accused.[209]

[Footnote 209: See pages 428 and 429.]

12th. To establish certain Legislative Regulations, for the purpose of preserving the Morals of unfortunate unoffending families, by restoring to them such parents whose misfortunes and not their crimes, have doomed them to the horrors of perpetual Imprisonment.--And to establish arrangements for the improvement of what may be denominated _Civil Police_, by adopting inferior Tribunals for distributing Justice in all actions of Debt under 50_l._ for the purpose of reducing the present enormous expence, and extending relief to traders in general.[210]

[Footnote 210: See pages 584 to 590.]

Thus has the Author of this Work endeavoured to develope that infinite variety of crimes and misfortunes, which have been long felt and deplored as a pressure upon the innocent part of the Community.

In travelling over so extensive a field, where almost every step is stained with turpitude and depravity, no little consolation is derived from being able thus to place upon record _practicable Remedies_, applicable to the chief part of the evils, which have been brought under the review of the Reader.

Nor is it less a matter of gratification to the Writer of the preceding pages, than it must be satisfactory to the Public at large, to discover that the leading features of the whole improvements which he suggested in the preceding editions of this Work, _have attracted the notice, and received the sanction of the Select Committee of the House of Commons_.

The conclusion which may naturally be drawn is, that the laborious efforts of the Author in bringing a new and interesting subject under the review of the Public have not been in vain; and that a confident hope may now be entertained that his humble endeavours, for the good of his Country, will ultimately produce arrangements _in the New Science of Police_, calculated to secure and protect the peaceful subject against injury, and to ameliorate the state and condition of Civil Society, particularly in this great Metropolis, by the adoption of such measures _as shall be conducive to the more effectual Prevention of Crimes:--by lessening the demand for Punishments:--by diminishing the expence and alleviating the burden of Prosecutions:--by turning the hearts and arresting the hands of evil doers: by forewarning the unwary, and preserving the untainted in purity_; thus attaching to Police its genuine preventive character, unmixed with those judicial powers which lead to Punishment, and properly belong to Magistracy alone.

FINISH.