a kind of dead letter, only to be brought into action when accident
may lead to the detection, perhaps of one in a thousand. If the evil
is to be cured at all, it must be by the promotion and encouragement
of an active principle, under proper superintendance, calculated to
prevent every class of dealers, who are known to live partly or wholly
by fraud, from pursuing those illegal practices; which nothing but a
watchful Police, aided by a correct system of restraints, can possibly
effect.
Nor ought it to be argued, that the restraints, which may hereafter be
proposed, will affect the liberty of the Subject. They will assist and
protect the honest and fair dealer; and it is perfectly consistent
with the spirit of our ancient laws, to restrain persons from doing
evil, who are likely to commit offences; the restrictions can affect
only a very few, comparatively speaking; and those too whose criminal
conduct has been the principal, if not the sole cause, of abridging
the general liberty; while it subjected the great mass of the people
to the risk of their life and property.
Whenever Dealers, of any description, are known to encourage or to
support crimes, or criminal or fraudulent persons, it becomes the
indispensable interest of the State, and the duty of the Legislators
to prevent them from pursuing, at least, the mischievous part of their
trade; and that provisions should be made for carrying the laws
strictly and regularly into execution.
While restraints of a much severer nature than those which are
hereafter proposed, attach to all trades upon which a revenue is
collected; can it be considered as any infringement of freedom, to
extend a milder system to those who not only destroy liberty but
invade property?
The present state of Society and Manners calls aloud for the adoption
of this principle of regulation, as the only practicable means of
preserving the morals of a vast body of the Community; and of
preventing those numerous and increasing crimes and misdemeanors,
which are ultimately attended with as much evil to the perpetrators as
to the sufferers.
If such a principle were once established, under circumstances which
would insure a correct and regular execution; and if, added to this,
certain other practicable arrangements should take place, (which will
be discussed in their regular order in these pages,) we might soon
congratulate ourselves on the immediate and obvious reduction of the
number of Thieves, Robbers, Burglars, and other criminals in this
Metropolis, being no longer able to exist, or to escape detection.
Without the aid, the concealment, and the opportunities, afforded at
present by the multitude of Receivers spread all over the Capital,
they would be compelled to abandon their evil pursuits, as no less
unprofitable and hazardous, than they are destructive to the best
interests of Society.
This indeed is very different from what is said to have once prevailed
in the Capital, when criminals were permitted to proceed from the
first stage of depravity until they were worth forty pounds.--This is
not the System which subjected the Public to the intermediate
depredations of every villain from his first starting, till he could
be clearly convicted of a capital offence.--Neither is it the System
which encouraged public houses of rendezvous for Thieves, for the
purpose of knowing where to apprehend them, when they became ripe for
the punishment of death.
The System now suggested, is calculated to prevent, if possible, the
seeds of villainy from being sown; or, if sown, to check their growth
in the bud, and never permit them to ripen at all.
It is proposed to extend this system of prevention to the Coiners,
Dealers, and Utterers of base Money; and to every species of theft,
robbery, fraud, and depredation.
The vast increase, and the extensive circulation of counterfeit Money,
particularly of late years, is too obvious not to have attracted the
notice of all ranks. It has become an enormous evil in the melancholy
catalogue of Crimes which the Laws of the Country are called upon to
assist the Police in suppressing.--Its extent almost exceeds
credibility; and the dexterity and ingenuity of these counterfeiters
have, (after considerable practice,) enabled them to finish the
different kinds of base Money in so masterly a manner, that it has
become extremely difficult for the common observer to distinguish
their spurious manufacture from the worn-out Silver of the Mint.--So
systematic, indeed, has this nefarious traffic become of late, that
the great dealers, who, in most instances are the employers of the
Coiners, execute orders for the Town and Country, with the same
regularity as manufacturers in fair branches of trade.
Scarcely a waggon or coach departs from the Metropolis, which does not
carry boxes and parcels of base Coin to the camps, sea-ports, and
manufacturing towns. In London, regular markets, in various public and
private houses, are held by the principal Dealers; where _Hawkers,
Pedlars, fraudulent Horse-Dealers, Unlicensed Lottery-Office-Keepers,
Gamblers at Fairs, Itinerant Jews, Irish Labourers, Servants of
Toll-Gatherers, and Hackney-Coach Owners, fraudulent Publicans,
Market-Women, Rabbit-Sellers, Fish-Cryers, Barrow-Women_, and many who
would not be suspected, are regularly supplied with counterfeit Copper
and Silver, with the advantage of nearly L.100 _per cent._ in their
favour; and thus it happens, that through these various channels, the
country is deluged with immense quantities of base Money, which get
into circulation; while an evident diminution of the Mint Coinage is
apparent to every common observer.
It is impossible to reflect on the necessity to which all persons are
thus reduced, of receiving and again uttering, Money which is known to
be false and counterfeit, without lamenting, that by thus
familiarizing the mind to fraud and deception, the same laxity of
conduct may be introduced into other transactions of life:--The
barrier being broken down in one part, the principle of common honesty
is infringed upon, and infinite mischief to the very best interests of
Society, is the result, in cases at first unthought of.
To permit, therefore, the existence of an adulterated, and
ill-regulated Silver and Copper Coinage, is in fact to tolerate
general fraud and deception, to the ultimate loss of many individuals;
for the evil must terminate at some period, and then thousands must
suffer; with this aggravation, that the longer it continues the
greater will be the loss of property.
Nor has the mischief been confined to the counterfeiting the Coin of
the Realm. The avarice and ingenuity of man is constantly finding out
new sources of fraud; insomuch, that in London, and in Birmingham, and
its neighbourhood, Louis d'Ors, Half Johannas, French Half Crowns and
Shillings, as well as several coins of Flanders and Germany, and
Dollars of excellent workmanship, in exact imitation of the Spanish
Dollars issued from the Bank, in 1797, have been from time to time
counterfeited apparently without suspicion, that under the act of the
14th of Elizabeth, (cap. 3,) the offenders were guilty of misprision
of High Treason.
These ingenious miscreants have also extended their iniquitous
manufacture to the coins of India; and a Coinage of the Star Pagoda of
Arcot was established in London for years by one person.--These
counterfeits, being made wholly of blanched copper, tempered in such a
manner as to exhibit, when stamped, the cracks in the edges, which are
always to be found on the real Pagoda, cost the maker only Three
Half-pence each, after being double gilt.--When finished, they are
generally sold to Jews at Five Shillings a dozen, who disposed of them
afterwards at 2_s._ 3_s._ or even 5_s._ each; and through this medium,
they have been introduced by a variety of channels into India, where
they were mixed with the real Pagodas of the country, and passed at
their full denominated value of Eight Shillings sterling.
The Sequins of Turkey, another Gold Coin, worth about five or six
shillings, have in like manner been counterfeited in London;--Thus the
national character is wounded, and the disgrace of the British name
proclaimed in Asia, and even in the most distant regions of India. Nor
can it be sufficiently lamented that persons who consider themselves
as ranking in superior stations of life, with some pretensions to
honour and integrity, have suffered their avarice so far to get the
better of their honesty, as to be concerned in this iniquitous
traffic.
It has been recently discovered that there are at least 120 persons in
the Metropolis and the Country, employed principally in coining and
selling base Money; and this, independent of the numerous horde of
Utterers, who chiefly support themselves by passing it at its full
value.
It will scarcely be credited, that of Criminals of this latter class
who have either been detected, prosecuted, or convicted, within the
last seven years, there stand upon the Register of the Solicitor to
the Mint, more than 650 names!--And yet the mischief is not
diminished. When the Reader is informed, that two persons can finish
from L.200 to L.300 (nominal value,) in base silver in _six days_; and
that three people, within the same period, will stamp the like amount
in Copper, and takes into the calculation the number of known Coiners,
the aggregate amount in the course of a year will be found to be
immense.
The causes of this enormous evil are, however, easily developed.--The
principal laws relative to Counterfeit Coin having been made a Century
ago, the tricks and devices of modern times are not sufficiently
provided against;[7] when it is considered also, that the offence of
dealing in base Money, (which is the main spring of the evil,) is only
punishable by a slight imprisonment; that several offences of a
similar nature are not punishable at all, by any existing statute; and
that the detection of actual Coiners, so as to obtain the proof
necessary for conviction, required by Law, is, in many instances,
impracticable; it is not to be wondered at, where the profit is so
immense, with so many chances of escaping punishment, that the coinage
of, and traffic in, counterfeit Money has attracted the attention of
so many unprincipled and avaricious persons.
[Footnote 7: The partial remedy applied to some of these evils by
Statutes passed since the former Edition of this Work, shall be
noticed in a subsequent Chapter dedicated to the subject of Coinage.]
Having thus stated many prominent abuses which appear to arise from
the imperfections in our Criminal Code, as well as the benefits which
an improved system would extend to the country; it now remains to
elucidate the further evils arising to Society, from the abuses
practised in carrying the existing statutes into execution.--As the
laws now stand, little or no energy enters into the system of
detection, so as to give vigor and effect to that branch of Police
which relates to the apprehension of persons charged with offences;
and no sooner does a Magistrate commit a hacknied Thief or Receiver of
stolen Goods, a Coiner, or Dealer in base Money, or a Criminal charged
with any other fraud or offence punishable by law, than recourse is
immediately had to some disreputable Attorney, whose mind is made up
and prepared to practise every trick and device which can defeat the
ends of substantial justice. Depraved persons, frequently accomplices,
are hired to swear an _alibi_; witnesses are cajoled, threatened, or
bribed either to mutilate their evidence, or to speak doubtfully on
the trial, although they swore positively before the committing
Magistrate.
If bribes and persuasions will not do, the prosecutors are either
intimidated by the expence,[8] or softened down by appeals to their
humanity; and under such circumstances, they neither employ counsel
nor take the necessary steps to bring forward evidence: the result is,
that the Bill is either returned _ignoramus_ by the Grand Jury; or, if
a trial takes place, under all the disadvantages of a deficient
evidence, without a counsel for the prosecution, an advocate is heard
for the prisoner, availing himself of every trifling inaccuracy which
may screen his client from the punishment of the Law, the hardened
villain is acquitted and escapes justice: while, as we before noticed,
the novice in crimes, unskilled in the deficiencies of the Law, and
unable, from the want of criminal connections, or that support which
the professed thief receives from the Buyers of stolen goods, to
procure the aid of counsel to defend him, _is often convicted_!
[Footnote 8: No hardship can be so great as that of subjecting an
individual, under any circumstance whatsoever, to the expence of a
public prosecution, carried on in behalf of the King: Besides adding,
almost on every occasion, to the loss of the parties, it is productive
of infinite mischief, in defeating the ends of Justice.]
The Registers of the Old Bailey afford a lamentable proof of the evils
arising from the present mode of trying criminals without a public
Prosecutor for the Crown.--In the course of seven years, previous to
the Police Establishment, no less than 4262 prisoners, who had been
actually put upon their trial by the Grand Jury, were let loose upon
the Public by acquittals.
Since that period no material diminution has taken place, except what
may be easily accounted for by the war; and when to this dreadful
Catalogue of Human Depravity, is to be added, the vast number of
criminals who are periodically discharged from the different gaols by
proclamation, and of cheats, swindlers, gamblers, and others, who have
never yet been discovered or known, we may state with certainty that
there are at this time _many thousand_ individuals, male and female,
prowling about in this Metropolis, who principally support themselves
by various depredations on the Public.
Nor does the evil rest here; for even convicted felons, in too many
instances, find means to escape without punishment; and to join that
phalanx of villains, who are constantly engaged in objects of
depredation and mischief.
No sooner does the punishment of the law attach on a criminal, than
false humanity becomes his friend. Pardons are applied for; and it is
known that his Majesty's great goodness and love of mercy has been
frequently abused by the tricks, devices, and frauds, too commonly
resorted to, by convicts and agents equally depraved as themselves;
who while they have recourse to every species of falsehood and
forgery, for the purpose of attaining the object in view, at the same
time plunder the friends and relatives of the prisoner, of their last
guinea, as the wages of villainy and misrepresentation.
By such nefarious practices, it is much to be feared, that many a
hardened villain has eluded the punishment of the Law, without any
previous reference to the committing Magistrates, who may be supposed
to have accurately examined into his character and connections; and
what is still worse, without extending to the Community those benefits
which might arise from important discoveries useful to Public Justice;
such as convicted felons are always capable of making, and which, in
conjunction with transportation, it should seem, ought to be one
indispensable condition, upon which pardons should be granted to
capital convicts.
Instead of these precautions which appear to be absolutely requisite,
it is to be lamented, that without reflecting that a common thief can
seldom be restrained by military discipline, many of the worst class
of convicts have received his Majesty's gracious pardon, on the simple
condition of going into the Army or Navy: This has been no sooner
granted, than the Royal Mercy has been abused, either by desertion, or
by obtaining a discharge, in consequence of some real or pretended
incapacity, which was previously concealed. Relieved in so easy a
manner, from the heavy load of a capital punishment, the culprits
return again to their old practices; and by this means, punishment not
only ceases to operate as a prevention of crimes, by example, but
becomes even an encouragement; while the labour of detection, and the
expence of trial and conviction, are fruitlessly thrown on an injured
individual, and their effect is wholly lost to the Public.
In addition to the enormous evil arising from the periodical discharge
of so many criminals by proclamations, acquittals, and pardons; _the_
HULKS also send forth, at stated times, a certain number of convicts;
who having _no asylum_, _no home_, _no character_, and _no means of
subsistence_, seem to have only the alternative of starving, or
joining their companions in iniquity; thus adding strength to the body
of criminals, by the accession of men, who, polluted and depraved by
every human vice, rendered familiar to their minds in those seminaries
of profligacy and wickedness from whence they have come, employ
themselves constantly in planning and executing acts of violence, and
depredation upon the Public; and some of them, rendered desperate from
an additional degree of depravity, feel no compunction in adding the
crimes of murder to that of robbery, as has been too clearly
manifested by many late instances.
From what has been thus stated, is it not fair to conclude, that the
want of security which the Public experiences with regard to life and
property, and the inefficacy of the Police in preventing crimes, are
to be attributed principally to the following causes?
1. _The imperfections in the Criminal Code; and in many
instances, its deficiency, with respect to the mode of
punishment; as well as to the want of many other
regulations, provisions, and restraints, applicable to the
present of Society, for the purpose of preventing crimes._
2. _The want of an active principle, calculated to
concentrate and connect the whole Police of the Metropolis
and the Nation; and to reduce the general management to
system and method, by the interposition of a superintending
agency, composed of able, intelligent, and indefatigable men,
acting under the direction and controul of his Majesty's
Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department.--On
these persons, it is proposed, should devolve the subordinate
care and direction of the general Police of the Metropolis;
so as to obtain, by the introduction of order and
arrangement, and by efforts of labour and exertion, a
complete History of the connections, and pursuits of all or
most of the criminal and fraudulent persons who resort to the
Metropolis; (either natives or foreigners;) forming, from
such materials, a Register of all known offenders, and
thereby establishing a clue for their detection, as often as
they are charged with committing depredations on the
Public--with power to reward Officers of Justice, and all
other persons whose services are found to be useful in the
discovery or detection of delinquents of every
description.--To keep an Account of property stolen, or
procured by swindling or fraudulent transactions in the
Metropolis, as well as in other parts of Great-Britain:--To
establish a Correspondence with the Magistrates in Town and
Country, so as to be able more effectually to watch the
motions of all suspected persons; with a view to quick and
immediate detection; and to interpose such embarrassments in
the way of every class of offenders, as may diminish crimes
by increasing the risk of detection: All this, under
circumstances where a_ centre-point would be formed, _and the
general affairs of the Police conducted with method and
regularity:--where Magistrates would find assistance and
information; where the greater offences, such as the_ Coinage
of base Money, _and_ Lottery Insurances, _would be traced to
their source; the care and disposal of convicts, according to
their different sentences, be minutely attended to; and the
whole System conducted with that intelligence and benefit to
the Country, which must arise from the attention of men of
business being directed solely to these objects, distinct
from all other affairs of State; and their exertions being
confined principally to the preservation of the morals of the
People, and the prevention of crimes._
3. _The want of an Institution of Police Magistrates in the
Dock Yards, and in all great Commercial and Manufacturing
Towns, where there are no Corporations or Funds for the
administration of Public Justice._
4. _The want of a Public Prosecutor for the Crown, in all
criminal cases, for the purpose of preventing fraud, delay
and expence in the administration of Justice._
5. _The want of a more correct and regular System, for the
purpose of obtaining the fullest and most authentic
information, to avoid deceptions in the obtaining of
pardons._
6. _The deficiency of the System of the_ Hulks.
7. _The want of an improved System with regard to the
arrangements and disposal of Convicts--destined for hard
labour or for transportation._
8. _The want of national_ Penitentiary Houses, _for the
punishment and reformation of certain classes of Convicts._
9. _The want of a more solemn mode of conducting Executions;
whenever such dreadful examples are necessary for the
furtherance of Public Justice._
Having thus explained the general features of the actually existing
_Crimes_, and their probable causes, we shall in the next place
proceed to some considerations on the present principles of
_Punishment_ in this Country, as compared with those in other Nations
and ages. It will then be requisite to enter into particular and
minute details on both these subjects; and to offer some suggestions
for the introduction of new and applicable laws to be administered
with purity under a correct and energetic System of Police; which may
be, in some degree, effectual in guarding the Public against those
increasing and multifarious injuries and dangers, which are
universally felt and lamented.
CHAP. II.
_Of Punishments in general.--The mode of ascertaining the
degrees of Punishment.--The objects to be considered in
inflicting Punishments--namely, Amendment--Example--and
Retribution.--The Punishment of Death has little effect on
hardened Offenders.--Examples of convicts exhibited in
servile employments would make a greater
impression.--Towards the rendering criminal laws perfect,
Prevention ought to be the great object of the
Legislature.--General Rules suggested for attaining this
object, with illustrations.--The severity of our laws with
respect to Punishments--not reconcileable to the principles
of morality, and a free government--calculated in their
operation to debase the human character.--General
Reflections on the Punishments authorised by the English
Law.--The disproportion of Punishments, exemplified in the
case of an assault, opposed to a larceny.--In seduction and
adultery, which are not punishable as criminal
offences.--The laws severe in the extreme in political
offences, while they are lax and defective with regard to
moral Crimes.--The necessity of enforcing the observance of
religious and moral Virtue by lesser Punishments.--General
Reflections applicable to public and private Crimes.--The
dangers arising from the progress of immorality to the
safety of the State.--The leading offences made capital by
the laws of England considered, with the Punishment
allotted to each; compared with, and illustrated by, the
custom of other countries, in similar cases, both ancient
and modern: namely, High Treason--Petit Treason:--Felonies
against Life, viz. Murder, Manslaughter, Misadventure, and
Self-defence:--against the Body, comprehending Sodomy, Rape,
Forcible Marriage, Polygamy, and Mayhem.--Against Goods or
Property, comprehending Simple Larceny, Mixt Larceny, and
Piracy,--and against the Habitation, comprehending Arson and
Burglary.--Concluding Reflections relative to the severity
of the Laws, and their imperfections with regard to
Punishment--The new Code of the_ Emperor JOSEPH the Second,
_shortly detailed.--Reflections thereon._