also illustrates these assertions, and proves that they are but too
well founded: It states--"That Gaming-Houses have increased to such a
degree, that there were lately not less than six in one street near
the Hay-Market, at all which persons stood at the door to entice
passengers to play--That the generality of persons keeping these
houses are _prize-fighters_, and persons of a desperate description,
who threaten assassination to any person who will molest them."]
In a commercial Country, and in a great Metropolis, where from the
vast extent of its trade and manufactures, and from the periodical
issue of above Twenty Millions annually, arising from dividends on
funded security, there must be an immense circulation of property, the
danger is not to be conceived, from the allurements which are thus
held out to young men in business, having the command of money, as
well as to the clerks of merchants, bankers, and others concerned in
different branches of trade: In fact, it is well known, that too many
of this class resort at present to these destructive scenes of vice,
idleness, and misfortune.[37]
[Footnote 37: The same Affidavit further states--"That the principal
Gaming Houses at the West end of the Town have stated days on which
they have luxurious dinners, (Sunday being the chief day,) to which
they contrive to get invited merchants' and bankers' clerks, and other
persons intrusted with money; and that it has been calculated, (and
the calculation was believed not to be over-rated,) that the expences
attendant on such houses, amounted to L.150,000 yearly, and that the
keepers of such houses, by means of their enormous wealth, bid
defiance to all prosecutions, some of them having acquired from 50 to
L.100,000 each; considerable estates have been frequently won by them
in the course of one sitting."]
The mind shrinks with horror at the existence of a System in the
Metropolis, unknown to our ancestors, even in the worst periods of
their dissipation; when a _Ward_, a _Waters_, and a _Chartres_,
insulted public morals by their vices and their crimes: for then no
regular Establishments--no systematic concerns for carrying on this
nefarious trade, were known.--No Partnerships in Gaming-Houses, were
conducted with the regularity of Commercial Houses.
But these Partnerships have not been confined to Gaming-Houses alone.
A considerable proportion of the immense capital which the conductors
of the System possess, is employed periodically in the _two
Lotteries_, in _Fraudulent Insurances_, where, like the Faro Bank, the
chances are so calculated as to yield about 30 per cent. profit to the
Gambling proprietors; and from the extent to which these transactions
have been, and we fear still are carried, no doubt can be entertained
that the annual gains must be immense.--It has, indeed, been stated,
with an appearance of truth, that a single individual acquired no less
than L.60,000 during one English Lottery!
Although it is impossible to be perfectly accurate in any estimate
which can be formed; for in this, as in all other cases where
calculations are introduced in this Work, accuracy to a point is not
to be expected; yet when all circumstances are considered, there
appear just grounds to suppose that the following Statement, placing
the whole in one connected point of view, may convey to the Reader no
very imperfect idea of the vast and unparalleled extent to which this
horrid mischief had arrived; and to which, if not closely watched, it
may yet rise once more.
GAMING.
Persons Money Yearly
attached. played aggregate
for lost and
nightly. won.
L. L.
1. 7 Subscription Houses
open one-third of the
Year, or 100 nights _suppose_ 1000 2000 1,400,000
2. 15 Houses of a
superior class
one-third of the Year,
or 100 nights ---- 3000 2000 3,000,000
3. 15 Houses of an
inferior class one-half
of the Year, or 150
Nights ---- 3000 1000 2,225,000
4. 6 Ladies' Gaming Houses
50 Nights ---- 1000 2000 600,000
---------
7,215,000
FRAUDULENT INSURANCES IN THE LOTTERY.
350 Insurance Offices at 100_l._
a day average, during the 33 days
of the Irish Lottery 1,155,000
400 Insurance Offices at 150_l._
a day average, during the 33
days[38] of the English Lottery 1,980,000
---------
3,135,000
----------
Total 10,460,000
----------
[Footnote 38: The longer the Lottery continues, the greater the evil.
A Lottery of 60,000 Tickets is therefore a much greater evil than one
of 50,000: and that in a ratio more than proportionate to the numbers
in each.]
This aggregate is only to be considered as shewing the mere
interchange of property from one hand to another; yet when it is
recollected that the operation must progressively produce a certain
loss, with not many exceptions, to all the innocent and unsuspecting
adventurers either at Pharo or the Lottery, with an almost uniform
gain to the proprietors; the result is shocking to reflect upon.--To
individual families in easy circumstances where this unfortunate mania
prevails, as well as to the mass of the people who are fascinated by
the delusion of the Lottery Insurances, it is the worst of all
misfortunes.--By seizing every opportunity to take advantage of this
unhappy bias, it is no uncommon thing to see the pennyless miscreant
of to-day become the opulent gambler of to-morrow: leaving the unhappy
sufferers often no alternative but exile, beggary, or a prison; or
perhaps, rendered desperate by reflecting on the folly of their
conduct, to end their days by suicide,[39] while wives, children, and
dependants are suddenly reduced from affluence to the lowest abyss of
misery.
[Footnote 39: The Gambling and Lottery transactions of one individual
in this great Metropolis, are said to be productive of from ten to
fifteen suicides annually.]
In contemplating these vast establishments of regular and systematic
fraud and depredation upon the Public, in all the hideous forms which
they assume, nothing is so much to be lamented as the unconquerable
spirit which draws such a multitude of the lower ranks of Society into
the vortex of the Lottery.
The agents in this iniquitous System, availing themselves of the
existence of the delusion, spare no pains to keep it alive; so that
the evil extends far and wide, and the mischiefs, distresses, and
calamities resulting from it, were it possible to detail them, would
form a catalogue of sufferings of which the opulent and luxurious have
no conception.
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 rectitude, 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 L.20 or L.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 scraped 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 L.70. The defendant said, _we have cleared him_. The
witness has seen a man pawn his watch and ring in several instances;
and once he saw a man pawn 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 pawned 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 constitutes human happiness, fatally leads
the mass 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 passport 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 sex 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 assemble in
multitudes 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 accumulated evils, arising from this source, are said to have been
suffered to continue, from a prevailing idea, that Persons of Rank and
their immediate associates were beyond the reach of being controlled,
by laws made for the mass 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
amusements 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
circumstances, become incurable.
But there are other inducements, more nearly allied to the occurrences
in humble life, which render it in a particular degree incumbent 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 class, 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 Classes 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 circumstances 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 class 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
pawning 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 classes 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
pawnbrokers' 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]