their nefarious traffic, and were able to tempt and seduce those who
would permit them to plunder the cargo, by administering to their
wants by considerable advances of money which, however, rarely
amounted to a moiety of the value of the goods obtained, and
frequently not 1-4th part, particularly in the article of Coffee.
Other classes of Receivers purchased from the Lumpers, Coopers, &c.
after the property was landed, and being generally engaged in business
as small grocers or keepers of chandlers' shops, and old iron and junk
warehouses, they were accustomed to protect it in its transit, from
one criminal dealer to another, by means of false bills of parcels.
It would fill a volume to recount the various ramifications of this
nefarious traffic, and the devices used to defeat Justice and elude
the punishment of the Law.[60]
[Footnote 60: For the purpose of defraying the expence of prosecutions
for criminal offences upon the River Thames, and to raise a fund for
suborning evidence, and employing counsel for higher crimes, and of
paying the penalties under the Act of the 2d Geo. III. cap. 28.
commonly called the Bumboat Act; there existed a club composed of
_River Plunderers_, and _Lumpers_, _Coopers_, _Watermen_, and
_Receivers_, (denominated _Light-Horsemen_, _Heavy-Horsemen_, and
_Copes_,) from the funds of which the Law expences and the penalties
incurred by members of the fraternity were paid. By these iniquitous
means not a few notorious offenders escaped justice, while those who
were convicted of penalties for misdemeanors escaped the punishment of
imprisonment, and being thus screened from justice the culprits
(previous to the establishment of the Marine Police System) returned
to their evil practices without the least apprehension of any other
inconvenience than the payment of a fine of 40_s._ defrayed by the
Club. The New System, however, affording means of detection in the
ships where the offences were committed: what were formerly
misdemeanors are now treated as larcenies, which has operated most
powerfully in breaking up this atrocious confederacy, and in defeating
all the nefarious designs of the criminal delinquents of which it was
formed, some of whom, although apparently common labourers, resided in
handsome houses furnished in a very superior style for the rank in
life of the occupiers.
As a proof, among many others, of the enormous extent of the River
Plunder, the convictions for misdemeanors under the Act of the 2d Geo.
III. cap. 28. from August 1792 to August 1799, exceeded _two thousand
two hundred_; of which number about 2000 culprits paid the penalty;
partly from their own resources, but chiefly, it is believed, from the
funds of the club, amounting in all to about 4000_l._ in the course of
seven years.]
It extended to almost every article imported into, and exported from,
the port of London. But the dealings in stolen West India produce were
by far the most extensive; at the same time it appears from recent
investigation, that the _East India Company_ and the _Russian_ and
_American Merchants_, as well as the Importers of _Timber_, _Ashes_,
_Furs_, _Skins_, _Oil_, _Provisions_ and _Corn_, were also
considerable sufferers. The Coal Merchants have likewise sustained
losses to a great amount annually, while every species of goods
imported have been more or less subject to depredations.
Nor has the Export Trade on the River Thames been in any respect
secured against the rapacity of this phalanx of plunderers. Many
well-authenticated cases have recently been developed, which prove
that Hamburgh vessels outward bound, have been plundered to a
considerable amount,[61] particularly those which were laden with
sugar, coffee, and other West India produce. Outward-bound ships to
every part of the world have also been more or less objects of
plunder, to the numerous herds of delinquents who were employed upon
the River, aided by their associates in iniquity, the Receivers.
[Footnote 61: A Shipmaster in the trade a few months since was
compelled to pay 40_l._ for deficient sugars plundered by Lumpers and
others, who assisted in lading his vessel, notwithstanding his utmost
personal vigilance and attention while the sugars were taking on
board. A single Marine Police Officer would have prevented this. The
effect of their power in overawing delinquents, from the nature of the
system and the discipline peculiar to the institution, is not to be
conceived.]
To enter _into particulars_, or to detail specific instances, would
far exceed the limits prescribed for this branch of the general
catalogue of delinquency exhibited in this Work. Suffice it to say,
that the most satisfactory evidence can be adduced, that the system of
depredation which had so long prevailed, and which had advanced with
the growing Commerce of the Port, had pervaded every species of
Merchandize laden or discharged, as well as the Tackle, Apparel and
Stores of almost every ship and vessel arriving in, and departing
from, the River Thames.
Nor can it be a matter of wonder, that such pervading mischiefs should
have prevailed when it is known, that above 5000 individuals, employed
in various stationary situations upon the River, have, with a very few
exceptions, been nursed from early life in acts of delinquency of this
nature.
In a group so extensive there are unquestionably many different shades
of turpitude; but certain it is, that long habit, and general example,
had banished from the minds of the mass of the culprits implicated in
these offences, that sense of the criminality of the action, which
attaches to every other species of theft.
* * * * *
Such was the situation of things in the Port of London, in the month
of July 1798, when the MARINE POLICE INSTITUTION, a wise and salutary
measure of Government, arose from the meritorious exertions of the
West India Merchants.
The object of this Establishment was to counteract these mischievous
proceedings, and by salutary arrangements _in the Science of Police_
to prevent in future a repetition of those crimes which had so long
contaminated the morals of the people, and operated as an evil of no
small weight and magnitude on the Trade of the River Thames.
How far this System, _planned_ and adapted to the exigencies of the
case, and carried into effort by the Author of these pages, assisted
by a very able and indefatigable Magistrate, and by many zealous and
active Officers, has been productive of the benefits which were in
contemplation, must be determined by an accurate examination of the
state of delinquency, among the aquatic labourers and others, employed
at present in ships and vessels in the River Thames; compared with
what existed previous to this Establishment, as detailed in the
preceding pages of this Chapter.
Although much yet remains to be done to prevent the renewal of those
criminal proceedings, which have by great exertions been happily in
many instances suppressed.--Although the Marine Police[62] has been
unquestionably crippled by the want of those apposite _Legislative_
Regulations, upon which its energy and utility, as a _permanent
Establishment_, must, in a great measure depend, yet the proofs of the
advantages which have resulted from it, not only to the West India
Trade[63] (for the protection of which it was originally instituted)
but also to the whole Commerce and Navigation of the Port of London,
are so decided and irrefragable, that specific details are
unnecessary, especially since Deputations of the most respectable
Merchants from the whole Commercial Body, sensible of the benefits
derived from the system have solicited the sanction of Government, for
the purpose of passing a Bill to extend the design, so as to afford
the same protection to the general Trade of the Port, which has been
experienced by the West India Planters and Merchants;[64] and
requesting to be permitted to defray the expence by an annual
assessment upon the Trade.
[Footnote 62: For a particular account of this Institution, see the
"Treatise on the Commerce and Police of the River Thames," already
alluded to.]
[Footnote 63: With respect to the advantages which have resulted in
the aggregate, to the West India Planters and Merchants, from this New
Institution, it is impossible to form any decided opinion; but
estimating the savings, on an average, at 28_lbs._ of sugar per hhd.
(which is only one half of what the Committee of West India Merchants,
in their Report to a General Meeting in 1798, supposed the plunderage
might have been formerly) it appears, upon this data, that the gain to
the Planters, Merchants, and the Revenue, on a very reduced estimate
as to the actual importation may be thus stated.--
Saving Saving
to the to the
Planters. Revenue. TOTAL.
On 115,000 casks of sugar, at
28_lbs._ per cask L.97,012 L.25,150 L.122,162
15,000 casks of rum, at three
gallons each 9,000 15,000 24,000
Coffee, pimento, and other
articles, suppose 5,000 10,000 15,000
--------- -------- ---------
Totals L.111,012 L.50,150 L.161,162
If credit is to be given to the general and specific proofs of the
depredations which took place before the establishment of the Marine
Police, and to the numerous documents which demonstrate the saving of
property, which has been the effect of this system of prevention, the
above estimate will not appear to be over-rated. In an importation
amounting to above L.8,000,000 sterling a year, it is not too much to
say that 1-1/2 per cent. on this sum may have been saved under a
system of such extreme vigilance, where every class of depredators
were defeated in their iniquitous designs, and deprived in a great
measure of the powers they formerly possessed, of doing mischief. The
probability is, that it has amounted to more, though the fact never
can be accurately ascertained.]
[Footnote 64: At a meeting of the Committee of the West India
Merchants appointed to manage the general concerns of the Trade, held
on the 4th of January 1799, It was
"RESOLVED,
"That this Committee are deeply impressed with a high sense
of the singular advantages, which appear to have resulted to
the Commerce of the Port of London in general, but
particularly to the West India Planters and Merchants, in
the protection afforded to their property by the exertions
of _The Marine Police Institution_, as well as by the
General System established for the prevention of pillage and
plunder arising out of the measures for detection pursued by
the Magistrates presiding at the Marine Police Office, by
which, in the opinion of this Committee, great and extensive
benefits have also resulted to his Majesty's Revenue."]
It may only be necessary in this place to state, that under all the
disadvantages and difficulties attending the execution of this design,
it may truly be said to have worked wonders in reforming the shocking
abuses which prevailed.--_The River Pirates do not now exist in any
shape.--The Nightly Plunderers, denominated Light Horsemen, have not
dared in a single instance to pursue their criminal designs.--The
Working Lumpers, denominated Heavy Horse, are no longer to be found
loaded with Plunder._--Watermen are not now as _formerly to be
recognized in clusters hanging upon the bows and quarters of West
India ships under discharge to receive plunder_.--Lightermen, _finding
nothing to be procured by attending their craft, are accustomed to
desert them until the period when they are completely laden.--Journeymen
Coopers do not wilfully demolish casks and packages as heretofore,
since no advantage is to be reaped from the spillings of sugar,
coffee, or other articles.--The Mud-Larks find it no longer an object
to prowl about ships at low water while under discharge, since the
resource for that species of iniquitous employment, which they were
accustomed to solicit, is no longer in existence.--The criminal class
of Revenue Officers, who had long profited (in many instances to an
enormous extent) by the nefarious practices which prevailed, have not
been able to suppress their rage against the New Police, by the
vigilance of which they feel themselves deprived of the means of
profiting by the system of plunder, which they had so perfectly
organized, and which, in collusion with the Revenue Watermen, they
were so well able to cover by availing themselves of their official
situations, on many occasions, in protecting to the houses of the
Receivers articles which were both stolen and smuggled_.
By means of a Police Guard upon the Quays, which forms a collateral
branch of the General System, _the Scuffle-hunters and Long-apron-men,
who were accustomed to prowl about for the purpose of pillage, have in
a great measure deserted the quays and landing-places; while the
Copemen and Receivers, finding from several examples which have been
made, that their former infamous pursuits cannot be continued without
the most imminent hazard, have, in many instances, declined business,
while not a few of these mischievous members of society have quitted
their former residences, and disappeared_.
Such has been the effect of the remedy which has been applied towards
the core of the enormous evil of River Plunder.
It is not, however, to be understood that this System has entirely
eradicated the pillage which prevailed, a circumstance not to be
expected, since the design was partial and limited in its nature, and
only intended for the protection of West India property, although very
extensive benefits have unquestionably arisen from its collateral
influence, and its energy, in terrifying thieves of every description
upon the River, and diminishing their depredations, which, but for the
dread of detection by means of the Police Boats in the night, would
unquestionably have been committed.
But while it is readily admitted that amidst the opposite attractions
of pleasure and pain, it is impossible to reduce the tumultuous
activity of such a phalanx of individuals to absolute order and
purity, who have been in many instances reared up in habits of
delinquency. And while it is a vain hope to expect that crimes can be
totally annihilated, where temptations assail the idle and the
dissolute, and religion and morality, or even in many instances, the
fear of punishment, does not operate as a restraint;--yet is it,
notwithstanding, clear to demonstration, from the effects produced by
the limited experiment which has been made, that the General Police
for the River Thames which is in contemplation, aided by the apposite
Legislative regulations which experience has suggested to be
necessary,[65] must in its operation, under the guidance of an able
and active Magistracy, so far diminish and keep down the depredations
which were committed, as to prove scarce a drop in the bucket, when
compared to the extensive and enormous evils which it has been the
object of the promoters of this new System to suppress.
[Footnote 65: For the specific provisions of _the Marine Police Bill_,
see the "Treatise on the Commerce Navigation Police of the River
Thames."--The object of this Bill is rather to prevent Crimes than to
punish; and where punishments on conviction are to be inflicted, they
are of a nature which, it is to be hoped, will operate sufficiently as
an example to diminish the evil, without the exercise of any great
degree of severity.]
Although in this arduous pursuit, the Author of this work has
experienced infinite difficulties and discouragements, yet is he
rewarded by the consciousness that he was engaged in an undertaking in
which the best interests of Society were involved:--that independent
of the pecuniary benefits derived by the State, and the Proprietors of
Commercial Property (which already have unquestionably been very
extensive,) he has been instrumental in bringing forward a great
preventive System, and by administering the Laws in conjunction with a
very zealous, able, and humane Magistrate,[66] in a manner rather
calculated to _restrain_ than to _punish_,[67] a multitude of
individuals, together with a numerous offspring, are likely to be
rendered useful members of the Body Politic, instead of nuisances in
Society.--The advantages thus gained (although his labours have been
in other respects gratuitous,) will abundantly compensate the
_dangers_, the _toils_, and the anxieties which have been experienced.
In the accomplishment of this object, both the interests of _humanity_
and _morality_, have been in no small degree promoted: unquestionably,
there cannot be a greater act of benevolence to mankind, in a course
of _criminal delinquency_, than that which tends to _civilize their
manners_;--_to teach them obedience to the_ Laws;--_to screen
themselves and their families from the evils and distress attendant on
punishment, by preventing the commission of crimes_; and _to lead them
into the paths of honest industry, as the only means of securing that
real comfort and happiness which a life of criminality, however
productive of occasional supplies of money, can never bestow_.--If it
shall be considered (as it certainly is) a glorious atchievement to
subdue a powerful Army or Navy, and thereby secure the tranquillity of
a State--is not the triumph in some degree analogous, where a
numerous army of delinquents, carrying on a species of warfare no less
noxious, if not equally hostile, shall not only be subdued by a mild
and systematic direction of the powers of the Law; but that the
conquered enemy shall be converted into an useful friend, adding
strength instead of weakness to the Government of the country?
[Footnote 66: John Harriott, Esq. the Resident Magistrate.]
[Footnote 67: So powerful was the effect of the preventive System,
wherever it was permitted to be applied, that no instance has occurred
in the course of more than fifteen months, since the Marine Police was
established, of sufficient grounds for a criminal prosecution having
taken place by the commission of any Larceny or Felony in ships or
craft under the immediate protection of the Institution.]
Such has been, at least, the result of the partial operations of the
Marine Police; and such will unquestionably be the issue of the
general measures which have been planned and arranged, when the
_Key-stone_ shall be finally laid to the fabric, by passing into a Law
the Bill which has been prepared for the extension of this design to
the protection of the whole trade of the port of London.[68]
[Footnote 68: As a proof of the approbation of the whole body of the
West India Planters at the General Meeting, not only of the System of
the Marine Police, but also of the Bill which has been prepared to
extend its influence to the general Trade of the River Thames, the
following extracts are inserted:
_Extract from the Minutes of a Meeting of a Committee of the
West India Planters and Merchants--London, June 7, 1799._
"Resolved,
"That this Committee is fully convinced that considerable
advantages have been derived from the institution of the
Marine Police in checking the depredations on West India
produce on board ships in the River Thames; and consequently
approves of the Bill for constituting the said _Marine
Police_, with powers enlarged and more effective, and on a
more extended plan, provided the Act for that purpose be in
the first instance limited to the duration of three years,
and that the whole expence of the Institution does not
exceed Ten Thousand Pounds annually."
_Extract from the Minutes of a General Meeting of the West
India Planters, held by public Advertisement at Wright's
Coffee-house, Soho-square, London, June 13, 1799._
The Right Honourable Lord PENRHYN in the Chair.
"Resolved,
"That this Meeting confirms the Report of its Committee, and
approves of the project of a Bill for the purposes, and
within the limitations stated in that Report.
"Resolved,
"That Lord Penrhyn be requested to present to the Chancellor
of the Exchequer the Report of a Committee of this Meeting,
on the subject of the Marine Police Institution, and the
Resolution of this meeting approving the said Report.
"Resolved,
"That Lord Penrhyn be requested to communicate the thanks of
this Meeting to Mr. Colquhoun for the zeal, ability, and
perseverance with which he has endeavoured to form an
effectual check to the system of depredation which prevailed
on the River Thames."]
CHAP. IX.
_Reflections on the Causes of the Existence and Continuance
of the Frauds, Embezzlements, Peculation, and Plunder in his
Majesty's Dock-Yards and other Public Repositories, and in
the Naval Department in general.--Reasons why the Evil has
not been suppressed.--A summary View of the Means employed
in committing Offences of this Nature.--Reasons assigned why
the Defalcation of this Species of Property must be
extensive.--Illustrated by the immense Value, and by an
Estimate, and general View, of the Public Property exposed
to Hazard.--A summary View of the Laws which relate to
Offences on Public Property; proofs adduced of their
Deficiency.--Remedies proposed and detailed under the
respective Heads of--1st. A Central Board of Police--2d. A
Local Police for the Dock-Yards--3d. Legislative Regulations
proposed in Aid of the Police System--4th. Regulations
respecting the Sale of Old Stores--5th. The Abolition of the
Perquisites of Chips--6th. The Abolition of Fees and
Perquisites, and liberal Salaries in lieu thereof--7th. An
improved Mode of keeping Accounts--8th. An annual Inventory
of Stores in Hand--Concluding Observations._
Under the pressure of those accumulated wrongs, which constitute the
extensive frauds, embezzlements, pillage, and plunder, known and
acknowledged to exist in the Dock-Yards and other Public Repositories,
it is not easy, at first view, to assign a reason for that apparent
supineness, on the part of men of known honour and integrity, who have
heretofore presided, and who now preside at the Public Boards, in not
using the means necessary to remedy so great an evil.
This may possibly be accounted for, by the extreme difficulty which
men, constantly occupied in a laborious business, find in pursuing
inquiries, or forming arrangements, out of their particular sphere;
more especially when such arrangements require those powers of
business, and that species of legal and general information, which do
not usually attach to men whose education and habits of life have run
in a different channel.
Under such circumstances, it is scarcely to be wondered at, that
greater efforts have not been used, (for great efforts are
unquestionably necessary,) to correct those abuses, which have long
existed; and which have been progressively increasing; by means of
which, not only the property of the Public suffers a vast annual
diminution by frauds and embezzlements, but the foundation of all
morals is sapped; and the most baneful practices extend even to men
in the upper and middle ranks of Society, who are too seldom
restrained by any correct principle of rectitude in transactions,
where the interest of Government only is concerned; either in the
supplying, or afterwards in the taking charge of the custody of Public
Stores.
When the object in view is to acquire money, the power of example,
sanctioned by usage and custom, will reconcile men by degrees, to
enormities and frauds which at first could not have been
endured.--Acting under this influence, it too often happens that a
distinction is made, as regards moral rectitude, in the minds of many
individuals, between _the property of the Nation_, and _private
property_.--While the most scrupulous attention to the rules of honour
prevails in the latter case, principles, the most relaxed, are yielded
to in the former.
And thus it is, that in such situations, inferior agents also, induced
by example, become insensibly reconciled to every species of fraud,
embezzlement, and peculation.