local superintendants of the watch, within their respective Parishes.]
It is in vain to expect that the Public can be well served, unless the
emolument becomes an object to good and able men; but these
extraordinary rewards (as has already been observed) should always
depend upon the vigilance and exertion of the parties themselves, in
detecting offenders of every description: and should be paid, on its
appearing to the Magistrate, that no _impropriety_ or _indiscretion_
has marked their conduct. If, on the contrary, they should be proved
to have acted oppressively or improperly, a power of immediate
dismission and punishment should, in all instances, be lodged in
Justices of the Peace, to be exercised according to the nature of the
offence.
Having thus stated the civil force of the Metropolis, in
peace-officers, watchmen and patroles, making an aggregate of 3084
men--it may be necessary and useful to give such information relative
to the Magistracy, as may tend to shew the present state of the
Police, and to illustrate what remains to be further suggested on the
subject of its improvement; for the preservation of the Public peace,
and the _detection_ and _apprehension_ of every class of offenders.
* * * * *
There exist at present no less than _five_ separate jurisdictions
within the limits of the Metropolis--namely,--
_Magistrates._
1. The City of London, where there are, including
the Lord Mayor, 26 Aldermen, who have an exclusive
jurisdiction within the ancient limits 26
2. The City and Liberty of Westminster--where there
are upwards of 100 Justices of the Peace, who have
jurisdiction only in that particular District; but
where the Magistrates of the County of Middlesex have
an equal jurisdiction.--The number resident, of those
who are not Magistrates of Middlesex, is supposed to
be about 50
3. That part of the Metropolis, which is situated in the
county of Middlesex, where there are about 800 Justices,
including the Princes of the Royal Family--many
of the Nobility--Great Officers of State--Members
of Parliament--and other Gentlemen of respectability;--of
those in the commission about 200 have qualified;
and of these who have taken out their _Dedimus
Potestatum_, only about 150 reside in or near the
Metropolis 150
4. That district of the Metropolis lying near, or
particularly belonging anciently to the Tower of London,
comprehending about 750 houses--where the Magistrates
(52 in number) have an exclusive jurisdiction,
and hold separate Sessions of the Peace.--The number
who are not Magistrates in Middlesex, is 31
5. The Borough of Southwark, and that part of the Metropolis
adjoining thereto, within the Bills of Mortality--where
the City Magistrates have jurisdiction, besides
the whole of the Magistrates of the County of
Surry--namely--132, but of whom not more than 28 reside
in Southwark, and 15 in London, &c. (in all) 43
---
Total about 300
---
But, notwithstanding the great number of respectable names, which are
in the different commissions in and near the Metropolis; and although
all who have qualified have equal jurisdiction with the Police
Justices, within their respective districts; yet the efficient
duty for the whole of the Metropolis, so far as it relates to the
detection of offenders, is principally limited to two classes of
Magistrates--namely,--
1. The 26 Aldermen of London, whose jurisdiction is
confined to the ancient limits of the City, comprehending
25 Wards, in which are 21,642 houses on the London
side, and Bridge Ward without, in the Borough 26
2. The established Magistrates, three of whom preside
at each of the seven Public Offices, appointed by the Act
of the 32d of his present Majesty, cap. 53. viz.--
1. Public Office, Queen's-Square, Westminster 3
2. Public Office, Marlborough-Street 3
3. Public Office, Hatton-Garden 3
4. Public Office, Worship-Street, Shoreditch 3
5. Public Office, Whitechapel 3
6. Public Office, Shadwell 3
7. Public Office, Union-Street, Southwark 3
--
21
8. Existing (previous to the Act) at the Public
Office, Bow-Street 3
--
24
9. The Thames Police Institution at Wapping, for
the River only 2
-- 26
Total efficient Magistrates who sit in rotation, --
daily, in the Metropolis 52
The jurisdiction of the Magistrates presiding at the seven Public
Offices, not only extends to Westminster and Middlesex; (and, in most
instances, lately, to the liberty of the Tower:) but also to the
counties of Surry, Kent, and Essex, from which considerable advantages
in the prompt detection and apprehension of offenders have accrued to
the Public: The only difficulty that now remains to be removed, with
respect to the clashing of jurisdictions, is that which regards the
city of London; where, from its contiguity, and immediate and close
connection with every other part of the Metropolis, considerable
inconveniences and injuries to the public are felt, not only from the
circumstance of the jurisdiction of the City Magistrates not being
extended over the _whole_ of the Metropolis, as well as the four
adjoining counties; but also from the Police Magistrates having no
authority quickly to follow up informations, by issuing warrants to
search for property, and to apprehend persons charged with offences in
the City. The whole difficulty resolves itself into a mere matter of
_punctilio_, founded perhaps on ill-grounded jealousy, or
misapprehension, which a little explanation would probably remove.
Where the object is to do good;--and where not even the shadow of harm
can arise, no limits should be set to local jurisdictions; especially
where privileges are proposed to be given; (as in this case, to the
city of London;)--and where none are to be taken away.
For the purpose of establishing a complete and well-connected System
of _detection_, some means ought certainly to be adopted, more closely
to unite the City and Police Magistrates,[121] that they may, in a
greater degree, go hand in hand in all matters regarding the general
interest of the Metropolis and its environs; making the suppression of
crimes one common cause, and permitting no punctilio, regarding
jurisdiction, to prevent the operation of their united energy in the
prompt detection of offenders; This, from the extended state of
Commerce and Society, and the great increase of property, is now
rendered a measure in which the inhabitants of the whole Metropolis,
as well as the adjacent villages, have a common interest. It is an
evil, which affects all ranks, and calls aloud for the speedy adoption
of some effectual remedy.
[Footnote 121: The Select Committee of the House of Commons, in their
28th Report, 1798, on Finance, have strongly recommended a Concurrent
Jurisdiction; and also, that two Police Offices should be established
in London, upon the plan of the others, with Magistrates to be
appointed by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen.]
CHAP. XV.
_The prevailing practice explained, when offenders are
brought before Magistrates.--The necessary caution, as well
as the duty of Magistrates in such cases
explained.--Professed thieves seldom intimidated when put
upon their trial, from the many chances they have of
escaping.--These chances shortly detailed.--Reflections on
the false humanity exercised by prosecutors towards
prisoners.--Their rudeness and cruelty, when engaged in acts
of criminality.--The delays and expences of prosecutions, a
great discouragement, inducing sufferers to put up with
their loss, in silence.--How the inconvenience may be
remedied.--An account of the different Courts of Justice,
appointed for the trial of offences committed in the
Metropolis.--Five inferior and two superior Courts.--A
statement, shewing the number of prisoners convicted and
discharged during the last year.--Reflections on this sad
catalogue of depravity.--A radical defect somewhere.--The
great purity of the Judges of England.--The propriety of a
co-operation with them, in whatever shall tend to promote
the ends of Public Justice.--This object to be attained, in
the greatest possible degree, by means of an authorised
Public Prosecutor.--The advantages of such an institution,
in remedying many abuses which prevail in the trial of
offenders.--From 2500 to 3000 persons committed for
trial, by Magistrates, in the Metropolis, in the course of a
Year.--The chief part afterwards returned upon Society._
Arriving at that _point_ in the progress of this Work, where persons
accused of offences are detected and brought before Magistrates for
examination, ultimately to be committed for trial, if the evidence
shall be sufficient:--It is proper to explain the prevailing practice
under such circumstances.
The task, in this case imposed upon the Magistrate, is arduous and
important; requiring not only great purity of conduct, a profound
knowledge of mankind, and of the common affairs of life; but in a more
peculiar manner those powers of discrimination which may enable him to
discover how far criminality attaches to the party accused; and
whether there are grounds sufficient to abridge for a time, or
ultimately to deprive the prisoner of his liberty, until a Jury of his
country shall decide upon his fate.
It frequently happens that persons accused of crimes are apprehended
under circumstances where no doubt can rest on the mind of the
Magistrates as to the guilt of the prisoner; but where the legal
evidence is nevertheless insufficient to authorize an immediate
commitment for trial.
In these instances, (while he commits _pro tempore_,) he is called
upon in a particular manner to exert the whole powers of his mind, by
adopting such judicious measures as shall be the means of detecting
the offenders; by discovering the goods or property stolen, or by
admitting such evidence for the Crown as may, with other corroborating
testimony, prevent the ends of justice from being defeated.
Where a Magistrate proceeds with indefatigable zeal and attention, and
at the same time exercises good judgment, he will seldom fail of
success; for in this case a similar spirit will animate the officers
under his controul, whose activity and industry are generally in
proportion to that manifested by their superiors.
Much as every active Magistrate must regret that deficiency of
pecuniary resource, which, under the present system, prevents him from
rewarding those who must occasionally be employed to detect notorious
offenders, this circumstance ought not to abate this zeal in any
respect; since by perseverance it generally happens, that every good
and proper arrangement for the immediate advantage of the Public, may
be ultimately obtained.
The Magistrate having done his duty by committing an offender for
trial, satisfied of his guilt and the sufficiency of the evidence to
convict him: and having also bound over the prosecutor and the
witnesses as the Law directs, to attend the Grand Jury, and (if a bill
be found) to prosecute and give evidence upon the indictment; it might
appear to the common observer, that the culprit's case becomes
hopeless and forlorn.
This, however, is by no means a stage in the progress that intimidates
a professed thief; he feels and knows that, although guilty of the
crime laid to his charge, he has many chances of escaping; and these
chances unquestionably operate as encouragements to the commission of
crimes.
His first hope is, that he shall intimidate the Prosecutor and
Witnesses, by the threatenings of the gang with whom he is
connected;--his next that he may compound the matter; or bribe or
frighten material witnesses, so as to keep back evidence; or induce
them to speak doubtfully at the trial, though positive evidence was
given before the Magistrate; or if all should fail, recourse is had to
perjury, by bringing the Receiver, or some other associate, to swear
an _alibi_.
Various other considerations also operate in strengthening the hopes
of acquittal; partly arising from the vast numbers who are discharged
or acquitted at every Session of gaol-delivery; and partly from the
carelessness and inattention of Prosecutors, who are either unable or
unwilling to sustain the expence of Counsel to oppose the arguments
and objections which will be offered in behalf of the prisoner: or are
soured by loss of valuable time, experienced, perhaps in former
prosecutions;[122]--or ultimately from a dread entertained by timid
persons, who foolishly and weakly consider themselves as taking away
the life of a fellow-creature, merely because they prosecute or give
evidence; not reflecting that it is the _Law_ only that can punish
offenders, and _not_ the individual prosecutor or witnesses.
[Footnote 122: It is true, that by the Acts of 25th Geo. II. cap. 36,
and 18th Geo. III. cap. 13, the expences of the prosecutors and
witnesses are to be paid; and also (if the parties shall appear to be
in poor circumstances) a reasonable allowance made for trouble and
loss of time; but this is connected with the regulations of the
Justices, confirmed by one of the Judges of Assize, which vary
according to local circumstances, and it is also necessary to plead
poverty in order to be remunerated for loss of time: _but as the poor
seldom suffer by thieves_, these Acts appear to have had little effect
in encouraging prosecutors to come forward; and it is believed few
applications are made excepting in cases of real poverty.--In the
County of Middlesex there is an exception; where witnesses are
directed to be paid by the Overseers of the Poor of the Parish, where
the person was apprehended; but this mode of payment is seldom if ever
adopted.--The fund, however, which the Legislature has thus provided,
if oeconomically and judiciously applied by a Public Prosecutor,
would remove many difficulties, without any material addition to the
county rates.]
False Humanity, exercised in this manner, is always cruelty to the
public, and not seldom to the prisoners themselves.--All depredations
upon property are _public wrongs_, in the suppression and punishment
of which it is the duty of every good man to lend his assistance; a
duty more particularly incumbent upon those who are the immediate
sufferers: through their means only can Public Justice operate in
punishing those miscreants, by whom the innocent are _put in fear,
alarmed and threatened with horrid imprecations--with loss of life by
means of loaded pistols_; or bodily injury, from being hacked with
cutlasses, or beaten with bludgeons--under circumstances where neither
age nor sex is spared.--
Yet experience has shewn that these arguments, powerful as they are,
are insufficient to awaken in the mind of men that species of Public
spirit which shall induce sufferers in general, by robberies of
different kinds, to become willing prosecutors, under the various
trying delays of Courts of Justice; and frequently with the trouble of
bringing a number of witnesses from the country, who are kept in
attendance on the court perhaps several days together, at a very
considerable expence.
Such a burden imposed upon the subject, in addition to the losses
already sustained, in a case too where the offence is of a public
nature, is certainly not easily reconcileable with that spirit of
justice, and attention to the rights of individuals, which forms so
strong a general feature in the Jurisprudence of the Country.
From all these circumstances it happens that innumerable felonies are
concealed, and the loss is suffered in silence as the least of two
evils; by which means thieves are allowed to reign with impunity,
undisturbed, and encouraged to persevere in their evil practices.
Nothing, it is to be feared, can cure this evil, and establish a
general system of protection, but a vigorous Police; strengthened and
improved by the appointment of Deputy-Prosecutors for the Crown,
acting under the Attorney-General for the time being. An establishment
of this sort, even at a very small salary, would be considered as an
honourable _entre_ to many young Counsel; who, in protecting the
Public against the frauds, tricks, and devices of old and professed
thieves, by which at present they escape punishment, might keep the
stream of justice pure, and yet allow no advantage to be taken of the
prisoner.[123]
[Footnote 123: The propriety of this suggestion is sanctioned by the
recommendation of the Finance Committee of the House of Commons in
their 27th and 28th Report; and forms part of that System of general
controul and arrangement for the prevention of crimes, stated more at
large in a subsequent Chapter.]
As it must be admitted on all hands, that it is the interest of the
Public that no guilty offender should escape punishment;--it seems to
be a position equally clear and incontrovertible, that wherever, from
a defect in the system of prosecutions, or any other cause, a prisoner
escapes the punishment due to his crimes, substantial justice is
wounded, and public wrongs are increased.
It has been already stated in the preceding Chapter, that there are
five separate Jurisdictions in the Metropolis, where Magistrates
exercise limited authority.--Of course, there are five inferior Courts
of Justice, where lesser offences, committed in London and its
vicinity, are tried by Justices of the Peace.
1. The general and Quarter Sessions of the Peace; held eight
times a year, by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, at
Guildhall--_for the trial of small Offences committed in
London_.
2. The Quarter Sessions of the Peace; held four times a year
at Guildhall, Westminster, by the Justices acting for that
City and Liberty--_for the trial of small Offences committed
in Westminster only_.
3. The General and Quarter Sessions of the Peace; held eight
times a year, at the New Sessions House on
Clerkenwell-Green, (commonly called Hicks's Hall) by the
Justices only of the County of Middlesex--_for the trial of
small Offences committed in Middlesex and Westminster_.
4. The General Quarter Sessions of the Peace; held in the
Sessions-House in Well-Close-Square, by the Justices for the
Liberty of the Tower of London--_for the trial of small
Offences committed within the Royalty_.
5. The Quarter Sessions of the Peace; held by the Justices
for the County of Surry, at the New Sessions House at
Newington, Surry, in January;--At Reigate, in April;--At
Guildhall, in July;--and Kingston-upon-Thames, in October,
each year;--_where small Offences committed in Southwark and
the Neighbourhood are tried_.
These five inferior Courts of Justice take cognizance of _Petty
Larcenies, Frauds, Assaults, Misdemeanors, and other offences
punishable by fine, imprisonment, whipping, and the pillory_:--and in
certain cases, the power of the Justices extends to transportation.
The higher and more atrocious offences committed in London and
Middlesex, are tried at the Justice-Hall, in the Old Bailey; by a
special commission of Oyer and Terminer to the Lord Mayor, and a
certain number of the Judges, with the Recorder and Common Serjeant of
the City of London.
Offences of this latter degree of atrocity, perpetrated in that part
of the Metropolis which is situated in the Borough of Southwark and
County of Surry, are tried at the assizes, held twice a year at
_Kingston-upon-Thames_, _Croydon_, or _Guildford_.[124]
[Footnote 124: Considerable inconvenience arises (and, indeed, great
hardship, where prisoners are innocent) from the length of time which
must elapse, where offences have been committed in Southwark, before
they can be brought to trial; either for inferior or more atrocious
crimes. In the former case, prisoners must remain till the Quarter
Sessions, (there being no intermediate General Sessions of the Peace)
and in the latter case till the Assizes, held only twice a year; this
occasions a confinement, previous to trial, lengthened out, in some
instances, to three, four, five, and even nearly to six months.]
Thus it appears, that five inferior and two superior Tribunals of
Justice are established for trying the different crimes committed in
the Metropolis.
As it may be useful, for the purpose of elucidating the suggestions
already offered upon this branch of the subject, that a connected view
of the result of these _Trials_ should make a part of this Work;--the
following Abstract, (including the discharges of Prisoners by
Magistrates) has been made up for this immediate purpose: from
authentic documents obtained from the keepers of the eight different
prisons and houses of correction in the city of London, and in the
counties of Middlesex and Surry.
It applies to the period, from September, 1794, till September, 1795,
which is chosen as a sort of medium between Peace and War.
It is impossible to contemplate this collected aggregate of the
prisoners annually discharged upon the Public, without feeling a
strong anxiety to remedy an evil rendered extremely alarming, from the
number which composes the dismal catalogue of Human Depravity.
Every inquiry in the progress of this Work proves a radical defect
somewhere.
While the public tribunals are filled with Judges, the purity of whose
conduct adds lustre to their own and the national character, why
should not every subordinate part of the Criminal Jurisprudence of the
Country be so organized, as to co-operate, in the greatest possible
degree, with the efforts of those higher orders of the Magistracy in
accomplishing the purposes of substantial justice?
Nothing could tend more to promote this object, than the appointment
already proposed of a Public Prosecutor for the Crown.
An institution of this kind would terrify the hordes of miscreants now
at open war with the peaceable and useful part of the Community, in a
greater degree than any one measure that could possibly be adopted.
It would be the means of destroying those hopes and chances which
encourage criminal people to persevere in their depredations upon the
Public.
A Summary View of the Prisoners _committed_, _tried_, _punished_,
_disposed of_, and _discharged_ in the Metropolis, in _One Year_,
ending in October, 1795.
_Number of prisoners, punished and disposed of._
+-----------+---------------------------------------------------
|Names of |Died
|Prisons | |Capitally convicted[A]
| | | |Sentenced to Transportation[B]
| | | | |Imprisoned in Newgate
| | | | | |Imprisoned in Bridewell Hospital
| | | | | | |Imprisoned in the House of
| | | | | | |Correction of Middlesex
| | | | | | | |Imprisoned in Tothil-Fields
| | | | | | | |Bridewell
| | | | | | | | |Imprisoned in Surry Goals
| | | | | | | | | |Sent to the Philanthropic
| | | | | | | | | |and Marine Societies
| | | | | | | | | | |Sent to serve his
| | | | | | | | | | |Majesty in the Navy
| | | | | | | | | | |and Army
| | | | | | | | | | | |Passed to
| | | | | | | | | | | |Parishes
| | | | | | | | | | | | |Sent to
| | | | | | | | | | | | |Hospitals
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |Total
+-----------+--+--+---+--+---+--+--+--+--+---+----+---+---------
+-- | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Newgate | 7|51|153|85| |54| |20| | 39| | | 409
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
L|Poultry | | | | | | | | | | | | |
O|Compter | | | | |334| | | |10| 44| 72| | 460
N| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
D|Giltspur | | | | | | | | | | | | |
O|Compter | | | | |249| | | | | 75| 125| 44| 493
N| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Bridewell | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Hospital | 4| | | | | | | | | | 835| 44| 883
+-- | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-- | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|New Prison | | | | | | | | | | | | |
M|Clerkenwell| 5| | 3| | | | | | | 58| | | 66
I| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
D|House of | | | | | | | | | | | | |
D|Correction | | | | | | | | | | | | |
L|in Cold | | | | | | | | | | | | |
E|Bath | | | | | | | | | | | | |
S|Fields | 4| | | | | | | | | | 128| | 132
E| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
X|Tothil- | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Fields | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Bridewell | 2| | 7| | | |37| | | | 122| 26| 194
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-- | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-- | | | | | | | | | | | | |
S| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
U| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
R|New Goal, | | | | | | | | | | | | |
R|Southwark | |10| 11| | | | |16| | | | 1| 38
Y| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-- | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| +--+--+---+--+---+--+--+--+--+---+----+---+---------
| |22|61|174|85|583|54|37|36|10|216|1282|115|2675
| +--+--+---+--+---+--+--+--+--+---+----+---+---------