extensive expenditure of money, would be necessary--A very moderate
sum judiciously and oeconomically laid out, would bring to
Commissioners of the Police, or to the _disbursing Magistrates_,
through some medium or other, an early account of most of the
depredations committed upon the Public, as well as every circumstance
relative to coiners and sellers of base money.--This would lead to the
detection and apprehension of most of the offenders; and thereby
strike such an universal terror, as (assisted by the other salutary
regulations proposed in this Work) would soon reduce the number of
Thieves, Coiners, and other delinquents; and thus, of course, diminish
the ultimate and great additional expence which follows conviction, in
all cases where felons are in the course of punishment.
In this view of the subject, it would prove a Regulation calculated
greatly to reduce the aggregate expence; for surely, if _a few
guineas_ judiciously laid out, in the first instance, would save
_fifty_ afterwards to the State, it must be a wise and a good
arrangement; and in this way it would probably operate. But this would
not be the only saving to the Nation: by preventing crimes, all those
concerned in projects of mischief must, instead of preying upon the
industry of others, assist the State, by contributing their share to
the national stock of labour.
Next to the want of a sufficient pecuniary Fund, the most obvious
deficiency in the present System of executive Police in the
Metropolis, is that which regards the Magistracy of the City of
London; _where the case is precisely reversed_; for _there_ the funds
for the detection and discovery of offenders, may be made as ample as
the Corporation shall think fit; but the want of a _Stipendiary
Establishment_ must prevent the operation of that System of vigour and
energy, which the increase of Criminals and the present state of
Society demand.
The Magistrates of the City of London form a body, perhaps the most
_respectable_, and _independent_ of any in the world; but besides the
unavoidable, important, and multiplied affairs of the Corporation, in
attending the various Courts of the Lord-Mayor--Aldermen--Common
Council--Common Hall--Wardmotes--Conservancy--Courts of
Requests--Court of Orphans--and General and Quarter Sessions of the
Peace, and Justice Hall at the Old Bailey, they have avocations and
engagements in business, which must necessarily occupy their minds.
It cannot, therefore, reasonably be expected, that they should forego
their own important private interests, and bestow upon the business of
the Public that attention which their situation as Magistrates seems
to require.[160]
[Footnote 160: The Author having had occasion to represent to a late
Chief Magistrate, of great talents and respectability, the enormous
evil arising from _base coin_:--He very judiciously observed, that to
do any good in protecting the Public against this species of offence,
_it would require the mind of a Magistrate to be given up to that
object alone_. This pointed and accurate remark is sufficient to
elucidate, in an eminent degree, the necessity of Magistrates with
salaries, in all large Communities.]
The Chief Magistrate cannot, in the nature of things, while the
immense load of municipal affairs, joined to his own private concerns,
presses constantly upon his mind, bestow either time or attention in
considering the cases of delinquents brought before him; or in
following up informations, and devising plans necessary to detect
offenders; and yet this detail of duty, even from the pass-vagrant to
the most atrocious villain, is imposed on him, by ancient immemorial
custom and usage; at the very moment when he is overpowered with other
official business, of great magnitude and importance; which can be
transacted by no other person. Hurried with constant engagements,
inseparable from the functions and dignity attached to his high
office, and the general government of the City, a Lord-Mayor is just
beginning to understand the duties attached to the Chief Magistracy,
at the period when he must lay it down.
The other Magistrates of the City having had a precise line of duty
anciently chalked out, when Commerce and Society had made less
progress, the same System continues; nor would it be proper to expect
an augmentation of labour, or a greater proportion of time, from
Magistrates who serve the Public gratuitously.--The unremitting
attendance and indefatigable industry, which the Public interest
requires, it would be vain and unjust to expect, from any but
Magistrates selected for that purpose, and that only.[161]
[Footnote 161: The Select Committee of the House of Commons on
Finance, in their 28th Report (already repeatedly quoted), appear to
be very strongly impressed with the necessity of Police Magistrates,
and a Concurrent Jurisdiction for the City of London.--They express
themselves in the following words: "It is further to be stated, that a
considerable defect is felt in the Police of the Metropolis, from the
limited jurisdiction of the present Magistrates in every part of it,
and from the want of an Institution similar to that of the Police
Offices to be established in the City of London, as was originally
intended and proposed: that the delay which necessarily takes place in
obtaining the sanction of the local Magistracy in either case, to the
warrants of those presiding in other districts, operates in all cases
to the advantage of offenders against the Laws, and to the obstruction
of Public Justice: add to which, that the numerous and important
avocations, both public and private, of the truly respectable
Magistracy of the City, is too often inconsistent with that constant
and unremitting attention which the due preservation of the Police of
the Metropolis requires. That it would be unfortunate indeed if any
local jealousy founded upon no just grounds, though entertained by
honourable minds, should continue to deprive even the Inhabitants of
the City itself, as well as those of the rest of the Metropolis, of
that security which a more permanent attendance, and a perfect
intercommunity of Jurisdiction in Criminal matters between the
Magistrates of every part of the Metropolis, and of the five adjoining
Counties, could not fail to produce."--See p. 13, 28th Report, 26th of
June, 1798.]
With the increase of those blessings which are supposed to arise from
a course of prosperity and wealth, there is generally an increase also
of _evils_ and _inconveniences_; and hence it is that while an influx
of riches preponderates in _one scale_, an augmentation of crimes acts
as a counterbalance in the _other_:--thus requiring the constant and
progressive application of such antidotes and remedies as will
preserve the _good_, while the _evil_ is diminished or kept within
bounds.
It seems that the Metropolis is now in that situation where the active
and unceasing attention of Magistrates with salaries, has become
necessary to promote a vigorous and energetic execution of the Law,
for the general protection of property, and the safety of
individuals.[162]
[Footnote 162: If this were the case, neither the Bank, nor the
avenues to every part of Cheapside, &c.[H] would be beset with gangs
of rogues and sharpers, both men and women, who support themselves
principally by the resource which the vast amount of moving property,
in money and portable goods, affords them, in this part of the
Metropolis; where, it appears, capital offenders are rarely detected;
since, at the Old Bailey, those convicted in the course of a year,
from the City and County, run in the proportion of about 1-7th part
for London, and 6-7th parts for Middlesex.[I]]
[Footnote H: See p. 106.]
[Footnote I: Vide Table, p. 429.]
Contemplating the various existing evils detailed in this Work, and
which form so many prominent features of Police, requiring the
constant and watchful eye of the Magistrate, it seems clear to
demonstration, that unless official duties become the sole business
and pursuit of the parties engaged in them, the Public Interest must
suffer; and (although imperceptible in their progress), Crimes will
increase and multiply; at a time when the comfort, happiness and
security of Society, require that they should be diminished.
In consequence also of the great accumulation of the Statute Laws,
requiring the attention of Justices in a vast number of instances,
which did not occur a century ago, their duty has so multiplied as to
require the _whole time_ of Magistrates acting in all great Societies;
an observation which applies not merely to the Metropolis, but to many
large Provincial Towns. It follows, therefore, almost as a matter of
course, that Stipendiary Justices have become indispensably
necessary.[163]
[Footnote 163: In the measures finally proposed by the Finance
Committee, in the 9th Article (page 30), they recommend it to
Parliament, "That two additional Offices of Police should be
established in the City, consisting each of three Magistrates, to sit
at the Mansion-house, and at Guildhall, for the purpose of assisting
the Lord-Mayor and the Court of Aldermen: such Magistrates to be named
by the Lord-Mayor and Court of Aldermen; and paid out of the General
Funds arising from the proposed regulations; to sit permanently, as at
the other Offices, with Commissions from the Crown, extending over the
whole Metropolis, and the counties of Middlesex, Kent, Essex, and
Surry."]
If men of business, integrity, and talents, could once be prevailed on
to accept of such employments, and execute the trust reposed in them
with zeal and attention to the public interest, and with firm and
independent minds, attached to no Party, infinite advantages must
result to the Community from their services.[164]
[Footnote 164: A Police Magistrate has nothing to do with the politics
of the Country; and he is incapable, and unworthy of the trust reposed
in him, if he permits any bias, or influence, but that which is
immediately connected with a correct and chaste execution of the Laws,
to take hold of his mind.--It is only by this line of conduct, that he
can either render himself useful or respectable.]
Where men of this description pledge themselves, as they must
necessarily do, to give up every other pursuit, assiduously and
constantly to execute the laborious duties of a Police Magistrate;
Justice also requires that the reward should be commensurate to the
sacrifices which are made. It is the interest of the Community that it
should be so: for in the present extended state of Commerce and
Society, no gratuitous System can ever be expected to answer any
purpose of real utility.
While the higher order of Magistrates receive the just reward of their
useful labour, bestowed in the exercise of their functions in
promoting the public good--where can be the impropriety of extending
the same species of remuneration to inferior Magistrates; who must
devote even a greater portion of time and attention to the
multifarious duties assigned them?
The office of _Assistant Magistrates_ in the City might be assigned to
six active and honourable men, who would give _their whole attention
to_ the criminal department of the Police. The proceedings of these
Magistrates should be sanctioned by the presence of the Aldermen, as
often as one or more could conveniently attend; on which occasions
they would necessarily preside, as holding within their own district,
the highest rank in the Magistracy.
The difference in point of benefit to the Community between a _Mind_
constantly occupied in objects of public utility, and that which is
only occasionally employed, is great beyond all possible
calculation.--Nor is the measure without precedent, even in the City
of London, since the Recorder may, in his high office, be fairly
considered in the light of a Magistrate with a salary.
Ready on every occasion at their Sittings in the morning and evening,
to offer their advice or assistance to the labouring people, as well
as all ranks of the Community, who apply for it--to adjust their
differences, and to protect them against wrongs and oppressions:
prepared also, as a matter of business, to receive and follow up
informations where crimes have been committed, and never to lose sight
of the object while it is practicable to attain it; these Assistant
Magistrates would afford incalculable advantages to the City: which
would be still farther increased, if a System of co-operation of the
other Police Magistrates were established, upon a plan which would
unite their energy, and render their jurisdiction co-extensive. (See
_ante_ pages 419, 420).
It is a well-known fact, that since the establishment of Police
Magistrates for Westminster, and the parts of Middlesex and Surry,
contiguous to the City of London, great benefits have been experienced
from the assistance and advice which have been afforded to the
indigent, and the ignorant.
Many quarrels and little law-suits have been prevented, and
innumerable differences immediately reconciled without any expence.
It is in this manner that Magistrates, acting up to the spirit of
their Public Duty, and bestowing their _whole_ attention upon whatever
relates to that duty, confer those obligations upon the Community
which no moderate remuneration can repay.
The office of a Police Magistrate is not like other public
situations:--for the business is multifarious, seldom admits of any
recess or a vacation.--It is, or ought to be, _constant_, _laborious_,
and without _intermission_.[165]
[Footnote 165: In the month of October, 1793, a respectable Committee,
representing the great body of the Manufacturers in Spitalfields,
waited on His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home
Department, with an Address of Thanks for the Establishment of the
Police System; the substance of which is as follows:
"That it is the opinion of this Society, that great benefits have
arisen, with regard to the security of property, from the correct and
regular manner in which the judicial business has been conducted by
the Magistrates of Police; in consequence of whose vigilance and
attention, an effectual check has been given to a System of
depredation which heretofore occasioned a loss of many thousands per
annum to the Silk Manufacturers:"--And it was Resolved,--"That the
Thanks of this Society are due to the Right Honourable Henry Dundas,
one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; and also to Mr.
Burton, and the other Members of Parliament, who proposed and
supported the Police System, for the share they had in the
establishment of a judicial Tribunal, which has been found to extend,
to the Silk Manufacturers, many advantages in a just and proper
execution of the Laws which were not heretofore experienced."]
But with all these advantages, even improved by competent funds
appropriated to the different Public Offices, still a _Centre-point_
is wanted to connect the whole together, so as to invigorate and
strengthen every part, by a superintending Establishment, under the
immediate controul of the Secretary of State for the Home Department:
There, indeed, the constitutional superintendence of the Police of the
Metropolis, as well as of the whole country, rests at present; but
from the vast weight and increase of other Public Business, connected
with the general affairs of the State, foreign, colonial, and
domestic, it has been found impracticable to pursue that particular
System which has now become, more than ever, necessary for the
detection of criminals. It seems then, that in executing a task so
complicated and multifarious, a delegation of subordinate _Responsible
Management_ to a _Central Board of Police_ should be resorted to: as
the only means of giving strength, vigour, and energy to a System,
heretofore only partially useful; and which, in its present disjointed
state, is incapable of extending that Protection and Security, which
has been shewn in the course of this Work, to be so much wanted, and
so indispensably necessary.
To understand the Police of the Metropolis to that extent which is
necessary to direct and superintend its general operations, it must be
acted upon _practically_; and those who undertake the _superintendence_
and _management_ alluded to, must be men _able_, _intelligent_,
_prudent_, and _indefatigable_: devoting their whole attention to this
object alone. Clerks might be continually employed with great
advantage in entering and posting up under the proper heads, such new
information as should be obtained from day to day; and hours should be
appointed for receiving such intelligence from all proper and
well-informed persons, who might choose to offer the same; so far as
such information related to Public wrongs, and offences against the
peace, safety, and well-being of Society.
Under such a System, with a proper power of remunerating Officers and
others, scarcely a _Robbery_, _Burglary_, _Larceny_, or _fraudulent
Transaction_, could be committed, where the perpetrators would not be
very speedily detected and brought to justice; for then the
Magistrates, in their respective districts, would be enabled to act
with confidence, vigour, and energy, in the discovery and apprehension
of offenders;--and the effect would be to excite a general terror in
the minds of every class of delinquents; which could not fail to
operate strongly as a means of preventing crimes, and improving the
morals and the happiness of the lower orders of the People.
In addition to this these responsible Commissioners of Police might,
with great propriety, and with no little public utility, have
committed to them the superintendence of _all Receipts and
Disbursements of the accounts_, and of _all monies applicable to
objects of Police_: these they should lay annually before Parliament,
if required, accompanied by a General Report; that the Legislature, as
well as the Public at large, might see in what manner the funds had
been applied; and what progress had been made in the prevention of
crimes, and in restoring among the Labouring People that sense of
morality, which never, perhaps, was at a lower ebb than at present.
The most enlightened Foreigners who have visited this Metropolis, and
contemplated the nature and organization of our Police System, join in
one general remark upon it; viz.--"_That we have some shadow of
Police, for apprehending Delinquents, after crimes are actually
committed; but none for the purpose of preventing them_."--This
certainly is, in one sense, literally true;--and from this source,
combined with the imperfection of the Criminal Code, have arisen all
those enormities and inconveniences already so amply detailed.
Attached to the Laws and Government of his country, even to a degree
of enthusiasm, the Author of this Work will not be too prone to seek
for greater perfection in other nations: or to quote them as examples
to be imitated in the Metropolis of the British Empire; and still less
if such examples should tend, in the slightest degree, to abridge that
freedom which is the birth-right of every Briton. But as all true
liberty depends on those fences which are established in every
Country, for the protection of the Persons and Property of the People,
against every attack whatsoever: and as prejudices ought to be
banished from the mind in all discussions tending to promote the
General Weal, we ought not to be ashamed of borrowing good Systems
from other Nations; wherever such can be adopted, consistent with the
Constitution of the Country, and the Liberty of the Subject.
In France, under the Old Government, how much soever many parts of the
System of that Country were justly reprobated, by all who were
acquainted with the blessings of Freedom, yet, in the management and
regulation of what was denominated _The Police_, there existed that
kind of Establishment, with regard to personal security, and
protection against the depredations of the most depraved part of the
community, which Englishmen have certainly never enjoyed; who, on the
contrary, have suffered manifold inconveniences from an idea, (surely
a very erroneous one,) "that we must endure these public wrongs, and
expose our property and lives to the attack of murderers, robbers, and
highwaymen, as the price of _Liberty_."
When difficulties are felt, it is our duty to look at them
dispassionately; to face them with fortitude, and to discuss them with
intelligence--divested of all prejudices generated merely by habit and
education. By pursuing this mode of investigation, it will be
discovered that in other Governments there may be some Establishments
worthy of imitation; and which, perhaps, might in part be adopted, not
only in perfect consistency with the Freedom of the Subject; but with
the advantage of extending to the mass of the People, who are not in a
course of delinquency, more real liberty than they at present enjoy.--
At the commencement of the troubles in France, it is a curious fact,
that the Lieutenant-General of the National Police, as well as that of
the Metropolis, had upon his Registers the names of not less than
twenty thousand suspected and depraved characters, whose pursuits were
known to be of a criminal nature; yet, by making this part of Police
the immediate object of the close and uniform attention of one branch
of the Executive Government, Crimes were much less frequent than in
England; and the security extended to the Public, with regard to the
protection of Life and Property against lawless depredation, was
infinitely greater.--To elucidate this assertion, and to shew to what
a wonderful height the System had advanced, the Reader is referred to
the following Anecdotes; which were mentioned to the Author by a
Foreign Minister of great intelligence and information, who resided
some years at the Court of France.
"A Merchant of high respectability in Bourdeaux had occasion to visit
the Metropolis upon commercial business, carrying with him bills and
money to a very large amount.
"On his arrival at the gates of Paris, a genteel looking man opened
the door of his carriage, and addressed him to this effect:--_Sir, I
have been waiting for you some time; according to my notes, you were
to arrive at this hour; and your person, your carriage, and your
portmanteau, exactly answering the description I hold in my hand, you
will permit me to have the honour of conducting you to Monsieur De
Sartine._
"The Gentleman, astonished and alarmed at this interruption, and still
more so at hearing the name of the Lieutenant of the Police mentioned,
demanded to know what _Monsieur De Sartine_ wanted with him; adding,
at the same time, that he never had committed any offence against the
Laws, and that he could have no right to interrupt or detain him.
"The Messenger declared himself perfectly ignorant of the cause of the
detention; stating, at the same time, that when he had conducted him
to _Monsieur De Sartine_, he should have executed his orders, which
were merely ministerial.