to conduct him accordingly. _Monsieur De Sartine_ received him, with
great politeness; and after requesting him to be seated, to his great
astonishment, he described his portmanteau; and told him the exact sum
in bills and specie which he had brought with him to Paris, and where
he was to lodge, his usual time of going to bed, and a number of other
circumstances, which the Gentleman had conceived could only be known
to himself.--_Monsieur De Sartine_ having thus excited attention, put
this extraordinary question to him--_Sir, are you a man of
courage?_--The Gentleman, still more astonished at the singularity of
such an interrogatory, demanded the reason why he put such a strange
question, adding, at the same time, that no man ever doubted his
courage. _Monsieur De Sartine_ replied,--_Sir, you are to be robbed
and murdered this night!--If you are a man of courage, you must go to
your hotel, and retire to rest at the usual hour: but be careful that
you do not fall asleep; neither will it be proper for you to look
under the bed, or into any of the closets which are in your
bed-chamber_; (which he accurately described);--_you must place your
portmanteau in its usual situation, near your bed, and discover no
suspicion:--Leave what remains to me.--If, however, you do not feel
your courage sufficient to bear you out, I will procure a person who
shall personate you, and go to bed in your stead._
"The Gentleman being convinced, in the course of the conversation,
that _Monsieur de Sartine's_ intelligence was accurate in every
particular, he refused to be personated, and formed an immediate
resolution, literally, to follow the directions he had received: he
accordingly went to bed at his usual hour, which was eleven
o'clock.--At half past twelve (the time mentioned by _Monsieur De
Sartine_), the door of the bed-chamber burst open, and three men
entered with a _dark lantern_, _daggers_ and _pistols_.--The
Gentleman, who of course was awake, perceived one of them to be his
own servant.--They rifled his portmanteau, undisturbed, and settled
the plan of putting him to death.--The Gentleman, hearing all this,
and not knowing by what means he was to be rescued, it may naturally
be supposed, was under great perturbation of mind during such an awful
interval of suspense; when, at the moment the villains were preparing
to commit the horrid deed, four Police Officers, acting under _Mons.
De Sartine's_ orders, who were concealed under the bed, and in the
closet, rushed out and seized the offenders with the property in their
possession, and in the act of preparing to commit the murder.
"The consequence was, that the perpetration of the atrocious deed was
prevented, and sufficient evidence obtained to convict the
offenders.--_Monsieur De Sartine's_ intelligence enabled him to
_prevent_ this horrid offence of robbery and murder; which, but for
the accuracy of the System, would probably have been carried into
execution."
Another Anecdote, was mentioned to the Author by the same Minister,
relative to the Emperor Joseph the Second: "That Monarch, having, in
the year 1787, formed and promulgated a new Code of Laws relative to
criminal and civil offences;[166] and having also established what he
conceived to be the best System of Police in Europe, he could scarcely
ever forgive the French Nation, in consequence of the accuracy and
intelligence of _Mons. De Sartine_ having been found so much superior
to his own; notwithstanding the immense pains he had bestowed upon
that department of his Government.
[Footnote 166: Vide page 63 & _seq._ of this Volume.]
"A very notorious offender, who was a subject of the Emperor, and who
committed many atrocious acts of violence and depredation at Vienna,
was traced to Paris by the Police established by His Majesty, who
ordered his Ambassador at the Court of France to demand that this
delinquent should be delivered up to Public Justice.
"_Mons. De Sartine_ acknowledged to the Imperial Ambassador, that the
person he inquired after had been in Paris;--that, if it would be any
satisfaction, he could inform him where he had lodged, and the
different gaming-tables, and other places of infamous resort, which he
frequented while there;--but that he was now gone.--
"The Ambassador, after stating the accuracy and correct mode by which
the Police of Vienna was conducted, insisted that this offender must
still be in Paris; otherwise the Emperor would not have commanded him
to make such an application.
"_Monsieur de Sartine_ smiled at the incredulity of the Imperial
Minister, and made a reply to the following effect:--
"_Do me the honour, Sir, to inform the Emperor, your Master, that the
person he looks for left Paris on the 10th day of the last month; and
is now lodged in a back room looking into a garden in the third story
of a house, number 93, in ---- street, in his own Capital of Vienna;
where his Majesty will, by sending to the spot, be sure to find
him._--
"It was literally as the French Minister of Police had stated.--The
Emperor, to his astonishment, found the delinquent in the house and
apartment described; but he was greatly mortified at this proof of the
accuracy of the French Police; which, in this instance, in point of
intelligence _even in Vienna_, was discovered to be so much superior
to his own."--
The fact is, that the French System had arrived at the greatest degree
of perfection; and though not necessary, nor even proper, to be copied
as _a pattern_, might, nevertheless, furnish many useful hints,
calculated to improve the Police of this Metropolis, consistent with
the existing Laws; and even to extend and increase the Liberty of
Subject without taking one privilege away; or interfering in the
pursuits of any one class of individuals; except those employed in
purposes of _mischief_, _fraud_, and _criminality_.
The situation of this Country, (indeed of every country in Europe,)
has changed materially since the dissolution of the ancient Government
of France.--The horde of sharpers and villains, who heretofore
resorted to Paris from every part of Europe, will now consider London
as their general and most productive theatre of action; for two
obvious reasons:--1st. Paris being exhausted of riches, its Nobility
banished, and the principal part of the active property there
annihilated, the former resources for the support of criminal and
depraved characters no longer exist; while that Metropolis holds out
no allurements similar to what were formerly experienced. 2dly. The
ignorance of the English language (a circumstance which formerly
afforded us some protection), will no longer be a bar to the resort of
the continental sharpers to the Metropolis of this kingdom. At no
period was it ever so generally understood by Foreigners; or the
French language so universally spoken, by at least the younger part of
the People of this Country.--
The spirit of gaming and dissipation which prevails in London,
promoted already in no inconsiderable degree by profligate characters
from the Continent, the opulence of the People, and the great mass of
active property in circulation, will afford a wide field for the
exercise of the invention and wits of that description of men, both
foreigners and natives, who infested Paris under the old Government,
and which rendered a more than ordinary attention to its Police
indispensably necessary.--
The termination of the present war will probably throw into this
country a vast number of idle, profligate, and depraved characters,
natives of this, as well as of other nations, who will require to be
narrowly watched by a vigilant and well-regulated Police. The
probability of such an accession to the numbers already engaged in
acts of delinquency, serves to establish new and incontrovertible
arguments in favour of the proposed _Board of Responsible
Commissioners_, for managing the affairs of the Police of the
Metropolis; to form a _Centre-point_, and to bind the System together.
To be well prepared against every possible evil, is one great step
towards prevention; and among the many advantages already detailed, as
likely to result from a _Board of Police Revenue_, this would be none
of the least.
In every view in which the subject can be considered, such a System,
strengthened by good and apposite Laws, could not fail to be
productive of vast benefits to the Community. _Petty Thefts_ affecting
all ranks who have any property to lose, and destroying the moral
principle, would be greatly abridged:--as would also the plunder from
vessels in the River Thames, as well as from the public Arsenals,
Dock-yards, and Ships of War. The more atrocious Crimes of Burglary
and Highway Robbery, would suffer a severe check, in the
embarrassments which would arise from the System of detections and
Rewards--from the restrictions proposed to be laid upon Receivers of
Stolen Goods; upon Night Coaches,--and from other regulations
applicable to those particular offences. A large proportion of the
_Coiners_, _Dealers_, and _Utterers of Base Money_, feeling the risk
of detection, as well as of punishment, greatly extended and
increased, would probably abandon the business as hazardous and
destructive. The completion of the General System would also, either
collaterally or immediately, reach the tribe of Cheats, Swindlers, and
Lottery Offenders, in such a manner as to occasion a considerable
reduction of their number, by narrowing the ground, and destroying the
resources by which they at present flourish.
The establishment of such a System would be an immediate benefit to
every man of property, as an individual, independent of the Public at
large; but even in another point of view, it is doubly necessary at
this juncture, when new events are daily occurring, of a nature truly
interesting to the peace and well-being of Society, and to the
tranquillity of the State; rendering it more than ever necessary to
establish a System of unremitting vigilance. It is a fact well
established, that it was principally through the medium, and by the
assistance, of many of the twenty thousand miscreants who were
registered, previous to the anarchy of France, on the books of the
Lieutenant of Police, that the contending Factions in that distracted
country, were enabled to perpetrate those horrid massacres and acts of
atrocity, which have been beheld with detestation, abhorrence, and
astonishment, by every civilized nation in the world.
Let it be recollected, at the same time, that Mankind, in a state of
depravity, arising from a long course of criminal turpitude, are
nearly alike in every country; and that it becomes us to look with a
jealous eye on the several thousand miscreants of the same description
which now infest London; for they too, upon any fatal emergency,
(which GOD forbid!) would be equally ready as their brethren in
iniquity were, in Paris, to repeat the same atrocities, if any
opportunity offered.
As the effectuating such an object has become so great a
desideratum;--and as it is to confer those blessings which spring from
a well-regulated Police, calculated to extend a species of
protection[167] to the inhabitants of this great Metropolis, which
has never been heretofore experienced:--it can scarcely fail to be a
matter of general satisfaction to know that the Select Committee of
the House of Commons on Finance, have strongly recommended to
Parliament a System of Police, similar to that which had been
submitted to the consideration of the Public in the former editions of
this Work.
[Footnote 167: In mentioning what regards the protection of the
Metropolis, with the inefficiency of the existing Civil Force in
Constables, it is impossible to overlook those eminent advantages
which have arisen from the excellent institutions of the Honourable
Artillery Company, the Light Horse Volunteers, and the other
associated Corps, who have so nobly stood forth in the hour of danger
to support the deficient Police of the Country.
To these Patriotic individuals, the inhabitants of the Metropolis are
under infinite obligations.
Regardless of their own _ease_, _convenience_, _interest_, or _personal
safety_, the members of these public-spirited associations have ever
stood forward in the hour of tumult and disorder gratuitously, and at
their own expence, for the protection of their Fellow-citizens, and
for the preservation of the Public peace.
The assistance they have, on every occasion, afforded the civil power,
and the sacrifices of valuable time which they have made, at the risk
of health, and under circumstances where they were compelled to forego
that ease and comfort, which, in many instances, from their opulence
and rank in life, are attached to their particular situations--it is
to be hoped will never be forgotten by a grateful Public.]
In order that improvements, sanctioned by such high authority, and the
adoption of which are so important to the best interests of Society,
may be fully explained and elucidated; a detail of the measures, which
have been recommended, with general observations on the proposed
System, are reserved for the ensuing Chapter.
CHAP. XVIII.
_The System of Police recommended by the Select Committee on
Finance explained.--A proposition to consolidate the two
Boards of Hawkers and Pedlars, and Hackney Coaches, into a
Board of Police Revenue.--The whole Revenues of Police from
Fees, Penalties, and Licence Duties, to make a common
Fund.--Accounts to be audited.--Magistrates to distribute
small Rewards.--A power to the Board to make Bye-Laws.--A
concurrent jurisdiction recommended--also the Penitentiary
House for reforming Convicts.--Other measures proposed after
the Board is established--namely, a Public Prosecutor for
the Crown--A Register of Lodging Houses--The establishment
of a Police Gazette.--Two leading objects to be
attained--The prevention of Crimes: and raising a Revenue
for Police purposes.--The enumeration of the Dealers who are
proposed to be Licenced.--A General View of the annual
expence of the present Police System. Observations on the
effect of the System recommended by the Finance Committee,
with respect to the Morals and Finances of the
Country.--Suggestions respecting a chain of connection with
Magistrates in the Country, and the mode of effecting
it.--Licences to be granted by select Magistrates in the
Country, and by the Central Board in London and the
neighbourhood.--The Functions of the proposed Board
explained.--Specifications of the Trades to be regulated and
Licenced.--General Reflections on the advantages likely to
result from the adoption of the plan recommended by the
Finance Committee.--Concluding Observations._
Impressed with a deep sense of the utility of investigating the nature
of the Police System, the Select Committee of the House of Commons on
Finance turned their attention to this, among many other important
objects in the Session of the year 1798; and, after a laborious
investigation which occupied several months, (during which period the
Author of this Treatise underwent several examinations),[168] they
made their _final Report_--in which, after stating it as their
opinion, "that the general tendency of our oeconomical arrangements
upon this subject is ill calculated to meet the accumulating burdens,
which are the infallible result of so much error in our System of
Police"--they recommended it to Parliament to reduce or consolidate
"the two offices of Hawkers and Pedlars, and Hackney Coaches, into a
Board of Police Revenue, under the direction of a competent number of
Commissioners, with such Salaries as should bid fair to engage
talents adequate to the situation, and as should be sufficient to
command the whole exertion of those talents.--That the Receiver of the
Police offices, should be the Receiver-General of the funds proposed
to be collected by this Board.--That the superintendence of aliens
should form a part of its business.--That the fees and penalties
received at the several offices of Police, together with the
Licence-duties and penalties, if any, which shall be in the collection
of this consolidated Board, shall make one common fund, out of which
all salaries and expences of the several offices of Police should be
defrayed, as well as all those of the Consolidated Board, and that all
payments whatever should be made by the Receiver, under the sanction
of this Board, subject to the approbation of the Lords Commissioners
of his Majesty's Treasury.--That the accounts of the Receiver should
be audited and signed by the Board before being delivered to the
Treasury, or the office for auditing accounts.--That the balances in
the hands of the Receiver, after retaining what may be sufficient for
current expences, should be paid into the Exchequer at frequent and
fixed periods.--That Magistrates of Police should be impowered to
distribute small rewards to Constables or others, for meritorious
services, to be paid by the Revenue, after receiving the sanction of
the Board: And further, that the Board should have power to make
Bye-laws, for the regulation of such Minor Objects of Police as
relate to the objects of their superintendence, and to the control of
all Coaches, Chairs, Carts, Barrows, and the conduct of all Coachmen,
Chairmen, Carters, &c. and the removal and prevention of annoyances,
and the correction of all offences against the cleanliness, the quiet,
and the free passage of the Streets of the Metropolis, similar to the
powers now possessed by the Commissioners of Hackney Coaches, and
subject in like manner to the approbation of the Superior Judges in
the Courts in Westminster-Hall."--The Committee further recommend that
two additional Police Offices should be established in the City of
London, consisting each of three Magistrates, to be named by the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen, and paid out of the General funds, and to have
Commissions from the Crown, extending over the whole Metropolis, and
the Counties of Middlesex, Kent, Essex, and Surry; and that the
Commissions of the Magistrates of the other eight Offices should
extend in like manner over the whole Metropolis, and the four
above-mentioned Counties.[169] And finally, the Committee recommend
that no time should be lost in carrying into effect the Plan and
Proposal of Jeremiah Bentham, Esq. for employing and reforming
Convicts, as a measure which bids fairer than any other that was
offered to the Public, to diminish the Public expenditure in this
branch, and to produce a salutary Reform in the object of the proposed
Institution.
[Footnote 168: See Appendix to the 28th Report of the Committee.]
[Footnote 169: It is not proposed in the Bill, now in preparation,
hereafter stated, to introduce any thing respecting the City of
London, unless the consent of the Lord-Mayor, Aldermen, and
Common-Council, shall be previously obtained.]
Other measures are stated by this Committee as well calculated to
facilitate the means of detection and conviction of Offenders, and to
reduce the expence which is now borne by the Public, or sustained by
private Individuals, in the maintenance of a very inefficient Police;
while they seem calculated to lessen the growing Calendars of
Delinquency, but which may be better matured after the consolidation
of the Offices here proposed shall have taken place.--"Such as the
appointment of Counsel for the Crown, with moderate Salaries, to
conduct all Criminal Prosecutions, and rendering the Solicitor to the
Board useful, either in such Prosecutions as any of the Public
Officers might find it necessary to institute; or in such Criminal
Prosecutions at the suit of Individuals, as the Public Justice of the
Country should render expedient.--Such as a Register of Lodging-houses
in the Metropolis.--Such as the establishment of a Police Gazette, to
be circulated at a low price, and furnished gratis to all persons
under the superintendence of the Board; who shall pay a licence duty
to a certain amount: And such also as an Annual Report of the state of
the Police of the Country."
In considering this Report in general, it is no slight gratification
to the Author of this Treatise, to discover that all the great
features of his original design for giving to Police its genuine
character, unmixed with those judicial Powers which lead to
punishment, and properly belong to Magistracy alone, have been
sanctioned by such high authority.
In taking a general view not only of what is specifically recommended
by the Select Committee of the House of Commons; but also of the
Report itself, two leading objects appear to be in contemplation,
namely--
1st. The prevention of crimes and misdemeanors, by bringing
under regulations a variety of dangerous and suspicious
trades;[170] the uncontrolled exercise of which by persons
of loose conduct, is known to contribute in a very high
degree to the concealment, and by that means to the
encouragement and multiplication of crimes.
[Footnote 170: The Trades alluded to are these
following,--vide Appendix (C) 28th Report of Select
Committee of the House of Commons on Finance, page 45, 46,
and 47.
_New Revenues._
1. Wholesale and Retail Dealers in old Naval Stores,
Hand-stuff, and Rags.
2. Dealers in second-hand wearing Apparel, Stationary and
Itinerant.
3. Dealers in old Iron and other Metals, &c.
4. Founders and others using Crucibles.
5. Persons using Draught and Truck Carts for conveying
Stores, Rags, and Metals.
6. Persons Licenced to slaughter horses.
7. Persons keeping Livery Stables, and letting Horses for
hire.
8. Auctioneers, who hold periodical or diurnal Sales.
_Existing Revenues proposed to be transferred with a view to
a more effectual control, and to an improved Finance._
9. Hackney Coaches and Chairs.
10. Hawkers and Pedlars.
11. Pawn Brokers.
12. Dealers in Horses.
N.B. The new Revenues are Estimated to yield L.64,000
The increase of the existing Revenues is stated at 19,467
--------
L.83,467
--------]
2d. To raise a moderate Revenue for Police purposes from the
persons who shall be thus controlled, by means of Licence
Duties, and otherwise so modified as not to operate as a
material burden; while a confident hope is entertained, that
the amount of this revenue will go a considerable length in
relieving the finances of the country, of the expences at
present incurred for objects of Police, and that, in the
effect of the general System, a considerable saving will
arise, in consequence of the expected diminution of crimes,
particularly as the chief part of the expence appears to
arise after delinquents are convicted.[171]
[Footnote 171: The amount of the general expence of the Criminal
Police of the Kingdom as stated by the Committee on Finance in their
28th Report is as follows:
1st. The annual average of the total expence
of the Seven Public Offices in the Metropolis,
from the institution in August
1792 to the end of the year 1797, being
a period of 5-1/2 years L.18,281 18 6
2d. The total expence of the Office at Bow-street,
in the year 1797, including remunerations
to the Magistrates in lieu
of fees, perquisites, and special services,
and the expence of the patrole of 68
persons 7,901 7 7
-------------
Total expence for the Metropolis 26,183 6 1
3d. The money paid to the several Sheriffs for
the conviction of Felons in 1797 9,650 0 0
4th. The expence of maintaining
Convicts on board
the Hulks, (exclusive
of 415 under Sentence
of Transportation in
the different gaols),
amounted in 1797 to L.32,080 0 0
5th. The expences incurred in
the employment of
Convicts by the Navy
and Ordnance Boards,
probably amounting to
not less than from 10_l._
to 20_l._ per Man per
annum, were by computation 1,498 14 10-1/4
6th. The annual average of
cloathing, victualling,
and transporting Convicts,
and of the Civil,
Military, and Marine
Departments of New
South Wales, and Norfolk
Island, from 1786
to 1797 86,457 12 11-1/2
----------------
120,036 7 9-3/4
-----------------
155,869 13 10-3/4
To which add the farther sums
annually charged on the
County Rates, or incurred
in places having peculiar
Jurisdiction in England 50,000 0 0
Borne by the Sheriffs in
England 10,000 0 0 60,000 0 0
----------------- -----------------
Total for all England 215,869 13 10-3/4]