A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis Part 42

[Footnote 157: See Tract on Public Houses, by the Author of this Treatise.]

[Footnote 158: The Magistrates at the Marine Police confine their attention almost wholly to the cognizance of offences, either committed on the River, or connected with Maritime Affairs, and his Majesty's Stores in the Public a.r.s.enals.]

In addition to these various duties, many criminal cases occur in the course of a year, which are examined for the purpose, if necessary, of being sent to superior tribunals for trials:--such as charges of _Treason, Murder, Coining, and uttering Base Money, Arson, Manslaughter, Forgery, Burglary, Larceny, Sedition, Felonies of various descriptions, Conspiracies, Frauds, Riots, a.s.saults, and Misdemeanors of different kinds_:--all which unavoidably impose upon every official Magistrate, a weight of business requiring great exertion, and an unremitting attention to the Public Interest, in the due execution of this very important Trust.

When the Police System was first established in the year 1792, the public mind became impressed with an idea that the chief, if not the only, object of the inst.i.tution was to prevent _Robberies_, _Burglaries_, and other _atrocious Offences_; and that the suppression of those crimes, which bore hardest upon Society, and were most dreaded by the Public at large, was to be the result. These expectations shewed, that neither the powers nor authorities granted by the Act of Parliament, nor the other duties imposed upon the Magistracy of the Police, were understood. For this Statute (useful as it certainly is in a very high degree in many other respects,) does not contain even a single regulation applicable to the prevention of crimes; except that which relates to the apprehension of suspected characters, found in the avenues to public places, with intent to commit felony; who are liable to be punished as rogues and vagabonds,--and even this provision does not extend to the city of London.

But this is not all--an establishment has been created, without the most necessary of all engines to give vigour and effect to the exertions of the Magistrates; namely, a pecuniary Fund to defray the expences of detecting criminals, and of rewarding those who bring informations useful to Public Justice. The expence of each Public Office being restricted to _two thousand pounds_ a year, and the establishment in _salaries_, _rents_, _taxes_, and other _contingencies_ exhausting that sum, nothing remains for one of the most necessary purposes of the Inst.i.tution--the _Prevention_ and the _Suppression of Crimes_.[159]

[Footnote 159: It is by no means to be understood, that this deficiency arose from any want of real attention or public spirit on the part of the respectable individuals who framed and promoted this act. It was perhaps as much as could reasonably be expected at the time, until the public mind could be more fully informed. It was by the operation of this act, that a correct view of the improvements necessary to complete the System, were to be obtained. This first step was, therefore, of great importance; and it is but justice to state, that to the Authors of this Act the Public will be indebted for every subsequent arrangement, which may be adopted for perfecting the Police of the Metropolis.]

It is in vain to expect that either vigour or energy can enter into that part of the System, where a great deal of _both_ is necessary, _without Funds_.

If criminals, at war with the Community, are to be detected--if risks are to be run to effect this purpose--if it is to be done, (as it must frequently be) at the hazard of the loss of health, and _even of life_, by watching desperadoes in the night time--if accurate informations are necessary, either to discover where stolen property is deposited, or where the delinquents are to be found; a Fund must be provided, or the Public cannot be protected. Those, whose province it is to watch over the Police must not expect that men, capable of giving them useful information, will return a second time, if they have not some adequate reward bestowed upon them for their labour, risk, and trouble. Without such power of granting small rewards, (so far as that part of his duty which relates to the discovery of property plundered, and the detection of the offenders is of importance to the Public,) a Magistrate is placed in the situation of a person pledged to work, _without tools or implements of labour_, by which he can in any respect accomplish his purpose. And hence it is, that among the numerous causes a.s.signed in the course of this Work, for the increase of Crimes,--this is none of the least.

Not that it is meant that any additional burthen on the Public, by an 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 circ.u.mstance 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 (a.s.sisted 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, a.s.sist 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 munic.i.p.al 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 pa.s.s-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 Inst.i.tution 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 princ.i.p.ally 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 Middles.e.x.[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 acc.u.mulation 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 a.s.sisting 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 Middles.e.x, Kent, Ess.e.x, 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, a.s.siduously 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 a.s.signed them?

The office of _a.s.sistant Magistrates_ in the City might be a.s.signed 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 a.s.sistance 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 a.s.sistant 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 Middles.e.x and Surry, contiguous to the City of London, great benefits have been experienced from the a.s.sistance 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 Princ.i.p.al 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 Princ.i.p.al 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 const.i.tutional 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 cla.s.s 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 Disburs.e.m.e.nts 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 p.r.o.ne 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 Const.i.tution 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 dispa.s.sionately; to face them with fort.i.tude, 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 ma.s.s 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 a.s.sertion, 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.