The causes and progress of small Thefts in London explained and traced to the numerous Receivers of stolen Goods, under the denominations of Dealers in Rags, Old Iron, and other Metals.—The great increase of these Dealers of late years.—Their evil tendency, and the absolute necessity of Regulations, to prevent the extensive Mischiefs arising from the Encouragements they hold out, to persons of every age and description, to become Thieves, by the purchase of whatever is offered for sale.—A Remedy suggested.—Petty Thefts in the country round the Metropolis—Workhouses the causes of idleness—Commons—Cottagers—Gypsies—Labourers and Servants; their general bad character and propensity to thieving small articles from their Masters, encouraged by Receivers.—Thefts in Fields and Gardens—Their extent and amount throughout England—Frauds in the sale and adulteration of Milk in the Metropolis.
IN a preceding Chapter the small thefts committed by persons not known to belong to the fraternity of Thieves, are estimated to amount to the enormous sum of £.700,000 a year.
This discovery (except what relates to embezzled silk, cotton, and worsted) was originally made through the medium of a considerable Dealer in Rags and Old Iron, and other Metals, who communicated to the Author much interesting information, respecting Receivers of stolen Goods, confirmed afterwards through other channels, the substance of which has been already alluded to; and of which the following are more ample details:
That there exists in this Metropolis, (and also in all the towns where his Majesty's Dock-Yards are established) a class of Dealers, of late years become extremely numerous, who keep open shops for the purchase of Rags, Old Iron, and other Metals.
"That these Dealers are universally, almost without a single exception, the Receivers of stolen Goods of every denomination; from a nail, a skewer, a key, or a glass bottle, up to the most valuable article of portable household goods, merchandize, plate, or jewels, &c. &c.
"That they are divided into two classes:—Wholesale and Retail Dealers. That the Retail Dealers are generally (with some exceptions) the immediate purchasers in the first instance, from the pilferers or their agents; and as soon as they collect a sufficient quantity of iron, copper, brass, lead, tin, pewter, or other metals, worthy the notice of a large Dealer, they dispose of the same for ready money; by which they are enabled to continue the trade.
"That the increase of these old iron, rag, and store shops has been astonishing within the last twenty years.
"That, as the least trifle is received, the vigilance of the parties, from whom the articles are stolen, is generally eluded; by the prevailing practice of taking only a small quantity of any article at a time.
"That the articles thus received are generally purchased at about one-third of the real value, and seldom at more than half;—glass bottles in particular, are bought at one penny each, and no question asked:—they are afterwards sold to dealers in this particular branch, who assort and wash them, and again re-sell them to inferior wine-dealers at nearly the full value:—this has become, of late, an extensive line of trade.
"That further facilities are afforded by the dealers in old iron, in the collection of metals, rags, and other articles purloined and stolen in the Country; which are conveyed to town by means of single-horse carts, kept by itinerant Jews, and other doubtful characters; who travel to Portsmouth, Chatham, Woolwich, Deptford, and places in the vicinity of London, for the purpose of purchasing metals from persons who are in the habit of embezzling the King's stores, or from dealers on the spot, who are the first receivers; from them, copper-bolts, nails, spikes, iron, brass, lead, pewter, and other ship articles of considerable value are procured.—These single-horse carts have increased greatly of late years, and have become very profitable to the proprietors.
"That some of these dealers in old metals, notoriously keep men employed in knocking the broad Arrow, or King's mark, out of the copper-bolts, nails, and bar iron, whereon it is impressed, and also in cutting such bar iron into portable lengths, after which it is sold to the great dealers, who supply the Public Boards; and who are in some instances supposed by this means to sell the same Article to these boards even two or three times over.
"That the trade thus carried on, is exceedingly productive both to the retail and wholesale dealers; many of whom are become extremely opulent, and carry on business to the extent of from ten to thirty, and in some few instances, fifty thousand a year in old metals alone.
"That the quantity of new nails, taken from the public repositories, and from private workshops, and disposed of at the old iron shops exceeds all credibility.
"And finally, that the retail dealers in old iron, with some exceptions, are the principal purchasers of the pewter pots stolen from the Publicans, which they instantly melt down (if not previously done) to elude detection."
Thus are the lower ranks of Society assailed on all hands; and in a manner allured to be dishonest, by the ready means of disposing of property, unlawfully acquired, to satisfy imaginary and too frequently criminal wants, excited by the temptations which the amusements and dissipations of a great Capital, and the delusion of the Lottery, hold out.
The rapid growth of this Evil within the last twenty years, and the effect it has upon the morals of menial servants and others, who must in the nature of things have a certain trust committed to them, is a strong reason why some effectual remedy should be administered as speedily as possible.
It seems, under all circumstances, that the regulation of these Iron-shops, by licence, and by other restrictions connected with the public security, has become a matter of immediate necessity; for it is a dreadful thing to reflect that there should exist and grow up, in so short a period of time, such a body of criminal dealers, who are permitted to exercise all the mischievous part of the functions of Pawnbrokers; enjoying equal benefits, without any of the restrictions which have already been extended to this last class of dealers; who themselves also require further regulations, which will be hereafter discussed.
But beside the dealers in old iron, it will be necessary to extend the regulation proposed, to dealers in second-hand wearing apparel, whether stationary or itinerant; for through this medium also, a vast quantity of bed and table linen, sheets, wearing apparel, and other articles, pilfered in private families, is disposed of; and money is obtained, without asking questions, with the same facility as at the iron shops.
To prevent metals from being melted by Receivers of stolen Goods, and other persons keeping crucibles and melting vessels, by which means the most infamous frauds are committed, to the evasion of justice, by immediately melting plate, pewter pots, and every kind of metal that can be identified; it may be also necessary to regulate, by licence, all Founders of metal, and also the horse and truck carts used for the purpose of conveying old metals from place to place: so as, upon the whole, to establish a mild, but complete System of Prevention; by limiting the dealers in old metals and second-hand wearing apparel, to the honest and fair part of their trade, and by restraining them with regard to that which is fraudulent and mischievous.
At present these respective dealers may truly be said to be complete pests of Society.—They are not, like Pawnbrokers, restrained, as to the hours of receiving or delivering goods.—Their dealings are often in the night time, by which means they enjoy every opportunity of encouraging fraud and dishonesty.
It is impossible to contemplate the consequences arising from the seduction of so many individuals, young and old, who must be implicated in the crimes which these abominable receptacles encourage, without wishing to see so complicate and growing a mischief engage the immediate attention of the Legislature, that a remedy may be applied as early as possible.[21]
This System of petty thievery and general depredation is, however, by no means confined to the precincts of the Metropolis: it is extended in a peculiar manner through the different Counties in its Vicinity.—The following particulars, extracted from Mr. Middleton's View of the Agriculture of Middlesex, will enable the Reader to form some judgment of the extent of the mischief, and the causes from which it originates; producing and increasing that band of plunderers, of which the Metropolis itself has ultimately been at once the Nurse and the Victim.
"The funds raised for supporting the Idle Poor of this country (says this intelligent writer) are so numerous, efficient, and comfortable, as to operate against the general industry of the Labouring Poor.
"Lodging and diet in the workhouses, in every instance, are superior to what the industrious labourer can provide for his family. It is obvious that this must have an influence over their minds, and become most injurious to the interests of society; it holds out encouragement to prefer the workhouse to labour; and, by filling the poor houses with improper inhabitants, it reduces the amount of industry."
The annual expence of each pauper is calculated by the same Writer at about Fifteen Guineas; a stout healthy labourer in husbandry, with a wife and three children, earns only Thirty for the support of five persons.
"The want of prudence is increased, and general industry lessened, on the part of the poor, by the facility with which voluntary contributions are raised during every temporary inconvenience, such as a few weeks' frost, or an extraordinary advance in the price of provisions.[22] And also by the constantly cloathing upwards of ten thousand children of the labouring Poor in this Country.
"Every institution which tends to make the poor depend on any other support than their own industry does them great disservice, and is highly injurious to society, by diminishing the quantity of labour which annually produces consumable goods, the only wealth of a nation."
Although these suggestions may appear harsh, and some of them may admit of more extended discussion, yet they certainly deserve very serious consideration; as do also the following observations on the Commons and Waste Lands with which this kingdom still abounds; and on the general character of Servants and Labourers; the latter of which afford but too melancholy a confirmation of many opinions which the author of this treatise has thought it his duty to bring forward to the Public eye.
"On estimating the value of the Commons in Middlesex, including every advantage that can be derived from them in pasturage, locality of situation, and the barbarous custom of turbary, it appears that they do not produce to the Community, in their present state, more than four shillings per Acre! On the other hand, they are, in many instances, of real injury to the Public, by holding out a lure to the poor man; by affording him materials wherewith to build his cottage, and ground to erect it upon; together with firing, and the run of his poultry and pigs for nothing. This is, of course, temptation sufficient to induce a great number of poor persons to settle upon the borders of such Commons. But the mischief does not end here; for having gained these trifling advantages, through the neglect or connivance of the Lord of the Manor, it unfortunately gives their minds an improper bias, and inculcates a desire to live, from that time forward, without labour, or at least with as little as possible.
"The animals kept by this description of persons, it is soon discovered by their owners, are not likely to afford them much revenue, without better feed than the scanty herbage on a Common; hence they are tempted to pilfer corn, &c. towards their support; and as they are still dependant on such a deceptious supply, to answer the demands of their consumption, they are in some measure constrained to resort to various dishonest means, so as to make up the deficiency.
"It is a notorious fact, that in all cases cottages not having any ground belonging to them promote thieving to a great extent; as their inhabitants constantly rob the neighbouring farms and gardens of root and pulse sufficient for their own consumption, and which they would have no temptation to do, if they had the same articles growing of their own." Hence Mr. Middleton suggests the evil admits of an easy remedy, namely, the allotting to each cottager a piece of ground.
"Another very serious evil which the Public suffers from these Commons is, that they are the constant rendezvous of Gypsies, Strollers, and other loose persons, living under tents which they carry with them from place to place, according to their conveniency. Most of these persons have asses, many of them horses, nay, some of them have even covered carts, which answer the double purpose of a caravan for concealing and carrying off the property they have stolen, and also of a house for sleeping in at night. They usually stay a week or two at a place; and the cattle which they keep serve to transport their few articles of furniture from one place to another. These, during the stay of their owners, are turned adrift to procure what food they can find in the neighbourhood of their tents, and the deficiency is made up from the adjacent hay-stacks, barns and granaries. They are known never to buy any hay or corn, and yet their cattle are supplied with these articles of good quality. The women and children beg and pilfer, and the men commit greater acts of dishonesty. In short, the Commons of this Country are well known to be the constant resort of footpads and highwaymen, and are literally and proverbially a public nuisance."——
"The Labourers of this country are ruined in morals and constitution by the public houses. It is a general rule, that the higher their wages, the less they carry home, and consequently the greater is the wretchedness of themselves and their families. Comforts in a cottage are mostly found where the man's wages are low, at least so low as to require him to labour six days a week. For instance, a good workman at nine shillings per week, if advanced to twelve will spend a day in the week at the alehouse, which reduces his labour to five days, or ten shillings; and as he will spend two shillings in the public house, it leaves but eight for his family, which is one less than they had when he earned only nine shillings.
"If by any means he be put into a situation of earning eighteen shillings in six days, he will get drunk Sunday and Monday, and go to his work stupid on Tuesday; and should he be a mechanical journeyman of some genius, who by constant labour could earn twenty-four shillings or thirty shillings per week, as some of them can, he will be drunk half the week, insolent to his employer, and to every person about him.
"If his master has business in hand that requires particular dispatch, he will then, more than at any other time, be absent from his work, and his wife and children will experience the extreme of hunger, rags and cold.
"The low Inns on the road sides are, in general, receiving houses for the corn, hay, straw, poultry, eggs, &c. which the farmers' men pilfer from their masters.
"Gentlemen's Servants are mostly a bad set, and the great number kept in this county, is the means of the rural labourers acquiring a degree of idleness and insolence unknown in places more remote from the Metropolis.
"The poor children who are brought up on the borders of commons and copses, are accustomed to little labour, but too much idleness and pilfering. Having grown up, and these latter qualities having become a part of their nature, they are then introduced to the farmers as servants or labourers; and very bad ones they make.
"The children of small farmers, on the contrary, have the picture of industry, hard labour, and honesty, hourly before them, in the persons of their parents, and daily hear the complaints which they make against idle and pilfering servants, and comparisons drawn highly in favour of honesty. In this manner honesty and industry become, as it were, a part of the nature of such young folks. The father's property is small, and his means few; he is therefore unable to hire and stock a farm for each of his children; they consequently become servants on large farms, or in gentlemen's families, and in either situation are the most faithful part of such establishments."——
"One great hindrance to comfort in a life of agriculture, and which drives liberal minded men, who are always the best friends to improvement, out of the profession, is the want of laws to put a total stop to the Receivers of stolen goods. These are the wretches who encourage servants in agriculture, and others to pilfer, by holding out the lure of buying every article, which such servants can bring without asking them any questions. Most things which are usually produced on a farm, from so small an article as an egg, to hay, straw and grain of all sorts are daily stolen,[23] and sold on the sides of every principal road in this county. Among the Receivers are to be reckoned Millers, Cornchandlers, Dealers in eggs, butter and poultry, and the Keepers of Chandlers' shops.
"The Drivers of Gentlemen's carriages are intrusted to buy hay, straw, and corn, for their horses; in the doing which, they generally cheat their masters of 5s. in each load of hay, of 2s. 6d. in each load of straw, and 1s. in every quarter of corn. This gives them an interest in the consumption, makes them extremely wasteful, and brings on habits of dishonesty.
"The Ostlers at the Inns on the sides of the roads, purchase stolen hay, straw, corn, eggs, and poultry. A person who kept a horse several weeks at one of these inns, in attending occasionally to see the animal, discovered him to be fed with wheat, barley and oats mixed together, which could only happen by the farmers' servants robbing their Master, and selling the corn to the Ostler."——
"The fields near London are never free from men strolling about in pilfering pursuits by day, and committing great crimes by night. The depredations every Sunday are astonishingly great. There are not many gardens within five miles of London, that escape being visited in a marauding way, very early on a Sunday morning, and the farmers' fields are plundered all day long of fruit, roots, cabbages, pulse and corn. Even the ears of wheat are cut from the sheaves, and carried away in the most daring manner in open day, in various ways, but mostly in bags containing about half a bushel each. It has been moderately estimated, that 20,000 bushels of all the various sorts are thus carried off every Sunday morning, and 10,000 more during the other six days of the week; or one million and a half of bushels in a year, which, if valued at so small a sum as sixpence each, would amount to £37,500.
"The occupiers of many thousand acres round London, lose annually in this manner to the amount of much more than 20s. an acre.
"A Miller near London being questioned as to small parcels of wheat brought to his mill to be ground, by a suspected person, soon after several barns had been robbed, answered, that any explanation on that head would put his mills in danger of being burnt. Well may the farmers say, 'Their property is not protected like that of other men.'"
Mr. Middleton calculates that the depredations committed on the landed interest probably amount to 4s. an acre per annum, on all the cultivated lands in England, or to eight millions of pounds sterling per annum: and including the injuries done by game and vermin, he supposes, that the farmers' property suffers to the amount of 10s. an acre, or nearly twenty millions annually.
The following curious circumstances relative to the adulteration of Milk in the Metropolis, ought to be added to the list of petty frauds, which not merely affect the pockets but the health of the inhabitants of London. The number of milch cows kept for the purpose of supplying the Metropolis with this article, is stated by Mr. Middleton, after very diligent inquiry, at 8,500; and each cow is supposed to afford on an average nine quarts of milk per day.—
"When the families of fashion are in London for the winter season, the consumption, and consequent deterioration of milk are at the highest; during the summer months, when such families are for the most part in the country, the milk may probably be of rather a better quality.
"The milk is always given in its genuine state to the retail dealers; and as it is sold to them by the Cow-keepers after the rate of twopence and 1-8th of a penny per quart, and is retailed by them at threepence halfpenny per quart, the profit is surely so large as ought to prevent even the smallest adulteration. But when it is considered how greatly it is reduced by water, and impregnated with worse ingredients, it is much to be lamented that no method has yet been devised to put a stop to the many scandalous frauds and impositions in general practice, with regard to this very necessary article of human sustenance.
"It is certainly an object well deserving the particular consideration of the Legislature. It cannot be doubted, that many persons would be glad to make some addition to the price now paid for it (high as that price is) provided they could, for such increased price, procure so useful an article in domestic œconomy perfectly genuine.[24]
"Five or six men only are employed in attending near three hundred cows. As one woman cannot milk above eight or nine cows twice a day, that part of the business would necessarily be attended with considerable expence to the Cow-keeper, were it not that the Retailer agrees for the produce of a certain number of cows, and takes the labour and expence of milking on himself.
"Every Cow-house is provided with a milk-room (where the milk is measured and served out by the Cow-keeper) and this room is mostly furnished with a pump, to which the Retail Dealers apply in rotation; not secretly, but openly before any person that may be standing by, from which they pump water into the milk vessels at their discretion. The pump is placed there expressly for that purpose, and indeed is very seldom used for any other. A considerable Cow-keeper in Surrey has a pump of this kind, which goes, by the name of the Famous Black Cow (from the circumstance of its being painted black) and is said to yield more than all the rest put together.
"Where such a pump is not provided for them things are much worse, for in that case the Retailers are not even careful to use clean water. Some of them have been seen to dip their pails in a common horse-trough. And what is still more disgusting, though equally true, one cow-house happens to stand close to the edge of a stream, into which runs much of the dung, and most of the urine of the cows, and even in this stream, so foully impregnated, they have been observed to dip their milk-pails.
"A Cow-keeper informs me, that the Retail Milk Dealers are for the most part the refuse of other employments, possessing neither character, decency of manners, nor cleanliness.
"No person could possibly drink of the milk, were they fully acquainted with the filthy manners of these dealers in it.
"The same person suggests, as a remedy for these abuses, that it would be highly proper for every Retail Milk Dealer to be obliged to take out an Annual Licence from the Magistrates; which licence should be granted only to such as could produce a certificate of good conduct, signed by the Cow-keeper and a certain number of their customers; and also on their being sworn to sell the milk pure and unadulterated."
General Reflections arising from the perpetration of the higher and more atrocious crimes of Burglary, Highway Robbery, &c.—These crimes more peculiar to England than to Holland and Flanders, &c.—The Reason explained.—A general View of the various classes of Criminals engaged in Robberies and Burglaries and of those discharged from Prison and the Hulks.—Their miserable situation as Outcasts of Society, without the means of Support.—The necessity of some Antidote previous to the return of Peace.—The means used at present by Thieves in accomplishing their nefarious Purposes.—Observations on the stealing Cattle, Sheep, Corn, &c.—Receivers of Stolen Goods shewn to be the Nourishers of every description of Thieves.—Remedies suggested, by means of Detection and Prevention.
IT is impossible to reflect upon the outrages and acts of violence continually committed, more particularly in and near the Metropolis by lawless ravagers of property, and destroyers of lives, in disturbing the peaceful mansion, the Castle of every Englishman, and also in abridging the liberty of travelling upon the Public Highways, without asking—Why are these enormities suffered in a Country where the Criminal Laws are supposed to have arrived at a greater degree of perfection than any other?
This is an important inquiry, interesting in the highest degree, to every member of the Body Politic.
If, in pursuing such an inquiry, the situation of Holland, Flanders, and several of the Northern States on the Continent, be examined, it will be found that this terrific evil had (alluding to these States previous to the present war) there scarcely an existence: and, that the precaution of bolting doors and windows during the night, was even seldom used; although, in these Countries, from the opulence of many of the inhabitants, there were great temptations to plunder property.
This security did not proceed from severer punishments, for in very few Countries are they more sanguinary than in England.—It is to be attributed to a more correct and energetic system of Police, joined to an early and general attention to the employment, education, and morals of the lower orders of the people; a habit of industry and sobriety is thus acquired, which, universally imbibed in early life, "grows with their growth, and strengthens with their strength."
Idleness is a never-failing road to criminality. It originates generally in the inattention and the bad example of profligate parents.—And when it has unfortunately taken hold of the human mind, unnecessary wants and improper gratifications, not known or thought of by persons in a course of industry, are constantly generated: hence it is, that crimes are resorted to, and every kind of violence, hostile to the laws, and to peace and good order, is perpetrated.
The criminal and unfortunate individuals, who compose the dismal catalogue of Highwaymen, Footpad-Robbers, Burglars, Pick-Pockets, and common Thieves, in and about this Metropolis, may be divided into the three following classes:
1. Young men of some education, who having acquired idle habits by abandoning business, or by being bred to no profession, and having been seduced by this idleness to indulge in gambling and scenes of debauchery and dissipation, at length impoverished and unable to purchase their accustomed gratifications, have recourse to the highway to supply immediate wants.
2. Tradesmen and others, who having ruined their fortunes and business by gaming and dissipation, sometimes as a desperate remedy, go upon the road.
But these two classes are extremely few in number, and bear no proportion to the lower and more depraved part of the fraternity of thieves, who pursue the trade systematically; who conduct their depredations under such circumstances of caution, as to render detection extremely difficult; and whose knowledge of all the weak parts of the Criminal Law is generally so complete, as to enable them to elude justice, and obtain acquittals, when detected and put upon their trial:—Namely—
3. 1st. Servants, Ostlers, Stable and Post-Boys out of place, who, preferring what they consider as idleness, have studied the profession of Thieving.—2d. Persons who being imprisoned for debts, assaults, or petty offences, have learned habits of idleness and profligacy in gaols.—3d. Idle and disorderly mechanics and labourers, who having on this account lost the confidence of their masters or employers, resort to thieving, as a means of support; from all whom the notorious and hacknied thieves generally select the most trusty and daring to act as their associates.—4th. Criminals tried and acquitted of offences charged against them, of which class a vast number is annually let loose upon Society.—5th. Convicts discharged from prison and the Hulks, after suffering the sentence of the Law: too often instructed by one another in all the arts and devices which attach to the most extreme degree of human depravity, and in the perfect knowledge of the means of perpetrating Crimes, and of eluding Justice.
To form some judgment of the number of persons in this great Metropolis who compose at least a part of the Criminal Phalanx engaged in depredations and acts of violence, it is only necessary to have recourse to the following Statement of the number of prisoners discharged, during a period of four years, from the eight different Gaols in the Metropolis, and within the Bills of Mortality.
The following is a Statement of the number of these discharges from the year 1792 to 1799 inclusive:—
| 1. Discharged by Proclamations and Gaol-deliveries | 8650 |
| 2. Discharged by Acquittals | 4935 |
| 3. Discharged after punishment: or by being bailed or pardoned | 6925 |
| Total | 20,510 |
If to this deplorable Catalogue shall be added the Convicts which have been returned on the Public from the Hulks within the same period, namely, from 1792 to 1799 inclusive, either from pardons, escapes, or the expiration of their punishment, the numbers will stand thus:
| Enlarged in | 1792 | 303 |
| — — | 1793 | 435 |
| — — | 1794 | 62 |
| — — | 1795 | 67 |
| — — | 1796 | 38 |
| — — | 1797 | 39 |
| — — | 1798 | 93 |
| — — | 1799 | 346 |
| 1383 | ||
| Total from Gaols and from the Hulks | 21,893 | |
Humanity shudders at the contemplation of this interesting part of the discussion, when it is considered, who these our miserable fellow-mortals are! and what is to be expected from the extreme depravity which attaches to the chief part of them!
And here a prominent feature of the imperfect state of the Police of the Metropolis and the Country is too evident to escape notice.
Without friends, without character, and without the means of subsistence, what are these unhappy mortals to do?—They are no sooner known or suspected, than they are avoided.—No person will employ them, even if they were disposed to return to the paths of honesty; unless they make use of fraud and deception, by concealing that they have been the inhabitants of a Prison, or of the Hulks.
At large upon the world, without food or raiment, and with the constant calls of nature upon them for both, without a home or any asylum to shelter them from the inclemency of the weather, what is to become of them?
The Police of the Country has provided no place of industry, in which those who were disposed to reform might find subsistence in return for voluntary labour; which, in their present situation, becomes useless to them, because no person will purchase it by employing them.[25] Under all these circumstances it is to be feared, indeed it is known, that many Convicts, from dire necessity, return to their old courses.—And thus, through the medium of these miserable outcasts of Society, crimes are increased and become a regular trade, because many of them can make no other election.
It is indeed true, that during the first three years of the present war, many Convicts and idle and disorderly persons were sent to the Army and Navy: but still a vast number remained behind, who could not be accepted on account of ruptures, fits, or some other disability or infirmity; which, although they incapacitate them from serving his Majesty, do not prevent them from committing crimes.
While it must be evident, that the resource afforded by the present war, gives employment, for a time only, to many depraved characters and mischievous members of the community; how necessary is it to be provided with antidotes, previous to the return of peace; when, to the multitude of thieves now at large, there will be added numbers of the same class, who may be discharged from the Navy and Army?—If some plan of employment is not speedily devised, to which all persons of this description may resort, who cannot otherwise subsist themselves in an honest way; and if the Police of the Metropolis is not greatly improved, by the introduction of more energy, and a greater degree of System and Method in its administration; it is much to be feared, that no existing power will be able to keep them within bounds.
It is in vain to say the Laws are sufficient.—They are indeed abundantly voluminous, and in many respects very excellent, but they require to be revised, consolidated, modernized, and adapted in a greater degree to the prevention of existing evils, with such regulations as would ensure their due execution not only in every part of the Capital, but also in all parts of the Kingdom.
The means these depredators at present use in accomplishing their nefarious purposes are complicated and various; and of late years have become as much diversified as it is possible for the ingenuity of men to devise, who frequently join good natural abilities to all the artifices of the finished villain.
It is no uncommon thing for the more daring and strong-minded to form themselves into gangs or societies; to the exclusion of those of their fraternity whose hearts are likely to fail them, and who are supposed not to be sufficiently firm, so as to secure their accomplices against the hazard of discovery in case of detection.
Robbery and theft, as well in houses as on the roads, have long been reduced to a regular System. Opportunities are watched, and intelligence procured, with a degree of vigilance similar to that which marks the conduct of a skilful General, eager to obtain an advantage over an enemy.
Houses, intended to be entered during the night, are previously reconnoitred and examined for days preceding. If one or more of the servants are not already associated with the gang, the most artful means are used to obtain their assistance; and when every previous arrangement is made, the mere operation of robbing a house becomes a matter of little difficulty.
By the connivance and assistance of immediate, or former servants, they are led to the places where the most valuable, as well as the most portable, articles are deposited, and the object is speedily attained.
In this manner do the principal Burglars and House-breakers proceed: and let this information serve as a caution to every person in the choice both of their male and female servants; since the latter as well as the former are not seldom accomplices in very atrocious robberies.
The same generalship is manifested in the nocturnal expeditions of those criminal associates upon the highways.
A perfect knowledge is obtained every evening of the different routes and situations of the patroles:—they are narrowly watched, and their vigilance (wherever they are vigilant) is in too many instances defeated.
Infinite pains are bestowed in procuring intelligence of persons travelling upon the road with money, bank-notes, or other valuable effects; and when discovered, the most masterly pains are concerted to waylay and rob them of their property: Nor have the measures pursued by those atrocious villains, the Footpads, exhibited less skill in the plans adopted; while their outrages are too often marked with those acts of cruelty and barbarity which justly render them objects of peculiar terror.
The same adroitness also marks the conduct of those who turn their attention chiefly to picking of pockets, and other smaller robberies.
It would almost fill a volume to detail the various artifices which are resorted to, in carrying on this species of thieving; by which even the most cautious, and those who are generally upon their guard, are not exempted from the ravages of these inferior pests of Society.
In addition to the injuries or losses arising from burglaries, highway-robberies and lesser thefts, it is to be lamented that extensive and increasing depredations are made upon horses, cattle and sheep, and also upon flour, corn, potatoes, provender, and poultry; stolen from the drovers, millers, corn-factors, and farmers in the vicinity of the Metropolis. These have been stated more at large in a preceding Chapter.
It cannot be too often repeated that the great facility experienced, in the immediate disposal of every article obtained by dishonesty, is one of the chief encouragements to all the acts of outrage and depredation enumerated in the course of this Work.
It frequently happens that the Burglars, the Highwaymen, and Footpad robbers, make their contracts with the Receivers, on the evening before the plunder is obtained; so as to secure a ready admittance immediately afterwards, and before day-break, for the purpose of effectual concealment by melting plate, obliterating marks, and securing all other articles so as to place them out of the reach of discovery. This has long been reduced to a regular system which is understood and followed as a trade.
Nor do those Thieves who steal horses,[26] cattle and sheep experience more difficulty in finding purchasers immediately for whatever they can obtain:—they too, generally, make a previous bargain with the Receivers, who are ready at an appointed hour to conceal the animals, to kill them immediately, and to destroy the skins for the purpose of eluding detection.
It sometimes happens also, that the persons who perpetrate these robberies are journeymen-butchers, by trade; who kill whatever they steal, and often afterwards sell their plunder in the Public Markets.
If, by wise regulations, it were possible to embarrass and disturb the extensive trade carried on by all the concealed Receivers, who are the particular class having connection with the professed thieves, a very great check would be given to public depredations.
In suggesting Remedies, this of all other appears, at first view, to be the most difficult; because of the apparent impossibility of regulating any class of Dealers who have no shop, or visible trade, and who transact all their business under concealment:—but still the object is to be obtained by a combination of different legislative regulations, carried into execution by a consolidated, vigilant and well-regulated Police.
The detail, however, of the means of detecting Receivers will, of course, be discussed hereafter, in a subsequent Chapter; at present the following Hints will suffice.
A register of lodging-houses and lodgers in every parish, liberty, hamlet, and precinct, where the rent does not exceed a certain sum (suppose ten shillings) weekly, would prove one great means of embarrassment to Thieves of every class; and of course would tend, with other regulations, to the prevention of Crimes.
Night-Coaches also promote, in an eminent degree, the perpetration of burglaries and other felonies: Bribed by a high reward, many hackney coachmen eagerly enter into the pay of nocturnal depredators, and wait in the neighbourhood until the robbery is completed, and then draw up, at the moment the watchmen are going their rounds, or off their stands, for the purpose of conveying the plunder to the house of the Receiver, who is generally waiting the issue of the enterprise. Above one half of the present Hackney Coachmen, in London, are said to be (in the cant phrase) Flashmen designed to assist thieves.
It being certain that a vast deal of mischief is done which could not be effected, were it not for the assistance which night coaches afford to Thieves of every description, it would seem, upon the whole, advantageous to the Public, that no Hackney Coaches should be permitted to take fares after twelve o'clock at night; or, if this is impracticable, that the coach-hire for night service should be advanced, on condition that all coachmen going upon the stands after twelve o'clock, should be licensed by a Board of Police. By this means the night-coachmen, by being more select, would not be so open to improper influence; and they might even become useful to Public Justice in giving informations, and also in detecting Burglars, and other Thieves.
Watchmen and Patroles, instead of being, as now, comparatively of little use, from their age, infirmity, inability, inattention, or corrupt practices, might almost at the present expence, by a proper selection, and a more correct mode of discipline, by means of a general superintendance over the whole to regulate their conduct, and keep them to their duty, be rendered of great utility in preventing Crimes, and in detecting Offenders.[27]
At present the System of the nightly watch is without energy, disjointed, and governed by almost as many different Acts of Parliament, as there are Parishes, Hamlets, Liberties, and Precincts within the Bills of Mortality; and where the payment is as various, running from 8½d. up to 2s. a night.
The Act of the 14th of George IIId. (cap. 90.) entituled, An Act for the better regulation of the Nightly Watch within the City and Liberty of Westminster, and parts adjacent, contains many excellent Regulations, but they do not extend to the eastern part of the Metropolis; and for want of an active and superintending agency, superior to beadles, it is believed and felt that they are not, (even within the district included in the Act,) correctly carried into execution: and that no small portion of those very men who are paid for protecting the public, are not only instruments of oppression in many instances, by extorting money most unwarrantably; but are frequently accessaries in aiding, abetting or concealing the commission of crimes, which it is their duty to detect and suppress.
If as an improvement to the preventive System, and as a check upon the improper conduct of parochial Watchmen, a body of honest, able, and active Officers, in the character of Police Patroles, were attached to each Public Office, or to a General Police System with a sufficient fund to defray the expences, to follow up informations for the detection of negligent servants of the Public, and liberally to reward those who were active and useful in apprehending delinquents, and in making discoveries, tending either to the recovery of property stolen, or to the detection of the offenders, little doubt need be entertained, under the guidance of a Central Board and vigilant Police, aided by zealous and active Magistrates, that such a System would soon be established, as would go very far towards the prevention of many atrocious crimes.
Among the various advantages which may thus be expected to result to the Community from the arrangements recommended in this work, would be the suppression of Highway Robberies. A desideratum impracticable in the present state of the Police, although easy and certain under a Police Board; having a general superintendance competent to look at every point of danger, and with pecuniary resources equal to an object so interesting to the inhabitants of this Metropolis.[28] Upon the adoption of this important measure, therefore, (a measure so strongly recommended by the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Finance[29]) depends in a great degree, that security to travellers on the highways in the vicinity of the Metropolis; the want of which, and of many other valuable regulations, for the prevention of crimes, has long been a reproach to the Criminal Jurisprudence, as well as the Police, of the Country.