The Express.
London, England, 1866-12-05 00:00:00

nit erpreiso.

TO 001tRIMPONDENTS.
Adrerthententa Intended fur " The &press," London Evening
Paper, meat be at the Office, 10, Bouverke-atreet, by Two
o'clock on the day of publication.

DECAY LANK
Tins F:rierinri, THE HUNCHBACK. Messrs. Swinbourne, W.
Montgomery, C. Webb, Harcourt, Barsby, ; ?Abut Helen Vanelt
and Mrs Yeziu. —And K A MERIN!: AND PETRUCHIO.
Mr. T. Swlnbourne, Mr. J. Robins, and Mu 'rabid Adams.

HAYMARKET.
TUN EVENING, A GAME OF SPECULATION. Messrs. C.
Mathews, Chippendale, Rogers, &c. ; Mesdames Fltaillkun, Laws,
*c. —ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. Messrs. C. Mathews, Comp-
ton, &c. ; Madames Mathews & Flat OUT OF WATER.

ramcaswa
Tan mranwo, BARNABY BUDGE Messrs. S. Calhoun,
F. Villiers, J. o. Shore. de. ; Mrs. John Wood. Ming asnrasta
Thomson and Katherine Mrs. H. Vining, and Mrs. C.
Borsman.—Yroceded by THE MlS!Lodgers, TILFSS OF THE MILL.

LI CRUM.
TTI/9 EeirtneW, BILIITI:8 AND CESAR. Miss Remade.—Aml
THE LONG ST'RIKE. Yens Emery, Widdioomb, Cowper, Int&
'Africk. Reynolds, and Moreland ; Miss Henrade.—Concludins
with TWEEDLE lON% TAIL COAT.—Comineuca of 7.

STRAND.
THIS Emma. NEIGHBOURS. Mears Pusan, Belford,
and Murray ; Mesdames Swanborough, Johnstone, and Hughes.
—DER ERRISCHUTZ OR, A GOOD CAST FOR A FMCS.
—And BOOTS AT THE SWAN.

HOLBORN.
THIS EVIIIILNO, at?, FAMILY JARS. Mr. Sefton Parry and
Miss C. Saundera—And FLYINO SCUD. Mews. Neville,
more, F
oote, Blake, Vollaire, &c. ; Mesdames F. Josephs, C. /launders,
Bessie Foote, Pidda, Lennox, Raymond, &c.

BRITANNIA.
TRH EVRAING, ROVING JACK, THE I'IRATZ HUNTER.—
Miss Oarseooe; Mr •' D.lncing Mod" beyeu ; Mr. lAbutuum.—
LAtREITES BRIDAL; OR, MORE THAN MEETS TUE EVE
The Iluxtuo Dyo Worke Br►ss Band.—PAVED WITH 0 AD.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DOT —llornlos. Ob. 47m Afternoon. lb. 7m.
To-ItOutow—Monalng, lh. 2.1 m Alteraouu, Its. 4.6 m.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5.

A rtzxrso of anxiety is finding expression
among some of the inhabitants of this capital.
We are losing, it is said, our old household secu-
rity. The force on which we have so long relied
for the protection of our homes is paralysed, and
henceforward no one can feel safe in his bed. The
immediate occasion for these alarms is the convic-
tion of the police-constable HAYES for perjury.
It is roundly affirmed that whether the constable
was guilty or innocent, his conviction is a
lamentable occurrence. It is argued that if the
police are to be prosecuted on the ground of evi-
dence which they have given in the courts they
will be discouraged and disabled, while burglars
and footpads will flourish. We believe that this
fear is not wholly unfounded., although it does seem
probable that the vigorous and cheerful style of
swearing to which we have been accustomed on
the part of the force will be exchanged for
a more cautious and exact mode of statement. No
one, indeed, caube satis3edwiththe present position
of the case out of which the prosecution of HAYES
arose. That constable and another, named
BARRY, were employed to watch certain parts of
Camden-town, in consequence of numerous bur-
glaries which had been committed there. On the
morning of August 31 they arrested in Eversholt-
street two young men, named PEARVE and DYE,
and took them to the station iu Albany-street,
where they charged them with attempting to
commit a burglary inGloncester-crescent, Regent's-
park. The police swore that they watched the
two young men into the garden of the house,
and took them there. On behalf of the accused,
witnesses swore that the former had never been iu
Gloucester-crescent the whole evening. The state-

ments made by the police on the ono hand, and
the witnesses for the young men on the other,
were ao contradictory, that the magistrate dis-
charged the prisoners, who iu turn indicted the
constables for perjury and conspiracy. The evi-
dence on the trial of each of the policemen was
again irreconeileable ; but besides that, the results
of the two prosecutions were discrepant, for while
BARRY, who was tried first, was acquitted, Hayes
was convicted, although the two men must have
been equally guilty or equally innocent. This, it
must be admitted, is a most unsatisfactory state of
_ . .

things. But the complaint to which we have
referred does not arise out of the inconsis-
tency of the verdict or the imperfection.. of the
trials. It would have been made with equal
force if both constables had been found
guilty and with ectizd reason if both had
been acquitted. It springs from the apprehen-
sion of the consequences which must ensue if the
veracity of the police is called in question at all,
except by their superiors ; if private persons are
allowed to put the law in motion, and make con-
stables accountable to the tribunals for their evi-
dence. .

The reply to these complaints is so obvious—it
is so certain, that the considerations on the other
side must have presented themselves to the minds
of the complainants and been dismissed as insuffi-
cient—that instead of dwelling on those considera-
tions at length, we shall do better to ask how it
happens that any person in his senses can think it
a small matter that the truthfulness of evidence
should continue to be treated as the first condition
to be secured in the administration of justice. The
demand now made is in reality that our persons
and liberties shall he entrusted to the hands of a
class whose every word shall be treated as true in
virtue of their office. JOHN SMITH may be a
man of average morality while he is a stableman
in the country, never telling a lie except for some
purpose of interest or convenience ; but brought
up to London, and supplied from Scotland-yard
with a blue dress and white buttons, and de-
nominated X 433, he is ex officio veracious and
exact, and his word must never be impugned
by those whom it may consign to a cell, to punish-
ment, and lasting disgrace. A demand of this
kind would be utterly unintelligible except on the
supposition that it proceeds from the members of
a class of the community who thoughtlessly ima-
gine that it would increase the protection they
enjoy, while they would be wholly exempt from
the frightful tyranny under which it would place
their neighbours. Experience shows that men will
make the most horrible suggestions with the utmost
coolness when they know that their own interests
and persons are secure. One whose sole ambition
is to gain the notice and favour of the great will
think nothing of publicly expressing a wish that
the workmen who :.re now peacefully meeting to
ask for votes may be tired upon with grape shot