The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-09-04 00:00:00

DUTCH PAPERS.

We have received Dutch Psp.ra to the 2d instant. We
extract the following:—
'loessEL., Atro. 28. '
Some of our journals have said that Joseph Bonaparte was re-
turning from America to England, on board the Crisis; and we I
have seen that that vessel has passed (on the 21st) by Portsmouth,
bound to London, with Joseph Bonaparte and his family on board.
The truth is, that it is the daughter of Joseph Bonaparte, Countess
Survilliers, who embarked nn hoard that vessel for hover, and then
on board another vessel for ihtend, from which plate the Countess
and suite arrived here last Tuesday.
FIL•WITOIT, AUG. 26.
A document has been communicated to us, by which the King
of England approvur the reasons which induced his Jlinisters of
the Kingdom of Hanover to dissuade his Britannic Majesty from
:he project of sending a corps of Hanoverian troops ur Portugal.
after the conference which took place at Johannisberg. between
Count Munster and Prince Metternich.

The mganixation of the Prussian Catholic Bishoprics will now be
carried into execution : the principles of this orinnization were tint
! laid down in the concordat concluded wi:h the Clue* of Rome, and
further developed in the Papal Bull. which was made public at the
time ; but some difficulties having unexpectedly arisen, the exe-
cution was suspended. Some of the Prelates nominated by his
3lajesty to the Archiepiscopal and Episcopal SLTII in the new
Prussian provinces, declined accepting the new dignities conferred
on them, but they have now changed their minds ; among them is
M. de Spiegel, nominated to the Archbishopric of Cologne.
FROM THE 31A I HE. A VG. 27.
The Hessian Commissioners in the Cominiree of Inquiry at
Alayence, arrived at Darmstadt. and went to the hotel of the 31i-
Mater Vats fimllman. lln the following day a Council of 31ini.
sten was called, and after it broke up. M. Hoffman, Advocate in
the High Court of Justice, was put under strict contineitnitit ; it is
said, that it is fur having attended &meeting of revolutiouis:s at
Erfurth.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRITISH PRESS.

Si a—There is a practice at the police-offices, which is, I
believe, wholly unknown to the Magistrates and to the
public generally, but which, as a scandalous fraud, and
impediment in the administration of justice, is worthy of
your observatien. I allude to the practice of extorting fees
or rewards front parties who, re t choosing to preseent with
the consent of the Magistrates withdraw the charges they
may have preferred. I do net impute to the chief officers
at the police-offices any pecuniary pin ticipation in these
shameful transactions, though I ant afraid they are not al-
together ignorant of the practice. The infericr officers, I
have been informed by the hest authority, viz. by them-
selves, derive the principal part of their income from this
unlawful and dishonest source. A friend of mine, some
time ago, had his purse abstracted from his pocket, under
such circumstances as admitted of little doubt that a
suspicious personage near to him had taken the liberty
of extending his acquaintance beyond the bounds with-
in which my friend would rather have confined it.
On a personal search, the property was not found on the
suspected party, but shortly after it was discovered in his!
immediate neighbourhood. The haler could not swear
that the purse might not have dropped from his
pocket, though he did not believe it had. The Magistrate
thought proper to allow the charge to be withdrawn, with
a suitable admonition to the prisoner, and ordered the !
purse to be restored to its owner, who left the office per-
fectly satisfl d with the result. Ile hail scarcely reached
the outside, however, when he found himself surrounded
and pursued by several fellows, who advanced claims to no
trifling amount for their attendance and services. I should
have stated, that my friend neglected to attend at the
Police Office on the morning following the supposed rob-
bery, and these police myrmidons each claimed two days
pay. The gentleman, unwilling to be seen in alte.Tcation
in the streets with this train, who set up their demands in
a coarse and almost abusive manner, consented to buy off,
the nuisance by compromising their claims. His unfortu-
nate purse was again drawn from his pocket, and after in
this way getting rid of his followers, he found that he was
jet. t 29. richer than if he hadoriginally suffered the theft to
base passed unnoticed, to say nothing of the annoyance
and inconvenience lie had sustained. The purse contained
a sovereign and seven shillings when it was purloined.
The pretense of the fellows was, that as the gentleman had
refused to prosecute, in which ease the county would have
paid them, it was his duty to nuke then compensation;
and one of them had even the insolenc; to remark, that
" because the Magistrate had suffered the felony to be
compounded, he could not lose what he was entitled
to." You will ask, perhaps, why did not the gentleman
return into the office and make the affair known to the
Magistrates? I admit he acted very wrongly in submiting
to the imposition, which he ought to have resisted ; but
as he submitted from his disinclination to be brought be-
fore the public in such company, the same reason prevent-
ed him from seeking redress afterwards. Transactions of
this nature are, I believe, more frequent than might be
commonly supposed. These leeches know, as it were, in-
stinctively, upon whom to fasten; and I am sorry to say.
that the mode of reporting police cases, adopted by some
of the Daily Papers, tends too much to facilitate these ex-
tortions. The practice of " 'hewing tip," in the most ri-
diculous light, every person who has occasion to make his
appearance at a police-office, has the effect of deterring
numbers from daring to claim the protection of the law.
They prefer the first injury to the risk of a remedy which
may inflict a greater; and thus a Daily Paper, which some-
times talks of its morality, allies itself with the operations
of the moat unprincipled plunderers, into whose bands the
unwary or inexperienced may fall. I shall be glad, Sir,
if these remarks draw your ft! tention to the subject, which
I am sure deserves your animadversions.
I am, Sir, your cottaut reader,
En&