The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1818-08-24 00:00:00

part themselves hy public meditative,. Ratt H camout bare
~aped the piddle obeerrati ~,, that the sires is are crowd.
ed •yr ry night by women of the noist abautt►ued sold pro.
Aigaie characters, who geue•wtfy attest the iiassrogris
with some 011114 MIC and distr.-tine expel arbrie; who a••tluve
those whose youth expoiee thesis most to eh' IV artifices, and
whose net-v.ollly avocations oblige them S. frequent the
public streets. Theme women, by their inteifirsesice and
riotous conduct, are the principal cause of the distrrhances
and broil% that eight', disgrace the te••trapolis. There
►erms to he a suet of Osten* minpteri ammo, them, tied
gives to eacb class a certain division io which they prowl fee
their prey, secure front any lists implies, by the guardians of
the tight police, whose favour and protection they secu
be slieriug with them the wages of their prostitoisou.
To such an extent dues this unisalier es to drive
from the streets (it mot being safe to walk in thrml modrst
females, whose avocations lead them abroad at night, and
who are exposed to the taunts wed insults of these women sod
their followers.

Your Cunernitt*e are fully aware of the difficulty of *op-
pressing this evil; but they are well enured that a greater
degree of vigilance on the part of the watchmen, whose ht.
Neely can alone be secured by the frequent in•pecliuo of the
cunsisible, beadles, and the different parish officers or watch
centsaittees, smiler whose ro•trul they are, *mild upstate se
• more effectual check to it, Own any alteration or the exit_
lug laws, to which they feel inclined to object. It is the
duty of the watchmen to prevent obscene exhibitions, riiits,
broils, and disturbances in the streets; and if that duly was
dune, ni•e•tenths of the nuisances complained of wool.'
Cease.

As an example of the benefits likely to came from the cu-
operation of the most respectable inhabitants in regulating.
Ike police of their respective peril& s, your Committee be;
leave to refer to Ike improved state of the parish of Christ
• Church, Spitatilelds, as contained inAlie Minutes of the Evi-
dence taken before them.

With respect to houses of ill-fame, the difficulty and ex-
pense of indicting them, and the impediments in the way of
discovering the real occupiers, have frequently deterred the
parish officers from proceeding against them ; and cycle
when they have obtained a verdict against them, the same
profligate conduct has been carried on under different
names, is the very same houses. Thus the keepers of those
dissolute houses evade the punishment they deserve, and
matinee, with almost entire impunity, the practice of those
actions which the law has vainly sought to discourage and
put down.
Although your Committee are not sanguine enough to
suppose that soy measures can he adopted which can totally
preveut the existence of such riceptaeles of vice, yet they
are anxious to limit their number as much as possible, Si)
that the virtuous part of society may be iu less danger of
annoyance and contamination. Under these impressions
they beg leave to suggest, that the public would And great
hearth from a more summary mode of proceeding against
them upon iuforination, on the oath of Iwo or more respect-
able iuhabitants before two Police Magistrates, or two
county Magistrates in Petty Sessions, who should have
power to summon the parties, and to bear sod determine
the case; and upon conviction of the offenders, should
have power to punish them by foe or imprisonment.
Your Committee wish particularly to direct the attention
of the House to • practice upon this subject, which marks
strongly the abuses that may grow out or ■ neatens of re.
wards fur the convicti of offenders. By the 25th Geo
ch. 36, sec. 5, the parish officers are commanded to prose-
cute any person keeping a disorderly house, oar the request
of two parisihonera, who ewer into • security to fu►niseh the
material evidence to convict the parties cuocerned ; the
reward for etch cosvicttuu tee pound•, to be paid by the
parish to each of the two persons prosecuting. In the last
y►ar, • Mr. Bunton, oue of those solicitors who hover rOtllld
the different police offices, was employed to indict several
persons keeping disorderly houses in Baron's. buildings,
in the parish of St. George-the-Martyr, Southwark. As is
customary on those occasions, when a gross fraud is
about to be practised, the motives which were stated
to direct t►e condoct of the prosecutors, wen• set forth
to be of the most laudable nature—they required no
more " than the fair mid reasimabk rusts and charges at-
lewdest on the prosecutions of the various indictments."
Ten persons were convicted on these indictments; the
agent, Mr. Bowdon., confessing himself in the Court, that
he had pane round to the parties, persuading thou, to
plead guilty ; the sum of Mt' was demauded of the
parish for these convictions, on the payment of the come
and charges, which were rim up to the sum of 1921.124 4d.
Great suspicion appears on the face ..f this proceeding
to fall on one of the clerks of the office at Union Hall,
who was concerned i■ • similar manlier iii 1813. Your
Committee recommend the subject to the examination of
the Magistrates, and if the tiro; can be supported
by proof, they are satisfied the clerk alluded to is unworthy
to act any longer in his mitnitiois. The conduct of some of
the inferior ofice►s of Union Hall appears to be most repre-
hesaible; and your Committee refrain from further com-
ments, being satisfied the Magistrates of that district sill
feel it to be their duty to enter into a athletic investigation
of the grievance complained of, by which, under the pretence
of putting down disorderly houses, parishes are dcfraudid,
and those whir ought to correct abuses derive a proft by
their continuance.

Your Committee catsuot close this part of the sabjeet
allotted to their investigation, without alluding to the
various propositions that hare been made to them, and
the projects that have been submitted to their review,
some of which may well deserve the c,,iistderation of the
Liegiffilature ; of this nature, is the power wloch it is pro-
posed to give to the Crown 111 nominate counsel, who, with
moderate salaries, should conduct all abloom' prosecutions.
Your Committee entertain nu doubt that the early eletectiosi
and speedy punishment of elffesiders ale much frustrated
by the present system, which forces the iudividssal, iu a
great degree, to prosecute at Isis own expense for the
iujuries which he may have sustained in prrsou or
properly ; justice is •,fien thereby prevent"! taking its
due course; prosecute as 510 Iris thiii StillitASYS arc tam.
tiered with, and some are induced to submit to the I,.se they
have suffered, by motives of ill-judged compossi,,,,; "theta,
from feelings of apprehension of further ; It these
causes conspire to give a degree of impiluity to otbstiele,,,,
which is greatly injurious to the public peace. but tour
Committee cannot avoid expressing au opiuiuu, 111,11 by a
further extension of liberal payinesit in Courts of Uloil4
of the expenses incurred by Frosecutors awl witnesses--cud
above all, by a careful revision of those parts of our crimi-
nal laws, which public opiuion has prononaced as Wit severe
for the mild and merciful feelings of the age jig a barb we
live—this species of public accuser (an office of oil 1111 l op-
,' pellatiou) may no longer be consider, d sass cessary, and the
justice of the country will preserve its CfrUlar COMP', assail
sot be impeded in its march by consemitious &clap:es, the
poverty or fear of individuals.