The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-27 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.

RACING SWEEPS.—Alderman Wilson waited upon the
Lord Mayor on the subject of racing lotteries, subscrip-
tions, and Derby sweeps, the recent decision of the City
magistrates not having operated quite so extensively as
they had contemplated.
The ALDERMAN stated that, notwithstanding the con-
viction of Mr. Willis before Sir Peter Laurie and him-
self, end the confirmation of that conviction at the Lon-
don Sessions, the "sweeps" were still craried on, and to
an extent of which his Lordship could scarcely form any
idea, the offenders being some of them publicans, and
some persons engaged in other businesses. He had
found it necessary in his own ward, in the spring of the
year, to intimate and to manifest his determination to
prevent so injurious and demoralizing a practice, by
refusing to renew a license to a person who held a
" sweep " in his house until he had a satisfactory secu-
rity that there would be no repetition of the offence.
That hint had been taken, and the sweep was accord-
ingly put an end to, and the license renewed. The pub-
lican's solicitor had undertaken that no more Derby
sweeps or lotteries should be held in the house. It ap-
peared, however, that the party who had bet n conduct-
ing that lottery had removed his business from the ward
,‘f Custle-Baynard to a place at a short distance outside
Temple-bar, and had printed circulars to the following
effect:—

"E Appleton, begs respectfully to inform his friends
and the public that, in consequence of Alderman Wil-
son's continued perseverance to put down all lotteries or
raftles in his ward, Mr. Wats, of the Fleece Tavern,
Doctors'-commons, has entirely relinquished drawing
sweeps. E. A. has therefore been induced, by the num-
ber of applications made by those who are averse to such
dogmatical interference, to continue drawing at --.
Country subscribers may rely upon having their interests
attended to with the same integrity as if they were
present at the drawing. E. A., in conjunction with Mr.
Watts, returns his thanks to his late patrons durieg Mr.
Watts' sporting career."
One of these circulars had been transmitted to him

(Alderman Wilson) from a large manufacturer in a dis-
tant town, by whom between 700 and 800 men were em-
ployed, in a letter, of which the following is a copy :
" Sir,—We take the liberty of calling your attention
to the enclosed ' Sweep Advertisement.' We accidently
discovered it in possession of the party to whom it is
addressed, a common labourer in our employ. From
what we can discover, it appears that parties in London
are constantly sending similar circulars with a view to
deprive poor ignorant persons of a portion of their earn-
ings ; and we feel particularly glad to hears from this
circular, of Alderman Wilson's continued perseverance
to put down all lotteries and raffles in his ward.
" Mr. Alderman Wilson."
In another letter, received from the partners in the same
house, it was stated that the labourer who had received
the circular had about 18f. a week wages, and that an-

other of their labourers had received rt similar invita-
tion to join; that the Is. was previously sent to Joseph
Watts, Fleece Tavern, Doctors'-commons, London, to
whom E. Appleton" professed to be the successor in
the sweep business, and that the employers did not
know to what extent the system had been at work
amongst their workpeople. Thus, the conductors of
" sweeps" in London, not content with having tried the
experiment of ♦iolating the laws in London, seemed re-
solved to pursue the course which they had so recklessly
commenced through the country, notwithstanding the
decided tone in which high law authorities had spoken,
and the peremptory judgment of the magistracy.
The LORD MAYOR said he was ready to adopt any
course most likely, in the opinion of the City Solicitor,
to put an end to the practice.
Alderman WILSON said, he thought it would be ad-
visable, now that the magistrates in the city had esta-
blished the illegality of the " little goes," to send the
papers he had received to the Secretary of State, in
order that the Attorney-General might deal with them
as might be considered most expedient. He had also
received several circulars which had been issued from a
place in the Strand called the " Racing-office, at which
it was evident the" sweeps" were carried on in the most
open manner and in direct contempt of the law. (He
here produced several printed bills, detailing the parti-
culars of the lottery transactions he was denouncing.) To
an emporium like that which he had alluded to he thought
it most important that the notice of the Law Officers of
the Crown should be drawn, as the magistrates had no
power to interfere ; but with respect to the licensed vic-
tuallers of the city of London, he hoped the aldermen
would cause a circular to be sent to them, giving assur-
ance that in no case in which a " sweep" was sanctioned
should a license be granted. He had been given to un-
derstand by Sir Peter Laurie that the magistrates of
Middlesex had come to that determination, and he con-
sidered it but just to the respectable members of the
trade who had conformed to the law and been defrauded
of their fair share of business by the disreputable, that
the utmost support should be yielded them by the magis-
tracy. He regretted to say tint the necessity for imme-
diate activity was the greater, as there were several
public-houses in the City in which " sweeps " were
continued.

The LORD MAYOR said, he was obliged by the com-
munication made to him by Alderman Wilson on a sub-
ject which had excited such grave interest throughout•
the country. It was certainly extraordinary that after
the decisions already come to, and the distinctly avowed
opinion of the Attorney-General, that "sweeps" were
illegal, there should be any person so rash as to sanction
practices of the kind ; and he should consult the City
Solicitor as to the legal propriety of issuing
notices of the descriptive alluded to by Alderman
Wilsor. It was to be lamented that the sinister inge-

nuity of the " sweep managers had been pointed—to
the workmen in manufactories, in particular at a time
when it was most difficult for a labourer to get bread for
his family. Independent of its demoralizing tendency,
the injustice to which it most exposed all honest pub-
licans was to be deplored, and, as chief inagistratP, he
should consider himself bound to make every exertion of
which he was capable to prevent the injurious continu-

ance of the system.
Alderman WILSON said it had been ascertained that
`n many of these "sweeps," if an individual not be-
longing to a parti;tular clique happened to turn up a
prizc., he was robbed of it under the pretence that ho
had a wrong number. lie thought that information
would be likely to operate with many, but with those
who were induced to frequent publie•houies upon the
expectation of "Derby advantages," nothing short of
actual want was calculated to have any effect.