The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-10 00:00:00

, L

SPIRIT OF TEE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TILE BAUNTS OF CRIME IN LONDON.i 711 E PRO,

NDMENT.

The Times, in; discussing the debate in the House of
Lords on Chine se missions, takes an unfavourable view of
the action of missionaries. They have gone out with not
much learningjand still less knowledge of mankind. They
probably haveja vague notion that the Chinese believe in
the doctrines of Confucius, which, whatever their merits,
do not lead to salvation. With some eminent exceptions,
..they do not even seek to understand the religious system
they would supplant. The commonplaces of the chapel
and the prayer-meeting form the controversial armoury
they have prepared before leaving home ; a poor ver-
nacular acquaintance with the language of the people
they would convert is the amount of their later acqui-
sition. They rush into controversy with, perhaps, the
most lamentable ignorance of the character, the
• attainments, the tone of thought of those whom they 0
would convert. The result is that, after years of energetic members of the force who are checkmated. Such
wonderfully sustained zeal and self-denial, the progress of an one may see two notorious burglars going along a
the faith in those distant regions is not encouraging. The street at midnight. Ife can't stop them. .All he can do
Chinese are quick to learn, and are destined in is to follow them as secretly as possible, and watch them
the opinion of very acute judges to rise to a much try door after door with skeleton keys. He waits till he
higher grade of civilisation. But in theology meets with the regular constable, whom, of course, the
and metaphysics they keep to their traditional burglars have watched off his beat, and makes his arrest
systems, and though they, doubtless, look with sometimes easily, sometimes not without desperate
respect on anything that is promulgated by nations so resistance. Then follows the old story. Housebreaking
powerful and ingenious as those of Europe, the teaching implements are found upon the prisoners, previous con-
of the missionaries probably fills them only with a senti- victions are proved against them, and they get three
ment of wonder that the people who come in clipper ships months' imprisonment, with hard labour ! Before
and who use the steam engine and the telegraph should they are out of prison two days the same detective
take the trouble to address them upon religion. The ques- who made their capture may again see them late
tion now is, whether the advice now given to the mission- I at night lurking about villas, but if they go away
aries will be taken. The Times thinks not. The thorough- as he comes up he has no power to touch them. If
- bred missionary will at once take high ground, quote the they persist in loitering he can, of course, arrest them,
example of the ancient Christians, and declare that, gun- but this the thieves never do, but walk off, merely
beats or no gunboats, he will go into the interior and balked by one night or so of their intended booty. In the
preach in season and out of season. And no doubt same way there are recognised haunts and thieves'
this high-spirited programme will often be followed. houses in London, which are as well known to the
Men, however commonplace, tend to rise to the ideal Police as the Bank, and which are in fact visited by
Of their calling, and a missionary must not be the police every night. Some are occupied only
pusillanimous. To say the truth, missionaries are among iby convicted thieves—men whom the police know
the most courageous of men. Their point of honour to live by robbery every day, and who will go out on their
urges them to encounter danger as much as the soldier ; chance of larceny each successive morning. Yet, ueo
and their interest invites them to propitiate their own . there is a specific charge against an individual, ,
sympathising world with exploits of hardihood and suspicion amounting to an almost legal certainty of
romance. The societies of which Lord Shaftesbury speaks having committed a recent crime, the police have
will rather have to check than to instigate the zeal of their power to ask these vagabonds a single question." I'
t
emissaries. So much the more reason for urging on the this introduction, "N. A. W." goes on to describes s
Chinese the concession of all the rights which are enjoyed visits which he paid under the guidance of two inspec
. by civilised nations. If China were within this pale, each and a police-sergeant to some well-known thieves' hoi
man would have the right of settling where he chose, and in the metropolis. In one night he went to penny theat
each sect of propagating its own opinions. music halls, casual wards, refuges, thieves' haunts,
The Daily Telegraph thinks that the attitude of the Irish beerhouses, leaving shops, and cheap lodging-houses. 1
Protestants face to face with Mr. Gladstone's bill is cer- most interesting parts of his letter are his description
the thieves' beershops. Under the present system a kno
tainly not worthy of their old renown. They speak with
divers tongues ; every man doeth that which is right in thief may get an Excise license to sell beer. The pot
his own eyes ; there is no leader. From one parish comes have no power over him, and so he g
a whine ; from another a menace ; from a third a groan, on and flourishes. He cannot sell s pirits ;
The bishops are silent and inactive ; excepting the Bishop but anyone v
magistrates can prevent that ;
of Down and Connor, who long ago advocated a compro- puts his money down may take up his leave to ope:house for selling malt liquor. "N. A. W." describes
raise now pretty well " past praying for." We have
to high-class house where the elite of the thieves cl
never given very much weight to the boasts of visit
eregated. "It is near an East-end road. It is brigh
the Irish Protestants that they were the best -
bravest, most industrious, and most intelligent popula- lighted, clean, and comfortable. The landlord and eat
c•
lady are behind the little bar. Both are known to be
tion on the face of the earth ; but we did believe
that, in presence of a great political crisis, they victed thieves, both are known to be lucrative
Una
would exhibit more resolution and readiness of ceivers and expert disposers of stolen goods. U
•
resource, greater real firmness, and less futile vaunting, a magisterial system these people could not hold th
They still utter the old and rather toothless deflancti license for a day. Let us pass into the parlour. It i
"No surrender !" but what does it mean ? "No sur very wide, well-furnished coffee-room, the walls of wh
ii
render" of what? They have enjoyed certain exceptional are amply garnished with glaring pictures, and at I
privileges of lordship and titles—will they refuse to sur- tables in it some eight or nine well-dressed n
render these ? Will the vehement Bishop of Cork force are sitting over their cigars and beer. These w
his way into the House of Lords after 1871? Will the the elite of the swell mob. There was nothing ab(
clerical successor to any one of the "life-interest clergy' them externally to distinguish them from the ordins
retain perforce the church, the parsonage, and glebe ?j th frequenters of Pall Mall, or St. James's-street, :
money to the new commissioners, and thus defy the law? a
Will the landlords who pay tithes refuse to transmit the ere was not one all,
our our Inspector and sergel
mired us, had not been convicted of `robberies from t
;person' over and over again—indeed, our sergeant rate
We all know that none of these overt acts is even imagined.
What, then, is the meaning of "No surrender ?" We still markedly pointed out a ` gentleman' who had only ji
believe that, notwithstanding all the bravado and sulky come out from six months' imprisonment on his (the s
inaction now displayed in Ireland, the Church, associated geaut's) own arrest, And against whom many convictio
so long with cruel persecution, military terror, social had been proved before. Our entry, lam sorry to sa
seemed to throw a general damp upon the company. The
disorder, and centuries of crime, will come to the feet of
' the Minister, no longer " clothed " with State robes, but was an utter silence, and then, at intervals of afe
"in its right mind ;" and will—a new Guinevere prostrate seconds, one after another went out to get a cigar or
'
before the Arthur of our day—tacitly confess its "defeat glass of `old and bitter,' all of which they must ha
of fame." When we remember the strong Church feelings . found it particularly difficult to find, as none of them can
b
of the present Premier, his former pride in upholding the back, and our sergeant laughed at the idea that his comir
them would be likely to keep the house quiet ane
Irish Church because he believed in its truth, and his amone'
10]
manifest tenderness even now in dealing with it—we can scatter its customers for a day or two. The landlord,
bad evidently arrived at the same conclusion, was not i
well imagine his pity at seeing "lie so low that golden
head," his "pride in earlier summers." But not the less so jocose a mood, and scowled at us fiercely as we passe
would he re-echo the voice of the nation if he summed up 1
I A low-class thieves' haunt is also described :—" The la out'"
in Arthur's impresive words the story of a Church that,
is generally in a
after centuries of union with the State, remains barren of beerhouse for the worst class of thieves
ill-favoured ' slum,' ill-looking and worse smelling, with
all but bitter fuit. "The children born of thee were .
sword and fire, red ruin, and the breaking up of laws." group of tawdry women choking up its narrow entrance
and half-naked children playing about barefooted on th
The Daily Naas remarks that the period of the slimy flagstones, hiding amid the dust-heaps, from amore,
Gladstone Administration is likely to prove a millennial which they only sally out when the older inhabitants e
era to the outcasts, and using the word in its honourable the court have come forth to lock upon the phenomeno
sense, adventurers of politics. The leaders of forlorn hopes of a respectably-dressed stranger venturing into the;
catch glimpses of victory. Mr. Berkeley has long pleaded district. At the upper end of the court is a broa
to deaf or inattentive ears on behalf of the Ballot, and the dim light, to which our party at once made tbei
Ballot is as good as gained. Mr. Locke King, with equal way, and rassed through a low bar into a small taproots
assiduity , has asked session after session for the assimila- Quick as we were, however, we were not quite quiel
tion of the law which regulates the descent of real pro- enough to prevent the large party there secreting the card
perty in the case of intestates to that which prevails in . with which they were practising. I use the word practi;
regard to personal property. In-other words, he demands ing advisedly, for most of them were only occupied i,
the repeal of. the law of primogeniture. The fruition of attaining perfection in the three-card trick or in ringing
his patient desires is near. Mr. Gladstone avows that the endless variations of the cards with a view to futur
• legislation is necessary, and that it must be more or less and certain profit at racecourses and country fairs. Ai
in the direction of Mr. Locke King's proposals. The ill-looking bulldog, but by no means the most ill-looking o
subject is one in regard to which the Government acknow- the company, came towards us as we entered, but was al
ledges its responsibilities. It would be prepared to take once called off by his master, and then, as in the bette
the initiative but for the fear of charging itself with more class of thieves' house, we sat down in our corner amid i
work than it can hope to bring to a satisfactory issue this dead silence, broken only by a few muttered words of slap;
session. In this aspect of affairs, Mr. Gladstone feels that or an occasional spitting on the table to efface the chall
he is bound to give a private member every facility in
undertaking a settlement of the question. marks by which they had been practising some gambling
game. When we had time to look around we found our
The Times observes that the question involved in Mr. selves in a curious place and in curious society. The roon
Locke King's bill is not whether large estates or small ones was low, ill-smelling, and very full—full, too, of tie
are best for the general welfare of the community, but lowest description of broken-down fighting men, card and
whether the State, in its capacity of administrator to the skittle sharpers, and thimble riggers. One is knowr
effects of an intestate, ought to distribute them in a ' over half the country fairs and racecourses in England as
manner at variance with the plainest rules of humanity , the very prince of successful swindlers. The others
and common sense. We do not say that this is a question
to be decided off-hand, or without reference to the were all known rogues and vagabonds, who had
circumstances of each particular case. It is pcssible that been convicted as such over and over again.. As with
in some instances as much injustice would be the swell thieves' beerhouse so with Cris infamous
done
intestates apse it; yin done by applying the law of g
the law of primogeniture.avelind to the estates o haunt, as soon as our party came in, its regular occupants
f
But the presumption is certainly the other way; and so instantly and silently departed, with the single
i difference
.
long as a man enjoys the fullest liberty of testamentary that while the first-named class affected gentility n thee
disposition he cannot complain if the law declines to secure departure and wished ` Good night,' the latter did not
to his eldest son the position which he neglected to secure conceal their fear, but slunk away as much as they could
for him himself. The present seems a favourable oppor-
unnoticed. Yet both classes were equally criminal, both
tunity for taking the question out of the domain of faction
and of setting it on a fair and equitable basis. were known as having lived by crime only, and as certain
only to live by crime while they were at large. Yet to
The Standard says that Mr. Locke King has obtained
leave to introduce once more his bill for what is naively neither one class or the other could the detectives
called the "better settling the real estates of intestates"-- say a single word, for there was no specific
in other words, for the abolition of the English custom of charge agai', and they went out as usual
primogeniture. - The arguments, or the phrases which rest them,
passed for such, were of the character which has become
•from their beershops to prey upon society at large,
familiar to the public, not only through the mouth of the whether rich or poor," "N. A. W." further tells us that the
member for East Surrey, but from the speeches of greater police know every face in these houses, and instantly
orators and mere distinguished Liberals. There were the
detect a fresh one—that generally of a man whose own
usual claptraps about the injustice to the small land-
s e receivers.
w hit
h c 0
mAbmi
noen the
holders, the inequality between the laws of real and of district has been made too hot for him. He goes on to
personal property, the unhappiness of families, and the
over-exaggeration of properties ; the results of the pre. aspreeakthoofclass of beerhouses
sent system, which prevails through the greater
part of the kingdom, of permitting the eldest son , gbeer-wseollrsintgwith some other
trade. These are always able to elude the vigilance
to succeed to the whole estate when the owner dies of the police
without a will. Of none of these points were there an , and in these the regular receivers of
y
stolen goods wait for the boy thieves, from whom
cause shown why the ancient custom of the country—a
custom not the creation of any law, but of which the law , they will purchase anything—a, single shoe, a pewter
itself is but the expression—should be disturbed in favour pot,. a waggoner's whine a horse's nosebag, a piece of
of the new Principle of equal distribution in cases of bacon, a brace of pheasants, a watch or handkerchief—
intestacy. Beyond a lame story of a prodigal son, who, , anything and everything, in fact, on which these fuss-
having taken to dissipated ways, contrived to get the
whole estate upon his father dying without a will, and to tiable se.,ung vagabonds can lay their hands. The amount '
squander it to the prejudice of a virtuous younger brother, they receive for each article is almost nominal, probably
that the existing custom works injuriously.
not more than a tenth of its value, so that a young thief
there was not even a single illustration adduced to prove
has to pilfer to the value of some 30s. before he gets 3s. or
IP
, 4s. to pay for his dinner, his place in the gallery of a cheap
The Star declares that a very strong addition to the
theatre, and. his supper and bed at a cheap lodging-house.
case which may be made out for the bill is the fact that 1 .
already local differences render the law of succession in
cases of intestacy very irregular. In Sussex the law of , These receivers, under the present law, it is almost
. 3' dare not— and it need
Borough English prevails, and in a case of intestacven 'impossible to get hold of, fur the boys themselves
will not tell of them—the
that county the whole of a landed estate has gone to the
hardly be said that the receivers don't tell of themselves.
cases where there is no will a distrution similar He also draws attention to the "leaving shops," the
?ter.that which would take place every7here if thieves' pawnbrokers.
Mr. Locke King's bill were to pass into law.
lowest districts of the Boron h g ,of Rateliff •
Mr. Beresford Hope is no true Kentish man in . RlghwaY, or
complaining of this local law. The existence of such dis- Spitalfields which has not one or more of them. The
crepancies proves most irrefragibly the necessity of some pledges are kept for a month, and interest is cbareea e„
change in the law, and also suggests that whatever change i advances at the rate of a penny for every sixpence, wVeshwer"
takes place ought to be effected by a carefully prepared
and comprehensive measure. So far as we know, Mr. ' redeemed the same day or at the end of the four weeks.
Locke King's bill would do all that is necessary on the What this rate of interest is I must leave others to cal.
particular point is which he has so long devoted himself. culate, though it really matters little. It is the syst
But the law of real property requires to be generally , em a
overhauled and perhaps all parties would be best pleased which I complain.
'
with a measure which should effect the changes desired in I The limes commenting on this letter, says : "We bays
emanner more elaborate -and balanced than Mr. Locke ' been all perplexing ourselves with the possible fate of some
King, for obvious reasons, could, as a private member, I -
' contrite convict disposed to become respectable, but •
propose with any chance of success.
The Herald is dissatisfied ,ci.ar we s
with Alr. C d ll' in his efforts by the intervention of the police. 1
reduction I thwarted
in the number of army officers. Why, among the real, genuine representatives of crime—
we
it cialn be shown that ,
have a larger army than „“ want, we and good ; but , among the people described by our correspondent—there
if this fact be not shewn, then-it ist, clear that we are pre- 'is not a man who dreams, or ever would dream, of any
paring to do with a smaller arras
laiti 11,3 want, and to
take the chance of conse,,
re-
no n •ed, even in the cause of ;co oreover, there was :
wrnlY. to reduce the honest calling. Doubtless in this metroplis there are re-
numerical strength of the army claimed men leading, as far as they can, reformed lives, but
enaniviulation of the staff ; criminals'
might he ,gained by a judicious -41 !,15 the same object 1 the malefactors of whom the police speak—the habitual i --.------=----------------
and administrative expenses trittie.Y• the
loss of ! of whom we read—the enemies of society of I The Anglo-Italian Gazette informs us that the
efficiency or prejudice to existingg
t.ere:sts.. The only ; whom we wish to rid ourselves—these people', with all 1 American colony at Napleimet en the 22d February, at
defence of the plan adcpted i 8
sacrifice machinery—that the
compnies
, rehdautc
(it does not , tie it belongings, exist in a perfect blaze of notoriety. 1 the house of the Unit3d States Consul, to celebrate the au-
can be filled up at any time when ethe ; Now, aee we to be told, and must we really conclude, that niverFary of the birthday of Washington.
officers set to work for the purpos,... But this •
reierut ttng i
tn.,. , this state of things is to con ' b -
tinue, ecause we ca ou
eed LUXURIANT AND BEAUTIFUL fIAIR.—MRS. S. A.
n no
applies only to men—it does not extend toa'
01 - '.-
'
It has been urged by some military reformers that the & ALLEN'S WORLD'S HAIR RESTORER OR
1 Way of empowering the police to put a stop tO: te witteue
Hair. DRESSING never fails to
quickly restore Grey or Faded to its youthful colour and
proportion of officers to men is unnecessarily large in the encroachment on the liberties of the 8,11,,m e British army, and it is certainly larger nominally than i . beauty, and with the first application a beautiful gloss and de
some continental armies. In the English army it is 1 tCI) ~._...____ .
______. lightful fragrance is given to the Hair. It stops the Hair from
28, in the French 1-to 33, in the Austrian Ito 40, and in in the falling off. it prevents baldness. It promotes luxuriant growth;
the Prussian Ito 40. But against this comparison must be PA event of Mr, liat,vey Lovist mtplijv tat it causes the Hair to grow thick and strong. It removes all
placed the fact that the English army has a far more 1 v'At toe' liar le the Zteockrel R,,to,m
juvrimitimil d dandruff. It contains neither oil nor dye. In large Bottles_
extensive range of service, even in times of peace, th 1,42 1 that borough pill ttivite Dr% fialariAi "' • a lib 'am o I Price
Six Shillings. Sold by most Chemists e,Tai Perfumer,
any of the great armies of the Continent --- -----, Vktiiiii_tt-- atlttitl,-- --- '." 'a
-m - - ;11:3::: , Depot 266, High Holborn
reitasekdentetion.
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