The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-17 00:00:00

CRIMINAL STATISTICS.

I There is deep matter for legislative reflection and
inquiry in a Blue Book just issued from the Vote-
' office, entitles " Tattles showing the number of
Criminal Offenders (England and Wales) in the year
1843." These tables, which exhibit the numbers
" committed for trial or bailed for appearance at the
Assizes and Sessions in each county"—also the result
of the proceedings, are followed by a most valuable
paper or digest, prefaced by this announcement :
" he following explanations and calculations
with reference to the accompanying tables, have
been made by Mr. REDGRAVE of the Home-office,
who compiled and prepared the tables." This docu-
ment is highly honourable, no duubt, to that gentle-
man's powers of analysis and arrangement, but it
develops a picture of the present aggregate of criminal
offenders, and the ratio of its increase, which is the
most discouraging that could be submitted to the
British public. The contents of the Tabular Returns
will be found, if not to falsify, yet by no means to
confirm, the anticipations of those who augured, from
the extensive repeal of capital puniShment, first, a
largely increased proportion ofconvictions to the number
of commitments ;' secondly a largely decreased amount
of those crimes from which the capital penalty has
been thus withdrawn.. The release of juror's from the
temptation to falsify their oaths, by verdicts founded,
—not on their impressions of the evidence before
them, but—on their reluctance to be accessory to the
execution of their fellow-creatures ; and the as
sumed readiness with which they. would (it was
thought) convict, where warranted' by evidence, in
such cases—appear to have had little sensible effect in
repressing this class of offences. In spite of Mr.
RGEBUCK'S eulogy, the other night, of factory labour
as the most , appropriate and salutary employment
fur women, these tables supply statistics from which
Mr. REDGRAVE eliminates the conclusion that " the
variations on the centessimal proportion of the males to
the females have not exceeded 2 per cent. in the last
seven 'years ; that the proportion of females was
greatest in 1840, decreasing slightly in the two fol-
lowing years, being last year 22.02 per cent., being a
slight increase on the previous year ; and that in the
ten most manufacturing counties, the proportion of
females was 25'4 per cent. ; in the ten most agricultural
counties, 15.4 per cent. only."—(P. 10.) To the
same learned authoiity, who found matter fur thank-
fulness and congratulation in the devotion of childre❑
and young persons to the same species of occupation,
we commend this significant passage :—" The coin-
parative ages in the ten most agricultural, and the
ten most manufacturing and mixed counties,
afford' similar results ; namely, the earlier coin•
mencement of crime in the manufacturing than in
the agricultural counties."— (P.' 9.) But Mr. RED-
GRAVE shows, especially by reference to the per centage
of offences committed between twenty and .twenty-
five years, that the career of crime is shorter
in the manufacturing than in the agricultural
districts. The returns, however, are full of ano-
malies well calculated to refute the confidence
of less practical men in either House of Par- '
liament, and in either of the two great parties which
occupy them, in the dangerous delusions involved in
some of their most favourite notions. His Grace
the Duke of BUCKINGHAM may be surprised
to learn such news as this of hi's " model county,"
namely—" In the Midland (agricultural) Counties
Northampton, Oxford, and Berkshire, a decrease of
crime—Bucks an increase." Mr. BANKES, who ran a
memorable tilt, some time since, in honour of the
abundant wages and excellent character of the whole
Dorsetshire tenantry, must bear to be'told that " if
the Western counties, Wilts and Somersetshire, show
a decrease, Dorsetshire shows an increase of crime."
But the general results are too deplorable to be
used,,merely to point a passing reflection for the di-
gestion of political Contemporaries. "In the last
year" (1843) writes Mr. REDGRAVE, "there was an
' increase (of commitments) of 141 per cent. on
the whole class—every one of the most atro-
cious (If fences showing a considerable increase.
In the " iffences against property committed with
violence," there was a large increase, extend-
ing to nearly every offence. In 1842, the in-
crease in this class amounted to :16.6 per cent.; and
the past year has added 13.9 per cent. to the former
great increase. " Offences .against property, com-
mitted without violence," have decreased during the
last year. " Malicious offences against property"
show a considerable increase, although.they had been
already more than doubled in the year 1842. "For-
geries and offences against the currency," which had
likewise greatly multiplied in 1842, show in 1843 a
further increase of 5 per cent.

Here follows a painful confirmation of the views
which these details are calculated to supply—

It has been already shown that the decrease in the past
year has fallen chiefly on the minor offences, and that there
wa.4 an increase in the graver classes of crime. This, with the
number of sentences passed at the winter assize, will account
for the increase„ in the face of a general decrease, of the most
severe secondary punishment, and of the numbers sentenced to
death, which latter exceed those in any year since the exten-
sive abolition of capital punishments by the Acts of 1 Vic-
toria. The sentences in each of the three last years are
given :

Tll WOOD P.A.VING.
al, e •
b 't at ,-;:n, taissioners of Sew,,rs for the City of London
rbuithvaildliall on Tuesday last, to consider a motion
keilis,t furwurd by Depute Peacock—'•'l'' That. in con..e-
-' e Ik.:0-(1?if the great expense and doubtful durability of
11,11111er lavntnent—it is the opinion of this Court, th:it
'%ll for " a°. What is now contracted for shall be laid
A „or tweir,,
~ . „
tt discus Diorites.
s
e,, 6tlbi,:°ll owl considerable length took place uplift
sclP'n4 -t:'' in ich it vvis strongly argued by tie
is-Petall- if
the wood D • went, that the timber paved
uita • - are i"flitting . 't'e , . -ion the inlia-
tl tits enormous ex oensc lit
."
sto':" were giving infinitely more trouble than
Nillt e Pave . h oise of which was greatly
its ell'a4n 'nent' tu n • ' hich it excelled
riyai. ned by the proportion in w
(4.1 t vv,
t*ctorsß c°; ntehded by those who did not-agree with the
f-.°ll, tha-t T the necessity ol comitor to such a res,lu-
ilvittltie:::p-sioitetCoorurt ought not to be 'fetter, d as to their
11'
a OW T-iti"; and the previous question was carried
s—the numbers being for the previous
-14 Int isit;iniel:
_fi.).7,Mr. Peacock's motion 14.
th eN Is I, ,"I“.nt that the opinion of the Commis-
(' * ""rgoin a rapid change on the subject of
1344
Payeln.-nt.g
-,-,------
cihWlNb;:rtr-4 lii. AND HIS FAMILY.
)06_,4e1, ' `'ln+Y 15, 1781, SuNDAY.—At St. George's
-,0ri,,,,, )I'syers et eight present, the King, Queen,
are4s s Elizabeth -and; Sophia,—about a hundred tn the
~' 've joined the train to Queen's house, or rather
1!t'all, fotes• The King was dressed in blue fly, cuffs
:114.44,1V_1! and turned up with red velvet, cape ot same,
bill ordinaulte, breeches and waistcoat of white cotton,
solult th'nrY iviaite wig with a tail ribbon, a round
wigs ‘,14- uat, small, used in riding. He is tall,
%tie s• a over t the shoulders, large ugly mouth,
t counte It deal, and shows his teeth too much ;
rnws. i!anc heavy and lifeless, with white eye-
4ve Teel Queen of the middle size and bulk, height
ititifui, She a half,--thOugh far removed from
,N..„lit haS an open, placid aspect, mouth large,
;:!iy, 41,12'air-ltt prayers their voices often heard, and
'''freel e" devout. They take no state upon them;
;lit
.4,iY_about the town, with only a Lord in Wait-
Qtleeti; . i',..„_Beyen, every evening after tea, the King,
iAliii, a 'Ref Of -Wales, Princess Royal, Princesses
ti,lie ind Elizabeth, walk for an hour on terrace half
41 tatil'crig, amidst two or three thousand people of
erTliso,e, Prince of Wales appears a likely,
Itt!„,hoeetibiales:p far more graceful than his father,
t 74 J.__ ungainly. The Prince affects much the
,7.Y" dress and air: age will doubtless soften down
a 1.1')477..ni.1,_e ;„ta.ste and .affectation. The Queen's dress,
dtiltif- nablt, same colour and facings as the
141ue
..,1! umall bonnet with a blue feather. Coil-
-4) IN 0 Mire gallery and state rooms ;in .one stands
NVitti'' !elk's- bed, of a- cream colour, worked in flowers
144 .N %IN beautifully shaded, about -ever) feet lon'
ds Mr. and Mrs. T. P.
ir feet wide i Hosts fluted a; d 'lt s e ter havingk ' the equestrian, invited his friends ,
which
he had erected
AN ORDER FOR TWO.--The.
*fi,it en'tre an 0•111 compartt'nen't, thoughtit to be th-e,', C—, to visit themausoleu
il at Kensal-
m late
_Aanind..:ew Ducrow,
*hitiis- 'll 801 gland, except-Lady Clifford's at Wbroo,k, i-.-for the reception of himself and his 1
their satisfaction
ilun—'we'll:w4ntight an,f pres Lady Clifford's
to he. r by the late, gteen. His visitors havingexpressed
liy,tsa.lpf Norfolk t.
twelve.chLrs and a screen, wrought ' at its external f:eauties, and the.FnOdTllValliOnPY
Nter'Negetit Aiajesty's own dilig lit' I and In the I interior arrangements Ducrow,
,ki
:11tie1„11,1k7,0n ibe terrace the lung --t. in 4 fHil. d,es,.._ : friend by the hand, exclaimed, in the
•%. 'florin,. ivrlrd, nail cock,. ,As the
~
time to give
so 1 shall be happy at an. . .
.de ; "thl-sP-r-inc-e of Wares- - liberality—‘, Well, my dear fellow, you see there's
13, 'lame- NT
Queen in a faint greenish silk full ;:plepty 01 room ; . .
sseXcept her fataakl, on which ,he told a bolo,et, witl, , 11. eo.,pley fulnessshaki n ogo
ff
lillitii sss
lostia:il.l!'of the same c4our us her dress,—,Sumuel Cur= •!..
way, an offer of an order for two to the pit,
of places to you and_ Mrs. T. P.
. *Nill'icte and Zetteis..
' immediately accepted.
. , T I,:vs,,lsinniutst
•
- - --" Vc-4, ..),-...:;• --.:_ ... , ;,,. ~..: ' ILIzcl:: •--. , .