The Sun.
London, England, 1828-07-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC .IOURNALS.

(mom TILE TISIES.)

By letters which arrived from Oporto to the 17th
instant, we learn that three British ships had been
stopped in the Douro by order of the Government,
on pretence of having on board property belonging
to the friends of Don Pedro. The nsarper atLir-
bon has boasted that he can fill his coffers by confis-
cations, and that if he wants any skibsidy, the plun-
der of the English merdmots will supply it. Is
this the commencement tof the system ?
(FROM EttE :HORNING CHRONICLE.)

We have to call the attention of our reatlets to
the Report of a Select Committee of the douse
of Gammons, on the subject of the Police of the
Metropolis and the surrounding district. The in.
'crease of crime of late years has been its n ratio out
of all proportion greater than that of the increase of
the numbers of the people. The causes are many ;
but one leading cause is the defective state of the
law and its administration, and the defective organi-
sation of the- Police. The account given of the
Pr./pee/ability (according to Alderman Brown's no-
tion of respectability, the possession of property) of
the individuals who are at the bead of the depre,.
vktors, will be new to most of our readers, and will
tartle foreigners :
" Your Committee are tee!► aware that it may seem
severe to proceed 'with rigour against an act which at first
sight contains nothing repugnant to honesty; ttamt4r,
helping an owner to regain, or he himself mg-tit-ling, the
property 'A which he has been relit:eel. but their in-
quiries have too satisfactorily convinced them, that the
frt'Aveno:/ of tbf4e seemingly Nameless transactions has led
to the organisation of a -r!.-stern, which undermines the se-
curity of all valual/le property, which gives police officers
a direct interest that robberies to a large Amount sitolthl tot
be prevented ; and which has established a set of"p'litters.
op' and `fences,' with means of evading, if Pot defying,
the awn of the law ; who are wealthy ettough, if large re-
war4s are offered for their detection, to double them for
their impunity; and who would, in one case, have given
1,0001. to get rid of a single witness. Some of these
persons ostensibly carry on a trade ; one kat° had been
tried formerly for robbing a coach allietwards carried on
business as a Smithfield drover, and +tcl worth, it is believed,
15,0004 Your Committee tanuld not ascertain how many
of these persons there ere at present; but four of the
principal have been pointed out. One is the fareettntone of
the greatest turnpike trusts in the metropolis, He was for-
merly tried for receiving the contents 4 it stolen letter ; and
as a receiver of toll, now employed by him was also tried
for receiving that very letter, being then a postman, it is
not too much to infer that the- possession of these turn-
pikes is not unserviceable for the purposes of kltpredation-
Another has, it is said, been a surgeon in the army. The
two others of the four have no trade, but live like men of
property: and one of these, who appears to be the chief nf
the whole set, well known on the turf, and is stated, on
good grounds, to be worth 30,000/. It is alarming to
have observed how long these pert,ana hare successfully
carried on their plans of plunder, themselves living in af-
fluence and apparent respectability, bribing ceeMential
servants to betray the transactions of their ettiployers ; poa•
nessing accurate information as to Ors Means and precau-
tions by which valuable parceis are transmitted, then cor-
rupting others to perpetrate the robberies planned in conse-
quence ; and finally, teceiving, by means of their compro-
miles, a large emolument, with secure impunity to them-
selves and their accomplices."
It seems the Police officers have taken an active
part in this compromising business. " Your Com-
mittee having observed that compromises have re-
peate* taken place by the Police officers, and a
rigulat system to facilitate them has been gradually
maturing, conceive it is at least incumbent upon
Government to exact a more vigilant and intelligent
superintendence," &c. The Magistrates pretend
ignorance ; but the Committee countenance the idea
of the Magistratps conniving at the officers. Indeed
it has long been notorious that the officers are en-
gaged in these practices. That officers In a country
like this, where poverty is almost the only crime,
hardly allowed more than \vommld pay their lodgings,
should avail themselves of their situation to improve
their income, can surprise no one. That the effects
of the diffusion ofeducation ultimately must be bene-
ficial, we do not doubt ; but, in the mean time, it
enables all classes to see and familiariee themselves
with the gross corruption, the fraudulent pretences,
and the jobbing of the-higher classes; and the con-
stant spectacle of men, acting in utter disregard
of the rules of morality, availing themselves of
their power and influence to prey upon the
country, must tend very much to shake the prin-
ciples of the nation. A most respectable banker
assured us that one of the individuals alluded to by
the Committee holds ills head high, and laughs at
time idea of his being worse than the other ropect-
abk plunderers of their countrymen. The grand
source of the demoralization is the laxity of the
higher ranks. the diffusion of unprincipledness
below will compel, in tima, an amendment above.
The CoMmittee suggest something like what we
proposed about a year ago. They recommended an
officer of -police, acting under the immediate direc-
tions of the Home Secretary, to have the general
controul over the whole of the establishments of
police of every denomination, horse patrol, foot
patrol, and nightly watch :
" Your Committee will abstain from entering into a
consideration of the detailed regulations which shall be
Formed for the constitution and management of the new
Police Establishment. Precise rides might to be laid
down iu respect to the qualifications of candidates, with
reference to their age, previous occupations, and character.
There will be a manifest advantage in considering the
whole force, of whatever denomination it may consist, of
one united establishment, in introducing an efficient sys-
tem of centroul and inspection, through a regular gra.da-
riou of intermediate authorities, and in holding out every
inducement to good conduct, by giving promotion as much
as possible to the deserving officers."
Without holding out to the officers a prospect of
rising, by their meritorious exertions, to respectabi-
lity, it will always be impossible to have a good
Police. Honour and restard virtues and good con-
duct, and you will find then). The Police Officer
at present would gain nothing by lending himself in
good earnest to promote the interests of society, but
ridicule for his folly in cutting up the sources of his
subsistence. The Committee have talked a deal of
nonsense about individuals negociating, for the resto-
ration of their losses. Improve the Police, and im-
prove the law by facilitating convictions, and thereby
give security to individuals. It is the absence of
protection which has driven them to endeavour to
assist themselves. A man who has lost 20,000/.
may well be excused for giving two or three thou-
sand pounds for the property which he has lost
through the want of the protection to which he is en-
titled. lie negotiates, because he knows the only
chance of his ever getting any thing is to negotiate.
If the negotiating tends to increase the evil, make
the community at large bear the loss, rather than the
unfortunate individual, and follow up the criminals
to the utmost. There is meanness in the very eon_
caption of compelling an unfortunate individual, who
suffers from the want of law and police,. to abstain
from relieving himself by the ways within his reach,
on the abstract principle of his suffering ill order to
promote the good of the public. If the public good
require that the door should be closed on negocia-
tion, let the public, as in other eases, indemnify the
individual.
(FROM THE MORNING HERALD.)
A job may be pretty correctly defined to he that
which is done with public money for private pur-
poses. The Caledonian Canal turns out, apparently,
to be of this description. This stupendous under-
taking, which was cried up all persons" frae the
North," as destined to unite the two oceans, and to
obviate the circuitous navigation round the north of
Scotland, so far from answering any extensively
useful purpose, if we may judge from the amount of
it, can be looked upon as
the tolls received upon
little short of a complete failure, and a useless
in which a million of public money (Or; rather,
977,324!. 13s. 31d!) has been expended. During
the first year of its being open, the income, at the
low tonnage of a farthing a mile, has been only
2,4451., which, being little more than half the
ordinary expenditure, the Treasury is called upon to
supply the deficiency; so that this precious un-
dertaking, instead of affording any thing like a
return ix the shape of profits, is likely to be
a perpetual drain upon the country, unless .Par-