The Sun.
London, England, 1828-02-29 00:00:00

before the House, some few years since, by Sir is Macdo-
nald, then Solicitor-General, and when another Blember
of the House, who was then Secretary for the Home De-
partment, the suestion of the nightly watch was found -a
sufficient obstacle to neutralise all that was then:attempted
to be done. But alterations had taken place since "that
time, and there were now fewer, perhaps, of those ground-
less jealousies Which could be opposed to public advantage
than there had been at a former period.—(Hear, bear.)— •
'On : the inliect of the parish' watch lie'innit say it would
bein vain to attempt to do any thing, so long as the pre-.
sent system of appointing and regulating the watch conti-
nued. In confining his motion to an inquiry. concerning
the Police of the Metropolis, he thought the Right Hon.
Gentleman was limiting the subject too much, at least if
he wished to prevent a recurrence of the evil in the neigh-
bouring counties. If the Police of London and West-
milaater were amended, what would be the effect on
these couoties?.Wity this—that in proportion as our
Police was improVed, the parishes in the- neighbouring
counties would suffer from an increase of crime, in
consequence of the. London thieves ,being driven into
them from the .Metropolis.
~Innumerable complaints
had already been made on.. the state of crime in the
neighbouring counties. Now, if' the people at large were
to pay for. the benefit of improving the police of
London and Westminster, they would be paying too much ;
for, although it, was cle,w that every individual had a di-•
rect interest in the dimioutien of crime, yet, if the neigh-
bouring counties. paid for London and. Westminster, and
the police of the neighbourineb, places was not improved,
they woald be paying for that which must tend to their
immediate injury. There was another subject to which
he could have wished that the Right Hon. Secretary had
adverted ; .this Was one that had occupied the attention of
former. Coinmittees on the subjeet.ef the.police, and with-
, ont a remedy was afforded tOilit evil, he'thonght but little
good would be done. ' He alluded 'to the present syatenf.of
fisesistog publie houses. As long as that system continued
itaita-present :state, especially in the Metropolis and its
vicinity, where Magistrates were noun much confined in
their exercise 9f theft power as in other parts of the coun-
try—as 'long, he said, as that 'system was not only per-
mitted hut encourededa. and as'long as those Magistrates
were out of thereaeh 'of control-,-some ltouses, however
bad, would be licensed, white nthers, let them be ever so
good, would be refined a licence, and the consequence ne •
cessarilt' must be an increase Of crime. (Hear.) Now that
he was on that subject; he would-say a few words with re-
gard
to the state of juvenile delinquency in the Metropolis.
Without looking With attention at the state
_of the class
of jUvenile Offenders in London and its vicinity, he thought
much good could not be gained. Much bad already been
done among them by alterations, the credit of *which wits
due to the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite, who had ef-
fected
a great deal by the improvement of prison laws_
butthere was still a large clasi of young offenders, who
were confined together in one prison, in such a manner as
must tend to the increase of crime.. On this subject he
wished the Rightlion. Gentlethan to consider what had
already, on another occasion, been prOpOied 'by a Noble
Lord, who had declared that the 'axe would not be laid to
the 'root of the evil until a separate prison had been-con-
structed for the offenders who shOuld be classed, not accord-
ing to their age, bUt with: reference to the crimes which
they had committee!. There was' another cause, to the
consideration of *which they must' come sooner or later
(Mid the sooner they came to it he thought the better)._
he alluded to the present system of punishing offenders of a
certain class with transportation. ' From letters which, in
cOnsequence of his official situation, had come under his
perusal—letiers received from persons Who had been trans-
ported—it seemed to him- there was 'nothing so clear as
that transportation operated as an encouragement of crime,
rather than tended to deter, men from committing it. - -The
descriptions' of the Colony were 'such as to invite, instead of
alarm, those who read them ; and such descriptions were
to he found not in One letter only, but in hundreds, and the
language they contained was often Ihisa-•" We are placed
here in a situation infinitely better than you who have
committed no offence wh4ever, and the best wish we can
faint for you is,' that von May be-emit:led- to came and
join us." 'lf that waa ihe case--and that it was--he could
truly state—it was impossble long' to adhere to the system
of transportation, as a punishment that would operate•to
preVent crime. He would state to the House an improve-
merit introduced while a Noble Friend of his recently held
the seals of the Home Office-...an' itriprovernent _which, as
he believed; had been effected.. The House wai.aware of
the publication of a paper called The Rile end Cry. Ga-
idle. It was one Which bad but a limited sale, and the
mode in which it was issued was not one which had been
found to answer its intended purposes, and his Noble
Friend had adopted means to extend its cireuratien, and a
iii Ore frectnent issue of it Was ensured. He noW:requested
the Right' Hon. Gentleman to consider, whether its distri-;
bution could mot be further extended .and .he begged to
state, thatits extended circulation had been contemplated,
but that. the proposed plan was not one which" could be
adopted without the intervention of Parliainent; and as it
Was propped during theracationait had not, on that ac-
count, been carried into execution. The plan was 'this—
that a paper, containing it description of the crime or 'of
the property 'stolen, together -with all the circumstances
kticwn to the parties; that might serve es indictee to lead
to the-detection of the criminal; should.- be printed as ra- '
pidly as possible after the crime had been committed, and
should be put inter the hail& of every keeper of a public-
house,
of every licensed' dealer 'in herses, and of every
pawnbroker in the kingdom I- so that .the moment a crime
was discovered, all the known accompanying circum-
stances should be published- as extensively as possible,
in order to lead to the detection.of the criminal. By
that plan, a species of übiquity would be given to
the Police, greater than had ever before been employed.—
fie agieed that there had been .a lamentable increase Of
crime Ohio the last few years ; but he was not disposed
to show the subject in too desponding a. manner.; for, in
the first place: while the number of: criminals had increa-
sed, the virulence and enormity of the crimes had decrea-
sed. - That was something consolatory; but even '
suppo-
sing that they had not that fact, he should say; that the
increase was to be accounted 'for by other causes. One of
these causes was owing to the increase of property itself.—
But there were 'other, causes 'Which contributed to the in-
. •
in-
crease of crime. Every- step which contributed to in-
crease the*facility for prosecatioos must increase the num-
ber of crimes, at least in appearance. If the country paid
the witnesses and all the expenses of the prosecution, such
aneffcct rtnisit be ' produced. There could be no doubt
that since the Right Hoop. Gentleman had introduced the
Bills which gave witnesses their
•expenses, there had been
many prosecutions which in former pericda would not have
been instituted. his only apology for haying troubled the
House was, that he had acquired knowledge of these mas-
ters from his late connection with the Home Office.
Mr. WILMOT HORTON—I have but a _few words,
to address* to; alte House upon this subject, and. those few
words will he in answer to some observations made by the
Hon. Member for Arberaieeu.' On all the subjects that
can be brought before the House, *sole and exclusive
causes of all the evils under which he repreasents the
country to suffer are stated by Idris, te he the amount cf.the
taxation ; and the ' only remedy he proposes fora evils of
all sorts iz, the remission of those taxes, which he seems
to consider 114 tsserely the greatest, but the only cause of
misery in the couotty, ! asaiatain, that the remission of
taxes, though it may be iaeut*ciol tp• the capitalist, can
never -reach the mass of the peciole. i3s vie shall have
other opportunities: of: `examining this principle, and ;teeing
whether it is sound. I'ashilit that lowness of wages is a.
cause of crime ; 44 I say, it is the reFult of a redundant
Population—of the disproportion between the amount of
capital and the tiipply' of -labour. i hare often heard it as-
serted, that the immediate effect of cettaisa measures as ,to
Ireland would be to remedy the grievances of that oaaatry,
by inducing capital to flow into it. I say that I yield to no
man in the deliberate conviction that those measures would
put 'an end to the causes of the evils, at least, of the moral
I evils of Ireland ;' but I deny ahsoluteiy that those measures
would operate on the condition of the reduced population so
as instantaneously to createa demand for their labour which
did net-exist the hoar before. If it be true, that manu-
factures would then be introduced into Ireland, how does ,
it happen that the Irish population are not now brought ,
over here ? I assert that -we must look to other natters
than those stated by the Hon. Gentleman—and to other
remedies than -he is prepared to suggest. • • '
Sir E. KNATCHBULL had heard with great satisfac-
tion, that this inquiry' was not to apply solely to the me-
la opolis, lint to be extended to the towns in theneighbour-
hoed. He rejoiced at this circumstance; for whatever '
which the Police of the Metropclis
had to
b
struggletoee 3jeffiwtie; they were not greater than those
which existed in the towns, in •its vicinity. He would
mention, in particular, Greenwich. In no part of this
' kingdom waslim inquiry more requisite, and in that opi-.
nion he Was sure every Hon. Gentleman would agree, at
all acquainted with the circumstances of the case. The
same remark would apply to Chatham and Sheerness, in
spite of the meritorious exertions of the Gentlemen in the
Commission of the Peace; and•he would take that oppora
' tunity of saying, that the Magistrates of Kent had ge-
nerally diScharged their impOrtant dtities in the most
satisfactory ' manner. He was the more _ anxious to
make 'this observation, in consequenee o£. some state-
, mentS made on a late occasion by an Honourable .and
Learned Geotleman•(-Mraßrougham), and which it would
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