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

duals have to travel seven or eight miles in order-to pro.
cure the interference of it Magistrate.; so that many
individuals, balancing the loss' of time, the expence,
and the inconvenience ':of , .prosectitioos, snake up
their' minds to put . up with • the injuries they have
received, and abandon all hope of redress. •If a
banker' loses a sum of 3,0001. or 4,000/. by a coach or
Other robbery, he can afford to prosecute, and has, there-
fore, some chance of a remedy. • I was applied to, a short
time since, by a party from whom an enormous sum of
money had been stolen, and I eras requested to offer his
Majesty's pardon to any of the accomplices who would give
evidence of the robbery. But lat once declared, that I
should never impose the prerogative of his Majesty on any
such occasion, unless I received a full assurance that the
parties would ultimately prosecute.=(Hear, hear.)—l
have also uniformly opposed myself to any thing like com-
pounding of felonies, of -which we have not a few examples
withal a recent period.—(Hear, hear.)—l wish to throw
out, for the - consideration of the House, the propriety of
considering the example.of Scotland, which, I think, we may
well follow in criminal proetedingi. If individual loes
property in this country—if, •for instance, a man loses 101.,
be is gravely told he may have a chance of convicting the of-
fender by expending some 20/. more. This may he loOked
upon by many as a remedy, but the suffering , party gene-,
rally thought his wisest course was -to abandon the prose-
cation altogether. I merely throw out these hints as mat-
ters which I think worthy the consideration of the House
as well as of the Committee; although I do not believe
that any effectual remedy can be devised by which the evil
can be cured. The introduction of such a system would
cause too great a change in our whole internal system-But
when the Committee have fully sifted the whole question;
they will find that the time is come when all these things
ought to be gravely and seriously looked to. "ily imine-
.diate object in proposing this Committee, is an inquiry into
the causes of the increase of crime in the Metropolis Lind
its vicinity, and into the state of the Police of. the Meth'.
polls. There are so many points of ipcpiiry into the-gene-
ral miestions. that I think I am benefitting the country by
limiting it in this way, on the present occasion. But
I must inereet Honourable Members, and particularly
those who live in agricultural districts,. to look. seri-
ously to the points upon which I have fo-iind it neces-
sary to touch. Sir,,l think, and it, is useless to disguise
the fact, that the time is come,, when, from the increase in
our manufactures, and the various alterations which have
taken place in our other institutions, we may fiiirlY pro-
nonnce that the country has outgrown her Police Institu-
tions—(Hear, hear)—and that the cheapest and safest
,course will be found to be the introductiop of a new mode
of eirOtection.—(lleer, hear.)—Why, I ask, should We
entrust a grocer, or any other tradesman, ablever respect-
able, with the 'direction and management of 5,000 or
6,000 police? Why should such a 'person, unpaid- and
unrewarded, be taken from his usual avocations, and called
upon to perform the laborious duties of a night constable ?
I say, Sir, that he has no reward ; or, if lie has a reward,
be has it from improper sources ; and this, I contend, is
an argument in favour of the inquiry I propose.—(Hear,
hear )—I am aware, Sir, that abuses exist in the,watch
and police systems ; I know that after having employed a
man for tweney or thirty years, they know not what to
do with him, o: ,how to provide for him, and therefore they
continue him in employment, no matter how unfit for
it he may have become; I shall, now, Sir; allude shortly
an certain documents moved for by the Noble Lord last
yore and which I shall feel it my duty to lay before the
Committee—these documents chew the increase of crime in
England and Wales in 1827, compared with 1826. Sir, it is
of no use to deceive ourselves ; it is of no use to shut our
'eyes against what is passing around us, end praise ourselves
upon our superior morality and Christian virtues.. It is
our duty to look around . us, and provide, so far as in us
lies, remedies for the evils with which we are surrounded.
By doing this, we shall lee cinsult the interests of the
country at large. In order to show the House the state of
crime in the Metropolis, I shall take leave to read the
amount of commitments within the last few years.' In 1823,
the total number of commitments, in -London and Middle.
Sex, wits 12,203 ;in 1821, it was 13,698 making
an-increase of more than 1,400 criminals. In the. next
year, 1825, - the number *as 14,437 ; making' a still
further increase, in the last year, of 739. In *1826, the
atimbers were 16,147 ; in 1827, they were 17,921; mak-
ing an increase of 1,774 in the last year. From, these state-
mente, Sir, it is evident that there has been an increase of
.in.the last five years, to the amount of 5,000 persons.
'This, Igay, is evident, from the documents I have just read.
The Lest oontains the number of c.ommitments in 1826, as
compared' 'with those in 1827, showing the decrease which
has takes olive in several counties. Perhaps the House
May have curios 4 eetough to wish to know what are the
counties in which a deeaease of crime has taken place. In
those counties (although the has been a general increase
of 1774 in the sum tout of the commitments in England
and Wales for the last year), yet' a'eere has been, notwith-
as compared with
*finding, a decrease within the last fen.'
anent.; in some
the former year, in the amount of comniii
particular eounties. These bounties '
are Dfvuushite,
Gloueestershire, the city of Bristol, the countle, Hun,
those of Middlesex and London, in which this tja-
ctease is as great as 76 ; and lastly, the counties of , Hot-
lend and Surrey. The total decrease is only 157, and 'out
of number the counties of Middlesex (including Lon-
don) and Surrey, furnish the proportion of 112, so that in
she other Counties the decrease has been but very slight.—
tlie other hand, there has been an increase in several
countiee as° large a nature, ae far to exceed the decrease
to which I have just referred. That increase, in 1827,
as compared with the number of committals in the
same counties, in the preceding year, may he thus seated:—
In Cheshire the increase has been 82 ; in Liecole-
•
shire; 109.; in Lancashive, 55 (a number not very large,
considering the population of that county, and the eseett
liar circumstances in which her population are placed) ;
in Somersetshire, 156 (an increase latter in its amount
than that which has token place• in any cithernounty:of the
*erne size); in. -Staffordshire, 121 ; in Yorkshke, 227;
and in Worcestershire, 81, tty which, together with other
.counties; the, increase amounts iii the gross to 1,774;
nese, Sir, are. therefore only eeene of the counties in
which the increase has taken place; 'bat in all of them
the increase has been coneiderable. In Itent and Cardi-
ganshire, by "a-curious and insist fortuitous circianseance,
the relative. nurnbers have c'outhineil precisely the same,
feeen this enumeration I do not eatent to draw any of
those inferences, for which. it seems to oil-,r so wide a field,
and which theorists of ell kinds are smeralree introduce.
It seems to me, that none .r.in he safely drawn feOrn them,
either upon the general• subject of distreee, or that e-figame,
or on that of the facility of commitment, without, atahe
same time, taking into consideration a vast many elements
of inquiry, too nurrizzeus for me to touch upon at present.
These are the facts which I present to the House as to the
general result of the cases ,that have oecerred
,during the
last year, and out of these reteens may some, satisfactory
conclusion be drawn as to the inersese
.in the yeer*lB27,
'as compared with other years. I ought perhaps to apolo-
gize to the Housefor having addressed them at keel length.
—(Hear, hear.)—I shall suet trouble. them with weatere
which ought more properly to be taken into consideration, ,
when the object I have in view hai been more distinctly
and fully htoerl to the Committee, with regard to the state
4f the country and the Police generally; but 7 felt that in
bringing forward this inetion, I could not abstain ;Altogether
from teaching on those scatters of deep, essential, w'J
permanent interest,
which are eossoected in so intimate a
manaer.with the security, of our emirate, led / may add,
in •which the interests of our, ptitille morality and of our
eopcereede and when. eleie House
religion are so deeply
comes to take the subject fully into consideration, I am
quite certain I shall 'Arid. in their opinion a sufficient ex-
etese for what I bay* dene.—(llear, beg' leave
*
to toove—, That a Select Conniti:ttee be appointed to in-
quire ,into the causes of an increase in the number of
Comnaitneents and Convikioni in London and Middlesex,
and the States of the Police of the Metropolis, and the Pis- -
tricts adjacent e.hereto, and, to.statb their opinion therioo,"
• Mr. HUME aekaended that the amount of crime de-
pended more upon the seen/4y of distress* in the country
than on any other cause. The Eight Hon. Gentlemen;
therefor e, had hhnhed at the ti.-s& great cause of the increase
of crime, when he hail passed ores' the enormous taxation
Which-depressed all classes of the eemstennity. That taxa-
tion could only be reduceii by lessening the expenditure of
the' country ; and- when Ministers had done tbet, and, by
pacifying Ireland,
had given security to property, god en-
'enraged the em
ployment of there,cap.ta, they would 'Wee'
done something towards diminishing the number of offences.
Mr. SPRING RICE felt inclinedee Say a few words upon
'this subject, in consequence of his recent connection with
the Office of which the Right Hon. Gentleman was at the
'head. ' With almost'every word which the Right Hon.
'Gentleman had littered he fully agreed; but lie must take
- the liberty of urging, with•reference to ..one part of the sub- '
jeer, that if any practical-improVorient should he suggested
as capable of being made, the House would not approach
'that branch of the subject, in which the imcouprovemee statnttrul was
ld
recommended, with any timidity.-
He y,
= that one of the greatest difficulties to be overcome, in pro-
• posing the alterations' that might be deemed necessary,
'Would be found in the opposition raised in deface of those
'• peculiar jurisdictions and small independent authorities,
-which existed in such numbers in the country.—
One of those peculiar jurisdictions ,to which he
,pare
ticulatly referred, was the nightly 'Watch 'Of- 'London,
and the Magistracy connected with its police. He was
aware ilet when the subject of the police was first brought