The Sun.
London, England, 1818-08-24 00:00:00

FEMALE PROSTITUTION.

Your Committee have had referred to them a
Petition from the City of London, telative to the
extent and pernicious effects of female prostitu-
tion in the metropolis ; and the inquiries they
have instituted into the subject have satisfied them
that it is necessary to make some alteration in
the existing laws. The extent of this evil appears
to them to be of the greatest magnitude.

Your Committee have been informed that a So-
civiy has been established, calling itself " The
Guardian Society," the object of which is to pre-
serve the public morals, and to provide temporary
asylums for prostituteS removed by the Opti:26oll
of the law from the public streets ; and to afford
to such as are destitute employment and relief.
That Society has furnished to your Committee
some details upon this subject that ate most
afflicting. .Out or three parishes, consisting of
9924 houses and 59,030 inhabitants, there are
360 brotals, and 2000 common prostitutes. By
the authority of the late Lord Mayor, this Society
visited Bridewell ; and the result of their exami-
nation is as follows :—They visited and examined
111 of these wretched women, the ages of whom
varied from 14 to 54 ; the largest proportion ap-
pearing to be of the ages from IS to 22:

No. Age. No. Age. No. Age, No. Age.
lof 14 Iloof 21 10 of 26 I sof :2
1 of 16 I 13 of 22 9 of 27 2 of 3:3
lof 17 60f23 I 4of 28 5.f 35
11 of 18 1 of 24 6 of 29 :3 ,f :36
12 of 19. 3 of 25 7 of .0 i of 51

Out of these, eighty-title bad been in a state of
prostitution from two months to twenty-years;
end the I:3rgest iTtoportion of these from two to
three years. These unfortunate creatures are re-
peatedly committed to prison ; and instances have
occurred where they have been imptisoned from
18 to 30 tunes.

Yolir Committee refrain from going further
into details on this subject; and beyond the in-
formation above stated, they have not had any
evidence which could be relied Oil to establish the
number of that class of women who support them-
selves by public prostitution. But it cannot have
escaped the public observation, that the streets
are crowded every ;light by women of the most
abandoned and profligate characters, who gene
rally accost the passengers with some obscene
and disgusting expression ; who seduce those
whose youth exposes them most to their artifices,
and whose necessary avocations oblige them to
frequent the public streets. Those women, by
their interference and riotous conduct, are the
principal cause of the disturbances and broils that
nightly disgrace the metropolis. There seems to
be a sort of system adopted among them, that
gives to each class a certain rli►ision in which
they prowl fot their prey, secure from any inter-
ruption by the guardians of the night police,
whose favour and protection they secure by
sharing with them the wages of their prostitution.

To such an extent does this nuisance exist, as
to drive from the streets (it not being safe to walk
in them) modest females, whose avocations lead
them abroad at night„and who arc exposed
to the taunts and insults of these women and their
followers,

Your Committee are fully aware of the diffi-
sub y of suppressing this evil; but they are'well
assured that a greater degree of vigilance on the
Darr of the watchmen, whose honesty can alone
be secured by the frequent inspection of the con-
stable, beadles, and the different parish officers or
watch committees, under whose controul they are,
would operate as a more effectual check to it, titan
any alteration of die existing laws, to which they
feel inclined to object. It is the duty of the
watchmen tee preVent obveen..t exhibitions, riots,
broils, and distwirances in the streets ; and if that
duty was done, nine-tenths of the nuisances corn-
plA;ned of would erase.
As an example of the benefits likely to ensue
front the co-operation of the most respectable in-
habitants in regulating the police of their respec-
tive parilies, your Committee beg leave to refer
to the improved state of the parish of Christ
Church, Spitalfields, as contained in the Minutes
of the evidence taken before them.

With respect to houses of ill-fame, the difficulty
end eNptitee of indicting then►, and the impedi-
ments in the way of discovering the real occu-
piers, h►►ve frequently deterred the parish officers
fioni proceeding against them ; and even when
they have obtained a verdict against them, the
same profligate conduct has been carried on under
diftereot names, in the very same houses. Thus
the keepers of those_ dissolute houses evade the
punishment they deserve, and continue, with al-
most tutire impunity, the practice of those actions

which the law has vainly. sought .to discourage
and ut down:.

Although your Committee are not sanguine
enough to suppose that any measures can he
adopted which can totally prevent the existence
of such receptacles of vice, yet they are anxious
to limit their number as n►uch as lmssit►le, so that
the virtuous part of society may be in less dan-
ger of annoyance and contamination. Under
thesc impressions they beg leave to suggest, that
the public; would find great benefit from a more
summary mode of proceeding against then', upon
information, on the oath of ttco or more respect-
able inhabitants, before two Police Magistrates,
or ttvu County Magistrates in Petty Sessions, who
should have power to summon the parties, and to
hear and determine the case; and upon convic-
tion of the offenders., should have power to pu-
nish them by fine or imprisonment.
Your Committee wish particularly to direct the
attention of tite House to a practice upon this
subject, which marks strongly the abuses that may
grow out of a system of rewards for tl►e conviction
of offenders. By the 25th Geo. 11. cl►. 36, sec.
5, the parish officers 'are commanded to prosecute
any person keeping a disorderly house, on the re-
quest of two parishioners, who enter into a security
to furnish the material evidence to convict the
parties concerned; the reward for each conviction,
teu pounds, to be paid by the parish to each of the
two persons prosecuting. In-the last year, a Mr.
Bunton, one of those solicitors who hover round
the different police offices, was employed to indict
several persons keeping disorderly • houses in
Baron's-buildings, in the parish of St. George-
the-Martyr, Southwark. As is customary on
those occasions, when a gross fraud is about
to be practised, the motives which were stated
to direct the conduct of the prosecutors were
set forth to be of the most laudable nature--
they required no more " than the Nic and rea-
sonable costs- and charges attendant on the pro-
secutions of the various indictments." Ten per-
sons were convicted on these indictments ; the
agent, Mr. Bandon, 'confessing himself in tl►e
court,that he bad gone round to the parties, per-
suading them to plead guilty ; the sum of 2001.
was demanded of the parish for these convictions,
ors the payment of the costs and charges, which
were run up to the awn of 1921.123. 4d. Great
suspicion appears on the face of this proceeding
to fall on one of the Clerks of the. Office at Union
Hall, who was concerned in a similar manner in
1813. .170.1ir Committee recommend the subject
to the examination of the Magistrates, and it the
accusation can be supported by proof, they are sa-
tisfied the Clerk alluded to is unworthy to act any
longer in ,his situation. The conduct of some of
the inferior Officers of Union-Hall appears to be
most reprehensible ; and your Committee refrain
from further comments, being satisfied the Ma-
gistrates of that district will feel it to be their
duty to enter into a minute investigation of the
grievance- complained of, by Which, under the
pretence of putting down disorderly houses, pa-
rishes ate defrauded, and those who ought to cor-
rect abuses derive a profit by their continuance.
Your Committee cannot close this part of the
subject allotted to their investigation, without al-
luding to the various propositions that have been
made to them, and the projects that have been
submitted to their review, some of which may well
deserve the consideration of the L'egislature ; of
this nature, is the power which it is proposed to
give to the Crown to nominate counsel, who,
with moderate salaries, should conduct all crimi-
nal prosecutions. Your Committee entertain no
doubt that the early detection and speedy punish-
ment of offenders are much frustrated by the present
system, which forces the individual, in a great de-
gree,to prosecute at his own expence for the injuries
which he may have sustained in person or pro-
perty; justice is often thereby prevented taking its
due course; prosecutors no less than witnesses
are tatnpered with, and some are induced to sub-
mit to the*loss they have suffered, by motives of
ill-judged compassion ; others, from feelings of
apprehension of further injuries ; all these causes
conspire to give a degree of impunity tri offenders,
which is greatly injurious to the public peace.
But your Committee cannot avoid expressing an
opinion, that by a further extension of liberal
payment in Courts of Justice, of the expenses in-
curred by prosecutors and Witnesses—and above
all, by a careful revision of those parts of our Cri-
minal Laws, which public opinion has pronounc-
ed as too severe for the mild and merciful feel-
ings of the age in which we live—this species of
public accuser (an office of odious appellation)
may no longer be considered as necessary, and
the justice of the- country will preserve its regular
course, and not he impeded in its march by con-
scientious scruples, th e poverty or fear of in-
dividuals.