The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-11 00:00:00

THE CITY NIGHTLY WATCH.

From returns recently made to the Secretary
of State's Office, it appears that the number of
cases of burglary which came before the courts of
law in 1820, throughout all England, amounted
to 4G6. In 1826 they amounted to 476. This
increase appeared chiefly to have arisen in Lon-
don and Middlesex, where the number of bur-
glaries brought before the courts were in 1820,

41 ;in 1826, 66. The intermediate returns
prove that the increase, though slow, is progres-
sive. The same returns, which have not yet been
published, flew that the total of offences or cases
of crime brought before the courts in all Eng-
land during 1820, was 13,710 ; in 1826 it bad

increased to 16,147. The numbers of offences
committed in London and Middlesex, as ascer-
tained in the same manner, appear to have been
in 1820, 2,773 ; in 1826, 3,457. These figures
speak for themselves as to the progress of crime
in the metropolis, which is unanimously attri-
buted to the defective state of the police—and
especially of the nightly watch—by all except
those who have the control or superintendence
over it. In the city the returns prove that the
greatest amount of money is expended to the
least purpose in maintaining the nightly watch.
It is equally notorious that there is the greatest
corruption in its management. The last returns
gave the population of the out-parishes 286,560,
but the round number, upon the progressive in-
crease, cannot be calculated at less than 350,000.
The number of the nightly watch, including su-
perintendents, for that population, is 578: the to-
tal charge of maintaining them, 18,3281.105. Id.
The number of inhabitants in London, exclusive
of the Inns of Court, by'the last returns in 1821,
was 123,888, and but little increase, compara-
tively, has taken place in that period.
The number of the nightly watch, including
patrols, inspectors, beadles, &c. in the city, is
758 ; the charge is 35,210/. ; but, in consider-
ing the numbers and the expellee, it should not
be overlooked that in the latter case the space to
be watched is not perhaps one-fourth that of the
out-parishes. The money raised is, however,
by no means to be taken as the sum expended
for the maintenance of the nightly watch. A
general investigation of the expenditure would
produce examples of the local management that
publicmon Council,
a Snod m
w e t
am would excite no small degree of astonishment in
the
lefixpghrlevs
srede-
si ienit aigao ted a ,
speetable citizen, who became a member of the
com
conscientious scruples against the appropriation
of the watch-rates to defray
ward dinners, and refused to partake of any of
those to which the widows and
the poor hard,
working inhabitants of the ward contributed their
mites, though a few rich influential men, the
friends of the Common Councilmen, only were
united to partake of them. He was
man to make a public cause of the matter, but
the consequence of his scrupulousness was, that
the other members united, set up another candi-
date, and unseated the obnoxious caviller. In
another ward an Alderman, distinguished for his
amiable and pious character, had compunctious
visitings, at the idea of the contributions of the
poor in the shape of ward-rates being so appro-
priated. He refused to sanction the practice.
A considerable ferment was raised, but he was
firm, and prevailed. The expellee of the din-
ners has since been defrayed there by subscrip-
tion amongst them, by those more proper and
most competent to bear it. It is observed, that
many of those who are foremost in raising any
disinterested cry for Parliamentary Reform, &c.
give the most steady, direct, or oblique opposi-
tion to any approach even to reforths of a local
nature.
If it had been the object to make the greatest
show for the sum of money, and by a minimum
expenditure on the watch, obtain a maximum
surplus for other purposes, that effect could not
be more successfully attained than in several of
the wards. A considerable outcry has been
. _

raised against any increase of expence by any in-
novations, and it is to be regretted that the cor-
poration committee has so far yielded to it as to
fix the remuneration at a rate which must of it-

self deprive the public of any efficient establish-
ment, and keep the nightly watch in that low
state which is admitted to be the main defect of
the present system. The miserable allowance of
twopence halfpenny per hour, to the watchmen,
for exposing themselves during all weather, fair
or foul, will produce each man 14s. 10d. per
week, when fully employed. The lowest sum
. .

for which an able-bodied single man can live
moderately in the metropolis is 11. per week.
The watchmen will consequently be compelled
to work in the day, which will unfit them for the
performance of their duties at night ; or they
must do as at present—take bribes, and obtain
money by all sorts of practices.
A prodigious outcry has been raised against
any interference with the watchboxes or the pri-
vileges of the Common Councilmen to station
the watchmen. This is a tender subject. The
well
right to fix the watchmen's stations
to be a considerable source oftrOnage a
s known
some wards the boxes are so placed as to enable
the watchmen to give their best attention to the
houses and property of the Common Councilmen
,ad if
and their friends. The system of patrolling,
which has been carried in the Committee, will
supersede the watchboxes. It is, we understand,
a i
in
promised to be so arranged that every part of a
ewaacridl
quartersl all beo
f traversed
an iluu r and
n inspected t
he duty b
once ine
strictly performed, there cam be little opportunity
to the thieves to effect
any burglary. But this
alteration, though likely to be well for the public
at large, cuts off a considerable amount of pri-
vate patronage, and is vigorously resisted from
several wards, where all the of the old
points
system are obstinately adhered to. It heed
scarcely be added, that these ward: are those
which are the worst regulated, and produce the
most business for the Magistrates. Had a
council:of thieves been consulted, the regulations
of the watch could not have been better con-
trived for their accommodation. The coats of
the watchmen are made as large and of as white
cloth as possible, to enable the thieves to discern
their approach at the greatest distance ; and that
there may be no mistake, the lantern is added ;
they are fixed at stations, that thieves, by know.
ing where they are, may infer where they are not,
and do their best ; the intervals of half an Dour
in going the rounds are just such as to give ex-
pert thieves a fair opportunity of getting a mode-
rate booty from a house. That they may not be
taken by surprise, they have the same accommo-
dation, in the cry of the time that was prayed for
by the rats, when they asked that bells might be
hung about the necks of the cats; and lastly,
that the burglars may have all possible chance,
even if surprised, the watchmen mostly chosen
are old, infirm, and impotent,Tirno.