The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-10-26 00:00:00

STATISTICS OF CRIME IN LANCASHIRE.

(FROM THE PRESTON CHRONICLE.)
The Rev. J. Clay's annual report on the Preston Hou9o
of Corection has been published during the week—a doe*"
ment which is always of great national as local interest
and importance. We are unable to afford space for mots
than a meagre reference to its contents.
It appears that, upon the whole, notwithstanding the
severe pressure of the times upon the working classes'
crime has hitherto been but little increased during the
year ending on the 30th of June last. The following is 9,,
summary of the committals to the Preston House 01
Correction for the last five years :-
1843. 1844. 1845.
1846. 1,.847.
Indicted at Sessions 620
433 301 • . 289 • • -6°°
Summary Commitments
1116 • • 882 .. 816 ~„
Total 2050 1549 1183 1105 1144

Mr. Clay remarks upon this, that " When it is Ninon'
bered that the three years preceding the last were,
(1'
regards employment, very favourable to the condition
the working classes, and that the year just closed blis
been of an entirely opposite character. it must be co'
eluded that crime and disorder spring less directly than 'D
generally supposed from want of employment, and thrt
poverty consequent upon it ; or that some causes have
begun to operate eminently calculated to repress t"'
tendency to bad conduct.
" The excess in the number of criminals for the issi
year over the one immediately preceding is not very
portant ; and when we come to investigate it, we sb
find that, though traceable eventually to the want of e7,g
ployment as the remote cause, the immediate one is'
the distress, but the idleness arising from the manufael
ing depression. If ,the nature of the offences be east:nit:l'"
it appears that such are not likely to arise from distres,,
pilfering expos/AI articles, for instance—have de
from from 49 to 33. Robberies consequent upon drunkenn
and disorder, viz., those committed in public-houses, an
from the person, after visiting such places, have inere*T,
from 45 to 52. Robberies, again, committed by wq,,ri
people from their employers, and which, from the relarti
of the parties, precluded the idea'of distress, have incres
from 26 to 37. Instances of obtaining money or goods ',_
fraud, have arisen from sto 18. The excess in shop rev:"
beries must be attributed to the increased number
young offenders. As compared with the previous Yerlie
juvenile delinquency has been aggravated 92 Per
This, however, I must repeat, is not owing to the pover.r:
but to the idleness consequent upon the stoppage or lilal
ted working of so many mills."
of -
With regard to the general and particular causes'
crime, Mr. Clay states,—and his assertions are ar,,71; -
firmed by the evidence he adduces in the valuab e °Pr
dices to his report,—that ignorance and irreligion are •the.
•nat
chief; and that in proportion as they are removed crl
will disappear. ht into
"The intermediate or secondary causes broug _ii„
activity by the primary ones just named, and so genera
admitted, are:—idleness, parental neglect, desecration es
the Sabbath, and,—mingling with all other causes, J,
predominating above them—drunkenness ! I believe tin!!!
but for this besetting sin, the population of North 121,1 L
cashire would exhibit virtues of the highest order.
opinion is justified by the present state of things. Suffer-
ing under difficulties almost unprecedented in their bt
tory, their conduct involves moral phenomena of a sign nr"
cant, and in many respects of a most hopeful character-
Never, within the term of my chaplaincy, have the corn:.
bined evils of scarcity of food and scarcity of emplonne",
pressed so heavily upon them as during the last wintery
and never—to the great credit of thousands of sufferers
have offenders pleading distress for their faults been fewer
in number."
The report shews that habitual drunkenness is nod
limited to la classe dangereuse"—the criminal polino:
tion of the country ; but extends more or less among
almost the whole working part of the people. He in-
stances, in support of this opinion, the weekly esPenu'l
ture in drink, of all the men—hard-working labourers an
skilled artizans—employed by one master. The number
of persons employed was 131, the collectiv week
oeach—
their earnings—varying from Ils. to 40s. Per r was
was £154 165., and the aggregate sum spent in liquo
£34 155., or nearly 224 per cent. of their gross wages'._
In 12 cases, among the 131 cited, the parties abstained
from strong drink, and in the other 119 cases the per
centage of earnings wasted on intoxicating beverages Nw
from under 5 per cent. in 5 instances, to between 5 and
,r
in 17, between 10 and 15 in 19, between 15 and 20 in '.
between 20 and 25 in 7, between 25 and 30 in 15, between
30 and 35 in 11, between 35 and 40 in 4, between 40 and
45 in 11, between 45 and 50 in 4, between 50 and 55 in 1,
between 55 end 60 in 4, between 66 and 60 in 3 ; and in
one case the expenditure in dissipation was 75 per centr
—three quarters of the income of a man earning £2 Per
week !
From other facts, and from official returns, Mr. ClaY
arrives at the conclusion that more than sixty-five millio0!
of pounds sterling are annually spent in the purchase and
consumption, in the United Kingdom, of intoxicating
liquors—ten times the amount of the English poor rates!'
This may seem an enormous amount; but it would be
difficult to show that it is over-stated, especially when We
know, from the most authentic sources, that in the year
1845, 24 millions of gallons of British spirits paid duty;
that upwards of 10,300,000 gallons of foreign wines and
spirits were retained for home consumption ; that the
retailers of beer were 123,596, and the retailers of spirit,
93,545
The ignorance of the general criminal population i"
fully established, with regard to the northern division of
this county, by the following details :—Among 1061 pri-
soners committed to Preston gaol, 560 were wholly unable'
to read ; 262 had some small ability to read ; 229 could
read, and had some knowledge of writing ; nine only could
read and write well ; and but one person, who was summa-
rily convicted for some petty offence by the magistrates;
had enjoyed the advantage of a superior education. Of
these parties, 377 were wholly ignorant of the Saviour's'
name, and usable to repeat the Lord's Prayer ; the reli-
gious instruction of 605 was comprised in a knowledge of
the name of Jesus,smoapfnerdrfeeliactgbililioynt;
:7n4ytvoweeror
eenpl eyaacptqoustals Ld otr
bd withe
ryor
tlreussthi
dtPheregaryeeeleermomfeonkrtaneowledge which might be considered level to
capacities of the uneducated ; and not one was fami-
liar with the Scriptures, or well instructed in religious
knowlege. To show further the extent of the ignorance
prevailing, it is stated that 556 of the prisoners were
unable to name the months of the year; 560 did nog
know the name of the reigning sovereign ; 531 were igno-
rant of the meaning of the words, " virtue, vice," &c. ;
117 were unable to count a hundred ; but 513 had read,
or heard read, books about Dick 'j'urpin and Jack
Sheppard.

This state of things is justly stigmatised by Mr. Clay as
" the practical heathenism suffered to exist among us at
home, to an extent which can scarcely be credited of
people among whom the gospel has been preached for
twelve centuries." It offers matter for serious reflection
to all persons, but more especially to those who are op-
posed to the principle of-making grants of public mono°
in aid of voluntary subscriptions for the promotion of gen-
eral education among the people. And there is, more-
over, in the report before us, abundant matter for the
consideration of the supporters of missionary societies :--.
" I have often," says the chaplain, " presumed to ask--
for their sakes—' why are our home-heathens so neg-
lected ?' I repeat the question for our own sakes ; for
the sake of our credit—of our own safety. In what re-
spect are they for whom I plead less deserving of our
Christian solicitude than the strangers of another hemis-
phere ? * * * lam far from unmindful of the great
command to ' go into all the world and preach the Gospel;
but I remember that Divine wisdom directed the disciples
to begin their task at Jerusalem. * * * When we are
so emphatically required to keep in view, as the grand ob-
ject of this Christian country, the conversion of British
India to the faith of Christ, during the present genera-
tion,' ought we not to feel that there is home an object
yet grander in itself; more momentous, whether neglected
or fulfilled ; involving duties to which we are most
bounden ; and most certainly under God's blessing- most
practicable."

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