The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-05-03 00:00:00

THE ST•'

,MAN,

the year before, -that a- saw of 1,3114,14 watt kraatetl
for Pensions to retired Officers attiehe4i;tbe StilitarT
Colleire—hy the present Return the sum was increased
to 1,423/.
Lord PALMERSTON said, that an 1114+v:tor-Ge-
-1 neral had retired from the establishment, and the
Return of last year was namie by the College before
it was known that that officer could be dispensed

with.
Mr. HUME wished to know who the indiiidual was
who was considered entitled to receive an allowance of
5001. a-year ?
Cord PALMERSTON said, the individual was Sir
Howard Douglass, who spent upwards of ttventy-six
years in the service. Daring the last year it was
foend that his services were no longer required, and
he was played on the Superannuation List.
Mr. lIUME wished to know, whether he also re-
ceived his half pay
Sir H. HARDINGE said, that Sir H. Douglass was
an officer of great merit, and was well entitled to his
half pay, as also to the provision of 500/. a tear. He
had not the aslvaetages of those officers who during
the Peninsular War were engaged in the active part of
the profession.
Mr. BENNET di.l not diFpute the merits of Sir H.
Doegl Iss, yet he could not help thinking, that an aT-
lowance of 59111. a year WAS most exorbitant. lie
hail tint, it was said, the advantages of having been en-
gaged in active servle.- ; he had the a 'vantage of living
at home in quiet, in affluence, and comfort, whilst his
brnther officers engaged in the service of their rountrv.
were expn'ed to danger, and subject to hardships and
privations ; yet the most meritorious offieer, a man
who might have spent thirty or forty years of his life
in the public service abroad, would be only entitled
to a provision of 198/. a year.
M ET a few observations front Colonel DAVIES, the
Resolution was agreed to.
A grant of ft,6861. for Superannuated Officers so
the Irish EstablishUlent, was next moved sod
agreed to.
Lor I PALM F.RSTON next moved a sum of 33,000/.
Exchequer Fees on Army Services.
Mr. objected to the grant. The idea of the
public being obliged to pay for the payment of their
own money, appeared to him most preposteross. He
would wish to see all the charges for the different de-
partments debited to the account of the Consolidates'
Fund—an arrangement which would greatly tend to
simplify the accounts, and would at one view chew the
amount of each particular office.
Sir C. IAiNG contended, that there was no difficulty
whatever in the accounts. Any Member, by merely
moving for them, would, as a matter of course, he
furnished with the accounts incident to any particular
office.
Mr. HUME wishes' to know whether there was any
intention on the part of Government to abolish those
office fees, and to charge to the Consolidated Fund a
tam in lien of them ?
The CII ANCEMA OR of the EXCHEQIfER replied,
that those fees were regulated by law, and were the
vested rights of indivisleals. He should think, that
by interfering wills them, the House would enter into
a very c, olirated inquiry with li ttte advarrta4l..
sl r. lIU %IF wished to know whether, on the death
of the persons now entitled to them, the fee; would be
abolished, or was it intended that they should be set-
tled on their successors
'the CHANt ELIA Gt of the ESCIIEQUF,II said,
that in the event of new appointments, such appoint-j
went. %%wild he open to any new regulations that
;nicht he considered nrcest.ary.
Mr. ti. BENNET objected to the system of fees
altogether. lie bad no objection to pay liberalle
persons employed its the public service, but he would
wish to see thew paid by votes of that House, not by

tees.
Mr. BUMF. said, that fees in the Customs load
been already abolished ; he fOuld not see why tee`
connected with °elitr departments should vol be
abolished also.
After a few works frqm Sir C. LONG, the Resolit-
ti in was agreed to.
Lord PALMERSTON next twsvel a Resolution
for a stem of 21"0,410iti. for that Disembodied Militia of
Great Britain, and a similar charge of 1,3;340/. for
the Disembodied Militia of Ireland, which were agreed

to.
Else Holm then resumed, and the Report was or-
dered to be talt-ii into further consideration on Fri-
day ir t.
The Hereditary Revenue of Scotland Bill went
through a Committee: to be read a third time on
rid a y.

POLICE OF THE METROPOLIii.
Mr. CLIVE moved the second reading u: the Me-
tropolis Police Bill.
Mr. BERNAL suggested, that stated and adequate
salaries should be given to the police officers, and th st
they should not be left to draw remuneration foam
those who had already suffered enough in the damage
to their property. or violence to their person* by the
crimes which these persons were employed to detect.
It was also to be observed that the constable* of the
night were allowed in their bill to take bail from per-
sons charged with petty misdemeanours. It should
be imperative on the constables to take sufficient bail,
if it was tendered, its such cases.
Mr. BENNET said, he was sorry that the Honouryl
able Gentleman (Mr. Clive) had thought tit to bring
forward this hasty and insufficient measure, without
consulting the persons who were most interested and
hest informed as to the matter of it. Never, after all
that hail been said of the Police of the Metropolis in
that House, was there any thing proposed so ineffici-
ent to all good purposes, so mischievous in general,
and so dangerous in particular parts, as the Bill be-
fare them. He was very sorry that Ike step which be
had suKgeted, and which experience bad shown to be
beneficial in the case of the Prison Bill, bad not been
adopted, viz the sending the Bill to a Committee above 1
stairs, where alone details could be examined in an 1
effectual manner. The Bill had been brought in with-
out consultation with the Magistrates of the metropo-
lis, or with those who were most conversant with mat-
ters of police, except as a mere verbal co nmunication
with the Home Office, when the Police Magistrates
went op with their monthly reports. It was easy to
say a good police was desirable. There was no diffe-
rence as to the end—the only difference was as to the
means of attaining it. Now this Bill merely took
away the Office at Shadwes3ird added one foe Ma-
ry-le-bone, but, with that ei ea, left the whole ips-

Tarc the Police, which had get prowed utterly
efierent, just as it found it. NO one could be ign.
rant of the vices of this system whe had read the evi-
denee before the Police Consmittee, or the publications
on the subject ; in one of which, by a very Alain-
Enished memher of the Police Magiatracy, it was
stated to be i• essentially corrupt." The cause of this
was, that there was great service. great temptation, and
little pay. Yet with all this well known, the service,
the temptation, and the pay remained all the same. It
was a fact which be would pledge himself tu prove by
the evidence of Police Magistrates, that there was not
a felon committed who might not compound if he had
money; and the mode by which this was to be done
was by corrupting the Officers of Justice. Ile did
not mean to say that there st as not among those officers
anise honnerable and conscientious men. It was
from them that he had received the clue of the greatest
part of the information he had abstracted before tbe
Police Committee. They had given him the information,
brit they said their situation was such that they begged
lor would not call them but in every instance, the quer
'ions they furnished him with, drew sucl: informatios
from the Matristrates themselves as corroborated their
statements. The cause of the corruption was, that the of-I
firers were so ill-paid. The first police officer had only '
one guinea a week. They might get an additional al-
lowance indeed at times, if they were employed by is-I
dividuals, or app.rinted to attend the Royal Family.
But there was no remuneration for danger, no allow.'
aut.'. on account of wounds or injory to health, no
pension on retirement when they were worn out in the
service, no pensions to their family if they lost their
lives. It was true, indeed, that the Crown, in parti-
cular cases, doled out pensions, hut by law they were
not entitled to any. The Mon. Member then read an
extract from the evidence of a moat efficient and re-
spectable officer (Mr. Vickery) before the Police Com-
mittee, statin,g these facts, and ae.ding that he (Vickery)
hail heel! nearly cut to pieces in apprehending two
men for a mailer, and had been cmitined six months
to his bed without receiving the smallest allow:tore.
Ile spoke in behalf of those oflieers from justice to the
public. They were put in a sititeion its which they
had great power to du harm as well as to do good, and
if they dill not get money in a f sir way, they would
take it by joining that conspiraey against the peace
410 property ef the public, which it was their duty
to frustrate. The next poiut was as to the constables :
in this depattusent the same corruption prevailed.
Three-fourths of the constables performed their duty
by deputy. These were the men who were to be made
by this Bill julges at night, while they were to be
thief-talcers by ilay. A friend of his, Mr. Baugh
Allen, had published an excellent pamphlet, in which
he stated that a man had served as a constable whom
he knew to he a thief, and who hail been convicted as
a rereiver of stolen goods. Yet this man threatened
Mr. Allen with a mondamet,r for refusing to swear hies
in a: ain as a constable. How coold these men be
otherwise than corrupt ? They led a life of dredgery
at the Police Uffices and Conrts of Justice, and they
were left to pick up their living by setting their nausea
at the hack of indictments. There was a %jugular
fart whirl. illostt stet! this mode of ataitting
hood, *hid. had been stated to him by a Counsel Ishii
was in the habit of attending the Old Bailey. Before'
the Bill which he (Mr. II.) haul brought in, by which
the reward money on the Looyiction of felons was abo-
lished, there never war a caSe of felony in which there
was not a man from sonic police-office to prove the con-
fession of the offetols•r ; since that time such a thing
was never heard of, anti fur two years before the obser-
vation was made to him, not an instance hail rocs urred.
Now all these things were below the notice of the Bon.
Flitter Secretary. There were also the High Consta-
bles. Ile would not say that they were all cot ropt, but
there were among' thrum persons who bad fled front their
parishes to avoid their creditors. It was curio'', that
these constables, high and low, were almost always
coal-dealers. The coal trade attracted them all, as the
tnagnetic rock in the Arabiau Nights drew out the nails
of the ship which happened to conic near it. The secret
of this \VAS, that they supplied with coals the brothrels
and alehouses, and in return answered for their charac-
ter, or scieetterl them front detection. There was one
of those persons who bad been brought before the Police
Committee who bad been proved utterly unworthy of
the office which lie held, and who yet in defiance of law
and decency, was kept in his office by the trading jus-
tices of his district. 'rite best law in hands such as
these conld have no effect. I n this instance economy
was foolish. He did not wish to see a system of pro-
fttsion, still less a police, which some gentlemen were
advocates for, like that of Paris, in which the servant
was set as a spy upon his master, and in which there was
a prying and vexatious interference, which kept the
whole of the community in irritation (without by the
by preventing crimes) ; bat he wished to see a system
of police, of which they had something approaching to
an example in the city of Loudon. Within the city the
officers were better paid. The result was, that Mr. Bill
Suauses, a gentleman with whose acquaintance he was
honoured, did not like to ply his vocation within Tem-
ple Bar. The numbers of the officers at the different
offices were insufficient and unequal. In the Marlbo-
rough-street district there was a population at the last
census of 270,000, now probably 300,000; yet attached
to this office there were no more than eight constables.
Worship-street offive district had a population of 163,000
and six constables; and Queen-square, with only 24,000
population, had the same number as the district with
300.000, viz. eight (there were besides only those
wretched parochial constables of whom be had spoken).
At Bow-street, indeed, which was a favoured office,
there was more expenditure. Rut Bow-street was mot,
as it was commonly considered, a head or snperintend-
ing office. It was the chief office ; but there was as lit-
tle correspondence between that and the other
offices as there was between Bow-street and t ()lice
Minister at Paris. They did not even sendhcrnlars
to one another at the end of the day in ease of signal
frauds or offences. There was certainly now great '
care in the selection of tempos appointed to the Police
Magistracy, *for which great praise was doe to the
Noble Lord at the head of the Home Office. But this
was of no • avail while then was an improvement
among the officers. The groat' iltbeation of the Bill
was to extend ihe power ef apprehending persons who
were described an thieves in pnblic places, to
all parts of thi trrevatilis. Tbe late Sir Samuel
IlLseailly bad moillided that the former limited power

.

.

was Most unjustifiable and unconstitutional. Thee
part of the evocation he should leave to others; bat al
to the practical benefit, he should say, that he did sat
believe that the apprehension of a single thief would
ensue f.om it. The power was put into the hand of
every corrupt constable, and he had no doubt they
the great sufferers would he Irish labourers, who were
poor and destitute, and the practiee would only he
considered like the apprehension of vagrants, &mob',
easy way of earning five shillings. The diuretics
which they even now possessed was such as honest e.
Beers scarcely ever dared to exercise. This they b
stated to him ; but they burl also stated that there were
needy and greedy persons enough about the Arm
who would exercise it. The Honourable Member ro..
eluded with observing, that if they had inferior poll,„
officers, well selected, and adequately paid, and r,..
spec table magistrates, made as independent as posiii,
of any interest, with such an administration ofjeerk,..
as would not indispose the public to the cnnvirtiss
offenders, they would have done more towards d. t—
prcssion of crime than by establishing the French pr,.
ing system of police.—(Hear.)
Mr. CLIVE Said, many suggestions of the Honour.
able Gentlesian might he considered in the Conun'a.
tee. lie cossidered there was no necessity for aS.
lect Committee, as there had been already four Cow
iuittees, and three eery full reports on this subject.
Mr. DENMAN objected to several of the claws et
the Bill, especially with revert to the powers wltica
it was proposed to grant to Magistrates. The MI
ought in his view, to be divided into MO nieaaures,
the provisions to continue the present Police Act beiaz
unexceptionable; while the others referring to novel
regulations, were liable to serious ob;ectinus, tape.
cially with respect to the power of Magistrates is
punish what were called vagrants.
Mr. B. BATHURST vindicated the measure, lt•
serving that any amendment desired *night be cuusi-
dered in the Committee.
After a few observations from Messrs. !WANE?
and CLIVE and Alderman WOlll, the Bill was red
a second time, and ordered to he committed os iLs
day fortnight.
Upon the .Motion for the third reading of the fr:st
Court of Chancery Bill,
Mr S. RICE rose, and animadverted upon the &Ise
in this Bill, to allow the Clerk of the Crews-
Hamper in Ireland to receive the usual fees, as they
were called, in his °like, although those fee) wet:
double the amount of that to which lie wits entitled
by late, respect to writs foe Shenkalagistr4tes,
alg ai-aisTraetsip,scaitardily elective Peers.
After a few words from Mr. C. Grant, Mr. Gentler,
Mr. Rice, and Sic G. Hill. the Bill n.
time and passed.
The other Orders of the Day were
and the house adjourned at twelve o'ci
MINORITY
OF nor IrrEaN FOR AN ADDRESS To NIS M
FROM MALI-PAT UPON FULL-PAT stall
I CA PA OLE TO SERVE, IN ORDER TO RED/
OF TIIE lIALF-FAT LIST•
Hon. 11. O. Rennet, R. Reroal, R.
Creesev, S. Graham, Lord A. Hamilton, .
bisrd, Hon. C. Hiitchinsun.
_J. B. Alone
Rice, TER. Wilson, Ald. Wood,
LLERSCuI. Davies and Joseph
MINORITY
OF THENTT•TWO I'PON MR. HUME'S
GRANT TOE serreasttsurriosi AND
ANCE, t• via L .4 COMMITTEE UAD RE'
ENT GRANTS., TO ASCERTAIN THOSE'
MORE ArrOININLISTI AND PENSIONY.
Cul. J. Reline, 11. Bright, R. Bernal.
H. Cavendish, R. Clialoner, T. Creevey,
W. Evans, It. Farmed, S. (graham, Lord
lion. E. Harhord, lion. C. Hutchinson,
B. Month. S . O'Grady, S. Rice, R.
Sir It. Wilson, M. Wyvill.
TELLtas—J Hume, Hon. If.
SOUTHEND AND S
CKETHEERNESS
P.

The following extract of iletter is
of this morning, with a view to correct
respecting the Southend and Sheerness
which appealed in several of the jou
days ago lam induced from
which I feel confident will be a sufficient
you to give publicity to the same, to
of the circumstances sttending the p
said packet down the river on Mahan%
day the proprietors of the Britannia
and many other of their friesils to accain
an excursion to Southend previous
for the season, for which purpose she
morning removed front Deptford, w'
gene a repair, to the Tower Stairs.
strain it was discovered that a small
of the boiler, through which the steam
as fast as it was made, had not been
the workmen. As the passengers bad
proprietors, to prevent disappointuten
proceed under sail, with the hope, and
the engineer, with the expectation
leak in the boiler by the time she
but after making several ineffectual a.
certained that it could not be accomplished
day. By this time the vessel had r
Woolwich, where, in consequence
we were obliged to anchor ;—but
from being • dreadfully alarmed,"
oar safety was never at any time ex
and instead of '1 making signals of
ing into the boats with irupetuosi,
alongside, that most of us staid on
afterwards, and not till all the stea m
the boiler did a few of the passengers
Woolwich, which they were induced
only of the lateness of the hour,
that the Britawais won,lrt be able
I am, Sir, your most übedien
Deptford, May I, MI.
Within the last few days the
atmosphere, and the aspect of the
gone a very rapid and agrees'
ten days ago. the bills in the
were covered with snow, And the
almost suspended vegetation..
days the temperature of the atnies
foraily genial, with copious 'boa
have again pat on their verdant
der this town was visited by a
accompanied by a very heavy fa
tinned nearly the whole of the
lowing remarkable circumstance
storm :—A crow, as it was hoveri
struck by the lightship and fel
nags of Daniel Wilson, Esq. bf
was proceeding on the road bet
Untitain.--0/ 'Winos land Gazette,

wA) read A this, and Cong
then disposed r'' •f having,
o'clock till Fria.). 1
Letters
thoteli In
: MAJVATTTOIRIviI fairs in ti
II oiIIOCERS As Ate
.DECE THE EXPENCL Ifttetf it a
fro-. the
R. Chalon/Pr, Thee. is called t
Iton, Hon. E. liar-
kyr. s• -
fig-VOsoidatich
OnC
It' yttik • A.,
,seph Home. The Mi
lal.ioars, a
II MOTION RIO to Memhers
a RETIRED ALAN'
EVIIIED THIL Dime they are o
E WHO lIIILDIIIIIIR oppressor
,Is. of high a
real. J. Birck,lka si,led at
vey, Colonel DEIHL
fienoa 11)1
Lord A. Hansillse,
non, J. Maxweil,l. a fAvottru
~ Smith, Md. Ifesi, of the S
weighed
11. G. Bennet. tional fr.
iies.s STRAW tat it is
Alemani
is given from a p!of this el
.recta mis.statewest procee.ll
.naps Steens Path'', fill ; rat
Almelo two 0r.1160 late co
a a sense of jastice.
Busman
fficient intluceniest to
to send a tree Moil Better a
! passage of the alter. .gerous i
inlay last. On gal People's
iis had invited oft/ univerl
I accompany dew 4 that TN
to the vessel statist
he was early on tbst 0 bj,E4t 4
where she had iumitP secure
.6. On pottage*. when-
ill crevice is IMO* ..4
steam escaped IN* 0a
en before noticed W Tli
had all assetnbied•i* lii
tenon', were iodated . As
, and from the repaid A th
ion of reisedyiag * .%. vth
reached Linaohol. ! isylpe
la) attempts it VIII de h
asilihu
otnplished till ticeet
d reached a mibloblr,i_ the Al
a of meeting tht on that fi
so far were Bey st,° inst.&
," that the ',astir"'
expressed by efi!,m. in Chi
of distress," and '' elie: Zoom
last 61
pity,' when the, o°'•_,
on board to die eleein Dee
leans
had bees sedel• fairs I
engers go oe 111010
aced to do oe
.t ies
oil has el
that it was ...... tpi
e to return to the iew.“ it to g
tedient servant,
J. k spotic
..... pie. I
-- *
the temperature of
the swan, have afire
able change. Vise if Th
e viiihity of this toga here
the chill wintry Eiti4l feel a
Hot daring the lot I is thi
tneesphere has lire. asi- *hat
shoe sere
suit the Eris of th
at rohes. Ott iredo" on ~
a violrnt thouJer stash matt:
'Kati
fall of rain, which coo
whil
sate
Inc'
tioitivieettimurillesitrer:gulArnri:ri!ilinti,ohl'are.iihar:.ir,ior.hrpg:
ow.tvl.
rzfeetlfly,d.riaeiraurtatr. ther
i'i. treat:4i
•
, .