, 1878-03-01
Crime in England.

] ~ iHh@ ahhNs
/ The Black Book OF Liverpool contains
| facts So startling that they cannot lsil &
produce an Impression upon the mind oi
every thoughtful person. What, tsen, is
the first fact that meets our vivwi IL i
/ that during the year 1876, 10000 persons
were judcialIy punished IN Liverpool
that is to say, about one in ten ot the
population. We know that the Mayor
has endcavored to blunt the edge Of this
statement by pleading that large mum.
ber of these $4,000 cases had merely
arisen from cUntrayention of the P,sseu.
ger Act, and OF other bylaws Of the town.
We do not perceive the force of relevancc
of this criticism. Contradiction of any
laws, whether bylaws or not, surely
shows the operation of a lawless spirit;
and if it could be alleged that one-tenth
of the population of London had, in the
course OF single twelvemonth, com.
mitted offences which called for Judicial
punishment, we think that such AN tx
planaton as the Mayo OF Liverpool has
offered would be simply laughed ont of
court. The expense which the existence
OF this vicious population entails upon
the borough is very large; police magis-
trates and jails costing last year u sum OF
upwards OF GlS0,000, or at the rate OF
1894 per Thousand inhabitants. The
charge tor police alone has risen from
1000 in 1865 to g1l2,0O0 in 1S76-a
ratio of increase far in access OF the
growth of population. One of the chief
causes of tue MASS of crime existing in
Liverpool isthe overcrowding which tukes
place in the neighborhood Of the docks,
where, according to Mr.. r. w. Pitcher,
two hundred thousand human beings are
huddled together in space lamentahly
insufficient for their accommodations.
The misery of these unhappy people
especially of the aged and very youag of
both seXes-is simply appalling. In the
fearful battle Of existence against vitiated
air and other foul impurities, the death
rate of infants has in a single year
reached the proportion of 292 per 1000.
Happy the little ones who died, in com
psrison with the survivors, destined to
become the drunkards, the prostitutes,
and the jail-birds of the next generation
Father Nugent's dreadful picture OF the
prevalence of crime among the female
portion of the community is fully borne
out by statistics which have just been
published, for it appears that out of
SAB Roman Catholic prisoners, 4,571
were women. We refuse to endorse the
argument of a contemporary that the
large amount of crime which is laid at
the door of the Roman Catholics Is at
tributable to their belonging to that
faith. We fear that if they were to turn
Protestants tomorrow, neither the char.
acter nor the position of the Irish poor
would be sensibly improved. Unfortu-
natcly, in Liverpool, AS in other places,
they belong for the most part to
squalid and thriftless class; aud when
they are crowded into narrow and moi
some dens, and at the same time tempted
to acquire taste for the gin bottle, their
moral degradation is rapidly completed.
Yet, so far as the poor people are com
PEELED to herd together like rabbits, we
have no right to rail against them for
their love Of drink. 1t is only natural
that they should prefer the gin palace to
the wretched homes in which they are
forced to live, and that in endeavoring 10
find relief ia the maddening cup they
should qualify themselves for the prison
aud the gallo ~s.-Ths Noncontor2niSt.