The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-21
ENGLISH LAW OFFICERS.


 
 The Respectable, Useful and Agreeable Policeman = Engltsl Judges and Eng
 lIsh Justice-The Unpaid Magistracy How Order is Kcpt-The Streets o1 London-Drunhen Women.
 To the Editor of the Journal and Courier.
 London, Sept. 11.-There is scarcely anything in England that so favorably impresses the American visitor as the English policeman. Robbie and "Peeler" are his nicknames. They were bestowed upon him years ago in eontemptuous alusion to his origin. The police force of England, as 1t ex- ists to-day, was instituted by Sir Rob- ert Peel, and it is from the name of that useful and honored statesman that the English policeman gets his two nick names But you feel all the time as you see this public servant in the vari- ous walks of his duty that he Is quite too respectable and dignified person. age to ever be addressed or even thought of by any but his full and pro- per name of police constable. One rarely sees in London any of this class who are not tall any who do not look clean and wholesome, or any who do not walk with the kind of stride which spect. You miss in the London bob bic" both the hangdog and the bull dog type of face, He isn't so keen looking as some of our New York spec linens. That, perhaps, is why he isn't so quick and sure in running down criminals. But the English seem to think that merely to bring law break CTS to task Is only one of the police mans duties, and perhaps not the chief one.
 What they seem to have desired in their police constables is a class of men whose appearances shall command re- spect, whose faces shall indicate good personal habits, who shall have an in- exhaustible fund of patience and cour- tesy, and who shall find their chief oc- cupation, not in arresting those who may break the peace, but in helping people to keep the peace, and in making themselves generally useful to all who are decent. and to some even who are not so decent, as harmonizers and good natured guides Not bad ideal cer- tainly, and it's just as certain that the English constabulary doesn't fall very far short of reaching the ideal. They never act like bullies, and really to look at them you wouldn't expect them to. It Is seldom they indulge in oaths even when subjected by ruffians to physical reinstatement, and in all their ordinary intercourse with the life and crowds oe London they seem to act as much like gentlemen as anybody around. But fancy a guardian of the peace with no cuss words In his vocab- ulary.
 They will answer any question, if they can. and the average London "peeler" must surely have a question popped at him at every minute Of the clock He may not be able to tell you just what you want to know, but he will treat you civilly even to the seven- ty and seventh time of asking. By tim- i'd women, anxious to cross these team ing thoroughfares and just as anxious not to be counted amongst the hVe thousand who are annually run over in this city, these London boobies are blessed for the protection and 6utd- ance they offer scores of times day. Often. too. they are tipped, and l never heard of a single instance ih which eith the policeman's dignity or his proverbial kindness kept him from accepting such a gratuity. But this isn't at all to his discredit it is rather cne of the surest proofs that he is Eng fish. you know. Who is there over here who would decline a tip? The King or the Lord Chancellor might, but 1 should awfully hate to try them with an amount I couldn't afford to lose.
 Let no one suppose from this descrip- ton that these English policemen are what would be called Sunday school men, No doubt some of them are, for there are special missions to policemen and thriving missions carried on by policemen themselves. But 1t isn't their righteousness I wish to emphasize In that respect they no doubt average with the rest of us sinning mortals The points. however, In which they ex- eel a great many people and throw completely into the shade the same class in some other countries, are their evident self control the marks of sober living they carry about them, and the admirable way in which, without being the least bit insolent or tyrannical, they still show consciousness of authority and certain degree of the pride of ot- fee. Appearances are not always de- ceiving. Bad habits are very likely to show themselves before long in both the face and figure. One might easily infer that the English as people are inclined to be bibulous from the num- bar of faces one sees that are blotched and fiery and the many masculine forms that incline to the bay window variety. But from tell-tale disfgure- ments of this kind, so common over here, the London policeman are gene rally free.
 Perhaps i: one saw gray hair under the hobbies helmet little oftener this estimate would have to be revised. The fact is, however, that nearly all the policemen you meet are comparatively young men. You never see one with the marks of age upon him and seldom any who have reached the full of mid-