Chapter I (1)

_A general view of the Evils existing in the Metropolis, and
the causes from which they arise.--Necessity of a
well-regulated Police.--Ineffective system of Criminal
Jurisprudence.--Facility of eluding Justice. Severity and
inequality of Punishments.--Necessity of revising our Penal
Code.--Certain dangerous Offences not punishable.--Receivers
of stolen property.--Extent of plunder in the Metropolis,
&c.--Proposed restrictions on Receivers.--Coiners and
Utterers of Counterfeit Money; the extent of their
crimes.--Defects in the mode of prosecuting
Offenders.--Pardons.--Periodical discharges of
Prisoners.--Summary of the causes of the present inefficacy
of the Police, under nine different heads._

Next to the blessings which a Nation derives from an excellent Constitution and System of general Laws, are those advantages which result from a well-regulated and energetic plan of Police, conducted and enforced with purity, activity, vigilance, and discretion.

Upon this depends, in so great a degree, the comfort, the happiness, and the true liberty and security of the People, that too much labour and attention cannot possibly be bestowed in rendering complete the domestic administration of Justice in all cases of criminal delinquency.

That much remains to be done in this respect no person will deny; all ranks must bear testimony to the dangers which both life and property are at present subjected to by the number of criminal people, who, from various causes (which it is the object of the Writer of these pages to explain), are suffered with impunity to repeat acts of licentiousness and mischief, and to commit depredations upon individuals and the Public.

In vain do we boast of those liberties which are our birthright, if the vilest and most depraved part of the Community are suffered to deprive us of the privilege of travelling upon the highways, or of approaching the Capital in any direction after dark, without risk of being assaulted, and robbed; and perhaps wounded or murdered.

In vain may we boast of the security which our Laws afford us, if we cannot lie down to rest in our habitations, without the dread of a burglary being committed, our property invaded, and our lives exposed to imminent danger before the approach of morning.

Imperfect must be either the plan or the execution, or both, of our Criminal Code, if crimes are found to increase; if the moral principle ceases to be a check upon a vast proportion of the lower ranks of the People; and if small thefts are known to prevail in such a degree, as to affect almost all ranks of the Community who have any property to lose, as often as opportunities occur, whereby pilfering in a little way can be effected without detection.

If, in addition to this, the peace of Society can, on every specious pretence, be disturbed by the licentious clamours or turbulent effusions arising from the ill-regulated passions of vulgar life, surely it becomes an interesting inquiry, worthy the attention of every intelligent member of the Community, _from what source spring these numerous inconveniences; and where is a remedy to be found for so many accumulated evils_?

In developing the causes which have produced that want of security, which it is believed prevails in no other civilised country in so great a degree as in England, it will be necessary to examine how far the System of Criminal Jurisprudence has been, hitherto, applicable to the prevention of crimes.

If we look back to the measures pursued by our ancestors two centuries ago, and before that period, we shall find that many wholesome laws were made with a view to prevention, and to secure the good behaviour of persons likely to commit offences. Since that aera in our history, a different plan has been pursued. Few regulations have been established to restrain vice, or to render difficult the commission of crimes; while the Statute Books have been filled with numerous Laws, in many instances doubtfully expressed, and whose leading feature has generally been severe punishment. These circumstances, aided by the false mercy of Juries in cases of slight offences, have tended to let loose upon Society a body of criminal individuals, who under a better Police--an improved system of Legislation, and milder punishments,--might, after a correction in Penitentiary Houses, or employment in out-door labour, under proper restraints, have been restored to Society as useful members.

As the Laws are at present administered, it is a melancholy truth not to be contradicted, that the major part of the criminals who infest this Metropolis, although committed by magistrates for trial on very satisfactory proof, are returned upon the Public in vast numbers year after year; encouraged to renew their former practices, by the facility they experience in evading justice.

But this is not all:--The adroit Thief and Receiver, availing themselves of their pecuniary resources, often escape, from their knowledge of the tricks and devices which are practised, through the medium of disreputable practitioners of the Law; while the novices in delinquency generally suffer the punishment attached to conviction. If, as is the case in some other countries, evidence were allowed to be received of the general character of persons, put upon their trial for offences, and the means by which they obtain their subsistence, so as to distinguish the old reputed Thief and Receiver from the novice in crimes, the minds of Jurymen would be often enlightened, to the furtherance of substantial justice; and a humane and proper distinction might be made between the young pupil of depravity, and the finished villain; as well in the measure of punishment, as in the distribution of mercy.

The severity of the punishment, which at present attaches to crimes regarded by mankind as of an inferior nature, and which affect property in a trivial manner, is also deserving the most serious attention. It is only necessary to be acquainted with the modern history of the _criminal prosecutions, trials, acquittals, and pardons in this country_, in order to be completely convinced that the progressive increase of delinquents, and the evils experienced by Society from the multitude of petty crimes, result in a great measure from this single circumstance.

It will scarcely be credited by those, whose habits of life do not permit them to enter into discussions of this sort, that by the Laws of England, there are above _one hundred and sixty_ different offences which subject the parties who are found guilty, to death without benefit of Clergy. This multiplicity of capital punishments must, in the nature of things, defeat those ends, the attainment of which ought to be the object of all Law, namely, _The Prevention of Crimes_.

In consequence of this severity, (to use the words of an admired Writer,) "The injured, through compassion, will often forbear to prosecute: Juries, through compassion, will sometimes forget their oaths, and either acquit the guilty or mitigate the nature of the offence: and Judges, through compassion, will respite one half the convicts, and recommend them to Royal Mercy."[2]

[Footnote 2: Blackstone's Commentaries.]

The Roman Empire never flourished so much as during the aera of the Portian Law, which abrogated the punishment of death for all offences whatsoever. When severe punishments and an incorrect Police were afterwards revived, the Empire fell.

It is not meant, however, to be insinuated that this would be, altogether, a proper system of Criminal Jurisprudence to be adopted in modern times.

In the present state of society it becomes indispensably necessary, that offences, which in their nature are highly injurious to the Public, and where no mode of prevention can be established, should be punished by the forfeiture of life; but these dreadful examples should be exhibited as seldom as possible: for while on the one hand, such punishments often defeat the ends of Justice, by their not being carried into execution; so on the other, by being often repeated, they lose their effect upon the minds of the People.[3]

[Footnote 3: Can that be thought a correct System of Jurisprudence, which inflicts the penalty of Death, for breaking down the mound of a fish-pond, whereby the fish may escape; or cutting down a fruit-tree in a garden or orchard; or stealing a handkerchief, or any trifle, privately from a person's pocket, above the value of 12d;--while a number of other crimes of much greater enormity, are only punished with Transportation and Imprisonment; and while the punishment of murder itself is, and can be, only Death; with a few circumstances of additional ignominy?]

However much we glory (and we ought to glory) in the general excellence of our Criminal Law, yet there is no truth more clear and obvious than this:--"That this code exhibits too much the appearance of a heterogeneous mass, concocted too often on the spur of the occasion (as Lord Bacon expresses it):--and frequently without that degree of accuracy which is the result of able and minute discussion, or a due attention to the revision of the existing laws; or how far their provisions bear upon new and accumulated statutes introduced into Parliament; often without either consideration or knowledge, and without those precautions which are always necessary, when laws are to be made which may affect the property, the liberty, and perhaps even the lives of thousands."

Some steps have indeed, been taken in Parliament, since this work first appeared, towards a general revision of our Statute Law;[4] and which, it is hoped, will ere long be adopted. Whenever the time shall arrive that the existing laws, which form the present Criminal Code, shall be referred to able and intelligent men effectually to revise, consolidate, and adjust the whole, in a manner best suited to the present state of Society and Manners, the investigation will unquestionably excite no little wonder and astonishment.

[Footnote 4: See the "Report from the Committee of the House of Commons on Temporary Laws;" May 13, 1796--and also the "Report from the Committee for promulgation of the Statutes," December 5, 1796; and the "Resolutions of a Committee of the whole House," March 20, 1797.]

Penal laws, which are either obsolete or absurd, or which have arisen from an adherence to rules of Common Law when the reasons have ceased upon which these rules are founded; and in short, all Laws which appear not to be consonant to the dictates of truth and justice, the feelings of Humanity, and the indelible rights of Mankind should be abrogated and repealed.[5]

[Footnote 5: Blackstone.]

But the deficiency of the Criminal Code does not arise solely from an erroneous and undigested scale of penalties and punishments. While on the one hand, we have to lament the number of these applicable to certain offences of a slight nature; we have equally to regret, that there exist crimes of considerable enormity, for the punishment of which the Law has made no provision.

Among the most prominent of these crimes, may be ranked the receiving _Cash or Specie, Bank-Notes_ or _Bills, knowing them to be stolen_.

To this very high offence, in its nature so productive of mischief in a Commercial Country, no punishment at all attaches; inasmuch as _Specie, Notes and Bills_, are not considered for this purpose to be _Goods and Chattels_; and the law only makes it a crime to receive property so described.

If therefore a notorious Receiver of stolen goods shall be convicted of purchasing a glass bottle or a pewter pot, he is liable to be punished severely; but if he receives ten or twenty thousand pounds in _Cash_, _Bank Notes_, or _Bills_, he escapes with impunity![6]

[Footnote 6: It is said the same construction of the Law has been made with respect to the Offence of buying or receiving Horses, knowing them to be stolen.]

Innumerable almost are the other instances which could be collected from Reporters of Criminal Cases, shewing the deficiency of the Criminal Code; and in how many instances substantial justice is defeated, and public wrongs are suffered to go unpunished, through the objections and quibbles constantly raised in Courts of Justice; and which are allowed to prevail, principally, for want of that revision of our laws and those amendments which the present state of Society and Commerce requires.

One of the chief nurseries of Crimes is to be traced to the Receivers of Stolen Property.

Without that easy encouragement which these Receivers hold out, by administering immediately to the wants of criminals, and concealing what they purloin, a Thief, a Robber, or a Burglar, could not in fact, carry on his trade.

And yet, conclusive and obvious, as this remark must be, it is a sorrowful truth, that in the Metropolis alone there are at present supposed to be upwards of Three Thousand Receivers of various kinds of stolen Goods; and an equal proportion all over the Country, who keep open shop for the purpose of purchasing at an under-price--often for a mere trifle,--every kind of property brought to them; from a nail, or a glass bottle, up to the most valuable article either new or old; and this without asking a single question.

It is supposed that the property, purloined and pilfered in a little way, from almost every family, and from every _house, stable, shop, warehouse, workshop, foundery, and other repository_, in and about the Metropolis, may amount to about L.700,000 in one year, exclusive of depredations on ships in the River Thames, which, before the establishment of the Marine Police System in June 1798, were estimated at half a million more, including the stores and materials!--When to this is also added the Pillage of his Majesty's stores, in ships of war, Dock-yards, and other public repositories, the aggregate will be found in point of extent, almost to exceed credibility!

It is a melancholy reflection to consider how many individuals, young and old, who are not of the class or description of common or even repeated thieves, are implicated in this system of depredation; who would probably have remained honest and industrious, had it not been for the easy mode of raising money, which these numerous Receivers of stolen goods hold out in every bye-street and lane in the Metropolis: In their houses, although a beggarly appearance of old iron, old rags, or second-hand clothes, is only exhibited, the back apartments are often filled with the most valuable articles of ship-stores, copper-bolts and nails, brass and other valuable metals, West-India produce, household goods and wearing apparel; purchased from artificers, labourers in the docks, lumpers, and others employed on the River Thames, menial servants, apprentices, journeymen, porters, chimney-sweepers, itinerant Jews, and others; who, thus encouraged and protected, go on with impunity, and without the least dread of detection, from the easiness of access, which their various employments give them, plundering every article not likely to be missed, in the houses or stables of men of property; or in the shops, ware-houses, founderies, or work-shops of manufacturers; or from new buildings; from ships in the river; nay even from his Majesty's stores, and other repositories, so that in some instances, the same articles are said to be sold to the Public Boards three or four times over.

Thus the moral principle is totally destroyed among a vast body of the lower ranks of the People; for wherever prodigality, dissipation, or gaming, whether in the Lottery or otherwise, occasions a want of money, every opportunity is sought to purloin public or private property; recourse is then had to all those tricks and devices, by which even children are enticed to steal before they know that it is a crime; and to raise money at the pawnbrokers, or the old iron or rag shops, to supply the unlawful desires of profligate parents.

Hence also, Servants, Apprentices, Journeymen, and in short all classes of labourers and domestics, are led astray by the temptations to spend money, which occur in this Metropolis; and by the facility afforded through the numerous Receivers of stolen Goods, who administer to their pecuniary wants, on every occasion, when they can furnish them with any article of their ill-gotten plunder.

The necessity of adopting some effectual regulations respecting the numerous class of Dealers in old metal, stores, and wearing apparel, is too obvious to require illustration; and the progressive accumulation of these pests of Society is proved, by their having increased, from about 300 to 3000, in the course of the last twenty years, in the Metropolis alone!

Similar regulations should also be extended to all the more latent Receivers, who do not keep open shop; but secretly support the professed Robbers and Burglars, by purchasing their plunder the moment it is acquired: of which latter class there are some who are said to be extremely opulent.

It would by no means be difficult to form such a plan of Police as should establish many useful restrictions, for the purpose of checking and embarrassing these criminal people; so as to render it extremely difficult, if not impracticable for them, in many instances, to carry on their business without the greatest hazard of detection.

But laws for this purpose must not be placed upon the Statute-Book as a kind of dead letter, only to be brought into action when accident may lead to the detection, perhaps of one in a thousand. If the evil is to be cured at all, it must be by the promotion and encouragement of an active principle, under proper superintendance, calculated to prevent every class of dealers, who are known to live partly or wholly by fraud, from pursuing those illegal practices; which nothing but a watchful Police, aided by a correct system of restraints, can possibly effect.

Nor ought it to be argued, that the restraints, which may hereafter be proposed, will affect the liberty of the Subject. They will assist and protect the honest and fair dealer; and it is perfectly consistent with the spirit of our ancient laws, to restrain persons from doing evil, who are likely to commit offences; the restrictions can affect only a very few, comparatively speaking; and those too whose criminal conduct has been the principal, if not the sole cause, of abridging the general liberty; while it subjected the great mass of the people to the risk of their life and property.

Whenever Dealers, of any description, are known to encourage or to support crimes, or criminal or fraudulent persons, it becomes the indispensable interest of the State, and the duty of the Legislators to prevent them from pursuing, at least, the mischievous part of their trade; and that provisions should be made for carrying the laws strictly and regularly into execution.

While restraints of a much severer nature than those which are hereafter proposed, attach to all trades upon which a revenue is collected; can it be considered as any infringement of freedom, to extend a milder system to those who not only destroy liberty but invade property?

The present state of Society and Manners calls aloud for the adoption of this principle of regulation, as the only practicable means of preserving the morals of a vast body of the Community; and of preventing those numerous and increasing crimes and misdemeanors, which are ultimately attended with as much evil to the perpetrators as to the sufferers.

If such a principle were once established, under circumstances which would insure a correct and regular execution; and if, added to this, certain other practicable arrangements should take place, (which will be discussed in their regular order in these pages,) we might soon congratulate ourselves on the immediate and obvious reduction of the number of Thieves, Robbers, Burglars, and other criminals in this Metropolis, being no longer able to exist, or to escape detection. Without the aid, the concealment, and the opportunities, afforded at present by the multitude of Receivers spread all over the Capital, they would be compelled to abandon their evil pursuits, as no less unprofitable and hazardous, than they are destructive to the best interests of Society.

This indeed is very different from what is said to have once prevailed in the Capital, when criminals were permitted to proceed from the first stage of depravity until they were worth forty pounds.--This is not the System which subjected the Public to the intermediate depredations of every villain from his first starting, till he could be clearly convicted of a capital offence.--Neither is it the System which encouraged public houses of rendezvous for Thieves, for the purpose of knowing where to apprehend them, when they became ripe for the punishment of death.

The System now suggested, is calculated to prevent, if possible, the seeds of villainy from being sown; or, if sown, to check their growth in the bud, and never permit them to ripen at all.

It is proposed to extend this system of prevention to the Coiners, Dealers, and Utterers of base Money; and to every species of theft, robbery, fraud, and depredation.

The vast increase, and the extensive circulation of counterfeit Money, particularly of late years, is too obvious not to have attracted the notice of all ranks. It has become an enormous evil in the melancholy catalogue of Crimes which the Laws of the Country are called upon to assist the Police in suppressing.--Its extent almost exceeds credibility; and the dexterity and ingenuity of these counterfeiters have, (after considerable practice,) enabled them to finish the different kinds of base Money in so masterly a manner, that it has become extremely difficult for the common observer to distinguish their spurious manufacture from the worn-out Silver of the Mint.--So systematic, indeed, has this nefarious traffic become of late, that the great dealers, who, in most instances are the employers of the Coiners, execute orders for the Town and Country, with the same regularity as manufacturers in fair branches of trade.

Scarcely a waggon or coach departs from the Metropolis, which does not carry boxes and parcels of base Coin to the camps, sea-ports, and manufacturing towns. In London, regular markets, in various public and private houses, are held by the principal Dealers; where _Hawkers, Pedlars, fraudulent Horse-Dealers, Unlicensed Lottery-Office-Keepers, Gamblers at Fairs, Itinerant Jews, Irish Labourers, Servants of Toll-Gatherers, and Hackney-Coach Owners, fraudulent Publicans, Market-Women, Rabbit-Sellers, Fish-Cryers, Barrow-Women_, and many who would not be suspected, are regularly supplied with counterfeit Copper and Silver, with the advantage of nearly L.100 _per cent._ in their favour; and thus it happens, that through these various channels, the country is deluged with immense quantities of base Money, which get into circulation; while an evident diminution of the Mint Coinage is apparent to every common observer.

It is impossible to reflect on the necessity to which all persons are thus reduced, of receiving and again uttering, Money which is known to be false and counterfeit, without lamenting, that by thus familiarizing the mind to fraud and deception, the same laxity of conduct may be introduced into other transactions of life:--The barrier being broken down in one part, the principle of common honesty is infringed upon, and infinite mischief to the very best interests of Society, is the result, in cases at first unthought of.

To permit, therefore, the existence of an adulterated, and ill-regulated Silver and Copper Coinage, is in fact to tolerate general fraud and deception, to the ultimate loss of many individuals; for the evil must terminate at some period, and then thousands must suffer; with this aggravation, that the longer it continues the greater will be the loss of property.

Nor has the mischief been confined to the counterfeiting the Coin of the Realm. The avarice and ingenuity of man is constantly finding out new sources of fraud; insomuch, that in London, and in Birmingham, and its neighbourhood, Louis d'Ors, Half Johannas, French Half Crowns and Shillings, as well as several coins of Flanders and Germany, and Dollars of excellent workmanship, in exact imitation of the Spanish Dollars issued from the Bank, in 1797, have been from time to time counterfeited apparently without suspicion, that under the act of the 14th of Elizabeth, (cap. 3,) the offenders were guilty of misprision of High Treason.

These ingenious miscreants have also extended their iniquitous manufacture to the coins of India; and a Coinage of the Star Pagoda of Arcot was established in London for years by one person.--These counterfeits, being made wholly of blanched copper, tempered in such a manner as to exhibit, when stamped, the cracks in the edges, which are always to be found on the real Pagoda, cost the maker only Three Half-pence each, after being double gilt.--When finished, they are generally sold to Jews at Five Shillings a dozen, who disposed of them afterwards at 2_s._ 3_s._ or even 5_s._ each; and through this medium, they have been introduced by a variety of channels into India, where they were mixed with the real Pagodas of the country, and passed at their full denominated value of Eight Shillings sterling.

The Sequins of Turkey, another Gold Coin, worth about five or six shillings, have in like manner been counterfeited in London;--Thus the national character is wounded, and the disgrace of the British name proclaimed in Asia, and even in the most distant regions of India. Nor can it be sufficiently lamented that persons who consider themselves as ranking in superior stations of life, with some pretensions to honour and integrity, have suffered their avarice so far to get the better of their honesty, as to be concerned in this iniquitous traffic.

It has been recently discovered that there are at least 120 persons in the Metropolis and the Country, employed principally in coining and selling base Money; and this, independent of the numerous horde of Utterers, who chiefly support themselves by passing it at its full value.

It will scarcely be credited, that of Criminals of this latter class who have either been detected, prosecuted, or convicted, within the last seven years, there stand upon the Register of the Solicitor to the Mint, more than 650 names!--And yet the mischief is not diminished. When the Reader is informed, that two persons can finish from L.200 to L.300 (nominal value,) in base silver in _six days_; and that three people, within the same period, will stamp the like amount in Copper, and takes into the calculation the number of known Coiners, the aggregate amount in the course of a year will be found to be immense.

The causes of this enormous evil are, however, easily developed.--The principal laws relative to Counterfeit Coin having been made a Century ago, the tricks and devices of modern times are not sufficiently provided against;[7] when it is considered also, that the offence of dealing in base Money, (which is the main spring of the evil,) is only punishable by a slight imprisonment; that several offences of a similar nature are not punishable at all, by any existing statute; and that the detection of actual Coiners, so as to obtain the proof necessary for conviction, required by Law, is, in many instances, impracticable; it is not to be wondered at, where the profit is so immense, with so many chances of escaping punishment, that the coinage of, and traffic in, counterfeit Money has attracted the attention of so many unprincipled and avaricious persons.

[Footnote 7: The partial remedy applied to some of these evils by Statutes passed since the former Edition of this Work, shall be noticed in a subsequent Chapter dedicated to the subject of Coinage.]

Having thus stated many prominent abuses which appear to arise from the imperfections in our Criminal Code, as well as the benefits which an improved system would extend to the country; it now remains to elucidate the further evils arising to Society, from the abuses practised in carrying the existing statutes into execution.--As the laws now stand, little or no energy enters into the system of detection, so as to give vigor and effect to that branch of Police which relates to the apprehension of persons charged with offences; and no sooner does a Magistrate commit a hacknied Thief or Receiver of stolen Goods, a Coiner, or Dealer in base Money, or a Criminal charged with any other fraud or offence punishable by law, than recourse is immediately had to some disreputable Attorney, whose mind is made up and prepared to practise every trick and device which can defeat the ends of substantial justice. Depraved persons, frequently accomplices, are hired to swear an _alibi_; witnesses are cajoled, threatened, or bribed either to mutilate their evidence, or to speak doubtfully on the trial, although they swore positively before the committing Magistrate.

If bribes and persuasions will not do, the prosecutors are either intimidated by the expence,[8] or softened down by appeals to their humanity; and under such circumstances, they neither employ counsel nor take the necessary steps to bring forward evidence: the result is, that the Bill is either returned _ignoramus_ by the Grand Jury; or, if a trial takes place, under all the disadvantages of a deficient evidence, without a counsel for the prosecution, an advocate is heard for the prisoner, availing himself of every trifling inaccuracy which may screen his client from the punishment of the Law, the hardened villain is acquitted and escapes justice: while, as we before noticed, the novice in crimes, unskilled in the deficiencies of the Law, and unable, from the want of criminal connections, or that support which the professed thief receives from the Buyers of stolen goods, to procure the aid of counsel to defend him, _is often convicted_!

[Footnote 8: No hardship can be so great as that of subjecting an individual, under any circumstance whatsoever, to the expence of a public prosecution, carried on in behalf of the King: Besides adding, almost on every occasion, to the loss of the parties, it is productive of infinite mischief, in defeating the ends of Justice.]

The Registers of the Old Bailey afford a lamentable proof of the evils arising from the present mode of trying criminals without a public Prosecutor for the Crown.--In the course of seven years, previous to the Police Establishment, no less than 4262 prisoners, who had been actually put upon their trial by the Grand Jury, were let loose upon the Public by acquittals.

Since that period no material diminution has taken place, except what may be easily accounted for by the war; and when to this dreadful Catalogue of Human Depravity, is to be added, the vast number of criminals who are periodically discharged from the different gaols by proclamation, and of cheats, swindlers, gamblers, and others, who have never yet been discovered or known, we may state with certainty that there are at this time _many thousand_ individuals, male and female, prowling about in this Metropolis, who principally support themselves by various depredations on the Public.

Nor does the evil rest here; for even convicted felons, in too many instances, find means to escape without punishment; and to join that phalanx of villains, who are constantly engaged in objects of depredation and mischief.

No sooner does the punishment of the law attach on a criminal, than false humanity becomes his friend. Pardons are applied for; and it is known that his Majesty's great goodness and love of mercy has been frequently abused by the tricks, devices, and frauds, too commonly resorted to, by convicts and agents equally depraved as themselves; who while they have recourse to every species of falsehood and forgery, for the purpose of attaining the object in view, at the same time plunder the friends and relatives of the prisoner, of their last guinea, as the wages of villainy and misrepresentation.

By such nefarious practices, it is much to be feared, that many a hardened villain has eluded the punishment of the Law, without any previous reference to the committing Magistrates, who may be supposed to have accurately examined into his character and connections; and what is still worse, without extending to the Community those benefits which might arise from important discoveries useful to Public Justice; such as convicted felons are always capable of making, and which, in conjunction with transportation, it should seem, ought to be one indispensable condition, upon which pardons should be granted to capital convicts.

Instead of these precautions which appear to be absolutely requisite, it is to be lamented, that without reflecting that a common thief can seldom be restrained by military discipline, many of the worst class of convicts have received his Majesty's gracious pardon, on the simple condition of going into the Army or Navy: This has been no sooner granted, than the Royal Mercy has been abused, either by desertion, or by obtaining a discharge, in consequence of some real or pretended incapacity, which was previously concealed. Relieved in so easy a manner, from the heavy load of a capital punishment, the culprits return again to their old practices; and by this means, punishment not only ceases to operate as a prevention of crimes, by example, but becomes even an encouragement; while the labour of detection, and the expence of trial and conviction, are fruitlessly thrown on an injured individual, and their effect is wholly lost to the Public.

In addition to the enormous evil arising from the periodical discharge of so many criminals by proclamations, acquittals, and pardons; _the_ HULKS also send forth, at stated times, a certain number of convicts; who having _no asylum_, _no home_, _no character_, and _no means of subsistence_, seem to have only the alternative of starving, or joining their companions in iniquity; thus adding strength to the body of criminals, by the accession of men, who, polluted and depraved by every human vice, rendered familiar to their minds in those seminaries of profligacy and wickedness from whence they have come, employ themselves constantly in planning and executing acts of violence, and depredation upon the Public; and some of them, rendered desperate from an additional degree of depravity, feel no compunction in adding the crimes of murder to that of robbery, as has been too clearly manifested by many late instances.

From what has been thus stated, is it not fair to conclude, that the want of security which the Public experiences with regard to life and property, and the inefficacy of the Police in preventing crimes, are to be attributed principally to the following causes?

1. _The imperfections in the Criminal Code; and in many
instances, its deficiency, with respect to the mode of
punishment; as well as to the want of many other
regulations, provisions, and restraints, applicable to the
present of Society, for the purpose of preventing crimes._

2. _The want of an active principle, calculated to
concentrate and connect the whole Police of the Metropolis
and the Nation; and to reduce the general management to
system and method, by the interposition of a superintending
agency, composed of able, intelligent, and indefatigable men,
acting under the direction and controul of his Majesty's
Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department.--On
these persons, it is proposed, should devolve the subordinate
care and direction of the general Police of the Metropolis;
so as to obtain, by the introduction of order and
arrangement, and by efforts of labour and exertion, a
complete History of the connections, and pursuits of all or
most of the criminal and fraudulent persons who resort to the
Metropolis; (either natives or foreigners;) forming, from
such materials, a Register of all known offenders, and
thereby establishing a clue for their detection, as often as
they are charged with committing depredations on the
Public--with power to reward Officers of Justice, and all
other persons whose services are found to be useful in the
discovery or detection of delinquents of every
description.--To keep an Account of property stolen, or
procured by swindling or fraudulent transactions in the
Metropolis, as well as in other parts of Great-Britain:--To
establish a Correspondence with the Magistrates in Town and
Country, so as to be able more effectually to watch the
motions of all suspected persons; with a view to quick and
immediate detection; and to interpose such embarrassments in
the way of every class of offenders, as may diminish crimes
by increasing the risk of detection: All this, under
circumstances where a_ centre-point would be formed, _and the
general affairs of the Police conducted with method and
regularity:--where Magistrates would find assistance and
information; where the greater offences, such as the_ Coinage
of base Money, _and_ Lottery Insurances, _would be traced to
their source; the care and disposal of convicts, according to
their different sentences, be minutely attended to; and the
whole System conducted with that intelligence and benefit to
the Country, which must arise from the attention of men of
business being directed solely to these objects, distinct
from all other affairs of State; and their exertions being
confined principally to the preservation of the morals of the
People, and the prevention of crimes._

3. _The want of an Institution of Police Magistrates in the
Dock Yards, and in all great Commercial and Manufacturing
Towns, where there are no Corporations or Funds for the
administration of Public Justice._

4. _The want of a Public Prosecutor for the Crown, in all
criminal cases, for the purpose of preventing fraud, delay
and expence in the administration of Justice._

5. _The want of a more correct and regular System, for the
purpose of obtaining the fullest and most authentic
information, to avoid deceptions in the obtaining of
pardons._

6. _The deficiency of the System of the_ Hulks.

7. _The want of an improved System with regard to the
arrangements and disposal of Convicts--destined for hard
labour or for transportation._

8. _The want of national_ Penitentiary Houses, _for the
punishment and reformation of certain classes of Convicts._

9. _The want of a more solemn mode of conducting Executions;
whenever such dreadful examples are necessary for the
furtherance of Public Justice._

Having thus explained the general features of the actually existing _Crimes_, and their probable causes, we shall in the next place proceed to some considerations on the present principles of _Punishment_ in this Country, as compared with those in other Nations and ages. It will then be requisite to enter into particular and minute details on both these subjects; and to offer some suggestions for the introduction of new and applicable laws to be administered with purity under a correct and energetic System of Police; which may be, in some degree, effectual in guarding the Public against those increasing and multifarious injuries and dangers, which are universally felt and lamented.

CHAP. II.

_Of Punishments in general.--The mode of ascertaining the
degrees of Punishment.--The objects to be considered in
inflicting Punishments--namely, Amendment--Example--and
Retribution.--The Punishment of Death has little effect on
hardened Offenders.--Examples of convicts exhibited in
servile employments would make a greater
impression.--Towards the rendering criminal laws perfect,
Prevention ought to be the great object of the
Legislature.--General Rules suggested for attaining this
object, with illustrations.--The severity of our laws with
respect to Punishments--not reconcileable to the principles
of morality, and a free government--calculated in their
operation to debase the human character.--General
Reflections on the Punishments authorised by the English
Law.--The disproportion of Punishments, exemplified in the
case of an assault, opposed to a larceny.--In seduction and
adultery, which are not punishable as criminal
offences.--The laws severe in the extreme in political
offences, while they are lax and defective with regard to
moral Crimes.--The necessity of enforcing the observance of
religious and moral Virtue by lesser Punishments.--General
Reflections applicable to public and private Crimes.--The
dangers arising from the progress of immorality to the
safety of the State.--The leading offences made capital by
the laws of England considered, with the Punishment
allotted to each; compared with, and illustrated by, the
custom of other countries, in similar cases, both ancient
and modern: namely, High Treason--Petit Treason:--Felonies
against Life, viz. Murder, Manslaughter, Misadventure, and
Self-defence:--against the Body, comprehending Sodomy, Rape,
Forcible Marriage, Polygamy, and Mayhem.--Against Goods or
Property, comprehending Simple Larceny, Mixt Larceny, and
Piracy,--and against the Habitation, comprehending Arson and
Burglary.--Concluding Reflections relative to the severity
of the Laws, and their imperfections with regard to
Punishment--The new Code of the_ Emperor JOSEPH the Second,
_shortly detailed.--Reflections thereon._

Punishment, (says a learned and respectable author) _is an evil which a delinquent suffers, unwillingly, by the order of a Judge or Magistrate; on account of some act done which the Law prohibits, or something omitted which the Law enjoins._

All Punishment should be proportioned to the nature of the offence committed; and the Legislature, in adjusting Punishment with a view to the public good, ought, according to the dictates of sound reason, to act on a comparison of the Crime under consideration, with other offences injurious to Society: and thus by comparing one offence with another, to form a scale, or gradation, of Punishments, as nearly as possible consistent with the strict rules of distributive justice.[9]

[Footnote 9: Beccaria, or Crimes and Punishments, Cap. 6.]

It is the triumph of Liberty, says the great Montesquieu, when the criminal laws proportion punishments to the particular nature of each offence.--It may be further added, that when this is the case, it is also the triumph of Reason.

In order to ascertain in what degree the Public is injured or endangered by any crime, it is necessary to weigh well and dispassionately the nature of the offence, as it affects the Community.--It is through this medium, that Treason and Rebellion are discovered to be higher and more dangerous offences than breaches of the peace by riotous assemblies; as such riotous meetings are in like manner considered as more criminal than a private assault.

In punishing delinquents, two objects ought to be invariably kept in view.--

1. The Amendment of the Delinquent.

2. The Example afforded to others.

_To which may be added, in certain cases_,

3. Retribution to the party injured.

If we attend to Reason, the _Mistress of all Law_, she will convince us that it is both unjust and injurious to Society to inflict Death, except for the highest offences, and in cases where the offender appears to be incorrigible.

Wherever the amendment of a delinquent is in view, it is clear that his punishment cannot extend to death: If expiating an offence by the loss of life is to be (as it certainly is at present) justified by the necessity of making examples for the purpose of preventing crimes, it is evident that the present System has not had that effect, since they are by no means diminished; and since even the dread of this Punishment, has, under present circumstances, so little effect upon guilty associates, that it is no uncommon thing for these hardened offenders to be engaged in new acts of theft, at the very moment their companions in iniquity are launching in their very presence into eternity.

The minds of offenders, long inured to the practice of criminal pursuits, are by no means beneficially affected by the punishment of Death, which they are taught to consider as nothing but a momentary paroxysm which ends all their distress at once; nay even as a relief, which many of them, grown desperate, look upon with a species of indifference, bordering on a desire to meet that fate, which puts an end to the various distresses and anxieties attendant on a life of criminality.

The effect of capital punishments, in the manner they are now conducted, therefore, as relates to example, appears to be much less than has been generally imagined.

Examples would probably have much greater force, even on those who at present appear dead to shame and the stigma of infamy, were convicts exhibited day after day, to their companions, occupied in mean and servile employments in Penitentiary Houses, or on the highways, canals, mines, or public works.--It is in this way only that there is the least chance of making retribution to the parties whom they have injured; or of reimbursing the State, for the unavoidable expence which their evil pursuits have occasioned.

Towards accomplishing the desirable object of perfection in a criminal code, every wise Legislature will have it in contemplation rather to prevent than to punish crimes; that in the chastisement given, the delinquent may be restored to Society as an useful member.

This purpose may possibly be best effected by the adoption of the following general rules.

1. That the Statute-Laws should accurately explain the
enormity of the offence forbidden: and that its provisions
should be clear and explicit, resulting from a perfect
knowledge of the subject; so that, justice may not be
defeated in the execution.

2. That the Punishments should be proportioned and adapted,
as nearly as possible, to the different degrees of offences;
with a proper attention also to the various shades of
enormity which may attach to certain crimes.

3. That persons prosecuting, or compelled so to do, should
not only be indemnified from expence; but also that
reparation should be made, for losses sustained by the
injured party, in all cases where it can be obtained from
the labour, or property of the delinquent.

4. That satisfaction should be made to the State for the
injury done to the Community; by disturbing the peace, and
violating the purity of Society.

Political laws, which are repugnant to the Law of nature and reason, ought not to be adopted. The objects above-mentioned seem to include all that can be necessary for the attention of Law-givers.

If on examination of the frame and tendency of our criminal Laws, both with respect to the principles of reason and State Policy, the Author might be allowed to indulge a hope, that what he brings under the Public Eye on this important subject, would be of use in promoting the good of Mankind, he should consider his labours as very amply rewarded.

The severity of the criminal Laws is not only an object of horror, but the disproportion of the punishments, as will be shewn in the course of this Work, breathes too much the spirit of DRACO,[10] who boasted _that he punished all crimes with death; because small crimes deserved it, and he could find no higher punishment for the greatest_.

[Footnote 10: He lived 624 years before the Christian aera.]

Though the ruling principle of our Government is unquestionably, _Liberty_, it is much to be feared that the rigour which the Laws indiscriminately inflict on slight as well as more atrocious offences, can be ill reconciled to the true distinctions of Morality, and strict notions of Justice, which form the peculiar excellence of those States which are to be characterised as free.

By punishing smaller offences with extraordinary severity, is there not a risque of inuring men to baseness; and of plunging them into the sink of infamy and despair, from whence they seldom fail to rise capital criminals; often to the destruction of their fellow-creatures, and always to their own inevitable perdition?

To suffer the lower orders of the people to be ill educated--to be totally inattentive to those wise regulations of State Policy which might serve to guard and improve their morals; and then to punish them for crimes which have originated in bad habits, has the appearance of a cruelty not less severe than any which is exercised under the most despotic Governments.

There are two Circumstances which ought also to be minutely considered in apportioning the measure of Punishment--_the immorality of the action; and its evil tendency_.

Nothing contributes in a greater degree to deprave the minds of the people, than the little regard which Laws pay to Morality; by inflicting more severe punishments on offenders who commit, what may be termed, _Political Crimes_, and crimes against property, than on those who violate religion and virtue.

When we are taught, for instance, by the measure of punishment that it is considered by the Law as a greater crime to coin a sixpence than to kill our father or mother, nature and reason revolt against the proposition.

In offences which are considered by the Legislature as merely personal, and not in the class of public wrongs, the disproportionate punishment is extremely shocking.

If, for example, a personal assault is committed of the most cruel, aggravated, and violent nature, the offender is seldom punished in any other manner than by fine and imprisonment: but if a delinquent steals from his neighbour secretly more than the value of twelve-pence, the Law dooms him to death. And he can suffer no greater punishment (except the ignominy exercised on his dead body,) if he robs and murders a whole family. Some private wrongs of a flagrant nature are even passed over with impunity: the seduction of a married woman--the destruction of the peace and happiness of families, resulting from alienating a wife's affections, and defiling her person, is not an offence punishable by the Criminal Law; while it is death to rob the person, who has suffered this extensive injury, of a trifle exceeding a shilling.

The Crime of Adultery was punished with great severity both by the Grecian and the Roman Laws.--In England this offence is not to be found in the Criminal Code.--It may indeed be punished with fine and penance by the Spiritual Law; or indirectly in the Courts of Common Law, by an action for damages, at the suit of the party injured. The former may now (perhaps fortunately) be considered as a dead letter; while the other remedy, being merely of a pecuniary nature, has little effect in restraining this species of delinquency.

Like unskilful artists, we seem to have begun at the wrong end; since it is clear that the distinction, which has been made in the punishments between public and private crimes, is subversive of the very foundation it would establish.

Private Offences being the source of public crimes, the best method of guarding Society against the latter is, to make proper provisions for checking the former.--A man of pure morals always makes the best Subject of every State; and few have suffered punishment as public delinquents, who have not long remained unpunished as private offenders. The only means, therefore, of securing the peace of Society, and of preventing more atrocious crimes, is, to enforce by lesser punishments, the observance of religious and moral duties: Without this, Laws are but weak Guardians either of the State, or the persons or property of the Subject.

The People are to the Legislature what a child is to a parent:--As the first care of the latter is to teach the love of virtue, and a dread of punishment; so ought it to be the duty of the former, to frame Laws with an immediate view to the general improvement of morals.

"That Kingdom is happiest where there is most virtue," says an elegant writer.--It follows, of course, that those Laws are the best which are most calculated to promote Religion and Morality; the operation of which in every State, is to produce a conduct intentionally directed towards the Public Good.

It seems that by punishing what are called public Crimes, with peculiar severity, we only provide against present and temporary mischiefs. That we direct the vengeance of the Law against effects, which might have been prevented by obviating their causes:--And this may be assigned in part as the cause of Civil Wars and Revolutions.--The Laws are armed against the _powers_ of Rebellion, but are not calculated to oppose its _principle_.

Few civil wars have been waged from considerations of Public Virtue, or even for the security of Public Liberty. These desperate undertakings are generally promoted and carried on by abandoned characters, who seek to better their fortunes in the general havoc and devastation of their country.--Those men are easily seduced from their Loyalty who are apostates from private virtue.

To be secure therefore against those public calamities which, almost inevitably, lead to anarchy and confusion, it is far better to improve and confirm a nation in the true principles of natural justice, than to perplex them by political refinements.

Having thus taken a general view of the principles applicable to Punishments in general, it may be necessary, for the purpose of more fully illustrating these reflections, briefly to consider the various leading Offences, and their corresponding Punishments according to the present state of our Criminal Law; and to examine how far they are proportioned to each other.

High Treason is the highest civil Crime which can be committed by any member of the Community.--After various alterations and amendments made and repealed in subsequent reigns, the definition of this offence was settled as it originally stood, by the Act of the 25th of Edward III. stat. 5, cap. 2. and may be divided into seven different heads:

1. Compassing or imagining the Death of the King, Queen, or
Heir Apparent.

2. Levying War against the King, in his realm.

3. Adhering to the King's enemies, and giving them aid, in
the realm or elsewhere.[11]

[Footnote 11: It has been thought necessary, by the
Legislature, to explain and enlarge these clauses of the Act
25 _Ed._ III. as not extending, with sufficient
explicitness, to modern treasonable attempts. It is
therefore provided by the Act 36 _Geo._ III. _cap._ 7, "That
if any person (during the life of his present Majesty, and
until the end of the Session of Parliament next after a
demise of the Crown) shall within the realm, or without,
compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend death or
destruction, _or any bodily harm, tending to death or
destruction, maim, or wounding, imprisonment, or restraint_
of the person of the King, his heirs, and successors, or to
deprive or depose him or them from his stile, honour, or
Kingly name; or to levy war against the King within this
Realm, in order by force to compel him to change his
measures; _or in order to put any force or constraint upon,
or to intimidate or overawe_, BOTH HOUSES, OR EITHER HOUSE,
OF PARLIAMENT; or to incite any foreigner to invade the
dominions of the Crown: and such compassings, &c., shall
express, utter, or declare, _by publishing any printing, or
writing_, or by _any other_ overt act or deed"--the offender
shall be deemed _a Traitor_, and punished accordingly.]