ly against the accuracy of the earlier returns. It might, indeed, be said, that the error may as well have been one of excess above the actual number, as of deficiency under it. It was fair, however, to conclude that errors of this kind, and proceeding from the causes to which he had alluded, must be errors of defect, not of excess. The population of Europe had been calculated to have doubled once only in 520 years; and with these facts in his eye, he could not but look at this apparent increase with some degree of suspicion. There was another material point on which it was also proper, as connected with the subject before the house, that accurate inquiry should be made, and this was the present amount and the late increase that had taken place in the poor's rates. Neither could he suppress his regret that the census had not been extended to the sister kingdom. It would have been in the highest degree satisfactory, now that they were about to take into their grave consideration a subject of such transcendent and vital importance as the condition and the wrongs, the claims and the rights, of the Irish peeple, had they been previously put in possession of correct returns of the numerical strength of the Irish population. He deeply lamented the want of such information, and hoped the time was not far distant when a census, not less general and minute than that of Great Britain, would be taken in the sister kingdom. Mr. Peter Moore complained that the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Rose) had unnecessarily descanted on a subject not regularly before the house, and in reference to a paper that was falsely called a return of the British empire, since it totally excluded the whole popu

lation of Ireland. If the population of Ireland was not considered any part of the effective strength of the empire, it should be avowed; but if it were considered as forming a part, it ought not to have been omitted.

NIGHTLY WATCH OF THE METRO

POLIS.

Mr. Ryder rose to move for a committee to examine into the existing state of the nightly watch of London, and its immediate vicinity. Although, he observed, that it would not be necessary for him to enter at length into the present condition of the nightly watch of this city, yet it might be right in the outset to observe, that if the motion with which he should conclude rested solely on the horrible murders recently perpetrated, the assassination of two whole families, which had, as it were, thrown the whole nation into a state of terror, he should not be of opinion that it was supported on any sufficient foundation, because he was convinced that the house would think that no system of police, however excellent, could be invented competent to prevent wretches, degraded low enough beneath humanity, to commit such brutal crimes, from executing their detested purposes. He admitted, however, that the more perfect the police, the more probable would be their detection. Those gentlemen, who, from foreign travel, were acquainted with the plans adopted abroad, where a military police was established and supported with all the energy of despotism, and restrained by no respect for the property or feelings of the inhabitants, were aware that crimes, at the mention of which Englishmen shuddered, were perpetrated there almost nightly, at

tracting

tracting little comparative observation: Fortunately for us, such atrocities seldom occurred, as was proved by the universal alarm which such enormities diffused. It was impossible, however, that we could shut our eyes to offences of less magnitude indeed in these times, but which at other periods would be reckoned among crimes of the decpest dye. They however almost as nearly affected the safety of the persons and property of in. dividuals, and they had been perpetrated within these two or three months, to an extent hitherto unknown, although the public prints had often exaggerated the fact, and at other times stated circumstances completely unfounded. The house might not be aware how the law stood upon this subject. The nightly watch was in general vested in the officers of each parish, and it was not until the year 1774 that parliament thought it right to institute an inquiry, with a view to form an organized and uniform plan and nightly watch, which was to apply to fifteen of the most populous parishes of London and Westminster. By the statute afterwards passed, trustees were to be appointed, who were to appoint the watchmen and patroles in the districts named. It might easily be imagined, that an act passed so long since should at this time be found defective, from the enormous increase of the population of the metropolis, and from other circumstances, which it was not necessary here to enumerate. It would be proper, however, to notice one :the act requires that the trustees should appoint, for the purpose of guarding the streets at night, ablebodied men. The experience of all persons must convince them that the watchmen usually employed

did not, by any means, answer the description required.The right hon. gentleman had been credibly informed, that in many parishes such men were appointed watchmen who were incapable of gaining support by any other means. It might be a question whether, if the house should agree to the appointment of a committee, the provisions of this particular act would not be to be considered, as well as the contents of many other local statutes passed to provide a nightly watch in various parishes; or whether it would be deemed more advisable to alter, by a new bill, the whole system which had been hitherto acted upon; whether it would be more advantageous to enforce the enactments of existing statutes, and to strengthen them by new provisions, so as to introduce little innovation, or to completely change the plan hitherto pursued. Of this the committee would be the proper persons to determine; but the opinion of the right hon. gentleman, founded on the little information he had yet received, was, that any new statute, entirely subverting the present system of nightly watch, would not be found necessary or expedient. It would be evident that, should the inquiry proposed be instituted, a vast variety of local interests must be brought under contemplation, as they would be materially affected by any measures adopted. The parish of Pancrás, for instance, was subdivided into no less than seven districts, and each district possessed a local act it was for this reason that he had suggested the propriety of investigating this important but compli cated subject, by means of a committee; not being, for various reasons, prepared to offer to the

house

house any provisions in the shape of a bill. In the committee would certainly be included the names of the members for London, Westminster, Middlesex, and Surrey. He concluded by moving, "That a select committee be appointed to consider the state of the nightly watch in the metropolis, and the parishes adjacent."

Sir Samuel Romilly was by no means disposed to concur with the motion just read. He was much surprised at the confined terms in which it was couched; and after the transactions which had recently been witnessed in the metroplis, he was convinced that there were few individuals who did not expect a measure of much more extensive operation than that suggested. He should have thought that a committee to inquire into the causes of the late increase of felonies, or into the state of the police of the metropolis, would have been much better adapted to the exigencies of the case. Judging from the means of information which all possessed, and which might in a great measure be credited, no man could doubt for a moment, that crimes had of late been more frequent, and that those crimes were of a more atrocious character. The returns upon the table of the house, which he had thought it necessary to move for, sufficiently established the fact. It also appeared from them, that for the last five or six years, the increase of crimes in London and Middlesex only, had been gradual and regular; and gentlemen would be surprised to find how rapid it had been, including only those committed to take their trial for felonies of various kinds, at the Old Bailey.-In the year 1806, the number of criminals was $99; in 1807, 1017; in 1808,

were

1210; in 1809, 1342; in 1810, 1424. The number who were committed during the year 1811 had not been ascertained; but from this statement it appeared that, in five years only, the augmentation of offenders was to the extent of 525. It would be recollected also, that during all this period the country had been at war; and it was universally admitted, that, during the time of peace the commission of crimes was much more frequent, when a number of persons, in their capacities most useful and deserving subjects, were turned adrift, without any means of gaining a livelihood but by depredations upon society. At present it was found, that in time of war, and not of peace, offences against the criminal law greatly multiplying. What then, it would be right to inquire, were the causes to which this augmentation was to be attributed? Many might be urged, but at present he would only notice a few, with a view to impress upon the house the absolute necessity of going into a more extensive examination of this subject than would be embraced by a committee appointed on the nightly watch. The first cause, perhaps, was the system of punishment, so long, and he would say, without meaning any offence to individuals, so obstinately persevered in: he did not allude to the punishment of death, so seldom inflicted, but to the punishment endured by criminals for lesser offences, promiscuous imprisonment, where men for comparatively slight and most heinous crimes, the youngest and the oldest villains, were confined together, particularly on board the hulks; and when they were discharged, no means of gaining a living was provided for them. After studying

for

for years, these unfortunate persons were thrust out of these colleges of vice, to practice upon society the lessons they had learnt. He knew not whether the fact were so, but it was certainly a very general belief, that the crimes lately perpetrated were in a great measure owing to a recent unusual discharge of convicts from the hulks, to whom no moral instruction had been afforded, no trade had been taught, and no employment given. It would have been imagined that the late examples would have convinced ministers of the absolute necessity of a change in the criminal law: but upon this point it was not necessary, to enlarge, as a committee has been appointed upon the subject, whose report would be hereafter discussed, although he feared it would not embrace so wide a field as could be wished. The very system adopted at police offices tended to increase the crimes it was their object to prevent, particularly the custom of giving rewards for the detection of criminals of particular descriptions. It should be remembered, that upon the police officers alone depended the detection of criminals, who were acquainted with all the haunts of sus picious characters, and who had it in their power either to screen or to produce an object of public justice: if large rewards were offered upon every occasion, it was the interest not to prevent, but to multiply criminals, and to defer producing them until it was found necessary to offer a bounty for their conviction. Such an injudicious system, which was first established by the 4th William and Mary, which offered a reward of 407. on the punishment of a highwayman, and seconded by a statute of Queen Anne, could not be too much con

demned. He admitted that police officers were, generally speaking, a very useful body of men ; but unless it could be supposed that they would not be governed by the same feelings that actuate all the rest of mankind, but would be swayed only by a consciousness of what was their duty, he feared that the plan of screening criminals, for the sake of obtaining rewards subsequently offered, would still continue. The right honourable gentleman had talked of crimes of the barbarous nature lately witnessed in London, as matters of nightly occurrence abroad. On what data he had founded this assertion, it was impossible that he (sir S. Romilly) could ever guess, as in all the books he had ever read, or in the countries he had travelled, he had not found it to be the fact. If Paris were alluded to, he would sty, after visiting it several times during his life, he did not believe that it was now, or ever had been the case, and that there was no kingdom where crimes of the blackest kind were committed with greater insolence and audacity than in Great Britain. Not only was a nightly watch necessary, but a daily watch was equally important; for frequent instances of robberies occurred almost at noon day, and yet this circumstances seemed never to have entered the mind of the right honourable gentleman. A third cause of the increase of offenders was certainly the lottery, which reduced thousands to Poverty, the mother of all crimes: could it be contended, that because the lottery supplied the paltry sum of 500,000 a year, it was to be continued? He did not wish to mingle political dissention in a question of this kind; but he could not avoid saying, that it was not the supply thus

gained that was was the inducement; it must be attributed to the various offices of commissioners and others that were thereby placed at the disposal of the minister. The principal means of preventing crime, after all, was the instruction of the lower classes; opening their minds to a new sphere, showing new sources of happiness, and pointing out new means of gaining a subsistence. He trusted that the motion put from the chair would be withdrawn, and submitted in a much more comprehensive form.

Mr. William Smith, after complimenting sir Samuel Romilly on the speech just delivered, expressed his disappointment that he had not concluded by moving an amendment to the proposal of the right Lonourable gentleman, as he thought a much more extensive feld of inquiry ought to be entered upon. No man who attended to the circumstances of the late barbarous outrages on the families of Messrs. Marr and Williamson, as well as to the lesser offences since committed, could doubt but that they were perpetrated by a gang of villains, of whom few or no traces had yet been discovered: if the nightly watch had been in its best state, how, he inquired, could it have led to the detection of the murderers? The attention of the house was about to be directed to a peint of comparative little importance. However confined the motion proposed might be, he was far fun wishing that the state of the aightly watch should be excluded from the attention of the committee, since it was a matter that deserved serious inquiry, from the abuses that had crept into it.

The chancellor of the exchequer considered the present question as one of no ordinary importance,

1812.

and he could not permit it to occupy the attention of the house without bestowing a few words upon it. He confessed that he had heard nothing from the gentlemen on the opposite side, which appeared to him materially to affect the general scope of his right honourable friend's motion, which embraced a sufficiency of topics for the consideration of the committee, and those topics of great magnitude and interest. The motion, indeed, as it stood now, went to provide a practical remedy for a practical evil; and he deprecated any admixture of theoretical views, which could only elog and encumber the question in its present form. In adverting, however, to the difference of opinion which the question had excited, he was not surprised; for it was one that involved the most material interests of the metropolis, and which, therefore, could hardly be expected, from its scope, to be discussed with any thing like unanimity, or with dispatch. The first business, however, was to provide, as soon as possible, a practical remedy for what was certainly a practical evil; and he wished, therefore, that this primary object might not be embarrassed by any complication of topics, or by any consideration of those remote and theoretical causes of the late alarming increase of offences. With regard to what had been said by an honourable member respecting the offering rewards for the apprehension of offenders, much he thought might be urged upon that subject; and with him indeed it was a question, not whether those rewards should be abolished, but whether they should not be increased; whether they should not be graduated, and given' in an inverse ratio to what they now E.

are,