Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN OLD BAILEY EXPERIENCE, LONDON : IllOTSON AND PAI.MFIt, PRINTERS, 8AVOY STREET, STRAND. PREFACE. CONCERNING the nature of our criminal laws as an abstract question, so much has already been said and written by forensic and learned persons, that as a theoretical subject, nothing re- mains to be urged, either in support of their alleged excellence on the one hand, or of the general call for their revision and amendment on the other. Facts, however, have been, to a great degree, if not altogether, disregarded by legislative speculators. Nevertheless, facts are the only things that can overcome the prejudices of all parties. Impressed with this truth, the writer of the present work has, notwithstanding his repugnance to the task, been induced to lay the results of his experience and observations open to the world. They relate to the practical effects of our criminal laws. Every science is best studied on the inductive system : theory and narrow technicalities never wholly stand the test of actual experiment. In criminal law, however, the ground of experience is yet un- trodden ; and it was well said by a distinguished writer, " that law is studied in England rather as an art than a science." This country, which abounds with men skilled in scientific I i I & PREFACE. acquirements, is yet deficient of any just and true knowledge of the science of legislation. Every session of parliament, indeed, some portion of our criminal code comes under con- sideration of the house, and alterations are either proposed or made ; still no real progress towards a positive amendment is discoverable by any acute observer. This is a reproach to our rulers, and from which it is hoped they now see it is time to redeem themselves. Laws made by the inhabitants of another sphere for those resident in this, and vice versa, would be as likely to suit the state of society in each, as those made by men residing in the same planet, if framed on speculative opinions, disregarding the actual experience of the times in which they live. The obtuseness, however, of legislators in comprehending the proper method of treating their fellow- men is proverbial in the mouths of all persons who have mixed in that society which is calculated to impart to them a real knowledge of their own species. If, then, rulers will not step from their pedestals to acquire the qualifying infor- mation for making laws, not only beneficial to themselves, but, which is of more importance, to mankind at large^ it then becomes the duty of all men to aid in convincing them of their error. The author would not gratuitously draw upon himself a charge of egotism, or be thought to put him- self forward as one qualified to instruct legislators in their duty, further than to furnish them with facts, the knowledge of which has been acquired by close observation. If laws for the human race were made by gods or even demi-gods, then would those who enacted them be justified in neglecting the opinions and experience of mere mortals. It cannot, how- i-ver, be treason to presume that the greatest master-minds in FllEFACE. Vll either House of Parliament are liable to error ; it is therefore submitted whether they are not bound to receive, to the widest extent, all the evidence which is offered them, especially when the truth of the matter proffered can be proved beyond any controversy. Under the impression that they will, or ought to do so, have the following pages been written. Some of the matter which this volume contains appeared in print in the latter part of the year!832,in "Eraser's Magazine." Originally the manuscript of only three papers were handed to the editor, nor had the author any thought of pursuing the subject further. But the favourable notice the papers received from the public induced him to extend his remarks, and sub- sequently several other articles on the same subject, were written for, and inserted in, that periodical. In the beginning of the present year, it was suggested to the author that a pub- lication of the whole series was called for ; this hint, together with the appearance of " Archbishop Whately's Thoughts on Secondary Punishment," which are considered by the writer of this work opposed to all experience on the practical results of the effects of punishment, led to a re- consideration of the entire subject in detail. Had a work of this size been contemplated in the first instance, it might have appeared modelled under more regular and specific heads ; to compensate for any de- fect of this nature, a general and copious index is annexed to the work. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. On (he State of the Poor, and Cause of Crime. SF.CT. I. Want of an efficient system of education for the poor, the cause of crime .... Page 1 II. Plan for a hetter system of education, and the employ- ment of the poor . . . .17 CHAPTER II. (lateral Remarks on the Prisoners confined in Newgate before and after Trial, and the Effects of Punishment in deterring Men from Crime ...... 37 CHAPTER III. Courts at the Old Bailey, and the necessity of an Appeal Court. SF.CT. I. Hurried trials and treatment of prisoners in Newgate 59 II. Necessity of an Appeal Court . . .90 III. Infonnation respecting the character of prisoners . 112 CHAPTER IV. Principal Secretary of State's Office, or difficulty of Establishing Cases of Innocence before those in whose hands the Power of Pardon is rested. SECT. I. The Pardon Power . . . .117 II. The Priv Council . . .135 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. On the Sanguinary Character of our Penal Laws. SECT. I. Effects of executions. Treatment of malefactors under sentence of death in the cells of Newgate, illustrating the necessity for an alteration, particularly as regards religious instruction . . . .158 II. On the inutility of capital punishment, and the acerbity of the British laws '. * . . 184 III. The punishing of one crime creating others . 206 CHAPTER VI. Prison Discipline and Secondary Punishments. SECT. I. On the character of men who generally commit crime, and the best mode of disposing of the habitual of- fender . \ . . . 213 II. On the impolicy of over severity in the treatment of con- victs in general, and the views of Archbishop Whately considered on transportation . . . 229 III. Delinquency increased unnecessarily by the number of petty enactments against crime . . 255 IV. Rancorous feeling of the poor. The punishment of em- bezzlement ; and the necessity for the institution of courts of summary punishment . . 264 V. On the American system of solitary confinement . 272 VI. On classification . , . . 286 VII. On juvenile offenders .... 294 VIII. On the effects of theatrical exhibitions on untaught boys . . . . .307 IX. On the presentment of bills of indictment before the grand jury ...... 314 X. On allowing counsel to prisoners charged with felonies 322 CHAPTER VII. Crimes. . . .328 SECT. I. Housebreakers ..... 330 Jl Highwaymen ..... 339 CONTENTS. XI SECT. III. Coiners ..... 344 IV. Pickpockets ..... 350 V. Sneaks. ... . 364 VI. The shoplifter . . . . .371 VII. Snatchers of reticules, watches, &c. . . 372 VIII. Starrers . . . . .373 IX. Horse and cattle stealers . . . 375 X. Swindlers . . . . .379 XL Men and women who waylay inebriate persons for the purpose of robbery .... 384 XII. Receivers of stolen goods . . . 405 XIII. Forgers 415 XIV. Embezzlement . . . .419 XV. Duffers and ring droppers . . .421 XVI. Stealing from carriages, carts, &c. . . 423 XVII. Depredations on the River Thames . . 424 TABLES or CRIME ...... 427 INDEX . . . 441 OLD BAILEY EXPERIENCE. CHAPTER I. ON THE STATE OF THE POOR, AND CAUSE OF CRIME. SECTION I. Want of an efficient System of Education for the Poor, the cause of Crime. " Therefore I said, Surely these are poor ; they are foolish : for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them ; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God : but these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds." Jeremiah v. 4, 5. IT cannot be otherwise than that all men should desire to be happy, both in this and the next state of existence, and that having this desire, they should naturally wish to adopt the means of obtaining it. We may, therefore, reasonably in- quire how it is that men commit crime, seeing it unerringly leads to the opposite of happiness ; namely, disgrace, loss of character, and punishment, with the certain destruction of eternal welfare, besides, during their present state of existence, being encumbered with a self-accusing and reproaching con- 2 STATE OF THE POOR, science, which ever must be a state of misery in itself. Now, considering that personal interest is the primum mobile of all human actions, it would appear from the conduct of a large portion of society in all ages, that many are continually rising into life, ignorant of what is good for themselves, and are not sufficiently ethically instructed, to form correct judg- ments as to what line of conduct is the best to adopt for the attainment of happiness. If, therefore, all men who fall into the habits of crime do so purely from lack of knowledge, they must be considered objects of pity and commiseration, and not of punishment. Men in general having correct notions of right and wrong, and who are otherwise on the qui vive to all the offices of life, and the relations of society, do not pause to consider, or stop the current of their every- day ideas, to reflect on the condition of mind in which a considerable number of their fellow-men are placed, and the effect that condition has on society in general. Want of knowledge, in fact, is the cause of all crime and misery, not book knowledge, or that of the schools, but that knowledge, which should teach mankind, in all the ramification of society, what is really and truly their individual interest, as connected with the community at large : the lack of this, and the paucity of moral knowledge, have disorganized society. The legis- lator is as deficient on this head as the pauper, and to which may be traced all the errors of legislation since governments were instituted. There can be no happiness in a country, when all the parts of the community are not harmonized ; and it is the peculiar province of the leaders in a concert to make themselves acquainted with the keys and chords, to pro- duce harmony. The body politic may be compared to the body corporate ; if the symbolism of the parts are disturbed, or interrupted, disease is the immediate result, morbid action commences. If there be a non-consent of the different parts of the body, through the intermediation of the nerves, mus- cular volition ceases, and all is jarring and confusion, when AND CAUSE OF CRIME. d the body becomes elumbated and unhealthy. One would be led to think, from the conduct of modern legislators, that they thought the community could best enjoy happiness whilst in a state of disunion. The fable of the body's members is reversed ; the belly has revolted against the members^ who are now idle and out of employ, as our legis- lators cannot but know that the cause of crime is want of knowledge and employment, both of which they have the means of giving, the latter especially, by the appropriation of land for manipular cultivation. In the language of Menenius Agrippa, " The legislators must confess themselves wondrous malicious, or be accused of folly." Perhaps they may say, that they are not possessed of any controlling power over the circumstances of the times ; that the increase of the poor population defies all legislative remedies, and that the crime springs from poverty ; but the poor do not commit crime ab- stractedly, because they are poor ; that is to say, the instances wherein crimes have been committed, and traced to be caused by the temporary or immediate want of the culprits, are fewer than those committed by persons far above absolute want, and who had the restraining advantages of education. Yet it is admitted, that from the pauper population comes all the body of the criminals ; and the reason why it should be so is plain enough ; the children of the poor are, per neces- satis, brought up in ignorance, and are exposed to every evil and vicious example, which places them in situations of strong temptation, to join those already engaged in crime ; they un- dergo greater privations, without possessing the moral re- straints which belong to children of more fortunate parentage. But whatever may be the cause, when men are unendued with a sense of the enormity of robbing their fellow countrymen, and that it is not more to their advantage to abstain from crime than to commit it, they may be pronounced to be in a morbid state of mind, denominate the disease what you may call it madness, or by any other name. I do not mean to affirm B 2 4 STATE OF THE POOR, that God has not endowed all men with a consciousness of right and wrong, more particularly in regard to proprietor- ship of property ; it must, however, be taken into considera- tion, that long prior to the full developement of this sentient quality of man, the children of the poor (especially in London) are trained up to habits which become fixed and radicated, forming a part of their very nature, and that when the mind becomes fully sensible of error in maturer years, their then position in society is not one of choice. Con- sider, too, what an extraordinary power of internal resistance it will require to overcome the vicious principles and pro- pensities in which they have, from the cradle, been nurtured ; surrounded, too, by a concatenation of circumstances through which nothing short of a miracle could enable them to break : they are, in fact, prisoners to circumstances slaves to fate. A man having acquired an ill habit from his birth, may be very sensible of his defect, without the capability of conquer- ing it. This is the situation in which all those are placed who never knew any other calling than that of a thief : man- kind in general have the same endowments, differing only in degree, and the developement of their powers under various modified circumstances. The tone of their feeb'ng, however, is influenced wholly by treatment, connexions, and events, in millions of cases purely accidental, I mean out of their con- trol. From these causes, the character of man once cast, is incapable of taking any other print. Writers on crime, I fear, have not considered their subject in this point of view ; and have not sufficiently reflected on the facts of life, or so much disappointment would not have been expressed by them on the non-effects of prison discipline ; neither would they be so sanguine on the supposed good effects of an im- proved prison system, in deterring men from crime. Many differ in opinion as to the contagious nature of diseases, but none can doubt the contagion of bad example, and the ill effects of a vicious education. When the eastern epidemic AMD I'AUSK OF CHIME. 5 visited this country, government adopted prompt and efficient means to arrest its progress ; why will they not show equal alacrity in stemming the torrent of immorality which is fast rushing on society ? why not oppose this plague? The evil dispositions of men, it is said, can never be eradicated, or crime suppressed. Have those who reason thus ever reflected that all classes have but an artificial existence, and that very small causes, whose operations are continuous, bring about all the changes to which societies are subjected ; a confluence of causes bring about those effects, which are used as marks, or epochs of time, in the history of nations. Governments have no small share in influencing these changes some for the good, but more for the disadvantage of mankind at large. The history of the world, and that of revealed wisdom, how- ever, assert, that there is a moral principle always in opera- tion, which makes injustice its own punishment. The poor have for years been oppressed, and the principle of retribution is discoverable in the present state of society : they have been denied their rights, the bare-worn commons ; poor-rates and crime, with the expense of two standing armies the soldiery and police are the penalties of this injustice. In the science of nosology it is an axiom, that a certain quantum of disease, that is, of animal morbidity, will always be warring against man, by which it is understood, that if by any miracle of nature all the maladies which afflict man- kind could at any one moment cease, that the next would bring them again into full operation ; it being a fixed and immutable law, that however by art we change or alter the character or apparent nature of disease, yet, the total sum of morbidity will ever be the same, varying only in proportion to the bulk of animal matter in the world, and opposed only by the vis medicatrix naturce. This principle does not ex- tend to the moral world : if mankind can once be brought to estimate their true moral capabilities, and comprehend what is their positive interest, under a really honest and virtuous O STATE OK THE POOR, system of government, there is good reason to hope for a per- manent state of happy morality. The question is, how we are to arrive at this desideratum ? The rulers say, the only panacea is the halter and the cat-o'-nine-tails ; but if they hang a man on account of his being afflicted with a certain malady, will that execution prevent the constitution of others falling under the effect of the same complaint ? Certainly not. Neither will the violent death of one rogue prevent others from continuing their course of delinquency. Men in the army and navy are not found to abandon their profession, on account of witnessing the fall, occasionally, of their com- rades in the service. It is admitted, that there is a charm in hazardous callings; why then should it not be so with crimi- nals, who make as much a trade of their pursuits as men in the army or navy, and who are generally as unintellectual as the thief, which accounts for the stolidity and hardihood of them all. There is another consideration on the supposed benefits arising to society from severe punishments. It is thought that if the hardened offender is not deterred, yet the crimes of society in general are held in check by the examples made: this is an egregious mistake; the criminal professor disregards it, he looks on it as a probable consequence, but like the soldier, has made up his mind to brave it ; but the honest man who is yet to become criminal, not contemplating the commission of any offence, applies it not to himself. In every community there will always be some, through the weakness of human nature, slipping off the beaten path ; many lose for a time their self-possession, and fall by infatua- tion for women ; others are carried into crime through the road of a love for company and inebriation ; not a few by love of play; weakness of mind, temperament, and circum- stances, will ever throw a small portion of every community into the hands of the law ; but I think no man acquainted with human nature will say, that one out of a hundred of such offenders as last named, ever, in the current of their AND CAUSE OF CRIME. 7 licentiousness, stop to consider, that its ultimate end must be crime and punishment. With such characters, the man who commits crime to-day would yesterday have knocked down any man who should have hinted at the bare possibility of his being capable of committing an offence against the laws ; and this, too, may occur, under a real sense of honest indignation and repugnance at the charge, only a few hours before the party stands a criminal among his fellow men. Our laws are altogether as unfitted for this kind of offender, as they are for the more desperate one. Our legislators are too apt to judge of the sensations of others, under circumstances of distress, disgrace, and punishment, by the standard of their own feelings ; but this is a mode of reasoning which will ever lead to erroneous inferences ; unless the parties are bound by reci- procal interests, being in the same condition and station in life. The law-maker forgets that, not being in danger him- self of falling into crime, and never having occupied a station in life which rendered him liable to its commission, his qualification for judging of the motives and feelings of men, who are drawn into crime, must necessarily be deficient and defective. They do not study the impulses of mankind, or one set of laws would never have been constructed for all kind of offenders ; that is, if the idea of reclaiming any ever came across their minds. It is a paralogism to hold that the same law and treatment which applies to a thief, brought up so from the cradle, is fitted for the decently, morally educated man, who, under the influence of circumstances, (if they were inquired into,) commits an offence for the first time, which may admit of great palliation, or be wholly extenuated. The incorrigible rogues are incorrigible : being men, " Which any print of goodness will not take, Being capable of all ill." I pity them. The other offenders, under a really moral government, that is, one which legislates wholly with a view 8 STATE OF THE POOK, of preserving morality, making the punishment of crime at least a secondary consideration, in the construction of the laws, thousands, who now fall victims to the vice of this me- tropolis, might be saved ; and under a different mode of ad- ministering the laws, which gives discretion to the judges, ninety-nine out of one hundred, who do commit crime, be- longing to that class which may be called the morally edu- cated part of society, might be gathered again into the flock, retaining as high a sense of their social duties as heretofore; but herding and punishing them with those who never knew any good, will not accomplish this object. We hear much talk of prison classification, and prison discipline ; the classing required is, to separate the offenders of habit from those of accident; the discipline for the latter should be gentle remonstrance, with imprisonment and simple food, till the natural tones of their minds and bodies are restored. Those who are born and bred in crime, possessing it as an inherit- ance, must be esteemed another race of beings. "All are not men who bear the human form."" But, " Who hath seen, or ere shall see, Man as himself, the secret spirit free ?" Education, circumstances, and even food, alter the flexible nature of man so much, that there is no animal on the earth exhibiting so many varieties in the same species. It is on this rock that our law-makers have foundered ; they will not consider well the kind of men for whom they legislate : in their enactments against crime they jumble all classes toge- ther ; in their punishments they mix up the apparently irre- claimable, with the decidedly reclaimablo offender, thus augmenting every day the body of confirmed rogues, from the number of casual delinquents. No wonder that in Eng- land and Wales, within these last twelve years, crime has in- creased three-fold. Under the present system of indiscrimi- nate punishment, if a man with a large family, through an AND CAUSE OF CRIME. 9 aberration from regular conduct, or temporary need, commits an offence, (perhaps of a trifling nature,) he is punished in the same manner as an old offender, even if he brings a cha- racter for honesty of twenty, thirty, or forty years previously. The monstrous injustice of measuring out punishment in this manner cannot but be apparent to every man ; in cases wherein it is practicable to ascertain the truth, moral turpitude, as well as legal, should be considered ; this was the object of the legislature, no doubt, in investing the judges with such extensive powers of discrimination in awarding punishment for the commission of crimes. The judges at the Old Bailey who perform the greatest portion of criminal business, with- out doubt ; do the best they can in every case which comes before them : but under an amended system the history of every prisoner might be laid before the court : it is now left to persons in no way qualified for the business persons who are irresponsible ; besides it is done in the dark under the rose behind the curtain the least innocent being unac- quainted with the power till it is too late to avail himself of it ; a power, the existence of which renders the whole of the proceedings at the Old Bailey court a spectacle of solemn mockery. Sometimes I have viewed the proceedings of the court, from facts which have come to my knowledge, as a travesty tragedy ; the results, however, are generally more lachrymose than ludicrous. Cases might be cited until the public were surfeited with reading them, I will, however, re- late one : The suffering party, relying on the merits of his cause, neglected to apply to the recommendatory quarter ; and now, mark the consequence ! The town traveller of a wholesale house in the city was transported for fourteen years, under the following circumstances. He (the traveller) canvassed for orders, and collected his own accounts, but was not called on by his employers to make up his receipts of cash daily, but only once every fortnight, leaving him in- tervals of fourteen days to possess their money. One day his 10 STATE OF THE POOR, wife's brother, who was a tradesman in London, came to him in a great consternation, saying, that unless he could borrow forty pounds that day he was a ruined man, informing his relation that dishonoured bills had been returned to him, which must be taken up immediately, adding, that if he could obtain the money he was sure of returning it in two days' time. The traveller, seeing his relation in this strait, told him that he had no money of his own, but if he could rely on its repayment in due time, that he had as much of his em- ployer's, which he should not be called on to pay into the house for some days, and that he might use it. Having as- surances given him that he might depend on the return of the money in due time, he, in an ill-fated moment, was induced to accommodate his brother-in-law with the forty pounds be- longing to his employers. The subsequent day the tradesman was arrested for a heavy debt, and his embarrassed affairs (as it now turned out they were so) becoming known to his cre- ditors, he was broken up, and in consequence unable to return the money borrowed of the traveller. In this dilemma the man took the honest and judicious resolution of telling the whole truth to his masters, who heard the particulars of the affair without comment ; in the evening, however, while at supper with his wife and family, he was apprehended, and the next day committed on a charge of embezzlement. When the day of trial came, in the hope of mitigating the sentence, the brother-in-law attended with another person who was present when the money was lent, both of whom stated all the circumstances, and how reluctantly the prisoner parted with the money, doing so only on the solemn assurance of its being returned on the day named at the time it was lent ; to this testimony was a character of the best nature added ; notwith- standing which, the prisoner was sentenced to fourteen years transportation, the greatest extent of punishment the law allows for this offence. It is the practice of the judges at the Old Bailey always to increase the punishment when a ficti- AND CAUSE OF CRIME. 11 tious defence is made ; and it is probable that in this case, hurried as it certainly was, the presiding judge took this view of it, and therefore gave all the punishment in full. Nothing, however, could have been easier than to have re- moved this prejudice, if time had been allowed. In that same session fifty old offenders were sentenced to seven years trans- portation, and double that number sent again on the town, after receiving minor punishments. No considerations no respect to persons should prevent these things being looked into by the legislature. The wife of the traveller, and his three children, ultimately went to the workhouse, and became incorporated with the poor of the country, in which class it is probable they and their posterity will ever remain. I have sometimes thought, witnessing the conduct of the judges at the Old Bailey, that they, seeing it impossible to make any impression on the hardened offender, appeared to make up for this disappointment by a system of terrorism over the more timid and less offending. Sometimes the prac- tice of hurling large and decent families into utter ruin and poverty, in consequence of one deviation from the path of honesty, is defended on the fallacious principle that the law should make no distinctions. What, then, becomes of the supposed necessity there is for arming the judge with discre- tionary powers ? But this, in fact, is a violation of all justice; every man should be judged by his general character, and not by the exceptions in it. Even in our superior courts there is often a disregard to that grand essential in law, namely justice. In cases of libel, the judges look only ab- stractedly at the fact, throwing aside the relative situations of the parties coming under their judgments. I knew a man of fortune, and another who had no means but what he derived from his trade to subsist on ; both were sentenced to two years imprisonment, and to enter into recognizances, &c. The former having property, and being a military man, the punishment was no more to him than going into garrison for 12 STATE OF THE POOH, the term. In the latter case total ruin ensued ; his business was destroyed ; he became a bankrupt, and was left to endure all the horrors of a prison without even means to supply his daily wants ; and to this distress was added the knowledge of his wife and family being without bread to eat. And all this he underwent for an inadvertency, which happened in the hurry of his daily labours to conduct a work for the support of his family, being entirely free from any malicious inten- tion ; whilst, on the other hand, strong personal motives actuated the party in committing the offence. This is letting the current of justice go on uninterruptedly: if punishment for like offences are to be equal, circumstances and the situa- tions of the offenders ought to be taken into consideration. I shall have occasion in another place to revert to the cases of embezzlement; my object here is to show that by recklessly depauperizing large families, not only are the parish rates augmented, but the numbers increased from whence the great body of delinquents are drawn. It is sending recruits to fill up the places of those depredators who annually fall by crime. I have noticed elsewhere, that an annual return should be made, of not only the different offences committed, but of the different classes of society from whence the offenders come; if this were done, I will venture to predicate that it would throw much light on the subject of crime. Under the idea of an improved prison discipline meeting the objects of refor- mation, and prevention of crime, have many great writers fallen into error. Beccaria, Paley, Montesquieu, Pastoret, Bentham, &c. &<:., all of whom appear, from their arguments, to entertain the notion that punishment, or the dread of it, will change the Ethiopian's skin ; we know it has turned the colour of the hair, but to suppose that it will teach the igno- rant, or induce in a dark and untaught mind a disposition to learn, is a mistake too palpable to dwell on. Where tin- mind is dark, and the habits of vice are established, no system can avail. Even the great Bentham laid much stress on the AXD CAUSE OF CRIME. 13 supposed effects of an improved system of prison discipline. But I say, do what you may with the animal you coerce, you will not alter his nature : send an ass to the menage, will he return to you an Eclipse in action and figure ? The body of London thieves (of whom I now speak) have no other ideas than to rob, having doggedly made up their minds to endure the punishment when detected. " It is not good that the soul be without knowledge." If these characters possessed any, you might inflict the severest on them namely, convince them of their errors ; but this can never be accom- plished, after an education to crime has been given ; you must, therefore, prevent the education by substituting one of a moral and intellectual kind for the rising generation, and then give employment make man sociable to man ! Let the rich consider the wretched condition of the poor, and give proofs that they do not think poverty a bar to their claim of belonging to the same species as themselves. Education will soften down the asperities of mankind, and teach them that mutability of feeling, and reciprocity of interests, are the only bonds of society. Oppression of the poor has ever been the downfall of empires. It overthrew the Roman state. " A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it ; A feeble government, eluded laws, A factious populace, luxurious nobles, And all the maladies of sinking states, When public villainy, too strong for justice, Shows his bold front, the harbinger of ruin." Every cause for the increase of crime has been assigned but the right ones, namely the errors of government, and the want of a controlling moral power in the country. They may, however, be further subdivided under the following heads : First. The want of a good system of general national education. Secondly. The demoralization arising therefrom. 14 STATK OF THE POOR, Thirdly. Increased by the severity of the laws, rendering the ignorant more reckless and desperate. Fourthly. Legislating by wholesale for crime ; that is, not considering the kind of offender more than the offence; not looking more to the causes which bring individuals into the commission of crime than the crime itself. Fifthly. The want of consideration on the part of the rich towards the poor. Sixthly. Laws so constructed as to divide society, and set one part against the other, tending to destroy the bond of re- ciprocity between the upper and lower classes. And lastly. Want of agricultural employment for the poor. Remedial measures. First, only to be found in abrogating the present system of education for the poor, substituting moral and intellectual for rote tuition. Secondly. Legislating for the improvement of the mind, more than the punishment of the body. Thirdly. The repeal of all our penal laws, they being sanguinary and uncertain, consequently unjust in their operation. Fourthly. The substitution of a regular ameliorated code, intelligible and plain to all men who can read ; so constructed as to afford a fair opportunity to the first and casual offender for reformation, making punishment more certain, but less severe; particularly distinguishing the habitual delinquent from those who lapse into the commission of crime from ac- cidental causes. Not to attempt " Eodem collyrio mederi omnibus." Fifthly. A general amelioration of the condition of the poor, by giving them agricultural employment on waste, or land appropriated to that purpose; thus removing the super- abundant population from large towns to the country- " Bonum summum quo tendimus omnes." AND CAUSE OF CRIMK. 15 I repeat, if all crime be traced to its origin, the source will be found in bad education, and those who take upon themselves the onus of ruling a great nation, should look to the radication of all the evils of the state. Whatever may be the symptoms of a disease in the human body, a wise physician will use his best skill to trace the malady to its source, and discover the cause, by the removal of which only can he reasonably expect a cure ; so in the body politic, what- ever is hurtful to the community should be radically reme- died at least every effort should be made to effect it. In considering the present state of the poor, from which class spring vagrancy and crime, there is not an oasis in the whole view of the united kingdom ; all is misery, going on from bad to worse : we must, however, not abandon our duty, but strenuously labour for that state of optimity which may amend these national evils. The first question is, What can be done for the useful, working, and willing able-bodied labourer ? Give him the land which is his birth-right, and let him cultivate it for his livelihood ! Secondly. The vagrants, who are able but unwilling to work, preferring beg- gary to labour : these it is who fill our workhouses, and are incubuses on the industry of others. Such should never be re- lieved with money ; on application, a meal should be given them, and a ticket to go immediately to work, on land, which should be appropriated for the purpose a few miles from town. The provision of labour must be the succedanceum for money, or the poor and idle man will never cease paying his visits to the overseer. Thirdly. The maimed or the diseased, who cannot work : these only should be admitted into a workhouse, and for these it would more become the character of the people if regular asylums in the country were provided, and they were kept apart from paupers in general ; it is a cruel and pavid situation to place a man in, when worn down with age and labour, after having contri- 16 STATE OF THE POOR, buted probably for fifty years towards the support of the government and poor of the country, to associate him in his last moments with vice and ignorance. This is a question, perhaps, out of place here, but it is one which calls loudly on the feelings of all benevolent and good men to aid in redress- ing. The only way in which it is possible to reward the honest and industrious, but unfortunate, man in a state, is to ensure him a bonus, should he require (or rather need) it, out of what he has paid towards the support of others, that his exit out of the world may at least be decent, and in peace. God forfend that any known to me, or my readers, should ever live to end their days in a metropolitan English workhouse. Fourthly. The orphans, or such as have been abandoned by their parents : these are the children of the public, and should be sent to an asylum in the country, erected for the purpose, where an improved plan of education should be adopted, blended with labour that of agriculture is preferable to all others ; to further which, land should be attached to the establishment. In this manner a healthy constitution would be formed, and useful habits of industry and morality engrafted ; but in workhouses we learn, from the testimony of all persons connected with them, that both girls and boys become idle, vicious, and unhealthy. And, lastly. The practising and abandoned rogue who should be sent out of the country the first time he comes into the hands of the law, instead of being allowed the whole run of all the prisons, and time given him in the intervals to draw in and teach fifty more the road to crime. These provisions it is the duty of the country to carry into effect ; there is nothing Utopian or wild in the propositions ; they appear to me to be not only highly practicable in themselves, but to be the na- tural rights of the poor population. The antipathy, however, which has seized our rulers against all general and .v/r/vy >/'//// measures, prevents the adoption of any really useful system ; AVI) cArsr, or CKIMK. 17 their unconquerable penchant for legislative patchery, and their obtusity in seeing the utility of enlarged and liberal plans, obliterate every hope from society of an amelioration of their condition. SECTION II. Plan of a better Si/stem of Education, and the Employment of the Poor. ON education, it is only necessary to say that morality ought to be the foundation of all tuition for the poor ; and that the national schools have taught their scholars immora- lity, hence the demoralization of the rising generation. The very calling together so many low-born children daily, with- out some plan being first laid down for a moral guardianship over them, justifies the assertion, that they are taught immo- rality, and I will add (for I know it) crime, at these esta- blishments. There is nothing of a mental nature performed in them : a hundred boys at one time are taught to bawl out Lon Ion don don, London, with a few more words, which leads them in the end to learn just enough of reading to enable them to peruse a two-penny Life of Turpin, or Jonathan AVild, proceeding to the lives of the bandits in re- gular course, when, with this, and they have taught each other such matter as they all gather from their honest and virtuous parents, their education is completed, they being fully qualified to figure on the pave as a pick-pocket. It needed not inspiration, nor prophetic powers, to see that the Luncasterian schools must necessarily become participes criminis in disorganizing the relations of society, the very locale of the plan does it. I would not be understood to 18 STATE OF THE POOR, oppose the principle of education for the poor ; on the con- trary, I look to this measure as one of the great levers which must ultimately turn the mind of the multitude from vice to virtue. To call the present mode of instruction giving an education, is to designate and distinguish things by their op- posite terms. If you educate at all, it should be efficient to answer the end proposed ; the mind should be at least so far improved as to form a correct judgment on the common affairs of life; they should be employed in historical and moral reading, till they quitted the school, and at stated times examined on these questions ; every plan by which the mind can be expanded and enlarged should be resorted to in their tuition. Rules of faith and doctrinal precepts, unconnected with intellectual or moral improvement, appear to have been the great objects the promoters of the foundation of these schools had in view. With, no doubt, good intentions, no persons make greater blunders than the saints of the present day. They jump at conclusions, losing sight of the progres- sive operations of the human mind. They would have reli- gion understood and felt by word of command, as the manoeuvre of a line of soldiers are controlled. They invert the order of nature, forcing conviction, making belief precede judgment, instead of following it. The material essence of religion is deep seated within the pericardium, mingled, and in company with all the other feelings of the heart, which when ripe and matured make a journey to the head, to hold communion with the judgment, one sense instructing the other. When religion reaches the seat of reason, unaccom- panied by her twin-sisters, the affections, what does she make of us weak mortals but bigots and fanatics ? But if the warm springs of the heart are opened by early instruction, and the roughness of untaught man softened down to a temper of reciprocity with his fellow-creatures, then religion is sure to follow with her brilliant lamp, to light us through this terrestrial journey of darkness. AXD CAUSE OF CRIME. 19 To attempt to plant religion in the mind, before the full development of the reasoning powers, and the passions which belong to our nature, is as futile as the attempt to plant the most tender exotic on an ice-berg. Give a good moral educa- tion, and religion will be sure to follow, in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred. Under the present mode of tuition a few hypocrites may be made, but no true religionists. Teaching youth mechanically to profess creeds, and imbibe rules of faith, or confess errors, is not the way to strengthen and brace the mind. Teach them to think " Words without thoughts never to heaven do go." It appears to my view of education that no better plan could be adopted for large schools, than for the teachers in them to be provided with works containing axioms of life, both moral and useful, and even those of science which are of a common-place nature, and of every day practice. If a good set of such axioms were written, and the pupils in each class acquainted with them, and for a time exercised therein, a substantial foundation would be laid for the exercise of the judgment. It is only through early draw- ing the mind to the self-evident facts of nature that useful materials for thinking can be collected. The perceptive powers, under this mode of tuition, would be first enlarged. The considerations which produce a judgment, and a chain of arguments in its support, would follow as a matter of course. After which arrangement of ideas would accompany a growth of the body, and render complete the ability for mental dis- cussion, without which education is all illusion. The im- perate acts of the pupil only are useful for the improvement of the mind. Mechanical tuition is stultification of the mental powers. The use of the axioms, when acquired by the pupil, might further be rendered available, by the teacher devoting an hour each day to one class of boys: his duty should consist in giving out axioms, such as they had previ- ously committed to memory, and requiring them to form a judgment thereon, one after the other ; by this means each c2 20 STATE OF THK POOH, pupil would insensibly be led into a mental discussion with himself and his fellow scholars ; every day would the mind expand, and the pupil, panting for knowledge, would hail the hour of returning to school as one of the most welcome of the twenty-four. Terror and impetration on the part of the teacher would be superseded by a desire on the part of the scholar to press his master for more matter, with which his mind might find employment. But the teachers under this plan must be informed men Nemo docet quod non didicet. I have for some time promised myself the pleasure of laying before the public a complete scheme, founded on this mode of tuition, together with an elementary work for the better eluci- dation of my views ; other engagements, however, will prevent my completing it until late in the current year. Schools in every district should be established, containing not more than fifty boys or girls ; one man, at a salary of not more than the weekly stipend of a police officer, would conduct such a school, in which the moral conduct and education of each pupil might be commanded, and early depravity checked. A master of fifty boys would find time to talk and reason with those under his care, leading them into habits of reflection and communion with each other on the various subjects introduced for their improvement. From the national schools, I never yet met with a lad who had the least notion of any self- exercise of the mind. A good and rigid system of moral education is the more needed for the children of the poor, as the habits of their parents are generally opposed to good ex- ample. At an early age they are carried to a public-house, filled with low company ; swearing and drunkenness is always before them ; no habits of frugality are taught them ; and when money is obtained, luxuries and drink swallow up all in one day, reckless of to-morrow. Often without any home but the tap-room, or, if a home, no fire or parent to share it with them till the middle of the night, who, returning in n state of intoxication, only increases their misery, and, further, AM) CAUSE OF CltlMK. 21 vitiates their morals. Such is the condition of nine-tenths of the national school boys. Poverty compels the labourer to perform that duty which is essential to the well being of the whole nation. Poverty, therefore, is not the evil, but indi- gence and debasement which leads to crime. In the Lancas- terian schools not the slightest effort is made to excite, or ex- cise the mind ; not one moral axiom is inculcated ; no pre- cepts of principle are instilled into the mind ; all is mere rote and mechanism ; their scholars offer to the world the most ex- traordinary collection of tyros in crime ever seen or heard of in the history of it. Lord Brougham, who is certainly far above the common run of men, never could have given this subject his mature consideration when he became the patron of a national improvement of its subjects on such an absurd plan. Where he directs, the world naturally expects good will result, but nemo omnibus horis sapit. and " even Homer sleeps sometimes." To sum up all, I say, educate the heart more than the head ! God has given to all nearly equal affections ; treatment either draws them out or stifles them. Sterne, in his quaint way, has most admirably, in the follow- ing words, pointed out the importance of starting in early life on the right course : " You have all, I dare say, heard of the animal spirits, as how they are transfused from father to son, &c. &c., and a great deal to that purpose. Well, you may take my word, that nine parts in ten of a man's sense, or non- sense, his successes and miscarriages in this world, depend upon their motions, and activity, and the tracks and trains you put them into; so that when they are once set a-going, whether right or wrong, 'tis not a half-penny matter, away they go clutter- ing like hey-go mad, and by treading the same steps over and over again, they presently make a road of it, as plain and as smooth as a garden-walk, which, when they are once to it, the devil himself sometimes shall not be able to drive them off it." Happy will be that day for England when a good and well- digested system of education and employment for the poor is practically adopted. 22 STATK OF THE POOR, The heart sickens in contemplating the present appalling condition of the poorer classes ; humanity revolts at the spectacle of thousands of half-naked human beings, starving in the midst of plenty, and still more so at the apathy and in- difference evinced by those whose duty it is to make every effort for their relief. Nothing is thought of but coercion and punishment : the very beasts of burden are objects of greater consideration than the pauper ; laws are made to pro- tect animals from the lash, at the same time acts of parlia- ment are passed, authorising churchwardens and overseers to punish any of the paupers who may be maintained in the workhouse, for the offence of profane cursing and swearing, or for the use of abusive language, or disobeying the reasonable commands of any person put in authority over them, or any other misbehaviour, with corporal punishment, or with con- finement in the workhouse, which, being in itself a place of confinement, must necessarily be solitary imprisonment, for any time not exceeding forty-eight hours. Sir Samuel Romilly, in the House of Commons, June 5th, 1810, said, alluding to the Lambeth Poor Bill " The fact, however, sir, is, that however unjust this may be, it is not the first time that the legislature has been guilty of such injustice." There are a number of these cruel private acts of parliament : it is well they were private, had they been known publicly, the humanity of the people would have roused them into re- sistance against such gross barbarity. These careless acts of cruelty and injustice, on the part of the arbiters of the law, have so soured the minds of the poor, who now form a con- siderable portion of the community, that they may be likened, in their unnatural state of degradation, unto an overloaded draught-horse, who, finding the burden too much for patient endurance, doggedly makes a stand, and though under rea- sonable usage willing to work, will not with any lashing of the whip again essay to touch the collar till the burden is reduced to a weight proportionable to his strength. The AND CAUSE OF CRIME. greater part of the poor are subdued and paralyzed by the contemplation of their own miserable condition, and the forlorn and helpless state of their offsprings, for whom the general tear of pity should be shed. The hapless parents brooding over the insurmountable adverse circumstances of their fate, are deprived of all powers of action ; for, while the mind contemplates its own troubles, it is acted on, instead of acting ; when they become, in the language of their op- pressors, " la%y idle vagabonds" who will not work even when it is offered at a remunerating price for their labour] The well-fed man reflects but little on the state of the poor man's body and mind in a jejeun condition. Hunger, it is true, does most commonly stir all animals into action, but partial feeding for any length of time, combined with an agonised state of mind, arising from surrounding miserable circumstances, will inevitably superinduce inappetency, re- ducing the human frame into a kind of semi-torpid and vivid state, under which the mind becomes stultified and callous to the affections and amenities of life. All per- sons declared insane in the common acceptation of the term, become immediate objects of commiseration, and of national concern ; liberal subscriptions are made to build asylums in every country throughout the land for their reception. The wealthy are loudly eulogized for their benevolence, but here self-interest is predominant. If madmen were allowed to go at large, and run a-muck, every man^s life would be in danger; and who more tenacious of life than those who have where- withal to secure all its luxuries and enjoyments ? True charity is disinterested, " doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil." I say unto ye, rulers and landholders, let every man capable of labour occupy his rood of ground, and more in proportion for his family ; restore the peasantry to the land of their forefathers, whom ye most atrociously hunted off the soil of their birth, compelling them to take refuge in large 2t STATE OF THK POOK, towns, and finally preventing their return, by passing within these last forty years four thousand inclosure bills. You have seized their inheritance the waste com- mons; and, in justice, you cannot do otherwise than make retribution, by giving to each a piece of land, if not free of charge, at least at a moderate rental. Such a measure would infuse into them a new spirit, animating their souls, and lighting up a feeling of gratitude, which would bind the ex- tremes of society indissolubly in bonds of mutual interest. Do this, and the poor man will be affianced to you for ever. The Almighty God, whose omnipresence knoweth all motives and actions, and whose omniscience searcheth and knoweth all things, will then permit the recording angel to enroll your names on the page of charitable deeds, done in this world. Dispossess yourselves of aphilanthropy, and set to work seriously to re-construct society on a principle of universal good to all God's creatures; cease to talk, but perform. " Words are the daughters of earth, and things the sons of heaven."" Of the happiness and misery of our present state, part arises from our sensations, and part from our opinions, but both are wholly influenced by circumstances; something is certainly apportioned to ourselves, but society, education, and more particularly, means, do all with most men. Com- passionate, then, the poor man's case, and do unto him justice ; talk not of religion while you continue to oppress; religion is universal love : show that you possess this religion your- selves, and there will be no need of acts of parliament to pre- vent the desecration of the Sabbath ; give the poor the means of existence, they will then patiently attend to your notions on sabbatism. The ground was originally in common, God's gift to mankind in general ; it is therefore wicked and unjust to occupy too much of it for mere purposes of pleasure, when others are starving, or driven into crime, which make those who occasion it jjarfirijii'* rt-i minis. As the world becomes more populous, tin- scan :ity of land increases, and if the pro- AND CAUSE OF CRIME. 25 sent system of enclosure be pursued, without leaving any for the uses of the poor, as heretofore, the whole will ultimately be engrossed for the exclusive benefit of the few, who are rich, whilst the many, who are poor, must starve. The argu- ment, that waste land cannot be profitably cultivated, is very well, as applied to the capitalist he who sits down to make his calculations of expenditure, of labour, manuring, and draining, &c., and then of returns. It is well established, that every pound weight of refuse or manure, either animal or vegetable, will, under manipulary cultivation, return four pounds ; the poor man, therefore, if allowed to locate himself on any land, however bad, would gradually bring it into pro- fitable cultivation; even if he only employed the overtime he might be enabled to spare from the labour he must perform elsewhere, to obtain food, while his own ground would be but partially productive. Through the agency of the winds of heaven, and the fowls of the air, the most barren rocks are brought to sustain vegetable production, and surely man's exertions added to these must ever succeed. The waste land in this country, by the law of God, belongs to the poor ; the non-use of it implies an abandonment of it, and throws it open to the first coiners, agreeable to the rule in the history of Abraham, and his nephew Lot ; let the poor then possess their rights, and not only draw them nearer your own dwell- ing-places, but nearer to your own hearts. No longer carry on a war against morality, which may, at some period of his- tory, end in the destruction of society, and carry our posterity back into a state of utter barbarism. The language of the poet is verified even now. " Foecunda culpa; saecula iiuptias. Primum inquinavere, et genus, et doruos." Hon. Happy will be that philanthropist who shall live to see the deserving portion of the poor honestly and fairly dealt with. But, there is another side of the picture ; thousands of this 26 STATE OF THE POOR, class have broken through all restraints, human and divine. " The brain may devise laws, but a hot temper leaps over a cold desire." Thus it has been with some of the families of the poor, born and bred in wretchedness and want, and being of temperaments constitutionally impatient of restraint, they have plunged at once into crime, teaching their children to steal, even before they knew it to be a crime. Whole families, who never had any other calling but that of theft aye, hun- dreds of such families are now in being in London who have continued the same course, some for twenty, thirty, and forty years, many of which I could point out by a reference to memoranda, made some time since. One old woman said last year, when her seventh son was transported, " Ha ! I know not what I shall do now, poor Ned is going ; he was a good lad to me, and, though I say it, he was as good a hand at his business as any in London." " O ! then he was brought up to business,"" I replied. She rejoined, " God bless you, no ! I thought he had told you, when you made his brief, that ours was a right sort of cross family," adding, " and so was their father's father, and good ones they all were : now there's little Dick, my eldest son's boy, but I think hell never make the man his father did he's dull ; besides, he's not old enough quite, for any good business yet. 11 Some of these pathetic mothers will, when warmed with the cream, speak of the numbers which have fell in their families with as much pride and exultation as the Spartan mother of old used to do, when numbering her sons who had fell in their country's cause. The increase of these families are daily going on, through intermarriages, and other ramifications of family connexions, and thus, in a great measure, is the pro- blem solved, as to the increase of crime. Short as is this picture of the poor in London, and its environs, it comprises almost all that can be said of their history ; it is an epitome which might have been given of them forty years ago, and will apply for ages to come, (making allowances for their pro- AMI) CAUSE OF CRIME. 27 gressive increase,) unless the legislature grapple with the subject at once. No moral or political truth can be clearer, than that something is defective in the present state of society ; we find one portion of it setting at defiance all laws, made by the majority for the protection of the whole; and further, under the most rigid execution of these laws, the party who so daringly violates them is every day increasing its numbers. There must be some cause for this effect some error in legis- lation ; and I think it is discoverable in the propensity modern rulers have to legislate theoretically and speculatively, always keeping in mind the interests of the upper classes, and only hoping that their measures may at the same time serve the poorer, and in their timidity to pass any extensive general prac- tical measure, lest its effect should in any way prejudice the present position of the privileged orders of society. With these feelings ever in active force, they try to persuade themselves, and the nation, that the people may be for ever ruled by the same laws, with a little occasional patching ; and that no period can arrive when it may be necessary to abrogate a set of laws, and enact a new. In the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, there is a shoe, once belonging to a monk of existence many years back. It is made of pieces of leather, nailed together ; each nail is well clinched or hammered down to prevent in- jury to the foot. As one nail or piece of leather wore away, another was nailed across without removing the old ones ; this mode of repairing the specimen of antiquity now at Oxford must have been pursued for a considerable number of years, as there is now leather and nails enough, about the one shoe, to make several pairs, after the same mode of construction. Its weight cannot be less than ten pounds, and its constant accumulation must have so much impeded the progression of the monk, (especially if he wore a pair of them,) as to have circumscribed his perambulations to at least a half mile a-day, and this, if performed, must have been the result of an ex- traordinary effort of strength. We have got over the monk's 28 STATE 0V THE 1'OOlt, prejudice of shoe-mending, when shall we get over the pre- judice of a bit-by-bit law-making? When shall we leave off patching an old garment with new cloth ? When shall the limbs of the state be more freely unencumbered with old nails and leather ? Every session some promise is made, and some bone, in the form of an act of parliament, is thrown down to amuse the public ; discussion we have in abundance ; they resolve and re-resolve, but still nothing efficient is done. Montesquieu is right, " mains on pense plus onparle."" The wealthy man subscribes his money towards the support of a charitable institution, and then says, " Do I not do my duty ?" No! you retard the object society wants, viz. legislation for general rights, and equal laws ; no subscriptions, nor the esta- blishment of institutions will put down poverty and crime ; the poor want to be allowed to earn their own food ; temporary and partial eleemosynary relief will never be a succedaneum for permanent and healthful employment. It cannot be denied, but this country is embellished with some noble instances of bounty and munificence, but why spend time and money in sciomachy, leaving the substance untouched ? Why employ your time and means in baling out at the extreme end of the drain, dribblets of impurity, when by going to the cesspool at the other, you could stop up the source from whence all the feculent matter flows ? " Lay not the flattering unction to your souls," that crime is occasioned by superabundance of population ; as said before, it is committed by a party who have made it a trade, and which party is now too strong for you. Originally they came from the poor, who felt themselves oppressed ; give them relief, and time, with proper laws, will annihilate the robbers. It is of no use disguising the truth ; few like to utter it when they know it will be ill received, and still fewer like to hear it when it is uncomplimentary to themselves. The fact is, that English philanthropy is not of the true and genuine kind it is spurious that of ostenta- tion. Words arc of no use, unless embalmed in the heart ; AND CAUSE OF CRIME. 29 and deeds, if misapplied, often worse than useless. I shall on this head be thought diffuse, and perhaps tedious ; pro- lixity, however, every man will be accused of, who sits down to write on this subject, because all influential persons in the state have long since, I believe, given up all hopes of doing any thing for the amelioration of the condition of the paupers of the country. The only question being now, how the poor man is decently to be got rid of; hence all our schemes of emigration. " O, hut man, proud man ! Drest in a little brief authority; Most ignorant of what he's most assured, His glassy essence, like an angiy ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, As make the angels weep ; who, with our spleens, Would all themselves laugh mortal." Those who consider it a question of despair, impugn the Deity himself. The world was made for the happiness of us all, man only prevents the general enjoyment of it. " Thy rack'd inhabitants repine, complain, Taxed till the brow of labour sweats in vain ; Successive loads succeeding wars impose, And sighing millions prophesy the close." I wish in the fanciful theories of nature, so frequently pro- mulged, that some reasoner would take up the doctrine of Metempsychosis, and persuade our rich men, that after they had enjoyed the good things of this life, their souls would transmigrate, for a second course of probation, into the bodies of embryo mortality, secundinely enveloped among the poorer classes of society ; and that on the extinction of their lives in this latter state, they would be summoned to appear before their God, to answer for the deeds done in both stations of terrestrial existence ; and that, on an impartial review of their conduct in each probationary state, would determine whether 30 STATE OF THE POOR, their eternal residence should be taken up in Tartarus or Elysium. The man who shall firmly establish this doctrine on earth, will do all that is required for the poor, and will well merit deification ; if this be levelism, it savours much of divine equality, and the apotheosis of such a man would, we may reasonably presume, be pardoned by the Deity. No blessing comparable to this could be conferred on the world ; it would show the proud man that rank and possessions were indeed usufructuary, that all pains and pleasures at last were brought to one standard; it would remove the rich man's myopy of soul, and incline him to advocate a system of caenobiumism. Now, the landholders withhold their advocacy for the settle- ment of the poor on land, under an apprehension of further multiplying the pauper population. Shallow reasoners ! What hiatus put this into their heads ? The fatuity of such arguments are easily answered ; men in a state of idleness ever propagate their species faster than those who are em- ployed ; idleness begets depravity, and depravity engenders recklessness. What care men who have no interests in society about their posterity ? But experience is the best teacher after all ; how comes it that since the peasantry have been driven from the land, to take refuge in large towns, that the poor population has increased in exact proportion of the numbers calculated to have been so driven into cities, and that the progress of crime is in proportion to the increase of the poor ? Nothing can stronger show the fallacy of their fears. Other countries do not exhibit the same examples of crime with an accumulation of their numbers. No! Because the inhabitants are allowed to occupy their natural position on the soil, and are not hunted into the towns to live in indo- lence and vagrancy, and where their necessities every hour in the day constrains them, from their earliest years, to do things which neither their hearts nor understandings approve. I may reasonably ask, will a just God consider them culpable AND CAUSE OF CRIME. 31 and deserving punishment, as traitors to their own consciences, when coerced by circumstances to the commission of acts re- pugnant to their own feelings. Captain Smith, who was tried at the Old Bailey for piracy, proved that his men revolted against his authority, and that subsequently, whilst on board, under their restraint, they (the men) committed several acts of plunder on other vessels. He, therefore, very confidently and reasonably put it to the court, whether he ought to be held responsible for the acts of his men under these circum- stances. It was true, he had not, in one instance, expressed his dissent at the time the illegal act was committed, but it must be remembered that he was in fear of his life. The court admitted his defence was a good one, and freed him from the charge, throwing the whole blame on the sailors, who mutinied against his authority. Now, si parva licet componere magis. To compare the great judgment seat with the petty one. If the poor man should, at the throne of justice, say that he had appetites and desires, which were natural to all men, and which were irresistible ; and that his fellow-men in power, revolting against the law of nature and justice, de- prived him of the means of obtaining bread ; and, that seeing his family in a state of starvation, being cold and naked in an inclement season, that he retained his self-possession as long as he could, but at length his nerves gave way, and perhaps with them his reason. Thus, placed in the world below, he confesses that he committed theft, to which practice he was afterwards bound by loss of character, and other circum- stances, which arose out of the commission of his first com- pelled crime; that he was throughout an unwilling agent in the hands of a power over which he had no control, but who, although the primary cause of his being so situated, made severe laws to punish him for the act which they them- selves had occasioned. What, I say, by parity of reasoning, would be the answer of the great Judge of judges? If the culprit were pronounced guilty ; quere ? would not his op- 32 STATE OF THK POOR, pressors come in for a share of the punishment? . A vast number of our laws are constructed at the expense of public morality, and have disjointed society ; the poor man has been driven from his fireside to obtain a draught of bad beverage in worse so- ciety, where he soon acquires habits of drunkenness and gam- bling, and is prepared to become a victim to our over merciful code of criminal laws. Political wisdom is the result of expe- rience and wisdom, but actual observation of ages availeth nothing with our rulers when the poor are concerned. Science and philosophy take advantage of experience, but in govern- ments this rule forms an exception. The people are kept in ignorance, and then it is said, " Behold what wretches they are." All men are cast in nature's mould ; all are sons and daughters of the same God, and entitled to consideration as such. Of the very worst, it must be said, " God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man." The poor man, how- ever, whether honest or dishonest, is barely allowed this claim. God says, " My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea iv. 8.) Christians, reflect on this de- claration, and give the people knowledge ! But it must be done when the mind is sequacious in youth, when pliancy and susceptibility will aid you in the work of instruction. But our pseudo-philanthropists wait till all the fibres of sen- sibility are tough, and rigidly callous ; they then form com- mittees and societies, to debate how a man who has been bred up in crime may be tortured into honesty. I cannot re- frain from inserting the following letter, which will speak for itself. " SIE, I am on the point of leaving England for Botany Bay, being convicted of picking pockets. I am a very young lad, and some people seem sorry for me ; for my own part, I can never go any where to be worse used any country will be as good for me as this, which is called mine. " I was born in Dyot Street. I never remember my AMD CAUSK OF c.uiMK. 33 mother ; but ray father's companions sometimes spoke of her as one who had been transported for passing bad money ; my father used to look gloomy and sorrowful when she was men- tioned, and never recovered without a glass of liquor: some people said she died broken-hearted in gaol, but I never heard the truth of it. In our street, he who thieved most cleverly was the most admired, and the only disgrace that could be incurred was the shame of detection. I sometimes, at the end of it, saw people ride past in fine coaches, and these, I sup- posed, had robbed, still more successfully. I knew nothing, and was taught nothing but to steal ; and I practised my art with an industry which I thought most laudable. I have heard of God, and hell, and the devil ; and they once told me, when the bell tolled at St. Giles's, that people went there to pray that they might go to heaven ; but I saw nobody who seemed to believe this, and I thought these words, like many others, were only useful to swear by. The only thing I was taught to fear was a thief-catcher, and, though I eluded his vigilance for some time, he caught me at last. In prison the parson told me how I ought to have been brought up. He found that I had never been idle, that I had laboured in my calling, that I had never robbed my father, or cheated my landlady, and that to the best of my power I had done what I was told to do and yet I was put into gaol, and, if I had not been a very little boy, the parson said I should have been hanged. " There are some hundred boys in London who are all living as I lived ; and when I was tried, a gentleman in a great wig talked very kindly to me, and if I knew what his name was I would send this letter to him ; he said he would have a school in Dyot Street, where boys might be told what was right ; and I think, sir, before they are caught and hang- ed, it would just be honest to tell them that they are in danger of it, and to tell them what is law, and what is society, and not to let them hear of it for the first time when they are tried. 34 STATE OF THE POOR, " I am going, they say, among the the savages, and I never desire to come back ; the savages would have taken care of my education, have taught me to hunt, shoot, and fish, and would have told me how to be a great and good man ; but the Christians have not done so, and if it was not that I am sorry for my companions that are left behind, and hope the gentle- man in the large wig may see this letter, I would not give myself the trouble of asking my fellow prisoner to write it. " JACK WILD." This may serve for a whole volume on the subject, changing the words, " there are some hundred boys," SEC., for some ten thousand, &c. A gentleman, recently from New South Wales, told me the following anecdote. He was present one day at the factory, or barrack, where the convicts are kept until engaged by a master, when a gentleman came in, and seeing a youth which he thought would suit him, he said to him, " Well, my lad, what are you ?" " A London thief, 1 ' was the boy's reply, touching his hat. " What can you do?" " Thieve, sir !" " No doubt of that,"" said the interrogator ; " but how was you brought up ?" he continued. " To thieve, sir!" was the boy's answer again. " Nonsense! What was your father ?" " A thief, sir." The gentleman now pro- bably humouring the conversation, continued to inquire con- cerning his mother and family. It appeared there were five brothers and five sisters, all of whom he, in the same manner, said were thieves. Whether this boy's account of himself were true or false, it proves a want of a sense of shame, which a very little education will always bring, even among those in the heart of vicious society. These cases, with thousands of others, clearly show that the dissemination of pernicious prin- ciples are extensively promulged and instilled into the minds of a large number of juveniles rising daily into life; common prudence, then, if no other considerations can influence us, demand a counteracting power, which is only to be found in a AND CAUSE OF CRIME. 35 well-digested system of general education ; at the same time, let the rich endeavour to conciliate the poor, and regain the affections of those whom they must employ. A deadly ani- mosity now reigns between those who ought to respect each other ; distrust, reciprocal distrust, must be removed, they must feel one interest ; confidence and kindness must pervade all classes as heretofore; they must cease to reproach each other with blasphemy and hypocrisy. Let the gentry pour into the hearts of the poor the soothing balm of commiseration for their condition, and the causes which have led to their dis- tress. Let them cease sermonization till they have harmonized the minds of those whom they have injured ; tracts and homi- lies will then be a boon to them. It is only insult to talk to a man in a state of inanition, and with naked limbs, of the bless- ings he enjoys, and to tell him he ought to be thankful to God for his numberless comforts. Bad as is the state of the poor, time, under just and humane laws, will redeem them. It is a fallacy to say their case is incurable. There is no effect without a cause, the which here is known, (oppres- sion ;) remove the cause, and the effects will subside in much less time than the evil has been brought on us. " Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt." The first consideration ought to be to select those who are now in a state to re-occupy their former station among the farming labouring poor, and afford them such relief as may enable them to resume agricultural employment, by which their families and themselves may be supported. It is not poverty in itself which has brought us into this state of de- moralization ; Poverty is as useful in a state as riches she is the cause of all labour ; it is depravity, and Idleness its parent, and also that of discontent, which inflicts so much misery on society. Poverty has no such terrors in itself: there is no condition of life, sickness and pain excepted, where happiness D2 36 STATE OF THE POOR, &C. is excluded ; all situations have their comforts, with health and employment, which bring sweet contentment. The poor want not money they must not have it; it is not good for them, but as obtained through labour, which is the only true cure for vice, which is the precursor of crime. The rich need not be told this ; they see enough of vice in their own grade, arising from the same cause (want of employment). With respect to that class of the poor, on whom despair and crime have laid their iron hands and sealed for perdition, the first consideration are the children, whom the parents will most assuredly train and force into crime, if not prevented; but here again arises the question of expense, which is answered in another place. Now, if the honest and industrious poor were given employment, and the juvenile thieves either secured, or in any way protected by a counter-education, crime, like the farmer's chimney when on fire, might be allowed to burn itself out without much danger to society. Until these inlets to crime are closed, the honest and industrious classes of so- ciety will, as the Roman states were, be inundated with Goths and Vandals; and, like them, the more the law kills, the more numerous will they pour down on property, till in the end they will become too strong for successful opposition. ( 37 ) CHAPTER II. General Remarks on the Prisoners confined in Newgate before and after Trial, and the Effects of Punishment in deterring Men from Crime. THE object of the penal law is the prevention of crime. The guilty are to be punished, that society may be deterred from delinquency. Have our laws had this result ? This is a sub- ject which has for a long time engaged the attention of both the legislator and philanthropist. Many chimerical theories have been advanced, which, when examined, have been found in no way applicable to the purpose for which they were intended. No plan hitherto adopted has made crime even stationary ; it having progressed one-fourth in the last seven years. To treat on any subject successfully, and to grapple with it fairly, it is necessary that those who write on the subject should be practically acquainted with all its bearings. They should have mixed with the parties, that they may become possessed of all the latent springs which influence their con- duct. In laws relating to trade, when any alterations are contemplated, a committee of the legislative body is formed, and evidence procured from among those most likely to be affected by the measure, and who are generally best acquainted with the subject. This is esteemed the surest source of cor- rect information, as doubtless it is. Allowances, however, 38 REMARKS ON THE must be made for natural prejudices and bias to particular interests. So, in inquiries respecting the increase of crime, the best information is to be had from the offenders them- selves. Obstacles certainly occur peculiar to such an investi- gation, in the characters of the parties to be examined, and the interest the examinants would think they had in mislead- ing the examiners. To this are to be added their faithless- ness and general depravity ; and as few long accustomed to crime ever seriously reform, so as to take a sincere interest in the better regulation of society, little can be expected from them by any casual compunctions of conscience. Moreover, few traffickers in crime possess either education or ability to benefit the world by communicating their experience. In any case, such beings, long accustomed to trample on all princi- ples, would be incompetent to assist us much in tracing the influences which draw so many into the trade of plunder, and by what spell it is they continue their vicious courses in the very teeth of the law, and at the foot of the gallows. Nearly three years experience in Newgate, and at the court where they are tried, have enabled me to arrive at certain conclu- sions. The circumstances under which I obtained these op- portunities for observation is not necessary for me to state ; suffice it to say, I was brought immediately into contact with the inmates of the prison, and that I had opportunities of seeing the prisoners in their unguarded moments freed from all caution, and without their having had any motive for practising deception. During the period of my attendance I was employed in giving them advice, and was confidentially intrusted with their secrets for the purpose of defending them when in danger of punishment. I was, moreover, engaged as their amanuensis, both before and after their convictions, by which means I have become possessed of their true feelings, together with their standing and grade as professed thieves. During the first eight months of my observations at New- gate, my surprise was much excited by the regular manner PRISONERS CONFINED IN NEWGATE. 39 in which the prison became occupied, over and over again, after each sessional clearance, by the self-same persons. It perplexed me much to account for the apparent uniformity of crime in the metropolis, the committals being on an average about fifty per week, accompanied by an unvarying increase of one-eighteenth in each session of six weeks. On a more in- timate knowledge of the character of these men, I thought I soon discovered the cause. If all the crimes committed were of such a nature as might be supposed to arise incidentally out of the very character of man and the eonstruction of society, in which some were exposed to great temptation, pos- sessing but a small share of virtue, whilst others, blessed with a stronger portion of power to overcome the temptation, were but little subjected to it, no hope, in a population like that of London, could be entertained of ever remedying the evil : but it is otherwise, there being comparatively but very few cases of casual dereliction from honesty when the tempta- tions and population are considered. All there is to do, therefore, is to get rid of a certain party, or set of men. There is a distinct body of thieves, whose life and business it is to follow up a determined warfare against the constituted au- thorities, by living in idleness and on plunder. The problem of their increase was solved when I saw so many of their known party let off every season with some slight punishment, by which means they were soon again at their trade ; taking care, however, to send into Newgate thirty or forty young hands each before they would themselves be again caught. It is the practice of all the old and knowing thieves, who have the reputation of being clever at business, to draw in young ones, and make them do all that part of the work in- curring risk. I knew one man of whom it was said upwards of a hundred had been " put away by him" a term they have, when one is supposed to have been the cause of another's apprehension by leading him into crime. The term " despe- rate," as usually applied to these men, must not be taken in 40 K EM AUKS ON THE its common acceptation bold, daring, absence of fear, and careless of personal danger. They are all, without exception, pusillanimous and rank cowards. The desperation they pos- sess is that of a determined and inveterate gambler ; they are ever employed in calculating the chances for and against them, in every unlawful adventure they think of embarking in ; if they can but make the chances in their favour, (that is, of escaping,) they will unhesitatingly engage in any scheme or attempt at robbery. If, however, the commission of it be attended with the least possible risk of personal danger on the spot, they will always forego the adventure; and they have their exact odds in favour of every species of crime. The higher the game, they say, the less the risk. The higli and safe game, however, requires a capital, as in the more honour- able walks of life, to make an appearance to move about with facility, and, in what they denominate style. It is as- tonishing with what pleasure some of them will speak of the prospects they have of soon leaving off' the dangerous walk of business they have followed, and embarking in that which brings more profit and less risk each saying, " If I get off easy this time, I shall alter my game; I know I am a good workman, and ought to have been better employed. 11 The character of one is the character of the whole class ; their manners and notions are all of one pattern and mould, which is accounted for by their general acquaintance with each other, and their habits of association. They have a peculiar look of the eye, which may be known by any one much accustomed to see them; and the developement of their features is strongly marked with the animal propensities. So very simi- lar are their ideas and converse, that in a few minutes' con- versation with any one of the party, I could always distin- guish them, however artfully they might disguise themselves, and attempt to mislead me. They may be known almost by their very gait in the streets from other persons. Some of the boys have an approximation to the face of a monkey, so PRISONE11S CONFINED IN NEWGATE. 41 strikingly are they distinguished by this peculiarity. They form a distinct class of men by themselves, very carefully ad- mitting noviciates into their secrets ; he, however, who has gra- duated under one of their own approved body is unhesita- tingly admitted into full confidence. He must, notwithstanding, prove himself acquainted with all the cramp terms peculiar to their craft, or he will still be considered "green," and not fit to be trusted. There is not one of the select who is not able to relate the whole history of any other individual in their body how he first began, who first taught him, what he has done and suffered, &c. &c. They form one club, to whom all the fences are known, (receivers of stolen goods,) who will never purchase of a new hand without a proper in- troduction, for fear of " a plant" (being betrayed). An ini- tiate is, in consequence, constrained to trust his spoils to some old offender, until he can himself become better acquainted, and gain confidence with the buyer. In a recent work on Newgate,* there is mention made of a man who was in the habit of going to a house in Wingfield Street, Whitechapel," and showing the boys large sums of money, and asking them to bring him goods to buy ; from which it is understood he enticed them to commit crime. This man was in Newgate, under a sentence of fourteen years 1 transportation ; and being known to some boys then in con- finement, they mentioned to me that they had seen him with money, and that they thought him rich, saying how anxious he always was to purchase goods of them. But then the boys were known to him. It is a mistake to suppose he or any of his craft would go out to entice unknown persons to crime. The risk here is too great, and the parties too wary. Mr. Wakefield, to whom I told this anecdote, has misunderstood the matter. I mention this, conceiving there is a false notion regarding the temptations the receivers of stolen goods are * Facts relating to the Punishment of Death in the Metropolis. Second Edition. By Edward Ciibbon Wakefield, Esq. 1 vol. 8vo. Wilson. 42 REMARKS ON THE supposed to hold out to crime. It is said, if there were no receivers, there would be no thieves ; and the authorities have been advised to aim more at the buyer than the thief cui pro- dest scelus, is fecit. That the receiver is as bad as the thief, must be admitted ; but if it be resolved to a question of po- licy, I say, remove the thieves if you can, who will for ever, while they remain at liberty, make others, and annoy society. If, by any possibility, all the buyers of stolen goods could be annihilated, in twenty-four hours their places would be filled up by others embarking in the trade. The profits are too large, and the chances of detection too remote, until the thieves are removed, ever to blot them, as a class, out of society. Every regular thief, let out upon the town, draws into crime, in the course of one year, a dozen more, which continues the species ; and this will ever be the case until the system at the Old Bailey be altered, where there really appears to be much more anxiety to take out of society casual offenders than the born and bred thief, whose whole life has been devoted to plunder. I have said they reckon all their chances : 1st, of their not being detected in the offence ; 2dly, of their being acquitted; and 3dly, of coming off with what they call a small fine (short imprisonment). The only punishment they dread is transportation ; they hold all others in contempt ; and I believe even that of death would lose its terrors, did it not lead to the greatest of all their dreads, viz. transportation for life. Death, indeed, has no terrors for any one, until met with at close quarters. Tell the thief of death, and he will answer, " Never mind, I can die but once !" Name trans- portation, and they turn pale. This cannot be too strongly enforced on the presiding judges at the Old Bailey. Full three-fourths of the prisoners, every session, are determined offenders, all of whom are regardless of imprisonment for a short period. Their spirits enable them to surmount such trifles, when the prospect of again returning to liberty and enjoyment is not very remote. " Go along, time ! " they PRISONERS CONFINED IN NEWGATE. 43 cry ; " only three months and a teaming. Never mind .' that's over in ten minutes; (meaning the flogging;) I would take one for each month, if the old fellow (the judge) would let me off the imprisonment." If for crime well-defined transportation were sure to follow, there would soon be less business to do at the Old Bailey. A uniform plan of trans- portation for all known thieves would soon remove the whole fraternity of them out of society. It is of no use to pass this sentence on all brought to the bar for a whole day together, right or wrong, and then relax for a day or two, and pass minor sentences : it is the known thief who should be selected, and transported, being the only punishment he dreads. That they do fear this punishment I am convinced, notwithstanding what has been said by a gentleman who has recently written on this subject, and who had opportunities of seeing some- what of these characters. I say somewhat, because, although he could daily, for three years, converse with them, yet he did not, in any way, employ himself in assisting them, so as to become thoroughly acquainted with their minds, except in cases wherein his feelings, as a philanthropist were called into action by a peculiar case of hardship or oppression; and there were cases of this nature daily occurring, strong enough to move one of cooler temperament than his. In his charac- ter of mere looker-on, he never could obtain their confidence ; it is this which has misled him, and induced him to draw from real facts so many erroneous inferences. He thinks trans- portation has no terrors; I think no punishment so much dreaded. It is the manner in which this instrument of the law is used ; it is the uncertainty of it which robs it of its sting, and renders it powerless as an example. When it is one day passed on an offender for stealing a penny tart, or a small loaf of bread, (I need not insert the names of prisoners who have been transported for these offences ; they are to be found in the calendar,) and the next a hundred old and prac- tised pickpockets allowed to get off with one or two months^ 44 REMARKS ON THE imprisonment, it is not to be expected they will hold this or any other punishment in dread until they are overtaken by it. Naturally enterprising and sanguine, they think but little of punishment when it is uncertain and remote, but much of their present pleasures, and those practices which bring them wherewithal to support their dissolute life. They calculate that but one in four of the number found guilty is transported, making a balance in their favour of three to one over and above the chances they reckon their skill gives them of com- mitting crime without detection. As they cannot in any other way account for the number of old offenders being permitted to escape with fines, a notion is common with them, that the Recorder is afraid to transport more than a certain number, lest he should encumber the government, and increase the charges for their maintenance at home, or con- veyance abroad, beyond what it would be prudent to incur. Imprisonment, as I before said, thieves regard not, if it be only for a short period. So ductile and flexible is nature to circumstances, that these men think themselves fortunate, if out of twelve they can have four months' run, as they term it ; and I have no hesitation in affirming, they would continue to go the same round of imprisonment and crime for an un- limited period, if the duration of life and their sentences afforded them the opportunity. By a reference to the Old Bailey session calendar, it will be seen that about three thou- sand prisoners are annually committed to Newgate, making little short of four hundred each session, of which there are eight in a year. Out of the gross number, about three hun- dred and fifty are discharged by proclamation. Of these nothing can be said, as they must be considered innocent of the crimes with which they were charged, there not being prima facie evidence to send them on their trials. There re- main two thousand five hundred and fifty who are tried, with the progressive increase of four-sevenths annually. Some ]>ersons have supposed this accumulation of offenders bears a PRISONERS CONFINED IN NEWGATE. 45 regular proportion to the progress of population. As well may they assert that the demand for thieves in society regu- lates the supply, as in other markets of merchandise. The cause is in the maladministration of the laws the sending O out so many old offenders every session to teach and draw in the more juvenile and less experienced hands with the un- certainty of punishment, by the inequality of sentences for crimes of a like nature to which may be added the many in- stances of mistaken, or rather mis-directed leniency, compared with others of enormous severity for trifling offences; all which tend to induce the London thieves to entertain a con- tempt for that tribunal. An opinion prevails throughout the whole body, that justice is not done there. I do not mean to say they complain of the sentences being too severe generally ; for that would be natural enough on their parts, and not worth notice. They believe every thing done at that court a matter of chance ; that in the same day, and for a like crime, one man will be sentenced to transportation for life, while another may be let off for a month's imprisonment, and yet both equally bad characters. It only needs that punishment should be sure to follow the conviction for crime, and that the judgments should be uniform and settled, to strike terror into the whole body of London criminals. Out of the two thousand five hundred and fifty annually tried, nearly one- fourth are acquitted, leaving little short of two thousand for sentence in each year. Of these the average transported are eight hundred : deduct two hundred for cases of an incidental nature, i.e. crimes not committed by regular offenders, and there remain one thou- sand professed thieves who are again turned loose in a short period on the town, all of whom appear in due course again at the court of the Old Bailey, or at some other, many times in the revolution of one year. Here lies the mischief. An old thief will be sure to enlist others to perpetuate the race. There is no disguising the fact : the whole blame is 46 REMARKS ON THE with the court whose duty it is to take cognizance of these characters. Whilst the present system is pursued, of allowing so many old offenders to escape with trifling punishments, the evils will be increased, and the business of the court go on augmenting, by its own errors. The thief is now encouraged to speculate on his chances in his own phraseo- logy, " his good luck." Every escape makes him more reckless. I knew one man who was allowed a course of seventeen imprisonments and other punishments, before his career was stopped by transportation ; a sentence which does, however, sooner or later overtake them, and which would be better both for themselves and the country were it passed the first time they were in the hands of the court as known thieves. Observing only a certain, and nearly an equal, number transported each session, they have imbibed a notion, that the Recorder cannot exceed it, and that he selects those to whom he takes a dislike at the bar, not for the magnitude of their offences, but from caprice or chance. It is under this impression they are afraid of speaking when in court, lest they should give offence, and excite petulance in the judge, which would, in their opinion, inevitably include them in the devoted batch of transports, of which their horror is inconceivable: first, because many have already undergone the punishment; and secondly, all who have not are fully aware of the privations to which it subjects them. Their anxious inquiry regarding every particular relating to the treatment, is a strong manifestation of their uneasiness on this subject. Yet Mr. Wontner and Mr. Wakefield (says the Quarterly reviewer) think neither transportation nor the hulks have any terrors for them. How they come to this opinion, I cannot imagine. If they draw their inference from the noise and apparent mirth of the prisoners when they leave Newgate for the hulks, I think their premises false. The transports are taken from Newgate in parties of twenty-five, which is called a draft. When the turnkeys PRISONERS CONFINED IN NEWGATE. 47 lock up the wards of the prison at the close of the day, they call over the names of the convicts under orders for removal < at the same time informing them at what hour of the night or morning they will be called for, and to what place and ship they are destined. This notice, which frequently is not more than three or four hours, is all that is given them ; a regula- tion rendered necessary to obviate the bustle and confusion heretofore experienced, by their friends and relatives throng- ing the gates of the prison, accompanied by valedictory ex- clamations at the departure of the van in which they are conveyed. Before this order arrives, most of them have endured many months' confinement, and having exhausted the liberality, or funds (perhaps both) of their friends, have been constrained to subsist on the gaol allowance. This, to- gether with the sameness of a prison life, brings on a weariness of mind, which renders any change agreeable to their now broken spirits ; the prospect of a removal occasions a tempo- rary excitement, which, to those unaccustomed to reason on the matter, may appear like gaiety, and carelessness of the future. The noise and apparent recklessness, however, on these occasions, are produced more by those prisoners who are to remain behind, availing themselves of the opportunity to beguile a few hours of tedious existence by a noisy and forced merriment, which they know the officers on duty will impute to the men under orders for the ship. This is confirmed by the inmates of the place being, on all other nights of the year, peaceable after they are locked up in their respective wards. Those who suppose there is any real mirth or indifference among them at any time, have taken but a superficial view of these wretched men. Heaviness and sickness of heart are always with them ; they will at times make an effort to feel at ease, but all their hilarity is fictitious and assumed -they have the common feelings of our nature, and of which they can never divest themselves. Those who possess an unusual buoyancy of spirits, and gloss over their 48 R P.M. ARKS ON THE feelings with their companions, I have ever observed, on the whole, to feel the most internal agony. I have seen some thousands under this sentence, and never conversed with one who did not appear to consider the punishment, if it exceeded seven years, equal to death. May, the accomplice of Bishop and Williams, told me, the day after his respite, if they meant to transport him, he did not thank them for his life. The following is another striking instance of the view they have of this punishment. A man named Shaw, who suffered for housebreaking about two years since, awoke during the night previous to his execution, and said, " Lee !" (speaking to the man in the cell with him,) " I have often said, I would be rather hanged than transported ; but now it comes so close as this, I begin to think otherwise." Shortly afterwards he turned round to the same man and said, " I was wrong in what I said just now; I am still of my former opinion : hanging is the best of the two ;" and he remained in the same mind all the night. The first question an untried prisoner asks of those to whom he is about to intrust his de- fence is, * Do you think I shall be transported ? Save me from that, and I don't mind any thing else." One thing, however, is clear : no punishment hitherto has lessened the number of offenders ; nor will any ever be efficient, until the penalties awarded by the law unerringly follow conviction, especially with the common robbers. There requires an immediate alteration of the mode of removing convicts to their stations. The expense of land carriage is enormous a^ now managed, and quite unnecessary, as it would be miu-h more conveniently performed, by a vessel constructed for the purpose being brought up the Thames to Black friars Bridge. The present system is continued only on the principle of its being a city job, and throws money into the hands of those whose emoluments are already sufficiently great. Turn over the pages of the Old Bailey session papers for years past, and you cannot but be struck with the anomalies PRISONERS CONFINED IN NEWGATE. 49 which are there apparent, with respect to crimes and the sen- tences which have followed. The impression a perusal of these papers made on my mind, was as if all the business had been done by lottery ; and my observation during twenty- two sessions on the occurring cases has tended to convince me, that a distribution of justice from that wheel of chance could not present a more incongruous and confused record of con- victions and punishments. In no case (always excepting the capitals) can any person, however acute and experienced, form the slightest opinion of what the judgment of the court will be. Of this the London thieves are fully aware. I never could succeed in persuading one before his trial, that he was deprived of all chance of escape. They will answer, " Look what a court it is ! how many worse than me do scramble through ; and who knows but I may be lucky." What men know they must endure, they fear; what they think they can escape, they despise : their calculation of three-fourths escaping is very near the truth. Hope, the spring of action, induces each to say to himself, " Why may I not be the lucky one?" THE CHANCE THUS GIVEN OF ACQUITTAL IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF CRIME. I do not mean to say three-fourths come off free ; they are subjected to some kind of punishment, (excepting a few cases of judgment respited :) the others feel, no doubt, what they undergo, but it is only as a soldier in the fight considers a scratch other- wise coming off with a whole skin, being ready for action again. Another evil arises out of this irregularity of judg- ments. All punishments are rendered severe and useful in proportion as the offender feels he deserves it, and is conscious of having only his quantum meritus. This the convict can now never feel ; seeing his companion in crime let off for a few months' imprisonment, he (his companion) having been guilty of an offence equal to his own, and for which he (the convict) is transported for life. Those connected with the court, in the conversations I have had with them, say, "' Cir- E 50 REMARKS ON THE cumstances of character occasion the apparent anomalies ;" being unable, or perhaps unwilling, to give a better. That a good character does not avail the prisoner, or direct the court in its judgments, may be seen by a mere inspection o* the printed trials, and is better known to all who have watched the proceedings of this court for any time. Hun- dreds of cases might be cited to illustrate this fact. I re- member the case of two butchers, whose briefs I wrote, which occurred last year. One was an old, the other a young man, both having been in the employ of the prosecutor. They were charged with stealing a breast of mutton from their master : both were found guilty. The old man had persons to speak as to his character for honesty for forty years last past (his former masters;) the young one had not a solitary witness to say a word for him. The former was sentenced to fourteen years' transportation ; the latter to six months in the house of correction. When the prosecutor heard of the circum- stance, he got up a petition to the secretary of state for the remission of the sentence, in which he stated that on the trial he himself had given the old man a good character, and not the other. Instances of this kind occur out of number to confirm the rogues in their preconceived notions of the uncertainty of punishment, and that " the greatest crimes come off the best." This is an aphorism among the thieves. I have seen some of them, after being sentenced by the court, dance for hours, calling out continuously, " Did I not tell you all, the biggest rogues get off the best ?" The scene in the several yards of Newgate on the sentence-days, after the judgments have been passed, defies any description on paper. Some will be seen jumping and skipping about for hours, frenzied with joy at the very unexpectedly mild sen- tence passed on them; others are cursing and swearing, call- ing down imprecations on the Recorder, for having, as they say, so unfairly measured out justice ; all agreeing there is no proportion in the punishments to the crimes. It may be PIl ISONERS CONFINED IN NEWGATE. 51 said, it is of little import what these men think, so they are punished. But is it of no importance under what impression the others are discharged? If the discharged feel (as as- suredly they do) that punishment is a matter of chance, they return to their habits as the hazard-player goes again to the dice, in hopes of coming off a winner, and reimbursing him- self for former losses. There is another evil comes out of these unequal sentences. The discontent it produces on the minds of those who fall under the more heavy judgments, which militates against their reformation : instead of reflect- ing on their situation as brought on by themselves, they take refuge in complaint and invective, declaring they are " sacri- ficed," in their own language, " murdered men." I have often said, " Why complain ? You knew the consequence of detection." " Yes," would be the reply; " but look at the case of Tom and Bill . Not that I am sorry they have got off; but is it not a shame to give me a lifer, and they only a month each?" Such answers are always given when any attempt is made to reconcile them to their fate. They carry this feeling with them to the hulks, where they amuse each other with all the tales of hardship within their knowledge ; meditating revenge, by which they mean becoming more desperate in crime, and making reprisals on the public, when they shall be again at large. They become imbued with a notion the judge has more to answer for than themselves. Opinions of this nature are very common among them, and prevent the discipline to which they are submitted having its proper effect. Minds in the state of theirs seize on any supposed injury to brood over and stifle their own reproaches. Of this dernier ressort they would be deprived, if equal sentences were passed on all for like offences, being known offenders. They are now all ill-used men, by com- parison with others who have been more fortunate. The present system holds out so many chances for the offender to escape, that it acts as an inducement to continue his practices, E 2 52 REMARKS ON THE and to all loose characters, not yet accomplished in the art of plunder, to become so. Again, by the discharge of so many known thieves every session, so many masters are sent into the town to draw in and teach others, by which a regular supply is brought up to fill the ranks of those who fall in the conflict. There is no known crime, operating to the injury of so- ciety, for the punishment of which a statute has not been provided, and the penalties in which generally have not been considered too severe. If, then, it be not for lack of Draco- nian enactments that crime increases, the error must lie in the administration of them. An examination into the constitu- tion of the court of the Old Bailey, and the manner the business is there performed, will, I think, prove this to be the case. The monstrous acts of carelessness, and consequent injustice, emanating from the Old Bailey court, are incredible to persons who have been accustomed to consider it, like others, pure and unvitiated by patronage and influence. No one unacquainted with the business of the place can possibly have a conception of the number of persons who influence the judges in a multiplicity of cases every session, always except- ing the capitals, because the law relating to them, be it good or bad, is clear and defined. A sentence of death always follows the conviction, after which the prisoner's fate is in the hands of the king and council. The Old Bailey court is under the jurisdiction of the lord mayor and the court of aldermen, one of whom must be on the bench to complete a court. This body elects the judges, consisting of the Recorder and Common Serjeant, who have an assistant judge, now Serjeant Arabin, all of whom are in daily intercourse with the other city authorities. Throughout the year, meetings out of number take place on city business, be>ides dinner and convivial parties, at which the aldermen and other gentlemen of city influence are constantly in the habit of meeting these judges, on the familiar terms of intimates ; consequently, PEISONERS CONFINED IN NEWGATE. 53 through these channels, any representation may be made to a judge before trial, either for or against the prisoner. Tales may be poured into his ears, day after day, in various ways, so that the judge himself shall not see the motive, until a prejudice be effected, which renders him unfit for his office. It may be asked, what motive any of these gentlemen can have in prejudicing the case of a prisoner? I answer, none personally ; but when it is considered they have all been in trade, and have numerous connexions, either commercial or otherwise, in all the grades immediately below their own, and looking at all the ramifications by which society is linked to- gether, especially in this metropolis, it is easy to conceive that through such channels claims will be made on them not always to be resisted, and from them to the judge. That they do interfere I know, as do all others any way connected with the court or prison. It is not a postulate, but a demon- strable fact ; not an occurrence now and then, but an every- day affair. All who know any thing of the internal machi- nery of Newgate and the Old Bailey, know the truth of this statement ; and that there are other undue influences exercised of a more pernicious nature, of which I shall speak presently. One case out of many known to me I will relate. A linen- draper's shopman was committed for robbing his master's till, marked money having been found upon him. A few days after his committal he was recognized by one of the turnkeys, who had formerly been servant to his father, an officer in the marines. The man took an interest in the young linendraper's fate, and four days previous to his trial told him, in my presence, that he had managed his business, but could not get him oft' for less than three months' imprisonment. He was subsequently sentenced for precisely that term. In this instance we begin with the lowest instru- ment, a turnkey ! yet it went up, step by step, until it reached the judge, who acquiesced in a sentence previously arranged by another having a very different duty to perform. 54 REMARKS ON THE In the same ward with this young man were others whose offences did not exceed his, yet they were sentenced to seven and fourteen years* transportation. That it is highly proper the judge should be allowed a discretion in every case, must be admitted ; but is this discretion to allow others out of court to do their business ? I should have said, the prisoner in the last case cited had no person to give him a character. The turnkey^ conduct I applauded, as it proceeded from gratitude to the family. He is not to blame; and I should not have mentioned the circumstance, but to show how certain it is that the court suffers itself to be led by others. In every session there is a small class of prisoners very opposite from the regular thief, consisting of clerks, and others in a similar \valk of life, many of whom have probably for the first time offended against the law, by embezzlement, or otherwise robbing their employers. In these cases the sen- tences run in extremes ; the fullest penalty of the law being exacted in some, while others are fined a shilling and dis- charged, or, having their judgments respited, are allowed to go at large, in the hope they will sin no more. Here, if any rule of action could be recognized, and character had its weight in court, all would be fair; but unfortunately it is not so, some, having the best of characters up to the mo- ment of the commission of the offence, are sentenced to the severest punishments at the bar, others, without any such advantage (at least in open court,) escape entirely free. IN ALL SUCH CASES IT IS INFLUENCE WITH THE JUDGES WHICH PRODUCES ITS DISPARITY. It has often happened, when I have applied to make a prisoner's brief, that a letter would be put in my hand ; on reading which, I learnt some friend, or father's friend, or friend's friend in the second or third degree, had seen a certain alderman, who had made a promise to interfere. Probably I should be asked if he (the prisoner) might rely on the success of the interest ; in which case I invariably told them they might IK- Mire of his (the- PRISONERS CONFINED IN NKWGATK. 55 alderman) having the ability, if he could be brought to ex- ercise it. I was never mistaken : when the promise was made, the party always got off, and the instances within my own knowledge are not a few. This influence is often used O in a more unjust manner. When a confidential clerk or warehouseman is charged with embezzlement, it not unfre- quently happens the prosecutor has a motive for being anxious to secure the entire riddance of the prisoner, by having him sent out of the country, he (the prisoner) being in possession of secrets which it might not be so well to have divulged. To accomplish this, hyperbolical reports of the man's extravagance are circulated his having kept one or more mistresses, &c. &c. that he has been doing this for a long period, by robbing his master. All this, poured into the proper city channels, never fails to reach the judge who tries him, and produces the objectsought, viz. transportation for fourteen years. Few will be disposed to complain of the instances of mercy ; but it is the mode of doing it with which I find fault, and which makes it an abuse of justice. The pure stream is polluted a door is open by which the worst of mischiefs enter. This can only be reformed by the appointment of judges out of city in- fluence. There is no prejudication with the regular judges of the country. In their hands the course of justice goes on in one pure and uninterrupted stream. The lives and liberties of nearly three thousand human beings come under the cog- nizance of the Old Bailey court every year. Does it not ap- pear extraordinary that the management of a business of such national importance should be in the hands of judges who are not one remove from the middle classes of the community, and who, it is well known, mix every day with their fellow-citizens, so as to hear every current tale connected with the very cases in which they are a few hours afterwards called on to adjudi- cate often coming into immediate contact with the pro- secutors, who, for reasons before stated, have occasionally an interest in prejudicing the judge P Calumny is often added l<> 56 REMARKS OX THE oppression, if but for the sake of justifying it. The dinners during sessions are very bad things, and assist much in work- ing mischief. There the city judges, lord mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, and many others, sit down together every day during sessions, talking over all the affairs and occurrences of the day, as they may chance to be brought on the tapis. There any wish may be expressed to a judge regarding a prisoner, and story told without the accused having the opportunity to rebut it any enormity softened down to a venial offence, or any peccadillo swelled to a most atrocious crime. All who know any thing of the city corporate body are aware that they are not only divided into political parties, but also those of sectarianism, and that there is a puritanical party, who are so extremely tenacious of any member of their sect coming to harm, that under their protection getting into Newgate is of no consequence. Hence the fine of one shilling and discharge of the cheesemonger's clerk who had thirty- two cases of em- bezzlement against him, and to which he pleaded guilty, being so advised, which is usual when a prisoner has a friend to protect him, as it avoids a trial, and he passes through the ordeal unobserved. This man told me his sentence BEFORE HE WENT ur TO THE COURT, and borrowed a shilling of a person to prepare himself for it. Letters were inserted in the " Weekly Dispatch" from the firm this man had robbed, in- quiring who advised the late Common Serjeant to pass so just a sentence, which enabled the man to join an opposition house to the prosecutor's within a few days, to their great prejudice. A promise was given that an inquiry should be made ; it has, however, passed away, like all promises of this nature. Ano- ther extraordinary feature in this case is, that some other person had promised to protect the prisoner from transporta- tion, and the prosecutors had been led to expect a sentence of two years imprisonment in Newgate, (so they expressed thrin- selves in their letter to the editor of the " Weekly Dispatch,"") with which they were satisfied. The prisoner, however, sub- PRISONERS CONFINED IN NEWGATE. 57 sequently found another friend to interfere for him, who was less ceremonious in matters of justice, and the payment of a shilling was deemed a sufficient expiation for the crime of em- bezzling thirty-two separate and distinct sums of money. I have known many offenders get off with a nominal punishment, by having letters written to the judge, at the Old Bailey, from some person of known consequence. These are gene- rally procured through some relation, who having access to the parties, excite their feelings on behalf of the prisoner. These letters are generally couched in the following strain. " That they know (or have been well assured) that the pri- soner has hitherto borne a good character ; that they would themselves have attended and said as much in court, but that peculiar engagements precluded the possibility of their doing so; they, however, felt it a duty to communicate what they knew of the parties, and hope the court will allow the prisoner an opportunity of redeeming his good character, by passing a light sentence on him." Such letters, if coming from what, in common parlance, is called a great man, are always influential over the minds of the judges. I shall avoid comment on this practice ; I only state the fact, knowing it to be so, through the prisoners themselves, who, in many instances have ap- prised me beforehand that they must decline incurring any expense for a defence, having such friends to write to the judge, &c. &c. The judges say they never suffer any thing extrajudicial to influence them. How do they know that ? No one knows himself, and there is no security but by removing the possibi- lity of his coming within the sphere of such pollution to his office. Let him be placed on a pinnacle, of more importance, out of the reach of these gossips. If it were possible, a judge ought to descend from the upper world to the seat of justice, untainted and unprejudiced by any knowledge of the matter at issue. In all other courts of law this desideratum is ob- tained, as nearly as human arrangement can approximate to 58 REMARKS ON THE PRISONERS IN NEWGATE. such an object. If it be thought proper, in a question in- volving a consideration of a few pounds, that a superior law officer of the crown should preside, of how much more im- portance is that of life and death, of liberty and character ; a question comprehending the interests of so many the fixing a stamp of infamy on the father of a family, and in which a wife, children, and relations, are all concerned ! It is true that, during the first days of each session, one or more of the fifteen judges attend to try the capital cases; but they do not always go through the whole of these, leaving some for the Recorder. It is remarkable how the auditors and prisoners are penetrated with the manner and patience of these judges, as contradistinguished from the hurried way in which the trials are usually conducted in these courts. The effect it has on the prisoners is astonishing, notwithstanding the awful sentences which invariably follow in these cases, viz. death. They are generally satisfied they have had a fair trial ; and it is a remarkable fact, that none who are tried by the city judges ever think justice has been done them. However guilty they may be, they expect a chance on their trial, and decent treatment while they are undergoing it. The most brutal are sensible of the difference so apparent when they appear before what they call " a real judge." I have seen them come from the court, after such treatment, positively pleased, although found guilty, saying, " I am guilty fair enough: the judge would have let me said any thing, he is such a nice old man." I have observed the demeanour of these men subsequently to be always better than those who could never get rid of the notion they had not had a fair chance on their trials. 59 CHAPTER III. COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY, AND THE NECESSITY OF AN APPEAL COURT. SECTION I. Hurried Trials, and Treatment of Prisoners in Newgate. THE rapid and indecent manner in which the trials are usually conducted at the Old Bailey session-house is a con- stant theme of censure by those who have ever entered that court. For several sessions I made a calculation of the average time which each trial occupied. I never found it ex- ceed eight and a half minutes, notwithstanding many cases engage the court occasionally a whole day ; and in the old court, where most of the capitals are tried, they usually, on the first, second, and third days of the sessions, severally take many hours. The average of eight minutes and a half is made on both the courts, and takes in all the prisoners tried for eight successive sessions. The rapidity with which the trials are despatched throws the prisoners into the utmost confusion. Fifty or sixty of them are kept in readiness in the dock under the court, to be brought up as they may be called for. These men, seeing their fellow- prisoners return tried and found guilty in a minute or two after having been taken up, become so alarmed and nervous, in consequence of losing all prospect 60 COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. of having a patient trial, that in their efforts at the moment to re-arrange their ideas, plan of defence, and put the strongest feature of their cases before the court as speedily as possible, they lose all command over themselves, and are then, to use their own language, taken up to be knocked down like bullocks, unheard. Full two-thirds of the prisoners, on their return from their trials, cannot tell of any thing which has passed in the court, not even, very frequently, whether they have been tried ; and it is not, indeed, uncommon for a man to come back, after receiving his sentence on the day appointed for that purpose, saying, "It can't be me they mean ; I have not been tried yet ;" conceiving, from the celerity with which the business was performed, that he had only been up to plead, or see a fresh jury empannelled, for which purpose he had been probably several times called up in the course of one or two days waiting in the dock. With countrymen, whose habits are slow, there is sometimes no possibility of persuad- ing them to the contrary. There are, it is true, some of them most wretchedly stupid ; this, however, gives them a greater claim to our consideration ; and whatever may be their crimes or condition, it is proper they should be made sensible of their having justice done them on their trials. Under the present system, they can never feel satisfaction on this head. It was a boast at the Old Bailey, that a recent city judge could dis- patch sixty or seventy trials a-day ; and a lament was made that his successor did not so successfully drive on the business. With the knowledge of these facts, can we wonder that many serious mistakes should occur? The evident anxiety of all the city judges to proceed with indecent and unjudicial hash- with the business of the court, makes them frequently petulant at any interruption or impediment to their usual despatch, which manifests itself in much acrimony between themselves and counsel ; all of which tends to throw the prisoner off' his guard, and prevents him asking questions which might give the whole proceeding a new turn, and which he recollects COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. 61 after he comes out of court. Hence arises all that subsequent explanation and complaint which gentlemen connected with the prison are constrained to endure from the prisoners and their friends, after the trials are over, every session. The judges have an idea that the business of the court could not be got through in any reasonable time, if the trials were not expedited in the way they now are ; forgetting that any thing done in a hurry is never done well. The general call for a court of appeal is occasioned by the many errors which ema- nate from the present system. That such a court has been long needed, is the opinion of many competent to form a sound judgment in these matters; indeed, it is surprising, in these days of legal reform, that such a court has not been long since established. In a case where a few pounds is the ques- tion at issue, if the party against whom judgment has been awarded feels himself aggrieved, and thinks he can bring new matter forward to re-establish his case, he may apply to the Court of the King's Bench for a new trial, stating his reasons for making the application. This is but fair, as it gives him the opportunity of repairing any error or lapse which may have occurred by an oversight of his own, or of his attorney. Not so in cases where a man's life, liberty., and consequently all his property, are at stake. Here the decision is final, although tried before an inferior court, and although he should be indisputably able to show his innocence. Let no one say the occurrence of such cases is rare that there are too many is certain, the truth of which will be but too appa- rent, when a court for a second hearing is open to the many unfortunates who are now sacrificed to a system which would have disgraced the Scythians in their most barbarous age. It is true a statement may be laid before the secretary of state ; but the consideration of it is optional and gratuitous on his part ; and there is but little chance of any petition, or other documents, having attention, unless the same be forwarded through some influential individual, who must in person urge C2 COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. the prayer, and take infinite trouble to press the merits of the case on the attention of the secretary himself. Were it, how- ever, otherwise, and every facility afforded to petitioners, and immediate attention given to those who might be thought de- serving of it, after all, it is but an extra-judicial proceeding, which at most only restores the party to liberty, without giving him his lost character, or reimbursing any of his losses. That cases of such a nature do frequently occur, is proved by a reference to the secretary of stated office, where it will be seen that very often pardons are granted a few weeks or months after sentence has been passed on prisoners for very heavy offences. I have a long list now before me of these cases, but will only, on this occasion, insert two which came under my own observation, and one of which I got up for the purpose of laying before the secretary of state. In the latter part of the year, 1830, a man named Price, who lodged with a lady residing at Fulham, was convicted of robbing her of plate, &c., under rather extraordinary circumstances. He persuaded the prosecutrix to conceal her property in the garden, under a notion that the house was going to be attacked by burglars ; this property was ultimately lost, and it would appear that Price was the thief. The court sentenced him to seven years' transportation. None of the property was ever afterwards found, nor was any article produced on the trial. A few months after his conviction, the prosecutrix caused a master carpenter residing in the neighbourhood to be appre- hended, who was doing some work for her at the time the rob- bery was said to have been committed. This unfortunate man was put on his trial at the Old Bailey ; he had some pro- perty, and a most unexceptionable character. He was of a mild and timid nature, and, moreover, very nervous. Such were his feelings when at the bar, that he scarcely heard a word of the evidence which was given against him. When the judge, however, summed up, he observed that much stress appeared to be laid on the circumstance of his having brought COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. G3 a key to the prosecutrix's house on the morning the plate was supposed to have been lost. As this related to a fact he could in an instant explain, he was roused, and made an effort to call the attention of the judge; but being rather roughly and peremptorily commanded to be silent, it had such an effect on him that he neither saw nor heard any thing after- wards. He was found guilty, and sentenced to seven years' transportation. He was, however, retained in Newgate, in consequence of the interference of some friends, and the clergyman, in conjunction with some gentlemen of influence in the parish, subsequently taking up his case : his innocence was made manifest, and in a few months after his conviction, a pardon obtained for him. This person has a young family, and other strong inducements to remain where he has ac- quired some little property, and has a house of his own to dwell in. Still, the circumstance of his conviction remains a stain on himself, and may be a reproach on his children. These considerations make him contemplate emigration to America. The other was the case of a young man of a good character, the son of a respectable tradesman (a bookbinder) with a large grown-up family, whose distress at the circum- stance I am about to relate was of the most poignant nature. He was tried and convicted of stealing a trunk containing linen, and sentenced to seven years 1 transportation. In this case the judge and counsel (Mr. Clarkson) had some high words, which appeared to irritate the former, and it is thought he laboured hard for a conviction. All who have been much at the Old Bailey court must have observed, when any dispute arises between a counsel for the prisoner and a presiding judge, how fatal it generally is to the prisoner, whatever may, in the progress of the trial, come out in his favour. Is this the result of long practice in that court, which hardens all within, and makes them self- willed and impatient of restraint ? It appeared that the pri- soner went into a place of convenience, situated in a public 64 COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. court, whither he was driven by a call of nature. In this place the empty trunk was found ; and a girl, the daughter of the prosecutrix, deposed to having seen somebody like the prisoner go down the court with a trunk on his shoulders. He was apprehended two days after this circumstance ; and the additional evidence of two policemen being procured, oc- casioned his conviction. Subsequently it was discovered that the policemen themselves stole the linen, and buried it in a garden, where it was afterwards found by another officer, who heard them give orders regarding it. The two officers who gave their testimony against the young man were shortly afterwards convicted of compounding a felony, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment each in the house of correction, where they now are undergoing their merited punishment. These facts were laid before the secretary of state, of which not the slightest notice was taken for six months. At length, a gentleman connned in Newgate for a libel, feeling very much for the young man's wrongs, wrote to the secretary, and re- ceived a reply from Mr. Phillipps, the under-sccretary, say- ing, it should be taken into consideration; on the receipt of which, this gentleman, who was very indignant at the treat- ment the young man received, wrote another spirited letter, saying the case needed not a moment's " consideration" as it only required a glance at the documents to see the accused was an innocent man. Two days afterwards his pardon was sent to the prison, and he obtained his liberty. In both these cases it is evident, if no person unconnected with the pri- soners had interfered, they never would have been noticed by the secretary, or those who act under him ; and when it is considered how much this office is crowded with applications of a like nature, the majority of which are made up of false statements, it cannot be expected that a bontt Jide case of in- nocence should very readily be distinguished from the others. Indeed, there is no chance for the innocent, unless some in- fluential person steps forward to drag it out from the mass, COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. ("> and represent the case to the proper authorities; and even then the chances are very much against the petitioning party obtaining justice. Dees not this state of things call loudly for the institution of a court of appeal, to which the prisoner might have a right of applying for a rehearing of his case founded on affidavits, showing some just and reasonable cause for the same ? Such a court, beside the satisfaction it would afford the public, that no innocent man could well suffer the penalties and opprobrium of guilt, would operate as a check to the courts below, and deprive the guilty of an excuse of declaring their innocence, to the no small annoyance of the sheriffs, and other authorities, in their visits to the prison, and to the great detriment and hindrance of justice to those who are really not guilty, most of whom are now lost, being included with the impostors and pretenders to innocence, the number of which is very great every sesson ; and this makes the really innocent man's case so much more difficult, as the gentlemen who visit the prison, and interest themselves for individuals, so frequently find themselves imposed upon. In their desire to do all the good they can, they are occasioned so much unnecessary trouble by parties who, after all their labours, they find to be worthless: they at length give it up, and to justify themselves to their own feelings, persuade each other that no innocence is ever placed in the situation of guilt.* If they had heard as many confessions as I have, of * So many cases of real or apparent error do occur, that the visiting aldermen, sheriffs, and gentlemen engaged more immediately in the management of the prison, are placed in a most painful situation, and it is sometimes very amusing to observe, how they all endeavour to persuade each other to take up cases of hardship, and to remove from their own shoulders the trouble and difficulty they know will be brought on themselves in any one case. It is not long since, I heard one alderman say to another, and a party of gentlemen who were with him, aloud, so as to be heard by all the prisoners in the yard where they at the time were standing ; " There stands a young man (pointing to the prisoner) who has been three years in Newgate, and whom I know to be as innocen^of the crime for which he is suffering as I am my self, yet I cannot succeed in obtaining his pardon. Keep up your spirits, young man !" F 66 COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. the part many of the prisoners have taken in affixing guilt on innocent persons before they were themselves found guilty, they would take a different view of the matter. The motives which have actuated men in these instances, and the means they have taken to accomplish their object, are often of a very ingenious and extraordinary nature, which form rare examples of the combination of talent and depravity. It is not, perhaps, generally known, that there are among rogues a set of designers in the art of committing crime, i. e. men who plan and contrive the various modes of robbery. Amongst these, he who can attach to his scheme a method of putting the robbed on a wrong scent is esteemed the best general ; and I have known many cases wherein for this purpose they have sacrificed their old companions, after having disagreed and broken partnership. So sensible of this danger are they after parting acquaintance, that nothing gives them greater pleasure than to hear of their ci-devant friends being hanged or transported. Independently of all other chances by which an innocent person may possibly be placed in a situation of guilt, it not unfrequently happens that low attornies, and sham ones, undertake the defence of a prisoner, and after ob- taining all the money they can from them, abandon their cases altogether. I have known many instances of this kind, and of several individuals who have been under prosecution for the offence, and who have been convicted and punished. But I never knew of any case in which a prisoner so treated could obtain redress for himself, although, under these circum- stances, he ought still to be considered innocent, as the rule audi alteram partem has not been adhered to. Who can say what effect a prisoner's defence might have had with the jury, and of which he was deprived by the commission of a greater felony, perhaps, than that for which he was called on to make his own ? Another practice these attorneys have. After taking all the money they can obtain from the prisoner by persuading COUNTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. 67 him his case is a good one, they then do nothing but attend when he is at the bar, or just before he goes up, when they make a communication to the prisoner, that " they have just left counsel, with whom they have had a long consultation, who advises, under all the circumstances, that nothing shall be said in court. 1 '' Then, after recommending patience and quiescence, they leave the man to his fate. As every man, by the humane spirit of our laws, is con- sidered innocent until found guilty by a jury of his country, after having had a fair chance of defending himself, it is na- tural that each prisoner should be desirous of availing himself of this privilege ; and it is the duty of the court to see that such regulations are established as will secure to the prisoner this advantage. However the feelings of the public in general may be prejudiced against all who appear at the bar of the Old Bailey, every one who advocates true and sound prin- ciples of justice and humanity, must feel anxious that this last favour should be secured to them. The attention of the aldermen on this point in their visits to the prison, show they have a just estimate of its importance. When any case of interest occurs, they, or the sheriffs, will order a supply of cash from some available fund to the accused, if the party have no means of procuring legal advice for his defence. These cases, however, are but rare, and no attention or assist- ance of theirs can bring any good to the body of prisoners, unless the system be altered. If the prisoners be considered, and I hold they ought, in any arrangement made for con- ducting the trials, not only that the innocent may have the fairest opportunity of making the same manifest, but that there should be no possible excuse left for the guilty to assert their innocence after conviction a very material change must take place. Counsel must be restrained from taking briefs unless they can attend to them. Let a stranger go into New- gate a few days after the close of a session, and ask any of the prisoners what are their cases ? I will undertake one half F2 68 COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. will tell them they are innocent, and say they should have been acquitted if the counsel who had their briefs had not been in the other court at the time of their trials, and that they were in consequence left without a defence. Now, this is true with a very large portion of them every session ; others are glad of this, or any other opportunity, on which to frame a declaration of innocence. Nothing can be more unfair than that counsel should be allowed to take briefs with fees, and neglect them. I have often sent to remonstrate on the sub- ject; the answer always was, " I cannot help it, I can't divide myself; I was on a trial in the other court ; if I had been gifted with ubiquity I should have been there." I have written twenty briefs on the first day of session for prisoners, and sent fees of one, two, or three guineas with each, which were taken, and have had twelve of the twenty neglected, because the counsel who had them was engaged the whole day on a trial in the other court, in which he probably had a fee of ten guineas or more. Only consider the ignorance of the pri- soners in general, and the difficulty they often have to obtain the money for their defences, the bed being often sold from under their wives and children for that purpose, and the re- liance they are obliged to place on the counsel in asking any material question to prove their innocence, from an inability to speak for themselves. After such a consideration, will any one say they are not entitled to protection against this prac- tice of the counsel ? In a court of civil law, the absence of counsel and brief would occasion the trial to be put off, or entitle the party, on motion, to a new trial. Many of the prisoners, too, are so stupid, that they take the judge for the counsel, and vice versA, and would be put on their trials without even apprising the court, after having employed a counsel, that they were so prepared, did not Mr. Wontner make it generally a rule to ask the question as they are brought up, whether they have employed counsel ? And be it understood, that these ignorant men are the very persons COURTS AT THC OLD BAILEY. 69 who, being innocent, are most frequently placed in a situation of guilt. I have a long list of petty cases of committals to Newgate, with which the court has been troubled for the last three years, many of them truly ridiculous, and disgraceful to the magistrates who have been the cause of their going to the Old Bailey for trial. Take the first on the list as a sam- ple: A carter at Tottenham, who, most market-days, came to Smithfield with his master's hay, bought himself a new whip at a shop near Long Lane, which he, a few days after- wards lost, having an older one left at the stables in London in lieu of it. As he had marked his whip, and had had a new piece of brass put round it to strengthen it, he was con- stantly looking out amongst his fellow-carters for it, and at length discovered it in the hands of an acquaintance, who drove a team on the same road. He instantly demanded it, but his right to it was denied, and from time to time many altercations took place between them as they met at market or on the road. At length he saw it lying under the man^s cart in Smithfield ; thinking it a fair opportunity to recover his loss, he took it, and left his own in its place. The other man, judging who had it, came in the evening to a public- house in Tottenham, and claimed it; for several evenings this squabble regarding the whip was continued, to terminate which the man in possession of it proposed going to a magis- trate in the neighbourhood the following evening, and sub- mitting the matter to him for decision. They both did so voluntarily, being much heated with the many disputes re- garding the ownership of the whip. The magistrate being unable to make anything of the dispute, asked the recenj possessor of the whip, if he would swear it was his property ? He said he would, and was immediately sworn. " Then," said the magistrate, " the other has committed a felony, and it is my duty to send him to Newgate for trial :"* although the man offered the next day to produce the maker of the whip, from near Long Lane, to prove it was his. His mittimus was 70 COURTS AT THE OLD BAILKY. forthwith made out, and the man being placed in a cart, was sent ten miles to prison, leaving a young wife and two infants distracted at home, whose appearance at Newgate the follow- ing morning, being that of a maniac, excited the sympathy of all about her. A more honest and affectionate pair of rustics I never saw. I was consulted regarding his defence, but so agitated and affected were both husband and wife, that in three days, during intervals, I could not make any thing of the story, for, whenever the man began to relate the parti- culars, his mind wandered so much that I began to fear for his intellects, and as the session was very near at hand there was no time to be lost. At last, I thought of the other man, of whom the magistrate had so speedily made a prosecutor, and sent a messenger to him. Whether the conduct of the magistrate had disgusted this man, or his feelings of irritation being now subsided had rendered his powers of vision more clear, I know not ; but when the messenger reached him, he was beginning to doubt if the whip was his, or whether it was the property of the prisoner, whom the next day he visited in prison, obtaining admittance as his brother. He put me in possession of all the particulars of the case, and I made out a brief. In my first conversation with the prisoner and his wife, when asked what I thought of their case, I had said, that, " from the nature of the court, no man once committed was safe, although innocent, without great exertion to prove the same." In saying this I was justi- fied, from what I have seen of the proceedings of this court, as well as from a desire of stimulating them to take such steps as might ensure the prisoner an acquittal. After I had seen the prosecutor, I was satisfied no bill could be found ; I then gave them the brief, at their request, to amuse themselves with. Subsequently I learnt, after the bill was ignored, that this affectionate woman, as soon as she got the brief, went home and sold every article of furniture they possessed in the cottage, amounting to 31. 5*., which COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. 71 she carried to a counsel, with the brief, in a strong feeling of resolution that her partner should not be lost for want of any sacrifice on her part. No one can defend the ma- gistrate who committed this man ; I have avoided the in- sertion of his name the mention of the place, should he see this, will perhaps call it to his recollection. I conclude this case by saying, I never wished him any other punishment for his thoughtlessness than for a time to have witnessed the scene as I did. If he has common feelings of humanity it would have been chastisement enough. Every session our calendar of crimes is swelled with many cases similar to the one here related. This inconsiderateness of ma- gistrates out of London produces much injustice, as the judges at the Old Bailey, when they obtain a conviction under cases of this nature, generally pass a sentence of transportation, having a notion that the prisoner must be a known bad character in the neighbourhood from whence he came, or the magistrate would not, for such a trifling offence, have committed him. Thus, as the offence is minimised the judge maximises the punishment, thinking he is doing the country a service in disposing of so desperate a character, without any evidence that the man was ever ac- cused of crime before. I will add another recent case, which, although not in the list, now occurs to me. A man of here- tofore good character, who kept a beer-shop at Teddington, was committed on a charge of stealing some potatoes last year. This case arose out of a dispute of ownership, and ought not to have been sent to the Old Bailey at all. For want of proper management at his trial, he was found guilty and sentenced to seven years' transportation. When this heavy sentence fell on him, his astonished neighbours began to make inquiry into the merits of the case, and soon satisfied themselves of the man's innocence. I wrote to a gentleman of consequence, and possessed of some influence in the neigh- bourhood, who, after convincing himself of the true merits of 72 COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. the case, obtained a pardon for him. He is carrying on his business as before. That the judges act under a false impres- sion in petty country cases, I have ascertained from an unerring source many times during my stay in that place. Often when I have been relating a case to the aldermen, one would say, " Is it not a shame to commit under such circumstances ?" And another would reply, " No doubt the magistrate had his private reasons for so doing. 11 With very few exceptions, the sentences in all the cases were transportation, which can only be accounted for by the before-named notion imbibed* a priori, by the judges. Who that contrasts these cases with others wherein old offenders are let off with a few months imprisonment, will not say, " Something is rotten in the state of Denmark :" to place this beyond dispute, I will add two cases of an opposite nature. In July session, 1831, Wil- liam Baxter, an old and known transport, was tried for not a light offence, and sentenced to three months' imprisonment in Newgate, where he was employed at his trade, (a carpenter,) at one shilling a day, and the usual allowance of food. An- other young man, who had been four times in Newgate, and the last time for picking a pocket of a handkerchief, was, in September session, 1829, sentenced, to three months' imprison- ment in the House of Correction. Cases of this nature, on both sides of the question, as before said, might be cited ad hifinitum. I will add one more, that of a child committed to Newgate, as illustrative of magisterial carelessness. A baker, residing at Ealing, missed his watch, and was unable in any way to account for the loss of it. Two or three days subsequently a little boy, only five and a half years old, was seen in the road with it in his hand, showing it to every one he met, saying, " Look what I have got ; I shall give it to my mother."" An officer hearing of the circumstance took the child and watch before the magistrate, who questioned him regarding his possession of it. The little fellow told him he had just given another boy, whom he met on the common COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. 73 while at play, three marbles and two apples for it. The officer was sent with the child to the common to seek the other boy, but he was not to be found, and the child did not know his name, for which he was committed to Newgate, to be placed at the bar of the Old Bailey. Nothing could be more ludicrous than the appearance of this child in court. There was the clerk reading over the indictment to this little urchin, whose chin did not reach the bar, concluding with, " Are you guilty, or not guilty ?" the judge, essaying an air of extraordinary gravity upon the occasion, shaking his head most portentously at the little boy, because he would call out, " Not guilty, my lord." There was the minister of the parish, who had come up to town on the occasion, besides his mother, and other friends, together with the governor, all engaged in persuading this little fellow to plead guilty. In vain did they promise his mother would take him home, and that he should have a tart, if he would pronounce the word " guilty, 11 without the addition of " not. 11 But "not guilty, my lord," was all they could get from him. The fact is, they were ashamed of the farce of trying such an in- fant, and had arranged for him to pronounce the word guilty, then to respite the judgment, and immediately send him home with his mother. But the boys with whom he had been during his stay in prison, had so drilled him in what he was to say when he came before the judge, telling him, if he said " guilty, 11 he would be hanged, that no power could induce him to say otherwise. The acting this farce concluded by a jury pronouncing him not guilty, after all the gravest heads in the court had concerted a record of guilty. Magistrates generally are too hasty in committing prisoners on charges they must know cannot be substantiated on trial, and thus unnecessarily increase the business of the court, and enlarge our list of criminals. It is worthy of remark, that a fewer number of these cases come from the Mansion-House than from any other office, where a competent law-officer is always 74 COURTS AT THE OLD UAILEY. in attendance to assist the presiding magistrate. Of this the judges at the Old Bailey seem not to be aware, as they always manifest a prejudice, not observable in other judges, against the prisoner, which, however they may feel, it is not politic or judicious to exhibit ; and it has often been remarked to me, that, in every case wherein the greatest efforts have been made to defend a prisoner, by which they have been occasioned ad- ditional trouble, the sentences have been more severe. (It may be in a case of guilt, that when a strong defence is made, the full investigation of it may show the prisoner's turpitude in stronger colours, and thus produce this effect.) I say it has often been remarked to me, and is a common notion with many observing men, which lessens the respect in which the court ought to be held. It is easy to imagine that many years 1 sitting on that bench must have a tendency to make a judge believe all the world are rogues ; but they should never forget the responsibility attached to their situations, and if the heart should become seared by habit, " assume a virtue if they have it not.'" That the court has lost its dignity, and public respect has been lessened for it within these few years, I have the opinion of some of the first city authorities for saying. Nothing but a court of appeal can operate as a check upon the carelessness of all now connected in the administra- tion of our criminal laws. A court of this kind would have a sensible effect on all, from the judge on the bench to the common thief-taker. In London many wicked schemes are got up for sinister purposes against parties, by others more wicked than themselves, for the purpose of procuring convic- tions of felony. All know, in ninety-nine cases out of a hun- dred, if a man is once convicted, that the parties are secure from prosecution, however it may have been accomplished. Another argument in favour of the institution of a court of appeal is, that from the now hurried manner in which the trials are conducted, witnesses unused to appear in public, and of obtuse intellects, often make mistakes, which they COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. 75 afterwards are anxious, if the opportunity were afforded, to correct, and which correction would put the prisoner's case in a new light. As cases perhaps illustrate these opinions better than many words, I will give one which occurred re- cently, though I beg to be understood that none of these opinions rest on fewer than a dozen cases, to support each head, and which have all occurred in my own experience. In September session last, a middle-aged man was indicted by his master for embezzling 2s. 3d., the value of some hay sold on his master's account. A few days before he was charged with this offence, he had left his master's service. He was discharged on a Saturday evening, after settling accounts for the week's takings, in accordance with their usual practice. There was no complaint against the man ; his master wanted employ for him, and told him he would give him a good character. It happened that the master had the same day a cask of contraband spirits brought to his house, which was seized by the excise officers in the evening. This the master attributed to information given by the prisoner, and in temper caused him to be apprehended for the said embezzlement of 2*. 3d. The man's only defence was, that he had told him of it at the time of settlement, and desired him to deduct it, with the other sums received, from his wages ; to prove which he called a man who was present at the time. The counsel for the prosecution so confused this man that he contradicted himself in a most extraordinary manner, until the judge committed him for prevarication. The prisoner was. found guilty, and sentenced to six months in the House of Correction. Two days after his trial, a respectable person, who heard of the matter, came to the prison volun- tarily, and offered to make oath that he was standing in the shop at the time, and heard the man say, " Master, did you take the 2*. 3d. for the hay sold to Mr. ?" The other man, when he recovered his self-possession, still said he would affirm the same on oath. This man had a large family, who 76 COUUTS AT TIIE OLD BAILEY. all went to the workhouse. If there had been an appeal court open to him, there can be but little doubt his sentence would have been reversed. In this case no one can be blamed ; perhaps the prosecutor was minus the 2*. 3d., but the man did not intend to rob him of it. Numerous similar cases spring out of the movements in society, which cannot be imagined, and are only to be known by experience among the parties where they occur. It may be said, that all convicts would avail themselves of this privilege, and that the court of appeal would have as much to do as the Old Bailey court itself. Rules, however, might, without much difficulty, be laid down, to preclude all cases except those of probable error, and insure at the same time to the injured a fair chance of redress. A pardon from his most gracious majesty sets the prisoner free, it is true, but it does not restore to him his good name, or compensate him for losses occasioned by a false conviction. A court of appeal would do both, if the party deserved it. Those connected with the manage- ment of Newgate, if examined, will tell you all are guilty, and that they never meet with any who are convicted guiltless. This is with them the language of habit ; they consider it their duty never to entertain the possibility of such cases oc- curring. " We,"" they say, " are bound to look on you as guilty, now a jury of your country hath so declared you." This is said to put the best face on the many cases they cannot help, in spite of all their prejudice, to look on as innocent ones. Besides, they are bound by their office to support the authorities under whom they hold their situations. Yet, notwithstanding, the gentlemen here alluded to are daily under the necessity of attending to cases which, from their very nature, demand their consideration and assistance. If they are sincere in their declaration, how is it that not a session passes without their interfering in several cases to obtain pardons ? Is this done to make a display of consequence, or power, and to become important with these unfortunates? COURTS AT THE OLI> BAILEY. 77 There is a secret pleasure, no doubt, in the exercise of power, grateful to the feelings of all in office, but I am inclined, from the knowledge I have of these gentlemen, to give them credit for a higher and more noble motive in all cases wherein they interpose after conviction, viz. a laudable desire to save the innocent from an unmerited punishment. Of the necessity for an appeal court, there needs no better testimony than to have a return made of all the cases in which these gentlemen have used their good offices; no oral evidence could be half so applicable to the purpose actions speak louder than words. Independently of cases in which individuals quite pure and untainted with crime do occasionally come under a sentence of the court, there are a much larger proportion of regular thieves convicted of crimes they did not commit. This I never looked upon as so great an evil, considering their cha- racters were known to the court ; and which being thrown into the scale, it is not to be wondered, that in any doubtful case the jury should find them guilty. To those unacquainted with these matters it may appear surprising that any should be found guilty, being innocent of the crimes with which they were charged. It has, however, happened in many cases. For instance, I have often been employed to defend a man under one, two, or more indictments, in one of which he was guilty and in another innocent. As might be expected, he would naturally direct my attention to the guilty case, saying he did not fear the other, feeling a security in his own inno- cence under that particular charge. Yet it not unfrequently occurred, in my experience, that the prisoner would be ac- quitted on the real case of guilt, and be found guilty on the other. Hence arises a common saying among them when, in their conversations in prison, one declares his innocence : " Then you are a sure condemned man ; now, I am guilty, and make sure of being acquitted." I had one remarkable instance of this. The father of a young man employed me to defend his son, charged with attempting to steal from a shop 78 COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. in Bishopsgate Street a piece of silk, in which two others were implicated. They all three narrowly escaped apprehen- sion at the time the robbery was attempted, and only got off by dropping the silk in the street, which was picked up by two of the shopmen who were close at their heels, attended by a police officer, to whom they were all three known : conscious of this, they did not go out for some time, for fear of being recognized. At length another companion of theirs got into the watch-house, being charged with stealing a bundle of silk handkerchiefs from a female in Shoreditch, when two of them ventured to go to him, for the purpose of giving him money for his defence ; when they were there, the policemen recog- nised them as the parties who had run off with the silk in Bishopsgate Street, and locked them up in the same place with the one who had stolen the handkerchiefs. These men are, in the greatest extremity, capable of astonishing acts of heroic generosity towards each other. On this occasion, the two men who stole the silk, conceiving themselves certain of transportation, became only anxious to save their friend, who was charged with a crime unconnected with their case. As one of them was about the same age and figure, it was pro- posed that they should exchange dresses, so as to deceive the prosecutrix, who was expected every hour to prefer her charge before the magistrate, and induce her to mistake the one for the other. This ruse succeeded ; for no sooner were they placed at the bar, than she swore to the one who had the other's clothes on, as being the thief who stole her handker- chiefs. He was in consequence committed on two indict- ments; one for the silk and the other for the handkerchiefs, whilst the real culprit who had stolen the handkerchiefs was discharged. I could not persuade the father to take the proper means to prove his son's innocence on the latter charge, he saying, " It was impossible for a jury to find him guilty; he (his son) being at the time the robbery was committed at home with the family, and other witnesses, at breakfast." COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. Both were, however, acquitted for the silk ; but my client was again put on his trial for the handkerchiefs, and found guilty ; receiving a sentence of transportation for seven years for an offence he certainly did not commit. I subsequently pre- pared five affidavits, tending to prove an alibi, which would have been laid before the secretary of state, but the lord mayor, and several other magistrates, refused to allow them to be sworn, as being extra-judicial. By the way, I have known many very distressing cases of injury to parties arise, and many flagrant instances of perjury go unknown and un- punished, out of this difficulty thus thrown in the way of ig- norant and poor persons, to whom every facility ought to be afforded of proving their statement; particularly as any pe- tition laid before the secretary of state is disregarded in toto, unless well supported by affidavits. I would not be under- stood to throw any blame on the court, in the instance wherein the habitual rogue comes under the judgment of the court, when not guilty of the particular charge for which he receives sentence ; as it rests generally with the police officers, who will go very great lengths, in giving their evidence, to accomplish a conviction, when they have a known character before the court ; though it cannot be excused for the very censurable manner in which the trials are conducted, and the great want of discrimination shown throughout their proceedings. 1st. The shameful manner in which the trials are hurried over, which often favours the escape of the most desperate charac- ters. I remember making a brief for a young man guilty of a heavy offence, which he acknowledged. By the irregularity so frequently observable in bringing prisoners up to their trials, this culprit was, three days after being called up to the court, waiting to be put ow his defence, during which time he was called into court six times, for the purpose of being pre- sent when fresh juries were empannelled ; and each time, he told me, on his return into the prison, that he saw his pro- secutor in the gallery of the court ; a proof there was no wish 80 COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. on his part to neglect his duty in appearing against the pri- soner ; yet, when at length he was called to the bar, no pro- secutor appeared, his patience having, in all probability, been exhausted by the length of time he had been so unwarrantably detained from his business This occasioned the discharge of the offender, who went again into the world to commit crime, and, by rehearsing this tale to his associates, add another feather to the wings of their hopes of plundering the public with impunity. 2dly. The many obstacles the friends of the prisoners have to encounter in making a defence for them* which is occasioned by the uncertainty when they will be put on their trials, making them unwilling to trouble their wit- nesses, who must attend for eight or nine successive days, for fear of losing the benefit of their evidence altogether ;* to which may be added the difficulty of getting witnesses into court when the trials are called on. I know one case of this kind, which can, if necessary, be attested on oath, as I have seen the parties within these few weeks, who are willing to make affidavits of the facts, and submit themselves to any examination, although the affair occurred three years since. They attended with the father of a young man who was at the time on his trial for a robbery, to prove an alibi, but were re- fused admittance by the door-keeper, although he was told their business, and that the young man on whose behalf they came was then on his trial. The particulars of this fact are known to several of the aldermen, who have, in my hearing, con- demned the conduct of the man attending the door in no measured terms ; still no steps are taken to remedy this evil. * Since writing the above, measures have been adopted for the better regula- tion of presentments before the grand jury, by which much time and trouble will be spared, both to the prosecutors and witnesses in their attendance to pro- cure bills ; but the business at the Old Bailey, it seems, is for the present to remain in the same state of confusion. Subsequently, these supposed improve- ments have been tried, and found to be as defective as the old practice. Vide Prison Discipline, pott, for some further observations on this head. COURTS AT THE OLD BAILF.V. 81 In consequence of the absence of these witnesses the prisoner was found guilty, and sentenced to death. The story was told to two of the aldermen, who subsequently made a very minute inquiry into the case, and took the affidavits necessary to prove the prisoner's innocence. They ultimately expressed their unqualified opinion that he was condemned unjustly; but were unable to procure a pardon for him, although they made repeated applications to Sir Robert Peel for that pur- pose. I will state the reason of his refusing to comply with the request of these gentlemen, so urgently made, as expressed to one of the aldermen, who told me of it. No circumstance can better show how ignorance places the innocent in a situa- tion of the guilty. " All you say gentlemen," said Sir Robert Peel, " you may believe ; but I have a petition from the pri- soner, wherein he acknowledges his guilt. I must, therefore, decline interfering in the case ; he, however, shall not suffer the severest penalty of the law." If Sir Robert Peel had known there are a set of men in Newgate, who, because they can write, think themselves qualified to draw up petitions and that they do this all of one pattern, in which they never fail to insert that it is the petitioner's first nffence, he would not have been so obdurate. One of these, containing this sentence, was presented at the secretary's office by the young man^s father, signed indeed by his son, but which was never read to him; he being at the time in a state of bodily and mental debility which rendered him quite unconscious of any effect the wording of the petition was calculated to produce, even if it had been read to him. Through the influence of the aldermen, the young man was, after his respite, detained in Newgate, in the hope of something at a future time being done for his liberation. \V ithin these three months the prosecutor has signed a decla- ration, to which I am a subscribing witness, that the prisoner is not the man who robbed his house ; and that he has subse- quently discovered the man who did break into the premises. t: 82 COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. This, with the affidavits of the three persons who were shut out of court, are now before the secretary, and there is every prospect of a pardon soon restoring him to liberty. The opi- nion of one of the aldermen, who was on the bench at the time, regarding this trial, ought generally to be known; it was expressed to me not many weeks since. I must, how- ever, for the present suppress the particulars for certain reasons : suffice it to say, that although a capital case, it was not tried by one of the judges of the superior courts. This case has been warmly taken up and laid before the secretary of state, by the present sheriffs. Much of the present confusion in respect to the uncertainty the prisoners are kept in when they may expect to be called for trial, would be obviated by the clerk of the arraigns putting the names down on the list in the order they are found by the grand jury, or by his adopting any fixed plan mcst convenient to himself. Up to the present time, all this part of the business has been done without system or order. The intense anxiety the prisoners feel to prepare themselves and friends for the expected hour, throws them into a great state of perturbation throughout the session, being fully sen- sible their witnesses cannot afford to be in attendance for eight or nine days together ; yet in no case can they form any opinion when they will be called for trial. On the day pre- ceding the commencement of the session, the governor of the prison, or some person for him, goes round to the different yards, and apprises them that the session will commence on the morrow, and warns them against being unprepared. This rather adds to their anxiety. All are in expectation of being called, and off they send letters to summon their friends, who, after waiting for several days, go away in despair of being able to serve them. A man from Enfield, ten miles from town, whom I defended, was found guilty, and heavily sentenced, for an offence which, it is my firm belief, he did not commit ; it being a vindictive and malicious prosecution. COURTS AT THE OLD BAILEY. 83 which would have been satisfactorily laid before the court had he been tried on any one of the first five days of the session, or could I have ascertained at any time within a few days when he would be called up. He had four witnesses waiting for the five days to rebut the evidence of the prosecutor, on whose unsupported testimony he was convicted ; but their poverty, not their wills, drove them home, leaving the prisoner exposed to the statement of a vindictive, interested, and igno- rant prosecutor, who was paid every day for his attendance. A man, named Price, who was tried for stealing forty pounds of butter last September session, I defended. He was called up six successive days, and was the last prisoner but one or two who was tried. When he was sentenced to six months in the house of correction, Sergeant Arabin told him, but for the testimony of one gentleman, who gave him a good cha- racter, he had intended to transport him. This gentleman had ridden from the country, a distance of fifteen miles, that morning, for the purpose of giving his testimony, after having been, with three others, in attendance every day throughout the week. He came into court just at the crisis the prisoner was about to be removed from the bar. We have here the judge's own declaration, that this witness produced a difference in the prisoner's sentence of six years and six months, supposing he was only to have been transported for seven years. What, then, might have been the effect if all the witnesses in his favour had been heard, and of which he was deprived by the want of system in this court ? Even this witness would have been absent but for having a horse to convey him, as all the other witnesses were prevented reaching the court, by the coaches from the place where they resided being previously engaged ; on so slender a thread do they allow, by their want of management, the fate of men to hang. It is needless to illustrate this defect by other cases: these will serve to show that, when the name is on the list placed at the door of the court, and the prisoner is called, there is no NECESSITY OF AX APPEAL COURT. J 05 but it is a very expensive procedure, and out of the reach of most men in common life ; besides, if not brought within a very limited period after the trial, the parties lose their claim to it, unless the attorney-general will give his consent. The fees for his acquiescence are arbitrary, and may, if he exacts them, amount to a hundred pounds or more ; consequently, the instances of persons availing themselves of this appeal are rare ; and I believe there is but one case on record in which a sentence of death was reversed by a writ of error being brought. The party was discharged on a point of law, by the Court of King's Bench, after the judges in a criminal court had decided against the appellant. It related to a rob- bery committed upon some shipping in the river. And, if I understand this privilege of " writ of error" rightly, it is only to be claimed when a point of law is to be settled, and conse- quently will be of no use to a prisoner who can prove his in- nocence only on general grounds. Referring, again, to the difficulties the accused labour under of proving their cases, no part of the subject is of more importance than the difficulty they have to compel their witnesses to attend at the trial. It will be asked, why have they not a subpoena at their com- mand ? Yes, they have ; but if the party whose attendance be required is supposed to be friendly towards the prisoner, and can give evidence serviceable to his defence, it is the prac- tice of all attorneys to recommend that no subpoena shall be served, lest it should offend him, and prevent his attending ; and they substitute solicitation and entreaty. If, on the con- trary, the party is adverse to the prisoner, but the evidence he could give favourable, they know that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it is never regarded. I ask, does any one know, under the latter circumstances, of a person ever sum- moned respecting the instrument called a subpoena to at- tend at the Old Bailey ? The reason why they are disre- garded is very manifest ; every man receiving a subpoena consults either his own interest, inclinations, or convenience, 106 NECESSITY OF AN APPEAL COURT. placing the consequence of non-attendance against the in- ducements he may have for staying away. Reasoning thus, he soon comes to the conclusion that he will not attend ; because, if the man should be convicted, he will not be in a situation to take any steps for enforcing the penalty ; and if acquitted, it is clear his evidence was not required ; and consequently, as he could be of no use, no penalty was incurred. Where shall we seek for an instance wherein any person in a criminal case was ever punished by fine or impri- sonment for non-compliance to a summons issued from the clerks of the peace office in London or Middlesex, when issued at the instance of the accused ? I never heard of one, and may add, never knew many obeyed when there was any mo- tive to stay away. I knew one instance wherein a witness for the prosecution absconded just as a trial came on, after having waited several days, and who thought (having been there so long) it an excuse to leave ; being unwilling to give evidence against a young man, his intimate friend, on a charge of embezzlement. In this case, the witness was sentenced to several months' imprisonment, as his absence favoured the ac- quittal of the prisoner. This instance, however, is not one of contempt of summons, as he had been bound over, before a magistrate, in recognizances to appear. It is evident that none of the difficulties attending a defence are applicable to the habitual delinquent, who fairly can have none to make; but if I had the power to re organize the system, I would provide as much against the possibility of any injustice being done the prisoner, (depriving him even of the shadow of a complaint,) as I would against giving the slightest chance for the escape of an offender who merited punishment ; knowing, as I do, that on both sides of the question the nearer we ap- proximate to perfection, the more the one will assist in ac- complishing the other object namely, the conviction of in- corrigible thieves, and the discharge of the innocent ; of which latter there are really more instances than the world NECESSITY OF AN APPEAL COUHT. 107 are aware of. When, however, the multifarious transactions of men in this metropolis are considered, and that the modes of getting money are so multivious, and that the spirit of the times is to sail as near the wind as possible in other words, to get money in any way, so as to avoid the penalties of the law it is no wonder that often, when men disagree and are foiled in their grasping views of aggrandisement, they should, under their disappointment, take any steps, however unjust, to revenge themselves on those who have caused their illicit speculations to fail. There are instances at the Old Bailey court, of daily occurrence, wherein the prosecutors and pri- soners have for years been in the habit of transacting busi- ness together, and whose consciences jointly never restrained them from obtaining money in any way, however dishonest ; but when they fall out, if one has not, through habits of care- less confidence, so well prepared himself for the rupture, and the other can see an opportunity to take advantage, it is seldom passed over ; and as the dealings between them have been ever loose, occasions are rarely wanting for one to be- come a prosecutor, and turn honest man by sending his old acquaintance to the antipodes; and oftentimes this is done for no other purpose than to appropriate to themselves pro- perty which they see, under a conviction, within their grasp. In most of these cases, the prosecutor's moral and legal guilt, taken in the aggregate, exceeds the prisoner's. I have taken down some extraordinary cases of this kind, with a view of tracing the operations of the mind under various circum- stances and in different grades of society ; but, as they are not applicable to my present purpose, I will not trouble the reader with them. At another time, and in another form, I may attempt to amuse the world with these anecdotes. My only object in naming them at all, is to illustrate the mo- tives that witnesses have in a number of instances, for disre- garding the service of a subprena, as the business is now conducted. In the cases where all the parties are tainted 108 NECESSITY OF AN APPEAL COURT. and none connected with them are influenced by principle, the prisoner is sure to come off the worst. The prose- cutor, having his liberty, finds various means of bringing in and keeping out of court just so much evidence as suits his own purpose. With these characters a subprena from the prisoner is laughed at. I have many times turned this inconvenience over in my mind, and felt indignant at the con- tempt shown to the court, and have thought of the means to remedy the evil, not for these men only, but for the general good and the better respect of the court. I will not waste time in attempting to show the utter inutility of the penalty of money, as inserted in the instrument, and the words " At your peril, fail not." A prisoner convicted cannot bring an action, and one that is acquitted will not. The court should, in every case, take the responsibility of enforcing its own orders : whether for or against the prosecution, they should punish every contempt. They do so when they are incon- venienced by the non-attendance of summoned jurors, and why should they not visit witnesses with penalties, when it is fair to presume, in every case of dereliction, the parties have a sinister motive for so doing? In many cases, it is a kind of passive perjury. To remedy this, I propose there shall be an office in, or attached to, the prison, from whence the subpoena shall be issued, where the prisoner may have as many as he shall need, on payment for the same. Men should be appointed to serve them, similar to the Insolvent Debtor's Court services of notice to creditors ; of course, receiving a remuneration for the service, at the lowest possible rate of charge. I calculate eigh teen-pence for the service would be sufficient, when the number is taken into account, and how many would be served in one day, by taking the town in districts, as bankers' clerks now do in presenting bills of ex- change. Let us suppose this to have been accomplished ; then have the messengers in attendance during the session, with their books alphabetically arranged, in which would be NECESSITY- OF AM APPEAL COURT. 109 entered the names of the prosecutors and prisoners, together with all the witnesses summoned on each trial. When a case came on, if any one were absent, there would be the mes- senger to prove the service, or account to the court if he had been unable serve the process on the party. The court should further be empowered to levy, instanter, such fine or punishment as might be deemed efficient to deter parties from treating its summons with contempt. If the messenger, on oath, should acquaint the court that any person was " running up and down," as it is termed in law, to avoid the service of a subpoena, then the judge should issue his warrant for apprehension, as is done in the superior courts, when affidavits of the fact, in civil cases of law, are laid be- fore them. They should never depart from this rule, taking the entire responsibility of enforcing the attendance of wit- nesses on itself. I cannot imagine a more deadly blow to the hopes of all rogues than the adoption of this measure : the certainty of the witnesses being compelled to attend against them, will remove one of the main props on which they stand, in calculating their chances of escape after being committed ; and, on the other hand, would insure to all others a fair prospect of having their cases properly laid before the court. The officers who would be employed to serve the subpoena, might be made very useful during session in collecting wit- nesses together for the trials next on the list, in apartments which might be appropriated for the purpose. This would enable the court to proceed with regularity, and avoid all the bustle now so annoying to itself and the public ; particularly the custom of bawling out the names of witnesses at the door of the court, who, in most cases, are sitting drunk at the neighbouring public-houses, whilst the prisoner is standing in awful suspense at the bar. The number of inebriate persons, or those in some measure excited with liquor, put into the witness-boxes at the Old Bailey courts every session, is very great, and, if possible, should be prevented. Almost all cases 110 NECESSITY OF AN APPEAL COURT. of prevarication committals arise out of the parties' intoxica- tion. The larger portion of the witnesses every session are drawn from the working classes of society, who are never from their work but they will drink. Conceive several hun- dreds of these men waiting for eight and nine days together, in a confined neighbourhood, where every third house is one of entertainment. Mr. Wakefield says, persons before honest have been so highly excited at witnessing an execution as to become thieves on the spot.* In accounting for the manner in which men are drawn into crime, I am surprised he passed over this scene, acted on the same spot, where, for a whole week together, men are in a state of excitement from drink, who are associating and conversing with persons on the sub- ject of crime and the tricks of swindlers, talking over the ex- traordinary good fortune of some and the ingenuity of others, and in every way becoming familiarised with loose notions and bad principles. Here, indeed, he might have found out a fruitful source of crime. Every week so spent in idleness and debauchery corrupts, on a moderate calculation, or de- stroys the principles of, fifty persons,-f- who, if proper ar- rangements were made, might have immediately deposed to the facts they knew, and have forthwith gone home to their avocations. No language can be too strong when used for the purpose of denouncing the system which leads to the present confusion regarding the trials at the Old Bailey. It disgraces the city authorities especially, as it can be so easily remedied. To the plan I have proposed for subpcening witnesses, and the arrangement of them at the court, there can be no objection on the score of expense. The office may be made a source of great emolument, which, perhaps, may operate as an * E. G. Wakefield, Esq. on the Punishment of Death, p. 181. t Many hoys and young men have told me, their first ideas of crimes were generated and imbibed by mixing in the company of those who loiter about tho Old Bailey during the sessions; and that they have come, in some instances, as witnesses, and gone away thieves in intention. NECESSITY OF AN APPEAL COURT. Ill inducement to the citizens not to oppose so salutary an arrangement. The cost of a subpoena, which is now obtained from the clerk of the peace, is but a mere trifle. If, therefore, they charge 5*. for the service, the expense will not be more than 7*. each, at the utmost, which will be a great saving both to the prosecutor and the prisoner, who, in all cases when it is done by an attorney, on the most moderate calculation, must pay 11. Is. for it, with the charges of " instructions, service, letters, messengers, 1 ' &c. &c. This charge of 5s. would enable the managers of the office for subpoena to employ a competent person to go round the prison from time to time, between the sessions, to hear all the prisoners had to say ; and if he thought any, from their story, really worthy of consideration, to give them his advice and the subpoena gratis, if needed, that they might have a proper chance of proving their innocence on their trials : and in every case as- sisting all in preparing for their defence, by patiently hearing their own account of themselves, and afterwards advising them to the best of his judgment. An immense advantage would accrue from the adoption of this plan. So far from increasing the business of the place, as may be supposed by some, it would at once remove a moiety of the burden now encumbering the present system. It is for the gaol-committee to remedy many of the evils here pointed out ; they have the power in their hands to interfere in all the internal arrange- ments of the prison. It only needs that they should consider well the working and effects of their management for these last twenty years, and reflect on what has, and what might have, been done in the way of improvement. 112 CHARACTER OF PRISONERS. SECTION III. Information respecting the Character of Prisoners. THERE can be no doubt but the judges, and their coadjutors, the aldermen, &c., are anxious to secure a known thief. They have, however, not hitherto hit upon the method to find him out. On the trial it is usual for the judge to ask the police officer who gives his evidence against the prisoner, whether he has any knowledge of him. The officers in this service generally hitherto have been in it so short a time, and ex- change it so frequently for other employments, that they ac- quire little knowledge of the body of London depredators. After the officers, the governor of the prison is referred to, either in court (which is often done by signs) or in private, when the judges determine on the sentences. His information is gathered from several sources: 1st. His own recollections of their persons ; 2dly. His books of description ; 3dly. The powers of recognition possessed by the turnkeys ; and, lastly, The information obtained from prisoners who are retained in Newgate as wardsmen, whose special business it is to report all they know or can collect regarding every prisoner coming into their respective wards. All these sources are very defec- tive. The governor's own experience can avail but little, ex- cept in very recent cases of recommittals, when the recollec- tion of any other person in the place would equally answer the purpose. The books aid very little, as no man goes into Newgate twice with the same name, trade, or place of nativity. With regard to the turnkeys, it is left entirely to chance whether they choose to give information or not, unless called upon in some particular cases of doubt and disputation to give CHARACTER OF PRISONERS. 113 an opinion as to the identification of a prisoner. This is at all times, however, a bad source of information, for obvious reasons their powers of reminiscence being very unequal. But the information obtained from the wardsmen, and which is the most depended on, is the least certain of all, and is much abused. It is natural for these men to make their report exactly in accordance with the money, or other presents, they can obtain from the prisoners. There is one of these men who boasts of making forty pounds each session by writing briefs. He is most consulted on the subject of the prisoners' charac- ters. That he does write briefs is true, but his employment is chiefly obtained by threats, saying he can influence the go- vernor for or against them, and that they cannot expect he should make a favourable report unless they engage him for their defence. Out of this arise great abuses, and, in real truth, it is fraught with much mischief and wickedness. Without re- ferring to any individual so employed in particular, I have no hesitation in denouncing this part of the system, and of declaring that great injustice is done to many men through this source. Money with such characters does every thing : he who pays is an honest and a good fellow ; he who has not money, or will not be imposed on, is an old offender, and a scoundrel, &c. &c. All reports and tales carried into the office through such media are poisoned, and from an impure channel : they should never be heeded by any sensible and experienced man. Those who listen to them are laughed at in secret. It is useless to find fault with any plan without proposing a better. The difficulty of recognizing old offenders in Newgate, makes the authorities consent to use these men as auxiliaries in their views for that purpose. The only method would be to employ acute men as agents, who would soon acquire experience. Their time should be wholly em- ployed in visiting prisons in London and Middlesex ; making themselves acquainted with the prisoners, by repeated views i 114 CHARACTER OF PRISONERS. of their persons in the several wards where they are placed ; occasionally conversing with them, by inquiring who they are, from whence they came, and how they had been employed in life ; and many other questions, such as experience would suggest : sometimes accusing them of being old offenders, and of personating other characters than their own. By these means, regularly pursued, they would at least become ac- quainted with the persons of all who went into prison twice. When they ascertained a former conviction, it should be their business to bring into court a certificate of the same, and be sworn at the time as to the identity of the prisoner, and the same if the prisoner had been before put on his trial and dis- charged ; in every case giving the prisoner seven days' notice before trial of their intention to prove a former conviction or convictions, and imprisonments ; so that the prisoner might have a fair opportunity of disproving the statement, if the officer should fall into an error. This would put the court in a proper position to act with decision and certainty, and re- lieve the keepers of the prison from an irksome duty. The channels through which information respecting the character of the prisoners reaches the ears of the judge should be stopped up, and all done in open court. The prison reports, whether favourable or unfavourable to the prisoner, pass through so many hands, and are influenced by so nianv cir- cumstances, that, before they reach the judge, no reliance can be placed on them, except in very flagrant cases, when theculprit is known to all, and no private report is wanted. I grant that in some instances, by these means, men who would other- wise escape with a slight punishment are brought under the eye of the judge ; but the same information would be equally useful, and more satisfactory, were it given in open court, after the manner I have above proposed. The proceedings and sentences in each case would then stand fair before the public, and open to discussion as to the cause and effect in every case of severe or slight punishment. In recognizing CHARACTER OF PRISONERS. 115 thieves, the governors of other prisons are sometimes called in ; their opinion is not given in open court, and ought not to be relied on. Similitude of personality, with some carelessness on their parts, often lead to serious mistakes: they are gentle- men not easily persuaded on these points to give up their opinion when in error. To prove that the information is not faithfully conveyed to the judge, it is only necessary to read the two following cases, which occurred nearly at the same time, and are not of a twelvemonth's date. A man was committed for robbing, or attempting to rob, a cart, in the street, (what is called " dragging,") who had been twice under sentence of death, (once in the country, and once at the Old Bailey,) and who had not many months before been discharged from Newgate, where he had been confined for six years. He pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to seven years' transportation. If his character and former convictions had been known to the court (and which ought to have been known) he would have been sent out of the country for life. If the plan of employing officers for the sole purpose of re- cognizing bad characters, and who ought to be held responsi- ble to the court for every known former conviction, had been brought into practical experiment, this man would not so easily have escaped, after having spent six years in Newgate. Reasons, I know, will be given why this was kept from the court : these reasons, however, will not stand the test of in- quiry. Sir Robert Peel thought he did much towards re- pressing crime when he brought in a measure to increase the punishment on second and third convictions. God help him ! he knew but little of the character of men he was legislating on, or the system under which his law was to be rendered effective. The other case is that of a young man who, before his trial, had given the wardsman some umbrage, and, in consequence, was reported to have been transported once before, although i 2 116 CHARACTER OF PRISONERS. he was not twenty years of age. Owing to this report, he was transported for fourteen years. As the nature of his crime, which was a minor offence, and good character given in court, led the father of the prisoner (a most respectable tradesman, in a principal town of Sussex) to expect a much less sentence, he was greatly surprised, and naturally inquired the cause of his son's having this heavy punishment. There was no hesi- tation in telling him. When it was made known to me, I advised the father to begin with the life of his son, from seven years of age, and to bring affidavits to track the young man's course up to the day of his apprehension. This he did, and they were laid before the secretary without effect. These two cases need no comment. CHAPTER IV. PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE, OR DIFFICULTY OF ESTABLISHING CASES OF INNOCENCE BEFORE THOSE IN WHOSE HANDS THE POWER OF PARDONING IS VESTED. SECTION I. The Pardon Power. IF a court of appeal were open, to which all injured parties might apply for redress, there would be but little occasion for the exercise of this branch of the royal prerogative, which, at best, is but a very uncertain and insufficient mode of obtain- ing relief. Indeed, it is impossible to conceive any thing much worse than the modus operandi of the office in which this power is wielded ; and there is too much reason to suspect that great abuse has crept into this department. Were, how- ever, the members in this office endowed with infallibility, its very construction is opposed to a right decision, and of a nature to render it inapplicable to the end proposed, viz. a reversion of erroneous convictions. For the better understand- ing of any strictures which may be made on this subject, I will describe the office. It is a branch of the " Home Secre- tary's Office," in Downing Street, Westminster, and is usually denominated " Mr. Capper's Office," that gentleman being the superintendent of the convicts, and at the head of the depart- 118 THE PAKDON POWER. merit which orders the removal of them, after conviction, from the different prisons throughout the kingdom, and the shifting them from hulk to hulk, as occasion may require ; also, the drafting and sending them on board the transport ships, to be conveyed to the colonies. This office is a deposi- tory of the books, in which a register of all these transactions is kept. Here petitions addressed to his majesty, or the prin- cipal secretary of state for the home department, must be delivered, if the matter regard convicts or prisoners under a sentence of a court of law. Personal application, also, may be made here on behalf of any prisoner, confined in London or the country; but beyond this boundary none can pass, unless persons of some consequence, and having an introduc- tion, when an interview may be obtained with Mr. Phillipps, the under secretary, who stands immediately as a barrier be- tween Mr. Capper and the chief secretary. Access may be had to Mr. Capper, every day when he is in town, at this office, from ten to four, and every information obtained re- lating to convicts particularly the course to be adopted in any views one may have in assisting a prisoner, whether it is for staying him in this country, or urging his speedy em- barkation for the colonies. Full one moiety of the petitions sent into this office relate merely to these points. Mr. Phillipps is a barrister ; and it is his peculiar duty to read the petitions, and report to the principal secretary thereon. A man needs not multocular powers to penetrate far enough into this sanctum sanctorum, to see that the principal secretary knows nothing at all of nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of a thousand of the petitions presented, or of the deci- sions connected with them. Mr. Phillipps, in a few solitary cases possessing extraordinary features of interest, may name them to the principal secretary ; otherwise, unless some titled man, or ministerial member of parliament, take the petition in his pocket, there is no possible chance for the chief secre- tary ever hearing any thing of the matter contained in a TIIK I'AKnON I'OWKll. 119 petition; ;nul the party must, in this ca>e, >.>licit an inter- view with tin- secretary, without naming his object until he is introduced tluis giving tin 1 olliee the go-by altogether. Having accomplished this, if it be a striking and real ease of injury, tlu 1 secretary will probably give the neeessary orders for relieving the prisoner; or if it be not a very flagrant ease of enormity, and the soliciting party have interest with the secretary, and ask it as a personal favour, a pardon is gene- rally granted. I have a letter from au honourable, the bro- ther of an earl, now in my possession, who had been solicited to do an aet of justice, by laying before the secretary a case of gross injury under a sentence, in which he (the honourable) says, " 1 commiserate the situation of the prisoner, and regret that I cannot be of any use to him, as I have no interest with the present administration." This request was made at the time the Reform question was before the House of Commons, and the family of the honourable were vehemently opposing the measure. The reply shows the impression on the writer's mind was, that under the present pardon power, not merits, but interest only, could avail the applicant ; and he concluded by saying, " That perhaps an application from him might injure the prisoner's cause." This was good discretion and sound judgment on his part; but is it not monstrous to see so great a want of that virtue called justice in this renowned land, where nothing is more boasted of than her love of this virtue ? That this opinion of the pardon power is not peculiar to the honourable (who, by the by, had excellent opportunities of forming a correct judgment in these matters) 1 know well, it being the impression of all persons in any way connected with the working of the present system. Although .seven out ol' ten cases of pardons and commutations of punishment are obtained per favour, sul> ;licy, and they are unassailable through any argument than that of interest, which the more CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS. 205 excites astonishment that they should not see how much they are endangering property in general, by breeding up in the midst of our metropolitan population a race of ferocious reck- less men, morally speaking, a kind of hybrid of the human species, who are insensible to all restraints, human and divine : the greater the danger from which they have escaped the more certain are they to return to crime. Two men who had been under sentence of death, were some time since pardoned and discharged, after suffering from five to six years^ impri- sonment in Newgate ; in a few months subsequently they were brought back and transported for the commission of heavy offences. One of them, only a few weeks after receiving his pardon, went to the very gates of Newgate and waited for an old man who had been detained in the prison as a lunatic, whom he knew was to be discharged on a certain day. Know- ing that the man had a watch and money in his possession, he succeeded in inveigling him to a public house, where, after dosing him with drink infused with drugs, he robbed him. A prudent legislator will foresee the folly of rendering the laws terrible; cruelty always borders on tyranny. The crime of murder is frightfully on the increase in this country, and every day discloses some hitherto unknown horrible motive for its commission ; and it is past dispute that the English cha- racter is becoming more savage and brutal. Irreligion and the prevalence of drunkenness and immorality are assigned as the cause of this effect. The true cause, however, is to be found only in the acerbity of our laws, and the disposition evinced in every act of the legislature to coerce, and bear im- periously an iron hand over the people ; to view all offences as inexpiable. Every man who mixes much in the world, and carries an observatory eye, knows that the mass of the poor are possessed of a rankling spirit of revenge, brought on not so much by their poverty, as the multiplicity and severity of the enactments passed to put them down, and to rule them by fear, without lope ; setting nothing before their eyes but 206 THE PUNISHMENT OF ONE judges, menaces, and chastisement. Simple breaches of the police are confounded with the most flagrant violations of the law. The excess of fury in framing the laws have driven the subjects into the excess of fury in resisting them ; moderate legislation begets respect for the laws and moderation of con- duct. Laws which are contrary to nature cannot be justified by local habits or crimes, because nature is every where the same, and consistent in all she does; our laws are unjust in apportioning penalties of a greater magnitude than the laws of society, or those of nature, demand, and therefore she revolts against them. SECTION III. The Punishment of one Crime creating others. IN a few short months one execution and several murders have, it is supposed, been committed, arising out of the pe- nalty of death being annexed to a nameless offence. It would be a difficult matter to assign any good reason why this statute should any longer be allowed to remain on our books. It is an important maxim that all laws are made for the pre- vention of crime; what, therefore, shall be said for a law which not only promotes the crime which it professes to re- press, but is the creation of several other crimes of enormity ? The laws of God, nature, and man, denounce and proscribe this offence ; were it possible to remove this blot and stain from humanity, every man would have occasion to rejoice at the human species being redeemed from so monstrous a dis- grace, and feel himself exalted. As, however, its nature is secrecy, there remains no hope that any law can efficiently punish, or indeed discover, the offenders ; and it is a melan- choly reflection, that under the penalties attached to this crime, CRIME I RKATING OTHERS. more innocent than guilty persons have suffered. Wicked men, aware of the prejudice an accused person has to com- pete with in defending himself, make the accusation for pur- poses of extortion, and not unfrequently to gratify malignity and revengeful feelings. The evil of legislation on this crime, however, is, that it gives publicity to a weakness of nature, and early awakens the mind to ideas, particularly in youth, the mischievous effects of which are beyond all calcu- lation. It must be admitted to be an embarrassing subject to treat on, and men in general have naturally a repugnance to dwell for a moment on the horrible subject. God forbid that any one should wish to diminish the horror attached to this revolting vice ; but any attempt to lessen the pernicious knowledge of the existence of such a vice is not only pardon- able, but becomes a duty. My view of the question is, that all penalties against the crime should be withdrawn, except those which give the magistrate power to punish for an " Assault with intent," &c. ; and that no other words should on any occasion be used in print when reporting law proceed- ings, or in speaking in any way of the offence. All laws must be bad, which in their execution tend to injure society; and which occasions a manifold commission of the crime it professes to repress in the punishment of one offender; a law too which the judge (in the case to which I allude) and all the subordinates of the executive are ashamed to fully carry into effect, as they almost invariably decline to examine into the capital part of the charge, contenting them- selves with awarding a short imprisonment for the " assault," &c., and exposing the parties to the detestation of the world, which, from the nature of the offence, is in reality the severest of all punishments. If it should be thought that this mode of treating the crime might seem like attaching a less horror to it than it deserves, I submit whether it would not be a wise measure to enact a law, that all who committed this offence, and that of violation on an infant, together with the 208 THE PUNISHMENT OF ONE crime of beastiality, should, on the fact being proved, be de- clared, under the law, in a state of insanity, and deemed unfit ever afterwards to be at large, as endangering the good order and safety of society. By placing the criminal in this situa- tion, the law would then inflict the severest of all punish- ments, namely, imprisonment for life : a place for their in- carceration should be provided, having separate cells, in which the discipline should be severe profitable labour, and they should in every way be treated as criminals undergoing an expiatory course of punishment. The press would then, without doubt, see the propriety of suppressing all the dis- gusting details of the nature of the offence ; when one was tried and pronounced guilty under this act, their notice of it in the public papers should be simply A. B. was tried and convicted under the statute of William IV., &c., and ordered to be detained in the penitentiary appropriated for the reception of this class of offenders. This course would put a stop to all comment, and yet punish the crime with efficient severity, and, above all, effectually prevent his corrupting the minds of others. The bashfulness and uneasiness of the executive in these matters were strongly shown in the commencement of the pre- sent year. A man who was under sentence of death in New- gate for the crime of beastiality the authorities caused to be removed to the hulks previous to the report being made to his Majesty in council. This was done in opposition to all precedent, and very many question the legality of the act ; but it was without doubt done to prevent the mention of the fellow's name and offence again in print. But the attempt in this way to draw attention from the case, laudable in itself, yet has been the means of rendering it more conspicuously noticed. Inquiries have very generally been made, how it was the man was so privately removed, and how it came he was not re- j)orted with the other malefactors? Dean Swift said, that " a nice man is always a man of filthy ideas." In this case, the very attempt to stifle that which the executors of the law CRIME CREATING OTHERS- 209 blushed to make public, has been the cause of making it con- spicuously known. In another case, a man for the same offence was actually ordered for execution ; but Sheriff Parkins, who was in office at the time the circumstance oc- curred, so strenuously took up the case, that he not only in- duced the secretary of state to forego the execution of the criminal, but obtained for him a free pardon. If the legisla- ture will follow the course in these offences which I here pro- pose, viz. declaring the being capable of committing them insane, this may furnish an excuse for withholding details from the public, and prevent the eliciting of ideas which may educe latent and unnatural propensities, which otherwise might have slept until the mortality which is subject to their effects were entombed. No one can calculate on the mischiefs of a suggestion to the mind under certain peculiarities of susceptibility. The very knowledge of the liability of human nature to such a horrible lapse I would suppress as much as possible ; and to this end should all the measures of the law tend : impressions received in youth, which once for a moment are allowed to dwell on the mind, though first entertained with disgust, may at some future time recur under a morbid condition of the system from disease and vitiated habits, which never could have been conceived without previous oc- cupation of the mind, and which, in nine instances out of ten, are imbibed in youth, through the public prosecution of these wretches, whose cases are reported in the journals of the day- These are my opinions on this subject; whether they are worthy attention others must determine. I can only say that they are offered with the best intentions, which must be my apology for touching on a subject which many will condemn. The mauvaise honte of some, however, lead them practically in peto, to tolerate that which the delicacy of the tympanum will not endure to be named ; such are the vicious in thought. It may be said, that which I condemn I am guilty of myself, viz. giving publicity to the crime. I reply, that these re- p 210 THE PUNISHMENT OF ONE marks are made solely with a view to induce the legislature to allow no more, and make these the last which shall appear in print. Montesquieu says, " I may venture to affirm that the crime against nature will never make any great progress in society, unless people find themselves induced to it in other respects by some particular custom." In this country it is the custom of discussion and publicity which perpetuates it from one generation to another. It is said the Lombards were the first who brought this detestable vice into this country, in the reign of Edward III. By the act 25th of Henry VIII. chap. 6, it was made felony without benefit of clergy. The difficulty, however, of con- viction for this offence, especially under the severity of the punishment, (death,) renders it a great question of doubt whe- ther the law has not defeated itself ; the evidence of one man, who himself must be guilty, can never be deemed sufficient to justify the destruction of life; and when it is considered how very many have been accused falsely, for the purpose of ex- torting money, and how many families have been rendered miserable by an unjust stigma being fixed on them, it does appear that some alteration in the law is required. Every liberal-minded man in the country must lament that the law allowed one individual, and that, too, a policeman, whose con- sciences when giving evidence I have ever observed to possess surprising powers of elasticity, to accuse a gentleman of dis- tinguished family of this horrible crime ; and that on an ac- quittal there is no remedy for the stain but an appeal to the feelings and liberality of this very charitable world, whilst under an accusation or indirect imputation of criminality. I cannot withhold, now I have alluded to this case, what I have learnt during the impending investigation, of the character of the accused party. Since this was written, the party has been tried and acquitted, to the great satisfaction of all persons. A servant who was immediately about his his person for many years, is now a respectable tradesman in CHIME CRKATING OTHEns. 21 L the neighbourhood where I reside, and with whom I deal. When the affair was made public, this person was much affected, and took every pains to relate all he knew of the habits and manners of the gentleman in question. He com- pletely succeeded in convincing myself and neighbours that the accused was totally incapable of committing the offence. Subsequently I have seen others who have been in the service of the family, all of whom say that they are ready to lay down their lives to attest that they know him to be quite innocent of the vile and base charge preferred against him by the policeman. No charge, I say, ought to be preferred against any man, unless supported by at least two or more witnesses ; and if the accused party be acquitted, a punishment should then be inflicted on the accuser. Some such measure is needed to make men cautious how they point the public finger of detestation against an innocent man ; the object, however, is to keep as much of the allusions to this offence from the public ear as possible; and I now make an appeal to the good sense of the press, whether it would not be wise in them, and a charity to posterity, if they were simultaneously to discontinue the practice of inserting cases of this nature altogether ; the ends of justice would in no way be affected by their consenting to do so, and there is a chance that time might obliterate the remembrance of the vice, or that it should be deemed an offence to decency, even in the most distant way, to allude to as a matter of history. The propriety of requiring two to appear against an accused party is strikingly shown by a case known to me, which occurred some years since at the Mansion House. A young man, warehouseman to a large sugar house, went to the theatre, where he sat between two others ; during the evening a sort of intimacy took place between them ; after the performance was over they all three walked into the city together, and adjourned to a public-house. After being a short time in their company they accused him with an at- tempt, &c , and demanded money : he resisted, and was taken p 2 212 PUNISHMENT OF ONE CRIME CREATING OTHERS. to the watchhouse. On the following morning, when brought before the Lord Mayor, he had the assistance of an attorney, who was sent by his master ; his accusers gave very clear and circumstantial evidence, so much so that the young man's committal was certain, when a thought struck the solicitor. He asked permission to re-examine one of the witnesses, whilst the other was sent out of court ; this being acceded to, the attorney interrogated him as to his birth, parentage, educa- tion, long or short acquaintanceship with his companion who had gone out of court, asking, among other questions, whether they lodged together, and whether their first knowledge of each other commenced at school, to which the witness replied in the affirmative. He was then sent out, and his companion brought in, and submitted to a similar examination, when, not knowing what the other had said, nor, indeed, of the nature of the interrogatories, his answers were all in opposition to his associate : they were both committed, and subsequently transported for the attempt to extort money under an abo- minable false charge. Many are the cases in all charges which such a mode of examination would suit when parties were suspected of collusion, did not our foolish law of evidence oftentimes in courts of justice act in direct opposition to the eliciting of the truth. 213 CHAPTER VI. PRISON DISCIPLINE AND SECONDARY PUNISHMENT. SECTION I. On the Character of Men who generally commit Crime, and the best mode of disposing of the habitual Offender. " jEtas parentum, pejor avis, tulit Nos nequiores, mox durous Progeniem vitiosiorum." HOR. ALL crimes may be said to have their origin from stronger causes operating on men to commit crime, than the considera- tion of consequences. If, therefore, we could raise the conse- quences (that is, the penalties) to a level with the propelling causes of crime, there would remain some hope of deterring men from its commission ; but this has again and again been tried, and failed, as even death, the greatest supposed conse- quence of crime, does not operate with sufficient force to coun- teract the cause. If, therefore, we are unable to augment the terror of consequences, there is but one course remaining for us to adopt, viz. to endeavour to diminish the causes. All legislators and writers who have treated on this subject (punishment) have, I conceive, fallen into one error, which it is of the first importance to point out, namely, that offenders 214 OX THE C1IAUACTEK OF MEN weigh the consequences annexed to the commission of crime, with a merchant's eye of profit and loss, that the robber sits down and figures to make up his book, like a race-horse betting-man of the turf, calculating how he can stand to win the most, at the least possible risk of losing ; now this the professional criminals do to the nicest point of calculation, as regards the chances of detection in committing certain offences, but they reflect not on the particular consequences annexed to any specific crime. Their fears are all absorbed in the ge- neral one of detection of the loss of liberty, and deprivation of their licentious enjoyments j the sight of an officer awakens no other sensations of fear than that of a period having arrived which must terminate their career of plunder and pleasure. Punishment never crosses their minds, not even when com- mitted to prison ; then, all their thoughts are engaged on the chances they have of an acquittal, and not on the probable measure of personal punishment and pain which may be awarded them. As the day of trial approaches they begin to discuss with their companions their probable sentences as to time ; the happiest prisoners in Newgate being always those who expect to be capitally indicted, because they think, when death is the penalty of their offence, that the chances of an acquittal are multiplied, saying, " The old Recorder will now knock any man down for transportation, if it is only for look- ing at a man's pocket; but the judges will, if a fellow be to be hanged, give a man a chance. 1 ' (They never will allow that any, but one of the fifteen, are judges.) The expectants of transportation are invariably the most melancholy prisoners. " What will become of poor Sail? it will be eighty-four months before I shall see her again." Disgrace or punish- ment is disregarded only as it deprives them of a continuance in an abandoned and licentious course of life ; neither stripes, hard labour, or harder food, enters into their calculations of secondary punishment ; it is all a question of time with them. " How long will it be before I can return again to liberty and WHO GENERALLY COMMIT CHIME. 215 my companions ?" is their daily theme. It is highly proper that all crimes should have an equal, appropriate punishment, and no more; it would be the height of injustice if the law did not aim at this object : at the same time, it must not be disguised that the rigid adherence to this principle is calcu- lated to swell the calendar of crimes. The young depredators being at first only punished for a petty theft, with one month's imprisonment ; then two ; again, three and a whipping ; and, fourthly, six months and two whippings, with numberless in- intermediate escapes for want of prosecutors to prefer charges against them, and absence of proofs when put on their trials, at length become so artful and accomplished, that they leave off boarding the enemy sword in hand, but take a command at a distance, in a comparative state of security. Those whom the elder ones employ go the same round* and in due course become all in rotation recruiting officers and captains in the metropolitan regiments of thieves : one boy employs another of less experience, teaching him not only to steal adroitly, but they furnish him with tales and artful excuses, with which he defends himself when taken up. These are, generally, so ably put together, that those in whose hands the administration of the law is placed, commonly are constrained to allow another chance for reformation, until their persons are well known to the officers of justice, and their offences increase in magnitude, when they are sent to the hulks, there to be matriculated, and pass all the degrees to qualify them for confirmed house- breakers for life, if their sentences again give them a chance to practise what they learn there. Penalties against newly- invented crimes have always been inflicted as fast as the crimes themselves have been known and felt in society, but it has never yet been thought necessary to make laws against the kind of offender as well as the kind of offence ; for there is a difference in these, and it must not always be inferred that the offence will point out the kind of man who has com- mitted it. The greatest boon which could bo granted to 216 ON THE CHARACTER OF MEN mankind, in the present day, would be, that laws were now to be first made. Would we were now in this happy state Then, experience on the subject of crime would say, we have now a large increasing criminal population, which, notwith- standing the establishment of an expensive police, and a code of most sanguinary laws, yet propagate their numbers much faster than the law is efficient to remove and suppress them. Further, that this class make it their especial and peculiar business to nurture and educate their offsprings in crime, hardening their hearts, and setting them in battle array against the honest classes of the community, and that there remains to us not the shade of a shadow of a chance to re- claim, under the best system of prison discipline, one in a thousand of these characters, so deeply are their hands imbued in crime. Let us, 'therefore, first make laws for these men ! Now, there is ample room for them in other countries, where there is not the same opportunities for them to become so mischievous to society ; we will, therefore, send them all off there, by enacting a law of general transportation for all re- gular thieves, whatever may be the magnitude or pettiness of their offence the onus probandi, when convicted of crime, to lie with the prisoner, to show that he is not a common thief. If this be viewed as a strong measure, I reply, in par- liamentary language, that strong as is the measure, the times and occasion require it, and that it would be, in fact, an act of charity, not only to the unfortunate men themselves, but to their children, living and yet unborn. There is, in truth, no other possible way for the government to dispose of this class ; with such a measure they would, in all probability, be rooted out of society in seven years at the most. Tluir punishment (hard labour) should be generally made known in this country, and it should in no instance be remitted. " Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so ; Pardon is still the nurse of second woe." Their true condition should IK- made known, that the rising WHO GENERALLY COMMIT CRIME. 217 generation may be acquainted with the penalties of crime. Many hold that the punishment which is beheld has the most efficacy as a deterring power ; those who are of this opinion should ask the favour of some magistrate to commit them to prison for a few months ; they would then hear and see some- thing of the characters they so randomly venture to legislate for. I wish their zeal would prompt them to this experiment : O what an overwhelming shower of new publications should we have, full of recantations of former errors. If fear can ever operate as a preventive cause for abstaining from crime, report of human suffering will influence men more than the actual sight of it. The mind, especially of the vulgar, is always prone to magnify realities, having ever a strong taste for hyperbole. Unfortunately, this propensity of theirs is now acting in favour of crime ; they now persuade themselves that at the worst the life of a convict in the colonies is no such bad life, and believe that, in many instances, fortunes have been, and can again be, made. Most of them, however, whilst at large, do but flatter and pander to their own deception, for when the sentence is passed on them, they become dreadfully alarmed ; yet, as their conversation in the world among their com- panions has an opposite tendency, many thieves are ready enough to listen to the flattering tale, and thereby derive some modicum of comfort and encouragement in their ruinous course of life. A law to transport all thieves, without dis- tinction of crimes, I say, should be passed; such a procedure might be adopted without any danger to the other members of society, if a court of appeal were instituted, to correct errors, when they occur in the administration of justice. I shall, however, in this paper presently speak of a measure, which will, if resorted to, enable the courts of criminal juris- prudence to proceed with more certainty in administering jus- tice. Secondly, as in all communities there will ever be some whilst walking on the terrace of moral life, who will occasionally slip off and wander into the broad way of sin, 2J8 ON THE CHARACTER OF MEN let it be our peculiar care to rebuke and punish such with mildness and gentleness of manners, as a good and affec- tionate father would rebuke his son for a first offence. Let us be careful not to close the door against his return to virtue; let us not by harshness of conduct towards him drive him to desperation and recklessness, lest he in his despair mingle with those who are wholly plunged in vice, and thus become aban- doned, an enemy to his own soul, to his fellow men, and a nuisance to the state. To avert these evils in every case of incipient delinquency, punishment must be light ; leniency must characterize all our measures: when imprisonment is deemed needful, care must be taken that the time does not exceed a period more than is just enough for reflection; and mild re- monstrance, with any other discipline commensurate to the offence, never losing sight of the main object and end of all punishment reformation. To accomplish this it must never be forgotten that they are men, and have a fellow feeling of every thing belonging to men. It must be remembered that the human soul has affections, which like the bodies that re- volve round the sun, are drawn towards each other, and to- wards the sun, by some secret and never-ceasing principle, which prevents their flying off in a tangent line, and " running lawless through the skies." If we carry our thoughts from things corporeal to things of the moral world, we may observe in the spirits and minds of men a principle of attraction whereby they are drawn together in social communities; any deviation from which, or the violation of any established rules made for the good of the whole, is, in a moral sense, a tan- gental course. Now, if all the parts which make up the whole of a society took to their tangents, it would be the triumph of anarchy ; so when one part flies off, partial con- fusion is the result ; some of the members of society are in- jured, others are tempted to quit their orbits, and speculate on excentric courses. It is very clear, to avail myself of the simile, that the farther they are driven from their natural WHO GENERALLY COMMIT CHIME. 219 orbits, the chances against their return is inversely to their distances. Call them back, therefore, in the early stage of their departure, point out to them the folly of opposing the laws of God and man, never omitting to clearly show them, that they are, in point of fact, the most interested in returning and walking with their fellow men through life, obedient to the principles of nature and religion. Turning again to the habitual delinquents, I say, no consideration should prevent the government from shipping off all London rogues, and dispersing them so as to render them innocuous to any society ; a measure which can only be effected by a regular system of passing a sentence of transportation on all convicts who cannot prove that they are not thieves by trade. This demand of the law could not fail of eliciting the truth, as every man, woman, or boy, whose parentage and early avocations were such as would prove their having obtained their livelihood by honest industry, for any, and what length of time, would be too anxious, under a law which inflicted the punishment of transportation on failure of proof, to give such particulars of their history as might enable those who administer the law to assign them to the proper class of criminals. Those who refused to afford any, or gave a false account of themselves, should be deemed, without exception, all transportable criminals when found guilty of an offence ; the minimum of which the law should define, (if it be thought necessary to except some crimes of a minor kind ;) but as the object is to break up, and rout a band of desperadoes, lodged in the heart of the metropolis, it should little concern the law under what crime they were caught. When rebellion against the happiness of the community shows his bold front, and defies the strong power of the law, very little ceremony should be used in putting them to flight ; as were heretofore the bucca- neers, pirates, and bandits. If a power of this nature were sanctioned by the law, and the judges faithfully discharged their duty, it may be predicated that the present standing 220 ON THE CHARACTER OF HEN criminal population would either be frightened into honesty, or forthwith remove themselves out of the country, convincing those who may be disposed to feel any anxiety on the score of expense, that their fears were chimerical. To give efficiency to such a law, and at the same time effectually guard against its abuse, some important alterations will be required. Those which occur to me, and have engaged my attention for some time past, are these : First, a court of trial to determine the question of guilt or innocence of prisoners charged with felo- nies; secondly, a court of inquiry to class the prisoners; thirdly, one judge to make up and pass the sentences; and lastly, a court of appeal, that errors may be corrected. The court of trial should hear no evidence of character except such as related to general temper and humanity of persons, in trials under equivocal charges of murder, manslaughter, rapes, &c. &c. One week after the prisoner was found guilty he should be brought up to the court of inquiry, to prove his caste, and history, from his earlier days ; for the better eluci- dation of which, officers should be appointed to take their own account of themselves, and then go into the world, and ascer- tain the truth or falsehood of the same, after which they would be enabled to attest on oath the result of their in- quiries, and either affirm or negative the prisoner's own written statement, which they should be compelled to put into court, or presumed to belong to the class against which the law was directed, viz confirmed rogues. Solon introduced a law to make every man state in writing by what means he obtained his livelihood ; and if the ac- count were false, the punishment was death. Now, my pro- posed measure interferes with none but the guilty, who, when declared so by a jury of their country, are to be called on to give such information as may enable the administrators of the law to correctly estimate their character, condition in society, and avocations, and thereby draw some inference as to their state of mind, and how far it will be prudent to WHO GENERALLY COMMIT CRIME. 221 trust them again with liberty to mix with honest society, and if it will, what period and probation will be necessary to fit them for it. There is nothing cruel or arbitrary in this : yet it is a measure which will prevent a determined thief from committing a second offence, or training up others to crime. The judge of sentence should, previous to awarding the punishment, hold a conference in private with the judges of both courts ; that is, with those who tried the prisoners, and those who sate in the court of inquiry. JBy pursuing this course, thieves by trade, when once brought before the court, could never hope for escape ; and those offenders who aberrated from the path of honesty, and were considered re- claimable, might be dealt with in a manner to afford the best chance for their being again recalled into society. The early effects of this policy would be the clearing of metropo- litan prisons of their contaminating inmates: accomplish this, and burn all the instruments of torture, as not only useless, but mischievous. Boatswains may then be displaced, and men of intellect and real humanity selected, to fill the office of governorship of prisons ; moral, as well as legal tur- pitude, would be, under such a system, fairly before the court, which should, in all their deliberations, enter largely into their considerations in awarding punishment; in very many cases no other sentence need be passed, than placing the parties under the surveillance of the police for a time, as recommended in another part of this work. To the body of rogues it would be a coup de grace ; thievery would no longer flourish as a trade, the moral atmosphere of the metropolis would be purged of its impurity, nor, under the system here proposed, could it ever again become tainted ; what is now looked upon as the greatest of all legislative difficulties, (the suppression of professed thieves,) would be- come the least, and an undivided attention might be given in framing laws for the preservation of morality, for that class which are liable to fall, but under mild laws will rise 222 ON THE CHARACTER OF MEN again : a consideration which has never yet met with the at- tention from our statesmen that it demands. Those who take the trouble to seek for the motives of human actions find them capable of wonderful divisibility ; but the merit or demerit of every act of one man's life depends on the motive which impelled him to its commission. Our law contemplates the act alone, disregarding the motive, or the causes which were the precursors to the motive ; it is true that the heart of man is impermeable to the human eye, and is deceptive beyond all comparison ; still some approximation to the motive, in enacting laws against crime, may not only be attempted, but attained. The discrepancies in our laws, however, prove, past all doubt, that the makers of them never troubled themselves to consider the combination of causes which lead to crime ; they fear that the attempt would lead them into a labyrinth and maze them in confusion ; but if we cannot obtain all that is most desirable, in dealing with the errors of mortality* shall we therefore reject a part of the good, which is within our grasp ? I say a part for he must be demented, who shall assert that a law which will enable the administrators of it to discriminate between those offenders who are all ill, and those who are but partially so, is not something gained. This is an attempt, to the disgrace of this country, which has never been made, and the consequence has been, that under the sanction of law more acts of atrocity, cruelty, and in- justice, have been perpetrated against law even the crime of murder not excepted. I need but refer to the Old Bailey Calendar, or annually published papers, where it will be seen that offenders of a trifling kind, from forty to seventy years of age, have been uniformly punished in the same manner as re- puted thieves, although they brought into court characters of respectability and honesty for forty or fifty years previous to the commission of the act for which they were so unjustly sentenced. Conceive an offender who has stolen to the amount of five shillings, aged fifty years, who has, throughout WHO GENERALLY COMMIT CRIME. 223 his former course of life, been an useful and virtuous member of society perhaps a charitable man one, too, who may have improved and advanced the general interests of his fellow men ; then see him classed and punished with those whose whole career of life has been one tissue of crime. Is this justice? is it wisdom, or policy? Some philanthropists, whose minds are engaged on this highly interesting subject, talk of rewards as well as punishments. The reward of virtue is a self-approving conscience, and the comfortable hope of hereafter meeting an approving God; if, however, justice be an attribute worthy the study of mortals, surely the criminals of long standing, and the one of the moment, should enter into their consideration. But it is the boast of Englishmen, that our laws make no distinctions ; strange it is, that a country should make a pride of that which is her disgrace, viz. injustice and cruelty ; she calls uniform and regular laws for all offenders justice ; it is a prostitution of the term : if the actions, motives, and passions of men were uniform, then this might be justice; but is it not injustice, when no dis- tinction is made between the offender, whose crime is the exception to his conduct, and he whose honesty was never in exercise but when he could find no one to rob? But it is said, the judges, in apportioning the punishments for crime, have discretionary powers ; yes, attend the Old Bailey throughout one whole sittings ! no one who does this (if he gives his attention to what passes) will venture to say such a power, under laws of the extremest severity, ought to be in- vested in the hands of a recorder, common sergeant, and an auxiliary judge sitting at the courts of criminal law in the city of London. When the laws were made, and the bow strung to its utmost pitch, without doubt the law-givers thought, in the plenitude of their wisdom, that terrorism was in itself sufficient to explode vice and establish virtue ; time, however, that expounder of secrets, and exposer of folly, has shown them the fatuity of their legislation ; still, unwilling 22i ON THE CHARACTER OF MEN" to acknowledge their error, and repeal their Draconian code, but seeing the necessity of counteracting their sangui- nary and demoralizing effect, they had recourse to that emollient discretionary power, by which the will of the judge is made paramount to all law, and which is rendered null and void when the judge thinks proper to respite the judgment of convicted prisoners. Now, whether such a power should be vested in the hands of those judges appointed by the crown, is a question somewhat problematical ; but certain it is that the Old Bailey judges are totally unfitted for such a trust, both from habit and the practice of the courts. If any one is de- sirous to study the nature of man, " how use does beget a habit," and blunt the feelings, let him watch the career of an Old Bailey judge, from his first appointment to the end of a long service on that bench. The late chief judge in that court occupied his seat till all tenderness of sentiment and humanity were struck out of his nature; every spark of feel- ing was erased and obliterated from his mind. The severity of his sentences regularly and progressively kept pace with the length of time he held the office, till flogging and torture became his judicial delight, and in the end provoked the in- terference of the aldermen, one of whom, whose humanity was roused at his barbarity, got up and declared that a prisoner whom he (the Recorder) had sentenced to be flogged should not undergo the punishment : this led to controversy in which the public took a part. Caricatures were published, representing the judge himself undergoing the torture of the cat-o '-nine-tails, inflicted by the hands of the alderman, be- neath which was written, " It is not Fair-brother." I re- member also the case of a Black well-hall factor, who had for a period of fifty years lived in great respectability and credit, being the father of sons and daughters grown up ; in his latter days he failed in trade, and fell very rapidly into poverty. He was convicted before the Recorder of pawning the sheets from the bed he occupied in a ready-furnished WHO GF.XKRALLY COMMIT CRIME. ~2'2~> lodging, and for this offence sentenced to be publicly whipped in the session s'-yard at the Old Bailey, where he underwent the torture of one hundred lashes from the hands of the common executioner. This cruelty and careless barbarity of a judge is but one specimen of the conduct of all old practitioners in our metropolitan criminal courts of law, and forcibly shows the necessity there is for an alteration in our system of criminal administration of thelaws; a presiding judge, therefore, to measure out punishment from the notes of the try- ing judges would tend to ameliorate and equalize the sentences. The court of appeal would be a security to the public that the innocent did not suffer the penalties of the guilty. A rational plan of prison discipline might then be instituted, efficient for that great end all humane persons must have in view, viz. the restoration of all offenders to their homes, family, and society ; making their very errors useful in bringing them acquainted with the liability of human nature to wander from the path of virtue, and of the absolute necessity there is for all men to watch the operations of their own minds, and to guard themselves against principles of irreligion, and immo- rality of conduct, the forerunners of all crime. No axiom can be more self-evident than that without reformation the great object of prison discipline must fail. Without the offender be brought to a state of self-accusation, reformation must ever be hopeless, and the important question is, whether mildness or acerbity of punishment is the most likely to attain this object. From the observations I have been able to make, I have been led to consider that the chances of reformation are always inversely to the magnitude of the punishment, yet heavy sentences are passed for the object of working a refor- mation, this is the result of erroneous judgment ; it is cast- ing a man into the gulf of despair, and telling him to be happy. To degrade a man to the last state of human misery, and deprive him of all hope, is not the way to awaken the latent and better feelings of his nature, through which only 226 ON THE CHARACTER OF MEN can reformation come. Hitherto no beneficial system has been exhibited ; system, indeed, we have none ; every county prison differs in the treatment of prisoners as to accommoda- tion, association, food, labour, religious advice, and mental instruction. This diversity of prison regulations arises out of the want of one general national rule. Each bench of magis- trates exercise their own peculiar views of criminal punish- ments, or suffer themselves to be led and dictated to by one individual of their own body, who is more active and busy than themselves. In some instances they are wholly influenced and directed by the jailer of the town or county prison. The absurdity of visiting the same offences with different degrees of severity, in different counties, is too palpable to be dwelt on, and can only be defended by a supposition that human beings differ in character and nature in every county through- out the kingdom ; an assumption repugnant to common sense, and disproved by the experience of all ages. In the multi- tude of judgments there is wisdom, it is said ; but if in the management of the affairs of a country every man's opinions are all at once allowed to come into practical operation, what can be expected but anarchy and confusion ? Such, however, is the state of our penal code and prison rules ; laws are made on the spur of the moment, which clash and interfere with other statutes. Two prisoners shall be sentenced by the judge at the Old Bailey for a like offence, to six months im- prisonment each : the one shall be taken to the House of Correction, his crime having been committed at the opposite side of the street from the other, where he will be hard worked on the treadmill, wretchedly fed, and worse accommo- dated, besides being deprived of all comfort by the sight of his wife or relations, excepting once a month for a few minutes. The other, whose offence was committed in the city, is con- veyed to the Counter city prison, where he has very light work in comfortable shops, plenty of the best of food, decent clothes, good lodging, and the privilege of seeing as many WHO GENERALLY COMMIT CRIME. 227 friends as will call on him daily. Such are the anomalies in London prisons. I do not complain of the manner in which city prisoners are treated, for I have reason to think that the mildness of their treatment has tended much to harmonize the prisoners' minds, and facilitated their reformation. When I have visited the prison it has afforded me great pleasure to see them, at their leisure hours, walking about with their books, and amusing themselves in various rational ways, very different from those who have the iron hand of extreme seve- rity laid on them, under the superintendence of a surgeon paid to study how much suffering the human frame can en- dure. Not only do men differ from each other in their views on almost every subject, but many hourly differ from them- selves, exhibiting as vacillating a principle as the vane on the parish steeple. The judges of the Old Bailey are so little ac- quainted with the nature of the punishments they award, that in the same day they will often grant that as a boon which the next hour they describe as the severest of all punishments, being like the man in the fable of the Satyr, who blew hot and cold with the same mouth : for instance, when passing sentence on boys, they may frequently be heard to say, by way of a proeme, " I shall take care that you shall not, for some time to come at least, have an opportunity of following your practices ; I shall send you to the hulks, where you will be hard worked, and severely punished for your conduct." Almost in the same breath, they will say to another, when consulting Mr. Wontner or any of the aldermen on the bench at the time : " The best way will be to send the poor lad to the ship, where he will be taken care of, and taught to read and write, besides being taught a trade by which he may earn his bread." In one instance, a poor widow woman begged the judge to transport her son, to save him, as she said, from the gallows. The judge replied, " No; do you think we keep establishments to provide for boys whose parents want to get rid of them ?" These and other remarks ft 2 228 ON THE CHARACTER OF MEN, &C. which fall from them, show how uninformed they are of the nature of the punishments they award, and how much they know of the probable effects of seven years' 1 residence with four or five hundred confirmed sexagenarians in crime, although only little more than one-sixth of that in years. ** Taken care of." Yes, they are taken care of! The ship is a great hot-bed of crime, which annually supplies the country with thieves acquainted with all the tricks of their art, and informed of the receivers of stolen goods, places of rendezvous, and all other points of information appertaining to criminal knowledge. In addition to all these provocatives (if I may be allowed the expression) to crime, they have, by the system of severity under which they have been brought up from boyhood to manhood, that is, generally from four- teen to twenty or twenty-one years of age, been so hardened and brutalized in their feelings, that murder is contemplated with calmness. I, a short time since, had an opportunity of examining a youth of nineteen years of age on the first day of his dis- charge. He had been six years and nine months on board the hulks, during which he had often been severely punished. From what I collected, it appeared that throughout the whole period of his coercion that he had been careless and reckless of consequences, and that an unaccountable desire possessed him to commit a murder a feeling which he only subdued by promising himself the pleasure of committing it on his prosecutor when liberated : this passion, as he termed it, how- ever subsided gradually during the last year of his imprison- ment, which he accounted for by having been removed to an- other ship, where he was more kindly treated, and allowed some privileges which are only granted to those who have nearly served their time. He was a country farmer's boy, and had been transported from Warwick gaol, for stealing a pair of shoes. I asked him, if he were disposed to commit crime, whether he knew anything about London, and the IMPOLICY OF OVER SEVERITY, &C. 229 means of disposing of stolen property. He very soon con- vinced me that he had been so well taught, that if he abstains from crime it will be little short of a miracle ; he is, however, gone home to his friends, to whom I wrote a letter describing his state of mind, in the hope that by proper treatment a dif- ferent tone of feeling may be excited in him. SECTION II. On the impolicy of over severity in the treatment of Con- victs in general, and the views of Archbishop Whately considered on Transportation. THE effects of over-coercion appear never to have been yet thought of by those who make the laws. Mark the conduct of our Saviour ! who knew the inmost recesses of the human mind and heart. Did he inculcate the doctrine of severity ? He knew that man was not to be drawn from the ways of sin by severity. When the woman, whose punishment by the law was lapidation, was brought before him, and proved to be guilty : " Go," says he, " and sin no more." The obtuseness of some men on this head is quite surprising, thinking no crime, however trifling, ignocible. One thing, however, I will take the liberty to assure our rulers of, which is, that without a considerable amelioration of punishment, and of the general treatment of prisoners, crime cannot be lessened, because all who now come into the hands of the law as minor and first offenders, go out of it brutalized and reckless ; how can it, therefore, be otherwise than that we should have an increasing criminal population ? Many of our law-makers are soldiers and sailor?, nearly all 230 IMPOLICY OF OVER SEVERITY horse-racing amateurs : by way of illustration I will ask them a few questions applicable to the subject. Did the men you led into action dread or fear death most in proportion to the number of times they had before met him in the field, face to face? Are you not always under apprehensions for the fate of the day, when leading newly raised troops against the enemy, more than when leading old ones into the field, dread- ing a panic ? Is it not well known in the army that a man once flogged becomes a worse soldier, and that if he is punished a second time in this manner, that he is considered unfitted for the service, and that the regiment is glad to part with him ? Do you not give orders to your grooms and trainers to use gentle means in breaking and training your horses? and have you not made a law to restrain these inen from cruelly beating your cattle ? What is man but an animal, and how is it you cannot see the same necessity there is to adopt the same course with him, the very worst of the species being endowed with God's best gift, reasoning faculties, and who are > however criminal, susceptible of kind treatment ? Bentham says, speaking of cruelty to man, " A government that persists in retaining these horrible punishments can only assign one reason in justification of their conduct : that they have already so degraded and brutalized the habits of the people, that they cannot be restrained by any moderate pu- nishment." But this is an argument for foregoing the prac- tice, and redeeming at least the rising generation from bru- talization. Almost all profligate and rebellious sons have austere and severe fathers; the effects of cruelty and severity, under any circumstances, are to strike out of man all feelings of sensibility, and to change his homogenity, to blunt their minds, and render all within dark as Erebus. Those whc have occasionally mild sentences passed on them even those of the worst kind, will be heard to say, " I think myself lucky ; I must now alter my conduct, and come no more to prison ;" in their own phraseology, " I shall cut it, and got IN THE TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. 231 to work ; 'tis the best game after all." How many of these resolutions hold out till the parties are entirely reformed, cannot possibly be ascertained ; probably many of them fall again into crime through the force of circumstances which surround them lost character, and desertion of friends in consequence, &c. &c. This, however, I know for certain ; that those who return a second, third, and fourth time to prison, by far the greater proportion are those who have un- dergone severe whippings and solitary confinements, besides many who have come under more heavy sentences, such as that of death, and been subsequently pardoned. It is worthy of remark, that I have been in the habit of speculating an opinion on the probability of the prisoners' return to crime after their discharge, or on their pursuing an honest course of life, and I generally found, as far as I could ascertain the facts of the particular cases, that I was right in my judgments on an average at least five times out of six. My opinions were formed from observation, and cannot be well explained on paper ; some prominent and general features, however, may be named. The kind of crime of which a man was found guilty I never considered, unless I may except one ; I always observed in those who had trust reposed in them, or who received any unexpected favours, or acts of kindness, from those who had the charge of them, an almost instanta- neous alteration of manner ; and a change in their conversa- tion, from swearing and obscene language, to rational discus- sion on their situations. If I observed this improvement progressive, and moral ideas spring up and fructify in the mind, together with a countenance and demeanour in keeping with the whole, without any relapses or motives for disguise, I considered it augured well. Sometimes when a man has been far advanced towards this improved condition of mind, I have known the cruelty of the keeper, or the infliction of an in- jury, real or supposed, throw him back into a perfect state of recklessness, from which he never afterwards recovered ; so 232 IMPOLICY OF OVER SEVERITY true it is, that that punishment has the strongest reforming tendency which is best calculated to weaken the force of the irascible affections. That severity which approximates to cruelty will ever deaden the affections the keys to the mind and occasion men to be lost to nature and her charities. Man is the only being of the animal creation in whose constitu- tional tendencies the utmost extremes of good and evil are diffused, and the drawing out more of one than the other occasions all the varied shades of the human character ; some delight in dispensing happiness, and in administering conso- lation and comfort to the afflicted ; others there are, whose whole delight is tyranny and oppression. Harshness of treatment draws out the worst passions ; mildness, on the contrary, brings forth the kindliest affections. It not unfre- quently happens, that one for a time lost to crime is shut up and associated with a prisoner of better education and general information ; when this occurs, the man who has the advan- tage in knowledge is seldom chary of his conversation, taci- turnity not suiting the gloominess of their dormitory, besides being prompted by pride, and the desire they have of taking the lead over their more ignorant companions. From these accidental associations I have observed many extraordinary effects ; men who before knew no other language than slang, and who had no other thoughts than to endure their punish- ment, and on their liberation to return again to their wicked courses, have suddenly become thoughtful, exhibiting a complete reformation of the mind. In conversation with them, they will tell you, that if they had earlier known the pleasures of thinking, and how much there was to be known of things in and about the world, that they never should have been there. Instances of this nature are not rare, and under a system which would avail itself of the opportunities, as they offer themselves, many excellent results might be elicited, great and splendid improvements in prison discipline might be estab- lished. IN THE TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. 233 These favourable moments, however, are now lost, for want of persons employed in our prisons, who are competent, and who should be armed with powers, to carry on the great work of reformation to the end. I the more especially call the at- tention of my readers to these characteristics of uninformed and untaught men, as the parliamentary committee on secon- dary punishments have recommended in their report an in- crease of severity in penal punishment solitary confinement, &c. &c. No man who reads their report, if his heart be not indurated by inhumanity, will not denounce their views as unsteady and fraught with mischief; their minds are as- suredly distorted by unworthy opinions of their own species. " The great principles which your committee have endea- voured to establish, are the necessity of a separation of cri- minals, and of a severity of punishment sufficient to make it an object of terror to the evil-doer." Thus, we see that ages of experience are lost on men, who themselves are educated, tenaciously and pertinaciously still holding their prejudices in the teeth of facts opposed to them, and which are as clearly seen by the majority of sensible men as the sun at noon-day. In another part of their report they say (page 15) " The committee are of an opinion, that in future no persons sen- tenced to transportation, with the exception of those selected for punishment in the penitentiary, should be allowed to re- main permanently in this country, and that henceforth the convict establishment should be considered an intermediate station between the gaol and the penal colonies. As the seve- rity of the punishment will be greatly increased by the adop- tion of the restrictions already suggested, its infliction for a period, varying, according to the guilt of the offender, from eighteen months to four years, as a preliminary to transpor- tation, will probably be sufficient ; but the adequacy of simple transportation, as a punishment, being apparent to your committee, they are of opinion that no male convict, whatever may have been his previous character or station in 234 IMPOLICY OF OVEK SEVERITY life, who may commit an offence deserving of actual deporta- tion, should be exempted from the previous severe punish- ment of hard labour, in the manner here recommended.'" Here is a fine specimen of legislative justice, and recondite wisdom. " No male convict, whatever may have been his previous character, or station in life," &c. Well may justice be described as being both blind and lame. What ! will you punish a man who commits one offence, in the same manner as you do he who commits hundreds, of equal guilt? To use any kind of argument to men having such preposterous no- tions of justice, is like attempting to produce a vacuum, by dividing the air with a sword. But there are other considera- tions involved in this question : that which is a very severe punishment to one man, may, from peculiar feelings and habits, not be so to another. The criminal, whose whole life has been spent in crime, possesses no sense of shame, has no near and dear friends of respectability to mourn over his fate, no connexion with tender sympathies to rend asunder, no sus- ceptible hearts to pine in sorrow for his sufferings, no wife or children to daily blush for his degradation, no position in life to be hurled from ; or if he have wife and children, they are already embarked on the same disgraceful and hazardous calling as the father followed, and only regret his loss, as his absence deprives them of sharing further plunder. The man, however, who makes but one slip, perhaps, in a long life, and this, too, under circumstances of great palliation, (nume- rous instances of which might be adduced,) undergoes, in a sentence of hard labour, the punishment of five hundred con- victs of the other class, if he be educated, and has filled a station of respectability among his fellow-men. Further, to his suffering is superadded a sentence of punishment on the innocent ; his wife, children, and numerous relatives, all of whom share in the sentence, and feel its effects throughout their lives. This inequality of punishment must ever con- tinue, as long as one penalty is invariably inflicted on all IN THE TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. 235 classes. But is it not practicable to invent penalties for crimes and classes ? I say it is ; and thus apportion a due meed of punishment for every offence, arriving at once to that great desideratum of all legislation equal justice. The committee on secondary punishment have, it appears, discovered that transportation is non-effective as a deterring power in preventing the commission of crime. On looking over the published document, it would appear that they have arrived at this conclusion through the evidence of Messrs. Capper, Wakefield, and Wontner. It, however, needs no Solon to inform us that all punishments have been ineffectual in putting down crime ; but if it be said that the punishment of transportation is not dreaded more than all others, I must beg to differ with them in toto. Their logic is based on a fallacy, they have drawn general inferences from particular cases, and thus arrived at false conclusions. The whole body of London delinquents hold it terrible, above all other punish- ments, viewed both as to length and severity ; those who re- turn from the hulks to prison, will sit for hours detailing their sufferings ; and the effect on those who hear the account is marked and visible the whole time they remain in prison, if they expect to come under the sentence. Their friends, too, who visit them in prison, all appear deeply impressed with what they describe as a horrible punishment ; the same feeling is prevalent among those at large, there being always some companion who has suffered the punishment to give them in- formation regarding its nature. Scarcely a day passes throughout the year that the postman does not bring four or five letters from the hulks into Newgate, written by those who have recently left the prison, under a promise to some companion to write and describe the punishment, many of which I have seen, but I never heard of one which treated the discipline lightly : many contain prayers to God to take them out of this world ; others tell their correspondents that it will be their last letter, as they have resolved on self- 236 IMPOLICY OF OVER SEVERITY destruction, desiring them to do the same, rather than be conveyed to such a place. Many which I have seen contain rude pen and ink drawings to illustrate their punishments, and warn their companions to avoid coming under the same sentence, adding, not unfrequently, " Go slap up, and be hanged at once, rather than come here." Meaning thereby to say to their old associates, Let your offences be such as will either hang or acquit you at once ; in other words, go for great stakes, and blench not. Wh} T , then, it will be asked, does it not deter them from those acts which render them liable to suffer the severities of it ? For this plain reason, be- cause no dread of any punishment will restrain men, who are embarked in a pursuit, wherein even death and licentious en- joyments are the alternatives. These men, I repeat, are a body, so deeply involved in crime, and so girdled round by circumstances, that they cannot extricate themselves, even were they so disposed. Pass a law to mangle them, to deprive them of a feature, limb, or member of the body, every time they committed an offence, and you would have the limbless trunk brought into court for judgment at last, if they sur- vived their former punishments. What is the use, then, of committees to devise sanguinary punishments, which are to affect all classes ? If severity will not awhape the regular offender, let us have some consideration for the habits and manners of the other members of society, and forbear to stigmatize our country and disgrace humanity with any fur- ther legal cruelty. If a convict, after having been discharged once from the hulks, again returns, the inference is forthwith drawn, that he was on the former occasion too well treated, and that he has not had punishment enough to make him sensible of his error : it is forgotten that when the man quitted the hulks, the probability was that he had not a friend in the world, and no home where he could lay his head for a night, nor would any one employ him without a character. Thus circumstanced, and being a gregarious IN THE TREATMENT OF 'CONVICTS. 237 animal, it was natural for him to look out for old associates, who, whatever may have been his determinations, would soon make him throw to the winds all previous resolutions of honesty. However this question be viewed, their homogenity is such, that expatriation is the only remedy : in the colonies they can earn their bread, and become useful to those who employ them, and after their period of service is expired honestly obtain a living : why it should concern any one here, on this side of the globe, that they are too happy, I know not, yet suth there are who are making a stir to circumscribe their comforts, under a chimerical notion that men commit crime to procure for themselves a passage to the Antipodes, and there to become slaves. "What damned error, but some sober brow, will be found to give it. countenance ?" Archbishop Whately and some others have recently adopted this opinion. When a minister of Christ volunteers a work on crime and punishments, it is natural to expect that sentiments of mercy and forbearance would characterize his writings ; but in the work now before me, " Thoughts on Secondary Punish- ments,"" this redoubted teacher of Christianity has taken upon himself the ungracious task of urging the legislature to acts of further cruelty against his fellow-man. Without doubt, the Archbishop is sincere, when he says he wishes to make a purgatory instead of a paradise for a residence to contain those who offend against the laws ; and he may, too, possess a desire to be useful in what he has written, but the book is no credit to his understanding. Every page in it evinces a want of Christian charity, and the absence in the mind of the writer of a knowledge of human nature: crudity of thought, poverty of style, and want of feeling, but ill suit lawn sleeves and a mitred brow. The doctrines of legislation which he propounds, and the arguments which are adduced in sup- port of his notions, did they proceed from the pen of another man, would be best passed over in silent neglect. The whole work is an omnium gatherum, of contrarieties, of propositions, 238 IMPOLICY OF OVER SEVERITY arguments, and corollaries, forming a fine specimen, in the entire, of a perfect sorites ; station, however, giving them a sort of au- thority, and with some a sanctification, a refutation of them therefore becomes necessary. In page 36 this writer has struck out a perfectly novel idea ; speaking of penitentiary labour, he says, " My object in this would be, to superadd to the habit of labour, which it is the object of most penitentiaries to create, an association, not merely of the ideas of disgrace and coer- cion with crime, but also of freedom and independence with that of labour." What ! imprisonment, labour, coercion, freedom, and independence, and all to keep company toge- ther ? why, the millennium will be nothing to this : what is the walking of the lion and the lamb together, compared with this association ? I wish the learned writer had told us whe- ther he called this state paradise or purgatory, or something between them both. But let me proceed to the question of transportation : the writer now before me makes great com- plaint against the excellent manner in which the convicts are fed at the hulks, and says, at page 68, " If a fine lady or gentleman were promised a sight of a criminal sentenced to hard labour, and were to be shown a man occupied all day in raking mud out of a ditch, and dining on hard dumplings, with dripping poured over it, (the Suffolk dainty,) they might, perhaps, think his punishment too severe, and might be surprised to be told that he was, after all, no criminal, but an honest labourer, who was very well satisfied to get such good employment ; and that, though probably he would be glad of better diet, more beer, and less work, he would find himself as uncomfortable, if confined to the mode of life and occupations of those who pitied him, as they would be in the scene of his highest enjoyment, the chimney-corner of a dirty ale-house. 1 " By this is meant, that the convict labourer is as well or better provided than the free labourer. This is drawing major inferences from minor propositions. Without doubt many are undergoing the pangs of gastric bitings on IN THE TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. 239 the coats of the stomach, whilst the convicts are regularly, but coarsely fed ; but are we to look out for the extreme of accidental misery, and place the convict in a similar condition for a term of years, because there shall not be in the whole country a being, under any circumstances, so wretched as himself, at any one particular moment of time. If the la- bourer wants food to day, he has health, strength, and liberty to encourage his hopes for the morrow, and his back is out of the reach of the cat-o'-nine-tails ; his limbs are unencumbered with fetters, his wife shares his troubles with him, and, if things come to the worst, the parish must receive him till work comes in, which he still hopes every day will bring him. Suppose, however, the free labourer's food and work to be even worse than the convict's for a length of time, having no bright clays ; is there no hope left him ? will he not say in his homely phrase, " It's a long lane that has no turning." Is freedom nothing, and conscience nothing, with one who never yet committed crime ? Then there is " the chimney-corner of a dirty ale-house," the climax of all his enjoyments, which the convict has not. The reverend gentleman might have said, that convicts were better off than watermen on the river Thames, because the latter were more liable to be drowned, and that some watermen met with their death in that way ; ergo, all the convicts should be drowned. Again, page 70 " To one brought up in refinement, a sentence to wield the spade or axe, and live on plenty, though coarse food, for seven years, would be felt as a very heavy punishment for flagrant mis- conduct, and might induce him to abstain from such miscon- duct , to the majority of mankind, it is the very bonus held out for good conduct." Had the writer of this remark known, in the slightest degree, any thing of criminals, he would not have so blundered : the refined convict, having lost his cha- racter, and once respectable station in life, and, under his severe disgrace, all motives which operate to make shame an auxiliary in restraining men from crime, when he quits his 2M) IMPOLICY OF OVKR SEVERITY spade and axe, thinks only how his talents may best enable him to make reprisals on that society which he thinks have dealt too hardly by him, in making him an outcast of it. It is precisely such men as here spoken of, who are now the leaders in crime, and who have brought it to a science which outvies and eclipses the one of law-making; it is for this reason, I say, the incidental and regular offender should not be associated in punishment. The heretofore respectable and educated convict, but now, under a degrading punishment, a desperate man, gladly avails himself of the information he has acquired, and the connexions he has formed during his long sojourn among thieves, to become a planner and plotter for a party ; his manners and talent giving him the lead in all undertakings of plunder, excepting only the actual com- mission of the act, which he takes special care shall be per- formed by the most able and daring of the subordinates of his gang. Confederacy in crime has arrived to a great height in London, and I hesitate not to affirm that there are five hun- dred now in the metropolis, or on their journies of business in the country, who are what are termed master men in robbery, all of whom emanated from that very class, the archbishop supposes the punishment of transportation has the best effect in deterring from crime. The probability is, that had these men, under a better system, been moderately punished, and disassociated from the habitual offenders, that the society from which they originally came would have again received them, and made them, through industry, if not very useful, at least innocuous members of the community. With regard to transportation holding a bonus to the poor man, there are none in London (because they have all the means of informa- tion as to its nature) who do not hold it, as said before, in great dread. In the rural population many, without doubt, whose sufferings from poverty are almost unbearable, become reckless, and say to themselves, *' No change can be for the worse." None but the archbishop, who is residing in another IN THE TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. 241 planet, as it were, from those men he writes about, could be so egregiously mistaken as to suppose that any will voluntarily undergo expatriation and slavery, for liberty and home, under any circumstances. The archbishop is altogether under a delusion on this subject ; and it is a very fortunate circum- stance that his book was not published at sevenpence, instead of seven shillings : had the poor been enabled to read it, I fear he would have to answer for the crime of deluding many others besides himself. It seems that some arch convict wags have been playing off their jokes at the expense of his cre- dulity. Describing the satisfaction of some men when con- veyed on board the ship to be transported, he says, (page 72,) " One observed, in speaking of the ship, that ' Mr. Reedy's parlour was never half so clane ? while the burden of ano- ther was, ' Many a Mac in your town, if he only knew what the situation of a convict was, would not be long in following my example ! Thank God for the same ! I was never better off in my life P T It is hardly credible, that one whose busi- ness it is to teach other men, should be so weak himself as to take the bravadoes of two Irish rebels, for his premises to found a book upon. Why, I have heard men say, after re- ceiving a heavy punishment under the cat-o '-nine-tails, that " it was one of the pleasantist ticklings they ever had in their life times." 1 What will not some men say, and low Irishmen too ? Again " Sundry instances have come under our own observation, (and many of our readers, probably, could mul- tiply them to a great extent, if each would note down such as he hears of on good authority,) of convicts writing home to their friends in England in the same style of self-congra- tulation, and exhorting such of them as are in a distressed situation to use their best endeavours to obtain a passage to a land where such cheering prospects await them. Two in- stances we know, of a master and a mistress, who had each been robbed by a servant subsequently transported, receiving a friendly greeting ; in one of the instances personally, in the 242 IMPOLICY OF OVER SEVERITY other by a letter, accompanied by a present, with acknow- ledgments of former kindness, from these very servants, who had realized large property ; one of them in New Holland, the other in Van Dieman's Land. The latter seriously urged her mistress to come out and join her, and held out the certainty of making a fortune ! It is most consolatory, no doubt, to reflect how thrifty and well-conducted these indi- viduals must, in all likelihood, have become, and to observe their dutiful gratitude. But gold may be bought too dear. Is it worth while to hold out a temptation, which will be the means of spoiling one thousand servants, for the sake of try- ing how effectually we can reform half-a-dozen of them." This is worse than the Irish story ! What is so sweet as re- venge to a low mind? and what revenge is more grateful than rising and towering above those who tried to put you down ? In all cases wherein the prosecutor and prisoner are known to each other, from previous connexion, in any way, a bitter feeling subsists between them, and the principle of revenge is active on the part of the prosecuted party. The former says, ingratitude has been added to crime ; the latter is generally under disappointed feelings at being prosecuted, having presumed, and, in their own mind, drawn largely on supposed regard and leniency of disposition on the part of the prosecutor ; and I do not exaggerate, when I say I have seen myself fifty of such letters, which were concocted in London, even before the convicts were removed from Newgate to the hulks. Those who are deficient in dictating or writing a letter, will get others to make up a tale for them, ready to write home when they arrive at the colony, saying to them- selves, " He, or she, (meaning their prosecutor,) shall never know if I suffer ever so much, for I will annoy him or her by writing a letter, and saying I am better off than I ever was ; and, after a bit, I'll tell them I have made my fortune." But let us suppose some few do succeed in a long course of years ; how does that affect the question ? A master of IN THE TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. 24-3 black slaves may form an attachment to one on his estate, give freedom, and even bequeath his fortune, to him or her who has been fortunate enough to gain his esteem. But does this prove that slavery is no punishment to those who endure it ? Perhaps the female convict to whom the archbishop alludes married well in the colony, and made a good wife; if so, her husband did right to reward her, where good wives are so scarce. As to the male convict, who called on his prosecutor, this was evidently a piece of impudence and bombast, for which he ought to have been kicked from the door. The actual sufferings of transportation have ever been much misrepresented, and I regret to add, that the conduct of the authorities who are charged with the management of New- gate affairs, tends very much to keep up the delusion of the public on this head. It is very natural for the friends of those convicts who have means, and are respectably con- nected, to make every effort to inquire what will be the real condition of their unfortunate relatives, whilst undergoing the sentence, and to show every desire, if possible, to alleviate their punishment : having these feelings, they apply to the gentlemen at Newgate, where they are but too frequently in- formed that it will be all for the best, and that the culprits will be better off abroad than they were in this country, holding out many flattering hopes which never can be realized. These statements, I am aware, are put forth with no improper motives ; but to allay the anguish of mind in which parents and others are placed by the situation of dis- tress, in which those for whom they are interested are involved. I have frequently seen transports in a state of exstacy, after having had an interview with their friends, in the office at Newgate, saying they are to have a comfortable situation when they arrive at the colony, and that they are promised letters of recommendation from certain aldermen or sheriffs, &c. &c. Under these hopes, many go off to the ship cheerful, R 2 244 IMPOLICY OF OVER SEVERITY and apparently happy; but the old offenders, who are thoroughly acquainted with the nature of the punishment, say, on these occasions, " Ah ! let him enjoy himself whilst he may, he will find out his mistake soon enough." I have now before me a letter from a gentleman who has recently returned from New South Wales, where he has for many years been settled as a colonist ; it being a faithful description of the real treatment of convicts, I shall here transcribe it. " In considering transportation as an effective punishment, I shall premise, that by the term is meant such an one as will prevent a repetition of crime by those punished, and deter others from its commission. That, by transportation, the first is effected is incontrovertible, as from a thousand sent out, perhaps not one ever returns ; consequently, those trans- ported are more effectually prevented from renewing their depredations, &c., in this country. That it is a punishment, and a most severe one, and therefore calculated to deter from crime, all but such as nothing will deter, (i. e. those in a state of extreme misery and destitution,) I shall now proceed to show. There can be nothing more easy than to make known to all, the following brief but correct state of the case. A man under sentence of transportation, perhaps for a very trifling offence, is sent on board a convict ship with near two hundred others, comprising, among them, every gradation of crime, and all are heavily ironed ; they are strictly guarded, and, during the voyage, must perform their share in keeping the ship clean, cooking, &c. Whilst on board they are liable to be severely flogged, and otherwise punished for the slightest misconduct. On arrival they are indiscriminately assigned to masters, for whom they must work as directed, receiving nothing in return for their labour but a very mo- derate allowance of food and clothing. For the slightest neglect, disobedience, or incivility, they are liable to severe and summary punishment. Those under a sentence of seven years must serve four years with one master, or five with two, IN THE TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. 245 without offence or punishment, and then must obtain a good character, with strong recommendation from their masters and the magistrates of the district, before their applications for tickets of leave can be considered. If such applications are approved, a ticket of leave is granted, which is a permis- sion to work for themselves during the residue of their sen- tences, subject to certain conditions that are rigorously en- forced. Punishment, during their assignment, either pro- tracts the granting of a ticket of leave, or renders them alto- gether ineligible for such indulgence, or any other. Thus, a man for stealing a pocket handkerchief is sent on board a convict ship with near two hundred others, is heavily ironed, strictly guarded, made to work, and subject to severe punish- ment during the voyage. After being cooped up in the vessel for six months, he is sent on shore In his convicfs garb, and compelled to do any work that he is ordered to perform by the master to whom he is assigned, for the space of four or five years at least, without any remuneration, and subject, during the whole term of his sentence, to severe and summary punishment for even the most trifling offence. Previous to his embarkation, or landing, he is strictly searched, and is not permitted to retain any money ; should any be taken from him it is kept until the expiration of his sentence. The local regulations, as regards convicts, are extremely strict. It is a most egregious mistake to suppose that any distinction is made in the treatment of convicts, on account of what they have been, their sentence or crime; as I have often seen attorneys and the like working at the hoe, and remember see- ing a man, who had been a captain in the navy, a common convict constable, in a hut on the road side, about one hun- dred and twenty miles from Sydney ! After reading this statement, will any one contend that transportation is no punishment, or that it is difficult to make known the manner in which convicts are treated under it ? I should have men- tioned that those under a sentence of fourteen years are 246 IMPOLICY OF OVER SEVERITY not eligible for any indulgence until after they have served at least eight years. To contend that transportation is the cause of crime is sheer nonsense and absurdity." In ano- ther part of his letter he adds " I do not believe that one individual out of a hundred thousand commits an offence in order to get transported, who can obtain a com- fortable subsistence by labour here." And, again, " I have been frequently asked whether the convicts are not troublesome, dangerous, or a nuisance in the colonies ? And my reply has been, that so far from being either trouble- some or dangerous, they are infinitely better behaved, and more easily managed, than free labourers ; and that instead of being in any shape a nuisance, they are invaluable to the colonists. My own employment of considerable num- bers, in addition to my observance of them throughout the colonies, fully justifies this assertion. 1 " This is the evidence of autopsy, that which has been seen and heard a judgment founded on years of actual experience; not made up in the study by cudgelling the brains, or from vague reports, the putting forth of which may arise from causes ramified into ten thousand of falsehoods, and sometimes from facts which have been distorted by the stultiloquence of those through whose hands they pass. Mendacious inven- tions of foolish and wicked men are taken by many for the currency of sterling truths. In every word that a transport utters there is a latent motive which directs his tongue, (I speak of them generally ;) thieving does not characterise them more than lying and boasting, which among themselves they call bounce. All their notions are of a larcenous kind : if they cannot steal your property, they compensate themselves by the continual practice of deception in every thing they say or do, which being a species of fraud, keeps up the habits of cheatery so grateful to their tastes. The subdulous character of the generality of convicts renders every sentence they utter totally unworthy of credit, unless very strongly corroborated IN THE TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. 247 by collateral testimony. I am peculiarly desirous to impress this point on my readers, as much is in print on this subject ; and in forming their opinions as to the truth or falsehood of the various statements which they read, they must reject all that matter which emanates from professional rogues. About three years since, Mr. Wontner, the governor of Newgate, re- ceived a letter from a young man, a transport in New South Wales, which was inserted in most of the daily newspapers by order of the sheriffs. The letter commenced by thanking Mr. Wontner for the kindness shown him while in Newgate, and then went on giving a most melancholy picture of his then wretched state of existence. He said he was some hun- dreds of miles up the country, beyond Paramatta : that he was employed in tending sheep, slept in a mud hut on straw, and living on the most coarse food, and, above all, was forty miles from any place of religious instruction, which grieved him more than all his other troubles. Since the receipt and publication of this letter, I have seen a near relation of the writer of it, who informed rne that the convict was never so situated as described in his letter ; and that he (the relation) had about the same time himself received a letter explaining the motives which induced him to write the one addressed to the governor of Newgate ; viz. that on his arrival in the colony the great interest which had been previously exerted for him by his friends procured him some signal favours, which excited the jealousy of another young man, a fellow- convict, who went out with him, and who threatened to write home and inform the authorities of the shameful partiality shown. This alarmed the favoured man, who then wrote the letter in question, in the hope of counteracting any effect his rival's communication might produce on the minds of those to whom it should be addressed, and was sent as a coup fource, aimed at his adversary. This anecdote, of the truth of which I have no doubt, proves what reliance ought to be 248 IMPOLICY OF OVEE SEVERITY placed on accounts coming from convicts resident in the colonies. A large portion of the archbishop's work is devoted to the probable state of society, which will ultimately be brought about in the colonies under the present system of transporting felons from the mother country. His prognostics are very portentous, and even awful. The writer appears highly im- pressed with the evils arising from immorality, but says, at page 139, " We cannot admit that the reformation of the convict is an essential part of punishment ; it may be joined incidentally, but cannot necessarily belong, to a penal system." Hear this, ye Christians, from one whom ye pay to preach the gospel ! Our Saviour saith, (St. Luke, chap. xv. verse 7,) " I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance." Again, (ver. 10,) " Likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of G^d over one sinner that repenteth." Maugre the archbishop's anti-christian doctrine, however, the work of re- formation does go on rapidly in our penal colonies ; nor is there any other known system under which such grand results could possibly have been brought about in so short a space of time. Having, however, got the crotchet into his head that transportation of criminals is an evil, he very unfairly rakes up every argument which can be urged in opposition to the system, purposely avoiding all which may be said in favour of it. All circumstances considered, the moral state of the colony transcends the mother country. In 1828, the free settlers, and those born in the colony, were 14,390 : leaving 22,208 for the convicts, out of a population of 36,598 ; yet the colony goes on progressively improving both in habits of industry, and in morality, whilst society in Britain is daily retrograding, particularly in the latter. But with this writer, a state of morality or immorality are all one : whether he IN THE TBEATMENT OF CONVICTS. 249 treats of the Bush-ranger or the reformed and now industrious settler, both are denounced as working monstrous evils, and he illustrates what he has to say on the latter by the case of May, who was convicted as a principal in the murder of an Italian boy, killed for the sake of selling his body. At page 131 are these remarks : " Now, what a vast difference is there between this man's original and commuted sentence ! Instead of being ignominiously put to death, in two days after his trial, amidst the yells and execrations of a savage populace, he is detained for some weeks in the society of his friends at Newgate ; he then sets sail, in company with two hundred criminals, among whom there is every variety of vice, adapted to every taste ; whether finished and refined villany, coarse brutality, or wanton profligacy and recklessness, should be most agreeable to his disposition ; till, after some months passed in a state of total idleness, the ship lands its cargo at New South Wales. He will then probably, not being a mechanic, find himself assigned to a farfner in the interior, where the lightness of the labour, the abundance of food and clothing, the excellence of the lodging, and the fineness of the climate, will soon reconcile him to his change from the life of a resurrection-man ; and, out of mere prudence, he may perhaps avoid misconduct towards his employer, and the commission of fresh crime during the next eight years; at the end of which period he will re- ceive his ticket of leave, become his own master, and by in- dustry at one time, and at another perchance by less regular means, may contrive to keep the evening of his life in a state of tolerable comfort and physical enjoyment." Now, it is evident, from the manner in which this case is brought forward, that the clerical writer thinks this result a bad one, the price of which is, the convict's total or com- parative reformation. If we attend to reason, the mistress of all law, every sensible man will find occasion to rejoice at the termination of May's career, as imagined by the 250 IMPOLICY OF OVR SEVERITY writer, if we except the allusion, " perchance by less regu- lar means." Where is the man now in existence to whom nature has given a soul, who will not wish even Bishop and Williams, his companions, alive again, if he could be as- sured of their sincere repentance? Probably every body but Richard Whateley, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin, who thinks all sins would be best expiated on the scaffold, rather than in tears and anguish of soul. Every instance of a con- vict's success in the colony is greedily fastened on by our reverend author as a case to prove the inefficiency of trans- portation as a punishment. Now when it is considered that in every instance of a convict's making any money, that he must have served as a slave from five to eight years, hard worked, coarsely fed, and most wretchedly lodged ; (generally in mud huts at a great distance from their master's premises, no bed but the long dried grass which is spread on a kind of bench, which serves for a seat in the day, and a bedstead at night, with two coarse horse-rugs for a covering;) further, that when emancipated from this misery, having a ticket of leave, that patience and industry for a great length of time can only enable them to become settlers on a small plot of land ; after which, under skill, industry, and "great regularity of conduct, can they only hope for success. I say, when all these circumstances are considered, it will require all the sophistry, and rhetorical hyperbole of a whole bench of bishops and archbishops, to persuade mankind that no good purposes of reformation are accomplished under transporta- tion. Words, however, must be thrown away on one who can think and write as follows, (p. 136 :) " It will be ob- served, that even this person"" (alluding to a convict who had written a letter to Mr. Wontner from New South Wales) " entertained hopes of improvement, which should be altogether excluded from a good penal system." What a perversion of the term, to call that system good, which will leave man without hope ! IX THE TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. 25 L Without the smile from cheering hope be won, O ! what were man? A world without a sun ! But our Christian teacher says, punishment is not only not severe enough, but that there is not enough of it inflicted at home : calling, throughout the work, on the legislature to substitute great pain for little pain, By my soul's hope of rest, I'd rather have been born, ere man was blest With the pure dawn of revelation's light; Yes ! rather plunge me back in Pagan night, And take my chance with Socrates for bliss, Than be a Christian of a faith like this. It is curious enough to observe a man who blunders in every page of a book of two hundred and four, and who also con- tradicts himself in almost every alternate one endeavouring to put Mr. E. G. Wakefield's work on one side, by affecting to say that it was " written in bad spirit, 11 and " bad taste," &c. Many of the inferences in Mr. Wakefield's book are certainly very erroneously drawn, but as a work of national utility, it far exceeds " Thoughts on Secondary Punish- ments;" which is a work founded on chimeras, evidently written by a man possessing a hard heart and weak judgment, or he would not have ventured his name in print on a subject of which he knows comparatively nothing. His notions are randomly written down, unfounded on any data; and when any facts are cited, they are always distorted or misapplied. Thus, because Dr. O'Halloran was, after a long service, al- lowed to keep a school in New South Wales for the support of a large family, the archbishop takes occasion roundly to assert, p. 117, that all gentlemen convicts are allowed to live in a " state of comfort and enjoyment ; that is to say, they are employed as clerks in the government offices, or given as tutors in private families; their whole time, except when occupied with business, being at their own disposal." Now, it is well known to every person who has given his thoughts to this subject, that 252 IMPOLICY OF OVER SEVERITY whatever may, under the necessities arising out of a newly- founded colony, have been formerly done in the disposal of con- victs, that no partiality is now allowed ; it is, therefore, unfair to take up cases of twenty or thirty years occurrence, and not at the same time state the amended system. In a note, p. 118, is this very illiberal remark on the case of Dr. O'Halloran - " Thus these persons corrupt, not only the grown, but also the growing generations."" Dr. O'Halloran was transported for forging a frank on the present Judge Garrow, when he was attorney-general. The offence cannot be justified, but at the time it was committed many persons, well situated in life, were in the habit of doing the same thing, till it was at length determined on to make an example, and it fell on Dr. O'Halloran. From all I have heard, however, of the doctor, and his large family, the people in New South Wales are disposed to give them credit for having performed more good in the world, than all the archbishops which have ever been translated into the see of Dublin. It is admitted on all hands that they have, by their talents and industry, been a great boon to the colony, in the education of youth ; yet, as if enough had not already been suffered for the expiation of this offence, his innocent sons and daughters are again dragged (through the father) before the public, by this unfeeling and merciless head of the church. Having exhausted every ar- gument to prove that, which is in reality the greatest of all punishments (transportation) to be no punishment, the writer proceeds to incite the government to alarms for the safety of the colony, representing the inhabitants as demoralized to the last degree, and politically headstrong. Now, if there is one country more addicted to crime, and more obnoxious to the power set in authority over them, than another, that country is Ireland, in the capital town of which the archbishop holds his episcopal court. Why he should pass over this scene of murder and irreligion, where it is his peculiar duty to be active, and wander to New Holland, where the inhabitants IN THE TREATMENT OK CONVICTS. 253 are comparatively civilized and virtuous to the Irish, must be left for his own explanation. Without doubt, as soon as the colonists in New Holland feel themselves strong enough, they will follow the example of the North Americans ; but this must, in the very nature of things, be at a very advanced period of their history, and the tocsin of alarm need not yet be sounded for ages to come. In the meantime, let us go on to people a fine, but unoccupied soil, the accruing advantages to the mother country being, first, the converting a multitude of wretched outcasts into useful and productive labourers, and large consumers of British produce, employing British shipping, creating an extensive market for British goods. Secondly, by transportation the ends of reformation by pu- nishment is fully attained so much so, that not one in ten thou- sand have any desire to return ; nor do the inhabitants of the colony wish to part with them ; affording the best of all possi- ble proofs that those who were mischievous members of society here, are useful there. Thirdly, that it is the only plan ever yet invented by which the vicious can be disassociated. At home, whether they are in prison, or out of it, the work of corruption goes on ; in the colonies, they are spread over a large surface of country, and yet the ends of punishment at the same time are attained ; and a consideration, above all others to the true philanthropist is, that the innocent (their posterity) is provided for, and crime in another generation t e d : and fourthly, that all this can, under an amended system of economy, be accomplished at a cheaper rate than by keeping them at home. The Penitentiary at Milbank alone cost upwards of one million sterling in its erection, and now annually more than the colony of New South Wales, even where there is much mismanagement and extravagant expen- diture of the public money. In every page does the arch- bishop mistake facts. At p. 150, he says, " If all the cri- minals, annually convicted in England, were punished in the country, neither during their punishment nor after their liber- 254 IMPOLICY OF OVER SKVF.RITY ation, could they become an important class in the state. They would bear so small a proportion to the whole popula- tion, and would be spread over so wide a surface, that they could produce no sensible effect on the rest of the community. But when all the convicts of a large nation are collected into one place, and that place a new settlement, in an uninhabited country, in which the number of free settlers is inconsiderable, they assume a different aspect they herd together ; not only do they form a class, but the most numerous and powerful class in the society they support one another in vice by their mutual countenance and good offices; and at length, when a sufficient number of convicts have served their term, and been emancipated, they form a political party, having its own opi- nions and organs of communication with the public." Now, the very reverse of this is the fact ; in England all the criminals associate, they herd together in large towns, particularly the metropolis, where whole neighbourhoods are filled with them ; public-houses in abundance are entirely supported by them, as a proof of which it is only necessary to state, that Middlesex, which is less than one-tenth of the nation in population, has more than one-fourth of the national crime. But in New South Wales they are, from the very nature of their employment, (agricultural,) spread over a sur- face of land already occupied, to more than ten times the ex- tent of England ; and when they become emancipists, in that country, honesty is more profitable than dishonesty. As to the political opinions of the emancipists in their second gene- ration, which Major M 'Arthur says are not unworthy of notice : " Republican sentiments are in active operation. It is made a merit among the lower orders to treat their supe- riors with disrespect; and there appears already the germs of a wild democracy." The reply to this is, that these observa- tions will equally apply to the mother country, (particularly to Ireland,) or to France, as they do to New South Wales, or to any other colony. Such a paroxysm of alarm, however, IX THE~T11EATMKNT OF CONVICTS. 255 has the archbishop's imagination wrought in himself, that he seriously, in page 202, recommends that we shall bring all the convicts back to this country, in violation to the old adage, that " charity begins at]home." " If, then, the question be, what can be done for this colony ? begin, I should say, by breaking up the system ; begin by removing all the actual unemancipated convicts. I do not undertake to point out the best mode of disposing of these ; but let them be brought home, and disposed of in any way, rather than remain. There is no chance for the colony until this preliminary step be taken." The absurdity of this proposal can only be equalled, by further recommending that the soil and standing crops of the country should be shipped with them. I have felt a strong desire to go through this work, page by page, and ex- pose the unsteady and unstatesmanlike measures therein pro- pounded ; but as it would here occupy too much space, I am foMhe present constrained to part company with this writer. SECTION III. Delinquency increased unnecessarily by the number of petty enactments against crime. IF a large number of beings in this country are become reckless, not less so has been the legislature in carelessly in- creasing the enactments against crime, or the magistracy in giving them force. Our returns of delinquency have of late years been augmented twenty-five per cent, by injudicious legislation, by petty enactments against petty crimes. The demon of law-making has ridden triumphant over those, whose friend the world is not, nor the world's law. The legislandi cacoethes has multiplied crime in this country as 256 DELINQUENCY INCREASED BY THE much as any one other cause. In a report recently published by " The Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline," page 33, is this very just remark ; " Much, however, of the apparent increase in the number of prisoners, arises from other causes than those connected with the advance of crime. Offences which were formerly passed over are now made the occasion of frequent commitment to gaol. The malicious trespass, and petty assault acts, the law for paying prosecutors their expenses in cases of misdemeanor, and the numerous local acts for large towns, have tended to fill the prisons, without a positive increase of serious offences." It is a serious affair to send a member of the state to prison for the first time on slight causes. Our rulers will not believe it, for the demon of obstinacy also possesses them ; but I repeat, that punishment has the most efficacious restraining power over those who never endured it. Familiarize a man to dancers o and pain, and you lessen its horror ; it is a dangerous experi- ment to send a man once to prison if it can be possibly avoided. In every case of wanton and unnecessary committal the law may be said to make for itself a victim, and if all such cases were collected and published the world would not be a little astonished. I remember the case of a little master shoe- maker, who was committed, and suffered six weeks' imprison- ment in Newgate for stealing a heel-tip, value one penny. He purchased at a shop the articles used in his trade, (a grinder's,) and on one occasion was found to have in his basket a heel- tip more than he had ordered, or paid for ; on this charge a magistrate was silly enough to commit him; the grand jurv, however, ignored the bill. The man lost his character and his little trade, and the probability is, that with it he lost his principle, and subsequently became criminal. The evils of prison contamination, and careless commitments, cannot be better illustrated than in the case of two females, the truth of which can be established beyond a doubt. Two young girls, who were brought up in the workhouse at Dorking, Surrey, NUMBER OF ENACTMENTS AGAIXST CRIME. 257 were for a long time pressed by the master of the establish- ment to join a party of abandoned females in a house of ill- fame in Shire Lane, Fleet Street. This horrible wretch, it seems, made a profit of supplying the house with girls. On this occasion the girls resisted all his flattering offers, until at length he rendered their lives perfectly miserable, and they ran away from the workhouse, and sought shelter under the roof of an old woman, a cottager, a few miles from the town, to whom they told their tale. The following morning they were apprehended, and charged with having stolen the clothes which they wore, being the property of the parish. For this offence they were committed for a time to prison ; the master of the workhouse, however, being a competent judge of prison influence on the morals, did not abandon his victims, but on the morning of their liberation placed himself outside the prison from whence they were to be liberated, and succeeded without much difficulty in his object, both the girls in ques- tion being a few weeks afterwards regularly on the pave. The committal of boys, to associate with adult criminals previous to trial, is another fruitful source of the increase of crime. When committals are absolutely unavoidable, a place of separation should be provided, and those but partially in- volved in crime sequestered from the old offenders, and a competent and responsible person placed in authority over them, who should be required to make reports regarding their characters, Sec. Innumerable cases occur, in which many might, in the early stages of derilection from honesty, be re- covered to society, and further mischief prevented. Under the present system, crime is progressively increasing, as the under table will show. Slender hopes, however, can be en- tertained of any diminution, until the real causes of the in- crease be duly appreciated by the legislature. 258 DELINQUENCY INCREASED BY THE In 1829 the number of criminals committed in England and Wales was . . In 1823 the number were only Increase in England and Wales In 1830 the number of commitments in London and Middlesex was . ' f . In 1817 the number were . ; r * . Being an increase of 26 per cent. ,. 18,675 12,263 6,412 3,390 2,686 704 Showing that what I have so often repeated is the truth, viz. that there is a regular body of standing delinquents in London, which every year are adding a small increase to their numbers, and that the fluctuations of trade, and other na- tional circumstances, do not affect this body, as is the case in manufacturing districts. Now, observe the increase in twelve counties. Counties. In 1815. In 1817. In 1823. In 1829 Lancaster - - . -' 959 1,946 1,632 2,226 York - - - - 355 748 624 1,291 Warwick - - - 277 624 437 705 Gloucester (includ- ing Bristol) - - 285 608 406 620 Somerset - - - 221 439 380 674 Chester - - w '"'-+, 160 285 249 542 Stafford - - - 154 425 214 613 Nottingham - - 121 191 196 358 Derby - - - - 57 165 86 175 Wilts - - - - 108 229 263 346 Worcester - - - 130 239 173 282 Durham - - - 49 87 71 139 2876 5,986 4,731 7,971 NUMBER OF ENACTMENTS AGAINST CRIME. 259 Thus we see, that from the transition from war to peace, and the consequent want of employment, from the cessation of trade, and the disbandment of a part of the army and navy, that in 1817, crime increased to an alarming degree, the whole committals in that year, in England and Wales, being ...... 13,932 In 1815, the number were only . . . 7,818 Being an increase of about 80 per cent. . 6,114 But when trade in a measure revived, in 1823, the number of committals in the twelve counties above given was diminished by upwards of 1 200. In 1829, however, after a period of several years of bad trade, the committals increased in these counties 3,240, the difference between 1823 and 1829. Now, through a period of thirteen years, viz. from 1817 to 1830, the com- mitments in London and Middlesex increased only 704, proving beyond all controversy the existence of a fixed body of criminals, whose increase from natural causes keeps pace with the removals by the law, i. e. death or transportation. To compete with this body, the legislature have, from time to time, augmented the number of our penal statutes, and in. creased their severity, by which casual offenders have been more hardly dealt with than their crimes merited, and the habits of the lower classes much brutalized and soured by unnecessary and unjust severity. In a pamphlet recently published by the committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, page 33, are these remarks : " Much, however, of the apparent in- crease in the number of prisoners arises from other causes than those connected with the advance of crime. Offences which were formerly passed over are now made the occasion of frequent commitment to gaol. The malicious trespass and petty assault acts, the law for paying prosecutors their ex- penses in cases of misdemeanor, and the numerous local acts s 2 230 DELINQUENCY INCREASED HY THE for large towns, have tended to fill the prisons, without a positive increase of crime of serious offences." Many legal statutes are constructed with no other view than to protect the rich from punishment, against the poor. In the assault act the magistrate is empowered to give summary decisions : a poor wretch is sentenced to pay a fine, when he has not a penny in the world beyond the proceeds of his daily labour ; he is then sent for two months to prison, whilst his unhappy and miserable wife and children must steal, or starve on parish fare. This act has made as many offenders in one year, by contaminating men in prison society, and rendering desperate their families, as the other laws can suppress in the same time. This result, it is true, does not take place in the self-same year, because it requires time, after one family com- mences the practice of delinquency, before they become in- corporated in the regular body of criminals ; the members of each family, however, not only multiply, but each one, after having himself embarked in crime, seduces others. Now, for the very same offence, the like fine is inflicted on a man possessed of a splendid income. A sum of forty shillings or of five pounds (the highest penalty) is no object to him he of course pays it at once ; and to make the absurdity the greater, the money is not given to the party injured, but to the king. Thus is this act made to operate as an immunity for the monied ruffian, who of course is highly gratified in having the privilege to beat any of his majesty's liege sub- jects on payment of a small mulct. Under this execrable law, which originated with that superlative legislator, Mr. (now Sir Robert) Peel, a magistrate can actually prevent a complainant from obtaining redress either by action or in- dictment ; since, on his granting a certificate to the offender that he has been fined, to how small an amount it matters not, no action can be brought, no indictment can be preferred against him. When one law is made for the rich and another for the poor, justice is violated at the fountain-head, from NUMBER OF ENACTMENTS AGAIXST CUIMK. 261 whence it ought to flow pure and uncomipted ; fatal arc tlie consequences to society ; disgust supersedes respect, from the peasant through all classes not included among the aris- tocracy of the country. Many local acts are of a more atrocious nature, and consequently manufacture criminals more rapidly. It should be the great aim of all governments to diminish the causes by which persons may be committed into " safe custody :" in proportion as the legislature in- creases enactments against petty and venial offences, so will the numbers ever be found to be augmented who commit more weighty crime. No axiom in Euclid can be more clear and demonstrable than this legislative fact, and which ap- pears to have been entirely overlooked by our law-makers. In petty cases, it is not prison contamination which does the mischief, as generally so understood. It is sheer nonsense to talk of contamination, when speaking of the habitual delin- quent; he is already corrupted to the core, and his very "heart of hearts" is dyed with crime; he cannot become worse but by habit, and never will be better till placed in another state of society, where opposite habits and manifest interest must co-operate to bring about a change, if not in his nature, in his practical conduct. But when a petty of- fender is committed to prison for one or more months, under some ill-advised local act, or for trial, it is the feeling that he is now disgraced, and that if he comes there again, he whispers to himself it shall at least be for something more worthy of punishment. In this state of mind he perhaps re- mains for several months in total idleness, which generates a permanent indisposition to further labour, although he may, up to the time of his entering prison, have been a very in- dustrious man. If his sentence be hard labour, and the offence petty, the mind takes a turn of exasperation, under which feeling he resolves on a course of desperation. If humanity rejects the consideration of the feelings of men who commit some petty offences, policy peremptorily bids us to 262 DELINQUENCY INCREASED BY THE study them ; both, however, unite in demanding an attention, in making laws in accordance to the nature of man. The following case may in some measure explain my meaning, and show the effect of severity and leniency. A clever, but noto- rious young thief, was taken to Oxford races by a gang, where, under some charge of crime, he was committed for two months to prison by the ma^or; here he associated with a poor countryman, who had been committed under some very hard circumstances, which so affected him, that he never ceased complaint, not even in his sleep. It happened that the man and the boy were discharged the same day from prison ; the boy being pennyless, and wishing to get to London, knew he must immediately sneak for money ; he therefore gave the man such a flattering account of his talents, that he induced him to accompany him (the boy) on adventure to London, with a full intention to commence in regular prac- tice. On the road they both were taken up for an offence committed at Reading on the property of a Quaker, who again recovered it, but instead of prosecuting the thieves, went and told them he should not appear before the magis- trate when they should be brought up ; he further heard the countryman's story, gave him good advice and some money, which so operated on the mind of the man, that he left the boy, went home to his own village, pursued an honest course, subsequently married, and remains there to this day, having established the character of a hard-working, honest man. I have never seen an instance of a poor man who has been locked up in prison for any length of time, and remained there in idleness, who was not so indisposed to return to labour, as to amount to an abhorrence of it. How this vis inertia is produced it is difficult to explain, unless it be want of air, and spare food ; few, however, re- cover a disposition to labour after these causes are removed. All considerations on crime may therefore be waived until we have accomplished two objects, the condensation of which NUMBER OF ENACTMENTS AGAINST CRIME. 263 may be laid before the legislature in two propositions, viz. first, to lessen the number of committals for petty crimes ; and secondly, to effect a more speedy gaol delivery. The first can only be brought about by repealing all the petty and vexatious laws against the poor man, both general and local ; and to grant to the magistracy an extension of the power of taking bail, which might be done without any injury to the public. Ancient jurisprudence recognized the principle of taking bail in all charges of crime, not excepting even that of murder, on the presumption of all men being innocent until convicted by a jury of their country ; by admitting more liberally to bail in cases where the party turns out to be in- nocent, personal injury is avoided, whilst the public interest is but slightly risked ; besides, many crimes are punished with confinement before trial much longer than the judge would, if tried on the first day after committal, have sen- tenced the prisoner for ; sometimes it does happen that the presiding judge takes the previous confinement into his con- sideration, but this is not a uniform rule ; and it must be re- membered that the judges, in passing sentences, cannot alto- gether forego punishment, although the imprisonment before trial exceeds what they would have given in full, for fear it should go abroad that the offence was not deemed heavy enough by the bench for any punishment, and thus hold out inducements for others to offend. The necessity of a more speedy gaol delivery has at length occurred to the Middlesex bench of magistrates, Sir George Hamson having recom- mended, at a recent meeting, that an application should be made to the secretary for the home department to forward this object. An immense number of committals throughout the country are made under the vagrant act, 5 George IV., by which the magistrates are empowered to commit " idle and disorderly" persons to prison, and on their discharge to grant passes to forward them to their respective parishes. Now it would be much better if the magistrates were authorized to 264 RANCOROUS FEELING pass in the first instances, without any committal to prison ; at least, that they should have the discretion of an election of the two evils. A consolidation, however, of the poor laws would obviate the necessity of moving them at all, and be a saving to the country of an appalling sum of money, which is now expending in litigating the rights of settlement. There cannot be a greater blot upon the government of any nation than allowing such a waste of money. And in very many cases, acts of cruelty are perpetrated under the sanction of law, which authorises overseers to drag dying persons about the country until they expire on the road. The ab- surdity of such a system cannot be better shown, than by stating the fact, that in many populous parishes, after the ex- penditure of astounding sums of money annually, in litigation on both sides, the exchange of paupers is nearly equal, leaving both parishes just where they were, supposing no dis- putes to have arisen, excepting only the loss and profligate waste of the parishioners' property. SECTION IV. Rancorous feeling of the Poor. The punishment of Embezzle- ment ; and the necessity for the institution of Courts of Sum- mary Punishment. IT is unquestionable, that much crime emanates from the hatred with which the poor are filled for the rich, and the detestation in which the laws and institutions of the country are generally held by the majority of the population. The wealthy have an idea that their slavery is sought by the people, and they (the wealthy) in their turn seek every op- OF THE POOR, &C. 265 portunity to coerce the poor ; the question is, who shall make the first concession shall the poor patiently starve to gratify those whom they contemplate as the cause of their poverty, or will the rich cease to aggrandise to themselves more privi- leges ? Nous verrons ! In the interim let every man indivi- dually do his duty, and fearlessly state facts as he finds them, in full assurance that a time will arrive, when justice and truth must prevail. Good sense is predominant in this country, but all is sacrificed to party. The act of parliament which made embezzlement punishable with fourteen years 1 transportation was only passed when a member of the aristo- cracy suffered by the offence.* Embezzlement, or breach of confidence, is certainly a heavy crime, and deserves condign punishment ; but under this act the judges at the Old Bailey have perpetrated horrible deeds of cruelty. The act was in- tended to protect the property of masters from the depreda- tions of their servants, but how does it do this ? By inflict- ing the same punishments on the well-paid clerk and confident of a banking-house, who robs the firm of 100,000^., as it does on the poor man who embezzles the price of a pot of porter. In all cases of embezzlement the offenders must be viewed as differing from the abandoned felon ; and were it not that the protection of property demands some signal punishment should be inflicted on those who betray the trust reposed in them, imprisonment for a short period, with seclusion from all society, would be the best course for the law to adopt in these crimes. But it exclaims, We must sacrifice for example's sake ! This necessity I deny, in this particular crime. Pro- bably not one offender in a thousand, who embezzles his employer's property reflects for a moment on the result, or makes inquiry to ascertain whether the consequences of detec- tion will be restitution or loss of life. In most cases the crime incipiently presents itself as no crime, each saying to himself, * Sir Thomas Plomer lost 20,000/. by his broker, or agent, on which the act of parliament bearing his name was passed. 266 RANCOROUS FEELING I will borrow this sum, only for a short time, without my master's knowledge. Having done this once, the possession of money increases his extravagance, and confuses his mind, which soon leads to further need of supply ; the offence is re- peated a second or third time, till all hopes of repaying the amount are lost : they then become desperate, by a reflection that in a few careless days, or weeks, they have lost their po- sition in society, and irrecoverably disgraced themselves ; legal punishment even now is the last consideration, only being dreaded as it ultimately exposes their true situation of guilt, and leads, after all, to the real punishment, namely, loss, of the good opinion of those whom they most valued the reproachful eye of a parent, and perhaps the loss of the heart of one sincerely loved. In cases of embezzlement the dread of losing these blessings are the restraining terrors, and when committed, the loss of these are the expiations of the offence. " To place and power all public spirit tends, In place and power all public spirit ends ; Like hardy plants that love the air and sky, When out 'twill thrive, but taken in 'twill die !" It is all a war of station and power ; virtue is nowhere re- spected for its own intrinsic worth, neither is justice to all men now considered an essential in law-making. I, however, find no fault with the punishment of fourteen years" trans- portation in very flagrant cases, when robbery of a friend is but too frequently blended with gross ingratitude ; but I would have such offenders very carefully kept from the common herd of prisoners, until they arrived at their destina- tion in the colonies, when they may be allowed, under their sentence, to take their chance with other convicts, in being placed out for employment. Granting, then, that heavy sen- tences are called for in cases of embezzlement, I ask, why should our criminal tables be swelled, and the country be OF THE POOR, &C. 267 put to expenses, to convey men to the opposite side of the globe, leaving their families for the public to support, for a sixpence or a shilling crimes which occur often in a fit of intoxication, and often intentionally when sober, (and some- times otherwise,) in the acts of carters and porters ? The monstrosity of this law is so glaring, that it could not for a day be tolerated in any other country. If I have on former occasions been puzzled to select the most appropriate cases for insertion out of a number, the difficulty is here increased a hundred-fold. Under this act the injury inflicted on indi- viduals, and through them on the country, are tremendously awful. I have, in my own experience, known fifty men transported for fourteen years, on charges so trifling and ridiculous in themselves, as to excite, in all persons acquainted with the cases, ineffable contempt, both for the law and the judges who enforced it. Conceive a man of sixty years of age, having all his life borne a good character, sentenced to fourteen years' transportation for embezzling a shilling, in rendering an ac- count of several pounds to his employer; and such cases occur every session at the Old Bailey. To say nothing of the injustice of this practice, look at the extreme folly of it! the expense to the country the reducing in many instances large families to poverty and crime, thereby injuring the community instead of benefiting it. Many are deemed guilty too, under this law, wherein the animus was any thing but criminal ; not a few have suffered for appropriating to them- selves emoluments which they deemed perquisites, their pre- decessors having done so with impunity before them. One family was ruined under the following circumstances. A cheesemonger who became a bankrupt, having a large chandlery connexion round London, to support his family engaged himself to a wholesale house to sell goods for them to his former customers, agreeing for a per centage on what trade he brought to the house. After being with the parties UANCOKOUS FEELING for some months, a dispute arose as to the allowance of per centage, whether it was general on all goods sold, or only partially so. The man was very irritable, and, under an im- pression of a real or supposed attempt to impose on him, he flew into a rage, and left the house, saying, before all the shopmen, aloud, " Mind, I am possessed of twenty-four shillings, received this morning from Mr. , but until I am paid my fair demand I will not give it up." He was subsequently tried for embezzling this sum, there being no attempt to impute any other charge against him, and sen- tenced to fourteen years' transportation, no part of which was ever remitted in this country, or in the colony, that I have heard of. Reverting generally to the number of petty offences, which are visited with heavy sentences by the judges at the Old Bailey, as well as under the embezzlement act, and, considering again the importance and magnitude of the question, how are we, without injury to society, to diminish the number of committals in Middlesex ? Summary punish- ment appears to be the only remedy. I will, therefore, sug- gest that four courts be established ; one near St. Pancras church, in the New Road ; another near Charing Cross ; one in the city ; and a fourth in Ratcliff Highway ; to which a fifth may be added for the Borough. At these courts three magistrates, or one summary judge, should preside six hours every day, and decide at once on all cases sent for their adju- dication. The next question is, what kind of offences shall be deemed fit for the cognizance of these courts: this of course must be settled by the legislature, who should pass an act of parliament, defining the offence and amount of pro- perty stolen or embezzled, &c. &c., under each species of crime. It will require the agency of great experience and consummate knowledge on the question of crime, combined with profound consideration, to lay before the government a well-digested scheme of jurisprudence for these courts to act on. OF THE POOR, &C. 269 Whatever may be the offences assigned for the adjudica- tion of these courts, they should be published in one book, entitled " The Petty Criminal Code of Laws," at the lowest possible price, that they might be universally read. Pream- bles should be avoided, and the laws should be written in a plain and simple style ; the expressions should all be direct to the purpose. Montesquieu says " Princes are made to speak like rhetoricians. When the style of the laws is turbid they are looked upon only as a work of parade and ostenta- tion." It is an essential article that the words of the laws should excite in every body the same ideas; simplicity of lan- guage only can do this. Were I to attempt to suggest what crimes ought to be included in this code, it would require a particular work to itself. I may, however, remark, that the measure would in no way interfere with or disturb the pre- sent police arrangement, as it would be the duty of police officers to convey all persons charged with offences, as here- tofore, before a magistrate, who, on hearing the charge, would, under the act, determine whether the case ought to be sent to a major or minor court ; and if an offence for the latter, order the prisoner to be removed to the sitting court for a trial. The witnesses would, of course, at once attend, and an immense waste of time be spared them : no bill of indict- ment would be required, no grand jury to determine on ex parte evidence, whether the prisoner should be put on his trial or discharged ; under this summary and improved mode of punishing petty offences, one half the county rates might be reduced. Although it would be necessary to limit the amount of theft to a money price, for the cognizance of this court, still certain crimes must form exceptions regardless of amount. Such as all crimes committed on the person, house- breaking, forgeries, and swindling, &c. &c. &c. The number of boys committed to prison in and about London for trial, who are not in the habit of crime, exceeds belief: in cases where only a sixpence has been purloined, all the forms and 270 RANCOROUS FEELING expenses of the laws must be gone through, the same as in a case of life and death ; besides, by prison pollution, making those wholly bad who were before only partially so. The following case will show one species of offenders to which a summary punishment would be applicable. A shopkeeper's boy put his hand into his master's till and took out one shilling; the master, from the counting house, saw the action, but did not know what was taken out ; he, therefore, imme- diately took him into the counting-house and searched, but could find nothing upon him. There were a brace of loaded pistols hanging up in the counting-house, and the shop- keeper, in his rage at being outwitted by the boy, threatened to '* blow out his brains," unless he confessed what he had done with the money, on which the boy brought the shilling from his mouth : for this offence he was committed to New- gate, where he was six weeks, at the end of which time he was thoroughly initiated into all the arts and mysteries of crime. As there was no evidence to convict him but his own confession, which was extorted under a threat of instant death, this fact, through counsel, was made known to the court, and he was acquitted ; since which he has committed some crime of a more public nature, and is now transported. The prosecutor says he never had a better boy, with the ex- ception of that act, (the stealing a shilling,) and now re- proaches himself with having so intemperately prosecuted the boy, and thereby making him what he otherwise never would have been, viz. a public thief. Had there been a summary court open this serious mischief could not have occurred. The boy would, in all probability, have had a punishment awarded him commensurate with the offence, and the master, when cool, would have been induced to give him another trial. This case is not cited as being remarkable, but to show suc- cinctly the character of offences (and of which there are hun- dreds every week occurring) to which a summary court would be applicable. More need not be said to those who are en- OF THE POOR, &C. 271 gaged in punishing crime. To the observation of Montes- quieu, " There are criminals, whom the magistrate punishes, there are others whom he reclaims," may be added, There are some who are not previously, of whom the magistrate makes criminals. The following table is an average of three years expense of prosecutions in the metropolis: Felonies. Capitals. Average expense of pro- secution for each person. Old Bailey ,in 1829 1,726 . 226 . 4 10 Clerkenwell . 139 . . 250 Old Bailey.in 1830 1,777 .231 . 3 10 Clerkenwell 194 . 200 Old Bailey, in 1831 1,846 .250 . 3 15 Clerkenwell 155 . 2 10 Average at the Old Bailey . . . 3 18 4 Ditto at Clerkenwell . . 224 Total cost at the Old Bailey . 21.903 2 4 Ditto at Clerkenwell . 1,199 1 8 By the institution of summary courts these expenses would be considerably reduced, besides many other advantages which might be named. The proposition, however, may be said to be an apagogical one ; no one will pronounce it to be absurd if its full utility be not directly shown : some good effects are certain to accrue from the adoption of the plan, namely, speedy justice in petty cases, which form a large portion of our criminal calenders. A great diminution of expense in prosecutions, and the support of prisoners, retained in places of confine- ment before trial, and. moreover, the subduction of much prison contamination, which may, indeed, be altogether ob- viated, under the proposed system of prison discipline, re- commended by the committee on secondary punishments. 272 ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM The plan proposed, advises that when criminals are in prison for punishment, that they should sleep in separate cells ; also, work and eat their meals in silence : consequently, those petty offenders who shall be sent directly from the courts to punishment, would escape vitiation from criminal companion- ship ; and none but those charged with offences of great dye would have an opportunity of association whilst awaiting their trials. These are no small points gained, if we are to believe that prison contamination is as fatal as represented. For my own part, I devoutly wish the experiment to be allowed a trial, feeling assured that the country would have reason to be grateful to the legislature for the measure. SECTION V. On the American System of Solitary Confinement. THE parliamentary committee on secondary punishments have recommended some very important alterations, and it is to be lamented that this branch of the subject has not yet attracted their notice. The prison discipline in America appears to have engaged much of their attention, and they recommend the adoption of a similar plan of solitary confinement here. I am decidedly impressed with an opinion, that partial soli- tary confinement will, in this country, not only do much to- wards deterring men from crime, but something towards re- formation, which I believe has never yet, in the smallest degree, been accomplished. The convicts on going to rest ever talk of their pardons soon coming down, and fall to sleep offering each other bets regarding which of them will first obtain his liberty. OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. 273 As punishment became more mild, clemency and pardons became less necessary. Clemency is a virtue that ought to shine in the code, and not in the private judgment. The prince, in pardoning, gives up the public security in favour of an individual, and by the exercise of this species of bene- volence proclaims a public act of impunity. Let the exe- cutors of the laws be inexorable ; but let the legislature be tender, indulgent, and humane. Beccaria, cap. 46. It is very extraordinary that it should never have occurred to government to make pardons and commutations available to the public, whilst the practice of granting them continues. They should exact from all to whom these favours are granted, a discovery of all their accomplices, and the robberies or other crimes they may have committed. In the case of a convict, who is under sentence of death, this should always be made a condition of sparing his life, by which others would be deterred from crime, a measure which probably would effect this object more surely than any hitherto suggested. If this precaution were used, in a very short time all public offenders would be known to the police, and be under proscription, and those at large who were not actually pointed out, being made ac- quainted with the practice, would become so much alarmed as to dread detection every hour of their existence. Proper officers should be appointed to take down in writing the statements made by convicts, and a good system of arrange- ment for the particulars in books instituted. In almost every case after a man's conviction, his former companions fail to render that pecuniary assistance which the convict expected, and to which he thinks himself entitled. This disappointment generates a spirit of revenge ; and, under feelings of resentment, many are at times very much dis- posed to make disclosures of importance relative to their companions, and the crimes they are in the habit of com- mitting; but there is no one at hand when they are in this temper, to take advantage of their disposition, but the keeper, 274 ON THK AMERICAN SYSTEM who, for many reasons, is an improper person to perform this duty. Through the medium of criminal boys, after convic- tion, much crime might be prevented, under a properly con- structed establishment. This is a hint, I can with confidence assure the authorities, which is worthy attention. It appears from the testimony of Captain Basil Hall, R.N., that perfect as he describes the American prison discipline to be, yet " there is a gradually increasing culprit population growing up in America, of which the legislation cannot rid the country. These men, who may almost be called the pe- nitentiary population, run the round just as I have observed with respect to the bridewell at Edinburgh ; the same men come and go, round and round again." Well, then, nothing is accomplished in the way of reform, even under this lauded plan, which aims at the twofold object of efficient punishment and reformation, by enforcing reflection. Their error, and consequent failure in producing the good they expected, I conceive arises from their having neglected to adopt any plan for the improvement of the prisoners when they have sepa- rated them. They work, it seems, every day for years in silence, without intermission, except the time allowed for meals, which are always taken in solitude. The Bible is the only book allowed them no paper nor pens; and this is called giving them habits of industry. I should say nothing can be more calculated to disgust them with every description of work all the rest of their days. If you can beget habits of industry, with a proportionate improvement of the mind, and an increased sense of the moral duties, which will bring right notions of meum and tuum^ then habits of industry are of the utmost importance to the prisoner; as through these habits only can he obtain his bread, when brought to that state of mind which makes him prefer honesty to roguery. This can only be brought about by reflection, it is true ; but I am afraid the term reflection, as here applied, is used in a very abstract sense. If it be meant the culprit should reflect OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. 275 on his having done wrong, I answer, this he always does, under any punishment, however slight : he cannot but be aware of the cause which places him under coercion, and re- gret it. This kind of reflection only makes him more sorry for having been detected in his crime, than for having com- mitted it. To reflect with advantage in solitude, there must be some materials stored in the mind ; or books must be read to furnish these materials : if these be supplied, however un- willing a being may be to reflect, no mind will be long able to resist the temptation of mental employment, if in continual solitude. But if a mind, totally void of sources of reflection, be shut up in a cell for years, or even for months, what can be expected but that every day will stultify its powers, and at last render it callous and unimpressible ; or in the end imbe- cile, and so weak as to be irresponsible for its own acts ? The Americans do, it seems, in their solitary penitentiaries, teach those under twenty-five years of age to read who cannot ; and there they leave them. This is a most important subject, and in order to aid in calling the attention of government more particularly to it, when the report of the select com- mittee shall come before the house, I make these observations. It appears, from an intimation given in the House of Commons, through the secretary of state's office, that some person or persons are now in America, authorised by our government to examine into their system of prison discipline, and report thereon ; I cannot, therefore, refrain from offering a few remarks on the probable effects of solitary confinement, in which lies, it seems, the gravamina of their newly-invented system. On this question (solitary confinement) I shall, by by way of proem, say that much good may be extracted from its adoption in this country, and also much ill. It is an active medicine, and requires great skill in its use. The object in all punishment ought to be (the individual only considered) the moral improvement of the mind ; this is never attained by the indiscriminate association of criminals : if an improving T 2 276 OX THE AMERICAN' SYSTEM thought flits across the mind of one, the remembrance of it is obliterated by the jeering of a companion ; and the whole body of criminals having an indisposition for reflection, society, under any circumstances, is to them a happ) succedaneum for it ; they cannot, therefore, be too soon deprived of this resource. But in doing this, let us reflect on what is their present state of mind, and on the probable consequences of a total seclusion from all, save their own thoughts. And here let me premise that the mind requires softening and ame- liorating, not hardening. Partial solitary confinement, under judicious management, may accomplish this desideratum, more particularly during the night ; but let not the criminal be led to consider it so much a matter of punishment, but let him feel that the necessity of his own improvement requires it. Further, we must consider that he is unpossessed of any materials for thinking; these must, therefore, be fu mi shed him in books, each, according to his capacity, for reading at leisure hours, which should be allowed him for the purpose. The books best suited to this purpose will be those of an in- structive nature, and which are not wholly divested of some kind of interest or amusement. Hitherto the Bible and Prayer Book have been the only works allowed to be read in penitentiaries, and these are generally supplied by the county. I am aware there is a great prejudice in favour of an adhe- rence to this rule, under any amended system of prison dis- cipline ; and that the man who opposes the exclusive use of these books will be, by our pseudo-Christians and saints of the day, virulently attacked as an enemy to all religion. It can, however, be no heresy to say, that there is no magic in these books ; nor will it, I presume, be denied that, to a man untaught in all but mere reading, (the state in which all men are found brought up in the national schools,) the Bible will be a mystery, and incomprehensible to him. There is no work extant which requires so much assistance to read with advantage, when first put into the hands of an ignorant person; OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. 277 but, say the advocates on the other side, there is the grace of God " which giveth all understanding." But I fear that fanaticism and delusion of mind are but too frequently taken for the grace of the Almighty God ; true religion is the re- sult of mental reflection, and can only operate on the heart through the medium of the judgment ; let it therefore be our first concern to temper that judgment, that the impression, when it is made, may assume a permanency of character, and not again be easily effaced. A reformation through these means will be real and acceptable in the sight of God, all others evanescent and passing away. With respect to the Prayer Book, its only use to a sinful man in solitude can be to assist him in offering up prayers to God for his forgiveness ; but prayers are only acceptable to the Deity when they come from the heart, and when he who offers them is truly penitent, and then any words will answer the purpose, if it be only, " God be merciful to me a miserable sinner." The Prayer Book then can answer no purposes in promoting mental reflec- tion ; and if it be put into the cell as an amusement, any book, having words promiscuously arranged in it, would answer the purpose for the prisoner to fix his eyes upon. I would fain have passed over a subject so very delicate in its nature, that few can make any observations thereon, without drawing upon himself a host of assailants. But the subject is one of importance ; we are about to inflict a chronic punishment, let us at the same time be careful that we do not inflict a chronic disease a paralysed cerebellum a petrified heart an incurable rigidity of the nervous system ; a state in which the culprit may be brought to say, " The past is nothing, and at last, The future can but be the past." Now, if we shut up a man in solitude by night, and compel him to remain silent all day, we should compensate him by giving him something to think about, for I suppose the work 278 ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM he will have to perform can only be that of a mere manual kind; as regards the mind, therefore, the day will be as bad as the night. If the mind be not supplied with food, and the man undergo any very protracted solitary imprisonment, he will become a mere animal, being divested of his rationality, and this, be it remembered, is your substitute for death " relaxing the laws" " secondary punishment," &c. &c. Should the effect I have anticipated be the consequence of solitary confinement, where shall we look for primary punish- ments ? Let us suppose that books of a various nature are, without comment, placed in a culprit's cell, (of course selected with due care,) will not his solitude constrain him to read, and will not the silence imposed on him during the day compel him to reflect ; and what subject so likely to engage the mind as that last read by him ? There will, of course, be appointed a clergyman, or some other person, to perform his duty ; and it should be their business to make hebdomadal visits to each convict, and make themselves acquainted with the state of mind in which each man entered on this probation of punishment. If, on the second or third visit, the man in any way alluded to the comfort allowed him in having books, it should immediately become the object of the visitant to ascer- tain whether the prisoner had possessed his memory of the matter contained in them ; if he had, they would of course become subjects of future discussion, and thus form a gauge by which the progress and state of mind, in every stage, might be measured, to the end of their incarceration. The acquisition of every new moral idea should form the basis for inculcating the principles of religion, not abstractedly, but incidentally. " One clear idea, wakened in the breast By memory's magic, lets in all the rest." A very few months' 1 solitude, managed in this or a somewhat similar manner, would, I can venture to predicate, make new OK SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. 279 men of all, but those who belong to the nation of delin- quents. The American system is very much lauded, and certainly claims our attention, but, with all, be it remembered that they have a rapidly increasing criminal population, which they ascribe to the want of a penal colony to which they may transport the most desperate of their offenders. It is curious enough to observe, that while they (the Americans) are lamenting the want of one, that an archbishop should write a book for the express purpose of proving that our penal colo- nies have been the cause of crime in this country. The failure of the American system in repressing crime, I believe to be wholly attributable to their non-provision for mental exercise in their penitentiaries during the hours of solitude, by which the mind becomes stultified and indurated, some- times imbecile and so weak as to amount to idiotcy ; in all which conditions men are careless of consequences, and ready for crime : but improve men, and render them of more value to themselves, then will they have a regard for their own actions, and consideration for their fellow men. It is worthy of remark, that many commit crime from want of knowledge, and that many more would be equally criminal had they the knowledge which men long engaged in crime possess. It is from these causes that prison association is hurtful ; the one who, if he had any other instruction, would avoid crime, receives none in prison : the other, who only wanted a particular species of knowledge to make him a thorough paced rogue, acquires all he stood in need of in prison asso- ciation. Under the proposed plan of solitude with the aid of books, both these evils will be efficiently met, through the direction of able assistants, but in nothing which regards the improvement or condition of the prisoners should the gaoler ever be consulted ; this is one great error the parliamentary committee and the benches of magistrates in general fall into. My reason for making this remark cannot be better explained ON THK AMERICAN SYSTEM than by quoting the language of Mr. Sheil, when speaking against the punishment of flogging in the army, in his place in the House of Commons : he said, " He should be loth to ask a clergyman's advice as to the best mode of confession ; he would be loth to take the advice of a planter as to the best mode of treating a negro ; he would pause ere he consulted a person of his own profession as to the best mode of legal pro- ceeding; and, above all, he should hesitate to consult a military man as to the nature of military punishment, and the best mode of administering it ; because the very best and most humane become, from habit, possessed of a bad and in- durated feeling." If men, whose savage natures are softened by education, are liable to become hardened by habit, what must be the condition of gaolers ! I am convinced, from all that I have read, that government and others have at all times been much misled by consulting the heads of prisons, who generally know nothing but what they collect from their ignorant turnkeys about the inmates of the place, except it be their books and perquisites. The reports on the American system at present are very defective, but it appears that, on some former occasion, an experiment was tried upon eighty prisoners at Auburn ; they were kept in perpetual solitude, without employment, for ten months, at the end of which it was abandoned. It in- jured health, impaired reason, and endangered life; the suf- ferers were so enfeebled as to be totally incapable of work on being discharged, and the experiment altogether failed. On the whole, it seems that solitary confinement may answer with employment; hence will accrue one fundamental ad- vantage in building penitentiaries, having a separate cell for every prisoner; inasmuch as it will be a weapon in the hands of the judge to increase or diminish the sentence of imprisonment, as regards the punishment, in several degrees, Firstly, entire solitary confinement without any book but the Bible ; secondly, with various books, pen and ink, paper, &c. ; OF SOLITA11Y CONFINEMENT. 281 thirdly, with hard labour ; fourthly, with productive labour in the cell ; and fifthly, partial solitary confinement, with or without any of the foregoing employments. With mild and judicious treatment, and a cell, there is unquestionably a hope yet left, that a man may leave prison better than he entered it, but without a cell none remains. It may be necessary to say a few words on the probable effects of this system on that class called gentlemen convicts: it is pretty certain that the punishment would be greater, or less, as they were allowed books, &c., or otherwise ; hence it is an instrument of punish- ment to an unlimited extent against this class, and might in all cases be substituted for transportation with decided ad- vantage, particularly in cases of first offence, and few others come under the judgment of the court. And the reason why gentlemen criminals are all first offenders is plain, they are men of some education, and have occupied some place of trust, which they have forfeited by embezzling or stealing the property which it was their duty to protect ; having once lost their position in society, it requires a long period of time after they recover their liberty, before they can again induce any person to entrust them with property. When this de- scription of offender is brought to prison, he at first shrinks with horror at the thought of speaking to the open and public thief; although criminal, as far as regards having robbed his employers, the idea of his becoming a general depredator would be as revolting to his feelings as to one entirely free from guilt. In this state of mind, probably, he might ever remain, were it not for association ; but watch him for one , little week only, while awaiting the recurring session ! Coy girls have, by falling into the hands of villains, in as short a space as seven days, been removed from a state of innocence to the pave : so it is with the characters now under considera- tion, in a very few days all remains of virtue is lost, and you may behold him cheerfully pacing his boundary, arm-in-arm with the most notorious offender in his yard, greedily learning 282 ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM all he can of crime, and promising himself, should he escape on the day of trial, the pleasure of having found a new set of acquaintance for association, which will compensate him for the loss of those which have gone with his character. It is, in sober sadness, a lamentable thing that these things should be so. The man I have attempted to describe, had he been sequestered in a cell, probably in a few hours would have acutely felt the enormity of his offence ; and under sin- cere repentance would have made all the restitution in his power, by stating to the injured party how he had disposed of the property, and sending back that which he yet retained in his possession. The losers of property generally now make every effort, both by threats and fair promises, to recover as much as they can before the culprit is committed to prison, well knowing that it will be too late afterwards ; but if the prisoner were secluded, and disassociated from other of- fenders, prison would be the place of all others the most likely not only to induce a disposition to make restitution, but to effect an early remorse of conscience, and thereby prepare him for reformation. The whole of this class of offenders may, under the proposed improvements, be recovered to society at one tenth the expense they are now sent out of it ; but the law, and those who administer it, must never lose sight of the character of the prisoner, using gentleness and mildness in all that is done in the way of punishment, always allowing a fair opportunity, under whatever sentence may be passed, for the offender to resume a course of honesty. Cowper wrote, in a letter to a friend on this subject, as fol- lows : " A man whose vices and irregularities have brought his liberty and life into danger will always be viewed with an eye of compassion by those who understand what human na- ture is made of ; and while we acknowledge the severities of the law to be founded upon principles ofc necessity and jus- tice, and are glad that there is such a barrier provided for the peace of society, if we consider that the difference between OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. 283 ourselves and the culprit is not of our own making, we shall be tenderly affected by the view of his misery, and not the less so, because he has brought it upon himself." The passions of men prompt them to wickedness, but the interests of society demand that through the laws humanity should be conspi- cuous. Although I am an advocate for a great relaxation in our penal code, and an enemy to solitary confinement, if it be used to inflict an aggravated suffering on the person, yet I have no hesitation in saying, as far as my experience and re- flection have enabled me to judge, that without the separate cell system be adopted, all attempts at reformation, or render- ing the prisoner again to society after his punishment not worse than he left it, must fail. All depends on the treat- ment of each class of offenders, and the sentences awarded ; the judges must reflect with more deliberation than they have hitherto done, on the probable effects the punishment is calcu- lated to produce on each individual coming before them what is the real character of each culprit being careful to apportion to all the discipline the circumstances of the parti- cular cases require. They must cease to generalize, but enter as much as possible into minutiae, and co-operate with their judgment in rendering the plan efficient. An intelligent man of good disposition must be placed at the head of each clas?, subject to the superintending eye of the minister, who should be authorized to withhold or grant indulgences to the pri- soners whilst in solitary confinement, any not exceeding the use of books, pen, ink, and paper. My fears are excited lest those who are about to make these important alterations should, through the want of experience, render the measure abortive ; my object, therefore, is to impress on them, that in whatever degree an offence may demand extra coercion, that the system must allow those who superintend its execu- tion to interweave some ameliorating measures with the re- straints, thus tempering and feeding the mind, while the cor- poreal body is undergoing an expiation of the offended laws. 284 ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM I have known many kind-hearted men take into their services individuals, with the knowledge that they have committed crime, under a hope that such confidence would be requited with gratitude, and corresponding faithfulness of service, and I believe generally they have not been disappointed. But I never knew one instance of any being disposed to try this ex- periment after the man had been committed to prison for the offence such is justly the strong prejudice against the per- nicious effects of prison walls. If under the now proposed improved plan the world can be assured that men who go to prison are rendered better, instead of worse, by the discipline they undergo in confinement, may not some good Christians always be found in society to receive discharged prisoners into their employ ? It is to be hoped that there may, if the system answer, and of which I have no doubt, unless it be marred in the experiment, by holding mistaken views of men and the nature of punishment. Every man who shall be discharged, should have a certificate put into his hand, signed by the minister of the penitentiary, stating his conduct during his incarceration ; and if it were made a condition, that he should attend once a week, for a few months subsequently to his discharge, to have this certi- ficate endorsed, and submit to an inquiry as to how he dis- posed of himself, it would be an excellent check on his first days of freedom, and also information to the authorities re- garding the results of the system, by keeping an eye of espionage on them, through officers who might at times be employed to ascertain whether they were in honest employ or otherwise. But to accomplish these objects, after a man is sentenced, you must, as much as possible, substitute mild en- treaty and persuasive arguments, for a system of terror. Stripes and public disgrace must be avoided, being useless as to example. Cast no man unnecessarily into the gulf of despair, leaving him without any hope but deperately to war against his fellow-men. These feelings must animate the OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. 285 new plan, and let the legislature be careful, that in avoiding Scylla they do not fall into Charybdis. Those who advocate a mild system of prison discipline, are generally answered by being asked, if they would have a prison made a place of enjoyment ? and are told at the same time, that many commit crime to obtain the comforts of it. Solitary confinement, with labour, will, I apprehend, remove all objections to kind treatment in these respects, as it cannot be supposed that any man will voluntarily undergo seclusion from all the world for mere bread to eat. But the ameliorating treatment which I advocate, wholly regards that which affects the mind ; I want criminals, when in prison, improved, and I maintain this cannot be accomplished without mental assistance, and a supply of books to induce reflection. Some I hear say, Let him reflect on his crime ! What if he does, will he make less or more of the fact, the last day of his imprisonment, than he could at the first ? that he committed the deed, and that the conse- quence has been punishment. Sincere repentance is wanted, which will only be effected by touching the latent feelings of the heart, through the operations of the mind. But if the mind have no relief but contemplating its own guilt in soli- tude, for months or years, contrition will be artificial under depression, not that of mental health and true sincerity. It is our business, having the criminal in our power, to con- sider the cause which has led to the commission of the offence, the state of mind in which he was at the time, and, before we part with him, to remove the cause, by giving, as far as we are able, another turn of thinking to the mind, which will, in fact, increase the punishment : a hint which I hope will reconcile the advocates for additional severities, to seek their object through the improvement of the faculties. It may be laid down as an axiom in the natural history of all animals, that the corporeal sense of pain is always in pro- portion to the intellects and nervous susceptibility. 286 ON CLASSIFICATION. SECTION VI. On Classification. IN classing the inmates of a penitentiary I should be more disposed to consider their former habits and walk of life than the crimes they had committed, because all kinds of crime are perpetrated by men of various grades of education ; and in arranging them solely with a view of improvement, they should be as nearly of a sort as possible. By the act of 4th Geo. IV., cap. 64, it is directed that prisoners should be divided into two classes, whether tried or untried, and that each sex should be separated. This relates to felonies and misdemeanors, but it in fact includes and confounds all classes ; but under the secluded system the evils of contamination will be avoided ; it is, therefore, only necessary to class offenders in the consideration of the kind of treatment which may be applicable for their better reformation. Males, I consider, may fall under the following heads : Istly. Habitual offenders who have all their lives been engaged in crime. 2ndly. Those who commit crimes of a public nature similar to the foregoing, but only known as first offenders. Srdly. Those who commit crime supposed to arise from poverty. 4thly. Working men and labourers, who have recently fallen into crime from idleness and drunkenness. 5thly. Domestic servants who rob their masters. 6thly. Embezzlements and thefts by shopmen, clerks, &c. Tthly. Forgers and first-rate swindlers. Sthly. Boys brought up in crime, and those who are not. ON CLASSIFICATION. 287 9thly. Females of public immorality, and those who are supposed to be virtuous in all but the commission of felony. I may now be reasonably asked, whether I would have a different mode of discipline for these several classes ? I an- swer, that it is highly desirable to fit the treatment to the case, and to prescribe under the superintendence of qualified per- sons, according to the prognosis. But, for general rules, I would take them as follows : First, the criminal ingrain. In every case these should be transported at once, and not re- tained in this country at an unnecessary expense for training to labour, as recommended by " the committee on secondary punishments." This object will be attained more beneficially to the colonist if it be done under his own eye ; let, therefore, the colonial government subject every convict to one or two years labour for the improvement of the colony, before being assigned to a master ; this measure would increase the punish- ment of transportation, and prepare those who were destined to follow' rural occupations for their business. The most able and skilled in agricultural employment might be selected, and let out to a profit to the settlers, instead of giving their labour for bare food and clothes. Those convicts, whose former habits, or constitutional weakness rendered them ill- fitted for field labour, might be employed also to a profit by being taught working trades, as bricklayers and carpenters or smiths; and others, unfitted for these purposes, might be used as labourers to attend on those who did acquire a knowledge of any art ; every man's labour and skill should be turned to a profitable account in a country where it is so valuable. Under the present mode of employing men at Sydney, they are an incumbrance , at this town there are on an average four hundred men, chiefly mechanics, acting under the ma- nagement of " the director of public works," who receives a salary of 800/. per annum, with other lucrative emoluments ; the collective salaries of the subordinates amount, at least, to 2,500/. per annum. Cost of clothing and food for the con- 288 ON CLASSIFICATION. victs about 8,000, and the cost of materials is about 3,000. making in the whole 14,300Z.! per annum, expended in the sup- port of men, who, if distributed under proper regulations to work for hire, might net to the colonial government that sum in clear profit every year. We are told that a good mechanic will in a short time, if industrious, acquire money in this colony. Suppose, then, each convict mechanic, (always selecting the most perfect in their trades,) earned only 10*. per week over his cost of keep, this would, if only four hundred men were so employed, bring into the hands of the colonial government 10,400/. per annum, instead of expending 14,300Z. in their support, only employing them about useless jobs, and in working for the benefit of those who are placed over them. In Sydney they are known by the appellation of the lumber convicts. Secondly, Those who commit crimes of a public nature, but only known as first offenders * Whenever a man com- mits a public offence, there is always a strong presumption that he has been used to crime before, although not known to any officer of the police, but in the absence of any proof of this, it is but just to treat him as a first offender, and not con- demn him to transportation, unless the crime be one of enor- mity. If sentenced to penitentiary labour, the treatment should vary, according to their former habits, having always in view their qualifications, and the probability there might be of their returning to engagements or employments in the walks of life from whence they came. Thirdly, Those who commit crime from distress. It would be throwing a wide door open for the commission of crime, were distress recognized by the law, or allowed to weigh with the judge as an excuse for robbery. I am, however, not now discussing what duration of punishment should be in- * If the system of inquiry, as before recommended, were adopted, the question, whether the prisoner was an old or first offender must always be known to the court. ON CLASSIFICATION. 289 flicted on culprits convicted under these circumstances, but I wish to establish the propriety (let the period of imprison- ment be what it may) of varying the privileges of ameliora- tion, in at least a small measure, accompanying the causes of crime, both as regards principles of justice and reformation. Fourthly, working men and labourer?, who have not before committed crime. Many of these characters have spent a life of honest industry, and yet from the occurrence of par- ticular events, fall into a month's habit of idleness and drunkenness from which they merge in a mental state of con- fusion into the commission of an accidental offence. Now, in all cases, when these men are treated as common offenders, they are invariably made so from that time henceforward, and probably their posterity also. These men do not belong to the class of incurables, therefore a short period of labour, discipline, and seclusion from the world, will recover their self-possession, and again fit them for honest employment. This is one of the cases in which criminals may be viewed as a physician does a patient with a disordered brain, considering whether he is a subject for cure in St. Luke's, or New Bedlam. Fifthly, domestic servants who rob their masters or mis- tresses. Few, if any, of this class can ever be expected to again return to servitude ; it therefore becomes an important duty to teach them some trade, by which, on their liberation, they may have a resource, and by which a livelihood may be obtained. There are many trades suited for this purpose, weaving, bookbinding, &c. Sec. Sixthly, embezzlements and thefts by shopmen, &c. We can suppose there to be but little difference between these and domestic servants under sect. 5th. Seventhly, forgeries and first-rate swindlers. These are both heavy offences, and should generally be punished by transportation. Prison discipline may also punish them, but I fear they are a description of offenders which will rarely 290 ON CLASSIFICATION. come out of prison qualified for any practical occupation in life. Eighthly, boys brought up in crime, and those who are not. " For the former there should be an establishment on an extensive scale in the country, where they should be brought up to useful labour for terms not less than from five to seven years." vide Crimes, head sneaks. For the latter, (in- cidental juvenile offenders,) there should be a town penitentiary, where rigid discipline for one year might be usefully applied, their parents being called on to enter into security for their future good conduct. Ninthly, females. All who commit public felonies should be transported, and a penitentiary be provided for the others, carefully separating the moral from the immoral. Task needle-work will be their best employment. It is said that criminals are an uncertain and fluctuating body, but it must be remembered that they all come out of some class of the community, a due attention to which can only enable us to legislate with precision as to punishment or reformation. In a general point of view one portion of de- linquents may be considered as a foreign enemy lodged in the heart of the country, or a band of conspirators at enmity with the state. If these will not capitulate, they must be sent out of the country, shipped off to a place from whence they cannot return. The other portion, men who lapse into errors injurious to the state, some under delusions of the mind, others from distress, &c.; cases which will ever occur from the very nature of man, and the construction of society. It is the interest of the state to adopt measures whicli will recover them, and restore them to a healthy moral condition ; by neglecting to do this the former party is made. Some there are who hold that men who break through the moral restraints on society, and injure their fellow-men, are unworthy of any particular consideration ; surely these reasoners cannot be Christians ! ON CLASSIFICATION. 291 Our Saviour suffered to redeem sinners, and shall not man sacrifice a little time, and a few prejudices, to follow his ex- ample, in calling sinners to repentance ? No man can ensure success, but he may do more he may deserve it. Those who hold that mental training is nothing in repressing crime, in comparison to the fear of punishment, know nothing of hu- man nature, and disgrace themselves by the assertion. It is an opinion founded in idleness of thought, or in a cruel dis- position, for which they will have to answer at the great judgment seat of all. The learned, the judicious, the pious Boerhaave relates, " that he never saw a criminal dragged to execution without asking himself, who knows whether this man is not less culpable than me ?" And Lord Ashburton says, "England contents herself with the superior wisdom, humility, and justice of her laws in all respects but one, (that is mercy,) and, too fond of the ancient order of things, has alone remained stationary. The nation, indeed, is fully sen- sible of the evils which attends a multitude of sanguinary laws, and the government itself begins to be alarmed with the magnitude of the mischief." And Cowper says, in speaking of the laws of England, " That she is slack in discipline : more prompt T' avenge, than prevent the breach of law : That she is rigid in denouncing death On petty robbers," &c. The notion of systematic punishment is fallacious, unless it be combined with systematic prevention and reformation. Read the effects of severity in its acme, as given in evidence before the " Select Committee on Secondary Punishments," by John Stephens, jun., Esq. Speaking of the penal settle- ments, that is, the Botany Bay, he says, " There were three ; there are now two, named Moreton Bay and Nor- folk Island, which are set apart by act of parliament for the reception of convicts who have committed some offence in the colony of New South Wales, ' and being under sentence u 2 292 ON CLASSIFICATION. of transportation.' Moreton Bay, which is considered the least severe of the two, females as well as males are trans- ported to ; but at Norfolk Island, it has been, until within the last twelvemonth, the rule not to allow any females to reside there at all ; and I have known a number of instances occur at both penal settlements, of convicts committing mur- der and piracy with a view to being executed, rather than re- main in those penal settlements; and I have also known instances of suicide. " Have you any knowledge of the system adopted in those settlements? Convicts are kept at Moreton Bay at very hard labour, felling trees, some with single, and others double irons. At Norfolk Island they are employed in the same manner, and also in the repairing and making roads throughout the island ; but the principal punishment arises from women being altogether excluded from that island. The first trial I witnessed in New South Wales was of four or five men brought from thence upon a charge of piracy, and after they had been sentenced to death, they thanked the judge for having ordered them to die ; stating, that they lived in such a state of horrid misery, witnessing the most horrid crime known to human nature, committed in number- less cases from morning to night, that they preferred death. I recollect another trial taking place, where a witness (who was brought upon the part of the prosecution, against some men who had committed murder on a poor old man who had lost one leg and one arm, and was incapable of working ; they thought his life less valuable than any other, and they walked up and cleaved his skull in two with their pickaxes, merely for the sake of being tried and convicted;) was called on to state what generally occurred at this island ; and he said, that unnatural offences were so frequently committed, fifty and sixty cases occurring in a day, that a man could not exist there. It made men so perfectly miserable, that many pre- ferred death to living in that penal settlement."" ON CLASSIFICATION. 293 It will require a great display of rhetorical hyperbole, and sophisticated sophistry, to justify the legislators of any coun- try, however deeply its inhabitants may be plunged in vice, in creating crimes to further vitiate the morals of the people, and in accumulating offences on the heads of those who are already sufficiently loaded with guilt ; and this, too, under the pretext of bettering their condition, by inflicting an in- tolerable punishment on the person for one offence, light in comparison, in the eye of God, to the others which the law engenders, under the erroneous notion of promoting virtue. " Experience shows, that in countries remarkable for the lenity of penal laws, the spirit of the inhabitants is as much affected by them, as in other countries by severer punish- ments. Robberies on the highway were grown common in some countries ; in order to remedy this evil, they invented the punishment of breaking upon the wheel, the terror of which put a stop for a while to this mischievous practice. But soon after robberies on the highway became as common as ever. Desertion in our days was grown to a very great height ; in consequence of this it was judged proper to punish deserters with death, and yet their number did not diminish. The reason is very natural ; a soldier accustomed daily to venture his life, despises, or affects to despise, the danger of losing it. He is daily habituated to the fear of shame : it would have been, therefore, much better to have continued a punishment which branded him with infamy for life. The punishment was pretended to be increased, while it was really diminished. Men must not be led by excess of violence ; we ought to make a prudent use of the means which nature has given to conduct them. If we inquire into the causes of all human corruptions, we shall find that they proceed from the impunity of crime, and not from the moderation of punish- ments. Let us follow nature, who has given shame to man for his scourge ; and let the heaviest part of the punishment be the infamy attending it. But if there be some countries ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. where shame is not a consequence of punishment, this must be owing to the tyranny which has inflicted the same punish- ments on villains and honest men. And there are others where men are deterred only by cruel punishments ; we may be sure that this must, in a great measure, arise from the violence of the government, which has inflicted such punish- ments for slight transgressions." Montesquieu, vol. i. cap. 12. But our governors say, we will have cruel and arbitrary laws coute qifil coute. Let them abide the consequences, both in the history of the national character, and in the world to come; the public at large, who are the most interested in the question, beholds their error, and withholds their sanction, even to the execution of the acerbity of the penal laws already in force. Let them, therefore, make a virtue of necessity, and anticipate the operation of public opinion, by adopting a system of prison discipline, consonant with the true princi- ples of justice, and the spirit of political wisdom, which so characterizes the age in which we live. " Judge not accord- ing to appearance, but righteous judgment." SECTION VII. On Juvenile Offenders. IT is impossible for those who are strangers to these beings to form any idea what contempt the prisoners generally have of corporeal punishment, both men and boys. I have frequently heard the aldermen and sheriffs, when in their visits to the prison and making inquiry into the nature of the several cases, threaten the boys with a severe flogging, and paint the punish- ment in the most horrible colours their imagination could in- ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. 295 vent. But this, so far from alarming them, had just the opposite effect, as it relieved their minds from the terrors of transportation. They forthwith resumed their wonted spirits, becoming impertinent and troublesome, saying they had been told their sentence " only a teaming and turned up" (dis- charged;) never ceasing to boast of their supposed good for- tune, and of taunting their fellow-prisoners with the want of it. This is the truth regarding the whole, not an occasional instance of some hardened and daring offender ; even in their sleep they will talk of their good fortune in escaping with only a flogging. There is no mistake in it ; the punishment is worse than useless. I am certain, if they could have shortened their durance for a week, they would offer to take two whippings instead of one, any morning, and come back to their breakfasts in good spirits. I really never knew a boy go unwillingly to be flogged, (and I have not seen a few,) as it was always, in Newgate, the prelude to his enlargement. The nights preceding the days of punishment were always spent in the most cheerful manner, for the same reason. Men, immediately after their punishment, would pass their fellow- prisoners, saying, " Don't you wish you were as lucky ?" A committing magistrate frequently, when sending a boy to New- gate, intimates to the prosecutor (who may be rather an unwill- ing one) that the prisoner will probably have only a whipping. This never fails to make the party saucy and troublesome all the time of his imprisonment, thinking he is sure of no fur- ther punishment. I have ever observed the boys have be- come bold, daring, and hardened, in proportion as they have undergone the most corporeal punishment, and probably it is so with men. I knew one boy who endured seven whippings, five private and two public. He was only fourteen years of age. If a boy has once fallen into the hands of a practised thief, nothing but taking him out of society for a long period can afford any hope of his amendment ; and this will fail, unless measures be used to rouse the better feelings of his 296 ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. nature : what is called discipline and severity will never ac- complish the object; not even rewards for good conduct, under a system of heavy punishment for the reverse, can avail any thing : they will still remain the same insensible beings, hard and frozen up. The more you coerce, the further is the retrocession from the point aimed at. I wish those who have the management of boys of the description here spoken of, would reflect that, in the majority of cases, there has either been no parent, or those of such habits and temper as would have rendered orphanship a blessing ; and that, in all proba- bility, most of them under their care never had a kind or affectionate sentiment imparted to or drawn out of them, by any human being they could look to as a friend ; and that they have in a manner been driven to take up arms against society, meeting, from their earliest recollections, with nothing but an enemy in man. Thoughts of this nature ever induced me to adopt a kind mode of treatment ; and I have found it to succeed in a wonderful manner, even when others have said that no sense of feeling was left. I am not without a hope but that I have done some good in this way. The effect on one boy was remarkable. He had been abandoned by his parents from his infancy, and had always lived in crime. When I heard his history I became interested for him, and talked to him very much of the course he was pursuing; I reached his feelings, and the effect was wonderful. He, how- ever, went into Newgate three times afterwards, always re- gretting his inability to follow my advice. Notwithstanding all his crimes, I could not but believe he was sincere in his wishes to become honest. I at length discovered he had an uncle at Birmingham, to whom I wrote : he was a poor man, but was willing to aid my views. I got the officers of the parish to which he belonged to pay for the travelling expenses to his relation, where he now is, quite reformed, and doing well in the service of a farmer. His uncle has sent me a letter of thanks, saying, the boy's only wish was to see me once ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. 297 more, to acknowledge his gratitude for having saved him. As it may appear extraordinary the boy should be so often in Newgate, I feel it necessary to state, the first time he was flogged, once acquitted, and twice no bill found against him. I have said, the prisoners generally disregard minor punish- ments : with the younger ones it sometimes appears to act as a positive inducement to continue in their career. The boy who for his age has undergone the most punishment is the greatest man ; such is their notion of consequence, which an endurance of many whippings gives them, that it is the main topic of conversation with each other. On this subject they will enlarge in the most extravagant manner, making out their offences and adventures as wonderful as their ingenuity can invent ; often concluding with, " Well, when I have another teazing, I shall be as good a man as Harry V This feel- is got from the men in whose hands they have been made in- struments of crime, and who relate to them tales of heroism, telling them they will be great only as they endure punish- ment after the Spartan fashion. They at the same time afford these deluded creatures every facility of gratifying their pas- sions, having first promoted an early and premature sense of them. Human nature is bad enough when the passions are attended by reason, and both are developed in due course of growth towards manhood. Ought we then to be surprised at the lamentable results, when the passions are set at liberty without the guide of reason, as in the case of these poor boys ? The seducers of youth find an able auxiliary in the minor theatres, where they are generally sought. The men know, if a boy has a passion for these low exhibitions, that he is a sure prize. This the boys acknowledge ; and full one half have confessed to me, that the low theatres have been the cause of their entering into crime, and in very many instances the offences for which they stood committed were occasioned by their want of money to gratify this passion. When they know they are about to be discharged, the first pleasure they anti- ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. cipate is going to the theatre the same evening. Although turned out without hat or shoes, and in rags, they make sure of getting the money for this purpose ; and I have no doubt many go from the prison-door to stealing for no other ob- ject, such is their infatuation for these places. The truth of this I have ascertained from several who who have been de- tected and re-committed. I remember an instance of one who was flogged on a Friday morning, and brought in again on Saturday (the next day.) He acknowledged to me having stolen a packet of halfpence, containing five shillings, within an hour after he left the prison, for no other purpose but to see some petty exhibition, of which a companion had told him. This boy's father was a hackney coachman, and did all be- coming a parent to reclaim his son ; he was not yet fourteen years of age, and had been twice before in Newgate ; once for manslaughter, on which he was acquitted : he admitted, how- ever, being the cause of the death of the party, an aged woman. The second time, he was tried for robbing a man of seventeen sovereigns ; for this he was whipped and discharged. For the last (the packet of halfpence) he was transported for fourteen years. Although an advocate for the fullest liberty of the press, I regret to add, that if means could be taken to suppress the low publications, of which there are now so many sold, many boys would be saved from destruction who are now lost en- tirely by the influence these works have on their vitiated tastes, viz. the fictitious lives of robbers, pirates, and loose women. There is scarcely one in print that these boys have not by rote ; their infatuation for them is unbounded, and the consequent perversion of their minds very fatal, in every in- stance when this passion seizes them. Although naturally restless in their habits, they will sit for six or eight hours together, relating and hearing tales of criminal heroes. A boy expert at telling these stories will exact and obtain half the allowance of food from the others, to gratify them in this ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. 299 passion. How far this taste is brought on by their mode of tuition is not unworthy a consideration : full five-sixths of them are from the national schools, where they are taught to read entirely from the Scriptures, and never see any other works of interest. It is highly probable, if books of general history were put into their hands, and their tastes directed to substantial food for the mind, by which they might acquire a ik-sire for the knowledge of facts instead of fiction, they might be excited to a better kind of reading, and much of the mis- chief avoided. I would not be understood, that the Scriptures are not of the first importance, but I object to their being almost the only book put into their hands when learning the first elements of reading. Little works of morality, with na- tural and general history, are decidedly the most proper for their years, and best calculated to excite a taste for knowledge in general ; reserving two days in the week for the New Tes- tament with the junior classes, and an extra day for the Old with the more advanced in reading. With the assistance of the Rev. Mr. Cotton and Mrs. Fry, I succeeded in obtaining a stock of these books; and I am satisfied, from my expe- rience with nearly five hundred boys, that no other is so well calculated to engage their attention. On the subject of boys engaged in crime, many volumes might be written, illustrative of their habits and character, showing by what means they are brought into it, their peculiar situation in life, and cruel treatment under petty offences, many of whom are driven by circumstances into the commission of crime. It has always distressed me to hear of any sentence exceeding seven years being passed on a youth under fourteen years of age, as he can scarcely be considered morally responsible for his own actions at this period of his existence ; but as they are made instru- ments in the hands of others to commit depredations, and thus rendered not only dangerous to society but to them- selves, when considered as men, it is of the first import. 300 ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. ance they should be secured, until their minority be ex- pired, taking care in the interim to give such instruction as the nature of the case will admit of. But to subject them when men to the severest of all punishments, viz. slavery for life, for an action committed when boys, I cannot but think both cruel and unjust in the extreme. The Roman law of the twelve tables, ordained that an open theft should be whipped with rods, and condemned to slavery, if he had attained the age of puberty ; or only whipped if he was not of ripe age. We are, probably, the first and only nation on the face of the earth who, in the adult, punish the crimes done in infancy. The Old Bailey court, however, in proportion to the num- bers, as often sentence boys as men to transportation for four- teen years and life. For one prisoner I felt very much, who was sent for the latter term ; he was under thirteen years of age, and not a known offender ; his crime was stealing his companion's hat, while they were looking at a puppet-show. The unfortunate boy says, " he knocked it off in fun," and that some other person must have found it. He was not taken up until the following day, and the hat was never produced. The policeman who took him into custody resided next door to the prisoner's mother, and was heard to say, " the boy had thrown stones at him, and that he would give him a lift." I know not what he said on the trial, but such was his heavy sentence. The mother was a widow, and he was her only son. I shall never forget her distress and agony of feeling when she heard his fate. Nothing can be more absurd than the practice of passing sentence of death on boys under fourteen years of age for petty offences. I have known five in one session in this awful situation ; one for stealing a comb almost valueless, two for a child's sixpenny story-book, another for a man's stock, and the fifth for pawning his mother's shawl. In four of these cases the boys put their hands through a broken pane of glass in a shop-window, and stole the articles for which they were sentenced to death, and subsequently transported for life. ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. 301 This act, in legal technicality, is house-breaking. The law presumes they break the glass, and it is probable in most in- stances they do so. In two of the cases here named, how- ever, the prosecutrix's daughter told me there was only a piece of brown paper to supply the place of that which once had been glass. In the latter case, the unfor- tunate mother caused her son to be apprehended, in the hopes of persuading the magistrate to recommend him to the Refuge for the Destitute, or some other charitable institution. She, however, in the course of her examination, said she was from home, and that the house was locked up at the time of the shawl being taken, which was afterwards found at a pawn- broker's. This made it housebreaking; and, in spite of all the mother's efforts, he was condemned to death. He is now in the Penitentiary. The judges who award the punishments at the Old Bailey appear to me as if they were under the in- fluence of sudden impulses of severity, there being at no time any regular system to be recognized in their proceedings. This theprisoners know, and speculate on, particularly the boys. There is not at this moment a question of any comparative magnitude before the public, equal to that of how we shall treat and deal with juvenile vagrants and offenders. Those who now come under the law are treated in every respect as men, and held as responsible for their actions, although they have been cast upon the waters of life, not only without rudder or pilot, but without a bark to float them, so that they are struggling for life the moment they come into it; being like the small inhabitants of the ocean, the same instant which animates them, also informs them of the danger of being de- voured by those of their own species who have had a pre- existence. The majority of those who have not yet fallen under the law, are rapidly imbibing the opinions and princi- ples (as all do) of those about them in childhood, and are being prepared to swell the criminal calendar of the country. Habit, which by a kind appointment of nature, was intended for our good, is, by the neglect of those in power, converted 302 ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. into a mischief. All, taking man in the aggregate, are born with equal talent, why, therefore, under a prudent and vir- tuous governorship, should not one cast of thinking be im- parted to all whom we have the power of educating ? We see the effect of the turn of mind in families when one system of education is adopted for all the children ; and so it would be in nations, were an universal and well-digested plan en- forced on those who are deprived of the protection and advice of a natural parent. May 15th, 1833, a boy of twelve years of age was sen- tenced to seven years transportation for stealing two penny rolls ; it was said he was a bad character, but if we are to transport all the bad characters at twelve years of age, that is, all who are the sons of low, vulgar, and uneducated parents in this metropolis, there will soon be a great demand for tonnage amongst our shipping interest. And if we are not to transport all for like offences, being the same characters, why one ? The Recorder* in his wisdom will reply, it is good now and then to make example?, as a terror to others; always harping upon terror. If he had said it was to pre- vent penny rolls being stolen, I should say his course will succeed though it is not a just one. For as long as this boy's case is remembered by the fraternity, they will naturally put the question to themselves, whether it is not the height of folly to sneak for twopenny plunder in a town like this, where there is such abundance of property, when, if they steal hun- dreds of pounds, the sentence will be no more heavy, but pro- bably less. Should the boy be retained on board the hulks, and discharged when he is nineteen years of age, will he be improved, and with what notions of law and justice will he come into the world, always remembering that twopence valued in baked flour had caused him seven years' incarcera- tion, many whippings, hard fare, and toilsome labour, besides * Whilst this work was in the press this gentleman resigned his office in con- sequence of Job Cox, who was under sentence of death, being reported for ex- ecution contrary to the order of the council. ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. 303 fixing on him, at the most important period of his existence, the stamp of felon the state of adolescence being ever re- ferred to, when a man makes his first essay for a start in life ? Suppose him to embark again in his old calling, employing boys to aid him, as he himself had been employed ; the first principle he inculcates is, " go for heavy stakes/' we need not then rob so often, and shall run less risk ; remember my case, seven years for twopence. This is, in fact, the grand argument used to young and timid by the old rogues to induce them to become more bold and daring. Every motive which can urge men to reflect and act are in- volved in this question, whether considered generally as re- gards the nation, or particularly as relates to individuals. It comprehends national character, national and political stability, national prowess and wealth, and national happi- ness. It includes not only the moral conduct of the nation, but of each individual, as the mere knowledge of the corrupt and untaught state of human nature affords excuses for others to commit indiscretions, who are by birth and education taught better. Youthful delinquency concerns every one as regards his own private property, and that of his posterity. Each parent is interested for his children, in the moral condi- tion of the people, even as viewed in the highways, and the family of every householder, from the duke to the lowest- rate trader is affected by the moral condition of the menials they are constrained to employ, and who nearly all emerge from a state of poverty to occupy these stations. All the cardinal virtues call loudly on man to assist by his advice, pocket, and exertions, to further the views of those who are anxious to deal with this subject on broad and useful princi- ples. Religion, humanity, charity, and justice, demand some legislative measure. Pride, policy, selfishness, follow in the train of arguments, those very principles which have been actively engaged in opposing it, are now counteracted by the force of circumstances, and enlisted as advocates in a cause 304 ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. which heaven and earth contemplates with feverish anxiety, the condition of the rising generation, and that of the world in after ages. It is the triumph of despotism, to suffer chil- dren to be ill educated, and then to punish them for offences which have had their rise in bad habits. A man of pure morals will always be the best subject of every state, and pure morals can only be obtained through a virtuous educa- tion. Our laws, by unjustly measuring out punishment, sub- vert the very foundation they would establish. Wherever we open the statute books anomalies present themselves : we read that a man who steals a whole commits no felony, but he who steals only a part does. As in the cases of goods entrusted to carriers, millers, and weavers, I am aware that many subsequent acts on these subjects have been passed, which arose out of the exigency of times and circumstances, still the original ones remain unrepealed, with many others of like nature, all of which go to show the great want of know- ledge in those entrusted with legislation antecedent to our time, and prove the necessity of an amended system of the penal code in our own, of which justice to all ranks without distinction must form the basis; then the tendency of the action, and its immorality, with the establishment of custos morumnot a mere sitting power to hear charges and commit for trial, but an active one, to examine into, and make report quarterly, on the state of society, and who also should be charged with the duty of making the laws known to the people ; which would not be so difficult were the statute laws simplified and accurately laid down, the offence forbidden being explained, with all its shades and punishments. When the nature of our statutes will admit of a work on the subject being intelligibly arranged, it should by enactment be intro- duced into every school throughout the United Kingdom as a class book for the pupils to read in daily. It is but just that man should as early in life as possible be apprised of the failing of his nature, born as he is to sin, and prone to ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. 305 mischief, and be warned of the consequences of not in early life restraining his vicious impulses. Wherever we travel for information on this head, we find that where there is most crime there is most ignorance. In one instance, when the calendar contained four hundred cases of crime, two hundred could not read or write, and fifty more only knew their letters. In Russia, of five thousand eight hundred offences no less than three thousand five hundred were connected with violence ; whilst in Pennsylvania, the total number of offences were seven thousand four hundred, and only six hundred and forty were connected with violence. If a country does nothing for a man, what shall allure him to obedience to its laws ? Uneducated, a man is wholly occupied in sensual pleasures. The Quakers, as members of society, and the Scotch, as a nation, have most happily been long convinced of the necessity of education, and have set the world an example which kings should follow. Sir Edward Coke, in his Epilogue to the third Institute, says, " True it is that we have found by experience, that it is not frequent and often punishment that doth prevent like offences, melior est enim justitia vert! prceveniens, quam severe puniens, agreeing with the rule of the physician for the safety of the body, prcBstat cautela, quam medela : and it is a certain rule, that videbis ed scepe committi quce scepe mndicantur ; those offences are often committed, that are often punished : for the frequency of the punishment makes it so familiar that it is not feared. For example, what a lamentable case it is to see so many Christian men and women strangled on that cursed tree of the gallows, insomuch as if in a large field a man might see together all the Christians that, but in one year, throughout England, come to that untimely and ignominious death, if there were one spark of grace or charity in him, it would make his heart to bleed for pity and compassion. But here I leave the divines to inform the inward man, who bting x ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS. well informed, verbo informante, the outward man will be the easilier reformed, virga reformante." The mistaken views of all in power as to the effect of punishment on juvenile offenders, is one which occasions much increase of crime. In May last I was at Clerkenwell Session- House, when the chairman (Mr. Rotch) passed sentence on a boy for seven years' transportation, addressing him somewhat as follows " Prisoner, what can we do with you ? we have done every thing to reclaim you ; we have imprisoned you over and over again, and given you frequent floggings, yet all is of no use : the sentence of the court is, that you be transported for seven years." The chairman then turned round to his brother magistrates, and said, " You see it could not be for want he stole see how well clothed he is ;" forgetting that the clothes were procured by theft, and that so far from every thing having been done to reclaim him, on the contrary, every thing had been done to destroy him. When he first fell into crime you sent him to live, to eat, and drink, and to sleep, among old and desperate offenders, who taught him to spurn any advice but theirs, which he naturally adopted, being most with them ; they told him the more punishment he endured the better man he would make. You ordered him to be tied up and lashed in a manner which even brutes are protected from, and this you do from time to time till his brutalization is completed all the better and latent good feelings totally obliterated and then call this doing every thing to reclaim him. As the law stands, the chairman perhaps had no alternative but to transport the boy: but that did not compel him to talk nonsense, or to say that which was untrue. If there had been any effort to re- claim him, he would have been kept from vitiating compa- nions ; he would have received instruction, and the mind set to work in reading useful and instructive works; he would have been employed in some labour calculated to produce EFFECTS OF THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS, &C. 307 health and vigour of body, not rendered desperate by de- spair, after he left prison, of finding any home but in the streets, or any employment but in stealing. I have, under the head of pickpockets, so fully described the condition of these boys, and suggested a plan for reclaiming them, that in this place little can be added. I repeat, that every effort ought to be made to reform children before they are expatriated. Under the head of pickpockets will be seen some further re- marks on the societies which have been formed to better the condition of the children of the poor.* SECTION VIII. On the Effects of Theatrical Exhibitions on Untaught Boys. MANY well-intentioned persons have denounced all theatrical representations as prejudicial to the morals of the public; the mischievous effects, however, arise only from private and minor theatres ; few can conceive or depict the demoralizing consequences of young persons being allowed to congregate in these places, many of which are unlicensed, and carried on in violation of the law. It has ever been admitted that the stage has a strong moral controlling influence over a large body of the people, and does much in forming the character and manners of those whose avocations prevent them from mixing more with the world, than associating with their own classes, constraining them, in seeking for other models of character and rules of real life, to fly to the stage. It therefore be- comes an important and imperative duty of those who take on themselves the destinies of a powerful and populous people, to regulate theatrical representations, under which it may be * See further on this subject under the head of Sneaks. x 2 308 EFFECTS OF THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS estimated that the tastes (and even the turn of thinking) of one moiety of the town populations are formed. These ex- hibitions are established ostensibly only as places of amuse- ment ; but if you wish readily to form a correct opinion of a people, study their games and amusements, from the rustic at a wake or fair to the exclusives at Almack's, or the elite at the Italian Opera House. The stage considered with re- ference to the large theatres, does more than the pulpit in promoting virtue, and in repressing the vicious habits of society. They aim at the improvement of the world through its amusements. They endeavour to show, that honesty and virtue in man, and chastity in woman, are the only paths to happiness, through the agency of real and ideal characters ; the stage exalts mankind in sentiment, instructing them to cherish and cultivate their kindlier feelings: if a robber, a villain, or a frail female be introduced into their representa- tions, a moral lesson is always imparted in the denouement. " To hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature : to show virtue her own form, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the times its form and pressure;" as they were wont to write on the proscenium, veluti in speculum. I wish as much could be said for those theatres which rank immediately below the two principal ones ; but I believe no man of real observation will presume to say much in their praise. There is indeed a great outcry made by some on their behalf, but it is only among those whose tastes are vitiated, and with whom grimace and buffoonery is more agreeable than good sense where are represented outre imitations of characters which never had existence in real life, compositum miraculi causa, which are garnished with gross ribaldry. This is a dish of amusement but too frequently offered, and applauded by our young cits, who waste the meridian of their youth in picking up from these sources scraps of low wit, sayings, and vile puns, blended with much foolery. One half their nights are spent in again retailing them out to those with whom they ON UNTAUGHT BOYS. 309 herd, to provoke a laugh, in some back-room of a public- house, over noggins of ale and goes of brandy, enveloped in tobacco smoke. Under a conservative moral government, this would be reformed altogether ; it has, however, nothing per se, it may be said, to do with crime, but be it remembered, that the more fool you allow a man to make himself, the less chance he has of obtaining or retaining a position in society, whereby he may get his bread, and preserve his honesty ; especially as such habits ever in the end lead to the confirma- tion of a confirmed inebriate. If the performances at the second-rate theatres are injurious to the morals of the soi- disant gentleman and actor, who for the most part may be supposed to have had some kind of education, what must representations of the vilest nature effect on the totally igno- rant and uneducated ! Such are nightly, in every quarter of the town, being exhibited, where may be seen crowds of chil- dren of both sexes, under twelve years of age, sitting in pairs, playing off all the vulgar familiarities of grown up, but low and lewd persons. Here the highwayman, the brigand, the pirate, and even the murderer, are shown under circumstances of the most favourable view ; their crimes being either wholly excused, or very much palliated, and a taste engendered among youth for every species of adventure connected with desperate undertakings. Ignorant and uneducated children of both sexes, if constitutionally of a temperament above par, immediately on witnessing these representations, take fire, and imaginatively become heroes and heroines ; they set up half the night, imitating to the best of their ability the scenes which they have beheld on the stage ; and from that moment all moral restraint on their desires are lost. That it should be so is natural : although untaught and low-born, they nevertheless latently possess all the feelings of those more auspiciously placed in life, which being precociously and suddenly excited, in the absence of a matured and controlling judgment, burst forth with a violence overwhelming in its 310 EFFECTS OF THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS effect. The mind having never undergone a proper temper- ing, by progressive reading, and consequent regular develop- ment of its powers, is taken by storm, and surprised, when they feel as if they had sustained an internal mental explo- sion a mine of desires are sprung, of which they heretofore had no comprehension. All the little materials for thinking which they may have collected in their circumscribed expe- rience, is spread to the winds like the ashes in a volcano. They then become bent on exploits of some kind, and on the unbridled indulgences of those passions, which at this critical period of their lives are awakened : in this feverish state, there is no one near them competent to reason down their intemperate sensations, and they fall an easy victim into the service of any one who is willing to receive them for initiation into crime. If those in authority think this fruitful source of crime overdrawn, or that the instances by which, through this source (low theatres) criminals are made, are few, I can only invite them to accompany me on an examination of the unfortunate boys now in custody, on board the Euryalus convict ship, at Chatham, or in the Penitentiary, when I doubt not of making it sufficiently evident and clear to them, that the pernicious consequences to society, arising from theatrical representations, far exceeds any account which can be written of them in a work not entirely devoted to that especial purpose. The afterpiece of " Black-eyed Susan" owes all its attraction, with the vulgar, (and they have been its chief admirers,) to the incident in it of William stabbing his officer, his subsequent trial, and the solemn preparations for his execution before the audience. Whether the organ of destructiveness is predominant in our natures, I will not un- dertake to determine, but I am acquainted with some extraor- dinary natural, or rather unnatural, effects, the witnessing of executions have produced, and have noticed the influence on the juvenile part of the audience at a theatre, which in a low exhibition generally forms the majority. I have invariably ON UNTAUGHT BOYS. 311 found them to show more signs of interest, and even internal delight, when one or more deaths are annexed to the catas- trophe of the plot of a performance. The excitement evinced both by males and females, is extraordinary, and there cannot remain a doubt but that the sensations at the time are of a pleasurable kind. These observations I have had confirmed by overhearing a party of boys. who were committed for trial : in their conversations they minutely detailed to each other their sensations at different periods of their lives, some of which occurred under very peculiar circumstances. Two of them very circumstantially described the effect of witnessing an execution at the Old Bailey. It appeared that they had not both been present at the same execution, yet their feelings were precisely similar, and the same day on which they were each spectators, led to the same results in each case. By the symbolism of the nerves we are informed that a eonsent of all the different parts of the body are kept up ; but how the sensations of pleasure can be imparted when the mind is la- bouring under a feeling of horror at beholding the violent death of a fellow-creature, must be left for the solution of the phycologist he who has a knowledge of all science, human and divine. The same effects transpire under the punishment of flogging that is, priapism ; the fact is in itself curious, and is here stated for a two-fold purpose ; one, as it in some measure explains how the horror supposed to be produced by witnessing an execution is counteracted in young minds, and rendered nugatory as example, by the super-excitement of the other feelings of nature ; and, secondly, as it points out the impropriety of accustoming young persons to scenes of horror and high excitement, whether acted in real life, or on the stage. I should have much interesting matter to add on this subject, for the consideration of those who are fond of the study of human nature, but it must be perceived that there is an embarrassment attending any writer who may pursue this subject further : my object in alluding to the mystery, is to call the attention of government to the consideration .of 312 EFFFCTS OF THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS juveniles, and to recommend that a more efficient surveillance should be instituted over all theatrical exhibitions, and par- ticularly that they should increase the penalties against those who open unlicensed places of amusement ; a practice which is now very prevalent in every low neighbourhood. It was only on the 19th of last February, (1833,) that sixty-five persons were apprehended in the vicinity of Clarence market, Regent's Park ; this capture took place in consequence of an intimation given by myself to the police. Had not an in- habitant of the parish interfered, it is probable the proprietors would have kept open the premises for months, as many others are doing, whilst I now write, to the utter ruin of all the children in the neighbourhood where the establishment is opened. The admittance to the place to which I allude was sixpence ; at many it is as low as one penny, obtaining a new audience every hour. These things must not be allowed to be continued ; nothing, however, but a board of public morals, armed with discretionary powers, to use the police as may be found necessary on any emergency, will meet the evil. If a proper example were made of a few of these panderers to the vitiated tastes of the juvenile and untaught members of this overgrown metropolis, the proprietors of these polluting ex- hibitions would in a short time be driven from their ground. They must, however, be made to feel the full weight of the law, and be taught that it cannot be violated with impunity. But so long as the profits of their calling exceed the penalties, what hope can reasonably be entertained of exterminating them from society in which their practices are so mischievous. I am, however, aware that many difficulties present themselves to the legislature in any attempt they may be disposed to make in circumscribing what are falsely called the recreations and amusements of the poorer classes. There is, however, one regulation which I think might be adopted without meet- ing with objection or opposition from any man, namely, that the proprietors of all theatres, other places of amusement, and public-houses, tea gardens, &c. &c. (i. e. of every place OX UNTAUGHT BOYS. 313 of entertainment,) should be prohibited, under pain of fine, &c. from admitting any boy or girl, under the apparent ages of fifteen years, unless in company with, and under the pro- tection of, an adult. Although this measure would not en- tirely meet the evil, yet, it would throw so many obstacles in the way of young persons catering for themselves in matters of amusement, as to lessen the number of instances of cor- ruption, and constrain youth to seek their pleasures through the concurrence only of their parents and guardians. Many licensed victuallers too pander to the appetites of youth, and betray them into crime ; those who have back rooms in pri- vate parts of the town allow mere children to meet and dance the night through, providing them with music, lights, &c. for the sake of their custom, and other advantages they contrive to pick out of them, not unfrequently buying their stolen property ; but cheating them in every way. I have myself known of thirty of these placed at one time, where females, but mere children to view, from twenty to fifty in number, might every night be seen, tawdrily decked out with baldrick and tiara, dancing with all the airs of a Bona Roba, with their fancy men. Sometimes, too, they mask it, by exchanging the whole, or part of each others dresses, or casmisating them- selves an amusement always reserved for gala nights. These assemblies are flashly designated cock and hen, chicken hops, or the freaks of the swell kids; uncoruncated Gynec- ocrasy is the prevailing form of government among them, and the female's every vanity is gratified, through the males, at the public expense. Libidinous desires are early excited, and crime becomes (if not before known) contemporaneous with them. If heavy fines, and other penalties, were visited on those, whether licensed victuallers or any other persons, who harboured boys and girls, the progress of this growing evil might be arrested ; but a mere law being placed in the statute books will not affect it : a board of morals, having the com- mand of their own officers, especially informed on all these 314 ON THE PRESENTATION OF BILLS subjects, can only effectually put down these, and other nui- sances to the public, which affect the morals of the people. SECTION IX. On the Presentment of Bills of Indictment before the Grand Jury. ALTHOUGH many alterations have taken place since some re- marks of mine on this subject were before the public, the loss of time and inconvenience sustained by prosecutors and wit- nesses are as great as heretofore. There are two causes for this, viz. a bad system of arrangement, and the partiality shown in particular cases. As I am about to suggest a totally different mode of arrangement, I must remark that no plan can succeed if it be not strictly carried into effect. In all our judicial functionaries there is a disposition to regard and show respect to particular persons. As there is nothing like the citation of facts, I will state what I saw and felt, on Friday the 17th of May, at Clerkenwell Session House. My pre- sence was required to give evidence in a case to be presented before the grand jury ; the gentleman who required my at- tendance knowing how very inconvenient it was for me to attend, put off the preferring of his bill until Friday, which was considered the last day the jury would sit, and I was assured that I should not be detained more than an hour. After waiting from nine o'clock in the morning to four in the afternoon, and seeing many cases marked off the list which followed my case instead of preceding it, I became impatient, and had determined to remonstrate with the jury the next time they left the room to go up into the court with their bills. During a short absence, however, having gone out for BEFORE THE GRAND JURY. 315 some refreshment, I missed them, and was told on my return that some parish officers who had bills to prefer against Mr. Scales, of city notoriety, had waylaid the jury on the stairs, and succeeded in forcing their cases on their attention ; at this time I was fourth for call on the list, yet, in consequence of this piece of injustice in favour of parish bodies, I was constrained to wait till half-past six o'clock, and then attend again the following morning, at the loss of another day, having some miles to go home. Whilst I was waiting I went into the court, where I heard the doctrine of partiality propounded and supported by Mr. Phillips, the barrister, before the bench of magistrates, none of whom had virtue enough to check him in advancing principles so fraught with injustice to the public at large. After having prosecuted two men for pecu- lation of property belonging to the St. Catherine's Dock Company, he took occasion to compliment the chairman for his patience and great humanity towards the prisoners ; he thanked him for the preference shown him that day, saying, it was but right companies like that of St. Catharine's should not be inconvenienced by their servants being kept long from business. From this address I inferred that his cases (there were two of them tried in succession) had been called on out of their turn. Public bodies are in some sort monopolies, and are generally better able to pay for substitutes when their servants are called from home than individuals; besides, it was not very probable that any of those who left the docks for the purpose of giving evidence would return to work again that day, and this Mr. Phillips knew. His object was his own gain, in which he was right, and might be justified on grounds of having a duty to other prisoners to perform at the Old Bailey ; but why shield himself under so preposterous a proposition as to maintain that companies who are rich, should be accommodated, to the prejudice of tradesmen, whose business is most frequently at a positive stand for want of their presence, and who are but too often tempted 316 ON THE PRESENTATION OF BILLS during the idle hours forced on them to indulge in drinking, which unfits them for the resumption of business for many days after they return to their homes. The facts, as regards Mr. Phillips are, I expect, these : that it was very inconvenient for him to attend at Clerkenwell session on these prosecutions, the Old Bailey session being on at the same time, where his practice is considerable, and consequently profitable ; yet the company of St. Catherine's docks must not be neglected. Future prospects of employment forbids that it should ; he, therefore, ought to have been personally thankful to the court for the accommodation shown him, without publicly in- sulting the tradesmen he superseded, and kept from their homes, by stating that they were unworthy the consideration due to dock companies. All who are engaged in prosecutions in Middlesex must be fully sensible of the necessity there is for a reform in the system of preparing bills of indictment against offenders at Clerkenwell. I have many times wit- nessed the public evil, and the great inconvenience to which individuals are subjected, as the business has hitherto been managed, and considered the remedy. I now submit two plans, out of which, I will presume to say that those having the power, may, if they have the disposition, render the public an essential service, by making arrangements to prevent the profligate waste of time of his majesty's subjects, and no longer allow the meeting of judicial authorities on questions of awful importance, to be considered by low witnesses, and many prosecutors, as a kind of jubilee or holiday. Under the present system every prosecutor is ordered to attend on Monday at Clerkenwell session-house, and is, indeed, bound over to prefer his bill on that day, although, it is well known to all magistrates, that the commitments average four hun- dred, and that the grand jury do not get through, on an average, more than fifty-five cases in a day. This, on the first blush, presents a great inattention to public convenience, and is irreconcilable with the desire expressed by the magis- BEFORE THE GRAND JURY. 317 tracy to facilitate prosecutions for the benefit of the com- munity at large. If we suppose only four hundred cases every sessions, that is, every six weeks; (the Old Bailey ca- lendar, however, averages very nearly that number, inde- pendently of Clerkenwell sessions, which sit at the same time, and often has an adjourned intermediate sessions to try assaults and rioting cases;) let us, however, take the number at four hundred, as regards the Old Bailey; there then will be four hundred prosecutors; and supposing each case to require three witnesses ; (twelve hundred in the whole ;) adding these to the witnesses, sixteen hundred persons are ordered and bound over to attend by the magistracy on a day they know that only from fifty to sixty cases can be got through by the grand jury. Now, there are seven police offices in Middlesex, besides the country magistrates, who commit pri- soners ; suppose a day were fixed on for the presentment of the bills of indictment belonging to each office, and one or more, as may be required for the country commitments, it is clear that no prosecutor or witness could be kept in waiting from five to seven days, as is often the case under the present plan of no system at all ; and a separate day should be ap- pointed for the preferring of bills against persons who are not in custody, or under bail, such as perjury, &c. I should further recommend that the clerk at each office be authorized to furnish every prosecutor on the same, or some subsequent day, after the prisoner's committal, with a bill of indictment already filled up and endorsed, with the witnesses' names, having on the face of it the name of the police office from whence it issued, the number in the order as the commitments had occurred, also the day appointed for hearing the cases before the grand jury from that particular office. The country magistrates not acting in union, of course could not number their cases, but they might have the day fixed on for hearing country cases, printed on the face of the bill given to each prosecutor, and thus prevent their being detained in 318 ON THE PRESENTATION OF BILLS town for a whole fortnight, as I have known happen, including the time whilst waiting for the trial after the bill had come out from the grand jury. Some objections will naturally offer themselves to this plan, such as, that the number of commitmentsfrom each office are unequal, and that the grand jury may have little to do one day, and may be overpowered with business the next ; but there are several ways of sur- mounting this difficulty. The metropolis may be divided into districts, and several offices joined, as regards their com- mitments, and the manner in which the bills shall be num- bered, this being the most important feature in the proposed argument ; for when the prosecutor is in possession of his number, and which he is assured will be taken in rotation, he will always be enabled to form some tolerable judgment wlun his attendance will be required ; or if his time be valuable, and also that of his witnesses, he may place an underling at the session-house to apprise him when a sufficient number are struck off to need his presence. Again, suppose the commit- ments to be taken in the aggregate, and the clerk of the peace, or, if it be necessary, any other officer appointed for the purpose to attend at Newgate every morning for a list of commitments, and the order in which they come into the prison ; then let it be this officer's duty to keep a book, having the numbers entered from day to day, from the termination of one session to the termination of the next, and also let it be his business to issue the bills of indictment to all prosecutors, on payment of the usual fee, numbering every one as they were issued, not as they went out of the office, but as the commitment of the prisoner took place during the recess, or in session's time. I will now suppose one hundred to be the maximum of cases disposed of in one day. I will also, by the way, premise that the actual numbers, if I am in error as to these suppositions, have nothing to do with the principle of arrangement as here proposed : those who are practically engaged in the manage- ment of these affairs may easily adapt the numbers to the BEFORE THE GRAND JURY. 319 principle. I am induced to make this observation as there are always persons interested and opposed to the alteration of every old and long-established abuse, who fasten upon any error, although it affect not the question, to prove that the proposer of the measure is ignorant of his subject. If, as before said, one hundred be the maximum of cases got through by the grand jury in one day, then let the officer who is appointed to de- liver the bills, cause to be written on each bill, " Prosecutor and witnesses as endorsed on the back, ordered to attend at Clerkenwell Session House on Monday," &c. See. ; then one hun- dred and one will have written on it the word Tuesday, sub- stituted for Monday, and so on for every hundred, till all the cases are disposed of. Now, as a hundred is, I apprehend, more than the grand jury on an average ever do get through in one day, they would, by the proposed plan, have always a reserve of cases behind to prevent their standing still ; but if it should so happen once in fifty sessions that a hundred should be run through early in the day, so much the better for the gentlemen who compose the jury ; let them depart to their homes for that day ; such rare occurrences and excep- tions to general rules ought not to be considered when form- ing a system of public convenience. Again, I shall be told that one case may, by possibility, occupy the attention of the jury a whole day ; granted : so by possibility may an eclipse occur to-morrow unpredicted, but shall the affairs of life be allowed ever afterwards to go on in confusion because we were not wise enough to foreknow the occurrence of such an event. It is our duty to lay down the best system we can, guided by former experience, and not wander on at random because we meet with one or two interruptions in the direct road. In the same order as the bills were presented should they go to trial at the Old Bailey, which would give the prisoner who had been longest in prison the chance, if innocent, of being first acquitted ; it would also enable him to ascertain pretty nearly the hour of trial, and afford a fair opportunity for defence 320 ON THE PRESENTATION* OF BILLS. and the attendance of his friends, to speak as to his general character ; it would lessen the number, by some hundreds, of those who now, from day to day, congregate about the Old Bailey court-house and Clerkenwell Session House, making the shameful irregularity of the courts an excuse for living days together in idleness and drunkenness, whilst all honest and industrious men, having families to maintain, who are concerned in a prosecution, would not be called from their homes unnecessarily, and moreover it would lessen the expenses for prosecutions probably one-third. The average number of days all the parties concerned in a prosecution are now detained from their business, in waiting to be called to give their evidence, is five days, reckoning the time of attendance before the grand jury, to find the bill at Clerkenwell Session House, and at the Old Bailey Session House, to give their evidence on the trial. The average number of persons supposed to be engaged in each prosecution is three and a-half. The payment of these witnesses, at two shillings and sixpence per day, amounts to 2/. 3s. Qd. Under the proposed plan of arrangement two days would be sufficient to perform their duties, which would reduce the expenses for witnesses on each trial to seventeen shillings and sixpence. This would be the saving to the county, but the prosecutor would be still more benefited ; his tavern expenses while being kept in waiting for so many days are generally very heavy, having most frequently to treat the witnesses, besides bearing his own expenses. By the table (page 271) it will be seen that if one-third of the present cost for prosecutions can be saved by dispensing with the unnecessary detention of prosecutors and witnesses, that the county rates will be lessened, and an amount not less than 2,588/. be taken off from the present annual cost. It is to the bench of magistrates I now peculiarly appeal, under a full and firm persuasion that all I have stated under this head can, under their authority, be accomplished and brought to work with ease in the interval between any two sessions. The BEFORE THE GRAND JURY. 321 evil is so great, that were it not possible to amend the present system, and thereby remove the mischief, it imperatively calls on those in power to have two grand juries summoned every recurring sessions, by which the business might be facilitated and dispatched out of hand : this measure the county gentle- men could not have reason to complain of, as although double the number would be called from their homes, yet the busi- ness would be performed in half the time, which would be the same thing in the end. But the office for issuing bills to be numbered, and a strict adherence to the plan laid down, with a heavy penalty on all who take bribes to forward the business of one to the prejudice of another, is the only mode of remedy- ing this universally denounced and mischievous system by which one passes his bill in an hour and others are kept for seven and eight days successively ; which indeed must always be the case where there is no unity of action between the prosecutor and witnesses. For instance, a policeman is bound over with others to attend at Clerkenwell on Monday to give his evidence ; it then becomes his duty to attend on that day and every subsequent one until the grand jury breaks up ; but the prosecutor, who is otherwise engaged, hears that it is a very heavy sessions, and that the following Monday will be time enough for his appearance, and that by staying away until the last, he in all probability will spare himself much waste of time ; if he does this, (and hundreds do every ses- sion,) the policeman, and perhaps several other witnesses, who prefer being paid for idleness rather than work, receive from the county six days' pay for an attendance which has bene- fited the public nothing ; on the contrary, the public are in- jured not only by the loss of money, but the encouragement of idleness, imposition, and demoralization has been going on among those who in their turn employ the grand jury and offer like premiums to other witnesses to live in idleness and company for nine and ten days a period quite long enough for the alteration of habits and corruption of many but too Y 322 ON ALLOWING COUNSEL TO much at all times predisposed, for want of firmness of charac- ter and education, to fall into vice ; besides, many ignorant witnesses of loose moral principles think they learn so much of law during their stay about these places, that they know how to commit crime without coming within the trammels of the law. One man who sate beside me last sessions in the court, said, " If I were the prisoner in this case, I could get off." These notions, I will venture to say, make thieves. SECTION X. On allowing Counsel to Prisoners charged with Felonies. IN the House of Commons, March 28th, 1833, Mr. Ewart, in moving for leave to bring in a bill to allow prisoners in criminal cases the benefit of counsel, said that, not seeing the under secretary of state in his place, he would decline entering upon the merits of his bill, and simply move for leave to bring it in, with the intention of going into the discussion on its principles on the second reading. An honourable member (name unknown) was opposed to the bill, but would have no objection to join in a bill which would take away the privilege of counsel from the prosecutor, so that both parties might be placed upon an equal footing, without the slightest prepon- derance on either side. Mr. O'Connell supported the bill, and stated a case in which three brothers had been tried for murder, convicted and executed, although in his conscience he believed them innocent of the crime, and would have staked his existence that, even with his slender abilities, had he ad- dressed the jury upon the evidence, they would have been ac- quitted. Sir T. Freemantle said, that he believed a serious injury would be done to prisoners if counsel were granted to PRISONERS CHARGED WITH FELONIES. 323 them. The solicitor-general said, though the principle was clear that prisoners ought to have counsel, if counsel were op- posed to them, yet there were difficulties in the case. In the case of a foreigner, a dumb, or a blind man, the greatest in- justice might take place, were they not to be allowed counsel to speak in their behalf. Still he thought it would be better to try the effect of taking away the privilege of counsel from the prosecutor, unless there was also to be a speech from counsel on the other side. If the principle of allowing speeches on both sides were to be adopted, they must double the courts of j udicature throughout the country, for the pre- sent courts would be entirely inadequate to try the number of cases. An honourable member was opposed to the bill, for its effects would be to lead to a trial of skill, and the prose- cutor, being the richer party, would generally succeed. He agreed in the suggestion of the solicitor-general that it would be better to do away with the privilege of a speech from the counsel for the prosecution. Leave was then given to bring in the bill. The preamble of the bill, since printed, states, " Whereas it is just and reasonable that persons accused of offences against the law should be enabled to make their full answer and defence to all that is alleged against them ;" and the enacting clause goes on to say, " Be it therefore enacted, &c. that from and after the passing of this act, on all trials for felony, whensoever any learned counsel in the law, being then of counsel for the prosecution of such felony, shall have called his witnesses on the matters of fact, in furtherance of such prosecution, the person or persons so prosecuted shall be admitted to make his, her, or their answers and defence thereto, and state his, her, or their case, by counsel learned in the law, any law, custom, or practice to the contrary notwith- standing." The Morning Herald says, u The very descrip- tion of a bill to allow a prisoner to make a ' full defence ' to the charges brought against him, is a sufficient reason for the enact- ment of such a measure. 1 " Not to permit a prisoner to make Y2 ON ALLOWIM; COIJXSEI. TO a fuH defence, or, in other words, to oblige him to make an imperfect defence, while the accusation is pressed against him with all the aid of eloquent statement and ingenuity, is such gross and flagrant injustice, that it can only be accounted for on the principle that there is nothing, however monstrous or absurd in the institution of society, to which long habit cannot reconcile the human mind. But the impartial and humane arrangement which denies counsel for the prisoner, the prose- cutor making explanatory statements in answer to the colour- ing given to facts by a speech of prosecutor's counsel, does not exist in cases of high treason* the highest crime known to the law, nor in misdemeanors, the lowest. But far the most nu- merous class are cases of felonies. To make up for this defi- ciency, the ridiculous fiction is resorted to of the "judge being counsel for the prisoner." The situation of judge is, or ought to be, incompatible with his being counsel for one side or the other. The legislators would not like to answer in case of property against themselves on such terms, to an- swer a declaration in ejectment without a counsel, so much more value is there set, in this " Christian country, 11 on the pro- perty of the rich than the lives of the poor. One honourable member would take away the privilege of counsel for the prosecution, to place both sides on equal terms. Suppose some aged man or woman, robbed and half murdered, who was never before in a court of justice, or, as the solicitor- general says, a dumb or blind man, will any one say that public justice does not require the assistance of a COUIIM! in these cases? But why should murderers and robbers be allowed any more chances of escape, because it is necessary to protect the innocent ? The solicitor-general, however, gives us a reason, and a pretty specimen of legal reasoning it is because, forsooth, it would require more courts to do the subjects common justice. UJMHI this principle he may advo- cate the abolition of those now open, as being troublesome and expensive, and allow the magistrate on ex-parte evidence PRISONERS CHARGED WITH FELONIES. 325 to hang and transport as he may see fit : the rule of atidi alterem partem being so very troublesome. Do they not, however, get well paid for their trouble : and who pays them ? Another honourable member says, " An advocate may do the prisoners a serious injury." What can he mean by this ? Does he mean that an advocate would provoke oppo- sition and elicit more truths, and thereby occasion more convictions? If so, I ask, is this not very desirable? and what is the object of the law but to punish the guilty, and to acquit the innocent ? He cannot mean that advocates would injure the innocent prisoners truth has nothing to fear but from concealment ; and if he means that it would be the cause of convicting the guilty prisoner, so much the better for the ends of justice. In no body of men, where pure motives and plain unsophisticated common and rational sense hold any sway, could such notions of the rights of human beings be tolerated. The darkest ages do not furnish instances of more mistaken views of that attribute which distin- guishes the Deity from weak and silly mortals, viz. justice to all his creatures, than the ideas propounded in our legislative assembly on this subject. I pray Heaven to amend their judgment and to correct their principles, for the better administration of justice. One argues for the acquittal of rogues, while another urges that he who is ignorant, being falsely charged with guilt, shall have no opportunity of showing his innocence. These incongruities and diverse opinions can only be accounted for by supposing men to reason on subjects theoretically, without having the slightest knowledge of facts, or being possessed of any data on which they found their premises. Such rea- soners will ever fall into error, experientia docet. Law makers generally have but a partial experience of the whole of life, and see things only by halves ; they have no compre- hension of how some men become meshed in circumstances of apparent guilt, when wholly innocent, from which they have 326 ON ALLOWING COUNSEL TO no more capacity to extricate themselves than they had to keep themselves free from the toils of the cunning man. In May sessions last, at the Old Bailey, the court committed the prosecutor and discharged the prisoner at the same moment, the perjuries of the prosecutor being so flagrant. In this case the wretch, for some reason only known to himself, pos- sessed the diabolical desire of destroying an innocent person through the prejudices and hastiness of the Old Bailey pro- ceedings ; but not having ability equal to his wickedness, he foundered, and stood self-convicted. Many similar cases have occurred in the course of my experience, but it never happens, unless counsel be employed to cross-examine the prosecutor and witnesses. If the law allowed him also to comment on evidence, many witnesses would slink out of court in dread of a prosecution for perjury. To use Mr. O'Connell's words, I would stake my existence, and I will add, my hopes of salvation in another world, that even with my poor ability, had I been allowed, in numerous cases coming under my immediate knowledge, to have defended the accused parties, that I should have succeeded in acquitting the prisoners, and of committing the prosecutors. In many of these instances the prisoners have been found guilty, and heavily sentenced. What aggravates the evil of the present system is, that the prisoners are not aware but that they are allowed an advocate, conceiving that when they have paid their money for one to cross-examine witnesses, agreeable to the present law, that they are to have the benefit of a counsel, as understood in the full acceptation of the term. This mis- take of theirs has been the cause of many erroneous convic- tions ; whenever you hear a prisoner, in reply to any ques- tion asked him by the court, say that he leaves it all to his counsel, you may be sure that the unfortunate man is labour- ing under the delusion that his counsel will, in the course of the trial, make a speech on his behalf, and enter fully into his defence. Hence it is that all prisoners who employ counsel PHISONKKS CHARGED WITH FELONIES. 327 are heard to exclaim, after the trial is over, " I have been betrayed by my attorney or counsel !" Those engaged in legis- lation, and who feel any interest in these matters, must go and witness them, and then judge for themselves not pin their faith on the evidence of those employed in carrying on the system as it now works. I allude not to any individual in particular ; in all cases where many are engaged in one work and there are various degrees of station and emoluments con- nected with it the evidence of any one individual, from the head to the lowest subordinate, is scarcely worth the trouble of recording: each forms a part in a catenated body, the strength of which depends on the immediate connexion with each other. It is a sympathetic chain, in which every link dreads a separation from the one immediately connected with its own. 328 CHAPTER VII. CRIMES. " How few sometimes may know when thousands err !" * * * " But for the miracle, I mean our preservation, few in millions Can speak like us." THE multiplicity of penal enactments in this country must, in the very nature of things, defeat those ends the attainment of which ought to be the object of all law, namely, the pre- vention of crime. Our criminal 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 re- sult of able and minute discussion, or a due attention to the revision of the existing laws, or considering how far their pro- visions bear upon new and accumulated statutes introduced into parliament, often without either consideration or know- ledge, and without those precautions which are always neces- sary when laws are to be made which may affect the property, the liberty, and perhaps even the lives of thousands. To enter into the number and nature of the laws here, would occupy too much space ; some notion of their san- guinary character may, however, be formed, when it is stated rKTMES. 329 that, thirty years ago, there were upwards of one hundred and sixty different offences which subjected the parties who were found guilty of them to death, without benefit of clergy. Although in the present day, notwithstanding the severity of the laws, the different modes of committing crime are almost endless, the principal actors in criminality may be classed under the following heads : Housebreakers Highwaymen and footpads Coiners .... Utterers of base metal Pickpockets ... Stealers of goods and money from shops, areas, &c. &c. . . . Shoplifters .... Stitchers of reticules, watches, &c. &c. from the person . . . Horse and cattle stealers Women and men who waylay inebriate persons for the purpose of robbery . Receivers of stolen goods . Forgers .... Embezzlers .... Swindlers of every description, among which are .... Stealing from carts and carriages of all kinds .... To which may be added, all kinds of plundering on the river and its banks, on board shipping, barges,&c.. Vulgui Craksmen, pannymen. Grand-tobymen and spicemen. Bit-makers. Smashers. Buzzmen, clyfakers, conveyancers. Sneaks. Shop-bouncers. Grabbers. Prad-chewers. Ramps. Fences. Fakers. Bilkers. Macers, duffers, and ring-droppers. Dragsmen. Light-horsemen, heavy horsemen, game watermen, do. lightermen, scuffle-hunters, copemen, &c. The whole of these are carried on by confederacies of small parties, and at other times by gangs, when their operations become more extensive. The forger and the highwayman are exceptions ; the latter offence is generally committed by one or more, in a fit of need and in a state of desperation, with- out any system or plan for carrying on the practice ; and it may be affirmed that, in almost every case of this nature, the 330 HOUSEBREAKEttS. criminal never committed a like offence before. There have been some few instances of five or six individuals associating for the purpose of committing forgeries, but the cases are rare. SECTION I. THE HOUSEBREAKERS. ALTHOUGH not the largest body of offenders, the house- breakers are yet a numerous and a formidable party, and a greater proportion of them have eluded the vigilance of the law than any other species of criminal ; but since the esta- blishment of the new police, they have received a check more in proportion than any other public depredators : they have, in consequence, formed more plans of burglary in the country. None of the gangs under the heads of crime, as stated above, confine their operations wholly to the metropolis. London is the head-quarters of the regular and practised delinquent it is the centre to which they all gravitate, and whence they again diverge into the country to commit crime ; many of them taking journeys as regularly as any mercantile house of business in the city of London. There is a gang of pick- pockets who start regularly every spring, to make the circuit of all the race-courses, cattle-fairs, and other places of public resort, returning as the season closes to winter business in town. The housebreaker travels at all seasons, but his journeys are direct, for the accomplishment of someone specific object of robbery. Sometimes it is a put-up affair ; that is, notice has been given them by some one on the premises in- HOrSKBKEAKEKS. 331 tended to be robbed, or by an agent residing near the spot, of an opportunity to commit a robbery. When an intimation of this kind is given, hands are forthwith sent down with a vehicle to accomplish the speedy removal of the property to town. Some of the parties are always in the country on the adventure and look-out for business. As they pass through the different towns they find no difficulty in meeting with loose characters, who are ever ready to receive their instruc- tions, and to listen to the temptations held out to them of gain, if they will but in due time send up an account to the rendezvous of the housebreakers, of the maturity of any scheme for committing a robbery in the neighbourhood where they (the informants) reside. These characters are always to be met with at what are called the flash public-houses, one of which is in every town, usually kept by pugilists. Those who travel for this purpose are generally dressed re- spectably, and are so well supplied with money as to support themselves in very good style, without running the least risk, being paid after a certain rate for each successful put-up, (in- timation :) they are most usually accompanied by a well- attired female, assuming on the road a journey of both plea- sure and business. I was very recently informed of one man, who himself carried in his chaise a case of housebreaking in- struments, in order to be in readiness in the event of meeting with any chance of committing a robbery before hands could be sent for from town ; and I was favoured with a sight of this case. I had not time to count the number, or to view the various kinds and purposes to which the instruments were applicable ; but I guess there were from sixty to seventy in the whole : most of them appeared designed for lock-picking, with some few for forcible entry. When I saw the case it was in the hands of a carpenter, who had it for a short time to make some alteration in the interior fittings up. He informed me that the whole was made at a cost of 150/., and that if a 332 HOUSEBREAKERS. door was not bolted, or barred, there was no lock made which could resist these instruments in skilful hands. When a robbery is determined on, one of the London gang goes down to reconnoitre and arrange the plan of attack, whilst the others follow in a chaise or a chaise-cart. They contrive to reach the scene of action precisely at an appointed time, so that those who actually commit the robbery may never be seen, at any time previously, in or about the neigh- bourhood of the house robbed. When the object is accom- plished, one of the party drives with all possible speed to town, where the goods are either carried direct to a buyer, or deposited in a house kept for the purpose by one of their con- federates, who takes no part in the business otherwise than keeping the premises for the reception of property, and making a respectable show of carrying on some kind of trade. As he is never seen in any transaction of actual robbery, they conceive no suspicion can ever be attached to him. Their wariness on this head is carried to an extreme. None of the operative burglars are ever allowed to go to the house, save for the purpose of depositing the goods when first stolen ; and some of them are even deceived in this, as the property is sometimes, on its arrival in town, left at one place, and sub- sequently removed by the master-men to the general depot. Some of them are so wealthy as to be enabled to keep their goods for years, and thus avoid any risk of immediate sale ; waiting until all active inquiry regarding the goods stolen has subsided. One of these depositories was discovered about two years since, by great accident, in which goods were found stolen five years previously. The discovery of this led to ano- ther, kept by the same man. No crime requires so many auxiliaries as housebreaking, to carry it on successfully. As the daring and Imp-hazard burglar is now nearly extinct, it is, in every case of the com- mission of this crime, absolutely necessary the burglars should HOUSEBREAKERS. 333 be apprised of all the localities of the premises intended to be attacked, and of the exact spot in the house where the property sought is deposited. To obtain this information when a good prize is expected, their patience and perseverance are unremitted. Ofttimes they have their eyes on one object for a whole year, during which they will wait, and have re- course to all kinds of stratagems, to obtain a favourable op- portunity ; and they seldom fail. Like the hawk, when the eye is once fixed on the prey, it is ten to one in their favour of success. In the country, if they have a native resident agent, they are soon in possession of all they want ; when the business is done they give him ten pounds, and set him to worm out the particulars of another family, by becoming ac- quainted with a servant, or in any way he can ; facilities for which are greater in the country than in town. This body of really clever rogues is unquestionably the most formidable in the country ; and, I think, are more on the increase than any others engaged in crime. Unfortu- nately, they are seldom or never caught, as almost the whole of the burglars brought to justice are trading on their own bottom, or at least connected with one or two others only. When any of these little parties are apprehended, the officers never fail to amuse the public with an account of the detec- tion of an extensive gang of daring housebreakers, who have been long known to infest the town, &c. &c. There can be no objection to the officers apprehending as many stragglers as they possibly can ; but until measures are taken to cope with the systematic and great body of burglars, no diminution of the loss of property can be expected. With the first-rate housebreakers the chances of impunity are so great at present, that were it not from the difficulties of introduction to this body, few of the idle and needy would hesitate or refrain from forthwith seeking an initiation into the art, and of enrolling themselves under the banners of the ac- complished and professed hands in housebreaking. It is for 334 HOUSEBREAKERS. the legislature to devise a plan by which this body may be broken up, the public at the same time taking more precau- tionary measures than heretofore for the protection of their own property. In furtherance of which, the police should cause monthly hand-bills to be circulated, detailing the tricks and stratagems of all rogues, as they come to their knowledge ; and cautioning the unwary to guard against ex- posing their property. The burglar is never weary of study, in finding out new modes of carrying on the war against the honest man ; and it is the business of the police to countermine their plans, by making them known, if not as soon as they are formed, at least as soon as any person becomes a sufferer by them. This, even if unheeded by those whom nothing can make wise, would at least drive the enemy to be perpetually devising new schemes, before he could benefit much by the last- made one. It will be asked, Do not the newspapers generally insert the occurrences of the day at the police-offices ? Yes ; but such matter is not read by all persons. Servants females especially seldom see the papers; and they are the very persons who should be most informed on this subject, and constantly admonished and instructed how to guard their master's property. I would have published, in the first in- stance, a catalogue of all the old and present known tricks ; after which, from month to month, those which were found to be most in use. Since this hint has been published, some bills have been circulated by the police department, but they are too loosely and generally drawn up to answer any efficient purpose. Par- ticular cases should be stated at length, which would make them interesting to read, and, consequently, leave an impres- sion of remembrance on the mind of those who most require repeated cautions. Had an account of the practice of swindlers writing into the country to manufacturers, for goods HOUSEBREAKERS. 335 to be sent up to certain directions in town, on receiving pay- ment beforehand, and which payments were made with forged bank-notes, as in the case of Richard Coster and his gang, been properly made known through the country, the first at- tempt, whether successful or otherwise, would have been also the last. It may be said, that hand-bills published in Lon- don might not meet the eye of parties resident in the coun- try ; but suppose a good system were established, and an office for carrying the same into effect instituted, the post- office gratuitously lending its aid, might not a copy of every caution be regularly forwarded to all magistrates throughout the whole kingdom, with instructions to have it again re- printed in each district ; and, if (in particular cases) thought necessary, have the same inserted once or twice in the country newspapers ? Reciprocal town and country communications would thus be established ; and it should be as much the duty of provincial magistrates and tradesmen to forward the cases occurring under their experience to the metropolitan office, as it should be theirs to instruct arid inform the rural popu- lation of their dangers, the sequent to which should always be publicity ; and I am not quite certain but if a national paper of this nature were printed, whether it could not be made a great source of profit, not only as regards the protec- tion of property, but in a pecuniary way. Nothing, however, answers, if but half attempted; such, notwithstanding, is always the course pursued by our government in legal ques- tions ; they appear to have as great an abhorrence for perfect measures, as nature is said to have for a vacuum. It would be foreign to my purpose to introduce such a list here ; if they are unknown to the police, they may be ob- tained in various ways. I can name several boys now in cus- tody, who have been actors in some of the most complicated schemes of burglary, and from whom much on this head might be elicited. One in particular, who began his career by robbing a gentleman in Mark Lane of plate to a considerable amount ; 336 HOUSEBREAKERS. and as it shows one method of committing a robbery, I will relate how it was accomplished. The boy was under sentence of death when I got the history of his life from him, he having been nine years in the successful commission of crime ; and although nearly eighteen years of age, his appearance gave him credit for only being fourteen. Whilst in custody, his constant theme of regret was that he had left the parties in whose services he had been so long and securely employed, to join some of his own age, embarking in business for them- selves ; by which he was " nicked" (taken up.) He was an orphan, and had been brought up in the poor-house, whence he was apprenticed to a sweep in the city. He was a remark- ably sharp boy, which no doubt was noticed by those who are always on the look-out for agents to aid them in their schemes. He was met one morning early, with the soot-bag on his back, by a man who pretended to be his uncle, and who gave him a half-crown piece, making another appointment for a meeting ; the result of which was, before he had served sixteen months of his time he had given information by which fifteen robberies had been committed. He, of course, had been paid for his services, which soon made him disgusted with the sooty busi- ness ; and he made an arrangement with the man who drew him into crime, to leave his master's service, and to commit with him a robbery on their own private account before he left. The house fixed on was the one above alluded to in Mark Lane. The premises had before been surveyed, and deemed impregnable ; that is to say, were considered too well guarded to be robbed without detection. They, however, got possession of the plate in the following manner: The boy was a favourite with the cook of the house, and she would have no other to sweep her kitchen-chimney ; a matter of business which was performed the last Saturday in every month. It was concerted between the man and the boy, that the former should dress himself in the character of a sweep, and accompany the latter as his overlooker, or assi - HOUSKBRF. AKI-.R S. 337 tant. The real sweep-overlooker, of course, must be kept out of the way ; and here laid all their difficulty. It cost the boy (to use his own expression) six months 1 longer punishment as a sweep, and the man six appearances, at an early hour of the morning, in the same character, before the object could be carried, namely, to get rid of the real sweep. At length, one Saturday, by pretending to forget the job until all the men were gone out about other work, the boy, affecting sud- denly to recollect it, persuaded the master to let him go alone, saying he himself could perform the duty. It was five o'clock in the morning when he and the disguised robber reached the house ; the cook opened the door, having nothing on save a blanket thrown over her shoulders. The arch young rogue said, " It's only me and Harry; it's a very cold morning; if you like to go to bed again, cookey, we will do it well, and leave all clean, and shut the door fast after us." She went to bed, and they went to the plate depository, which had been well noted ofttimes before. They put the whole of its con-y tents into the soot-bag, and fearlessly walked through the streets with it on their backs. The boy, a few hours after- wardsj was so metamorphosed, being dressed in the smartest manner, with cane in hand and fifty pounds in his pocket, that lie walked the streets in full confidence that not even his master or his fellow-apprentices would know him. Hundreds of put-up robberies are through sweeps, who, as they go occasionally into every room in the house, can give the necessary information. I can name several now on board the Euryalus, who have even committed robberies by de- scending the chimney ; and there is one among them who received the contents of a pistol in his leg, whilst making his escape through that channel. Others of the gang, belonging to housebreakers, employ themselves in courting the servant-girls ; by which means they frequently obtain admittance to the house during the absence of the principals, and thus become acquainted with all the 338 HOUSEBREAKERS localities of the premises, and the habits of the family ; after which, they lay their plans with almost a certainty of success. I am in hopes this latter practice will not be so available to them in future, as I daily observe our police all over the town engaged in these amours, which must render the fair damsels of the broom somewhat less eager for chance para- mours. It is, therefore, much to the credit of Messrs. Rowan and Mayne, that they have selected so many fine tempting young men for the service ; which, no doubt they are aware, takes off the edge of the maiden's penchant for other sparks. Cautioned, however, they should be, and their masters and mistresses, in every possible manner. Printing and paper are now very cheap, and the plan would not form an im- portant additional item in the annual expenditure of the police establishment, were bills left at every house once a month ; the delivery, of course, would be performed by the policemen, as they went their usual rounds. The country robberies would be much lessened, if persons stationed on the roads were authorised to inspect vehicles passing through their districts, particularly within twenty miles of town. I conceive nothing could be easier than to connect something like a police force with our turnpike system, at a very trifling cost compared to the immense advantages which would accrue to the public; by which means a sur- veillance might be had over those, more particularly, who travel by night, and were in any way suspiciously circum- stanced. The number of regular housebreakers are supposed to be about three thousand in and about the metropolis. HIOHWAVMKX. 339 SECTION II. HIGHWAYMEN. HIGHWAY robbery, according to the usual acceptation of the term, is now an unknown crime ; Haynes, of Hounslow Heath memory, being the last of those termed highwaymen. It is now only committed by occasional desperate men, and gene- rally in the suburbs of the metropolis, or in a crowd, where a gang of fellows sometimes surround the person, robbing the party in the face of all the standers-by. Nothing but the vigilance of the police can cope with these characters, as the recklessness and desperate state of the thief at the time, arising from want of money, places the offence out of the pale of all precautionary measures ; and it may be relied on, that the generality of thieves have even an abhorrence of any violence committed on the person. They have a very unfavourable opinion of any of the fraternity who cannot carry on their business without it. I had an opportunity of seeing a remarkable instance of this last year. An Irish itinerary tinker knocked a captain of a vessel down, in the neighbourhood of the London Docks, in a most brutal manner, in the dark, and robbed him of his money. When the fellow was committed to Newgate, he applied to me to make out his brief: from the desperate na- ture of the offence I at first declined doing it, knowing he must suffer ; but the man urged me so much > that at length I consented ; he saying, " If I am found guilty I know I am 340 HIGHWAYMEN. as dead as Harry the Eighth, and shall not blame you." There were in the same yard where he was, before his trial, nearly a hundred prisoners, one half of whom were trans- ports, but not one of them would associate with him, in con- sequence of the nature of his offence ; and when I went to take his instructions for making out the brief, they all called out for me not to do it : and I got some insults for having undertaken it. They afterwards led the man such a life, that he appeared to be relieved when he was condemned and sent to the cell. From this it may be seen, as Lord Byron writes, " none are all evil." On the morning of this man's execution, not a word of com- miseration for him, or reproach on the practice of hanging, was uttered, by one hundred and twenty men who followed crime as a trade. On the contrary, they all, nemine contra- dicente, said he deserved his fate. Yet Mr. Wakefield says, (p. 185, second edition,) " It can hardly be doubted, that every year persons confined in Newgate, who have never committed crime accompanied by any violence, are converted into savage burglars and merciless footpads, by the feelings of anger and desperation which the killing of their late companions engenders ." The explanation of this is, that the character and feelings of the public thief, as of all other classes of society, have un- dergone a visible and marked change within the last thirty years. Whether it has been for the better, is another ques- tion. Formerly, the heroes of their party were fellows con- spicuous and famed for open and daring acts of plunder, in whom the whole body had a pride, and whom they all felt ambitious to imitate ; failing only to do so for lack of the same quantum of courage. The more desperate and numerous the instances of robbery, the more were the parties lauded and admired. It was then the fashion among these men to boast of their conduct under punishment. In those times HIGHWAYMEN. 341 there must be no snivelling, no 'peaching, no contrition ; and the malefactor must die bravely to entitle himself to fame. The Turpins and the Jerry Abershaws of the day were the objects of their admiration ; such men as on the road to ex- ecution would stop and drink gin, offering libations to the success of all highwaymen, and when on the gallows kick their shoes off, swearing with an oath, they " always said they would never die with them on ;" or like Despard, who, when brought out for execution, remarked to the executioner that it was a fine morning, and wondered what sort of weather it was in the other country ; adding, " But never mind, I shall soon know all about it. 11 All this kind of heroism has sub- sided ; their leaders now are men rendered famous for scheming, subtlety, and astuteness. Formerly, the passport to enrolment under their banners was a name for boldness and monstrous acts of outrage ; now a certificate must be brought of the man never having committed an indiscreet act in his calling ; and that the party " is up to all the moves upon the board, and knows something." This " knows something" is a sentence ever in the mouth of the thieves, and has a very extensive meaning. When an associate of a set of rogues re- commends an acquaintance for admission into their party, the first question asked by all the members is, " What does he know ?" If the answer be in the superlative degree, " Every thing, and is a good operator," he is admitted ; but if the reply be in the comparative, and " He only knows something," then they are very cautious, even should the party be admitted, of entrusting him with all their movements : nor will they allow him what they call regulars ; that is, a fair propor- tion of the plunder. This is done by an understanding among the rest. It cannot be uninstructive to contemplate the progress of delinquency, and the habits of delinquents, in reference to the general alterations society has undergone within any given period. It is the peculiar characteristic of the age in which 342 HIGHWAYMEN. we live, that every man takes upon himself the office of censor, condemning and dilating on the wickedness of his neighbour, for those faults he himself possesses to exacerbation, and which he endeavours to cover by cant and hypocrisy. The universal rule is to wear a mask to set the face at variance with the heart : every one now trims his boat, and makes his tacks. All the purposes of parental education are now only to teach the mysteries of deception the system of society the world as it is modified ; the first elements of which are, man is a cheat ! Believe no one ; all genuine principles ap- pear to be prostrate, andfronti nullajides. In trade, chica- nery and trickery is the order of the day ; faith between man and man hath taken wings and flown away. The thieves only appear in their movements to have got a little the start of their contemporaries, by vigilantly watching the revolutions of the times, as regards society, and taking their measures ac- cordingly. When men carried arms, and appeared face to face on the road, they went there, pistol in hand, to meet them. Now the system is changed, they oppose cunning to cunning ; and their success, with their increased and increas- ing numbers, proves which have been gainers by the modern mode of warfare. But I am afraid there is another disadvantage the non- practitioner has to sustain in the conflict. The laxity of principle in which the present generation of tradesmen have been brought up, has led many to venture so near the enemy's territories, that, whilst they have been looking over the hedge, considering the exact boundary between their own and their opponent's provinces, they have fallen into the ditch which runs in the intermediate space ; and when taken out have been, from their great similitude, recorded as belonging to that class they were always so vehement in professing to despise. And this, to drop the metaphor, is the truth. The number of pro- fessed hands is not so very great as our returns would lead us to infer. There is a much larger proportion of casual delin- HIGHWAYMEN. quency in society than heretofore ; which, of course, goes to make up the apparent numbers of regular thieves, as viewed in the returns. Correct statistic tables on every question may be regarded the most valuable papers among the records of any country. I recommend, that in future a more minute register be kept (and I have before shown .how it might be done) of the true character and habits of all persons coming into custody. If this were performed correctly, the public would be possessed every year of the actual number of real thieves convicted, as also the number again let out on the world. In the way the returns are now made, we only know the gross amount of delinquency ; from which we cannot ascertain whether the accumulation of crimes is more among the body of regular thieves, or whether the instances wherein poverty has been the cause, preponderate. And again, whether the number of servants, shopmen, and clerks robbing their masters, has in- creased of late years ; and it would not be labour lost, were the education which had been bestowed on each ascertained, and an annual average return of the rate of education con- victs receive given to the public. The modern thief, like the Indian, not only hunts his game with a scent, sagacity, and certainty, which excites astonishment in the minds of those unused to their habits, but he carries his caution into prison with him. Any close observer will now at once know an old thief, by his passive and sly quiet manners whilst await- ing his trial. In prison, what are called the best-behaved men are all the old rogues ; they know the thing must take its course, unless counteracted by other means than kicking against the pricks : and they are conscious of the folly of adding to the charges against them a bad character whilst in prison. It is very common for them on trial, when they know the case is hopeless, to decline asking the witnesses any questions, except the officers who apprehended them, to 344 COINERS. whom they usually will put this question " Did I make any resistance, or give you any trouble, when you took me?" They have a notion this conduct makes a favourable impres- sion on the court. After sentence is passed their true cha- racter shows itself; their former quiet demeanour is changed into irritability and violence, which is restrained only by the rules of the place in which they arc confined. SECTION II L COINERS. SUCH coiners as are generally brought to the bar of the Old Bailey, are persons from whom the public suffer less than any other criminals. They are generally men who have manu- factured some clumsy imitation of the currency, in a garret, not much better than leaden dumps, which never can be cir- culated but at fairs, or at low gambling tables, where all is noise, hurry, and confusion. The government has a most hyperbolical notion of this crime ; they are ever seeking for offenders among the ignorant and the poor, who are without means of any kind to carry on the manufacture of good coun- terfeits. They even entertain the preposterous idea, that the making of base coins is going on amongst the convicts on board the hulks ; and the select committee put a series of questions to the discharged convicts, who were examined be- fore them on a recent occasion, to ascertain the fact. Nothing can be more absurd than this notion. Conceive men confined COINERS. 345 on board a ship, in compartments containing not fewer than thirty each, with a sentinel over them night and day, so situated as to command a view of all that passes in each ward men, too, searched every time they leave or return to the ship, besides being most closely watched during all their hours of work on shore and who are never allowed to approach a fire. What opinion can we form of the judgment of those persons who could employ their time in seeking for coiners in such quarters ? More chimerical and absurd notions never entered into the heads of any men. The malefactors who have been executed for this crime have generally been some poor wretched tinkers, who really, as far as any injury to the public was concerned, might have been allowed with safety to have peaceably carried on their trade. The coiners to be dreaded are of another description, men who are pos- sessed of money, talents, and premises, to accomplish the manufacture of good imitations, and that on a large scale. Such men, however, appear only at intervals of time, and con- sequently their issues are occasional, and may be said to be rare. As soon as such issues are known to be in circulation, the government may be assured that a large coinage of them has been made ; and if they adopted prompt and proper means, the circulation might soon be curtailed, and the of- fenders brought to justice. You cannot successfully contend with any of the offenders, without using their own agents against them : " All men! what are ye, and our best designs, That we must work by crime to punish crimes 1" This has in several instances been attempted by those whose business it is to direct these matters ; but the efforts to do so which have come under my notice have been so ill and clumsily conducted, as hitherto to have no good effect in re- pressing crime in the slightest degree. It would be tedious were I to state all the instances; oue, therefore, COINERS. shall suffice, to prove how this part of the business in the cri- minal system is managed. A notorious character of the name of Lea, a Jew, who had several indictments against him, was placed at the bar of the Old Bailey some time in the year 1829. After having been found guilty on one or more charges, he wrote a note to the judge who was trying him, on which all further proceedings were suspended. At the termination of the sessions he was not even brought up for judgment on those indictments on which he had been found guilty. This man's character had a short time previously been in a peculiar manner before the public, in consequence of evidence he vo- lunteered to give relating to a pretended confession made by a young man named Birmingham, the servant of an officer at Kensington barracks, whilst they were both in Clerkenwell prison. The young man was charged with the murder of a girl, who was found dead in the road near Hammersmith, with a stab in her side, on which occasion it was not only shown that he (Lea) had given false evidence, but, under cross-exami- nation, his own crimes became publicly known. I will say nothing of these, as perhaps they qualified him better for the purpose for which he was selected, viz. to impeach the receivers of stolen goods ; or, rather, to give information respecting them. Ultimately he obtained his liberty, and there can be no doubt but under some such promise it was granted him. The country, however, never derived any benefit from his services, not a solitary offender having been brought to justice through his means. How should there be ? Mark the way it was done ! They take a man who had been rendered conspicuous to the public, and all the fraternity of thieves, by his vile attempt to convict an innocent young man of murder; they place him at the bar of the Old Bailey, and then stop all proceedings against him, in the face of all the offenders in London. A hundred letters were sent out of Newgate that day I need not say for what purjjose. And, as if all this were not enough, they keep him six months in COINERS. 347 Newgate, sending continually for him into the office to be questioned by the sheriffs, all of which was seen by the other prisoners ; besides allowing him to keep up a correspondence with the sheriffs, of which he was every hour boasting to his associates, until the governor was constrained to remove him into the infirmary, for fear the other prisoners should commit personal violence on him. Had they here used all their skill for the sole purpose of rendering of non-effect any information this man might give, they could not have accomplished that object more effectually. The moment his other trials were foregone, and his judgments suspended, all the receivers of stolen goods and the thieves were awake, as they express it ; and when they are once wide awake, it is not an easy matter to catch them napping. I know not whether there be any secret agency employed in the police ; but if there be, the business is evidently very badly performed ; and if not any, there should be an establishment of the kind. A half dozen clever and experienced men, who never filled any public office in the police or a prison, would do more regarding information about crime and offenders than all the evidence ever taken by all the committees of all the parliaments which ever sat to take it. A small establishment, I am confident, might be made very effective against offenders. Send spies into the enemy's camp. Nothing would be easier effected, if the em- ployes were judiciously selected. But, to return to the coiner. Whenever he becomes for- midable, he is only to be attacked through the smasher, (passer of bad money.) When one of these is taken, instead of carry- ing him before a magistrate, and exposing, the next day, the whole affair to the public, by which those wjio deal in the article have time to change their quarters, should the passer be disposed to give the necessary information, and thereby render it useful, suppose there were a kind of supreme mao-Js- trate, who might sit at the home secretary's office, authorised, on certain suggestions being made to him, to order the prisoner 348 COINERS. to be brought to him in private.* By the adoption of this plan, when an officer had a willing impeacher in custody, every secrecy should be observed for the better apprehension of the guilty parties. The thieves in general never split, (as they term impeaching their companions in crime.) It is very dif- ferent with the passers of base money ; they are, in nine cases out of ten, ready, on any little advantage being held out to them, to give all the assistance they can to the police for the detection of the coiner, because there is no compact between them and the real manufacturer ; they do not even know each other, and consequently have no fellow-feeling, the coins come in such a very circuitous manner into their hands. But even with the regular thief much more might be done, by giving him assurance of secrecy. If the authorities have two of- fenders, whom for want of evidence they think they cannot convict, great things are said to be done if they induce one to impeach the other, by which " one is taken and the other left." Now, an impeacher on my system would, if well rewarded and properly used, detect half the offenders in London in one year. I say rewarded. He steals for money, and runs every risk; would he not then prefer money without risk and none he needs run under management ; besides, there is a chance, when a good hand is obtained, of his being useful for years. " Set a thief to catch a thief," is an old adage. I am satisfied, if they will but arrange and construct the system so as to give the thief an opportunity of parting with his re- pugnance, and show him how it may be made profitable to him, he will soon come into their views. Between the real coiner of a good counterfeit and the utterer there are often seven or eight persons, who in every transfer use the most artful and cautious methods of carrying on their dealings. They never let each other know where it is de- The Board of Commissioners, which I have in another place recommended, would do this duty much better. COINERS. 349 posited, or any thing regarding its transit from one hand to another. When a bargain has been concluded, the buyer is obliged to place confidence in the vender, who receives the stipulated sum, and immediately walks away, first instructing the purchaser where he may go and find the number of base coins which has at a former meeting been agreed to be pur- chased. Sometimes this transaction takes place in an open field, where the seller can see if he is watched ; who, after payment, points out a spot where the articles are buried under the earth. He who vends them never keeps any pieces about his person, or at his residence ; and this caution is kept up through the whole line of dealing, but increases as it nears the actual retailer. The utterers, like the coiners, are of two classes. One is scarcely a remove in appearance from a men- dicant, and the other, men who go about in what is called a bounceable manner, always in a hurry, making a great show of money. They start into the country, jumping off the coach whenever it stops in a town to buy a pair of gloves, or some other trifling article, to get one of their fictitious coins ex- changed for real money. It is a very common practice of theirs to place one base coin, suppose a sovereign, with eight or ten good ones, bounce into a shop, make a small purchase, take out the whole and throw them on the counter, pretending to look for change, then cast out the bad one in a careless man- ner, which puts the shopkeeper off his guard. It is generally considered by the adepts in crime a hazardous and less profitable speculation than many others. One man, who had been under sentence of death for this offence, showed me a statement, by which it appeared he had in three years, besides his travelling expense?, cleared 600/. ; but he admitted this was a rare instance of success, and in some mea- sure was accounted for by his being considered a first-rate hand in the business. The public, however, are not in any danger of losing much now by this species of deception, as it 350 PICKPOCKETS. requires but very little caution on their parts to protect them- selves : the superior excellence of our currency is such, that few can be deceived, if they use but common caution. Those who pass the bad imitations never attempt to do so with the re- gular adult and experienced tradesmen ; their practice is to watch the shops, and ascertain that the master or mistress who attends to them are absent, and that the counter is for a short time left to the care of a boy or girl ; they then go in and purchase some trifling article, and ask for change of a crown piece, &c. &c. Recently, no less a number than thir- teen counterfeit crown-pieces were passed within one hour, at Camden Town, and in every instance the master was absent, so well had they watched their opportunity ; otherwise it would be impossible for them to succeed, so wretchedly are their imitations performed. When they are disappointed by the appearance of the principal, they either pay for what they have had, or leave the shop without making any pur- chase. SECTION IV. PICKPOCKETS. NEXT to the housebreaker, the pickpockets are the most trou- blesome body to deal with ; not that they occasion so much loss of property to the public, taken as a body, as the burglar, but they are more numerous, and are more readily initiated into the art and mystery of their calling ; in consequence of which they are ever augmenting their numbers. As they are, PICKPOCKETS. 351 with very few exceptions, all of the thorough London breed, they have from their earliest recollections a large circle of acquaintances, of their own standing in life, most of them coming from the low and populous districts of the metropolis. When any of the boys in a neighbourhood are seen to turn gentlemen, it is natural for all the others to inquire how he has acquired such smart clothes, and can afford to spend so much money. They are soon informed, and immediately re- solve, if possible, to participate in the same pleasures. Un- happily, the opportunities for their introduction are too many for them to remain long inactive, when the resolution is once formed. The older hands are always on the alert, looking out for the sharpest boys from these neighbourhoods, whom they teach, and set on to take the risk of crime, themselves reaping the profits. All who discuss or write on this subject dwell on there being nurseries of petty crime, and schools of capital crime; of women being in league with thieves to seduce boys, by exciting a precocious gratification of sexual passions ; and that the task of suggesting to the intoxicated youth, that robbery is the only means of continuing to enjoy a life of riotous debauchery, is left to women. And the select committee on secondary punishments actually asked A. B., a discharged convict, the following question : " Have you any reason to suppose there are schools in London for teaching robbery?" And again : " Did you ever hear them say what was the age whether it was like a sort of regular school, or whether individuals associated together, and taught each other ?" The answer is, it was a sort of school where they educate these people to do it. All this is perfectly ludicrous, and quite unworthy the good sense we have a right to look for in a committee of our House of Commons : if they had never been to school themselves, they might have been excused for inquiring for such a place of education. This is on a par with a story told in a recent work on this subject, of the old 352 PICKPOCKETS. apple-women in the street coaxing respectable boys to get into their debt for lollipops, and then persuading them to rob somebody of money to pay for them. Observe the rationale ! because the boys have a higher sense of the sin of being in debt than they have of stealing ; and these are, mark ! " the sons of decent tradespeople, carefully educated, apprenticed to some trade, and with every prospect of leading an honest and industrious life."" It is astonishing how far some persons will travel for bad reasons, when good ones are close at hand. The old women in the street are criminis particeps, I am aware, but it is in this way, they are great receivers of stolen articles from the petty thieves, called sneaks and sawney- hunters, who are ever prowling about the streets, watching an opportunity to snatch pieces of bacon, cheese, poultry, or any other commodity from which the shopkeeper withdraws his watchful eye for a moment ; and they always have a ready market for every edible article with the fruit-women in the street. These young rogues are about as numerous as all the adult offenders in London put together. This may astound many, but it is a fact A great portion of them are orphans, or chance children of the poor, with not a small sprinkling of the children belonging to natives of the sister isle. The rest are legitimate children of the lowest classes, with a few boys of more respectable parents, whose natural dispositions and uncontrollable natures hurry them, in spite of every effort of their friends, into crime. This is the nursery, this is the school, in which all are scholars, and all are masters and teachers. Many of these young urchins carry trifling articles about for sale, as a " stall " and it is from the practice of the old women keeping a stand for the sale of fruit, as a blind or cover for their real calling, (buying of stolen articles,) that this term, " stall," is derived, and which is in so general use among those called " the swell mob." I have had a peculiar opportunity of knowing something of this numerous body of PICK POCK KT.S. 353 infant depredators, the extent of which is as great as I have stated. And what is more extraordinary, there is scarcely one but knows nearly all the others, either by name and deeds, or personally. This arises from their so frequently changing the scene of their predatory exploits, and their always sleep- ing, in each change of district, at the lodging-houses ever open for their accommodation. At these places they meet in parties of from fifty to a hundred, talking the night through of no- thing but plunder, and the tricks of their short life. It is from this body the men select the youths they want, who are forthwith entered as demi-co into the elder society, and in re- gular course become fellow crafts-men, if not before cut off' by transportation. To prove this there needs no committees to examine A. B. or C. D. : the only question is, how we are to legislate for this body of young and determined depredators, as it is evident the present law is not efficient enough to put them down as a body ; and out of which, as long as they exist as a body, London will be supplied with adult offenders in proportion as this juvenile class increases; and what makes it a very serious question is, that they are daily becoming stronger. The wisdom of our forefathers provided for a sup- ply of erudite men in the country, by the founding of col- leges, and exhibitions from the public schools connected with these establishments : and the thieves have their system for keeping up a supply of pickpockets ; and, as far as they arc concerned, it has answered. There are no schools, nor are there any teachers, in the sense these terms have been used. Their course and education is this, and many commence as early as five years of age : all the boys in low neighbour- hoods associate together, and usually spend the whole of their time in the streets ; if they go to a national school, it makes very little difference their society is of the same description. Out, however, of five hundred boys examined by me, under the most favourable circumstances it is possible for any one to be placed in for ascertaining the truth, very few had been to A A PICKPOCKETS. any school for a longer period than one or two months. Those who could read the Testament, generally had learned so to do in the prisons they had been placed in from time to time. A young one begins in the company of others a little older than himself, and who has had some previous practice, to go the rounds of the market-places, stealing apples, turnips, carrots, and fruit of all kinds. By this practice they acquire patience in watching, and dexterity in snatching their plunder; and as they are taken out for the purpose of fags to the other boys, they soon become proficients : " Wax to receive, and marble to retain." Success gives them confidence ; they then attack shops, sneaking about the doors the whole day, and stealing all move- ables coming in their way ; and the instances of their success within my own knowledge would astonish the most credulous. They soon find out what shops are "good," (their own term;) that is, where the shopkeepers are most careless, and the pro- perty much exposed. Of these places the whole fraternity have a knowledge : they acquaint themselves with the best hours of attack, and of every particular relating to the habits of the master and his shopmen ; and when at length a place is no longer " good," (meaning when the owner of property, by repeated losses, becomes cautious,) the same is circulated, with more certainty than the public newspapers could do it, through the town in a few hours. Their meeting every night at the lodging-houses, and the constant changes going on from one end of the town to the other, affords them this facility of communication. Love of change and restlessness are the leading features in their character. After remaining two or three years in this calling, and their wants and expenditure increasing as they rise in years, one item of which is a female, they begin to look out for better business, by forming an alli- ance with a small party of pickpockets ; but this is not always so easily accomplished; for the pickpockets are another class I'K'KI'OCKKTS. altogether from the sneaks, and are not to be met with at the lodging-houses. They associate in parties of about three, four, or five, to commit crime, taking most special care to be thoroughly acquainted with the ability of all they admit to share in their adventures. The clever lads, of course, are selected first ; others, as they grow up, follow various branches of the art of thieving, just as they can form acquaintances for confederacy and unity of action. Some go to starring, (work- ing out a square of glass in a peculiar manner;) others con- tinue sneaks, only varying their objects of attack, by which they obtain more money (vide under the head of Sneaks;) others get into the service of housebreakers ; all either meet- ing with employment as they rise in years, or transportation, except a few rescued for a time by the Society for the Refuge of the Destitute. From this statement, it appears that there is always in society a certain and a large number of boys, born of low parents, who are uneducated, and who, either by the early death of their parents, or their neglect, are thrown almost in infancy into the streets, either to pick up a living by stealing, or to starve, " With none to check, and few to point in time The thousand paths that slope the way to crime ;" and that these, as is the custom in all grades of the commu- nity, associate together, and enter into mutual compact for their general defence. Talk of schools! the world is their school, and every hour of their life spent in passing from one probation of crime to another; for the commencement of which no one but their God can, morally speaking, hold them responsible. And I question very much, should one of them, before or after having arrived at years of maturity, be de- sirous of becoming honest, whether it would be practicable for him to carry any resolution of this nature into effect without starving. They have, however, what St. Pierre calls one of " nature's compensations," and are not troubled with a con- AA 2 356 PICKPOCKETS. science. They are never heard to say, " O, my offence is rank ; it smells to heaven."" If we consider the physical and moral obstacles opposed to their reformation, no one will be surprised that all rogues are deemed incorrigible. Their whole course of life is a warfare against mankind. When young, they often get horsewhipped four or five times a day, by persons who prefer that mode of punishment to taking them before a magistrate ; and they frequently return to their lodgings at night without having had any thing to eat the whole day. This life would be unendurable were it not for companionship, and the only saving clause in their favour, that at night, when quite exhausted, and nearly starved, they are sure to meet with a commiserating friend, whose preda- tions have been more successful than their own, and who never fails to share his crust with those to whom fortune has been less kind. During this period of their life, full one half their time is spent in prison, where they undergo divers kinds of punishment ; solitary confinement in a cell, flogging, and work at the treadmill. As they appear over and over again before the seat of justice, they are booked hardened offenders. This is a great mistake ; they are offenders, but not hardened. The generality of them, when young, are highly sensitive ; and, among themselves, they entertain all the amenities of which our natures are susceptible. They are deemed hardened because they resort to crime over and over again : the truth is, they have no other alternative. I have known many make serious and sincere resolutions of reformation; but the abhorrence of inanition, so intimately interwoven with our natures, enforces the necessity of having recourse to the only mode to them open of supporting life. It is ludicrous to hear the talk about nurseries and places of tuition, as if establishments of this kind were instituted as boarding-schools are, and as public. The nurseries and schools are the places where they meet ; and they must congregate somewhere, un- less, like the late Lord Barry more, each member of our aris- PICKPOCKETS. 357 tocratical body will take one for a tiger. I will answer for their being quite enough on the town to supply them, and undertake to rind them out too, in mere charity to the boys. To sum up all, they are placed in society just where they are by accident of birth, as almost the whole of its members are. When I say they from birth are placed in a situation so as to leave them no alternative but to steal or starve, I speak of them as a body : there are exceptions; and I am sorry to add, that many cases have come to my knowledge of parents teach- ing and sending out their own children to rob ; and of others who, though they do not urge its commission, connive at it. I will adduce once instance, striking enough, and the truth of which I can safely avouch ; it was told me by the boy's uncle, who, one morning, being at the lad's father's lodgings, when the boy came into the room, and seeing nothing to eat for break- fast but bread and butter on the table, he said, " What ! no- thing for breakfast ? Ah ! wait a bit." 1 He then went out, and in a quarter of an hour came back with rump steaks and a pint of rum, besides having money in his pocket. He had gone out and stolen a piece of Irish linen from a shop on Ludgate Hill, took it to a buyer of stolen goods, and bought the articles he brought home, all in the short space of fifteen minutes; and this was not an uncommon thing for him to do, although his parents were not in need. The boy was at length transported when he was only fourteen years of age. He subsequently detailed to me all his practices, and how he got into crime. His parents resided in a court running out of the Old Bailey, and he had witnessed every execution which had taken place during his short career. So much for the effects of executions, as supposed to deter from crime ; in- deed, most of the boys engaged in crime appear to have a great pleasure in attending them : and I am thoroughly con- vinced, from the number I have conversed with on this sub- ject, that the witnessing these scenes has not the slightest effect, as a terror on their mind, in deterring them from the 358 PICKPOCKETS. commission of crime. A question of greater importance can- not be propounded to the country at large, than how to dis- pose of this body of young sinners. They could all be appre- hended in the course of a short time, and there are few people to interfere in their behalf; nor is there any thing to prevent their being disposed of, excepting the want of a law to autho- rize such a proceeding. If they were taken out of society, and secured in some place where they might be taught habits of industry, it would be a great blessing conferred on the boys, and an immense advantage to society in general, as the next generation of thieves would be cut off entirely ; and, by sub- stituting a more watchful system over these boys than the one now in use, the town might hope for an approach to an entire riddance of thieves in a few years. The select committee on secondary punishments have, in their report, recommended that the extensive prison on Dart- moor, in which, during the late war, from nine thousand to eleven thousand French and American prisoners were con- fined, should be converted into a prison for convicts, to be trained to labour previously to their being sent out to the colonies. No doubt, this would be a very good application of that extensive place; but by no means comparable to its ap- propriation for the reception of these boys, where they might be taught trades and field-labour, rendering them capable of getting their own living, by giving them habits of industry, and instructing them how to avoid a devious course in future. The place is not too capacious for the number they would have. It appears there is a railway communicating with the prison from Catwater, adjacent to Plymouth Harbour ; the expense of conveying them by water would be trifling, and it would only require caravans to conduct them to their desti- nation. Some countervailing plan must speedily be put in force to restrain these juveniles, whose increase is going on to a frightful extent. Without taking into consideration the in- terest of society at large, common humanity and charity 1'ICKPOCKKTS. 359 demand that something should be done for this numerous class. If my suggestion be deemed worthy of notice, it would only require a law to empower the judges to pass a sentence of im- prisonment, instead of transportation fora term of years. And, to save trouble and expense, the magistrates should be autho- rised to do the same on boys under fourteen years of age, with the consent of their parents ; or, in the absence of any, on their own acquiescence, if they should prefer it to being sent for trial, when charged on oath of having committed a felony. And if the magistrate made the term of imprisonment some- what less than the court, when they insisted on being com- mitted, I have no hesitation in affirming, that a consent would be obtained in every two cases out of three. By the enactment of such a law, the expense of trial would be spared the coun- try ; and not only one, but oftentimes many trials. I have known some boys to have five and even six trials at the Old Bailey, besides others at Westminster and Clerkenwell ses- sions, at a cost together of probably forty or fifty pounds. Add to this, all the evils of their being at large in the in- tervals, and the expense of keeping them in custody for short terms of punishment. I have spoken to some gentlemen on this subject, who ob- ject, that all the poor who are anxious to get rid of their chil- dren would send them to commit crime, for the purpose of obtaining a provision for them. To this I answer, how is it that they do not avail themselves of the sentence of transpor- tation, which does the same thing as I propose, only not on so large a scale, by sending them to the Euryalus ship at Chat- ham, where they are all taught some trade, and, of course, provided for during the term of their sentence? It is true that many parents are found, even in open court, to solicit the judge for transportation to be passed on their sons, and there are more in private who express this desire ; but my experience informs me, that the instances wherein it is done merely to rid 360 PICKPOCKETS. themselves of an encumbrance are very rare. That there are some such unnatural parents must be granted, but in most cases where this feeling has shown itself, it has arisen from the conduct of their offspring, whom they knew nothing would re- strain from crime but a long course of discipline, to which they reluctantly consent, in the hope of saving them from the gallows ; and in all such cases, the sooner the boy is taken out of society the better. I have had many conversations with parents so situated, and have witnessed the agony of feeling they have undergone in bringing themselves to such a state of resolution ; and I can point out several instances of the judge refusing to comply with the request, when made in open court, under an idea of its being a bad precedent; but I have always seen these boys come back again for trial, by which means more crime has been committed perhaps others made criminal and the county put to more expense. Now I am on this subject, I cannot but make an effort to call the attention of the legislature to the manner in which the boys are managed on board the hulk at Chatham, where from five hundred to eight hundred boys are kept. If there be any regular and established schools for teaching crime, the ship Euryalus is the place. From this college (the thieves them- selves call it so) comes the chief of the housebreakers. The want of room to accommodate so many, occasions their being placed in wards, where thirty or forty sleep together ; and as they are, for young ones, of the very worst description of offenders, the consequence may easily be imagined. They are not, as regards moral improvement, in any better situation than when sleeping at their lodging-houses in London : the whole system of their management and treatment calls for a revision.* This, however, cannot be done, without the con- struction of a place sufficiently large for their reception. Separate compartments for sleeping are absolutely necessary, * It it gratifying to the author to learn, tl. at since this hint was first published an order haa been given to break up this establishment. PICKPOCKETS. 361 in furtherance of their moral improvement, and the desuetude of the cat-o'-nine tails, which does more harm than any other part of the system in the treatment of these boys. Different kind of officers are wanted ; naval men are the least of all qualified for this duty they talk of nothing but severe dis- cipline, and good behaviour enforced by coercion, disregard- ing their moral condition in toto. They fancy they have morally improved them, when, by severity, they have reduced them into a system of good order ; all of which every one at all skilled in the human mind must know is an egregious mistake. " Hast thou no feeling save the external sense Of torture from the touch 1 Hast thou no soul V These boys are capable of receiving impressions, and are as susceptible of sentiments of gratitude as any lord's son, if the proper treatment were used to draw them out. It is only by cultivating the better feelings of our nature that any human beings can be improved : all other systems are falla- cious, and founded in gross error. When the sneak comes into the hands of the pickpocket, he is instructed and prac- tised every hour of the day, until made tolerably perfect ; he is then taken into the streets, to make his first essay in the presence of those who have taught : and it has been given in evidence, that they dress up a lay figure, hanging bells all over it, on which they practise. When the tyro can empty all the pockets of the figure, without occasioning a bell to sound, he is considered fit for the street. He generally begins with a pocket-handkerchief, whilst another takes " ding," that is, receives it from him. In almost all cases of robbery, one commits the act and another receives the article from the thief, which is called taking " ding." If they find a boy dull, they forthwith turn him out of their party. A case of this kind came to my knowledge. Four pick- pockets who had taken a boy on trial discharged him the 3G2 PICKPOCKETS. second evening after he had joined them, as being incom- petent to the business. The boy, chagrined and disappointed, returned to his fellow-sneaks, at a lodging-house in St. Giles's, and told them his story ; adding, that the pickpockets were about to have that evening a jollification, and that a supper was prepared, one item in the bill of fare being a rice-pudding, then at the bakehouse. The boys soon came to an under- standing that they could eat rice-pudding as well as the pick- pockets ; and it was agreed that the discharged boy, although deemed a bad conveyancer,* should convey the pudding out of their reach, by going to the bakehouse and asking for it in their name. The real owners made the baker pay for it, and, suspecting who had had it, gave information, which caused the boy to be apprehended and committed to Newgate, where he was found guilty of stealing it, and sentenced to be flogged and discharged, on the evidence of these fellows and the baker. A few months afterwards the boy was brought back for another offence, and transported for fourteen years. When, however, they meet with a clever lad, they know how to prize him, and take care to gratify his every wish, that he may be induced to stay with them. These boys, as soon as perfect, are made to do nearly all the business themselves, whilst the master pickpocket walks behind to cover them, watching the operations, and, as much as possible, avoiding any interference, and, consequently, risk on his part. It is an incontrovertible fact, that there are in this metro- polis numerous knots of pickpockets who have passed through a long career, and lived, too, in apparent respectabi- lity, by the agency of these boys, without incurring on their own part comparatively any risk of detection ; for if each master were deprived of his little Mercury twice a-day, by their being detected and placed in custody, the supply from the great body of sneaks is so great and regular, that the places are filled up as soon as vacant. Every day in the year * Pickpocket. PICKPOCKETS. 363 (Sundays excepted) boys are committed to Newgate under these circumstances, whilst the principals in the crime go at large, to engage others in it. Sometimes, when these Mer- curial agents are seized in the act of picking a pocket, and there is no officer at hand, these fellows will go up (being generally well dressed) and exclaim, " The young rascal ! O secure him !" then, under the pretence of holding him, favour his escape. The qualifications for a pickpocket are a light tread, a de- licate sense of touch, combined with firm nerves. These boys may be known by their shoes in the street ; they generally wear pumps, or shoes of a very light make, having long quarters. There is about their countenances an affected de- termination of purpose, and they walk forward, as if bent on some object of business : it is a rule with them never to stop in the street. When they want to confer for a moment they drop into some by-court or alley, where they will fix on an object of attack, as the people pass down a main street ; when they start off in the same manner, the boy going first, to do what they call " stunning," that is, to pick the pocket. The first-rate hands never, on any occasion, loiter in the streets, unless at a procession, or any exhibition, when there is an ex- cuse for so doing. Many have a notion that instruments aie used in disencumbering the pockets : this is a false idea; the only instrument they use is a good pair of small scissors, and which will always be found on the person of a pickpocket when searched : these they use to cut the pocket and all off, when they cannot abstract its contents. To these qualifications they unite a quick sight, and a tact of observing when the attention is engaged, or of devising some means to engage it themselves, until the act is done. They are most busy in foggy weather. When in prison, they will be heard to say on such days, " What a shame to lose such a fine day as this !" On great public days, when the streets are expected to be crowded, and much business is an- 364 SNEAKS. ticipated, several parties of them will unite for the day, under special contract, either to divide all gains between them, or for each one to retain what he gets, agreeing, under every circumstance, to mutually assist each other in the bustle of the crowd. The wary and superior pickpocket, however, seldom runs this risk, but steadily pursues his course, surveying every day the objects around him, and sending off his emissaries to fetch in the plunder, or, by detection, to be handed off to prison. Pickpockets are the least faithful to each other of all known rogues, and are the most difficult of all biped animals to tame, or make any thing of in the way of improvement when caught. SECTION V. SNEAKS. HAVING so fully, under the head of pickpockets, described the large number of young rogues there are in the metropolis, and shown that from this body the town and country are sup- plied with offenders of all kinds, it will be only necessary for me to describe the furtive practice as one of the crimes enu- merated at the head of this paper. In the progress of my acquiring a knowledge of the extent of the commission of crime, at no time was my astonishment so much excited as when I learnt the extent of this practice, and the large sums of money obtained by it. These public robbers, like the others, associate in small bands, who go about the town finding out attackable places, of which they keep a list ; that is, places \\liic-h are good, or oj>en to robbery. When an old and good SNEAKS. 3.35 neak is committed to prison, where he is generally without money, (the officers, on apprehending him, having taken it from him until after trial,) many offers of liberal premiums are sure to be made him for his list of places capable of being robbed, which means nothing more than a list of names and residences of the careless and incautious tradesmen in and about London. After a shop has twice or three times been robbed of con- siderable sums, the sneaks consider it good again and again such is the extreme incaution of some persons. Butchers have been favourite objects of attack, in consequence of their shops being generally vacated in the afternoon, and the master or man in the parlour taking a siesta a common practice of theirs, after the fatigues of early rising and labour. One butcher, at Bermondsey, was three times robbed of considera- ble sums in this way, before he would remove his cash from a desk in the front-shop. The boy who got it used to watch him, in the afternoon, close the door, and retire into the back-room ; then jump over the stall-board there being no glass-sashes to prevent his entrance and sneak down on his hands and knees, until he saw an opportunity of wrench- ing the lock ; for which purpose he always carried a prising instrument in his pocket. The same boy three times carried off a charity-box, containing thirty pounds each time, from a house near Greenwich. He had ascertained the time it was brought, and for what purpose, to a gentleman's house; and he laid his plans so well, that after they had lost two, and when every caution would have been expected on the part of the owner, he succeeded in stealing the box a third time. Their usual plan is to note those shops where bulks of money are kept in tills, or desks, in a front shop or parlour ; next, to ascertain the movements of the family ; and if they find, by continual watching, that the people of the shop retire at certain times to meals, or in the evening to the 366 SNEAKS. parlour for comfort, one will softly open the door, letting in a boy, who crawls on his hands and knees round the counter, and takes the contents of the till : the persons in the parlour, probably, all the time keeping their eyes on the shop, but never think of rising up to look on the ground. These are denominated lob-sneaks, and their prac- tice has been very successful. By timing their attack, and selecting the right places, J have been assured of 200/. and 300/. in a week being obtained by one man and a boy. In this case, as in the other, the man's risk of detection is very little; he opens the door, and stands ready to favour the boy's escape, should any alarm be given, but touches no money until they are both in a place of security : and it will be seen that the Old Bailey calendar abounds with the trials of boy lob-sneaks, but no men, although in every case a man has been concerned in the robbery. There is a boy now in the penitentiary, who was under sen- tence of death for stealing fifty-three pounds from a till, with which he got off. When he knew where there was money, he would be sure almost of it ; such was his talent and determi- nation. In this latter case, the money was stolen from a corn- chandler's till. The boy went into the shop, and, by asking for some article, contrived to send the master of the shop some little distance from the counter, when he suddenly reached over, took the money, and ran off; his confederates being near the door. The loser of the cash ran after the boy, when he was, as it were, thrown down by accident, and the boy got off. As they were afterwards going down the Hackney-road, one of his companions called out, in a joke, " Ding ! ding !" meaning, throw away ! throw away ! This was done to alarm him, and have a laugh at his expense. The boy, however, took the call as being a serious one, and threw the bag and its contents into a garden, and ran off; finding his mistake, he went back at night to recover it, when he was taken into custody ; the owner, in the interval, having been found. SNKAKS. 367 In this, as in the last crime, so long as the body of young sneaks are unbroken, so long will there always be men to make use of them. Next to the want of a better system of management at the Old Bailey, of distinguishing which are and which are not the old offenders, nothing can be more cen- surable than the allowing this race of young, wretched, and misled boys to remain in full force against the public. Every lodging-house is a nucleus, which would, in a town of this magnitude, train up a whole nation of young sneaks and pick- pockets ; yet there are our quidnuncs, standing in the midst of the scene, inquiring for the schools where these boys are taught to steal, and talking about prison contamination. Why, the society of a prison, and that of the lodging-houses, and the flash-houses of resort, are one and the same ; all of which deserve equal attention, for the purpose of moral cor- rection. How are we to account for the unilateral view taken by the legislature of these matters ? I should weary the pa- tience of my readers were I to detail the evidences taken be- fore the select committee on this subject of contamination, and the necessity of providing prisons so constructed as to have separate compartments, to preserve these immaculate personages from corruption of morals. Mr. Wontner under- went a long examination on this subject, all of which just amounted to nothing; and I blame Mr. W. that he did not spare their time and his own, by telling them at once that corruption had done her work before they came into his hands, and then have pointed his finger towards St. Giles-in- the-Fields, and the neighbourhood of Whitechapel, with many other low neighbourhoods lying between these holy lands, as the thieves call them, where they might go and see the system of corruption and contamination in full operation. In very many cases I can prove, that association in prison has been productive of improvement of the mind; and I have ever thought, that the more the mind is enlarged, the farther is it removed from crime. But the assorting and arranging 368 SNEAKS. the prisoners for this purpose must be managed with great judgment, and by persons appointed for the purpose, possess- ing a thorough knowledge of the human mind. The keepers should have nothing to do with this part of the business ; their duty is of a mere routine nature, appertaining more to the security of the prisoners than their improvement. The ignorant and least guilty should be classed, taking care that in each party there should be two or three of some education and such are always to be found amongst them allowing them books, in their leisure hours, of an instructive kind. In the neighbourhoods where most of the offenders have been brought up, vice is found in a concrete and concentrated form, contaminating, like a universal miasmata, all who breathe the pestilential vapours. The influences on our moral natures are slow but sure, like a vortex or whirlpool. Vicious exam- ples draw but slowly at the outer circle, increasing at every completion of each concentric ring, until they are drawn at length rapidly down, never to rise again. Governments may be considered great and useful only as they direct the moral influences of the population over which they rule. In this country we have penal statutes enough, arithmetically con- sidered, to serve all other nations inhabiting the whole globe ; but not a solitary enactment is there calculated to alter the moral condition of man, by protecting him against the influ- ences of a vicious education, if we except the church estab- lishment, and the king's proclamation at the commencement of his reign, commanding all his trusty and well-beloved bishops, &c., to encourage virtue and repress vice, with a no- meaning and non-effective preamble, which only excites the risible faculties of all who trouble themselves with the reading of it. No effort is made to morally educate the poor. I shall be reminded of the national schools, where they are taught read- ing, and there left. They should put fire-arms into their hands, and desire the children to use them at their own dis- SNEAKS. 369 cretion. What should we say of a carpenter, who, having undertaken to teach a boy his trade, if he only showed him all the tools by which the business was performed, and who gave the lad no other instruction ; would he make a car- penter ? Yet this is what the national schools do : they have entirely mistaken the means for the end. They call furnish- ing the tools for education that is, teaching them signs or words, by which it may be obtained education itself. They give no moral instruction, nor do they take any moral charge of them ; but in crowded and low neighbourhoods, by sound of tocsin, they collect all the young, vulgar, and untaught children together, that they may corrupt each other, and thus render the whole of one character. No good they have done in teaching words can ever counterbalance this mischief that they have inflicted on society. This en passant. My busi- ness is with the children of thieves and abandoned women, many of whom do join for a time the Lancasterian schools, and spread contamination by degrees far and wide. If the government will adopt my plan, and stand loco pa- rentis, and that at an early age, taking them at once, when they first commit crime, out of the contaminating influence of the scenes they are brought up in, twenty years would work a wonderful change in our criminal history. The more the instances of crime, the more there always is likely to be, in an increasing and dense population, unless some countervailing measures are adopted ; and what plan can be better than, bj one effort, to weed society of the teachers of ill-doings, and thus give the next generation a chance of growing up without so many evil examples as they now have to draw them into crime ? If a born thief lives, and is at large (what they call being on the town) till he is twelve years of age, he draws, on moderate calculation, ten others into crime annually, who are his neighbours, not the sons of thieves, or of those who would have them thieves, but the offspring of parents who have neither time nor means of putting any restraint on them, BB 370 SNEAKS. as to their associates, during their own absence from home, which is generally from morning to night. From twelve to twenty years of age he will seduce, each year, four or five of his own age, heretofore quite unused to crime, besides the encouragement he the whole time gives to the body of sneaks ; putting away, perhaps, twenty annually of those in which he had no participation in making criminals, further than the encouragement he gives to the general body of sneaks, from whence he draws his auxiliaries. It will be seen from this statement, which is founded on indisputable data, that the mischiefs of contamination are as three to one from the ages of five to twelve, as com- pared to the ages of twelve to twenty. This fact alone proves the necessity of going to the root of the evil, and attacking crime in its infancy. As there will always be some boys the parents of whom are a remove or two from the poorer classes, who have been drawn into the gulf of crime, it might perhaps be advisable to invest the judge with a discre- tionary power, to take security for the future conduct of such boys as belong to those who could command it ; and thus throw the burden of responsibility on the parent, stimulating him to exercise a more watchful guardianship over the conduct of his children. This privilege, of course, should not be granted to any exceeding fourteen years of age. When the duties of a parent are considered, and the lax hold many of our respecta- ble tradesmen have of their children, I think, if the compul- sory measure towards the parent were carried further, it would be beneficial, not only to society, but to both parent and son. If, when gross neglect was proved, by which society became in danger of having a pauper or a thief added to her numbers, and there were parents who could, but would not, do their duty, then I say they should be made to enter into security that their children should not commit crime, under penalties such as may be deemed efficient for the purpose. No police would be required to perform this THE SHOPLIFTER. 371 duty. In every walk of life all are not bad, some virtue is still extant among the lowest of the low ; and if there were a power given to magistrates of this nature, in every neigh- bourhood some parents would be found having a better sense of their own duty, who would watch the conduct and give in- formation of the total neglect of these duties in their neigh- bours. The shocking sufferings and privations some boys undergo in this metropolis by the neglect of parents are incredible ; were one-hundredth part collected and stated in detail, it would harrow up the soul of all who read the statement. Many are lying on the mat of the door, on the stairs of their parents 1 lodgings, half the night, wait- ing until they come home drunk and out of temper ; when, perhaps, the boy is kicked into the street, there to spend the night, until at length he is driven to join the sneaks at their lodging-houses, and the next day commences thief. SECTION VI. THE SHOPLIFTER. THE shoplifters are much less to be dreaded than the sneak, as they do not carry off cash, and rarely any very valuable property ; they have, however, lately hit on a scheme which has proved successful in numerous instances. Noting a shop where goods are piled on the counter, or within reach, a man goes in called a bouncer, and generally asks to look at some handkerchiefs, selecting a time when there is only one shop- man in the way breakfast-time for instance ; whilst this is going on, a well-dressed youth comes in with a blue bag in his hand, asking for shoe-ties, or some trifling article. Now SB 2 3*72 SNATCHERS OF RETICULES, WATCHES, &C. the work begins ; the man engages the attention of the shop- man as fully as possible, by talking of buying largely, and by opening the handkerchiefs, or other goods, and so spread- ing them as to blind the eyes of the shopman, and screen the movements of the boy, who, during this time, is putting as many of the most valuable goods into his bag as he can lay his hands on ; then pretending he cannot wait, leaves the shop. This scheme has had a great run among the shop-bouncers, as has that of taking a boy in with them, when they first go into the shop, who, whilst the same examination of the goods is going on, contrives to put three or four pieces of handker- chiefs into the man's hat, which has been previously laid on the counter for the purpose. The other methods of shop- lifting are too well known to require any further description of mine. It cannot be too often enforced on the shopkeeper, that these men know the places which are good for this purpose, and that careless people will always have an abundance of customers of this kind, and that it is their own fault, in all cases of shoplifting, when they lose their goods. SECTION VII. SNATCHERS OF RETICULES, WATCHES, &c. THESE are but a more desperate and daring kind of pick- pocket, who want temper and talent to go more circumspectly about their business, and cannot be carried on very well unless the thief has a neighbourhood of his own to cover his retreat. I witnessed, a few days since, a most daring act of this kind. STAUKKKS. 373 A gentleman passing the end of Tottenham-court-road, St. Giles's, took out a valuable gold watch to see the time, when a fellow snatched it from his hand, and ran away with it : all efforts to take him were ineffectual, as he got into some of the low back streets where no one would venture to follow him. What the boys call soot-bag hunting, was once a pur- suit behind coaches, where they would get up and seize any lady's bag which was in their reach, with which, as the coach was going on, they would be sure to get off. SECTION VIII. STARRERS. THIS is a crime which comes under the head of housebreak- ing, as in law an entry has been made through the broken glass. With a pointed and well-tempered knife, one of them picks a hole by scraping out the putty, whilst another stands before the one so employed ; when this is done, and the knife can be got under the glass, the operator waits the most favourable moment, which is the most noisy one, when car- riages or waggons are passing; he then uses the knife as a lever, the frame itself being the fulcrum, and by a sudden jerk of the hand, stars the glass, dividing it in two, by causing it to crack from top to bottom : at the moment of doing this they run away, for fear of being heard in the shop. If this has been done well and not heard, they come back, after a time, " to work it out," (get it quite loose,) ready to take out in the evening; a time they generally select to finish the busi- ness, by carrying off all within reach of the opening so made 374 STARRERS. The practitioners in this offence make frequent journeys to large towns in parties of four or five, working at different shops in the town at the same time. Instances of their suc- cess have been so great, that one summer a party of starrers kept a member of the gang wholly employed in travelling to and from town to dispose of the property to the buyers of stolen goods. In one instance, a silversmith from Brighton absolutely sate beside a boy on the coach who had, between his legs, a bag-full of property which had the day previously been stolen from the said silversmith's window by starring, and who was then coming to town in consequence of the loss. It happened, as the coach came over Brixton-hill, Mr. Green, the keeper of Brixton prison, stopped the coach for the pur- pose of riding to town : as the thief had been a short time before under the surveillance of Mr. Green, he became alarmed, and before he was seen by him, got off the coach, saying, he was arrived at his journey's end ; and he carried off the whole of the goods, among which were eleven valuable gold watches. Would it not be an improvement in our police establishment, if persons were appointed to take cognizance of all coaches as they went in and out of town, being careful that the parties appointed to do this duty should be well ac- quainted with the town criminals in general ? Many are the advantages which would accrue from the adoption of such a plan, which, I think, are too obvious to require pointing out. Jewellers suffer by another kind of robber, called pinchers. Men of good exterior appearance, having previously practised themselves in the art of sleight of hand, visit shops, and under the pretence of becoming a customer, convey from the cards of jewellery handed them for inspection, as many valvuables as they can, up their sleeve. HOUSE AND CATTLE STEALERS. 375 SECTION IX. HORSE AND CATTLE STEALERS. THERE was, at one time, a very formidable gang of horse- stealers, who spread themselves all over the country, and, for a long period, carried on successfully their depredations ; but there is now no reason to suppose there is much confederacy in this crime, or, indeed, that there are any regular horse- stealers ; all the instances of this offence being, like the high- way robber, casual. But it is not so with sheep and cattle- stealers. Smithfield market is frequented by many who are in connexion with persons in the country, who carry on their depredations to some extent, and in various ways. There are men in the country who are in confederacy with others in town, and the drovers on the road, who, of course, are going to and from the country constantly with large flocks of sheep, or herds of cattle. The thief, availing himself of the dark- ness, drives into these flocks or herds the sheep or cattle be- longing to other persons ; in the course of a long journey this may be done at many places on the road. As they reach town they have persons ready to separate the stolen ones, and dispose of them to certain little master-butchers who are in the secret, and consequently obtain them much cheaper than at the usual market-price. The grazier and farmer suffer most with their sheep, the stealing of which always was, and, I imagine, will be, a crime of frequent recurrence in this country ; and for the prevention of which every practicable measure appears to have been adopted without effect. Should my suggestion of a police force being blended with the turnpike system be adopted, I should recommend a pass 376 HORSE AND CATTLE STEALERS. being given to the drovers, which should, at every stage throughout the line of road the cattle travelled, be examined and endorsed by a proper officer. The pass, in the first in- stance, should be signed by the resident magistrate of the parish whence the cattle or sheep came, describing the number and marks on the same, and stating the owner's name and re- sidence. This measure would at once be an effectual check on the drovers, through whose means the sheep-stealers now carry on their robberies. The drovers take charge of several parties' sheep, uniting them in one flock until they reach town, when they are separated, and consigned to a salesman. This practice offers no obstable to my proposition, as each owner should be compelled to send his pass for the number of cattle committed to the charge of the drover. This I conceive to be an arrangement under which stolen sheep and cattle could never reach town ; at least, the risk of detection would be multiplied a hundred fold, and certain it is, no wholesale plunder could be carried on. I defended three men who drove seventy-five sheep from a man's field in one night ; they all reached town, and were sold, but the men were afterwards recognized and prosecuted. If a precaution of the kind I propose had been in these men's way, how could they possibly have passed up the road ? The passes should be printed forms, having a peculiar mark for each district ; and perhaps it would be better if a person were appointed to fill them up and deliver them to the farmers and graziers in his neighbour- hood, without having recourse to a magistrate, which might be thought too troublesome. He who performed this duty should be paid by those who applied for them ; their property would be, as it were, insured by this system being enforced ; and they could not very well complain at a trifling insurance being exacted from them. The same persons who performed this duty might also execute another of equal importance, and of essential benefit to the public. Horse-stealing, although not carried on in a wholesale man- HORSE AND CATTLK M'EALEKS. 377 ner by confederacy of large gangs, yet is a crime of very fre- quent occurrence throughout England ; the offenders stealing in one county and disposing of them in another. To put a stop to this practice, I propose that an act of parliament should be passed to compel all buyers and sellers of horses, jointly and severally, to register the sale of each horse, with both their names, places of residence, and occupations, also the sum for which the horse was sold, with a full description of him, under a penalty of forfeiture of money hereafter to be named. Suppose this act in force, and a stranger had a horse to sell, for which there was a purchaser, would not he, (the purchaser,) for his own security, before he paid over the pur- chase-money, see the registration performed ? and would the seller, think ye, if he had stolen the horse, or purchased him knowing him to be stolen, venture to the register office, where, in all probability, would be sent an account of the lost horse, with his description, &c. &c. ? Here, then, is at one stroke a stop put to all stolen horses throughout the country ; and this desideratum would perhaps be attained for the small charge of one shilling each person who either bought or sold a horse. If persons were appointed in each district to manage the passes of cattle, they would, at the same time, be the very persons calculated to register the sale of horses ; and it might be found, after a time, desirable to extend the registration to the sale of all descriptions of cattle. Besides, it is obvious to any acute mind to how many other purposes of prevention of crime these offices might be applied ; I could mention several of as great importance as the cattle and horse-stealing, were it not that I consider this paper more devoted to the descrip- tion of crime than for going largely into the prevention sys- tem, which I have reserved for a work of itself.* * Since writing the above, I have myself been called on to give evidence in a case wherein a man hired a horse and chaise at the west end of the town, and immediately afterwards sold it in Southwark. If such a sale register-office had been open, this crime could never have been committed. 378 HOB8E AND CATTLE STEALEUS. It is a truism in this country, that all the legislative bodies have done, at any period of our history, has not in the slightest degree retarded the progress of crime ; and I may fearlessly challenge all the members of the Houses of Lords and Com- mons to prove, that the majority of our really useful and beneficial laws have not been forced on their attention by the public at large, who, feeling where the shoe pinches, are the first to cry out and direct the legislative eye to the defect. Conscious of this, in common with all others who take the trouble to examine these matters, I cannot allow this subject to pass my pen without offering those who are, or ought to be, interested in the preservation of property from depredations, my assurances of a conviction on my mind, that the measures above proposed, would, if brought into effective operation, entirely annihilate, and strike out of our criminal annals, two very heavy crimes; viz. sheep-stealing and horse-stealing. To give more certainty to the effect of this plan, the post- office should grant free post of letters when directed from or going to these offices throughout the kingdom, for the purpose of circulating an account of lost horses or cattle. This intimation of forming a road, or toll-gate, police was first published in November, 1832. Since which I have learned, through the secretary's office, that some persons are now travelling the country under the authority of govern- ment, to collect information and report thereon, with a view of establishing a branch police throughout the country. With our rapid means for internal national communication, an entire line of co-operative police might certainly be ef- fectively and permanently constructed. Perhaps the most economical and efficient measure for the government to adopt, will be for them to pass an act of parliament to compel the commissioners on all main roads to build cottages or huts, at the distance of one mile from each other, for the residence of a man and his family. Men thus placed might be made con- stables, and yet be employed in repairing their mile of road : SWINDLERS. 379 and, when established, neither accident nor robbery could happen at a farther distance than a half mile, whence as- sistance might always be procured. SECTION X. SWINDLERS. THE tricks and practice of all the swindlers cannot possibly have insertion here, for want of room, without excluding other interesting matter. There is one set, however, of swindlers now in active business who cannot be too much exposed ; no opportunity should be lost in giving publicity to their nefari- ous conduct, and to caution all persons against falling into their snares. There are, at this moment, a large number of persons who, without possessing any means, or having any connexions by which they can raise money to lend, yet un- blushingly advertise every day to raise money to any amount, and to discount bills to an unlimited extent. The object of these fellows is to obtain good securities, under pretence of advancing money, which, when once in their hands, are never returned. The applicant is put off from day to day with plausible but shuffling excuses, until at length he is induced, under fear of losing the value of his securities deposited in their hands, to take some other counter documents to hold until his own is returned, or the money paid, as first agreed on. Whilst this is going on, the valid securities are converted into money, by selling the papers probably for half price, which the swindlers pocket, leaving their dupe with some imaginary security, but of no value. In law, the exchange 380 SWINDLERS. of these papers takes away the felonious part of the trans- action. A case which came under my knowledge will, I think, better convey to the reader their mode of proceeding than any further remarks of my own. A man who was con- fined within the rules of the King's Bench, advertised to ad- vance money to any extent, referring applicants to an office he had in town ; the first day's advertisement brought a very respectable tradesman from the neighbourhood of Parliament Street, who wanted 500/. on loan, for the purpose of repair- ing his premises and extending his trade. He was imme- diately promised the money, the advertiser having left the rules, in which he ought to have remained, for the purpose of meeting the applicant. Two bills were drawn of 2501. each, and the endorsement of his mother procured, who was a re- tired lady on a confined income ; in addition to this, the lease of his premises was demanded as a collateral security. Day after day objections of a frivolous nature to the several clauses in the lease were raised, and when this evasion was worn out, other excuses were resorted to, until the swindler one day said " As the gentleman from whom I was to have had the money is out of town, and you are in a hurry for it, if you will take my own acceptances, which I will you for the amount, down to a certain house, they will give you the cash for them ; but first let us have a memorandum of our having exchanged bills to the amount of 500/." An agreement of that nature was accordingly drawn up and signed ; the unfortunate trades- man soon discovered that no money could be raised on these bills, and the affair ended by his being obliged to pay his own 500/. without ever having a farthing from the cheating party; and, to add to his misfortune, he indicted the swindler, em- ploying Mr. H r to conduct the prosecution ; the case was traversed, and ultimately brought before the Lord Chief Justice in the King's Bench, when it was decided, that the agreement for the exchange of bills made it a fair, trading, SWINDLEKS. 381 common contracting transaction ; thus having a heavy bill of law charges to pay in addition to his loss of 5001. Similar tricks are every day played off on his majesty ""s liege subjects, and is a mischief for which it seems absolutely necessary that a law should be directed against. The money- lenders who prey on the vitals of young men of property who lose their money at play, or in expensive amusements, and then borrow at exorbitant and usurious interest, are a great pest to society, but the direct swindler should unquestionably be put down. The common law has defined the offence of cheating to be, a deceitful practice in defrauding, or endeavouring to defraud another, of his own right, by means of some artful device, contrary to the plain rules of common honesty. The statute of the 33rd of Henry VIII. c. 1, declares, " That if any person shall falsely or deceitfully obtain, or get into his hands or possession, any money, goods, &c. of any other per- son, by colour or means of any false privy taken, or counter- feit letter, &c. he shall be punished by imprisonment, the pil- lory, or whipping." Thus stood the law until the 30th George II. c. 24, when the offence was made transportable for the term of seven years. It would seem, by the unrestrained practices of these men, that the above enactments are not strong enough to put them down ; it is the duty then of the government to enact others. Some swindling transactions through the medium of betting are daily practised, which require the interposition of the law, if all persons are to have the benefit of its protection. There are a certain set of men, who, through confederacy, obtain a living by devising ques- tions to cheat persons of money in making bets. Two cases will illustrate this practice, the truth of which there are a number of living dupes to attest. Three men travelled the country and supported themselves in extravagance for nearly three years by the word infortunate. When they entered a town they took up their abode at separate inns, or public- houses, as if unknown to each other ; they then frequented 382 SWINDLERS. the rooms where the tradesmen of the place resorted to enjoy themselves, where they would wait an opportunity for a full room of company, in a state of hilarity and super-excitement ; the word infortunate would then be used by one of the con- federates in some purposely constructed sentence, the correct- ness of which would be immediately questioned by another of the party, and bets to a pretended large amount staked on both sides, as to whether or not it was a dictionary word. It was the object of these itinerant swindlers, in the course of their affected controversy, to draw in all the persons composing the party to oppose, and lay wagers, that there is no such word as infortunate in the English language. When this was accomplished, a dictionary was called for, and the word pointed out to the assumed surprise of the confederates, whilst the man, learned in dictionary lore, pocketed the cash. Sim- ple as this mode of raising money may appear, it had a great run in the country. It is not to be supposed that these men lived solely on this bet ; it was, however, their stock piece, and main dependence, each party having always similar newly invented quibbling questions to travel with. In another in- stance two men met with equal success by raising a question in their peregrinations of whether the town of Henley upon Thames is situated on the London side of that river, or on the other. Many have lost their money on this wager ; those simpletons who know the town, and recollect passing from London over the bridge into the town, say it is situated on the opposite side of the river ; some have been found foolish enough to stake 100/. on this wager, forgetting that on their road from town, they had before crossed the Thames at Maidenhead bridge, and that when they re-crossed it at Hen- ley, that they came back to the same side of the river as that from which they started. Let not the wise man smile at these tricks as being improbable or impossible. The number of in- cautious persons to be met with in this country is but little conceived by those whose sphere of action are confined to a SWINDLERS. 383 coterie. It should be remembered that it is the fools, in every country, which most need protection from the government ; for this reason, I say, such tricks as are here alluded to should be included in our laws, as swindling transactions. The vice of gaming, and the toleration of open gaming-houses, supply this metropolis with all its sharpers and swindlers, who are the froth of these infernal sinks of vice. Men, once respectable, after losing their money, drop in character and habits, asso- ciating with a lower description of fellows, addicted to the same debasing vice, till they pass through all the demoralizing company and night-scenes of the town, after which there is no restraint on the conscience, nor is there any return to virtue until the loss of health, or the law, brings on the prospect of death, and a remorse of conscience, which is the result of despair, not a voluntary and sincere contrition. Criminals born, and educated as such, and those made criminals through the gradations of gambling-houses, are the only offenders against the law, of which, under a proper system, we may not reasonably hope for a reformation. Sensitive minds, by the practice of this vice, either become maniacs or suicides ; those possessing more hebetude, undergo, in every stage, the process of callidity and callosification, until they become hardened and tempered for every act of desperation against the laws of their country, and the social bonds of society. Rulers ! de- pend on this fact, that until you suppress public gaming- houses you cannot effectually cope with crime, even if you, as recommended in another part of this work, adopt the necessary measures to dispose of all the metropolitan ha- bitual rogues. In time, the exudation of gambling-houses, if not annihilated, would rear up another race of public depre- dators. The apathy of our rules on the subject of gaming- houses is highly reprehensible, the keepers of which cannot be looked on in any other light than swindlers, when it is known that the immense sum of 40,000/. has been made within the last two years by one man in St. James's Street ; 384 MEN AND WOMEN WHO WAYLAY INEBRIATE PERSONS. and when it is considered how many sufferers there must have been to have made up this sum, what possible excuse can there be for allowing such nuisances to exist ? There are many secrets to be told of this house, and it shall not be my fault if the world are not possessed of them.* SECTION XI. MEN AND WOMEN WHO WAYLAY INEBRIATE PERSONS FOR THE PURPOSES OF ROBBERY. THIS is a crime of frequent occurrence in London ; not a night passes but many suffer through these wretches, and their fellows, who are ever at hand to aid in the commission of the offence. No regular practised crime passes off with so much impunity as this ramping, which is the technical term for robbing a drunken man, and dispossessing those of their money who have been indiscreet enough " to put an enemy into their mouth to steal away their brains." In al- most every case of this kind the parties would rather pay as much more as that which they have lost, than expose their in- * The keeper of this house, B d, is now (April, 1833) under n prosecution for keeping a public gaming-house, contrary to the statute, &c. This man took his house of the creditors of a swindler, named E * * " 1, who is now transported. He contracted to pay them 50i. per month for it ; they received four payments, amounting to 200/., since which he has continued to set them all at defiance, and pays no rent for a house in which he has been enabled to swindle hundreds. He took the premises in November, 1830, when he was known to be a needy man. Now, no man in Rotten Row figures with finer horses, or assumes more conse- quence than this fellow does, who sprang through his tricks from poverty to wealth. FOH THE PURPOSE OF KOBBKUY. 385 discretions to the world ; besides, in most instances, the diffi- culty of identifying the guilty persons is very great. The prosecutor being robbed in a state of insensibility, his evidence, even if he were disposed to give it, would be received with doubt, as it is generally given with incertitude. Hundreds of women of the above description walk the whole night through, waiting and lurking about certain houses where they know drinking company resort, " Where revel calls, and laughter vainly loud, False to the heart, distorts the hollow cheek, To leave the flagging spirit doubly weak." They have always one or two male associates each, who follow at some little distance, ready to pounce on their prey when decoyed into the snare ; that is, some remote place where there is little danger of any interruption. Most frequently it is in some house into which the unconscious inebriate is often passively and unresistingly led. These houses are very numerous in London, and are well known. There are many in the neighbourhood of Drury Lane. At one time there were ten or twelve in and about White-hart Yard. It excites every person's astonishment that they should be allowed to exist when they are so well known and pointed out. Mr. Thomas, the active officer in St. Paul's, Covent-garden, has often mentioned them publicly before the sitting magistrates, but as they have no legal power to put them down, all that can be done is, to instruct the police force to keep a watchful eye over them. In these places girls of nine and ten years of age may be seen playing their meretricious gambols. An enactment might surely be made to reach these dens of dan- ger and wickedness, as also the lodging-houses where the young sneaks associate, without alarming the sensitive nerves of the most rigid stickler for John Bull's liberty. In the absence of any proposals for a legislative measure to remedy this evil, I will offer one of my own. c c 386 HEN AND WOMEN WHO WAYLAY INEBRIATE PERSONS I propose that the parish authorities, magistrates, or some other constituted power, should, by enactment, be enabled to summon any housekeeper in their district before him or them, to answer any questions which may be put regarding the trade, calling, or occupation, of the said housekeeper, and in the fullest manner to examine him or her as to the means by which he or she obtained their living ; first having two affi- davits lodged with the said power, sworn by housekeepers of the same parish, setting forth their suspicions on each, that the house or houses named in their depositions were illegally conducted or occupied for purposes contrary to law. Of course, in the act passed, having in view the suppression of houses occupied by thieves, whether males or females, the legal and illegal uses of premises in general would be well de- fined, and consequently could not interfere with the honest and respectable man ; nor, indeed, with any man, poor or rich, honest or dishonest, further than as to the legal uses to which he or she appropriated any premises belonging to or hired by them. It would not be advisable to place in the hands of this citing power any further authority than to declare the illegal or legal fact of occupation, and to hold the parties to bail for their appearance to answer any ulterior proceedings which might be followed up by the parish officers. Whatever might be the nature of the authority before which it might be deemed proper, as a preliminary step, the accused should be summoned, it should be the duty of the parish officers to prosecute, and bring forward evidence to substantiate the charge of illegal appropriation of premises. Should a conviction take pl;uv, the bench must be empowered to send in an officer to remain on the premises until the same were either vacated or trans- ferred into other hands, who should give security for using the house only for purposes of a legal nature, at least for twelve months. This latter provision would be a just punish- ment on the landlords, who, in almost every case, are privy to FOR THE PURPOSE OF ROBBERY. 387 the bad appropriation of premises. In the adoption of this measure may be seen the effectual and entire annihilation of public gambling-houses, if the inhabitants and parish officers did their duty ; and there can be no doubt but generally they are well disposed to do so, if government will but arm them by legislative acts of authorisation. Without offending the modesty of the most fastidious of my readers, I hope I may be allowed to say a word or two on brothels in general. I am one of those strange beings who believe, that, were these houses regularly registered and taken under the protection of government, the cause of morality would be promoted. Yes ! astonished reader, the cause of morality promoted. When evils cannot be avoided they should be faced, examined, and the best judgment used to lighten their effects as much as possible. This is the advice any sensi- ble family man would give his friend in private life, and the same is applicable to governments, whose peculiar business it is to watch all the evils incidental to, and attendant on the community : it is their duty to lighten the pernicious influ- ences of vice in every grade. But our mock-modest rulers, by affecting not to know the extent of the mischief, have al- most persuaded themselves of the nullibility of these houses, although their daily increase in every quarter of the town is notorious to every body else; and the evil has increased to such a frightful extent, that the very children of the present age are drawn into the vice of prostitution, their principles beingsapped, and a large proportion of society brought into a state of total depravity. I was in court at Clerkenwell last May sessions, when a girl, little more than twelve years of age, was placed at the bar for stealing some bottles. She had parents, but they heeded her not : she wept most bitterly. It seems she had been compelled to sleep in the streets for want of a home. Although so young, the court were informed that she was at that moment in a state of disease, which had only been dis- covered that morning. She was sentenced to two months im- c c2 388 MEN AND WOMEN WHO WAYLAY IXF.BRIATE PERSONS prisonment. Ought not the law to seek out for the parents, and punish them, rather than this unfortunate girl ? " Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, That to be hated needs hut to be seen ; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure then pity then embrace." I was informed, only a few days since, by an active and intelligent officer of the police, that in my neighbourhood, (the Regent's Park,) one street contains thirty-six of these houses, in one of which he had ascertained, the night pre- viously, forty-five girls had slept, there being several beds in the house in which six of these unfortunate young creatures were sleeping together. When these things are offered to be proved and established, so as to remove the doubts of the most sceptical and incredulous, no one can wonder at the progression of demoralization. In these times of danger from a pestilential disease, it is surprising that sani- tary considerations have not induced the authorities to turn their attention to these houses, and at least, if not entirely dissociate them, see that they congregate only in such num- bers as are in consonance with our general notions of civili/ed decency. The higher classes of society are very sensitive on the question of contamination, and fully appreciate the effects of association.* They guard every avenue through which pollution can enter into their families, but the offspring of the poor are, for want of means, left to casual management. The converzatione, the soiree, together with the aid of teachers, make the daughters of our proud Norman aristocracy what they are. They inherit their mother's beauty, but are modest, virtuous, and accomplished, by the force of example and good instruction. Look on the other side of the picture ! behold sixty thousand poor deluded young females living in a state of depravity, surrounded by every vicious example, and fast hurrying on towards the extremity of misery ; no friendly * This was written at the time the cholera morhus was raging in this country. KOtt THE I'l'Ul'OSK 01- ROBBERY. 389 hand is held out to save them, no timely voice is heard to warn them of their danger ; and whilst in the full career of their headlong course, the operation of their example is per- mitted uninterruptedly to go on, keeping up and increasing their numbers daily. The homogenity of the virtuous and the vicious classes is distinct, and it is the duty of the former to reflect on the causes which have occasioned the difference between them ; they will find no reason to be proud, or to entertain any great self-complaisance. Accident of birth only has drawn the line of demarcation that separates their condi- tion in society. The fine lady possesses no accomplishments, no virtues, which she can inherently call her own ; they were written on her mind when it was a blank sheet, and she, par- tially, in an unconscious state. On the other hand, those who occupy the opposite position in the comparison cannot be ac- counted wholly answerable for all the evils attendant on their course of life, or for the effects produced on the rising gene- ration of females in their own grade of society. Much is said in this country of the munificence of the rich, of charita- ble institutions, and of the number of our philanthropists; but if we judge of things by their effects, we shall, on inquiry, find the good resulting to society from these sources has been very partial. Our amateur legislators and sentimentalists trust all to a Vice Society, a Philanthropic Society, and a few other eleemosynary establishments. To the first of these I should say, it is better to prevent vice than punish it, be- cause by the time you catch one delinquent fifty others have been corrupted. And as to philanthropy, the word means universal love of mankind, and has nothing to do with the bit-by-bit mode of doing good to a few individuals under a system of jobbery, bartering one interest for another, for sinister views connected with a few institutions which have been established by gulling the asinine members of society. It is the fountain of vice whence the evil flows which requires absterging, the large corrupted abscess of society which 390 MEN AND WOMEN WHO WAYLAY INEBRIATE PERSONS must be healed ; those sinks of vice where women and girls are found herding together by hundreds, and in a state that reminds us of the animals described by Dean Swift, called the Yahoos. We want a municipal government adapted to the new circumstances of society, one which would act on an enlarged principle. I propose that a place of reception, simi- lar to the one I have before named for the young sneaks, should be provided for the reception of the unprotected and erring girls : and here, I know, I shall be met with the same arguments of opposition as those named under the head of sneaks, viz. that there are too many, and that government may as well think of providing for all the propertyless people in the country. The answer to this is plain. If you delay, and do not grapple with the evil at once, you will very soon have the increase so enormous, that society will be driven to demand it from you ; after you have, by neglect, trebled the difficulty of providing for them. But let us inquire whether there really be any such obstacles in the way. I have, under this head of ramps, recommended that a surveillance, and a more general system of espionage, should be adopted over mere- tricious women and girls in the metropolis ; but I am now confining myself to the furtive girls and the young sneak, as regards the expense of taking them out of society, both of which, in my judgment, demand the immediate and serious attention of the government. Let these two classes be \i-gi*- lated for, and you may hereafter spare yourselves the trouble of passing so many penal statutes to repress crime. The asylums t propose, both for the boys and girls, would be in- stitutions for the reception only of those who had committed crime; and it can hardly be supposed that any not before criminal would, for mere food, place themselves in the situa- tion', and undergo the punishment, of one of the most aban- doned classes in the community. If this fear be removed, (and I am convinced it is a chimerical one, as far as to its FOR THE PURPOSE OF ROBBERY. 3'Jl being practised to any extent so as to interfere with the prin- ciple,) I then ask what you profess to be doing now regarding these boys and girls ? Your answer would be, adopting all the means in our power to apprehend all who commit crime. So you do ; but your system only catches one out of every six, leaving always a surplus on society of five-sixths and this proportion is daily increasing, so that the evil is gaining on you. Now, my plan would very soon remove all the young plants which now encumber the ground, leaving the older ones either to fructify and die off, or to be rooted up as they are met with ; by which, if the species were not entirely exterminated, the specimens would become rare. Reverting again to the objection of cost for their food, clothing, &c., it is natural to ask, who would be called on to pay it ? The public. Who supports them now ? The same answer must be given the public. Part of their life is spent in the work- house, part in prison, and the remainder in plundering the public so that, wherever they are, it is now at the public cost they live. If, however, you will take the entire manage- ment of them into your own hands, you will make one pound go as far as fifty now goes in supporting them, besides making them useful members (if not of this) of colonial so- ciety, to where, after a time, they may be sent, and made indented servants of, to pay the expense of sending them out. They are in their present state an incubus on morality, and a drag-chain to the industrious. Talk of the expense of providing for a few thousand boys and girls who, by the way, would all very soon be earning nearly their own living under a proper system of management look what they cost you now ! There are nearly three thousand policemen em- ployed in London, exclusive of 'the city establishment, an expensive magistracy, and heavy charges for the support of our courts besides the costs to the county, over and over again, for prosecuting the same offender, with the charges for their keep in a state of idleness, or in doing that which is pro- 392 MEN AND WOMEN WHO WAYLAY INEBRIATE PERSONS fitless during intervals of imprisonment. Add to all these charges the amount of what they abstract from the public, either by plunder or stratagem set all this, and much more which might be named, in the balance sheet, against the pro- bable charges for maintaining them in a state of order and industry, and it will be apparent at once that the better course will be to adopt the plan here proposed. It was only the other day I was for a few minutes at St. Mary-la-bonne police-office, when three boys were placed at the bar, charged with picking a gentleman's pocket of a handkerchief, which was produced ; but, as the gentleman did not appear, they were discharged by Mr. Hoskins, who, after inquiring whether they were known as thieves, and being answered in the affirmative, discharged them, saying, " Mind your future course of life." Knowing the boys to be thieves, I followed and entered into conversation with them. I learnt that they were without a farthing in their pockets, and that they all three were very hungry, and had not a friend in the world to whom they could apply for assistance. Now, cdn- sidering the circumstances in which they were placed, to turn them loose on the streets, was to say, Go rob the first person you meet ! It is of no use to urge that they have no right to steal. There they were, ingrained thieves, having no other possible means of allaying the gnawings of hunger ; and yet our system sets them at large. What shall be said in the defence of one who saw another load a pistol, avowing his in- tention of discharging the contents of it at the head of some other person, if the party so apprised of a fellow-mortal's danger did not take every step to prevent the commission of murder ? Precisely so it is with these boys, differing only in the degrees of offence. I do not blame the magistrate : had he sent them to the House of Correction for three months, it would only have delayed the commission of the crime, and he had no power to dispose of them in any other way. Hun- dreds of thieves arc weekly discharged under the same cir- FOE THE PURPOSE OF UOBBEHY. 31)3 cumstances, the expose, of which calls loudly for legislative interference; and in the absence of which, it is much to be regretted that, in this society-country, there is not one formed for the purpose of employing agents to attend where these characters are discharged, offering them an asylum and tem- porary relief, during which some efforts might be made to withdraw them from their courses. If, however, it were made a national question, many of the present charitable in- stitutions 1 " occupations would be gone, 1 ' and they could not do better than to throw their funds up for the use of the all- absorbing one here proposed. Were it not that the operations of all the societies for reclaiming abandoned boys were so partial and circumscribed, I should have much to write on this subject. I have visited them all, and can say but little in their favour, excepting only the Society for the Refuge of the Destitute, to which the government were wont to subscribe one hundred pounds per annum. There was, however, some demur lately on the part of the committee of this society to receive any more boys on the recommendation of the judges. Whether the subscription had been altogether withheld, or whether they thought the sum paid into their funds inade- quate to the numbers of boys sent for admission, did not ap- pear. Some of the other societies have been founded by interested persons, having only their own gain in view. They publish flaming quarterly reports, which delude the sub- scribers, and deceive the public as to the advantages derived from them. Is this country never to be relieved from a system of jobbery ? Not even in works of beneficence can she be spared. There are tales to be unfolded on this subject, wherein the honorary secretary himself is blind, and not sensible of the cat's-paw which has been made of him. In the interim I call on the public to disabuse their minds, if they have ever entertained a notion that these societies have answered any good purpose, as regards the reclaiming of juvenile offenders. 394 MEN AND WOMEN WHO WAYLAY INEBRIATE PERSON'S There is a society of this nature, recently established by the exertions of one individual, a few miles from town. As I knew all the circumstances of its formation, a few months since I went down to view the establishment. I found an immense large house and grounds, calculated to contain two hundred boys : there were, at the time I was at the place, eleven boys and as many attendants; and a committee-room, in which was a large table covered with papers, exhibiting as much appearance of important business as the table of the first Lord of the Admiralty in the most bellicose times. After examining the boys, I said to the superintendent, who was the real founder of the charitable institution, for sinister pur- poses, ' You have no boys accustomed to crime here V He replied, ** No, sir ; we are very particular, and don^t like bad company !" I rejoined, " Well ! but what is the object of your society ? Is it not for the express purpose of reclaim- ing boys involved in crime ? And, in my opinion, the worse they are, the credit due to you would be so much the more if you succeed in diverting them from the commission of sin ; and the benefit to society will be in the same proportion." His reply to this remark was, " Well, we will have no bad ones here !" As I knew a really worthy alderman who had been made a tool in the forming of this establishment, I de- termined to ascertain his notions of the institution. A few days after I had formed this resolution, I met a boy I had long wished to reclaim, thinking that if an opportunity was afforded him he might be saved to society. I in consequence waited on the alderman, where it so happened I met the be- fore-named superintendent. As I had been known to both of them for a long time as being tolerably well skilled in the study and management of these boys, I made no doubt of obtaining the Iwy's admission, to promote which I urged the youth's destitute condition, and the necessity he was under of resorting to crime for a subsistence, adding, that he h.-ul just before been discharged from Newgate. " O f 1 said the FOll THE PURPOSE OF HOUUEKY. 395 alderman, " a bad one ; I was present at his trial." The superintendent declared they did not want boys of that kind, and my request for his admission was refused. The pro- spectuses, advertisements, and the published letters of the honorary secretary, solicit the contributions of the public for the special purpose of reclaiming abandoned criminal boys. I here inform the subscribers that the conductors of the establishment seek after no such characters, but pick up the few they have with great care and circumspection from among the poorer classes, taking special pains to select those of a meek disposition, unmarked by any violent or strong propen- sities such boys, in fact, as never were possessed of any devils to cast out. The number of boys now in the establish- ment is twenty-five, who are supplied with lodging and board, relieving their friends from the burden of providing for them. This is the extent of the charity no more. They select this description of boys, to show how altered is their demeanour since they have come into the establishment ; the visitors all the time contemplating them as heretofore old and desperate offenders. This is a fact ; and I make the expose to show the government the utter futility of relying on these partial and interested correctives of juvenile crime. When this first appeared in print, in " Eraser's Magazine," the parties were very angry at the publicity given to these observations ; I have, however, in the controversy which sub- sequently arose out of them, learnt that much more might with truth have been added on the score of jobbery, the party having got the lease of the premises where the institution is carried on, into his own hands, dictates to the society, and makes his own terms, which of course are all characterised for benevolence. One of the principals in the committee told me that they were hampered in consequence of this circumstance, and could not do as they wished : thus it is seen that the funds of this redoubted benevolent society are, in a measure, rendered subservient to the man who was so active in its first establishment. Further commentary would be a waste of 396 MKN AND WOMEN WHO WAYLAY INEBRIATE 1'EUSONS paper. This society, with five others, have sprung from a society which was established in the year 1815, and held at the King's Head, in the Poultry, called a Society for Em- ploying the Poor and reducing the Poor's Rates. Very large sums were subscribed, but, like all its predecessors and successors, it entirely failed. Their bickerings and continual dissensions occasioned all the money to be spent in keeping the society together. At length a contractor, a lawyer, a surgeon, and a broker, united to form another, on a system somewhat differing from the former. The contractor advanced some money at a good profit, putting forth another man's pub- lished scheme of rural employment to found their own upon. This society is one and the same with the original, formed of dissentients from it. Another then started, headed by a lawyer, whose plan was to obtain waste land from government at a pepper-corn rent. Some was purchased, which now brings them in fifteen per cent, profit per annum. A second in the same neighbourhood (the Mansion House) was soon formed, on a system differing from the former ; they em- ployed agents to travel the country to collect informa- tion and solicit subscriptions, and it is said the adven- ture has brought the speculators some profit, though none to the poor man. A third was instituted, called the Allotment Society, under the management of a respectable body of Quakers; this is the most likely of all of them to succeed, because they are disinterested and sincere in what they profess, and consider well what they undertake. A fourth was then established to suppress Juvenile Vagrancy ; this is the society to which I first alluded ; it has been a total failure. The object is noble, but the basis on which it was founded weak, not to use a much harsher term. Some of its more worthy members having seen the truth of my former published remarks, have seceded from it, and it is now flicker- ing like the remains of a candle, all but burnt out. I am par- ticularly happy in having saved a certain benevolent Quaker lady the mortification of seeing her thousand pounds mis- FOR THE PURPOSE OF ROBBERY. 397 spent. The fifth society was formed at Hackney Wick, for the employment of acquitted felons ; this rose, phrenix-like, from the ashes of the former, but the managing man of their first society was too subdulous for them ; he would not give up the boys, saying he had a contract to keep them for six months, and the point was ceded to the cautious Scotchman. They then had recourse to the parish workhouses to supply them with boys : some were obtained from St. GilesVin-the- fields ; they, however, ran away, and strange outrages and confusion ensued. In truth, there is nothing rational or sub- stantial in any of their plans ; the subscriptions have been liberal, but party spirit in some, and sinisterous views with others, have rendered all abortive. A sixth society has been formed by some of the dissentient members of the former ones, to promote emigration, although all their former mea- sures were adopted with a view to encourage home popula- tion, and they are now employed in shipping parties of boys off to the Cape of Good Hope, and Algola Bay, consisting of twenty-five in each party. It would appear that this course has been pursued purely through opposition to those who have thwarted their views, as all their previous speeches and writings were diametrically opposed to emigration.* When we look at the state of society at the present time in this country, and contemplate the nature of these societies, who, through advertisements and paragraphs in the daily papers, make as much fuss about their twenty and thirty boys, as the whole country does on the West India question of Slavery, it cannot but excite a smile at those who flatter themselves that they have done any good to mankind by their exertions. I am convinced that many of them, members of these societies, mean well ; and I also am convinced that many who insinuate themselves, and by perseverance become active agents, mean nothing but well to themselves, that is to say, they think only of filling their own pockets. It always was * Whilst this work was in the press, the same parties have established a seventh society for the purpose of promoting home colonization. 398 MEN AND WOMEN WHO WAYLAY INEBRIATE PERSONS so,- and always will be so, until remedial measures be adopted on a grand national scale. Almost all societies may be looked on as joint stock companies, holding that their own interests are paramount to that of the public. It is but just, however, to state how different is the conduct of the Society of the Refuge for the Destitute. I took a boy of the same description as the one above named, at a time the institution was very full, and on the same morning fifty others were in attendance to solicit the committee to grant ad- O missions for their children. On my stating that the boy was criminal, but in my judgment reformable, the chairman at once said " These are the objects for our attention ; leave the boy, sir, with us now." This was nine months since, and he is at this moment as fit for society as any of its heretofore more regular members are. I have this from the superin- tendent ; a most able man for the situation in which he is engaged. He is the only person I have ever met with having the management of these kind of boys who pursues the non- castigation system, in support of which my best advocacy has ever been employed. And here I will make an observation, which has escaped me before when speaking of these boys. Full one moiety of them are characterised as being remark- able either for their good nature and easiness of disposition, or for weakness of intellectual powers. Now, all who have these peculiarities are decidedly reclaimable ; and this opinion, I hope I may be allowed to say, without being charged with egotism, is founded on extensive observation, and on very reflective and matured consideration. The other half are of the most desperate and determined natures. In every small band, or knot of young thieves, there will always be found one or two sillikins, as they denominate those whom they can persuade to be foremost in any undertaking, by taunts of cowardice and threats of dissolving partnership. Now, the main cause of these boys being engaged at all in crime is, first, their acquaintance with their more cunning companions, arising out of the circumstance of proximity of residence in FOR THK PURPOSE OF ROBBERY. 399 the low neighbourhoods where they reside; secondly, their irresolute natures, and the want of mental strength rendering them so peculiarly suasible, that they possess no power of re- sistance: for want of education and mental exercise, they suffer themselves to be placed in any boat, and carried down any stream, in companionship with those who chanced first to engage their attention. It is from a knowledge of these facts that I am led to predicate that, were they taken out of society on the first commission of crime, instead of being allowed to go the same round and round for years, that full one half would, after time for reflection, and the improvement of their mental capacities, be so far restored to a sense of their former errors and weaknesses, as to be with safety allowed to return into the world long before the expiration of the term of the sentences which it would be policy to pass on all, until their idiosyncrasies and improved fixedness of purpose could be unequivocally ascertained. There are some again who are indomitable ; but, under a proper system of management, the instances would fall far short, very far short, of the popular impression regarding the incorrigibility of juvenile offenders. I therefore conjure the government to make the experiment on a sufficiently large scale, not only to relieve the public from losses of property, but to redeem our national character as a moral people, and to give to the philanthropic world the com- fortable assurance that the cause of human happiness was on the advance ; in the absence of which no true philanthropist can be happy, and which (speaking in reference to the aban- doned boys) can never be brought about by any society or number of societies. There is one great service a society might perform for the country, because the offices it would have to render are of a nature the government could not consistently be seen in, with- out making a law for the purpose. It has often occurred to me that a society to take some cognisance of discharged pri- soners is a desideratum in this country, or rather metropolis ; 400 MEN AND WOMEN WHO WAYLAY INEBRIATE PERSONS and I have drawn out a plan for its formation. Many offenders, when discharged from prison, whether acquitted or on expiration of a term of imprisonment, if the opportunity were afforded them, would make strong efforts to regain their lost position in society ; but being without money, and de- serted in their utmost need by their former friends, without strength of mind sufficient to support them under the reflec- tion that they are outcasts of honest society more properly, the unconvicted society in a moment of despair, disgust, and revenge against all persons, they are induced to become asso- ciates of professed thieves, and are thus hurried on into a vortex of crime before they have time for reflection. If, when the mind were in this state, retiring from itself under a sense of shame, and in a condition too weak to meet the expected reproaches from their own immediate friends, and the almost certain sarcastic coolness of former acquaintances, a temporary shelter were afforded, and a little time given for reflection, allowing a few days for application to friends, under the ad- vice and assistance of some able person who would be ap- pointed for the purpose, and who should be selected for pos- sessing peculiar zeal, joined to a kind and soothing disposi- tion ; if, I say, these chances were afforded them, many would be provided with future honest employment, who are now too often, for want of such an asylum, and " ministering to a mind diseased,"", entirely lost to society, in all save the injuries it receives from them. This is not a speculative notion ; I have witnessed many instances in which discharged criminals, so situated as regards the state of their minds, might have, with a little assistance, been brought back to a feeling of perfect abhorrence of dishonest conduct. The more I have reflected on the benefits such a society would confer on the public, the more I am impressed that it would transcend all others in point of utility, aye, if all the good which the other societies have ever done be taken in the aggregate. The necessity for the institution of such a society FOR THE PURPOSE OF ROUBKKY. 401 is increased by the services which they would take on them- selves, being of such a nature that the government cannot make any provisions for ; that is, not very consistently with their other duties, namely, the punishment of offenders : they cannot both punish and compensate. These remarks are not applicable to the offenders who follow dishonest practices as a trade. I would deal with them in another way. When one man commits an assault on another, or defames his character by promulgating statements injurious to his good fame, (technically termed a libel,) and is by a jury found guilty, the judge either sentences the offender to fine or imprisonment, or to both, but seldom or never fails to add that the person so sentenced shall give bail for his good behaviour for a certain period of time ; in other words, that he will not again be guilty of a premunire within the prescribed space named in the bond, on pain of penalty. Assaults and libels have never been considered of the same heinous nature with felonies; yet it has never been thought advisable to take cognizance of the after conduct of a felon, not even for an hour, although there is no comparison in the degree of moral turpitude, or in the danger and jeopardy the public are placed in from the practices of the one and the other. It is true, any sentence passed on a felon to be im- prisoned until he found " good and sufficient bail," would be equivalent to perpetual incarceration ; but why not protect society by binding him in his own recognizances to abstain in future from crime, under a penalty of being imprisoned again, or transported ? This, it may be thought, comes to nothing more than is accomplished by a recent act of Sir Robert Peel's, which increases the punishment under second and third convictions ; but if the judges were authorized, as a consecu- tive to the entering into recognizance after undergoing any punishment for the commission of offence, that the convict should be at the same time bound to appear, under pain of imprisonment or transportation, as above mentioned, before D D 402 MEN' AND WOMEN* WHO WAYLAY IXEBIII ATK I'KUSON'S an officer who would be appointed for the purpose, to answer all such questions as may be put to him or her, every month, appertaining to his or her place of residence, and means of living and, if necessary, to make them account for all or any part of their time between the intervals of examination, ren- dering them liable to apprehension on failure, as sentenced by the court ; if a power of this nature were in the hands of our criminal judges, no other sentence would be required, in almost every case of occasional lapses from the path of honesty, than to place the prisoner under the controul of this power, and thus avoid the contamination of him, by asso- ciating him, during some times a long incarceration, with the abandoned felons, besides degrading him and breaking his spirits, which is not the way to recall any man back, from a momentary deviation, to the path of virtue. This measure, then, would set at large all those who alone are to be con- sidered as worth the preserving from prison pollution ; and, on the other hand, put the bit into the mouths of all practised offenders having once appeared at any criminal bar. It may be objected, that a man so situated would be cramped in his movements in life, and his exertions to obtain an honest live- lihood so paralysed, that he would not have a fair chance with his fellow-men. This difficulty, I think, would be removed by the examination being a private one, and by the superin- tending officer having a discretionary power even to forego the regular attendance of the party, whenever he saw him in an employment which gave him (the officer) satisfaction, and when his interference would tend to dispossess his charge of an honest living. Besides, this kind of police guardianship would only be for a term, -one, two, or three years at most, at the discretion of the judge before whom the culprit was tried. This duty, with all others relating to the protection of public and private property, ought to be placed in tin- hands of a commission, who should sit daily, and direct all measures deemed useful in the public police department. KOR THE PURPOSE OK KOUliERY. 403 They should make regular returns to parliament of their pro- ceedings, accompanied with hints for the making, amending, and repealing laws, as they (the commissioners) might see needful, so as to have the laws always meeting and harmo- nizing with the changes which the new circumstances of society are ever rendering necessary. " The question of dif- ficulty is," says an able writer on this subject, " why the laws and the means of prevention have not kept pace with the progressive advancement of the country, so as to check and keep within bounds those nefarious practices ?"" This question is readily answered. Our legislature has no regular source of information of the changes going on in society, nor is there any one held responsible to lay before parliament, from time to time, such plans of prevention laws as are calculated to go in advance of crime. Even the correctives of roguery and vice of all kinds are protracted and delayed until the most direful effects are produced to society, calling out from every street, lane, and alley, for government interference. Their supine- ness is not to be wondered at, when it is considered that each individual member of the legislature is without any informa- tion on which he can place any reliance, however anxious he may be to do his duty. Again, what is the duty of the whole, is not considered the business of any particular member of that body. A commission would remedy this defect in our present system a commission which should have the en- tire charge of the public morals, and on which the govern- ment would call annually for its reports and advice in making laws for the improvement of the community at large. The only author I have met with who has written on the subject of pros- titutes, said, thirty years ago : " But whether the numbers of these truly unfortunate women are a few thousands less or more, is of no consequence in the present discussion, since it is beyond all doubt that the evil is of a magnitude that is excessive, and imperiously calls for a remedy not certainly a remedy against the possibility D n 2 404 MEJf AND WOMKN WHO WAYLAY INEBRIATE 1'KllSOXS. of female prostitution ; for it has already been stated, that it is a misfortune that must be endured in large societies. All that can be attempted is, to divest it of the faculty of extend- ing its noxious influence beyond certain bounds, and restrain those excesses and indecencies which have already been shown to be so extremely noxious to society, and unavoidably pro- ductive of depravity and crime. " The author is well aware that he treads on tender ground, when in suggesting any measure, however salutary it may be in lessening the calendars of delinquency, it shall have the appearance of giving a public sanction to female prostitution. Under the influence of strong prejudices, long rooted in the human mind, it may be in vain to plead plus apud me ratio ralebit quum vutgi opinio. If, however, the political maxim be true, Qui non vetat peccare, cum possit, jubet, it certainly follows, that by suffering an evil to continue, when we have it in our power to lessen or prevent it, we do violence to reason and to humanity. That a prudent and discreet regulation of prostitutes in this great metropolis would operate powerfully, not only in gradually diminishing their numbers, but also in securing public morals against the insults to which they are exposed, both in the open streets and at places of public entertain- ment, cannot be denied. Nothing can be clearer, than that the unrestrained latitude which is allowed to this class of females in London is certainly an inlet to many crimes. Vulgar prejudice only opposes a legislative arrangement. Religion and morality would both be advanced ; because, in- stead of (by the appearance of sanctioning, as some mny imagine) prostitution being encouraged, 1 say it would be restrained, and a check immediately given to this vice. In adopting the proposed measure, the example of several of our continental neighbours may be quoted, where crime has not attained the height it has in this country. Holland, Italy, and France, may be referred to ;is instances; they have cadi RECEIVERS OF STOLEN (;OODS. 405 a shorter calendar of criminals. The moral estimation of the character of these countries in private life, as compared to our own, forms another consideration distinct from the lower classes, from whence the mass of delinquency springs, and is generated. The remarks under this head have run out somewhat irre- gularly, but I hope to be pardoned when the importance of the subject is considered. SECTION XII. RECEIVERS OF STOLEN GOODS. NOTWITHSTANDING all that has been said on the encourage- ment these men hold out to thieves in the commission of crime, they, nevertheless, form a very subordinate considera- tion, in my opinion, of our criminal code. It must be ad- mitted by all, that those who purchase goods, having a guilty knowledge of their being obtained dishonestly, deserve as heavy a punishment as the thief. But, as I before said in the former part of this work, there is no hope of putting down crime by any enactments against the receivers of stolen goods; because the difficulty of reaching one out of five hun- dred renders all laws inoperative, and almost a nullity against them ; besides, if by possibility they could be constructed on any improved principle, and a greater proportion of offenders brought to justice than heretofore, yet the inducements to commit the offence, in consequence of the profits accruing therefrom, are such as will always bring a number into the trade equal to the wants of the robbers. It is for this reason 406 RECEIVERS OF STOLEN GOODS. that I am led to believe all enactments against this offence will ever be found futile and useless in the repression of crime ; and this I am the more urged to press on the notice of our law-makers, that the energies of the magistracy should be mainly directed against the practical depredator. However, it is an offence, and one of equal turpitude with any in the calendar. The great and monied receivers are very rarely or never brought to justice ; Ikey Solomon is perhaps the only exception for many years past, and he successfully carried on the trade for upwards of thirty years. I feel under an obligation to speak the truth in all I have to write of my experience ; and I have no hesitation in de- claring, in the most solemn manner, that full one half of the persons convicted of this crime have been either entirely in- nocent, or been committed under circumstances of carelessness, merely from want of due caution, and not persons who were in the habit of purchasing from thieves, knowing the goods to have been stolen. Such is the strong prejudice of the judges against all those who are accused of this offence, that every buyer of a saddle, bridle, or old tub, whether the same had been purchased publicly or privately, whether the pur- chaser was in a state of sobriety or inebriation, is sure to have every quirk and turn of the law of evidence wrested against him ; and the judge never fails to labour, with all the zeal of a well-feed advocate, to procure a verdict of guilty really almost insisting on the jury pronouncing him thus, considering it a coup cFttat to convict every one charged with this offence, whilst the real receivers and abettors of crime go un- punished. This is an incontrovertible fact, and demands attention. This statement is not made, as some are too apt to suppose all complaints are, merely for the sake of saying something against those who administer justice in our criminal courts of law, but to show that they deceive themselves by looking at the number of convictions under this head of 'crime, and in- RECEIVERS OF STOLEN GOODS. 407 ferring therefrom that they are reducing the mass of real receivers. Last year there was quite a sensation created in the woollen trade about three master-tailors, who were committed to Newgate for having purchased goods of a young man in the employ of a draper of considerable business in the vicinity of Coventry Street. It was immediately bruited all over the town, that his employer had lost two thousand pounds worth of property, and that these tailors had purchased the whole. The fact proved to be, that the culprit had robbed his master of about five hundred pounds worth of goods, which he had disposed of among a numerous body of tailors, persons he had become acquainted with through the large trade his master carried on ; and he had induced these tradesmen to become his customers, by stating to them that he was shortly going into business for himself ; that he was then, by an agreement with his employer, allowed to trade for himself; and that he had money, which enabled him to purchase for ready cash and sell again cheap. As lie was a steady young man, many were by his representations induced to encourage his efforts, thinking they were serving an industrious and worthy person. At length, when his nefarious conduct was dis- covered, he confessed the robbery, and stated where the goods had been sold. It happened that all the purchasers but three had cut the articles up in the regular way of trade. These three, however, although most respectable tradesmen, and having the goods exposed in the open shop, with other arti- cles of the same kind, and entered regularly at fair trade- prices in their account-books, were committed to Newgate to take their trials. Being employed to write a defence for one of them, I had frequent conferences with their attorneys, who all agreed, that although there could be no question of their innocence, yet, from the general prejudices of the judges against all who appeared before them charged with this offence, that a verdict of guilty would be obtained. It, how- 408 RECEIVERS OF STOLEN GOODS. ever, for once, turned out otherwise they were all acquitted; but many similar cases have come under my knowledge wherein no verdict of guilty should have been pronounced. These tradesmen were fortunate in having a respectable and intelligent jury, who looked only at the facts of the case, dis- regarding the judge's arguments altogether. A very large proportion of those who come under the de- nomination of receivers of stolen goods, and who are tried at the Old Bailey, are persons free from any intention of guilt. The case of a poor broker, for whom I interested myself, is a fair sample of a hundred known to me. Whilst the man was ill in bed, one morning, about ten o'clock, his wife purchased a common plated liqueur frame, at what might be considered a fair broker's trade price ; it was proved, that the instant after she became possessed of it, she placed it in a conspicuous part of the shop-window for sale. A few days afterwards it was seen in this place by the person from whom it had been stolen. The broker, under Sir Robert Peel's act, was con- victed, having the stolen property in his possession, for which he could not account, it being brought into his shop by a stranger. Now if this man, or rather his wife, were to blame, and de- served fourteen years' transportation (which he got) for what may be considered an indiscretion, I can only say to the judge who thinks so, that, every hour of his existence, thou- sands of similar transactions are going on in this metropolis, without the parties having the slightest notion of buying stolen property. The man was totally ruined, his family dis- persed, his wife in a workhouse, his own constitution entirely broken by an imprisonment of six years and a quarter, when he was again restored, a useless member, to society. Mon- tesquieu says, " A receiver may act innocently on a thousand occasions ; the thief is always culpable ; one hinders the con- viction of a crime, another commits it; in one the whole is passive, the other is active ; the thief must surmount more JtKC'KIVEUS Ol STOLKX (.OODS. 409 obstacles, and his soul must be more hardened against the laws." It ought not to be disguised, that our present laws do not reach the real offenders ; they are so flimsily constructed as never to catch any but the ignorant and weak the monied man breaks through them every hour. And this will ever be the case whilst our legislature works by the piece-meal system of making laws, which has from time to time been adopted, on suggestions applicable only to particular cases. It is to be lamented that we have not one general law that should embrace every object, and remedy every defect in the present statutes, on the subject of the criminal jurisprudence. Whether the characters who are charged with this crime, that now appear at the Old Bailey, are in each particular case guilty or otherwise, I will not further dispute ; but I will, in almost every instance, undertake to prove the individuals, one by one, are not connected with the regular and wholesale plunderer, by which some millions in a year are taken from the public. The receivers are a numerous body, but may, for my purpose in this paper, be classed under the following heads: Buyers of stolen bank and country notes ; Ditto of plate ; Ditto of jewellery and watches; Marine store-shops ; Women who reside in courts, or in obscure places, profess- ing to carry on washing, mangling, or keeping some little shop as a blind, or stall ; Women who keep stalls in the streets ; Pawnbrokers, who open for the purpose of receiving stolen goods; Jews who call themselves general dealers ; To which I may with fairness add, many very large and wealthy houses in the city of London, whose transactions of late years can come under no other denomination. 410 RC'EIVKS OF STOLKN GOODS. There are, probably, no more than ten persons in London who carry on the trade of purchasing bank-notes solely. These men are so connected, that they can dispose of any notes. Even after they are advertised, and payment stopped at the bank, and every publicity given to the numbers, ye* will they unhesitatingly buy at a profit of twenty-five per cent., giving fifteen shillings for every pound, most of which are forwarded to the continent, where they are passed through a variety of hands, in trading transactions, until all possibility of tracing them is removed, and in time find their way to the Bank of England for payment. It is evident that this trade must ever be confined to a few, from the difficulty of forming connexions to carry it on with security. Not many years since a certain tradesman embarked in this speculation, but, for want of a proper concatenation of auxiliaries, he very narrowly escaped conviction on a very large note. Sometimes the parties will go over themselves, and lay the whole of their money out at the large trading fairs which are held on tiie continent; then, by selling again immediately, receive the currency of the country where they are. This, if done at one per cent, loss, is not a consideration, as they generally deal for considerable sums; the twenty-five per cent, covering all losses, and leaving them ample profit for their trouble. The plate-receivers are persons who keep fixed crucibles always in readiness, to melt any quantity of plate brought in. When the whole is cast off, it is weighed, and purchased at about one shilling and three-pence per ounce under the cur- rent market-price of silver ; or, sometimes a liberal payment is made for the melting, and the thief disposes of the goods at his own discretion. In this case, if the plate is not re- covered in transitu to the crucible, there is no longer any risk in possessing the property, it having, in a few minutes, undergone a change of figure which prevents its owner from ever again recognizing his property. Those ic I in itntrham' jewellery ntitt tnitr/u-s art- principally 11ECEIVEKS OF STOLEN GOODS. 411 Jews, who either travel the country with it, or send it to their connexions at sea-port towns, where it is disposed of and dis- persed better than at inland towns, where purchasers of these articles are mostly stationary. Marine store-keepers have, from time immemorial, borne the odium of having been the chief receivers in the metro- polis ; and I believe they have deserved the reproach. The principal business is, however, gone out of their hands, save in naval and military robberies of stores, which have at all times been extensive in our dock-yards and other arsenals, and on the banks of the river. Through the assistance of these men, plunder is constantly obtained and disposed of in various ways, which will be hereafter explained under that head. It is astonishing what a number of women there are in this town who live by buying stolen articles of the young sneaks. Every kind of portable commodity they are open to receive ; linen-drapery, hosiery, work-boxes, tea-caddies, &c. &c. ; in short, every thing the young thief can lay his hands on they take. I defended one of these women four times, and each time she escaped justice; being, however, in every case, allowed to put in bail for her appearance to take her trial a circumstance which goes a great length in the Court of the Old Bailey. When a person charged with an offence renders himself on bail, the Old Bailey judges are disarmed of their prejudices, and the party when placed at the bar is already half acquitted. Their practice is to have a house, or lodging, away from the receiving-shop, in which their husband, sister, or some other participator in the profits resides, and to which place every article is conveyed as speedily as possible after the thief is gone : very frequently it is by a back communication between the two premises. If an officer should follow too closely, before the articles are removed, they have always a ready answer they wash for the boy, who is in some service unknown to them, and that he called a little time since for a 412 RECEIVERS OF STOLEN T.OODS. clean shirt, and asked permission to leave the bundle, or box, until he returned ; adding, " Good God ! I hope the boy has not turned thief !" By conducting their business in this and similar ways, they generally escape justice. I at one time knew of seventy-four of these places in the metropolis, of which I took an account from convicted boys. The certainty of their existence and locality I obtained by asking the fresh boys who came into prison if they knew them, sometimes giving their names, and then desiring them to say where the houses were situated ; at other times naming the residence, and asking for the name of the woman who kept it ; as also by relating, hearing, and comparing anecdotes about their various doings, which I was constantly drawing out of the boys. Now this is an astound- ing fact, and at the time I could, with the assistance of one boy I could name, have convicted the whole in a few weeks. I have mentioned this to many who ought to take cognizance of these things, but without effect. Women who keep stands for the sale of fruit, $c. in the street. These persons are the incipient sneaks 1 only resource in vending the trifling articles they commence crime with ; edible articles are mostly coveted by them, and for which they give not one-seventh part of the value. I believe there is not one of these women, who makes a permanent standing in one place, but relies more on her dealings with these young rogues for a living, than on any sale of goods at her stall. Pawnbrokers There are pawnbrokers in every low neigh- bourhood throughout the metropolis whose whole business consists in receiving stolen goods in the way of pledges. I have received information of several, who are considered by the offenders to give much better prices than the regular fences, which makes them prefer pledging their booty, although there is never any intention of redeeming tin- goods. This the pawnbrokers know, as the thief, being every hour RECEIVERS OF STOLEN GOODS. 413 liable to fall into the officers' hands, usually destroys the duplicates, to prevent any second charge being brought against him. Pawnbrokers are a much more culpable race of dealers than the world generally supposes. Their tricks are very nume- rous, and were it not that I am tenacious of injuring a work which I know is coming out on the subject, I would devote more space to them. I will, however, give one as a sample. There are certain swindlers who assume the garb and manners of countrymen, who frequent markets and public-houses, pre- tending that they have come up to town with their families to seek for work, but being unfortunate, have been compelled to pawn their watch, worth seven pounds, for two pounds, &c. &c., and unless they can sell the ticket must starve until they can obtain work ; by this tale they readily find some one to purchase it at perhaps a pound. Now the way one of these tickets is obtained is thus: the swindler goes to the pawn- broker's and looks at a watch, for which a price is named, but he says he has not then got the money, but will give two shillings in advance, if the pawnbroker will make him out a ticket for the remainder, adding, " By that plan I shall make sure that you won't sell it." The pawnbroker, knowing his customer, and what his object is, puts on a price accordingly, polishes up the case, and carefully envelopes it in chamois leather, then lays it by in expectation of his customer, who he is aware can only come through the sale of the ticket. Purchasers, conceiving that if the pawnbroker will give two pounds on the watch that it must at least be worth double the sum, are readily drawn into the snare. Although no pawnbroker would be indiscreet enough to actively collude by compact or bargain with these swindlers, yet they do so passively, as they well know what their object is when they come into the shop, and take special care to share the profits of their crime by the price they put on the articles, 414 RECEIVERS OF STOLEN' GOODS. and the encouragement they hold out to them by doing busi- ness in this way. Jews who call themselves general dealers. This is as numerous a class as any in London who receive stolen goods. They are a very cunning and wary set of dealers, who carry on their practices so artfully as rarely to be caught : their fraternization affords them a large scope of connexion in dis- posing of the goods after they are bought an advantage very few others enjoy. Although any practice of the regular tradesmen does not truly come under this head, yet so many nefarious transac- tions have come within my observation in the city of London, that I cannot pass the subject by without some notice. I will not, however, in this place make any observations on the law of debtor and creditor, or the means by which many per- sons possess themselves of goods surreptitiously, further than to give one instance which came within my own knowledge. A firm in the Manchester line, which had made some money, (I will not say how,) resided next door to a large carpet- warehouse, the proprietor of which offered the trade and pre- mises to his neighbours for a certain sum. They in conse- quence entered into a negociation for the sale and purchase of the same. The firm, which was situated not far from Bow Church, suggested, that as the carpet-dealer had a good trade and credit, (although on the eve of showing embarrassment to his creditors,) he should make a journey among the carpet- manufacturers, and purchase as largely as he could, and fill the warehouse with goods, which they (the firm) would take, after deducting twenty per cent, from the invoice prices, toge- ther with the other goods on the premises at the same rate ; reminding the carpet-warehouseman, that, as his circumstances would constrain him to make a compromise with his creditors, the ready cash which would be paid by them would enable him to offer prompt payment of a small dividend an offer FORGKKS. 415 more likely to be acceded to by his creditors, than a larger composition in prospective. By this arrangement the firm realised upwards of 1700/., the carpet-man paid five shillings in the pound to his creditors, and thus both parties were gainers, at the expense of honest men. This statement, which is founded on facts, needs no comment. This is only one sample of many others of daily occurrence in our virtuous metropolis. Abuses of every description, when about to be exposed, meet with opposition. The principals in this transaction, aware of my knowledge of their proceed- ings in this and many similar doings, have had the audacity to threaten any who may cause the expose. As this is not a place to indulge in digression, all I shall say for the present is, that every thing on city business will be out in due time. I should have stated, that an eminent silversmith had some participation in this nefarious transaction, and that the Man- chester warehousemen are at this moment prosperously carry- ing on their trade on the premises of the carpet-dealer, so respectably obtained. How is it that these receivers of stolen goods are not more exposed ? Is it because they all become rich, and, by the modern gauge of respectability, are influen- tial, and company for gentlemen ? " Men are what they name not to themselves, And trust not to each other." SECTION XIII. FORGERS. As the prosperity of a country advances, there is generally a proportionate increase of evil : whilst an influx of riches is 416 FORGERS. placed in one scale, an augmentation of crime is found in the other. In London, where the population and commerce have arrived to such an extraordinary height, and where the con- tinual interchange of property and transfers of money are going on to an almost incredible amount, it ceases to be a wonder, that where all are struggling to arrive at or maintain a place in respectable society, that many should lose their position, and, being rendered desperate by disappointment, resort to forgery and other crimes. It may be presumed, that nearly the whole of forgeries on bankers and merchants are committed by persons whose minds are in a state of de- spair, arising sometimes out of real circumstances of mis- fortune, but more frequently by the pursuit of wild and ill- judged speculations. In this great wen, many in their schemes and transactions indulge in foolish and extravagant notions of gain ; and such men being, for the most part, of a temperament which will not allow them, under any disappoint- ments, to reflect coolly on consequences, they rush recklessly into the commission of forgery ; being impelled by their idio- syncrasies to make one desperate effort to reimburse them- selves for actual losses, or what, by miscalculation, they have been disappointed in realizing. Others, again, who give themselves carelessly up to an inordinate love of pleasure, plunging themselves into expenses far beyond their means, and who having once tasted of the baneful spring of extravagant habits, can never find resolution to forego them ; and for the support of which they have recourse to forgery. Not a few are drawn into this crime by the fatal propensity of gaming : after a night spent at the hazard or rouge et noir table, vio- lently agitated the whole time with the various turns of good and ill luck, the mind at length becomes morbidly excited ; and in this state, after suffering some heavy loss, is prepared for the commission of forgery. In a large community such members are like ill weeds in a fair garden, which will spring up again and again, root them out as often a> you may. FORGERS. 417 From these considerations, it is evident that no penal laws will ever be effective in suppressing this crime ; and the government has manifested much humanity and sound judg- ment in relieving the public from the shocking spectacles so often repeated in this metropolis, by executing all who com- mitted this offence. The punishment annexed to the crime never enters into the mind of the man who sits down, in a state of monomania, to write another's name, for the purpose of unlawfully obtaining money. The main object in view is to throw as many obstacles in the way of the practicability of committing the act of forgery, more than considering the severity of punishment. Many forgeries are committed on bankers and merchants by false checks, or drafts for money. It only requires an arrangement between the banker and his customer to entirely put a stop to this mode of perpe- trating the offence. Two things are necessary to be done for the accomplishment of this desideratum : 1st. A private scheme of signs for the whole year should be constructed by each banker, and given to his customers on a card every first day of January ; as there would be no more issued than there were customers, and as the drawers of the drafts could have no motive to communicate the sign to a third person, secrecy would be preserved throughout the year ; or new schemes of cipher might be issued every month, if found necessary. On the card so given out by the banker should be expressed the letter or figure he had in his scheme fixed on for every day in the year. Every morning when the bankers commenced their payments, the cashiers would of course have the day's mark given out to them ; with which all checks that day presented must agree, before they could be answered by payment. It would be a waste of time to ex- patiate on the endless variety of signs which might be con- trived; the letter A might serve for the first year, only by assigning to it a different situation, either on the face or back of the check, for every day in the year. E E 418 FORGEltS. 2ndly. If the bankers would but be more careful in the de- livery of blank checks, and their customers equally cautious when they were in their possession, and not suffer them to lie about on the desks in the counting-houses, as is the almost universal practice. It should be a fixed rule, that none but printed checks should be paid ; so that the man who contem- plated a forgery must be constrained to possess himself of a form before he could commit the deed ; and this would be rendered very difficult for him to do, if the writers of checks would take as much care of the blanks as of their bank-notes, and which they are bound to do; in fine, to make it as dif- ficult to obtain an unfilled-up check as it would be to steal their cash-box from the iron chest. If these plans were adopted, I conceive there would be few forgeries of checks on bankers. Regarding bills and notes of hand, there is less danger of forgeries. If, however, it were more a custom of trade with respect to town bills, that the ac- cepting party should be applied to, for the purpose of ascer- taining the genuineness of the document before advances were made on it, a great check would be given to this species of forgery. Many a man now forges a bill with the full inten- tion of himself preventing the presentation by paying it before it becomes due. If such a custom of application were but partially established in London, it would increase the chances of detection so as to operate as a powerful restraint on the offence. Bank of England and country-note forgeries there is no possibility of lessening, until discovery be made of a more intricate and better mode of making them, and thereby increase the difficulties of imitation. It is not, however, very easy to imagine any print or paper which cannot have their like formed. One thing on this sub- ject strikes me as very extraordinary, namely, that at no time of late years has there been a single instance of the maker of bank-notes, or his plate, being brought to the bar of the Old Bailey. Why do not, it may be asked, the police employ K.MBEZ/I.EMENT. 419 persons to purchase them, and thus reach the principals in this offence ? If they know not how to set about it, there are numbers in prison who will instruct them, if applied to in a proper manner. This mode of attacking them appears to be the only one left open for their adoption ; for as long as the notes are to be purchased, and their prices low, there will always be buyers in this great town. SECTION XIV. EMBEZZLEMENT. THE term embezzlement formerly implied any kind of pecu- lation or robbery committed by servants on the property of their employers. It is now defined in law (and in common acceptation of the word is so understood) to be, the unlaw- fully and feloniously, contrary to the statute, appropriating money entrusted to a servant's charge, for the use and busi- ness of his master, to his own purposes. An act of parlia- ment, known by the name of Sir Thomas Plomer's act, makes this offence punishable with fourteen years' transportation, without regard to the amount of money embezzled. All other kinds of robbery by servants are treated in law as common felonies. When it is considered that immense sums of money are constantly passing from hand to hand in this metropolis, and that thousands of clerks, shopmen, appren- tices, and even porters, are employed in conveying cash throughout the town, it is a matter of surprise, and a very consolatory reflection in the present degenerate state of morals and principles, that there should be so few cases of embezzle- E E 2 420 EMBEZZLEMENT. ment brought to the bar of the Old Bailey. However, more cases of this kind of crime are either forgiven or compounded, than of any other known offence against the laws. There are many reasons why it should be so. Perhaps the offender may have been an old and faithful servant up to the period of the commission of the crime ; and the recollection of former services are put into the scale against one act of derilection from honesty. In other cases, the culprit's family are known and respected by the offended party, when considerations for the feelings of the innocent prevail. But more frequently the love of money triumphs over all other causes, the prosecutor agreeing to forego the proceedings if the lost property is restored. The causes which lead to this offence involve the moral state of the metropolis; I shall therefore conclude my re- marks under this head with relating one case, which is too re- markable to be omitted. A youth about seventeen years of age was entrusted with 4707. by his master, for the purpose of paying it into the banker's ; when he reached the house it was closed, being after five o'clock. As he returned home with the money in his pocket, it suddenly came into his thoughts that he would rob his master of it : he therefore went home, as if he had paid the money regularly into the banker's hands. At night when he went to his bed-room, having previously procured some paste and sheets of blue lining-paper, he fastened all the notes by pasting their edges against the interior of his clothes-box, and then covered them in the same manner with the blue lining-paper ; in the morning replacing his clothes as usual. In the course of the following day it was discovered that the money had not been paid into the banker's, when he said he had lost it, and was afraid to mention it to his master. He was given in custody, but still persisted in his having lost the notes. On the trial, there being a total absence of any proof of his having stolen the notes, or that he had appropriated DUFFERS AND RING-DHOPPERS. 421 them to his own use, his story, which was artfully told, was believed by the jury, and he was acquitted. The mother of the youth now made an application for her son's clothes and box, which were refused, more out of annoyance than for any other purpose, as the officer had searched the box when the boy was taken into custody. A letter was written, threaten- ing to bring an action for the recovery of the box and clothes, which induced the prosecutor to restore them to the lad, who on his shoulders carried the 470/. out of the housej after having been tried and acquitted for stealing the same. The boy, during his residence in Newgate, had learned enough of law to feel assured that he could not be tried again for the same offence ; and his mother assisting him, the notes were all rendered available ; and I have been informed that she opened a shop of business with the money. SECTION XV. DUFFERS AND RING-DROPPERS. THESE offenders were at one time very numerous, and both crimes usually practised by the same persons, but their tricks are now too stale to catch many. Persons who reside in town are generally cautioned against these traps early in life ; but when time has rendered the crime, from desuetude, forgotten, there are always some ready to revive it, and feel the pulse of the public or the subject : this has been the case with the duffers, who are persons dressed in the habiliments of sea- faring men, assuming a blunt kind of honest, straightforward manner. Their object is to impose a common, home-made article, on the public for a valuable foreign one, under pre- DUFfKKS A\D IIING-DKOPPKKS. teuce of their being smugglers. To enumerate all the tricks they resort to would be to write a much longer paper than the one now before the reader. In London, their most common practice is, for one of them to go into the street and accost any decent-looking country person, saying, " they have some most valuable articles of foreign make, which they have smuggled, and which they will, being in want of money, sell very cheap." As a countryman^ when in town, is anxious to take his wife or daughter some kind of present, he too often falls into the trap, and accompanies the man to some remote public-house, where is sitting another fellow, with a bundle of goods, which is managed with such an air of caution and mystery about the great risk they run of seizure, and the enormous value of the articles, that the countryman generally has the goods crammed into his pocket without scarcely seeing them ; when he pays the money for trash, arid departs com- pletely pigeoned. A few years since they had resort to another scheme, in which I was once myself a sufferer. As in the beforementioned case, a sailor-like, hearty-looking man, goes to a house, and mentions to the first person he sees, that he wants to speak to the master, whom he informs in a whis- per, that he and his comrades have just come ashore, and have got seven or eight gallons of Cogniac or Schiedam in the neighbourhood, which will be sold very cheap, as they are in want of money. If permission be obtained to bring it, they put the cask into a sack, and when in the presence of the buyer, take out a gimblet, then, asking for a glass, bore a hole apparently at random ; and, having served the party with a sample of really good quality, it is most usually sold, and, generally, in such a transaction, the money promptly paid. Shortly afterwards the secret comes out ; the vessel is full of water, having a tube and a small vessel made inside the larger one, which contains about a pint of real spirits : the principal difficulty in this deception is, to bore exactly over the tube, which is, however, of course, marked before they bring it for STKALING FROM CARRIAGES, CARTS, &C. 42.3 sale. The man who took me in had 251. out of the same town all within a few hours, and got off. Ring-dropping is, I believe, nearly an obsolete offence. A ring or seal, &c. is placed on the ground, and then, as another person is passing, a man pretends to have found it, saying, " I am lucky, sir ! but as you were by at the same time it was found, I cannot but think, in common fairness, you are en- titled to half." If the bait takes, a question arises how it can be divided ; this leads to an adjournment to some public- house, where the matter may be discussed, and the true value ascertained. The party who picked it up now regrets that he has not money about him, or he would at once take the thing, and give the other his moiety in cash ; however, as he wants nothing but what is fair, he will leave the value of it to the strangers in the room, and take his share in money from the other. These strangers are confederates, who exclaim, " What a valuable article !" and expatiate on their good fortune ; a high price is put on it. The finder at length pretending to be very generous, consents to take what the other can raise to get rid of the business ; thus taking all the money from the man's pocket for an article probably worth only a few shil- lings. SECTION XVI. STEALING FROM CARRIAGES, CARTS, &c. IN consequence of the great improvement in the make of tra- velling carriages, there are now few opportunities for the dragsman to exercise his calling in cutting off trunks fastened behind those vehicles, so that the thieves who have a prefer- ence for this mode of plunder, are now constrained to prowl 424 DEPREDATIONS ON THE UIVER THAMES. about the streets, following the numerous carts which are daily employed in the delivering of goods in this large city, and who may be termed "cart sneaks." They watch and dog the cart in all its sinuous movements through the streets, till they see an opportunity of seizing any package within their reach, or when the carter is delivering his goods, and is obliged to quit his post for a few minutes. Some very daring acts are committed in this way. It is not many months since a fellow got into a cart at mid-day standing at the door of the Green Man and Still, in Oxford Street, and took out a large basket of linen, called a coach, and drove off'; but he was brought to justice. I have known several instances of their being so daring as to roll large barrels, with their contents, away from where they stood in the street. One man stole a piece of carpet from the tail of a cart, with which, after moving a few yards, he found he could not proceed in conse- quence of its weight; he dropped it against the Avail, and positively had the impudence to fetch it away after having gone for a friend to help him ; and with which they got clear off. Many acts of the thieves, for coolness of audacity and apparent careless confidence, appear incredible in narration ; but the truth is, that like all hazardous callings, the longer the parties remain in them, and the more miraculous escapes they have, the more confident assurance they acquire, until, like the forlorn-hope men of the regiment, they receive their death-shot at last. SECTION XVII. DEPREDATIONS ON THE RIVER THAMES. BEFORE the docks were constructed, and when ships to the number of two thousand and upwards were lying in the river, DEPREDATIONS ON THE RIVER THAMES. 425 discharging and taking in their cargoes, the depredations on the property of the shipping interest is almost past belief- even the anchors and cables of ships were stolen, whilst the vessels were sent adrift. At other times the pirates would cut the lighters adrift, and then follow them to a convenient situation for plunder. The most daring and outrageous piracies were committed even in open day ; and it is calcu- lated that, during the eighteenth century, the plunder on the river Thames amounted to ten millions sterling : the loss of the West India trade alone is estimated at seven millions during that period, and that of the coal trade to upwards of 20,000/. per annum. But all this time, it must be remembered, there was no marine police, and the shipping were exposed, during the long winter nights, in the open river, to the piracies of, it is cal- culated, upwards of four thousand depredators, whom the go- vernment never interfered with. After the establishment of the river-police, a resolution was drawn up at a meeting of the shipping interest, wherein it was stated that not less than 15,000/. per annum was saved to them by that force. Nothing can be more striking than this fact of the tardiness of governments to adopt efficient measures for the suppression of crime and immorality. For one whole century do they suffer crime uninterruptedly to run on, without making the slightest effort to stop its course, although the means of pre- vention existed all the time. At the eleventh hour they in- terfere, and take credit to themselves for having at length done their duty by suppressing the banditti. But did it never occur to them, that the evil produced by their supine- ness is in active force at the present moment ? By their want of energy and foresight they have raised up a class of ma- rauders, as formidable as the buccaniers were ; and which, I fear, will take them a much longer time to annihilate, as their fastnesses are not so tangible. When the four or five thousand plunderers were, by the 426 DEPREDATIONS ON THE K1VEK THAMES. new system of river-police and docking the vessels, deprived of the power of continuing their furtive trade, can it be sup- posed they all turned honest men ? No ! they spread them- selves all over the town, and, to use their own language, only altered their game. And here they are, or their poste- rity, now, on other ground, to carry on over again the same kind of warfare. They have augmented the number of Lon- don thieves, perhaps by their influence, example, and increased numbers, full one-half what they were thirty-five years ago. It is very much to be regretted that our rulers cannot see these things, and that they are not alive to the fact, that there is no course left open to them but to begin with the children of thieves, and thus cut off the breed altogether, now that they have suffered the body of depredators to accumulate to their present numbers. At the present day, there is not so much crime committed on the river, comparatively, as on shore. In this view of the subject, I take the wharfs, warehouses, and all stores on the banks of the river, as property on shore, and it is so con- sidered by the law. There are but few acts of open theft committed now on the river ; some loss of property, such as grain, flour, &c., occasionally takes place, by its being de- livered to forged orders ; and peculations to a considerable amount are always being carried on in the dock-yards and various stores of government. The following Tables show the report of delinquency and prison discipline made to the Secret Committee on Secondary Punishments, June, 1832, in England and Wales; also for Ireland and Scotland. TABLES OF CKLMK. 427 5 A ^ H i H - fl O H 11 II m -' O o^ o ^ o * -w c s O J^A-< CO O *C to ^N g M ^ * i jj 's'slKl 1,1 o o 5 " ta ^if" V ^ g*S * *S H JS J3 O 00 c t^ N. CO O5 CO M J2 J; a i i 71 OJ ^ m tfi 2 *5 - > a S ^ o c o co o a. o o g *^3 t- vj > 'g '.-. CO >C Tf Tjl S* 5 ff-e c > S3 * ^ * *. * >c c PH ^ -FH 2 t- "* -= 2 "a -S -5 *^ -g 4) g g C O 'C 3333 a c t" 1 T3 C^ ,0 | ^o *o to Tj 00 'S a B O 1 g'i i ^i__| ic a c 8 T^ ' ~ o *rt '* J *t5 ||j|s s ^ T3 ,3 ti *J 6-na^ O " ~ t, 3 "rt CO CO ^* TH TH TH ^ CO ^f CO 1 1 1 i TH TH TH TH 1 1 K 'O <- J> CO CO es ^ ^ S * S 9 CO co o oo o o g Tt TH TH * < H 3 r o si a .2 6 ^j S o o CJ ~ M 3 -0 _. O ^

Z3 c$ a * 2 ^2 < Ijll O bo Of I I o _ ^ =S T3 a ' a S o PH ^ W o M -S -' i? TABLES OF CHIME. Statement stioimng fJie difference in the Weekly Cost of Diet, at various Prisons included in Hie Gaol Act, according to the Returns wade at Michaelmas, 1831. Before Conviclioi After Conviction Bedford *. d. 2 3 S. d. 3 Berks 3 2 3 71 Bucks ........ Abingdon House of Correctioi 3 2 7 If not at hard labour. 3 2 2 5 If re-convicted. 5 Cambridge. . . . . 1 10 2 7 2 1 3 3 .Exeter County Gaol ........ 2 10 l 2 10J 3 6 Essex 2 11 Springfield House of Correction Colchester ditto ............ 3 6 3 9 3 6 No employment. Flint 3 6 2 For Poacbin 1 Years 4 Years 129 185 Years 7 Years 1,419 1,945 2,232 1 2,046 1 11 243 1,117 5,991 322 MAS 7 235 1,277 6,646 336 4 Years 3 Years 7 365 1,193 5,408 281 11 297 1,204 5,819 540 11 296 1,433 6,251 321 2 Years, and above 1 Year . 1 Year, and above 6 Months.... 6 Months & under j, and FINE... U Convicted .... Acquitted .... Bills found, and not Prosecuted . . il 9,964 2,788 1,685 11,107 3,271 1,786 12,567 3,407 1,950 11,723 3,169 1,672 13,261 3,614 1,800 12,805 3.470 1,832 13,830 3,723 2,094 85,257 J.5.H-J 12,819 14,437 l.i.Krl 17,i>'.'4 16,564 18,675 18,107 19,647 121,518 m were Executed 50 57* 73* 8* 74* 46* 52* 410* TABLES OF CRIME. IRELAND. NUMBER OF PERSONS charged with CRIMINAL OP- FENCES, committed to the different GAOLS for TRIAL, in each County. In the Years. 1825. 1826. 1827. 1828. 1829. 1830. 1831. 459 577 427 454 338 533 528 334 348 578 549 490 301 403 159 199 273 228 158 220 195 540 359 461 301 280 304 306 Clare 365 412 344 215 215 370 598 Cork 1,075 1,172 1,488 976 969 1,021 859 Cork City 374 385 490 483 423 502 534 465 557 542 472 527 487 445 326 426 446 270 346 358 355 Dublin 393 418 506 393 450 413 Dublin City 2,120 2,091 2,122 1,982 2,096 2,128 2 312 349 307 278 277 357 294 283 536 577 451 458 394 483 529 168 109 73 136 337 127 141 719 766 1,099 944 639 389 468 289 357 138 78 325 135 174 304 3tl 364 221 174 221 171 Kilkenny City 87 91 137 115 109 153 116 King's County 267 334 543 563 576 313 273 520 511 391 380 372 282 209 332 356 526 337 255 441 431 348 376 345 255 346 365 326 Londonderry 314 301 405 237 292 260 268 321 334 389 330 404 429 300 Louth 125 150 300 218 147 164 166 Do. Drogheda Town.. Mavo 64 260 65 229 61 319 66 346 34 387 48 829 43 1 235 Meatb 269 322 320 212 243 247 288 366 365 447 352 321 3lO 361 265 298 373 189 388 454 456 Roscommon. .......... 445 535 427 456 455 438 528 Sligo 600 575 424 402 559 532 505 376 450 755 519 581 700 720 347 379 410 330 289 394 226 210 226 366 224 210 16 226 Waterford City 178 223 160 145 133 228 151 403 436 342 288 336 347 320 Wexford 299 245 287 179 224 208 192 Wicklow 144 147 214 103 156 133 138 15,515 16 318 18 031 14 683 15 271 15 794 16 192 F F 434 TABLES OF ORIMF. Number of Persons Committed, Convicted, Sentenced, Acquitted, $c. In the Years. . . . 1825. 1826. 1827. 1828. 1829. 1830. 1831. T..I.I Nnmhrr in .. >. n Vc.r. COMMITTED FOR TRIAL: Viz. Males 12,563 2,952 13,268 3,050 14,598 3,433 11,919 2,764 12,471 2,800 12,709 3,085 ir>,u:i 3,044 90,676 ti,m Females. .... ...... TOTAL.. .. CONVICTED & SENTENCED: To Death* 15,515 16,318 18,031 14,683 15,271 15,794 16,192 111,804 181 45 281 49 133 118 211 66 224 51 262 93 309 178 1,814 600 Transportation for Life. 14 Years 17 31 44 30 15 5?.> 24 176 7 Years 733 762 985 665 746 839 872 .S.C.O-J S Years 6 1 1 3 2 1 14 2 Years, and above 1 Year. Imprison-, ment. 1 Year, and above 6 months I 108 I 785 98 883 69 947 75 880 90 919 65 563 120 844 615 5,821 6 Months, and under. .. Fine |6365 425 8,571 2,389 MM 6,283 328 6,846 851 6,449 900 6,526 876 7,506 559 <;,;uo 417 46,815 4,262 8,716 2,770 4,645 10,207 3,059 4,461 9,269 U 1 ' 3,078 9,449 2.622 3,200 9,902 j, I'.".' 3,463 9,605 _,:;'.>.'. ."..(i'.'i 65,719 18,407 26,933 Acquitted No Bills found . . Bailed and not Pro- secuted TOTAL . ..... * 163 15,515 187 304 18,031 91 - 745 111,804 16,318 14,683 15,271 15,794 16,192 Of whom were Executed 18 34 37 21 38 39 37 224 TABLKS OF ORTMK. 435 SCOTLAND. Statement of the number of Criminal Offenders committed for Trial, in each County, during seven years ; also the numbers Convicted, Acquitted, Liberated, and remaining for Trial. In the Years .... 1823. 1824. 1825. 1826. 1827. 1828. 1829. Aberdeen 94 108 131 119 131 162 171 46 36 44 41 55 55 41 39 70 90 86 88 69 48 Banff 8 5 17 26 15 3 7 Berwick , <> 8 10 8 12 14 15 Bute 14 4 6 10 18 12 25 2 2 4 11 21 30 10 5 4 5 14 10 80 Cromarty (vide Ross) .. . Dumbarton 35 24 18 51 30 32 31 Dumfries 35 40 33 52 57 74 69 Edinburgh 179 222 289 449 374 408 386 Elgin 7 4 1 2 8 3 8 Fife 27 32 59 58 61 3=> .94 Forfar 105 89 88 97 105 99 102 Haddington 16 33 12 18 15 39 38 Inverness 12 14 18 10 21 28 35 Kincardine 6 7 4 6 8 20 12 6 7 9 10 8 4 Kirkcudbright 14 22 16 23 27 23 30 493 509 334 467 497 496 52~> Linlithgow 20 37 30 27 20 15 17 1 2 7 ] 2 2 5 1 2 3 1 2 Peebles 2 5 5 16 14 Perth 28 20 37 38 83 74 Z.A. Renfrew 120 180 146 100 125 99 1 1H Ross and Cromarty ...... 31 29 16 Jl 42 62 /in 34 23 33 36 39 39 'ii> Selkirk 2 4 6 7 6 g g 59 48 84 61 68 87 7fi Sutherland 4 2 8 5 13 13 22 7 12 39 22 IS Zetland 3 7 4 10 g g Total 1,456 1,616 1 564 1,887 2 020 2 063 2 043 635 752 763 081 1130 1227 1274 Remaining for Trial 129 570 175 *>51 167 518 183 563 208 539 183 495 181 41 % 122 138 116 160 143 158 Total, Committed* 1,456 1,616 1,564 1,887 2,020 2,063 2,043 In the year 1830, the number of commitments was 1832 ; and of convictions 1282. Ditto 1831, ditto 2181; ditto 1580. These numbers are exclusive of summary convictions before magistrates, prisoners for re-examination, vagrants, and debtors. FF 2 436 TABLES OK CHTME. o Q O Q w H ffi H O >-H H - 2 . rf< -H xo * to h- co C. '0 t^. 1 CO ^ O -H -H 10 ^ B fc ^f ^ CO, h <0 TH CO * >f> S* o. CO OJ . TH q^ to CO 2 CT> TH fc to ^5 w, co T>. e* < to CO CO CO o^ *o *o ^ CO O to fc. CO CO g e C^ CO CO CM **i *^ 1 CO CX to t*- -^ ** " e* (M.I.) .MI! to * eo Hn 9SB9JOUI . * CO to O GO CO *O O -H 0, o CO 8 TJ* Tl< Tj< CO to O) TH si" CO oT ^ 2 1 a H- 1 < t .!" 1 con T)* co T|* H* 9SB9JOUJ TH to O CO ~& to O> Tf C O *O CO a TH T-l C> O eo -rj" o ^ eo o "^ TP *? ; o> CO -H 0* TH o z " ; h> H ~- o c >5 * 2 z < 5 M a 5 < ec s 1 e W ? w < j 5 I TABLES OK CHIME. 437 Return of all t/ie Prisons throughout the United Kingdom, stating the i.\ necessary to provide for the complete separation <>f tin- I'ri.-nu>ry to be confined in them, and the probable expense of such alteration*. (Return proposed by the Committee of the Prison Discipline Society.) 1. The greatest number of Prisoners in confinement at one time in the year 1,832, stated as follows : Males. Females. Total. Misdemeanants and other Pri- ^ soners before conviction $ Total "2. Number and appropriation of the wards or classes into which the pri- soners are divided; and the accommodation provided for each class: stating the number of day-rooms, airing-yards, and work-rooms, with their respective dimensions. .'.. Number of sleeping-cells, or rooms, in which only one prisoner is usually placed at night : For Males-'-Debtors For Females Debtors Criminals and other ^ Criminals and other ) prisoners $ prisoners $ 4. Number of sleeping-rooms, or cells, in which more than one prisoner is usually placed at night, with their several dimensions : For Males Debtors For FemalesDebtors Criminals and other ) Criminals and other ) prisoners $ prisoners 5 5. Where the sleeping-rooms will contain more than one prisoner, whether it is practicable to divide the said rooms into single cells, about eight feet by six feet each !- --stating the additional number of cells which can thus be obtained ; and the probable expense of such alterations. 6. Whether it is practicable to divide the day-rooms into single cells, about eight feet by six feet each ? stating what additional number of cells can be thus obtained ; and the probable expense of such alterations. 7. Where the prison does not contain a sufficient number of cells for each pri- soner to be lodged separately at night, and where the sleeping-rooms or day- rooms cannot be divided into cells, or if sub-divided will not make up the number required ; to state the probable expense of constructing additional night cells, to provide for the greatest number of prisoners in confinement at one time during the last year ; either by a new erection, or by raising the present build- ings one story higher, should the foundations be considered sufficient for that purpose : accompanied by a plan of the proposed alterations or new erections. 8. Will the site of ground, within the prison boundary, admit of new build- ings being erected for the aforesaid purposes, without interfering with the space requisite for the prisoners' airing-yards, and without affecting the general salu- brity of the prison, or diminishing the means of inspection over its several de- partments? 9. Are the present cells so constructed as to prevent the prisoners from con- versing together when placed therein; and, if not, state the alterations necessary to be made to render the cells strictly solitary, and the probablp expense of the same ? 438 AUSTKACT OK TABLES OF CllIME. By a comparison of the Tables of Commitments, &c., it appears that the average proportion of crime in Ireland is much higher than in England. In the last year, the number of criminal commitments in England and Wales was 19,647, which in proportion to the population, (being according to the last census, 13,894,574,) presents an average of one cri- minal to about 700 inhabitants : in Ireland, the number of commitments for the last year, was 16,192, which in propor- tion to the population (7,734,365) presents an average of one criminal to only 450 inhabitants. The progressive increase of crime has, however, during the late years, been less in the sister kingdom than in this country. In England, the num- ber of commitments has advanced from 14,437 in the year 1825, to 19,647 in the last year, being a proportionate in- crease of 1 to 2,660 inhabitants. In Ireland, during the first two years of this period, the number of commitments in- creased from 15,515 to 18,031, being 1 to 3,070 inhabitants ; but during the last five years the numbers have decreased to 16,192, being nearly the same as at the commencement of the seven years. A remarkable difference is observed in the proportion of crimes in various parts of Ireland, which must doubtless be attributed to temporary or local circumstances. The highest proportion of crime is found to exist in the city of Dublin, where, in the last year, there was one criminal to 90 inhabi- tants : in the city of Waterford, the proportion was 1 to 180 inhabitants ; in the city of Cork, 1 to 200 ; and the same in the city of Limerick. Of the Irish counties, Mayo had the largest number of criminals, the proportion being 1 to 300 inhabitants: in Queen's County, the proportion was 1 to 320; in Dublin, 1 to 450 ; in Waterford, 1 to 650. The lowest proportion is found in Tyrone County, where there was only one commitment to 1,300 inhabitants; in Downshire, the pro- portion was 1 to 1,000; in Wexford, 1 to 960 ; and in the county of Cork, 1 to 810. But although crime appears to IK- ABSTRACT OF TABLES OF CRIME. 439 at a high ratio in Ireland, it is satisfactory to find that the number of capital convictions is small compared with those of England, where, during the last seven years, the number of persons sentenced to death amounted to 9,316; but in Ireland, during the same period, the numbers were only 1,814. Of this large number in England, only 410 persons were ex- ecuted, being one in 23 of those sentenced. In Ireland, the number of executions was 224, or one in eight sentenced to death. The total number of convictions in Ireland, during the last seven years, was 65,719, or in the proportion of one conviction to 820 inhabitants annually. In England the number of convictions during the same period, was 85,257, or 1 to 1,140 inhabitants. It must, however, be remarked, that the ratio of crime in Ireland would become much more alarm- ing, if the convictions Avere in the same relative proportion to the commitments as in England; but the reverse of this is the fact : the number of persons against whom no bills were found, and no prosecutions issued, during the last seven years, being in Ireland nearly four times that in England ; and the number of acquittals in Ireland nearly double that in England. In Scotland, the number of criminal commitments has in- creased from 1,456 in the year 1823, to 2,181 in the last year, being an advance of fifty per cent. INDEX. ACTIONS, motives to, should be considered, 223. Aldermen, difference of opinion of, 96. Anderson, James, proved innocent after being ordered for execution, 99. Anecdotes : of a New South Wales convict, 34 ; of a man on the eve of execu- tion, 40; of the Rev. Dr. R , 167 ; of a man broken on the wheel, 180 ; of one who was hung, ih. Appeal Court, necessity for an, 90. Ashburton, Lord, his opinion of the laws, 291. Ashmolean museum ; the monk's shoe, 27. Atheist, the execution of one, 180. Attorneys, practice of, 66. Attrell, Thomas, his letter of confession to the Rev. Mr. Cotton, 170. Bacon, Lord, his remark on the fear of death, 176. Bentham, Jeremy, his opinion on the punishment of death, 141. Bishop and Williams, the murderers, 166. Boerhaave, his feeling towards criminals, 291 . Boys, see Juvenile Offenders. Briefs, made in Newgate, 113. Burke, Edmund, on the people's taste for executions, 201. Capital punishments, their inutility, 184. Capper, Mr. ; description of his office, 117 ; his opinion of transportation, 235. Carriages, carts, stealing from, 423. Cases: of an unjust punishment, 9; of two for libel, 11 ; of Captain Smith for piracy, SI ; of regardlessness for death, 48. 136. 201 ; of two butchers, 50 ; of a linen-draper's shopman, 53 ; of a cheesemonger's clerk, 56 ; of a man named Price, 62 ; of a carpenter, il> ; for stealing linen, 63 ; of a young man and two police officers, 64 ; of a carter, 69 ; of a child for stealing a watch, 7'2 ; of two shillings and threepence, 75 ; of a robbery in which 442 INDEX. several were concerned, 78 ; of the escape of a criminal through irregu- larity, 79 ; of condemnation for want of evidence, 80 ; of an attempt to ob- tain pardon for the innocent, 81 ; for stealing butter, 82 ; of a man from Enfield, ib.; for exchanging hats, &c. 84; of a lunatic, 88; of two British sailors, 91 ; of James Anderson and George Morris, 99 ; of an attorney's clerk, 100 ; of a partnership, 101 ; of an unwilling witness, 106; of non-attendance of witnesses, ib. ; of robbing a cart, 115; of false information against a pri- soner, ib ; of the discharge of two men and a woman, 124 ; of a man for steal- ing tea, 126 ; of Robert Lee, 127 ; of a discharged soldier, ib. ; of a juvenile pickpocket, 128 ; of Allen, alias Jack the Painter, 129 ; of Ellis, and death of his sister, 130 ; of Knight and Kendrick, 133 ; of John Cronie, 136. 201 ; of Samuel Connix, 137; of John Harris, ib.; of Alphonsie Reppien, ib. ; of James Evans, ib. ; of transportation of an attorney's clerk, 144; of a con- vict, 145 ; of a boy who wanted to follow his father to Sydney, ib. ; of Henry Wells, 146 ; of one who was hung by mistake, 148 ; of Captain Montgomery, 152 ; of a hardened execution, 160 ; of a sheep -stealer, H>. ; of an execution in Essex, 165 ; of Cook the murderer, 168 ; of Corder, ib. ; of a burglar in Bartlett's Buildings, 172; of levity under execution, 176. 183; of forgery, 178; of confusion of mind, 185; of one condemned before apprehension, 189; of unfair summing up, 190 ; of Mary Jones, 193 ; of a gentleman shot in Ireland, 203 ; of an execution in Guernsey, ib. ; of beastiality, 209 ; of a false charge, 211 ; of a Blackwell-hall factor, 224 ; of Archbishop Whately's, quoted, 241 ; explanation of the same, 242 ; of one at New South Wales addressing Mr. Wontner, 247 ; of Doctor O'Halloran,25l ; of a shoemaker, 256; of two girls, ib. ; of a young thief and a poor countryman, 262 ; of embezzlement, 268 ; of threatening, 270 ; of convicts who turned mur- derers, 292 ; of a reformed boy, 296 ; of effect of theatricals on a boy, 298 ; of stealing a boy's hat, 300 ; of Job Cox, 302 ; of two penny rolls, ib. ; of a trial at Clerkenwell sessions, 306 ; of a party of theatricals, 312 ; of a perjured prosecutor, 326 ; of a chimney-sweeper, 335 ; of an Irish tinker, 339; of Lea, the Jew, 346 ; of an utterer, 349 ; of a daring young thief, 357 ; of qualifications for pickpockets, 363 ; of robbery of a silversmith at Brighton, 374 ; of a swindler, 380 ; of three men who lived by use of a word, 381 ; of others by a quibble, 382 ; of a young prosti- tute, 38f ; of three boys at St. Marylebone police-office, 392 ; of three master tailors, 407 ; of embezzlement by a youth, 420. Character, the, of offenders, 112; falsely reported by persons in prison, 115; not regarded on trial, 126 ; of the English generally, 159. Chester, the recorder of; his decision on the law of evidence, 134. Classification of offenders, 286 ; two kinds of, 8. Coiners, 344. Coke, Lord, on punishment, 305. Colonies, New South Wales, benefit of, 253 ; expenses of, 287. Commitments, the carelessness of magistrates in, 6971. Committee, select, on secondary punishments, 213. 233. 287. 291 ; their ideas of coining, 344. Compter, the, and House of Correction, 226. Confessions, importance of, and difficulty of obtaining, 169. INDEX. 443 Convicts, feelings of, 49 ; conduct of, in Newgate, ib. ; information regarding them, 118 ; how they deceive themselves, 217 ; on the management of, 287. Cook, the murderer, how treated after his condemnation, 168. Copeland, Alderman ; declaration by him of a prisoner's innocence, 65 ; his re- fusal to swear witnesses, 131. Corder, the murderer, how treated, 168. Coster, Richard, the swindler, 335. Cotton, the Rev. Mr., his qualifications as an ordinary, 162. Counsel, the practising of, injurious to prisoners, 67 ; they ought to he allowed to defend prisoners, 322 ; prisoners' mistaken notion of them, 326. Council, Privy, uncertainty of its decisions, 135. 149; its sources of obtaining information, 135 ; character of persons who sometimes influence it, 138. Courts of law, one of appeal wanted, 76. 90. 134 ; Old Bailey, proposed altera- tion of the, 220 ; on the establishment of four for summary punishment, 268. Cowper, his letter, 282 ; quotations from, on crime, 291. Crime, cause of, with the poor, 1; general causes of, 13; remedial mea- sures for, 14; motives which actuate men to, 66; not to be suppressed by severe laws, 159 ; the increase of, 200; the punishing of one creates others, 206 ; penalties against, 2 15 ; increased by petty enactments against, 255 ; tables of increase, 258 ; local acts increase, 261 ; description of, 328 ; housebreakers, 330 ; highwaymen, 339 ; coiners, 344 ; utterers, 348 ; pick- pockets, 350 ; sneaks, 364 ; shoplifters, 371 ; snatchers of reticules, watches, &c. 372 ; starrers, 373 ; horse and cattle stealers, 375 ; plan for their sup- pression, 376 ; swindlers, 379 ; money-lenders, ib. ; waylaying inebriate per- sons, 384 ; receivers of stolen goods, 405 ; various classes of, 409 ; forgers, 415 ; duffers and ring-droppers, 421 ; stealing from carriages, carts, &c., 423; depredations on the River Thames, 424. Criminals : the habitual offender not deterred by punishment, 6; how to dispose of them, 216, 287; classification of, 286. Dartmoor prison, 358. Death, uncertainty of the Council in punishing with, 129. 136. 146. 147; man's regardlessness of, 48. 136. 201. Despard, 341. Dufiers and ring-droppers, 421. Education, the want of, the cause of crime, 1 ; bad system of, 17 ; proposed im- provement of, 18 ; opinion on, 369. Embezzlers, description of, 55 ; punishment for, considered, 265 ; classification of, 289 ; on the crime of, 419. Evidence, difficulty of procuring it in court, 80 ; want of, caused by the inebri- ation of witnesses, 109 ; taken before the select committee, 156. Ewart, Mr., M.P., his motion for allowing counsel to prisoners, 322. Executions, the effects of, 158 ; manner of conducting them, 177; character of malefactors at, 180 ; inutility of, 182 ; Burke's opinion of the taste of the people for, 201 ; effects of, on boys, 311. Fazakerlj, the opinion of, on the nature of man, 158. 444 INDEX. Flogging, effects of, 295. 311. Forde, Rev. Dr., on punishment of death, 196. Forgers, 415 ; plan to prevent them, 417. Gaoler of Newgate, prejudices of, 96 ; his judgment, how warped, 97. Guilty, the, abandoned by their friends, 123. Hall, Captain Basil, R.N., his evidence, 274. I liimson, Sir George, on speedy gaol delivery, 263. Highwaymen, 339. Home Secretary's office, description of, 117. Horse and cattle stealers, 375. Housebreakers, 330. Houses, bad, a plan for their suppression, 386 ; number of, in one street, 388. Hulks, account of a boy discharged from, 228 ; convicts' dread of, 236 ; bad management of the Euryalus, boys' ship at Chatham, 360. Hurried trials, Newgate turnkeys' opinion of, 90. Immunity, thieves' calculations of, 155. Innocent, the, their right to justice, 122. Judges of the Old Bailey, discretionary power of, 11. 187; how swayed by in- fluence, 57 ; impression on the prisoners when the regular judges of, pre- side, 58 ; error committed by them, 103; the effect of long habit on them, 187 ; their petulence and intemperance, 188 ; their cruelty, 225 ; their notions of punishment, 227. Juvenile offenders : letter of a convicted youth, 32 ; character of, 40 ; difference of, 54; induced to commit crime from witnessing executions, 187; com- mittal of them on trifling charges, 269; remarks on a confession, t>'.M ; cruelty of transporting them for life, 299 ; amusements of, 313 ; general description of, 352 ; bad system of education for, 17. 354 ; the commence- ment and progress of crime of, 354; contamination of, 369; sufferings of, 356. 371 ; how they should be disposed of, 358. Landholders, mistaken notions of, 30. Laws, bad mode of making, 27 ; sanguinary character of, 158 ; made for the wealthy, 193; game laws, cause of crime, 195; recklessness of legislators in passing laws, 201 ; party motives interfere with the making of, i.'d ; Solon's law, 220 ; effects of their severity, 223 ; should be simple in the style of language, 269 ; and maue known to the people, 304. Legislators, inconsiderateness of, 7. Local acts, cause of crime, 261. Lodging houses, description of, 352. Lunatics, bad arrangement for, in prison, 88. Magistrates, their refusal to swear witnesses, 79. 154. Malefactors, interest felt for them, 94 ; their notion of the privy council, 141 ; INDEX, 445 hardened nature of, 160; unwillingness of, to make confessions, 169, 17O, 171 ; visiting them by their friends, 175; their hopes of pardon, 176; state in which they are led to the scaifold, 177 ; cruel treatment of, 186. Man, compared with other animals, 23<>. May, the murderer, 48. 249. Money lenders, 379. .Montesquieu, his opinion of unnatural offences, 210 ; and of severe laws, 293. Montgomery, his case explained, 152. Morris, George, proved innocent after being ordered for execution, 99. Murder, the opinion of an American on the punishment of, 186. Newgate, general remarks on prisoners in, 37 ; manner of removing the trans- ports from, 46; prejudices of those connected with, 76; want of internal management prejudicial to prisoners, 84 ; improvement proposed in, 86 ; interest on behalf of prisoners at, 93 ; responsibility of the governor at, 96 ; briefs made in, 113 ; description of the cells of, 173, 174; secresy of the keepers of, 182 ; authorities of, questioned on the conduct of judges, 188. Offences, on making returns of, 12. 343 ; unnatural, 207 ; present law against them improper, and injurious to society, 208 ; Montesquieu, his opinion of, 210 ; when first brought into this country, ib. ; remarks on a recent charge, 210 ; its frequency in the penal settlements, 292. Old Bailey Courts, thieves' notion of, 45 49 ; description and careless acts of, .VJ ; interference of the aldermen with, 54 ; motives for malicious prosecu- tions at, 107 ; sentences heavier when persons of influence prosecute at, 125 ; proof of the errors committed at, 128. Ordinary of Newgate ; Kev. Mr. Cotton, 162 ; difficulties he encounters in pre- paring men for death, 176. Pardon Power, non-efficiency of, 62 ; treatment of applicants for remissions of sentence, 121 ; their petitions totally disregarded, 122 ; proof of error in exercising the pardon power, 128. Pardons, no compensation to the innocent, 95 ; how they are often obtained, 142 ; perjury promoted by, 153 ; bad practice of, 155 ; should be made available in the suppression of crime, 273. Peel, Sir Robert, his unwillingness to grant pardons, 150. 153 ; his conduct in Montgomery's case, 152; his petty assault act, 260. Penal Settlements, horrible account of, 291. Penitentiary, the, expenses of, 255. Petitions, inutility of, 81; inattention to, 118; most frequently lost, 122; never considered by the person to whom addressed, 140 ; sometimes ad- verse petitions presented, 143. Perjury, how promoted, 153. Phillips, Mr., under secretary, 118. Pickpockets, 350 ; how first taught, 361 ; their qualifications, 363; faithlessness of, 364. Piracy, case of Captain Smith, 31. Plomer, Sir Thomas ; his act, 102. 265. Police, not an efficient preventive power, 192. 446 IXDKX. Poor, the, state of, 1 ; want of education for, ib. ; provision for, 15 ; on ^mploy- ment for, 17 ; cruel usage of, 22 ; manipulary cultivation of land for, 25 ; criminal part of them considered, 2(J ; settlement on waste land, the only remedy for, 30 ; laws relative to, 264; their feeling towards the rich, il>. Presentment of bills of indictment hefore the grand jury, 314 ; plan for amend- ing the irregularity, 316 ; the occasion of crime, Prisoners, remarks on, 37 ; number of, committed to Newgate, 44 ; igno- rance of, 68.82. 99. Ill, 30.5; information respecting the character of, 112; number of, tried in one day, 61; distress of, 68; the anxiety of their friends, 82 ; present system deters witnesses, 108 ; before trial should be advised, 111; regular visiters to recognize offenders should be employed, 113; anxiety of prosecutors to transport them, 144; circum- stances under which they are retained in Newgate, 145 ; effects of mild sentences on, 230 ; how to dispose of habitual offenders, 287 ; of first offenders, 288 ; counsel ought to be allowed for their defence, 322. Prison discipline and secondary punishments, 213. 233; different systems of, 226 ; archbishop Whately's views of, considered, 238 ; quotation from the Society for the Improvement of, 259 ; the American system of, 274. Prisons, the, contamination of, 256. 281. Prosecutions, motives for, 107; table of expenses of, 271. Prostitutes, remarks on, ,'>87 ; shocking account of one, ib. Prosecutors, vindictive feelings of, 145, 146. Publications, those of a low description injurious to youth, 298. Punishment, on deterring men from, 37 ; on inutility of capital, 184; inequality of, 226229; effects of, 225243. Receivers of stolen goods, remarks on, 41 ; account of, 405. Recorder of London, (of Chester,) his error, 134 ; not consulted by the Privy Council in selecting for execution, 135; his report to the Privy Council, 175; the prisoner's opinion of, 214 ; his dispute with an alderman, yj 1 ; his resignation, 302. Reformation, Archbishop Whately's views of, 248. Religious instruction, malefactors generally not penitent through, 161 ; given in the cells, 162; diversity of teachers admitted for the purpose, 163; bad effects of, 164 ; confessions prevented by interference, 166 ; interference of ladies at the prisons, 167 ; gentlemen most qualified to dispense, 169. Respites, want of feeling for, 94. Revenge, Paley's definition of, 192. Rotch, chairman of the quarter sessions; his notions of reclaiming juvenile of- fenders, 306. Sandwich, Lady, improper favour shown to, in court, 191. Secretary of State's Office, 117 ; inefficient as a court of appeal, 120; conduct of those in office at, 121 ; painful situation of the secretary, 150. Sentences, increased through influence, 125. Severity of the laws, 171. Shaw, the housebreaker, his feelings on transportation, 48. Shoplifters, 371. Snatchers of reticules, watches, &c., 372. INDEX 447 Sneaks, 364; how trained, 367. Soldiers, the effects of corporeal punishment on, '230. Solomon, Isaac, 131; iniquity of, 406. Societies, charitable, their utility considered, 393; an account of, 395; one pointed out which might be useful, 399. Solitary confinement, the American system considered, 272. Starrers, 373. Stephens, John, Esq. Jun., his evidence regarding the penal settlements, 291. Subpoena, witnesses' disregard of, 105; mode of service proposed, 108. Swindlers, 379. Tables of the increase of crime in twelve counties, 258 ; in England and Wales from 1823 to 1829, ib. ; in London and Middlesex, ib. Thames, River, depredations on, 424. Theatrical exhibitions, effects of, on youth, 297. 307 ; nature of, 309. Thieves, general character of, 39; their carelessness of death, 42 ; their change of character, 341 ; their manner in prison, 343 ; on holding to bail when discharged, 401. Tobacco should be forbid to malefactors under sentence of death, 174. Transports, how conveyed from Newgate, 46; different character of, 234; friends of, misled by false hopes held out to them, 243 ; not to be cre- dited, 246. Transportation, thieves' dread of, 235 ; Mr. Wakefield's opinion of, 43. 235 ; Mr. \Vontner's opinion of, 46. 235 ; report of the select committee on, 253 ; Archbishop Whately's opinion on, 237 ; description of the punishment of, by a settler, 244 ; May, the murderer, his opinion of, 48. Trials, hurried manner of, 59 ; various instances of, 62, 63. 69. 71, 72. 77. 128 ; irregularity of, 79; evils attending the present system of, 109; suggestions for better conducting them, 82 ; table of expenses of prosecutions at, 271 ; Mr. Phillips and the chairman of the quarter session, 315. Wakefield, Mr., quoted, 149 ; his opinion of transportation, 235; his opinion on criminals, 340. Wakefield House of Correction, 195. Wardsmen in Newgate, their conduct, 113. Whately, Archbishop, his opinion of the effects of transportation, 237; his views of prison discipline considered, 238. Wild, John, his letter to the ordinary of Newgate, 32. Witnesses, difficulty to prisoners of bringing them into court, 79, 80. 105 ; proposed plan for ensuring a better attendance of, 108 ; inebriation of, 109; present system demoralizes, 110. Wontner, Mr., his opinion of transportation, 235. Writ of error, 104. FINIS. LONDON: IBOTBON AND PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY STREET, STRANP. 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