470 Publication of Police Rcpoiis. [May, 



cross-examination in its fullest force, we are to be told truly — that we . 

 must be careful how we circulate any accusations that may be made 

 against wholesale swindlei-s, horse chaunters, or gentlemen who have 

 been intemperate in their wine, until it is placed beyond all doubt, by 

 the final conviction and transportation of these persons, that they will 

 not be able to contradict (or to buy off) the evidence that appears against 

 them. 



For we scarcely ever find any man who has a ha'porth of title to be 

 held fairly acquitted of a chai-ge, complaining of the statements of his 

 case. The " injured people " are among those who get off by errors in 

 the pleadings ; proof just short of the fact ; or by that sort of compovnd 

 which the law declares to be in itself an offence ; and who are afterwards 

 found setting up their characters by " voluntary affidavits " (sometimes so 

 impudent that magistrates refuse to receive them) ; witnesses, vouching 

 for their respectability, who have no witnesses to vouch for their own ; 

 and letters of " confession" from real offenders, A. B., or W. Z. ; who are 

 suddenly " desirous of doing justice," and have " sailed for Calcutta the 

 very day before the acknowledgment is delivered." A far more consi- 

 derable objection to police reporting than the complaints of such people 

 as these, lies in the somewhat offensivenessof the thrusting a daily record 

 of their vice or stupidity before the eyes of society ; and still more, 

 perhaps, in the gratification which such publicity affords to that desire of 

 distinction, which is a known feature in the minds of professional thieves, 

 and exists among the lower classes generally, as well as among their 

 superiors. Mr. Thurtell was very nearly consoled, under the ne- 

 cessity of being hanged, by the knowledge that the newspapers had 

 commended the absurd tirade which some lawyer's clerk wrote for him to 

 pronounce upon his trial. This is a dangerous passion to administer to, 

 and the satisfying it should, as far as possible, be avoided. Picking 

 pockets, indeed, is scarcely a matter to be entertained about ; nor does 

 the passing of bad money (of itself) constitute a joke. The carpenters 

 and blacksmiths, generally, should not be led to imagine, that by being 

 simply carried to Bow Street twice a week, and eventually sent on 

 board the hulks at Woolwich, they emerge from unmerited obscurity, 

 and become very facetious and entertaining persons in the eyes of their 

 betters. But these, at worst, are slight inconveniences in the practice, 

 scarcely worth dwelling upon ; capable of being wholly removed from it 

 by the exercise of a reasonable discretion ; and quite unworthy to stand 

 for a moment in competition with its immense general advantage. 



For, perhaps, the greatest of all the advantages attendant upon the 

 publication of legal proceedings, generally — and that very effect which 

 we are afraid has led some legal authorities to discommend them — is a 

 fact to which we have yet not adverted — to wit, that the mere pub- 

 lication of these law proceedings creates a power, which is always aiding 

 and assisting, but which sometimes surpasses even the power of the law 

 itself. 



Public opinion, in the present day punishes that offender who can 

 be punished by no other weapon; and hundreds of persons who would 

 not hesitate at a shameful defence, or an oppi'essive prosecution, in 

 a private court, dare not hazard the consequences of the blazon- 

 ment of that proceeding, with the canvas of it in every company 

 in the kingdom, on the next day. With all the excellence of our 

 English law, it is impossible to reach the man who possesses large 

 means, by law alone. Say that you wrestle with all the difficulties which 





