492 ‘The Police Report. [Nov. 
sity,” a class of people who would be luxurious and indolent, is of itself 
a most powerful counteraction of the pernicious habit of dram-drinking. 
In a poor conimunity (and want of employment obviously induces poverty) 
it 1s somuch a less weighty evil than in a rich one, that they can hardly 
be said to exist together ; and it may be reasonably doubted whether 
considering the present state of society in the metropolis, the first has 
any such influence as entitles it to be relied on as a cause of crime. Under 
other circumstances, it would be different. There was a time when the 
cheap sale of spirits was felt to be so great an evil in London, that the 
legislature was compelled to put a stop to it ;* but this, it must be remem- 
bered, was when the country was in a state of much greater prosperity, 
as regards the labouring classes, than it is at present : when there was not 
only no want of employment, but when labour was well enough paid for 
to allow of indulgences, which are universally found to be destructive of 
industrious and sober habits. 
That want of employment is a cause of the increase of a certain class 
of crimes, admits of no question : that it exists to a certain and a lamen- 
table extent in London, and that it will almost always continue to do so, 
as equally clear. The supply of labour is greater than the demand ; and 
distress, the parent of crime, is the inevitable consequence. ‘To this 
cause may be with much reason attributed a large portion of the 
increase which has been stated; and this opinion is corroborated by the 
fact, that the increase has taken place more remarkably in crimes affect- 
ing property, and of ordinary occurrence—exactly the sort of crime 
which labourers, out of employment and in distress, are most likely to 
commit. 
To the alleged neglect of children by their parents, which is among 
the causes assigned, we are not disposed to give much weight ; but if it 
does really operate, it is one to which a remedy cannot be applied. 
It would. not only be inconsistent with the spirit of English jurispru- 
dence, but (which is a more conclusive objection) it would be imprac- 
ticable to attempt to compel, by legislative enactments, or by the extra- 
ordinary power of the police, the performance of duties which are 
prompted by nature and prescribed by religion. You can no more 
make aman take care of his children’s, than of his own morals. The 
* The height to which this pernicious practise had been carried in the reign of George I. 
occasioned the passing the licensing act for liquor shops; spirits being before that time 
sold at the corner of every street. Hogarth’s terrific picture of “‘ Gin Lane”’ is familiar to 
every one’s recollection, and the notion which Fielding entertained of it may be seen in 
his tract, ‘ On the Increase of Robbers,” in which he brings all his powers of eloquence, 
reproof, and biting sarcasm, to bear upon a habit which, destructive as it was, he seems to 
have believed rather to be hostile to the decency and happiness of the people, than possess- 
ing great influence as a cause of crime. He says, after recommending the total abolition 
of the pernicious liquor, “‘ But if the difficulty be really insuperable, or if there be any 
political reason against the total demolition of this poison, so strong as to countervail the 
preservation of the morals, health, and being, of such numbers of his Majesty’s subjects, 
let us, however, in some measure palliate the evil, and lessen its immediate ill consequences, 
by a more effectual provision against drunkenness than any we have at present, in which 
the method of conviction is too tedious and dilatory. Some little care on this head is surely 
necessary ; for, though the increase of thieves and the destruction of morality ; though the 
loss of our labourers, our sailors, and our soldiers, should not be sufficient reasons, there is 
one which seems to be unanswerable, and that is, the loss of our gin drinkers. Since, should 
this poison be continued in its present height during the next twenty years, there will by 
that time be very few of the common people left to drink it.’’—Page 22. 
a 
