500 Fhe Police Report. - "ENoy. 
authorities are inefficient in some respects, the police magistrates ap- 
pointed by the government are still more so; and that it is safer to trust 
-eyen to the ignorance and to the exclusive feeling which prevailsin yestries 
and commissioners, than to rely upon the unwilling labours of police 
‘magistrates. Any attempt to deprive the former of the powers which 
nave been conferred on them, and which are, upon the whole, usefully 
administered, will be strenuously resisted by them. With what success 
it is impossible to say; but that there are grounds for the resistance is 
quite clear. The institutions are of that popular nature, that is most 
‘in accordance with the general spirit of the constitution ; they are open to 
inspection and revision, not only from the legal authorities, but by their 
neighbours, who have the means, as well as the inclination, to watch their 
conduct with effect and jealousy. Their services are gratuitous, and, as far 
as appears, earnest and useful. The small share of patronage they possess 
~—if it can be so called—is not to be grudged them, and the main ob- 
jections and evils they present, are a want of unity in their operations, 
and a want of responsibility in the executive part of their duty. These 
evils are not without remedy ; but a much more simple one may be 
provided, than that suggested by the Committee, “ That there should 
be constituted an office of police, acting under the immediate directions 
of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, upon which should 
be devolved the general control over the whole of the establishments of 
police of every denomination, including the nightly watch.” If such an 
office were limited to the business of superintendence, and if such regu- 
lations were made applicable to parishes as would give that consistency 
and unity to their several systems as is suggested by the Committee, all 
that seems to be required would be supplied, and the change would be 
in unison with the other recommendations of the Committee. At pre- 
sent, there is this glaring inconsistency in them, that they propose to 
break up the parochial system, without stating any reasonable grounds 
for the change ; and they propose also, to continue the police offices, the 
inefficiency of which they have exposed. 
The qualifications for a police magistrate, if one may conclude from 
the persons who (with few exceptions*) at present fill those offices, seem 
to be that they should have failed at the bar, and possess influence 
enough with the government to appoint them to a post which suits the 
mediocrity of their talents, and is favourable. to. the indulgence of thex 
indolence. By a comparison with such persons (unexceptionable as we - 
admit their moral conduct to be), commissioners and select vestrymen, 
rise higher in the scale of usefulness and respectability than the Com- 
mittee seem to have considered. 
The main recommendation, however, is one of obvious weight and 
soundness. The excellence of the system of English police is proved; 
the necessity of frequent examination for the purpose of purifying itis 
manifested ; and all that is requisite to confer on it that vigour and 
activity which the Committte justly think is most desirable, isdemon- 
strated to be, in addition to the few alterations which have been, pointed 
out, a vigilant superintendence of its operations by officers more ener- 
getic than those who are now placed. at its head, and less sordid than the 
agents who are entrusted with its lower departments. 
* It is hardly necessary. to say, that the chief magistrate at Bow Street, who occasionally 
makes very extracrdinary displays of his fitness for his office, comes within this exception. 
