GENERAL HISTORY. 



[21 



into the causes of this augmenta- 

 tion, of which many might be 

 mentioned, but at present he would 

 only notice a few. The honour- 

 able member then adverted to the 

 system of punishment by promiscu- 

 ous imprisonment, which associat- 

 ed together the most hardened 

 offenders with those convicted of 

 comparatively slight crimes ; to 

 the constitution of the police itself 

 in giving rewards to the officers for 

 the detection of offenders of a cer- 

 tain description, of which the effect 

 was, suffering a growth and multi- 

 plication of crimes instead of their 

 prevention ; and to the depravation 

 of morals by the encouragement of 

 lotteries. After dwelling at length 

 upon these topics, he concluded 

 with hoping that the motion of his 

 right honourable friend would be 

 withdrawn, and submitted in a 

 much more comprehensive form. 



Mr. W. Smith followed in con- 

 firmation of the necessity of such 

 an extension of object as that pro- 

 posed by the last speaker. The 

 late murders, he said, originated 

 in a set <tf villains about the town 

 whose existence was not imputable 

 to any deficiency in the nightly 

 watch ; and unless some change 

 could be produced in their disposi- 

 tion, the only effect of a more 

 vigilant watch in the metropolis 

 would be to drive them into the 

 surrounding villages. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 made a number of remarks to show 

 that the considerations above sug- 

 gested could not properly be re- 

 ferred to the committee proposed, 

 the object of which was to provide 

 a practical remedy for an existing 

 evil. 



Mr. Abercromby observed, that 

 two opinions had been advanced, 



one that the proposed object of the 

 committee was sufficient, the other 

 that it was insufficient, for reme- 

 dying the existing evil. He con- 

 tended that nothing had been said 

 to prove that the state of the police 

 ought to be excluded from the con- 

 sideration of the committee, and 

 thought that the propriety of ex- 

 tending it to that object was obvi- 

 ous. After various remarks to 

 enforce this opinion, he moved, as 

 an amendment to the original mo- 

 tion, the addition of the following 

 words : " and also into the state of 

 the police of the metropolis." 



Mr. Ryder acquiesced in the 

 amendment of the lion, and learned 

 gentleman, provided he would 

 consent to substitute the word 

 "further" for "also," in order that 

 the primary object of the committee 

 might be that which he thought of 

 great practical benefit, (To this 

 alteration Mr. A. consented). He 

 proceeded to take notice of the 

 accusation brought against the po- 

 lice officers as being never dis- 

 posed to detect offenders unless 

 when stimulated by a great reward. 

 This, from the best information, 

 he stated to be unfounded, and he 

 was convinced that greater eft'orts 

 had never been made to detect 

 offenders than those in the metro- 

 polis during the two last months. 



Sir S. Romilly reminded the 

 right honourable secretary, that a 

 reward of 700/. had been offered 

 on the late occasions for exciting 

 their activity, a consequence of 

 which had been the apprehension, 

 of a great number of persons upon 

 bare suspicion, one of whom was 

 the brother of one of the murdered 

 persons. 



Mr. Sheridan began a speech of 



sarcasm and humour united, by 



pronouncing 



