VI PREFACE. 



would arise from such a society, as I have sufficiently, 

 though briefly, explained myself upon this self- 

 evident proposition in the body of the work. I 

 am, however, informed, that there are some 

 independent and public-spirited men in Exeter, 

 (and I hope it is true, because they are a rare 

 commodity in the country,) who are likely to asso- 

 ciate for such a purpose. Individuals, exclusively 

 of the odium which attaches to the character of a 

 public informer, cannot be expected to incur the 

 trouble and the expence of multifarious prosecutions, 

 by which they have nothing to gain, and every 

 thing to lose ; where the difficulties are so great, the 

 powers so loose, the legal offences so undefined, 

 and the remedies so unsatisfactory, uncertain, and 

 indecisive, that no man in his senses will venture 

 upon the undertaking. To be convinced of this 

 truth, we have only to recollect the determination 

 of the last sessions for this county, where the con- 

 servator, from a sense of public duty, instituted a 

 prosecution for obstruction of the passage of the 

 salmon fry. The parties were convicted ; they 

 appealed ; the appeal was dismissed ; but, though 

 the blunder was committed on the part of the ap- 

 pellants, the court refused the prosecutor his costs, 

 and he returned home with victory on his side 



