A. D. 1798. 455 



from thedifchargingvefTels, or from the wharfs onboard the loading vef- 

 feis, which is one of the confequences of the overcrowded flate of the 

 harbour. Belides great numbers of lumpers (people chiefly employed 

 in loading and difcharging veflels), watermen, journeymen lightermen, 

 journeymen coopers, labourers upon the wharfs, the feamen and petty 

 officers, and even the mates * of many veflels, and alfo leveral delcri[>- 

 tions of the inferior clafles of the officers of the revenue f, together with 

 the receivers, without whom there can Icarcely be any thieves, have con- 

 flituted a ftrong and well-conneded band of confpirators againft the pro- 

 perty of the merchant and the revenue of the Tovereign. 



The commerce of Great Britain, and more efpecialy that of London, 

 have increafed prodigioully fince the middle of the eighteenth cent- 

 ury ; and about that time feveral unavailing efforts were made to en- 

 force the exifting laws againft the plunderers of veffels and commercial 

 property in the port of London. But the laws were found inelfeftual to 

 provide againft crimes, which had fprung up after they were enacted : and 

 therefor in the year 1762 a new ad (2 Geo. Ill, c. 28) was pafTed for 

 fubjeding the people carrying on a petty trade on the river in fmall boats,. 

 called bum-boats, who feem to have been then thought the moft fulpi- 

 cious charaders, to regulations, and punilhment when found offending. 

 But, as it was not the particular duty of any perfon, or board, to attend 

 to the execution of it, the ad was allowed to lie dormant fourteen years, 

 before any of its provifions were carried into effed ; and after it began 

 to be enforced, as the feverer punifhments were never inflided, means 

 were found to make it operate as a licence, rather than a reftraint, tip- 

 on depredationj: ; and the fyftem of river plunder continued to grow 



* The mates claimed, what are called, the and being certified by them to poflefs fiifEcieiit 



fwetphigs of the hoU, being fuch parts of the cargo nautical IkWl, and to be in other refpcdb qualified 



as have dropt out of their packages. It is eafy to for fo important a charge. ' A precaution of this 



conceive, how ilrongly the mate, whofe duty it is ' kind would preferv€ purity of morals, would 



to take care of the packages, is tempted to deflroy ' compell men of this defcriptlon to educate 



them for the fake of increafing his perquilite of ' themfelves better, and would preferve in maoy 



fweepmgs. « inftances both the lives of his Majefty's fubjects 



The mates of Eaft-India fhips are wholely ex- ' and the property of underwriters. The adop- 



ccpted from this charge. Their rank, and gen- ' tion of this lyftcm in the Eaft-India fcrvice has 



erally their education and circumftances, place ' rendered the commanders and chief officers the 



them above the temptation of committing fuch ' bejl navigaJors in the ivorld.' 



afts of turpitude. -^ Juftice and candour require thiit the offences 



Mr. Colquhoun, to whofe valuable Treatifi upon of the delinquent revenue officers (hould be in a 



the commerce and police of the River Thames, I ac- great meafure imputed to the ruinous effects of 



knowledge myfelf indebted for all the infovma- the depretiation of money, their alloivance in' 



tion upon the important fubjeft of the river plnn- nominal money being no more now than when 



der and his very meritorious inflitution for the fuch a fum was fufficient to fupport them, 



prevention of it, expreifes a wiih, in which every :(: Though above 2,500 convidions have taken 



wcllwiiher to the virtue and happinefs of the place fmce the aft was put in force, it is (till 



people mull concur with him, that the wages of nugatory ; for the perfons liable to conviftion 



the officers of merchant veffels were more adequate have eftablilhed a fubl'cription fund, out of which 



to their fituatlon, and fuch as to place them above all penalties and other expenfes are paid, fo that 



temptation ; and alfo that no perfon were per- the convicted criminal pays o.ily his proportion of 



mitted to aft as a mate of a vefl'el without under- the penalty in common with his undetefted brc-- 



gbing an examination before a competent board, thien- 3 



