LON 
<rrt live, which guards the liberty of a people againfl the arbitrary 
will of their rulers, were in fome meafure incompatible with thofe 
rejlriElions which a well- regulated police has been found to require. 
Experience appears to warrant this idea ; fince it is under 
the mod arbitrary and defpotic governments, that the.i'yf- 
tem of internal police has been carried to the hrgheft de¬ 
gree of perfefifion. Whether this notion be true or falie ; 
whether it be that we have tamed that high fpirit of free¬ 
dom, which prefers the liability to private rifk and injury 
to tiie chance of loiing a particle of public liberty ; or 
whether it be that we have become wil'er than our ances¬ 
tors, and have difeovered that the reftriffions of a more 
Severe police are not really inconfiftent with the higheil 
degree of rational freedom ; it is certain that we have at 
length begun to think ferioufly of means of reftraining, 
by prevention, rather than by punijhmcnt, that fpirit of cheat¬ 
ing, rapine, and violence, which in large foeieties will 
always be created by the wants and the paiTions of men. 
More has been done within the lad ten years, in this way, 
than had been effected perhaps for a century before 5 and, 
for the advances which have already been made, as well 
as for thole which we may yet attempt, we are greatly in¬ 
debted to the intelligent and affive labours of the author 
of the above work; lincc, though he then difclofed details 
of fraud, depredation, and general delinquency, which mult 
have altonnhed the public, yet the molt attentive confi- 
deration of the principles anti the refult of his calculations, 
combined with the experience of thole ten years, inilead 
of convicting Mr. Colquhoun of error or exaggeration in 
his eflimate of the general mal's of crimes, l'eems fully to 
have confirmed if. 
Indeed the increafe of crimes and the depravity of 
manners in the metropolis form a fubjeff of frequent de¬ 
clamation ; but, though the raCt is univerfally acknow¬ 
ledged and leverely felt, there feems, in tracing the caufe of 
this growing evil, to be a great diverfity of opinion ; and 
perhaps the fentiments of men, on this as well as on altnoll 
every other fubjeff, may receive a timfture from their 
modes of life, habits, anti peculiar calt of difpofition. 
The humane and tender-hearted, Ihocked at the numerous 
executions with which foreigners too jultly reproach us, 
are apt to aferibe the growth of the evil to the feverity 
of our penal laws; and many plans have been fuggefted 
for commuting the punifhment of death, and fubllituting 
temporary or perpetual fervitude. At the head of this 
well-meaning party Itands the marquis of Beccaria ; whole 
book on crimes and punifliments has been univerfally read, 
and generally approved. The work, indeed, is written 
with eloquence and feeling, and the author’s reafoning is 
for the molt part juft, and always plaufible : bur, if we 
appeal to experience, w hich is the fureft tell of human 
w adorn, we (hall perhaps find that, as far as we have 
adopted the marquis’s plan, in the hulks of Woolwich, 
Portfmouth, and Langlion, we have no reafon to boaft of 
ourfuccefs; for very few (if any) of the convicts who 
have been lent to thofe feminaries, have returned thence 
reformed by their education. Thefe and other conlider- 
ations may have induced men of a rigid and indexible cha¬ 
racter to look, on the other hand, for the fource of crimes 
in the ill-judged lenity of our laws, the feeble adminiltra- 
tion of jufiice, and the frequency of pardons; and many 
arguments may be alleged in favour of this opinion. In 
our courts of jufiice, perhaps too much tendernefs is fome- 
times Ihown to the criminal ; which gave occafion to the 
difeerning- Henry Fielding to obferve, that our laws 
feemed rather made for the protection of rogues againft 
honelt men, than for the fafety of honed men againft 
rogues. It is certainly to be lamented that the difficulty 
and expenfe of conviction jhould deter many people from 
profecuting offenders: it is likewile the difgrace of our 
country, that numberlefs low retailers of the law fhould 
f'upport themfelves, and even acquire fortunes, by protect¬ 
ing criminals from the punifliments which they have me¬ 
rited ; and, if we confider the practices which they adopt 
$0 obtain their end, (l'ucli as hiring perfons to fvvear an 
1 ) O N. ]o 3 
alibi, cajoling, threatening, and bribing witnefies to fup- 
prefs or mutilate their evidence, on the dayof trial,) the 
mind ltarts back with altonifhment and horror at fuch an 
accumulation of wickednefs. 
The difficulty of an attempt to re'form thefe abufes may 
terrify the weak and timid ; but it fhould excite to a 
greater degree of exertion thofe who are bled by nature 
with a fufficient ftrength of mind; and who, from the cir- 
cumdances of their fituation in life, are fuppofed to be 
bed qualified to trace the evil to its fource, and to mark 
the various gradations of fraud, with their confequences, 
immediate or remote, oil the peace and happinefs of fociety. 
No writer that we have hitherto perufed appears to us to 
have examined the fubjeff fo accurately as Mr, Colquhoun. 
As a magidrate, hedoubtlefs had the bed means of infor¬ 
mation ; and we mult confefs ourfelves altonifhed ar.d 
Ihocked at the extent of the evils fet forth in his work. 
Engaged in a war, the event of which is uncertain, and 
loaded with taxes for the fupport of government, added 
to the confequent dearnefs of provihons, it is certainly 
incumbent on onr rulers to prevent, as much as is pofli- 
ble, the depredations committed on public and private 
property. Thefe depredations, according to our author, 
amount to the incredible Aim of 2,000,000k annually ; 
which he arranges under the following heads: 
x. Small thefts ... =£710,coo 
2. Thefts upon the rivers and quays T 500,000 
3. Thefts in the dock-yards and on the Thames 300,000 
4. Burglaries, highway robberies, &c. - 220,000 
6. Coining bafe money ... 260,000 
6. Forging bills, fvvindling, &c. - - 70,000 
Total edimate fz, 000,000 
“ Crimes of every defeription have their origin in the 
vicious anil immoral habits of the people; in the want of 
attention to the education of the inferior orders of fociety ; 
and in the deficiency of the fyitem which has been efta- 
bliflied for guarding the morals of this ufeful clafs of the 
community. Innumerable temptations occur in a great 
capital, where crimes are reforted to in order to iuppl.y 
imaginary wants and improper gratifications, which are 
not known in lefi'er foeieties; and againft which the laws 
have provided few applicable remedies in the way of pre¬ 
vention. 
“ The improvident and even the luxurious mode of liv¬ 
ing which prevails too generally among various claftes of 
the lower ranks of the people in the metropolis, leads to 
much mifery and to many crimes. The chief conf'ump- 
tion of oyfters, crabs, loblters,. pickled falmon, &c. when 
firlt in feafon, and when prices are high, is by the lowcjl 
clafies of the people. The middle ranks, and thofe im¬ 
mediately under them, abftain generally from fuch in¬ 
dulgences until the prices are moderate. 
“ Afiailed alfo by the numerous temptations held out 
by fraudulent lotteries, and places of public refort and 
amufement ; and, above all, by the habit of fpending a 
great deal of valuable time as well as money unnecefl’arily 
in pnblic-houles ; and often allured, by low gaming, to 
fquander more than they can afford ;—there is fcarce an in- 
ltance of accommodating the income to the expenditure, 
even in the belt of times, with a confiderable body of the 
lowed orders of the people inhabiting the capital; and 
hence a melancholy conclufi n is drawn, warranted by 
a generaliy-affumed faff ; ‘ that above twenty tliouiand 
individuals rife every morning in this great metropolis,, 
without knowing how or by what means they are to be 
fupported during the pafiing day, or where they are to 
lodge on the fucceeding night.’ 
“Poverty is no-where to be found clothed in fo great a 
degree with the garb and emblems of the extreme!! mifery 
and wretchednefs, as in London. Develope the hittory 
of any given number of thefe miferable fellow-mortals, 
and their dilfreffes will be found, almoff in every inftance, 
to have been occafioned by extravagance, idle.nefs, profii- 
