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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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It is a fact demonstrable by statistics that our forefathers lived , increased the number of visitors at " Nature ' s banquet , " and for the most part died in their beds , unless drowned or hung . The fact , we say , has unimpeachable evidence ; and against the rocky stubbornness of fact , the groundsweli of speculation vainly dashes its waves ; nevertheless speculation will restlessly beat against the rock , and will ask : How was it possible for men to live in such social anarchy ? How did they escape the manifold ills and perils which it is proved they did escape ? How was life secured ? Above all , how was property amassed , in days when the new police was an undeveloped idea ? Read the Quarterly , just out , and in one of those extremely attractive articles , partly philosophical partly gossiping , in which the Quarterly treats social topics , you will learn what is the regime you do not live under : —
Most men who have arrived at that age when the last one or two buttons of the waistcoat are allowed to be unloosened after dinner , can remember the time when the safety of life and property in the metropolis depended upon the efforts of the parochial watchman , a species of animal after the model of the old hackney coachman , encumbered with the self same drab greatcoat , with countless capes , with the self same Belcher handkerchief , or comforter , 3 peaking in the same husky voice , and j ast as sottish , stupid , and uncivil . At night—for it was not thoug ht worth while to set a watch in the day time —the authorities provided him with a watch-box in order that he might enjoy his snooze in comfort , and furnished him with a huge lantern in order that its rays might enable the thief to get out of hi 3 way in time . As if these aids to escape were not sufficient for the midnight marauder , the watchman was provided with a staff with which he thundered on the pavement as he -walked , a noise which he alternated with crying the hour and the state of the weather in a loud singing voice , and which told of his whereabouts when he himself was far out of sight .
The laws were as savage as the prevention was lax . In the first year of this century legists counted one hundred and sixty capital crimes , and among these capital crimeiTweTe the destruction of a dam in a fishpond , or the cutting down of an apple tree ! We rode lately outside a coach ( in a primitive district where coaches still run ) and were edified by listening to the complaints which a mild but rather deaf old gentleman was uttering respecting the ancient laxity of the laws . tc ~ Wh y , " formerly , he said , with utter gravity , " there was no punishment for stealing a ferret . " His friend shouted in his ear this reply , the effect of which was exquisitely ludicrous : " Except . . . the ... chance . .. of getting ... well .. . bitten ! " And probably our ancestors thought that punishment enough . At any rate they thought that man could take care of himself , as well as a ferret ; and it is probably this fact—namely , that our forefathers were their own police—which accounts for the statistical fact mentioned at the outset of this article . We have
delegated our self-defence to the " Crushers . " Who keeps a blunderbuss ia his bedroom , now , or sleeps with a sabre by his bedside ? Even the bellicose Brown snores in serenity conscious that Policeman X watches for him . That Peel ' s scheme for the protection of London was an admirable one the result has eloquently proved . There is no one thing in which England so completely transcends the world as in her police . It is the least offensive and most defensive police known anywhere . Foreigners are all struck with the courtesy and efficiency of the men . Yet their introduction was accompanied by the usual Jeremiads : England was lost if she adopted this New Police !—Let us not waste our space on retrospects , but employ it more worthily in extracting what the Quarterly tells us of the present : —
At the present time the Metropolitan Police Force consists of a Chief Commissioner Sir Richard Mayne , 2 Assistant-Commissioners , Captain Labalmondiere and Captain Harris , 18 Superintendents , 133 Inspectors , 625 Sergeants , and 4954 Constables , making a total of all ranks of 6733 . The machinery by which this comparatively small force is enabled to watch by night and day every alley , street , and square of this vast metropolis , nay , tries every accessible door and window of its 400 , 000 houses , patrols 90 square miles of country , exercises a surveillance over the 8000 reputed thieves who prey upon its inhabitants , and keeps in awe the 40 , 000 or 50 , 000 people who form " the uneasy classes" of the metropolis , is not very complicated . The Metropolitan Police district extends from Charing Cross 15 miles in every direction , and includes the whole of Middlesex and large portions of Surrey , Hertfordshire , ICsbox , Kent , Buckinghamshire , and Berkshire , for which seven counties the Commissioners are magistrates and the police are sworn constables . The River Thames ia under its jurisdiction , from Chelsea to Barking Creek , including all its wharves , docks , landing-places , and dockyards .
Nothing like statistics for staggering you with accumulated facts . For instance , you have walked down Cheapside , and of course were sensible of the crowd ; now read this : — In the year 1850 , it was ascertained that no less than 67 , 510 foot-passengers , and 13 , 796 vehicles , containing no fewer than 62 , 092 persons , passed Bow Church , Chenp-Bido , in one day . By another channel of communication , Aldgato , near the Minories , 58 , 480 foot-passengers , and 9332 vehicles , containing 20 , 804 persons , passed in the same time ; und it is estimated that altogether no loss than 400 , 000 persons are poured into this one square mile und a quarter in the course of the twelve hours . The congregation in so confined a spaco of so vust a number of people , many of whom are forced to carry about with them considerable sums of money , must prove a . great source of attraction to thieves of all kinds , and demands tho constant vigilance of n comparatively largo body of police . It was not until ton years after tho successful experiment of tho Metropolitan l ' olico , however , that tho Corporation of London , wedded to its old t ^ -stem of ward-boadlcs , street-keepers , and imbccilo constables , could bo brought to adopt the now system ; but it must bo Admitted that tho present
force , consisting of 1 superintendent , 13 inspectors , sergeants , 47 sergeants , and 492 policemen—making a total of 565 , do the duty well ; and the City , with all its stored wealth , is now as safe as the rest of the metropolis . At all the banks plain clothes men are constantly in attendance to keep out the swell mob who buzz about such places , as wasps do about a peach wall ; and in the great thoroughfares , such aa Cheapside , six or seven policemen are always to be found . The following observations are curious : — As every policeman must be able to read and write , have a good character , and be of sound body and mind , the mere overflowings of the labour-market are excluded from the force ; moreover , persons can always leave the service by giving a month's
notice . For these reasons a much more intelligent class of men recruit the police than the army , and it is singular to note how this intelligence tells . The drill of constables and soldiers is nearly alike , yet the former learn all their movements in a fortnight , whilst the latter require at least two months . Intelligence of a certain kind , however , may be carried too far ; your sharp Londoner makes a very bad policeman : he is too volatile and conceited to submit himself to discipline , and is oftener rejected than the persons from other parts , with whom eight-tenths of the force are recruited . The best constables come from the provincial cities and towns . They are both quicker and more ' * plucky" than the mere countryman fresh from the village—a singular fact , which proves that manly vigour , both physical and mental , is to be found in populations neither too aggregated nor entirely isolated .
We can only find room for one more extract , and must send the reader to the Quarterly for much that is both instructive and entertaining : — From an analysis of the Criminal Returns of the Metropolitan Police , it is apparent that crimes have their peculiar seasons . Thus , attempts to commit suicide generally occur in the months of June , July , and August , and rarely in November , according to the commonly-accepted notion ; comfort , it is evident , is considered even in the accomplishmeut of this desperate act . Common assaults and drunkenness also multiply wonderfully in the dog-days . In the winter , on the contrary , burglaries increase , and , for some unknown reason , the uttering of counterfeit coin . Besides this , the most attractive article in the number , there are papers on Grote ' History of Greece , " " Guizot on the Civil War , " for historical students , a biography of Savonakox-a , and a telling paper against the " Papal Government , " written with a strong feeling of indignation against the tyrannies under which Italy languishes . " We can spare room but for one short extract : —
Imagination , learning , and reason , can find no expression under such a system . It is impossible , without experience of it , to credit the frivolity , the ignorance , and the folly of many of the persons who are the official judges of the literary labours of their countrymen ; and as no one attempts to publish anything which , could favour progress or freedom , it is , indeed , chiefly in trifles that the censors have an opportunity of displaying their discretion . In a satirical little poem was a line which spoke of " a king who made a somerset down from his throne . " The notion excited horror . " ~ 8 o such words should be applied to a sovereign ; they suggest bad ideas to the people . " In a sonnet on envy , it was stated that the . passion was everywhere—in the camp , the The
in the palace , and in the cloister . The word cloister was effaced by censor . theatres are great objects of attraction 4 n Italy , but the same restraint is imposed . A dramatic author put into the mouth of one of his personages the phrase , " Order the carriage . " " The expression must be changed , " said the censor ; " to order is for priests alone . " An actor accustomed to perform at Turin forgot that he was speaking in the Papal States , and used some forbidden word , such as " patria" " liberta . " He was arrested by the police and ordered to pay a fine , or go to prison . He accepted the latter alternative , and was shut up for three weeks . How long , O Italy ! how long will such things be borne ?
Although there are several papers of interest—as usual—in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal ^ there is nothing which admits of such brief notice as can be afforded here . We may refer Naturalists to Dr . Stkethixi . YYbight ' s paper on the reproduction of the Cydippe ., and to his description , with a coloured plate , of the new Actinia he found at the Isle of Arran . I > r . Wkight aLsO describes , as new , an Actinia Bellis , which may be new to naturalists in Scotland , but is common enough at Morte , near llfracombe , and at Tenby . His new species is very lovely ; and now " every one" is getting interested in the Sea Anemones , which hitherto no one would look at , we may expect new species to be added daily to the catalogue . We cannot help a feeling , half of regret and half of pleasure , at seeing so many persons enthusiastic about sea anemones ; the pleasure of thinking that the study of natural history is becoming general , is marred by the thought that in a few years Actiniae may become as scarce as beavers , so remorselessly arc they hunted . The public must rush in one direction—and to-day they are rushing after sea anemones : should the fashion last , the race will be
extirpated 1 Already it has become a trade to " supply these pretty creatures ; and at llfracombe and Tenby there are persons whose livelihood depends on the anemones they can send up to London and Bristol . We speak from knowledge of these two places ; it is probably true of many other places . . Fortunately the fecundity of the race ( we mean of Actinia ? . not collectors ) is generous ; although not by any means so great as is commonly supposed \ and fortunately , also , these animals have a trick of nestling themselves in impossible pluces , where you look at them with hungry eyes in vain , no chisel being capable of approaching them . So let us hope they will survive even tho present fashion !
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J 3 EAUMAUCUAIS . SeaumarcJuiis and his Times : Sketches of French Society in the Eighteenth Century from unpublished JJocuments . By Louis do Louidnie . Translated by H . S . Edwards . Volfl . I . and II . Addey and Co . Tub second title accurately describes the character of this work , which is sufficiently interesting to make us forgot its serious defects . As a biography it liiils ia tho two cardinal requisites of clear , distinct statement of the biographical facts , and clear delineation of character . Of tho creative power which enables a good biographer to exhibit the character of his hero , to make him live in our presence , M . do J-iOincnic has scarcely a trace . He
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—? rriHra are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not Cr makeYaw-s-they interpret and try to enforce them .-Edinburgh JZevxew .
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12 station J X JVJ . 26 , 1856 . THE LEADER . 713
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 26, 1856, page 713, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2151/page/17/
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