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Leader (1850-1860), 26th July 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 713, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      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 !

      Untitled Article

      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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      iCitmitam

      Untitled Article

      —? 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 .

      Untitled Article

      12 station J X JVJ . 26 , 1856 . THE LEADER . 713

  • Citation
    • 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/