The Stat. 13 George II. c. 19, to prevent the multiplicity of horse races, another fund of gaming, directs that no plates, or matches, under 50l. value each, shall be run, upon penalty of 200l. to be paid by the owner of each horse running, and 100l. by such as advertise the plate.
By Stat. 18 George II. c. 34, the Stat. 9 Ann is further enforced, and some deficiencies supplied:—the forfeiture of that act may now be recovered in a court of equity; and moreover, if any man be convicted upon information or indictment of winning or losing at any sitting, 10l. or 20l. within twenty-four hours, he shall forfeit five times the sum. Thus careful has the legislator been to prevent this destructive vice.
And in order to prevent the dreadful consequences, such as Duelling and other outrages, on account of money won at play, the party who shall provoke to fight, or commit any assault, for the purpose of compelling the payment of any money so won, shall forfeit all his personal property to the king, and suffer two years imprisonment in the county goal where the offence was committed. A prosecution under this act is attended with little more difficulty than proving a common assault. Upon this statute Hill Darley, of Bond-street, was very lately convicted, and compromised the pecuniary part with the High Bailiff of Westminster for 1000l. and obtained a remission of some part of his imprisonment in Horsham gaol.
About 20 years ago the late James Armstrong, Sheriff’s officer, indicted two gentlemen upon this statute; one of whom was a clergyman, and who to avoid the consequences of their temerity retired to the continent, where they remained some years, and at length were reduced to the humiliating situation of soliciting the pardon of a fellow whose company they would have thought a disgrace upon any other occasion. Armstrong at length consented to drop the prosecution upon their giving one hundred pounds to the poor of the parish where the offence was committed. Such are the disgraceful, and I may say, ignominious terms upon which men indulge themselves in this favourite vice, a vice so fascinating, that if the pursuit of it was made felony, it might somewhat diminish it, but would never wholly subdue it; for when the human passions come in contact with human reason, the former will ever be the strongest.
Terrific as these acts may appear upon paper, they are rendered very difficult in the prosecution, particularly the 9 Ann, which, indeed, is the principal one, as it applies to the higher order of people, for the mischiefs that become the objects of that act, are frequently done at races and public places of resort, at a great distance from the metropolis; actions upon penal statutes being local, an offence committed at York must be tried by a jury of that county, though all the parties necessary to the suit reside in London; and no reason, however weighty, is sufficient to change the venue to Westminster Hall.
A variety of other defects prove a considerable check upon the operation of the other statutes, and render their imbecility obvious to the courts of Law, as well as magistrates; this evil might be easily remedied by making one efficient act, embracing all salutary purposes, and omitting the futile parts, which would shut out many inconveniences, expence, and that system of iniquity, so conspicuous in prosecuting or defending the objects of punishment.
With respect to the laws for preventing illegal transactions in the lotteries, or at least those passed since Thomas Wood was appointed Inspector, seem calculated for no possible purpose but that of spreading the evil, and filling the pockets of a worthless individual; for while there is a lottery authorised by parliament, daily experience evinces the impossibility of subduing its evil consequences; and if gaming tables have a tendency to promote idleness, theft, and debauchery among the lower class, the same pernicious consequences may justly be attributed to the universal spirit for insuring in the lottery, with a train of additional calamities, of fraud, perjury and inevitable beggary; for so long as the infatuated devotees to their own ruin can find money, the invention of sharpers will find means to evade the laws, which only hunt them from one device to another, and render knavish ingenuity swifter than the means of punishment.
The appointment of Mr. Wood to the office of Inspector of Lotteries, was an event that created the astonishment of every man who knew his previous character; but his continuing the situation after all that has appeared before the magistrates, that has been exhibited in the courts of law, before the commissioners of the stamp office, together with all that is within the knowledge of every person concerned in lottery transactions, is certainly one of those extraordinary events which confounds the understanding, benumbs the explanatory faculties, and soars above the reach of reason to explain, or philosophy to reconcile to any principle of public advantage: however, there has been so much written and said upon this man’s conduct, that I shall for the present enter no further into his probity and praise-worthy service, than recalling to the recollection of the Magistrates at Bow-street, the amiable portrait I drew of him in their presence, in November last, some faint likeness of which appeared in the public prints of the day: the Magistrates upon that occasion, as well as a great number of other persons present, must do me the justice to say that the ground of my accusation was not the effect of a distempered brain or malignant invention; for every syllable I uttered respecting him or his friend, Mr. Holland, of “Little-Go,” notoriety has been legally substantiated upon the clearest of all evidences, and now remains matter of woeful record, at least to Mr. Holland, who has had six months leisure to ruminate on its efficacy in Cold-Bath-Fields Prison. In fine, every seeming effort that has sprung out of Mr. Wood’s fertile brain to suppress the ruinous practice of insuring in lotteries, has augmented the calamity to a preposterous magnitude, and instead of curing the evils we already felt, raised up innumerable others we knew not of. However, I must check my inclination to furnish matter for a volume, and confine myself to the brevity of a letter; and, from what I have stated, few men will suspect me to be a favourer of any species of gaming; perhaps, less so, when I protest, my abhorrence of it has ever been such, that in my existence I never won or lost £5. at any description of game.
Having expressed my disapprobation of gaming in such corrosive terms, I also feel impelled by candour and justice to make some remarks upon the system of play at public tables, especially those at the fashionable end of the town, where it is impossible that any foul play, fraud, or deception, can be practised; nor indeed is a man however sottishly drunk or, stupid, permitted to make a bet against the known chances of the game; at such tables, little skill or penetration is required, for games of chance are matter of mathematical consideration, and afford equal advantage to the inexperienced novice, and the most accomplished gamester; for it is a notorious fact, that many men play almost every night for ten years together, without any material loss or gain; it is in private play that the mischief is done, and I feel myself competent to assert, that more serious losses happen at Brighton, Bath, and the various races, where private parties are formed at taverns, or at the lodging of a sharper, in one year, than at the public gaming houses in London, in ten times that period.
After all, what can be said, but that the aggregate of human wisdom has in all ages, and in all countries, been exerted in vain to conquer the evil, and it is some consolation that in England, it is seldom attended with the tragical consequences which the melancholy histories of gambling transactions of other countries relate. With respect to gambling in lotteries, the attention of the legislator seems to have been directed to the welfare of the lower order of people; but experience teaches us that their annual efforts, assisted by all the vigilance, integrity, morality, and impartiality of Mr. T. Wood, like the ordinance of the Koran, destroys the soul to indulge the appetites of the body; hence the pernicious increase of “Little Go’s,” a species of lottery which ravages and preys upon the vitals of the poor, almost without the possibility of a temporary alleviation, which in their very nature cannot be productive of any advantage, even by accident, except to Pawnbrokers, the Lottery Inspector, and his amiable friend, the conscientious J. Holland, whose nefarious system of plunder exhibited a scene of iniquity unparalleled in the history of gambling enormities; for it appeared to the Magistrates in Bow-street, who fortunately possessed themselves of this dreadful fellow’s books, that the chances against the deluded wretches who were caught in his fool trap, stood thus, that in receiving a thousand pounds he had to return about forty, supposing he had been honest enough to have paid it—and in receiving one hundred and fifty, he had one guinea to return, and so on, day by day, for months together; and this precious system of plunder was unfolded and spread out in the presence of the cherub-cheek Mr. Wood. Thus much, however, must be said for adventurers in the established lottery, for though they play a guinea to eighteen shillings, their chance of winning is fair, and the receipt of the money, when they do win, certain; notwithstanding the advantages are infinitely on the side of the Insurer, yet there are not wanting many instances where the Insured have acquired sums of money that have laid the foundation of their future welfare.