have been committed by night and by day, and people have been beaten and evilly entreated”; it is enjoined that “none be so hardy as to be found going or wandering about the streets of the city with sword or buckler after curfew tolled at St. Martin’s Le Grand.” It goes on to say that any such should be taken by the keepers of the peace and be put in the place of confinement appointed for such offenders, to be dealt with as the custom is, and punished if the offence is proved. This Act further prescribed that as such persons sought shelter “in taverns more than elsewhere, lying in wait and watching their time to do mischief,” no tavern might be allowed to remain open “for sale of ale or wine” after the tolling of curfew. Many smaller matters were dealt with so as to ensure the peace of the city. It was enacted that, “forasmuch as fools who delight in mischief do learn to fence with buckler,” no school to teach the art of fencing should be allowed within the city. Again, many pains and penalties were imposed on foreigners who sought shelter and refuge in England “by reason of banishment out of their own country, or who, for great offence, have fled therefrom.” Such persons were forbidden to become innkeepers, “unless they have good report from the parts whence they cometh, or find safe pledges.” That these persons were a source of trouble is pretty plain from the language of the Act, which tells how “some nothing do but run up and down through the streets more by night than by day, and are well attired in clothing and array, and have their food of delicate meats and costly; neither do they use any craft or merchandise, nor have they lands and tenements whereof to live, nor any friend to find them; and through such persons many perils do often happen in the city, and many evils, and some of them are found openly offending, as in robberies, breaking of houses by night, murders, and other evil deeds.”
Another police Act, as it may be called, was that of 27th Elizabeth (1585) for the good government of the city and borough of Westminster, which had been recently enlarged. “The people thereof being greatly increased, and being for the most part without trade or industry, and many of them wholly given to vice and idleness,” and a power to correct them not being sufficient in law, the Dean of Westminster and the High Steward were given greater authority. They were entitled to examine and punish “all matters of incontinences, common scolds, and common annoyances, and to commit to prison all who offended against the peace.” Certain ordinances were made by this Act for regulating the domestic life of the city of Westminster; the bakers and the brewers, the colliers, wood-mongers, and bargemen were put under strict rule; no person was suffered to forestall or “regrate” the markets so as to increase the price of victuals by buying them up beforehand; the cooks and the tavern-keepers were kept separate: no man might sell ale and keep a cookshop at the same time; the lighting of the city was imposed upon the victuallers and tavern-keepers, who were ordered to keep one convenient lanthorn at their street doors from six p.m. until nine a.m. next morning, “except when the moon shall shine and give light.” Rogues and sturdy beggars were forbidden to wander in the streets under pain of immediate arrest. Many other strict regulations were made for the health and sanitation of the burgesses, such as the scavenging and cleansing of the streets, the punishment of butchers, poulterers, and fishmongers who might sell unwholesome food, the strict segregation of persons infected with the plague. It is interesting to note that Sir William Cecil, the great Lord Burleigh, was the first High Steward of Westminster, and that the regulations above quoted were introduced by him.
These Acts remained in force for many centuries, although the powers entrusted to the High Steward fell into great disuse. But in the 10th George II. (1737) the Elizabethan Act was re-enacted and its powers enlarged. This was an Act for well-ordering and regulating a night watch in the city—“a matter of very great importance for the preservation of the persons and properties of the inhabitants, and very necessary to prevent fires, murders, burglaries, robberies, and other outrages and disorders.” It had been found that all such precautions were utterly neglected, and now the Common Council of the city was authorised to create a night watch and levy rates to pay it. The instructions for this night watch were issued through the constables of wards and precincts, the old constitutional authority, who were expected to see them observed. But the night-watchmen could act in the absence of the constable when keeping watch and ward, and were enjoined to apprehend all night-walkers, malefactors, rogues, vagabonds, and disorderly persons whom they found disturbing the public peace, or whom they suspected of evil designs.
Forty years later another Act was passed, 14th George III. (1777), which again enlarged and, in a measure, superseded the last-mentioned Act. It is much more detailed, prescribing the actual number of watchmen, their wages, and how they are to be “armed and accommodated,” which means that they were to carry rattles and staves and lanterns; it details minutely the watchman’s duty: how he is to proclaim the time of the night or morning “loudly and as audibly as he can”; he is to see that all doors are safe and well secured; he is to prevent “to the utmost of his power all murders, burglaries, robberies, and affraies; he is to apprehend all loose, idle, and disorderly persons, and deliver them to the constable or headborough of the night at the watch-houses.” It may be stated at once that this Act, however excellent in intention and carefully designed, greatly failed in execution. The watchmen often proved unworthy of their trust, and it is recorded by that eminent
police magistrate, Mr. Colquhoun, “that no small portion of those very men who are paid for protecting the public are not only instruments of oppression in many instances, by extorting money most unwarrantably, but are frequently accessories in aiding and abetting or concealing the commission of crimes which it is their duty to detect and suppress.” It is but fair to add that Sir John Fielding, who was examined in 1772 as to the numerous burglaries committed in the metropolis, stated that the watch was insufficient, “that their duty was too hard and their pay too small.”
Beyond question the state of the metropolis, and, indeed, of the country at large, at the end of the eighteenth century was deplorable. Robbery and theft from houses and on the highway had been reduced to a regular system. Opportunities were sought, intelligence obtained, plans prepared with the utmost skill and patience. Houses to be forced were previously reconnoitred, and watched for days and weeks in advance. The modern burglar could have taught the old depredator little that he did not know. Again, the gentleman of the road—the bold highwayman—used infinite pains in seeking out his prey. He had his spies in every quarter, among all classes, and the earliest certain intelligence of travellers worth stopping when carrying money and other valuables; he could count upon the cordial support of publicans and ostlers, who helped him in his attack and covered his retreat. The footpads who infested the streets were quite as daring; it was unsafe to cross open spaces, even in the heart of the town, after dark. These lesser thieves, so adroit in picking pockets by day, used actual violence by night. The country was continually ravaged by other depredators: horse and cattle stealers, thieves who laid hands upon every kind of agricultural produce. The farmers’ fields were constantly plundered of their crops, fruit and vegetables were carried off, even the ears of wheat were cut from their stalks in the open day. It was estimated that one and a half million bushels were annually stolen in this way. The thieves boldly took their plunder to the millers to be ground, and the millers, although aware that fields and barns had been recently robbed, did not dare object, lest their mills should be burnt over their heads.