‘Taking one consideration with another,’
The Policemen’s work was excellently done.
Other difficulties he had to try him during his term of office were an outbreak of burglaries, the muzzling of dogs, and the Whitechapel murders, all of which irritated the public and caused the police to be abused. He was not the man to stand by and hear his force unjustly criticised without defending it, and he contributed an article to ‘Murray’s Magazine’ on the subject.
In the spring of 1888 he did not think the Home Secretary, Mr. Matthews, gave him sufficient support, but rather endeavoured to minimise his authority as head of the force, and he tendered his resignation. This was not accepted, and he continued in his post until the autumn, when he decided that he could no longer hold the appointment with due regard to the good of the force and his own credit.
The resignation was fully debated in the House of Commons on 14th November 1888, when the Home Secretary said:
‘He was glad to have the opportunity furnished by what fell from the Hon. Member for the Horsham Division, to do the fullest justice to Sir Charles Warren. Sir Charles Warren was a man not only of the highest character, but of great ability. During his tenure of the office he had displayed the most indefatigable activity in every detail of the organisation and administration of the force. By his vigour and firmness he had restored that confidence in the police which had been shaken—he believed with the right hon. gentleman, unjustly shaken—after the regrettable incident of 1886.... Sir Charles Warren had shown conspicuous skill and firmness in putting an end to disorder in the metropolis, and for that he deserved the highest praise.’
Again there appeared a cartoon in ‘Punch’ entitled ‘Extremes Meet,’ in which Sir Charles Warren and his predecessor were depicted exchanging views:
Sir Edmund: My dear Warren, you did too much.
Sir Charles: And you, my dear Henderson, did too little.
Mr. Punch: H’m! Sorry for the new man.
It was during his police work that he attended the meeting of the British Association at Manchester in 1887 as President of the Geographical Section and gave a very practical and useful opening address.