purposes it has been constantly, effectually, and conveniently used; that it is scarce possible for the above business to be transacted without it, and the establishment of it is as essential to the Civil Power as any thing that has been mentioned. That the purchase of the said building and fitting it up, cost the Duke of Northumberland near 4000l.; and he added, that this building also might be kept in repair by the County rate, at an average of 30 or 40l. a year.
Sir John Fielding said, he thinks the acting part of the Magistrates in Westminster is in as good a state as it ever was, and more free from imputation of or neglect of duty; that it would be useful to have some persons of rank and condition in the Commission of the Peace for Westminster, who would attend at the Quarter Sessions, where they would become acquainted with the conduct of the Magistrates in general, give a dignity to the Commission, support the acting Magistrates on great occasions, and give encouragement to such of them as discharged their trust becoming the honour of the Commission, and discountenance those who did not; and he added, that for the last two or three years the Magistrates of Westminster have gone through very painful duty, and have been very diligent in it; and having been sensible of the necessity of their attendance, have mutually agreed to attend at any
time or place upon the least notice from their Chairman.
James Sayer, Esq. being again examined, admitted that the Magistracy at present is composed in general of persons of character, and that justice is administered with activity, diligence, and skill, but alledged that it has been otherwise formerly, and may be the case hereafter; and therefore, he was of opinion that a regulation in the Magistracy of Westminster is necessary. That there should be a qualification of Justices, that they should have a reward for acting, as the most part of their time will be devoted to the public service; that the fees to be taken by their clerks should be devoted to some public service; such as a vagrant hospital; that there should be certain Rotation-offices established by Law; that, as he apprehends, one such office might be sufficient if properly regulated; that the Rotation-office should do all the business except in emergent cases, and that the private office of Justice of the Peace should be abolished, because it sometimes happens, that a man committed for a notorious bailable offence is carried to another Justice, who bails him without knowing the enormity of his offence; and Sir John Fielding said, that in criminal offences, that nearly regard the publick, it is impracticable to use a Rotation-office as there are many things necessary to be kept secret; and, though the whole of the circumstances must be known to the
acting Magistrate, yet they cannot be known by a fresh Magistrate who attends in rotation; and he added, that the great number of brothels and irregular taverns carried on without licence from the Magistrates, are another great cause of robberies, burglaries, and other disorders, and also of neglect of watchmen and constables of the night in their respective duties. That these taverns are kept by persons of the most abandoned characters, such as bawds, thieves, receivers of stolen goods, and Marshalsea-court and Sheriffs officers who keep lock-up houses. The principal of these houses are situate in Covent-garden, about thirty in St. Mary-le-Strand, about twelve in St. Martin's, in the vicinity of Covent-garden, about twelve in St. Clement's, five or six at Charing-cross, and in Hedge-lane about twenty; that there are many more dispersed in different parts of Westminster, in Goodman's-fields, and Whitechapel, many of which are remarkably infamous, and are the cause of disorders of every kind, shelters for bullies to protect prostitutes, and for thieves, are a terror to the watchmen and peace-officers of the night, a nuisance to the inhabitants in the neighbourhood, and difficult to be suppressed by prosecution for want of evidence, and, in short, pregnant with every other mischief to Society; that any person desirous of gaining a livelihood by keeping a place of public entertainment, who is of good reputation, can obtain a licence with ease from the Magistrates to keep
such house, when a public-house in any neighbourhood happens to be vacant that has been licensed before; the Magistrates of Middlesex and Westminster having long held it to be a rule essential to the public good, rather to diminish than increase the number of public-houses. That persons of abandoned characters, by applying to the Commissioners of the Stamp-office, may obtain a licence for selling wine; by virtue of such licences it is that the taverns above described are kept open, for the aforesaid Commissioners are impowered by law to grant such licences to whom they shall think fit; that licences for selling spirituous liquors by retail are not granted by the Commissioners of Excise, unless the parties produce to them a licence under the hands and seals of two Justices of the Peace to sell ale. That Magistrates cannot by Law authorise any person to sell ale, without a certificate of such person's being of good fame and sober life and conversation, so that producing this licence to the Commissioners establishes their character with them, and takes away the necessity of any enquiry; for remedy of which, he proposed that Wine-licences should be placed by Law under the same restraint as the licences for selling spirituous liquors now are. This remedy, he apprehended, might probably reduce the Revenue of Wine-licences; if confined to the Bills of Mortality, it would in his opinion diminish it no more than 400l.; but
if extended to Portsmouth, Plymouth, Chatham, and other Dock-yards, it might lessen it 200l. more; he added, that he thinks it more necessary to correct the evil in those parts, as it has a direct tendency to corrupt and destroy the very vitals of the Constitution, the lives of the useful seamen, who by means of these houses become the objects of plunder as long as they have any money, and are induced to become robbers when they have none; and he informed the Committee that there is another great evil which is the cause of these disorders, namely, the immense number of common prostitutes, who, mostly from necessity, infest the streets of the City and Liberty of Westminster and parts adjacent, attended by common soldiers and other bullies to protect them from the civil power; these prostitutes, when they have secured the unwary customers, lead them to some of the aforesaid taverns, from whence they seldom escape without being robbed. The cause of this evil, as he apprehends, is the great difficulty, as the Law now stands, to punish those offenders, they being, as common prostitutes, scarce, if at all, within the description of any Statute now in being; and he added, that this subjects watchmen, round-house keepers, constables, and even the Magistrates themselves to prosecutions from low Attorneys; that the remedy in his opinion should be to declare, that persons walking or plying in the said streets for
lewd purposes after the watch is set, standing at the doors, or appearing at the windows of such taverns in an indecent manner for lewd purposes, shall be considered as vagrants, and punished as such. That as to the circumstance of street-beggars, it never came to his knowledge that they are under contribution to the beadles.
Mr. Rainsforth the High-constable being called, delivered in a paper called "The State of the Watch in Westminster;" which paper is hereunto annexed: and said, that all the watchmen being assembled at Guildhall on Saturday, March 24, to see the housebreakers, they appeared to him in general very infirm and unfit to execute that office.
Mr. Thomas Heath, a Burgess of the Duchy of Lancaster, being examined, said, that both the constables and watch within the said Duchy are very insufficient and defective."