HAVING in the preceding Chapters endeavoured to bring under the review of the Reader, not only those prominent causes which have occasioned that great increase of Public Wrongs, which every good man must deplore, but also the various classes of delinquents which compose the melancholy catalogue of human depravity; having also stated such observations and facts, relative to detection, trials, and punishments, as seemed to be necessary for the purpose of elucidating a subject of great importance to be understood; it remains now to explain and develope the System hitherto established for the purpose of protecting the Public against those enormities; and from which is to be expected that energy, and those exertions, which have been shewn to be so indispensably necessary, for the suppression and prevention of crimes.
The Police of this great Metropolis is undoubtedly a System highly interesting to be understood, although heretofore (as far as the Author has had access to know) it has never been, at any period, fully explained through the medium of the press;—and hence it is, that a vast proportion of those who reside in the Capital, as well as the multitude of strangers who resort to it, have no accurate idea of the principles of organization, which move so complicated a machine.
It has been already stated in a [preceding Chapter], that twenty-six Magistrates, forming that respectable body, comprehending the Lord-Mayor and Aldermen,[154] sit in rotation every forenoon, at the Mansion-house, and at Guildhall, and take cognizance of all matters of Police within the ancient jurisdiction of the City of London; while twenty-six established Magistrates appointed for every other part of the Metropolis,[155] including the River Police, having particular offices or courts of justice assigned them at convenient distances in Westminster, Middlesex, and Surry, sit every day (Sunday excepted) both in the morning and evening, for the purpose of executing all the multifarious duties, connected with the office of a Justice of the Peace, which unavoidably occur in large societies.[156]
This Institution of established Justices (except with regard to the three Magistrates at Bow-street, and the Justices at the Marine Police Office,) was suggested to the Legislature, in consequence of the pressure felt by the Public, from the want of some regular and properly-constituted Tribunals for the distribution of justice; where the System should be uniform; and where the purity of the Magistrates, and their regular attendance, might insure to the People, the adjustment of their differences, at the least possible expence; and the assistance of gratuitous advice in every difficulty; as well as official aid, in all cases within the sphere of the Magistrates in their respective districts.
The duty of these established Magistrates, (in conjunction with other Justices of the Peace, who find it convenient to give their assistance,) extends also to several important judicial proceedings; where, in a great variety of instances, they are empowered and required to hear and determine, in a summary way; particularly in cases relative to the customs, excise, and stamps—the game laws—hawkers and pedlars—pawn-brokers—friendly societies—highways—hackney coaches, carts, and other carriages—Quakers and others refusing to pay tythes—appeals of defaulters in parochial rates—misdemeanors committed by persons unlawfully pawning property not their own—bakers for short weight, &c.—journeymen leaving their services in different trades—labourers not complying with their agreements—disorderly apprentices—alehouse keepers keeping disorderly houses—nuisances by different Acts of Parliament—acts of vagrancy by fraudulent lottery insurers—fortune-tellers; or persons of evil fame found in avenues to public places, with an intent to rob—As well as a multitude of other offences, in which Justices have power to proceed to conviction and punishment, either by fine or imprisonment.
The duty of the Magistrates also extends to a vast number of other objects, such as licencing Public Houses, and establishing Rules and Orders for Publicans,[157] watching over the conduct of Publicans—swearing in, charging and instructing parochial constables and headboroughs from year to year, with regard to their duty—issuing warrants for privy searches; and in considering the cases of persons charged with being disorderly persons, or rogues and vagabonds, liable to be punished under the Act of the 17th of George II. cap. 5, and subsequent acts of Parliament—in making orders to Parish Officers, Beadles, and Constables, in a variety of cases—in Parish Removals—in billeting soldiers—in considering the cases of poor persons applying for assistance, or admission to workhouses—in granting certificates and orders to the wives of persons serving in the Militia, and also in attesting recruits, for the Army—in attending the General and Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and in visiting the Workhouses, Bride-wells, and Prisons.[158]
In addition to these various duties, many criminal cases occur in the course of a year, which are examined for the purpose, if necessary, of being sent to superior tribunals for trials:—such as charges of Treason, Murder, Coining, and uttering Base Money, Arson, Manslaughter, Forgery, Burglary, Larceny, Sedition, Felonies of various descriptions, Conspiracies, Frauds, Riots, Assaults, and Misdemeanors of different kinds:—all which unavoidably impose upon every official Magistrate, a weight of business requiring great exertion, and an unremitting attention to the Public Interest, in the due execution of this very important Trust.
When the Police System was first established in the year 1792, the public mind became impressed with an idea that the chief, if not the only, object of the institution was to prevent Robberies, Burglaries, and other atrocious Offences; and that the suppression of those crimes, which bore hardest upon Society, and were most dreaded by the Public at large, was to be the result. These expectations shewed, that neither the powers nor authorities granted by the Act of Parliament, nor the other duties imposed upon the Magistracy of the Police, were understood. For this Statute (useful as it certainly is in a very high degree in many other respects,) does not contain even a single regulation applicable to the prevention of crimes; except that which relates to the apprehension of suspected characters, found in the avenues to public places, with intent to commit felony; who are liable to be punished as rogues and vagabonds,—and even this provision does not extend to the city of London.