The unparalleled Extent and Opulence of the Metropolis, manifested in the number of streets, lanes, alleys, courts, and squares, estimated at above 8000;—containing above 4000 Churches and Places for religious Worship,—more than 400 Seminaries of Education;—several Institutions for promoting Religion and Morality;—11 Societies for promoting Learning, and the useful and the fine Arts;—a great number of charitable Asylums for the indigent and forlorn;—Hospitals and Dispensaries for the lame, sick, and diseased;—and above 1700 Institutions of various other kinds for Charitable and Humane Purposes.—A detail of the Courts of Law, and other Establishments connected with the distribution of Justice.—The public Prisons in the Metropolis.—A View of the number of Persons employed in the different departments of the Law, estimated in all at about 7000.—Suggestions for improving the civil Jurisprudence in the Metropolis, so far as relates to the recovery of small Debts.—The Evils arising from the present System, exemplified in the multiplicity of actions for trivial sums in the course of a year; the enormous expence, and the ill effects of the severity of the punishment in such cases; debasing the mind, and proving the destruction of many families, in their morals; and injuring the State.—The necessity of an Alteration of the System, farther enforced by the propriety of relieving the supreme Judges from a weight of labour unreasonable in the vast increase of business, which the extensive and growing intercourse of Commerce occasions.—The same Observations extended to the great Officers of State; and the necessity and utility of a division of labour, in proportion to the increase of public duty, explained; as a means of preventing inconveniences.—A view of the Municipal Regulations which have been established in the Metropolis for the accommodation and convenience of the inhabitants; grounded on various acts of the Legislature, passed at different periods, during the last and the present century.—Each district of the Metropolis a separate Municipality; where the power of assessing the inhabitants for the purposes of paving, watching, lighting, cleansing, and removing nuisances, is placed in the hands of Trustees, under a great number of local acts of Parliament.—These regulations mostly founded on Laws made in the last and in the present Reign.—The principal public acts detailed, viz:—The General Act of the 2d William and Mary, cap. 8, for paving the Metropolis;—the 10th Geo. II. cap. 22, for watching the City of London; 11th Geo. III. cap. 29, for removing signs, and establishing a complete System of Municipal Police.—The Acts relative to Westminster and Southwark for similar purposes.—The Statutes relative to Common Sewers detailed; their origin, and the great advantages resulting from them.—The Laws relative to Hackney Coaches and Chairs—also to Carts and other Carriages.—The Acts relative to Watermen on the Thames.—The Law for restraining bullock-hunting. And finally, the Regulations by the 14th Geo. III. cap. 78, relative to the Mode of building Houses, and the Rules laid down for extinguishing Fires. Concluding Observations, on the advantages which would result to the Metropolis at large from these numerous Acts of Parliament being rendered uniform, and conformable to the excellent Regulations established for the City of London.—The advantages of simplifying the System.—The burden upon the Inhabitants equal to one million a year for the expence of Municipal Police.—Suggestions for improving the System and reducing this expence.—Concluding Reflections.—The present epoch, more than any other, presses for arrangements calculated to amend the Morals of the People, by improving the Laws of the Country.
IT cannot fail to prove an interesting inquiry, not only to the inhabitants of the Metropolis, but also to Strangers, by what means that department of its œconomy and government, which may be denominated Municipal Police, is regulated; so as to convey the comforts, and procure the various accommodations and conveniences which, with some few exceptions, are felt to exist in every part of the Capital and its environs.
When it is known that this great City, (unparalleled, as will be hereafter shewn, in extent and opulence, through the whole habitable Globe,) comprehends, besides London, Westminster, and Southwark, no less than forty-five Villages, now exceedingly inlarged, independent of a vast accession of buildings upon the open fields in the vicinity; it becomes less a matter of surprize, to learn, that it extends to nearly eight miles in length,—is three miles at least in breadth, and not less than twenty-six in circumference; containing above eight thousand streets, lanes, alleys, and courts, and sixty-five different Squares; in which are more than one hundred and sixty thousand houses, warehouses, and other buildings; besides Churches and Chapels for religious worship, of which the following enumeration is imagined not to be very distant from truth:—
For Religious Instruction.
| Of the Established Religion. | 1 | Cathedral, dedicated to St. Paul. |
| 1 | Abbey Church of St. Peter, Westminster. | |
| 120 | Parish Churches. | |
| 120 | Chapels, and Chapels of Ease. | |
| 242 | ||
| Meeting-houses for Dissenters. | 150 | Consisting of Chapels for MethodistNonconformists, Presbyterians,Independents, Anabaptists,Quakers, and English RomanCatholicks. |
| Chapels and Meeting-houses for Foreigners. | 30 | Consisting of Chapels for French,German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish,and Helvetic Protestants,for Foreign Roman Catholics,and those of the Russian orGreek Church. |
| Synagogues | 6 | for the Jewish Religion. |
| Total about | 428 | Places of Public Worship. |
The number of Inhabitants of this great Metropolis, occupying these various houses and buildings, may, under all circumstances, be rationally estimated at one million at least; for whose accommodation, convenience, and security, the following Institutions have been formed, namely,—1st. For Education;—2d. For promoting good Morals;—3d. For useful and fine Arts;—4th. For objects of Charity and Humanity;—5th. For distributing Justice;—and 6th. For punishing Offenders.