Corruption of Morals.
To effect so valuable a purpose to the Community at large—to render the labour of the lower orders of the people more productive to themselves, and more beneficial to the Nation, recourse must be had to that superintending System of preventive Police which has been recommended generally by the Select Committee of the House of Commons, and which has been particularly detailed in the [18th Chapter] of this Treatise.
It is thus by giving Police its true and genuine character, and divesting it of those judicial functions which are the province of Magistrates alone, that a proper line will be drawn between Prevention, and those proceedings which lead to Punishment after an offence is actually committed. It is through this medium also that a change is to be effected in the Morals of the People, calculated to abridge the number of acts of delinquency, and to lead the perpetrators gradually into the walks of innocence, sobriety, and industry.—One of the first steps towards the attainment of these objects will be a Systematic attention to
Public-Houses.
In the [eleventh Chapter] of this Work, the progress of the corruption of Morals through this medium, from the Infant to the Adult, is brought under the review of the Reader; and it is considered as of the highest importance that general and apposite rules for the proper conduct of those houses, now the haunts of vice and profligacy, should be formed and recommended by a Board of Police to the Magistrates acting in all the Licensing Divisions of the Country. The benefits arising from an uniform and well-digested System might thus be extended throughout the Country: and an accurate and permanent administration of this branch of Police secured, thro' the medium of a general Center, where responsibility should rest, and from which the Licensing Magistrates should receive information, assistance, and support, in whatever related to the proper regulation of Alehouses, particularly in the Metropolis and the surrounding Counties.
Regular reports of the number of these Alehouses in each Licensing District in proportion to the extent of population; and details of the effects produced by an adherence to the general Rules which may be prescribed, would lead to new and useful suggestions which must ultimately give a favourable turn to the manners of the lower classes of the people, not only with respect to the diminution of Crimes, but also with regard to their domestic Comforts.—They would be rendered more independent of Parochial aid; and above all, the education and habits of the rising generation would be easily improved—Apprentices thus secured against the evil examples of which young minds are but too susceptible, would enter upon life with dispositions differently formed, and with that sort of bias which stimulates to industry and virtue, instead of idleness, profligacy, and vice.—In this, as in many other instances, the happiness and virtue of the individual are intimately combined with the best interests of the state.
Such prudent and discreet regulations would have a general tendency to make Public-houses what they were originally intended to be by the Legislature—Places of mere refreshment, and not haunts of idleness as at present.—The resource now afforded by them to actual Thieves, Burglars, Pickpockets, Highwaymen, Swindlers, Cheats, Gamblers, and Dealers in Counterfeit Money, would not only be cut off, but those who have been accustomed to resort to these Houses from the temporary want of employment:—such as persons broke down by misfortune and indiscretion—servants out of place, and strangers resorting to the Metropolis, would no longer be assailed by those temptations which contribute in so great a degree to recruit the gangs of Criminal Depredators. Nothing but a well-regulated Police, under a proper System of Controul, can remedy those evils arising from Public-houses, and it is earnestly to be hoped, that the Functions proposed to be exercised by the Central Board of Police would effect this valuable purpose.
Public Gardens.
The corruption of Morals has been in a considerable degree promoted, not only by the assemblage of lewd and debauched company who have of late years crowded to Public Gardens; but also by the unrestrained Licence which has been permitted in these places of amusement.—This circumstance has not only called upon the Magistrates to refuse the renewal of the Licenses to several of the Occupiers, Lessees, and Proprietors, but it has precluded the more decent and respectable part of the Public in the middle walks of life, from what might, under proper regulations, be considered as an innocent and a desirable recreation for the Inhabitants of an overgrown Metropolis.—Most of the remaining Public Gardens have of late years fallen into disrepute, to the injury of the Proprietors, who, under the present deficient System of Police, have no means of protecting themselves against the consequences of those irregularities which operate powerfully in diminishing the number of visitors, upon which their emolument depends.
While profligate and debauched characters of both Sexes find not only an easy access to these places of amusement, but also have permission to insult Public Morals, by doing violence to the rules of decency and decorum; it is evident that they must gradually cease to be desirable as a recreation to the virtuous part of the Community; and there appears to be no remedy but by means of Police regulations, prescribing proper rules, with Officers appointed by the Central Board, for the purpose of carrying them into effect.[191] Indeed, if such places of resort were licensed only by the proposed Central Board, it might be productive of the greatest advantages; and they might be a fair Source of Revenue for Police purposes, to a certain moderate extent.