Places of Public Amusement licensed by Magistrates.
The general concourse of loose and immoral characters of both Sexes who frequent the Summer Exhibitions, and the irregularities which are unavoidable under such circumstances, tend in no small degree to the corruption of Morals; and while it is admitted that such amusements are necessary in great Communities, it is of the utmost importance that they should not only be regulated by the Police, with respect to the nature of the Spectacle or Exhibition, so as clearly to ascertain that it has no immoral tendency[192], but also that the utmost decorum should be preserved by means of proper Officers acting under the proposed Central Board.—This becomes the more important, as a large proportion of the frequenters of these places of amusement are of the middle and inferior ranks of life, and many of them very young and susceptible of loose impressions, which renders it highly necessary that authority should be vested only in the responsible Board of Police, to grant or to refuse Licenses: to which a moderate Revenue might be attached to defray the expence of a regulating System.
The Theatres.
Without entering upon a discussion how far many of the Theatrical Exhibitions which are brought forward tend to improve, or to injure the Morals of the People—it is, at least, evident that the unrestrained License which is permitted to Males and Females in the walks of Prostitution in the Lobbies, and even in the Boxes of the Playhouses, and the indecent behaviour and unbecoming language which is frequently uttered in the view and hearing of the respectable part of the Community who frequent these places of resort, with the younger branches of their families, must tend in no inconsiderable degree to the corruption of Morals.[193] It is, therefore, suggested that a Police, applicable to this object, should be formed by the proposed Central Board; and also for the purpose of effectually securing the Public against the attacks and depredations of the hordes of Pickpockets who infest the avenues of the Theatres, and have long been a reproach to the Police of the Metropolis.
Immoral and Indecent Publications, and Prints.
Nothing can exhibit in a stronger point of view the deficiency of the Police System than the number of immoral Books which are published and circulated, and the indecent Prints which are exhibited and sold in the various streets of the Metropolis, all tending in no inconsiderable degree to the corruption of Morals.—Let it once become a part of the Functions of the proposed Board of Police to take cognizance of these abuses, and they will soon cease to convey that poison to young minds, which ultimately leads to dissolute manners and loose conduct in the general intercourse of life.
Ballad-Singers.
Since it has never been possible, under the existing Laws, to suppress the herd of Ballad-Singers which are to be found in such multitudes in every part of the Metropolis, and, indeed, in all the large Towns in the Kingdom: and which at present are under the controul of a very feeble Police, which does not, and indeed cannot, restrain effectually the immoral, and often seditious tendency of the Songs sung to the listening multitude—Why might not this lowest cast of amusement be turned to good purposes, tending to counteract and prevent the corruption of Morals, which are at present generated through this medium? Under a responsible Board of Police such an object is certainly attainable[194] and the present state of things points out the policy and necessity of carrying it into effect.
Female Seduction.
In contemplating the excessive evils, and the dreadful consequences which result from Female Seduction, whether it applies to married or single women,[195] it would seem to be a matter of astonishment that no punishment has been inflicted by the criminal Law, by which the destroyers of innocence, and of the peace of families, could be held up as public examples of infamy.—A corporal punishment, accompanied with circumstances of obloquy and disgrace, is certainly not too severe where a delinquent plunges a Female (whether married or single) into a situation, in most instances, worse than death itself; since when abandoned by her Seducer, she is not only exposed to the reproach and contumely of the World, but subjected to herd with the phalanx of Prostitutes who contribute so much to the corruption of Morals, and where the miserable victim may be said to die, perhaps, a thousand deaths before her actual dissolution.—Surely an offence producing such dreadful consequences should, as a mean of prevention, be marked not only as an object of Criminal Punishment, but of pecuniary retribution to the injured party.—Were such a law in force, the numerous instances of Female Seduction would be greatly diminished; while the injured woman, under such unhappy circumstances, might, after the Conviction of a Jury, have a fair prospect of being again restored to her friends, and, perhaps, to Society.