[57] Sugar and Rum imported into the Port of London, from the 25th of March 1798 to the 25th of March 1799:—
| Islands. | Ships. | Casks, Sugar. | Casks, Rum. |
| Jamaica | 151 | 64,108 | 17,279 |
| Antigua | 14 | 5,258 | 715 |
| St. Kitt's | 14 | 6,137 | 755 |
| Barbadoes | 17 | 7,961 | 65 |
| Granadoes | 18 | 6,806 | 443 |
| Mountserat | 6 | 2,742 | 568 |
| Nevis | 4 | 1,867 | 418 |
| Dominica | 14 | 4,152 | 400 |
| St. Vincent | 26 | 10,147 | 908 |
| Tortola | 3 | 789 | 109 |
| Sundry Places, including captured Islands, &c. | 106 | 32,739 | 2,271 |
| 373 | 142,760 | 23,931 |
[58] Independent of the excessive pillage by the labourers in the Warehouses, which has been rendered but too evident from the detections of Offenders since the establishment of the Marine Police, the samples alone, which on an average are said to amount to 12lb. per hhd. (instead of 1½lb. per hhd. in conformity to the Regulations of the West India Merchants, of the 12th of June 1789,) make a net aggregate of 1,470,000 pounds of sugar, which at 10d. per pound amounts to 61,250l. a year!
[59] See the "Treatise on the Commerce and Police of the River Thames," for a particular account of these classes.
[60] For the purpose of defraying the expence of prosecutions for criminal offences upon the River Thames, and to raise a fund for suborning evidence, and employing counsel for higher crimes, and of paying the penalties under the Act of the 2d Geo. III. cap. 28. commonly called the Bumboat Act; there existed a club composed of River Plunderers, and Lumpers, Coopers, Watermen, and Receivers, (denominated Light-Horsemen, Heavy-Horsemen, and Copes,) from the funds of which the Law expences and the penalties incurred by members of the fraternity were paid. By these iniquitous means not a few notorious offenders escaped justice, while those who were convicted of penalties for misdemeanors escaped the punishment of imprisonment, and being thus screened from justice the culprits (previous to the establishment of the Marine Police System) returned to their evil practices without the least apprehension of any other inconvenience than the payment of a fine of 40s. defrayed by the Club. The New System, however, affording means of detection in the ships where the offences were committed: what were formerly misdemeanors are now treated as larcenies, which has operated most powerfully in breaking up this atrocious confederacy, and in defeating all the nefarious designs of the criminal delinquents of which it was formed, some of whom, although apparently common labourers, resided in handsome houses furnished in a very superior style for the rank in life of the occupiers.
As a proof, among many others, of the enormous extent of the River Plunder, the convictions for misdemeanors under the Act of the 2d Geo. III. cap. 28. from August 1792 to August 1799, exceeded two thousand two hundred; of which number about 2000 culprits paid the penalty; partly from their own resources, but chiefly, it is believed, from the funds of the club, amounting in all to about 4000l. in the course of seven years.
[61] A Shipmaster in the trade a few months since was compelled to pay 40l. for deficient sugars plundered by Lumpers and others, who assisted in lading his vessel, notwithstanding his utmost personal vigilance and attention while the sugars were taking on board. A single Marine Police Officer would have prevented this. The effect of their power in overawing delinquents, from the nature of the system and the discipline peculiar to the institution, is not to be conceived.
[62] For a particular account of this Institution, see the "Treatise on the Commerce and Police of the River Thames," already alluded to.
[63] With respect to the advantages which have resulted in the aggregate, to the West India Planters and Merchants, from this New Institution, it is impossible to form any decided opinion; but estimating the savings, on an average, at 28lbs. of sugar per hhd. (which is only one half of what the Committee of West India Merchants, in their Report to a General Meeting in 1798, supposed the plunderage might have been formerly) it appears, upon this data, that the gain to the Planters, Merchants, and the Revenue, on a very reduced estimate as to the actual importation may be thus stated.—
| Saving to the Planters. | Saving to the Revenue. | Total. | |
| On 115,000 casks of sugar, at 28lbs. per cask | £.97,012 | £.25,150 | £.122,162 |
| 15,000 casks of rum, at three gallons each | 9,000 | 15,000 | 24,000 |
| Coffee, pimento, and other articles, suppose | 5,000 | 10,000 | 15,000 |
| Totals | £.111,012 | £.50,150 | £.161,162 |