Considering the urgency of the matter, the attitude assumed by the Government then in office seems altogether incomprehensible. The political horizon was assuredly dark enough to warn the most heedless; and the signal manner in which the military had failed to keep order during the Gordon Riots conclusively demonstrated how unreliable was that arm for the purposes of peace maintenance. Yet the only steps taken by the responsible authorities were to embody the Militia, and to pass an ill-considered measure called "The Alien Act,"[157] which required that all foreigners resident in England (unless duly naturalized), should provide themselves with passports, or forthwith leave the country.
That we survived the crisis without having to face a similar conflagration was hardly due to the foresight of our rulers, who, though well aware that our preventive appliances were rusty and out-of-date, neglected to replace them by others, or even to modernize them.
CHAPTER IX
PAROCHIAL POLICE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Before proceeding to a narration of the successive steps that culminated in the radical reorganization authorized in 1829, it is necessary to describe the nature and extent of the various police establishments as they existed at the close of the eighteenth century.
Exclusive of Special Constables, who, though legally available, were but rarely if ever employed, there were, at this time, five distinct classes of Peace Officers:
| (i.) | Parochial Constables, elected annually in Parish or Township and serving gratuitously. |
| (ii.) | Their Substitutes or Deputies serving for a wage voluntarily paid by the Principals. |
| (iii.) | Salaried Bow Street Officers, and Patrols expressly charged with the suppression of highwaymen and footpads. |
| (iv.) | Stipendiary Police Constables attached to the Public Offices established under "The Middlesex Justices Act." |
| (v.) | Stipendiary Water-Police attached to the Thames Office, as established by Act of Parliament in 1798. |
It will be noticed that of these five classes, numbers i. and ii. were common to the whole of England, whilst numbers iii. iv. and v. were peculiar to London and its immediate neighbourhood, but, for our present purpose, it will be more convenient to consider the provincial constabulary as altogether distinct from the various Metropolitan Police bodies. Theoretically and constitutionally, there should have been little or no difference between the policing of London and that of any rural district, but the stage of development reached in the Metropolis already foreshadowed the impending changes, whilst in the country the standard of police had as yet deviated hardly at all from the mediæval pattern.