[177] 2 Geo. iv. and 1 Will. iv. c. 70.
[178] "Mysteries of Police and Crime," Griffiths, p. 66.
[179] A River Police Office, with three Justices assigned to it, was authorised by 39 and 40 Geo. iii. c. 88.
[180] None of this applies to the "City of London" proper, which still retains its independent position, as far as its police is concerned.
[181] 10 Geo. iv. c. 44.
[182] 10 Geo. iv. c. 45.
[183] The official designation of the Chiefs of the Metropolitan Police was changed from "Justice" to "Commissioner" in the year 1839. The change was one of title only, and the Police commissioners were still Justices of the Peace by virtue of their office. To prevent confusion the word "Commissioner" is henceforward employed in this book.
[184] "Sir Robert Peel," by C. S. Parker.
[185] Bentham defines the "Lettre de Cachet" as "an order to punish, without any proof, for a fact against which there is no law."—(Principles of Penal Law, chap. xxi. part 3).
[186] In the year 1820 the Spanish government suppressed some of the leading newspapers for daring to adversely criticise the police of Madrid, and at the same time it was currently believed in England that Italian police officials employed the torture to procure evidence against persons suspected of political offences.