Patrick Colquhoun

The prominent Causes of the increase of Crimes reviewed and considered:—Imputable in the first instance to deficient Laws and an ill-regulated Police:—To the unfortunate habits of the lower orders of the People in feeding their families in Ale-houses.—To the bad and immoral Education of Apprentices.—To the number of individuals broke down by misfortunes arising from want of Industry.—To idle and profligate Menial Servants out of place.—To the deplorable state of the lower orders of the Jews of the Dutch and German Synagogue.—To the depraved morals of Aquatic Labourers.—To the Dealers in old Metals—Second-hand Ships' Stores—Rags—Old Furniture—Old Building Materials—Old Apparel: and Cart-keepers for removing these articles.—To disreputable Pawnbrokers.—And finally to ill-regulated Public-houses, and to the Superabundance of these receptacles of idleness and vice.—Concluding Reflections on the evils to the State and the Individual, which arise from the excesses of the Labouring People.

IN contemplating the mass of turpitude which is developed in the preceding Chapters, and which exhibit afflicted Society, groaning under a pressure of evils and Public wrongs, which, but for the different views which have been taken of the subject, could not have been conceived to exist; it may be truly affirmed in the first instance, that much is to be imputed to deficient and ill-executed Laws, arising chiefly from the want of a proper System of Police.

Offences of every description have their origin in the vicious and immoral habits of the people, and in the facilities which the state of manners and society, particularly in vulgar life, afford in generating vicious and bad habits.

In tracing the progress of those habits which are peculiar to the lower orders of the Community in this great Metropolis, from infancy to the adult state, the cause will be at once discovered, why that almost universal profligacy prevails, which, by being productive of so much evil to the unfortunate Individuals as well as the Community at large, cannot be sufficiently deplored.

Before a child is perhaps able to lisp a sentence, it is carried by its ill-fated mother to the tap-room of an ale-house;[83] in which are assembled multitudes of low company, many of whom have been perhaps reared in the same manner. The vilest and most profane and polluted language, accompanied by oaths and imprecations, is uttered in these haunts of idleness and dissipation.—Children follow their parents during their progress to maturity, and are almost the constant witnesses of their besotted courses.—Reduced, from their unfortunate habits, to the necessity of occupying a miserable half furnished lodging from week to week, there is no comfort at home.—No knowledge of frugal cookery exists, by which a nourishing and palatable meal can be provided, and frequently a sufficiency of fuel for that purpose is not accessible.—A succedaneum is found in the ale-house at three times the expence.—A common fire is provided for the guests, calculated to convey that warmth which could not be obtained at home; and food[84] and liquor is furnished at an expence which too seldom leaves any part of the weekly earning for cloathing, and none at all for education.—In this manner is a large proportion of what may be denominated the lowest classes of the people reared in the Metropolis;[85] and the result is, that while many of the adults are lost to the state by premature death, from sottishness and irregularity, not a few of their offspring are never raised to manhood: But this is not all:—when by means of strong constitutions, they survive the shocks which nature has sustained in its progress to maturity under the influence of habits so exceedingly depraved, they are restrained by no principle of morality or religion,[86] (for they know nothing of either,) and only wait for opportunities, to plunge into every excess and every crime.

Profligate and depraved as the lower orders of the People appear to have been for several centuries in this great Metropolis, it would seem that the practice of married females resorting to Public-houses, and mixing generally in tap-rooms with the idle and dissolute, is an evil habit of a very modern date; for the period is not even too remote to be recollected, since it was considered as disgraceful for Females who pretended to any degree of modesty to be seen in a Public-house.—It is however now to be lamented that the obloquy of thus exposing themselves has as little influence, as the rude and obscene language they uniformly hear uttered.

Another cause of the increase of crimes, may be traced to the bad and immoral education of Apprentices to Mechanical employments.

Although many of their Masters may not be, and certainly are not, composed of the class whose manners have just been depicted, yet their habits lead them too generally to Public-houses, where no inconsiderable proportion of their earnings are expended;—where low gaming is introduced, producing ruin and distress to many families even among the inferior ranks, who might otherwise have moved through life with credit and reputation.

The force of such an example on young minds is obvious.—No sooner does an apprentice advance towards the last year of his time than he thinks it incumbent upon him to follow the example of his master, by learning to smoke.—This accomplishment acquired (according to his conception), he is a fit associate for those who frequent Public-houses. He resorts at first to those of a lower class, to avoid his master or his relations.—There he meets with depraved company; while he conceives he is following only the example of those whose manners and habits he has been taught, by example, to imitate, he is insensibly ensnared.—Having arrived at the age of puberty, and meeting profligate females in those haunts of idleness, his passions become inflamed.—The force of evil example overpowers him.—He too becomes depraved.—Money must be procured to administer to the new wants which are generated by depravity.—Aided by the facilities held out by Old Iron Shops, he pilfers from his master to supply those wants, or associates himself with Thieves, whose acquaintance he made in progress of his seduction.[87]

Under the circumstances thus stated, where so many temptations assail the young and inexperienced, the transition from innocence to guilt is easy to be conceived.—And in a Metropolis where there are seldom fewer than 150,000 apprentices bound to mechanical employments, the crimes which spring from this source must be very extensive.—That there are, however, many good and virtuous young men among the class of apprentices, who, from a better education, or being under the control of reputable masters, and attentive parents, escape the snare, or resist these temptations, is certain; and fortunate too for the best interests of Society. It is to be lamented, however, that the major part, and particularly parish apprentices, have not always these advantages; and hence it is that so many become disorderly, and require the interference of legal authority and punishment for the purpose of compelling obedience and good conduct.[88]

Another cause of the increase of crimes, arises from the number of individuals in various occupations among the lower and middling ranks of life, (and which must naturally be expected in a large Metropolis) who, from their own mismanagement and want of industry, or attention to their business, are suddenly broke down, and in some degree excluded from the regular intercourse with Society. Unable to find employment, from want of character, or want of friends, with constant demands upon them for the means of subsistence to themselves and families, they resort to Public-houses, under the influence of despondency, or to kill time which hangs heavy upon them.

In these haunts of depravity they meet persons who perhaps have been in the like circumstances; but who have resorted to illegal Lottery Insurances, and other swindling devices for subsistence, under whose banners they inlist; and thus strengthen the phalanx of low gamblers, swindlers, and cheats, whose various pursuits have been developed in this Work.—From one vice to another the transition is easy when the mind becomes depraved, and the pursuits which are ultimately followed, depend in a considerable degree on the persons with whom this class of men associate.—If at the low gaming-houses, to which from idle habits they are led to resort, they meet with highwaymen and footpads, they are easily persuaded to become associates in their iniquitous pursuits; or if in the wide range of their acquaintance, by living chiefly in Public-houses, they become acquainted with venders of base money, they enter with equal facility into their views, as a means of supplying their pecuniary wants.

In cases where they have been bred to ingenious mechanical employments, they embrace, wherever a proper opportunity offers, such propositions as may be made them, to become forgers of Bank Bills and Notes, and Coiners of Counterfeit Money.

Such is the lamentable progress of vice in the human mind, that by degrees it embraces eagerly what could not have been indured at the commencement of the career.

Another cause of the increase of Crimes in the Metropolis and its environs, may be traced to the situation of idle and profligate menial servants out of place, and destitute of the means of obtaining situations from the loss of character.—These too, seek for resources in Public-houses, where they soon become the associates of Thieves, Pickpockets, Burglars, and Highwaymen; and it is believed to be chiefly from this class, particularly Riding Footmen, and Postillions, that the corps of Highway Robbers is constantly recruited.—While others less skilled in horsemanship become Footpads, Burglars, and Pickpockets.

With the major part of this class the transition is easy—depravity had previously taken hold of their minds—every other resource has failed them, and to this they resort, as soon as they can find means, to enlist in any gang that will receive them, where, to those who confine themselves chiefly to burglaries, their knowledge of the interior of the houses of their former masters, and their probable acquaintance with some of the female servants, will be a considerable recommendation, and even a ground of seduction.

Another Cause, and no inconsiderable one, of the progress and increase of crimes may be developed, by contemplating the deplorable state and condition of the lower order of the Jews in the Metropolis, who are of the Society of the Dutch Synagogue.[89]—Totally without education, and very seldom trained to any trade or occupation by which they can earn their livelihood by manual labour:—their youths excluded from becoming apprentices, and their females from hiring themselves generally as servants, on account of the superstitious adherence to the mere ceremonial of their persuasion, as it respects meat not killed by Jews, nothing can exceed their melancholy condition, both with regard to themselves and Society. Thus excluded from these resources, which other classes of the Community possess, they seem to have no alternative but to resort to those tricks and devices, which ingenuity suggests, to enable persons without an honest means of subsistence to live in idleness.

The habits they thus acquire are the most mischievous and noxious to the Community that can be conceived.—Having connexions wherever the Dock-yards are situated, as well as in several other large trading towns in the Kingdom, they become in many respects the medium through which stolen goods are conveyed to and from the Metropolis; and as their existence depends on this nefarious traffick, they keep alive a System of Fraud and Depredation which, perhaps, is generated in a greater degree by their peculiar situation in respect to Society, than by any actual disposition on their parts to pursue these nefarious practices.

Even the system of supporting the poor of this Community, by lending them small sums of money by which they may support themselves by a species of petty traffick, contributes in no small degree to the commission of crimes; since in order to render it productive to an extent equal to the wants of families who do not acquire any material aid by manual labour, they are induced to resort to unlawful means by dealing in stolen goods and in counterfeit money, by which they become public nuisances in the Countries where they receive an asylum.

As there appears in reality to be no distinction made by the rational part of the Jewish persuasion, between the Portuguese and the Dutch Synagogues, it is earnestly to be hoped that the opulent and respectable of the former Community will lend a helping hand in devising some means of rescuing this part of the Nation of the Jews who reside in England, from the reproach, which it is to be feared, has been too justly cast upon them. Policy dictates the measure, while humanity ardently pleads for it.—In so good a work every man of feeling, be his religious persuasion what it may, will join in promoting and carrying into effect a measure so beneficial to the Community at large, by devising some means to render their labour productive; since it is clear to demonstration that to the idle habits of this numerous class of people, is to be ascribed a considerable proportion of the petty crimes, as well as some of the more atrocious offences by which the Metropolis and the Country is afflicted.

Another cause of the increase and multiplication of crimes has arisen from the depraved morals of the Aquatic labourers and others, employed on the wharfs and quays, and in ships, vessels, and craft, upon the River Thames; and from the want, until lately, of an appropriate Preventive System to check these depredations.

The analogy between actual pillage and smuggling in the conception of nautical labourers, and the uncontrolled habit of plunder which too long existed, trained up myriads of delinquents who affixed in their minds no degree of moral turpitude to the offence; which of course extended itself both with respect to Commercial and Public Property beyond all bounds, until a remedy was imperiously called for, and at length applied by means of an experimental System of Police applicable to that object.

Another cause, and certainly none of the least, which has tended to facilitate the commission of crimes, has been the want of a proper control over persons of loose conduct and dishonest habits, who have opened shops for the purchase and sale of Old iron, and other metals—Old stores—Rags—Old furniture—Old building materials, and second-hand wearing apparel, and other goods;—and also cart-keepers for the collection and removal of these articles from place to place.

The easy and concealed mode of disposing of pilfered articles, through the medium of these receptacles, has tended more to the corruption of the morals of youth, and to the multiplication of crimes, than it is possible to conceive; nor has the mode of Licensing Pawnbrokers, without a due regard to character and a more effectual control, been in many respects less mischievous to the Community.—To the reputable part of this class of dealers it is degrading and even cruel that the reproach and stigma, arising from the nefarious practices of the fraudulent, should unavoidably in the public mind, attach upon those that are blameless, and fair in their dealings.—While the law admits of no power of discrimination, and no means of excluding improper characters exist, the evil must continue; and while it remains on the present footing, it must also be considered as no inconsiderable medium, by which both petty and more atrocious crimes are produced.

But perhaps the greatest source of delinquency and crimes is to be ascribed to ill-regulated Public Houses, conducted by men of loose conduct and depraved morals—Since it is in these receptacles that the corruption of morals originates.—It is here that the minds of youth are contaminated, and the conspiracies for the purpose of committing frauds and depredations on the Public formed and facilitated.

A disorderly and ill-regulated Public-house, therefore, is one of the greatest nuisances that can exist in civil Society.—Innumerable are the temptations which are to be found in these haunts of idleness to seduce the innocent, and to increase the resources of the evil-disposed to do mischief.

Whatever tends to promote vice and dissipation, whether arising from low gaming, by means of cards, dice, dominÓs, shuffleboard, and other sedentary games; or fraudulent insurances in the lottery, calculated to fascinate and seduce the unwary, and to poison the minds of all ranks in the humble walks of vulgar life, is here to be found; in spite of every laudable precaution, exercised by Magistrates, under the present System of Police applicable to this object.—Even Prostitutes of the lowest cast are not seldom introduced, where the gains of the landlord are thereby to be promoted.

It is in these receptacles that Thieves and Robbers of every description hold their orgies, and concert and mature their plans of depredation on the peaceful Subject; and here too it not unfrequently happens, that their booty is deposited and concealed.

It is here also that markets are held for the sale of Base Money, where every facility is afforded for the purpose of concealment, and assistance in escaping justice.

In fact, there is scarce any moral evil by which Society is afflicted—the mind debauched—the virtuous parent and master distressed, and the ruin of families and individuals affected, which is not generated in Public-houses.

At present, in the Metropolis and its environs, there are at least five thousand of these receptacles, of which it is computed that about one thousand change tenants from once to three times a year.—Hence it follows that not less than two thousand individuals are in a floating state, either from one Public-house to another, or perhaps, more frequently, from the Alehouse to a Gaol.

When a depraved character loses his licence in one division of the Metropolis, he generally finds means to obtain admission in another where he is not known. The separation of jurisdictions without a centre point, and the numerous changes which are constantly taking place, preclude the possibility of detection; while the facility, with which the worst characters obtain the certificates required by law, (which are too often signed, without the least previous inquiry, by the Clergyman and Parish Officers as a matter of course,) enable them to effect their purpose; and such houses being generally of the inferior class in point of trade, every species of disorder is permitted for the purpose of obtaining custom. This is soon discovered by those who have criminal objects in view; and to such houses they generally resort, where it has sometimes been discovered that the Landlord himself belongs to the gang; and that he has become a Publican the better to facilitate its designs. That the Ale-houses are yet by far too numerous, is incontestibly proved by the frequent changes which take place in so large a proportion in the course of a year, while the irregularities which prevail render it equally clear that a more general control is necessary to prevent the mischiefs which have been detailed.

It is chiefly in houses where the trade is inadequate to the support of the establishment that the greatest disorders prevail, as in such cases every lure is held out to invite customers, and to entice them to expend money.—And in return for this, where the Landlord is not himself of the fraternity of Thieves or Receivers, he is induced at least to afford them his assistance, as a medium of concealment.

If a plan could be devised, with equal advantage to the Revenue, by the introduction of more innocent and less noxious gratifications, whereby the lower ranks of the people could be gradually led into better habits, much benefit would arise to the State, both with respect to health and morals.

The quantity of Beer, Porter, Gin, and Compounds, which is sold in Public-houses in the Metropolis and its environs, has been estimated, after bestowing considerable pains in forming a calculation, at nearly 3,300,000l. a year.[90]

This immense sum, equal to double the Revenue of some of the Kingdoms and States of Europe, independent of other evil consequences in producing indigence and promoting crimes, must in a certain degree debilitate manhood—in lessening the powers of animal life, and in shortening its duration long before the period arrives, when an adult ceases to contribute by his labours to the resources of the State. In this point of view, independent of considerations of a moral tendency, and of all the other train of evils which have been detailed, it would seem of importance, as a political measure, to check the growing propensity to consume a greater quantity of Porter, Beer, and ardent Spirits, than is necessary to health.—To the State, indeed, it creates a Revenue; but it is a Revenue too dearly purchased if it wastes the human species—if it deprives the nation, prematurely, of the benefit of their labour, and occasions infinitely greater pecuniary pressures in the support of an indigent and helpless offspring, who must be reared again to manhood at the expence of the Public; not to speak of the grain, labour, fuel, &c. unnecessarily consumed in creating this poison to the health, the morals, and comforts of the poor.[91]—However unpopular it may appear in the view of those who have not fully considered the subject, it may be clearly demonstrated that a triple duty on Malt Spirits, and a much higher duty on Strong Beer and Porter would be an act of the greatest humanity on the part of the Legislature.—The present Revenue might thus be secured, while that which is even of more importance to a State than any other consideration would be preserved—the health and morals of the labouring people. It is a mistaken notion, that a very large quantity of Malt Liquor is necessary to support labourers of any description.—After a certain moderate quantity is drank, it enervates the body, and stupefies the senses.—A Coal-heaver who drinks from 12 to 16 pots of Porter in the course of a day, would receive more real nourishment, and perform his labour with more ease and a greater portion of athletic strength, if only one-third of the quantity were consumed. He would also enjoy better health, and be fitter for his labour the following day. On a supposition that the excesses in which perhaps 200,000 of the labouring people in the Metropolis indulge, shortens the natural period of their existence only five years each on an average, the labour of one million of years is lost in the lives of this class of men, after the expence is incurred in rearing them to maturity, which, during a period of 36 years of adult labour, at 25l. a year, establishes a deficiency to the Community of Twenty-five Millions sterling: independent of the numerous other train of evils, which arise to a nation from idle, dissolute and immoral habits, by which the rising generation is contaminated, and great inconvenience imposed on the innocent and peaceful subject, from the increase of crimes which are generated through this medium.

It is to be lamented, that in pursuing this subject, new sources giving origin and progress to crimes press upon the mind in the course of the inquiry. To the catalogue already detailed may be added, Gaming-Houses of every description, particularly houses of the lower cast; but as this subject has been very fully handled in a preceding Chapter, it will be unnecessary to do more than place it in the general list of causes, which have contributed exceedingly to the evils, which have afflicted Society in this Metropolis, and which can only be remedied by a Responsible Police, attaching particularly upon this baneful propensity by appropriate regulations.

Next to Gaming, Illicit Trade or Smuggling may be mentioned as a very productive source of criminality. The vast extent of the Trade and Revenues of the Country; its insular situation, and the temptations arising from the magnitude of the duties, contribute exceedingly to the corruption of morals, not only of these engaged in illicit pursuits, but it is to be lamented also of the inferior officers themselves, whose duty it is to prevent this evil.

Severe and pointed as the laws unquestionably are with an immediate view to the prevention of this evil, experience proves how ineffectual they have been, since every idle and profligate character becomes a smuggler. But it is not merely the offence of smuggling as it relates to the revenue, which is to be deplored as a grievance to the Public, since those on the Sea Coasts of the kingdom, concerned in such pursuits, are generally of ferocious habits, which produce such excesses and depredations upon the unfortunate, when suffering the calamity of shipwreck, as would disgrace the rudest savages.

With contaminated minds, depraved hearts, men given up to such warfare upon helpless humanity, become fit instruments for every species of criminality.—Vagabonds by trade, the transition from one offence to another is easy, and hence through this medium many culprits are added to the general catalogue of delinquency, which nothing can check or prevent but a System of Police, attaching responsibility some-where instead of no-where as at present.

Crimes are also generated in no inconsiderable degree, by the evil examples exhibited in Prisons, and by the length of time persons charged with offences are suffered to remain in gaols previous to their trial, particularly in the counties adjoining the Metropolis, where they frequently are in confinement five and six months before the assizes.—If they were novices in villainy before, the education they receive in these seminaries, in the event of their escaping justice, returns them upon society, completely proselyted and instructed in the arts of mischief and depredation.

Nor have the unequal scale of punishments, and the ultimate unconditional pardons, dictated no doubt by the purest motives of humanity, a less tendency to generate new crimes. Encouraged by the chances of escaping free, even after conviction, many delinquents pursue their evil courses, trusting ultimately to this resource, if other devices shall fail.

To shew mankind that crimes are sometimes wholly pardoned, and that punishment is not the necessary consequence, is to nourish the flattering hope of impunity, and is the cause of their considering every punishment which is actually inflicted, as an act of injustice and oppression.

Let the Legislator be tender, indulgent, and humane; but let the Executors of the Laws be inexorable in punishing;—at least to a certain extent.