POLICE in this Country may be considered as a new Science; the properties of which consist not in the Judicial Powers which lead to Punishment, and which belong to Magistrates alone; but in the Prevention and Detection of Crimes, and in those other Functions which relate to internal Regulations for the well ordering and comfort of Civil Society.

The Police of the Metropolis, in every point of view, is a subject of great importance to be known and understood; since every innocent and useful Member of the Community has a particular interest in the correct administration of whatever relates to the Morals of the People, and to the protection of the Public against Fraud and Depredation.

Under the present circumstances of insecurity, with respect to property and even life itself, this is a subject which cannot fail to force itself upon the attention of all:—All are equally concerned in the Information which this Work conveys; the chief part of the details in which are entirely novel, not to be found in books, and never laid before the Public through the medium of the Press, previous to the first Publication of this Treatise.

It may naturally be imagined, that such an accumulation of delinquency systematically detailed, and placed in so prominent a point of view, must excite a considerable degree of astonishment in the minds of those Readers who have not been familiar with subjects of this nature; and hence a desire may be excited to investigate how far the amazing extent of the Depredations upon the Public here related, can be reconciled to reason and possibility.

Four years have, however, elapsed, since these details have been before the Public, and they still stand on their original ground, without any attempt which has come to the Author's knowledge, to question the magnitude or the extent of the evil.—On the contrary, new sources of Fraud and Depredation have been brought forward, tending greatly to increase the general mass of Delinquency.[1]

In revising the present Edition, the Author felt a strong impulse to reduce his estimates; but after an attentive review of the whole, excepting in the instances of the Depredations on Commercial Property, (which have been greatly diminished by the establishment of a Marine Police, applicable to that particular object,) he was unable to perceive any ground for materially altering his original calculations.—If some classes of Theft, Robbery, and Depredation, have been reduced, others have been augmented; still leaving the aggregate nearly as before.

The causes of these extensive and accumulated wrongs being fully explained, and accounted for, in various parts of the Work; a very short recapitulation of them is, therefore, all that is necessary in this Preface.

The enlarged state of Society, the vast extent of moving property, and the unexampled wealth of the Metropolis, joined to the depraved habits and loose conduct of a great proportion of the lower classes of the people; and above all, the want of an appropriate Police applicable to the object of prevention, will, after a careful perusal of this work, reconcile the attentive mind to a belief of the actual existence of evils which could not otherwise have been credited.—Let it be remembered also, that this Metropolis is unquestionably not only the greatest Manufacturing and Commercial City in the world, but also the general receptacle for the idle and depraved of almost every country; particularly from every quarter of the dominions of the Crown—Where the temptations and resources for criminal pleasures—Gambling, Fraud and Depredation almost exceed imagination; since besides being the seat of Government it is the centre of fashion, amusements, dissipation and folly.

Under such peculiar circumstances, while immorality, licentiousness and crimes are known to advance in proportion to the excessive accumulation of wealth, it cannot fail to be a matter of deep regret, that in the progressive increase of the latter the means of checking the rapid strides of the former have not been sooner discovered and effectually applied.

It is, however, earnestly to be hoped that it is not yet too late.—Patriots and Philanthropists who love their country, and glory in its prosperity, will rejoice with the Author in the prospect, that the great leading features of improvement suggested and matured in the present Edition of this Work will ultimately receive the sanction of the Legislature.

May the Author be allowed to express his conviction that the former Editions of this book tended in no small degree, to remove various misconceptions on the subject of Police: and at the same time evidently excited in the public mind a desire to see such remedies applied as should contribute to the improvement of the Morals of the People, and to the removal of the danger and insecurity which were universally felt to exist?

An impression it is to be hoped is generally felt from the example of the Roman Government, when enveloped in riches and luxury, that National prosperity must be of short duration when public Morals are too long neglected, and no effectual measures adopted for the purpose either of checking the alarming growth of depravity, or of guarding the rising generation against evil examples.

It is by the general influence of good Laws, aided by the regulations of an energetic Police, that the blessings of true Liberty, and the undisturbed enjoyment of Property are secured.

The sole object of the Author in pointing out the accumulated wrongs which have tended in so great a degree to abridge this Liberty, is to pave the way for the adoption of those practical remedies which he has suggested, in conformity with the spirit of the Laws, and the Constitution of the Country, for the purpose of bettering the state of Society, and improving the condition of human life.

If in the accomplishment of this object the Morals of the People shall undergo a favourable change, and that species of comfort and security be extended to the inhabitants of this great Metropolis, which has not heretofore been experienced, while many evils are prevented, which in their consequences threaten to be productive of the most serious mischief, the Author of this Work will feel himself amply rewarded in the benefits which the System he has proposed shall be found to confer upon the Capital of the British Dominions, and on the Nation at large.

Preparing for the Press, by the Author of this Work.

A TREATISE

ON

THE COMMERCE AND POLICE

OF

THE RIVER THAMES:

CONTAINING

AN HISTORICAL VIEW OF

THE TRADE OF THE PORT OF LONDON;

THE DEPREDATIONS COMMITTED
ON ALL PROPERTY IMPORTED AND EXPORTED THERE;
THE REMEDIES HITHERTO APPLIED;
AND THE MEANS OF FUTURE PREVENTION,
BY A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF

RIVER-POLICE;

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE VARIOUS MAGISTRATES AND OTHERS

EXERCISING OR CLAIMING JURISDICTION ON THE RIVER;

AND OF THE

PENAL STATUTES AGAINST MARITIME OFFENCES

OF EVERY DESCRIPTION.

[The above will be published in the course of the Spring, by
Jos. Mawman, in the Poultry.]