Tabular view of the crime of the country from 1805 to 1820.

For several reasons it is very difficult accurately to ascertain the condition of the country in regard to crime during the early part of the present century. If we may take the published returns as affording any indication of the crime of the country for the

* Porter's "Progress of the Nation," page 635.

Do.

do.
do.

do. 356.
do. 148.

INFLUENCES AFFECTING CRIME.

15

period referred to, we shall be driven to admit that our forefathers were incomparably less criminal than ourselves. From. 1805 to 1815 the committals for crime averaged only about 5,500 per annum, and it must not be forgotten that this covers a period prior to any change in the law, whereby many crimes, such as assaults, larcenies or petty thefts, embezzlements, &c., were removed from the superior courts to be dealt with summarily by the magistrates. To show the importance of this, I may state that, if all the crimes which were in the indictable list at that period, had been in the indictable list in 1874, the criminal list for that year would have been nearly 90,000 as against the 15,195 which were published in the Returns for 1874, and as against an average of 5,500 for the years prior to 1815.

Doubtless the great war which was raging on the continent of Europe during the greater part of that period, would be favourable to a minimum amount of crime in the country, because with the pressgang system then in vogue, and other influences, many of the lower class of men would be drafted into the navy and army, and sent out of the country, which would tend to prevent the perpetration of a consider

able amount of crime. This view of the case is greatly strengthened by the fact, that on the conclusion of the war in 1815, the crime of the country rapidly and extensively increased; for whilst the table shows that in 1814 the committals for crime were 6,390, in 1816 they were 9,091, and in 1817 they were 13,932, or more than double what they were in 1814.

Again, the severity of the criminal code at that period, it is argued by some writers, would be likely to reduce crime. On the other hand, there are many, as the late M.D. Hill, Esq., Q.C., Recorder of Birmingham, Mrs. Fry, the prison philanthropist, and others, who believe that the severity of our penal code in former times tended to increase crime.

But then, it is said, and probably there is some truth in this statement, that the severity of our penal code at that time would deter persons from giving information against criminals, and thus a considerable amount of the crime of the country would pass unreported, if it did not pass undetected. The report of the Constabulary Commission, in 1839, supplies a large amount of evidence, in the shape of opinions of justices of the peace, &c., that such was

THE OLD CONSTABULARY FORCE.

17

the case; but, on the other hand, there is the fact, that after the peace of 1815, when, on the return home of the army and the disbanding of a number of the soldiers, the crime of the country increased, there was also an enormous increase of the committals, clearly showing, that the constabulary machinery of the country must have been pretty effective, when it could cope so effectually with the additional crime which supervened after the peace.

The reader will doubtless be aware that, during the period to which I am referring, the constabulary which was in existence was not the police constabulary of the present day, but the old system of selecting one or more inhabitants in the various parishes, townships, &c., who were the officers of justice. Of course, under such an arrangement there would probably be a want of the discipline, organization, and application which now exist, and districts which might happen to get a careless or inefficient constable would especially be sufferers; but the question as to how far they were inferior to the present police is not easy to answer. From my own reading of the facts of the period, I am of opinion that, all other things. being equal, the crime of the country has been

better attended to by the police, than by the old

constabulary.

It may be mentioned, too, that the greater efficiency of the police was expected to be twofold in its character: not only were they expected to be more successful in the apprehension of criminals after the crimes had been committed, but also more effective in preventing the commission of crime.

The Royal Constabulary Commission, in their report (1839, page 211), say: "They conceive the inference warranted, that by the efficient application of a well-organized force much habitual depredation by residents would within a much shorter period have been suppressed, and the continued production of such heavy calendars rendered well-nigh impossible."

This point is several times referred to by Mr. Redgrave, in his reports prefixed to the criminal returns. For instance, in his report for 1847, referring to the increase of crime, he says: "The increase of population would account for a small but steady increase. On the other hand, it might be hoped that the increase of crime would be restrained and repressed by the greatly improved and increased police establishments of the country.”