PREFACE. THE present treatise was suggested to the writer on reading the address of Lord Aberdare at the Social Science Congress at Brighton, in October of last year (1875). It has frequently been the case during the last few years that an argument has been educed from the Returns of the indictable crime of the country to prove that the character of the population in regard to crime was very much improved, and that our Criminal Calendar was growing "small by degrees, and beautifully less "—the fact being invariably overlooked that owing to the great changes which have taken place in the law, these arguments were entirely fallacious. The object of the author in the present treatise is, as far as materials at command will enable him to do so, to place the real facts of the case before the reader, to show the progress of crime during the present century; to point out the changes which have been made in the law; and also to refer to a few of the influences which may have been in existence affecting the crime of the country, whether for better or for worse. In prosecuting this work, care has been taken to refer only to reliable authorities, the chief ones being The Criminal Returns of the Home Office, published yearly since 1834, all of which have been consulted. Knight's British Almanac, published annually since 1828, and containing a digest of the laws passed, and the returns presented to Parliament yearly from that time to the present. Porter's Progress of the Nation, embracing the period from 1800 to 1846. Knight's Pictorial History of England-continued by Miss Martineau down to 1847. Also, Molesworth's History of England since 1830. M'Culloch's Commercial Dictionary. The Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom from 1840 to 1875. Statistics of the British Empire. Compiled by order of the London Statistical Society, and published in 1827. The Queen's Taxes, and other works. By John Noble. |