it tends to make every man look at his neighbour with suspicion; it abrogates from the heart that warmth of friendship, which is congenial to the well-being of every manly nation, and substitutes a civil formality, which is both cold and selfish. Without doubt there are many cases wherein the informer is so interested, that he would rather nurse the criminal than check the crime; and though his employer will not degrade himself by malpractices, yet he knows nothing of the matter, but, through the medium of this informer, which informer may employ a being still more grovelling than himself, who perhaps would not hesitate to instigate his victim; and if this victim is taken, tried, condemned and executed, the country gains nothing by his death; but it sustains a loss greater than the public example will commensurate. When a thief is sent out of the country or out of the world, there is always another ready to succeed him in his particular branch of the trade, and fresh recruits are brought in to fill up the rear. (334.) "The town is divided into walks amongst the pickpockets;" it is also stated (264) "that the thieves, of all the large towns, have a regular correspondence with each other, which facts clearly prove, that they carry on their trade with as much regularity as the members of a creditable business.

In (51) it is stated, "that there exist 8000 places in the metropolis, notoriously open for the reception of stolen goods. Now supposing, on an average, that each place makes 100%. in the year by nefarious traffic, the sum total is 800,000l. As there is no statement, in the Police Report, of the number of brothels, I place them also at 8000, that, at an average, they make 2001. in the year, their income will be 1,600,000l., which, added to the 800,000Z., makes a total of 2,400,000l.: the tithe of which sum of money is not to be despised in the eyes of those who have it in their power to foster such seminaries of vice.

In (71) there is evidence of the existence of "flash houses," licensed public-houses, where notorious thieves assemble, with whom officers of the police mingle, not expressly for the purpose of suppressing crime, but to enable them to catch criminals. If these places are not traps for the unwary, they are most certainly dens of iniquity which should not exist; they must tend to the increase of criminals, as surely as brothels tend to the increase of prostitutes.

III.-PROSTITUTES.

(Police Report, page 33.)

"Has any plan ever struck you as feasible, by which that dis

grace to London, to its police, and its morals, the crowds of women, some in a state of intoxication, infesting the streets and annoying

passengers during the best part of the night, could be prevented ?" "It would be ten times worse if the police officers and watchmen did not take them up, or drive them away, as they do at presentthat might be done certainly more universally than it is, but the gaols would be filled without hope of reforming them, to a degree that would not be expedient. The punishment by law is long imprisonment (for corporal punishment of another kind, with women, is out of the question), and the instant they come out they must be committed again, for this degraded condition has no resource, even to friends or employment." Also (341) "You have stated in your evidence, that you have seen the watchmen abuse the women of the town, and beat them for not giving them money?" "Yes.""Do you not think that this conduct of the watchmen, in levying a tax upon those unfortunate persons, and of course tolerating and winking at their riotous and disorderly conduct in the streets, is a public nuisance?" "No doubt of it. I think many prostitutes upon the town are servant girls, who have been driven there through the caprice of their masters or mistresses, who frequently discharge them, and refuse to give them any character. I have had many complaints from female servants personally to me upon that subject, I may say two or three hundred."-" Are many of the lower servants, in the metropolis, to be considered as belonging to that class?" "No-not while they are servants; but I am afraid there are many servants driven to that course of life by the reason I have stated."

Here are causes assigned for the increase of prostitutes in the streets-the interested encouragement of watchmen-and the caprice of master or mistress who refuse to give a character, which compels the servant to resort to the streets for subsistence. If a master or mistress was compellable once to appear before a magistrate, and there give on oath the character of the discharged servant, each party would be benefited, and perhaps no action for false character could be brought.

A plan is demanded to prevent prostitutes infesting the streets. Can it be supposed, unless harsh measures are resorted to, that they will be prevented while houses are open for their reception; houses notoriously open for the express purpose of fornication, the doors of which bear the features of identity, as conspicuously as the entrance to a cathedral or a parish church? It is cruelty in the extreme to punish these poor creatures for crime which is unequivocally tolerated. It is as harsh and uncharitable, as to chastise a starving individual for eating the food you have placed in his hand. If the brothel was suppressed, women would not then find it to be their interest to infest the streets.

In a much approved treatise on Police, corporal punishment is recommended on proof of an overt act to commit fornication: this would look like something beyond human jurisprudence. The crime itself, abstractedly considered, without reference to future consequence, is an offence properly cognizable only at the tribunal of God; and for earthly courts to arrogate to themselves a celestial jurisdiction, is presumption which but few dare venture to defend. An inferior court in England is not allowed to trespass on the jurisdiction of its superior, then why should this superior presume to sit in judgment with God, whose superiority is far above comparison?

When a woman brings into the world a bastard, she is amenable to the laws on bastardy, which tend principally to exonerate the parish from the expense of maintaining such a child, on the just principle, that every father should provide for his own offspring; but the law does not warrant an action for damages on the behalf of these unfavored infants, against their reputed parents, " For, that they gave me life, deprived of the just rights of other good subjects of our Lord the King, and therefore I pray damages for the injuries I sustain." No-such law is not legalised; therefore, in justice, how can that be punished criminally, which is not allowed to be a civil injury as against those who have most reason to complain? criminal punishment, I believe, in all cases, implies a civil injury.

EVIDENCE appears, which need not have been on oath, to convince almost the most incredulous, of the existence of brothels throughout the metropolis; they are so notorious as not to be unknown, even amongst the modest, and calling God to witness the truth of such a fact gives to the oath a semblance of blasphemy.

(61) There is evidence of licensing a notorious brothel, which, in the words in evidence is " a very respectable house, in point of appearance, but nobody can doubt for what purpose the house is kept," &c. In England there are laws made purposely for the suppression of brothels; and yet, it is told, on the oath of the chief clerk of a magistrate, that a place of this description is licensed in his district: a monopoly is granted by law for the express purpose of preventing such places from trafficking in spirituous liquors; and here is an instance coming to the knowledge of magistrates, which directly tends to the subversion of that law, and the only extenuation pleaded is, that it hath a respectable appearance-Extenuation!

Rather aggravation-giving to the Devil a fair countenance—making that appear tolerable, which, in itself, is infernal. Gentlemen, you that are of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, why does such a place exist? Does it exist for your own convenience, for the convenience of your wives, your children, or your servants? The existence of such a place cannot be denied, then why does it exist? Its existence is open and notorious, then why does it exist? There are laws made for its suppression, then why does it exist? Almost every body can assert, that such a place is used for such certain purposes, and many can swear to the truth of that assertion; yet, ye vice-destroying gentlemen cannot find the means for its destruction. Perhaps some of you can say, that to destroy these houses might subvert the liberty of the subject; on the contrary it would expand that liberty, give freedom, which these houses shackle and depress. Women of fair fame hardly dare venture in the streets alone, fearful to encounter the slander of malicious foes, or the insults of rude men. (34)

There is another description of brothel, of which the bare knowledge of their existence should make the blood of fathers curdle in their veins. (217) "But the way in which girls are brought into this sort of mischief is by old bawds going about the town and laying their hands on every girl who has a pretty face." Here is evidence that girls are led into iniquity; perhaps they are clothed and supported, so long as their charms will fascinate the gay giddy, and then suffered to depart, likely not without a promise to pay for the clothes they have upon their backs. Is there a man, in this great town, who can imagine that it will be his lot to have a child thus snatched from his bosom, to be ruined and disgraced for ever, and not feel acutely, stings of horror that such destiny is replete? And, to show that none are exempt in these matters, I quote evidence which may be relied on implicitly. (209) "Certainly the flash-house can do the officer no harm, if he does not make harm of it; if an officer goes there and acts foolishly, and does any thing improper, the same as for me to go to-night to all the brothels (I believe I know all of them); but was there ever any one who would say that I went and asked to have a glass of wine, and so on, there, and that no money should be asked, what sort of a servant should I be? I ought to be turned out, and never employed in the department of the Police again. Who has been more in confidence than I have been with the younger part of society of the highest rank? How often have I gone to brothels, there to talk over a little accident that might happen to A.'s son or B.'s son, or my Lord this or the other's son? But the consequence was, not a morsel of liberty, or how would Townsend act upon these functions of authority, and get what the parties asked me to do; no, he

must go there full of power, with great distance towards the keeper of the brothel; and, as to the poor wretches, in many cases, I have been employed to bring daughters home to their parents, persons of great respect and consequence: we have not found them at one place, but at another; we have taken them home, and there, there has been an end to it. The respectable young men, however liberally educated, are often very great fools, for they often subject themselves to vast inconveniences through their own misconduct, by committing themselves ridiculously and absurdly, going to brothels and getting into scrapes; and what has been the consequence? The consequence is-Townsend, what is to be done?-sometimes with the father, and sometimes with the party himself; but how would this thing be executed, if I were to attempt any thing like what I stated before?—No, I will take upon myself to say, I never drank a glass of wine with these sort of characters, because it would not do. In order to execute my duty properly, I must keep them at a proper distance; and it is only a foolish man that would attempt it." This evidence implies something beyond the bare signification of its words; it expressly states, that the children of persons great consequence are often brought into infamy and disgrace; and, by implication, I deduce the existence of some kind of system that upholds brothels in their impunity. The deponent strenuously asserts, that he never in his life took a glass of wine in such places, that would enable the keepers to take liberties: and this he asserts without being asked the question. I fully credit the assertion, and it evidently proves the existence of such practices, or why need "Townsend" think it necessary to exculpate himself (not from a direct charge, but) from the mere possibility of a chance that such an idea might have been entertained in the minds of some of the committee? If the existence of such practices can be deduced, it may be imagined that wine is not always wanted; and that an equivalent will prove acceptable, and through the medium of an agent, sub-agent, and deputy sub-agent, a system is interwoven which even law cannot unravel, upholding brothels' keepers in the unmolested enjoyment of a very lucrative business. If the magistrates were determined to suppress these houses, as brothels, they could not long exist; but so long as public opinion tolerates their existence, no executive power will interfere without a direct appli

of

cation.

V.-REWARDS.

(Police Report, page 204.)

EVIDENCE is thus:-"I have very great doubt whether there is