123
collected togothcr without causing a groat iucroaso in the labours of his court, remarked thatthere had been actually a considerable decrease in tlio number of cases brought before him,and that “ although so many foreigners had assembled in this country from all parts of tho“ world, somo of whom it was to bo feared had come hero with objects of plunder, there was“ not tho name of a single foreigner in the calendar charged with robbery.”
Tho Recorder on those occasions spoke of the number of cases brought before his Court,no doubt a criterion of tho general state of crime, but there is so largo a proportion of caseswhich never come under the cognizance of a Court of Sessions, that his evidence does notshow the actual condition of tho Metropolis during the six months of tho Exhibition, and Ihave thereforo compared the number of persons brought before the magistrates of tho thirteenPolice Courts, and those taken into custody by tho City Police, charged with any descriptionof offence whatever, from that of the gravest to that of the lightest character, during the sixmonths from tho 1st of April to tho 30th September of tho present year, with tho corres-ponding period of last year.
The following returns have been proparod from the monthly reports of tho Police Magis-trates to tho Secretary of State for the llomo Department, and they represent tho actual con-dition of the Metropolis in regard to crimo, disorder, &c., with greater accuracy than thoreturns proparod by tho Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police, inasmuch as tho juris-diction of tho Police Courts is nearly co-equal with the limits of the Metropolis,* and extendsto every description of charge which appears in tho Metropolitan Police Returns, while a largoproportion of cases aro brought before tho Police Courts by summons, &c., of which tho policehave no cognizance, amounting to more than 10,000 cases in tho year.
Tho total number of persons included in tho returns from the Police Courts, and from theCity Polieo, for tho period of six months from tho 1st of April to tho 30th of September was in
1850 1851
44,075 45,294
Tho presonoo of a large body of trained and efficient police, and the exorcise with prompti-tude of tho duties which have been required of them, would liavo tended to deter from thocommission of many offences which a less numerous or active body of men would have beenunequal to prevent; and when it is considered that a multitude of all classes and countriesassembled in the Metropolis during tlio past summer, that a largo addition had been madeduring that period to the strength of the police force, adding greatly to tho means and oppor-tunities of apprehending offenders, these figures are certainly not tlio least among tho manygratifying incidents of tlio Exhibition.
Rut this satisfactory condition must not bo attributed to the exertions of tho police or totho judiciousness of tho regulations they were instructed to enforce. It is to the mass of thopeople themselves that is duo tlio chief praise tor sobriety, good feeling, and propriety of conductunder the greater temptations in which they may liavo been placed during tho present year.
In corroboration of this it is not sufficient to quote merely the total numbers, but to analyzetho returns, and test the conduct of the people by a comparison of the nature of the offencescommitted.
The following is an abstract of the Returns, distinguishing tlioso offences which are mostprevalent, and dividing them into five heads, for the purpose of placing in a clear light thoevidence afforded by tho Returns.
ISoMHi'.u of Persons brought before the Tiimthen Police Courts of the Metropolis, and of thosetaken into Custody by the City Pouch, (except cases under Piuvatk Acts, &c.., in which theComer lias power only to make an Order,) from the 1st of April, to the doth of September 1850,ami 1851.
Natuuk or Charge.
From tho 1st of April, tothe 30th of September,
Increase
per
Cent,
1850
1851
Drunkenness, or being Drunk ami Disorderly.
Assaults, Assaulting, Resisting, or Obstructing l’eaee Officers,!
Preaches of the Peace, &c./
Picking Pockets, frequenting Public Places with intent to commit iFelony, known Thieves, suspicious Characters, unlawfully >
possessing Goods, &e.)
Uttering Counterfeit Coin.
Oifenccs under the Hackney and Metropolitan Carriages Act •All other Charges, not enumerated above .......
Total.
11,428
10,349
3,589
324
2,215
10,170
11.733
10.733
3,074
477
2,472
10,205
2*
3-7
2'5
47*2
11*0
0*2
44,075
45,294
2-7
* Tho jurisdiction of the Police Courts extends to a distance varying from ft to 8 miles from Charing Cross; that of thoMetropolitan Polieo to a distance of 1ft miles, and it includes a large district, partaking of a rural character, and not inlluoneedby circumstances which alleet the population of a city.
Y