Other cla.s.ses of Receivers purchased from the Lumpers, Coopers, &c.

after the property was landed, and being generally engaged in business as small grocers or keepers of chandlers' shops, and old iron and junk warehouses, they were accustomed to protect it in its transit, from one criminal dealer to another, by means of false bills of parcels.

It would fill a volume to recount the various ramifications of this nefarious traffic, and the devices used to defeat Justice and elude the punishment of the Law.[60]

[Footnote 60: For the purpose of defraying the expence of prosecutions for criminal offences upon the River Thames, and to raise a fund for suborning evidence, and employing counsel for higher crimes, and of paying the penalties under the Act of the 2d Geo. III. cap. 28.

commonly called the b.u.mboat Act; there existed a club composed of _River Plunderers_, and _Lumpers_, _Coopers_, _Watermen_, and _Receivers_, (denominated _Light-Hors.e.m.e.n_, _Heavy-Hors.e.m.e.n_, and _Copes_,) from the funds of which the Law expences and the penalties incurred by members of the fraternity were paid. By these iniquitous means not a few notorious offenders escaped justice, while those who were convicted of penalties for misdemeanors escaped the punishment of imprisonment, and being thus screened from justice the culprits (previous to the establishment of the Marine Police System) returned to their evil practices without the least apprehension of any other inconvenience than the payment of a fine of 40_s._ defrayed by the Club. The New System, however, affording means of detection in the ships where the offences were committed: what were formerly misdemeanors are now treated as larcenies, which has operated most powerfully in breaking up this atrocious confederacy, and in defeating all the nefarious designs of the criminal delinquents of which it was formed, some of whom, although apparently common labourers, resided in handsome houses furnished in a very superior style for the rank in life of the occupiers.

As a proof, among many others, of the enormous extent of the River Plunder, the convictions for misdemeanors under the Act of the 2d Geo.

III. cap. 28. from August 1792 to August 1799, exceeded _two thousand two hundred_; of which number about 2000 culprits paid the penalty; partly from their own resources, but chiefly, it is believed, from the funds of the club, amounting in all to about 4000_l._ in the course of seven years.]

It extended to almost every article imported into, and exported from, the port of London. But the dealings in stolen West India produce were by far the most extensive; at the same time it appears from recent investigation, that the _East India Company_ and the _Russian_ and _American Merchants_, as well as the Importers of _Timber_, _Ashes_, _Furs_, _Skins_, _Oil_, _Provisions_ and _Corn_, were also considerable sufferers. The Coal Merchants have likewise sustained losses to a great amount annually, while every species of goods imported have been more or less subject to depredations.

Nor has the Export Trade on the River Thames been in any respect secured against the rapacity of this phalanx of plunderers. Many well-authenticated cases have recently been developed, which prove that Hamburgh vessels outward bound, have been plundered to a considerable amount,[61] particularly those which were laden with sugar, coffee, and other West India produce. Outward-bound ships to every part of the world have also been more or less objects of plunder, to the numerous herds of delinquents who were employed upon the River, aided by their a.s.sociates in iniquity, the Receivers.

[Footnote 61: A Shipmaster in the trade a few months since was compelled to pay 40_l._ for deficient sugars plundered by Lumpers and others, who a.s.sisted in lading his vessel, notwithstanding his utmost personal vigilance and attention while the sugars were taking on board. A single Marine Police Officer would have prevented this. The effect of their power in overawing delinquents, from the nature of the system and the discipline peculiar to the inst.i.tution, is not to be conceived.]

To enter _into particulars_, or to detail specific instances, would far exceed the limits prescribed for this branch of the general catalogue of delinquency exhibited in this Work. Suffice it to say, that the most satisfactory evidence can be adduced, that the system of depredation which had so long prevailed, and which had advanced with the growing Commerce of the Port, had pervaded every species of Merchandize laden or discharged, as well as the Tackle, Apparel and Stores of almost every ship and vessel arriving in, and departing from, the River Thames.

Nor can it be a matter of wonder, that such pervading mischiefs should have prevailed when it is known, that above 5000 individuals, employed in various stationary situations upon the River, have, with a very few exceptions, been nursed from early life in acts of delinquency of this nature.

In a group so extensive there are unquestionably many different shades of turpitude; but certain it is, that long habit, and general example, had banished from the minds of the ma.s.s of the culprits implicated in these offences, that sense of the criminality of the action, which attaches to every other species of theft.

Such was the situation of things in the Port of London, in the month of July 1798, when the MARINE POLICE INSt.i.tUTION, a wise and salutary measure of Government, arose from the meritorious exertions of the West India Merchants.

The object of this Establishment was to counteract these mischievous proceedings, and by salutary arrangements _in the Science of Police_ to prevent in future a repet.i.tion of those crimes which had so long contaminated the morals of the people, and operated as an evil of no small weight and magnitude on the Trade of the River Thames.

How far this System, _planned_ and adapted to the exigencies of the case, and carried into effort by the Author of these pages, a.s.sisted by a very able and indefatigable Magistrate, and by many zealous and active Officers, has been productive of the benefits which were in contemplation, must be determined by an accurate examination of the state of delinquency, among the aquatic labourers and others, employed at present in ships and vessels in the River Thames; compared with what existed previous to this Establishment, as detailed in the preceding pages of this Chapter.

Although much yet remains to be done to prevent the renewal of those criminal proceedings, which have by great exertions been happily in many instances suppressed.--Although the Marine Police[62] has been unquestionably crippled by the want of those apposite _Legislative_ Regulations, upon which its energy and utility, as a _permanent Establishment_, must, in a great measure depend, yet the proofs of the advantages which have resulted from it, not only to the West India Trade[63] (for the protection of which it was originally inst.i.tuted) but also to the whole Commerce and Navigation of the Port of London, are so decided and irrefragable, that specific details are unnecessary, especially since Deputations of the most respectable Merchants from the whole Commercial Body, sensible of the benefits derived from the system have solicited the sanction of Government, for the purpose of pa.s.sing a Bill to extend the design, so as to afford the same protection to the general Trade of the Port, which has been experienced by the West India Planters and Merchants;[64] and requesting to be permitted to defray the expence by an annual a.s.sessment upon the Trade.

[Footnote 62: For a particular account of this Inst.i.tution, see the "Treatise on the Commerce and Police of the River Thames," already alluded to.]

[Footnote 63: With respect to the advantages which have resulted in the aggregate, to the West India Planters and Merchants, from this New Inst.i.tution, it is impossible to form any decided opinion; but estimating the savings, on an average, at 28_lbs._ of sugar per hhd.

(which is only one half of what the Committee of West India Merchants, in their Report to a General Meeting in 1798, supposed the plunderage might have been formerly) it appears, upon this data, that the gain to the Planters, Merchants, and the Revenue, on a very reduced estimate as to the actual importation may be thus stated.--

Saving Saving to the to the Planters. Revenue. TOTAL.

On 115,000 casks of sugar, at 28_lbs._ per cask .97,012 .25,150 .122,162

15,000 casks of rum, at three gallons each 9,000 15,000 24,000

Coffee, pimento, and other articles, suppose 5,000 10,000 15,000 --------- -------- --------- Totals .111,012 .50,150 .161,162

If credit is to be given to the general and specific proofs of the depredations which took place before the establishment of the Marine Police, and to the numerous doc.u.ments which demonstrate the saving of property, which has been the effect of this system of prevention, the above estimate will not appear to be over-rated. In an importation amounting to above .8,000,000 sterling a year, it is not too much to say that 1-1/2 per cent. on this sum may have been saved under a system of such extreme vigilance, where every cla.s.s of depredators were defeated in their iniquitous designs, and deprived in a great measure of the powers they formerly possessed, of doing mischief. The probability is, that it has amounted to more, though the fact never can be accurately ascertained.]

[Footnote 64: At a meeting of the Committee of the West India Merchants appointed to manage the general concerns of the Trade, held on the 4th of January 1799, It was

"RESOLVED,

"That this Committee are deeply impressed with a high sense of the singular advantages, which appear to have resulted to the Commerce of the Port of London in general, but particularly to the West India Planters and Merchants, in the protection afforded to their property by the exertions of _The Marine Police Inst.i.tution_, as well as by the General System established for the prevention of pillage and plunder arising out of the measures for detection pursued by the Magistrates presiding at the Marine Police Office, by which, in the opinion of this Committee, great and extensive benefits have also resulted to his Majesty's Revenue."]

It may only be necessary in this place to state, that under all the disadvantages and difficulties attending the execution of this design, it may truly be said to have worked wonders in reforming the shocking abuses which prevailed.--_The River Pirates do not now exist in any shape.--The Nightly Plunderers, denominated Light Hors.e.m.e.n, have not dared in a single instance to pursue their criminal designs.--The Working Lumpers, denominated Heavy Horse, are no longer to be found loaded with Plunder._--Watermen are not now as _formerly to be recognized in cl.u.s.ters hanging upon the bows and quarters of West India ships under discharge to receive plunder_.--Lightermen, _finding nothing to be procured by attending their craft, are accustomed to desert them until the period when they are completely laden.--Journeymen Coopers do not wilfully demolish casks and packages as heretofore, since no advantage is to be reaped from the spillings of sugar, coffee, or other articles.--The Mud-Larks find it no longer an object to prowl about ships at low water while under discharge, since the resource for that species of iniquitous employment, which they were accustomed to solicit, is no longer in existence.--The criminal cla.s.s of Revenue Officers, who had long profited (in many instances to an enormous extent) by the nefarious practices which prevailed, have not been able to suppress their rage against the New Police, by the vigilance of which they feel themselves deprived of the means of profiting by the system of plunder, which they had so perfectly organized, and which, in collusion with the Revenue Watermen, they were so well able to cover by availing themselves of their official situations, on many occasions, in protecting to the houses of the Receivers articles which were both stolen and smuggled_.

By means of a Police Guard upon the Quays, which forms a collateral branch of the General System, _the Scuffle-hunters and Long-ap.r.o.n-men, who were accustomed to prowl about for the purpose of pillage, have in a great measure deserted the quays and landing-places; while the Copemen and Receivers, finding from several examples which have been made, that their former infamous pursuits cannot be continued without the most imminent hazard, have, in many instances, declined business, while not a few of these mischievous members of society have quitted their former residences, and disappeared_.

Such has been the effect of the remedy which has been applied towards the core of the enormous evil of River Plunder.

It is not, however, to be understood that this System has entirely eradicated the pillage which prevailed, a circ.u.mstance not to be expected, since the design was partial and limited in its nature, and only intended for the protection of West India property, although very extensive benefits have unquestionably arisen from its collateral influence, and its energy, in terrifying thieves of every description upon the River, and diminishing their depredations, which, but for the dread of detection by means of the Police Boats in the night, would unquestionably have been committed.

But while it is readily admitted that amidst the opposite attractions of pleasure and pain, it is impossible to reduce the tumultuous activity of such a phalanx of individuals to absolute order and purity, who have been in many instances reared up in habits of delinquency. And while it is a vain hope to expect that crimes can be totally annihilated, where temptations a.s.sail the idle and the dissolute, and religion and morality, or even in many instances, the fear of punishment, does not operate as a restraint;--yet is it, notwithstanding, clear to demonstration, from the effects produced by the limited experiment which has been made, that the General Police for the River Thames which is in contemplation, aided by the apposite Legislative regulations which experience has suggested to be necessary,[65] must in its operation, under the guidance of an able and active Magistracy, so far diminish and keep down the depredations which were committed, as to prove scarce a drop in the bucket, when compared to the extensive and enormous evils which it has been the object of the promoters of this new System to suppress.

[Footnote 65: For the specific provisions of _the Marine Police Bill_, see the "Treatise on the Commerce Navigation Police of the River Thames."--The object of this Bill is rather to prevent Crimes than to punish; and where punishments on conviction are to be inflicted, they are of a nature which, it is to be hoped, will operate sufficiently as an example to diminish the evil, without the exercise of any great degree of severity.]

Although in this arduous pursuit, the Author of this work has experienced infinite difficulties and discouragements, yet is he rewarded by the consciousness that he was engaged in an undertaking in which the best interests of Society were involved:--that independent of the pecuniary benefits derived by the State, and the Proprietors of Commercial Property (which already have unquestionably been very extensive,) he has been instrumental in bringing forward a great preventive System, and by administering the Laws in conjunction with a very zealous, able, and humane Magistrate,[66] in a manner rather calculated to _restrain_ than to _punish_,[67] a mult.i.tude of individuals, together with a numerous offspring, are likely to be rendered useful members of the Body Politic, instead of nuisances in Society.--The advantages thus gained (although his labours have been in other respects gratuitous,) will abundantly compensate the _dangers_, the _toils_, and the anxieties which have been experienced.

In the accomplishment of this object, both the interests of _humanity_ and _morality_, have been in no small degree promoted: unquestionably, there cannot be a greater act of benevolence to mankind, in a course of _criminal delinquency_, than that which tends to _civilize their manners_;--_to teach them obedience to the_ Laws;--_to screen themselves and their families from the evils and distress attendant on punishment, by preventing the commission of crimes_; and _to lead them into the paths of honest industry, as the only means of securing that real comfort and happiness which a life of criminality, however productive of occasional supplies of money, can never bestow_.--If it shall be considered (as it certainly is) a glorious atchievement to subdue a powerful Army or Navy, and thereby secure the tranquillity of a State--is not the triumph in some degree a.n.a.logous, where a numerous army of delinquents, carrying on a species of warfare no less noxious, if not equally hostile, shall not only be subdued by a mild and systematic direction of the powers of the Law; but that the conquered enemy shall be converted into an useful friend, adding strength instead of weakness to the Government of the country?

[Footnote 66: John Harriott, Esq. the Resident Magistrate.]

[Footnote 67: So powerful was the effect of the preventive System, wherever it was permitted to be applied, that no instance has occurred in the course of more than fifteen months, since the Marine Police was established, of sufficient grounds for a criminal prosecution having taken place by the commission of any Larceny or Felony in ships or craft under the immediate protection of the Inst.i.tution.]

Such has been, at least, the result of the partial operations of the Marine Police; and such will unquestionably be the issue of the general measures which have been planned and arranged, when the _Key-stone_ shall be finally laid to the fabric, by pa.s.sing into a Law the Bill which has been prepared for the extension of this design to the protection of the whole trade of the port of London.[68]

[Footnote 68: As a proof of the approbation of the whole body of the West India Planters at the General Meeting, not only of the System of the Marine Police, but also of the Bill which has been prepared to extend its influence to the general Trade of the River Thames, the following extracts are inserted:

_Extract from the Minutes of a Meeting of a Committee of the West India Planters and Merchants--London, June 7, 1799._

"Resolved,

"That this Committee is fully convinced that considerable advantages have been derived from the inst.i.tution of the Marine Police in checking the depredations on West India produce on board ships in the River Thames; and consequently approves of the Bill for const.i.tuting the said _Marine Police_, with powers enlarged and more effective, and on a more extended plan, provided the Act for that purpose be in the first instance limited to the duration of three years, and that the whole expence of the Inst.i.tution does not exceed Ten Thousand Pounds annually."

_Extract from the Minutes of a General Meeting of the West India Planters, held by public Advertis.e.m.e.nt at Wright's Coffee-house, Soho-square, London, June 13, 1799._

The Right Honourable Lord PENRHYN in the Chair.

"Resolved,

"That this Meeting confirms the Report of its Committee, and approves of the project of a Bill for the purposes, and within the limitations stated in that Report.

"Resolved,

"That Lord Penrhyn be requested to present to the Chancellor of the Exchequer the Report of a Committee of this Meeting, on the subject of the Marine Police Inst.i.tution, and the Resolution of this meeting approving the said Report.

"Resolved,

"That Lord Penrhyn be requested to communicate the thanks of this Meeting to Mr. Colquhoun for the zeal, ability, and perseverance with which he has endeavoured to form an effectual check to the system of depredation which prevailed on the River Thames."]