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, The mQi ^?© ; of crime , should ca& forth morej ^ jtferfulty our personal and our joint efforts for the education of the childrfeWof the poor in the principles of fej ^ pn . Iniquity would rus h upon us ^^^^ ran overwhelming flood , were it not for Charity and Sunday Schools and other similar institutions :
they are not the former pupils of those seminaries who qrowd our gaols , invade our property , menace our lives , and murder our repose . By far the majority of the transgressors who stand at the bar of public justice , are
utterly ignorant of even the elements of learning . To affirm that crimes abound , because instruction is liberally offered and zealously communicated to the poor , were , to reason against just theory , and against innumerable facts . Knowledge , it is true , may be only the instrument of mischief , the pdwer of
doing harm : knowledge alone will too frequently be such ; but with the means of knowledge , let us remember , those of Christian virtue are likewise copiously furnished . We shall now apply ourselves to a more particular consideration of Mr .
Eardley-Wilmot ' s Letter , &c ., in a part of which he treats generally of the increase of crime , its causes and its remedies ; the greater portion of his pamphlet being occupied by remarks on local facts and circumstances .
It gratifies us to perceive that a gentleman , who is " one of his Majesty ' s Justices of the Peace for the county of Warwick /* and who has recently filled the office of its Sheriff , devotes his " humble efforts to promote the good
of the public , " fyy , a strong recommendation of , those improvements in our criminal c $ de , &q ., which , till very lately ; it has been the fashion to regard as the impracticable suggestions of a few retired philanthropists . In this
view we are , ^ specially pleased with our Author ' s letterj ; for although there are other and betfiqr writers on penal laws , &c , y igjf # * ore fs scarcely any one whose character ,, situation and connexions can ,: 'i 0 $ m the district in which he
™ $ fo wiP ' ^ ftPft weight to his stajtemeStits and remonstrances . Mr . Bardley AVihiiot professes to enter into the discussion of his subject € t with feelings o £ Extreme reluctance : *^ I * e is ey ^ d ^ njTy
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solicitude not to be classed among political reformers , &ti& makW rftfpft of akPS ^ y ( hrottr hiiaibte ^ udj ^ ii 09 it is at pnce unt ^ esssiry and awkwl ^ y for his address * * tb the magistracy "" of Warwickshire . If discontent and disaffection be at any time seen or ; apprehended , such , we think , is the season for doing whatever we can to ainend at least our police and our criminal law , and to diminish the number of
offenders . Let real grievances be redressed : let imminent and most alarming dangers be , if possible , . averted . But , while we are far from being of opinion with this writer that * the very name of Reform has become odious" to all the lovers of ft our
excellent Constitution , " those evils , we feel persuaded , must be exceedingly prominent and menacing , as the effeetp&f which Mr . Eardley-Wilmot employs his pen in a letter to his brother " magistrates . Prom such a man we cor-it dially welcome the sentences that we proceed to quote .
Speaking of a certain class or prosecutions by the Bank of England , he asks " , Has not the crime notoriously increased ? And has not the uncertainty with which the statute has been enforced , been a powerful auxiliary to the depraved inclinations of the criminal ? Out of
thirteen prisoners for forgery , indicted by the Bank of England at our last assizes , not one [ of them ] have [ has ] been executed ; and this is the more surprising , as with one or two Exceptions , they were all men entrapped by persons employed by the Bank for the express purpd ^|| # conviction , and , therefore , suppbsedtS
be objects selected for punishment . It is a lamentable circumstance , amUinpe whic % can never eradicate the evil , nor event lessen the number of offenders , that the sellers of forged notes are alone punished , while the actual fabricators of the notes
are seldom , if ever , brought to trial ; though moft of them are Well known to the Batik , as well as to every police "officer in Birmingham . "—Pp . 8 , 9 . Further : . . * . > - " " We must cut off all those totf&toigf ' We must cut off all those MffiMj f *
dissemination of bad P ^^ P ^^ M our gaol still furnishes . , We ^« MQjBg to the separation of pnsohe ^ W » fe classification of offices : ' a ^ WgMflBh ' offenders ^ our gaol ^ f ^ g ^^ m ^^ m ^ esWfe ^^* «^ N |^ K uctifa&nMto - vMjaBKBSgHBUttfih
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Review *— EurdtB ^~ W ' ° « -ilmota Lette ^ Increase Crime mgfeneraK 4 > 19 ;
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1820, page 419, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2490/page/39/
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