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    theirs peculiarly , but also how little evidence contents them , in such a case , as ground for believing assertions the moat deeply implicating the highest interests of their country and of their kind . A somewhat greater numerical account of commitments or convictions during two or three year a , will prove to them , beyond a doubt , that the labouring classes are becoming fearfully demoralized ; and if you presume to

    suspend your judgment , and desiderate further proof , you are reputed a disregarder of * facts . ' Facts ! no ; it is not facts we disregard , it is unfounded inferences from them . Grant that convictions have increased , —grant , even , that the increase is permanent and not temporary , arising from general and not local causes ; doeB it follow that more crimes are committed ? May it not be merely that a greater number are detected ^ or that a greater number are prosecuted ? Though , perhaps , most

    criminals at some period of their career undergo punishment , the immense majority of crimes go unpunished . It has been calculated by solicitors , the best authorities en such a subject , that in London a youth who begins business as a thief may reckon upon not less than six years of impunity before he is removed by legal process . Here is ample room and verge enough * for a laTge increase of convictions without any increase of crime .

    * Some years ago a worthy city-magistrate distinguished himself by extraordinary activity in the performance of the duties of his mayoralty . He gave , at the same time , a corresponding energy to the police of the city , and the consequence was that a greater number of cases by several hundreds were brought before him than was ever known to have been

    investigated by any other chief magistrate . Such is the habit of looking to these returns alone' ( the returns of commitmenta and convictions ) ' as showing the state of crime in any given district , that we have seen it charged in print , and heard it mentioned by public men , as a reproach to this magistrate , that more crime had been committed in the city during his mayoralty than during any other . ' *

    Again , have there been no circumstances to diminish the reluctance of injured persons to prosecute ? Has not the severity of punishments within the last few years been greatly mitigated ? It it not by an innovation introduced within the last few years , that prosecutors are allowed their expenses ? Many increased facilities of other kinds have also of late years been afforded to prosecutors and witnesses . Has not a notion grown up within a few years , ( we believe a very false one , ) that the

    increased mildness of prison-discipline has made our gaols not only no longer the dens of horror they were , but places where the prisoner is actually too comfortable , and too well off ? and has this opinion no tendency to weaken the scruples which good men felt about sending a fellow creature thither ? One principal chapter of the criminal calendar , —juvenile delinquency , —

    has grown up almost entirely of late years ; not because boys did not formerly steal apples , but because formerly when they stole them they were whipped and sent home , while now they are prosecuted and sent to gaol . This change is probably owing to increased mildness of manners ; men can no longer bear to convert themselven into executioner ^; yet , if there have been any increase of crime , here is as likely a cause

    • From an admirable article on Police , by Mr . C bad wick , printed in 1829 , m J periodical •(« The London Review' ) which only reached a second number . We tovw Miinh to see this paper reprinted in a separate form .

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    590 Notes on the Newspapers .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1834, page 590, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2636/page/60/