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j41e4i00110,flen, velopment, of , 44142 fise ttliat ipanlaya Ai's::: closes it Mere, as Alla the iinatancesasoaLlyarcoanore-namerous, may be doubtful +tit *by,- !mite of : incident intprovements to illumine; order, and rgtiard soomty, does crime stalk abroad so signally unchecked PL:-that is the question. We believe that the causes are various; and that to effect a thorough amendment, we must deal with all the causes, radically, Let us reckon up some of them. One is, that the New Police, which at first acted as a scarecrow, has grown familiar to the ruf- fianly or roguish: it has been discovered that a Policeman is not ubiquitous; and if you knew that he is walking towards Berkhamp- stead you are certain that he is:not going towards Hemel Hemp- stead. In some counties the Policeman is the very reverse of ubi- quitous, being altogether non.inventus by reason of parsimony in the ratepayers. The disuse of arms and the general unfamiliarity with thein help to embolden the audacious. The increase of wealth is a direct attraction: the more Silver spoons and epergnes, the more gold-handled knives and dish-covers electro-gilt, are to be found in, pantry the more baits are there set for the wild animals of society ; and if there le no trap with the bait, then the human vermin merely runs off with it. But he will bite if you offer any let. With the general luxury grows the burglarious love of luxury: as peers and cite grow more curious in their appetites, so burglars and swell-mobsmen. The tasteful cruet which tempts Lady Juliana, and is gallantly purchased by her obliging husband Mr. Stubbs, has its claims also for Dick Stiles; and the champagne which is so relished by the guests round Mr. Stubbs's mahogany is pleasant tipple under a hedge. Another cause, most pregnaut with inconvenience to the public, is the practice in which we persist in letting our known criminals go about at large, on constitutional scruples against shutting the door till the steed be gone. We are bound to treat a man as innocent until, he be found guilty,—which means, that we must not hang him or pillory him without proof before a jury: but an innocent man may be suspected, and ought to be suspected, if appearances are against him. So much for the suspected criminal, Whom we will not take into custody until he has galloped off in our own saddle. But even the convicted ruffian is to be set at large,, under the system of time sentences. Yes, "the liberty of the subject" demands the licence of the burglar. A sixth cause is the mere increase of the population hereditarily given to crime,—a caste upon which we have made so little im- pression, either by prison discipline, ragged schools, or any other process. In education we rely upon book learning or theological scrip teaching, neither of which influences will reach certain minds; for there are many, and not the worst dispositions, that never can be brought under a very active influence of a studious or spiritual kind. But we omit the right kind of training, the phy- sical and material, for that order of mind. Other causes are—the wide social separation in. this country, by virtue of which our servants are strangers in the house, alien if not hostile to the family; the want of our present customs to give scope for such temperaments as need excitement; the state of the Poor-law, which makes the hottest man desperate and relaxes the proper control over the vagrant . The remedies for these causes must go deeper than bells for shutters or snappish house-dogs for the night: meanwhile, we must be- content to read of murders, and to use the best palliatives we can—even shutter-bells and vigilant little dogs.
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