Ebe %pectator
August 4, 1866
The Hyde-Park riots have ended, but they seem to have given the "roughs" a new audacity. Respectable people are stopped and robbed with complete impunity, not only in the Park but in North London. The outrages are gener- ally committed by young men, the dusk renders identification difficult, and the police are too few to deal with their numerous and nimble antagonists. In Hyde Park the remedy is simple. It is part of London, and ought to be lighted, and patrolled by the regular police as if it were a great square, but in Camden Town and the neighbourhood of Primrose Hill more con- stables are required. As long as there is order the London proportion of one policeman to 500 souls is sufficient, but on the least outbreak of the spirit of mischief the police appear to be almost powerless, and, the respectables are driven to the dangerous expedient of arming themselves.
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