Part 13 (1/2)
Of how much importance therefore is it to the Public at large, to see these evils suppressed; and above all, to have this novel System completely annihilated, by which Gambling Establishments have been formed upon commercial principles of methodical arrangements, with vast capitals employed for the most infamous and diabolical purposes.
Let those who have acquired wealth in this way be satisfied with what they have gotten, and with the misery their gains have occasioned to ruined thousands: let them abstain from employing it in channels calculated to extend these evils. The Law is generally slow in its operations: but it seldom fails to overtake the guilty at last.
To this Confederacy, powerful in wealth, and unrestrained by those considerations of moral rect.i.tude, which govern the conduct of other men engaged in the common pursuits of life, is to be attributed those vast additional hazards to which the young and inexperienced have been subjected--Hazards, which not only did not exist before these establishments were matured and moulded into System; but which were considerably increased, from its becoming a part of the general arrangements to employ men of genteel exterior, (and it is to be feared too, in many instances of good connections) who, having been ruined by the delusion, descended as a means of subsistence, to accept the degrading office of seeking out those customers, whose access to money rendered them proper objects to be ensnared.--For such was the nature of this new System of destruction, that while a young man entering upon life, conceived himself honoured by the friends.h.i.+p and acquaintance of those who were considered to be men of fas.h.i.+on, and of good connections, he was deluded by splendid entertainments into the snare, which afterwards robbed him of his property and peace of mind.
Such were the arrangements of this alarming and mischievous Confederacy, for the purpose of plundering the thoughtless and unwary.--The evidence given in the Court of King's Bench, in an action, tried for Gaming, on the 29th November, 1796, served pretty fully to develope the shocking System of fraud pursued, after the inexperienced and unwary were entrapped into these receptacles of ruin and destruction.[40]
[Footnote 40: The following is the substance of the most striking parts of the Evidence of John Shepherd, in the action alluded to.
”The witness saw Hazard played at the Gaming-House of the defendant, in Leicester-street.--Every person who was three times successful, paid the defendant a Silver Medal, which he purchased from him on entering the house, at eight for a guinea, and he received six or seven of these in the course of an hour for the Box Hands, as it was called. The people who frequented this house always played for a considerable sum. Sometimes .20 or .30 depended on a single throw of the Dice. The witness remembered being once at the defendant's Gaming-House about three or four o'clock in the morning, when a gentleman came in very much in liquor.--He seemed to have a great deal of money about him.--The defendant said he had not intended to play, but now he would set to with this fellow.--He then sc.r.a.ped a little wax with his finger off one of the candles and put the Dice together, so that they came seven every way. After doing this, he dropped them into the box and threw them out, and afterwards drew all the money away, saying he had won it.--_Seven_ was the main, and he could not throw any thing but _seven_. The young gentleman said he had not given him time to _bar_.--A dispute arose between the defendant and him. It was referred to two or three persons who were round the table, and they gave it in favour of the defendant. The gentleman said he had lost upwards of .70. The defendant said, _we have cleared him_. The witness has seen a man p.a.w.n his watch and ring in several instances; and once he saw a man p.a.w.n his coat and go away without it.
”After the Gaming Table was broken by the Bow-street Officers, the defendant said it was too good a thing to be given up, and instantly got another Table, large enough for twenty or thirty people. The frequenters of this house used to play till day-light: and on one or two occasions, they played all the next day. This is what the defendant called, _sticking to it rarely_. The guests were furnished with wine and suppers gratis, from the funds of the partners.h.i.+p, in abundance. Sunday was a grand day. The witness has seen more than forty people there at a time. The table not being sufficient for the whole, half-a-crown used on such occasions to be given for a seat, and those behind looked over the back of the others and betted.”
The person above-mentioned (whose name was Smith) who p.a.w.ned his coat, corroborated the above evidence; and added, that he had seen a person after he had lost all his money, throw off his coat and go away, losing it also.]
While a vice, ruinous to the morals and to the fortunes of the younger part of the Community who move in the middle and higher ranks of life is suffered to be pursued in direct opposition to _positive statutes_,--surely, blame must attach somewhere!
The idle vanity of being introduced into what is generally, but erroneously, termed genteel society, where a fas.h.i.+onable name announces an intention of seeing company, has been productive of more _domestic misery_ and more _real distress_, _poverty_, and _wretchedness_ to _families_ in this great City (who but for their folly might have been easy and comfortable,) than many volumes could detail.
A mistaken sense of what const.i.tutes human happiness, fatally leads the ma.s.s of the People who have the means of moving in any degree above the middle ranks of life, into circles where Faro Tables and other games at hazard are introduced in private families:--Where the least recommendation (and Sharpers spare no pains to obtain recommendations) is a pa.s.sport to all who can exhibit a genteel exterior; and where the young and the inexperienced are initiated in every propensity tending to debase human character; while they are taught to view with contempt every acquirement, connected with the duties which lead to domestic happiness, or to those qualifications which can render either s.e.x respectable in the world.
When such infamous practices are encouraged and sanctioned by high-sounding names,--when sharpers and black-legs find an easy introduction into the houses of persons of fas.h.i.+on, who a.s.semble in mult.i.tudes together, for the purpose of playing at those most odious and detestable games of hazard, which the Legislature has stigmatised with such marks of reprobation, it is time for the Civil Magistrate to step forward:--It is time for him to feel, that, in doing that duty which the Laws of his Country impose on him, he is perhaps saving hundreds of families from ruin and destruction; and preserving to the infants of thoughtless and deluded parents that property which is their birth-right: but which, for want of an energetic Police in enforcing the Laws made for their protection, is now too frequently squandered; and the mind is tortured with the sad reflection, that with the loss of fortune, all opportunities (in consequence of idle habits) are also lost, of fitting the unfortunate sufferer for any reputable pursuit in life, by which an honest livelihood could be obtained.
In this situation, the transition from the plain gamester to the fraudulent one, and from that to every other species of criminality, is easily conceived: and it is by no means an unfair conclusion, that this has been the fate of not a few who have been early introduced into these haunts of idleness and vice; and who, but for such an education, might have become useful members of the State.
The acc.u.mulated evils, arising from this source, are said to have been suffered to continue, from a prevailing idea, that Persons of Rank and their immediate a.s.sociates were beyond the reach of being controlled, by laws made for the ma.s.s of the People; and that nothing but capital offences could attach to persons of this condition in life.
If these evils were, in fact, merely confined to Persons of rank and fortune, and did not extend beyond that barrier where no general injury could accrue to Society, there might be a shadow of excuse (and it would be but a shadow) for not hazarding an attack upon the amus.e.m.e.nts of the Great, where the energy of the Laws to controul their oeconomy may be doubtful: but surely in the present case, where the mischief spreads _broad_ and _wide_, no good Magistrate can or ought to be afraid to do his duty, because persons in high life may dare to sanction and promote offences of a nature the most mischievous to Society at large, as well as to the peace, comfort, and happiness of families.
If the exertions of the Magistracy are to be suspended until the Higher Ranks see the frivolity, the shameful profligacy and the horrid waste of useful time, as well as the cruel destruction of decent and respectable families in that point of view which will operate as an antidote to the evil, it is much to be feared that it must, under such circ.u.mstances, become incurable.
But there are other inducements, more nearly allied to the occurrences in humble life, which render it in a particular degree inc.u.mbent on Magistrates to make trial, at least, whether there is not sufficient energy in the law to control the hurtful vices of the higher, as well as the middling, and inferior ranks of the People: The examples of the great and opulent, operate most powerfully among the tribe of _menial servants_ they employ; and these carry with them into the lower ranks that spirit of gambling and dissipation which they have practised in the course of their servitude; thus producing consequences of a most alarming nature to the general interests of the Community. To the contagion of such examples, is owing in a great measure the number of persons attached to pursuits of this kind, who become the Swindlers, Sharpers, and Cheats, of an inferior cla.s.s, described in the preceding Chapter: and from the same source spring up those Pests of Society, _The Lottery Insurers_, whose iniquitous proceedings we shall in the next place lay before the Reader.
These, with some exceptions, are composed of persons, in general very depraved or distressed: the depredations committed on the Public by their means are so ruinous and extensive as to require a consideration peculiarly minute: in order to guard the ignorant and unwary, as much as possible, against the fatal effects of that fraud and delusion, which, if not soon checked, bid fair to destroy all remains of honesty and discretion.--These Cla.s.ses consist of
_Sharpers, who take Lottery Insurances_, by which means gambling, among the higher and middling ranks, is carried on, to an extent which exceeds all credibility; producing consequences to many private families, otherwise of great worth and respectability, of the most distressing nature; and implicating in this misery, the innocent and amiable branches of such families, whose sufferings, arising from this source, while they claim the tear of pity, would require many volumes to recount; but silence and shame throw a veil over the calamity: and, cherished by the hopes of retrieving former losses, or acquiring property, in an easy way, the evil goes on, and seems even yet to increase, in spite of every guard which the Legislature has repeatedly endeavoured to establish.
With a very few exceptions all who are or have been proprietors of the Gambling Houses are also concerned in the fraudulent Insurance Offices; and have a number of Clerks employed during the drawing of the two Lotteries, who conduct the business without risk in counting-houses, where no insurances are taken, but to which books are carried, not only from all the different Offices in every part of the town, but also from the Morocco-Men; so called, from their going from door to door with a book covered with red leather for the purpose of taking insurances, and enticing the poor and the middle ranks to become adventurers.
_Several of the Keepers of Insurance Offices, during the interval of the drawing of the English and Irish Lotteries_ have invented and set up private Lotteries, or Wheels, called by the nick-name of _Little Go's_, containing Blanks and Prizes, which are drawn for the purpose of establis.h.i.+ng _a ground for Insurance_; the fever in the minds of the lower order of the people is thus kept up, in some measure, all the year round, and produces incalculable mischiefs; and hence the spirit of gambling becomes so rooted from habit, that no domestic distress, no consideration, arising either with the frauds that are practised, or the number of chances that are against them, will operate as a check upon their minds.
In spite of the high price of provisions, and of the care and attention of the Legislature in establis.h.i.+ng severe checks and punishments for the purpose of preventing the evil of Lottery Insurances, these criminal agents feel no want of customers; their houses and offices are not only extremely numerous all over the Metropolis; but in general _high-rented_; exhibiting the appearance of considerable expence, and barricadoed in such a manner, with iron doors and other contrivances, as in many instances to defy the arm of the Law to reach them.
In tracing all the circ.u.mstances connected with this interesting subject, with a view to the discovery of the cause of the great encouragement which these Lottery Insurers receive, it appears that a considerable proportion of their emolument is derived from _menial servants_ in general, all over the Metropolis; but particularly from the pampered male and female domestics in the houses of men of fas.h.i.+on and fortune; who are said, almost without a single exception, to be in the constant habit of insuring in the English and Irish Lotteries.
This cla.s.s of _menials_, being in many instances cloathed as well as fed by their masters, have not the same calls upon them as labourers and mechanics, who must appropriate at least a part of their earnings to the purpose of obtaining both food and raiment.
With a spirit of gambling, rendered more ardent than prevails in vulgar life, from the example of their superiors, and from their idle and dissipated habits, these servants enter keenly into the Lottery business; and when ill luck attends them, it is but too well known that many are led, step by step, to that point where they lose sight of all moral principle; impelled by a desire to recover what they have lost, they are induced to raise money for that purpose, by selling or p.a.w.ning the property of their masters, wherever it can be pilfered in a little way, without detection; till at length this species of peculation, by being rendered familiar to their minds, generally terminates in more atrocious crimes.
Upon a supposition that one hundred thousand families in the Metropolis keep two servants upon an average, and that one servant with another insures only to the extent of twenty-five s.h.i.+llings each, in the English, and the same in the Irish Lottery, the aggregate of the whole will amount to HALF A MILLION STERLING.