Part 43 (1/2)
”The Messenger declared himself perfectly ignorant of the cause of the detention; stating, at the same time, that when he had conducted him to _Monsieur De Sartine_, he should have executed his orders, which were merely ministerial.
”After some further explanations, the Gentleman permitted the Officer to conduct him accordingly. _Monsieur De Sartine_ received him, with great politeness; and after requesting him to be seated, to his great astonishment, he described his portmanteau; and told him the exact sum in bills and specie which he had brought with him to Paris, and where he was to lodge, his usual time of going to bed, and a number of other circ.u.mstances, which the Gentleman had conceived could only be known to himself.--_Monsieur De Sartine_ having thus excited attention, put this extraordinary question to him--_Sir, are you a man of courage?_--The Gentleman, still more astonished at the singularity of such an interrogatory, demanded the reason why he put such a strange question, adding, at the same time, that no man ever doubted his courage. _Monsieur De Sartine_ replied,--_Sir, you are to be robbed and murdered this night!--If you are a man of courage, you must go to your hotel, and retire to rest at the usual hour: but be careful that you do not fall asleep; neither will it be proper for you to look under the bed, or into any of the closets which are in your bed-chamber_; (which he accurately described);--_you must place your portmanteau in its usual situation, near your bed, and discover no suspicion:--Leave what remains to me.--If, however, you do not feel your courage sufficient to bear you out, I will procure a person who shall personate you, and go to bed in your stead._
”The Gentleman being convinced, in the course of the conversation, that _Monsieur de Sartine's_ intelligence was accurate in every particular, he refused to be personated, and formed an immediate resolution, literally, to follow the directions he had received: he accordingly went to bed at his usual hour, which was eleven o'clock.--At half past twelve (the time mentioned by _Monsieur De Sartine_), the door of the bed-chamber burst open, and three men entered with a _dark lantern_, _daggers_ and _pistols_.--The Gentleman, who of course was awake, perceived one of them to be his own servant.--They rifled his portmanteau, undisturbed, and settled the plan of putting him to death.--The Gentleman, hearing all this, and not knowing by what means he was to be rescued, it may naturally be supposed, was under great perturbation of mind during such an awful interval of suspense; when, at the moment the villains were preparing to commit the horrid deed, four Police Officers, acting under _Mons.
De Sartine's_ orders, who were concealed under the bed, and in the closet, rushed out and seized the offenders with the property in their possession, and in the act of preparing to commit the murder.
”The consequence was, that the perpetration of the atrocious deed was prevented, and sufficient evidence obtained to convict the offenders.--_Monsieur De Sartine's_ intelligence enabled him to _prevent_ this horrid offence of robbery and murder; which, but for the accuracy of the System, would probably have been carried into execution.”
Another Anecdote, was mentioned to the Author by the same Minister, relative to the Emperor Joseph the Second: ”That Monarch, having, in the year 1787, formed and promulgated a new Code of Laws relative to criminal and civil offences;[166] and having also established what he conceived to be the best System of Police in Europe, he could scarcely ever forgive the French Nation, in consequence of the accuracy and intelligence of _Mons. De Sartine_ having been found so much superior to his own; notwithstanding the immense pains he had bestowed upon that department of his Government.
[Footnote 166: Vide page 63 & _seq._ of this Volume.]
”A very notorious offender, who was a subject of the Emperor, and who committed many atrocious acts of violence and depredation at Vienna, was traced to Paris by the Police established by His Majesty, who ordered his Amba.s.sador at the Court of France to demand that this delinquent should be delivered up to Public Justice.
”_Mons. De Sartine_ acknowledged to the Imperial Amba.s.sador, that the person he inquired after had been in Paris;--that, if it would be any satisfaction, he could inform him where he had lodged, and the different gaming-tables, and other places of infamous resort, which he frequented while there;--but that he was now gone.--
”The Amba.s.sador, after stating the accuracy and correct mode by which the Police of Vienna was conducted, insisted that this offender must still be in Paris; otherwise the Emperor would not have commanded him to make such an application.
”_Monsieur de Sartine_ smiled at the incredulity of the Imperial Minister, and made a reply to the following effect:--
”_Do me the honour, Sir, to inform the Emperor, your Master, that the person he looks for left Paris on the 10th day of the last month; and is now lodged in a back room looking into a garden in the third story of a house, number 93, in ---- street, in his own Capital of Vienna; where his Majesty will, by sending to the spot, be sure to find him._--
”It was literally as the French Minister of Police had stated.--The Emperor, to his astonishment, found the delinquent in the house and apartment described; but he was greatly mortified at this proof of the accuracy of the French Police; which, in this instance, in point of intelligence _even in Vienna_, was discovered to be so much superior to his own.”--
The fact is, that the French System had arrived at the greatest degree of perfection; and though not necessary, nor even proper, to be copied as _a pattern_, might, nevertheless, furnish many useful hints, calculated to improve the Police of this Metropolis, consistent with the existing Laws; and even to extend and increase the Liberty of Subject without taking one privilege away; or interfering in the pursuits of any one cla.s.s of individuals; except those employed in purposes of _mischief_, _fraud_, and _criminality_.
The situation of this Country, (indeed of every country in Europe,) has changed materially since the dissolution of the ancient Government of France.--The horde of sharpers and villains, who heretofore resorted to Paris from every part of Europe, will now consider London as their general and most productive theatre of action; for two obvious reasons:--1st. Paris being exhausted of riches, its n.o.bility banished, and the princ.i.p.al part of the active property there annihilated, the former resources for the support of criminal and depraved characters no longer exist; while that Metropolis holds out no allurements similar to what were formerly experienced. 2dly. The ignorance of the English language (a circ.u.mstance which formerly afforded us some protection), will no longer be a bar to the resort of the continental sharpers to the Metropolis of this kingdom. At no period was it ever so generally understood by Foreigners; or the French language so universally spoken, by at least the younger part of the People of this Country.--
The spirit of gaming and dissipation which prevails in London, promoted already in no inconsiderable degree by profligate characters from the Continent, the opulence of the People, and the great ma.s.s of active property in circulation, will afford a wide field for the exercise of the invention and wits of that description of men, both foreigners and natives, who infested Paris under the old Government, and which rendered a more than ordinary attention to its Police indispensably necessary.--
The termination of the present war will probably throw into this country a vast number of idle, profligate, and depraved characters, natives of this, as well as of other nations, who will require to be narrowly watched by a vigilant and well-regulated Police. The probability of such an accession to the numbers already engaged in acts of delinquency, serves to establish new and incontrovertible arguments in favour of the proposed _Board of Responsible Commissioners_, for managing the affairs of the Police of the Metropolis; to form a _Centre-point_, and to bind the System together.
To be well prepared against every possible evil, is one great step towards prevention; and among the many advantages already detailed, as likely to result from a _Board of Police Revenue_, this would be none of the least.
In every view in which the subject can be considered, such a System, strengthened by good and apposite Laws, could not fail to be productive of vast benefits to the Community. _Petty Thefts_ affecting all ranks who have any property to lose, and destroying the moral principle, would be greatly abridged:--as would also the plunder from vessels in the River Thames, as well as from the public a.r.s.enals, Dock-yards, and s.h.i.+ps of War. The more atrocious Crimes of Burglary and Highway Robbery, would suffer a severe check, in the embarra.s.sments which would arise from the System of detections and Rewards--from the restrictions proposed to be laid upon Receivers of Stolen Goods; upon Night Coaches,--and from other regulations applicable to those particular offences. A large proportion of the _Coiners_, _Dealers_, and _Utterers of Base Money_, feeling the risk of detection, as well as of punishment, greatly extended and increased, would probably abandon the business as hazardous and destructive. The completion of the General System would also, either collaterally or immediately, reach the tribe of Cheats, Swindlers, and Lottery Offenders, in such a manner as to occasion a considerable reduction of their number, by narrowing the ground, and destroying the resources by which they at present flourish.
The establishment of such a System would be an immediate benefit to every man of property, as an individual, independent of the Public at large; but even in another point of view, it is doubly necessary at this juncture, when new events are daily occurring, of a nature truly interesting to the peace and well-being of Society, and to the tranquillity of the State; rendering it more than ever necessary to establish a System of unremitting vigilance. It is a fact well established, that it was princ.i.p.ally through the medium, and by the a.s.sistance, of many of the twenty thousand miscreants who were registered, previous to the anarchy of France, on the books of the Lieutenant of Police, that the contending Factions in that distracted country, were enabled to perpetrate those horrid ma.s.sacres and acts of atrocity, which have been beheld with detestation, abhorrence, and astonishment, by every civilized nation in the world.
Let it be recollected, at the same time, that Mankind, in a state of depravity, arising from a long course of criminal turpitude, are nearly alike in every country; and that it becomes us to look with a jealous eye on the several thousand miscreants of the same description which now infest London; for they too, upon any fatal emergency, (which G.o.d forbid!) would be equally ready as their brethren in iniquity were, in Paris, to repeat the same atrocities, if any opportunity offered.
As the effectuating such an object has become so great a desideratum;--and as it is to confer those blessings which spring from a well-regulated Police, calculated to extend a species of protection[167] to the inhabitants of this great Metropolis, which has never been heretofore experienced:--it can scarcely fail to be a matter of general satisfaction to know that the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Finance, have strongly recommended to Parliament a System of Police, similar to that which had been submitted to the consideration of the Public in the former editions of this Work.
[Footnote 167: In mentioning what regards the protection of the Metropolis, with the inefficiency of the existing Civil Force in Constables, it is impossible to overlook those eminent advantages which have arisen from the excellent inst.i.tutions of the Honourable Artillery Company, the Light Horse Volunteers, and the other a.s.sociated Corps, who have so n.o.bly stood forth in the hour of danger to support the deficient Police of the Country.
To these Patriotic individuals, the inhabitants of the Metropolis are under infinite obligations.
Regardless of their own _ease_, _convenience_, _interest_, or _personal safety_, the members of these public-spirited a.s.sociations have ever stood forward in the hour of tumult and disorder gratuitously, and at their own expence, for the protection of their Fellow-citizens, and for the preservation of the Public peace.