used to be observed that in those parishes, when an Irish thief or rioter was taken, he was very apt to get off. But there were large and populous districts absolutely without protection of any kind. One of such was Deptford, with a population of 20,000, which, in 1828, was without a single policeman or watchman. Το check the prevalence of street robbery and burglary, the inhabitants formed themselves into a Watch Committee, taking their turn by twenties to patrol the streets at night; but this lasted only until the thieves had taken their departure into other parishes, when the practice was discontinued, and thieving began again as before.

There was nothing approaching unity of action in the maintenance of order. The whole metropolis was divided and subdivided into petty jurisdictions, each independent of every other, and each having sufficiently distinct interests to engender perpetual jealousies and animosities. The indolent and indifferent watchman was not slow to take advantage of this state of things. Thus cases occurred in which the Charley,' observing a row going on, or a crime being committed, on the opposite side of a street, would refuse to interfere because it was in another parish! In short, had the increase of crime rather than its repression-the interest of the thieves rather than of the honest public-the provision of facilities for enabling professional depredators to obtain the largest amount of plunder with the least danger-been the express objects of parochial and municipal arrangement, they could not have been more effectually promoted by the system, or rather the utter want of system, which then prevailed with respect to the Police of London and its suburbs.

Attempts were made about the beginning of the present century, under the pressure of increasing crime, to remedy this disgraceful state of things. The publication of Mr. Colquhoun's works, which excited great interest at the time, probably contributed not a little to direct attention to the subject. A horse patrol was established by the Government in 1805, with the object of checking the increase of highway and foot-pad robberies in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. It was divided into mounted and dismounted. The former patrolled by night all the great roads round London to within a distance of about twenty miles; while the latter was principally stationed in the

"The Police of the Metropolis, containing a detail of the various crimes and misdemeanours by which public and private property and security are at present injured and endangered; and suggesting remedies for their prevention.' By P. Colquhoun, LL.D., Acting Magistrate for the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, &c.

A Treatise on the Commerce and Police of the River Thames.' By the same. immediate

immediate environs of London, within a distance of four or five miles, patrolling those roads not watched by the mounted men. This force consisted for the most part of old soldiers, steady and well disciplined, the mounted being recruited from the dismounted; and dressed as they were in blue coats and red waistcoats, they were commonly known as the 'robin redbreasts.' In addition to the horse patrol, there was the Bow Street night patrol, established in the time of Sir John Fielding, which patrolled the principal streets of the metropolis, more particularly those in which the drunken old Charlies were found the least efficient.

These several patrols, consisting of properly selected men, acting under the immediate orders of the Chief Magistrate at Bow Street, were found extremely serviceable in checking foot-pad robberies, and in increasing the general security of persons and property within the range of their respective beats. But their numbers were altogether inadequate to the duty that had to be performed. As late as 1828, the mounted patrol consisted of only fifty-four men in four divisions, with two inspectors, and four deputy-inspectors; and the dismounted patrol consisted of eighty-nine men, also in four divisions, with four inspectors and eight sub-inspectors. The Bow Street night-patrol consisted of only eighty-two men, seventeen conductors, and one inspector; but there was no daypatrol whatever, nothing in the shape of a regular day police force until the year 1822, when the Bow Street day-patrol was introduced by Mr. (afterwards Sir Robert) Peel, for the purpose of watching the principal streets of the metropolis until the night-patrol came on duty.

At its commencement, this day-patrol consisted of only twenty-four men and three inspectors; yet it formed the nucleus of the present splendid day and night police force of the metropolis. It was begun on the lowest scale as to numbers and expense, being regarded by Mr. Peel mainly as an experiment of a new organisation, which might be adopted on a larger scale, or discontinued, according as circumstances might determine.

From the day on which Mr. Peel's day-patrol of twenty-four men was established, its usefulness and efficiency were at once recognised. It was the only body of men in the metropolis that could be brought together to put down a disturbance or disperse a mob without calling in the aid of the military. The constables, head boroughs, and beadles of the separate parishes of the metropolis, were useless for such a purpose. Some of the most crowded thoroughfares were so ill protected that the inhabitants established patrols of their own in front of their

shops,

shops, even in the day time. In short, Bumbledom had been fully tried, and was found utterly incompetent either to protect property or to maintain order. The anarchy which continued to prevail among the parochial administrations arising from their unconnected, inefficient, and often conflicting action, was at length found so intolerable, that after full trial had been given to the experiment of a day-patrol, it was at length determined to apply the system to the entire metropolis.

The result was the passing of the Act 10 George IV. chap. 44, for the establishment of an efficient police, to patrol and watch the Metropolitan Police District (excepting only The City'), which was defined as extending to an average distance of seven miles round Charing Cross-the modern centre of London. This district was afterwards extended by Order in Council, pursuant to the 2nd and 3rd Victoria, chap. 47, to all parishes any part of which was within twelve miles of Charing Cross, which had the effect of enlarging the area to an average radius of fifteen miles from that centre. And by a subsequent Act, passed in 1860, the care of the Royal Dockyards and certain Military Stations was also made over to the police force of the capital.

The first portion of the new police was embodied in September, 1829, under Major Rowan and Richard Mayne, Esq., who were appointed Joint Commissioners and placed under the control of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. Some time elapsed before the force was completely organised; and it was not until May, 1830, that the whole metropolitan district became occupied. At that date the metropolitan police stood at 17 superintendents, 68 inspectors, 318 sergeants, and 2892 constables, or a total of 3295 men. With the extension

of the metropolis, their duties were necessarily increased, and successive additions were from time to time made to their numbers, though neither in proportion to the increased area they had to patrol, nor the increased population they had to guard.

At the present time, the metropolitan district is divided into nineteen divisions, designated by certain letters of the alphabet, as well as by local names. These divisions are subdivided into subdivisions, and these into sections, which are again subdivided into beats. The policemen have charge of the beats, the sergeants of the sections, the inspectors of the subdivisions, and the superintendents of the whole divisions. Besides the letter divisions, there are also the Thames Police or water division, and the five dockyard divisions at Woolwich, Portsmouth, Devonport, Chatham, and Pembroke respectively, organised after the same plan.

The

The following is a summary of the Force as it stood at the beginning of the present year :

Besides the Superintendents of Divisions, four additional officers were appointed early in 1869, holding a position intermediate between them and the Assistant-Commissioners, each of whom has the immediate supervision of about one-fourth of the metropolitan district, and to them has been given the title of District Superintendent.

Each division of the police has a principal station, which, by means of the electric telegraph, is kept in direct communication with the central office in Scotland Yard; so that at any moment the reserves of the force may be alarmed and moved on any given point where their services are required. For this purpose Reserve companies, consisting of picked men, in full bodily vigour, are attached to all the divisions, from whence they may be concentrated at any time for special duty, such as the regulation of the traffic on the Derby Day, or the great Boat Race, or on the occasion of a procession, or a tumult, without interfering with the security of the respective districts. The Whitehall

division

division is also applicable to general purposes, being employed to attend upon the Sovereign, the Parliament, the theatres, the parks, and other places of public resort.

The whole force is directed by one Chief Commissioner, and two Assistant-Commissioners, under the control of the Home Secretary, who is responsible to Parliament. The Commissioner and his assistants are charged with the execution of the Acts of Parliament under which the force is constituted, including its organisation, the framing of the orders and regulations for the government of its members, their selection and rejection, their distribution and inspection, their discipline and drill, and, in short, all the arrangements in detail which are necessary to render the force as efficient as possible in the discharge of its various duties.

Though the police of the City of London are a distinct force, appointed by and under the control of the Corporation, they are in nearly all respects identical in their organisation with the metropolitan police force. Some ten years after the efficiency of the new system had become recognised, the City authorities wisely determined to reconstitute their police after the metropolitan model, and it now forms an equally effective force— its sphere of action, however, being confined to the City and Liberties. It is directed by a commissioner, and consists of two superintendents, 14 inspectors, 14 station-sergeants, 12 detective sergeants, 56 ordinary sergeants, 338 first-class constables, 165 second-class, and 95 third-class; or a total force of 696 men.

Every possible care is taken to select the best men to fill the ranks of the police. If imperfect men obtain admission, it is probably because perfect men are not to be had at the wage. Nineteen shillings a week, with a chance of rising by good conduct to 21s., 23s., and 25s. weekly, is not a very tempting salary; yet there is no want of candidates to fill vacancies in the force. In 1869 the number of applicants for admission to the metropolitan police was 4550; of whom 2470 were not examined, as not coming within the stipulated conditions of age, stature, health, education, &c.; 1750 were rejected as unqualified on account of insufficiency of testimonials; 720 did not proceed with their applications, and 2080 were selected for examination, of whom 940 were rejected, and 1140 passed; or only about 25 per cent. of the original number of applicants. Of the men

The Commissioner, in his last Report, recommends that the rate of pay be increased from 19s. to 20s. on entry, rising to 22s., 24s., and 26s.; and that firstclass sergeants be increased from 28s. to 31s., and second-class from 26s. to 298. per week.

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