In 1815 alone, eighty thousand pounds was given in blood-money, an expenditure that might almost be considered as a Government subsidy for the encouragement of felony. Forty pounds was the reward offered for the conviction of certain offenders, and it was obviously to the advantage of the thief-taker not to interfere with a promising young criminal until he should commit a forty pounds crime; premature detection was tantamount to killing the goose that should lay the golden egg, and the common cant phrase of the day, when referring to a juvenile offender, was, "he doesn't weigh forty pounds yet." The mischievous tendency of this system of rewards cannot be exaggerated, it vitiated the whole police constitution; nor was there any chance of recovering property until a sufficient reward was advertised to stimulate those who alone were familiar with the haunts and methods of thieves and receivers. "Officers are dangerous creatures," said Townsend, after more than thirty years' experience as a Bow Street Runner; "they have it frequently in their power (no question about it) to turn the scale, when the beam is level, on the other side: I mean against the poor wretched man at the bar; Why? this thing called nature, says profit is in the scale: and melancholy to relate, but I cannot help being perfectly satisfied that frequently that has been the means of convicting many and many a man.... I am convinced that whenever A is giving evidence against B he should stand perfectly uninterested.... Nothing can be so dangerous as a public officer, where he is liable to be tempted." The following is a list of the rewards, that could be earned by police and others:-- 1. Highway robbery-- From the Sheriff £40 0 0} £50 0 0 From the Hundred 10 0 0} 2. Burglary-- From the Sheriff 40 0 0} A Tyburn Ticket worth 10 0 0} 50 0 0 3. Housebreaking in the daytime do. 50 0 0 4. Counterfeiting gold or silver coin 40 0 0 5. Do. copper coin 10 0 0 6. Stealing from any shop, warehouse or stable, to the value of more than five shillings 10 0 0 7. Horse stealing 20 0 0 8. Stealing cattle or sheep 10 0 0 9. Compounding a felony 40 0 0 10. Wounding and killing a Revenue Officer 50 0 0 11. Certain Offences under the Black Act 50 0 0 12. Persons returning from transportation 20 0 0 13. Embezzling the King's Stores 20 0 0 14. Apprehending deserters from the Army 1 0 0 15. Apprehending rogues and vagabonds 0 10 0 16. Apprehending idle and disorderly persons 0 5 0