[163] "The policy of a legislator who punishes every offence with death, is like the pusillanimous terror of a child who crushes the insect he dares not look at."--Bentham, "Principles of the Penal Code," Part iv. Cap. xxii. [164] "The more the certainty of punishment can be augmented, the more it may be diminished in amount."--Bentham, "Principles of the Penal Code." Rule viii. [165] The ethical point of view is well put by Henry Fielding, who said, "Nor in plain truth will the utmost severity to offenders be justifiable, unless we take every possible means of preventing the offence." [166] In a letter addressed to _The Times_ of November 14th, 1849--Charles Dickens, himself an eye-witness of one of these brutalising exhibitions, wrote--"I am solemnly convinced that nothing that ingenuity could devise to be done in this city, in the same compass of time, could work such ruin as one public execution, and I stand astounded and appalled by the wickedness it exhibits." [167] As early as 1597, by an act passed in the 39th year of Queen Elizabeth's reign--Quarter Sessions were empowered to inflict transportation, but at first the law could not be enforced because there was no place to which convicts could be shipped. A number of royalists were transported to Barbadoes after its capitulation in 1651, but this was only a temporary measure. [168] 4 Geo. i. c. 2. [169] 8 Geo. iii. c. 15. [170] Escott's "England," 1885 Edn., p. 240. [171] 7 & 8 Geo. IV., c. 18. [172] It is impossible to say how far Bentham was influenced by Beccaria; the two men arrived at similar conclusions, but their methods were essentially different. Beccaria's great work, "Dei Delitti e delle Pene," was first published (anonymously) in 1764, and Bentham's "Rationale of Punishments and Rewards" was written eleven years later. [173] In 1800 six women were publicly flogged till the blood ran down their backs for hedge-pulling. [174] 9 Geo. iv. c. 61. [175] See "Encyclopædia of the Laws of England" under Licensing Acts. [176] 7 and 8 Geo. iv. c. 31. [177] 2 Geo. iv. and 1 Will. iv. c. 70. [178] "Mysteries of Police and Crime," Griffiths, p. 66. [179] A River Police Office, with three Justices assigned to it, was authorised by 39 and 40 Geo. iii. c. 88. [180] None of this applies to the "City of London" proper, which still retains its independent position, as far as its police is concerned. [181] 10 Geo. iv. c. 44. [182] 10 Geo. iv. c. 45. [183] The official designation of the Chiefs of the Metropolitan Police was changed from "Justice" to "Commissioner" in the year 1839. The change was one of title only, and the Police commissioners were still Justices of the Peace by virtue of their office. To prevent confusion the word "Commissioner" is henceforward employed in this book. [184] "Sir Robert Peel," by C. S. Parker.