_A summary View of the Evils detailed in the preceding Chapters.--Arguments in favour of a more energetic Police as the only means of remedying these Evils.--A general View of the estimated Depredations annually in the Metropolis and its Vicinity; amounting in all to Two Millions sterling.--A View of the Remedies proposed--1st. With respect to the Corruption of Morals.--2d. The means of preventing Crimes in general.--3d. Offences committed on the River Thames.--4th. Offences in the Public Arsenals and Ships of War.--5th. Counterfeiting Money and fabricating Bank Notes.--6th. Punishments.--7th. Further advantages of an improved System of Police.--Concluding Reflections._ 602 A TREATISE, &c. CHAPTER I. _A general view of the Evils existing in the Metropolis, and the causes from which they arise.--Necessity of a well-regulated Police.--Ineffective system of Criminal Jurisprudence.--Facility of eluding Justice. Severity and inequality of Punishments.--Necessity of revising our Penal Code.--Certain dangerous Offences not punishable.--Receivers of stolen property.--Extent of plunder in the Metropolis, &c.--Proposed restrictions on Receivers.--Coiners and Utterers of Counterfeit Money; the extent of their crimes.--Defects in the mode of prosecuting Offenders.--Pardons.--Periodical discharges of Prisoners.--Summary of the causes of the present inefficacy of the Police, under nine different heads._ Next to the blessings which a Nation derives from an excellent Constitution and System of general Laws, are those advantages which result from a well-regulated and energetic plan of Police, conducted and enforced with purity, activity, vigilance, and discretion. Upon this depends, in so great a degree, the comfort, the happiness, and the true liberty and security of the People, that too much labour and attention cannot possibly be bestowed in rendering complete the domestic administration of Justice in all cases of criminal delinquency. That much remains to be done in this respect no person will deny; all ranks must bear testimony to the dangers which both life and property are at present subjected to by the number of criminal people, who, from various causes (which it is the object of the Writer of these pages to explain), are suffered with impunity to repeat acts of licentiousness and mischief, and to commit depredations upon individuals and the Public. In vain do we boast of those liberties which are our birthright, if the vilest and most depraved part of the Community are suffered to deprive us of the privilege of travelling upon the highways, or of approaching the Capital in any direction after dark, without risk of being assaulted, and robbed; and perhaps wounded or murdered.