Notwithstanding this rapid spread of prostitution, the police of the city can not justly be charged with neglect of duty, any public outrage being followed by condign punishment. At one time a whole ship-load of nymphs of the _pavé_ was dispatched to the colonies; at another a raid was made on the most conspicuous houses, some of the inmates alarmed into decency of conduct, and the incorrigible publicly exhibited in the streets, decorated with inscriptions signifying their offenses. The voice of the few was powerless against the corruptions of the many. The pamphlets and papers of the time teem with the proffered services of go-betweens, and even the Hamburg ladies themselves were far from perfection, if we may credit the evidence of a fictitious petition, praying, among other things, that the ladies restrict the indecency of their costume, and not make such a liberal display of their charms. It was impossible such an extravagant state of society should long exist; a reaction was inevitable; and we find, accordingly, an ordinance enacted in 1807 by the Proctor Abendroth in reference to the matter. It recognized brothel-keeping and prostitution as a calling, and permitted it under certain restrictions. A tax on the class was imposed, and means were prescribed by which a register of all persons engaged therein was to be kept, and their health and general good conduct maintained and enforced. The official justification of the tax is found in the order itself, which declares that, "for the purposes aforesaid" (police register and supervision, medical examination, maintenance in sickness, poverty, etc.), "and in order that the public shall be at no charges, each housekeeper shall, for every woman residing with him, pay two marks to the Proctor's treasury. The surplus of this treasury shall go to the Hospital." During the French occupation in 1811, the police renewed and enforced the stringent regulations on the subject of common houses and women. The preamble of their "Instructions" (April, 1811) is worthy of notice: "Public and personal safety require a constant inspection, as well of the public houses dedicated to debauchery, as of the women and girls who frequent the same, live therein, or dwell there from time to time. This inspection must also be extended to those places which are not expressly appointed for dwelling-houses, but which, nevertheless, must be included among the public houses, inasmuch as they serve for refuge to the women and girls who wander about the streets."