6 brothels of the 1st class, with inmates 16 8 " " 2d " " 33 40 " " 3d " " 141 ---190 Private prostitutes of the 1st class 39 " " " 2d " 28 --- 67 Total 257 About this period, an epoch of general political movement, men of the highest rank in Prussia began to doubt the propriety of tolerating prostitution, and orders were given, in opposition to the remonstrances of the police, to take measures which would effectually compel brothel-keepers to close their houses. This appears to have been the first positive attempt at absolute repression, and the police intimated that illicit prostitution would be its inevitable result. In reply, they were directed that, if their prediction should be verified, they must pursue the vice more closely. In 1800 the number of registered women had decreased to 246, _but it was notorious that illicit prostitution had increased largely_. This fact was not denied by the police. They ascribed it, very justly, to the restrictions imposed on the tolerated houses, which were now actually less than ever, at a time when the resident population of Berlin was twenty thousand more than at the last computation, exclusive of a large influx of troops and foreigners. They were not supported in their views, but were ordered, on the ground of extensive disease among the soldiery, to "crush out" the illicit prostitution, and this order they vainly endeavored to accomplish. An inquiry into the comparative state of the venereal disease was directed at the same time, and the state physician reported that _there was less disease among registered than illicit prostitutes, and inferred that a diminution of tolerated, but strictly guarded regular brothels, was not for the public benefit_. The year 1808, when the French army overran Europe, was a period of general war and trouble; the police regulations fell into abeyance, and prostitution became comparatively free and uncontrolled. The French military commanders in Berlin made complaints to the police of the lawless state of the town, particularly specifying some of the brothels, which had become nests of gamblers, wherein robbery, duels, suicides, and other offenses were of frequent occurrence. The results of an inspection were as follows: