For the purpose of securing purity, and regular and proper conduct on the part of the Officers under the Marine Police Establishment, a perusal of the Instructions under which the various Classes act, as detailed in the Appendix, No. VII. will shew the labour which has been bestowed in systematizing this part of the design, for the purpose of rendering their services effective and useful. The Author has endeavoured in this Work, to draw a circle round every object that can be considered in any degree useful to the Commerce and Navigation of the River Thames; and under an impression that all that can be considered important or necessary will be found within this Circle, he humbly hopes, that his anxious labours to promote the interest and extend the security of the Public, will not prove in vain. He has only to regret, that in an investigation so laborious and extensive, where much time and attention is necessary, the numerous interruptions he has experienced in consequence of the various Public Duties he has been called upon to perform, may have unavoidably occasioned imperfections, which, under other circumstances, could neither have occurred nor furnished an excuse for soliciting the indulgence of the Reader. With respect however to the legal part of the Work, where the danger of misleading the Public is not only obvious, but would in this or any other instance be unpardonable, the utmost attention has been bestowed with respect to the accuracy of the Abridgements of the Statute Laws, these being stript of many of those terms which are not familiar to common Readers, it may be hoped, will prove beneficial in conveying that species of useful knowledge to Commercial and Nautical People, which could not otherwise be easily obtained, while it furnishes a kind of Index to the principal Statutes at large, which relate to Navigation, Commerce, and Nautical Offences, in all instances where interest or curiosity impels the mind to pursue more elaborate researches. Where Offences are exposed, and various classes of Individuals implicated in the details which are given in this Work, it is from a genuine desire to warn those whose errors and vices are brought under the review of the Public, against a repetition of the same evil courses. It is not punishment in any case, but prevention in all, which has stimulated the Author to record those various proceedings which constitute the mass of turpitude, which has so long afflicted the Trade of the River Thames, A hope A hope is to be indulged, that in many cases it may serve as a beacon to forewarn the unwary, and to arrest the hands of not a few of those who have been implicated in Offences of this nature. If these objects shall be attained by a correct System of Nautical Police, and by a sense of the dangers arising from the various ramifications of turpitude recorded in this Volume:-If it shall tend, as the Author anxiously hopes, to prevent a repetition of the distresses attached to Punishment, and the inexpressible sufferings of the families and relatives of those who might otherwise have been betrayed into the commission of Penal Offences, he will feel himself amply rewarded in having contributed not less to the cause of Humanity, than to the preservation of Morals and the prevention of Crimes. Let it not be supposed by those who may feel the force of the Strictures which apply to acts of Delinquency in which they themselves have been engaged, that such Strictures do not immediately proceed from motives connected with the future comfort of themselves and families. If in recording such a variety of Offences, the turpitude of a part of the Inferior Officers belonging to his Majesty's Revenue, and other branches of the Public Service, have been brought under the review of the Reader, let it be recollected that the Author while he has exposed their errors and crimes, has felt for their condition;-has offered palliatives, and even pleaded earnestly for an increase of emolument as a means of augmenting their comforts, and of removing the temptations to do wrong which are too often excited by extreme poverty. Property obtained by criminal and unlawful means is the never-failing source of ultimate evil to the parties concerned; and he who contributes to secure those who are likely to be betrayed into a train of miseries, cannot be considered as unfriendly even to the worst of the human race; since the object in view is to establish an antidote against calamities which do not terminate in the wretchedness of the Individuals concerned alone, but intails distress and obloquy on an innocent offspring. Every feeling mind must deplore the fate of those who are thus unhappily circumstanced, and it is a painful duty indeed when Magistrates are called upon to execute their Functions in cases so peculiarly calamitous, while the distress thus felt is always augmented by the reflection, that such an unpleasing task might have been rendered in a great measure • unnecessary, by the measures of prevention which are suggested in this Work. To live to see such measures adopted and successfully carried into effect, will prove to the Author a i Nor source of the most genuine gratification: Whether his efforts relate to the formation of the important design of a River Police, or to the Work now offered with all possible deference to the consideration of the Public, he can only in general state, that he has spared no labour to render both as far as circumstances would admit-beneficial to the Commerce, Navigation, and Revenue of the Port of London, and (he hopes) generally useful to his Country. Westminster, |