MR. OWEN STANLEYsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If his attention has been called to the outrages committed upon respectable persons walking in the streets in the day time by bands of ruffians, who take the opportunity of crowds collected by Volunteer, Militia, and other Military bands passing through the streets to hustle and rob them; and if any orders have been issued to the Police to protect the public from a continuance of those disgraceful attacks in the Metropolis? From what had appeared in the newspapers, it appeared that in some instances the police, when appealed to, had refused to do their duty.
§ SIR ANDREW AGNEWsaid, he had placed upon the Notice Paper a similar Question. On Monday, the 3rd of June, 1665 three robberies were reported as having taken place between Great Stanhope Street and Hyde Park Corner, and the police-offices of Marylebone, Worship Street, Clerkenwell, Southwark, and Lambeth were thronged with complainants. One witness, whose statement was partly confirmed by a constable, said he saw thirty watches taken within a short distance. A lady living in Devonshire Terrace was robbed and very much bruised. Another person, who was maltreated and robbed, could with difficulty be heard in Court, owing to the injuries he had received in his throat. A foreigner was seen flying down the City Road followed by 100 ruffians. It should be understood that these outrages were not confined to the line of march of the militia, but occurred contemporaneously on the South side of the river, in Pall Mall, in the New Road, and in Park Lane. A wedding in Cavendish Square was the occasion of many robberies in that neighbourhood, and the usual reliefs of the guard at St. James' Palace were stated as the cause of similar practices in the Mall. He thought it high time that the Secretary of State for the Home Department should, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police authorities, take some steps to put an end to these outrages.
§ MR. GATHORNE HARDYI saw, Sir, with great regret in the papers yesterday morning an account, written by different persons, of outrages committed the day before on the march of the City of London Militia, accompanied by a large mob of persons. I immediately directed a letter to be written to the Commissioners of Police, calling their attention to these statements, and asking for an explanation. From the information I have received it appears that the City of London Militia, without any notice whatever to the police, marched through the streets from Finsbury to the Regent's Park, going through some of the most public and open thoroughfares in the metropolis. They were accompanied by an organized gang, many of them convicted thieves, and these persons necessarily took by surprise the ordinary police force which was on duty. The police were not in numbers enough to prevent the attacks made upon persons who were quietly passing along the streets, not suspecting any harm. The police, however, took no fewer than nine of those persons at the time; altogether, I think, fifteen persons have been arrested; several of 1666 them have been identified before the magistrate, and have been remanded for further examination. The amount of property taken in twenty-six instances amounts, I think, to somewhat more than £150; that is putting, probably, a very low value upon the articles taken. As it sometimes happens that after such outrages have once been commenced there is a tendency to renew them, directions have been given to strengthen the police as far as possible at the points where it is likely that attempts of this sort may be made. It is only just however to the police to say that there is only one case in which a policeman has been called to account for not assisting to prevent these outrages. It happened in this way: at the time when one of these robberies had taken place a large number of children were beating the bounds of the parish. A gentleman came up to the policeman and said, in great agitation, "That is the man! Take him!" Put he made no charge, and when the policeman asked, "What is it?" he gave no answer. The excitement of the gentleman was so great that the policeman did not know whether he referred to the mob or the children, and it was only when another person came up and said, "The gentleman has been robbed of his watch," that he could understand what had occurred. The policeman then went across the road and secured the man. It should be known that the police at this season have very onerous duties to perform, and between 300 and 400 of them are now employed in protecting the metropolis against the intrusion of the cattle plague. I am sure that after what has passed the Commissioners of Police will do all in their power to prevent the recurrence of robberies which, I must say, are a disgrace to the metropolis.
MR. OWEN STANLEYsaid, he wished to say in explanation that he had spoken upon the evidence given in the police-court by Mr. Brett, who had been robbed, and who stated that when he pointed out the man to the policeman, the latter said, "You can go and catch him yourself."