THE SAFETY OF LONDON.
AATHEN the annual Report on the Police by their Commis-
sioner appears in the shape of a Blue-book, the people of Londoa are, as a rule, reminded that their safety hangs upon a slender thread, and they are asked to marvel at the singular fact that some 9,300 men, who do not carry arms, keep order in a city of four millions. And beyond question, the success of so small a body in repressing disorderly tenden- cies, and checking or even preventing crime, is a fair subject for admiring comment. Probably admiration will be increased when the public remembers, what it often forgets, the immense variety of duties performed by the Police which have nothing to do with keeping down crime and petty street-quarrels. We have often described the multifarious functions imposed upon them by Parliament, which seems to be of opinion that a Police force, no matter what proportion its numbers bears to popula- tion, represents an indefinite quantity of energy, adroitness, and intelligence. Whenever an Under-Secretary or private Member wants a piece of work done, either in London or the sountry, he provides, in an offhand manner, that the Police shall do it; and the suggestion is nearly always sanctioned, as a mat- ter of course, by Parliament. They enforce the Licensing and Smoke-nuisance Acts ; inspect common lodging-houses ; arrest stray dogs (19,409 last year), discover and restore by thousands lost children and adults ; grant certificates to pedlars ; examine public carriages, condemning the unsafe on Plimsoll principles, and preventing overloading; regulate street traffic, a very onerous duty ; and in various ways assist the honest community, as well as keep a sharp eye on enterprising thieves and careless householders. In all these respects the conduct of the Police is more than commendable ; and even if the picture is blurred by nefarious behaviour on the part of a few men, it would be flagrantly unjust to overlook the great service which, as a body, the Police render to London.
But it is a mischievous delusion to represent Colonel Henderson's and Colonel Fraser's divisions as the sole physical pressure which holds social life together, and restrains criminal desires and turbulent dispositions. The Metropolis owes its daily comfort and partly its security to the Police, but they are only an item among the forces which insure the prevailing calm, and render, say, a Lord George Gordon riot impossible. We should be the last to undervalue the might residing in 9,000 men, strongly organised and well led, but it is absurd to suppose that the dangerous classes are controlled and kept down by them. They are merely the visible, tangible exponent of the strength lying behind, latent, so to speak, yet in a far higher state of readiness than many people seem to suppose. Imagine the almost impossible ease of a sudden rising of concentrated scoundrelism, or an outburst of misguided political sectaries, more or less armed and organised,—the extreme cases of peril threatening all great cities, but London very remotely. Suppose that the storm burst without warning, which, of course, could not happen. What are the resources instantly and presumably available wherewith it could be met and shattered ? In addition to the Police, who, being all drilled, would be at once armed, the Government could set on foot only some 3,600 foot and horse, and a company of Engineers, from the garrison of London proper, doubtless a small body; yet, in a few hours, at least 15,000 infantry and cavalry could be brought up from Aldershot, while a greater number of guns than could be possibly needed could be summoned from Woolwich. A little later, if they were required, an equal force might be drawn promptly from more remote stations. These represent the first and best instalment of physical pressure which would, in six hours, confront our imaginary mob. It should be remem- bered that soldiers stand ready night and day for any work which turns up, and that for such a duty as we are hypo-
thetically contemplating—an extreme, improbable form of danger—nothing would be demanded by way of preparation save the serving-out of balled cartridges. But there is another source of strength which must be taken into account. There are, in London, certainly 25,000 Volunteers accustomed to act together under command. These would be instantly available, and would form a solid nucleus, round which special con- stables could rally in great numbers. Thus, it is not only 9,000 admirable constables, and say, 25,000 disciplined soldiers easily and at once supported by 200 gur.s, and possibly 5,000 soldiers, and Blue-jackets, upon which Authority could rely for the protection of London from sack and slaughter; but in ad- dition, there is an almost limitless reserve among the Londoners themselves. In short, it is the temper and moral qualities of the people, the habit of acting for themselves, the ever-present readiness to co-operate with the legal guardians of order, which really constitute the adequate defence of London against "roughs" and fanatics. When the hard facts we have rudely described are recognised, the standing marvel ceases to be marvellous, and is reduced to its just proportions. We might be in a bad way, were the only physical pressure available the admirable and dutiful Metropolitan and City Police.
We have taken an extreme case of danger,—a sudden de- velopment of criminal audacity or political passion. A little reflection will show that the former description of peril cannot occur, and that the latter is most improbable. There are no criminal quarters ; in no part of London is there a population which thinks alike on any subject. If there is plenty of gun- powder in our midst, it is so largely mixed with grains of glass that the composition, though it might fizzle if set on fire, would not explode. No body of criminal " roughs " which it might be possible to collect could, for example, make any impression on the Bank ; indeed, we doubt whether from that foul source any aggregate could be got together with which the Police alone could not deal. Then as to political insurrections—say, a Fenian outburst—it could not come without warning. Even Irish passion does not rise to fever-heat in a moment, and Eng- lish passion is far more slow in getting on fire. But signs of an approaching tempest would be met by corresponding pre- paration, and all the elements of coercive power which we have said are really at the disposal of every English Government would be evoked, organised, and ready for action. To tell the " roughs " that the safety of London is secured and their truculence and plunder-loving propensities are suppressed by 9,000 policemen is to offer them a misleading in- centive, tending to provoke the very enterprises which, no matter how sharply punishment would follow, no one wishes should be even attempted ; while to talk of holding society together by the exertions of a few hundred excellent constables is a pernicious misconception. Apart from mere armed force at the Government's disposal, society holds itself together by the settled habit, not only of refusing to be torn asunder, but through the higher quality displayed in a willing- ness to take trouble and incur personal risk to any extent which the exigency may demand, rather than succumb to mere democratic dictation. The instinct of every Englishman is to resist compulsion in any form, and the self-interest of nine- tenths of the dwellers in London is, before all things, to pre- serve order, so that employment may not be diminished, and property, even the most sordid collection of furniture, may not be destroyed. It may be said that the Hyde-Park railings went down before a lawless, swiftly assembled mob. The fact is true ; but it is true, first, because the railings were worthless as a fence, next because, if part of the host was bent on mis- chief, another, and not the least angry, was enraged because they were thoughtlessly prevented from taking the direct road to their homes and a much-loved evening meal called "tea." There was no real fight in the Hyde-Park mob, and has been none in any London gathering since 1832. At some periods subsequent to that year the temper of the Metropolis was far more dangerous than it is, or is likely to be' now; yet, with the smaller forces actual and potential then available' and without the electric wire, order was easily preserved. The truth is that there is no city in the world, not even an Indian garrison town, which is better insured against the chances of serious riot . or pillage than London ; not only, as we have said, because, besides the Police, the Home Minister and Com- mander-in-Chief can apply immense coercive pressure of the specially trained sort, nor because there are several thousand new fighting items in the shape of Volunteers, but because the people, as a whole, from the peer to the day-labourer, are always instinctively ready to stand side by side with Authority, that is, their own recognised agent for administering the national
estate, and hazard life and limb in defence of property, personal freedom, and settled order.
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