night?-There are parties of officers; for instance, there is Bond's party; he is generally stationed at the end of Bow-street, and if he sees those characters, he and his party will sometimes lay a cane over them, and off they start, and nothing is done; the effect of that correction is, that they will remove from the spot, and they will, perhaps, go round to the King's entrance under the eyes of the officer, and there they remain with impunity. And the officers do not follow them?-No.

Again :

In those cases of felony, do they neglect to interfere and pursue the culprit in many cases where the prosecutors are not rich people, and not likely to reward them for their trouble?—I know no instances of that kind.

Have you any reason to suppose that there is any collusive understanding between police officers and offenders?-With certain offenders I believe there is. I speak of that class of offenders that keep flash-houses, and publicans who keep their houses open at undue hours.

Will you state the grounds you have for forming that opinion?-I could bring home no charge of that kind, only that those men and the publicans and proprietors of those houses are continually almost together; they are drinking with them, they are hand in hand, and they seem in a very sociable way with them. In one instance, between two and three o'clock in the morning, I was patrolling the parish, and I saw a light in a notorious house, called the Brown Bear, in Bow-street, immediately facing the office-door; I went to the door and listened, and I heard several voices; and while I was so listening a principal officer came out. I said to him, "This is a very curious time for you to be coming out of here." "Aye," said he, "C." (that was the publican's name) is out of town, and I promised to see that all was right." I said, “I will thank you to come in with me, and let me see that all is right." Oh," said he, "you had better go without me." However, he went in with me, and I found seven or eight people in the back parlour drinking, and double that quantity round the bar.

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At what hour was that?-Between two and three o'clock in the morning. And I found a similar thing existing at a public house called the Marquess of Anglesea, kept by a person of the name of G.; and I said to the officer it is my intention to lay an information against these houses for what I have seen, and I shall call upon you as evidence." Says he, “Do not do that, for I would rather not have any thing to say to it." I said, "I shall certainly take the opinion of the Magistrate about it;" and so I did: I laid an information against these two houses, and G. was fined 10s. and Mrs. C. was admonished, and excused on account of her husband being away.

Do you mean to say that the Brown Bear is a flash-house?-I mean that it is notorious for keeping bad hours, and supplying liquors at undue hours. Is it a house of that description where the police officers know they can find any criminals when they are wanted?-No, it is not a house of that description; but being near to the theatres, they keep open to twelve or one o'clock, and then they often extend that to two or three o'clock, unless they are strictly looked after.

What could possibly induce the committee to enquire about flashhouses?-Has not Sir Richard Birnie declared that he knows of no such things if they exist, he must know of them-and we suppose that a knight and a magistrate speaks the truth.

Seriously, the police of London is shown by the whole report of the committee to be in a state very thoroughly needing revision; and we trust that another Session of Parliament will not pass without some measure being brought forward with that object.

14th. It is a circumstance, we think, which speaks very highly for the honesty of the English, that our tradesmen are so easily swindled out of their property. Here is a case or rather here are twenty, fifty, cases against the same person, one Hopkinson alias Barrow-in which he has, with the utmost ease, obtained goods of every sort and description, from tradesmen in every quarter of the town, from Whitechapel to Hyde-Park Corner. Now, we say that this extreme facility speaks for the honesty of customers as a body; for, it is quite clear, that if it did not answer in the long run-nay, in the vast majority of instancesfor tradesmen to give articles thus easily upon credit to persons with a plausible tale in their mouths, they would not do it. It is manifest that of a hundred strangers coming, or sending an order, to a shop, ninety-nine are fair dealers, and that it would not be worth the shopkeeper's while to insult these for the sake of preventing his being cheated by the one rogue. This must be so-for it is otherwise quite impossible to account for the extent to which this fellow Hopkinson has carried his depredations. Tailors, boot-makers, bonnet-makers (for he swindled also by the proxy of his fair friends), livery-stable keepers, coachmakers, saddlers, wine-merchants, cutlers, corn-merchants, booksellers, aye, down to turnpike-men, whom he drives over in other people's gigs, when they ask for their toll-all, all, are fish that come into the net of this gentleman "of a copper hue, with black woolly hair, about five feet seven inches in height, well made, and very fashionably dressed." It seems that the "man-of-colour" generally kept himself out of sight, and wrote notes-which, referring to every body except those who knew him, and pretending that he was any body except himself, seldom or ever failed in procuring him goods, even to large value. The gentlemen he referred to were mostly persons well known to the public, such as Sir Charles Wetherall, and Sir Nicholas Tindal-names considered sufficient, as it would seem, without actual reference. Persons like these receive no injury from such proceedings-but really we pity exceedingly the several Mr. Hopkinsons, all persons of high respectability, whom this negro, whose real name is Barrow, has been personating: for they, not being known further than in the private circles in which they move, may undergo very great inconvenience from a swindler having assumed their name. This, in itself, ought to be punishable at the suit of the party personated-but we believe no law touches it. We commiserate also very sincerely the worthy tradespeople, who have suffered. But it is, in great measure, their own faults: they have neglected their classics a thing highly blameworthy in a shopkeeper-or they would have remembered the salutary piece of advice "nimium ne crede colori "-which, being interpreted, signifies, "never trust a man of colour."

19th. The speech of Mr. Dawson, at Derry, has created universal surprise. Hitherto esteemed one of the very highest supporters of orange politics, and even suspected of being an actual orangeman himself-the brother-in-law of orange Peel, and the representative of 'prentice-boy Derry, he takes the occasion of one of the most celebrated orange anniversaries, to come forward and proclaim, without leave

asked, or notice given, that it is wise, just, and expedient, to take the Catholic question into consideration with a view to settling it. That this is wise, just, and expedient, we have ever been of opinion; but, up, at the least, to the debate of this spring in the House of Commons, Mr. Dawson held one directly contrary: and we confess what surprised us the most is, that the strong, and, as we think, conclusive, reasons which the honourable gentleman has now most luminously set forth, and most eloquently enforced, should never have had influence upon his mind before. For, whatever power the Catholics may have now→→→ and it is upon this question of the impossibility of resisting such power that Mr. Dawson chiefly grounds his advocacy of concession-it must, as it seems to us, have been quite clear, for many years back, that such power, unless emancipation were granted, they must ultimately gain; and, at all events, in the elections of 1826, they displayed to the full as much power as in their recent exploits. After reading Mr. Dawson's speech, our chief wonder is not that he has changed now, but that he ever was an Anti-Catholic at all.

The speech, as such, appears to us to be an exceedingly good onefull of vigour and fire-facts clearly and boldly stated, and deductions ably drawn. There is in it one very striking peculiarity. Mr. Dawson makes no allusion whatever to its extreme dissonance from his former opinions-but speaks throughout as a man might who had been a moderate supporter of the Catholics all his life. The manner, also, in which he resisted and put down the noisy interruptions which were made to him, appears to us to have been highly dignified and manly. Indeed, it is quite clear he is not a man to be put down by clamour. We cannot resist extracting his animated picture of the effects of the Catholic question in Ireland. To any one who has been, even casually and temporarily in that country, the likeness must appear most striking indeed. After making a most favourable statement-which we wish to our hearts we could believe was not overcharged-of the state of Ireland statistically, Mr. Dawson thus proceeds :

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But with such resources, there is one ingredient which poisons all our blessings, and which, it is vain to deny it, meets us in every station, in every society, and in every undertaking-I mean the state of our religious and political dissensions, or, in other words, the Catholic question. I have not stayed here for a trifling object, such as to drink the Glorious Memory, or cheer the 'Prentice Boys. It is my duty, as I am here, to state to the meeting my opinions with respect to that great question; and I beg the attention of this company to the description of the condition to which, in my opinion, this subject has reduced the country. In place of an exclusive devotion to the business of life, and an industrious pursuit of professional occupations, the only certain road to wealth and eminence, this question has made every man, from the peer to the peasant, a politician: it is the absorbing topic of every man's discourse, and it is in consequence the fruitful parent of exaggerated fears, of unmeasured pretensions, of personal hatred, of religious fury, of political strife, of calumny, of abuse, and persecution, such as is not to be found in any other part of the civilized world. No matter what your pursuits, no matter what your disposition may be, the subject pursues you in every part of the country. It is the prevailing topic of your breakfast table, of your dinner table, of your supper table: it is the subject of debate among men; it is the cause of alarm among women; it meets you at the Castle of Dublin; it meets you at the

house of the country gentleman; it creeps into our Courts of Justice; it is to be found at the Grand Jury; it is to be found at the Petty Sessions; it is to be seen in the Vestry-room; it is to be seen at the markets and fairs; it is to be found even at our places of amusement-it meets you wherever you go. Would that the whole evil ended here; but we may see what the mischief of such a state of things must be in the convulsed state of society, and the annihilation of all those ties upon which the well-being of society depends. The state of Ireland is an anomaly in the history of civilized nations-it has no parallel in ancient or modern history, and being contrary to the character of all civil institutions, it must terminate in general anarchy and confusion."

Nothing can be more true than this: but how is it that Mr. Dawson now sees it for the first time, or, at least, for the first time, its natural remedy?

But there is another part of the speech of much more importance still; and notwithstanding that it will extend this notice rather beyond the length we are accustomed to devote to one subject in the Diary, we cannot refrain from extracting it. Mr. Dawson makes a strong, but, we think, by no means exaggerated, statement of the power of the Catholic Association, and then says:

"And now, gentlemen, it is time to ask ourselves the question, what must be the result of such a disordered state of things, and such a complete overthrow of all the relations of society? Some gentlemen will say rebellion, and the sooner it comes the sooner we shall be able to crush it. (Loud cheers, which lasted for several minutes.) Now, I entertain a very different opinion. It is not the interest, and I firmly believe it is not the wish of the Roman Catholic leaders to drive the people into rebellion. (Loud hisses.) We have the best security for the purity of their intentions, (hisses) in that respect, in the stake which they hold in the country, and in the moral conviction that they would be the first victims of a rebellion. (Loud cries from several voices," No, no; we would be the first.") If a rebellion should take place, it will not be from the orders or example of the Roman Catholic leaders (hisses)—but from the readiness of the two contending parties to come into conflict with each other, and from the total impossibility of checking the ebullition of popular phrenzy, if the two parties be goaded and exasperated against each other by inflammatory speeches or exaggerated misrepresentations. But the result will be a state of society far worse than rebellion; it will be a revolution, a revolution not effected by the sword, but by undermining the institutions of the country, and involving every establishment, civil, political, and religious. There never was a time when the whole catholic body-(and it signifies very little whether their numbers be two millions or six millions)-there never was a time when the whole body was so completely roused and engrossed by political passions as at present. They have found out the value of union, they have put in practice the secret of combination,-they feel a confidence in the force of numbers,they have laid prostrate the pomp and power of wealth,-they have contended against the influence of authority, and the decrees of the legislature, and they have enjoyed an easy triumph over both. At present there is an union of the clergy, the laity, and the people. Now, gentlemen, with such a state of things staring us in the face (and I do not think that I have overcharged the picture), there comes the last question,-what is to be done? The country confessedly contains great advantages; it has made a wonderful progress notwithstanding all these drawbacks; it has confessedly the elements of wealth and prosperity within itself,-but all is checked and counterbalanced by these unhappy discussions, and the invariable conclusion of

every speculation on the state of Ireland is, what is to be done? Can we go back to the penal laws? God forbid that such an experiment should be made it is revolting to common sense-it is revolting to the dignity of man. Can we persevere in our present system? The statement which I have made, and the firm impression upon my mind by an anxious attention to passing events is, that we cannot remain in our present situation; something must be done; there is but one alternative, either to crush the Catholic Association (cheers for several minutes); there is but one alternative -either to crush the Catholic Association, or to look at the question with an intention to settle it. Let us exercise all our ingenuity,-let us argue with all our subtlety,-there is no other alternative; and with such a conviction upon my mind, I feel myself called upon to exhort my countrymen-men whom I have the honour of representing-to abstain from irritating harangues, to pause, and to weigh well the dangers of the country,-to dismiss all personal bitterness from the contemplation of a whole nation's welfare; and to devise some means, with satisfaction to all parties, for restoring the predominance of established authority, and giving security to the recognized, the legal, the constitutional institutions of society."

We cannot agree more cordially and thoroughly with any propositions than we do with these: but again we say, how is it that this is the first moment at which Mr. Dawson lays them down?

And this leads to the question which, after all, is, as regards the public by, far the most interesting and important part of the businessWhat has been the cause of Mr. Dawson's change?-and has he made it with the knowledge and consent of the head of the government? It is curious, under such circumstances, to look to the newspapers which are considered as the organs of parties, to see what they say. The Chronicle, representing the Whigs and higher libéraux, hails his accession frankly and warmly ;-the Times, chiefly representing itself, but sailing with the popular tide, alleges flatly that his motive is the fear of the scene of the Clare Election being reacted in the County of Derry;-while the Courier, evidently floundering without orders, talks of Mr. Dawson having given in, in despair— from viewing the Catholic Association, and the question generally, with too great a degree of timidity and apprehension. Now we do not in the least coincide in the belief that Mr. Dawson's conduct has been influenced by what has befallen Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald. We have never, till now, in any degree approved his politics; but we have always believed, and believe him to be a man not only of political probity and honour, but of a degree of decision in the support of his sentiments which may be considered to have sometimes bordered upon rashness. Moreover it would be most short-sighted policy, indeed; for Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, who had voted for the Catholics for twenty years, was turned out merely because he belonged to the Duke of Wellington's ministry. We do not in the least believe, looking at it either as a matter of policy or a matter of principle, that Mr. Dawson has been influenced by this motive. We think the Courier by far more nearly right, if it had spoken in less doleful language-namely, that Mr. Dawson has never thoroughly till now been convinced of the power of the Catholics; and that being so convinced, he feels the alternative which he has so vividly set forth in his speech.

The other point, whether or not he had previously informed the SEPT. 1828.

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