Appendix V: Exaggerated Views of the Crime of Glasgow, Scotland, etc.,—The Success of Religious and Educational Means in Repressing It

Some may be disposed to ask what connexion this topic has with the revival of the order of deacon. There is an important connexion. In addition to regard for primitive Church order, one of the leading reasons for attempting the revival of the deaconship is, to ameliorate the condition of the humbler classes of society, especially in the large towns. But, in order to this, it is desirable to have just views of the real nature of that condition. Now, I trust I am, in some tolerable measure, alive to the degradation and wretchedness of a large body of the community, and of not a few even in rural districts. But, on that very account, I lament that exaggerated views of the evil with which the nation has to contend, particularly in reference to crime, or the moral condition of the humbler classes, should be entertained and propagated. The evils are sufficiently great in themselves, and amply notorious, without needing exaggeration. To overcolour moral evils, to exaggerate crimes, if this be done to any serious extent, is always very injurious. It disheartens the good from using any exertions to correct what seems so hopeless, and it corrupts the wicked yet more: they look upon crime as a sort of necessity springing out of an unhappy state of society—they come to think of it lightly; and thus the very prevalence of sin tends to propagate it. Besides, exaggerated statements in regard to crime are first misunderstood and then perverted, to the disparagement, it may be, of the character and best institutions of our land, among foreigners. How greedily does the Papist of the Continent devour the grossly overcoloured representations of Scottish crime, and turn these to the disadvantage of our Protestant Christianity; perhaps alleging, with truth, that his alleged error is more favourable to morality than our boasted truth. In this way, general and serious prejudices are fostered against the Word and Church of God in their purest forms—and all for what? The gratification of an idle wonder, perhaps uninquiring credulity, which delights in the terrible. It brings no counterbalancing good. Nay, it is a just moral retribution on exaggeration, that he who deals in it comes to be disbelieved even where he is trustworthy.

To take a few illustrations of the exaggeration to which I refer, Sir Archibald Alison, the Sheriff of Glasgow, in his work “On Population,” vol. ii. p. 80, states the sum annually expended in this city on whisky as at least £1,200,000, in other words, nearly one and a-quarter million sterling; of which he gives the million to the working-classes. Now, appalling and most lamentable as the intemperance of Glasgow may be, I am satisfied, on the best evidence of which the case admits, that there is vast exaggeration here. Mr. Collins, when President of the Temperance Society ten years ago, a gentleman of noted intelligence and candour, after great and anxious consideration, estimated the whole Glasgow consumption—and it is enormous—at £482,000; and his calculation was generally allowed to be just and reasonable. The population at that time was above 200,000, and though it has grown largely within the last ten years, yet the increase has not been such as to lend the slightest countenance to the swelling figures of the Sheriff at the time they were published, or even now. To shew the extreme exaggeration which has been indulged in, it is only necessary to remind the reader, that were Mr Alison’s statement correct, every family in Glasgow must spend £20 a-year on spirits alone, while very many of them never taste spirits at all, and multitudes have not above 12s. a-week, or £26, for their whole annual subsistence. Does every labourer spend £20 out of his £26 on spirits? Let families even in the higher ranks of life consider whether their spirit account alone amounts yearly to £20. Surely every one must at once see the extravagance of the assertion: and yet the official name of the Sheriff gives currency to such sad and injurious representations. Of course, if some families do not consume spirits at all, or consume less than £20 worth yearly, the greater amount must be divided among those who do.

Parallel to the above is another in the same work, that “nearly 30,000 persons are every Saturday night in a state of brutal intoxication.” If the consumption was so enormous as was alleged, it would not be wonderful that the intoxication should correspond. It may be hoped that when the one disappears the other will also vanish. What possible evidence can be referred to in proof of 30,000 weekly intoxications, the vast body of them, if they exist at all, secret; and unless they can be established, is it right in itself, or fair to the character of the city, or patrio­tic, to deal in such hateful charges? The whole number of “drunk and disorderly,” as appears from the records of the police-office—and they are decreasing, while the population is increasing—were in the last three years:

Those numbers mark the cases which are amenable to the police in a population of 175,000, not every Saturday night, but in the course of a whole year; and though there are very many cases of intoxication which never come within the cognizance of the police-office, and the above do not embrace the whole police cases of Glasgow, yet surely the returns of little more than 3000 in a year, in the police of the city, pour utter ridicule upon the extravagance of 30,000 every week?

There is a still more abominable charge, and that, too, given on parliamentary evidence. It is to the effect that the factory girls, who constitute so important a part of the population of Glasgow, are abandoned to the worst species of profligacy. It is part of the cruelty involved in such charges, that they do not admit of proof or disproof, save by a trial of ones moral delicacy. I have thought it due to the character of a large body of workers, not a few unbefriended orphans, to make in­quiry in quarters where the truth is most likely to be known, and I am satisfied that the charge is utterly baseless. Factory females are not worse in point of character than females of the same station of life in other departments. The late Rev. Dr. M’Gill, the Professor of Theology in the College, who took a lively interest in institutions for reclaiming offenders, and who was a man of sound observation, rated young women working in the factory, not in his 1st, but in his 4th class of offenders; and the returns of the Lock Hospital—I have it on the testi­mony of the medical officer who has attended for many years—is in harmony with Dr M’Gill’s conclusions. These returns shew—

An intelligent Christian, who was for six years connected with a mill, as a teacher, states, that out of 400 females there was only one visible departure from moral propriety in three years, and that the seducer was a person of superior station, who married the person whom he injured. The same witness testifies what I have learned of other mills, that the very suspicion of any impropriety in a single instance was resented,—that it was considered as bringing a stain on the character of the factory, and that the guilty party or parties felt their position so uncomfortable, that they might be said to be hunted out of the employment. Another gentleman, who, in the character of a missionary and Sabbath-school teacher, was for four years a Christian labourer among a mill population, concurs in the same testimony, and his powers of observation are remarkably shrewd. Other evidence, such as that of the intelligent managers of mills, could be appealed to to the same purpose; but it is unnecessary. I may merely add, that it appears from the New Statistical Account of one of the parishes of Renfrewshire, drawn up by an excellent minister, that in a parish where there are two large cotton mills, the proportion of young women giving evidence of piety, and making a profession of Christianity by becoming communicants, is as high as young females of the same class engaged in agricultural employments, in the same parish. Nothing, then, can be more reckless than the statements which have been made. There may be particular mills whose character is low; but it is unfair, in the teeth of facts, to convert these into a universal experience, and that of the worst possible description. How would we ourselves,—how would the middling or the higher classes of society like sweeping charges to be brought against their general character or occupation? And is not character as dear and as important to the humbler as to the more opulent members of society? It is due to many members of the Church of Christ to defend their character from these most unjust aspersions, and to call upon their accusers to establish their charges, or retract them. It is to be feared that nothing better than theoretical notions of modern society lie at the root of the general accusation against character, and that facts are assumed to help out fond but feeble conclusions.

Perhaps it is no more than due to the working classes of Glasgow, often and unjustly assailed, to refer to one fact highly honorable to them, and which indicates in very many a character the very reverse of the reckless and the dissipated. The National Security Savings’ Bank reported the other day (Jan. 7, 1861) an accumulated sum of £900,000, nearly a million sterling, at the credit of the working classes of this city. The progress is an accelerated one, the new depositors during the past year being nearly 12,000. It is only twenty-five years since the bank started—a fact so remarkable, and to which perhaps there is no parallel of the same kind—clearly shewing that there must be a large amount of right principle and right feeling among the mass of the people, and that the statements on which I have been commenting must be rash and exaggerated.

Turning, however, from the particular case of Glasgow, let us advert to the condition of Scotland generally under the same aspect—that of crime. That there is a decided increase of crime throughout Scotland is a lamentable truth, which calls for humiliation, and the most active application of appropriate means to check and prevent it. With the inadequate moral and religious machinery in operation, it is not wonderful; but it is not less certain, that here, too, there has been gross exag­geration, or at least that explanations (seldom if ever given) are indispensable, to prevent the most serious misapprehensions and manifold false inferences.

It appears from official returns, that in Scotland in

I take these years because they are recent, and form an equal division of time. Certainly, under whatever aspect the progress can be viewed, it is serious and affecting. In eight years there have been 1442 additional cases; but we have to remember—

1st, The increase of the population, which has been, as ap­pears from the recent census, 11 per cent in Scotland during the last ten years.

2d, The influx of Irish into the large towns; and as railway laborers, &c., of late into more rural districts.

3d, The growing establishment of county police, which, as a new and zealous force, brings upon record every offence which is committed, however inconsiderable, and which, by new regu­lations, multiplies, especially at first, the chances of offence.

With regard to the first—the increase of population—this, though often overlooked, is a very important element. For instance, it appears that over Great Britain and Ireland, in the last ten years, it is equal to an increase of three millions—a number more than the whole population of Scotland. It is plain, that in the natural course of things, without any special blame attributable to any parties, a proportional increase of crime is to be looked for, and from that increase it is not to be expected that Scotland should be exempted.

The recent and growing influx of Irish, chiefly members of the Church of Rome, is well known; but their connexion with the increase of crime in Scotland is less understood than it ought to be. From a variety of sources of proof, it is manifest that that connexion is a very important one.

In the year 1840, of the offenders brought before the Magis­trates of Glasgow, 791, constituting one-fourth of the whole number, were Irish—(vide Capt. Miller’s “State of Crime” for 1840)—while the Irish population do not constitute 70,000, or one-fourth of the population, but a much smaller proportion, probably a ninth or a tenth. Of the 205 offenders sent to Calton Bridewell in 1839, considerably above one-third were Irish. So, of the 83 boys received into the House of Re­fuge for Repressing Juvenile Delinquency, in 1839, not less than 24 were the children of an Irish father, 18 of an Irish mother—in other words, one-half were of Irish parentage. Though almost all the youths may have been born in this coun­try, yet they inherited the low moral standard and social condition of their parents.—(Vide Second Annual Report.) Of the patients in the Lock Hospital, one-sixth were born in Ireland. If tried by the test of parentage, the numbers would have been far greater. Of 1038 destitute families exposed to the tempta­tions of crime, relieved by extraordinary charity, in 1838, about one-third (310) were Irish; and this state of things is not pecu­liar to Glasgow. Other large towns have their share; nay, it is felt in rural districts. Of the “strangers” convicted for crime in the county and burghs of East Lothian, in 1841, not less than one-fifth were Irish, though this is an agricultural county, on the east coast. of Scotland, and therefore removed from the western influx, and without any work calling particularly for Irish labour.

I do not mention these things as reflecting upon the Irish nation, or as intimating that those belonging to it who settle in Scotland are not suitable objects of all the care which faithful pastors, elders, and deacons can bestow, but simply as correcting false impressions regarding crime in Scotland—impressions fitted to paralyse good men from making any attempt at the moral improvement of their country.

The remaining point, viz., the establishment of county police, however important and useful, and really in the end preventive of crime, tends in the first instance to swell the apparent amount, and so to mislead those who are not at the pains to inquire. That this new force, which has already been introduced into several counties, and is, I believe, in the course of being introduced into all, has a very marked effect in adding to the apparent increase of crime, is abundantly obvious. It is clear, from a comparison of the annual official returns of crime by the Lord Advocate, that within the last four or five years there has been a great proportional increase of offences reported. Previous to that date, the increase was about a hundred offences a-year, which might in a great degree be accounted for by the progress of the population; but latterly the increase has been 200, 300, 400, additional cases in a year. A remarkable illustration of this is furnished by the county of East Lothian. So lately as 1837, its criminal offenders are stated at 23; whereas, under the county police, in 1840, the convictions rise up to 275, and in 1841 to not less than 611. Now, no one who is acquainted with that peaceful rural county, can imagine that it is really advancing in so frightful a ratio of crime, and all the while without attracting any attention from the country, and without alarming those who are living in the midst of it. A glance at the county returns goes far to explain the case. It appears, that of the offences of 1841, nearly one-third are what are called “road offences,” such as carters not attending to their horses, clothes drying on the road hedges, animals grazing on the road-side, &c., &c.,—offences surely which scarcely deserve the name of crimes. Then a great many others are most trifling,—so much so, that out of the 611, only two were so serious as to need to be tried by the High Court of Justiciary. “About two-thirds,” the superintendent reports, “of the persons convicted were detected by the police when in the act of committing the offence for which they were punished,”—an indication at once of the zeal of the police, and the comparatively trifling character of the offences. Were the offences more serious, the parties, we may well believe, would have been more on their guard. If, under the new rural police, all the other counties of Scotland make up similar criminal returns, it is plain that Scotland will soon be made to appear a very nursery and home of criminals; and all at a distance, and those who are on the spot, but are not at the pains to inquire, must be most injuriously misled and deceived. It is possible that all who appear in the county police lists are not included in the Lord Advocate’s official returns (though there is the same division of courts before which offenders are tried), but there can be no question that the operation of such a force must tend greatly to swell the general returns.

As an evidence of the necessity of classification in criminal returns, and of the propriety of excluding such offences as “road offences” from the catalogue of crimes, it may be stated that “contraventions of police regulations” come under the same head in the large towns; and nothing would be more unfair or misleading than to reckon them among moral offences. I am happy to be able to refer to the testimony of Capt. Miller of the Glasgow Police upon this point. After stating, in answer to a number of queries which I put to him on the state of crime, and which he kindly answered, that in the general aggregate of offences in Glasgow, not less than 2562 in the year 1840, and 2559 in 1841, were “contraventions of police regulations,” he adds:

Although the number of convictions for contraventions of the police regulations, during the last two years, has been larger than formerly, it is no evidence of crime. On the con­trary, even the number of such offences has been falling off; and the difference arises from the more strict enforcement of the police regulations. This class of offences, however, is distinct from criminal matters, and their increase or decrease affords no data for fixing the state of crime.

The whole number of offences, as brought under Capt. Miller’s returns in 1841, is 8727. This, under any circumstances, is an appalling number; but to those who do not analyse it, it must seem to indicate a much worse state of things than really exists. Deducting the “drunk and disorderly, and the contraventions of the police rules,” the number is reduced to 2546 for crime, strictly so called—a number which, in itself, and particularly when the increase of population is taken into account, shews a decided diminution from former years. The same point is indicated by the number of trials at the Glasgow Circuit Courts, which embrace cases from the counties of Lanark, Dumbarton, and Renfrew, though Glasgow supplies the largest proportion. In 1839 there were 206; in 1840, 152; and in 1841, 172. The increase of the population, in the meantime, and the growing want of employment, must always be remembered in forming a general estimate.

In harmony with the above, it appears from an interesting report of Mr Rutherglen, one of the magistrates of the Calton, read before the “British Association,” when in Glasgow a few years ago, that the crime in Calton, with a population of nearly 30,000, was, in

Thus shewing a decrease of crime, while the population was increasing, and the outward circumstances of the people not improving, but the reverse. With reference to the last year named, (1839,) the same gentleman states

On a careful examination of the whole cases, it is gratifying to be able to state, that the offences were of so light a description during the year, as on some occasions not to have furnished even one sufficiently serious to be brought before the Justiciary Court during its sittings.

He adds

The criminal population is less by one-half than it was in 1835-6; and although in 1839 there were 2601 charged, and 1799 convicted, yet it is proper to mention, that the same person has been charged and convicted as often as three times with petty thefts, and with other crimes and offences twenty times in the course of the year; and it is not in one, but in many cases that this has occurred.

Mr. Rutherglen further states, that a large proportion of the crime which exists is committed by “the floating population;” in other words, the parties which are least accessible to moral and religious means. But for them the actual crime would be small indeed.

So far from the crime of the city increasing in such a ratio as to paralyse Christian men from any attempt at the amelioration of society,—so far from its proclaiming, as some hastily imagine, that all the late schemes and efforts of Christian Churches are vain and hopeless, I rejoice to have it in my power again to refer to the testimony of the Captain of Police.

Though the crime of the city and suburbs had been visibly and enormously increasing, instead, as we have seen, of proportionally decidedly diminishing, it would not by any means shew that the enlarged moral and religious appliances of late years, by additional schools and churches, &c., had been inefficacious. The highest good may be doing in some quarters while evil is doing in others, and, as a whole, the progress of the latter is strongly and conspicuously onward. But it is encouraging to be able, not only to point to diminished crime, but crime dimi­nished by moral means.

The following question was put to Capt. Miller:

Q. From anything which has passed under Capt. Miller’s observation, is he disposed to attribute a share of the diminution of crime (supposing that there is a decrease) to the moral and educa­tional means put into operation of late years—such as week-day and Sabbath schools, additional places of worship, &c.?

A. The answer is—“From Capt. Miller’s own experience, and from particular inquiries he has made on this subject, he is decidedly of opinion, that the moral and educational means lately put into operation, taken in connexion with the improved habits of many of the lower classes, who are members of temperance and total abstinence societies, have done much to improve the moral condition of the people, and of course to diminish crime.”

The testimony of the Rev. Dr. Black, who, as minister of the Barony parish, has had his attention particularly called to the operation of the new churches connected with the Establishment, could be appealed to to a similar effect. He has repeatedly and publicly testified to the success of more than one of the new churches in diminishing pauperism and improving the social condition of the locality where they have been planted. Mr. Rutherglen, who is a resident in, as well as a magistrate of, Calton, and who states that his attention has been particularly called to the operation of additional schools in connexion with one church (St Luke’s) in that locality, still adheres to the statement which he made before the British Association in 1840, to this effect, that the new church, besides occupying the site of 60 houses which were the haunts of wretchedness and crime, and so physically removing a great moral nuisance, had, through the exertions of the minister and his elders, coupled with the establishing of 20 Sabbath schools in the parish, tended greatly both to reduce crime, and to improve the morals of that part of the burgh.¹

The testimony of Mr. M’Laren, who has for above ten years been the superintendent of the poor of the Barony parish, is in full harmony with the above representation. He states, in answer to some queries which I also put to him, that, ten years ago, in one district of the same parish, he required to pay the poor £13, 7s.; the same district now requires only £2, 19s. 6d. Another required £11, 0s. 6d.; at the present date it requires £6, 5s. He shews, at the same time, that the change has not been owing to a less liberal provision for the poor; that, on the contrary, the numbers of the poor generally through the parish have considerably increased, and that the allowances have been rising in amount; the change he attributes to moral causes. In answer to one of the queries which were put to him, he says,

I have paid considerable attention to the operation of the new churches and schools, and am fully of opinion, that the establish­ing of these has contributed greatly to the diminution of both pauperism and crime. I might instance several of the quoad sacra parishes, such as St Stephen’s, St Mark’s, Bridgeton (all in the Barony); but I point out St Luke’s as one of the poorest localities of the parish, where the greatest improvement has taken place.

It is well for the reader to bear in mind, that while moral improvement has been going on, external circumstances have been adverse; the population has been increasing, and the depression among the people, chiefly hand-loom weavers, has been great. The records of the Church Extension Scheme prove the same points as the schools and churches referred to, in regard to more rural districts. Indeed, there the result is more visible than it can be expected to be in large towns.

To prevent Scottish Christians, owing to the loose statements which have been made of the unexampled progress of crime in this country, being disheartened in their labours, I may subjoin a comparative view of the state of crime in England and Wales. We have seen that the commitments for crime in Scotland,

In the same years the crime of England and Wales was—

Now, it appears from the late census, that the population of Scotland is about one-sixth of that of England and Wales. Were its crime in the same proportion, the Scottish criminals should, at the respective dates, have been 3471, 3497, 4531; instead of which they were what has been stated—in other words, Scotland had less proportional crime than England by 1040, 575, and 659, in the years referred to, and that though Scotland be a poorer country, and is a stranger to the English poor-law system, which by many is alleged to be a defense against crime, and though, probably, the influx of Irish is proportionally greater into Scot­land than into England.

It would scarcely be fair to compare Scotland with Ireland—a Protestant with a Popish country. I may merely mention the numbers without expatiating on them. For instance, in Ireland,

Scotland is nearly one-third of the population of Ireland; were her criminals’ proportional in numbers, they should have been 5352 and 7963, instead of 2431 and 2922. In other words, Ireland had proportionally for these years, 2921 and 5041 more criminals than Scotland. But perhaps the most striking fact is, that in 1837, the province of Ulster—the most Protestant territory of Ireland—(still one-half the population is Roman Catholic,) with a population somewhat less than Scotland, had not less than 5605 criminal commitments. In the same year Scotland had 3126 commitments for crime; in other words, proportionally 2479 fewer criminals than the most Protestant part of the sister country!

It is right, however, to state, that, while Ulster suffers in a comparison with Scotland, doubtless from its large Roman Catholic population, it gains immensely on comparison with any other part of Ireland. Thus the one county of Tipper­ary in 1837 (population 402,563) had 4239 crimes, while the whole of the ten counties of Ulster (population 2,314,104) had, at the same time, as we have seen, 5605; and while in the Tipperary crimes there were 124 homicides, many of those of Ulster were comparatively trifling. A few years before, too, the military expense of Ulster was only one-twelfth of the general military cost; and of twenty-five regiments in Ire­land, only two were stationed in that province, while its population was nearly a third of the whole population of the country.

From these important facts, resting chiefly on official returns, I humbly think it is sufficiently obvious, that, most melancholy as is the amount of crime in our country, it is often very unnecessarily and mischievously exaggerated; and that, sad as are its aspects in Scotland, there is nothing in it to discourage the efforts of faithful pastors, elders, and deacons, in seeking the amelioration and moral and religious renovation of the people. The reader will readily believe that the statements which have been made (and which have run to far greater length than was originally intended) are not designed to convey light views of, far less to apologise for crime, nor to discourage the application of preventive force in rural parishes as well as large towns, nor to slacken the zeal of those who are labouring against the tide of prevailing ungodliness, as if their diligence were unnecessary; but solely to correct exaggerated views, which are at once injurious to the character of our common country, and disheartening to those who have devoted, and are desirous to devote themselves yet more and more to the religious improvement of their fellow-men. As a Scotchman and a Christian, deeply interested in the success of all the plans of moral good which of late years have been put into operation, especially by the National Church, it is impossible not to regret the exaggerated statements in regard to crime which are often unwittingly propagated,—statements which seem to pour contempt on all the prayers and labours of the Christian Church, and to abandon a large body of men as hopeless both in character and condition. It is the more to be regretted, when good men, without thought, give currency to the same representations, and are relaxed by what should rather move them to new diligence and zeal.

Since writing the above, a number of years ago, there has been great moral and social changes, but all in support of the views stated in the preceding pages. Rising out of the terrible calamity of 1846, there has been a social revolution in Ireland, which so far affects Scotland. Nearly two millions of people died or emigrated. This immensely relieved the labour market, and, combined with new agriculture, and the influence of education and manufactures, the result has been socially to elevate the people to an extent that the most sanguine could not have imagined. In spite of the deadening influence of Popery, the progress is great, and all acknowledge it. Poverty and crime are diminishing, and comfort is diffused, and the recent religious revival is adding to the propitious impulse. In regard to Scotland, and particularly Glasgow and the west, there has been marked moral and social amelioration. This has not been owing to any falling off in the population; on the contrary, it has immensely increased. Scotland rose above 700,000 between 1841 and 1851. The change has been owing to steadier and better wages among the working classes, in consequence of the free-trade measures, the discouragement to intemperance by the recent act on public-houses, and, especially, the extensive application of educational, moral, and religious means, by reformatory schools, and churches, and missions, of late years. These last require some time for the development of the fruit, but, with the Divine blessing, they are as sure in their operation as the laws of political economy.

Accordingly, the crime of Glasgow, instead of running on as the theory supposed, and exaggerators expected, has been decidedly diminishing from year to year. It is still great and flagrant, calling for all the combined efforts of patriotism, philanthropy, and Christianity; but it is very different from what some fancy, and from what it threatened a few years ago to be. The superin­tendent of police has repeatedly and publicly stated, that if, in our population of nearly half a million, twelve hundred persons of both sexes were removed from the streets, the police would have a sinecure, so few are the cases which would fall under their cognisance. The general result of the papers on the crime of Glasgow and of Scotland, recently submitted to the Associa­tion of Social Science, is to shew that, during the last ten years, there has been a remarkable diminution of crime, especially juvenile crime,—that the criminals are very much a class, the same persons appearing again and again in the returns, and that a large proportion are Irish. One paper went to shew that the daily crime over the country is reduced by a third during the last ten years, though in the greater portion of that time the worst criminals were kept at home—released when the term of confinement is over—instead of being transported, as before, to the colonies. It also appears that, even of the crime existing, its character of late years has become much milder than at an earlier period. While these things are gladly and gratefully recorded, and also the disappearance for the time of avowed infidelity among the working classes, it would argue a serious misunderstanding of the object of these strictures if any fancied that social degradation and misery were at an end. No; there is still a vast amount of evil, but there is more con­fidence than before in the use of appropriate means of its being successfully met, and, one of these means is the extensive revival of the scriptural order of deacons.