Chapter 135: Provisional Survey and Investigation Statistics for the London Region
Chapter 135 Provisional Survey and Survey Statistics for the London Region
Whitehall Street, Home Secretary’s Residence.
Sir Peel skimmed through the documents in front of him one after another, and then nodded with satisfaction.
He leaned back in his chair and smiled at Arthur, who was sitting across the desk.
“Arthur, what to say. I feel in a very pleasant mood every time I see you because you always bring me good news. Not only did you take out Fred on the high seas, but now you’ve taken it upon yourself to clear out those remaining members of his party. If every superintendent in Scotland Yard could have your dedication, I believe that sooner or later, we would be able to reverse the crime rate in the London area, which has been rising year after year.”
Arthur smiled and spoke, “Sir Peel, I have always taken it as my duty to benefit the country and the public, and I feel very happy to be able to do my part for the citizens of London. However, I remain cautiously optimistic until your goals are actually realized.
Although your campaign to repeal the Blood Act has been a great success, and the proportion of felony charges in London has tended to fall dramatically, it has also greatly eased the workload of Scotland Yard.
However, as you will no doubt have seen, Scotland Yard’s police, under your guidance, have been able to keep the East End free of large criminal groups, but have not been able to eliminate the smaller gangs.
The crime rate in the London area shows a high positive correlation with the poverty rate, and as long as London fails to provide enough jobs then there will always be desperate people, after all, criminals have to find ways to stay alive too.”
Hearing this, Sir Peel nodded his head with a helpless smile, “Arthur, I’m glad you can see through the phenomenon, but this is a very long term plan. To be honest, I do have quite a few bills pressed on my hand to boost the economy and promote employment. But in the current situation, I am indeed being made to work a little bit harder by the monkeys in the House of Commons.”
Hearing this, Arthur duly probed, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Sir Peel thought for a moment, but eventually waved his hand, “No, no, Arthur, what you’ve done so far has been excellent, and I really can’t ask you for more. I’m also sorry to say that I promised you earlier that I would push for the passage of the Anatomy Bill, but it’s been a few months now and it’s still stuck where it is.
But even so, you’ve still faithfully completed every job I’ve given you. Sometimes I wonder if it would have been too condescending to keep you at Scotland Yard in the first place. Perhaps I should give you a try in another position in the Ministry of the Interior, and chances are that you will shine in other positions as well.”
Arthur’s heart lifted slightly at how he mulled over Sir Peel’s words and how they didn’t feel right.
Sir Peel keenly captured the air that briefly froze as he crossed his arms in front of his case and spoke.
“Don’t get paranoid, what I’m talking to you about is a real problem. As you have probably read from the newspapers, the situation within the Tory party is not optimistic. I …… mean, if we go down there, your position may become very dangerous.
You’ve been shining too brightly lately and have too strong a ‘Peel label’ on you, and there’s a chance that if the Whigs come to power, you could be gotten down by them.
Arthur, you’ve done me a lot of favors, even as you could have gone into the Royal Navy. General Codrington also approached me a while ago, and he talked to me alone about you ……”
Hearing this, Arthur smiled and shook his head, “Sir Peel, I don’t really care about my position, and if you feel that Scotland Yard doesn’t need my services anymore, or if it would be more beneficial to the country and the public for me to be transferred to some other place, then of course I would be willing to obey your orders.”
Sir Peel nodded his head in satisfaction as he heard this, and he opened his mouth to ask, “Very well, so I assume that you have come to me specifically today for more than just that?”
Arthur nodded his head and said, “Now that the situation in Tauerhamletz is considered to be temporarily stabilized for the time being, so I am once again planning to carry out that plan you mentioned in the Interior Ministry’s document before.”
Sir Pierre thought about it for a moment and probably understood exactly which thing Arthur was talking about.
Scotland Yard had responded to him many times about the narrowness of the streets in the parish of St. Giles in the West End of London, or in the slums of the East End.
This kind of urban layout with chaotic buildings and narrow streets usually became a breeding ground for crime.
For one thing, criminals who enter these areas can easily shake off pursuing police by virtue of their familiarity with the local streets.
Secondly, police officers are also afraid to enter such areas alone, and most of Scotland Yard’s assaults on police officers basically come from such areas. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, Peel once ordered the Scotland Yard police to mark out all the areas and streets that were difficult to patrol, and then handed them over to the Ordnance Survey under the War Department and the Geographic Mapping and Topographic Information Statistics Department under the Admiralty to conduct a rough mapping of these areas.
Finally it was for the Home Office to check with the Treasury to see how much it would cost to remodel these streets. If the price was right, Sir Peel wouldn’t mind adding to his credit book.
Arthur spoke up, “I think it would be a bit of a stretch to leave the topographical survey to the Ordnance Survey under the Army Artillery Bureau or to the Royal Navy’s Geographic Mapping and Topographical Information and Statistics Department.
After all, the original purpose of the late King George II established them was to prevent the invasion of Jacobin France, and the basis of their surveying is also for military considerations.
In addition, the nerves of the citizens of London because of the French July Revolution and the Belgian uprising in Brussels has been made very tense, if this time to mobilize the artillery Ordnance Survey, I am afraid that it will cause unnecessary trouble.
Just as your original intention in establishing Scotland Yard and recruiting us police officers was to combat the crime rate while minimizing the mobilization of the military police, I think that this kind of surveying and mapping work may also need to be done with the aid of an innocuous temporary organization.”
Arthur’s words read normal on the face of it, but Sir Peel still caught a few key words – Army, military police, Scotland Yard, police, Ordnance Survey, Royal Navy Geographic Mapping and Topographic Information and Statistics Department, harmless temporary organization.
It was clear to Sir Peel that neither that Ordnance Survey of the Army nor that Geostatistical Department of the Navy were as icy as their externally listed names made them out to be.
The most typical case is Elder and Darwin will be aboard the Beagle, Beagle is directly under the Royal Navy Geographic Mapping and Topographic Information Statistics Department of a ship, it is nominally a research vessel, but in reality it is for the purpose of investigation and drawing of charts in the Pacific region of South America, the state of the sea information, but also shouldered the responsibility of spying on the distribution of the political power of the countries along the way.
Hearing this, how could Sir Peel not understand Arthur’s meaning?
He thought about the recent situation, and suddenly for no reason he smiled and opened his mouth to ask: “Arthur, what exactly do you think about the matter of parliamentary reform?”
Arthur calmly said, “I’m just a mediocre person, so I can’t say anything with visionary views. I can only borrow a famous quote from Aristotle to express my shallow views.
There are three good state systems and three bad state systems in this world, monarchy and tyranny, aristocracy and oligarchy, republic and mob rule. If we distinguish them by the number of people who rule, then monarchy and tyranny are the rule of one, aristocracy and oligarchy are the rule of a few, and republicanism and mob rule are the rule of the majority.
The number of people is not the issue, the issue is whether they can be governed properly. Anyway, in the final analysis, even a political party with a large number of people ends up electing only a handful of leaders, and the voice that the party ends up making is only the voice of a few leaders.”
Hearing this, Sir Peel suddenly smiled knowingly as he opened his mouth and asked, “Arthur, I really don’t know what to say about you. Perhaps you should come to the Tory Party to elect a councillor, although Superintendent of Police is already a very good position, but in your case, it still doesn’t match your thoughts and abilities.”
Arthur removed a long drafted document from his carry-on bag and placed it on his desk and pushed it over.
Sir Peel took the document and skimmed through it as he mouthed, “Provisional Survey and Investigation Statistics for the London Region ……”
Arthur asked, “Your comments?”
Sir Peel smiled gently as he lifted his quill and dipped it gently in the ink bottle, then signed his name with a broad stroke.
“There’s no need to submit such a temporary organization to Parliament for approval anyway, so I agree. But at the same time, Arthur, I must also remind you that I can only give you authorization, but the Ministry of the Interior can’t spare the extra financial budget to support you right now. So it’s up to you to decide what you can do. But you don’t have to be under too much pressure, your first priority is still to handle the police work, as for the rest, I really can’t ask for more. I always remember that the Duke of Wellington’s Cabinet was able to last until now with more or less a share of your efforts.”
Arthur nodded slightly and rose to salute Peel, “Please be assured that perhaps the other police districts of Scotland Yard may be out of order, but I assure you that at least the Provisional Survey and Investigation Statistics of the London Region will always be loyal to you.”
(End of chapter)