New Means to Old Ends 71Prophaneness, which became known as the Proclamation Society. It
attracted a distinguished, but limited; membership, 'heavily dominated by
peers, MPs and senior Church dignitaries'. There were, however, only 150
members who hoped to improve society and prevent crime by punishing
lesser evils of swearing, publication of obscene books, use of false weights,
gaming, and cruelty to animals.^85
This revived moral crusade was more widespread and more broadly based
than in previous eras.^86 One reason was that the reformation of manners
converged with the other currents of reform. Wilberforce provides an excel-
lent example of the affinity between these causes. Founder of the Proclama-
tion Society, he was also a friend of Jeremy Bentham and tried to use his
influence on Bentham's behalf when Bentham was negotiating. with Pitt's
administration about building his model prison, the Panopticon.^7 Writing to
Christopher Wyvill in 1787, Wilberforce stated:The barbarous mode of hanging has been tried too long and with the
success which might have been expected from it: the most effectual way of
preventing the greater crimes is punishing the smaller, and endeavouring
to repress that general spirit of licentiousness which is the parent of every
species of vice.^88Like prison reformers, moral reformers put a premium on prevention and on
the early detection of criminals.
Societies for the prosecution of felons were another voluntary effort gain-
ing support in the 1780s. Victims had the primary responsibility in the
eighteenth century for criminal prosecutions. The societies paid the prosecu-
tion costs for any member who became a crime victim and offered rewards
for information leading to the arrest and conviction of offenders. Some
societies went so far as to hire private watchmen or patrols. The funds for
these endeavours came from annual subscriptions paid by members.^89 There
had been prosecution societies in England since the late seventeenth century
but, like the societies for the reformation of manners, their fortunes had
waned. They were revived in increasing numbers by the rising levels of
property crime in the later decades of the century.^90 However, historians
who have studied their impact in areas outside London have concluded that
they had a minor impact on the number of offenders brought to trial.^91 But
growing numbers of prosecution societies can only have enhanced a climate
that encouraged local police reform.
Police reform was thus one component of this wider concern about crim-
inal justice, of which prison, law, and moral reform were also key parts. Still
broadly defined, police was of key interest to the tireless Christian philan-
thropist Jonas Hanway.^92 His Defects of Police first appeared in 1775 and was
reissued in 1780 as The Citizen's Monitor. Hanway defined police as the 'good
regulations for the economy and preservation of the people'. He discussed