<論説>マリン・ポリスと港湾労働者の世界 : ロンドン港における一七九八年暴動を手がかりに

Abstract

一八世紀末、空前の商業発展期を迎え活気に満ちあふれていたロンドン港は、貿易商の私的所有権と港湾労働者の慣習が鋭く対立する場であった。こうした状況のなか、西インド商人の商業財産の保護と国家による関税の確保を目的として、マリン・ポリスが設立される。しかし、「ポリティカル・エコノミー」の貫徹を目指したマリン・ポリスを出迎えたのは、イギリス史上初の反警察暴動であった。本稿では、港湾労働者による一七九八年暴動を、政府文書、書簡、新聞などの史料を用いて再構成し、その背景に迫ることによって、ロンドン港の「富」をめぐって対峙するマリン・ポリス(内務省) と港湾労働者の関係を考察する。史上初となった一七九八年の反警察暴動が、首都警察が誕生する三〇年以上も前のロンドンに、内務省直属の国家警察をもたらした事実が明らかになるであろう。

The port of London witnessed great prosperity late in the eighteenth century, as a result of rapidly expanding overseas trade, and a concurrent increase in size and number of ships. This expansion in trade outstripped available storage facilities, which caused the pilfering of goods stored at wharves and warehouses to become endemic. Patrick Colquhoun, a stipendiary magistrate of the London police court, received an offer from West India merchants to fund 75% of his operating expenses if he were to establish a force to guard their cargo stored at the port of London, and he duly founded the Marine Police in July 1798. Shortly thereafter, in October 1798, the Marine Police was attacked by a body of men known as coal-heavers responsible for unloading coal-ships, and two men were killed. The riot was suppressed by the army and a ringleader was convicted of the aiding and abetting of the murder. This represents the first anti-police riot in English history. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the 1798 riot by making full use of official papers, letters and newspapers, in order to illuminate the relationship between the Marine Police and the port laborers. This paper reveals that two distinct values existed : the political economy of the Marine Police, and the customs of the London port laborers. Ultimately, the riot of 1798 led to the government creating the Thames River Police, under the authority of the Home office. It was the first organized police force in England and preceded the Metropolitan Police by thirty one years.