city

is marked by obscurity, which, to a certain extent, gives impunity.

In small towns there must be a sort of natural police, of a very wholesome kind, operating upon the conduct of each individual, who lives, as it were, under the public eye; but in a large town he li ves, if he choose, in absolute obscurity, and we know that large towns are sought by way of refuge because of that obscurity, which to a certain extent gives impunity. Report of the Select Committee on Criminal and Destitute Juveniles, 1852

Matthew Davenport HillThinkers

Matthew Davenport Hill