"During the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries the strict conscience and self-control, which had been a feature of a relatively small part of the English population, became general throughout nearly the whole of the society... The forces which led to this transformation in character are difficult to establish; although religious belief is not nowadays typical of the prosperous working class, it is possible that the evangelical missions of John Wesley, of whom it is said that he prevented the French Revolution reaching England, may have played a significant part in their time, particularly in the industrial Northern regions. So too may have done the gradual spread of universal education. On the basis of the evidence available to me, however, I should consider that the most significant factor in the development of a strict conscience and law-abiding habits in the majority of urban English men and women was the invention and development of the institution of the modern English police force."