An ordinance of 1692 gives the details of the commencement of the
_Petite Poste_, or daily collection of letters: "there will be
established six boxes from which the letters will be gathered every day
at noon precisely and at eight o'clock in the evening in winter, and
nine o'clock in summer, so exactly that after these hours in the evening
the letters which may arrive will remain for the mail offices following,
to wit:"--and the six localities of these offices are given. In 1759, a
royal ordinance decreed the establishment in the city of different
_bureaux_ to effect the transportation from one quarter to another of
letters and small packages; and on the 1st of August this service
commenced,--there were nine distributions a day, by means of a hundred
and seventeen _facteurs_, or carriers, and the postage was required to
be paid in advance. The departure of the mail-coaches from the old
post-office in the Rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau, at six o'clock each
morning, was a daily event of importance,--the diligence drivers prided
themselves on issuing from the cour du Meridien into the cour de
l'Horloge and from that into the street at the full gallop of their four
horses; unfortunately, the street was very narrow, and so was the
gateway of exit; it is recorded that the proprietor, named Florent, of
the shop immediately opposite this exit, which was, and still is, a
hair-dressing establishment, was enabled to retire with a fortune as the
result of the numerous reimbursements he received for his broken
shop-windows, dashed in by the mail coaches unable to make quickly
enough the sharp turn to the right or the left in the narrow street.
The arrangements for mailing and receiving letters in Paris are, in
general, very satisfactory,--the branch post-offices are over a hundred
in number, and they will receive not only letters and mailable packages,
but telegrams. They do a very large business, and are generally thronged
all day in the popular quarters,--the registry department being greatly
in favor. At night, they are recognizable by their blue lanterns, and
there are also, since 1894, auxiliary offices in certain shops
designated by blue signs. The letter-boxes, set in the wall of the
building, so that letters and packages may be mailed from the street,
are usually four in number, one each for Paris, the departments, foreign
mail, and for printed matter. Stamps may be bought and letters mailed
also in very many of the small tobacco-shops, in public buildings, and
in the dépôts of the railways and the tramways of the suburbs. There are
eight collections and distributions a day, on work-days, and five on
Sundays and fête-days; the facteur, or carrier, has discharged his duty
when he has left the mail with the concierge of the building, and its
final delivery rests entirely with the latter functionary. These
facteurs, who are generally intelligent and conscientious, wear the
inevitable uniform of all French officials, and carry their mail in an
absurd stiff little leathern box, suspended in front of their stomachs
by a strap around their necks. Their distributing matter never seems to
exceed the capacity of this box,--ranging in quantity from a third to a
tenth of the ordinary burden of a New York letter-carrier.
A more rapid method of distribution, for which a higher rate is charged,
is by means of the pneumatic tubes which traverse the city, mostly
through the égouts, and which have their termini in the branch
post-offices. Envelopes or enclosures sent by this medium must contain
neither valuable objects nor hard and resisting bodies. The service of
_colis postaux_, so called although there is no necessary connection
with the post, and which corresponds nearly with the American express
system, is, for Paris, in the hands of a director to whom it is a
concession by the Administration des Postes, and for the departments and
the colonies in those of the railway companies and the subsidized
maritime companies. The inevitable conflict with the workings of the
octroi interferes very seriously with the promptness and efficacy of
this service, and in the summer of 1898 the complaints of the despoiled
patrons were unusually loud and deep. In their search for contraband
articles, the octroi inspectors open a large number of these packages
received from the departments and containing in very many cases
consignments of wine, game, patés, and other delicacies,--the closing up
of these numerous cases is left to the employés of the railways, and the
result has been a perfect pillage. In vain do the consignees
protest,--the Compagnies interpose the interminable delays of
corporations, and justice is not to be had.
The annual receipts of the Paris post-office--population in 1896,
2,543,000--are given as 178,000,000 francs; of the telegraph,
37,000,000; of the telephone, 9,000,000; a total of 224,000,000 francs.
The expenses, borne by the post-office alone, are 178,000,000, so that
the annual profits are 46,000,000 francs, or about $9,200,000. For New
York City, the figures, as given by the postmaster for the year 1898,
are, total receipts, $8,564,247.03; expenditures, $3,398,071.38; net
revenue, $5,166,175.65. The postage rate in France, for the city or the
departments, is fifteen centimes for fifteen grammes.
In 1879, the telephone service was introduced in Paris, and was divided
among three companies,--the société Edison, the société Gower, and the
société Goulevin et Compagnie. The following year, these united in one,
the _Société générale des Téléphones_, and in 1889 the State took
possession. The wires were at first carried on poles through the
streets, but the municipality soon ordered them underground. As the
invention was introduced from abroad, it brought with it the English
"Hello!" necessary to open communication with the distant correspondent,
and the French subscriber consequently begins with "_Allô!
Allô!_"--which is as near as he can come to it. It may be added, that he
usually introduces a great many more interjections as he proceeds.
* * * * *
The recent tragic and very sudden transfer of the Executive power of the
French Republic exemplified in a most striking manner the advantages--at
least, for an inflammable nation--of the constitutional method of
electing a President. Instead of a heated and disturbing political
campaign, extending over six months of every fourth year, and frequently
carefully planned long in advance by the actual incumbent, the chief
Executive of France is elected promptly by the Senate and the Chamber
of Deputies reunited in Assemblée Nationale and sitting at Versailles.
One of these bodies, at least, the Chambre, enjoys no more of the public
confidence than do the national legislators of the great American
Republic; but the Presidents of the Third Republic, so far, at least,
may be said to have made quite as dignified and worthy representatives
of popular suffrage as those who have occupied the White House at
Washington during the same period. Instead of the two great parties into
which Anglo-Saxon suffrages are usually divided, the parliaments of
European nations generally represent a great number of small political
divisions, differing fiercely on minor points of political doctrine, and
thus, possibly, presenting a fairer average representation of the whole
people at any one given time than the others in which Conservatives or
Republicans may be enjoying an accidental or temporary majority.
[Illustration: BUILDING OF THE POST-OFFICE, OPPOSITE THE COLONNADE OF
THE LOUVRE, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. From an old engraving.]
In case of the death of the Président de la République, the Chambre and
the Sénat are immediately convoked, as in February, 1899; should he live
to fill out his legal term of seven years, the two bodies are summoned
to elect his successor at least a month before the expiration of his
term. He is eligible for re-election. His carefully limited powers are
much like those of a constitutional sovereign; he has power to originate
laws, in conjunction with the two Chambers; he has the pardoning power,
the direction of the army and navy, he presides at all the national
solemnities; the envoys and ambassadors of all foreign powers are
accredited to him. He negotiates and ratifies treaties, and communicates
them to the two Chambers as soon as, in his judgment, the interests and
the safety of the State will permit; he cannot declare war without the
assent of the Chambers; with the consent of the Senate, he may dissolve
the Chamber of Deputies. He is responsible only in case of high treason,
cannot be impeached but by the Chamber of Deputies, and cannot be tried
except by the Senate sitting as a High Court of Justice. He receives
from the State an annual allowance of a million two hundred thousand
francs.
The legislative power is divided between the two assemblies,--the
Chamber, elected by universal suffrage, and the Senate, by a restricted
suffrage. The financial budget must originate in the Chamber, and the
two bodies, beginning their sessions on the second Tuesday of January,
must sit at least five months every year. Their adjournment, which must
be on the same day, is pronounced by the President, who communicates
with them through the ministers of his cabinet, and the frequent _crises
ministérielles_, which have done so much to discredit the Third
Republic, have been caused by the responsibility of these ministers to
the Chambers for the general politics of the government. If they are
defeated by ever so small a minority on any question which they have
made a "vote of confidence," they place their resignations in the hands
of the President, who accepts them, and sends for one of the leaders of
the victorious opposition to form a new cabinet. This cabinet, in its
turn, can only hold power so long as it can command the support of a
certain combination of parties, and, as these combinations shift, so do
the ministries.
So well recognized is the material impossibility of arriving at any
permanent grouping of political parties, and, consequently, at any
permanent and coherent ministerial policy, that various amendments to
the Constitution of the State are being proposed. One of the methods
suggested is to suppress the ministerial responsibility, and to cause
the Parlement to elect the President of the Conseil d'État each year.
As to the Senate, it is to be reduced in power and privileges, and
condemned to a _rôle_ subordinate to that of the Chamber of Deputies.
At the palace of the Élysée, which is his official residence, the
President holds his audiences on Mondays and Thursdays, from nine
o'clock to noon. To be received by him, it is necessary to write to the
Secrétariat de la Présidence, requesting this honor, and to receive a
reply stating the day and hour. The Deputies and Senators are received,
without any letters of audience, on Wednesdays, from five to seven. The
President gives each year two State balls, for which some twelve
thousand invitations are issued, and also a garden-party in the grounds
of the Élysée in June. The two legislative bodies hold their sessions on
the other side of the river,--the Chamber, in the old Palais-Bourbon,
opposite the end of the Pont de la Concorde, and the Senate, in the
Luxembourg palace.
The Conseil d'État, which sits in the Palais-Royal under the presidency
of the Garde des Sceaux, is at once a council of the government by its
participation in the drawing up of laws, a council of administration,
and the highest of administrative juridical bodies. It deliberates in
two sections, in _Assemblée Générale_ and in _Assemblée du Contentieux_.
The Conseil Général de la Seine, which holds its sessions in its chamber
at the Hôtel de Ville, is composed of eighty municipal councillors of
Paris and twenty-one general councillors elected by the cantons of the
banlieue. The Conseil Municipal, which also sits at the Hôtel de Ville,
is elected from the twenty arrondissements of the city, one from each
quarter, for four years, and corresponds to the Conseils of the Communes
in the departments. The Préfet de la Seine and the Préfet de Police have
the right of attendance at its sittings and of being heard whenever
they wish. In the Palais du Tribunal de Commerce, the Conseil de
Préfecture de la Seine holds its sittings and occupies itself with a
great variety of municipal matters confided to its jurisdiction by law.
In the capital, the executive power, which in the other communes of
France is confided to the Maires, is exercised by the two Préfets, of
the Seine and of Police, who are thus invested with the triple character
of representatives of the State, of the Administration of the Department
of the Seine, and of superior officers of the State performing the
duties of Maire of Paris. Those divisions of the municipal
administration which depend directly upon the Préfecture of the Seine
are located in various buildings,--in the Hôtel de Ville itself, in the
_Annexe Est_, the old caserne Lobau, just across the Place Lobau, in the
_Annexe Nord_, on the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville and the Avenue Victoria,
and at numerous other localities throughout the city. The balls of the
Hôtel de Ville--which are a portion of the municipal administration--have
recently been replaced by more frequent receptions, at which there is
always dancing and a concert.
The administration of the Préfecture de Police is divided into three
Bureaux, the first of which is closely connected with the cabinet of the
Préfet, and the two others constitute the first and the second
divisions. The first Bureau is divided into four sections, and the
second into two, each of these subdivisions having its special
department. The Commissaires de Police are municipal officers appointed
in Paris by a decree of the President of the Republic on the nomination
of the Minister of the Interior, in the proportion of one for every ten
thousand inhabitants. In cities and towns having a population of less
than six thousand, these officers are appointed by the Préfet. They are
charged with the duty of enforcing the laws and the regulations of the
municipal police, the pursuit and arrest of criminals, and they have
authority in all controversies and litigations brought before the
Tribunals Civils, or those which never appear in court. The immediate
chief of the police, or _gardiens de la paix_, of each arrondissement,
is the Officier de Paix, who has his headquarters in the Mairie of that
arrondissement, and who is the functionary to appeal to in all matters
connected with the public highways. "(1) If you have cause to fear any
scandal, if you have need of police protection, he will give orders to
have a gardien posted at your door; (2) if you have any cause of
complaint against individuals, cab-drivers, cartmen, street-vendors, who
crowd the street, or who make a disturbance before your dwelling, he
will draw up against them _procès-verbaux de contravention_ [which is a
very efficient remedy]; (3) he is obliged to assure, by the gardiens de
la paix, the safety of children who have to cross wide streets when
leaving school; (4) at night, it is he who sends to the hospitals the
persons who may be found sick or wounded in the streets; (5) it is to
him that notice must be given of the disappearance of old persons,
children, sick, or those demented; he immediately notifies the municipal
police headquarters, which, in turn, sends word to all the posts
throughout Paris."
Gardiens de la Paix is now the official title of the efficient Paris
policemen, who were formerly known as Sergents de Ville, under which
title their corps was organized in 1829. Modified in their organization
in 1848 and in 1859, they were disbanded on the memorable 4th of
September, 1870. Like the firemen, they are all soldiers, and in case of
war rejoin their respective corps. From the point of view of the police,
Paris is divided into four great divisions, each including a certain
number of arrondissements, and having at its head a _Chef_. Under the
orders of the Commissaires are placed the twenty-five Officiers de Paix,
and the Inspecteurs Principaux, their substitutes; next in rank come the
Brigadiers, a hundred in number, then the eight hundred and eighty
Sous-Brigadiers and the seven thousand one hundred _agents_.
A sufficiently high standard is set for the recruits to this
force,--they must be in the enjoyment of all their civil rights, have
their papers perfectly correct, have been a soldier, not be more than
thirty years of age (thirty-five, if they have served ten years under
the colors), and be at least a mètre, seventy centimètres, in height.
They must have a knowledge of orthography, and an excellent physical
condition. After twenty-five years of service, in which is included that
in the army, they are entitled to be retired on a pension of half-pay,
calculated on the average payment of their last three years of service.
Rewards are provided for special acts of courage or devotion, arrest of
a dangerous criminal, stopping a runaway horse, extinguishing a fire,
etc.; after three such proofs of bravery, duly certified by
procès-verbaux, they are proposed for one of the four medals of honor,
of which two are in gold and two in silver. The State is by no means
chary in the distribution of decorations and medals to those who serve
it, and very many of these agents wear from one to four of these
highly-prized tokens, military and other, on their breasts. On their
capes and tunics are also embroidered in silver the number of their
arrondissement in Roman letters and their own, in figures. In stormy
weather, they pull the pointed hood of their capes over their heads,
which gives them a very picturesque appearance; and in summer, they all
appear in white trousers, as do the postmen. They have recently been
furnished with white bâtons, much smaller than a New York policeman's
club, which at first gave great amusement to the easily-amused
loungers on the boulevards, but which are very efficient in arresting
street traffic when held in the air.
[Illustration: COURT-YARD OF THE NEW POST-OFFICE: DEPARTURE OF CARRIER
OMNIBUSES. After a drawing by E. Pouchot.]
As at present organized, the force is divided into twenty-six
_brigades_, one for each arrondissement and six companies, known as the
reserve, formerly the _brigades centrales_. There are four posts in each
arrondissement, each of which is provided with a litter, mattress, and
appliances for aid to the injured, and the men are all instructed in the
first treatment of injuries, while waiting for the surgeon. All these
posts are united by telegraph with the central offices in the Mairies,
and these communicate directly with headquarters in the Rue de la Cité.
There are also supplemental posts established in the kiosques of the
carriage-stands; one agent looks after the cabs, and another is at the
service of the public. In each arrondissement, a certain number patrol
in civilian costume, to keep an eye on the street-vendors and to
suppress prostitution. The evening service of theatres and concerts is
furnished by the reserve companies and the carriage brigade; this is
supplied without costs for the theatres, but the concerts pay one franc
for each gardien de la paix, and a franc and a half for a brigadier.
These payments are all turned into a common fund, which, every three
months, is divided among the force. For those who have been killed while
on duty, the city of Paris has erected in the Montmartre cemetery a
monument, on which their names are engraved.
Although its functions, strictly speaking, are confined to the pursuit
and punishment of misdemeanors and crimes, the Paris police occupies
itself with a great number of other affairs that tend to enhance the
comfort and security of the citizen. In the cabinet of the Préfet, a
vast number of delicate affairs are treated with the utmost
discrimination; the Commissaires render daily numerous services of this
kind to the public. Very many disputes which would otherwise be brought
before the Juge de Paix are settled before a Commissaire, without cost
and with a great saving of time. A tenant summons before this officer
his landlord who refuses to allow him to move out on the pretence that
he has not paid his rent; the case is argued before the police
magistrate, and a judgment rendered which is accepted as final. Two
persons quarrel in the street and come to blows; instead of being
arrested and brought before the tribunaux correctionnels, they are
conducted before the Commissaire, where one of them admits his error and
apologizes. A jeweler confides a quantity of precious stones to a
trusted agent to dispose of, but afterward has reasons to believe that
the salesman is meditating flight; if he carry his case to the Tribunal
de Commerce, the delays will give the other ample time to abscond. But
if he cause him to be brought to the Commissariat of police, the chances
are that he will recover his property and that the culprit will depart
admonished and repentant. A married couple are on the point of
disagreeing, and applying for a divorce; this useful official summons
them before him, listens to their explanations and accusations, delivers
to them a moral lecture, and effects a reconciliation. The search for a
missing spouse--whether he or she be really wanted by the abandoned
partner, or whether the latter cherish secret hopes that the search be
fruitless, so that the divorce may be obtained--is one of the most
frequent charges of this confidential police. Those parents who cruelly
treat their children, those dissipated sons of families who will not
listen to parental admonition, are summoned before the Commissaire and
speedily brought to reason.
_Le Service de Sûreté_ is enabled by its organization to assure
protection to persons menaced. "For example, you receive a letter
threatening trouble at the ceremony of your marriage, at the church or
the Mairie; carry that letter to the Chef de la Sûreté, Quai des
Orfèvres. He will place on the watch inspectors to whom he will give a
description of the author of the threat. This service is completely
gratuitous. It is not so for that which consists, we will say, in
watching over the display of wedding-presents. If you want some
inspectors to mount guard in your salon, so that you may not be robbed,
you must pay them. They have, in fact, under these circumstances, to
meet the expenses of dress which are not provided for in their budget."
La Sûreté will also place at your disposal, for any legitimate purpose,
retired inspectors who have served their twenty-five years, and who will
shadow any one whom you have cause to suspect, for ten francs a day and
expenses, who will guard banks, or villas, or travellers with valuable
luggage, or assume the duties of a concierge. All these official
services rendered to individuals must be with the consent of the
Procureur de la République and the Préfet de Police, the Sûreté acting
only under the orders of these two officials.
Paris, in fact, may be said to be a very well-policed city,--the police
regulations are intelligent, and cover all those points in which the
safety, or comfort, or peace of mind of the majority of well-meaning
citizens may be menaced or disturbed by the inconsiderate action of
individuals, and yet these strict _ordonnances_, which might become
harsh or tyrannical, are generally administered with discretion and--in
the case, for example, of the peripatetic vendors of vegetables, the
_marchands_ and _marchandes des quatre-saisons_--with due consideration
for the difficulties of the poor. Great care is taken to assure the
free circulation in the streets, with one very important exception,--the
householder must not deposit any garbage, or mud, or broken bottles on
the sidewalk, he must wash his shop-windows only between certain hours
in the morning, he must not beat nor shake carpets out the window nor in
the streets, he must not put his flower-pots in the windows where there
is any danger of their falling on the passer-by, he must not keep
domestic animals in such numbers or of such a kind as to be disagreeable
to his neighbor, he must not burn coffee, nor card the wool of his
mattresses, on the public highway, and he must not set out chairs or
tables on the sidewalk. This last regulation, however, is practically a
dead letter, all the cafés, big and little, on the wide _trottoirs_ of
the boulevards and on the two-foot sidewalks of the narrow streets,
monopolize from a half to three-fourths of the pavement for pedestrians.
The latter file along cheerfully on the curb-stone, or turn out in the
street altogether, and make no protest. In the poorer quarters, a great
number of domestic occupations and maternal cares are transferred to the
street in front of the dwelling; in fact, the fondness of the French for
out-of-doors is one of their most striking characteristics. The women
and young girls will sit sewing or knitting in the streets or the public
parks, and the men at the open-air tables of the cafés, in the wettest
and rawest of days, and the women of the lower orders, concierges,
workwomen, small shopkeepers, etc., constantly go with their heads
uncovered. This healthy hankering of all classes for the open air
contrasts very strongly with their imbecile terror of fresh air, or
_courants d'air_, in a closed vehicle or under a roof.
[Illustration: LEDGER OF THE "LOST-AND-FOUND BUREAU," AT THE PREFECTURE
OF POLICE, SHOWING SKETCHES OF HANDLES OF FOUND UMBRELLAS.