=Note=:--No passport will be delivered on this pass, and the
bearer arrested if he be found elsewhere in France, save in the
Department of the Seine.
For a longer residence than two months in Paris a petition must be made
to the Prefect of Police, without delay.
Residence must not be changed without permission.
* * * * *
Then followed description of my appearance, age, person and signature.
On changing my residence the Secretary wrote the day of the month, the
street and number of the house upon my pass and returned it to me.
The want of a pass is attended by disagreeable circumstances. One such
occurred to me a day or two after our arrival at Paris. Being desirous
of saving a little distance on my way to the Pont Neuf, I was stopped
by a sentinel and my pass demanded; but not having it about me, and
notwithstanding my plea of being a foreigner, I was compelled to make a
very considerable _détour_ before I reached my destination.
[Sidenote: THE PRESENT STATE OF FRANCE]
In England no one would tolerate the introduction of such a system
which would prove the destruction of commerce. There are merchants
who travel from Bristol, Manchester, and Liverpool to London, merely
to settle in the course of a few hours their great concerns and then
to return. Conceive what an obstacle to their affairs would be a
two hours’ attendance in the ante-chamber of a Minister of Police.
Suspicion is the result of fear--the jealousy of a despotism doubtful
of its existence--a system proper for the present government of France.
But there is more _charbonnerie_ than effective vigour in the
boasted police of M. Fouché. If the French Government be seriously
inclined to extend their commerce there must be a relaxation in this
perplexing system of police, they must give free scope to industry,
and not jealously inquire into the motives which may lead their fellow
countrymen to visit the capital or pass from one district of France to
another. If the present plan is continued the revenues will be less
productive, and the support of an immense military, as well as the
extensive pageantry of a pompous Government, will be provided for with
difficulty and only by imposing severe taxes which depress and ruin the
cause of agriculture.
I would not dare to affirm that these consequences are to be traced
exclusively to police espionage; but when this latter is contemplated
as a brand of a widely extended system of jealous government, it enters
into a consideration and forms a constituent of a policy the French
Republic will long have good reason to deplore.
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