482 On the Police of 



suit from tiie virtues ami good foKh of 

 oomnierce, is raUier in lie desired than 

 feared ; fear of a rival nation's prosperity 

 was one of the narrow llicories of darker 

 ages and unenlightened times. A more 

 lihcral and pliilosophical, as well as a 

 more accurate, view of things, has suc- 

 ceeded ; and nothing lias it more clearly 

 demonstrated, than ihe fact, that a com- 

 mercial nation benefits in proportion 

 to the commercial prosperity of its 

 neighbour. 



Our candid and observing author 

 draws a precise and masterly portrait of 

 the chief features of London, contrasting 

 its advantages with the disadvantages of 

 Paris and tlie continental cities. Much, 

 in our opinion, may be learnt on both 

 sides; but the superiority of tlie British 

 capital, in all that concerns the economy 

 of health and comfort, is strikingly obvi- 

 ous. After complainingof the shameful 

 manner in which the pidjiic ways are 

 neglected, and the |)ublic eilifiees pro- 

 faned and dilapidated, on the continent, 

 M. Diipin continues : 



"As much pains are taken in Eng- 

 land to render the public way free, com- 

 modious, and safe, before the houses of 

 private individuals, as in the neighbour- 

 hood of public monuments. No bulky 

 object is allowed to be displayeil outside 

 a shop; no stationary olijeet of sale is 

 allowed to oI)strHct the streets or the 

 squares ; every citizen is entitled to seize 

 them, to carry the owner before a ma- 

 gistrate, and to receive half the fine im- 

 posed on tiio delinquent, which generally 

 amounts from 50 to 120 tranes. In 

 tliese measures may be recognised the 

 foresight of a people impressed wilii a 

 sense of the importance of facilitating 

 communication, both for the sake of 

 civil order and the advantage of com- 

 merce. 



" One of tlie most remarkable charac- 

 teristics of the towns of Great Britain is 

 the care taken, by the proper authority, 

 to render the public way easy and com- 

 modious to the commonest foot-pas- 

 senger. Admirable attention ! In a 

 country where the rich are charged witii 

 the duty of making laws, they never, in 

 any case, forget the advantage of their 

 poorer fellow-citizens." 



The following extract is really « orthy 

 the attention of our neighbours; and we 

 are induced from sad experience to echo 

 our author's hint of one inconvenience 

 of Paris, notwithstanding the efficacious 

 answer usually given to such complaints 

 by the Parisians, tlial any change Hoaid 



Great Britain. [J"'y '» 



spoil the totalM de la Rue, No one 

 can accuse the worthy muscadins of 

 Paris of a disposition to innovation or 

 reform. 



" T7-nt/oirs, composed of large flat 

 slabs of stone, are raised on both sides 

 in streets of ordinary width. Even in , 

 the narrowest, a troUoir is always to be 

 met with, sufTicicntly wide for two fool- 

 passengers to pass each other ; and heavy 

 fines are levied on any individual who 

 presumes to drive a horse, or car- 

 riage, or wheel a truck or barrow, over 

 this reserved portion of the street, or 

 block II J) the way with packages or 

 casks. 



" Let ns next survey the measures 

 which concern that cleanliness on which 

 the public health ujainly depends. Pub- 

 lic tirains, constructed at the city's ex- 

 pense, traverse the principal streets; 

 and receive, by means of small charmels, 

 the cost of which is paid by the house- 

 holder, all the water which is thus accu- 

 mulated. In England, no one is 

 alIowe<l to throw any filth or sweepings 

 into the public road. They are collected 

 in a corner of each house, to be carried 

 away, at least once every week, by pub- 

 lic contractors. It is on Ibis account 

 that the towns of England never exhibit 

 the filthy aspect ol)servable in the 

 soutiici:n cities of Europe, where the or- 

 dures and excrements of men and ani- 

 mals arc tlirown into the public streets, 

 and left to the putrefaction acccUrated 

 by a burning sun : a certain productive 

 of endemic an<l nuirt:il diseases." 



31. Dujjin remarks (tome 2d, p. 22.) 

 on the number of depredators and profli- 

 gate characters vvlio infest the Thames 

 and the streets, and adds some remarks 

 on the inelTicient nature of our police. 

 But he relies in this inference too im- 

 plicitly on Colquhoun. Although we 

 feel the necessity of a police reform, wc 

 should not like to see the more perfect 

 system of the French police transplanted 

 to this coimtry. We are decidedly 

 averse to any assimilation of our police 

 system to that debased espionage which 

 is the vice of the continental govern- 

 ments, and, perhaps, the chief obstacle 

 in the way of their advance to sound and 

 healthy notions of liberty, — an assimila- 

 tion recommended in some sort by a late 

 magistrate, (Bolton Mainwaring;) — but 

 might copy the French system in its 

 least objectionable parts: we would in- 

 vigorate the police in point of efTectivc 

 members ; we would extend the sphere 

 of its operations; increase the salaries 



of 



