FRENCH PASSPORTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 587, 19 June 1858, Page 3

FRENCH PASSPORTS.

(From the 'Times,' Feb. 19.)

" All persons found trespassing on these premises will be prosecuted-with the full rigour of she law " is the inscription which should be set up at every port and landing place in France. The strings of the preposterous passport system which never yet availed to keep one conspirator from his mark, one murderer from his victim, or one robber from his refuge, are now to be drawn tighter than before against peaceful travellers and honest men. We publish, by request, a notice to-day to' the effect that British subjects —even those who have intention of proceeding into the interior—will not be permitted to tread even the beach of the French empire without a passport. As a natural postscript to this wise and friendly enactment, the Consul's passport, applied for and granted after landing, will not be recognised. This is contrary to the old custom. Heretofore, a British subject who had omitted to take a passport in London, whether from want of time or neglect, or any one of the twenty petty causes which affect the proceedings of hurried travellers, was permitted to repair his omission at his port of debarcation.. This relief is for the future to be denied to the travelling Englishman. What security, it may be said, would a Consular passport, granted at a French port by.a British agent, prove to the Imperial Government? In the first place, we would say it might be. accepted as reasonable evideace that the bearer was an Englighman. The test applied woidd be the test of language. We much doubt if there are in Europe at the present moment fifty men, not Englishmen, who speak English in such a manner that their foreign origin could not be detected in the course of a five minutes' conversation. The Imperial police might be perfectly content to accept the passport granted by the English consul at Boulogne or Calais as good evidence that the bearer was an English subject. Then, it may be further said, what means has the Consul at Boulogne of testing the real character and objects of an applicant who knocks at his door and asks hurriedly for a passport? Not much, certainly; but what can the London magistrates or mayors of corporate towns know of the circumstances under which thousands will apply to them for passports! The inquisition to be exercised cannot exceed " Who are you? What's your business in France? Give the name of a householder who will, vouch for you." If the Magisterial proceedings go beyond this they will be an insufferable nuisance, and will not be tolerated for a week.

It is clear enough that the Government of any country has a right to make any regulations, short of Japanese or Chinese exclusion, to which all foreigners who desire admission to its territories must submit. We don't deny the right of the French Emperor to ride this hobby passport to death; but we would submit, with all due deference, that nothing is so likely to bring unpopularity on his name on this side of the Channel as a foolish restriction upon the intercourse of the French and English nations. And is not the alliance the best card in his hand ? Is it not Important to him that feelings of amity and goodwill should exist between Englishmen and Frenchmen ? The only further remark we would offer upon this matter is to advise all our countrymen who are not actually called to France on urgent business to avoid that country as much as possible. Why should Englishmen be exposed to the hundred petty vexations of this passport system, when enforced with the full stringency of which it is susceptible? The French police are just now busy in shutting the stable door in a very artistic manner when the steed has been stolen. It was through their own utter inefficiency and Avorthlessness as a protective force that the French Emperor was wellnigh killed the other day. They now show their zeal by turning the screw on a point where it can afford no real security, and the French Government in its. abject terror gives them full swing-. An Englishman, we should say, is wise who stops at home till these restrictions be withdrawn or greatly modified.