The Sun.
London, England, 1825-01-11 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

MR. EDTTOR—Evety person who has crossed
the Channel, for the purpose of inquiring into the
manners, customs, practices, &c. of the French
people, are compelled in candour to admit that
some things are even at thiS day still managed bet-
ter in France. As every country has, of necessity,
produced good and able men, so there must be
something praiseworthy in the institutions of
every country and people. To notice these in-
teresting advantages should be the principal
object of the philanthropic traveller ; and when
he has noticed them, his patriotism should induce
him to publish them for the benefit of his own
countrymen. If pursued with this laudable in-
tention, travels are rendered not only delightful
to the individual %%Ito undertakes them, but be-
neficial to mankind. As our kitchen and our
flower garden are enriched and embellished by
the introduction of exotic productions, so may
national habits and customs be materially bene-
fitted and improved by the adoption of those fo-
reign practices which sound sense probe to be
advantageous in their effects.

The easy access which all men who are fond
of travelling have had into France, has, as it ne-
cessarily must, tended to remove many ancient
and deeply rooted prejudices. If the traveller
have found much to reprehend, he has also seen
much that he was compelled to admire. The
busy interference of the Police may have at first
shocked the Englishman accustomed to roam un-
molested through his native country ; but while
his first impressions were of necessity, productive
of feelings hostile to their establishment, he must,
upon further consideration, have become greatly
reconciled to it, w hen he discovered that it
tended materially to the preservation of order
and decorum, to the security of his person and
property, and that if it sometimes interfered
with the proceedings of individuals, it was only
when such proceedings tended to the annoyance
of the public. I n many respects, the regulations
of this police, in all that regards health and
security, are truly commendable. No dogs are
permitted to go about unmuzzled during the in-
tense heat of 3 ununer ; no steam engine can be
set up in the vicinity of any buildings ; no sub-
stance likely to generate mephitic vapours must be
thrown into the common sewers; no person is
allowed to bathe in the Seine, except in places.
not exposed to public view, or in those truly ex-
cellent establishments, the Ecoles de Natation.—
In these schools, if any accident happens through
the least negligence, the proprietor is immediate-
ly prosecuted by the Government, and if proved
guilty, punished with considerable severity.
It must not be imagined that these are the only
instances in which infractions of the laws are pro-
secuted at the sole ex pence of the Government.
This is the case in all criminal prosecutions.—
The prosecutor need not, as in England, incur a
heavy expellee to punish the man who has robbed
him of his property. Indeed, except when his
presence is required to identify the criminal or
the property, he need not appear in the Court
of Justice. In short, it is the Government, and
not himself, that acts as prosecutor This is
surely highly praise-worthy, and well worthy of
imitation.

In regard to health, the precautions taken are
not less admirable. In France, the constitutio►:
and the life of the credulous are not left at the
mercy of greedy quacks, who live by killing
their fellow-subjects. Before any one is permit-
ted to vend any medicine he asserts that lie has
discovered, he is obliged to deliver a receipt of
the ingredients employed in composi►►g it, and it
is not until the good effects of a portion made by
a Committee appointed for the purpose, and tried
by them in the hospitals, have been fully ascer-
tained, that the inventor is permitted to offer it
to the patro►►age of tl►e public.
Knowing a people who make pleasure one of
the most important objects of life, there must
necessarily be an imme►►se number of places of
public amusement. And surely in no country
are they more numerous or better attended.
Every description of places such as these, opera
housei, play houses, gardens, shows, &c. &c., iu
addition to the price paid for entrance, the visitor
pays a sum which, though small in itself, yet rises
to a considerable amount when raised over the
surface of the whole kingdom, which sum is
destined for the maintenance of the poor, or of
some public charitable institution. By this
method, there is no need of poor's rates, and
every man, while he lays out I►is money to promote.
his own pleasure and gratification, has the satis-
faction to reflect that he contributes his mite
towards relieving the necessities of his less for-
tunate fellow-creatures.

The internal regulation of all the play-houses
is also deserving of approbation. In these, your
attention to the performance is never interrupted
by the noisy enterance of tl►e first and second
Companies; nor are you every moment annoyed
by the loud•openi►►g and shutting of doors. Or-
der, decorum, and tranquillity prevail through-
out the whole of the theatre; and neither the
ear, nor the eye of a female, meet aught that cat'
put her modesty to the blush.

A. P.

BRITISH CATHOLIC RENT. —A meetinggthaoogrlif
was
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tholics was held at St. Patrick's School, Dean-street, Soho, on
Sunday evening, for the purpose of taking into consideration
the bent means of promoting a general subscription ih aid of the
Catholic Charitable Institutions, and to promote the great object
of Catholic Emancipation. About seven o'clock upwards of
400 of the lower classes of the Catholic body, most of whom
:el; at
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