The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-11 00:00:00

~~~

--2 -- 0 '-?_---B'

[PRiot 4D. STAMPED 5T).]

THE PASSPORT SYSTEM.

(Prom the Times.)

Our contemporary the Constitutionnel has ac-
tually expressed its willingness to accept a "serious
discussion" on the Passport system. We sincerely
trust this offer implies some resolution to place the
system on its own merits, and to leave it to stand
or fall by the conclusions arrived at. With the
hope of such a result we return to the subject even
in the midst of more momentous'airl engrossing
topics, for although, as our contemporary very
truly remarks, the vexation of English travellers
is not quite so important a matter as the Indian
mutinies, it is. wcrth a little trouble to convict a
system which does more to embarrass the inter-
course of two great and friendly countries than any
other incident affecting the communicas ions between
them.
M. Cauvain, who undertakes the defence of the
Passport system, and who characterises cur objec-
tions to it as "calumnies" against the customs of
a foreign State, is not content with affirming that
the system, after all, really prevails in England as
well as in France, but roundly declares that, in
more respects than one, it operates as a positive
protection to peop!e on their travels. The former
of these assertions will astonish most of our readers,
whether British or foreign, and especially when we
observe that M. Cauvain's authority for his state-
ment is drawn exclusively from our own columns.
A..few days ago a correspondent called our atten-
tion to thefact that, acco' ding tocertain regulations,
a stranger arriving at Folkestone was bettnd under
a penalty of 40s. to present himself at an. office
in the Custom-house, produce his passport, and
receive a certificate of his arrival. How far these
regulations are enforcel we do net pretend to
know, but this much we venture to say, that no
foreigner travelling in England would ever think of
asserting on his return that he had experLnced the•
least delay, extortion, or annoyance in respect of ,
his passport from the first moment of his visit to J
the last. We put the case in this broad.light to
bring tee question at once to issue ; but; assuming
even that the rule referred to is rigidly executed,
what possible analogy, we ask, can be established
between such a provision and the elaborate system
of passports prevailing on the cont.nent 7 In Eng-
land, at the most, a foreigner (not an Englishman)
may be required, on entering an office which be
must needs visit under any circumstances, to regis-
tr his name. There ends the whole regulaiiun.
Thera is no system about the procetdiug, no machi-
nery for conducting it, and, above all, no penalty,
worth mentioning for leaving things undone alto-
gether. The traveller cannot be detained, at the
one single point of 'deteution, more than a minute
or two, and, if he objects even to this delay, he
may snap his fingers and go off straight with no
other liability thqu a fine of a couple of sovereigns.
With this arrangement let M. Cauvain com-
pare the "manners and customs" which he stands
up to defend. A system of the most extensive
and complex description, embracing every depart-
ment, every prefecture, every town, and every
port, is maintained at a large cost, and with an
enormous staff of officers, for the simple purpose
of tracking like a thief every person who stirs

from hie ho—me. Not only English-men, but French-
men too, on their own native soil, are compelled,
before they can travel a dozen miles, to procure per-
mission to do so by personal application, and to
carry about with them, and produce upon every de-
mand, an official warrant entitling them to be where
they are. This warrant must be inspected, exa-
mined, revised, exchanged, and passed through
every conceivable process of verification and regis-
tration, with a perpetual infliction of small expense
and an interminable tax upon patience. To crown
all, supposing that through ignorance the ceremony,
or any incident of it, Ins been omitted, or imper-
fectly transacted, or the warrant itself by any acci-
dent lost or mislaid, the consequences become equi-
valent to those of actual felony for the time being.
An unfortunate traveller with no passport or au

formal one i 3 impounded forthwith, is forbidden to
pursue his journey no mattti what may be the
urgency of the case, and may be very thankful if
the . surveillance under which he is placed falls
something shod of positive imprisonment: 'So
much for the "complete analogy" subsisting be-
tween English and continental institutions iu this
respect. _

SI. Cauvain, however, takes higher ground then
the mere to q argument when he asserts of the
Passports system that it is a real comfort and conve-
nience to traveller:4. Did he ever find a traveller
who thought so ? Certainly, if F, euchmen choose
to put themselves through th-se " simple formali-
ties,"-it is not for us to cavil at their fancy ; bat,
as we presumed to know something of English
opinion, our contemporary will perhaps accept our
word for the fact, that we are utterly insensible to
the benefit designed, and wish for nothing more
heartily than that the whole system should be
exploded to-morrow. If there be any advantages
attending it we surrender them all without a
moment's hesitation. An Englishman is perfectly
satisfied of his own " identity" without getting it
" established" by a certifinte of police ; he can
find the way to his own Ambassador without the
sanction of a constable, and provide himself with
money for his journey apart from the kind offices
of either mayor or gendarmes. In so far as the
system is kept up for our benefit we can confidently
assure M. Cauvain that the labour is utterly
thrown away, and that it may be abolished this
very instant not only without remonstrance on our
part, but with the greatest possible satisfaction to
all classes in the habit of visiting their continental
neighbours.

The matter is really not quite so trivial as it
appears. To be sure, the extortions of the system
are on a petty scale and the annoyances not often
of a very afflicting kind, but they are sufficient
altogether to keep some persons away from France
who would very gladly go there, and, what is of far
more consequence, the perpetual irritation, though
alight perhaps in itself, inevitably operates to the
prejudice of the views with which an Euglishmau
might otherwise return from a country in many
respects better managed than Lis own. Perhaps
the people of other nations do not suffer quite so
much as we do, but there is nothing so disagreeable
to an Englishman as small interruptions for small
demands. It is as much as ever we can do to en-
dure a turnpike; in fact, in London we have
abolished Viem, and in Wales they pulled them
down. A man spending a thousand a-year without
stint will go half-a-mile round to avoid a bridge
where he would be stopped for a halfpenny. We
do not like to be interfered with at all ; still less
do we like to be guaged and measured like a bale
of goods, stamped with a brand, and then put in
circulation, to be tested and branded over again at
the next police-offic(.. We do this kind of thing in
our prisons, because there is no avoiding it, but
when we visit a foreign country prepare to admire
it and to enjoy ourselves, we do not like to be
handled as if we were in a convict settlement.'
If all this were necessary either from geographi-
cal configuration, or frontier difficulties, or any
other incident of continental position, we could only
submit with the best grace possible ; but we main-
tain that it is nct so, and we appeal to every day's
experience in proof of our words. There is not a
police-officer on the continent who would place a
moment's reliance on the passport system as an
effective instrument of detection or security. A.
conspirator denounced by half-a-dozen Govern-
ments, and hunted by as many police agents, can
notoriously travel through territory after territory
without experiencing the least interruption. Per-
sons really exposed to suspicion are never at fault.
They know well enough every form and feature of
the requisitions established, and are only too ready
to comply with them in the minutest particular as
the price of escape. To them. the Passport system
is really a protection, for;ifprovides them with what
they would otherwise lack—a certificate of charac-
ter ; nor does it signify a sou whether this charac-
ter i 3 true or false so long as it is "regular." The.
true operation of the Passport system consists iu
the easy rehabilitation of rogues. When characters
are sold by the franc on Government guarantee,
any man with silver in hipocket can in a moment
become as respectable as his neighbour. A piece of
stamped paper covers all, and t he end of the whole
machinery is 3, moral masquerade, in which domi-
noes are provided at two shillings each and the dis-
guise made current by authority.

PRICE OF GOLD.—The quotation of gold at Paris is
about 7 per mille premium, and the short exchange on
London is 25.32} per 1/. steeling. On comparing these
rates with the English Mint price of 3/. 17s. 10id. per
ounce for standard gold it appears that gold is about
1-10th per cent, dearer in Pares than in London. By
advices from Hamburg the price of gold is 424 per
mark, and the short exchange on London is 13.4 k per
1/. sterling. Standard gold at the English Mint price
is therefore nearly 1-10th per cent dearer iu London
than in Hamburg. The course of exchange at New York
on London for bills at 60 days' sight is variously quoted
at from par up to 106 per cent., the latter being for
first-them paper only. There is, consequently, at pre-
sent no advantage in sending gold from this country,
as compared with drawing bills from Americo.

7/.

P.

A

NEWS.
ee--Sse- eaa7
THE .YELP BRIDGE Al' CH ere _
The cempletion of a bridge is a.notch in er 3
lender of our metropolitan existence. How near
things are dated from before the building of me •
London-bridge-what a triumphant Hejira'we'sha
have when we can date from the utter destrueth
of that hideous obstacle, Westminster-bridge
Chelsea, which has been agitating for its boroug
has at least its bridge-a step towards it, pedlar,
about which it can talk and date as much as
pleases. It is worth talking and boasting ot; to
for Chelsea-bridge when finished, as it will be ne:
spring, will be beyond all doubt the ham-leo/me
structure of its kind in the metropolis. It is
long time since its erection was resolved on. TI.
new park at Battersea had been receiving its fu
ineed of Government support for some years, ac
the scheme was therefore in the last stage of officii
abeyance, and likely to become extinct at any no
ment, when it was resolved to erect a new bridge t
communicate with the new park, and afford th
public an accommodation which had long 1.3:e
wanted at that part of the river. Mr. Page, tl
government engineer, was accordingly instructed t
prepare drawings and plans for a wooden suspensio
bridge with brick towers, which he made and But
initted to the consideration of the MetropOlita
Improvement Commissioners. Afterwards, th:r
were designs prepared for a bridge of 7 arches face
with stone, and for one in cast iron of 5 archer;
but, ultimately, an iron suspension - bridg
was agreed to, and the designs for th
present structure determined on. e thinkanon
will be inclined to cavil at the choice of the commi,
aioners. The new bridge is not only spacious an(
ample in its accommodation for traffic, but in design .
the most elegant, in general effect the most lightens,
ornamental, of all the bridges, whether snspeudod o.
otherwise, yet erected across the Thames. It is the
kind of bridge, in fact, that seems to require. bright
summer skies and fertile landscapes to do juetice to
its graceful outlines. More than enough hate beet ,
erected to enable the visitor to judge of-the genera'
tone of the design ; but we need.. scarcely point out
that the lightest and most decorative portions wir;
be the last affixed, and that the beautiful lantern
and minarets Which will'eurmount botti a:ewers-am
add so mueli to the general effect are still treLlei
erected. The design of the very novel. allWea
towers:of cast iron columnar franiin.g support the
chains and arches, or rather opeuiugs. These towers
are cased in elaborate ornamental castings of open
.lattice work, like the casements of Eastern houses,
and surmounted with the pointed minarets and
lanterns we have already mentioned, and Which
give to the whole an inexpressively light and grace-
ful effect. The cornice of the towers, the parapet,
ot the bridge, and the light rail which divides the
footpath from the road, are all of the same pleasing
ornamental kind, and in keeping with the main
features of the design. At eacheend of
,the bridge,
however, are two octagon structures, on which
(probably because of their intended use, fur they are.
meant for toll-houses) none look with favour, mid'
which in reality jar rather with the rest cf the struc-
ture. In spite of terra-cotta pitmacles and little .
spires, they persist in retaining the strongest re •
sewb!ance to pepper-castors of mediaeval feint.
So much fee. the genet al aspect of the bridge; for
its podtion we need only say that it stretche, from
the Middlesex side tromthe centre of that debateat le
land where Chelsea ends and Pimlico begins to Bat-
tersea on the Surrey side, where it overlook the near
park on the right, and the ground where the Crystal
Palace Company are making believe to buitd a
" west end" station on the left. Between the raver
walls at Trinity high-water line the total length of
the bridge is 704 ft. of which :be centre arch or
opening is 333 ft., and the two side openings 166 i
ft. each. The width of the bridge for traffic is 47 ft.
-that is, a carriage way of 32 ft. and two footways
of 7 ft 6 in. each. The piers upon which the t ewers
are built and suspension chains hung are each 88 ft.
in length and 19m width, and terminate in curved
cutwaters 7 ft. din. above the leiel of 'high-water
mark. The foundations of these piers are precisely
similar to those which are at present being formed
for the arches of new Westmiuster-bridge, and dis-
pense entirely with massive and costly piers of
masonry and also with coffer dams. They consist
of timber piles of unusual size, driven deep into the
London clay far below the bed of the river at inter-
vals of 3 ft. over the entire area of the piers, and
cut off at low water level. The external surface of
the piers is formed by cast iron main piles of 12 in.
diameter and 27 ft. long, driven 20 ft. below low-
water rcark, and between these east iron Plete.s are
driven so as to protect on all sides the bearing piles
by a metallic casing. The space tluis enclosed is
then dredged to the hard stratum of gravel above •
the clay, filled in with solid concrete, and the whole
secured by wrought iron tie bars. On the hearing
pile is a flooring of solid st ihe bedded on the col:-
erste ; all the caisson above low water is lined wail
brickwork, and 'he cutwaters at each end where ex-
posed to constant shocks from drifting vessels are
built cf solid brickwork. The cast iron columnar
to ',ors which rise on these pierS to support the
chains are strongly braced b he vertically and hori-
zontally. Their present height is about 60 ft. from
high-water mark, though when entirely finished
with lanterns and pinnacles they will rise to at least
100 ft. These towers exclusive of the ornamental
casing,- weigh 250 tons, anti they have from the
weight of the bridge itself a pressure of 1i tons, and
when loaded a pressure of 3a tons per square inch.
Only two suspension chains are used, each of which
from mooring to mooring is 920 ft. long and weigbs
about 350 tons. These chides are technically di-
vided into three portions-viz., the mooring Guaira
or the pat ts at each end which are buried in solid
masonry ; the back chains, or lengths which stretch
from the ground to •the towers ; and the main
chains, which cross the centre from tower to tower.
The chain is made in long links, and each link is
form el of 7 and 8 bars alternately. The bars are 16
ft. and 16 ft. 9 in. long, 8 in. deep, and neatly au
inch in thickness. Each of these bars :Was tested
before ii was allowed to be fixed to the enormous
pre,Asure of 13k tons the square inch, or upwards of
ofl.oo tons the bar, and no bar was used the per-
manent extension of which exceeded'i.4ooth of an
inch to the foot. There are 56 links of 6,7, and 8
bars each employed in the mooring-chains at Chel-
sea ; 96 links of 7 and 8 bars each in the back
chains, and 92 links of 7 and 8 bare etch' in the
main chains, giving 244 links of 1,936 bars iu all.
The sectional area of the chains at the centre of
the bridge is 212 square in., which gradually in-
creases in proportion to the strain towards the
towers, where it is 223, The suspension rods pass-
ing from the chains to the roadway of the bridges
are 2 in. in diameter and placed 8
-ft. apart. They
have a joint at each extretnity, the upper one allow-
ing a motion parallel with the chains and the lower
a transverse motion. At the centre opening of the
bridge the roadway is 24 ft. 6 in. above high water
mark, and above low water 41 ft. The whole road-
way has a rise of 18 in. from the land moorings to
the centre. Two wrought iron longitudinal lattice
girders extend the entire length of the bridge, and
are secured to the suspension rods to which the
transverse girders supporting the carriage way aro
also bolted. These girders are 87 in number. They
are formed of boiler-plate strengthened with angle
iron, and are 32 ft. long by 2 ft. 8 in. deep, and
weigh 32 cwt. each. Between these girders pass
wrought iron bearings, to which are bolted plates
of iron of the same material which forms the road-
way. Ou the upper surface these plates are covered
with bitumen, over which are laid compressed slabs
of asphalte and cork cuttings. Tbis forms the
bed for a wood pavement of blocks of ship oak,
tell
This,
aat:ooclot:a
according
the present
oral);
which are again coated over with asphalte and
the paved surface of the road completed. This
pavement is probably the lightest and most durable •
that has ever yet been used for such a purpose.
The footways are formed of the same wood pave-
ment set in bitumen ; and next to the footways on
each side of the bridge a tramway has been laid on
oak beams covered with plate iron for such heavy
traffic as may use the bridge.
Such is a brief general outline of the proportions
of the new bridge at Chelsea, all the details of which
have been admirably carried out by the contractors,
Messrs. Young and Co. Ina brief period it will be
opened for traffic. In point of usefulness and ac-
commodation few of our metropolitan bridges are
otebnhesde
roh:onibaaaarrbdi
adrmif.gdoei only
grte
superior to it ; in architectural beauty it will, be •
yond all doubt, rank first. Yet the whole cost of
h2rdee:
id.snewc2gnosi
ttis
oht dHoo momentuf.urtLi
nho
of
hfmisobn r
surface.eddg
is quite a marvel of cheapness, as our readers may
see.
trFeaotriseinot bncried
was 542,15 U, or at the rate of 111. 6s. the square
footof surface. Southwark-bridge cost 384,000 t., or
11/. ss. 10d. the superficial foot ; Brackfriars co,t
only 3/. 15s. 6d. the foot, or 157,000/. in all • Wa-
terloo, the largest by nearly 8,000 superficial feet,
cost 579,9151., or 101. the foot ; Hungerford, 4/.
16s. 6d. the foot, or 98,760/. • Westminster, 71. 168.
the superficial foot, or 382,040 a; Vauxhall-bridge,
neatly the most unsightly obstruction on the river,
actually cost 91. 16s. the square foot of surface, or
300,000/., while Chelsea, as we have said, only cost
2/. 2s. sd. New Westminster-bridge, taken at the
sum named in Sir Wm. Meleewolth's report-viz.,
235,0001.-will cost 2/. 80. 6d. per superficial
foot,
It will be seen from this that, notwithstanding the
ornamental character of Chelsea-bridge, and the
high quality of its icon, it is, as compared with the
other bridges, infinitely
more cost and area of
eco-
nomical. Thus compared with London and South-
es.; compared with Waterloo as 21. 3s. to
; compared
wark bridges its cost per foot superficial is as 2/. 3-s.
to
Vauxhall as 2/. 3s. to 9/. las. ;
showing
beyond a doubt the great extent of bridge
ll.with Vaux
eceenneodation of a highly ornamental character
which may under difficult circumstances be-econo-
mically obtained. -