The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-09-17 00:00:00

FRENCH PASSPORTS AND ENGLISH
CUSTON,HOUSES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STATESMAN.
Srn,—The rage for peregrinations into France has
become so general of late, and the vegatirsos to
which oar countrymen are expesed, through the Pass-
port business and `"custom-house searchers ow both
sides of the water, are so frequent, that I think they
ought to be apprised of the nature end extent of the
alloy to which the enjoyment of a trip to France is
liable. Much of this necessarily arises from the
• ignorance of the inexperienced traveller ; but there is
'also a great deal to encounter, which no ordinary
prudence can guard against. I propose to distin.
goish the limits of each, that the tourist may know
bow to avoid difficulties which are avoidable, nod be
prepared for those from which he cannot escape.
Preparing for an exclusion to Paris sit weekr
since, I sent for my passport to the office of the Se-
cretary of the French Ambassador, at No. 10, New
Cavendish-street. I described my name, residence,
family, and object in visiting France. In two days
,
a polite letter was received, including
the passport;
-free of espence• The trouble generally taken of ap-
plying personally on one day, attending a secornkfne
the passport, and feeing the person in
.waitiag,is we.
secessiry. Delaying to apply until' arrived at an
outpost is still worse. Ten shillings is then required
for each passport. A companion of mice at Brighton
waited four days for a passport, and in the end yea-
tured to embark without one, and was compelled to
remain at Dieppe under the surveillance of the Police
until it followed him.
Arrived at Dieppe, every article, even to ridicules
and great-coals, was ,taken to the Costom-house and
examined. The Ladies and Gentlemen were march-
ed to the same depot and examined in due order. A
rubbing down of each party took place indifferent
apartments. By virtue of his office, the Inspector
took off the wig of a young Gentleman—it could be
for no other purpose than pour rare. The Ladies were
only disrobed of their caps and bonnets on this occa-
sion, although on others I have heard them state they
were inspected to their skin.
The change of passport; which was required on
entering France was productive of more difficulty—
the Officer was not at his bureau. The travellers were
impatient, as the Diligence was soon to depart ; but
their impatience was to no purpose, until one of them
said he would give two francs to an underling, if he
would fetch his principal. This crested a visible
change ; and several others making similar declara-
tions, the principal was sought and prodriced, and the
instruments filled up, about a quarter of an hoar
after the Diligence had left the town. Some, in conse-
quence had to proceed io private carriages, at an in.
creased expenre ; others waited until the followingday.
Arrived at Paris we presented our passports by our
valet de place. But we availed ourselves of former
experience and began the operations for procuring
leave to quit a week before we intended to leave.—
In the first place we sent our valet to the Prefecture
de Police for our original passports—the Officer
chose to send him back with a message that we must
attend in person ; we did so, when finding 50 or 60
persons of all descriptions crowded in the room with
us who bad a claim to priority of attention,after wait-
ing an hour, we determined on postponing our at-
tendance to the following morning, and then pro-
cured our passport. The nest step was to t ke it to
the hotel of the MIMI Minister, at the western ex-
tremity of Paris. Ilia office is only open for two
hours daily, viz. from eleven to one. It was past one
before we could reach his house, so that another day
was required for that 'operation. The nest thing
1 was to take the passport to the hotel of the Duc de
Richelieu, in the southern part of Paris; we there
paid 10 francs with each passport, and were directed
to call or send for them after four o'clock. This
done, the nest day we had to attend again at the
Prefecture de Police; the officer there made his en-
. tries, and referred us to another office, where
another signature was added, and this office to
another for the ornament of a stamp. All these ope-
rations performed, we were at liberty to leave Paris,
and arriving at Boulogne and paying ten sous at the
Police-cflice, we were empowered to quit France.
This passport system is a heavy tax upon the time
and patience of travellers; the delays are sometimes,
productive of very serious consequences, end they
impose continual impediments •on commerce. It
might be considered as a counterpart to the arbitrary
licensing system of England—excepting that by the
passport system some security or benefit is supposed
to be derived to the State, while, by the licensing
system, nothing but injuries are produced to the State
es well as to the People.
At Boulogne we intended to embark for Hollings,
but the rhetoric of the Captain of the Vigilant packet
succeeded in persuading: us that a directly adverse
wind was the best in the world for Dover; we,
therefore, suffered our luggage to be put on board his
vessel, end had the mortification to find that we
were unable to quit the harbour, while the Hastings
packet rode out in gallat style to its destination.—
The next day, however, we crossed, and might have
cleared the Custom-house by nine the following morn-
ing, but our Captain neglecting to report his vessel in
due time, we were kept an additional day in Dover.
The method, attention, and I may add civility,
with which the Custom-house officers at Dover per-
form their duty, deserves praise; but there is
a facility shown in passing large quantities of
foreign wearing-apparel on some occasions, cud
a severity, not to say injustice, in confiscating
• the smallest quantities in others which requires
some explanation ; for instance, my family con-
sisted of six persons, including two grown op and
two young Ladies, who had been in Prance two
years ; we had no laces or veils, or silk shawls or
dresses, excepting only two plain black silk gowns
which had been made up on the report of the death of
an Illustrious female Personage reaohing Boulogne ten
days since. Both these dresses had been visibly
worn, and the fact was offered to be proved by the
•aths of three- witnesses, but about a yard of silk
was left over, and this was tacked to one of the
gowns to repair it if oecessary. /Or this and this

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