The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1845-10-31
Vol. H., No. asO--whoIe No. ASA.


The Great Revolution in Morals in Ffance-1he
Literary Mania-Opening of the Fashionable Sea-
sOn-State Of the Harvests-7h Steam Marine of
ENrope-Importanf improvements Music and
the Opera, &c. &c.
This city, compared with its condition some years
ago, offers spectacle which can be considered as
little less than social miracle. In the crowded
Capitals of all cvised countries, the vices of gam
bling and prostitution have been hitherto regarded,
as we'll by philosophical statesmen as by phanthro-
Pists, inevitable evils, which the civil power must
either connlve at, as is the custom in England, or
recognise, circumscribe and restrain within narrow
limits, as was the in France but of which the
repression was asserted to be social impossibility
Paris and London being the most popuous cities,
and the resort of the largest number Of the idle
rich, were preeminenty the theatres of these vices
In Paris, the State recognised what it could not ex-
terminate. Public gambling houses and public wo.
men were not only recognised, but licensed and tax
ed. They were moreover placed under the surveil-
lance of the police, and permitted to follow their re-
spective calings, but to do so under strict condi
tons and rules, the observance OF which was
forced by penalties, the infection of which was i'm
mediate and inevitable. A further vent was given
to the gambling spirit by the lotteries which were
conducted, and the profits of which were monopo-
Used, by the State In these, people of al classes,
down to the lowest in every city, town and village
OF France, were accustomed to gamble to fright
full extent and facilities were offered for the purpose
by the State, with the most disastrous success II
was. in fact, large source of revenue. In Paris,
the Palais Royale was the grand temple OF these
There, in saloons of more than regal splen-
dor, legalsed crime regned supreme. There
were repeated nightly the loud orgies of
the gamester and the courtessn, and scenes were
enacted, the details Of which, were it possible to
state them consistently with the decencles of the
press, would be pronounced incredible Besides the
profit to the treasury of the State, large revenue
was derived from this by the proprietor Of that i'm
mensv bazaar. That proprietor was his majesty louis
PHILIPPE. The Palais Royale formed an item in the
inventory OF his vast wealth. After certain hour
OF the evening" respectable females could not appear
on foot in the streets public walks, which then
swarmed with the voaries of pleasure, apparelled
with shameless audacity in the meretricious trap
pings OF their avocatsn, and openly urging their i'm
pure solicitations on the casual passenger. The win
dOws Of splendid saloons the Boulevards, and the
mosfrequented streets, gttered with brilIiantght
indicating to the unwary, the haunts of unhalowed
rites.
Well then, this is all changed. The wand of
benefcent enchanter has waved over it, and the i'm
pure crowd has vanished. The implements of the
gameser have been consigned to thefiames ,andthere
is not hazard table in Paris The Palais Royale is
as pure the Royal residence itself Within its
precincts prostitution dares not raise its head You
may walk the Partisan thoroughfares day and night,
without encountering aught which, in any external
appearance could offend the most delicatey modest
The courtezan has lost her calling The lotteries OF
every form and kind throughout the country are
abolished, and wherever private gambling table
can be found, is reentlessy broken up and its vo-
taries dispersed by the police. That vice does not
exist cannot aver but if it does, it must be sought
for I; it is not, formerly, obtruded on the public
eve its alluremens are not ostentatiously spread
out before the young and the unwary.
To whom honor is due let it be paid. This vast
public benefit, this determination Of gaming, and re-
preston Of those immodeses which closed the
walks Of the city against decent is the work
Of the King of the Barrscades BY the firmness OF
Louis Philippe this change, amounting to little less
than social miracle, has been wrought, and to him
the world indebted for the practical demonstration
that the advocates Of public order and decency can
accomplish this; and need neither to wink at the
practice of vice, in England, nor compound with
it by laying it under contribution and rules,
formerly the custom in France II were well if the
powers that be, in the American democracy, but
above all others, the municipal rulers OF the good
city of New York could come and take lessons
Of the authorities, which have been so successful
here in abating nulsances, which disgrace Broad
way and the Bowery, and prove so intolerable to all
well disposed citizens.
Ladies can now not only walk the streets of Paris
unmolested, but can and do go TO the theatres and
protection, and are from all Intrusion or
lestaton Within the theatres you are no where Of
Tended by the appearance of those unfortunates who
infest the third tier in New York and the other cities
of the Union, and all parts OF the house equally
accessible to respectable persons of both sexes
In the accomplishment of this great moral revolu |
ton, there is circumstance highly creditabe to the
King have said that the rents Of the Paais Roy |
ale formed considerable item in his private and |
personal income. These rents arose chiefly from |
the gambling rooms and other parts OF that build
ing appropriated to the pursuits which he has
enue derived from the building has suffered great
diminuton; worthy sacrifice on the part of Louis |
Philippe to public virtue and decency.
In my last letter mentioned the extraordinary |
diffusion Of he taste for popular fiction, and gave
you the example of the works Of Eugene Sue, the |
translation Of which has been widely dissemlnat
ed in the States 1t Is surprising that the success
which has attended this experiment translated |
fiction, has not incited your publishers to extend
their spcculatl0ns to some other OF the numerous |
works with which the French press teens. You
know that the leading journals of Paris ascribe
large proportion tllclT Ieutue-
tons, which are usually filled with these fictons
which appear in this form before they are issued by
the booksellers in volumes for the library. How
much the circulation of journal owes to these, GU
may Juuge from the sums they enabled pay to
their uthors. Alexandra Dumas, a writer even |
more prolific than Eugene Sue, has lately entered |
into contract with the editors OF lie Constitution
mel and La Prcsss, to supply to them works Of fiction
for five years, commencing from last March, for !
which they are to allow him twenty-slx thousand
francs (equal to about five thousand dollars per
mum. The author has sold, or will sell the same
works to the regular boe kseers, be published in
volumes after they have appeared in the newspa-
pers, and will from these spectators receive proba
terary labors an annual income Of not less than fit
teen thousand dollars
The season here is now fairly begun The King
and bis family have returned to Paris from the Cha
teau d. Flu, to which he rctres row every wear dur
ing the interregnum OF business and fashion, which