"PEELERS" IN PARIS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 237, 7 February 1855, Page 3

"PEELERS" IN PARIS.

■Our Frenciv neighbours.are at last to have the " Peelers" in Paris —Peelers of their own, of course —in the shape of a French New Police Force some three thousand strong. Most heartily do we congratulate our French friends upon so important :i reform. It is one which' appears to be quite removed from the regions of la haute poliiique, and yet we firmly believe that the introduction of this excellent force into the capital and principal towns of France would do more to secure permanent tranquility in that country than any tampering with social or political ideas at their sources. A police force, like our own, lms this peculiar property, that it is sufficiently strong to quell more disturbance and riot, but it is not powerful enough to overw holm any general movement of the citizens. Tt is powerless aeainst liberty—powerful against the disturber* of order. Of all the revolutionary movements which havp occurred in Paris since the attack upon the Bastille in the first French Ke'.olutiov., how many have rested upon the real will of tho majority of Frenchman ? An emcttte l>eirins —nobody knows how or why—whenever a feelinjr of political uneasiness is abroad. Two or throe fellows from a cellar in tho oiiMunvst cernor of ihe fuubourir, with a pai-k of si-rpaminuf gamins who are'always Ibrthr.imiu'r wht-n a riot is im-pt-ndii:"', pii-k up alow p:i\in^ stony? ami range them across ilio sut:cl. A few wheelbarrow-?, a

few carriages—finally, an omnibus or two, are overturned. There is a barricade— la Revolution vient d'iclaler ! The boys shriek, and the elder gentlemen give themselves up to impressive blasphemy till the time for action has commenced. Veiy soon a sharp rub-a-duo-dub is heard in the distance, gradually growing nearer and nearer. The inhabitants uf the immediate neighbourhood take to their apartments like rabbits to their holes, and shut their doors. The boldest of them occasionally apply the tips of their noses to their blinds, and get picked off by the advancing soldiers for their pains. Meanwhile the detachment has arrived at the cud of the street occupied by the aggravated patriots above mentioned, who by this time hare freely partaken of brandy flavoured with gunpowder, which seems to be the usual refreshment on such occasions. One clear sharp discharge from the soldiers is heard, followed by a dropping file from the barricade. A few corpses are strewn about: those on the side of the insurgents are ostentatiously paraded with every circumstance of theatrical display that the practised ingenuity of the most theatrical people in the world can suggest. The madness spreads like wildfire. Peaceful citizens, who had fully intended to spend the day among their goods and their books, cannot restrain their impatience to engage in their all-absorbing, allattracting occupation of slaughtering their fellow creatures. They rush down to the streets, each man with his gun. More barricades arise, and more soldiers attack them, until the gutters of the capital city of continental Europe run red with blood. A little later a report gets about that Monsieur Chose is closeted with the Due de Noisette, and that the financial gentiy have met at the hotel of Monsieur L'Ecu iv the Rue Sliver—-that the Chambers are in consultation—that there is a furious leader iv the Democratic Pacifique recommending war to the knife—that there is an abdication— a substitution—that the Royal Family Lave run away. - Night closes in upon the fearful scene—hundreds and thousands of human beings lie about the streets or iv the hospitals, dead or dying— i there is everywhere bankruptcy, ruin, insanity. The daily existence of some 37,000,000, of people is called in question ; and the man who was yesterday their ruler is dodging about the country somewhere, with his heart in his boots. But not only Paris and France feel the consequences of the terrible tragedy just enacted—-the intelligence flies through Europe ; Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Milan, Rome, Naples, Madrid —all get up little imitations of the original Parisian melodrama. There is for a time a period of anarchy, succeeded by a stern, pitiless, i ron despotism. Now all this might have been prevented had there been present at the critical moment a stupid feliow in an oilskin c;ipe, with a staff in his hand, at that snot near th 6 Barriere d'Enfer where the Rue de Vestive, makes corner with the Rue de Satin-Poliohinelle, just when the two original patriots from the cellar were engaged in rousing the civiefse lings of the dozen of gamins who were •• the playing with their large double sous. " Move on ! can't ye?" would have saved Europe, had the words been spoken in time. This proposition for a new Police Force is avowedly made in imitation of the excellent body in existence among ourselves. M. Billauh, the Minister of the Interior, in his report to the Emperor actually asserts this, and base his recommendations upon the success of the institution in England. This heinsr so. v.-c have the less scruple in offering1 to our French friends the result of our own experience. Above all things, and as the first condition of success, if they would have their experiment succeed, let them discard the ostentatious display of offensive weapons. Iv a street-row you can do nothing; with a deadly implement but run the offender through the "body, it it he a sword, or blow his brains out, if it be a pistol you hold iv your baud. Now this won't ik>. In the iirst place, the net may really be tantamount to murder; and, in the second place, if the victim wore the most atrocious criminal who had over polluted society, 'and if he were at the time eiii;apeti in open resistance to the public authorities, it will never do to slaughter him on ihp spot. Public opinion will not tolerate results of this kind, unless satisfactory reasons be shewn in each 1 particular usst-.-.ice to justify (he act. The great dcl Vet, we sviK-;il it. iv the ors;;urzn!R>u of tin: i continent:)! police, is the constant {•xhtbiron of ! wvajnuis .of {licence. It is all well eisoi^-h to hay thrse iv reserve in the barracks ;iurt sta-tion-houses iv oases of emergency, ami it is quite

ri^ht tbat the policemen should be well trained to'tbeuseofjirms; but under ordinary circumstances let them pace the streets as civilians, with as little lmir about their mouths and chins as may be. The great point is, that the population should receive them for what they are — men of peace, charged to preserve, not to violate the public tranquillity. We presume, however, our Parisian friends are aware that the genuine London policeman carries in his pocket, in the most unostentatious manner, a weapon which is worth all the carbines and sabres between Calais and Marseilles for effective action in streetrows. It is a short, thickish staff, about a foot and a half long, so that, unless wanted, it can be effectually concealed from view, and grooved at the handle, so as to give a firm grip. Now, a tolerably athletic man, and none other should be admitted into the foree —can with this implement deprive his opponent of life at a blow, or he can break his arm, or simply knock him down and leave him stunned. We say this, of course, not to invoke the use of the instrument, but simply by way of showing that, save in cases where the police force may have occasion to grapple with antagonists fully armed and prepared to enter upon a deadly contest, it is all that is required for their own security, or to enable them to carry their service through with success. A few hints as to its use from some of best-trained police sergeants would be invaluable to their Parisian [[brethren. They must be taught the secret of that invaluable " poke" in the ribs, quietly delivered, which has modified the energies of so many violent malefactors, without inflicting upon them injury of a permanent nature or arousing the sympathies of the bystanders. In the case of our French neighbours it would, we should imagine, be an object of the first importance to deprive them of the constant spectacle of firearms and cold steel. What has a Custom-house officer, or a railroad employe, ox a policeman to do with weapons of this description, save in cases of extraordinary emergency ? ' The abuse of deadly weapons is the curse of any civilized countries. If they are ostentatiously paraded by the guardians of the public peace, it is quite clear that, in some manner or oilier, the criminal population will also employ them in their hour of need. We presume that in the middle of the nineteenth century, and with the military history of France behind us, no statesman would be afraid of extinguishing the martial spirit of the people by removing from their eyes the eternal sword and bayonet. Expedients for rousing the martial spirit of a nation were all very well in the little trumpery republics of former times, but now-a'days the problem is how to keep it under and direct it aright. We are only recommendiog to others the precautions which we have found advantageous in our case. Look at our great towns j'remember when the Great Exhibition was in progress,—we never find it necessary to fall back upon a system of military defence. The continental nations have thought otherwise. Louis Philippe encircled Paris with forts and gathered round it an imposing and numerous military force, and what did it avail him when the sharp pinch came? He had fostered the martial spirit which procured his overthrow, -he had not secured the fidelity of the armed guardians of his throne. The two countries have been brought into such close and intimate relations by tlie events of the last eighteen months, that Englishmen are most earnest in their good wishes for the prosperity, the tranquility, the happiness of France. Frenchmen can never do justice to themselves, nor to the resources of the magnificent country'they inhabit, as long as they are tossed about from one wave of civil dissension to another. True liberty—liberty of action, of speech, of. thought—is not to be procured amid volleys of musketry. Wherever there is violence men will rely upon the one person wb<> can remain that violence from touching them in their property and their lives. Violence a«*ain can only be repressed by violent means, 'bur own experience and our own for the la<=t two centuries are there as guarantees of the sincen.y of our advice. Now, as it appears hat all civil disturbances do commence in the large towns—mainly in the capital—of France it would appear to follow that, if it be possible to suppress them at their outbreak without bloodshed, a great step will have been taken towards the maintenance of public order The experiment, however, requires dexterous manipulation. The Irench Emperor and his advi- ., pers would do well to remember that every

ruffian in France will go into determined opposition when he sees a system in process ot organization which must, in the end, deprive him of his truilty bread. Even in orderly England we did not "secure the blessing of an eflicient police force without noting and tumult, l'inally, let us add that the existence of an active police force—sufficiently strong for the maintenance of public order—supersedes the necessity for a secret police. If a man is prepared for all emergencies, he does not care to be listening at keyholes and playing the spy. Who would hesitate between a system of anxiety and one of security ?— Times.