THE BELLTOPPER,

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 417, 22 October 1861, Page 4

THE BELLTOPPER,

" AND ALL THAT SOET OF THING."

On the 10th of July, being the day set apart for the celebration of her Majesty's birthday, those very hardworking and efficient public servants the Pcsfc Office letter-carries were put into an entirely new garb. They no longer trot about in tunics of scarlet, blazing intolerably on fine cj fl y S —a3 though they were walking advertisements for the fire offices—and in wet weather becoming so stained aDd bedraggled as to remind the spectator of the destitute idiot, in a ragged jerkin of discolored scarlet, who, in an Irish huutiug-field, follows the hounds on foot. The postmen have likewise been relieved from the ponderous and clumsy headdress with which they were first ' bonneted ' in 1856 ; aud although long habit and a little amour-propre may at first make the neat, spruce, and serviceable cap issued to them as distateful as galligaskins were to the Highlanders after the sumptuary laws of 1747, we have little doubt that in a short time the letter-carries will become reconciled to a covering for the head which is certainly smarter than that of a messeDger of the Electric Telegraph, and not quite so heavy as that of a convict warder. Their new tunics aud waistcoats of blue, with just enough scarlet on the collar and cuffs to show that they belong to her Majesty's service, are really elegant when compared with the old costume ; and wo trust that the good taste and esthetic perception of the letter-carriers will in future prompt them to avoid as much as possible the admixture of corderoy pantaloons and ankle-jacks with the Queen's uniform. This is a reforming age, especially as regards the Art Sartorial. The beefeaters—we beg pardon, warders—at the Tower of London, have been compelled to abandon their splendid, but somewhat merry andrewcostume, and now look a little more like military janitors, and a little less like wild beast showmen. The uniform of the infantry has seen many changes, aud there is some talk of remodeling that of tho heavy cavalry, and of taking the ' swabs' or epaulettes away from the officers of the navy. The gentlemen-at-arms are to be re-dressed; and we even hear of an intention to amend the preposterous costume of the Eider Brethren of the Trinity House. Nay, the time may riot be far distant when a Knight of the Garter will be permitted to wear that emblem of chivalry over the leg of a pair of black dress pantaioous, instead of knee shorts aud si k stockings. As the tailor as well as the schoolmaster seems to be abroad, may we ask if it bas yet occurred to any official philanthropist to recommend any change in the dress worn by the metropolitan police ? These useful and vigilant municipal functionaries are, so far as texture and pattern are concerned, arrayed in the selfsame dress worn by them at their installation in the year 1820. Wo don't object to the color. Blue looks quiet and civic, aud. the-pewter buttons, when kept bright, are handsome without being obtrusive. The device, letter, aud number iv the collar are unobjectionable; so is the armlet; so is the belf. The great coat is no doubt warm and comfortable, ah hough we cannot see why it should fit so tightly that the arm of every member of the force who wears it resembles a cloth sausage.

But what is the meaning of that oilskin cape which cow dangles rolled up from the policeman's side, like a sightless telescope, mid now, when the weather is inclement, flaps over his shoulders, guarding his tovao, ft may be, from the shower, but leaving his lower extremities exposed to all the ruth.lessness of the rain ? Was there ever anything, again, more ludicrously uncomfortable than that swallow-tailed, pigeon-breasted undercoat worn by our friend the policeman ? Why should he have to screw his body io the most dislocating angles, and half wrench his arm from, its socket, when he ■wants to get at the tiuucheon in his pocket ? Was there ever built such another coat as the policeman's, save for a buffoon in a pantomine ? Finally, take his hat. What offence has tbe poor man committed, that he is to groan under the weight of that unsightly and unshapely funnel of felt and oilskin ? It has been said of tbe pattern of a Turkey carpet that it resembles nothing in the heavens above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in tho waters under the earth. We might almost say the same of the policeman's hat. Ii is like no other object in creation besides itself. Nought but itself could be its paiallel. Stay—it does exhibit a siight variety in country towns aad among the rural police, ou whom uncouth and Boeotian contractors, corrupting even the vile metropolitan model, have thrust, a hut infinitely more hideous and apjoilliug to the view—so illbalanced, S3 heavy where it should be light, and light where it should be heavy—thai-it threai&r.s now to topple over and place the wearer's head where bis heels should be: aud now, by its mere superincumbent ponderosity, to foice the wretched policeman right through the solid earth aud briog him out at George-street, Sydney.

When the police force was established by the great Sir Robert Peel, there were very ..many aDd weighty reasons for giving them as'much as possible tin* appearance of civilians. Hei.ce the blue 'body coat' aud the 'stovepipe,' ' chimney-pot,' or round hat. They were* regarded by the public with a jealous eye, and — for the times were parlous—as the possible aud perhaps imminent instruments of tyranny and coercion. It was even questioned whether the title head-ccustablo might not be preferable to that of sergeant, as having a less military Bound.

Happily all the doubts and fears, all the agitation against 'Peelers' and 'Bobbies,' have passed away, and we have come to recognise the great usefulness of the police force. Surely it is time for them to keep pace, in the way of attiie, with the civilisation of the age. We do not wish to see the English constable with a moustache, or a cutlass, or a halbert—we have no desire that he should be arrayed like a Parisian sergent de ville, a Prussian polizei, a Spanish alguazil, a Russian boulotschnik, a Turkish kavass or a Tartar brart; but we think that, in tho interests alike of symmetry and humanity, we might substitute a tunic for his swallow-tails, a hooded gaberdine or Inverness cape for his greatcoat, cud a cap with a peak for his most objectionable hat. Against the chimneypot' we most unhesitatingly set cur face. What does it mean ? la not that vacuum between t'.e brim and the crown abhorred alike by art and nature ? Sciolists may say that it serves the purposes of ventilation. We deny it. It might serve just as well for breeding silk worms or keeping bees; and wo call as a witness yonder policemao, wearily removing his '.ventilating' hat to wipe his perspiring brow with his laidhei-

Perhaps we shall nest be told that the Guards' bearskin, which is only a ' chimney-pot,' in excelsis, is also a ventilator.

The chimney-pot hat is fading out of private life, and it is time that it were banished from the public service. At the commencement of this century it was worn by lieutenants in the Marines; and the engravings of the coronation of the King of Sweden show us that the ' chimney-pot' is still tbe state head-dress of the Swedish nobles. But it must ultimately fall in this country before the • wide-awake,' the ' billicock,' and the ' porlc-pie,' for civilians; before the cap and the kepi for soldiers and public servants. If one additional reason were needed for its demolition, it would be that the use of the • chimney-pot '—virtuous ladies contenting themselves with pretty Andalusiau aud the gipsy hats—has been revived by abandoned women who turn a pleasuredrive into a lupauar, and to whom prurient cant has given the name of pretty horsebrcakers. — Telegraph.