"Mhe Opectator," januarp 12th, 1850 (To THE EDITOR OF THE
SPECTATOR) London. 8th January, 1850.
SIR,—It seems doubtful whether passports ara really yet dispensed with in France ; and from experience I can well imagine how the bureaucracy that afflicts that country will combine to a man to frustrate the good intentions of the President. The declaration of Louis Napoleon against this barbarous custom is, however, fatal to its continuance ; and he is entitled to the gratitude of all Anglo-Saxon travellers for the fatal blow he has dealt this relic of serfdom.
It is in the power of Sir Charles Wood to show forth the national gratitude, at no loss to the revenue, in a manner that will be appreciated by every Frenchman who visits us, and make him the most popular Chancellor of the Exchequer his travelling countrymen ever had, by simply abolishing the expensive and useless practice of searching the luggage of passengers arriving from foreign ports....
Customhouse officials will object that the revenue would suffer: but what can a man smuggle now from the Continent that he cannot buy cheaper and better in Ludgate Hill or Regent Street, excepting tobacco and spirits? and how many passengers would risk detection, imprisonment, and disgrace, for the sake of a few pounds of one or gallons of the other?
—I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, COSMOPOLITE.
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