CHAPTER XII.

The intellectual superiority of man has enabled him to bend to his purposes the various physical powers of the lower animals—as, for example, the strength of the ox and the fleetness of the horse—and his observation has taught him also to turn to his use some of the instincts of the lower creation, though these gifts may lie hidden beyond the reach of his understanding. Thus the keen scent of the bloodhound, and the sense which enables the "ship of the desert" to sniff the distant spring, are equally become subservient to the interests of man; but it is with reference to another instinct not less remarkable that this chapter is written—the homing instinct of the carrier-pigeon. This gentle bird has long been known as a messenger capable of conveying news from one place to another over considerable distances. It is asserted that "Hirtius and Brutus, at the siege of Modena, held a correspondence by pigeons; and Ovid tells us that Taurosthenes, by a pigeon stained with purple, gave notice to his father of his victory at the Olympic games, sending it to him at Ægina." In Persia and Turkey pigeons were trained for this service, and it is stated that every bashaw had some of these birds reared, in order swiftly to convey news to the seraglio on occasions of insurrection or other emergency. In somewhat moderntimes the best birds were said to be those of Aleppo, which served as couriers at Alexandretta and Bagdad; but many years ago their services in this line had to be given up, owing to the Kurd robbers killing the pigeons in the course of their journey. It does not appear, however, that, until quite recent times, any great use has been made of these birds by Western nations, at any rate under any extended scheme for commercial or peaceful ends. Yet, by what may seem an incongruity, the dove, which ispar excellencethe emblem of love and peace, has of late years been trained for purposes of war by the great Continental States; and it is impossible to predict how far the fate of nations may be determined hereafter by the performances of these naturally harmless creatures. The following particulars from one of the annual reports on the Post-office will show to what extent service was rendered by carrier-pigeons in keeping up postal communication with Paris when that city was invested during the Franco-German war of 1870-71:—

"As the war proceeded and the hostile forces approached Paris, the risk of interruption to our Indian mails became more and more imminent, and caused serious uneasiness to the Post-office. This feeling, which was not long in communicating itself to the public, the subsequent investment of the capital served to enhance. The mails had now to branch off at Amiens, and go round by Rouen and Tours, at a cost, in point of time, of from thirty to forty hours; but even this circuitous route could not long be depended upon, and nothing remained but to abandon Marseilles altogether as the line of communication for our Indian mails. There was only one alternative—to send them through Belgium and Germany by the Brenner Pass to Brindisi, and thence by Italian packets to Alexandria.

"But it was in respect to the mails for France herself, and especially for Paris, that the greatest perplexity prevailed. As soon as Amiens was threatened—Amiens, the very key-stone of our postal communication with the interior and south of France—it became evident that the routeviâCalais would not remain much longer. The alternative routes that presented themselves wereviâDieppe, andviâCherbourg or St Malo, and no time was lost in making the necessary arrangements with the Brighton and South-Western Railway Companies. By both Companies trains were kept in constant readiness at the terminus in London, and vessels remained under steam at Newhaven and Southampton, prepared to start at the shortest notice, according to the course events might take. Late in the evening of the 26th of November, intelligence was received in London that the line of communication through Amiens was closed, and the mails were diverted from Calais to Cherbourg; within the next four days Cherbourg was exchanged for Dieppe, and Dieppe soon afterwards for St Malo. As to the means adopted for maintaining communication with Paris, the pigeon-post has become matter of history. Letters intended for this novel mode of transmission had to be sent to the headquarters of the French Post-office at Tours, where, it is understood, they were all copied in consecutive order, and by a process of photography transferred in a wonderfully reduced form to a diminutive piece of very thin paper, such as a pigeon could carry, the photographic process being repeated on their arrival in Paris, for the purpose of obtaining a larger impression. They were essential conditions that these letters should be posted open without cover or envelope, and that they should be registered; that they should be restricted to twenty words; that they should be written in French in clear and intelligible language, and that they should relate solely to private affairs, and contain no allusion either to the war or to politics. The charge was fixed at 5d. for each word (the name and address countingas one word), and 6d. for registration. During the investment, from November 1870 to January 1871, the number of letters sent from London to Tours, for despatch by pigeon-post to Paris, was 1234."

Profiting by the example furnished during the progress of the Franco-German war, the good people of the Fiji Islands have quite recently established a pigeon-post, to serve them in the peaceful pursuits of trade. The colony of Fiji is a group of 225 islands, between which the communications by sailing-vessels or steamers are not very regular, the former being frequently becalmed or retarded by head-winds, while the latter are of small power and low speed. An important part of the trade of the Islands consists in exporting fruit and other produce to Australia and New Zealand, the largest portion consisting of bananas, of which a single steamer will sometimes carry about 12,000 bunches. It is desirable not to cut the bananas till the steamers from Australia and New Zealand arrive at Fiji, and consequently early news of the event is most important to planters in the more remote islands; for if the small schooners or cutters which carry the fruit between the islands arrive too late for the steamer, the poor planters lose their whole produce, which, being perishable, has to be thrown overboard. In these circumstances a pigeon-post has been called into operation: and should this method of communication be extended to all the important islands, as it has already been to some, many a cargo will be saved to the poor planters which would otherwise be wholly lost.

Subjoined is a copy of news by "Pigeon-post," taken from the 'Polynesian Gazette' of the 10th June 1884. It was conveyed by pigeon from Suva to Levuka, a distance as the crow flies of about 40 miles, and the time occupied in transit was 42 minutes, the actual flight to the home of the pigeon taking but 30 minutes:

"LATEST NEWS FROM SUVA.

"Per Pigeon-post.

"The following despatch, dated Suva, Sunday, 3p.m., was received at Nasova at 3.42 same day:—

"'Hero' arrived midnight, left Melbourne 26th, Newcastle 29th. Passengers—Mrs Fowler and child, Mrs Cusack and family, Mrs Blythe and child, Messrs F. Hughes, Fullarton, J. Sims, J. B. Matthews, T. Rose, and A. H. Chambers.

"Agents-General of Queensland and Victoria gone to France to interview Ministersin rerecidivistes question. Marylebone won match, one innings and 115 runs; Australians have since defeated Birmingham eleven. 'Gunga,' Capt. Fleetwood, leaves Sydney 24th ult. New Zealand football team beat N.S. Wales, 34 points tonil. 'Cintra' at Newcastle, loading coal for Melbourne, same time as 'Hero.' A.S.N. Co. bought Adelaide Simpsons Birkgate and Fenterden.

"'Wairarapa' and 'Penguin' just arrived, further news when admitted to pratique.

"Monday, 5p.m.

"'Penguin' may be expected in Levuka mid-day to-morrow, Tuesday.

"'Wairarapa' leaves for Levuka at daylight on Wednesday. 'Hero' leaves at 10.30 on Tuesday, for Deuba, and may be expected to arrive in Levuka on Wednesday night."

It is right to add that the "Pigeon-post" of Fiji is not connected with the Postal Department, but is carried on as a private enterprise.

Abuse of the Franking Privilege.

Wherever the use of anything of value is given without the check of a money or other equivalent, the use is sure to degenerate into abuse; and in the experience of the Post-office this has been proved to be the case, both as regards letters and telegrams. In regard to the first, the franking privilege was long found to be a canker eating into the vitals of the Revenue; and its abolition on the introduction of the penny postage in 1840 came none too soon. Had the privilege been longer continued, it is impossible to conceive to what extent the abuse of it might have grown; but what might have occurred here has, in some measure, taken place in the United States, as is shown by the following statement made by the Postmaster-General of that country, about twenty years after the abolition of the privilege in this:—

"Another potent reason for the abolition of the franking privilege, as now exercised, is found in the abuses which seem to be inseparable from its existence. These abuses, though constantly exposed and animadverted upon for a series of years, have as constantly increased. It has beenoften stated by my predecessors, and is a matter of public notoriety, that immense masses of packages are transported under the Government frank which neither the letter nor the spirit of the statute creating the franking privilege would justify; and a large number of letters, documents, and packages are thus conveyed, covered by the frank of officials, written in violation of law, not by themselves, but by some real or pretended agent; while whole sacks of similar matter, which have never been handled nor even seen by Government functionaries, are transported under franks which have been forged. The extreme difficulty of detecting such forgeries has greatly multiplied this class of offences; whilst their prevalence has so deadened the public sentiment in reference to them, that a conviction, however ample the proof, is scarcely possible to be obtained. The statute of 1825, denouncing the counterfeiting of an official frank under a heavy penalty, is practically inoperative. I refer you to the case reported at length by the United States attorney for the district, as strikingly illustrating this vitiated public opinion, reflected from the jury-box. The proof was complete, and the case unredeemed by a single palliation; and yet the offender was discharged, unrebuked, to resume, if it should please him, his guilty task. This verdict of acquittal is understood to have been rendered on two grounds—first, that the accused said he did not commit the offence to avoid the payment of the postages; and second, that the offence has become so prevalent that it is no longer proper to punish it. These are startling propositions, whether regarded in their legal, moral, or logical aspects."

The unblushing way in which the British Post-office in its earlier days was called upon to convey not only franked letters, but, under franks, articles of a totally different class, will be perceived from the following cases. It is not to beunderstood, however, that the things consigned actually passed through the Post-office, but rather that they were admitted for transport on board the special packet-ships of Government, sailing for the purposes of the Post-office. The cases are taken from the first annual report of the Postmaster-General:—

"Fifteen couples of hounds going to the King of the Romans with a free pass."

"Some parcels of cloth for the clothing colonels in my Lord North's and my Lord Grey's regiments."

"Two servant-maids going as laundresses to my Lord Ambassador Methuen."

"Doctor Crichton, carrying with him a cow and divers other necessaries."

"Three suits of cloaths for some nobleman's lady at the Court of Portugal."

"A box containing three pounds of tea, sent as a present by my Lady Arlington to the Queen-Dowager of England at Lisbon."

"Eleven couples of hounds for Major-General Hompesch."

"A case of knives and forks for Mr Stepney, her Majesty's Envoy to the King of Holland."

"One little parcell of lace, to be made use of in clothing Duke Schomberg's regiment."

"Two bales of stockings for the use of the Ambassador of the Crown of Portugal."

"A box of medicines for my Lord Galway in Portugal."

"A deal case with four flitches of bacon for Mr Pennington of Rotterdam."

The Post-office always had a great deal of trouble in controlling and keeping in check this system of franking; and withal, the privilege was much abused. Before the year 1764, members of Parliament had merely to write their names on the covers to ensure their correspondencefree passage through the post; and packets of such franks were furnished by the members to their friends, who laid them past for use as occasion required. Nay, more,—a trade was carried on in franks by the servants of members, whose practice it was to ask their masters to sign them in great numbers at a time. It was even suspected, and probably with sufficient reason, that franks were forged to a large extent; and, had postage been paid on all franked correspondence, it is estimated that the Revenue would have been increased by £170,000. In the hope of imposing some greater check on the evil, it was enacted in 1763 that the whole superscription must be in the handwriting of the member; but even this proved inadequate, and further restrictions were imposed in 1784 and 1795. Some very difficult and troublesome questions arose from time to time in dealing with member's letters. For example, when a member of Parliament had no place of residence in London, and was living out of the United Kingdom, if he had his letters addressed to a public office, or to any solicitor, banker, or other agent, he was not entitled to have his letters free of postage, but, if so directed and delivered, the postage had to be paid. Again, when a member kept up a residence in London, but had his letters directed to another place, the member ceased to enjoy the privilege as regards such letters; as he also did when letters were addressed to his residence in the country, and he happened to be elsewhere at the time of their delivery. Then a Catholic peer dying, who had never taken his seat, and being succeeded by his brother, who was a Protestant, the question is raised whether the latter could claim to use the franking privilege before the issue of the writ calling him to the House of Peers; and the legal decision is given that he could not so exercise the privilege. Keeping the members within proper bounds must evidently have been a task for the officers ofthe Post-office requiring both vigilance and determination.

But there was another kind of fraud carried on under the privilege granted to soldiers. A surveyor in Scotland thus referred to the irregularity as observed in Scotland in 1797:—

"As there is so much smuggling of letters already in Scotland, and reason to suspect it will increase from the additional rates, it is matter of serious concern to the Revenue to obtain a clear legal restriction; and I wish you to represent it to the Board at London, in case it may not be too late to offer any hints from the distant situation we are in.

"I have had occasion formerly to observe to you that a very great evasion of the Post Revenue has taken place—particularly in the north of Scotland—from the privilege granted to soldiers, under cover of which not only a very general opportunity is taken by the common people there to have their letters carried by soldiers to be freed by their officers, and having them again in return under soldiers' addresses; but even in several instances which I observed and detected, persons in higher ranks have availed themselves of this circumstance."

Nor were people of quality above the habit of committing similar frauds upon the Post-office revenue, as will be observed from the following remarks penned by an official on the 9th April 1812. The statement runs thus:—"On the 31st ultimo, having gone into the mail-coach office at Glasgow, soon after the arrival of the coach from Ayr, and observing several parcels which had arrived by it, one in particular took our attention by its appearing to contain a loaf of bread of the supposed value of 6d. or 8d., addressed to the Honble. Mrs ——, of Glasgow; and as this parcel was charged 10d., it created the idea of some mistakehaving happened in sending it in that way, by which the carriage exceeded the value, besides the original cost of it.

"In a few minutes after this, however, two ladies called for the parcel, one of them believed to be Mrs —— herself, and the other her sister, and inquired for the parcel; and my curiosity leading me to notice the issue of this supposed hoax, I was not a little surprised to find, after the lady had cut up the cover, that two or three letters were enclosed with the loaf, one of which she gave to the other lady, and sent the loaf home by the porter."

The Post-office has also been exposed to frauds in other ways. Thus it was a common device to take a newspaper bearing the newspaper frank, prick out with a pin certain words in the print making up a message to be sent, and the newspaper so prepared served all the purposes of a letter as between the sender and receiver. Or a message would be written on the cover of a newspaper with the first of all fluids known to us—milk—which, when dry, was not observed, but developed a legible communication subsequently when held to the fire.

The following anecdotes of the evasions of postage are told by the late Sir Rowland Hill:—

"Some years ago, when it was the practice to write the name of a member of Parliament for the purpose of franking a newspaper, a friend of mine, previous to starting on a tour into Scotland, arranged with his family a plan of informing them of his progress and state of health, without putting them to the expense of postage. It was managed thus: He carried with him a number of old newspapers, one of which he put into the post daily. The postmark, with the date, showed his progress; and the state of his health was evinced by the selection of the names from a list previously agreed upon, with which the newspaper was franked. Sir Francis Burdett, I recollect, denoted vigorous health."

"Once on the poet's [Coleridge's] visit to the Lake district, he halted at the door of a wayside inn at the moment when the rural postman was delivering a letter to the barmaid of the place. Upon receiving it she turned it over and over in her hand, and then asked the postage of it. The postman demanded a shilling. Sighing deeply, however, the girl handed the letter back, saying she was too poor to pay the required sum. The poet at once offered to pay the postage; and in spite of some resistance on the part of the girl, which he deemed quite natural, did so. The messenger had scarcely left the place when the young barmaid confessed that she had learnt all she was likely to learn from the letter; that she had only been practising a preconceived trick—she and her brother having agreed that a few hieroglyphics on the back of the letter should tell her all she wanted to know, whilst the letter would contain no writing. 'We are so poor,' she added, 'that we have invented this manner of corresponding and franking our letters.'"

In asserting its monopoly in the carriage of letters in towns, or wherever the Post-office had established posts, there was always trouble; and so much attention did the matter require, that special officers for the duty were employed, called "Apprehenders of Private Letter-carriers." The penalties were somewhat severe when infringements were discovered, and the action taken straight and prompt, as will be seen by the following, which is a copy of a letter written in 1817 to a person charging him with breaking the law:—

"Sir,—His Majesty's Postmasters-General have received an information laid against you, that on the 18th ultimo your clerk, Mr ——, for whom you are answerable, illegally sent three letters in a parcel by a stage-coach to you at Broadstairs, Kent, contrary to the statute made to prevent the sending of letters otherwise than by the post.

"I am commanded by their lordships to inform you that you have thereby incurred three penalties of £5 each, and that they feel it their duty to proceed against you to recover the same.

"Should you have any explanation to give, you will please to address the Postmaster-General.—I am," &c.

A Caution

General Post-Office, Aug. 10th, 1792A CAUTION.To all Coach-Masters, Carriers, Higlers, ShipMasters employed Coastwise, Newsmen,Watermen and Others.Having received repeated Information that Lettersare illegally collected, carried and delivered, to the greatInjury of the Public Revenue, and it being the wish of thisOffice rather to prevent than punish, and that the unwary maybe made acquainted with the Penalties they are subject to; I amdirected to give this Public Notice, that from the Date hereof,every Effort will be used to detect and punish all Persons sooffending.—The Penalties for which are FIVE POUNDSFOR EVERY LETTER SO COLLECTED, CARRIED,OR DELIVERED, WHETHER FOR HIRE OR NOT,AND ONE HUNDRED POUNDS, FOR EVERYWEEK SUCH PRACTICE IS CONTINUED.By Command of the Postmaster General,Johnson Wilkinson,Surveyor.

In August 1794, at the Warwick Assizes, a carrier between Warwick and Birmingham was convicted of illegally collecting and carrying letters, when penalties amounting to £1500 were incurred; but the prosecution consented to a verdict being taken for two penalties of £5 each, with costs of the suit. A report of the period observed that "this verdict should be a warning to carriers, coachmen, and other persons, against taking up letters tied round with a string or covered with brown paper, under pretence of being parcels, which, the learned judge observed, was a flimsy evasion of the law."

The very cheap postage which we now enjoy has removed the inducement in a large measure to commit petty frauds of this kind on the Post-office Revenue, and the commission of such things may now be said to belong to an age that is past.

Frauds on the Public.

The Post-office, while it is the willing handmaid to commerce, the vehicle of social intercourse, and the necessary helper in almost every enterprise and occupation, becomes at the same time a ready means for the unscrupulous to carry on a wonderful variety of frauds on the public, and enables a whole army of needy and designing persons to live upon the generous impulses of society. While thesethings go on,—and Post-office officials know they go on,—the Department is helpless to prevent them; for the work of the Post-office is carried on as a secret business, in so far as the communications intrusted to it are concerned, and the contents of the letters conveyed are not its property or interest. There are men and women who go about from town to town writing begging letters to well-to-do persons, appealing for help under all sorts of pretences; and these persons are as well known, in the sense of being customers to the Department, as a housekeeper is known at her grocer's shop. There are other persons, again, who carry on long-firm swindles through the post, obtaining goods which are never to be paid for; and as soon as the goods are received at one place, the swindlers move on to another place, assume new names, and repeat the operation. The schemes adopted are often very deeply laid; and the police, when once set upon the track, have hard work to unravel the wily plans. But tradespeople are not infrequently themselves very much to blame, as they show themselves too confiding, and too ready to do business with unknown persons.

The following is an instance of a fraud upon well-to-do persons in this country, attempted by an American in the year 1869:—

The Rev. Mr Champneys, of St Pancras, London, received a letter posted at Florence, Burlington County, New Jersey, U.S., which upon being opened seemed to be not intended for him, but was a communication purporting to be written from one sister to another. The letter made it appear that the writer was highly connected, had fallen into the greatest distress owing to the death of her husband, that her feelings of self-respect had restrained her from telling her griefs till she could no longer withhold them, and making free use of the deepest pathos and high-sounding sentiments, and finally appealing for an immediate remittance. Mr Champneys, not suspecting a fraud, and desiring to help forward the letter to the person who, as he supposed, should have received it, inserted the following advertisement in the 'Times' newspaper:—

"A letter, dated Florence, Burlington County, New Jersey, U.S., intended for Mrs Lucy Campbell, Scotland, has been misdirected to Rev. W. Champneys, 31 Gordon Square. Will Mrs Campbell kindly communicate her address immediately?"

In response to this inquiry, what was Mr Champney's surprise but to find that a large number of persons had received letters in identical terms and in precisely the same circumstances! This of course caused him to reflect, and then the facts became clear to him—which were, that under the guise of a trifling mistake, that of placing a letter in the wrong envelope, a set of dire circumstances were placed before persons who were likely to be kind-hearted and generous, in the hope that, though the writer was unknown to them, they might send some money to cheer a poor but respectable family steeped in calamity!

How far the attempt succeeded does not appear, but Mr Champneys very properly at once wrote a letter to the 'Times' exposing the fraud, and it is to be hoped that some generous souls were in consequence saved from folly.

One more instance—but one coming within the class of the "confidence trick." In several country newspapers the following advertisement made its appearance:—

"An elderly bachelor of fortune, wishing to test the credulity of the public, and to benefit and assist others, will send a suitable present of genuine worth, according to the circumstances of the applicant, to all who will send him 17 stamps—demanded merely as a token of confidence. Stamps will be returned with the present." And then theaddress followed, which was not always the same in all the advertisements.

The advertiser alone would be able to say how far he profited by this little arrangement, but some idea of the simplicity of mankind may be derived from the fact that between 300 and 400 letters for this person, each containing 17 stamps, reached the Dead-letter Office—owing doubtless to his having "moved on" from the places where he had lived, in consequence of their becoming too warm to hold him. Specimens of the letters written by the dupes are as follows:—

1. "The Rev. —— encloses 17 stamps. He is a clergyman with very limited means, and the most useful present to him would be five pounds. If his application be not agreeable, he requests that the stamps be returned."

2. "I have enclosed the 17 stamps, and shall be very pleased to receive any present you will send me. As I am not very well off, what I would like very much would be anice black silk dress, which I should consider a rich reward for my credulity."

3. "Mrs —— presents her compliments to the 'elderly bachelor,' and in order to amuse him by her credulity encloses 17 stamps, and thus claims the promised present. Her position and circumstances are good, she mixes in gay society, and is quite an adept at dancing the polka mazourka. These details may determine the suitability of the present."

4. "Having read your advertisement testing the 'credulity of the public,' I feel disposed on my part to test the upright and honourable intentions of a stranger, contrary to the opinion of some, who tell me it is only a hoax, or, worse, a mere take-in. I therefore, with the honesty of an Irishman, beg to say I am a clerygyman's wife, mother of nine children,—the six eldest fine enterprising sons; thethree youngest, engaging, intelligent girls. We Irish generally have larger hearts than purses. I therefore lay these facts before you, an Englishman, knowing that a Briton's generosity and capabilities are proverbially equal.—Hoping I may be able to prove I have formed a correct opinion of advertiser's truthfulness, I am," &c.

After this we may afford to smile, and use the words of a very old author with every confidence of their freshness: "Oh, where shall wisdom be found? where is the place of understanding?"

The addresses of letters passing through the post have often very curious features, arising from various causes: sometimes the whole writing is so bad as to be all but illegible; sometimes the orthography is extremely at fault; sometimes the writer, having forgotten the precise address, makes use of a periphrase; sometimes the addresses are insufficient; and sometimes the addresses are conjoined with sketches on the envelopes showing both artistic taste and comic spirit. Post-office sorters, who constantly have passing through their hands writing of every style and every degree of badness, acquire an aptitude for deciphering manuscript; and writing must be bad indeed, if to be read at all, when it fails to be deciphered in the Post-office. A very large collection might be made of the vagaries of writers in the addresses placed by them on letters; but the following will give some idea, though not a complete idea, of one of the troubles met with in dealing with post-letters.

Some time ago the Danish and Norwegian Consul at Ipswich, being struck by the ever-varying way in which the word "Ipswich" was spelt in the addresses of letters reaching him from abroad, took the pains to make a record of each new style of spelling, and after a time he was able to collect together fifty-seven incorrect methods of spellingthe word "Ipswich," which had been used upon letters addressed to him. They are given as follows, viz.:—

Elsfleth, Epshvics, Epshvidts, Epsids, Epsig, Epsvet, Epsvidts, Epwich, Evswig, Exwig, Hoispis, Hvisspys, Ibsvi, Ibsvig, Ibsvithse, Ibwich, Ibwigth, Ispsich, Ie yis wich, Igswield, Igswig, Igswjigh, Ipesviok, Ipiswug, Ipswitis, Ipsiwisch, Ipsovich, Ipsveten, Ipsvick, Ipsvics, Ipsvids, Ipsvidts, Ipsvig, Ipsvikh, Ipsvits, Ipsvitx, Ipsvoigh, Ipsweh, Ipsweich, Ipswgs, Ipswiche, Ipswick, Ipswict, Ipswiceh, Ipswig, Ipswigh, Ipswight, Ipswish, Ipswith, Ipswitz, Ispich, Ispovich, Ispwich, Ixvig, Iysuich, Uibsvich, Vittspits.

Letters so addressed generally reached the Consul in direct course of post, though some of them were occasionally delayed by being first sent to Wisbeach. In other cases assistance was given in reading the addresses by the northern version of the county "Suffolg" following the word intended for Ipswich.

The address,23 Adne Edle Street, London,proved to be intended for2 Threadneedle Street, London.In another case,No. 52 Oldham & Bury, London,was written forNo. 52 Aldermanbury, London.

On another occasion the following address appeared on a letter:—too dad Thomashat the ole okeOtchut10 Bary. Pade.Sur plees to let ole feather have this sefe;the address being intended forThe Old Oak Orchard,Tenbury.

A further odd address was as follows, written, it is presumed, by a German:—Tis is fur old Mr Willy wot brinds de Baber in Lang Kaster ware tigal is. gist rede him assume as it cums to ti Pushtufous;the English of the address being—This is for old Mr Willy what prints the paper in Lancaster wherethe jail is. Just read him as soon as it comes to the Post-office.

The next address is one made use of, apparently, owing to the true and particular address being lost, but the directions given served their purpose, and the letter was duly delivered:—For a gentleman residing in a street out of the —— Road, London.He is a shopkeeper, sells newspapers and periodicals to the trade,and supplies Hawkers, and others with cheap prints, some of whichare sold by men in the street. he has for years bought the waste ofthe Illustrated —— their prints printed in colours particularly.he is well known in the locality, being wholesale. Postman willoblige if he can find this.

Similar cases are as follows, but we are unable to say whether the addresses given served their intended purpose:—Mr ——. Travelling Band, one of the four playing in the street.Persha [Pershore],Worcestershire.Please to find him if possible.

To E——, a cook as lived tempery with a Mrs L——, or some sucha name, a shoemaker in Castle St. about No. —— Hoburn in 1851; tryto make this out. She is a Welsh person about 5 feet 1—stoutish.Lives in service some ware in London or naboured. London.This is for her that maks dresses for ladies, that livs at totherside of road to James Brocklip.Edensover, Chesterfield.This is for the young girl that wears spectacles, who minds two babies.30 Sherriff St.,Off Prince Edwin St.,Liverpool.

In two further instances the indications sufficed, and the letters were duly delivered. Thus—To my sister Jean,Up the Canongate,Down a Close,Edinburgh.She has a wooden leg.

And—My dear Ant Sue as lives in the Cottage by the Wood near the New Forest.

In this case the letter had to feel its way about for a day or two, but Ant Sue was found living in a cottage near Lyndhurst.

Another letter was addressed thus:—This letter is for Mrs ——. She lives in some part of Liverpool.From her father John ——, a tailor from ——; he would be thankfulto some Postmaster in Liverpool if he would find her out.

Unfortunately, in this instance the directions given failed to trace the person to whom it was sent, and it had to go to that abyss of "rejected addresses," the Dead-letter Office.

It occasionally happens that when the eye is unable to make out an address, the ear comes to the rescue. In London a letter came to hand directed toMr Owl O'Neil,General Post Office.

But no one was known there of that name. A clerk, looking at the letter, commenced to repeat aloud, "Mr Owl O'Neil, Mr Owl O'Neil," when another clerk, hearing him, exclaimed, "Why! that must be intended for Mr Rowland Hill,"—which indeed proved to be the case. A similar circumstance happened in Edinburgh, with a letter from Australia, addressed toMr ——Johns. 7.Scotland.

It proved to be intended for Johnshaven, a village in thenorth of Scotland.

Two odd addresses are as follows, one being from America, the other from Ireland:—Little Alice,Serio-Comic Singer,London, England.to Edinburgh City, Scotland,For Pat Feeley, Katie Kinnigan's Son,Ould fishmarket close,Number 42, send this with speed.

An American gentleman having arrived in England, and not knowing where a sister was residing at the time, addressed a letter to her previous residence thus—Upper Norwood,or Elsewhere.

The letter having been delivered to the lady, the writer intimated to the Post-office that he had received a reply in ordinary course, and explaining that the letter had been delivered to her on the top of a stage-coach in Wales. In admiration of the means taken to follow up his sister, the writer ventured to add, "that no other country can show the parallel, or would take the trouble at any cost."

It would be impossible to explain in words the difficulties that are met with, and the successes which are obtained, in deciphering badly written addresses; and facsimiles of the directions upon some such letters are therefore appended to enable the reader to appreciate the facts. In the London Post-office indistinctly addressed letters are at once set aside, so as not to delay the work of sortation, and are carried forthwith to a set of special officers who have an aptitude for deciphering indistinct writing. These officers, by a strange contradiction in the sense of things, are called the "blind officers"; and here the letters are rapidly disposedof, either by having the addresses read and amended, or marked with the name of a post-town for which the letters may be supposed to be intended. To facilitate this special work, the blind officers are furnished with a series of gazetteers and other books containing the names of gentlemen's seats, farms, and the like, throughout the country, and many a letter reaches the hands of the person addressed through a reference to these books.

In addition to instances of indistinctly addressed letters, a few specimens of addresses of an artistic and humorous character are furnished in this chapter.

Indistinctly addressed

Artistic address

The letter, of which the above represents the address, was posted in a town in the north of England, and delivered to the editor of the 'Courant' in Edinburgh. A facsimile of a portion of the communication enclosed is also shown, which will give an idea of the interest attaching to editorial work, and afford some valuable information to the reader!

Communication

Artistic address

If records are not now forthcoming of all the robberies which have been committed upon the Post-office from the earliest times, we may be assured that an institution such as it is, maintaining agencies all over the country, and having to keep up communications between those agencies, would be exposed at all times and at all points to the risk of robbery, whether by the dashing boldness of the highwayman, or the less pretentious doings of the town house-breaker. To us who live in an age when the public roads are generally safe to travellers, it is difficult to realise the dangers that lurked in the highways at no more remote a period than last century; nor can we well realise a state of things under which mail-coaches in this our quiet England had to be protected by guards armed to the teeth. We have it handed down, however, as a historical fact, that when, in 1720, Belsize House, Hampstead, was opened as a place of public resort, the programme announcing its attractions contained the following item:—"And for the security of its guests, there are twelve stout fellows completely armed, to patrol betwixt London and Belsize, to prevent the insults of highwaymen or footpads which may infest the road." Yet that statement does not give the whole truth, for the road between these two placesbecame so much more dangerous, that after a time "the patrol had to be increased from twelve to thirty stout fellows completely armed, independently of two tall grenadiers who mounted guard over the gate of the mansion."

The following is from the 'Annual Register' of 1761:—"Murders, robberies—many of them attended with acts of cruelty and threatening letters—were never perhaps so frequent about this city [London] as during last month. One highwayman in particular, by the name of the Flying Highwayman, engrosses the conversation of most of the towns within twenty miles of London, as he has occasionally visited all the public roads round this metropolis, and has collected several considerable sums. He robs upon three different horses. He has leaped over Colnbrook turnpike a dozen times within this fortnight, and is now well known by most of the turnpike men in the different roads about London."

Again, it is recorded that "even the toll-house keepers in London were so liable to be robbed, that they had to be furnished with arms, and enjoined to keep no money in their houses after eight o'clock at night. The boldness with which street robberies still continued to be committed was evinced so late as 1777, when the Neapolitan ambassador was robbed in his coach in Grosvenor Square by four footpads armed with pistols."

But highway robbery had long been practised, even by individuals in the higher stations; and it is recorded of Sir John Falstaff, one of Shakespeare's heroes, that he was the terror of travellers on every road for a hundred miles out of London. The place chiefly identified with his exploits, however, was Gad's Hill, in Kent.

Thus it will be seen that the roads leading out of London were infested by disorderly characters; and robberies ofthe mails proceeding to and from London were of frequent occurrence, as appears from official records referring to the close of last century and the commencement of this.

In the coaching days very frequent robberies of the mails took place, though they were protected by armed guards, and some of these robberies have been described in the chapter relating to mail-coaches.

Falstaff as a Highwayman

The passengers who travelled in the mail-coaches, with the knowledge of these molestations going on around them, must have been kept in a constant state of alarm; and the circumstance could not fail materially to discourage travelling in days when the facilities for exchanging visits were few compared with what we now enjoy.

The state of things already described as regards the mail-coaches, extended also to the horse-posts, the riders being attacked probably more freely than the coaches; for while the plunder to be had would be less, the postboys were not in a position to make so great a show of defence. Nor did the severity of the laws restrain evil-doers, either in England or Scotland, where sentences of execution were from time to time carried out upon the delinquents.

On the 7th of July 1685, the post-rider who was proceeding through the extreme north of England, on his way from London to the Scottish metropolis, was known to have been twice stopped, and to have been robbed of his mail, the scene of the occurrence being near Alnwick, in Northumberland. In connection with this event, of which an account has been handed down by Lauder of Fountainhall, a curious and romantic anecdote has been told by Wilson in his 'Tales of the Borders,' and by Chambers as one of his Scottish traditional stories.

Sir John Cochrane of Ochiltree, in Ayrshire, was one of Argyle's chief associates in that unfortunate and abortive attempt, made by the exiles in the year above named, to compass the overthrow of the reigning monarch, James II., so far as Scotland was concerned, which attempt was only part of the more general scheme of the exiles abroad—both English and Scotch—and the disaffected at home, to drive the king from his throne, and to place the Duke of Monmouth thereon in his stead. After a variety of disasters experienced by the limited following which Argyle and his party had been able to bring together, and when hope of a successful issue could no longer secure cohesion, there ensued a general break-up of the party, accompanied by what is to be looked for in similar situations—a general flight andsauve qui peut. Sir John Cochrane sought refuge in the house of a relative in Renfrewshire, where, however, he was discovered by his pursuers at the end ofJune; and on the 3d of July, Sir John, his son, and another traitor were brought into Edinburgh, "bound and barefooted, by the hangman," and cast into the Tolbooth to await their doom.

What daring enterprises may not flow from a woman's love and devotion, when a parent's liberty is imperilled or his life is at stake! Sir John had a daughter called Grizel, who fondly loved him, and who, on visiting him in prison, had not failed to show the intensity of her filial regard; nor was Sir John slow to reciprocate these feelings on his part. Being then but eighteen years of age, she nevertheless conceived the daring thought of intercepting the mail-packet coming from the South, which was supposed to contain a warrant for the execution of her father; and with this object in view, she proceeded to Berwick-on-Tweed alone. Here she habited herself in male attire; and being armed, and mounted on a fleet horse, she set out upon her extraordinary and perilous adventure.

Grizel Cochrane and Postboy

Grizel Cochrane and Postboy.

On Tweedmouth Moor, it is narrated, she fell in withthe postboy, who, under threats of immediate death, gave up his charge, Grizel riding off with the mail-packet and the postboy's horse, from which he had been unseated.

Under these circumstances, the warrant not reaching its destination, it could not be put into execution, and the delay which took place before another could be procured, was turned to account by Sir John's friends, who exerted themselves on his behalf. Sir John was the younger son of a rich family, from whom a ransom was to be had; and it is stated that a bribe of £5000 by Lord Dundonald, Cochrane's father, to the priests of the Royal household, was the means of securing a pardon. Sir John lived to become Earl of Dundonald, while Grizel became the wife of John Kerr of Morriston, in Berwickshire; and there can be little doubt that she afterwards exhibited as a wife all the amiable and affectionate qualities of which she proved herself possessed as a daughter.

Unfortunately for the authenticity of the story, so far as Grizel Cochrane's connection with it is concerned, the dates hardly bear the matter out; for if Sir John was lodged in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh on the 3d of July, a warrant for his execution could barely have reached Northumberland from London by the 7th: and again, while the story relates that Sir John Cochrane was confined in the Tolbooth, Macaulay states that he "was taken, and sent up to London."

The following story of the robbery of a mail carried by a postboy, is taken from Chambers's 'Domestic Annals of Scotland,' under the date 16th August 1690:—

"Andrew Cockburn, the postboy who carried the packet or letter-bag on that part of the great line of communication which lies between Cockburnspath and Haddington, had this day reached a point in his journey between the Alms-house and Hedderwick Muir, when he was assailedby two gentlemen in masks; one of them mounted on a blue-grey horse, wearing a stone-grey coat with brown-silk buttons—the other riding on a white horse, having a white English grey cloak-coat with wrought silver-thread buttons. Holding pistols to his breast, they threatened to kill him if he did not instantly deliver up the packet, black box, and bag which he carried; and he had no choice but to yield. They then bound him, and leaving him tied by the foot to his horse, rode off with their spoil to Garlton House, near Haddington. As the packet contained Government communications, besides the correspondence of private individuals, this was a crime of a very high nature, albeit we may well believe it was committed on political impulse only. Suspicion seems immediately to have alighted on James Seton, youngest son of the Viscount Kingston, and John Seton, brother of Sir George Seton of Garlton; and Sir Robert Sinclair, the sheriff of the county, immediately sought for these young gentlemen at their father's and brother's houses, but found them not. With great hardihood, they came to Sir Robert's house next morning to inquire, as innocent men, why they were searched for; when Sir Robert, after a short examination in presence of the postboy, saw fit to have them disarmed and sent off to Haddington. It was Sunday, and Bailie Lauder, to whose house they came with their escort, was about to go to church. If the worthy bailie is to be believed, he thought their going to the sheriff's a great presumption of their innocence. He admitted, too, that Lord Kingston had come and spoken to him that morning. Anyhow, he concluded that it might be enough in the meantime if he afforded them a room in his house, secured their horses in his stable, and left them under charge of two of the town-officers. Unluckily, however, he required the town-officers, as usual, to walk before him and his brother magistrates tochurch—which, it is obvious, interfered very considerably with their efficiency as a guard over the two gentlemen. While things were in this posture, Messrs Seton took the prudent course of making their escape. As soon as the bailie heard of it he left church, and took after them with some neighbours, but he did not succeed in overtaking them. The Privy Council had an extraordinary meeting to take measures regarding this affair, and their first step was to order Bailie Lauder and the two town-officers into the Tolbooth of Edinburgh as close prisoners. A few days afterwards the magistrate was condemned by the Council as guilty of plain fraud and connivance, and declared incapable of any public employment. William Kaim, the smith at Lord Kingston's house of Whittinghame, was also in custody on some suspicion of a concern in this business; but he and the town-officers were quickly liberated.

"John Seton was soon after seized by Captain James Denholm on board a merchant vessel bound for Holland, and imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh. He underwent trial in July 1691, and by some means escaped condemnation. A favourable verdict did not procure his immediate liberation; but, after three days, he was dismissed on caution, to return into custody if called upon. This final result was the more remarkable, as his father was by that time under charge of having aided in the betrayal of the Bass."

Other instances of such gentleman-like performances in waylaying the post were not unknown in the primitive days of the Post-office, for about the year 1658 the following notice was issued for the discovery of a gentleman of the law who had taken to evil ways by intercepting the mail:—"Whereas Mr Herbert Jones, attorney-at-law in the town of Monmouth, well known by being several years together under-sheriff of the same county, hath of late divers timesrobbed the mail coming from that town to London, and taken out divers letters and writs, and is now fled from justice," &c.

In August 1692, the postboy riding the last stage towards Edinburgh with the mail from England, was robbed on the 13th of that month, at a short distance from Edinburgh. A record of the period relates that the robbery was committed by "a person mounted on horseback with a sword about him, and another person on foot with a pistol in his hand, upon the highway from Haddington to Edinburgh, near that place thereof called Jock's Lodge (a mile from town) about ten hours of the night." The robbers took "the packet or common mail, with the horse whereon the boy rode." A proclamation was issued by the Scottish Privy Council, offering a reward of a hundred pounds for the apprehension of the offenders, with a free pardon to any one of them who should inform upon the rest; but with what result is not known.

On the 13th September 1786, the mail-rider from the North charged with the conveyance of mails for Edinburgh, having reached Kinross about midnight, proceeded to change horses as usual in a stable-yard at that place. The mail-bags he deposited on the back of a chaise in the yard until he should be ready to resume his journey. As was his custom, he then went into the stable to give a feed of corn to his horse; but while so engaged, the bags were abstracted and the contents stolen. Two brothers, who were proved to have been in the neighbourhood at the time, and to whom some of the stolen property was traced, were arraigned for the crime before the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, and being found guilty, were sentenced to be executed.

The following is a somewhat fuller account of a post robbery on the public road, which occurred a few years later:—

In 1802, the mails between Edinburgh and Glasgow were still conveyed by men travelling on horseback—the route taken being by way of Falkirk—the hour of despatch from Glasgow being 9p.m., and the hour of arrival in Edinburgh about 6a.m.or 7a.m.The riders of this mail seem to have had sections of the road apportioned to them—one rider covering the road from Glasgow to Falkirk, the other taking the stage from Falkirk to Edinburgh. On the morning of the 1st of August in that year, the rider for the east stage—named William Wilson—received the Glasgow mail-bag entire and duly sealed at Falkirk, and thereafter set out towards Edinburgh. When he approached a rising ground called Sighthill—probably a wooded knoll bearing that name, about three miles from Linlithgow, on the road to Polmont—he observed two men coming down towards him, and who, so soon as they got near him, placed themselves one on each side of his horse, and immediately seized him. One of the two men held something in his hand, and threatened Wilson that if he offered to speak his brains would be blown out. Then he was led away into a field of corn, where he was blindfolded by one of the men with his own handkerchief, and his hands tied behind his back; thereupon he was thrown down, and his legs bound together to prevent his getting free. Meanwhile the other man led off the horse and rifled the mail. The post-rider remained in his unhappy position for about an hour, when he managed to extricate himself, and proceeding to the first house he could reach, implored the inmates "for God's sake" to let him in, as he had been robbed. Having been admitted and obtained assistance, he returned to the scene of his adventure, and found the empty mail-bag at the foot of a haystack, while the horse was recovered a little distance away. The mail contained bills, &c., for something like £1300 or £1400.

The robbery of the mail caused great excitement in Edinburgh so soon as it became known, and no long time elapsed before the perpetrators were in the hands of the authorities. The two men concerned in it proved to be James ClarkaliasAlex. Stewart, and Robert Brown, formerly privates in the Foot Guards. No sooner had they got back to Edinburgh—where they had previously lodged—than they commenced to change some of the bank-notes taken from the mail-bag, and got the worse of drink; and being once suspected, the evidence soon accumulated and became strong against them. They were tried for the offence before the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh in November following, and being found guilty, were sentenced to be executed.

This robbery would appear to have had the effect of stirring up the public mind to demand a means of conveying the mails between the two cities affording greater security; for an agitation immediately followed for the setting up of coaches or diligences to carry the mails between those cities. Owing, however, to difficulties and disagreements between the merchants and traders as to the hours of departure and arrival, and to wranglings over the particular route to be journeyed, the idea was abandoned, and the horse-post as of old was meanwhile continued. The robbery seems not to have been soon forgotten, however; for we find that towards the close of 1802 a proposal was made to enter into an agreement for the service with "an officer of the Mid-Lothian Cavalry, and master of the Riding Academy in Edinburgh," who offered to conduct and carry on the service in a masterly and military manner for an allowance of £450 per annum—the riders to be employed being none other than able and active dragoons. But in the nature of things such a mail service could not continue, and negotiations still proceeded for the employment ofdiligences—not resulting in success, however, until the year 1805, when the first mail-coach between Edinburgh and Glasgow was put upon the road.

A somewhat similar attack upon a postboy was made in Yorkshire in the year 1798, when the rider's life was threatened by a highwayman single-handed, and the mails stolen from him. The case is interesting owing to the fact that traces of the robbery were obtained so recently as 1876, though at the period of its occurrence no trace of the highwayman or of his plunder could be discovered.

The official account of the robbery, when it happened, was as follows:—

"The postboy coming from Selby to York was robbed of his mail between six and seven o'clock this evening. About three miles on this side of Selby he was accosted by a man on foot, with a gun in his hand, who asked him if he was the postboy, and at the same time seized hold of the bridle. Without waiting for any answer, he told the boy he must immediately unstrap the mail and give it him, pointing the muzzle of the gun at him whilst he did it. When he had given up the mail, the boy begged he would not hurt him; to which the man replied he need not be afraid, and at the same time pulled the bridle from the horse's head. The horse immediately galloped off with the boy, who had never dismounted.

"He was a stout man, dressed in a drab jacket, and had the appearance of being a heckler. The boy was too much frightened to make any other remark on his person, and says he was totally unknown to him. The mail contained the bags for Howden and London, Howden and York, and Selby and York."

Selby Mail-Bag.

Although a reward of £200 was offered for the discovery of the robber, and a free pardon to any accessory who might turn accuser, nothing was heard of the matter at the time, though suspicion, it is said, pointed to some of the inhabitants of Selby. The robbery might perhaps have remained forgotten, but that, upon a public-house situated on the Churchhill, Selby, being pulled down in 1876, a suit of clothes, a sou'-wester hat, and an old mail-bag marked "Selby" were found in the roof. There is little doubt that these were the clothes worn by the robber on the occasion under notice, and that the bag (which is a sort of waterproof-pouch, furnished with two straps to pass over the shoulders) is the identical bag which contained the mails stolen in 1798. When the foundations of this old public-house were turned up, the discovery was made of several coffins containing bodies in a good state of preservation—a circumstance, when taken in connection with the traces of the mail-robbery and the public character of the house, ominous in the extreme. The case is one which might be taken as somewhat proving the suggestion put forward by Smollett in 'Roderick Random' as to the intimate relations which existed between thepersonnelof the innkeepers and the common highwaymen—the former being well aware of the profession followed by the latter, if not actually sharers in their plunder.

The illustration of the Selby bag is from a photograph. The bag, when folded for the postboy's back, measured about 17 inches broad by 15 inches deep.

On Wednesday the 23d October 1816, at half-past nine in the evening, the postboy carrying the mail-bags from Teignmouth and neighbouring places to Exeter, was assaulted "in a most desperate and inhuman manner" near the village of Alphington, and plundered of the Teignmouth and Exminster bags. The poor man was attacked with such fury that he was felled from his horse, came to the ground on his head, which was fractured in two places, and in consequence of his injuries, he remained insensible for some time. When he regained consciousness in the Exeter Hospital, whither he had been conveyed, he was able to explain that, at the time of the attack, he was walking his horse up a hill, that the assailant was a young man, and that he was mounted on a grey horse. This horse was supposed afterwards to be traced, though the robber failed to be discovered, notwithstanding that a reward of £50 was offered for his discovery and conviction. "A horse exactly answering the description," says an official record, "was taken from a field near Dawlish on the Wednesday night, and turned back to the same place before daybreak on Thursday, having evidently been rode very fast, and gored very much in the sides." The owner of the horse couldgive no assistance in the matter, nor had he suspicions against any one; so that it would appear the robber had taken the horse surreptitiously for his purpose. The mail-bags were afterwards recovered, with some few of the letters opened: but it did not appear that any property was missing. The unfortunate rider, whose name was "Caddy," remained in hospital till the January following, when he was discharged; but in the month of May his wounds broke out afresh, and he had to return to hospital, being now become subject to epileptic fits owing to his injuries. As he was no longer able for service, he was granted a gratuity by the Post-office; and it is not probable that he survived very long thereafter. With the mere expectation of getting some little gain from the robbery, the marauder had all but killed the poor postboy, who had a wife and two children dependent on him; and he has in his evil-doing given a good example of what Burns calls "man's inhumanity to man," that "makes countless thousands mourn."

In the year 1797 the deputy-postmaster of the Orkneys and his son, a lad of about sixteen years of age, were tried at the High Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh, on a charge of breaking open certain post-letters while in their custody in course of transit, and therefrom abstracting money. The indictment contained a further charge of forgery against the elder prisoner, the deputy having endorsed another person's name upon a money-order contained in one of the stolen letters. The thefts were committed at different times in 1794 and 1796, and the specific cases upon which evidence was led were in respect of the following letters—viz., two letters sent at different times to Orkney by a seaman in the Royal Navy, one containing a guinea-note and half a guinea in gold, the other containing either a guinea in gold or a note for that amount; a letter from London for Orkney,containing a money-order for £5 5s.; and a letter from Perth for Orkney, enclosing a note for a guinea: the whole amount involved being under £9.

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