throwing me over its head, deposited me in able for duty, and may thus reckon on the midst of a circle of tailors, seated cross- perhaps a fortnight clear at his own dislegged at their work in an open shop. They posal. It is not well, however, to count were not a little alarmed at this sudden intru- on any precise period of leisure with too sion, and I was no less surprised at finding much certainty, as is shown by the followmyself in such company fortunately without hurt or injury. ing veracious tale, which has been repeated We reached Adrianople early one morning, many a time and oft in Downing Street. having galloped day and night without stopping, except to change horses at the post stations. My Tatar, who had been accustomed to travel at a jog-trot pace, which was exceedingly fatiguing to me, declared that he could go no further. He accordingly conducted me to the "konak," or residence of the governor, who undertook to provide me at once with a fresh Tatar. Whilst the necessary preparations were being made, I went to a neighboring Turkish bath. After a short, sound sleep on the soft cushions and white linen of the outer hall, I felt thoroughly refreshed and ready to continue my journey. I dressed and returned to the "konak." found everything ready for my departure, and in a few minutes was in the saddle again.

I

The vast undulating plains of Roumelia, smooth as a racecourse, were soon crossed. The bracing October air, with a cloudless sky overhead, and the rapid motion, produced an exhilarating effect which made me forget my

fatigues.

I reached Constantinople before dawn on the sixth day after leaving Belgrade. I had performed this journey in less time by some hours than Colonel Townley, a Queen's Messenger, whose Tatar ride over the same ground had been mentioned by Lord Palmerston in the House of Commons as the fastest on record. I was, consequently, not a little proud of my feat. As some time had yet to elapse before the Adrianople gate, at which I had arrived, would be opened the gates of Stamboul were then closed between sunset and sunrise- I dismounted, and lying on the ground, slept until I could enter the city. It was only the date of the letters that I brought to Sir Stratford Canning which convinced him that I had left Belgrade six days

before.

.

Other records show how a queen's messenger, charged with the conveyance of despatches from his Majesty's embassy at Constantinople, addressed to his Majesty's ambassador at St. Petersburg, accomplished the whole journey through Russia, from south to north, entirely in the saddle. There were no examinations in those days; but strange to say, in spite of this lamentable omission, the queen's messenger was then, as now, ever ready to perform his duties, and competent to succeed in the most arduous undertaking which might be entrusted to him.

When a messenger returns to London from foreign service, he is placed at the bottom of the list of those at home avail

Captain A. having just returned from St. Petersburg, saw his name well placed at the bottom of a goodly list of names ready for duty, and judged it expedient to spend his anticipated fortnight in the sunny south of France. About a week after his arrival at Monte Carlo he was startled and annoyed by the receipt of the following strange and apparently impertinent telegram :

Chief Clerk, Foreign Office, to Captain A.:
You are fast and dirty. Return at once.

Having puzzled a while over this enigma, it occurred to him that whatever might be the explanation of the first sentence, the last was an order which his sense of duty compelled him to obey. He accordingly packed up his traps and returned forthStreet, that the telegram, as originally with, to find on his arrival at Downing despatched, ran as follows:

You are first on duty. Return at once.

Thirty or forty years ago, perhaps even more than now, the queen's messenger was road, claiming the earliest attention from a personage of the first importance on the guards and porters, civility and expedition at every customs frontier, and the best places in train and steamboat. In the present day, travelling always by train amongst the ever-increasing crowd of tourists, the comfort and prestige of a journey with despatches is somewhat on the wane; and except in times of war, the adventures of the queen's messenger are reduced to the possible chance of a railway smash. Only a few years have passed, however, since most of the habitués of the mail route between London and Paris must have been familiar with the bluff and burly presence of Major X., the Ajax of the corps of queen's messengers, and hero of a hundred tales. We can see him now, striding from the train to the boat at Dover, followed by two porters bearing the despatch bags. Passengers scatter right and left as he calls in loud, commanding tones, "R-room for her Majesty's despatches!" and the little procession, headed by the major, steps across the gangway and finds its way to the proper reserved cabin.

Major X. was a wonderful messenger,

commanding by the sheer force of personal | at the messenger's renewed request, he demeanor the greatest respect and atten- was about to bring to, when from the tion from officials of every class and opposite direction was seen coming from nationality. To him the most difficult the harbor a second British-man-of-war's journey might be entrusted, with the cer- boat, rowing towards them at full speed, tainty that he would turn up at the desired and signalling violently. Immediately this spot at any given moment, true to time. second boat came into view, the first boat When at length the cruel hand of time turned round, and rowing quickly round brought about the moment for the gallant the opposite point, disappeared from sight. major to retire upon a pension, it is said The second boat on nearing the vessel that he was loth to quit his long familiar was found to be in command of a British work, and that, seeking an interview with naval officer, and the queen's messenger the foreign secretary of the day, he said, was soon safely deposited on board the "Well, my lord, if I must retire, I must; British man-of-war in the harbor. Subse but all I can say is, that I am willing to quent investigation is said to have made ride, swim, walk, or run with any man of it evident that an attempt had been made my age in the three kingdoms for a thou- to kidnap the messenger with his imporsand pounds!" and we make little doubt tant despatches, by means of a boat got that he would have won his wager. up under false colors.

should return; and the messenger, com- | by whatever means they may have occapulsorily resigned to his fate, proceeded sion to travel," but higher qualifications to make himself as comfortable as circum- than these are sometimes demanded. stances would permit during this enforced leisure at the little mountain inn. Towards evening, however, a private carriage arrived occupied by one traveller, with a sleigh, several spare horses, and plenty of servants, evidently the equipage of a personage of distinction. The traveller halted at the posting inn, and after a short parley determined to enter and have dinner, the journey across the pass to be continued at nightfall, when a clear moon might be expected. Under these circumstances the king's messenger and the other traveller naturally dined together and entered into friendly conversation, with the result that an offer of a place in the traveller's sleigh was gladly accepted by the former.

In the earlier half of the present century a burning political question had arisen at a certain European capital, in which question both Great Britain and another great power were largely interested. Two messengers were despatched from that capital one evening. The one, an English foreign service messenger, conveying despatches of a most pressing nature, regarding the pending controversy, to be delivered to the secretary of state for foreign affairs. The other, a courier of the great power in question, charged with the conveyance of similar intelligence to his ambassador in London. Both messengers were strictly enjoined to lose not a moment on the road, but to press on at the highest possible rate of speed. The Englishman, however, was privately informed that, if he could by any means outstrip his colleague, or delay him on the way, so as to place the despatches in the hands of the secretary of state before the foreign ambassador in London could have received the same information, the time thus gained would be of great advantage to the State.

At nightfall the journey across the pass was commenced, the messenger carrying in his hand a small despatch bag containing his despatches. The route wound up and up the mountain-side, all being soon covered deep in snow. The horses seemed fresh and high-mettled, and were urged at full speed by the driver. Suddenly, at a turn of the road, a man jumped out from a rock; the horses seemed to shy, and in less time than it takes to tell, the sleigh was rolling over and over in the snow, with its occupants tossed hither and thither. Some moments elapsed before the half-stunned messenger came to his senses, and when he did so, the first thing which struck his astonished eyes was the sleigh tearing back down the pass at breakneck speed. No human being was to be seen beside him; his late companions, and worse still, his bag of despatches, which had escaped from his grasp in the tumble, having vanished like magic. Nothing remained but to plod wearily through the snow back to the inn, where all that he could ascertain was, that the strange traveller was unknown to the land-safe in the consideration that his English lord, and that he had returned by the way he came with his own horses, explaining that there had been an accident. Neither the mysterious traveller, nor the bag of despatches was ever traced, nor has the full history of the adventure ever come to light up to the present day.

Ready wit, courage, and resource in difficulty are amongst the cardinal points in a good messenger. He must not only be able to attend to his duties on the road, those duties being, in the words of the regulations, "to convey the despatches entrusted to them safely and expeditiously

The two messengers fraternized on the journey, the Englishman all the while casting about for any scheme whereby he might delay his companion, or advance himself. No possible opening presented itself until Calais was reached, when fortune favored his enterprise in the shape of a severe storm, which prevented the packet from crossing the harbor bar on that night. The messenger at once saw and seized upon his opportunity. Approaching his travelling companion, he proposed that as the boat could not start that evening, they should at once seek quarters for the night at the neighboring hotel. No sooner said than done; the foreign courier, seeing no help for it, and

colleague was in the same plight as himself, willingly consented, under the circumstances, to take a night's rest, and the two had speedily reached the hotel, and engaged their sleeping accommodation. Directly, however, the English messenger had seen his companion safe into his bedroom, he himself instead of proceeding to his apartment, and in real fact quite wide awake, quietly slipped out. By dint of liberal offers of money he at length succeeded in persuading the owner of a lugger in port to face the passage of the Straits under sail, notwithstanding the tempestu

ous character of the weather, and to convey him by this means at once to Dover. A start was soon made, and after a stormy but prosperous voyage, the stout-hearted queen's messenger had the satisfaction to place his foot on British soil a good twelve hours in advance of his rival. He hurried up to London, and safely delivered his despatches, wearied, almost worn out, but with the proud consciousness of duty well fulfilled. It is said that the popular English secretary of state for foreign affairs of the day, presented the messenger on the spot with a gratuity of one hundred guineas, as a token of his admiration for his pluck and resourceful energy, which had gained the valuable hours necessary to enable the minister to deal with the critical international question as the sole possessor of most important information, and in such a manner as to secure the best interests of his country.

If such incidents are unlikely to occur now during the daily railway routine of a queen's messenger's life, the outbreak of hostilities between European powers may at any time render the service one of danger, and expose the messenger to hairbreadth escapes and all the vicissitudes of

war.

An adventure which befell Captain Robbins when employed on queen's messenger service during the Franco-German war in 1870 was thus reported by the Times correspondent:

good as their officers, and that the officers do not know much more than the privates. However, they consented to let the man with the greyhound live till the morning, and departed, warning the landlord that it would go hard turned. At 3 A. M. some of them came back; with him if the bird had flown when they rethey thought they had waited long enough, and they thirsted for the messenger's blood. The house was so full, the landlord said, that there were two or three persons in every room, and they might make a mistake and shoot the wrong man, and so he put them off till daylight arrived. Before it, Captain Robbins, whose horse by this time had rested, was out of the window and into his carriage; he shooters on the road, and reached a place of was lucky enough not to meet the Freesafety, whence this brief narrative of his adventures and perils was brought to me by a sympathizing colleague. Speaking in all seriousness, queen's messengers, who at this time are sent through the French lines, whether going to or coming from the Prussians, perform the duty at the risk of their

lives.

It is not only in the actual duties of the road, however, that the messenger may be exposed to disagreeable incidents and adventures. Compelled by the nature of his profession to pass much of his time in strange lands, he is peculiarly liable to be the object of that singular aversion to foreigners which may still, even in this nineteenth century, be noticed in many European states. If, in any land, aversion to foreigners amounts to a national characteristic, Englishmen are certainly not the nationality to win exemption from the rule. The Britisher, with his tweed jacket, and free-and-easy, domineering ways, often acts as the red rag to the bull.

Captain Robbins having formerly served in the Austrian army is fluent in German, and I believe was on that account selected to go to the king's headquarters at Versailles. I don't know whether serving in Austria makes a man look like a Prussian, but it seems that Some years ago a queen's messenger some Free-shooters took it into their heads had, in the course of his duty, to travel to that he was a spy, and accordingly doomed a northern capital; and one day, shortly him to death. Nothing would convince them after his arrival, was spending the evenof their mistake, and of the captain's true ing in the public gardens, in company nationality, official character, and important with a member of the British Embassy mission. The passport and other papers he in that capital. After a short time spent produced were totally disregarded, and the in conversation and in watching the nuenamelled Queen's Arms and running greyhound which her Majesty's messengers habit- merous promenaders, his friend went to ually wear, were looked at with some curiosity, talk with a group at a little distance, leavbut without the slightest respect. Although, ing the messenger seated all alone, abtherefore, there could be no moral doubt of sorbed in his cigar and in contemplation his guilt, a compassionate inn-keeper sug- of the beauty of the prospect. From this gested a reprieve, in order that the criminal reverie he was abruptly and disagreeably might have time to write to his wife and say disturbed by a sudden blow from behind, his prayers, and go out of the world like a which knocked his hat off. Fully expectChristian. I believe the worthy aubergiste also suggested that it might be as well to have ing that this must be a somewhat unman. an officer present at the execution, for the nerly and unseasonable joke on the part proposers of summary punishment were only of his friend, the messenger started up fall privates; but there is a good deal of with wrath in his soul, to find himself conequality among the Free-shooters, and it may fronted by an officer in the local regiment, often happen that the privates are quite as glaring with anger, and showing not the

ance.

least trace of compunction. Roused to excursion to the plains of Marathon, were fury by this impenitent demeanor, the mes- captured by brigands, with the shocking senger promptly administered the truly result that, on arrival of troops to the resBritish argument of a scientifically deliv-cue, the captives were murdered in cold ered knock-down blow, which measured blood by the cowardly villains who had the length of his antagonist on the path. demanded their ransom. Shortly after The latter, when he had recovered himself, this terrible occurrence, it became necesclapped his hand to his sword and de- sary to send important despatches upon manded satisfaction. Nothing loth, the the subject to her Majesty's minister at queen's messenger, himself an officer in Athens. All the regular queen's messenthe English army, gave his address at the gers were fully engaged upon duties at British Embassy, his military rank, and that moment of a more than usually onerfor all details for the arrangement of a ous character. A young Foreign Office hostile meeting referred his antagonist to clerk was therefore entrusted with the his friend from the Embassy, who had duty of conveying these despatches to hurried back on observing the disturb their destination. He was instructed to proceed to Syra, where the Greek deAll preliminaries being thus arranged, spatches should be delivered to the conthe foreign officer, who throughout the sul, and the journey then pursued on affair had manifested an extraordinary and board the Austrian Lloyd steamer to Conuncontrollable excitement, was at last per- stantinople, despatches for which capital suaded by his friends and the bystanders were also placed in the acting messenger's to retire and enter a carriage which was charge. Arrived at Trieste, the regular waiting close by. No explanation did he and experienced messenger would at once offer as to the sudden and unprovoked have telegraphed to the consul at Syra to attack of which he had been guilty, but apprise him of his approach and of the dashed off, and sprang into the carriage, name of the steamer by which he would which instantly set off towards the town. come. In the present instance this preArrived at the centre of the bridge, the caution was somehow or other neglected, carriage was observed to be suddenly and to his dismay the young Foreign Office stopped by command of its occupant, who clerk found himself entering the port of leapt from the seat, sprung upon the par- Syra at one o'clock in the morning. Pitch apet of the bridge, and plunged into the dark; every one gone to bed; no consul swift-flowing tide. Assistance was im-to be seen; and, worse still, the unaccompossible, and he was quickly swept away modating captain of the steamer declared to death. It was afterwards ascertained that he could not spare any one to pilot that the unfortunate young officer in ques- the messenger to the consul's private tion had escaped from the regimental in-house. There were two hours to wait, firmary in a fit of mania; and that roaming through the city, he had expended his mad fury in an attack upon the first object which excited his wrath-naturally an English stranger-with the unhappy results above related.

and nothing remained to be done but to go on shore and try, with an imperfect knowledge of the language, to obtain a guide to the desired spot. After locking up his Constantinople despatches in his cabin and pocketing the key, the young messenger passed the gangway, and plunged into the darkness of the quays and surrounding streets. With some hesitation, and after much parley, he at length engaged a dirty-looking Greek loafer to become his guide; and the two at once

The regular foreign service messenger readily acquires experience and savoirfaire in the arts of travel, and in the arrangement of necessary modes of communication. These minor difficulties and anxieties of the road, though of constant occurrence, are frequently apt to embar-proceeded through a maze of steep, ruinrass and disconcert a novice at the game, or any one who may be casually entrusted with the charge of despatches for a single journey.

Most of our readers who have reached middle age will readily call to mind a sad event which occurred in Greece rather more than twenty years ago. A party of English gentlemen, amongst whom was a well-known member of her Majesty's Legation at Athens, whilst on a pleasure

ous streets, unlighted, and alone. Further and further they seemed to go, until at last the very confines of the town were reached; visions of brigands and murder arose in the mind of the young messenger, who, with recollections still fresh in his mind of the recent tragedy, passed a veritable mauvais quart d'heure upon this unwonted quest. His guide, however, proved a good man and true; the house, situated in the outskirts of the old town, was safely