The National Register.
London, England, 1823-03-30 00:00:00

POLICE.

_ GUILDHALL.

A FRENCHMAN'S it)4IIiNErTC.) CHELTENHAM.—A.
French gentleman applied to the Lord Mayor to inflict
puni►hment upon the proprietor of the Swan-with-two-
necks coach ullice. for causing him to be conveyed to
Chatham instead ul Cheltenham, and refusing to cor-
rect the ini!take.by seiNling him coach free to his place
of destination.

It appeared from the statement of the Frenchman,
who spoke the English language very imperfectly, that
he had gone to the Swan-with-twomecks, Lad-lane, lin
the purpose of engaging a seat on the outside of the
coach to " Chattynham, and paid five shillings; which,
although he believed was erroneously charged, and to
the proprietor's disadvantage, he said nothing about, on
the ground of retaliation, having been often taken in by
the canaille of England himself. He entered utio con-
versation upon the coach with
Millie female pisseugers,
and WAS much amused for some tune. lie could not,
however, help observing, that there was a great dissimi-
larity between the road to Chutlyothans and the road from
Chuityrrhant—a citcumstance winch lie accounted for uy
ingeniously ascribing it to the change its his own posi-
tion, having his face fowards London on the one occa-
sion, and his back is the other. The novelty produced
by this way of travelling added to Iris satislactiou ; but
on arriving at Rocliester-brolge, his astonishment ex-
ceeded all bounds—tin in travelling to London, he had
seen nothing at all of the kind ; and (won shifting his
pontion, the bridge, arid the great sheet of water, still
remained, and, whatever way lie looked at them, were
not convertible into any other description of scenery.—
lie then requested that his fellow-passengers would ex-
explain the cause of so extraordinary an event as the
sudden appearance of a bridge and a river of such di•
',tensions. They rellied that Rochester-bridge stood
there as long as they could remember. " lioollesthere-
bridgel" cried the Frenchman : " Glad bless my sold,
what bring me to 11o:hes:here bridge? Stop, OW1110:111,
and drive me to Glitaiyham I" • " ‘Vlay its I am," said
the coachman,—" you'll soon be there." To describe
the rage of the complainant upon being set down at the
inn at Chatham, and told that he was at his journey's
end, would be impossible. He neither ate nor drank,
nor left the company of the coachman. until the coach
returned to Lid-lane, and dropped him, fatigued in body
and mind, on the Split from whence he had taken his
departure. The clerk who booked him first came under
his rebuke ; but the language in which it was conveyed
was of so heterogeneous a description as to fail.even us
correcting the mistake. At length the Frenchman said
that he had paid the sum of 11. 12s. fur travelling from
the place lie.wished to reach to London; and theas the
clerk found that it was to Cheltenham, and not to
Chatham the unlucky traveller wished' to gm There
was, however, now no remedy. Tile Frenchman de-
manded, as retribution fur the inconvenience lie had
suffered, that he should be immediately supplied with
an inside place, and driven to Cheltenham gratuitously;
but Mr. %Vaterhou.e, the prorrietor„ •cilthottgli disposed
to abate Ss. in the demand, in consnieration of the
error of his servant, refused to mend the mattes upon
such unreasonable terms. The Frenchman, therefore,
' resorted to the Chief Magistrate, in the hope that his
lordship would order that a seat should he forthwith fur-
nished for him to Clealoyha-4, which he declared that he
pronounced as pe-fectly at the time as at tile present
moment, and that the coachman should he punished
for not stopping at Rosherth<re-bridge, when called upon
to do so.

The Lord Mayor regretted that the clerk, coachman,
and passengers should be so stupid as not to know that
the complainant wished to go 'o Cheltenham ; but re-
fused to punish the proprietor of the tun for the want of
a correct ear in his servants. The proposal to deduct the
Chatham fare appeared to him a very conscientious way
of set►ling the dispute, and there cLrtaioly antlered to
be not the most scrupulous re..ard to what was right in
the wish of the gentlemm to take advantage of what he
considered au error in the office. Indeed, to the endea-
vour to overreach the owners of the coach might be at•
tributed all the misfortunes of the journey; Inr had the
complainant mentioned what he had paid before, n:
never would have trembled ..t the sight of Rochester
bridge.
The Frenchman then consented to accept the offer,
and withdrew.