Evening star., 1898-11-19
ON HER MAJESTYS SERVICE
Important Duties Often Performed by the
Queens Messengers
How an Englishman Once Outwitted
Rival-ROmance of the Call
ing Has Disappeared.
From the Paris Messenger,


There was a time antecedent to trains de
luxe and through communication between
London and Constantinop.e, when the career
of queens foreign service messenger was
almost as adventurous as that of a war cor
respondent. 1t was imperative that he
should be good horseman for not infre-
quently he would have to take long and
arduous journeys in the saddle and he need
ed poth courage and resource to cope with
the difficulties tnat would beset him. In
1850, for instance, Colonel Townley, who
at time when the intermnable eastern
question was at one of its recurring crises,
was intrusted with dispatch of great in-
portance for the foreign office to our am
passador at the porte. and had to ride from.
belgrade TO Constanunople in the wors,
weather, and, with the roads IN places al
most impossible, was three days and nights
IN the saddle without quitting 1t.
Even the crossing of the channel had
GARNER IN the century, spice OF adventure,
ana on one OCCASION gave an enlerprlslns
messenger an opportunity for outW1lIlng a
rival Mercury. Thus, on an evening in No.
Vember, what time the chanceliorles in Eu-
rope were agog with anxiety regardin the
situation of the day, two messengers LETT
certain European capitalize one
queen messenger dispatched by our am
DaSSador to the foreign office here with in
formation of the first Importance concerning
our relations with one of the powers and
thO othSi d HlSSSeISSr Oh lnG same power
ils ambassador at st. James. Both were
enJolned to use all possible dispatch but
the Engiishman was also told that IL he
could outstrp his rival by few hours the
tlme gained would be of great advantage TO
the state. On the road the two messengers
1raternIzed, but the Englishman was all the
Whlle on the lookout for an opportunity to
squirt ahead No chance came until they
reached Calais when they found that :,
great storm was raging, and that the pack
ct was unable to cross the bar. There seem
ed nothing to be done, at least to the for
eign courier but to adjourn to the neighbor-
ing motel for nights rest and the passing
OF the storm, and to the hosiery they re-
palfed but no sooner had the Englishman
seen his companion safely retired TO his
room than he again sailed forth and by
dlnt of tempting offer of money induced
the crew of lugger 10 hazard the passage
10 Dover. Fortune favored him, and with
Twelve hours start of his rival he hurried
up TO London and Downing street, worn
and travel stained, but conscious that he
mad done the state some service" Nor was
ms enterprise unrewarded, for the delighted
iorelgn secretary presented him with
handsome honorarium on the spot.
But though the romance of his calling has
almost disappeared and his journeys to this
or That capital are almost holiday trips
with the advantage that he doesn't have to
pay the bill, the queens messenger is still
an indispensable and even an important
oHlcer or the state, for there are MANY conf
munlcations passing between our foreign
1t would not be desirable to intrIIst to the
pest. He must, for obvious reasons be a
gentleman of proved integrity and good So
cial position, able TO speak or make him
self understood in the chief European Ian
guages, and he must be ready to start at
minutes notice for Paris or Pekin. If he
is down at the bottom of the list available
Tor duty he may generally reckon on a
snort holiday, but with no certainty. Under
such circumstances did Captain A on
one occasion HE him to the sunny south;
but he had scarcely arrived at Monte Carlo
when the following strange and apparently
insulting telegram was handed to him:
Chief clerk foreign office to Captain
A.: You are fast and dirty. Return at
once"
Whatever the first part of the message
might mean, it was clear that he was to re-
turn at once, and back he came to find that
the message should have read: You are
nrst on duty. Return at once"
i Under all the circumstances the emolu-
ments of the post are not characterization
a year with an allowance of fl per day for
subsistence while actual duty and all
travelling expenses paid. AS the messenger
is probably on duty rather less than half
the year, allowing fer the intervals between
Journeys and his annual holidays, we may
reckon that the allowances amount to f15O
a year