The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-06-02
GREAT BR|TA|N'S
ROYAL MESSENGERS
They Are a Glass Of Servants
Of Which the General Pub
lie Know Little.
DUTIES ARE MANIFOLD
BESIDES Carrying Dispatches They Are
Often Placed in Charge of Goods
Sent by the Rolay Family to
Relatives and Friends.

cttN III
Casselrs Journal: There is a group
IF state servants about whom the gem
eral reading public knows very little,
for the reason that they are rarely seen
and go about their work with still ton
CUES and apparently stealthy steps.
They are the nations emissaries known
as kings messengers. These men are
not, as their title would seem to imply,
exclusively attached to the sovereign'S
person. Though they bear his majes-
TVS messages, carry dispatches from
the palace to the various government
offices, and from london 10 the capitals
Of Europe. they are really servants of
the country, and represent, so to speak,
d necessary cog in the machinery Of
administration
There are nine kings special foreign
service messengers. in addition to those
attached to the home service The
fully picked men, generally from army
officers, educated and with charaC~
for integrity. The salary attached to
the post is from E25O to G4OO, and
they are allowed G a day for personal
expenses. Altogether their cost to the
COUNTRY is nearly E10,O 900 a year.
They travel at stated times and in
all weathers. Men Of robust health,
care is taken that they are always in
the pink of condition. When a mes
'enge" returns from d journey abroad
e Is invariably examined by a special
doctor, and if it is found that his gen.
eral health is not excellent. his place
is taken by another man until he is
fit again. These messengers are all
engaged on foreign office work. But
they do not merely carry dispatches
and treaties. When his majesty de-
sires to confer a decoration on some
foreign royalty or distinguished per-
sonage the insignia are taken by a
messenger to the British embassy of
the capital whittier he is bound, and
through he medium of the ambassa-
dor RENTED to the intended recipient.
When foreign seamen render help to
their British brethren in some neal or
distant sea-it may be by gallant res
cues from drowning-their act is rec
ognized by the board of trade by the
presentation of medals. These are
conveyed by the kings foreign service
messengers and conferred through the
proper channels.
Besides his dispatches and other
things intended for the British embas-
sizes abroad. he is often placed in
charge of goods, sometimes a vanload of
presents sent by the royal family to
relatives and friends. He Is the Gus
s"'AAi VI Ni>SN w llty
are bought they are taken to a special
room in the foreign office. The railway
companies are notified Of their immi-
nent transit and make arrangements
accordingly. The messenger sees that
they are carefully packed and put on
the rail, and accompanies them as far
as Paris. where the British embassy
takes charge of them. He does not
return empty handed. 1t may be that
on the Journey home he has in his
charge, in addition to documents, an
other vanload of gifts. These are taken
to the foreign office, whence they are
distributed to the king and queen and
other members of the royal family for
whom they are intended.
On all these journeys, which, as may
be imagined, are varied, the messen-
gers are met by representatives Of the
British embassies. They are immedi-
ately recognized by a certain badge.
The messengers know their way about,
for all are excellent linguists; but the
badge is necessary n serves it's pur-
pose. in that, IN crowded platforms,
with passengers rushing to the exits,
it hastens identification, and therefore
saves time, for in the case Of dispatch
bearers 1t frequently happens that eX-
petition is of the utmost Importance.
It is a singular fact and worthy Of
being recorded here that no matter how
strained have been the relations be-
tween Great Britain and neigh boring
countries, the messengers whether
they be special treaty ones or those
carrying ordinary dispatches, have
never been interferred with. They
have not. however, been without their
adventures.
While messengers have escaped
rough usage, there are instances on
record Of their having been Swallowed.
Every European government has a
certain numbe of spies in it's employ
ment. The kings messengers are well
aware of this fact, and it is ever pres
ent with them during their journeys.
They are always on the alert when
they meet an affable, loquacious and
cunnlngly inquisitive man in a railway
carriage on a foreign railway. The
work Of foreign messengers is mach
easier now than it was during the
early Victorian era. That period sug-
gests tedious journeys made by mail
coach-journeys attended with dis
comfort and danger. But now, thanks
to the growing amity which marks in
tcrnational relations. many important
dispatches hitherto carried by messen-
gers are Entrusted to the ordinary
postal service. The tendency, in fact,
Is to curtail the cost of the special
messenger service. and recently fresh
arrangements were made, the effect of
which has been to materially simplify
the method of transmitting important
documents between London and Paris,
at any rate. But there will always be
special foreign service messengers, who
will be required to make periodical
journeys to Berlin, st. Petersburg
Vienna and other European capitals.
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