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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
148
"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
route
via
Calais
would
not
remain
much
longer.
The
alternative
routes
that
presented
themselves
were
via
Dieppe,
and
via
Cherbourg
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
counting
as
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."
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