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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
180
The
robbery
of
the
mail
caused
great
excitement
in
Edinburgh
so
soon
as
it
became
known,
and
no
long
time
elapsed
before
the
perpetrators
were
in
the
hands
of
the
authorities.
The
two
men
concerned
in
it
proved
to
be
James
Clark
alias
Alex.
Stewart,
and
Robert
Brown,
formerly
privates
in
the
Foot
Guards.
No
sooner
had
they
got
back
to
Edinburgh--where
they
had
previously
lodged--than
they
commenced
to
change
some
of
the
bank-notes
taken
from
the
mail-bag,
and
got
the
worse
of
drink;
and
being
once
suspected,
the
evidence
soon
accumulated
and
became
strong
against
them.
They
were
tried
for
the
offence
before
the
High
Court
of
Justiciary
in
Edinburgh
in
November
following,
and
being
found
guilty,
were
sentenced
to
be
executed.
This
robbery
would
appear
to
have
had
the
effect
of
stirring
up
the
public
mind
to
demand
a
means
of
conveying
the
mails
between
the
two
cities
affording
greater
security;
for
an
agitation
immediately
followed
for
the
setting
up
of
coaches
or
diligences
to
carry
the
mails
between
those
cities.
Owing,
however,
to
difficulties
and
disagreements
between
the
merchants
and
traders
as
to
the
hours
of
departure
and
arrival,
and
to
wranglings
over
the
particular
route
to
be
journeyed,
the
idea
was
abandoned,
and
the
horse-post
as
of
old
was
meanwhile
continued.
The
robbery
seems
not
to
have
been
soon
forgotten,
however;
for
we
find
that
towards
the
close
of
1802
a
proposal
was
made
to
enter
into
an
agreement
for
the
service
with
"an
officer
of
the
Mid-Lothian
Cavalry,
and
master
of
the
Riding
Academy
in
Edinburgh,"
who
offered
to
conduct
and
carry
on
the
service
in
a
masterly
and
military
manner
for
an
allowance
of
L450
per
annum--the
riders
to
be
employed
being
none
other
than
able
and
active
dragoons.
But
in
the
nature
of
things
such
a
mail
service
could
not
continue,
and
negotiations
still
proceeded
for
the
employment
of
diligences--not
resulting
in
success,
however,
until
the
year
1805,
when
the
first
mail-coach
between
Edinburgh
and
Glasgow
was
put
upon
the
road.
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