portmanteau and thrown them back, preparatory
to opening the two compartments, when in each
of the compartments he saw a long cut, as with
a knife, large enough to admit of the enclosed
bags being drawn out. Rather staggered at
tliis, the clerk hastily turned all the bags out on
to the floor, noticing as he did so that several of
them were cut and frayed. Then he looked for
the Paris letter-bill, which he found in due course,
and read as follows: "No. 203. Direction
Générale des Postes de France. Départ de Paris
pour Londres. Ce Vendredi, 26 Janvier, Année
1827. Le contenue de votre dernière depêche
du 24me a été exactement distribué, et ultérieurement
expédié pour sa destination, l'administration
vous demande le même soin pour le
contenu de la présente du reçu de laquelle vous
voudrez bien lui donner avis." Then followed
a list of the bags and their weights, from France,
Italy, Spain and Portugal, Switzerland, Germany,
and Turkey. The clerk carefully compared
the bill in his hand with the bags lying
before him, and instantly found that the Italian
bag, the heaviest, and probably, therefore, the
most valuable, was missing.

The pale-faced clerk, rushing out and communicating
this fact to the coachman and overturned
guard (when he was picked up) of
the Dover mail-coach, had the satisfaction of
seeing their rubicund countenances turn to his
own hue; but with that he was obliged to
remain content, as they merely invoked different
species of condemnation on various portions of
their anatomy, if they knew anything about it, or
could tell how it occurred. So the Dover mailcoach
went round to its stables. That night, when
the return Dover mail left the Elephant and
Castle, it had for one of its inside passengers the
solicitor to the General Post-office: a man of
clear head and prompt action, to whom the investigation
of delicate matters connected with
the postal service was confided. To him, comfortably
installed at the Ship Hotel, came the
postmaster of Calais and the captain of the
Henri Quatre, the French packet by which
the mail had been brought over. After a little
consultation, these gentlemen were clearly of
opinion that the mail arrived intact at Calais,
was sent thence and arrived intact at Dover,
was sent thence intact, and was violated on the
road to London. Tending to the proof of this,
was a special circumstance. When the mail
arrived at Dover, it was so unusually heavy as
to induce a Custom-house officer who saw it
landed, to regard it with suspicion; so he accompanied
the men who bore it, from the French
vessel to the packet-agent's office, that he might
see it opened, and be satisfied that it contained
nothing prohibited. The portmanteau was unbuckled
and its compartments were thrown open
in the presence of this officer, of Sir Thomas
Coates the packet-agent, and of three other persons,
all of whom were certain that the compartments
of the bags were in a perfect state, and
that the bags were then uncut.

So far so good. In such cases, proving a
negative is the next best thing to positive
proof; because it shuts the gate and prevents
your wandering in the wrong direction.
So the solicitor to the Post-office, journeying
back to London, and taking up the threads of
his case on his way, stopped at Canterbury,
made a few casual inquiries, pricked up his ears,
opened a regular official investigation, and received
what he believed to be very important information.
For, it appeared that on the Sunday
night of the robbery, four inside and three
outside passengers left Dover by the mail-coach
for London. The four insides were booked for
London, one of the outsides was booked for
Chatham, another for Canterbury or as much
further towards London as he pleased, the third
outside intimated that he should only go as far
as Canterbury. When the mail reached the
Fountain Inn, Canterbury, the outside passenger
who was booked as far towards London
as he pleased, got down and paid his fare,
stating that he should go no further; the passenger
who was booked for Canterbury alighted
at the same time; and the two walked away from
the coach together.

One of the mail-coach proprietors, who resided
at Canterbury, happened to be looking at the
mail while it was standing at the door on the
evening in question, and observed two men,
dressed as if they had just left the coach,
crossing the street. They stood consulting
together for a few minutes, and, after walking
about fifty yards, stopped again, when a
third man joined them. They all conversed
for about a minute, and then separated; two
of them went down the street on the road to
London, the mail passed them, and almost
immediately afterwards they returned up the
street in the direction of the Rose Hotel. The
third man went into the coach-office, booked
himself as an outside passenger for London, and
went on by the mail. Shortly after the mail
passed through Canterbury that night, two
strangers coming from the direction in which
the mail had gone, entered the Rose Hotel, and
ordered a chaise to London. On being asked
whether they would change horses at Ospringe
or Sittingbourn, they said it was immaterial so
long as they got on quickly. The waiter who
showed them into a sitting-room noticed that
they had a small bag with them. They ordered
some braudy-aud-water and shut themselves in
—in the room, not the bag. After the lapse
of a quarter of an hour the waiter, suddenly
opening the door to say that the chaise was
ready, perceived various letters (at least twenty
or thirty), and several small paper packets,
lying on the table; the men were feeling
the letters, holding them up to the candles,
and otherwise examining their contents. They
appeared much confused when the waiter entered
the room, crammed the letters into their
pockets, paid their bill, got into the chaise, and
at once set off for town.

The thieves were traced through different
stages, until it was ascertained that they had
been set down between six and seven o'clock
on Monday morning near a watch-box in