CHAPTER XI 



MAIL-GUARDS 



When Palmer first introduced his plan of mail- 

 coaches he 2^i'<^>posed that, while the contractors 

 supplied coaches and horses and the men to drive 

 them, the guards should be the servants of the 

 Post Office, and should, considering the dangers of 

 the roads, be retired soldiers, who, from their past 

 training and habits of discipline, would be reliable 

 servants and men capable of defending the mails 

 against attack. This advice was not followed, 

 and the first mail-guards were provided by the 

 contractors, who emj^loyed such unsatisfactory 

 men that in a very short time the Post Office Avas 

 oljliged to make the position of a mail-guard a 

 Post Office appointment and the guards them- 

 selves servants of and directly responsible to the 

 Department. 



Placed on this footing, they were by no means 

 fellow-servants Avitli the coachmen, but their 

 official sujieriors, and not j^rojoerly concerned in 

 any way with the passengers or any unofficial 

 parcels or luggage. In practice, hoAvever, they 

 took part in all these things, and although the 

 coachmen were technically under their orders, it 

 was only when ill-assorted and quarrelsome men 



