ADVENTURES OF Mr. ALBERT SMITH AFTER A LOST PASSPORT.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 812, 14 May 1853, Page 4

ADVENTURES OF Mr. ALBERT SMITH AFTER A LOST PASSPORT.

Some few weeks ago it will be remembered Mr. Albert Smitl) lost his pocket book, containing some money and his passport, on a toy- j age down the Sa6.ie. The pocket-book was afterwards found and^ transmitted to London. But in the meanwhile the owner of it was subjected to no slight delay and inconvenience. The following narrative, amusing as a sketch of continental experiences, and useful from the light it throws upon tlie vexatious passport system, is extracted from a letter which appeared iv the Times, writtta i>y a gentleman who happened to be travelling with Mr. Albert Smith when the accideat occurred :—: — On a fine morning last month I wai going down the Saone from Chalons, on board one of the river steamers, in company with t gentleman who is one of the most successful of the lighter writers of the day, and his brother. It so bappened that his pocket book, containing bis money, letters and passport, fell out of his pocket, and tumbled into the river, where it was churned round by the paddle-wheel, add at once distppeaied. One would think that this was an accident which would have secured the sympathies °f Jljji police, and no criminality could attach to the fortunate person who was the victim of a s .* hole in the deck of the steamer. But no ; h once became a suspected nonentity — all his tizenship, blood, bones, and muscle, lay tumb about in the muddy water of the river. Perfectly unconscious of the fact, however, first proceeding on landing at Lyons was to on the citef of the passport, department of the . lice. Here several clerks were busily engr in taking passport daguerreotypes of several | men and women, who were patiently holding their faces while the operators peered into t very Lyonnais features, while the chef— an little monkey* faced man, with a seedy black vet skull cap on his head and a bit of red ril in bis button hole— was busily occupied in fending himself from the assaults of a wasp - - a ruler. My friend briefly .stated his busir Had he been a Rouge who bad just swam 1 .. Cayenne, the little, chief could not have rega him with more distrustful astonishment. "M - s : eur must be aware— s'c-r-r-i Idle!" (here! wasp received a squasbing blow and was \ lifeless in the ink bottle)— "Monsieur musj aware he stands in a very painful position. I a grave misfortune — a misfortune of much portance. The case must be referrsd to the thonties." We all groaned iuwardly, for we kj what that mean: — something between travel] in Italy by diligence and getting into chauci " But, sir, I want to get on as speedily as j sible — I am going to Savoy* and bay* no int tion of remaining an houf in France." ""i that may be Monsieur's intention — indeed, was bound to say he believed Monsieur was a suspect nor a criminal — but still he" (and looked proudly at the vanquished wasp) — " had a duty to the State — to France — to perfoi and Monseiur must rest there till the auihorn were satisfied." My friend grew desperate— •?? knew how literature was respected in France, s . so he made auother attack. " But, sir, Ido sure you I have an object in getting on to ( * neva as quickly as possible ; we wjint to make most of the fine weather in Switzerland, wh we are going en touriste* I am Mr.— — .

Wat I who made the ascent of Mount Blanc list year." "Ah," the chef said, •• C'est Men pos* sible; c'est assez dr6l* ; but meantime we must obey the instructions. They are more than ever strict, because the Prince President is coming to the south in a day or two." It was evident that the black, skull-cap was implacable. He would show us no more mercy than if we were wasps ; and so, yielding to fate and to the obdurate chef, we asked what was to he done. " Well," said the chef, taking a pinch of snuff, " first Monsieur must prove his identity and the facts he states." (My friend looked down at hit legs, and ran his hands through his hair, to satisfy himself that be had not suddenly evaporated). "In order to do this, Monsieur will repair to the Prefecture of Police, where be will be furnished with a proper form of contestation ; an officer will attend him ;" and the chef bowed. We felt the necessity of our position, salaamed humbly, and retired from, the bureau ; all the stout country girls and workmen who were sitting for their pen and ink portrait sshrinking back to let us pass, as if we hadu just come out of a cholera hospital. The Prefecture of Police at Lyons is not a public building of any great pretensions — at all events, the department of it to which we were conducted was situated on the second floor of a very dirty house facing the quai, the groundfhor of which was occupied by an unsavoury sausage establishment. It was a large whitewashed room, decorated with a portrait of the President (why does he not stop these frightful libels of his person a lese majeste*? — they are never accurate in anything but the moustache and cocked hat) an almanack, and a picture of a French soldier in the act of putting an Arab tribe to flight; with a desk at one end, at which was seated a police " authority," and a threelegged slool which greatly required a course of Rolloway's Pills, though i's limbs never could have stood as long as the Earl of Aldborough's. The authority having heard the object of the v.sit, drew forth a sheet of printed paper, and I aviug explained the nature of it to me and Mr. J s. brother, and having inspected our passports, he gave it to us to sign, which we did with a very good conscience, inasmuch as the gist, of tlie declaration vre made w»s, that we knew our friend to be the person be stated he was, 4nd that he had a passport when he started from England, but that he had lost it, under the circumstances set forth, going down the Saone. The landlord of the hotel at which we intended ' to stop further attested his belief of these things, and the authority having perused the contestation letter by letter, drew forth a pen, and with a great flourish gave it the value of bis respectable signature. This seemed a considerable step made towards liberty, but it was in reality but a small one, for " Now, Monsieur," said the authority, " before this can be of any value it must be signed by my chef; he, unfortunately, is at his country house, some distance from this, but it is probable he will return to-night or at farthest tomorrow." Again ye groaned, for now indeed the affair began to grow serious. Rousseau could not have hated Lyons more than we did. However, by dint of great eloquence, and a small consideraiion in francs, we got a police " authority " to take oat the contestation to the chef for his signature, and repaired anxiously to our bo'el to wait the result. It was now one o'clock, and the diligence for Geneva was to start at six; bat still we bad hopes of getting off in time, or at all events of being able to go on the following morning. A weary wait ; and the policeman came back to say tbe chef mas not at home, but that some one else, acting I suppose for the chef had signed the paper. Joyfully we rushed off to tbe pass-port-office once more, and laid the contestation with bumble confidence before the chef of that department. He read it carefully, and seemed much relieved in bis -raind. Here, "Monsieur," said he, "rs a fact done ; here is a fact to go upon. We are now in a position to take notice of your statement and existence " (a slight groan) "and although this document is not en regie, still it is a document " (we brightened up) " which I can submit to the chef of my department as a (act to be decided upon !" Here was another awful disappointment. This chef had & chef (as, indeed, has every chef'io France), and b« was a man perhaps more sceptical than all the others •, but. we could not help it, and so we determined to see this chef. But no — things were not to be done in that simple way, and the result of |W | HH | HH |^^ aB g MijjU^wb^e/