It was an almost everyday occurrence for the mail-bags to be robbed on the night journeys, when the principal mails were carried. We know of these things now through notices which were issued by the Post-office at the time, of which copies are still in existence. Here are the terms of a notice issued to the mail-guards in March 1802:-- "Three Irishmen are in custody for highway robbery. One of them has confessed, and declares that their purpose in going out was to rob the mail-coach. Their first step was to watch an opportunity and fire at the guard, which it is supposed might have been easily obtained, as they are so frequently off their guard. They had pistols found on them. It is therefore necessary, in addition to your former instructions, to direct that you are particularly vigilant and watchful, that you keep a quick eye to every person stirring, and that you see your arms are in the best possible condition, and ready for instant duty." On the 21st December 1805, a bag of letters for Stockport was stolen out of the mail-box while the coach was in Macclesfield. It was a Sunday night about ten o'clock when the robbery took place, and the bag was found empty under a haystack near the town. The following notice of another robbery was issued by the Postmaster-General on the 1st March 1810:-- "Whereas the bags of letters from this office (London), of last night, for the following towns--viz., Hatfield, Welwyn, Stevenage, Baldock, Biggleswade, Kimbolton, St Neots, Oundle, Stilton, Wansford, Grantham, Spilsby, Spalding, Lowth, Horncastle, and Boston, --were stolen from the mail-box, about ten o'clock on the same night, supposed at Barnet, by forcibly wrenching off the lock whilst the horses were changing; whoever shall apprehend and convict, or cause to be apprehended and convicted, the person or persons who stole the said bags, shall be entitled to a reward of One Hundred Pounds," &c. On Monday the 19th November of the same year, the bags of letters from Melton Mowbray, Oakham, Uppingham, Kettering, Thrapston, Higham Ferrers, and Wellingborough, were stolen at Bedford at about nine o'clock in the evening. Again, in January 1813, a further warning to the guards was issued, showing the necessity for vigilance on the part of these officers, by describing some of the recent robberies which were the occasion for the warning:--