Chapter Seventy Three.
Purchasing a Passport.
Twenty-four hours must elapse before Kossuth and his companion—or rather Captain Maynard and his servant—could set out on their perilous expedition.
It was of rigorous necessity that a passport should be obtained—either from the consular agent of France, or the British Foreign Office; and for this purpose daylight would be needed—in other words, it could not be had before the next day.
Kossuth chafed at the delay; and so, too, his new master—cursing, not for the first time, the vile system of passports.
Little thought either, that this delay was a fortunate thing for them—a circumstance to which they were perhaps indebted for the saving of their lives!
Maynard preferred taking out the passport from the French consular agency. This, on account of less trouble and greater despatch, the British Foreign Office, in true red tape style, requiring the applicant to be known! Several days are often consumed before John Bull, going abroad, can coax his minister to grant him the scrap of paper necessary to his protection!
He must be first endorsed, by a banker, clergyman, or some other of the noted respectabilities of the land! John’s master don’t encourage vagabondage.
The French passport agent is more accommodating. The meagre emolument of his office makes the cash perquisite a consideration. For this reason the service is readily rendered.
Maynard, however, did not obtain the document without some difficulty. There was the question of his servant, who ought to have been there along with him!