BOGUE'S

GUIDE TO TRAVELLERS.

BELGIUM AND THE RHINE.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY.

Baggage. When the traveller has made up his mind to set out for a holiday on the Continent, the three first things that require his attention are, his baggage, his money, and his passport. As to the first, there is a short and golden rule, which is,-take as little luggage as possible. The man of many packages becomes a slave to them. On steam-boats, on railways, in seeking inns and on leaving inns, his luggage becomes a source of anxiety, annoyance, and loss.

Money.-The Continental tourist may, as regards money, safely rely, wherever he may go, upon the currency of English sovereigns and Bank of England notes. Should he think it unwise to carry with him as much as he may deem requisite for the trip, he can, before his departure, obtain a Circular letter of credit. This is done by paying a sum of money into the London and Westminster Bank, the Union Bank of London, or into the banking house of Herries, Farquhar, and Co.; or Coutts and Co. Upon doing this, the tourist receives two papers, authorizing him to receive, at different towns on his intended route, the cash he may be entitled to and require. Two papers are given, lest one should be lost; and the traveller should carry one of these in his pocket, and the other in his baggage, to lessen the liability of both being lost together.

A Passport is a thing less easily arranged. For a trip in Belgium and on the Rhine, an English passport is wanted. The following are the last regulations on this subject.

OFFICIAL "REGULATIONS RESPECTING PASSPORTS."

FOREIGN OFFICE, Feb. 20, 1851.-Notice is hereby given, that on and after Saturday, the 22nd inst., passports will be issued from this department, according to the following regulations :

1. Applications for Foreign-office passports must be made in writing, and addressed to her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with the word "Passport" written upon the cover.

2. The fee on the issue of a passport is 7s. 6d.

3. Foreign-office passports are granted only to British subjects, including in that description foreigners who have been naturalized by act of parliament, or by certificate of naturalization granted before the 24th day of August, 1850; in this latter case, the party is described in the passport as a "Naturalized British subject."

4. Passports are granted between the hours of twelve and four, on the day following that on which the application for the passport has been received at the Foreign-office.

5. Passports are granted to persons who are either known to the Secretary of State or recommended to him by some person who is known to him; or upon the written application of a banking firm established in London.

6. Passports cannot be sent by the Foreign-office to persons already abroad. Such persons should apply to the nearest British Mission or Consulate.

7. Foreign-office Passports must be countersigned at the Mission, or at some Consulate in England, of the government of the country which the bearer of the passport intends to visit.

8. A Foreign-office Passport granted for one journey may be used for any subsequent journey if countersigned afresh by the Ministers or Consuls of the countries which the bearer intends to visit.

[A passport obtained as above will carry the traveller through Prussia, without any visé from the Prussian embassy in London.]

If the traveller has no banker, the easiest way, perhaps, of obtaining the requisite recommendation to the Foreign Office is to obtain a Circular Note of a banker, who will give the necessary line of introduction to the Passport Office. The Foreign Office will, it is to be hoped, make English passports more readily obtainable. It is absurd to ask for a banker's reference for leave to make a summer holiday on the Rhine, and in Rhenish Prussia an English passport is absolutely requisite. To travel in Belgium alone, a Belgian passport is of course enough, and that may be obtained at once, for 6s. 6d., at the Consul's office, 52, Gracechurch-street, between the hours of eleven and four; where also other passports are viséd for 1s. 3d. To travel through Belgium and up the Rhine, the English traveller must have

an English passport, viséd by the Belgian Consul, the total cost of which will be 78. 6d. for the passport, and 18. 6d. for the visé.

Route.-After the cash, the passport, and the baggage have been arranged, the next question for decision is-Which is the best route? For those who do not suffer from sea-sickness, steamboats offer a passage direct from London to Ostend or Antwerp. The latter has its recommendations for those who have much baggage. Steamers are also ready to carry such as please from Ramsgate to the Belgian coast. Both these, however, should be regarded as exceptional routes, suited chiefly to certain classes of travellers. The regular highway between England and Belgium and the Rhine, is by Dover and Ostend-the way the Mails go. It will afford an idea of the cost of this route, to quote here the tariff issued by the South Eastern Railway. Travellers may purchase, at the Booking Offices of that Company at London Bridge Railway Station, ThroughTickets as follows:

Tourists who wish to avoid the salt water and its sickness as much as possible, may go by way of Dover and Calais. By so doing, the sea passage is reduced to less than two hours, whereas by Dover and Ostend, it is always four hours, and generally more. Going by way of Calais, the tourist passes through Lille. But more of this when we come to the Railway Routes.

The route by Ramsgate is sometimes adopted, on the theory of a short sea passage to Ostend, but is not to be recommended, as the time of leaving Ramsgate is regulated by tide, and unless tide at Ramsgate and tide at Ostend both suit each other, the tourist may be detained, and lose several hours and much patience, both places having tidal harbours.