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diff --git a/38328.txt b/38328.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21e102f --- /dev/null +++ b/38328.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17822 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The History of the Post Office, by Herbert +Joyce + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The History of the Post Office + From Its Establishment Down to 1836 + + +Author: Herbert Joyce + + + +Release Date: December 17, 2011 [eBook #38328] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE POST OFFICE*** + + +E-text prepared by Adrian Mastronardi, The Philatelic Digital Library +Project (http://www.tpdlp.net), Julia Neufeld, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 38328-h.htm or 38328-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38328/38328-h/38328-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38328/38328-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. + + The carat character (^) indicates that the following letter + is superscripted (example: Y^e). If two or more + letters are superscripted they are enclosed in curly brackets + (example: Hon^{able.}). + + Archaic spelling and punctuation have been retained. + + + + + + + +THE HISTORY OF THE POST OFFICE + +From Its Establishment Down to 1836 + +by + +HERBERT JOYCE, C.B. +Of the Post Office + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Publisher Logo] + +London +Richard Bentley & Son, New Burlington Street +Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen +1893 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I + + Introduction--Master of the Posts--Posts centred in the Sovereign-- + Instructions for their Regulation--Travelling Post--Object of the Post + Office Monopoly Page 1 + + CHAPTER II + + The Post through the County of Kent--This Post put under the care of De + Quester--Stanhope of Harrington, as Master of the Posts, asserts his + Rights--Vacillating Decisions of the Privy Council--Sir John Coke--Thomas + Witherings 8 + + CHAPTER III + + Decadence of the Posts--Witherings's Plan--Introduction of Postage-- + Concessions to the common Carrier--Post-haste--Witherings appointed + Master of the Inland as well as the Foreign Posts--His Dismissal--Philip + Burlamachi--Dissensions between the Lords and Commons--Edmund + Prideaux appointed Witherings's Successor 15 + + CHAPTER IV + + Prideaux's Activity--Unauthorised Post set up to Scotland--System of + Farming--Prideaux ceases to be Master of the Posts--Secretary Thurloe-- + The Posts become the Subject of Parliamentary Enactment--Rates of + Postage--Letters circulate through London--The Travelling Post not a + Source of Revenue--Clement Oxenbridge 24 + + CHAPTER V + + Frequent Change of Farmers--Tediousness of the Course of Post--Existence + of the Posts not a matter of common Knowledge--Dockwra's Penny + Post--Introduction of Postmarks--Penny Post incorporated into the + General Post--Dockwra's Dismissal 33 + + CHAPTER VI + + Posts regarded as Vehicles for the Propagation of Treason--Wildman-- + Cotton and Frankland--Post Office Establishment--Revenue--Building in + Lombard Street--Dispersion of Letters--Salaries and Wages--Newspapers-- + Drink and Feast Money--Post-horses--Quartering of Soldiers-- + Postmasters' Emoluments--Scotland--Ireland--Bye-letters--Illicit + Traffic--Treasury Control--Post Offices grouped together and let out to + farm--Stephen Bigg--Expresses--Flying Packets--State of the Roads-- + Progress of the Penny Post--Appointment of Secretary and Solicitor-- + Purchase of Premises in Lombard Street 43 + + CHAPTER VII + + State of the Packet Service--Ship Letters--Special Boats built for the + Harwich Station--M. Pajot, Director of the French Posts--Establishment + of West India Packets--Edmund Dummer, Surveyor of the Navy--Regulations + for the Management of the Packet Stations--Conditions of Employment-- + Smart and Bounty Money--Passes required for Passengers--and for Goods-- + Regulations habitually infringed--Smuggling--Packets forbidden to give + Chase--Practice on Capture of a Prize--Packet Stations at Falmouth and + at Harwich conducted on different Principles--Packets employed to carry + Recruits--Letters not to be carried in Foreign Bottoms--Court-Post-- + Restoration of Packet Service with Flanders--John Macky, Packet Agent at + Dover--The Postmasters-General act as Purveyors of News to the Court-- + Their Interview with Godolphin--Posts set up for the Army in Flanders-- + Packet Establishment placed on a Peace Footing--Dummer's Bankruptcy and + Death 72 + + CHAPTER VIII + + American Posts--Thomas Neale--Andrew Hamilton--Ocean Penny Postage--Posts + transferred to the Crown--Become self-supporting 110 + + CHAPTER IX + + Condition of the Post Office in Scotland at the time of the Union-- + Inaction of the English Post Office--Charles Povey--William Lowndes-- + Diversion of Postage from the Crown to the Public--Postage Rates + increased--Electoral Disabilities--Restrictions on the common Carrier-- + Modification of the Penny Post--Post-horses--Franking--Illicit Traffic in + Letters--Treasury Inconsistency--Post Office Farmers converted into + Managers--Treaty with France--Matthew Prior--Single and Double Letters-- + Change of Postmasters-General--Disagreements with Merchants--Twopenny + Post--Comparative Statement of Revenue--Gross and Net Revenue confounded + 117 + + CHAPTER X + + Allen's Contract--General Review--The Secretary's Dismissal--Earl of + Abercorn's Complaint--Sketch of Allen's Plan--His Qualifications for + carrying it into effect--His local Knowledge--His Difficulties with + Postmasters--Post-boys--Illegal Conveyance of Letters--Contrast between + Allen's Mode of Procedure and that of the Post Office--Posts increased + in Frequency--Opening of Letters--Falmouth Packets--Late Delivery of + Foreign Letters--Erection of Milestones--Letters containing Patterns + and Writs--Apertures to Letter-boxes--Expresses--Highwaymen--Bank Notes-- + Decadence--Allen's 146 + + CHAPTER XI + + Penny Post--Franking--Newspapers--Clerks of the Roads--Numbering of + Houses--Scotch and Irish Posts--Receiving Offices--Gratuities on + Delivery--Appeal to the Courts--Appointment of Letter-carriers--Attempt + to curtail the Limits of the Penny Post frustrated--Benjamin Franklin-- + Post Office Monopoly in matter of Horses abolished--Disfranchising Act-- + Causes of Disquietude 187 + + CHAPTER XII + + Palmer's Plan--Objections--First Mail-coach--Post-coach--Increase in + Rates of Postage--Restrictions upon Franking--Obstruction alleged-- + Anthony Todd--Transitional Period--Stages--Earlier Closing of the General + Post Office--Emoluments from Bell Ringing--Internal Dissensions-- + Tankerville's Dismissal--Corruption--Surveyors--Conditions of Palmer's + Appointment--Abuses--Fees and Perquisites--Expresses--Registration-- + Palmer's Improvements--Packet Service--Smuggling--Flagitious + Expenditure--Todd's Emoluments--Pitt's Indisposition to expose Abuses-- + Lord Walsingham--Daniel Braithwaite--Essays in Cause of Economy--Milford + Haven and Waterford Packets--Pitiable Condition of the Clerks + of the Roads--The King's Coach--His Illness and Prayer for his Recovery-- + Strange Treatment of Official Papers--George Chalmers--Palmer's + Jealousy--Mail Guards--Creation of a Newspaper Office--Walsingham + attempts to check Irregularities--His inveterate Habit of Scribbling-- + Exposes an Attempt at Imposition--Curious Practice as regards the + Delivery of Foreign Letters--Earl of Chesterfield--Insubordination on + Palmer's Part--Appeal to Pitt--Charles Bonnor--Palmer's Suspension-- + Chesterfield's Letter--Interview with Pitt--A Second Interview--Palmer's + Dismissal--Bonnor's Promotion 208 + + CHAPTER XIII + + Model of Mail coach--Patent Coaches--Thomas Hasker--His pithy + Instructions--Roof-loading--The King's Interest in his Coach--General + Result of Palmer's Plan--Condition of the country Post Offices--Francis + Freeling--Enlargement of the General Post Office--Communication with + France--Bank Notes cut in half--Letter-carriers put into Uniform--Grant + to Post Office Servants--Development of the Penny Post--Edward + Johnson--Excessive Absence among the Letter-carriers--By the Penny + Post prepayment ceases to be compulsory--The Ten-mile Limit--Origin + of the Twopenny Post--Dead Letter Office--American and West Indian + Correspondence--Correspondence for the India House--Post with the + Channel Islands--Further Restrictions on Franking--Bankers' Franks-- + Patterns and Samples--Metropolitan Cart Service--Horse and Cross + Posts--Rates of Postage increased--Mysterious doings of the Packets-- + Brilliant Engagements--Post Office Usage--Counsels' Fees--New Years' + Gifts--Todd's Indifference to Censure--His Death 281 + + CHAPTER XIV + + Ship-letter Office--Increase in Rates of Postage--Abolition of the Penny + Post--Invoices and Bills of Lading--Convention Posts--Prosecutions-- + Auckland's Pleasantries--Repressive Powers--Guarding the Horse-mails-- + Recovery of stolen Mail Bag--Troubles with Contractors--Surveyors + deprived of their Post Offices--Rates of Postage again increased-- + Threepenny Post--Post Office Revenue--William Cobbett--Early or + Preferential Delivery--Treatment of Foreign Newspapers--Newspaper + Summaries--The _Times_--Olney Post---Death-blow to Convention Posts-- + Turnpike Trusts--Exemption from Toll--Roads discoached--Yet further + Increase in Rates of Postage--Bewildering Complications--Want of + Publicity--Exemption from Toll abolished in Scotland--Returned-letter + Office--New Ship-letter Act--Mail Service to India and the Cape-- + Generosity of the East India Company--Eulogistic Letter 328 + + CHAPTER XV + + The Irish Post Office--British Mail Office--Earl of Clancarty--Edward + Smith Lees--Abuses--Express Clerks and Clerks of the Roads--Alphabet-- + Provision for Soldiers' Wives--Thomas Whinnery, Postmaster of Belfast-- + Charles Bianconi--Holyhead Packets--Opposition Packets started by + Lees--Steam Packets--Competition--Land Communication with Ireland--London + and Holyhead Coach--Sir Arthur Wellesley--State of the + Roads--Road between Holyhead and Shrewsbury--Thomas Telford--John + London Macadam--Road between Shrewsbury and London--Postage + over the Conway and Menai Bridges 366 + + CHAPTER XVI + + Appointment of Second Postmaster-General abolished--Other Economies-- + Transfer of the Falmouth Packets to the Admiralty--Speed of + Mail-coaches--Mail-coaches the Disseminators of News--Newspapers--Sir + Henry Parnell--Royal Commission--General Review--Gerrard Street-- + Headquarters of the General Post Office removed to St. + Martin's-le-Grand--Branch Offices--Morning Delivery expedited--First + Mail sent by Railway--Duke of Richmond--Incorporation of the Irish + Post Office with the Post Office of Great Britain--Lord Althorp-- + Limits of the General Post Delivery--Packet Service put up to public + Competition--Abolition of the Newspaper Privilege--Dissatisfaction + with the Post Office--Money Order Office--Unsatisfactory Returns to + the House of Commons--Indisposition to carry out Reforms--More + unsatisfactory Returns--New Contract for Mail-coaches--Freeling's + Despondency--and Death 396 + + APPENDIX 429 + + INDEX 439 + + + +ERRATA +[see Transcriber's note at the end of the book.] + +Page 324, sixth line from bottom, _for_ 1713 _read_ 1703. + " 339, first line, _for_ 1892 _read_ 1802. + + +HISTORY OF THE POST OFFICE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +EARLY POSTS + +1533-1609 + + +The early history of the posts is involved in some obscurity. What +little is known on the subject is touched upon in the first Annual +Report of the Post Office, the Report for 1854; but the historical +summary there given is, as it purports to be, a summary only. The object +of the following pages is nothing more than to fill up the gaps and to +supply some particulars for which, though not perhaps without interest, +an official report would be no fitting place. The origin and progress of +an institution which has so interwoven itself with the social life of +the people as to have become one of the most remarkable developments of +modern civilisation can hardly, we think, be considered a subject +unworthy of study. + +It seems almost certain that until the reign of Henry the Eighth, or +perhaps a little earlier, no regular system of posts existed in England, +and that then and for some considerable time afterwards the few posts +that were established were for the exclusive use of the Sovereign. +"Sir," writes Sir Brian Tuke to Thomas Cromwell in 1533, "it may like +you to understonde the Kinges Grace hathe no moo ordinary postes, ne of +many days hathe had, but bitwene London and Calais ... and sens October +last, the postes northewarde.... For, Sir, ye knowe well that, except +the hakney horses bitwene Gravesende and Dovour, there is no suche +usual conveyance in post for men in this realme as is in the accustumed +places of France and other parties." Sir Brian Tuke held the appointment +of Master of the Posts, and he had received the King's commands to set +up posts "in al places most expedient." + +Before Henry's reign the only letters of which any record exists, +letters to or from the Court and on affairs of State, were sent by +couriers employed for the particular occasion. These couriers, styled +"Nuncii" and "Cursores," appear to have answered to the Queen's +messengers of our own time, and, as is evident from records still extant +and dating back to the reign of Henry the Third, must have formed an +important branch of the royal establishment. + +To establish posts and to control them when established was not all or +nearly all that Brian Tuke had to do. He had also to see, even where no +posts existed, that the royal couriers were not kept waiting for horses; +and this probably was his original function. The horses were provided by +the townships, and the townships were kept up to their duty by the +Master of the Posts. In some cases, indeed, special provision appears to +have been made. At Leicester,[1] for instance, the members of the +Corporation bound themselves under penalty to keep four post-horses in +constant readiness for their Sovereign's use; but this can hardly have +been a common practice. Where horses were not provided voluntarily, the +magistrates and constables had orders to seize them wherever they could +be found. + + [1] 9 April, 17 Elizabeth.--Further att the same Common Hall [of the + town of Leicester] it was for dyuers cawses thought good and mete for + the service of the Prince to have at the chargies of the Towne certen + poste horses kepte, whearevppon theare was appoynted foure to be kepte, + which, thees persouns vnderwritten have vndertaken to kepe, and to serve + from tyme to tyme so oft as nede shalle requier, for and dureinge the + space of one wholle yeare nexte after the date hereof, viz. Mr. Roberte + Eyricke, one; Fraunces Norris, chamberlayn, twoe; Thomas Tyars, one. For + the which theyre is allowed vnto them of the towne for euerie horse + thurtie-three shillinges and foure pence, that is to say for foure + horses vili. xiiis. iiiid. Provyded always that if theye the said Robert + Eyricke, Frauncis Norrys, and Thomas Tyars doe not kepe good and able + horses for that purpose and to be readie vppon one half howres warnynge + to forfitt, lose, and paye for euerie tyme to the Chamber of the Towne + of Leycester the somme of fyve shillinges. For the payement of the said + xxli. nobles it is further agreed vppon, in the manner and forme + followinge, That is to saye, the Mayor and euerie of his bretherene + called the xxiiii. to paye iis. a pece, and euerie of the xlviii. xiid. + a pece, and the Resydue that shalbe then lackinge to be levied of the + commonaltie and inhabitantes of the said towne and the liberties + thereof.--Appendix to the Eighth Report of the Royal Commission on + Historical Manuscripts, p. 425. + +The close connection between the posts and the Sovereign continued long +after the reign of Henry the Eighth. In 1572 Thomas Randolph, Master of +the posts to Queen Elizabeth, rendered an account of the charges to +which he had been put in the execution of his trust during the preceding +five years; and in this account, which is given in considerable detail, +not a single post is mentioned without some qualification identifying it +with the person of the Sovereign--a post daily serving Her Majesty, a +post for Her Majesty's service and affairs, a post during the time of +Her Majesty's progress, a post for the conveyance of Her Majesty's +letters and those of her Council. As late as 1621 all the posts of the +kingdom, which even then were only four in number, started from the +Court. I. "The Courte to Barwicke," _i.e._ the post to Scotland. II. +"The Courte to Beaumoris," _i.e._ the post to Ireland. III. "The Courte +to Dover," _i.e._ the post to the Continent. IV. "The Courte to +Plymouth," _i.e._ the post to the Royal Dockyard. + +The setting up of a post for a particular purpose and letting it drop as +soon as the purpose had been answered was another peculiarity of these +early times. The post to Plymouth, ordained in 1621 to be one of the +standing posts of the kingdom, had been dropped since 1611, having then +been declared to be unnecessary except in time of war. Even the post to +Ireland had at one time been dropped and was not revived until 1598. In +the same year a second post to Ireland, Irish affairs being then +considered to require "oftner dispatches and more expedition," was set +up by way of Bristol, and this in its turn disappeared. Indeed, it would +probably not be too much to say that at the beginning of the seventeenth +century no post set up in England during a war had lasted longer than +the war itself. This practice of dropping a post as soon as it had +served its purpose, a practice which must almost necessarily have +existed from the earliest times, would seem to explain Brian Tuke's +meaning when, after stating that in 1533 except those he mentioned "the +Kinges Grace hathe no moo ordinary postes," he adds, "ne of many days +hathe had." + +For the regulation of the posts the earliest instructions of which we +have any record were issued by Queen Elizabeth. Every "post" was to keep +and have constantly ready two horses at least, with suitable +"furniture." He was to have at least two bags of leather well lined with +baize or cotton, and a horn to blow "as oft as he meets company" or four +times in every mile. He was, after receiving a packet, to start within +fifteen minutes, and to run in summer at the rate of seven miles an hour +and in winter at the rate of five. The address of the packet and the day +and the hour at which he received it were to be carefully entered in a +book to be kept for the purpose. But the packets which were thus to be +treated were only such as should be on the Queen's affairs or the +affairs of State. "All others" are dismissed in a word. These, the +instructions state, are "to passe as by-letters." To pass as by-letters +probably means that the letters were to go when and as best they might, +but that the post was not to go for the purpose of taking them. This +view is confirmed by an order of the subsequent reign, that "no pacquets +or letters," except such as were on the King's affairs, should "binde +any poste to ride therewith in post." But be the meaning what it may, +the expression seems to shew that even in the reign of Elizabeth letters +other than State letters had begun to be sent to the post-houses, and +that such letters, if barely recognised, were yet not excluded. + +But the conveyance of the Sovereign's letters was not the only purpose +which the posts as originally established were designed to serve. +Another and hardly less important purpose was that there should be +stationed and in constant readiness, at given distances along the chief +roads of the kingdom, a relay of horses by which persons travelling on +their Sovereign's concerns, even though not the bearers of letters, +might pass between one part of the country and another. Of this second +purpose a few words implanted in the English language, such as +post-horse, post-boy, and travelling-post, are all that we have now left +to remind us. But long after the public had been admitted to the free +use of the post, the two objects of providing for letters and providing +for travellers continued to be treated as inseparable. Hence the history +of the posts during the seventeenth century and far into the eighteenth +becomes complicated with the history of travelling.[2] + + [2] The two posts were, at first, distinguished by different names. The + travellers' post was called "The thorough poste," and the letter post + was called "The Poste for the Pacquet." + +Indeed, there can be little doubt that it was as a means of travelling +and not as a means of correspondence that the post first came to be used +by others than those employed on affairs of State. Writing, during the +sixteenth century, was an accomplishment possessed by comparatively few, +whereas any one might have occasion to travel; and the resources of +travelling, so far as these partook of an organised system, were in the +hands of the Sovereign. Wherever there were posts, it was at the +Sovereign's charge and for the Sovereign's use that horses were +maintained; and where there were no posts, it was only for the use of +the Sovereign that the townships were under obligation to supply horses. +The natural consequence followed. People pretended to be travelling on +their Sovereign's affairs who were really travelling on affairs of their +own, and so procured the use of horses which would otherwise have been +denied them. The horses, moreover, were overridden and overloaded, and +the persons by whom they were hired not rarely forgot to pay for +them.[3] + + [3] Austria, in the infancy of her post office, appears to have had much + the same experience. "The postmasters," writes M. Laeper, Director of + Posts at Markirch, "were in no way protected from the most outrageous + behaviour on the part of travellers, and were unable to prevent them + from overloading the horses and vehicles with unreasonably heavy things, + chests, boxes, and similar articles, by which the conveyance of the same + was delayed. They could not hinder many travellers from riding + heavily-laden horses at full speed over hill and dale without drawing + rein, so that the animals were crippled, disabled, or even ridden to + death, and in consequence the postmasters were frequently unable to + carry out the service for want of horses. The worst treatment, however, + which the postmasters experienced was at the hands of cavaliers and + couriers, who often demanded more horses than they needed, took them by + force, overloaded the coaches with two or three servants, and with an + immoderate quantity of luggage, and paid an arbitrary sum, just whatever + they pleased, often not half what was due."--L'Union Postale of October + 1, 1885. + +No sooner had James the First come to the throne than he issued a +proclamation having for its object to check these abuses. Only those +were to be deemed to be travelling on public affairs who held a special +commission signed by one or more of the principal officers of State. No +horse was to be ridden, in summer, above seven miles an hour, and in +winter above six; nor yet, without the knowledge and consent of the +owner, beyond the next stage. The load, besides the rider, was not to +exceed thirty pounds in weight. Persons riding with special commission +were to pay for each horse 2-1/2d. a mile, besides the guide's groats, +and "others riding poste with horse and guide about their private +businesses" were to make their own terms. In all cases payment was to be +made in advance. The proclamation contained another and most important +provision, the effects of which were felt far into the next century. +This was that, wherever posts existed, those who had the horsing of the +posts were also to have the exclusive letting of horses to travellers. +If the post-houses could not supply horses enough, the local constables +with the assistance of the magistrates were to make good the deficiency. + +The proclamation of 1603 was soon followed by another, prohibiting all +persons not being duly authorised by the Master of the Posts from being +concerned in the collecting, carrying, or delivering of letters. The +effect, therefore, of the two proclamations together was that, except by +private hand, no letter and, except along the bye-roads where posts did +not exist, no traveller could pass between one part of the kingdom and +another without coming under the observation of the Government. It has +been suggested that the State monopoly of letters had its origin in a +desire on the part of the Sovereign to reserve to himself the revenue +which the letters brought; but in 1609, when the monopoly was created, +the posts were maintained at a clear loss to the crown of L3400 a year, +and this loss, as matters then stood, the erection of every fresh post +would serve to increase. However it may have been in after years, the +original object of the monopoly, the object avowed indeed and +proclaimed, was that the State might possess the means of detecting and +defeating conspiracies against itself. A system such as this object +implies is absolutely abhorrent to our present notions; and yet it is a +fact beyond all question that the posts in their infancy were regarded +and largely employed as an instrument of police. It was not until the +reign of William the Third that they began to assume their present shape +of a mere channel for the transmission of letters. + +But we are anticipating. In 1609 the cloud which obscures the earlier +history of the posts begins to break, and from that year it is possible +to present a tolerably connected narrative of their progress. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BATTLE OF THE PATENTS + +1609-1635 + + +At the beginning of the seventeenth century the established posts were +only four in number,--the post to Scotland, the post to Ireland, the +post to Plymouth, and the post to Dover; and of these the most important +by far, because the most used, was the last, the post through the county +of Kent. It was through this county that the high-road to the Continent +lay, and, while commercial relations as between one town and another +within the kingdom were yet a thing of the future, the foreign trade of +the country had already reached very considerable proportions. The +persecutions in France and the Low Countries had driven a large number +of foreigners to London, and here the Flemings introduced the +manufacture of wool into cloth. In this commodity alone the exports from +England to the Netherlands in the time of Philip the Second amounted to +five millions of crowns annually.[4] In education no less than +manufactures the Flemings were far in advance of our own countrymen. +There was scarcely a peasant among them that could not both read and +write. While, therefore, the other three posts of the kingdom were still +being little used except for letters on affairs of State, the post to +the Continent had already become matter of public concern. + + [4] An amusing illustration of the value which, at the end of the + sixteenth century, was set upon cloth made in London is afforded by a + letter from Frederick the Second of Denmark to Queen Elizabeth. This + letter, dated the 14th of June 1585, is thus summarised in the 46th + Annual Report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Public Records, Appendix ii., + page 28: "Has for some years past had cloth prepared in London of + different colours and after a particular pattern, for his use in hunting + both in summer and winter. Hears now that certain German merchants, + having found this out, have had similar cloth manufactured, which they + sell everywhere, outside his Court and family, to many inquisitive and + foolish imitators, at a very dear rate. It is no concern of his what + anybody may wear, but still, as this cloth was made of a special kind + and colour for himself, he takes it ill that it should be sold to + others, and begs her therefore (on the application of his agent, Thomas + Thenneker) strictly to prohibit the sale." + +This post had long been jealously watched, the foreign merchants in +London claiming to send their letters by their own agents, and the Crown +insisting that they should be sent only through the established channel. +It was an old feud, extending far back into the sixteenth century. In +1591 a proclamation on the subject had been issued. This, in respect to +the post through the county of Kent, established that State monopoly of +letters which was not made general until eighteen years afterwards. It +was to the protection of the same post that the proclamation of 1603 had +been directed, the proclamation reserving to those who horsed the posts +the exclusive right of letting horses to travellers. But these measures +had been of little avail. The foreign merchants still employed their own +agents to carry their letters, and these agents, instead of resorting to +the post-houses, still procured horses where and as best they could. + +Once more recourse was had to a proclamation, which differed little from +others that had gone before except in one important particular. This was +the open avowal that among the chief cares of the State it had been and +continued to be by no means the least "to meete with the dangerous and +secret intelligences of ill-affected persons, both at home and abroad, +by the overgreat liberty taken both in writing and riding in poste, +specially in and through our countie of Kent." The magistrates were +enjoined to take care that horses were procured at the post-houses +alone. No letters were to be sent except through the post, and notice to +this effect was to be served upon all the merchants of the city of +London, "both strangers and others." Unauthorised persons suspected of +having letters upon them were, before entering or leaving the kingdom, +to be searched. And any packets or letters found to be illicitly +conveyed were to be sent up to the Privy Council, and the bearers of +them to be apprehended and kept in safe custody pending the Council's +orders. + +At this time the office of Master of the Posts was held by Lord Stanhope +of Harrington, and under Lord Stanhope, to superintend the foreign post, +was employed a foreigner of the name of De Quester. This man, with the +assistance of his son, appears to have discharged his duties +efficiently. He made communication with the Continent both cheaper and +more expeditious. His promptitude in forwarding the public despatches +had attracted the attention of his Sovereign. In 1619, in recognition of +these services, the King created the control of the foreign post into a +separate appointment, independent of Lord Stanhope, and conferred it +upon De Quester and his son, under the title of "Postmaster of England +for Foreign parts out of the King's Dominions." + +It is possible that De Quester's appointment, though ostensibly a reward +for good service, was dictated in part by policy. But if designed to +appease the foreign merchants, it signally failed of its object. The +truth seems to be that they were animated by feelings of profound +distrust. Many years later, when De Quester had retired, the English +merchants, in a petition to the King, protested against the choice of a +successor being left to the "strangers." This, they said, would be to +their own great prejudice. Even the letters patent by which that +successor was appointed give as a reason for not letting the strangers +have a post of their own that thus the secrets of the realm would be +disclosed to foreign nations. Such being the feelings on one side, it +would be strange indeed if they had not also existed on the other. + +De Quester's appointment, while displeasing to the foreign merchants, +gave dire offence to Lord Stanhope. The letters patent by which this +peer held his office had expressly declared that not only the internal +posts of the kingdom were to be under his direction, but also those +"beyond the seas within the King's dominions." This expression, repeated +from former patents, applied, no doubt, to Calais. And yet, could it in +reason be contended that his rights were not being infringed if the post +through which all letters between London and the Continent passed were +transferred to other hands? Except for the practice of granting offices +in remainder, Stanhope's death at this time would have settled the +difficulty. As a matter of fact, however, the difficulty had only begun. +By a deed granted thirteen years before, his son and successor in the +title succeeded also to the office of Master of the Posts, and it soon +became evident that the younger Stanhope had no intention, without a +struggle, of letting the grant to himself be whittled away by a +subsequent grant to another. The Council, not composed of laymen alone, +but comprising among its members Coventry, soon to become Lord Keeper, +and Heath, the Solicitor-General, advised the King that "both grants +might well stand together, being of distinct places." Stanhope rejoined +that his was "an ancient office tyme out of minde," and that by +prescription it carried with it the control of letters passing between +England and the Continent as well as others. Again the Council reported +against his claim. In support of it, they said, no patent or proofs had +been adduced before them more ancient than the time of Henry the Eighth. + +Stanhope, who remained unconvinced, now proceeded to assert his rights, +or what he conceived to be his rights, with remarkable vigour. He caused +De Quester to be molested in the discharge of his duties; he placarded +the city of London, cautioning all persons against sending letters +except by his own agents; he instituted proceedings in the Court of +King's Bench; and he even stirred up the foreign merchants to make +common cause with himself against the intruder. + +The probable explanation of Stanhope's conduct is that De Quester's +appointment touched him in that most sensitive part, the pocket. His +salary as Master of the Posts was L66:13:4 a year, and this he would of +course receive in any case; but on letters to the Continent there were +certain fees to be paid, a fee of 8d. on each letter to or from +Amsterdam, and a like sum between London and Antwerp or London and +Hamburgh, and these, as seems to have been admitted in the suit at law, +were the motive cause. + +In vain the King proclaimed against Stanhope's proceedings. The Privy +Council met to consider the question as between him and De Quester, and +separated without coming to a conclusion. Four more meetings were held, +and with an equally unsatisfactory result. Clearly there was a conflict +of opinion at the Council Board. Meanwhile the decisions as regards the +merchants were marked by extraordinary vacillation. First, the Merchant +Adventurers were "to have a post of their owne choice" to the city of +Hamburgh and town of Delph, "where the staples of cloth are now fetched +or to such other place or places whither the same shall happen to be +removed"; then they were summoned before the Council to shew cause why +they also should not send their letters by De Quester; then the +concession was not only confirmed in the case of the Merchant +Adventurers, but extended to all other "Companies of Merchants"; and +then in the case of these other companies the concession was withdrawn, +but only, in the course of a few weeks, to be restored. Only few +restrictions were imposed. No one carrying the merchants' letters was to +"keepe any publick office," to "hange up any Tables," or to "weare any +Badge"; nor was he to be employed until his name had been submitted to +the Secretary of State for approval. It was also provided that in times +of war or danger the Secretary of State, if he required it, was to be +"made acquainted" with the letters and despatches which the messenger +carried. + +The final decision of the Council, which left the merchants in +possession of a post of their own, practically superseded De Quester's +appointment, and this drew forth an indignant protest from Sir John +Coke. The two Secretaries of State, of whom Coke was one, had been +specially charged with the protection of De Quester's office, and the +decision had been arrived at in their absence. Meanwhile a broker, of +the name of Billingsley, was carrying the merchants' letters, and the +same man was being employed by Stanhope. Coke's indignation knew no +bounds. "I confess," he said, "it troubleth me to see the audacity of +men in these times, and that Billingsley, a broker by trade, should dare +to attempt thus often to question the King's service, and to derive that +power of foreign letters unto merchants which in all states is a branch +of regal authority." Can any place in Christendom be named where +merchants are allowed to send their letters except through the +authorised post? It is true that, as an act of grace, the Merchant +Adventurers here have been suffered to send and receive their letters by +private hand; but such letters have been only to and from their own mart +towns and concerning their private business. That this man of theirs +should be suffered to carry any letters he please--letters from +merchants in general, and even from ambassadors, is a thing that has +never been heard of nor durst any attempt it before. "Indeed the +merchants' purse hath swayed very much in other matters in former times, +but I never heard that it encroached upon the King's prerogative until +now." A pretty account will those who are charged with the peace of the +realm be able to give in their places "of that which passeth by letters +in or out of the land if every man may convey letters, under the covers +of merchants', to whom and what place he pleaseth." Coke went so far as +to suggest that advantage had been taken of a small attendance at the +Council Table to extort the concession from the King upon wrong or +imperfect information. Surely His Majesty cannot have been informed "how +unfit a time this is to give liberty to every man to write and send what +he list." + +Nor did Coke's indignation confine itself to words, for it is impossible +not to conclude that he was at the bottom of the high-handed proceeding +that followed. Stanhope had gained his suit at law; yet the Council, +far from revoking De Quester's patent, granted him an order consigning +Billingsley to prison. It was not until he had been there for three +months that Parliament, which had recently passed a vote against +arbitrary imprisonments, petitioned the King for his release. + +Of the final issue of the contest nothing is known. But it seems +probable that the foreign merchants were not deterred by the treatment +which Billingsley had received from keeping up a post of their own. +Other and more serious matters were beginning to occupy the attention of +the Court, and it may well be believed that irregularities which had +been challenged before might now be allowed to pass unnoticed. Be that +as it may, in 1632 De Quester, who had lost his son, and had become old +and infirm, associated with himself in the execution of his office two +men named Frizell and Witherings, and to these persons he shortly +afterwards assigned his patent. Frizell appears to have been little more +than a sleeping partner; but Witherings soon established a high +character for ability and powers of organisation. The foreign post had +not been under his charge for more than three years before the King +commissioned him to examine also into the inland posts, and to put them +on another and better footing. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THOMAS WITHERINGS + +1635--1644 + + +Armed with the King's commission, Witherings lost no time in applying +himself to his task. And, indeed, the state of things which he found +existing afforded ample scope for his energies. Except to Plymouth and +through the county of Kent, posts existed rather in name than in +reality. Nominally there was a post to Scotland, and this post James had +busied himself in improving, in anticipation of his progress to London; +but since then it had languished and died, or nearly died, of inanition. +Between the kingdoms of England and Scotland there had, up to the date +of Witherings's commission, as expressed in the commission itself, been +no certain or constant intercourse. The only remaining post, the post to +Ireland, was in an equally forlorn condition. + +This decadence can only be attributed to two causes, the paucity of +travellers and the necessities of the King. Had travellers been +numerous, the posts would have been kept up for the sake of the profit +to be derived from the letting of horses. In the absence of travellers, +the keepers of the post-houses were dependent upon their established +wages, and these had long remained unpaid. As far back as 1628 a +petition on the subject had been presented to the Council. The "99 poore +men," as the petitioners styled themselves, had received no wages for +nearly seven years; the arrears then due to them amounted to L22,626; +some of them were already in prison, and many more were threatened with +arrest. In 1635, as a consequence, doubtless, of their necessitous +condition, they had ceased to keep horses, and letters were being +carried on foot. In this manner a distance of only sixteen to eighteen +miles was accomplished in a day, and to obtain from Scotland or from +Ireland a reply to a letter written in London took "full two monthes." + +Witherings was not long in producing his plan. Within the city of London +was to be appointed an office or counting-house for the receipt and +despatch of letters, and thence were to be established trunk lines of +post to the principal towns of the kingdom, with corresponding branch +posts, either foot posts or horse posts, according to distance, to the +smaller towns. The branch posts were to be so fitted to the main posts +that there was to be no waiting on the part of either; and these latter +were to start and return at stated times, and to run night and day so as +to cover 120 miles in twenty-four hours. From London to Edinburgh the +course of post which had been full two months was to be only six days; +and to Holyhead or Plymouth and back the distance was to be accomplished +in the same time. Even Witherings himself appears to have been carried +away by the brilliancy of the prospect. "Anie fight at sea," he says, +"anie distress of His Majestie's ships (which God forbid), anie wrong +offered by anie other nation to anie of ye coastes of England or anie of +His Majestie's forts ... the newes will come sooner than thought." + +An example has been left us of the process to be followed. The letters +for Scotland were to be put into a "portmantle" directed to Edinburgh, +into which were also to be put small bags containing letters for towns +on the same line of road. At Cambridge, for instance, as soon as the +Portmantle arrived, the bag for that town was to be taken out, and a +foot-post, "with a known badge of His Majestie's arms," was upon the +market days to go to all towns within six, eight or ten miles, and there +deliver the letters, at the same time receiving any that might be handed +to him. These he was to bring back to Cambridge in time for the +return-post from Scotland. The return was to be on a particular day, +and at a particular hour, and the letters were to be ready without fail, +"upon the verie instant comeing back of the portmantle." The same +process was to be adopted at Huntingdon and all other towns on the road. + +It was an essential part of Witherings's plan that the posts should be +not only regular and certain but also self-supporting. During the +earlier part of the century they had been maintained at a cost to the +Crown of L3400 a year, and this was a burden which the Crown was no +longer in a position to bear. That they should be made to pay their own +way was, therefore, an indispensable condition. But how was this to be +accomplished? Witherings's sagacity left him at no loss for a reply. He +discerned that to carry a letter is to perform a service for which a +payment may fairly be demanded in return; and that the demand would meet +with a ready response must have been plain to him from what he saw going +on in the west of England. In 1633, or two years before he produced his +plan, the Mayor and Aldermen of Barnstaple had set up a post between +their town and Exeter. This post was to leave Barnstaple every Tuesday +at 7 o'clock in the morning, and to be in Exeter early on the following +day, in time to catch the King's post on its way from Plymouth to +London. The King's post was maintained at the expense of the King; but +for the local service, as a means of defraying the cost, the Corporation +imposed a small charge, a charge of 6d. for a single letter and of 8d. +for a double one. Other towns in Devonshire had adopted a similar +course. That Witherings was aware of the existence of these posts is +evident from the special allusion that is made to them in the +Proclamation which he prevailed upon the King to issue;[5] and it was +their success, probably, which suggested his own undertaking. Concluding +that what private enterprise was effecting on a small scale the State +would be able to effect on a large one, he proposed--and the proposal +received the royal sanction--that for every letter sent by post a "port" +or charge for carriage should be levied after the following rates:-- + ++-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +| |Single Letter.|Double letter.|"If bigger."| ++------------------------------+--------------+--------------+------------+ +|Under 80 miles | 2d. | 4d. | 6d. an oz. | +|80 miles and not exceeding 140| 4d. | 8d. | 9d. " | +|Above 140 miles | 6d. | 12d. | 12d. " | +|To or from Scotland | 8d. | ? | ? | +|To or from Ireland | 9d. | After two ounces, 6d. the | +| | | ounce. | ++-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + [5] The Proclamation enjoined that on letters "to Plymouth, Exeter, and + with the two other places in that road," Witherings should "take the + like port that now is paid, as near as possibly he can." + +This was the introduction of postage. The object of the exceptional rate +in the case of Ireland was to avoid interference with a Proclamation +which had been recently issued by the Lord Deputy and Council there. + +Henceforth the posts were to be equally open to all; all would be at +liberty to use them; all would be welcome. Important as this provision +was, it followed as a natural consequence from the imposition of +postage. The carriage of the subjects' letters was now to be a matter of +purchase, and, unless the purchasers were sufficiently numerous, the +posts would not be self-supporting. The custom of the public, therefore, +was a necessity of their very existence. + +In other respects the regulations remained much as they had been, except +that now there would be the means of enforcing them. Every postmaster +was to have ready in his stable one or two horses, according as +Witherings might direct, the charge to be for one horse 2-1/2d. a mile +and for two horses 5d. This 5d., however, was to include the cost of a +guide who was always to accompany the horses when two were taken. On the +day the post was expected, the horses were not to be let out on any +pretext whatever, this being the first indication on record of letters +enjoying precedence over travellers. And finally, with certain specified +exceptions, no letters were to be carried or delivered in any part where +posts should be established except by such persons as Witherings might +appoint. The letters excepted were those sent by a friend, by a +particular messenger employed for the particular occasion, and by +common known carrier. On the common carrier, however, restrictions were +imposed. He was to confine himself to his ordinary known journey, and +was not, for the sake of collecting or delivering letters, to lag behind +or outstrip his cart or horse by more than eight hours. + +The reason for this last exception is not far to seek. The established +posts were few in number, and even where they existed in name they had +fallen into disuse. The common carriers had thus become the chief +carriers of letters, and Witherings, in the furtherance of his project, +was anxious to disarm their opposition. This he had already attempted to +effect by argument; and now, as a practical step in the same direction, +he procured their exemption from the State monopoly. But what may have +appeared and was probably intended to appear as a valuable concession +was really no concession at all. The carrier took eight days to go 120 +miles. By the posts the same distance was to be accomplished in a day +and a night. The carrier's charge for a letter from Cambridge to London, +a distance of about sixty miles, was 2d. A postage of 2d., according to +Witherings's plan, was to a carry a letter for eighty miles. If the +posts were to be both faster and cheaper than the common known carrier, +it might safely be predicted that as a carrier of letters he could not +long survive. + +In October 1635 Witherings, having completed the necessary arrangements, +proceeded to carry his plan into effect. The results he anticipated from +it, as shewn in a memorandum which he delivered to the Secretary of +State, were promotion of trade and intercourse and the cultivation of +better relations with Scotland and Ireland. That the posts might one day +be more than self-supporting, that they would become a source of +revenue, does not appear to have entered into his calculations; or, if +it did, his silence on the point would seem to shew that, as compared +with the other advantages, he deemed it too insignificant to mention. + +It was probably about this time that the practice of writing "Haste, +post, haste" on the outside of letters began to be discontinued. The +term "post," as here used, meant nothing more than the carrier or bearer +of the letter; and an injunction to make the best speed he could, +properly as it might be given to a messenger who had a particular letter +to carry, would be altogether out of place if addressed to a general +letter-carrier who was bound by his instructions not to exceed a given +distance within a given time. "For thy life, for thy life" had sometimes +been added, as in the case of Protector Somerset's letter to Lord Dacre. +"To our very good Lord, the Lord Dacre, Warden of the West Marches, in +haste; haste, post, haste, for thy life, for thy life, for thy life";[6] +and it seems probable, if the barbarity of the punishments in those days +is considered, that this was no empty threat. It was "on payn of lyfe" +that, according to Sir Brian Tuke, all townships were to have horses +ready for their Sovereign's service. Among the Ashburnham manuscripts is +a letter from Sir Edward Nicholas to Sir John Hippisley, Lieutenant of +Dover Castle, written in 1627 or eight years before the introduction of +postage. This letter is endorsed by George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, +and the cover is inscribed "for His Majesty's special affairs; hast, +hast, hast, post, hast, hast, hast, hast, with all possible speede." The +absence of any threat in this instance may of course have been due to +the individual character of the writer, but it is more agreeable to +think of it as a sign of the advance of civilisation. + + [6] _Her Majesty's Mails_, by William Lewins, p. 19. + +In 1637, Lord Stanhope having surrendered his patent, Witherings was +appointed in his room, and thus became centred in one person the offices +of postmaster for inland and for foreign letters. In the same year a +letter office, the erection of which had formed an important part of +Witherings's plan, was opened in the city of London, and nothing +remained to hinder him from carrying his project into full effect. But, +fair as everything promised, hardly three years had elapsed before +Witherings met with the fate which has overtaken so many of his +distinguished successors. In 1640, on a charge of divers abuses and +misdemeanours in the execution of his office, this eminent man was +deprived of his appointment. Whether the charge was well or ill founded +we have no means of judging. Only the fact has come down to us that +after this miserable fashion ended the career of one who had the +sagacity to project and the energy to carry out a system, the main +features of which endure to the present day. + +Among those who had lent money to the King was Philip Burlamachi, a +naturalised British subject, and one of the principal merchants of the +city of London. He had advanced, on the security of the sugar duties, no +less than L52,000, an immense sum in those days; and it was probably +this fact rather than any special qualification on his part that pointed +him out as Witherings's successor. Be that as it may, into Burlamachi's +hands the office of Master of the Posts was sequestered, subject to the +condition that he was to discharge the duties under the control of the +Secretary of State. The sequestration was announced to the public by +means of placards fixed up on the old Exchange, and Witherings lost no +time in fixing up counter-placards by way of protest. + +And now began an unseemly contention which, arising ostensibly out of +the rights of individuals, went far to bring the two Houses of +Parliament into collision. In 1642, after struggling for the best part +of two years to maintain his position, Witherings assigned his patent to +the Earl of Warwick, and, under the influence of this peer, both Houses +declared the sequestration to be illegal and void. Meanwhile Burlamachi +had fallen into the power of one in whose hands he was the merest +puppet. This was Edmund Prideaux, afterwards one of the Commissioners of +the Great Seal and Attorney-General under the Commonwealth. At his +instigation Burlamachi still kept possession of the letter office. In +vain the Lords ordered him to give it up to Lord Warwick, and summoned +him before them to explain his contumacy. It was true, he replied, that +the office was still kept at his house, but this house and his servants +had been hired by Mr. Prideaux, and it was he that disposed of the +letters. + +Incensed at such contempt of their orders, the Lords authorised Warwick +to seize the mails. After one or two half-hearted attempts to carry this +authority into effect, arrangements were made for a more strenuous +effort. On the 19th of December two of Warwick's agents lay in wait at +Barnet and there surprised the mail as it came from Chester. Seizing the +letters and the man that carried them, they made the best of their way +towards London, but had not proceeded further than the foot of the hill +beyond Highgate when they were themselves surprised by five troopers "on +great horses with pistols," who barred the road, and, in the name of the +House of Commons, captured the captors. + +Meanwhile a still more exciting scene was enacting before Warwick's +office near the Royal Exchange. There two of his men kept watch for the +mail from Plymouth, and, as it passed on its way to Burlamachi's house +hard by, they dashed into the street and seized the letters. Their +success was but for the moment. Before they could regain the office, +Prideaux had swooped down upon them at the head of some half-dozen +adherents, and with his own hands had torn the letters away. "An order +of the House of Commons," cried one of the bystanders, "ought to be +obeyed before an order of the House of Lords." + +On these occurrences being reported to the Lords, Burlamachi and all +others who had been concerned in them, Prideaux alone excepted, were +ordered to prison. Among these was the man who had been captured at +Barnet and afterwards rescued, one Hickes by name; and this fellow +proved to be Prideaux's own servant. On the part of that wily politician +one looks in vain for any effort to procure Burlamachi's release, or +even for the slightest indication of concern that he had been arrested; +but the arrest of his own servant, the servant of a member of the House +of Commons, excited his keenest resentment. This, in Prideaux's view, +was a clear breach of privilege, and the House was pleased to agree +with him. No sooner, therefore, had Hickes been imprisoned by the Lords +than he was released by the Commons, and no sooner had he been released +by the Commons than the Lords ordered him to be imprisoned again. + +Matters having come to this pass, the two Houses held a conference. The +result might easily have been foreseen. The Lords yielded to the +Commons, and Burlamachi, on rendering an account which had long been +called for, was released from custody together with the others who had +been imprisoned at the same time. Concerning the next two years little +is known; but it seems probable that Burlamachi, who in his petition +praying for release had pleaded old age and infirmities, did not long +survive the indignity to which he had been exposed. At all events, in +1644, either by death or resignation, the office of Master of the Posts +had become vacant, and, as Burlamachi's successor, the House of Commons +appointed Prideaux. + +Thus ended the battle of the patents, which had raged more or less +fiercely for more than twenty years. It was long indeed before Lords +Warwick and Stanhope ceased urging their claims, Warwick as Witherings's +assignee, and Stanhope on the allegation that at the Council Table the +Lord Keeper Coventry had cajoled him into surrendering his patent; but +after Prideaux's appointment there was no farther appeal to force. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EDMUND PRIDEAUX AND CLEMENT OXENBRIDGE + +1644--1660 + + +Hardly had Prideaux assumed the direction of the letter office before he +gave public notice that there would be a weekly conveyance of letters +into all parts of the kingdom. There is reason to doubt, however, +whether under his rule as much or nearly as much as this was +accomplished. Next to Norwich, Yarmouth was then, as it is now, the +chief town in the eastern counties; and yet it is certain that a post to +Yarmouth was not established until after Prideaux's rule had ceased; and +more than fifty years later we find his successors lamenting that, while +Lincolnshire generally was ill provided with posts, there were several +towns in that county which had no post at all. + +But to whatever extent Prideaux's professions exceeded his performance, +it is beyond question that he spared no effort to extend the posts, and +that he is justly entitled to the credit, not indeed of improving upon +Witherings's scheme, but of carrying that scheme into more general +effect. Despite his exertions, however, he failed to keep pace with the +wants of the time. Indeed, what facilities for intercourse had been +given already seem to have created a demand for more. In 1649 the Common +Council of the city of London, not content with a post only once a week +to Scotland, established a post of their own. Along the whole line of +road between London and Edinburgh they appointed their own postmasters +and settled their own postage, and the same plan they proceeded to +adopt in other parts. Prideaux, who to his office of Master of the Posts +had recently added that of Attorney-General, was highly incensed. Only a +few years before, the State monopoly of letters, when the State was +represented by the Crown, had been the object of his fiercest +denunciation, and now this same monopoly was a cherished possession to +be defended at all hazards. First he remonstrated. Then he threatened. +And neither threats nor remonstrances having any effect upon the city +authorities, he reported their proceedings to the Council of State, and +the Council of State reported them to Parliament. Parliament was in no +mood for concession. The city posts were promptly suppressed, and more +than thirty years elapsed before private enterprise again embarked upon +a similar venture. + +The report which Prideaux made to the Council of State had another +result, which probably he little contemplated. In that report he had +taken credit to himself that, although the charges of management had +risen to L7000 a year, or about twice the amount they had been in +Witherings's time, he had relieved the State from the whole of this +burden. In other words, the posts had become self-supporting, but, so +far as appeared from the report, were nothing more. The House of Commons +was not satisfied. Accordingly the Council was instructed to examine and +report whether the terms on which the letter office was held were the +best that could be obtained. The investigation was soon made. +Heretofore, in consideration of his defraying the charges, Prideaux had +been allowed to receive the postage and make what he could out of it. +For the future, besides defraying the charges, he was to pay to the +State a fixed rent of L5000 a year. This was the introduction of the +system of farming, a system which, as regards the posts generally, +continued to nearly the end of the seventeenth and, as regards the +by-posts, beyond the middle of the eighteenth century. + +In 1653 Prideaux ceased to be Master of the Posts. Two years before he +had been elected a member of the Council of State, and shortly after his +election, and probably as a consequence of it, the arrangements for +communicating with the army had reached a high state of perfection. +Between the Council and the forces in Scotland messengers, we are told, +were passing almost every hour. But, useful as he may have made himself, +Prideaux seems to have been altogether wanting in those qualities which +are calculated to inspire confidence. At the Treaty of Uxbridge, where +he was one of the commissioners, even his own colleagues had regarded +him as a spy. This feeling of distrust may possibly explain how it +happened that, after the expulsion of the Long Parliament, he was forced +to content himself with his appointment as Attorney-General. The Council +of State, as then reconstructed, did not include him among its members, +and one of the first acts of the new Council was to relieve him from the +responsibilities of the letter office. Grasping as he was, it is +impossible to suppose that this can have been done by his own wish, for +the appointment of Master of the Posts, though weighted with a rent of +L5000 a year, was still a very lucrative one. His successor paid a rent +of double that amount, and is reputed to have derived from his farm an +enormous profit. + +After Prideaux's death in August 1659, it transpired that his interest +in the letter office had not ceased when he ceased to administer it. +What was the interest he retained we do not know; but the matter seems +to have been considered sufficiently serious to call for parliamentary +inquiry. In the following February the House of Commons ordered "that +the whole business concerning the Post Office, and what has been +received by Mr. Prideaux, late Attorney-General, out of the same, and +what account hath been made thereof he referred to a committee to +examine, and to state matter of fact and report it to the Parliament and +their opinion therein." To this order, however, no return appears to +have been made. It is probable that at the Restoration the committee had +not concluded its labours. + +Oldmixon speaks of Prideaux as "a very fierce republican, who got a +great estate by his zeal against the Church and Churchmen"; and it is +certain that to that estate his zeal for the Post Office brought him no +inconsiderable addition. Of the destination of a part of his wealth we +are not left uninformed. Towards the close of the century a judge, +before whose ferocity even Prideaux's pales, set out on a circuit, the +infamy of which will endure to the end of time. Arrived in +Somersetshire, he found residing at Ford Abbey, in the neighbourhood of +Axminster, an inoffensive country squire, son of the former Master of +the Posts, and named after him, Edmund Prideaux. From this gentleman, +apparently because he was his father's son, and for no better reason, +Jeffreys under threat of the gallows extorted L15,000, and he bought +with the money an estate "to which," Lord Macaulay tells us, "the people +gave the name of Aceldama, from that accursed field which was purchased +with the price of innocent blood." + +In 1653 the posts were farmed to Captain Manley at a rent of L10,000 a +year; and in 1655, Manley's contract having expired, Cromwell on the +advice of his Council placed them in the hands of Mr. Secretary Thurloe, +on his giving security to the same amount. The change of management was +followed two years later by an important step in advance. This was the +passing of an Act of Parliament intituled an Act for settling the +postage of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Legislative sanction was now +given to what had hitherto rested on no better authority than +Proclamation or Order in Council. A general office, to be called the +Post Office of England, was to be established for the receipt and +despatch of letters; and under the title of Postmaster-General and +Comptroller of the Post Office an officer was to be appointed who was to +have the exclusive right of carrying letters and of furnishing +post-horses. At the Restoration the Act of 1657, the "pretended" Act as +it was now called, could not of course be recognised as possessing any +legal validity, and so it was replaced by another; but the later Act was +little more than a re-enactment of the earlier one. Virtually, it is to +the Act of 1657 that the General Post Office owes its origin, although +the Act of 1660, as being unimpeachable, has been commonly called its +charter. + +Similar as the two Acts are in the main, there is one important +difference between them. The Act of 1657 gives as a reason for making +the posts the subject of parliamentary enactment that they are and have +been "the best means of discovering and preventing many dangerous and +wicked designs which have been and are daily contrived against the peace +and welfare of this Commonwealth, the intelligence whereof cannot well +be communicated but by letter of escript." To the odious practice here +implied no countenance is given in the Act of 1660. But, indeed, it +needed not this evidence to prove that during the Commonwealth the Post +Office was largely used as an instrument of police. Thurloe's +"intercepted" letters are matter of history; and the journals of the two +Houses of Parliament shew that the foreign mails, both inward and +outward, were stopped for whole weeks together, and committees appointed +to open and read the letters. On one occasion the Venetian ambassador, +whose letters had shared the same fate as the rest, entered an indignant +protest. "He could not persuade himself," he said, "that the Government +of England, so noble and generous, should have so inferior a mind as to +open the letters of an ambassador, and by this means to violate the +laws, and to give an example to the world so damnable, and of so little +respect towards the minister of the Serenissima Respublica." Nor was his +indignation appeased until four peers had waited upon him in the name of +the House of Lords, and tendered an ample apology. + +The rates of postage prescribed by the Act of 1657 were only slightly +varied by the Act of 1660. As finally adjusted, they were as follows:-- + ++--------------------------------+--------------+--------------+----------+ +| | On | On | | +| |Single Letter.|Double Letter.|Per Ounce.| ++--------------------------------+--------------+--------------+----------+ +|80 miles and under | 2d. | 4d. | 8d. | +|Above 80 miles | 3d. | 6d. | 12d. | +|To or from Berwick | 3d. | 6d. | 18d. | +| From Berwick within Scotland--| | | | +| 40 miles and under | 2d. | 4d. | 8d. | +| Above 40 miles | 4d. | 8d. | 12d. | +|To or from Dublin | 6d. | 12d. | 24d. | +| From Dublin within Ireland-- | | | | +| 40 miles and under | 2d. | 4d. | 8d. | +| Above 40 miles | 4d. | 8d. | 12d. | ++-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + +How these rates compare with those which had gone before we have no +means of judging. We only know that during Prideaux's management the +postage on a single letter was 6d.; that at some time between 1655 and +1657 it was reduced to 3d.; and that the credit of this reduction was +due to Clement Oxenbridge. Oxenbridge, after acting as deputy first to +Prideaux and then to Manley, appears to have taken a farm under Thurloe; +and, rightly or wrongly, he affirmed that, as soon as he had improved +the posts at a cost to himself of more than L5000, and had made his farm +profitable, he was turned adrift by Cromwell. + +If the comparison be carried forward instead of backward, and the rates +of 1660 be contrasted with those of later years, there is an important +consideration which cannot be too carefully borne in mind. It is this, +that in 1660 cross posts did not exist. Between two towns not being on +the same post road, however near the towns might be, letters could +circulate only through London; and the moment London was reached an +additional rate was imposed. Hence the apparent charges, the charges as +deduced from the table of rates, might be very different from the actual +charges. Bristol and Exeter, for instance, are less than eighty miles +apart; but in 1660 and for nearly forty years afterwards letters from +one to the other passed through London, and would be charged, if single, +not 2d. but 6d., and if double, not 4d. but 1s. That is to say, the +postage[7] or portage, as it was then called, would consist of two +rates, and each of these rates would be for a distance in excess of +eighty miles. David Hume, writing more than a hundred years later, +observes that before 1657 letters paid only about half as much postage +as they did in his own time. This, no doubt, is true if rate be compared +with rate according to the distance; but the fact we have mentioned very +materially qualifies the force of the remark. + + [7] The term "postage," in the sense of a charge upon a letter, is + comparatively modern. The Act of 1764 is the first so to use it. The + term is indeed used in the Act of 1660, but there it signifies the hire + of a horse for travelling. "Each horse's hire or postage." + +On foreign letters the rates ranged from 4d., the lowest rate for a +single letter, to 2s., the highest rate for a double letter, and from +1s. 6d. to 4s. an ounce for letters of greater bulk. No provision was +made for any charge except on letters from Europe. Letters came indeed +from other parts; but as the Post Office did not bring them and paid +nothing for their carriage, no postage was demanded. From India, for +instance, a letter brought to England and posted there would pay only +the home postage. + +For post-horses the charge was fixed at 3d. a mile for each horse, +besides 4d. to the guide of every stage. Two concessions were made to +the public. Horses were no longer to be seized without the consent of +the owners; and a traveller if kept waiting half an hour without being +supplied might hire a horse wherever he could. That the seizure of +horses had been a source of intense annoyance seems beyond question. In +a Proclamation of 1603, as a reason for helping the postmasters to keep +horses in sufficient number for the service of the posts, the townships +are reminded of "the ease and quiet they reape thereby"; and long after +the immunity from seizure had been granted, the allusions to the former +practice leave no room for doubt that, though the sore was healed, the +recollection of it still rankled. + +According to Lord Macaulay, a part of the Post Office revenue was +derived from post-horses.[8] With all deference to that eminent +authority, and with all modesty we venture to think that such was not +the case. The Proclamation of 1603, which was the origin of the +monopoly, while giving to those who horsed the posts "the benefit and +preheminence of letting horses" to all comers, expressly provided that, +except for the service of the posts or for the use of persons travelling +on affairs of State, no postmaster need keep horses unless he pleased, +and that, if he did so, he should be at liberty to make his own terms. +On this last point the words are, "But of all others riding Poste with +horne and guide about their private businesses, the hire and prices are +left to the parties discretions to agree and compound within +themselves." Again, an account is still extant, dated 1623, or twenty +years after the monopoly had been established, and giving in minute +detail the particulars of the expenses of the posts as they then were; +records also exist extending in almost unbroken succession over more +than eighty years of the period during which the monopoly lasted, and +dealing with every variety of Post Office question; and neither in the +records nor the account is there the remotest allusion to the receipt of +any sums on account of post-horses. Yet one reason more for the opinion +we hold. About the middle of the eighteenth century, as the result of +legislation which then took place, the roads were measured, and the +measured mile proved to be shorter than the computed mile. As a +consequence of this discovery the charge for post-horses was raised. A +distance which had hitherto been reckoned as eight miles proved to be +ten miles, and a charge as for ten instead of eight miles was made. +Travellers were up in arms, and complained that the Post Office had +raised its charges. The answer was that the Post Office had nothing to +do with the matter; that the postmasters were entitled by law to so much +a mile; and that the whole of the charge went into their own pockets. +For these reasons we think that no part of the Post Office revenue was +derived from the letting of post-horses. Indirectly, no doubt, the +monopoly was a source of profit because, except for it, those who horsed +the posts would not have been content with the wages they received. +These, according to the account of 1623, ranged from 3s. a day to 6d. a +day. To supplement the postmasters' pay without expense to the Crown +was, we make bold to suggest, the object with which the monopoly was +granted. And, of course, the better the object was secured, the more +carefully would the monopoly be guarded. + + [8] Lord Macaulay's words are:--"The revenue of this establishment was + not derived solely from the charge for the transmission of letters. The + Post Office alone was entitled to furnish post-horses; and, from the + care with which this monopoly was guarded, we may infer that it was + found profitable." + +In May 1660 Clement Oxenbridge, to whose exertions the Act of 1657 would +seem to have been largely due, petitioned the Council of State to +reimburse him the expenses to which he had been put in improving the +posts, and the Council of State, after investigating the claim, reported +the particulars to the House of Commons for directions. It was not, +however, until after William and Mary had ascended the throne that any +further step was taken. Oxenbridge, whose necessities had become greater +as his age advanced, was then by the King's direction given an +appointment under the Post Office of the annual value of L100; and this +salary he continued to draw, although too old to discharge the duties +for which it was paid, until his death in 1696. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WILLIAM DOCKWRA + +1660-1685 + + +At the Restoration the Post Office was leased to Henry Bishopp of +Henfield in Sussex, for the term of seven years at a rent of L21,500 a +year, or more than double the amount which had been paid by the previous +farmer. Before three years had elapsed, however, Bishopp surrendered his +lease, and was succeeded for the remainder of his term and at the same +rent by Daniel O'Neile, Groom of the King's Bedchamber. O'Neile had +loyally adhered to Charles during his exile, had attended his Sovereign +on his visit to Scotland, had been banished that kingdom, and in +connection with his banishment had achieved a singular distinction. He +had given a written undertaking consenting to his own death if he ever +returned. + +Even at a rent of L21,500, as the Court had doubtless by this time +learned, the Post Office was not a bad investment. O'Neile, like +Bishopp, was to enjoy a monopoly of the carrying of letters, and to make +what he could out of it; but he was rigidly to adhere to the rates of +postage prescribed by the Act, charging neither more nor less. Old posts +were not to be altered nor new posts erected, without the sanction of +the Secretary of State; and the Secretary of State was to possess a veto +on appointments and, as occasion might require, to "have the survey and +inspection of all letters." To these conditions was afterwards added +another. This was that no postmaster or other officer was to remain in +the service who should not within six months obtain and forward to the +postmaster-general a certificate, under the hand and seal of the Bishop +of the diocese, to the effect that he was "conformable to the discipline +of the Church of England." + +In 1667, O'Neile's lease having expired, Lord Arlington, Secretary of +State in the Cabinet known as the Cabal, was appointed postmaster-general; +and, after a while, the office was again let out to farm, this time at a +rent of L43,000 a year. Rapidly as the rent had grown, the public +demands had grown more rapidly still, and little, if any, effort had +been made to satisfy them. How inadequate the posts were, about this +time, to meet the public requirements may be judged from a circumstance +connected with Bishopp's appointment. The letters patent appointing him +were to take effect from the 25th of June 1660, but their validity was to +depend on an Act of Parliament, the Act reconstituting the General Post +Office, which did not pass until some months afterwards. Meanwhile a whole +crop of posts had sprung up between London and the country, which could +not be suppressed until the Act was passed. As compensation for the loss +he sustained by this encroachment on his monopoly between the 25th of June +and the 29th of September Bishopp claimed and received no less than L500. + +There is preserved in the Guildhall Library a letter from the Duke of +Buckingham, to which the following note is appended:--"The great fire of +London broke out on the 2nd of September 1666. It is seen by the date of +this letter that the Duke of Buckingham, at that time in the highest +position at Court and in the zenith of his power, was at Worthing, and +did not receive intelligence of the awful calamity until after the city +had been burning for five days." We do not know by what means the Duke +was informed of the calamity, nor is it material to our present purpose +that we should do so. All we desire now to observe is that if, as is not +improbable, he was informed of it by letter, the letter--as we proceed +to shew--reached him in due course of post. The fire broke out at +midnight on the 2nd of September, and the 2nd of September was a +Saturday, after which, except to the Downs and to places abroad, there +was no post out of London until Tuesday the 5th, or rather, as the mails +started after midnight, until early in the morning of Wednesday the 6th. +Arundel was then the post-town for Worthing, and for the first part of +the distance the course of post was, as it continued to be until the day +of railways, through Tooting, Ewell, Epsom or Ebbesham as it was still +called, Leatherhead, and Dorking. Continuing thence, not, as in later +times, through Horsham, but through the hamlet of Coldharbour, the +post-road skirted the foot of Leith Hill and passed through Stone +Street, Billinghurst, and Amberley to Arundel, which would be reached +late in the afternoon of Wednesday. Between Arundel and Worthing the +distance is ten miles, and the postmaster would not, at the earliest, +take out the letter for delivery until the morning of Thursday the 7th, +or five days after the fire had broken out. Indeed, it may be permitted +to us to doubt whether the letter, if letter there was, would have been +delivered as early as the 7th, had it been for a less important +personage. + +Meagre as the means of communication were in those days, even such means +as existed were not matter of common knowledge. The Post Office did not +advertise its wares; and no newspapers then existed to do for the Post +Office what the Post Office omitted to do for itself. What towns +possessed post-houses of their own, and how these towns stood in +relation to other towns which did not enjoy the same advantage, might +well be considered essential information; yet even of this no public +announcement was given. Blome, in his _Britannia_, printed in 1671, +remarks upon this defect, and for the benefit of his readers proceeds to +supply it. After commenting upon the convenience which the Post Office +affords, and lamenting that this convenience is not more generally +known, he gives a list of the post towns which each county possesses, +and supplements it with a series of county maps, so that, as he +explains, persons desirous of writing to any particular place may be +able to find out for themselves where the nearest post-house stands. As +late as the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth +centuries separate maps appear to have been published with the same +object, as a matter of private enterprise. In these maps the post towns +are indicated by a castle surmounted by the royal standard. + +But it was within the metropolis itself that the public need was +greatest. Between London and the country posts went at unequal intervals +indeed, and at intervals in some cases unduly long, and yet with +regularity. To Kent and the Downs there was a post daily; to other parts +of England and to Scotland a post every other day; and to Wales and to +Ireland a post twice a week. But between one part of London and another +there was no post at all. A resident in London having a letter for +delivery within the metropolitan area had only one choice, to take the +letter himself or to send it by another. And let the bearer of a letter +be who he might, there was an inconvenience to which he was constantly +exposed. The houses were not numbered, and were mainly to be recognised +by the signs they bore. Later on, men who delivered letters over the +same ground day after day complained that it was not always easy to find +the address. Without local knowledge it must have been sometimes +impossible. + +Happily, in England the spirit of enterprise is such that an +acknowledged want affecting any considerable section of the public is +seldom suffered to endure very long. And so it proved in the present +instance. The man who now undertook to relieve the capital from the +intolerable inconvenience under which it laboured was William Dockwra, a +merchant of the city of London. Dockwra had been a sub-searcher in the +Custom House, and through some little interest he possessed at Court had +been allowed to dispose of his place. The idea of the penny post is said +indeed to have originated with Robert Murray, an upholsterer in +Paternoster Row; but, be that as it may, to Dockwra belongs the credit +of giving it practical shape. A man of less resolution or less convinced +of the inherent merits of his undertaking might well have been daunted +by the difficulties he had to encounter. The undertaking had been +conceived in so bold a spirit that to carry it out would involve an +expense which Dockwra's unaided resources were altogether unable to +bear. A difficulty still greater than the want of funds was the +determined opposition of the Duke of York. In 1663 the profits of the +Post Office had been settled on the Duke for his support and +maintenance, and, with an eye ever intent on his own interests, he +discerned or thought he discerned in the new project an infringement of +his rights. + +Undeterred by these difficulties, Dockwra persevered in the task he had +taken in hand. At length the appointed day arrived. On the 1st of April +1680,[9] London, which had hitherto had no post at all, suddenly found +itself in possession of one in comparison with which even the post of +our own time is cast into the shade. For the purposes of the undertaking +London and its suburbs were divided into seven districts with a sorting +office in each. From Hackney in the north to Lambeth in the south, from +Blackwall in the east to Westminster in the west, there was not a point +within the bills of mortality which the new post did not reach. Between +four and five hundred receiving offices were opened in a single morning. +Placards were distributed and advertisements inserted in the public +intelligences announcing where these offices were. Messengers called +there for letters every hour. These, if for the country, were carried to +the General Post Office, and if for the town, to the respective sorting +offices. From the sorting offices, after being sorted and entered in +books kept for the purpose, they were sent out for delivery, to the Inns +of Court or places of business ten or twelve times a day, and to other +places according to distance from four to eight times. Nor was the +service confined to letters. It extended also to parcels, the only +condition being that neither parcel nor letter should exceed one pound +in weight,[10] or ten pounds in value. Subject to these limitations the +charge between one part of London and another was one penny. An +exception indeed was made in the case of Hackney, Islington, Newington +Butts, and Lambeth, which were then separate towns. There one penny +carried only to the receiving office, and for delivery at a private +house the charge was one penny more. Delivery in the street was not +allowed. + + [9] Curiously enough, the Post Office Report for 1854 gives the year as + 1683; but this is an error. + + [10] Here also the Post Office Report for 1854 is in error. It says that + at first there was no limit to the weight of a packet. + +But it was not only in the matter of weight and frequency of delivery +that the new undertaking was conceived in the most liberal spirit. +Provided a letter or parcel was securely tied and sealed and its +contents endorsed on the outside, the charge of one penny covered not +only cost of conveyance but insurance as well, up to a limit of ten +pounds. That is to say, subject to this limit, if a parcel or a letter +or its contents were lost, Dockwra would, the conditions being observed, +make the value good. + +There is yet another novelty which Dockwra introduced. As a check upon +his messengers he supplied the seven sorting offices with stamps bearing +their own initial letters and denoting the several hours of the day. +With one of these stamps all letters and parcels were impressed as they +passed through the post, and if in the busy parts of the capital they +were not delivered within little more than an hour from the time denoted +by the impression, the public were encouraged to complain. The following +are specimens of the stamps which Dockwra used:-- + +[Illustration: Three stamps] + +This was the introduction of postmarks. In the first and last +impressions Mor. 8 signifies of course 8 o'clock in the morning, and Af. +4, 4 o'clock in the afternoon. In the second or middle impression the +initial letter L signifies Lyme Street, where the principal office of +the penny post was held at Dockwra's private dwelling-house, formerly +the dwelling-house of Sir Robert Abdy. + +The General Post Office, until lately in Bishopsgate Street, stood at +this time in Lombard Street, where it occupied a site on part of which +the branch office now stands. There the persons employed, all told, +numbered 77. In the country and dependent on the chief office were 227 +postmasters, viz. 182 in England and Scotland and 45 in Ireland. Twelve +persons were also employed in the office in Dublin. Altogether and +throughout the whole of the kingdom the General Post Office, in 1680, +gave employment to 316 persons, a number very much less than that which +Dockwra employed in London alone. + +On Saturday nights the penny post closed, in winter at six, and in +summer at seven. On other nights of the week, Sundays excepted, it must +have remained open to at least 9 o'clock, for at that hour the country +letters were collected from the receiving offices and carried to the +General Post Office. Besides Sundays, there were eight days in the year +on which the post did not go, viz. three days at Christmas, two days at +Easter, two days at Whitsuntide, and also the 30th of January, the +anniversary of the death of King Charles the First. + +In spite of the enormous advantages it conferred, the penny post was not +at first received with unqualified satisfaction. Some fanatics denounced +it as a Popish contrivance; and Lord Macaulay tells us how the porters +complained that their interests were attacked, and tore down the +placards on which the scheme was announced to the public. Even +unprejudiced persons and persons who had no interests to protect +complained that a large number of things were posted and not delivered. +This Dockwra himself admitted, explaining that it was due to the +illegible writing of the address or to the omission of some important +particular by which the persons addressed might be identified, the +omission of their trade, or of the signs which their houses bore, or of +some well-known place or object in their vicinity. The manifest utility +of the enterprise, however, soon bore down all opposition; and in little +more than a year from its introduction the penny post, though weighted +with a scheme of insurance, was very nearly paying its own expenses. + +The establishment of the penny post had one effect which had probably +not been contemplated. It increased largely the number of letters for +the country. Every man had now a post office at his own door. It is true +that Dockwra's four or five hundred receiving offices were intended +primarily for town letters; but country letters might be posted there, +and, as we have seen, were collected at a stated hour every evening. +Hitherto the case had been very different. Up to the 1st of April 1680, +incredible as it may appear, the General Post Office in Lombard Street +was the only receptacle for letters in the whole of London. There and +nowhere else could letters be posted. Little wonder if, before 1680, +persons whom the cost of postage might not deter from writing were yet +deterred by their distance from the Post Office. + +Dockwra might reasonably now expect to reap some of the rewards of +success. A small band of citizens who had joined in the original venture +had afterwards deserted him, and for six months he had carried it on at +his sole charge. Others had then come to his aid, and a fresh +partnership had been formed. The undertaking prospered, became +self-supporting, and at length gave promise of large returns. This very +promise excited the greed of the Duke of York. So long as the outgoings +exceeded the receipts Dockwra remained unmolested; but no sooner had the +balance turned than the Duke complained of his monopoly being infringed, +and the Courts of Law decided in his favour. Not only was Dockwra cast +in damages, but the undertaking which he had impoverished himself to +establish was wrested out of his hands, and the penny post, in less than +five years from its introduction, was incorporated into the General Post +Office.[11] + + [11] The exact date of incorporation is uncertain. The decision in the + Court of King's Bench was given in Michaelmas term 1682; but the first + public advertisement of the penny post does not appear to have been + issued by the Postmaster-General until the 11th of March 1684/5. + +Generosity formed no part of James's character, and, so long as he sat +on the throne, Dockwra's services remained without the slightest +recognition. In 1690, however, upon an address from the House of +Commons, William and Mary granted him a pension of L500 for seven years, +and in 1697 the grant was renewed for three years longer. In the same +year as the renewal of the grant, but a little earlier, he was appointed +comptroller of the penny post at a salary of L200, and this appointment +he retained until 1700. Then, both appointment and grant came to an +abrupt termination together, for, on charges brought against him by his +own subordinates, Dockwra, like Witherings, was dismissed. Such was the +tribute paid to the man who had conferred on his country benefits which +he never tired of predicting would endure to all posterity. + +Of the charges against Dockwra two deserve special notice, as shewing +that the penny post, after its acquisition by the State, continued to be +conducted on the same principles as before. These two charges were--1st, +that, contrary to his duty, he "forbids the taking in any band-boxes +(except very small) and all parcels above a pound"; and 2nd, that he +takes money out of letters and "makes the office pay for it," thereby +clearly indicating that at that time the State carried on a parcel post +and continued the practice of making losses good. A third charge, the +truth of which it is more easy to credit, imputed to Dockwra that he +spoke and acted as if his object were to get the penny post into his own +hands again. It is worthy of remark, as characteristic of the times in +which he lived, and may perhaps be regarded as affording some +presumption of his innocence, that Dockwra appears to have been at less +pains to refute the charges than to prove that he had taken the oath of +supremacy, or the oath which had been recently substituted for it, and +that he had received the Holy Sacrament. + +We have said that to us who live at the end of the nineteenth century it +may appear incredible that up to April 1680 the General Post Office in +Lombard Street was the only receptacle for letters in the whole of +London. But it is by no means certain that our descendants may not think +it more incredible still that London, with all its boasted progress, has +only now recovered a post which, in point of convenience and cheapness, +at all approaches that which an enterprising citizen established more +than two hundred years ago. When and under what circumstances this post +lost its original features will have to be considered hereafter. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +COTTON AND FRANKLAND + +_Inland Service_ + +1685-1705 + + +In 1685, on the death of Charles the Second, the revenue of the Post +Office was settled on James, his heirs and successors. Rochester, the +High Treasurer, became postmaster-general; and for the actual discharge +of the duties a deputy was appointed under the title of Governor. + +Two years before, the panic caused by the discovery of the Rye-House +Plot had led to the issue of a Proclamation which, if differing little +from others that had gone before, acquires importance from the +circumstances under which it appeared. Unauthorised posts had again +sprung up in all directions, simply, no doubt, because there was a +demand for the accommodation they afforded; but the Government, no less +than the persons who denounced Dockwra's undertaking as a Popish +contrivance, seem to have been possessed with the idea that these posts +were mere vehicles for the propagation of treason. To prevent +treasonable correspondence was the avowed object of the present +Proclamation, and the means by which the object was sought to be +attained was the suppression of private and irregular posts, for by +these, the Proclamation went on to declare, the conspirators had been +materially assisted in their designs. Mayors, sheriffs, justices of the +peace, constables and others were enjoined to make diligent search for +letters passing otherwise than through the regular post. Special +officers were to be appointed for the same purpose. All such letters, +wherever discovered, were to be deemed to be "of dangerous consequence"; +and not only were they to be seized and carried to the Secretary of +State or the Privy Council for the purpose of being opened and +inspected, but both the bearers and senders of them were to be proceeded +against at law. + +On James's accession to the throne the Proclamation of 1683 was +succeeded by another in almost identical terms; and it is certain that +during his reign the liberties taken with post letters were hardly less +than they had been in the worst days of the Commonwealth. Only a few +months before Rochester's dismissal, for no better reason than to +gratify curiosity, orders were given that the bags from Scotland should +be transmitted to Whitehall, and during a whole week not a single +private letter from beyond the Tweed was delivered in London. Happily, +however, this state of things was soon to cease. After the Revolution +the appointment of postmaster-general was conferred upon persons who +were otherwise unconnected with affairs of State, and the effect of this +change was, as William no doubt intended, at once to lift the Post +Office out of the region of politics. In the eyes of the Rochesters, the +Arlingtons, and the Thurloes, busied as they were in the detection of +conspiracies against the State, the Post Office had been little else +than an instrument which might be usefully employed as a means to that +end. With plain citizens unversed in the ways of government, the only +consideration was how best they could accomplish the object for which +they had been appointed; and this object was so to manage and improve +the posts of the country as to secure to their Sovereign the highest +possible revenue. + +But, before William could give effect to his views, there was an +adherent to be provided for. This was Colonel John Wildman, who was +appointed postmaster-general in July 1689. Of Wildman's career at the +Post Office little is known, except that he was profuse in making +promises which he never performed. He might, perhaps, himself have +pleaded that he was not given time to perform them, for after eight +months' tenure of the appointment he was dismissed for some reason which +is, and will probably continue to be, a mystery. Far different is the +record left behind them by Wildman's immediate successors. These were +Sir Robert Cotton and Mr.--afterwards Sir Thomas--Frankland, who became +joint postmasters-general in March 1690, and served in that capacity for +nearly twenty years. They had sat in James's Parliament, the one for +Cambridgeshire, and the other for the borough of Thirsk, and these seats +they retained under William. From the writings they have left behind +them we are able to see these two men not as a biographer might dress +them up, but as they really were. Everything about them, their virtues, +their foibles, their habits, their ailments, their devotion to duty, +their unwillingness to believe evil of any one, their hatred of +injustice or oppression, their unbounded credulity, their anxiety about +their re-election, their gratitude for any little scrap of news which +they might carry to Court, their fondness for a glass of port wine, +their attacks of gout, their habit of taking snuff, even the hour of +their going to bed--all this and more is there revealed, and makes up a +record of simplicity and benevolence which it is a delight to read. + +The establishment over which these two simple gentlemen were called upon +to preside had recently received a considerable addition. Out of London, +the Post Office servants remained much as they had been ten years +before, at about 239 in number, of whom all but twelve were postmasters; +but in London the force employed at the General Post Office had been +raised from 77 to 185. The Penny Post Office, which had now been wrested +out of Dockwra's hands, accounts for the greater part of the difference. +This gave employment, exclusive of receivers, to 74 persons--a +comptroller, an accomptant, and a collector, 14 sorters and 57 +messengers--at a total charge for salaries of L2000 a year. Another part +of the establishment, and by no means the least important or the least +difficult to manage, consisted of the packet boats. These, in 1690, +were eleven in number, viz.--two for France, two for Flanders, two for +Holland, two for the Downs, and three for Ireland. Owing to the war, +however, the boat-service to France was now in abeyance. + +Little more than half a century had elapsed since the introduction of +postage, and meanwhile the revenue had risen by strides which were for +those times prodigious. In 1635 the posts were maintained at a cost to +the Crown of L3400 a year. Within fifteen years not only had they become +self-supporting, but a rent was paid for the privilege of farming them. +This rent was, in 1650, L5000 a year; in 1653, L10,000; in 1660, +L21,500; and some time before 1680, L43,000. In 1690 the net revenue was +probably about L55,000. In 1694, according to a return made to the House +of Commons two years later, it was L59,972. + +The headquarters of the Post Office were at this time in Lombard Street. +Here the postmasters-general resided; and here, far from shutting +themselves up, they were to be found at all hours by any one who might +wish to consult them on business connected with their office. Freedom of +communication with those among whom they lived, and not inaccessibility, +appears indeed to have been a part of their policy. With the foreign +merchants especially they maintained the most friendly intercourse, and +were wont to defer to their wishes and suggestions in the arrangement of +the packets. Besides giving constant attendance during the day, the +postmasters-general sat as a Board every morning and night. To these +Board-meetings they attached the highest importance, especially on the +nights of Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, when mails were despatched +into all parts of the country. These were known as the "Grand Post +Nights," and the others as "Bye-Nights." + +The Post Office building appears to have been not ill adapted to its +purpose. A massive gate opened into a court of oblong shape. This court +was paved from end to end for the merchants to walk in while waiting to +receive their letters. On the right was the Board-room with the +residence of the postmasters-general attached; on the left the office +for foreign letters; and in front, immediately facing the entrance, was +the sorting office. The office for the letter-carriers was in the +basement. The rest of the building was devoted to the use of the Post +Office servants, who, owing to their unseasonable hours of attendance, +were required to live in the office itself or else in its immediate +vicinity. + +The machinery for the dispersion of letters was very simple. For Post +Office purposes the kingdom was divided into six roads--the North Road, +the Chester or Holyhead Road, the Western Road, the Kent Road, and the +Roads to Bristol and to Yarmouth; and these roads were presided over by +a corresponding number of clerks in London whose duty it was to sort the +letters and to tax them with the proper amount of postage. At the +present time, when, owing to the system of prepayment, there is +comparatively little taxing to be done, no less than 2800 clerks and +sorters are engaged every evening in despatching the letters into the +country. Two hundred years ago the whole operation was performed, both +sorting and taxing together, by the six clerks of the roads, and they +had not even a sorter to assist them until 1697. + +The letters, as soon as they had been sorted, were despatched into the +country, the usual hour of despatch being shortly after midnight; but, +of course, with a force to prepare them of only six persons, a rigid +punctuality such as that which now distinguishes the operations of the +Post Office could hardly be observed. An instance remains on record of +the disturbance caused by any unusual pressure. The 25th of February +1696, we are told, was a foreign post night, and it happened that the +letters for the country as well as abroad were more than ordinarily +numerous. On this occasion the mails which should have gone out before +three o'clock in the morning could not be despatched until between six +and seven. + +Once clear of London, the letters passed into the hands of the +postmasters, who were alone concerned in their transmission and +distribution. At the present time, multifarious as the duties of a +postmaster are, it is not one of them to transport the mails from town +to town. But such was not the case in 1690. The post roads were then +divided into sections or, as they were commonly called, stages; and +these stages were presided over by a corresponding number of +postmasters, whose duty it was to carry the mails each over his own +stage. This had been the original object of their appointment, the +object for which they had been granted the monopoly of letting +post-horses, and it still remained their primary duty, to which every +other was subordinate. And yet traces of this original function were +already beginning to disappear. The posts settled on the six main roads +of the kingdom had not been long in extending themselves to other roads; +and on these branch roads one postmaster would be charged with the +carrying of the mails over two or more stages, leaving another without +any transport duty at all. Kendal, for instance, lay on a branch road +leaving the Holyhead Road at Chester; and from Wigan the letters for +Kendal were fetched by the postmaster of Preston, who passed not only +his own town but the town of Lancaster on his way. + +In 1690 no provincial town had a letter-carrier of its own, as that term +is now understood. Even at Bristol and at Norwich, which ranked next to +the capital in size and importance, there was for all Post Office +purposes one single agent, and that was the postmaster. Upon him and him +alone devolved all the duties which now, at all but the smallest towns, +a body of sorters and letter-carriers is maintained to perform. Whether +out of London there was any settled mode of delivery is uncertain; but +there seems little doubt that, soon after the establishment of the Post +Office, to deliver letters in his own town had come to be a part, though +a secondary part, of a postmaster's duty. At Maidstone, indeed, the +delivery appears to have reached a high state of perfection. The +postmaster there fetched the mails from Rochester and carried them to +Ashford, dropping the letters for his own town as he passed through. +These were at once taken out by two men of his own and delivered, so +that, as he took pride in relating, a letter from London arriving by the +morning post at noon could he answered by the return post, which left +Maidstone at six o'clock in the evening. + +But this must have been an exceptional case. Except perhaps at the +largest towns, letters were yet too few to make such an arrangement +necessary; and it seems probable that the hour at which the delivery was +made and the area over which it extended were very much in the +postmaster's discretion. One check there was, and, so far as appears, +one only. This was the letter bill which accompanied the letters, and in +which was inserted the postage which a postmaster had to collect and +bring to account; but it frequently happened that he advanced the amount +himself, and of course, where this was so, there was nothing to shew +that any particular letter had been delivered, still less that it had +been delivered within a particular time. Far more effective, it may well +be believed, than any official check was the desire, the natural desire, +to stand well with his neighbours; and the substantial marks of kindness +which they seldom failed to bestow upon him whenever he was so +unfortunate as to get into trouble, preclude the idea that, in the +matter of delivery or otherwise, remissness or inattention can have been +at all general. + +In London, owing to recent malpractices there, attention had been +directed to the salaries, and these had been improved. The six clerks of +the roads received four of them L60 a year, one L50, and one as much as +L100. The sorters received L40 a year, and the general post +letter-carriers 11s. a week. The wages of the penny post letter-carriers +or messengers, as for distinction's sake they were called, were 8s. In +addition to their salaries the clerks of the roads enjoyed the privilege +of franking newspapers or, as they were then called, gazettes. This +privilege, which dated from the first establishment of the Post Office, +had arrested the attention of James when Duke of York, and he had +desired to take it away; but, on learning that compensation would have +to be given, he decided to let it continue. By post the gazettes would +have cost from 4d. to 6d. apiece. The clerks of the roads supplied them +for 2d. The emoluments from this source kept steadily growing during +William's reign. At first the longer and more frequent sessions of +Parliament, and, later on, the war in which England was engaged, excited +an appetite for news to which the two previous reigns afford no +parallel. A statement which the postmasters-general made to the Treasury +about this time, while evincing perhaps some little credulity, evinces +also how keen, in the judgment of two shrewd and intelligent men, was +the hunger after early intelligence. "In England," they say, "there are +many postmasters, who some of them serve without salary, others for less +than they would otherwise do, in consideration of their being allowed +gazets by the office ffrank." + +Another curious custom prevailed in 1690, and continued indeed for +nearly a century afterwards. This was the distribution among the Post +Office servants in London of a certain sum annually as "drink and feast +money." The sum so distributed in 1685 had been no less than L60; and +this was in addition to two "feasts" which were given them at the +expense of the Crown, one at midsummer and the other at Christmas. + +In the country, where there was no one to watch over the postmasters' +interests, the salaries were merely nominal. The postmaster of Sudbury +in Suffolk received a salary of L26 a year; and for this he had, three +times a week, to carry the letters to Braintree and back, a distance of +thirty-two miles, over a road that was barely passable. At Maidstone, in +order to keep the delivery up to his own standard of excellence, the +postmaster expended 2s. a day in what he called "horse-meate and +man's-meate," yet his salary was only L5. Many postmasters received no +salary at all. Even at Bristol, which stood next to London in population +and wealth, the salary was only L60, having been recently raised to that +amount from L50. + +Nor was it only in the matter of salary that the postmasters were +objects of compassion. The disturbed state of the country during the +last few years had brought back old abuses. Officers of the army and +others who had not the officers' excuse of urgency would override the +post-horses, and when, as frequently happened, these were lamed or +killed, no compensation appears to have been given. Another class of +persons infested the roads, persons who, taking advantage of the general +confusion, would hire post-horses and not return them. During the last +twelve or thirteen years of the seventeenth century many postmasters +were languishing in prison through inability to pay what they owed for +postage; and among these there were few who did not trace their +misfortunes to the fact that immediately before and after William's +accession to the throne their horses had been killed or spoiled through +reckless riding or else run away with. + +But neither the loss of their horses nor the inadequacy of their +remuneration was so galling to the postmasters as the liability to which +they now became subject, of having soldiers quartered upon them. A +standing army had been recently authorised, and there was little or no +barrack accommodation. Hence a liability, which in our own time might be +little more than nominal, was, in 1690, tantamount to a heavy tax. Under +Charles and James[12] the postmasters had been exempt from this +annoyance; but the exemption had been granted by virtue of the royal +prerogative, and William could not be induced to continue it. In vain it +was urged that, if a burden were cast upon them as novel as it was +oppressive, justice demanded that their salaries should be increased. +The King resolutely refused to make a distinction which the law did not +recognise, and, except in a few isolated cases, the salaries remained +unchanged. + + [12] In the reigns of Charles II. and James II. the practice of + billeting, illegal as it then was, was necessarily resorted to in order + to provide quarters for the troops they maintained in time of peace; and + even billeting in private houses was not unknown. An Act of 1689, the + second Mutiny Act, as it is called, while forbidding billeting in + private houses, authorised it at "inns, livery stables, ale houses, + victualling houses, and all houses selling brandy, strong waters, cyder + or metheglin, by retaile, to be dranke in their houses." + +Despite these drawbacks, there is no reason to think that the +appointment of postmaster was not eagerly sought for, or that when +obtained there was any general disposition to throw it up. The +explanation is obvious. In the first place the appointment carried with +it the exclusive right of letting post-horses. This monopoly, at all +events on the more frequented roads, must have been remunerative; and it +must have been especially remunerative where, as appears to have been +generally the case, the postmaster was also innkeeper. Travellers were +drawn to his house, for it was only there that they could procure horses +to pursue their journey. He was, in a word, assured of custom. Other +sources of emolument were--1st, gratuities, varying according to +distance, from 1d. to 3d., on every letter he collected or delivered; +and 2nd, what were technically called "Bye-letters." This term, whatever +may have been the case a century before, had now a distinctive meaning. +It meant letters which stopped short of London,[13] letters upon which +at that time there was no check. In 1690 the postage on these letters +was probably not large; but, large or small, the whole or all but the +whole of it found its way into the pockets of the postmasters, and it +was one of the first cares of the new postmasters-general to consider +how the diversion might be stopped. + + [13] In the agreement with Ralph Allen, dated thirty years later, + bye-letters are defined to be "letters not going or coming from, to, or + through London." + +Such, in England, was the condition of the Post Office when Cotton and +Frankland assumed the direction of it in the month of March 1690. In +Scotland the posts were under separate direction, the direction of the +Secretary of State for that part of the kingdom, and subject to the +control of the Scotch Parliament. For purposes of convenience, however, +an arrangement had been made between the two Post Offices. On letters +between London and Edinburgh in both directions the English Post Office +took not only its own share of the postage but the whole; and, in +return, it paid the salaries of all the postmasters and defrayed the +cost of all expresses between the Border town of Berwick-on-Tweed and +Edinburgh. The correspondence at this time passing between the two +capitals was of the slightest. It is true that for the three years +ending March 1693 the amount due to the London office for postage on +letters to Edinburgh was L1500, or at the rate of L500 a year; but the +correspondence of the Secretary of State for Scotland, or "Black-box" as +it was called, from the colour of the box in which it was carried, would +probably account for nearly the whole. In 1707, which no doubt was a +busy year in consequence of the Act of Union, the cost of carrying this +box to and fro averaged L66 a month. + +In Ireland the Post Office was managed by a deputy-postmaster, who was +directly responsible to the postmasters-general in London. The method of +business was the same as in England. Instead, however, of six "roads," +there were only three--the Munster Road, the Ulster Road, and the +Connaught Road. The Dublin establishment, clerks and letter-carriers +included, consisted of twelve persons, of whom five received L20 a year, +and no one, the deputy-postmaster excepted, more than L80. The +deputy-postmaster himself received L400. Such at least was the normal +establishment; but all was now confusion. The battle of the Boyne had +not yet been fought, and Tyrconnel was still Lord Deputy. By his +direction the Post Office servants in Dublin, down to the youngest +letter-carrier, had been turned out of their appointments; and the mails +from England, instead of being opened at the Post Office, were being +carried to the castle and opened there. + +The new postmasters-general had not long taken up their quarters in +Lombard Street before they began to feel serious alarm for the revenue +committed to their charge. It was in the matter of bye-letters that +their apprehensions were first aroused. London, as the metropolis, sent +and received more letters than any other town, more probably than all +the other towns of the kingdom put together. Through London, too, as the +centre of the Post Office system, many letters passed in those days +which would not so pass now, because there were no cross-posts. Still +there was a residue, a residue considerable in the aggregate, +consisting of letters which did not touch London in any part of their +course; and of these comparatively few were accounted for. Some thirty +years later, after a check had been established, the revenue derived +from bye-letters was only a little over L3000 a year. At the end of the +seventeenth century it probably did not amount to as many hundreds. + +It was, however, not the letters that fell into the post, but those that +were kept out of it, the illicit traffic in fact, that caused the +greatest concern. This traffic was assuming larger proportions every +day. Under Charles and James searchers had been appointed, men who +searched for letters as baggage is searched at the Custom House. No +suspected person, no suspected vehicle, was safe from inspection. But +there was no legal sanction for the practice, and it had ceased on +William's accession. Early in the present reign it had been mooted +whether a prosecution should not be undertaken, at all events against +the principal offenders; but the King refused to consent to a step which +he regarded as impolitic and calculated to excite discontent. License +waxed bolder with impunity. Along the road from Bristol to Worcester and +from Worcester to Shrewsbury men might be seen openly collecting and +delivering letters in defiance of the law. Openly or clandestinely the +same thing was being done in other parts. "Wherever," wrote the +postmasters-general, "there are any townes which have commerce one with +another so as to occasion a constant intercourse by carryer or +tradesman, there we do find it a general practice to convey at the same +time a considerable number of letters." + +But the illicit traffic between one part of the country and another, +large as were the dimensions it had assumed, was insignificant as +compared with that which was taking place between the country and +London. This was the natural result of the establishment of the penny +post. At the first introduction of postage care had been taken so to fix +the rates that for single letters the post should be cheaper than the +common carrier. But the common carrier, in competition with the State, +had one enormous advantage. He could reduce his terms at will. So long, +therefore, as there was a profit to be made, the relative cheapness of +the post had proved only an imperfect check. + +A far more efficient check, in the case of the metropolis at least, had +been the difficulty of dispersion. It was one thing to bring letters to +London and another to deliver them. In a maze of streets consisting of +houses which bore no numbers, a comparative stranger to the town +attempting anything in the shape of a general delivery would have been +simply bewildered. But all this was now altered. The penny post supplied +the very machinery, the want of which had hitherto kept the illicit +traffic within bounds. Once within the orbit of that post, a letter +consigned to any one of Dockwra's four or five hundred receiving offices +would be delivered in any part of what was then known as London for 1d., +and in the suburbs for 2d. And these charges would carry up to one pound +in weight; whereas a quarter of one pound by the general post, even from +places no further distant from London than Croydon or Kingston, would be +charged 2s. 8d. + +Of course, under such conditions, to carry letters across the +border-line, the line which separated the general post from the penny +post, had soon become a regular traffic; and this traffic, in +consequence of the impunity it enjoyed, was now being carried on with +little concealment. No stage-coach entered London without the driver's +pockets being stuffed with letters and packets, and he was moderate +indeed if he had not a bagful besides. The waggoner outstripped his +waggon and the carrier his pack-horse; and each brought his +contribution. The higgler's wares were the merest pretext. It was to the +letters and packets he carried that he looked for profit. So notorious +had the abuse become that two private persons, unconnected with the Post +Office, offered their services with a view to its correction. These +persons were gentlemen by birth, and yet it is difficult to conceive an +office more odious than the one which they were prepared to assume. +They proposed to erect stands or barriers in Westminster, Southwark, and +other places in the outskirts of London, and there to demand of +suspected persons as they passed any letters they might have about them +which did not concern their private business. They further proposed to +deliver these letters by messengers of their own, and to collect the +postage, and to proceed against the bearers of them for the recovery of +the penalties. It is significant of the extent to which the traffic had +grown, that in return for their services they asked no more than +two-thirds of the postage they should collect, and even pleaded the +heavy expenses to which they would be put as an apology for asking so +much. The remaining third they would undertake to make over to the +postmasters-general. They did not explain, however, how it was proposed +to distinguish letters which concerned the private business of the +bearers from those which did not, or how, while checking others, they +were to be checked themselves. Nor indeed was any such explanation +needed, for the postmasters-general very clearly discerned that the +proposed remedy would be worse, far worse, than the disease. + +Cotton and Frankland were sorely perplexed. They knew perfectly well +that the true policy was to supplant and not to suppress; and experience +had taught them that to facilitate correspondence was to increase it. +These views they never ceased to inculcate; but their power of giving +effect to them was extremely limited. They could not lower the rates of +postage, for these were fixed by Act of Parliament. They could not set +up a new post nor alter an old one without the King's permission. +Neither was this permission so easy to obtain as it had been. The Post +Office revenue was settled upon William just as it had been settled upon +James; but while James kept the control in his own hands William left it +to his ministers.[14] Constitutionally sound as the change of practice +was, it had its drawback. James might care little for the convenience of +trade and commerce; but self-interest would prompt him not to withhold +facilities where these might be given at small cost and with the +prospect of comparatively large returns. Ministers, on the contrary, +even the most enlightened, concerned themselves mainly with the +balance-sheet of the year, and no promise of future and remote profit +would easily reconcile them to a diminution of present receipts. That +the Post Office must sow before it can reap is a truism which those who +hold the purse-strings have, at all times, found it hard to accept. + + [14] Occasionally, even after William's accession, the + postmasters-general addressed the King direct. The remonstrance against + quartering soldiers upon postmasters was so addressed. This document is + dated the 1st of February 1692/3. + +The ministers charged with the control of the Post Office were the Lords +of the Treasury. How little the postmasters-general were left to act on +their own responsibility will best be shewn by examples. Warwick, +according to the computation of those days, was sixty-seven miles from +London; but letters for that town passed through Coventry, thus +traversing a distance of eighty miles. And not only was the route a +circuitous one but it involved an additional charge for postage, the +rates for a single letter being, for eighty miles, 3d., and for less +than eighty, 2d. The postmasters-general desired to send the letters +direct; but even so simple a matter as this they were not competent to +decide for themselves. A change of route involved a reduction of charge; +and a reduction of charge might affect the King's receipts. Before, +therefore, the route could be altered, the King's assent had to be +signified through his appointed ministers. In 1696 a post was +established between Exeter and Bristol. This was the first cross-post +set up by authority in the British Isles. It ran twice a week, leaving +Exeter on Wednesdays and Saturdays at four in the afternoon, and +arriving at Bristol at the same hour on the following days. From Bristol +the return post, which went on Mondays and Fridays, started at ten in +the morning. But in this case as in the other, the postmasters-general +had not the power to act of their own motion. Hitherto letters between +the two towns had passed through London, and so had been liable to a +double rate of postage, to one rate of 3d. from Exeter to London, and to +another rate of equal amount from London to Bristol, or 6d. altogether. +For the future, the towns being less than eighty miles apart, the charge +would be 2d. Large as this reduction was, the postmasters-general +strongly advocated it. The existing post, they said, was both tedious +and costly, and had been little used in consequence. A direct post, it +was true, would require a small outlay to start it; but, this outlay +notwithstanding, the post was certain to prove remunerative. Increase +facilities for correspondence, and correspondence would assuredly +follow. Besides, it would promote trade and be an inestimable boon to +the public generally. To these representations the Treasury yielded; and +before three years were over, the postmasters-general had the +satisfaction of reporting that the new post was producing a clear profit +of more than L250 a year. But complaisant as the Treasury had been on +this occasion, their co-operation was fitful and uncertain. The Post +Office could not advance a step without incurring some trifling expense; +and the Treasury only too often acted as if to save expense, however +trifling, were the highest proof of statesmanship. + +The postmasters-general were indeed heavily handicapped. Even with a +free hand their position would have been one of great embarrassment. But +bound hand and foot as they were, what could they do? They did what was +perhaps the very best thing that could have been done in the +circumstances. They grouped large numbers of post offices together and +let them out to farm. These groups, or branches as they were called, +spread over a wide area. The Buckingham branch, for instance, not only +included the county of Bucks but extended as far as Warwick. The +Hungerford branch comprised sixteen post offices in the counties of +Berks, Wilts, and Somerset. The Chichester branch covered a large part +of Surrey as well as Sussex; and the six remaining branches, for +eventually there were nine altogether, were equally extensive. + +This, though by no means a perfect remedy for the existing evils, went +far to mitigate them. The farmer, of course, could not alter the rates +of postage; but with this single exception he was free from the +restraints which hampered the postmasters-general. Within the area over +which his farm extended he had only to consult his own interests; and, +happily, his own interests and the interests of the public were +identical. He improved and extended the posts, because to improve and +extend the posts added to the number of letters and made his farm more +profitable. He stopped the practice of levying gratuities on the +delivery of letters, because this practice, by adding to the cost of the +post, and so deterring persons from using it, diminished his own +receipts. For the same reason he took good care that no agent of his own +should omit to account for bye-letters, and, if other than his own +agents continued to send letters by irregular means, that it should not +be for want of facilities which he could himself supply. + +To this community of interest as between himself and the public may be +ascribed the exceptional feelings with which, at the close of the +seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, the Post Office +farmer was regarded. The very name of farmer in connection with other +branches of the revenue had become a by-word for all that was rapacious +and extortionate. Only recently the farmer of the customs and the farmer +of the hearth money had been stamped out as moral pests. The Post Office +farmer, on the contrary, was welcomed wherever he came as a public +benefactor. In his case outrages and exactions such as had disgraced the +others were impossible. Before he could collect a single penny he had a +service to perform; and according as this service was performed well or +ill, he repelled or attracted custom. + +The real secret of his welcome, however, was that he supplied an urgent +demand; and how urgent this demand was may best be judged by the +conditions on which he was glad to accept his farm. These conditions +were a lease of no more than three years, and a rent equivalent to the +highest amount which the post offices included in his farm had in any +one year produced. For his profits he had nothing to look to but the +increase of revenue resulting from his own management; and even of this +he received the whole only in the first year, when he would, presumably, +be establishing his plant. In subsequent years he received two-thirds, +the remaining third going to the Post Office. If under such conditions +as these it were possible to toil and grow rich, great indeed must have +been the field of operation. + +Among those who were commissioned to supply the accommodation which the +postmasters-general were precluded from supplying themselves was one who +deserves to be specially mentioned. This was Stephen Bigg of Winslow, in +Buckinghamshire. Bigg farmed the Buckingham branch. He appears to have +possessed and to have deserved the confidence of the postmasters-general. +Of ample means, and endowed with no ordinary powers of organisation, +he had probably embarked on his undertaking less with a view to +profit than from a desire to improve the posts. Be that as itmay, +the same means which conduced to the one end conduced also to the +other; and when the time arrived for him to render an account of his +proceedings, he not only made over to the Post Office a handsome sum as +one-third share of the profits, but had earned for himself the gratitude +of the large district over which his farm extended. + +His success in his own county encouraged him to enlarge the sphere of +his operations. Passing through Lancashire in the last year of the +century, he was struck with the wretched accommodation which the posts +afforded. As compared with those under his own control, they were slow, +irregular, and, owing to the system of gratuities, costly. On his return +to London he offered to take in farm the post offices of the whole +county. The offer was accepted, and a lease was signed fixing the rent, +as ascertained in the usual manner, at L2826. The history of this farm +is curious. Bigg had not long been engaged in his new undertaking before +the cross-post which had some few years before been set up between +Exeter and Bristol was extended to Chester. It is not very clear how +this interfered with Bigg's proceedings; but, as a matter of fact, it +appears to have tapped an important source of supply. On this being +pointed out to the postmasters-general, they at once, with that high +sense of justice which distinguished all their proceedings, released him +from his engagement and cancelled the lease. + +The next county to which Bigg turned his attention was Lincolnshire. If +Lancashire had bad posts, Lincolnshire had next to none. Five post towns +were all of which Lincolnshire could boast--Stamford and Witham and +Grantham, Lincoln and Boston; and of these only two were off the great +north road which ran through the extreme west of the county. It is true +that other towns received letters; but they received them only by virtue +of a private arrangement, and heavily had they to pay for the luxury. +From Lincoln, for instance, the postmaster went twice a week to +Gainsborough and to Brigg, to Horncastle, Louth, and Grimsby, charging +as his own perquisite on each letter he collected or delivered the sum +of 3d. over and above the postage; but, so far as depended on any +official post, these and all the intervening towns were absolutely cut +off from the rest of the world.[15] Bigg procured a farm of the district +in favour of his son, and the lease was signed on the 4th of August +1705. On the 1st of October in the same year posts began to run, and +gratuities on the delivery of letters had become a thing of the past. +One penny on each letter collected was the only charge that remained +over and above the postage. + + [15] In the case of Grimsby it is the more surprising that this should + have been so, because out of the only five towns in the kingdom which + the Act of 1660 mentions by name Grimsby is one. According to this Act + the post was to go there once a week. + +It would be less than justice not to recognise the important part which +about this period the farmer played in the history of the Post Office; +nor is it possible not to admire the sagacity of those who, when they +found the posts to be slipping through their fingers, summoned this +extraneous agency to their aid. It was no mere venture which by a happy +accident happened to turn out well. The postmasters-general had foreseen +and foretold exactly what would be the result--that under a system of +farming the public would be better served, letters would become more +numerous, and the revenue, when it should revert to the Crown at the +termination of the lease, would be higher than when the lease began. + +Next to Lincolnshire in poverty of the means of correspondence stood +Cornwall. Until 1704 the post to Falmouth, after leaving Exeter, ran +through Ashburton to Plymouth and thence along the south coast. Of the +towns in Mid Cornwall Launceston alone possessed a post office. At +others, indeed, letters were delivered, but only by virtue of a private +arrangement and on payment of a gratuity of 2d. apiece. No farmer, +unfortunately, offered his services here. But, what was perhaps the next +best thing, the gentry of the county, headed by Lord Granville, took the +matter up. Thus supported, the postmasters-general proceeded to concert +their arrangements. They desired the postmasters of Exeter, Plymouth, +and Launceston to meet together and prepare some scheme for facilitating +the correspondence of the midland towns. Such a scheme was soon +submitted, and, although it involved a cost of L260 a year, authority +for its adoption was not withheld. Henceforth the post for the extreme +west of England was to go, not by way of Plymouth, but direct from +Exeter to St. Columb, and thence through Truro to Falmouth. A single +post through a wide extent of country might ill accord with our present +views of what the public convenience requires; and yet at the beginning +of the eighteenth century Mid Cornwall, by the mere alteration of the +route for the Falmouth mails, obtained facilities for correspondence not +inferior to those enjoyed by other parts of the country. + +The speed at which the post travelled at the end of the seventeenth +century only slightly exceeded four miles an hour. This slow rate of +progress, added to the fact that, except to the Downs, the post left +London only on alternate days, gave occasion for the not infrequent use +of expresses. These were mounted messengers sent specially for the +occasion. Whether for expresses there was any prescribed rate of speed +is not known; but it seems probable that their instructions were to go +as fast as they could. The charge for an express was 3d. a mile and 6d. +a stage, a stage being on the average about twelve miles. The total sum +which the Post Office received on this account during the half-year +which ended the 29th of September 1685 was L337. + +Occasionally several expresses would be required at one time. In 1696, +on the discovery of Barclay's plot to assassinate the King, orders were +given to close the ports; and these orders the postmasters-general sent, +as they were instructed to do, by express. Some twenty years afterwards +similar orders were given, and an account is still extant shewing how on +the later, and probably the earlier, occasion they were carried into +effect. The English ports were sixty-two in number; and to only ten of +these were expresses sent direct from Lombard Street, the others being +either taken by the way or reached by branch expresses furnished by the +towns through which the expresses from London passed. Altogether the +distance traversed was 2526 miles, the number of stages 202, and the sum +which the Post Office received for the service from the Commissioners of +Customs L36:12:6. + +From expresses it seems almost natural to pass to flying packets, +although between the two there is, so far as we are aware, no necessary +connection. What was a flying packet? The term "flying," at the end of +the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, was, no +doubt, used in the sense of running. For this season, writes Lord +Compton's private tutor to Lady Northampton, under date September 1734, +"the coach has done flying." In like manner "flying post," a term as old +as the Post Office itself,[16] meant nothing more than what in Scotland +was called a runner. Possibly because the idea of expedition was +conveyed by the term "flying," flying packet came to be regarded as +synonymous with express. "I despatch this by a flying pacquett," writes +Lord Townshend to the Duke of Argyll in 1715; and again, "My lord, after +writing what is above, a flying packet brings letters from Edinburgh of +the 12th." "By the flying pacquett which arrived last night," writes +Secretary Stanhope about the same date, "I received the honour of your +Grace's of the 21st inst." Here, by flying packet is obviously meant +express. And yet, curiously enough, this is a sense in which the +postmasters-general never employed the term. By them it was always +designed to signify the thing transmitted, and not the means of +transmission. What they called a flying packet might be sent by ordinary +post no less than by express; and when sending one by express they never +failed to state that it was being so sent. "You are therefore," they +write in 1706, "on the receipt of the bag so delivered to your care +[_i.e._ a small bag containing letters for the Court], to dispatch the +same imediately by a flying packet from Harwich to this office, and to +send a labil therewith expressing the precise time of the arrival and +your having dispatched the same per express." On receipt of the Holland +mail, they write again in the following year, "You are to take out the +Court letters, and to forward the same express by a flying packet +directed to Mr. Frankland at the Post Office at Newmarket." "The +inclosed box being recommended to our care by His Grace the Duke of +Queensberry, one of Her Majesty's principall Secretarys of State, we do +send the same by a flying pacquet.... You are to send us advice by the +first post of the safe comeing of this pacquet to your hands." In +short, flying packet, in its original sense, appears to have meant +simply a packet of which the enclosures were designed for some other +person than the one whose address the packet bore. Within the Post +Office it is occasionally necessary to employ technical terms which +would not be intelligible to persons without; but this, so far as we are +aware, is the only instance of the same term being used within and +without in two totally different senses. + + [16] 1661. Feb. 3rd. Robert Reade to Charles Spellman. "Att the right + honourable my Lord Townshend's in the Old Palace Yard, Westminster." The + writer says that he has as yet received no command from Mr. Spellman or + from Lord Townshend, "nor do I wonder at it, because the flying post lay + drunke last Friday at Fakenham (being the day that he should have binn + at Thetford to take those letters then there which he should bring + hether on Saterday), and had not changed his quarter yesterday as I am + informed by one of Scott's men who saw him pittyfully drunke. The cuntry + complaines of him."--Historical Manuscripts Commission, Eleventh Report, + Appendix, Part iv. p. 25. + +Of the state of the roads about this period the Highway Act 1691 +affords, perhaps, not the least trustworthy evidence. To incidents which +have resulted in nothing more than temporary inconvenience travellers +are apt to give a touch of humorous exaggeration. An Act of Parliament, +on the contrary, deals with facts as they are, and concerns itself not +with imaginary ills. What, then, is to be thought of the condition of +the roads when provisions such as these were necessary?--No causeway for +horses was to be less than three feet in breadth, nor was the breadth of +any cartway leading to a market town to be less than eight feet. In +highways of less breadth than twenty feet no tree was to be permitted to +grow, or stone, timber, or manure to be heaped up so as to obstruct +progress; and hedges were to be kept trimmed, and boughs to be lopped +off, so as to allow a free passage to travellers, and not to intercept +the action of the sun and wind. Of any breach of these and other +provisions the road-surveyor was, on the Sunday next after it became +known to him, to give public notice in the parish church immediately +after the conclusion of the sermon. + +Long after the passing of the Act of 1691, and perhaps in consequence of +it, the causeway formed an important feature of the roads. This +causeway, or bridle-track, ran down the middle; while the margin on +either side was little better than a ditch, and being lower than the +adjoining soil, and at the same time soft and unmade, received and +retained the sludge. But, in truth, the state of the roads concerned the +Post Office far less at the close of the seventeenth century than it +did at the close of the eighteenth. The mails were carried on horseback; +and, even so, they were carried mainly over the six great roads of the +kingdom. These roads, as compared with others, were good; and execrably +bad as we might now think them, they were probably not altogether ill +adapted to riding. The disasters which history refers to this period, as +illustrating the difficulties of travelling, occurred generally on the +cross-roads, and always with wheel traffic. For both wheel traffic and +horse traffic the six great roads had, probably from the earliest times, +been kept in some sort of repair. On the great Kent Road, nearly a +hundred years before, a young Dane, with his attendants, had on +horseback accomplished the distance between Dover and London in a single +day.[17] In 1642 couriers had ridden from London to York and back, a +distance of about 400 miles, in thirty-four hours,[18] a feat barely +possible except on the assumption that the road was in tolerable order. +Now and again, indeed, some postmaster, pleading for the remission of +his debt to the Crown, would urge the losses he had sustained in +horse-flesh by reason of the badness of the roads; but these roads were +always cross-roads--roads along which, if he had delivered letters, he +had delivered them on his own account. Of the six great roads as a means +of transit for the mails there were no complaints. + + [17] The Forty-Sixth Annual Report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Public + Records, Appendix ii. p. 69. + + [18] _Clarendon's Life_, vol. i. p. 135. + +It was when the Post Office required something to be done which involved +transmission from place to place otherwise than on horseback that its +troubles began. Such an event occurred in 1696. Sir Isaac Newton was +then busy at the mint, devoting to the coinage those powers of intellect +which were soon to astonish the world. The clipping of the coin had gone +to such lengths that within the space of one year no less than four Acts +of Parliament were passed with a view to abate the evil. Milled money +was to take the place of hammered money. The clipped pieces had already +been withdrawn from circulation, and now a date was fixed after which no +broad pieces were to be received in payment of taxes except by weight. +This date was the 18th of November, and collectors of the public revenue +were allowed until the 18th of the following month to pay them over to +the Exchequer. If not paid over by the 18th of December they were to be +taken by weight and not by tale, and the collectors were to lose the +difference. + +Here was a clear month's grace, and the postmasters were under a strong +inducement to see that the period was not exceeded. From Oxford the +hammered money was sent by barge. No sooner had it started than a severe +frost set in, and lasted for six weeks, the consequence being to delay +the arrival in London until the 7th of January. To take the money by +weight and not by tale would have been equivalent to a fine of about +L23. From this, however, the postmaster was excused on the ground that +the barge was the safest means of conveyance he could have employed. As +a "flying coach"--a coach which travelled at the speed of about four +miles an hour--had for many years been running between Oxford and +London, it must be assumed either that it had stopped for the winter or +else that for some cause or other, possibly on account of highwaymen, it +was not considered safe. From Sandwich, in Kent, the hammered money was +sent by hoy, which did not reach the Thames until the 20th of January. +Again the postmasters-general urged that the delay might be overlooked +on the ground that no earlier means of conveyance would have been safe. +Altogether, when the 18th of December arrived, more than L1000 of +hammered money was still outstanding in the postmasters' hands; and in +every case the want of conveyance or the badness of the roads was +assigned as the cause. + +The penny post office, since it had passed into the hands of the +Government, had undergone but little change. Its headquarters had been +removed from Dockwra's house to seven rooms prepared for the purpose, +not, indeed, at the Post Office in Lombard Street, where want of space +was already beginning to be felt, but probably in the immediate +neighbourhood. It had also, in the language of the time, been eased from +a multitude of desperate debts. But the conditions on which it was +conducted remained as they had been,--the same limit of weight, the same +frequency of delivery, and the same rule as to compensation in case of +loss. Dockwra, with the view, no doubt, of propitiating the authorities, +had provided for the conveyance to Lombard Street of all general post +letters left at his receiving offices; and this duty, when he was +dispossessed, passed to the persons by whom those offices were kept. The +result was not satisfactory. The receivers, in their desire to get the +work done as cheaply as possible, employed to do it the most needy and +most worthless persons, persons who could not get employment elsewhere. +At length the miscarriages and losses became so frequent that the Post +Office appointed its own messengers to go round and collect the letters. +Nor is it by any means certain that the character of the receivers +themselves was above suspicion. The plain truth is that they were, with +few exceptions, keepers of public-houses. The collector who called there +periodically to adjust accounts complained that often four and even five +visits were necessary before he could obtain payment, and that the +opportunity was taken to pass upon him bad money. + +Times have changed indeed. With public-houses for receiving offices, +with inn-keepers for postmasters, and with a considerable sum expended +annually on drink and feast money, it can hardly be denied that the Post +Office at the end of the seventeenth century was a good friend to the +licensed victualler. At the present time no postmaster may keep an inn; +no receiving office may be at a public-house; and not many years ago, +when a hotel with its stock-in-trade was purchased with a view to the +extension of the Post Office buildings in St. Martin's-le-Grand, some +excellent persons were shocked because, under the sanction of the +postmaster-general, were exposed for sale by auction some few dozen +bottles of port. + +Of the extent to which the penny post was used at this period we are +not, so far as the suburbs are concerned, without some means of judging. +According to the original plan, which had been adhered to in its +integrity, one penny was to carry a letter within such parts of London +as lay within the bills of mortality. Beyond these limits one penny more +was charged; and this penny, which was technically called the second or +deliver penny, constituted the messengers' remuneration. As this soon +proved to be more than enough for its purpose, the messengers were put +on fixed wages, and the second pennies were carried to the credit of the +Post Office. Of the amounts derived from this source during the sixteen +years from 1686 to 1702 a record is still extant. The lowest amount for +any one year was L310, and the highest L377, the average being L336. It +would hence appear that for such parts of London as lay outside the +bills of mortality, for what in fact were at that time the suburbs, the +number of letters at the end of the seventeenth century was about 80,640 +a year, or, counting 306 working days to the year, about 263 a day. + +On one point the postmasters-general were determined, that the penny +post office should not be let out to farm. All overtures to this effect +they resolutely declined. The penny post and the general post had become +so interwoven, and, outside London, so short a distance separated the +limits within which the one ceased and the other began to operate, that +it was considered of the highest importance, both on the score of +convenience and as a protection against fraud, that the two posts should +not be under different management. The same considerations were not held +to apply to Dublin. In Dublin, rapidly as that city was now growing in +size[19] and population, a penny post, it was thought, could not +possibly answer. Yet in 1703 a spirited lady sought permission to set +one up. This was Elizabeth, Countess-Dowager of Thanet. A desire to +supplement a jointure, originally slender and now reduced by the +taxation consequent on the war, was the simple reason assigned for the +enterprise, and yet with the highest professions of public spirit it +might have been difficult to render to the community a more signal +service. The Duke of Ormonde, who was then Lord Lieutenant, approved the +proposal, and the postmasters-general had made preparations for carrying +it into effect. The new post was to extend for ten or twelve miles in +and around Dublin; no receiving office was to be within two miles of the +first stage of the general post; the lease was to be for fourteen years; +and one-tenth part of the clear profits was to go to the Crown. At the +last moment, however, the Treasury withheld their assent, and for no +less than seventy years from this time Dublin remained without a penny +post. + + [19] Writing in 1709, Mr. Manley, the postmaster-general's deputy in + Dublin, says, "There are not less than a thousand more houses now than + there were at my first coming here [_i.e._ in 1703]. Besides, there are + many new streets now laid out and buildings erecting every day." + +Of the internal affairs of the Post Office during the first fifteen +years of Cotton and Frankland's administration of it little need be +said. At first their only assistant was a clerk at L40 a year to copy +their letters. In 1694 they procured a new appointment to be created, +the appointment of Secretary to the Post Office. The Secretary to the +Post Office at the present time has duties to discharge, of the variety +and importance of which his mere title gives a very inadequate idea. In +1694 he was little more than a private secretary. One thing indeed he +had to do, to which a private secretary of our own time might perhaps +demur. During the night, if an express were wanted, he had to rise from +his bed and prepare the necessary instructions. The salary of the +appointment, originally L100, was raised to L200 in 1703. In this year a +solicitor was appointed, also at a salary of L200. + +Two years later a transaction was completed on which the +postmasters-general had long set their hearts. This was the purchase of +a part of the Post Office premises in Lombard Street. As far back as +1688 Sir Robert Viner, the owner, had offered the freehold for sale, but +the Revolution had put a stop to further proceedings. In 1694, after +Sir Robert's death, his nephew and executor again proposed to sell, and +Sir Christopher Wren, on behalf of the Crown, surveyed the property with +a view to its purchase. On examination, however, the title proved to be +defective, and it was not until 1705, after the defect had been remedied +by Act of Parliament, that the Crown secured the freehold for the sum of +L6500. At the present time it matters not where Post Office servants +reside, so long as they attend punctually. At the beginning of the +eighteenth century it was considered important on account of the +unseasonable hours of attendance that they should reside "in and about" +the Post Office. The Post Office was, in effect, a barrack, and, except +the premises in Lombard Street, there were none in the immediate +neighbourhood that would well answer the purpose. Hence the anxiety to +purchase the freehold; and the anxiety was all the greater because it +had been threatened that if not purchased by the Crown the property +would be sold to the speculative builder or, as he was then called, the +projector. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COTTON AND FRANKLAND + +_Packet Service_ + +1686-1713 + + +Of the packet service prior to 1686 we have no particulars; but that +some such service had long existed, though probably on a very limited +scale, hardly admits of a doubt. To Ireland, as to other parts of the +kingdom, a regular post had been established in 1635; and it is +difficult to suppose that a mail on arriving at Holyhead would be left +to a chance vessel to carry it across the Channel. The probability of +some organised means of transport is still stronger in the case of +Dover. Dover was the town through which all letters for the Continent +passed; and our trade with the Continent had for a century and more been +considerable. Hence it was that the post through the county of Kent had +been carefully nursed while as yet no other part of the country had any +post at all. But if, as seems certain, both Dover and Holyhead were +packet stations long prior to 1686, it is almost equally certain that +these were the only two in the kingdom. + +In that year the arrangements, whatever they were, for carrying the +mails between England and France came to an end, and a new service was +established between Dover and Calais and between Dover and Ostend or +Nieuport. This was succeeded in the following year by a similar service +between England and Holland. Both services were to be carried on by +contract. In the one case the contractor was to receive L1170 a year, +and also to have the management of the letter office at Dover. In the +other the payment was to be L900 a year, for which sum three hoys were +to be maintained, two of sixty and one of forty tons, and carrying six +men each. For the service to Holland the packet stations were, on this +side of the water, Harwich, and, on the other, the Brill. + +To the letters which came to this country by regular packet must be +added those that were technically termed ship letters--letters which +were brought by ships arriving at uncertain times from any part of the +world. These letters, according to the provisions of the Act of 1660, +were to be given up to the postmaster at the port of arrival, so that +they might be forwarded to London, and thence despatched to their +destination after being charged with the proper amount of postage. In +this particular, however, the Act proved of little effect. Masters of +ships were offered no inducement to deliver the letters to the +postmaster, and incurred no penalty for omitting to do so. The Post +Office was then in farm; and desirous as the farmers were to make what +they could out of their undertaking, they soon found that it would be +well worth their while to incur some expense which should secure +obedience to the law. Accordingly they undertook that for every letter +which a shipmaster should bring to this country, and deliver to the +postmaster at the port of arrival, he should receive the sum of one +penny. This was the origin of ship letter money--a form of payment which +has since received legal sanction, and exists at the present day. + +It was into the port of London that ship letters chiefly came, and here +the number which found their way to the Post Office in Lombard Street +was seriously affected by the establishment of the penny post. That this +was only natural will appear from a simple illustration. From Marseilles +to London the postage was 1s. for a single letter. On one hundred such +letters, therefore, the charge would be L5. But if, instead of taking +these hundred letters to the General Post Office, a shipmaster on his +arrival in the Pool dropped them into the penny post, they would all be +delivered for 8s. 4d. It is true that he would thus lose his gratuity of +one penny a letter; but the difference between the two rates of postage +was such as to leave an ample margin of profit, even after making him +full--and more than full--compensation for his loss. Indeed, if he had +been bent on cheating his employer as well as the Post Office, he might +with very little risk of detection have put the whole of the difference +into his own pocket. In 1686 the number of ship letters accounted for to +the Post Office was 60,447,[20] a number which, forming as it did the +basis of a payment, may be taken as absolutely correct, because the Post +Office would take good care not to pay more, and shipmasters not to +receive less, than was absolutely due. It is to be regretted that no +similar account is forthcoming for previous years, so that it might be +seen what was the extent of the influence which the penny post +exercised; but that this influence was considerable is certain from the +continual references made to it by successive postmasters-general during +a long series of years. It is to be observed, however, that they always +speak of it as a thing that was past and gone, a thing baneful enough +while it lasted, but as having been of only short duration. The +explanation is no doubt to be found in the fact that in 1696 two +officers were appointed, whose duty it was to collect letters from all +vessels arriving in the port of London. The boat employed in this +service had assigned to it special colours of its own, on which was +depicted a man on horseback blowing a post horn.[21] + + [20] "To divers Masters of Shipps for 60447 letters by them brought from + forreigne parts this year at one penny each according to the + usage--L251:17:3."--Extract from writ of Privy Seal for passing the + accounts of "our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Couzen and + Councellor Lawrence Earle of Rochester, Late our High Treasurer of + England." + + [21] "This is to give notice that Lancellot Plumer and William Barret + are appointed by the Postmaster-General of England to receive all such + letters and pacquets from masters of ships and vessels, mariners and + passengers as shall be by them hereafter brought in any ships or vessels + into the Port of London, to the end the same may be delivered with speed + and safety according to their respective directions and the laws of this + kingdom; and that all masters of ships or vessels and all mariners and + passengers may the better take notice thereof, the Right Honourable the + Lords of the Admiralty have directed that the boat employed in this + service do carry colours, in which there is to be represented a man on + horseback blowing a post horn."--_London Gazette_, No. 3247, from Monday + 21st December to Thursday 24th December 1696. + +In 1689, on the breaking out of the war with France, the Dover boats +ceased to run, and, in order to provide for the letters to Spain which +had hitherto passed through that country, a service was established +between Falmouth and the Groyne. On this service two boats were employed +of two or three hundred tons each. They carried from eighty to ninety +men besides twenty guns, and ran once a fortnight. + +The Harwich boats were at the same time increased both in number and in +strength. The three hoys were replaced by four boats--boats of force as +they were called, carrying fifty men each. It may well be believed that, +with so large a crew under his command, the captain of a well-armed +vessel was loth to confine himself to the monotonous task of carrying +the mails to and fro, and went in quest of adventure. But be that as it +may, William, who since his accession to the throne had taken an +extraordinary interest in the Harwich service, was not satisfied with +the performances of these boats. It was his opinion that the first +requisite in a mail packet was speed and not strength. Strength might +indeed enable it to engage an enemy, but speed would enable it to avoid +one. Accordingly, by the King's direction, the Post Office with the +assistance of Edmund Dummer, the Surveyor of the Navy, built four small +boats of its own--boats "of no force," but remarkable for their speed. +The change was not carried out without much grumbling. The boats were +low built, and, except in the calmest weather, shipped a good deal of +water. The sailors complained that they seldom, from one end of the +voyage to the other, had a dry coat to their backs. The absence of any +armament was still more unpalatable to them. They dared not leave the +harbour, at least so they said, when the enemy was to windward; and, as +though to confirm their words, they sometimes after leaving returned. We +shall probably do them no wrong if we distrust these excuses. No +British sailor, or soldier either, cares to turn his back on the foe, +and that this was expected of them, that they were required to run and +not to fight, we suspect to have been the real grievance. Eventually, +but not until some had refused to serve and others had deserted, matters +quieted down. An increase of wages was given all round, raising the pay +above that given in the Royal Navy, and, in order to compensate for the +additional cost, the complement of the crew was reduced from thirty to +twenty-one. It is a striking confirmation of the soundness of William's +view that during the next twenty-four years, although no less than +nineteen of them were years of war, only two of these boats were taken. + +Until 1689 the Harwich packets had been self-supporting, the receipts +from freight and passengers being enough to cover the cost. In that +year, as a consequence of the war, the fares were raised. Passengers to +Holland who had hitherto paid 12s. were now to pay 20s., and those who +had paid 6s. were to pay 10s. Recruits and indigent persons passed free. +In 1695 the carriage of goods and merchandise was prohibited. This +prohibition afterwards became common in times of war, but in the present +instance it was imposed in the vain hope of stopping the exportation of +silver. In exchange for silver, gold had long been pouring into the +country, as much as 200 ounces coming by a single packet; and advices +had been received from Amsterdam and Rotterdam that future consignments +would not be restricted even to that quantity. The reform of the +currency, which alone could check this movement of the precious metals, +was expeditiously accomplished; but the prohibition against the carriage +of merchandise remained. + +On the conclusion of peace in 1697 the service between Dover and Calais +and between Dover and Ostend recommenced, but only to be discontinued +again on the resumption of hostilities in 1702. During these five years +the relations between the English and French Post Offices had at no time +been friendly, and latterly had become very highly strained. Under the +terms of a Treaty concluded with France in 1698, the mails, as soon as +they arrived on this side at Dover and on the other at Calais, were to +be forwarded to the respective capitals by express. England faithfully +fulfilled her part of the engagement. By France the engagement was +treated as a dead letter. The mails from England, on their arrival at +Calais, instead of being forwarded to Paris by express, were kept back +for the ordinary post; and this post went only once a day, leaving at +three in the afternoon. If, therefore, the packet arrived at four or +five o'clock, the letters were detained for the best part of twenty-four +hours. At Lyons the letters between England and Italy were being treated +after much the same fashion. On arrival in that town--such at least was +the complaint in the city--instead of being forwarded with all despatch, +they were forwarded seldom in due course and sometimes not at all. + +M. Pajot was then director of the French posts; and in this capacity he +had signed the Treaty. In vain Cotton and Frankland called his attention +to the breach of its provisions. Their letter was not even acknowledged. +For the transit of British mails across French territory England had +agreed to pay to France the sum of 36,000 livres[22] a year, and a +remittance in payment of the instalment due was sent to Paris; but not +even of this could an acknowledgment be obtained. Let the nature of the +communication to him be what it would, Pajot maintained an obstinate +silence. When war broke out afresh, all intercourse between the two Post +Offices had ceased for nearly three years, and the debt due to France +had accumulated to the amount of 105,600 livres. + + [22] Equal, at the then rate of exchange, to L2437:10s. + +The cessation of the Dover packets in 1702 was soon followed by that of +the packets between Falmouth and the Groyne, but the want of any regular +means of communication with the Peninsular proved so inconvenient that, +before many months had passed, the service was re-established in a +slightly altered form. The boats, instead of stopping short at the +Groyne, were to run on to Lisbon; and two years later their number was +increased from two to five. This increase was due to political rather +than commercial reasons. It is true that an important commercial treaty +was about this time concluded with Portugal; but, what was considered of +far greater moment, the Archduke Charles after passing through London +had recently proceeded to that country in furtherance of his pretensions +to the throne of Spain. It was at once resolved that communication with +Lisbon should henceforth be weekly instead of only once a fortnight, and +for this purpose less than five boats were deemed insufficient. + +But of all the packet services in existence at the beginning of the +eighteenth century none perhaps possesses more features of interest than +the service to the West Indies. In James the Second's reign a Post +Office had been established in Jamaica, and rates of postage had been +settled not only within the island itself but between the island and the +mother country. This was a new departure. In the original scheme of +postage as propounded by Witherings no charge had been imposed except in +return for some service. The same principle had been scrupulously +adhered to in the Acts of 1657 and 1660. Under these Acts, except where +a service was rendered or where payment for a service was made to +another country, no charge was provided for. Yet between England and +Jamaica, although the Crown was not at the cost of maintaining means of +transport, postage rates were fixed of 6d. a single letter, 1s. a double +letter, and 2s. an ounce. This was a pure tax, and the precedent, bad as +it was and of questionable legality, was soon extended to the case of +letters to America. + +The war of 1702, while deranging other services, called the service to +the West Indies into being. The West India merchants, a designation even +then in vogue, were a large and important body, and, as opportunities of +intercourse by private ship became rare and uncertain, a demand arose +for some established means of communication. With the assistance of +Dummer, Surveyor of the Navy, sloops were provided to carry mails to +the Plantation Islands, and by way of helping to defray the cost, the +postage rates were increased by about one-half. The vessels sailed at +uncertain intervals, but otherwise the service was performed with +regularity, the voyage out and home occupying from 90 to 116 days. + +Dummer was so well satisfied with the result of his management that, +rather than continue as mere agent for the postmasters-general, he +desired to perform the service on his own account. For the sum of +L12,500 a year he undertook to provide a monthly communication, and for +this purpose to build and equip five boats of 140 tons each, and +carrying twenty-six men and ten guns. These boats were to have two +decks, and any of them that should be lost or taken by the enemy were to +be replaced at his own cost. Of the L12,500 no more than L4500 was to be +paid down. Freight, which was limited to five tons out and ten tons +home, passenger fares, and postage were to go in part payment, and from +these Dummer expected to make up the difference. Postage alone he set +down at L6000; and that it might produce this sum he made it an express +stipulation that the rates to the West Indies should be raised to the +same level as those to Portugal, namely 1s. 3d. a single letter, 2s. 6d. +a double letter, and 6s. an ounce. To double the postage, he took for +granted, was to double the returns. Abler men than he and men living +nearer to our own times have fallen into the same error; but seldom, +probably, has it been sooner or more strikingly exposed. + +The new rates came into operation in England in March, and in the West +Indies in April. The effect of the alteration, as would now be predicted +with confidence, was only slightly to increase the amount of postage and +largely to reduce the number of letters. It is so seldom that in matters +of this kind cause and effect are brought into such close approximation, +that we offer no apology for giving the postage which the correspondence +produced immediately before and immediately after the change:-- + + _To the West Indies._ + + Date on which the Packet + sailed from England. Amount of Postage. + + Jan. 25, 1705 L44 1 4 + Feb. 22 " 59 10 7 + Mar. 29 " 100 5 3 (New rates) + Apr. 26 " 129 2 6 + May 31 " 93 7 9 + June 28 " 75 19 3 + July 26 " 62 2 0 + + _From the West Indies._ + + Date on which the Packet + arrived in England. Amount of Postage. + + Feb. 10, 1705 L316 19 0 + Apr. 18 " 622 11 6 (New rates) + Aug. 6 " 629 15 6 + Sept. 3 " 384 19 6 + Oct. 1 " 369 6 6 + +Of course, the mails immediately after the change would carry what may +be called surprised letters, letters which had been posted before the +issue of the new regulations or before these regulations had become +generally known; and the mail arriving in August would bring also the +letters which had accumulated since the preceding April. + +What at the present time is calculated to excite surprise is not that +the aggregate amounts of postage should not have increased in proportion +to the rates, but that these amounts should have been as high as they +were. Trade with the West Indies was, no doubt, considerable. And yet, +after making ample allowance on that score, of what sort can the +correspondence have been to produce postage of between L300 and L400 by +a single mail; and why should the amount in one direction have been +nearly five times as heavy as the amount in the other? The answer, we +think, is to be found in a letter which the postmasters-general wrote +about this time. A small box for the Commissioners for the Sick and +Wounded had come from Lisbon charged with postage of L26:2s. From this +charge the Commissioners sought to be relieved on the ground that the +box contained nothing but office accounts, which, besides being of no +intrinsic value, were on Her Majesty's business. To such arguments, +however, the postmasters-general turned a deaf ear. With the contents of +the box they were not concerned. All they knew or cared to know was that +it weighed eighty-seven ounces, and this weight, at the rate of 6s. an +ounce, gave L26:2s. Forego the charge in the present instance, and how, +they asked, could charges be any longer maintained on other packets not +less on Her Majesty's business than this box, packets from the Prize +Office, the Salt Office, the Customs and the Navy, and also, they added, +on the large bundles of muster-rolls from the regiments stationed in the +West Indies? In short, we entertain little doubt that the postage by the +homeward mails was largely derived from official correspondence, +correspondence which at the present time bears no postage at all. + +The good fortune which had attended Dummer while acting as manager for +the postmasters-general entirely deserted him as soon as the service +came into his own hands. During the first twelve months the postage fell +short of his expectations by about one-third; and freight and +passengers, which he had estimated to produce L2000, produced little +more than one-sixth of that amount. Nor was this the worst. The very +first packet that sailed under his contract was taken by the enemy. +Another, not many months later, was cast away on the rocks off the +Island of Inagua; and a third fell into the hands of a privateer in the +Channel. A series of disasters which would have daunted most men seems +only to have inspired Dummer with fresh energy. Of the ultimate success +of his undertaking he entertained no doubt. He held as strongly as we +can hold at the present day, that trade and correspondence act and react +upon each other; and that these should thrive he considered nothing more +to be necessary than speed and regularity of communication.[23] With +good heart, therefore, he applied himself to replace the boats which +had been lost, fully determined that on his part no efforts should be +wanting to supply the conditions on which alone he conceived success to +depend. + + [23] "It being a certain maxim," he wrote to the postmasters-general on + the 15th of February 1707, "that as Trade is the producer of + correspondence, so trade is governed and influenced by the certainty and + quickness of correspondence." + +The packet stations at this time were four in number. Dover was closed. +Harwich and Falmouth were in full activity. Holyhead was a mere home +station for the transmission of the Irish correspondence; and, the +service being under contract, suffice it to say that the mails to Dublin +went twice a week and were transported with marked regularity. Of the +Harwich and Falmouth stations, managed as they were by the +postmasters-general, we propose to give some account. + +Each station was presided over by an agent, whose province it was to see +that the packets were properly equipped and victualled, to arrange the +order of sailing, to keep the captains to their duty, and generally to +maintain order and regularity among the unruly spirits of which the +establishment was composed. The outward mails, on their arrival from +London, were to be despatched, if for Holland or for Portugal, +immediately, and if for the West Indies, within two days; and, as soon +as they were put on board, weights were to be attached to them so that +they might be sunk at once if in danger of being taken by the enemy. So +important was this precaution held to be that, although enjoined in the +general instructions, it was continually insisted upon in particular +cases. "Be sure," write the postmasters-general to one of their agents, +"that before the captain sails, he prepares everything to sink the mail +in case he shall be attacked by the enemy that he can't avoid being +taken"; and to another, "We would have you take care to affix a +sufficient weight to the mail so soon as 'tis on board"; and to a third, +"We do not doubt but the mails will be ready slung with weights +sufficient to sink them in case of danger of falling into the enemy's +hands." Another rule to which the postmasters-general attached great +importance was that more than two mails were not to go by the same boat. +This rule, however, could not always be observed, for the boats had an +awkward habit of finding themselves on the wrong side, and, by the time +one had arrived, there was an accumulation of mails to be disposed of. + +The inward mails, as soon as they reached the port of arrival, were +forwarded to London by express. From Harwich the letters for the Court, +or State letters,[24] as they were now beginning to be called, were sent +in advance of the ordinary mail, arrangements having been made at the +Brill to put these letters into a special bag by themselves. From +Falmouth, where no provision had been made for distinguishing one class +of correspondence from another, the same express carried the whole. +When, as was sometimes the case, packets of documents reached the port +unenclosed with the rest of the letters, these were to be chained to the +"grand mail"; and on the label was always to be inserted the number of +passengers that had arrived by the boat, so that the postmasters along +the line of road might know for how many persons they had to provide +horses. Between Falmouth and London the mails when sent express +travelled at the rate of about five miles an hour; and this speed +appears to have been regularly maintained. Expresses to carry a single +letter or a message, or to overtake the Lisbon mail, were continually +passing to and fro, and these of course went faster. From Harwich the +mails would sometimes reach London in eleven hours, being at the rate of +six and a half miles an hour; but on this line of road there was so much +irregularity that the time ordinarily occupied in the journey cannot be +stated with certainty.[25] + + [24] In 1706, Court or State letters, for at this time the terms were + used indiscriminately, were defined to be letters directed to "the + Queen, His Royal Highness the Prince, the Lord High Treasurer, and the + two principal Secretarys of State and their clarks." Sometimes, but more + rarely, they were called "Queen's letters." + + [25] Here is one among many similar complaints addressed by the + postmasters-general to the packet agent at Harwich: "We admire to find + the two Bags with the States letters brought over by the Prince and + Dispatch which arrived at Harwich June 21st at 7 in the morning should + not be dispatcht till 10 the same day; as also at the comeing in of the + Mayls, one of which being dispatcht at 12 arrived here at 11 at night, + yet the other came not till 7 next morning." + +The seamen on board the packets were paid in no case more than 30s. a +month and generally less; but the employment carried with it one great +advantage. This was exemption from impressment. Even the carpenters +hired to do odd jobs when the boats were in harbour were furnished with +protection orders.[26] Partly on this ground, and partly, no doubt, on +account of the gains to be derived from contraband traffic, admission to +the packet service appears to have been eagerly sought. At one time, +indeed, it threatened to become a matter of patronage; but the +consequences of a first step in that direction effectually prevented +another. The _Godolphin_ packet had been taken and carried by the enemy +into St. Malo. Her captain, a brave and experienced officer, did not +hesitate to attribute the loss of his vessel to sheer cowardice on the +part of the crew. One, at the first shot that was fired, had run down to +the doctor and declared that he was wounded, whereas no sign of a wound +was to be found upon him; another had taken shelter behind the mainmast; +a third had been heard to declare that he would not hazard the loss of +his little finger to save the packet. This conduct, as unprecedented as +it was scandalous, led to a searching investigation, when it transpired +that the so-called sailors were, many of them, no sailors at all, but +mere landlubbers who had been taken on out of complaisance to the local +gentry. + + [26] The following is a specimen of the protection order given:-- + + To all Commanders and Officers of our Shipps, Pressmasters and others + whome it may concerne. + + JAMES R. + + You are not to imprest into our service any of the six persons hereunder + named belonging to the Jane of Dover, whereof Richard Moone is master, + the said vessell being employed in our service as a pacquett boate at + Dover. Given at our Court at Whitehall the 6th of October 1688. + + By His Majesty's Command. + + PEPYS + + 1. Anth. Deleau. + 2. Jasper Moore. + 3. David Williams. + 4. Pet. Foster. + 5. Dennis Matthew. + 6. Wm. Ambross. + + +Each packet boat carried its own surgeon. A surgeon was also provided +for the care of the sick on shore. This medical supervision was +remunerated by means of a capitation allowance, an allowance of so much +per head; but whereas it would now be in respect to all persons under +the surgeon's charge, whether well or ill, it was then only in respect +to those that were ill--1s. a day for each sick person and 6s. 8d. for +each cure--a mode of payment which did not perhaps conduce to a speedy +recovery. To provide for casualties, a fund was established, towards the +support of which each seaman contributed 10d. a month out of his pay. If +he were killed in action, provision was made for his widow, and, if he +were wounded, he received a small annuity or, as it was called, Smart +and Bounty money, the amount of which was nicely apportioned to the +nature of his injury. Thus-- + + For each arm or leg amputated above the elbow + or knee he would receive L8 0 0 a year. + For each arm or leg amputated below the elbow + or knee 6 13 4 " + For the loss of the sight of one eye 4 0 0 " + For the loss of the pupil of the eye 5 0 0 " + For the loss of the sight of both eyes 12 0 0 " + For the loss of the pupils of both eyes 14 0 0 " + +It is a ghastly bill of fare; and yet the sailors laid great store by +it. On one occasion, indeed, until assured that the transfer of a boat +to Dummer's management would not affect their claim to these annuities, +they absolutely refused to go to sea. + +With few exceptions, no passenger was allowed on board a packet boat +without a pass from the Secretary of State. The exceptions were +shipwrecked seamen, recruits, and officers in charge of recruits. +Shipwrecked seamen went free, free from any charge for passage-money or +for maintenance. Recruits and officers in charge of recruits not being +above the rank of lieutenant were charged for maintenance but not for +passage-money. All others, though furnished with a passport, paid or +were expected to pay for both. + +Of these rules, however, there would seem to have been no public +announcement, and this led to constant dispute and bickerings. An +interesting event was expected in one of the many English families +which at this time flocked to the Court of Portugal, and Dr. Crichton +was despatched to Lisbon with a cow. Furnished with a pass by the +Secretary of State he stoutly maintained his right to a free passage; +and this right the postmaster-general as stoutly disputed. Nor, assuming +the right to exist, could they conceal their surprise that under the +circumstances it should have been claimed. To demur to a paltry charge +of L4 indeed! Was it not notorious that for his mission to Portugal he +was to receive L1000? Lord Charlemont with a number of attendants had +crossed from Lisbon to Falmouth. The passage-money had been paid, and, +pleased with his entertainment, he desired to gratify the captain. The +captain's answer was to present a bill shewing what the entertainment +had cost, and, on payment being refused, he detained some valuable silks +which Lord Charlemont had consigned to his care. Lord Charlemont, on his +arrival in London, at once proceeded to Lombard Street and complained of +this treatment, when he learned for the first time that the +passage-money, which he had supposed to cover everything, was simply the +Queen's due, and that his entertainment had been provided at the +captain's own cost. + +Even the packet agents themselves appear to have been insufficiently +instructed. On one occasion the Queen's domestic servants on their +return from Lisbon, whither they had been despatched in attendance on +the Archduke Charles, were allowed to pass free. On another, +passage-money was omitted to be collected from some workmen who had been +sent to Portugal by the Board of Ordnance. In both cases the act of +their subordinate was repudiated by the postmasters-general. Proper as +it might be that the Queen's domestic servants should have their passage +provided--was this to be done at the expense of the Post Office? Forego +payment in this instance, and where were they to stop? They must press +their demand; and the demand was eventually satisfied. From the Board of +Ordnance they did not even attempt to recover, aware probably of the +futility of any such step; but the act of their agent in letting the +workmen pass free evoked an earnest remonstrance. Does not the Board of +Ordnance, they asked, charge us for the very powder we use; and yet, +forsooth, you take upon yourself to give to their workmen a free +passage. "Every office," they added--and the maxim might still, perhaps, +be observed with advantage--"ought to keep its own accompt distinct." + +But it was with officers of the army who were continually passing to and +fro that the most frequent disputes arose. They apparently did not +understand, and possibly the Post Office might have had some difficulty +in explaining, why lieutenants in charge of recruits should be exempt +from payment of fare and not officers of higher rank when employed on +similar business; or why indeed officers engaged in fighting their +country's battles should not have a free passage on board Her Majesty's +packets. It had been the custom not to collect the fares until the end +of the voyage; but it was found that, the voyage once accomplished, +payment of the fares was not uncommonly refused. Accordingly it was +determined that they should be collected beforehand, and that no officer +not being a recruiting officer and producing a certificate to that +effect should be received on board on trust. Recourse was thereupon had +to every sort of artifice in order to evade payment. Officers above the +rank of lieutenant would represent themselves as being of that rank, and +they would even enrol their own servants as recruits to make it appear +that they were engaged in recruiting business. + +Through Harwich, now that Dover was closed, lay the only route to the +Continent; and among the passengers frequenting this route were some to +whom, for one reason or another, special attention was given. Baron +Hompesch and Brigadier-General Cadogan are on their way to Holland. The +packet is to be detained "till Thursday noon, at which time they think +to reach Harwich." M. Rosenerantz, the Danish envoy, is returning to his +own country. No passengers are to be admitted on board until he and his +suite have been accommodated. A Queen's messenger is coming with "one +Castello," who is in custody. This person is to be made over to the +captain of the packet that sails next, and on arrival at the Brill is to +be set on shore. Dirick Wolters is expected from Holland, if indeed he +be not already arrived and secreted in Harwich. No pains are to be +spared to discover and apprehend him, and to secure the sealed box he +carries "directed to a person of note in London." + +Goods, like passengers, were not allowed to be carried by the packets +without the express permission of the Secretary of State; and this +permission was seldom given except in the case of presents to royal +personages and of articles for the use of persons of note residing +abroad. Hence, such things as the following were being continually +consigned to the care of the postmasters-general, with a request that +they might be forwarded by the next boat:-- + + Fifteen couple of dogs for the King of the Romans. + + Necessaries for Her Majesty the Queen-Dowager's service at Lisbon. + + Three pounds of tea from Lady Arlington for the use of Her Majesty + the Queen-Dowager of England. + + Two cases of trimming for the King of Spain's liveries. + + Two bales of stockings for the use of the Portuguese Ambassador. + + Three suits of clothes for some nobleman's ladies at the Court of + Portugal. + + A box of medicines for the use of the Earl of Galway. + +As the packets and everything on board of them were exempt from +examination by the Customs authorities, there are no means of knowing +how far a pass, where a pass had been obtained, was confined to its +ostensible object. But it is impossible not to entertain suspicions on +the subject. On one occasion the Portuguese envoy obtained permission to +send by the packet six cases, which he certified to contain arms for the +use of his Sovereign. The lightness of the packages when brought to the +scale excited suspicion, and on examination they were found to contain +not arms but dutiable goods. To a tradesman at Truro, in exception to +rule, a pass had been granted which authorised him to send by the Lisbon +packet ten tons of hats. Ten tons weight of hats, or what purported to +be hats, had long been exported, and yet more and more hats were being +regularly despatched by every packet. + +But although without passes goods and passengers were prohibited on +board the packets, it is certain that the prohibition was habitually +infringed. The packet agents' instructions were to keep a record of the +names and quality of all passengers, and to transmit a copy to London. +Even if this were a complete and faithful record, the postmasters-general +could not know that each passenger had produced his pass. The +Secretaries of State, however, appear to have possessed some means +of information unknown to the Post Office, and, in the matter of +passengers, they were continually complaining of the regulations being +broken. At one time it is Mr. Joseph Percival, a merchant of Lisbon, who +comes over without a passport--which, from the tenor of Lord +Sunderland's letter, the postmasters-general apprehend to be "an affair +of moment." At another it is a Mr. Jackson who, also without a passport, +crosses from Harwich to Holland. In this case Mr. Secretary Boyle +affirms that the packet agent received a bribe of two guineas. To let +passengers come by the Harwich packets without passports, he declares +later on, has become a common practice. + +In the matter of goods the evidence of irregularity is still stronger. +Captain Culverden of the _Queen_ packet boat brings into Falmouth +thirty-six bags and seven baskets of salt, and there lands it +clandestinely. Captain Rogers smuggles over twenty bags and one cask of +the same material. Captain Urin from the West Indies makes Plymouth +instead of Falmouth. Stress of weather is pleaded in excuse; but the +postmasters-general feel sure that he might have made Falmouth, had he +not "had private instructions otherwise." "We are uneasie," they say, +"thus to find the West India boats for the most part driven to Plymouth, +or to Liverpool or some port contrary to what is prescribed by our +instructions." + +But of all the captains there was none who in the audacity of his +proceedings equalled Francis Clies. Clies had recently succeeded his +father in the command of the _Expedition_ packet boat. On his very first +voyage home from Lisbon he was much behind time, having according to his +own account been driven upon the coast of Ireland. On his second voyage +he was later still. The time of his arrival at Falmouth had long passed, +and serious apprehensions began to be entertained for his safety. At +length a letter came from him dated at Kinsale, explaining that want of +provisions had obliged him to put in there. "We have," wrote the +postmasters-general, "very impatiently expected the arrival of the +_Expedition_, which has been very long wanting, and are much concerned +to find the second voyage even more tedious than the first; but are glad +to find her at last safe arrived." "We would know," they added, "for how +many days provisions had been put on board, and whether the _Expedition_ +sails not as well as formerly." Before a reply could be received to this +pertinent inquiry, the Commissioners of Customs had lodged at the Post +Office a formal complaint, in which Captain Clies was charged with +bringing over from Ireland several bales of friezes and other woollen +manufactures. The postmasters-general were deeply shocked. Not only was +this a breach of the packet boat regulations, but to transport goods +from what would now be one part of the United Kingdom to another was at +that time prohibited by law under heavy penalties. If this charge be +proved, they wrote to their packet agent at Falmouth, "we shall not be +much to seek why the captain should be two succeeding voyages forced +upon the coast of Ireland, when we have not had above one instance of +that kind besides himself during this war." Narrow as was Clies's escape +on this occasion, not four months elapsed before the postmasters-general +were again condoling with him on another "very tedious voyage." + +It may here be mentioned, as an instance of the inconsistency of human +nature, that, although the packets were not provided with chaplains, +there were two boats on board of which prayers were regularly said +every morning and evening, and that of these two boats the _Expedition_ +was one. + +Outwards as well as inwards the packet boats were, at the beginning of +the eighteenth century, carrying goods in defiance of regulation and of +law. Sir Paul Methuen, the author of the famous Commercial Treaty which +bears his name, was at that time our ambassador to Portugal. His +attention had been arrested by the large quantities of merchandise which +the packet boats were continually bringing over from England, and in +1705 he made to the postmasters-general a formal representation on the +subject. "In Lisbon," he stated, "there is a public market for English +goods as often as the boats come in." Nor was the allegation denied by +the persons implicated. They must, they said, live somehow. And this +plea, generally the refuge of the idle and worthless, had in it in the +present instance more force than might at first be supposed. The crews +of the packets were paid only once in six months, and, as a check upon +their conduct, six months' pay was always kept in arrear. Thus, before +receiving any pay at all they had to work twelve months, and even at the +expiration of twelve months there was not always money at hand with +which to pay them. + +At Harwich, there can be no doubt, the same malpractices were going on +as at Falmouth; but, owing to the almost unequalled facilities which the +east coast affords for clandestine traffic, detection less speedily +followed. In the movements of the packet boats there was much that was +mysterious. Their frequent disappearance for long periods together when +the wind was blowing from the quarter most favourable to their return, +and their occasional punctuality when the wind was contrary and they +were least expected, involved a contradiction which the +postmasters-general found it hard to reconcile. "In our whole +experience," they wrote to the packet agent on the 3rd of October 1704, +"the passage of the mails was never so unconstant as it has been this +last year." "You must be very sensible what reproach we have been +brought under" in consequence. The ink was hardly dry on their pen +before information reached them that on the 2nd of the month two packet +boats had returned to Harwich, of which one had been gone since the 10th +and the other since the 19th of September. Meanwhile the winds had been +fair, and had carried out the men-of-war and transports from Spithead. +"We have writ you so often," wrote the postmasters-general to the +laggard captains, "upon these neglects of yours," and you have paid so +little regard to our admonitions, that "you may expect to find when too +late that we are not to be trifled with." The effect of this caution, if +effect it had, was of short duration. "We are," they wrote only a few +months later, "under a perpetual uneasiness and distrust," on account of +the irregularity of the Harwich boats. "Our reputation has very much +suffered in consequence, and we are looked upon at Court as remiss in +our duty." Hitherto we have ever been ready to "take any appearance of +reason or probability to excuse the commanders, but do now, having had +these frequent provocations so often repeated, resolve to do justice to +ourselves, and to have no other regard than the merit of the service." +"Pray make inquiries," they say on another occasion, when no less than +three boats are unaccountably behind time. It is of no use writing to +Mr. Vanderpoel, "for he always favours the captains' pretences." Mr. +Vanderpoel was packet agent at the Brill. He had stood high in William's +favour, and was still drawing an allowance of L100 a year which, as an +act of grace, that King had bestowed upon him in addition to his salary. +"When we last waited on the Lord High Treasurer and Secretary of State," +wrote the postmasters-general again on the 14th of June 1705, "we found +them in their former opinion that there must be some secret more than +ordinary that the boats should so frequently when least expected make +their passage, and when the winds have in all appearance been most +favourable, the mails then most delayed." A secret no doubt there was; +but, profoundly dissatisfied as the postmasters-general were, no +suspicion appears to have crossed their minds that the packet boats were +engaged in other and more exciting pursuits than the transport of +mails. + +The captains of the packet boats were strictly forbidden to give chase. +Their instructions were to fight, if fight they must, to avoid fighting +wherever possible, and in no case to go in quest of adventure. In the +case of the Falmouth boats, carrying as they did a considerable number +of men and of guns, there can be little doubt that the prohibition was +habitually infringed. Even Cotton and Frankland, with all their +credulity, would seem to have entertained suspicions on the point; and +yet when notice was given them that a fat prize had been captured, their +instincts as Englishmen prevailed, and with a chuckle of satisfaction +they would accept the result of their servants' prowess without too +minutely inquiring into the circumstances under which that result had +been achieved. "Well done," they would say in effect. "We heartily +congratulate you. It has indeed been a tedious voyage; but of course you +did not pursue. This, as you are aware, would be contrary to our +instructions, which are to do nothing that might retard or endanger Her +Majesty's mails. We shall make known your gallantry to the Lord High +Treasurer, and move His Royal Highness the Prince to bestow on you some +signal mark of favour." The Prince was at this time Lord High Admiral, +and the captains of the packet boats having only sailing commissions, +were not, like the captains in the Royal Navy and the commanders of +letters of marque, entitled as of right to the prizes they took. These +were the perquisites of the Lord High Admiral, and were by him resigned +to the Queen. + +When a prize was captured, it was seldom taken in tow. This would have +retarded the progress of the mails. The practice was for the two +captains, the victor and the vanquished, to agree upon the amount of +ransom, and to give and receive bills for the amount, one or more +hostages being taken as security for payment. The agreement was reduced +to writing and made out in duplicate, so that each captain might have a +copy, and it set forth where and to whom the money was to be paid. As a +rule, the conditions appear to have been honourably observed. Some few +exceptions, no doubt, there were. In 1708 the _James_ packet was +captured, and, after the amount of ransom had been inserted in the +agreement, the French captain fraudulently altered the figures. A still +worse case occurred on the English side. The _Prince_ packet boat +captured a vessel which was ransomed for 2500 pieces of eight.[27] This +vessel, as it afterwards transpired, was plundered both before and after +the ransom was agreed upon; and, more than this, the English captain +refused or neglected to give her a protection order, the consequence +being that, subsequently falling in with some merchant ships, she was +taken and plundered again. But these were exceptions, and it is some +satisfaction to know that the last-mentioned captain was soon driven out +of the service.[28] + + [27] Equal to L562:10s. + + [28] This captain had long been noted for his truculent conduct. Here is + a letter which the postmasters-general had written to him two or three + years before:-- + + GENERAL POST OFFICE, _May 13, 1704_. + + CAPTAIN CHENAL--We received the mail from Portugal brought over by you + in the _Mansbridge_ packet boat which arriv'd here on Wednesday last. We + yesterday received your letter and journal of the said voyage, with the + certificate from the sailors who remained in the service the last + voyage. We are concern'd to find such differences among persons imploy'd + under us, but do think the best way to compose them is to advise every + one to mind their proper business and duty. We do think you may keep all + your officers and sailors to strict duty without so rugged a treatment + as is complain'd of. As we are desirous of good discipline, so are we of + good agreement, to which we would have our agent and yourself to + contribute your endeavours. + + We herewith send you a specimen of a method to keep an abstract of your + journal by which you would save yourself and us much trouble by + observing.--We are, your loving friends, + + R. COTTON. + T. FRANKLAND. + + +Pending payment of the ransom, the hostages were kept in prison. +Ordinarily, their confinement was not of long duration; and if we cite +an instance to the contrary, it is because it aptly illustrates the +rough-and-ready sort of justice which was administered in those days. +Clies, the captain of the _Expedition_, after many desperate +engagements in which he had come off victorious, had been forced at last +to strike his colours. Four French men-of-war had surrounded him, and +having lost his masts, he had no choice but to yield. The ransom agreed +upon was L550, and as security for payment of this amount the master of +the _Expedition_ and Clies's son, who was a midshipman on board the same +vessel, were taken as hostages. This was in February, and they did not +return to England until November. Meanwhile they had been imprisoned at +Cadiz, where they endured the severest privations. Cold and damp and the +want of the common necessaries of life, while affecting the health of +both, had permanently disabled the master and brought him to the point +of death. This appeared to the postmasters-general to be a case for +compensation. And yet whence was compensation to come? They were not +long in solving the question. It was a mere accident, they argued, that +these particular hostages had been selected. The selection might have +fallen upon any others of the ship's company. Yet these others had been +receiving their pay and enjoying their liberty. Surely it was for them +to compensate those at whose cost they had themselves escaped captivity +and its attendant horrors. Accordingly the ship's company were mulcted +in a whole month's pay, amounting to L118, of which sum the midshipman +received L20 and the master L98; and the decision appears to have evoked +neither murmur nor remonstrance. + +In one respect the two packet stations were conducted on different +principles. At Falmouth the agent was also victualler. At Harwich +victuals and all other necessaries were provided by the Post Office. +Neither plan was entirely free from objection. Where the agent was +victualler, he naturally desired to make what he could out of his +contract; and hence arose frequent complaints from the seamen as to both +the quantity and quality of their food. Nor were such undertakings well +adapted to those days of violent fluctuations of prices. The years 1709 +and 1710 were years of scarcity, during which the cost of all +provisions was nearly doubled. Fortunately, when the first of these +years arrived, the packet agent's contract to victual for a daily +allowance of 7d. a head had just expired, or the consequences to him or +to the seamen must have been disastrous. But, from a public point of +view, the chief drawback to the union of the offices of agent and +victualler was that the victualling arrangements were apt to interfere +with the movements of the boats. The _Prince_ packet boat was due to +start on a particular day, and to an inquiry whether she would not be +ready, the answer which the postmasters-general received was, "No; our +beer is not yet brewed." + +At Harwich the inconvenience of a contrary system, a system under which +the Post Office undertook its own victualling, was illustrated in a +striking manner. There no bill for provisions represented what the +provisions had really cost. To the actual cost was habitually added a +further sum, which, under the name of percentages, went into the pockets +of those by whom the order had been given. Of the extent to which these +overcharges were carried we are not informed in the particular case of +victuals; but other cases in which information is given will perhaps +serve as a guide. Holland-duck for the use of the packet boats was +brought over from Holland freight-free. Yet in Harwich the Post Office +was charged for it 2s. 2d. a yard. In London a yard of the same +material, freight included, cost 2s. In London the price of 1 cwt. of +cordage was 30s.; in Harwich it was 40s. For piloting a packet boat from +Harwich to the Downs the Post Office was charged L7. Inquiry at the +Admiralty elicited that for ships of the same size belonging to the +Royal Navy the charge never exceeded L3:15s. The plain truth seems to be +that both at Harwich and at Falmouth the packet agents were in the power +of the captains, and the captains in the power of the packet agents, and +that they all combined to impose upon the postmasters-general. + +Of the number of letters which the Harwich and Falmouth packets carried +we know little or nothing. In the one case we have absolutely no +information. In the other there remains on record a single letter-bill +applicable to a particular voyage. Of this letter-bill we will only +observe that, for reasons immaterial to the present purpose, it became +the subject of a good deal of correspondence, and it is not unreasonable +to suppose that, had the number of letters entered in it been much above +or much below the average, the point could hardly have escaped remark. +The document is as follows:-- + + 28 April 1705. + + Received on board the _Prince_ Packet Boat the following Packets + and letters. + + Zech: Rogers ... Commander. + + From my Lord Ambassador ... a Bag of Letters directed to Mr. + Jones.[29] + + Sixteen Packetts and letters for Her Majestie's Service. + + From the King of Spain ... a very large Packett. + For London and Holland ... Double and Single letters ... Two + hundred and ninety six. + + Thirteen Packetts Do. + + Devonshire letters ... Double and Single ... Twenty nine ... and + three Packetts. + For Falmouth ... Double and Single letters ... six. + Two mails for London. + + Outward-bound. + No Passengers. + + Homeward-bound. + One English Merchant. + Three Dutch Gentlemen. + Four poor sailors discharged from Her Majestie's Ship _Antelope_ + being incapable for the Service. + + + [29] The packet agent at Falmouth. + +There were persons who thought that the packet boats might well be +employed to do something more than carry to and fro a mere handful of +letters. Among those who held this opinion was Colonel Stanwix. He +contended that the Lisbon packets should be required to carry not only +the mails, but recruits for the English forces in Portugal. By transport +the fixed charge for each recruit was L4. This expense would be saved to +the public, and the regiments would receive additions to their strength +not fitfully, but at regular intervals. Subject to certain conditions, +the postmasters-general resolved to give the plan a trial. The +conditions were that not more than fifty recruits should go in one boat, +and that, instead of passing free, as Colonel Stanwix had proposed, they +should be charged L1 apiece--that is, 10s. for victualling, and 10s. for +freight. The experiment was attended with deplorable results. It was +midwinter. The recruits had been huddled together in Pendennis Castle, +under a strong guard, to prevent desertion. Half-naked and only half-fed +they were led or driven to the boat, and hardly were they on board +before the distemper broke out among them. Many fell victims to it; many +others, on arrival at Lisbon, were carried to the hospital, and even the +strongest among them were barely able to stagger ashore. The return +voyage was hardly less disastrous. The crew now took the disease, and as +they lay dying and dead upon the deck, a vessel of French build was to +be seen bearing down upon them. Resistance in the circumstances was out +of the question, and nothing remained but to save the guns. These, ten +in number, were with difficulty thrown overboard, and no sooner was the +task accomplished than the vessel, which had by this time come within +speaking distance, proved to be Her Majesty's ship _Assurance_. + +The liberty allowed to the Royal Navy to employ for its own purposes +prizes taken at sea did not extend to the packet service. The Post +Office was forbidden, under severe penalties, to use foreign bottoms. +Often had convenience and economy to yield to the stern dictates of the +law. Now it is a French shallop, admirably adapted for a packet boat, +which has to be discarded simply because it is French; and now an +express to Lisbon is on the point of being delayed because the regular +packets are on the wrong side, and the only boat to be hired in Falmouth +is not English built. + +On the 20th of September 1707 the Queen, attended by her Court, set out +for Newmarket. In this visit there was nothing unusual, but it will +serve as well as any other to demonstrate that the close connection +which had once subsisted between the posts and the Crown was not yet +completely severed. In attendance upon his royal mistress was +Court-post. This office, to which appointment was made by patent, had +until lately been held by Sir Thomas Dereham. Court-post's duty was to +carry letters between the Court and the nearest stage or post-town, a +duty deemed so arduous that his stipend had been recently doubled, and +now stood at L365 a year. At Newmarket and at Windsor, indeed, he had no +long distance to traverse, these towns being post-towns; but when the +Court was in London or at Hampton his journey was longer. In London he +had to carry the letters between Kensington or Whitehall and Lombard +Street; and when at Hampton, Hampton not being a post-town, he had to +carry them to and from Kingston. + +Besides Court-post there was now in the royal train the comptroller of +the London sorting office, William Frankland, son of one of the +postmasters-general. What Frankland's precise functions were we are not +informed, but he was, in the language of the time, "in attendance on Her +Majesty in the care of her letters." At Harwich, as soon as the mail +arrived from Holland, the seals of the bags were to be broken, and the +letters for the Court to be picked out and sent to Newmarket by express. +This was, in effect, to establish a cross-post at a time when +cross-posts did not exist. Moments, which would now be judged precious, +appear to have been then of little account. Of the letters before they +left Harwich the addresses were to be copied; and on arrival at +Newmarket the express was to take them, not to the Palace, but to the +Post Office, whither they were to be addressed under cover to Frankland. +The Post Office once reached, how Frankland and Court-post were to +adjust their respective duties is a point as obscure as it is, perhaps, +unimportant. At the present day, when the palace possesses no postal +facilities which are not enjoyed by the cottage, a single provision in +the Statute-book is all that is left to remind us that at one time the +posts were centred in the Sovereign. This provision, in exception to the +practice which jealously excludes the Sovereign's name from all parts +of an Act of Parliament except, indeed, the preamble, prescribes that +the posts shall be settled, not as the Secretary of State or the Lords +Commissioners of the Treasury may direct, but according to the +directions of Her Majesty. To Her Majesty alone the law still leaves the +supreme control over the posts, although it may well be believed that +the ministers would claim to act on her behalf.[30] + + [30] The provision is as follows: "And for the better management of the + Post Office, be it enacted that the postmaster-general shall observe + such orders and instructions concerning the settlement of Posts and + stages upon the several roads, Cross roads, and Byeways within the + United Kingdom and other Her Majesty's Dominions, as Her Majesty shall + from time to time give in that behalf."--1 Vic. cap. xxxiii. sec. 8. + +After the battle of Ramillies, which put the Confederates in possession +of Ostend, the packet service between England and Flanders, which had +been suspended four years before, was re-established. The result +disappointed expectations. The Government appear to have thought that it +was only necessary to revive the service and the correspondence would at +once resume its old proportions. But meanwhile the letters from Flanders +to England had found a new channel. No sooner had Ostend been closed +than they were diverted through Holland. To reverse this arrangement, +involving as it would a readjustment of the internal posts, must, in any +case, have been a work of time; and it was a work on which the Flemish +authorities were little likely to embark so long as the neighbourhood of +Ostend or any considerable portion of it remained in the enemy's hands. +Of all this the postmasters-general were perfectly well aware, and they +can have felt no disappointment that, on the first reopening of the +Ostend route, the letters passing that way were extremely few; but the +ministers, who had not the postmaster-generals' experience to guide +them, grew impatient with a service which was maintained at heavy cost, +and produced little or no return. Accordingly, having restored the +service in June, they discontinued it in August; and no sooner were the +boats dispersed than orders were given to restore it again. + +This sudden change of purpose, we think there can be little doubt, was +due to the influence of the Duke of Marlborough, who began about this +time to take a lively interest in the postal communication with +Flanders. Though not surprised at the meagreness of the correspondence, +the postmasters-general were little prepared to find that, after the +Confederates became masters of Ostend, the passage between that port and +Dover would be even less safe than it had been before. Yet such was the +case. The Flemish seamen, no longer able to obtain employment at home, +flocked across the French border and joined with their foes of yesterday +in preying upon the English shipping. As a consequence the Channel now +swarmed with privateers. On the 25th of January a Dover packet, named +_Ostend_ after the port to which she ran, was taken by a Nieuport +privateer of ten guns and eighty men. The captain who brought this +intelligence had himself had a narrow escape. Five privateers had +extended themselves from Nieuport to Ostend in order to intercept him, +and, after a sharp engagement, in which he was nearly captured, had +forced him to make Harwich. + +In this conjuncture the postmasters-general acted with remarkable +energy, but with little regard to what would now be considered official +propriety. Not content with making representations to the Secretary of +State, they wrote direct to the English ambassador at the Hague, +desiring him to urge upon the States of Flanders and Brabant the +necessity of at once fitting out three or four ships of the Ostend +squadron, with the twofold object of recalling the seamen to their duty +and of clearing the coast. They at the same time waited upon M. Van +Vrybergh, the envoy extraordinary from the States-General to the Court +of St. James', and exacted from him a promise that he would exercise his +influence in the same direction. But relief was soon to come, and from +an unexpected quarter. Lewis the Fourteenth, by way of creating a +diversion in the Netherlands, resolved to assist the Pretender in making +a descent upon Scotland, and with this view he assembled a squadron +before Dunkirk. England had no choice but to follow suit. Within an +incredibly short space of time she equipped a fleet, and this fleet, +under the command of Sir George Byng, left Deal for Dunkirk in the +spring of 1708. How the Pretender evaded Byng, and how Byng pursued the +Pretender and frustrated his object, are matters of history; but what +concerns us at the present moment is that, before starting in pursuit, +Byng detached a squadron for the purpose of bringing over some of the +English troops which were about to be embarked at Ostend. It is probable +that this squadron, after its immediate object had been accomplished, +remained in or about the Channel, for after this time we hear no more of +depredations on the Post Office packets. + +Experience shews that there is a class, and not an inconsiderable class, +of persons who, in time of war, find it hard to reconcile themselves to +the pursuits of peace. John Macky, the packet agent at Dover, was one of +these. The proximity of the battle-field, its easy access from Dover, +and the stirring accounts arriving by every packet fired his imagination +and filled him with martial ardour. Under the influence of this +excitement he addressed a memorial to the postmasters-general, praying +that he might be commissioned to go over to Flanders and settle posts +for the army. This application he appears to have supported by the most +unfortunate arguments. He urged not that it was a thing in itself +reasonable and proper that the army should have posts of its own, and +that his experience might be useful in establishing them, but that at +Dover, though his salary was comparatively high, he had little or +nothing to do, and that the commission for which he asked would give him +employment more congenial to his tastes. The postmasters-general could +not conceal their astonishment at the audacity of the proposal and the +grounds on which it was based. "We were never before made sensible," +they wrote, "that the business of the agent to the packet boats at Dover +was so very inconsiderable as you have represented it to be, nor do we +think that for so inconsiderable a business so high a salary can be +needed." "We can only say," they added, "that if the present allowance +be too much for the work, or if the employ be too mean for your +expectations, we doubt not but that we shall be able to find those who +will thankfully accept the post with an allowance that is much less." + +But Macky's restlessness was not to be subdued by a mere admonition. As +he could not prevail on the postmasters-general to send him to Flanders +on official business, he asked to be allowed to go on his own account. +This permission they readily gave, accompanying it, however, with a +remarkable caution. "We must expect," they said, "that you do not +intermeddle in any ways upon the business of the Flanders +correspondence, or enter into any sort of treaty for the port of letters +or jobbing of places which may bring us under any inconveniencys or our +authority under any disreputation. We expect you take particular caution +of these matters and wish you a good journey." + +Within four months from the date of this caution Macky's relations to +the Post Office had greatly altered. To the position of packet agent he +now added that of contractor, having undertaken himself to provide for +the Dover and Ostend service. For the sum of L2000 a year he was to +supply four boats between twenty and thirty tons each, and to be at all +risks from sea and enemy. One effect of this arrangement, by which Macky +the contractor was to be controlled by Macky the packet agent, was to +prolong his visit to Flanders. Under the pretext of keeping the captains +to their duty he remained there until March or April 1708, when he +returned to England, after an absence of eight or nine months. Meanwhile +the packets to Ostend, like those to Holland and to Portugal, had been +engaged in illicit practices. According to a complaint received from the +Commissioners of Customs immediately before Macky's return, clandestine +traffic was being systematically carried on, and the very last boat that +had arrived had brought parcels of lace concealed in the flap of the +mail. The postmasters-general were deeply annoyed. "Let this go on," +they exclaimed, "and the mails themselves will be searched, to the great +scandal of the office and of our management." + +We have been thus particular in recording Macky's movements, because in +connection with the service under his control an incident now occurred +which brought the Post Office into serious discredit. The +postmasters-general, in virtue of their office, which gave them control +over the communications of the country, were in the habit of receiving +priority of intelligence; and this at a time when intelligence travelled +slowly and the means of disseminating it did not exist or existed only +in the rudest form. Hence they acquired an importance which the mere +office of postmaster-general, as that office is now understood, would +not have conferred. An interest attached to them as to men who were +reputed to possess exclusive information. They were welcome at Court, +and not only welcome but often anxiously expected. Indeed, to act as +purveyor of news to the Court had come to be regarded as one and by no +means the least important of their duties; and with a view to its more +effectual discharge their agents throughout the country had standing +orders to send to headquarters the earliest intimation of any remarkable +event that might happen in their locality. When any one of these persons +was venturesome enough to send to his chiefs a present, the thanks he +received were of the coldest,--"We thank you for the snuff," or, "We +thank you for the port wine," and then was pretty sure to follow a sharp +rebuke for some trifling irregularity, which, except for the present, +would probably have passed unnoticed. But when a piece of news was sent, +the thanks were warm and hearty; and woe betide the unfortunate agent +who had news to send and omitted to send it. "We observe you give us no +advice of the fleet under Sir George Byng being seen off Falmouth the +28th, tho' we saw letters from Falmouth which advised thereof. We are +desirous to have the first advice of any remarkable news." "We received +two Flanders mails on Sunday morning, and therewith your letter of the +5th advising of the Duke of Marlborough's being arrived at Flushing, for +which account we thank you." "We do heartily congratulate your safe +return, and do thank you for being so full and particular in the +advices you have given us of what occurrences have come to your +knowledge." "We are obliged to you for the news of the Nassau and +Burford's prizes of which we had received advice before by some galleys +from Gibraltar, and for your kind promise of communicating to us any +considerable occurrences that may happen in your parts." "We thank you +for sending us an account of all news and remarkable occurrences in your +letters which we desire may be sent in the mails or annext to the +labels." "We cannot but take very ill the captain's conduct on this +occasion, for Mr. Bowen's intentions in sending his son over to bring so +great a piece of news as that of the victory[31] to us ought to be +esteemed as a great piece of civility, and, if the captain had not +refused to sail when Mr. Bowen pressed him, we might have had the +satisfaction of carrying the first account of that victory." + + [31] The victory at Oudenarde. Who Mr. Bowen was we are not informed. + +It was in the early summer of 1709, when this greed after news was at +its height, that intelligence of vast import to the country was expected +to arrive in London. Preliminaries of peace, after being arranged in +Flanders, had been forwarded to Paris for confirmation. Would the King +sign them? Or must the war which had already lasted more than six years +be continued? A period of anxious suspense followed. The exhaustion of +France, and the humiliating terms which were sought to be imposed upon +her, made it certain that there would be neither ready acceptance nor +ready rejection; and yet the latest date had passed on which a decision +was expected and none had arrived. London was in a fever of expectation. +Each mail from Ostend, as it reached the Post Office in Lombard Street, +was eagerly seized and opened. The month of May was drawing to a close. +On Saturday the 28th there was not only no news but no mail. Sunday came +and, to the consternation of the postmasters-general, there was still no +mail. The wind was in the right quarter. At Harwich the packets from +Holland were arriving regularly. What could hinder the passage from +Ostend? At length on Monday the 30th a mail arrived, and with it the +news. The King had refused to sign the preliminaries of peace. Frankland +and Evelyn[32] hurried off to the Lord Treasurer. Little were they +prepared for the reception that awaited them. Godolphin's words have +unfortunately not been preserved, but we know the substance of them. The +news, he said, had reached the city the day before, having been conveyed +there clandestinely. The packet agent or sub-agent at Ostend had sent +it. Of this he held in his hand conclusive evidence. What means had been +employed, and whether others were concerned in the nefarious +transaction, it was for his hearers to ascertain; and the sooner they +addressed themselves to the task the better. In short, the power of the +purse had again prevailed, and the Post Office had been outwitted by the +Stock Exchange. + + [32] Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Evelyn had recently succeeded Sir Robert + Cotton as postmaster-general. + +It is difficult to suppose that the intelligence can have been conveyed +from Ostend to London without Macky's connivance. And yet Frankland and +Evelyn believed or affected to believe that he had had no hand in the +business. Their position was, no doubt, one of embarrassment. Organised +as the Post Office then was, they possessed no means of making an +independent investigation. They contented themselves, therefore, with +calling upon Macky to ascertain and report how it was that a letter from +Ostend had reached London on Sunday, although on that day there had been +no mail. The result might easily have been foreseen. Brown, the +sub-agent at Ostend, whose letter it was, stood self-condemned, and +Macky was required to dismiss him. And here the scandal ended. Macky's +own character, with himself as reporter, may be presumed to have been +cleared. At all events he appears to have been taken back into +confidence, and, before many weeks were over, the postmasters-general +had despatched him on an important mission. + +This mission was no other than to lay down posts for the army in +Flanders. The tardiness with which intelligence arrived from the seat of +war had long been matter of complaint. In the city especially the +dissatisfaction had been intense, and the recent scandal had not been +calculated to allay it. With a view to remedy this state of things, +Godolphin called upon the postmasters-general to devise some means for +securing more rapid communication. The army was now in the neighbourhood +of Lisle, and operations were about to begin anew. There was, therefore, +no time to be lost. The postmasters-general had recourse to Macky, and +in a few days he produced a plan with which Godolphin expressed himself +highly pleased. Between Lisle and Ostend, and between Ostend and other +places where the army might be, stages were to be settled; at each stage +were to be relays of horses with postilions ready to start at any +moment; responsible persons were to be appointed to collect and deliver +the letters and to receive the postage; and the postage was to be +regulated by distance and to be at the same rates as in England, and to +go to the English Post Office. + +Macky, to his extreme gratification, was commissioned to carry out his +own plan. He was to repair at once to Flanders, to report himself to the +Duke of Marlborough, and, having obtained his sanction, to proceed with +the arrangement of details. Above all, he was to keep a close watch upon +the sailing of the packets from Ostend, and to insist upon a rigid +punctuality. From this time no more complaints were heard of the tardy +arrival of intelligence from the seat of war. As postilions were +employed on one side of the water, so expresses were employed on the +other; and these, with punctual sailings between port and port, +constituted a service which for those days might be considered +excellent. + +At first, indeed, the employment of expresses from Dover to London +appears to have been a little overdone, and the postmasters-general, +eager as they were to obtain early intelligence, found it necessary to +regulate the practice. An express had arrived bringing a letter from +Macky in Flanders. "Altho' we should be very well satisfied," they wrote +to his deputy at Dover, "to receive an extraordinary piece of good news +by a messenger hired for greater dispatch' sake, yet on ordinary +occasions it might be more warrantable and make less noise and +expectation to have the same sent by a flying pacquet under cover to us +annext to the labell." This was written in August 1709, within six weeks +of Macky's arrival in Flanders; and we know of no passage in the whole +of the Post Office records which more forcibly brings home to us the +difference between the London of to-day and the London of 180 years ago. +Crowds no longer congregate at the doors of the Post Office eagerly +waiting for news; nor is the neighbourhood of St. Martin's-le-Grand +transported with excitement at the approach of a man on horseback. + +On the cessation of hostilities at sea, which took place in the summer +of 1712, although the Treaty of Utrecht was not signed until the +following year, the postmasters-general proceeded to put the packets on +a peace footing. The boats from Harwich to the Brill and from Dover to +Ostend were reduced in number. The routes between Dover and Calais and +between Dover and Dunkirk were reopened. The service between Falmouth +and Lisbon, which during the war had been once a week, was now to be +only once a fortnight; and the five boats engaged on this service, as +carrying more hands than would any longer be necessary, were to be +disposed of by public sale and their place to be taken by three of the +largest from Harwich. The result of these several changes was to reduce +the establishment, in point of numbers, by rather more than 120 men, +and, in point of cost, from L21,960 to L15,632. As affecting the cost, +hardly less important than the reduction of numbers was the permission +now given to the packet boats to resume the carriage of merchandise. +This was a source of profit to which the postmasters-general had long +been looking as some set-off against the heavy expense. + +Meanwhile Dummer's contract for the West India service had come to an +abrupt termination. That contract had not been long in force before he +began to realise how onerous was the condition that, out of a total sum +of L12,500, he should receive only L4500 in money, and depend, for the +difference on fares, freight, and postage. The postage, which from the +first had fallen short of his expectations, did not increase; and the +fact of his having, within a few months from the commencement of his +undertaking, lost three of his boats, procured for him--what in the +world of commerce is almost incompatible with success--the reputation of +an unlucky man. The West India merchants enjoined their correspondents +on no account to send goods by Dummer's boats. Thus the profits which he +had expected to derive from freight had no more existence in fact than +the profits from postage. Hoping against hope, Dummer struggled on; but +ill-luck continued to pursue him. In little more than five years he lost +no less than nine boats. In order to replace them he mortgaged his +property to the full extent of its value and obtained advances on his +quarterly allowance. This, of course, could not go on, and at length the +crash came. The day had arrived for the West India mail to be +despatched, and there was no boat to carry it. The whole of Dummer's +property, boats included, had been seized for debt. The rest is soon +told. The mortgagees, believing that they had the postmasters-general in +a corner, refused to continue the service except at a preposterous +charge, which Frankland and Evelyn declined to pay. Fortunately three +private ships with consignments for the West Indies were then loading at +Teignmouth and other ports in the south-west of England, and these +relieved the Post Office from what might otherwise have been a serious +dilemma. + +Bankrupt and broken-hearted, Edmund Dummer died in April 1713, within +eighteen months of the termination of his contract. It is his honourable +distinction that he succeeded in all that he undertook for others, and +that it was only in what he undertook for himself that he failed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AMERICAN POSTS + +1692-1707 + + +American progress has long been the wonder of the world, and in nothing +perhaps has it displayed itself more remarkably than in the matter of +the posts. The figures which the United States Post Office presents to +us year after year--figures as compared with which even those of the +Post Office of Great Britain fall into insignificance--make it difficult +to believe that only two hundred years ago an enterprising Englishman +was struggling to erect a post between New York and Boston. + +An Order in Council dated the 22nd of July 1688, after prescribing the +rates of postage to be charged not only between England and the island +of Jamaica, but within the island itself, ended with these words: "And +His Majesty is also pleased to order that letter offices be settled in +such other of His Majesty's plantations in America as shall by the said +Earle of Rochester be found convenient for His Majesty's service, and +the ease and benefitt of his subjects, according to the method and rates +herein settled for His Majesty's island of Jamaica." + +Nearly four years later, namely, in February 1692, Thomas Neale obtained +a grant from the Crown authorising him to set up posts in North America. +The grant was secured by letters patent, which were to hold good for +twenty-one years. Neale, who appears never to have set foot out of +England, appointed as his representative in America Andrew Hamilton; or +rather, as the patent required, Neale nominated and the +postmasters-general appointed him. The patent also required that at the +expiration of three years Neale should render an account showing his +receipts and expenditure; but it was not until the year 1698 that this +condition was fulfilled, and in the same year Hamilton came to England +to report progress. + +By this time a post, to run once a week, had been established along +seven hundred miles of road, from Boston to New York, and from New York +to Newcastle in Pennsylvania. What the postage rates were we do not +know, except indeed that the charge on a letter between New York and +Boston was 1s. On other points the account which Hamilton furnished on +Neale's behalf gives full information. A salary of L20 a year is paid to +"Mr. Sharpus that keeps the letter office at New York." Mr. Sharpus also +receives two allowances, one of L110 a year "for carrying the mail +half-way to Boston," and another of L60 "for carrying the mail from New +York to Philadelphia." Of the former allowance, Hamilton states that +after the 4th of November 1696 he "retrenched" it from L110 to L90. +There is also a salary of L10 "allowed to him that keeps the letter +office at Philadelphia"; and "an allowance of L100 sterling per annum +given by Mr. Neale himself to Peter Hayman, deputy-postmaster of +Virginia and Maryland." Hamilton's own salary was L200, and his +travelling expenses are thus stated in his account:-- + + To my expense of a journey from New York to Road + Island, Boston, and eastward of it and back again, + when I settled the Post Office there L50 0 0 + + To my expense of a journey from New York to Maryland + and Virginia and back again to settle the + office there 50 0 0 + + To several other journeys and incident charges relating + to the Post Office 16 18 0 + +In America as in England, from the first erection of the posts, the +correspondence went on steadily increasing year after year. Thus, in the +first year beginning the 1st of May 1693 the "New York Post" produced +L61; in the second, L82; in the third, L93; and in the fourth year, +ending the 1st of May 1697, it produced L122. The same progress is to be +seen in what were called the "Boston, Road Island, Connecticut and +Piscataway Posts." In the first two years beginning also in May 1693 +these produced L296 or at the rate of L148 a year; in the third year +they produced L227; and in the fourth, L298. The returns of the +Philadelphia post also kept improving; but here Hamilton encountered +difficulties of management, as will be seen by his own entries:-- + + By the produce of the Philadelphia post from the 22nd + of August 1693 to the 23rd of April 1694, at + which time I was forced to change the Postmaster L10 9 6 + + By the produce of the same post from the 23rd of April + 1694 to the 13th of February 1697, at which time + I was forced to change the Postmaster again 105 3 7 + +The Virginia and Maryland posts were the single exception. Of these +Hamilton records "The Virginia and Maryland posts never yielded +anything, but cost Mr. Neale near L600." However much these posts might +be improved, he dared not reckon upon the correspondence exceeding one +hundred letters a year. + +There is only one more entry which we will quote from Hamilton's +account. It is this:-- + +By cash which the Postmaster of New York gathered + up upon the road in Connecticut for letters L6 16 0 + +Promising as the prospect was on the whole, Neale's receipts from the +posts fell far short of his expenses in erecting and maintaining them. +His expenses up to May 1697 were L3817, and his receipts L1457, leaving +him not only out of pocket to the amount of L2360, but with his means +and his credit exhausted. It was admitted on all hands that the posts +must before long become self-supporting, even if they should not prove +remunerative. But meanwhile how were they to be carried on? Hamilton had +his own plan to propose. This was first that within America the postage +rates should be raised, and "that the post and his horse should go +fferry-free"; and second, that between England and America rates should +be settled, and that shipmasters should be required on the other as on +this side of the Atlantic to take their letters at once to the Post +Office of the port at which they first touched, and hand them to the +postmaster, receiving as remuneration one penny a letter. + +For inland letters the increased rates which Hamilton proposed were as +follows, all but the first two entries being in his own words:-- + + Pence. + + Where the distance from New York does not exceed 80 miles 6 + Where it exceeds 80, and does not exceed 150 miles 9 + To and from Boston and New York, 300 miles 12 + To and from Boston and Jersey, 370 miles 18 + To and from Boston and Philadelphia, 390 miles 20 + To and from Boston and Annapolis in Maryland, 550 miles 36 + To and from Boston and James Towne in Virginia, 680 miles 42 + To and from New York and Annapolis, 250 miles 24 + To and from New York and James Towne, 380 miles, and many + broad and dangerous bays and rivers to be ferryed over 30 + +It may surprise our readers to learn that between England and America +there actually existed, 200 years ago, what now is little more than the +dream of the postal reformer,--an ocean penny postage. Yet such is the +fact. In 1698 it was the custom of the masters of ships bound for +America to hang up bags in coffee-houses, and any letters that might be +dropped into these bags they carried, and were glad to carry, over for +one penny or twopence a letter, according as it was a single or a double +one. This custom, as Hamilton pointed out, was liable to abuse. In the +first place, any one who had put a letter into a coffee-house bag might, +under pretence of wanting his own letter back, possess himself of the +letter of somebody else. And secondly, on arrival in America, the +shipmasters being under no obligation to make a prompt delivery, were +apt to deliver the letters, not when they reached a port, but when they +were on the point of leaving it, and after they had disposed of their +lading. All this would be remedied if rates of postage were settled +between England and America. The letters would then be in the custody of +the Post Office until delivered to the shipmaster, and the shipmaster +would be bound to restore them to the same custody as soon as he +arrived at his destination. + +But Hamilton's main argument in favour of establishing sea-rates of +postage was the impossibility of things remaining as they were. Neale +was without resources, and the posts were not self-supporting. Unless, +therefore, some means should be devised for increasing the receipts, the +posts must be given up. Let sea-rates be imposed, and the receipts would +be increased at once, for all letters from Europe, which on arrival in +America were now being delivered by private hand, would then fall into +the post, and be forced to pay American postage. It was true that +between the mother country and her colonies a packet service did not +exist, and that to impose a charge where no service was rendered in +return would be contrary to Post Office usage; but the object to be +gained was too important to allow this consideration to prevail. Such +were the arguments by which Hamilton supported his proposal that on +letters between England and America postage should be charged--of 6d. +for a single letter, 1s. for a double letter, and 1s. 6d. for "a +packet." + +There were one or two points on which Cotton and Frankland did not agree +with Hamilton. Experience had taught them, as they stated on another +occasion, that the way to improve the Post Office revenue was to "make +the intercourse of letters easy to people." So now, in their +representation to the Treasury, they condemned the inland rates which +Hamilton proposed as altogether too high. They had been long enough at +the Post Office, they said, to know that "the easy and cheap +corresponding doth encourage people to write letters, and that this +revenue was but little in proportion to what it is now till the postage +of letters was reduced from 6d.[33] to 3d." + + [33] This is an allusion to the period antecedent to 1657. + +Hamilton had contemplated the passing of a fresh Act of Parliament in +order to impose sea-rates and to oblige shipmasters to give up their +letters as soon as they reached port. Cotton and Frankland were not +satisfied that a fresh Act of Parliament was necessary; nor did they +express any opinion as to the particular rates which should be imposed. +They recommended, however, the appointment of an officer whose duty it +should be "to take care of" all letters for America, and to put them +into a special bag to be sealed with the office seal. Public notice +should at the same time be given prohibiting the collection of such +letters by other persons. To the shipmaster to whom the bag might be +delivered the inducement to take it without delay to the Post Office of +the port at which he should first arrive would be that he would there +receive one penny for each letter the bag might contain. Hitherto, under +the coffee-house arrangement, the penny had been paid in England; for +the future, it would be paid in America. In other words, the shipmaster, +instead of receiving his recompense in advance, would receive it after +his work was done and only provided it was done properly. + +On one point the postmasters-general held a decided opinion. Towards the +support of the posts the Government of New York had made an annual +contribution of L50, in consideration of which the Government letters +appear to have been carried free; but otherwise Neale's undertaking had +not received from the authorities that countenance and support which, in +Cotton and Frankland's opinion, were essential to its success. They +expressed themselves convinced that, for want of due encouragement, the +posts would never prosper in private hands, and recommended that they +should be transferred to the Crown. + +Whether any, and if so, what action was taken upon the +postmaster-general's representation we do not know. There is some reason +to think that between England and America sea-rates of postage were +settled, as had been done a few years before in the case of Jamaica; but +we possess no certain information on the point. All we know is that, +upon Neale being informed of the postmaster-general's opinion that the +inland posts should be transferred to the Crown, he immediately offered +to surrender his patent, and that the offer was not accepted. The +payment he demanded was either a capital sum of L5000 or else L1000 a +year for life or for the unexpired term of his grant. + +Hamilton returned to America. The next we hear of him is in 1700. Neale +was then dead, having shortly before his death assigned his interest in +the posts as security for his debts. To Hamilton he owed L1100, and to +an Englishman of the name of West he owed for money advanced L200; and +into the hands of these two persons, in default of any one willing to +act as Neale's executor or administrator, the posts now came. In April +1703 Hamilton also died; and for three or four years his widow carried +on the posts at her own charge. + +In 1706 Mrs. Hamilton and West urged that their patent, which had seven +and a half years yet to run, might be enlarged for a further term of +twenty-one years, and that they might have permission to set up packet +boats between England and America. To this Cotton and Frankland were +opposed, being still of opinion that the posts should not remain in +private hands; and they recommended, as a more politic measure, that the +patent should be purchased for L1664, a sum which the patentees had +expressed themselves willing to accept. Whether this was the sum +actually given we know not; but in the following year the patent was +surrendered and the posts of America became vested in the Crown. + +In connection with the transfer John Hamilton, Andrew's son, was +appointed to his father's place of deputy postmaster-general, and this +appointment he retained until 1722, when he resigned. It was then and +not until then that the posts became self-supporting. "We have now," +write the postmasters-general on the 10th of August in that year, "put +the Post Office in North America and the West Indies upon such a foot +that for the future, if it produce no profit to the revenue, it will no +longer be a charge to it, but we have good reason to hope there will be +some return rather from thence." + +Such, hardly 200 years ago, were the humble beginnings of a Post Office +with which, in the magnitude and diversity of its operations, no other +in the world can now compare. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE POST OFFICE ACT OF 1711 + + +In 1707, on the passing of the Act of Union between England and +Scotland, the first step taken by the postmasters-general was to alter +the colours of the packets. The cross of St. Andrew, with its blue +ground, united with the red cross of St. George, now became the national +ensign; and the packets no less than the ships of the Royal Navy were +under obligation to carry it. + +The Post Office in Scotland was at this time held in farm at a rent of +L1194 a year. The lease expired on the 11th of November, and from that +date the postmasters-general held themselves responsible for the Scotch +no less than the English posts. They at once proceeded to frame an +establishment. George Main, the farmer, was appointed deputy-postmaster +of Edinburgh at a salary of L200, this being the amount which one year +with another he had made out of his contract. Three persons were +appointed to assist him, an accomptant and two clerks. These, with three +letter-carriers at a crown a week each, and a postmaster at the foot of +the Canongate, constituted the Edinburgh establishment. + +In the country there were thirty-four postmasters, of whom only twelve +were paid by salary, the remaining twenty-two receiving as their +remuneration a certain proportion of the postage on inland letters. +Thus, three had one-half of this postage, one had one-third, and +eighteen had one-fourth. The highest salaries were given to the +postmasters of Haddington and Cockburnspath, who received L50 apiece, +the reason being no doubt that these two towns were on the direct line +of road between Edinburgh and London. At Aberdeen, the postmaster's +salary was L28; at Glasgow, L25; at Dundee, Montrose, and Inverness, +L15; and at Dumfries and Ayr, L12. Runners[34] at a fixed charge were +maintained between town and town--as, for instance, between Edinburgh +and Aberdeen at L60 a year, between Aberdeen and Inverness at L30 a +year, and between Inverness and Thurso at L18 a year: but except at +Edinburgh there was no letter-carrier, and except between Edinburgh and +Berwick there was no horse-post north of the Tweed. The establishment +charges for the whole of Scotland, Edinburgh included, were less than +L1000 a year. + + [34] These runners or post-boys carried the mail through the whole + journey, resting by the way. It was not, according to common repute, + until about the year 1750 that the mail began to be carried from stage + to stage by different post-boys. + +But something more was necessary than to frame an establishment and to +alter the colours of the packets. Serious doubts had arisen whether, as +the law stood, the postmasters-general of England were competent to deal +with the posts of Scotland; and, this vital consideration apart, between +the two divisions of the kingdom certain inequalities existed which only +fresh legislation could redress. Under the Scotch Act of 1695 the +postage on a single letter between Edinburgh and Berwick was 2d. Under +the English Act of 1660, 2d. would carry a single letter from Berwick +northwards for only forty miles, and considerably more than forty miles +separated Berwick from Edinburgh. This difference arose no doubt from +mere inaccuracy of reckoning on the English side; and yet it was one +which nothing less than a new Act, an Act by the united Parliament, +would adjust. + +It is the more singular that at this time the postmasters-general should +not have taken steps to promote legislation, because, in connection with +the English no less than the Scotch Post Office, there were several +matters on which fresh legislation had become necessary. The statute on +which the very existence of the Post Office itself depended had been +found difficult to deal with, on account of its loose and ambiguous +wording. The postage to America and the West Indies rested on no legal +sanction. For the pence paid upon ship-letters the postmasters-general +had no authority to produce, and the auditors had threatened to +disallow, the payment. Even the penny post was of doubtful legality. The +Courts had indeed decided that Dockwra's undertaking was an infraction +of the rights of the Crown; but they had not decided, nor had they been +called upon to decide, whether in the hands of the Crown the same +undertaking would be legal. The law, as it stood, prescribed no postage +lower than twopence. By the penny post the postage was one half of that +amount. + +With these and other matters requiring adjustment, it might well be +supposed that the postmasters-general would have been glad of the +opportunity which the Act of Union afforded to set their house in order. +Yet, so far from taking any steps in that direction, they now remained +perfectly passive. Of the reason for this inaction we are not informed; +but we venture to suggest an explanation. Cotton and Frankland were +advocates of cheap postage. Should fresh legislation be entered upon, +what guarantee had they that postage would not be made dearer? So far, +indeed, as they could judge, such was much more likely than not to be +the case. As early as William's reign they had been asked to estimate +how much an additional penny of postage would produce; and the +necessities of the Civil List which had prompted the inquiry had since +become more and more pressing. + +It is not impossible that there was another, though subordinate, reason. +Between Whitehall and Lombard Street communications had been passing +from time to time, which might fairly raise the presumption that +advantage would be taken of any fresh Act to insert a clause under which +all Post Office servants, the postmasters-general included, would be +disfranchised. Cotton and Frankland, who still retained their seats, the +one for Cambridgeshire, and the other for the borough of Thirsk, were +not the men to be deterred by personal considerations from doing what +they conceived to be their duty; but if on principle they objected to an +increase in the rates of postage, it was little calculated to reconcile +them to a measure which they regarded as mischievous that, as a probable +consequence of its introduction, they would lose their seats. But be the +reason what it might, the fact remains that, whereas at one time they +were continually suggesting the propriety of fresh legislation in order +to clear up ambiguities in the existing statute, no such suggestion had +been recently made, and they now remained perfectly silent. + +Thus matters stood when, in October 1708, or a year and a half after the +Act of Union had passed, an incident occurred which made silence no +longer possible. Letters of Privy Seal had been issued granting salaries +payable out of the revenue of the Scotch Post Office to certain +professors of the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and warrants +for payment of these salaries were sent to Lombard Street to be signed. +The postmasters-general, being in doubt whether their signature would be +valid, took the precaution of consulting the law officers. The law +officers' opinion, which was not given until the end of December, must +have struck dismay into the hearts of those who sought it. It was to the +effect that the postmasters-general of England could not act as +postmasters-general of Scotland until they had been to Edinburgh and +taken the oaths prescribed by the Scotch law. A journey to Edinburgh in +those days, especially in the depth of winter, was no light undertaking. +But this was not all. And as soon--the opinion proceeded--as they have +taken the oaths and qualified as postmasters-general of Scotland, they +will cease to be postmasters-general of England. + +The warrants were returned to the Treasury unsigned. And now that +silence had once been broken, the postmasters-general offered suggestion +after suggestion, each having for its object to remove the difficulty. +Might not a clause be inserted in some bill now before Parliament, a +clause under which they should be constituted postmasters-general of +Great Britain, and be given jurisdiction over the Scotch as over the +English Post Office? Would not the Scotch bill for drawbacks answer the +purpose, or if that were likely to be displeasing to the North British +members, some one of the many money-bills that were then pending? Would +not the requirements of the law be satisfied if for the management of +the Scotch Post Office some one were appointed by letters patent under +the Privy Seal of Scotland, and placed under the orders of the +postmasters-general of England? Or in view of a recent Act passed by the +united Parliament, might not the English postmasters-general themselves +be so appointed? To these suggestions, of which the first was made in +December 1708, and the last in April 1710, the Lord Treasurer returned +no reply. It was clear that Godolphin had other intentions. + +Meanwhile events had taken place in London which must have gone far to +convince the postmasters-general that, impolitic as an increase in the +rates of postage might be, the need for fresh legislation was urgent. +Charles Povey had set up a halfpenny post or, as he called it himself, a +"half-penny carriage." For the sum of one halfpenny he undertook to do +what Dockwra had done, and what the postmasters-general were now doing, +for the sum of one penny. There were indeed points of difference. The +penny post extended not only over the whole of London proper, but to the +remote suburbs; the halfpenny post was confined to the busy parts of the +metropolis, to the cities of London and Westminster and to the borough +of Southwark. For the halfpenny post, again, letters were collected by +the sound of bell. That is to say, Povey's men carried bells, which they +rang as they passed along the streets, and so gave notice of their +approach. This, though no doubt intended merely as an advertisement, +possessed the merit of convenience. People had only to await the coming +of one of these bell-ringers, and letters and parcels which they must +otherwise have carried to the post themselves were carried for them. + +Povey fancied himself a second Dockwra; but the two men were as unlike +as the circumstances under which their undertakings were launched. +Dockwra was gentle and conciliatory. Povey was violent and aggressive. +Dockwra disclaimed all intention of transgressing the law. It was only +necessary that his undertaking should become better known, and His Royal +Highness, he felt sure, would withdraw his opposition. Povey expressed +the utmost indifference whether his undertaking was legal or illegal, +and defied the law to do its worst. Dockwra was a pioneer. When he +established his penny post, there was nothing in existence at all +resembling it, nothing with which it competed, and by supplying an +acknowledged want he conferred an inestimable boon upon the community. +Povey, on the contrary, was a mere adventurer. His halfpenny carriage +was in direct opposition to an institution already existing and in full +activity, an institution which supplied every reasonable want, and which +it was the sole purpose of his enterprise to supplant for his own +advantage. + +So impudent an infringement of the rights of the Crown could not, of +course, be tolerated, and the postmasters-general called upon Povey to +desist from his undertaking. Povey's reply must have extinguished any +hope they may have entertained of avoiding an appeal to the Courts. He +should certainly not, he said, be so unjust to himself as to lay down +his undertaking at their demand. If they were resolved on trying the +matter at law, he was quite content. And happily, he added, we live not +under such a constitution as Dockwra lived, a constitution made up of an +arbitrary government and bribed judges. Thus defied, the +postmasters-general had only one course to pursue, and that was to bring +an action. As a preliminary step Povey and the keepers of the shops at +which he had opened offices were served with notices setting forth the +illegality of their proceedings. The shopkeepers closed their offices at +once, and Povey was left alone with his bell-ringers. + +The man now revealed himself in his true character. When first informed +that an information would be filed against him, he published a pamphlet +in which, after loading the postmasters-general with ridicule and abuse, +he dared them to proceed to trial, declaring that a trial in the Court +of Exchequer was the very thing he desired; but as time drew on and he +found them to be in earnest, he became alarmed and desired to effect a +compromise. With this object he attended at the Post Office and pleaded +his cause in person. If only his bell-ringers might continue to collect +letters for the general post and "such as pass between man and man," he +would pay to the Crown one-tenth more than had yet been received from +the penny post. Or let him take the penny post to farm, and he would pay +double what that post had ever produced. Or was it to his bells that +exception was taken? If so, and if only proceedings were stayed, his +bells should cease to-morrow. But even if at one time such overtures +could have been listened to, it was now too late, and the +postmasters-general so informed him. At this announcement, and while +they were still speaking, Povey bounced from his chair and flung himself +out of the room. The case came on for hearing in Easter term 1710, and +Povey was fined L100. + +It may here be mentioned that the practice of collecting letters by the +sound of bell did not cease with the halfpenny carriage. It was adopted +by the Post Office, became general throughout the kingdom, and continued +down to a time well within the recollection of persons still living.[35] + + [35] In London the practice continued until the end of 1846; and in + Dublin, which was the last town in the United Kingdom to give it up, + until September 1859. + +Although the postmasters-general had won their suit, they were not +altogether satisfied. What Povey had done might be done by others, and +his proceedings, they did not attempt to conceal, had caused them great +annoyance. As soon as he found them bent on suppressing his undertaking, +he had had recourse to artifice. In order that his bell-ringers might +escape molestation, he had changed them about from place to place and +made them assume fictitious names, so that the man who appeared in +Holborn to-day under one name might appear in Westminster to-morrow +under another. The task of fixing evidence had thus been made extremely +difficult, and the postmasters-general had at one time almost given it +up in despair. They also bitterly complained of the law's delays. For no +less than seven months--from the 4th of October 1709 to the 4th of May +1710--the halfpenny post had been in full activity, to the serious +injury of the penny post. Must the institution which had been committed +to their charge remain, for periods of longer or shorter duration, at +the mercy of any unscrupulous person who might choose to follow Povey's +example? Or against future assaults of the same kind was it not possible +to provide themselves with some less cumbrous weapon than they had now +to their hands? + +Whether the Act which subsequently passed conferred upon the +postmasters-general all the powers they desired may be open to question, +but there can be no doubt that, after the experience of the past few +months, the prospect of fresh legislation, if not actually welcome, had +lost half its terrors. For fresh legislation, however, the time had not +even yet arrived. It is true that Povey's case, pending the +consideration of which nothing of course could be done, had been heard +and determined; but now political difficulties arose. Godolphin, the +Lord Treasurer, gave way to Harley; and Harley's advent to power was +followed by a general election. It was not until the beginning of +November, or three weeks before the Houses met, that a decision was at +last announced. Subject to the consent of Parliament, the rates of +postage were to be increased, and a bill to carry out the object was to +be prepared at once. + +The office of Secretary to the Treasury was at this time held by William +Lowndes, member of Parliament for the borough of Seaford. Lowndes had +written a silly book on the currency, a book in which he endeavoured to +prove that an Act of Parliament, by calling a sixpence a shilling, can +double its purchasing power. He had seriously believed, when the +postmasters-general recommended that the course of post to Warwick +should be direct instead of by way of Coventry, that the recommendation +was due to a bribe. When the postmasters-general were at their wits' end +to put a stop to the illicit traffic in letters, he had suggested--and +it was the only consolation which he had had to offer them--that in +order to defray the expenses of the Civil List every letter passing +through the post should be charged with an additional rate of 1d. Such +was the man to whom was now entrusted the oversight of the Post Office +bill. If confidence in the merits of the measure which the bill was +designed to promote were any recommendation, a better selection could +not have been made. Lowndes had long advocated an increase in the rates +of postage. He had, there can be little doubt, brought Godolphin over to +his views, and now, under Godolphin's successor, he obtained permission +to carry them into effect. + +At the Post Office, unfortunately, there was at this time no one to +sound a note of alarm. Cotton was no more. Evelyn, Cotton's successor, +was new to his duties. Frankland was old and gouty. Between Frankland +and Lowndes, moreover, relations we suspect were somewhat strained. At +all events, the fact remains that the postmasters-general, who never +tired of inculcating as the result of experience that low postage +attracts correspondence and high postage repels it, received notice of +the intention to raise the rates without even an attempt to avert the +mischief. + +By the middle of December, or little more than six weeks from the time +of the Post Office receiving notice to prepare for fresh legislation, +the bill was in Lowndes's hands. Containing as it did some fifty +clauses, and dealing with a matter of no little complexity, such +despatch might do no discredit even to our own days of high pressure. At +the beginning of the eighteenth century it was out of the common. But +the explanation is simple. Swift, the solicitor to the Post Office, who +was profoundly dissatisfied with the law as it stood, had for years past +employed his leisure moments in framing clauses founded upon his +conception of what the law ought to be, less probably in the hope of +seeing them passed than with the view of giving relief to his feelings. +These clauses he now collected, arranged, and added to, producing what +he conceived to be a model measure. But while the bill had taken only +six weeks to prepare, nearly double that period was occupied in revising +it. Whatever may be thought of Lowndes's understanding, there can be no +question about his industry. Day after day during the next three months +he devoted to the task he had undertaken every moment he could snatch +from his numerous other engagements. In conjunction with Swift, who now +passed most of his time at Whitehall, he went through the bill clause by +clause, discussing and arguing every point, and not seldom making +alterations. Swift, as the representative of the Post Office, knew well +what the Post Office wanted; but Lowndes knew, or thought that he knew, +better, and in this as in other instances superior authority passed +current for superior knowledge. It was not, however, to what for +distinction's sake may be called the Post Office clauses of the bill +that the chief interest attached. To these Lowndes added others, of +which one, while dealing with a matter of the most delicate character, +revealed an intention of which the Post Office had had no previous +notice. The preparation of this clause severely taxed the abilities of +its framers. + +As the Post Office revenue was at this time vested in the Crown, the +Crown would, of course, in the absence of express provision to the +contrary, reap the benefit of any increase which additions to the rates +of postage might produce. To divert the increase, or part of the +increase, from the Crown to the public was the object of the clause on +which Lowndes and Swift were now engaged. This clause having at length +been settled to their satisfaction, the bill came before Parliament, and +was with some modifications passed. The new rates as compared with the +old were as follows:-- + ++------------------+--------------------------+------------------------+ +| | 1660. | 1711. | +|FROM LONDON. +---------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------+ +| | Single. |Double. |Ounce. |Single. |Double. |Ounce.| ++------------------+---------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------+ +|80 miles and under| 2d. | 4d. | 8d. | 3d. | 6d. | 12d. | +|Above 80 miles | 3d. | 6d. | 12d. | 4d. | 8d. | 16d. | +|To Edinburgh | 5d. | 10d. | 20d. | 6d. | 12d. | 24d. | +|To Dublin | 6d. | 12d. | 24d. | 6d. | 12d. | 24d. | ++------------------+---------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------+ + ++-----------------------------------+--------------------------+ +| | 1711. | +|FROM EDINBURGH, within Scotland. +---------+--------+-------+ +| | Single. |Double. |Ounce. | ++-----------------------------------+---------+--------+-------+ +|50 miles and under | 2d. | 4d. | 8d. | +|Above 50 and not exceeding 80 miles| 3d. | 6d. | 12d. | +|Above 80 miles | 4d. | 8d. | 16d. | +| | | | | +| FROM DUBLIN, within Ireland. | | | | +|40 miles and under | 2d. | 4d. | 8d. | +|Above 40 miles | 4d. | 8d. | 16d. | ++-----------------------------------+---------+--------+-------+ + +The old rates during the year ending the 29th of September 1710 had +produced L111,461, and the new rates were estimated to produce L36,400 +more. Of this increase the whole was to be paid into the Exchequer by +weekly instalments of L700, so that a fund might be established for the +purpose of carrying on the war; and of the surplus, if any, over and +above L147,861, one-third was to be reserved to the disposal of +Parliament for the use of the public. These provisions were to hold good +for thirty-two years, after which the old rates were to be reverted to. + +We have already seen how difficult the postmasters-general had found it, +even with the lower rates of postage, to prevent the smuggling of +letters; and of course, in exact proportion as the rates should be +increased, the temptation to smuggle would become greater. This +consequence had been foreseen and provided for. After declaring in the +preamble that, as a condition of the new rates, provision must be made +"for preventing the undue collecting and delivering of letters by +private posts, carriers, higglers, watermen, drivers of stage-coaches, +and other persons," the bill went on to give to the postmasters-general +large powers of search. This clause was regarded as of the highest +importance. Without it, indeed, even Lowndes would hardly have ventured +to suggest that the rates should be increased. To his dismay, however, +and, truth compels us to add, to the dismay also of the Post Office, the +House of Commons, while passing the rates, rejected the searching +clause. Only the declaration in the preamble remained, an enduring +monument of a foolish intention. + +Another clause must also be regarded as peculiarly Lowndes's own. This +clause--which, unlike the foregoing, was not rejected--prohibited the +postmasters-general and all persons serving under them from +intermeddling in elections. They were forbidden under heavy penalties +"to persuade any one to give or to dissuade any one from giving his vote +for the choice" of a member of Parliament. Lowndes can hardly have +believed it possible thus to padlock men's mouths. It is still more +difficult to suppose that the clause can have been aimed at Frankland; +and yet assuredly Frankland was the only person whom it affected. +Postmasters and others, it may well be believed, continued to talk and +to argue exactly as they had argued and talked before; but Frankland had +to give up his seat. At the general election in October he had, there +can be little doubt, received a hint of what was coming, for after +sitting for his pocket borough of Thirsk for more than twelve years he +retired from the representation. + +So much of the new Act as originated with the Post Office was mainly +directed to clearing up doubts, to supplying omissions, and to making +that legal for which the law had not yet provided. Thus, legal sanction +was given to the penny post, and competition with it was forbidden under +severe penalties. Pence upon ship-letters were not only authorised but +directed to be paid. The rates of postage to America and to the West +Indies were confirmed; and power was given to impose rates upon letters +to other places with which communication might be opened. The Act of +1660 had conferred upon the postmasters-general the exclusive right of +"receiving, taking up, ordering, despatching, sending post or with +speed, and delivering of all letters and packets whatsoever"; but it was +silent on the subject of carrying. This omission the Act of 1711 +supplied. The later Act also imposed restrictions on the common carrier. +Hitherto it had been left in doubt what letters he might carry. These +were now defined to be letters which concerned the goods in his waggon +or cart; and they were to be delivered at the same time as the goods and +without hire or reward. + +It was not enough that the penny post should receive legal sanction. By +this post, from its first establishment, a single penny had carried only +within London proper. For delivery in the outskirts--as, for instance, +at Islington, Lambeth, Newington, and Hackney, all of which were at this +time separate towns--the Post Office received one penny more. So long, +therefore, as the charge by the general post for a distance not +exceeding eighty miles stood at 2d., it was a mere question of +convenience whether towns in the neighbourhood of London should be +served by that post or by the penny post. In either case the postage on +a single letter was the same, namely 2d. But now that the initial charge +by the general post was raised from 2d. to 3d., it became necessary to +assign a limit beyond which the penny post should not extend; and this +limit was fixed at ten miles, measured from the General Post Office in +Lombard Street. + +How little the Post Office had at this time entered into the inner life +of the people may be judged by the fact that such restriction was +possible. In 1711 there were towns distant nearly twenty miles from +London--for instance, Walton-on-Thames, Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, and +Tilbury in Essex--which had long been served by the penny post; and the +penny post carried up to one pound of weight for the same charge for +which the general post carried a single letter. Yet these towns were now +deprived of the facilities which the penny post afforded without, so +far as appears, exciting a murmur.[36] + + [36] Even the notice to the public announcing the change was as + unapologetic as it well could be:--"These are to give notice that by the + Act of Parliament for establishing a General Post Office all letters and + packets directed to and sent from places distant ten miles or above from + the said office in London, which before the second of this instant June + were received and delivered by the officers of the penny post, are now + subjected to the same rates of postage as general post letters; and that + for the accommodation of the inhabitants of such places their letters + will be conveyed with the same regularity and dispatch as formerly, + being first taxed with the rates and stamped with the mark of the + General Post Office; and that all parcels will likewise be taxed at the + rate of 2s. per ounce, as the said Act directs." + +Under the new Act the Post Office retained the monopoly of furnishing +post-horses. It is to be observed, however, that the charge for each +horse, although remaining the same as before--namely, 3d. a mile, with +4d. a stage for the guide--was now re-enacted apologetically, as though +some compunction had begun to be felt at the interference with the +freedom of contract. The explanation is perhaps to be found in the +recent introduction of stage-coaches and the low prices at which these +vehicles carried passengers. "There is of late," writes an author of the +period, "an admirable commodiousness, both for men and women of better +quality, to travel from London to almost any town of England and to +almost all the villages near this great city, and that is by +stage-coaches, wherein one may be transported to any place, sheltered +from foul weather and foul ways; and this is not only at a low price, as +about 1s. for every five miles, but with such speed, as that the posts +in some foreign countries make not more miles in a day."[37] If a mode +of travelling so luxurious as this appears to have been thought could be +secured for less than 2-1/2d. a mile, a charge of 3d. a mile for a horse +besides a guerdon to the guide may well have appeared to require +justification. + + [37] Chamberlayne's _State of England_, 1710. + +It may here be noticed that, although the postmasters-general were under +obligation to supply horses on demand, and, failing to do so, became +liable to a penalty, the control which they exercised over the +travelling post appears to have been of the slightest. It is true that +they would now and again complain of a postmaster for keeping bad +horses; but the badness would always be with reference to the horses' +capacity to carry the mails. Whether they were fit or unfit for the use +of travellers appears never to have troubled headquarters. Except, +indeed, for some little exertion of authority on rare occasions and in +circumstances out of the common,[38] it would almost seem that the +postmasters-general had ceased to regard the travelling post as a matter +in which they had any concern. It is not very clear why this should have +been so. But perhaps the explanation is that in the case of the +travelling post, unlike that of the letter post, a postmaster's interest +and duty were identical; if horses were wanted, he was under the +strongest inducement to supply them; and the danger to be apprehended +was not that travellers would be neglected, but that they might be +accommodated at the expense of the mails. + + [38] The following letter affords an instance of the exertion of + authority referred to in the text:-- + + To the DEPUTIES between LONDON and TINMOUTH. + + GENERAL POST OFFICE, + _April 6, 1708_. + + GENTLEMEN--The bearer hereof, Mr. John Farra, being directed by order of + the Lord High Treasurer to proceed to Tinmouth on the publick affairs of + the Government, I am ordered by the postmasters-general to require you + to furnish the said gentleman with a single horse [_i.e._ a horse + without a guide] if required through your several stages, he being well + acquainted with the roads and coming recommended by such authority, + which by their order is signified by, Gentlemen, your most humble + servant, + + B. WATERHOUSE, + _Secretary_. + + +On one point, no doubt because it involved a question of prerogative +rather than law, the new Act was silent; and yet it was a point of high +importance and, as it afterwards became the subject of legal enactment, +this may be a convenient time to mention it. We refer to the privilege +conceded to certain persons to send and receive their letters free of +postage, or, to use the term by which it was commonly known, the +franking system. The persons who enjoyed this privilege were the Chief +Officers of State and the members of the two Houses of Parliament. The +Chief Officers of State, or ministers as they had now begun to be +called, were entitled to send and receive their letters free at all +times and without limit in point of weight. The members of the two +Houses were so entitled only during the session of Parliament and for +forty days before and after, and in their case the weight was limited to +two ounces. + +The privilege had already been greatly abused. Secretaries of State +would not scruple to send under their frank the letters of their friends +and their friends' friends as well as their own. In 1695 Blaithwaite, +who was then Secretary of War, carried the practice to such an extent as +to evoke from the postmasters-general a vigorous remonstrance. "We +cannot deny," they said, "but this has been too much a practice in all +tymes, and we are sure you will not blame us for wishing itt were +amended, being soe very prejudicial to His Majestye's revenue under our +management." The practice extended, and in 1705 a warrant under the +sign-manual, after enumerating afresh the Officers of State who were +entitled to frank, expressly charged them not "to cover any man's +letters whatsoever other than their own," and, as regards any letters +which might come addressed to their care for private persons, to send +them to the Post Office to be taxed and delivered. + +The abuses identified with the letters of members of Parliament were of +wider scope. Lavishly as members might use their names as a means of +franking, the use was not confined to themselves and their friends. On +the part of the London booksellers and other persons who might hesitate +to incur the risk of imitating another man's signature it had become a +common practice to assume the name of some member of Parliament, and +under that name to have their letters addressed to them at particular +coffee-houses; and as their correspondents in the country adopted a +similar device, the letters passing to and fro escaped postage. Cotton +and Frankland had not been long at the Post Office before this practice +arrested their attention, and in 1698 the warrant which granted to the +members of the new Parliament the usual exemption from postage was +expressly designed to check the abuse. "To prevent abuses," thus the +warrant ran, "that were formerly practised[39] to the prejudice of our +revenue by divers persons who, though they were not members, yet +presumed to indorse the names of members of Parliament on their letters +and direct their letters to members of Parliament which really did not +belong to them," our will and pleasure is that members "will constantly +with their owne hands indorse their names upon their owne letters, and +not suffer any other letters to pass under their ffrank, cover, or +direction but such as shall concerne themselves." Successive warrants +issued between 1698 and 1711 were expressed in the same or nearly the +same terms, what little variations there were only serving to shew that +the practice against which the warrants were directed had become more +general. + + [39] In documents intended for the public eye it was the practice of the + postmasters-general--and it was by them that these warrants were + prepared--to speak of an existing abuse as an abuse that was past. This + was, of course, to avoid giving offence. + +But now the postmasters-general could no longer conceal from themselves +that, unwarrantable as might be the liberties taken with members' names, +the members themselves were by no means blameless. That they were +scattering their franks with boundless profusion was beyond doubt; and +the question which the postmasters-general set themselves to solve was, +How was this profusion to be checked? As the best expedient they could +devise, they prepared for the Queen's signature a fresh warrant which, +as a hint to members for the regulation of their own conduct, referred +to Her Majesty's condescension in allocating a portion of the Post +Office revenue towards defraying the expenses of the war. Of previous +warrants copies had been posted up in the lobby of the House and in the +Speaker's chamber. Of the present warrant copies were to be distributed +with the votes so as to secure that every member should have a copy. + +The immediate effect of the Act of 1711 was, as might have been +foreseen, enormously to stimulate clandestine traffic. The Post Office +could do little to check it. In London officers were appointed whose +duty it was to frequent the roads leading into the capital and keep a +watch on all higglers and drivers of coaches who were notoriously +carrying letters in defiance of the law. In the country the +postmasters-general could get nothing done. In vain they urged upon the +Treasury the paramount importance of appointing officers who should +travel about the country and be authorised to open the mail bags at odd +times and unexpectedly. By no other means, they declared, was it +possible to keep any check upon either the London or the country +letters. The London letters might not be charged correctly by the clerks +of the roads; and of the country letters, it was perfectly well known, +only a very small proportion was charged at all. But all to no purpose. +The officers whom the postmasters-general proposed to appoint were to +receive for remuneration and travelling expenses together L1 a day, and +the Treasury declined to sanction the expense. + +This, even for the Treasury, has always appeared to us a masterpiece of +perversity. That large sums were being diverted into the pockets of the +postmasters had been admitted in the Act itself;[40] nor could it be +denied that the tendency of the Act was to make these sums larger. And +yet the abuse was to be allowed to go on unchecked because its +correction would involve a small outlay. For four years this penny-wise +and pound-foolish policy continued, and it was not until 1715, as the +consequence of a strong representation from Frankland and Evelyn's +successors, that the officers whose appointment these two +postmasters-general had consistently advocated were added to the +establishment under the title of surveyors. To surprise the mail bags in +course of transit and to check their contents--such was the humble +function originally assigned to officers who have since become as +indispensable to the Post Office as the mainspring is to a watch or the +driving wheel to a steam engine. + + [40] "And whereas divers deputy postmasters do collect great quantities + of post letters called by or way letters and, by clandestine and private + agreements amongst themselves, do convey the same post in their + respective mails, or by bags, according to their several directions, + without accounting for the same or endorsing the same on their bills, to + the great detriment of Her Majesty's revenues."--9 Anne, cap. x. sec. + 18. + +It may here be noticed that the decisions which the postmasters-general +received were not all of them conceived in the same spirit. So different +indeed was the treatment of questions relating to home communications +and communications with foreign parts as almost to suggest that they had +been referred to different tribunals. Was the packet service which had +come to an end through Dummer's misfortunes to be re-established or not? +The cost was far, very far, in excess of the receipts; and yet the +direction to the Post Office was to consult the West India merchants, +and to be guided by their wishes. The two packets between Falmouth and +the Groyne, which had been left running at the close of the war, were +after a time discontinued. They cost L1600 a year to maintain, and the +annual receipts from the letters and passengers they carried were less +than L450. Yet upon a representation from the merchants trading with +Spain pointing out the inconvenience which the stoppage had caused them, +the boats were restored at once. But all such questions were decided by +the Lord Treasurer himself, and his decisions were communicated under +his own signature, or else under the sign-manual. + +Very different was it with questions affecting intercourse within the +kingdom. These, urgently as the postmasters-general might press them, +received little or no attention. They would seem indeed to have been +relegated to subordinates, who having been instructed to keep down +expense proceeded to obey their orders without discrimination. Whether +the packet agent at Dover had in his cups refused to drink to the health +of the ministers, or whether the postmaster of Chester had said that +Queen Anne, had she pursued the same course as was pursued by Charles +the First, would have met with the same fate--these were questions of +vital importance which must be investigated with all convenient speed; +but when the question was merely one of improving the internal posts of +the country, it was treated at leisure, and no considerations of public +convenience, or even of prospective gain, were allowed to weigh against +the bugbear of present expense. In 1710, for instance, the Lord Provost +and magistrates of Glasgow had petitioned that the foot-post to +Edinburgh might be converted into a horse-post. The mail would thus +arrive sooner and leave later, and, as the petitioners pointed out, +letters would fall into it which had heretofore been sent by private +hand. Between a horse-post and a foot-post the difference in point of +cost was L20 a year; and for the sake of this small sum the Treasury had +refused the request, just as they now refused to sanction the +appointment of surveyors, although the postmasters-general clearly +demonstrated that by no other means could the misappropriation of +postage be checked, and that within a few months the cost would be +covered many times over. + +But the addition to the establishment of a few appointments more or less +was not the most serious charge which the Act of 1711 entailed. The Post +Offices over a great part of England were then in farm. How, within the +area over which these Post Offices extended, was the State to derive any +benefit from the higher postage? The postage, whatever it might be, was +under their leases secured to the farmers; and the farmers were under no +obligation to pay any higher rent than that for which they had +stipulated. This difficulty, which had without doubt been overlooked, +took a most unexpected turn. The farmers had had only a short experience +of the new rates before they found that these rates, far from bringing +them a golden harvest, were fast contributing to their ruin; that they +were in effect prohibitive rates; that the letters passing to and fro +were getting fewer and fewer; and that the increase of charge by no +means made up for the decrease in number. In short, the Crown or those +who represented the Crown had taken for granted that under the new +rates the returns would be relatively higher than under the old, whereas +the farmers found to their cost that the returns were actually lower. +Never, perhaps, has there been a more striking demonstration of the +unwisdom of high rates of postage. In this dilemma the postmasters-general +had recourse to an expedient which appears to have been considered +satisfactory on both sides. They cancelled all the leases, nine +in number,[41] and under the title of managers, appointed the +farmers to superintend the Post Offices embraced within the area +over which their farms extended. The managers who had heretofore been at +the cost of the postmasters' salaries were to be relieved from this and +all other payments; and as remuneration for their services they were to +receive one-tenth part of the net produce derived from the postage. + + [41] The leases of seven out of the nine branches were cancelled in + 1716; and those of the other two the postmasters-general expressed their + intention of cancelling with as little delay as possible. And yet as + regards one of the number, viz. the Chichester branch, there is reason + to doubt whether it did not survive until the year 1769. + +Two questions may here be asked, to neither of which is it easy to give +even a plausible reply. Of these the first is, How did it happen that +the postmasters-general, who without authority from Whitehall could not +even convert a foot-post into a horse-post, were able on their own +motion to sanction an arrangement, the practical effect of which was to +add to the establishment not only a large number of small salaries, +amounting in the aggregate to a formidable total, but also a dead-weight +annuity of nearly L2000 a year? This is an obscurity which we confess +ourselves unable to penetrate. We can only record the fact, a fact the +more surprising because only recently Godolphin had laid it down under +his own hand that in the Post Office "all extraordinary payments or +allowances are to be vouched by warrant from Her Majesty or myself, or +from the Lord High Treasurer or the Commissioners of the Treasury for +the time being." The second question is hardly less perplexing. How, +except in name, did managers differ from surveyors, whose appointment +the postmasters-general were urging, and urging in vain? Or what could +surveyors have done which it was not equally competent to managers to +do? This question also we cannot answer. We only know that the very men +who as farmers had rendered signal service to the Post Office, and +earned the gratitude of the districts over which their farms extended, +were found as managers to be of little use, even if they did not league +themselves with the postmasters to intercept the postage. + +Difficulties from an unexpected quarter added to the confusion into +which, as the result of the Act of 1711, the Post Office was drifting. +As soon as peace was declared, it became necessary to arrive at an +agreement with France as to the conditions on which the British mails +should pass through French territory. M. Pajot was still comptroller of +the posts in Paris; and he proved to be hardly less untractable than +before the war. Frankland and Evelyn committed their case to the care of +Matthew Prior, who was at that time minister plenipotentiary to the +Court of France. Prior, who had hated his commissionership of customs +because, as Swift tells us, he was ever dreaming of cockets and dockets +and other jargon, could hardly be expected to give his mind to anything +so prosaic as postage and letter bills. The matter, moreover, was one of +a highly technical character, and, without fuller information than could +be contained in the most precise instructions, a far abler negotiator +than Prior could claim to be might easily have found himself +overmatched. Pajot, presuming on his superior knowledge, put forward the +most extravagant demands; and it was not until an expert had been sent +from London, upon whom it would have been useless to attempt to impose, +that he abated his pretensions. Extravagant demands were now followed by +frivolous objections, and at the last moment, when the conditions were +practically settled, he actually refused to proceed further unless "Her +Britannic Majesty," an expression employed in the Post Office treaty, +were altered to "The Queen of Great Britain." + +Vexatious as these proceedings were, the result was more vexatious +still. Before the war a lump sum of 36,000 livres a year had been paid +for the transit of the British mails across French territory. Pajot now +refused to accept any lump sum at all. He insisted that each letter +passing through France should be charged for separately, according to +the French postage; and high as the English postage was, the French +postage was higher still. In vain the postmasters-general pointed out +that by virtue of such an arrangement they would on many letters have to +pay more than Act of Parliament permitted them to receive. Pajot replied +in effect that this was their affair and not his; and no better terms +could they get. The treaty was eventually signed, and its onerous +provisions will best be shewn by an example. On a single letter from +Italy the postage prescribed by the Act of 1711 was fifteenpence, and on +a letter weighing one ounce sixty pence. This was all which the Act +permitted the postmasters-general to collect; and yet, under the terms +of the treaty, the postage for which they had to account to the French +Post Office was in the one case twenty-one sous and in the other +eighty-four. + +To this treaty we are indeed indebted for one piece of information. It +gives us--what is not to be found elsewhere--a definition of the terms +single and double as applied to letters. It is strange that the Acts of +1660 and 1711, while imposing distinctive rates on single and double +letters, nowhere define what single and double letters are. This +omission the treaty of 1713 supplies. "That piece," the treaty provides, +"is to be esteemed a single letter which hath no sealed letter inclosed, +and that to be esteemed a double letter which hath inclosures and is +under the weight of an ounce." It will be interesting to note how far +the Post Office adhered to its own definition. + +On the accession of George the First, when almost every place of honour +and profit under the Crown changed hands, the Post Office did not +escape; and Frankland and Evelyn were succeeded by Cornwallis and +Craggs. The natural tendency of the provision which had made members of +the House of Commons ineligible for the office of postmasters-general +was to throw the office into the hands of peers; and although this +tendency did not fully develop itself until later in the century, the +appointment of Lord Cornwallis was a first move in that direction. Peers +have in our own time been among the ablest of the many able +administrators who have presided over the Post Office; but at the +beginning of the eighteenth century the conditions attaching to the +appointment were in some respects different from what they are to-day. +The postmasters-general had to write their own letters; their attendance +was both early and late and during fixed hours; and they were expected +to reside at the Post Office. Whether from a disinclination to satisfy +these conditions, or on the score of health, which he was constantly +pleading, Cornwallis had not been long in Lombard Street before he +retired into the country, and left the conduct of affairs pretty much to +his colleague. Craggs--or Craggs senior as he was commonly called, to +distinguish him from his son, the Secretary of State--was an +industrious, plain-spoken man; and deeply as he afterwards became +implicated in the South Sea Scheme, there is no reason to suppose that +his proceedings as postmaster-general would not bear inspection. + +Cornwallis and Craggs had been only a short time at the Post Office +before they became profoundly impressed with what they found there. The +managers withholding the postmasters' salaries, the postmasters +recouping and a good deal more than recouping themselves out of the +postage, the post-boys--for so they had begun to be called--clandestinely +carrying letters for what they could get, the inordinate number +of franked letters--these were among the abuses which arrested +the new postmaster-generals' attention; but what excited their +most lively surprise was that there should exist a branch of the King's +revenue upon the subordinate agents of which there was absolutely no +check. At length, on a representation from them as to the scandal of +allowing such a state of things to continue, consent was obtained to the +appointment of surveyors; and the dismissal of the managers speedily +followed. + +These remedial measures, though good as far as they went, affected only +the internal administration of the Post Office. Of its troubles from +without, and how they had been increased by recent legislation, +Cornwallis and Craggs were no less sensible than their predecessors; but +here they had no remedy to apply. "The additional penny," they wrote in +March 1716, within eighteen months of their appointment, "has never +answered in proportion, and we find by every day's experience that it +occasions the people to endeavour to find out other conveyances for +their letters." "The additional tax," they wrote again two years later, +"has never answered in proportion to the produce of the revenue at the +time it took place, the people having found private conveyances for +their letters, which they are daily endeavouring to increase, +notwithstanding all the endeavours that can be used to prevent them." + +As with the clandestine traffic, so with the abuse of the franking +privilege. In isolated cases, where the abuse was more than usually +glaring, the postmasters-general would write to the erring member a +letter of mild expostulation, affecting to believe him more sinned +against than sinning;[42] but even if this had any effect in the +particular instance, to stem the torrent was beyond their power. In +Great Britain alone the postage represented by the franked letters, +excluding those which were or which purported to be on His Majesty's +service, amounted in 1716 to what was for that time, relatively to the +total Post Office revenue, the enormous sum of L17,500 a year. In +Ireland the members followed the example of their English colleagues, if +indeed they did not improve upon it. In 1718 the Irish Parliament sat +for three months, and in 1719 it sat for nine months; and it was only +during the session, and for forty days before and after, that letters +could be franked. Cornwallis and Craggs had now been some years at the +Post Office; and yet, with all their experience of the extent to which +the abuse of franking was carried, they were startled to see the effect +which the duration of Parliament had upon the receipts. In 1718 the +gross revenue of the Irish Post Office--and in the gross revenue was +reckoned the postage on members' letters, the postage which these +letters would have paid if they had not been franked--amounted to +L14,592, and the net revenue to L3066. In 1719, although the gross +revenue rose to L19,522, an amount higher by L4930 than in the preceding +year, the net revenue fell from L3066 to L753. Such was the effect upon +the revenue of a difference of six months in the duration of the two +Parliaments. + + [42] Here are two letters they wrote:-- + + To Mr. CULVERT. + + _Nov. 1, 1714._ + + SIR--As the three inclosed letters are directed to you in several places + we have reason to think that some persons have presumed to take the + liberty of your name. This practice is so great an abuse upon this + office, and so very prejudicial to His Majesty's revenue, that we must + desire you'll be pleased to send such letters inclosed that don't belong + to you to the office to be charged; and we are very well assured you'll + discourage the like practice for the future. + + --We are, sir, your most humble servants, + + T. FRANKLAND + J. EVELYN. + + To Sir RICHARD GROSVENOR, Bart. + + _April 29, 1715._ + + SIR--Having observed a letter directed to the Rev. Mr. Harwood at + Billingsgate that arrived here yesterday in an Irish mail frank't with + your name in Ireland, and knowing that you are in England, we have + reason to think that somebody in that kingdom has taken the liberty of + signing your name to the prejudice of His Majesty's revenue, which is a + practice that we are convinced you will discourage, and it is in order + thereunto that you have this trouble from your most humble servants, + + CORNWALLIS. + JAMES CRAGGS. + +To add to the postmaster-generals' troubles, the merchants of London, +groaning under the onerous rates of postage, had recourse to an +expedient in order to evade them. They associated themselves together, +and all those who had occasion to write to a particular place, though to +different persons, would write on the same piece of paper and under the +same cover. The postmasters-general contended that these several +writings should be charged as separate letters; the merchants contended +that there was but one letter, and that it should pass for a single rate +of postage. + +Their next step was to dispute the postmaster-generals' reading of the +statute. Under the law as passed in 1660, and re-enacted in 1711, +merchants' accounts not exceeding one sheet of paper, and all bills of +exchange, invoices, and bills of lading, were "to be allowed without +rate in the price of letters"; in other words, the weight of these +documents was not to be reckoned in the weight of a letter for the +purpose of charging it with postage. This exemption, however, had +hitherto been allowed only in the case of foreign letters; and the +postmasters-general held that such was the intention of the statute. The +merchants retorted that no such intention was expressed, and that to act +as though it had been brought about this anomaly--that on a letter +containing any one of the documents in question the charge from +Constantinople was actually less than from Bristol. Was it possible that +the Legislature could ever have enacted such an absurdity? It was an old +contention, as old as the Post Office itself,[43] and the merchants took +the present opportunity to revive it. On both questions Northey, the +Attorney-General, advised that the Post Office should adhere to its +ancient practice as the best expositor of the meaning of the new law; +but excellent as this advice may have been, its adoption failed to +satisfy the merchants and it was not until a declaratory Act had been +passed that they ceased to contest the points. + + [43] A strongly-worded petition on the subject was presented to + Parliament only a year or two after the Restoration. This petition, + after calling the charge an "abuse and extortion," goes on to say that + "it cannot be imagined the Parliament should either so far forget + themselves, or the countrey for which they served, or the necessary and + convenient correspondence, as well as the trade of His Majesties + dominions, as to put them upon worse and harder tearms than foreigners, + or foreign trade, to the prejudice of the kingdom...." + +Much the same sort of thing occurred a few years later in connection +with the penny post. From the first establishment of this undertaking +1d. had carried only within the bills of mortality; for delivery beyond +those limits had been charged 1d. more. Some persons now refused to pay +the additional penny, on the ground that it was not prescribed by law. +This was perfectly true. The penny post owed its legal sanction to the +Act of 1711; and this Act merely provided that "for the post of all and +every the letters and packets passing or repassing by the carriage +called the penny post, established and settled within the cities of +London and Westminster and borough of Southwark and parts adjacent, and +to be received and delivered within ten English miles distant from the +General Letter Office in London [shall be demanded and received the sum +of] 1d." Again an Act of Parliament had to be passed in order to +assimilate law and practice. This Act, which was not obtained until +1730, made legal the twopenny post, just as the penny post was made +legal by the Act of 1711; although, as a matter of fact, both posts had +been in existence since April 1680. + +In 1721 Lowndes, who was still at the Treasury, called for a return of +the Post Office income and expenditure. Ten years had now elapsed since +the imposition of the new rates. Of these ten years eight, as compared +with the eight which preceded them, had been years of prosperity and +peace; the population had increased, and the reductions in the packet +service had effected a saving of many thousand pounds a year. Certainly +the circumstances had not on the whole been unfavourable for testing the +results of the new policy. The return was rendered. During the year +ending the 29th of September the gross Post Office revenue was, in 1721, +L168,968, and in 1710, L111,461, being an increase of L57,507; in 1721 +the cost of management was L69,184, as against L44,639 in 1710; and the +net revenue, which in 1710 had been L66,822, was in 1721 L99,784, an +increase of L32,962. But the case does not end here. Under the terms of +the Act the sum of L700 a week, or L36,400 a year, was to be allocated +to a specific object. This sum had been regularly paid into the +Exchequer, and, after deducting it from the net revenue, there remained +for the use of the Sovereign a balance of L63,384, or less than in 1710 +by L3438. + +While the contingency of a loss to the Civil List had not been either +foreseen or provided against, elaborate precautions had been taken for +the disposal of a surplus. If the gross Post Office revenue should +exceed the sum of L147,861, the excess was to be divided between the +Sovereign and the public in the proportion of one-third to the public +and two-thirds to the Sovereign. As a matter of fact, the gross Post +Office revenue in 1721 had exceeded, and exceeded by a considerable +amount, the sum of L147,861; and yet there was no excess to divide. The +plain truth is that, in preparing the Act of 1711, Lowndes had forgotten +the cost of management. It must have sounded strange in the ears of an +assistant Chancellor of the Exchequer to be told, as Cornwallis and +Craggs did not scruple to tell him, that he had confounded gross and net +revenue, and that by this blunder Parliament had been misled. + +The Act of 1711, disastrous as it proved in its effects on the wellbeing +and morality of the nation, is only one more instance of the mischief +which may be done with the best intentions; and it was perhaps meet that +its author should have remained long enough at his post to witness the +results of his own handiwork. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +RALPH ALLEN + +1720-1764 + + +There was one who realised not less fully than the postmasters-general +themselves the difficulties by which they were beset. He knew well, even +better than they, how letters were being kept out of the post and +transmitted clandestinely, and how even on letters which fell into the +post the postage was being intercepted. But while the postmasters-general +regarded the evil as incurable, he thought that it might at all +events be mitigated. This was Ralph Allen, the postmaster of +Bath. Allen's experience in postal matters was probably unrivalled. +He had, it might almost be said, been cradled and nursed in the Post +Office. The son of an innkeeper at St. Blaise, he had, at eleven years +of age, been placed under the care of his grandmother, who, on the post +road being diverted from South to Mid-Cornwall, was appointed +postmistress of St. Columb. Here the regularity and neatness with which +the lad kept the accounts gained for him the approval of the district +surveyor when on a tour of inspection; and shortly afterwards, probably +through the surveyor's influence, he obtained a situation in the Post +Office at Bath. It is said that while in this situation, intelligence +having reached him that a waggon-load of arms was on its way from the +West for the use of the disaffected, he placed himself in communication +with General Wade, who was then quartered at Bath with his troops, and +that it was by this service that he first brought himself into notice; +but be that as it may, it is certain that when Quash the old postmaster +died, Allen was appointed in Quash's room. + +In 1719 Allen offered to take in farm the bye and cross-post letters, +giving as rent half as much again as these letters had ever produced. It +was a bold offer, and, coming as it did from a young man only twenty-six +years of age, and presumably without capital, not one to be accepted +precipitately. Allen proceeded to London and had frequent interviews +with the postmasters-general. The earnestness of his convictions and the +modest assurance with which he expressed them invited confidence, and on +the 12th of April 1720 a contract was signed, the conditions of which +were to come into operation on the Midsummer Day following. + +Much as we desire to avoid the employment of technical terms, it is +necessary here to explain that letters, exclusive of those passing +through the penny post, were technically divided into four +classes--London letters, country letters, bye or way letters, and +cross-post letters. For purposes of illustration we will take Bath, the +city in which Allen resided. A letter between Bath and London would be a +London letter, and a letter from one part of the country to another +which in course of transit passed through London would be a country +letter. A bye or way letter would be a letter passing between any two +towns on the Bath road and stopping short of London--as, for instance, +between Bath and Hungerford, between Hungerford and Newbury, between +Newbury and Reading, and so on; while a cross-post letter would be a +letter crossing from the Bath road to some other--as, for instance, a +letter between Bath and Oxford. It was only with the last two classes of +letters that Allen had to do. The London and country letters were +outside the sphere of his operations. + +On the bye and cross-post letters the postage for the year 1719 had +amounted to L4000. Allen was to give L6000 a year; and in consideration +of this rent he was for a period of seven years to receive the whole of +the revenue which these letters should produce. Some letters indeed +were excepted, namely Scotch letters, Irish letters, packet letters, +"all Parliament men's letters during the privilege of Parliament," and +such letters as "usually goe free," that is, letters for the High +Officers of State or, as we should now say, letters on His Majesty's +service. No post under Allen's control, whether a new or an old one, was +to go less than three times a week; and the mails were to be carried at +a speed of not less than five miles an hour. He was also to keep in +readiness "a sufficient number of good and able horses with convenient +furniture," not only for the mails but for expresses and for the use of +travellers. One condition of the contract may seem a little hard. +Allen's own officers were to be appointed and their salaries to be fixed +by the postmasters-general, and to these officers he was to give no +instructions which had not first been submitted for the +postmaster-generals' approval. + +Allen by his sterling qualities had won the confidence of his +fellow-townsmen at Bath, and there can be little doubt that they now +gave him practical proof of the estimation in which he was held. It is +difficult to understand how else he can have raised the funds necessary +for the purposes of his undertaking. In the very first quarter, between +the 24th of June and the 29th of September 1720, he expended in what may +be called his plant as much as L1500, and made himself responsible for +salaries to the amount of L3000 a year. But heavy as the expenses were, +the receipts bore a most gratifying proportion. From the bye and +cross-post letters the postmasters-general had received, at the highest, +L4000 a year. Allen in his first quarter received L2946. These +first-fruits, while viewed by Allen with equanimity, threw the +postmasters-general into transports of delight, such delight as men feel +when they find themselves to have been true prophets. "See," they said +in a letter to the Treasury dated the 10th of November, "how right we +were. We told you that the greater part of the postage on these letters +was going into the pockets of the postmasters, and that to accept Mr. +Allen's proposal was the only way to check the malversation." But the +promise of the first quarter was not fulfilled. The system of check and +countercheck on which Allen relied for the success of his plan depended +largely, as the postmasters were not slow to discover, on their own +co-operation; and this they refused to give. + +Nor can we feel surprise that it should have been so. Of the postmasters +some received no salary at all, while others received the merest +pittance. It could not in reason be expected that they would give their +services gratuitously or, as the postmasters-general were pleased to +think, in return for the copy of a newspaper once a week. Postmasters, +like other men, must live, and they no doubt reasoned that, as the State +did not pay them, they were forced to pay themselves. It must also be +remembered that the offence of intercepting postage, heinous as it would +now be considered, may in those days have been regarded in a somewhat +different light. Some postmasters, as remuneration for their services, +were authorised to withhold a certain proportion of the postage; and +numerous were the complaints that in this particular the liberty +accorded to some was not extended to others. It is probable, therefore, +that many a postmaster, when accounting for less postage than he had +actually received, excused himself on the plea that he was only doing +without authority that for which authority had been given to others, and +which should not in his judgment have been denied to himself. + +But whatever apologies they may have found for their conduct, the fact +remains that Allen's contract had been only a few months in operation +before the postmasters resumed their old practices, and, seeing clearly +enough that his plan when once fairly floated would deprive them of a +profitable source of income, they not only withheld all co-operation but +obstructed him by every means in their power. To such an extent indeed +was this obstruction carried that at the end of three years Allen, far +from realising the promise of the first quarter, found himself a loser +to the amount of L270. Although things now began to improve, the +improvement was slow, and in June 1727, when the contract expired, +Allen had established his plan completely on only four out of the six +main roads of the kingdom. On the Yarmouth road he had established it +only partially, and on the Kent road not at all. + +Circumstances so far favoured Allen that the demise of the Crown, which +must in any case have terminated his contract, took place within a +fortnight of the date on which the contract would have expired in the +ordinary course. The period of seven years for which it was made expired +on the 24th of June 1727, and the King died on the 11th. A renewal of +the contract could not in justice be refused. Not only had Allen been +obstructed in the execution of his plan and put to heavy expenses which, +except for such obstruction, would not have been necessary, but in +fixing the amount of his rent a mistake had been made to his prejudice. +He had agreed to pay half as much again as the bye and cross-road +letters had ever produced, and it is true that the postage represented +by these letters had amounted to L4000 a year; but it had been +overlooked that the whole of this amount had not been collected, and +that for the purpose of fixing the rent the sum of L300 should have been +deducted on account of letters which could not be delivered, and on +which, therefore, no postage had been received. Allen, while making no +claim for the return of the amount overpaid, pleaded the fact of +overpayment as an additional reason for enlarging his term. The +postmasters-general were not less solicitous than Allen himself that his +services should be continued. They had, during the last seven years, +received on account of bye and cross-post letters L6000 a year, where +before they had received only L4000, or, allowing for the sum not +collected, L3700; and during the same period the country letters, far +from falling off as had been predicted, had improved to the extent of +L735 a year, a result which was attributed to the vigilance of Allen's +surveyors. These reasons were regarded as conclusive, and, subject to +the condition that he should appoint an additional surveyor and lose no +time in completing his plan, Allen's contract was extended for a further +period of seven years. + +While Allen is perfecting his arrangements, it may not be amiss to +glance at the condition of affairs as he found them. Houses were still +unnumbered. On letters even to persons of position the addresses could +be indicated only by their proximity to some shop or place of public +resort. "For the R^{t.} Hon^{able.} the Lady Compton next door to Mr. +Massy's Wachmaker in Charles Street near S^{t.} James's Square, London." +"To the Right Hon^{ble.} Lady Compton next door to the Dyall in Charles +Street near S^{t.} James Squir--London." "Pray derickt for me att my +Lady norrise near the Theater in Oxford."[44] To the Court and the Downs +the post went every day; but to no town, however large, did it go more +than thrice a week. Of cross-posts there were only two in the kingdom, +the post from Exeter to Chester and the post from Bath to Oxford. +Outside London, Chester was the only town in England which could boast +of two Post Offices; and these two Post Offices were not for letters in +the same direction. One was for general post letters, and the other for +letters by the Exeter cross-road, an arrangement which presupposed a +knowledge of topography not probably possessed even in the present day. +The cathedral town of Ripon had no Post Office at all. Not many years +before, the inhabitants had asked for one and the request had been +regarded as little less than audacious. "We could not think it +reasonable," wrote the postmasters-general, "to put Her Majesty to the +expense of a salary to a Deputy att Ripon." The utmost concession that +could be obtained was that the letters for that town should be made up +into a packet by themselves and put into the mouth of the Boroughbridge +bag, and, on arrival at Boroughbridge, be despatched to Ripon at once by +a messenger on horseback. This messenger was to deliver them with all +expedition, and to remain at Ripon for replies, leaving only in time to +catch the return-mail from the North. Charges on letters over and above +the legal postage were general. Not a single letter passed between +Yarmouth and the Great North Road without a charge of 3d. as the +postmaster's perquisite. At Gosport a perquisite of similar amount was +claimed on every bye-letter. In the neighbourhood of Chesterfield the +inhabitants paid for every letter they received in no case less than 2d. +in addition to the postage, and in some cases as much as 4d.; and so it +was, with variations as to the amount, in every part of the kingdom. +Only the wealthy could afford to use the post, and even they, on account +of the want of facilities, used it sparingly. How far the post was at +this time removed from being a matter of common concern might, if other +evidence were wanting, be inferred from one solitary fact. In 1728 a +book was published,[45] one chapter of which professed to give a +detailed account of the posts of the period, and assuredly the account +it gave was detailed enough; but of the posts as we understand them, +that is to say, as a vehicle for the transmission of letters, there was +from the beginning to the end of the chapter not a single word. By the +term posts nothing more was meant than the post for travellers, and, for +anything that appeared to the contrary, the letter post might have had +no existence. + + [44] Historical Manuscripts Commission, Appendix to Eleventh Report, + Part iv. pp. 233, 234. + + [45] _British Curiosities in Art and Nature, likewise an Account of the + Posts, Markets, and Fair-Towns_, 1728. + +And perhaps this may be a convenient place to say a few words about +those who had presided over the Post Office during the first five or six +years of Allen's connection with it. Edward Carteret and Galfridus +Walpole, who had succeeded Cornwallis and Craggs in 1721, possessed in a +high degree the qualities which endear men to their subordinates,--a +sense of justice, consideration for others, and a rooted dislike to +high-handed proceedings. In these respects they bore a striking contrast +to their immediate predecessors. We will give instances. + +When Cornwallis and Craggs assumed the direction of the Post Office, +their first step was to dismiss the secretary, Henry Weston. The +circumstances were peculiarly hard. Weston's father had been +receiver-general for the county of Surrey, and in this capacity he had +contracted a heavy debt to the Crown. It was the son's ambition to pay +off this debt and to provide a home for his mother and sisters. By force +of industry and self-denial he had just succeeded in securing both +objects when a change of postmasters-general resulted in his summary +dismissal. Weston naturally appealed against so arbitrary an act. +Cornwallis and Craggs, to whom his antecedents were well known, while +commending the young man as an object worthy of the royal benevolence, +resented as unreasonable and little short of impertinent his reluctance +to give up a situation which they desired for a nominee of their own. + +Far different was the treatment accorded by Carteret and Walpole to +those who were committed to their charge. Mary Lovell had for more than +thirty years kept the receiving office in St. James's Street. On the +11th of March 1725 the Earl of Abercorn entered this office, holding in +his hand a letter addressed to his son at Cambray, and inquired what +postage had to be paid upon it. The woman replied that there was only +1d. to pay, this being the charge by the penny post, and that the +remaining postage of 3s. would be payable on delivery. Abercorn +questioned the accuracy of this information, and insisted on paying the +entire sum at once. Lovell, feeling sure that a mistake had been +committed, and anxious about the consequences, hurried to the Post +Office, and having there ascertained that she should have received only +1d., called at Abercorn's residence, and with a humble apology refunded +the difference. + +Nothing more was heard of the matter until the following July, when a +second very similar mistake appears to have revived the recollection of +the first. Abercorn, who was then at Tunbridge Wells, took to the Post +Office there a letter addressed to his son at Luneville and handed it to +Comer, the postmaster, impressing upon him the importance of its prompt +despatch, and desiring him to pay whatever postage might be required. It +should be explained that at that time letters for Germany had to be +prepaid, or else they were returned to the writers, whereas letters for +France could not be paid except on delivery. Comer, jumping to the +conclusion that Luneville was in France, paid no more than the inland +postage of 6d., the consequence being that three or four days afterwards +the letter, after being opened in London, was returned as insufficiently +paid. Abercorn, naturally enough, was very angry, and, as is apt to be +the case with angry persons, was not altogether reasonable. Luneville, +without the addition of Lorraine or Germany, was an incomplete address. +For this he would make no allowance; neither would he admit that it was +necessary to open the letter in order to return it, and that the +impression on the seal, a coronet and coat of arms, was not sufficient +indication of the writer. + +All this was natural enough; but it was strange that he should have +reverted to the earlier of the two mistakes, and directed his resentment +less against Comer than against Mary Lovell. He now charged her with +insolence and an attempt at imposition, and declared that nothing would +satisfy him except her dismissal. In pursuance of this object Abercorn +proceeded to the Post Office, where he was received by Carteret and +Walpole. Walpole said little, and what little he said was said +courteously. Carteret spoke in both their names. He expressed surprise +that the return of the amount overcharged on the letter to Cambray, +accompanied as it had been by Lovell's humble apology, had not been +considered satisfactory, and inquired what further satisfaction could be +expected. Abercorn replied that he expected her to be turned out of her +office as a person unfit to retain it. Carteret expostulated. Such a +step, he said, would not be in accordance with Post Office usage; she +was a poor and unprotected woman, no previous complaint had been made +against her during the thirty years she had held the office; he had seen +her himself, and felt sure that her professions of regret that she had +given offence to his lordship were sincere. Impatient of what he +afterwards described as an irksome expostulation, Abercorn rose to +leave. Carteret and Walpole rose also, and accompanied him to the door. +"I owe it to the North British peers," said Abercorn, turning on the +threshold, "to acquaint some of their representatives with the treatment +that I, their peer, have met with." "And I," haughtily retorted +Carteret, "should care not if all the sixteen North British representing +peers were present at this moment." + +Allen's plan consisted in a system of vouchers and what he called +post-bills, by means of which the postmasters might act as a check upon +each other. The post-bill which accompanied the letters throughout their +course was designed to distinguish the bye-letters from others, and to +shew the total amount of postage to be collected; the voucher appears to +have been nothing more than the acknowledgment which each postmaster +gave of the amount to be collected by himself; and these two documents +were sent periodically, once a month or once a quarter, to Allen's +office in Bath, where they underwent a rigid scrutiny. Simple as this +check was, it was only by ceaseless vigilance on Allen's part that he +could get it carried out. To make in the post-bills entries which should +have been made in the vouchers, to omit to send the vouchers to +headquarters, to confound the bye-letters with the London and country +letters--these were only some of the devices to which recourse was had +in order to defeat the check. + +Allen was better qualified probably than any other man living for the +task he had set himself to perform. Of a temper which nothing could +ruffle, with ample means at his command, and accountable to no one but +himself for their disposal, and possessed of an amount of local +knowledge which even at the present day is perhaps unrivalled, he +enjoyed a combination of advantages which might have been sought +elsewhere in vain. His patience indeed was inexhaustible. No subterfuge, +not even a transparent attempt at imposition, would call forth more than +a passing rebuke. "'Tis faulty," he would write, "'tis blameable"; and +then, perhaps, from the following words would peep out, in spite of +himself, a gleam of merriment at the clumsiness of the contrivance. + +To a man of less easy temperament even the conditions under which he +worked would have been intolerable. Under the terms of his contract +Allen's surveyors were to be the officers of the postmasters-general, +and to do as the postmasters-general bid them. This was no mere nominal +condition. When Allen wanted something done, it may be in the extreme +north or the extreme west of England, he might find that the surveyor +whose business it would have been to do it had been summoned to London +to wait upon the postmasters-general in Lombard Street. Hardly less +provoking must have been the condition that the surveyors, though +Allen's servants, were not to receive from him any instructions which +the postmasters-general had not first approved. Ordinarily Allen was at +Bath, and it was there that the instructions were prepared; yet they had +to be sent to London for approval, and were seldom despatched thence to +their destination until seven or eight days after the dates they bore. + +But to any one of less modest and retiring disposition the severest +trial would have been the manner in which the postmasters-general took +credit to themselves for improvements which were exclusively his own. It +was always "our" surveyors who had been instructed to do this, that, and +the other, without the slightest acknowledgment that the instruction had +come from Allen, and that it was he who supplied the money to pay and +the wit to direct them. Only when the cost of some new arrangement had +to be stated to the Treasury did his name appear, and then it was put +prominently forward. "Your Lordships," the postmasters-general would +write, with a confidence which must have possessed all the pleasure of a +new sensation, "will of course approve our proposals. It is true that +the cost they involve is considerable, but the whole of this will fall +upon Mr. Allen, the farmer." But so placid was Allen's temper that these +petty annoyances, irritating as they might have been to some men, passed +unheeded. + +As a qualification for the task he had undertaken, hardly less important +than placidity of temper was the possession of ample means and his +unaccountability to others for their disposal. With no one to please +but himself, he enjoyed facilities in dealing with postmasters which the +Post Office, under the most favourable circumstances, could never hope +to possess. To one he would give what he called a complimentary salary; +to another he would give, over and above his salary, a certain +proportion of the postage; and a third would receive a substantial +increase, not for what he had done or was doing, but for what he might +do in the future. All, in short, who could control the actions of others +Allen bound to himself by a community of interest. + +But it was the extent of his local knowledge that constituted Allen's +chief qualification for the task he had set himself to perform. This +knowledge, acquired probably during the struggle to introduce his plan, +may appear almost marvellous. There was hardly a town in England, and +certainly no town of importance, with the trade and manufactures of +which, and even with the character and disposition of its postmaster, he +was not acquainted. At the present day it is the district surveyor who +in Post Office matters affecting the provinces takes the initiative. In +Allen's time the initiative came from Bath. In a single letter he would +treat of some thirty or forty towns, and not only prescribe the order in +which they were to be taken and the roads by which they were to be +reached, but give the minutest instructions as to what was to be said +and done on arrival there. In respect to only one town, a town without a +Post Office, does Allen appear to have been uninformed, and that was +Stowmarket. "When in that neighbourhood," he wrote to one of his +surveyors, as though half ashamed of his own ignorance, "go over to +Stowmarket and ascertain and let me know the distance of that town from +Ipswich and from Eye, and also the nature and extent of its trade." + +Lest we should be thought to exaggerate the difficulties with which +Allen had to contend, Allen himself shall be our witness. The +postmasters were strictly enjoined to stamp the bye and cross-post +letters. This was their first duty, for without stamping no check was +possible. "I need not tell you," Allen writes to one of his surveyors, +"the mischief which has already attended the omission of this necessary +part of their duty, nor the difficulty which I have hitherto met with to +get this order observed; but when they find that their neglect will for +the future hurt themselves, this evil will be stopped." + +Hardly less difficult did he find it to make the postmasters send in +their vouchers with even decent regularity. We will give a few instances +out of many. Of Bodmin and St. Columb he writes, "Both these deputies +are exceeding backward in transmitting their vouchers. Order them +strictly to send them hither for the future within a week after every +quarter." Richmond, Yorkshire, "instead of sending me his vouchers at +the end of every month sends them considerably over the quarter and then +in so great disorder as to be of little use to me in fixing my cheque +account." Gosport, again, "persistently neglects to send his vouchers, +without which, as you know, it is not in my power to state an exact +account nor to fix the cheques which are necessary to prevent abuses." +Grantham is little better, and as for Wolverhampton, Allen writing in +April says, "He has sent me no vouchers since last Michaelmas, and by +this obstinacy destroys my cheque and puts my affairs into great +disorder." + +The dead and missent letters were a source of continual trouble. How to +dispose of dead letters and how to get back into their proper channel +letters that had been missent were questions which not seldom perplexed +even Allen himself. But it is not of this particular difficulty that we +propose now to speak. Our present concern is with these two classes of +letters only so far as they affected the relations between Allen and the +postmasters. According to his instructions a postmaster who should find +himself in possession of a dead or missent letter was to send it to Bath +in order that allowance might be made for the postage with which, +otherwise, he would stand charged. Hence arose various attempts at +imposition, attempts to palm off, as though they were dead or missent, +letters which were neither the one nor the other. But let Allen again +speak for himself. "From Lancaster," he writes, "go through Kendal and +Penrith to Carlisle, where I believe you will meet with a very great +abuse. 'Tis thus: His dead letters for a good while since much exceed +what can be rationally accounted for at that stage, and upon enquiry the +greatest number of those letters appear to be sham letters all written +by one hand and sent from different parts of the kingdom, which plainly +shews it to be only a blameable contrivance by some people in that +office to expect money from me for bits of paper never sent by the post +but made by themselves. Some instances you will receive with these +instructions. Be sure to suppress this dangerous abuse. Cause me a +redress for the injury I have received and leave with Mr. Pattison a +copy of my letter relating to stamps, which is the only method I can +think of for an effectual cure of this evil." + +The method to which Allen here refers afterwards became a rule of the +office. It was to the effect that no allowance would be made in respect +to any dead or missent letters which should not bear on their covers the +name of the office whence the postmaster by whom the allowance was +claimed had received them. If at that office they had been stamped, that +was enough; but if they had been forwarded unstamped--and the stamping +was as often omitted as not--the postmaster who received the letters was +to write the name upon them. Allen's first experience of the working of +this rule was a little singular. Mrs. Wainwright, the old postmistress +of Ferrybridge, had sent up for allowance a number of unstamped letters +without shewing whence she had received them. Allen returned the +letters, explaining that as such information had not been given no +allowance could be made. If Mrs. Wainwright felt any impatience at what +she no doubt regarded as new-fangled ways, no evidence of it was allowed +to appear. She simply sent the letters back with the name of the office +whence they had reached her neatly written upon each. To Allen's dismay, +the letters had all been opened and the information obtained from the +inside. + +The new rule, though good as far as it went, proved insufficient to +check imposition; and Allen felt constrained to add an additional +safeguard. For the future no postmaster was to have his claim allowed +unless he should verify it on oath. This obligation brought its own +troubles. By one the oath was omitted, by another it was objected to on +conscientious grounds, a third would treat it as of small account, and +all this meant additional work for Allen. "This officer," he writes of +the postmaster of Salisbury, "constantly makes large deductions for +missent letters" and on other grounds "without sending me the +particulars of his demand or the office oath to the truth of his claim." +The postmaster of Newark had conscientious scruples and objected to the +oath in any form. "You have already," writes Allen, "been fully +acquainted how tender I am in this respect; but if he still refuses to +claim his demand for allowances by an oath framed in any shape, 'tis +directly necessary to appoint an officer in that place who will obey +their Honours' commands, for if his obstinacy should be suffered the +rest of the kingdom who have readily complyed may raise new objections." +No such scruples afflicted the postmaster of Stone in Staffordshire. +Until lately "the errors made to my injury considerably exceeded those +made to the hurt of that deputy"; but now "the articles to my hurt are +dwindled to a trifle and the others much augmented, which causes Mr. +Barbor to make constant and large claims on me for the difference. Only +lately I received from him a statement of his demands on this head, with +an oath at the bottom of it that the several articles to his prejudice +were all true. But if it be the case, as I have always understood, that +he never concerns himself with the bye-letters but leaves this business +to his uncle, pray enquire of him how he came to send me such an oath." + +The postmasters had been allowed to receive their correspondence free of +postage; but Allen soon found that the privilege was being abused. The +covers addressed to them would contain letters not for themselves alone +but also for their neighbours in trade. Indeed the neighbours' letters +would predominate, and, ordinarily, the address was a mere subterfuge. +To check this abuse Allen established a rule that when addressed to +postmasters none but single letters--letters without enclosures, were to +pass free, and that all others were to be charged with full postage. The +postage, however, was to be afterwards remitted in the case of any +postmaster who should make oath that the letters in respect to which he +claimed remission were on his private business. Here again Allen's +belief in the efficacy of an oath was rudely shaken. The number and +magnitude of the claims made upon him from Lancaster had arrested his +attention, and he had laid them aside to be examined at leisure. +Meanwhile the explanation came in a curious manner. He received a +circular from a man of the name of Bracken asking him to subscribe +towards the publication of a book relating to the treatment of +horses.[46] This circular, as announced in the document itself, was +being issued to all the postmasters in the kingdom; and it was in his +capacity of postmaster of Bath that Allen received it. It further +announced that answers should be sent under cover to the postmistress of +Lancaster, the reason given being that they would thus escape postage. + + [46] The book was afterwards published--_The Gentleman's + Pocket-Farrier_, by Doctor Henry Bracken of Lancaster, 1735. + +Other malpractices were less easy of detection. All the claims, before +they were passed, came under Allen's personal inspection; and to +determine whether these were fraudulent or not needed no special +aptitude. But whether at some distant part of the country two or more +postmasters were in collusion, or whether without collusion they were +bringing to account less postage than they collected, were questions the +solution of which demanded qualifications of a different order. As the +result of reflection or observation, or more probably of both combined, +Allen laid down for his own guidance certain propositions as simple as +they were no doubt sound. Of these one was that the correspondence +passing between two given places, far from being liable to violent +fluctuations, might be relied on to maintain a nearly uniform level. It +is certain that in our own days, when locomotion is easy and the +movements of large parts of the population are influenced by the weather +and other considerations, the principle which this proposition embodies +would not hold good; but in the earlier half of the eighteenth century +Allen regarded it, and probably not without reason, as a safe guide. +When, therefore, the correspondence passing between two places during a +certain period had once been ascertained, he adopted this as a standard, +and any variation of the amount immediately excited his suspicions. "At +Christchurch and Ringwood," he writes, "fully inform yourself why the +letters which formerly were sent between those places and Salisbury are +now almost entirely sunk." At York, during the quarter ending Midsummer +1734, the postage on bye-letters amounted to L165, as against L176 +during the corresponding quarter of the previous year. This he affirms +must proceed, not from "deadness in trade," but from "some mismanagement +in the office." Between Appleby and Brough the letters passing in +December were fifteen, whereas in the two preceding months they had been +only three. "Let me know at once," he writes, "the cause of the +difference." + +Another proposition which Allen established as a rule of conduct was +that between two trading towns in the same neighbourhood there must +almost of necessity be correspondence. He noticed with surprise that +between Stone and Coventry, according to the vouchers sent him, not a +single letter had passed during a whole quarter. "I will not say it is +impossible," he writes to the surveyor, "that no letters should during +this time pass between such trading places, but during your stay at +Stone I must in a particular manner desire you will examine whether you +receive none." + +A third proposition was that there could not be what, if it be not a +contradiction in terms, we will call a one-sided correspondence. He +regarded it as an absolute certainty, amounting almost to an axiom, that +whatever number of letters a town might receive, it would send the same +or nearly the same number in reply. If, therefore, as between two towns, +he found from his vouchers that one was sending to the other more +letters than the other sent in return, he immediately concluded that +something was wrong. It is interesting to note how his views on this +point were confirmed by experience. During the year 1732 the postage on +letters sent from Nottingham to Newark amounted to L25, whereas on those +sent from Newark to Nottingham it amounted to only L13. Surely, writes +Allen, the amounts should be nearly equal. Ascertain whether this comes +"from faults, errors, or a real deadness in the correspondence," and to +enable him to do this the surveyor was to take the Newark office under +his care for a week or a fortnight. Here Allen speaks with confidence +indeed, and yet as though some doubt might exist; but a few years later +there is no doubt at all. "In the Chipping Norton vouchers," he writes, +"another remarkable oddness is that the letters received by that deputy +appear to be double the number sent from that office, which is not only +different from any other well-managed office, but 'tis out of all rules +of proportion with respect to correspondence." And again, "The receipt +of Chipping Norton's letters are still double the number of what Mr. +Mackerness in his vouchers enters as sent from his stage. I can't +conceive how 'tis possible for this difference to arise where an office +is justly managed. Fully examine into the cause of it." + +But there were other irregularities which, as being further removed from +observation, were still more difficult to check. Between Worcester and +Bewdley there had been great delay. "The account sent me," writes Allen, +"is that, tho' both these deputys are paid for riding their whole +stages, by a private arrangement between themselves they exchange the +mails at an alehouse on the road, and neither of them will ride beyond +that place, tho' one of them should happen to arrive there several hours +before the other can reach it." The postmaster of Lynn, in Norfolk, who +was paid by Allen to keep a check upon other postmasters in the +neighbourhood, calls his attention to their remissness in delivering +letters. Sometimes, he states, they keep letters several days. On this +account letters that would otherwise go by post are sent by friend or +carrier. "I am perfectly ashamed," he adds, and when I remonstrate and +"set forth the complaints of our gentlemen," the postmasters plead that +they are not paid for delivery, "and therefore think themselves not +obliged to send out their letters even to persons inhabiting within +their own towns." + +The post-boys were a constant source of trouble. "By the enclosed letter +from Mr. Floyer of Worcester," Allen writes to his surveyor, "you will +find that the post-boys on the cross-road convey letters between that +city and Bristol by exchanging them from one hand to another without +ever suffering them to be put into the mayl or baggs. Pray thank Mr. +Floyer for his letter, diligently search the boys, and make whatever +other inspection you find to be necessary. Mr. Lumley by the last post +writ me that at Exeter he had made another new and great discovery of +this kind, having found nineteen letters on the Oakhampton rider." "At +Plymouth," he writes on another occasion, "formerly there was a +particular house where the post-boys frequently met to exchange their +letters, which they collected throughout the country from Exon to Truro. +Inquire if this is still going on, and, if so, endeavour to detect +them." On the cross-road between Bristol and Tiverton "several of the +letters have been actually taken out of the baggs and delivered in some +of the trading towns by the post-boys instead of the proper officers. +This could not be if, according to instructions, these bags were always +chained and sealed." At Wells, in Somersetshire, the postmaster has +deprived the Bristol riding-boys of their perquisite of 1d. a letter +"for dropping of letters" at the towns and villages through which they +pass; and as to his own boys, he allows them no wages. This "must drive +those unhappy boys to almost a necessity to rob the mails for their +subsistence." "Then proceed to Rawcliff, in Yorkshire, where Mr. +Carrack, the deputy of that place, will tell you that the riders of the +branch between Doncaster and Hull embezzle great numbers of the +bye-letters. Take his assistance to detect and then punish those +fellows." + +Heretofore we have spoken only of the difficulties with which Allen had +to contend in dealing with persons more or less under his own control. +But he had troubles from without as well as within. "Everywhere," he +writes, "endeavour to inform yourself of and suppress all illegal +conveyance of letters." "At Birmingham," he writes again, "endeavour to +detect the carriers who, I am told, in the most open manner convey +letters from that place to all the trading towns in that country." "Use +your utmost vigilance to suppress the illegal collection of letters +which, I am informed, is now carried on by one Twopotts and other +persons, to the injury of the revenue, between Derby and Nottingham." +Between Cowes and Southampton the illegal conveyance of letters "is now +such a custom that we have seldom any go in the bag." "At every stage +which you pass through cause to be fixed to the most public places some +of the printed advertizements against the carriers and wherrymen, and +take every other reasonable methode to surprize all private, illegal, +conveyances of letters, and always have a particular regard of the +followers employed in the dispersing of news from the country presses." +This last injunction is best explained by another given a year or two +later. A printer at Northampton was employing a large number of persons +ostensibly to disperse newspapers, but really, as Allen affirmed, to +collect letters. These persons, he wrote, no longer confine their +operations to short distances, but "by meeting at the extremity of their +divisions the servants of other printers exchange their letters." "Pray, +therefore," he adds, "wherever country presses are erected, do your best +to suppress this evil." + +Allen when dealing with the posts displayed a degree of self-reliance +which was hardly to be expected from one of his modest and retiring +disposition. We will give an instance, and with the less hesitation +because it will serve to shew his general way of transacting business. +In 1736 the Duke of Devonshire, who had been spending the summer at +Chatsworth, was much struck with the length of time which letters took +to pass between Chesterfield and Manchester, and he begged the +postmasters-general to apply a remedy. These two towns are about +forty-six miles apart, and in 1736 there was no post between them. Not +very long before, indeed, letters from one to the other would have had +to pass through London, and even now they were taking a circuitous +course by Ferribridge, Doncaster, and Rotherham. The Duke's application +was referred to Allen; and Allen, without waiting to consult the local +surveyor, proceeded at once to give his instructions. Between Manchester +and Chesterfield there should certainly be a post; but this would not be +enough. Derby must also share the benefit; and this could not be +compassed without erecting a stage between that town and Nottingham, +Nottingham being already in direct communication with Chesterfield. +Lincolnshire must also be considered. True, there was a post from +Nottingham to Newark; but between Newark and Lincoln, though only about +seventeen miles apart, there was no communication except through +Grantham, nor between Newark and Horncastle and Boston except through +Stilton. The letters, moreover, on reaching the Great North Road had to +await the arrival of the London mail. Not only did Allen determine that +all this must be altered, but he sketched out the particular alterations +that were to be made, and merely referred to the district surveyor with +a view to ascertain what their effect upon the correspondence was likely +to be. + +The particulars which this officer furnished were curious. At +Chesterfield, he reported, not a letter was delivered except on payment +of a fee of 2d. or 3d., and sometimes even of 4d., over and above the +postage. On each letter sent to the post it was the custom to pay 1d. +The entire district, including not Chesterfield alone, but Sheffield, +Nottingham, and Mansfield, was doing a very considerable trade in +Manchester wares; but the letters which passed between these towns and +Manchester were chiefly sent with the goods by carrier. Of post letters +there were few, the postage for a whole year amounting to only L23. The +correspondence might possibly increase by as much as one-third or +L7:13:4 a year, if a post were put on between Manchester and +Chesterfield; but this was doubtful, and the annual cost, owing partly +to the badness of the road, would be L80. Between Derby and Nottingham a +new stage could not be erected for less than L26. Nor could the +Lincolnshire posts be improved as desired for less than L102, making +altogether an increased annual charge of L208; and there was no +probability of this increase of cost being covered, or nearly covered, +by increase of correspondence. Allen was not to be deterred by any such +consideration. The whole of the alterations were carried into effect; +the postmasters-general received from the Duke a warm expression of +thanks for their admirable arrangements; and Allen, who had devised +them, and at whose expense they were made, did not so much as appear in +the transaction. + +In striking contrast with Allen's proceedings were those of the Post +Office in the few instances in which it acted independently. Allen's +energy, far from communicating itself to Lombard Street, appears to have +extinguished what little energy had existed there before. Why should the +postmasters-general exert themselves to do that which was done better +and without expense to the Crown by another? And yet there were some, +though rare, occasions on which independent action was called for. One +such occasion presented itself in 1733, and it serves to shew how +wanting the Post Office was in the local knowledge which Allen possessed +in so remarkable a degree. Application had been made for a post to +Aylsham in Norfolk. Among those who had lent their influence in support +of the application was Lord Lovell, who had just been appointed +postmaster-general in conjunction with Carteret, but who had not yet +entered upon his duties; and Carteret, to oblige his new colleague, sent +an officer specially from London with a view to facilitate arrangements. +This officer, John Day by name, was furnished with written +instructions. He was to proceed to Norwich, and there ascertain certain +facts, any one of which could have been supplied by Allen at Bath +without rising from his chair in Lilliput Alley. These were--how far +Aylsham was from Norwich; whether the road between the two towns was a +good or a bad one; whether under existing arrangements Aylsham ever +received any letters, and, if so, how and whence; and particularly--an +instruction which could hardly have been given except under the belief +that Aylsham was south and not north of Norwich--whether the setting up +of a post between the two towns would be a "hindrance to the grand mail +betwixt Norwich and London." Day, having described the position of +Aylsham, appears to have considered it unnecessary to give this last +piece of information; but he told as news, which perhaps it was, that +the London mail left Norwich on Mondays and Wednesdays at midnight, and +on Saturdays at four in the afternoon. + +Even where local knowledge was not wanting, the lack of funds which they +could dispense at discretion placed the postmasters-general as compared +with Allen at a serious disadvantage. We have seen how Allen dealt with +the application from Chatsworth. Not many years later it devolved upon +the postmasters-general to deal with a somewhat similar one from +Kimbolton; and it is interesting to note the difference of procedure. +From Kimbolton and St. Neots the course of post had been through +Biggleswade and Hitchin, and in 1758 the inhabitants of the counties of +Huntingdon and Cambridgeshire petitioned that it should be through +Caxton. The effect of the alteration would be that letters for the two +first-mentioned towns coming from the north or from Norfolk and Suffolk +would, regularly three times a week, be brought to the towns themselves, +and not, as had hitherto been the case, be left at Huntingdon, to be +forwarded thence as opportunity offered by carriers and market people. +St. Neots had a further interest in the matter. A considerable +corn-market was held there on Thursdays; and the dealers complained +that, leaving as the post did at twelve mid-day, they had no time to +write their letters, whereas, by way of Caxton, it need not leave until +five in the afternoon. On the score of convenience the change had +everything to recommend it; but there was one drawback. To carry it into +effect would involve a cost of L25; and this, the postmasters-general +expressed their apprehension, the Treasury would not feel justified in +incurring, as the increase of expense might be only partially covered by +the increase of correspondence. Whether the Treasury consent was given +or withheld we know not; but the mere fact that such an apprehension +should have been expressed, and that the convenience of towns and +extensive districts should have been made to depend upon the paltry +consideration of a few pounds, goes far to shew that the Post Office, +without the aid of private enterprise, would have made but little +progress. + +Allen's contract expired every seven years. In order to obtain a renewal +of it he did not, according to a practice not uncommon with reformers, +stoop to the pretence that he was on the point of introducing some +important measure, which would be lost to the country unless his +services were retained. On the contrary, he treated it as a pure +business matter, and each time offered higher terms. Thus, in 1741, +which was the first year of a new septennial period, he guaranteed the +country letters to produce L17,500; in 1748 he guaranteed them to +produce L18,000; and in 1755, L18,500. This being the class of letters of +which it had been and continued to be predicted that with the extension +of cross-posts the number must diminish, the postmasters-general +regarded the advance as not unhandsome. + +But, in consideration of his contract being renewed, there was another +and far more important condition, which Allen undertook to perform. This +was to convert tri-weekly posts into posts six days a week, and to take +the whole expense upon himself. Accordingly, in 1741, the post began to +run every day of the week except Sunday between London and Bristol, +between London and Norwich, and between London and Yarmouth; and of +course all the intervening towns participated in the benefit. In 1748 a +further instalment followed. This time it was the Midlands and the west +of England that were to be benefited; and on and after Monday the 26th +of December the post went on the three days on which it had not gone +hitherto to Birmingham, through Oxford, and to Exeter through Bristol. +In 1755, the beginning of another septennial period, the six-day service +was widely extended. Leicester, Derby, and Nottingham, Shrewsbury and +Chester, Warrington, Liverpool, and Manchester were among the towns +which were now to receive letters from London on every day of the week +except Sunday. From Liverpool and Manchester the cross-post service to +almost every part of the kingdom was at the same time improved. At the +close of the nineteenth century, postridden as some of us think +ourselves to be, we may find it sometimes difficult to believe that less +than 150 years ago there was not a town in the kingdom which received a +post from London on more than alternate days. + +And yet Allen's activity, untiring as it was, went only a short way to +regain for the Post Office the popularity it had lost. Various causes +had contributed to this result. The chief of them, however, as it was +the earliest in point of time, was of itself enough and more than enough +to account for the distrust and hostility with which the Post Office +appears to have been regarded towards the middle of the last century. As +early as 1735 members of Parliament had begun to complain that their +letters bore evident signs of having been opened at the Post Office, +alleging that such opening had been frequent and was become matter of +common notoriety; but it was not until six years later, in the course of +inquiries which were being made into the conduct of Sir Robert Walpole +during the last ten years of his administration, that the state of the +case became fully known. It then transpired that in the Post Office +there was a private office, an office independent of the +postmasters-general and under the immediate direction of the Secretary +of State, which was expressly maintained for the purpose of opening and +inspecting letters. It was pretended, indeed, that these operations were +confined to foreign letters, but, as a matter of fact, there was no +such restriction. The office appears to have been established in 1718, +and its cost, which was defrayed out of the secret service money, had +since increased more than tenfold, and now reached the prodigious sum of +L4700 a year. The establishment, exclusive of a door-keeper, consisted +of nine persons, with salaries ranging from L200 to L1000; the head of +the office or "Chief Decypherer," as he was called, being Dr. Willes, +Dean of Lincoln. It was in June 1742 that these shameful facts became +known, through the report of a committee of the House of Commons; and, +in the August following, Willes was gazetted Bishop of St. Davids. + +To ourselves it may seem strange that the State monopoly of letters +should have survived so terrible a revelation. It must be remembered, +however, that in the middle of the last century the Post Office, owing +mainly to the heavy charges it levied, had hardly become matter of +general concern; that public opinion, as we now understand it, was only +beginning to exist; and, above all, that the very conditions under which +Post Office work was done precluded the idea of privacy. These +conditions were absolutely inconsistent with the sanctity which now +surrounds a letter. Letters were divided into two classes,--single and +double; and to determine whether a letter was the one or the other +demanded a close scrutiny, a scrutiny such as could not be exercised +except by the strongest light that candles could give. In 1719 it had +been laid down that a letter, however small, was to be charged as a +double one if two or more persons joined in writing it. How could it be +ascertained that the whole of a letter was in one and the same +handwriting except by prying? Even the law itself, by the meagre +protection it vouchsafed to letters, discouraged the idea of sanctity. +For an offence of the pettiest kind, as for instance for stealing a +pocket-handkerchief in a dwelling-house, the penalty was death. For +opening or embezzling a letter the highest penalty which the law allowed +was a fine of L20. It is significant of the change which has since taken +place in the public sentiment that while in the case of almost every +other description of offence the penalty has been enormously reduced, in +the case of opening and embezzling letters it has been enormously +increased. + +Horace Walpole, writing more than twenty-five years later, never tired +of mentioning the elaborate precautions he had taken to secure his +correspondence against inspection. "I shall send this letter by the +coach," he says, "as it is rather free-spoken and Sandwich[47] may be +prying." "I always say less than I could, because I consider how many +post-house ordeals a letter must pass"; and similar observations occur +in a hundred different places. All this was sheer nonsense. It tickled +the exquisite vanity of the man to affect to believe that his +correspondence was of sufficient importance to attract the attention of +the State. And yet truth compels us to admit that the infamous practice +which the committee exposed did not cease with the exposure. The +Treasury, while grudging every 6d. expended on the posts, continued +regularly to remit more than L4000 a year for the maintenance of their +inquisitors in Lombard Street; and it was not until George the Third had +sat some years on the throne, probably under the Rockingham +administration, that the corps was finally disbanded. + + [47] Lord Sandwich was postmaster-general in 1768. + +Apart from the grave cause of offence we have mentioned, it is a curious +fact that during the last eighteen or twenty years of George the +Second's reign hardly anything occurred in which the Post Office was +concerned that did not in one way or another cause dissatisfaction to +some section of the community. The Post Office, no doubt, was often to +blame, sometimes deeply so; but even where this was not the case, where +no blame attached either to itself or to any other office or person, it +in no single instance, so far as we are aware, escaped a certain amount +of obloquy. + +This unfortunate result first shews itself in the case of the Falmouth +and Lisbon packets. During the war with Spain it had only been +necessary, as a defence against some Spanish privateers which infested +the Channel, to provide the Dover and Harwich packets with arms and to +make a small addition to their complement of men; but in 1744, when +Spain was joined by France, a good deal more had to be done. The Dover +and Calais packets, after the six months' grace allowed by the treaty of +Utrecht, were taken off; the packets to the West Indies which had been +discontinued since 1711 were revived; and the Falmouth and Lisbon +packets were put on the same footing as during the last war. This the +merchants trading with Portugal, an important body representing +forty-eight firms, protested was not enough. The packets, they argued, +afforded the only available means for remitting gold to Lisbon in +exchange for commodities, and should, therefore, be of at least 300 tons +and carry 100 men. It was true that this would be in excess by about +seventy tons and forty men of what was provided during the last war; but +the fact that during the last war some of the packets fell into the +hands of privateers was of itself a proof that they were not of force +and burthen sufficient. Besides, we had then an army in Spain, and the +number of soldiers and passengers passing to and fro made fewer sailors +necessary. Moved by these arguments, the Duke of Newcastle decided to +comply with the merchants' request; but Pelham, on learning that the +building and equipment alone would cost L34,800, revoked the Duke's +decision. His Majesty's opinion he declared to be that the main object +of a packet was to carry letters, and that for the carriage of letters +light and swift vessels were the fittest. This, it will be remembered, +was the opinion which had been expressed by William the Third more than +fifty years before, and events had proved its soundness. Nevertheless, +the merchants were highly displeased; and, of course, at that time they +were no more able than they are now to distinguish between a refusal +which originated with the Post Office and one that was imposed upon it +by superior authority. + +But the merchants--and here we speak not of those alone who traded with +Portugal--had other and more serious cause of complaint. Their foreign +letters were not delivered until twelve o'clock in the day, and, if a +mail arrived by as much as a few minutes after twelve, it was not at the +earliest delivered until the same hour on the following day. And if on +this day a second mail chanced to arrive shortly before noon, the +letters by the first mail were kept back so as to be delivered with +those of the second in the evening. Thus, foreign letters received at +the Post Office in Lombard Street a few minutes after mid-day on +Saturday might not be delivered even in Lombard Street itself until the +evening of Monday. To make matters worse, the foreign ministers residing +in London had their letters delivered soon after the mail arrived, so +that any persons whom these ministers might please to favour enjoyed an +undue advantage. + +The merchants now urged that this might be altered. Did not Sir Harry +Furness, they asked, during the last war obtain permission to have his +letters delivered immediately after the arrival of a mail? And was not +this permission afterwards revoked on the ground that it had led to +abuse? Matters were better managed abroad. At Amsterdam, for instance, +if a mail arrived as late as nine o'clock in the evening, the letters +were delivered to those who might call for them at any time before +midnight, or else sent out for delivery early the next morning. At +Rotterdam--this also was urged as an instance of better management--the +English letters were never delivered till twelve hours after the mail +had arrived, about which time those which had come by the same mail +would be in course of delivery at Amsterdam. Equality of treatment was +thus secured, and neither city had priority of intelligence. At Hamburg, +again, as soon as a mail arrived--if in the day, a notice to that effect +was fixed up at the Post Office and at the Exchange, the letters being +delivered about three hours later; and if at night, the clerks were +called out of bed, so that the letters might be sorted and ready for +delivery the first thing in the morning. Sundays, moreover, were not +excepted. As regards foreign gazettes, too, these all over Europe were +delivered within a quarter of an hour after their arrival; yet in +London the merchants had to wait for them many hours. And this was all +the more hard to bear because the clerks in the Post Office, to whom +gazettes were addressed, received them at once and communicated the +contents to their friends. What could be more calculated to promote +fraudulent insurance, one-sided bargains, and a system of overreaching +generally? Such was the representation made by the merchants; and they +concluded by asking that henceforth, except on Sundays, no longer +interval should be allowed to elapse between the arrival and delivery of +a foreign mail than was absolutely necessary for the purpose of sorting. +The postmasters-general had no choice but to refuse the request. To have +granted it would have defeated the object with which the Treasury were +maintaining an office of their own within the Post Office building. + +About this time, three or four years short of the middle of the century, +the Post Office got into disgrace with travellers. Under the provisions +of the numerous Turnpike Acts which had recently passed, the trustees of +the roads were to measure distances and to erect milestones; and on +these provisions being carried into effect the statute mile proved to be +shorter, much shorter, than the reputed or Post Office mile.[48] So +great indeed was the difference that the Post Office may be said to have +been almost ridiculously out of its reckoning. Thus, from London to +Berwick-upon-Tweed the distance, according to Post Office computation, +was 262 miles; according to measurement, it proved to be 339 miles. To +Holyhead the actual distance proved to be 269 miles; the Post Office had +computed it at 208 miles. To Manchester the distance, according to the +Post Office, was 137 miles; the actual distance was 165. Bristol, which +proved to be 115 miles from London, had been reckoned as 94; Birmingham +as 89 instead of 116; Warwick as 67 instead of 84; and so it had been +throughout the kingdom. In every case the Post Office mile proved to be +an unduly long one; and of course, as soon as milestones were erected +authoritatively recording the statute miles, the postmasters charged +accordingly. This change excited many murmurs. The traveller to Warwick +who, at the rate of 3d. a mile, exclusive of a guide, had hitherto paid +for the use of a horse 16s. 9d., had now to pay 21s. To Birmingham he +had now to pay 29s. instead of 22s. 3d.; to Bristol, 28s. 9d. instead of +23s. 6d.; and so on. + + [48] This, although unknown probably to the postmasters until now, was + no new discovery. As far back as 1674 John Ogilby had called attention + to the erroneous reckonings in vogue. Ogilby had been commissioned by + Charles the Second to survey and measure the principal roads of England, + and having performed his task he published the result of his labours in + a large folio volume. In the preface to an abridgment of this work, + published in 1711, he thus wrote: "The distances are all along reckoned + in measur'd miles and furlongs, beginning from the Standard in Cornhil, + so that the reader must not be surprized when he finds the number of + miles set down here exceed the common computation. For example, from + London to York are computed but 150 miles, whereas by measure the + distance is 192 miles. And computation being very uncertain, it must be + granted that no exactness could be observed but [by] adhering constantly + to the standard-mile of 1760 yards, which contains eight furlongs." + +The King's messengers fought hardest against the innovation, but without +success. Finding the expense of their journeys to Berwick and Holyhead +appreciably increased, they appealed to the Treasury for redress, and +the Treasury invited the postmasters-general to explain under what +authority they had raised their charges. The postmasters-general +replied, as they had replied scores of times before on occasions of +complaint from the public, that they had really nothing to do with the +matter; that it was the postmasters who made the charges; and that in +the opinion of the Attorney-General these officers were clearly entitled +to be paid according to the new measurements. It had been expressly +provided by Act of Parliament that all persons riding post should pay +after the rate of 3d. for every British mile, and the British mile was a +known statute measure common to all His Majesty's dominions. The +Treasury were not satisfied, and insisted that the King's messengers +should be charged according to the old scale. But this, as the +postmasters-general pointed out, was not feasible, the Act of Parliament +by which they were governed making no exception in favour of particular +persons, but on the contrary enacting that all persons without +distinction should pay at the rate of 3d. a mile. + +At the headquarters in Lombard Street it was long feared that, on +finding that the reputed mile exceeded the statute mile, those +postmasters whose remuneration had been fixed according to the distance +over which they carried the mails would claim an increased mileage +allowance; but this, to their credit be it said, they never did. Such +forbearance, however, had one ill effect. It tended to perpetuate error. +For many years afterwards two sets of distances remained in vogue, the +one right and the other wrong; the new set applicable to travellers, and +the old set to mails and to expresses sent on the service of the +State.[49] + + [49] This explains why in the Road Books of the time the distance + between two places is stated differently in two parallel columns under + the initials C and M, the one being the computed and the other the + measured distance. + +The feeling against the Post Office, which had long been gathering +force, now displayed itself in a remarkable manner. It had been the +constant and uniform practice ever since the Post Office was established +to charge letters containing patterns or samples with double postage. To +this the merchants now demurred. They did not deny that such letters if +weighing as much as an ounce should be charged as for an ounce weight; +but they contended that if weighing less than an ounce they should be +charged as single and not double letters. This contention was founded on +the wording of the Act of Anne, which, after prescribing the postage +which "every single letter or piece of paper" not being of the weight of +one ounce was to pay, enacted that "a double letter" should pay twice +that amount. Was a letter to be charged double because it had in it any +enclosure--a sample of grain, for instance, or a pattern of cloth or of +silk? or to constitute a double letter must not the enclosure be of +paper? + +This question the merchants now resolved to try; and accordingly at +Bristol, at Manchester, and at Cirencester proceedings were commenced +against the local postmasters for demanding and receiving more than the +legal postage. It affords striking evidence of the widespread +dissatisfaction then existing that in 1753 a practice as old as the Post +Office itself should have been challenged for the first time, still more +that it should have been challenged at three separate places, distant +from one another, simultaneously. The action against the postmaster of +Cirencester came on first. It was tried at the Gloucester Assizes before +a special jury, when a special verdict was found upon the words of the +statute, whether a letter containing a pattern or sample and not being +of the weight of one ounce ought to pay double or single postage. The +postmasters-general, anxious to avoid a multiplicity of suits, now +opened communications with the merchants of Bristol and Manchester. +Would it not be well that their suits should be abandoned? One special +verdict would serve as well as a hundred such verdicts would do to +settle the point of law between the Crown and the subject. Having +succeeded in one county, what more could they expect in another? Or what +advantage would follow that had not been already secured? These +overtures came too late. The merchants were determined to fight to the +bitter end. The suits came on both at Bristol and at Manchester; and at +each of those places a special verdict was given in almost identical +terms with that which had been returned at Gloucester. + +Meanwhile the attorneys both in London and the country had passed +resolutions to the effect that, if the point of law were decided in the +merchants' favour, they would refuse to pay double postage on letters +containing writs. The postmasters-general became alarmed. Single instead +of double postage on letters containing writs as well as patterns and +samples meant, according to the most moderate computation, a reduction +of the Post Office revenue by L10,000 or L12,000 a year. This was a +serious reduction, and how to prevent it was the question to which the +postmasters-general now addressed themselves. It is characteristic of +the time that the first expedient they devised with this object was +simply to refuse to carry any more letters containing patterns and +samples unless the senders of them should agree beforehand to pay double +postage. They argued that, in view of the importance to the merchant to +have his letters carried, any unwillingness on his part to enter into +such an agreement would be easily overcome. A notice to give effect to +their intention was already prepared; but before issuing it they took +the precaution to consult the Attorney-General. His advice to them was +that, admirable as the expedient might be, it was distinctly illegal. +Should they, then, bring one of the special verdicts on to be argued in +Westminster Hall and abide by the judicial decision? To this the +Attorney-General could raise no objection, but he warned them that the +decision was pretty sure to be against the Crown. Driven thus into a +corner, the postmasters-general adopted a most questionable course. They +advocated the passing of an Act which should declare a letter containing +any enclosure, even though not of paper and not weighing as much as an +ounce, to be a double letter; and this advice was followed. In a bill +then before Parliament, having for its object to prevent the fraudulent +removal of tobacco, a clause was inserted which effectually prevented +the merchants from sending their patterns or samples and the lawyers +their writs for single postage.[50] + + [50] 26 Geo. II. cap. xiii. sec. 7. + +It would be difficult to conceive a more irritating course. No doubt +there was precedent for it. Early in the reign of George the First an +Act had been passed enacting that bills of exchange written on the same +piece of paper as a letter, and also letters written on the same piece +of paper and addressed to different persons, should be charged as +distinct letters: and, possibly enough, it might have been difficult to +explain why a bill of exchange should pay double postage and not a +pattern or a writ. It is also true that the fact of three several judges +and three several juries in distant parts of the kingdom having been +unable to agree as to the intent and meaning of a statute implied a +real doubt. And yet it can hardly be denied that to solve that doubt by +the brute force of an Act of Parliament, instead of bringing one of the +special verdicts before the Courts to be argued, was a most provoking +step. Nor would it have been calculated to appease the merchants if they +had known, as the postmasters-general knew, that the entire rates of +postage, as they then existed, rested on no legal sanction. The existing +rates were imposed by the Act of Anne; and that Act imposed them for a +period of thirty-two years, a period which had now expired, and after +which it was expressly provided that the former and lower rates were to +revive. It is true that early in the reign of George the First a further +Act had passed, making perpetual the Post Office contribution of L700 a +week to the Exchequer; but by a clumsiness of legislation, which is not +unknown even in our own day, the latter Act, while making perpetual both +the contribution and the power to levy it, had omitted to re-enact the +rates out of which the contribution was to be paid. Virtually, +therefore, these rates had lapsed through effluxion of time. + +And what during the last forty or fifty years had the Post Office +done--done, that is, independently of Allen--to promote the public +convenience or to make amends for so much that had given offence? It had +done four things, and, so far as we are aware, four things only. It had +introduced the contrivance, with which we are all familiar, of external +apertures in Post Offices, so that letters could be posted from the +outside. It had brought the system of expresses up to a standard which, +compared with what it was at the beginning of the century, might perhaps +be considered high. It had, indirectly, been the means of eliciting from +the Courts of Law an important decision. And it had accelerated the +course of post between London and Edinburgh. In 1758 the time which the +mail took to accomplish the distance was, at the instance of the royal +boroughs, reduced between London and Edinburgh from 87 hours to 82, and +between Edinburgh and London from 131 hours to 85. + +The date at which apertures on the outside of Post Offices were first +introduced is unknown to us even approximately. All we can do is to fix +two distant dates at one of which the contrivance existed, and at the +other it existed not. On the 3rd of November 1712 Oxford, the Lord +Treasurer, received an anonymous letter, and, being anxious to discover +the writer, he invoked the assistance of the postmasters-general with a +view to ascertain where and by whom it had been posted. Any such inquiry +at the present time would be absolutely futile. One hundred and eighty +years ago the postmasters-general, after an interval of twenty-four +hours, were able to reply not only that the letter had been posted "at +the receiving office of Mrs. Sandys, a threadshop two doors within +Blackfryars Gateway," but that it had been posted "by a youth of about +seventeen years old, in a whitish suit of cloathes, who was without a +hat." It is difficult to believe that apertures can have existed then, +and that the letter was not posted inside the office. That in 1757 the +contrivance had come into existence, though possibly in a rude form, is +beyond question. In that year an unfortunate woman was put on her trial +for stealing a letter, and the sender was called upon to prove the +posting. "On Tuesday the 7th of December 1756," he said, "I put this +letter into the Post Office at the house of Mrs. Jeffreys at Bloomsbury, +at about nine o'clock at night.... There is a window and a slip to put +it into a little box from out of the street. I was not in the house. It +is a very narrow box, and I was afraid my letter was gone down to the +ground.[51] I asked Mrs. Jeffreys if my letter was safe after I had +dropped it into the slip. She said your letter is safe and gone into the +box." If the value of a contrivance depended upon the amount of +ingenuity displayed in devising it, these apertures would be hardly +deserving of mention; but in view of the convenience they afford, this +short notice of them may not perhaps be considered out of place. + + [51] The box into which the letters fell was at this time an open one, + _i.e._ without a cover and movable. It was not until 1792 that the + letter-box was closed, fixed, and locked. + +The Rebellion of 1745, while disarranging the posts, brought into vogue +the system of expresses; and this system once established was not long +in extending itself. An express cost 3d. a mile, and, no doubt, +travelled faster than at the beginning of the century. The roads had +since been improved; and it may well be believed that the postmasters, +as their custom increased, kept better horses. It was probably the speed +of the express as compared with the tardiness of the post which induced +the wealthy, about the middle of the last century, largely to employ +this mode of conveyance for their letters. It had indeed one drawback, a +drawback such as in our own time has attended the use of telegrams. It +was apt to excite alarm. "Let me," writes the good-natured Charles +Townshend to his sister-in-law, Lady Ferrers, under date September +1759--"Let me now desire you to conclude whenever you receive an express +that it brings you good news, for otherwise I shall be obliged to defer +one day sending you any such account if it should not come to me on a +post day, least the express should alarm you. I should not chuse to +detain you one minute from the news I know your heart beats for, and yet +I should not chuse to frighten you by the sudden manner of its arrival, +for which reason I desire you will remember to receive whatsoever +express I send with confidence and as a friend." + +But the purpose for which an express might be employed was jealously +restricted. A man might employ an express to carry a letter; but woe +betide him if he employed the same agency for the purpose of +disseminating news. The licensed carriers at Cambridge had recently been +prosecuted and the postmasters on the Great West Road taken severely to +task for doing this very thing. What are we to think of the intolerable +state of bondage in which men were content to live when even the gentle +Allen could give the following instruction? "At every stage," he writes +to one of his surveyors, "you must forbid the deputies to send any +express except to the General Post Office in London, unless it be for +His Majesty's immediate service; and all other intelligence must be +conveyed either by the common post or particular messenger." + +In the middle of the last century, and for about thirty years before and +after, the mails were being continually stopped and robbed by +highwaymen. The reward which the Post Office offered on these occasions +for the apprehension of the robber was invariably L200, this being in +addition to the reward of L40 prescribed by Act of Parliament; and if +the robbery took place within five miles of London, there was a third +reward of L100 by proclamation. Numerous and diverse as the +robberies[52] were, there is only one of which we propose to speak; and +in this case an exception may well be made on account of the important +decision which it was the means of evoking from the Courts. A highwayman +had stopped the Worcester mail at Shepherd's Bush and rifled it of its +contents. Finding himself in possession of a large number of Bank of +England notes he adopted a novel expedient for disposing of them. He +hired a chaise and four and proceeded along the Great North Road as far +as Caxton, passing the notes as he went; and in order to give himself a +wider field of operations he took the precaution of going one way and +returning another. To Caxton he went through Barnet, Hatfield, +Stevenage, and Bugden, and he returned by way of Royston, Ware, and +Enfield. Except at Barnet, which was probably thought to be dangerously +near to London, there was hardly a postmaster along the whole line of +road who had not one or more of the notes passed upon him. The question +now arose who was to bear the loss,--the person by whom the notes had +been sent by post or the postmasters who had changed them into cash. At +the present time the law on the subject is so well ascertained that no +doubt could exist as to the answer; but such was not then the case. In +order to try the point, it was arranged that the notes should be +stopped, and that the sender of them should bring an action against the +Bank of England to recover their value. The trial came on before the +King's Bench in 1758, and, after learned pleadings on both sides, the +Lord Chief Justice pronounced the decision of the Court. This was that +any person paying a valuable consideration for a bank note to bearer in +a fair course of business is unquestionably entitled to recover the +money from the Bank. + + [52] Among these robberies there was, so far as we are aware, only one + which possessed any feature of interest; and in this case the interest + was of a psychological nature. Gardner, a postman, was stopped by three + highwaymen on Winchmore Hill, and, on his refusing to give up his + letters, they murdered him. Atrocities of this kind had been frequent, + and executions had failed to check them. But the resources of + civilisation were not exhausted. Lord Lovell--or the Earl of Leicester, + as he had now become--waited upon the King and procured His Majesty's + assent that, after execution, the highwaymen's bodies should be hung in + chains. To be hanged was one thing; after hanging, to have one's body + suspended in chains was another. This was an indignity to which no + respectable criminal should be called upon to submit. Such would seem to + be the idea conveyed in the following letter which Leicester received:-- + + To the Right Hon. the EARL OF LEICESTER, at HOLKHAM, NORFOLK. + + THURSDAY, _Oct. 1753_. + + MY LORD--I find that it was by your orders that Mr. Stockdale was hung + in chains. Now, if you don't order him to be taken down, I will set fire + to your house and blow your brains out the first opportunity. + + Stockdale was clerk to a proctor in Doctors Commons. + + +An important legal decision, with which the Post Office had only the +remotest concern, an improved system of expresses following as a natural +consequence from circumstances over which the Post Office had no +control, a simple contrivance to facilitate the posting of letters, and +an acceleration of the mail between London and Edinburgh--this as the +record of forty or fifty years' progress is assuredly meagre enough; and +yet we are not aware of any omission. The plain truth is that during +these years, except in the matter of bye and cross-post letters, the +Post Office had retrograded rather than advanced. The rates of postage +were higher now than at the beginning of the century. More, probably, +than one-half of the public Acts of Parliament which passed during the +reigns of the first two Georges were Acts for repairing and widening the +roads. The roads had kept steadily improving; and the posts had failed +to keep pace with them. While travellers travelled faster than in the +reign of Queen Anne, letters were still being conveyed at a speed not +exceeding five miles an hour. The friendly relations which had existed +between the postmasters-general and the merchants existed no longer. +These had been replaced by feelings of estrangement and animosity. Under +Cotton and Frankland and under Frankland and Evelyn the Post Office +enjoyed a reputation for personal integrity; but even this claim to +distinction had now disappeared. Barbutt, the secretary, had recently +retired under a cloud. Bell, the comptroller of the inland office, had +been arrested on a charge of fraud.[53] Denzil Onslow, the +receiver-general, had been declared a defaulter to the amount of +L10,000; and Stone, Onslow's successor, after two or three years' tenure +of the appointment, had died in debt to the Crown. The Post Office, when +George the Third ascended the throne, was thoroughly discredited, and, +despite Allen's exertions, men were beginning to ask themselves, Why +cumbereth it the ground? + + [53] Elsewhere we have expressed a desire to avoid, as far as possible, + the use of technical terms, and the propriety of this course will + probably not be disputed when we state that the charge against Bell was + that having "crowned the advanced letters" he failed to account for the + proceeds. An "advanced" letter was one on which the postage had been + advanced, a letter which, having been undercharged in the country, was + surcharged in London. To "crown" a letter was to impress it with the + stamp of the Crown, denoting that the surcharge had been made. + Virtually, therefore, the charge against Bell was that he had embezzled + the surcharges. + +Allen died in 1764, leaving behind him a name which is still venerated, +and justly venerated, in the city of Bath. For many years before his +death he is reputed to have made out of his contract with the Post +Office not less than L12,000 a year; and the greater part of this noble +fortune he spent in acts of benevolence. As early as 1735 riches must +have come pouring in upon him, for in that year he built for himself the +stately house of Prior Park, not indeed for ostentation's sake, but in +order to prove that the stone dug from his quarries on Combe Down was +not the sorry stuff which interested persons in London had represented +it to be. That house still stands; but, as was said at the time--and the +statement holds good to this day--"his charity is seen further than his +house, though it stands on a hill, aye, and brings him more honour too." +In 1742 Allen served as Mayor of Bath; and in 1745, the year of the +Rebellion, he raised a company of volunteers, which he clothed at his +own cost. At Prior Park he dispensed a more than decent hospitality, +numbering among his guests Pitt, Pope, and Fielding, Charles Yorke, and +Warburton. Fielding has immortalised Allen's character but not his name +in the person of Squire Allworthy; and Pope has immortalised both his +name and his character in the lines-- + + Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame, + Do good by stealth and blush to find it fame. + +Among Post Office reformers Allen stands absolutely alone in one +particular. His connection with the Post Office, long as it endured, was +not abruptly terminated. This we attribute partly to a natural sweetness +of disposition, which provoked no enemies, and still more to that which +on the part of reformers is the rarest of virtues, an entire abnegation +of self. So long as a thing which he thought desirable was done, he +cared not that others received the credit.[54] + + [54] Of Allen's personal appearance the only account, so far as we are + aware, is to be found in the correspondence of Samuel Derrick, Master of + the Ceremonies at Bath. Derrick writes, under date May 10, 1763: "I have + had an opportunity of visiting Mr. Allen in the train of the French + Ambassador. He is a very grave, well-looking old man, plain in his + dress, resembling that of a Quaker, and courteous in his behaviour. I + suppose he cannot be much under seventy."--Vol. ii. p. 94. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION + +1764-1782 + + +Brighter days were in store for the Post Office, but not yet. Meanwhile +the clouds grew darker and darker. During the twenty years that followed +Allen's death, partly as the result of ill-considered legislation and +still more through the incompetence and helplessness of its rulers, the +Post Office sank to a depth which, in England, probably no other public +institution, or at all events none that still exists, has ever reached. + +In 1764 and 1765 two Acts of Parliament were passed, one having for its +object to prevent the abuses of franking, and the other to improve the +posts. It would be hardly too much to say that both of these Acts had an +exactly opposite effect to that which was intended. The first, far from +preventing the abuses of franking, largely extended them; and the second +imposed a deplorable restriction, a restriction for which any little +advantages conferred at the same time afforded very inadequate +compensation. + +Under the Act of 1765, to take the later one first, the postage rates +were reduced for short distances. Since 1711 the charge for carrying a +single letter had been 3d. for eighty miles or under. Now it was to be +1d. for one stage and 2d. for two stages. For longer distances the +charge was to remain unaltered. The speed of the post was raised from +five to six miles an hour. Power was given to the postmasters-general to +erect penny Post Offices in country towns; and--a provision which we +have pronounced deplorable--the weight to be carried by the penny post +was restricted to four ounces. Compensation for losses by the penny post +had long ceased to be given.[55] + + [55] _The Present State of Great Britain and Ireland_, published in + 1742, states that at that time compensation was still given for losses + sustained in the penny post. The words are: "If a parcel happen to + miscarry, the value thereof is to be made good by the office, provided + the things were securely inclosed and fast sealed up under the + impression of some remarkable seal." This is an error; and that an error + should be made on the point serves to confirm the view that little was + known of the Post Office and its doings even 150 years ago. That + compensation was not at that time given for losses is beyond all + question. It happens that in that very year, 1742, a Mr. Vavasour + appealed to Whitehall to grant him compensation for the loss of bank + notes to the amount of L20 which had been stolen from a letter in its + transit through the post; and the postmasters-general, after stating + that no precedent existed for granting compensation, implored the + Treasury not to create one. "All persons," they write under date the 4th + of August 1742, "that for their own convenience send notes or bills of + value by the post inclosed in letters do so at their own risque without + any foundation that we know of for recovery of this office in case they + should be stolen or lost by robbery or other accidents. And this we take + to be not only reasonable but just in all construction of law." Again, + in 1778 an action for compensation was brought against the Post Office, + and Lord Mansfield, after delivering the unanimous opinion of the Court + of King's Bench that the postmasters-general were not responsible for + losses sustained in their department, proceeded to observe that no + similar action had been brought since the year 1699. Giles Jacob, in his + _Law Dictionary_, published in the last century, gives this account of + the matter: "It was determined so long ago as 13 Will. III., in the case + of _Lane_ v. _Cotton_, by three judges of the Court of King's Bench, + though contrary to Lord Chief Justice Holt's opinion, that no action + could be maintained against the postmasters-general for the loss of + bills or articles sent in letters by the post." + +Such was the end of Dockwra's post as Dockwra had established it. With +that eminent man it had been an object of the first importance that the +penny post should carry up to one pound in weight; and now the weight +was to be reduced to four ounces. And why? Because the penny post was +little used for packets and parcels above four ounces? Exactly the +contrary. It was because packets and parcels above four ounces were +being largely sent by the penny post that the limit of weight was to be +reduced.[56] These missives had been found a little inconvenient to +manipulate and it was resolved, therefore, to exclude them. Such was the +wretched policy of the time. Even in matters vitally affecting their own +interests the public had as yet no voice and their wishes were not +considered. On account of some trifling inconvenience, which a very +little amount of ingenuity would have sufficed to overcome, the +inhabitants of London and its suburbs were now deprived of accommodation +which they had enjoyed uninterruptedly for eighty-five years. + + [56] The reason for the provision was thus given in the preamble: + "Whereas many heavy and bulky packets and parcels are now sent and + conveyed by such carriage which by their bulk and weight greatly retard + the speedy delivery thereof...."--5 Geo. III. cap. xxv. sec. 14. + +In 1764 franking became for the first time the subject of Parliamentary +enactment. To send and receive letters free of postage had been a +privilege enjoyed by members of the two Houses of Parliament from the +first establishment of the Post Office; but whereas it had hitherto been +a concession granted by the Crown, it was now to be a right conferred by +statute. The reason will be obvious. The revenue of the Post Office had +recently been surrendered to the public during the life of the +Sovereign, in exchange for a Civil List charged upon the Consolidated, +or, as it was then called, the Aggregate Fund; and the Crown, having +dispossessed itself of all property in the Post Office, was no longer +competent to remit postage without the authority of Parliament. The Act +which was now passed was designed to correct the abuses which experience +had shewn to exist. The limits of weight and of time remained as before; +that is to say, only letters not exceeding the weight of two ounces were +to be franked, and these only during the session of Parliament and for +forty days before and after. In other respects the conditions were +slightly altered. Hitherto it had been enough, in the case of letters +sent by a member, that he should sign his name on the outside; for the +future not only was the outside to bear his signature, but the whole of +the address was to be in his own handwriting. In the case of letters +addressed to a member, none were to be exempt from postage unless +directed to the place of his usual residence or to the place where he +was actually residing, or, of course, to the House of Parliament. It had +been hoped that these alterations of practice would check the abuses of +franking. Vain expectation! No sooner had the concession been converted +into a right than what little scruples existed before appear to have +vanished, and franks were scattered broadcast over the country. Before +eight years were over, the number of franks passing through the London +office alone had nearly doubled, the postage from which they carried +exemption being in 1765, the first year after the change, L34,734, and +in 1772, L65,053; and this, be it observed, was no mere estimate, but +the actual result as ascertained by the careful examination of each +letter. + +Another effect of the change of practice was to embroil the Post Office. +The Post Office, in its efforts to protect itself against imposition, +would charge letters when addressed to a member at a place where he was +supposed not to be; and hence constant disputes and altercations. +Members, again, who were bankers or were engaged in trade insisted that +letters addressed to them at their counting-houses, even though they did +not reside there, should pass free. On these the Post Office claimed +postage, and the members refused to pay it. + +But it was in Ireland that the rage for franking broke out into the +wildest excesses. In 1773 an inspector of franks was sent to several +towns on the cross and bye roads, in order that he might ascertain and +report to the postmasters-general the extent to which the abuse had +grown. This officer visited nine towns altogether, and was absent from +Dublin for sixty-three days, being at the rate of seven days at each +town. At Waterford, during his stay there, 588 letters passed through +the local Post Office purporting to be franked. The franks on only 354 +of these were genuine; the rest were counterfeit. At Kilkenny there were +425 counterfeit franks to 510 that were genuine. At Clonmel, 526 +counterfeit and 509 genuine. At Gowran, 212 counterfeit and 195 +genuine; and so with the remaining towns. Altogether the number of +letters with counterfeit franks was nearly as large as the number with +genuine franks, and far exceeded all the other letters combined. However +clear might be the evidence of fraud, and however conclusively it might +be brought home to particular persons, it was of no use attempting to +prosecute. Hear what Mr. Lees says on this point. Mr. Lees was Secretary +to the Post Office in Ireland, and he had, under direction from Lord +North, received instructions to take proceedings against a firm of +solicitors in Londonderry who had been sending letters under forged +franks. "A prosecution," wrote Mr. Lees, "will not be of the slightest +avail. It has been tried over and over again, and, in the face of the +clearest evidence, without success." "There is scarcely a magistrate to +be found in Ireland who will take examinations on the Post Office laws; +and certainly in no instance has this office prevailed in getting the +bills of indictment found by a Grand Jury. This being so universally +known, counterfeiting franks is drawn into such general practice that I +believe there are very few merchants or attorneys' clerks throughout the +kingdom who do not counterfeit in the name of one member or other. Nay, +if I classed with them almost every little pretty Miss capable of +joining her letters, I should not exaggerate the abuse." "As I have +observed," he wrote further on in the same letter, "in every town of +consequence throughout the kingdom the members resident, under their +address, cover the correspondence of the principal merchants.... The +postage arising on counterfeit covers alone amounts to more than a third +of the revenue of this office." + +Under the terms of the Franking Act newspapers were to go free which +should bear a member's signature on the outside or which should be +directed to a member at any place of which he had given notice in +writing to the postmasters-general. This provision seriously affected +the Post Office, though in a different way from the liberties which were +being taken with letters. From the first establishment of the Post +Office the six clerks of the roads had enjoyed the privilege of +franking newspapers, and the emoluments derived from this source, +originally insignificant, had been continually increasing. In 1764 they +were certainly not less than L8000 a year, and may have been more. The +Franking Act sapped this source of emolument. No sooner had that Act +passed than the members served the Post Office with notice of the places +to which they wished newspapers to be directed. These places did not in +the first instance extend beyond the member's own residence and the +residences of his constituents and friends; but after a while no such +moderation was observed. The booksellers and printers, or news-agents as +they would now be called, soon recognised the advantage it would be to +them if they could get their customers' addresses put on the Post Office +Register, and they experienced little difficulty in finding members who +were ready to do them this service. There were four who were noted for +their complaisance. These were Sir Robert Bernard, member for +Westminster; Brass Crosby, member for Honiton and alderman for the City +of London; Richard Whitworth, member for Stafford; and Richard +Hiver.[57] These four members in little more than eighteen months served +upon the Post Office no less than 744 separate notices. Altogether, at +the close of the year 1772, there were 2024 such notices registered in +Lombard Street, of which 765 were on behalf of constituents and friends, +and 1259 on behalf of printers and booksellers. + + [57] For what constituency Richard Hiver sat we have been unable to + discover. His name does not appear in the return of members of + Parliament presented to the House of Commons in 1878. + +As the natural result the clerks of the roads found their emoluments +rapidly dwindling. Heretofore they had been, virtually, the great +news-agents of the kingdom. Enjoying, in common with a few clerks at +Whitehall, the exclusive privilege of sending newspapers through the +post free, they had been exposed to little, if any, competition; but now +that in the matter of postage the terms were equal, the advantage was +all on the side of the private dealer. The private dealer procured his +newspapers in the open market, whereas the clerks of the roads were +required to procure them from a particular officer designated by the +postmasters-general; and this officer was authorised not only to charge +for the newspapers he supplied 1-1/2d. a dozen more than he gave for +them, but to retain as his own perquisite one out of every twenty-five +copies. + +It may seem of little moment that, as the result of legislation, six +persons more or less should find themselves in reduced circumstances. +Such an event, unhappily, is not so rare as to call for special remark. +But there was a good deal more than this in the present case. The +profits which the clerks of the roads derived from the sale of +newspapers had never been devoted to the exclusive use of the +recipients. On the contrary, they were to a large extent common +property. Out of these profits pensions were provided for Post Office +servants who were past work; and from the same source inadequate +salaries were raised to something like a decent maintenance. In +additional salaries to brother officers and in pensions to officers who +had retired, the clerks of the roads had in 1764 contributed as much as +L6600; and even now, reduced as their profits were, they were +contributing a little over L2000. They were, in effect, the mainstay of +the establishment, and the falling off of their emoluments was being +watched by the postmasters-general, hardly less than by those who were +more immediately interested, with the gravest concern. + +Nor was it calculated to reconcile the Post Office servants to the +deprivations which they were already beginning to suffer that the +members of other public offices, who had lost from the same cause as the +clerks of the roads, but to a much less extent, had received +compensation in full. The clerks in the offices of the Principal +Secretaries of State, like the clerks of the roads, had been privileged +to frank both letters and newspapers. By the Act of 1764 the privilege +had, as regards letters, been taken away in both cases; and in both +cases, as regards newspapers, it remained. Yet to the clerks in the +offices of the Principal Secretaries of State was secured, by special +Act of Parliament, compensation to the amount of L1500 a year, while the +clerks of the roads received nothing; and, as though to add to the +aggravation, this sum of L1500 a year was to be paid by the Post Office. + +In Dublin the same difficulties were being experienced as in London and +from the same cause. Emoluments were falling off and obligations could +not be met. Among these obligations, however, there was one which was +peculiar to Dublin. Before 1764 the clerks at the castle, like the +clerks of the roads, had enjoyed the privilege of franking newspapers, +and the exercise of this privilege by the two bodies simultaneously had +been attended with so much friction that advantage had been taken of the +passing of the Franking Act to effect a compromise. In consideration of +the sum of L350 a year to be paid by the clerks of the roads the clerks +at the castle undertook to abandon their privilege absolutely. A deed to +this effect was prepared, and, in order that nothing might be wanting to +give it formality, it was signed by the Earl of Northumberland, the Lord +Lieutenant, on behalf of the castle, and by Lord Clermont, the Deputy +Postmaster-General of Ireland, on behalf of the Post Office. Whence was +the sum of L350 to come when the emoluments should be gone? Was a price +to continue to be paid for the surrender of a privilege which had ceased +to be of value? The Attorney-General for Ireland advised that the clerks +of the roads were still liable to the last farthing of their salaries; +and the clerks at the castle refused to abate one jot of their claim. + +But we are anticipating. In 1767 the statute-book received an addition +which, though differing widely both in intention and effect from the +Franking Act and the Postage Act, cannot be allowed to pass unnoticed. +This was an Act for the better paving, lighting, and regulating the +streets of London, a first step in fact towards converting the London +of Hogarth into the London of to-day. The mere preamble[58] of the Act +brings home to us, hardly less vividly than Hogarth's pencil, the +intolerable inconveniences under which our forefathers were content to +live; but what concerns us at the present moment is that one section +provided not only that the names of the streets should be put up but +that the houses should be numbered. This numbering of houses quickly +spread, and, although unnoticed by the Post Office at the time, was +destined very materially to assist its future operations. As a +consequence, too, and at no long interval, arose a new industry, namely +the compilation of Directories--a thing that was impossible before--and +hence the Post Office derived still further assistance. + + [58] "Whereas the several streets, lanes, squares, yards, courts, + alleys, passages and places within the city of London and the liberties + thereof are in general ill-paved and cleansed and not duly enlightened, + and are also greatly obstructed by posts and annoyed by signs, spouts, + and gutters projecting into and over the same, whereby and by sundry + other encroachments and annoyances they are rendered incommodious and in + some parts dangerous not only to the inhabitants but to all others + passing through the same or resorting thereto...." + +About this time considerable improvements took place both in the Scotch +and Irish posts. Between London and Edinburgh communication had been +only thrice a week. In 1765 it was increased in frequency to five days a +week, and posts on six days a week were at the same time established +between Edinburgh and the chief towns of Scotland. The result was an +immediate increase of revenue which much more than covered the increase +of expense. Two or three years later the course of post between London +and Dublin came under review. By virtue of an arrangement, which the +fact of the communication being only thrice a week goes but a short way +to explain, letters from England to Ireland were kept lying two whole +days in the London Office and, similarly, letters from Ireland to +England were kept lying two whole days in the Dublin Office. The packet +which was due in Dublin on Saturday night rarely arrived before Sunday, +and, unless it did so, the letters from England for the interior of +Ireland did not leave Dublin until Wednesday morning. Nor was this all. +The number of packets was extremely limited, and, owing to their +constant employment by Government as express boats, it frequently +happened that two and sometimes three and even four mails were sent by +the same packet. In 1767 this was altered. Additional packet boats were +placed on the station, and the post between London and Dublin and +between Dublin and Belfast in one direction and Cork in another was +increased in frequency from three to six days a week. + +Between London and the chief provincial towns in England Allen had, as +we have seen, established posts six days a week instead of three; but it +was not until 1769, or nearly five years after Allen's death, that +within the metropolis arrangements were made to correspond. Meanwhile +the offices for the receipt of general post letters were kept open and +the bellmen went about ringing their bells on only three nights of the +week, namely Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and on the other three +nights, except at the General Post Office, letters could not be posted +gratuitously. On the nights of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday a receiver +if called upon to take in letters was entitled to charge a fee of 1d. +apiece, and this fee he retained as his own perquisite. Beginning with +1769 the receiving offices were kept open and the bellmen rang their +bells on every night of the week, Sundays excepted. + +An event or rather a series of events now took place, the result of +which was largely to alter the character of the Post Office and to +extend its usefulness. Recent legislation had done little for the public +convenience. It had indeed provided that Penny Post Offices might be +established out of London, and advantage had been taken of the provision +in one single instance. In Dublin a Penny Post Office had been opened on +the 10th of October 1773, or seventy years after the Countess of Thanet +desired to open one and was refused permission at the last moment. But +in other respects legislation had accomplished little beyond promoting +the very abuses it was designed to prevent, and impairing the utility +of Dockwra's post. Litigation was now to have its turn; and it is +interesting to note the result. + +The machinery for the dispersion of letters remained much as it had been +since the first establishment of the Post Office. In London, in +Edinburgh, and in Dublin there was, as there is now, a body of men whose +duty it was to deliver from house to house; but with these three +exceptions there was not, 120 years ago, a single town in the kingdom +which could boast of its own letter-carrier. The postmaster was the sole +Post Office agent in the place; it was he who delivered the letters if +they were delivered at all; and for this service he was left to charge +pretty much as he pleased. The public had grown tired of this state of +things and strenuous efforts were now made to alter it. + +The crusade began in the little town of Sandwich in Kent. It had been +the practice of the postmaster there, at some former time, to deliver +free the letters arriving by the bye and cross posts, and on the +delivery of the London letters to charge a fee as his own perquisite. In +1772 a fee was being charged on the delivery of all letters. This charge +the inhabitants now determined to contest. The case came on for trial in +the Court of King's Bench and was decided against the postmaster, the +Court being of opinion that wherever the usage had been to deliver free, +there the usage should be adhered to. The postmasters-general were very +uneasy. Out of the 440 post towns of the kingdom there were known to be +not less than seventy-six which were in the same case as Sandwich and to +which the decision of the Court must apply, towns where letters had at +one time been delivered free and where they were so no longer; and not a +day passed without bringing fresh and unexpected additions to the list. +At Birmingham and at Ipswich, for instance, where a charge was now being +made for delivery, old inhabitants could remember how forty or fifty +years before letters had been delivered free. Was the Crown to be at the +expense of letter-carriers at all of these towns, or were the +postmasters, who were already complaining of the inadequacy of their +remuneration, to forego their perquisites and make a house-to-house +delivery as part of their duty? + +The question was still under consideration when the town of Ipswich +commenced an action. The point raised in this case was whether on the +delivery of letters addressed to the inhabitants of the town the +postmaster could legally demand any sum over and above the postage, and, +if so, whether in the event of the demand being refused he could oblige +the inhabitants to fetch their letters. Again the decision, this time by +the Court of Common Pleas, was in favour of the public and against the +Post Office. The postmasters-general were more than uneasy now. No +sooner had the decision in the Ipswich case become known than town after +town where letters had never yet been delivered free demanded a free +delivery and threatened the postmasters-general with actions in the +event of their demand being refused. Bath and Gloucester did more than +threaten. They, like Ipswich, proceeded to trial; and again, for the +third and fourth time, the decision was against the Post Office. + +Thurlow was at this time Attorney-General. He held a strong opinion that +in order to comply with the statute it was enough to deliver letters at +the Post Office of the town to which they were addressed, and that there +was no obligation to deliver them at the houses of the inhabitants. +Still clinging to the belief that the decisions of the Courts must have +proceeded more or less on the usage of delivery, he now determined to +try the question in the case of a town where the usage had been for no +delivery to be made without payment. The town of Hungerford in Berkshire +was selected for the purpose. There, it could be proved, ever since the +beginning of the century, letters had not been delivered except on +payment of a fee of 1d. apiece. + +The case came on before the Court of King's Bench in Michaelmas term +1774. Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, was the first to deliver +judgment. He was surprised, he said, the several Acts being so ambiguous +and the usage so contradictory, that the Post Office had not applied to +Parliament to explain the matter. That was the view of the Court when, +in the other cases, it avoided the general question. He never liked to +avoid general questions, for to decide them tended to prevent further +litigation; but an important question of this kind, arising out of Acts +that had "not yet spoke," and, whichever way it might be decided, +involving more or less inconvenience, was essentially one for +Parliament. And in the Bath case there were grounds on which the general +question could, without impropriety, be avoided. There the postmaster +when delivering a letter had demanded a certain sum as a duty. Now, a +duty it certainly was not. If on the delivery of a letter Parliament had +intended to impose a duty, it would have fixed the amount and made it +part of the Post Office revenue; and not have left every postmaster free +to fix what amount he pleased or might prevail upon people to give. And +what a monstrous inconvenience it would be if every one had to go to the +Post Office to fetch his own letters! How could the Court have laid down +such a proposition as that? The thing was impossible. And it must be +remembered that there could be no middlemen--men between the inhabitants +and the postmaster--who for gain could set up an office to distribute +the letters, because by law the postmaster could not deliver them except +to the persons to whom they were addressed. These were the +considerations which in the Bath ease induced him to avoid the general +question, and he had been glad to feel able to do so, never doubting +that the postmasters-general would apply to Parliament for a +determination; but this, unfortunately, they had not done. Then there +was the Gloucester case. He remembered it well. There the question was +not whether there should be a free delivery, for at Gloucester letters +had always been delivered free, but whether certain houses should fall +within the limits of that delivery. All that the Court then decided was +that in the case of these houses, forming as they unquestionably did a +part of what was known as the town of Gloucester, the Post Office could +not depart from its own practice. But the present case was different. +Here the contention was that in the town of Hungerford there was not a +single house at which the Post Office was required to deliver letters +without being paid for it. Practically, no doubt, it was the Bath case +over again; but the Court could not well avoid the general question a +second time. The Post Office, in effect, sought to impose a duty; and +this, he said it emphatically, the Post Office had not the power to do +without the authority of Parliament, which authority had not been given. +His mind was perfectly clear that within the limits of a post-town the +Post Office was bound to deliver free; but how far these limits should +extend was a question upon which he did not feel called upon to express +an opinion. + +The other judges were equally emphatic. The Post Office had urged in +support of its contention that it sometimes happened--as, for instance, +at Hartford Bridge---that the stage or post-house was a single house +with no other houses near. There, at all events, as soon as it had +deposited the letters at the post house, the Post Office had discharged +its duty. And if there, it was asked, why not elsewhere? If, said Mr. +Justice Aston, the post house was a single house with no other houses +near, the question did not arise; but, in the case, of towns, surely it +would not be contended that each individual inhabitant was to resort to +the post house every day in order to inquire whether there was a letter +for him or not. To demand this penny within the limits of a post town, +said Mr. Justice Willes, was contrary to the whole tenor and spirit of +the Acts of Parliament; and where the post town was a small one like +Hungerford, the demand was far more unreasonable than it would be in the +case of London and Westminster. Yet in London and Westminster letters +were delivered free. He should pay more regard to the usage of the city +of London than to that of fifty such towns as Hungerford. Mr. Justice +Ashurst was of opinion that even to usage too much importance might be +attached. If it were really the case that at Hungerford, ever since the +passing of the Act of Anne, a man living next door to the Post Office +had had to pay over and above the postage 1d. for every letter he +received, this in his opinion was a bad usage, an usage for which the +Act afforded no justification, and the sooner it was laid aside the +better. + +The decision of the Court burst upon the postmasters-general like a +thunderbolt. They had been assured that it would certainly be in the +opposite direction; and now, to their dismay, they found themselves face +to face with the prospect of, what they called, an universal delivery. +What was to be done? The Post Office would be ruined. Of course the +Attorney-General would advise an appeal to the House of Lords. As a +matter of fact the Attorney-General advised nothing of the sort. +Thurlow's private opinion continued to be what it had always been, that +the Post Office was not bound to deliver letters beyond the stage or +post house. He even went so far as to admit that, if once the Act were +construed to require more than that, he knew of no manner of +construction that would entitle the postmasters-general to refuse to +carry letters into every hole and corner of the kingdom. Still, as two +Courts had decided against the Post Office, he regarded it as useless to +appeal to the House of Lords, where, no doubt, the opinion of the same +judges would be taken and acted on. Then, inquired the postmasters-general, +might not a writ of error be brought with a view to hang up the judgment +of the Court of King's Bench until the matter should be settled by +Parliament. "No," replied Thurlow, "I do not approve a writ of error +being brought by an office of revenue avowedly to suspend a question." + +Thus ended a controversy which in one form or another had extended over +a period of more than two years. The postmasters-general urged indeed +that Parliament should be asked to avert what they regarded as little +short of a catastrophe; but the recommendation was not adopted, and the +decision of the Court was left to take effect. + +We have dwelt upon this matter at some length, because it was, in +effect, a turning-point in the history of the Post Office. The +enterprising spirit of the small towns, the independence of the judges, +and the conspicuous fairness of the Attorney-General, make up no doubt a +combination which it is pleasing to contemplate; and yet, if this were +all, a shorter notice would have sufficed. It is because the Post Office +was now to assume a new character, the character in which it is known to +us at the present time, that we have thought it best not to omit any +important particular. And how great the change was to be a moment's +consideration will shew. Cotton and Frankland had, early in the century, +done what little they could to make the Post Office popular. They had +lost no opportunity of advocating cheap postage; they had lived among +the merchants, and, as far as duty would allow, had consulted their +wishes; and within the limits assigned to them had spared no efforts to +promote the public convenience. But since then a different spirit had +prevailed. By Cotton and Frankland's successors much had been done in +restraint of correspondence and nothing, or next to nothing, in +promotion of it. The Post Office had become, insensibly perhaps, but +none the less surely, a mere tax-gatherer, and, like other +tax-gatherers, its policy had been to exact as much and to give as +little as possible. All this was now to be altered. An appeal had been +made to the Courts; and the Courts in the most deliberate and solemn +manner had affirmed this principle--a principle now so universally +recognised and acted on as to excite our wonder that it should ever have +been otherwise--that the Post Office was to wait upon the people, and +not the people upon the Post Office. + +It might be supposed that the decision of the Courts would have been +immediately followed by the appointment of letter-carriers throughout +the country, or else by additions to the salaries of the postmasters in +consideration of their undertaking to make a house-to-house delivery +gratuitously. Such, however, was not the case. At the towns which had +taken a foremost part in the fray--at Hungerford and Sandwich, at Bath, +Ipswich, and Birmingham--as well indeed as at other towns which were +spirited enough to assert their rights, letter-carriers were no doubt +appointed; but there was no sudden and general alteration of practice. +On the contrary, the obedience which the Post Office yielded to the law +as laid down by the Courts was a tardy and grudging obedience. As much +as ten or eleven years later we find the postmasters-general +acknowledging indeed the obligation under which they lay to appoint +letter-carriers at any towns that might demand it, and yet taking credit +to themselves that, as a matter of fact, no such appointments had been +made except where the inhabitants had refused to continue the accustomed +recompense for delivery. + +The Courts of Law were at this time the best friends of the people. No +sooner had they decided that every town which possessed a Post Office of +its own was entitled to a gratuitous delivery at the door than a +somewhat similar question came before them in connection with the penny +post. For every letter delivered by the penny post the inhabitants of +Old Street, St. Luke's, of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, of Bethnal Green, +and Spitalfields were required to pay an additional penny, that is a +penny over and above the one which had been paid on posting; and this +they had long regarded as an imposition. According to Dockwra's plan the +second or delivery penny was to be confined to Islington, Hackney, +Newington Butts, and South Lambeth, which in his day formed separate +towns; but in course of time, as buildings extended, the Post Office +appears to have exacted the same charge at intermediate places. Jones, a +wealthy distiller of Old Street, now determined to try the question. +Again the decision of the Courts was against the Post Office, and not +only in Old Street, but in Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, and Spitalfields +the additional penny had to be abandoned. + +While these proceedings were taking place before the Courts, the Post +Office had forced upon it a step which, even in those days of +indifference, cannot have been taken without a pang. This was the +dismissal of its most distinguished servant or rather of its only +servant with any claim to distinction, and that of the highest. We refer +to Benjamin Franklin. This eminent man had been appointed postmaster of +Philadelphia in 1737, and after being employed in several positions of +trust, had been promoted to be one of the joint postmasters-general of +America in 1753. He had recently been sent to England with the object of +averting war between the mother country and her transatlantic colonies, +and, his mission having failed, he was now dismissed. The letter in +which the decision was announced was as follows:-- + + To DOCTOR FRANKLIN. + + GENERAL POST OFFICE, _Jan. 31, 1774_. + + SIR--I have received the commands of His Majesty's + postmasters-general to signify to you that they find it necessary + to dismiss you from being any longer their deputy for America. You + will therefore cause your accounts to be made up as soon as you can + conveniently.--I am, sir, your most humble servant, + + ANTHONY TODD, + _Secretary_. + + +Curt as this communication was, it was perhaps the best of which the +circumstances admitted. Indeed, we are by no means sure that the terms +of it were not arranged with Franklin himself. He was in London at the +time. His relations with the Post Office had always been of the most +cordial character. He did not, after receiving the letter, cease to +visit Lombard Street; and before his return to America he wrote to the +Post Office intimating that he would cheerfully become security for his +colleague, who, as a consequence of his own dismissal, had to enter into +fresh bond. At all events, whether Franklin had any hand in the +preparation of the letter or not, the less said the better would seem to +have been the opinion of the writer; just as a desire to let bygones be +bygones is plainly shewn in the first letter which passed after +correspondence was resumed. This letter is a curiosity in its way. It is +dated the 25th of June 1783, and, ignoring all that had happened during +the preceding seven years, begins as follows:-- + + To DOCTOR FRANKLIN at PARIS. + + GENERAL POST OFFICE, _June 25, 1783_. + + DEAR SIR--I must confess I have taken a long time to acknowledge + the last letter you were pleased to write me the 24th of March 1776 + from New York. I am happy, however, to learn from my nephew, Mr. + George Maddison, that you enjoy good health, and that as the French + were about to establish five packet boats at L'Orient, Port Louis, + for the purpose of a monthly correspondence between that port and + New York, you were desirous of knowing the intentions of England on + that subject....--I am, dear sir, with the greatest truth and + respect, your most obedient and most humble servant, + + ANTHONY TODD. + + +In 1780, as part of a Licensing Act, the monopoly of letting post-horses +which the Post Office had enjoyed uninterruptedly since 1603 was taken +away. It is curious to note that a measure which 177 years before had +been deemed essential to the maintenance of the posts was now withdrawn +without, so far as we are aware, exciting a murmur; and, by a strange +coincidence, at the very time the measure was being withdrawn in the +United Kingdom, the deputy postmaster-general of Canada, who had +recently arrived in London, was urging upon the Government a similar +expedient as an indispensable condition without which the "maitres de +poste" between Quebec and Montreal would be constrained to throw up +their appointments. Such is the difference between a new institution and +an institution that is well established. + +It should here be remarked that with the extinction of this monopoly +passed away one of the original functions of the postmasters-general. +Hitherto, lightly as the responsibility had rested upon them for the +last hundred years or more, they had been masters of the travelling-post +as well as the letter-post. For the future they were to be masters of +the letter-post alone. + +Little remains to be told of the eighteen years of which this chapter +treats. In 1782, in consequence of a hint dropped by the Lord Chief +Justice in the course of a trial, the Post Office did an eminently +useful thing. It issued an advertisement counselling the public when +sending bank notes by post to cut them into two parts and to send one +part by one post and another by another. The counsel was adopted, and in +an incredibly short space of time the practice became general. In the +same year the Post Office servants were disfranchised. By an Act passed +in the reign of Queen Anne they were forbidden either to persuade or to +dissuade others in the matter of voting; and now they were forbidden to +vote themselves. The only point of interest connected with the two Acts +is perhaps their termination. While the later Act was repealed in 1868, +the earlier one was not repealed until 1874; and meanwhile the +postmaster-general sat in the House of Commons and offered himself for +election. Little, probably, did he think that for every vote he +solicited he rendered himself not only liable to a penalty of L100 but +"incapable of ever bearing or executing any office or place of trust +whatsoever under Her Majesty, her heirs, or successors." + +The internal condition of the Post Office during the last few years of +Lord North's administration was simply deplorable. The profits from the +sale of newspapers kept growing less and less. The clerks of the roads, +after paying the salaries and pensions which formed the first charge on +their receipts, had left for themselves the merest pittance. These men, +to whom an appeal for help had never been made in vain, were now in sore +need of help themselves. The prospect was alarming, for if the clerks of +the roads should fail to meet their engagements they would drag down +with them a not inconsiderable part of the establishment. It was in +1778, when apprehension was highest, that the Commissioners of Land Tax +for the city of London made a new assessment, and suddenly, without a +note of warning, every Post Office servant in the metropolis found +himself assessed to the land tax to the amount of 4s. in the pound. Not +even the letter-carriers or maid-servants were excepted. At this time +and during the two or three following years a general bankruptcy was +imminent. Eventually the abatements were remitted and the salaries and +pensions which had been charged to the clerks of the roads were in part +transferred to the State; but not before many of the Post Office +servants had compounded with their creditors and all had endured the +severest privations. + +Meanwhile the postmasters from America, ejected from their offices, had +been flocking to this country and pleading for pensions on the English +establishment. The packets were meeting with a series of disasters so +far beyond the experience of former wars as to excite the most hostile +comment. During the seven years ending August 1782 no less than +thirty-seven were captured by the enemy. Of these four belonged to the +Post Office, and sums for that time prodigious were expended to replace +them. The others were owned by the captains who commanded them, and the +owners received as compensation for their loss the sum of L85,000. Even +the fabric of the buildings partook of the general decay. In Edinburgh +the Post Office had had to be abandoned at a moment's notice, the arch +which supported the main part of the structure having given way. In +Dublin the roof had fallen in. In both Dublin and Edinburgh new Post +Offices were being erected at heavy expense; while in London search was +being made for new premises on the plea that those in Lombard Street +were insufficient for present requirements. + +To crown all, ugly rumours were afloat, rumours imputing corruption in +the highest quarters. The postmasters-general were indeed to be pitied. +The Post Office in more senses than one was falling about their ears. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +JOHN PALMER + +1782-1792 + + +The apathy of the Post Office about this time is incomprehensible. More +than twenty years before, the General Convention of the Royal Boroughs +of Scotland had called the attention of the postmasters-general to the +intolerable slowness of the post on the Great North Road. "Every common +traveller," they wrote, "passes the King's mail on the first road in the +kingdom." At the present time the clerks of the roads were giving as one +of the reasons why they were undersold in the matter of newspapers that, +whereas they sent their wares by post, the booksellers and printers +availed themselves of the more expeditious conveyance by stage-coach. +Yet it seems never to have occurred to the postmasters-general that what +was being done by others they might do themselves. The lesson that was +lost upon the postmasters-general was to be learnt and applied by John +Palmer, proprietor of the theatre at Bath. + +Palmer had, while yet at school, been distinguished for a love of +enterprise, an indomitable perseverance, and an activity of body which +knew no fatigue and set distance at defiance. He had, through sheer +persistency, obtained a patent for his theatre at Bath, which thus +became the first Theatre-Royal out of the metropolis. At a time when the +mail leaving London on Monday night did not arrive at Bath until +Wednesday afternoon, he had been in the habit of accomplishing the +distance between the two cities in a single day. He had made journeys +equally long and equally rapid in other directions; and, as the result +of observation, he had come to the conclusion that of the horses kept at +the post-houses it was always the worst that were set aside to carry the +mail, and that the post was the slowest mode of conveyance in the +kingdom. He had also observed that, where security or despatch was +required, his neighbours at Bath who might desire to correspond with +London would make a letter up into a parcel and send it by +stage-coach,[59] although the cost by stage-coach was, porterage +included, 2s. and by post 4d. Not seldom, indeed, the difference would +be more than 1s. 8d., for to prevent delay on the part of the porters in +London one of these clandestine letters would as often as not have +written on the back, "An extra sum will be given the porter if he +delivers this letter immediately." + + [59] Thus, Mrs. Thrale to Doctor Johnson. Writing from Bath on the 4th + of July 1784, she says: "I write by the coach the more speedily and + effectually to prevent your coming hither."--Hayward's _Autobiography of + Mrs. Piozzi_, vol. i. p. 241. + +Starting from these premises Palmer, with characteristic energy, set +himself to devise a plan for the reform of the Post Office. This plan +was simply that the mails--which, to use his own words, had heretofore +been trusted to some idle boy without character, mounted on a worn-out +hack, who, so far from being able to defend himself against a robber, +was more likely to be in league with one--should for the future be +carried by coach. The coach should be guarded, and should carry no +outside passenger. For guard no one could be better than a soldier, who +would be skilled in the use of firearms. He should carry two short guns +or blunderbusses, and sit on the top of the coach with the mail behind +him. From this position he could command the road and observe suspicious +persons. The coachman also should carry arms; but in his case they +should be pistols. A speed should be maintained of eight or nine miles +an hour. Thus, the distance between London and Bath would, stoppages +included, be accomplished in sixteen hours instead of thirty-eight; and +these stoppages should, in point of time, be largely reduced. As the +coach arrived at the end of each stage there would be little more for +the postmaster to do than to put into the mail bag the outgoing letters +and to take out of the bag the letters that were coming in. Surely a +quarter of an hour would be ample for the purpose. He must indeed be an +inexpert postmaster who could not change his letters as soon as the +ostler changes his horses. Strict punctuality should be observed. Each +postmaster should be on the spot and to the moment to receive the mail +when it arrived; and if it did not arrive to time, a man on horseback +should be despatched to ascertain the cause of delay. This, in the event +of the coach having been stopped by highwaymen, would secure immediate +pursuit. + +And how little would be the cost of the proposed reform. It was doubtful +indeed whether there would be any additional cost at all. The mails were +now being conveyed at a charge for boy and horse of 3d. a mile. It was +certain that men might be found who for this rate of payment would be +glad to convey them by coach. Especially would this be the case if the +coaches which carried the mails were exempt, as they ought to be, from +toll. Between London and Bath, for instance, the toll was, for a +carriage and pair, 9s., and for a carriage and four, 18s. Exemption from +this impost would of itself be no inconsiderable boon to the +contractors. Besides, the speed and security of a mail coach would +attract passengers. At all events something, it was clear, must be done. +As matters stood it was an intolerable hardship that persons sending +letters by coach should be subject to penalties. A coach might go at a +time when there was no post; and a letter might require immediate +despatch. Yet, rather than make use of the coach and pay half a crown, +one was obliged to hire an express, which was less expeditious, at a +cost of two or three guineas. Surely, if no other change were made, this +at least should be conceded--that any one taking a letter to the Post +Office and paying the proper amount of postage upon it according to its +address should, after the letter had been impressed with the postmark +and signed by the postmaster, be at liberty to send it by what channel +he pleased. + +Such were the main features of Palmer's plan. As a subsidiary, though by +no means a necessary, part of it he made two suggestions which it may be +well to mention, if only because they were afterwards adopted. These +were--1st, that the mails, which from the first establishment of the +Post Office had not left London until between midnight and three o'clock +in the morning, should start at eight in the evening; and 2nd, that they +should not be kept waiting for the Government letters when these +happened to be late. This keeping the mails waiting for the Government +letters had, at the beginning of the century, been a constant source of +complaint. "We take this occasion of representing to your Lordship," +wrote the postmasters-general to Lord Dartmouth on the 16th of March +1710, "the great inconvenience which happened to the business of this +office on Tuesday's night's post by the inland mails having all been +detained here till the receipt of the Court letters, which were not +brought by the messenger from Whitehall before half-past six on +Wednesday morning." A similar letter of remonstrance was at the same +time addressed to Mr. Secretary St. John. But, of late years, so +profound had been the supineness which reigned at the Post Office that +it may, probably enough, have been considered of little consequence +whether the mails were delayed or not. Palmer was unable to take this +view. To him it appeared in the highest degree improper that, for the +sake of a few letters which after all might be of no great importance, +the Post Office business of the whole country should be thrown out of +gear. Far better, he urged, that the mail should leave at the proper +hour, and that these letters, if behind time, should be sent after it by +express. A third suggestion he made, a suggestion admirable in itself, +and yet one that at that time was little likely to be adopted. This was +that the Post Office should take the public into its confidence, and +invite them to make known their wants and suggest how best these wants +might be supplied. + +In October 1782, through the intervention of his friend John Pratt, +afterwards Lord Camden, Palmer's plan was brought under the notice of +Pitt; and Pitt, who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer in the +administration of Lord Shelburne, at once discerned its merits. Nothing, +however, could be done until the Post Office had had an opportunity of +offering its opinion on the matter, and when this opinion was +given--which was not until July 1783--Pitt was out of office; and, +although he returned to power as minister in the following December, the +struggle in which he then became engaged with an unruly Parliament, and +afterwards a general election, effectually precluded him from giving +attention to the posts until the summer of 1784. + +Meanwhile Palmer devoted himself to the perfection of his plan. He +traversed the whole of the kingdom by stage-coaches, noting down the +time they occupied in accomplishing their journeys, the time they +unnecessarily lost, and how they might be better regulated and made +serviceable for the transport of the mails. He took the same opportunity +of acquainting himself with the course of the post and carefully +observed its defects and delays. Nor did he trust to his own exertions +alone. In order to test the extent of clandestine traffic, he employed +persons to watch the Bath and Bristol coaches as they started for +London, and to count the number of parcels which appeared to contain +letters. These persons assured him that the number was never less than +several hundreds in the week, and in some weeks was as high as 1000. + +The office of postmaster-general was at this time held by Lords Carteret +and Tankerville. Carteret had only recently been raised to the peerage. +Appointed thirteen years before as Henry Frederick Thynne in conjunction +with Lord le Despencer, he had, amid the conflict of parties and the +fall of successive ministries, contrived to retain his post. +Tankerville, on the contrary, had come in and gone out with a change of +Government. Called upon to preside over the Post Office in 1782, he had +left it in 1783 and had returned in January of the following year. The +part which these two peers took in connection with Palmer's plan appears +to have been not injudicious. Without expressing any opinion of their +own as to its feasibility or otherwise, they contented themselves with +collecting and forwarding to Pitt the opinions of such of their +subordinates as were presumably qualified to judge. These were the +district surveyors, and their verdict was unanimously against the plan. +Of the reasons for this judgment a specimen or two will suffice. By one +it was objected that there could be no need for the post to be the +swiftest conveyance in the kingdom; by another, that to employ firearms +for the protection of the mail would encourage their use on the other +side, and thus murder might be added to robbery; by a third, that not +only did the posts as they stood afford all reasonable accommodation, +but it was beyond the power of human ingenuity to devise a better +system. + +Of these and other objections Pitt made short work. He summoned a +conference at the Treasury, at which were present the postmasters-general, +Palmer, and the objectors; and having patiently listened to all that +could be urged against the plan, he desired that it should be tried +on what was commonly called the Bath road, the road between Bristol +and London. This conference was held on the 21st of June 1784. On +Saturday the 31st of July an agreement was signed under which, +in consideration of a payment of 3d. a mile, five innholders--one +belonging to London, one to Thatcham, one to Marlborough, and two to +Bath--undertook to provide the horses; and on Monday the 2nd of August +the first mail-coach began to run. + +It is unfortunate that of the early performances of this coach no record +remains. We only know that on the first journey it started from Bristol +and not from London, and that Palmer was present to see it off; that, +ordinarily, the distance was accomplished in seventeen hours, being at +the rate of about seven miles an hour; and that, as a result, the +expresses to Bristol, which before 1784 had been as many as 200 in the +year, ceased altogether. Ten or twelve years later, indeed, the +expresses for the whole of the kingdom were not one-fifth of what, +before 1784, was the number for the city of Bristol alone. + +Palmer's plan, once introduced, made rapid progress. Mail-coaches began +to run through Norfolk and Suffolk in March 1785; and on the cross-road +between Bristol and Portsmouth in the following May. On the 25th of July +the plan was extended to Leeds, Manchester, and Liverpool, and during +the next two months to Gloucester and Swansea; to Hereford, Carmarthen, +and Milford Haven; to Worcester and Ludlow; to Birmingham and +Shrewsbury; to Chester and Holyhead; to Exeter; to Portsmouth; to Dover +and other places. The Great North Road was reserved to the last, and +here the plan was carried into effect in the summer of 1786. + +It may be convenient here to say a few words on the subject of +nomenclature. Post-coach, a term in vogue about this time,[60] might not +unnaturally be supposed to denote a coach in use by the Post Office. +Such, however, was not the case. The term post-coach, like the kindred +term post-chaise, was introduced probably early in the last century, +and, so far as we are aware, was never employed in the sense of +mail-coach. It should further be noticed that the term mail-coach, +although we have employed it to make our meaning clear, did not come +into use until after 1784. In that year, and for some little time +afterwards, coaches which carried the mails were called diligences or +machines, and the coachmen were called machine-drivers. + + [60] Thus, the Act 20 Geo. III. cap. li. sec. 2--an Act passed four + years before the mails were carried by coach:-- + +"That every person who shall keep any four-wheeled chaise or other +machine commonly called a diligence or post-coach, or by what name +soever such carriages now are or hereafter shall be called or known...." + +That the term post-coach, as distinguished from mail-coach, was in vogue +as late as 1827 appears from evidence taken in that year before the +Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry--"(Q.) Are you acquainted with the +post-coaches? (A.) Not any very great deal. (Q.) Comparing them with +mail-coaches, which do you think are the best formed? (A.) Decidedly the +mail-coaches, I think."--Appendix to Eighteenth Report, p. 443. + +The plan of carrying letters by mail-coach was, on its introduction, +sadly marred by a simultaneous or almost simultaneous increase in the +rates of postage. Pitt had brought forward his budget on the 30th of +June; and among the measures he proposed with a view to replenish an +exhausted Exchequer was a tax upon coals. The proposal was not well +received by the House, and it was afterwards withdrawn in favour of an +increase of postage. Palmer took credit to himself that he had proposed +the substitution. If, as would appear to be the case, the claim is well +founded, one can only regret that he should thus wantonly have +handicapped his own proceedings. It is true, no doubt, that he was about +to make the post both quicker and more secure; that he would have a +better article to dispose of, an article that would fetch a higher +price. It is also true that his plan, weighted as it was, proved an +unqualified success. And yet it is impossible to deny that his +reputation as a Post Office reformer, high as it stands, would have +stood still higher if his counsel had been on the side of reduction. + +The rates prescribed by the Act of 1784, as compared with those of 1765, +were as follows:-- + ++-----------------------------+-------------------++-------------------+ +| | 1765. || 1784. | +| +----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+ +| DISTANCE. | S | D | T | O || S | D | T | O | +| | i | o | r | u || i | o | r | u | +| | n | u | e | n || n | u | e | n | +| | g | b | b | c || g | b | b | c | +| | l | l | l | e || l | l | l | e | +| | e | e | e | . || e | e | e | . | +| | . | . | . | || . | . | . | | ++-----------------------------+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+ +| |_d._|_d._|_d._|_d._||_d._|_d._|_d._|_d._| +|Not exceeding one post stage | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 || 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | +|Exceeding one and not | | | | || | | | | +| exceeding two post stages | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 || 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | +|Exceeding two post stages | | | | || | | | | +| and not exceeding 80 miles | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 || 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | +|Exceeding 80 and not | | | | || | | | | +| exceeding 150 miles | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 || 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | +|Exceeding 150 miles | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 || 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | +|To and from Edinburgh | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 || 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | +| | | | | || | | | | +| | +| { The Irish Post Office had only | +| { recently been placed under the | +| { authority of the Irish Parliament; | +|To and from Dublin { and the rates of postage, not only | +| { within Ireland, but between Ireland | +| { and Great Britain, were awaiting | +| { revision. | +| | +| Within Scotland. | | | | || | | | | +| (Measured from Edinburgh.) | | | | || | | | | +|Not exceeding one post stage | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 || 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | +|Exceeding one post stage and | | | | || | | | | +| not exceeding 50 miles | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 || 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | +|Exceeding 50 miles and not | | | | || | | | | +| exceeding 80 miles | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 || 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | +|Exceeding 80 and not | | | | || | | | | +| exceeding 150 miles | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 || 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | +|Exceeding 150 miles | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 || 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | ++-----------------------------+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+ + +The same Act which increased the rates of postage imposed, or sought to +impose, additional restrictions upon franking. Some concessions indeed +were made. Letters from members of Parliament, in order to secure +exemption, need no longer be limited, in point of weight, to two ounces +and, in point of time, to the session of Parliament and forty days +before and after. As part of the superscription, however, were now to be +given the full date of the letter, the day, the month, and the year, all +in the member's handwriting; and the letter was to be posted on the date +which the superscription bore. These restrictions, it was confidently +expected, would correct the worst abuses and render the concessions +harmless. But, curiously enough, like the restrictions of 1764, they had +an exactly contrary effect to that which was intended. The members sent +to their constituents and friends, for use as occasion should serve, +franks that were post-dated. These the Post Office charged, as coming +from places where the members were known not to be. The members +remonstrated, demanding to be informed in what respects the conditions +of the Act had not been satisfied. The dispute waxing warm, the matter +was referred to Pitt; and Pitt, after testing the opinion of the House, +decided that pending fresh legislation the charges should be abandoned. +Practically, therefore, the abuses which the Act was designed to prevent +were not only not prevented but were given wider scope. + +Palmer maintained to the end of his life that during the two years which +followed the starting of the first mail-coach he was thwarted and +opposed by the Post Office. This charge, so far as it refers to those by +whom the Post Office was managed and controlled, we believe to be +groundless. That he had difficulties with contractors and postmasters is +beyond question. Contractors were at all times troublesome persons to +deal with, but they were not Post Office servants; and postmasters might +well be excused if they looked askance at the new plan. Their salaries, +low as they were, had long been shamefully reduced by exactions at +headquarters under the name of fees; and what little they had been able +to make out of their allowances for riding-work was now threatened by a +system under which that work was to be done by contract. But the charge +was not confined to contractors and postmasters. It extended to those +who controlled and directed the Post Office, to Carteret and Tankerville +and to their confidential adviser, the secretary; and, as we believe, +with very insufficient reason. Carteret was indifferent. Tankerville was +sincerely desirous of a reform of the posts, from whatever quarter it +might come. Anthony Todd, the secretary, was eminently a man of peace. +Appointed to the Post Office in 1738, he had arrived at a time of life +when to most men ease and quiet are essential; and not only was he well +advanced in years but it was not in his nature to thwart or oppose any +one. All he wanted was to be left alone; and he was shrewd enough to +know that the best way to secure this object was not to molest others. + +Between Todd and Palmer, indeed, there was little in common. Palmer, in +everything he undertook, was intensely in earnest. Todd, on the +contrary, could with difficulty get up even an appearance of earnestness +about anything which did not concern himself. Even of his duty Todd took +a view which must have been absolutely repugnant to Palmer. Lloyds's +coffee-house was supplied by the Post Office with the arrivals and +sailings of British ships, and it paid for the information no less than +L200 a year. One-half of this amount went into Todd's own pocket; and +yet, according to him, the giving of the information was a concession, +an indulgence. "The merchants," he would write, "are indulged with ship +news." To the Mayor of Shrewsbury, who had asked on behalf of the +inhabitants for an earlier post, he deliberately wrote, "The arrival of +the mail a few hours sooner or later can be of no great consequence." +Not many years before, a despatch sent by express from Lord North to the +Duke of Newcastle had been lost. Even to the minister Todd was not +ashamed to write, "I dare to say there is no roguery in the case, but +[that the letter has been] lost and trampled under foot in the dirty +roads." Between a man who could take this view of his duty and Palmer, +who was burning to perfect his plan, there could be little sympathy; but +there was certainly no active antagonism. That, as Palmer extended his +plan, doubts as to its merits arose at headquarters is perfectly true; +but they were honest doubts, doubts which might excusably be entertained +and which, if entertained, the Post Office was bound to express. Palmer, +who regarded every one who was not for him as being against him, +construed the expression of a doubt into an act of hostility. + +Let us see what some of these doubts were, and whence they originated. +In London, before the introduction of Palmer's plan, it had been the +practice to wait for the arrival of all the mails before any one of them +was delivered, so that in the event of a single mail being behind time, +no delivery at all might take place until three or four o'clock in the +afternoon or even later. Palmer, of course, altered this. But now his +interest in the Bristol coach led him to an opposite extreme. The +Bristol mail was delivered the moment it arrived; and all other mails, +by how little soever they might be later, were kept waiting. Again, +before 1784 the post was frequently diverted from the high road in order +that adjacent villages might be served. On the Bath road, for instance, +although on this road there were fewer diversions than on any other in +the kingdom, the post left the turnpike road between Hungerford and +Marlborough in order to go through Ramsbury. Under the new arrangement +it would have defeated Palmer's object to leave the direct track, if +indeed the state of the roads would have admitted of it; and as the +coaches could not go to the villages, the villages had to send to the +coaches. Not in these cases alone was there, at first, a very general +failure to effect a junction. Along every road on which a mail-coach was +started the bye and cross posts were deranged and thrown into confusion; +and, as a consequence, the Post Office was swamped with complaints from +those whose letters had been delayed. + +Had this been all, it would have been little more than might be expected +in the course of transition from one system to another; but other causes +of dissatisfaction arose. The Act of Parliament regulated the rates of +postage according to stages--2d. in the case of a single letter, for one +stage, 3d. for two stages, and beyond two stages and not exceeding +eighty miles 4d.; but what was meant by the term stage the Act nowhere +defined. Virtually it was in the power of one man, by the simple +expedient of reducing the length of the stages and so increasing their +number, to raise the rate of postage between any two towns in the +kingdom that were not more than a certain number of miles apart. And +this is exactly what Palmer did. From Rochester to Dartford, for +instance, had been one stage. The single stage was replaced by two +stages; and the postage, which had been 2d., became 3d. From Newbury to +Devizes had been two stages. The two stages were increased to three; and +the postage was raised from 3d. to 4d. And so it was throughout the +kingdom. Well might the postmasters-general write, as they wrote under +date the 7th of December 1785, "We are now at a loss in many instances +how to rate letters and what to call by the name of a stage." + +But not even the increase of postage which resulted from shortening the +stages gave so much offence as the earlier closing of the Post Office in +Lombard Street. The Post Office had from the earliest times been kept +open to at least twelve o'clock at night, and probably a little later. +It now closed at seven o'clock in the evening, so as to admit of the +mails starting at eight o'clock. Palmer had foreseen that objections +might be raised to the change; but he was little prepared for the storm +of indignation that followed. The first merchants in London, some of +them bearing names still honoured in the city,--Thellusson, Lubbock and +Bosanquet, Herries, Quentin Dick and Hoare,--protested in writing and +afterwards waited on the postmasters-general in a body to support their +protest. The leather-dealers followed suit, a body representing more +than sixty firms. Some held that the Post Office should be kept open +till nine o'clock, and others till ten or even eleven o'clock; but all +were of opinion that seven was too early an hour to close. At a meeting +held at the London Tavern, and presided over by one of the sheriffs, +resolutions were passed, copies of which were afterwards presented to +Pitt in person, not only condemning the early hour of closing but +calling for the adoption of measures with a view "to remove the +inconveniences which had hitherto been experienced from the +establishment of mail-coaches." No wonder if the postmasters-general +doubted the merits of a plan which exposed them to these complaints. + +Nor was it only from without that troubles came. The letter-carriers +were grumbling and more than grumbling; and not without reason. For more +than seventy years they had been ringing bells in the streets after the +receiving houses were shut--until 1769 on the three nights of the week +called grand post nights, and since that date on the bye-nights as +well--receiving as their own perquisite 1d. on each letter they +collected. Hence the men had made a comfortable addition to their wages +of 12s. a week; and now, owing to the closing of the Post Office at +seven, the emoluments derived from this source were rapidly dwindling +and promised soon to disappear altogether. + +Between Carteret and Tankerville differences now arose which, in view of +subsequent events, it is impossible to pass unnoticed. On the break-up +of the Shelburne administration in 1783, when Tankerville left the Post +Office and Carteret remained, the two postmasters-general had parted +with mutual expressions of regard and goodwill. A questionable +transaction in which Carteret had been concerned, a transaction +partaking of the nature of a corrupt bargain, had indeed come under +Tankerville's notice; but he willingly attributed it to the malign +influence exercised by his predecessor, Lord le Despencer. This +favourable construction his later experience had induced him to modify. +One case in particular which occurred soon after his return to the Post +Office had aroused the most painful suspicions. On Monday the 2nd of +August 1784, the same day as that on which the first mail-coach started, +the Post Office of Ireland was separated from the Post Office of +England. Into the reasons of this separation, being as they were +political, we do not propose to enter. Suffice it to say that the +Government of Ireland took advantage of the occasion to displace Armit, +the secretary to the Irish Post Office, and to reappoint John Lees, who +had been secretary from 1774 to 1781, when he was promoted to the War +Office. On his reappointment Lees wrote to the postmasters-general in +London recapitulating the conditions on which he had been appointed ten +years before, and stating that to those conditions, onerous as they +were, he proposed in the main to adhere. He was indeed under no +obligation in the matter, for he owed his reappointment to the Irish +Government; but of this circumstance he had no desire to avail himself. +Armit had taken over the conditions from Lees; and Lees would now resume +them from Armit. Let us see what the conditions were. In 1774 Barham, +the packet agent at Dover, being compelled by ill-health to retire, was +succeeded by Walcot, the secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, and +Walcot was succeeded by Lees, who was new to the service. Barham, though +superannuated, was during his life to receive from Walcot the full +salary and emoluments of the packet agency, and Walcot was during the +same period to receive from Lees the full salary and emoluments of the +secretaryship. Lees was meanwhile to receive from Walcot a small +allowance for acting as secretary. Thus far there was nothing unusual in +the arrangement. On the contrary, it was an arrangement which in those +days was very commonly made. That which was unusual, and which nowhere +appeared in the official records, was an undertaking into which Lees had +entered to the effect that, after Barham's death, he would make to a +fourth person during that person's life an annual payment of L350. This +engagement Lees, when reappointed in 1784, expressed himself unwilling +to renew. He was quite prepared to resume the payment to Walcot, reduced +only to the same extent as by recent legislation the secretary's +emoluments had been reduced; but the reversionary payment to the +gentleman whom he would designate by the initials A. B. rested on +different grounds. From this he must beg to be released. + +Now, who was A. B.? This was the question which Tankerville asked; and +asked in vain. He could obtain no information on the subject. Meanwhile +Carteret, who was extremely displeased and disquieted at the disclosure, +caused an expression of his severe displeasure to be conveyed to Lees +that he should have presumed to make public a transaction which was +obviously designed to be private. Lees replied that, as he would be +unable to keep the engagement, he was bound in honour to state so; that +he had made known nothing more than was absolutely necessary in order +to obtain an acquittance, namely, that after Barham's death an annuity +of L350 had been agreed to be paid to some one; but who this some one +was had been, and would continue to be, a profound secret. In London it +had been whispered, and more than whispered, that A. B. was Carteret +himself. On this point Lees was emphatic. The transaction, he said, +concerns no postmaster-general, either living or dead. "With Lord +Carteret it has personally no more to do than with the King of France." + +Tankerville, though profoundly dissatisfied, resolved to let the matter +drop; and during the next eighteen months the feeling of distrust with +which he regarded Carteret did not prevent the two postmasters-general +from working together harmoniously. It was not until June 1786 that an +open rupture occurred. Some furniture had been ordered for the +housekeeper's apartments, and Tankerville, regarding it as of too +luxurious a nature, refused to countersign the bill unless the secretary +could produce a precedent for the expense. This Todd might have had some +difficulty in doing, as no housekeeper had resided on the Post Office +premises since the year 1740; but instead of offering an explanation to +that effect he waited for the next Board meeting, and, having already +procured Carteret's signature to the bill, put it before Tankerville +without remark. Tankerville, who never signed a document without +examining its contents, inquired whether this was not the housekeeper's +bill to which he had taken exception, and, on being answered in the +affirmative, told Todd that he had been guilty of a gross impropriety. +Carteret, who had made no secret of his opinion that it was no part of a +postmaster-general's duty to check tradesmen's accounts, took Todd's +part; whereupon Tankerville, whose temper was always running away with +him, observed that he would do no jobs, and that if a good understanding +between himself and Carteret were only to be procured by such means he +would rather that they should continue on their present terms. + +The next business set down for discussion had a termination still more +unfortunate. The office of comptroller of the bye and cross roads had +become vacant, and Carteret, whose turn it was to appoint, had appointed +Staunton, the postmaster of Isleworth. In addition to a salary of L500 a +year, the appointment carried a residence in the Post Office building; +and as the residence occupied by the late comptroller had by Pitt's +desire been given to Palmer, Carteret proposed that Staunton should be +recommended to the Treasury for an allowance of L100 a year as +compensation. Tankerville, who had been in personal communication with +Pitt and ascertained that he would object to an allowance for such a +purpose, declined to join in the recommendation, explaining the reason. +Carteret's remarks implied, or seemed to imply, a doubt whether Pitt had +really been seen on the subject, as alleged. Tankerville again lost his +temper. High words ensued, and the Board broke up, Carteret declaring +that it was impossible they should continue to act as joint +postmasters-general, and that he should at once wait upon Pitt and +inform him to that effect. + +Carteret was as good as his word. In three days from the date of the +Board meeting at which the altercation had taken place he waited upon +Pitt; and Pitt, after labouring in vain to effect a reconciliation, at +length dismissed Tankerville. Tankerville, who had been in constant +communication with the minister on the subject of the abuses at the Post +Office, and had sedulously applied himself to their correction, was +hardly less surprised than he was indignant; and restating the origin of +the disagreement between himself and his colleague, he demanded to be +informed in what respects he had been to blame. Pitt replied that he +could not enter into the merits of the question; that all it concerned +him to know was that Carteret was necessary to him in the House of +Lords; and that, as Carteret had expressed himself unable to act any +longer with Tankerville, it had become essential to make another +arrangement. + +This decision as between two colleagues, of whom one was as clearly +actuated by honesty of purpose as the other was not, a decision given +too by a minister who had already established a character for purity of +administration, seems so extraordinary that we must look for some +further explanation. The truth we believe to be that owing to an +ungovernable temper Tankerville was simply intractable, and had shewn +himself to Pitt to be so. Even Todd, who with all his faults was +essentially a man of peace, was unable to get on with him. "I am sorry +to say," he wrote on one occasion, "your Lordship is the only +postmaster-general I have not had the happiness to serve under with his +perfect approbation." On another occasion he wrote to Carteret: "I have +had a very unpleasant day of it. His Lordship is so completely jealous +and wrong-headed, so that without entering into unpleasing particulars I +had better leave him to his own thoughts." Tankerville's own letters +afford evidence to the same effect. "I shall not be disposed to talk +coolly on the subject of Mr. Dashwood, or hear anything you may have to +say, unless you can prove him guilty of fraud, which I do not admit, but +now tell you distinctly that I believe Lord Carteret has been indebted +to you for that forced construction." Again, "I do not find that I cool +very fast," Tankerville wrote from Brighton a week or so after the +incident which had excited his ire. Ever his own worst enemy, he now +spoiled a good ease, so far as it was possible to spoil it, by +intemperate writing. Instead of keeping to the main question, he rambled +off into side-issues which were all but irrelevant. Carteret had spoken +of one interview with Pitt. Pitt had expressed himself as though there +had been more than one. The point was absolutely unimportant. Yet +Tankerville fastened upon it, and, declaring that one or the other must +have been guilty of untruth, called upon them as men of honour to +reconcile the discrepancy. + +Intemperate as Tankerville's language had been, it was impossible that +things should remain as they were. Nothing but a public inquiry would +satisfy the justice of the case; and on this he was resolved. It was a +matter of regret to him to impeach Carteret's conduct; but there was no +other method of vindicating his own. "The causes of my removal," he +wrote, "shall be made as public as the injury; and, however gratified +your Lordship and those in concert with you may at present feel by the +success of your measures, I will take upon me to foretell that the +triumph will soon be at an end. I have been removed; others will be +disgraced." "When your Lordship," replied Carteret, "shall think proper +to bring this matter before the public, I flatter myself my conduct will +be unimpeached." + +A Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry was granted, and met for the first +time on the 16th of May 1787. The session terminated on the 30th of the +same month. Short as the interval was, evidence enough was taken to +substantiate all and more than all that Tankerville had alleged. The +Committee reported that a payment of L350 a year had been exacted from +Lees as a condition of his appointment as secretary to the Post Office +in Ireland; that a payment of L200 a year had been similarly exacted +from Dashwood, the postmaster-general of Jamaica; that, while Lees had +engaged to pay only in a future event, the payment in Dashwood's case +had begun from the date of his appointment; that both payments were in +favour of the person who had been designated by the initials A. B.; that +the transactions, though protested against at the time, had been +insisted upon by Lords Carteret and Le Despencer; and that not only had +no record of them been made in the official books, but they had been +kept carefully concealed. The Committee further reported that scandalous +abuses had been found to exist at the Post Office, abuses which should +be examined into and corrected forthwith; and that of many of these the +First Lord of the Treasury had been specifically informed by Lord +Tankerville before the latter was dismissed. + +The chief interest of the inquiry, however, centred in the question--who +was A. B.? A. B. proved to be one Peregrine Treves, a so-called friend +of Carteret's, who had never performed any public service either in the +Post Office or elsewhere. "Are you not a Jew and a foreigner?" asked the +inexorable Committee. "Yes," was the reply. "In consideration of what +services," the Committee continued, "did you receive these grants?" +"From friendship entirely," answered Treves. + +Tankerville's prediction had been amply fulfilled. It was not he that +was disgraced. Yet, curiously enough, Carteret made no sign. And even +Pitt did nothing more than expedite the proceedings of a Royal +Commission which was already sitting. This Commission had been appointed +at his instigation some years before to inquire into the duties and the +pay of certain public departments, of which the Post Office was one. It +was now arranged that the Post Office was to be the next to come under +review. + +During these dissensions at headquarters Palmer's plan had made steady +progress. Many of the irregularities inseparable from the introduction +of a new system had been corrected. The cross-posts had been fitted to +the mail-coaches, so that failures of connection were daily becoming +fewer; and when the merchants found that answers to their letters were +being received in less than half the usual time, and with a degree of +punctuality never experienced before, their complaints respecting the +early closing of the Post Office appear to have died away. The Post +Office revenue bore evidence to the improved state of things, the net +receipt during the quarter ending the 5th of January 1787 being L73,000, +as against L51,000 during the corresponding quarter of 1784. According +to all experience, the increase in the rates of postage should have had +the effect of reducing the number of letters; but so far was this from +being the case that the number of letters had increased in spite of the +increase of rates. The truth is that clandestine correspondence had to a +large extent ceased. There was no longer any temptation to send by +irregular means, at a cost of two or three shillings, and at the risk of +detection, a letter which would be conveyed at least as expeditiously +and for one-third of that amount by mail-coach. + +Palmer, who had to this time been assisted by persons selected by +himself and not belonging to the Post Office, now bestirred himself to +procure for them an established position. Public and private interests +were for once identical. Hitherto there had been only three surveyors +for the whole of England; and of these one had resided in London. At +Palmer's instigation, England was now divided into six postal districts, +and a surveyor allotted to each. A seventh or spare surveyor was held in +readiness to be detached to any part of the kingdom where his services +might be required. Each surveyor was to reside in the centre of his +district, and his functions, shortly stated, were to keep an accurate +record of the posts and of the persons under his charge, to see that +these persons did their duty, to facilitate correspondence and to remedy +complaints. The resident surveyorship, an appointment which had been +created in 1742, was abolished as no longer necessary, Palmer himself +being at hand to give what advice the postmasters-general might require. +The mode of remuneration was also altered. Hitherto the surveyors had +received a salary of L300 a year without any allowance for travelling, +the consequence being of course that they had travelled as little as +possible. For the future the salary was to be only L100; but as an +inducement to them to move about within their own districts, they were +to have one guinea a day when absent from their headquarters. The whole +of the additional appointments were conferred upon Palmer's nominees, +and for the seventh or spare surveyorship he selected Francis Freeling, +a young man of promise, who during the last two years had been actively +engaged in regulating the mail-coaches throughout the country. + +It was about this time or a little earlier that the conditions of +Palmer's own employment were, at length, definitely settled, but not by +any means to his own satisfaction. His first stipulation was that, +besides being absolutely free from the control of the postmasters-general, +he should have a commission of 2-1/2 per cent upon all increase in +the net Post Office revenue, which should follow as the result of +his own plan. Thus, the net Post Office revenue before August 1784 +being estimated at L150,000, he stipulated for one-fortieth part of +the excess over that amount. To this Pitt agreed; but freedom from the +control of the postmasters-general was a point which it was out of his +power to concede. The Act of Parliament constituting the Post Office +would not admit of it. Even nominal subjection to the postmasters-general +was so irksome to Palmer that he was constantly pressing that a +special Act might be passed to give him perfect freedom. Nor was +this all. The increase in the rates of postage which came into +operation one month after the starting of the first mail-coach was +estimated to produce L90,000 a year, and Pitt deemed it only reasonable +that this amount should be added to the previous revenue of L150,000, +making L240,000 altogether, before Palmer could be allowed to draw his +percentage. Of this variation of the original understanding Palmer +bitterly complained, not seeing apparently that, as the increase of +rates had been recommended by himself, the complaint reflected on his +own singleness of purpose in making the recommendation. + +Eventually it was decided that, in addition to a commission of 2-1/2 per +cent upon the net revenue in excess of L240,000, Palmer should receive a +salary of L1500; but even this settlement was not arrived at without +grumbling on Palmer's part, and without serious misgiving on the part of +the Post Office. Pitt highly approved the percentage, holding that it +would serve as a constant incentive to exertion. Tankerville, while not +denying the expediency of such a mode of remuneration, questioned its +legality. Under the Act of Anne, which a subsequent Act had made +perpetual, the Post Office revenue was appropriated to certain specific +purposes; and he doubted the propriety of diverting any part of it as a +reward for services, however meritorious. Clarendon, Tankerville's +successor, entertained the same scruples; and except by the +postmasters-general no appointment within the Post Office could be +made. Palmer's objection, on the contrary, was to the amount of salary, +on the ground that L1500 did not represent the fortieth part of L90,000. +Pitt declined, however, to give way; and on the 11th of October 1786 +Palmer was appointed comptroller-general of the Post Office on the terms +prescribed by the minister. + +There can be no question that Palmer bargaining for terms is Palmer seen +in his least pleasing aspect. The best that can be said is that he was +candid enough not to disguise his object, which was to amass a fortune. +At Bath he had in his boyhood seen Ralph Allen living in a large house +and dispensing hospitality on an extensive scale, and he could not bring +himself to understand why the difference between his own and Allen's +remuneration should be in the inverse ratio to the value of their +improvements. And not only did Palmer exhibit an unworthy jealousy of +Allen, but he did that good man, as we think, an injustice. When urging +his own claims on the minister, he constantly insisted that Allen, on +the introduction of his plan, had no difficulties to contend with, and +that he kept that plan a secret. Never was there a more untenable +position. That Allen had difficulties to contend with and how he +overcame them we have seen in a preceding chapter; and the charge of +keeping his plan a secret is refuted by the conditions of his contract, +which prevented him from giving an instruction even to his own servants +until it had been submitted to headquarters. No doubt it was not known +until after his death that Allen had derived from the Post Office an +income of L12,000 a year. His wealth had been supposed to come from the +stone-quarries he possessed on Combe Down. But this was not the +contention. What Palmer insisted upon was that, while he had disclosed +his plan, Allen had kept his plan secret, and that, if only on that +ground, the balance of merit was on his own side. + +In December 1787 the Commission of Inquiry commenced its labours. +Exactly a century had elapsed since the Post Office had undergone a +similar ordeal, a period too long for any public department to be left +to itself; and meanwhile abuses had taken root and flourished. One +hundred years before there had been no sinecures. Now the principal +officers attended, some of them only occasionally and others not at all; +and attendance, when attendance was given, often extended no later than +to one or two o'clock in the afternoon. The receiver-general, for +instance, attended on three days a week; and the accountant-general +attended once or twice in three months, when the quarterly balance had +to be made up. Court-post employed a deputy, to whom, out of a salary of +L730, he made an annual allowance of L58. The solicitor, like +court-post, was an absentee, but, unlike him, was careful not to part +with even a fraction of his salary. In this case the deputy received as +remuneration one-third part of the law charges incurred--a form of +payment calculated more perhaps than any other to promote litigation. In +the Penny Post Office were three principal officers--a comptroller, an +accountant, and a collector. Of these the first two gave no attendance, +and the third attended only occasionally, their duties being imposed +upon the chief sorter, who, in all but salary, was practically the head +of the department. + +Meagre salaries were bolstered up by fees and perquisites, many of them +of an outrageous character. While the senior letter-carrier was rigidly +restricted to 312 candles in the year, a number not perhaps in excess of +his actual requirements, there was hardly an officer reputed to be of +any position in the Post Office, whether an absentee or otherwise, who +was not provided with coals and candles for his private use. Although to +some the supply of these articles was greater than to others, the usual +annual allowance was, in the case of a subordinate, four, and, in the +case of the head of a department, ten chaldron of coals, and in both +cases thirty-two dozen pounds of candles. As the holder of two +appointments, although he discharged the duties of only one of them, the +comptroller of the bye and cross roads received a double allowance. Many +commuted with the tradesmen whose duty it was to supply the articles for +a money payment. Altogether the allowance to Post Office servants for +their private use in town and country, and irrespective of what was +consumed in the official apartments, exceeded in a single year 300 +chaldron of coals and 20,000 pounds of candles. + +The postmasters-general had long ceased to reside in the Post Office +building; and yet to them was supplied, besides coals and candles, what +was euphoniously termed tinware, by which is to be understood kitchen +utensils. The expenditure on their account under the three heads during +two years and a half was, for coals L2230, for candles L700, and for +pots and pans L150. + +Of stationery there was also a gratuitous supply for private as well as +official use. One fee was a peculiarly cruel one, exacted as it was from +a class of public servants who were unable to protect themselves. All +postmasters whose salaries amounted to as much as L20 were forced to +renew their deputations every three years, with no other object than to +enrich the harpies at headquarters. On each renewal the same fee had to +be paid as on appointment, namely L4:11s.; and of this amount 30s. went +to each of the postmasters-general, 10s. to the secretary, 10s. to the +solicitor, and 1s. to the door-keeper. The remainder was for stamp duty. +Postmasters were also required to pay a fee of half a guinea before +receiving a warrant to exempt them from serving in public offices. +Christmas-boxes given by the merchants, and designed for the +letter-carriers and other subordinates, were to a large extent +appropriated by their superiors. From this source the comptroller of the +foreign office, with an official income of L1300, was not ashamed to +derive L34 a year. Others from the same source derived smaller amounts. +Newspapers for reading were supplied in profligate profusion. One head +of department was allowed for his own use two morning and five evening +papers; another was paid L42:16s. a year to supply himself with what +papers he pleased. All, whether absentees or not, received an annual +payment under the title of drink and feast money, the lowest amount +being L1:17s. and the highest L3:17s., and this was in addition to +three or four so-called feasts given annually at the cost of the +department. These with percentages on tradesmen's bills were some of the +fees and perquisites which were now dragged to the light. + +Out of the whole number there was only one which, besides being moderate +and unobjectionable, possessed a certain interest as denoting the +connection which had at one time subsisted between the Post Office and +the Crown. This was a fee of 1s. received by the chief sorter at the +General Post Office on the occasion of a birthday in the Royal Family; +and as the Royal Family now consisted of twenty-one members, his +emoluments from this source amounted to one guinea in the year. + +There were two points on which the Royal Commissioners appear to have +received less than full information. These were expresses and registered +letters. Expresses, according to the old custom of the post, were still +going at the rate of only six miles an hour, while the mail-coaches were +going at the rate of eight. To this difference the Commissioners called +attention; but they were silent as to the fees which some expresses +paid, being apparently under the impression that all were treated alike. +As a matter of fact, however, expresses had by this time been divided +into two kinds--the public express and the private express. The public +express, that is the express on public affairs, was allowed to pass +without a fee, no doubt because the Post Office dared not impose one; +but on every private express, in addition to the authorised mileage, was +charged, if from London, a fee of 12s. 6d., and if from the country, a +fee of 2s. 6d.; and of course in this, as in every other case, the fees +were for the benefit of individuals. + +On the subject of registered letters addressed to places abroad the +Commissioners merely expressed the opinion that the registration fee, +instead of being any longer treated as a perquisite, should be applied +to the use of the public; but they nowhere stated, and perhaps had not +been informed, what this fee was. It may be interesting if we supply the +omission. The fee for registering a packet of value was, outwards[61] +21s., and inwards 5s. It seems incredible, and yet such is the +unquestionable fact. For every letter registered for abroad the +comptroller of the foreign office received 10s. 6d., the +deputy-comptroller 4s. 6d., and six clerks 1s. apiece. One guinea for +registration! And it was all the more monstrous because there can be +little doubt that at one time letters had been practically registered +without any fee at all. An Order in Council dated as far back as July +1556 had ordained "that the poste between this and the Northe should +eche of them keepe a booke and make entrye of every letter that he shall +receive, the tyme of the deliverie thereof unto his hands with the +parties names that shall bring it unto him, whose handes he shall also +take to his booke, witnessing the same note to be trewe." In 1603 +another Order in Council passed, requiring that "every post shall keepe +a large and faire leger paper booke, to enter our packets in as they +shalbe brought unto him, with the day of the moneth, houre of the day or +night, that they came first to his handes, together with the name of him +or them, by whom or unto whom they were subscribed and directed." In +1680 Dockwra, when establishing his penny post, was careful to provide +that letters on reaching any one of his seven sorting offices should be +"entered"; and in a mere detail of treatment, it may well be believed, +he followed the practice of the general post. In 1707 letters from +abroad arriving at Harwich were not to be forwarded to the Court at +Newmarket until the addresses had been copied. And more than this. In +1709 two letters between London and Ostend had been delayed, and it +became important to discover where the delay had occurred. "We find +them," wrote the postmasters-general, "both duly entered in Mr. Frowde's +books, and are satisfy'd they were regularly dispatched from this +office." Now Mr. Frowde was comptroller of the foreign office. It may +be added that, small as was the force employed at the end of the +seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, it is difficult +to account for the length of time which was then occupied in dealing +with a mere handful of letters except on the hypothesis that there was a +good deal more to be done than to sort and to tax them. And now the Post +Office, upon no better authority than its own will, was exacting a fee +of 21s. and 5s., according as the letter was outwards or inwards, for +doing what some eighty years before had been done for nothing. The sums +extorted from the public under this head were in 1783 L121, and in the +following year L240. + + [61] A foreign registered letter _outwards_ would be a letter registered + as far as Dover or Harwich or Falmouth for transmission abroad, and + possibly on board ship. A foreign registered letter _inwards_ would not + be the exact converse, for there would be no registration from the port + of arrival to London. The fee of 5s. covered the registration of a + letter only from London to its destination. + +As regards the working arrangements, Palmer, in virtue of the power he +possessed as comptroller-general, had already corrected those that were +most faulty. Until lately, the letter-carriers' walks had been so +extensive that many of the deliveries could not be accomplished within +five or six hours. Palmer had arranged that no delivery should occupy +more than two hours or two hours and a half at the utmost, counting from +the time of despatch from the General Post Office. It had been the +practice for the junior clerks, the clerks with the least experience, to +sort the letters for delivery, the consequence being that they reached +the letter-carriers' hands in so confused a state that they had to be +sorted again. Hence it had been by no means unusual for an interval of +four or five hours to elapse between the arrival of the last mail and +the going out of the letter-carriers. By appointing some of the most +intelligent letter-carriers to sort the letters in the first instance, +Palmer had reduced the interval to one hour on ordinary, and to one hour +and a half on extraordinary occasions. As many as 400 postmasters had +returned their letter-bills in one week, and on the plea of having been +overcharged had claimed and been allowed deductions. Palmer had checked +this abuse by arranging that in the case of those postmasters who were +in the habit of returning their letter-bills the charges should be twice +told. He had also reduced the amount expended on extra duty by L2000 a +year. Heretofore, if a man had chosen to absent himself, the Post Office +had provided a substitute. For the future the substitute was to be +provided at the absentee's own expense. + +But although Palmer had already corrected the most faulty of the +arrangements, some still existed which could not be pronounced good. The +accountant-general was intended to be a check upon the receiver-general; +yet, instead of keeping an independent record of the sums received, he +merely transcribed or caused to be transcribed the entries from the +receiver-general's books. The accountant-general, again, was required to +certify every bill before the postmasters-general passed it for payment; +but as he was not empowered to call for vouchers or for the authority +under which the expenditure had been incurred, his certificate conveyed +nothing more than that the bill had been rightly cast. The accounts +themselves appear to have been rendered in the strangest manner. The +article "Dead Letters," for instance, was made to serve a variety of +purposes. Under this article postmasters were accustomed to claim +chaise-hire, law charges, and even pensions to private persons. + +The packet service was a part of the Post Office which the Commissioners +would fain have avoided if they could; but the public voice was too +strong for them. The enormous expenditure which this service involved +had long excited murmurs, and the opportunity which now offered of +investigating the causes of it was one which could not with any regard +to propriety be missed. Accordingly the inquiry was entered upon; but +with a desire to restrict it as far as possible the Commissioners did +not extend their investigations beyond the packet station at Falmouth, +where more than three-fourths of the expenditure was incurred. To +ourselves, who are under no obligation to observe a similar limit, +perhaps a little more latitude may be allowed. + +The continental mails by way of Dover and Harwich went at this time only +twice a week; and by a curious arrangement these mails started from the +General Post Office at midnight, although the inland mails for the same +towns and going by the same route started at eight o'clock in the +evening. At Harwich the packet station had abandoned itself to +smuggling. In 1774 two packets, the _Bessborough_ and the _Prince of +Wales_, were seized for having contraband goods on board. Not a single +voyage had these packets made during the last two years without +committing a similar infringement of the law. The Commissioners of +Customs, whose patience was exhausted, now commenced proceedings in the +Court of Exchequer, and were prevailed upon to abandon them only upon +the captains, who were also owners of the vessels, paying by way of fine +two-third parts of their appraised value--amounting to L306 in one case +and to L272 in the other--of which sums one-half was to go to the Crown +and one-half to the officer by whom the goods had been discovered. This +high reward was not long in reproducing the occasion on account of which +it had been given. In November 1777 another seizure took place, this +time of three packets simultaneously, two of them being the same as had +been seized in 1774. The third was the _Dolphin_. On this occasion the +Commissioners of Customs determined that the vessels should be +prosecuted to condemnation. In vain the postmasters-general urged that +the law was a hard one which made the captains responsible for offences +which, it was alleged, they had done their best to check. The customs +authorities were inexorable. It was not long, however, before the Post +Office became possessed of certain facts which, when investigated, +proved beyond a doubt that there had for years past been collusion of +the grossest character. On every voyage contraband goods--chiefly tea, +coffee, and gin--had, with the connivance of the local officers of +customs, been imported in large quantities; and of these only a part, a +comparatively small part, had been seized. Thus, the Post Office +servants received from the goods that were left to them ample, and more +than ample, compensation for those that were taken away; and the +servants of the customs received from their Board in London both credit +and reward for their vigilance. Nor was it by any means certain that the +seizure of the packets in 1774 and again in 1777 was not another phase +of the same collusive arrangement. + +At Falmouth the case was somewhat different. Smuggling, indeed, was +going on there just as it was at Harwich. As far back as 1744 the +customs had issued process against the captains of two of the Falmouth +packets for having contraband goods on board. The case is only worthy of +mention as shewing the loose notions which at that time prevailed even +in high quarters on the subject of clandestine traffic. The +postmasters-general of the day, Lord Lovell and Sir John Eyles, told the +Board of Customs in so many words that their conduct was unhandsome. It +was vain, they urged, to endeavour to prevent "these little clandestine +importations and exportations" on board the packets; and if violent +measures were to be resorted to, as in the present instance, no captain +"of real worth and character" would be found to command, and "no fit and +able" seamen to serve. Again, in 1776 the _Greyhound_ packet was seized +at the port of Kingston in Jamaica for attempting to smuggle spirits. +Early in 1788 the _Queen Charlotte_ packet was condemned and sold at the +same port and for the same cause. In 1786 a special agent sent down to +Falmouth by Tankerville reported that, according to common repute, no +packet either proceeded on a voyage or returned from one without +hovering about the coast for the purpose of shipping or unshipping +goods. + +But, rife as smuggling was, it was something more than an infringement +of the customs laws that now brought the packet station at Falmouth into +notoriety. During the seventeen years ending the 5th of April 1787, the +cost of the packets had exceeded L1,038,000; and of this amount about +L800,000 had been expended at Falmouth. At the present day, when a +single mail steamer costs perhaps as much as L300,000, the sum of +L1,000,000 sterling would not go far to create and maintain a fleet; but +a century ago it was considered, even when spread over a period of +seventeen years, an enormous expenditure, an expenditure such as, in the +language of the Royal Commissioners, almost to surpass credibility. And +certainly there seems to have been good ground for this opinion. The +packets altogether were only thirty-six in number, of which twenty-one +were stationed at Falmouth. These were of no more than 200 tons burthen, +and were navigated with thirty men, five of them being the property of +the Post Office and fifteen being hired. For each of the hired boats was +paid the annual sum of L2129, and for each of the others the annual sum +of L1529, these sums including the charge of manning and victualling. +The sixteen packets stationed elsewhere than at Falmouth were hired at +ridiculously low prices, at Dover for L412 a year each, at Harwich for +L469, and at Holyhead for L350. To expend upon the packets under such +conditions as these more than L1,000,000 sterling in the course of +seventeen years required no small amount of ingenuity. How was it +managed? This was the question which the Royal Commissioners now set +themselves to solve. + +The grossest abuses were found to exist. The hire of the packets had +been paid when they were under seizure for smuggling, and under repair, +and even when they were building. In the case of packets that were +building and under repair the victualling allowance paid when there were +no men to victual had amounted in twelve years and a half to L56,000. +When packets had been taken by the enemy the hire of them had been paid +for months beyond the date of their capture; and this was in addition to +compensation to the owners, which, however old and rotten the packet +might be, was fixed at her original value when taken into the service. +Compensation to the captains had also been given for the loss of their +private property and of provisions. For provisions the compensation had +always been as for six months' supply, although the supply that was +actually on board might not be enough for one month; and for their +private property the captains had been compensated at their own +valuation. Whatever they had asked they had received without examination +and without question. This astounding prodigality indulged in at the +expense of the State is easily explained. The Post Office servants in +London, down even to the chamber-keeper, had shares in the packets; and +of these servants the one who possessed by far the largest number of +shares was Anthony Todd, the secretary. Todd also received a commission +of 2-1/2 per cent upon the entire sum expended on the packet +establishment of the kingdom. Thus, the very man whose duty it was to +check the expenditure had a direct personal interest in making the +expenditure as high as possible. + +The salary of the Secretary to the Post Office remained, as it was fixed +in 1703, at L200 a year; and whatever Todd received over and above that +amount, he received without authority. Let us see what his actual +receipts were. In addition to his proper salary of L200, he had what was +called a bye salary of L75. Bye had at one time meant out of course or +clandestine; and this meaning would perhaps not be inappropriate here. +He had for coach hire L100 a year. He had another L100 a year from +Lloyds's coffee-house. He had from fees on commissions and deputations +L154 a year. He had every year twenty chaldron of coal and twelve dozen +of wax and sixty-four dozen of tallow candles, valued by himself at +L103. He had an unfurnished residence with stables in the Post Office +building; and he received annually from the East India Company eight +pounds of tea and two dozen of arrack. But this was by no means all. As +former clerk in the foreign branch, an appointment which he still +retained, he had a salary of L50 and an allowance of L100 a year for +so-called disbursements, which he never made. He had also, in his +capacity of clerk, L15 a year for coach-hire and ten chaldron of coal +and thirty-two dozen of candles, valued at L40. Besides all this, he had +his commission of 2-1/2 per cent upon the entire packet expenditure of +the country, from which source he derived in the year 1782 no less than +L2136. Altogether, Todd's modest salary of L200 a year had, by his own +unaided exertions, been converted into an annual income of more than +L3000. + +The extent of Todd's emoluments, his commission on the packet +expenditure, the outrageous character of some of the fees and +perquisites which he and others were receiving, the absenteeism, the +abuses generally--all this had long been known to Pitt. Much he had +heard from Tankerville, and still more, probably, from Palmer. But +before either Palmer or Tankerville became connected with the Post +Office, Pitt had been aware of many, if not most, of the abuses which +prevailed there. As early as 1782 one of his first acts after becoming +Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Shelburne administration was to give +peremptory orders that no more packets were to be either built or +purchased without Treasury authority. For such authority it had hitherto +been the practice to ask before setting up new packets, but not before +replacing old ones--packets that were worn out or alleged to be worn +out, or that had been lost or captured. This was a distinction which had +existed since packets were first established, and to which, nearly a +hundred years before, Cotton and Frankland had attached great +importance. It was now to exist no longer. In 1783 Pitt called for a +return of the fees and perquisites received at the Post Office, and it +was not until after this return had been furnished and possibly in +consequence of it that the Commission of Inquiry was appointed. "Did you +ever communicate this transaction to Mr. Pitt," inquired the +Parliamentary Committee in 1787. "I did," replied Tankerville, "but +found him not ill-informed on the subject in general." + +It may seem strange that with the knowledge which he unquestionably +possessed respecting the prevalent abuses Pitt should have allowed them +to go on so long uncorrected. The explanation we believe to be twofold. +In the first place he was unwilling to do or suffer to be done anything +which might interfere with the introduction of Palmer's improvements. +This was a point on which Pitt never ceased to betray the utmost +anxiety. To embark on any general system of reform might conflict with +the new plan. Let the plan be established first and the abuses could be +corrected afterwards. Hence it was, no doubt, that of all the public +offices to be inquired into, the Post Office, in spite of the notoriety +which its abuses had acquired, was taken last. But this, although the +primary explanation, was not, we suspect, the only one. Incorrupt +himself, Pitt was extraordinarily tolerant of corruption in others. +Witness his defence of Melville. Even of Carteret's transaction with +Peregrine Treves he could never be brought to admit more than that it +was not a proper one. This tolerance in others of what he would have +scorned to do himself we attribute to a conviction on his part that +abuses were less to be charged against individuals than as the result of +a bad system which made the abuses possible; and what, if we mistake +not, Pitt had proposed to himself was to bring to bear upon this system +the force of public opinion. A ruthless exposure, we have little doubt, +had been in contemplation; and yet when the time for exposure came, Pitt +held back. Whether it was that the abuses proved too flagrant to be +published with safety or that their correction would involve more time +or more money than could then be spared, the fact remains that, after +receiving the report of the Commission, Pitt locked it up in his +despatch box and kept it there for the space of four years; and not even +the postmasters-general could procure a copy. + +But secret as the report of the Commission was kept, the procedure at +the Post Office was about to undergo a radical change. A change indeed +had already begun. Tankerville, on his dismissal in August 1786, had +been succeeded by Lord Clarendon; and Clarendon died in the following +December. Then followed an interval of eight months, during which +Carteret alone administered the Post Office and, as was usual on such +occasions, drew the double salary. At length, as Carteret's colleague, +Pitt appointed Lord Walsingham; and from that moment irregularity and +disorder were at an end. Nothing escaped Walsingham's vigilant eye. To +neglect or evasion of work he shewed no mercy. The man honestly +striving to do his duty had no better friend. His industry and power of +work were simply amazing. All instructions were prepared by him. Not a +single letter of any importance was received at the Post Office without +the answer to it being drafted in his own hand. Generous to a fault with +his own money, he regarded the money of the public as a sacred trust, a +trust which could not be discharged too scrupulously. Carteret's opinion +was well known, that it was no part of a postmaster-general's duty to +check accounts. Walsingham, on the contrary, would allow no account to +be passed until he had checked it; and his checking went a good deal +beyond the casting. Unless the articles were necessary and the charges +reasonable, and unless they were proved to be so to his satisfaction, +the account had a sorry chance of being passed. The official hours of +attendance had hitherto been pretty much what each man chose to make +them. To Walsingham all hours were alike; and at all hours he exacted +attendance from others. "It is utterly impossible," wrote the head of +one department, "for the accounts to be ready for your inspection +to-morrow evening." "I will not fail," wrote the head of another, "to do +myself the honour of waiting upon your Lordship to-morrow morning at +eight precisely." + +Walsingham, on entering upon his duties at the Post Office, was +concerned to find that to documents requiring to be signed by the two +postmasters-general Carteret attached his signature first. Carteret's +peerage dated from 1784, and Walsingham's from 1780. Surely the peer of +older creation should sign first; and such, Walsingham found on inquiry, +had been the practice hitherto. Pitt, though overwhelmed with business, +was called upon to decide the momentous question. He was sorry, he said, +that in the preparation of the patent the practice of the Post Office +had been overlooked. It was a strange practice, a practice different +from that of all other public offices. There the senior, the one who was +first to enter the office, took precedence of the junior whatever his +rank; and Carteret having been mentioned first in the patent must +unquestionably sign first. But this, he added, need not be drawn into a +precedent, and, on a new patent passing, the old practice of the office +might be reverted to. We may here mention that a few years later the +Earl of Chesterfield became Walsingham's colleague; but on that occasion +Walsingham does not appear to have raised the question again or to have +been unwilling to conform to the new practice. And, indeed, whether +Walsingham signed before or after Carteret must to every one except +himself have appeared of the least possible importance. Sign in what +order he might, Walsingham's influence soon became paramount. Carteret +might give what instruction he pleased, but unless endorsed by +Walsingham a Post Office servant obeyed it at his peril. Walsingham, on +the contrary, gave instructions without reference to his colleague, and +exacted prompt and implicit obedience. + +With many of the qualities of a great man, Walsingham was strangely +wanting in one particular. He had no sense of proportion. A trivial +point hardly deserving of a moment's consideration he would elaborate as +carefully as a measure involving large and important issues; and a +clerical error or a slight indiscretion he would visit as severely as +misconduct of the gravest character. Nor must we omit to mention a habit +in which he indulged to an extent that has probably never been +surpassed. This was a habit of annotating. Nothing came officially +before him, whether a letter or a report or a book, without being +covered in the margin and every available space with notes and queries; +and, to add to the distraction which this mode of criticism seldom fails +to cause, they were in so small and crabbed a hand as to be always +difficult, and sometimes even with the aid of a magnifying-glass +impossible, to decipher. + +There was only one person that had the slightest influence with +Walsingham. This was Daniel Braithwaite, who, holding nominally the +situation of clerk to the postmasters-general, was really their private +secretary. Braithwaite was a Fellow of the Royal Society. Of consummate +tact and judgment, and endowed with a peculiar sweetness of disposition, +he contrived during difficult times to tone down asperities and to +accommodate many a dissension which promised to become acute. Passing +through his hands a harsh admonition was turned into a gentle reproof, +and an imperious command into a courteous message. But under this +softness of manner and a deference of language so profound that even +Walsingham quizzed him on the number of "Lordships" he would introduce +into a single letter, there lay concealed a solidity of character which +few would have suspected. Honest Braithwaite he was called, and well he +deserved the epithet. By a simple inquiry, a request for information or +the expression of a doubt, he would nip some wild project in the bud, +and, where occasion required, he would not hesitate to speak his mind +freely. A young man, Stokes by name, who had been appointed to assist +Braithwaite, had miscopied a date in one of Walsingham's numerous +drafts, or rather, feeling sure that the date as it stood was wrong, had +altered it to what he believed to be the right one. Walsingham, who was +absent from London at the time, wrote back that Stokes was to be +suspended. Braithwaite's sense of justice was shocked, and he refused to +carry the order into effect. "If a mistake in copying," he wrote, +"deserves so severe a punishment as suspension, what am I not to fear +for disobedience, and yet I really cannot execute the task your Lordship +has imposed upon me. For God's sake, my dear lord," he proceeded, "let +me most earnestly entreat you to mitigate the severity of this sentence, +and, if a reprimand at the Board is not sufficient, give poor Stokes a +holiday and impose the fine for a substitute upon me. At any rate," he +added, "pray leave the case to be decided at a Board or refer it to Mr. +Todd." Walsingham did refer the case to Todd, but not before he had +sternly demanded of his refractory henchman whether he had never read +Beccaria on Crimes and Punishments. "No," replied Braithwaite, "I have +not read Beccaria on Crimes and Punishments; but Beccaria, say what he +may, will never convince me that it can be right to punish a mistake as +though it were a crime." Honest Braithwaite! He prevailed in the end, +and stood in Walsingham's confidence even higher than before. + +At a Board meeting on the 20th of July 1787, less than a fortnight after +taking up his appointment, Walsingham in the presence of the captains +who were ashore, and who had been summoned to London for the occasion, +gave notice of his intention to reduce the packet establishment at +Falmouth. That establishment consisted of twenty-one boats of 200 tons +each, and manned by thirty men. It was proposed that for the future +there should be twenty boats of 150 tons each, and with a complement of +eighteen men. These boats would cost about L3000 apiece to build, and +would not be the property of the Government. The Government would simply +hire them, giving as the price of hire L1350 a year, which was to cover +everything, wages and victualling included. The owners would also have +the passage money, estimated at L150, for each boat. Large as this +reduction was, the Treasury desired that it should be carried further, +that only the boats to America should be of as much as 150 tons, and +that those for the West Indies and for Lisbon should be of 100. The +captains, who had not relished the proposed reduction even to 150 tons, +were half-amused and half-indignant. Why, they asked, should the boats +for America be the largest? Were hurricanes unknown in the West Indies? +And could not the Bay of Biscay boast of tremendous seas? Boats of 100 +tons would be positively dangerous. No passenger would go by them; nor +would any merchant trust them with bullion, from the freight of which +the Post Office derived a considerable income. + +The postmasters-general had also on their side the result of experience. +In 1745, when the packet service to the West Indies, which had ceased in +1711, was re-established, boats of 100 tons had been tried and had +proved to be altogether insufficient. Moreover, it was in the highest +degree important, as a means of checking smuggling, that the boats +should not be restricted to one route. The intention was that they +should be interchangeable, so that their port of destination should be +uncertain; and to this end the tonnage of one should be the tonnage of +all. The Treasury appear to have remained unmoved by these +representations. At all events no decision was received; and Walsingham, +after waiting for what he no doubt considered an unreasonable time, took +silence for assent and proceeded to carry his recommendations into +effect. + +The economical results which had been looked for were not immediately +realised. The boats hitherto in use may not perhaps have been built with +the view of facilitating smuggling; and yet, crowded as they were +between decks with cupboards, they could hardly have been better adapted +to the purpose. In the new boats no receptacles were to be allowed in +which clandestine goods could be concealed; the holds were to be only +large enough to contain the stores and provisions for the voyage; the +seamen were no longer to remain unrestricted as to the size and number +of their boxes; and in other respects stringent regulations were laid +down to prevent illicit traffic. Finding what they called their ventures +stopped, the crews of the packets refused to go to sea without an +increase of pay all round. These ventures, they contended, had been +recognised from time immemorial and went in place of so much wages. How +else would it have been possible for them, many of them men with wives +and families, to subsist on a pittance of 23s. a month? The Post Office +was forced to yield to the demand; and as the immediate result of his +first essay in the cause of economy, Walsingham had the mortification of +seeing the cost of the packet establishment increased by more than L2300 +a year. + +From Falmouth Walsingham turned his attention to other ports where +packets were stationed. At Dover and at Harwich the establishments were +too small to admit of any reduction. At the latter port, indeed, what +little change took place was on the side of increase, the victualling +allowance being raised from 7-1/2d. a day for each man to 9d., so as to +be uniform with that given at Falmouth; and for the same reason the +seamen's wages were raised from 23s. a month to 28s. + +With Holyhead the case was different. Here Walsingham had resolved upon +making a reduction, and it was only on an earnest remonstrance from the +Marquis of Buckingham, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, that he abandoned +his intention. The Holyhead packets were at this time five in number, +and they were of seventy tons each and carried twelve hands. Walsingham +held that this tonnage and complement of men were more than enough; and +Buckingham maintained a directly contrary opinion. Between England and +Ireland, he urged, the number of passengers was increasing every year, +and surely this was not a time to lessen the confidence of the public in +the security of the packets. The danger of navigation in those seas +could not, he felt sure, be appreciated. He had himself crossed the +Channel in all weathers. Once he had been nearly lost, and not on that +occasion alone he had seen the crews, though at their full complement, +absolutely prostrate with their exertions. Could it be known that, for +purposes of passenger traffic, the captains of the Holyhead packets had +recently built and fitted out at their own expense a sloop named the +_Duchess of Rutland_; and that for this sloop, which, although vastly +superior in point of accommodation to any one of the packets, was of no +higher tonnage, the complement had been fixed at twelve hands? This +would shew what was the opinion on the point of those who were most +competent to judge. The fact, moreover, that Ireland had undertaken to +pay to Great Britain the sum of 2d. on every letter passing to and fro +placed the English Post Office under a sort of moral obligation not to +reduce the amount of accommodation and security existing at the time the +undertaking was given. Such were the arguments by which Buckingham +prevailed upon Walsingham to abandon his intention. He at the same time +hinted that there were other objects to which Walsingham's energies +might more properly be directed. "Does your Lordship know," he asked, +"that an immense communication of letters is kept up by the Liverpool +packets[62] which sail weekly to Dublin?" + + [62] _i.e._ boats. At Liverpool packets, in the sense of boats + commissioned by Government to carry letters, did not at this time + exist. + +One line of packets remains, the line between Milford Haven and +Waterford. Here five boats were employed, of which three were of eighty +tons and the others somewhat less; and the service was six days a week. +This, though the youngest of the packet stations, was by no means the +least interesting. It had been opened in April 1787; and in the first +year the proceeds from passengers alone amounted to more than L1200. No +doubt had been entertained that in the matter of letters there would be +an equally satisfactory account to render; but it soon became evident +that all hopes on this score must be given up. The Irish Post Office was +no longer subject to the Post Office of England; and in the supposed +interests of Dublin, which regarded with jealousy the postal facilities +enjoyed by the southern towns, advantage was taken of this freedom from +control to checkmate the new service. From Waterford the post for Cork +had been used to start at two o'clock in the afternoon, an hour most +convenient for the packets. Under orders from Dublin it was now to start +at twelve; and, as shewing the vexatiousness of the proceeding, an +express leaving Waterford as late as four o'clock would overtake the +mail at Carrick, a distance of no more than fifteen miles. Under the +same orders Limerick was forbidden to send letters by way of Waterford; +and the post between this town and Clonmel was reduced from six days a +week to three. This was a state of things which, under the system of +Home Rule then existing, Walsingham was powerless to remedy. He could +only lift his hands in amazement that such perversity should be +possible. + +But it was not exclusively or even mainly to the packet establishment +that Walsingham's attention was directed. There was no part of the Post +Office with which he did not make himself thoroughly acquainted; and in +the course of his investigations nothing struck him more than the +pitiable condition of the clerks of the roads. The case of these men had +been gradually getting worse and worse. It is true that ten years before +a part of the salaries and pensions for which they were responsible had +been transferred to the State; but the relief thus afforded had been +neutralised and more than neutralised by the decrease which had since +taken place in their emoluments from the franking of newspapers. Of +these emoluments, indeed, little now remained. In the seventeen years +from 1772 to 1789 the notices served upon the Post Office by members of +Parliament to send newspapers into the country free had risen from a +little more than 2000 to 7000, and the number of newspapers which these +7000 notices covered amounted to no less than 65,760 a week. In the face +of such competition the special privilege enjoyed by the clerks of the +roads was practically valueless, and Walsingham and Carteret clearly +discerned that to compensate them for the loss of their emoluments by an +increase of salary was an act dictated no less by justice than policy. + +The case indeed was urgent if a catastrophe were to be averted; and +Carteret, whose experience led him to believe that the salaries would +not be increased with the consent of the Treasury, proposed to increase +them without. Walsingham was shocked at the audacity of the proposal, +and read his colleague a homily on the constitutional proprieties. "I +know," replied Carteret, "we shall have the power of increasing salaries +with the consent of the Treasury, but many may starve before that +consent comes." Even Walsingham admitted the gravity of the occasion; +and with the full knowledge that at this time no representation from the +Post Office reached the Treasury which did not come under Pitt's own +observation, the two peers, after recommending a substantial measure of +relief, concluded their letter thus: "We shall find ourselves compelled, +if the present weight of Parliamentary and official duties shall make +it impossible for your Lordships to give us the authority we request in +the course of a week, to take it upon ourselves to issue the money at +our own risk, or the persons who are the object of this relief will be +unable to attend their duty, and the business of the office will be +literally at a stand." Whatever Pitt may have thought of the somewhat +unusual terms of this address, he allowed no sign of dissatisfaction to +escape him, and the authority sought was given. + +As long as Walsingham confined his attention to the packets and the +clerks of the roads, there was no danger of a collision with Palmer. +Palmer, on the contrary, offered his congratulations to Walsingham on +the improvement which he had been instrumental in making in these +officers' condition. It was when Walsingham gave an instruction which +even indirectly affected the inland posts that Palmer's jealousy was +aroused. This he regarded as his own peculiar domain, a domain upon +which even the postmasters-general themselves were trespassers; and a +trespass or what he considered as such he never lost an opportunity of +resenting. The earliest and not the least curious illustration of these +pretensions appears in the case of the King's coach. In the summer of +1788 the King repaired to Cheltenham for the purpose of drinking the +waters, and Walsingham, who was above all things a courtier, had +arranged that during the royal visit a mail-coach should be stationed at +that town for the exclusive use of His Majesty. The coach was to be a +new one, sent down from London for the occasion, and the leading +contractor on the Cheltenham road, one Wilson by name, was to provide +the horses. The royal visit at an end, the contractor's bill was sent +in, and Palmer, in forwarding it to Walsingham, professed to be +extremely dissatisfied with the magnitude of the charge. On the sale of +the horses and harness alone, after only a month's use, there had been a +loss of L550. "Nothing," he said, "could have been more absurdly or +extravagantly conducted." But the thing was done. It would be useless to +dispute the payment. Besides, it would "soil the compliment" designed +to His Majesty. "We must," he added, "take more care next time, for, had +it been properly settled, the loss at most could not have exceeded +L300." + +The actual arrangement for the coach had been made not through Palmer +but through Bonnor, Palmer's lieutenant; and to him Walsingham now +applied for further information. Bonnor's reply was a strange compound +of candour and insolence. It was indeed not to be wondered at, he said, +that his Lordship's indignation should be roused by the magnitude of the +bill. Had the matter been left as originally settled under Mr. Palmer's +orders, Wilson could never have made so monstrous a claim. By those +orders he had been given to understand that, the coach being designed as +a mere compliment to the King, not more than 1d. a mile would be allowed +at the outside. And "so the undertaking stood 'till your Lordship +ordered the circular letter to the horse-keepers respecting Sir George +Baker's[63] being accommodated with the mail horses if he had occasion. +Your Lordship will recollect that I remonstrated against it, and urged +the impossibility of Wilson ever allowing his mail horses to be taken +out of his stables for posting, and the regularity of the work +destroyed, and the cattle drove along by people he knew nothing of; to +which your Lordship was pleased to say that Wilson had no business to +trouble his head about that; that, whatever his expenses were, he should +be paid; and that no feelings of his about his horses or anything else +should prevent the thing being done in the best possible style."... +"Thinking as little in the delivery of the message as your Lordship did +in sending it that such an advantage would be taken, I of course obeyed +the directions, and it seems that this is the ground upon which the +charge is made out as it is." + + [63] The King's physician. + +Walsingham was not satisfied, and resolved to contest the bill. Palmer +now took alarm, and urged every consideration he could think of to +dissuade Walsingham from his purpose. To have recourse to a Court of Law +might seriously damage his infant undertaking. A legal dispute had been +avoided hitherto, and, with a cunning and refractory set of persons such +as the contractors were, might have the effect of raising the present +terms of conveyance. These terms were low, lower than the Post Office +was likely to obtain again; and the mail-coaches were running smoothly. +It would be a thousand pities to introduce an element of disturbance. +Besides, how unpleasant it would be to his Lordship to be subpoenaed as +a witness; and, in the hands of an expert counsel, how supremely +ridiculous the whole business might be made to appear! The King's jaunt +with a mail-coach in attendance! For his own part, when he had been +unfortunate enough to be imposed upon, he generally found it best to put +up with the imposition and to take more care another time. Nor should it +be forgotten that the matter might have been much worse. When first he +had heard of the arrangement, he had rebuked Bonnor for his +extravagance; and Bonnor had produced two letters from his Lordship in +justification. These letters shewed not only that no expense was to be +spared, but that it had originally been in contemplation to have two +coaches, and that it was only owing to Bonnor's earnest expostulation +that the idea of a second coach had been given up. Surely it was cause +for congratulation that the bill was no higher. Had two coaches been +established instead of one, Wilson might have clapped on another L1000. +As the bill stood, it was a gross imposition, an imposition which must +condemn him in the eyes of all honest men; and yet it would be pure +madness to go to law. These arguments prevailed, and Walsingham +abandoned his intention of contesting the bill. He did not at this time +see, what he saw clearly enough some years later, that in retaliation +upon himself for presuming to interfere Wilson had been cajoled or +coerced into making an exorbitant demand, and that of the several +persons who were concerned in the transaction Wilson himself was the +least to blame. + +This may be a convenient place to notice a point in which the practice +of 1788 differed from that of the present time. It was only a few +months after his return from Cheltenham that the King was taken with the +serious illness which so nearly proved fatal. On the 9th of November the +accounts from Windsor were such as to leave little room for hope. On the +10th intelligence reached the Post Office at three o'clock in the +afternoon that, contrary to all expectation, the King was still living; +and on the 14th a form of prayer was issued, to be used in all churches, +for His Majesty's recovery. At the present time a circular of this kind +would reach the Post Office already addressed to the persons for whom it +was intended, and the Post Office would do nothing more than carry and +deliver it like an ordinary letter. But such was not the case in 1788. +The form of prayer, as it was issued by the printer, was sent to the +Post Office in bulk, and the Post Office despatched fifty copies to the +postmaster of each town with instructions to distribute them "with all +possible expedition to the rectors, vicars, or resident ministers of +your town and all places in your delivery." The point is hardly +deserving of mention, for, of course, it would make little difference to +the postmaster whether the copies were sent in bulk or as single +letters. He would be bound to deliver them in either case. It is more +worthy of note that, as the number of Post Offices in England was at +this time only 608, and the area subordinate to each of correspondingly +wide extent, to go over the whole of his delivery at one time as these +instructions obliged the postmaster to do was no slight undertaking, and +one which, owing to the paucity of letters, he had probably not been +required to perform on any previous occasion. In this instance, however, +we may feel sure that a sense of loyalty alone precluded all disposition +to murmur. With far other feelings, it may well be believed, was an +order regarded which had been issued rather more than thirty years +before. The year 1756 was a year of scarcity; and, under direction from +Whitehall, postmasters were to frequent the local markets and to +ascertain and report the price of corn. This is the first instance on +record of postmasters having been employed outside their own proper +duties as such. It may be added that two years later the Duke of +Newcastle sent down in hot haste to Lombard Street to inquire the latest +prices, when it was explained to His Grace that, despite the course +which had been adopted in 1756, the Post Office was not an office for +the collection of agricultural returns. + +It is a common practice to laugh at public offices for their rigid +adherence to routine. This, we think, is not quite reasonable. No doubt +it is calculated to excite ridicule, and indeed to irritate beyond all +endurance when a course obviously proper in itself is condemned because, +forsooth, there is no precedent for it; and we are by no means sure that +some public servants would not be all the better for taking to heart the +maxim--Wise men make precedents, only fools require them. But, without +the order and regularity which a strict adherence to routine can alone +produce, the business of a Government department must inevitably drift +into a state of hopeless confusion. This is a truth which persons +outside the public service have always found it hard to accept; as well +indeed as persons inside who have entered late in life or after their +habits are formed. Palmer was of the latter class; and a striking +instance now occurred of his inability to adapt himself to the +requirements of his new situation. Walsingham had asked whether the +surveyors were keeping their journals regularly. These officers, besides +a small salary, were now receiving an allowance of one guinea a day when +travelling; and not only was a journal indispensable in order to shew +whether they had been travelling or not, but the keeping of one had been +made an express condition of the allowance being given. No subordinate +cared to pass on the inquiry to Palmer, implying, as this might seem to +do, a doubt. Walsingham had no such scruple and wrote to Palmer asking +that the journals might be sent to him for examination. Palmer's reply +will explain how it is that the records which now exist respecting +himself and his achievements are so surprisingly few. There were no +journals, he said. The surveyors' own letters, with their bills of +expenses attached, were sufficient evidence of the journeys they had +made. And these bills and letters, he added, as soon as the charges +which they represent have been paid, "are and must be useless paper, for +if I did not constantly clear my office both of their as well as my own +and the other officers' rubbish, I should be buried under it." The +auditors of the imprests had recently made good progress, but, +fortunately for the Post Office, they were still many years in +arrear.[64] + + [64] The Post Office accounts for the year 1749 were not passed until + 1784; and then only through the exertions of Lord Mountstuart, who had + succeeded Mr. Aislabie as one of the auditors of His Majesty's imprests. + +Among Walsingham's correspondents was George Chalmers, a merchant of +Edinburgh. Chalmers was no mere maker of crude and impracticable +suggestions. He had thirty years before been instrumental in shortening +the course of post between Edinburgh and London. Before 1758 the Great +North Mail, as it was called, went three days a week and occupied +eighty-seven hours in going from London to Edinburgh, and 131 hours in +going from Edinburgh to London. Thus, a mail leaving Edinburgh at twelve +at night on Saturday did not reach London until eleven o'clock on Friday +morning. Chalmers, in a paper of singular ability, dwelt upon the +absurdity of the various detentions, ranging from three hours at Berwick +to twenty-four hours at Newcastle, which made the course of post longer +by nearly two days in one direction than in the other, and shewed how, +by avoiding these unnecessary delays and getting rid of a diversion of +twelve miles to York, the distance might be accomplished between London +and Edinburgh in eighty-two hours, and between Edinburgh and London in +eighty-five. The plan was adopted, and some years later, in recognition +of its merits, Chalmers received from the Government a gratuity of L600. +More recently he had prevailed upon the Post Office to increase from +three to six days a week the service between London and Edinburgh, and +from Edinburgh to the principal towns in Scotland; and in London, at +his suggestion, the letter-carriers who collected letters by the sound +of bell, or bellmen as they had begun to be called, were being employed +after nine o'clock at night. + +It was not, therefore, as a novice in Post Office matters that Chalmers +now entered into correspondence with Walsingham. His present +representation was in the nature partly of a suggestion and partly of a +complaint. He had been staying some time in London, and was surprised to +find that at the capital of the first commercial nation in the world the +Post Office closed as early as seven o'clock in the evening. He +contended that it ought not to close before ten. But it was in respect +to his own native city of Edinburgh that he felt and expressed himself +most warmly. Edinburgh was without a penny post. He was himself an old +man or he would undertake to farm one, although, in his judgment, the +farming of such an institution, until at least it was well established, +was not for the public interests. But surely, whether farmed or not, a +penny post should be opened without delay, and on his return to +Edinburgh he would let Walsingham know how this could best be done. Nor +was the want of such a convenience by any means the chief thing of which +the inhabitants of Edinburgh had to complain. Since 1758 their post had +not gone out until eight o'clock at night. Now, to suit Palmer's +arrangements, it went out at half-past three in the afternoon; and, more +than this, the diversion to York, which it had cost such pains to get +rid of some thirty years before, had been revived. Thus, between +Edinburgh and London the course of post was actually longer now than +before the introduction of mail-coaches by as much as five hours. Were a +little more consideration to be given to the correspondence of the +country and a little less to the convenience of passengers, more than +these five hours might be saved. At all events the mails might start +from Edinburgh at eight o'clock as before, and from London at ten, and +yet arrive at their destination no later than now. For himself, he +thought it hardly decent that passengers should be allowed to travel by +the same coaches as the mails, and predicted that a time would come when +the mails would have coaches to themselves. Much of this, Chalmers +added, he had pointed out to Palmer some time before, and the only +result was an angry letter which had terminated a friendship of years. +Even as he now wrote, another letter had come to hand in which Palmer +told him, almost in so many words, to mind his own business. + +Walsingham was at this time at Old Windsor. Hither it was his habit to +repair whenever he had anything of more than ordinary interest to engage +his attention; and such was the case at the present moment. He had +recently had lent to him, under a pledge of the strictest secrecy, a +copy of the Report of the Royal Commission which had sat upon the Post +Office in the preceding year; and this Report he was now having copied +under his own eye with a view to the preparation of an elaborate +criticism upon it. But though absent from London he relaxed not his hold +upon the Post Office for a single moment. Each morning's post brought to +Lombard Street its own budget of drafts, to be written out fair, of +questions to be answered, of scoldings to be given, and of instructions +to heads of departments in the minutest details of their duty. +Walsingham absent was a far more important personage than Carteret +present; and a mandate from Old Windsor superseded any that might be +given on the spot. It was while Walsingham was thus engaged that he +received one morning from Palmer a few hurried lines, of which the last +were as follows: "You ought not, meaning as well as you do, to be +unpopular anywhere. Nor must you. You fret me now and then, tho' you +don't intend it, and I am angry with myself for it." A visit from Palmer +on the following morning, especially as that morning was Sunday, was +little calculated to lessen the surprise with which Walsingham must have +read this letter. The truth is that Palmer had repaired to Windsor with +the intention of resigning his appointment; but the courteous reception +he met with from Walsingham disconcerted his plan, and he returned to +London as he had come, with the letter of resignation in his pocket. + +The reasons which Palmer afterwards gave for his conduct on this +occasion throw a flood of light upon his character. These reasons were: +1st, That Walsingham was ready to listen to proposals for improving the +Post Office, come from what quarter they might, thus leaving it to be +inferred, as Palmer put it, either that he was himself incompetent to +effect improvements or else that there was a sinister design to detract +from his reputation. 2nd, That from himself, though vitally interested +in its contents, a report was being kept which clerks from his own +office had been sent down to Windsor to copy. 3rd, That the same feeling +of distrust was evidenced in the constant pressure which was being put +upon him to require the surveyors to keep journals. How hollow these +reasons were, a very little consideration will shew. In the course of +the correspondence with Chalmers, on which the first of Palmer's reasons +was obviously founded, Walsingham had been careful to state that, while +ready to consider proposals for establishing a penny post in Edinburgh, +he must decline to interfere with any of Palmer's arrangements. The +second reason, though more plausible, was the merest pretext. Not a +month before, with the full knowledge of what was going on at Windsor, +Palmer had offered to send down, if required, the whole of his office to +assist. And more than this. Although Walsingham could not in honour +disclose a document which had been lent to him under a pledge of +secrecy, Palmer must have been perfectly well acquainted with so much of +the Report of the Royal Commission as dealt with his own undertaking, +for it is beyond all question that this part of the Report had been +written by himself. There was no other man living who was capable of +writing it; and even if there had been, the opinions, the +recommendations, the mode of expression, the disparagement of Ralph +Allen, all of which are common to the Report and Palmer's private +writings, unmistakably betray the author. The third reason requires +little remark. Walsingham would have neglected his obvious duty if he +had not taken steps to establish some check upon the travelling expenses +claimed by the surveyors; and the experience of the hundred years which +have since elapsed has failed to devise any better check than the +journal. The keeping of the journal, moreover, had been an express +condition imposed by the Treasury when the allowance of a guinea a day +was authorised. + +Walsingham treated Palmer on this occasion with great kindness. Rightly +judging that jealousy was at the root of the whole matter, he followed +up the conversation which had taken place at Windsor by a letter, in +which he exhorted Palmer to speak out, to declare his sentiments freely, +and to dismiss idle apprehensions. Then came a full statement from +Palmer, written, as he expressly declared, "not as a justification but +as an apology for my suspicions," and explaining the object and the +motives of his visit on the preceding Sunday. "Your habits are not my +habits," he concluded; "I would give a great deal for but a part of your +correctness and inveterate attention to business and accounts." +Walsingham's reply, which came by return of post, was an invitation to +dinner. Palmer accepted it, and the courteous and hearty welcome he +received called forth his warmest acknowledgments. + +The duty of the mail guards, as their title implies, was to guard and +protect the mails. This body of men, as it existed during the first +forty or fifty years of the present century, was one of which the Post +Office might well be proud. The very nature of their employment +engendered in them a habit of self-reliance and an independence of +character which invested them with a peculiar interest. But it was not +always so. When mail-coaches were first established, Palmer had it in +contemplation to employ retired soldiers as mail guards, on the ground +that soldiers would be accustomed to firearms; but constitutional +objections prevailed and the contractors who furnished the mail-coaches +with horses were required also to furnish firearms arms and the men to +use them. The result was not satisfactory. For economy's sake men were +employed of little or no character, and the weapons with which they were +supplied were of the most worthless description. More than worthless, +they were dangerous. "Cheap things;" they were declared to be, "that +burst and often did mischief." Accordingly, at Palmer's suggestion, the +Post Office undertook to appoint its own mail guards. Honest and +faithful as these men always were, it was only by degrees that they grew +into the fine body they afterwards became. At first the novelty of their +position led them into little excesses such as were never heard of in +later years. Thus, a statute passed in 1790 imposed a penalty of 20s. on +any mail guard who should fire off the arms with which he was entrusted +for any other cause than the protection of the mail; and even this +enactment appears to have been insufficient to correct the abuse against +which it was directed. "These guards," writes Pennant two years later, +"shoot at dogs, hogs, sheep, and poultry as they pass the road; and even +in towns, to the great terror and danger of the inhabitants."[65] + + [65] A letter to a member of Parliament on mail-coaches, by Thomas + Pennant, Esq., 1792. + +It must not be supposed, because Palmer's name is associated with the +establishment of mail-coaches, that to these his attention was +exclusively confined. In virtue of his appointment as comptroller-general +he exercised control, subject of course to the postmasters-general, +over the whole of the Post Office, the offices of account excepted; +and he now took advantage of this position to create a newspaper +office. Newspapers had long been a source of trouble. By the clerks +of the roads they were not only posted in good time but were tied +up in bundles, covered with strong brown paper, and addressed to the +postmasters of the respective towns, who took out the contents and had +them delivered. So long as the newspapers were thus dealt with, no +inconvenience resulted from their being mixed up with letters; but from +the moment that the distribution passed into the hands of the printers +and dealers the case was different. The newspapers were now posted at +the last moment, and, being clumsily folded and still wet from the +printing press, they damaged and defaced the addresses of the letters +with which they came in contact in the mail bags. The inconvenience had +been tolerated for years. As early as 1782 the postmasters-general had +contemplated the creation of a newspaper office, an office in which +newspapers might be dealt with separately from letters, but nothing had +been done. Palmer now took the matter in hand and carried it through +with his usual vigour. Having satisfied himself that a separate office +was necessary, he forthwith established one, appointed to it eighteen +sub-sorters and fixed their wages; and not even the postmasters-general +were aware of what he was doing until it was done.[66] + + [66] At this time the number of newspapers passing through the London + office averaged 80,000 a week, of which 78,000 were from London to the + country and 2000 from the country to London. Mixed, that is wet and dry + together, they were computed to weigh sixteen to the pound. + +Such an instance of energy, worthy as we may think it of imitation, +would be impossible on the part of any one who had been brought up in +the public service, because he would have learnt that no wages can be +fixed or new offices created without the consent of the Treasury. In the +Post Office, too, the postmasters-general alone were legally competent +to make appointments. But to Palmer these were the merest trifles, if +indeed he gave them a thought. To create a newspaper office was a right +thing to do, and he had done it; and to haggle about the circumstances +of the doing appeared to him sheer pedantry. Not so thought Walsingham. +It ill accorded with his sense of propriety that a number of new places +should have been created without the requisite authority which the +Treasury alone could give; but that to these places, whether authorised +or not, a subordinate should have presumed to make appointments--a power +which by the postmaster-generals' patent was vested in themselves +alone--struck him as little short of an outrage. + +Unfortunately for Palmer, another irregularity on his part came to light +at the same time. The mail guards' wages had been fixed at 13s. a week; +but of this sum Palmer paid only 10s., retaining the balance for the +purpose of providing uniforms, pensions, and an allowance during +sickness. Again, the plan was excellent; but it was unauthorised, and +had the effect of leaving in Palmer's hands, without any means of +checking it, a sum of liberated money amounting to about L900 a year. + +Walsingham now called upon Palmer to give the details of his plan, with +a view to its being properly authorised, and to submit the names of +those whom he had appointed to the newspaper office, so that their +appointments might be confirmed. Palmer would do neither the one nor the +other. Walsingham persisted in his demand, and Palmer persisted in his +refusal. No course remained but to submit the matter for Pitt's +decision; and Pitt decided in Walsingham's favour. Palmer, said the +minister, had the power of suspending Post Office servants but not of +appointing them, although the postmasters-general, it might well be +believed, would consent as a matter of favour to accept his nominations. +Pitt also agreed that the mode of dealing with the mail guards' wages +was highly irregular. The decision of the minister was communicated to +Palmer, but it had not the slightest effect upon his conduct. The mail +guards' wages continued to be dealt with as before; and the appointments +to the newspaper office remained unconfirmed. + +Pitt's decision was not given until the autumn of 1789; and meanwhile +other matters had occurred to strain the relations between Walsingham +and Palmer. Chief among these was Walsingham's inveterate habit of +scribbling. Both men were endowed with an amount of energy which nothing +could repress; but while Palmer expended himself by rushing from one +part of the country to another as fast as horses could carry him, +Walsingham's sphere of activity was restricted to writing. And well he +exemplified the law that force asserts itself in proportion to the +limits within which it is confined. His notes and questions were +literally endless. At one time all the ingenuity of Lombard Street, with +the assistance of erasers and acids, is being exercised to remove +remarks he has written upon a document which, not being the property of +the Post Office, had to be returned. At another, he has sent for a blank +form of contract, of which only a single copy remains in the Office. "I +implore your Lordship," writes the sender, "to let me have it back, and +that the margin may not be written on." Palmer, to whom pens, ink, and +paper were an abomination, would think nothing of posting a hundred +miles and more to avoid the necessity of writing a letter; and by +Bonnor, Palmer's lieutenant, who always aped his master as far as he +dared, answers to the questions put to him would be withheld altogether +or reserved for the next Board meeting. "I can perceive," wrote Todd to +Walsingham about this time, "you are hurt that neither Mr. Palmer nor +Mr. Bonnor pay a proper regard to your many observations." + +Another matter occurred at this time which, while only indirectly +affecting Palmer, was not calculated to promote harmonious relations. +Bonnor, who had sent some accounts to Windsor for Walsingham's +signature, wrote two or three days later, urging that they might be +signed and returned at once, and giving as a reason the importunity of +the letter-carriers. "What these poor oppressed creatures will do," he +said, "I know not. They all came in a body this morning and gave a most +affecting description of the distresses with which their wives and +families laboured, their credit exhausted, not a shilling to buy bread, +and each having between L30 and L40 of hard-earned wages due to them +from a public office whose revenues are every day increasing." This +struck Walsingham as very strange. The letter-carriers were paid by +weekly wages; and what, over and above their wages, they had earned for +extra duty should also have been paid weekly. Besides, the accounts had +been in his hands for only two or three days, whereas for the last +twelve months and more he had been pressing for their production, and +had only now succeeded in getting them. + +There was a mystery somewhere, and, as the best means of solving it, +Walsingham called for the vouchers. Bonnor now lost himself in excuses. +The vouchers were essential to his reputation. He could not part with +them. If once they left his hands, they might be lost. It could not but +be known to his Lordship how often this had happened with official +papers passing to and fro. Besides, to inspect the vouchers would be to +pry into his private concerns. This was enough for Walsingham, and he +directed the accountant-general to look into the matter forthwith. The +examination revealed a curious state of things. The amounts which the +letter-carriers had earned for extra duty had not been paid for a whole +year, and a part of the money which had been issued for that purpose had +been applied to the payment of the persons irregularly appointed to the +newspaper office. More than this. The accounts shewed, or professed to +shew, that during the last eighteen months the mail-coach contractors +had received in payment of their services the sum of L20,000; but the +receipts for more than L16,000 of this amount bore no dates, and others +were signed by Bonnor himself. "Signed," to use his own words, "by +myself for money paid by myself to myself." In short, the so-called +vouchers were no vouchers at all. Bonnor now made an apology, which, in +point of abjectness, has probably seldom been equalled; and Walsingham, +unwilling to force matters to extremities, let him off with a sound +dressing. This disclosure did not tend to restore either harmony or +confidence. Palmer, it is true, gave no heed to accounts; but Bonnor was +under his protection, and Palmer resented a censure upon his lieutenant +and friend even more than a censure upon himself. + +We doubt whether in England a public department has often been in so +singular a position as that which the Post Office occupied during the +six months beginning with September 1789. Carteret had been +dismissed;[67] and Westmorland, Carteret's successor, whose patent had +been delayed owing to the absence of the law officers from London, had +not even entered upon his duties as postmaster-general before he wrote +to announce his appointment as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Meanwhile +Palmer resolutely withheld obedience from the orders of his chiefs, +backed though those orders were by the minister; and Walsingham was +powerless to act. Minutes indeed he prepared by the score, proposing the +most drastic measures; but Carteret refused to sign because he was on +the point of going out, and Westmorland refused to sign because he had +only just come in, and had no intention of remaining. Walsingham's +signature alone carried no legal force. It was not until the following +March, the March of 1790, that the office of postmaster-general was +again properly filled by the appointment of Lord Chesterfield as +Walsingham's colleague. + + [67] How Carteret managed to retain his appointment for more than + eighteen years is not the least perplexing of Post Office problems. + Meanwhile the joint postmaster-generalship had undergone the following + changes:-- + + Lord Le Despencer } From Jan. 16, 1771, + Right Hon. Henry F. Thynne (afterwards Carteret)} to Dec. 11, 1781. + + Right Hon. Henry F. Carteret (sometime Thynne) { From Dec. 11, 1781, + { to Jan. 24, 1782. + + Right Hon. Henry F. Carteret } From Jan. 24, 1782, + Viscount Barrington } to April 25, 1782. + + Right Hon. Henry F. Carteret } From April 25, 1782, + Earl of Tankerville } to May 1, 1783. + + Right Hon. Henry F. Carteret } From May 1, 1783, + Lord Foley } to Jan. 7, 1784. + + Right Hon. Henry F. Carteret, created Lord } + Carteret Jan. 29, 1784 } From Jan. 7, 1784, + Earl of Tankerville (a second time) } to Sept. 19, 1786. + + Lord Carteret } From Sept. 19, 1786, + Earl of Clarendon } to Dec. 10, 1786. + + Lord Carteret { From Dec. 10, 1786, + { to July 6, 1787. + + Lord Carteret } From July 6, 1787, + Lord Walsingham } to Sept. 19, 1789. + + +At the risk of interrupting the course of our narrative we cannot +refrain from mentioning here in its chronological order memorial which +was at this time received from certain merchants of the city of London +trading with foreign parts. This memorial, or rather the +counter-memorial to which it gave rise, is interesting if only as +serving to shew that the conservative instinct--an indisposition to +change, is not confined to public offices. The delivery of inland +letters had been recently expedited; but foreign letters continued to be +delivered as of old. Lest the practice in the case of these letters +should seem to be overstated, we give it in the memorialists' own words. +"It is the practice of the Post Office," they write under date the 20th +of January 1790, "if a mail does not arrive before one o'clock to +withhold the delivery of the letters till the next day, and even to +protract the delivery till after the same hour the succeeding day, +provided any other mail be expected or due. This happening on a Saturday +(a case by no means uncommon), the letters are kept back till the +Monday, when three other mails being due, and they not arriving perhaps +till the stipulated hour of one, the delivery of the mail which arrived +on Saturday is not made till between three and four o'clock on the +Monday and sometimes later. Thus the advice of property shipt to a great +amount on which insurances should immediately have been made, the +receipt of remittances on which the credit of many persons may depend, +and the general information so essential in commercial affairs are +cruelly withheld for upwards of fifty hours without the least apparent +necessity." The remedy which the memorialists proposed was moderate +enough. They asked nothing more than that, in the case of mails arriving +before four o'clock in the afternoon, letters might be given out to +persons who should call at the Post Office for them in two or three +hours after the mail had come in, such as were not called for being, at +the expiration of that interval, sent out by letter-carrier; and that, +in the case of mails arriving after four o'clock, the letters might be +delivered at ten o'clock on the following morning. + +The unfortunate merchants who signed this memorial little bethought +themselves of the storm they were raising. Other merchants, also trading +with foreign parts and more numerous than those who advocated an +earlier delivery, put forward a counter-memorial strongly protesting +against any change. The custom of postponing until the following day the +delivery of all foreign letters arriving at the Post Office after one +o'clock was, they said, a wise custom, a "custom recommended by our +ancestors," and one that could not be altered save to their own great +prejudice. The original memorial had been studiously kept from +themselves, and "this most extraordinary proceeding" they could only +ascribe to a well-founded apprehension on the part of the promoters that +otherwise the impropriety of the "novelty" which they sought to +introduce would be exposed. The remonstrants added that many and cogent +reasons might be given in support of the existing usage; but, unhappily, +they omitted to state what these reasons were. Doubtless, however, +jealousy lest others should obtain priority of information was at the +bottom of the protest; although it is not very clear how, under a +regulation that was to be common to all, any one in particular would +enjoy an undue advantage. + +The Post Office, unassisted in this instance by Palmer, declared the +change to be, if only on account of want of space, impossible. The +average number of letters arriving by each foreign mail were at this +time--from France 2500, from Holland 2000, and from Flanders 1500, or +6000 altogether. At the present day, when as many as 500 sacks full of +letters come by a single mail, and several mails may arrive +simultaneously, 6000 letters more or less make little appreciable +difference. One hour at most is enough for three men to sort them. But +in 1790 the office in which the foreign letters were sorted possessed +but a single table and a single alphabet or sorting rack. + +Although want of space was the ostensible reason for refusing an earlier +delivery, there was another, not avowed indeed, and yet which, there can +be no doubt, materially influenced the decision. This will be best +explained in the words of the comptroller of the foreign letter +department. "The delivery of foreign letters," writes this officer to +Walsingham, "is so complicated with _the secret office_[68] that any +alteration will deserve the most serious consideration when you come to +the Board." + + [68] Sir Rowland Hill, in his _Autobiography_ (vol. ii. p. 28), does not + hesitate to write as follows: "Incredible as it may appear to my + readers, it is nevertheless true that so late as 1844 a system, dating + from some far distant time, was in full operation, under which clerks + from the foreign office used to attend on the arrival of mails from + abroad, to open the letters addressed to certain ministers resident in + England, and make from them such extracts as they deemed useful for the + service of Government." + +It would hardly excite surprise if Chesterfield, on entering upon his +duties in Lombard Street, had fallen under the influence of a colleague +who, besides being possessed of a strong will, had had some years' +experience in Post Office administration; but, as a matter of fact, he +does not appear to have surrendered his private judgment. On one point, +indeed, he took a view somewhat different from Walsingham. Walsingham +regarded Palmer, in so far as he withheld obedience from the +postmaster-generals' orders, as simply an insubordinate servant. To +Chesterfield, on the contrary, Palmer was an object of no common +interest. That two peers of large social influence, deriving their +authority direct from the Crown, and to some extent supported by the +minister, should be held in check by one man, and that man a +subordinate, was an incongruity which struck Chesterfield's imagination. +It amused him. It interested him. He could not withhold his meed of +admiration from the masterful spirit which fought single-handed against +long odds, and not always without success. The very terms Chesterfield +employed, while implying a consciousness of defeat, implied also a +certain amount of homage to the victor. It was always as "our Master," +"our Dictator," "our Tyrant" that he referred to Palmer; and it is +difficult to believe that a man who could thus playfully express himself +would have proved implacable. + +For ourselves, we have little doubt that, if at this time Palmer had +demeaned himself with only moderate reserve, all might yet have been +well; but it must be admitted that, from now till the end of his +official career, his conduct was strangely aggressive. We have already +seen how he made appointments to the newspaper office without reference +to the postmasters-general, and how, in their despite, he retained in +his own hands a considerable balance arising out of deductions from the +mail guards' wages. He now went further. He declined to attend the Board +meetings: he not only omitted but refused to answer inquiries which the +postmasters-general addressed to him; he persistently withheld the +surveyors' journals, if, indeed, he had required journals to be kept; he +claimed to make contracts and to introduce what measures he pleased +without the postmasters-general being so much as consulted; and because +Walsingham and Chesterfield would not admit the claim, he suffered the +contracts to expire, and the mail-coaches were run on mere verbal +agreements. "Except the warrants we have signed," wrote the +postmasters-general in October 1790, "there is no record whatever in our +possession of any of Mr. Palmer's proceedings since his appointment." + +From disobedience Palmer proceeded to defiance. We will give +instances. The proprietors of the mail-coach between Carlisle and +Portpatrick had demanded payment at the rate of 2d. a mile, and Palmer +had agreed to the demand. This was just double the usual rate, and the +postmasters-general, fearing that if given on one road it could not be +refused on another, determined, before signing the warrant presented for +payment, to obtain Treasury authority. Palmer, knowing that delay would +thus be caused, protested that no such authority was necessary, and, in +order to enforce his protest, stopped four mail-coaches, for which was +being paid more than the usual allowance of 1d. a mile, namely, the +coach to Falmouth, the coach to Bristol, the coach to Plymouth, and the +coach to Portsmouth--coolly informing the postmasters-general that he +had done so "under the idea that appears to influence their Lordships, +that paying a higher rate to the proprietors on one road might induce +others to make a similar demand." He next inquired whether the +postmasters-general were to be understood as preferring a cart to the +mail-coach, even though a cart should be the more expensive of the two. +As nothing had been said about a cart, the postmasters-general remarked +that this could only be meant for insult. Insult! rejoined Palmer, he +was as little capable of offering an insult as he was of putting up with +one; and then he proceeded to charge the postmasters-general with the +grossest partiality. The postmasters-general had increased the salary of +the postmaster of Tewkesbury beyond what Palmer conceived to be +necessary. He denounced the transaction as extraordinary and ill +advised, and, while himself professing to believe that it proceeded only +from motives of benevolence, expressed his conviction that others would +regard it as "a job." Smuggled goods had been found in the mail-box of +the Dover coach; and coach, horses, and harness had, in consequence, +been seized by the Commissioners of Customs. The same man who, in order +to force a decision, had stopped four mail-coaches in a single morning, +now rated the postmasters-general soundly because they did not at once +and without inquiry take steps to get the Commissioners' proceedings +reversed. "The comptroller-general," wrote Palmer on another occasion, +"has informed their Lordships of his motives for not answering several +of the postmaster-generals' minutes, which he trusts cannot but be +satisfactory to them. The same reasons will prevent him from answering +any others their Lordships may send but such as appear to him absolutely +necessary." + +But the particular case which brought matters to a climax was connected +with Scotland. Palmer had sent two officers to Edinburgh, not to promote +the conveyance of mails by coach, but to reform the internal management +of the Scotch Post Office; and these officers had given orders for +various changes to be made. Robert Oliphant was at this time deputy +postmaster-general for Scotland, and from him alone, according to the +terms of his commission, were Post Office servants in Scotland to +receive instructions. It was by mere accident that the postmasters-general +heard of the proceedings of Palmer's agents in Edinburgh, and, as +soon as they did so, they wrote to Oliphant desiring that the +proposed changes might be suspended until he had reported his +opinion upon them and received authority from London for carrying them +into effect. They at the same time wrote to Palmer, sending him a copy +of their letter to Oliphant, and giving him to understand that he had +exceeded his powers. + +Palmer now threw off all restraint. He charged the postmasters-general +with superseding his commission; he cautioned them against further +interference with his regulations, and he appealed to the minister, to +whom alone he declared himself to be responsible. It was true, he said, +that he was nominally responsible to the postmasters-general, but, +except for a legal difficulty connected with the constitution of the +Post Office, he would have received an independent appointment. His +commission had been made out as it stood merely as a matter of present +necessity; and that in such circumstances they should venture to +supersede it appeared to him a hasty and ill-advised measure--a measure +not consistent with the judgment and temper which usually guided their +proceedings. He had a profound veneration for the nobility of the +country, and he could give no stronger proof of it than by stating that +he still retained his respect and esteem for them in spite of their +unhandsome conduct. The more he reflected on this conduct, the more he +was struck at the haste and violence of it. Was it reasonable to suppose +that he would consent to carry out his plan in trammels and fetters, +and, liable as the postmasters-general were to change, to submit his +regulations to them to be checked and controlled? The considerations for +which he had received his appointment were twofold--for the good he had +done in the past, and for the good he might do in the future. "When, +therefore," he continued, "your Lordships from mistake or ill-advice +shall send me any commands that I think may go to mischief instead of +good, I shall most certainly not observe them; and if I apprehend ill +consequences from any you may think proper to send to any of the +officers under me, I shall take the liberty, for your Lordships' sake +as well as my own and the public's, to contradict them." + +It was impossible that this state of things should continue. Palmer had +appealed to Caesar; and to Caesar he should go. Such at least was the +postmaster-generals' intention, and they so far carried it into effect +as to state their case in writing; but an interview with the minister, +though solicited over and over again, the minister always found some +excuse for declining. "We shall wait with the utmost impatience to hear +from you that you have found a leisure moment when we may wait upon you +to explain the nature of the question between Mr. Palmer and us." "The +postmasters-general," they wrote again after a long interval, "present +their compliments to Mr. Pitt. He will see by the enclosed copy of a +minute from Mr. Palmer how totally the business of this Office must +stand still, as far as respects the comptroller-general's department, +till they can have the honour of seeing Mr. Pitt." And again, a +fortnight later, "the postmasters-general present their compliments to +Mr. Pitt, and take the liberty to remind him of the comptroller-general's +two last minutes, and desire to have the honour of waiting upon him +on Wednesday next at any hour he may be pleased to appoint previous +to their holding their usual Board." + +But all to no purpose. The truth is that Pitt was heartily tired of +these unhappy dissensions. Palmer was doing, and doing admirably, the +task which he had set himself to do. He might not indeed be all that +could be desired. His conduct might be masterful and his pretensions +absurd. Yet much allowance was to be made for a man who had undertaken a +difficult business, and whose efforts had been crowned with success. And +lamentable as the dissensions might be, there was no certainty that +interference would effect a reconciliation. On the contrary, it might +serve only to widen the breach, and, to judge from the past, this was +the more likely result. And should the breach prove irreparable and a +decision have to be given against the reformer who had done so much for +his country, and from whom yet more was expected, it would be little +short of a disaster. Better that matters should remain as they were than +incur such a risk. We can well believe that some such considerations as +these influenced Pitt in avoiding an interview; and doubtless he was +confirmed in his decision by what he learned from another quarter. +Palmer was a friend of Camden's, and Camden was a friend of Pitt's. To +this common friend Palmer gave his own version of the differences +between himself and his chiefs; and this version, which was altogether +different from the one which the postmasters-general gave, was +studiously impressed upon Pitt to their prejudice. + +Thus matters stood when, early in 1792, in consequence of some +discrepancies in the accounts, the postmasters-general determined that +letters for the city by the first or morning delivery should be checked. +Care had been taken that the check should not be of a nature to retard +the delivery; and yet, strangely enough, the delivery became later and +later every day. At length a public advertisement appeared inviting the +merchants and traders to meet at the London Tavern on Wednesday the 15th +February in order to consider the subject. The meeting was held under +the presidency of Alderman Curtis, one of the members of Parliament for +the city; and strong resolutions were passed directing the +postmaster-generals' attention to the delay, and calling upon them to +explain and remove the cause. + +Charles Bonnor, the deputy comptroller-general, owed all he possessed to +Palmer. It was by Palmer that he had been brought into the Post Office +in July 1784, and the same influence procured for him shortly afterwards +a salary of L500 and an allowance of L150 a year for a house. Warm in +his attachments as he was fierce in his animosities, the great reformer +extended to Bonnor a confidence which probably no other man possessed, +and during his frequent absences from London kept up with him a +correspondence in which he poured out his inmost thoughts. This person, +stung with jealousy at some fancied coolness on Palmer's part, now +published a pamphlet in which he charged his friend and benefactor with +wilfully delaying the delivery of the morning letters, and then +promoting the meeting at the London Tavern in order to protest against a +mischief of his own making. According to Bonnor, Palmer had spared no +effort to induce persons to attend the meeting, and had furnished +Alderman Curtis, the chairman, with materials for denouncing the Post +Office. All this, it was alleged, had been done in order to bring the +postmasters-general into discredit, and to create a demand that Palmer +might have larger powers given him and be left to deal with Post Office +matters according to his unfettered judgment. + +The postmasters-general were overwhelmed with astonishment. At first +they could not bring themselves to believe that the pamphlet was +authentic, and it was not until they had been reassured on this point +that they began to make inquiries. Palmer, of course, denied the charge, +and Bonnor reaffirmed it. Meanwhile the resolutions passed at the London +Tavern had been sent to the Post Office; and the postmasters-general, +not knowing what to believe, simply referred them to Palmer, with a +request that he would explain the cause of the late delivery. Palmer's +reply shews the frame of mind he was in. "The cause of the late +delivery," he answered, "as well as every other existing abuse in the +Post Office, arises from the comptroller-general not having sufficient +authority to correct it." The postmasters-general naturally inquired in +what respects his authority was insufficient to prevent the late +delivery, and to what other abuses he referred. Palmer, without +specifying what these abuses were, replied that among the causes which +had produced them were "an unfortunate difference in opinion, and an +equally unfortunate interference in his office"; and then he proceeded +to ask for larger powers, which the postmasters-general, consistently +with the terms of their patent, were unable to give. + +A few days later Palmer did that which should perhaps have been done +before. He suspended Bonnor. The postmasters-general also took action, +but at the very moment when it might have been better if they had +remained passive. They inquired the reason of Bonnor's suspension, and +Palmer returned no reply. After waiting a week, the postmasters-general +decided that, as no reason had been given, the suspension must be taken +off; and Bonnor was directed to resume duty. On presenting himself for +this purpose, however, Palmer refused to give up the key of his room, +and sent him word that, if he dared to come to the Office again, the +constables would have orders to turn him off the premises. The +postmasters-general had put themselves in a false position. If their +intention was to try conclusions with Palmer, they had selected the +worst possible ground. Their only choice now was between submitting to +defiance of their authority and supporting a worthless subordinate +against his illustrious chief. They elected the latter alternative; and +the suspension which had been imposed upon Bonnor was transferred to +Palmer. + +An interview with the minister had now become indispensable; and at +length, but not without a great deal of pressure, Pitt fixed the 2nd of +May for the purpose. Chesterfield was at Bath, slowly recovering from an +attack of the gout. He was reluctant to leave his colleague unsupported +on the occasion; and yet for a man who was still far from well it was a +long and tedious journey to London. Should he go or should he not? A +decision could not be longer delayed, as the 1st of May had already +arrived. He ordered horses to be put to his carriage, then he +countermanded them, then he changed his mind again, and finally, in +response to a sudden twinge of the gout, he finally abandoned his +journey, and determined to write to Walsingham a letter such as he might +shew. + +Chesterfield, unlike Walsingham, wrote a beautiful hand, a hand that was +clear and easy to read; but on this particular occasion, in order that +Pitt might have no excuse for not reading the letter, he wrote more +clearly and legibly than usual. He had--thus the letter ran--been in +fifty minds whether he should not repair to London and take part in the +interview with Pitt; but he was still so lame that he durst not venture +on so long a journey. His desire to be present had not indeed been +prompted by the slightest doubt as to what Walsingham would do or say. +On the contrary, he had the fullest confidence that his colleague would +strictly adhere to the resolution which they had adopted, that on no +consideration could Palmer remain with them at the Post Office. This +resolution the experience which they had gained since his suspension had +served to strengthen, for how much better and with how much greater +regularity had they gone on since they had in fact as well as in name +been postmasters-general. All this would doubtless be pressed upon Pitt, +and, should he waver in the least, he must be informed of their +ultimatum, which nothing could make them change. If, contrary to +expectation, they should be driven to that option, they must be +satisfied to retire from an office where they had done their duty and +could do it no longer. To the full extent of the resolution they went +hand in hand to Pitt, and this point could not be pressed upon him too +strongly. Should he begin to propose any middle measures, Walsingham +should stop him at once. It would be disgraceful to listen to them. "Our +resolution once taken, no power, no persuasion, no influence ought to +shake it, and I am confident nothing will." + +Walsingham waited upon the minister at the appointed time. Pitt received +him courteously indeed, but coldly. Walsingham stated his case. Pitt +said little, but that little clearly shewed that his leanings were in +Palmer's favour. Palmer had done good service to the public. Was it +impossible that he should be restored to duty? Or, much having been +alleged and nothing proved, might not a court of inquiry be held by +which the questions at issue between him and his chiefs should undergo a +thorough and impartial investigation? After these and other questions +had been put and answered, Walsingham produced Chesterfield's letter. +Pitt read it from beginning to end, folded it up, and returned it. +Formal civilities followed, and the interview was at an end. That night +a letter from Walsingham informed Chesterfield that assuredly two +persons would be dismissed from the Post Office, and that of these two +persons Palmer would not be one. + +The postmasters-general were in a state of sore perplexity. Of Pitt's +intentions they entertained not the slightest doubt. "The Post Office +chair," wrote Chesterfield, "totters under us"; and again, "I see that +can the ingenuity of man detect a flaw in our proceedings, we are to be +the victims." The doubt which the postmasters-general felt concerned +their own conduct. Rightly or wrongly, they believed that they were +powerful enough to depose the minister, and the question which now +agitated their minds was whether they should have recourse to so violent +a measure, or whether they should simply resign. Bonnor saved them from +the necessity of coming to a conclusion on the point. This person had +hoarded up the private correspondence which, during years of close +intimacy and friendship, had passed between himself and Palmer; and +among the correspondence were many compromising letters. Such of these +as he could readily lay his hands upon Bonnor, with incredible baseness, +now carried to Walsingham, and Walsingham in an evil moment accepted +them. + +The temptation was no doubt strong. Even in the eyes of the +postmasters-general themselves it was a comparatively small matter that +they were on the point of losing their places. But it was by no means +immaterial to them that they should appear to Pitt, as they were +conscious of appearing at the present time, in the light of false +accusers, persons who had brought false charges, or at all events +charges which they could not substantiate; and these letters would prove +all, and more than all, that had been alleged or even suspected. They +laid bare the story of the King's coach. They shewed how on that +occasion the contractor had been cajoled into making an exorbitant +charge in order that Walsingham might be deterred from again interfering +in what Palmer regarded as his own peculiar province. They shewed also +how, from that time to the present, a deliberate plot had existed at +headquarters to hinder and thwart Walsingham in everything he +undertook. + +And yet they were private letters, letters which had passed under the +seal of confidence. It is by no means the least strange part of a +strange and painful business that it appears never to have crossed the +mind of either Walsingham or Chesterfield that this was a class of +evidence which could not with propriety be used. Bonnor, not content +with the letters he had already produced, searched his correspondence +through from the time that he and Palmer became connected with the Post +Office, and hailed any additional testimony he was able to collect +against his former friend and benefactor with fiendish delight. He +literally revelled in the shameless task he had set himself to perform. +Evidence-hunting he called it. "We shall not only prove all that has +been asserted," he wrote, "but a great deal more; and on the grand point +of his premeditating a thorough and complete confusion in the business +of the inland office, for the declared purpose of thereby disgracing the +postmasters-general, I have proof that for strength and conviction no +holy writ can exceed. But," he added, "I have a great deal to work up +yet." + +As soon as the unholy brief was completed, a second interview took place +with the minister. Pitt appears again to have said little, even less +than on the previous occasion. He had been deceived. The +postmasters-general must take their own course. The rest is soon told. +Two official minutes were prepared, the one in Lombard Street and the +other at Whitehall. By the postmaster-generals' minute Palmer, the +insubordinate Post Office servant, was dismissed.[69] By the minister's +minute Palmer, the distinguished Post Office reformer, was granted a +pension equal to double the amount of his salary. His salary was L1500, +and he derived another L1500 a year from his percentage. The pension +which Pitt conferred upon him was L3000. To this was added later on, +after an interval of many years, a Parliamentary grant of L50,000. + + [69] Even in such a detail as the manner of dismissal, Pitt shewed his + usual consideration for Palmer. By the minister's direction Palmer was + not to be dismissed in so many words. The postmasters-general were + simply to make out another nominal list of the establishment, and from + this list Palmer's name was to be excluded. + +Bonnor--we blush to record it--received as the reward of his infamy the +place of comptroller of the inland department. His promotion brought him +little pleasure. The Post Office servants, with all their faults, were +loyal to the backbone, and they could ill understand being presided over +by one who was branded with the foulest of all private vices, with +treachery to a friend and ingratitude to a benefactor. His subordinates +would hold no communication with him beyond what their strict duty +required. His equals shunned him. Outside the Post Office, go where he +would, he received the cold shoulder. Never was man left more severely +alone. At the end of two years fresh postmasters-general came who, under +the plea of abolishing his appointment, dismissed him with a small +pension. Then he became insolvent, and was thrown into prison. Released +from confinement at the end of the century, he published pamphlet after +pamphlet, having for their object to vindicate what he was pleased to +call his good name; but these vindications, though replete with +professions of honour, proved nothing more than that the writer was a +poltroon as well as a traitor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE NINETIES: OR, ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO + + +The spirit of activity which Palmer had infused into the Post Office did +not cease with the cessation of his official career. Those who served +under him had been selected by himself; and they had been selected on +account of qualities which the withdrawal of his dominating influence +was calculated rather to stimulate than to check. These men now came to +the fore, and not only ably sustained their late master's work but +inaugurated important measures of their own. + +But before proceeding to chronicle the acts of Palmer's successors, we +propose to give a few particulars which will serve better perhaps than a +mere record of leading events to shew the state of the Post Office at +the time that Palmer left it; and in this relation the project with +which his name is mainly identified shall have precedence. + +In 1792 sixteen mail-coaches left London every day, and as many +returned. These were in addition to the cross country mail-coaches, of +which there were fifteen--as, for instance, the coach between Bristol +and Oxford or, as it was commonly called, Mr. Pickwick's coach.[70] +Those leaving London started from the General Post Office in Lombard +Street at eight o'clock in the evening, and they travelled every day, +Sundays included. + + [70] Later on, Mr. Pickwick would seem to have extended his operations. + "(Q.) Are you in the habit of working coaches to any great distance from + London? (A.) I work them half-way to Bristol. With Mr. Pickwick of Bath + I work to Newbury."--Evidence of Mr. William Home, taken on the 2nd of + March 1819 before the Select Committee on the Highways of the Kingdom. + +There is still extant at the Post Office in St. Martin's-le-Grand the +model of an old mail-coach, as fresh and as perfect as the day it was +painted. This model bears upon its panels four devices--one a cross with +the motto, _Honi soit qui mal y pense_; another a thistle with the +motto, _Nemo me impune lacessit_; a third a shamrock under a star, with +the motto, _Quis separabit?_ (ah! who indeed?); and a fourth, three +crowns with the motto, _Tria juncta in uno_. It is commonly reputed to +be the model of the first mail-coach, and as such we have seen it +represented in foreign publications. We feel constrained in the +interests of truth to expose this fiction. The first mail-coach ran +between Bristol and London. The model bears upon it the words, "Royal +Mail from London to Liverpool." The first mail-coach carried no outside +passengers. The model has places for several passengers outside. The +first mail-coach began to run on Monday the 2nd of August 1784. On the +model, below one of the devices, appears in small yet legible figures +the date 1783. But although certainly not the model of the first +mail-coach, we are by no means sure that it is not still more +interesting. We have little doubt that it is a model which, before +mail-coaches began to run, was prepared for Pitt's inspection. + +In 1787, owing to the faulty construction of the original mail-coach and +the wretched materials of which it was made, hardly a day passed without +one or more accidents. Occasionally, indeed, the Post Office would +receive notice of as many as three and even four upsets or breakdowns in +a single morning. Palmer at once discerned the origin of the disease and +the remedy; and the latter he proceeded to apply with his usual +resolution. Having satisfied himself that a patent coach which was being +constructed at this time fulfilled the necessary conditions more +completely than any other, he agreed with the patentee, one Besant by +name, to supply whatever number of coaches might be required. It was a +mere verbal agreement, an agreement confirmed by no writing of any +kind; yet no sooner was it made than Palmer addressed a circular to all +the contractors of the kingdom, reproaching them with the shameful +condition of their coaches. This, he told them, was due to the miserable +sums they gave to the coach-maker, sums so low as to oblige him to use +the most worthless materials; and as to repairs, even if they made him +an allowance for these, it was so inadequate to the continual mending +which vehicles constructed of such materials required that he merely put +in a clip or a bolt where the fracture might happen to be, and then +returned them in as dangerous a condition as before. Such a state of +things, Palmer continued, would no longer be tolerated, and, as fast as +Besant could turn them out, the new patent coaches would be sent down to +replace those that were now in use. For providing them and keeping them +in thorough repair, for which of course the contractors had to pay, the +patentee's terms would be five farthings a mile or 2-1/2d. a mile out +and in. After this summary fashion did Palmer clear the country of the +mail-coaches of original construction. + +In 1792 the only mail-coaches on the road were those supplied by Besant. +They were constructed to carry five passengers, four inside and one out. +The coachman was not a Post Office servant; yet he, like the mail guard, +was provided with uniform. The mail guard carried firearms. He carried +also a timepiece; and this timepiece was regulated to gain about fifteen +minutes in twenty-four hours, so that, when travelling eastwards, it +might accord with real time. Of course, in the opposite direction, a +corresponding allowance was made. The mail guard's position was one of +no little responsibility. Not only were the mails under his personal +charge, but he had to see that the coach kept time, that there was no +undue delay for the purpose of obtaining refreshments, that the harness +was in serviceable condition, and, generally, that matters along the +road were conducted with order and propriety. If in any one or more of +these respects there were any defect, it was the mail guard's duty to +report the circumstance. Should the harness be reported as in had +condition, and the contractors fail to replace it on demand, a new set +was sent down from London at their expense; and should a coach +persistently keep bad time, a superintendent from headquarters was +deputed to travel by it until proper time was kept. This was equivalent +to a heavy fine, as the superintendent travelled free, and for the seat +he occupied a passenger would have been charged at the rate of 4d. a +mile. The fees which at this time it was usual to pay to the mail guard +and coachman were moderate enough, only 1s. apiece at the end of the +"ground"; and if the "ground" was less than thirty miles, only 6d. Even +at this rate the gentlemen of Devonshire bitterly complained that +between Exeter and Taunton they had to pay two coachmen. + +The chief superintendent of mail-coaches at this time was Thomas Hasker, +a man whose heart and soul were in his duties. Hasker has left behind +him copies of letters written by himself or by his instructions; and +these letters, though expressed in homely language, throw such a flood +of light upon the ways of the road a century ago that we make no apology +for quoting from them. "The Bristol coach," he writes to the postmaster +of Marlborough, "is the fastest in the kingdom, and you must not detain +it for the coach from Bath." Again, to the postmaster of Ipswich he +writes, "Tell Mr. Foster to get fresh horses immediately, and that I +must see him in town next Monday. Shameful work--three hours and +twenty-two minutes coming over his eighteen miles." The Dover coach had +long been keeping bad time. "I must beg you to attend to this directly," +writes Hasker to the contractors, "or we shall be obliged to put three +fresh guards on the coach, and keep a superintendent constantly up and +down till time is kept." The contractors for another coach had failed to +replace their harness when desired, and a set had been sent down from +London. "The harness," writes the indefatigable superintendent, "cost +fourteen guineas, but as it had been used a few times with the King's +royal Weymouth [coach], you will be charged only twelve, which sum +please to remit to me." Thanks to the widening of the roads, it is only +in thoroughfares more or less crowded that the device can now be +practised to which the following refers: "Your coachman, Pickard, lost +thirty-seven minutes last night coming up, and by so doing he always +hinders the Manchester coach; he leaving Leicester first keeps on +before, and prevents the other coach from passing. This is the case +every night that Pickard comes up." + +But it is the instructions to the mail guards which bring home to us +most vividly the ways of the road a hundred years ago. Thus, to the mail +guards on the Exeter coach: "You are not to stop at any place whatever +to leave any letters at, but to blow your horn to give the people notice +that you have got letters for them; therefore, if they do not choose to +come out to receive them, don't you get down from your dicky, but take +them on to Exeter and bring them back with you on your next journey." +And again to the mail guards on another coach: "If the coachman go into +a public-house to drink, don't you go with him and make the stop longer, +but hurry him out." This hurrying out had sometimes to be applied to +passengers, and not always with success. "Sir," writes Hasker to a mail +guard who had complained of the futility of his efforts in this +direction, "stick to your bill, and never mind what passengers say +respecting waiting overtime. Is it not the fault of the landlord to keep +them so long? Some day when you have waited a considerable time (suppose +five or eight minutes longer than is allowed by the bill), drive away +and leave them behind. Only take care that you have witness that you +called them out two or three times. Then let them get forward how they +can. Let the innkeeper [of the house] where they dine know that you have +received this letter." + +While thus urged to correct others, the mail guards had sometimes to be +corrected themselves. Fines ranging from 2s. 6d. to 5s. were imposed for +omitting to date the timetable or for dating it wrongly; and on one +occasion an unfortunate guard was fined as much as one guinea because +some bags for which he should have called at the Stafford Post Office +were left behind. Also to delegate one's duties was strictly prohibited. +"It has been reported to Mr. Hasker," writes Hasker's lieutenant, "that +you send your mail to the Post Office by the person called Boots, and do +not go with it yourself. You have been wrote to two or three times +before on this subject. Therefore, if the irregularity be repeated, you +will certainly be discharged." Occasionally advantage would be taken of +a complaint to read a lesson to the complainant. A mail guard had been +reported for impertinence by certain contractors who were notorious for +the indifferent lights with which they supplied their coach. After +replying that he had been severely rebuked for his conduct, Hasker slily +adds, "but perhaps something may be said for the feelings of a guard +that hears the continual complaints of passengers against bad lights and +the disagreeable smell of stinking oil, especially when through such +things the passengers withhold the gratuity which the guards expect." + +On the part of the mail guards, however, the commonest irregularity, and +the irregularity most difficult to check, was the carrying of parcels +and of passengers in excess of the prescribed number. "In +consequence"--so runs a general order which was issued about this +time--"of several of the mail guards having been detected in carrying +meat and vegetables in their mail-box to the amount of 150 pounds weight +at a time, the superintendents are desired to take opportunities to meet +the coaches in their district at places where they are least expected, +and to search the boxes to remedy this evil, which is carried to too +great a length. The superintendents," the order proceeds, "will please +to observe that Mr. Hasker does not wish to be too hard on the guards. +Such a thing as a joint of meat or a couple of fowls or any other +article for their own family in moderation he does not wish to debar +them from the privilege of carrying." Truth compels us to add that at +the time to which we refer it was not only meat and vegetables that the +mail guards carried. They carried also game. In later years the country +gentleman was probably the mail guards' best friend, but at the end of +the last century he did not hesitate to charge them with being in league +with poachers, and not infrequently threatened prosecution. The mail-box +indeed was admirably adapted to purposes of secretion. Occupying a part +of the space which even in these early days was known as the boot, it +opened not, as the boot opened, from behind but from the top, +immediately under the mail guard's feet; and no one but himself had +access to it. Constant were the injunctions to the superintendents to +meet the coaches at unexpected places for the purpose of search. +"Search," writes Hasker, "as many mail-boxes as you can, and take away +all game not directed and anything else beyond a joint for the guard's +family, and send it to the chief magistrate to be disposed of for the +benefit of the poor of the parish." The temptation to carry an extra +passenger or two was even greater than to carry parcels. What degree of +indulgence was shewn to this form of irregularity appears to have +depended upon the part of the coach in which the extra seat was +provided. To be detected in carrying a passenger on the mail-box was +certain dismissal. + +Although it is not our intention to treat of mail-coaches otherwise than +as vehicles for the transmission of letters, it may perhaps be permitted +to us to pause here a moment and inquire where, at the end of the last +century, the passengers' luggage can have been stowed. Of the boot a +part, as we have seen, was given up to the mail-box; and the roof, upon +which, within our own recollection, the luggage would be piled to nearly +half the height of the coach itself, was forbidden, or almost forbidden, +ground. "To load the roof of the coach," writes Hasker, "with large +heavy baskets would not only be setting a bad example to other coaches, +but in a very short time no passenger would travel with it." "Such a +thing," he adds, "as a turtle tied on the roof directed to any gentleman +once or twice a year might pass unnoticed, but for a constancy cannot be +suffered." This objection to a load on the roof appears to have been +common to the Sovereign and the subject. In 1796 the Court proceeded to +Weymouth; and, as usual, a royal mail was in attendance. The King, who +took the liveliest interest in the performances of this coach, and +examined the way-bill daily, discountenanced roof-loads. The royal +injunctions on this head Hasker, who was a plain-spoken man and no +courtier, conveyed to, his subordinates thus: "Take care not to load the +royal mail too high, and when any of His Majesty's servants travel by it +do not load the roof upward, as you know he ordered that no luggage +should be put on the top when his servants rode, and, indeed, at all +times. Now upwards [_i.e._ on return from Weymouth to Windsor] there can +be no occasion, for there are waggons and other conveyances to bring the +luggage up." The possible use of waggons and other conveyances +notwithstanding, we cannot help thinking that the traveller by coach of +a hundred years ago must have been content with a far smaller quantity +of luggage than would satisfy the traveller of to-day. + +That the roof of the coach, whether loaded or not, had its drawbacks for +travellers is sufficiently evident from Hasker's correspondence. "The +York coachman and guard," he writes after a spell of bad weather which +had rotted the roads, "were both chucked from their seats going down to +Huntingdon last journey, and coming up the guard is lost this morning, +supposed from the same cause, as the passengers say he was blowing his +horn just before they missed him." + +The King's interest in his mail-coach was not confined to the inspection +of the way-bill. It was usual, before the Court repaired to Weymouth, +for the coach to make a certain number of trial trips, and the King +would go to the castle gates to see it pass. "His Majesty," writes +Hasker, under date the 12th of August 1794, "came down to the park gate +to see the mail-coach the first and second day, and told me he was much +pleased to see it so well done and regular, and that he was glad Mr. +White did not work it." Mr. White had worked it on a previous occasion, +and had not given satisfaction. At the end of each season the King gave +still more practical proof of the interest he took in his coach by +sending thirty guineas for distribution among the mail guards and +coachmen. + +But, gratified as Hasker must have been by these marks of royal +condescension, there was one thing which, with his concurrence, even the +King should not do, and that was, detain the mail. Owing to the letters +from the Court being late, the coach, on several successive days, had +not started from Weymouth until after the appointed hour. Chesterfield +was the minister in attendance, and Hasker addressed to him a letter of +respectful remonstrance. Of course he did not know, he said, whether the +mail had been detained by His Majesty or by His Majesty's +postmaster-general; but in either case he prayed it might be considered +how bad an example it was, and what disorder was being introduced into +the service. According to present arrangements, the coach should leave +Weymouth at four in the afternoon. It might be appointed to leave at +five or even six if desired, and yet reach London on the following day +in time for the last delivery; but whatever hour might be fixed, he +adjured his Lordship that it might be observed. + +How completely the mail-coach had by this time extinguished the express +may be judged from the following instruction to the packet agent at +Yarmouth:[71] "You will observe the reason why you keep the mail to send +by the mail-coach is that, tho' you detain it four or five hours, it +arrives as soon at the General Post Office as if sent by express, for +the coach travels in sixteen or seventeen hours, and the express in not +less than twenty or twenty-one, sometimes more." Nor is it less +interesting to note the change of sentiment which had recently taken +place as to the importance of despatch. Only a few years before, as we +have seen, the inhabitants of Shrewsbury had been informed that it could +be of no consequence whether their letters arrived four or five hours +sooner or later. Now, in order to accelerate the letters contained in a +single bag, no expense is to be spared. "If," the same instruction +continues, "any mail arrives within an hour after the mail-coach is +gone, perhaps a post-chaise and four might catch it at Ipswich." + + [71] The packet agency had been removed from Harwich to Yarmouth during + the war. Yarmouth, by road, is 124 miles from London. + +But, to quit details, the broad results were these. Palmer, when +introducing his plan, had promised security and despatch; but not +economy. On the contrary, he had made no secret of his opinion that the +use of mail-coaches would involve a considerable increase of expense. +The result was a surprise even to himself. Before 1784 the annual +allowance for carrying the mails ranged from L4 to L8 a mile, L8 being +paid where the mails were heavy--as, for instance, on the Great North +Road from London as far as Tuxford. In 1792 the terms on which the mails +were carried were exemption from tolls and 1d. a mile each way, or an +annual allowance of a little more than L3 a mile. Palmer had estimated +the total cost of his plan at L30,000 a year. The actual cost only +slightly exceeded L12,000. + +Hardly less reason had he to congratulate himself on the score of +security and despatch. Before 1784 scarcely a week passed without the +mails on one road or another being robbed. So great had the scandal +become that the Post Office built a model cart--a cart wholly +constructed of iron and reputed to be robber-proof. This cart had not +long begun to run before it was stopped by highwaymen and rifled of its +contents. In 1792 eight years had passed since the introduction of +Palmer's plan; and during this period not a single mail-coach had been +either stopped or robbed. This immunity from robbery was in more ways +than one equivalent to a further saving. Before 1784 heavy expenses were +incurred annually for prosecutions. One trial alone, a trial which made +no little noise at the time, namely that of the brothers Weston, cost no +less than L4000. This source of expense had now, of course, disappeared. +As regards despatch, before 1784 the post travelled between five and six +miles an hour. In 1792 the mail-coaches were travelling about seven +miles an hour. Telford had not yet levelled the hills nor Macadam paved +the roads; and rollers were unknown. A speed of seven miles an hour at +the end of the last century was probably far more trying to horses than +a speed of ten miles an hour later on. + +It would be beyond our province to inquire--interesting as the inquiry +would be--to what extent the exchange of commodities between town and +town dates from the introduction of mail-coaches; and whether it was not +at this period that, with some noted exceptions, the local repute which +certain towns enjoyed for the manufacture of particular articles began +to spread. Ours is a humbler purpose; or we might be tempted even to +contend that Palmer's plan, by the facilities it afforded for +intercourse, exercised an influence--slow it may be, but none the less +sure--upon the habits and condition of the people. + +We will illustrate our meaning. Before the introduction of mail-coaches +in 1784 the town of Penzance in Cornwall was not indeed without a post; +but the post it possessed was hardly worthy of the name. In 1790 letters +were conveyed there by cart from Falmouth regularly six days a week. +Now, of the condition of Penzance not many years before the earlier of +these two dates we are informed on unimpeachable authority. "I have +heard my mother relate," writes Sir Humphry Davy's brother and +biographer, "that when she was a girl[72] there was only one cart in the +town of Penzance, and that if a carriage occasionally appeared in the +streets it attracted universal attention. Pack-horses were then in +general use for conveying merchandise, and the prevailing manner of +travelling was on horseback. At that period the luxuries of furniture +and living enjoyed by people of the middle class at the present time +were confined almost entirely to the great and wealthy; in the same +town, where the population was about 2000 persons, there was only one +carpet, the floors of rooms were sprinkled with sea-sand, and there was +not a single silver fork. The only newspaper which then circulated in +the west of England was the _Sherborne Mercury_, and it was carried +through the country not by the post but by a man on horseback specially +employed in distributing it." Penzance can never be otherwise than a +most interesting town; but one finds it difficult to believe that, after +being brought into communication with the outside world on six days of +the week, it can long have retained its pristine charm and simplicity. + + [72] Mrs. Davy was born in 1760. + +Let us now see what, at the time of Palmer's retirement, was the +condition of the country Post Offices. Bristol, after long ranking next +to London in wealth and population, had yielded place to other towns. +Foremost among these stood Manchester. Manchester, following suit to the +capital, had recently numbered its streets; it was publishing local +directories; and it enjoyed the reputation of being, the capital itself +not excepted, the dearest town in the kingdom. At the present time the +Post Office at Manchester gives employment to about 1400 persons. In +1792, with the exception of a single letter-carrier, the whole of the +Post Office business there was conducted by an aged widow assisted by +her daughter. Dame Willatt had recently achieved some little local +notoriety. She had, as an inducement to persons to post early, imposed a +late-letter fee. For this proceeding, not at that time uncommon and not +disapproved at headquarters, she had been summoned to the Court of the +Lord of the Manor, and had been cast in damages. + +Bath enjoyed a double distinction, a distinction due less probably to +its population as compared with that of other towns than to the fact +that, being Palmer's native place, it was constantly under his eye as it +had been under the eye of Ralph Allen before. This highly-favoured town +was, outside London, the only one in the kingdom which could boast of +what, with any regard to the meaning of words, could be dignified by the +name of a Post Office Establishment; and the postmaster's salary was in +excess of that which any other postmaster received. This salary was L150 +a year, and the establishment, over which Ralph Allen's successor +presided, consisted of one clerk and three letter-carriers. + +No other town had more than one letter-carrier; and many towns had not +even this. Whether the accommodation was provided or not appears to have +depended less upon the necessities of the place than upon the +disposition of the inhabitants. Thus, the little towns of Sandwich in +Kent and Hungerford in Berkshire, in recognition of the gallant conflict +they had waged with the authorities, had each a letter-carrier of its +own, while Norwich, York, Derby, Newcastle, and Plymouth had none. +Besides Bath only four towns received an allowance for a clerk or +assistant, namely Manchester, Norwich, York, and Leeds. Elsewhere the +postmaster and a letter-carrier, if letter-carrier there was, were the +sole Post Office representatives. + +At Bristol the postmaster's salary was L140,--the next highest after +that given at Bath. At Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and Chester +the salary was L100; at Exeter, York, Newcastle, Leeds, and Plymouth +L80; at Sheffield L60, to which amount it had been recently raised from +L50; at Derby, Carlisle, and Gloucester L40; at Brighton and Nottingham +L30; at Leicester L25; and at Southampton L20. At Tunbridge the +postmaster, in addition to a salary of L20, received an allowance of +equal amount for keeping an office at Tunbridge Wells. Ripon, despite +the rebuke it had received in 1713 for its audacity in asking for a Post +Office, had now been accommodated with one. At Chepstow pence were still +being paid on the delivery of letters, not because the inhabitants had +not discovered their rights but out of consideration to the aged +postmistress, whose emoluments they were unwilling to diminish. +Birkenhead, Torquay, and Bournemouth,[73] of course, did not exist. +Eastbourne existed indeed, but not as we know it now. Hither the letters +were carried three times a week from Lewes. At Ramsgate, then a village +served from the neighbouring post-town of Sandwich, an office for the +receipt of letters was kept at a cost of L6 a year. The whole of the +Isle of Wight had but one postmaster and one letter-carrier. To the +Channel Islands there was no post. + + [73] As late as 1854 Bournemouth received its letters from Poole by + donkey and cart. + +On Palmer's retirement the office of chief adviser to the +postmasters-general devolved almost naturally upon Francis Freeling, the +surveyor located at headquarters. Todd still held the appointment of +secretary, but after a service of more than fifty years he was unequal +to the exertion which the exigencies of the time required. Between Todd +and Walsingham, moreover, there was little in common. Their relations, +indeed, had always been most friendly; but the views they entertained on +Post Office questions were more often than not at variance. "It is a +matter of great entertainment to me," wrote Walsingham, as early as +October 1788, "to see how totally we differ in all our official +opinions." From this time Todd took less and less part in the duties of +his office, and confined himself almost exclusively to its social +amenities. This was a sphere in which he excelled. At his table in +Lombard Street the postmasters-general themselves and such as they might +choose to meet them were frequent guests, and "his old hock in his old +parlour" passed into a by-word. + +Freeling, on the contrary, possessed advantages which not only pointed +him out as Todd's successor when Todd should be pleased to retire, but +peculiarly fitted him to deal with the circumstances of the moment. In +the prime of life, of good address and prepossessing appearance, and +with a knowledge of every detail of Post Office organisation such as +only constant visits to different parts of the kingdom could give, he +soon contrived to make himself not only useful but indispensable; and +before any long period had expired the postmasters-general appointed him +joint secretary with Todd, an arrangement by virtue of which one was to +be the acting and the other the sleeping partner; one was to do the work +and the other to draw the pay. It was new to the postmasters-general to +have about them some one who was not only able but willing and anxious +to impart information on every official question as it arose, and they +could ill conceal their glee at the altered state of affairs. "One of +the complaints made by us of Mr. Palmer," they wrote about this time, +"was that he did what he thought fit without making the least +communication to the Board, or without there being a single record of +anything which he did or objected to either before or after it was +done"; ... but "Mr. Freeling reports distinctly to us upon every +application that we refer to him, or that is made to the Board, +amounting to above two hundred reports every quarter for the current +business." Freeling was now exposed to a serious danger, a danger to +which many a reputation has succumbed, namely, that of being transformed +from a man of action into a mere scribe; but this was a temptation which +he stoutly resisted. Without relaxing his efforts to maintain and +improve upon Palmer's plan, he was careful not only to keep the +postmasters-general informed of what he was doing, but to do nothing +which had not first been duly authorised. + +The period immediately following Palmer's retirement was one rather of +honest endeavour than of solid achievement. The first and most pressing +question to arise was that of insufficiency of accommodation at +headquarters. The inland office, this being the office in which the +mails were made up for despatch, was not only close and ill-ventilated, +but altogether too small for its purpose. More post-towns were required +in various parts of the kingdom; but it was impossible to add to the +number of towns for which bags would have to be made up until more space +should be provided. Some persons thought it would be best at once to +take a step which in any case would probably have to be taken in the not +remote future, and to build a new Post Office on other and more +extensive premises. Such, however, was not the opinion of the +postmasters-general. They were naturally unwilling to advocate the heavy +expenditure which such a measure would involve except upon proof of its +absolute necessity. Mainly on this ground, but also partly because +premises in so central and convenient a position as those which the +present Post Office occupied were not to be had, authority was sought +and obtained for nothing more than the erection of a new inland office. + +But, as the postmasters-general found to their cost, it is one thing to +obtain an authority and another thing to carry it into effect. On part +of the ground on which the office was to be erected stood two houses, +the lease of which had not long to run; and the Drapers' Company, to +whom the property belonged, declined to extend the term. This difficulty +was at length overcome, and the houses were in course of demolition, +when projecting into the very centre of the space designed for the new +office was found the wall of an old house belonging to Sir Charles +Watson, and this house he refused to let the Post Office have unless it +would also take seven other houses which he possessed in the immediate +neighbourhood. At the present time houses in and about Abchurch Lane +would probably fetch twenty-five years' purchase. Fifteen years' +purchase was the sum then demanded, and it was considered a hard +bargain. Eventually Watson consented to grant a ninety-nine years' +lease; but it was a lease not only of the single house that the Post +Office wanted, but of all eight houses, seven of which it did not want. +What they called their mortifications and disappointments at an end, the +postmasters-general proceeded to build. + +Still more unsatisfactory was the result of an attempt that was made or +intended to be made about this time to improve the post with the +Continent. Communication with France was only twice a week, and +Walsingham desired to treble it. In France, as in England, the post went +to the water's edge on six days of the week, and he could see no reason +why, except on two days, it should stop there. He entertained a strong +opinion that between the two countries communication should be daily. + +There was also another matter to be settled with our neighbours. During +a period of sixty-six years, namely, from 1713 to 1779, the postage on a +single letter between London and Paris had been 10d.; and, to avoid the +keeping of accounts, this sum had been collected and retained by the +Post Office of the country in which the letter was delivered. In 1779, +when owing to the war communication between Dover and Calais was +stopped, letters from Paris reached England through Flanders, and on +these letters when put into the post in Paris a charge of 4d. was made +in addition to the 10d. to be paid on delivery in London. It had been +thought that in 1783, on the termination of the war, this charge would +be abandoned, and that the old postage of 10d. would be resumed. Such, +however, was not the case. The Post Office authorities in France adhered +to the 4d. charge and defended it. The old postage of 10d., they argued, +was all very well when they had no packets of their own and England +performed the sea service. But now France had her own packets, and the +distance between Paris and Calais being far greater than between London +and Dover, it could not in reason be expected that on a letter between +the two capitals she would be content with no higher postage than that +which England received. The charge of 4d. upon letters for London when +put into the post in Paris must be maintained, even though they no +longer went through Flanders. It was a matter of internal regulation +with which England had no concern. Without contesting this view of the +case, the home authorities regarded the 4d. charge as a most vexatious +impost. Not only had it the effect of diminishing the correspondence, +but many of the letters which still passed were carried by private hand +from Paris to Dover and there posted, so that the British Post Office +received upon them only 4d. apiece, this being the postage from Dover to +London, instead of 10d., the postage from Paris. In 1787 Palmer had, by +Pitt's direction, gone over to France in order to adjust the matter and +to promote a six days' post between the two countries; but he returned +without effecting either object. + +Circumstances now appearing more favourable, Walsingham determined to +make fresh overtures. An emissary had already been selected for the +purpose, and was on the eve of departure when a new and unexpected +difficulty arose; the merchants of London, to whom the intention to +increase the frequency of communication with France had become known, +met to protest against the project. A hundred years before they would +have gone to the Post Office, talked the matter over with the +postmasters-general, and, after an exchange of opinions, an agreement +would have been come to as to what was best to be done. Now they +assembled in their numbers at the London Tavern and resolved "that any +addition to the present number of post days to France or to any other +part of the Continent is unnecessary, and would be highly inconvenient +and injurious to the merchants of London." The resolution was unanimous, +and copies were sent to the postmasters-general and the minister. For +the merchants of London Walsingham entertained a sincere respect; but in +this particular matter, convinced that they did not know what was for +their own good, he determined to proceed in their despite. Unhappily, +however, at this conjuncture the resumption of hostilities with France +extinguished for the time all hopes of improved communication with the +Continent. + +Another project, in which the Post Office and the merchants possessed a +common interest and a common desire, was also doomed to failure. The +practice of cutting bank notes into two parts and sending one part by +one post and another by another had now become general. The expedient, +though efficacious, was a costly one. A letter with an enclosure, +however light, paid double postage; and double postage between two +places no farther apart than London and Birmingham was 10d. To send two +halves of a bank note each in a separate letter would, of course, cost +twice that amount. This was a heavy insurance to pay. The Post Office, +in its desire not to discourage a practice which diminished temptation +to dishonesty, was hardly less anxious than the merchants themselves +that the amount should be reduced. Accordingly Walsingham proposed that +in all cases where a bank note was sent by two separate posts the second +letter, that is to say, the letter containing the second half, should, +on proof being given of its contents, be charged with only single +postage. A notice to the public announcing the change had already been +prepared when he learnt to his chagrin that the proposed regulation +would be illegal. In the case of a letter with an enclosure the law +prescribed double postage, and it was no more in the power of the Post +Office to reduce the amount than to forego it altogether. + +But these were failures which it is only interesting to record as +evidence that at the Post Office, after Palmer had left it, there was no +want of directing energy or of a desire to study the interests of the +public. It is pleasant to turn to matters in respect to which good +intentions were not unattended with results. But before leaving 1792, +the year in which these disappointments occurred, we must not omit to +notice that it was at the end of this year that the letter-carriers were +for the first time put into uniform. Palmer, who was now playing the +part of the outside critic, condemned the innovation as a piece of +unnecessary extravagance. But Palmer did not know the reasons for it. +The letter-carriers when in private clothes were exposed to temptation +from which the wearing of uniform would protect them; and more than one +recent case had brought the fact into painful prominence. Nor can it be +denied that, so long as there was no distinctive dress, letter-carriers +in want of a holiday were a little apt to take one without permission, +supplying their place by persons of whose character they knew little or +nothing. It was in order to check irregularity of this kind and as a +means of protection to themselves and the public that uniform was now +introduced. The uniform consisted of a scarlet cloth coat with blue +lapels and blue linings of padua; a blue cloth waistcoat, and a hat with +gold band. + +It should also be noticed that about this time the Post Office servants +in London were in some measure relieved from the pecuniary cares by +which they had long been oppressed. The Commissioners of Inquiry in +their Report of 1788 had recommended for the Post Office a new +establishment; and now, after an interval of nearly five years, this +establishment was approved by the King in Council. The new salaries were +not high. At the present time they would be considered low; but such as +they were, they were higher than the salaries they replaced. Jamineau's +recent death, moreover, by relieving the clerks of the roads from +payment of the commission[74] which this officer received on all +newspapers with which they dealt, enabled them to reduce their price for +franking, the result being an immediate extension of sale. On the whole, +the Post Office servants in London were, at this time, in comparatively +comfortable circumstances, or at all events above the reach of actual +want. The starvation and bankruptcy with which they had at one time been +threatened had been staved off by a grant, which Pitt renewed year after +year while the Commissioners' Report was under consideration. This grant +amounted to L3000, of which L2000 were for distribution in the sorting +office, and L1000 in the other offices. + + [74] This was a commission of three halfpence on every dozen newspapers, + besides one newspaper in every quire. + +The year 1793 was signalised by a remarkable development of the penny +post. This institution, which had as yet been established nowhere but in +London and in Dublin, was now to be extended to Edinburgh, to +Manchester, to Bristol, and to Birmingham. In Edinburgh the ground had +been to some extent preoccupied. The keeper of a coffee-house in the +hall of the Parliament House had sixteen years before set up an office +from which letters were delivered throughout the city at 1d. apiece; and +this office still remained open and prospered. To compare Williamson's +undertaking with Dockwra's would be to compare a mouse with an elephant; +and yet it may not be uninteresting to note the different treatment +which the two men received. Dockwra was prosecuted, fined, and his +undertaking confiscated. Williamson was granted a pension. "We have +also," write the postmasters-general under date the 19th of July 1793, +"to beg your Lordship's permission to authorise us to allow to Mr. +Williamson of Edinburgh L25 per annum, he having long had the profits of +1d. a letter on certain letters forwarded through his receiving house at +Edinburgh, which he will lose by our having established a penny post +there. We have made it a rule," they add, "always to propose that those +who suffer in their incomes from regulations which are certainly +beneficial to the public should receive compensation for the loss they +sustain." + +At Manchester the establishment of the penny post followed upon other +and important alterations. The inhabitants of that town had long +complained of the inadequacy of their postal arrangements; and measures +had recently been taken, the very extent of which serves to shew how +serious must have been the defects which they were designed to supply. +The aged postmistress was granted a pension of L120, with the reversion +of one-third of that amount to her daughter; and in her room an active +postmaster was appointed at a salary of L300. Four clerks were at the +same time appointed, at salaries ranging from L50 to L100, and five +additional letter-carriers, making six altogether, at wages of 12s. a +week. Thus, Manchester suddenly found itself in possession of a Post +Office establishment with which, outside London, that of no other town +in the kingdom could compare. As a sequel to this important extension of +force a penny post was opened in July 1793; and no sooner had the boon +been conferred upon Manchester than it was extended to Bristol and to +Birmingham. + +It is interesting to note what at these three towns was the financial +effect of giving postal facilities. During the year 1794-95 the penny +post brought a clear gain to the revenue--in Manchester, of L586; in +Bristol, of L469; and in Birmingham, of L240. It is a curious fact that, +with this experience to guide them and with an anxious desire to extend +the system, the Post Office authorities, after sparing no pains to +inform themselves on the subject, came to the conclusion that neither +at Liverpool nor at Leeds nor at any other town in England would a penny +post defray its own expenses. + +But it was in London that the penny post attained its highest +development. This branch of Post Office business had long been +shamefully neglected. Of the officers concerned in it those above the +rank of sorter were only three in number--a comptroller, an accountant, +and a collector. Of these the collector attended only occasionally, and +the accountant and comptroller not at all. This neglect had its natural +effect upon the receipts. During the last twenty years and more, +notwithstanding the increase which had during this period taken place in +the population and trade of the metropolis, the revenue of the penny +post had remained almost stationary. Up to 1789 the highest sum it had +ever produced in one year was L5157 net. This was in 1784, and for the +five following years the receipts went on decreasing until, attention +having been called to the decline, there was a sudden rebound. In 1792 +the revenue was--gross L10,825, and net L5561. + +Palmer, who was well aware of the discreditable condition into which the +Penny Post Office had fallen, proposed to take it in farm, and offered +as a consideration to forego his salary and percentage; but this was a +proposal the acceptance of which was strongly deprecated by the +Commissioners of Inquiry who sat in 1788 no less than by the +postmasters-general. It was their unanimous opinion that the penny post +should be retained in the hands of the State. Palmer, still clinging to +the hope that other counsels might prevail, put off effecting +improvements which would afford the strongest arguments against the +adoption of his own proposal; and in 1793, in spite of the changes which +had been going on all around, the Penny Post Office remained much as it +had been during the last twenty years. + +The man who now took the reform of the penny post in hand was Edward +Johnson. Johnson was a letter-carrier. He had been appointed by Palmer +or on Palmer's recommendation; and he soon gave proof of more than +ordinary ability. Palmer not infrequently exposed him to a severe +ordeal. When unable or unwilling to attend the postmasters-general +himself, he would send Johnson in his stead, a substitution which they +resented as unseemly; and thus some little prejudice had been excited +against him. This prejudice, however, had disappeared with the cause of +it, and Johnson now stood high, deservedly high, in the +postmaster-generals' favour. + +In 1793, in addition to the numerous receiving houses where letters for +the penny post might be taken in, there were in London five principal +offices--one known as the chief Penny Post Office, and situated in +Throgmorton Street, opposite Bartholomew Lane; another called the +Westminster Penny Post Office, and situated in Coventry Street, +Haymarket; a third, the Hermitage Office in Queen Street, Little Tower +Hill; a fourth, the Southwark Office in St. Saviour's Churchyard, +Borough; and a fifth, the St. Clement's Office, in Blackmore Street. +Between these five offices there was little or no connection; at no two +of them were the number of collections or deliveries the same or the +hours at which they were made; the letter-carriers were altogether too +few for the ground which they had to cover, so that punctuality and +despatch were impossible; and even those whose walks lay near the +ten-mile limit, before proceeding to deliver their letters, had to come +to London to fetch them. + +Johnson proposed to change all this. He proposed to reduce the number of +principal offices from five to two, retaining only the chief office and +the office in Coventry Street; to increase the number of collections and +deliveries; to give the same number to all parts served by the penny +post, namely, six in the town and three in the suburbs, or, as the +suburbs were then called, "the country," and everywhere, as far as +possible, to observe the same hours; to post these hours up in every +receiving house, so that the public might be made acquainted with them +and act as a check upon their being observed; and, instead of requiring +the letter-carriers in the remoter parts to come to London for their +letters, to send their letters to them by mounted messengers. + +Johnson's last proposal, though following almost naturally from what had +gone before, well-nigh staggered the postmasters-general. It was that, +in order to carry his plan into effect, the number of penny post +letter-carriers should be more than doubled. The existing number was +eighty-two, and the number which Johnson proposed was 181. This, even at +the present time--large as are the numbers with which the Post Office +has been accustomed to deal--would be considered a heavy, an +exceptionally heavy, increase. In 1793 it was regarded as portentous, +and the postmasters-general anxiously sought means to reduce it; but +Johnson, besides being perfect master of his subject, possessed two +faculties which by no means always go together. He possessed the faculty +of devising a good scheme and the faculty of explaining it; and the +lucid explanation he now gave convinced the postmasters-general that +they could not do better than adopt his plan in its entirety. +Contrasting the time which a letter took to pass between various parts +of London with the time which it would take if his suggestions were +adopted, Johnson had no difficulty in shewing that from his plan the +public would derive facilities for intercourse to which they had +hitherto been strangers. + +There were, perhaps, no two places between which the course of post was +more difficult to manage than Marylebone and Limehouse. Under the +existing plan a letter from one of these two places, however early it +might be posted, might not reach the other on the same day, and, even if +it did so, an answer could not be received before the afternoon of the +following day. Under Johnson's plan a letter might be received, an +answer returned, and the answer answered, all on the same day. Places +less inconveniently situated in relation to each other were to receive a +still larger measure of benefit. Between persons residing in Lombard +Street and the Haymarket, for instance, five letters might pass to and +fro between the hours of eight in the morning and seven in the evening. +This was within the town limits. Within the country limits the general +effect of Johnson's plan may be stated thus: that to letters from London +answers might be returned sooner by two posts if the letters were for +places not more than five miles distant, and, if for places distant +between five and ten miles, sooner by a period ranging from one to three +days. The last-mentioned places, moreover, were to have three posts a +day instead of one post. + +Pitt was no less favourably impressed with Johnson's plan than the +postmasters-general were; but before sanctioning it he resolved to await +the passing of an Act for the redress of certain anomalies, or what were +considered to be anomalies, in the practice of the penny post. This Act +was passed in 1794; and immediate steps were taken for carrying the plan +into effect. A proud day for Johnson must have been the 8th of +September. On that day a public notice appeared announcing the changes +that were about to take place; and this notice bore his signature. Only +the other day he had been a letter-carrier, and now, by reason of a +promotion which did hardly more honour to himself than to the +postmasters-general who made it, he signed as deputy-comptroller of the +Penny Post Office. + +The financial results of Johnson's plan exceeded all expectation. For +the last year of the old system the gross revenue of the penny post was +L11,000. For the first year of the new system it was L28,560; and for +the second year L29,623. Johnson had proceeded on the principle--a +principle which from the first establishment of the Post Office has +never yet been known to fail--increase facilities for correspondence and +correspondence itself increases. + +Johnson had made one mistake, a mistake which he frankly acknowledged +and did his best to repair. He had fixed the wages of the +letter-carriers too low. It was not that he had been indifferent to the +interests of the class from which he had recently emerged, but that he +had feared to overweight a measure which, even as it stood, he had +almost despaired of carrying. The wages, as fixed on his +recommendation, ranged from 9s. to 16s. a week. Then came that terrible +winter--the winter of 1794-95. We have ourselves been witness to an +excessive absence from duty on the part of Post Office servants during +the epidemic of influenza in 1890. But the number that were absent then, +relatively to the whole force, were not to be compared to the number +that were absent in the spring of 1795; neither was their absence due to +so grievous a cause. + +In the spring of 1795 the penny post letter-carriers, unlike the +letter-carriers of the general post, had not yet been supplied with +uniform, and, through sheer inability to supply themselves with such +articles of clothing and of food as the severity of the weather +required, nearly one-half of the whole number were unable to follow +their employment. Johnson took great blame to himself for what he had +done; nor did he rest until he had procured for the letter-carriers a +substantial increase all round. This increase ranged from about 2s. to +6s. a week for each man, and involved a total cost of L1600 a year. Also +in matters of detail Johnson effected several improvements, of which we +will mention only one. The receptacle for letters at the receiving +houses in London had hitherto been an open and movable box. The box was +now, on his recommendation, to be fixed and provided with a key. The key +was to be kept by the receiver, and he alone was to have access to the +letters. + +The Act of 1794 contained provisions which it is impossible to pass +unnoticed. The penny post from its first establishment in 1681 had +differed from the general post in this--that letters sent by it had to +be prepaid. By the general post prepayment had not indeed been +prohibited, but it had been discouraged; by the penny post it had been +compulsory. This was now altered, and it was left to the option of +persons using the penny post whether they would prepay their letters or +not. It is difficult to repress a pang at the disappearance of a +provision to which Dockwra, the founder of the penny post, attached the +highest importance; and yet it must be admitted that the change was not +made without a reason. Messengers and servants entrusted with letters +to post would destroy the letters for the sake of the pence which had +been given them to pay the postage; and to such an extent had the abuse +been carried that some persons made it a rule not to use the penny post +at all unless they could post their own letters. + +Another provision of the Act of 1794 was to relax a restriction imposed +by the Act of Anne. Before 1711 the penny post had been so extended as +to include many places distant from London as much as eighteen and +twenty miles. Then came the Act of Anne, restricting the penny post to a +circuit of ten miles. And now the ten-mile limit was abolished, and the +postmasters-general were empowered, not in London alone but also in +country towns wherever the penny post might be established, to extend it +at their discretion. + +A third provision of the Act of 1794 was designed to correct what was +considered a flaw in a previous Act. It is interesting to note what this +flaw was. When Dockwra established his post, he insisted that on letters +going by it the postage should be 1d. and no more. This penny, however, +in the case of letters for places situated beyond the bills of +mortality, was to carry only to the receiving house; for delivery at a +private house was to be paid a second penny, commonly called the +delivery-penny. The Act of Anne merely provided that letters by the +penny post should be charged 1d., and was silent on the subject of the +second or delivery-penny; and a subsequent Act, passed in 1731, made the +delivery-penny legal. + +Now what was the consequence of all this? The consequence was that as +between two letters, the one passing from London to a place outside the +bills of mortality and the other passing from a place outside the bills +of mortality to London, there was a difference of postage. In the one +direction the postage was 2d. and in the other 1d. The Act of 1794 +imposed a postage of 2d. in both directions; and here we see not indeed +the origin of the twopenny post but the twopenny post fully established. + +The reform of the penny post was soon followed by that of the dead +letter office. This office was established in 1784. How, before that +year, dead letters were treated is perhaps one of the obscurest points +of Post Office practice. We know that letters which could not be +delivered and letters which had been missent were always treated +together. We know that in 1716 these letters had become so numerous that +an officer was specially appointed to check them. We know that to Ralph +Allen, fertile as he was in resources, how to deal with this class of +letters was a constant source of perplexity. We know that Todd, writing +to Foxcroft, the deputy postmaster-general of America, in February 1775, +says: "Amongst other regulations made here of late the dead, refused, +and unknown letters returned to this office have been opened by the +proper officers, and returned to the writers"; but without adding who +"the proper officers" were. And we know that as late as 1783 there was +in London a letter-carrier whose special duty it was to "take care of +the unknown and uncertain letters." + +But when we have stated this, we have stated all. Whether there was any +recognised mode of dealing with dead letters, or whether any one into +whose hands these letters came dealt with them as he judged best, +according to circumstances, are questions upon which we have absolutely +no information. In 1784 only a part of the dead letters and letters that +had been missent went to the newly-created dead letter office. Another +and larger part, consisting of bye-letters or letters that in the +ordinary course would not reach London, were dealt with in the +bye-letter office. No letter was returned to the writer until after the +expiration of six months, and on its return no postage was charged. In +1790 Palmer reduced from six months to two the period before which +letters were returned, and on his own motion, without reference to the +postmasters-general, charged them with postage. Grave doubts were +entertained as to the legality of this charge, and Pitt, as soon as he +heard of it, ordered it to be discontinued. + +In 1793 Barlow, a clerk in the secretary's office, who had charge of the +dead letter office, introduced two changes of practice which, obvious +as they may now appear, were then regarded as evidence of no little +merit. He arranged that missent letters, instead of being sent to London +to be dealt with in the dead letter office, should be forwarded to their +destination from the place where the missending was discovered; and +also--a change which gave great satisfaction in naval and military +circles--that letters for the army and navy should be sent where the +army and navy were known to be, and not to stations and quarters which +they were known to have left simply because the letters were addressed +there. + +About the same time the dead letter office received most valuable help +in the discharge of its duties from the publication of what was, +virtually, the first County Directory. For some years past three Post +Office servants had been engaged in compiling a list of all the names +and addresses they could collect throughout the different counties of +England. This list, though still far from complete, now filled six large +folio volumes. The venture which had been undertaken with a view to +profit was financially a failure; but as a means of helping to forward +letters with imperfect addresses it proved an unqualified success. + +Thus matters stood in 1795, when Barlow proposed a further reform. The +inspector of the "bye, dead, and missent letters," as they were called, +had neglected his duties. These letters were not sent to London until +they had lain for three months in the country offices, and after their +arrival he had suffered a still longer period to elapse before +proceeding to dispose of them. Barlow now proposed that these letters +also should be placed under his control, and the proposal being +approved, the dead letter office began to assume the shape in which, +though under another name, we know it to-day. To the general practice +one exception was made. On the first opening of penny post offices in +country towns many letters could not be delivered on account of their +imperfect addresses. The novelty and cheapness of the post, it may well +be believed, induced persons to use it who possessed little skill in +writing, and no knowledge of the mode in which superscriptions should be +prepared. It was a duty imposed on the surveyor who was engaged in +establishing the post to open these letters and return them to the +writers on the spot. + +Another office was established about this time, an office for dealing +with the American and West Indian letters. The merchants had recently +complained that these letters were continually missent, letters for one +of the West India Islands being sent to another, and letters for places +served from Halifax being sent to Quebec and _vice versa_. The truth is +that until lately some profit had been derived from the sorting of these +letters; and the most experienced officers, who knew the circulation +abroad almost as well as they knew the circulation at home, had been +glad to sort them. The comptroller of the inland department--for, +curiously enough, it was there and not in the foreign department that +the letters were dealt with--had received one guinea a night and the +clerks 5s. a night for dealing with them; but these unauthorised +additions to salaries had now been stopped, and the West Indian and +American mails were left to be sorted, just as any other mails were +sorted, by seniors and juniors in common. + +It was impossible that mistakes should not occur. To assist in the +disposal of inland mails there were what were called circulation lists, +lists shewing to what towns letters for particular places were to be +sent; but in the case of the American and West Indian mails there were +no such aids to inexperience, and the letters were to a large extent +sent haphazard. Freeling now altered this. He procured from abroad +circulation lists corrected to the latest date. Four experienced +officers were selected, who were made specially responsible for the West +Indian and American correspondence; they were to devote to it two hours +a night over and above their ordinary hours; and for this extra +attendance they were each to receive a special allowance of L30 a year. + +Freeling's last safeguard is interesting as shewing what may be done +with a limited correspondence. Two books were to be kept, of which one +was to be reserved for Government letters. In this book were to be +entered the date on which each individual letter was posted, the date on +which it was forwarded to Falmouth, and the name of the packet by which +it was despatched. The second book was, in Freeling's own words, "to +contain observations of different kinds to enable the clerks the better +to satisfy the merchants applying for information" respecting the +letters they had posted. It would perhaps be hardly an exaggeration to +say that between England on the one hand and America and the West Indies +on the other there are at the present time more sackfuls of letters +passing than there were single letters one hundred years ago. + +About the same time, but a little later, an important change took place +in the treatment of letters arriving from the East Indies in the ships +of the East India Company. These letters came to the India House in +boxes addressed to the directors, and so escaped all but the inland +postage. Some of them indeed did not pay even that, for if addressed to +persons in or near London they were delivered by the Company's servants, +who charged and retained as their own perquisite a fee varying from 2s. +6d. to 10s. 6d. on each letter. The practice was of old date, as old +probably as the East India Company itself, and was held to be not +illegal. It is true that a vessel was forbidden under a penalty of L20 +to break bulk or to make entry into port until all letters brought by +the master or his company should be delivered to some agent of the +postmasters-general; but both the captain and the directors were held to +be exempt from liability under this provision, the captain because he +was presumably ignorant of what the boxes contained, and the directors +because the penalty attached to the captain and not to them. + +The legality of the practice not being contested, nothing remained but +to make overtures to the directors; and, on this being done, they +readily consented that for the future all letters arriving by their +ships, except such as were for themselves and their friends, should be +forthwith sent to the Post Office to be dealt with as ship letters. The +public derived no little advantage from the change. The postage from +India was actually less than what the company's servants had been +accustomed to exact as fees; and the letters were now delivered at once, +whereas the company's servants would seldom deliver them under three or +four days after their arrival at the India House, and sometimes not for +a whole month. + +Contemporaneously with the Act of Parliament regulating the penny post +was passed another establishing a post to the Channel Islands. This was +essentially a war post, a post which, except for the war between England +and France, might have been postponed far into the present century. +Hitherto letters for the Channel Islands had been charged with postage +only as far as Southampton, and from Southampton they had been carried +to their destination by private boat. Again and again had the Post +Office been urged by those who wanted employment for their vessels to +establish a line of packets to the islands; but to all such overtures +the postmasters-general turned a deaf ear. Boats were passing to and fro +regularly four or five times a week, and the owners of these boats were +ready and glad to carry the letters for the ship-letter postage of 1d. a +letter. Why then, it was asked, should the Post Office be at the expense +of maintaining a line of packets which, unless it were put on a footing +out of all proportion to the importance of the service, would give +absolutely less accommodation than that which existed already? + +Thus matters stood when war broke out and all communication with the +islands was stopped. Even now the postmasters-general had grave doubts +as to the propriety of establishing a line of packets. It was true that +the correspondence with the Channel Islands was considerable. During the +year 1792 the number of letters on which ship-letter postage had been +paid was 21,570, namely, 20,070 at Southampton and 1500 at Dartmouth and +other ports on the south coast--making, on the assumption that the +letters were as many in the opposite direction, a total correspondence +for the year of about 43,000 letters. + +And yet there were serious considerations on the other side. Unless an +Act of Parliament were passed providing a packet rate of postage between +the mainland and the islands, the Post Office would have no exclusive +right of carrying the letters, and the moment the war ceased the packets +might be deserted in favour of the private boats. If, on the other hand, +such an Act were passed, popular as the measure might be while the war +lasted, it could not fail to be unpopular as soon as the war ceased. +Private boats would then be an illegal means of conveyance, and +correspondence would be restricted to the packets, however few these +might be in number, and however wide the intervals between the +despatches. + +Another expedient remained, but this was one which had been tried during +the last war, and the postmasters-general were not prepared to repeat +it. The _Express_ packet, Captain Sampson, belonging to the Dover +station, had been temporarily detached to Southampton to keep +communication with the Channel Islands open. As some set-off against the +cost, the Post Office had counted upon saving the ship-letter pence; but +here again the want of an authorised packet postage made itself felt. +Sampson, though in receipt of a salary and at no expense for the boat he +commanded, claimed and received the ship-letter pence, the +postmasters-general regarding themselves apparently as legally +incompetent to resist the demand. Without denying that a line of packets +might be necessary for purposes of State, the postmasters-general now +declined to promote one on Post Office grounds. Of the necessities of +the State they were not the judges, and, if the State required the +adoption of such a measure, it was for others to take the initiative. + +The decision at which the Government arrived appears in the Act of 1794, +which established a line of packets between England and the Channel +Islands. The packet station was to be at Weymouth, the passage from +Weymouth being shorter than from Southampton, and Southampton Water +being difficult to leave when the wind was contrary. For a single +letter the postage, over and above all other rates, was fixed at 2d., +and for a double and treble letter in proportion. Thus the cost of a +single letter from London to the Channel Islands would remain the same +as before. Hitherto there had been paid 4d. for postage from London to +Southampton, 1d. to a factor at Southampton, 1d. for conveyance across, +and 1d. to the island post office--for the islands had a post office, +although it was a private one, and not under the control of the +postmasters-general--making 7d. altogether. Now the charge would be the +same, namely, postage to Weymouth 5d., and 2d. for the packet postage. +By the same Act of Parliament rates of postage were imposed within the +islands similar to those which existed in England. + +The abuses of franking now came under notice again. Ten years had +elapsed since the passing of the Act which provided that a letter, to be +exempt from postage, must bear on the outside, as part of its +superscription, its full date written in the member's own handwriting, +and be posted on the date which the superscription bore. Of course, the +object of the provision was to confine the privilege to members +themselves, and to prevent them from obliging their friends at a +distance with franks; but this object was almost universally defeated by +the simple expedient of sending to their friends franks that were +post-dated. It was a common occurrence for franks dated on the same day +and by the same member to be sent from places three or four hundred +miles apart. + +The bankers who sat in Parliament were the chief offenders. Little did +they think that an exact account was being kept of every frank that +passed through the London Post Office, or assuredly they would hardly +have ventured to keep their friends and customers supplied, as it was +their practice to do, with the means of evading postage. How many +bankers sat in Parliament in 1794 we are not informed; but whatever the +number was, we know that during the three months ending the 10th of +October in that year there passed through the London Post Office no +less than 103,805 letters franked by them, a number larger by one-fifth +than the letters of the Court and all the public offices of the State +combined.[75] During the same period those members of Parliament who +were merchants and not bankers contented themselves with the +comparatively modest number of 27,111. Two or three years before it had +leaked out that the Government were considering whether a strenuous +effort should not be made to abolish the franking privilege altogether, +and it was no secret to the Post Office that in anticipation of such an +event the banking houses which had a partner in Parliament had concerted +arrangements for sending their letters by the coaches in boxes. + + [75] From this time the expression "banker's frank" passed into a + by-word, and was used to denote any frank, whether given by a banker or + not, which was in excess of the prescribed number. + +The Government were now resolved that, if the abuses of franking could +not be stopped, they should at all events be restricted, and with this +object a bill was brought in which passed into law in 1795. Under this +statute the weight which a member could frank was reduced from two +ounces to one ounce; no letter was to be considered as franked unless +the member whose name and superscription it bore was within twenty miles +of the town at which it was posted either on the day of posting or on +the day before; and in the course of one day no member was to send free +more than ten letters or to receive free more than fifteen. + +The same statute which restrained the abuses of franking made a not +unimportant concession. In an Act passed in 1753 a clause had been +inserted providing that a letter containing patterns or samples, if it +did not weigh as much as one ounce, was to be charged as a double letter +and no more. This was now improved upon. Under the Act of 1795 a packet +of patterns or samples might, on certain conditions, pass as a single +letter. These conditions were that it did not exceed one ounce in +weight, that it was open at the sides, and that it contained no writing +other than the name and address of the sender and the prices of the +articles of which he sent specimens. + +A few months later another advance was made. At Lombard Street great +inconvenience had been caused by the late arrival of the letters from +the West End. The sorting began at five o'clock in the evening, and the +mails were despatched at eight; but it was not until nearly seven that +the bulk of the letters from the West End were brought in by the +runners. Thus, while the first two hours of the evening were hours of +comparative idleness, the last hour was one of extreme pressure. +Occasionally, we are told, there would at a quarter before seven o'clock +be lying on the sorting table as many as 14,000 letters, all of which +had to be disposed of by eight. At the present day 14,000 letters would +be regarded as a mere handful. In 1796 it was a number which it taxed +the utmost resources of the Post Office to dispose of within the +allotted time. + +How to relieve the pressure between the hours of seven and eight was now +the question to be solved; and the presidents who had succeeded to +Bonnor's place when this person was got rid of suggested that the object +might be attained if, instead of the letters from the West End being +brought to the General Post Office by runners, light carts were employed +to bring them. Two carts would be enough for the purpose. One might +start from Charing Cross and the other from Duke Street, Oxford Street, +picking up bags at the different offices on their way. Thus the letters +would reach Lombard Street earlier by some thirty minutes than +heretofore, and there would be more time to sort and charge them. The +drivers should, of course, be armed. The plan was adopted, and answered +well; and this was the origin of what is called the London Mail-Cart and +Van Service, a service in which are now employed daily as many as 550 +vehicles. + +Since the introduction of mail-coaches the robbery of mails on the main +roads of the kingdom had entirely ceased. Now and then, but very rarely, +there had been pilfering from a mail-coach as, through the default of +those in charge, it stood at an inn door unguarded; and there had, no +doubt, been one serious case of theft. On the 24th of October 1794 a +man, giving the name of Thomas Thomas, went down by the mail-coach from +London to Bristol, and returned on the following day. This journey he +repeated on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of November, and on the last-mentioned +date, when the guard's back was turned, he took advantage of the +mail-box being left unlocked to steal the mails. But this was a case of +theft, and not of robbery. + +During the twelve years which had elapsed since Palmer's plan was +established there had not been one single instance in which a mail-coach +had been molested by highwaymen. Far otherwise was it with the horse and +cross-post mails. In 1796 the distance over which these mails travelled +was, in England, about 3800 miles, and hardly a week passed without +intelligence reaching headquarters that in some part or other of their +course they had been stopped and robbed. Some roads enjoyed an +unenviable notoriety in this respect, as, for instance, the road between +Barton Mills and Lynn in Norfolk, the road between Bristol and +Portsmouth, and, above all, the road between Chester and Warrington. +Between these two places, indeed, the mail had only recently been robbed +on four different occasions. + +Manchester and other towns now took the matter up, and urged that +mail-coaches might be established on the roads where the robberies took +place, not because coaches were necessary to carry the letters, but on +account of the security which they afforded. Freeling proposed as an +alternative that the horse and cross-post mails should be guarded. To +supply the existing post-boys, or riders, as they were then termed, with +firearms would have been worse than useless. They were mere boys--many +of them not yet fourteen years of age--and with firearms in their +possession they would have been more likely to shoot themselves than +their assailants. Accordingly, Freeling proposed that no riders should +be employed who, besides being of approved character, were not between +the ages of eighteen and forty-five; that they should each be furnished +with a brace of pistols, a cutlass, and a strong cap for the defence of +the head; and that, in consideration of an increased allowance to be +made by the Post Office, the postmasters whose servants the riders were +should be required to provide them with better horses than those +hitherto in use. + +Of all the plans which, through a long course of years, were submitted +to Pitt for the improvement of the posts this was the only one to which +he demurred. He did not, indeed, deny its efficacy; but it would involve +a cost of at least L6000 a year, and, pressed as he was for money, he +declined to say more than that the plan might be carried out if the +persons interested were willing to bear the additional expense, but not +otherwise. For us with our present knowledge it is easy enough to see +that the surest and most popular way of transferring the expense to the +public would have been to cheapen the postage. In 1796 no other way +appeared feasible than to make the postage dearer. To this object the +postmasters-general now devoted themselves, and before many months were +over they had prepared a bill which, with some modifications, was +adopted by the Government and passed into law. + +In the new Act, which came into operation on the 5th of January 1797, +the ambiguous term "stage" was dropped, and the whole of the rates were +fixed according to distance, thus-- + ++------------------------------------------------------------------+ +| ON AND AFTER THE 5TH OF JANUARY 1797. | ++-------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+-------+ +| | Single | Double | Treble | | +| | Letter.| Letter.| Letter.| Ounce.| +| +--------+--------+--------+-------+ +| | _d._ | _d._ | _d._ | _d._ | +|Not exceeding 15 miles | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | +|Exceeding 15 and not exceeding | | | | | +| 30 miles | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | +|Exceeding 30 and not exceeding | | | | | +| 60 miles | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | +|Exceeding 60 and not exceeding | | | | | +| 100 miles | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | +|Exceeding 100 and not exceeding| | | | | +| 150 miles | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | +|Exceeding 150 miles | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | +|To and from Edinburgh | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | ++-------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+-------+ + +Within Scotland the rates were raised by 1d. for a single letter, by 2d. +for a double letter, and so on. Another important change was made. +Hitherto, in the case of letters from Portugal and America, the packet +postage had carried them to their destination. For the future these +letters were to be subject to the inland rates as well as the packet +rates. Thus the packet rate from Lisbon had been, on a single letter, +1s. 6d. It was now to be 1s.; but if for London the letter would be +charged with the inland rate of 8d.--this being the postage from +Falmouth--and if for Edinburgh with 8d. more, or 2s. 4d. altogether. As +the packet postage from America remained unchanged, namely, 1s. for a +single letter, the inland rate was in this case a pure addition. + +The postmasters-general were now doomed to a serious disappointment. +Their proposal to raise the rates of postage was, there can be no doubt, +dictated, at all events in part, by a desire to carry out the project of +guarding the horse and cross-post mails. Pitt had stated that he would +approve this project if the persons interested would bear the expense of +it; and unquestionably the expense, and much more than the expense, was +thrown upon the persons interested by the higher sums which they had now +to pay for their letters. The postmaster-generals' object, however, had +not been avowed, and no understanding had been arrived at. Their +proposal to raise the rates of postage had met with ready acceptance. +Their proposal to guard the horse and cross-post mails, though repeated +again and again, continued to be rejected. + +Although much had been done during the last few years to introduce order +and regularity among the packets, some little mystery still surrounded +their proceedings. In March 1798, out of twenty packets on the Falmouth +station there was not one in port to carry the mails to Jamaica and the +Leeward Islands; and this was the second time within twelve months that +the same thing had occurred. The West India merchants waited on the +postmasters-general to complain. On this occasion an armed cutter was +borrowed from the Admiralty to take out the mails; but the fact remained +that between the 5th of April 1793 and January 1798 no less than +nineteen packets, all of them belonging to the Falmouth station, had +been captured by the enemy, and that the Post Office had had to replace +them at a cost of close upon L50,000. + +The merchants demanded, as they had done a year before, that the packets +should be armed. Armed indeed in some sort they were already, but only +with six four-pounders apiece, and with small arms so as to be able to +resist row-boats and small privateers. The merchants urged that this was +not enough. The postmasters-general replied that they could do no more, +that the true policy was not to arm the packets with a view to their +engaging the enemy, but so to construct them that they might outsail +him. The merchants met to consider the reply which had been given, and, +as the result of their deliberations, they prepared a memorial, copies +of which were sent to the postmasters-general and the minister. In this +memorial misgivings were expressed which, even at this distance of time, +it is impossible not to share. During the last three years the average +duration of voyage had been, from Falmouth to Jamaica, forty-five days, +and from Jamaica to Falmouth, fifty-two days. These, as the memorialists +pointed out, were not quick voyages; still less were they quick voyages +for vessels which had been specially constructed with a view to +expedition. It was extraordinary, too, built and equipped as the packets +were, that out of nine that had been recently captured eight should have +fallen a prey to private ships of war, which presumably enjoyed far less +advantages in point of sailing. The conclusion at which the merchants +felt constrained to arrive was that "in the mode of loading or +navigating the packets some abuses exist sufficient to counteract the +advantages of their construction." + +And yet, mysterious as their proceedings were, ample evidence is at hand +that the packets were both willing and able to fight as occasion +required. Indeed, to this period belong some of their smartest +engagements. We will give one or two instances. On the evening of the +17th of October 1797 the _Portland_ packet, Captain Taylor, was lying +becalmed off the island of Guadeloupe when a French privateer, the +_Temeraire_, bore down upon her. The privateer carried sixty-eight men +and the packet thirty-two. A light breeze springing up, the _Portland's_ +head was got off shore, and for the time she contrived to elude her +antagonist, who followed her all night under easy sail. At daybreak the +same distance separated the two ships as on the preceding evening; but +as the _Temeraire_ began to overtake the _Portland_, Taylor fired the +first shot. The shot was returned, and the privateer hoisting the bloody +flag grappled the _Portland_ and boarded her on the lee quarter. Laying +hold of the jib-stay Taylor ordered it to be lashed to the packet, and +called upon the passengers and crew to open their musketry. A fierce +engagement ensued, which ended in favour of the _Portland_. Out of +sixty-eight men on board the privateer no less than forty-one were +either killed or wounded. A treacherous shot fired after she had struck +her colours carried off the captain of the packet in the moment of +victory, and as he was endeavouring to allay the carnage. + +Among the passengers on board the _Portland_ were four military +officers, captains in the English army. That these officers in no small +measure contributed to the result may be taken for granted; but silent +as to their own deeds they extolled in the highest terms the prowess of +the captain and crew, and it was from the independent testimony which +they and the other passengers bore that the gallant action became known +to the postmasters-general. + +Another and still more brilliant engagement had taken place a few years +before. On the 27th of November 1793 the _Antelope_ packet, Captain +Curtis, sailed from Port Royal in Jamaica with twenty-nine men. She, +like the _Portland_, had on board a few passengers, among whom were +Colonel Loppinott, an independent witness to the events that followed, +and a young man of the name of Nodin. Nodin had been a midshipman in +the Royal Navy, and, having resigned his commission, was on his way home +to England to seek for other employment. + +On the morning of the 1st of December, when the _Antelope_ was about +five leagues off Cumberland harbour in the island of Cuba, the +_Atalanta_, a French privateer, hove in sight and immediately gave +chase. The privateer carried eight carriage-guns and sixty-five men. The +packet carried the usual six four-pounders, and out of her crew of +twenty-nine men four had died of fever and two others were prostrate +from the same cause, so that her complement was practically reduced to +twenty-three. The pursuit continued until the morning of the 3rd, when, +the _Atalanta_ coming within gunshot and hoisting French colours and the +bloody flag, broadsides were exchanged. The two ships now grappled, and +on the part of the privateer an attempt was made to board both fore and +aft. Fore, the assailing party, fifteen in number, were swept away by +the guns; aft, where there were no guns, the assault was also repulsed +but at a cost of life which made the disproportion between the numbers +on the two sides even greater than before. Among those that were killed +in this sally was the captain of the packet; and the mate having been +severely wounded, the command devolved upon John Pascoe, the boatswain. +Another attempt was now made to board, and, like the first, was +successfully resisted. + +This result was largely due to Nodin's intrepidity. Standing by the helm +and armed with a pike and a musket he alternately used these weapons +with deadly effect. As the men climbed the sides, he sprang forward and +cut them down with his pike; then he returned to the helm and righted +the ship; then seizing his musket he loaded it and flew to quarters; and +as he was cool and collected and a sure marksman every shot told. On the +repulse of the second attempt to board, the privateer's grappling-rope +was cut and she tried to sheer off; but this Pascoe prevented by lashing +her square sail-yard to the fore-shrouds of the packet. The privateer's +fire now began to slacken, which was only a signal to the others to +renew their energies. The _Antelope_ poured in volley after volley of +small-arms; and at length the marauders cried out for mercy and, +expecting none, some of them jumped into the sea and were drowned. +Altogether, when the bloody flag was torn down from the mast-head of the +_Atalanta_, only thirty men remained out of the sixty-five with which +she had begun the combat; and of these thirty one-half were wounded. The +troubles of the packet were not yet at an end. As the smoke cleared away +she was found to be on fire; and it was not until the mainsail, quarter +cloths, and hammocks had been cut away that she was able to carry her +prize into Anotta Bay. + +The officers and crew of the _Antelope_ did not go unrewarded. For +distribution among the survivors and the families of those who had been +killed the House of Assembly in Jamaica voted the sum of 500 guineas; +375 guineas were afterwards presented for the same purpose by the +Society for Encouraging the Capture of French Privateers; the +postmasters-general showered small pensions and gratuities; and--what +was the highest compliment of all--the _Atalanta_, though a droit of +admiralty, was given up to the captors. + +It was always when passengers were on board that the Post Office heard +of these brilliant achievements on the part of the packets. We are not +sure that this fact may not help us to unravel the mystery which +perplexed the merchants. May it not be that, when the check exercised by +the presence of passengers was removed, the packets at the end of the +last century, like those of a hundred years before, went in quest of +adventure and matched themselves against superior force or otherwise +engaged in illicit operations? The series of captures which the +merchants could not understand, and, where there were no captures, the +dilatoriness of the voyages, would thus be explained. + +The usage of the Post Office one hundred years ago differed in not a few +particulars from the usage of to-day. At the present time no +postmaster-general would think of calling for a daily return of the +number of letters passing through the London office with the amount of +postage paid or to be paid upon them. Yet such a return was, a century +ago, sent to the postmasters-general regularly every morning, and it was +esteemed the most important paper of the day. At the present time any +instruction which may have to be given to the sorting office is entered +in what is called the Order Book; and this book is signed by all whom it +concerns. One hundred years ago, all instructions were made known by the +presidents reading them aloud in the sorting office on Mondays and +Saturdays, when the men were assembled for the purpose. It was thus that +appointments, promotions, and punishments were also announced. One +hundred years ago, when a letter-carrier's walk became vacant, a bell +was rung, and, the letter-carriers being collected together, the vacancy +was offered to the senior, and if the senior declined it, to the next in +rotation, and so on. When a Post Office servant died, his salary was +paid not only to the date of death but to the end of the current +quarter. + +Another practice then existed, a practice dictated, as some may think, +by convenience and common sense. It was that counsel engaged in Post +Office cases gave receipts for their fees. In connection with this +practice a curious incident occurred. Walsingham had ordered an +independent inquiry to be made into the solicitor's accounts, and, in +the course of the investigation, the inspector came across a heap of +receipts signed, or purporting to be signed, by some of the most eminent +lawyers of the day. Walsingham had suspected imposition before, and now +he was sure of it. The solicitor, had he been asked, would no doubt have +explained, as indeed was the case, that the practice dated from 1703, +and originated with Godolphin, who, failing to see why counsel engaged +by public offices should be exempt from doing what all other persons +were required to do, issued peremptory injunctions that in legal cases +no more fees should be paid by the Post Office for which receipts were +not given.[76] Instead, however, of addressing himself to the solicitor, +Walsingham referred to Kenyon, the Lord Chief Justice; and Kenyon's +reply, as Walsingham himself admitted, filled him with astonishment. It +was simply that when attorney-general he had always given receipts for +fees from public offices, understanding when he was appointed that such +was the practice, and that it had long been so. + + [76] This is Godolphin's letter:-- + + TREASURY CHAMBERS, _June 8, 1703_. + + GENTLEMEN--My Lord Treasurer hath commanded me to signify to you his + Lordship's direction that whenever your Sollicitor shall pay any fees to + any Serjeant or Councellor at law, or give any sum or sums of money for + coppys to any Clerk or Clerks or Officers in any Court or Courts of + Record at Westminster, he shall take a ticket subscribed with the hand + and name of the same Serjeant or Councellor or from the Clerk or Officer + testifying how much he hath received for his fee or hath been paid by + him for coppys, and at what time and how often, according to the statute + in the third year of the reign of King James the First, made and + provided in that behalf, and His Lordship directs you to take care that + what money shall be hereafter expended for law charges relating to the + Revenue under your management, the same be so expressed in the Bill of + Incidents, that it may appear to His Lordship that the above-mentioned + directions have been duly comply'd with.--I am, gentlemen, your most + humble servant, + + WILLIAM LOWNDES. + + Sir Robert Cotton, Knight, and + Sir Thomas Frankland, Bart. + + +One more custom we may mention as existing a century ago, a custom which +was then abandoned, but not without manifest reluctance on the part of +those whose interest it was to keep it alive. At the present time our +friends at the Treasury are credited with taking advantage of the +accident of their position to get themselves appointed to the best +situations in all the public offices of the State. One hundred years ago +the blackmail which these gentlemen levied upon the public offices took +another form, a form a little coarser perhaps but less provoking. At the +beginning of each year they exacted tribute which, disguised under the +name of New Year's gifts, were really New Year's extortions. The +correspondence which passed between the Treasury and the Post Office, +when these extortions ceased, unlike official correspondence generally, +is so short and to the point that we cannot do better than give it in +full:-- + + The TREASURY to the POST OFFICE. + + TREASURY CHAMBERS, _Oct. 10, 1797_. + + MY LORDS--The Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury having + had under their consideration a Report of the Select Committee of + the House of Commons on Finance in the last session of Parliament + respecting this office, I am commanded by their Lordships to + acquaint you that they have determined that the practice of + receiving New Year's gifts by any person in this department shall + be discontinued, and that your Lordships may not send them as + heretofore.--I am, my Lords, etc., + GEORGE ROSE. + + The POST OFFICE to the TREASURY. + + GENERAL POST OFFICE, _Jan. 13, 1798_. + + MY LORDS--We beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Rose's + letter of the 10th of October acquainting us of your Lordships' + determination that the practice of receiving New Year's gifts by + any person in your department must be discontinued, to which we + shall pay proper attention. + + It is necessary to state to your Lordships that Mr. Rose's letter, + although dated the 10th of October 1797, was not brought to this + office until the 1st of January 1798; but it was received in due + time to enable us to attend to the purport of it.--We are, my + Lords, etc., + + CHESTERFIELD. + LEICESTER. + +It is needless to add that hitherto these New Year's gifts had been +despatched from the Post Office on the evening of the 31st of December. + +Nine years had now passed since the Royal Commissioners had reported +upon the condition of the public offices; and four years had passed +since the Report had seen the light. Pitt had been deliberate enough in +approving the recommendations; but having done so, he had no intention +that they should remain inoperative. And yet he had little confidence +that such would not be the case unless some external influence were +brought to bear. Accordingly recourse was had to an expedient which +might perhaps with advantage be sometimes adopted at the present day. +At Pitt's instigation a Special Committee of the House of Commons was +appointed to ascertain and report how far the recommendations of the +Royal Commissioners had been carried into effect. + +The Post Office, on the whole, came well out of the ordeal. Abuses had +been corrected; useless offices had been abolished; and men were no +longer drawing salaries for duties which they did not perform. There +was, however, one notable exception. Todd, the secretary, had during +many years ceased to do any work; yet he had not ceased to draw his full +salary; neither had he ceased to retain his shares in at least one of +the Post Office packets. The Committee denounced his conduct in terms +which far exceeded the ordinary bounds of parliamentary usage. Their +language indeed, as applied to a man of more than eighty years of age, +might even be pronounced to be cruel. And yet scathing as the censure +was, it fell upon callous ears. With a tenacity worthy of a better cause +the old man still clung to his place and his shares. The +postmasters-general now brought pressure to bear. As regards the shares, +which Todd had held unknown to his masters, they insisted upon his +selling them; but his place of secretary they were either unwilling or +unable to wrest from his grasp. + +Death at length put an end to the scandal. In June 1798 Todd yielded up +at once his life and his office; and Francis Freeling, according to a +long-standing promise, became Secretary to the Post Office in his +stead. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FRANCIS FREELING + +1798-1817 + + +The name of Francis Freeling has been placed at the head of this +chapter, not because, in devising new means of correspondence or +extending means that already existed, he is to be classed with the +distinguished men who preceded him--with Palmer and Allen, with Dockwra +and Witherings--but because for more than a generation he exercised a +paramount influence in Post Office matters, and during this long period +whatever was done affecting the communications of the country was done +upon his advice. + +The first act of importance in which Freeling was concerned after his +appointment as secretary was the establishment of the ship letter +office, an office which owed its origin to the suggestion of Frederick +Bourne, a clerk in the foreign department. Hitherto the packet boats, +where packet boats existed, had been the only means by which +correspondence could be legally sent out of the kingdom; and yet in the +neighbourhood of the Exchange there was hardly a place of public resort +at which letters for America and the West Indies, as well as other +places abroad, were not collected for despatch by private ship. There +was no concealment about the matter. At Lloyds, and the Jamaica, the +Maryland, the Virginia and other coffee-houses, bags were openly hung +up, and all letters dropped into these bags, including those for places +to which there was communication by packet, were taken on board ship, +and, without the intervention of the Post Office, despatched to their +destination, the captains receiving for their transport a gratuity of +2d. apiece. + +Illegal as the practice was, Pitt was unwilling to suppress it. The Act +which made it illegal to send by private ship letters which might be +sent by packet had been passed in the time of Queen Anne, and he could +not reconcile it to himself to enforce a law some ninety years old which +had never yet been set in motion. Bourne's idea was to sweep all +ship-letters into the post, and to charge them inwards with a fixed sum +of 4d. and outwards with half the packet rate of postage. If with the +place to which a letter was addressed there was no communication by +packet, the rate was to be fixed at what presumably it would be if such +communication existed. Pitt favoured the idea and adopted it--subject, +however, to one important qualification. Instead of being compulsory the +Act, should an Act be passed, was to be permissive. On this point Pitt +was determined. It was only in return for some service that the Post +Office was entitled to make a charge. And what was the service here? To +seal the bags? This he could not regard as a substantial service--a +service for which a charge should be made. The ship was a private ship, +her commander was not a servant of the Post Office, and the bag of +letters he carried might be, and not infrequently was, for countries in +which neither the Post Office nor any other branch of the British +Government had an accredited agent. + +Surely in such circumstances anything in the shape of compulsion was out +of the question, and all that should be done was to invite the merchants +to bring their letters to the Post Office, when the Post Office would +undertake to find a private ship that would carry them. A bill on these +lines was brought in and passed; and on the 10th of September 1799 the +ship letter office was opened, Bourne being appointed to superintend it +under the title of inspector. The new measure failed of its object. On +letters entering the kingdom fourpences were no doubt collected, +because, until these letters had been deposited at the local Post +Office, no vessel was allowed to make entry or to break bulk. But +letters leaving the kingdom left it just as they had been used to leave +it before the ship letter office was established. It was in vain that +the Post Office tempted the keepers of coffee-houses by the offer of +high salaries to become its own agents. All overtures to this end were +resolutely declined; and during many years the letters by private ship +that were sent through the post stood to those that were received +through the same agency in no higher proportion than one to eighteen. + +In 1801 the Post Office was called upon to make to the Exchequer a +further contribution to the amount of L150,000. What would have struck +consternation to the hearts of most men was to Freeling a source of +unmixed pleasure. Not only had he a perfect craze for high rates of +postage, but it had long been with him a subject of lament that under +the law as it stood no higher charge was made for a distance of 500 +miles than for a distance of 150. This in his view was a glaring defect, +and he now set himself to remedy it. The new rates--which, as he lost no +opportunity of making known, were exclusively of his own devising--were +adopted by the Government, and having passed the Houses of Parliament +came into operation on the 5th of April. As compared with the old rates, +they were as follows:-- + ++------------------------------------------------------------------+ +| BEFORE THE 5TH OF APRIL 1801. | ++-----------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+------+ +| |Single.|Double.|Treble.|Ounce.| +| +-------+-------+-------+------+ +| | _d._ | _d._ | _d._ | _d._ | +|Not exceeding 15 miles | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | +|Above 15 and not exceeding 30 miles| 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | +| " 30 " 60 " | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | +| " 60 " 100 " | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | +| " 100 " 150 " | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | +|Exceeding 150 miles | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | ++-----------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+------+ + ++------------------------------------------------------------------+ +| ON AND AFTER THE 5TH OF APRIL 1801. | ++-----------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+------+ +| |Single.|Double.|Treble.|Ounce.| +| +-------+-------+-------+------+ +| | _d._ | _d._ | _d._ | _d._ | +|Not exceeding 15 miles | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | +|Above 15 and not exceeding 30 miles| 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | +| " 30 " 50 " | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | +| " 50 " 80 " | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | +| " 80 " 120 " | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | +| " 120 " 170 " | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | +| " 170 " 230 " | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | +| " 230 " 300 " | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | +| " 300 " 400 " | 11 | 22 | 33 | 44 | +| " 400 " 500 " | 12 | 24 | 36 | 48 | +| " 500 " 600 " | 13 | 26 | 39 | 52 | +| " 600 " 700 " | 14 | 28 | 42 | 56 | +|Exceeding 700 miles | 15 | 30 | 45 | 60 | ++-----------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+------+ + +Thus the postage on a single letter was--from London to Brighton, 6d.; +from London to Liverpool, 9d.; and from London to Edinburgh, 1s. A +letter weighing one ounce is now carried from London to Thurso for 1d. +In 1801 the charge was 5s. + +On letters to or from places abroad, "not being within His Majesty's +dominions," the postage was at the same time raised by 4d., 8d., 1s., +and 1s. 4d., according as the letter was single, double, treble, or of +the weight of one ounce. + +But there was worse to come. By the Act of 1801 the London penny +post--that post which had been established 120 years before, and which, +its founder had predicted, would endure to all posterity--was swept out +of existence. For us who are now living it is difficult to conceive that +such an enormity should have been possible. Yet there is the fact. After +the passing of the Act of 1801 the London penny post had ceased to be. +Where 1d. had been charged before, the sum of 2d. was to be charged now. + +The same Act contained another provision, which it is impossible to +regard otherwise than as a wanton interference with trade. The +Legislature, from the earliest days of the Post Office, had shewn +indulgence to merchants' accounts not exceeding one sheet of paper, to +bills of exchange, invoices, and bills of lading. All these, in the +language of the Act establishing the Post Office--the Act of 1660--were +to be "without rate in the price of the letters"; and a similar +provision was contained in the Act of Anne. Owing, however, to a faulty +construction of the clause it was doubtful whether the exemption was +confined to foreign letters or whether it applied to inland letters as +well. The merchants contended that inland letters were included; +otherwise, as they pointed out, a letter might "go cheaper to +Constantinople than to Bristol." The postmasters-general, on the other +hand, insisted that the exemption applied only to foreign letters, and, +in order to set doubts at rest, they early in the reign of George the +Second procured an Act to be passed declaring their interpretation to be +the right one. As regards foreign letters, therefore, there had never +been the slightest doubt as to either the intention or the practice. +When enclosed in letters going or coming from abroad, merchants' +accounts not exceeding one sheet of paper, bills of exchange, invoices, +and bills of lading had from the first establishment of the Post Office +been exempt from postage; and now after an interval of more than 140 +years this exemption, like the penny post, was swept away. Henceforth +these documents were to be charged as so many several letters. + +Yet one more provision in the Act of 1801 it is necessary to notice as +introducing a novel principle. This Act gave power to the +postmasters-general to grant postal facilities to towns and villages +where no Post Offices existed, provided the inhabitants were prepared to +pay such sums as might be mutually agreed upon. As the postmasters-general +were already authorised to establish Penny Post Offices wherever +they might see fit out of London, the object of this fresh power +may not be very clear. It was not that the Post Office might be +able to charge for the local service more than 1d. a letter, for in +no single instance, so far as we are aware, was more than 1d. charged, +but that in arranging the local service the Post Office might have a +freedom of action which it did not possess under the statute empowering +it to establish penny posts. In short, the object of the power was to +enable the Post Office, in concert with the inhabitants of the towns and +villages concerned, to try experiments. + +As a natural consequence of the high rates of postage, the illegal +conveyance of letters now became general. This was an offence to which +Freeling gave no quarter. Wherever information could be obtained that +letters were being conveyed otherwise than by post, there a prosecution +was instituted. The extent to which the policy of repression was carried +less than a century ago may seem incredible. In Scotland, for instance, +every carrier and every master of a stage-coach as well as many others +were served with notice of prosecution. In that part of the kingdom +alone no less than 1200 prosecutions were instituted simultaneously. +Even Parkin, the solicitor to the Post Office in England, was absolutely +aghast at the zeal of his colleague over the Border, and counselled +moderation. Freeling, on the other hand, expressed entire approval, +declaring that the Scotch solicitor was to be encouraged and not +restrained. Nor were the prosecutions merely nominal. An unfortunate +Post Office servant, or rider as he was called, had been detected in +carrying forty unposted letters. This man, whose wages did not exceed a +few shillings a week, was sued upon each letter, and adjudged to pay +forty separate penalties of 10s. apiece. + +Lord Auckland and Lord Charles Spencer were at this time +postmasters-general. Spencer had been only recently appointed. Auckland +had held his appointment for a couple of years, and by virtue of his +seniority took the lead. Seldom, perhaps, has there been a more kindly +postmaster-general, or one who to an equal extent enlivened by sprightly +sallies the dull monotony of official work. The postmaster of Tring had +opened a letter from Freeling to Sir John Sebright. The postmaster +pleaded that the opening was accidental; Freeling maintained that it was +wilful, and recommended the man's dismissal. Auckland ordered him to be +reprimanded for culpable negligence. It may, no doubt, he said, have +been a wilful act; but it may also have been an act of inadvertence. +And then, in order to remove any feeling of soreness which Freeling may +have entertained at his recommendation being set aside, he +good-naturedly added, "_Multi alii hoc fecerunt etiam et boni_." "I +have," he continued, "a fellow-feeling on the occasion. My appetite for +reading is as much sickened as that of any man-cook for the tasting of +high sauces; and yet so lately as last night I tore the envelope of a +letter which a little attention would have shewn was not for me." + +On another occasion two postmistresses--the postmistress of Faversham +and the postmistress of Croydon--simultaneously announced their +intention of marrying, each for the third time, and asked that their +offices, which as married women they would be incompetent to continue to +hold, might be transferred to their future husbands. Auckland gave the +permission sought, adding, in the case of the postmistress of Faversham, +"I meet the repeated applications of this active deputy with great +complacency, and in the words of Lady Castlemaine's answer to our +mutton-eating monarch-- + + 'Again and again, my liege, said she, + And as oft as shall please your Majesty.'" + +Bennett, the man to whom the postmistress of Croydon was engaged, had +been known to her for some time, and she bore testimony to his +qualifications for the post to which he aspired. "The Croydon lady, who +is also laudably prone to a reiteration of nuptials," wrote Auckland, +"rests her case on grounds less solid. I have no doubt of her judgment +and testimony respecting the ability of Mr. Robert Thomas Bennett; but +for the sake of the precedent the sufficiency should be certified either +by the surveyor of the district, or by the vicar or some principal +inhabitant." + +With such pleasantries as these Auckland beguiled the tediousness of +official work; but in serious matters, matters affecting the interests +of the public, he appears to have exerted little will of his own. Once, +indeed, he expressed some misgiving as to the propriety of the course +pursued. It was in the case of the Scotch prosecutions. "I own," he +said, "that I was a little surprised to find that so large a measure as +that of commencing 1200 prosecutions has been undertaken without our +special cognisance; but this circumstance," he added, "is in some degree +explained." The reproof, if reproof it can be called, could hardly have +been milder; and yet as coming from Auckland it was a severe one. It had +not the effect, however--nor probably was it designed to have the +effect--of checking the general policy on which Freeling had embarked. +That policy was one of repression, and in England hardly less than in +Scotland prosecutions went merrily on. + +Indeed, the repressive powers of the Post Office, large as they were +already, were yet not large enough to satisfy headquarters. Freeling +discerned clearly enough that, if only a sufficiently high consideration +were offered, persons would always be found to carry letters +clandestinely. Might it not be possible to strike at the source of the +mischief, and make it penal for persons clandestinely to send them? The +tempters would thus be reached as well as the tempted. At all events the +experiment should be tried. + +With this object Freeling now devoted himself to the preparation of a +bill, one clause of which rendered liable to penalties persons sending +letters otherwise than by the post. The bill, which was throughout of a +highly penal character, eventually passed into law,[77] but not without +grave misgivings on the part of Eldon, the Lord Chancellor, and +Ellenborough, the Chief Justice. It was only in deference to the urgent +representations of the Post Office that these two eminent men consented +to the introduction of the measure, and, while waiving their objections +to it, they strongly recommended that "great lenity should be used in +its execution." It will be interesting to note how far this +recommendation was acted on. + + [77] 42 George III. cap. lxxxi. (June 20, 1802). + +Having settled the postage rates to his satisfaction, Freeling obtained +permission to carry out his favourite project of guarding the +horse-mails. The arguments in favour of this measure were overwhelming. +During the five years which had elapsed since the Treasury had refused +their assent, these mails had been stopped and rifled of their contents +on fifteen different occasions; and on the last of these--when the Lewes +mail was robbed in the neighbourhood of East Grinstead--bills had been +stolen to the amount of nearly L14,000. During the same period seven +persons had been executed for participation in these felonies; three +were awaiting trial; and the cost of prosecutions amounted to L2000 or +L3000 a year. The annual cost of Freeling's plan, as he now proposed to +modify it, would not exceed L1500. Moved by these considerations, the +Treasury gave at length the necessary authority, and the horse-posts +throughout the country, except on the less important roads, were +provided with a strong cap for the protection of the head, a jacket, a +brace of pistols, and a hanger. + +We have said that during the last five years--the five years ending in +August 1801--the horse-mails had been robbed on fifteen different +occasions. One of these robberies occurred between the towns of Selby +and York. It was a commonplace robbery enough, with little or nothing to +distinguish it from any other; and yet for a reason which will presently +appear we give a copy of the letter in which the particulars were +reported to headquarters:-- + + To FRANCIS FREELING, Esq. + + POST OFFICE, YORK, _Feb. 22, 1798_. + + SIR--I am sorry to acquaint you the post-boy coming from Selby to + this city was robbed of his mail between six and seven o'clock this + evening. About three miles on this side of Selby he was accosted by + a man on foot with a gun in his hand, who asked him if he was the + post-boy, and at the same time seized hold of the bridle. Without + waiting for any answer he told the boy he must immediately unstrap + the mail and give it him, pointing the muzzle of the gun at him + whilst he did it. When he had given up the mail, the boy begged he + would not hurt him, to which the man replied he need not be afraid, + and at the same time pulled the bridle from the horse's head. The + horse immediately galloped off with the boy, who had never + dismounted. + + He was a stout man dressed in a drab jacket, and had the appearance + of being a hicklar. The boy was too much frightened to make any + other remark on his person, and says he was totally unknown to him. + + The mail contained the bags for Howden and London, Howden and York, + and Selby and York. I have informed the surveyor of the robbery, + and have forwarded hand-bills this night to be distributed in the + country, and will take care to insert it in the first papers + published here.--Waiting your further instructions, I remain with + respect, sir, your obliged and obedient humble servant, + + THOMAS OLDFIELD. + +Let us now go forward to the year 1876. In that year this identical bag, +for which a reward had been offered at the time without result, was +placed in our hands, having been found concealed in the roof of an old +wayside public-house situated not far from the scene of the robbery, and +then in course of demolition. The original documents were called for and +produced; and thus, after an interval of nearly eighty years, the bag +and the official papers in which its loss was reported have come +together and found one common resting-place. Of the identity of the bag +there is no question. Not only do the form and texture proclaim it to be +of the last century, but it bears upon it the word "Selby," and a +medallion with the letters "G. R."[78] + + [78] This experience is not to be compared with that of Inspector + Dicker, who in 1839 wrote to the Secretary of the Post Office as + follows:-- + + "HONOURED SIR ... On arriving at Caxton, in the course of conversation + with the landlord of the Crown Public-House respecting the loss of the + above-mentioned bag, he informed me he had found a mail bag secreted + under an oak floor between the joists that supported the floor in one of + the upper rooms of his house, and that the letters it contained were of + very ancient date, as far back as the year 1702. I requested to be + allowed to see them, and, on his producing them, discovered it to be a + London bag labelled Tuxford. I desired to be allowed to take two of the + letters with me and a bit of the bag, which I gave to Mr. Peacock the + solicitor. The only intelligence I could gain as to the probable cause + of the bag being found there was that a post-rider was robbed and + murdered about the date of the above-mentioned letters." The two letters + are still with the official papers. One of them is undecipherable. The + other is nearly as legible as on the day it was written. In it the + writer announces to his uncle the death of his mother from "the Small + Pox and purples," and states that this disease is devastating the town + of Kirtlington. + +The troubles which had long been brewing with the mail-coach contractors +now came to a climax. In 1797 an Act of Parliament had been passed +imposing a duty of 1d. a mile upon all public carriages. The mail-coach +contractors bitterly complained of this impost, and not without reason. +A penny a mile was all they received for carrying the mails, and the new +statute virtually took this 1d. away, leaving them without any payment +at all for their services. It had been overlooked that the mail-coach +was not as other coaches were. The ordinary stage-coach was at liberty +to carry as many passengers as its proprietor pleased, and it was no +unusual thing for eight or nine and even ten to be carried inside, the +number outside being limited only by considerations of safety. The +mail-coach, on the contrary, was rigidly restricted to five +passengers--four inside and one out--and the Post Office rejected all +proposals for so altering the construction of the coach as to admit of +its carrying more. + +Then came the year 1799, a year of scarcity, during which all kinds of +horse provender reached unprecedented prices. The Government refused to +bring in a bill exempting the mail-coaches from the new duty; and it +only remained for the Post Office to raise the allowance which the +contractors received from 1d. to 2d. a mile, a measure involving an +additional payment of L12,000 a year. The second penny, however, was +granted only as a temporary allowance, terminable at the end of one year +and three-quarters, and, unlike most allowances given under a similar +condition, it actually ceased at the appointed time. + +The clamour of two years before now broke out afresh and with redoubled +force. The tax on public carriages remained; and horse provender had +become no cheaper. Did not justice demand that the additional penny +should continue to be paid? The Post Office was disinclined to contest +the claim; but acting under orders from above--orders which assuredly +would not have been given had Pitt remained minister--it proceeded to +bargain, and at length, after much haggling, the contractors were +prevailed upon to accept one-half of the temporary allowance or an +additional 1/2d. a mile for a further period of eighteen months, viz. +from the 10th of October 1802 to the 5th of April 1804, when the +question was to be again considered. A temporary expedient of this +nature seldom answers; and the present was no exception to the rule. +Eventually the Post Office had to give rather more than need have been +given in the first instance, and after 1804 the mails were carried at an +average rate of 2-1/8d. the single or 4-1/4d. the double mile. + +Other alterations followed. To the postmasters' salaries an increase was +made all round, an increase small indeed individually but large in the +aggregate. What had been done for Manchester eight years before was now +done for Liverpool. The Post Office there was remodelled and a penny +post established. An end was, about the same time, put to a most +objectionable arrangement. As a reward for their services in promoting +Palmer's plan, three of the surveyors had been appointed to +postmasterships, and these appointments they held in addition to their +own proper appointments as surveyor. Thus, one of their number was +postmaster of Gloucester, another postmaster of Honiton, and a third +postmaster of Portsmouth. + +These appointments were now taken away, but under circumstances +calculated to leave the least possible soreness among those from whom +they were taken. Not only were the salaries of all three raised from +L100 to L150 a year, but the son of the surveyor who was postmaster of +Gloucester was appointed to Gloucester, and the daughter of the one who +was postmaster of Honiton was appointed to Honiton. The postmaster of +Portsmouth, who had neither son nor daughter to succeed him, was, in +accordance with a practice then very common, assigned the sum of L80 a +year out of his successor's salary. This sum he received in addition to +his own salary of L150 as surveyor. + +In 1805, for the third time within eight years, the Post Office was +called upon to make a further contribution to the Exchequer; and again +Freeling devoted himself to the congenial task of revising and +increasing the postage rates. Unwilling to destroy the symmetry of his +own handiwork, he simply suggested that to the rates as prescribed by +the Act of 1801 should be added--1d. for a single letter, 2d. for a +double letter, 3d. for a treble letter, and 4d. for a letter weighing as +much as one ounce. The suggestion was adopted, and after the 12th of +March, the date on which the new Act was passed, the postage on a single +letter was--from London to Brighton, 7d. instead of 6d.; from London to +Liverpool, 10d. instead of 9d.; and from London to Edinburgh, 1s. 1d. +instead of 1s. + +But this was by no means all. In London, as we have seen, the penny post +had, four years before, been converted into a twopenny post; and now the +twopenny post, in respect to letters for places beyond the general post +limits, was converted into a threepenny one. Thus, Abingdon Street, +Westminster, was within the limits of the general post delivery, but +Millbank was beyond them. Accordingly, a letter for Millbank, even +though posted no farther off than Charing Cross, was to be charged 3d., +while the charge on a letter to Abingdon Street remained at 2d. as +before. + +The Act of 1805 introduced a still further complication. Letters from +the country addressed to any part of London that was outside the limits +of the general post were to be consigned to the twopenny post, and, in +addition to all other postage, to be charged with the sum of 2d. Thus, +of two letters of the same weight delivered at the same time and by the +same person, one, originating in the country, would have to pay 2d., and +the other, originating in London, would have to pay 3d. + +To record, therefore, that in 1805 the postage on a single letter--as, +for instance, between London and Plymouth--was 10d., although in one +sense correct, would give an imperfect idea of the real state of the +case. Plymouth was one of the towns which possessed village or +convention posts. Suppose a letter from one of the villages to which +these posts extended to have been addressed to Knightsbridge or any +other part of London situated outside the general post boundary. The +postage would have been not 10d. but 10d. + 2d. + whatever might have +been agreed upon for the village accommodation. + +But more than this. There were certain towns through which, though lying +off the direct road, the mail-coaches passed for a consideration. Such +towns were Hinckley in Leicestershire, Atherstone in Warwickshire, and +Tamworth in Staffordshire. Here, in consideration of the accommodation +afforded by the mail-coach passing through, the inhabitants undertook to +pay in addition to all other postage 1d. on each letter. A day came when +they sought to be relieved from this impost. Vain aspiration! Had they +not agreed for a penny a letter? And, for any relief that the Post +Office would give, a penny a letter they should pay to the end of time. + +It may safely be affirmed that at the present day no increase of postage +would produce a corresponding increase of revenue. Such, unhappily, was +not the case at the beginning of the century. People did not then write +unless they had something to say which could not be left unsaid without +loss or inconvenience. Trade, moreover, was rapidly expanding, and, as a +consequence of the war, the ports were closed. Thus, correspondence was +driven inland; and upon inland correspondence, unlike correspondence +with foreign parts, the Government received the whole of the postage. +But be the cause what it might, it must be owned that, in respect to the +returns which they brought to the Exchequer, the three increases of +postage made in 1797, 1801, and 1805 answered expectation. This, though +not a justification, is perhaps their best excuse. In 1796, the year +before the first of the three increases was made, the net Post Office +revenue was L479,000; in 1806, the year after the last of them, it was +L1,066,000. The same result is apparent in the case of what, for +distinction's sake, we will still call the London penny post, although +the London penny post had become a twopenny and threepenny one. In 1796 +the net revenue derived from this source was L8000; in 1806 it was +L41,000. + +Among those who about this time criticised the doings of the Post +Office was William Cobbett. Cobbett was regarded by Freeling as a base +calumniator with whom no terms were to be kept; and yet on a +dispassionate retrospect it is impossible to deny that on the whole his +criticisms were just, and that such of them as appeared in print[79] +were expressed in not intemperate language. At the present time far +stronger language is used every day under far less provocation. Of +Cobbett's numerous subjects of complaint we will mention only two--the +so-called "early delivery" of letters and the treatment of foreign +newspapers; and these have been selected because they serve to +illustrate, better perhaps than any others, the practice of the Post +Office eighty or ninety years ago. The latter of the two subjects serves +also to explain much that would otherwise be inexplicable. + + [79] _Weekly Political Register_, Nos. 25 and 26, 21st and 28th Dec. + 1805. + +The "early delivery"--a species of accommodation confined to London--was +not what its name would seem to imply, because no letters were even +begun to be delivered before nine o'clock in the morning. It was really +a preferential delivery, a delivery restricted to those who chose to pay +for it. For a fee or, as the Post Office preferred to call it, a +subscription of 5s. a quarter or L1 a year, any one residing within +certain limits, including the whole of the city and extending westward +as far as Hamilton Place, could get his letters in advance of the +general delivery. It was managed thus. At nine o'clock or a little after +the letter-carriers started from Lombard Street; and those for the +remoter districts, in addition to their own letters, took letters for +the districts through which they passed in proceeding to their own and, +without waiting for the postage, dropped them at the houses of +subscribers. The postage was collected in the course of the week by the +regular letter-carrier of the district. + +Against this preferential delivery, a delivery purchased by individuals +at the expense of the general public, Cobbett very justly inveighed. +Freeling, on the other hand, defended it as a priceless boon to +merchants and traders who desired to receive their letters before the +appointed hour. He omitted to explain, however, why a boon which could +be bought by some could not be given gratuitously to all. It is a +curious fact that this early delivery, essentially unfair as it was, +continued to exist for more than thirty years after the period of which +we are now writing. As late as 1835 and 1836 it was still in vogue, and +not only the merchants and traders of London but the denizens of the +squares were largely availing themselves of it. But it was chiefly in +the city that the practice flourished. Thus, on the morning of the 9th +of May 1828, out of a total of 637 letters for the Lombard Street +district no less than 570 were "delivered early." + +The second of Cobbett's complaints, or rather the second which we +propose to notice, had reference to the treatment of foreign newspapers. +What this treatment was at the beginning of the present century may +appear hardly credible to us who live at the end of it. Except at the +letter rate of postage, no newspapers could either enter or leave the +kingdom unless they were franked;[80] and the power of franking them was +restricted to Post Office servants. This power was as old as the Post +Office itself; and so was the practice of exercising it for a +consideration. What was new was an arrangement or understanding between +Freeling and Arthur Stanhope, the head of the foreign department, by +virtue of which Stanhope in conjunction with his subordinates franked +newspapers for the Continent, and Freeling franked those for America and +the British possessions abroad. + + [80] What we have here called "franked" newspapers went free in both + directions; but of course it was only newspapers outwards that bore a + signature on the superscription. On those inwards a signature was + immaterial, as they would in any case go, without being charged, direct + from the port of arrival to Lombard Street. Abroad, special arrangements + for their transit and delivery were made from London. Thus, the London + Office by means of its private agency could get an English newspaper + delivered in Paris for 2d. By post, the charge between Calais and Paris + would have been from 3s. to 4s. + +Here was a mine of wealth. Newspapers were rapidly increasing in number +and postage was rapidly rising. Of course, so long as the price charged +for franking was kept well below the cost of postage, the demand for +franks would be brisk. Before the century was sixteen years old Freeling +and Stanhope were drawing from this source more than L3000 a year each. +Cobbett had had personal experience of the system. He had paid a visit +to America, and having while there been supplied with a newspaper from +England, he had on his return been presented with a bill for nine +guineas as the price of franking. Not only did he refuse to pay the +bill, and persist in his refusal in spite of repeated applications, but +he inveighed in his paper against the practice which made such a charge +possible. This was in 1802. He now, in December 1805, renewed his attack +upon the Post Office; but this time it was in respect to the manner in +which newspapers were treated on their arrival in England, a treatment +still more extraordinary than that which they received on despatch. + +The matter is somewhat complicated, and in order to explain it we must +go back a few years. Till the breaking out of the French Revolution and +the Continental wars which succeeded it, foreign intelligence had long +been uninteresting and was little sought after. The few newspapers that +were published in London had confined themselves almost exclusively to +domestic matters. Then came a sudden change. Domestic matters fell into +the background. The whole country was eager to learn what was taking +place on the other side of the Channel. Newspapers multiplied apace. +Where there was one before, there were now half a dozen, all hungering +for foreign intelligence. Here was an opportunity for the clerks in the +foreign department of the Post Office. These clerks, in conjunction with +their comptroller, had the exclusive right of franking newspapers for +the Continent, just as newspapers circulating within Great Britain were +franked by the clerks of the roads. They had also, by virtue of their +position, unequalled facilities for getting newspapers from abroad, and +of these facilities they now availed themselves to the utmost. + +It would not be correct to state that at this time they established a +foreign news-agency, for this they had done long ago; but what had +hitherto been an insignificant business now became a large and important +one. It may be interesting to trace its progress. At the time of which +we are writing--from 1789 onwards--the foreign correspondence was seldom +in course of distribution in London till the afternoon, owing to the +then established custom of waiting till two o'clock for any mail that +might be due. Thus, a foreign mail arriving at three o'clock in the +afternoon of one day might not be delivered until the same hour in the +afternoon of the following day. + +Another curious custom prevailed at this time. It was considered right, +as a matter of international courtesy, that no foreign newspapers should +be delivered until the foreign ministers had received their +correspondence; and this correspondence, though delivered separately +from the general correspondence, was seldom delivered earlier. Meanwhile +the newspapers were held in reserve by the clerks, ready to be delivered +to their customers as soon as delivery was permissible by the rule of +the office. This was a state of things which readily lent itself to +malpractices. The person whom the comptroller appointed to distribute +the foreign newspapers was an old woman of the name of Cooper, and in +her custody they remained during the close time, the time during which +the foreign ministers' correspondence was preparing for delivery. This +woman had a son who assisted her in the distribution, a young man of +some ability and of no principle. He was not slow to take advantage of +his position. From the foreign newspapers, while in his mother's +custody, he jotted down the points of interest and sold his jottings to +the London newspapers. The profits he derived from this source assumed +such proportions that in the course of a few years he was reputed to +have amassed a not inconsiderable fortune. From one newspaper alone, the +_Courier_, he received no less than L200 in a single year. + +Thus matters went on, save only that owing to the establishment of a +second delivery of foreign correspondence the interval during which +newspapers lay at the Post Office was shortened, until the year 1796, +when Stanhope's appointment as comptroller put an end to one scandal +merely to establish another. No sooner had Stanhope taken up his +appointment than the clerks, who had long protested in vain against +Cooper's conduct, broke out into fresh complaints; and the arrangement +was then made which called forth Cobbett's invective. Why, argued +Stanhope, should not that which Cooper has been doing clandestinely be +done openly and under official sanction? It is true a rule exists that +foreign newspapers must not be delivered in advance of the foreign +ministers' correspondence; but a carefully-compiled summary of the +contents of a newspaper is a very different thing from the newspaper +itself. This, surely, might be delivered to the London editors without a +breach either of the rule itself or of the considerations on which it +was founded. + +Such were Stanhope's arguments, and he proceeded to put them into +practice. With few if any exceptions, the editors of the London +newspapers, both morning and evening, fell into the plan. French and +Dutch translators were engaged, and into their hands the foreign +newspapers were placed as soon as they arrived at the Post Office. For +each summary the charge was one guinea, and as there were generally two +summaries a week, the sum which each editor paid was a little over L100 +a year. The entire proceeds, after payment of expenses, were divided in +certain proportions between Stanhope and his subordinates. + +In 1801 and again in 1802 Cobbett had inveighed against a practice which +thus amerced the editors of the London newspapers; but he might as well +have preached to the winds. The practice was far too remunerative to be +abandoned without a struggle. It is true that no one need take a summary +unless he liked; but if he omitted to take one, it was at the cost of +having only stale news to publish. + +At the close of 1805 circumstances were somewhat altered, and Cobbett +renewed his attack. Communication by Dover was closed, and +correspondence from the Continent could reach England only by Holland +and Gravesend. The best arrangements of which the circumstances admitted +were made for keeping up the supply of foreign newspapers and summaries; +but after a while they broke down, and the Post Office was forced to +seek the assistance of the Alien Office. This office had agents at +Gravesend, and undertook during the emergency to do what had hitherto +been done by the Post Office. Cobbett saw his opportunity, and was not +slow to take advantage of it. It had been dinned into his ears that it +was through the Post Office alone that foreign newspapers could be +legally obtained, and that the department could make what arrangements +it pleased for their distribution. But arrangements which in the hands +of the Post Office were tolerated only because they had, or were +supposed to have, legal sanction had now been transferred to the Alien +Office. What, then, asked Cobbett, had become of the law? To this +inquiry the Post Office did not find it convenient to vouchsafe a reply. + +But a still more formidable antagonist than Cobbett was about to deliver +an assault. This was the _Times_ newspaper. The _Times_, although among +what Cobbett called "the guinea-giving papers," seldom made use of the +summaries which the guineas purchased, regarding them as meagre and +unsatisfactory. Drawing from other and more fertile sources, it +contrived in the matter of priority of intelligence to distance all +competitors. On one occasion, indeed--a remarkable feat for those +days--it even forestalled the "Court," or, as they were now called, the +"State" letters, which, unlike the ordinary letters, were delivered the +moment the mail arrived. It was in 1807, when George Canning was Foreign +Secretary. Canning had not yet opened his despatches, and was amazed to +find in his morning's paper information of which he had received no +previous notice, and which, as he afterwards found, the despatches +contained. Indignant that his intelligence should have been thus +anticipated, he instantly wrote to the Post Office demanding an +explanation. Angry as Canning was, the reply he received can hardly +have failed to evoke a smile. This reply was that the Continental +newspapers from which the _Times_ had derived its information had been +obtained not from the Post Office but from the Foreign Office, and that +they had reached this office in Canning's own bag under a cover +addressed to himself. + +The _Times_ had long protested against the intolerable delay which +foreign newspapers sustained at the Post Office. Especially had it +protested against the absurdity of a system which, while withholding the +newspapers themselves, yet permitted a summary of their contents to be +published. But it had still more personal grounds of complaint. Letters +for the _Times_, sealed letters addressed by permission to the +Under-Secretaries of State, were excluded from the Foreign Office bag +and kept back for the general delivery because, forsooth, the clerks at +the Post Office were pleased to feel sure that these letters contained +foreign newspapers, and feared that by forwarding them they would damage +their own interests. + +Such were the amazing liberties taken with correspondence in those days. +No wonder that the _Times_ proceeded to resent the outrage. In its issue +of the 9th of May 1807 appeared an article which, after charging the +Post Office with extortions and with sacrificing public convenience to +the avarice of individuals, proceeded to declare that its administration +was a disgrace to the Government. Freeling's indignation knew no bounds. +That the charge was just never seems to have occurred to him. In his +view it was nothing less than a libel--a libel of the most malignant +character. Never had man been more cruelly wronged than himself. The +postmasters-general, Lords Sandwich and Chichester, had been only four +days in office, and their chief-officer was as yet unknown to them. +Obviously the intention was to damage this officer's reputation in the +eyes of his new masters. But this intention should be frustrated. A +criminal information should be filed. No; not a criminal information, +for thus the aggressor's mouth would be closed. It should be a civil +suit or action at law; and then the aggressor would be at liberty to +tell his own tale, and all the world should see how little justification +there was for his aspersions. + +At this time it was not known to Freeling that letters for the _Times_ +sent under cover to the Under-Secretaries of State were being diverted +from the ordinary course; and when, a little later on, the fact of +diversion became known to him, the terms in which he expressed his sense +of the impropriety were such as even the aggrieved newspaper would +probably have held to leave nothing to be desired. But to apologise and +arrest proceedings--these were things which would appear not to have +come within the sphere of contemplation. An action had been begun, and +it must proceed to the bitter end. A righteous cause is not necessarily +one that can be defended at law. Such would seem to have been the case +in the present instance, for when the action came on for trial, the +_Times_ failed to appear, and judgment went by default. + +Freeling was jubilant over the result. Here was a triumphant vindication +of his own and Stanhope's proceedings. A charge had been brought--a +charge as serious as any that could be levelled against a public +department, and not even an attempt had been made to substantiate it. +This was a happy termination of an unhappy business. So, at least, +thought Freeling; but, as a matter of fact, the business was far from +being terminated yet. + +On the 27th of July, within three weeks of his reporting to the +postmasters-general the result of the action at law, appeared a second +article headed "Post Office," in which the iniquities of the system were +ruthlessly exposed. Strong language, indeed--language such as two months +before had brought the _Times_ within the meshes of the law--was +carefully avoided, and the article confined itself to a bare narrative +of facts. But the case against the Post Office lost nothing on this +account. The facts spoke for themselves, and these, stated in their +naked simplicity, constituted an indictment, to the weight of which no +words could add. We can well believe that from this period the _Times_ +received its foreign newspapers in due course; but in other respects the +only effect which the appearance of the second article had upon the Post +Office was to spoil the triumph which it was celebrating over the result +of the first. As to changing their practice and setting their house in +order, this appears not to have occurred to either Freeling or Stanhope. +On the contrary, they regarded themselves as deeply-injured persons, +and, by dint of sheer importunity, induced the postmasters-general to +consent to a second prosecution. Wiser counsels, however, prevailed. The +attorney-general, to whom the official papers were sent, took care not +to return them, and to the present day the Post Office is without these +interesting records. + +It is time we inquired what measure of success had attended the +experimental posts--the posts by which, under mutual agreement between +the Post Office and the inhabitants, small towns and villages were to be +connected with post towns. Village posts, they were sometimes called; +but more commonly fifth-clause posts, from the clause of the Act under +which they were established. At first they answered well, but in 1807 an +authoritative decision to the effect that franked letters and newspapers +conveyed by a fifth-clause post were exempt from charge tended +materially to disconcert arrangements. Franked letters, though exempt +from charge by the general post, were not exempt either by the penny +posts in the country or by the twopenny post in London; and it had been +taken for granted that they, as well as newspapers, would not be exempt +by the fifth-clause posts. + +But it had now been decided otherwise, and this made all the difference. +In arranging these posts nothing more had been aimed at than to make +them self-supporting, and in adjusting the receipts and expenditure +franks and newspapers had been counted as so many letters; but if these +were to be eliminated, the balance would be on the wrong side. A service +that was not self-supporting was, at the beginning of the century, +regarded by the Post Office authorities as an abomination; and saddled +as they were with a number of fifth-clause posts which had ceased to +pay their own expenses, it became a serious question what was best to be +done. + +A decision was precipitated by the action of the little town of Olney in +Buckinghamshire. Olney had at one time received from headquarters in +Lombard Street what was called "an allowance in aid of its post"; but +when fifth-clause posts were introduced this allowance ceased, and the +inhabitants, in consideration of their being supplied with an official +messenger from Newport Pagnel, agreed to pay over and above all other +postage the sum of 1d. on each letter delivered. This agreement had now +existed for several years, and the inhabitants had grown a little tired +of it, being of opinion that a private messenger of their own could be +procured on easier terms. Accordingly they petitioned headquarters to +reduce the rate they were paying from 1d. to 1/2d. a letter, and, the +request being refused, they proceeded to consider whether their +agreement should not be terminated. + +This having come to Freeling's ears, he stopped the post at once, and +the inhabitants were left to get their letters as best they could. Not +even notice of his intention had been given. Nor was this all. These +capricious and discontented people, he said, should have imposed upon +them a penny post. Under a penny post they would still have their pence +to pay; and the pence would be payable, not, as under the fifth-clause +post, only on the letters delivered, but on those collected as well. +This, while operating as a punitive measure, would have the incidental +advantage of adding to the revenue. Freeling was a bold man, and yet, +bold as he was, his courage deserted him in this instance. At the last +moment, after arrangements had been made for converting the fifth-clause +post into a penny post, the order for conversion was revoked. To impose +a penny post, he argued, would be no injustice; it would not even be a +hardship, and yet these unreasonable people would be sure to represent +it as such. They would urge that at one time their town had received an +allowance in aid of its post; that then a foot-messenger had been +established, and they paid 1d. on each letter delivered; and that now +because they proposed to replace this messenger, as the Act of +Parliament gave them power to do, by a messenger of their own, who would +perform the service at a cheaper rate, an older Act was brought to bear +upon them which, while obliging them to pay 1d. on each letter collected +as well as delivered, made the employment of their own messenger +illegal. + +Such were the arguments by which Freeling excused himself to the +postmasters-general, as though an excuse were necessary, for not going +on with the high-handed proceeding he had originally contemplated. In +the result, Olney was given a Post Office of its own, being made in +technical language a sub-office under Newport Pagnel, the post town. A +rule was at the same time laid down to the effect that fifth-clause +posts should no longer be maintained except in the case of small towns. +To connect these with post towns fifth-clause posts might still be +continued; but, in the case of villages and hamlets, they were to be +replaced by penny posts. From this rule the fifth-clause posts received +their death-blow. Such of them as were village posts were promptly +converted into penny posts; and such as were town posts, as the small +towns acquired Post Offices of their own, became gradually merged in the +general posts of the kingdom. + +The Post Office, which during the last ten or fifteen years had done +much to impair its own utility, was now to receive a check from without; +and this in respect to a branch of its service which was perhaps least +open to criticism. The mail-coach system had continued to prosper. In +1811 the number of mail-coaches constantly running in Great Britain was +about 220, and the extent of road over which they travelled was between +11,000 and 12,000 miles a day. The country gentry and the commercial +classes vied with each other in demanding an extension of the system. +Towns lying off the main road were glad to pay 1d. a letter in addition +to the postage on condition of the mail-coach passing through them on +its way. The mail-coach, moreover, apart from the facilities it +afforded for communication, brought traffic in its train. It gave, in +the language of the time, publicity to the roads. Palmer had, more than +twenty years before, noticed this result and commented upon it. He found +as a matter of experience that wherever a mail-coach was set up other +traffic followed, and the post-chaises along the road were furbished up +and better conducted. + +But popular as the new system was on the whole, there was one class of +persons with whom it was distinctly the reverse. These were the trustees +of the roads. With them the exemption from toll which the mail-coaches +enjoyed was a constant source of complaint. Nor was it calculated to +abate their discontent that the Post Office, in whose favour the +exemption was granted, possessed the power, a power which it constantly +exercised, of indicting the roads if they were not kept in proper +repair. The state of the trusts was at this time far from flourishing. +In the neighbourhood of London and other large towns where traffic was +considerable the tolls were low and the receipts high; but in the +remoter and less populous parts of the kingdom the exact converse held +good. There the tolls were high and the receipts low. + +To take the kingdom as a whole, the case stood thus: In very few +instances indeed had any part of the debt on the turnpike trusts been +discharged, and in fewer instances still had a sinking fund been +established with a view to extinction of debt by process of time. With +these rare exceptions, nothing more had been done than to keep up +payment of the interest agreed upon, while in many instances no interest +at all was being paid or interest at a reduced rate. In some instances +indeed, the receipts from the tolls were not enough to defray even the +cost of maintenance and repairs. + +It is not to be wondered at if in these circumstances the trustees of +the roads looked with longing eyes to the L50,000 a year which was the +estimated value of the tolls that, except for their exemption, the +mail-coaches would have had to pay. Of course the postmasters-general +were strongly opposed to the surrender of this large amount; and yet +there was one consideration which told heavily against them. It was +this, that in Ireland the mails were not exempt from toll. Under an Act +passed by the Irish Legislature in 1798, an Act which still remained in +force, an account was kept of all tolls leviable at the turnpike gates +through which the mail passed, and this account was paid quarterly by +the Post Office authorities in Dublin. Why, it was asked, could not a +similar system be adopted in Great Britain? It was also urged, and not +without force, that in the matter of weight the mail bore to the coach +which carried it a very small proportion. The coach with its loading +complete weighed from thirty-three to forty cwts., while the mail seldom +weighed more than one cwt. For the sake of so small a proportion was it +equitable that exemption should extend to the whole? + +A strenuous and united effort was now made to force the mail-coaches to +pay toll. The question came before Parliament, and a Committee was +appointed to inquire and report. The result could hardly have been in +doubt. It was by the landed proprietors, the men who had seats in +Parliament, that the turnpike roads had been made, and they were +generally the creditors on the turnpike funds. The Committee was +unanimous in recommending that the exemption from toll which the +mail-coaches enjoyed should absolutely cease and determine. + +On the Committee's report no action was taken in the session of 1811; +but if the Post Office supposed that the matter would be allowed to +drop, it was doomed to disappointment. Early in the following year +Spencer Perceval forwarded to Lombard Street for any observations the +postmasters-general might have to offer upon it a bill having for its +object to repeal the exemption. The postmasters-general suggested +certain alterations, but upon the subject-matter of the bill, coming as +it did from the Prime Minister, and their views being already well +known, they confined themselves to once more expressing a doubt whether +such a measure could be necessary. In May Perceval was assassinated; +and now the postmasters-general fondly hoped that the matter was at an +end. What then was their dismay at learning a month or two later that +the Government was resolved to proceed with the bill. The same letter +that conveyed this intelligence contained a suggestion as strange as it +was original. This was that, in order to meet complaints, the +mail-coaches on certain roads should be withdrawn. The postmasters-general, +little supposing that such a suggestion could take practical shape, +simply replied that not a whisper had yet reached them to the effect +that mail-coaches were considered in excess; that, on the contrary, +they were being constantly urged to increase the number. + +The bill was finally withdrawn; but heavy was the price which had to be +paid. With those who were advocating the measure Vansittart, the new +Chancellor of the Exchequer, effected a compromise behind the back of +the Post Office. There was indeed ample room for a satisfactory +adjustment. For the conveyance of the mails the mail-coach proprietors +received from the Post Office L30,000 a year; they paid to the +Government for stamp duty L40,000 a year; and the exemption which they +enjoyed from toll was estimated to represent L50,000 a year. These +figures seem almost to suggest a feasible arrangement; yet the +compromise actually effected took another form. It was that, in +accordance with the suggestion of a few months before, mail-coaches +should be withdrawn. + +Nor was this mere empty talk; Vansittart had pledged himself to specific +performance. And now began a general dis-coaching of the roads. The +mail-coaches running between Warwick and Coventry, between Shrewsbury +and Aberystwith, between Aberystwith and Ludlow, between Edinburgh and +Dalkeith, between Edinburgh and Musselburgh, between Chichester and +Godalming, between Dorchester and Stroudwater--all were discontinued at +once. Notice to quit was served upon the mail-coaches between Worcester +and Hereford, between Hereford and Gloucester, between Hereford and +Brecon, between Alton and Gosport, and between Plymouth and Tavistock. +And, what was hardly less important, numerous applications for +mail-coaches which, except for Treasury interference, would have been +granted, were refused. By Pitt the mail-coach had been regarded as a +pioneer of civilisation; in the eyes of Pitt's successors it was a +mischievous encumbrance. + +Vansittart, having dealt one deadly blow at the Post Office, now +proceeded to deal another. The war with France had exhausted the +Exchequer, and, as part of the ways and means, he called upon the Post +Office for a further contribution of L200,000 a year. Once more the +screw was turned; and, oppressive as the postage rates were already, +they were as from the 9th of July 1812 increased as follows:-- + ++-----------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+------+ +| |Single.|Double.|Treble.|Ounce.| +| +-------+-------+-------+------+ +| | _d._ | _d._ | _d._ | _d._ | +| +-------+-------+-------+------+ +|Not exceeding 15 miles | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | +|Above 15 and not exceeding 20 miles| 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | +| " 20 " 30 " | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | +| " 30 " 50 " | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | +| " 50 " 80 " | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | +| " 80 " 120 " | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | +| " 120 " 170 " | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | +| " 170 " 230 " | 11 | 22 | 33 | 44 | +| " 230 " 300 " | 12 | 24 | 36 | 48 | +| " 300 " 400 " | 13 | 26 | 39 | 52 | +| " 400 " 500 " | 14 | 28 | 42 | 56 | +| " 500 " 600 " | 15 | 30 | 45 | 60 | +| " 600 " 700 " | 16 | 32 | 48 | 64 | +|Above 700 miles | 17 | 34 | 51 | 68 | ++-----------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+------+ + +This is the highest point to which the rates of postage have ever +attained in this country. Freeling would have resented so much as a +suggestion that the institution which had now for some years been under +his exclusive management was not in the most perfect order to which +human foresight and ingenuity could raise it; and yet to the +dispassionate observer it may be permitted to doubt whether eighty years +ago the Post Office was not in some important particulars more open to +criticism than at any time since its first establishment. + +Let us compare for a moment the beginning of the nineteenth with the +end of the seventeenth century. In 1695 the postage from London to +Liverpool or to York or to Plymouth was, for a single letter, 3d.; in +1813 it was 11d. In 1695, wherever letters were being carried +clandestinely, the policy was to supplant; in 1813 the policy was to +repress. In 1695 the King would not consent to a single prosecution even +for the sake of example; in 1813, when the Post Office revenue had +passed from the King to the people, prosecutions were being conducted +wholesale. In 1695 a circuitous post would be converted into a direct +one, even though the shorter distance carried less postage; in 1813 a +direct post in place of a circuitous one was being constantly refused on +the plea that a loss of postage would result. In 1695 London enjoyed the +advantage of a penny post, and this post carried up to one pound in +weight; in 1813 the penny post had been replaced by a twopenny and +threepenny one, and, except in the case of a packet passing through the +general post, the weight was limited to four ounces. In 1813, moreover, +the complications were bewildering. In some places there were +fifth-clause posts, and in others penny posts; and the charge by these +posts was in addition to the charge by the general post. Some towns, +over and above all other charges, paid an additional 1d. on each letter +for the privilege of the mail-coach passing through them. Of two +adjoining houses one might receive its letters free of any charge for +delivery and not the other. This difference was to be found in towns +where building was going on--as, for instance, at Brighton--old houses +being considered within, and new houses without, what was called the +usage of delivery. + +In London itself the complications, if possible, were more bewildering +still. The threepenny post began where the twopenny post ended. Thus far +the practice was simple enough. But the general post limits did not +coincide with the limits of the twopenny post: and the limits of both +the twopenny post and the general post differed from those of the +foreign post. Indeed, it is probably not too much to say that in 1813 +there was not a single town in the kingdom at the Post Office of which +absolutely certain information could have been obtained as to the charge +to which a letter addressed to any other town would be subject. More +than ten years later Post Office experts examined before a Committee of +the House of Commons were unable to state what, even on letters +delivered in London, would in certain cases be the proper postage. + +It may here be asked how it was that with rates so oppressive and so +vexatiously levied the public were induced to tolerate them. The +mail-coaches were popular except with the road trustees; and there is +reason to think that even these, or at all events the principal persons +among them, only professed a dislike which they did not really feel. The +Post Office packets were also popular, and well they deserved to be, +distinguishing themselves as they were about this time by deeds of even +more than usual daring. + +But these considerations, added to the personal popularity which +Freeling himself enjoyed, are altogether insufficient to account for the +extraordinary patience of the public under the treatment which eighty or +ninety years ago they endured at the hands of the Post Office. The +explanation we believe to be that the heavy rates of postage, and not a +few of the vexations incidental to the levying of them, were tacitly +accepted as a part, a necessary part, of the load of taxation which the +people were called upon to bear as a consequence of the war in which +England was engaged. We further believe that, in respect to its acts of +aggression, the Post Office escaped criticism mainly because its +proceedings, irritating as they were to individuals, were not generally +known. This want of publicity is specially noticeable in the matter of +prosecutions. At the present day a single prosecution undertaken by the +Post Office would be the subject of comment in every newspaper in the +kingdom. Eighty or ninety years ago, numerous as the Post Office +prosecutions were, there was not a newspaper in the kingdom that +gratuitously published particulars or even announced the fact. Often +did the postmasters-general lament this reticence, believing as they did +that to make known their repressive measures, and the amount of +penalties inflicted, must have a deterrent effect upon the illicit +traffic; and at length, for want of any better means of securing +publicity, they gave directions that, wherever a prosecution took place, +hand-bills giving full particulars were to be struck off and affixed to +the doors of the local inns. + +The question which two years before had agitated the minds of the road +trustees was now revived in Scotland. Among those who pressed for the +establishment of mail-coaches none were more persistent than the large +landed proprietors north of the Tweed; and as soon as their demands were +acceded to, none were louder in their denunciations of the injustice +which exempted mail-coaches from toll. The Government yielded at length +to the pressure that was brought to bear, and in 1813 an Act was passed +repealing, so far as Scotland was concerned, exemption from toll in the +case of mail-carriages with more than two wheels. The same Act, in order +to indemnify the Post Office for the loss it would thus sustain, imposed +an additional postage of 1/2d. upon every letter conveyed by mail-coach +in Scotland. + +The Post Office was not quite fairly treated in this matter. No sooner +had the Act passed than the trustees of the roads raised the tolls. At +the old rates the mail-coaches, had they not been exempt, would have had +to pay L6865 a year; at the new rates, now that they were exempt no +longer, they had to pay L11,759 a year, or more by nearly L6000 than the +additional 1/2d. of postage had been estimated to yield. Nor was this +all. Some of the Road Acts contained a clause empowering the trustees to +demand the sum of 1d. for every outside passenger. This power had never +yet been exercised; but now the demand was rigorously enforced in the +case of passengers by the mail-coaches, and by these coaches only. + +Thus unhandsomely dealt with, the Post Office proceeded to do in +Scotland what under other circumstances it had done two years before in +England. It reduced the number of its coaches. This excited many +murmurs. From Glasgow, for instance, a mail-coach had been running +through Paisley to Greenock. This was now replaced by a horse post, and +the district was not only relieved from the payment of the additional +postage of 1/2d. a letter, but--a boon which had long been earnestly +sought--was given three posts a day instead of two. Yet all three towns +refused to be comforted, and bitterly reproached the postmasters-general +for depriving them of their mail-coach. The convenience of travellers, +however, was not a matter of which the Post Office took any account. The +Post Office was concerned with the transmission of letters; and wherever +these could be transmitted with the same or nearly the same expedition +and at less expense by other means, the mail-coaches were discarded. + +About this time two measures were introduced which shew a strange +forgetfulness of what had gone before. Of these one was a reorganisation +of the returned letter office, and the other the passing of a fresh Ship +Letter Act. Hitherto, of the letters which could not be delivered only +those had been returned to the writers which contained property or +enclosures of apparent importance. The others had been torn up and sold +as waste paper. Now all were to be presumed to be of importance to the +writers and to be returned accordingly. The propriety and even the +legality of charging such letters had been questioned in Palmer's time, +and Pitt had decided that they were not to be charged. This was now +forgotten, and the Post Office proceeded not only to return every letter +that could not be delivered, but to charge it with postage. To Freeling, +who regarded the Post Office as a mere engine of taxation, the +temptation was no doubt a strong one. The measure, before being +definitively adopted, had been tried experimentally for one year; and it +was found that out of 189,000 letters returned to the writers more than +135,000 were accepted, producing a clear revenue of L4421. + +By the new Ship Letter Act the charge on a single letter arriving by +private ship was raised from 4d. to 6d., and, what was far more +important, no letters were to be sent by private ship except such as had +been brought to the Post Office to be charged. The directors of the East +India Company, who would seem to have strangely overlooked the bill +during its passage through the House, implored the Government to get the +Act repealed. It was true, they urged, that their official +correspondence was exempted from the operation of the Act; but dependent +on them in the East was a small army of servants whose private letters +had hitherto gone free, and, under the provisions of the Act, would go +free no longer. With the East Indies there was no communication by +packet, and surely it was introducing a new principle for the Post +Office to make a charge where it did not perform a service. Did not the +charge in such a case become a mere tax upon letter-writing? + +Freeling, on the other hand, maintained that no new principle was +involved, inasmuch as the previous Act, the Act of 1799, recognised the +sending of letters by ships other than packet boats and charging them +with postage. This was perfectly true; but he forgot to add that, +whereas the Act of 1799 was permissive, the Act of 1814 was compulsory, +that under the one Act it was optional with the senders of letters +whether they would take them to the Post Office or not; and under the +other, if they did not take them to the Post Office, they rendered +themselves liable to severe penalties. He might indeed have gone +further, and said that in 1799 Pitt and the whole of the administration +of which Pitt was the head scouted the very idea of anything in the +shape of compulsion being employed in the matter. + +The Ship Letter Act of 1814 proved a complete failure. It contained no +provision obliging private ships to carry letters, and the private ships +between England and India were almost entirely in the hands of the East +India Company. No wonder, therefore, that the Company, when asked +whether it might be announced to the public that bags would be made up +at the Post Office to be conveyed by their ships, replied in the +negative. The Court of Directors, their letter said, are not without +hopes that Parliament will consent to revise the Act, and meanwhile they +"do not see fit to authorise the commanders or owners of any of their +ships to take charge of any bag of letters from the Post Office +subjected to a rate of postage for sea conveyance." Freeling was filled +with dismay. "A vital impediment," he exclaimed, "to the execution of +the Act." + +The expectations of the India House were not disappointed. In the next +session of Parliament the Act of 1814 was replaced by another which +granted larger exemptions to the Company and disarmed its opposition. +The later Act gave power to the Post Office to establish a line of +packets to India and the Cape of Good Hope, and, until a line should be +established, to employ as packets any ships it pleased, including ships +of war. The mails were to go once a month. By packet--in which term is +included the ship which the Post Office might be pleased to designate as +packet for the occasion--the postage on a single letter was fixed at 3s. +6d.; by private ship it varied according to direction, outwards 1s. 2d. +and inwards 8d. + +Such were the main provisions of the Act of 1815; but there were others +which introduced new principles. As a result of the action of the East +India Company in the preceding year, it was now for the first time made +compulsory upon private ships to carry letters when required to do so by +the Post Office,[81] and the Post Office was empowered to pay for their +carriage a reasonable sum. This sum was to go by way of remuneration to the +owners of the vessels, and to be in addition to a gratuity of 2d. a letter +which the commander was to receive as his own perquisite. A still more +important provision, a provision which assuredly could not have emanated +from the Post Office, was one in favour of newspapers. By packet the +postage on a letter to India or the Cape weighing as much as one ounce was +to be 14s.; on a newspaper of no greater weight, if stamped and in a cover +open at the side or end, it was to be 3d. This was the first enactment +that provided for newspapers going outside the limits of the United +Kingdom for less than the letter rate of postage. + + [81] One of the first, if not the very first, against whom proceedings + were taken under this provision of the statute was Robert Wetherall, + master of the ship _Albinia_, from Gravesend to the Cape of Good Hope. + Wetherall had at the last moment refused to take the mails on board, + consisting of 173 letters. On the advice of the law officers the Post + Office contemplated proceeding against him by indictment; but the + Government decided to proceed by information, with a view apparently to + give to the case greater importance and notoriety. + +What was virtually a most interesting experiment was now about to be +tried. To India and the Cape the Post Office had no packets of its own; +and before private ships could be employed as packets, the consent of +the owners had to be obtained and the amount of payment to be agreed +upon. Practically, the Post Office was at the mercy of others. Mails had +to be sent once every month; ships of war could not always be employed; +and should the shipping interest combine, the postmasters-general would +have to pay pretty much what owners chose to demand. To the credit of +that interest nothing in the shape of combination took place. During the +first sixteen months the mails were despatched five times by His +Majesty's ships, four times by ships of the East India Company, and +seven times by ships belonging to private owners. His Majesty's ships +carried the mails, of course, without charge. The East India Company, +with admirable generosity, placed their ships at the disposal of the +Post Office and refused to receive any payment. And the ships belonging +to private owners were engaged, the first of them for L500 and the other +six for sums ranging from L50 to L150. Altogether, the sum expended +during more than a year and a quarter in transporting the mails to India +and the Cape of Good Hope did not exceed L1250; and the postage during +the same period amounted to L11,658. In the following year, the year +1817, even better terms were obtained, the owners of private ships +engaged as packets receiving in no case more than L125, and in one case +as little as L25. + +The East India Company's generosity was not reciprocated by the Post +Office. His Majesty's ship _Iphigenia_, which was lying at Portsmouth, +had been appointed to carry out the mails, and the India House had sent +down its despatches to be put on board. In strictness these despatches +should have been sent through the Post Office, inasmuch as the +_Iphigenia_ had been appointed a packet for the occasion; but as the +India House paid no postage on its correspondence, whether sent by +packet or by ships of its own, it was a mere technical irregularity. + +Freeling maintained, however, that there was an important distinction +which ought to be observed. It was true that no question of postage was +involved. It was also true that the India House would have been at +liberty to put its despatches on board the _Iphigenia_ had she been +sailing for India without being appointed a packet boat; but as she had +been so appointed, the intervention of the Post Office was necessary, +and without that intervention the commander ought not to have received +them. Accordingly, Freeling urged upon the Government, though happily +without success, that orders should be sent to Portsmouth to have the +despatches removed from the ship to the local Post Office, to be there +kept until instructions should be received from Lombard Street that they +might be again taken on board. + +On the close of hostilities in 1815 domestic matters began once more to +occupy a place in men's thoughts; and it was next to impossible that the +Post Office should escape attention. Its heavy and capricious charges, +its high-handed proceedings, its disregard of the public requirements, +its prosecutions, its constant indictment of roads which it largely used +and yet contributed nothing to maintain, and, above all, the fact that +its administration was virtually in the hands of one man, and that man +not the nominal head, who could be reached by constitutional +means--signs were not wanting that these and other matters had created +an amount of dissatisfaction which must sooner or later find +expression. Yet Freeling either could not or would not see. Were not his +immediate superiors, the postmasters-general, satisfied with his +management, so satisfied indeed that they seldom, if ever, found it +necessary to pay a visit to Lombard Street? And had not the +contributions which, under his guidance, the Post Office kept pouring +into the Exchequer raised him high in the Chancellor's favour? If so, +what more could a loyal and industrious public servant desire? + +That Freeling was elated with what he considered his unbounded success +is clear from a letter which about this time was written to the +Treasury, enclosing a return of the Post Office revenue, and shewing how +it had responded to the successive increases of rate which had been +imposed during his tenure of the office of secretary. This letter, +drafted by himself, as all the official letters were, though signed by +the postmasters-general, concluded thus: "We flatter ourselves that we +shall not be considered as exceeding the limits of our duty in drawing +your Lordships' attention to a circumstance which has made a strong +impression on ourselves in the course of our inquiry, namely, that the +office of secretary during the whole of this flourishing period has been +executed by the same faithful and meritorious servant of the Crown." The +return, with a copy of this letter appended, was afterwards presented to +Parliament. + +There is no more tolerant assembly in the world than the House of +Commons; and yet even the House of Commons is intolerant of egotism. It +may have been, and probably was, a mere coincidence, but the fact +remains that from the date of the presentation of this return Freeling's +influence began to wane. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +IRELAND + +1801-1828 + + +At the Union with Ireland the Irish Post Office was not merged into the +Post Office of England as the Scotch Post Office was merged at the Union +with Scotland. The existence of two separate establishments, presided +over by different heads, who had not always the same objects in view, +and were influenced by different considerations, was not unattended with +inconvenience. + +Between the Post Offices of the two parts of the kingdom, moreover, +there were differences not only of practice but of law, the statutes +passed during the seventeen years that the Post Offices were separate +not having been repealed at the time of the Union. Thus, the law which +regulated franking was stricter in Ireland than in England, although, it +must be confessed, the practice was looser. The law prohibiting the +illicit conveyance of letters was also stricter. In England the Post +Office was not empowered to search for letters; in Ireland the Post +Office might search both vehicles and houses from sunrise to sunset. In +England the mail-coaches were exempt from toll; in Ireland no such +exemption was allowed. In Ireland, again, the Post Office was legally +bound not, as in England, to deliver letters but only to carry them; and +except in Dublin there was not a single letter-carrier in the kingdom. +Even the constitution of the two Post Offices, though apparently +similar, was really different. In Ireland, as in England, there were +two heads commonly called joint postmasters-general; but whereas in +England the assent of both was necessary to make a decision operative, +in Ireland the assent of one was sufficient. This, while probably +designed to facilitate the despatch of public business, was, as will be +seen later on, attended with a curious result, a result which the +framers of the statute can have little contemplated. + +Of such differences of practice as were not rendered necessary by any +difference of law it may be sufficient to mention a few. In England the +mail-coach contractors supplied horses only; in Ireland they supplied +coaches as well. In England the contract was for short periods and for +short distances, seldom for more than one or two stages; in Ireland, +where there was little or no competition, the contract was for the whole +of the road over which the coach travelled, and for as much as twenty +and even thirty years. Meanwhile no alteration was possible except with +the contractors' assent. In England the horse-posts were provided upon +the most advantageous terms of which each particular case would admit; +in Ireland the obligation to provide them was imposed upon the local +postmasters, who received for the service, cost what it might, one +uniform rate of 5d. a mile. In London there was no despatch on Sundays; +in Dublin the mails were despatched on Sundays as on other days. In +Dublin, again, the men who collected letters by the sound of bell, +bellmen as they were now called, received not as in London 1d. a letter +but 1d. a house, a difference of which the inhabitants were wont to shew +their appreciation by sending to a single house for delivery to the +letter-carrier the letters of an entire street. + +In Dublin there was one institution to which there was no counterpart in +London. This was the British Mail Office, an office set apart for the +management of the mails passing between England and Ireland. Other mails +were dealt with in the Inland Office; but those to and from England were +considered of such paramount importance as to deserve exceptional +treatment. At the present day the term "office" as applied to the public +service conveys the notion possibly of a palace and certainly of a +building or part of a building consisting of several rooms. The British +Mail Office, though destined to play a not unimportant part in the +history of the Irish Post Office at the beginning of the present +century, consisted of one room only, and this room was exactly six feet +square. + +The establishment of this office was one of many measures which owed +their origin to Lord Clancarty, who was joint postmaster-general with +Lord O'Neill from 1807 to 1809. Clancarty enjoyed an honourable +distinction. Other postmasters-general were habitual absentees, their +visits to the Post Office, if visits they made, being confined to the +rare occasions on which they passed through Dublin on their way to +London and back. Clancarty, on the contrary, devoted to his official +duties all the powers of a keen intellect and a singularly energetic +nature. Shortly after his appointment he proceeded to London, and having +made himself master of the system pursued in the Inland Office in +Lombard Street, returned to Dublin, resolved that, as far as +circumstances would permit, a similar system should be established +there. + +A formidable difficulty, however, presented itself in the different +hours of attendance in the London and Dublin offices. In London the +attendance was daily, on every night and every morning; in Dublin it was +only on alternate days, on every other night and every other morning. +How to get rid of this difference was the question which Clancarty now +set himself to solve. There was at this time in the Inland Office a +clerk of the name of Donlevy, whose parts pointed him out as qualified +to take the lead among his fellows. Clancarty sent for this young man, +and told him that under the plan which was about to be introduced he +would have to attend daily. Donlevy objected that a plan which would +involve such attendance was an unreasonable, an oppressive plan, and +that no man's constitution, strong as he might be, would stand it. +"But," said Clancarty, "I will make you vice-president." "My Lord," +replied Donlevy, "I am very much obliged to you; but under the +conditions proposed I would not accept even the office of president." +"Very well," rejoined Clancarty, laying his watch on the table, "I will +give you three hours to consider of it." Long before the three hours had +expired, Donlevy, who knew the character of the man with whom he had to +do, and what would be the penalty of refusal, had accepted the +vice-presidentship, and opposition to the introduction of daily +attendance was at an end.[82] + + [82] Clancarty was afterwards appointed joint postmaster-general of + England. This appointment he held from 30th September 1814 to 6th April + 1816, but he never took it up. Between the dates mentioned he was + employed on missions abroad. + +But Clancarty was an exception to the general rule. Lord Rosse, who +succeeded him and remained postmaster-general in conjunction with +O'Neill for more than twenty years, was, like his colleague, an habitual +absentee; and the consequence was to place large power in the hands of +the chief permanent officer on the spot. This was Edward Smith Lees, who +had been appointed joint secretary with his father in 1801, and who on +his father's death some years afterwards became sole secretary. The +power which Lees must in any case have possessed as chief resident +officer was enormously increased by the fact to which we have already +referred, that the signature of either of the two postmasters-general +was sufficient. Of this fact Lees took advantage to an extent which may +seem incredible. If the particular postmaster-general to whom the case +was referred agreed to the course recommended, no reference to the other +appears to have been considered necessary; but if he did not agree, a +reference to the other took place without the fact of disagreement being +made known, or even an intimation that his colleague had been consulted. +By thus playing off one postmaster-general against the other, Lees +generally contrived to secure approval of his own recommendations; but +when, as occasionally happened, such approval could not be obtained from +either, he claimed and exercised the right, as chief officer on the +spot, to take his own course. + +Thus Lees, like Freeling, was an autocrat within his own domain; but the +means by which the two men attained this result were essentially +different. Freeling kept the postmasters-general informed of every +incident, however trivial. Lees gave no information which could with +decency be withheld. Freeling supported his views by a perfect wealth of +explanation. Lees explained no more than enough to carry his point. +Freeling's candour, like his loyalty, knew no bounds. It is to his +candour, indeed, that we owe our materials for criticising his own +proceedings. Lees's candour and loyalty, on the contrary, so far as +these can be said to have had any existence, were held in rigid +subjection to considerations of expediency and personal advantage. + +The circumstances attending the appointment of Lees's brother, a +searcher in the Customs at Wexford, to a position in the secretary's +office only inferior in point of rank and emolument to his own, well +exemplify the mode in which the business of the Irish Post Office was +conducted during the first two or three decades of the present century. +The minute appointing him was signed, not by O'Neill and Rosse, nor by +either of them, but by one of Lees's own subordinates, and purported to +embody a decision come to at a Board at which the two postmasters-general +were present. "At the Board"--so ran the minute--"present the Earls." +The whole thing was a fiction from beginning to end. The Earls had +not been present, and there had been no Board. Indeed, as Lees was +afterwards forced to admit before a Committee of the House of Commons, +during a period of twenty years that O'Neill and Rosse had been +joint postmasters-general and he their secretary, he had seen them +only once together in the same room, and that was in the drawing-room +at Parsonstown. + +The example set in high quarters was not without its effect below. Every +one seems to have been left to do pretty much as he liked. The force was +maintained at a level very far in excess of the actual requirements, and +it was no uncommon thing for one-half of the entire number to absent +themselves without notice in a single morning. Some of the clerks never +attended at all, while others gave to their Post Office duties only such +fragments of their time as they could snatch from other and more +lucrative employments. Thus, one was a clerk in a private bank, another +a clerk in a merchant's office, a third was a surgeon, several held +appointments under the Customs or the Imprest Office, and many were +practising attorneys. To most of these the object of holding an +appointment in the Post Office appears to have been not so much the +salary attaching to it as the privilege which they enjoyed, or rather +which they assumed to themselves, of sending and receiving their letters +free. The attorneys, indeed, were credited with a still less respectable +motive. All, as soon as a mail arrived, helped themselves to their own +letters and the letters of the firms in which they were interested. The +president of the Inland Office held a valuable appointment in the Bank +of Ireland, and was not in a position to check on the part of his +subordinates a license which he allowed to himself. The +receiver-general, the highest financial officer on the establishment, +was a private banker and money-lender, and, beyond signing the +balance-sheet at stated periods, the only Post Office function he +performed was to frank his own correspondence. + +That in Ireland the Post Office arrangements were made subservient to +private interests does not admit of a doubt. A suspicion will indeed now +and again cross the mind that even in England the readiness to raise the +rates of postage, and the hostility shewn to newspapers except when +supplied by the clerks of the roads, were not unconnected with personal +considerations; but what in the case of England is at best only a matter +of suspicion becomes in the case of Ireland an absolute certainty. In +Ireland, as in England, the clerks of the roads had from the first +establishment of the Post Office enjoyed the privilege of franking +newspapers; but soon after the British Mail Office had been established +by Clancarty, two other clerks, styling themselves express clerks, +undertook to supply newspapers express. Their plan was very simple. In +London the newspapers were made up in a parcel addressed to the express +clerks; and these clerks had in readiness messengers of their own, who +proceeded to deliver the newspapers as soon as they arrived in Dublin +and without waiting, as others had to do, for the sorting of the mail. +This alone would have given to the express clerks a considerable +advantage over the ordinary news-vendor. But, more than this, the +British mail was irregular in its arrival, and the latest hour in the +evening at which a delivery by letter-carrier took place in Dublin was +seven o'clock. The express clerks delivered the English newspapers by +their own messengers as late as eleven o'clock. + +In the case of the country the advantage which the express clerks +enjoyed was still greater. The mails for the interior of Ireland left +the Inland Office in Dublin at seven o'clock in the evening; but under a +rule, on the observance of which the authorities rigidly insisted, no +mails from the British Mail Office were to be received in the Inland +Office for despatch the same evening unless they were brought there +ready sorted full twenty minutes before that hour. Practically, +therefore, as the sorting occupied about twenty-five minutes, mails from +England arriving later than a quarter past six were detained until the +following evening. No such detention, however, was sustained by the +express newspapers, which, addressed as they were to the express clerks, +could be forwarded up to the last moment. It may readily be supposed +that, with such advantages in their favour, the express clerks and the +clerks of the roads, for the two bodies had amalgamated and formed one +common purse, found many customers. That they realised and fully +appreciated their position will be seen from the following advertisement +which was issued no longer ago than April 1822:-- + + BRITISH NEWSPAPER OFFICE, GENERAL POST OFFICE. + + The clerks of roads and clerks of express newspapers having, under + the authority of the postmasters-general, reformed their + establishment in this department for the transmission of British + and foreign newspapers, lottery, commercial, army and navy lists, + periodical and other publications, the nobility and gentry of + Dublin are respectfully informed that they can be supplied with + those articles either by an express delivery (which is made by + special messengers immediately on the arrival of the packets) or by + the regular course of post. + + Country correspondents will have a peculiar advantage, as upon all + occasions when a packet arrives before the despatch of the inland + mails but too late for general transmission, their newspapers will + be forwarded at the last possible moment. + + Newspapers exchanged at pleasure any time during the period of + subscription. + + Subscriptions to be paid in advance. + + Further particulars known by application to Messrs. Leet and De + Joncourt, General Post Office, who will receive subscriptions. + + Daily attendance from twelve till four o'clock. + + London daily newspapers to Dublin by general delivery, L10:17:6 per + annum. + +Leet and De Joncourt were the two express clerks; but among the clerks +of the roads, on whose behalf they wrote as well as their own, was Lees, +the secretary, who participated in the profits derived from the sale of +newspapers, and received the lion's share. + +The news-vendors bitterly complained. That the newspapers supplied by +the express clerks and clerks of the roads should be exempt from +postage[83] was bad enough; but that they should also enjoy priority of +transmission and delivery was past all endurance. How was it possible to +compete under such conditions as these? The booksellers also complained, +for the express service, though originally confined to newspapers, had +now extended to periodicals as well. On a _Quarterly_ or _Edinburgh +Review_, for instance, when sent by coach from Dublin into the country, +the bookseller's customers had to pay for carriage from 1s. 8d. to 2s. +6d., whereas the express clerks and clerks of the roads sent it, through +the medium of the post, carriage free. A heavier indictment remains. The +law permitted the examination of newspapers passing through the post +with a view to ascertain whether they contained unauthorised enclosures; +and it was confidently alleged that of this power the Post Office +servants took advantage in order to retard the transmission and delivery +of newspapers that were not supplied by themselves. A ring, the +news-vendors maintained, had been formed at the Post Office, and they +were the victims. + + [83] At one time the express newspapers went all the way from London to + Dublin post free; but this, at the date of the advertisement, had been + stopped, and as far as Holyhead their carriage was now being provided + for under an arrangement with the London agents. From Holyhead to + Dublin, however, they still went in the mail free of postage, and on + arrival in Dublin such of them as were destined for the country were + franked by the clerks of the roads. + +The management of what was technically termed the alphabet appears to +have been influenced by similar considerations. This was nothing more +than a rack with divisions corresponding to the letters of the alphabet, +into which might be sorted ready for delivery all correspondence +addressed to the Post Office to be called for. Such was its primary +object; but in course of time the bankers and merchants, finding that +through the alphabet they could get their letters sooner than if +delivered by letter-carrier--as soon indeed as the mail arrived--made +use of this expedient for their ordinary correspondence, readily paying +for the accommodation a fee ranging from three to five guineas a year. +This had gone on for a considerable period, when Lees appears to have +been suddenly seized with compunction at the unfairness of a practice +which, in the matter of delivery, gave to one man an advantage over +another; and he issued instructions that henceforth, after the arrival +of each mail, there should be a certain interval during which letters +should not be delivered from the alphabet. The pretence imposed upon no +one. Men readily discerned that in proportion as the advantages of the +alphabet were restricted the express service was rendered more valuable. + +It would be unjust to the memory of the Irish Post Office of seventy +years ago not to mention here one good practice and, as far as we know, +the only good one that then existed. By virtue of an arrangement with, +the War Office, soldiers' wives, on presentation of a formal document +with which the military authorities provided them, could draw from any +Post Office in the kingdom a certain sum of small amount until the +entire sum mentioned in the document was exhausted. Thus, a soldier's +wife desirous of joining her husband could pass from one end of the +country to another, and, without carrying anything in her pocket, could +be supplied with money on her way. Of this practice, curiously enough, +not a vestige now remains. + +It is also pleasant, amid so much indifference as was at that time +exhibited to the convenience of the public, to be able to record one +instance to the contrary. Thomas Whinnery, the postmaster of Belfast, +had read an account of the alphabet at Liverpool--how the letters were +sorted into a rack according to the initials of the merchants to whom +they were addressed, so as to be ready to be delivered when they should +be called for--and he resolved to introduce something of the same kind +into his own office. Instead, however, of adopting the alphabetical +order he assigned to each merchant a particular number, letting him know +what his number was, and instead of a fixed rack as at Liverpool he +contrived a revolving one; and this, with the numbers conspicuously +exhibited over each division, he placed in full view of a window opening +to the street. Thus, any one looking through the window could see for +himself whether there were any letters for him, and was saved the +trouble of inquiring. + +Equality of treatment as between man and man had not yet become one of +the canons of the Post Office, and even Whinnery, well-meaning as he +was, made a distinction as remarkable as it was invidious. Belfast not +being supplied with an official letter-carrier, he employed a man of his +own to deliver the letters, and charged on their delivery 1d. apiece. +The letters, however, instead of all being delivered at one time, were +arbitrarily divided into two classes, termed particular letters and +ordinary letters; and the delivery of the ordinary letters was not begun +until that of the particular letters was finished, a difference in point +of time of two and a half hours. In order to maintain the distinction, +the man had actually to go over the same ground twice. Particular +letters were defined to be letters for merchants and other busy men, +letters to which it was presumably of importance that replies should be +given promptly. + +We have said that in Ireland the mail-coach contracts were not, as in +England, for short distances but for the whole of the road over which +the coach travelled. The explanation is that, while in England the local +inn-keepers were eager to horse the mail for one or two stages, in +Ireland, where the coach had to be provided as well as the horses, the +venture was too serious to be undertaken lightly, and the contracts fell +into the hands of a few persons of means who dictated pretty much their +own terms. Thus, in Ireland the cost of conveying the mails by coach was +considerably higher than in England, though forage and labour were +cheaper.[84] + + [84] In 1823 the Irish mail-coaches travelled daily a distance of 1450 + miles at a cost to the Post Office of more than L30,000 a year, while in + England the cost over the same number of miles would have been only + L7500. From this, however, it is not to be understood that in one + country the cost was four times as heavy as in the other, because the + Irish mile was longer than the English one by about two furlongs, and in + England the contractors did not, as they did in Ireland, provide the + coaches. + +All this was soon to be changed. In one of the early years of the +century a young lad had arrived in Dublin, a lad without means and +without friends, a foreigner who was unable to speak one word of +English, and yet who, despite these drawbacks, did for the country of +his adoption more probably than was accomplished by all the legislation +that took place during the fourscore years and more over which his life +extended. This was Charles Bianconi, a man to whom the Post Office owes +a debt of gratitude which, as it seems to us, has never been +sufficiently recognised. After serving an eighteen months' +apprenticeship to a foreign print-seller in a small way of business, +Bianconi passed the next two or three years of his life in hawking +prints about the country on his own account, and in 1806, at the age of +twenty, he turned carver and gilder and opened a shop at +Carrick-on-Suir. From Carrick he removed shortly afterwards to +Waterford, and finally settled down at Clonmel. + +The experience of these few years determined Bianconi's future career. +While roaming over the country with his prints for sale, he had had +forcibly impressed upon him the difference between a pedlar like himself +who was doomed to tramp on foot and his more fortunate fellow who could +post or ride on horseback. At Carrick the want of facilities for +travelling had been brought home to him in a hardly less cogent manner. +Gold-leaf for the supply of his shop he had to fetch from Waterford, and +Waterford is distant from Carrick twelve or thirteen miles. Between the +two towns, however, the only means of communication was by water, and by +water, owing to the windings of the river, the distance is twenty-four +miles. A single boat, moreover, was then the only public conveyance, +and, besides being obliged to wait for the tide, it took from four to +five hours to accomplish the journey. From this time Bianconi appears to +have become possessed with the idea that his mission in life was to +devise some cheap and easy means of communication between town and town. +Imbued with this notion, he gave up his shop in the summer of 1815, and +started a single-horse car for the conveyance of passengers from Clonmel +to Cahir, a distance of about eight miles. At the end of the same year +he started similar cars from Clonmel to Cashel and Thurles, and from +Clonmel to Carrick and Waterford. From such humble beginnings sprang +that splendid service of cars which, extending from Sligo and +Enniskillen in the north to Bandon and Skibbereen in the south, and from +Waterford and Wexford in the east to Galway and Belmullet in the west, +carried passengers daily over more than 4000 miles of road at an average +cost to each passenger of 1-1/4d. a mile. + +But we are anticipating. The Post Office, largely as it availed itself +in later years of the means of communication which Bianconi placed at +its disposal, was slow to perceive the advantage which his enterprise +offered. The country postmasters were wiser in their generation. Located +on the spot, and with their perception quickened by the motive of +self-interest, they made use of the cars as fast as these were put on +the roads. No sooner had a car been started from Clonmel than the +postmaster sent by it the mails which he had been used to send by +horse-post. For this service he received an allowance of 5d. a mile. +Bianconi performed the service for him for an allowance of 2-1/2d. a +mile. The same thing took place elsewhere. It was not until the year +1831, when the Post Office of Ireland was amalgamated with that of +England, that Bianconi was brought into direct relations with +headquarters. Meanwhile, through a strange lack of vigilance on the part +of the Irish authorities, his very existence was ignored, and the +postmasters continued to receive 5d. a mile for a service which, +wherever Bianconi's cars extended, they were getting done for one-half +of that amount. + +But it is not only with the Irish Post Office in relation to its +internal affairs that this chapter proposes to deal. The communication +between England and Ireland or rather between the capitals of the two +countries had, since the Act of Union, been under constant review, and +it becomes important to see how, during the first two or three decades +of the present century, this communication stood both by sea and by +land. + +By the Act of 1784, which made the Irish Post Office independent of that +of Great Britain--an Act not repealed by the Union--Great Britain and +Ireland were to receive, in respect to letters passing between the two +countries, each its own proportion of the postage. The Channel service +remained; and with this Ireland was to have nothing to do, at all events +in the first instance. Great Britain was to provide the packets and to +receive the packet postage. Ireland, on the other hand, until she should +have established packets of her own, was to receive from Great Britain +the sum of L4000 a year "in lieu as well of the profits of the said +packets as in compensation for other purposes." This arrangement appears +to have worked smoothly enough until after 1801, when, owing to the +increase of correspondence as a consequence of the Union, the Irish Post +Office began to complain that the conditions were hard, and that Great +Britain had the best of the bargain. Surely, under the very terms of the +statute, Ireland was entitled to have packets of her own; and if this +were denied her, did not justice demand that the conditions should be +reconsidered? The question had come before successive Governments and +always with the same result--that the existing arrangement was not to be +disturbed. What Pitt and Portland and Perceval had decided was not to be +done Lees now proceeded to do on his own account. + +We doubt whether travellers of the present day who cross from Holyhead +to Dublin in the magnificent boats which modern science has provided +have any idea of the misery to which our grandfathers were exposed in +making the passage. His Majesty's packets afforded the best, if not the +only means of transit; and these were six in number, and ranged from 80 +to 100 tons in burthen. Customs duties were at this time levied on goods +passing between the two countries, and passengers' luggage was subjected +to strict examination. Thus, to the discomforts of a sea-passage made in +vessels of light tonnage were added the vexations incidental to a +rigorous search of personal baggage; and these vexations were rendered +all the greater by faulty arrangements. Passengers were unnecessarily +detained, and often, even after detention, had to proceed on their +journey leaving their luggage behind. In course of time, indeed, an +exception was made in the case of peers and members of Parliament. After +December 1819, as the result of incessant complaints, the luggage of +these privileged persons was allowed to pass unexamined on their giving +a certificate on honour that it contained no articles liable to duty; +but at the time of which we are writing, the year 1813, all travellers, +whether of high or low degree, were treated alike. + +Despite conditions which at the present day would be considered +intolerable, the number of passengers carried to and fro by the Holyhead +packets was between 14,000 and 15,000 a year;[85] and there can be no +doubt that the advantage which the British Post Office derived from +this traffic was considerable. It is true that the fares went to the +captains; but of course, except for the fares, the Post Office would +have had to pay more for its packets. These were supplied at an annual +cost of L365 apiece, or L2190 altogether; and such being the terms on +which boats could be hired, Lees was confirmed in his opinion that +Ireland would do better if, instead of receiving from Great Britain a +compensation allowance of L4000 a year, she were to provide her own +packets and share the packet postage. + + [85] The exact number of passengers in the year 1814 was 14,577, made up + as follows: Cabin passengers, 12,142; passengers' servants, 1136; hold + passengers, 1299. + +Freeling took a different view. The better the bargain was for the +British Post Office, the more determined he was that with his consent +the terms should not be altered. And, more than this, he little relished +the prospect of competition between English and Irish packets. Indeed, +so long had he been accustomed to deal with a monopoly that the very +name of competition was hateful to him. At this very time he tried, and +tried in vain, to repress a boat which had been set up between Weymouth +and the Channel Islands in opposition to the packets. Another similar +attempt which he made a little later was hardly more successful. The War +Office had chartered vessels to convey troops between Bristol and +Waterford, and these vessels had assumed the title of "Government +Packets," a title which, according to Freeling, induced persons to go by +them who would otherwise have gone by the Post Office packets from +Milford. Lord Palmerston was then Secretary at War, and we think we see +the twinkle in his eye as he replied to Freeling's letter of +remonstrance. Freeling's objection was of course to the Bristol boats +being styled packets, but he had spoken of them by the title by which +they were known of "Government Packets." The contractors, wrote Lord +Palmerston, had been directed to drop the word Government forthwith, and +the boats would henceforth be called War Office packets, to distinguish +them from the packets employed by the Post Office. + +Attached to the Irish Post Office, by virtue of a contract which had +yet some years to run, were boats called wherries. Originally designed +to carry between the two countries special messengers and despatches +during the period immediately succeeding the Union, they had long lost +their original character, and were now being employed in picking up what +goods and passengers they could, and transporting them across the +Channel in opposition to the packets. These boats were not ill adapted +to the purpose which Lees had in hand. On the 19th of July 1813 he +despatched a letter to Freeling, incidentally mentioning that "as the +intended packet station at Howth had sufficient depth of water for the +vessels belonging to the Irish Post Office, it was in contemplation, +until such time as the regular packets should be stationed there, that +the mails from Ireland should be despatched in its own vessels, and +that, as soon as the arrangements now in progress should be completed, +the measure would take effect." This letter was received in London on +the 23rd of July, and on the next day intelligence reached Lombard +Street that the mail from Ireland had been refused to the British packet +and had been given to the Irish wherry. + +And now might be witnessed a most unedifying spectacle--in Dublin Lees +placarding the walls of the city with advertisements,[86] vaunting the +merits of his own packets; at Holyhead the authorised packets arriving +without the mails, and the mails being brought by boats which did not +arrive until after the mail-coach for London had started; and in London +Freeling wringing his hands and invoking the aid of the Government to +check the vagaries of his brother-secretary on the other side of the +Channel. "For the first time," he wrote, "the postmasters-general of +Great Britain have not the means of redressing grievances connected with +their own department, and the most serious remonstrances may be expected +from the merchants and traders of London on this alarming and +unnecessary evil." + + [86] The following are copies of the advertisements referred to:-- + + "The Howth Royal Mail-Coach sets out every evening at seven o'clock from + the Cork Coach Office, 12 Dawson Street, where passengers and luggage + will be booked, and arrives at Howth at a quarter after eight, when the + packet will immediately sail (independently of the tide) with the Irish + mails and passengers for Holyhead. From the admirable construction of + these vessels for fast sailing and excellent accommodation the passage + from the pier at Howth to Holyhead will on the average be performed in + one-third less time than by the _Pigeon House_. Besides, as no more than + eight or ten passengers will be admitted into any one of these packets, + the public, on the score of expedition and comfort, will soon experience + the advantage of going to Holyhead by Howth. + + "Passengers by the mail-coach have a preference as to berths in the + packets. + + "_July 21, 1813._" + + "Howth Royal Mail-Coach, well guarded, sets out from the Cork Coach + Office, No. 12 Dawson Street, at seven o'clock every evening with mails + and passengers to His Majesty's express packets at Howth, from whence + one of these excellent vessels sails at half after eight o'clock every + night for Holyhead. + + "_July 31, 1813._" + +The prediction was a safe one. Not only were the mails often one day +behindhand in arriving in London, but the letters they brought were +charged with an additional rate of postage in respect of the distance +between Dublin and Howth. The merchants flocked to the Post Office to +inquire the reason. No reason could be given them, and they were invited +to let their applications for a return of the charge stand over until +the postmasters-general should have informed themselves on the subject. +Some assented; others accused the postmasters-general of trifling, and +demanded instant redress. Matters had thus gone on for a fortnight when +Lord Liverpool, to whom an appeal had been made, directed that the +wherries should be withdrawn. One is left to suppose that this direction +cannot have been communicated in the proper quarter, for as a matter of +fact it had no result. In vain the captains of the packets applied at +the Dublin Post Office for the British mails. All such applications met +with a flat refusal, and the mails continued to be sent by the wherries +as before. At length an end was put to the scandal, but not until it had +lasted for more than six weeks. + +The question now arose whether for the forty-four days during which the +wherries had acted as packets the compensation of L4000 a year which +Ireland received from Great Britain should not be withheld. Freeling had +not only taken it for granted that such would be the case, but had been +unable to conceal his regret that this was the only penalty of which the +circumstances would admit. Liverpool, however, decided otherwise. Lees +might have been wrong-headed and even perverse, but there could be no +doubt that law was on his side. Accordingly, the compensation was paid +for the period during which the packets had not carried the mails, and +not long afterwards the Government brought in a bill raising the amount +which Ireland was to receive from L4000 a year to L6000. + +We now pass over six years. In July 1819 a curious invention, which had +for some little time been in practical operation on the Thames between +London and Margate, was brought into use between Holyhead and Dublin. +This was no other than a vessel propelled by steam. Two vessels of this +class were now set up by private individuals styling themselves the +Dublin Steam Packet Company; and of this company, to the amazement of +the authorities in Lombard Street, Lees had become a director. The +quality which the new vessels possessed of being able to go against wind +and tide, and the comparative speed with which they accomplished the +passage, soon commended them to the favour of the public; and the +consequence was a reduction to the extent of nearly one-half in the +number of passengers by the Post Office packets.[87] The matter was +serious, for it was in consequence of the fares which the captains +received that they let their boats to the Post Office at little more +than a nominal sum: and of course this sum would have to be increased +according as the fares diminished. + + [87] By the Post Office packets the number of passengers between + Holyhead and Dublin during the years 1818-20 was as follows:-- + + Year. Number of + Passengers. + 1818 13,128 + 1819 12,956 + 1820 7,468 + + Private steam packets began to ply in July 1819. + +We now see the Post Office at its best. Not possessing in the case of +passengers a monopoly such as influenced and often perverted its action +in the case of letters, the department proceeded to do much as private +persons with sufficient capital at command would have done in similar +circumstances, namely to build better boats than those already employed, +and endeavour by the superior excellence of its service to recover the +custom it had lost. Orders were given for two steam packets, the best +that Boulton and Watt could build; and on the 31st of May 1821 the +_Royal Sovereign_, of 206 tons burthen, with engines of 40 horse-power, +and the _Meteor_, of somewhat smaller dimensions, began to ply. +"Hitherto," wrote the postmasters-general eight days later, "they have +answered the most sanguine expectations that had been formed of them; +the letters have been delivered in Dublin earlier than was ever yet +known, and Ireland has expressed herself grateful for the attention that +has been shewn to her interests." + +The Post Office behaved in this matter with a moderation which was +altogether wanting where its monopoly was concerned. To be outdone by a +private company, to employ inferior boats, boats of an obsolete type and +of a low rate of speed--this would not be creditable to a public +department, still less to a department whose special function it was to +carry the correspondence of the country at the highest speed attainable; +and properly enough the Post Office might take steps to establish its +pre-eminence. But it would be quite another thing for a public +department to undersell a private company, and, by charging lower fares, +to run its boats off the line. This, it appeared to the authorities in +Lombard Street, would exceed the bounds of fair competition. Accordingly +the fares by the Post Office steam packets were fixed at the same +amounts as those charged by the company; and these fares were somewhat +higher than those which had been charged by the sailing packets. By +sailing packet, for instance, the charge for a cabin passenger had been +one guinea, by steam packet it was L1:5s.; for a horse the steam packet +charge was L1:10s. as against one guinea by sailing packet, and for a +coach L3:5s. as against three guineas. + +These charges, which were fixed with the express object of not exposing +the company to undue competition, had not been long in force before +Parliament intervened. The Select Committee on Irish Communication +protested in the interests of the public against the raising of the +fares, and the Post Office was constrained to submit. The substitution +of steam packets for sailing packets bore immediate fruit. The number of +passengers carried by the Post Office between Holyhead and Dublin, which +in 1820 had sunk to 7468, rose in 1821 to 13,737 and in 1822 to more +than 16,000; and for some years the Holyhead packets were not only +self-supporting but produced a clear gain to the revenue of more than +L6000 a year. + +The change which had been made at Holyhead was not long in extending +itself to other packet stations from which there was communication with +Ireland. Between Milford and Waterford sailing packets were replaced by +steam packets in April 1824, and between Portpatrick and Donaghadee in +May 1825. By sailing packet the average duration of voyage between the +last-mentioned stations had been seven hours and forty-eight minutes. +During the winter of 1825-26, a winter unexampled for the derangement of +sea-communication, the average time which the little Post Office +steamers _Arrow_ and _Dasher_ took to perform the voyage was less than +three hours and a half. + +And yet, despite these exertions to maintain its superiority, the Post +Office was not to remain in undisputed possession of the Irish traffic. +Private steamers had begun to ply between Liverpool and Dublin, and the +fares by these steamers were lower than by the Post Office packets from +Holyhead. As a natural consequence, the passenger traffic to which the +Post Office looked to recoup itself for the heavy expense to which it +had been put in replacing sailing packets by steam packets was diverted +to Liverpool. + +Nor was it only in the matter of passengers that the Post Office lost by +the competition. Its reputation also suffered. The mails for Ireland +left Liverpool at three o'clock in the afternoon, before the Exchange +was closed, and reaching Holyhead by way of Chester and Llangollen at +six o'clock on the following morning, did not arrive in Dublin until the +afternoon. The private steamers, on the contrary, did not leave +Liverpool until the business of the day was over, and arrived in Dublin +on the following morning. Hence comparisons were drawn not favourable to +the Post Office; and it by no means tended to allay dissatisfaction that +the owners of the private steamers were refused permission to carry the +mails. This they had offered to do, in one case for nothing more than +exemption from harbour and light dues; but at that time, strange as it +may appear to us with our present experience, it was a fixed principle +with the Post Office that private firms even of the highest eminence +were not to be entrusted with the carriage of the public correspondence. +Accordingly it was decided that between Liverpool and Dublin the Post +Office should run its own packets, and the new service began on the 29th +of August 1826. The opening was marred by a lamentable disaster. Early +in September the _Francis Freeling_ packet, a recently-built cutter +named after the secretary, and reputed to be the finest vessel of its +kind afloat, foundered during a heavy gale and all the passengers and +crew were lost. + +The new service, while an unquestionable convenience to the public, did +not altogether satisfy the Post Office. It is true that, as a +consequence of the increased accommodation, the letters for Ireland +passing through Liverpool nearly doubled in number; but this +satisfactory result was not without alloy. During the past few years the +art of building as applied to steamboats had made rapid progress; and +not only were the packets on the Liverpool station larger than those +stationed at Holyhead, the horse-power of the engines being 170 in the +one case as against 40 in the other, but they were altogether better +equipped. The fares by the Liverpool route as fixed by the Post Office +were also relatively lower, and to any one proceeding from London or the +large manufacturing towns of the North the distance to be travelled by +road was shorter. As a consequence, the diversion of traffic from +Holyhead to Liverpool, notwithstanding the longer sea voyage, proceeded +still more rapidly than when the steamers from the latter port were in +private hands; and the Holyhead service, which had for some years +produced a clear profit of many thousand pounds a year, was now carried +on at a loss. + +To the Post Office authorities, indeed, there was in connection with the +four packet stations in communication with Ireland only one thing which +gave them unqualified satisfaction. It was this--that to the Post Office +belonged the credit of being first to demonstrate by practical +experience that, to use Freeling's words, "steam vessels could force +their way at all seasons of the year and in weather in which no sailing +vessel, be her qualities what they might, would attempt to put to sea." +Whether the claim is well founded or not we have no means of judging; we +only know that it was made. + +By land, at the beginning of the present century, communication with +Ireland was in a more backward state than it was by water; and since the +Union a very general opinion had prevailed that this communication +should be improved. It would perhaps be too much to say that the British +Post Office proved obstructive in the matter; but there can be no doubt +that it did not lend the assistance it might have done, and the reasons +are obvious. In the first place, a little soreness existed. No sooner +had the Act of Union passed than the Government decided that between +London and Dublin there must be an express in both directions daily. +This, as the postmasters-general pointed out, would cost more than L4000 +a year, and, as it was not required for Post Office purposes, the Post +Office should not bear the cost. Accordingly the question as to the +source from which the cost should be defrayed was reserved for future +consideration; but after the express was well established, the Post +Office received notice that it must defray the cost itself, and it +continued to do so for twenty years and more. This was always a sore +point with Freeling, and he constantly adduced it as an instance of +unremunerative work. + +Another reason which kept Lombard Street back from assisting to improve +the communication with Ireland was that the British and Irish Post +Offices approached the subject from different points of view. With the +British Post Office the main object, an object which in its judgment was +sufficiently well attained already, was the transmission of letters; +with the Irish Post Office, as indeed with that section of the public +which could best make its voice heard, the main object was the transport +of passengers. Yet a third reason, we can well believe, was the +conviction that for any improvement that might be made, though primarily +for the sake of Ireland, the British and not the Irish Post Office would +have to pay. These three reasons, we cannot doubt, were at the root of +the manifest indisposition displayed by the British Post Office to meet +what had gradually become a very general demand. + +The first strenuous effort to induce the authorities in Lombard Street +to improve the communication with Ireland was made in 1805, the prime +mover in the matter being John Foster, the Chancellor of the Irish +Exchequer. At this time the mail-coach between London and Holyhead went +by a circuitous route through Chester. Foster maintained that it should +go direct through Coventry and Shrewsbury. By Coventry the distance was +264 miles, and by Chester 278 miles--a difference, in point of time, of +more than two hours. + +It was alleged that by the shorter route other delays which now took +place might be avoided; but how important was a saving of even two hours +may be judged from the fact that the time of the mail-coach leaving +Holyhead was fixed with reference, not to the arrival of the packet +from Dublin, but to the arrival of the coach in London. All the +mail-coaches were timed to reach London early in the morning, so that +the letters they brought might go out by the morning delivery. To effect +this object, the mail-coach by the Chester route had to leave Holyhead +at seven o'clock in the morning, an hour by which it was barely possible +for the packet from Dublin to have arrived. During the whole of the year +1804, for instance, the Dublin mails arrived at Holyhead in time to +catch the coach to London on only twelve occasions; and, of course, when +the mails did not catch the coach, they had to remain idle at Holyhead +until the following morning. + +If, argued Foster, the route be by Shrewsbury and Coventry, the coach +can leave Holyhead so much later that the occasions on which the Dublin +mail does not arrive in time to catch it will be not as now the rule but +the exception. Freeling set the suggestion aside as impracticable. The +coach, he maintained, must go through Chester. At Chester centred all +the correspondence from the great manufacturing towns of the North, from +Liverpool and Manchester, from Hull, Halifax, and Leeds, indeed from all +parts of Yorkshire and many other counties besides. Was this +correspondence of no account? Or was it suggested that a second +mail-coach should be established? Already the Post Office was paying +many thousand pounds a year for an express service between London and +Holyhead which it did not require. Could it in reason be expected to +incur the further expense which a second mail-coach would involve? The +thing was impossible, and the project could not be entertained. + +Foster, though silenced for the time, was not convinced. In 1808 the +subject was mooted again. Clancarty, who had recently been appointed +joint postmaster-general with O'Neill, had arrived in London, prepared +to argue the point with all the energy of his energetic nature. Foster +was unable to come; but he had sent a memorandum which no one who was +not thorough master of the subject could have produced. A meeting was +appointed at Lord Hawksbury's office. Freeling poured out all the old +objections, and proceeded to contend, as he had contended three years +before, that the project was impracticable. But one was present there +who did not believe in impracticabilities. This was the new Chief +Secretary for Ireland, Sir Arthur Wellesley. Wellesley's opinion was +emphatic--that all other considerations must be made subordinate to the +one grand purpose of facilitating communication between the two capitals +of London and Dublin. Freeling had encountered a stronger will than his +own. What had been impossible before was possible now, and that very +evening arrangements were begun to be devised for accelerating the Irish +mails. + +Even now, what little was done was done grudgingly. The mail-coach from +London which ran through Oxford and Birmingham to Shrewsbury was +extended from Shrewsbury to Holyhead, and was met at Llangollen by an +express from Chester bringing the cross-post correspondence. Thus +matters remained for nine years, when, under pressure which the Post +Office could no longer resist, the Coventry route was adopted. The Post +Office opposed the change to the last, even though a Parliamentary +Committee had recommended it, and an address in its favour had been +presented to the Prince Regent. At length Vansittart, the Chancellor of +the Exchequer, brought his authority to bear, and in July 1817 a +mail-coach by way of Coventry began to run, accomplishing the distance +between London and Holyhead in thirty-eight hours. + +But in order to facilitate communication between England and Ireland a +good deal more was required than to set up an additional coach or to +send an existing coach by another and shorter route. The roads of the +country were still in a state to make rapid travelling impossible. Much, +no doubt, had been done to improve them. Between the years 1760 and 1809 +no less than 1514 Turnpike Acts had been passed, and under the turnpike +system the roads were better than before. Still the making of them had +been entrusted to incompetent hands, and they were constructed on false +principles. For the bed or foundation of the roads improper or +insufficient materials had been used. Little or no attention had been +paid to drainage. Few roads were provided with side channels. Not +seldom, indeed, the sides were encumbered with huge banks of mud which +had accumulated to the height of six, seven, and even eight feet. Not +only had convexity of surface, as a means of carrying off the water, +been disregarded, but the road was frequently hollow in the middle and +everywhere cut into deep ruts. High hedges and trees were still allowed +to intercept the action of the sun and wind, the importance of a rapid +evaporation of moisture being as yet unrecognised. Even the roads +themselves had been laid out on no fixed principle. Their lines of +direction were, almost without exception, identical with the footpaths +of the aboriginal inhabitants of the country; and these, doubtless to +avoid the bogs and marsh lands, and possibly also for purposes of +observation, had invariably followed the hills. + +Hence it came to pass that almost every road of any importance was both +steep and crooked. Where there were no hills and the roads passed across +wet and flat land, they were almost always below the level of the +adjacent fields, the mud having been carried away by constant use. While +such was the general state of the roads during the first twenty years of +the present century, the road between Shrewsbury and Holyhead, over +which a mail-coach had been travelling since the summer of 1808, was +notoriously one of the worst in the kingdom. "To Kenneage,[88] six miles +of narrow road; scarcely room for two carriages to pass, and much out of +repair; in winter, the drivers say, the ruts are up to the bed of the +coach." "From Kenneage to Capel Curig, road narrow and wants walling to +prevent carriages falling down precipices 300 or 400 yards +perpendicular." "From Capel Curig to Bangor, side of the road unguarded, +and many accidents may happen to passengers by the coach running off the +road as the mail passes here in the dark." Thus wrote the assistant +superintendent of mail-coaches in 1808, and nothing had since been done +to remedy defects. + + [88] _i.e._ Kinniogga, the old name for Cernioge. + +The mail along this line, of road was now to be carried at a higher rate +of speed than before, and, if only on this ground, it would have been +necessary at least to remove actual causes of danger. Even before 1817, +however, Parliamentary Commissioners had been appointed for the +improvement of the Holyhead road; and these Commissioners had summoned +to their aid the first of that line of illustrious men who, during the +last eighty years, have transformed the face of England. This was Thomas +Telford, who had already achieved distinction by the roads he had made +in the Highlands of Scotland. + +Telford commenced operations in the autumn of 1815; and now for the +first time in England, or at all events for the first time since the +ancient ways were laid down by the Romans, a road was to be constructed +on scientific principles. "Every valley shall be exalted, and every +mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made +straight, and the rough places plain." This--we say it without +irreverence--is what literally came to pass. Easy inclinations, ample +breadth, perfect drainings, complete protection, and a smooth and hard +surface--these were the distinguishing characteristics of the road which +Telford now made between Holyhead and Shrewsbury. A road that had been +one of the worst in the kingdom was now the very best. In summer it was +not even dusty, and in winter was free from dirt. Frost and rain +produced upon it but trifling and superficial effects. To crown all, the +Menai Straits were spanned by a noble bridge, where before there had +been only an inconvenient ferry. + +While Telford was thus raising the business of road-making to the level +of an art, John Loudon Macadam was demonstrating of what materials the +surface of a road should be made. Macadam had travelled about the +kingdom much as John Palmer had travelled about some thirty years before +in pursuit of a different object, and, as the result of long +observation, he had come to the conclusion that the surface of roads +should be made of broken stones; and having in 1816 been appointed +general surveyor of roads in the British district he proceeded to put +his views into practice. With success to recommend it, the new system +spread like wildfire, and "a macadamised road" soon became a household +word. + +Nor was it to the business of road-making alone that science now lent +her aid. What force of traction or power is required to draw carriages +over different kinds of road, in what line of direction the power can be +best applied--what, in other words, is the proper angle for the traces, +and what in the case of hills is the highest inclination up which horses +can go at a trot and down which they can with safety be driven at full +speed--these were some of the questions which now engaged the attention +of the scientific world. Some thirty years before, Walsingham and +Chesterfield when postmasters-general had dabbled in matters of the +kind;[89] but now they were reduced to the form of mathematical problems +and received a mathematical solution. + + [89] "God knows whether we are to remain postmen or not, or whether all + the lights which philosophy is now throwing upon coach-making are not to + be left by us as an official legacy to some more pliant + successors."--Chesterfield to Walsingham, 22nd April 1792. + +The excellence of the road constructed between Holyhead and Shrewsbury +brought into bold relief the imperfections of the road between +Shrewsbury and London. To this road, which, in comparison with the +other, had at one time been pronounced good and was now pronounced +execrable, Telford proceeded to apply the same principles as before. He +raised the valleys, lowered or avoided the hills, and corrected +deviations. To give only one instance--an instance taken from the second +stage out of London--the old road from Barnet to South Minims ascended +three steep and long hills; the new road avoided two of these hills +altogether, and at the same time was shorter than the old one by more +than 600 yards. And so it was in a greater or less degree all the way +from London through St. Albans to Coventry, and thence through +Birmingham and Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury. + +It should also be mentioned that at this time, while the country roads +were hollow in the centre instead of convex, the roads in and about +London within a radius of about ten miles were the exact contrary. Here +convexity, as a means of carrying off water, had been pushed to so +absurd an extent that the road was in the form of a slanting roof, and a +carriage, unless kept in the centre, was on a dangerous slope. This, +which had been a prolific source of accidents, Telford now altered. The +effect of his operations upon the first stage out of London, the +Highgate Archway Road as it was called, is perhaps best described in the +words of one of the principal mail-coach contractors. Before Telford +took this road in hand, he wrote, "It was all we could do to walk up +both sides of the archway with six horses, and now we can trot up with +our heaviest loads with four." + +The road from London to Shrewsbury, in continuation of the one from +Shrewsbury to Holyhead, was completed in 1828, and, corresponding +alterations having been made in the eight miles of road which connect +Howth and Dublin, a line of communication was established between the +capitals of England and Ireland such as, until the days of railways, +could hardly have been improved. Some few years before, when the Post +Office had received orders to accomplish the distance between London and +Holyhead in thirty-eight hours, Hasker, the experienced superintendent +of mail-coaches, while zealously applying himself to carry the orders +into effect, had felt it incumbent upon him as a loyal servant to make a +protest in writing against the "extraordinary expedition projected." It +would, he urged--and no doubt rightly so as the road then was--be +inhuman to horses and dangerous to life. This extraordinary expedition +was at the rate of seven miles an hour. Along the Parliamentary Road the +distance was accomplished, without hurt to horses and with perfect +safety, at the rate of ten miles an hour, and the London and Holyhead +coach soon became one of what were known as the "crack" coaches of the +kingdom. + +Meanwhile the Post Office had shewn its appreciation of Telford's +achievement in a remarkable manner. It had imposed an additional charge +of 1d. upon every letter carried over Conway Bridge, and a second penny +for carriage over the Menai Straits.[90] + + [90] The postage between Liverpool and Dublin by way of Holyhead was + 13d., as thus made up:-- + + Inland postage to Holyhead 9d. + For the Conway Bridge 1d. + For the Menai Bridge 1d. + Sea postage 2d. + ---- + 13d. + ---- + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BEGINNING OF THE END + +1817-1836 + + +We must now go back a few years. On the cessation of hostilities with +France the state of the finances occupied a large share of men's +thoughts, and among the plans for relieving the burden upon the taxpayer +none perhaps was more obvious than to abolish sinecures and useless +offices. + +On the 16th of February 1817 Mr. Lambton, member for the county of +Durham, gave notice of motion for a return shewing the number of Boards +which had been held by the postmasters-general during the last twenty +years, and distinguishing the names of the places where such Boards had +been held and the persons by whom they were attended. The Post Office +was in a flutter. Just twenty years before, the Commissioners of Inquiry +into Public Offices had recommended, and the recommendation had been +approved by the House, that a Board should be held by the +postmasters-general at least once a week; and from that date to the +present not a single Board had been held. The position was no doubt +embarrassing, and not the less so because the postmasters-general, Lords +Chichester and Salisbury, were the one at Stanmer and the other at +Hatfield. Nothing could be done without the concurrence of both, and at +such distances, little as would be thought of them now, it was a tedious +process eighty years ago to arrive at a common understanding. + +Freeling, who regarded it as little short of an outrage that the two +noble peers, his masters, should be thus called to account, appealed to +the Chancellor of the Exchequer to have the terms of the motion altered; +but Vansittart refused, and the return was granted and ordered to be +laid on the table of the House. Of course it was necessary to admit that +no Boards had been held; but the work of the Post Office, the return +went on to state, did not lend itself to Boards. Boards could be held +only at intervals, and the work of the Post Office was so continuous and +pressing that, without detriment to the public interests, it could not +be kept waiting for a single day. A daily transmission of papers to the +postmasters-general was, therefore, necessary; and by such means the +business was better conducted than it would be by any system of Boards. +Such was the substance of the return which was now laid before the +House. Eventually the matter was referred to a friendly Committee, and +the appointment of second postmaster-general escaped for a time. + +But it was for a time only. In May 1822, on the motion of Lord Normanby, +an address to the throne was adopted in the following terms: "His +Majesty's faithful Commons, relying upon His Majesty's gracious +disposition expressed in answer to former addresses of that House to +concur in all such measures of economy as the exigencies of the time +require, and in such reductions in the civil department of the State as +may be consistent with due consideration for the public service, humbly +pray that His Majesty will be graciously pleased to give directions that +the office of one of the postmasters-general may be abolished and the +salary thereby saved to the revenue." It was Lord Salisbury, as the +junior of the two postmasters-general, that was affected by the +resolution of the House. Many men, incensed by such treatment, would +have thrown up their appointments in disgust. Lord Salisbury did nothing +of the kind. The very day he received official intimation that the +address had been acceded to by the King he gave directions that his +salary should be stopped;[91] but the appointment of postmaster-general +he retained, and to the duties of it he gave at least as much attention +as before. It was not until his death a year later that Lord Chichester +was appointed sole postmaster-general, and the Post Office received the +constitution under which it still remains. + + [91] The official intimation was received at the Post Office on the 28th + of May. On the same day Lord Salisbury wrote to the receiver-general as + follows:-- + + GENERAL POST OFFICE, _May 28, 1822_. + + SIR--I have received instructions from the Lords Commissioners of His + Majesty's Treasury to acquaint you that on the 5th of July next you are + to retain in your hands the salary of L2500 hitherto paid to me as joint + postmaster-general.--I am, etc., SALISBURY. + + R. Willimott, Esq., Receiver-General. + +Other economies followed. All periodical increases of salary were +suspended and salaries were for the first time made subject to abatement +in order to provide a superannuation fund.[92] The effect of these two +measures was to reduce the Post Office servants to a state of +destitution not very far short of that from which Pitt had rescued them +some thirty years before. It must not be thought, however, that +ministers imposed upon others conditions to which they were unwilling to +submit themselves. On the contrary, they procured an Order in Council to +be passed reducing their own salaries and those of all the great +officers of State by 10 per cent, and the reduction was to continue for +five years. The desire to be just and equal was present; the one thing +wanting was a due sense of the difference between superfluity and need. + +[92] The sums abated were afterwards returned. It was not until 1834 +that abatements towards superannuation were imposed by statute. + +And now a blow which had long been impending fell. This was the transfer +from the Post Office to the Admiralty of the packets stationed at +Falmouth. The question had been discussed again and again during the +war; but how it came to be revived at this particular time is not very +clear. There had indeed been a mutiny among the seamen at Falmouth, and +the packets had been temporarily removed to Plymouth; but many years +had since elapsed, and now, so far as appeared, matters were perfectly +quiet. We only know that at the instance of Lord Liverpool a memorandum +was prepared by Lord Melville, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and that +after a sharp paper-warfare between him and Freeling the arguments in +favour of the change prevailed. At Falmouth thirty packets were +employed, nearly double the number at all the other stations put +together; and these thirty packets with their crews of 600 seamen, whose +deeds of daring had often shed lustre on the Post Office, were now made +over to another department. Freeling was in despair. This little fleet +had, next perhaps to the mail-coaches, been the object of his keenest +solicitude; and it gave him little consolation that the packets at the +other stations--at Dover and Harwich, at Weymouth, Milford, Holyhead, +and Portpatrick, were to remain under the charge of the Post Office. + +Some little comfort, however, was at hand. Steam packets being beyond +the means of the captains to purchase, the Government provided them and +purchased the sailing packets, which they replaced, at a valuation. Thus +the Post Office became once more absolute owner of its own boats. This, +though by no means reconciling Freeling to the loss of the Falmouth +packets, was at all events some compensation. "The steam flotilla +belonging to the Post Office," he was able to write in 1827, "consists +of no less than nineteen vessels complete, to the aggregate amount of +4000 tons, with machinery equal on the whole to the power of 1540 +horses." + +Exaggerated opinions have been expressed as to the speed of the +mail-coaches during the first two decades of the present century. In +1821 few mail-coaches travelled as much as eight miles an hour, and only +one mail-coach attained to a speed of nine miles, and that for only part +of the journey. The exact rates of travelling are shewn in the following +table:-- + +1821. + ++---------------+-------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+ +| | Number| Hour | Hour | Rate of | | +| MAIL COACH | of | of | of |Travelling| Remarks. | +|FROM LONDON TO | Miles.|Despatch.| Arrival. | per hour.| | ++---------------+-------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+ +| | M. F.| | | M. | | +|Berwick | 341 6 | 8.0 P.M.| 6.15 P.M.| 7-13/16 | The rates of| +|Berwick to | | | | |travelling | +| Edinburgh | 59 4 | -- | 2.55 A.M.| 7-2/16 |include | +|Birmingham | 110 2 | 8.0 P.M.|10.0 A.M.| 7-13/16 |stoppages for| +|Bristol | 122 4 | " | " | 8-10/16 |change of | +|Carlisle by | | | | |horses, but | +| Manchester | 311 4 | " | 1.30 P.M.| 8-5/16 |not stoppages| +|Carlisle by | | | | |for refresh- | +| Boroughbridge| 302 6 | " | 1.40 P.M.| 7-10/16 |ment and for | +|Carlisle to | | | | |Post Office | +| Glasgow | 103 2 | -- | 4.50 A.M.| 7-4/16 |business. | +|Chester | 191 0 | 8.0 P.M.|10.50 P.M.| 7-8/16 | | +|Chester to | | | | | | +| Holyhead | 88 0 | -- | 7.5 A.M.| 7-7/16 | | +|Dover | 73 4 | 8.0 P.M.| 6.45 A.M.| 7 | For a | +|Exeter | 176 2 | " | 7.40 P.M.| 7-11/16 |considerable | +|Exeter by Bath | 194 0 | " | 7.50 P.M.| 8-7/16 |part of the | +|Gloucester | 111 0 | " |10.0 A.M.| 8-3/16 |distance the | +|Holyhead | 264 6 | " | 6.50 A.M.| 7-15/16 |London and | +|Leeds | 196 0 | " |11.25 P.M.| 7-8/16 |Bristol | +|Liverpool | 207 4 | " |12.10 A.M.| 7-6/16 |coach | +|Norwich by | | | | |travelled at | +| Ipswich | 114 4 | " |11.0 A.M.| 7-14/16 |the rate of | +|Ipswich to | | | | |nine miles an| +| Yarmouth | 54 2 | -- |11.56 A.M.| 7-15/16 |hour. | +|Poole | 117 4 | 8.0 P.M.|11.20 A.M.| 7-14/16 | | +|Portsmouth | 72 6 | " | 6.45 A.M.| 7-1/16 | | +|Worcester | 114 4 | " |10.40 A.M.| 8-7/16 | | ++---------------+-------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+ + +It was not until some fourteen or fifteen years later, when the main +roads of the kingdom had passed under Telford's hands and vehicles of +lighter build had been introduced, that mail-coaches attained the speed +which is very commonly ascribed to an earlier period. In 1836 there were +in England 104 mail-coaches, all drawn by four horses. Of these the +fastest was the Liverpool and Preston coach, which travelled at the rate +of ten miles and five furlongs an hour; and the slowest was the coach +between Canterbury and Deal, which travelled at the rate of only six +miles an hour. The average speed of all the mail-coaches in 1836, namely +eight miles and seven furlongs an hour, was actually higher than the +highest speed attained by any one mail-coach in 1821. It should be +added that in 1821, as in 1836, the number of passengers by a mail-coach +was limited to four inside and four out. On some mail-coaches, indeed, +no more than three outside passengers were allowed. + +But the mail-coach at the beginning of the present century did something +more than carry mails and passengers. It was the great disseminator of +news. In times of excitement men would stand waiting along the mail +roads and learn the latest intelligence as shouted to them from the tops +of the coaches. It may well be believed that this mode of communication +did not tend to either accuracy or completeness of statement. We cannot, +therefore, be surprised that on important occasions or occasions on +which false or inexact intelligence might lead to mischief recourse +should have been had to the expedient of printing hand-bills, and +sending them to the postmasters with instructions to distribute them in +their respective towns. The following are specimens of hand-bills which +were so distributed:-- + + LONDON, _February 10, 1817_. + + The statement in the morning papers that several persons have been + arrested by warrants from the Secretary of State is true. + + The meeting was held this morning at Spa Fields; but the arrests + which have taken place and the precautions adopted by Government + caused everything to end peaceably and the town is perfectly quiet. + + * * * * * + _17th November 1818._ + Her Majesty the Queen expired at one o'clock this day. + + * * * * * + +The following hand-bill sent to the different ports where vessels from +Jamaica were likely to arrive is interesting in so far as it shews the +exceptional facilities which, even seventy or eighty years ago, the Post +Office possessed for making inquiries:-- + + GENERAL POST OFFICE, _February 10th, 1821_. + + Mr. Freeling requests the postmaster to make inquiries of the + master of any ship arriving from Jamaica into the state of the Duke + of Manchester's health, and inform him of the result by the first + post. + +Of the reason of this solicitude we are not aware. + +Police notices, notices giving particulars of crimes which had been +committed and offering rewards for the apprehension of the criminals, +were similarly dealt with. These, like the hand-bills of which specimens +have been given, were sent from Lombard Street under cover to the +postmasters with instructions to circulate them in their respective +towns. The propriety of this proceeding is not free from doubt. Of +course, every department of the State is interested in the detection and +punishment of crime; and yet it may be a question whether by taking an +active part in the distribution of these documents the Post Office was +not to some extent identifying itself with a class of business from +which, for obvious reasons, it had better hold itself aloof. + +While changes were taking place in other directions, the regulations for +the transmission of newspapers through the post remained as they had +been at the beginning of the century. Within the United Kingdom +newspapers could not pass free except under the frank of either members +of Parliament or of the clerks of the roads. To the Continent of Europe +and to the colonies they could pass only at the letter rate of postage +unless they were franked, in the case of the Continent, by the +comptroller or clerks of the foreign department, and, in the case of the +colonies, by Freeling. This privilege of franking was to the Post Office +servants who possessed it a source of considerable profit. Freeling's +share alone amounted to nearly L3000 a year; but he, unlike his +subordinates, claimed to frank not newspapers alone but the _Edinburgh_ +and _Quarterly Reviews_ and other publications of a like nature. + +The West India merchants had long writhed under this exaction, and now +at their instance Joseph Hume, the member for Montrose, brought the +matter under the notice of the House of Commons. The practice had only +to be made known in order to secure condemnation. A bill was brought in +and passed extinguishing the privilege so far as the colonies were +concerned, empowering the Treasury to grant compensation for the loss of +it, and providing for the transmission of newspapers at easy rates. +These rates were, from the United Kingdom to the colonies, 1-1/2d. and, +from the colonies to the United Kingdom, 3d. for each newspaper, the +reason for the difference of charge being that the paper would bear a +stamp-duty in one direction and not in the other. + +In the case of newspapers for the Continent the franking privilege +remained untouched. It may seem strange that this should have been so; +indeed, not more than two or three years had elapsed before members of +Parliament were expressing surprise that the Act which had taken away +the privilege in respect to one class of newspapers had not taken it +away also in respect to the other. But the explanation, we think, is +simple. Some nine or ten years before it had been rumoured that in the +case of all Post Office servants the franking privilege was to be +abolished, and those who would have been injured by its abolition +proceeded to shew cause why in their own case an exception should be +made. Only by those who franked to the Continent were even plausible +reasons given; and there can be little doubt that, at all events to some +extent, the same reasons operated now. These were that over a great part +of the Continent, except for the arrangements made by the Post Office +servants in Lombard Street, English newspapers could not circulate at +all or could circulate only under most onerous conditions. In France +their circulation was prohibited. To Holland they could not be sent +unless ordered by some postmaster there. In Germany and Sweden, unless +so ordered, they could not pass through the post except at the letter +rate of postage. In Portugal the letter rate of postage was always +charged. In Russia, besides being charged 7s. 6d. apiece, they were +generally delayed and not seldom suppressed altogether. These obstacles +had been overcome by the private arrangements made from Lombard Street, +and, if these should be disallowed, the transmission of newspapers to +the Continent, instead of being facilitated, would be rendered more +difficult and costly. Thus in 1816 argued those who were interested in +the maintenance of the privilege, and we can well understand that in +1825 much the same considerations prevailed. + +The same Act of Parliament which imposed upon newspapers to the colonies +a postage of 1-1/2d. allowed newspapers within the United Kingdom to +pass through the post free from any postage at all. This was the effect +of the Act, but it was accomplished in a roundabout manner. By a statute +passed early in the century[93] a member of Parliament was required, in +order to send his newspapers free, to sign his name on the outside in +his own handwriting, and, in order to receive them free, to have them +addressed to some place of which he had given previous notice in writing +at the Post Office. By the present statute these provisions were +repealed. A newspaper, to be exempt from postage, need no longer bear +the signature of a member of Parliament and need no longer be addressed +to a place of which previous notice had been given. In other words, +newspapers might pass through the post free; and as a consequence the +franking privilege possessed by the clerks of the roads was at an end. + + [93] 42 George III. cap. lxiii. sec. 10. + +This, it might naturally be supposed, was a signal epoch in the history +of the Post Office. As a matter of fact, it was nothing of the kind. For +many years past the law had been disregarded. It had indeed been +insisted upon that a newspaper, in order to pass free, must bear a +member's name, without which the full letter rate of postage would be +charged; but by whom the name was written, whether it was written at all +or only printed, and whether the use of it had been authorised, had long +ceased to be considered material. So well was this understood that some +of the largest news-vendors in the kingdom adopted a member's name +without the slightest reference to the member himself, and had it +printed on their newspaper-covers. + +This laxity in the case of newspapers may appear all the more +extraordinary in view of the stringency which was observed in other +matters. The Chelsea pensioners had by statute enjoyed the privilege of +sending and receiving letters at low rates of postage. Freeling never +rested until the statute was repealed. At the close of hostilities with +France letters which had been detained in Paris since the war broke out +in 1803 were forwarded to London, and the merchants urged that they +might be delivered free. The Treasury were in favour of granting the +request; but Freeling energetically opposed it. The delivery of such +letters free, he insisted, would be a plain breach of the law. On a +dissolution of Parliament those who had been members lost their +privilege in the matter of franking; and yet it might be supposed that a +short period of grace would have been allowed, a period sufficient to +admit of letters which were already in the post being delivered free. +Nothing of the kind. These letters were surprised in course of transit +and charged with postage.[94] + + [94] This is the circular which was issued to postmasters on the + occasion of a dissolution:-- + +"The Parliament is dissolved. The franks of this evening are necessarily +charged with postage, and you will immediately charge all letters and +packets excepting the letters franked by such public officers as are by +law at all times exempted from postage. Full instructions will be sent +to-morrow." + +Lord Salisbury when at the Post Office contrasted the stringency of +later years with the laxity which prevailed in his early manhood. "In +the year 1778," he wrote, "and in many succeeding ones while I took the +field with the militia it was the constant practice to write on all +regimental papers the words, 'On His Majesty's service,' which insured a +free delivery; but in process of time the Post Office became rather +stricter and more attentive, and then such a superscription was charged +except when addressed to peers and members of Parliament, and I have +frequently paid for such letters overweight without getting any +redress." + +When such strictness was observed in other matters, one can only wonder +at the liberties which were allowed to be taken with newspapers, and it +appears all the more strange because the very act which in the case of +newspapers was countenanced and encouraged was in the case of letters a +highly penal offence. Was it not for forging a single frank, the frank +of Sir William Garrow, that the clerical impostor, Halloran, was in 1818 +sentenced to seven years' transportation? The plain truth would seem to +be that vested interests were so deeply involved in the matter of +newspapers that there was on the part of the Post Office the utmost +indisposition to make them the subject of legislative enactment; and +yet, without some concessions to the news-vendors, it would have been +impossible to resist the pressure which would have been brought to bear. +This, we doubt not, is the true explanation; and it will account for +much that is otherwise dark and obscure. It will explain why that which +was regarded as a heinous offence in the case of letters was sanctioned +and encouraged in the case of newspapers; why, enormously as the +circulation of newspapers within the United Kingdom increased during the +first quarter of the present century, we look in vain for any +legislative enactment regulating the conditions under which, except when +sent or received by members of Parliament, they might pass through the +post; and why in 1825, when at length they had conceded to them the +right to pass free, the concession was enacted in an indirect and +circuitous manner. + +So far, therefore, as inland newspapers were concerned, the practical +effect of the statute which now passed was little more than to make law +correspond with usage. During many years newspapers had been passing +through the post, as they were to pass for the future, free. The only +difference was that, in order to secure exemption, it was no longer +necessary to go through the farce of either writing or printing the name +of some member of Parliament on the outside of the cover. The clerks of +the roads were unaffected by the statute. The advantage which these +officers had at one time derived from their franking privilege had +already been lost to them through the action of the Post Office in +evading the law; and we can well believe that even so they considered +themselves fortunate in being permitted to escape with their +newspaper-business. This business, long after they had begun to compete +with the news-vendors on equal terms, was of large dimensions. During +the year 1829, out of 11,862,706 newspapers despatched from London into +the country, 1,207,794 or more than one-tenth of the whole number were +despatched by the clerks of the roads. + +But it was not only in respect to newspapers that the House of Commons +began about this time to manifest in the proceedings of the Post Office +an interest such as it had never taken before. Committee after Committee +was appointed to report upon the communications of the country, upon +roads, mail-coaches, and steam packets; but without any definite result. +Obviously the House was not satisfied with things as they were, and yet +did not well see how to improve them. Only one man appears to have had a +clear perception of what he wanted, and to have been possessed of the +requisite ability to carry his object. This was Sir Henry Parnell, +chairman of the Select Committee on the Holyhead Road, a Committee the +title of which only inadequately denotes either its scope or importance. +Parnell, presuming on the authority which this position gave him, and +convinced no doubt of the feasibility of his scheme of improvement, +adopted towards the Post Office an air of superiority which was +peculiarly galling to Freeling, who for the first time in his life found +himself dictated to in respect to matters in which he had hitherto been +regarded as supreme. The effect of this Committee was not only to keep +the Post Office busily employed in the preparation of returns but to put +it on the defensive. + +Another inquiry which was going on contemporaneously contributed to the +same result. Early in the reign of George the Fourth a Commission had +been appointed to inquire into the state of the revenue, and this +Commission, which began with the Post Office in 1823, did not report the +result of its labours until 1829. Meanwhile the Post Office, which was +practically on its trial, put forward as few proposals as possible; and +even from those that were put forward the Treasury withheld assent on +the pretext that the Commission had not yet reported. Hence followed +the somewhat curious result that the very period during which the House +of Commons began to manifest an interest in the Post Office was on the +part of the Post Office itself a period of more than ordinary inaction. + +And yet the period in question, though not remarkable for Post Office +progress, is by no means an uninteresting one if only because within its +limits the old and the new are brought together in striking contrast. In +1818 the express office in the Haymarket is closed, an office which had +been established in 1797 for the purpose of facilitating the receipt and +despatch of Government expresses. In 1821 gas, or oil-gas as it was then +called, is introduced into the Post Office, and at once asserts its +superiority over oil in point not only of illuminating power but of +cheapness as well. In 1822 the Post Office, by virtue of a warrant under +the royal sign-manual, is cleared of its irrecoverable debts. These have +been accumulating during a period of 137 years--since 1685, when the +Post Office was first taken out of farm, and now amount to L62,141. + +About the same time Thomas Gray, writing from Brussels, advocates the +introduction of steam engines on iron railways and predicts that, once +established, they will absorb the carrying trade of the kingdom and +displace mail-coaches. In 1823 Brunel, who has already achieved +distinction, offers his services in the construction of a steam engine +which shall prove as efficient and as safe at sea as when employed on +land. The brilliant engineer receives no encouragement, and Gray +receives not even the courtesy of an answer. In the same year passes +away at Tunbridge Wells, James Sprange, the courtly old postmaster, who +up to the date of his last illness might be seen pacing the Pantiles +scrupulously dressed in the costume of the reign of George the Second, +even to the long ruffles. In 1825 Glasgow is pleading, and pleading in +vain, for a Post Office which shall not be kept at a shop. In 1828 the +Roman Catholic peers are once more protesting against the outrage which +precludes them, on the score of their religion, from exercising the +privilege of franking. In 1829 Waghorn is vainly striving to induce the +Post Office to co-operate in facilitating communication with the East. + +The inferiority of sailing vessels to vessels propelled by steam has now +been conclusively established, and steam packets are being placed on +every station. Not the Holyhead Road alone but all the great roads of +the kingdom have passed under Telford's hands and are beginning to +assume the condition in which we see them to-day. And all this while +postage remains at the ridiculously high level at which it was fixed in +1812. To Windsor the charge on a single letter is still 6d., to +Birmingham 9d., and to Liverpool 11d. Letters are still held up to a +strong light to see whether they contain an enclosure or not, and are to +be charged as single or as double. The first general delivery in St. +James' Square is not begun before twelve o'clock in the day or finished +much before one. Offices for the receipt of general post letters are +still kept separate and distinct from those for the receipt of letters +for the twopenny post. By the twopenny post the postage is not +necessarily 2d., but, according as it is a twopenny post letter, a +general post letter, or a foreign letter, may be 3d., 2d., or nothing. +On a letter for abroad the fee for registration is still one guinea.[95] +An additional penny is still charged upon every letter that crosses the +Conway or the Menai Bridge. Two hundred and seventy-five post towns +still remain without a free delivery, and--what proves a constant source +of contention between the Post Office and the inhabitants--even in those +towns in which the letters are delivered free, the limits of the free +delivery are not defined. + + [95] Since 1814 receipts had been given for registered letters. In that + year Mr. H. M. Raikes, of 4 Portman Square, represented that he + frequently sent valuable parcels of diamonds between this country and + Holland, and that these parcels he insured, but that, to be certain of + recovering his insurance should any casualty happen, "the London + merchant ought to have some proof in his possession of his having + delivered such a packet into the charge of the Post Office." If, he + added, the clerks would give a receipt, the merchant would gladly give + them for their trouble an additional guinea. The suggestion to charge a + second guinea was not adopted; but from that time a receipt had been + given for a registered letter in the following form:-- + + FOREIGN POST OFFICE. + + LONDON 181 + + It is hereby certified that ......... has registered at this office a + sealed packet said to contain .......... addressed to ............... + which will be forwarded to ............. by the mail of this evening; + but for its safe conveyance this office is not responsible. + + (_Signature_) .................... + +Twenty years before, the office in Gerrard Street, the headquarters of +the twopenny post in Westminster, had been enlarged. Of this office, +which ranked next in importance to the General Post Office in Lombard +Street, the postmasters-general wrote in 1809--not, surely, without a +touch of exaggeration: "The sorting office, where fourteen persons are +generally employed at a time and nearly one-half of which is occupied by +tables, is only seventeen feet long by thirteen wide"; and, again, "The +letter-carriers' office, in which fifty persons are employed at a time +and one-fourth of which is occupied by tables, is but eighteen feet by +sixteen." Such were the conditions under which, until lately, the Post +Office servants had been accustomed to work; and now on a site rich in +historical associations is rapidly approaching completion a stately +edifice which not only provides ample and even lavish accommodation for +the present, but will, it is confidently predicted, suffice for all +time. + +The new Post Office in St. Martin's-le-Grand was opened on the 23rd of +September 1829. Little more than sixty years have since elapsed, and the +building has been shorn of its chief attraction, the central hall, and +has otherwise been so altered internally that even the accomplished +architect, were he to revisit us, would probably fail to recognise his +own handiwork. Of the old Post Office in Lombard Street, with its courts +and its alleys and its interesting associations, not a fragment remains. +Part of the site was retained for Post Office purposes, and is now +occupied by what is known as the Lombard Street Branch Office; part was +thrown into the street then forming, and to be called after the King, +King William Street; and the remainder was sold, and has long been +covered with banks and counting-houses. + +It were much to be wished, if only for his own reputation and peace of +mind, that Freeling had now retired. Full of years, recently created a +baronet, of ample means, and enjoying the confidence of the Government +as probably civil servant had never enjoyed it before, he could not have +selected a better moment for relinquishing the duties of his arduous +post. But a man who has been accustomed to exercise power is seldom +willing to give it up. And in Freeling's case we suspect there was an +additional reason. Of the large income which he derived from the Post +Office, exceeding L4000 a year, considerably more than two-thirds was +compensation for the loss of the franking privilege; and this +compensation, according to a well-understood rule, was not to count for +pension. As the fees which had been received for the exercise of the +privilege must have ceased on retirement, so the compensation was to +cease also. + +That Freeling would have received a special pension is beyond doubt; but +even a special pension, with the utmost goodwill on the part of the +Government, could not have approached the amount of his official income. +And of this Freeling must have been well aware, for grumblings were +already to be heard. The Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry, indeed, had +gone so far as to question his right to receive any fees at all, and, +even assuming such right to exist, had impugned the conduct of the +Government in fixing the amount of his compensation at close upon L3000 +a year. + +The removal into the new building was celebrated by two important steps +in advance. Two branch offices were opened, one at Charing Cross and the +other in Oxford Street, where letters were received without a fee until +half-past six o'clock in the evening. Up to this time, except in Lombard +Street, no office for the receipt of letters had been kept open later +than five o'clock. A still more important step was the earlier delivery +of letters in the morning. This was accomplished within the city by the +employment of additional letter-carriers, and in the more distant parts +by conveying the men to their walks in vehicles. A whole hour was thus +gained. In the west end of London the delivery had not been completed +until between twelve and one o'clock. It was now to be completed, except +on Mondays, when the greater number of letters caused delay, between +eleven and twelve. + +It will be convenient here to notice, though not strictly in +chronological order, a third step in advance which took place about a +year later, a step regarded as of little moment at the time, and yet one +which, in view of subsequent events, was of the highest importance. On +the 11th of November 1830 the first mail was sent by railway, this being +the mail between Liverpool and Manchester. Except as the opening of a +new era, the fact would hardly deserve to be recorded, for many years +had yet to pass before railways became sufficiently general to afford to +the Post Office any sensible relief. Meanwhile the roofs of the +mail-coaches groaned under the weight of the mails. Time had been when +no mail was allowed to be put on the roof or elsewhere than in the +mail-box; but, as the correspondence increased, the Post Office was +forced to countenance a practice of which it highly disapproved. What, +except for the railways, would have happened on the introduction of +penny postage is a question into which, happily, we need not inquire. + +The new Post Office had not been long occupied before the Government +changed hands, and Earl Grey came into power with the Duke of Richmond +as postmaster-general. It is not often that a change of Government +affects the proceedings of the Post Office. One postmaster-general may +be more active than another, or he may take a more lively and personal +interest in the questions with which he has to deal; but there must, +from the nature of the case, be a continuity of policy which can seldom +be broken. Nor was there in this respect any exception to rule in the +present instance. And yet the peer who now assumed the direction of the +Post Office adopted a mode of procedure so different from that of his +immediate predecessors that it is impossible to pass over the occasion +in silence. + +Richmond on his appointment as postmaster-general declined to receive +any salary; and having formed this determination on the ground that the +office was notoriously a sinecure, he straightway proceeded to shew that +a sinecure was the very thing which in his hands the office was not to +be. He devoted himself heart and soul to his new duties. Early and late, +at his private residence as well as the Post Office, he was in constant +and personal communication with officers of all classes from the highest +to the lowest. Nothing like it had been seen since the days of +Walsingham. He frequented the sorting office, saw for himself how the +work was done, and with many a kindly word encouraged the men to do +their best. With his own hands he on one occasion opened a bag for the +colonial office, and, in confirmation of the suspicion which had +prompted the act, found it full of letters for bankers, army agents, and +others, representing postage to the amount of L60. + +Yet hard as he laboured, the Duke's repugnance to receive remuneration +for his services could not be overcome. Learning that his salary +remained undrawn, the Treasury addressed to him a letter of gentle +remonstrance. To this letter he returned no reply. Fourteen months later +the Treasury wrote again. To gratuitous service there were, in their +Lordships' opinion, serious objections. The Lord Privy Seal had declined +to receive the salary annexed to his office, and a Select Committee of +the House of Commons had expressed disapproval of the step as being +inconsistent with the wishes and the dignity of the country. Could that +be right on the part of the postmaster-general which had been held to be +wrong in the case of the Lord Privy Seal? Richmond now yielded, feeling +that it would be indelicate, if not disrespectful to the House, to force +gratuitous service where he was authoritatively informed gratuitous +service would not be welcome; but while yielding he managed to draw as +little of the arrears of salary as possible. His appointment as +postmaster-general bore date the 14th of December 1830, and the views +of the Committee were for the first time made known to him at the end of +April. The end of April, he was pleased to say, was an inconvenient time +to begin. It was a broken quarter. He would, in deference to the opinion +of the Committee, draw salary from the 5th of July but not before. + +Richmond had been only a short time at the Post Office when he had a +most invidious task to perform. This was the carrying out of the +arrangements consequent upon the consolidation of the Irish Post Office +with the Post Office of Great Britain. The state of things arising from +the maintenance within the United Kingdom of two independent Post +Offices had long been felt to be intolerable. Until four or five years +before, not only had the rates of postage in Ireland been different from +those in England, but on a letter passing from one part of the kingdom +to another both the English and the Irish rates had been charged. This +had now been altered,[96] but the inconvenience of the dual control +remained. A letter from Ireland might have miscarried or been delayed. +The postmaster-general of England could not answer for its course except +on this side of the Channel, and for further particulars the complainant +had to be referred to Dublin. The English packets were timed to arrive +in Ireland at a particular hour; but on the goodwill of the authorities +in Dublin it depended whether the Irish posts corresponded or whether, +as had not been unknown to be the case, their times were perversely +fixed so as to keep the English mails waiting. + +[96] 7 and 8 George IV. cap. xxi. + +Nor was this all. The Revenue Inquiry Commissioners had recently +reported upon the Irish Post Office, and the evidence, on which their +report was based, revealed the existence of scandalous abuses such as no +Government could suffer to continue. For nearly fifty years the Irish +Post Office had been independent of the Post Office of Great Britain, +and it was now determined that this independence should cease. In 1831 +an Act was passed incorporating the two Post Offices into one, and +Richmond's patent as postmaster-general of Great Britain had hardly +been completed before another passed constituting him postmaster-general +of the United Kingdom. + +Upon Richmond as postmaster-general of Ireland as well as England and +Scotland it now devolved to sweep out the Augean stable; and his stern +sense of duty peculiarly qualified him for the task. Rosse and O'Neill +had ceased to be postmasters-general of Ireland upon the Act of +incorporation passing. Lees, their secretary, was removed from Dublin to +Edinburgh. Only those who had performed their duties in person were +retained. All others were summarily dismissed and pensions were refused +to them. In the result the Irish establishment was reduced in point of +numbers by one-half, and in point of cost by nearly L10,000 a year; and +this after the salaries of those who were retained had been increased +all round. + +One important function had yet to be performed. This was to audit the +Irish accounts, which had not been audited for fourteen years, and were +known to be in a state of the utmost confusion. The receiver-general, +who carried on the private business of banker and money-lender, had +recently died, and speculation was high as to what further scandals the +audit would reveal. All preparations had been made, and the persons +selected for the task were on the point of starting for Dublin when +intelligence reached London that the receiver-general's bond was not +forthcoming. It had, shortly after his death, been surrendered under an +instruction from Lees which, like the instruction which conferred upon +his brother a valuable appointment, purported to have been given at a +Board at which were present "the earls." The earls, as a matter of fact, +had not been present and had never been consulted on the point. As it +was felt that in the absence of the bond an audit would be of little +use, the Government abandoned their intention, and the Irish Post Office +accounts from 1817 to 1831 remain unaudited to the present day. + +Lord Althorp was at this time Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the +position which he assumed towards the Post Office was probably unique. +Ordinarily, between the Treasury and the Post Office there is a certain +amount of antagonism which, deplorable as it may be, is not difficult to +understand. The Post Office wants to spend money; the Treasury wants to +save it. The Post Office knows by experience that it must sow before it +can reap; the Treasury, while ready enough to reap, has a rooted +aversion to sowing, and resolutely shuts its eyes to the fact that +between the two processes there is a direct and necessary connection. +All this was reversed in Althorp's time. Often, during his tenure of +office, might be witnessed the strange spectacle of a Chancellor of the +Exchequer urging the Post Office to adopt some improvement, and the Post +Office attempting to frighten him with the bogey of cost. + +The first matter on which Althorp brought his authority to bear was the +boundary of the general post delivery. The limits of this delivery were +irregular and capricious in the extreme. Of two streets, possibly +adjoining streets, one might receive its general post letters for the +general post rate alone, while the other, though at no greater distance +from St. Martin's-le-Grand, had to pay the twopenny rate as well. + +The question now forced itself into prominence. Belgrave Square had been +laid out, and the houses were being occupied as fast as they could be +built. Those of the occupiers who were members of Parliament found to +their chagrin that every letter they received cost them 2d., for the +franking privilege did not clear the twopenny post; and, of course, by +those who were not members of Parliament, 2d. had to be paid in addition +to any other postage to which their letters might be liable. Althorp +insisted that the general post limits should be not only extended but +fixed on some definite principle. But what was the principle to be? +Contiguity of building? This was held to be impracticable. A line drawn +on such a basis would extend beyond Brentford on the west to Hampstead +and Highgate on the north, and beyond Clapham on the south. A line drawn +according to parishes would be little better. The parish of St. +Pancras, which nearly touched Holborn in its southern extremity, +extended as far as Finchley in the north, and the parish of Lambeth +reached nearly to Croydon. + +Another course would be to draw a circle of which the Post Office should +be the centre, and let all letters within this circle be delivered free; +but even with a radius of no more than three miles, the additional cost +would be L25,000 a year. This was an outlay which the Post Office could +not recommend, and, if it were incurred, the Government must take the +responsibility. Althorp was not to be daunted, and after April 1831 the +general post limits extended for a distance of three miles from St. +Martin's-le-Grand. A little later, the threepenny post was extended to a +radius of twelve miles. This, boon as it was considered to be sixty +years ago, was shorter by some miles than the radius of the penny post +when Queen Anne ascended the throne. + +Althorp was hardly less determined on the subject of the packets. It had +been a matter of principle with Freeling, that to all places beyond the +sea to which there was regular communication the Post Office should +carry its own mails. That they should be carried in vessels belonging to +private persons, however respectable these persons might be, appeared to +him to be unworthy of the English Government, and on this ground many an +advantageous offer had been refused. + +Althorp held a different opinion, and an opportunity soon offered of +carrying his own view into effect. From Harwich the mails to Holland and +to Hamburg were still carried by sailing packet, and the merchants of +London, regarding this as an anachronism, urged that the sailing packets +might be replaced by steam packets. The request was not unreasonable, +but, unwilling that the Government should be at the cost of substituting +one description of packet for the other, Althorp directed that the +service should be put up to public competition. Here we see the first +application of a principle which in the result has furnished us with a +fleet of packets such as no other country in the world can produce. The +tender of the General Steam Navigation Company was accepted, though +saddled with the condition that its vessels should start from the +Thames. This was a death-blow to Harwich. The sailing packets for Sweden +were, indeed, still retained there; but in little more than eighteen +months the Swedish Government contracted for the mails to be forwarded +from Hull, and Harwich as a packet station was closed. + +But of all the changes which Althorp introduced perhaps the most +important, and certainly the one which excited most opposition at the +Post Office, was the abolition of the newspaper privilege. The number of +newspapers sent by post from London into the country had, within the +last fifty or sixty years, increased enormously. In 1764 they averaged +3160 a day, in 1790 the daily average was 12,600, and in 1830 it had +risen to 41,412. The rate of increase, moreover, was advancing. In 1829 +the total number of such newspapers was 11,862,000, and in 1830 +12,962,000; and more than one-tenth part of the whole number was +supplied by the clerks of the roads. + +The news-vendors now took the matter up in earnest. A general meeting +was held to protest against the Post Office servants being any longer +allowed to compete with the private dealers, and a petition to the same +effect was presented to Parliament. This called forth a vigorous +rejoinder from Freeling, and it is interesting to note by what arguments +he defended his position. So far, he said, from the news-vendors having +any ground of complaint against the Post Office servants, it is the Post +Office servants who have reason to complain of the news-vendors. For +their own interest and advantage a few persons engaged in a trade of +modern creation are endeavouring by clamour to deprive others of the +remains of an old and long-established privilege, which they exercise +not only under the sanction of immemorial usage, but by the direct +authority of Acts of Parliament. It is not as though the public were +interested in the question. The public have absolutely no interest in +it, except indeed to this extent--that, if what remains of the +privilege be withdrawn, they will be asked to compensate those whose +incomes are reduced in consequence, and to provide higher salaries for +their successors; and this "for the sole purpose of transferring their +authorised official remuneration to the pockets of a few individuals +who, having been admitted to a participation in what was originally an +exclusive privilege, have now thought proper to set up a claim to the +whole." + +Such were Freeling's arguments, but Althorp was not convinced by them. +By his direction the privilege was withdrawn as from the 5th of April +1834, and those whose incomes suffered were handsomely compensated. Thus +ended a practice which had existed from the first establishment of the +Post Office, and which, while the Post Office was still in its infancy, +may perhaps have had this to justify it--that except for the franking +privilege possessed by the clerks of the roads the provinces would +probably have had to go without even the few copies of newspapers which +at that time found their way there. + +It may appear strange that, while Althorp was thus applying his sturdy +common sense to the affairs of the Post Office, no steps were taken to +correct what most needed correction--the exorbitant rates of postage. +Our own belief is that in a very short time, had the Government of which +he was a member remained in office, a reduction would have been made, +and that it was to this result that he and Richmond, who worked hand in +hand together, were preparing the way. As to Richmond's views on the +matter there can be little doubt. Under previous Governments the Post +Office had been accustomed in exceptional cases to appeal to the +Chancellor of the Exchequer to mitigate the severity of its own rates by +the exercise of a dispensing power; but Richmond set his face against +the practice, insisting that the law should be obeyed until it was +altered; and, after being released from the trammels of office, he was +one of the first to propose an alteration. + +But if such were indeed Althorp and Richmond's intention, we cannot +regret that it was not carried into effect. The illustrious man who +gave us penny postage had not yet directed his attention to the subject; +and, as he tells us himself, it was with him a matter of long and +careful consideration whether he should devote his energies to the +reform of the Post Office or to the improvement of the printing machine. +If in 1834 only a moderate reduction had been made in the extortionate +rates of postage which were then in force, Rowland Hill might not have +embarked upon his plan, and, even if he had done so, that plan might +have failed to evoke from the public sufficient support to overcome +opposition in high quarters. In proportion to the extent of the evil did +men welcome the remedy. + +Meanwhile, although the demand for cheap postage had not yet taken +shape, profound dissatisfaction existed with the conduct of the Post +Office. This, under the reformed Parliament, was perhaps to be expected +in any case; but there were special circumstances which contributed to +the result. Nearly five years had elapsed since the Royal Commission of +Inquiry had reported upon the Post Office, and nothing had since been +done to carry its recommendations into effect. + +It is not difficult to understand this inaction. In Freeling's view the +Post Office had been brought to a pitch of perfection such as it had +never reached before, and he regarded it as little short of sacrilege +that a body of outside novices should presume to lay its hands upon the +sacred ark which he had now for more than a generation been moulding +into form. Of the change of opinion which the labours of the Commission +had wrought he appears to have been utterly unconscious. Hitherto the +Post Office had been regarded as a marvellous mystery, which none but +experts could understand. This mystery had now been invaded, and men +were beginning to wonder, not, as in the past, at the things which the +Post Office was able to do, but how it was that these things were not +done better. + +The Commission had also brought to light the existence of abuses, and +these on one pretext or another had remained uncorrected. We will give a +single instance. The Money Order Office had been established in 1792 +with the object of facilitating the transmission of small sums from one +part of the country to the other by means of orders drawn on the +different postmasters. The plan was excellent and deserved success. The +only objection to it was that the enterprise was a private one, +undertaken by a few Post Office servants for their own benefit, and that +to make it remunerative to the projectors required from the authorities +an amount of favour which they had no right to bestow. Originally there +had been no limit to the amount for which a money order might be +drawn;[97] but long before 1829, in order to prevent interference with +the banking interest, the limit had been fixed at L5:5s.; and the +commission chargeable was at the rate of 8d. in the L1 on the sum +remitted. Of this amount 3d. went to the postmaster who issued the +order, 3d. to the postmaster who paid it, and the residue to the +proprietors.[98] + + [97] At the outset in 1792 the limit had indeed been fixed at L5:5s.; + but even in the first year this limit was largely exceeded. During the + three months ending the 10th of October 1800, 697 money orders were + issued, viz. 220 in London and 477 in the country, representing an + aggregate amount of L8863, or at the rate of more than L12 apiece. + + [98] Among the records of the Post Office is still preserved a money + order drawn by one postmaster upon another at the beginning of the + century. A facsimile of it is given in the Appendix. + +Seeing that the postage on a single letter between two towns no farther +apart than London and Bristol was at this time 10d., it will be obvious +that in respect to orders for small sums the enterprise would have been +conducted at a loss unless the correspondence on money order business +had been exempt from postage. And such indeed was the case. All letters +passing from London to the country were impressed with the official +stamp, and those passing from the country to London were enclosed in +printed covers addressed to the secretary, and bearing, immediately +below the secretary's name, that of the proprietors, "Stow and Company." +For correspondence between themselves on money order business the +postmasters were supplied with franks sent down from London in blank. +Strongly as the Commission of Inquiry had animadverted on this abuse, +nothing had been done to correct it, and the franking privilege was, for +money order purposes, being as freely used as ever. + +The returns which the House of Commons called for about this time, and +the returns which the Post Office furnished, shew, more forcibly perhaps +than anything else, in what direction men's minds were tending, and how +hollow was the foundation on which a part of the Post Office system +rested. More than sixty years had elapsed since the Law Courts decided +that inhabitants of post towns were entitled to a gratuitous delivery of +their letters. The House now inquired at how many post towns a charge on +delivery was still being made, and by what authority. The return +furnished by the Post Office shewed the number of towns to be +eighty-nine, and after giving as the authority for the charge +"immemorial usage," went on to state that "the payment is not compulsory +if the parties choose to object." + +It was still the practice to hold up to a strong lamplight every letter +that passed through the post in order to see whether it was a single or +a double one; and the House called upon the Post Office to state by what +authority this was done. The Post Office, having no authority to adduce, +returned an evasive reply. The House next called for the number of +persons who had been prosecuted in the course of the year for the +illegal conveyance of letters. The Post Office return shewed that on +this ground, during the last twelve months, as many as 341 prosecutions +had taken place, many of them involving a large, and some of them a very +large, number of persons, and that the cases were still more numerous in +which, in order to avoid prosecution, the transgressors had submitted to +fines. And how had the revenue been prospering meanwhile? A return +called for by the House in April 1834 answers the question. During the +last ten years, despite the increase of population, the net Post Office +revenue had actually declined. In 1824 the receipts were L2,055,000 +gross and L1,438,000 net, as against L1,391,000 net and L2,062,000 gross +in 1833. + +In 1834 Earl Grey was succeeded by Viscount Melbourne; and one of the +first acts of the new Government was to appoint another Commission of +Inquiry into the Post Office, with directions to ascertain and report +how it was that the recommendations of the former Commission had not +been carried out. These recommendations were now set down one by one, +and the Post Office was called upon to explain, opposite to each, +whether any and, if so, what steps had been taken to give effect to it. +One or two of them had indeed been adopted--such, for instance, as the +recommendation that Post Office servants should cease to deal in +newspapers--but only under compulsion. Others affecting the internal +administration of the Post Office were certainly not feasible. But there +remained not a few which, while excellent in themselves, had been +discarded on the merest pretext. + +The Commissioners had recommended that the "early," that is the +preferential, delivery of letters should be discontinued. The Post +Office replied that it was impossible. The Commissioners had recommended +that, instead of the receiving houses for general post letters being +separate and distinct from those for the letters of the twopenny post, +every receiving house should take in letters of both kinds. The Post +Office replied that the existing arrangement was the best adapted not +only to the convenience of the public but to the business of the +department. The Commissioners had recommended that the letter-carriers, +instead of being separated into general post, twopenny post, and foreign +letter-carriers, should all form one corps and deliver letters of every +description. The Post Office replied--a reply all the more extraordinary +inasmuch as the very arrangement which the Commissioners recommended was +already in force both in Edinburgh and Dublin--that "it would be +productive of the greatest confusion and delay." + +The last of the recommendations to which we shall refer was that "the +total charge upon all letters should be expressed in one taxation." The +Post Office replied that it was "not possible for country postmasters to +know the precise line of demarcation between the general post and +twopenny post deliveries." In other words, no postmaster could know +what, in the case of letters for London--and, it might have been added, +for any other town than his own--the proper charge should be. This was +no pretext. It was, on the contrary, perfectly true; and perhaps no more +striking testimony could be afforded to the unsoundness of the system +then in vogue. + +It is impossible to conceive that on Freeling's part there can have been +anything in the shape of contumacy, still less of defiance; but we are +by no means sure that the House of Commons did not incline to that view. +Be that as it may, however, the Post Office was in bad odour, and an +unfortunate series of incidents which occurred about this time little +tended to remove the unfavourable impression which the unwillingness to +carry out the Commissioners' recommendations had created. The House, at +the instance of the Select Committee on Steam Navigation, had called for +a return of the casualties which within a given period had happened to +the Irish packets. The return furnished by the Post Office omitted two +accidents in which one of the members of the Committee had himself +assisted; and the Committee forthwith ordered the attendance of a +witness from the Post Office to explain the omission. Another return +contained obvious errors, and was sent back to the Post Office to be +corrected. + +But the two returns which excited most comment referred to the mileage +allowance received by the mail-coach contractors, and to the Money Order +Office. As regards the mileage allowance the only reply vouchsafed by +the Post Office was that it "has not the means of furnishing any account +of the amount paid." The return as regards the Money Order Office was +still more unfortunate. The ground on which this office had been +condemned by the Revenue Inquiry Commissioners was that it was carried +on for the benefit of individuals, and yet in so far as its +correspondence was exempt from postage, at the expense of the revenue. +Several years had since passed, and the House, not doubting that the +abuse had been corrected, called for a return shewing the amount of +postage derived from letters containing money orders, and to what +purpose it was applied. "The Money Order Office"--thus ran the return +which the Post Office furnished--" is a private establishment, and the +business is carried on by private capital under the sanction of the +postmaster-general; but as no accounts connected in any degree with it +are kept at the Post Office, no return can be made by the +postmaster-general to the order of the House of Commons." The House was +highly incensed, and ordered that, both as regards the Money Order +Office and the mileage allowance, proper returns should be rendered at +once. + +The energy of the new Commission had now nearly brought the Post Office +into trouble. The contract for the supply of mail-coaches was in the +hands of Mr. Vidler of Millbank, who had held it for more than forty +years, and little had been done during this period to improve the +construction of the vehicles he supplied. Designed after the pattern in +vogue at the end of the last century, they were, as compared with the +stage-coaches, not only heavy and unsightly but inferior both in point +of speed and accommodation. Moreover, the charge made for them, namely, +2-1/2d. a mile in England and 2d. a mile in Scotland, was considered to +be high; and the Commissioners, altogether dissatisfied with the manner +in which the contract had been performed, arranged with the Government +not only that the service should be put up to public tender, but that +Vidler should be excluded from the competition. This decision was +arrived at in July 1835, and the contract expired on the 5th of January +following. To invite tenders would occupy time, and, after that +mail-coaches would have to be built sufficient in number to supply the +whole of England and Scotland. A period of five or six months was +obviously not enough for the purpose, and overtures were made to Vidler +to continue his contract for half a year longer. Vidler, incensed at the +treatment he had received, flatly refused. Not a day, not an hour, +beyond the stipulated time would he extend his contract, and on the 5th +of January 1836 all the mail-coaches in Great Britain would be withdrawn +from the roads. + +A man less loyal than Freeling or endued with less generous instincts +might have felt a twinge of satisfaction at this result of interference +with what he considered his own domain. But such emotion, if indeed he +felt it, was not suffered to appear. With a difficulty to overcome, some +of his old energy returned, and when the 5th of January arrived there +was not a road in the kingdom from Wick to Penzance on which a new +mail-coach was not running. + +It was now that the mail-coaches reached their prime. Eight or nine +miles an hour had hitherto been their highest speed, and now, with +vehicles of lighter build, the speed was advanced to ten miles an hour +and even more. Truth compels us to add that while the fastest mail-coach +on the road, the coach between Liverpool and Preston, travelled at the +rate of ten miles and five furlongs an hour, a private coach +accomplished within the hour rather more than eleven miles. This was the +coach between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, of which Captain Barclay of Ury +was the proprietor. Besides coachman and guard it carried fifteen +passengers, namely, four inside and eleven outside, while a mail-coach +carried four in and four out or eight altogether. Nor would Captain +Barclay admit that, in order to attain this high rate of speed, recourse +need be had to anything like furious driving. Nothing more, he +maintained, was necessary than to keep the horses at a "swinging trot." + +Freeling's success in averting a breakdown with the mail-coaches did +little or nothing to arrest the tide which had set in against him. After +exercising an influence such as probably no civil servant had exercised +before, he found himself discredited and the object of vehement and not +over-scrupulous attack. Of the ministers under whose orders he had acted +not a few had passed away, and none were in a position to share his +responsibility, while their successors only knew him as identified with +a system which had become unpopular. Owing to an unusually rapid +succession of postmasters-general,[99] he was without even the solace +and support which a chief of some years' standing might have given him. +Single-handed, the old man had maintained a gallant defence; but his +spirit was now broken. In the midst of his exertions to prevent any +interruption of travelling facilities the House of Commons had called +for a return which was calculated to wound him deeply. This return +implied not only that he had been guilty of gross mismanagement, but +that his salary was higher than he was entitled to receive, that he was +drawing unauthorised emoluments, and that the Post Office was made +subordinate to his personal interests. + + [99] Five within a single year. The Duke of Richmond ceased to be + postmaster-general in July 1834; and he was followed by Lord Conyngham, + Lord Maryborough, Lord Conyngham a second time, and Lord Lichfield, the + last of whom was appointed in May 1835. + +To the outside world Freeling maintained much the same demeanour as +before, and few would have suspected the weight that pressed at his +heart; but in the solitude of his study he was an altered man. There he +brooded over the past and contrasted it with the present. Notes jotted +down haphazard on official papers that chanced to be on his table reveal +the inner workings of his mind. We know few sadder records. He recalls +the time when Governments consulted him and he stood high in favour with +the public. He cannot forget how, in the course of debate in the House +of Commons, his own proficiency and devotion to duty were urged as +reasons for not retaining the second appointment of postmaster. In the +recollection of those happy days he endeavours to find consolation for +the calumny and detraction of the present. He repudiates as unfounded +the charge that he has long ceased to consult the interests of the +public, and affirms that in this cause he has of late years laboured +even more abundantly than he did of old. + +Then there is a break, after which he takes up his pen again. "Cheap +postage,"--to this effect he writes. "What is this men are talking +about? Can it be that all my life I have been in error? If I, then +others--others whose behests I have been bound to obey. To make the Post +Office revenue as productive as possible was long ago impressed upon me +by successive ministers as a duty which I was under a solemn obligation +to discharge. And not only long ago. Is it not within the last six +months that the present Chancellor of the Exchequer[100] has charged me +not to let the revenue go down? What! You, Freeling, brought up and +educated as you have been, are you going to lend yourself to these +extravagant schemes? You, with your four-horse mail-coaches too. Where +else in the world does the merchant or manufacturer have the materials +of his trade carried for him gratuitously or at so low a rate as to +leave no margin of profit?" + + [100] The Right Hon. Thomas Spring Rice. + +Here the manuscript abruptly ends. It is dated the 24th of June 1836. +Within sixteen days from that date Francis Freeling was no more. + + * * * * * + +We have done. From 1836 downwards the story of the Post Office is told, +far better than we could tell it, in the Autobiography of Sir Rowland +Hill and the reports which, since 1854, the department has issued +annually. The story of the preceding period is less well known, if +indeed it be known at all. To tell the earlier story--to trace the Post +Office from its humble beginnings down to the time when the illustrious +reformer took it in hand--this has been the extent of our object, and no +one perhaps is more conscious than ourselves how imperfectly it has been +accomplished. + + + + +APPENDIX + + +SUCCESSION OF POSTMASTERS-GENERAL FROM 1660 TO 1836 + +From 1660 to 1667 the Post Office was in farm, the farmers being-- + +1660 to 1663. +Henry Bishopp. Rent, L21,500. +Bishopp surrendered his patent, which was for seven years, in 1663. + +1663 to 1667. +(Being residue of Bishopp's term.) +Daniel O'Neile. Rent, L21,500. + +1667 to 1685. +Henry, Earl of Arlington. +Rent for later part of the term, L43,000. +Office managed, at first, by Sir John Bennet, Lord Arlington's +brother, and afterwards by Colonel Roger Whitley. + +1685 to 1689. +Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester. +(For part of the time Lord Treasurer.)[101] +Office managed by Philip Frowde, Esq., under the title of Governor. + + [101] The concentration of the offices of Lord Treasurer and + Postmaster-General in one person served to facilitate the transaction of + Post Office business in a manner which those who have had experience of + the present system will not be slow to understand. Take, for instance, + the question of increasing a Post Office servant's salary. At the + present time the Postmaster-General may be thoroughly convinced himself + that an increase is called for, but--what is a very different matter--he + has also to convince the Treasury. In 1686 the Postmaster-General's own + conviction was enough. The following will serve as an illustration. + Thomas Cale, Postmaster of Bristol, applies for an increase of salary, + and Frowde, the Governor, satisfies Rochester that an increase will be + proper. Forthwith issues a document, of which the operative part is as + follows:--"You are therefore of opinion that the said salary (L50) is + very small considering the expense the petitioner is att, and his + extraordinary trouble, Bristoll being a greate Citty, but you say that + you doe not think all the things he setts downe in the aforesaid accompt + ought to be allowed him, the example being of very ill consequence, for + (as you informe me) you doe not allow either candles, packthread, wax, + ink, penns or paper to any of the Postmasters, nor office-rent, nor + returnes of mony, you are therefore of opinion that tenn pounds per + annum to his former salary of L50 will be a reasonable allowance, and + the petitioner will be therewith satisfied, these are therefore to pray + and require you" to raise his salary from L50 to L60 accordingly. + ROCHESTER. + + WHITEHALL TREASURY CHAMBERS, _Dec. 13, 1686_. + +July 1689 to March 1690. +Colonel John Wildman. + +1690 to 1708. +Sir Robert Cotton, Knight, and +Sir Thomas Frankland, Bart. + +1708 to 1715. +Sir Thomas Frankland, Bart., and +Sir John Evelyn, Bart. + +1715 to 1721. +Charles, Lord Cornwallis, and +James Craggs, Esq. + +1721 to 1725. +Edward Carteret, Esq., and +Galfridus Walpole, Esq. + +1725 to 1732. +Edward Carteret, Esq., and +Edward Harrison, Esq. + +Christmas 1732. +Edward Carteret alone to Midsummer 1733. + +1733 to 1739. +Edward Carteret, Esq., and +Thomas, Lord Lovell, afterwards Earl of Leicester. + +1739 to 1744. +Thomas, Lord Lovell, and +Sir John Eyles, Bart. + +1744 to 1745. +Thomas, Earl of Leicester (sometime Lord Lovell) alone. + +1745 to 1758. +Thomas, Earl of Leicester, and +Sir Everard Fawkener, Knight. + +1758 to 1759. +Thomas, Earl of Leicester, alone. + +June 2, 1759 to November 27, 1762. +William, Earl of Bessborough, and +Hon. Robert Hampden. + +November 27, 1762 to September 23, 1763. +John, Earl of Egmont, and +Hon. Robert Hampden. + +September 23, 1763 to July 19, 1765. +Thomas, Lord Hyde, and +Hon. Robert Hampden. + +July 19, 1765 to December 29, 1766. +William, Earl of Bessborough, and +Thomas, Lord Grantham. + +December 29, 1766 to April 26, 1768. +Wills, Earl of Hillsborough, and +Francis, Lord Le Despencer. + +April 26, 1768 to January 16, 1771. +John, Earl of Sandwich, and +Francis, Lord Le Despencer. + +January 16, 1771 to December 11, 1781. +Francis, Lord Le Despencer, and +Right Hon. Henry Frederick Thynne, afterwards Carteret. + +December 11, 1781 to January 24, 1782. +Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret (sometime Thynne) alone. + +January 24 to April 25, 1782. +William, Viscount Barrington, and +Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret. + +April 25, 1782 to May 1, 1783. +Charles, Earl of Tankerville, and +Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret. + +May 1, 1783 to January 7, 1784. +Thomas, Lord Foley, and +Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret. + +January 7, 1784 to September 19, 1786. +Charles, Earl of Tankerville, and +Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret. (Created Baron Carteret, +January 29, 1784.) + +September 19 to December 10, 1786. +Thomas, Earl of Clarendon, and +Henry Frederick, Lord Carteret. + +December 10, 1786 to July 6, 1787. +Henry Frederick, Lord Carteret, alone. + +July 6, 1787 to September 19, 1789. +Henry Frederick, Lord Carteret, and +Thomas, Lord Walsingham. + +September 19, 1789 to March 13, 1790. +Thomas, Lord Walsingham, and +John, Earl of Westmorland. + +March 13, 1790 to July 28, 1794. +Thomas, Lord Walsingham, and +Philip, Earl of Chesterfield. + +July 28, 1794 to March 1, 1798. +Philip, Earl of Chesterfield, and +George, Earl of Leicester. + +March 1, 1798 to February 27, 1799. +George, Earl of Leicester, and +William, Lord Auckland. + +February 27, 1799 to March 31, 1801. +William, Lord Auckland, and +George, Lord Gower. + +March 31, 1801 to July 19, 1804. +William, Lord Auckland, and +Lord Charles Spencer. + +July 19, 1804 to February 20, 1806. +Lord Charles Spencer and +James, Duke of Montrose. + +February 20, 1806 to May 5, 1807. +Robert, Earl of Buckinghamshire, and +John Joshua, Earl of Carysfort. + +May 5, 1807 to June 6, 1814. +John, Earl of Sandwich, and +Thomas, Earl of Chichester. + +June 6 to September 30, 1814. +Thomas, Earl of Chichester, alone. + +September 30, 1814 to April 6, 1816. +Thomas, Earl of Chichester, and +Richard, Earl of Clancarty. + +April 6, 1816 to June 13, 1823. +Thomas, Earl of Chichester, and +James, Marquess of Salisbury. + +Since Lord Salisbury's death on the 13th of June 1823, no second +Postmaster-General has been appointed. + +June 13, 1823 to July 4, 1826. +Thomas, Earl of Chichester. + +July 4, 1826 to September 17, 1827. +Lord Frederick Montague. + +September 17, 1827 to December 14, 1830. +William, Duke of Manchester. + +December 14, 1830 to July 5, 1834. +Charles, Duke of Richmond. + +By his first patent, dated the 14th of December 1830, the Duke was +appointed Postmaster-General of Great Britain; and by a second patent, +dated the 14th of April 1831, he was appointed Postmaster-General of +Great Britain and Ireland. + +July 5 to December 31, 1834. +Francis Nathaniel, Marquess Conyngham. + +December 31, 1834 to May 8, 1835. +William, Lord Maryborough. + +May 8 to May 30, 1835. +Francis Nathaniel, Marquess Conyngham. + +May 30, 1835, to September 15, 1841. +Thomas William, Earl of Lichfield. + + +SUCCESSION OF SECRETARIES TO THE POST OFFICE DOWN TO 1836. + +The appointment of Secretary was created by Treasury Warrant +dated the 20th of June 1694. + +1694 to 1700. +Name uncertain; but probably Willboyl. + + [In 1694 the Postmasters-General urge the creation of the appointment of + Secretary; in 1697 they speak of "having sent our Secretary down to + Worcester"; and in October 1701, when reporting on a paper which had + been referred to them as far back as June 1699, they explain that "by + the death of our late Secretary y^e paper has been mislaid and but very + lately recovered." That there was a Secretary during this period is, + therefore, beyond doubt. + + During the same period the Post Office letter books are written in a + handwriting as peculiar as it is good; and in the same handwriting, of + the identity of which there can be no question, there is in the + Frankland-Blaithwaite correspondence, until lately in the possession of + Sir Thomas Phillipps, a letter from the General Post Office dated the + 27th of May 1697, and docketed thus, the docket having obviously been + written at the time of receipt:--"From Mr. Willboyl, Commissioner of the + Post Office." Now, Commissioner of the Post Office he certainly was not, + there being at that time no such appointment; but it is probable that he + was Secretary, and that with this official title, which had been only + recently given, Blaithwaite was not acquainted.] + +1700 to 1714. +Benjamin Waterhouse. + +1714 to 1715. +Henry Weston. + +1715 to 1721. +James Craggs. + +1721 to (about) 1730. +Joseph Godman. + +(About) 1730 to 1737. +W. Rouse. + +1737 to 1738. +Thomas Robinson. + +September 1738 to July 1742. +John David Barbutt. + +July 1742 to December 1762. +George Shelvocke. + +December 1762 to July 1765. +Anthony Todd. + +July 1765 to January 1768. +Henry Potts. + +January 1768 to June 1798. +Anthony Todd (again). + +June 1798 to July 1836. +Francis Freeling. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILES OF FRANKS written before and after 1784, when +the obligation to date was imposed. + +_Before._ + +The Duke of Grafton, First Lord of the Treasury from 1766 to 1770, +commonly called Junius Grafton from the attacks made upon him by +Junius.] + +[Illustration: _After._ + +The Earl of Sandwich, nicknamed by the satirists of the period Jemmy +Twitcher. "See Jemmy Twitcher shambles--stop, stop, thief"--an allusion +to his shambling gait. + +Lord Sandwich was postmaster-general from 1768 to 1771, and afterwards +First Lord of the Admiralty.] + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A PAID MONEY ORDER of the year 1802.] + + + + +INDEX + + + Abdy, Sir Robert, 38 + + Abercorn, James, Earl of, his unreasonable complaint, 153 + + Absenteeism, in England, 231; + in Ireland, 371 + + Alien Office, assists the Post Office in procuring foreign newspapers, + 347 + + Allen, Ralph, postmaster of Bath, takes in farm the bye and cross-post + letters, 147; + conditions of his contract, 147; + success of his enterprise, 148; + is thwarted by the postmasters, 149; + his contract renewed, 150; + nature of his plan and his special qualifications for carrying it into + effect, 155; + his local knowledge, 157; + his difficulties with the postmasters, 157 _seq._; + as a means of check lays down certain propositions, 161; + instances of imposition practised by postmasters, 163; + by post-boys, 164; + by carriers and others concerned in the illegal conveyance of letters, + 165; + the liberality of his arrangements, 166; + his course of procedure contrasted with that of the + postmasters-general, 168; + pays higher rent and increases the frequency of the post every seven + years when his contract is renewed, 169; + his injunction about the use of expresses, 182; + his death, 185; + his character, 186; + is an object of jealousy to Palmer, 230 + + Alphabet, 374; + ingenious one in use at Belfast, 375 + + Althorp, John Charles, Viscount, urges on Post Office improvements, 415; + fixes the limits of the general post delivery, 416; + throws the packet service open to public competition, 417; + abolishes the newspaper privilege enjoyed by the clerks of the roads, + 418; + contemplates apparently a reduction of postage, 419 + + America, posts set up in, 110; + first postmaster of New York, 111; + and of Virginia and Maryland, 111; + establishment of what was virtually a penny post between England and + America, 113; + American posts become self-supporting, 116; + postmasters ejected from their offices, 207 + + Amsterdam, practice at, on arrival of the mails, 174 + + Anne, Queen, treatment of letters for, when in residence at Newmarket, 98 + + _Antelope_ packet, Captain Curtis, gallant action with privateer, 321 + + Apertures, introduction of, on the outside of post offices, 180 + + Argyll, John, Duke of, 64 + + Arlington, Henry Bennet, Earl of, appointed postmaster-general, 34 + + Armit, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, displaced by Lees, 221 + + Ashburnham manuscripts, 20 + + Ashurst, Mr. Justice, his judgment touching the free delivery of + letters, 200 + + Aston, Mr. Justice, his judgment touching the free delivery of letters, + 200 + + Attorneys, their provisional resolution to withhold postage on writs, + 178; + hold appointments in the Dublin Post Office, 371 + + Auckland, William Lord, postmaster-general, his pleasantries, 333 + + Auditors of the imprests, 256 _note_ + + Austria, liberties taken with post-horses by travellers in, 5 _note_ + + Aylsham, Norfolk, post established to in 1733, 167 + + + Baker, Sir George, physician to George the Third, 252 + + Bank of England notes, robbery of, from mail evokes important legal + decision, 183; + origin of cutting bank notes when sent by post, 206; + contemplated reduction of postage on letters containing second halves + of bank notes, 298 + + Bankers' franks, meaning of term, 315 _note_ + + Barbutt, John David, secretary to the Post Office, 185 + + Barclay, Captain, of Ury, high speed of his coach, 426 + + Barclay's plot, expresses sent on discovery of, 63 + + Barham, Edmund, packet agent at Dover, terms of his agreement with + Walcot, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, 222 + + Barlow, clerk in the secretary's office, modifies the practice of the + Dead Letter Office, 308 + + Barnstaple, private post set up to Exeter in 1633, 17 + + Bath asserts its right to a free delivery, 198; + right admitted and letter-carrier appointed, 202; + slowness of post between Bath and London, 208; + amount of toll between the same towns, 210; + Post Office Establishment at Bath and amount of the postmaster's salary + in 1792, 292 + + Beccaria, Bonesana, his essay on Crimes and Punishments, 245 + + Belfast, ingenious "alphabet" in use at, 375; + peculiar usage of delivery, 375 + + Belgrave Square, included in the limits of the general post delivery, 416 + + Bell, Colonel, comptroller of the Inland Office, particulars of charge + against, 185 _note_ + + Bells, letters collected by ringing of, introduction of system, 121; + and its termination, 123 _note_; + bellmen in England and in Ireland paid on different principle, 367 + (196, 221, 257) + + Bernard, Sir Robert, 192 + + Besant's patent coaches, 282 + + Bethnal Green, a second penny on penny post letters improperly charged + at, 203 + + Bianconi, Charles, his enterprise, 376 + + Bigg, Stephen, his enterprise as a farmer of the posts, 60 + + Billingsley, Henry, a broker, carries letters of foreign merchants, 13; + and is consigned to prison, 14 + + Bills of exchange and of lading to and from foreign parts exempt from + postage until 1801, exemption then withdrawn, 331 + + Birmingham, one of many towns in which a free delivery of letters had + ceased, 197; + free delivery restored and letter-carrier appointed, 202; + salary of postmaster in 1792, 293; + penny post opened at, 300 + + Bishopp, Henry, farmer of the posts, 33, 34 + + "Black-box"; the box in which the correspondence of the Secretary of + State for Scotland was carried, 53 + + Blaithwaite, William, Secretary of War, remonstrated with on his abuse + of the franking privilege, 132 + + Blome's _Britannia_, 35 + + Bonnor, Charles, deputy comptroller-general of the Post Office, his + conduct in the matter of the king's coach, 252; + delays replies to the postmaster-general's inquiries, 264; + practises deception, 264; + his base ingratitude, 274; + is suspended by Palmer, 275; + suspension removed by the postmasters-general, 276; + his treachery, 278, 279; + receives the reward of infamy, 280 + + Boulton and Watt build the first steamboats used by the Post Office, 384 + + Bourne, Frederick, clerk in the foreign department of the Post Office; + suggests the establishment of a Ship Letter Office, 328 + + Bournemouth, mode of receiving its letters in 1854, 293 _note_ + + Bowen, passenger by packet; brings news of the victory at Oudenarde, 105 + + Boyle, Henry, Secretary of State, charges the packet agent at Harwich + with receiving a bribe, 89 + + Bracken, Henry, author of _The Gentleman's Pocket Farrier_, his device + to obtain exemption from postage, 161 + + Braithwaite, Daniel, clerk to the postmasters-general, his honesty of + purpose, 244 + + Brighton, salary of the postmaster of, in 1792, 293 + + Brill, The, 73, 83, 88 + + Bristol, course of post between Bristol and Exeter in 1660, 29; + and in 1696, 57; + salary of the postmaster of, in 1690, 50; + and in 1792, 293; + first mail-coach starts from Bristol, 213; + penny post opened there, 300; + revision of postmaster's salary in 1686, Appendix, _note_ + + Brown, sub-agent of packets at Ostend, his clandestine letter, 106 + + Brunel, Sir Marc Isambard, offers to construct a steam engine for the + Post Office packets, 408 + + Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, letter endorsed by, in 1627, 20 + + Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, son of the preceding, tedious + course of letter addressed to, in 1666, 34. + + Buckingham, George Grenville Nugent Temple, Marquis of, Lord Lieutenant + of Ireland, deprecates reduction of packet establishment at + Holyhead, 248 + + Burlamachi, Philip, is appointed Master of the Posts, 21; + his title contested, 21; + is consigned to prison, 22 + + Bye-letters, probable meaning of the term in Queen Elizabeth's + reign, 4; + its certain meaning in 1690 and after, 52, 147; + postage upon bye-letters intercepted, 52, 53, 134 _note_; + Bye-Letter Office, 308 + + Bye-nights, 46 + + Byng, Sir George, 102, 104 + + + Cadogan, Brigadier-General, packet detained for, 87 + + Camden, John Jeffreys, Earl, promotes Palmer's plan, 212; + gives to Pitt Palmer's version of his differences with the + postmasters-general, 274 + + Candles, inordinate supply of, to Post Office servants, 231 + + Canning, George, charges the Post Office with forestalling his + intelligence, 347 + + Carlisle, salary of postmaster of, in 1792, 293 + + Carriers allowed to carry letters under restrictions, 19; + restrictions more clearly defined, 129 + + Carteret, Edward, postmaster-general from 1721 to 1739. _See_ + Postmasters-General, Part IV. + + Carteret, Henry Frederick, Lord, postmaster-general from January 1771 + to September 1789. _See_ Postmasters-General, Parts V. and VI. + + Carts, first employment of, in London for bringing letters to the + General Post Office, 316 + + Castello, a prisoner on board packet, 88 + + Chalmers, George, his suggestions, 256; + excites Palmer's jealousy, 259 + + Channel Islands without an official post in 1792, 294; + official post provided, 312; + rates of postage, 314 + + Charing Cross, opening of branch office at, 411 + + Charlemont, Lord, his misunderstanding as to packet charges, 86 + + Charles, Archduke, 78, 86 + + Chelsea pensioners, their privilege of sending and receiving letters at + low rates of postage withdrawn, 404 + + Chenal, captain of packet, rebuked by the postmasters-general, 94 _note_ + + Chepstow, the inhabitants of, though under no obligation, continue to pay + pence on the delivery of their letters, 293 + + Chester, in 1720 the only town outside London with two Post Offices, 151; + salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 + + Chesterfield, Philip, Earl of, postmaster-general from March 1790 to + March 1798. _See_ Postmasters-General, Part VII. + + Chichester, Thomas, Earl of, postmaster-general from May 1807 to July + 1826. _See_ Postmasters-General, Part VIII. + + Christmas boxes, intercepted, 232 + + Clancarty, Richard, Earl of, postmaster-general of Ireland from 1807 to + 1809; and of England from September 1814 to April 1816. [This + latter appointment he did not take up.] His decision of character, + instance of, 368; + advocates facilities of communication between England and Ireland, 389 + + Clarendon, Thomas, Earl of, postmaster-general from September to December + 1786, 229, 242 + + Clerks of the roads, their duties, 47; + their salaries, 49; + are allowed to frank newspapers, 49; + their franking privilege invaded, 191; + mischief resulting from a reduction of their emoluments, 193; + their financial troubles, 206, 250; + extent of their newspaper business after newspapers become exempt from + postage, 407 + + Clermont, William Henry, Earl of, deputy postmaster-general of Ireland, + 194 + + Clies, Francis, captain of packet, his audacious smuggling, 90; + his attention to religious observances, 90; + strikes his colours, 94 + + Coals supplied to Post Office servants in profligate profusion, 231 + + Cobbett, William, inveighs against the early or preferential delivery, + 342; + and against the treatment of foreign newspapers, 343 + + Coke, Sir John, his indignant protest against the claim of the foreign + merchants to have a post of their own, 12 + + Colours, special colours assigned to the Post Office boat employed in + the Pool, 74; + the colours of the packets altered at the Union with Scotland, 117 + + Comer, postmaster of Tunbridge Wells in 1725, 153 + + Common Council of London, The, sets up a post of their own to Scotland, + 24 + + Compensation for losses by the penny post, 38; + when ceased to be given, 188 + + Conspiracies against the State, to check these the original object of the + Post Office monopoly, 7; + danger chiefly apprehended from the Continent, 9; + Coke's opinion on the subject, 13; + the same opinion expressed in the Act of 1657, 28 + + Constables, the duty of, in certain cases, to seize horses for the + service of the posts, 3, 6 + + Convention posts, establishment of, 332; + their failure and the reason, 350; + are gradually absorbed, 352 + + Conway Bridge, additional rate of postage on letters passing over, 395 + + Conyngham, Francis Nathaniel, Marquess of, postmaster-general from July + 1834 to January 1835, and again from May 8 to May 30, 1835, 427 + _note_ + + Cornwall, its posts improved in 1704, 62 + + Cornwallis, Charles, Lord, postmaster-general from 1715 to 1721. _See_ + Postmasters-General, Part III. + + Cotton, Sir Robert, postmaster-general from 1690 to 1708. _See_ + Postmasters-General, Part I. + + Counsel in Post Office cases required to give receipts for their fees, + 324 + + Country letter, meaning of term, 147 + + _Courier_ newspaper, sum paid by the, for early intelligence from the + Post Office, 345 + + Couriers originally employed to carry letters on affairs of State, 2 + + Court, The, at one time the centre of all the posts, 3; + a trace of the old state of things to be found in an existing statute, + 99 + + Court letters, definition of, in 1706, 83 _note_; + mails detained for the Court letters, 211; + these letters, unlike others, delivered the moment they arrived, 347 + + Court-post, his duties, 99; + duties performed by deputy, 231 + + Coventry, Sir Thomas, Attorney-General, afterwards Lord Keeper, holds De + Quester's appointment to be valid, 11; + cajoles Stanhope into surrendering his patent, 23 + + Craggs, James, postmaster-general from 1715 to 1721. _See_ + Postmasters-General, Part III. + + Crichton, Doctor, refuses to pay his fare by packet, 86 + + Cromwell, Thomas, Brian Tuke's letter to, on the paucity of the posts, 1 + + Crosby, Brass, 192 + + Cross-posts, first post of the kind set up, 57; + cross-post letters, definition of the term, 147 + + Croydon, postmistress of, Auckland's pleasantry on her marriage for the + third time, 334 + + Culverden, captain of packet boat, engages in smuggling, 89 + + Culvert, member of Parliament, expostulated with as to the irregular use + of his frank, 141 _note_ + + Curtis, Alderman, 274, 275 + + Customs, Commissioners of, lodge a complaint against the captain of the + _Expedition_ packet, 90; + represent that smuggling is carried on by packet from Ostend, 103; + take proceedings against some of the Harwich packets, 237; + are charged by the postmasters-general with unhandsome conduct, 238; + seize the Dover mail-coach, 271 + + + Dacre, Lord, superscription on Protector Somerset's letter addressed to, + 20 + + Dartmouth, William, Lord, his attention called to the late arrival at the + Post Office of the Court letters, 211 + + Dashwood, Francis, postmaster-general of Jamaica, exaction from, as a + condition of his appointment, 226 + + Davy, Mrs., her account of the condition of Penzance before 1784, 291 + + Day, John, sent from London in 1733 to establish a post at Aylsham in + Norfolk, his instructions, 167 + + Dead letters, treatment of, a source of perplexity to Allen, 158; + irregular payments claimed under cover of, 236; + Dead Letter Office, 307; + returned letters charged with postage, 360 + + Decypherer, the chief, 171 + + De Joncourt, express clerk, 373 + + Delivery, claim made by several towns to have their letters delivered + free resisted by the Post Office and question tried at law, 197; + claim allowed by the Courts, 200; + decision carried out grudgingly, 203; + hour of delivery of foreign letters in 1790, 267; + early, that is preferential, delivery, 342; + hour of delivery in St. James's Square between 1820 and 1830, 409; + in the country, limits of free delivery not defined, 410; + morning delivery in London accelerated, 411; + limits of general post delivery fixed at three miles, 417; + recommendation of Royal Commission to abolish early or preferential + delivery not carried out, 423 + + Delivery penny, meaning of term, 69 + + Denmark, Frederick the Second, King of, his letter of complaint to Queen + Elizabeth, 8 _note_ + + De Quester, Matthew, appointed postmaster for foreign parts out of the + King's dominions, 10; + his appointment offends Lord Stanhope, 10; + is superseded by the Privy Council, 12; + is restored at the instance of Sir John Coke, 13; + assigns his patent, 14 + + Derby, salary of the postmaster of, in 1792, 293 + + Dereham, Sir Thomas, Court-post, his duties, 99 + + Derrick, Samuel, Master of the Ceremonies at Bath, his account of Ralph + Allen, 186 _note_ + + Despatch of mails, hour of, in 1690, 47; + and until 1784, 211; + indignation caused by the change then made, 220 + + Devonshire, William, Duke of, course of post between Chesterfield and + Manchester altered in 1736 at the instance of, 166 + + Directories, 195, 309 + + Distances, inaccuracy of, as computed by the Post Office, 175 + + Dockwra, William, establishes a penny post in London, 36; + his right contested and case decided against him, 40; + is granted a pension and, on the penny post being absorbed into the + Post Office, is appointed comptroller, 41; + is dismissed, 41; + provision made by, for the care of general post letters, 68; + contrast between Dockwra and Povey, 122 + + Donlevy, William, 368 + + Double letter, definition of, 139 + + Dover, a packet station, 73; + packets to Flanders provided by the packet agent, 103; + engage in smuggling, 103; + and bring news clandestinely, 106; + the Dover mail-coach seized by the Customs, 271 + + Drink and feast money, 50, 232 + + Dublin, Post Office establishment at, in 1690, 53; + penny post proposed at, in 1703, 69; + and opened in 1773, 196; + the clerks at the castle surrender their franking privilege, 194; + the roof of the Dublin Post Office falls in, 207; + office in Dublin styled British Mail Office, account of, 367; + abuses, 370 + + Dummer, Edmund, Surveyor of the Navy, builds packets for the Harwich + station, 75; + also for the West India service, 78; + undertakes this service himself, 79; + his miscalculations, 79; + ill-fortune attends him, 81; + his bankruptcy and death, 109 + + + Early, _i.e._ preferential, delivery, 342, 423 + + Eastbourne, mode of receiving its letters in 1792, 293 + + East India Company, send to the Post Office letters received at the India + House, 311; + object to the provisions of the Ship Letter Act, 361; + procure its alteration, 362; + their generosity, 363; + unhandsome return contemplated by the Post Office, 364 + + East Indies, rates of postage to the, in 1815, 362 + + Edinburgh, post to, set up by the city of London, 24; + Post Office establishment at, in 1707, 117; + horse-post between Edinburgh and Glasgow refused by the Treasury, 136; + course of post between London and Edinburgh accelerated in 1758, 180; + and increased in frequency in 1765, 195; + Edinburgh Post Office falls into decay, 207; + penny post established at, 300 + + Eldon, John, Lord, reluctantly assents to the giving of repressive + powers, 335 + + Elections, Parliamentary, Post Office servants prohibited from + intermeddling in, 128; + and from voting at, 206 + + Ellenborough, Edward, Lord, 335 + + Evelyn, Sir John, postmaster-general from 1708 to 1715. _See_ + Postmasters-General, Part II. + + Exeter, private post set up between, and Barnstaple in 1633, 17; + course of post between Exeter and Bristol in 1660, 29; + in 1696, 57; + salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 + + Expresses, 63, 83; + when to be sent from Dover, 107; + employment of, becomes more general about the middle of the eighteenth + century, 182; + is jealously restricted, 182; + their number reduced on the establishment of mail-coaches, 214; + fees on expresses, 233; + express sent daily to and from Ireland after the Union, 387 + + Express clerks, 371 + + Express office, Haymarket, 408 + + Eyles, Sir John, postmaster-general from 1739 to 1744, 238 + + + Falmouth, packet station opened at, in 1689, 75; + closed and reopened, 77; + packet regulations, 82; + systematic smuggling, 89, 238; + packet agent also victualler, 95 + + Fares, by packet to Holland before and after 1689, 76; + by steam packet and by sailing packet, comparative statement, 385 + + Farmers of the Post Office, their popularity and the reason of it, 59; + are ruined by increase of postage and converted into managers, 136; + as managers prove useless, 138 + + Farra, John, is supplied with a special travelling order, 131 _note_ + + Faversham, marriage of the postmistress, 334 + + Fees, exacted from postmasters, 232; + received by the chief sorter on the occasion of royal birthdays, 233; + on expresses, 233; + on the registration of foreign letters, 233 + + Ferrers, Countess, 182 + + Fielding, Henry, his tribute to Ralph Allen, 186 + + "Fifth-clause" posts, 350-352 + + Firearms, worthless quality of those originally supplied to mail guards, + 261 + + Fire of London, intelligence of, takes five days to reach Worthing, 34 + + Flemings, resort to London, where they introduce the manufacture of wool + into cloth, 8; + instance of value set upon cloth made in London, 8 _note_ + + Flying coach, 63, 67 + + Flying packet, meaning of the term, 63 (108) + + Flying-post, 63 _note_ + + Foreign bottoms, employment of, by the Post Office illegal, 98 + + Foreign merchants claim to set up a post of their own to the Continent, + 9; + claim conceded by the Privy Council, 12; + and repudiated by Coke, 13 + + Foster, John, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, his efforts to improve + communication with Ireland, 388 + + France, Post Office treaty with, imperfectly observed, 77; + a new one made and its onerous conditions, 138; + postage on letters from, increased, 296; + improvement of communication with, deprecated by merchants of London, + 298 + + Franking, abuses of, in 1711, and means taken to check them, 132; + effect of franking upon the Post Office revenue, 142; + becomes the subject of Parliamentary enactment, 189; + conditions altered, 189; + franking in Ireland, 190; + of newspapers inland, 191; + franking privilege possessed by the clerks at Dublin Castle + surrendered, 194; + franks to be dated and are otherwise restricted, 216; + further restrictions imposed, 315; + franks do not clear either the penny, the twopenny, or the convention + posts, 350; + franking privilege withdrawn in the case of newspapers to and from the + Colonies, 402; + privilege remains in the case of newspapers to and from the Continent, + 403; + and in the case of newspapers circulating within the United Kingdom + gradually disappears, 404; + franked letters charged immediately on dissolution of Parliament, 405; + franking privilege withheld from Roman Catholic Peers, 408; + abuse of franking in the case of the Money Order Office, 421; + specimens of franks, Appendix + + Frankland, Sir Thomas, postmaster-general from 1690 to 1715. _See_ + Postmasters-General, Part I. + + Frankland, William, son of the preceding, Comptroller of the Inland + Office, in attendance upon the Queen at Newmarket, 99 + + Franklin, Benjamin, his dismissal, 203; + amicable relations with, not suspended, 204 + + Free delivery. _See_ Delivery + + Freeling, Sir Francis, appointed surveyor, 228; + appointed joint secretary with Todd, 294; + devises new arrangements for the sorting of the American and West + Indian mails, 310; + his project for guarding the horse and cross-posts, 317, 335; + becomes sole secretary, 327; + his craze for high rates of postage, 330; + his zeal in repressing illicit correspondence, 333; + is checked by Auckland, 335; + procures additional measures of repression, 335; + recommends increase of postage rates, 340; + his estimate of Cobbett, 342; + his emoluments from franking newspapers, 344; + his indignation at criticisms in the _Times_ newspaper, 348; + brings an action, 348; + contemplates a high-handed proceeding towards the town of Olney in + Buckinghamshire, 351; + procures a charge to be made on returned letters, 360; + his contention with the India House in the matter of ship letters, 361; + urges a technical adherence to the provisions of the statute, 364; + his elation at the increase of the Post Office revenue, 365; + contrast between Freeling and Lees, 370; + his difference with Lees, 381; + his claim for the Post Office in the matter of steam vessels, 387; + opposes improvement of communication with Ireland, 389; + his interview with Sir Arthur Wellesley, 390; + attempts to get terms of a hostile motion altered, 397; + his dismay at the transfer of the Falmouth packets from the Post Office + to the Admiralty, 399; + his strictness in Post Office matters, 404; + is irritated by Sir Henry Parnell's assumption of superiority, 407; + the probable reason for not resigning on the opening of the new Post + Office in St. Martin's-le-Grand, 411; + his view that the packet service should not be thrown open to public + competition opposed by Althorp, 417; + defends the newspaper privilege enjoyed by the clerks of the roads, + 418; + his attitude towards the Royal Commission, 420; + averts a breakdown with the mail-coaches, 426; + becomes the object of vehement attack, 426; + broods over the past, 427; + his death, 428 + + Frizell, William, 14 + + Frowde, Ashburnham, comptroller of foreign office, 234 + + Furness, Sir Harry, 174 + + + Gardner, penny postman, murder of, 183 _note_ + + Garrow, Sir William, his frank forged, 406 + + Gas, introduction of, into the Post Office, 408 + + General Steam Navigation Company undertakes first packet contract, 418 + + George the Third, when at Cheltenham or at Weymouth is attended by a + mail-coach, 251; + his illness and distribution of a prayer for his recovery, 254; + his interest in his coach, 288; + objects to roof-loading, 288; + attends trial trip, 288; + distributes largesse among mail guards and coachmen, 289 + + Gerrard Street, crowded condition of Post Office in, 410 + + Glasgow petitions for a horse-post to Edinburgh, 136; + and for a post office which shall not be kept at a shop, 408 + + Gloucester protests against certain houses being excluded from the free + delivery, 199; + salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 + + Godolphin, Sidney Godolphin, Earl of, his rebuke to the + postmaster-general, 106; + insists upon communication with the army in Flanders being improved, + 107; + his instruction about extraordinary payments, 137; + directs that in Post Office cases Counsel shall give receipts for their + fees, 324 (121, 124, 125) + + Grafton, Augustus Henry, Duke of, specimen of his frank, Appendix + + Grand mail, 83 + + Grand Post Nights, 46, 221 + + Granville, Lord, urges improvement of the Cornish posts, 62 + + Gratuities, on delivery of letters, 52, 61, 62, 152, 166; + legality of, questioned in the case of towns, 197; + question decided in favour of the public, 200; + still being charged, 422 + + Gray, Thomas, his prediction that mail-coaches would be displaced by + railways, 408 + + Grey, Charles, Earl, 412, 423 + + Grosvenor, Sir Richard, member for Chester, expostulated with as to the + irregular use of his frank, 141 + + Groyne, The, 75, 77 + + Guide to accompany post-horses when two are taken, 18 + + Guildhall Library, letter preserved in, showing tardy course of post in + 1666, 34 + + + Halfpenny carriage set up by Povey, 121 + + Halloran, a clerical impostor, 406 + + Hamburg, practice at, on arrival of the mails, 174 + + Hamilton, Andrew, acts as Neale's agent for setting up posts in North + America, 110; + his suggestions for improving the posts, 112; + acquires Neale's patent, 116; + dies and the patent is surrendered to the Crown, 116 + + Hamilton, John, son of the preceding, appointed deputy postmaster-general + of America, 116 + + Harley, Robert, afterwards Earl of Oxford, raises the rates of postage, + 124; + attempts to trace the writer of an anonymous letter, 181 + + Harwich, a packet station, 73; + number and strength of its packets, 75; + packet regulations, 82; + a hot-bed of smuggling, 91, 237; + its exorbitant charges, 96; + is closed as a packet station, 418 + + Hasker, Thomas, chief superintendent of mail-coaches, his pithy + instructions, 284; + is complimented by the King, 288; + will not suffer even the King to detain the mail-coach, 289; + enters a protest against the speed of the Holyhead mail, 394 + + Hayman, Peter, first postmaster of Virginia and Maryland, 111 + + Heath, Sir Robert, Solicitor-General, 11 + + Hickes, Prideaux's servant, imprisonment of, 22 + + Highwaymen, rewards for apprehension of, 183; + refrain from attacks upon mail-coaches, 290; + confine their attention to horse and cross-posts, 317; + instances of the recovery of mail bags stolen by, 336 + + Hill, Sir Rowland, 269 _note_, 420, 428 + + Hippisley, Sir John, 20 + + Hiver, Richard, 192 + + Holt, Sir John, Chief Justice, his opinion respecting compensation for + losses by post, 188 _note_ + + Holyhead, packet service at beginning of eighteenth century performed + with regularity, 82; + contemplated reduction of the packet establishment deprecated by the + Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 248; + conditions of passage between Holyhead and Dublin in 1813, 379 + + Hompesch, Baron, packet detained for, 87 + + Horn, when to be blown, 4; + a man on horseback blowing a post-horn assigned as a device for Post + Office colours, 75 _note_ + + Horses, to be kept in readiness for affairs of State, 2; + two to be kept at every post-house, 4; + use of, obtained under false pretences, 5; + overridden, overladen, and not always paid for, 5, 51; + charge for post-horses in 1603, 6; + in 1635, 18; + in 1660, 30; + not to be supplied except at post-houses, 6; + to be attended by a guide when two are hired, 18; + not to be let when the post is expected, 18; + not to be taken without the consent of the owners, 30; + only indirectly a source of revenue, 30; + monopoly of letting horses continued to the Post Office by the Act of + 1711, 130; + control exercised by the Post Office over horses for travellers merely + nominal, exception given, 131; + charges for post-horses increased by the erection of milestones, 176; + monopoly of letting post-horses withdrawn, 205 + + Horse and cross-posts, project for checking robberies of, 317; + authority withheld, 318; + eventually given, 335 + + Hostages taken on capture of a packet, 93; + instance of inhuman treatment of, 94 + + Houses numbered, 195; + their not being so a hindrance to the Post Office, 36, 151 + + Hume, David, 29 + + Hume, Joseph, 402 + + Hungerford selected to try the question of free delivery, 198; + question decided in favour of the public and a letter-carrier + appointed, 202, 293 + + + Illicit conveyance of letters, between town and town and between the + country and London, 54; + is stimulated by increase in the rates of postage, 134, 141; + becomes less after the introduction of mail-coaches, 227; + prosecutions for, 333; + return to the House of Commons, 422 + + Impressment, persons employed on the packets exempt from, 84; + specimen of protection order, 84 _note_ + + Instructions to the sorting office communicated by word of mouth, 324 + + Insurance an essential condition of Dockwra's penny post, 38; + this condition abandoned, 188 + + Invoices to and from abroad exempt from postage until 1801, exemption + then withdrawn, 331 + + Ipswich asserts its right to a free delivery, 198; + right admitted and letter-carrier appointed, 202 + + Ireland, tardiness of post to, before 1635, 16; + postage to, 18; + method of Post Office business in 1690, 53; + abuse of franking in 1773, 190; + clerks at the castle surrender their franking privilege, 194; + posts to and within Ireland improved, 195; + Penny Post Office opened in Dublin, 196; + the roof of the Dublin Post Office falls in, 207; + the Irish Post Office separated from that of England, 221; + effects of the separation in the case of correspondence by the Milford + Haven and Waterford route, 249; + between the Irish and English Post Offices differences in point of law, + 366; + and of practice, 367; + office in Dublin styled British Mail Office, account of, 367; + and improper use made of it, 371; + Clancarty's energy and decision of character, 368; + Lees, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, his mode of conducting + business, 369; + Lees contrasted with Freeling, 370; + the postmasters-general absentees, 370; + absence also of the subordinates and other abuses, 371; + the express clerks and clerks of the roads deal in newspapers and are + given undue advantages, 371; + account of the alphabet, 374; + ingenious one in use at Belfast, 375; + arrangement in favour of soldiers' wives, 374; + peculiar mode of delivery at Belfast, 375; + mail-coach contracts in Ireland different from those in England, 376; + Charles Bianconi, 376; + arrangement between Ireland and Great Britain in the matter of the + packets, 378; + Lees is dissatisfied with it, 380; + and sets it aside, 381; + Freeling's indignation, 382; + sailing packets replaced by steam packets, 383; + effect upon the number of passengers carried by the Post Office, 385; + Irish traffic diverted from Holyhead to Liverpool, 385; + and Liverpool made a packet station, 386; + except in the matter of the packets, indisposition of the British Post + Office to improve communication with Ireland, 387; + such improvement urged by Foster, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, + 388; + and resisted by Freeling, 389; + Freeling forced to give way, 390; + the Irish Post Office consolidated with the Post Office of Great + Britain, 414; + and the Dublin establishment reformed, 415; + the auditing of the Irish accounts rendered futile, 415 + + Iron mail-cart stopped and rifled of its contents, 290 + + Isle of Wight, its Post Office establishment in 1792, 294 + + + Jackson, a passenger by packet without a pass, 89 + + Jacob, Giles, 188 _note_ + + Jamaica, Post Office establishment in, and sea rates fixed, 78; + duration of voyage to and fro in 1798, 320; + House of Assembly vote sum of money in recognition of the gallant + defence of the _Antelope_ packet, 323 + + James, Duke of York, afterwards James II., opposes introduction of the + penny post, 37; + wrests it out of Dockwra's hands, 40; + suffers the clerks of the roads to retain their newspaper privilege, + 49 + + Jamineau, Isaac, purveyor of newspapers to the clerks of the roads, 300 + + Jeffreys, Sir George, afterwards Lord, inflicts exorbitant fine upon + Edmund Prideaux, son of the Master of the Posts, 27 + + Johnson, Edward, letter-carrier, improves the penny post, 302; + is appointed deputy comptroller, 305 + + Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 209 _note_ + + Jones, distiller of Old Street, St. Luke's, his action against the Post + Office, 203 + + + Kent, post through the county of, more carefully nursed than any other, 9 + + Kenyon, Lloyd, Lord, when Attorney-General, gives receipts for fees in + Post Office cases, 325 + + King's coach, deception practised on Walsingham in the matter of the, 251 + + King's messengers, their complaint against the Post Office on the + erection of milestones, 176 + + + Lambton, John George, moves for a return of the number of Post Office + Boards, 396 + + Lancashire, the badness of its posts in 1699, 60 + + Le Despencer, Francis, Lord, postmaster-general from 1766 to 1781, 221, + 226 + + Leeds, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 + + Lees, Sir John, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, his testimony to + the abuse of franking, 191; + having been transferred to the War Office, recapitulates conditions on + which he accepts reappointment to the Post Office, 221; + recapitulation gives offence to Carteret, 222; + and leads to Carteret's exposure, 226 + + Lees, Sir Edward Smith, son of the preceding, also secretary to the Post + Office in Ireland, his method of conducting business, 369; + deals in newspapers, 373; + his instruction respecting the alphabet, 374; + his difference with Freeling, 381; + becomes a director of the Dublin Steam Packet Company, 383; + is transferred to Edinburgh, 415; + his unauthorised surrender of the receiver-general's bond, 415 + + Leet, express clerk, 373 + + Leicester, the Corporation of, binds itself to keep post-horses for the + use of the Sovereign, 2; + salary of postmaster at, in 1792, 293 + + Leicester, George, Earl of, postmaster-general from 1794 to 1799, 326 + + Letter-carriers, their pay in 1690, 49; + as late as 1772, none employed except in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, + 197; + are appointed at certain other towns, 202; + in London their interests suffer from the earlier closing of the Post + Office, 221; + are put into uniform, 299; + the sufferings of some of their number during the winter of 1794-95, + 306; + select their walks according to seniority, 324; + deliver letters according to classes, one class for general post + letters, another for penny or twopenny letters, and a third for + foreign letters, 423 + + Letters, on affairs of State originally sent by courier, 2; + particulars of, when sent by post, to be carefully recorded, 4; + letters on other than the affairs of State received at the post-houses, + 4; + not, without the authority of the Master of the Posts, to be collected, + carried, or delivered, 6; + notice that none are to be sent except through the post served on the + merchants of London, 9; + letters detected in being illicitly conveyed to be sent to the Privy + Council, and their bearers apprehended, 10; + what letters excepted from monopoly, 18; + are given precedence over travellers, 18; + circulate mainly through London, 29; + their mode of distribution, 47; + clandestine conveyance of, 54; + number of penny post letters for the suburbs of London at the end of + the seventeenth century, 69; + letters for America and Jamaica charged with postage, although there + was no packet service, 78; + clandestine conveyance of, stimulated by increase of postage, 134; + definition of single and double letter, 139; + Allen's injunction to check illegal conveyance of, 165; + are examined by means of a strong light, 171, 409, 422; + penalty for opening letters, 171; + letters containing patterns or samples, whether to be charged as single + or double letters, 177; + right to make, on the delivery of letters, any charge beyond the + postage contested, 197; + memorials for and against the earlier delivery of foreign letters in + London, 267; + average number of letters for each foreign mail in 1790, 268; + treatment of dead and missent letters before and after 1793, 308; + return of the number of letters passing through the London Post Office + submitted to the postmasters-general daily, 324; + made penal not only to carry letters, but to send them otherwise than + through the post, 335; + on the delivery of letters, despite the decision of the Courts, a + charge beyond the postage continues to be made, 422; + owing to the complication of rates, not possible to express the total + charge upon a letter in one taxation, 423 + + Lewis XIV. assembles a squadron before Dunkirk, 101; + his delay in refusing to sign the preliminaries of peace, 105 + + Lichfield, Thomas William, Earl of, appointed postmaster-general May + 1835, 427 _note_ + + Lincolnshire, the paucity of its posts before 1705, 61 + + Liverpool, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293; + penny post established at, 339; + is opened as a packet station, 386 + + Liverpool, Robert, Earl of, mediates between Freeling and Lees, 382; + transfers the Falmouth packets from the Post Office to the Admiralty, + 399 + + Lloyds supplied by the Post Office with ship news, 218 + + Loppinott, Colonel, 321 + + Losses by post, compensation for, 38; + when ceased to be given, 188 + + Lovell, Mary, receiver in St. James's Street, Lord Abercorn's complaint + against, 153 + + Lovell, Thomas, Lord, afterwards Earl of Leicester, postmaster-general + from 1733 to 1759, 167; + receives a threatening letter, 183 _note_; + his loose notions about smuggling, 238 + + Lowndes, William, Secretary to the Treasury, takes charge of the Post + Office Bill of 1711, 124; + overbears Swift, the solicitor to the Post Office, 126; + confounds gross and net revenue, 145 (325 _note_) + + + Macadam, John Loudon, introduces new method of road-making, 392 + + Macaulay, Lord, his account of the fine inflicted upon Edmund Prideaux, + son of the Master of the Posts, 27; + his statement that a part of the Post Office revenue was derived from + post-horses questioned, 30 (39) + + Mackerness, Thomas, postmaster of Chipping Norton, 163 + + Macky, John, packet agent at Dover, proceeds to Flanders, 102; + receives a remarkable caution, 103; + having become contractor for the Dover and Ostend packet service, + his boats engage in illicit operations, 103; + and bring news clandestinely, 106; + is commissioned to settle posts for the army, his excellent + arrangements, 107 + + Maddison, George, 205 + + Magistrates, the duty of, in certain cases, to seize horses for the + service of the posts, 3, 6; + are enjoined to see that horses are procured at the post-houses alone, + 9 + + Maidstone, excellency of the delivery at, in the seventeenth century, 48; + amount of the postmaster's salary, 50 + + Mails, hour of despatch of the, from the General Post Office in 1690, 47; + after 1784, 220; + cost of conveyance of, before and after the introduction of + mail-coaches, 290; + are exempt from toll in Great Britain but not in Ireland, 354; + exemption withdrawn in Scotland, 359 + + Mail bags, curious instances of recovery of, 337 + + Mail-carts, mail-cart made of iron rifled of its contents, 290; + first used in London to bring letters to the General Post Office, 316 + + Mail-coaches, begin to run, 213; + rapid extension of the system, 214; + system deprecated by some of the leading merchants, 220; + their effect upon expresses, 214; + upon the illicit conveyance of letters, 227; + a mail-coach in attendance upon the King when at Cheltenham, 251; + are put off the road by Palmer, 270; + number of, in 1792, 281; + model of mail-coach preserved at the Post Office, 282; + mail-coaches of new pattern supplied, 283; + number of passengers by, restricted, 283, 401; + roof-loading, and objections to it, 287, 412; + roof not always safe, 288; + mileage allowance in the case of mail-coaches, 290; + their freedom from attacks by highwaymen, 317; + become liable to a duty of one penny a mile, 337; + are diverted from the direct route for a consideration, 341; + number of, in 1811, 352; + their unpopularity with road trustees, 353; + question considered of withdrawing their exemption from toll, 354; + mail-coaches withdrawn instead, 355; + in Scotland, are made liable to toll, 359; + and their number is reduced, 360; + speed of mail-coaches, 399, 426; + the mail-coach the great disseminator of news, 401; + supply of mail-coaches thrown open to public competition, immediate + result, 425 + + Mail guards, not originally Post Office servants, 260; + their little excesses, 261; + their wages, 263; + treatment of their wages a cause of difference between Walsingham + and Palmer, 263; + their position one of responsibility, 283; + their fees, 284; + specimens of instructions to, 285; + carry parcels and game, and suffer to be carried excess-passengers, + 286, 287 + + Main, George, deputy-postmaster of Edinburgh, 117 + + Maitres de poste in Canada, 205 + + Managers, sometime farmers, of the Post Office, 137 + + Manchester, its Post Office establishment in 1792, 292; + establishment increased and Penny Post Office opened, 301 + + Manley, Captain John, Post Office farmed by, 27 + + Manley, Isaac, deputy-postmaster of Dublin, 69 _note_ + + Mansfield, William, Earl of, his opinion upon compensation for losses + by the post, 188 _note_; + his judgment as to the duty of the Post Office in the matter of + delivering letters, 198 + + Marlborough, John Churchill, Duke of, interests himself in the post with + Flanders, 101 (104, 107) + + Maryborough, William, Lord, postmaster-general from December 31, 1834 to + May 8, 1835, 427 _note_ + + Master of the Posts, his duties, 2; + no one not authorised by, allowed to collect, carry, or deliver + letters, 6; + his salary and emoluments, 12 + + Melbourne, William, Viscount, 423 + + Melville, Robert, Viscount, advocates transfer of the Falmouth packets + to the Admiralty, 399 + + Menai Straits, additional rate of postage imposed on letters crossing + the, 395 + + Merchants' accounts to and from abroad exempt from postage until 1801, + exemption then withdrawn, 331 + + Merchant adventurers. _See_ Foreign Merchants + + Methuen, Sir Paul, ambassador to Portugal, calls attention to the + irregular proceedings of the packets, 91 + + Mileage allowance, in case of mail-coaches, 290; + higher in Ireland than in England, 376; + flippant return to the House of Commons on the subject of, 424 + + Miles, difference between measured and computed miles, 175 + + Milestones, erection of, 175; + their effect upon the charge for post-horses, 176 + + Milford Haven and Waterford, packet service between, 249 + + Missent letters, treatment of, before and after 1793, 309 + + Money Order Office, 420; + the subject of a flippant return to the House of Commons, 424; + facsimile of a money order issued in 1802, Appendix + + Monopoly of the Post Office, origin of, in the matter of letters and of + post-horses, 7; + confined in the first instance to the county of Kent, 9; + confirmed by Act of Parliament, 27; + withdrawn as regards post-horses, 205 + + Mountstuart, John, Viscount, 256 _note_ + + Murray, Robert, reputed to have been the first to suggest the penny post, + 36 + + + Neale, Thomas, obtains grants for setting up posts in North America, + 110; + his pecuniary difficulties, 112; + offers to surrender his patent, 115; + patent passes on his death to Andrew Hamilton, 116 + + Newcastle, Thomas Holles Pelham, Duke of, his orders about the packets + countermanded by Pelham, 173; + sends to the Post Office to inquire the price of corn, 255 + + Newcastle, salary of the postmaster in 1792, 293 + + News, hunger after, 50; + the postmasters-general the great purveyors of, 104; + news disseminated by the mail-coaches, 401 + + Newspapers, franking of, by the clerks of the roads, 49; + are received from abroad by Post Office servants in advance of the + general public, 175; + conditions of franking newspapers altered, effect of alteration, 191, + 250; + copies of, supplied to Post Office servants, 232; + newspaper office established, 261; + number and weight of newspapers passing through the Post Office in + 1788, 262 _note_; + treatment of foreign newspapers, 343; + newspaper agency at the Post Office largely developed, 344; + London newspapers supplied by the Post Office with early intelligence + from abroad, 346; + newspapers, though franked, not exempt from postage by the penny, + twopenny, and convention posts, 350; + postage on newspapers for the East Indies reduced below the letter + rate, 363; + improper dealing with newspapers in Ireland, 372; + on newspapers to and from the Colonies special rates established + and franking privilege withdrawn, 402; + this privilege retained in the case of newspapers for the Continent, + 403; + newspapers circulating within the United Kingdom exempted from postage, + 404; + extent of newspaper business conducted by the clerks of the roads in + 1829, 407; + in 1830, 418; + newspaper business finally withdrawn, 419 + + Newton, Sir Isaac, 66 + + New Year's gifts, extortion of, 325 + + Nicholas, Sir Edward, 20 + + Nodin, passenger on board the _Antelope_ packet, his gallantry, 321 + + Normanby, Henry Constantine, Viscount, proposes abolition of the office + of second postmaster-general, 397 + + North, Frederick, Lord, 206; + receives singular reply from the Post Office, 218 + + Northampton, Countess of, 63 + + Northey, Sir Edward, 143 + + Northumberland, Hugh, Earl of, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 194 + + Nottingham, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 + + + Ogilby, John, calls attention to the difference between measured and + computed miles, 175 _note_ + + Oldfield, Thomas, postmaster of York, 337 + + Oldmixon, 26 + + Old Street, St Luke's, a second penny charged on penny post letters + addressed to, 203 + + Oliphant, Robert, deputy postmaster-general for Scotland, 271 + + Olney, Buckinghamshire, attempts to improve its post and the consequence, + 351 + + O'Neile, Daniel, farmer of the posts, 33, 34 + + O'Neill, Charles Henry St. John, Earl, postmaster-general of Ireland + from 1807 to 1831, 368 _seq._, 415 + + Onslow, Denzil, 185 + + Opening of letters, during the Commonwealth, 28; + under James II., 44; + practice systematically carried on under Walpole's administration, 170; + continued, as regards foreign letters, until 1844, 269 _note_ + + Ordnance, Board of, 86 + + Ormonde, James, Duke of, 70 + + Oxenbridge, Clement, reduces postage, 29; + receives an appointment under the Post Office, 32 + + Oxford Street, branch post office opened in, 411 + + + Packets (sailing), packet establishment in 1690, 45; + are forbidden to carry merchandise in times of war, 76; + regulations for control of, 82; + carry their own surgeon, 84; + are not, without a pass, to carry passengers, 85; + or goods, 88; + fares are not sufficiently made known and inconvenience arises, + instances given, 86; + curious assortment of goods sent free by packet, 88; + packets bring both passengers and goods without passes, 89; + engage in smuggling, 89; + are forbidden to give chase, 93; + are not entitled to the prizes they take, 93; + agreement with prizes honourably observed as a rule, exceptions given, + 94; + are victualled at Falmouth and at Harwich on different principles, + objections to both systems, 95; + copy of letter-bill by the _Prince_ packet, 97; + transport recruits with disastrous results, 97; + must be of English build, 98; + engage with privateers, 101; + are placed on a peace footing, 108; + colours altered on Union with Scotland, 117; + sufficiency of the burthen and crew of the Falmouth packets questioned + by the merchants, 173; + the packets generally meet with a series of disasters, 207; + wholesale smuggling on the part of the Harwich packets, 237; + inordinate growth of the packet expenditure, 238; + and the reason, 239; + packets established between Milford Haven and Waterford, 249; + representation by the merchants as to the number of packets captured, + 320; + their gallant actions with privateers, 321; + probable explanation of these actions occurring only when passengers + were on board, 323; + mode of procuring packets for the East Indies and the Cape in 1815, and + their cost, 363; + arrangement in the matter of packets between Great Britain and Ireland, + 378; + steps taken by the Dublin Post Office to set the arrangement aside, + 381; + sailing packets replaced by steam packets between Holyhead and Dublin, + 384; + between Milford Haven and Waterford, 385; + between Portpatrick and Donaghadee, 385; + the Falmouth packets transferred to the Admiralty, 398 + + Packets (steam), between Holyhe ad and Dublin, charges by, as compared + with sailing packets, 385; + number of passengers before the introduction of steam, 383 _note_; + and after, 385; + number of steam packets possessed by the Post Office in 1827, 399; + packet service thrown open to public competition, 417; + Irish steam packets, defective return to the House of Commons in the + matter of, 424 + + Pajot, director of the French posts, his obstinacy, 77; + his unreasonableness, 138 + + Palmer, John, his activity, 208; + general sketch of his plan, 209; + his plan is brought to the notice of Pitt, 212; + and is tried on the Bath road, 213; + extends his plan, 214; + induces Pitt to raise the rates of postage, 215; + alleges obstruction, 217; + alters the length of the stages, 219; + his plan is opposed by the merchants, 220; + opposition dies away, 227; + procures appointment of his nominees, 228; + conditions of his own appointment, 228; + his jealousy of Allen, 230; + expedites the morning delivery in London, and introduces an improved + method of business, 235; + imposes upon Walsingham in the matter of the King's coach, 251; + his treatment of official papers, 256; + pays an unexpected visit to Walsingham at Old Windsor, 258; + betrays his jealousy, 259; + establishes, but without the necessary authority, a newspaper office, + 261; + and a mail guards' fund, 263; + is called to account by Walsingham, 263; + takes umbrage at a rebuke administered to his deputy, Bonnor, 265; + disobeys orders, 266; + becomes aggressive and defiant, 270; + and appeals to Pitt, 272; + is charged by Bonnor with promoting a public meeting antagonistic to + the postmasters-general, 275; + suspends Bonnor, 275; + is suspended himself, 276; + is dismissed, 279; + receives a pension and, later on, a Parliamentary grant, 280; + general result of his plan, 290 (299, 302, 353) + + Palmerston, Henry John, Viscount, his humorous reply to Freeling, 380 + + Parkin, Anthony, solicitor to the Post Office, 333 + + Parnell, Sir Henry, 407 + + Pascoe, John, boatswain of the _Antelope_ packet, his gallant resistance + to the attack of a privateer, 322 + + Patterns and samples, letters containing, and being less than one ounce + in weight, whether to be charged single or double, 177; + question tried at law, 178; + settled by Act of Parliament, 179; + concessions in favour of, 315 + + Pay. _See_ Wages + + Pelham, Henry, countermands Newcastle's orders about the packets, 173 + + Pennant, Thomas, 261 + + Penny post, its introduction by Dockwra, 36; + general plan of, 37; + carries up to one pound in weight, 37; + includes a system of insurance, 38; + days on which it does not go, 39; + increases number of country letters, 40; + is absorbed into the General Post Office, 40; + establishment of, in 1690, 45; + stimulates the clandestine conveyance of letters into London, 54; + on its acquisition by the State its general conditions remain + unchanged, 67; + number of penny post letters for the suburbs at the end of the + seventeenth century, 69; + its contemplated extension to Dublin in 1703, 69; + affects the number of ship letters, 73; + is without legal sanction, 119; + legal sanction given, 128; + its limits restricted to ten miles, 129; + the charge of a second penny on all letters delivered outside the bills + of mortality made legal, 143; + weight carried by the penny post reduced from one pound to four ounces, + 188; + compensation for losses by the, when ceased to be given, 188 _note_; + attempts made by the Post Office to charge a second penny within the + bills of mortality, 203; + principal officers of the penny post absentees, 231; + stagnation of the penny post, 302; + the post is improved by Johnson, a letter-carrier, 302; + financial result, 305; + prepayment, hitherto optional, made compulsory, 306; + restriction on limits withdrawn, 307; + the charge of a second penny, heretofore confined to letters delivered + at places outside the bills of mortality, imposed upon letters + coming therefrom, 307; + the penny post converted into a twopenny post, 331; + and the twopenny post into a threepenny one, 340. _See_ twopenny and + threepenny posts + + Penzance, its post before and after 1784, 291 + + Pepys, Samuel, 84 _note_ + + Perceval Spencer, 354, 379 + + Percival, Joseph, a passenger by packet without a pass, 89 + + Pickwick, "Mr. Pickwick's coach," 281 + + Pitt, William, his attention is called to Palmer's plan, 212; + sweeps away frivolous objections and desires that it may be tried, 213; + raises the postage rates, 215; + relaxes the restrictions upon franking, 217; + dismisses Tankerville, 224; + settles conditions of Palmer's appointment, 229; + his knowledge of abuses at the Post Office and his unwillingness to + expose them, 241; + suppresses report of Royal Commission, 242; + authorises increase of salary to the clerks of the roads, 251; + declares Palmer's proceedings to be irregular, 263; + turns a deaf ear to the postmaster-general's request for an interview, + 273; + interview at length granted, 277; + a second interview, 279; + acquiesces in Palmer's dismissal and grants him a pension, 279; + makes to Post Office servants a periodical grant pending a revision of + the establishment, 300; + promotes plan for improving the penny post, 305; + disallows practice of charging returned letters, 308; + modifies arrangements for dealing with ship letters, 329; + his precepts in this matter afterwards disregarded, 361 + + Plymouth, salary of the postmaster in 1792, 293 + + _Political Register_, its criticisms on Post Office practice, 342 + + Pope, Alexander, his lines on Ralph Allen, 186 + + Portage, 29 + + Portland, William Henry, Duke of, 379 + + Portland Packet, Captain Taylor, its gallant action with privateer, 321 + + Postage, introduction of, 18; + settled by Act of Parliament, 27; + original meaning of term, 29 _note_; + rates of postage in 1635, 18; + in 1657 and 1660, 28; + in 1711, 127; + in 1765, 187; + in 1784, 216; + in 1797, 318; + in 1801, 331; + in 1805, 339; + in 1812, 356; + device resorted to in order to evade high rates of, 142; + rates lapse through effluxion of time, 180; + rates of postage between London and the Channel Islands and within the + islands themselves, 314; + from Portugal and America, 319; + financial result of increase of rates, 341; + bewildering complications, 357; + extraordinary toleration of the public, explanation suggested, 358; + an additional rate imposed in Scotland on withdrawal of exemption from + toll, 359; + and on letters passing over the Menai Straits or Conway Bridge, 395; + rates of postage to the East Indies in 1815, 363; + instances of exorbitant rates, 409 + + "Poste for the Pacquet," 5 _note_ + + Post-boys, 164 + + Post-coaches, 214 + + Post-haste, 20 + + Post-horn. _See_ Horn + + Post-horses. _See_ Horses + + Post-houses, to have horses in readiness, 4; + horses not to be let except at, 6; + pay of keepers of, in arrear, 15 + + Postilions, 107 + + Postmarks, introduction of, 38 + + Postmasters, their duties in 1690, 48; + their salaries, 50; + their grievances, 51; + their contingent advantages, 52; + intercept postage on bye-letters, 52, 53; + their correspondence exempt from postage, 160; + their moderation on the erection of milestones, 177; + are enjoined to frequent the local markets and report the price of + corn, 254; + salaries of certain postmasters in Scotland in 1707, 118; + in England in 1792, 293 + + Postmasters-General (I.) [Cotton and Frankland, 1690 to 1708], their + simple-mindedness, 45; + their accessibility, 46; + their concern about the illicit correspondence, 53; + their powerlessness to check it, 56; + let the posts out to farm, 58; + refuse to sublet the penny post, 69; + their difference with Pajot, minister of the French posts, 77; + remonstrate with captains of packets at Falmouth, 89; + and at Harwich, 91; + chuckle over the capture of a prize, 93; + their rebuke to the captain of a Falmouth packet, 94 _note_; + instance of their rough-and-ready justice, 95; + take vigorous measures to protect the packets from Flemish privateers, + 101; + their admonition to the packet agent at Dover, 102; + act as purveyors of news to the Court, instances given, 104; + advocate cheap postage to America, 114; + become, at the Union with Scotland, responsible for the Scotch posts, + 117; + their inaction, explanation suggested, 119; + action forced upon them, 120; + are contrasted with their successors, 185, 202 + + Postmasters-General (II.) [Frankland and Evelyn, 1708 to 1715], their + interview with Godolphin, 106; + their instruction about expresses from Dover, 107; + treat personally with Povey, 123; + Frankland ceases to be a member of Parliament, 128; + concern themselves only slightly about travellers, 130; + take measures to check the abuse of franking, 133; + in vain urge the appointment of surveyors, 134; + negotiate new treaty with France, 138; + quit office on accession of George the First, 139 + + Postmasters-General (III.) [Cornwallis and Craggs, 1715 to 1721], are + amazed at the absence of check in the Post Office, 140; + note how little the increase in the rates of postage has added to the + revenue, 141; + and how largely it has stimulated the abuse of franking, 142; + their dispute with the merchants, 142; + convict Lowndes of a ludicrous error, 145; + their harsh treatment of their secretary, 152 + + Postmasters-General (IV.) [Edward Carteret and Walpole, 1721 to 1725], + their kindness to subordinates, 152; + their interview with Abercorn, 154. + [From 1725 to 1733 Carteret had for his colleague Edward Harrison, and + from 1733 to 1739 Lord Lovell.] + Carteret establishes a post to Aylsham, 167 + + Postmasters-General (V.) [Henry Frederick, Lord Carteret and, for the + second time, Tankerville, 1784 to 1786], collect opinions on + Palmer's plan and submit them to Pitt, 213; + entertain doubts as to its feasibility, 218; + their differences between themselves, 221; + their open rupture, 223; + Tankerville is dismissed by Pitt, 224; + his ungovernable temper, 225 + + Postmasters-General (VI.) [Carteret and Walsingham, 1787 to 1789], + Walsingham's industry and thoroughness, 243; + questions Carteret's right to sign first, 243; + his preponderating influence, 244; + his habit of annotating and execrable handwriting, 244, 263; + reduces packet establishment at Falmouth, 246; + is dissuaded from carrying out a similar reduction at Holyhead, 248; + is powerless to control the correspondence by the Milford packets, 249; + in conjunction with Carteret procures increase of salary for the clerks + of the roads, 250; + is imposed upon in the matter of the King's coach, 251; + calls for the surveyors' journals, 255; + his correspondence with Chalmers, 256; + receives an unexpected visit from Palmer, 258; + detects Palmer's jealousy and endeavours to allay it, 260; + calls Palmer to account for acting without authority, 263; + exposes Bonnor's attempt at deception, 265; + Carteret's dismissal, 266; + Walsingham inquires into the solicitor's accounts, 324 + + Postmasters-General (VII.) [Walsingham and Chesterfield, 1790 to 1794], + Chesterfield's playful allusions to Palmer, 269; + Palmer sets the postmasters-general at defiance, 270; + they seek in vain an interview with Pitt, 273; + receive assurances from Bonnor of Palmer's disloyalty, 275; + remove Bonnor's suspension and suspend Palmer, 276; + Chesterfield's letter, 276; + Walsingham's interview with Pitt, 277; + feel confident of their own dismissal, 278; + are furnished with evidence by Bonnor, 278; + have a second interview with Pitt and dismiss Palmer, 279; + contrast Palmer's reticence in official matters with Freeling's wealth + of explanation, 295; + Walsingham attempts to improve communication with France, 296; + and to reduce postage on letters containing the second halves of bank + notes, 298; + give attention to coach-building, 393 + + Postmasters-General (VIII.) [Chichester and Salisbury, 1816 to 1823], + are called upon for a return of the number of Post Office Boards, + 396; + address to the Throne praying that one of the two offices of + postmaster-general be abolished, 397; + Salisbury stops his own salary, and on his death Chichester becomes + postmaster-general sole, 398; + Salisbury's testimony to increase of stringency in Post Office matters, + 405 + + Post Office, origin of its monopoly, 7; + monopoly confined in the first instance to the county of Kent, 9; + a Post Office opened in the city of London, 20; + dispute for its possession, 21; + becomes the subject of Parliamentary enactment, 27; + its position in 1680, 39; + is the only receptacle for letters in London, 40; + description of it, 46; + relations between the Post Office and the Treasury, 57; + the Post Office becomes unpopular and the reasons, 170 _seq._; + its retrogression, 184; + assumes a new character, 202; + loses monopoly of letting post-horses, 205; + Post Office buildings in Edinburgh and Dublin fall into decay, 207; + indignation caused by the earlier closing of the Post Office in London, + 220; + this office enlarged, 295; + state of the Post Office as between the years 1695 and 1813 compared, + 356; + the Post Office disseminates news, 401; + and police notices, 402; + becomes object of interest to the House of Commons, 407; + is cleared of more than a century of debt, 408; + a new post office opened in St. Martin's-le-Grand, 410 + + Post-runners, 118 + + Posts, paucity of, in time of Henry the Eighth, 1; + their close connection with the Sovereign, 3; + instructions for the regulation of, 4; + designed not only to carry the letters of the Sovereign, but for the + use of persons travelling on the Sovereign's concerns, 4; + posts originally maintained at loss to the Crown, 7; + at the beginning of the seventeenth century only four in number, 8; + of these the post to Dover the most important, precautions taken lest + this post should be used for designs against the State, 9; + decadence of the posts, 15; + improved by Witherings, 16; + to be self-supporting, 17; + thrown open to the public, 18; + let out to farm, 25; + rent paid in 1650, 25; + in 1653, 27; + in 1660, 33; + in 1667, 34; + in 1657 become the subject of Parliamentary enactment, 27; + their inadequacy to meet public demands, 34; + even where they existed, their existence not generally known, 35; + at what intervals they left London in 1680, 36; + regarded as vehicles for the propagation of treason, 43; + again let out to farm, 58; + resumed by the State, 137; + as late as 1728, not of general concern, 152 + + Povey, Charles, sets up a halfpenny post, 121; + contrast between him and Dockwra, 122; + his insolence, 122; + is proceeded against and cast in damages, 123 + + Prideaux, Edmund, takes part with Burlamachi against Warwick, 21; + rescues the mail from Warwick's servants, 22; + brings the imprisonment of his own servant before the House of + Commons, 22; + becomes Master of the Posts, 23; + his activity, 24; + suppresses unauthorised post to Scotland, 25; + makes profit out of the posts and is called upon to pay rent, 25; + is dismissed, 25; + retains an interest in the posts, 26; + Oldmixon's estimate of his character, 26; + destination of a part of his wealth, 27 + + Prideaux, Edmund, son of the preceding, 27 + + Prior, Matthew, negotiates Post Office treaty with France, 138 + + Prior Park, 185 + + Prizes, practice observed on capture of, 93 + + Prosecutions, for the illicit conveyance of letters, 333; + measures taken to secure their publicity, 359; + return to the House of Commons on the subject of, 422 + + Protection order, specimen of, 84 _note_ + + + Quartering of soldiers, a grievance to postmasters, 51 + + Quash, Ralph Allen's predecessor as postmaster of Bath, 147 + + Queen's letters, meaning of term in 1706, 83 _note_ + + Queen's servants not exempt from fare by packet, 86 + + Queensberry, James, Duke of, 64 + + + Raikes, a diamond merchant, suggests the giving of receipts for + registered letters, 409 _note_ + + Railways, prediction concerning, 408; + first mail sent by railway, 412 + + Ramsgate, cost of Post Office at, in 1792, 293 + + Randolph, Thomas, Master of the Posts to Queen Elizabeth, 3 + + Receiving offices, first opened in London, 37; + generally kept at public-houses, 68; + to remain open on six nights a week instead of three, 196; + letter-boxes at, to be closed and fixed, 306; + receiving offices for twopenny post letters separate and distinct from + offices for letters by the general post, 409, 423 + + Recruits, exemption of, from fare by packet, 85; + disputes with officers in charge of, 87; + packets employed for transport of, 97 + + Registration, exorbitant fees for, of foreign letters, 233; + amount of these fees in 1783 and 1784, 235; + receipts for foreign registered letters begin to be given, 409 _note_ + + Returned Letters. _See_ Dead letters + + Revenue of the Post Office, surrendered by the Crown to the public, + in part, in 1711, 126; + and wholly, in exchange for a Civil List, in 1760, 189; + amount of, from 1635 to 1694, 46; + in 1710 and 1721, 144; + in 1787 as compared with 1784, 227; + in 1796 and 1806, 341; + in 1824 and 1833, 422 + + Richmond, Charles, Duke of, postmaster-general from December 1830 to July + 1834, declines to receive salary, 413; + his industry, 413; + becomes postmaster-general of Ireland as well as Great Britain, and + reforms the Dublin establishment, 414; + contemplates, apparently, a reduction of postage, 419 + + Ripon, Post Office at, refused in 1713, 151; + in possession of one in 1792, 293 + + Roads, condition of, in 1691, 65; + during the first two decades of the nineteenth century, 390; + begin to be constructed on scientific principles, 392; + Macadam's plan for dealing with the surface of, 392; + difference between roads in the country and roads in the neighbourhood + of London, 394 + + Rochester, Lawrence Hyde, Earl of, postmaster-general from 1685 to 1689, + 43, 74 _note_, 110, Appendix _note_ + + Rogers, captain of packet, engages in smuggling, 89 + + Roof-loading of mail-coaches, 287, 412 + + Rosencrantz, the Danish envoy, to be specially accommodated on board + Harwich packet, 87 + + Rosse, Laurence, Earl of, postmaster-general of Ireland from 1809 to + 1831, 369, 415 + + Rotterdam, practice at, on arrival of the mails, 174 + + Royal boroughs of Scotland, 208 + + Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Post Office in 1787, 227, 230; + in 1823, 407; + recommendations of this last Commission not carried into effect, 420; + another Commission appointed to ascertain the reason, 423; + this Commission procures the contract for mail-coaches to be thrown + open to public competition, 425 + + Runners, 118 + + Rye-House Plot, the cause of a Post Office proclamation, 43 + + + Sailors on board the packets, their conditions of service, 83; + receive pensions for wounds, 85; + their wages withheld, 91; + their wages increased, 248 + + St. John, Henry, afterwards Viscount Bolingbroke, 211 + + St. Leonards, Shoreditch, a second penny on penny post letters improperly + charged at, 203 + + St. Martin's-le-Grand, opening of Post Office at, 410 + + Salaries. _See_ Wages + + Salisbury, James, Marquess of, postmaster-general from 1816 to 1823. + _See_ Postmasters-General, Part VIII. + + Samples. _See_ Patterns + + Sampson, captain of packet, 313 + + Sandwich, John, Earl of, postmaster-general from 1768 to 1771, 172; + specimen of his frank, Appendix + + Sandwich, John, Earl of, son of the preceding, postmaster-general from + 1807 to 1814, 348 + + Sandwich, Kent, asserts its right to a free delivery, 197; + right admitted and letter-carrier appointed, 202, 293 + + Scotland, tardiness of communication with, before 1635, 16; + communication expedited by Witherings, 16; + postage to Scotland, 18; + post to Edinburgh set up by the City of London, 24; + extent of correspondence with Scotland in 1690, 53; + Scotch posts placed under the postmasters-general of England, 117; + salaries of Scotch postmasters, 118; + course of post between London and Edinburgh accelerated in 1758, 180, + 256; + in 1765 posts to and within Scotland increased in frequency, 195; + Post Office in Edinburgh no longer habitable, 207; + internal administration of Scotch Post Office revised by Palmer, 271; + penny post established in Edinburgh, 300; + postage rates within Scotland raised, 319; + wholesale prosecutions for illicit correspondence, 333; + exemption from toll withdrawn and an additional postage rate imposed, + 359; + unhandsome conduct of the road trustees, 359; + roads discoached, 360 + + Search, powers of, refused by the House of Commons, 128 + + Sebright, Sir John, his letter accidentally opened, 333 + + Secretary of State, clerks in the office of, compensated for the loss of + the newspaper privilege, 193 + + Secretary of the Post Office, appointment of, created in 1694, 70 + + Secret Office, 170, 269 + + Sharpus, postmaster of New York, 111 + + Sheffield, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 + + Shelburne, William, Earl of, 212 + + Ship letters, origin of ship letter money, 73; + by means of the penny post evade full postage, 73; + number of, in 1686, 74; + pence paid upon, without legal sanction, 119; + legal sanction given, 128; + ship letter office established, 328; + rates on, increased and restrictions imposed, 361; + restrictions modified, 362; + made compulsory upon private ships to carry mails, 362 + + Ship news supplied by the Post Office to Lloyds, 218 + + Shipwrecked seamen pass free by packet, 85 + + Shrewsbury, curious reply to petition from, for earlier post, 218 + + Single letter, definition of, 139 + + Smart and bounty money, 85 + + Smuggling, on board the packets at Falmouth, 89, 238; + at Harwich, 91, 237; + at Dover, 103; + in the Dover mail-coach, 271 + + Soldiers' wives, when travelling supplied with money through the medium + of the Post Office, 374 + + Solicitor to the Post Office, appointment of, created in 1703, 70; + an absentee and his duties performed by deputy, 231; + his accounts inspected by Walsingham's direction, 324 + + Somerset, Protector, superscription of his letter to Lord Dacre, 20 + + Sorters, pay of, in 1690, 49 + + Southampton, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 + + Speed of post in Queen Elizabeth's time, 4; + in time of James the First, 6; + at the end of the seventeenth century, 62; + between London and Falmouth and London and Harwich, at the beginning + of the eighteenth century, 83; + under Allen's contract, 148; + in 1765, 187; + after 1784, 290; + speed of Holyhead mail-coach before and after Telford's improvement + of the road, 394; + of mail-coaches generally in 1821 and 1836, 399, 426 + + Spencer, Lord Charles, postmaster-general from 1801 to 1806, 333 + + Spitalfields, a second penny improperly charged on penny post letters + addressed to, 203 + + Sprange, James, postmaster of Tunbridge Wells, 408 + + Spring Rice, Thomas, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 428 + + Stage, inconvenience resulting from term not being defined, 219; + term dropped as unit of charge, 318 + + Stanhope of Harrington, John, Lord, Master of the Posts, 10; + resents what he conceives to be an invasion of his patent, 10; + dies and is succeeded as Master of the Posts by his son, 11 + + Stanhope of Harrington, Charles, Lord, Master of the Posts, son of the + preceding, vigorously asserts his rights, 11; + vacillating decisions of the Privy Council, 12; + surrenders his patent, 20; + alleges cajolery, 23 + + Stanhope, Arthur, comptroller of the foreign department, his emoluments + from franking, 344; + supplies newspapers with summaries of foreign intelligence, 346 + + Stanhope, James, Secretary of State, 64 + + Stanwix, Colonel, 97 + + State letters, 83 _note_ + + Staunton, John, postmaster of Isleworth; appointed comptroller of the + bye and cross-roads, 224 + + Steam packets, first employment of, by the Post Office, 384 + + Stock Exchange, The, outwits the Post Office, 106 + + Stockdale, a highwayman, execution of, 183 _note_ + + Stokes, William, 245 + + Stone, George, Receiver-General, a defaulter, 185 + + Stowmarket, its position and its trade unknown to Allen, 157 + + Strangers' post. _See_ Foreign merchants + + Sudbury, duties and salary of postmaster in 1690, 50 + + Sunderland, Charles, Earl of, 89 + + Surveyors, appointment of, refused by the Treasury, 134; + afterwards sanctioned, 140; + their original functions, 134; + their functions and emoluments after 1786, 228; + their journals, 255, 259; + cease to hold postmasterships in addition to their appointments as + surveyors, 339 + + Swift, Richard, solicitor to the Post Office, prepares Post Office bill + of 1711, 125; + is overborne by Lowndes, secretary to the Treasury, 126 + + + Tankerville, Charles, Earl of, postmaster-general from April 1782 to May + 1783, and again from January 1784 to September 1786. _See_ + Postmasters-General, Part V. + + Telford, Thomas, takes in hand the road between Holyhead and Shrewsbury, + 392; + between Shrewsbury and London, 393; + other roads, 409 + + Thanet, Elizabeth, Countess Dowager of, undertakes to establish a penny + post in Dublin, 69 + + "Thorough poste," 5 _note_ + + Thrale, Mrs., 209 _note_ + + Threepenny post, 340, 417 + + Thurloe, John, secretary, assumes direction of the Post Office in + 1655, 27; + intercepts letters, 28 + + Thurlow, Edward, Attorney-General, afterwards Lord Chancellor; his + opinion as to the duty of the Post Office in the matter of + delivering letters, 198, 201 + + Thynne, Henry Frederick, afterwards Carteret. _See_ Postmasters-General, + Parts V. and VI. + + Timepieces, mode of regulating mail-guards', 283 + + _Times_ newspaper, its priority of intelligence, 347; + its criticisms on Post Office procedure, 348; + proceedings against, taken by Freeling, 349 + + Tinware, supply of, to the postmasters-general, 232 + + Todd, Anthony, secretary to the Post Office; his correspondence with + Benjamin Franklin, 204; + his indifference, 218; + comments upon Tankerville's temper, 225; + his compromising position in respect to the packets, 240; + his emoluments, 240; + his remark upon Bonnor's dilatory replies, 264; + devotes himself to social amenities, 294; + unknown to the postmasters-general, retains his shares in the packets, + 327; + his death, 327 + + Toll, mail-coaches exempt from, in England and Scotland but not in + Ireland, 354; + exemption withdrawn in Scotland, 359 + + Townshend, Horatio, Lord, 64 + + Townshend, Charles, deprecates alarm because a letter is sent by express, + 182 + + Travellers, obtain use of post-horses under false pretences, 5; + are not to be supplied with horses except at the post-houses, 6; + paucity of travellers, 15; + are not to be supplied with horses when the post is expected, 18; + have to pay more for horses after the erection of milestones, 176; + their restriction to post-houses for a supply of horses withdrawn, 205 + + Treasury, its relations to the Post Office, 57, 416; + refuses the appointment of surveyors, 134; + refuses a horse-post between Edinburgh and Glasgow, 136; + experience of its ways a bar to the suggestion of improvements, 169; + extorts blackmail, 325 + + Treves, Peregrine, the recipient of Carteret's bounty, 226 + + Tring, the postmaster of, opens a letter addressed to Sir John Sebright, + 333 + + Tuke, Sir Brian, Master of the Posts to Henry the Eighth, his letter to + Thomas Cromwell, 1; + his duties, 2; + explanation suggested of statement in his letter, 4 + + Tunbridge, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 + + Tunbridge Wells, old-fashioned postmaster of, in 1823, 408 + + Turnpikes, condition of the trusts at the beginning of the nineteenth + century, 353; + number of Turnpike Acts passed between 1760 and 1809, 390 + + Twopenny post, a second penny charged by Dockwra on delivery of letters + in the outskirts of London, 38; + this second penny not legally sanctioned until 1730, 143; + the twopenny post thus established in one direction established also + in the other, 307; + the penny post converted into a twopenny post, 331; + and the twopenny post into a threepenny one, 340; + the revenue of the twopenny post as compared with that of the penny + post, 341; + the crowded condition of the twopenny Post Office in Westminster, 410 + + Tyrconnel, Richard Talbot, Earl of, opens the mails at Dublin Castle, 53 + + + Uniform, letter-carriers put into, 299 + + Urin, captain of packet, makes wrong port, 89 + + + Vanderpoel, packet agent at the Brill, 92 + + Vansittart, Nicholas, Chancellor of the Exchequer, insists upon + mail-coaches being withdrawn from the roads, 355; + raises the rates of postage, 356; + changes the route of the Holyhead coach, 390; + refuses to get the terms of a hostile motion altered, 397 + + Van Vrybergh, Envoy Extraordinary from the States-General, 101 + + Venetian Ambassador, the, protests against the opening of his letters, 28 + + Vidler, his contract for the supply of mail-coaches terminated, 425 + + Village posts. _See_ Convention posts + + Viner, Sir Robert, 70 + + + Wade, General, 146 + + Wages and salaries, of Post Office servants in 1690, 49; + of seamen on board the packets, 83; + of certain postmasters in England, 50, 293, and in Scotland, 117; + of mail-guards, 263 + + Waghorn, Thomas, 409 + + Wainwright, postmistress of Ferrybridge, her original mode of supplying + an omission, 159 + + Walcot, John, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, terms of his + agreement with Barham, packet agent at Dover, 222 + + Walpole, Sir Robert, maintains an office for the opening of letters, + 170 + + Walpole, Galfridus, postmaster-general from 1721 to 1725. _See_ + Postmasters-General, Part IV. + + Walpole, Horace, precautions taken by, to secure his correspondence + against inspection, 172 + + Walsingham, Thomas, Lord, postmaster-general from July 1787 to July + 1794. _See_ Postmasters-General, Parts VI. and VII. + + Warwick, Robert, Earl of, acquires Witherings's patent and claims + possession of the letter office, 21; + attempts to obtain it by force, 22; + continues to assert his claim, 23 + + Warwick, course of post to, altered in 1695, 57 + + Waterhouse, Benjamin, Secretary to the Post Office, 131 _note_ + + Watson, Sir Charles, 296 + + Way letter, meaning of term, 147 + + Weights to be attached to sea-borne mails, 82 + + Wellesley, Sir Arthur, sets aside objections to improving communication + with Ireland, 390 + + West Indies, packets to the, established, 78; + amount of correspondence in 1705, 80; + service discontinued in 1711, 109; + resumed in 1745, 173; + improved arrangements for disposing of the West Indian mails, 310 + + Westmorland, John, Earl of, postmaster-general from September 1789 to + March 1790, 266 + + Weston, Henry, secretary to the Post Office, harsh treatment of, 152 + + Weston brothers, trial of, 290 + + Wetherall, Robert, master of ship _Albinia_, proceedings against, for + refusing to take mails on board, 362 _note_ + + Weymouth, constituted a packet station, 313 + + Whinnery, Thomas, postmaster of Belfast, his revolving "alphabet," 375; + his mode of delivery, 375 + + Whitworth, Richard, 192 + + Wildman, Colonel John, postmaster-general from July 1689 to March + 1690, 44 + + Willatt, Dame, postmistress of Manchester in 1792, 292; + granted a pension, 301 + + Willes, Doctor, Dean of Lincoln, afterwards Bishop of St. Davids; the + "chief Decypherer," 171 + + Willes, Mr. Justice, his judgment upon the question of free delivery, 200 + + William III., confers a pension upon Dockwra, 41; + refuses to exempt postmasters from the quartering of soldiers, 51; + is unwilling to prosecute for the illegal conveyance of letters, 54; + his opinion as to the requirements of a mail packet, 75; + the soundness of that opinion confirmed, 76 + + Williamson, Peter, sets up an office for the delivery of letters in + Edinburgh, 300 + + Willimott, Receiver-General, 398 _note_ + + Wilson, mail-coach contractor, his exorbitant bill for horsing the + King's coach, 251 + + Witherings, Thomas, succeeds De Quester as foreign postmaster, 14; + is commissioned to examine into the inland posts, 14; + suggests a scheme of reorganisation, 16; + introduces postage, 17; + contemplates posts being self-supporting, 17; + but not, apparently, a source of revenue, 19; + becomes postmaster for both inland and foreign letters, 20; + his appointment is sequestered, 21; + assigns his patent, 21 + + Wolters, Dirick, a suspected person, to be searched for at Harwich, 88 + + Worthing, course of post from London to, in 1666, 34 + + Wren, Sir Christopher, surveys the Post Office premises in Lombard + Street, 71 + + + York, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 + +[Illustration: Bugler on galloping horse] + +_J. D. & Co._ + +_Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh._ + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Page 339 "further period of eighteen months, viz. from the 10th of +October 1892 to the 5th of April 1804" changed to October 1802 +according to context. + +Two changes were made according to the errata: + +Page 324 "that the practice dated from 1713" changed to 1703. + +Page 339 "further period of eighteen months, viz. from the 10th of October + 1892 to the 5th of April 1804" changed to October 1802 according to + context. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE POST OFFICE*** + + +******* This file should be named 38328.txt or 38328.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/8/3/2/38328 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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